: Welcome to the Aggressive Life. Today's a big day, Dirt. Big day. Big, big day. Big day. A day for Dirt to take a shower. I even cleaned up for this day. It's so big. You did. Dirt, we should tell people about your shoe story. My shoe situation? Yes. Yeah, OK. Real quick, I wear Chocos every day. Every day. Winter, summer, spring, fall. Without washing his feet. Every day. I don't know if I've ever washed my Chaco's. And I have a bad habit of leaving them on the front porch when I get home because they're dirty. And my wife doesn't like them tramping through the house. Well, she thinks your feet, bare feet, are any better than your Chaco's going through. Maybe not. But a couple weeks ago, I left them on my front porch, came back the next morning to put them on to go to work, and there was only one Chaco there. And I was like, what? Maybe I sleepily put one away, but not the other. I don't know. We have a little ring camera. I checked the ring camera. Nothing comes on the porch all night. So all I can guess is some wild beast, a raccoon, a possum. And now it has one of my Chaco's somewhere stored away in their little rabbit hole or something. So weird. Weird, weird, weird. Now I have to buy new Chaco's. So Chaco's sponsor me. Give me some Chaco's. Yeah. So hey, look. No one sponsor me. Actually, they are. I get free athletic greens. I'm open though. I get free athletic greens. You can sponsor me. Come on. If you land Chocos and I can't land anything else, I'll be really bummed out about that. We're just going to switch seats then, right? Right. I should probably just buy you Chocos because I can afford it more than you can. And you've been the straw that stirs the drink. I'm getting a little bit nostalgic. 200 episodes. 200 episodes. That's what today is. 200 episodes. Dirt and I have been here for them all. Actually, Dirt's been here for them all. Maybe me not, because sometimes we use a pre-recorded thing that I've done that he actually puts together or something I taught on. So I'm getting a little bit nostalgic today. We started this podcast back in July, 2019, really as an experiment to see if listeners would respond or even care. about something that I've sort of built my life on, which is getting up and moving, making aggressive decisions. I just wanted something new to do, something different. And I was just doing the same thing forever and ever and ever. My day job, the thing I've done is start Crossroads, which I love. It's my main thing I do. It's the most important thing that I do. Well, my wife is very important, my kids are important, but you know what I'm saying. But in 2019, I probably felt, I need to try some new things. I can't just get... too stale and stagnant. And I don't know that we would have believed that we would be here 200 episodes later, having had Hollywood A-listers who contact us to be on the show, comedy legends, NASA astronauts, professional athletes, badassery, military vets, survival experts, pastors, previously. disqualified pastors, normal Schmo who's trying to get through his life, a normal woman that is just clawing to go to the next level. We just had a lot of great things, crazy things like business startups, sex therapists confronting racism, looking for lost Spanish gold and everything in between. It's been, it's been a lot of fun. It's been a wild ride and it's not something I think is going to go away time soon. The numbers continue to go up. We continue to have fun. And so therefore, I figured it'd be good for us to have not just a celebration episode, like let's celebrate what's happened, but also a vision clarification. Vision leaks. It leaks in your family, in your organization, your life. Vision leaks. The vision bucket of your life, no matter how often you try to stop up the holes, New holes will come around and it will leak and it will filter down, down, down, down. It will go down. And it's important for us to remind ourselves why you might listen to this podcast. I turned down someone who would have been like one of the biggest guests we've ever had. Publishers contacted me and say, this person is doing a book. We get contacted a lot because we've got a growing audience and people want to get before our audience and all that stuff. And Said, hey, this person's got a new book coming out. They're like ultimate never-ending bestseller. It was pretty cool they contacted us and really wanted the person on, but had to think, man, this actually might drive up listeners. You might get more listeners with this person. And I like this person, but when I think of aggressive, I don't think about this person or their body of work. Godly, yes. Solid, yes. Nice. Yes. Successful. Yes. Accomplished. Yes. Good communicator. Yes. Aggressive. Eh. So that's a reminder to us, hey, what is the aggressive life about? It is about a podcast that's not just going to give you good ideas. It's going to give you good ideas that you should actually freaking do. The word aggressive is a word that I've had my vocabulary long before 2019. Uh, I've told people, Hey, if you're going