Attorney Fanon Rucker
So, somebody asked me when the best time in my career was, and I told them when I was fifty, because I was 50 years old when they asked me that. I'm 51 now, but when they asked me, I mean, I am in the best time of my entire career. Mind you, I've had an incredible career by all professional standards. The outcomes in some of the cases I've been able to participate in helped shape policies. I created programs for our community during the disturbances that we had in 2001, and afterwards I sat on a number of boards. I mean, I have been behind the scenes on a lot of things that have happened I don't talk about it all the time because I don't need to, it's the outcome I'm looking for. And now, because of the career that I've had, when I walk into a courtroom, if I'm representing somebody who's a defendant on a case, or if I'm the lawyer representing a family in a tragedy where someone has been killed in a car accident or was shot and killed on property that they shouldn't have been shot and killed on, the person or the entities on the other side know that I am credible.
They also know that I know what I'm talking about. They know that if I'm making an allegation or if I make an argument or if I put forth a position, I'm not doing it for the purpose of getting attention. I'm not doing it for the purpose of just throwing something out there for a response. Like there’s an outcome here that I have support for that's going to assist in making some positive impact for somebody, even if it's the entity I'm going up against. And that's a very comforting place to be in. When I argue to the judges, they know that I know the arguments I'm making
mentored folks in there. I've been in leadership statewide and locally. And as far as lawyers and judges, there are many judges on the bench right now that I helped pass the bar, help get them over the bar, and help them along in their careers, teaching them how to practice law.
Victory Envue
Well, that's a perfect segue into the holiness in human hands. Because I was about to ask you, when you're enacting these judgments and when you're sitting in these courtrooms, not everything is the Law. I'm sure you don't wake up and lay down with law.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
I say “no”, but if you ask my friends they say, I do.
Victory Envue
So, I'm sure there are other decisions made, other things that cross your path and people ask you for your opinion. Do you pray prior to answering these questions, these causes? Do you know that you have a higher responsibility? Tell me a little bit about that.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
To answer that question, I really must go back to when I got the call that I was going to be appointed a judge. I was 35 years old. I was the youngest judge in the state of Ohio, and the governor called me up in my office at the law firm at which I was working. And when he called me, I was in such a purely spiritual place that I didn't even hear him. And I said, Lord, before I accept this position, I need to know have merit because I've seen other people make them that this is coming from you and not from man. Because if it's coming from man, I don't want it, I don't need it. If it's coming from you, then I know it's the right place to go. And so, I fasted. I prayed about it and honestly, it's a long story, but long story short, there were some things that were happening that was confirmation. I was part of the evangelism team at my church during the time that I got my appointnot from here. So, when I got here, there were people ment, and somebody stole all my papers for me to become a judge. They stole them from my car. I was like, well, Lord, you just answered the question loudly right there. It didn't come from you. They stole my papers.
before or because of research. I'm telling them, this is the basis, here's the statue, here's the case. It's amazingly comfortable. So, what's next? I've been mentoring students since the time I graduated from law school. Why? Because others did it for me.
There were people when I came to Cincinnati, I'm who graciously, owing me nothing at all, reached out their hand and said, “I got you”. Sisters, brothers, white, black, men, women, Republicans, democrats, I mean folks who owe me nothing mentored and assisted in my career. And so, I violate my responsibility to those who came before me and my responsibility to a power much higher than myself when I close my eyes and pull my hand back and don't assist others when they come to me. And that's what I do. So, association. I'm active in my fraternity, and I help folks in there. I'm active in the Masonic order, I've
Well, at the same time, I was at an evangelist team meeting. Whoever took the papers felt convicted. We were praying about it, and they must have, because three days later, those papers showed up at an adI've mentored hundreds. I've been president of a legal dress that wasn’t even my house, leaned up against my front door, a door through which I didn’t usually go. And it was all my papers. Like, literally it was the day before I needed them to sign in and become a
judge. And it was such confirming affirmation that God said, you asked, so I'm going to tell you. This is where I want you to be. And so, yes, I prayed every day before I sat up on the bench and made my decisions. I never had a sleepless night on the bench because I knew that my heart was connected to my head. I knew my head was connected to my heart. My head was the one making the decisions, but it was listening to my heart, and my heart was listening directly to what the Father was saying. And I was doing my teaching. I stood in the pulpit of most of the churches here in Cincinnati over the years, delivering messages, not as a licensed preacher, but ministering has little to do with going to seminary school. It's all about your testimony, which I heard in court every day, testimony on a different level. And so do I pray every time before I take on one of these public cases or issues. Honestly, I don't. I try to live in a way that I am constantly hearing confirmation from Him so that I don't have to pray specifically about a particular issue because that would be giving more credence to that one issue over all the others.
Victory Envue
And there's lots of heroes in our Bible. Esther, for example, where you don't see the red letters that God is speaking to her. There's always somebody speaking for him, to the people assigned to that seasonal blessing, that seasonal assignment, right? So, I'm quite sure even if you're not intentionally seeking him, someone is still coming to you to whisper. I mean, I'm sure you have Godly counsel that would say, hey, let's pray before you run that decision through, or whatever. So, I'm quite sure that's important to you, right? Because it also must humble you, right
Attorney Fanon Rucker
So, Proverbs is my favorite book because it is so wise. Wisdom to me is just, it permeates, and it never grows moss underneath it. And the idea that I can read something that was written three thousand years ago that is just as applicable in life and human characteristics today, is just incredible to me. And one of the things that we read about as a theme in the Bible, but also in Proverbs is humility. Humility is what God favors because it's a recognition that I didn't do this. This is not because of me. This is because of, I hate to say favor, this is because this is the path that God has had me on. And mind you, my path has been full of thorns and rocks and hills and valleys, and I mean, some deep, deep, low valleys All of those add to the recognition that there must be humility in everything that happens in my life, everything
Victory Envue
So, you're not one of those that can say, oh, I've got this kind of record, I've won this many cases, I've done these many things, I've met these kinds of people, I've sat at these tables, I've spoken at these functions.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
Can I? Oh, I can but I don't, it serves no purpose. And it's funny to me at times when I meet people who do that. Oh, my goodness, name drop me. I've had people name drop me not knowing that was me.
Victory Envue
Feel free to name drop Terri Bea.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
Okay, I’ll remember that
Victory Envue
Feel free. Go ahead and name drop Terri Bea. It's cool, it's all good
Attorney Fanon Rucker
But they talk about, oh, I can call this person I know this person. And it's like, do you even know that person? Because if you don't, I can go ahead and call and text them right now The Bible speaks about that, that person who thinks they are more than they are. There are so many lessons in the Word for the expectation of our conduct. And when those who are in the Word know the Word, we see those who are acting outside of what the word says in that conduct. You don’t call it out, you don’t disrespect them You just nod your head and say, those who know, know. I’m going to try to live as an example, not as a director.
Victory Envue
So on a personal note we know what Fanon means, and you’ve taught me how to pronounce it, but what does the “A” stand for in Fanon A. Rucker.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
So, I used to play this game like Rumpelstiltskin. Remember Rumpelstiltskin? Like, if you can guess my name, I will give you a whole bundle of gold.
Victory Envue
All right? You're going to give me some gold?
Attorney Fanon Rucker
I will give you some gold if you can guess my middle name. And now don't
be trying to Google it. My middle name is Adeyemi.
Victory Envue
Shut up.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
That is my given middle name, and it is from the Yoruba tribe. It is African, and it means the crown becomes me or I'm fit to be king. When I was born, my father held me up like Kunta Kenta in Roots, and he was like, that name fits you.
So. My parents are currently, and have been all my life, very conscious and engaged, particularly in the civil rights movement. More on the black power side than on the passive side. So, when I was born, I was named after Frantz Fanon. Fanon was the leader of the Algerian Liberation Front. His ideas laid the base for the Black Panther Party. He authored many books and if you considered yourself a revolutionary, in the 60’s you know his works. So that's my first name and then my middle name, Adeyemi is, like I said, Nigerian from the Yoruba tribe. And it means that I'm fit to be king.
Victory Envue
I wouldn’t say your name because I would think I was saying something in tongues or speaking some kind of hex. What do your friends call you?
Attorney Fanon Rucker
If I'm here in Cincinnati and I hear somebody say, hey, Adeyemi, I know they know me from Gary Indiana.
Victory Envue
Tell me a little bit about where you would have been if it hadn't been for God.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
If it had not been for the Lord on my side. Tell me, where would I be? Where would I be? So that's an interesting and tricky question. Obviously, none of us knows where we would be if we were not where we are. I can tell you what path I was on at various times in my life, but I can't tell you that I would be doing anything different professionally. I know at separate times in my life I wanted to do different things. The law, I only wanted to be in law because I saw Rodney
King assaulted by police officers.
I was a college student and that made me decide I wanted to be a lawyer. But what I can tell you is that there have been so many times in my black life where all I saw was no escape. Growing up, I saw no escape. In college when I was depressed and I didn't feel like the world had anything for me at 19 years old and I was prepared for my life to be over at that time, I didn't see an escape. When I was 24 years old and starting off in this life and trying to find my way, I didn't see an escape. When I was 30 years old and was on the cusp of my first divorce, I had moved into a more personal relationship with God, but I didn't move there with the person who I, at that time, had one child with.
I ended up having both of my children with her, I didn't see an escape. Even in the past few years, I had some devastating times happen, and I didn't see the escape even at 48 years old. Guess what? Every single time that I got as low as I could go, that whole footprints poem and a photograph and picture came back to me because I realized it was at that low place that humility came. We always must have humility because we experience those low places.
I can talk to you, not about what's in a book or what somebody else has said or what looks good in a movie. I can tell you that my own firsthand experiences have been that I have been in the lowest place that anyone can be, or at least that I know that I could ever be, and the light shined. God said, that's where I need you to be, for you to be confirmed that I got you out of this place. And that's not just talking about the bills getting paid, I don't know how they're getting paid. That's not just somebody coming and whispering to me while I was sitting in a pew in church, and I really didn't want to go to church that day. Somebody came to me and said, Fanon hold on. He told me to tell you to hold on.
I looked, and that person had disappeared, and I needed to hear that at that time. I mean, I could tell you hundreds of times when I was looking, asking, hoping to hear a word, and I heard it, and it gave me exactly what I needed at that time to be reconfirmed that he exists. The first time I felt God’s actual presence was on October 16 of 1995. Now, I grew up in church.
My father was Baptist, and I went to church with him My mother was Lutheran She's a Lutheran
minister. And so, I would go with her. I was confirmed in the Lutheran church. I was baptized when I was two. I wasn’t very conscious about it at that time, obviously, but that wasn't for me. As a teenager, as a young child, confirming God's presence, I read, and I knew a little bit. But when I was 23 years old, a week from my 24th birthday, I went to the Million Man March, and I stood on the mall in DC with a million other people. And as Rosa Parks stepped up to the microphone, you could feel a wave of love, like, moving through the crowd. Like you could feel the presence of God in that place. Like, you could feel it. It was palpable. It was confirming, and I use that word a lot. Confirming, confirmation. It is proof. I deal in a profession that talks about evidence.
Victory Envue
Evidence yes.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
Evidence of things not seen, but you could feel it. And so, at ninety-five was when I first felt his presence. But of course, I had low places after that, and I had to be reminded that on October 16, 1995, I felt his presence. There have been some pretty, what I thought were career ending or certainly relationship ending things that would happen. And all I could do was say, Lord, I'm going to count on the fact that I have done what is pleasing in your sight, and I'm not going to move out of that lane as these processes
Victory Envue
And it's amazing, Revelations talks about how we overcome our enemy by the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. So, your testimony is your testimony. You overcome your enemy, our enemy, by the word of your testimony. The testimony that said he brought you over. That look back over your life, think things over, that's your thoughts that you're thinking over. Looking back over your life is your life that you're looking over. It's not a recap of somebody else's nightcap, right? You're not telling the story that somebody told you. You're telling a story that still has your blood coursing through it. It still has your heart beating in it. It still has your scent on it. It's as if you have your own baby. This is what you carry. This is what you brought into the world. And the enemy tried to abort it by aborting you. But God.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
That's right.
Victory Envue
But God. But God. What would you say is your greatest accomplishment, your greatest achievement?
Attorney Fanon Rucker
So, I have a twenty-year-old who I was spending happen, because I know, you are going to be steering time with today. He came down and hung out with his dad. Twenty-year-old son with the same middle name as his father, his first name is Miles.
this destination. And sure enough, as I stand here today, all I can say is, yes, it was confirmation. You said testimony. I mean we can go into the stages of different generations of Fanon Rucker’s life where those things have happened. It's not a singular thing. And I'll be honest with you, COVID changed a lot about my perspective on worship.
