Human Being, Not Human Doing: Why Streamers Are Breaking the Grind Culture Trap

Narrator/Intro Voice: Control-Alt-Redeem is for anyone called to ministry in the digital frontier. Gamers, streamers, and everyday believers navigating life online. Each episode equips you to live on mission and the real stories of lives being changed. Reset your expectations, reframe your mission, and redeem the space you're already in. This is where digital ministry gets practical, creative, grounded, and hopeful. One episode at a time.

Jordan Williams: I mean, to God be the glory. I mean, I don't I don't even know why. I'm just I'm just an average kid who just loves games and chilling. And, you know, they I guess they put me on the front page.

Leighton Seys: Hello, front page.

Jordan Williams: Well, I'm excited. I've been a little bit nervous all day. I'm just very, I'm honored more than anything. So thank you for this opportunity.

Leighton Seys: It is my honor to have guests on. I feel the one that's privileged because I get to talk with a bunch of people who are in the trenches, who are doing the hard things, who are grinding it out for Jesus. And I get to be witness to and hear the stories of what God is up to. And it's such... such a privilege. I started this podcast a year ago, not knowing what God might do with it. And so everybody coming in, welcome in to Control Alt Redeem. I am Flat Cap Dapper Pastor. And part of what we are trying to do is reset the culture and redeem the space. And Jordan Williams Gaming is our guest for this podcast. And I'm super excited. And you've been hanging around a little bit and trolling some of the podcast. And I hear a few of them plan to come back who've been on the podcast and see if they can't stump you with hard questions. So I think they'll probably be lurking in the background and then suddenly spring into action when needed. I'm ready for it. Oh man. It's a, yeah. And like I said, I had no idea what God was going to do through this podcast. I still don't know. And I, oh, I did, I did hit a milestone. So those that don't know, I want to celebrate a couple of things. And so I hit, oh man, what was I shoot? I got a hundred views on Spotify. I hit a hundred views on Spotify.

Jordan Williams: That's so cool.

Leighton Seys: It's not like, oh, no, you suddenly got 100 views. Well, when I started out, I pocketed 10 episodes before I published anywhere. And then I started on YouTube because I knew a lot of podcasts don't make it past five episodes. So I'm like, I'm going to make it 10. Then we'll start publishing it. I started to get my ground, my feet, my this is what we're doing on this. Probably about, I'd say, episode 12 to 15. And then came into this year with the rebranding. And I love the rebranding. And the more I focus on the rebranding of Control-Alt-Redeem, the more I really like it. The more that it just talks about so many things that God is up to in digital spaces. So it doesn't even have to be Twitch. It's just digital spaces. We are redeeming digital online spaces wherever we go. I love that idea. So that's why I'm celebrating 100 people watching. I've got 10 subscribers. right now. And you go, oh, that's not many, but I've only been on since January. And it's like, I'm starting from zero on Spotify. I have no idea what Apple numbers are. But as I got that, I was just thinking about this is something I want to do. So I don't know what I'm going to give away yet. I want people who are listening, if you listen on YouTube, there's no way to go promote. You can thumbs up and like, subscribe, whatever that is, but you can't give a review. So it's going to just be for those people on Spotify or Apple, and I'll have to get Andy to help me figure out how to look at Apple. Leave a review. I'm going to give something away. I don't know what it is yet. I got to figure out some merch. I'm going to give it away to people who leave a written review. So if you leave a written review of the podcast on Spotify or Apple, I'll have more info in the coming weeks and share that with you. But I'm going to give something away. I don't know what it is yet, but I'm just excited that God's using this and I want to bless somebody. And I think the idea for doing that is, I don't know if you can see it behind me. It's kind of small. I... So a social media post for Love Thy Nerd. So it's in front of the cross. So there is an Easter resurrection tomb that I won because they posted. I'm like, I should do that for my podcast. So I'll put it on the socials. So if you'll see it, go over there, leave a review, and you'll win something. When you see the post, you'll know what you're going to win. I'll get pictures and put it all in there. Sorry, I'm just excited doing a self promo here at the beginning. And then you were on the front page. So I think that's what inspired me to just kind of talk about like God up to some things in the lives of people that are just being faithful to what God's called them to do.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. And I mean, as you should, I think we often forget that God wants us to celebrate. the wins we get with him. You know, I think we often forget it because I know when you're in the work of the ministry or you're doing something, you know, you try to keep yourself so level about it. But there were times where, you know, through scripture where, you know, there was a time where God said, rest and acknowledge and like reflect on what it is that I'm doing, you know, because he said, behold, as in take, take a moment, pause, look. because i'm doing something new you know and whatever that may be and you know god loves his children and um he loves when we win i mean i mean he you know and i'm just i'm happy for you in the church digital again i i mean from the times that i am able to peep in and i mean i love it i love it and it's authentic it's real i mean and it's just it's just awesome to see god doing his thing with it

Leighton Seys: Yeah. And one of the things I had a couple of things this morning that got me a little bit down and I'm just like, man, I'm going to dwell on this thing that's got me down right now. I need somebody to share some good news with me. So I just went over to Discord and I said, hey, I'm feeling a little down today. What are you celebrating? Tell me something that you're celebrating that God's been doing in the last couple of weeks. And I had at least a half a dozen people post things. And then I had a really cool thing on top of that. friend of mine that lives across the country who we met in person once, but we've known each other for the past six years and been in a group together, a small group. He just calls me up and says, how are you doing? I go, yeah, I'm okay. He goes, okay, how are you doing? And so I was like, okay. I can tell you the thing that's bugging me so I can get it off my chest because I don't want to type that. I don't want to bring chat. I want to just to shift my mind off of it. So it's like a real life. Hey, I reached out. People responded back to me in my time of just a little bit of, you know. I don't want to say feeling sorry. Feeling attacked is what I was feeling. I was feeling attacked and I didn't like that feeling. And I was like, I don't know what to deal with it. I can't respond. I can't do anything. So I just wanted to move on because I had this today and I didn't want to be down all day and going, I'm not going to bring it when we have the podcast. I got to be good to go and knowing that God's up to stuff.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. I mean, and that's great. And also, it was just when you were saying that and then you were saying that your friend reached, you know, reached out to you and it just brought back a scripture where it says to share like we bear burdens together, you know, because then that's where healing begins. And also, I want to bring this to your attention as well. It's not by accident that you were feeling down before our podcast. I mean, it's something that means it's something that's going to. shift something in the atmosphere where god is like going to break something through somebody you just never know and which is what the enemy tries to distract us from which again you know it's important that community like you've reached out to community because god says do not forsake of us joining together and i think discord has become a church space for a lot of people who just only do online you know so that that's the awesome part and i mean uh again it's just not by accident it's not by accident that you were feeling down today so that means you're doing something correct yeah you know that means you're doing something you're being obedient

Leighton Seys: Yeah, yeah, some of that happens. And sometimes, you know, like I've always been one, I never liked getting down. But I've learned as I've gotten older to not push down those feelings I don't like, to allow them to manifest in whatever way they need to so that God can redeem them instead of hiding them and ignoring them or, you know, my... my mode would be, be as busy as you can. And the thing was, is I was so non busy this afternoon, uh, the way I normally am grinding out stuff. I was just taking my time and I was going slow and I was just relaxing and, um, One of the things I like to do, you know, is when the podcasts come out, I go and I start making clips and I go back and I listen. So it's about a month behind or the ones that are going out from last year, go listen to those. So I was just having fun making clips this afternoon, listen to the podcasts that haven't been released yet and going, oh man, this is going to be good. I can't wait until I release this clip and people get to hear a little bit of a great conversation and hopefully it inspires them to go check out the whole podcast.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. Absolutely. And, um, I mean, you said something important too, cause I mean, like when you're saying it, it's just, it just hit me. So, you know, when you say like you were suppressing your emotions, you know, it's interesting that our Lord Jesus. Never pushed out any emotions. If he was sad, he was sad. If he cried, he cried. If he was mad, the scripture made it known that Jesus was upset.

Leighton Seys: Oh, yeah.

Jordan Williams: Or just not feel it, you know, not feeling whatever what was going on. And also, again, coming back to the scripture, because that's just what our life is all. And this is what we feast off of. You know, he says, be angry and said not, which is so cool that our father is letting us know that it is OK to feel emotions because that's how number one, we can relate to him because when he's feel angry. Oh, yeah, I understand what it means to feel angry. he feels you know sad i know what it feels to be sad so i think that's what brings us to make us realize oh like we're humans you know we're humans and god made us in this specific way you know as my when i i was in a therapy session right and my therapist told me something i'll never forget she said you know Because I'm a person, I was a person that I used to hold it in myself. I used to hold it and just, you know, didn't let it, try not to let it bother me until it boiled over, right? But she said, you know, when you're holding it in, it's like you're a pressure cooker. Oh, yeah. And your body is just trying to like, she says, identify where you feel it in your body. And then you just let it flow because your body is trying to let it go through. And then once it goes through and you're able to assess what it is, you know, that's when the pressure cooker starts to steam down, you know, and she always says that she says, Jordan, you're not a pressure cooker. And I said, OK.

Leighton Seys: That's good. One of the things that I had to learn early on and as I got out of college and was going into doing some training and stuff. And one of the things that some people were noticing as we were doing some outdoor adventure therapy stuff is. You never sit still. I go, no, there's stuff to be done. You never sit still. You're called a human being, not a human doing. And so what my group made me do was not do anything for the group the whole day. I didn't get to make breakfast. I didn't get to collect the firewood. I didn't get to make lunch. I didn't get to. Now, I participated in the activities, but I didn't get to do for the group. And it was, oh, my goodness, it was so excruciating. Go over there and sit while we're doing stuff. Like, no, man, I want to do, I want to help. No. You're a human being, not a human doing. And that was a great lesson, a great lesson to probably get me started in the direction of finally figuring out at times how to be still and know that God is God. And that's a hard thing at times.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Rest is essential, man. And I mean, because it's not always about doing stuff. It's more in so of just. Being obedient in the moment to where God is calling you to. There are seasons, you know, like where you're supposed to do a lot of stuff, but there are...

Leighton Seys: I got a red coming in. Go ahead. Go ahead. Now, I've still got to figure this out. So I'm going to... I haven't figured out how to have... uh a raid channel when everybody comes in in the middle of the podcast to have us both i'll figure that out eventually eventually but welcome in i'm watching you people coming in with the party of 12. lucis is coming in i'm watching you people is coming in

Jordan Williams: People, that's my that's my girl right there. She is one of those people that when you have her in your life, you never let go. She is one of those people. I tell her that all the time. She never she never she be blushing. And I'm telling her, I'm like, no, you don't understand. Like, it's very rare to have people like her just in just I mean, anywhere I go, she's there. I'm like, do you ever rest?

Leighton Seys: She's been on the podcast, so her episode will be coming out. next week i believe so go check that out but she's been a mod of mine for over a year i'm not sure how long she's been hanging around but like yeah you're right you go somewhere in twitch and she's there she has invested the community she is growing and knowing more people she spends lots of time also working and doing collaborations and putting raid parties together like i can't wait and i don't know when it's going to happen i can't wait to get to to be in the same room with her at some point and not just in everybody else's streams and my stream now she did win tickets to reach conference from me so i'm i'm trying to get her to make sure she uses that ticket and she comes in the fall for that that'll be that'll be fantastic and luces is also a mod of mine so the two of them were on the podcast they'll be out next week

Jordan Williams: Wow. Yeah, I actually love that one. Lucis, especially because I know Lucis, there she is saying, I'm going under the bus because I asked her the hard questions and I'm ready for them. I have been prepared mentally waiting, but it was fantastic to watch them both because, I mean, their mind skills is unmatched. I'm like, I don't know how you do it, but blessings to you all. Blessings to you both.

