Chris Grainger: 1:10

Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders God intends you to be. I'm your host, chris Granger. Let's jump in. All right, guys, it is your meat episode. Excited to be here with you, let's get right into it, okay? So our scripture of the week this week is in the book of Romans. The first chapter, 20th verse, says For since the creation of the world, god's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. We're going to be kind of unpacking that in this episode in particular, but also go back and listen to the spiritual kickoff episode, where I took some time to unpack that in length because I've got a really fun conversation today. I took some time to unpack that in length because I've got a really fun conversation.

Chris Grainger: 1:53

Today we have Alan Pereira and he's coming in here, and he became a Christian at the age of 16. And the impact of student ministry he had on his life gave him a passion to just keep make this. This is what God called him to do right. And so he graduated from Southeastern University and he's worked for Christian nonprofit organizations, specifically in the areas of communications and development, and we're going to be talking about a really fun project called the Science Dilemma. I'm super excited for you guys to get a chance to listen to this one, because Alan opens up on, like, how they created it, why they created it, how it benefits you, how you can engage this with your family, with your kids, directly, how you could really bring this into your church, and he just walks through the process of how the content was created. Then he also shares about a fun project outside the science dilemma that he, for you dads out there, that you're going to listen to. I'm not going to tell you where it is. You're going to have to listen about halfway in the episode he's going to share that I guarantee it's going to be a blessing for you there as well. So hopefully you enjoyed this conversation. It was a fun one for me. Hopefully you're going to just enjoy hearing Alan his story and their unique way that he has really leaned in to serving others. So enjoy this conversation with Alan. Well, alan, welcome to the Line With Dennis. How are you doing today? That's right. Oh, dave Ramsey says that man, he says that on his podcast. Amen, amen, yeah, that's it. That's it. You know, just every day, one day at a time. We're recording this on a Monday.

Chris Grainger: 3:46

It's been a long weekend, but I'm ready for some warmer weather by the time this comes out. Hopefully it's going to be a little bit warmer, but man, it's just been a tough winter here. Right now it's cold. It's like almost upper 30s right now, which for me is cold. We got some Canadian listeners. I'm sure they're like man. You're such a wuss, but I'm like man. I ain't made for that cold weather. I'm in North Carolina for a reason.

Allan Pereira: 4:11

I heard that humid cold is a little different than dry cold.

Chris Grainger: 4:14

Right, right, that's it. That's it. So you're in Florida, though, so you're golden right.

Allan Pereira: 4:19

Already. So I love the cold weather because I get to put on layers once a year, right.

Chris Grainger: 4:24

Right.

Allan Pereira: 4:26

And I was getting ready to take the kids to daycare and I put on a long sleeve, I walk out the door and it's like 75 and I was like, oh man, it's already hot.

Chris Grainger: 4:39

That's it. I'm a little jealous. Before we jump into your projects and stuff, tell us something fun about you that maybe not many people know about.

Allan Pereira: 4:51

Man, this is always a hard one for me, I would say. I mean, in America it's impressive, but like I speak three languages I'm Brazilian and Japanese.

Chris Grainger: 5:02

Okay.

Allan Pereira: 5:03

Yeah, so I have. I'm 50% Japanese, 50% Brazilian, but born and raised in the United States, so it's a there's a lot of cultural mixes in my background.

Chris Grainger: 5:14

There you go, there you go. That is impressive, for sure.

Allan Pereira: 5:19

Well, let's get into it Everybody speaks eight languages.

Chris Grainger: 5:24

Right, yeah, we don't find that a whole lot in North Carolina, you know, but you know there's always hope, right. So you know, I'd love to kind of get your story. You got some really cool things going on with the science dilemma. You also mentioned another project, but, like man get, get us to the genesis of how you got going with some of these amazing projects.

Allan Pereira: 5:47

So the science dilemma was it was there. I got into like creative videography and all that Because I like to make music. And I had this guy at my church who was a church, like he was a leader. He was kind of like the second hand man to the pastor. He's one of my best friends, his name is Jeff Singer and we co-own the Science Dilemma Project and he just started taking me under his wing and teaching me videography because I was trying to learn and serve the church with that and he's like amazing.

Allan Pereira: 6:21

And so we started working on projects and one of our projects for the church was a sermon bumper and in the sermon bumper it was basically a call to Christians for them to like, yes, there's political stuff going on, yes, there's all this ideology, but can we lay that aside and be focused on the kingdom? And that stuck so much with people that kids in the church were going around like reciting a minute 30 second rap and they were just like almost like a creed of theirs, like a rat, and they were just like almost like a creed of theirs. And so, okay, we started having conversations like how can god utilize this creativity in a different way?

Allan Pereira: 6:59

but like that impacts the next generation yeah so with more conversations with some people in the church, we had a connection with a local professor of science and philosophy in apologetics. His name was Dr Tom Woodward. He's in the first episode and he had all these connections to these different scientists. And so I just was I'm the guy on the camera on the journey because I'm just a lay guy, lay person wanting to know what does science say about Jesus. And from that point on, I mean we just kind of it evolved into what the science dilemma became.

Chris Grainger: 7:36

Man, that's pretty incredible. So I mean, how big was the church that you guys were in?

Allan Pereira: 7:41

It's not a huge church. At the time it was about 500 plus members, not necessarily I think it was like a thousand people coming, but 500 something committed members. And so I'm right at the church, and then my friend was on staff okay, that's pretty cool.

Chris Grainger: 8:00

So the box, so the bumper, was like playing on a video for like a screen before, before the service.

Allan Pereira: 8:06

yeah, it was. Um, it was a sermon bumper and what we did because what he would do when he was on staff, like he would create a sermon bumper for the sermon, so that there was this mesh between the creative and the theological and I would sometimes come in and help, just like he picked my brain on creative stuff to like add to his arsenal. And then this time he was just like, oh, why don't we make this like sermon bumper? You write the rap and everything. So it was like a spoken word and it was. I mean, it was just all the kids, all the youth group constantly was saying it when they would go around For 14 weeks. They wanted to hear it.

Allan Pereira: 8:46

So then it was like this other thought of how can God utilize this for the next generation, like this other thought of how can God utilize this for the next generation. And so we I mean it took months to finally figure it out there was a gap in ministry of creative and science as far as engaging the next generation with truth and evidence. Right, there's a lot of content for educational content. Can we make education more engaging?

Chris Grainger: 9:14

Okay, yeah. So the science dilemma, I mean yeah, the title, like how'd you come up with that? And then give us some ideas like what? This?

