Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: 16.
[00:00:00] Speaker B: I came home from boarding school, living with my mom. She felt like if I was going to try drugs, I should do them at home.
You know, that was really the way she said, you know, if you're going to experience psychedelics or you're going to experience these things, I want you to know how to do it with me. And so she didn't see it as she was taking me into the gutter. She saw it as I'm being a good parent so that he doesn't feel awkward in social situations. I didn't know what to expect. You know, 12 guys, I'm just. I don't have a Bible. I have nothing. I just came in and they're serving pancakes and they're really nice guys. And we all sit down and they get ready to pray. And I'm just. I'm just sitting there around with the guys, praying. I don't know, I don't know how to pray. And I'm watching them as they're praying and they get around to one spot and one guy starts praying because they've got a list of people that have put prayer requests in. And one of the prayer requests was for me and for my mom. And my mom was a hard user of drugs and was very difficult. And I remember sitting there and just being, you know, being so moved that these guys were praying for someone they didn't know and trusting God for things that were really important.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Tommy Schneider, I have been looking forward to this interview since the day that I met you. So thanks so much just for taking the time to, to tell your story.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I feel the same way, Todd. I think we just really connected when you came out here. Such a great weekend. And I always told my wife about it afterwards, like, no, I met this guy. So excited about the things God's doing in his life. So I'm. I'm super blessed as well to be with you.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Well, it's my pleasure, it is my honor. And your story is so extraordinary that I just want to dive right in.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Okay, so it.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: So 1965.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:49] Speaker A: Tell us about what your mom was doing just before giving birth to you.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: Well, you know, classic 1965, living in Montecito, California. Right. This beautiful spot was a very different place back then, but still just this beautiful place. She's in the baby's room painting it while pregnant with me, really just weeks before I'm born, with lead based paint. Martini in one hand, cigarette in the other, just going for it. So it really does explain a lot about who I am. You Know this, the fumes, the alcohol, the smoking, you know, and we. Oh, and she was on Valium. Sorry, that was the other one. So that's kind of.
[00:02:28] Speaker A: So Martini high on Valium.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: About to give birth to you. Painting with lead based paint.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Living a pretty big. My dad was doing really well at that time, and we bought that home in Montecito for $16,000.
And, you know, it didn't go well with them for a while. That house now is about worth like 7 million or something crazy. But back then it was just a little track home in Montecito.
It's less than a half a mile from where Oprah's house is right now. So think about it. It was a glorious, actually beautiful place to grow up, but yeah, a little different then.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: And your dad was bipolar.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: And it didn't work out with them. So age 10.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: They get divorced.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: And where did you go from there? Did you live with your mom or
[00:03:13] Speaker B: your dad was a shared custody for a bit, but my dad went to drinking and drugs in such a way that it didn't make it real easy for me to go be with him. And then ultimately they made a choice. After the first couple of years living with my mom, My mom had several different boyfriends during that time. It was kind of volatile situation. They put me in boarding school for a few years.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So I went to a local boarding school and then I went to one over in San Yanez and.
[00:03:43] Speaker A: And so as a teen and in a boarding school and all that did, were you also dabbling in the drinking, the drugs, the things. I mean, having been a product of. Of that upbringing or just the effects even from what your mom was up to when she was carrying.
[00:03:57] Speaker B: You know, I made it through boarding school. I mean, not unscathed. Yeah, yeah, school is. That's a whole nother story. Next podcast, we'll do it called Boarding School, but. But got home really without any sort of drug use at all. In fact, I'd made a comment when I was about 10 saying, no, I'm never gonna smoke or whatever. I was kind of telling my sister in sort of an angry way, like, I'm not gonna do what you guys do kind of thing. I held onto that till about 16 or 17. 16. I came home from boarding school, living with my mom. She felt like if I was gonna try drugs, I should do them at home.
You know, that was really the way she said, you know, if you're gonna experience psychedelics, you're gonna experience these things. I want you to know how to do it with me. And so she didn't see it as she was taking me into the gutter. She saw it as I'm being a good parent so that he doesn't feel awkward in social situations.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Okay. All right.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: So, you know, my mom is amazing.
Such a dear, dear mom. You'll find out more about that. But, yeah. So all of that testing was at home.
While I was at home, when I turned about 17, I got a phlebitis in my left leg, which was deep thrombosis. Blood clot from my hip all the way down. No movement of blood. They'd never seen that before in a kid my age.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: And I was surfing and skateboarding and just living the Santa Barbara dream. And I was in the hospital for 14 days. They had to clear this blood. Thought should have died in there.
They didn't really know what it was, but they told me I need to go home, stay at home. Ms. My 11th grade year of high school with my leg up elevated with these. They call them vein cast, but they're really tights.
Leave me. My friends tease me pretty hard like, we want to see your tights, man.
