Welcome back to another played lately. I haven't played many games lately I don't feel like I have. I usually play a lot more than this But something is new and that is I have actually now Organized all of my systems all of my consulters. They are now neatly packed in Plastic cases with a name on all of the cases So it's such a neat and tidy system right now and I was inspired to hook up my old PlayStation 3 because the game that I feel a bunch of nostalgia for actually is this game Tales of Exilia 2 everyone. I think I have said this before but I feel like Tales of Exilia 2 This game is my favorite Tales of game It was actually released in 2012 in Japan and in the rest of the world in 2014 And it is of course again in the Tales of series developed and published by Bandai Namco In Tales of Exilia 2 you play as Luger who meets this small girl on a train that gets hijacked by terrorists It is such a good JRPG where you explore a ton of open areas, collect stuff everywhere And you watch the best skits in the entire Tales of series and through the story You will meet up with the characters from Exilia 1 this game But I don't know I just ended up liking number two more than number one Not sure why but this is more like a modern style and setting This is more like an old medieval ish hundreds of years ago setting more like a fantasy setting I don't know why but I like Tales of Exilia 2 more and I can confirm That it is kind of confusing to jump into this story if you don't know what happened in this game But they explain it regardless in this game and as a matter of fact I jumped into Exilia 2 before I played Exilia 1 So in my opinion you don't have to have played number one in order to enjoy number two These are not in production anymore PlayStation 3 games and such So I don't know you can maybe find it on eBay or yeah, I would say eBay maybe But I bought this on GameStop back in the day So many years ago. I was so obsessed with the game that I even painted this back in 2015 it says the graphics still occur, but it definitely Qualifies by now to get a remake both of these games I talked about that in my moving vlog a couple of videos back But I feel like these games deserves a remake by now I recommend these games a ton and if you ever find them make sure you check them out pick them up Highly recommend. This is my favorite Tales of game and Speaking of Tales of Yes, I am currently playing. I mean I tried yesterday the demo for Tales of Arise Damn this game looks so good. I play it on my Xbox series X It is also coming out for PlayStation 4 and Xbox one PC whatever, but you know never switch I don't get that big games never coming out for the switch I don't know switches just turning out to not be a very powerful system or something. We need a switch pro Okay, but yeah, so far I have nothing to say about Tales of Arise other than I'm Actually now looking forward to it because the graphics are just really enjoyable to look out and the world The little world that I have ran around in so far in the demo Is just my style and I am hoping that this will be a very good and big Tales of game hoping for that and I have it pre-ordered Don't worry and I will talk more about it when the full game is out But so far check out the demo But if you want to go into Tales of Arise spoiler free or just take it all in at once Wait for the full game because a demo is only like a teaser. I feel like I didn't get What I wanted out of a demo, you know, it's not like the full game in any way It only makes me more hungry for the full game is what I'm trying to say Check it out Okay, I am going to talk about some more games in this video But this is played lately a sort of series on my channel where I take the liberty to Do whatever I want. I want to show off some packages now in a small section And then I will talk more about some of the games. So Nintendo sent me a bunch of Mario Golf Super rush stuff like a bottle Mario Golf. But yeah, anyways Mario Golf Nintendo of Norway sent this to me Thank you so very much. I am currently borrowing this to neighbor Stefan I played for five hours and then he was like, do you really have that game? Oh my god, can I borrow it? And I was like, yeah sure borrow it. I never say no to a neighbor that wants to borrow a game Because I know for a fact that I can borrow anything from him as well It is obviously a Nintendo game with the Mario and all of his friends playing golf together This game just released. It was released in June and it has all the modes for a single player And multiplayer that you can think of just tons of ways to play golf Basically, it has a story mode also where you can walk around a bit which appeals to me for some reason But truthfully, I'm not very keen on golf I have never been because this is essentially a golf game with a Mario themed paint across it But that being said, it is actually a good golf game if you are into golf to begin with It is surprisingly technical and complex But I want to say that you have to like golf in general in order to enjoy this But it looks and sounds good as expected from my Nintendo title Neighbor Stefan loves it. Absolutely adores it But it is unfortunately not for me But it is for a bunch of people Okay, another game that was sent to me is a Wonder Boy Asha in Monster World What can I say about this game? Only played it a little But it seems to me that it is a cute 2D side-scrolling Platformer that would be perfect for any kid and by that I mean I think it's more appealing to smaller kids Because of the difficulty is actually very easy too easy for me unfortunately and besides I'm not very into side-scrolling 2D platformers and I've said that before But I like the game. I don't hate it This I could actually give away to a kid if I ever come across a kid that needs a game I'm not an aunt yet. Not a mom yet. I've never had kids in my life I've always been the kid But anyways, thank you to the publisher and developer for sending that over to me along with a poster of Asha, it's almost Isha actual cute artwork though PlayStation VR required Solaris of World Combat. I don't have VR. Thank you I will give it away. More things from Isha in Wonder World Asha, I mean undercut things and also a mug and stickers Fun thing. Cute thing actually Another one of those. So yeah, thank you Publishers of the of Monster World Asha in something world. Wonder Boy, maybe In monster world. Thank you. Okay, so this is the package That is the reason for the video, you know I am Dedicated to this channel in a way that I will only open packages when I'm actually recording this one has been so tempting Because it is from Bandai Namco, but I don't know what they're sending me this time It is the game that I have already bought.  The monsters are so unique in Scarlet Nexus Yes Yes Smell so good. Okay, so I can talk about Scarlet Nexus a tiny bit while I Is this a joke? I can feel what it is Legit cute actual cool. Oh Xbox bag So good Guys, I am speechless. These are my favorite colors as well pink black and blue. I love me Legit happy. Whoa. Oh Just a bunch of Scarlet Nexus things and what can I say so far about Scarlet Nexus? I'm gonna say what I always say about every new game is that recently I haven't found the time to truly sit down with it As I always say I feel like I'm on repeat on Asia gaming I say the same thing in every single video, but with my broken English as well. I Will use it forever. Thank you so much Bandai Namco Bandai Namco. I freaking love you Okay, so that was the recruit kit from freaking Scarlet Nexus and yeah I was planning on opening the packages and then move on to the next section of the video Which I have in my notes and that was actually that I was going to talk about these two games But actually I'll talk about that game later because this is starting to be a longer video That is monster hunter stories, too. I don't have too much to say about it. Anyway, I'll talk more about it later Maybe so far. I am trying to like it. I'm trying to get into it But it seems like I'm not getting hooked because I feel like the camera angles in the game They are not good so I'm just really annoyed at the camera angle so far and I know there are some camera settings, but it just auto adjusts to this weed angle that I can't make sense of But I was also going to talk a tiny bit about Scarlet Nexus as you can see I bought it physical and after I bought it physical I got the review called from Bandai Namco and apparently also the freaking recruit box Thank you again. But anyways, this is a new release It was also released in June just as Mario Golf, but I'm just late at everything It is now out for all modern systems, but not the switch, which is so annoying Like I mentioned that the switch always misses out on big releases for some reason like this game and Tales of Arise It's like if you want to play these games And you only have a switch and you watch my channel because I talk a lot about switch And you only own the switch You're gonna have to end up getting a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X or something in order to play these games And I'm sorry that I'm bring up games that you can't play if you do not have the systems for that But anyways, this game has a demo out so you can