1. "We serve God with our, with the best of our abilities. Yes. Yes. Yes. So that's sometimes usually a volunteer even who creates those graphics or makes that graphic appear at one capacity or another. There's, there's many hands that are involved in that. Awesome. Is it? It's not. Okay. It's really not. So like I said, everyone, there's many hands involved. So everyone plays a small part in that. And it just, it just really is a lot of fun to do." [03:40] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




2. "I would say what saved me is being surrounded by men and by pastors and mentors who were always available to me and talking to them about it. And I specifically remember one night calling a pastor who was, uh, who was in a similar situation that I was in. His father is a pastor. Um, and he, he had a couple of brothers, um, who were also in ministry. And I, I could just call him at any time and tell him, Hey, this is what I'm dealing with right now. I don't know what to do. Where do I go from here?" [10:23] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




3. "I realized at that moment, this is God's gift to us and this is really important for us. And, um, I realized that, given the distance between Pacifica and San Jose, it was going to be a little bit more difficult for me to be a present father and also give everything I have in ministry. And so, um, my wife and I, uh, talked and, and prayed and we knew that we needed to look for something some news." [11:55] (58 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




4. "I felt like my faith was even rocked a little bit. Um, I was questioning whether to trust God. Um, but through it all, for some reason, I still felt Jesus loving me and holding onto me through all that. And that's really what kept me grounded through the chaos. Yeah. Um, and regardless of, you know, what was going on around me, um, clinging onto my faith was what brought me through all of that. And I still feel, I still feel Jesus holding onto me and in a way that I've never felt before." [13:58] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




5. "I think he's, I think he's teaching me how, how to tell this story. Um, because I know that God is doing something through it with me, but I know that God can also use it to impact someone else. Um, and there's so much to share. There's so many details, so many things that I could say, but how do I get right down to the, to the meaty stuff in a short amount of time and kind of give my elevator pitch, quote unquote. Sure. And, um, and impact someone else, you know?" [25:02] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




6. "I think that, um, like I was sharing before, I feel God pulling me towards being a better storyteller. Hmm. Okay. Because that is how I can make the most impact with the most amount of people. Yeah. Um, how I share my story with other people, how it can inspire other people, how it can bring people closer to God. I feel like that is a powerful way to capture people's attention and inspire and, um, and kind of make people curious about God." [29:43] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




7. "I'd say if you are at a place where you feel like you're not... You're not that person to tell your story, or you're not that person to talk to strangers or to talk about God to other people, I would say that's probably not the case. God calls all of us to share our story at some capacity. And I was that person that was quiet, who would not share their story. And God has taken me on a journey to where I am today, to speak up and to inspire other people." [32:07] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)




8. "God wants to use you, whoever's listening. God wants to use you. God wants to... Do something through you. And sometimes it takes taking that next step of courage and trusting that God is going to take you where you need to go. Just take that first step. Just story. Have a wonderful week, everybody. And we'll see you soon. Bye. See you guys." [32:07] (74 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)

He still owes us the dinner. Okay. So he promises, if our video hits 500K views, it is now at around 800K. So he almost owes us two dinners.

Yeah. So my name is Harold. I am the broadcast video director for Menlo Church. Cool. Everything I do is related to broadcast video. So it's very technical. A broadcast is—almost every church has some kind of a basement, and there's a dude that lives in that basement.

Okay. Yeah. And pushes buttons.

Yeah. And makes the live stream happen. Okay. And so that's part of my job. Awesome. That's one little piece of my job. And I'm also very heavily involved with brilliant volunteers.

Okay. A wide range of very talented people. And we do it all together. And we serve and we use our talents. And sometimes we are not very, I would say, socially talented.

Okay. But we are very technically talented.

Very diplomatic way to say that, Harold.

Yes. We serve God with the best of our abilities.

Yes. Yes. Yes. So that's sometimes usually a volunteer even who creates those graphics or makes that graphic appear in one capacity or another. There are many hands that are involved in that.

Awesome. Is it?

It's not.

