now right? As a kid you had to go to church every Sunday. You had to be in the
building. You had to sit there and if there was a baptism you was gonna be
there all day. Now a lot of people turn it on Sunday morning and it's a lot
easier. What are your thoughts on people not actually attending the institution of church? First of all you're not about to tie a trip in me. No you don't. Let's be very clear. Let me see. I mean I think that the
world is changing and as the world changes I think people are finding
things that are more convenient for them and I do think that you are able to have
intimate encounters with God from this comfort of your own home and I think it's
powerful that that's the way that things are being spread. I think it's like watching a football game at home. You can get hype. You can be
excited for your team but there is something about being in the room with
other people that makes you just take things over the edge. I was surprised
that in a world where people aren't coming to church that we have 40,000 women at the Woman Evolve conference because I'm like I don't know that this
is a thing that people are going to really be into when they like virtual experiences but there is something that happens in healthy community and
connection that allows your faith to really be strengthened. I've had people
come into rooms and like they didn't really want to be there. Somebody drug
them in there. They were going through a depression. They don't know why they were there but just being in the space sitting next to someone who was able to
care for them and just being surrounded by worship lifted their spirits when
they couldn't lift their own hands and I don't think that there's any substitute for that. So just talking about how your spirit is affected by your environment
So we've been talking about music's impact and what's happening with all the beefs and all this this 2024 stuff. Are we losing something by the fact that
after the pandemic a lot of us did not return to a physical church? We started
watching it online. I know my family we watched church for a very long time
before we started going back and I know a lot of people who have been doing this
as well. Are we substituting this virtual experience for really coming together and
living life in person with people? Is that hurting the church and in turn as
the church goes down the world goes down? I think we've been ushering into that in every aspect of life. I think separation
isolation. I think this in any aspect of life is unity, is power. Even with the
Tower of Babel he said let me go down here and stop them because when they come together there's nothing they can't do. You know what I'm saying? So it's a
certain power that comes when people actually come together and unify. You'll
see the young kids like we'll be in the same house and instead of saying and I was literally like hey come down here and get this remote. Now it's like we'll
shoot each other a text message and we're in the same house. It's like everything
is becoming just so more impersonal. Everybody's going into their own island
because it's strength in numbers. It's unity. It's fellowship. It's love. I've seen people be going through a depression and be down and just come to the
fellowship. It might not even be the word that blessed them. Somebody just came and gave them a hug and everything just came out of them and just broke them down
They just felt the love in that moment that they needed to feel because of what they were going through. So I don't knock church online because it has a purpose
If you can't make service, you're not evil because you're watching it online. You're not separatists or whatnot but nothing compares to just that in-person
community and that healthy fellowship where you experience that love in person
I think it's always better. Yeah, I was going to say I feel like you're kind of talking about two different things because watching church online and community, having community are two
different things. I definitely feel like there's a difference when you are in the
building versus watching church online but like you said, Sean, I know it took us
a minute to start physically going back to church for a variety of reasons but
there is a difference when you're in that space physically. I feel like the worship
is richer. I know for me personally, I find myself sitting down or laying in
the bed or whatever listening instead of like actually engaging God during worship
in particular. But then I will say too on the community aspect, I do believe that
I mean, to your point, Planned Parenthood, there's nothing like just having a genuine
hug from people but I do believe you can experience community outside of...and
actually, you should experience community outside of the four walls of the church
because so many people, especially in these larger churches, they get lost because
they're not engaging in community. And when I say in community, I'm talking about
in smaller groups where people know you, you know people, you're opening your life
you're sharing life, you're doing life with people outside of the four walls. So
I think there's definitely a difference there. So, I wouldn't put them in the same
category but community is definitely needed like just in the church period and that
honestly is needed whether you physically go into the building or not. Yeah
You want to say something? No. I'm going to say, I don't see a few people in the chat that's like kind of like
