It's time for truth, a ministry of truth family Bible church in Middleton, Idaho. It's time for truth exists to glorify God through the edification of His saints in our local church and for the benefit of the church around the world. I'm your host Pastor Danny Steinmeier. All right, well good day to you wherever you may be whenever you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. The podcast is back and better than ever and we're going to have a a a fun time this evening as we are recording in the evening but we are going to have a wonderful conversation. Pastor Gabe Render from Stone Mountain Baptist Church in the in the co-pilot chair as per usual and then we have guests as if you if you looked at the title before clicking it, you will know that we have special guest interview ease in studio today. We have Mark and Sophie Ellison so welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having us with you in your sidekick. Yeah, yeah, sidekick. If you say sidekick one more time. I'll just embrace it. Yeah, I'm going to have to eventually. Yeah, I guess, yes, very much so. All right, and welcome Sophie. Thank you. This is fun. Yeah, we're glad to have glad to have you in studio as well. And if you and if you listen to the podcast you're doing so because of Mark. So Mark is Mark is our I think everybody wants to just call their engineer Jamie. So you can be you're the engineer. Mark is the guy that makes it all happen. I'm not your tech guy and Mark is the the tech guy for the purposes of the podcast. So really appreciate all of his of his work. All this happens because of him. So we're really grateful for him. And we're looking forward to our conversation and we'll just kind of get us get us started off here. So Ellison family. Would you guys tell a little bit of the story of where you came from and and then how you guys how you guys met and just kind of the story of your background, your families and where you where you came from that would be great. Sure, so I grew up in Napa Valley. Most people confuse that with Nampa but no Napa Valley, California. One of them, we both are born in Burbank. So LA area, grew up most of my life in Napa. So if you and I met probably when I was around six or seven and she's three years younger so you can do the math there and they got a house one block over from us. Do you know what year that was? 2009. So I was nine and you were six. So we at least knew each other then. I filled. All right, keep going. Yeah, four to two thousand. Oh, kids almost. I was in college. Yeah. Yeah. Raising good Christian families and churches and yeah, knew each other growing up. I would say we were childhood sweethearts. All we could never talk about it. But we both knew at some point. Yeah, we both liked each other for as long as I can remember but it was very much of a hush hush, you know, let's not awake and love before it's time and he waited for a long time for me and then when I was like I guess this is kind of jumping head but he asked my dad if he could date me right before my 18th birthday and my dad said, you have to wait a little bit longer. Wait till she graduates. Which is another five months. So he had five or one so I think from your perspective it was kind of a grueling time of waiting for me but we always knew. Yeah, it was worth it. Yeah, it was with each other. So it's pretty cool. Not many people have that experience. Yeah, it's a very I almost ideal experience. Actually, we'd like this for all of our kids to some degree. That does not always going to work out that way but it is a beautiful thing to have one love and and to be able to bring that into full fruition and marriage and that's a wonderful thing. And so you guys raised in Christian homes and both homeschooled if I remember right? Correct. All the way through. Yeah, so as families were friends, same church or all that sort of stuff or was there some differences there? Yeah, we were usually at the same church. Here's a blessing to be raising families that were very like-minded and so when we got married there weren't a lot of things to work out which was just huge blessing. We went through this book 101 questions asked before you get engaged. Yeah. And we went through it really quickly. Which is very cool and it's yeah, it's a special blessing and I know it's hard especially politically with young men going in one direction, young women going in the other direction. It would be so hard to find a wife now and it would have been back then if God had not but Sophie in my path through most of my grind up. Yeah, no, that's a man. I'm jealous for my kids for that sort of thing, right? I think that and we think about the times that we live in just as you brought up Mark the the challenge it is now with in the world that we live in and that is a wonderful wonderful picture of being able to work out and have so much like-mindedness because it's not always gonna- doesn't have to always be that way and I mean I had a conversation with my son even recently just the idea of hey as you get to know people and develop some relationships and friendships in the places in which you're at at college for instance it's not always gonna be ideal but you're gonna have to potentially you know lead someone and have conversations with someone to persuade to where you're at in order to be a reasonable candidate for marriage and so in the world in which we live in and that's just that's the evangelical world I mean that's it's not it's not just even so simple to say to people who would profess Christ there's significant differences that even come along in the in different churches and so to have families with like-mindedness to have to have educational like-mindedness all those types of things just really is a blessing so that's something to be really thankful for right well and I'm destruct by how much what you just described is almost exactly what we talked about like in our courting episode as far as what what should be normative and really what what kind of hit me when I was just listening to you guys talk is like that used to be just normal and so what you've experienced is actually just kind of how we're designed to be in a lot of ways so I'm really just encouraged to hear that God was gracious to you guys in that way and that that's a good example for you to set for other young people and for for those of us that have kids that are approaching that age that's exactly what we're trying to build with our with our community with our church you know partnership and I can you know I've got tons of toddlers in my church but 10 years 15 years from now we're you know we're good well okay to be clear we're going to be moving more into all these teenagers in our churches and we're going to see this hopefully it's become more of a normal practice between our families yeah yeah we want to see that well I'll see that built all right so we kind of moved to around the time of beginning your guys' relationship together and and kind of what was the time frame of that because as I recall you ended up leaving and you left her behind Mark and and so how did how did all this kind of go and what what was your thought process what was happening during these times tell tell tell me more I wasn't the head yet pastor I know I know yeah so I went to community college starting I think 2018 tried to save some money there and then I started going to Cal Poly San Luis Bisbo business and then the acronym is slow yeah yeah San Luis Bisbo hit slow so then the whole