I wanted to make sure that it was legit and let me tell you guys this this is my answer right now about loose fishing So now I'm confident in saying that lose stay tuned This is why I ended up switching over to all loose rods and reels. What's up kicking their bass fan This is fishing norm. I'm sure you guys my swim bait box right here Even though it is very dry right now, but we do have some swim baits still left in here I took everything out, but we left some of them in here kind of sort of so right here Anyway, so here's one of my ice slides and the tail came off and it has some fuzziness Remember when we put your camera in this box we are I'm not gonna say the name the lake, but we were there That'll block some of the wind out So yeah, this one has a magnet on the bottom. It's pretty cool I haven't used it and probably like three years though to be fair I did take all my cool swim baits out and I hung them up on the wall and then I came here with My average swim baits I guess we got ourselves the go skill Gantarilla I actually caught some on the bedding season last year fall. I'm joking Yeah, so we got this a go skill Gantarilla here as you can tell I had it tied on Multiple times and caught some bedding fish on this thing. They do not like it You can actually put a weight on the front of this little bluebill right here It's like he's eating the eggs on the basses bed. So yeah, it's a killer Bed fishing bait any type of bait really. I mean it's not any type of baits What am I saying anytime you can fish with this thing The rest of the stuff in here. I mean this is a S waiver probably my favorite glide bait of all time for glide baits These are actually super cheap or affordable because some of them can be hundreds of dollars and this one's only you know He's got a ton of fish on that and you know, I see that's like all he throws like religious Really big one of fat catfish on one of these big old catfish in Alabama I'm selling money to haircut. I look like a goober my hair is getting too long here. What do we do this? We better straight thug well, that's enough of Norm's swim bait tackle box Because I got more if they want to see more they can see more But I just kind of wanted to show a sneak peek. Hey, look at all that stuff, man Norm norm put a lot of swim bait boxes like I think you guys would want to see it And I also wanted to show that I'm here with my boy norm here with my boy a dub Today's a little different video But there's one more thing I want to show you before we hop into the juice of this video By the way, you guys are new to the channel smash that subscribe button hit the notification bell and also hit the like button Get this video like 5,000 likes boys because we're gonna film some bangers and also since I'm posting this tonight Draw some ideas. We're gonna be filming like the next five days. So drop ideas You want to see with these two boys? So What are you doing? What is this man doing? Straight model status is directly in my eyes and my pupils are burning Let me take a break So I wanted to announce that as you guys saw if you saw in one of my latest videos I showed you guys my new boat. Well, this is it fully wrapped. We just got it done It's just like the truck. We finally got it matching that we got the cryptic camo It's like the gray and black in there and then also the new kickin logo and also sponsored logo is on the edge For carp for her for uh, what is this? Dude, what'd you do? No, that wasn't me. It was just there.  Come on, bro. Actually, you can't even see it cuz it's cryptic camo. Come on Am I floating? Always seems a big green fish on the side who's swimming freely And then for the car But for the carpet graphics got the huge kickin logo in the middle sponsored logos on the outside now overall Just turned out really good big shout out to ZD cows for doing this big. Thank you to them Who drinks coffee like that?  So thick boy. All right. All right, sorry You're a storage of the squirrel right before we're gonna do this and we're just done So if you guys are wondering why you clicked on this why if you're wondering why that you ended up clicking on to this video So the reason you guys ended up clicking on this video is because you guys are probably curious that I was Exclusively using 13 fishing products for you know a couple of years and then I started using other brands one including Lose and I'm gonna kind of go through the process on what went down. This is a message I really needed to say to you guys much earlier, but there's a whole reason on why I didn't do that And so I'm gonna spill it today. So you guys are a fan of the channel. You guys have been supporting me for a while I appreciate the support I would like you guys to watch this all the way through so you guys kind of understand the whole deal because I kind of Want to get it off my chest. It's been a while. So For you guys that have been watching my channel for a while 2017-2018 I was sponsored by 13 fishing You know, I was under contract with them a sponsor buy with them from 2017 to 2018 a little bit in 2019 but I wasn't under contract With that being said at the beginning of the year We both just couldn't come on with terms for the 2019 season if you guys don't know I'm actually a full-time student at college and I'm doing a lot and they were wanting to produce like a lot more video content for their channel Which I would love to be a part of but it's just something that couldn't really walk away from school and be able to Do my videos and kick in their bass and the brand and do all that together with something I wasn't gonna be able to happen the people over at 13 literally everything about them great people I have nothing bad. I can say about any of them on their products amazing products Because I saw a lot of people counting like dude is there something wrong with their stuff like a bunch of stuff and no You know, they make premium products Just like almost any other rotting real brand out there on the market at the end of the day every company makes something That's good And it's nothing if their product was bad or something was going wrong It's not that so don't take that in the wrong way, but let's go ahead and move into 2019 and what ended up happening So pretty much that whole five months. I was using 13 gear at the beginning of this year I was not sponsored by them. I'm not at all people thought I was because I was still using their stuff Which I can totally understand. I didn't say anything. So I understand why people would think that But what you guys didn't notice is in some of the episodes I used St. Croix rods. I used favorite rods. I used Abu reels. I used some Shimano's. I used a lot of lose I used a ton of different brands. I was experimenting You guys know one of my good buddies lojo. He is sponsored by lose David with lose very kind guy amazing dude. He's treated me so well. He ended up reaching out He said hey, do you mind if I send you a few rods and reels? You can test out and try out I said, alright, that's cool. I was just fishing with the reels, you know Nothing more than that just fishing with the stuff and as time went on, you know a month or so into it I really started to enjoy the product and you know I started to talk to him further to see if we can collaborate in the future And with that being said every company that I work with and you guys can take my word on this I've done this for eight years guys. I've worked with many of brands many of companies a ton of great people And I only use products that I believe in and I know that are legit because I know a lot of you guys are Beginners so if I say, you know, I'm using this and you guys don't know anything about fishing You're gonna look it up and you're possibly gonna want to check it out And I don't want to talk about anything unless I know it's legit. Okay, so with that being said hold on Thanks, Norm you're welcome with that being said I told David with loose, you know, we talked and everything I wanted to use the product that he sent me For a while and by a while that while ended up being like probably three to four months So there's four months every single day like I pretty much fish every day I was using the mock series combos and I wanted to see if they're legit You know, I didn't want to say loses name in my videos because I didn't want to push anybody in the wrong direction If they weren't the combos I thought they were so I used the stuff every single day Literally like just throwing it around throwing in my truck traveling all over the place fishing with all these boys I'm just having a good time and you know, I wanted to make sure that it was legit And let me tell you guys this this is my answer right now about loose fishing those four months I was using those combos the same combos. I started out with I'm talking fishing every day You can ask this boy behind the camera like you know Every every day and I'm being completely honest with you you guys look at the combos I started with look at the ones I'm using now. I got a bunch of new ones now that I just re-spooled yesterday I didn't have one problem with any of them not one and that is my a hundred percent Honesty right there. I haven't either by the way and he hasn't either and he's been using them Okay, out of those four months of us using them every single day With that being said I did have one problem, but it was not the rod or the reels fall.  I didn't have any problems So now I'm confident in saying that lose is a legit brand. They make legit products It's no bull crap The stuff's gonna last in my opinion for the time that I've used it I haven't had any problems if I had something I would say it if there was some big problems with it And I didn't think it was the right equipment. I wouldn't be partnering up with this But this was the answer you guys have been wanting for a while So I just ended up partnering with lose to be using the rods and reels And I would like to say a huge thank you to David and everyone else over at lose we you know talked a lot over the over the months and just really great people and The most important thing when it comes to me working with the company collaborating with the company partnering with the company is That relationship, you know, I see a bunch of guys out here nowadays that you know they'll see something they won't even have the product in their hand and They'll sign the deal because they get a bunch of free product or to get money And that's one thing that I'm not gonna do and it's one thing that I've stayed true of the last eight years And you can go back on my constant and watch, you know, I'm just telling you the truth right here. So With that being said amazing people over there It's just just phenomenal and I almost feel like I'm family, you know, I can call them anytime I want if I have any problems I'll let him know But so far everything's been good And I just wanted to kind of spill everything on the table kind of tell you guys what happened with 13 Transferring it over to lose and like I said nothing against 13 and a lot amazing people over there And they really took care of me and I appreciate them their products were amazing But you know going in to this upcoming year I'm going to be the using lose fishing products. I'm hopefully going to be using them forever you know, that's my main goal at the end of the day is I have a very long-term relationship and Be like family with the company be able to talk to them and you know if I have any problems be able to spill that But if you guys have any questions, be sure to comment them down below I really appreciate each and every one of you guys supporting me in the channel. It really means a lot um a Bunch of cool content coming soon this boy Yes me behind that's you man That's you old fishing with norm right here and then I'm a boy a dub over there you guys can check out their channels We're gonna be collabing the next like what maybe five days probably it's gonna be a lot of it It's gonna be a grind bro, especially in the cold It's gonna be a grind but thank you guys so much for watching this video Like I said, I've been wanting to like spill this all my chest for so long But I wanted to make sure that you know the products were legit and I can tell you I took my time I was patient with it. I used the stuff. I made sure I was comfortable I made sure I liked it and I can't say anything bad just just legit stuff for a good price and Guys, I'm closing out right here. Be sure to hit that subscribe button hit that notification bell Also smash that like button and me and the boys right here. We'll see you in We'll see you on Tuesday