So I was. Which. They would never treat this this way today, but they did then. So I was at home, and my mom's boyfriend moved in with his drug dealer friend from Humboldt who came down.
And that was really when I then went from, you know, a user or whatever to really embracing kind of that. That deep.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: So you're all in now with the drugs?
[00:06:15] Speaker B: Yeah. And Basically, for those 11 months while they're tutoring me at home, I was making money on the side, helping him with his business and all those type of things.
[00:06:23] Speaker A: The drug business?
[00:06:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a. It was a dark, dark period at life. And I followed that after I got healthy, became a.
You know, I had started working at the Chart House when I was 15 years old and as a busboy. And so then when school, I was gone and came back anyway, long story, but I was working hard at the restaurant in the restaurant industry. But I brought all of that drug use into.
And restaurants are just prolific pre.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Rampant.
[00:06:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
So it wasn't until I was about 25 years old where I had really just been killing myself with all the different things of life. I at one point, moved to Vail, Colorado, Lived in my car, taught skiing, did the whole, you know, living the dream thing. Came back, started a business.
But still, alcohol and drugs were just the high level of my life. And I remember waking up one day and it was Cinco de Mayo, and everyone was preparing for, you know, Cinco de Mayo parties here. And in my heart, I just said, no more. I don't know why. I went to the calendar and I wrote it on that day. No more. And I stopped drinking.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Just cold turkey.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Just cold turkey. And stopped drugs, stopped drinking, all in one shot. And went to AA meeting, you know, and went to a couple of those. Met some guys, trying to get sober.
Doing my thing.
[00:07:58] Speaker A: Friend of Bill.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Yeah, friend of Bill. Yeah. Doing the deal, you know, collecting my chips and being sober, you know, drinking a lot of coffee.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Luckily, I didn't start smoking. I was thankful for that.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: So tell me about when you met Debbie, who's now your wife.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Well, it was awesome. I had a store that I had gone into, took some money that I had put aside, bought with a friend of mine and his wife. It was a vacuum cleaner, ceiling fan, and lighting store. So we did vacuum repair. We also did sales and lighting and stuff. It was great. And you're 25. Yeah, I'm just rocking it. I'm just done. I got a new car.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: Things are happening, you know, so from in the car, living in the car in Colorado, teaching ski lessons to now back in Santa Monica. Came back, you own your own company.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Bought this business with my buddy, and in walks this just babe, you know, she just comes in. I remember going. She walked in, she left the vacuum cleaner. And as she was leaving, I told the guy that was working for us doing vacuum repair. I go, that's my wife. And he's like, oh, sure, you know, did the whole thing. And then she came back to pick it up, you know, and, you know, of course, flirted with her. I always tease that. She flirted hard with me. So the eyes going and stuff. And we just had this connection. And she left.
And then she found another reason to bring something else over. She was the assistant manager at a place called Talbots, which a women's clothing store across the mall. And so she brought another one in, and I'm like, oh, no, this is it. So it got fixed, and I took it over to her.
And while I dropped off, because I was bringing. You know, we don't typically bring them back to people, of course, you know, I had other motives, and I asked her on a date, and we went out, and it was really quite a love story. We sat and had lunch at this great restaurant. They served the food. Neither of us touched our food. We just chatted and talked and talked and talked and talked and boxed our food. Up and left. And then five weeks later, I asked her to marry me.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: I just fell hard.
[00:09:57] Speaker A: You just knew it.
And at this time, you don't believe in God. You're just doing your thing.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: No, I'd gotten sober. Kind of felt like I had my act together because I'm sober and my own business, you know, So I didn't have any relationship with God.
[00:10:11] Speaker A: Okay, but now you're married.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Well, so we dated, and then we moved in together.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And so she had. She had a relationship with Christ. When she was 17, she came to know Christ.
She had backslidden. We fell in love. We just did what the world was doing. We moved in together.
While we were living together is when she looked at me one day because we were going to be married within that year, and she said, you know, if we're getting married, I want to raise our kids Christian.
I was just like, wait a minute, wait a minute. What? You know, this is not. This is not part of my. Part of my life or part of anything. I'm just like, no, no, I don't think we want to do this. And she's like, no, this is serious. And I said, well, interesting enough. Shortly after that, this guy that I used to work with at Charthouse invited us to go to a married couple dinner that Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara was hosting for their junior high fundraiser. It was for married couples, Right. And she goes, well, here's your chance. Kind of see something. I said, all right, let's go. I liked the guy who invited me.
Super neat guy named Mark. And so we went. We're the only unsaved couple.
That room. I'm sitting between two guys who are missionaries still for our church today.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: The Guisings, the Geisingers were in.
In.
They were in India. And the Peter and Tammy Russell were in Africa. And they were sitting right next to us, this great couple. We love them dearly.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: And we, you know, it's like home on furlough.
