An Unlikely Friendship: Francis Chan & Andy Byrd

i'm saying it's kind of crazy like like this yeah ordained you know because i'm on a conversation with the video team yesterday and you know your family comes in and kind of interrupts you know the noise you know the girls walking in and i'm like hey sorry you know andy bird's family is spending the night tonight and their faces are just like you know like i thought they i'm like it's not a big deal it's just andy you know and then they start asking questions like hey how long's he in town i'm i'm like i don't really want you guys coming to hang out with us you know but they said no we were just talking about i wonder if there's any way we could get andy bird to have a conversation with you about unity but then they just dropped it because like he's traveling through the us right now they won't be able to get a hold of him and then he walks into your house he's so wild i just feel like there's so many things that we look at as spontaneous like well that was weird that was weird yeah um that obviously we're ordained by god i feel like that's the way our whole relationship was i feel like that's the way it's i don't know even way back because you know my background because why wham in different places you know what you've been involved with they've asked me to speak for years yeah and i was just like no no no no because honestly i i was just told a bunch of i don't want to use too strong of words but um just negative things about why women totally their theology they don't care about this or that and so i've always kind of just kept them at arm's distance and then um and i came from very conservative super conservative like you know tongues of the devil that type of you know which i moved away from but still there was just this garden and the only reason i came to kona that time was because our tech team was going to do something and they're like why don't you come you know they want you to speak anyways and i'm like all right more to hang out with our tech teams then when i got there it was just one of the very very few times i felt like i heard the voice of god yeah you know in that ohana court wow where i mean it was weird it was really weird for me um because i literally felt like i heard god say this is your family yeah these are your children yeah yeah protect your children and oh my god are you really saying this i mean because i'm i'm speaking every week or a few times in different places every week and i don't hear stuff like that and to sit down during the worship and and getting to the point where i'm going god i always say you know if you want to talk to me like i see in scripture i'm here i'm here and i'm telling god during worship like i've got my eyes closed and everyone's saying i'm like god i am so sorry but i'm just wondering if that's really your voice because i asked for it and now do you give it i don't want to doubt either i don't want to doubt but i i'm raised to be very discerning and even skeptical like i don't want to be swept away by anything i love the word of god and so when i'm like god is that really your voice are you telling me these are your children like this is your family and protect them protect and then as i'm praying that um brian brandt yeah a guy sitting next to me that i i don't know from adam he he starts whispering in my ear you know which i thought was rude you know like worship like when you see someone like this and yeah i'm not used to you know what you charismatics do but i was just like man you usually just give a guy his space and he starts talking to me and he goes francis these are your children come on they have your dna and i mean i just lost them like what in the world like it's the it's the words and so for me that was just like my first exposure to you and the ministry and then the lord took it from there but totally totally i mean your background's different so i don't know yeah what your thoughts were you know even inviting me to wyoming or whatever else yeah yeah no such i i love that moment i love reliving that and uh crazy to think what god has done since then who would have thought my background you know coming even into that that explains a little bit of the way that i would have viewed that or you know even our relationship was my dad comes from strong strong baptist roots in north carolina the south like a shelby first baptist for you know grandparents taught the same sunday school class for 50 years yes they had they had plaques they had a plaque on a tree outside the church that said you know helen and george byrd preached uh taught the same sunday school class for 50 years oh my god just faithful baptist roots yeah and then my mom's side all comes from like southern california revival stream so my mom sang in katherine coleman's choir and my grandma did as well and um and my great-grandma would have been a faithful believer in my family as far back as i know were faithful bible-believing believers but were came in contact with amy simple mcpherson my great-grandma did and began to believe in the empowerment of the spirit began to believe that the stories of scripture were meant to be lived out today miracles hearing the voice of god um the type of intimacy that's talked about in the scriptures with jesus so that set my that whole side of the family on a whole another trajectory to believe that god still speaks god still moves in power so my mom and dad meet southern baptist and you know charismatic kind of renewal and um you know believing in the power of the holy spirit and can't imagine life without it and so my dad's come that direction by the time they meet but that's my my background my history and so