pandemic happened in 2020 and Cal Poly was all online which was quite a bummer because it's a beautiful campus and actually good classes and professors down there from from what I heard what I experienced online and they said few months in that you have to get the quote unquote vaccine to come on to campus and I didn't want to fight them about that with religious or medical exemption or anything didn't want to play that game so found Boise State I was already interested in Idaho before all that went down found Boise State and they were not requiring that so applied had six months off which I just worked doing mobile card detailing had a little card detailing business and then got engaged in December moved a week or two later to Idaho and then got married about six yeah six months later so you're a large part of your most of your engagement was you being here and her being there is that right as I accurate yeah so just had to had to go establish some roots and then and then call call her home right then bring her along so that's great I actually wanted to hear a little bit more from you Mark and then turn it back to Sophie as well as I mentioned your card detailing business as a young man you were fairly entrepreneurial from the beginning where you're not you didn't you have a number of number of different businesses or things that you were that you were building and working on could you kind of talk about that and how that worked out for you while you were grown up yeah I was pretty weird and I have a good kind you have a short attention span with projects so I was into a lot of things which means I learned a lot of things but was a jack of old trades many trades and master of none I am trying to change that trying to be a more focused individual but for example yeah I had the card detailing business that started because I was a groundskeeper and I also detailed the car at a better breakfast in in Napa and then well I had a Honda Civic and I could get a pressure washer and a vacuum an extension cord and hose and go around Napa in detail cars so that turned into a decent side hustle also had a little 3v printing business and at some point I was raising crickets and making chapstick and it was like yeah so it you were into being weird stuff yeah we had chickens and bees that wasn't too much of a business okay you remember anything else I was into sourdough oh yeah I made some pretty good sourdough back in the day so yeah but like I said I never got really good at something before I was in thrall but the next thing oh like building electric longboards that could go 48 miles an hour so electric like skateboard longboards yeah yeah yeah 3d printing yeah I mentioned that 48 miles per hour in a longboard sounds pretty insane yeah don't fall yeah it's like a luge but requiring balance well and so if you were some of your interests as you were growing up and these are valuable things to learn and to kind of hear we want even our young people to listen to these podcasts to to spark their imagination and interest in various things I think trying different things is valuable and and just yeah learning from other people I think that's an important aspect of of life and of parenting and of growing up and so what was growing up for you like what were some of the things that you were interested in and what was your ambitions and you know what what was what was going through your mind and in your life during those days yeah so growing up I come from a long line of well my mom was a labor and delivery nurse and so I kind of latched on to that and I was like that that's what I want to do so I was thinking nursing school and I ended up going to community college and I got my degree in health sciences my associates and then that was I graduated from college right before we got married and I realized you know I actually don't want to work in a hospital and then I was thinking well I love birth so maybe midwifery school but then the Lord closed that door too because I realized I don't want to go to college at all I actually just want to be a wife and he showed me birth doula and so then I started thinking well when I get married that's something that I can kind of build up and build down based on the season of life I'm in so that was birth has always been a huge interest of mine and just learning how to help other moms and families as they enter that season of life and I feel like I've always been a little bit of caretaker I would walk dogs during high school that was my job and babysitting those type of things where I wasn't clocking in and clocking out but I was still able to make money while helping people so those are the type of things that I would encourage young woman to pursue now of just little things that you can do while still pursuing whether it's your school or your family life so those were really fun times in my life that I think back on of taking care of people's dogs and babies you know yeah that's right well going to school that I didn't even end up using my degree but it's okay well use it with our family yeah yeah so and then now last year I had the privilege of assisting seven births which was really cool I learned a lot from the different experiences you know I saw a wide range of births whether it was home birth or hospital birth birth that went really well births that were more difficult and most of them being god honoring families who are trusting him along the way and me just being there to support them so that's been really cool that's awesome and what is what would be the definition of a doula what what are some of the things that you that you do in that role yeah there's a little bit of a title there yeah what is what is that what is that yeah so doula literally means woman who serves so when applied to the birth scene it's physical support mental support I would say spiritual support too because I think birth is spiritual and that's practically just helping parents know what's happening you know it's a huge life event and sometimes it can come with complications confusion about what's happening so having someone there to care you through it and just be another set of hands and someone who will pray for you help you with different positions or ways that we can keep things moving it's been really cool to hear from people how you know they'll say things like I don't know how I would have done it without you and that's just so fulfilling to me and just always such a beautiful experience so yeah very nice very nice and so then so you move to Idaho in what year was that and then kind of what what took place from there so you when you were at Boise State you came to Idaho you got well you got married came to Idaho and talk a little bit about just sort of where where you kind of went from there some of the thoughts and times that were happening in your life coming to TFBC all those kinds of things kind of walk us through a little bit of your your growth and your your your path yeah to back up a little bit back in 20 I think it was 2017 my dad's friend was over at our house and he saw that I was into 3G printing and he said oh we could maybe use that out our business pressure switch manufacturing company and he said if you ever want to internship email me and so parents encouraged me to email him and that started a relationship internships and then a part-time job now a full-time job well full-time job now I'm 1099 that's a recent development so it was a weird project that God used to open a door a career