Write The Vision

This week on The Weekend Joyride, Mac and Rhoni talk about Scripture-shaped vision and what it means to build a life on God’s Word.

A vision board becomes more than goals and pictures when it’s rooted in God’s promises. In this episode, they talk about how that kind of vision can shape health, family, calling, legacy, and even fun.

Then the conversation turns to music with Pat Barrett’s Build My Life, a song that fits the theme of building on a firm foundation.

Later, Mac visits with Pastor Ray Keasler of Abundant Heart Church in Granite Shoals, Texas, about the joys and challenges of pastoring a church, writing songs straight from Scripture, and using AI as a creative tool in the process.

A hopeful episode about vision, foundation, and living on purpose.

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Abundant Heart Church on Facebook

Pastor Ray's music on Suno

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Transcript

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Intro

Mac 0:10

Welcome to the weekend journal. I'm Mac McClennahan, and this week, my wife Rhoni and I are talking about vision. The kind that's shaped by scripture, grounded in purpose, and built to stay in front of you. Rhoni shares some of the heart behind her vision board and why it means more than just pictures on a page. We'll also spend a little time with music that fits the theme, including Build My Life from Pat Barrett and a new song of his. And later we'll have a conversation with Pastor Ray Keysler about pastoring, songwriting, and what it looks like when scripture starts turning into song. Glad you're here. Let's take a weekend join them.

Vision Boards

Rhoni 0:54

Well, last week we talked about purpose, finding your purpose, and we talked about how times feel a little uncertain.

Mac 1:02

It brings up the thought to me about a vision board. You've done vision boards before, haven't you?

Rhoni 1:09

Mm-hmm.

Mac 1:09

Yeah. Um, what do you think it helps you do?

Rhoni 1:13

It helps me stay focused in uncertain times for sure. I go back to my vision board. People might think that sounds silly that I do a vision board, but I I believe vision boards are scriptural.

Mac 1:25

Yeah, they're not like a magic genie lamp or anything.

Rhoni 1:28

They're scriptural. Habakkuk 2.2 says, write the vision and make it plain. And we also know that people perish for lack of a vision. And as I interpret that, when people lose hope or people lose sight, life becomes unfulfilling to them. So I believe vision boards are scriptural. Now, my vision board is really scripture-based. And maybe that's good to share right now if how I do a vision board. So I do my vision board all based on the promises of God because you know the word has the power to bring itself to pass. Now just let that sink in. John 1 says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, the word was God, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now layer that up with what actually happened. Jesus came in the flesh, and he was the word. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. God said, and it was, and earth came to be. So the word became flesh when God spoke it. And then here we are in his image. And so the word of God is truth. And Jesus used God's word in his ministry. He said, It is written. When Satan took him to the ledge and said, You know, bow down to me and I'll give you all of this. Yeah. He said, It is written. Man shall not live by bread alone. So he used his words to manifest his purpose. And so on my vision board, I have included several areas of my life. I have a health section. I have my dreams and desires for my family. I have a business and career section of my vision board. I even have a fun section of my vision board because I do believe God put me in this earth to enjoy it and to be enjoyable to others, to be a blessing to others. So I have the vision, I have the things I would like to accomplish in my lifetime. I have my I've included what I would like my legacy to be. But a lot of people stop there. But I have gone on and included scriptures for each of those things.

Mac 4:07

I was just gonna say, it's I don't think people ought to think that you grab a piece of poster board and and tape pictures to it because you don't you thought about your vision board for a long time and then got it ready. And I'm not saying everybody has to do it your way, but you actually had a board made and it it's on our bathroom wall. Yeah, I did it every single day.

