Testimony of Grace And Redemption

From the highest levels of Christian music to crashing and burning and addictions to now preaching the gospel all over the world including prisons. I'm with a husband and wife team that are about to blow you all away and we're in a coffee shop and yeah it's loud and they're grinding and they're brewing and I'm about to get an amazing cinnamon roll. Oh my soul thank you so much. Wow there's my latte John James and Tanya James. John God bless you thanks for popping in here man. G'day mate it's great to be here. Have you ever Tanya been on a national radio show from inside a coffee shop like this?

Never. Wait you've got a you've got a pretty heavy Australian accent yourself where'd that come from? New York upstate. Okay so you're from the upstate New York. I'm from the deep south I'm deep south she's upstate New York.

The land of boomerangs and kangaroos tell us more about that. Yeah that's where I had my starts you know growing up in far north Queensland in the middle of nowhere and little did I know that an uneducated dysfunctional kid from far north Queensland in the middle of nowhere in the outback that God had a plan for my life go figure that and and that he was actually the God who saw me. Sometimes we think because of the family we've grown up or don't have or the dysfunctional environment or where we are that no one sees us but man we have a God who sees everyone. Okay now I'm gonna ask Tanya the same question but John how did God find you how did he pursue you talk about that real quick. Yeah I was walking home from school one day not really trying to work out the meaning of life and a young social worker minister that came to that community to work with street kids took the time I was walking home and he pulled up in his van and he started up a conversation and invited me to it to a youth rec center he was starting but but if he wouldn't have stopped and taken the time to reach out to me and talk to me and invite me I wouldn't be here today. So Tanya who came after you and brought you to the Lord tell us a little bit about from from the other side of the world in a whole other continent upstate New York tell us what happened to you.

