Latest / Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community / From Hurt to Hope | Pt 2: Revisiting Jared Ross' Story

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From Hurt to Hope | Pt 2: Revisiting Jared Ross' Story · Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community

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Hey. Just a heads up. Today's conversation touches on sensitive topics
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including suicide, mental health issues, trauma, and
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loss. If you or someone you know might find these subjects challenging,
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please listen with care or consider revisiting our episode when you're in a
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good space to do so. Hey, everyone.
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Johan here. Welcome back to Journey with Care. I hope you enjoyed last week's
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episode as part of our series of handpicked and remastered favorites.
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These conversations have been chosen because they continue to inspire,
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challenge, and encourage us to love others well. So whether it's your first time hearing
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them or you're rediscovering their impact, we believe these episodes are
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worth a second lesson. Today, we're diving into part 2 of our
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conversation with Jared Ross. If you missed part 1, Jared is an
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inspiring First Nations worship leader from Cross Lake who has a
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profound calling towards the indigenous community and a vision that has been shaped by
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both immense struggles and unwavering faith. So I encourage you to
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go listen to that one first. If you're coming from that one, Jared's
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journey from hurt to hope is both deeply moving and incredibly powerful.
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In this episode, we'll explore how he navigates his calling in ministry,
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some of the roles he's been playing in ministry, and his hopes for the future
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of the church and indigenous youth. So let's jump right back
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into this inspiring conversation as we revisit this interview with
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Jared Ross from season 2. Enjoy.
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Hello, and welcome to another episode of Journey with Care. My
1:27
name is Johan, and I am your host for today's interview.
1:30
So last episode, I had the privilege of interviewing Jared Ross,
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an indigenous worship leader I met back in in a Bible College youth
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conference in 2016. He shared a little bit about his story
1:41
growing up and what it was like, and it was very impactful.
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And I'm so happy to welcome back Jared Ross to talk a little bit about
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his calling in ministry and what he's doing and what the Lord's called him to
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do. Jared, welcome back to the podcast. Hey, Graham. Thanks for
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having me. It's great to have you back. So if you haven't listened to that
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last episode with Jared, I would encourage you go back, check it
2:04
out. Such an amazing story. So I invited Jared back to record a
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second episode with me. I wanna chat a bit about what he is doing now
2:11
and what he feels the Lord is leading him to do and how we as
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a church, the larger church, can best journey alongside indigenous
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leaders like him. So, Jared, give us a quick
2:22
synopsis of what you're up to these days, what
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you're putting your hand to. Yep. So I'm, walking
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alongside, Deeper Life Ministries out in Strasbourg, Saskatchewan.
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And, we're kinda like the guinea pigs of the house of prayer that started
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out in their camp. So we're living out there. Basically, the the whole
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thing is just to minister on what what's on the father's heart. And, this
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whole thing's called the father's house. And we're just basically praying out
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everything that's going on in Canada. So we're praying on the church. We're praying for
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the church. We're praying for First Nations people. We're praying for all these
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things. And we're actually doing this new thing where we're actually
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recording, some stuff from people who are in the mission field.
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We actually take the time to do a service where we're actually just like prophesying
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over them and praying over them and we send it to them. So like, that's
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kinda what we're doing. So right now, I'm just in this new season of interceding
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on what the what's on the father's heart. But mostly for me, I'm just praying
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a lot on what the Lord's putting on my heart for First Nations people. So
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like that's the source of my prayer. So I'm walking alongside them, but I'm also
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as a walking alongside them as a worship leader. So wherever trips
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we take to, churches or, certain
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conferences, like, I'm leading the congregation in worship. So, like, I'm
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not only there as a prayer leader, but also just to help lead worship
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when it's needed. So how did you get in contact with him or get
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about joining this ministry? Yeah. So ever since he started,
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deeper life, I think back in 20 17, I think when it all
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started or 2018, Adam's been just bothering me to recruit
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me ever since. Like, hey, dude. I would like to have you out. Do you
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know? You'd be such a huge asset. And they were talking about, like, we wanna
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take our ministry towards, First Nation Communities, and I feel like you can help lead
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in that. And, I remember telling him, like, dude, that sounds great, but
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I'm kind of in a season where I'm in a season of rest. I'm figuring
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that out and I'm kinda doing this new job. So you, like, every time you
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contact me, it's always bad timing. Every single time is twice where,
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hey, would you like to come work at our summer camps? Like, I'm already at
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Cedarwood. Would you like to come out for the ministries? Like, I just
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started a new job and I can't quit right now. So, yeah, it took
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him a few years, but eventually, the summer of,
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2022 was when I actually was able to get 2 months off of work.