Leighton Seys: Well, and I know that there's some medical issues and I'm just convinced God is going to open the way. I'm just praying that God is going to open the way. I know there's medical issues. I know all about that and transportation, all of that. If God opens the way, it's supposed to happen. That's all I got to say. That's all I got to say.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely.

Leighton Seys: So anyway, it's so good to have the raid. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. Love you very much, sister. And thank you for coming in and bringing your, your people over here with you and hanging out for a while while we have the podcast. So. We didn't start here. I'm finding the more I do this, we just get started in a conversation. I let it go wherever it goes. And then I come back to it. Here's where I want to always cover. How did you get onto Twitch? What was it? How did you find out about it? When did you start? And then, because I don't always assume everybody started by, I'm going to go on and I'm going to stream. Some people do. And then some people start when they go to stream and it's like, oh, I'm going to be a Christian streamer or I'm going to be intentionally sharing my faith as I stream. What was your journey to be exposed to Twitch and then deciding you were going to be a Twitch streamer?

Jordan Williams: okay so um that's a great question uh well number one i've always loved gaming right and i've loved it you know at that time i was like 23 25 years old like 20 like just something like a 20 year old and i remember it was a time where when i freshly got married back in 2021 and i used to love coming home from work and playing with my of friends on my xbox and you know my wife was like you've been on a little bit too long you know it's time to come off and and i was like yeah i have so i'll just you know get off or whatever even though i didn't want to but i i did and i think it was it was two factors I was watching T-Pain, the artist. When he was on stream, I didn't realize how streaming was, you know, at the time, but I was taking notice because I always love to keep my ear to content creation. Yeah. Just because I have been creating content for like almost 20 years in a way. So it's like I've changed. I've changed, you know, different platforms and I love to learn about this, you know. So he was doing stuff that I was like, oh, my gosh. Like, it's possible to do this in a stream, like make a music and having fun, talking with people, playing games or whatever. And so I was like, this is cool. And then I remember it was a specific moment with my wife. We were sitting at the table. She was during school in nursing school at the time. And I was just playing. And I said, wife, I've spent 20 something years playing video games and I have done nothing with them. And this is where I want to I want to start doing something with it. And then she said, well, go ahead. So when she said that, I started researching. I started finding ways on how to get into it. I started seeing what I could use now to start. I remember I used a crappy MacBook Air at the time that I used for work. And then I had a little TV in my Xbox and I plugged the game straight HDMI to my MacBook. Not thinking like, you know, this isn't a bright idea, but hey, it was something to get started. So I remember I started on Twitch doing my first streams and I was playing NBA because I loved NBA so much back then. And then I ended up stopping there and I met some people within the streaming space and then they told me about Facebook gaming. So then I was like, Facebook gaming? Okay, explain that, right? And then they were saying, you know, this is a thing you know you can make money eventually doing this and stuff and i was like well i love video games i love making money so why not try it right yeah and so then i started i left twitch for a while and then i started facebook gaming and i just kept going until the end of facebook gaming and then i think around 2023 of april Um, I went back to Twitch because Facebook gaming was shutting down. So I was like, okay, I've been here before. Right. Because prior to streaming, I used to do comedic sketch. I used to do sketch comedy. Oh yeah. So I, I used to do, oh, and also I used, I started off in social media doing dance videos in 2009. um it was this dance craze called the jerk right which caused a lot of footwork in the dancing right so i used to post in that summer between 2009 and 2010 11 i post it probably every day around that time during the summer, even in a little bit in school. So, um, and then my camera broke, so I stopped and then, uh, 2013 hit and the vine craze was a thing. And I was like, oh my gosh, vine is, is cool. Like, and I love to see the people who are actually funny, do their things. And I was like, I can kind of do this. And so then, um, I started, I started, then I stopped. and then it was for personal reasons and then i felt the lord drawing me back to social media because it was just something i loved i loved the way it made me feel i loved the way videos make people realize like life is okay yeah so then that's when that's when i went back and then i started a whole new purpose of trying to like post more about my faith And so then fast forward and now to Twitch and I'm getting more of a little bit of a, you know, more acclimated, starting to meet people. One thing I never was afraid of was making a friend. So I love the community aspect of Twitch, which drew me back to Twitch. And so, I mean, now here I am like a couple. years later i mean it's it's been a it's been a great experience i i you know in the last year or two has been a big shift for me because now i'm starting to put understand that my faith and and what the lord is calling me to do for on a personal level is more serious yeah so then that's when i started to shift in content in the way we did it so yeah i mean that's how we got here I mean, that's how we got here.

Leighton Seys: That's a great story. I love that. I was over here and then there was people throwing some money around. So I went to go see if I could get a handful of it. And then they didn't last. So you came back. And there's been several of those along the way. And... I've never jumped into the multistreaming in other places and social media. I never got into the Vines. I never got into Snapchat. Those are a couple of places that just didn't make sense to my old brain. Why would I want an image that's going to disappear in 10 seconds? I'm not a spy. This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds. I don't want stuff like that. I want it. You're going to send it to me. It's either worth me having or don't send it to me. I, you know, but my wife and my daughter still Snapchat each other. So, you know, yeah. And Luces is making fun of me for being old. I have no problem admitting that I'm old. I remember when we got a black and or a color TV because we had a black and white TV when I was a kid and we got a color.

Jordan Williams: Wow.

Leighton Seys: So.

Jordan Williams: That's a different experience. And you know what's interesting? I actually live streamed around 2015 when it wasn't as popular as it is now. It was on an app called What Now? Or what was it? What was it called? Well, either way, it was like a platform where it was not like Twitch, where people wasn't gaming or anything on it. Right, right. But people were just basically live streaming, just talking, talking. And I remember around that time, I think I got like 100 people in my thing at one time. It was just just whatever. But. you know it didn't last long because i was like my camera's crappy uh you know it's whatever you know and i just left it alone but then when i came back they asked me to be a partner for their platform so i did but then i realized i was like you know i don't know this is benefiting me or or the brand you know i mean it was cool and i'm very grateful for the start but um it's just interesting to see where live streaming was then until what live streaming is now You know, whole productions versus like real life interaction, just virtually, you know, it's just interesting.

Leighton Seys: Yeah. Yeah. There's, there's a whole bunch of the progression of things over time that are fascinating. And I've, I've tried to do a lot of reflecting on that. And one of the things that I find fascinating is like every place I went in ministry. There was a new opportunity that I saw. In other words, there was a need in the church and I saw digital technology as a way to meet the need in the church. I'm continuing to see that more and more. And I find it just, you know, what a great time to live in, to have access, to watch and to have people around the globe that I'm connected with, to see people who God is calling into doing ministry. I mean, if you think about the book of Acts, it talks about Peter and Paul and a few of the other disciples. There were 120 in the upper room. Where are the stories of the 120 going and doing ministry? We don't get all the 120. That would be a great book. The story of the 120. So it's like I'm getting to see the story of the 120 unfolding here on Twitch that nobody's going to ever see the book of. But I'm trying to document some of you on the podcast here and hear what God's up to and what he's been doing. And I think it's really fun.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely.

Leighton Seys: I'm watching left a question for you. Okay. I'm ready. When you've ever tried to share your faith online, you may have faced some challenges. Maybe you worried about coming across pushy, opinionated, or haughty. Perhaps you've seen people argue in the comments section, chat, and wonder, is this really helping? Am I making a difference? How did you overcome that? And what advice would you give to a new Christian streamer?

Jordan Williams: Man, that's a great question. So number one, it's always scary to share your faith, especially when you when when Jesus has said the world hates you because they hated me first. So I'm going to be honest. It's been times even now that I still get nervous about sharing my faith. It's oh, Lord, please don't. Let's not talk about specific topics because. huh you know they're coming for your head you know i mean it's uh it's number one it's just scary it's scary i have worried about coming office to churchy or oh here we go the christian god you know it's it's i've i've thought about those things and even sometimes i worry you know and i've asked the lord to help me with that because you know at the end of the day the truth is the truth No matter how we like it, because I mean, naturally it comes against us anyway, because in first John two verse 15 says that we are to hate the world. And for those that love the world. They have not the love of the father within them. And number one, you know, as of recently, I don't know if y'all have been following, but it's just, it's been this basketball player, Jaden Ivy, who has said some stuff that is not quote unquote, because he's standing on the truth. He, and he said, I would rather be rejected by you guys than Jesus. Hold on one second. I'm sorry. My wife was asking me something. But yeah, I mean, and I would say here's my new advice to here's my advice to a Christian streamer or somebody that's wanting to share their faith. Number one, don't force it. Authenticity is what's key. What God made us individually so different, made us so different that he made us he looked at you and say you were enough. I want to use your personality. in order to reach people that you know flat cap dapper pastor can't reach yeah plenty of people that don't want my personality oh yeah oh yeah i mean i mean and that's all and i think that's okay because we can coexist in that oh absolutely because because it will serve paul you didn't put peter in front of pontius pilate you put paul or jesus people who understood you know the law or was technical or was very brilliant around you know emperors and rulers who understood certain things like that because god is so strategic in design because me i'm not the person that is a flat cap like i don't read scriptures all the time you know but i'm a person that when you've had a hard day the lord put such a joy in me that you want to come and have fun. And just to remind you, like, hey, man, we can relax life. You can enjoy life as a believer, but we keep it. We keep it with the scriptures, though. And that doesn't make him more significant or me less significant. It just means that we're doing the function in which God has called us to do in the ways that we know how and that he's given us how to do it.

Leighton Seys: So does that make sense? Totally makes sense to me. Totally makes sense. That's a great answer. One other thing that I was thinking as you were saying that. There's a point at which Twitch has a way of making a level playing field in some ways. And I know you're coming in and you're a celebrity. You're going to have more people watching you, but you're probably not on Twitch if you're a celebrity. So there's a way at which, yeah, I go on. If I'm on for only an hour, I'm not going to get pushed. I'm not going to be the front page. I'm not going to get all those things. But my faithfulness gets rewarded by the algorithms, my longevity, my active chat that's celebrating things, the having rage. So it's like war. continued doing things as like a level playing field so that people can find the Jordan Williams gaming who can't find the flat capped pastor who can't find the I'm watching you people. And we all can have a voice that somebody can find. And I think that's one of the amazing things is there's a growing number of voices that are in the space that God is using. And I don't know if you're there in my morning stream. I usually do this in my morning stream at 10.02. I pray for God to send more workers for the harvest because Luke 10.2 says the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send more workers. So I've been doing that since last year. I end the stream the same way. I pray for, well, I shouldn't say always because sometimes I end at nine and I don't always pray at 10 or two because it's nine o'clock. But at 10 or two, I sometimes pray. I sometimes stream to 11 and forget to pray at 10 and I do at 11. So it's usually end of stream prayer and then end of stream blessing. And then like you're on with your day. We're going somewhere else. And hopefully we're going to take that blessing to the next group that we go and we see.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. I think also I want to, I want to add more to that answer because there's a lot I want to say. Number one, right. What I found, right. Going back to the authenticity, right. Number one, as a Christian streamer, make sure you're abiding in him first. He is your first priority. He is your first priority because he, if Jesus, Jesus revealed to us what makes us effective. It's by abiding. People know that you've been with Jesus because you abide it. That's why the scripture says with the apostles and with us, with the saints, is that people knew they've been with Jesus because they hung around them. They abide it. They weren't trying to be like him or anything like that is just so happened that they carried such a presence with it. And so that is something that. We have to remember as believers before a streamer, as a Christian, a daily routine is to make sure that we're abiding because he says that our fruit is going to show that we are with him. And so it's important that as a believer who's on this platform, that your fruit matches up with what you say, because people, even non-believers, most people don't realize non-believers can sniff a fake. And that's something that people don't want to talk about. But nonbelievers can sniff a fake. That's so true. Because you can talk about the Bible all day long, but you out here treating people irresponsibly. You talk to your people behind the scenes, like, you know, and we have to live as God has said, that he sees everything. He is all-knowing. He knows everything about us when we're on the screen and off. So... You know, and see, now you've opened up a can of worms. See, you opened up a can of worms because this is the type of stuff I talk about with the chat on a regular. Because the only thing that makes us effective and the only reason why we are deemed as good is because of our relationship with Jesus Christ, period. Nothing about us is good. He said he loved us while we were yet sinners, meaning there is nothing by default good about us. It's no good. I don't care how many raid trains you do in the name of the Lord. I don't care how many things you give in the name of the Lord. Matter of fact, the Bible says don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Yeah, yeah. Do it out of the love for him.

