EP 185 Lit With Prayer w/ Dayne Kamela

inspiration, now essential. Aspire guys, get straight guys and play. You are gonna miss out on what you are saying. I'm gonna do what you said.

Will you open up that vibe? Will you do what you read? You're stuck in the deep in the soul. The world is all night expired.

Be inspired. It's all night, you're gonna do what you said. I never open up that vibe. I knew what you read.

Do you make this decision? If you think it's so, I'm not excited. Be inspired. What's up, people?

I am your host, Jay Wil. And I would like to welcome you to Aspire Guys. People with faith in business to guide you to your purpose. Right now, I'm a little frustrated if you want me.

I'm gonna be honest with you. And I'm gonna tell you about that in one second. But today, episode one, I can talk to you. Episode one, 85, who have dang Camila from Lit with Prayer.

That's gonna be joining the show and talking about his brand and his journey through faith and business, leading a very large platform with Lit with Prayer where he gets up every single day and prays for and prays with people. So a very necessary platform. He has over 10 years experience as a content creator on YouTube. It has grown to hundreds of thousands of community and audience and he's gonna talk to us about how we grow our brands as believers.

But the next three minutes, all right, if you want to skip this part where I'm about to tell you why I'm upset, go ahead and skip to around a five minute mark somewhere between four or five minutes, I'm gonna make myself be quiet. All right, I typically have a rule where I don't ever record the show while I'm frustrated or upset because I don't want that to come across you all. You know, you get mad and like other stuff they don't got to do with it be making you mad. So last thing I want to do is be recording the show and then just be mad at y'all for listening like, yo, what's listening folks?

Get y'all stuff to get, you know, but let me say this. Sometimes doing this show, you know, by myself over the past four years, it's challenging. I work a corporate career as y'all know, recording the content, both video and audio, uploading it, editing it, uploading to social media, writing the descriptions of the show. It could be a challenge and I'm not saying it's a complaint, but I'm being transparent.

For the last two weeks, I don't understand or know why, but only the when I upload the audio, only the first five minutes of the show will upload. And again, keep in mind, I'm doing this stuff on the go. I'm busy. So when I upload the show, I'm moving on to the next thing.

So shout out to Morgan, one of the listeners that sent me a message and let me know like, Hey, you know, this happened this week. Last week I caught it and then I fixed it. Then there's a lag time between updating it. So for like Apple podcasts or whatever, you know, it doesn't update immediately.

And then you have the fact that from an analytics standpoint, you lose in the data that you capture from your audience, you lose all of that data. So like, regardless of how many people listen or was going to listen to the five minute, the joint affairs, then it starts all over. Then you don't know if people are going to come back, right? So I appreciate you if you're here right now.

Maybe you didn't catch the glitch in the beginning. Maybe you didn't catch the glitch last week or maybe you enjoy invaluable content so much that you still listen. Hey, I apologize for the hiccups, but have a little grace. I'm trying to continue to grow this.

And that's what if I'm being real in this last minute, you know, that's what's been challenging for me this year. I've had a lot of growth, a lot of change, a lot of increased responsibility. And if I'm being real, right, I talk about this stuff on the show and I want you all to know how really it is the process and how it can be grueling and how you get to stages where you kind of want to give up, but you can't, you know, I find myself, I was frustrated today when I realized that because I was just about to take a break and go get myself something to eat and you're trying to manage all this stuff, man. And, you know, I just want to be real.

It's all like, I am, I'm frustrated and all of the change has been good, but that don't mean it's not challenging. You know, I've taken on three new jobs in the last three years and, you know, movie studio, most it's just, you know, I'm gonna be quiet, man. I just, I just really wanted to be real. It's all today that really frustrated me and I had to come down here and rerecord this.

Now I got to upload it. Hopefully you all listen, subscribe, like, and look, I sound all depressed. Let's get to the interview, baby. Let me interview you.

It's what we gonna do. You gonna talk to me and I'm gonna talk to you, baby. On the phone phone. I said, I'm freaking person.

You don't wake it, go to. Go be talking. I'm gonna be learning. Your page stood out and that's how I found you.

So we've been talking for a few weeks and I'm happy to have you on the show day. Yeah, super excited to be here. Now, how do you, um, you call yourself, are you, how do you feel about you? Influencer, entrepreneur, how do you kind of describe yourself in the lane that you're in today?

Yeah, it's interesting. I'm still trying to figure out how to share that with people, but what I've said to most people when they ask me what I do is I'm a Christian content creator. I think that's, I don't know the word influencer. I think just has a bad taste in someone's mouth because they'll think about the huge YouTubers and Instagrammers and it's, I, I just think it's a little bit different for me and what I do because it's all about glorifying God at least my pages.

So I look at it as I'm a Christian content creator for Christ and I want to make him bigger in the eyes of others and I have to be there on the page to make the content but I'm doing it for him. So I would just say a Christian content creator. I feel that's why I ask because that I'm the same way like the influencer work. I think it's just one of those words that because of how people gravitate to influencer and like you said when it's not about the Lord and you're not keeping God first and it's kind of like literally like I'm the influencer.

It could be tough. It could be a little bit of semantics too. So, but no, I just want to get that right. So, dang, I want to jump right into this man.

I've been looking forward to this conversation. So lit with prayer first before we get started. Can you just tell us a little bit about what lit with prayer actually is? Yeah, for sure.

So when I started sharing social media content, I started on TikTok and it was just under my name, Dane Kamela. So my TikTok today is still Dane Kamela. And then after about eight months, I didn't want it to be just about me because I wanted to make it about the purpose that God put on my heart was to share my faith. So I wanted to name it something and the thing that I was doing every single day on TikTok at the time was just praying for people because prayer has a really important place in my life.

That's my relationship with God and being a follower of Jesus started with going to church and just praying. That was where I started. We all start somewhere. So lit with prayer is in my mind, it encompasses three things, faith, hope and encouragement, faith in Jesus, hope in everything that the Word of God says of our life because hope fuels our faith and then encouragement, which is something that's very meaningful to me because I believe we are all spiritually gifted from God with spiritual gifts, one of those spiritual gifts being encouragement.

And that's what God placed on my heart at a very young age when I started becoming a follower of Jesus. So lit with prayer means to me a place to share faith, hope and encouragement with others and just make Jesus more popular. I love that you say something that's kind of dope to me from the standpoint of you called, did you call hope or encouragement a spiritual gift? And like when you look in the Bible and spiritual gifts are out there are a couple of spiritual gifts like hope, even kindness, right?

