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[Music]

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okay all right I'm going to be myself and we'll uh we'll see what that looks like you can stand if you want oh no I

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wasn't going to stand but I just you know like um I didn't want to just be so

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cheer our question keep you from just being okay good yeah we'll make sure

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we'll spice it up there you go there you go that sounds great are you bringing up that uh the spicy subject no no no yeah

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you're in charge of bringing up spicy [Music]

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subjects welcome to how I see it with me Mark Pratt and Justin Sternberg this is

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a podcast that works to countercultural polarization through

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thoughtful [Music] conversations good morning good morning

1:00
good to have you Troy hey man it's great to be here the joining us this morning is Troy night the lead Pastor as it

1:07
typically says on the screen in the front for Generations Church yes it's good to have you thanks brother good to

1:13
be how you doing this morning um I'm good I you know a little tired I stayed

1:18
up and watched well I didn't stay up too late but I I you know watched some of the

1:23
election things last night and uh but no man I feel good U it's uh Life's good no

1:32
complaints man glad to be with you guys you saw a lot of too early to call that's exactly what I yeah I think you

1:38
pretty much have stepped till midnight or Beyond to get all the yeah and some of them I guess still don't know yeah

1:46
will probably be days on some of those places you got to come the Chads right that's right the dangling Chads you

1:52
remember that and was carry well they they mentioned

1:58
that last night is how Florida they got their results a lot

2:03
faster because the hanging chad caused them to redo all their the way they

2:10
tabulate votes and that other states or said other states could learn from Florida because they got them in so fast

2:17
sure yeah yeah I make that joke about hanging Chads and no one ever knows what I'm talking about is really that long

2:25
ago it's a generational thing yeah is that 2000 I Bush Gore maybe should I

2:31
Google it real quick oh it's all right we don't care yeah I think it was I believe it was Bush Gore yeah yeah just

2:38
thinking about that hanging Chads and it was Florida it's definitely Bush I remember that and I think it was 2000

2:44
yeah but so when I asked you if you would be on the podcast I said what would you like to talk about you said

2:49
the Bible smoked meat in football it didn't really well it was your typical

2:55
maybe not in that order that order is not terrible yeah

3:00
that's right those are that was your joke response but I'm like I'm writing that down and I'm I'm going to tell him

3:05
you said that that's right but yeah what's cool um what what one thing that I would like to talk about that I think

3:11
is pretty cool about what you got going on is that you are a pastor of a growing Church in in a growing Community

3:18
Brunswick County I think is one of the fastest growing uh counties in the

3:23
country right now so it's it's crazy growth yeah so you got that going on and and that you know takes a lot up a lot

3:29
of head space a lot of heart space that kind of thing and at the same time um for some

3:36
reason you decide hey I think I want to start a smoked meat restaurant right right U how many years has it been since

3:43
you started the Southport smoke yeah yeah Southport Smoke House we started in uh 2014 April

3:50
2014 so U long time that was a long time coming up on 10 years relatively

3:56
speaking in time table yeah it does not seem like was that long ago I remember the the whole I think I had you in my

4:04
living room and you and a couple guys were just like am I crazy to do this Justin and

4:11
you know we we kind of had a conversation because I I wanted to make

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sure that um I wish I remember what I said but I'm going to assume I said it's

4:21
going to be wildly successful you're going to open a location in Leland and oh man no Propet Justin

4:30
no but that's it's been really cool so almost 10 years but um it continued has continued to do well I think there maybe

4:36
a little bit of struggle the first couple years just to get your feet under you but not a struggle in a sense of

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potentially failing right it was just like yeah yeah it was uh definitely took a a few years uh to make money uh first

4:50
year we lost money then we kind of broke even and then this year has been our

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most successful year um Revenue wise now

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profit has been a struggle uh we've been profitable but um supply chain right oh

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man food costs uh Co price of briskets doubled uh staff Staffing we've uh you

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know you have to pay people more now um because the competition when Taco Bell

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and McDonald's is paying 13 14 an hour uh we have an advantage because we have

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tips and so we can keep our hourly a little bit lower than some of those and

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they still come out ahead because of tips but yeah I mean that's the there's a competition for workers in Southport

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it's a maybe I don't have as bad a problem in Leland Leland Smokehouse uh I

5:46
guess it's closer to Wilmington but yeah I think the demographic a lot of people come here to retire not yeah not not to

5:54
work and uh so it's hard to find that that demographic who who wants to work work in a restaurant kind of starter