Leighton Seys: You love him so much. Go ahead. I'm sorry. That's okay. I was just going to add along with that. I was just reflecting on what good is it to gain the whole world and to lose your own soul? Absolutely. If you're not abiding in Christ, if you're not connected to the vine as the branches, you're not producing fruit. You can produce busyness. You can do things out of your own ability. You can do a whole bunch of busy work and produce something that won't last. But if you want to produce things that last, you're abiding in him and it's fruit that you're producing, then it's not gaining the whole world. In fact... chasing after the world like we're talking you're talking about earlier if you love the world then you are not loving christ there's a hard thing for a lot of people because okay what does it really mean to love the world because i really do like a lot of things you know like i like having a warm comfortable room i like having flat caps i like having lights that flicker and do fun things i like a lot of those things but i would give all of those up I would give all those up.

Jordan Williams: Yeah. And it also comes with understanding, right, who God is to you, because he asked Peter, who do you say I am? That's a personal level. This was a one on one conversation. Because, you know, Peter was a fisherman or, you know, or he was doing something within the field, you know, in. And the interesting part about it is that that's what I'm, it goes back to our relationship is like, when you understand how worthy he really is and how he chose to give up everything, it's sort of like, well, I could choose to give up this. You know, I said, I tell my child all the time. I tell even my mom, my mom, I said, Jordan Williams game and can end today and not be on another platform, but Jordan Williams will be okay. Yeah. Because at the end of the day, if God wants to end this, obviously something with it is done. Now, do I want it to end? No, not at all. I enjoy this. This is fun. This is so fun. However, though, God is to be glorified. Oh, thank you so much for the follow. Thank you so much. I'm so sorry. That's going to be in your video. I'm going to make sure to turn on. Leave them on. They're fine.

Leighton Seys: They're fine. Okay. If people are watching the video and they're not here, they don't know. They just need to start showing up. So that's right. That's why I do this on Twitch. I mean, I'm highlighting the platform we're on with all the trappings of it. So I've been, I've been having fun every once so often dropping them. So I see them bouncing all over your screen there too. So you got, yeah, get the follows in Mike, the pastor. Thank you for the follow. I saw that coming in. I'm okay. We're talking about celebrating stuff. In the next month, I'm pretty confident I might hit 500 followers on this channel. It's going to happen. It's going to happen. It's going to be fun. We should be able to make that happen with all the guests that come on and people from everybody's community giving a follow. It's so much fun. And it's just more people to get to know.

Jordan Williams: want to know what's interesting is that okay i i don't know if you knew this but um recently god did a thing to where he has grown my instagram to almost 40 000 followers oh my goodness as we speak fantastic oh yes but you want to know what's interesting is that like that happened when i stopped trying so when i stopped trying so That happened when I put the focus off of gaining and more on just, Lord, you're more important than that right now. But I celebrate it, right? Because I'm very iffy of saying that. And I pray that the following, like, I'm glad because I feel like God gave me this following because at the end of the day, I want it to be a resource, not something I hold as a God.

Leighton Seys: Well, to me, that 500 mark is a celebration of the community, not me. Absolutely. You know, the download, that's a celebration of the community because it means I've connected to them in a way that blesses them. It is not about me. And I hope I'll have to figure this out. Like if there's a point in time where I need to hang up the hat and not do this podcast, I need to pass it on to somebody else to take the mantle.

Jordan Williams: Because this is worth continuing to do.

Leighton Seys: There are more people. And maybe it's even worth bringing in somebody at some point to be a sidekick. And they spin off and they do a podcast and I do one. I know several friends who have podcasts. They do the same thing. One person does one episode. Somebody does the other episode. I haven't been called to do that yet. So I'm not soliciting anybody. I'm just listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit. But it's one of those things where it's like. I learned this lesson early on in ministry by accident. And I've shared it several times on my stream. I was doing theater, the drama ministry for my local church. And then I left to go to do seminary. I had nobody trained to do what I was doing. i was writing the scripts i was directing the scripts i was i was often one of the actors in the scripts as well you know to fill in we didn't have as many guys that were willing to do it so i would fill different roles i'd pick the ones that i thought i played best And I left and it ended. And it was like, wait a minute, if this was, and it's fine. Some ministries are for a season, but it was like, I had never thought about what am I doing to invest in somebody else so that they can do what I do if God calls me away to something else. And so it's not time for that yet, I don't think with the podcast, but in another six months, it might be time to start thinking about that of if I'm not doing this podcast, Who might I bring alongside and pass this off? Or maybe it's just, what do I teach someone else that I've learned from doing podcasts to help empower somebody else to give them a voice that they do their own podcast?

Jordan Williams: So it sounds like you have an anointing of a bishop. You can plant and get things going in established order. You know, which I'm pretty sure you're like, okay, guilty.

Leighton Seys: In some ways that is true, but it took me a long time to identify it because what I think I'm maybe even a little better at is coming along after something is going. seeing how to make improvements and seeing a direction it should go. And so I had to learn how to take that and start from zero and build something from zero to start with and to let it navigate. But it was skills that I took from taking something I could see where it could go that already existed and then go from there. And it's not like I've ever in some ways originally created anything new. you know i didn't start podcasting and i was the first one that did it i saw podcasting kept going i don't have a voice in this what would i say and then suddenly god said here's what you say so wow it was okay then i'll step in because i don't need another thing to do i don't need i don't you know i don't i don't need everybody you know trying to like The last thing I really want to do is spend the effort to try to get to having 100,000 followers or a million followers. I know the effort and work. No, that doesn't sound like fun to me. I'd rather have 10 people I invest in that all have 100,000 followers. To me, that's a whole lot better to watch and to pump up other people and say, I knew them when, and I invested in them and I saw God doing great things through them. That to me is much more exciting than if I ever had a million followers on something.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. And that's a great leader too. Um, cause a great leader is an investor essentially. I mean, it is a, they're an investor. You're not just an investor of money, but you're an investor of time and wisdom. Like you're, you're, it's a constant pouring. Right. Which is, which is a great thing because at the end of the day, you know, I think even streamers are leaders. Absolutely. And who you are is what you're going to replicate. Your community is going to replicate that.

Leighton Seys: Yes.

Jordan Williams: Yes.

Leighton Seys: So it's essential.

Jordan Williams: Go ahead.

Leighton Seys: I was just saying, just piggybacking off what you said there, one of the things I learned is how to create culture. I didn't know I was doing it. I did not know that's what I did. It took a while to realize it. And this will sound really funny, but the place that I finally realized it is when I started a cross country team because my son wanted to run cross country and the school, he went and recruited throughout the school. He, oh, I got to follow. Thank you for the follow. Thank you for the follow, Mama Tooth. We transferred from one state to another. He had been running cross country. We made him go out for football his freshman year. He hated it, and we're like, we don't care if you play. That's the only sport. You got to go out. The school is you got to go out. Just sit on the bench. We don't care. Make friends. That's your goal, not to learn football, not to play. Make friends. And to make sure that he didn't get, you know, like you're going out again next year. He started recruiting for a cross country team. And I got, I had my certification because you had to be certified to coach. And the school board, the AD came, the school board, the AD went to the school board, got permission to get a cross country team because he had recruited enough people to have a cross country team. And then they said, hey, can you do it? Because our budget is zero and we can't pay anybody. And I'm like, that sounds good to me. I'll do that. And... The next year, I had a freshman coming in whose mother or grandmother was just retiring as a cross-country coach. And they said, would you like if my grandma came along to be an assistant? I'm like, yeah, that'd be fantastic because I still don't know what I'm doing. And she came in and was there like for a practice and a half. And she said, you've created something amazing here. Just keep doing what you're doing. You don't need me. And I'm like. Okay. And it was then when I realized I just created a culture and the culture, what was, was raising people up to thrive. And so all I like ended some way, I just say, all I did was celebrate every tiny victory that everybody ever did. Oh my goodness. You, you beat your time by 20 seconds. That's fantastic. You beat your time by a minute. That's fantastic. You run your best on this course. That's fantastic. We celebrated everything that everybody did. And I would go into the school in the lockers and post the little things all over their locker. So, because I watched the football team do that. So I'm doing the same thing, except. I could have three things from one run on your board, you know, that's going there. So it could quickly have your entire locker covered. And you knew who the cross country people were in the school really quick.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely.

Leighton Seys: I was actually, and that's interesting.

Jordan Williams: You said culture because I actually met with my mod team and we were talking about we're pushing the culture, right?

Leighton Seys: Because culture, the mods, the mods carry the culture. So you set the tone of the culture, the mods carry the culture and they're the enforcers of the culture.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I think it's just, it's important because again, with ours, right, because our community is called the JWG tribe, but we call each other tribeville, you know, establishing the culture of a family or the establishing the culture of like, you know, Hey, like we're treating everybody like they're VIP because everybody is important because God's business is people. Yeah. The guy's business is people. That's what that's what he cares about, you know? And so which is which is so cool because I tell them all the time, I say it's an honor to be even somebody's favorite streamer because I mean, you know, at one point, at one point, you know, I was just streaming to myself. And Lord knows I've always desired community. And one thing that I've grown up. especially as a young man in my youth years is being around a community, especially within my church with a youth group. Like that was some of the best moments where we all understood what the main mission was. And we did things together. We laughed, we cried, we experienced. I mean, that's something I thrive to create with the JWG tribe. It's just a place where. We can look back and be like, oh, remember this? And man, I remember first coming in and I remember feeling like this. But I was shown so much generosity and love that I just couldn't help but just stay around. That's something that I value more than a number and more than followers. Because, I mean, like I said, all that can come and go. But I think what lasts longer is... people who are actually real about it. Because if it's real, it's going to stick.

Leighton Seys: Making life impact is a harder thing to measure, but it's a much more rewarding thing when you see it happen.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely.

Leighton Seys: You know, you're talking about...

Jordan Williams: Jason Idaho's Three Just Follows. Jason! That's my, that's one of my moderators right there.

Leighton Seys: Hey, thanks for the follow, Jason. Was, was just gonna say that, Chef, we've been, we've been talking about different aspects of, of things. One of the things that I really like to, to dig into is what are some things that you've had to overcome? and being a streamer. Now you've streamed on multiple platforms. So go ahead and talk about the whole journey if you want to. If you just want to be specific about Twitch or just a couple of them, that's fine. But difficulties that you've had to overcome, they could be challenges on stream. They could be challenges in life, getting in the way of stream or a balancing. How do I do both of these? Whatever it is. that you've had to get to the point where you are today, overcome something that got in the way and you're on this side of it?