I love Jesus but the church thing, just give church another chance. Try to give
church another chance again. Find a church. I remember hearing somebody saying this
recently, you go back to fast food places, you may got sick at a fast food place, you
didn't stop going to fast. Try to find another church. Give church a try. And the
reason why we're saying that is because Satan is picking people off while you by
yourself. Like, you by yourself, you may not have a small group or you are with
people and you're not strong accountability. You let people just do whatever. You
know man, you may tell your boy, hey man, I'm dealing with this. Me too. Yeah, and that's it. But if you in a strong believing church, no church is perfect. And
get out your mind that church is trying to get your money. Some churches don't want
your money. But churches, and I will say this, but some churches may need money to
get stuff done in their building. You know what I'm saying? So I'll say this to
anybody. Find a church, try it just another time. Just try it. We're not your
church. We say that all the time. Trackstars is a get together of people who get
together, talk about the culture, love on you, want to encourage you, and want to see
the best for you. But we're not your church. And Ruzlan is not your church. Nick
Jones is not your church. None of these people on YouTube is your church. Try to
find a church in your local community to go to first and just try it again. I know
the pastor at your last church was wilding somebody. So I'm having that try
it again. I'm telling you, and the reason I'm saying that is because I don't want
to see you alone. And I don't think none of us want to hear you be a casualty of
the enemy because you are stubborn and you don't think they're out for your
money. Like no, just find a church. It's a plethora of churches in your local
community or 20 minutes away from you or whatever. So just try it again. That's my
prayer. I know a lot of people in the comments, I'm just going through the comments and saying that. I do think the reason we keep saying that is because I
know a lot of you guys use this as like your fellowship. And we try our best to
make it that. The only difference is that we don't know you and we can't call
out anything that we see is wrong. People in your church could say, Jeremiah, why are you doing that? Why are you doing this? I heard, you know, it's
like somebody, you know, is cheating on their wife or they're not
coming to church as much. They could tell. Like there's something missing. And, you
know, we'll do our best to, because it's kind of a one-way church, right? But, you
know, we'll do our best to maybe we need to go and do this thing in several areas. But ultimately, without a local church for you to go to where people know you
they could feel, they could see your face, they could tell when your spirit is not right. It's not, you're not fully doing it. So that's a good point
And I would say, like for us, when we was in between stuff, we were, of course
online. Sometimes we still do online, but we go on like Saturday
afternoon at our church. But we was going through the process and then what
happened with us was we ended up getting into a small group from our church, which
helped us a lot. And then from there, our small group kind of morphed now where we
are small group leaders. And then, but we got back to church because we was like
we just got to go to church. Yeah. But I was going to say the dope thing about the small group thing was, and
that's why I was kind of honing in on the community pieces. That was in the middle of the pandemic, like 20, 2021, where we were like, we had been sitting, like
literally sitting in church for three years. And there's a whole other story
behind that, but like going to church, but like literally just sitting and God was
like, okay, it's time to take the next step. And when I say we've, it's been a
journey for us. It's been a journey for us because we literally went from a
hundred to zero, not zero to a hundred, a hundred to zero, where we had to like
break all the way down and allow God to build us back up the way he wanted to
build us back up. So, but we found incredible community through an online
small group in the middle of the pandemic. And I mean, like we were meeting online
but it was still in that smaller circle with people from across the country. And
I mean, we would get together maybe like every other month or whatever, but we
still had that consistent getting together, coming together in each other's lives where we knew we were being covered. We knew we were being held accountable
And I don't, I don't endorse online small groups for everybody. You know
everybody has their own situation or whatever. What I'm saying is community is
possible, whether it's online or in person, you just need to make sure that
you're open to being in environments where people know you and you know them
and you're willing to open up your life to them. Yeah. I was reading a book by Charles Stanley called Perfect Peace. And he
talked about a story of a man who went 50 years without being in the church
because of church hurt. And, you know, he's older man now when he returns to
the church, but it was like, he was so distraught that he let somebody separate
him from the love of God for 50 years. And, you know, they said that he was the
neighborhood guy that was always like, you know, bashing church in the, in the