6:01
jobs for a lot of the students and yeah and this the pain is not unique to you I mean I think hard's probably shut down I

6:08
mean I know they shut down but probably big reason is labor yeah abely you know that's a chain restaurant so I've got

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two two guys in my small group who are restaurant owners Matt at Saucy Southerner Mike at um Oldbridge and both

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of them would you we have conversations about sure you know just hey if you got any applications to come you guys can't

6:31
use them send them our way you know we're always talking about these issues so uh and it's fortunate for you

6:38
speaking from our personal family history you still have the generations Church staff you know to and attendees

6:46
you know like youth kids people that tabs connected with to kind of plug in and it's still difficult yes that's I

6:53
think when I go in there it's like I see a lot of the kids from Generations you know and speaking of that for my own

6:59
kids that's cuz every Sunday he's like hey if you need a job that's right no

7:04
that's a joke there's no conflict of interest here if anybody bring a plate of barbecue after my ceremony like we

7:12
don't do ads at Generations right a thing but but for that we make an

7:18
exception smoke me no I'm totally kidding actually I think it's kind of

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impressive how you keep kind of keep that separation um very very I think I

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don't know I'd say very few people would know unless they know that you do both

7:34
and that you kind of own the smok house and I think you do that semi intentionally would be my guess I do

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yeah and then um every once in a while it like slips or whatever because you're just anecdotally talking I think we did

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uh live baptisms last week which was amazing yeah that was 61 people baptized

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yes amazing I know I'm going between church and smoke us a lot but that this this ISRO man this is what it's all

7:58
about Bible smoke football we didn't get to the football part yet he does have a

8:03
foot injury but it's not football related that's right we don't have to

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tell that story do we uh but anyway you know doing live baptisms there's not a script for that

8:15
so you you were kind of just talking about different I remember at one point you mentioned the Smoke House I was like that that's a rare appearance to hear

8:22
the Smoke House from Troy's mouth on a Sunday morning so joking aside I do think you keep that balance pretty B

8:30
balanced I think you do a good job with that um yeah I was baptizing one of the kids who works at the smokey house came

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up right that's right that's so cool it was cool because I don't I don't get to cut meat a whole lot uh on purpose I

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just don't have time to to do those uh shifts although I enjoy it because our

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manager is usually the one behind the counter who's you know slice and brisket and all that and uh but we were short

8:58
staff one night or somebody got sick and so I stepped in and one of the young men who worked there who works there um he

9:07
we just got into conversation about God Jesus all that and apparently he had uh

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recently given his life to Christ was thinking about baptism I'm like well a lot of people don't know this but we're

9:18
about to do a spontaneous baptism at Generations so you come you know whatever and he'd been coming to the

9:24
church his whole family had and I didn't know that so it was really cool to to know they've been coming and he's like

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yeah he came forward that morning so like I loved it yeah yeah yeah so that

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that was one of the questions we had was um essentially how do you do that how do you keep that balance so well between

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you know what we have here businessman Troy and Pastor Troy right yeah yeah um I think it maybe it goes back to the way

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I started it um when we started the SmokeHouse I was well into Generations

9:57
church we planted Generations Church in 2005 and so i' been doing that I knew

10:03
how much time it took and I didn't and that's my calling in my life that's what

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I I know God is part of the reason he put me on this planet is to is to preach

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his word to plant that church I love it um and so I I didn't

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want um and there's an interesting story how how it came about but I didn't want

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it to be a distraction from you know that that primary calling if you will

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and so when we started and and how it started so myself and my my buddy Jim

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Sparks were living in Kate's Cove neighborhood in Southport and we were just i' smoked meat since I was in my

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20s uh my dad you know when I was a kid ribs brisket whatever on the back porch

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and his offset smoker and so watched him loved it loved eating it uh started

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perfecting it got my Oklahoma Joe's Offset Smoker when I was in my 20s and

11:06
started experimenting myself so I've been doing it for years and my buddy Jim and I we on the weekends we'd throw a

11:11
brisky we'd throw butts ribs whatever on the smoker and we were getting good at

11:17
it like we were you know reading articles I don't remember if YouTube was out that big back then but we were uh

11:24
you know watching stuff and and he's like man we should start a restaurant and I'm like oh I have time for that you

11:30
know and he kept saying it saying it and eventually this building where we were located on house Street in Southport

11:37
became available and we took the took the plunge and did it and so I just set

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up front when you know to gym and to the manager that we hired um I want to be a

