From Gangs and Addiction to a Life of Uncommon Freedom with Will Gutierrez

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hey friends, welcome to the Uncommon Freedom Show. I'm Kevin.

Speaker 2: 0:08

And I'm Becca, and we're your hosts, here to help you reach your potential and maximize your impact in every area that matters. Let's get started.

Speaker 1: 0:19

Well, hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Uncommon Freedom Show. Today I am joined by an amazing man, great friend of mine, and well, we'll get into this probably during the course of the show, but someone who's just an amazing mentor to my kids, will Gutierrez, will welcome bro.

Speaker 3: 0:39

Yeah, I'm glad to be here and I'm excited just to chat about Uncommon Freedom in so many areas of our lives, and I believe we're even going to take a whole nether avenue on not only the faith but just what God has done and who he is and how he directs our lives. So this is exciting.

Speaker 1: 0:58

Yeah, no, I'm thrilled to have you. You're visiting from Bakersfield, California. Tell us a little bit about your family and what you do there.

Speaker 3: 1:05

Yeah, so I'm married to my wife, amanda, been married over 12 years. We have four boys 10, 8, 7, and 1. So that's an amazing life. We pastor a church called the Garden and we're just people that want to make an impact, want to make a difference, and we just love people to life and we love Jesus extremely. So, yeah, that's who we are, that's what we do, and there's more to it. But yeah, that's a little piece.

Speaker 1: 1:37

So I mean, your life is an absolute testimony of transformation. Take us back, because you shared your testimony with me a couple times. I remember the first time I heard it, my boys, you and your family were at the house, we were having dinner outside in the patio and you were sharing it and it's pretty radical. It's the kind of life that you could turn into a Hollywood movie and it would be an orated R movie with tons of violence and adventure and pretty awesome. So take us back to the beginning.

Speaker 3: 2:07

Yeah. So unfortunately, my parents were addicts and the decision to even keep me and have me was not in the books. My mom had already had an abortion a few months before she found out she was pregnant with me. And when she had found out she was pregnant with me, she was quite far along and my grandmother actually prayed a prayer over her and said you need to keep this child. This child is a difference maker and a preacher. She called me in the womb Come on now. Yeah, god is good. And my mom, you know, I believe, took heed to that.

Speaker 3: 2:51

Obviously I'm here, but I was born with a lot of, I would say, issues and complications. I was born with a disease. Doctors said that I would never speak. I'll die at a young age from suffocation. I had like a disease of polyps and papilloma that would grow in my esophagus and my airways. I've had over 70 surgeries on my throat and it wasn't until I was about five years old that change began to happen and it would be.

Speaker 3: 3:19

One night. My mom was actually high on drugs and she said a prayer. She said God, if I could just hear my son's voice, I'll go to church, and that was the outcry, and literally less than 48 hours later, I would walk into her room and I would whisper mom for the first time and she freaked out. She took me to my dad and she's like he, just he, just he just spoke. You know, I had no voice and I said dad to my father and that was it.

Speaker 3: 3:53

About 24 hours, less than 24 hours after that, their drug connection comes to the door with tears rolling down his eyes and says I'm sorry for all the years that I've sold you drugs. I've spent my life to Jesus and I want to invite you to church. And my mom was like whoa, this is it, this is the invitation. And their lives were forever transformed. I wish that was the case for me. I would go on in my teenage years, unfortunately involved in gangs, drugs. I got involved in a lot of craziness, but you know what, by the grace of God, I'm here today and there's so much more to the story that I don't even think this podcast would be able to contain. Yeah, but there's books out there. There's everything that I've written. You could get those other places, but yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:44

Talk about the significance of like generational sin and breaking those curses. Like what does it take? Because you know it's. You're sharing some incredible stories and yet you kind of followed along the path that your parents set for you and obviously you're breaking that chain with your kids. But what advice do you have for people? How do they break that generational sin and just those tendencies that are almost like sewn into our DNA?

Speaker 3: 5:21

Right. First, I would say by your own strength. I don't think you could break anything. Trying to do it on your own, trying to figure it out, trying to accomplish something with your own knowledge, your own gain, your own strength, your own wisdom it really those things help, they assist the process, but it has to be full reliance on Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 3: 5:46

And truly, I think it wasn't until myself that I had my own personal encounter with Christ, that my life was transformed. And Jesus breaks the curse right, jesus breaks the bondage, jesus breaks the shame, jesus breaks the concerns, the doubts and the issues that come tied to your life. And I realize that in my personal life it's exactly that it wasn't until I fully was surrendered to his will, to his purpose, that I actually can step into the freedom that I was designed and designated to be in. So for anyone out there who might be struggling with life, with your marriage, with your children, with things in your life where you feel like man, this is the way it was for my parents. I guess this is the way it's going to be for me, or this is the way it was for my grandparents. This is the way it's going to be for me. Hey, their relationships were like that. That's how I am. Hey, they doubt with this sin. I deal with it.