Things that are like literal spiritual gifts, but I don't think we view them that way. You know what I'm saying? Like I don't think a lot. I don't hear people say like, Hey, you're, you're encouraging.

That's a spiritual gift. Like, why do you think that is or do you think we have a hard time connecting like some things that maybe feel super practical or just normal or maybe just someone's personality and like equating it to a spiritual gift? I think we don't think about it in regards to like saying encouragement as a spiritual gift because we're still early in our walk. I didn't understand spiritual gifting until seven years into my walk.

So I think it just comes from biblical knowledge and continuing to grow in your relationship with God through reading the word. And as you read the word, it starts to reveal to you, you know, not only how to live a good life because it is the book of life. It is the way that you're in the life. It also shares with you things like spiritual gifts and how to kind of think about them.

And I think for any Christian who wants to continue to go deeper with their faith to think about spiritual gifts because it activates more purpose in your life and my opinion. I mean, my, what I do today is from the lens of the spiritual gift and God placed on my heart. So I think it just comes down to being still kind of early in your understanding of the word. That makes a lot of sense.

Like you say, like for me, from being real, I mean, I was a Christian foot. Yeah, I don't even know how many years because I grew up a Christian before I started really reading a word and understanding the word and stuff like that stuck up to me. That's why I said it because I'm like, man, when I'm looking at the spiritual gifts, there's maybe two or three in here and I'm like, yeah, that's, I don't know. It was just obvious like you look at that as a spiritual gift, but then there were some that I realized like, yo, I've been overlooking, like he's literally walking around spiritual gift.

I've been like literally overlooking gifts from the Lord or someone being able to use God, be used by the Lord outside of what we may normally view as such. So yeah, and one other thing on that just to quickly, because this is something I really like talking about. I think when Christians think of spiritual gifts, they think of the gift of prophecy, the gift of tongues, they think of the supernatural spiritual gifts. And that's where they stop because they're like, I don't have that.

And I remember a time I was like, I don't have the gift of prophecy and prophesizing over people's lives, but it even says in the words and not covet someone else's gift, because when you covet someone else's gift, you're comparing your life to theirs and you're robbing yourself of your own unique ability as a Christian and maybe you don't have that gift of prophecy. I don't. I don't have the gift of tongues, but there are other spiritual gifts and we can have a few of them. And if we actually think about them and develop them, God can really use you to do great things with those, even if it's something as simple as administrative work.

Agreed. And I think you say something really important and that is like that idea that if you don't have those things that are typically or generally view as a spiritual gift, then you start feeling like, well, maybe I'm not connected to God, like, because I'm just wise or whatever. And for transparency, that was me. Like I had a hard time doing something like wisdom as a spiritual gift.

So I would often when I was younger, look at other people like, Oh, they way deeper than me. Like it must be something I'm missing with God because I don't do that. And it was because I didn't understand that there were other gifts that God was using that are literally listed among the same. So I do think that's important as well.

Definitely. Then I want to talk a little bit about your childhood. I've watched some of your other videos and I saw something where you talk about the fact that as a child, you were like super shy, introverted and like, now as an adult, obviously doing what you do with prayer, you're like outgoing and things like that. So can you just talk a little bit about, you know, what was it in your childhood of some of your experiences and what kind of shaped you into being who you are today?

How did someone go from like this shy introverted kid into someone who's going out and praying for people and, you know, being outspoken the way you are today? Yeah, great question. And I think being an introvert is not a bad thing in any sense of the way. I just felt when I was a younger kid, I didn't feel like I was always worried and I was always fearful but I didn't have a relationship with Jesus, which is like so important for people to understand.

And since I didn't have a relationship with Jesus, although being a believer but not a follower, which is a different, which is different, I wasn't able to step into who I was and where my true identity lied. So I was operating and living in this world. And when you operate and live in this world, you can only do so much with what's around you because everything influences you based on what you listen to, what you watch. And as a kid, I'd look up to my brother and I would try to model my brother or look up to others and you're just trying to fit into the world when God wants you to live for the word.

So I think why I was shy and worried is because the enemy wants to stop everything that's great on your life. God has amazing gifting, spiritual gifts, a calling and a grand great purpose for you. That begins to be developed and shared to you as you actually become a follower of Jesus. Since I wasn't a follower of Jesus, I wasn't able to understand who I really was, biblically.

So the enemy was able to keep me in that box of not unleashing actually who I really was when I started to become a follower of Jesus. So I was worried I was living in the world trying to follow other people, listening to rap music and all the things in my brother listened to. I think when I say rap music, specifically rap music that has very bad language in it, that stuff conditions and influences you in a subconscious way that you don't even know is going on. So I think there was definitely behaviors I was doing and habits I was doing every day that I didn't know any better, right?

Even in the word it says, my people perish for a lack of knowledge. I didn't have any knowledge because I wasn't seeking that knowledge. So I think that's why I was shy and worried and the enemy uses that again. She uses whatever you feel like that you can't control against you and what changed all of that because this was up until I was even 18 years old.

I was still, I didn't operate with as much fear when I was 18, but I was still like always worried and just kind of like in a shell, if you will. And then when I went to church one day and a pastor opened me up to starting to be a follower of Jesus, all of it changed because God was able to reveal things to me even though I didn't know what was going on in the time. Like from a biblical sense of understanding like that God puts things on you and shares things and helps reveal your true identity, that was happening to me very, very early on when I started to follow Jesus. He put that gift of encouragement and I started to develop it.

And that's why I'm so, you know, that's why I love talking about spiritual gifts because I just said, oh, I like to encourage people. Well, what should I do with this? I should probably develop it. And as you develop it, God reveals to you more, you start to step into your true calling and gifting that's unique to you as an individual in my whole personality and what I cared about started changing and God was revealing more to me.

And then I was just this more outgoing guy and I didn't think that wasn't who I was. I just wasn't able to see it and use it because I didn't have a relationship with Jesus at the time. If that makes sense, I know I kind of know. No, no, it makes sense because number one, you talked about I like the way you connected that shyness with worry because it is a difference between being an introvert and being suppressed.

