E16 Garrett Kell - From Radical Change to Radical Servant

Greg Scott: Hello and welcome to 315 Voices. I'm your host, Greg Scott. First Peter three fifteen reminds us to always be prepared to give an account when someone asks for the reason for the hope that's in us. And today's guest is Garrett Kell. Garrett's story of God's pursuit of him and providence in his life remind us that we serve a patient God full of grace. And the story of how God can use seasons of weakness in our life and times of separation from him, both For his glory on the other side of it, and then later to help others. Our story today Should leave you asking God where does he want to tell those parts of my story as well? I'm so glad you've joined the podcast today. I know you're gonna love our conversation with Garrett Kell. And I hope you enjoyed our time today with Garrett as much as I did. Sometimes just a reminder of God's grace lands at the right time in our lives. And Garrett's story certainly starts there. But then hearing him recount how God honored the heart of evangelism that he was given, well, that should inspire all of us to just stop procrastinating the where, when, and how God wants to use us to advance the kingdom where we are now. Share the link out to today's episode on all of your social media platforms. Subscribe to our YouTube channel or anywhere you get your podcast downloads. And then tell someone you know about your favorite three one five Voices guest in order to encourage and inspire them. And then join us again when someone else will be prepared to give the reason for the hope that's within them on the next episode of 315 Voices. Well, Garrett Kell, welcome to the podcast, brother. Thank you for spending some time with us today.

Garrett: It's good to be here, brother. Thanks for having me on.

Greg Scott: Absolutely. Pastor Garrett is the senior pastor at Delray Baptist Church just outside of DC. And we'll certainly talk about your church here later on and where God's planted you right now. But tell us a little bit about growing up and where there was some exposure to the faith. I know you've got some you've got kind of an interesting story growing up, and especially through your teenage years.

Garrett: Yeah, man. Thanks for asking. Always happy to talk about Jesus and and what he's done. I grew up in a ⁓ yeah, kind of nominal Christian ⁓ household. We were we went to a ⁓ moderate Methodist church. So it wasn't wasn't crazy liberal, but it was very kind of, you know, safe Jesus kind of thing. ⁓ thought he was a he was a good old boy and ⁓ you know, that kind of stuff. So I remember going to church and not really listening much, didn't really believe it. But I would have said I was a Christian because I wasn't a Hindu or Muslim or atheist or something like that. So I'd I would have know default check the check the boxes gotta be something so I would have said I was said I was a Christian and ⁓ you know partied a lot ⁓ played sports partied a lot ⁓ all the way through yeah through into college went to Virginia Tech and ⁓ we ⁓ there but it's interesting after I became a Christian I look back and I I've I saw that about ⁓ about 17

Greg Scott: Yeah. Gotta be something.

Garrett: People had shared the gospel with me in different ways along the way. And I can I can see now how the Lord had just been pursuing me through all of those. There's countless stories in there. But it kind of culminated a around Halloween and ⁓ my middle of my junior year. I invited a buddy named Dave, ⁓ down for a party. Told him it was gonna be, you know, epic night or whatever. And he comes down and ⁓ brought him back to my room. I had a ⁓ sixer of his favorite beer and a bag of weed. I told him there was a girl for him to get to know for the weekend and ⁓ He pushed the door too and sat on the bed and he's Hey man, I appreciate that. He said, But I I don't do this stuff anymore. I said, All right. So you okay? And he goes, Yeah, man. He said, ⁓ he said, I love Jesus now. And ⁓ I came down here to tell you that he loves you too. And I was like, Okay. I was like, ⁓ well, more for me, I guess. So it just kind of rolled rolled with the party. But Dave stayed, and it was interesting watching him because he he had

Greg Scott: Yeah, this

Garrett: He had peace, man. He had something that I'd I couldn't find at the you know, bottom of a bottle or the end of a blunt or with some girl or whatever. Like he he he was just contented. And ⁓ you know, we kind of poke fun of him a little bit. Friends are like, What's up with dude on the couch? I'm like, I don't know. He said he found Jesus, and they're like, you know, so it was kind of but it it it haunted me a little bit. And ⁓ a couple weeks later, I was ⁓ I was we were raving and partying, whatever. And All of a sudden I just feel felt this darkness on me, this heaviness and spooked me a little bit. I went back to my room, closed the door. And I'd been thinking about God more because of the conversation with him. And I was like, All right, God, if you're real, show me something. And I looked down and my parents would give me a Bible to take to college and I'd always, you know, put it under my bed 'cause it would cramp my style. But somehow it was it was peeking out a little bit. And so I picked it up, sat down, and I played some Bible roulette. I just opened up to a random page, I thought, and ⁓ Open up to the prophet Ezekiel, ⁓ chapter 18 in the New Living Translation says, ⁓ the one who sins is the one who dies. A father will not be judged for his son's sins, nor will a son be judged for his father's sins, but everyone be judged according to what they have done. But do you think I delight in the death of the wicked? No, but that they would turn and live, says the Lord. And listen, man, it freaked me out because it was for the first time I felt like I felt like God was talking to me. You know, I had been around the Bible, I had hurt I'd read Bible stuff, but but this was the first time that it sounded like it was real. So I shut I shut the book. I was like, That's that's crazy. So I I opened it up looking for something better, looked in the table of contents, saw I know, right? So open up to table of contents and I see the New Testament. I figured new's better than the old. So I was went to the I was looking through, I said Romans. I had just been study abroad, was in Rome. I was like, We'll try out Romans. So I went to Romans, started reading through.

Greg Scott: Right. Yeah. Where's the God is love thing? Yeah.