11:48
part and I can do some things on my laptop marketing Finance QuickBooks you

11:53
know I can learn some things because I'd never I wasn't a QuickBooks expert at the time but

12:00
anyway I said' but you know church is my was where I'm going to spend I'm a

12:06
full-time pastor and so that's how we began it and then a couple years into it

12:13
Jim was kind of tired of it and was like I'm kind of ready to get out so Tab and I bought them out uh Jim and Carl and

12:19
that partnership so we became full owners and because I loved it um like I

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I wasn't ready to get out of it I was like let's do this do it more and but I

12:31
went to the mentality that um the managers are going to run it I'm going to hire people who uh can run it I'm

12:39
going to share profits with them um so I can make more but I make less because we

12:45
do a profit sharing deal and it just works so well I love it I love the being

12:51
generous with the profits and I love um that we're partnership we have a manager

12:57
meeting about once a month and uh sit down with our managers and we just talk

13:03
about a matter of fact we're having one tomorrow and we we talking about different stuff and um one I brought up

13:10
a sauce idea and I'm like okay and this is part of it too like he's I told him

13:16
the other day um okay if we add because he's got this idea for Nashville hot

13:22
which I love Nashville hot um done right and it's like that would go so well with

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you know you know whatever and I'm like okay that's cool let's talk about the manager meeting but if we add Nashville

13:35
hot we're dropping Texas spicy or South Carolina mustard or whatever because at

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generations and at The Smokehouse part of the way we manage it is we is we say

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uh yes to Great to say no to good you know so so a lot of great ideas a lot of

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good ideas but there's only a few great ones and we're only going to be good at a certain number of things so a

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generation church we say we do four things at Smokehouse you know we do briskets butts we do a few Smoked Meats

14:09
we could do more we could do smoked turkey we get ideas smoked meatloaf I mean we get all these ideas every every

14:16
other week somebody's go you ought to throw that on the pit you know uh we could do different sides but um I don't

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like our menu any bigger we're not um Cheesecake Factory you know don't want

14:28
to be uh I don't know how they pull it off you know it's amazing all the stuff they have but um I think most

14:34
restaurants um become good instead of great because they don't go like we obsess

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about brisket um we're constantly uh just going how could we make it better uh you

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know we we we switch from choice to Prime we change the way the temp the way

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we wrap it we get we're always we have something about every other month called Test Kitchen we just take one of our

15:03
sides one of our meats and we go could we make it better um we did what we do

15:09
spicy sauce a couple months ago so our managers will bring different spicy

15:16
sauce recipes and we we go okay is this better than what we have and um it is it

15:23
cheaper because it could be a lot better but if it cost three times as much it ain't better or or it takes a lot more

15:30
work to to do um so we have to you know we vote on it and uh so it's really it

15:37
really is a and I and I think I run the church I run the church the same way I I

15:43
have a boss uh the board of directors is my boss uh they do an annual review of

15:48
me they set my salary we started Generations we're like we're going to be staff L but there going to be

15:53
accountability but the way I lead the church the way I lead the staff is you

15:58
know we have a staff meeting we discuss ideas I have an executive team now because the staff's become pretty large

16:04
about 20 of us and so the executive team uh they meet once a month as well we're

16:10
we're running ideas and I I just don't want to I mean some things you know that

16:16
I feel real clear about I'll be I'll make an executive decision you know but

16:23
those are pretty rare uh it's it's a team approach I try to stay in my Lane I

16:29
I know at Generations I'm the primary Communicator thank God I'm not the only

16:35
Communicator uh Jeff clay do an amazing job they're growing I'm hopefully we're

16:40
all growing together Justin even preaches occasionally um and so um uh

16:46
but but I'm that's one of my primary jobs there you know casting the vision

16:52
making sure everybody's in their Lane making sure everybody's doing their job and then preaching and then uh at this F

16:59
house uh I joke I say I'm quality control but I kind of am um like I I

17:05
just go in and if the co slaw is dry I'm like what's the deal with the slaw you

17:12
got to add more you know mayonnaise or whatever um and and then you know I do I

17:18
do some I enjoy fin didn't think I would like I made an F in Accounting in

17:23
college didn't think I would enjoy it but uh I do enjoy doing the QuickBooks for and kind of knowing uh where the

17:31
money's going I think that's important as as an owner to um to know where it

17:37
goes yeah it's different when you're motivated by those numbers instead of a grade that's right yeah and it's