coming into wyoming then wyoming was a very uh interdenominational movement with people from all sorts of streams and backgrounds so for me in that moment i i still remember uh the zoom call or maybe even been skype because maybe zoom hadn't blown up yet and we were talking to your tech team about coming to kona and you happened to walk into the background and john john who had set up the call yeah um he uh he's like francis francis say hi and i was like no way there's francis chan you know he's kind of having that kind of a moment and uh and and john said on the call francis we would allow for you to come out too you know if it's possible and i gave you the dates and you were like yeah i'll think about it and so we were we got off the call we're like no way do you think francis chan would actually come to kona because you know we've been so impacted by um your message your books and then like we were just so inspired and encouraged as a as young leaders looking out at any leader who was willing to step away from a mega church willing to step away from kind of the the comfort or of success in the ministry world kind of like you know written popular books like kind of had it all and yet the same guy who's like you know giving everything away and moving his family into a tiny house and giving all of his finances away we would just hear these stories and we were so moved by your example in your life so i never thought you know you never imagined your heroes will become your friends so so on that we got off that call we were high-fiving he might come he might go no i'm serious we were just so pumped because you know we didn't have any um i guess from my background and from the way that i was raised um we're just willing to we were just we're so willing to work with anyone that will work with us you know there's very few because we're so interdenominational and even some of the reputation of why women maybe that may have come across as having uh not as strong of an emphasis on theology part of that is actually just a desire for diversity in the body of christ right so i didn't have any of those preconceived like well francis comes from this camp i'm not sure it worked we were just like this guy radically loves jesus and what if we could actually what if he would come so when anyway long story short when you came and walked into the ohana court we're probably we're all like tr of course wanting to just like you know worship and we're so pumped but we still can't believe francis chad came to a white way and we're just blown away so um then we hit it off and i'll never forget this moment and then i'll you know you keep going from here but at the end of that that couple days we had together we really connected at a friendship level and it was just such sincere authentic friendship and then um we had time with lauren and dar yeah and you said after that you i don't know if i've ever seen anyone in their 80s that have had this measure of impact and are still living the same as when they were in their 20s yeah they're still bowing their head and going how do we make this multi-million dollar decision let's ask god like they're still willing to just pack everything up and go anywhere in the world they're still believing in young people they're still like tender like still can weep in the presence of god and so you go i i'm gonna i'm going to get my wife yeah yeah i was like she has to meet god yeah because i'm like this is what i want to be yes when we're in our 80s we make the 80s so you know and i had to in that moment i'm like this guy's busy like i know i'm already like i kind of catch the wind of your itinerary you know i itinerate uh life and and and uh i'm like you probably already have you're booked for like a year out you know and you're like i you're not paying for my way back i'm going to get lisa and all i'm asking for is time with lauren and darlene so we so you did you went home and i'm like i'm still like shocked i'm like i can't believe we're building friendship with francis and lisa chen and i'm also like they're they're a million times more amazing than people even think they are like the books are amazing the reputation is amazing the youtube videos are all amazing but the authenticity the sincerity the humility i'm like why is this leader asking me questions why is this like such humiliating you had such humility this was the thing is like i didn't know the scope of why wham i didn't realize i mean literally millions you know it's not just some word to exaggerate like literal millions have been trained up over the years and not just you know hey let's sit in the classroom and you know dissect a verse it's like it's being sent out and experiencing and discipleship and i'm like what there's that many bases right now there's that like and lauren's been doing how many years now right how many years 60 60 years just celebrated 60 years 60 years he has been in he started that ministry 60 years ago and is walking faithfully and now he's what 85 85. and so i just and it was the life it was the warmth it was the uh i mean honestly dar blew me away even more yes crazy so wild i was like honey i i want to be them you know yeah like i i want to have that type of faith and still be going at it and if we're still alive yeah you know i highly doubt i'm gonna make a deity but um you know i don't know it was just like how do i miss out on these things yeah right yeah relationships because you're kind of told totally keep your distance from them they might be off on this or the answer this but i remember when i was a pastor in simi valley uh and it was conservative church you know because we started it and so i spoke against all the gifts