Faith in the Unexpected

This is the Truth Network. Kingdom Pursuits, where you hear from ordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together, we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into Kingdom Pursuits.

Now, live from the Truth Booth, your host, Robbie Dilmore. Wow, can you believe it's June already? And. Oh my goodness, goodness, what we have in store for you today. I'm sure you're going to be so glad that you have tuned in today because we have, to start off, like one of the most amazing stories, I think it's just a testimony that happened in this area.

I actually heard it through my dental technician who was saying, Robbie, have you heard about this? And so we're going to hear this story. We have Chris and Melissa Vaughan, and their son's name is Hardy. And so, Melissa, Um What God did here was absolutely amazing, right? Yes, absolutely.

We would not have chosen this for ourselves or our son, that's for sure. But we definitely have felt the presence of the Lord, and when we tell his story, you will see that God's hand. was on it the entire time. Um And everyone always asks us, like, do you feel wronged? And my answer to that is no.

I think Hardy. Has uniquely been gifted since he was very little. He has a strong voice. Um In the you know, he's very loud, but also just like he's leader. And he has loved people very well from a young age, and so.

Um I believe if God gifted Hardy and designed Hardy the way he is, that he will use this. And we have already seen. evidence of that through nurses or Through many people that we've gotten to talk to that share with us, like I was, you know, I was struggling with my faith, and this brought me back to the Lord. And so. We have seen his goodness the entire time, yeah.

That's amazing, and also really exciting and Uh we have Anoir Smith with us, and he is this Founder of an outreach in Chicago called GRIP. They are an outreach for youth in Chicago, and welcome Anwar. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me on and me getting a little share a little bit about my story.

Work of grip and what we're doing in Chicago, which goes against a lot of the other news you hear coming out of the city. Yeah, what an amazing thing God gave you this vision. And I love your website. It shows all the numbers of lives that are being changed. constantly and and so Would you mind just briefly sharing for our listeners Wh what it is that grip is?

Yeah, yeah.

So GRIP is a ministry that's been around for twenty two years. And our mission is simply to invest In Chicago's youth through what we call Christ-centered life-on-life relationships. And so essentially, what we do is we connect high school students. In some of the tougher neighborhoods of Chicago with trained Christian mentors.

so that they have someone that is um kind of incarnately walking out the gospel in front of them.

So they can see what it looks like to be A Christ follower. And so they build relationships just as mentorship programs do. But we have the added benefit of. I'm being led by the Spirit and, you know, uh and and helping expose high school students to To faith, but not just talking to them about it, but actually walking with them so that when they're going through difficult moments. right, their mentor can help them see how To walk through that moment through the lens of Christ and through the lens of faith.

And so we see a number of young people come to faith in Christ through these relationships. We see a number of young people get connected to churches. Because of their relationship with their mentor and going with their mentor, versus someone saying, you should go to church. No, come with me. Right.

And so those relationships are really bearing just amazing fruit. We served almost four hundred students this this past school year. And we've seen just this amazing kind of return on investment, if you will.

So I absolutely love it. I mean, it it is life on life. I love the way that you you term that at your website. And you can think And I hope a lot of people in churches are listening. Like, you know, everybody's got youth that are wonderful kids.

And when you start... You know, sending them out, you know, they can do amazing, amazing things.

So, did you grow up in Chicago, Anmark? Yes, yes.

So I was born and raised on the West Side, which is in the same communities that we're serving. We've expanded. We now are working in three different areas. But one of our main areas, which is I was born and raised in West Garfield Park, which is a city on the our city. Neighborhood on the west side of Chicago, and so it's such a just an amazing God thing that.

I get the chance now to have influence. Because it's my own story, right? If it wasn't, you know, my. My parents got divorced when I was about three. And so I did not grow up with a father in the home.

I didn't grow up with a man in the home. And so it was mentors for me as a young person growing up on the west side of Chicago In one of those neighborhoods, that was crime, you know, violence, all of those things. Uh there were men who said, No, we're not gonna let the streets have you, right? We're not we're not gonna, you know. Um We're not going to just let you become one of these statistics.

And they lived Christ in front of me. And I attribute a lot of. where I am today because God used those men. And so to be able to turn around now, You know. thirty five whatever years later.

and be able to see other young people Experience Christ through that same means is just only God could write that story. And so it's a little personal for me because. When I was in Third, going to fourth grade, my family moved from California to Chicago. And yes, it was. Oh, was it?