also try that and in Scarlet Nexus You can either play as the boy or that girl I am currently actually playing as the boy because I like his combat style more than the girls' combat style She's more kinetic all the way, but he is more like swords and a bit of kinetic powers I'm not 100% hooked again because on a personal note I am actually working way more than I should right now I am editing a bunch of videos for other channels and this time I do it more than I have previously done so I actually have very Little to no spare time and let alone the spare time that I have I don't feel relaxed enough to play a game after work. I just want to you know have no screens Nothing because I work as a video editor and I I turn insane when I sit with a screen for like a 10-hour session in edit and I'm editing all the people's videos and stuff like that. I like the work It's fine. It's good But it's just that it can be too much and right now I'm in that time Where is starting to feel like a bit too much and I need to step a bit back and find the time to actually sit down and enjoy What I find to be enjoyable This is a game and also this is a game that I'm just waiting for a time for me to truly Relax and take a game fully in because they deserve it This game deserves it this game deserves they deserve the time and dedication to truly take them in and Not just feel like I'm button pressing away or something I actually want to pay attention to the stories and I don't know It's just hard recently because too many things stressed out and stuff But in all the news recently I bought roller skates gonna try and learn to roller skate I guess but I haven't found the time for that either other than that I'm playing actually a lot of I tell you online. Yeah, I feel that in bed and a friend of mine moved in to the guest room Okay, yeah, she's having a midlife crisis kidding And I actually want to wrap up this video by giving a huge shout out to my patreon's today I'm giving a shout out to Tobias Aysenworth PDS 301 Norbert Weidl Alex Grave Paula Blake Dye and Gayan Vanessa left land Rebecca Steve Smith Amber Roche Amir Abhada Dustin Haisley and so many more a bunch of more shout outs are coming later Thank you so much for supporting me on patreon guys. I actually now take back everything I said in the vlog I want to do this full-time, but it's not possible Right now. I wish I had more time to do isha gaming. I really do That is my passion. That is my drive. That is what I feel in my soul In my heart and soul so to speak, but we'll get back to that later I guess thank you so much for watching and I will definitely and I hope so I will see you later Check out Scarlet Nexus. Maybe I'm trying to find a time to play it Sorry so sorry Okay, bye


This is Startup of Storefront. Carla Esparza is a two-time UFC women's drawweight champion and became the current title holder when she defeated Rose Namayunas. Typically, a fighter's career only lasts a couple of years, and when they have a huge win, they have to make the money stretch until the next fight. Their pay is not consistent, and after one fight, their career can be completely over. Competitors in the UFC are also required to become ultimate entrepreneurs as their longevity is directly tied to their audience. In this episode, we'll discuss what it's like winning the ultimate fighter, her mindset going into the ring, and how it felt walking down the aisle on her wedding day, wearing her UFC title belt. All right, welcome to the podcast on today's show. We're talking to the champ, Carla Esparza. Thanks for joining us. Well, the kooky monster is in the building. Thanks so much for having me. When did you first start? Like, what was the thing that got you into mixed martial arts, fighting? What was it? Well, I started wrestling on the boys' team in high school, and it just kind of like was by chance. I was lifting weights, and I'd always been really strong for my size. And when the football players was like, you're so strong for your size, I'm like five foot nothing. He's like, you should try wrestling. And I'm like, what is that? Okay, let me go give it a shot and just kind of fell in love with it. Yeah, and then at what moment are you like, okay, like I'm a really good wrestler? Are you destroying men? Is that the thing? Like you're just like crushing everybody, all the women, all the men. Was there no women's team, I'm guessing? There definitely wasn't a women's team at the time. I mean, it was growing really fast at the time, but it was, if you were a girl wrestling the area, you were like one or two of a whole team.  Got it. But at what point are you like, you know you're good at this? So there's one thing where interest becomes, oh wow, this is like, not so much a career, but I'm very, very good at this. And now I gotta take it more seriously than maybe I originally thought. So I mean, I started wrestling and I was always good for a girl. And don't get me wrong, I beat a lot of guys. Does that bother you when people say that? Not necessarily. I mean, it just kind of depends what you're talking about.  And I always loved that he said that. But for me, I just kind of like let these things fly by, like whatever they can say what they want. Still a compliment, you know. And at the time, you know, it was so rare to be a girl doing it. You didn't really like have much to compare it to. But I definitely felt that I was good and I was beating guys like some guys I would win and lose. The first time I felt that I was really good was when I went to my first girls tournament, I actually got to compete with other females. And I went and I crushed it. I think I like pinned everyone and I got like maybe first or second place.  So I didn't have a coach. I just kind of went. My mom took me to this tournament, you know, cause the coaches were coaching the guys at a tournament. So, but it was just, you know, it was something I wanted to do. I took a chance and it, you know, it led me here. How far into your wrestling career was that, that moment of realization? So I started wrestling my junior in high school and I think that happened kind of mid season or something in my junior year. Oh, it was pretty early on. Yeah. And I mean, I was like, I was naturally pretty gifted. So the sport of wrestling didn't come easy to me cause it doesn't come easy to anyone. You know, I think it's constantly ranked the toughest sport on the planet. But, you know, I definitely, I was always really strong and it did come somewhat natural for me. So, you know, I just kind of fell in love with it and I was strong at it. And yeah, it all went well. I think I went to nationals my first year and I took like 10th at girls nationals. So, yeah. And at the time, so it's like, it's also this, like at least from my perspective, right? So for me, you have like WWE and then you had like the Olympics and people like in college, right? But then it was boxing. And so at the same time, you have this like emerging sport, UFC, Dana's trying to get this thing off the ground. They're doing TV shows, what you were on. And so, but the intersection of this was like very much in line with your career, which seems crazy. Like do you ever think about how crazy that seems that everything intersected almost at the right time? It almost feels like stars just kind of aligned with everything. Because when I started fighting, I've been fighting professionally for 12 and a half years. So at the time, there wasn't many opportunities for women, let alone in the UFC. So it was just kind of like, this is fun. I love doing this. Let me just do it until I can't do it anymore. You know, this is not like there was any money in it. I think I made $800 in my first fight. I paid $850 for medicals. Oh wow, okay. So, you know, it was just kind of a career of passion at the time, but like you said, stars kind of aligned. And it came to a point where I kept with it and it was now it's something that I can make a good living at. Yeah, explain to me how you got on UFC fighter. What did that look like? How did that happen? Well, for the ultimate fighter, I actually got, I got a call from Dana White. I was already the Invicta UFC champion at the time, which was the top organization for women at the time before women were allowed in the UFC. And, you know, I had just gotten off a fight or I was supposed to fight, but my opponent like didn't make weight or something.  And then I'm at the gym the next week and I get a call from a 702 number, Las Vegas. And I'm like, who is this? You know, I pick up the phone. Hey Carla, this is Dana White. I just wanted to welcome you to the UFC. You're gonna be on the ultimate fighter. I'm just in shock. I'm like, is this really happening right now? The question is, are you really Dana?  Rhonda Rousey had kind of started that, but you know, that was still fairly fresh. Yeah. And so then you get on the show and then what is this actually like? Like, does it feel like you're very much part of a startup in some way?  