Allan Pereira: 9:21

yeah, that was just from those conversations, um, of like that, like what, what should we name it? And then it turns into, well, this is is a problem Like the problem of mainstream science, kind of monopolizing how we talk about science and how, like they always want to push God out of science. You know they try to say, oh, that's God of the gaps, but then they use time of the gaps. Right, if you give us more time, everything works out perfectly. And it's like that's not how it works. Um, and so it's not just origin of life. There's problems around, or dilemmas around, what people believe about gender, what people believe about, you know, the science behind all these things, and so the common factor was the dilemma of science okay yeah and the video structure.

Chris Grainger: 10:13

So is that how it's? So it's, I mean kind of walk through the product, if you will like. Like what if somebody, if guys are interested knowing what the science dilemma is, what are they getting?

Allan Pereira: 10:23

okay, so it's a four episode. We have two products. One is free, um, it's called the science dilemma and it's like a PDF, right, and you have snippets of the actual full episodes in there that you can walk through with your kids and you can basically have them experience the concepts. So one of the concepts, I guess the easiest one. It doesn't sound easy but it's irreducible complexity. So you know, for you trying to explain that to, let's say, you're a 10 year old, that might not be easy, but if you can have them, you know, put a plane together or you know, do something like an activity, then that concept kind of just goes and gets ingrained, because we kind of learn as we do. Um, so that's the free one, and then the.

Allan Pereira: 11:11

The paid version is I think it's like 9.99, but we do have like codes, and I think, uh, it's 6.99 but it's four episodes, full-length episodes, with man on the street. Uh, we have dr stephen c meyer, dr michael behe. These are like really big names in the intelligent design world. I mean, they speak at Harvard, cambridge, oxford, all that, and so we just brought them and we thought let's bring these guys to your living room, let's bring these guys to your youth group and let's get their concepts that are high level and bring them to a place where your children can now understand and be equipped with this If they go to school with the truth of the gospel. So you get four episodes and you get a leader's guide, a workbook, and then, of course, you have the free experience that you could download.

Allan Pereira: 12:00

Sorry, that was a long answer, but that's what you need.

Chris Grainger: 12:03

This is good. So I mean you mentioned a 10-year-old, so kind of walk us through the demographic Like if I'm a dad listening to this right now, like what's, what age range is really this target for?

Allan Pereira: 12:13

So our constant conversation when we were interviewing these scientists because, again, they're used to speaking to graduate and PhDs, Right, Right, and so we had to we always just reminded and said all right now, when we answer this question, you're speaking to a seventh grader, All right Now when we answer this question.

Allan Pereira: 12:32

you're speaking to a seventh grader and our thought process was if you can explain this to a seventh grader, then you can explain it to you know, all of high school and any adult. You know. Of course, we've had people that have intergenerational you know, they don't just have seventh graders in their home and they have a fifth grader and their fifth grader understands the concept because of the fun engaging side, right, right but obviously there's drop off, you're not gonna have your first grader understand the concept fully right, that's right.

Chris Grainger: 13:02

That's right, no, and that's what I was trying to get an idea. So I mean, walk any success stories or or things you like to share, like how, maybe, particularly if you had any examples with a dad and their son or daughter that have gone through this, I'd love to get some real reviews of it.

Allan Pereira: 13:20

Yeah, there was this one dad. That's funny. His wife was kind of like what is this? And they're a homeschool family, they have four boys. And the wife was kind of like what kind of a show is this? Like she didn't, she wasn't sure and she even thought she was like is, is this christian, is it not? And the dad was trying to explain to her no, no, this is christian. Like he's a good dude, he knows me and um, but he was able to take all four of his boys through it and they loved it. They had a great time. So it was like there was an engaging time with his kids where he can have quality time, but it's educational.

Allan Pereira: 13:56

So it was like discipleship in the best form, um right and that intergenerationally, all his boys were able to understand it but within their capacity, right, like your 13 year old can ask some deeper questions than your nine-year-old will. Um, but yeah, that was like it wasn't like a conversion story or anything like that, but it was this conversation about. You know, I was able to have these high level or origin of life, foundational christian conversations with my kids okay, yeah, that's awesome specifically, we have moms that review that homeschool. That's a little easier to pull a mom story, oh yeah.

Chris Grainger: 14:34

Oh yeah, Well, I mean, with the digital revolution now, like everything, now this is how kids consume content material. I'm curious, like because I haven't looked at the show directly how did you pull in and how do you keep people, particularly a seventh grader, engaged with a topic like that? Like, is there a lot of b-roll, was it? You're pulling stuff in?

Allan Pereira: 14:53

I'm just very curious there I think it's storyline, um, so we originally shot this as a documentary, like I don't know if you you know, like the matt walsh's, what is a woman right? Oh yeah so you have that format probably. I mean a lot less. Uh, I'd say like uh, he, he, he kind of makes fun of people as he does it.

Allan Pereira: 15:14

We didn't want to do that, but we wanted to still have almost a format that keeps you engaged. So we thought, oh, let's shoot it kind of like that, like a documentary. But then as we were, as Jeff was editing he's the producer guy behind the camera, on the camera, all that stuff, a producer guy behind the camera, on the camera, all that stuff and as he was editing the documentary, uh, we ended up reviewing it a little bit and then we me and him just started talking and then we came to the conclusion we need to chop this up in four episodes, because if we're trying to get this to a seventh grader, they don't, they're not going to sit there and listen to, yeah, scientists in one sitting, right. So we divided it up into basically the format which was man on the street. So you have my introduction, then you have we go to a city in our Tampa Bay area and just start asking normal people questions, which that was kind of pulling in social media trends, right.

Allan Pereira: 16:09

You see those things all the time Like what do you think about this, what do you think about that? People want to see what other people are thinking that are outside of their ecosystem yeah and then after that we take that concept, we go to the scientist and the scientist gives us an answer on that same topic okay and then, after the scientist gives us the answer, we then have like almost uh, we have some animations that explain it visually, and then after that we have me.

Allan Pereira: 16:40

What I did is we went to our church and I just broke it down, um, in a simpler form, so that they could even understand. Stand it on that level. So dr stephen c meyer talks about genetic code and he talks about how that points to designer. Our genetic code is way too complicated and sophisticated for it to be random, and so he talks about the probability of our DNA being, or proteins being what they are, and the numbers matching and making sense. And it's a 10 to the 77th power, which is an insane amount of numbers, and what we did was we got a bike lock with only four dials, so 10 to the fourth power, and obviously bike locks work right because, they're impossible.

Allan Pereira: 17:29

The probability is insane for you to guess the right code right so imagine you have a bike lock that you can't just guess and when you talk about our proteins, our genetic code, 10 to the 77th power, I mean how can you say that that's random and so right, we use the bike lock so that the kids understand the probability. Wow, wow, so yeah like, stuff like that, where it engages them a little better.