And you're on each side, they're on
[00:11:45] Speaker B: each side, either side of us.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: You know, you're like going, I'm the only non Christian here. What's happening?
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And they're just. They're just loving on us, you know, they're just loving on us. And we're just like, what is this thing about? But that night, they had couples come up and share testimonies of marriage. And so I thought, well, this. You know, this is just weird.
It was awesome. In fact, Dave and Jane Brown, who still go to Our church here, they were one of the couples. And Danny Claus and Katie Claus, they. They were one of the other couples that still go to our church here today. But I remember them coming up and talking about what Christ had done in their marriage and what that place of having God in their life was. And I just sat there thinking, okay, I'm not liking this. You know, and we got. We left, got in the car, and Debbie's like, what did you think of that? My wife said, her name's Debbie. You know her? But I said, well, actually, I thought it was pretty. Pretty interesting. I mean, I want what those couples have, is what I said.
So she says, should we go to church?
I'm like, I mean, why not? I mean, we're on a little roll. So that was. I think that was a Friday night. Sunday morning we went to church.
And, you know, I can still remember looking around at everyone worshiping, because I'd never experienced any of this in my life. Nothing whatsoever. And so I'm standing there and I'm kind of looking around, and everybody's normal. Every walk of life. Young, old, you know, all different races were in there and stuff. It's just like, oh, this is life.
And there was. There was genuine worship happening on this one guy. I remember this one guy in particular, watching his face, and I'm like, wow, he is actually not. He's in love with God.
Like, this is. He's not here doing church. My whole thought was, it's.
My dad was raised Catholic, and so anything I knew about God was kind of like, just. Just. Just kind of hardcore law. These. You know, not that all Catholicism is that way. But in his ways, he was, like, guilty Catholic.
So it was just beautiful. And we left, and she saw.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Oh,
[00:13:46] Speaker B: do you want to hear that whole story?
[00:13:48] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: Okay. Well, so at church, there were several of them, remembered our names, right, which was really important. Like, Tommy, we saw the thing. Oh, great. And then I got invited by Danny Claus, who still goes to our men's prayer breakfast. He said, would you like to join us for breakfast on Wednesday morning? A couple guys would get together, we pray, and I'm like, sure. I mean, I'm on a roll.
So I came on Wednesday morning. I walk in there, and I didn't know what to expect. You know, 12 guys, I'm just. I don't have a Bible. I have nothing. I just came in and they're serving pancakes, and they're really nice guys, and we all sit down and they get ready to pray. And I'm just. I'M just sitting there looking around at the guys praying. I don't know. I don't know what. How to pray. And I'm watching them as they're praying, and they get around to one spot, and one guy starts praying because they've got a list of people that have put prayer requests in. And one of the prayer requests was for me and for my mom. And my mom was a hard user of drugs and was very difficult. And I remember sitting there and just being, you know, being so moved that these guys were praying for something they didn't know.
Trusting God for things that were really important.
[00:15:00] Speaker A: Yeah. And they had no idea they were praying for you. And you're sitting there in their presence listening to them. They didn't even know. Praying for you and your mom.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: No, they didn't know it was me. So the guy Mark had given the prayer request, but he wasn't there for men's prayer breakfast. And so they had this prayer request. They didn't know who. A lot of them didn't know who I was.
They're praying for me and my mom, and I was truly moved by that.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: It was just like, wow.
So then the next Sunday, I came in, and I don't even remember what the pastor said. I just remember being so overwhelmed by God's love, that he loved me, even though I was a mess. My whole life was a mess.
And that he gave his life selflessly for me, and that.
That just blew my mind that God cared for me and I wasn't religious enough. I wasn't. I wasn't dutiful enough. I wasn't my act together enough. You know, you just love me. And I ran up. I mean, my wife said, you want to go have Jesus as your Lord? And I'm like, yes, I need that.
So you and Debbie came forward, came forward and prayed. And I just remember. I can still see it so clearly. Just rain coming out of my eyes, on my feet while just saying, jesus, please forgive me. You know, make me your own. That's beautiful. It's beautiful.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: And at that point, did you have any idea you would end up being a pastor, like a vocational minister?
[00:16:18] Speaker B: Oh, no, no, no. We had our act together. I mean, I had this business that I was making good money on. We had new cars, you know, doing. It was doing pretty good. We go for our wedding and all that, and had my business partner and his wife and all them. And we're in. Our bride or our groomsmen and bridesmaids and stuff. We got married in Dallas, where My wife's extended family was so.
Came back from being married to my business.
And there was. This is crazy. But my business partner didn't show up. Didn't show up. I'm opening this. I can't get him on the phone. Right. This is before cell phones.
I'm trying to get on the phone. I can't get. I can't find him anywhere. He doesn't show up for a couple weeks. I go by the house, can't find him.