17:44
interesting as you were uh reflecting back on your uh your smoking

17:50
career smoke smoking meat career career has been quite smoking yes um but I was

17:56
thinking about it as you mentioned you know your dad D your uncle you know those kind of things and I was thinking

18:02
about it in that context what what from your family

18:07
Dynamic has set you up well and maybe on the other end what have you had to

18:15
personally struggle against to overcome if I may you follow me there I do I do

18:21
because I think I think no no as a parent I'm not a perfect parent you know

18:26
we don't but so I think ultimately my kids will struggle with certain things but yet I've set them up for success in

18:33
other ways and I was just thinking about that we can make sure they don't listen to this episode your parents be fine

18:41
that's right no doubt oh gosh um so I think success always knew I was

18:49
loved um uh didn't question Mom and Dad's love for each other you know I

18:57
listen it's Celebrate Recovery or testimonies from people who my own wife

19:03
you know whose dad left her when she was 9 years old and all the things she had to struggle with the

19:09
insecurities the the things and I'm so so grateful I just don't struggle with

19:15
those things sure not that I don't understand them but like there was a

19:21
foundation with my parents um that I

19:27
guess caused me to be maybe more of a risk taker and to not be afraid sure the

19:35
confidence the confidence that's a good way to say yeah sure that that definitely but you know it's funny the

19:43
smoke me some of the things I learned my parents my mom's an amazing cook my dad

19:49
uh not as much because he can't walk as well now partly because of diabetes and

19:55
he's had five bypass surgery and gout and you know the but but part of the

20:01
struggle is like we like food way too much in the night family and my brother

20:07
you know around my age got a stroke and because he was overweight now he's like lighter than me I'm so proud of him he

20:12
lost weight and my dad my dad's down in the low 200s now but you know growing up

20:18
Dad weigh 325 you know overweight um a lot of you

20:23
know overeating and so that's been a struggle I've always been pretty thin I hit about 40 5 metabolism slowed down

20:30
and so now I have to work really hard excuse me not to Pork up uh but yeah

20:36
food food addiction loving to eat too much is has been a struggle I think I

20:42
inherited from my family yeah and um don't want to inherit the health

20:48
problems that dad and my brother have had but um yeah those are that's kind of

20:54
a southern like Bible Belt almost Legacy yeah cuz my uh my church I grew up in

21:01
Minnesota you know far from the south as anything except a lot of the founding family members kind of were had some

21:07
foundational upbringing in the South so they brought that culture with them and that I mean that was I mean it was like

21:14
it's it's like the um the acceptable sin right it's like we can't do this we can't do that but we can do this we do

21:20
it well we can celebrate with food yeah absolutely so many good memories tied

21:26
around food and all that absolutely it's kind of a a trade-off right like there's there's a lot of good things that's tied

21:34
to that culture but also comes with health problem well I think even like in CR the model of eating breaking bread

21:42
together is good yeah but yet when it becomes you know about the food versus

21:48
the fellowship yeah you know and we have to have this and we have to have that versus you know yeah the simplistic

21:56
Dynamic of being able to join together over for you know bread if you will that's right cultural thing right if if

22:03
everyone in your culture Embraces that type of you know culture right Embraces

22:10
that type of atmosphere where we just we go and we go to the trough and we hang out together at the trough and we joke

22:16
about the trough and we joke about how much we eat and it's kind of that you know that kind of Club type atmosphere

22:23
then it's really hard to break out of that and there's not much accountability to do to be better because that's kind

22:29
of what we're all doing yeah we we a few years ago we toyed with the idea of I

22:35
don't see the show any more but you remember man versus food where they would he'd go and try to go and eat this

22:43
whatever they offered at some restaurant where if you ate it all in 30 minutes you got a t-shirt or something we had

22:51
that we we toyed with the idea of doing that the SmokeHouse having this massive platter you know you eat it you get a

22:58
Fri whatever and I'm like do we really want to I mean three meat

23:04
plate is borderline gluttony if somebody three meat plate Smoke House is half

23:10
pound not trying to offend all you customers get three meat plates that's right I've eaten it before me too sadly

23:18
I did recover that's right that's right it's funny if you go in there at

23:23
lunchtime um it's like 90% men you know Construction workers like they want a

23:29
good meal uh and it's hard because I've

23:35
always kind of considered it a family place you know like affordable and we still try to be that but it hurts me to

23:41
charge $15 for a half pound of brisket but gosh man when I'm paying over $5 a