And I consider myself an ambivert now, which is, you know, essentially a little bit of both depending on the situation. And it's funny because depending on where people know me from, if someone knows me in a way that I'm super extroverted, like most of the time, like if someone knows me from speaking live somewhere, like they probably, it would probably be hard to convince them that I'm an introvert. But if someone knows me like sometimes in a professional setting, I tend to be a more observant or chill person and it's hard for them to see me the other way. And what I've kind of learned is that there are, there is a difference between when I'm genuinely being introverted and when I'm being worried or like suppressed, like I don't feel like I can maybe share or I'm not comfortable like so I love that you connected that to our purpose and Christ.

Because I do agree, one of the things that's beautiful about being a believer is self-development. Like to me, the Bible is full of self-development. It's like you becoming a better version of yourself. And so I don't think when God, like someone like you or God knows like, all right, I put this gift in vain.

I can't sit back and let him just be suppressed. I have to develop him so that that gift can come out of me. Exactly. Very well said.

I love that. So you know, you go from being a shy introverted kid, find your purpose in Jesus. And I know you had, there was an accident that you had on the 4th of July. And I want to, if you could talk just a little bit, as much as you might want to share or not share about the accident itself, but in particular, like what was the importance of that accident for your life today, right?

And a lot of what we're talking about for the listener is self-development. And that's something that I never want to stop doing. And I also want to have the ability to look at the events in my life positive or negative and be able to grow from them and see the purpose in it. Yeah.

So this was before I started to actually build my relationship with Jesus and follow Jesus. And this was before I got into college. It was when I graduated from high school. And again, when I was in high school, I was just living for the world.

I was not doing things that I should be doing, drinking with friends under age, getting in trouble, things like that. And there was an event that happened in California July 4th where we were drinking a lot. And I was not in a good state of mind. And I had some friends around me and they all kind of left because they were in the same state of mind.

I don't blame them. And I was by myself. And at this point, I had blacked out. So I didn't even know what was going on.

And I was on a bicycle. And I crashed. And I woke up in the hospital the next day in the morning, like what is going on? 42 stitches in my face immediately going to the mirror to say, do I still have my teeth?

Because I didn't know. And I was just very, it was very dark. And it was the first really, really, really difficult time I experienced in my life. Especially I didn't know I was going to go to college.

I didn't have a desire to go to college. And all my friends were going to big schools and people were getting scholarships at a 2.8 GPA in high school. Like my life wasn't necessarily going anywhere. I had no direction because I wasn't being directed either at the same time.

So even though although that event was a very painful event in my life, I was very shamed. I felt a lot of shame and guilt for the decision I made. It took me in a direction because I think in every painful event that you go through, you make a decision to step out of it or sit and stay in it. But after like, you know, festering around for a couple of weeks in that depressive state, if you will, of being sad about what I did to myself, I said, you know what, I can either do this or I can do something else.

And I just made a decision to say, I'm not going to focus on this and I'm going to point an aim at something. And it was fitness. That was the first seven years of my life. I decided I was going to get in the best shape of my life and just go.

And that pain created momentum out of it to get in the best shape of my life, took me on a journey, gotten the best shape of my life was a fitness trainer, sports athletic performance trainer. And I thought I was going to do that for the rest of my life. So that event, although it was very bad, I think we can learn from any negative experience in our life and it can set, it can set us up for an opportunity to grow from that experience. So that's kind of a little bit of the backstory there.

Yeah. And you said something in the video on your YouTube channel and it was when you talked about that, you kind of talked about you wanted to focus on one thing, one area to improve. I thought that was kind of dope as a related to like that fitness journey and saying like, yo, I'm going to focus on this one thing and get this one thing right and then kind of go from there. So I don't know if you can unpack out a little bit from this perspective.

I think sometimes I'll speak for myself. There are times in life that I'm overwhelmed, right? And I'm feeling like there's a hundred things I want to do. Like I want to do all of these things.

And some of them, all of them, they feel super important, right? But at the end of the day, like sometimes we're doing so much that we don't get anywhere in anything. So can you just talk a little bit about the significance of focusing on that one area and how that kind of led you to where you are today? Yeah.

So, and if I look back and I kind of try to unpack what I was thinking at that time. My entire life was just kind of uncertain and I didn't know what I wanted to do with college. My whole face was messed up. I had scars like there was just a lot of like pain and I said, I had to make a decision.

And I think for me, it was like, what can I do? Like, what can I do to get out of this and what can I change? And pointing it in one direction or focusing on one thing was just like my body. I knew that if I, if I got my physique to where I wanted it to be, it would help me create a little bit more confidence in myself.

So yeah, I could have changed all these other things, but I think with everything that was going on, there was just so much pain and shame and depression that I said, if I change this area, I think things will get better. And then I just started to pursue it a little bit every single day, take massive action in that direction, of course, correct along the whole way. And I got to where I wanted to go and then got in because my relationship with God started at this time to building my relationship with Jesus, you know, praying and doing those things to while, you know, in the fitness world, because you can point whatever it is that you're doing in your vocation to do it for the Lord to at the same time, which is great. Yeah.

And I love to like just the principles are transferable. I think sometimes like, I don't know, I feel like sometimes we don't allow the practical principles to guide us even as it relates to our faith. So it's like, you know, when you think about working out and let's just say, or fitness, not even just working out fitness from diet to exercise and everything in between, a lot of that is about denying yourself, right? Like we're supposed to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Christ daily.

And so, oh man, when you're looking at that, you know, piece of chicken or whatever, you know, for me, it might be chicken, you might be something else, but you know, when you're looking at some food that you like, man, like I got to deny that if when you start practicing those disciplines, it becomes a lifestyle. And so faith start making, making more sense, living for the Lord, start making sense because you like, Oh, I have to deny things spiritually, deny myself my flesh the same way I have to deny that piece of candy or ice cream or whatever else. So I love the way that the, you know, the principles transfer and those type of things. 100% because you are a, you're in a body.

You also have a spirit when you get born again, you're the Holy Spirit on you and then you have a soul, which is your mind willing to motion. So you have to learn about your body and how to treat it, right? So it can help support the other two sides of you too. 100% day.

Let's talk a little bit about lit with prayer, right? First, I want to know, I love it anyway. Like I just, I'm a marketing guy and I like with things like instantly just speak to me or stand out. I think it's a, I think it's a domain.

Where did the idea for a lit with prayer come from? I know you talked about starting on TikTok under your own name. So, so what happened or how did that kind of translate to go on lit with prayer? Yeah.