What had happened is his wife was having an affair with our electrician that was doing all of our installation work for us. And she had embezzled a quarter million dollars for. From the business. I didn't know any of this. I was just the salesman and doing lights and stuff and trusting their leadership.
So a month and a half after being married, coming home, thinking, I have a job. I have this career of this business.
We lost everything.
The business closed. The money was all gone. Had to get rid of everything.
They went after and were suing our organization, all of the vendors and stuff.
Found out that she never put me on the legal documents as a. As a.
As a.
On the corporation papers. I never got sued, but I lost everything. We lost. We literally went from having, you know, career job, this is what we're doing, to nothing.
[00:17:49] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Nothing.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: And so now you're just desperate and you're like, lord, now what? And I remember you back at church here.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: And you basically say, pray for me. I need a job. And they said, well, we need a janitor.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. But that's exactly what happened. I mean, we. Shortly after trying to figure out what to do, I started a business right away called Vac man, which was mobile vacuum repair, because we sell. Sold vacuums at our store. And so I picked up vendors and I was making some money. You know, we're trying to. Trying to wing it, you know, try to pull it together. And pastor said, listen, why don't you come work for the church and be a pastor? I feel like God has something for you. And I said, yes, right away. I'm like, yes, please. And I didn't ask my wife. Right. Which wasn't good. In the first year of marriage, I come home and I'm like, so I took a job. She's like, really? What are you gonna do? And I'm like, I'm gonna be the janitor of the church. She's like, I'm sorry, what? Yeah, like, I married a businessman, you know, I married a guy going someplace, right? I'm like, yeah, I'M gonna be the janitor at the church.
So she went, this is funny. I don't think I told you this part, but to response for that, because I was kind of making the money. Now I'm going to be the janitor at the church.
She goes and she takes crash courses, and she passes her Series 7, and she's going to be a stockbroker. So she goes in and she starts working for Smith Barney. And then she goes over to Paine Webber, and she is just going after the corporate thing. And in those early years of ministry, wild, because it was a struggle. I'm reading my Bible every day. I'm growing in the Lord. I'm going to try. And she was, you know, loving God, but trying to pursue the money part.
And one day she's driving home, and God just got her. I mean, just got her like a lightning bolt. And she was driving. I was in the passenger seat. And we were silent because we were frustrated. We were kind of struggling on money stuff. And all of a sudden she goes, God wants everything.
God wants us to give him everything.
And I went, I think he does.
And she quit her job. Oh, man. She quit her job.
Shortly after that, we got.
She got pregnant. And that's a whole nother. Whole nother story of it. But I remember that moment because we were one heart.
And I had felt a calling in my life. Didn't know what it was. I just wanted to serve Jesus. However, and it wasn't about money and it wasn't about the things we were pursuing. And all of a sudden, she got it without us having some big fight. She just all of a sudden went, oh, God has us.
And we've been, you know, struggling together through the whole journey since, you know.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: And you mentioned your daughter was born, and I know at this time your mother was in rehab.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: And they wouldn't let you bring your daughter to see her.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: You know, Debbie and I did a couple interesting things when we got saved.
I moved out. I forgot to tell you that part.
We were challenged. God had something bigger. And so I moved out, moved in with my mom, who was a mess.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: So you're married and you just.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: No, we weren't married. This was before we got married.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: Before you got married, you were living together.
[00:21:03] Speaker B: We decided we wanted to sanctify our marriage. Right. So we wanted to renew it and just say, let's just.
Let's try to do it right.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: So you're married now, but you. Or before you got married, you move out. Yeah, before marriage. To say, let's do this the right way and you move in with your mother who's strung out on drugs and trying to help her. So you.
There you are with your mom and she's.
[00:21:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
So she was just going downhill and Debbie and I were trying every way to get her. And I finally had that when my wife was pregnant. Now my wife's pregnant with our baby. And so I, I had to.
I looked my mom in the eyes and I said, listen, mom, I love you with all of my heart. You're my favorite person. You know, you just have taken care of me and I love you. That's why we've been trying to get you, you know, we're trying with our own strength, get her sober.
[00:21:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: And I said, but when my daughter's born, I won't be able to put her in your hands because you're always high.
You will not be her grandma. You know, I will still love you. I will do everything I can to help you, but you won't get that. And about, I don't know, two months later or so, we're in this building now where we are now, which is right across from the rescue mission, and I get a phone call and I'm the janitor and the children's guy and doing stuff here. And they said, hey, your mom is in line here and is asking to get into our year long program. So it's the rescue mission has these women's program called the Bethel House and then the men's program and they're a one year drug rehab and Christian based program. Very cool.
And they said, what do you want to do? And I'm like, well, can you let her in?
That would be great. And they're like, we're going to move her to the front of the line. So they had kind of a full house kind of thing. They brought her in and she.