And of course, I show up at school.

Now, realize this is like 1964, somewhere. You know, it's a long time ago, and we're way before you were in the scene. But anyway, I showed up in blue jeans, and like you would expect somebody from out west to dress. They did not dress like that in Chicago. They did not wear their hair like that.

And they, and they. They were what I would call gangs. I mean, people, you were in a gang or you weren't in a gang. And of course, I show up like the odd man out of the equation. And, you know, just.

Oh my goodness, did I get beat up? Um It was really, it was, I'll never ever forget it. And so, you know, as I listen to your words, I know how scary. That is. Right?

And I'm sure you know how scary it is. It's traumatic. Like you don't know, like you're just sitting in class and you don't know when you go out to the playground if somebody's just gonna have your lunch, you know, seriously. And so I love. But You know, when somebody comes along.

that has the love of Christ in their eyes is just huge. Just huge. And I'm so grateful that God did that. But he also. provided Taylor University, and we're going to get to that.

you know, shortly. I can hardly wait to hear where that fits into the equation. But to get back to the volumes, which interestingly, you know, Hardy's situation, just to kind of begin the story, what happened?

Well, I guess I'll chime in. This is Chris. I was on site four, we were at Hardy's. Middle school basketball game, and he was they were in the fourth quarter of the game, and he was trailing his defender. They were playing man-to-man defense, and He just went down and uh collapsed.

You saw for a brief second him try to get back up, and then he just faceplane and collapsed again. And you were right there. I was right there. I was at the scorers' table. Oh, you were at the scores?

I was at the scorers' table, and um. You know, we see God's hand in all of it along the way. You know Melissa and I have talked afterwards like she and our daughter were both at the game, but they had left at half time because my daughter had to go to something else and kind of in a way it was probably God's hand over the fact that neither one of them were there witnessing it and watching it. Um Definitely a traumatic event for all of us that saw it and were there, but. Yeah, at first You just see a boy playing basketball, and you see him go down, and to someone that's not medical, I just thought he fell at first, maybe did something to his arm or leg, and just got regular basketball injury.

And, um We fortunately had Yeah. Medically trained professionals in the stance. People, one person is ahead of ER at Forsyth, and nurses and briners.

So we are going to finish, you know, not, well, we're going to spend some time on this story. It's so miraculous. It's unbelievable. We don't even have a sense of how bad that was that he went down. And plus, we're going to hear more about what's going on in Chicago.

You can see, I told you, it's going to be an amazing show. I am so grateful that we have this team of guests today. And so we have you alongside of it. And we're excited to have you. Lines are open, by the way, if you've got any questions along these lines.

You're listening to The Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom And you know, usually we would play shenanigans, but I knew I had some amazing uh guests that I didn't want to take any time away from uh by playing shenanigans, but but but you know, just to show you that I'm still You know, thinking a little bit of shenanigans that, you know, Anwar's ministry is grip outreach. for youth chicago.

So Nick, I know you're not shocked. We're not going to play shenanigans. But when you think about it, what do you call a shoe that has lost its grip. You know, we were on the basketball court a minute ago, and, you know, we have to just get a hint of shenanigans. You know, what do you call a shoe that's lost its grip?

Soulless. That's soulless. What do you think, Anne Mars? Since you've got the grip outreach, this important stuff here. Yeah, I'm going to have to agree.

I think it's called a slipper. Anyway, that's some fun just to get out there.

So. Man, I You went to Taylor University, from what I understand. Can you kind of fit that puzzle piece in the puzzle into the story? Yeah.

Well, um, yeah.

So growing up on the west side of Chicago, Taylor University is in Upland, Indiana, you know, a town of you know, at the time when I went, you know, thirty years ago was Twenty you know, probably 5,000 people or whatever. But you know what the Lord I was on a track to play Division I football. At least I found it. Really? And I was, you know, I.

Played at a large high school in Chicago and was a good running back and was recruited by some big name schools. And so all indications was that I was going to go play Division I ball in the in the Big Ten. And um God had other plans and can't fully explain it, can't but all of a sudden what went from you know We want you to It's kind of, well, we want you as a recruited walk-on.

Now, I wasn't even interested in, I didn't know about Taylor, I wasn't interested in Taylor because that was small ball. But one of my mentors spoke of guys who made an impact in my life. One of my mentors, his name was Dave. He did recruiting. He was a camp director at Christian Camp, and he did recruiting on Christian College campuses for summer staff.