and yeah um but there there were these ywam people that came wow lake view terrace okay there was always a different crew and and the leader this guy i think it was conrad or something like that he uh you know they came and they loved the teaching of the word and so i always just thought okay this is a one-off weird why wham group that likes the word we'll let them in just don't no tongues in here okay but other than that you guys can come no i i always loved them because they always had an energy and everything else i was thinking okay so there was a connection even though i wasn't uh a fan and uh but that was a time in my life when i was against billy graham i was against i mean it's just what we were taught yeah and um but after meeting you guys and you know i remember being at that breakfast at your house with some of your guys yes just laughing and oh man i love these guys they're so fun and then you know then we went uh diving to see the manta ray at night and yeah it's like oh you know it was just it was just great hang time and and then uh i went to another level and went to bali together and met with all the missionaries out there and and my wife and i were both just like you know if something happened to us like these are the types of people we want our kids raised by wow like the faith and i don't know so i mean it's been it's been rich and then so rich yeah and then the burma trip of course was just outrageous incredible ongoing burma ministry so i don't know i mean for me like i i love i love that your family had to spend the night last night yeah yeah and love that the kids are up till 3 a.m it's like every 15 minutes i'm waking up and they're you know so loud i'm halfway annoyed that i'm being woken up but not halfway i'd say 20 and 80 percent just i love hearing that laughter out there yeah that our kids are mixing it up come on you've got six i've got seven yeah so i won yeah well i'm not done but only four of my oh yeah well we may not be either fine you know and it's like we're still opening to adopting or even having more i mean it's it's crazy but uh but the fact that you guys so it's one great they all get along but i love the fact that they know oh yeah you guys are on how long have you been gone on this trip eight weeks in a van driving through the us just sharing the gospel wherever yeah and for them to know oh there's another family yeah that they'll just pick up and go wherever yes and just just to have in their head look see how they have fun together they love each other see how when we get in the presence of god it means something it's not yeah you know it's like i love our families being exposed i love the relationship that holly has with lisa yeah because i mean i'm just so grateful that holly is in lisa's life yeah yeah unusual you know it's so mutual it's effortless it's it's just yeah this is what our life's about um i want my kids around other kids like that other couples like that yeah and uh i don't know just future wise yes everything goes through my mind yeah you know it's so weird like we woke up and we're both like yeah both had our time with the lord this morning and it seemed like we had such similar thoughts yeah yeah like because you were like man i would just keep driving and keep driving through the u.s for another eight weeks and i'm like if you did i think i would pack up my van and we would join you and just i mean let's just go do whatever and you know but you know you've got responsibilities i only have a couple right now so you know but figuring it out and then i was like no he needs to go back to wyoming and you know like but then all sorts of crazy thoughts go through my mind come on uh you know it's like oh maybe we're supposed to do something that place in fremont i was telling you you now start on another base there and have a base in in in asia and have the base in kona and maybe yes you know like like thinking about the future too with why wham i was like god it's it's been such an awesome thing but is it a a time of shifting now yeah yeah because who knows what's gonna happen with covet or the next pandemic and everything is about resilience right now yeah how do you do something that can't just fall apart right because oh the building burned down okay our church is over you know like like is it a move i mean there's things that go through my mind god is there something that you and i are supposed to do together yeah um yes me too you know i have all these same thoughts i mean and they're excited to pull myself back sometimes i can bring it in because i have the same thoughts yeah and i said okay i mean the thing i really appreciate you is about you is as your love for theology your love for the word um i mean you're studied and i'm not saying this like a false humility but you're able to absorb truths and remember truth and just stuff in general that's not my gift i don't i'm not a good reader i'm not a good i i don't absorb things as well and so when i when i heard you talking about different things or things i was studying and i'm like hey have you thought of this and you're like oh yeah i read eight books on it okay that's exaggeration but but i was like gosh i'm just learning this stuff you know about ancient church orthodoxy you know you know the eucharist and and it's stuff you've thought through and gone through i'm like man i just i love that you've really taken the time to study and that you love it and you enjoy it and yes because i do come from a background that says anyone in that stream they just rely on visions and dreams and right you know it's a laziness and yeah and so really uh love your diligence and studying the word and um yeah so that's where