to work for me, the kind of mistakes you make are called aggressive mistakes. Perry Noble was on, a formerly disqualified pastor, which is kind of aggressive, actually, for me to, quote unquote, platform him. Some people would prefer not to platform somebody who, a few years ago, was kicked out of ministry for drinking too much and some other things. Perry's had an amazing comeback. And Perry said something in that podcast, which warmed my heart, that he quoted me to his staff, his new staff, before he. came on the podcast that he was with me and heard me tell a staff member, hey, aggressive mistakes. You have to make aggressive mistakes. I'm always okay with aggressive mistakes. I'm not okay with mistakes that happen when you should have done something. I'm not okay. It's called the aggressive life. That means if you're going to do the wrong thing, and all of us are going to have mistakes, problems, hiccups, fall into potholes, but let's actually step into potholes instead of falling into potholes. I've got a, meeting right after this. Do you know what this whole thing is about? I don't. We've got a major, major tech upgrade we're looking to make to one of our stages in our broadcast campus. We have 10 campuses in a couple different states. And we also have a significant internet presence. And I don't know, man. I feel like our stuff is stale. It's really stale. I mean, it's good. It's fine. But when we started doing the things that we were doing some time ago, they were really unique and innovative. Now, like every underfunded church plant does the same thing, has LEDs and guitars and hazing machines. And that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. I mean, I don't have a guitar that on ukulele and I want nice lights and LEDs make sense. But those things were really innovative at one point and really reached people. Now they're just sort of table stakes. They're what people just expect. In fact, if you don't have those things and you're in a room of size, it's hard to hold people's attention. So I'm not anti anything, but you're just not taking new ground by buying another hazing machine or having a worship album. Woohoo! Like, what church doesn't have a worship album, right? Or, ooh, pastor writes a book. Woohoo! What pastor who doesn't have a big church doesn't write a book? I mean, those things are fine, do those things, but they're not aggressive, right? They're not the things that are taking new territory. So we've got this massive new tech thing that has not been seen anywhere. It's basically bringing virtual reality to a stage. The price tag on it is insane. I'm not even sure I want to share the price tag. This is some next level stuff. This is some brand new. It's brand new. Wow. Love it. Like, brand new. And it's really pricey. The reason you're not seeing it, and it's still in the front of innovation, is it's really ridiculously pricey. Which is maybe just do a gut check, like, okay man, do I really need this? I mean, Crossroads is growing like a weed right now. No one's complaining about our quality of production right now. But I also... believe there's people, additional people who could be reached with a different thing. There's a different kind of experience people who are here, Crossroads could have. And I actually just, I don't like the idea of shifting into neutral. Like I realized when I was 30 or 35, like hell yeah, damn the torpedoes God's going to provide. Yeah, just get it. Now you go, I don't know, I don't know that I need to, but I'm having to listen to my own pep talk and listen to my own podcast. What's the aggressive thing to do? The passive thing to do never gets you to the next place. And I mean here as well, the next place with God. I'm not talking about the next place in your growth. I'm talking about the next place with God. Simply being a good little boy, good little girl doesn't get you the next place with God. It's the things that are the outlying ideas that you think may be inspired by him and if they're not inspired by him, you probably would appreciate that you went for it. That's right. Today's podcast is brought to you by Athletic Greens. It's a product I use every day. I started taking AG1 because I don't watch my diet too closely, but I know that I'm getting all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients I can, as well as hydrating with 12 ounces of water right off the bat at the beginning of the day. 