Rhoni 4:29

I do, and I I I talk about it and I I talk to it. I talk about, and here's what it looks like. So one of my sections is health. I desire to live long and strong in the earth. That's my vision. I'm gonna do what I can to take care of my body. I desire to live disease free and to live healthy and strong. So those are my desires. That's my vision. But the word of God is truth. So I have an old testament scripture listed under the health section of my vision board. That's Jeremiah 33, 6. It says, Nevertheless, I will heal them, restore them, and give them prosperity and lasting peace. Now, if he promised it to them, I know that that's also my promise. So I believe that I can live healed and disease-free. And I I rely on that. I I don't believe that I have to get old before my time. No, I don't believe that I have to feel old before my time. I don't make old jokes and talk about, you know, old granny here, you know, wait up for granny, you know. I don't. But again, I'm relying on the word of God. I'm looking at it, I'm speaking it. And the truth is I believe it. And there was something that was quickened to me just recently. Um, we've had a couple of disappointments just in other, you know, just here and there, not big, not huge. But what came out of my mouth was, well, the word says the path for me grows brighter and brighter. That's scriptural. So if that's not true, then the word's not true. And I know the word's true. So I know that my path is gonna go grow brighter and brighter. Whatever, whatever the next thing is for me, I'm gonna be okay.

Mac 6:18

And that kind of falls right into this next scripture you have listed on your dream board. It says it's Isaiah 58A that says, Then your light shall break forth like the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Rhoni 6:32

Right. So and I'm not, I don't even have a diagnosable disease. I'm not sick. However, I have been overweight most of my life. I'm on a track to lose weight right now. And so I use that scripture to just declare that I am not going to be overweight all my life because we know that sets the body up for other things. And so that's just one section of my dream board. But I take the word and I look at it and I actually believe it. Like I actually believe that what God said is true, and I actually believe it it applies to me.

Mac 7:05

You know, I probably never I think I have done a dream board in the past once, but and I know you've you've asked me to do me. It's like, hey, why don't you do a dream board too? And I'm for some reason I just haven't. It's like, you know, I need to go out to the garage and clean something or something instead of that, but I should probably do a dream board because you know, and I think that the dream board that I've had in the past has been more maybe flippant, maybe it's had pictures of boats on it and an airplane and you know, things like that, things I wanted. Uh and I like yours in that it gets down to it's my roadmap. Yeah, it is your roadmap, and you have scripture to back it up. I love that about you, is that you you know you use that scripture like evidence, and we've talked about that a zillion times.

Rhoni 7:48

I do, but here's an interesting thing that happened that on my dream board, I also this past year included fun because I thought, you know, we get so busy and just living life and surviving and not necessarily thriving. Yeah. And a conversation that we had somewhere sometime really opened my eyes to the fact that, you know, God put us here to enjoy this earth.

Mac 8:17

Yeah.

Rhoni 8:18

And what happens is we get so busy in the rat race that we don't have time to have fun. We're too busy working 12 hours a day. You know, we have listeners, we have listeners with kids and a busy life, or listeners taking care of parents or family members that can't really even think about having fun. And that's that's really a sad thing because if you think about what you would wish on your children, you want your children to have a fun, fulfilled life, right? Absolutely. So I know God wants that of me and He wants my light to shine everywhere I go. Yeah. So I dared to put fun on my dream board. I listed beaches, mountains, Christian concerts, traveling abroad. I put north, south, east, and west, and I had scriptures to back it up.

Mac 9:07

Yeah.

Rhoni 9:08

One of my scriptures was Ecclesiastes 8, 15, and said, Then I commended enjoyment, because a man has no better thing under the sun without God than to eat and to drink and to be joyful, for that will remain with him in his toil through the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun. We should have fine life's too short to go through working hard and never have any enjoyment. But here's the beauty of the dream board backed by scripture. When I look back at that thing in all of these categories I have, it's not as if one thing totally manifested, although some of them have. But it's almost like the best way for me to describe it is when you plant new grass outside or you plant flower seeds outside, you look at it and nothing's there. You water it, you look at it, and nothing's there. And then one day you go out there and you see a little sprout. So I began to see how in my categories things were beginning to sprout. And one of my categories was career. I want favor in the workplace, and I want a secure and fun job. And I can see how in this past year work has been more fun.

Mac 10:33

Yeah.