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And then I went to work at their summer camp and it wasn't until I
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crossed the border, I realized, like, you know, this feels like home for some
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reason. And the Lord's been calling me to walk alongside
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them. I remember I was in their small church chapel in Strasburg because they don't
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have like a big sanctuary. We were in a small church and I remember we
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were just leading worship and I looked out at the prairies and just seeing
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this beautiful evening sky and just the valleys
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and just how secluded it was. I was like, man, it just feels like I'm
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back home again. To be in the middle of nowhere, secluded and just praying on
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what the father's heart is, it's just like, I feel like I need to walk
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alongside these guys for a while. So that's kinda what been happening and how he
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convinced me eventually. But, I think the Lord just told me I
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was sit standing outside landmarks theater and it's just like, I don't know. I
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just feel like I need to walk alongside these guys and all he said was
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talk to Adam. I remember the next day in training, I just told him, yeah,
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dude. This is what I've been going through and, feel
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like the Lord told me to talk to you. And I remember him just standing
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up and he's like, Dude, you're confirming a lot of prayers right now. I've been
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struggling with, like, if this ministry thing is me or if the Lord's really in
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it, then now you're telling me you wanna join. It's like, he was actually tearing
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up. It's like, this means a lot, you know? And he's like, well, if the
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Lord trusted you to talk to me about it, I'll definitely pray about it. And
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it took him the weekend. He's like, yeah, come along. Come alongside us. We'd love
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to have you. And that's kind of where I'm at now. When I met you
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back in 2016, you were at Eston College leading a lot of
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worship, doing a lot of ministry. And since then, like, we've had
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COVID and all these challenges. In the meantime,
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you probably have been ministering. Not many people are ministering at all during
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that time. So what what has this season been like leading up to
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being launched back into doing ministry? Yeah. So I wasn't,
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when I left Esten, the lord called me back to Winnipeg in
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2017. I was just ready to go wherever, And, he
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just said, come back to Winnipeg. I came back and I met with your good
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friend, Joel, and he kinda just said to me, like, I feel like this
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season is gonna be a season of rest for you, and I feel like you're
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gonna just gonna from this season of rest, you're gonna start to propel into your
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calling. And, I was like, okay. Well, what does rest look like then? So
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I remember reading about rest a lot and come to me all
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over weary, heavy burden. I'll give you rest. Like, all those scriptures I was reading
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about, just trying to figure out, like, okay, what does this season of rest look
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like? And from 2017 until 2022,
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I figured out this season of rest was, actually
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some traumas that I needed to heal from and some things that went
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alongside that. So, like, in that season of rest was kind of confusing.
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I went through so many valleys, like peaks and valleys. I
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feel the Lord was taking away worship music, like congregational
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worship, leading worship at my church. I felt like I was
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pushing it and it didn't feel like authentic. And I just felt like,
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okay, what are you trying to tell me? Like, you're taking away worship music
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and I'm losing a lot of family members to COVID. Like, I don't understand what
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you're calling me to right now. And, he just told me to take, time
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away from being worship, congregationally. And that was
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something like my bread and butter. I love doing that stuff. I love leading
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worship at church. So after finding out he took all these
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things away, I think the huge blow was just like, well,
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actually drinking on top of that. I don't understand this
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season. I'm just partying all the time. And where are you? Like, I feel like
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I'm just pushing things. And the huge blow came the
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summer of 2021 or, I lost an
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uncle to a heart attack after he recently had surgery.
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He died. They didn't tell me how he died. I think he just went in
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his sleep or his heart gave out. And 2 months later, my
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great grandmother died of just natural causes and
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this was during COVID. So, that was
8:23
a huge blow. And then that November, I
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kind of mentioned Nathan from the first episode. So he was the guy who told
8:30
me about the gospel at a young age and he actually helped me do
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church on the reserve because we didn't initially go to church, but we did,
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like, read the gospels together. We prayed together. Like, he was kinda the guy
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who pushed me to go after what god was calling me to do. He was
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a younger guy around your age? Yeah. He was well, he was a year older
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or a few years older than me, I think 2 years. But, yeah,
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he was, he went through a lot of things after I
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left the college. I remember I was this is what I was talking about. Like,
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I feel like this is not fair that I'm learning all this stuff and walking
9:02
with God and walking with people because I wanted everybody to experience it.