path so 2022 is when we when we moved up and what helped us move up one of the things was that I had a job up here because that company wasco was expanding from central coast California to Emmett Idaho of all places because it was cheaper at the time 2019 when they expanded up here so I helped with that expansion building of buildings and and the marketing surrounding that was the rest of the question yeah just more of the the path that you've walked in the interest that that have come your way come into TFBC all that kind of stuff here the beginning of your family and kind of the the the big story mark the big story all the all the positives all the struggles what are some of the things that you've learned all those kind of things along the way to bring you here and you're undying love for the good old valley of Emmett oh yeah I do love Emmett it's a wonderful location yeah it seems if you'll secluded but it's really not that far if you need to get to the more densely populated areas so yeah 2022 came up I was dealing with some health issues this is going to get into grandad farms dealing with some health issues trying to figure those out before I got married and made some progress there then eventually found a lot more progress having a professional home cook and helping me with my diet it's going to functional medicine doctors and a lot of it came down to what I was eating and I think that's the case for a lot of people with digestive issues and the doctors encouraged me to find better food eat more animal products and we'll protein bats things like that more whole whole foods not the not the store but the type of food in the category and so we're thinking well how do we do that because that's really expensive so yeah we can we can buy bulk beef and that does save us some money there but growing up we farmed as much as we could with six chickens and a few beehives and gardens so I did have a little bit of background in micro farming I guess you'd call it and we followed a gentleman who's in Virginia, Shanandoah Valley Virginia named Joel Salatin and he's a good Christian man and the lunatic farmer the lunatic farmer yeah there's a there's a great documentary with Canon Plus that I would I'd recommend everyone if you're interested in that and so he put out some books he has quite a number of books and and videos and actually got to meet him up in court Elaine a few years ago and so we read a book about raising poultry on pasture of course we didn't have pasture we were living in an apartment and then we moved up to Emmett as we were setting up the system and the system was to raise poultry on my employer's vacant lot in Emmett it was a couple miles away from where we're going to be living in Emmett and so we ordered chicks and we started our poultry production the idea was to obviously raise enough for ourselves for the year and then sell some to offset the cost and it went well except for a dog attack which killed which killed or injured 70 three we had to put down but it went really well really good product flavorful moist and something we could something we could trust knowing everything that goes into it and raising them from chick all the way to bagged whole chicken in the freezer so that's that's the start of granddad farms there and that's also part of why we moved up to Emmett is to be closer to Wasco and then we could use that piece of property that he was gracious to let us use so that's how granddad farms kicked off yeah great and then tell us about the name granddad farms and just some of the just some of your thinking about why this farming has been important to you and where do you see it for the future and all those all those kind of things we'll we'll keep pulling it apart so Mark's idea was granddad farms and his dad is granddad to our son Clyde and his cousins and I don't really know it was going to be grandma's chicken because my grandma used to get foster farms chicken in bulk in LA and then sell it out of her garage oh well he's like a little distributor which is which is admirable and that's that's one of the ways she provided chicken for her family and grandma did not want it to be called grandma's chicken I like granddad farms better I think it suits us and it feels like kind of like a you know a little more peachy arco and something Mark maybe will be granddad one day and maybe Clyde will be granddad one day so it feels like something we could pass along and I like it yeah from a marketing standpoint it's fairly easy to spell people were members so yeah those things are important and you have a great logo and we can all right now free legit we could also thank you also get the domain name like that was a key consideration hey that's important yeah yeah yeah and so what does yeah well talk a little bit as well about the connection that you have with your family moving up with your your folks and and just kind of the value of that and what that's you know what's that that's done as you guys have kind of partnered together and as you help each other out and talk a little bit more about that because I think that's really valuable and important and we you know we're a we're a multi-generational church we we value those sort of things I think you have some of those same same values what does that mean to you to have your have your parents local but also participating with you yeah granddad farms is really a family farm if we had enough mics it would be awesome to have them here too because they're they're a huge part of this we we raise most of the food and do most of production on my parents place they have a little warehouse there and a few acres of pasture and my dad helps me out immensely and my mom as well and so it really is a family business and it is it is comforting and is grounding having family back in this up because starting a business there ups and downs yeah and it's it's nice to have them there and from a a family perspective especially with Clyde it's it's a huge blessing have them around obviously for practical reasons but um Clyde is able to have more disciples than just just sofian I and and learn from all their questions and have uh multi generational way of being raised up so it's it's really wonderful to have have them around we don't know how long that will be we'd love to get some more property and expand one day but everyone knows how the real estate market is yeah yeah very good um all right so what does uh what does granddad farms do what what is uh what are some of the signature things about your farm the way you farm what are your products and where can people find you and so forth so we focus on pasture raised protein and also animal feed so we have pasture poultry operations we raise chickens meat chickens called broilers we also have lane hens which are on pasture we also do pasture pork and pasture pigs we have registered Idaho pasture pigs which have been a blast obviously challenges with breeding animals um but yeah focus on pigs um poultry and animal feed so we have a line of non-gemo corn free soy free feed and then we're also working on a feed that checks all those boxes but is also certified organic and seed oil free so a healthier fat which right now is coconut oil will be going is going into it and that that makes the the end product of the poultry or nutritious healthier fat is coconut is seed so is it a fruit is it a fruit so the oil wouldn't be a seed oil yes yeah it's a it's a fruit oil the fruit oil okay yeah all of oil is a fruit oil yeah there