So one of the rules they had was that you cannot go visit or talk to your family for 90 days while they're getting sober, right? So she's getting sober, she's detoxing with all of them doing the thing. Right across the street, the street we have our baby. And my daughter Sarah and I get a call from the lady over there and she's like, she's like, listen, Pastor Tommy. I wasn't actually called Pastor Tommy. Then she's like, she's all, tommy, your mom just asked Christ to be your Lord and savior. She goes, if you want to, you can, you can come see her, you know. And so we brought our daughter down to the Rescue mission put her in my mom's hands.
Just awesome.
And my kids never knew their granny as being a drug user.
They knew her as she was funny and bright and creative and sorry about that.
[00:23:45] Speaker A: I think I need a Kleenex.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: And my voice becomes this high falsetto when I'm crying, which is really lovely on film.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: It's all good, man.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: It's not my prettiest moment, but.
So what's wild is that my kids never knew her any other way.
So she then not only got saved there, went through the program, graduated.
After she graduated, she took a job as the receptionist for the rescue mission. And she was their receptionist for 20 years.
And so she. So it's really, really great. Is in our church, we have many, many men and women who have gone through the program.
Many of them from years ago knew my mom as the, like, the angel of the rescue mission.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: They're like, I love you. I met with a man this morning who was just like, your mom kept me sober in there. And, you know, she was very, very, very cool. Just awesome.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: That's amazing.
[00:24:36] Speaker B: Isn't that cool?
So I get now it's so cool. Is that being right here and being back here. Because we.
Long story where I journey with ministry, but I go over weekly to the rescue mission, to the men's program and meet with the guys. Some of them are in their first few days, some of them. Often I get to share my story of my mom. And a lot of them know. Have known of her from the past. I know it's interesting and crazy enough how many sons of men that went through the rescue mission are in the rescue mission. And their dads knew my mom.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Yeah. And then you go, you know, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. It's like, listen, you know, sometimes it just begets more brokenness. And I've seen that several times. It's kind of. Kind of interesting.
[00:25:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: I love that I get to be part of their life. And then we have all the guys pretty much come over on Sunday morning and are part of our church. Yeah. Yeah. And then I share my testimony of sobriety. You know, I've got 37 years now of sobriety, and I go over there and share it often with the guys and say, listen, but my hope is in Christ Jesus.
I'm not necessarily proclaiming the brokenness that was in my life, but I'm proclaiming the victory of the one who set me free.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: And you're not ashamed of that brokenness because Jesus set you free. From that.
And oftentimes in life, we want to hide those things, cover the scars, the wounds. And yet it's like, no, that's why he came.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: No, that's it.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: And when people hear that, it's so freeing.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it is. Just. And I get to watch these guys. And every baptism we have, we have guys from the rescue mission, and they get saved, and we have them getting dunked. I've done some amazing.
Listen, I baptized this gangster. This guy was just. His life makes my life look like a fairy tale. I mean, talking hardcore gangster got saved.
So awesome. And we were walking down. I'm walking down with his family and all the old homies that kind of came to go with him. My wife and I are there in the middle, walking down, like, what is going on here? You know, we took him down to the beach, and we walk down there and. And we get in the water with this guy and, you know, tatted, head to toe, gnarly life. Radical confession for Christ just loves the Lord, right? And so we go out and he goes, you need to hold me down. I go, listen, God has some.
Something powerful for you in this moment of proclamation. We go out the water, and this is. This is a wild. This is probably the most wild moment. I'm out there with this other pastor, and we get him, and we're praying, and we're praying for him. We're facing the beach, and so the waves are coming in from behind us.
A fluke wave comes in, and we had a few. You know, we were jumping over a few of them, but this wave comes in that's hollow and it's rising, but I don't see it. The other pastor sees it. I'm praying for him. Praying for him. I'm just getting ready to baptize him, and instead of baptizing him, the wave goes completely over.
[00:27:29] Speaker A: Boom.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: And then all of us got baptized. I mean, when I. When I came up out of the water, I was down here. He was way up over there. Everyone's just like, wow, that's awesome. And somewhere my wife has it on film, and it's just. You can see the wave just curling actually over us. I'm totally unaware of it, but I thought I got up and I go, God had business with you.
Not only were you. Were you dunked, but you were slammed, you know, so that was pretty neat. He moved out of town years ago,
[00:27:57] Speaker A: but that is awesome.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: Pretty fun. So it's been fun to see that connection and have my mom have that DNA be there.
[00:28:03] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: So. And I know at some point, as you're. You're on staff here. Yeah, yeah. And this church decides, as they typically do with the Calvary Network, is, yeah, we're going to plant a church. And just. We want to plant one in Colorado.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:17] Speaker A: And so you leave with your family and plant this church. Where was that at in Colorado?