Jordan Williams: Yeah. The mindset of grind culture. Yeah. I think I really started seeing it happening when it was affecting my home. And I mean, even like spending hours and hours on my PC and I'm neglecting my family. You know, like one of the biggest challenges was definitely that and seeing how that was affecting my marriage. Just being honest, like, you know, where the grind culture lies to you and tell you, you got to put in this amount of hours and this amount of this and this amount of that. But. God told me to rest and I'm going to get, but God, I can't rest. I gotta, if I want this to change and to change my family, I gotta go get it. But, and I thought I was doing a good thing, but I was blinded because as I was so distracted, my family was suffering. And that's my first ministry. Say that again. Say that again. Cause not everyone gets that. That's my first ministry. Loving my wife is my first ministry. Being there for my kids is my first ministry. Is it always perfect? No, absolutely not. But I know that was the biggest, biggest thing for me. That was the biggest thing. Another challenge with streaming is the lies that the enemy plants. Dealing with jealousy, dealing with just the comparison game, right? You're never going to win that. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Never, never. And, and competing with people when you don't have to, because it's like, you're never going to win because y'all are not the same anyway. And matter of fact, you're on a different wall. So, you know, how can you compete when God has called you to a whole different lane? You know, like it's, it's, it's insane. It's insane.

Leighton Seys: Um, and that's the original lie. Yeah. hey, that thing right there you don't have, you could have it, but God don't want you to have that. So go get it yourself. You said it. Yeah. Now, depending upon how you understand the translation of be like God, or if you think it's plural, be like the gods, the divine beings who are the spiritual beings, not God himself, but the others. I tend to like the other so that they were grasping to be like the spiritual realm. when they were physical beings not god himself i don't think they were doing that i think it was but i don't think it matters which way it was you can take it either way but i i like that thought it's a grasping of something and it looks like you've been deprived of no matter what it is and i can just go do this but there's always a sacrifice and the sacrifice is never worth it when you sacrifice it

Jordan Williams: no not at all because i mean i've found that i'm a better streamer when i don't hustle or don't grind yeah but i just simply ask the holy spirit what is a way that i can do this because you know i love to do this but my family is going to benefit from it I so now so now stream Tuesdays and Thursdays and every other weekend because that that's what works for me and my schedule. And I found that I've been more well rested. My wife is more more pleased, you know, and and we've been able to spend more time together. And not only that, you know, been able to take care of myself health wise, hair wise, cleaning, you know, making sure everything is just good because God calls us to be whole. spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally. Yeah. Even though even going to going to counseling and talking through things through my life, you know, that I've experienced through childhood, through our spirits as an adult, like I can't talk to my wife about because she probably doesn't understand. You know, there's some in some things I don't understand about her. You know, it's I would say that's the biggest thing. And I know in my earlier streamer days, I, I struggle with the fact if I was good enough. if my production was good enough or am i i'm not trying hard enough right and then um i just had to take a step back and i had to realize you know like i'm not You know, I'm not this person. I'm not that person. I don't stream like this. I don't curse. I don't do all this. I don't have to be a part of this culture. I could just be myself and I can love God doing it. And God, and when I started doing that, God started blessing me with the community that I knew was going to arrive for me. i mean heck like like i said people like i'm watching people who i think i don't know if she's told you about me prior to this but i know that i watch you people always she stays talking about me and i'm like no no no you don't have to you know hype me up or anything but it's just the the people like that who make who motivate me to stay like myself you know and i'm just super super excited

Leighton Seys: The interesting thing is the first waves of social media, when it went past actually connecting to people you knew to putting stuff out there for strangers to see, was all about putting on a facade of the world is the best that it's ever been and you only get to see the good. And that is on its last leg. is going away there are a few places where it hangs on a few places in culture and and it'll there'll be trends that will follow that but the people you're building relationship with that you're connecting with they only want to see the genuineness of you they do not want the facade they want to know like we were talking about earlier Oh, you're having a bad day. They want to know that. They want to rally around you when you're having the bad day. You're celebrating. Great. They want to know you're celebrating. You're jealous because somebody else is celebrating. So the comparison game, never going to win that one. No. Like, I guess maybe there's a few people that could win that one, but then somebody will come along later. Like, you know, Tom Brady has seven Super Bowl rings. Nobody will ever have more until somebody has more, you know? And even though Bill Russell has 10 NBA rings, people still say Michael Jordan's the goat. And I'm like, well, then I guess championships isn't the measurement anymore. We change the rules of what we measure to who's the greatest if it's not championships. And I'm just picking on some people and throwing names out. Right. But we can do that with anything, you know? Yep.

Jordan Williams: That's so true.

Leighton Seys: I don't have the cool setup that you have in the background. I don't have the emojis bouncing all over the screen. I don't have the cool beard that you've got, you know? I could just keep picking on things that I don't have. Or I could go the other way. How many hats you got, my friend? I got a few more than you, I bet.

Jordan Williams: Dude, I actually, I collect a lot of snapbacks though.

Leighton Seys: They're in my closet. But you have probably way more than me. So you're right. I've got some of those too that I don't bring out unless it's April Fool's Day. For sure.

Jordan Williams: It has to be on brand.

Leighton Seys: Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's like to go back before the Internet. The only the only age I would want to go back before the Internet is when flat caps were the style. That's the only age because growing up, I had one or two and they did not sell them in the store and I could not find them. Now that the Internet exists, I will never run out of hats. And and when when when somebody finally decides they want to throw me a sponsorship. I've decided I want to be the Jerry Garcia of flat caps. So if you know the Jerry Garcia ties, I want to design the fabric that you're going to help design. You go make the hats. I'm not making anything. I'm just going to design the style and all of that. I want to do a new thing that you've never seen with flat caps. That's what I'm going to do someday. So we were talking about obstacles to overcome, some of those things. And these are common to just about everybody. You have the comparison game. You have the I'm not good enough and those things. But I want to circle back to talking about that family is your first ministry. Because a lot of people don't always get that. And they really don't get that sometimes for pastors. And pastors don't always get that either because it's so easy to go and take care of someone in the church who's in the hospital when so-and-so, one of your kids has a sporting event, has a recital, has something else, and you go take care of the church instead of being dad. And so there has to be that balance. And one of the things... that I often said to my board, you know, not because I was having to defend myself, but I was often saying it so that if I ever did something that they questioned, they knew what I said. I was a husband first. I was a father second, and I am a pastor third. That is the order that God has called me into those things and granted me to do them. So those are the priorities in the order. God, yes, but ministry-wise, here's the order. It is wife, kids, then the bride of Christ.

Jordan Williams: Yep, agree. That's so great. Man, that's so good. Number one... Because I think of it like this. When I stand before God, he's going to ask me, correct me? Oh, yeah. That shivers my timbers, bro. That shivers my timbers. I mean, I'm checking my thoughts. I'm checking everything about just myself. because you know and then you know the kids like because first of all the family is supposed to learn jesus at home um and the kids need to know that their father is present right um so i'm in i'm in a unique i'm in a unique family dynamic where we're a blended family so it's like it's different it's very different and learning how to be a father because i wasn't a father until i married my wife and learning how to really be a father and a husband all at the same time yeah That, that was a big, big challenge in itself. And I know in the last year, the Lord has been pointing out to me the essential, like he desires for me to be there for them first before stream. Because before her, it was just content creation, you know, him and content creation, you know, cause I was just single. I was doing what I wanted, you know, doing what I was doing. You know, it's definitely something, especially when you have somebody like a deep passion for it. Like I do, like I have a deep passion for the things I love. I love to do this cause it's an expression of myself. It's the way I get to share myself with the world. It's the way I get to share myself with everybody. It's the way I get to share my faith. It's the way you get to see me change. And so if you want to research me on social media, if you want to see all of my life, I've documented different stages of my life.

Leighton Seys: You see me as a kid to a teenager to thankfully not a teenager or kid is anywhere for anyone to find. I'm so thankful. Oh, my goodness.

Jordan Williams: man well i'm actually i'm actually great because i think of it like this like in a sense of you know thankfully lord willing i don't go anytime soon but if i were to die right it's a way for people to see how the lord changed me through my different phases that's beautiful that's a beautiful thought that's that's why i love doing it why i do what i do yeah because if anybody i told my children i said if anybody were to ask you how i was show them my stuff they will know exactly who i am because who i am on here is the way i am in real life that's just how that's how i think about it and so which comes with this you know people gonna know i'm a great husband before this stream my wife was like can you chop a whole onion for me i went and i was chopping those onions because my wife needed me to help right but that's what i feel like being that's the first ministry because when you think of ministry ministry is servanthood Right. Because we are called to be the servants of our family. Cause that's what, when, when, when Jesus says we are to love our wife as he loved the church, how did he love the church he served?

Leighton Seys: Not to be served, he served. He served. You know what I'm saying? Those other things that I don't think every father gets. If your wife is not put first, then your kids can't learn how to put someone else in their life first. They can only learn if your kids are first, they only learn they're the most important thing. They don't learn how to put someone else first. when they learn they're not the most important person to you. And they shouldn't be. And they really can't be unless you've misplaced it. Your spouse is going to be. They learn the value of someone else being more important than me. And that's just a, you know, and it's not, like I said, to go back to, I don't want to sacrifice my family for the church. So the church also needs to know that, too, that my call is to everyone. And and that also includes my family, which if you go watch how the people treat Aaron and Mariam at times, the people were thinking that, oh, this is just a bunch of nepotism over here, that Moses is just trying to get his family involved. And that's not what it was. God used Aaron because Aaron had gifts. God called Aaron separate than Moses. They just so happened to be brothers. And so it wasn't like he was trying to get the family business going. Moses needed Aaron. Aaron did a lot of things. Now, I think Aaron takes a lot of flack for the golden calf, rightly so. Put that event aside. Aaron's a pretty stand-up dude. He is there through thick and thin with Moses, with the people, doing what was needed. So take that out of the equation. And I do love, my stream knows this, I do love, you know, quoting Key and Peele. You done messed up, A.A. Ron.

Jordan Williams: That is a great sell! So I know one thing that I'm teaching my daughter in particular is what a real man looks like, because I tell her and I'm so happy. I tell her all the time. I said, you don't understand how much of an honor it is to be your dad, because I didn't have my father in the home to teach me how to be a man. Or how to be a godly man at that. I learned only from the Holy Spirit and the men that he's placed around me. So me being able to instill this wisdom and telling her, Hey, and even my son too, you know, because he sees it's this thing I do now where every Tuesday I get my wife some new flowers. Nice. Just because it's just something I do just because it's Tuesday. And just to let her know that I see her and I love her.

Leighton Seys: It's just funny. It was Tuesday. When I used to be a delivery driver, I found this flower shop that imported roses from Guatemala. And they were like miniature roses. And I could get them for $10 a dozen. And I delivered in that area on Tuesday. So when I would buy roses for my wife, which I only did it about once a month, I would go to the shop, pick up the Guatemalan roses that were not out in display. You had to know. And they were in the back. Hey, I need some of them Guatemalan roses. And I would bring them home. and bring them to her. So I'm sorry, you just said Tuesday and flowers, and it just brought back that memory of doing that. But my wife and I, early on, I said, if I bring you flowers on Valentine's Day when everyone else is doing it, how do you know it means anything?

Jordan Williams: Right.