Chris Grainger: 17:55

That's pretty awesome, pretty awesome. Well, guys, we'll take our first break. We'll be right back. I don't know about you, but I used to find Mondays really rough. I would find myself trying to reset for work, trying to get my bearing on the family calendar, trying to find time for my own spiritual growth and development, and often I found myself overwhelmed or just flatly ignoring aspects of my life that I know are meaningful to me. What I learned was that if I had immediate access to important and impactful spiritual topics and reflections to start my week well after the allure of a Sunday sermon has passed, I would set my whole week up to be more meaningful and for the opportunity to make a true impact.

Chris Grainger: 18:44

If you think that getting such a boost would help your week to get started on the right foot, we would love for you to sign up for the Weekly Roar, which is our newsletter that is produced by the lion within us. Each week, we'll deliver a powerful reflection and practical steps to help you apply scripture with clarity and purpose, all being rooted in light and truth. So in just a few minutes, we hope to arm you with insights for living out biblical leadership with confidence and strength, and maybe even have a little extra bounce in your step. If that sounds useful, head over to the lion within dot us slash roar to sign up today. That's the lion within dot us slash r o a r to get your weekly roar today. That's the lion withinus slash RO A R to get your weekly roar today. So, alan, I'm super curious. You've gone through, made all this content, the videos, the interviews, talking with people. What did you learn the most? What was most surprising to you?

Allan Pereira: 19:56

you learned the most? What was most surprising to you? I think just the the amount of evidence that there is. Now scientists would disagree and say that's not evidence, you're just interpreting it from your worldview. That's what they would say. But I, just, I, I don't know how to just like ignore how much design and and intellectual, like creativity goes behind the human experience, like biologically, and the universe as a whole. Right like when you talk about fine tuning, when you talk about coding, when you talk about functionality, right like our organs have functions that have to work simultaneously with each other. I, it's, it's just, uh, the beauty of god's design has not only strengthened my faith, but it's just made me to where I'm like I can't, I can't listen to anybody's um interpretation of the science. That's anything other than that, because it just doesn't make sense.

Chris Grainger: 20:50

Right, right, yeah, that just sounds like an incredible experience, for sure. Any any topics that you got or feedback you got that's been controversial. Love to know where you get pushback.

Allan Pereira: 21:03

Yeah, I think the biggest pushback.

Chris Grainger: 21:05

I mean we get people online, of course, Right, You're going to get people in the comments saying, oh no, you that do you? I'm kidding man. It's like non-stop.

Allan Pereira: 21:16

That's what they call the lord. They call the lord like oh, here we go, more people talking about sky daddy, and you just see the amount of people that do the very thing that they're accusing us of right you accuse us of using our worldview, looking through it and then in the world is the pattern ever. Chaos creates order, Right, and so I'm just like those people that call us like crazy Christians or anything like that. They're committing the very atrocity that they're accusing us of.

Chris Grainger: 22:20

That's right. That's right I thought about. I went through a study a couple years ago about the case for Christ Lee Strobel. You know all that type of stuff. It's just, it's awesome, it's, it's good to lean in and when you try to take it from, uh, you know, objectively, you know what is, what is the evidence, say that's kind of what's his approach.

Chris Grainger: 22:39

It sounds like you're doing something very similar with the science. It's because it can be really fun conversations if you, you know, just come into it with an open mind yeah, yeah, it's the whole concept of what is the most likely answer here you know, Right, there's a story of so Albert Einstein.

Allan Pereira: 22:58

he was creating the equation for general relativity and as he was creating it or discovering it really not creating it, but it showed the the universe was expanding, but he, he, didn't believe that, he believed in. A lot of scientists believe at the time that everything was static, it was eternal uh-huh and um.

Allan Pereira: 23:24

So he added this thing called the fudge factor to it to basically say, no, it was static, it is static, so it's always been here. And then Hubble was actually finding out and figuring out that the universe was expanding, that there was a beginning point, but Einstein didn't like that. He didn't like that. It sounded too much like Genesis, right. And so then him and Hubble had a conversation. You know they talked, they exchanged, you know what the research was. And Einstein, after getting with Hubble, came to the conclusion that the greatest blunder, not even of his research or of his career, the greatest he said it verbatim the greatest blunder of my life was that he added that fudge factor because of what he believed right and so edwin hubbell was correct that there was a beginning point, and then so science as a whole.

Allan Pereira: 24:20

Eventually now all agree that there's a beginning point. But there was a point where they thought, no, that's like pitchfork, that's too much like the christians right. Reality, that's what the science points to.

Chris Grainger: 24:33

It's always funny when science catches up, right?

Allan Pereira: 24:36

Yeah, when you're talking about one of the greatest minds ever, he himself had an issue with letting your worldview dictate what you believe about science. So if he did that, as someone who's committed his life to the truth, to the evidence, how easy is it for us lay people to do that? And how much should we check our hearts, because the heart is deceitful?

Chris Grainger: 24:58

amen to that brother, we we also have I know, alan, the guys who listen to the show a lot of christian leaders. Maybe they're leading small groups or or, or you know, youth groups and things like that. How could this type of content material be used in a group setting? I mean, would it be benefit for group setting? Is it made more for one-on-one family like? Give us some some insights there as we created it.

Allan Pereira: 25:22

What we wanted was to make it. You know, god's, god's grace is accessible to all of us, right, and? And he wants us to be in community, but he also wants us to have individual relationships with him. And we had the same philosophy with this is that we want it accessible to all, and so if you have a homeschool and it's just you and one kid like, go for it. You know, or if you just want to learn it for yourself, go for it. We also designed it to where you can have a youth group of 200 people and be able to do it with all the boys and girls, break them up into groups, whatever you need, but there's discussion questions in the workbook that you can walk them through and give those discussion uh, those leader guys, to your, to your youth leaders okay so any setting really we have, the academic workbook is the one that we deliver.

Allan Pereira: 26:10

But we are working on a church guide because throughout the videos, because intelligent design, we designed it to the videos to be more academic in a sense so that nobody could say you're trying to implement or put in your worldview. But we do have a workbook we're working on that can be utilized easily for churches.

Chris Grainger: 26:31

Okay, yeah, that's awesome. So the workbook's going to be exciting. I mean, where do you think it's going to evolve next as you keep diving into topics Like do you have a way for people to submit ideas or questions?

Allan Pereira: 26:45

I mean on our website you can put contact us and then send us an email and give us your ideas. Um, so, if somebody wanted to give us ideas, we're always open to them. We we talked to discovery institute, which most most of those scientists are from Discovery Institute a lot to just get their wisdom and knowledge and guidance on where to go next. And so, yeah, if people are overwhelmingly interested with certain topics, we of course want to go that way. Right, because we want to engage the culture, right, and are we discipling you well if we're not engaging what you're interested in?