And is that scary? Or is that like, okay, cool, we're making history. Let's go, we're gonna do this. Or is it like, oh, because at the same time you're kind of like a guinea pig? I mean, you're so focused on your goal, which was the belt because they didn't have a women's division this season was the first time that they crowned a champion from the ultimate fighter, which normally this show is a show trying to kind of like get, you know, people, a contract in the UFC, like a lower tier contract. So these are like lower level guys, like I'm trying to get my chance to fight for the UFC. Yeah. But this was like, already girls that were established in the division top girls.   No. Yeah, oh yeah. They do. There's a full bar there. You can order anything you want. And it's just like, how about it? You know, they've had seasons of the ultimate fighter where people have gotten wasted and kind of made it full of themselves. And that was definitely one of the thing my manager like pressed to me and his other female fighter, Felice, was like, do not go on that show and get wasted. Right.  Exactly, exactly. I just like my palms start sweating, hearing about all this. I'm like, oh no. Does your family ever call like Carla, please? Carla, come on. Chill out. I'm tired of watching you. Yeah. It's been like almost 20 years. I think they're like used to it by now. Oh my God. Is Matthew used to it? Matthew, congratulations, new hobby. Is he used to it? I don't think so. No, it will be hard to watch if, yeah. If you knew the person. If you knew the person, yeah. We belong to this tennis club and some people there are like actors. And so we've like, now when I watch these television shows, they're on it and I can't watch it. You don't believe them as the character they're playing. Not at all. I'm like, no. Yeah. I'm like, I know this guy. I played with this guy. I'm like, no. And all of a sudden videos being like, dude, you were looking chubby back then. They're like, I'll just make fun of them. And it's funny. But then I can't watch a show. Right. And so with this, it's like, it's like too close. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like. No, it's crazy because even me, who's been doing combat sports for almost 20 years, I'm like, I see my close friends fighting. And I know, I know, I train with them every day. And like, I know what it takes. I know what they can take. But it's still like, you get like, my stomach goes nuts. I get like my whole, I feel through my whole body.   And the first fight that he's ever gone to of mine live because of COVID has been this last one, where I'm fighting for the title, the big one. So there's so much pressure. There's so much media. Like he's getting interviewed by like ESPN. They're coming to the house or this promotion and that this newspaper and whatever. And he's, he's kind of just thrown in the mix. You know, it's kind of hard to go from like, nothing, he, I think he has like 200, couple hundred followers on his social media. Like he's not really like into that kind of stuff. But you know, because he's used to speaking in front of his company a lot. Like I think he, he's, he's good with the interviews, but like as far as being at the fight, I think he's just probably losing his mind. Losing his mind. Yeah. I would be too.  Don't look this way. Don't look at the screen. Don't look at the cage. Like Billy Bean pacing back and forth in the clubhouse because he couldn't watch the game. He's too close to it. Yeah.  So I like everything on top of it. For me, I'm like, oh no.  I think both of them would be hard.  Which is obviously not the case. But like, you know, for him who's not been so involved on that scene, it's kind of like, oh my gosh, you know, like, but he handled it well and, you know, I'm glad I was able to win for him so that he didn't get all freaked out. Yeah. Huge win. Huge win. After eight years, like to come back and regain the title, made some records, got a proctome with the bell. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Now, what do you do when like, so you have that moment and you're on cloud nine. Let's start the build. So that day, what are you, are you sleeping? Can you sleep? Oh yeah. I slept. I slept in. So, you know, before the, before the fight, you have a weigh-in. And because- So the day of or the day before? The day before. So like, the fight is Saturday and you weigh in Friday in the morning from nine to 11. Okay. And then that, the night before that, you're not sleeping because you're so dehydrated.   We'll be right back to the episode after this quick break. Warby Parker offers everything you need for happier eyes and you can shop with them online or in stores. Check out Warby Parker's home try-on program for yourself. Order five pairs of glasses to try at home for free. It ships free to you and includes a prepaid return shipping label. Try five pairs of glasses at home for free at warbyparker.com slash ship it. This episode is also brought to you by Fight Camp. They offer thousands of classes with new workouts added each week, so you'll always find something new. You can get a killer workout done in as little as 20 minutes. And don't worry if you don't have any boxing experience because Fight Camp has your back. They've created programs specifically designed to teach you the basics of boxing and kickboxing so you can build a strong foundation. Fight Camp even comes with all the gear you need to start boxing from home, including a freestanding punching bag, boxing gloves, quick hand wraps, and smart punch trackers that provide real-time data during your workout. So head on over to joinfightcamp.com slash startup to storefront and get free shipping with your first order. Now back to the episode. Do you visualize at all in the pre-match hours like leading up into it? Yeah, I definitely do. I didn't used to. So like there's always room to improve in things to like learn in the sport, whether it's nutrition, your training, your mental, your mental. And for me, like the mental was something that I kind of shifted maybe like five years back or something when I had come off two, my first time in my career losing two in a row and I was like, dude, like this isn't cool. Like I need- Did you think it was over?  No, I didn't think it was over. I knew it wasn't over, but it's just like I need to make some adjustments. Like this isn't working. Like something needs to change. I made a lot of changes, but one of the big changes I made was my mental. And you know, I never used to pay attention to my thoughts, but upon that like change and I did some reading. It was like, dude, I'm thinking negative all the time. Like this person's gonna beat me and they're like, I'm gonna go against them. There's so much better. What if I can't do this? What if I can't do that? And I was like, no, like I became like, I changed my thinking. I was like, I got this. I started visualizing, you know, just really going through the process of like how I'm gonna win. Like one book I read was just like visualize like what you're gonna do. Like, you know, if you wanna get married, don't sleep on one side of your bed like, or in the middle of your bed, leave room for your other. If you want this brand new car, leave room in your garage because that car is gonna be in that spot. Like, and at our gym, I have this trophy case for my UFC belt, my Invicta belt is, and I was like, this empty spot right here, I kept visualizing my new UFC belt. I was like, this is where it's going. And I kept looking at that like, you know, every week I would stare at that when we would watch footage. And I'd be like, this is where my belt's going. And I kept thinking then before the fight, I, you know, ran through my scenario. How's it gonna go? Yeah. It's amazing. It's incredible to think about, because like when I, I was a swimmer and I am not competing so much against the people next to me as I am against the clock. I know when I walk into the pool that it's going to be the same distance, the setup's gonna be the same more or less. And so I could visualize my race to like a 10th of what I would end up going. And I could visualize the amount of strokes I was gonna take, the amount of dolphin kicks off the walls. But with fighting, you can't really do that because your opponent's gonna throw something that you're not expecting and you have to adapt in the moment. So I was curious about what you're actually visualizing. When you have that empty trophy case, are you just envisioning the belt in there? Or are you also visualizing the fight itself? I would just envision, I even took a picture of it like the day before my last day training at the gym, I took a picture of it so I could like look it in and be like, that's where my belt is going. And when I would look at the case, I'd be like, that's where my belt's going. Sometimes I would picture my hand raise. And I've had my hand raise like many times. So sometimes I'd even look at a picture. I'm like, I'm just like going through that feeling again of like when I did have that success, I was like, that's how it's gonna feel. Sometimes I would even like be in bed and I'd be like, yes, like, I even got chills in my body just raising my hands right now, like feeling that. Awesome. Yeah. That's what's up. The visualization I did before the fight, like you said, anything could happen, but it's not about anything, they can throw anything about me. It's about me imposing my will, me pushing the fight where I want to go. So it wasn't about them, it was about me. So you're so locked in, like you're from the future, you know what it looks like. Yeah. And don't worry, Ryan, went through a couple of different scenarios. I'm like, okay, like I don't get the first one. I got to keep moving. I got to do this and I got to do that. Maybe I went through two or three scenarios, but I did go through scenarios and all of them had me with my hand raised, you know? So yeah, now that's kind of was my visualization process. Well, how about for after the fight?   