Rhoni 10:34

And so these things are beginning to crop up like sprouts in a garden. And the interesting thing about fun is that here I had listed beaches, mountains, oceans, and one of our friends just I never in my wildest dreams planned on joining a travel club. Yeah. Never. Yeah. But a series of one, two, three kind of events happened, and we're driving back from Houston, and a bunch of our friends joined a travel group, and we're like, Yeah, we're in. Let's do it. Okay, let's do it. We all travel together anyway, so let's do it. Exactly. And we had to do a username, as you know. Yeah. And I came, we just came up with some silly username, and I said, Let's make an acronym out of it, and made the acronym, and then I went, I went to my dream board, and our acronym included the words beaches, mountains, oceans. And I went, Oh my Lord, like that's and you weren't looking at that. I wasn't looking at that, but it's like, Lord, you're causing these things to come to pass. So the word has the power to bring itself to pass. And so I would encourage you to think about if money and time were no issue, what legacy do you want to leave? And what do you want to do with the rest of your life? What are the categories and how do you want them to look? And write it down and make it plain. And then go through the word, get yourself a book of promises, and find God's promises to you that support each one of those things. And then you just birth it like a baby. You grow it like you would a plant. You you water it, you think about it, you look at it, you don't abort it with your word saying it's never gonna happen.

Mac 12:19

Yeah, you don't dig it up.

Rhoni 12:20

No, you just keep looking for it to come to pass because that's the power of the word of God.

Mac 12:28

John 15, 7, one of your scriptures from your dream board. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Rhoni 12:37

That's exactly right. And and here's the other part too, that goodness, good things, money, prosperity, blessing, all of those things in the hands of a good person who loves God, that's a good thing.

Mac 12:55

Well, we started the whole discussion here about how it was hard to feel uh there's so much going on and there's so much uh unrest and all the things in the world.

Rhoni 13:06

I think a vision board is a good way to to just line you up and and help you focus on

Music - Pat Barrett

Rhoni 13:27

so that moves us into a music segment with an artist that I'm thinking about, Pat Barrett. He sings a song, Build My Life. It's not brand new, it's several years old. But the line in that song is, and I will build my life upon your love. It is a firm foundation. The word is a firm foundation. Another line in that is I will put my trust in you alone, and I will not be shaken. It's a great song.

Mac 14:28

I'm sure he'd been around uh longer than that, but he also wrote Good Good Father, which Chris Tomlin had as a big hit uh several years ago. And that's how that's how we first came to know him. Do you remember the Spirit Fest concert where we met Chris Tomlin?

Rhoni 14:46

I do remember that.

Mac 14:46

Pat Barrett was there with him that night.

Rhoni 14:48

I didn't know that.

Mac 14:49

Yeah, we didn't meet him, but I believe he was on stage with uh with Chris Tomlin that night, and it was I think that was a special evening to to get to see both of those guys together. Yeah. And such a, you know, uh a song that became I mean, everybody sings Good Good Father, even today.

Song 15:05

You're a good good father. It's who you are, it's true you are, it's to you are, and I'm in love by you.

Rhoni 15:17

Build my life is his most streamed song.

Mac 15:21

I was reading about him, and he's just been a premier songwriter. Number one, Billboard, Christian Airplay, and Christian AC, Adult Contemporary Radio, Build My Life, that we've talked about, Good Good Father, that we've talked about, The Way, New Horizon. We know that song too. It's there's so many songs. It's funny how many, how many songs are written by people that you've heard the songs but you don't know who wrote them because somebody else is performing them. Uh, and it's uh it's always interested. He has more than 1.8 million Spotify listeners. Wow. That's a big channel.

Rhoni 15:52

That's a big channel. And he's got a brand new song out that has a different sound. His music video for this song, I've got a fire, it's the official music video, will absolutely make your day. He sits down with his dad, and his dad wants to hear his new song. And his dad is absolutely delightful. So I want you to play a little bit of that song, but I want listeners to look at the official music video, and we're gonna put it on our Facebook page. It is a delightful video. So play a little bit of that.

Video 16:28

It's good. I love you. Any new music? Yeah. Well, I got one I'm really excited about. Let's hear it. Come on, no. We just got the foods here, got you the pancakes. All right, Dad. I love you. But if I let you hear something right now, you've got to chill. This can't be like the last time. Patrick, I'm your father. I'll be good.

Mac 17:22

Oh, and guess who's gonna be in San Antonio in April?

Rhoni 17:25

Really? Are you gonna take me?

Mac 17:29

He is uh he's actually touring. Oh no, look, sold out. He's actually touring with uh with Brandon Lake and Franni Cash, and that's that King of Hearts tour. And uh yeah, San Antonio Frostbank Center sold out. Oklahoma City has tickets, Omaha has tickets, but uh right here in Texas, you know, Brandon is a big draw.