I'm a steward at my church. I told you I got about forty messages on my computer that I've delivered talking about Paul and who he was and our responsibilities as men, just all that stuff. But when COVID hit, I, like a lot of people, couldn't go to church. None of us could. And then we started having church on TV without the fellowship. And things just changed. My perspective changed, my relationship changed, my reading changed, my teaching changed. I used to teach Bible study classes. All that changed with COVID, and it's been a rebuilding over the past three and a half years, getting back to that relationship, the strength of that relationship, and beauty of where it used to be.
Victory Envue
Now, wait a minute. You had the chance to do right.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
I did, Miles Adeyemi Rucker. So, he's twenty and a good-hearted young man. He is an incredible soul, whose only purpose is to ease other’s pain. I mean that’s how he's always been. And then I have a baby girl. My baby girl is twenty-four, and she is the smartest one in the family, of all generations, that we've ever had. And she's just as sweet and focused as she is smart. I had the honor of performing her marriage ceremony in North Carolina back in October to her longtime college sweetheart, and she now is due in about a month with the first grandchild of our generation. So yes, those two are my greatest accomplishments. You know, I'm a father, so there's been various times when, actually, baby girl never,
but with the boy, every once in a while.
Attorney Fanon Rucker cont’d
Both are spiritually enlightened children. My daughter is super engaged with her spirituality Like I said, my son at 20 years old is very conscious. So again, I tried to live not by pointing a direction, but by examthey saw.
Victory Envue
If you can, talk to the 17-year-old Fanon. If you could talk to him and he's spending time together on this corner, and he does what you were doing at 17, and you pull over, you see him there. You step out. You get between him and the next mistake. What would you say to him?
n't have been able to do what I did for somebody last week. I wouldn't have been able to. It's hard to tell somebody, knowing what you know now, don’t do what you are about to do Because if somebody had said that to me, which somebody did at some point, it may have negatively impacted my ability to accomplish some things that I later did. But what would I ple and hopefully who they are as a reflection of what have told myself, the 17, 18, 19-year-old who was trying to figure life out, who was confused, and who was putting himself at risk by some behaviors that could have certainly changed my ability to become a lawyer in the first place? What I would have told him is, do not allow occasional failures to hit you so hard, a delay is not a denial. Just because I experience a no doesn't mean I'm experiencing a never. A roadblock does not stop your journey. It just means you must figure out if you're going around it. If it's not too high, then go over it. If it's a roadblock, then figure
Attorney Fanon Rucker
That's another tough question, one that I've struggled with only because when I was not successful in a recent campaign, somebody asked me, would I have done something different? And my answer really was, I don't think so. Because if I had done something different and I made it to that position, I would-
out how to go under it. But I would tell my 17–19year-old self, do not let occasional failure defeat you. And I don't mean defeat you, like, stop you completely, but don't wallow in that failure because you are going to have them. Life is full of times when you don't get exactly what it is you think you're supposed to be getting. It may be that God ain't got that intent
for you right now, or maybe it's that he does, but you ain't ready yet. Either way, do not let that occasional failure take you away from where it is that you're trying to get to. Don't let it defeat you. That's what I would have told myself because there were times, again, when I had these tough times that I stayed in it too long. I stayed in it too long. It didn't change where I was going, but I allowed it to hurt me more than it should have. And I could have moved forward more quickly or more powerfully if I had accepted that failure happens and then moved on with it.
Victory Envue
What does the finish to you look like?
Attorney Fanon Rucker
No such thing. No such thing.
Victory Envue
How do you want to be remembered?
Attorney Fanon Rucker
So, I want to be remembered as someone who advocated for others, who lived as an example for others to follow. I told you, I mentored, and I have mentored, and I do mentor like folks on the continuum, high school, college, law, lawyers, judges. And what I would hope is that I can be what other mentors were for me. And that is like, my mentees right now. And people who I deal with, including my kids, reap the benefit of the wise words that I received from Judge William McClain before he died at 101 years old. They reaped the benefit of the instruction that I received from my father, who thankfully is still with us. They reap the benefit of individuals like council member, Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney, who's like a big sister to me who poured into me as a mentor.
They reap those benefits. And so, I want to be for those others who come behind me. Don't stop giving with what you receive. Meaning if you get it from me, pass it on to somebody behind you. Don't let it be somebody is a layer here and then there's a layer here from what I did. Nah, you got somebody coming up behind you who can benefit from what I got, and what they got and what you got. That's what I want to be remembered for. Not personally for something that I did, but for somebody having a better opportunity or position because, at some point in the process, I handed something down that was a benefit to somebody.
Victory Envue
That's powerful. That is powerful. And I can see now why they call you to come preach and minister, because I was getting ready to throw my hanky at you.
Attorney Fanon Rucker
That's right.
Victory Envue
Look, again, I want to thank you so much for being a part of the community that I'm in It makes knowing that there are strong men and Godly men sitting in these positions, these seats, it makes you feel more safe and secure. You don't have to walk the street and beat on our doors to check on us. We just know that there's somebody out there, up there who is being held accountable by a higher call and who's not ashamed to say that I love him, that I love God, I love his people because he first loved me. And that's amazing. That's an amazing testament. If you could leave both the readers and the viewers with one statement that would solidify who you are in God. If you heard this, this is Fanon, and you know it is Fanon. This is his mantra or tagline, What would that be?
Attorney Fanon Rucker
Oh, goodness. To me, there's so many. Like I said, Proverbs is my favorite book, but the lesson that Paul was teaching in Ephesians is capsulated, it is Ephesians 5:9, don't quote me on that, but it's in Ephesians five. He said, those that have light have the responsibility to spread that light. I live that, and I encourage others to have that same position.
Victory Envue
Amen. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you so much for being a part of what God is doing in the kingdom. Thank you for being a king, a faithful king, loyal to your troops, loyal to your citizens. Thank you for sitting in a place that doesn't have any piety or pride. That means a lot. That means a lot. I can stop teasing you now. I won't keep looking at the big old face on the bus and going, oh, he thinks he's something. I ain't got my big old face on no big old bus. But thank you for being a part of what God is doing in this dispensation, this time, this season in Ohio, in Cincinnati, for Life Envue and Victory Envue. And we look forward to seeing more of you, spending more time with you in the future. Thank you so much. If people needed to get a hold of you or needed to reach out to you, how do they do that?
Attorney Fanon Rucker
Sure, I'm one of the easiest people to find anywhere around the region. They can reach me, certainly on social media. Check me out on Facebook or on Instagram, twitter, I don't really mess with so much, but I'm on there. They can link up
Send me a message. Obviously, my phone number is running around on every bus and billboard. And that's 513-381-HURT, which I used to hate saying when I first started the firm. 513-381-HURT. But it's 513-381-4878 or email me. I have several different emails. I'll give you an easy one. Fanon1@yahoo.com.
Victory Envue
Thank you so much for sharing your story. May God continue to bless you with favor. And it's okay to announce that favor is in your life.
VICTORY ENVUE MAGAZINE SUMMER EDITION 13
Victory Envue Magazine
We're sitting here in the office of Apostle Eugene Taylor. I could say Bishop Eugene Taylor, I could say my Pastor Eugene Taylor of the Lord's House Kingdom Church in Conyers, Georgia. Not only are you growing a church, Bishop Eugene Taylor, you are growing a fellowship, which requires a lot more, or it adds on too. Now, you're a man of great purpose, so I imagine the addition of growing things, people, and businesses is probably who you are, naturally. But why did you choose, at this point of your life, to become over the fellowship? Tell us about the fellowship. Tell us about who you are.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Okay, well, I'm Eugene Taylor, and I start off saying Eugene Taylor because sometimes ministers
get lost in their calling and in their title. Before I'm Bishop Taylor, before I'm Apostle Taylor, before I'm Dr. Taylor, I'm Eugene Taylor. A guy from Baltimore, Maryland, a guy that's married to Diane Taylor, a guy that has three children. One is getting ready to turn thirty-two this year, one's turning thirty this year, and my little girl just turned twelve years old. I like to say that first because a lot of times ministers really don't understand their identity. And when you ask them about their identity, they tell you about their title. But I feel like first we have to know who we are as a pastor. Scripture, in Isaiah 46:10 said, God declares the end from the beginning. So we have to have clarity of who we really are before we really can walk in our purpose.
Victory Envue Magazine
Wow. God declares the end from the beginning. Do you make those kinds of declarations? It's the end of the thing. Are you making that about your church and your church growth?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
I make it about my church and my church growth. I make it about my life. I'm at a different season in my life. I'm at a season in my life where I look at everything, and one of the words that is really strong for me is holistic. That's a word that's close to my heart because I want to be faithful to God, I want to be faithful to my family, I want to be faithful to ministry. And I'm saying it in that order because there was a time when I was so zealous about ministry, I wasn't as balanced as I am now, but now I'm very conscious of that. God gave me a chance to start all over. If you listen to me talk about my children, there's a large span between the two I've got a 32 year old son, but I got a twelve year old daughter. So God allowed my wife and I to start all over again in our forties, and things change from your forties to when you were in your twenties, you look at the world completely differently.
Victory Envue Magazine
So the word holistic, you said it was family to God?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
I said, God, family, ministry.
Victory Envue Magazine
So when we talk being about holistic in the world, we talk about what we eat, we talk about this different kind of a balance, we talk about socially and that kind of thing. You chose three kind of different topics, which they all do run into the other topic. How did God give you that versus the worldly definition of holistic?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Because God is the head of my life. Everything I do, I don't do it because I'm a preacher. I do it because I'm a Christian. And they're two totally different things. The life I live, I live because I'm a Christian. The way I respond to my wife and my children is because I'm a Christian. A preacher, that falls under that. But if I stop preaching, I'm going to be a Christian for the rest of my life. So when I say holistically, I follow the order of God, the first institution that God had was the family.
Victory Envue Magazine
Was the family, yeah.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
So when I say holistic, if I'm talking about family, it deals with all of those things. When you're talking about your health and your tenure, it deals with all those things when you understand the order of God.
Victory Envue Magazine
Is holistic and holiness the same?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Holiness is a characteristic of God. The Bible says, be holy, for I am holy. Holy is a way we walk. It's a lifestyle. I grew up in what you call the holiness church. And in a holiness church, a lot of things they call holiness were not necessary holiness. They would look at what you wore, makeup and clothes. But holiness is a lifestyle. Holiness is a lifestyle.
Victory Envue Magazine
It's a lifestyle. Is it more about being pure or religious?
Definitely not about being religious. It's about being Christlike. And when I say Christlike, Godlike, Holy Ghost like. The reason I'm saying that is because the three are one. So when I talk about holiness, I'm following the example of Christ in everything that I do, in business, in ministry, and family, I consider God. And after a while, it's no longer a consideration, it just becomes life. Because the more you follow Him, you get more like Him. When I first came down, I came to Georgia. I've been in Georgia for many years. When I first came down, everyone used to say, I can tell you're from up north by your accent. But I wasn't one of those northerners that tried to hold on to the accent. My accent changed and I started talking like everyone down here, southern. And that's the same thing. When you walk with Christ, your accent changes. You don't talk like you talked in the world. You begin to talk like Him. You don't fight to hold on to that stuff, but you fight to be more like Him.
Victory Envue Magazine
So many people are broken. Many of us are broken. In fact, I don't know anyone that does not have some trauma and some drama. As a man that's holistic, what do you tell your people that are broken? How do you keep them motivated to become holistic?
I try to give them things that work. And one of the things that works for me is prayer. I talk a lot about prayer because some years ago, the Lord called me into prayer. A lot of times I'll use Psalms 91, he that dwelleth in the secret place. There's a difference between visiting and dwelling. And sometimes the reason that people don't have peace in their mind is because they visit the secret place and then they come out. But the promise that he has in Psalms 91 is to the person that dwells in the secret place. They practice the presence of God. The presence of God is a part of their realistic life. The Bible said the peace of God, that surpasses all understanding, which means that God will give you peace. And you don't even understand why you got peace. Everything around you could be tragic, but God will give you peace, for real peace, not a facade, not you pretending, but for real peace in the midst
of a storm. How was that done? How was it executed? Understanding that I live a life where I'm in the presence of God, that God's presence is a part of my daily life.