i feel like people don't know that right at least in the streams i came from we really believed that you didn't have i'd say you as in you and the whole charismatic yeah yeah didn't really search the scripture as well and that's why you ended up to in a different interpretation right than we did right you just didn't put the time into it yeah or you're not as intelligent as we are right or right you know it's wild gosh why why did i just believe that right without really talking totally deeply with people yeah it doesn't mean we don't have disagreements right but i know for me personally when i saw the way you lived your life the sacrifices you made going to your house and seeing you know a slew of people living in there i'm like dang you know like lisa's gonna love these guys you know you just you just feel like okay we're not crazy or at least you know yeah there's another family there's another person yeah exactly and because it's to me it's just like well this is the way you would live if you read the scriptures and really took them literally and even to a greater extreme you know yeah because people would see me as an extremist i'm like when you read this book and you consider me an extremist because i'm like trying to get there yeah exactly and i saw you guys the same way i don't know it's just been fun yeah it's been super fun i i think about like we we had that uh time in burma and it was the passage the key passage that kept coming out was psalm 133 yeah behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity yeah it is like the precious oil on the head running down on the beard on the beard of aaron running down on the collar of his robes is like the dew of hermann which falls on the mountains of zion for there the lord has commanded the blessing life forevermore wow come on there's something about the unity you know when we dwell together and you it's just good yeah it's just good you know like all night hearing your kids laugh and my kids laugh and they're you know it's just you just smile you know it's just like ah it's so cool and uh you know just like when we were ministering together and it's like different streams coming together and saying no because i see the character of christ in your life i see the power of the spirit in your life i see that you you depend on the blood of christ for your salvation you know you've trusted him as your lord okay we'll unify we'll figure the other stuff out but we need to be together because we're part of one sacred body and god says there the lord has commanded the blessing life forevermore it's like when there's that unifying i believe there's a blessing and that's what i felt like literally every time we've gotten together right you know the thing in orlando you know what that you know we were talking about yesterday where i'm just like laughing like so what happened to me there you know i'm like i never preach like that i never it just you know and and even this incredible trip you know just here we are a few hours and it's like like god just it's like he commands yeah the blessing yes of life a hundred percent yes so it's it's it's like i feel like this is what people miss out on when we're in our circles and we don't even care to go and love and hear out yeah and realize i mean you see it in the book of acts right it's like whoa what were you doing with those people and he's like look i was talking to them and the spirit fell upon them and god gave me this vision so so i guess i see some of that right in the book of acts some of this you know people are going hey why are you with those guys i'm like look i started hanging out with andy i didn't even want to i just went there because you know whatever and i'm telling you he knows the word of god he knows jesus and loves jesus deeply he is raising his kids in a way that hey god is everything and we drop everything to go wherever he calls us to go and i see the the seriousness about sin decision is about truth yes and and that's why i report back i go look you know and with other people that you've introduced me to okay guys you know stretch for me too but you know and i'm trying to because i just i just think about god in heaven like he says in ephesians like christ died to make us one yeah it's a huge deal the honor of ephesians 5 when he says that we are members of his body yeah like me i'm a member of your body christ are you kidding me you you're going to nourish me and cherish me like i'm a member of your body like holy holy holy god is saying i'm a member of this and you are too yeah wow and come on and we're like somehow connected to christ as the head like this is outrageous what has been done by the blood of christ and so there ought to be this oneness between us yes rather than us with our little tiny brains yours might be a you know tad bit above my whatever right and go well i interpret this well then forget it you know you go your way i'll go mine it's like no if there's that bond of us being a part of the sacred body of christ father son holy spirit dwelling with us right now yeah like we should just be beside ourselves and staring each other like yeah dude can you believe what you're a part of yes come on before the foundation of the world that we were chosen to be holy and blameless like what's there to fight about right now right right right it's just both of us just going god this is ridiculous yeah this is ridiculous what we get to be a part of and just to praise him and worship him together and to break bread together and go we're a part of this body now the family do that you know yeah yes i love that when you were talking about psalm 133 i i've often thought about how interesting this three