Hello, I am Diane Miller, the program manager for the National Park Service National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. I'm glad that you're able to join our session. The National Park Service Network to Freedom program was established in 1998 with legislation that directed the National Park Service to commemorate and honor the Underground Railroad as a crucial element in the evolution of our nation's civil rights movement. Our mission through collaboration with local, state, and federal entities, as well as individuals and organizations, is to honor, preserve, and promote the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight, which continues to inspire people worldwide. The focus of the Underground Railroad is on the enslaved people who self-liperated. They're the center of the story, and that is the story that the National Park Service seeks to tell. We do that by empowering communities to identify, document, preserve, interpret, and tell the story of the Underground Railroad. Whether it is in their community, whether it's their ancestors, our mission is just to uplift their efforts. I want to make sure that we focus on the centrality of the Freedom Seeker rather than the assistance provided by allies. That is certainly part of the story, and we do include those things in the Underground Railroad story, but it's much faster than that. It is places that people escape from. Where did they journey? Where were rescues and kidnappings? Who were the churches or congregations, institutions that assisted Freedom Seekers? It was really a vast resistance movement, and that is the story that we are trying to help surface through our work with communities. And so that's why we're really pleased today to bring you this collection of community people that have been doing this work for the Underground Railroad. I am going to pass this off to Network for Freedom intern Winnie Cargill, who has been working with us diligently on bringing this information to the public, and she is going to moderate this discussion. Winnie. Thank you, Diane. I wanted to give a little bit about the process of how we chose these three individuals. So after reviewing the National Trust call for proposals, the theme that aligned with the Network for Freedom members and preservation was Encouraging Inclusion and Diversity through Preservation. And this is a topic that I've been thinking about a lot for the past two years. I started my internship with the Network for Freedom while I also started my graduate studies in historic preservation and community planning at the University of Maryland College Park. And themes of inclusion, community development, and more diversity and preservation have intersected between my work and my studies. And throughout my time with the program, I've had questions of how Network for Freedom members have to find historical integrity and significance, as well as how they viewed and define sites that had little to no physical integrity. So Diane helped me find these three individuals that we think best represent the answers to these questions. And these three sites are Forks of the Road, Abyssinian Meeting House, and New Philadelphia. We'll start with the community member associated with Forks of the Road, which is Sir Boxley. A little bit about Sir Boxley. He has a master's in urban planning from San Jose State University. He's a regional and urban planner, a coordinator of FRSI, Fort McPherson, Sun's Daughters of the US, Color Troops, Black and Blue Civil War Living History Program, and Forks of the Road Enslavement Market Sites from Forgotten to a National Park Service Park. Sir Boxley, can you please briefly describe the site and its significance? Well, thank you very much. The site that my person chose to serve as an equalizer to the huge amount of plantation tourism and preservation in Natchez, Mississippi was called the Forks of the Road. It's a juncture where three roads in the east side of Natchez came adjourn each other. And I learned that in looking for a site that would speak to the masses of people rather than any particular person, that this site, at this site called the Forks of the Road operated from 1833 until the Civil War as a site for the America's domestic enslavement trafficking to the south as far as Natchez is concerned. And that meant that the long distance dealers that operated from in the upper south forced bringing enslaved people over what I call the overground railroad down to the south and to Natchez, Forks of the Road. Whether the market places for Franklin and Amphill, the Kentucky dealers, Richmond and St. Louis and other places where professional enslavement traffickers would force bring enslaved people in captivity for resale. That's exactly what this site speaks to and was about. Thank you, Sir Boxley. Our next presenter is Debra Kadri. She's a founder and also part of the committee to restore the Abyssinian Meeting House in Portland, Maine. Debbie, can you please talk about, describe the site as well as its significance? The Abyssinian was created or established in around 1828, 27 somewhere in there. We vacillate back and forth. I think depending on which one of us has been up the longest that date as to what date we use. I'm kidding. And I discovered it as the Abyssinian Meeting House in 1987, 88, if you will. It was an old deteriorated building. And thanks to somebody who I identify as the Godfather of the Abyssinian, as we know it now, was the editor of the Portland Press Herald who wrote an editorial one day based on what he thought was a historic building. He posed the question, who could save this building? I happened to be living in Atlanta at the time with a newborn, so I had a few hours to spend. I said, I'll take a look at it. I said, this should be a no-brainer. That was, as I said, in 1987, 88. We are just now finishing the exterior restoration. We'll begin the interior very soon in the next few months here. The building was a church originally, part of the 4th Congregational Baptist Church here in Portland, Maine. And it has since been, has many iterations of a structure its size would be. And I'm looking forward to talking more about it. What was your other question, Winnie? The other question was, what is the significance of the site? Okay. It's historic structure. It's the third oldest. It was identified as the third oldest standing African American Meeting House when we founded it back, when we founded it as the, working on it as the restored Abyssinian Meeting House. Today, I was in a meeting with, actually, our Senator came to the building a few weeks ago. And I told him I wanted to confirm that what we knew, what we've been talking about for 25 years is factually still true. So I'll be looking into that more. I believe it is. It's the third oldest standing African American Meeting House in the country. And as I said, it was created in 1837, 38-ish. Thank you for that, Debbie. Our last presenter is Professor Gerald McWhorter. He represents the story of New Philadelphia and Barry Illinois as the great, great grandson of the founders of Free Frank and Free Lucy McWhorter. He is a professor at the University of Illinois with a PhD from the University of Chicago. With his wife, Kate, he is the co-author of the book New Philadelphia 2018. He's also the vice president of the New Philadelphia Association. Professor McWhorter, can you please briefly describe the site and its significance? Thank you very much for having me and featuring New Philadelphia on this program. New Philadelphia is an abolitionist town that was established in 1836, which was the first town legally platted and registered by an African American in the United States. Free Frank and Free Lucy came to Illinois from Kentucky after purchasing themselves out of slavery in 1830. The town was 42 acres, 144 lots, with 22 streets. It has been recognized by the federal government in many ways. In 1988, my aunt, Alma, and her daughter, Juliet, were able to get the grave site of Free Frank recognized as a national register of historic places, which was the third such grave site recognized in Illinois after Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. The town itself was on the national register of historic places in 2005. And then it became a national historic landmark in 2009. And then finally the network for freedom of the Underground Railroad of the National Park Service recognized New Philadelphia in 2013. It's currently being considered by Congress to become a national park. So one major aspect of its significance, of course, is that it is the first town, such town, by an African American. But also because of the 19th century story of the historic struggle against slavery, the moral and political struggle against slavery, we recognize Mark Twain in Hannibal, Missouri, and Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, and other places in Illinois. But right in the middle of that is the agency of an African American. And so it's very important in telling the story of the Underground Railroad and the Freedom Seekers that this was an act of self-determination by the African Americans, not only the ones that were seeking freedom, but of the many who assisted. And the McWhorters and the people of New Philadelphia were part of that story. Thank you, Professor McWhorter. In the next slide, we will let Sir Boxley give a more in-depth talk about Forks of the Road. Okay. This particular slide shows on the upper left the first activity, public activity, that my person conducted after choosing the Forks of the Road as a site to be the equalizer to the stories that made it look like this. It looked like the enslavers and then the whites did everything by themselves. This is a site that shows an old building that was on the site, the first site. There were really three sites at the Forks of the Road that were operated by enslavement traffickers, or long distance traffickers. This one particularly is how I first started to introduce to the public what had happened at this site and the traditional African libation is a prayer or an offering or an acknowledgement of the spirits of enslave persons or any particular person that has passed on. Even in living, you can offer a libation which energizes the spirits of people. In this case, this is the very first public event that my person conducted as part of the June tea celebration in 1995 at the site that is historically designated as the Forks of the Road. The slide to the right shows you the site and its present situation without the building in it as such. The ad above the slides, this is an ad by John James, anyway, it's an ad that was in a local newspaper that I was able to find that actually began to give visible proof to what happened at the site, to the operation at the site. And of course, as I went on over the years since 1995, I've found hundreds of ads where there are different long distance dealers and in some cases local dealers who were offering up enslaved people for sale at the Forks of the Road. The other item that I'd like to talk about in this slide is the Civil War. I'd like to say that the Forks of the Road talks about what they did to our ancestors and with the Civil War when the Emancipation Proclamation allowed for enslaved people and non enslaved people, blacks, African descendants to become Union Army freedom fighters enrolled in the Union Army and help it. Then I say the black history in the Civil War talks about what enslaved people and non enslaved people did to enslavers. In other words, one talks about being enslaved and the other one talks about self emancipation and fighting against the Confederate South. And of course, one of the other items that I was able to produce with the help actually is the first traveling exhibition that I was able to produce about the Forks of the Road and about the subject of slavery called the African European Roots of the Underground Railroad. This is a exhibition that travel around the country that educated folks about the places in Africa that the Europeans held our African ancestors in prison and they're force bringing out of the doors of no return to the Americans to be enslaved and on the eastern seaboard. And then eventually the internal enslavement trafficking from the Upper South down to the new Lower Southwest at the