Victory Envue Magazine
So very recently in the city of Atlanta, there was an active shooter. He took out one person, wounded four. It was just devastating for the city. We see this every day all over the world. How do you keep your people from being fearful? You talk about dwelling. Psalms 91, he who dwells in this secret place but not visiting. How do you keep your people from being afraid to go to the grocery store? People have been murdered in the church, the school ground, at the neighbor's house. The guy in Texas went to the neighbor next door, shot up the family, the children. How do you keep your people from being fearful?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Eugene Taylor
I can't. I don't. I can't stop them from being fearful. I can tell them how to deal with the fear. To keep them from being fearful is unrealistic. The Bible said, God is not giving us the spirit of fear. That's all it says. It didn't say we didn't have it. It's just telling us it didn't come from God. So we have to know how to deal with our fears. The Bible says cast all our cares upon Him because fear is an emotion, and emotion is going to come. But the essence of what I teach and the essence of what I believe in, the essence of what I live, is that we trust in God, and we understand that he's our shelter, he's our fortress. We're putting our trust in Him. Are we goingto make wise decisions?
Victory Envue Magazine
So you are a teacher as well as a preacher, but you've been teaching on identity and the Holy Ghost and things that people can use for their daily living. Was that directed from the Holy Ghost?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
It was directed from the Holy Ghost. And I prefer to teach more than preaching. I grew up in a church where everyone was a preacher. Whether you were called to be a preacher, you could be an usher and you could preach. You could be a deacon at the church, you could preach. You could be a devil in there and you could preach. But the Lord spoke to The wise decision is also a part of putting our trust in me when preaching was real, real popular, and he told me, he said, I called you to teach, and I want you to realize that the environment that I grew up in, teachers were the guys that just couldn't preach. So they taught because they couldn't preach. But the Lord spoke to me and said, I called you to be a teacher
Him. But the Bible says, if any man lacks wisdom, let him answer God. He gives us wisdom for each and every circumstance.
Bishop
And I realized the strength of teaching, that teaching changes lives. I realized that teaching positions people to receive the things that they're supposed to get from God. So I love teaching. I preach. I preach, but I have a preference to teach. I love to teach. It's more gratifying for me.
Victory Envue Magazine
Yeah, I've noticed that you are a master teacher. You teach teachers. So for a person to teach teachers, they've really got to be advanced and then master that thing. You said when preaching was popular?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Yeah, especially Sunday morning, Sunday morning services. They wanted to hear a preacher preach. And during that time, the Lord was telling me, I'm calling you to teach. So that's the environment that I grew up in, the Sunday morning teacher was the boring person. The Holy Ghost was letting me know, I've called you to do that, and if you do that, you do it more effectively. I came across a man by the name of John Eckhardt some years ago, and I was talking to Apostle Eckhardt one time at the Life Center with Apostle Buddy Crum. And I was talking about how his ministry had impacted my life. I realized that this man could teach better than the average man could preach. And some years ago, I heard about him preaching a revival with another preacher. The nights that he preached, he taught. The nights that the other preached, the other guy attempted to preach. Everyone said the revival was so much better on the nights that Eckhardt taught versus the nights the other guy preached.
Victory Envue Magazine
I love Eckhardt. I interviewed him for the radio station.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Okay.
Victory Envue Magazine
Last year, he's phenomenal. And then I set up under some training with Ordinary People Institute. So I've set up under him two or three times. He is a phenomenal prophetic teacher. That's how I think most people see you, in that same light. People are leaving the church though pastor, and people are leaving the Christian faith. People are going into tree hugging, they believe in a god, they believe in the sky. As a preacher, as a teacher, and you're teaching opposing to that, how does it make you feel?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Hosea 4:6 says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Means they're destroyed because they just don't know. And with that being the case, this is a wonderful time for the teacher to step forward. But this teacher has to deal with each and every one of these teachings. They got to know how to teach to the Muslim. They got to know how to teach to the Hare Krishna. They got to explain to the Jehovah's Witness why we believe what we believe. If we're not equipped to do that, it's impossible for us to be effective in the 21st century.
Victory Envue Magazine
So we've been taught in terms of really, the Jehovah Witness, when they come to the door, don't let them in. You think that's right?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
What? I let them in
Victory Envue Magazine
Me too.
And when they come in, we sit down and we talk, and I explain my position, and they explain their position. Then they'll tell me they'll come back on next week and somebody else will come back next week, and then I explain my position and they explain their position, and they tell me they'll come back on next week. Then someone else will come back on next week and then finally I had one tell me, they said, I'm not going to say I agree with you, but I finally understand why you believe what you believe. He didn't have a response to what I was saying, so his religion wouldn't allow him to say, you're right. But he said, in all of my years of being a Jehovah’s Witness, I do understand what you believe. But my point is this right here, we have to be equipped. I used to teach a class called Cults and Comparative Religions, and I would teach the people how to deal with each and every religion that they would come across, how to talk with them, not to argue, because the Bible said, let us come together and reason, but
let's talk and see why we believe. We should be able to express why we believe what we believe and not because my grandmother said so.
Okay, let's talk about that grandmother that brings in a dynamic of family, dynasty, legacy. You have three children. Is it the heart for you that all three of your children would become teachers or preachers or in the same type of vein that you're in?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
No, it's my heart that all of them will follow Christ, and they follow Christ, and they walk out their own calling and their own conviction and what's on their heart. I don't want anyone preaching that’s not supposed to be preaching, I don't want anybody teaching that’s not supposed to be teaching. Because one of the things about the kingdom, there's so many different facets of ministry. If my daughter embraces marketplace ministry,
I'll celebrate her. Maybe she'll be an apostle in the marketplace, because there are such. One of the things that's lost in our churches is that we don't understand the five fold or what the five fold actually includes. So we think when we hear things in the scripture some kind of way, we automatically make it applicable to the church. The Bible says in Acts 17:17 that Paul was in the synagogues and in the homes daily. So what we have, we can't just contain it to the synagogue or the sanctuary, it's supposed to go abroad.
Victory Envue Magazine 14:55
But for a pastor, the greatest thing that a pastor can have is a secession plan. Wouldn't that be awesome if that was one of your children?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Yes, it would be wonderful if it was what they were called to do and if it was what they wanted to do. But it wouldn't be awesome if it's not what they were called to do, actually it would be tragic. It'd be catastrophic. They'd make a mess of everything that was built up. It has to be something that was on their heart. My father was a preacher, but actually I started
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Victory Envue Magazine
preaching three months before my father. My father started preaching in September of 1989.
I started preaching in June of 1989. I started preaching before he did. So what I'm saying is that's not always the case that you're going to follow, but if they follow Christ I'll be happy, that's what Paul said, follow me while I'm following Christ.
Victory Envue Magazine
As a little boy, did you have any inkling that God would take you so deep in his word, in his presence, in this bosom?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
They told me that when I was a child and I had no interest. I didn't want it. I didn't want to preach. I didn't want to be a preacher. Even after I got saved, gave my life to Christ, I didn't want to be a preacher. It's not that I hadn't thought about it. I had thought about it. And when I thought about it, I came to the conclusion I don't want to preach. My great grandmother grabbed me up when I was six months old, and she said, we don't have any preachers in our family. And she said, this will be the first one. She was born May 27, 1899. She is the one that set the trend for Christianity, as we know it in the holiness church, in our family.
Victory Envue Magazine
So because she made a declaration doesn't mean that it was going to be true.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
God showed it to her. Oh, yeah. God showed her that this will be the first preacher of our family. She had grandsons. I was a great grandson. I was the oldest great grandson. She said, this will be the first preacher. I just wasn't interested.
Victory Envue Magazine
What was your life before preaching? What did you do? Business in the world, sinful and spiritual.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
As a juvenile, I was a troubled youth and quite a bit of trouble in my youth, starting at 13 years old, just different problems. Growing up in inner city Baltimore. When I got out of school, I started going to school for medical technology, and then I didn't finish that. And then I started working, I worked at a couple of places. I was a manager in a restaurant. Then I started working in a place called Golden State Food. I became a labor rep, I mean a union rep there.
And then I started going back to school When I was 27 years old, I went to Metro Atlanta School of Biblical Studies, and I began to just study theology. Then I went on to get my undergrad degree, my graduate degree, and my doctorate in 2006.
Victory Envue Magazine
Wow.! You've done the full gamut. You're studied, you're well learned, you were exposed to the other side, but you chose to further your education and your knowledge to become a man that can teach, a man worthy of higher. How do you think that kind of pressure is for your wife? Many times we have these great male leaders and teachers, and then oftentimes your wife feels like, okay, I've got to measure up. How do you feel about that?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
I have the best wife in the world for me, and I think she has the best husband for her. A lot of times peo-
ple like to say I have the best wife, I have the best wife for me. I used to try to push my wife in a direction that she wasn't called to. My wife is more reserved. I was trying to push her to be this Co-Pastor. I actually installed her as the Copassor. Actually, she's the Co-Pastor of the church. But she wanted to come away from that title a few years ago and just go as first lady. But I was trying to push her in a direction, to be this woman preacher, and just push her and push her and actually was creating problems because that wasn't what was in her heart. She said, let me lead the women. Let me be who I'm supposed to be. And I realized they say that opposites attract. I realize that she compliments me perfectly. She's my other self. That's the best way I can explain it. She's the other part of me, the areas in my life. On the front, it looks like I'm strong It looks like I know this and understand this, but the truth of the matter is, without her, I'm lost in a lot of areas. Let me explain to you why. We've been married all of my adult life. I lived on my own for about two years before we got married. I started living on my own when I was 18, but I got married when I was 20, so I wasn't 21 yet I still had a little red line on my driver's license when I got married. All of my adult life, and she was young as well, I've developed with her So a lot of the things that adults would learn as they become adults, we were married, we were together, so I can honestly say she's my other self.
Victory Envue Magazine
One of the things that your wife taught us as women at this church, she really has taught us to strive for holiness, to have met and married you and not to chase after you. She's really led us in the point where we have to seek after God, first as women of God, and then God will send whom he wants. But so many women want to be married, they just want to be married. As a holy man of God, do you teach the women in your church to wait on God to be married? Oftentimes they say there's not enough men to go around.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
The Bible said, he that finds a wife, finds a good thing. And I found that to be true. I know in my case with her, I had to find her. I didn't know she was going to be my wife at first, but when the Lord spoke to me and said this was my wife, then I went and captured her and told her, look, I see us married. But I strongly believe that sometimes, because of a lack of the presence of men in our church, women settle. But it's not just in our
church, it's in our society. And a lot of times women settle and what happens is it'll give them a little gratification and satisfaction temporarily. And I've seen it. I've counseled them, I've married them, and their lives turn into a hell within three months after the wedding.
Victory Envue Magazine
So let's talk about this, in May, June, July and August there are a lot of weddings. You said you counsel, when you counsel married couples, what kind of things do you teach them to look for or how to conduct themselves? What does your counseling consist of?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
When I counsel a person who is getting married, I let them know this, you guys come from two different backgrounds. You are getting ready to come together, let's see you get ready to create a home. You come from one home, they come from another home. I tell him, you're going to do something all the way over here and she's going to want you to pull all the way on this side. I said, in issues, you've got to find a place in the middle. Another thing I tell them is that most relationships are damaged because of lack of communication. I say if there's continual communication, the problem can be resolved. I'm just giving you a quick run through. The third thing I talked to him about is the importance of friendship. I believe that your spouse should be your best friend. If your spouse is not your best friend, make him your best friend. And not just in word, legitimize it. Make sure that's the case, spend time together so that this becomes your best friend. I'm going to make sure she's my best friend. I'm going to make sure he's my best friend. Because you have a couple of dynamics there and this is the dynamic now, you don't just have a marriage, you have a friendship. And sometimes, unfortunately, there are things that I may do or say to my spouse that
I wouldn't say to my best friend. But now I have both of them in place and it makes me take both things into consideration. What do I mean when I say that? Sometimes in a marriage we'll take a spouse for granted. But when I also have that dynamic of the fact that this is my best friend, it kind of comes on the back end and it cleans up some of that overlooking and taking for granted.
Victory Envue Magazine
Wow, okay.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
And we're taken for granted because it's easy for us to get accustomed to somebody doing something. You're my husband, you should be doing this. You're my wife, you should be doing this. So what happens is an entitlement can be developed, but when it's my best friend, I realize you're not just doing this because you're my husband and my wife. You go the extra mile because of the relationship we have. We're friends and we love each other. We're friends, but we love each other.
Victory Envue Magazine
Have you ever counseled someone and said don't get married?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Yes.
Victory Envue Magazine
Really? Wow.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
And they got married.
Victory Envue Magazine
And it didn’t last?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
They got divorced.