9:06
But Nathan dealt a lot with the pandemic that
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happened. His mental health just kinda started
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and he started talking about depression. He started talking about
9:17
suicide thoughts, and the only way he coped with it was smoking
9:20
marijuana. And I didn't like seeing him that way. And every
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time that we did drink alcohol together, I just didn't feel right.
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But Nathan eventually lost his battle with
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depression. He committed suicide in November
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of 2021, and I remember just that being the day my
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life changed. I felt I never lost someone so close who was
9:42
basically a brother and getting that call from,
9:46
the chief. Usually, when bad news comes, the chief calls you or they visit
9:50
you. And as soon as I got the call, I was like, I don't want
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it to be my mom. I still want it to be my mom. And as
9:56
soon as they mentioned best friend or, like, a close friend of yours, and I
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remember thinking, like, k. I hope it's not
10:03
Farley. I hope it's not Norton or, like, I'm hearing all this, and then I
10:06
heard Nathan and I lost it. Like, I was
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crying. And, you know, just I had to
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call my friends right away just because I wanted them to hear it from me
10:17
and not Facebook. And I think walking,
10:20
getting used to not having him around has been the hardest thing
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where, you know, we used to go to Smitty's and have breakfast together
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and just driving by that place was so hard and driving around the
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city, we used to do a lot, talk about Jesus and that was even
10:35
hard just to drive around. I couldn't be at home because we had so
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many sleepovers in that house and one of our closest times
10:43
was actually tipping waitresses at Boston Pizza.
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And even just thinking about him during that time was very
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hard. I think, dealing with his death
10:54
was like the hardest for me because I had to get used to
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doing life without him when I was so used to walking with Jesus with
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him. And that was such a huge part of me. I felt like a part
11:04
of me died that day when he died. And, my friends
11:08
and I were consoling each other and all we did was just watch videos and
11:11
just seeing a picture of him smiling was enough for us to just
11:15
cry and pick up a bottle and just start drinking, you know,
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because we miss him even to this day. But, I remember I
11:22
was sitting at my job. I was working a painting job, which is
11:26
a good gig in trades. I remember us sitting in the break
11:29
room and I felt like the Holy Spirit was just
11:33
wanting to talk to me. And I felt the Lord come into the room and
11:37
he said to me, are you gonna be angry that Nathan left? Are you
11:41
actually gonna be thankful for the years that you've had with him? And
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I remember just telling him just, like, reflect. Take the
11:48
time and pray about it. Talk to me about it. And
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I remember sitting on the chair just like, Lord, thank you for
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the man of God that he made me to be. Thank you that you brought
11:58
him to me to share the gospel. And that's when the tears started flowing. I
12:02
was just, like, oh, Lord, I thank you that he's with you now. You
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know? And then, actually, after that prayer is just, like,
12:09
a breath of relief. I was like,
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I'm letting him go. I'm finally letting him go. And then,
12:18
the Lord kind of just put his hands on the table and he's like, this
12:21
is your season that you needed to walk into. Like, this is the season of
12:25
healing that you needed to go through. And I remember thinking, man, it took Nathan's
12:29
death to figure out what my season was and why
12:32
didn't you tell me this in 2017? It's like, well, you weren't listening.
12:36
You were busy drinking. You wanted to do the things of your
12:40
flesh desired, but it took until Nathan died for me to get your
12:43
attention. And then I was like, oh, all right. Well,
12:47
let's do this. It sucks, but I need to do this with you. And he
12:50
said, Alright. Time to work on your mommy issues. And I was like, I'm not
12:53
ready for that. I just went back to work. Then he started,
12:57
in that season, I started noticing a difference right away where he's
13:00
like, okay. Your mom left you And, all these girls
13:04
that teased you when you were young. I mentioned that in the first episode where
13:07
I was known as the gross kid. Like this, like, is there a reason
13:11
why you look at yourself this way? Like, why do you always think you're ugly?
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Why do you think you're unattractive? It's the bullying I got
13:17
through and not having my mom around, you know, and that's why.