stores and stuff like that. And then when they started seeing him in church, when
he got back to church, you know, 50 years later, they said he was like the most
like, evolved person, you know, in the church that he was in the parking lot
ministry, he was greeting people at the door. And he was just really, really sad
about how he let 50 years, you know, of being separated from God, interrupt his
life with God. So I think if you do, if you are experiencing church hurt, if
you've experienced that before, just know that when you turn that corner, there may
be other arms waiting to embrace you and, you know, open that up for you. So I
definitely think that going back to church is a great thing. I hear people
say all the time, I don't go to church. I just, you know, read my Bible and listen
to stuff online. And I personally think that that's just a separation from God
It's a withering vine. It's a branch laying on the ground. Yeah. You'll be
alive for a little bit, but you're not, you're not connected to the source. We're
designed as a body, like literally a body. We're supposed to be connected to each
other. Each function is supposed to help the other function. If you're by yourself
you may be doing well for a little while, but you'll fizzle out. Yeah. I was going to ask y'all, I'm sorry, that cut you off playing. I was
just going to say real quick, I don't know if y'all do these anymore, but is it like top fives, but y'all might need to do like a top five signs of a healthy
church because I think, exactly, because not even what to avoid, but yeah, but
like, like accountability is a sign of health. Like, I don't want you to feel
like just because it may have been abused in the past or whatever, like, but
really being open because like what you were saying, so many people have fallen
away if it's because the church hurt or the pandemic or whatever, but like to
know what to look for and to know what to allow themselves to embrace, you know
I was going to say too, like the church hurt thing is a real thing, but you also
have to remain humble. Anything you do and remain humble, remain open, remain teachable. And I think we have a lot of people now, like you said, are looking
online, they're coming across certain information and like, true indeed, there's a lot of churches out here who are not really preaching like a, I would say like
a global crisis more so like based off our Western culture, like the things we
learned that we've Americanized Christ to us when actually truth is something I
can go anywhere in the world, no matter where the condition is, where I'm at, that truth will remain constant. And sometimes we don't get that in our
churches, but that doesn't mean that you should just abandon hope on all churches
if there's no churches out here who are giving you a correct biblical
perspective. And that's when pride and arrogance, and you begin to start feeling
like you're the only one who has the right understanding of how the Bible is interpreted. Like don't fall into that trap and hurt. We'll do that
Hurt will cause you to isolate yourself. Nobody understands. Nobody knows what I'm going through. Oh, y'all over here doing this and doing
that. I've seen people start out going through prosperity gospel where they were
like, well, we the head, not the tail. We above and not beneath and this and that, which is true in scripture, but they were out of context with it
Then I seen them go from that to a street kind of ministry where like we are here
outside the four walls. Y'all still in the four walls and both of us need each other. Then I seen them go from that to going to now I'm reformed to where I have
all the knowledge. Like we know more than everybody else. Y'all don't know the Bible for real did this and that
And then they went to a church where they felt like it was a quote unquote black church that had the knowledge and truth of identity and stuff
And then they turned out to be a Hebrew Israelite. So it's like, but all the theme for all of those were, I want to be superior. Yeah
I want to be in a position where I'm on top. I want to be seen as I'm the leader
I'm the head of what's going on where all of us should be submitted upon the Christ. So theme again. Yup
So don't get too high on the high horse and think you have an understanding that everybody else don't have a
so I'm gonna isolate myself because your understanding is beneath mine, but that's a trick of the enemy and he going to pick you up
Okay. So, um, that's, that's really good. Um, if you're new here
I see a lot of new faces in here. Make sure you subscribe, like the video and all that. We want to see you again
We do this every Saturday noon to two Eastern standard time. Join us on Patreon, patreon.com for slash track stars universe
If you want even more content, but welcome. We see people that I've never seen their face in here talking. So welcome
welcome. Um, if you're here for the Kendrick and Drake conversation, I have one more question about that at the end of the show. So stay tuned
We've got to do the poll results. Oh yeah. Let's, let's do that. I can't see them all. That's the only problem. I wish there was
I wish there was a way just to see the polls. I got it. Um, did the pan, did the pandemic have an, um, a significant
a significant impact on church goers? 74%. Um, said yes and it still does. Um, 13% said yes
but it's back to normal. It only changed how people engage with 6% and not really was 4%, 43 votes