Speaker 3: 6:49

Now I would say you know what? Give it all to Jesus, Let his word and his truth truly just transform your life. Get in your word, get into some worship, surround yourself with people who are going to pull you up and not bury you and put you down, and build a strong faith community, but also a strong foundation in your personal relationship with the Lord, and see those things break off of your life. And then obviously there's, I would say, literal opportunities counseling, marriage, therapy, parenting, whatever it may be that you need to lock yourself into. What are those programs where you're like 12 step programs? There's so many freedom programs out there if you're dealing with any type of addiction, but those chains only have so much power on you if you allow them to stay there and you don't acknowledge you need to break free from them and then understanding that you can't do it on your own power and your own strength. You have to truly rely on the Lord.

Speaker 1: 7:54

That's good. Let's go back to the miracle that your mom experienced. She prayed for you to speak, you spoke and then, coincidentally, you know, the drug dealer shows up says I found Jesus.

Speaker 1: 8:06

I think a lot of us. Either we don't recognize miracles when they happen or we think that the miracle is the solution and cure in and of itself. So the miracle happens and I no longer have to work. So the analogy that I use or that comes to my mind is the Israelites leaving Egypt to get to the Red Sea. God does this incredible miracle. He's parts of Red Sea. They cross, the Egyptians come in, the enemy comes in after them, the Red Sea swallows them up and now they're on the other side, but they weren't in the promised land and the job wasn't done yet. And so, talk about it. Your mom experienced this miracle, but does that mean life was all rosy, sunshine and rainbows and unicorns after that, or was there contending that had to happen?

Speaker 3: 8:59

Yeah, continuously. You know I think there were there would then them surrendering their lives to Jesus. There would then begin to be a prayer life that was developed, a life of consistency, being involved in a local church, finding that that community that was going to support them through some things, my dad wanting to kind of like fall back into old habits of addiction. You know he experienced being in and out of the system, jail, prison, different things like that. So he would always be running away from the church or running away from God. So then now to encounter God, it was, it was a culture shock for him, and so there was some things that he would have to learn through that process. But in their learning and in all that you, I think we have to go back to, like they say, like scientifically or whatever you learn a lot about who you are from ages zero to five, your likes, your dislikes. You know what your personality traits are. You just you pick up a lot of your DNA, your compromises, who you are mentally, emotionally, in that age range.

Speaker 3: 10:14

For me, my parents were on drugs during zero to five. Wow, my dad was in and out of the system from zero to five. I was in the backseat of a car and a car seat, as my dad's throwing up gang signs to another car next to him and bullets start flying into our car and and he's covering, you know, me and my brother's bodies in the backseat, making sure no one dies. That's the kind of life I experienced as a kid, by the way, in East Los Angeles, in the ghetto, and, and having to even change my thought process and my mind frame.

Speaker 3: 10:50

In all of that it was hard. So it was a process for my parents, but I would say it was a crazy process for me, even for my, my older brother, who had experienced that from zero to nine, you know. So, um, seeing addiction, seeing people you don't know come in and out of your house using and, and everything from meth, heroin, you know, crack, uh, and, and being in that kind of environment and then trying to go into the church world. I wanted nothing to do with the church. I wanted nothing to do with God, so I ran like I. I was a rebel for years.

Speaker 3: 11:27

And, uh, it took a long time for me to actually get into, uh, an actual place of full surrender. But my parents, they had to develop a whole new addiction in their life and that was clinging to the promises of God. I would walk by my mom's room as a teenager and I would hear her praying out loud my son is saved, he's going to be a preacher, he's going to travel the world, he's going to share the gospel. He's not a gang member, he's not an addict, he's not this, he's yours, lord. Like she was very like Pentecostal, like crazy, charismatic for Jesus, and I would be like they're like dude, this lady's crazy, that's not my mom. Like I was freaking out Like why?

Speaker 3: 12:07

is she praying for me, like that. But I'm telling you, man, those prayers, they came back and they're alive today.

Speaker 1: 12:14

Um, we'll move on to kind of this. You know how you really turned your life around, but there's a story you shared about the gun at the gas station the garbage can. Can you share that? One Cause I know my boys love that story.

Speaker 3: 12:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:27

Can you share that?

Speaker 3: 12:28

So I had a few situations, kevin and and, um, I would say, within a matter of a week, there was a lot of trauma and crazy situations that happened to me and you'll have to remind me after this. To go back to that, I think authenticity and being open and real about your life is what breeds opportunity to speak into other people's lives and help them through their messes. Um, but I was so just lost in in this gang life and just listening to what other people were telling me to do. They tell you to go rob this store. You do it, cause if you don't, then you're going to get jumped or that, or or your family is at risk. Like it was really political and weird.

Speaker 3: 13:18

Um, and I remember one day, um, you know, we're we're going to be on our way to a party and and uh, everyone's carrying a gun. You know I'm I'm 16 years old carrying a nine millimeter. You know, in in in my um, my waistband and uh, it was concealed carry, yeah, and uh, we go to this, uh gas station on our way to this party and, uh, a bunch of police cars just started pulling up and I'm inside the gas station and my other buddies inside the gas station and we're looking out and we see my friends just start getting like put over the hood and and getting handcuffed, and and I'm like, oh man, well, I'm carrying the gun, my other buddies carrying the gun, and he hands his gun to me. So now the two guns that were in the car I have.