Garrett: Romans chapter two verse four. Do you not realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don't you care? Can't you see how kind he's been giving you time to turn from your sin? But no, you're storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God will judge all men according to what they have done. And I was like, ⁓ no. And it, but it was it was wild because all of a sudden I realized that me and God were not cool. Like whoever he was, he was he was different than me. And I was I was not well. Cause I had always just thought that God and I had our own little understanding is where I used to talk about it. I was like, you know, I'm I'm not a bad guy. I'm gonna, you help little old ladies across the street, hold the door for people, say hi to people, but I'm just partying having a good time. Right. And but man, in that moment. I became very aware that I was not well before the Lord. started reading. And I mean, I would, I would, I would smoke some weed and turn on my black light and start reading through the Bible and highlight stuff. ⁓ And then I would be like, I I can't remember this. I can't remember what I was reading. So I threw the weed away and I started, I started repenting. I didn't know that's what it was, but I started getting convicted of things. My relationships were changing. my buddy Dave, ⁓ It's it's like it's it's I don't know, it's it's in the middle of the night. I'm I took a drug and I start feeling really guilty and I start talking to my sister about all this stuff. I just start confessing because I'm I'm coming to mind all these things that I had done and I'm confessing to her. And she's like, You're gonna kill somebody or you're gonna kill yourself. You're just you're not well. And then I got a moment of clarity and I thought I need to call Dave. And I called my buddy Dave, ⁓ the one who had come down to the party, and he came over, it was like two two in the morning. He's carrying his Bible. I said, man, I need to talk about God. And he said, Well, you know what I was doing when you called me? I was like, No. He said, I was on my knees praying for you, just like I have been every single night since I left that that party at Virginia Tech. ⁓ And I that's when I was born again, somewhere in there. And the next few months, I mean, we're just a I mean, a wild ⁓ whirlwind God, ⁓ God's becoming alive, me learning that Jesus had lived the life I didn't. live and died the death that I deserved, rose from the dead and that I needed to repent. And man, it was it was crazy. I didn't have a lot of discipleship early on. So I was just reading the Bible and trying to live it out. And and God just, man, it's been a it's been a beautiful mess ever since.

Greg Scott: You know, yeah, here two or three things in there that that that might deserve reaching out and grabbing and the first one is your friend Dave. You know, we talked before we got on three one five voices, we talk about first Peter three fifteen, about how you're supposed to give an account when someone asks for the reason. But if you read that verse backwards, there's gotta be something in you that someone sees and you said

Garrett: Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: Dude, my my friend Dave was not the friend I knew. There was this peace about him, there was this joy in his heart. And then when God opened up the Bible to you and and opened you up, your first thing was to look and go, I I think I want what Dave has. I think it's genuine and because of the hope that he was exuding, and we talk about that a lot about it's great to tell our story, but you've got to have a story that people want to hear. not because of the details of it, but because there is something different about you.

Garrett: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting because whether somebody had has a story like mine where you've been through all this crazy stuff, or a story like my wife, who, you know, she didn't party at all. She was a goody two shoes, never said poo. Like she was super, you know, file rule keeper. But man, both both of us, she and I both came to realize that Jesus is all we've got. His righteousness is is our only hope. And you know, I th I think I think like you're saying, man, they living that out. It's there's light. There's light there in a dark world and people people see it. And ⁓ you know, Christians I always tell people Christians are are looked up to, they're also watched. I mean, they're they're people want to see is this real or not? Because as much as people might mock or Gorn, like people are looking for something real in a world where everything's crazy fake. And and Jesus is it, man. He's the he's the way, the truth, and the life.

Greg Scott: so I I heard that through that story immediately when you talked about Dave and that piece, ⁓ caught my attention for sure. And then even and then the next point was, Hey, let me just ⁓ you know, we hear that a lot. I opened the Bible

Garrett: Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: And there was the verse I needed. Now yours was not God is love, Jesus died for you. it Hey bro, you're gonna stand on your own one day ⁓ and ain't looking good ⁓ and said, ⁓ that don't sound good. Let me find a different one. N no I mean it. ⁓

Garrett: Mm-hmm. No, no. No, honest. Yeah, a hundred percent. Like the the judgment passages, I needed to hear that. And this is, you know, in a day and age where we want to shy away from that and be like, hey, Jesus is nice and he loves you. He does love you and he's kind, but like he's he's coming with a sword in his mouth and he's about to come wreck shop on all the all the rebels. And I was I needed to hear that my rebellion was a personal offense against a holy God and that I was destined for a lake of fire. And man.

Greg Scott: Mm.

Garrett: It sobered me because nothing else would sober me. and yeah, I I needed his word, man. It came alive. It came alive, brother.

Greg Scott: Yeah, I think that point is is well landed. God is love. Jesus does love us. And his grace and mercy and patience are real things. But so is his judgment. And there's nobody that's gonna escape that day after this life is over with. And that's a real thing too, just as real as his grace. talk about the evolution then of your of your faith walk from that moment until ⁓

Garrett: Mm-hmm. Hundred percent.

Greg Scott: And I think God is calling me into a full time vocation of living my life, making sure that others understand this.