[00:28:22] Speaker B: It was in Vail, Colorado. But I have been the. I had been the janitor for many years here. Then they made me the children's ministry pastor, and I oversaw all the children's ministries up to. And our church went through massive growth from the time I was on staff, maybe 250 people to well up into 14, 1500 people to almost 2000 at that time. So it really had grown a lot. I had tons of kids, a bunch of volunteers. I'm learning all kinds of stuff. One day after staff meeting in these restrooms here, my pastor goes, what do you think about starting a church in Vail?
I'm like, who? Like, he goes, you? And I'm like, what do you mean? No, I've already been there. Are you firing me? And he goes, no, why don't you pray about. Why don't you think about God doing the work and fail?
And I went home, and I literally had told my wife two weeks before, I will be. I want to be the janitor and children's minister forever under Pastor Ricky. My pastor was an amazing, amazing guy.
He still is. He's coming back for our 50th anniversary as a church.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: That's awesome.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: Yeah. And he's going to celebrate.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: So this year, the church is 50 years old here in this.
[00:29:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
So it was really cool. He said, pray about it. And there's some folks up there. We'd known some people and kind of a longer story, but they would really like to have a Calvary chapel there. And so met some of those folks. And I said, well, you guys pray for 90 days, and we'll pray for 90 days, and we'd do a home group on Thursday nights. You do yours up there in Vail, we'll do ours here, and we'll see what God does. And my pastor said, listen, you should see if you can get a team of people to move with you.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: I'll go to Vail.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: Yeah, Well, I didn't think anyone would go. I mean, like, go with. Go with the janitor to Vail to start a church. Like, what are you doing? You know?
So they.
Yeah. So what was crazy is nine of us ended up gone.
[00:30:20] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:30:21] Speaker B: So over that time, there's some folks that said, hey, we'd move and we'll come with you and we'll help with the kids and we'll help with worship and we'll help with, you know, whatever. And we all moved up there. Four different families, nine of us, they all rented places.
One guy, they bought a double wide there when they moved in.
And we started the church in Vail. Just, it was a wild journey. You know, we had 250 people here that made a commitment to pray for us every day for that first year. And our picture was on their refrigerator. But we did just a midweek because we didn't know, we didn't know what was going to happen. I was getting jobs, I had three jobs.
I'm teaching. On Wednesday night, we're having a group. And it grew from the nine of us and the nine of them there were 18 of us to 36 in about four weeks. All sudden we got this pack and we got kicked out of the community room we're in. And so we went to a different community room and we had our first Sunday morning. Sunday morning. And people from Santa Barbara drove, drove overnight, surprised us on that morning.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: Wow, that's awesome.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: It was just like people showed up and we did church and it was.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: What year was that?
[00:31:35] Speaker B: That was.
It was 96, 97 season. So that was.
So that was October. October of 96. 96.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: And how long were you there and the church?
[00:31:51] Speaker B: 20 years.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: It just kept growing. 20 years for 20 years?
[00:31:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
So we grew there. You know, it was funny. This is kind of back to my roots.
We started outgrowing this community center and there was a middle school nearby with a great auditorium. And we looked into it. We're like, maybe they would let us use it on Sunday. I started talking to the principal and he said, well, if you find me a janitor, I will open this up to your church. And so one of the guys that moved with it said, done. And he left a really high paying job as his manager and took the job as to come be the janitor. Janitor. So.
[00:32:27] Speaker A: But it gets, you know that story.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: I know that story. So we had the keys to the building. We got to grow in there. About three years later, that guy got a job opportunity and needed to move on. And him and his wife, it's just awesome. Joseph and Jana, every now and again they'll show up at church.
But he.
So.
So I became the janitor of the church again. So then. So for 11 years I was on the school payroll preaching the gospel of
[00:32:54] Speaker A: Jesus Christ In Vail driving a bus and now janitor.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: So, yeah, and I was actually making a pretty decent wage from the school district, and all I did was Sundays. So, I mean, I opened up the building, all our volunteers set it up, all our volunteers cleaned it up. I mean, I'm just.
It was just a wild way and worked for. So we're there.
We moved from several different buildings by the time we left.
Pretty fun to see what God had done.
[00:33:18] Speaker A: So, Tommy, you're in Vail and the church just keeps growing, and you end up. You guys end up planting churches, other churches in the area in Colorado, Correct?
[00:33:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we got to. One in particular we got to send to Belmar in Denver was a young man who came to know Christ in high school.
Just fine young man, amazing, smart. So smart.
Great Bible teacher. He became a great Bible teacher and so on. So. So we sent him. He was on my staff for a while. Sent him, just flourished. And what's fun is that he's now the pastor there of the church. We were able to put him in there. So it just feels like a son of the church, you know, got to do that. Which is kind of the same scenario
[00:33:58] Speaker A: here, you know, so beautiful. And so you. And so you're out there 20 years, the church grows, you're playing other churches, and then one day you get a call to say, tommy, would you. Would you pray about and consider coming back home?
