Thank you.

Thank you.

After that I might stay another 30 years.

I got to tell you this, okay?

A couple weeks ago, one of my best friends came through the doors of our Nicholasville

campus and one of our most energetic, enthusiastic greeters said,

Welcome to Southland, how are you today?

And my buddy with a straight face said, I'll be a lot better when John Weiss is gone and kept walking.

So if you're looking to have a new friend, I'd love to meet you, okay?

I need new friends.

When the British explorer David Livingston died after mapping much of the continent of Africa. The African people decided to honor him

by shipping his body home out of respect, but before they did, they removed his heart, and they buried it

in the soil of Africa. Over the last year, I thought, you know, at some point, this physical body of

mine will be buried in Lexington Cemetery, but my heart will remain here with you, you know, at some point, this physical body of mine will be buried in Lexington Cemetery,

but my heart will remain here with you, my church family. So thank you from the bottom of my

heart for that warm welcome. I'm undeserving, but I'm very, very grateful. And I did ask Scott and the

staff and the elders not to do anything to draw attention to me, but they don't have to listen to me anymore, which I know they're thrilled about. So let me dive in. When my son was in the eighth grade, I got an email from one of his teachers, and it just said, it has been a joy to have Ricky in my class. And I was like, huh, that's interesting. So I emailed her back, and I said, I would love to take credit for whoever you're describing. I don't have a son named Ricky. Two minutes later, I got another email back and it just said, Ricky Weiss, question mark, question mark, question mark. I was like, okay, here we go. So I picked my boy up from school that afternoon and and he gets in my truck, and Salas sitting

to get his backpack situated.

And I said, how was school today, Ricky?

And this big grin came over his face, and he just looked at him.

He goes, it was pretty good, Dad.

And I said, how long have you been Ricky?

...