Leighton Seys: All you know is I succumb to the pressure of advertisers or social norms. If I bring you flowers for no reason, you know why I brought them to you, which I bought tulips last week for my wife, and I brought those. They didn't last. They died. She was pretty sad about it, and they were like, ah, I should have chose better, but hey, tried something new.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. I mean, and, and again, that goes back to serving my wife. Yes. Making her feel more important than this. You know, again, I'm super happy. I get to play games and stuff, but I mean, if it means I can't hang in the discourse server and talk with people. So be it because at the end of the day, my wife and I have to live together. We have to do life together and you know, And just been awesome. And I found that when I spent less time hustling and grinding for this, the more me and my wife started to connect, like started to really like, you know, be more gentle, be more, you know, I see God doing stuff in like even to the point where, you know, I'm giving you tips, single men. Listen, I'm giving you tips, bro. I'm giving you all tips. If serving your wife. is the most manliest thing you can ever do. Totally. It is not perfect. You can never do it perfectly. You're going to fail. Of course, you're going to miss the mark. But the biggest thing is that if you're trying and you're incorporating the Holy Spirit, you will never fail. Smallest thing, even from, hey, I saw you, you know, your hair looks so nice today. Something like that goes a long way. But that goes back into like, you know,

Leighton Seys: streamer well it's it's just a matter of taking notice of them and not taking for granted that's absolutely that's really what the key is so it doesn't matter what it is that you do little things that you do to take notice of them instead of just expecting what they're giving you and what they're doing for you to just kind of stop and pause and to just celebrate that hey I get to go through life with you. I mean, I can't think of anybody else I would want to spend my life with than my wife.

Jordan Williams: Yep. Same here. And me and my wife, which is interesting. We, me and her were born together. Like we were childhood friends. So yeah, our parents were pregnant together. And I mean, my grandmother was her neighbor. So that was her goddaughter. So, I mean, we've just known each other most of our life. And it's interesting that the girl, and I tell all the time, we laugh because we so-called dated at 13. And I was like, oh, I'm never going to marry that girl. And then I ended up marrying that girl. God said, you thought. Don't tell God what you ain't going to do. But I told her, I tell her all the time, and especially now, I said, marrying you was probably the best thing I could ever do because it has made me, you and the kids have made me more of a man than I ever could have imagined.

Leighton Seys: Yeah. I often say, I do not want to spend any time imagining where I would be without my wife because it wouldn't be doing ministry. Man. I would have, I would have, I would have either went down the selfish path or I would have went down a bad, worse path. Neither one of those would have been good. Absolutely. Yeah. So, yeah, we're not here to talk about our wives, but hey, why aren't we, you know, celebrate our wives? They're pretty fantastic. Agree. Agree. I'm enjoying myself, by the way, so. All good.

Jordan Williams: Yeah, this is great.

Leighton Seys: As a Christian streamer, what would you answer to a person that comes into chat and ask if the Abrahamic covenant is conditional or unconditional?

Jordan Williams: Okay, so when now I know that was a fancy way of saying was the covenant before Jesus more conditional or unconditional? I mean, that's just the way I'm thinking of it. I'm going to just say this. Hopefully I answered this. Please stop me. And again, you know, I'm not. Well, just before you answer, not all Christians are in agreement.

Leighton Seys: So you can go either way with this and be within the realm that there are Christians on your side of the answer.

Jordan Williams: Okay, before I begin, and I'm not afraid to ask, right, the Abrahamic covenant, right, explain a little bit. So I'm just making sure I'm in the right context of thinking. Can you explain a little bit of like what she means by that?

Leighton Seys: Okay. I don't know which part she's asking, but the Abrahamic covenant is where God tells Abraham that I will make you a great nation. And then he says that I will give you this land. So some people look at the land as part of the promise, and therefore the land has to go back to Israel if it's unconditional. God has to give it back to them at some point in the future. It's unconditional. It doesn't matter if they messed up and went to Babylon. It's got to go back. Others will say it's conditional that... They messed up so they don't have to get it back. God doesn't have to ever give that back to them. But I'm going to give you a third view that not a lot of people probably have heard. The land was not part of the promise. The land was a sign of the promise. The promise was that God was going to make Abraham a great nation and that all nations on earth will be blessed through him. That's the promise. The land is a sign to prove that God's going to do it. So there's no condition on the land in my estimation.

Jordan Williams: Well, I do not know how to answer that. That's actually that's a great question. I do not know how to answer that. So I'm not even going to act like I wouldn't know how to answer. I just I don't know. I don't know. I think that's OK. I'm willing to learn.

Guest: Oh, yeah.

Leighton Seys: You know what? I don't know is a great answer. And, you know, like I said, I have I have friends who believe that the land is is unconditional and it has to go back. And I think that. That plays problems with our politics because that means we try to force it to happen. That can't be right. Even if it is that God will give it back, don't try to do it yourself. We're running ahead of God. Every time we run ahead of God, we mess up things. Don't do that. That's what happened to Joseph. That's what happened to David. That's what happened. I could just give you stories and stories of you're rushing ahead of God. It doesn't turn out. So if it's...

Jordan Williams: true and i'm wrong if it's true that god is going to give the land back then just sit back and wait for it to happen he don't god don't need you to be part of it right and actually that's that's funny that you said that because it the scripture that comes to mind is when he says my ways are higher my thinking is higher exactly so god can do whatever god wants to do and that's it that's my answer whatever god finds if he decides to give it like you say if he decides to do it I'm okay, Lord. If he doesn't, I'm okay, Lord. I just want to be with you.

Leighton Seys: That's all I care about. Exactly. And my friend Nico showing up, God is the doer and the mover. There's no reason to rush into God's plans. Absolutely.

Jordan Williams: Amen.

Leighton Seys: We don't need to rush. I can't think of one time in my life where I rushed to do something that it probably turned out better. I could take a ton of times where me rushing ahead of things instead of waiting, they didn't turn out so good.

Jordan Williams: Amen to that. Been there. Been there. Been there. I mean, that's a great question.

Leighton Seys: Well, it's also one, like you said, if we don't know, that's okay. What I do want to know is... what are we focused on with Jesus? Who is Jesus? What does it mean that he came? That's where, you know, I want to spend more time than fully understanding the Abrahamic part that doesn't have to do with Jesus fulfilling it.

Jordan Williams: Right. Right. He's everything.

Leighton Seys: So thinking about, let's shift from the obstacles of doing things and think about some blessings that have come about as a streamer. So it could be something that you've experienced yourself, something that's happened in somebody in your community, or it could be another community that you got to witness something happening. So maybe, maybe two or three stories of just blessing that you've been able to see just great things that happened because of streaming. Oh my gosh.

Jordan Williams: Is it just one? I do, man.

Leighton Seys: You can tell, just start with one and then we'll do another one.

Jordan Williams: Man, blessings. Having a community that understands my time, knowing that wifey is important. Having, having, um, man. I mean, being gifted, like with subs to a point where I feel like I can make money from doing this by just having fun. That's a big blessing. Like that I didn't have before. Like I'm thankful that people trust me enough to come back weekend and week out and they feel safe. That's a, that's another big blessing being on this podcast. That's God's love for me, highlighting me to let me know like what you're doing is very significant. That's a blessing. I will be, I am a featured creator for DreamHack this coming May. So I will be streaming it. Say more about that. What is DreamHack? okay so dreamhack is a big gaming convention where a lot of the top brands you know zenny intel nvidia i mean you name it monster energy drink is there and um what's interesting is that i started going in 2023 of december that's what that was my first one and i had a blast didn't know what it was just came in me and my wife and my family i actually met up with t-pain funny about that right it's interesting because me and his daughter became friends cool me and his daughter like we were just standing in the in the cosplay section where they were doing a competition and we started chatting and then you know she was like oh yeah my dad's over there i was like who's who's your dad she's oh yeah t-pain i was like t pay and then i looked over he was like hey come here and i was like oh that's you t pay okay cool you know but another big blessing for me is relationships with people i love establishing newer relationships with people i'm very happy with our conversation because we've we've met each other in passing and you know in chats from time to time but being able to actually take You know, us to set side a top times for this to where we, you and I can really like connect. That's something I love. I love to do. I love it. I mean, the blessings just go on and on. I mean, in, in going back to dream hack, I've applied for that for three years. Okay. and you know being able for this third year where i took a break last year you know because i spent time traveling with my wife you know at the time it was happening i was on a cruise vacation it was a great time we've applied for the creator place for three years and just an honor to be able to be in a position to where now we can do that. And I mean, another blessing is that the Lord brought about multiple thousands of people to my Instagram by just us doing simply react.

Leighton Seys: Let's go back to the to the hack. What do you actually do there? And is there anything that the community can do to help support you?

Jordan Williams: Oh, my gosh, that's a great question. Yeah. To be honest with you. Man. So, okay. At DreamHack, I know one of my biggest goals there is to network with different brands so that, you know, number one, it could just, we could establish relationships and really bring about giveaway sponsorships and stuff like that. But I mean, in the ways the community can help me, it's just number one. I mean, just being there. I mean, I have a donation tab. which is I have my cash app or anything that if anybody needs it, I have exclamation point donate. I'm going to put that there. If anybody feels led to do so. And I also have, I just opened up this cash app right here. I'm sorry. It's this cash. I mean, anything, anything would help. I mean, me and my mom, my, I'm sorry, me, my wife, my mom, and my brother will be attending because they're like my team. They help me with everything. I mean, just being there for me. I mean, whichever way that looks like for you, for you as the community and just, you know, praying for me. Because I know we pray to a true God. Pray for me that number one, he gets glorified, you know, in an honest way. And that favor moves to where, you know, whatever he sees fit to do, you know, and to meet with different people that may have never met with Jesus. and they know they can use you know my platform could be a way that they can you know know who jesus is you know um those are the major ways i feel like that that would be supportive um but i mean dreamhack is just a lot of fun it's just where gamers go to have fun um a lot of great tournaments there a lot of great vendors i mean a lot of free stuff you get i mean it's just a great time like You know, I will tell anybody, go to DreamHack Atlanta or when they had it in Houston. Hey, Kimmy, how you doing? That is one of my supporters from UK, from the UK. Very nice. Yeah. Yeah. So, but yeah, that's, that's pretty much it. That's pretty much it. I want to say. Cool.

Leighton Seys: Cool. Supersonic coming in. He always likes to get me on my, on my regular channel. I have spot of tea. France. I'm so sorry. France, Kimmy, my apologies. From France, not the UK. Yeah, those are fighting words almost, depending upon the hundred years war, which way you settled that out.

Jordan Williams: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Leighton Seys: Not the only ones from across the pond. Nico's also across the pond. Hey, Nico. So. That's really cool. I love that you're doing it. I love going to conferences, too, and hanging out and having a bunch of fun and doing those. I'll be at Nerd Culture Ministry Summit next week in Colorado Springs. That's going to be a blast. Oh, man. That's all kinds of nerds and Christian nerds trying to do ministry to the church. And I've got to do some writing for them this year and trying to work out. They want me on their podcast. So I feel really privileged and honored to be invited to be on their podcast. We had it scheduled twice in the last week, and we both ended up canceling on each other. Like, no, that doesn't work now. I forgot about this. One was so ridiculous. I don't know if you ever had this happen, but I had it happen like three times in the last week. I put something on my calendar, and it's not where it's supposed to be. So I put it on my calendar that I was supposed to have a lunch meeting. And then, and it also had this podcast on Wednesday instead of Thursday this week. It's like, I don't know what's going on this week. Post Easter, you know, just something going on in the algorithm. I'll just say it that way. Something going on in the algorithm just causing problems. Absolutely. So I interrupted you to go back to the hackathon. You were going to go into something else. It was a blessing. And I don't remember where you were headed.

Jordan Williams: Um, you know, I don't remember either, but now that I think about it, it was one, another blessing is that I've been able to actually meet my favorite, like, creators that I've never thought I would meet. Like, I never thought I would know. And being able to pour into them, just being able to just establish a relationship where I'm getting to know them for them, you know, I think that's a big blessing going back in. Okay. I didn't know who that was. It's my son in the back. But yeah, I will say that's just been a blessing and all just again, just meeting people, I will say is the is the general theme and consistency of like why I love streaming. Yeah. And and other Christian streamers like like a couple of people, you know, artistic chemists and melanated empress and I'm watching people and you and just many people from different walks of life, you know, and just hearing their stories. That's just something I'm very honored to be a part of. I say all the time that they're going to write a history book about this.