Forks of the Road. Thank you, Sir Boxley. This next slide includes more pictures as well as a physical representation of the three sites that Sir Boxley mentioned. Would you like to add anything else to this slide, Sir Boxley? Okay, actually the group slide that you see at the bottom to the right, that was a group of performers, amateurs that we had organized into a play, a demonstration of what could happen at the Forks of the Road to tell the history. And the title of that slide of that play was Slavery Meased Freedom at the Forks of the Road. And essentially what we had was a variety of students from Alcon College and local community people. We would carry out in the beginning introduction and continuing story the history of enslaved people being sold there at the Forks of the Road. And then by the time we get to the end, we're talking about when the Union Army occupies Natchez in July 13th of 1863 that an established recruitment station at the Forks of the Road does Slavery Meased Freedom at the Forks of the Road. And then we would introduce some of the folks in uniform and tell a story, particularly about the Battle of Vardalian in February 1864, where enslaved people as soldiers of the Six Heavy artillery defeated the elite Texas Confederates on February 7th. On the left side is a picture of a brochure that we produced with a grant from the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom that intended, and its intent was to begin to educate folks about the history of the Forks of the Road. And on the right side of that Y section, that's where you get the Forks of the Road concept. You see the site where the notorious Franklin and Amphil, either Franklin and John Amphil and all of their associates who were based at 1315 Duke Street in Alexander, Virginia, the building is still a stat, it still exists where they operate from. That's where their selling headquarters was operating at the Forks of the Road, even though the narrative was saying that they came around the Atlantic Seacoast and stopped in New Orleans, but their destination was to their selling headquarters at the Forks of the Road. And the triangular piece in the V, within the roads where it says the site for John D. James, this was the dealer who was looked to Richmond, Virginia, where his partner and brothers were the persons who were ill-getting enslaved people in Richmond and shipping into his headquarters there at night. He's one of the first major operations in the 1850s in that site. And then to the left is a site that was credited to, is credited to the enslavement dealer from Kentucky, Robert H. Elam. And happily that particular site has just been acquired by the Natus National Historic Park, and so was the one inside of the triangle. So those two pieces of property are now property of the Natus National Historic Park. And the second item that I was able to on a major level to move around the country in terms of traveling is called Forks of the Road, America's domestic hub of the domestic enslavement traffic. And this was the hub at Natus, the Forks of the Road. And that exhibit has been on display here at Natus since 2018, and it's still showing in the visitor center of the parks. It has traveled, made its debut at Purdue University and Lafayette, and it's traveled to the Northeast Illinois and Southeast Illinois University and other places before it came home. Thank you, Sir Boxley. Oh, I forget one. Well, it's hard to see the deepest south. That's a particular book by the great writer, Kent Carter's name right at the moment. Richard Grant. And it catalogs a narrative and talks about the culture of Natus, of the underbelly culture of Natus. And it has my person, I was proud to see that particular image just to post an elderly lady in Natus that owns one of those antebellum homes. And so that's what I see. I don't know if there's another component to the slide. But that book is available, and it has an impact on the social aspect of Natus that a lot of the people resented in denying. But Richard Grant brings things home from the underbelly from the truth. And I'm pleased that he was able to produce this book and honor that he had me as his dust cover. Thank you, Sir Boxley. Our next site that will be more in depth is the Abyssinian Meeting House with Deborah. So the first photo that we put up that I'm offering is a photo that we think is dated back to 1912. And that is one that Mr. Shuttlesworth from the Maine Historic Society, Maine, the state of Maine Historic Society provided. And that was the photo that we started the hunt, if you will, for information about the building. The second photo reflects sighting that was taken off of the building when we started the restoration process back in the 1990s, around 97, 98. And a lot of the sighting had to be taken off of the building as we conducted a historic structures report trying to get more information on what we knew to be a historic building, but nobody had information on it, none, until the historic structures report was undertaken, commissioned, if you will. The third photo also reflects removing materials from the outside, the exterior of the building, if you will, trying to get at what the building used to be. What we discovered were windows that were much three to six windows that were on the building, were built into the building, and that we came to understand were placed in the original place. All of that was only done by commissioning the historic structures report. In the end, we did three historic structures reports and three archaeological digs. The next slide, please. So I don't know who from the network to freedom came to the building in, I want to say was 1910. Diane, I don't know if you were there when we introduced the structure to you were there. Yes, and I believe it was 2010. 2010, 2010. I'm showing my age because 19, you know, whatever, 2010, 20, it's all one year at this point for me. Anyway, the building since then has really gone through what complete restoration we still have the interior to do, but what you're seeing there is what the exterior looks like. I think we took that photo either last in the spring or last summer. And it had to be the spring because we just the doors on in the water and the windows that you saw in the earlier folks have are now in there to reflect the original side windows. There are three on the east and west side of the building and two in the front down on the main floor. There's a smaller window and two new doors. And I cite it like that because you know when you reach for those people that are listening who haven't gone through the process yet, but everything including the nails are people who did the building. The first time we saw a presentation of the things that they were finding in close of nails who at them. They really didn't quite appreciate or understand how sickness square headed nails were, but I ended up giving those square headed nails to major donors as as an opportunity for them to have a piece of the Abyssinian everything counts the windows the doors the siding the clapboards. So when you look at those clapboards there we did those clapboards. I think four years ago. And they now need to be redone again before the whole preservation project is completed. So you're getting a glimpse of the Abyssinian meeting house as it stands now. And the inside that's the top floor you see there are two floors that you can see if you look at the building and the interior are what you see in the original floors that we've stripped down and though the lighting isn't very good. Part of the the wood has been replaced because it just wasn't safe anymore. It will all be restored sometime in the next two years and the interior again you see a couple of the windows as they are new. And the third side to the on the roof the ceiling I'm sorry looking up at the ceiling the roof was replaced using money from the Barack Obama administration. And that was really the beginning of the restoration effort from our perspective. And so the big conversation with people is do you the roof or do you leave it like that. We tried I tried to tell everybody things are looking up. We are in the gotten significant funding from I'm trying to think of what they call it from from our Congress people the government just approved. Well they proved it at the beginning of the year. We just got two thumbs up that we were selected as an organization that's going to receive $1.7 million from the federal government. It's a very big deal with community community funding grant otherwise known for those of you that are older as set asides. But that's not what the Biden administration calls it. But that's we're very blessed to have just been made aware that the money is moving forward and I just was in a meeting last week to better understand what the grant looks like. As I said, Senator King came into the building couple Senator Collins was in there back in March. And so we have the full support of our congressional bill to finally bring this over the finish line. And that I'll stop because I'm sure you'll have more questions that will cover some of what I could say now. Thank you Deborah. Our last site that will go into deeper context is New Philadelphia, New Philadelphia with Professor McQuarter. Again, thank you. This slide shows free Lucy and free Frank as the founders. What's important here is that Frank McWhorter was a slave in Kentucky who hired out and was a very enterprising person who was able to mine salt Peter and actually owned land as a slave. And he was able to use that to get enough money to purchase his wife in 1817 in Pulaski County, Kentucky. And because she was pregnant with their next child, they wanted that child to be born free. In the end, Frank and Lucy ended up having the money to purchase 16 family members out of slavery, bringing most of them to Illinois. When they suddenly moved Illinois in 1830 and then founded the town in 1836 that is legally established the town in 1836. Frank then went on to network with people at the state legislature in Illinois to get a law passed in 1837 that established and legally established the name McWhorter. Now most people think of the name McWhorter with an H in it Frank took the H out so that the name McWhorter without an H would be his name. And that nobody from Kentucky that is the family that had owned him whose name was McWhorter with an H could take that land. So that's one story that the founders of the second story is when in 1837 when the Illinois state legislature passed that law, Abraham Lincoln was there and participated. And so in Illinois, we have a program called looking for Lincoln, all the places that identify Abraham Lincoln's activities. And so in the looking for we found Lincoln in relationship to free Frank, and therefore a sign established by the looking for Lincoln commission exists now in Barry Illinois, identifying the story that connects Frank McWhorter and Abraham Lincoln. Another aspect is that Frank's son Solomon was a very enterprising person. Frank went back to Kentucky and purchased him out of slavery when Solomon was 20 years old. And we have family oral history that demonstrates the conversation that Frank had with Solomon when he was bringing him back to Illinois describing freedom and what his role would be in the family as a free person. Solomon was very enterprising. He was an inventor. And he got the first patent of an African American in Illinois and was one of the fifth or sixth African Americans in the entire country to get a patent. He got a patent on making a sorghum into a sweetener. The abolitionist movement did not want to use bloodstained sugar from the south. And so sorghum became the sweetener of choice by the abolitionist movement and Solomon was very important in that whole development. New Philadelphia has never not been known because the families that live in the area had maintained their own oral history back to New Philadelphia. It was an integrated town, blacks and whites. In fact, there were more whites than blacks, but there was a substantial number of black people and it was a station on the Underground Railroad. So one of the first, of course, the newspapers back in the 19th century and early 20th century had articles about the town and the activities. But the first actual publication that we know of was in 1964, Grace Madsen published for the Pike County Historical Society an account of New Philadelphia. There was another book published by Helen McWhorter