Speaker 3: 14:13

I have them and I'm like, oh, my goodness, this is, this is ridiculous. And, um, I end up going into the restroom of the gas station. I'm just thinking what am I going to do? And I'm wearing this big old shirt in it and it, unfortunately, back then, you know, they used to have like the, the little, uh airbrush print paint that they used to put on shirts. I had the gang that I was from written on the shirt, like you know. It was just blasted there, like we were, just I don't know, we were ridiculous, it was dumb and uh, under that shirt, though, I remembered I couldn't find a wife beater, I couldn't find a slingshot, so I ended up putting on one of my uh sister's white t-shirts. She, she, had left, so it was like skin tight.

Speaker 3: 14:59

If I was wearing that I would look like a greaser, yeah, so I actually took the big shirt off and I had that white t-shirt on and I had the guns in my in in the, in the big shirt. I tied them in there and I was going to drop them in the trash can, but then the police officer knocked on the door. Hey, hey, if anyone's in there, come out, we're waiting for you outside and I'm like, oh man, what do I do? So I'm looking if there's like a vent or something, I could put them in up in the restroom. There's nothing and I'm like man. So I peek out. I waited a few minutes. I peek out and he had walked out. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to get rid of these. I see a trash can right outside the door and you know those trash cans that are like they're, they're, they're round, but they have the circle in the middle. Yep, right, and um, um around the round trash can is like they put, like the fate, like cardboard boxes sometimes are like it's, it's a square, but in there it's a circle and in the middle it's a circle. I don't know if you know how to explain this, but it's a small little entry way. I walk by that trash can, right when I walk outside and I swing the shirt and I just throw it in that hole, like I was playing cornhole, you know, and it goes in there and I just keep walking in the office as you with them, and I'm like no, and they look to my buddies and they're like is he with you? And they're like no, no, remember, I'm wearing a tight shirt now at this point. So they're like whatever.

Speaker 3: 16:25

Well, I go across the street they end up emptying that trash can out. And I'm just thinking, oh man, I just sent my buddies to prison because at that time they just released, like a new law. It was like seven years for the for the gun and a year for every bullet or whatever it was. And I'm just thinking, oh man, there's two guns in there. They're fully loaded. We're messed up.

Speaker 3: 16:45

This is over and about an hour passed by and I'm at the car wash area and I'm looking and they start on handcuffing all my buddies and they let them go. We get back and I run across street. I'm like what happened? They're like where's the guns? I was like the officer opened the trash can.

Speaker 3: 17:03

They were in there. We ended up looking and the trash bag was out. Well, in the frame of around the, the trash barrel, somehow. I believe it was an angel of the Lord when I swung that shirt in there. It went in and up and over to the side of the trash can, like into the side of the, of the round edges in the square defined physics square holes. It doesn't make sense. So by God's grace, we got out of that situation. We ended up leaving and I wish the rest of the night was good. But my buddy ended up hurting somebody with that gun that night at a party and I'm like Lord, I would have probably rather had him go to prison at that point, because but that was the kind of situations that we were kind of getting ourselves into and I think this is a really important one, because this was something that drastically changed my life. Kevin is within that same week.

Speaker 3: 17:59

I remember I knew what a relationship with the Lord looked like. Remember my parents had gotten saved Now they're radical for Jesus and I had, like this, this weird tug, this pool in my life that I wanted to do something good but I just didn't know how to. And one night I'm in a car with these same group of guys and one of the older homies in the front seat says hey, get your guys's guns. We're going to pull up on these guys and ask them where they're from and just get ready to shoot. And in my head I said I literally said, god, if you're real, get me out of the situation.

Speaker 3: 18:38

And as I'm ready to pull my body out of the window and put this gun to another man's head.

Speaker 3: 18:47

We pull up and you know where are you from.

Speaker 3: 18:50

And the guy looks right at me, looks right at my friend, and he calls us out by name, like literally knew who we were. And I look at him and the driver is like you know this guy? And like in the moment I was like yeah, he's like a cousin to me and he was like all right, leave him. He wasn't my cousin. But I didn't, like it was just. But the Lord got me out of that situation because in a deal like that you don't shoot the person or you don't do what you're told to do, you're then you're green lighted, you're ex-communicated, you ain't, you're no good. So in that age group they use a lot of the youngsters to do all the dirty work and that's usually like some. For some it's your initiation, for others, but that situation right there was like God proving himself to me and I wish in that moment I would say that's what changed my life, but still I would still go back to doing what I was doing, but God would always get me out of situations just like that. Wow.

Speaker 1: 19:55

So to this day. How do you explain that guy knowing your name?

Speaker 3: 19:59

School Okay. You know, I don't know, you know mutual friends. It's crazy, got it Like, yeah, like I don't know, it's the way God works. Yeah, very cool.

Speaker 2: 20:13

Hey friends, here's a quick reminder that if you're finding value in this show would you do us a favor and subscribe, share with someone you think would benefit and give us a five star rating. We make nothing from this show and invest a lot of time and money producing it. All we ask is that you help us out, get our message to more people.

Speaker 1: 20:28

All right, so let's talk about like what was the turning point for you to kind of get yourself on the right path?