Victory Envue Magazine
I was married and actually had two pastors tell me not to get married. And I did it anyway and it did last seven years, but it didn't last. I thought they were being crude. I knew that the puzzles didn't fit.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Yeah.
Victory Envue Magazine
And I guess like some women, we try to save people, but you can't save anybody. You can't even
save yourself.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Most of the time you have those situations. They're going to do it anyway, their mind is made up. But you owe them that in counseling.
Victory Envue Magazine
Fifteen years ago, people were interested in growing massive churches. Big numbers, big thing to have big numbers in the church, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 members. I don't think that's so relevant now. What happened?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Well, what happened is ,Jesus said this, he said, I saw them as sheep without a shepherd. And I know that we have that in some of our larger ministries, we have different people that work in the pastoral ministry. We should have that in all of our ministries But it's something about a local church Now, I want you to realize 90% of the churches in America are 250 or less So some people call them small churches, I call them local churches. And I also want to say that they're the majority. Something about having the ability to say that this is my leader, and I have a real relationship with my leader.
I'm not a face in the crowd, and if I need to, I can reach out to my leader. It's something about if I've got a death in my family, and I'm not having one of the associate pastors bury my mama, but my pastor is burying my mama. I was at a graduation Thursday, celebrating a young lady that goes to my church. Beautiful young lady. She goes to my church. She was graduating from Georgia State. Her parents don't go to my church. She has two other sisters, mother and a father, and they go to another church, and she told them, I don't want to go there. I want to go to this church. So she joined my church. She was graduating on Thursday, and when I walked up, her parents were there. I walked into the graduation, and her parents turned over and looked and said, wow, Pastor, I didn't know you were coming to graduation. They talked to one of my other ministers and said, it just meant so much to us that pastor would come to our graduation. I grew up in a Maryland church when I was a kid, they had about 350 people, maybe 400. But my pastor was Bishop T. R. Young. And Bishop knew who we were. Now, just let me talk a little bit, because I want to talk a little bit. Bishop knew who we were. Every New Year's Eve, Bishop would have a little paper bag for us with an orange, an apple, and a little candy cane in there. But
Bishop, we knew who he was, this was our father. And it just made me feel like I was covered. It's a different feeling from that than being one of 15,000 people or 20,000 people. I'm not saying anything negative about the megachurch, but that's not my aspiration. My aspiration is to see the church grow. And in my case, because we're kind of starting all over again, to grow even more. But I'm not trying to grow to be the next megachurch, because if I was set in the megachurch, I wouldn't be happy. As a matter of fact, I'd be miserable, because I need to touch the people. That's what I need. Some people don't need that, but I need that as a leader. I need to be able to look at somebody and say, I love you. I need to be able to look at somebody, and it's not some kind of funny feeling when I say, you look beautiful today. I need to be able to do that. That's what I need. And if I can do that I can pastor effectively.
Victory Envue Magazine
Absolutely. So sometimes, like yourself, in the local church, it's family. There's a dynamic of family versus other people. Is that difficult to manage?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Sometimes it can be. And what I do is I try to make sure it's understood because I have family in my church. But in church, all of the members are parishioners and we are family together. I can honestly say before God in heaven, from the time that I've started the church, I've never looked at a family member and said because of the relationship they had as a family member, that it takes precedence over the other members. I can honestly say that from the time that I've started until the time that I'm sitting here, the reason is because I was in a setting like that once before. So I'm extremely conscious of that. And I realized this is something we can't do.
Victory Envue Magazine
Has apostle Eugene Taylor. Not Eugene Taylor. Not Eugene the son. Has Apostle Eugene Taylor ever gotten mad at God?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Not mad, but I didn't understand. I went through a season of loss and I was disappointed about how things turned out. But I'm always a person like this when things happen, I look at myself, what did I do or what didn't I do? What could I have done to change the situation? That's just like a default. A default with me is, let me look at me. Let me look and see what did I not do? How could I have changed this? That's how I'm wired.
Victory Envue Magazine
What are the services that you provide to the community? Big churches do this, they do that. But I see as a small church or local church, you're doing the same thing they're doing. What are some of the things that you're doing?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
We provide housing. We are getting ready to open a women and children's shelter, but we've been providing housing for years. We provide housing to people that are in situations where they just need some temporary housing. We feed, we offer credit repair training for people's credit. We also offer resources where we can direct people to where they can get their health needs met. I mean, we've been doing it for years. We started
years ago feeding homeless people on the street, and we did that for many, many years. And it just evolved into what we're doing now. Right now we're working on a major project. It's called the Carnius Hope Women and Children's Shelter. And we're getting ready to open that up officially during the latter part of this year. But those are the things we do. We feed, we train, we offer housing, and we've been doing it for several years.
Victory Envue Magazine
You mentioned the word credit repair. How important is that for your members to have good credit?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Your credit is part of your wealth. Your credit determines how you live on this earth. You got to do a lot of teaching on the Holy Ghost. You don't have to be filled with the Holy Ghost to live on earth and to go to heaven. But if you're filled with the Holy Ghost, it makes living a lot easier on earth as a Christian. If you've got good credit, it makes living a lot easier in this world
versus having bad credit You don't have to have it to live, but if you don't, living is much harder. I know, because I've been on both sides
Victory Envue Magazine
Yeah, that's good. So you make this credit repair available to your people?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Yes, when the shelter opens up, we're going to implement all of these things into our women and children's shelter. It's a program that we started back in about 2017, but it's going to be a part of our women and children's reform and shelter, everything we do with the shelter.
Victory Envue Magazine
I had a meeting this morning with a friend of mine who's prophetic, a prophet? She began to give me a prophecy about some things in my life and over my life as a marketplace minister. And then I said, man, I don't know, I don't want to be inside the church, but this marketplace ministry thing can get difficult. It's challenging.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
It's necessary.
Victory Envue Magazine
It's necessary, it is. But, boy, Bishop, it's, it's gonna be challenging to be a marketplace minister, but it's challenging to be a minister inside the church, isn't it?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
But it's necessary. And that's what we are called to do. We are called to be salt and light, not just in the sanctuary. Once again, a lot of people miss Acts 17:17. It talks about how he was in the synagogue daily, but he was outside the synagogue, and the Bible says daily. But some kind of way we read the scriptures and we take all of the information and we bring it back into the synagogue, but it wasn't that way. The word apostle, it means to be sent, a “Sent one”. And it means more than that. If you actually look at it from the etymological position, it means to be sent with a specific purpose. So we can't just be sent. We got to know exactly what we're supposed to do.
Victory Envue Magazine
Are all apostles prophetic?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
I can't say all apostles are prophetic, but most apostles have a prophetic dimension in their ministry. And this is what I mean when I say that, the Holy Spirit is an apostolic spirit, prophetic spirit, evangelist spirit, pastoral spirit, and teaching spirit, because there's only one spirit, and that one spirit equips the people to operate in all of these offices. So, like with me, I'm not a prophet, but I have a prophetic anointing. And the Bible tells us that we can desire to prophesy, and if we desire that, the Bible tells us to covet spiritual gifts. If we desire that, God will increase that measure in our life. So there are a lot of apostles that may not be prophetic, but they could be.
Victory Envue Magazine
So many people are sick in the body of Christ. I mean, there's lots of heart disease, diabetes. My brother got a diagnosis the other day, he has an enlarged heart. Just on and on and on and on. Do you think that strengthens people or weakens people thinking that God doesn't heal anymore?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
He does heal. And the Bible says in Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Sometimes people look in the Bible and they say, that was a day of miracles. There's no such thing as the day of miracles. A lot of people don't realize the dispensation of the Book of Acts is the dispensation we're
in right now So if you're saying the day of something, that's the same day that we're still in. All God wants is some people to believe Him. Years ago, I began to pray for people to get healed. You should have a word that you're standing on. So when you're praying for people to get healed, you would think the Word would have something to do with healing. That wasn't the word that I was standing on. Or you would think the Word had something to do with faith. That wasn't the word I was standing on. I was in a ministry where I saw signs, wonders and miracles. And our pastor said that God is no respecter of persons. That's Acts 10:34. And in essence, what he was saying is that if God would do it for Him or with Him, he'd do the same thing for me. When I started praying for people to be healed, the scriptures of healing didn't come to my mind. What came to my mind is that God's no respecter of persons. I believed in the God in him so much, and because I believed in the God in Him so much, he told me that God would do it for me. Well, I believed in Him so much, I was silly enough to believe that God would do the same thing for me. In some kind of way, these people start getting healed and delivered. And I want to say to you, God will do the same thing with you. He's no respecter of persons.
Victory Envue Magazine
In closing, Bishop, your daughter is sitting here. What would you say to your daughter about her walk?
Bishop Eugene Taylor
I would tell her, you are my beautiful daughter. You're my prize. You coming into my life, changed my life. I'm talking, completely changed my life. I am concerned about you because I'm an older parent and I want you to be situated for all the days of your life. First thing I want you to know is that God is real. More than Him being real, I want him to be real with you. More than Him being real with you, I want to be real in you. I'm comfortable saying to you that you've looked at my life and your mom's life away from church. A lot of children watch their parents in the pulpit, but they see what it is when they get home. But I want you to follow our life. Follow the life that you see my wife live and see me live and realize that the same God we serve, you let him be your God. And in everything you do, you will have success if you trust in him. Secondly, I would say to you that one of the greatest gifts that God has given man, one of them is the ability to plan. Every move you make, you make it strategically, you think it out. Don't just jump into things. Don't just talk without thinking about what are going to be the repercussions. I like to call it playing the long game. Learn how to play the long game. If I do this, how will it affect this? If I say this, how will it affect this? If I talk too much with this, how will it affect this? Learn how to play the long game to be strategic and you'll win. Okay.
Victory Envue Magazine
I am talking to Apostle Eugene Taylor, Bishop Eugene Taylor, father Eugene Taylor, son Eugene, husband Eugene, pastor Eugene Taylor, Little Gene, a man that's after God's own heart. On behalf of Chryso Reign Television Network, we thank you for serving, we thank you for giving, we thank you for covering so many other fellowships.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
It's called the Kingdom Fellowship Assemblies International. It's a group of local churches. And once again, my heart is geared toward local churches, churches that can impact their community. It's not an organization, it's a fellowship. But the heart of the fellowship, it hinges on two words, relational and resourceful. We want to be relational, and we want to be resourceful. We want to be able to impact the people. I want it to be a spiritual fellowship, but at the same time, we want to be a resource to the people. The Lord has blessed us in such a short period of time. We've got ministries in eight states. We have affiliate ministries in Africa and affiliate ministries in Jamaica.
We're growing. We're preparing to go to Cuba. But it's an exciting fellowship, and this is a new day in my life. I can't even talk about it without smiling because we've got people that are coming in and this is a different kind of fellowship. I've been in ministry
for 33 years now, and I've been doing this for one year. I love it. I love it. I love it. To me it is the best fellowship under the universe. Kingdom Fellowship Assemblies International.
Victory Envue Magazine
And you're getting ready for what they call Convocation.
Bishop Eugene Taylor
Holy Convocation 2023, June 7th-June 9th. Listen, every road in the whole world, all seven continents, leads to Conyers Georgia. And they're going to be here June 7 through the 9th, and it's going to be a phenomenal time. For more information, visit us@kfaifellowship.org.
VICTORY ENVUE MAGAZINE SUMMER EDITION 28
Victory Envue Magazine
Praise the Lord. I am excited to be bringing a regular, every day, white collar worker to you today who's got some inspiration, who's got some revelation he wants to share. I'm excited to be bringing my baby daddy, half daddy, god-daddy person to you all. Excited. There's a long story behind that. In order to get that story, you will have to sub-scribe. Anyway, I have got an exciting guest. Well, he's not exciting, but he'll do in a pinch, right? He is a really great friend of ours, and he is notable. He is powerful. His reputation far exceeds anything that I could say about him, but I wanted to have an opportunity to talk about holi- ness in human hands.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes is a Director in Human Resources, and first and foremost, he is a Christian. So, I wanted to be able to bring some- body who can tell you from a human perspective what it feels like to be operating in the spirit of God, in a secular marketplace, in a secular society, in a culture that's always changing, how do you remain constant and consistent? How do you remain the same? So, I want to thank director HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes, for coming to spend this time with me today. Ernie is one of my hus- band's best friends. And like I said, he's our baby's godfather. I don't know what that means or what he does.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
I'm still trying to figure it out.
