Experiencing a new religion (ft. Evan Miller)

Oh, I see it, oh yeah. All right, guys, what's up? My name is William Larson. This is my first podcast. I have Evan here with me today. Hey, guys, yeah, I'm Evan, here with William. So, to get us started, I'm gonna, you know, kinda tell you how I met Evan. I'm a new student at Texas Tech. I'm an undergraduate. I started out, I took a leap year. During that time, I wasn't really doing much. I wasn't really involved with, like, church or too much into, like, finding ways to get to church, anything like that. So, when I got to Texas Tech, I had got followed, or gotten followed on Instagram by a green team and a blue team, which was teams to a foundation called the Foundation Retreat, correct? Yeah, yeah, it's a camp called Foundation Retreat. I'm a team lead for blue team. So, basically, our goal is to introduce college freshmen to what Christian community can look like. And just a part of our job is to recruit the incoming freshmen. And apparently, William was on one of those pages. So, he got followed by us, and he reached out. Yeah, so, that was my start to a beginning of a journey that I'm absolutely happy with. I feel like I'm a lot closer to God. So, I first met Isabel, a person who is a lead at the foundation. And she ID'ed the Instagram, the blue team ID'ed them. And I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. All I noticed is that a blue team and a green team had started following me. So, I was like, okay, is this a competition? Like, why are their teams just randomly following me? And so, I DM'ed the blue team, and I was like, so, what is this all about? Like, what's y'all's goal? And so, Isabel kinda just explained the idea of what the foundation was, told me all about it. And I was, the biggest thing for me was, is if I was to join a team, I would wanna see leadership displayed. And so, she was like, yeah, that's a great quality that we display. I feel like you'd be a great part of our team. And so, then she mentioned to me about the way a Indiana, it's on Indiana, what's the street? Yeah, it's Indiana Avenue. So, yeah, it's Indiana Baptist Church, my bad. And so, that's the first time I met Evan. She introduced me to Evan, and it kinda went from there. Me and Evan started talking more, he would bring me to church. And then, we kinda got separated. Sometimes he goes to the six o'clock mass, I go to the eight o'clock. But we still definitely stay in contact, and the way is a big part of how we met. So, yeah, that's how I met Evan. To me, he's been a really big help. I didn't think I would ever experience a new church. I didn't know if I was ready to experience a new church, especially after everything I've ever gone through, the struggles I've had to go through. So, Evan, tell us a little about yourself. Tell us about your history with religion, and how it all started. Well, yeah, I kinda grew up in the church. My mom worked there. So, I ended up spending a lot of time there, but it was never really something that I wanted for myself. So, I went through a lot of my life, just kinda lukewarm, knew a lot of stuff, but didn't act out that stuff. Really, until I came to college, I went to Foundation myself, and met some really awesome people. Felt like I grew a lot. Felt like I really learned what it meant to be in community and find people who loved me well. So, I knew after I left Foundation and came to Tech that I wanted to work for Foundation myself one day. But as I got to Tech, I was introduced to a, it was actually a frat called Bucks. They're a Christian fraternity that just really emphasized brotherhood together and growing together in Christianity, which was a really cool idea to me. So, I went through that pledge ship, grew a lot, met a lot of really awesome people, and just felt like I really developed myself as a person. So, really, from Foundation to Bucks to where I am today, this last year has been a really big year of growth for me, to the point where I've been able to work for Foundation myself. And then, yeah, we were recruiting for Foundation, William reached out, and we ended up, yeah, getting to be pretty good friends. So, let me ask you this. I've always had this question, like, you know, I've always, I never really understood how Greek life, you know, like Christian frats, Greek life, were much different from, you know, just experiencing regular, like, life as a student on campus, being a Christian. What brings out the Greek, like, Christian frat? Like, what was the biggest thing that caught your attention with this certain frat in the Greek life? Well, for me, it just gave me a group of people to cling to, although I'm sure that would have found community either way, really being able to, like, embrace that frat. It gave me the ability to have people to get close to as soon as I came to college, where, like, I don't think that Greek life is at all necessary for a strong faith. I don't think that Greek life is necessary for community. I think that's a really good supplement. But really, on top of that, like, it's hard balancing that with Greek life, because a lot of the frats on campus do not exemplify Christian attributes. They live for the world, they live for things, like drinking and partying, and as Christians, we're called to live to a higher standard than that. Something that I try to live by is a living in the world, but not of it, which really means that, like, we are here, we are meant