Speaker 3: 20:35

Yeah, Uh, at almost 17 years old, the girl that I was dating, um, she unfortunately committed suicide and, um, I was at a desperate place and, uh, I remember I cried out to the Lord and I didn't know if I was praying the right prayers or doing the right things, but I was, like God, like why do I feel this, this immense pain and and this hatred towards you? Um, and I don't have all the answers and um, uh, I went to what I knew best and that was just hanging out with the wrong people doing all the wrong things. And one night I found myself in a position where, like, my hands were tied. I, just I, I said I, I give up. And uh, tonight's the night that I that, that I want to end it all, and, um, I would end up with a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a end up being in a position where I would have a gun put to my head, um, later on in the night and it's, it's, it's totally a long story, um, but I was uh like there was an opportunity for my life to be taken, and I remember talking to this person as if they were Dr Phil. I said take my life, I don't care. My, my friends have been killed. I have a disease. They're like the girl I was dating is dead, kill me, I don't care.

Speaker 3: 21:58

And um, remember, in that moment it was like I didn't know the guy, but I was sharing with him that my life didn't matter. And to him it began not to matter in that moment either. And he said if I take your life, you'll just be another tattoo on someone's arm. And he said count this, you're lucky night. And in that moment there was a green light on, on, uh, the rivalries in the neighborhoods. Okay, so usually you just don't let someone just walk like that. And um, I remember I got home and I.

Speaker 3: 22:35

I. I stuck into my bedroom, I laid in my bed and I was just thinking and I heard like someone crying in the living room, in the next room over, and I opened up my door and my dad's on the couch just weeping. I'm like, dad, what's going on? It's like 3 am, what's going on? He said I had a dream and I'm like all right. Martin Luther King like okay, you had a dream, that's good. And he said I had a dream about you, son. He said someone had a gun to your head and he's like I felt like I couldn't get there on time and I don't want to have to bury you, I don't want to have to visit you in prison. You need to surrender your life to Jesus. And I'm like man what the heck?

Speaker 3: 23:21

So I said dad, are you doing like some voodoo or something? Cause I'm gonna be honest with you, I just snuck out the house and I almost got killed. Tonight Somebody had a gun to my head and I told him the story and he's like what Son like. But I've always like I've been through a lot of situations like that being shot at, you know, being having guns on my head. It just didn't mean anything to me at that point, but it meant something to my dad and I know it meant something to God. They invited me to go to church that next night.

Speaker 3: 23:47

I ended up sitting in the back of the church. I got a gun in my backpack, I got weed in my backpack. I'm sitting in the back of the church on a Nokia cell phone playing the game snake and the preacher there's hundreds of people in the room and he in the middle of his message. He stops and he says young man in the back. And I'm not paying attention White shirt, black hat. And I'm hearing it but not processing it. So my neighbor nudges me. Boom, hey, he's talking to you and I'm like what I look up and he's like now.

Speaker 3: 24:19

He's like right in front of me, he walked down the aisle. He's like young man, god has a plan for you and he's a guest evangelist, doesn't know my family, doesn't know me. He's like God has a plan for you. Stop running. And I'm like heck, who's this guy think he is? So I get up, I run out the back doors Like I did exactly what he told me not to like stop running, I ran.

Speaker 3: 24:41

I go into the lobby. I'm mad. I'm like man, I'm leaving. My dad comes running after me. Son, what are you doing? Get back in church. I'm like, nah, who does this guy think? He is calling me out in front of everybody? If he wanna talk to me, he could talk to me in the parking lot. Like what makes him think it's okay to talk to me like that in front of the whole church? That's embarrassing. And he goes that's how important you are to God, that God would stop everything just to talk to you. And I'm like, yeah, that sounds like the churchy thing to say Like I don't care. Then I realized my backpack is under the seat in the church and I'm like somebody else, go in there and get that. So I go, dad, hey, go go get my backpack for me. And he's like no, I'm not gonna get it, you go get it. And I'm like man.

Speaker 3: 25:24

So I go back in and right when I go into the doors, he says you came back, the preacher? And I'm like what the heck? This guy is weird. So I'm like speed walking and I pick up my backpack and as I'm about to hit the back door, he says the devil tried to take your voice away. And I froze. I said what did he just say?

Speaker 3: 25:49

He says the enemy has tried to take your voice away for years. There was moments when you were silent and you couldn't even speak and you felt like you had no voice to be heard. He knew nothing about me. I was jacked up because I'm like I thought who was talking about me? How does he know this? What the heck? My mom is weeping, my dad's weeping, and I'm looking. I'm like they didn't tell him. They didn't tell him about my disease, they didn't tell him about all the surgeries that I've been through. God's speaking through this man and he's like but you have a voice for the nations, you have a voice for the world. God's gonna use your voice. You're gonna travel, you're gonna preach, you're gonna make music, you're gonna do this. He starts prophesying and speaking over my life, and that was the night that I would say my life was forever transformed.

Speaker 1: 26:51

Wow, that's awesome, that's awesome. And then I know you ended up with a like a career in Christian music. To talk about that real quick.

Speaker 3: 27:00

Oh man, okay, so it would be. That guy who was preaching in front of everybody says, hey, cause I got prayed over, I was weeping. And he says in two months I'm having this crusade in downtown Los Angeles. There's gonna be thousands of people there and I want you to come and I want you to do a song. He goes I see that you have the gift of music in you and I'm like what the heck Like, I don't know what this guy's talking about.