Simpson, and then my cousin, my first cousin Juliet Walker, did a doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago under John O. Franklin and published a book with the University of Kentucky Press in 1983. And my wife and I have published a book on New Philadelphia in 2018. The real work that's been done on New Philadelphia, next slide please, is by the New Philadelphia Association that was formed in 1998. The overall significance of New Philadelphia is that almost every way black people could get free, people did it in New Philadelphia and we call that the seven ways to freedom. They worked free, they were freedom seekers coming through there, they bought themselves out of slavery, they legally established a town, they helped others get to Canada and get north. They fought, their descendants fought in the Civil War, and they lived free 20 miles from slavery, that is from Missouri and the Mississippi River. These were people who were in an abolitionist village committed to freedom. And this is an example of the historic recognition of the town as I mentioned before. The lower right hand, you see a bust of Free Frank that is now on exhibit at the Abraham Lincoln Museum Library in Springfield, Illinois. And another replica of it is at the Smithsonian, New Smithsonian African American Museum, which was done by, again, a descendant of Free Frank from Cleveland, Ohio. Thank you. Thank you, Professor McWhorter. For the public, if they'd like to learn more, these are some sites that they can visit to read up on these sites that we have just learned about. So we're going to move into a few of our discussion questions. The question is, how did the local officials in the community react to learning about this new significance or interpretation of the site? We had 100% support from the beginning of the community locally in Portland and our congressional delegation nationally. It was overwhelmingly appreciated. The difficulty was in bringing people to better understand that it was a historic building to just explaining the process involved in historic preservation and restoration was a challenge I had. We had originally, way back 25 years ago, we had many, many people throughout the state, when I say many, 15 to 20 board members. We've dwindled down now to seven to nine as the challenges of raising money overtook a lot of what the board couldn't do. Yeah, we had a great deal of support. I think that the better ways for me would be to answer your question and then we can get into a bigger discussion, I think, as we move forward, unless you need me to say more. That's perfect and we can get more into the things you're talking about, maybe in some of the questions. Thank you, Debra. Professor McWhorter, what are your thoughts? Yes, well, it's very interesting because the New Philadelphia was never not remembered and therefore people always knew about it. But of course what happened is, after the New Philadelphia Association was formed in 1998, then subsequently academics, archaeologists in fact got involved. And there was a National Science Foundation grant that enabled 25 or so students to come to participate in an archaeological dig. That of course brought great attention to the project. And it also brought money into the economy, into local economy. And that's a very important part of this project that we think of it as a cultural heritage tourism. And so that really was started by the archaeological project, which of course also gave it a scholarly framework in which to extend the story. But from the very beginning, we had major newspaper editors, we had county commissioners, we had local city officials of Barrie, all involved. And so they, in small town America, there is a great economic crisis. And we also know that the freedom story is not necessarily embraced by everybody in this country. But the economic value and people who live close to New Philadelphia and have family connections to the Abarishness story is what has kept New Philadelphia as a positive point of reference for Pike County in general. Thank you for that Professor McWhorter. That's very interesting to learn about. Sir Boxley, the question is, how did the local officials in the community react to learning about this new significance or interpretation of the site? All right, thank you. The local official, how did the local, I'll say in this case, the local officials are really the national historic park, being a federal government agency. My intention was to concentrate on the enabling legislation of the Natchez National Historic Park, which says that it has to represent all. The local official in this case would be the city of Natchez, the state Mississippi Department of Archives and History, as well as your congressional delegation and the Natchez National Historic Park. The Natchez National Historic Park had an issue about jurisdiction because the Fox of the Roadside laid outside of their enabling legislation established park. But nevertheless, they embraced it because I was advocating at the federal level, at the federal agency. And one of the first thing they did was to have a pictorial exhibit on the site of the Merrill's history site here that they own. And it talks about the Fox of the Road and they put a brochure together. The city government was very reluctant to embrace the subject of slavery as much as the tourism agencies had a prolific tourism industry going on. And the S-word was not something that they were interested in per se. It took a while to make dent in the tourism industry. The Mississippi Department of Archives at the state level embraced the incident or the history of the site because it was undeniable in the way that I had been able to present it in the way the history. That's still available at Stant History presented it. So the Mississippi Department of Archives and History almost immediately began to work on with my assistants, working on a national landmark, the various components that the federal government had for recognizing historical sites. The local Archives and History person, Jim Barnett, is his name, began to give designation to the site as code into what the Archives and History could do and also make applications by 1999. This is from 1995 to 1999, make application for historical landmark designation. At the federal level of U.S. congressmen, the congressmen for the fourth congressional, it was then the fourth congressional district began to make appeals to the National Park Service to look into the situation. So in a real sense, we had because of the way that I approached this, that is trying to circumvent the local people as much as possible, the local government as much as possible, trying to circumvent them knowing that I could have more success or that I could agitate at the federal level and maybe have some success, which has proven out. By and large, the general public and African American community would show up at the various activities that we will be conducting at the Forks of the Road to try to continue advocating to the public what the history is about. Not the established African American community. When I mean established, I did not go into the ones that were already social organizations and ministers and whatever you would call the establishment of the African American community. I circumvented them again using the tactics that were learned from training from the Saul Alenski organization that taught you how to do organizing in the community and various tactics of either you go through the establishment or you go outside of the establishment and work with the masses of the people. And that's essentially what I began to do. And just everyday people from the community began to embrace this whole idea. They didn't know about it. People participated in the various activities they would show up like you would see when I showed you the play Flavor Me Freedom. So it took a while to get the local city, really the city did not come into this event, into this embrace the situation until about 2001 when the state of Mississippi had passed legislation to make funding available for the preservation of African American sites. And a one-time grant was granted to the city of Natchez to buy land at the Forks of the Road, to buy the historical sites at the Forks of the Road. So in general, that's basically the reaction. We had good reaction from everyday people, resistant from the local politicians at the city level in the beginning, even resistant from owners of the sites at the Forks of the Road in the early days in the beginning. And then a lukewarm reception from the local National Park Service office and again some interest from the state archives and history and support from the congressional district. And then by the time the 1998 when the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom was instituted, that's when I was really put on board to, and that's probably embraced this effort that we were making here to make the site known and preserving what have you. My question is geared towards how has the Network to Freedom's focus on flight and resistance helped you amplify the importance of chattel slavery and the Underground Railroad. Oh, okay. If it wasn't for, we'll go back to this, to this point. There were many years that I belong to and I still do a spiritual group that would have retreats, annual retreats nationwide in the Prince William Park and in Virginia there. And coming to that retreat, I would make it an apartment to go to the National Office of the National Park Service. And that's where I would lobby and complain about the need for the local park to begin to tell a story the local National Park Service to begin to tell and fulfill its enabling legislation obligation of telling the whole story. And in that sense, I was referred to the new program called the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program as a best place for me to lay my complaints and to take the issue of the Forks of the Road recognition preservation. And that's what I did in the early days when the Network to Freedom program was beginning its move. I embraced them and they embraced me. The whole team of people, all the different regions and those personalities, Diane Miller, Robert Tiger, Jim Hill, Guy Washington, and on. Those were the team of people that responded to my particular effort to try to get the Forks of the Road recognized and the very first national recognition of the Forks of the Road came from the Network to Freedom when I submitted an application through the city of Natchez for the recognition of the Forks of the Road to be in the Network program site by submitting an ad that showed an enslaved person named Wash who was the property of the dealer from St. Louis, Joseph Big. Joseph Big had an ad in the newspaper for Wash Escapes on the Forks of the Road and that qualified the site to become part of the Network to Freedom program site. And from that particular time on, we were able to at the local level have the participation of the Network to Freedom helping us with the very first grant for traveling exhibit that I talked about the African-European roots at the Underground Railroad for a small grant to do research to go into the newspaper from Memphis to the Gulf of Mexico and that particular project was called Proving the Mississippi River, a major Uhuru Freedom Route from the Memphis to the Gulf of Mexico. And that entails going into the archives, the old newspaper and everywhere else that I could find records about shallow slavery in the South and references to the Forks of the Road. And that produced 1100 pages of just enslaved history seeking freedom and along the Mississippi River from Memphis to the Gulf of Mexico. And of course, as the effort in the advocacy and the production of visuals and testimonies and narratives and the involvement by the U.S. Congressmen, U.S. Senators of the study for the site to become a part of the local national historic park. All of those things began to emanate out of the relationship with the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program, including the last major exhibit that I did in 19 and 2012 called the Forks of the Road Enslaved Market of the American Domestic Enslaved Trafficking, a hub here in Natchez, Mississippi. And of course, we continue to work now with the local national park services called the Natchez National Historic Park. And when I tried to say the National Park Service, that's what I really mean, the local National