And he was at Taylor, and he spoke to the coach without me even knowing. and said, Hey, I've got a kid.

Now he's known me since I was 12 years old. I've got a kid that I think you guys should be recruiting. I think it would be good for him to go to a tailor. And they did. And they sent a a former Uh football player who's from Chicago, African American guy, um, from the west side as well, sent him to our home to talk to me and my mom about Taylor.

And my mom is, you know, she's so laid back with all this, you know, like this is your choice, you do. She said the only thing she asked is that you would visit. She goes, I can't make you go anywhere you don't want to go. This is your journey. But I would love for you just to visit.

They're school. And so they arranged it and I did. And um Yeah, it was I knew. I knew on that visit.

So going from West Side of Chicago to Upland, Indiana to a not very diverse Christian university was quite the journey. But I see God's hand in that completely. And I got a chance to play football and Um and you know, and and it helped me up before the ability to go to school, which was the biggest part of of scholarship for me, you know, because our her family didn't have much money. And so God, yeah, was in it. And it was tough, and it was good.

And some of the relationships that I made then, I mean, these guys are like brothers for life.

So God's been faithful in that. Absolutely beautiful.

Well, getting back to Hardy's story, when we left Hardy, he was on the floor. And boy, things went from bad to worse quickly, right? Yeah, they did. When I first walked over. Kind of the way he was laying, I thought maybe just as a dad, something was wrong with his arm, maybe he dislocated his shoulder or something like that.

And um one of the nurses that was in the stands. Was telling the other people who were all medically trained and hopped out to be around him. That he was showing seizure-like symptoms, and they needed to get him quickly flipped over and start. facilitating uh CPR immediately. Um turns out Cliffner's version to get through part of it.

Turns out it was not a seizure. He had what they call an uncategorized cardiac arrest. Um And we are very blessed that God made sure that there was people trained in the stands. Who took their job seriously, took their role seriously, took the gifts that he gave them seriously, and they were all willing to jump in and respond. And one of the Firefighters who were off duty at the time that happened to be at the game, he ended up giving CPR for about 10 straight minutes.

Um until EMS was able to arrive because the sorry.

So wow, to slow down a minute.

Okay.

So it's your son. Yes. Right. You're sitting at the scoring table. And the next thing you know, when you see somebody pushing on the chest of your son, you're fully aware.

I mean, this is horrific. And so let's. What were you doing?

So I had walked over, watched it, saw the people that were around them. Knew that I was in no way capable of helping him compared to the people that were around him. Did you realize his heart had stopped? I did not at first. I still was trying to process what was happening.

It probably took me, honestly, a good minute, minute and a half to even understand what was going on. And it wasn't until one of the people there who is with the ER at for Scythe was actually on the phone talking to 911 and was fully explaining the situation to the dispatcher of what was going on that it clicked into me that, oh, wait a minute, we're not. going home from this game. Like, we're gonna go to the hospital. Right.

And at that moment, I realized I better call my wife and let her know what's going on. Wow.

So he's laying there on the floor. They're giving him CPR. You called your wife? Yes, sir. And so Melissa, you get this phone call.

Yeah.

So, I had just gotten home with our daughter. She's a competitive dancer, and so. She had to go home to change and take her to dance, and so we had just walked in the door. Um and he called, and he said Hardy collapsed. He's receiving CPR.

Oh my God.

So my daughter and I got back in the car. And we drove back to the gym. He was telling me the entire ride: what they were doing, who was there. what was happening to Hardy, um, And so we drove, probably broke a lot of laws along the way and got there. And it's probably one of the worst visions I've ever seen in my life.

You don't expect that. There's sirens everywhere and so many emergency vehicles. Um And so you got there actually before they transported him. I did, but they kept me from getting to him, which we now know was the. Chief of the fire department.

He Stood in front of me and didn't allow me access to the ambulance. And we've gotten the chance to go to the fire department and meet all the responders from that day. And he told me they did not believe Hardy had seconds. And so. The ambulance took off without us, and thankfully, one of the people who responded attends our church.

He was there and he. I saw him, and he told me to get in the car.

So Chris and I got in the car and And he said, I'll call you. Let's back up again. Oh, sorry. All right, no, no, no. You know.

And I can't imagine how horrific this was for both of you. Did prayer enter the equation at some point in the early. Aspect of it before you started to drive, or when you realized that what your the situation your son was under? Just out of curiosity, I would say yes, and in multiple areas. I know.