Okay. It's really not. So like I said, everyone, there's many hands involved. So everyone plays a small part in that. And it just really is a lot of fun to do. Like if you're really passionate about designing and production or camera stuff, there's a place for you. There's a place where you can just plug yourself in and be a part of a fun community of people who are really techie.

Absolutely not. We provide all the training.

For a layman like me, I could do it.

Yes, sir. There's hope.

Yes, there is hope for you, Mark.

So I'm from Pacifica.

Okay. If you don't know, it's a very foggy place. There's a lot of surfing. There's a lot of beach time. It's a really beautiful small town. That's usually a lot cooler than Menlo Park, which is very nice sometimes. And yeah, it's really nice just going on walks. There's a lot of beautiful nature there. So that's kind of where a lot of my—I spend a lot of my time with my family. I have a son, and we stay with my wife in Pacifica.

So we just like walking around and exploring the Bay Area. There's so much to do around here, and having a toddler is very interesting. You gotta kind of do adventures that work for him and work for all of us. And so we're kind of exploring the Bay Area with a whole new set of eyes.

Yes. Disneyland was interesting, man, with the toddler.

Okay. Half the speed, but having twice the fun.

Yeah. So growing up, I grew up in Pacifica. So it's a pretty quiet town. Nothing crazy ever happens there. I would say I grew up in a pretty stable household. So I would think nothing too crazy ever happened in my life. I just went to school and had some great loving parents. There was nothing—nothing really like that stood out to me in my upbringing that would make me suspect anything was strange.

Okay. So a little bit of foreshadowing. So, um, yeah, I would think it was pretty normal. I grew up going to church. So, uh, going to church ministry was always a part of my life. Uh, my uncle is a pastor in South San Francisco.

Um, and so, um, over time, um, my father felt a calling to also be a pastor. So he planted his own church, and, um, my immediate family was a part of that. Um, and so it went from, you know, just attending church to now serving and helping in any capacity.

Was that also in Pacifica?

It was not in Pacifica. It was, uh, it was also around the South San Francisco area. Um, but we moved around a lot because we didn't really have a lot of people. We didn't have a location, um, until we grew a little bit bigger.

Um, so, um, yeah, my father is now retired. Um, but that was also the introduction of, uh, tech for me. And, um, I started serving in that way. And, um, back to what you were saying, not knowing, you know, tech.

Yeah.

Um, that's where I learned a lot of what I know today is just serving.

Wow.

It's just, um, helping at any capacity. Um, so it was a lot of fun. It's kind of like a startup kind of feel, you know?

Yeah.

You know, you're just doing whatever you can to help out. And, um, it was really fun. It was really exciting. And that's really what brought me to where I am today, um, is helping my family serve God.

So, I knew the stereotype. That was always in the back of my mind. I was like, I'm not going to be—I’m not going to fall for it. So, um, in a way, I guess I kind of had my own type of falling out, um, because there was a lot of confusion, a lot of tension.

Um, being in ministry with family is hard. It's very hard, but I would say what saved me is being surrounded by men and by pastors and mentors who were always available to me and talking to them about it.

And I specifically remember one night calling a pastor who was, uh, who was in a similar situation that I was in. His father is a pastor. Um, and he had a couple of brothers, um, who were also in ministry. And I could just call him at any time and tell him, "Hey, this is what I'm dealing with right now. I don't know what to do. Where do I go from here? How did you deal with this tension?"

And he just walked me through it step by step. He would just tell me, "Hey, yeah, I've been there. Yeah. That's exactly what I went through. And this is how I got through it."

And that was such a weight off my shoulders to know that I wasn't alone.

Yeah.

So, um, I kind of became known as the tech guy, um, among, you know, family and friends. And so, um, I was really passionate about camera and photography and all things video and broadcast.

And so, um, I started helping out other smaller churches with their camera setups. And, um, I guess word got around. Um, I became known as like the video broadcast guy for every church in the Northern Bay area.

Um, so, um, I started stepping into different, you know, churches and helping them sort out their tech. And then eventually, um, word got down to San Jose, um, and a pastor reached out to me.