Speaker 3: 27:29

I'm just too busy crying and like trying to figure out what just happened to me. And he's inviting me to a crusade in two months and he would then get my dad's information and he would call my house and say are you ready? You're a month away, you're three weeks away, you're two weeks away and I didn't even know what to do. So I started listening to all my favorite rappers Tupac, 50 Cent and I started like just changing all their lyrics around and I'm like I'm going to write a rap song, I don't know what to do. And so I changed all these lyrics and just to be funny, it would be like every time you know it'd be talking about like girl or this. I would just put like Jesus there, like I didn't know what to do. So you know I make the song. He's like hey, sexy Jesus, no, no, I didn't do that, but it was just like I didn't know what to do. So I just started writing some stuff down and I ended up rapping that night. And then he comes on the stage and he's like hey, so you had no voice. And he puts the microphone on and I'm like yeah, no. And he's like and now you're rapping for Jesus and I'm like, yeah, I guess, like I didn't know what I was doing.

Speaker 3: 28:30

Well, that day there was some representatives from TBN there and N-O-T-W not of this world, and they all asked me if they could interview me, put me on their shows. They wanted to know more about my testimony. It was just the weirdest thing, and that was the launch of a music career that I had no idea. So then I had to go back and start actually writing original music, and that was when I was 17, right, 16, 17. And I would just then, man, it just opened up a whole career for me, traveled over 22 different countries doing music, sharing my story, and ended up being on tour and doing all this stuff with some big, major artists. And it was just weird, but it happened all so fast.

Speaker 1: 29:15

What was the time frame for that? You started 17,. How long did you do that?

Speaker 3: 29:18

Yeah, so I had married Amanda. It was 22, 23. We had our first son, and it was probably when he was three years old, four years old, where Amanda was like hey, listen, I can't have you be traveling around the world like what you're doing right now. We need you home, and I had to really change up my whole process there, so I was about 26.

Speaker 1: 29:44

Ok, so you did it for about nine years.

Speaker 3: 29:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:48

What was your touring name? What was your first name?

Speaker 3: 29:50

I went by Will Speaks. I also went by a name called Squeaky G for a little bit it was really weird, which I don't like to say, but you know. So, yeah, and I kept the name Will Speaks because, even with my social media handles, because it goes to my testimony, like you know, my name's Will, but doctors said I couldn't speak, and now I do speak, so Will Speaks is it fits me.

Speaker 1: 30:13

Yeah, that's awesome, how'd you and Amanda meet?

Speaker 3: 30:16

Yeah, so I was actually a youth pastor out in Tucson Arizona. I had yeah, I had gotten a job in Tucson Arizona, hired on staff, so I moved out there.

Speaker 1: 30:25

Is this? While you were doing the rapping?

Speaker 3: 30:27

I was doing music stuff and as I was doing a show, one day I did this concert. And this happened to me multiple times, also because I used to live in the UK and London also and when I would do these shows, these tours, I feel like the Lord would then stop me and say OK, there was 100 people who got saved at a concert. What are you going to do about that now? And one night I was leaving from this event and the pastor pretty much says I asked him how are you going to follow up on all those people that got saved? There was like a few hundred young people that responded Like what are you going to do? That's revival right there. And he's like we don't have a youth leader. And in my heart I was like I'm supposed to stay.

Speaker 3: 31:13

And I flew back to California and the next day I had exchanged numbers with one of the teenagers and he called me and he said hey, listen, thank you for praying for me yesterday, thank you for being there for me. No one's ever done that for me and I don't know what the next steps are for my life. And at that point I knew I was supposed to go back to Tucson. So I called the pastor up and I said, hey, can I come back? And he's like what do you mean? I said I want to be there for a few months and help you. And I ended up being there for two years. And that's how I met Amanda, my roommate. He was in the Air Force. I introduced him to a girl. They got engaged, they were getting married, invited me to be in the wedding and they invited Amanda. Her friend was Amanda. They invited her to be in the wedding and then we would walk down the aisle together. Before we would walk down the aisle together for reals.

Speaker 1: 32:03

So you were in Tucson when you met Amanda.

Speaker 3: 32:06

Yeah, she was going to school in San Diego and we just had mutual friends.

Speaker 1: 32:11

OK, what church was that in Tucson?

Speaker 3: 32:13

So I was at a church called Living.

Speaker 1: 32:14

Hope, are they still?

Speaker 3: 32:15

around. Yeah, that's a church still around. Yeah, ok.

Speaker 1: 32:18

Got it. Wow, that's crazy. I didn't realize we had that Arizona connection as well, so that's so cool. All right, so youth pastor and talk about. I mean, you mentioned what you're doing. Now Talk about that.

Speaker 3: 32:33

Yeah, so I really again I want to step into a place of true authenticity with my life, and pastoring a church is one of those positions where you're trying to teach everyone how not to sin while you yourself struggle with sins. But you don't want to say that. Pastors usually want to paint the picture that they got everything together, and it goes with that story of the man trying to teach the frog how to fly. He throws it out of the first flight of the window and the frog ends up dying. Then he picks up another frog. He says I'm going to teach you how to fly, throws it out the second deck and the frog dies. And the third frog actually speaks and says please don't throw me out the window. He throws them out and that one dies. The frog never asked hey, do you know how to fly?