Rhoni 17:49

So he's it this is a great song, and it is a great video. So I just want everyone to have a look at it. It's gonna make you smile.

Pastor Ray Keasler

Mac 18:08

If you've listened to the Weekend Joy Ride at all in the past however many episodes, 35 episodes that we've had, you know that Ronnie and I changed churches. After going to a church for 20 years, uh we we decided it was time for a change, and we found a church that's actually closer to our home, and a pastor who is just an amazing guy. The church is an amazing church, it's full of love and uh and sweetness and uh and full of the word, and we love that. And so I wanted to introduce you to Pastor Ray Keisler. He's uh he's a joy to be around and he's a lot of fun. So here's Pastor Ray. Pastor Ray, thank you for uh for sitting down with us.

Pastor Ray 18:49

Well, thank you for inviting me to come over, man.

Mac 18:51

Well, it's our pleasure, and Ronnie and I have really enjoyed our time at your church. Now, our church. And I just wanted to get your take on what it's like to pastor a church, to lead a church uh in today's world.

Pastor Ray 19:07

It's quite the experience, you know. When when you look at who I used to be, yeah, pastoring a church was never, ever on the radar.

Mac 19:17

Like the last thing. Not even the last thing, it wasn't even a thought.

Pastor Ray 19:23

But uh when I started preaching and traveling, it was pretty awesome because then I could just, as they say by the evangelists, blow in, blow up, and blow out.

Mac 19:31

Yeah.

Pastor Ray 19:32

You know, and and so that's what I did. And and we traveled quite a bit. Uh, you know, I spent five years traveling with Gary Morris. Okay. And then when that tenure ended, we went into our own traveling Cricket & myself. Yeah. And then I never even thought about, I didn't want to pastor a church. Really? Well, I've been always told sheep bite.

Mac 19:55

I've never heard that before. That's funny. And they do, they do, yeah. Yeah. We found this one. Probably one of my questions here that I got coming up here. And just interesting. That's very cool.

Pastor Ray 20:05

You know, so no, it wasn't even on the radar. It wasn't even a thought. And so when God did call us, which was spring of 2011, it was like, oh no. Get behind me, Satan. You thought that's what's going on. Exactly right, man. Oh no, uh-uh. Uh you haven't called me to pastor, or yeah, to pastor, you called me to to go preach the word, travel around and stuff.

Mac 20:27

You did that for a number of years. You traveled. Number of years. And uh what would you say is what would you say is most misunderstood about pastoring church? Even not just versus traveling, but what what do people not get about pastoring a church?

Pastor Ray 20:42

They don't realize the the heart surgery that a pastor has to go through. Because it's it's a major heart surgery. That that you have to go through. I have to go through. Okay. Yeah. All right. Because you have to love them.

Mac 20:56

Yeah.

Pastor Ray 20:57

Even through their messes. Yeah. You know, it's like raising a baby. They make messes and you gotta clean them up. You know, you can't just leave them in their dirty diapers. Yeah. You know, and and so yeah, that's I think one of the most misunderstood is is what a pastor, not just me, but I can go by my experience, just by the heart surgery that I had to go through. I had four chapters in the book of Acts, first four chapters, and six months, and that's all I studied. Because that's what God said when I finally surrendered. Yeah. Wow. And when the revelation of those four chapters came, the Lord said, That's the design of my church. That's how you're gonna do it. That's the culture of your church. But during that six months that I was studying, it was nothing but heart surgery.

Mac 21:46

Really?

Pastor Ray 21:47

Because I told him, I said, I don't love people enough. Most of them I don't like.

Mac 21:53

That's funny. Well, and now, you know, uh Ronnie and I go to your church, and and we've been there probably. Probably nine months now and just walked in and found love when we walked in. And that's exactly what we needed when we walked in. What how does it feel, or what do you there's probably a hidden beauty behind pastoring a church where you actually know everybody that's sitting in front of you just about? It's gotta be a different feeling than if you were preaching to a large crowd and you don't know anybody. That to me, that's easy. I can get in front of a crowd of 16,000 people and not be nervous about anything. But you put me in front of six people and it's a whole lot different.