And so like for you, how long after a fight until you feel or start to feel like a hundred percent again? Every fight is different. Every fight is different. Like you never know what injuries you're going to get from the fight. I trained very smart for me, training a huge part of my longevity, which that's been one of the things I'm most proud of because not a lot of people can perform at this level.  Who's going to keep me safe?  He wants to beat me up cause I'm a UFC fighter and, but I'm, and maybe I'm strong, but I'm also 40 pounds heavier or lighter than him. And I get hurt. So, you know, just like all these things are really important for the longevity of it for me. What's the business side of it?  How does, how does that work? Like how far in advance will you, will you know that, okay, I got a fight or potentially fight? You know, this weekend actually there, Dana White just, you know, said like, this fight that's happening is the number one contender fight. So in Singapore right now, they're having a fight that's like the winner of this fight gets a title fight. So basically fighting me. And then it's like, I don't know if anyone's going to get hurt from that fight. Like you don't know what's going to happen cause like I said, every fight's different.  They made, you know, whatever. And I got split, my eye got split open to the bone. I was invited to that. I was going to go. Yeah.  And then it's like, okay. But then in this fight, I had like no injuries. I actually had some, no hardly any, you know, a couple of nagging things, but it's like, I'm fine. But, you know, you never know what the fight, you could tear, you could tear something. Like it just depends. Every fight is different. Yeah. From a business perspective though, just for you, like how are you thinking about, so you win a fight, do you have a lot of people knocking at your door for endorsements? Like what is the thing that you're like annoyed by maybe, but also it's also an opportunity, right? It's a real opportunity to make more money or to have some income. I wish the door was like knocking more for endorsements. This sport like is so saturated, so big. Now there are so many fighters and everyone wants, you know, these opportunities. And, you know, we kind of like leave that to our managers a lot. They kind of deal with the sponsorships a lot. But like I said, when the UFC decided to make it a uniform thing, we count where their stuff out to the cage.  It's basically just social media base.  Like, I get paid this much money for this and it's awesome, but you know, it's not, it's definitely not a reliable source of income that you can just count on. Neither is fighting, I mean, like I said, injuries and this and that. Anything could happen, yeah. Is that a big thing in your mind when you're entering the fight too? It's like the potential payday? Or does that not really matter? Cause you're so locked in on the fight. Not on the day of the fight. I mean, that's in contract negotiation time.  But the thing is most fighters are fighting for a fight and a win bonus. So it's just basically you can walk home with half the amount or like double that. So I'm sure every fighter goes in and in. How do you look at that?  Or are you thinking, this is my worst case? Every fighter, like, so you got a plan for the worst. Like you even got a plan for no money because fight camps are so intensive that people get injured a lot. So you might not even make it to the fight. So it's like I said, being careful is such a huge part of the sport.  Could I get injured from the fight and be out for a year? It's like you almost got to like, you're getting this big payday potentially in one day and then you kind of got to like plan for, like not having any money for a long time. But then again, you could fight again in a couple months. So you don't know. So you have to be like a little bit more careful.  It's like, we only have a short career too. So some people are done fighting by the time they're in their early 30s. Yeah. So. It's like the ultimate entrepreneurship. I wanna circle back to something. It's the UEC, not the UFC. That's crazy. You talked about fighters have to be marketable, you know, in order to like ensure that they stay in the UFC. And I'm curious about your personal approach to that. And if you lean heavily into one aspect of social media or like what your individual approach is to staying marketable and like a, you know, a constant presence in people's minds and feeds.  There's a new, okay, it was like now there's, you know, Facebook, now there's Twitter. Okay, Instagram is a thing. Now it's TikTok and you gotta constantly be up on it. Do you do it yourself or does your manager do a team? I do it myself. Sometimes my manager will kind of make certain things for me, but not like super often, but you kind of gotta stay up on it. And I definitely used to be more like heavily social media because there wasn't opportunities as much. So it was like, oh my gosh, I need to get sponsors. I need to, you know, make sure that people care about me as a fighter. Cause it's not like you're on an NFL team where like you're just a part of like the brand is the team. Not to say like there aren't stars on the team. But if you're, you're just like, yeah, I'm on this team, but somebody might not know like every athlete on that team. Whereas fighter, you have to make people care about your story. So I, you know, I used to be like super involved with posting my social media all the time. Not so much in the last year. I feel like I'm getting older and like these kids are coming up with like these constant new trends. And it's hard to like- The reels are everything now. These videos. The reels, yeah. So I feel like Instagram, they're so good at keeping up with trends. That's everything. They are now becoming gearing more towards like this TikTok-esque. It's 100% true. You know, and it's like, but I remember back in the day, there was Snapchat and I was on that or not Snapchat. What was the other one? Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. Vine. And now it's turning to TikTok and I'm like, what do I do? If you post pictures. Yeah, it does. And now I realize like the trend is lower on the views and the likes and stuff. So it's kind of like, dude, you've got to get with this new TikTok thing, these voiceovers and these like clip, clip, clip, clip. And it's like, oh my gosh, I got to learn something else. They can like engineer views now based on the trends. They're like, yeah, this is the trend. And so watch this, we're gonna- Just post this and they're gonna, they're gonna push you to the front. And you see it. You see it. And you're like, wow. You can really kind of make your way into the algorithm. Algorithm, yeah. It's not that- It's huge. And it's the kids that are, not the kids, but you know, you guys that are so- You kiddos. You own them. Do you have a way to decompress from it all?  No. Cause I had a wedding like literally one week later. Which was pretty easy by the way. And you wore your belt to it. Yeah. I mean, I, every interviewer kept asking me, are you gonna wear your belt down there? I mean, I had to at that point. She loses what hat? Like, how has the wedding impacted? Yeah. I mean, it could have been impacted. I mean, I could have been Andrew walking down. I could have been walking down in crutches. Your wedding photos could have taken a very different vibe. I could have, you know, had a scar. Was that in the back of your mind? Pre-fight? Or are you like- I'm not pre-fight. I mean, no, you do what you have to win. Like at all costs, you know, or else I wouldn't take the fight. Cause it was an extra motivation where you're like, I'm getting married. I gotta look good. No, not really. No. I mean, it was definitely something I wanted, but it wasn't like, it didn't change my mentality because it's like, you can't hold back in a fight because, oh my God, I gotta look pretty in my pictures. We'll do the pictures again later. Like who cares? Like I gotta win. That's smart. You gotta do what you gotta do. Did you buy anything where you're like, I'm gonna go buy this. This is the thing. I'm gonna buy this. Like treat myself? Yeah, you treat yourself something nice. You know, normally I treat myself after every fight. Like with something, even if it's something for my house, like I bought a new AC one time, you know, whatever. But this Friday I haven't treated myself, but you know, I'm more in talks of getting a new house too. And I might go on like a little extra vacation with my girlfriend. But you should for sure.  Dude, what a legend.  