psalm sequence is psalm 131 132 133 and 133 is kind of the most well-known it's the one that we might pray or quote the most and it's so powerful this precious oil um the the the anointing of unity the blessing that comes but psalm 131 to me was has always been so key to that unity where david says my heart is not proud lord my eyes are not haughty i do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me and i have calmed and quieted myself i'm like a wean child with its mother like a wean child i'm content israel put your hope in the lord both now and forevermore and i think of that phrase my heart is not haughty my eyes are not lofty and i think that so often division is a result of pride it's a result of thinking too much of ourselves and then thinking that we concern ourselves with matters that in some ways our little minds are never going to comprehend right but when we're in pride we we kind of move into that place where we think we've got it all figured out and i know this is this is not real this is made up of course but when we see the lord face to face of course it's going to be a gambit of emotions but i wonder if one of them is going to be embarrassment over all the things that we held so strongly to thinking we had it all figured out realizing we barely understood the tip of the iceberg and a little bit of embarrassment like oh my gosh i thought i was so theologically correct and now i'm standing in the presence of theology himself and i am so sorry god that i made it about things that and i thought i knew it i thought i i thought my little brain had figured it out so david goes my my heart is not proud my eyes are not haughty i do not concern myself with matters too great then he goes to psalm 132 and he says i swore an oath to the lord i made a vow to the mighty one of jacob jacob i will not enter my house or go to my bed i will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids till i find a place for the lord a dwelling for the mighty one of jacob and so you go from david's humility and his his i don't concern myself with matters too great for me but then he says but this thing i make of primary concern is there a place that the lord can dwell is there a place he can rest on the earth and then it goes right to psalm 133 which is the blessing of unity and i just think all three of these truths are so connected it's what you're saying is that when we're a people of humility and we don't put our brains to think that we've got it all figured out but then we do make it about what's most important is where can he come in his glory where can he rest where can god be uninhibited among us where can the head dwell among the body right he says this thing i won't even give myself sleep till i find it right so he makes it about this primary thing and then it goes right to the next thing how good and pleasant it is when god's people live together in unity and i think unity is directly connected to the humility we've experienced right just the joy of friendship that neither one of us are holding our histories or our pasts or our theological bents above relationship and a primary concern that god would have glory on the earth that he could rest among his people that he would have a body that actually dwells together in unity and pleasant unity so i just get so stirred with hope when i think about this unity message even in what we've experienced together i've never seen what our families have experienced together so i i just think that's that's what the church as and what i think god's leading us to a humility eyes are not haughty minds are not lofty but we primarily concern ourselves with is there a place the lord can rest on the earth can he come in his glory is there a body that he can be ahead to and 133 the pleasantness of dwelling together in unity and the anointing that flows and i think we've experienced that we've experienced that in our families we've experienced that in the nations together we've experienced it in meetings and in times where we've gathered in worship and god just comes yeah i mean think of some of the meetings we've been in i know and they've been some of my favorite i've ever been in where god just moved because of a measure of unity and humility yeah amidst theological differences totally right totally yeah because i remember when we had that talk about like hey i don't agree with this and i don't know what to do because i'm pretty strong on this slide and you're like well like we kind of wrote the book on this side like oh no you know and it was just like okay well okay well let's call it quits it was fun it's like okay we went to summer camp together i'll never see you again right i'm like that's not right because i had to wrestle with why do i why am i so sure i'm right yeah and why wham is off right and or you're off or whatever and i go okay is it am i sure that i'm more intelligent than you are right is that how we figure out truth or am i sure that i'm more spirit-filled than you are right and i hear from the spirit because anyone who studied the scriptures goes well you don't just attain truth by yourself and your own intellect yeah it's a spirit that is so he maybe i'm closer to him than you are right or maybe i'm just more humble than you are because and he opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble and so he's graced me with an understanding of this passage but i go no he's a spirit-filled man who has studied the word of god and i've seen the character in his life um gosh i don't know he may be right i might be wrong on this one like right and it's not something i see in scripture that we must divide on this and it's like and then it's not even i don't have the