Victory
Envue Magazine
Right It looks good on paper Your kids got at least a godfather. I ain't never seen him kill no- body, but I assume if we needed him, he would
have our back. That's all I know. Ernie, thank you so much for joining us today and being a part of what God is doing for this season in Life Envue. Ernie is also going to be featured in our magazine Victory Envue, the men's magazine. Ernie, thank you for joining me today
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Terri Bea! Thank you for having me. I appreciate it very much. Nothing like having an opportunity to have a conversation with you
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I know, right? Is this not the greatest thing that has ever happened to you, ever? That's all I'm say- ing. Ernie, human Resources, you are the person that people go to get what? Explain that. What is your title? What do you do? Whyare you here? Why are you necessary?
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Sometimes I ask that question when I'm driving home at the end of the day.
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What is my purpose in life?
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Well, I think Human Resources has been a disci- pline that has expanded over the years, over the decades, in business from being administrative in nature to being strategic and evolving in all facets of life as it relates to someone's employment with us. Whether they're here for a short period of time, long period of time, whatever it is. Human Resources continues to be involved in the integral parts of looking at things like are there risks and issues involved with an employee relations situa-
tion. People come to us for guidance, they come to us for direction, they come to us for advice. They come to us to deliver, to share their concerns, their problems, their issues, whatever it may be. Because of the way HR is within an organization, if it's utilized correctly, it really is part of the lifeblood of the organization. It really helps people achieve and go beyond. It helps equip people with tools and resources, education and training, guidance and advice, whatever it may be, HR is there. And with the recent COVID pandemic it goes even a step further. When do you look at things like people desiring to work remotely more often, or to be remote completely? What impact does that have on the business and from an HR standpoint? Mental health issues are becoming prevalent and are so necessary to talk about in today's world? And how does HR play a role in providing tools, resources, education, guidance and advice in that arena for all employees involved? Whether they are the president of the company or the janitor who mops the floors at night, everyone has the opportunity or the need to be heard, to be seen, to be valued. And we want to make sure, as HR, that we work towards doing that on a regular basis.
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Wow, I wasn't expecting all that.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
The cue cards are helping me.
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Wow. How did you come up with all of that just on the fly? So, Ernie, you've got real lives in your hands. There was a lot of transitioning that had to
yourself to get the work done. Is it hard for people to come back to work? Are you finding a decline in people coming back to work full time?
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
From an HR perspective, you see it in several ways. One is you look at hiring people and looking to recruit people. People are looking for remote options or completely remote, or some type of hybrid option where they can work remotely and be in the office for a few days. That is still a popular trend, if you
happen, from working in the office from nine to five will, of what's going on with people who are look-
to working remotely, sitting comfortably on your couch half dressed, answering the questions you have to answer, and then watching whatever you
ing for work. And you're also finding companies are having to figure out how to balance that. The tradition has been that you go to a brick and
want to on TV afterwards. Did you lose a lot of peo- mortar office, you work in your office, or you go to a distribution center, and you work in that distribution center, that manufacturing facility, whatever it may be, and you're there. Your responsibility is to
ple or are people coming back? Because it's hard when you've been set up to be self-sufficient in that way, where you can just take care of yourself, trust
show up to work every day. Now, as the trend is evolving, people are saying, hey, I'd rather work remotely, or there's work that I can do remotely, and COVID kind of sped up that process, if you will. Companies have to figure out how to balance
ple to get the work done, but also understand that we may need to modify the everyday in the office approach or the eight-hour day or the ten-hour day. We may have to look at modifying those
Because people are just nasty. Before COVID people were just gross. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I ain't against people, I love people, my ministry is people. But without people you have no job. So, no matter how much holiness you that, how to still equip people, still encourage peo- have you still have to depend on God to be your source and your supply and he has to give you a way to encourage people to keep coming to work, right? Has it ever gotten to the point where you like, look, you all need to just come on here so I types of things. One, if we want to keep a valuable can get my paycheck? Or do you really have to say this is not about me individually, this is about the corporation, this is still about the business functioning, this is still about the big picture? Or is there any part of you saying, oh man, if they don't come back, then what happens to me?
workforce and two if we want to engage and empower our workforce, because that's what people are looking for. You are starting to see a trend of people going back to the office and companies saying, hey, we need people to start coming back to the office. Now, what the frequency of that is, whether it's every day or if it's a hybrid situation is
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
on their philosophy, on that company's culture. But yes, you are starting to see companies say, hey, we need people to come back to the office. And as we recruit and bring people on board, same thing. The expectation is we need you to be in the office, whatever frequency that is.
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dependent on each individual company. It depends Yeah, you have to strike a balance. I look at it as the work I'm doing, this is what I love to do. Basically, I've done for basically my entire career has been in human resources in one capacity or another. And what my goal is, and what I attempt to do is, show up for people and let them know that I care and that we care. As much as we can, we will help people achieve what they can and make the most out of what they're able to do. We have to
holiness and human hands portion of it. Basically, what you're saying is, in order for you to do your job, you need people wanting to do a job. Right? What makes HR necessary is that you have humans to regulate, to tell what to do. Basically, with this remote situation, and some of the remote situation ain't got nothing to do with COVID, some of us just got comfortable.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
We're comfortable. That's right, you got it, comfortable.
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If I ain't got to look at your face all the time, I ain't gotta worry about you eating my sandwich that I
So let me ask you this, let's just jump right into the hold people accountable to do certain things, of course, but within that is a lot of flexibility, a lot of room to really build people up. That's what I attempt to do, I build people up. People come to you with a list of problems, or one major issue, and what I found is a lot of people just simply want to be heard. They want someone that they can go to and talk to and share whatever it is, the concerns that they have. They may not even be looking for advice. They may not even be looking for someone to coach them through the situation. They just need you to hear them. I just need you to hear me. You look at the stories in the Bible, the number of stories where Jesus listened. He listened to people, whether it was the woman at the well or whatever it may be, he listened to people. put in the refrigerator. You know what I'm saying? And that was one way people were able to know that he cared and that he loved people by not only
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That speaks volumes to your human-ness right. Because in order for you to do what you do, you have to at least like humans to a degree. The Bible tells us, he charges us to love. And love is a whole heap easier to do than like because I can love you and run you over with my car, because it happens. But in the marketplace, you've got to be very careful how you express your relationship with Christ, right? So, with sickness and deaths and all of these things going on, I mean, there has to be something in you that says, oh, I'm a Christian. I want to be able to say, I'm going to pray for you. Do you have to finesse your faith?
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
That is a hard thing to do, and absolutely I think to some extent you have to. As you know, and as many people have talked about before, religion is something you just don't discuss at work Your faith, your spiritual faith, whatever it is, those are things that are still not as welcomed in the work environment as maybe some of the other things that have come to light that are more welcomed to discuss and to talk about. But yes, you have to figure out how to maneuver that, but know you're coming from the right place. And I think it's more where you're coming from, your heart and what your intent is. Whether you say it or not, you display it. And I think that's what people like me do. I'm sure there are many others out there who are doing something that they love to do, and it's all about serving and helping others. people in today's world, to me it says and means a lot And that's what I attempt to do in the secular world, is to serve others. One of the biggest influences in my path that I'm on and journey that I'm on currently has been John Maxwell. John Maxwell has his leadership, the books that he's written, the speeches that he's given when he moved from the religious world into the secular arena, his guidance through teamwork and leadership has really been impactful to me. I mean, it's been one of the best things that's happened in my life. And I followed his stuff for the past 20 years. I've been a John Maxwell advocate and supporter, and I love the stuff that he does, and he presents, because it hits home to me. It has that spir-
his actions, but also the fact that he listened. And for me, that shows up in what I do, I try to listen to people. I might try to give them some advice or some direction if they are open to it, unless it's an employee relation situation where that's my charge, to give advice and direction. But if it's a personal matter, I try to listen to people and offer some suggestions or some guidance as needed, but just to let them know I'm here and I care. And when you can extend that to because we are so fast paced. We've gone from a home cooked meal to some pills that we want to take to get all of our nutrition. There's nothing about slow cooked, home cooked meals that people enjoy anymore because they simply just think that they don't have the time. But when you can stop and listen to someone and hear what their concerns are, what's really in their heart, and then you can offer some guidance and some hope for them, that says a lot. And that's what I attempt to do every day, it's what I do.
itual Christian aspect to it, and it's being applied in a secular world. Even though it's in a secular world, it still has that meaning of drawing back to Christ.
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And human resources is a Christian concept. I mean, Jesus was very into being able to sustain yourself, take care of yourself, and provide for yourself and your family. So, he wasn't saying anything that you want, he says, if you need it, you ask for it in my name and I'll give it to you. But he understands you
ain't going to keep waiting outside for no bread to show up and no quails just to drop dead at your feet. Because personally, if it ain't wrapped in cellophane, I don't want any parts of it. I don't know why the birds are just falling out of the sky, and I'm supposed to eat that? Not me. Now, some folks are greedy like that.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
But whose hands touch those two fish and five loaves? You don't want that?
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It shouldn't have broken up that easily into so many pieces. No knife, no. Anyway, Ernie, what I'm trying to say is let's go back. Where are you from and what is your background? Because I'm pretty sure you didn't start off wanting to be in HR. I'm pretty sure you, like every other little boy, wanted to be a little fireman or a president. How did you start?
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
So humble beginnings, upper lower class, single parent family household Grew up in Cincinnati, OH, in Avondale and in Clifton
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That is kind of a rough area.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
That's right.
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I never knew you were from that area.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
See, I can't show that side. I also had a major reading comprehension problem growing up as a kid. I remember getting tutoring from different tutors because I just struggled to be able to read and comprehend what I was reading. I couldn't read a complete sentence without stopping until I was in ninth grade. That's how much I struggled. I struggled in taking classes all through the early years of my education, comprehension was just something that I just could not grasp, regardless of what subject it was. I could remember some facts about some things in history, I could remember formulas in math, but if you asked
me to read aloud and be able to understand what I was reading, I struggled with that. My mom, fortunately, got me the tutoring I needed. She was diligent on education. I mean, if it were not for her, I know I wouldn't be talking to you today. There's absolutely no doubt about it, no doubt In my mind. She was structured, I often called it. I lived in a military household, even though she wasn't in the military, because it was, you're going to do this, that, and the other These are the expectations, and you need to achieve those, and if you don't, we have issues. And she placed a high value on education, an extremely high value on education, and she knew that I needed help in certain areas, and she got me that help through the tutors that I saw over the years. And then from there, God put me on a path where I had the opportunity to meet great people like your husband, to be friends with great people, and to be able to learn from people. One of
the most influential people in my life besides my grandparents and my mom, was my boss at the place that I worked called Mr. Tuxedo. Paul Kelly was an extremely influential person in my life. Even to this day, I find myself saying some of the sayings that he showed me over the years when I worked there in high school and college, and just the impact that he's had on my life is a legacy that, whether he wanted to leave or not, he's left with me. And I carry it forward every day, and I thank him for that. Without those people who've come into my life, and teachers, and coaches, and guidance counselors, and friends and family, I wouldn't be here today. I know I wouldn't because I could have gone on different paths and in different ways, but God kept me on a path with its own challenges, but a path where I continue to move forward and be able to sit here with you today.
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What amazes me is that you turned out to be pretty good. The chips were stacked against you, but you turned out to be pretty good. I mean, you're devoted, you're loyal. You learned how to live in the system and not be conformed to the system. I mean, you're intelligent. You've got degrees out the wazoo. I would challenge you to rethink the company you keep, but if it wasn't for those little inconsistencies in our life, then we wouldn't appear to be human.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Exactly.
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What you're basically saying is you can be touched by somebody's infirmity because you know what it feels like to be infirmed.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
That's right.
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You know what it feels like to be broken. You know what it feels like to be hurt. So that's part of what that resource means, being a human with obvious struggles, and then struggles that aren't so obvious, because I would never have thought you had any. You think some things in the back of your head like, yeah, he got some problems, but I would have never thought that. And you're such a brilliant man and so well versed in all things relating to people, I think you can see that it's evident that people are your heart. If you had the opportunity, what would you say now to that little boy then? That little boy who had the issues and was trying to figure them out, do I want to be a thug, or do I want to be a human resource director? You own that divide. What would you say to him now?
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
I would say one, you're not playing in the NBA, and it's okay. You still can't jump, still have a bad jump
shot.