Speaker 1: 33:21

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 33:22

Can you teach me how to fly? No, it never asked that question. Unfortunately, what we do I want to say we do as pastors is we could paint this picture that we have all of our crap together and we're going to teach you how not to sin and how to live this perfect life that we live and that's true. That's not the case at all. Every pastor that I'm connected to when we have our real vulnerable moments and I ask them how are you? And they're like, oh, I'm good, I'm like no, but really, how's everything going Deep down? How's your heart? What are the issues you're currently overcoming? What are you facing? Is there any hidden addictions or any problems that you might be going through? That's hard to actually talk about. And so, yes, I pastor a church in Bakersfield. It's an amazing church, but I pride myself on authenticity and when I'm preaching on the stage, a lot of people come to me after and they're like man, I can't believe. You just shared what you just shared about. Maybe you and your wives fight, or what you're experiencing with your kids, or what you're experiencing in that area of your life that you're battling with. My challenge now as a pastor is actually to pull other leaders and other pastors in to being real. Just be honest with where you're at. Don't try to be somebody and something that you're not.

Speaker 3: 34:39

Jesus was the greatest example of true authenticity and I can prove it through scripture In Matthew 26, jesus is there in the garden and he's with his disciples and he's asking the Lord like help me. And he's at such a sorrowful place in his life that he says I'm filled with so much sorrow it's to the point of death. I am anxious, I am feeling overwhelmed. And then, in front of his disciples, he falls to his face and he cries out and he's like, take this cup from me, lord. Like I don't know how to do this. But then he says but yet, not my will, like your will be done.

Speaker 3: 35:33

My question to the generation of pastors and leaders today and this is where I'm pulling people in and I feel like we're building something fresh, something new out in Bakersfield the question that I'm raising and this is the awareness that we're bringing is like why do we accept, why do we accept the lion culture today that says never let him see you sweat, when Jesus Christ hung naked on a tree, letting the world see him bleed? Like, why do we accept a lie that says don't let him see you sweat, don't be vulnerable, don't be honest, like Jesus was the true example of vulnerability. You don't reach people with all of your successes those are all great. You're really going to reach into someone's heart with them, knowing that you've been where they've been, that you've struggled just like they struggle.

Speaker 3: 36:37

A lot of times we close these gaps, like there's such a chasm between us and other people because it's created through. I don't have, like I got everything together, I don't have any problems, like my marriage is amazing, my business is this or my parenting is this, my life is this, my whatever. We could paint all the good pictures and I feel like the Lord is really calling me into a place where I'm pulling people up and I'm saying, hey, I'm there with you, like you don't have to stay down. Shame off you. The world will say shame on you, jesus says shame off you.

Speaker 3: 37:22

That's good, you know. Hey, you saw that woman caught in a adultery in the Bible. You see that he said who condemns you? No one, lord. Yeah, neither do I.

Speaker 3: 37:35

To really put ourselves in that place of getting down at other people's levels and it's not even really getting down at their level, it's just being real and vulnerable and saying, hey, I'm there with you. Like Jesus was without sin, though that's the whole different ball game. He was without sin, but he was still willing to be there for the sinner. Like the thing that I love about Jesus is like he would hang with the sinners, but he was also willing to be hung for the sinners you know what I'm saying? Like he wasn't just about being around them, he was about being sacrificed for them.

Speaker 3: 38:20

I wanna put myself in that place and that's why my life is not just a pastor church. I'm out on the streets doing evangelism. Weekly. We're out there impacting the homeless, the addicted, the broken. We're rescuing prostitutes from the streets. Like there's some crazy stuff that God has us doing, but it's from that place of saying, hey, jesus doesn't condemn you. Matter of fact, jesus came to save the world, not to condemn the world. Let us work with you, let us walk with you, let us help you. That's just where my calling is at. Bakersfield just happens to be the city that I live in and the city that we're truly just trying to turn around for the gospel.

Speaker 1: 39:08

That's awesome. I know my kids. I mean it's kinda cool. I think you and I first met in person. I think it was when we had that event at our house in November of 2020. Was that?

Speaker 3: 39:22

Yeah, that might've been it. I know that Amanda had began coaching before that. We could've possibly met at another event. I'm not sure. All I know is I was new to everything. I didn't know anything about the coaching business. I didn't know, it was rare to me it didn't make sense. I was just there to support Amanda and there was a few kids out there from a few different families and I just picked up the football and I started throwing it with a few of the boys and I invited some other boys to come on over. That's just who I am. So I ended up hanging out with kids, not knowing that I'm hanging out with your kids.

Speaker 1: 39:57

Yeah, no.

Speaker 3: 39:58

I remember that.

Speaker 1: 39:59

Because I remember Amanda. She was gonna speak and talk about social media, which is something you're both really good at. But Tracy, who is our mutual friend, is like, oh, we've gotta have Amanda speak on social media. She's amazing and she did a great job and you were there and as the event was wrapping up, you're out there playing ball with my boys and they just especially Dylan latched on to you, but you just, I mean, you have this magnetic gift that the Lord has given you to just really draw people in really of all ages, but I remember it was a couple months later.