I love your mindset. Honestly, it's like, it's like, I think people, I think you're saying it's so normal to you in terms of like you watch, you look for weaknesses, you improve. But I think like there's a real, the mindset of getting to the point of being able to see your own failures and being what I would call you like mega comfortable in that space and almost you look at it like, that's what's required. That's essential. It's not, you don't even think about it, right? You don't even, it's like so normal for you to be like, I am so bad at X, Y, Z. Let's go and let's go, let's fix it. I think that mindset is like so essential to people listening, to entrepreneurship, to business, to the athletic mind. And it's just like it's, but you say, I just love it. I love it because to you it's, you don't talk about it because it's so, it's so part of it that there's no reason to talk about it. It's like, yeah, why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you do that? Yeah, for sure. I love that. Well, listen, tell everyone where they can follow you or when your next fight is you're gonna, you're gonna put Owen in a headlock here in a second. So on Instagram, Twitter, KarlaSparza1 on my Facebook fan page, KarlaSparza. I don't really do my TikTok, but probably KarlaSparzaFB or something like that. I'm gonna get on it. I need some help from you youngsters now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, you guys can follow me there and I don't know when I'm fighting next, but I'll definitely post it on my social media. Right on. Well, thank you so much for coming to the Champ. Thank you. Thank you guys. Hey you. Yeah, you listening. Thank you so much for making it to the end of the episode. If you just can't get enough, check out our subscription on Apple Podcasts. For only 4.99 a month, you can listen to the full length, uncut, unedited podcast episodes. We're giving out life-changing advice for less than the price of your morning coffee. What a deal. Make sure to follow us on Instagram, subscribe on YouTube and we cannot wait to see you next week for another great episode. Cheers.


All right. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to a new day, a new session. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer. Louis, would you mind leading us in prayer, please? Okay, so good morning. Good morning. Thank you. Thank you for such an awesome day today. Thank you that we have come to the speech of that altar to learn how to speak up. Most of the time we pray that the Word through here will lead a better foundation for the future of generations to come. To thank you that this Word to God will not just be one knowledge, but be a testimony of our faith in God and therefore will commit ourselves, our heart, our teacher which is in your hands. I will say it for the spirit to rest upon everyone's heart and then be established in this truth and all of His righteousness in Jesus' name, your praise. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Louis. All right. So yesterday we moved into chapter 13. We talked on leadership and some of the important points we saw was that Jesus himself says if the blind are leading the blind, they both are going to fall into a ditch. And so as leaders, it's very important that we be able to see the vision, to see, to have foresight and to see where you want to have this organization or where do you want to see yourself standing, maybe three years, five years, ten years down the line. And so we saw that because leaders have the ability to influence other people, right? And so we must have that, right? Now, we also looked at, you know, it doesn't mean we have to wait to become a CEO of a company and only then we can, you know, lead other people. No, we can be a leader in a cell group with ten people and still, you know, have this quality of being able to have foresight, of being able to, you know, look ahead and look to the future. And it's very important because we remember that, you know, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they were all leaders, yet they could not see that the Messiah was there. They were blind spiritually. And so it was like they were blind leaders and their followers also were blind and they both are just going to fall into a ditch. So it's very important as leaders that we be able to see things ahead. Very important. It's also what we saw yesterday was it's good to have a vision. It's, you know, it's good to write them down, pray over it and all that is wonderful. But as leaders, we must maintain proper heart attitudes. We looked at three heart attitudes. First one was servanthood. Second one was passion. And the third one was self-control. We see that the Lord Jesus, being a leader, he chose to be a servant. He said, I've not come to be served, but I've come to serve the people. And this must be a heart of a leader. And we also saw that, you know, during his time, he brought all the disciples. He washed their feet. He walked in humility. He did not do anything out of selfish ambition. And two, he had a passion. As leaders, we must have passion.  And so as leaders, it is a responsibility. It is a task.  But one thing we can be assured of is like a leader has the ability to touch people's lives. The leader has the ability to influence others' lives. So we must be passionate as leaders. And three, we look at self-control and, you know, being self-governing, being self-restrained, making the right decisions at the right time, knowing how to speak, when to speak. And I think in ministry as well, a lot of, you know, a lot of times there have been leaders who have gone on to the pulpit and maybe in certain conferences, they get excited. They say things that they shouldn't have said. And this loosely spoke of things and it backfired on them. Maybe they didn't really mean it. But in that excitement, in that, you know, that being the center of attention, you get thousands of people listening to you, watching you. And many times, many preachers have said the wrong things, wrong words, you know, they have a genuine heart. They love the Lord, all of that. But in that excitement, they've said wrong things and then it's backfired on them. So as leaders, we must also have the ability of self-control, right? Which also means, you know, because nobody's going to check on us as leaders. Nobody's going to say, hey, did you do this, did you do that? So, you know, we must have the ability to check on our work, on our time, check our habits, our productivity, our interactions with people. So to make sure that, you know, we're following the right heart attitudes. And we also looked at maintaining, you know, proper people skills now. Any organization, any ministry is about people. It's not about robots. Ministry, again, it's not about robots and, you know, just coming on the stage, sharing and, you know, going away. That is not what ministry is, right? Ministry is about people. Without the people, there is no ministry. Without the people, there is no organization, right? So as leaders, we must develop people's skills. What do we mean by people's skills? Remember that they are people. They're going through different challenges. They all have a different story. You know, how to relate with people, how to communicate with people. And these are, this is an attribute that we can develop over time. You know, sometimes God chooses a leader and he trains them during the process. And there are times God trains people and then at a certain point of time makes them a leader. So, however it is, as leaders, we must have people's skills, being sensitive to people, being, you know, looking at their challenges, being, showing empathy, sympathizing with them, you know, giving them encouragement, building them, empowering them. These are very important, right? Now, especially in ministry, it's very easy when, you know, when we have a small church, it can be a one man show, right? Meaning, okay, one person, the pastor will do everything. Right?  But then later on, it's going to be a burnout. Be as leaders, must be willing to, you know, build teams, trust people, right? And, you know, another important aspect of, you know, maintaining people's skills is to trust people, give them opportunities and trust them with that opportunity. Right? So, for example, there's somebody in the church, a young man, he's been faithfully serving for a year, give them some opportunity, trust them with that opportunity.  