Chris Grainger: 27:21

Right, right, right, exactly, exactly. So I'm just curious when you look at the state of education now, so much of the Christian worldview just completely just gets taken out. Yeah, what do you think we need to start doing as men to start correcting that, particularly as we lead our families?

Allan Pereira: 27:41

Yeah, yeah. I think we just need to be involved first of all. Right, I remember working with some families in the system of care and also just locally, and one of the things that they said is seeing a man at school is like seeing a unicorn and just changing that narrative right, that dad is involved, and I think that that narrative is changing.

Allan Pereira: 28:05

I think men have stepped up and are stepping up. So I think number one is being more involved, because it's hard to when you see 30 dads show up and say, hey, like I want to be part of the school board, you know, or I want to and just being more involved in making sure that what education is pushing isn't just one narrative, you know. So when it comes to science, advocating for the school that you have your kid in to teach neo-Darwinism fine, because that's something that people believe, but teach it critically. Show the holes.

Allan Pereira: 28:38

Let us know that there's other options Instead of teaching my kid that this is once and for all just this, because if you just believe that life is purposeless, there's no meaning, we come from no one, okay, then your morals don't have a foundation either. And now we get really messy with our society.

Chris Grainger: 28:57

Right, I just know there's so many dads I talk to that when you get into certain topics like this like some dads love helping their kids with math homework, like they're really good at math, other dads hate math. The last thing they want to do is jump into algebra for a seventh grader, right. But science can be intimidating, particularly from a Christian worldview. Like, I mean, a kid asks you well, what about the dinosaurs? And lots of times there's so many Christian dads that just at that point they're out, I don't know. So, like the science dilemma, would it help you there? Or what would you say to that dad?

Allan Pereira: 29:32

So episode four with Dr Casey Luskin. He talks about the colossal record. Okay, and that's what I would say for dads is lean into the fact that you don't know, and and just be honest, right, like you don't have to be scared, you don't have to be the expert, like I'm very unapologetic with the fact on the science dilemma on our social media platforms. Um, when I, when I'm a guest on a podcast and I'm not not an expert, I am not your scientist. I don't have a PhD, nor do I even have a bachelor's in science, but I am a human and so I should care about this part of being a human right.

Chris Grainger: 30:13

Sure.

Allan Pereira: 30:14

Because it impacts the way that I view the world. It impacts the way that I disciple my kids. Just being able to know that God's hand in all of this is like his thumbprint is on all of this right, and so that's what I would say to dads is like lean into just the fact that you're normal.

Allan Pereira: 30:35

Like if you don't have a subject that you, if you like every subject, then you'd be crazy like you'd be abnormal. Like every subject, then you'd be crazy, like you'd be abnormal. Um, so, with that you have access to the internet, hopefully. If you do, then utilize that to disciple your kids, in that sense, love it, man.

Chris Grainger: 30:52

And you mentioned the fossil record, so give us, give that dad who's? Who's on his, on the edge of the seat right now, like what, what's? How does that help him out when he start answering that question?

Allan Pereira: 31:02

so there's the idea of the. So it's the cambrian, cambrian explosion, right?

Allan Pereira: 31:07

so these different species of flowers and in different um parts of the fossil record, where it's this explosion of similar species, it's not this gradual change you don't see that in the fossil record of like millions of years of of things developing into like a change, what you see is explosions of almost, almost, as if someone put it there and so it. For me, at least, when I see that and I interpret it, it sounds more like a Genesis account with an explosion of fossils. So for dad, he's able to look at his kid and say, hey, that t-shirt of the monkey turning into the human. That's not what the evidence shows. The evidence doesn't show us that. And even if they say, oh, we found one missing link, I mean you're talking about billions and billions of humans. How do we not have millions at least, or thousands of missing links? You know right? So, yeah, the fossil record just kind of showing us that there's these all at once, these things coming into play, not necessarily gradually and that's idea and we have some fun animations that the kids can see.

Chris Grainger: 32:24

That's super awesome. That's great. Thank you for sharing that, alan. So, guys, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. When I reflect on the kind of things that the men who participated in our discipleship masterminds had in the past, I am overwhelmed by the quality of their comments and commitment to each other. Several of the guys commented that this was the most meaningful leadership experience they've encountered, and we even had one man log into a discipleship mastermind while a hurricane was hitting his house. He was that committed and received that much from his peer group that he didn't want to miss it. Because of this extraordinary commitment and because it's a true gift and pleasure, we made them a core part of our community and we hope you might join us. We sit up men with their own peer advisory group of seven individuals that meet every other week for 12 weeks. Each member shares areas they want to focus on, such as improving their prayer life, being more intentional with their wives or maybe shedding a few extra pounds together.

Chris Grainger: 33:38

we help them strategize, make commitments, find accountability and and learn. It's been our experience that most guys want a community of trustworthy men to share their ideas and create support for each other with, and it's been our experience that most men don't either create this for themselves or seek them out. So we do this because we want you to have that in your life, and all that is needed to begin winning is you. If this sounds interesting, check out our community to see the dates and times of when these different groups meet. Visit thelionwithinus to start your free trial of our community. To get started today, that's the lion within. Dot us, and I would love to see you lean in and tap into the power of our discipleship masterminds. So, al, you mentioned another fun project that's really near and dear to your heart as well. Do you want to share with our listeners about that?

Allan Pereira: 34:41

Yeah, it's separate from the Science Dilemma. It's for another organization called man Up, but basically we have a podcast called the Patros Podcast and that's just where we mobilize men to fight for the fatherless and the mission of the Patros Podcast is to embrace healthy masculinity, obviously through the lenses of scripture.

Chris Grainger: 35:02

Right.

Allan Pereira: 35:02

We have curriculum, we have all that I can send it to you, but it's just. You know, one of our series is called man as and we have curriculum that we've used for men in Uganda, in the United States, that we've just engaged those in the community because we believe that all the ailments of society point back to fatherlessness and so when men are biblically engaged with their families and their children and their communities, everybody flourishes right.

Allan Pereira: 35:32

And so we created the man as curriculum and series and that's with like tony, dungy, kb and some other big names, but just godly men in general. And then we have the Counter Kingdom, which we filmed last year with the Ohio State team. So Mecca Buka, all these guys that are talking about Jesus, trey, tj, like these guys, or JT, these guys are all in the video. That's awesome.

Allan Pereira: 36:02

Yeah, so it's cool because we got to hang out with them before the season. And then as you know, we're watching them go through their journey and just talking about Jesus on the biggest platform of college football.

Chris Grainger: 36:15

That's pretty incredible. It was a good year to connect with those guys.