Um, I had met him before. We were friends before. Um, but he ended up taking a role as a pastor in Bethel, San Jose. Um, he reached out to me and he said, "Hey, uh, we're actually looking for a broadcast guy. Um, someone who's got a good heart, someone who knows how to build volunteer teams and who knows the technical side of broadcast to take this position. And I want you to be a part of my team and help me out."

And I was like, "Let's do it, man. Yeah, absolutely."

So, um, I took on that role and I was there for two years, and it was so much fun. Again, it was kind of like that startup kind of feel because, uh, the church was revamping its rebranding.

Um, it was so much fun. Um, and then from there, um, I, uh, we became pregnant with Ezra, and that changed the game for us.

Um, I realized at that moment, this is God's gift to us, and this is really important for us. And, um, I realized that, given the distance between Pacifica and San Jose, it was going to be a little bit more difficult for me to be a present father and also give everything I have in ministry.

And so, um, my wife and I, uh, talked and prayed, and we knew that we needed to look for something new.

Yes.

Um, I found out from someone outside of our family, um, that my father was actually not my biological father.

Wow.

And that rocked me hard.

Um, I was in disbelief, um, as I was hearing this from this person, but what really rocked me was they pulled out some pictures and showed me pictures of my actual biological father, and it was copy and paste exactly, exactly like me. There was no doubt that this man was my father at all.

Yeah.

Um, I was kind of just lost. I felt like my whole world was spinning.

Um, I didn't know what to believe. I didn't know who to believe. Um, and I just spent three days in this giant tornado of confusion.

Um, I felt like my faith was even rocked a little bit.

Um, I was questioning whether to trust God.

Um, but through it all, for some reason, I still felt Jesus loving me and holding onto me through all that. And that's really what kept me grounded through the chaos.

Yeah.

Um, and regardless of, you know, what was going on around me, um, clinging onto my faith was what brought me through all of that. And I still feel— I still feel Jesus holding onto me in a way that I've never felt before.

And so instead of feeling lost, I felt more secure afterwards. Instead of feeling without identity, I felt more like I could stand firm on Jesus because I can trust him with anything in my entire life.

Wow.

Um, yeah.

It was not news to anyone, actually.

What?

Everyone—everyone knew.

Um, and that's what really—

Like your whole, like—

Like my whole extended family. Everybody knew. My uncles, my aunts, my parents knew.

Um, the only people that didn't really know were like my cousins, my younger cousins.

Um, uh, but everyone knew. My grandmother knew, everyone. And so, um, that's kind of what also led to more of the confusion. I was like, who do I trust? Who's on my side, you know?

Um, so, of course, that caused a bit of tension within my family.

Um, and so, um, I was pretty upset, and I confronted my mother and my father.

Um, and I found out my mother never wanted to tell me.

Uh, the reason is, you know, of course there was a lot of shame around that. And, um, and that's understandable, but I felt like at some point it was something that I should have been told.

And, um, I found out anyways, and I found out probably in the worst way possible. It's from someone outside our family, someone who's not even related to us.

Um, and my parents, my family had been, uh, trying hard to make sure that I never knew my entire life. So for 20 plus years, they kept it a secret, and I still found out.

I get an answer this time, which I'm very excited for.

So what happened?

So, um, yeah, I didn't really—there was just so much to process that I didn't really want to meet him.

Um, I didn't feel like there was a need to either because I had a father who loved me, and I have two fathers, actually—Jesus, who's my father, and then I also have my earthly father, the one who raised me, the person who cared for me, who was there my whole life and played with me and loved me.

Um, and I didn't feel like there was a need to search for this other lost father that I had never met.

Um, but I knew that this story had unraveled for a reason, and this path had opened up, and I learned this for a reason. So I decided to pursue it and see where it went.

Okay.

And I decided to reach out to him at some point. After I had processed, and it had been probably two years after I found out about—yes, I had—I needed a lot of time to process, um, and kind of prepare myself.

I was a little scared about what I was going to find out about him.

Um, of course, I don't know if you've ever—if you remember Stuart Little, when he met his parents in that movie, he had like—he had parents and they were little mice, and he was really, really disappointed to find out who his parents were.