Speaker 1: 40:35

The boys are like hey, can we go see Will and Amanda? I was like first of all, remind me who are Will and Amanda? And I knew who it was, but you guys had been corresponding and then I can't remember when it was they're like hey, will said we could come out for a week. I was like time out. At the time you guys had three boys and I was like what, there's no way I got to fact check this. And hey, will, the boys are telling me you invited them out and like oh yeah, yeah, they can come out.

Speaker 1: 41:04

So, they've been to your house a couple times. I mean you've had, couldn't, it's gracious? I mean you had all three of my boys out there. Amanda is like two weeks from her due date with your fourth and I remember it was like Will, have you run this by Amanda? Are you okay having them? Like this doesn't because in all honesty, I don't know that Beck and I would have the capacity to do what you've done.

Speaker 1: 41:30

But you're just amazing and you know my kids have come home and they've told the stories of some of the cool ministry they've done with you, because when they visit you guys, they just immerse themselves into the life that you live. And you, when you talk about integrated it's one of the things I really respect about you and Amanda is you guys. You're not, you haven't built this church that is doing ministry and you're just leading it and telling people what to do. You're leading by example and I think that's one of the most important qualities of leadership is being willing to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty with whatever you're asking your team to do, to be willing to do that. So that's pretty amazing. Are there? Is there anything else that got his put on your heart? Any other missions or passions that you wanna share about real quick, or lessons that you've learned that you wanna share?

Speaker 3: 42:21

Yeah, in this season the Lord is really bringing me back to the basics of what the gospel is all about. It's all about Jesus. Really it's all about Jesus. And we have made the gospel about so much more and we've created events and big crusades out of how to do certain things that Jesus did and really not tapping into just being in the presence of Jesus. How to you know, here's how you become, you know, free from demons, or here's how you get healed and here's how you do this. And you wanna be wiser than read this and it's like I feel that there's been this, I would say this good sense of urgency on my heart and on my spirit to really encourage the believer to get back to the basics. Like Paul was the most knowledgeable believer in all of scripture, he had all the head knowledge, he knew the law from front to back. He could quote the scripture but he said it needs to go back to Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Speaker 3: 43:52

That's the message that we preach Getting locked into His presence and understanding who he is, and that's what's been really pressuring my heart in this season, and not in a negative way, in such a peaceful way, calling people back to that place as being intimate with the Lord it's such a weird word to express, because they're like oh, I don't wanna be intimate with Jesus, I don't wanna be all ooey gooey and no man, to just be at good tears with the Lord and just to be locked in His presence, listening to worship, faced to the ground, saying Lord, here's my life, whatever you wanna do, we've made we've made the church more about how we can come and be entertained and how we can, just if the room temperature has to be set at the right number, the lights have to look a certain way, the stage has to be exposed at a certain level, the LED screen has to look this kind of way, or else it's not really a good presentation for me and I don't know if I want that.

Speaker 3: 45:10

And then the Lord has been showing me like can we just get people in His presence? Can we just host the presence of God? Can we just get back to the basics of Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Let's not try to teach people how to catch all the fish with gold in their mouth. Let's stop trying to create all these avenues of how to cast a demon out in five steps. How about we just get locked into the presence of God and watch what happens. Watch the freedom that'll take place in that life, watch the healing that's about to happen, watch the freedom in your marriage that's about to take place. It all unfolds from the presence of God, locking eyes on Jesus, and that's what I'm really encouraging leaders and people around me to get involved with.

Speaker 3: 46:03

And God has just been opening up so many doors locally and around the world, now having influences in areas of Cuba. Next week I'll be in Mexico, in the Philippines, and March I'm doing a lot of this in other nations. I'm wanting to teach and minister to pastors, evangelists and leaders to really get back to the basics of Jesus Christ and him crucified, understanding the mission of Christ to save the world, not to condemn the world to get back to the focus of it's Jesus, his work, his love, his grace. Not your work, not your good deeds, but what Christ has accomplished, the finished work of Jesus. Getting back to the importance of the gospel, because we can make it all about what we do and how we act, and how our attitude is good and how our actions are good and not really focused on the goodness of God.

Speaker 1: 47:11

Amen, that's awesome, awesome. Well, bro, I appreciate your time. You've been here a couple times and our visits are always so busy we haven't been able to prioritize the chance to record.

Speaker 1: 47:24

So I'm finally glad we made it in the studio. I'm grateful for you. You're a special mentor for my boys. I'm just so grateful for how you pour into them. You really care about them, and for Amanda's amazing graciousness to support when you've had them visit on multiple occasions. I mean, you don't just have them visit for a day, you have all three of my boys for several days to a week. It's just, it's mind blowing. So you're a super special guy. How can people track what you're doing?

Speaker 3: 48:00

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 48:01

And talk about just real quick. Throw some books out there and some other things that you've got, that if they wanna learn more about your story or they can follow you. Yeah, you can search me.

Speaker 3: 48:09

My book on Amazon is titled Just Freedom right, how I found freedom in the midst of depression and anxiety and really walking people through that process of what that looks like. Now, to say freedom from doesn't mean that it doesn't try to bounce back and you don't get discouraged at times. But to truly walk in freedom is to walk in Christ. A lot of biblical context there. We're relating everything back to God's word, because I believe that's the most important thing, so you can find freedom. Search Will Gutierrez on Amazon. You'll find my book there. I'm currently working on a new book called Middleman, relaunching my podcast, which is titled Middleman, releasing my clothing brand, which is called Middleman. Everything is Middleman, because we wanna focus back at being Christ centered in our lives.