Allan Pereira: 36:18

Yeah, and the thing is I don't care about football, nor do I watch it, um, and I appreciate it, like I appreciate the sport, the art of it, but it's just never been my thing. And so I'm like meeting all these guys they're solid guys, they love jesus and just having real conversations, but then I have friends that love football and they're like, dude, do you, do you know who this is? And I was like no, I really don't care, but that's cool. I just know that he loves Jesus, and that's what I like.

Chris Grainger: 36:50

That's pretty awesome. That is great. It sounds like your heart and your mission there. It's such alignment with what we're doing here and I think the science projects as well as this one, you know, there's just so much of a call for men to take some of the leadership role that God created us to have. So just hats off to you. What's been the funnest part of that work so far?

Allan Pereira: 37:11

Altogether. Just, my biggest goal in my career as a whole is to see people impacted by the gospel. To see people impacted by the gospel, like before the science dilemma happened I had. I had prayed to the lord and said, god, I don't know how you want to use my desire to like it's weird to want to be in front of a camera, right, sure, but I do have a desire for that.

Allan Pereira: 37:37

And, and I had to struggle through lord, why do I desire that? Is that prideful, is it not? Um? Is it necessarily wrong or right, or god? Do I just want to do that because I want to disciple people in in unique ways.

Allan Pereira: 37:50

And so I just had a real conversation with god about that.

Allan Pereira: 37:52

Like you know, strip me of the pride if there's there, but if, if you believe, like, if you know that this can be used for people and for good and for the kingdom, then god, use me in whatever way that you need to like, I'll follow that direction. And so I wasn't the science wizard that in school, where, you know, I was the guy, I'm just normal, but I've always understood the marriage between science and world, and that's why I was just like okay, god, these doors are opening, um, the connection to these, you know, high level scientists is right, right here in front of me. Um, let me just keep saying yes to you guys and, and just you know, uh, because this is going to impact discipleship of the next generation and, as a, I believe that it's our goal to be the priest of our home. We need to provide, but part of provision is spiritual provision, and so how do I help other families provide for their kids in this way? And so that's what God opened the doors for is creating content for them to disciple.

Chris Grainger: 39:02

I'm super curious because with a passion like that, alan, it sounds like that was planted in your heart at a very early potentially in your discipleship journey. So walk us through what your personal discipleship journey looked like Like when did you get saved? Who was discipling you? Like love to hear that.

Allan Pereira: 39:20

Yeah, so I love the fact that I have a boring. I don't I don't think it's boring, but I don't have like a rebellious crazy Sure, you know, like I went on a bender, for I don't have any of that when I was so. I grew up without my dad and that's probably why I'm so passionate about OK.

Allan Pereira: 39:37

Fatherhood and fatherlessness. So James 127. And where where god also, where god says you know to engage the um, widow and the orphan. But other scripture too, about god being my father. So my, I didn't grow up with my dad. I met him when I was like eight and that obviously had a big void in my life and then he never really stepped into being the dad I needed him to be. And so I heard about this camp one day in Miami my uncle did, and we ended up going to this camp, me and my sister, with our cousins. My dad actually paid for it because my mom told them like hey, you're going to pay for this and so he did, which was great.

Allan Pereira: 40:20

And so we go to this camp, find it's a christian camp in miami and they start preaching the gospel. And I was catholic, so I thought me and god were good, which shout out to any catholics. But, um, whatever part of the doctrines of catholicism that I believe they were not correct, you know, um. And so I go up to the pastor and I say, hey, I've done my communion, am I good? And he was like that's not, that doesn't change your relationship, like eating bread. And so I go up to the pastor and I say, hey, I've done my communion, am I good? And he was like that's not, that doesn't change your relationship, like eating bread and drinking grape juice doesn't change your relationship.

Allan Pereira: 40:51

So at that point I'm in sixth grade and I'm like hold up, I need to be good with God, right? So I go home and I'm like, hey, mom, this Christian camp, they, they have a Christian school. I need to learn more about Jesus. And we didn't have any, like we don't have no money, she, we lived below the poverty line, all that stuff. So she was like let me see, let me go to the business office. And, and we did, we got a scholarship for myself and my sister and I always joke around cause she hated me at the time for making her transfer school.

Chris Grainger: 41:26

Right.

Allan Pereira: 41:28

But so from sixth grade, so at seventh grade, I I, one of the preachers had said like don't trust anybody with the Bible, like read it for yourself. And so I was like, well, I'm not going to trust you guys on my salvation journey either. Then, Like you're all telling me this is the easy, simple salvation path. I don't, I'm not going to believe it. So then, from seventh grade to 11th grade, I mean I just was in the word, like every day you couldn't catch me doing math homework, I was. I was doing Bible study and watching sermons. Like every night I had at least one sermon in the chamber. And finally, at 11th grade, I ended up. I just understood like, okay, I understand these things all on an academic level. Now, on a heart level, I realized the epitome of understanding what grace is and all that is. I'm nothing. I need Jesus, but the transaction of justification is God. My life belongs to you.

Allan Pereira: 42:37

This isn't just hell insurance. This is, Jesus Like you are so good and I'm so depraved that I need you, I want you and I am yours. And that happened in 11th grade and from that point on, I mean, my life has just been focused on ministry, discipleship and all that, and so my discipleship journey was just different men that poured into me along the way. Right, there's two different guys, different seasons of life Freddie and another guy's, Lou that genuinely took me under their arms and showed me what it was to be a father. A husband took me into their homes at bedtime with their kids in front of me to instruct that in me. It just modeled masculinity for me.

Chris Grainger: 43:22

So, yeah, and that's what it's all about. Right, it sounds like those guys. That's discipleship Taking the time to model it, to show it. You mentioned, as you went through, you had this personal drive and I think that's awesome that you spent that much time in the Word. Every day there's dads out there that wish their seventh grader would just be like you know, spend time studying the Bible.

Allan Pereira: 43:44

Sometimes the lack of something makes you so thirsty for it. You know, Right, right.

Chris Grainger: 43:49

But I think, well, sometimes the lack of something makes you so thirsty for it. You know, right, right, but I think so many times too. I love to know your, your talk, your thoughts here, like salvation, too often from a church setting, you know the big c church that's. It's almost like that's the finish line and I'm like no, no, no, salvation.

Chris Grainger: 44:03

That's the start line and then you got sanctification and mortification and ultimately trying to get the glorification when we go to be with him. But it takes a reframe somewhat of yes, we've got to share the gospel, We've got to get them to the start line, not the finish. We're working through the finish line, all of us together, every day, and it just sounds like, man, you had some guys that were pouring into your life that recognized that to be true, and thus they were taking these actions and helping you.

