Everybody, what is going on? You know what time it is. You're listening to join the Journey podcast with your host, Emma, daughter. Thanks for joining. I am in the podcast studio with today's Devo writer, Mr. Ryan Fitch. What's going on, Emma?

Ryan, I'm so glad you're here. You are in the institute with the wake team, correct? Correct.

Middle school students. Middle school. We have had next to no crossover. None. So I'm

absolutely zero. I'm looking forward to getting to know you. What's your story? And then fast forward,

how'd you end up here today? Yeah. Well, first of all, I want to say, what's going on, join the journey fam. I've been doing the journey with you, and it's been super fun.

But I'm also, I'm a resident here, like she just said, on the wake team where I get to

enjoy the chaos of middle school ministry and hanging out with middle schoolers.

And I love every second of it.

And the reason I love it is because when I was a student in high school, I heard the gospel

from a faithful preacher at a summer camp in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma.

Nice.

He preached on John 10, and I came to know, I was like, the thief does still kill and destroy.

Oh, yeah.

But Jesus came to give life and life abundantly, and that was the night that I realized that God's grace was real.

And it was evident in my life. And I placed my faith in Jesus. And that was 2018. I was 17 years old.

Did you grow up in and around the church? Pretty much, I was at the church Sunday mornings and

pretty frequently on Wednesday nights. Okay.

So you were around.

But that's when it clicked.

Yeah.

Yeah. I would say I was pretty much a Pharisee and like knew what to say, knew everything that I

should do and how I should live.

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