Like they were kind of trashy people. Like they weren't great.

And so I was kind of coming into this with that same expectation. Like this guy's probably some kind of bum. Like I don't really care to see—to know who he is or what kind of person he is.

Um, but something kept tugging at me. And so I decided to reach out to him.

And how did you find his contact?

Um, so actually the person that told me, um, also connected me with, um, some other siblings that I discovered that I also had.

So I also have—I have four other siblings that I didn't know about.

Um, and they knew about me, but I did not know about them.

And so I reached out to them, and we connected, and we had Christmas together that year that I found out that they existed.

Um, they're such beautiful, wonderful, loving people. I love them so much. They're my brothers and sisters.

Um, and they connected me with my biological father.

Um, they kind of gave me a glimpse into their life and told me a little bit about him.

Um, they don't have a great relationship with him.

Um, so that kind of, I would say, skewed my view of him a little bit as well.

So that also led me to some hesitancy reaching out to him.

Uh, so yeah, so eventually I got around to texting him, and, um, I thought, you know, let's just meet somewhere. Let me sit down with him, chat just one-on-one, and we'll see where this goes.

Um, so I sent him a text. We met at a local diner, and, uh, when I came in, I was just looking for him, and I knew it wasn't going to be very hard to spot him.

Uh, of course, I was correct. He looked exactly like me.

Wow.

It was really, really weird seeing him walking into the restaurant.

Uh, we were both a little nervous. I can tell we gave each other a firm handshake. It was like meeting a stranger, but not really because I don't know this guy. I don't know who he is. He doesn't know me, but he's a significant part of my life.

And it was so strange. I could never describe the feeling because I've never experienced that with anyone else.

But just looking at his face and seeing his facial expressions, his, um, his facial structure and how similar it was to me, except with a few more wrinkles. That was so strange.

Yeah. It's such an odd experience.

Um, so we sat down, and, um, we were both nervous.

I'm nervous right now.

Yeah.

Um, I think he was questioning, you know, what my motives were and why I had texted him and told him to come meet.

Um, and then I just got right to it and I said, "Hey, I just wanted to know your side of the story. I want to know why you left. I want to know, um, you know, just what your heart behind all this was. What's your perspective on all this? How do you view me?"

Um, and he got started and told me his story, and we had such a good time.

Um, and I just wanted to know your side of the story.

Such a deep conversation, open and honest. And we actually started to have a really great time.

Wow.

Um, and it was a busy restaurant, busy day.

Um, it was loud, noisy, but then we quickly became probably the noisiest table, just laughing.

The dude is funny. The dude's got jokes.

Okay.

Um, and he just told me stories about his life growing up in Guatemala. He's a Guatemalan.

Um, he told me a lot of stories.

Um, and he told me a lot of stories.

So, um, and then we—Christians told me about, you know, how he met my mother and, and, um, how he viewed me.

Um, he told me that he never—he never hid the fact that I existed. He always was open and honest about that with everyone.

Um, and that gave me the feeling that he had nothing to hide.

And I corroborated everything that he told me with, uh, with my siblings that I had met recently, my sisters and my brother.

Um, and they said, "Yeah, I mean, it all checks out. That's exactly right."

So I, during this conversation, I never felt like he was lying, like there was any dishonesty.

He was just open and honest about everything.

And it was kind of a relief, you know, to know that he's just being real with me right now.

And, um, I could tell that he really wanted to continue developing a relationship with me.

Um, but I kind of kept him at an arm's length because, again, this guy's a stranger. I don't know who he is.

Uh, he wanted to meet my family and, and right away. And, and he wanted me to meet his family.

Um, but I just told him, "Hey, look, let's take things one step at a time because, you know, we're strangers. We don't really know each other yet."

Um, regardless of that, we had a great time, uh, surprisingly great time.

And, um, I actually am really looking forward to meeting him.

Right.

So you haven't met up with him again?

I haven't met up with him again since then because he shared a lot with me about his side of the story, and there's a lot to process there too.

And I shared that with you, Mark. There was, uh, the day after I think I met up with him. I told you about it.