Are you, of course, there are ways of, you know, making sure that, you know, if he needs assistance, we help him or her, but, you know, we need to trust people. And this all comes under people's skills. And then finally, we looked at if the head is not right, the body is not right. You know, when we look at the analogy of the human body, if the head is not functioning all right, the body is not going to function all right. So, the head is where it sends the signals to our body. So, we all woke up this morning and the head sends signals to the body saying, okay, you have a class at nine and you've got a login. So, you did what you had to do to get into the class. It's, the head helps you make decisions and also to make the actions, you know, to fulfill the task that is ahead. Now, head is not right. The body won't be right. You know, we also saw, you know, if you have a leader who's always, you know, mocking other religions or talking about other religions in a bad way, the congregation will be doing the same thing. If you have a leader who's gossiping about other, you know, pastors or other leaders, you'll have a church full of gossipers. If you have a leader who's always talking about, you know, wealth and money and all of these things, you will have a congregation who will always be thinking of wealth and money and all of these things. All right, so it's very, very important that as a head, as a leader, we know how to portray ourselves. We need to make sure that, you know, it's a huge responsibility. Even if there are just five people, even if you're just a cell group leader, next semester you, next year you will look at, we will look at discipleship and small groups as well and how important it is for leaders to, you know, even if it's 10, 12 people, you are, you and I are influencing them. Right, so as a head, we need to make sure we are right. So we stop there, we'll go to the next point. This is chapter 13 on leadership. Next point is demonstrate, emphasize, empower and celebrate honesty. Let's read Proverbs chapter 16, 12 and 13. Proverbs 16, 12 and 13. Yes, go ahead please, anyone. Proverbs 16 versus 12 and 13. Yes, anyone? Yes, faster. Proverbs 16, 12, Proverbs chapter 16 verse 4. It reads, Kings this test wrongdoing for a throne is established through righteousness. King take pleasure in honesty is value the one who speaks what is right. A king's rock is a messenger of death, but the wise will appease it. When a king's face brightens its means like his people is like rain cloud in spring. Yes, thank you. Thank you say it's just versus 12 and 13. Thank you. No problem. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. So good leaders. I'm reading the message translation here. Good leaders abhor wrongdoings, but sound leadership has a moral foundation. Good leaders cultivate honest speech. They love advisors who tell them the truth. Now in a world that we are living in, honesty, integrity is very easily thrown away. Now the core values that regular people have that we must have are all just, you know, put aside. Now I'm not talking only in the corporate sector, but also in the ministry, honesty, integrity. There are many, many ministries in so much of trouble in legal trouble. Financial accounts don't match and they've got into trouble. Their cases are in the court. And then you've got integrity issues. You've got, you know, leaders who have been involved in, you know, adultery with men and women. And these are all offensive in the eyes of God. That's why the writer here, the message translation used the right word, good leaders abhor. The word abhor is to come to have extreme hatredness to something, right? And in a world that we live in, being honest is quite risky, right? Others may say, strike back and say, okay, why do you have to do this? You know, leaders must protect people. We must, as leaders, we must make sure that those who are honest are protected. We must make sure that those who are honest are empowered even more. But people can, you know, leave honesty and integrity at the doorstep and do everything that is evil in the eyes of God. Never let honest people feel vulnerable or feel punished for their choice of honesty. There will be times in, let me translate this in ministry, right? There will be times in your church or in your team, a group, hopefully not. But I'm just saying, there will be times when, you know, there could be a season where there's this feeling of, you know, dishonesty that's happening. Or you feel that there's something wrong within the church. And then we find out that there are some dishonest means used or there are integrity issues among some of the church members. What must we do? Yes, we must bring correction. But there will be these few people in the church who stand for the truth and say, no, no, I don't want to involve myself in dishonest ways or walking in, you know, without walking in integrity. Now, those are the people we must protect. Those are the people we must empower. It's not always about talents and skills, right? We look at hard attitudes, right?  God calls us, he gives us these talents and skills. But above that are attitudes, right? Some people in the organization will hate you for your honesty. You know, say, hey, this guy, no, no, he's not a good person. I mean, he's not going to involve with us because we know something about him. And then there will be some who will stand against you. They will say, you know, he's the one who did wrong, but he's put the blame on somebody else. All of this will happen in the corporate and in the ministry. But remember that there will be some who will stand with you because you are honest. Stay honest always, right? Proverb 1726 says, it is not right to make an innocent person pay a fine. Justice is perverted when good people are punished, right? So honesty and integrity are very high values. And when we see that in our team, when we see that in our team members as leaders, we need to empower them. We need to empower their honesty, celebrate their lives, thank them for being honest. And it builds a whole lot of, you know, trust and faith in them. And we'll begin to see that, hey, other people in the team also. There will be times, you know, in ministry, like for example, even me. So I've been in APC for quite some time. There are times when, you know, we feel tired, we feel weary, you know. But it's the best thing to do is to be honest.  And I've told them, you know, I feel tired. There's no pretense, right? We can't pretend to be something. They ask me, hey, can you do this thing? Can you get this job done? There are times I've said, no, I can't. I'm just feeling very tired.  And when you're honest, people begin to trust you even more. I remember there was this one time, this man was part of our volunteer team. This happened in another place. And I asked him, brother, can we go and visit this family? Because, you know, they lost their loved one. Can we go and visit this family? He said, yes, yes, first. And then we decided at a time and a date and he said, okay. And then even in the morning, I called him and said, okay, so today is the date we will go. Somewhere in the afternoon, he says, actually, you know, I'm not feeling too well now, so I can't come. I said, okay, it's all right. Okay, I'll go alone. So he, so I went alone. But later on in the evening, as I was talking to him, I found out that the only reason he couldn't come was because, you know, the transport for picking up his child from school, you know, that person was unwell, so the bus driver, the auto person was not available to go pick up the child. You know, but he told me that I'm not feeling well, so I can't come. Now, what happens is, all he could have said was, you know, hey, this is what's happened. You know, the transport guy hasn't been able to come, so I have to go pick up my child. It's a genuine reason, right? The child can't come alone, can't come, return back home alone.  And we tend to live a life of dishonesty, and that is not right in the eyes of God. And then once you become leaders, if you're already in leadership role, we'll try to implement this. You know, the enemy has his ways of bringing all these wrong, hard attitudes, wrong attitudes, wrong thoughts, wrong dealings with people. Just because you get away with one thing at one time doesn't mean that, you know, every time we can do the same thing. It's wrong in the eyes of God, so we must remember that. Next point, your attitude wrecks on or invigorates. People tolerate or celebrate your attitude. Now, I'll just read Proverbs 16, 14 and 15. An intemperate leader wrecks havoc in lives. You're smart to stay clear of someone like that. Good-tempered leaders invigorate lives. They're like spring and rain and sunshine. Now, attitude is something that is quickly noticeable.  I'm sure we've all used that when we were young. You know, he's got an attitude problem, so I don't feel comfortable talking to him.  Maybe because he's very good in his studies and he's got an attitude problem. Attitude is very quickly noticeable. Our attitude affects whether you like it, others, you know, it affects others and others decide whether they like it or not.  You know, I've heard this saying, right? Our attitude will determine our altitude in life, right? Imagine this, we grow up the ladder. Corporate sector ministry anywhere. We're growing up the ladder. God is opening doors. We're growing. We're growing. We're growing because we have good skills. We've been working hard. You know, now we're growing up the ladder and at one point of time you'll reach a position. A high position. So professionally, we have done well, but on this journey of moving up, if our attitude also has not changed, what happens is we climb up the ladder and then because of our attitude, we can just slip that one step on the ladder and fall bottom down right to the ground. Our skills and talents take up after ladder, but it's our attitude that keeps us there, right? Yes, it's always good to, you know, have an attitude that is always joyful, pleasant, and we understand that there are times, you know, we can't be always pleasant and always happy, but we must not have a bad attitude, right? And we have a choice. If we are a leader, how we can portray ourselves? How must our attitude be? Are we short tempered? Are we people who get upset quickly or do we get irritated very quickly? Are we always, you know, in a hurry to do something?   