you go I was like I just had a I just had a corovid yeah palm oil even but not palm kernel oil which unfortunately isn't way too much stuff yeah so that those are the main products we do we have website granddadfarms.com where you can google and and find us but our focus is producing food and helping people produce food that they can feel good eating you want to know what goes into it we're working on an organic certification for some of our products and that's a decent standard there's a lot of a lot of regulations surrounding it which is just interesting to navigate as as a right winger but it's it's a decent standard and they're it requires cleaner inputs but it's still good to know where food comes from it's good for all of us if possible to know where our food comes from and for those get our feed it's good to know who's who's making the food that your animal's reading because you are what you eat eats so when it comes to what you eat eats okay all right yeah I'm not good I was just going to ask about scalability a lot of you know hobby farms or micro farms right that that's always the challenge is that as you grow you get to a point where it's it's very difficult to maintain those standards and still be profitable without compromising quality so do you have you talked about expanding with your family do you have thoughts about you know multiplying it on a you know multiple smaller scale efforts or what are your thoughts as you as you seek to grow I mean it's just something that you hope will be your full-time employment at some point or do you see it more as just a family side hustle forever and all eternity for the health of your grandchildren I mean all admirable things Lord willing it will be a full-time endeavor my goal is to have at least one of my two or hopefully both of my part-time employees become full-time I'm able to make money from the marketing job so I don't need income from the farm right now and so I'd like to get them established and and paid well as obviously legal citizens of America I could save a lot of money if I was having a legal like I'd have a dear one of the hardest hit keep going especially one of our legislators so yeah I would like to expand and we are expanding last April we got to meet the owners of St. John's organic farm it's a much larger obviously organic farm yeah they did a homeschool to our a couple years ago we have awesome they have very good beef yeah well and that comes from the really good pastures they have and so the owners Peter and Susan Dill are are really sweet friends of ours now we've gotten gotten close with and they've trusted us to bring about 300 lane hens onto their property and so we're going to use what are called chicken tractors which are like mobile chicken cubes I've recently built with with help of Josiah shout out to Josiah from TFBC and a number of other people that we know built two of these large 16 by 24 foot chicken tractors and they're going to be towed around behind the cows they'll be scratching apart the cow patties they'll be eating the fly larva keeping down the fly load out there getting that protein spreading the manure it's it's going to be a glorious system out there I think and so they've been really gracious to host us out there and so I think that's a good opportunity to test our our scale ability modularity is something that I think about with chicken tractors and brooders and creates and transportation and all that so yeah we definitely do hope to grow and and has been going well so far so that's that's the idea we're only only been doing this for about three years so we'll give it at least five and you evaluate yeah you've learned learned a lot along the way and they've come a long ways it's been been fun to track track that with you and then tell us a little bit about how you came to TFBC and kind of the start of that and you're one of our deacons and so maybe talk a little bit about you know what's what's important to you about TFBC and and having a home church that that you guys are a wonderful a part wonderful part of yeah so it was actually my my dad who found out about you guys through the master's seminary alumni list and so I'm not sure you should go check that out so went and checked that out I think it was February of 2022 and have been going there since what made us stay well there's a number of things the family integration is huge having families be able to worship together was it a new thing for you to sort of discover it but you kind of came to understand and appreciate it was it something you were looking for or something that you had in your background how did that it's actually how how my family is raised okay in churches that were not family integrated okay so we were the weird kids that were not in Sunday school why are you in here yeah yeah you're part of the church you're not big enough yeah right like well you know we have a place I can write man that drove me nuts years ago and anyway yeah I got my favorite experience in churches so it it felt like home and I I appreciated the traditional nature of the type of liturgy we have and especially the hymn and Psalm singing and I think a huge part for me was the guys in the church they were they were strong they were masculine men and they were they were bought in to do the whole thing to their families to the church and to business and then for some of them politics as well so that was that was those are some things that really tracked me to TFBC and then getting to know folks even more and and helping TFBC and in the ways that we came along the way was was a great experience what about you Sophie yeah tell us about what you know this was a market kind of found the church before you you had come and so what was it like for you coming to TFBC and and how has that been for you build a relationship some what what has it been like for you well we'll say it was nice not having to be a part of the church shopping experience right and he pretty much said this is where we're going and that took a big burden off of me but from the beginning it felt really right and I did have to trust that I'm going to Idaho I don't know anybody but my future husband is there and he has a church for me and it ended up being such a blessing and I've grown more than I ever have in my walks since being at truth family the women are just so aspirational and real and I'm learning a lot the family integration was huge I grew up going to a wana and vbs and all those things aren't inherently bad but I just see the value in having our kids with us and the hymns just very different experience than I had growing up but just the the size of the church I think contributes that to of how everybody knows everybody and if somebody is not there on Sunday they will be getting a text from someone you know if I'm not there on Sunday at least three friends text me saying that's a selling point I mean I know some people might be intimidated that's a selling point that is that is very unique though I know that for a lot of people they could leave the church and no one would even know that they were gone so it's just been really cool yeah as as you guys already know many churches model their programs after public school yeah yeah but we like our names just maybe you need to add it to your stone non-family but it's been too long it is more like a family it is it is it is it is a spiritual family and we act like it yeah and that was something that when we first get started and when I was in seminary