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Okay. Give it up, bro. Get a real job.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Yeah. I would say the other dream I had was I wanted to be a sportscaster. That was one of my goals in life, was to be a sportscaster when I was younger. And I would say to the younger me, be patient. You don't understand the journey that you're on. One of the sayings that I've heard that I think is so true is, "Life is understood backwards, but it has to be lived forwards.” You're going to be fine. Keep true to yourself. And I think that's something that I have attempted to do in every aspect of my life, is keep true to myself. I enjoy people. I love people. I started coaching basketball when I was 18 years old, right out of high school, and to coach basketball at that age and to be focused on helping younger players grow, develop, and improve, that's been a part of my life since I was eighteen. My JV coach, who was becoming the head coach at the time, asked me if I wanted to coach after I graduated. And again, you come across people who put things in your life that you didn't necessarily ask for, but God's positioning you. And that's exactly what happened to me. Had he not asked me to coach, I don't think I ever would have coached basketball. But because of my relationship with him and knowing him, trusting him, and him seeing whatever it was he saw in me, my potential, the rest is history. I've coached throughout my entire adulthood. And it's all been focused on helping players learn, grow and develop in a sport or in a discipline, if you will, that I enjoy being a part of so much. And it's just a way of giving back. And that's what I try to do. So,
to the younger me, relax, it is going to be okay. Stay committed to yourself. Don't forget that it’s the little things that are the most important things that matter, the most important things in life are free and understanding that.
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So, you've never been afraid to live. You've never lived in a vacuum. You've always been able to reach Even if you didn't know if you were going to get it, you at least reached for it
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Yes, absolutely. Something that just came to mind is that we talk about people putting God first, but some people put other things in their lives to help them grow. I'm, by nature, an introvert. Put me by myself at home or with a friend or a couple of people, and I'm good. I've never been one that's been charged up to go to a party. Difference between an introvert and extrovert. The extrovert gets charged to go to the party. The introvert is exhausted just thinking about going to the party. And that's me. I'm by nature an introvert. But what I've learned, over the course of my adult life, is that I do things that are probably
more along the lines of the personality type of an extrovert. I have to put myself in those situations because of my love and care for people, it supersedes my introverted nature And to coach, to be in front of a group of people that want you to help them learn, grow, and develop, and you wanting to make sure they are successful in learning, growing, and developing, and that they evolve as a human being, that is a major responsibility to have. And it's the same way in the secular world with human resources. The responsibility that you're given, to whom much is given, much is required. And for me, that's how I look at it. And I have been given much, so I'm required to do much with it.
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That's excellent. Jesus had a lot of moments where he had to go off by himself. He had to steal away by himself. He had to get up on mountains and cross rivers, because I know these jokers are draining. But his compassion for the people, whenever he got around the people, he had compassion for the people and their infirmities and their sicknesses and their weaknesses and their frailties. And he looked at them and he looked beyond their faults and saw their needs. Wow. How much greater work are you able to do? You're just like your father, you're just like your elder brother, you're just like our Savior, you're just like Jesus. And so, it's a job that I'm sure you don't take lightly. I'm sure there are days when you're like, these folks are crazy. And yeah, I'm about to do some remote stuff myself. What do you do again with holiness in human hands? Has there ever been something in you? And I won't tell your boss, this is just between you and I, doesn't get any further than this room? Has there ever been a moment where you thought, I just can't help some people.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
One of the things that I've struggled with throughout my life has been self-confidence. It's something that even to this day, at times, I struggle with having self-confidence, questioning myself about certain things or certain things that I'd
like to do or want to do or need to do, and I question myself about it. Sometimes I lack that confidence. And I know it goes back to being a kid and being an introvert and struggling in certain areas in my life So, when I work with people and I see that it is a challenge to make a connection, to make a breakthrough, it does get exhausting, and there are times where you're just like, you know what?
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I can't help you next.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
I can't help you.
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You're tired.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
When the student is ready to learn, a teacher will appear, right? And the student is not ready right now. For me, and I think for a lot of people as well, when you talk about mental, even the mental health things that people are working through and with today, as you mentioned, Jesus took time to be by himself. At times he had to replenish to get what he needed to deliver to the people. And I think for me, that's what I have to do at times as well, is just trying to find ways that I can do things that help me recharge. And people have to do it as well to take care of themselves. That's part of being true to yourself, which is one of the values I try to live by, is to be true to myself. And part of that is taking self-care and taking time, not in a selfish way, not in an egotistical way or whatever it is, but just to be able to take care of myself so I can give back. If I don't have a sandwich, I can't give you a sandwich. So, I need to have a sandwich so I can give it to you. But if I don't have it because I haven't done the work to get it or to take care of it, then I can't give it to you. We both won't have a sandwich at that point.
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I wasn't going to go there. Very sensitive area, me and you, and sandwiches because I'm above all that now. Okay. Anyway, what would you con-
sider your most significant achievement in human resources, in being a resource to humans? What would you consider your most significant achievement?
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
I would say, this is almost like a total contrast to what I just told you about the lack of selfconfidence, I would say I have not been afraid to take calculated risks in my career as an HR person. What I mean by that is not in looking at how we handle a particular situation, because I think there's a stream of consciousness and values that you have to process through and look at the localities and the exposure and all that kind of stuff. But as far as me and my development as an HR professional, I have not been afraid to take risks and do things. Sometimes people can be comfortable and sit in their comfort zone and be there for a while. Where I'm like, okay, what about this over there? And what about that?
And how do I learn this and how do I move to that? I'm ready to take the next step. I have not
been afraid in my career to do that, and I think that has helped me. Have I had some situations where you might say you failed or that it wasn't as successful as you thought it would be? Absolutely. I have experienced that. I have experienced failure. I've been laid off from a position. I can remember being laid off, and I had to go to dinner with my son and celebrate his birthday that night and what that meant to me and the impact on my family.
And it happened. But do you know what?
One door close, another one opens. That failure, to me, is fertilizer to learn from it, grow from it, and to better equip yourself. So that's been, I think, my most significant accomplishment, being able to just continue to learn, grow, develop and challenge myself to take opportunities when they present themselves. And it makes sense.
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You're just so full of nuggets and it's funny that your heroes, you are somebody's hero right now. They're hearing something from you going, wow, I didn't think of it like that, or I didn't look at it like that. So, Maxwell ain't got nothing on you, Bruh. You're going to be getting your book. You're going to be listening to your tape in a minute.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes I hope so.
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I'm so glad you are here with me today, sharing from your abundance of experience in the human resource, in the marketplace, but still embracing your relationship to Christ, which is still very important. I mean, you're out there touching human beings every day. You're exposed to them. You're exposed to these various cultures, these countercultures, these mindsets, these worldviews. You've
got all these different things coming at you every single solitary day, but, oh, what a thing. The Bible tells us to be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Understanding that even though you're walking on the ground, you're walking on natural ground, you're standing on natural places, you still have a responsibility to carry, naturally, a cross. You still have relationships, religion. Christianity is very personal, but it's not private. It's not something that you have to hide, or you should have to hide. What do you want to be remembered as or remembered by? If you could pick your legacy, how would you want your kids, your grandkids, your great grandkids, to remember or to know you?
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Good question. Good question. First, let me say as an HR person, I'm not out touching and exposing people.
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Okay? He don't touch I'm just going to have to call him on the phone He ain't touching or exposing anything Okay, we got that cleared up.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Okay, just put it out there Just want to make sure that everyone knows that is not me
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Okay, go ahead. We got it all cleared. I'll even put a little tickler on the bottom. He does not expose, and he does not touch. But your wife Rachel has no problem fighting for her husband lol!
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
All right, appreciate that.
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I'm your girl. I'm always going to be your
girl. Go ahead, I got you.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
No, but legacy wise, that's a heavy question. That is a heavy question filled with a lot of thought about what do you want to be known for? It's what's truly important to you and in your heart, what you try to live every single day? You talk about leaving a legacy, whether it's a financial legacy, or possessions, or whatever. What I'd want my kids to know is that one, their dad loved them, through and through. They are so important to me. Whether they were two years old or twenty years old, they're so important to me. And I'd want them to know that I lived every day, or tried to live every day, in my adult life focused on trying to make their lives and others better. At the end of the day, that's what it's about.
I can remember when my son was born and he was my first born, and I remember holding him in my arms at the hospital and I remember crying, obviously tears of happiness, but I remember the soundtrack or the voice from God playing in my head that says, Now It's No Longer About You. It's no longer about you. And that has resonated with me and what I've tried to do and how I live my life. I'm not perfect at it. There are times when I'm sure I can be selfish, when I've seen that happen, I've recognized it, but I know that every day I try to live for others, my family, my friends, people that I can hopefully have some impact and influence on. Or just showing them how to live a life that's designed and built around others. And like I said, from holding my son when he was first born to today, that message just continues to resonate in my head. That's what matters.
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Oh, man.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
And, you know, it shows up in so many ways. Certain things I try to do just to help other peo-
ple. Whether it's listening to them, as I've mentioned before, whether it's offering some piece of advice or counsel, or whatever it is from that standpoint, both in the secular world and in my private life. My business and private life, through some of the consulting that I do, to the coaching that I do as well, I try to understand people and offer advice to them that will help their situation or help them. The focus is for it to come from a good place. And sure, I've struggled with trying to follow the money tree, or wanting to follow the money tree, or desiring to follow the money tree at times and making bad decisions related to it. And God, you can't serve both money and me at the same time, is what he's saying And I figured out that chasing money didn't bring happiness to me. I'm sure it might bring happiness to some people. It doesn't bring happiness to me. What brings happiness to me. And what I want people to know is that I love helping people. And I try to show up every day and do that in some way, shape, or form.
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And in doing that, he makes a way for you. He makes provision for you. He promises to protect you. He promises to give you peace that surpasses your own understanding. He promises to guard your heart and mind and he promises to give you sleep. He says I give my beloved sleep. When they rest in me, I give them sleep. You don't have to worry about how it's going to happen or how it's going to get done. You just know this. You know that he has favored you because he has not allowed your enemies to prevail over you.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Absolutely.
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You are doing good work because you've been given a good work to do. Right. He didn't give you anything to half do or anything that couldn't be done.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Exactly.
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He equipped you completely and totally to do what he has called you to do.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
Absolutely.
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Director HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes, I Am So Grateful that you have shared this time with me today. And it went by so fast, too. I'm like, wow, okay. Is that how we're going to do things? Right? I'm so excited that you stopped by. I'm so excited to have you here. I'm so excited to know that you're out there doing what you can do to encourage people. I'm so glad that if I ever need a
job, I can come to you and be like your brother sent me out again. He talked about, I got to earn a real living. He's tripping right? I can come to you, and you can hook me up. Let me do this remote thing. Come on, come in when I feel like it. You can just hook us up.
But I love you dearly. I love you so much and I'm so grateful for you and I'm so thankful that we have you and you've been such a blessing to us. So, I'm excited that you will spend this time with us. I'm grateful that you're in Victory Envue. So those who don't get to see you can read about you in our men's magazine. So, I'm excited about that. Ernie, can you leave us with just a few words of encouragement? I know you don't like to talk, and I know you don't want to. You are all shy and stuff. But if you don't mind just leaving us with a few words of encouragement.
HR Director, Mr. Ernie Hayes
You know, one of the things that I think is so important for me, it helps me, is to get grounded daily in prayer, talking to God, having a conversation with God, sharing your heart. He knows your heart, but you are sharing it with him speaks volumes. Knowing that you don't have all the answers and he's not expecting you to have all the answers. He will provide and he will guide your way if you open your heart, and you listen and you learn and you follow. I wouldn't be here today if there hadn't been influential people in my life. People that God placed in my life, or whatever the circumstances were, the happenstance of me getting to have an opportunity to be around that person and learn something from them or to be educated by them. And throughout your life, surround yourself with a few people who are true friends, who are true family.
People you can come and talk to and share whatever you need to share and have that confidence to know that they care about you, they love you, and they're looking out for your best interest, just as much as you are. By that, you really become a fan of someone who looks for their success and wants to be successful, it becomes bigger than you. So, prayer is important. Having that confidence, whether it's your spouse, whether it's your best friend, whether it's both, whatever it is, having somebody you can talk to, truly talk to, that you know that they care and support and love you, and then getting about your father's work, of being about other people. At the end of the day, that's what really matters.
It doesn't matter in my opinion. It doesn't matter how much money you make or where you live, what kind of car you drive or what clothes you wear. It's about, are you helping people? Are you helping people live better lives in all ways, shapes and forms? Because that, at the end of the day, to me, is what matters, and that's what being a Christian is about in my heart and what I try to do every day.
VICTORY ENVUE MAGAZINE SUMMER EDITION 42
Victory Envue Magazine
I have with me a young man who is doing old people things. He is out there working. He's out there prospering. He's out there displaying favor. He's out there living this grace filled life. I want to introduce my audience to Brandon Halliburton.