So after about eight or nine months on TikTok and I think we maybe had 35, 40, 50,000 followers on TikTok and just seeing all the feedback I was going live a lot to with my audience praying and just sharing, you know, you know, my journey and my relationship with Jesus. A lot of people were like, Hey, we want to support you and how can we do that? And then that led me to starting to write like a devotional and create some products so my audience could, you know, support me in this. What I didn't even know was the ministry.

And I think as that unfolded and as I started kind of stepping more into more what God was placing on my heart, I said, maybe I should like, brand this something for you, Lord, not for myself because this is about you. I'm doing this because you placed this on my heart during the pandemic. And I just sat there and said, okay, what, what would encompass what this is? Well, it's prayer.

So let me talk to a few people who I think are creative and can give me some insight in terms of naming this something that has to be like that, that is all about prayer because that's what I was doing. I was praying every single day in the morning and at night. It started just once a day and then it became like two or three times a day on TikTok. And then I was eventually moving over to Instagram and then YouTube and Facebook now, but I wanted to have it something that wasn't just about me, even though I had to be the face of it, I wanted it to be about something else.

So the name just came. I wanted to have a name that maybe resonated more with like the younger generation because my audience was so young on TikTok. And I think that's the younger generation is something I like to focus on because I look at it as what was I like when I was 16, 15, and how could I have helped myself out as some of the things that I was dealing with to step into that, that God given calling out a sooner age. So lit with prayer kind of came about because like lit that word a lot of people use and you know it can also be referenced in other ways.

So I just thought that was an interesting name after talking to a few people about it and just said, yeah, let's just name it that this is about prayer. This is about hope, faith and encouragement. And that's what we share every day. So let's make it about that.

And it's an honor God. So that's kind of how the name came about nothing too crazy in regards to the thought process behind it. No, but sometimes simple just works, right? Like you said, it could be had some entendres to it is relatable is relevant and it's purposeful, which is the most important.

So you know, what actually led you to prayer though, like how did prayer become the focal point for you when there are all the things you could do or all the gifts or ways that you can kind of focus on something why prayer. Yeah, and it's funny too, because before I even got on TikTok, I didn't even know like there were Christians sharing their faith on TikTok. So you know, some people will be like, oh, you just like saw someone else and wanted to do that. And it's like, I didn't even know about it.

But like the way in which it started is when God like I don't hear the audible voice of God in my life. I feel led by God like God will put ideas into me and I'll feel led. So during the pandemic, I didn't, yeah, yeah. So I had like an amazing technology career that I was that I built for five years after leading the fitness industry and that was thriving and doing really well.

And I was serving God and just, you know, doing my best in the career landscape because I actually really enjoyed working for a company and working my way up and being in a position of leadership and using my gift encouragement in my job. So when God put on my heart, it was, I had a YouTube channel. I started a YouTube channel when the gift of encouragement came on my life because I was like, well, if I can, if this is, if I have a desire to encourage people, maybe I should just start making videos sharing my journey. So I'd already been on that journey for 10 years before I decided to start sharing my faith on TikTok.

Never had more than 400 subscribers on YouTube. I'd get like 10 to 15 views of video, but it was, it was literally called Dan's Great Journey on YouTube. And it was just me sharing, but I didn't even know God was preparing and developing that gift. It's so interesting looking back now in the place on that and people were like, how do you have all these followers?

This content world for 13 years now, you know? Yeah. So when God put it on my heart, he, like the idea that came to me is like, you have been making content for 10 years and you never talk about your faith. It's time to now start talking about your faith.

And when, you know, that comes on you, you're like, well, Lord, I'm not a pastor. All of the reasons why I can't do it start to come up. And we've all been there at some time in our life. And I know the way through that because I was in a personal velvet to at that time and reading lots of books, as well as the word, I said, well, questions are going to, I need to ask myself some better questions and I need to pray to God about this.

And I asked myself a question that started this whole journey. If I was to share my faith, God, what could I share that I feel comfortable sharing? Because I really don't feel comfortable wanting to do what you're putting on my heart. So I got to feel comfortable and I have to feel confident in doing it because all the videos I made on YouTube came from a place of confidence.

Even though I didn't know everything, I was just an encourager. I love to do it. So when I asked that question, confidence, what could I share that I could feel confident and comfortable? The answer came.

And it was just one word, prayer. And the reason why it was prayer was because prayers were started for me when I was 18. I was praying over my life every single day on the way to school in my, you know, downtime in the morning out loud. So I literally practice, practice it for 10 years before I decided to make a video.

It was very easy to start and continue to do for two and a half years straight without even taking a day off because I love it. That's all right. Thank you. You said a couple of great things that I want to unpack in a couple of different ways.

Like first things first, like the fact that prayer was something that was already just important. So you like you said, before you turn on the camera, before you made a video, the reason I just want to I'm just I want to ask some color and just some thought there, like for the listeners, like this show is really all about providing value, tangible value, things that people can like literally take today and change their life. We got a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs or business people, professionals. And so what I want to tell people with that, I want to make sure they really heard what you said and it's like you really focused on something you were already doing.

I love the confident and comfortable line like because like the reality of it is right, like if I'm being real, like I'm not a person that really likes, I'm very private. Like I'll put it that way. Like so I'm super private. So that confident and comfortable line like it helps me like I take something from that because we've only been doing video for about four months.

We've been doing all your for four years. So before years, I've been doing the audio podcast. I started off and I was like, I'll do it for 12 weeks. If somebody listens in, we'll see what happens.

And you know, we in 20, 30 countries every month, you know, on the audio Apple podcast going great. And then I've been struggling and going back, you know, you kind of wrestle back and forth. Like, I got to, I got to take that next step and do video, right? And again, like we're four months in right now and I'm still finding that comfortable and confident space as it relates to like because I was just much rather, if I'm being honest, be like kind of doing my thing, whatever success I have or don't have behind the scenes and then like inspire people, all yo, you don't got to see my face.

So I'm where I am. It's like, that's what my desire was, but I know I feel led to do more. And I want to, I'm going to be quiet after this, but I want to say this last part to connect the first and last thing, which you said, the confident and comfortable with the fact that you said you were doing it for 10 years already. And we did a, I did a show recently, probably five or six months ago called a 10 year marathon.

And the idea behind it was don't quit something until you've done it for 10 years. So again, like, because what happens is like, Hey, like I could have been doing audio, audio is growing is going well. Do videos like all as these other elements. Now I'm like producing, I'm doing all this stuff.