13:21
And that's when you just kinda walk through me where it's just like, just because
13:24
you said it in Martyr's life and girls affirm that you aren't ugly
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and unattractive, like, that you're not done with the healing yet. You need to let
13:32
me in. That's when I kind of felt the open heart surgery started.
13:35
And he's just like, k. Why do you look at yourself this way? Like, why
13:38
do you see yourself as unattractive when you're in front of a beautiful woman?
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Just what the girl said about me, ugly, unattractive. And it's
13:45
like, alright. Well, you're not that. You're beautifully and wonderfully
13:49
made. My scripture mentions that. And then, he started,
13:53
working on the issues. It was just like I went to therapy for a while
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and that's what helped too, was going to talk to somebody about Nathan's death.
14:00
And then actually, it wasn't until, Lorraine told me,
14:04
like, do you have a mother figure in your life? Do you have someone who
14:06
can put their arm around you and just let you know, like, love you? It's
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like, well, Shelly was in Eston and arena,
14:13
but she lives in Saskatchewan. And she's like, don't you have anyone
14:17
here? No? And then I remember her tearing up and was
14:20
like, I'm sorry that you don't have anyone. And I was like, honestly, I didn't
14:24
know I didn't have anyone until you mentioned it. So she gave me the challenge.
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She's like, what are the barriers around your heart that is stopping you from
14:31
receiving love from people and you giving love to them? And then that's when the
14:35
Lord started showing me, you need to let me be
14:39
that mother figure in your life. You know, like, I not only want to be
14:42
a dad, but I want to show you the things that I can do to
14:44
be what your mom wasn't. And after walking
14:48
through that healing, it's still taking time, and I feel like he's still doing that
14:51
work and I'm still walking through it. I noticed my conversations
14:55
with women are changing. Like, I'm not looking at myself this way anymore,
14:58
and I kinda just looked at myself one day. Oh, you know, you're
15:02
still you're working on that now. And like, this is great. You
15:06
know, I hate to keep doing this. So, like, still walking through that healing and
15:09
coming out of that season of rest, I finally started
15:13
doing worship again. And my songwritings have
15:16
been, like, going like crazy. And ever
15:20
since dealing with Nathan, dealing with my mom, these songs had just
15:23
started to come out. But I feel like I need to get these 3 songs
15:27
that I've been writing for the past 5 or 6 years out, and I
15:31
feel like my creativeness will start again. But there's so much songs
15:34
that are coming in this season, which has been great. So what role would
15:38
you say music and writing has played in part of your
15:42
healing journey? Yep. So one of the things that I noticed was,
15:46
every time a death happened, I always picked up a guitar and my
15:50
tears stopped flowing because the lord was doing his work already. Just me playing a
15:54
few chords. So that role is just, like, worship has always been my
15:57
go to thing where I think it started in Austin
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where nobody was in the chapel and I went in there every single
16:04
day and just sang and sang worship songs. So
16:08
music definitely played a big part in that and it's always, like, my go to
16:12
thing when the hardest things happen in life. I just need to pick up my
16:15
guitar and start singing, and these prayers and stuff start
16:18
flowing out through that time. So I feel like that's been the big thing
16:22
for me. So take me back a little bit. When did your
16:26
love for music and the discovery you had that this is actually a gift?
16:30
Yeah. Nathan brought it on. Okay. I was,
16:35
19, and I told him, like, I wanna learn worship music. So
16:38
he brought his 2 guitars over, and, we did
16:43
the 4 chords that they usually play in worship music, E minor, G, C, D.
16:47
And it's like, you can play any worship songs with these ones. And, I remember
16:50
him and I sing never once by Matt Redman. And we played through
16:54
that and he stopped singing because I was getting into it and I stopped and
16:58
he looked at me. He's like, you have a really good voice, man. You should
17:01
sing more. And I was like, thanks, Steve. And I asked him, like, can I
17:05
borrow your guitar for a week? I just feel like I need to do this.
17:08
And he was gracious enough to ask his dad to let me
17:12
borrow his really nice guitar. And I just sang for
17:15
that whole week and I feel like doing everything in the secret place actually
17:19
helped a lot too. But, yeah, my first love for music, I think when I
17:23
was young, I remember my family well, I don't know if they told me, but
17:27
when I remember ever since I was a young kid hearing Guns N' Roses on
17:30
the radio, singing a bunch of songs in my grandmother's house, you know, hearing
17:33
all those gospel tunes and that old hymn, how great thou art.