right to say i'm going to keep you at at arm's length because i'm supposed to love you like christ loved the church yes and and so even looking at this and then you know that whole idea of i never saw that the place for the lord a dwelling place and no old testament it's the temple a physical um but i think it it's like a picture of the new testament which we are the temple now right think about your message on that yeah yeah like we are a part and if we're these pieces of the temple these blocks like he says building this spiritual house a dwelling place for the spirit it's like wow i think there is something that's why when people that have these differences fight to unite because they understand there's something far bigger yes that we agree upon that god commands his blessing and he dwells there amidst us yes and that's where i've seen when we're together there was just something special rather than i'm just with the people that have the exact same theology as me it's always good it's always good when brothers dwell together but i think there's something that god has honored in this fighting and for unity which doesn't mean we're doing it at the expense of truth no we're seeking truth together no no no no you know posture of humility right exactly and i believe god's going to reveal things to us and he already has shown me so much that's cool yeah yeah father i just want to thank you for this time that we've had just talking about what you've done in our relationship through the years and the way thank you for andy and his example and how it's brought me closer to you god there's just something something you've ordained in this relationship father and i just thank you for that i thank you that you have saved him i thank you that you've put your spirit in him god i thank you that you love him as your son god that you've cleansed him from all the sin in his life everything he's done in his past because of what christ did on the cross lord thank you for your great mercy upon his life that you've showered him with grace and his family thank you for holly god i thank you for just the strong woman that she is and yet gentle and loving and just god the support i thank you for that picture of andy and holly for my kids to see a couple that just want to spend their days on earth glorifying you thank you for the laughter and the goofiness last night with all the kids just piled together and god i just thank you lord thank you for your church body yeah thank you that we can serve together yes lord god i we will stand alone anywhere for you god like if i'm left by myself on some island with everyone who hates you so be it lord but god it is so good it is so good to be with others other parts of your body yeah that just proclaim your name god i just feel so much more courage when i'm around their family confidence and just peace i thank you lord yeah thank you jesus lord i just want to thank you for the the chan family and what an incredible friendship this has already been and lord i just thank you that not even seeing our friendship this first peter chapter three the celebration of your great mercy into a new birth into a living hope and lord we just celebrate your great mercy to our families your great mercy to our lives we celebrate that we live in a new birth and that that new birth has brought us into a living hope and that that living hope causes us to look to the future with great anticipation for what you're going to do god it causes us to look to america and the nations and the church uh to the lost with with great hope lord because there's a living hope inside of us and we just celebrate that that life that's in us that hope that's in us today and we'll look to the future with great hope and we just asked god that you would continue to even show us as families how we're meant to walk together what it looks like to to walk this life of wholehearted sold out obedience god we have one life to live and we want to live every ounce of it to your glory every ounce of it unto your purposes every ounce of it unto your kingdom lord so we do we just look with great expectation great hope that you would speak to us that you would show us the way that whether we turn to the left or the right we would hear a voice behind us saying this is the way walk in it so would you just reveal your will to us lord we just recognize we live in an urgent hour in america right now and an urgent hour in the nations we declare and we know you are coming again and there is an urgency lord that the church would rise beautiful and glorious or there's an urgency that the the billions on the earth that have never heard your name would hear your name lord and we respond to with both hope and urgency today the hope of what you're doing on the earth the hope of the life inside of us today but god the urgency of the hour that we're living in and we just long to be holy and fully surrendered to you lord we we love what you have done and we've been able to be a part of but god we want to do more for you in obedience we want to do more for your kingdom we want to do more for your glory lord we love obeying you we love seeing our children obey you we love seeing them step out into the kingdom so holy spirit we just say with all of our hearts total authenticity and sincerity today our futures are yours our lives are yours there's nowhere we wouldn't go and there's nothing we wouldn't do in obedience to you jesus you

Channel: Crazy Love

Views: 29,021

Rating: 4.9266057 out of 5

Keywords: Crazy Love Ministries, Francis Chan, Until Unity Book, Until Unity, Andy Byrd

Id: n3it3f1NMUs

Length: 40min 53sec (2453 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 09 2021