It didn't enter in before I called her. Right. But we were on the phone, and I know she could hear me. I mean, as a dad, I was trying to keep distance from the people doing what they were supposed to do, but at the same time, I didn't Grasp that Hardy was completely out. Like, I didn't, you know, so I was hoping maybe he'd hear my voice and encouraging him.

And, you know, Melissa said, you know, he doesn't need to just hear you say. He's strong, that he can get through this. And I know she and Maggie were praying while they were driving. I was praying, and I remember telling her that there was a woman at half court of the gym with her hands up. She was praying.

They had taken all the kids outside. And from what we've gathered and heard afterwards, you had a lot of people that were still in the gym and out of the gym just gathered and praying. I bet they were.

So Anwar, in your You know, journey there with grip. Have you experienced anything like that? Is this bringing some memory to you? I mean, there's Yeah, unfortunately. Right, there are Um situations that happen in the city, unfortunate situations Um you know where you know, violence happens fights happen, shootings happen, and Yeah.

Um you're watching or you're standing with a you know, a grieving parent or You know, with all those questions, all those unknowns of, you know, is my son going to be okay? Um you know, and and unfortunately some of those situations have not been you know, been not turned out positively, but um Yeah, I mean it's kind of part of this this walk and this work in the city, it's You know, the news makes it seem as like it's a Prevalent comment, it's happening every moment of every day, and that's not the case, right? And one of the things I want to do is just kind of. to change that narrative because God's doing some amazing stuff, but there are heartbreaking moments They don't end always end very well. Yeah, well, let's talk about that when we come back.

That You know what you'd picture the west side of Chicago, blah, blah, blah, but God showing up and making it. a beautiful place, right? In so many different ways for growth, you know, for everybody. I'm excited to hear about that. And clearly, God showed up, if you didn't know this.

Spoiler alert: Hardy's on the other end listening, telling his parents how good they've been on this. You're listening to The Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion. and uses it to build the kingdom and so fun today. A passion to share what God does, right?

To give Him the glory for the events in Hardy's life that we're hearing about from the Vaughns, Chris and Melissa, and Ann Moore Smith in Chicago with Grip Outreach for Youth out of Chicago. Uh I love this, investing in youth with life on life. relationships um That Anwar himself kind of experienced, and now they've got a chance to do this in Chicago. And right before the break, Anwar, you had. Spoken of the narrative that you want to change.

And so give us a vision. What's that like? Yeah, I mean I think I mean, obviously, Chicago gets a lot of headlines. And there is I mean, there are obviously some.

some tragic things that happen in the city. But I just, yeah, I just want people to know, and you gotta that work. You know, we've you know, been doing this work for a long time, and I'll tell you, in the last couple of years, I've not seen the amount of engagement in Bible study and just asking real questions about faith, about You know, um Yeah, well who the who Jesus is, like these things. I've not seen it. Um in the twenty-six years that I've been doing ministry.

With teenagers in particular, there's really a hunger that's happening in Chicago, and so we're seeing. And what's really cool is we're seeing students, high school students who are going to church, particularly with their mentor, you know, be at the invitation, and who's now families, parents and others are coming with them. And so the students themselves are becoming these catalysts for real transformation in their families. You know, through coming to know the Lord themselves. And, you know, I heard, you know, mom was like, man, I haven't been to church in so long, but watching my son go to church.

Reminded me that, why am I not going? And so then she started to attend, you know, and so we're seeing. These kinds of things that are happening, and we're seeing young people who just are engaged. We're going through the story, right?

So, we're walking through the Bible right now with our students. And just, you know, some of the stories that we take for granted, we've heard since. Sunday school, you know, as little kids, that many of our kids have never heard before. Many of them have not grown up in the church. And I mean, they are like at the edge of their seats.

There's just an excitement about things that are real. I think social media has created this where they're starting to realize: man, there's so much that's so fake. What's actually real? What's actually something worth really kind of hanging their hats on. And they're finding that in the Word, and they're finding that in Scripture.

And it says really, and that's these are Chicago youth. These are from the same tough neighborhoods we hear about. They got these team takeovers happening where people are saying, oh, the teams in Chicago are out of control. That is a subset. That's a small group.

There are so many other teams. That are Locked in that are really pursuing faith in a real way. And it's it's exciting to be kind of on the on the ground level of that. Absolutely beautiful.

Wow.

And so, getting back to Hardy, and he's on his way in the ambulance at this point in time. obviously just in a position to follow. And so pick it up from there.