At the age of 12 we had some people that came to a local church rented a community hall that were evangelists from I don't even know where but we went mom my sisters went and got saved and gave our lives to Jesus and started that journey. Wow so we're gonna have to figure out how you two got together and we're gonna have to figure out what in the world were you doing at the highest level with the newsboys right the great Christian group and then things didn't go so well as it this you went off script but God was doing something all along how do you even set this up where do we even start. Yeah you know what I'm a big believer and people doing the best in life you know we want to exceed and I I think success is an incredible blessing in life but what sort of pressure does success or your career or living the lifestyle of the dream or the ministry whatever what sort of pressure does that put on your marriage your character your sexuality your children your family we all want success but what sort of pressure and I think I got a fast track of education at the heights of success when I experienced the wake-up call and the reality of the pressures of living that life. So John James that's his voice from Australia his wife Tanya we're gonna talk about how you guys met here in a second but you were at the highest level of Christian entertainment you're packing out stadiums huge places thousands of people clamoring to buy your merch to buy your CDs and we didn't say cassettes you know you're a little farther along than that you know but I know what those are believe it or not our listeners may not I'm Stu this is Truth Talk from a coffee shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina he's in town to speak to our men's group and these guys are gonna hang around the Truth Network and we're gonna figure out how to tell more people their story so what happened how do you go from being at the height of that like you're like a musical Billy Graham to suddenly losing everything. Yeah you know what Stu I never woke up when they at the heights of success and think right what's on the agenda this week I know I'm gonna destroy my marriage my family my career my life it never happened like that I look back on the little compromises I made along the way that I didn't think they would matter and I begin to cut anchors from my life anchors that we all have to keep us grounded and at the time when I cut these anchors away I didn't think it would matter oh but did I pay a price. So the anchors you cut now let's enter Tanya we want to hear your perspective how you met this this crazy Aussie musician gifted vocalist artist and all that now tell us a little bit about your story and how how God intersected your life with him. So I went through I was married before him and went through an abusive marriage for 22 years that I vowed after I left that marriage that I would never get married again was completely traumatized emotionally physically mentally spiritually and I was living in New York at the time and I packed my car about 10 years ago and drove to Florida didn't know one person just knew I had to get the furthest place away from New York which resembled pain and trauma for me and I was going to become a nun that is an honest gosh true story and I because I thought I'm never gonna married again and I just want to serve Jesus and they're like you can't wear makeup longer that's not gonna work out for me so well so I started a construction company in Florida on the east coast of Florida and went on to be very successful and I met John during that season of my life where I was still in the process of healing my life no plans of getting married again but God had another plan got another plan and what was going on with you during that time because you had had you know you had been through a lot of this that you described earlier yeah I was living in Texas at the time at a wonderful church and God was continuing to do the healing and the journey in my life I met Tanya through social media through music and she was living in Florida and I actually said to Tanya and we started talking on the phone but we'd never met and I said well Tanya listen I would love to catch up I'm actually in Florida next weekend speaking at a local church and Florida is a big place mate and she said well where's the church it was four miles from where she lived no way and and so she came to church we connected we went to lunch after church but then I went back to Texas and she was continuing with a successful construction company but we stayed connected and we dated long year long distance for a year and then we got married yeah so you you know given what you had gone through a really tough marriage abusive marriage that God delivered you from in that whole thing now you're coming to a guy with all this you know stuff going on probably a bit overwhelming how did that bring y'all together what did God do there it was very overwhelming but I remember a month after we met he was speaking at a recovery clinic about five hours from my house and he said hey I speak for the whole weekend why don't you come and do worship I preach we do a Saturday night service I'm there every six seven weeks at the time and I'm like okay I'll take time out of my weekend and we'll go and minister and it was the first time we ministered together God showed up and I felt you know that nudge from God like this isn't just a coincidental encounter that God had another plan and he made that evident when we ministered together that his hand was on our lives what a work of the Lord John James and that's his wife Tanya they're sharing with me we're in a coffee shop you've spoken in prisons you've spoken in huge auditoriums you've been on national TV radio everything it's interesting you're touching a whole lot of people you were doing that before as a Christian musician with the newsboys but some things happened what do you say about that like how do you share your testimony when you go into a prison when you speak now in a coffee shop what would you tell our listeners you talked about the anchor points go give them more some detail what happened what God did and how he brought you through that and restored you in his grace yeah the the anchor points I cut from my life was the importance of my daily devotion and intimacy with God the importance of guarding and protecting my marriage my family the importance of staying connected to the body of Christ the local church and when it all fell apart I guess the message we bring to folks today because we're in such a culture today with hopelessness people are just and being mental emotional just hopelessness and let folks know listen there is an incredible God who sees you who knows you but letting folks know he's not only God of the mountaintop but he's God of the valley the God of the storm of the shipwreck of the mess in our lives he's a God who pursues the wounded and the brokenhearted he's a God who takes great pleasure in taking the mess of our lives the ashes the chaos and bringing a testimony of redemption and healing out of it man and I want to listen to know what's so great about our journey now is always not because of who John James is or was or Tanya but it's this incredible God who is relentless who loves to show himself great through the ashes and the brokenness of people turning us into testimonies mate wow and Tanya what would you add to that and please tell our listeners what happened in the prison last week when you shared that same message oh it was incredible time in the prisons we've never been before it was a maximum security we're completely scared out of our minds if it wasn't for this lady this dear woman of God that was fearless and been going there for years when we walked in that prison it was about 120 guys in the chapel and I had the honor and I say that and I mean that the honor and privilege of leading them into the presence of the Lord with worship and these guys these you know broken you know left for dead on the side of the road and forgotten guys were entering into worship like we've never seen most churches and they were singing and their singing was drowning me out I couldn't even hear myself and it's it was so wonderful to see people that were bound and in prison some for 40 years one man was there for 40 years worshipping like they were the most free people I've ever met in my life it was absolutely a life-changing experience for us in our ministry John James how could people on the inside locked up bound in chains behind bars be more free because of Jesus than people on the outside walking around free is that a powerful statement you just said Stu to think and that's what we experienced man it was humbling that there were guys in there that have experienced the the redemptive power of Christ that are freer than a lot of people walking around and sitting in churches today their passion and love for the Lord was humbling mate seeing on the altar call these big burly guys standing there just weeping and repenting yes it was a man we were moved and humbled and we like we were privileged to be in that prison because God showed up mate we want to have you show up more to be on our shows we want to maybe pray about creating a little podcast broadcast for you guys because people need to hear this message what God's done in your life and there's a whole lot more to it best way folks can learn more about John and Tanya Tanya Tanya James how can they find you website LinkedIn whatever well we're actually not on social media at all we just started not too long ago a website and it's what is it it's I reach USA I like that yeah the letter I R E A C H USA I reach USA.com okay learn more about them them check out their videos reach out to us if you like truthnetwork.com download this podcast and share this with all your friends and let them know that there's hope because God if you're listening right now he's pursuing you are you responding and people are praying for you I know people prayed for you people who paid who prayed for you who pray for you as we get out of here I had an auntie that was relentless that refused to give up and was praying for me my grandmother was a praying woman yes she was amazing and Luke 13 tells us that Jesus Christ prays for us to that he intercedes for us prayed for Peter he prayed for us in John Luke 13 John 17 bless you guys thanks for being on can't wait to get to know you more and hear what God's going to continue to do through your ministry.