So it's very important to have the right attitude. Celebrate people who have the good attitude. Draw inspiration and encouragement. Stay positive and have a great attitude. So this attitude will quickly rub off on others, right? Remember that as we grow up the ladder, it could be because of our talents and skills and God opens doors, but there's this responsibility of mending our attitude, changing the way we, you know, maybe speak or the way we deal with our team members, the way we deal with our team, we need to be, you know, having positive and great attitudes. Next one, very important, as leaders, be real, down to earth and avoid pretence. Proverb study in 7 says, a pretentious, showy life is an empty life.  Proverbs 12.9 says, better to be ordinary and work for a living than act important and starve in the process. So Proverbs is so wonderful, he just touches every aspect here. He's saying, be real, be down to earth. When ministries are small, it's very easy to be real, it's very easy to be down to earth. If you're studying a business, it's very easy. When you start something small, it's very easy to be down to earth, be real, be yourself. But what happens as we grow? As the ministries grow?  Why don't you come to this church and preach? And then people start to invite you. And then what happens? All of a sudden that down to earth feeling goes away. Why? Because there's importance.  People are inviting me to come and preach in so many places. People are inviting me to come and, you know, sing the songs. I'm a songwriter, so many people are coming calling me. Now, what happens is it becomes a show business. Now, remember this, very important. Leadership is not show business. Jesus, in his ministry, nowhere did he portray ministry as something that is very, you know, superficial or very great. Nowhere. He's just simple. He's a simple man. You know, nowhere does it say that, okay, Jesus, now he had 10,000, 15,000 people listening to him. So he started wearing, you know, some nice ornaments and perfumes and, you know, wearing very wealthy clothing of linen. Nowhere does it say that Jesus got up in the morning, he wore his regular clothes. He went out with his regular people. He didn't say to the disciples, hey, you are all fishermen and car and, you know, tax collectors. For some time, don't be near me. Let me go do my, anyway, I've got about 15,000, 20,000 people who are listening to me. I'll still do the healings. I'll still do the miracles. I don't want to be seen with you guys. You know, just ordinary fishermen. Nowhere did Jesus do that. But here's the thing. Don't put ourselves on the pedestal. We must be accessible. We must be approachable. Be normal as leaders. You know, this is very sad too.   It's okay to cry. It's okay to, you know, remember that we are real normal people, right? People will know that they can do what you do because of what you are. You know, one of the things that I always do with my children. This is something, you know, that I've learned over the past year or so.  He always sees me in the church. He always sees me leading worship, praying for people, preaching. And as pastors children, sometimes people have a lot of expectations. You should know this. You should know that. You should know the whole of the Bible by the time you're 10 years old. And these are, you know, wrong expectations. But some of the things that I do is, you know, it's very important that he learns that, you know, I'm not perfect.  And then I go and we have this heart to heart talk. I sit with him and I tell him, I apologize and I say, I'm sorry. And for him, it's a big deal. And dad, dad, why are you apologizing to me?  And you know, they, they, they have so much of reverence for you. You know, in the church, everyone say, come, pastor, please come, please sit. You know, he's seen all of that at a young age. And so he always feels that, you know, that, you know, my dad is somebody who's very great and he feels that way. But I keep telling him, you know, I make the same, I make mistakes.  And I say, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. And, and then I bring in scriptures and I say, okay, this is what the Bible says. And so I did something wrong. The reason I got upset was because, you know, I had mentioned this, not to do this.  Right? So I keep telling him, I also make mistakes. I, but what I do is I still love the Lord. I still go out to God and pray and ask forgiveness. And so now he's more open to me. He tells me everything. Right?  You know, there are some games that are not right. Earlier I should say, don't download, don't download. And I realized that I shouldn't be saying, don't, I need to replace it with something else. And so I began to talk to him through the scriptures.  But there's beauty in humility. There's beauty in simplicity. Right?  You know, even now, when I apologize to him and I, when I tell him, can I talk to you later? He's only six years old.   And so he can approach me at any time. If he has any problems, he can approach me. He can talk to me. And so it's very important. Now, there are, there's this meeting or this huge conference that happened in 2000 and I think it was 2014. This is called Vision India Conference. It is a huge conference. So you've got maybe about 15,000 odd people coming into one of the cities in India, in the center, Delhi. And you've got thousands of, you know, youth coming there. And it was a big auditorium. So we were, you know, as volunteers, I was part of the hospitality team. So when the, when the preachers come in, so we take them to the green room, offer them tea, biscuits, make sure that they're comfortable.  So I was really excited. I was young. We were in Delhi. And I was so surprised. These are very famous people. All right. I don't want to use any names, but they're very, very famous. Everyone know them, especially in our nation. And the demands that they had was, I was quite astonished. I was surprised. One of the preachers said, I will not get into this car from the airport. I will not get into this car unless you send a car which has AC. Send me a better car. I'm not going to get into this car. I'm not talking about, you know, some, something that we see once in a while. These are, you know, great leaders, been in the ministry for a long time. There was this one, and he, he refused to sit in the car. So we had to send another car. Then there was this other leader. Great, right. Very famous. They came into the green room and he was visibly upset. So we asked him, what happened? Is everything all right? No, the, the, what kind of room have you all booked for me? I expected to stay in a better five star hotel, but you just booked a room which is now some regular hotel. There's no swimming pool in the hotel. This was his requirement. He wanted a swimming pool in the hotel.  And I was watching. I'm in the green room. And then from the green room, you can just go, just a small walk away and you get to the main stage. So upset because of, you know, no AC car, no AC room or no swimming pool. But when they get on the stage, they are completely different. Another preacher came and said, what kind of food is this? This food, this is not, is this the food you give people like us? You know, just it was, it was such a show. I was so surprised. I wanted to ask them, are we together building God's kingdom? Or is this like a, I don't know, you know, I was so broken. And I thought to myself, I would never, ever, no matter how big or small I am, should never do this. And I'm glad I learned that lesson. But there was this other preacher, very famous preacher, right? He came in very humbly. He sat, I said, you know, I remember, I said, can I get you a cup of tea? No brother, no brother. Right. Anyways, I got him some refreshments. He sat there. Then everyone were talking and laughing. It's, you know, he went, can I get some silence in a small room? He asked me. I said, yes, master, please go here. And I saw and I just peeped and I saw he was kneeling and praying. And then he went on the stage. He preached in his regional language. And there was a translator who preached in Hindi. The entire stadium was weeping in tears as he was preaching the word of God. This is 2014 vision India. The entire stadium, the youth, the youth, young people are crying and weeping. He's just preaching the word. He finished preaching. There's no show. There's no gimmicks, nothing. Just the word of God. He preached. He wasn't even wearing a suit and all, you know, just a simple man, but very famous. He got off the stage. He said, brother, can I have a glass of water? I gave him a bottle of water. I said, please wait. The car will come. Take you and drop you to the hotel. He said, it's all right. Don't worry about the car. You just go to the main road. There's an auto. I know the name of the hotel. I'll sit in the auto and go. I said, no, you can't do that. We have a car. Just wait for a few. He said, don't worry about it. You're all tired. I will take an auto. It's just close by. He went. He went to the main road. He's caught an auto himself, sat in the auto and went. Now, which was more effective? The others came in with all the pomp and all the show with all their complaints. They did something on the stage and went away. This man came in humility and simplicity. Preach the word. The Holy Spirit touched people's lives. Just went back home quietly. No demands. No, no, nothing. When we are real, when we are down to earth, when there's no pretense, the Holy Spirit begins to work very powerfully in us. Because as leaders, we are very easily distracted, very easily gone. We may be taken away into this whole thing of fame and ministry becomes a business. Heard of another evangelist long time back. He said, unless you give me 1.5 lakhs, I'm not going to come and preach. And this was a small, probably two, three churches coming together. And, you know, it's sad to see these demands. But it's very important that we stay down to earth. Be simple. Be careful of familiarity. You know, and our words, the way we walk in our life is very important. Next point, lead by example. And we look at these. Sorry, I think my internet just dropped. Yeah, Nehemiah. Yeah, is it okay? No, it's okay. All right. Yeah. Yeah.  