Allan Pereira: 44:31

Yeah, yeah, I remember asking them because when I started discipling my peers and then eventually discipling guys younger than me, I was getting frustrated. And so I went to the guys that mentored me and discipled me and I was like, why did you give me so much of your time, like we were getting together regularly, right, that mentored me and discipled me and I was like, why'd you give me so much of your time, like we were getting together regularly, right? They? They both, both of my main guys said like dude, you just like how do you not pour into someone that wants it this bad, you know? And so then there was this thought of like sometimes you have to pour into the people that are like wanting to get poured into, you know. And obviously there's like there's there's guys you chased and then there's guys that are just always going to just they're going to peck at you and be like hey, I have another question, can you help me?

Allan Pereira: 45:19

But one thing that I tell my guys that I disciple whether they're friends or just people that I engage with is there's one thing to say that you want to be discipled by somebody.

Allan Pereira: 45:30

There's another thing to like give them the sword and say, hey, I'm going to follow your lead and I'm going to trust it, you know. And so there's times where the guys that discipled me, they wanted me to do something that like, like may do something, or they had a perspective on my situation that I didn't agree with. And I would lay my perspective at the ground and say I'm going to follow your lead, right, you know where that's hard for men, that's hard for us to be like I disagree with you, so I'm going to do it my way. And I was like, but I was like, who am I to think that I know better? When you're you got everything that I want and it all lines with scripture. So I'm going to follow your lead, even when I disagree. And and I try to tell guys that is like, if you really want it bad, you have to lay your pride to the side, right, that doesn't mean you don't think critically, but Right.

Chris Grainger: 46:26

But the pride of life, right that's. That's a that's hard to lay that to the side. I mean the evil one, that's a tool, that for guys, that's a tough one. You're asking guys to, yeah, to give up right there what's the whole?

Allan Pereira: 46:37

I mean, lying with them right is like a lion there's, there's this, they're, they're so powerful. I mean it takes one bad day, right for a lion to then also be so dangerous.

Chris Grainger: 46:53

Right.

Allan Pereira: 46:54

And so, as men, god has not only given us the Holy Spirit to control us, but we have to know what we're capable of and put the people around us to keep us from that danger. Right, we're capable of, and put the people around us that keep us from that danger you know, right, yeah, so I think that that was powerful in my life was just people willing to take the time to disciple me.

Chris Grainger: 47:17

Amen to that. And you mentioned too. It's like it's easy to get frustrated as you grow and you want to disciple others, and I've seen this in myself as well. As others that come to the lion, but you know it's the old. Well, as others that come to the lion, but you know it's the old, you can't. You can lead a horse to water, you can't make them drink. But the ones that are thirsty man like that, there's the ones you have to work with and then you keep offering it to the others, but eventually you know it has to be their personal decision too to to want to. You know, have that engagement with you. So I just appreciate you sharing that yeah, no, I think that.

Allan Pereira: 47:47

I think that's so spot on. It's just like if I'm trying to give somebody water and I'm wasting so much, I'm spilling a lot of water because they won't drink it, right.

Chris Grainger: 47:57

Right.

Allan Pereira: 47:57

Now I'm not going to have water for people that are actually thirsty.

Chris Grainger: 48:01

And it's also too like. It's a delicate balance too, and I'd love to get your take on this of like doing what god's calling us to do, to serve others and help at the same time, like you can't throw your pearls before swine, so at some point, like, if the guys not want to listen, yeah, you know, you don't stop loving them, you keep trying to encourage them, but you can't let that, you know, bring you down. You have to keep going to the guys that are out there. So I don't know how you balance that is. For me, it's a, it's a spirit-led thing and at some point, yeah you know, I just have to just walk away.

Allan Pereira: 48:30

That's hard you know it's, it's very, I think.

Allan Pereira: 48:33

I think what we as men could work on is having the conversation when we wash our hands of it and so sometimes we wash our hands of it and don't say this is why I'm washing my hands, right, because we don't know how to sometimes manage those emotions of like frustration. So we don't want to get in a blow up fight, but we also don't want to, like you know, keep doing this. So how do we have like an emotionally healthy conversation with another man and say, hey, I'm trying my best to help you, but you don't seem like you want it and so I'm not abandoning you. I think you've abandoned yourself and I can't help you until you're ready? And then, so, yeah, I know, I agree with you.

Allan Pereira: 49:15

I actually me and a buddy of mine he's a pastor, my church like had a conversation recently because he chases guys and and I admire that about him, I'm not chasing you, like I just that's not me, and I think that some of it is conviction, like we have different convictions and the Holy Spirit helps us navigate those, and so I personally am not going to chase a guy six times and try to get him in his word Because I just don't Like. It's not that I don't have the patience, I just don't think you're there. Yet I have a different philosophy on discipleship than my friend and I don't think either of us is doing it right or wrong. I think we're doing it the way that God's calling us to.

Chris Grainger: 49:57

Right and I think I agree with you there. I also agree that having the conversation I don't know if it's the cell phone, it's the new generation, that's what no one wants to do and that's the most important thing of having a conversation of like, yeah, I'm not turning my back on your brother, but you know it's you're not, I'm not being received and I and I want you know I have to go help over here, but I'm here for point. They may come back but, like too often, we'll wash our hands, like you said, and we want to tell them. You know we, just we just so they create a narrative right that's right.

Chris Grainger: 50:33

Yeah, you know, and I don't think that does anything to draw them closer to christ at some point, as anything we may become by those actions a stumbling block for them, it's like, no, we can't do that yeah, no, exactly, and I think that that's, at the end of the day, like, like.

Allan Pereira: 50:50

When it comes to discipleship, it all lands on relationship, right, and so that's why, even with the science dilemma, like, as we designed it, it's not just like, and I think that there's value in reading a book, there's a value in just watching videos, but we wanted it to be based on community discipleship, like if you watch these videos.

Allan Pereira: 51:12

There's a workbook that you can engage with other people in this, and it's a topic that causes you to have a tool belt for when you engage in relationship with others, and so I think that that's one of the that is other than, obviously, jesus, but even Jesus created this is like relationship is at the core of discipleship, and so when we create content, when you have a podcast that has a community, it's all based around like relationships.

Chris Grainger: 51:36

That's right, a hundred percent. We're going to take our last break, guys. We'll come back and wrap up with Alan. If you're a man who's looking for greater spiritual guidance into how to become a better leader, finding resources that you can trust and then implement can be daunting For me personally. I thought it was a lost cause and I decided to take the action, knowing that I wasn't alone.

Chris Grainger: 52:00

It was because of this wide gap that we created our line within this community, and the areas that we're helping Christian men grow are incredible. Lying within this community and the areas that we're helping christian men grow are incredible. For instance, we've built ways for guys to lean in and grow through fun events like our daily spiritual kickoff, where you get that much needed boost directly from god's word, our bible studies that always focus on how to discern and apply what we learn, and even our amazing form, where you can speak your mind without fear of getting shut down or judged by the extreme rules of modern day social media. On top of all that, we know that many men want help overcoming issues and becoming stronger in many different areas. That's why we created several mastermind groups where the iron truly sharpens the iron. Our community is about having a growth mindset, accountability, intentionality and transparency. In other words, just leave fake you at home and come to community just as you are.