Garrett: Yeah. I my kids now that really, if I wasn't a pastor, I don't think our life would look much different other than what I do for work. I mean, I I'd still want to help people follow Jesus. And ⁓ I mean, all the I think it basically looked the same, whether I'm coaching or plumbing or whatever it is, it doesn't. ⁓ But the reality is that as soon as I became a Christian, I became keenly aware. ⁓ I was kind of a popular kid in high or whatever. I became keenly aware that I had been using everything God gave me for the devil's purposes and leading people to hell rather than to heaven. And I felt a great responsibility to, as part of my repentance, to make sure as best as I could, everybody that I had tried to push toward hell, that I would try and push them toward heaven. So I just started praying for God to open doors. And that by the way, Greg is one of the prayers I've seen God loves to answer in people's lives is: Lord, open doors. For me to share the gospel with somebody, the Lord seems to love to set up divine appointments. It is wild the way He's done that over the years. But so I'd start reading through and I would just say, okay, who's around me? And I mean that began with my roommates. so we I used to do all kinds of crazy drugs. My junior year got really dark, and our cocaine dealer, his name was Boz. We call him we call him the White Devil. he would he would bring the the powder over. And felt convicted, I was like, I gotta tell the boss about Jesus. So I'm like trying to figure out how to do it. And so I I printed out all of the verses on hell in the Bible. And I went over to his his house at like three in the morning. And like I had never heard about Martin Luther or nothing, but like I went over and I nailed the verses to his door and ⁓ c came back, came back to the house. And my roommate gets a a call. she's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's wrong? What's wrong? You're freaking out. What's happening? And she goes, Somebody did what? They nailed what to your what? And then I heard her say, She goes, I bet it's Garrett. He's been reading the Bible and going crazy. ⁓ I mean, I just ⁓ you know, I I didn't know what else to do. I was not I was not always the best evangelist, but I was gonna tell somebody about about Jesus. So I mean the Lord just started opening doors along the way. And you know, I think I grew in some wisdom over over the years, but man. I I needed to tell. So whenever I went back home to our high school, and another buddy of mine named Jason, who's actually one of our pastors now, we serve together. We used to party together in high school and ⁓ shared the gospel with him. He became a believer and we started praying, Lord, how might you use us in our hometown? And we got this crazy idea that we were gonna do something called a ⁓ we we called it Christ night, and we were gonna call it it was gonna be a revival. So we I asked our our I was gonna have a I went and talked to the pastor of the Methodist church. And I was like, ⁓ hey, come to know the Lord. I'd I here's what I'm thinking about doing. I'm thinking about throwing a kegger at my house because we used to have these parties in my house where like hundreds of people would show up and it was it was just a big party. I was like, I think I'm gonna throw a kegger. And about an hour in, I'm gonna turn the lights on, stand on the keg, and tell everybody about Jesus. What do you think? And he's like, I like the creativity. He's like, How about this? He goes, How about you use the church building and you can use it for anything you want, just no keg? And I was like, All right, deal. So we prayed and prayed and had this idea that we would just get up and share our stories and tell the town that like what Jesus had done. So we started and we would get up, we would walk around the building like seven times praying. We'd sit on every seat telling the demons to go away, all the stuff, man. We were we were we were wild. But it was, you know, we were just like Jesus gotta move. So I d and I mean, I I I haven't had many visions. I envisioned that night.

Greg Scott: Absolutely, yeah.

Garrett: every seat full and the Lord just saving people. took out an ad in the paper. ⁓ By the our our the advertisement was the only Jesus I had ever really seen, aside from this, you know, ⁓ the one the Methodist church where he looked like a guy from Denver in a bathrobe, ⁓ was the Park Jesus. So I took the South Park Jesus and used it as the ⁓ in the the news that in the newspaper ⁓

Greg Scott: This gets better, yeah.

Garrett: ⁓ and it called it like Christ Night, the fight for the afterlife. It was the one where Jesus had beat Satan with with the gloves on. Anyway, so not everybody liked that in the newspaper, but ⁓ it stirred up some interest. ⁓ that night, brother, man, there were hundreds of people that showed up at this little Methodist church and they filled every seat. They were out the back door, they were in the balcony. There was not a place for anybody, standing room only. And me and he had saved several other people. David come know Lord. I came to the Lord, Jason came to the Lord, a couple other people. We sh we stood up and we shared our testimony and called for people to repent. And, you know, I'm not I'm not exaggerating when I'm saying like half the people in the room were like up at the altar, giving their lives to the Lord. And you know, who who really was converted on the last day we'll find out, it's the only I've legitimately seen a revival. I mean, dozens of people became Christians. People's marriages were healed So the Lord, man, he did a thing. And like from there, I just started praying. God opened doors. And anywhere I got a chance to share my story, I would. ⁓ I didn't know what else to do. Like so as that happened, people kinda confirmed gifts and, you know, open open doors came and there's more to that story, but that that's how it kinda began. So

Greg Scott: Yeah, yeah. Well, first off, I hope there were ninety five verses on what you nailed to the door just to make the parallel. we're gonna say we think we're gonna say we think there were.

Garrett: Versus I know. Just to make the pa I don't know, man. I don't know. There's there's a lot. We could just say it. I mean, may or may just put a footnote on that deal and be like that that might be legend, but who knows? It tells us it's good for the story.

Greg Scott: ⁓ man, my favorite part of that whole story. What we do as American Christians ⁓ is we sit and go, Man, I would love to get involved, but you know, I don't really what to do. I don't have a gift for this. ⁓ I'm not a pastor, I've not been to seminary, I don't know these verses, I can't answer questions goodness sake. And your whole story was I had no stinking clue what to do, but I know I wanted other people to know about Jesus. And so I'm just gonna run as hard as I can. Jesus can clean this up later. God can shape and polish the corners later. But I promise you the Lord honors the effort and the heart. And you had no excuse of just saying, Other people have to know about this.

Garrett: Mm-mm. A hundred percent. I was like, if Jesus can help me, he can help anybody because I was messed up bad, you know, still in. But like, I mean, I just I knew that he could Jesus will sort this thing out. You know, when you read through the gospels, it's not like Jesus is like everything's nice and neat. I mean, he's in the he's in the midst of it. And I figure he can get into anybody's mess.

Greg Scott: Yeah. Yeah.

Garrett: really my Bible knowledge grew because I was evangelizing and I wanted to be able to help people understand what God was saying. I think evangelism is one of that's a front lines of training for how to, you know, how to how to know your word.