Pastor Ray 22:37

Yeah, you know. During that time, that six months that we studied that or that I studied, God did so much work with me. And I have I've never had a problem with preaching in front of one people or a thousand people. You know, I went to Honduras a couple of different times and and taught a pastor's conference down there and had a translator. And so I've never had that problem. Okay. Yeah. And I think college did that for me way back in the eighties. Uh-huh.

Mac 23:04

Okay. Yeah. Got you used to m speaking in front of people. What would you say is the hardest part about leading a church in this season? I mean, we've got stuff going on all over the world, and then you've got stuff that happens right here in our own little town.

Pastor Ray 23:19

That answer is multifaceted. Yeah. Number one. You've got to understand that people grow at different rates. And so there's a frustration factor that comes into somebody like me. I don't know how many other pastors, I'm sure many of them experience this. But it's like, come on, man. I preach this 20 times in a row and you ain't got it yet. Yeah. You know? Or when you're ministering with somebody and they, you know, they meet up and they've got a problem going on and you tell them, well, this is what the Bible says. So this is my instructions to you. So by next week, you need to have done this. And they come in next week and they're still winning the same wine. And it's like, well, did you do what I said? Well, no. Well, I tell you what, why don't you leave? When you get that done, let me know. And we'll get back together. Yeah. Huh. It's like, do your homework. Do your homework. Exactly. You know, one of the other things is just being misunderstood as a pastor. I'm a strong individual. Uh-huh. I'm not passive. You know, and I never have been. Yeah. And I'm I'm very strong, and I used to be really hard. And that's some of the heart surgery that God has had to do with me. But I'm still very direct and I don't sugarcoat things. My wife's the one who fixes that problem for me. I'll make a mess and then she comes along and cleans it up.

Mac 24:44

What would you say to somebody who maybe they've come to church and then they they're like, ah, they drift away. But they're still interested. I'm sure you have people that come for a while and then they back off and then you see them again three months later. What do you what do you say to people that come to you and say, I don't know, I just don't get it.

Pastor Ray 25:04

The funniest thing is when you see people like that, they'll go, Pastor, I'm so sorry. We haven't met. They start making excuses. And I'm not that I'm not that way. Listen, I don't hold it over your head. What you do is between you and God is I'm not the judge. I'm just the leader of a bunch of sheep.

Mac 25:22

That had to be some heart surgery for you, too. It was. Yeah.

Pastor Ray 25:25

It was. I used to have a real problem with stupidity.

Mac 25:31

Do we need to run this recording by cricket? We're probably going to have to edit some of this out. That's funny.

Pastor Ray 25:39

I I'm just, you know, I'm transparent.

Mac 25:41

Yeah. You know. When you you've just recently, I think, I think it happened to you back, like you say, in the in the 80s, and but you've just recently come back around to music and songs, lyrics, are pouring out of you right now. Correct. You've done songs, you've done multiple lyrics. You probably got a lot of lyrics that you haven't put to song yet. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. What how do what is that? Where is that?

Pastor Ray 26:07

That's an amazing thing. You know, back in when I was in college in English composition, um this the professor came in and said for the f first day, said for the first 15 minutes, I want you to write a a um a paper on whatever. And of course, we won't talk about my my my consumption at the time. But anyway, um I was sitting there and I was looking at two light switches. One was on, one was off. So I I started a descriptive page and I completely described everything, the turn of the screws, everything. And then I slowly became the sc the switch that was turned off and started begging people to turn my switch back on. Interesting. So that I could light up like the other switch does. Well, that was way back then. I wrote a trilogy, uh a draft to a trilogy when I was in college that was never never done anything with. It was just a bunch of spiral notebooks in a box. And then all these years pass, and um all of a sudden, oh I guess what, three months? Maybe four, uh at least three months ago, I was sitting in my office and the Lord said just started pouring out thoughts and and and lyrics. And I was taken it started out with personal experiences that I had experienced prior to and then right after I was saved.

Mac 27:38

Okay.

Pastor Ray 27:39

The issues that I was going through. Some of the and and some of them got pretty dark. I bet. But it touched a lot of people because they've it was right where they were at. And it's progressed now to where I'm doing arcs of songs, some produce, some not, that are that have to do with the whole book, you know, like the book of Revelations or Book of Daniel or stuff like that, you know. Yeah. But it's just it just comes to me and and I just start writing it down, and all of a sudden it's like, wow, I did that.