Well, she as she said, she wasn't able to get in to see him. They had just closed the ambulance doors and sent the ambulance off and. Um we got in the car and she broke some some driving laws, I'm sure, driving to get there as quickly as possible. And I know I broke a bunch of trying to follow that ambulance, but we were racing after it. And just trying to follow it to Brenners as quickly as we could because um She didn't get to see him, but...

My biggest struggle while talking to her while she was driving over. was My glimpses of him and what was going on. is he was gone. And um His f the just the discoloration on his face. the blood that was coming up, everything.

The medical people have told us afterwards they didn't think he was going to make it to Brenners. And I was struggling trying to figure out. how to tell her that she and Maggie weren't gonna make it back in time.

So we're just following the ambulance and hoping that for our listeners who might be in Ohio or Virginia or something brenners is actually like A Class A trauma children's hospital. It happens to be God provided that right here in Winston-Salem. And so it is a spectacular resource that they were headed to that was not terribly far based on where he was at that moment.

So carry on. Oh, yeah, no, that's but yeah, we're just doing the best we can to get there. Yeah, and you asked about prayer earlier, I think. We were praying as a family in the car, heading there, and then I called our youth pastor, who's very close with Hardy. and I called our care pastor and our two brothers.

And just ultimately asked people to pray for us because we knew the severity of our situation. And so. We had a lot of people immediately, as Chris said, in the gym. I mean the basketball game, and we have videos after, and it's just a beautiful Sight to watch all these people just interceding for your son's life. And so we we had a lot of people praying for us um and praying for Hardy and So, yeah, we made those phone calls on the way and prayed as a family, and then you get to the hospital and.

Yeah, they just Put you into a room, and you wait until you can see him. And so. Um Yeah, and then you get to see him and so you see all these people and They're ultimately working to save his life, and um the Lord was really Good to us the entire time, honestly. One of the very first people I saw entering into. The room that Hardy was in was, um A person who used to serve in our kids' ministry at our church.

And so she was one of the nurses there, and she turned around and She told me she was sorry and then she just started she wrapped me in a huge hug and just started praying with me. Um And to know that you have someone who shares your faith in that room and is working specifically with your son. Um What was going on with his heart at this point? Like, you're in the room with him. The nurses are in there.

You've got that monitor going boop, boop, boop. Was he conscious? He was not conscious, but his heart was beating again. They had.

So I think one of the things Chris and I would say is the gym where he was at did not have an AED. It does now, out of the generosity of one of Hardy's teachers. Her and her husband purchased an AED. And so we are very big advocates now of, you know, youth sports, coaches. Whatever it is, having an AED and people trained for CPR on site.

So there was not one that day. But thankfully, as I said, one of a church member of ours, not coincidentally, his pediatric office is in the same parking lot where Hardy was. And so Our friend ran over and knocked on his office windows, but ultimately, it was the AED of the firefighters that day that. we're able to get Hardy's heart back beating.

So they had to use the AED again.

So when he was in the room in the ER, His heart was beating, but he was not initially conscious. No.

So. we walked in and they were, you know, cutting off his clothes and, um Yeah, so That was a lot. Yeah, and so what were the doctors telling you, Chris? Um they were they were telling us that um that he that everything was looking good, that his heart was back in the sense we thought he would be in intensive care for an extended period of time. One of the big concerns when you go that long with I'll The AED coming through is the lack of oxygen.

That's where it comes back to just seeing God's hand and this journey the whole way, and the people around him immediately giving him CPR and their focus on consistent chest compressions for the entire time until the EMS got there. That's what kept oxygen flowing to his brain.

So we are very blessed that he has no known brain damage from this. And Is very aware, so they didn't know what was going to come out of it, but. We had been told that he did really well in the ambulance, and we were able to then see him. kind of in one of the beds and It was scary, but we were able to see him. And you know, we'll find out when we come back.

You know, this is something that usually takes somebody's life, right? And so it was an absolute miracle. But it also was a miracle if you think about it. God is reaching people that, man, we don't even know in Chicago. It's beautiful.

We'll be right back. You're listening to The Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom. It's been such an honor, really. To have these guests on with us today, Anwar Smith.