23:48
pound for it you know it's just really hard but um but yeah it's it's it's interesting to see the men in there it's

23:54
like we want to eat you know yeah and it's and it's at times I'm sure there is

24:00
almost a when you think about your family history in context with the

24:05
people that you tend to see that are on that unhealthy Edge oh yeah there's all

24:10
is is there a point where it's like you're in Conflict to a certain degree I mean you can't be responsible for

24:16
somebody else's Health that's right you know that's right and yet when you see

24:22
people come in it's like man I'm not sure you should be here you know what I'm saying

24:28
that's right what we need to do with the cash register is have a scale you get on the scale please sorry you're overweight

24:35
you can't have the three me I'm just thinking about that in the context you know it's like no I I totally get what

24:42
you're saying like uh I don't c i don't uh compartmentalize my life I don't go

24:50
um you know I can preach the gospel of generations but it's okay if we get

24:56
people drunk at the Smoke House or we cause them to be gluttons like I want my whole life to glorify Jesus and I've

25:04
I've thought about that before like okay we're serving french fries

25:09
because you know probably the most unhealthy thing on our whole menu in the moist brisket it's probably the Buffalo

25:17
chips that are you know the fried the deep fried stuff yeah and so I go you

25:22
know do we do we do that do we and um I guess it comes down to you know the

25:30
whole the thing that we preach at Generations which is freedom uh freedom

25:35
in Christ Freedom like we have freedom to celebrate and I think it's not a sin

25:41
to order seasoned fries and dip them in ranch dressing sure if I do it every day

25:46
though um I don't think that's a wise decision and eventually it's going to show up when I go to my annual physical

25:53
right wow your blood work is horrible right and so um you know I guess

25:59
we we but yes I have thought about that am I not uh glorifying god with what

26:06
we're serving but also my own food choices but I think for me it comes down

26:12
to uh giving people Freedom we don't serve alcohol at The Smokehouse um it's

26:17
a something I've you know definitely considered we could sure make a lot more

26:22
money um a few reasons why and I'm just answering I don't know if you want to go

26:28
there uh but that's up to you okay I'll just real quick is interesting though

26:34
yeah it's definitely been a debate through the years it's interesting to kind of hear the behind the scenes of

26:40
that um I would say the primary reason is my wife's a Toler um she hates

26:46
alcohol has uh uh had family members who still struggle with alcohol and so she

26:54
just doesn't want to have anything to do with it that's probably the p primary but there's also another huge reason my

27:01
kids work there uh y'all's kids work there um you know when you have

27:06
teenagers there um they can't serve alcohol um and so but just want to have

27:13
a great atmosphere for for the kids um there are some practical reasons when

27:19
people drink alcohol they stay a lot longer and you know in the busy time the summertime we're turning tables we're

27:25
getting people in and out and and so uh so I don't know if you make more I mean

27:30
I guess you could make more uh depending on you know how how big your restaurant is and all that but uh practical reasons

27:39
but also um you know other reasons as well spiritual reasons maybe sure um

27:46
yeah it's interest that's an interesting topic for the same reason of what Mark was asking about like do you you know do

27:52
you serve fried food and you know there's a spectrum there of things that can cause addiction think whatever right

27:59
and so is you know we don't even talk about this but there is there a difference between french fries and

28:05
alcohol well of course in some ways there are but at the same time it's on that Spectrum in how do you draw the

28:11
line well I think your line was pretty clearly drawn out of your respect for your wife out of various aspects like

28:17
that um but I I do think it's an interesting uh

28:22
polarized discussion right between whether alcohol is acceptable or not and

28:27
where that falls um if you feel like speaking to that go ahead otherwise I

28:33
got other questions for you um either way you tell me all right let's move on

28:38
so and I appreciate what you shared though I mean like you say that the individual has the freedom to choose yes

28:45
and you know and what they choose is still on them I'm not trying to you know pin anyone down in such a way that says

28:52
you know you shouldn't serve that but I for you personally that's where I was looking you know to hear how you wrestle

28:59
with those kind of decisions in that process of a of a cultural Dynamic you

29:04
know when we because we've had so many guests before you know who have talk about the Obesity and how to you know

29:12
curb that to a certain degree and you know so I think about it but there again it's that person's ability to get in

29:18
their car and where are they going to drive right you know that's you know yeah and yeah I appreciate the fact that

29:24
you share you're mindful of that right the menu options you share in such a way

29:31
that still provides that opportunity but yet you still reflect on it from an