Mac 28:09

Wow. Interesting. But and were you trained in music or trained? I mean, yeah, you obviously like to write because you've got to write your sermons beforehand. Right. So you you're you're into that anyway, but but this is just coming out of you, huh?

Pastor Ray 28:24

Yeah, it just pours out of me. I just sit down in the mornings and I mean for a month there, every day, a song. Every day. A different song every day? A different song every day.

Mac 28:34

If you had a song you wanted us to play a piece of here, which one would it be?

Pastor Ray 28:40

Boy, I don't even know. There's so many of them out there. Probably I did a complete 32-song album that's all the Proverbs and James. Okay. The wisdom stuff. Yeah. And I guess Proverbs 31 I wrote for my wife.

Mac 29:00

Okay.

Pastor Ray 29:01

Out of Proverbs 31. Uh-huh. And that would be the one I would play.

Mac 29:04

Okay. And he's like, Of course they do. We're doing demos with AI. Now, once they go into the studio to really record it, they're using real people. They're using musicians and and and things like that. But to get demos done and to get an idea of what the song uh is going to sound like, and and to have that to have that ability to say, no, I don't like it that way, do it this way. You've done some of that, haven't you?

Pastor Ray 30:04

Done a lot of that. Have you? I've got over 50 songs done that way. Wow. Um I started out with several different AI to produce songs, and none of them I liked until I found Suno.com. And it's it's not an app that I have on anything, it's just I go to the website. And what's really interesting there is I can put my lyrics in, and I've learned over this time how to direct Suno, the AI, into doing the music the way I want it. The thing is, is it never duplicates the same music twice.

Mac 30:38

Interesting.

Pastor Ray 30:39

It'll change the music a little bit, but it's still in the same flavor. Uh-huh. But it will, it's never done the same, the same music twice.

Mac 30:48

Interesting. And I've heard you, I've heard some of your songs, and I've heard heavy metal, and I've heard cabaret, and I've heard what would you call it? Texas Roots music? Texas Roots. You know?

Pastor Ray 30:58

Yeah, Outlaw Country Blues. Um, I've done some crazy stuff, all kinds of stuff. That I did a fun song that has his harpsichord.

Mac 31:32

Where does that come from?

Pastor Ray 31:33

Man. It's a real fun song.

Mac 31:39

Well, that's cool.

Pastor Ray 31:40

You know, but it's the harpsichord. It's like, well, I don't know where it came from. I like it, you know, but I'm kind of strange anyway.

Mac 31:46

And and I guess what you're saying is it is it kind of boils down to uh to prompting. Prompting it correctly.

Pastor Ray 31:54

Prompting the AI. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And and for this latest stuff that I've been doing on uh Revelation, some of the music that I've already produced through Suno, I've had 20, 25 renderings before I finally get it to the way I want it. And it's coaching the AI. I want you to do it this way. Wow. I want you to sing it this way, I want you to narrate it this way. Uh-huh. You know, and so and so it's been a learning curve for me. But then then telling it, you know, like in between uh chorus two and a bridge, tell it I need about a 15-second musical instrument break to where it just jams in the music. Yeah. I've got one that's called uh Faithful and True, and it's pretty ro it's it's pretty rowdy. Is it? Yeah, it's it's it's not heavy metal, but it's it's it's 80s rock. Okay. Okay, 70, 80s rock is what it is. The history comes out, and it really goes, you know, it jams. It's and it's fun.

Mac 32:54

That's that's cool. Now, did you have you been studying AI and all this stuff for for years?

Pastor Ray 33:01

Yeah, a guy by the name of Mac. No, I wasn't trying to lead you into this. I really want to. I'm just saying the guy by the name of Mac. I know I've got to do that. He said, hey man, have you ever thought about this? And it's like, AI. You know, I really never did that. Of course, Ronnie says, Oh, I use it all the time. And so I started digging through. Yeah. Yeah, it's fun. Yeah, I have a whole block on my phone that's nothing but AI stuff.

Mac 33:30

And people think, why are you using that? I think it's gonna be like driving a Tesla. You know, pretty soon there won't be any loud road noises because everybody's gonna be driving Teslas or electric cars. That's right. It's just kind of the way things are. And I don't know. I think I'm under the impression that if you integrate AI into what you're doing, yeah, that uh you're gonna keep your job longer than somebody that just is standoffish about it. Because I know people that are like, mm-mm, don't bring that near me.