He is the founder and CEO of Grip Outreach for Youth in Chicago, investing in youth. with Life on Life Relationships and Chris and Melissa Vaughan, Hardy's dad from actually Twin Cities Church here, Two Cities Church. In Winston-Salem, and you know, all those that were involved in all that, and so onward. segment unfortunately is a little bit shorter. And we just have a few minutes left, and I want to make sure you get said anything you wanted to get said today that you haven't had a chance to.

Yeah, I mean, all I would say for people who are listening is, you know. Mm-hmm. God is on the move, and you always just have our eyes open for where God's moving, what is He doing, and how do I. How can I get involved with that? And I think that's one of the things is a lot of churches I just encourage to.

look at opportunities for outreach, right? Look at opportunities to disciple young people, different people. I think we're blessed that we partner with so many churches in Chicago. All of our mentors come from churches, right? All of them.

And so the seeing the church come together and do this work together. And so I just encourage people who are listening, whether you're in Chicago, wherever you are, like there's such a need. In the world right now, in wherever town, whether it's suburban, urban, rural, for people to say, man. getting out of my comfort zone, investing in the life of someone else really matters, really has an impact. And we're seeing just fruit In Chicago, in some of the worst neighborhoods, toughest neighborhoods.

But I believe God is doing that and wanting to do that. Everywhere. And so I just encourage people just to continue to look for ways to see what God is doing around them and say, all right, let me hitch myself to that wagon and be involved. Wow, that's beautiful. Thank you, Anwar.

And so, Melissa, same question, right? You want to leave people with what kind of is happening, but also you know w what the takeaway is. Yeah, I think for the important thing for us, and I would agree with what Anne War just said, is one of the, if not the only, comforting thing we had Was Hardy had accepted Christ in October and been baptized in November. And that had been a prayer of ours. We did this thing at our church called the One, and Hardy was my one.

He had been my one for three years. And so It's not taken lightly when you have the comfort of knowing that your son you will one day see again if your outcome is what you are looking at, which is what Chris and I were looking at that day. That gave us peace. And so I think for us, we would say. Again, what Anne War just said is: you know, the community of Christ is a beautiful thing.

They carried us through. Our hospital stay and in that gym that day, and since then. And so we are grateful. To say that Hardy survived and he is doing really, really well and He has a future, and it looks very different than what we thought. But we have comfort in knowing that our Savior, who made a way for us to one day, see our son in heaven if he was there.

Um Was there that day with us? He continues to be there with us and carry us through. If you look at the Garden of Gethsemane, he knows exactly how we felt. He knows sorrow, and he knows pain, and he knows suffering. And so he.

I think a lot of times in situations like this people will feel confused or lost or why me or And I would just encourage that the Lord loves you to come to Him. He loves. A faith that is broken, but it is strong because you love him and you know that he is good. And so. Even in the moment that we were faced, we knew he was good because we knew we would see our son.

And so we would encourage people also to get involved in the life of youth. We are lucky to. Attend a church that is very involved in our youth and our kids' ministry, and they pour into them. And so we've seen that with both of our children. Um they were some of the very first people that night at the hospital and you know, they were able to kind of rally around our daughter because um we were at Hardy's bed and so they came and They brought food and they prayed and um And so, yes, I would also encourage get involved in the youth in.

Because I can assure you, with my kids, same thing that was their youth group. The In fact, you know, my kids still hang out with all those same people that were in their youth group. Like Ann Laura pointed out that they're lifelong friends, right? Mm-hmm. Any more?

Yeah, absolutely. And you guys get to do life together. It's a beautiful thing that God provides, the community that knows how to bring up the next community, which God gave us these amazing gifts of each other. And again, passing it on and teaching them how to pass it on. It's a really, really cool thing that God has given us.

So I'm so grateful. Certainly. Um, that that God allowed Hardy's life to and and and the testimony, right? To not just keep it to yourself. Um To come on today and share it with our audience.

I know they're all encouraged. I certainly am. I'm certainly encouraged to hear what's happened in Chicago. And again, what Anwar, the reason I got this opportunity to interview him was Taylor University reaching out. They're in Indiana.

So, you know, there's another Christian University besides Liberty, just saying. My daughter went to Sanford. But, you know, Liberty, I love it. You know, Dr. Carson would be looking down his nose at me right this minute.

Thank you so much, Anwar, for being on with me. I really appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. It was great.

God bless. And thank you again, Melissa. Chris, and thank you for listening. Without you, right, we wouldn't have a show. Thank you.

And yeah, it's so wonderful. You get to hear so much truth. Encouraging prayer. How to pray and not be religious coming up? Stay tuned.

Um