29:36
accountability if you will standpoint yeah didn't mean to direct there but no that's good yeah it's just so

29:43
interesting because like of course brisket and french fries are not evil there's not a sin characteristic to food

29:50
Al alcohol even right yeah yeah all those things they are neutral in in and of themselves they're inanimate objects

29:57
that don't have have a spiritual yeah aspect to them so um but yeah ultimately

30:02
we're yeah responsible for what we do on this Earth and but yeah I I that's is an

30:08
interesting thing to wrestle with it is um ultimately you're like you said

30:13
you're not putting them in the car sending them to your restaurant and ultimately if you said I'm closing up shot because too many people are you

30:20
know being obese right well the reality is you're not going to prevent them from being they they're

30:27
going to go down the road they will go a restaurant yeah so you're not I would argue that you're not enabling by being

30:34
just a restaurant that's an option right um you know yeah it's uh preached a

30:40
sermon few I don't know a month or so ago and dealt a little bit with this

30:47
issue of Freedom well almost every sermon is my goal is not to create robots just like

30:55
God's goal isn't it is for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to walk

31:01
in the spirit and make wise decisions the churches and we've had

31:07
this conversation before about churches you grew up in and and to some extent M but churches that create the rules Thou

31:16
shalt not dance drink go to these movies da da da it it just doesn't work because it

31:25
creates Hypocrites first of all because most of those people are going to break those rules but then pretend like they

31:31
didn't when they go to church um I I want to create followers of Jesus Christ

31:39
um because I'm trying to be one too I'm trying to walk in the spirit uh not

31:44
compartmentalize my life but walk in the spirit all the time and when I fail I confess it to the Lord and to brothers

31:52
in Christ and and because authenticity and honesty is where transformation

31:58
happens and so um just giving people the tools to make wise decisions themselves

32:06
that's good and that doing that requires a real relationship with him yes with with God

32:14
and the Holy Spirit versus I like even in a marriage often men we're like just

32:20
give us the recipe yeah ingredients do that like we'll do

32:25
that for you we'll make you happy yeah and they're like I just want you to understand I just want you to know like

32:31
no just give me the recipe and I think that's kind of just a microcosm of humanity it's like just give us the

32:37
rules yeah just tell us those five things we have to do okay 20 20 I can do 20 about 50 sure just tell me what they

32:45
are and I'll do my best to keep those and I'll do my best to make sure everyone I can compare myself to

32:50
everyone else kind of measure how I'm doing I can be a little bit of hypocrite maybe break one but I get back and do

32:57
the right things still this over here that like now I have a measuring uh

33:02
stick that I can use to figure out how holy I am when that's you know ever since Jesus came to abolish that concept

33:11
right of rules and defining Yourself by those rules it's not the way it's meant to be but it's the easiest thing for us

33:18
to figure out but it turns us into annoying people right yeah that's right

33:25
and Christians are just Sinners too right you know that happen to be saved

33:31
by you know Grace that they don't deserve we still do stupid things and sometimes do worse things in the name of

33:37
that Faith right U because of those measuring sticks and measuring against other people well it's all about

33:44
motivation um am I going to be externally motivated or I'm going to be in internally motivated external

33:51
motivation we know doesn't work um but internal by the Holy Spirit brings about

33:59
wow transformation change life I want to obey the Lord I want to um eat right

34:10
because I want to please the Lord um because I love him because I'm grateful for all the blessings I want to live a

34:17
long life and you know whatever but in that process you were talking about authenticity leads to transformation

34:24
right and to speak a little more to that and if you will I'll even help um as

34:31
Generations has grown how has that made it tougher to maintain even some of that

34:38
authenticity for you does that make sense uh yeah I think it makes sense I I

34:44
try to be the best version of myself people ask me do you get nervous

34:52
speaking whatever I think uh yeah maybe if I wasn't prepared prepared if I was trying

34:59
to be somebody I'm not I would probably be nervous but I just try to be me um I

35:06
try to um try not to hide we talked about

35:12
compartmentalizing I try to be honest with with God with my wife with my

35:17
friends with our staff uh about my struggles and um I mean I've learned a

35:25
lot from celebrate recovery it's so beautiful when the first thing you do is

35:32
you get up and go my name is Troy I'm a grateful believer and I struggle with

35:37
you just put it out in the open just get that out of the way just get it out of the way yeah just yeah and and it it

35:44
everybody else shoulders relax and okay this is a safe place and

35:51
and and it just that's where change happens when everybody shows up and they got their mask on and they're uh um