But he, you know, he led by example. He put his hands to the plow. You know, our life example speaks the most. I'm sure all of us have heard this, right, where we, you know, we can preach a thousand sermons, but what they will remember is what we do.  So, you know, regularly ate, we just washed our plates and we kept it aside. Then we went to, on the pulpit, we began to share and teach and all of that. But the young people saw that and they said, one of the things we've noticed in your team is you all took the plate, stood in your own line. You know, during the end of the conference, they say, what did you learn from these three days of sessions? And so the youth came and said, one thing that I learned was you all, as leaders, took your plates, stood in the line, took your own food, washed your plates and kept it there.  So as leaders, we need to lead by example. What we do speaks the loudest, right? Next one, give honest feedback, right? There'll be times as leaders we have to give feedback, right? Especially if somebody is, you know, sharing the word for the first time or even worship leading for the first time. Give honest feedback. If you feel they were good, tell them they were good. If you feel that there's, you know, much more scope for improvement, there are places where they need to improve. Give them honest feedback. That honest feedback is something that as leaders, we must give, right? People will eventually know that you did it for their good. At that moment, they may not, they may feel bad or some of them who are matured will say, okay, yes, I want to improve on this. But remember that they will understand one day that the feedback that I received was for my good. But listen, correction and feedback has to be timely. You know, give it when you notice it or shortly thereafter, right? Meaning don't wait for, you know, what happened? Six months back, you led the worship and you said this thing and the way you said it was not right. No, don't wait for six months to give that feedback. Give it on Monday. If it was on Sunday, give it on Monday, give it a day later. But the notice period should be very short. And then in timely feedback also, you know, don't, don't choose a time and a place. You know, if somebody does something wrong or you feel that you want to give them feedback, don't, you know, when the cell group is happening, don't say, okay, you know what, I wanted to give you feedback in front of all of them giving the feedback. Again, that is not the right time, not the right place. That's a way and I'm sure that all of us have developed that ability as well. Next point, don't waste your words on the inattentive. There will be times you're giving corrections.  They're just going on with the same thing. Don't waste your words on that. If you see that they're not implementing the feedback that they're giving you, just move on. Christopher's got a question. Besides travel accommodation, do pastors typically end their charge for preaching a sermon at an event? Yes. Yeah, Christopher, mostly they do. Now, I wouldn't say all pastors now, especially evangelists, right? Evangelist people who've got worship, you know, singers. Now, again, I'm not saying that all of them are, you know, asking for money and all of that. There are some who don't ask for money. They genuinely serve the Lord. They trust God that God will bless them.  They do ask for a certain kind of remuneration. If they don't ask, it's good, you know, the church or ministry that's inviting the person, it'll be good to bless them with something. Yeah, so nine out of 10 times they do ask. All right. So, yes, say go ahead. So, just to kind of put a balance, would you say that even though they charge, the manner and the way it's done should still be done in a humble, you know, it shouldn't be done with the motive that they can't minister without being paid. So, from the standpoint that they have people, they have to pay, they have to, and from a point of humility, basically, would you put that balance in the way they should approach such? Yes. So, for example, if you have somebody who's in the ministry who's probably written a couple of songs and their songs have become famous and they've been invited for different places, we know that that is their only source of income, right? They're in the ministry. So, we must also, you know, understand where they are coming from. Now, they're still not yet very much established. But there are some, you know, pastors or evangelists, especially evangelists, they don't really ask for money, right? It's not like, only if you pay me, I'll come. But what I'm saying, what I'm trying to say is that, yes, there should be that balance, even when if they ask, you know, in ministry, it's very difficult to say, right?  It's so wrong to do that. But, you know, we must understand, like, so for example, if I'm inviting somebody, I would ask them, is there a charge?  Or sometimes, you know, Christopher's put here, do attendees pay for a ticket to attend the event? It all depends, Christopher. So, before that, let me just finish this question. So it really depends on, you know, how big the ministry is. Like for example, APC, we don't, you know, we don't like to charge for anything. We try to do everything on our own.  In fact, we try to bless the other ministries who are, but there are many ministries like that. So there are times when, you know, we must understand that there's a need for them as well. And so we can choose to bless them. But there's a way, as you said, say, there's a way of, you know, asking, and there's a way of doing things. It shouldn't be like out of pride and, you know, you know what, I'm like this, so until you pay me this, I'll not come. Those are the wrong ways to deal with it. But it's always good to bless those who are serving the Lord. Christopher, for an event, do attendees pay for a ticket to attend the event? For the Vision India Conference, or, you know, there are many other conferences, there will be times when there could be a registration charge. Like a very minimal registration charge, yes. Or there could be times there's no, you know, now if you've got it in your church, obviously we're not going to charge our own church members to come and be part of an event, right? It's going to, it won't look right. But if you're doing something like a separate evangelistic event or a youth concert, you can think of, you know, having a minimal charge. Now those charges are, it's only so that we can meet the needs, you know, maybe renting the hall or renting sound equipment on that. So, right. Okay. So we've come to the end of our time. Okay. We'll just have probably two more points. What we'll do is we'll finish this next week and then we'll get into our next chapter as well. All right. Let's just quickly close in prayer. Rupa, is it okay if you can close for us? Sure, sir. Thank you. Father God, we come to your awesome presence. Thank you, Lord, for being with us and teaching us your heart. Father, as you have called us to serve you, Lord God, grant us your heart. Father, heart of humility. And to serve you in all that we do and say, Master, that people see a great revival in the children of God, in the leaders of God, that we may serve you with wholehearted commitment and surrender, Lord God. We thank and praise you for giving us this privilege to be called the servants of the Most High God. That you honor us. You have honored us and given us this privilege. And Father, grant, thank you for Pastor Paul and his family serving you, Lord God. We all need more of you in our lives, more of your presence, anointing wisdom, understanding and change of heart, renewal of heart, mind and Father God and our thought processes as we serve you, Lord, that we may reflect your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, amen. Thank you, Rupa. Thank you, everyone, for joining. Have a great week ahead. We'll see you next week. God bless. Thank you, Master. God bless. Thank you, Pastor. Thank you, Pastor. God bless.