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All of us have six things that we are. We're all of these things. We're not all painters. We're not all CEOs. We're not whatever. We're not all those things. But we are all these six things. And we may not be acting them, but they're in us. And these things are all throughout the Bible. It's part of being created in the image of God and everything else. One of those identities is that we are a creator. God has put Adam and Eve into the garden and told them, Be fruitful, multiply, take care of the earth, have dominion over every creepy thing, name the things, all that stuff. Animals are not creators, we're creators. Beavers, you might say, well, beavers create. Well, beavers make a dam, they make a dam for self-preservation. They don't innovate and think about how to make concrete. Well, birds, they make a nest. Well, they're not creating, they're making a nest. They're not. innovating and then saying, hmm, how can we actually go underwater and create a submarine? Only human beings can create submarines. Only we can create microchips. Only we can do that thing going to the next level. What does that have to do with what I was saying about being aggressive? Am I creating? Am I push? Am I creating or am I just maintaining? Am I maintaining our services, maintaining our systems processes? Or am I creating? So I'm kind of firing a shot across my bow here as a guy who's 57 and could just be sustaining, saying, no, dude, don't stop creating. Don't stop pushing. I'll just talk about my industry for a moment here, whatever your industry is. I am what people would refer to as a mega church pastor. The church I lead is very large. There's not many that are larger than it. And I spend time with people all around the country who have somewhat similar churches. I have an annual gathering. And I started telling people, I said, dudes, man, we're talking about the same things all the time. The same things all the time. How many campuses you have? What are you doing to get new campuses? And what's your succession plan? Who do you have? All we could talk about is succession and campuses? Really? In fact, if succession and campuses was going to reach the next generation and push things forward, then we'd be pushing things forward. The American church is stuck because we're not aggressive. We're just maintaining. We're just teaching nice sermons. We're giving me nice worship services. We're doing nice things. But what are the things where Jesus says, go, go into all the world? He tells people, get into boats, go to places where you've never been. Learning languages you've never learned. You're going to have a language because I'm going to aggressively give you a language supernaturally in the book of Acts called tongues, where you're going to speak dialects you've never learned in a classroom because I'm going to equip you to take my aggressive message of love out there. Am I saying this meeting I have after this recording, if I sign off on this price tag is going to be the magic elixir for turning America around? No, I'm not saying that. It might keep me from being turned around. It might actually turn around America, who knows? But I know this, the book of New Testament says, fulfill your ministry, your. Key word is your, your. Or I would also say, fulfill your business plan. Fulfill your vision, your, your. Fulfilling my ministry cannot be growing a church numerically, adding more campuses, having a book that is a best seller, and having a band that makes great worship music that is streamed a million plus times on YouTube. That's not my, that's everybody's minute. Who doesn't have that? Everyone's aspiring for that. Everyone has that and that's fine. I hope I have a New York Times bestselling book someday. If Dirt would become a better ghost writer, I probably would. It would already be done. What would I already be done? No, Dirt and I worked together on those books. He's an incredible blessing. I hope, I hope that happens, but I know this. If any of those things, worship albums, pastor books, multi-site churches, mega churches, if any of those things were going to do it, it would be done by now. It's not done by now because there are aggressive things God has called you to do, you, and you're not freaking doing them. You're not. So I'm calling you out. And it's not just affording a piece of tech. In my context, it's camps. It's why I'm pouring a lot of money into camps. Man camp, woman camp, vet camp, family camp, father, son camp, mother, daughter camp. You know, uh, uh. loser Chihuahua camp, whatever these camps are, it doesn't make sense, but it's something we're doing. And I would say the same thing to you. What is it that only you can do? What is it that only you have a passion for? What is it that is aggressive, that you're not seeing somebody else do? This is a podcast that's meant to pour fuel into you, pour inspiration. into you. This is a podcast that's meant to give you conversations by people who are doing their life, their business plan, their ministry, and they're doing it in a way that may cause some of us to just scratch our heads. Being aggressive is not powering up on somebody. It isn't being an ogre. That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about seeing your life and having a vision for your life. your business, your ministry, and going after it. This is a place where your dreams are welcome. This is a place where I get you. This is a place where we want to have different practitioners in different corners of culture speaking into us, whatever corner that may be. Welcome. So to finish up today, I want to have hear from other people who are gonna cast some