35:58
pretending like they've got it all together there it just it stops growth

36:04
and um so I think um I don't know it's I love that about

36:11
generations and um love that about my life is there's no one expects me to be

36:18
perfect um we we apologize a lot I apologize a lot for dumb emails for

36:25
things I say and that's a good place to be um raising kids I apologize to my

36:32
kids a lot growing up um you know losing my cool whatever is there anything you'd

36:38
like to apologize to them about now I apologize for all the comments I

36:43
said about Washington Redskins through the years I noticed he covered the mic when you said that H that no it's

36:51
obnoxious Philadelphia Eagles people oh my gosh there ain't no it's just I can't handle them

36:58
you yeah you thought Mack was bad that's right ma is an equal friend of ours who uh is a well Redskins commanders

37:05
commanders yes he doesn't know I call them Commandos there we go now we're on

37:13
football um all right back off of football um I do have a question about you know we were talking about the

37:18
balance between you know kind of the business and church and all that um I guess I'd like to ask a little bit about

37:24
the Fulfillment side like um I'd love to hear about the F obviously you already

37:30
said you know the church is your calling preaching God's word is is what you feel called to do and yet um you know I've

37:38
known you a long time U we moved here in 2006 generation started 2005 so you know

37:45
and we've been coming since then so I've known you a long time certainly before the smok house and we had a lot of

37:50
conversations so I know a little bit about it but I'd love to hear just hear a little bit from your perspective about

37:56
the Fulfillment side of both of those roles and how just what that's done for you in your life and kind of just share

38:03
a little bit about the Fulfillment yeah I think I've told you before you know prably that um I have more joy since the

38:12
SmokeHouse opened I think it's weird when I look back at my

38:17
life a lot of the places I came to I came to because I was miserable miserable is a strong word but

38:25
I was there was a lot of dis Satisfaction Just where I was before I became a pastor I was working living in

38:32
Austin Texas had a great job working with training people in computers and

38:39
kind of the auto parts industry but I would travel around travel to almost every state in the Union had a great

38:45
group of guys I work with we were all in our 20s uh played Sports and stuff outside of work whatever but there was

38:52
just a dissatisfaction like I wasn't doing what I was on this planet to do and it was

38:58
long story but you know preached at my church on a Sunday night um a year later

39:04
I was in seminary cuz that's God had been preparing my I was about 27 years old God had been preparing my heart for

39:11
that and I think when I became a pastor Generations church was a growing Church

39:19
there was fulfillment there but again there was kind of something missing in my life I think there's a little bit of

39:25
a entrepreneurial itch inside of me that I love to scratch

39:32
and um some pastors write books uh some pastors speak at

39:38
conferences I'm not good enough to speak at conferences I don't maybe I'll write

39:44
a book one day but um your commando's jokes would really kill they would yes

39:50
that's right uh but yeah I don't know I don't know if a book's in me right now I

39:56
read way too many bad books if I'm going to write a book I want to be a good one some something to say but I think when

40:03
this opportunity came up with a Smokehouse it definitely did fulfill something in me that was missing and I

40:11
love it um I Love Leading people I love I love I think we have to identify our

40:18
passions in life I love God's word and I love it when I don't consider myself a

40:25
dynamic preacher I consider myself a guy who can put the cookies on the bottom

40:31
shelf a guy who I can take a passage of scripture and hopefully bring it to life

40:37
for somebody I love it when the light bulb comes on or I'm in the lobby after a service and somebody comes up and they

40:43
say something not just good servant pastor but like something that God spoke

40:49
to their heart about I love being used by him to help somebody take that next step so that's a fulfillment for me

40:58
uh leading others whether it being excuse me in the SmokeHouse environment

41:03
or the church environment or whatever that's always a huge thing so yeah

41:08
that's good um you mentioned entrepreneurial spirit and uh I'm

41:14
curious like was there a point at Generations where you say you know this itch I'm trying to scratch it here and

41:20
it's not working I'm curious if that if you ever felt that tension of um

41:27
yeah I mean definitely I think when we first started I'm

41:32
like honey we're broke you know there's like it was so hard because we started

41:40
as a non-denominational church I think when we first started the church it was so hard financially

41:46
because we didn't have a sponsor and so there was the financial piece it was like wow I need to do

41:53
something else because we're just not making enough to you know know even take a vacation kind of deal and um so I mean

42:02
I think that was part of the the itch was a desire for more income but I think