I could do this before months. I'm like, I don't know. I didn't bring that much value and quit, but I kind of have a deal with myself. Like I have to make a thousand YouTube videos before I stop doing YouTube for the reason that you gave and I want people to understand like sometimes they and we want to just, we'll see someone like you and we're thinking, Oh, he's doing his praying.

I can flip my phone on and pray, but there's so much more substance behind it and so much more thought and effort and sacrifice that I didn't mean to wax poetic there, but I just really love what you outlined. And I want people to understand that value. Like you said, you were doing it for an amount of years, which is like 400 subscribers, right? Dane, what made you keep going?

Like why didn't you quit? Like, what was the reason that you would do it that long? Cause most people today is like, Hey, if I don't go viral tomorrow, I'm done, right? Yeah.

No, that is such a good question. And I appreciate you kind of building upon because I do talk pretty fast and throw a lot of things out there. So that's, that's definitely helpful. When it came to that YouTube channel, it was called Dan's Great Journey.

And I just wanted to share like the desire to want to encourage people. So I had something within me that God placed in me that I didn't even know was God because I was early. I was a baby Christian. And when you find something that fills you and you find a way to deploy it into the world, you're doing it for the share fact.

Well, at least I was doing, I was making videos because it was helping me grow in the thing that I really enjoyed. So I didn't look at this journey of creative expression through YouTube as I'm doing this with the condition that I need X by when or X by then. I was doing it saying, I'm going to go on this journey and I call it Dan's Great Journey, right? And I'm just going to make videos and I'm going to develop my voice and I'm going to work on this.

I'm going to work on wanting to like have a voice and develop my voice and use it. And I don't, it doesn't need to be anything God. Like I was talking about it. I remember like in prayer, I'm like, I just, I get in front of the camera, I make a video and I'm learning and you could go back.

You could literally see videos from me on YouTube when I was 18. You could see it, who I was and how I operated. I wasn't, I wasn't good, but I was in process. I was in process.

I was in pursuit. That kept me going because I'm like, because even now in my life, like now, it's like, it's not what you get out of this life before you go to heaven. If that's what you believe it's who you become when you're here. So if what, if the important thing is I want to become more personally, spiritually in my body and my mind, then that is the thing that drives the actions that I take every single day.

And that's exactly the same reason why I started praying for people. I had no intention to share my faith. I had no intention to build a following. I was just like, Lord, you're telling me to do it?

Well, the worst thing that's going to happen is I'm going to probably get better at praying in this process of doing it in front of a camera. So I had no like expectation. I was just like, I'll just be obedient to the call, keep showing up. And that's what I did with YouTube.

And I grew so much. I developed my voice. I even seven years, six years into the YouTube channel. I said, I love having conversations just like what we're doing now when I meet up with someone for coffee to hear about what inspires them and what they're passionate about.

Because that was me. So I was like, I'm just going to start a podcast. I started a podcast for four and a half years. And maybe the most downloads we got in an episode was like maybe 500.

But I'm like, I'm doing this because I want to get better at talking with people. I want to get better at talking with people. I want to get better at talking with people. I want to get better at talking with people.

I want to get better at talking with people. I want to make sure that TDD is one. I am doing it for networking and developing my skills. So that is like a most important thing in any Create canceled chart or internal pursuit that you have from some purpose that's following you, do it for the peer factor developing that and seeing what God can do of it over five, over 10 years because God was preparing me for this.

He obviously knew when it was, I just was being obedient to saying, I'm improving. And so that's kind of how I look at it. Now you've got me. I'm triggered right now, man, you don't understand.

Like you stated a couple of So since episode one of this as back in 2018, I have used one word again and again. I'll probably use this word 1000 times on our a 185 episodes in that word is the process. And if there is nothing else that I believe in and this is based on the Bible The Bible is what makes me believe in the process when I look at the fact that David is anointed as a teenager Working in the field tending to sheep. He's not trying to become a king Like he ain't even thinking about it.

He's just developing in his gift Then he gets anointed by Samuel and he doesn't just walk out and become the king that night He doesn't become the king that year or the next year or whatever It's like 15 or so years beyond that until he walks into where God called him to be and so I'm so triggered right now Because I believe that with all my heart that one of the things ways that the enemy gets Christian and creatives like Distracted is that he wants us focusing on numbers and he wants the numbers to drive you more than your purpose drives You but when you were doing it for Christ and you were really trying to live a life of purpose You may be king David at 15 years old in the field send it to the sheep Guess what when David has to go slay Goliath he references like oh when I was in the field protecting my sheep Like I had to fight a lion or a bear And so there are things that God will develop us in in the small moments Even if nobody's listening even if no one's watching to develop you because there was no audience in the field when he's Tenants and sheep so then you got me so triggered. Thank you for sharing that because I think it's important for people to know that And just for reference right because I want people to understand you you share that you have 400 subscribers on YouTube for Less 400 or less for how many years 10 I still probably do on that channel Okay, so think about that right for over 10 years you got 400 subscribers and you're still still we're doing it And then how many subscribers do you have now not this is for Context not for anything other than just context of people understand it Yeah, how God can grow something if you give it time and when you ask subscribers Are you just saying like the collective following over the social channels? Yeah? I've you wanted this if you want to say I got this here that there or collectively it doesn't matter just so people understand Yeah, so TikTok 400 and like 8,000 YouTube almost 40,000 Facebook 70 2000 and then Instagram 144,000 so I Really like I want people because and the reason I had you share that is because there are so many people who listen to this show Who are on their journey trying to grow something and I talked to a lot of my listeners and my audience because I've been doing it for four years And a lot of people have listened since episode one So we have conversations and things and so I know some of the personal stories and journeys And I'm constantly trying to tell people like it's a process day for you Can you maybe describe what it was like when you started growing and how did you manage that as a believer and not become Overwilling by the growth itself.