I took a church planting class and one of the things that you have to do is kind of evaluate and study other church plants and one church plant that I was aware of was Vody Bocchum's and it was Grace family Baptist church in spring Texas and our bulletin even is somewhat not a copy but it's inspired by their bulletin I they used to have their bulletin on their website and I just you know downloaded a couple of PDFs from it and you know kind of using that for my project and looking at stuff and so just yeah that that aspect of a family a multi-generational concept of of life in the church and of aspiration towards towards you know generations worshipping together and then having having children in the worship together not being discipled to that's one of the things that was big for my dad was one of the things that he noticed was that a lot of youth groups would they had their separate different music they had their own kind of different style and liturgy and then and then what you know big church you know the adult church it was you know more maybe more traditional and more hymns or whatever else and what he noticed was that the the youth group was discipling their the children the youth to reject what was being done in big church like where we're doing two different things and there's something to they're the big church now and they're the big church now yes yes so I'm sorry the modern church looks like it does because this yesterday's youth ministry that's exactly right exactly right and they brought and they brought the smoke machines right and so it's this VBS on Sunday mornings that's all it is hall mind-blowing eyes opened and that's whereas we recognize the value of of having our children participate and and be and be disciplined and discipled into what we are doing into the worship and the philosophy of ministry of the church and so that's a beautiful thing and a good thing and and and what it does for those of you maybe aren't familiar it it it it is a more engaged process than what a lot of churches offer because a lot of churches want you to know don't worry we have childcare for you we have free babysitting for you so Sunday is is where you can be separated from your children and that's not the way it works in our church right so it's not a day off it's not it's not me time it's actually discipleship time where you are you are you're actually coming to church and you're going to be parenting there and that's that's not what a lot of people or what a lot of the modern church has has come to value but these are older paths right these are older ways of understanding how the church used to be and how used to function and like you said Mark you know a lot of the modern public school model is the way in which we we separate everybody by by age group which is the only place that we do that is is school public school and and and then now the church and we've we've recognized the value of the multi-generational discipleship that is has a maturing effect where we have young people have relationships with older people in terms of being able to speak to them and shake hands and serve and and be able to look adults in the eye and and say hello and and to respond when spoken to these are things that parents should be wanting for their children to be able to grow up and to mature and so these are these are just slow incremental the good kind the slow incremental steps of discipleship and parenting and as young kids grow up in the life of the church we think that there this this pays off in the long term and so that's one of the philosophical underpinnings of of what we do as a church and and I appreciate that you're one that recognizes that and is bought into that so that's really that's really good. Well and it negates the the need to transition quote unquote to big church if you will like yeah you're basically teaching your children to love church to love the tradition to love the people there's no transition I mean one of my favorite things as off-key as it may be at times is when we sing certain well-known hymns or you know things that we sing frequently I love hearing like the four year olds and the five year olds just like screaming at the top of their lungs basically it's beautiful and it's it's great and it does come with challenges I mean we encourage parents likewise to use time to actually not only train their children to sit right not to be distracted with with stuff I mean obviously kids are at various stages of development you may need different things to assist them along the way but generally speaking the goal is that they actually are going to sit and learn and listen if things sit quiet through a movie they can sit quiet through you know whatever like it it's really just there's no reason why our children can't actually participate and so one thing that we do and I know you guys do likewise is you know we encourage the fathers like being narrating what's happening if your children are fussy stop and explain what's happening in the service like like just I see dads when communion's going by and they've got little toddlers and they're explaining this is what the bread is and this is what the cup is and this is what we're doing you know there's there's constant discipleship like you said happening and that raises children up then to not only understand what church is but to actually be part of the church even if even if we're you know Baptist they don't you know communion tell baptism and profession of faith and things like that the children still are participating in the active worship their actual members of the church even if we don't have family in their name you know it's the same idea and that's what I've discovered as I've as I've researched that and we've made that one of our own distinctive as our church is is that that's just normal in all of church history until like 60 years ago 75 years ago it really was a sexual revolution postmodern invention to have this sort of program based segregation based ministry model and it really has been extremely disruptive but it makes sense when you think about the foundations flowing from the destruction of the family unit and the head of house will roll and and all of that is tied together and a lot of people in the modern evangelical you know movement just don't see the connection so it's really encouraging to hear young people like yourselves that see the value in it they want to build things follow old paths and do really what what Christians have done for generations it's what we're built for it's what we're made for and being close to the land I think is just one extension of that and so it's really encouraging to hear from you guys how you're seeking to embody all those things for your children and for you know your future generations oh I'll tell a little story that I I want it to be paradigmatic for really the are all of our church family for you that was a I felt really smart that was a 50 cent word right there masters University right there seminary sir both both I was both oh yeah under and over that's right that's right and I want this for the adults but I want it for our children too we we moved up from California and came from grace community church and I was candidating at a small country church and Luke at the time when we moved here was five years old and we were at this church and and for the short term and there was an interim pastor who was the was was we'll put we'll put scare quotes around preacher he was preaching we'll put