Greg Scott: I may not know where to find it, but I know how to find it. And and in modern age you have zero excuse ⁓ with how we can find information in a snap of a finger so how did that flourish into then pastorship and ⁓ leading a leading a church? Maybe Del Rey yet, but you started getting into full time ministry.

Garrett: That's right. Mm-hmm. Zero. Yep. Sure, yeah. Yep. Yep. So ⁓ I started getting all these opportunities to tell people about Jesus. And I became really convinced that if I was gonna tell people about Jesus, I ⁓ I need to know what he said. So I I prayed that God would bring somebody in my life to help me learn the Bible. And there was a pastor in Texas, his name's Tom Nelson. and ⁓ he had a discipleship program where he would take young dudes and go kind of verse by verse through books of the Bible. And I I was in trouble because I was a marketing major and my whole my whole plan was to start To start a nightclub in the islands because I liked girls and drugs and drinking in the beach. And I get converted and I'm like, well, I can't do that anymore. I don't know what I'm gonna do. So I started praying for what I was gonna do after college. And this this door opened up to go do this discipleship program. So I moved down there and I met man, we met from September to May every morning at 6 a.m. opened the book and just went verse by verse through books of the Bible. ⁓ did that for for nine months. Then I started their program was kind of weak at the church. So I asked, I said, Hey, could I could I help give some leadership to that? and so I kind of rewrote the curriculum a little bit and started teaching people how to share the gospel, became the evangelism pastor there, started seminary at Dallas Theological Seminary. ⁓ And so I'm studying. I was single at this time. I had a long-distance girlfriend. ⁓ I mean, night and day studying. That's what I was I was doing. And through that, the opened a door. There was a church there was a town about an hour and a half away where some people drive into that church saying, Hey, we we want somebody to come out and help us to start a church. And so a little Bible study started, and I would drive out on the weekends and I'd preach there. It's this little town called Graham, Texas. ⁓ about 10,000 people. It's an oil town out in the middle of nowhere. I mean armadilla and tarantula and scorpion, cactus, all the stuff out that way. ⁓ I would go out there and ⁓ you the church, it started growing. And so they asked me, they said, Hey, would do you want to be our pastor? And I was like, No. And they're like, Well, would you think about it? And I said, No. And they said, Would you pray about it? I said, No, because in my mind, I wanted to be in a city where there's 10 million people and no churches and nobody knew God. But this was a a town of 10,000 people where there's 40 churches and everybody thinks they know God. And it felt very much unlike what I ever wanted. I I just got convinced the Lord wanted me to to s to stay. And I did. And I ended up pastoring there for seven and a half years. And the Lord really grew that church. The first first about three years I was ⁓ not married. About the time that I was l leaving the the church's evangelism pastor and going to start the other church, ⁓ I remember that I had one night was sitting up on the internet and and saw some pornography and it really began a vicious cycle in my life of struggling with with pornography. ⁓ you know, sexual sin was a big part of my life before the Lord. it had by grace really been been put to death. largely but man something happened when I saw that stuff and it brought back a whole world of just stuff and it it began really about a about a three year Hypocrisy of looking at pornography, hating it. God, I love you. I'm never going to do this again. You know, delete search history, have have a stretch of a month or two, do it again. And I would start conf I didn't know what to do. Like I, as a leader, I had been, I had learned a lot of things about leadership. I had learned, you know, use God's word. ⁓ I had learned, you know, preach boldly. I had learned, you know, ⁓ a a lot of things, but I hadn't learned how to lead in weakness and honesty. I felt this pressure as a leader to have it all together. basically I just I wore a mask in lot of ways about this. And it was confusing because ⁓ God was blessing the work. I mean the church grew, I mean leap, I mean boom, boom, boom. It was just growing, right? We had to move into a Roller skating rink, an old roller skating rink renovated it because it was just, it was filling up, right? And the Lord was he was blessing. through that time, ⁓ broke up ⁓ My old girlfriend and I broke up. We had gotten engaged twice, tried really hard to marry her, which was, I think, really part of the reason the pornography took such a root in my life, was that there was the ex-girlfriend. I really, really, really wanted to marry her. And I knew deep down for at least two and a half years that we weren't supposed to be together. And I wasn't willing to give it up. And when there's something in your life that you say no to God about, it weakens you. It grieves the spirit and

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Garrett: I just was spiritually weak and discontentment was growing. I was older than I wanted to be, not married. I was in an unplanned place at an unplanned pace. Life just God was blessing and I was thankful, but at the same time deeply discontent. And man, that's just a recipe for entitlement to sin. friend of mine named Reed, ⁓ he and I had been talking about maybe going and doing a church plant in Jersey. I was about to fly to Jersey to kind of do our promo video with with Carrie and I. We were engaged at this point. And I felt like I really wanted to start with a clean slate with him. So I I told him I I wrote this, I call it the letter, and I basically detailed all of my sin in that area from the time I bec got converted to the the time that I was the current day and emailed it to him, landed in Jersey, had a voicemail. He's like, Hey bro, this is this is Reed, we need talk. Met up at a coffee shop and he looked me in the eyes. He's like, Man, listen, I love you. But I read your letter and I'm grateful for your honesty. But I don't feel comfortable moving forward in our church plan. And to be honest with you, I don't think you're qualified to be a pastor right now. you need to go back, you need to tell your elders all of this. And you know, Greg, it was a f it was the first time I had ears to hear it. I'm sure other people had confronted me along the way, but it was the first time as a believer, somebody had, because I don't know how else to say, but like I had gifts, I had a personality, things were successful, and people weren't in my life, and I didn't know how to bring people into my life. But he ⁓

Greg Scott: Ooh. Yeah.

Garrett: He's he stood up and he said he saved me, bro. I mean, he saved he's Jesus saved me, but he saved me, he saved my life. Like if he had not done that, I have I'm I shudder to think where I'd be today. And God used that. And it began 2007, the real at that point, the hardest year of my life of going back, confessing to the elders, ended up confessing to the church, went through a year of counseling and all the stuff. And it was it was brutal, but it was the best year of my life to that point because

Greg Scott: Yeah, what a great free end.