Park Service. We are really tied together now, whether I'm an advocate or a preservationist or a program production help consultant about the history of what I have. All of that is now cemented and with the purchase of the first site with the grant that was given to the city of Natchez to buy property and hold for the National Park Service. This gives us the flow and the long-term history from 1998 to present with the Network to Freedom program. I'd like to emphasize that my effort for trying to emphasize in the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom had to do with my concept of the massive, millions of enslaved people that were forced brought from the Upper Old South down to the Lower South and sold through the Forks of the Road is what I call the Overground Railroad, the forced migration on the Overground Railroad to the south. There had to be a migration and forced migration of the enslaved people to the Deep South before they could be run away on the, or freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad. That was my legitimate argument for them to continue to deal with the subject of slavery and not necessary what do you call those houses, wayside houses for freedom and more stories about escapes and running through the forest or what have you. All of those kinds of escapes happened but they didn't go necessary north. They went west, they went south, they went east, back to where enslaved people had originally been captured and brought from. And then some did go north and then also some went outside of the United States borders and what have you. So the subject of freedom seeking is what really cemented and galvanized the history of terror slavery from my standpoint in the Forks of the Road region and throughout the south and beyond. Okay. Thank you, Sir Broxley. That was perfect. Deborah, I wanted to touch back. You mentioned things about funding and these board members and things they could not do. Could you elaborate on that as well as maybe touch a little bit more on your challenges of after you started the committee and starting to restore the Abyssinian meeting house. So, yes, everything about the restoration effort from our perspective has been about raising money to restore the building. We've not really been able for the most part to tackle programming, although in 2013 I went to an exhibit at Brown University where they Brown University had created the slave injustice. And they did it out of raw space and somebody spent, and it was that inspiration that allowed us to think about programming, even though the building was being restored. And so while we were able to exhibit things like slides that our architects or drawings that our architects had created for us in terms of what the future building would look like, the restored building would look like, we were able to use that. Believe it or not, I have my sister who is currently serving as the president of the board uses a phrase that we love to use now. It's her language. I love to use it as much as she does. And that is that the building is the artifact. But when you come into the Abyssinian, Diana's been there and for others who may be listening, who have been there, know that just coming into that space, you begin to understand and appreciate what it was like for people in 1837 to have created this rather large structure. And from that, we've been able to believe it or not raise money when people come in. We are able to raise money at one point. Portland has a first Friday art feature where all the artists and museums and whatnot are able to open their space and people come through and we did that a couple of years ago before the pandemic, and that opportunity allowed us to meet folks who could be considered major fundraisers and who were really able to help us put our feet on solid ground in terms of better operating as a nonprofit. Two or three minutes is just not enough time for me to go into funding except to say that it is all about the fundraising and being able to have undertaken the necessary historic structures reports back in 2020, I think we did that in 2002 and three and four, allowed us to then begin to better understand what was needed for historic structures, restoration, preservation, if you will. What is your target fundraising goal? Well, it was back in the very beginning. It was 1.2 to 1.5 million dollars. This year, when we were able to apply for the federal money, the goal was to come in order to complete the project. It was going to be roughly 1.5 million again. So that meant it would have been a total of 3 million back in the day. If we had known that, then I don't think I would have undertaken. Boy, we ended up doing it.  And sadly, right now, when we applied for the grant last year, the federal money, the money has gone up significantly more. I like to tell everybody because of the ship stuck in the middle of the ocean, you know, all of this impacts the restoration effort, the cost of gas people were having to hire to work for us. It's all related. And that's the thing about undertaking a new restoration project, people, a preservation project. And there is a difference. And that's why I go back and forth because I have to always remind myself what I'm talking about. In our case, it's preservation. People need to understand the cost constantly fluctuate. And depending on where you are, if you're hiring consultants, it'll go up and down depending on... I like to tell people if they're needing to build a house today or tomorrow, I suggest. But we all know how consultants can be. I was one once. And, you know, the construction people, I was going to send you photos of our guy who all those bricks that you see alongside the lower part of the building. When you go back and look at the slides, all of those are hand literally taken out and installed again. And we had to buy a certain brick. And so he started out with one and we had to take those all out and put another one in. Clapboards, we started out with one. Everything has just been an incredible learning experience. And so I was listening to the man before me and how exciting it must be that you were able to start with your... Though you had to acquire the land and do all the things you had to do, but to be able to get into your programming. Well, people have actually taken the information that we've researched and gleaned and started their own nonprofits. They've taken our work and started their own nonprofits because it's taken us so long to get to where we are today. So it'll be another two years. But as Senator King said to me, it must be exciting to know that hopefully the money that we have been able to identify for you will get you to the finish line. And I believe that that will be the case. Talk to us in two years, but I think that's going to be the case. I prefer to answer your questions because I could talk just on this one question for a half hour. I get that, Deborah, and I wish we had more time. Professor McWhorter, I wanted to give you a chance to answer either question or bring up any other challenges that you encountered when trying to make New Philadelphia a national landmark or these other nominations that you spoke about. One of the great challenges is to gather together all of the facts that we have, and there's always a limited number of facts, dealing certainly with the 19th century, and putting together a narrative. And so every time we have new information, we then have to change the narrative, not the basic narrative, but adding in, it's like adding in more pixels to a picture. So that's a big issue. But we have a website, and the network to freedom was very important historically in acknowledging the importance of oral history, because we have to remember that freedom seeking was not a public event. It was a secret event. And so we have to rely on whatever evidence we can find, including oral history. But we have a website that contains a lot of information. For example, every June, we have all the likes lecture series.  We also have in the fall the free frank freedom day that just started the first one was last year and this current one this September and I frankly I'm giving the talk. So you can come in here and we talk again. But also a unique feature of our site is that we have an augmented reality feature. So there are several sites on the trail through New Philadelphia where you can not only access avatars that tell the story in cyberspace but against the background of the actual location. So this is a new innovation that we had and it's an important feature. But the real gift of the network to freedom is that more people are coming to our site. And that's really important to be part of this network to freedom. And another point I want to make about New Philadelphia and I think this applies to most of our sites around the country is that it's not only about people who lived in New Philadelphia, but it's about all the freedom seekers that came through New Philadelphia. So it's it's it's not only my story as the great great grandson of the founder. It's our story of freedom seeking and of freedom so that New Philadelphia represents that agency of African Americans themselves. That's really the most important aspect of the freedom narrative that really applies to many other people it applies to women it applies to all nationalities. People seek freedom for their own future and that adds to the overall of all of our futures. So I want to thank you very much for including New Philadelphia and we really love the network to freedom. Thank you Professor McWhorter and we're glad to have you. The final question I have for each of you is what is your vision on where you would like the site to go. And we can start with you Professor McWhorter. Well, of course, as I mentioned earlier, New Philadelphia has passed two congressional committees. It's past the congressional committee in the House. It's past the congressional committee in the Senate. And we look forward to full votes to bring New Philadelphia as part of the National Park system. That's really the main goal we have right now. We've had a fundraising activity. We're at the six-figure level, not at the seven-figure level, but we've acquired most of the land. And so we're getting ready for that National Park status. Thank you. So Sir Boxley, the last question is what is your vision for forks of the road? First of all, I have a commemorative t-shirt for the success of bringing the forks of the road into the National Park service. And it's going to go to two or three hundred people as a thank you for all of the different folks who helped me do this over the years. Now, the vision that I have is to be able to take the narrative and the concepts away from this just being a local event at Natchez to its national significance, which means that we need national help to work with the local National Park and such. And it's partly my fault for not emphasizing it great enough that this is a national significance. This component here in Natchez is just part of the national story. And it has to be told on that way. Now, there are lots of help right now with a number of books that have been written about the internal domestic and flamen trafficking of America. There are a concept of people working on their ideas such as Edward Ball who did the slavery tears story. I think for the Smiths Only magazine, they're looking at a national trail from Franklin and Onfield site in Maryland. I mean, Virginia, all the way down to the forks of the road and New Orleans. Those upper south sites who were bringing forth bringing our ancestors on the overground railroad to their destination selling sites in the south. Don't really mention other than just the location, New Orleans, Natchez or whatever. And we have to have each site on each end showing the occurrences that happen on each end and would have in terms of the national significance. And that's what I would like to have this this forks of the roads development accomplished. And of course, certainly all of the details, as people say the nuts and bolts of child slavery, you know, the human denial, the human activity, etc, etc. That's what I envision you're being able to get when you come to the Natchez National Historic Park. Thank you, Sir Boxley. And I thank each one of you for your time and the conversation that we had today. I think it's very enlightening. And we thank the audience as well for listening and look forward to any questions. Thank you.