to, like, live on earth, but we're called to a higher standard set by God, which is to, like, not be of the world, not be of drinking, not be of partying, not be of all these sinful things. Agreed, agreed. Yeah, that's kinda, I feel like that's a big reason that joining the Greek life is beneficial. I mean, you know, it keeps you out of trouble. It's definitely a way to bring you closer to God. You know, I grew up a Catholic, and I was always, it was so traditional, everything from the Catholic perspective. You know, I always grew up around church, and I grew a really fond connection with my priest, or priest, multiple. You know, so when I turned 13, that's when everything started switching, you know, and I kinda lost my connection with God. I didn't feel like God was listening to me, and I would call out, and, you know, I just didn't feel like, I don't know, I just didn't feel heard. And so, we lost, me and my mom and my family kinda stopped going to church, and she lost connection with God as well, and so I had no way to, you know, stay close to God. So I, when, when the foundation, or the blue team, and Isabella, Evan, started contacting me, or like, you know, explaining what was going on, and introduced me to the way, it was like, okay, this sounds interesting. And, you know, ever since, it's just been kind of a spark to my growth and my relationship with God. I feel like, you know, no harm to any other religions, or anything like that, but, I don't know, I just feel, being a part of a Baptist church, you know, I kinda feel more close to God. I feel like, I enjoy learning about God. I feel like my connection with God is stronger from being in a Catholic church for 18 years, you know. And, I don't know, I just never felt really excited about being with God. And that leads me to my next question. What would you tell, or, what would you want upcoming college freshmen, or people who want to experience a new religion, or haven't ever experienced a religion, what would you, what advice would you give to them? What would you want them to know? It's, that's kind of a big question there. I'd really encourage them to find people that can pour into them and answer questions they have, because there's so many questions coming into a new thing like that. There's a lot of unknown. It almost seems too good to be true, this message that all you have to do is accept that Jesus died for your sins, and because of that, our salvation, we're given salvation. And really, he did the work for our sinful lives, what we don't deserve. I'd want them to know the gospel, which is that in itself, that, I'll kinda repeat myself here, but God created the heavens and the earth. He created it all perfect. Man sinned, and because of that sin, we fell away from God and his perfect will for our lives. And because we'd fallen away from that will, we were unable to help ourselves. We were sentenced for death. We were meant for eternal life away from God. But because he loves us so much, and because he wanted life with us, God sent his son, Jesus, to live a perfect life on earth. And Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But on the third day, after he died, he rose from the grave, proving his power over sin and death. And because of that, if you believe in him and believe that he's enough for you, and confess with your mouth that you can have eternal life in God and live for the hope that he'll come back again one day. So really, that gospel message is the most important part of our faith and religion. And if you know that, and if you believe that, and if you confess that, then you're really set. I agree, I agree. My biggest thing is, I feel like this college community as a whole, I came into it, was kind of nervous about it. And once I started seeing the amount of Christians and different types of religion, people who had a relationship with God, I was a little less afraid to put myself out there. And so I feel like that's a big thing for upcoming students. Don't be afraid to chase after something you want, especially a relationship with God. God is always arms open, welcome to ready you into his home. He's always a loving God, always caring. And it's one of those things like, if you want that relationship with God, don't let other people who don't have that relationship with God affect you. If you're afraid that your family's gonna judge you, I mean, don't just chase after what you want. A relationship with God is beneficial and God's always gonna be there for you. So on that note, how did your family ever, were you ever afraid to enter the way or like how was your family about you joining, like a church like the way, the Baptist church? Well, yeah. My mom grew up in a Baptist church. So she was very happy when she saw I came to college and there's so many paths you can choose, so many ways that you can stray away from the morals that your parents tried instilling in you. But they saw that I found a home church. The way is a Sunday night church at six and 8 p.m. I personally have found more community in a church called Redeemer. That church has a Tuesday night service at 7 p.m. But I go there Sunday mornings as well. And they're really happy to see the way that I'm diving into that community. And I don't think they were super sure about Bucks at first because it is a fraternity on a college campus. They can be a little scary, but they saw the way that that community took me in and the way that I've