Brandon, what do you do? I know you're a valuable member of the Original Glorious Church with our mama, Dr. Bishop Bernita Wright, and you're a proud papa. You're a powerful man of God. You are instrumental. You're the head of your wife's heart and the house. What else do you do? What else do you have time to do?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Well, I wear a lot of hats, to say the least. I'm an IT director at the Franklin County office on aging. So I've been there for about almost two years. Have a long history, well over 15 plus years, in IT. Outside of that, I have my own graphic design company, or more of a brand strategy and graphic design of websites and things like that, called Graphic Blueprint LLC. I've owned that since about 2012. And outside of that, I'm just very active in my church, in the organization, locally, regionally, and nationally. So there's a lot of roles that I fulfill that I don't know if we have time to go through. But, yeah, I wear a lot of hats, but I enjoy it all. My goal is really to use what God has given me to further the kingdom and be a blessing.
Victory Envue Magazine
Where are you from originally?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Columbus, Ohio. Born and raised. Proud Buckeye.
Victory Envue Magazine
Nothing else? You couldn't have embellished a little bit? You couldn't have said from the hood out of L.A. or something like that?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
People think Ohio is country, it ain't country. It depends on where you go. But, yeah, central Ohio, born and raised here. Two great parents did everything they could to make sure me and my sister had everything we needed. And there were times that we struggled, but they didn't tell us. So, God really blessed them, even through hard times, right? Yeah, man. I'm just an average dude from Columbus.
Victory Envue Magazine
Shout out to the moms and pops that make it do what it do.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
That's right.
Victory Envue Magazine
It's not easy, it's not easy being a black man. And it's not easy raising a black man in today's society, right, in this culture where you have to wrestle between being strong and showing your feminine side, what do you think about those issues where this new age is saying that men have to be more sensitive, need to pull more on your Eve than your Adam? Where are we at with that?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
For me, I think the thing that gets me is if you're a man, be a man. I just think we need more of a presence of having strong black men who love God and are strong in their stance in terms of what the Bible says a man should be. And that's the way that I feel. I didn't grow up in a church household, but I went to a little Methodist church with my mom every so often. But my dad was a very consistent male role model in my life. So where I knew that looking at him and my mother, I was like, yeah, I want to be married one day. I want to have kids. My grandfathers were strong men And it's just something that when you have a strong man, it impacts not just the home, but the community And I think there's a lot of mess out there that's influencing what a man should be. But as for me, in my house, we're going to serve the Lord, and this is what I want. This is what we're going to do.
Victory Envue Magazine
And if you don't want to cry, you ain't gotta cry. Some of us women cry too much, you know what I'm saying? You ain't gotta cry just because they say, prove you care. Prove you are sensitive by crying. I would fight you, too, if you cried all the time.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
I think men should cry. I think there's a stigma around that.
Victory Envue Magazine
If they hurt, if it hurts, yeah, if you just took a bullet for your family or something like that, but not because your team lost or because you can't find your other shoe.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
No, I think the thing about men is that we carry
a lot of inner pain and hurt that if we don't exert it properly, it influences those around us. And I think my dad was a great example. He wasn't like a crybaby, I didn't see my dad cry until he got saved. I don't know what it was, but something broke in him that let me know, oh, this is okay It's okay to let it out We just have to find the right avenue for it.
Victory Envue Magazine
Yeah, I'm all with that, as long as it ain't every single solitary day
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Oh, my goodness.
Victory Envue Magazine
You better chill with that crying stuff, man.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Listen, my wife would treat me a different way if I was crying all the time She don't play
Victory Envue Magazine
I don't even like my sons crying Look, when my babies, my sons were growing up, I'm like,
is this, Brandon?
Mr. Halliburton
You play too much.
Victory Envue Magazine
Tell us about your business. Tell us about your entrepreneurial spirit. Where does that come from? Did dad own his own business and he passed it down, or are you a first generation business owner?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Yeah, I would be considered a first-generation busi-
okay, I didn't hit you that hard. Calm down, you ness owner. So, both my parents worked in the govweeping and moaning and gnashing your teeth. What ernment. My dad worked for the county, and my mom worked for the state. And then my whole business really came out of a need. When I was in college, I took some design courses. I really wanted to get a degree in communication, like visual communications. And I didn't graduate in that, but eventually I still honed those skills of design. I spent some time in Orlando, at the Disney World internship, which kind of intrigued me a little bit about design, and that kind of catapulted me forward to where I started doing design work at my current church. The pastor at the time, Dr. Wright was the assistant pastor, allowed me to experiment. They allowed me to design flyers. And word got out that, hey, there's this guy that
makes flyers, and flyers evolved into logos, logos into websites. And I took a leap of faith in 2012, and I said, there's something here that I can help fill a need. And the rest is history. And I've been fortunate to help people in the US and in the UK. And just really help people, not just churches, but businesses and entrepreneurs.
Victory Envue Magazine
How does that translate into ministry? I mean, what area of the church is being edified when you use your gift? Because you and I are very much alike, we're both very creative spirits. And I am all about the media, all about media. And God uses every area of the giftings that he gives. Like, he picked up the scraps of fish after he fed the three thousand. Right. He didn't leave anything behind. So, I believe there's every area that he uses, there's nothing that he does not use, from media to public relations, to IT. He's a visual artist. He is a profound, prolific speaker. Right. So, all of these things he cares about. How does what you do translate into ministry?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Well, I think we're living in a time where representation matters, and we see that we live in a very visual society. And even in history, there were times where certain things, like technology, let's say television, were demonized, right? Television was demonized. There were certain things that had a stigma associated with it because people didn't understand it. And so now we're living in a time where we understand that we have to reach people where they are. And yes, we were on the street corners. We're going into the city. We're going out in the community. But there is, I don't know how many people in the world, like 8 billion people in the world, and probably around two to three billion are active on the Internet. So why isn't that the field where we should be going after these people? Where my gifts come into play is that I want to make sure that everyone understands that the gospel doesn't need to be changed. The word of God doesn't need to be altered or made pretty. But it's a matter of your ministry. You may have a specific demographic that God has called you to reach. And so, you have to understand that you do have a brand. I don't think churches understand branding in that way. There are some churches that are very youthful, so they go after youth. Some are more inclined to families and targeting families or men or jail ministry. And so it's about what God has called you to do and then communicating that. And so if somebody comes to your church that's
old, but you have a very youthful church, of course we're reaching the lost, that's what it's about. But what has God called you to do? And then how do you position yourself in a way to speak to those people? And I think that's where it gets lost. And I think people don't understand branding in that way. And I'm all about excellence, man. And, you know, my pastor, I attribute a lot of my growth to her and our former pastor where they were all about excellence. How do we do what we do at the highest level and have a standard of excellence? And I think specifically, black churches tend to just cut corners. And it bothers me. It bothers me a lot. And I think that we have a ministry where we don't want to cut corners. We want to make sure we're positioning, communicating who we are, whether it's a flyer, a logo, website. It's all for the glory of God, but it's also about how you are positioning yourself to reach those people.
Victory Envue Magazine
Culturally and historically, black churches know how to do church. The building, the edifice, the walking in choir, strutting down the aisle, we know how to do all of that. But were we ready for the pandemic? Were we ready for the streaming service? Were we ready to get on the Internet? Were we prepared to launch out into a depth that is foreign to us as far as online services and making stuff look good? Were we ready, do you think? I know this is just your opinion, but was OGC ready? Were they ready to get out there and be more visual, less hands on? Because, you know, holiness is hands on. We all about laying hands. It don't translate as well on the big screen, you know what I'm saying? That spirit kind of anointing don't come off as pure as it does in person. Were we ready for the pandemic?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
I won't say exclusively black churches. I think it really exposed that there's an emphasis on live streaming and access. And for our church, we were already live streaming, but we learned that there's something about having a quality experience, both virtual and in person. So we invested into that once we realized, now we're on Chryso TV, now we've been live streaming from our balcony from a cell phone. But there's still more of an engagement that needs to take place. And I think a lot of churches that I know are used to doing the same thing,
trying to get new results. And that, by definition, from my understanding, is insanity. How do you expect to do the same old thing and try to reach a new demographic or try to reach a new audience? You're doing the same things, you're not trying new things. And I think it exposed a lot of us. I thank God for our church because we were able to invest into that. Now, who would have thought, five years later, that we would have virtual members, people who joined our church virtually, right? And if we didn't have this technology, we would still be in the same place. Now we're reaching people in Finland and Zambia and all these other countries that we are not physically able to go to. And I think we get used to thinking, okay, we're just a local church. No, you're a global ministry if you try, we're not actively trying to do that, but God is allowing us to position the ministry, the word of God, in front of these people across the world. And I could talk about this for hours, but I think it did expose us. But for us, it was a time to be aware of, okay, now we need to pivot. We need to pivot because it's about quality.
Victory Envue Magazine
Well, the reason why I stress black churches is because I've never been white in my life, ever. So some things just kind of stick out when it's us. Do you know what I'm saying? I never, ever spent as much time watching the news as I do now.
now when they say somebody got shot or somebody got killed or somebody robbing or somebody shooting, I don't even see what happened. First I gotta look to see, is it us? And then if it's us, now, I'm like, man, dang, why we got to be out there doing crazy stuff? You know what I'm saying?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton Right.
Victory Envue Magazine
It seems to do something different when it's coming from your house. When it's coming from your culture, because it makes me more upset if I go to a McDonald's and they don't put my whole sandwich in a wrapper and they black folk. You know what I'm saying? I didn't come all this way to buy a bag of bag fries. Put my fries all the way in the little cup. I don't ask for much. Right. But it bothers you more, I think, when it's us, because we serve a God that does not consider the race, the sex, you know what I'm saying? When we act as if we were given less by a God who has everything, it just kind of makes you feel some kind of way. We were given a measure of grace, a measure of faith. He gave us everything that we needed to live this life of Godliness and Holiness. Why do we act like we just can't get off the boat and go to the next thing, right? Why do we act as if we can't? That's why I said the black church, because a lot of black churches are being run by older people who have that stuck, stayed, staunch conviction. God changes not. But it's not that God doesn't change. He says His Word doesn't change, so his methods change. We know God to be a methodical God who changes his methods and changes the way he does stuff. Jesus laid hands on one person and spit in somebody else's face to bring about the same thing. Right? I myself personally would have probably fought Jesus about the spitting, but that’s me though.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Can I add to that real quick? Not the spitting. Just to touch on that, I think also it has to do with a lot of churches, some of the smaller churches, don't know what they don't know, and I think they don't
have the skill set. They don't have the people or the volunteers in the church who have a passion for that. So when something like this comes up, it's more of them not understanding and somebody really positioning it in a positive way. Thankfully, our church is very progressive in a sense of us finding ways and strategizing, how can we reach the lost? How can we get the word of God out there? Because there's a strong emphasis on souls. Jesus never had any fliers, right? So that shouldn't be the emphasis for a ministry. It's really about what is our intention? Does it glorify God? Are we actively trying to pursue and win souls for Christ? And I think when we have that understanding, that can be translated into technology.
Victory Envue Magazine
And the Bible is very specific about letting our light shine so that it might glorify God, right? And part of what Chryso does is, I creatively carry the cross of Christ, right? And I try to tell people when they come on to the platform, to the program, to the network, your sheep know your voice, and your sheep are not community. They're worldwide. They're global. It's a global church. God is not after your president. He's not after your mayor. You know what I'm saying? He's trying to win the lost at any cost throughout the world. He said, Go out into all the world preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Brandon, what is your hope with your business? I mean, right now you're local, but you've touched some international branches. What's the next thing for you?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
For whatever reason, I think now is the time to really reach into the ministries of the churches and the nonprofits and things like that. There's a story there that these churches are trying to articulate but they can't do it, they don't have the resources to do that. So I think right now that's where my heart is, and even in our organization, being a part of committees and things like that, to really further the organization and the churches in the organization, because knowledge shouldn't be siloed. It shouldn't be kept to ourselves. God gave me this understanding and this knowledge that I'm trying to spread out, because people really need to understand that their church is not just a local church, like you said, it's a global ministry. But it really boils down to your mindset. And I want to make sure that I can help ministries do that. I do active community involvement where I meet at a local community, local theater to help
artists develop as well. So I do workshops and things like that because it's all about giving back So the name may change. I don't know, the brand may change for my business, but right now it's just how can we communicate who you are, whether as a personal brand or as an organization or a church? How can we get that out and how can we articulate it in a way people can grasp it and run with it? And I think that's the next leg here.
Victory Envue Magazine
And intelligence should not be afraid to be intelligent.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton Right.