In honor of the 115th Army Navy game, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jonathan Greener, is here to model a small uniform change to pay homage to the game's proud tradition. Seriously, CNO? Hashtag tradition. Hashtag Army Navy game. Hashtag first game in 1890 played every year since 1930. Hashtag back in the game day. Navy for the win. Hashtag 13 in a row. Hashtag Baker's dozen. Hashtag go Navy. Hashtag beat Army. Hashtag go Navy. Beat Army. Yes, sir. Guys, hashtag one team one fright. Now get back to work.


Well listen, this morning we are beginning a brand new series that I'm gonna be teaching on all throughout this fall called Flourish. Now it's based on a book I wrote a couple of years ago called Flourish, planting your life where God designed it to thrive. And here's what's interesting about that. I wrote it in 2019, 2018, 2019 and then we had our release for it just before COVID. And I remember during 2020 thinking to myself, man, for a book called Flourish, this sure didn't flourish.  It's like, it's near and dear to you. And this book actually was and is a life message that out of all three books that I've written, I really felt like this carried a revelation that God has given to me over 30 plus years. And I was praying about it this last year. And I don't know if you ever do this where you're talking to the Lord and you're complaining. Has anybody ever complained to the Lord before? Raise your hand if you've complained. Make your pastor feel better. Okay, good. So I was complaining to the Lord and I was just saying to God, it's like, you know, I really thought that this book would do a lot better. And the Lord said, he really corrected me. And he said this, he says, well, I actually gave you that book out of season. And I said, well, what do you mean by that Lord? And he said, I gave you that book then for the period the church would be in after the pandemic, because the message that's contained with it is gonna be needed in the church. And so that made me feel a lot better. Cause I felt like, okay, now what do I do with that?  I've taught a few different times, different messages out of it, but not the kind of the full panoramic view of it. And I really believe that this is a significant message for the hour we're living in, because so many people are trying to figure out how to begin to get your life back, how to restart your relationship with God, or what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus in a brand new context and cultural reality? A lot of people are falling away from the faith, a lot of people are stumbling in their faith, a lot of people feel like their engine has been flooded and they're just trying to get it started again. And so this fall we're gonna be going through that at all of our locations, we have copies of this if you don't have from the first round and you wanna pick that up, you can. But I wanna invite you this morning to turn with me to Psalm 92. And I wanna give you a message this morning, an introductory message called designed to flourish. Designed to flourish. And, and, and real quick, while you're turning there in your Bibles, I actually wore a bright colored shirt today because I've gotten so many emails from people going, why do you always wear black? And I always wear black because the lions always lose on Sundays. And so I'm perpetually in mourning, but today I'm like, I can't teach a message called flourish wearing black. So, yellow. Okay, here we go. Or whatever color this is. Thank you. I got one person that actually cares. Look at me, Psalm chapter 92, look at verse number 12. It says, the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age and they are ever full of sap and green to declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. This scripture out of Psalm chapter 92 years ago, God spoke to me out of Psalm chapter 92 and he spoke to me this. He said that it's my design and my desire that my people flourish. Well, when I heard that and I saw this word, I went and I looked up a definition of what it means to flourish and here's the definition. To flourish means to achieve, succeed and to thrive. To grow luxuriously and be in a state of productivity to reach a height of development or influence. And so when God says I want and I've designed and I desire for my people to flourish and to thrive in their faith in life.  Those who are planted in the house of the Lord, they flourish in the courts of their God that literally God has designed us to flourish. So I don't know about you but one of my favorite sporting events that only comes every couple of years is the Olympics. And I remember a few years ago watching the summer games when Michael Phelps was at his height. Does anybody remember that when he was going for his, I think it was his 21st, 22nd, 23rd gold medals, the most decorated Olympian ever. And we're watching Michael Phelps as he's coming back. There's a lot of speculation about how he's going to do because I think it was his fourth Olympic Games that he had been at. He's older, he's competing against younger athletes and watching him win gold medal after gold medal after gold medal throughout all of these years is just amazing. He's become one of my favorite all-time athletes. It's because when you look at Michael Phelps, he's flourishing, but when you look at the breakdown of why Michael Phelps is so good, obviously there's the training program.  Come on, I think I could at least fulfill that part of the Olympic training. I would drown in the pool, but I would flourish at the table. He would eat 10,000 calories a day, five to six hours every single day in the pool without exception. In the weight room, training and developing as well as the psychological mental part of what it means to be an elite athlete. But all of that, a lot of people have all of that, but there was something biological about Michael Phelps that made him the best of all time. And here's what it is. Six foot four with a wingspan of six foot seven, with an extremely, exceptionally long torso and short legs with size 14 feet that are webbed and ankles that are double-jointed that give him the ability to use them like flippers and a head that the back of it is aerodynamic to cut through the water. In fact, if you were to ask a physiologist to create a human being that would be aerodynamic and completely efficient in the water, you would literally design Michael Phelps. He was designed to swim. And so when we see him in the Olympics, do what he was created to do, it brings us great joy. Because not only was he designed to swim, then he put all the work, he developed the mental game, and he committed his disciplines to achieving and flourishing in the thing he was created to do. And here's what I want you to understand.  You have been designed by God to flourish. But it's not enough for you to be designed spiritually to flourish. You also have to develop the mindset, the attitude and add to that your disciplines and environments to your life that are going to cause what you were designed to do to become your destiny and your reality. Because Jesus said this, and many are called, but few are chosen. Which means many are called, many get saved, many have heaven in their heart and someday when they die are gonna go into the presence of the Lord. But not everyone is going to flourish and thrive in their life. And live out what Jesus said in John chapter 10, when he said that I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. What does it mean to flourish? It means to achieve, to succeed and to thrive, to grow luxuriously and be in a state of productivity, to reach a height of development and influence. And if I told you that you were created to flourish, would you believe me? Today, in this next couple of months as we work our way through this reality, I'm praying that more than it being a series and information, I'm praying that God would get ahold of our hearts and it would become an impartation and a revelation. So at whatever places in our relationship with God we're not thriving and we're not excelling and we're not growing, that we would recognize that it's not because we don't have what it takes, we have the holy one of God living on the inside of us. We have the word of God, we have the spirit of God. Everything that you and I need to thrive and to flourish is already there. We just have to align our minds, our bodies and our spirits with that reality and everything will begin to change in our life. That doesn't mean that you're not gonna have hardship. It just means when you face hardship, you'll be more than a conqueror instead of more than conquered.  It doesn't mean that you're not gonna have something to overcome, it just means that you're not gonna get swallowed up by the depth and by the darkness that you're gonna learn how to shine your light brightly. And that's what Jesus said, that we're called to be the light of the world. Does anybody believe that the church of Jesus Christ in this hour needs to learn how to be the light of the world, salt and light in a world full of darkness and lacking flavor? Come on, somebody, does anybody believe that? Okay, so let's talk about what does it mean for us to flourish. Turn with me all the way back into the beginning of your Bibles in Genesis chapter one. I wanna show you this morning what God's original desire and design was for mankind. Genesis chapter one, we're not gonna read all of chapter one because all of chapter one and chapter two is outlining how God created everything but we're gonna zero in on how God created mankind. Genesis chapter one, beginning in verse 26. Then the Lord said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 27, so God created man in his own image and in the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Verse 28, and God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. This is God's original design for mankind. You'll notice this, that everything in Genesis chapter one that God creates, he creates by speaking. Let there be light, let the water and the land separate, let the heavens and the earth separate. Everything is binary, there's night and day, there's land and sea, there's the heavens and the earth, there's God and man, all of this stuff that God creates and now we see male and female that God creates. But what is unique and distinct about mankind or humanity when God creates them is it's the only thing that when he creates them, he creates them with his own hands. God, it says in Genesis two, when it gives us a more descriptive account about how God does this, it says that he formed any fashioned man with his own hands out of the earth. He shaped any fashioned man and then it says he breathed his life into them and man became a living being, a living soul, a nephesh, which means the breath of life was in him. And when, as we just read here, when God created man, he created him distinctly different from everything else that he created because he created him for one purpose. He says, let us create man according to our own image and according to our likeness. In other words, mankind was created to look and to act and to be connected to who God was. Theologians call this in the Latin term emago de, which means in the image of God. Mankind originally was created to be an imager, to be an image bearer of the God creator who made everything to oversee everything. And so that when all of creation looked at Adam, looked at Eve together as one, that they saw a mere reflection of who God was. Man was created before the fall, man was created to look and to be a partner or a co-regent with God on the earth, an image bearer, to walk around and to reflect God's image to everything and to walk in relationship with God the Father and to oversee all that God had created. And when God created mankind in his image, he gave him what's called the dominion mandate. The dominion mandate connects to four things. Here's what God said to mankind as he created them, that this was what they were created for. This is why God made us. Number one is identity. He said, you are my image bearer. This is your identity.  