Chris Grainger: 52:56

I fully believe what we feel. I see the impact it's making on men right now and I would love to have you check it out. So start your very own 30-day free trial today to see how we can help you be a better leader. So if you're ready to take that first step, head over to thelinewithinus and get started. Your journey begins here. Visit thelinewithinus and I'll see you inside within. So this has been so much fun. This is going to be a great one, but before we wrap up, let's do it. We always do a little fun lightning round at the end of every episode. You know we get to kind of just unpack some fun topics with you. So if you're willing to play along, we'll jump right into it.

Allan Pereira: 53:36

Yeah, yeah, hopefully I don't sound like an idiot.

Chris Grainger: 53:39

Oh, no bro. No bro, we haven't lost a patient yet, man. So what's a hobby, what's something that you enjoy doing for fun?

Allan Pereira: 53:50

I love playing basketball, I love making music and what else. I mean I just love being around people, Like the other day. I was like do I have any like unique hobbies but videography and photography?

Chris Grainger: 54:06

were my hobbies until they became career Right.

Allan Pereira: 54:08

So like my hobbies kind of intersect, but I'd say outside of that would be basketball, lifting weights and community.

Chris Grainger: 54:14

Nice, nice. So did you play basketball in high school, or like any High school? Yeah?

Allan Pereira: 54:19

I didn't play in college. I went to like a small Christian college, and so I was very adamant about the fact that if I'm not going to get a scholarship for this, I'm not going to do it, and so the school didn't give scholarships for later sports, so I just wasn't going to do that.

Chris Grainger: 54:38

What position do you play?

Allan Pereira: 54:41

In high school I kind of played power forward because we were like a small team and at the time I could jump high, um. So I'd go between small forward, uh, and small forward and power forward, and I mean today it's basically positionless. Right, basketball has no positions today that's right what I played at the time.

Chris Grainger: 55:02

Yeah, okay, fair enough. So what's uh? What's your favorite sports team?

Allan Pereira: 55:09

I always go Miami Heat, Heat okay, yeah, any college teams that you pull for. I've never been a big college person, but because I'm from Miami, I've always said the U, right, right, other than the? U. Now it's Ohio State, just because of the guys.

Chris Grainger: 55:29

Yeah, you have that connection there now right. Yeah, exactly. Well, I love that. So what about favorite food? What's your go-to?

Allan Pereira: 55:37

Oh, man steak all day.

Chris Grainger: 55:39

All day.

Allan Pereira: 55:43

I'm Brazilian and Japanese, so you have you know, like I haven't even had a Wagyu because they're so expensive. But yeah, all we do is steak in those communities or I mean for Brazilians at least so steak has always been my go-to I hear you buddy.

Chris Grainger: 55:57

I hear you Awesome. What about your all-time like favorite movie? Go back in the and then go back machine Like where are you going to?

Allan Pereira: 56:08

There's a very I mean, they're not. They aren't movies that I'd recommend for people, but, like, growing up there were movies that like, for some reason, I resonated with or something, but I'm one of them is too fast, too furious. And I probably based out of Miami.

Chris Grainger: 56:24

Okay, okay.

Allan Pereira: 56:25

And then what's another one that I oh, and then what's another one that I oh, and then, um, what's the one with will smith? I know it's off the top of my tongue, but it's with him and jayden smith. Uh, pursuit of happiness okay I thought that was a good one. I don't my my. My takes on movies aren't sophisticated at all like there.

Chris Grainger: 56:45

It's just what emotionally connected to me I got you yeah, and you've mentioned music a few times now too, so like what type of music are you? You know, if you pull up whatever you're listening to um.

Allan Pereira: 56:54

Just hip-hop like I'm yeah, just hip-hop.

Chris Grainger: 56:58

Raised, born and bred I got you and so christian hip-hop, traditional like what do you listen to there?

Allan Pereira: 57:05

what I listen to. I listen to everything. Um, if I listen to secular, it's with the thought process of what do people believe? I believe that rappers are philosophers and so, in the same way that you would read a philosophical article from somebody that's a thinker, I believe that because hip-hop, or just artists in general, have so much cultural pull probably more than philosophers today that like understanding what they're saying is then understanding what people are believing, and so when I listen to secular hip-hop, it gives me insight on like this is what people agree with um and then christian hip-hop.

Allan Pereira: 57:48

I just I love christian hip-hop, yeah well, who do you have a favorite?

Allan Pereira: 57:52

uh christian hip-hop artist andy menio is my top guy period, um, and then I think for me it's andy menio and kb, for different reasons. I think they're both extremely talented, but I don't think anybody could hang with andy when it comes to creativity. Yeah, just the ability to create like a world. When he comes out with content. He doesn't just make the songs, he makes, like he creates you know a whole narrative. Um, and then kb, just I mean I love his music, I love the florida you know in them and all that stuff too, but like he's just such a solid Christian example and his music I mean yeah, no, you can always like just ride to his music. So those are my top two guys in CHH.

Chris Grainger: 58:38

There you go, there you go. That's awesome. So think about you know superpowers. If you could get one, alan, what, what, what superpower would you pick and how would you use it? Brother?

Allan Pereira: 58:47

So my answer to this is always being able to multiply myself and all of those things, because I have big FOMO. I'm that guy that always doesn't want to miss out, so I hate saying no to you so that I can hang out with you. I'd want to just say yes to everybody and go experience all of that Fair enough.

Chris Grainger: 59:06

Fair enough. So you've been asked that before you are all over. So you've been asked that before You're all over. That answer, man, that's it.

Allan Pereira: 59:11

That's my go to superpower. Some people always say that it's like prideful, but I'm like no, I just, I genuinely don't want to miss out of any of this. You know, and that's probably my biggest frustration with being finite.

Chris Grainger: 59:26

Right, right, that's right.

Allan Pereira: 59:28

Is that we can? Can't you know?

Chris Grainger: 59:29

you can't be omnipresent well, if you think back the last 12 months, where did you spend too much time at? Did you waste time anywhere?

Allan Pereira: 59:40

I would say, ah man, that's good. I probably say like TV at times I'm not somebody that watches TV daily. It's probably because I know my limits and I know my tendencies. If I come across a good murder mystery show or something like that, I'm going to binge that thing for two days. That's probably what it is Every few months if I catch myself, that's what happens. It's just that. But I don't watch tv like daily, which is you know there you go.

Chris Grainger: 1:00:19

That's probably a good habit there. So what do you? What do you think about? About god alan, like what's your favorite thing about him?