Pastor Ray 33:56

No several that are that way. Yeah. And unfortunately, fortunately, AI is a tool. Yeah. Unfortunately, those that are standoffish are like, oh no, they don't understand the value of using it as a tool.

Mac 34:11

Yeah. And I think, honestly, I think the Lord gives us tools to do things that He wants us to do. I agree totally. That we've been given the given the blessing of something, of being able to do something, and you then he gives you. I've always thought it's really circular to me that God will say, Okay, this is what I want you to do. And then he says, Here are the tools. Yes. And if you'll give me the glory, yes, you'll get the thing over here. Yes. Here's another tool. Here's it to me, it's just circular. Not only does he require things from you, he gives you the tools to do them. Correct.

Pastor Ray 34:49

He'd be an unjust God if he didn't give you the tools. Yeah. It's amazing how I got chills right now. When when he called me the pastor, what did he give me? He gave me six months of studying of four four chapters of one book. Okay. Yeah. The tools that I needed to be able to build the culture or to see the culture of the church that we now have.

Mac 35:10

Well, wrapping it up, what what would you what would you say to somebody who who's listening and they think I need to go to church, but I'm okay staying here at home, uh, but I think I need to go to church, or I'm missing something in my life. What do you say to people when they when they say, Oh, you're a pastor? I mean, wow, how you do that? Or or I don't know that I really feel that I need church, or I really need church and I don't know where to start. What would you say to somebody?

Pastor Ray 35:41

First thing I do is just say, Hey, come see me. Yeah. Come experience our church. Because I guarantee you, most people that say I do, but I don't need church, they've been judged by the church. They've been hurt by our church. Yeah. I spent five years with Gary, and our biggest part of that ministry was ministering to people who have been hurt by the church. Really? And uh, you know, there's no judgment in our church. There's nothing but love. Yeah. And and uh I've had so many people, you guys included, have told me, man, you walk in this place, it's nothing but love. There is no judgment here because I won't tolerate it. I won't chastise somebody in front of everybody else, but I will take them off to the office and say, hey man, we need to talk about this. You know, we can't judge people. Yeah, they're already judged enough in the world. Yeah, and so when people say, Yeah, you know, I used to go to church or I think I need to go to church, they're they're afraid they're gonna be judged by the church. And hurt again. And hurt or hurt, period. Yeah. You know, they may never even step in foot a foot inside the church. And so I just invite them. I don't write them about it. Hey, listen, here we are. Why don't you go onto my website or go onto YouTube and check us out and listen to a few messages and see if see if I'm your kind of guy.

Mac 37:03

Yeah. You know, that's exactly what we did when we were when we decided we wanted to look for another church in town. We we were convinced that our church was the only church that you know that taught things like we wanted to be taught. Right. And then we ran across you and you know, wow, it's like, yeah. And and the cool thing about it is you're like five minutes down the road. That's nice. That's handy. Yeah, seven minutes from our house. That's really handy, and that's not at all why we chose your church, but but now it's our church, and we and we love the people and feel like we've really been welcomed in warmly, feel like we're part of the group, and it's lovely. So, yeah, Abundant Heart Church in Granditich Hills, Texas. And it's online too.

Pastor Ray 37:45

So, yeah, we're online. You can uh you can go to uh YouTube and look up Abundant Heart Church. Now you'll see two of them. One page has the white brown background with a black line in it. That's the one you want to click on. Okay. I own both of them, but I hadn't figured out how to delete the other one yet.

Mac 38:02

S K I. Maybe it'll know. Pastor Ray Keysler, thank you so much for the visit, and uh we just appreciate your time here. And uh, I guess we'll see you Sunday.

Pastor Ray 38:12

Absolutely. Thank you, Mike, for having me.

Ending

Mac 38:19

That's this week's weekend joyride. This episode encouraged you to keep the right things in front of you, build your life on something solid, and stay open to the ways God can bring vision and direction and even creativity out of his word. Thanks for spending part of your time with us. We'd love to hear from you anytime at hello at weekendjoyride.com. And if this episode meant something to you, share it with a friend. I'm Mac, and for Rhoni, we'll see you next time on the Weekend Joyride.