17:37
So just growing up around music and my families who are
17:41
singers when funerals start. Like, I just grew up around music and
17:45
knowing that Ernest Moniz was my grandfather's. Like, oh, that's where probably the
17:48
love for music came from. Yeah. I mean, when I first saw you
17:52
sing it in 2016, I wouldn't have imagined that you were
17:56
fairly new to leading at that point. Yeah. I just saw the
17:59
anointing and the gift. I'm like, oh, man. This guy's got something. But But But
18:03
it wasn't until I went to Esten, everybody started telling me, like,
18:07
you have a gifting there. And I remember one guy named Jake Eisler,
18:11
who I went to school with said, I just saw a picture of you of
18:14
your guitar and there's fire coming out of it. So I think you have a
18:18
calling and anointing in this worship music thing. So how
18:21
has that vision developed over the years, your calling and
18:25
where you feel like the Lord has taken you and your music? Again, it started
18:29
from, like, Esten where I remember doing a coffee house
18:33
thing, and I remember sharing one of my songs that I've been
18:36
writing since 2017 or 2016, actually.
18:40
And she actually came up to me and said, like, you know, I got delivered
18:44
today of what you're saying and like, if something left me
18:47
and that's when I kinda looked at it and was like, you actually want
18:51
me to do something with my music. You know, I was talking to Jesus and
18:54
all right, well, let's let's see where you wanna go with this then. You know,
18:58
I just kinda think about when, David played for Saul and
19:02
the spirit left. And, I've been kinda just
19:05
looking at the gifting where it's like he can take this away anytime,
19:09
you know. So I try not to take the gifting for granted. So what I'm
19:13
doing now with it is just like, I do wanna write songs and I do
19:16
wanna make music a priority as well. Because I remember getting a
19:20
vision from someone saying, like, thousands of people will hear your songs.
19:23
And it was like, I used to look at myself like that's never gonna
19:27
happen. You know, just, being obedient and wanting
19:31
to see what he wants to do with the music and also the ministry that
19:34
I wanna carry is what I'm going for, staying obedient. That's One way I
19:38
can answer it. So in in last episode, you alluded a little bit
19:41
to how you feel like the lord's called you to minister to the
19:45
indigenous people and and even having a vision for that and the lord's giving you
19:48
a vision. What is that vision? Maybe share a little bit more about that and
19:52
and even where music plays a role in that. Yeah. For the longest time, I've
19:56
been trying to figure out, okay, where are you gonna call me? Like, is there
19:59
a community you want me to go to? Do you want me to go back
20:01
home? What does it look like? You know, because I've been trying to
20:04
just see the full picture of what it is, but, you know, First Nations in
20:08
general, he didn't just give me a place, but it's the whole people, you know,
20:12
so it'll probably be a bunch of places. So what I feel that
20:15
calling is is just I have a heart for the young adults and the
20:19
youth. They're the next generation of people who need to come in. The
20:23
word that I had for the youth of this generation now, it's
20:27
I heard, that a lot of them are called Gen Z, but I
20:31
heard, Gen Zeal. Where they'll have such a zeal for the Lord
20:34
and hunger for him. And it'll just be like something that has ever been seen
20:38
before. And once I heard that, I was like, k, what can I do to
20:41
do this? Like, I wanna be a I wanna see this happen. I wanna see
20:44
these kids on fire for the Lord. I feel like that's one of the things
20:48
that he's been showing me for the youth and the young adults. It's
20:51
just like, a lot of them are dealing with such mental
20:55
health stuff where it's like a lot of the young guys or young women are
20:58
saying I'm not good enough. And I feel like they see like the
21:02
mindset of just like, I'm, I'm never going to leave the reserve. You know, I
21:05
might as well just they're drinking every day. They don't have anybody to talk to
21:09
and they just feel like I'm not enough. So they kill themselves, you know? And
21:12
that's, that's heartbreaking to me. So like just speaking true identity
21:16
into them where it's just like, you know, you not just the you are enough,
21:19
but also just letting them know, like, hey, we're here to listen. And I
21:23
want to be that, leader where it's just like, you
21:27
know, I've gone and lived this life out of the reserve,
21:31
but, you know, this doesn't have to be your end game here, but there's
21:35
more for you and, you know, there's more opportunities. It's just like that mindset. We're
21:39
so used to hearing so much death in the community. Like,
21:42
someone passed away and it brings you into that sadness. I think,
21:47
one of the things that changed for me where it's just like, I hear bad
21:50
news all the time from home and I was like, you know, I just had
21:53
enough. Let's just stick with this mindset. Alright, Lord, you
21:56
in your scripture says you healed all people. We're gonna pray that.