[00:34:12] Speaker B: Yeah. They kind of tricked me. But a comment was made, my wife and I were there of like, you ever think about Santa Barbara? And I said, well, I've never stopped praying for Santa Barbara. I've always had a.
I've always believed God had something really special for Santa Barbara. And so I pray every day. I have a painting that my pastor's wife painted. We had it in our house in Vail. And so I every day would pray for Santa Barbara and for the work. My wife looked at me and goes, what do you mean, like, it's not in your heart? And I go, maybe it's never left my heart. And she was laughing. She's like, well, no, I get that, but what do you mean? I'm like, well, nothing. Just saying, you know, it's in my heart. And then they proposed the question. Would you be interested in being on a short list as Pastor David Guzik, who is, you know, world renowned commentator and had probably the single most radical biblical impact in my life? I knew him from when I was a janitor and he was a pastor here in town. I mean, up in.
Well, he Was down south. Can't think of the name of the town he was in. But anyways, not Thousand Oaks. Anyways, so I got to know him over the years, right? And so he was the pastor here after my pastor left for seven years. And his ministry was growing because he does commentary online, Enduring Word. And then he's just come out with a Bible, a study Bible, which sold out. Tyndale, the first one. And so he's really doing great. But his ministry was growing, and so they were looking for someone else. So they called and said, would you be interested in being on a short list, you know, pastors? And so Debbie and I kind of hemmed in.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: Ha.
[00:35:48] Speaker B: And she's like, oh, no, I don't have a no. You know, she's like, I don't have a no in this. I'm like, okay, well, let's pray. So we took three days, went to a friend's house.
Actually went to Florida to a friend's house. It was kind of fun, little vacation. We fasted for three days, and we prayed for three days together, just seeking God. Like, do we really want to be on the list? Would we ever leave all these people we know and love? And we watch babies be born and weddings be done. And one season, I did 24 weddings in 22 months of young adults.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: Wow, that's amazing.
[00:36:19] Speaker B: We had a young adult ministry that just went crazy. And then all these kids fell in love. Now they all have kids.
Their kids are growing up, right? I'm doing a wedding of one of those kids coming up, of a couple that I married. I mean, it's like.
[00:36:33] Speaker A: It's amazing. Generations.
[00:36:35] Speaker B: It means I'm old.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: No, no, not at all.
[00:36:38] Speaker B: So we go and do that, and while we're there, we both felt like, well, I think we have an okay to be on the list. You know, the short list. So let's go ahead and put our name on the short list and say, okay, we'll be happy to be on the list.
So we got back, shared that news. They called me the next day, and they said, well, here's the deal.
You are the list.
We're like, what?
[00:37:02] Speaker A: That was a short list?
[00:37:03] Speaker B: He goes, well, we've been praying over. You know, there was some other people. We thought we'd put these on there just in case. And just every one of us believe that you're supposed to come back. That's the path. The elders here.
So we didn't say yes right away. We're like, okay.
I mean, we had said yes, but we hadn't approved. We said, can we come and visit with you and pray with you all? You know? So we came out, we walked the beach together. We're in Santa Barbara, and we both just had a sense of, like. And we wept.
It was such a hard thing to leave these people that.
Raise our kids with.
When I turned 50, I remember I had come out, and I remember walking on the beach. And so I'm 50. I was 53 when.
Yeah, 53 when we're making this decision. But when I was 50, I remember God specifically speaking to me. One time we came out here, and I had said, I don't want to just become comfortable. Because I lived in Vail and everyone there. I knew it. We're just doing our thing, and God's growing and still going great. We bought some buildings, and we were able to, you know, set the thing up. And I said, I don't want to be.
I don't want to just be comfortable.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: You don't want to coast? Yeah.
[00:38:23] Speaker B: God, you know. Yeah, don't let me coast. I don't want to coast. I'm not supposed to. And I felt like God was saying, look, you're not supposed to coast. I never thought at 53, I'd be making a decision to then change the community. And we wept. We wept. But it was a yes. It was yes. In my wife's heart. I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't.
We came back.
[00:38:42] Speaker A: God called you home.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: God called me home. My mom was here. So there's some fun stories of my mom coming back. My mom was here. My sister's here. There's some reasons we came back for that. When I first got saved here in Santa Barbara, my mom's a mess. I drag her to church with me. One time, we sit in the back of the church, and while my pastor's preaching from the pulpit, I. It's probably. Probably one of the few times I felt like I almost heard an audible voice of God, like, my heart. This is before I was even the janitor at the church, you know, said, I want you to do this.
Like, I want you to do this. And I'm like, do what? Like, I knew it had something to do with the work of God, right? And so I was too young in my faith. I was just new. And I remember hearing it. I told my wife, like, I'd do this. I do what? I'm like, I don't know.