quotes around that and so here's this five year old who has we've been family integrating as well he's sitting in in service with us listening to John McArthur preach and listening to the Oregon and the choir and the orchestra and all this stuff and and so this has been normal for him so now we are in this country church and we get in the car on our way home and from the back seat my five year old says so why did the preacher just tell stories out of the mouth of babes out of the mouth of babes comma came a recognition that one thing is not like the other now while we want you and Clyde to forever be at TFBC and your generations to be all together we know that at times people will leave our church we know that people will move away for various reasons and we we actually want this to be a like as we raise our children to understand what church is to know what you know what singing is what singing in the church is what preaching is what communion looks like all that type of stuff that with with with whenever someone goes to another church and they and it doesn't measure up we want that to be a measure of hey wait a minute hey wait a minute what what what am I and so we long for something better and whether they participate in it because they become deacon's and elders or whether they become pastors themselves or whether there's looking for another church they're looking for churches that share a similar philosophy of ministry share a doctrinal a doctrinal way of believing and teaching and so anyway those things are I think are valuable overall but let's get back to talking with with you guys a little bit more um um mark and Sophie you kind of share maybe individually if you like look you guys are are interested and you care about being a Christian nation you guys care about the future that your your your your son is is being raised into and as he grows up what are some of the your thoughts your concerns what are some of the what are some of the values and the things that that are important to you as you think about uh you know living in a Christian nation and pursuing those things well um big open big yeah that is a huge not loaded at all no yeah so Christian nation it should be one that distinctly identifies Christ as king um and I understand many of the founders were Christian not all them were and we had a lot of states that had state churches there were good Protestant denominations but we need and they did a great job overall and who am I to critique them although I may just do that but um they didn't have the foresight that we would ever be this I don't think but good yeah they probably didn't know that we would that we would import so many Indians and everyone else and just give the country away um but it needs to be a so as far as Christian nationalism goes there's the people which is a nation but then what we're talking about is the civil authority and so that's kind of two different conversations there um and how they interact is there is a bottom-up approach because we are a on paper a constitution republic but then there's also the law which is which is what should come from God's moral code and be enforced by the civil servant and that is a tutor to the people um so there is no such thing a restraint in a teacher right right there's no such thing as a morally neutral government there's one immense this is very black and white there is a Christian there's a god honoring government and then there is a variety of other types that are not um so yeah we we need laws and we need laws and force we have many good laws on the books of course there are some that that are not and some court cases that should be over tuned over turned as as we all know about um but we need just laws and those need to be enforced as well and those are those are two separate issues we need strong Christian male leadership and um I think I can say maybe what you're getting to is segueing into public and politics we live in a a uh state that is a bastion of of freedom and it is a privilege to be able to come here from California people like the public of California yeah which people's Republic of Congo and the rest of the world um yeah and um it's it's a privilege to be able to come here and come here from California we can see how bad things can get um not the worst they can get but that they can get worse um because I think I know that God's common grace still extends to California and it's not as bad as it could be um utterly deprived yeah and so I am keeping my ear to the ground and helping out in ways that I can in the local or public and party and um we need more Christians in government and so I think that most people most Christians consider politics icky and you know Trump uses the word swamp and that's that's a pretty good term and deep state and all that um I I think that's true I think those are appropriate terms and I think that is large part because Christians have um given the civil sphere over to the pagans yeah we have to keep it our responsibility and it's really easy I say this to folks when I tell them I'm you know listening on the political sphere and going to these meetings and learning and helping out um it's yeah it is it is the way it is mostly because those Christians have gotten out of it and it's easy to complain about it it's easy to be uh what they call it an armchair quarterback or something like that um and complain online and complain in person and and be blackpilled which is just really not a Christian stance black pill to be uh to be depressed about things that's like pessimistic yeah pessimistic yeah that's that's not a Christian virtue um it's okay to be realistic but um yeah it's it's easy to complain about the way things are going even as we see in cities like Boise and Napa with pride fast and in other areas of our state but um it's better to try and and lose I think temporarily I think we will win in the end I lean towards post-mill but um it's it's better to try it and and lose temporarily that then not try it all so that's why I'm helping out in different ways that I can and supporting guys in our church like like Senator Shippee it was it was he was trying to do justice in the state capital as a senator yeah that's that's really good I actually uh was messaging with Senator Shippee in a few people prior to recording this and that exact conversation is it was what just came up is uh we were talking about the fact that even if we fail um that that there's an encouragement in um Brandon chair to a passage from Corinthians about like giving thanks amongst the brethren for the for the works of of the saints and and it's the idea of wanting to express gratitude to people who are pursuing righteous ends in the senate and so this is in the context of supporting his bill and co-sponsors and things like that but but ultimately speaking this idea that even if we try and fail um you know we should not grow weary in doing good but that that we know that in due time we will see a harvest reaped and that might not be in our lifetime to your point it you know it could be a long-term thing where it's your son taking up the mantle but the seeds that we plant today are so meaningful in the future and that doesn't mean that we should sit back and be pessimistic today that means we can still take action where we can take action and so um I really appreciate that that framework in that attitude of even if I fail like God has given me a talent I'm not going to bury it in the dirt I'm going to go do something