You reflect me. You are created in my image. You have an identity as a son or a daughter of God. So the first thing that God gave us as part of our design is our identity. So think about this. Mankind or Adam and Eve walked with God every single day. Every single day the Bible says in the cool of the day, God came down or he made himself known and he walked and he talked with Adam and Eve, gave them instructions. I mean, they had a perfect relationship with God. Can you imagine every day, you doing your devotions, it's not through the lens of faith, but it's actually sight and hearing, that there is no distinction between the heavenly realm and the spiritual realm and the earthly realm. Those two were completely integrated. And Eden where he created mankind and put them in the garden was actually, the word Eden means a cultivated place. So God created a scale model mountain of Eden that was like a temple from which Adam and Eve would then fulfill the rest of the Dominion mandate, which number two, he gave them identity, but then number two, he gave them authority to have dominion over all of creation. So when he created mankind, he said, here's your purpose, here's your design. Number one, you belong to me.  Number two, I give you my authority, dominion over everything that I've created. And number three, he's mandated them to build families. He said, I want you to be fruitful and multiply. Now I know today in New Testament terms, when we talk about being fruitful and multiplying, we're talking about making disciples, but God was talking about making babies. I want you to build families. I want you to fill the earth with a godly seed. And listen, if you want to know why the devil hates babies and he hates families, it's because it goes all the way back to the very beginning. This was God's plan to fill the earth with righteousness. How do you stop the earth from being filled with righteous seed? Number one, you've got to destroy the nuclear family and then you got to get rid of babies because that's how righteousness and generational blessing expands into the earth. You have to stop that.  And as the righteous of God and the church of Jesus Christ, we need to support children. We need to support families before they're born and even after they're born because this is part of our divine design. So he gave them identity as God's children. Number two, authority over everything. So you had authority over everything. In the beginning, he said, you have authority over the birds. You have authority over the fish. Come on, somebody, salmon season.  And they jumped in the boat. I don't know if that's true, but I like to think so. But number three says, and I also give you authority over every creeping thing on the earth, which means ladies, God gave you authority over creeps. All the, he had authority over everything on the earth. He appointed them to build families, which is the vehicle for generational blessing. And number four, destiny. He said, I want you to subdue all the earth. What God started in Eden was just a scale model that God created and said to Adam, now what I've started here, I want you to go and extend that and fill the rest of the earth, cultivate the rest of my created world to be after the order of the environment that I created you in, in my holy mountain in Eden, where I dwell with you. And so it's like, you look at a scale model and go, okay, God made the holy mountain of Eden. God made the garden, the cultivated place. Everything was beautiful. Everything was in order. Seed, time, harvest, birds, fish, everything. And so Adam was supposed to go from there out into the chaos of the rest of the world and bring that under the dominion of God's design and Lordship. That's what man was originally created for. This was purpose. This was what he was created for. To partner with God in this, but here's what we know. We know that the devil, Satan, the deceiver comes into the garden, deceives Adam and Eve. First, he deceives Eve. And when he deceives her, he deceives her by convincing her of a lie. And here was the lie. I'm gonna paraphrase it because I can read you the whole thing in Genesis three. Basically, the enemy came and he said, did God actually say, you shall not eat any of the tree of the garden?  That was what he said. Let me paraphrase it for you. The devil came to mankind and said this, you can flourish without God. You can do, you can be happy. You can have purpose. You can have destiny. You can enjoy sex. You can conquer the world. You can have a fulfilling destiny. You can make your own rules about what's right and wrong. You don't need God. God's just trying to hold it over you.  Your eyes will be open. You can make your own decision. You'll be like God. And here was the lie. The devil says to Adam and Eve, he knows, God knows that in the day that you eat of the fruit, that you'll be like him. Rewind the tape. Mankind was created after the likeness of who? They already were like God. But now the devil says, if you rebel against God, you'll actually become like God. What was he saying? He was saying, there's more. There's more that God's holding out on from you. And you can actually flourish without him. You don't have to listen to God's word. You don't have to do it God's way. You can make your own rules. You can enjoy it all. You can be happy. You can thrive and you can flourish. But what we know is that Eve looked at the fruit and saw that it was good. She wanted it, less to the eyes, less to the flesh, pride of life. And so she ate it and then gave it to Adam. Adam wasn't even deceived by the serpent. He was deceived by Eve. And so he took it. He ate it and immediately their eyes were opened. Except when their eyes were opened, it wasn't open to a flourishing reality. It was open to their own nakedness. The nakedness wasn't just a physical nakedness. The nakedness was they now knew that they were exposed. They were not covered anymore. See, prior to this, they were covered by God's purpose and God's presence. Walking with a pure conscience before the Lord in partnership with God. But now they had separated themselves from God and they were uncovered. And instead of being covered by God's purpose, his protection, his destiny, now they were exposed and isolated and they were alone. And now they were divided even among themselves. This is exactly what Satan wanted. And here's what they did in essence. They traded their identity for self-determination. They exchanged dominion for slavery to sin. They traded family for now contention and division.  This is what they ended up with. So here's what happened. I'm gonna use this picture of this mirror here. Every time that Adam and Eve looked in a mirror, they were able to see the image of God. And they were reminded of who God was. Every day that they walked with God and he came down the cool of the day and they looked at God, they were reminded of who they were. But now sin has come in and it's broken the mirror. So now in the absence of God, just looking at themselves, trying to remember what God was like, they could see it in each other and in themselves, except the image of God now because of sin had been shattered and broken. And because it was shattered and broken, every time they looked at it, it was distorted. There were aspects of the image of God because we're still image bearers. That's what we are. The reason why we get so frustrated with the things that are wrong in the world today is because there's still something of the image of God in us. We know that this world is not the way it's supposed to be. We know that death is wrong.  But yet death is a result of sin. The reason why we have a sense of justice in our heart about what's wrong in the world is because the image of God is still in there, even though it's broken. We look at ourselves and we can see the image of God. It's like there's things that are wrong. This is not how things should be. This is why we feel in our conscience. The Bible talks about the law being written on our hearts. We know right from wrong. We don't have to be told, we know it's wrong to steal. We know that it's wrong to lie.  Why? Because the image of God is still there, even though sin has broken it and perverted it and contorted it in us. It's still there like a homing device pointing us back to the one who is the designer. Now here's what that has created in our world. Here's why the world hasn't flourished. It's because every time we look at the mirror of our broken image because of sin and it shows us the image of God, it's distorted. And so what we've tried to do for thousands of years is recreate God. We wanna recreate God so that we can remind ourselves of who he is and who we are. And the way that we design God is by looking into the only place we know there is the image of God, which is inhumanity, but inhumanity is broken. And so we look in the mirror of sinful broken humanity and we go, okay, I see that part of God, but it's perverted and distorted, but it's all we got. And so we take that and then we try and craft and build God back up so that we have something to worship. That's where idolatry has come from. Because we take aspects of truth about God through the lens of a broken mirror that's distorted and we rebuild God so that we have something to connect our hearts to. Because we were created to worship. But the problem is the very things that we build with our hands are not accurate and true about God, they also are distorted.  Nobody has to convince human beings anywhere to worship, it's just in us. I'm created to worship, but now what do I worship? Now I'm divided from God. And I know that there's divinity, I know that there's beauty, I know that there's truth. And so we look at something and we're looking through the lens of the deception of Satan instead of at the lens of revealed truth from God. And we can never get back to the place of flourishing on our own.  We recognize contentions both in our families and also in our culture. We're not, this is not right, and so we call it injustice. But we can't solve the problems of injustice based on man's best thoughts, we need God's truth. And we see it and we go, well, wait a second, we're supposed to be family. We're supposed to have family. We're supposed to love one another. We're supposed to be faithful forever. We're supposed to be a community, but there's this divide because we've created idols instead of returning to the designer. Same with authority. We've exchanged authority that we had over all of creation as regions of God, and we've allowed ourselves through deception to become slaves. We're slaves to our desires. We're slaves to what we're blind to. Yes, our eyes were opened at the fall. They were opened to our nakedness, what they were closed to our purpose.  