And, um, I—there was so much information that, um, I'm not ready to share yet.

Of course.

Um, there's this whole nother side to this that I discovered recently.

And, um, it's still unraveling.

Yeah.

It's still—I couldn't possibly share that on the podcast just yet. I shared a little bit with you, but there's quite a bit more to this story than I was expecting.

Yeah.

And so, um, I don't know, maybe that'll be a part three for our podcast, but, um, yeah, the reasons why he left, that was pretty shocking to me.

Um, it goes way deeper than I could possibly explain right now at this.

To sit with it, what do you think God is trying to tell you through that story?

I think he's—I think he's teaching me how to tell this story.

Um, because I know that God is doing something through it with me, but I know that God can also use it to impact someone else.

Um, and there's so much to share. There's so many details, so many things that I could say, but how do I get right down to the meaty stuff in a short amount of time and kind of give my elevator pitch, quote unquote.

Sure.

And, um, and impact someone else, you know?

Um, I think that that's kind of a journey I've been on for a while now is telling stories well.

Um, it's a very recent journey for me because, like I said, being in tech, we're not very socially skilled.

And so I feel God developing me in that way.

And the more I tell this story, the better I feel about the way that I'm sharing that story.

Um, so I mean, I guess that's encouragement for someone out there who's not really sure about their story, how to share it, just practice telling it to other people, share it with as many people as possible and, and kind of be ready to share an elevator pitch type of story, a little condensed story, um, and also share, you know, your heart and you never know how it's going to—

Like, hey, I'm just here to listen.

That's a great point. You brought up a really good point.

Um, I was scared. I'm sure you were.

It's terrifying to walk through that, to explore this whole new avenue of my life.

Um, and to see down this path and wonder, you know, what's around the corner.

Um, but if I hadn't done it, I wouldn't have a story to share with you today. I wouldn't have anything to say.

Um, and I think that's just part of life is, is first discerning with God.

Like what is God? What is God? What is God? What is God? What is God? What is God?

What is the right path? Which way do I go?

And then once you have the answer is to gather the courage to actually walk down that path.

And, uh, you never know what kind of story comes out.

I think that, um, like I was sharing before, I feel God pulling me towards being a better storyteller.

Hmm.

Okay.

Because that is how I can make the most impact with the most amount of people.

Yeah.

Um, how I share my story with other people, how it can inspire other people, how it can bring people closer to God.

I feel like that is a powerful way to capture people's attention and inspire and, um, and kind of make people curious about God.

Um, and that's really what Jesus did was he told stories, and that was—there was no production, right? There were no lights, there were no cameras.

Um, he just told genuine stories, and he told them very well.

Um, and so that's kind of what I'm drawn to is being able to tell stories with other people and, and bringing the story out to the world.

And, and that's—

That's really what I'm the most out of them and bringing some kind of inspiration and curiosity to faith.

I'd say if you are at a place where you feel like you're not—that you're not that person to tell your story, or you're not that person to talk to strangers or to talk about God to other people, I would say that's probably not the case.

God calls all of us to share our story at some capacity.

And I was that person that was quiet, who would not share their story.

And God has taken me on a journey to where I am today, to speak up and to inspire other people.

And I think that if you've really been praying for God to use you and for God to use you to make an impact in this world, one of those things that's going to be required of you at some point is for you to speak up and to say something.

And so, you know, maybe right now you don't have the skills.

Someone out there, maybe you don't have the skills.

Maybe you don't have the skills.

Maybe you don't have the skills.

Maybe it doesn't have the speaking skills.

They don't have—they think they're not articulate enough or they don't have the right words.

I'm not super articulate. I sometimes don't know what I'm going to say next, but just practice.

You know, it takes practice. It takes sharing with many people. It takes development, maybe reading books about it.

But yeah, I think God does want to use you, whoever's listening.

God wants to use you.

God wants to do something through you.

And sometimes it takes taking that next step of courage and trusting that God is going to take you where you need to go.

Just take that first step.

Just share your story.

Have a wonderful week, everybody. And we'll see you soon.

Bye.

See you guys.