grown in that. And they're so happy for me. That's good, that's good. I feel like that was how my mom was. She was very accepting of me joining this Baptist church. She understands that I feel that it's more about the relationship I have with God than about the church I'm going to. Like I said, I grew up in that Catholic community. I'm always a Catholic in the heart. But when I told her, I was like, so I'm going to this new church. These people got in contact with me and introduced me to this church and I've been going every week. And she was like, well, I'm really glad you have that connection with God again. And I'm just as thankful. I feel like the community around me is always looking out for me and they're always there for me. As a college student, a lot of college students struggle to find rides, get around, and I've always had a helping hand, someone there to be like, if you ever need a ride, let me know. And that kind of makes me feel super, super excited about the upcoming years. And I just want to be able to display that upon the upcoming freshmen of 2027 in the fall semester, or 2028, continuing on. And the example they've shown me is an example I want to show towards other freshmen that will come to Texas Tech. I would like to add one thing. I think it's really important to note the differences between Catholicism and Christianity. Catholicism is a type of Christianity, but it's much more focused on works. It's much more focused on, you have to find forgiveness from your actions and that if you mess up, you need to pray a prayer or you need to fulfill a certain task. It's really important to understand that Jesus giving his life on the cross is enough for you. There's nothing more that you have to do. You believe in your heart that he died for your sins, and that is your salvation. You live that out, but it's by grace through faith. And it's really important to note the lack, like, works are not necessary. There's nothing you have to do to save yourself because we can't do that. There's nothing you have to do to save yourself because we can't save ourselves. And it's that way with every religion. Let me add on to that. Every religion has a different belief, but we're all believing in the same God. It's like Evan said, it's really more about the relationship you have with God. Don't be afraid to call out to the Lord. It's not about the religion you are. You're not defined by your religion. Most of the time, you're just, you're not defined by anything. The relationship with God is not really you being defined. It's a relationship, you know, and you're loved and you're welcomed, and that's the biggest thing you should understand out of it. What would you say about what, how should I word this, what do you think about people who don't exactly have the strongest relationship with God who feel like, you know, or like people who don't exactly believe in our God but want to transition into, like what should they do? Um, I think it's important to make sure that they know that there's nothing you can do to save yourself. That sounds so hopeless and that sounds so scary, but not when you realize that there's a loving God waiting for you. He's there for you and he wants you to come to him and he wants to be able to love you well and save you, but all you have to do is let him do that. This gospel message is one of hope, it's not one of like fear, so it's so important to realize the fact that if you feel like God is far from you, if you feel like you're lost, if you feel like you're stuck in something other than religion and you want to be a Christian and you want to be saved, it's, you're probably getting in your own way. That's where you have to realize that God has made this easy for us, God has done the work, God sent his son just for that purpose, that you can have salvation without having to save yourself because we can't save ourselves. I like that, I like that. So I feel like at the end of this message that you guys should understand that everybody has a transition, everybody kind of goes through something that might separate them from God, but should not fear having that relationship with God. I just want college students to understand that there is no fear in finding relationships with God when you get to a college. You know, chase that, go get that relationship with God, you know. It doesn't matter the community or the church, it's more about the relationship you have with God. And like I said, when I started going through the way, I found my strongest connection with God. You know, I had a great community, they definitely helped me understand more about God. And you know, every week I'm hearing these, you know, I guess you would say speeches or not really speeches, but like, you know, like sermons being told to me. And it's like, wow, I really connect to this. And, you know, and in every way, you know, there's always something that I'm connecting to, you know. And so, I just want everyone to be able to, you know, have that life with God, you know. Don't be afraid of transition. Don't be afraid to, you know, find that new religion. So, at the end of the day, really just thank God for what you have. And, you know, don't be afraid to try new things. God's always arms open, ready to take you in. A transition will never be too hard. And you definitely have a community that's ready to welcome you. Once again, my name is William Larson. I'm Evan. Oh. And we're out. Thank you. Bye.