Yeah, it's a great question and to quickly talk about that last point We talked about if I didn't do the 10 years I would never be doing this if I gave up along the journey I would never be doing this because God wants you to remain faithful to whatever he is calling you to do and things take time If I didn't build up my voice and develop my voice and develop the gifting to even pray for people pray for myself and the others I was praying for in the time I would have been ready to actually receive something that God was saying Hey, it's time to do it So you have to be obedient in wherever you're at in that process and if you commit 2023 to doing something every day for that year You will get better at it That's like you might not have the numbers or anything I'll hate to be 10 years Um, but if you do something every day for 2023 around your creative passion or entrepreneurial pursuit at the end of the year You will be way farther along in what you learn going through that But for me when I started growing and that was probably like six months into it I was ready because I'd already kind of gone through the periods of just staying in the process of like making content And I was enjoying it I enjoy I try to do things that I enjoy so it's easy to do it But the thing that I had to battle with and this is what happened in that first year was like so many people reaching out and comments And people asking for things and then you want to give so much into people But like you can only give so much into people so I struggled with that Which I eventually got to a place to get over and understand the discernment between like managing that well because To a huge following to anyone there are two like there's good and there's also bad that comes with it So you have to be prepared to handle it and if God gave me a huge following at 18 years old I would be out of the game probably because I wouldn't be able to deal with it and it's a lot to deal with but for me I Some I would sometimes get like Focused on the numbers too because I'm like oh this video did well But now this video is not doing well and that you have to grow through these things especially if you've never been through them before So we're human beings We're not perfect right and like that took some time to get through to where today It's like I'll put a video out and then it's like great Let me just move on to what's next and I don't even think about it Yeah, I'll go look back to see how it did But it's like it's so much different from when I was starting because that was that was a really That was a really it was a new challenge for me to go through and you have to just work through those things and then continually Work on it with God to say Lord Why did you why was why why am I doing this in the first place like this is to honor you and to pray for people? So I need to stop focusing on this or stop trying to be there for everyone answer every single DM answer every comment And I got to get myself some space to recover because you know I was doing this a lot and I was spending tons of time I think even for a year I might have done I don't know a hundred live streams for an hour And then I was praying for people working a job to at the same time I was a 70-hour work week job, so there was burnout that happened in the process And then I think the other thing that was really important to understand was the first video that did well That really well. I think I got like three and a half million views Was just like all the other videos and I'd probably made a hundred and fifty videos before posting that video So I would have never got there if I gave up on video 10 20 30 40 50 I started on YouTube six months ago or five months ago posting consistently YouTube shorts I posted 70 YouTube shorts before one of them broke a thousand so again process in pursuit and continuing to understand and ask yourself Why am I doing this and am I growing and am I learning something while going through this? So those are a couple things.

I know I kind of danced all over the place No, no, you get you gave us go like you are definitely a gift to the body of Christ. I appreciate you I actually think man like you just encouraged me. I think I I think I posted um I might have got to a thousand views on my first YouTube shorts sometime last month and that was only maybe my 50th once I don't know like you know, that's amazing Yeah, it's like you just got to keep going and keep putting it out there because after that 70th one I think maybe then my 90th one got like 600,000 So that's crazy and I had 200 just a point to give some people some context when I started on YouTube five months ago Like this is five months ago from when this podcast is there I had 200 subscribers and now we have almost 40,000 But I've made also 500 YouTube shorts So I put a lot of content out there because I love what I do and I just want to share it And I know if I show up every day There are people who want to pray and people who pray with me every day So in order for me to get motivation to make the content I know there's someone on the other side of that screen who's waiting for a prayer and although the prayer might not like Be for their specific thing they're wanting to grow in their prayer life And I've taken on that responsibility to be someone who can help people grow in their prayer life Then I'm gonna get you out of here with one last question Um, it's a quick one, but it's an important one for this show. I want to know what inspires you So you talk about all these videos and things that you're doing that Obviously we know just the general importance of prayer But and I like that you you know, we agree like you talked about earlier like music and sometimes the negative things that We allow to come in our lives and kind of separate us further from our purpose and from Christ So what inspires you like what do you whether it be something you listen to watch here see whatever it may be a person Um, what inspires Dang as you are on your journey creating lit with prayer Great question if you ask me this question five years ago I would have given you a different answer But now that I'm 31 years old the most important thing to me in my life right now is My relationship with God and what God has called me to do in all my ministry So I wake up every single day like to get into the word to get into praise and worship And I have a lot of alone time with the lord So I'm inspired to continue to build my relationship and be in fellowship with jesus And as I do that more and more he puts so much onto my heart from the word and encourages me So I can go out there and be an encourager and I'm inspired to encourage people again That's like what that's what fuels me up is like lord You have blessed me with so much and you put so much on me as I continue to seek you and find you when I seek you When I seek you with all my heart like it says in the word So like I'm in just constant pursuit of building a or continuing to keep a really strong relationship with God and getting into his word The bible is the ultimate personal development book So as you read it it reveals to you everything you need to know at whatever you're dealing with or going through And then from there I'm so inspired because I spend a lot of time to then go I got so much to say let's make videos let's write devotionals.

Let's do podcast weekly sharing bible stories So that's what inspires me today is like this relationship that I have had and been working on for 13 years It's grown to a place where I'm very thankful and grateful and the only way I know how to express that is to share it with others Dang, thank you so much, man. This was um, this was amazing. I got so much so much more to say when you jump off I'm telling you right. I'm so triggered.

I'm about to go in I don't even know I'm away what I'm about to say but um, thank you, uh, brother You are, um, again an amazing gift to the body of Christ. Thank you for gracing inspire guys people to podcast Hopefully we could do it again. So please do stay in touch. Definitely down to do it again.

Cool. All right. You have a great night. All right, dang Hey, you're brother.

Thanks for having me on. Yeah, bye Guys people. All right. I'm just gonna worry.

All right now. I'm so triggered that brother is a gift to the body of Christ. So people like dang are the reason why I have this podcast and I'm gonna tell you one of the most Amazing things about having this podcast is like, hey, I want to inspire guys people I want to connect guys people with other uh people who are like dang who are out here doing amazing things But I got to be real. Sometimes it's a selfishness to it where like he blessed me so much Because so much of what he said really speaks to me for real like because we look at people who have these platforms So let's talk about it, right?

We look at people who have these platforms and social media has conditioned us Really to just specifically look at numbers and I always think about this one thing It's the fact that when I was in high school, even when I was in college social media was more new when I was in college We didn't talk about ourselves through the lens of like our brand or our followers or you know what i'm saying? Like it didn't it didn't matter how many followers you had when I was in school And I look at even how people in my age group have changed where like we literally judge people based on how many followers they have It's like oh my man got a million followers and instantly you view them in a better light We have respect of persons What I love about people like dang Is that they are not who they are because of the numbers? Okay, cool. Yeah, what he said?