Allan Pereira: 1:00:25

oh, my goodness, um, I have so many things, but right now especially so I just became, so we just adopted uh okay um our twins are adopted, and then our. We just had a biological son um the same month that we adopted, and so oh wow, yeah, a lot going on yeah, we got three in one month.

Allan Pereira: 1:00:48

We've had the twins for two years, though, so, um, but out of fostering. But it's, it's god's patience, man, yeah, like I'd say his patience. So maybe the core of it is his humility, like he doesn't have to endure what we make him endure he doesn't have to take our questions.

Allan Pereira: 1:01:09

He doesn't, he doesn't need to engage in the silly thought process that we have, or how I get frustrated with certain friends of mine when they're not critically thinking on purpose, because they actually do want to sin or they do want to do the thing that they want to.

Allan Pereira: 1:01:25

God knows the deepest inner motives in us and still engages in the conversation where I've told my friends like yo call me when you're ready, like right now, like god doesn't do that to us. He's, he's like engaging in the process and just graciously doing that with us. Um, he doesn't tell us to stop asking, he doesn't tell us to stop saying my name. Like parents will do right. If a kid says like dad, dad, dad, dad, eventually we're like hey, one time, and then you wait and god actually does the opposite. He's like, say it again, you know that's right and that's what I've grown.

Allan Pereira: 1:02:02

Um, just yeah, like I've recognized the goodness and the humility of god to want to engage us and and have pleasure, take pleasure in us even though we're like so annoying that's really good.

Chris Grainger: 1:02:19

That's it. You're all over it. Now let's flip it 180. What's your least favorite thing about the evil one?

Allan Pereira: 1:02:27

he knows too much he's been around too long and because of that he is so strategic in how he can attack us and I think so often, when your enemy like that's, that's, uh, like I think I'm not, I'm no war expert, but like battle 101 is know your enemy, right, um, there's not a ton of scripture on him to where we can know him enough, and I think that that might be strategic in scripture is that you just need to know enough to stay away. Right, just flee, just obey, obey, in that sense, just flee. I'm not going to tell you the ins and outs of Satan, I'm not going to tell you his strategies.

Allan Pereira: 1:03:09

I'm just going to tell you his strategies. I'm just going to tell you enough to let you know he's not good Flee, and if you can't obey that, then you're already wrecked.

Chris Grainger: 1:03:14

That's right.

Allan Pereira: 1:03:15

And so I think my least favorite thing is that he knows too much about us.

Chris Grainger: 1:03:20

Amen to that, bro, amen. Well, the last question for you, alan, is what do you hope the listeners remember the most from our conversation?

Allan Pereira: 1:03:28

today, man, that at the core of everything, whether it's Patros, whether it's the science dilemma, which is obviously like why we're here, but is that anything that you do, that it would be centered around worshiping Jesus Christ as Lord. And so, even when it's something is what we believe is like you know, hey, that's silly. Like why would I do science with my kids? Like no, everything that you do with your children is going to impact them in ways that will be for the rest of their life. So you're building this foundation in their relationship with jesus. And so when it's the science dilemma, it's you know, hey, I'm I'm just making sure that you know that there's no way that there's not a God.

Chris Grainger: 1:04:12

Right.

Allan Pereira: 1:04:13

And I need you to foundationally understand that so that when God is engaging you and God is trying to prick your heart, you listen and know that he's God. So I would say it's time.

Chris Grainger: 1:04:26

Amen, brother, amen. Well, where do you want to send the listeners out there to connect with you? The Science Dilemma, all your other, just you have your hands on so many different things, but just give us some shout outs here.

Allan Pereira: 1:04:36

Yeah, so so personally, AlanCP1 is my Instagram handle and then AlanCP on YouTube AlanCP on. Youtube and then the Science Dilemma just that on Instagram, youtube, facebook, or you can go to our website, thesciencedilemmacom, if you want to engage with us and download all the content there.

Chris Grainger: 1:05:00

Okay, fair enough, we'll have that stuff in the show notes for our listeners out there. Alan, this has been great, I mean. Thank you so much. We'll be praying for you and the science of limb as you keep things keep evolving. We'll have to keep an eye on you and see how things are going there.

Allan Pereira: 1:05:14

Thank you, chris, appreciate you.

Chris Grainger: 1:05:16

You have a great day, sir.

Allan Pereira: 1:05:18

God bless you.

Chris Grainger: 1:05:21

I find it helps me to have a guide at times when I'm reading and studying the Bible. One way that helps me is by using devotionals to guide not only what I read but insights into the scriptures themselves. So we were blessed to become an author on the YouVersion Bible app, and we saw an immediate opportunity to help others with devotionals around the areas that we spend the most time talking about at the Lion Within Us. So if you enjoy the show, you may enjoy these devos as well. We have some guys that are using them as part of their small groups as well, as they're a great way to get conversations going. So, to see the ones that we've created, head over to thelionwithinus to learn more. So that's thelionwithin us to get started with your own men's devotional today. All right, guys, I told you that was gonna be a fun one.

Chris Grainger: 1:06:17

So thankful for Alan to come on the show again go to the show notes and check out the links and all that stuff for the science dilemma to get connected with his other podcasts, all the fun projects that Alan has going on connect with him on social media, all those channels there as well, fellas, and just a fun conversation for an old guy out of Florida. So, again, so thankful for him and guys. The question of the week that I wanted to kind of leave you with as we close up here today is where is God calling you to trust? Versus that understanding? That's difficult, right? I mean, just to be honest, it's hard to trust versus we want to know.

Chris Grainger: 1:06:55

Guys want to know, Sometimes God's calling you just to trust, and the trust that's where faith comes in. Fellas, I know you can do it. I know the evil one doesn't want you to do it, but I just want to encourage you to keep leaning in, keep building your faith, keep growing closer to Christ, keep ignoring the lies from the evil one. If you need support and encouragement, reach out. This is what we're here for. Okay, so give us a rating and review. All that stuff matters, but the main thing I want you to do is go to thelionwithinus and check out a resource. It's any of them from our weekly roar to our Bible studies on the Bible app, to our Christian leader assessment.

Chris Grainger: 1:07:30

Ultimately, I'd love for you to hop in the Lion Within Us community, where we have our Bible studies every week. We have our Lion Lunches, our Friday Forge, our Discipleship Mastermind groups, all the different ways we are serving. It's all within the Lion Withinus. So just head up to the website. You'll find everything there to connect with us. I'd love to connect with you as well on the Bible app that. We have instructions on how to do that with the on the website as well. So again, the lion withinus. So thank you, guys. So much for listening. Come back on Friday, prayerfully. We'll have a good fun Friday for you with a bunch of tips and things like that.