Leighton Seys: I say it too. I say it too. And I'm trying to help keep some of the record here of some of the stuff going on so that it can happen. But I totally believe, I say this not just in the realm of Twitch. I say this in digital ministry. We are in a phase right now that is going to change the world in the next 20 years. Yep, I agree. And I see it as the work of the Holy Spirit is moving people to go and move and say yes to what he's calling them to. And some people will be upset about this. They're not asking permission of the church to go do it. But it's like the Holy Spirit's telling you to go do it. You best not argue with them. Absolutely. You best just go be diligent to that. And then I know the people, and I have these questions all the time. What if they get it wrong? What if they don't believe the right way? What if they teach the wrong thing? What if they do? Jesus sent out the 12 and he sent out the 72 before the resurrection, okay? He didn't wait till after the resurrection so they got their theology right. He sent them out with the little that they had so that they could begin being mobilized. If you don't mobilize people, they will never mobilize. If you just keep them in the pews, they will never mobilize. So, I mean, I've run into 70, 80 year olds who've been in church their whole life and you try to get them to go talk to their neighbor about Jesus and they're like, well, I can't do that. It's like, you should have been doing this for the last 50 years. Man, talk about it. Why ain't you going? You should be going. No, I can't. I don't know how to. I don't know the right answers. You don't know the right answers. You could get up and give my message most of the time. I mean, you couldn't bring the Greek and the Hebrew unless you paid attention and took notes. But yeah, you could be doing so many more things. And in some ways, I think we haven't been equipping the saints for the work of ministry. We've just been taking pastors and letting them do ministry. But I don't want to make this a get on my soapbox and preach moment, but I do get excited about what I'm seeing, and that's what I was leading to. It's happening, and you can't stop it.

Jordan Williams: yes i mean and and what i found in that the younger generation is so on fire for jesus yes like they are like either fully for the world or fully for him they calling everybody out shots are fire and you better be ready and so which i love which i love to see because i mean and particularly you know

Leighton Seys: kids man they've seen they've seen it all they've seen the fakes they can't stand it you know what any anyone that's growing up with a phone in their hand they know how to spot ai and they know how to spot a fake they don't need anyone to tell them it's it's the people that grew up before there was a computer that don't know how to spot a fake And I'm not saying that in a bad way. It's just reality. That's just a trend and a reality that you did not have. And those growing up with the phone, they know how to instantly spot it. I got called out in a meeting because somebody had watched one of my videos. And he said, you had the eye tracker on, didn't you? I said, yeah, I did. I had the eye tracker on. I got like, man, I got called out on that. And those that don't know, it will try to keep your focus on the camera with your eyes, even when you're looking away. And I did that because, you know, one, I got a feature and I wanted to test it out. But two, I was doing some reading. And when you go to read, it doesn't look like you're looking at the camera. So I was doing that. And then it will just inadvertently all of a sudden your eyes is like flitch. It's really freaky if you catch that. So it's like I quit using it, but I used it for a while and I got called out. I'm like, OK, I'm stopping. I don't need that. Don't need to do that. I don't need to be fake in any way.

Jordan Williams: No, no. I mean, and it's it's pretty cool because Christians. True believers look like you and me. We're so different. Culturally different. Grew up in two different areas of the states, I'm pretty sure. But the common thing that makes us join together is that we both love Jesus. We both are striving to enhance our relationships with Jesus by just being... what he's called us to be. And that's the unique thing about the kingdom. You know, Jesus said this where he made a parable that the kingdom is like this, where it could be somebody working all day. but there could be somebody coming in for two hours of the day and still get the same pay, right? Because I'm pretty sure before Jesus come back, it'll be people that just got saved telling other people about Jesus, you know? And they can still receive, you know, they can still receive the same reward, you know? But the kingdom is so vast, right? The kingdom is so vast in that way to where... to where it's like it's not about one particular person or one particular function. It's the fact a kingdom is moving. Totally. It's not a place.

Leighton Seys: It's a movement. It's on the move. And to go back to what you're talking about, like, yeah, you and I didn't grow up near each other. I'm pretty certain of that. But I'm not concerned about that so much as without Twitch, when would we have ever run into each other? When, when would, and now let's loop this into some of the people here in the chat. We got Luces in here. We've got, I'm watching you people. We've got Nico. I remember who you said was, was over across the pond as well, over in France. Like when were all of us going to be in the same room? Oh, save. Yeah. Supersonic saved by grace. Where were all of us going to be in the same room together? wasn't going to happen unless a digital connection draws us together and can globally. And then some of us are going to have the privilege to get together in person at some point. which I keep trying to get. I'm watching you people together. I have met Luce's. If she never told you that, I met Luce's. She was at a wedding when I was on vacation. So we happened to be in the same city. She stopped by my hotel. We chatted for about an hour and a half just to say hi and hang out because we hadn't got to before. And why not? We're this close to each other.

Jordan Williams: right i mean that's that's again that goes back to why it's important to connect with people and build those genuine relationships because you just never know how more rich like this is what i call a rich person this is what made jesus so rich is that he built a connection with each and everybody so individually that as a whole it was so effective because everybody experienced jesus the same and different all in the same breath

Leighton Seys: Yeah, it depended on where you encountered him. Were you the crowd? You connected with him in a way and you saw miracles and you understood who he was. Did you connect with him when he was doing his teaching in the synagogues in a smaller intimate space until they got crowded? Did you get to go to one of the meals that are all throughout the book of Luke? He goes from basically Jesus eats his way through the gospel of Luke. He just goes from one meal to the next meal. Or did you get to be the 12 that hung out or the three that were the intimate, always pouring into the three, Peter, James, and John, Peter, James, and John, Peter, James, and John, and then go look what they did as he poured into them. Oh, so good. It is good.

Jordan Williams: It is good. And again, I mean, that's why we love Jesus because – Everybody experienced him so differently, but the message never changes. Right. And I can even speak. I can even speak on the way I met him for me. I remember I remember it was it was 2010, July 25th at a summer camp in Alabama in the summer. It was the peak summer. It was a great time to summer camp was amazing. I remember I can't remember what the message was. I just remember God was pulling me so heavy. And I was dealing with a lot of anger and bitterness because it was a lot of stuff that happened to me prior to this. Right. Because me and my mom, we were homeless at one point. Um, we had family rob us, you know, we were, yeah, we were, we were supposed to renovate a home, but found out our family robbed us. I mean, family turned their back on us you know friends some people weren't treating me correctly you know it's just at school and things so i was just a little bit of like just upset of life and i remember that night it was a wednesday and i remember god pulled me to the altar and i was weeping for two hours straight not not even lying not even lying not even lying i was weeping for two hours straight and i remember just crying like i've never cried like this before i remember just crying and i remember feeling the presence of god where it was so heavy and so deep it was so it was just so it was such a it was like once i got done like it was people that i didn't even forgive that i forgave I just felt my heart lift. It felt like the weight just shifted. And that was when I truly realized, because prior to that, I even asked the Lord, because me and my mom, and that's my mom right there, Mama JWG. Hey, Mama. Me and my mom used to get in real bad arguments. And I remember that week before that trip, I said, Lord, if you don't change me, I know this is not going to end well. and that next week he changed my life forever i've been a believer since 2010 like a full like i've been always a believer but i really rededicated my life back to him 2010 and i mean that was when because before then i was a class clown too you know what i'm saying i was a class clown oh yeah oh man dude yes i remember i used to dance in the middle of class during a science lesson used to be disrespectful to the teachers like man what you talking about like okay and then that next year i gotta i gotta know more so

Leighton Seys: Man. How many trips a month to the principal's office was this? Oh, my gosh.

Jordan Williams: It was more so getting kicked out of the class, and it was probably almost every week. So, I mean, at least once a week, once a week in some points.

Leighton Seys: I just had a couple of teachers that did not like my humor and I would end up getting sent. The one that I feel the most proud about in some ways, which is I really shouldn't, is I had an English teacher that talked in incomplete sentences. And I just thought, this is a horrible thing. He's trying to teach us grammar. And he would say, back in my day, I used to. Used to what? You used to do what?

Guest: Come on, finish the sentence.

Leighton Seys: I started finishing his sentences. I got sent down to the principal's office for finishing the English teacher's incomplete sentences. I tell the principal what I'm doing and why I'm down there. And he's like. Go serve a detention and make him happy and don't do it again.

Jordan Williams: Dude, dude. Oh my gosh. That is funny. You know, and it was insane because around the time when I was a class clown, that was like fresh, like a year after Michael Jackson died, which is interesting. Fun fact, Michael Jackson died on my birthday, June 25th. That is my birthday.

Leighton Seys: Well. Like my family, we have lots of death as our birthdays and anniversaries. JFK assassination, space shuttle blowing up over Texas, the Twin Towers being destroyed. So, you know. You know, it happens.

Jordan Williams: It happens, right? Right. But it so happened that the most famous celebrity of all time dying on my birthday, I was like, oh, wow. On my birthday, I was 13, turning 13 at a youth conference, at a foreign conference with Jensen Franklin. Whoa. Oh, my Lord. Yes. Yes, I know. It was insane. So, oh, hey, why can I? Oh, I will later. Let me smell it. I'm sorry. This is live, y'all. My wife's asking me something.

Guest: That smells nice.

Jordan Williams: Okay.

Guest: You like it for real?

Jordan Williams: Yes. Say hello to the people. yes so um but yeah i mean i used to do uh so it was interesting i just real quick i used to do michael jackson dances in the class and i actually ended up doing a tribute for the whole school that year and it was it was crazy it was crazy so yeah like dancing was a big part of my life too like back then we used to have like whole dance parties and pe Like, I mean, but all while being, I was a good kid, but still was acting out, trying to be, you know, as my mother would say, showing out. So now showing.

Leighton Seys: So, yeah, I'll give one final story of ratting myself out here because I. Like, it's just, I always, like, I have to process out loud. My family processes out loud. I also think I'm hilarious, but I also don't care if you don't think I am. I always tell my wife, because I'll say something, she goes, was that supposed to be funny? I go, I'm not here trying to amuse you. I'm amusing myself. If you're amused, you get to enjoy it. If you don't, that's too bad. So I'm sitting in the back of Hebrew class in seminary and we're halfway through the semester and the professor goes, would you like to share that with all of the class? I hate when they ask that. No, I don't. And I'm like, sure. So I do. And all the whole time I'm rushing through my mind and going, oh, my goodness. She has heard me the entire semester telling my jokes in the back here, making my comments. And she's finally had enough. Okay, cool it, buddy. But I just, like, if you go to a conference with me, you sit next to me, you're going to hear running commentary. It's not bad. It's just my brain thinking out loud and just what's going to happen.

Jordan Williams: Which sometimes your brain just never shuts off.

Leighton Seys: Which is my approach to how I do gaming. If you ever show up on Mondays when I do gaming on this channel, I'm just trying to do a running commentary of what's happening in the game and making comments about that and then getting upset for no reason because this is ridiculous. I can't find my way out of here.

Jordan Williams: Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. That makes a lot of sense. Wow.

Leighton Seys: So we kind of already shifted a little bit into some stuff that's up and coming for you. Are there any other things that you're planning or looking forward to this year that you might be doing?