vision for us in the tune of sharing their success stories of how the aggressive life has helped them. Without your support, your shares, your reviews, your recommendations, the podcast would have sputtered out long before it has. We've got a lot of raving fans who are in the locker room, who are pushing, who are going forward. Well done, everybody. Thank you so much. And also thank you for sharing your story. It actually gives me... Motivation to keep going. So I'll tell you what, I do not need another thing on my schedule every week. I'm a busy enough person. There's a lot of other places I could put my time. But Dirt shared with me the download of these stories yesterday. It was really great. It was really inspiring. Love hearing your story. And I want to have you hear from other comrades who are in the aggressive life. So special thanks to everyone who called in to share their stories. And it's a pleasure. Even more special thanks to everybody who's on the journey with us. Let's keep getting aggressive. Hey, this is David and Aggressive Life is one of my very favorite podcasts. One of my favorite moments is when BT interviewed a guy who talked about the need for men to do hard things, things so hard that they might not be able to achieve them. It was after that podcast that me and two of my buddies decided we were going to ride our bikes 116 miles in one day. and see if we could make it happen. And we did, and it was an epic adventure. So thanks for keeping us aggressive BT. Really, really appreciate it. Hey, this is Mike. I just wanted to say how much the Man Tent Stories 2022 really resonated with me. It's in a sea of contrary voices and opinions. It's nice to hear a voice, especially one from within the church that affirms that who we are as men. how we're created with the desire to explore and conquer, but also to provide and protect is a good thing. That all masculinity is not toxic and that the things in our nature that we are created to do, the jobs that we are created to do, are negative things. So hearing stories of the healing that's gone on in other men and experiencing it myself through the ministry done out of camps was... usually affirming it was was absolutely a drink of water after a long time in the wilderness so thank you for what you do keep up the good work. Hi this is Kitty Harrell calling and yes I'm a female listener I'm a full-time working mother of two my favorite episode definitely with the author of Imagine Heaven that got me to think really differently about my faith and honestly approach my view of every day. differently knowing that what we are experiencing now is but a taste of heaven and aggressive life has influenced me to think about every action that I make and how I can not be as passive and what can I do to aggressively move my family forward to deeper relationships with God. Thanks, Ryan. I appreciate you. Hey, my name is Joe and I'm going deep into the archives to January 21 when BP had his mentor, Denny Patanon, just prior to his passing. This episode hit me hard about a dogged pursuit of my dreams and living a life that is sacrificial and impactful. Since hearing Denny's voice, I've been more intentional about building into other men and my son. Hey Brian, this is John. And, uh, all your talk about. Adventure biking and adventure motorcycles inspired me to go out and get one. And I've been slightly adventurous and aggressive because of you. I say slightly because I'm 52 years old. That's it. Bye. Hello. Just wanted to let you know that I'm probably one of the rare females that's listened to Aggressive Life from the very beginning. And out of all of these episodes, two that really stand out that were my favorites. There was one, an interview with a rabbi. I don't remember his name, but I found it really interesting on his thoughts on money. And that was really informative and interesting story to me. Another one was a recent one with the Catholic priests and the exorcism and his view on angels really made me think and I tend to enjoy podcasts that challenge me and make me think. So continue the good work. Thanks. Hey, this is Matt. My favorite Aggressive Life episode was the John Eldridge episode. I really enjoyed hearing how he... Encouraged fathers shepherd their boys from boyhood to manhood Just really taking a bold move on how to be wild at heart one aggressive move that I've made after Just following Brian and and listening to the aggressive life is moving my family of seven from Cincinnati, Ohio to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and starting a outdoor clothing brand called Steno's Thanks for everything you guys do This is Nick. I've been inspired by a lot of the episodes and really enjoyed the most recent episode with Roland Warren on Framing Up Fatherhood. I like how he said, there's never going to be an older guy looking back on his life and wishing he did one more PowerPoint or attended one more work meeting or something like that. Our lives as a man, husband, and father are worth it. I already built into my own sons and five