42:08
there's a you know God just creates us certain way with certain passions and

42:13
and some people can work for a company work for somebody else and be so content

42:20
and just love it and be a great number two number three and and I think if God

42:26
gives you that way and you realize that that's a beautiful place to be because

42:32
man um I think about the different places where I'm a leader and I I cannot

42:38
do what I do without somebody going I'm gonna be the best number two I can be

42:44
I'm going to be the best and and I see a fulfillment in their lives but then there are some people who are

42:50
like um I can't work for somebody I need

42:55
to create this thing even if it fails I just want to try it and so I think um

43:02
finding out who you are and moving in that direction is a is a a good thing take a risk yeah um failure man is

43:12
beautiful yeah I mean oh I've learned way more of my failures and things that

43:17
didn't work than things that did uh so keep failing failing is not a failure

43:25
it's a it's a it's two so and I think in some ways you know

43:30
what you share is very similar to what Paul shares about his tent making and his Pastor fore you know because I think

43:37
we do have this mindset that there is just one career and you know even from my own perspective it's like the fact

43:43
that I can do a number of things or do different things that's right it helps me have energy towards all things yeah

43:51
you know whereas if I just have to Dr you know drive on with one Dynamic of my

43:58
ability yeah you know everything gets a little more stale that's right but yet if I can have that diversity to a

44:04
certain degree yeah and granted trying things like um Justin I remember these

44:09
days when before the SmokeHouse uh I had a buddy who's like hey Troy I do a lot

44:15
of weddings on the weekends make you know good money and I'm like well I'm a licensed Pastor I can do weddings and

44:24
was never crazy about doing weddings it's not my favorite thing in the world but I'm like oh I can do it so Justin

44:31
helped me I did did a website Southport weding minister. that's right that's right and

44:37
did it for about a year and about oh a month into it I'm like this is the

44:42
dumbest thing I ever did but I but I booked a bunch of weddings and so I did it but I just didn't I didn't enjoy it

44:50
there are certain things I mean I loved when you see a couple who you know God's

44:57
brought together and you just you can help them in their Journey uh there's some cool things about it but all the

45:04
brazilla and the ones there's some mother-in-laws that you know just that's

45:10
not my world and um you're not a magician it's like when you get in that

45:15
environment you got all these family Dynamics and the bastor shows up it's like you're supposed to fix all this

45:21
that's right that's right you got a magic wand here yeah well yeah and we were talking about earlier I mean I did

45:28
a few weddings on Oak Island where pretty much the whole wedding party was drunk before the wedding started I'm like yeah not not not cool to me uh

45:37
don't want to be a part of this um because I don't know what to deal with Weddings But weddings and alcohol become

45:44
synonymous it seems like uh I think it's a sacred act holy event uh but anyway um

45:52
yeah that was one I had to try it out and some sometimes you just do you just you have to you have to do them fail at

45:59
them get out of your system get it out go that okay check that one didn't work let's try the next one and you still

46:05
learn from it oh you do absolutely yes and yeah it's a terrible

46:12
thing to get 20 years down the road saying what if you know what I mean when you just try and you fail 20 years down

46:18
the road you're not thinking about that failure you unless you know there's some unhealth there which happens but U also

46:24
I was going to just counter what Mark was saying I think it's interesting both of you are very much you know by career

46:32
like you you do multiple things and so you can relate really well to each other not everyone's like that so some people

46:39
don't get stale in the one thing they do that is their passion then is their craft that's what they were made to do

46:44
and that's okay too like that's nothing wrong with that but I do think both of

46:50
you offer an opportunity for those who are kind of itching in a place where they feel like I shouldn't be like this

46:55
this is a good career enjoy it but I also feel like there's more well yeah maybe there's more maybe should start

47:02
trying doing weddings and yeah that's right whatever your weddings are you know and I'll be the first to admit at

47:08
times I struggle yeah with that conflict of balance and it's like am I actually

47:14
just being disobedient by holding on to this other career right you know in that

47:20
process should I be going forward so I do think that's something you know we have to discern from my perspective Ive

47:27
you know with God's grace but you know it's always helpful when you can find somebody in the Bible that's living the

47:32
same kind of style you are yeah you know because then it's like okay this isn't

47:37
just me you know and there is that Dynamic find a scripture to justify

47:43
you someone who's like me yes no I get you yeah yeah yeah but I I am agreement

47:50
with you I think and like Troy said it it is when people can do that I think it's a it's a great thing

47:57
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