with it and invest it wisely and seek to to grow it as best I can and that's that's what faithfulness looks like as a Christian and so I'm encouraged to hear you say that yeah and I'm trying to have a while I've learned it from guys like you and other guys um at our church to have a a generational mindset that um my generation your generation we may not be able to get that much done but if we can lay a foundation for our kids and grandkids and and great grandkids to improve upon in many areas whether that's civil or or business and of course family and and church then that's that's absolutely what we're called to do like leaving in a inheritance of course that is training them the faith but I think it's so much more than that yeah very good yeah and I appreciate that about you that you have a sense of not just not just complaining about it not just being concerned about it but to actually see what you can do about it and and your service to the church as a as a deacon your service to your country as one who is involved in helping and learning and participating in the process not just being uh just separated and and kind of withdrawing yourself me like oh it's a lost cause and like that you're doing your part you're doing your part in terms of of food you're doing your part in terms of of business and trying to thinking entrepreneurially and thinking about your son and future and connect with your parents I mean uh there's a lot of things that are respectable about your your your family and where the Lord has brought you and and that's there's just something to just kind of going back some to the beginning there's a lot of things you guys haven't had to um to fight over and wrestle over because you know now you guys have have so much going for you even at a young age as you guys are to be able to to grow and reach for higher heights and for your for your son and future children to stand on your shoulders and and not fight all the all the the the the restarting over of all the different battles that many people have to and so it's just a beautiful picture of of God's working in your lives and that's what we want to uh that's why I want to interview you because we want other people to want to get to know you so we've got newer people come into our church whereas um uh as well as just giving people the opportunity to hear and to be thankful for what God is doing in you like we're not celebrity driven we are recognizing that God is at work in the small churches in our state in our country and he's at work in the families and the lives of individuals who he has loved um by his grace and and is brought into the local church to be to be faithful and to be useful and to be servants and so really uh really appreciate this opportunity to talk to you and I want to give Sophie another just opportunity as well when it comes to you as you think about supporting your husband and some of the ways that you um encourage him and participate what are some of the things that as you that you think about and that you uh value as being part of the farm and being part of of of our church and thinking about all the things that he's involved in what is how do you how do you kind of think through that and what's important to you as well to be clear you weren't referring to her as the farm is in having kids right well I definitely have a supporting role in all of this mark is the most ambitious person I've ever met and it feels like there's constantly something new that we're going after and he's doing and I'm just trying to keep up with him uh a lot of what I do though for him is just practical making him breakfast making him lunch like talking with him about what's going on and giving advice where I can but a lot of that is just praying for him to and raising his son um I don't know what what would you say that my role in all of this is well it's kind of a corny term but I think you uh I know that you are able to supercharge what I'm doing because you're able to take care of so many things without me asking and then also just be that support behind me um you know a lot a lot of it is is not glamorous tasks like you said like taking care of meals and and being responsible for Clyde in many ways um but I don't that takes things off my plate and so I'm able to chase after things with the business and and help us to eat again and do politics and all all the things like that and I love helping out where I can I remember being 35 weeks pregnant feeding the pigs like anywhere I can jump in is is really fun for me too yeah you're you're part of it right like it's not that it's not just distant and you just stay in the kitchen right yeah but but there's all all of those aspects of being a support being a helpmate to your to your husband and and as you guys uh you know love each other and raise your family together on the farm it's uh it's a it's a full it's a full life isn't it yeah very very full and beautiful yeah trying to to have the the family economy I think that's uh probably historic term but I think Moscow has been good with that and she has products that are on a website she makes tea and elderberry syrup and and renders big fat which smells decent unless it's that's a smell like that for days on end but um good time there's there's absolutely a family economy and we both earn money she she does her it's probably 31 in action absolutely real estate mogul I'm kidding but but no I mean when when the Christian household is operating like it's supposed to it frees each person up to do what they're called by God by their nature to do uh and that's really how we're designed and there might be different particular applications in a given household obviously uh with the agricultural investment in your in your household that's a a more practical perhaps outflowing of that but many many wives may do that by selling bread at the local marketer or maybe they just have eggs that they put out on a roadside stand I mean there's there's so many ways um that all of our wives I think contribute to our homes and and provide for you know provide for us and if nothing else like you already hit I mean all of us would attest to as as Christian men that if our wives weren't managing the homes I mean like we can't do what we're called to do as men without that firm foundation uh I I can trust my wife that even though I'm overseeing everything and I'm a part of everything I don't have to think about so many of the things in our home whether it be uh the general flow of education in the home or whatever it may be because I know that my wife's executing on those things and we talk about them regularly and we uh you know we're one in that and so it's it's beautiful because as I'm sure Danny can say as pastors our minds are in like a thousand places all at once and it's hard for us sometimes to just wrap our mind around what I need to focus on right this second and that's same I think of every of every husband so it's always encouraging for me to hear young you know young wives and mothers that are seeing that not as some burden that makes you less but actually as a way that you genuinely bless your home and your husband and I will say at first when we first got married it was difficult for me to not feel like I was not doing enough or um I really struggled with not having a job and not feel I came from a girl boss culture where me choosing to stay home was hard at first and then over almost four years of marriage now I found ways to be productive but that was a