grandsons. but intend to turn it up a notch so my sons don't wake up when they're 50 and wish they had spent more time with their kids. Thanks for all the encouragement and the guests that you have on, and keep up the great work. My name is Bill. My favorite episode is the two episodes with John Burke. It's interesting to hear what the afterlife might look like. The fact that God is more interested in relationships than our achievements. Good reset to today and tomorrow. Great episode. Looking forward to meet dirt someday. Take care. It is Ken from Florida. My favorite episodes were apex predator, Kathie Lee Gifford, brain trust, imagine heaven and horse soldier. This podcast just makes me think differently about being a Christian and a daily life and work. Thank you. Hey, my name's Kurt and I listen to the rest of life all the time. I attend Crossroads over Oakland. And Brian, I just wanted to let you know, you've had big immediate impacts on my life and that is your prayer that you've done for me after church. I had a heart condition that, uh, it was, uh, pretty debilitating on my lives and my quality of life. And, uh, I had no other options. the beta blockers and medicine that they were given to me just weren't working. And my only other option was heart surgery, which was the scariest thing I've ever thought of. And I never thought I'd actually get myself to get the surgery, but I knew I had to be done so I was like, well, I'm going to go get prayer for it. I got prayer from my family stuff, but I also got prayer from you after church and I mean after your prayer. Things just started to unfold and roll and I eventually ended up getting free of that heart condition. Huge things in my life that I got freed from from the pair of you. But also recently just went to the couples camp. While I was down there every morning about the same time some turkeys gobble and wake me up. Will you let me turkey hunt down at base camp next spring? Alright, well thanks. Hey, Brian, this is Amy. I'm calling from Indiana. And I just want to say thank you for your podcast. I listen every Tuesday or Wednesday morning when I'm out on my run in the morning. And I find myself sharing your podcast with my girls who are in college who are kind of at the stage in their life when they're making major decisions. And I've also shared some of the episodes with friends who I wouldn't maybe share a sermon with. I've shared the podcast and I'm specifically thinking about the one on, on heaven and, um, Oh gosh, I can't remember the guy's name from gateway church. Um, but we thought that I thought that was great and just enjoy just all the different episodes and things that you challenge us with every week. So thank you. Have a good day. Bye. Hey, my name is Lori and I just wanted to say I have loved a lot of episodes. especially the one with Jeff Bloomfield and of course, Sean Burke. Aggressive Life has just issued a lot of challenge to me and my husband. And I love that we both listen and can talk about it, which gives us another layer of things to discuss as we enter in the semester life and ways that we can connect and be challenged and grow both personally and as a married couple. So thank you. Hey, Brian and Caleb. My name is Jared. I just moved to Durham, North Carolina. Uh, I just want to call in and say, I'm super thankful, uh, for the show and everything, uh, that's come out of it. Your podcast has definitely just helped me and my wife step into the next big transition of, um, packing up and moving to another state and just saying yes to the next thing God's put in front of us. Uh, super thankful, super blessed for me guys. Keep up the good work. Hey, this is Steven. The aggressive life has become a staple in my weekly routine. Listening to collective wisdom of all the guests has helped me as I have identified and begun to work through the trauma and brokenness in my life. I've been able to identify what true manhood and healthy aggression look like. Redefine fatherhood and pursue wholeness as I've begun to aggressively reject passivity in my life. I'm so grateful to have this dose of healthy aggression look forward to each week. A huge thanks to Brian and Dirk for putting together such great content. Keep up the great work guys. See you next time. Dirk Hildebrandt, Ph.D. A Huge Thanks to Brian and Dirk for putting together such great content. Keep up the great work guys. See you next time. Hey, thanks for listening. For all things aggressive living, why don't you head over to bryantome.com, find my new book, Move, a guide to get up and go forward, as well as articles and much, much more. And no matter where you listen to podcasts, why don't you take a second and leave us a rating, leave us a review. It really, really helps us drive new listeners to show we want to help as many people as possible, just like we may have helped you, we want to help others. So why don't you help us out. And if you want to connect, find me on Instagram at Brian Tome. Aggressive Life with Brian Tome is a production of Crossroads Church, Cincinnati, Ohio.