Victory Envue Magazine
It's okay for you to be smart. It's okay for you to know. It doesn't make you a sinner because you know how to plug something in, right? And how to make money and how to spread the news and
how to use these, not New Age methods, because God created all things I mean, science and religion can work cohesively together They're not two separate entities. God knows what we need to get to the next thing, right? To the next level. So I heard you say something about working in the community and the arts. Did I misunderstand? I did hear that, right?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Yes.
Victory Envue Magazine
Okay, share. What kind of stuff do you do? Like, you're a producer?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
No.
Victory Envue Magazine
You mixing?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
No, not at all.
Victory Envue Magazine
Do you have a tape on you that we can listen to that you are dropping, are you a rapper?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Listen, my wife said, I ain't got no rhythm, so I got a good church two step, and that's it. There's a theater in Columbus called the Lincoln Theater, and they have something called an Incubation program which takes various artists and creatives, and they really take them through like a year long process of cultivating their gifts, showing them different areas of business, how to have insurance for your business, life insurance, understanding financial stuff with your business. And then, my portion is more around how to develop an online presence, because there's a big emphasis on social media, developing websites and things like that. So I'm an active participant in that and I've been so for the past, I don't know, three or four years now, and it's been a great experience. I've also served on a nonprofit board in Ohio called the Kingdom Image Awards. They changed the name to Kingdom Image Arts (KIA), I served on that for about six years or so, in the area of media and marketing. Just things like that are what I've done.
Also from an IT perspective, I was responsible for creating an IT program where literally I took IT professionals from the state of Ohio and took them into high schools to show different areas of technology so that these students could actually talk to people about, hey, how much do you make? What kind of education do I need to go into, things like that. And so those are just some examples. And going back to your previous question, I think I also would want to go back into the high schools because I think they're at an age now where they know what they want to do, they just don't know what it's called yet. And a lot of the emphasis is on YouTube and stuff, which is fine, everybody wants to be a YouTuber and things like that, but let's find a way to help you develop some income so that way you can do your YouTubing and things on the side. But what is a practical business or some kind of career you can go into to fund that? And I think that's something that I would love to do.
Victory Envue Magazine
You're a very young man, but you've got this very old mentality. You got this old mentality because that's a generational thing, to take care of your family, to earn money, to provide, you know what I'm saying? That's a generational thing. That's not something you're going to get off the cuff. That's not something you're going to get out of high school. That's something that somebody's got to put in you and put on you and push you. That's what it means by the “train up a child in the way that they should go”, you know what I'm saying? You ain't going to get that reading a comic book, okay? I'm saying you have a very old spirit as far as being taught, being molded. You're not new. You know what it means to be a provider, to be a father, to be faithful and to be somebody who has a purpose? You know what I mean? So let me ask you, what is success? Is success dollar bills? You're a young man. Of course you want to have things and you want to look like your business is doing what your business is supposed to do. But is success money? With you being a role model for not just this generation, but for the Gen Z Church. The church, the people that are coming up thinking that if you love God, that means you got to be broke. And if you love God, that means you can't want nothing and you can't need nothing. What does success look like to you?
I think for me, it's about when you walk into a room, what are people saying about you? I think, really, to me, money is good, we need money. But for me, it's about relationships. I have a friend, his name is Ryan Coates. He wrote a book, "A Man Who is Rich in God," and really the emphasis is on a man who is rich in God, is he really loved by his family, in his sphere of influence does he have an impact? And I think for me, I focus more now, more so than ever, really on my impact on those who I can touch and talk to. You never know what impact you have. Sometimes when somebody passes away, they don't focus on the money, though they may be rich, they
don't focus on titles and positions. And even when we stand before God, one day, all of that's not going to matter. At the end of the day, it's about what did I do to bring God glory? How did I impact my immediate family? What do my children think about me? And I think for me, you say I have an old soul, but I think I just had examples in my life where I saw what a man was and I'm like, that's what I want. I think a man, when coming home to a wife that loves you and children that love you, that's invaluable. I know people that are really struggling in life in different areas, man. But I thank God, because I’m coming home to laughter. It's the little things like that. Being able to pray with your family, being able to play with your children, these are all things that, to me, are success. I do want to provide for my family, but I don't want to sacrifice my time with them just to get a paycheck, because I think there should definitely be a balance, because I will leave my job if my wife is in the hospital, you hear me? I will leave. I will put my PTO in. I will do what I got to do to make sure my family is alright, no matter who it is. God, family, and everything else, that's what I live by.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Victory Envue Magazine
So presence is power. Being present, being present in the moment is power, being faithful. Because the saddest thing to me in the world, the saddest thing to me in the world is for us to lose our black men the way we're losing them at this rapid pace, this rapid number. It's almost as if somebody told them killing was the cure. I've never, ever seen it in my life. But the thing that's so devastating and so painful to watch are the things that they leave behind, the people they leave behind. I'm like, who told you that when you leave, sunshine comes in? I mean, who told you that we are hiding happiness in the closet until you die? Now I got to live with the misery of missing you, the pain of trying to explain why you chose the street over us. You know what I'm saying? And even if you don't die, you go to jail. Jail is death. You ain't voting in there. You're not providing. You're not babysitting. You're not going to any PTA meetings. If God called you today, if he called you today, if he said Brandon, because that's how the Lord sounds. He got a lot of bass in his throat and stuff. He'd be like, Brandon, what’s up? If he called you today, what would be the three significant things that you
would know that you left behind?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Wow. I believe I left behind an emphasis that God should be first in your life. And that's something that I'm trying to instill into my children. My wife understands that, understanding that God first, no matter what happens in life, no matter how hard it gets, put God first. Secondly, everybody has something that God has deposited in them that you could use. No matter how insignificant you think it is, God can use it. I know people who at one point, I was one of them, thought, Christian rap? I didn't understand it. But now I know some men that are anointed. You hear me? Like they are anointed men, because God gave them that gift. So I think no matter how insignificant you think it is, God put it in there for a reason. So you have to get that out and put it to use or else he's going to take it away. And I don't ever want that to happen. The last one is to create memories. Create memories. Me and my wife have had conversations around that and she's really big on that. It's something that I've adopted, you never know when you're going to leave this Earth. Tomorrow is never promised. Take what
time you can with who you have in your life now and cherish those moments because they could be taken away. And laugh, laugh as much as possible. And that's it.
Victory Envue Magazine
That was good, man. You made me cry, dude, for real.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
I'm going to tell God this is how she said, you talk, with a deep voice!
Victory Envue Magazine
Brandon yeah, that's how he talks. You know he does. Come on now. You know God is starling people. He ain't just going, Terri, in a soft voice. Right? He's scaring me. I don't know about anybody else, but if he calls my name, I'm going to jump.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Listen.
Victory Envue Magazine
Okay, Brandon, man, you're deep, you're smart, you're in tune with yourself. You know who you are You seem comfortable in your own skin You're a formidable opponent, obviously, to the enemy that you've been shaking. You've been shaking. I know he has grabbed you by the nap of your neck and shook you a few times, but your faith is settled, right? Your face is set like flint. For God, you live, for God you die. What would you say to the younger you today? I mean, you ain't never gave no hint that you was a thug or a hoodlum, a shenaniganizer, so I'm going to assume that you've always been a good boy. But just in case you weren't, what would you say to little baby Brandon now that you're aware and you have this revelation of who you are and who God always intended you to be? What would you say to him if he was stuck? What would you say to him if he was struggling? What would you say to him if he didn't want to live to be the ripe old tender age of 30 something? What would you say to him that would encourage him to move closer to who you are now?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
I would say your dad was right. He was right. There were a lot of things that my father would tell me that I was resistant to. And you, in your teens, you think you know everything, right? A lot of things that he had told me when I was younger, as I got older, I look back like, wow, yeah, he was right about that. I was a very shy kid. I didn't talk a whole lot. I would much rather be behind the scenes. I would also tell myself to take risks. There were things that I missed out on that I can't get back. There were experiences that I could have had, I was just so in my own little box and anything new was not scary, but it was intimidating. And had I taken more of those risks and put myself out there more, I would have gotten quicker to certain places, and there would have been more doors that would have opened to me. And one of the things that I think about often is it's not the stuff that I did, but it's like, what did I not do that I missed? And when we get to heaven, he's going to show us, like, these are all the blessings that
you could have had, but you did not walk out on faith. You didn't take a risk. You didn't get outside of yourself. And that's one of the things I would tell my younger self, is, get out of your box. Get out of your box. Take a risk. Go out there and try something new in the will of God. Don't do nothing crazy, but just get out there and experience stuff that God could have used to get me to where he wanted to be sooner.
Victory Envue Magazine
Brandon, it has been an honor to sit in your presence, and for some strange reason, I don't want to hit you any more. I don't know what it was. Maybe we just needed to have this moment together to clear the air. I don't know. But what would you leave, not just the younger viewers, but what would you leave us as a little nugget to end with, to close on? What would you leave? What words of wisdom? Because the children, the young folks, they have something to say. And I believe you can learn from anybody. You can learn from a wino, right? I mean, if you can learn from a talking donkey, you can learn from anybody. Now, myself, personally, the donkey would have been put down, but before I put them down, before I shoot the donkey, because you ain't got no business talking. Okay, but that's just me.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
That's not normal. I'll probably be like, what did you just say?
Victory Envue Magazine
Who you talking to? Like, we would be having that kind of conversation. You don't talk to me like that. Not that he's talking, but you don't talk to me like that. Okay, Mr. Donkey. But anyway, what would you say to us? You got millions of people looking at you. You got kids all over the world. You got Uganda, Ukraine. You got these folks all over the world watching you right now. We got folks out there that you're representing. You know what I'm saying? What would you say to get them saved?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Wow You asked some good questions That's some fire right there. I would say you need to trust the process. Stop trying to do it yourself. Stop trying to figure it out. Whatever you're
going through, whatever you're dealing with, you have to give it over to God or else you're going to stay in the same cycle. And another thing would be, tomorrow is never promised. Don't focus on the small stuff. Try to make an impact today because you never know what seed you planted for somebody's life for tomorrow. And that's it.
Victory Envue Magazine
They don’t have to call on Jesus or say his name?
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Oh, you wanted me to say what you have to do to be saved I can tell you that
Victory Envue Magazine
Yeah, coming from a young man, they expect us old heads to say, y'all foul and living wrong and going to hell in a handbasket. But what would you say? How would you er way?
Bishop Brandon if you want him to help take you to the water, look him up. Brandon, give us your email and phone number and stuff.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
say going to hell in a handbasket in a nicer young- If you want to reach out to me by email, it's in-
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
I would say in order to be saved; you have to acknowledge that there's a savior. You got to understand that there is a man who bled and died on the cross for your sins. And there's no work you can do to rid your life of that sin that you were born with, because we're all born with it. There's nothing you can do to erase it from your life. There's no amount of cleaning. You can't pray for it or meditate it away. You have to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You have to acknowledge that you're a sinner and then you have to make a conscious decision to repent. Repentance is turning away from sin and turning to God, committing, letting go of all the things that are not pleasing to Him and acknowledging and making the decision that I'm going to give my life to Christ and I'm going to dedicate everything that Ihave toHim. Obviously, you need to go down in
fo@graphicblueprint.com and I'm also on social media. Look me up there. Brandon Halliburton. And also, you can look me up on my business name, Graphic Blueprint.
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Amen. Brandon, thank you so much, man. Wow, you're fire, bro. I don't know what to tell you. Okay. I'm going to leave you alone for a while, just for a little while.
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Like you won’t slap me in the back of my head when you see me next.
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Yeah, but it'll be in a while. It won't be like tomorrow or Thursday or anything,
Mr. Brandon Halliburton
Jesus’ name, that's written Acts 2:38, we live by it. Oh, my goodness. You got to go down in Jesus’ name for the cleansVictory Envue Magazine
ing and the remission of your sins.
That's how sins are removed from your life. That's how they're washed away. And then when you come out of that water, you have to walk in the newness of life. But you can't live a holy life, a life pleasing to God without the Holy Ghost. And so, then you need the indwelling of the Spirit of God, which is called the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost provides the power to live that holy lifestyle, because there is a devil that's going to be very upset that you made this decision. And in order to live a life that's pleasing to God, you also need to fight. And you cannot fight without the Holy Ghost because that is the power of God. That is the power of God that makes a change in the earth. And that's what you got to do.
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See, I'll be trying to keep my hands off these folks, but they just be forcing me. You better say that with your preacher self. You better say that Hallelujah. He already said it. It's already settled in heaven. You need to get your life right. Call
Brandon, thank you. I love you, bro.
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