Jordan Williams: Yeah, so it's probably a couple of things. Number one, I'm looking to do more collaborations, which will happen more so in studio with people that I've, you know, connected with over the span of some years or people I actually know in real life. So having family over, I know I'm working on a birthday stream right now. I turned 30 this year. So I have sort of a challenge, longer stream that for my birthday. So I'm just looking into that and who I want to be around or whatever. And I know I do it every year. I do a Christmas, a big Christmas thing. Last year, we took this streaming set up mobile. We were actually in a studio space where we celebrated Christmas. um which was a fantastic time i mean shout out to all of my people who supported shout out to my mom and my number one my wife who supports me in my craziness and my ideas um you know because i know it's a big thing for myself but i know that's that those are pretty much the the biggest things right now um you know we're just gonna see where the chips fall let's see the chips fall oh that's fun that's fun

Leighton Seys: I love the planning ahead, looking forward to things. But there's also, you know, we talked about trying to avoid the grind, not trying to make it about grind this out to make it happen, but more a matter of here's something that we're going to get excited about that is a thing in the future that we can look forward to, that we can bring and connect with other people. And I just love the aspect of... making your community your community. That's just such a beautiful thing, making your community yours, taking it on the road with you. I take it on the road in a different way, which I need to get my setup going here soon. I do riding on my bicycle streams. So yeah, I've seen that before.

Jordan Williams: That's pretty cool. Yeah.

Leighton Seys: So I've got to get my rig and all of that set up when I get back from NCMS and start hopping on my bike again and getting out. So I do a different kind of on the road stream, which is fun.

Jordan Williams: Thank you, wife. What is this? Okay. That's interesting. Thank you, wife.

Leighton Seys: Yes. Back to what you're saying.

Jordan Williams: It's all good. A lot of times in my streams, this is what happens. My wife, she calls me, hey, can you do this? Can you come here? Can I, can you drink this? But, but I think that's cool. Like you said, like where my community knows, like, this is my real life. Yeah. Every day, every day. Which I think creates a better experience. Thank you so much. Melanious. Did I say that right? Yeah. Melanious. thank you so much for that follow welcome into the jwg tribe one of the best tribes on the interweb welcome to the tribe side of twitch i am your host with the most for the host that never goes ghost jordan williams on the jordan williams gaming channel it is my honor to be your streamer yeah that is what that is the experience all the time yeah oh yeah yeah yeah also also i i think i forgot it's one thing that i do now i actually am doing a wrestling e-fed on where i so for those that don't know what an e-fed is it's basically like a fantasy league for wrestling so what i love to what i'm starting to do is now i'm starting to get created characters from the community or from different people around that love wrestling And we're incorporating them into different matches where they compete for titles. They are in rivalries. They're, you know, having crazy matches like Inferno matches, casket matches, dumpster matches, three stages of hell match matches where it's like three different match types within one. You know, so if anybody is interested in love wrestling content, we do have a show called Tuesday Night Tribeville. Which now we we're reducing it right now because number one, I'm trying to get the season together and two, I just want to kind of focus on other content because I was focused on season one a little bit. But now I kind of want to have some fun and just sort of put some creative things back in the mix. So when season two comes up, which I've got some rosters lined up, it's pretty fun and it's pretty exciting because you just never know who's going to win. I mean, it's a great.

Leighton Seys: I mean, it's all real. It's all it's all real. Yeah.

Jordan Williams: Yeah. It's all it's all real scripted.

Leighton Seys: Yeah. Have you thought about creating biblical characters as wrestlers, too? Oh, my gosh. No, I have not. Yeah, because you got Goliath the Giant instead of Andre the Giant, and you got Gog and Magog, who could be the twins, the tag team twin champions. And I can help you with that. I can help you with that.

Jordan Williams: Please do. Please do. That's going to be all like, I've never, I didn't even think about that. That is so unique. Cause we have, we have characters like Iron Man and SpongeBob, you know, that's just something.

Leighton Seys: Yeah. Yeah. But anyway, like bring, bring some biblical characters in here with some, you know, some flair, like if you, if you're old enough to, to know Ric Flair. Come on. See how I did that little subtle.

Jordan Williams: Yes. See, my favorite wrestler of all time is The Rock. So I have this day where I call myself the delicious one. I know it's wild, it's weird for a lot of people, but it's just something where I describe my days. I go around and say, how was your day? And I would say, well, my day is more delicious than... a cheeseburger fresh from the grill with shrimp on a Friday afternoon. You know, very specific, you know, so that's that's just a unique aspect to the stream that I love to bring as well. It's just having like just such a different character, rustic like. of way of describing my day or to, you know, everybody realize like, you know, you can still have a good day.

Leighton Seys: DJ Courageous throwing out the Sons of Thunder. Yes. Yes. A hundred times. Yes. The Sons of Thunder, James and John, baby. Love that. That will be cool. Isn't that cool? Wow. And they could have a fishing net that they bring in and they trap people in the net. Yep. That is so cool. I never thought of it like that. I'm digging this. Oh, yeah. Jacob could be a wrestler, too. Yeah, Jacob should be the champ then. He has a ladder that he brings with him.

Jordan Williams: Oh, God, geez. Oh, God. Have him have a little limp with him. Have a little limp. Have a little limp.

Leighton Seys: man this is that's awesome fantastic idea go have fun with that you know you need some more more characters you know just i know who to come to dm me i'll come up with somebody come up with somebody please take notes please take notes everybody dm me these please these are helpful peter is the rock do you smell what the what the rock is cooking

Jordan Williams: I didn't even think about that. That's crazy.

Leighton Seys: That's so cool. That is cool. Witty, my concern. Hey, well, you know, when you're the shortest kid in class and you don't want to get beat up, you have to be funny. So...

Jordan Williams: Very true.

Leighton Seys: If you're not athletic, be funny or be very talented. Well, I was okay athletically, but I was a small, so I could, you know, like... It didn't matter that I was athletic. There were people that were better than me until I found wrestling. And then it was like, you mean I compete against somebody my same weight and size? Now I get to lay the smack down. I'm having a good time. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. Man, this is great. We've gone through so many different things. And I love how you're talking about earlier. And this is one of the fun things, too, is that there... Sorry. Jesus the King Lawler. Maybe not DJ Courageous. That might be a step too far. But Jesus the King something. Jesus the King something might be there. I know you're talking about. But... I have some people on the podcast that I've known for a long time or I've known for years and we've had conversations. And there's others that I've only had side conversations or I've only had chat conversations and we really haven't had a chance to get to know each other. That's why I love the format of let's go a couple of hours in this. An hour is not enough time. I know there's plenty of podcasts out there that are a half hour, an hour, and I listen to some of them, but they're teaching me something. They're not getting into somebody's life, talking about what are you actually doing? Tell me what's going on. So I just want to ask, is there anything we haven't talked about that you just feel compelled to talk about or as you were thinking about it that you're like, I want to make sure I get a chance to talk about this when we get get on the podcast?

Jordan Williams: Man, none that's coming to mind right now. I know the biggest thing is that, you know, it's very cool to see ministry done in such a unique way now through the Internet, where we have the opportunity again, like to meet just multiple people. And again, like, like even us getting a side conversation, right. Of, you know, being, uh, content creators, you know, but who love Jesus and coming out and uniting our communities to talk to each other in real time. Yeah. You know, and, and it's so, it's such a cool thing. I know here's something we can talk about. Cause it just hit me. So outside of streaming, I make other content as well. I actually do, I do cinematic vlogging. I like, I like to vlog my life. I like to basically vlog my life and just share my thoughts. It's just a way that you can see me outside of streaming. It's a way that I've done before. Even before streaming this channel, I've had. Excuse me. For probably 10 plus years. So, I mean, it's like I said, it's just the way you get to see a shift and me taking my time to actually do what I love to do. And I love to storytell. And as of late, I've been doing this thing where I just pick up my camera and I just talk about whatever's on my mind. know not not scripted yeah not not too much thought i'm put into it because i i tend to overthink and i tend to think about what i don't have and what i want to do and how to make it but now i'm just like i'm picking up the camera i'm just shooting i'm just going to go and just play it by ear man it's been such a release for me it's been such a thing where i'm glad like i said one of my biggest desires now is to just be honest with where i am um and it's a big thing today that's just been highlighted to me is that i'm boasting in my week oh yeah because i because i know i know who god is for me and i mean i'm just like i'm nobody else and i know we get a lot of content of you know you can just pick up the camera and do this and that and which is fantastic and i'm very thankful for but also i appreciate people who tell their life very uniquely because nobody can tell your life the way you tell your life and having god a part of my life

Leighton Seys: I used to say, you know, you were telling some stories earlier about that. And, you know, you and your wife having known each other for a long time. I always love sitting down with a couple and asking them separately. how did you meet? Because the stories ain't the same. The stories ain't the same at all. And I've told the story of meeting my wife so many times. She does not like the way I tell the story. She's always like, that's not what happened. I go, I get to tell my version. I usually say it this way. You get to tell your version and then I get to tell the correct version. right so but there's something so beautiful about that that we don't we don't necessarily always think about and when i what i'm getting at with that is like we read the gospels and mark gets to tell his version and matthew gets to tell his version and luke gets to tell his version and so does john they're not different and that they're contradicting each other they're different and that they're a different person telling the story to a different audience and so anything that looks like it's different like i mean the order of things like they're not telling these in chronological order they're telling them in thematic pieces that they've decided Through the Holy Spirit is the way to reveal the truth about Jesus to the audience they were writing to. And so we need to appreciate the work that they did, the giftedness that they brought us, which is what you're talking about in story. Like, yeah, the telling of the story, the narration of things, the inclusion of what you include and what you leave out and what you set up for coming back to later. Right. You know, all of the all of those kinds of things are fun to do.

Jordan Williams: Think about it now, like with concerts, right? It's a different way we experience concerts now versus there was a time where everybody experienced it without a phone. Now we get to see the concert from multiple perspectives. That does not negate the experience was real. It just only makes it different is because it was just a different phone. And that's exactly how I tell my story is through a different phone. is to a different way of how I experience things in a different way of how I'm thinking of life right now.

Leighton Seys: Yeah. You know, you say that and I'm trying to think of when was the last concert I went to? And nobody had their phone out recording it. It's been a long time. Yeah, I don't even know when the last time I went to a concert. But I have gone to sporting events where people have their phones out and all that. So I totally get what you're talking about of having the phones, having them there, and having that experience. Yeah, the vantage point from here is different from the vantage point over there.

Jordan Williams: yep and then that's what makes us real with our communities right it's just like you said we're just we're just really we're and and the cool thing is i think i was looking at something from the church digital instagram earlier and red fire love him red fire oh yeah yeah yeah it is uh he said that it's so cool how god can use anybody and everybody to display his love and that's something And that's something so cool because God uses me. I'm just a kiddish man who is like, I just laugh about everything. And I like, if I like so serious, like the way I am, if we were in person, this is exactly how I am. Um, you know, which, which I, which I aim to be that I aim to be that because. You know, it's something so cool when I've seen God use something about myself that I didn't think was unique. And that's somebody's favorite part of myself. Right. Because I was asking my daughter the other day and I was like, you know, what is your favorite thing about me? Right. What is your favorite thing about me? She said, I love that you're so goofy. And I was like, I didn't think like and I like that about myself, too. But, you know, it was a time where I was like, oh, I need to be more serious. But that's a part that is a ministry way that I'm thinking of it now is a way that she feels love is by me being goofy with her. That's her favorite part. And so that's why I think we as streamers need to just be honest and, you know, not be so we have to be one way or this is what identifies as a successful streamer. Success is is subjective because to be honest with you, like you said, success to you is finding five people. and just spending time with them. Success to me is, you know, having people that feel safe.