Garrett: You know, you gotta die to be able to do all of that stuff. And and the Lord the Lord gave mercy and and met me in it and it it it utterly changed everything.

Greg Scott: what you don't know in the moment of that awful year is really how freeing it is to no longer be ⁓ in in what's going on in your life. ⁓ what a friend and what a what a blessing for placing that friend in your life. And you sent ⁓ send the email and get on the plane going ⁓ and God had a different plan for you sent the email that God wanted you to send and you got a result different than what you had in mind. But

Garrett: It was liberating. Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: And we'll we'll come back to the chronological part of your story here in a minute, but I think it's a great time to talk about how God now your your the ministry that you probably are most involved in ⁓ that's Delray Baptist Church is helping men, helping pastors especially with that kind of temptation.

Garrett: In that year I learned what it means to be a gospel man, ⁓ meaning that you don't lead through ⁓ strength, lead through weakness. ⁓ Everything's down in God's kingdom. And learning to be honest and lead in humility and openness and walk in the light, that changed everything, particularly the way that I thought about fighting sexual sin. There's a a precious promise that Jesus makes in Matthew ⁓ five, eight says, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And I remember reading that in that season and it just it opened my eyes, like that purity, purity is not just an end in itself, it's a means to an end. And the means is to get God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Like He's the goal. And I think for so long for me it had been about like n just not looking at porn, just making it through this amount of time. It's just not having to confess to somebody or whatever it whatever it was. And that's such a such a shallow goal. He's the goal. He's the hope. So that really just changed everything. It turned into ⁓ eventually to a ⁓ a book that I wrote called Pure in Heart. actually wrote for our church with the hope of helping men and women think what about what it means to trust God in this area and how to grow in in freedom and and holiness. And the Lord has seemed to to to bless that that resource. And it's it's just open doors and and my story, I think because that happened while I was a pastor has really resonated with a lot of lot of people in ministry. So I'll regularly get, yeah, calls from pastors who are either ensnared and don't know what to do because as a pastor, like you're honest, it could cost you your ministry and it may, but people don't know how to navigate that or Or or elder boards whose pastors have been caught in this and they're trying to navigate it. So yeah, that's that's been a ministry that has been hard, but yeah, I feel is a privilege to help help people think through that stuff. And God, listen, I just want to say for anybody who's listening to this, it may be very, very costly for you to be honest and to confess your sin and to walk in the light. But whatever it costs you, it is it is more than worth it because Jesus will meet you there in a way that you could never imagine and you get him. And if you get him, it's it's worth it, no matter, no matter what the price. And He's not done with you. but trust us as being God's providence if you're hearing this today, that he's yeah, he's he's pursuing you and he wants you to step into the life.

Greg Scott: I I would say in the last quarter century it's the most front and center issue in ministry in the last quarter century in the American church. because this has kind of become the area that God has given you, how many ⁓ non pastoral marriages ⁓ are being affected by the access that men have to not only pornography but the temptation of sexual sin

Garrett: It's it's it's impossible to count. But I mean it's it's rare. I'll put it this way. It's rare for couples who start dating and are thinking about engagement and thinking about marriage to not have to in some way, shape or form have conversation about either how the guy or the girl has struggled with pornography and and and w what that ongoing struggle looks like. And man, I've seen it sadly really wreck some relationships. I've seen it to where you got to remember anything the devil wants the devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy, and Jesus wants to bring life. And I but I have seen how God will beat the devil with his own stick on this situation. And people who will come out and be honest and get real help, ⁓ the the chunks that sin takes out of people, God will fill with grace and heal, and it becomes a reservoir to be able to be a mighty, mighty tool for the Lord. So I I want I don't want people to be discouraged. But if you don't repent, it's gonna eat your soul. So you gotta you gotta put this thing to death. And you can't manage this thing. You can't manage sin. You gotta kill it. John Owen said, if you don't kill sin, it's gonna be killing you. And that's that's real. So, it's it's a serious, serious plague for

Greg Scott: Amen. and you're helping. God not only gave you that dark period of your life for ⁓ growing and growing your ministry, but it's one of your hallmarks of helping other men and helping pastors through that. And so ⁓ I thank for that and thank you for leaning into that where God's given you that that gift and that that platform. so talk about your wife a little bit. So you you said you first three years of ministry in Texas were single.

Garrett: Praise God. Praise God. Mm-hmm. Yep.

Greg Scott: And which means ⁓ you know, math says the last four, four and a half years you were not single. So talk about Gary and and and and your life with her that you guys have built together over the last eighteen to twenty years.

Garrett: Mm-hmm. That's true. Yeah, yeah. So ⁓ I met Carrie briefly at a ⁓ campus crusade for Christ now called Crew ⁓ Beach Reach in Panama City Beach, Florida. I had been there the year before partying and I went back the next year as because Crew was part of my of what Lord had used to bring me to himself and I shared my story and we met there briefly for like just five minutes or something and exchanged numbers and I was trying to get her to go to a summer project and I had a girlfriend, so I wasn't trying to really hit on her, but the Lord's the Lord's like, Come here, dummy. ⁓ ⁓ and he's like introduced me. We exchanged numbers and we became friends, ⁓ you know, I I saw in her a real godliness that I found admirable. And I was really encouraged by her walk with the Lord. ⁓ And as girl that I was dating kind of went the way of world more, I ⁓ I used to want ⁓ Carrie disciple her. and

Greg Scott: Yeah.