22:00
And this came out of just there was a young woman who was in the
22:04
hospital and she was about to have a miscarriage and she was in
22:07
a coma and they were saying that she wasn't gonna wake up. Up. Their odds
22:10
of her dying were very high. And I got that news and I was like,
22:14
I'm just not dealing with this. You know, like you said, you healed all. I'm
22:17
gonna stick with that and we're gonna pray that she wakes up. I just said,
22:20
Lord, be with her and let her wake up. And we
22:24
just we stay true to your word that you did heal all people. And,
22:28
you know, we're coming to you as indigenous people and we want to see breakthrough
22:31
and we pray for that. And a few days later, she woke up and I
22:35
was like, all right, this is the mindset you want from my people.
22:39
So I'm gonna stick with it and I'm gonna chase it after you with that.
22:41
So, the young adults and the youth have been my heart. So that can be
22:45
a wide range of things, whether it's just like, is he calling me to be
22:49
a pastor? I don't know. Is he calling me to just be
22:52
there for them or work in the schools? Do you want me to be a
22:55
school guidance counselor? That way, I'll always have a job going from community to community.
22:59
Like, I'm just still figuring it out as I go. You find
23:03
thinking about your childhood and and even with what you
23:07
went through with Nathan, what kind of leader would have been helpful to have around
23:10
you in those points in your life? You know, that's a good one.
23:14
As hard as it is, we needed someone to actually
23:17
listen and be patient and walk through with us what we were going through.
23:21
But that type of leader we needed was just like we needed a pastor
23:25
for 1 and we needed a church and we
23:29
needed someone who we can come to to ask for prayer for. And we needed
23:32
that community around us to just let us know, like,
23:36
okay, we're being prayed for at home. And we didn't have that. We didn't have
23:39
that church. I only had Nathan and I only had his parents. They were the
23:43
only Christians I had in my life. And that was one of the hardest
23:47
things that I had to learn. It's like, we just need a church. And that's
23:50
what we've been praying for. Nathan's been wanting it to happen. We I've been
23:53
wanting it to happen. And it's like, I just wanna do church planting. Let's do
23:57
that. So as someone that's gone to Essen Bible
24:00
College, again, it is ethnically diverse, but mostly white
24:04
people still. Right? Yeah. White leaders? And you lead in
24:07
apostolic church as well. You've led worship there. Yep. So
24:11
being an indigenous worship leader, what does it look like for the
24:15
church around you, the people around you to walk alongside you,
24:19
to journey alongside you in order for you to be able to step into
24:23
the calling that god has called you to do? How can we use the
24:27
church journey alongside you to support you in doing that? Yeah. I mean, the big
24:31
thing for me is prayer. I need a lot of prayers. And,
24:35
it's kinda funny how you bring this up because I had a conversation with my
24:38
leaders at the House of Prayer where, I actually sat
24:42
down with them and I said, listen. I'm thinking about telling this
24:46
to Adam and I'm thinking about telling this to Sean from Destin.
24:49
But, you know, most of the time people are used to seeing me as
24:53
Jared, the First Nations kid from Cross Lake, and he tends to
24:56
make, you know, some jokes here and there that are not that are not appropriate.
25:00
And, he likes to joke around. He's somewhat not serious most of the
25:04
time, but I'm just being myself. Yeah. I
25:08
just like joking around sometimes. And, you know, I was like,
25:12
you guys see me this way, but, you know, you guys know I have a
25:14
calling towards First Nations people. And this is my vision for it and what I've
25:17
been mentioning to you. And it's just like, I'm used to people seeing me as
25:21
this kid from Cross Lake and this First Nations
25:25
kid, but like, look at the calling and push me towards that, you know,
25:29
whether it's just praying for me or like keeping me accountable and just like telling
25:32
me things, look at that kid who needs to look at that man
25:36
of god that needs to be pushed towards that calling. So prayer is one
25:40
thing, but also, like, you see the calling and you heard me talk about it.