When I came back from Vail and I stepped on the stage and I looked at the church, those were the men and women that loved me, discipled me, baptized me.
I was doing this.
Doing the thing my pastor was doing, and I.
It's just unbelievable. It's hard to imagine. I just remembered it as I stood there. I went, oh, wow. You told me I was going to do this from that pulpit. From his pulpit, you know, in that spot, which is unthinkable for me to be, so. It's just so good.
[00:40:12] Speaker A: Did you look out to see the place where you were sitting with your mom?
[00:40:16] Speaker B: Well, no, we.
Well, we were now in this building, so it was a different building, but.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: But you had that vision, though?
[00:40:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:22] Speaker B: Well, of course my mom was here.
[00:40:24] Speaker A: Your mom was here that day when this was happening?
[00:40:26] Speaker B: Yeah. So she.
You know, she would come to church here, and she was always. She was so funny. Cause she was like.
Back when they. When my pastor left and they brought David, she used to always say, they shouldn't have brought David. They should have brought you. She'd always like you. She loved David. She loves David, but she did that. But my mom. I got to be with my mom here. It was reasons for that with my sister and her family.
My mom, who don't. My sister and her family don't know the Lord. My mom was a saint, you know, she just was awesome. But I got to be here for her last days and to be with her before she went home to be with the Lord.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: And I remember the day we met and had lunch.
You had showed me a picture of her.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:41:16] Speaker A: In that special place.
And then a subsequent phone call and you going back there.
[00:41:22] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. So, I mean, what happened with my mom in her last days is kind of unbelievable. The fruit that happened from her life, you know, so not just simply the men in the rescue mission she affected for 20 years, that I still see the fruit from I'm Beautiful. But she got to be this granny that my kids loved.
She was funny and light, and he was harder. Last year, she had a lot of pain and a lot of struggle. So it wasn't. She was ready to go. She was ready to go. So we put her in a local place called Sarah's House, which is my daughter's name, but ends up being Sarah's House. It's a great place where ultimately it's hospice. So when she got put on hospice, she came in and she knew that that was, you know, she was going home and she was ready. She's like, weary, tired, ready, and intimate times with her there. We got to really kind of bond with the nurses that were in this place. And the ladies that run the place, amazing organization.
Amazing what they do. They deal with, you know, up to seven people die a month.
[00:42:26] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:42:26] Speaker B: And these. These beautiful, you know, custodians and nurses, and they're loving these people, and they're dealing with that kind of tragedy throughout the year. I'm gonna go to the reading of the. They call it the reading of the names, which is LDB. There was 56 when my mom died that year. And there will be. There'll be. You know, it's.
It's a wild. It's a wild thing. But they read the names and they honor people, and they just do a great job. Everyone who passed away. Everyone's passed away. They are so beautiful, those people in there, so beautiful. And they're dealing with the hardest thing you can imagine. They were. Could not have been more beautiful than my mom. My mom. I got a picture of her as I'm praying for her. I got my phone out and took a photo, because her little face just looks so serene and so sweet. And then we said Psalm 23, which is the psalm that she taught me before I was saved as a kid, before she was on drugs. She learned as a child. And she said her whole life. Psalm 23, it's my favorite.
So I don't know what the thing is with you. I get together with you, and I just cry, Todd. Something about you. I don't know what it is. Well, I'm crying.
I'm crying as well. Oh, my goodness. So just bringing up all these things.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: The Lord is good.
[00:43:35] Speaker B: So she said, so I'm 23. You know, she was so funny. My mom was gorgeous. She was a model when she was little. I mean, I'll show you a photo.
She's unbelievable. And she was fashion designer. She was on cover of, you know, magazines back in the day, Bazaar and all these things. She was the real deal as far as fashion. And she was a fashionista even as she was. I mean, she almost. She was homeless, right? She ended up homeless even while she was there. The way she crew cut her little sweatshirt inside out is like you're a homeless drug addict. You know, who has fashion? Who has fashion? They would always laugh about it, and there she just was. But. So she just had her thing together. But she didn't. Like. As she got older, her little chin would grow hairs, right? So she was always trying to, you know, shave those a little bit. You know, just getting old's not pretty.
One of the nurses knew that. And this is a crazy, beautiful thing about the people that served her.
When they called me.
To come see her after she passed.
One of the little girls had tremor.
It's the silliest things that kill you, but it's so thoughtful towards life and dignity and.
[00:45:01] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:45:04] Speaker B: and that little nurse knows the Lord now.
And.
And the ladies that run the place come to our church every Sunday and got saved. And I got to baptize them last summer.
[00:45:19] Speaker A: And all the nurses, they cared for your mom.
[00:45:22] Speaker B: Isn't that awesome?
You can't make that stuff up. It's just so good.