Garrett: figure out a way for that to happen. And the Lord's finally like, hey idiot, why don't you just, you know, get to know her. So reached out to Carrie. We started talking after the other girl and I had had broken up. And, you know, we we started talking in January. We were engaged in March, on the seven year anniversary of when we had met. and then ⁓ we married by August. ⁓ And it was it was quick. But like when you know, you know. You know, I don't and time to waste. So And then we got pregnant on our honeymoon. had a miscarriage, it was twins. and then ⁓ the Lord us our daughter, Eden. ⁓ And since then now have seven kids. So they range from ⁓ Eden right now ⁓ just about to gr graduate tomorrow ⁓ from high school down to Bertie. ⁓ Bertie Lynn, who is she's eighteen months. Carrie and I have been married for for eighteen years ⁓ and yeah, it's been been wild and wonderful journey. Lots of sweet things, a lot of hard things, and I'm grateful for for her.

Greg Scott: what a joy. Seven children. and are there plans ⁓ for more ⁓ or ⁓

Garrett: Bro, listen, man, we try to move to pre-vent defense. So ⁓ I personally I d people are always like, well, there's a way to do that. I for for I just ⁓ personally, I don't think it's a a sin for people to get get that taken care of. I can't in good conscience. My conscience afflicts me. So right now we always, you know, praying Lord have mercy on this situation. And so, you know, it's ⁓ it's it's it's a sweet journey. But ⁓ we are we are prayerful that number seven seems perfect. Why we only

Greg Scott: Mm. The Lord have mercy that's perfect. What a number.

Garrett: Anymore. Yeah. So if you listen to this later and ⁓ there's more, it was it's just the Lord's kind providence. So

Greg Scott: Yeah. That's amen. Well, one of the things that maybe couple of years ago that I s I saw a little bit, we were connected on social media and I saw go through your social media account, similar to our story with our daughter Kara through her teenage years, is your oldest daughter Eden had a and it's still in the midst of, but a monstrous battle with her health that just kind of hits it. And let me tell you what the

Garrett: Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: fear of every dad and husband is, whether they know it or not yet. The fear is there's something that I should take care of that I have zero ability to take care of. So talk about Eden, talk about that ⁓ journey and where she is now on it

Garrett: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. it was of twenty three. ⁓ We went an amusement park for ⁓ one of my other kids' birthdays, and ⁓ we had just arrived ⁓ and we are to go on this this ride, and this one kid wasn't ready to go yet. So I stood stood back with him, everybody else goes ahead. And then my ⁓ second daughter, ⁓ comes running she's yelling. She's like, Dad, Dad, come here, it's Eden. she's in trouble. And so I, you know, I ran ran over there and come upon my daughter. And she is, she's blue in the face. She's having a a seizure. ⁓ And ⁓ seizure ⁓ some twenty-six which is a long time for anything, especially a seizure. So she ⁓ went to the we get there, ⁓ she codes, they know, alarms are off, all kinds of stuff.

Greg Scott: man man.

Garrett: Me and Carrie just get our knees and just pray and like g gave her back to the Lord. She'd always been the Lord's, but like in those moments, you know she's she can only be the Lord's and giving her back and they stabilized her, intubated her. was in a a coma for several weeks. ⁓ And ⁓ during that time she brain went to zero. ⁓ like we were sure she was we were gonna lose her. yeah, man, it was it was a It was a dark time. It was really weighty. was the end being in the hospital for about three months. ⁓ she eventually ⁓ came out of the ⁓ the ⁓ coma, ended up having to relearn how to talk, how to walk, all the stuff. and You know, it was it was it was a it was a lot, bro. It it took a lot out of us. ⁓ then the summer she or during the spring got home, ⁓ was doing pretty good, and then started having some weird of symptoms again and then started relapsing. And over the of twenty four, which I was on sabbatical, ⁓ I can't remember how many hospital ride or ambulance rides. It had to have been eight to ten, maybe, maybe more, she we'd be at home. And she'd just fall down, start having a seizure and they're all like, you know, life threatening kind of things. And so yeah, we got to know the, you know, the the rescue squad by first name basis. And it was it was hard. Always had a go bag ready to go. And I mean, lived in the hospital for half a year basically, was hard because just feel like you can't do anything. You can't you can't fix anything. This is beyond you. The doctors don't know what it is. It's all this kind of stuff. And there's, you know, they couldn't really ever figure out what it is, some kind of or, you know, something with her immune system attacking itself and and everything, autoimmune kind of stuff. And, you know, now, by God's grace, ⁓ largely r ⁓ recovered in the sense that she's not having active seizures. She'll have these little mini seizures, but it's not ⁓ it's not an everyday hospital thing anymore. So and she's actually supposed to

Greg Scott: And is graduating.

Garrett: and then gonna go to Cedarville University in Ohio. And ⁓ so ⁓ love that. She's weighing between nursing and education, trying to figure out what wants to do. But ⁓ yeah, we're we're thankful. God's been been kind, but it's man, that's a whole nother conversation just about suffering and grief and parenting through that and trying to help kids figure out how to navigate. But the Lord, the Lord's been nothing but faithful to us.

Greg Scott: Yeah. And God gives us Exactly what we need, even though we think I should be doing more. My my wife should be able to lean on me. I have six other kids that should be able to lean on me. ⁓ I got this. And you know in your heart you got nothing. And and just ⁓ what a joy to be able to say, and my daughter's gonna go a few hours away to school and I'm cool with it, and she's gonna make it and God's gonna take care of her, and then you'll get in the car and go, I think I'm good with it when you drop her off.

Garrett: Mm-hmm. Got nothing, man. Yeah. Yeah, we'll find out. We're about we're all it's like all we could do is like, here you go. You know, we'll trust the Lord and ⁓ but we're thankful to even be in a place where that could be an option.

Greg Scott: That's right. Absolutely.