Leighton Seys: Well, start taking the disciples and then ask what success was. James appears to stay in Jerusalem with the believers that are established at the day of Pentecost. And Peter seems to leave and come back and go places. Paul goes places and plants churches. Okay, how do you compare Paul planting churches and James staying put? He can't. He can't. They were called to different things. Why are you comparing them? Like, quit. Quit. You know? Well, even that, like, this is one of the other things within Twitch. We have so much variety to be able to do what fits us. We don't have to. It's enough for everybody. It's enough for everybody. I don't have to game to be on Twitch. I do a little here and there and I'm not great at it. And I know I'm never going to be big at people watching me game. That's just not it. You're coming over because you watch me elsewhere and you show up when I'm gaming to go, okay, I see when the podcast is, I'll lurk for a bit and leave. And I'm all good with that. That's my whole purpose of gaming is just to advertise for the podcast. That's why I game. But I enjoy it. I love playing RPGs and single player. That's not the most entertaining to watch. And they have lots of cut scenes. So you could just put the cut scenes together and watch those if you wanted and just leave me out of the gameplay. So... It's amazing to be a part of what God is doing. I love hearing about what God is up to in and through you. And boy, I hope that you have a fantastic time going to conferences this year and being the presence of Christ and bringing the glory of God to whatever opportunities come out of that.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. If it's okay, I just want to say this to you because I don't think people understand how. I have people like you within the Twitch space, people who are diligent. and study and actually patient enough to explain the word of god and walk through the bible with people like what you're doing is not in vain and it's so cool and it's so unique because you're not serious you're not always like serious tone you you read them in voices which is so unique to me, which I'm there, but I'm like in the background.

Leighton Seys: Which I do not do from the pulpit, just to be clear. Oh, absolutely. No, there is a level of reverence that I would not do that unless it was a dramatic reading that was practiced and rehearsed. Then I would only read one thing in one voice and I would give somebody else another voice to read and we would do it that way. But not just going to go like, because... Those that don't know, I do some pretty silly voices at times. And if the people of God are messing up, I give them a whiny voice. I don't shy away from them being whiny, little, you fill in the blank. They are. And I portray them that way, like straight up, like, yeah.

Guest: We want a king. Why can't you give us a king like the other nations? It sounds like a great plan. Come on. We want one. We want it now.

Jordan Williams: So dumb. The children of Israel really were just so... I was like, oh, come on.

Leighton Seys: Like, it's not that hard. It's not. But then you have to remember the length of time this is over. And we keep seeing each generation replay the same thing. And it's like, oh, yeah. Yeah, I went through that phase at this age in my life and then I grew out of it. Oh, and then I returned to that and then I grew out and I returned again. You know, it's every time I think I'm in control and doing everything, then I start to, you know, not do what I should.

Jordan Williams: You're right one reason. You're right one reason. They are and we are them. You're so correct. yeah um no but i i just want to say like i admire personally i can't say for anybody else i personally admire people like you because i can only imagine the attacks that you receive sometimes, you know, especially being a man of God and, you know, on Twitch and the pulpit, like, you know, there is a certain reverence to even use your words that like, that's one of the things where I'm not so quick for people to call me pastor or nothing like that, because it's a level of a mantle that is supposed to be like, wait a minute. No, like. You know, it's not some celebrity status. This is a servant of the most high God, you know, and you have to take this serious. So that is why I honor people, you know, who take the word of God serious and share. Yes. I mean, those voices will be great. Yeah. Yeah. Very true.

Leighton Seys: They will be good at youth church. They'll be good in the children's message.

Jordan Williams: Maybe. You know, so I just want to say thank you that I can count on people like you that are going to just always keep doing that. And I mean, I'm pretty sure your reward one day when you stand before the Lord is going to be great.

Leighton Seys: But I'll pray that they sincerely the the the way I ended up starting in Twitch was was not a plan. It was, you know, people asking me when I was going to start. I like to joke around and say. I don't know what to do. I'm not going to game. Nobody's going to watch that. And I'll do sermon prep on Friday. I'll show you I'm not supposed to be a streamer. And they loved it. And then they said, well, I'm not reading it again. My wife will read the same books over and over again. Her father will read the same books. I checked it out two years ago from the library. I don't remember what happened. And I'm like, why did you read it if you don't remember what happened? But it's like I find something new all the time. In fact, This was, oh, and I've got to go dive into this further. I had the question around, and I spend a lot of time in Leviticus because Leviticus is one of my top three books. So I'm like, I know a lot of people stay away from it. I love Leviticus. I spend time in there. I've graphed the whole of Leviticus out. Somebody pointed out that the peace offering had leaven in the bread. I'm like, you can't be serious. No, it doesn't. That's what it says. I'm like, how is it I have read Leviticus more than a dozen times, probably closer to two dozen times, studied it in depth, and I've never seen that? How is it I've overlooked that? How is it I didn't hear it? So it's like... It's just like there's so much more that's in there that you find and you keep digging into. Like I said, my goal is to make it fun and exciting and something that people want to spend time in. And if they're not with me, I try to show them how they can do it for themselves.

Jordan Williams: Absolutely. Absolutely. And that's what we value because the, the, the word of God is ever. See, man, people don't remember this. I remember this scripture. The word is God breathe. Yes. It's ever, it's ever living. It's, it's used to teach correct and, and to help people show a lot, you know? So I just, like I said, it's just, it takes special people to do it the way you do it.

Leighton Seys: Well, I'm not trying to do it the way anyone else is. And I've kind of morphed into the way that I do it. And I made a structural shift this year so I can do better VODs. So I read the full chapter and then I go and discuss it versus I get two words into it and I have a 20 minute discussion about the first two words. in the chapter which is you know it's been known to happen or you get two verses in and we spend an hour in the first two verses and that makes it hard to get through the bible if you do it that way but we have fun and you know if you've never been there i love looking up the greek and the hebrew words i especially love to stop and look up names if there's a female name mentioned we're going to stop and we're going to look it up what is the name of this person what do they mean some of my favorite spoiler alert here if you've never looked up the names in the book of ruth Naomi, whose name means pleasant, has two sons whose names are Mal-Yan and Kil-Yan, and that means sickly and frail. And spoiler alert, sickly and frail die. Can you imagine that? Sickly and... So like... This is what you read when you're reading the Bible in its original language and you speak the original language. You have all of this foreshadowing of the story as it's being untold. Also, if you read word for word, Bethlehem means house of bread and the word for famine is no bread. And so you read the opening of the book and it says, and there was no bread in the house of bread. And you're like, excuse me? that's like reading in english there was no pizza in the pizza hut like yeah yeah what what you mean pizza hut has no pizza like and there were no french fries at mcdonald's like straight up what are you talking about they know french fries at mcdonald's like that would be a sad day right so so you should be on high alert and we just go there was a famine in the land We totally miss the spiritual aspects of it when we do that. And so that's why I love spending time doing it and diving into it is to help people see, slow down, see what's going on and see what God's already done in the text that you didn't know was there. Yeah. Yeah.

Jordan Williams: I mean, oh, yeah. Agree. Agree. No, man, I seriously, man, it's such an honor talking with you, man. I'm so glad that, you know, because I was thinking, like, how is this going to go? You know, I know we come from two different cultural backgrounds. You know, I always think about interactions, you know. But, man, this has been such a great conversation. Like, I...

Leighton Seys: i've enjoyed every bit of this but we're we're both twitch streamers we're both pursuing god we're both following after jesus uh it was gonna go great i i didn't have any doubts about it so wow it's fantastic man i'm loving it like thank you guys for having me absolutely That's my privilege. And, you know, I usually have advertising who's next. I'll be a Nerd Culture Ministry Summit next week. So I don't have one lined up. I don't have one lined up the following week that will be on Twitch. I have a guest that will be on. And I don't know if I'm going to release it on this podcast or another who is an author who just released a book. I got invited to have him on my podcast. So it was like a guest. invitation that I got invited to do a podcast for. So that's going to be fun. So there might not be one. I don't know when the next one will be, but we're going to keep going. So it might just be a slight break in the rhythm of things. But, you know, God will bring the next voice that needs to be highlighted and the encouragement. to everybody that's doing this. I hope that if you've been on, you've been encouraged by being on. If you haven't been on, you're encouraged by listening to other people. And there's a couple of people I keep trying to get out and they're like, I don't know, man, I don't know if I can talk for two hours. I can't, I can't hold the conversation. Like, that's all right. No, no big deal. You know, we could talk for three instead. So.

Jordan Williams: If I may ask, just real quick, because I do respect our time, both you and I. What was the moment where you, I guess, where God was like, Jordan, you know, like, let's talk to Jordan.

Leighton Seys: Some of it was, I just kept seeing you pop up in streams. I kept seeing you pop up in my stream, reading the Bible and then popping up in the podcast. And it was like, all right, go ask him. Go ask him. So there are you know what? That's a great question to ask. So I do try to think through and figure out. who I should have on the podcast. And so as I go to conferences, sometimes I try to go in the next month or two, line up people I just connected with at the podcast. So right after Reach Conference last year, there's a whole bunch of people that were at Reach that I did for the next two, three months out of Reach. And then I also have tried to do themes. I just finished trying to do mods and have mods on, and that was more difficult, but I knew I was supposed to do that and invite mods to come on. One of the things I'm thinking about, and I don't know the timing of it is, I want to do, I have not done a lot of podcasts with anybody outside the US. and so i want to do we need to get outside of north america you know section and so i've got friends in the philippines i've got friends in uh you know down under australia new zealand and then i've got friends in europe and africa so it's like i need to get those people on and figure out a schedule and timing to do that but i haven't pulled that trigger on that so it's just kind of like From time to time, I'll have a list that God will say, here's the people that you should contact and do. And otherwise it's kind of figuring out who do I know who is doing the things that God has called us all to do and how can we bring them on and talk about what's God's up to.

Jordan Williams: absolutely absolutely man and i just want to take a moment to last week my aunt one of my favorite she passed away oh i'm sorry oh yeah no it's all good because i got the piece in confirmation that she's in the best hands which is with the king so it's more of a celebration than that and i just want to dedicate this episode to her her name was conchita you know laura i just want to thank you so very much for my aunt's life and i'm so thankful um again because her funeral was this saturday so i just want to honor her and i want to um just say may you bring healing to my family father god anybody that is dealing with a loss right now in the mighty name of jesus god i pray may you just help them to grieve properly Father God, I just want to thank you, God, of anybody that doesn't know you. I pray that they get to know you through this conversation or just anything. God, if it's anything that you're doing to highlight them, may you just help them to receive your love because your love draws all men to repentance. So may you help us to constantly stay in a repentant state. Father God, and I thank you right now that we have eternity with you waiting ahead. But right now, help us to finish the mission. Strength and Flat Cap Dapper Pastor. and the church digital to finish the mission of the ministry of jesus father god may you strengthen the jordan williams game and channel god to finish the mission for jesus and i pray anybody whose brand is attached to this god and watch it right now may they finish strongly and father god may you bless our homes and our marriages and may you continuously god to uplift us and strengthen us as the people because you love your children and you dwell amongst us god and may we listen and not greet the holy spirit in the mighty name of jesus we pray Amen. Amen. Thank you for that. Appreciate that. You staying on or are you ready to hop off? I'm staying on for a few more minutes because I just want to just, you know, love all my community. And then I'm going to hop off and.

Leighton Seys: take this party somewhere else. Okay. Okay. Then I will raid over to you then. And then you can take the party wherever you would like. Cause if you were ready to hop off, I normally, then we, uh, you know, double raid out to somebody, but I'll just get the raid started and come over and raid you. sweet sweet yes y'all come on over we could celebrate that and uh man thank you again for this time it was such a blast i had a fun time oh man it was so good you know it's just so much fun to me to to get to to chat and talk and see what god is doing and what he's up to so i love that absolutely all right so i got the raid started i'll throw my credits up there and i'll silence myself and uh i'll be over in the chat in just a minute OK, well, thank you, sir.

Jordan Williams: All right, everybody.