I forgot how many 400,000 600,000 whatever he has on um on tic-tock or whatever however many hundred thousand 100,000 on uh, what's the name he got videos with three million views? But when i'm talking to him i'm talking to a person you feel what i'm saying? What up Felicia, Vicki, Ken, how y'all doing man j-pat side of my air appreciate y'all commenting Like when i'm talking to him i'm talking to a person and the reason that inspires me is because i'm just being real I'm turned off by all the fakeness y' y'all i'm turned off by all these like I don't really care about numbers just for sake of caring about numbers like you can have A million followers it had a worst personality and like for me all i see is the worst personality I don't see the million followers like because all right cool. I can I know millionaires who don't have But 50 facebook friends, you know what i'm saying?

But what i like about people like dane and what i get from people like him and what i think you can grab from him is As we're building our brands as we're trying to grow um in business even as we're building our careers and things like that That we don't let titles affect or change us And i'm telling you from being a person that works in a corporate world at a fortune 50 organization You feel me vicky Like working in corporate america the same way that um You know the same way that social media numbers People buy into that and they go to they hit oh in corporate america the titles do like i'm telling you people that titles go today Listen people that titles go to they hit bro It's like and i'm like as i've grown my career and by all means i'm not like i'm not some big shot So it don't even matter But i'm just saying as i went from like local to even having senior in my title like oh senior this senior national this like It's kind of like yo don't let literally in my prayer today It like i'm telling you literally today in my prayer like the lord was putting on my heart Don't let the titles validate you Specifically talking about corporate america Do not let the titles validate you guys people if you listen in today what i'm trying to tell you and what i'm trying to inspire you To think about is although you are growing although you are going after better Although you are hitting new levels and you got to you know shed some of your old ways and old things Do not let the titles do not let the numbers go to your head And the problem with some of us and the reason why god won't even let some of us grow is because he know we can't handle it So for some of us like the lord already know what up angelica how you doing We already know like bro you can't handle it and i'm like i'm telling you it's like don't let the titles go to your head because what will happen is The titles can start validating you and i'm telling you this i want to be so transparent like for me Like i came from the hood growing up in detroit I didn't have like even as i'm growing my career corporate america I didn't have nobody before me teaching me about it. They don't teach you that in school I got a college degree from a good school in business marketing with a great business program but school they don't teach you like how to Like grow in something how to carry yourself whatever so i went into corporate america no mentors No guidance just trying to find my way And so when you come from nothing and you start having a couple dollars and you start getting some legitimate success behind you You do have to monitor yourself and make sure like jay don't allow this to get you off track and now start feeling validated bodies You know these worldy things that don't like they don't mean nothing at the end of the day They're resources they are tools to be used to get further But they're not meant to define you so i don't have to introduce myself with my title all the time or i don't even tell people where i work at like So it's like my point with all of that is we have to keep the main thing the main thing and make sure we are keeping God is the focus you feel me let's see what vicky say people are chasing titles and not transformation i love that That's a that's an excellent point taste chasing titles and not transformation and what ends up happening y'all Is you chase the title and then the title doesn't satisfy you So you have to keep going after more and then sometimes you're going after more at the expense of everything that really does matter And i'm not you i'm not saying that you should not go after things I'm saying that you should have balanced with the things that you're going after and that's something that i'm conscious of As i'm continuing to grow my corporate career as i'm growing things like this podcast um I'm gonna tell you a little bit like with networking this is something i was thinking about And you know you want to grow your corporate career and what what ends up happening again? You talking to somebody from the east side of detroit who came in rough around the edges with not a lot of guidance on how to grow in a fortune 50 Organization and I really did start at the bottom and When you come in you start learning some of the people who are growing their career They have connections some people are second generation at the organization Some people's uncle went to a college and they have all these other little dynamics And you're just thinking oh, I thought I was just gonna get promoted because I was doing a good job And it's like no there are other dynamics at play so networking is one of the things that I had to learn how to properly do I'm not the kind of person that likes to be your friend to be fake or to be connected to you just to get something out of you And so but I do know that people are like that in corporate america So as i'm growing my career a decision that i've made is that I really only want healthy networking partnerships and relationships I don't really want to try to network with somebody And like they're like they're horrible Like I don't care that you have a big title if you have a horrible personality And that's how some people might be but what i've noticed and this happens in corporate america in general is that when you have a title? I'm gonna talk about it when you have a title even if you're an idiot people are willing to fake like they're your friend Just to get on your back and grow Right, let's see what you say a single man without fair lack of identity But that can only be found in christ facts all facts So what's my point?

I've seen people become a slave to their title and they need their title to be validated And then they almost make people bow down to them because of their title What I love about the conversation I have with dane is that and even think about let's be real Let's think about it from this standpoint My show has nowhere near to reach the dane show has his podcast and his youtube page But what I believe and what i'm hoping and is that there was i mean he said it I mean you got that many followers people reaching out to you every day you can't answer every dm You can't follow up on every email um Encourage to say the least um that he's not the first person who has a much bigger brand And I do it like a lot of people that come on this show have much bigger brands or followers than i do And what i'm thankful or grateful for is that there's obviously something about what i'm doing that provides more substance and value than the number and In addition to that, it's like I don't want the number to validate me So let's say if we had a hundred thousand followers on instagram today Then now all of a sudden I start acting different because I was just waiting to get a hundred thousand followers to show y'all who I really was No, it's like no, I'm really this person like this really who I am And so i'm gonna be this person today I'm gonna be this person if i'm secretly successful behind the scenes or if i'm secretly broke or you know, who knows what type of life i'm living Maybe I drive a 1993 minivan and you know i'm saying you don't know But my point is the reason I don't even focus on stuff like that is because I want the substance of what i'm doing to be at the forefront more than anything So as you're growing as a believer as a content creator growing your career those type of things I want you to be mindful of the things that dane talked about today and the fact that like yo He came on the show that you know is a much smaller platform than he is But you can just see the real person and I love that and also I want to talk about the importance of prayer and Like prayer really our conversation with god Is an important part of our welcome christ in our life in our growth and we have to be careful as content creators Not to idolize the content not to idolize the work because look we know it's work We know it's work to make videos to do live streams to post it to hashtag it to share it to talk about it to promote it A story a real that is a lot of work But what I don't want us to lose track of you feel me is the fact that we need to be praying and we need to be connected to god And in our connection with god we also need to be praying that god keeps us connected to people who are connected to him Whoo connected to people that connected to him. That's a bar You don't need to just be connected to god You need to also be connected to people who are connected to god Why jay, why do I need to be connected to people who are connected with god? Because when you go go through your walk with christ you will have ups and downs You will have peaks and valleys and when you are at your peaks and you are doing well and the other people that you are connected to maybe they're connected to god As well, but they're in a valley you can be the one that pulls them up But then when you find yourself in turn in a valley, right? You don't want to be alone when you feel like you're in a valley and you're losing your connection with god You need to surround yourself with people with podcast.