Garrett: You know, I I keep a little running kind of journal where just write down the year and then I just write down small things that the Lord did. And it's so amazing to go back and read those and be like, ⁓ he did do that thing, these little prayers he's answered and all of that.

Greg Scott: so God moved your ministry into where you are now. Twenty eleven. Del Rey Baptist Church had ⁓ had had twenty two members. So talk about where it was, how you got called to that post and that assignment and what you're doing now there.

Garrett: Mm-hmm. Yep, twenty eleven been here at Del Ray. Yep. Something like that. Yep. Yep. Sure. Yep. So was at ⁓ Grand Bible Church for seven and a half years, kind of reached where I was like, I don't know where else to lead them. Met a guy named Mark Dever, who's kind of known as a pastor of pastors, moved to Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and did a pastoral internship there. So stepped away from ministry, did that, and then I was gonna go to Dubai to plant a church with a friend. and Mark

Greg Scott: Mm-hmm.

Garrett: Said, hey, listen, I want you to think about this opportunity in Alexandria, Virginia, not Egypt, but ⁓ he said, ⁓ he says this is old dying Baptist church, and they want help. And he took me over here and showed me the building. Seats like 900 people or so. It's a big bit, you know, big building. And they had said we want help. So a group had come over and started doing some reformation work here, ⁓ it just seemed like the right call. And so came here there were about twenty five folks when I got here ⁓ have been here since since then twenty twelve. So next year will be fifteen years ⁓ at the at the church. And yeah, the Lord has just seen fit. Like his word does work. Like ⁓ word does work. It just changes people ⁓ watching it grow, people spiritually, you know, I mean numerically people get saved, come and all that kind of stuff. And it's been it's been wild to be here and to watch it, to watch it grow and You know, no church is perfect, but I mean, honestly, I don't love Northern Virginia, DC area politics is not all my thing, but I love this church. I love our elders. Our elders, like my soul feels safe with them. And I want my kids around people like this. ⁓ so we stay for the church ⁓ the church loves us and by God's grace, you know, it's it's been a been a been a good journey hard, but good. ⁓ And yeah, it. So ⁓ thankful, thankful to be here.

Greg Scott: if you get the numbers out of the way, whether it's twenty-two or five hundred and twenty-two, there are twenty-two, twenty-five believers that love Jesus and want their community to be impacted by the gospel. ⁓ a cool story to be able to pour into that church and see the fruit of it. And you set it in the middle of it. What we like to do is say, okay, well, I've got a marketing plan to make this work. Watch how and and in five years it's gonna do this, and eight years it's gonna do this, and in twelve years it's gonna do this. He said, You know, the gospel just works. If we'll get out of the way and just say, I'm gonna be faithful, I'm gonna be obedient, and I'm gonna do nothing but stand on the truth of the word. that's that's the marketing project, whether it grows in number or it just disciples continue to make disciples.

Garrett: That's it, man. Yeah, yeah. If you if you don't worry about how many you let the l you worry about faithfulness and let the Lord worry about breadth and depth, I mean like it'll it'll he'll he'll take care of it. So but if you try to like do numbers, you're gonna get weird. You're gonna have to start doing all kinds of gimmicky, strange things. You don't don't do that. You just preach the Bible and God's people will will will flock to it. So

Greg Scott: You don't want it to be hard to find the gospel in what you're doing. You want that to be front and center. everybody on our podcast undergoes a three one five challenge. ⁓ And really not that challenging, but it it is a it's a great way to segue and it's been one of the more popular things on the on the podcast. So ⁓

Garrett: Mm mm. No. Do my best. right.

Greg Scott: The three and three one five is give me three books outside of the word of God that have impacted you that you would like to share with others.

Garrett: yeah, they're old, they're all old, ⁓ dead guys. so Progress. ⁓ I it ⁓ annually. I take it with me on vacations, keep a know bookmark in it just kind of working through. ⁓ read it with my kids. love Pilgrim's Progress, just the idea of ⁓ heading to heaven. So love really anything JC Ryles written. he's ⁓ but Thoughts for Young Men ⁓ is one of my favorite books, it's gritty. been working on a manhood book. Right now it's ⁓ just about done. And it's it's kind of like the if if you love ⁓ Thoughts for Men, it's the one that you would ⁓ I would I would want my sons to read afterwards, kind of thing. And ⁓ but Thoughts for Young Men by JC Ryle. ⁓ fire. His book on holiness as well is great. And then John Patton or Peyton, depends on who's pronouncing it, but his autobiography, the dude was a missionary to ⁓ cannibals. In the New Hebrides Island. Like so it's it began with these two missionaries. They went out there, they get off the boat and they get eaten. And Patton's like, I gotta go there. And he does. And the stories are crazy. ⁓ John Patton's autobiography is is wonderful. So

Greg Scott: Yeah. I don't know that I would I gotta go there wouldn't be probably my response to that.

Garrett: No, but he he did and the Lord worked. So

Greg Scott: ⁓ The one is fascinating to me what what some of our guests have answered. So if you had one person in your phone that was the most I use the word famous or recognizable that would hit you back or that would answer, who would that be in your phone?

Garrett: well, there's different kinds of famous, right? There's Christian famous, which isn't that famous. but mean, ⁓ I hate hate dropping names, but I mean yesterday I was texting with Triple E, ⁓ he's a Christian hip hop artist who we were texting about about something and he was gonna do a show in the area. So pro maybe maybe Tripoli or Shylin or somebody like that. So ⁓ knew a lot those guys, so

Greg Scott: Yep. Recognizable names. And the five is the hardest question, but it fits the three one five, so we keep it. If you had five minutes with anyone in history, who would you sit down with? You could choose they could still be somebody you know, somebody you just heard of, somebody you read about.