choice that I had to make not to just sit back and be passive but find those things that I where I can bring value to our family and to our business having a baby helps with that too to keep you busy but it's the future labor yeah I've grown so much I remember really struggling at the beginning but it took me kind of kicking into gear and just doing it he's about one and a half he's currently helping out so yeah bring over ingredients for mixing feed yeah but we live in a hyper feminist culture and so not in our church but at other places and other circles people ask Sophie what do you do like what's your job that was hard for me to start yeah yeah and oh I'm staying at home they go oh nice you know yeah and it's it's um seen as a very low-value position but Pastor Gabe was pretty much touching on patriarchy which means bother rule and it's not that the male head makes all the decisions he can delegate and that is a a wonderful thing that's that's a beautiful system yeah so I'm able to delegate and trust Sophie to do so many things and and know that they're gonna be taken care of and yeah yeah that's a beautiful design that God has made that as you function according to the way that God has ordered things it just there's just peace and there's and there's joy there's happiness and there's that division of labor in the household and there's that support and and that mutual love and care for one another I grew up I remember my definitely was not original of my dad I don't know what the and I might not be the phrase exactly right but behind every successful man is a woman and there is that sense of that that support I mean like you were just saying that earlier without our wives we're probably a mess you know yeah and so there is a there's a beautiful civilizing aspect to a husband and wife relationship wherein now we're really running in the direction and in the ways that God intends for us it's a it's a beautiful picture of course of Christ in the church and the way in which we we care and love for each other and we are productive for the sake of honoring and glorifying him that I'd encourage you sister embrace the term homemaker because really like the concept of stay at home why for stay at home mom I think has an unnecessary negative connotation that oh you just stay I stay at home it feels very like an active right but homemaker it's like you're building something you're producing and I think we need to think in that context when when we greet people and talk about that because bottom line is my wife is building something in our home for future generations that is much more productive much busier and much more fulfilling than cubicle ever could be you know and we can even go we can we can up that even more and just be like I have the the greatest and most important job in the world I get to raise an eternal soul and for as my full-time job and and so what does it you do you said in a cubicle oh you know you you you're wage slave for some other man but at the same time you know you have the privilege and the joy of of really being one who is a leader as a productive household under the headship of your husband you know making good things and enjoying the fruits of his husband also yeah yeah you get to participate in building your household and and and we want to encourage all the all the homemakers out there to lean into that we appreciate that good kind of pride I talked about pride and and humility recently and there's a good kind of pride that's that pride in in delighting in what God made to be good and to and to standing on it to actually leaning into that in a in a positive way to where we don't back down where we're not we're not shy but in the the zeitgeist of our of our current day it's yeah it's it's looked down upon to be that and we got to push back to that and be like actually know what's wrong with you yeah even godly christian women have feminism to so deeply entrants them I mean even I know so many christian women my wife included the group christian in solid homes and still it's like you don't realize how much that that curse is still upon you until you're in marriage and you start thinking you're working through these things and and it really is amazing the amount of propaganda that went into the sexual revolution to convince women that oppression is not seen in a cubicle listening to a guy I'll always tell you what to do that that's not a question but somehow like loving your family at home and supporting and submitting to your husband is it's like that great gk chesterton quote that uh that all the women decided they were tired of of taking you know uh doing what men told them to do so they went out and became court stenographers you know it's like okay so humorous humorous idea that well you don't want to listen to what men say all day so you go and you type what men say all day and somehow that's fulfilling and it's that's the irony of of what we've created is that somehow we've bought a lot right yeah and on top of that we've created the need for dual income we've destroyed our economy we've created all we've done is is increased you know tax revenue and burdens like it's just the entire system is built to be a self-defeating destruction zone and I think that's why people of your generation find yourself in that challenge if well how do I even afford land you know uh so it really is something that I feel like our generation or children need to break that cycle and I'm very encouraged to hear more and more people like yourselves thinking in that mindset because it gives me hope that we will actually break that cycle well that's wonderful well we really appreciate you guys coming in and being a part of the podcast but Mark's always a part of the podcast but he's he's on he's behind the microphone this time and we're really grateful that you guys come in and share with us we think this is a blessing to all of our church family and all those who are outside who get to hear and appreciate what God has done for you and in you and is currently doing through you and so we really appreciate you being here but that's all the time that we have for truth today did you have something I was just say shameless plug for you do you have a website what's your distribution grandad farms dot com correct yeah and if you have chickens and would like to try our I think is what is excellent chicken feed made with coconut oil we're calling it coconut layer feed you can use the code beta test all caps maybe I'll put a link in the description yeah shameless plug for business in the treasure valley right yeah if you're in the treasure valley we're not gonna ship that yeah yeah what's your distribution model I guess if people is it all through the website or do the local markets right now it's all through website but we will be at some markets this year we do a weekly delivery route on Fridays and people also will pick up obviously there are folks that are church you get things from us and we just bring it to church so yeah that code will enter you into the beta testing program which I think is just about complete so you'll be getting a 25% discount on pretty much a finished product so fantastic try it out if you have chickens excellent well yeah thanks for catching me on that and now that's all the time that we have for truth today thank you for joining us and until next time we hope that you will grow in your love and commitment to Christ and his church as we are sanctified in the truth God's word is truth you you