Speaker 1: 48:57

So we were talking about this last night and I didn't get a chance to share this. So when I was in Okinawa, Japan, and the Marine Corps, there was a group of us from my church, mostly guys, and we put together kind of like a Christian rock worship band and our name was Middleman. So we were doing our first little show on base and on one of the Marine Corps bases and we're like 30 minutes before we're gonna play, we're like we don't have a name yet and I was like what about Middleman? Just the vision of Jesus between the two criminals. So I love that concept.

Speaker 3: 49:36

Yeah, so that's exactly what it is. To be Christ centered is to see everything through the finished work of Jesus, and the finished work of Jesus would not be possible had it not been through the cross. So Jesus in the middle of those two men is to truly be Christ-centered, to see from that perspective where Jesus says forgive them, for they know not what they do. I think living a life that says you know what, I'm gonna walk in forgiveness, I'm gonna walk in grace. But I'm also going to go beyond my biased opinion, what I feel about this situation, and really aim it back to Jesus and the cross, that middle perspective, being Christ-centered in everything that I do. And this is changing my marriage, kevin, this is changing my parenting, this is changing my pastoral leadership, this is changing every nonprofit board that I sit on and how I conduct those meetings. It's really seeing from that perspective of Jesus and him crucified, going back to the message that Paul preached. That is most important Christ and him crucified. And we understand that the work wasn't truly finished until he went into the tomb and resurrected. Because if it was just about serving a Jesus who was born during Christmas, that wouldn't be good enough. It has to be Jesus all the way through Jesus being born, living a perfect, holy life, jesus dying the sinner's death and then Jesus being buried and raising back from that tomb and ascending into heaven. That is the fullness that this whole middleman project is about. That God is developing within me in this season. So, yeah, on Instagram I'm Will Speaks Follow me all one word. You could go to willspeaksorg. That's a little website that I have. You can get my book there. Also, seeing what I'm doing, let's see middlemanbrandcom. You can go there and you can see what kind of clothing we're releasing. Matter of fact, today, on my way back, I pick up all my clothes, so I'm really excited about what's happening.

Speaker 3: 51:40

I do a lot of mission work. Next week we're handing out over 1,000 toys in not only Mexicali, another city near Mexicali. Then we're going into Insenada. We're going into orphanages and to elderly homes where they've rescued children and elderly from a place called Trash City, where people live amongst the dumps and they're rescuing them from the streets and they put them into shelters and homes. So I'm going there to do ministry. I'm friends with a few pastors out there and God has just put it on my heart to raise money, raise awareness and then go there and just be a huge blessing.

Speaker 3: 52:16

So these last few weeks we've been loading up trucks of toys, we've been loading up trucks of blankets brand new blankets, by the way, that are still in their wraps and we have already over 200 blankets that are there. We have about 1,000 toys that are there and there's still more that we need to do. But this is the kind of missions that God has called me to and this is what I feel that I'm supposed to be doing. So on the 19th and 20th of December I'll be in Mexico doing that right before Christmas, just trying to make an impact in those kinds of lives. So if you ever want to be on the missions, you ever want to do something crazy, let me know. We'll go to Cuba, we'll go to Mexico, we'll go to Philippines, we'll go to Africa, wherever you want to go.

Speaker 1: 52:58

Awesome, that's cool. Well, thank you so much for your time. Yeah, I love you. You're definitely a special brother to me and so grateful for your presence in our life and the life of our children. You know, Amanda are super special and thank you for sharing your wisdom and your story.

Speaker 1: 53:17

Yeah, you know it's very inspiring, and what I respect and appreciate is that sometimes you hear about these pivot points in people's lives and like their life is radically different from you know, like they're in the drug world and in game culture. Something happens and then everything changes for the good, and like they never go back to their old ways and that's awesome. But I also have seen a lot of people struggle with different things, whether it's pornography, drug, alcohol, you know, all kinds of anger, whatever it might be, and that isn't the normal story For most people. It's these little steps along the way and but it requires that contending that rowing upstream on a regular basis and you got people that want to turn you around and take you downstream and you've got to get more people into your boat rowing upstream and just constantly rowing or whenever you have the energy to be rowing, so I love that about your story.

Speaker 3: 54:20

So all right. This is uncommon freedom. I believe is stepping into the presence of Jesus. Amen, like you are uncommon freedom. The freedom that Jesus brings is greater than any freedom I've ever experienced. Amen to that.

Speaker 1: 54:35

So, hey, friends, check out Will. He's a super fun guy. So check out his websites and follow his Instagram and just encourage you all to really contend and, like he said, just really go to the middleman, jesus Christ himself, and he'll bless your life, thank you. Thanks for listening to the Uncommon Freedom Show. We believe freedom isn't man's invention. It was created by God. If you are enjoying the show, please give us a five star review on the platform we're listening to us on, then subscribe and share with friends and family that you think will enjoy the show. You can connect with us at beckandkevcom for more resources to learn biblical principles, essential disciplines and the winning habits that help, once average people, lead the life they want instead of accepting the life they were given.