Garrett: I'm assuming it can't be Jesus. Is that right? Is that is that a cheat? Okay, so I mean, Jesus. I mean that. I mean, like who, right? So I mean and and the apostles, I mean, like all those guys being I would I'd I'd you know, those let's assume it can't be Jesus and the apostles, because those guys I would I'd all love love to hang out with, right?

Greg Scott: Well, and it's a cheat answer. ⁓ we Absolutely.

Garrett: Man, I mean, it probably would be Spurgeon. I don't know. Charles Spurgeon was he I've just read so much of him been encouraged by the way he thinks about the Lord. Probably Spurgeon. ⁓ yeah, he's

Greg Scott: Yep. I love that guy. Actually, hang on. Is it up here? It is. ⁓ have you read ⁓ Steal a Way Home?

Garrett: I have it o I saw it on your shelf. I've got it. I do have something else. Hold on.

Greg Scott: I don't have a spurgeon bobblehead. I didn't I didn't know those existed.

Garrett: So that's my that's my Spurgeon bobblehead. Well, you see, the thing is, well, now you do. And I I think it's ⁓ I think it's Midwestern. They've got all the best ⁓ swag. Yeah, it's mid Midwestern, but ⁓ seminary. But I I'll put him up because it every once in a I'll be working on my sermon and I'll do this and he's just nodding in approval. So he's like, There you go. So ⁓ yeah, Spurgeon. Come on.

Greg Scott: I need an Amen corner and if Doctor Spurgeon's in your corner, that'd be great. Steal Away Home is probably one of my favorite if it would be in my three of the three one five challenge, of his story and the story of a young man that he helped. So if you got it and you hadn't read it, I'd I'd recommend it. ⁓ but yeah, it's it's one of my

Garrett: Really. I've got it over there. I've been I've been meaning to to read it. I've I love the story behind it and love Spurgeon's, you know, stand ⁓ against slavery and everything. I mean, he was hated in America. It was crazy, but yeah. So that's it.

Greg Scott: Hundred percent. Yep. And it would be easy to sit down with him because unless he was standing behind a pulpit, his last probably ten years on earth he was laying down or sitting down, so many health issues that and God just stood him up every Sunday and walked in behind the pulpit as he shared the gospel. What a what a legacy. So what's if you're ⁓ however many years from now ⁓ you're having that moment ⁓ it's it's my time to go home, what would you want your

Garrett: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Amen. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: Earthly legacy to sound like.

Garrett: I would I would want my my wife and my kids to be able to say ⁓ he lived better and he preached. And he loved me. I want him to say he he ⁓ loved Jesus and he, you know, we didn't always on everything, but but he he lived better and he preached and I I ⁓

Greg Scott: Mm.

Garrett: You know, h his life made me made me want to seek after Jesus. Yeah, I'd want I'd want them to to know that their dad thought Jesus was precious.

Greg Scott: that may be one of my favorite ways I've heard that said ⁓ is he better than he talked about Jesus and 'cause life's work is to talk about Jesus. ⁓ and ⁓ a great way to put that. Our last guest ⁓ was a pastor, friend of mine who's pastors in Bucharest, Romania, and he said, I just I want you to say he did it all without complaining ⁓ once. ⁓ ⁓ I went

Garrett: Yeah, talk a lot, Mm. I'd have to start over, brother. From May twenty yep.

Greg Scott: Well, okay, so from May the twenty sixth, twenty twenty six, we're gonna have to maybe, and then I'll start over again tomorrow, I'm afraid. but but what a challenge. So ⁓ can we find you? If we ⁓ listeners say, I wanna I wanna try to find the book that he wrote, or I wanna try to find some work on on helping me through some temptations that I have, or I just wanna see his church or social media, where can everybody where can someone find Garrett Kell?

Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. I think if you Google my name, it'll probably turn up with just about any different place. I write stuff for Coalition and Desiring God. there's a number of articles on there. If you Google Delray Baptist Church, you could find our church's podcast. I share the pulpit with a guy named Jason Seville, who I told you I used to party with, and he's a wonderful preacher. So we we share about about fifty fifty that's been a been a great joy. And then ⁓ I'm on social media about half the year. so about six months on, six months off, not together about take two months here, two months there. I just it it gets weird. So I'm yeah, I ain't I ain't trying to I got other stuff to do. I mean if people are looking for me. I think they they could just Google my name you know, I do think if you the the pure and heart book, if if sexual sin is something that you or somebody that you know is is trying to navigate, that's that's one of a a number of resources that I put together. I will say ⁓ coming out ⁓ next year, there should be a c books that are coming out. One is ⁓

Greg Scott: I agree.

Garrett: It's called Away from Eden. and it's a it's a play on on words. My daughter's name is Eden, the one that was in the hospital. But it's a it's a it's a devotional on lament and hope that's birthed out of those hard year hard year in the hospital and everything. might be might be useful than that that manhood book. It's called The Making of a Man. So

Greg Scott: things coming out and one book already out or some articles just I know that a lot of our listeners will want to Google your name afterwards. ⁓ it's been a been a joy to sit down with you. I appreciate not only the time that you set aside, but just the the brotherhood there is here and just listening to some of your story resonates with me. Some doesn't, right? We listen to each other's stories. I go I have no idea what it's like to go through that. we all listen to everybody's and say that's that's a hope that I want to hear about.

Garrett: Mm-hmm. Sure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Greg Scott: And the other end of the verse fifteen is and he gives that account and he's willing so man, I appreciate your time today, Garrett. It's it's been wonderful to have you on the podcast.

Garrett: Mm. us. Appreciate you, man. Great job. I I appreciate you know just what what you're doing and how you're trying to help people's stories get out there. And just think about it. Heaven is gonna be wild. Like just account after account of people's stories for all the stuff that nobody knows and how the Lord weaves it all together. So a little foretaste of that, man. So I appreciate you. You have

Greg Scott: Mm.