And we've also lost or had our sense of identity distorted. People want to know who I am, who am I? What's my purpose in life? We want to know that, can I just promise you? You will never discover that, you will never find that. Outside of the only one who can restore the broken image of God in our lives, to put the pieces back together so that when we look at him, we actually see who God is in beauty and in fullness. And in seeing who he is, we see what he's done for us so that we can become like him. His name is Jesus. He is the savior of the world. He is God who came in human flesh and he came to restore us, came to restore us to our original design. Theologians say that Jesus is the last Adam. The first Adam brought sin and death and slavery into the world. When we get to heaven, I want to have a talk with Adam. Anybody with me? It's like, hey, I got a bone to pick with you, but here's the problem. If you had been Adam, you would have done the same thing because you come from Adam. We all do these ancestry.com, 23andme or whatever. It's like, I want to know where I'm from. I can tell you where you're from, Genesis one. You came all the way from Adam. From one man and one woman, God created all of us. But with that is we all get the same nature. You're not better than Adam. You can't look at Adam and I can't look at Adam as much as I want to and say, you really blew it, buddy. You ate us out of house and home. You messed everything up because the reality is we all would have done it. No, it took God becoming a man, bypassing the seed of Adam. That's what the virgin birth is about. God impregnating a woman, the seed of the woman, Genesis 315. God mysteriously and cryptically gives an indicator. He said, here's how I'm going to restore that which I created and designed. He says to the devil, he says, you I'm going to put enmity warfare between your seed and her seed. Women don't have seed. I'm sure the devil's like, what are you talking about, God? Her seed, what do you mean by her seed? And he says, well, here's all I'm going to tell you. There's going to come a day when you're going to bruise her seed's heel, but it's going to be in the process of his heel crushing your head. It's called by theologians, the proto-evangeloum, which means the first mention of the gospel. It was cryptic. It was mysterious, but it was fulfilled when Jesus was born as the seed of the woman because the father was the heavenly father. There's no earthly father who provided the seed and because there was no earthly seed, there was no transmission of the sin nature to Jesus. He had a human nature, but not a sin nature. And he followed in the footsteps of Adam all the way through the wilderness of temptation. He was offered the very things that Satan tempted Adam with and he overcame every single one of them. He never sinned. He was the only righteous innocent human being who's ever lived, but yet he went to the cross and when he died on the cross illegally, he died so that you and I who were sin could be made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Once again, completely reconciled to God and to have our design restored. That's what the cross is about. It's the good news of the gospel. You can't fix yourself. You can't save yourself. You can't rescue yourself, but Jesus can. Romans 5.17 says this, for if because of one man's trespass, death relinquished all or through that one man, much more will those who receive abundant grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through Jesus Christ. You see, reign in life. How do we reign in life? In other words, come back to the place where we're no longer slaves. We recognize our identity has been restored in God and we have peace with one another and we're walking out our destiny once again. The only way to do that it says is through the man, Jesus Christ and his free offer of salvation because he died in our place on the cross. Now, what Jesus did at the cross is best pictured through a parable that Jesus taught in Luke chapter 15. It's a parable that everybody in this room has heard, I'm sure it's called the parable of the prodigal son. You guys remember that? It's a picture when Jesus shared this parable, he was sharing the parable about humanity's broken relationship with God. It says that the son said to the father, give me my inheritance now. I basically don't want to have anything to do with you. And he says he left the father's home. He went out into the world into righteous living which means sin ridden living. And he spent everything, lost everything, ended up taking care of pigs, the most unclean animals, sharing their lunch with them and broke and no hope. That is what is the reality for every single one of us who have been born into this planet broken by sin. That's us, we're in the pig pen and we have no hope. We've spent it all, but we know that there's something better. It says that when the son comes to his senses, he says, even my servants at my father's house have it better than I do. So here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna return to my father. And I'm gonna ask him, father, against you and you only have I sinned, please forgive me, make me one of your servants. When the story goes that when the son was still a long ways off from the father's house, the father was looking for him on the hill, looking out over the horizon, waiting for the day that his dead disloyal son would return home. And when the father saw him, it says that he lifted up his gown. And he ran to his son. He ran to him. People speculate about why he ran because Middle Eastern men do not run. And you do not show your feet. Some believe that the reason why he ran is because according to the law, the son should be stoned by the rest of the community as soon as he enters back into his father's presence because of his disloyalty. And the father runs actually and falls upon him in order to protect him from what other people would rightfully do to him. But the father runs to him, falls on him, kisses him, embraces him, and said, my son who is dead is alive again. And here's what the father does. Think about this. The father says, bring a robe and put it on him because his filthy rags will never be on him again. The robe is a picture of God restoring our broken identity. We are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. He says, bring a ring and put it on his finger. The ring was like a credit card. It was a signet ring, spoke of the family crest that if you mark something with it, everything that the father has, now you have access to it. What is the ring? God restoring our authority. It says, put new sandals on his feet because his feet were probably bloodied and filthy from being in the pig pen and walking on the roads without any shoes. Put new sandals on his feet. What is that in a picture of? It's God restoring destiny. Destiny is about where God is leading you to. It's the journey that he's leading you on.  How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. God is restoring his destiny.  And he welcomes the son back into his home. What is that? That's God taking his enemy and once again, making him family and welcoming him back into the environment of God's blessing that he knows his son will flourish in. Adam was kicked out of Eden because of Jesus. When we turn our lives back to the one who designed us and created us, we're welcomed back into the father's home. Would you stand with me all over this room wherever you're at today? The cross is God's great exchange. It's where we exchange the broken mirror of our lives and God puts it back together miraculously again so that we can become image bearers walking in the full identity of who God's created us to be with full authority in heaven and earth, Jesus said, Matthew 28, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. He gives us a destiny. Proverbs says, the steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord. And he welcomes us back into his family and into his house, the household of God. Remember going all the way back to Psalm 92 where we started this morning. It says the righteous flourish in the courts of our God. You were created for the family and for the house of God. It's the environment that God puts all the broken pieces back together and causes us to grow, to mature in our understanding of who we are, of who God is, of our authority and of our destiny and the family that he's placed us in. And I want you to know today, the devil wants nothing more than to keep you living in the pig pen. And to keep you isolated and to keep you trying to do it all yourself, you were created and designed to flourish. Would you buy your heads with me this morning? Heavenly Father, we just say thank you. Because what else can we say? We don't deserve your grace. We don't deserve your mercy. But what we will confess this morning is that just like our ancestors, we're prone to deception. We're prone to the lie, to believe the lie. And in a world of confusion about all things, a world confused about identity, a world confused about power, a world confused about what it means to love one another and to build families and what a family really is and what it's supposed to do and be, and in a world that even many people who believe in you but have been disjointed and isolated from your household. Lord, today would you restore us by the power of your cross and by the power of your resurrection, Jesus. Lord, we need you. We need you. We need you to open up the eyes of our heart and speak truth. We need your truth. We need your word. We need revelation that can transform and renew our lives. Lord, you've designed every single person within the sound of my voice this morning. You've designed us to flourish, to be fruitful, to abound, to have a legacy. But the enemy wants to do everything in his power to keep us from that. And today, by the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord, would you set us free? Today, with every head bowed and nobody looking around, please, just for a moment, nobody moving.  I need to be restored to a relationship with God. I need Jesus to save me. My life is broken. I know I was created for more. I've lived for myself. I believe the same lie that said I can flourish without God. Today, I know that I was created for something more. I was created to have a relationship with God. I was created to be forgiven and to have the shackles of guilt and shame lifted off of me. I was created for eternal life. But death and sin and deception and selfishness has really branded me and marked me. And I'm shaped more like the world than I am God's presence. And today, I'm saying to God, God, save me. I repent. I'm turning from the path I was on and I'm saying, Lord, I wanna follow you. Jesus, I believe you died for me and I'm asking you today to save me, to rescue me. Maybe you've never done that. You've never made Jesus Lord of your life.   You used to be in church. You used to love God. You used to describe yourself as a Christian and Jesus was Lord. But you've kind of shifted away from that.  Both of these that I just described are people this morning who know they need to get right with God. And today the good news is anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. He'll save you, rescue you and then you can begin the process of flourishing. I wanna lead you in a prayer today. If that's you, all over the room, if you say today, Pastor Lee, pray for me, I need to get my life right with God.  Say pray for me and hold it up. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, hands all over the room. I'm looking to my right. Thank you, young man. Who else? All the way in the back, I see your hand. I see you that hand. All the way there back to my right and the far back, I see your hands, sir. If you've not raised it, come on today, what are you waiting for? Why would we waste one more day in the pig pen? Last call, if you've not raised your hand right now, raise it and we're gonna pray. Thank you, you can put your hands down. The Bible says this, if we believe in our heart on the Lord Jesus Christ and we confess with our mouth that he is Lord and we repent from our sins and say I'm not gonna live for myself any longer. Today, I'm surrendering to you. The Bible says we will be saved. This is what Jesus refers to as being born again of the spirit of God. So we're gonna pray a prayer.  The rest of us, even if we're saved, we're still gonna say this prayer because we're gonna join with you and celebrate what God is doing in you, in unity together. Everybody, here we go. Let's all say this prayer out loud. Say heavenly Father, I come in Jesus' name and I confess I'm broken, I'm a sinner and I deserve death and judgment. But today I ask for mercy and I ask you to save me. Jesus, I believe in you.   And you did raise on the third day from the dead and you are alive. Lord Jesus, come into my heart, be my Lord and Savior. Forgive me, cleanse me, make me your own. From this day forward, I turn my back on the devil, on the pig pen and my own desires. I follow Jesus. I was created to thrive, I'm designed to thrive and in the house of God, I will flourish. Thank you for loving me, restoring me and saving me in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Come on church, can we celebrate what God just did?


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