25:43
But look at me as that guy and what what what can you do for
25:46
me and pushing me towards that that, calling as
25:49
well. Would you say the same thing for other churches that might have
25:54
emerging indigenous leaders in their in their context? How would you
25:57
say the church around them could support them and and push them into their
26:01
calling? Yep. I think the big thing is just, like, you know,
26:05
we just want somebody who will listen to us and hear us.
26:08
And at the same time, it's like, we need we need a lot of patience.
26:12
We need a lot of care. We need a lot of like, when you're seeing
26:14
somebody who's dealing with trauma, you need to walk through that with them
26:18
gently and as patient as possible. And the Lord's going to walk them through it.
26:21
Like, what can you do in that for them? It's just like, just
26:25
listen and also pray for them when it's needed, even when
26:28
they're not in the congregation and they're partying. Just like always have them
26:32
in your prayers and, always push them towards
26:36
what you see in their calling is the huge thing for me. It's like we
26:40
have so many young adults and youth that are called
26:43
to such bigger things than what they think is
26:47
for them. So, like, just seeing that calling, pray for them when they're not in
26:51
the congregation. It's just like just need someone to listen to. They need someone to
26:54
lean on. Right? So We do have many indigenous listeners of this
26:58
podcast. I was wondering, is there is there one piece of advice that
27:01
you would give to a young emerging indigenous leader just starting
27:05
out? Yeah. Just, trust God is one thing. Like,
27:09
it's scary. If I was talking to my 18 year old self for
27:13
1, it's just like the insecurities won't always be there. You know, just
27:16
just trust in the process of what the Lord's calling you to. That's the
27:20
big thing is just trust for 1, but also just, like,
27:24
search for some mentors as well. You know, you need some good mentors in your
27:28
life, whether they're, you know, men, because a lot of us didn't grow
27:31
up without dads or moms. So it's like, it's okay to seek out that mentorship
27:35
and look for somebody who's a father figure as well. Someone who you can trust
27:39
as well. And yeah, just trust that you won't have it all together by
27:43
30 as well. It's like you don't have to have all all your crap together
27:46
by your twenties or thirties. It's like, it's okay. Just trust the Lord,
27:50
and he'll walk you through whatever you need to go through. So you talked about
27:53
how you feel like the Lord has a calling even for the indigenous
27:57
people and a and a big role to play in revival in Canada. Where do
28:01
you see the indigenous community in 10 years from now in
28:04
Canada? Well, we mentioned church planting, and I hope to
28:08
see a few more churches planted for 1. But
28:12
also, I just see I wanna see a bunch of youth and young adults
28:15
actually starting to come to church. And I wanna see a revival
28:19
start, obviously. And that's the big thing, big goal. But,
28:24
you know, I I want to see mental health improve as well in my
28:28
community and all the surrounding communities of First Nations people.
28:31
I guess it's like, I don't wanna look at it as like a safety net
28:34
or something like that, but I just want the church to be like, hey. It's
28:37
like what Jesus said. Healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick
28:41
people do. I come to call those who are sinners, and he ate with those
28:45
sinners. You know? Just the church to be, like, such outflow
28:48
of love that it's reaching out towards the community,
28:52
and the gospel is just reaching them, and the true gospel is
28:56
being reached in their hearts, and there's just people just not loving on fire for
28:59
Jesus that they can't help but just reach out to other communities. You know, that's
29:02
what I wanna see happen. So looking back at your life,
29:06
let's say Jesus wrote a book about you. What would the title of that book
29:10
be? Oh, boy. I'm gonna try not to get emotional anyway.
29:14
It's just like every time I see him
29:18
the way he's looking at me, everybody's always telling me he's smiling at you,
29:22
and he tells me the 4 words, I'm proud of you. I don't know what
29:25
that's for, but I think that would be the title of the book. He says,
29:28
proud of you. And the book would just be, like, my life story and
29:32
just how he saw me throughout all of it. And, yeah,
29:36
it's just the way he sees me every day, even when I'm not doing good
29:40
or I feel like, okay, I struggled with sin. I watched porn last night, and
29:43
he's like, proud of you. Why are you telling me you're proud
29:46
of me? It's like, I feel like such crap right now. And he's like, I'm
29:49
proud of you because you're actually walking through what I'm calling you to. I'd be
29:53
happy with that being the name of my book to you. Yeah. Alright. Thank you
29:56
so much, Jared, for joining us on the podcast. Yeah. Not a problem. Thanks for
29:59
having me. Thank you for joining another conversation
30:03
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