That's why I do this podcast I do this but I'm gonna tell you something I'm trying to talk to the purpose and you like whenever I do a show we don't do gossip on this show We don't do gossip. You know how hard it is to grow something. That's not about gossip or entertainment It's like purpose self-development living living for christ inspiration motivation encouragement like As crazy as it is that should be the things people want but people don't want to be gravitating towards things that are connected to christ But i'm trying to give you content guess Information like what hot takes about christ like in keeping you connected so if so imagine if inspired Guys people if you're having a rough day or a rough season or you can't find like that Let's just be real. We all been there Listen, I didn't hit walls this year and I didn't talk about it on this show If you don't know it's because you don't listen to this podcast You need to go back and listen to the other shows that we have you can even go back to episode one and start It is called the lazy superheroes episode one of us by guys people the podcast created on 10 teams when you're taking thank you for listening All right back to myself Where was that?

My point at the end of the day whatever I was just saying is that what was I saying? Oh dude? I never forget what I was saying. This is a great time to look at the okay.

What up Felicia says fire Vicki said my daily prayer Sadamair say amen. There we go What is my point that when you find yourself in a valley like that this show could be the arm that reaches back and pull you up Because if we're connected to God and you're connected to God, but you are in a weak spot You need something to pull you up if you're connected to God and I'm following you like look I want your page to be something that inspires me or triggers me to get back on track with the lure You feel me like that exactly can we all thank you, bro. You said I hit walls all right Thank you So I hit some walls this year and I talked about it on the show And the thing about when you're connected to God I'm gonna tell you the beauty of a connection is that one Like you may be off track But the train is still on track because you ain't on their track by yourself And so sometimes when you find yourself off track or you just find yourself in a weak moment But you're connected to so many other people and things that are connected and going in the right direction They pull you what you want to think about is momentum. So When I was going through my uh ups and downs, you know, us and I was happening right this year has been a lot of ups and downs for me Just um, maybe Mentally emotionally whatever it may be just as I'm continually refinding myself and my purpose and I'm growing and trying to deal with growth The thing about it is what helps me get through and I lose my mind Is that even though I was weak the people around me wasn't weak my wife wasn't weak just because I was weak So then she becomes someone I can go to who is pulling me hurt my mince and is pulling me in the right direction But if you're surrounded by negativity or people who are not connected to God and you go to them weak Uh, and got the phone Let it go because you about to be gone You bought the mesh yourself up there You bought.

Oh, thank you so much. Gina for reminding me on that too. Elijah connected to people connected to him. I feel it Yes, I wrote up man So my point is if you are not connected to people who are connected to God You are inevitably going to hit a rough patch in life.

Just like me. Hey, let's take off the mask Let's be human. I don't have to try to live up to some social media Identity or whatever like listen bro. I am human.

I tell people all the time. Don't put me on your pedestal I don't want it. I don't belong here. Don't want to be there You're going to be disappointed when you find out i'm a human being as well I think we have to stop dain and i talked about it to begin an interview the idea of being an influencer and some of us and i'm not Saying if you call yourself an influencer is the end of the world or something I'm just saying some of us take on the mindset that the world takes on and then we try to live up to fake stuff Y'all gotta stop it, man.

We gonna see you in real life I know everybody just turned itself into a cartoon in the last two days with what's the lens at? First of all y'all paying for that stuff. Congratulations. Good for you.

I'm gonna tell you something y'all look good Oh, the cartoons look good. The cartoons look great. So, I mean, you know what? I don't even want to do it Because I don't want to see myself look better than I really look the cartoon got you looking like an avenger But in real life you look like a power ranger That don't that don't do it for me.

I don't want it. I don't need to fake avenger identity online And then you see me and you'd be like a VR trooper. He's a VR trooper. He's he's a normal guy Oh my gosh.

What is going on y'all? I don't want it. You feel me? I really don't want it because misery loves company That's why we need to be with people that would snap you out of it.

I love that So I want to start transition and talk about something else because I feel like as believers Um, what's been happening? Oh, you said don't do that the power my bad my bad Felicia my bad You know sometimes y'all I get out of pocket. I really do get out of pocket on this show And you will see if you watch from the beginning when I'm like really professional It's like I'm fresh into the interview. I have a guest.

I want to you know, hey, like make the guests welcome. Hey, how's it going? Are you thirsty? I know we're virtual, but I can send some water via door dash psych I didn't do that but maybe that's a good idea.

It was a good way to make people feel warm But then they got to give me their address and if I don't leave the tip it makes them look bad We're not gonna do that. Okay, we're not gonna do that at all depends on what power ranger we're talking about But here's the point I'm making you'll see me get out of pocket as the show goes just it just happens What what I really want us to understand at the end of the day is that we have to learn how to be authentic And I have ups and downs and so do you right? It's okay But we don't need people to reinforce our down times when we get down I don't need music to keep me down. I don't need people to keep me down like when I'm down I need you to be up fam like hey, but know this when you down I'm gonna be up Can we make a deal?

You need to find friends and connections in your life where you can literally make a deal together and say listen When you down I'm gonna be up if you if I'm down you can be up And what happens is that's a balanced relationship because I would tell you what doesn't work and what it can be challenging When people who are always negative are around like I'm a person as look vicky I am very much a person who is impacted by my surroundings So what ends up happening for me is that if you're a negative person And it's like yo wait a minute I'm noticing something vicky If I've known you for five years and you've been in the valley the entire time and you've never been at a peak But and you only call me when you're in the valley But then when I'm in my valley because you're in the valley I have no one to call This is a challenging relationship I'm not a person that's here telling you to cut people off I'm not going down that road or anything But what I am saying is that if you want to be of value to someone be someone that can pull them up when you're down But also You know try to find out if they somebody who can pull you up all right