Your Story Isn't Over: Wayne Watson on Music, Faith and Redemption

0:01 Welcome to the Wayne Watson Podcast, where Grammy nominee and multiple-dub award-winning artist Wayne Watson engages in lively conversation with remarkable people from every walk of life. Artists to healthcare professionals, athletes and leaders to everyday believers whose stories reflect the power of faith at work in the world. Join us as we go beyond the spotlight and into the heart of what it means to live with purpose and conviction. Diving into real conversations about the moments that shape us, the faith that sustains us, and the God who inspires it all. Now, here's your host, Wayne Watson.

0:43 Well, hi, and welcome back. I'm hoping you enjoyed the first episode with gracewayradio.com with Jacqueline. This is part two of that interview that she invited me to do. If you would like to communicate, Wayne at WayneWatson.com. You can email me there. I hope you enjoy this part two. God bless. How, you know, you mentioned that dark knot of the soul and what, What anchored and kept you to seeking the Lord? You were angry with Him. You were probably, in some sense, even feeling some kind of sense of shame, especially the way you grew up.

1:27 Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. What kept you anchored to Him? It's the ultimate failure. It's the ultimate failure in the Christian family. any number of other things and not be shamed like being divorced. And I get it. I mean, I probably pointed my finger either literally or figuratively at people around me. Again, names you would know. Nothing kept me anchored because I was so... disconnected. And I'll just say the church was not kind.

2:10 And again, I've probably been one of those throwing rocks myself. So, okay. But I was so distraught from it that I almost just bailed on the whole thing. When I grew up, I wanted a motorcycle worse than anything. My mom and dad were like, don't even look at it. So at the time, I had a motorcycle and I rode. And I remember thinking, I'm just going to disappear. I'm just going to, I'm done. And one of my dear friends at the time said, you know, you're not really a bedroll on the side of the road kind of guy. You're more of a room service and... I had some friends that were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

2:53 Just relax. But you asked what kept me anchored. God kept me anchored. He didn't toss me overboard. He didn't cut the cord. Because I thought he should have. Because a lot of people did. But he didn't. And I think it was during some of that time that I realized my performance is not what brings me to the cross. You know, he brought me there. And I don't know. Again, a lot of mystery. There's a lot of unanswered questions. And there's still some times where I think, I mean, I had one pastor tell me, I hope I see you in heaven.

3:39 And I guess it was kind of smart of what it thought for me, but I thought, well, I'm going to be there. I don't know about you. I still plan on being there, not because I'm good, but because Jesus died for me. I'm going to be there. That is the only ticket. I wrote a song called The Blood of Jesus that I wish you would play sometime. It never—back in the day, the Christian radio didn't want to play it because it was about blood. What? But I was—that was a motorcycle trip when I rode The Blood of Jesus because I met two gang—two biker gang guys. ring a bell someday.

4:20 And I tell people from concert stage, I tell them, I tried to imagine those two bikers in heaven, and it was hard because they didn't look like people I thought were going to be in heaven. And it occurred to me that none of us deserve this, and God's favor and his blessing is through the blood of Christ. My husband and I have been married 43 years now, but He was divorced before we married, and he talked about that season in his life. He had been just a young kind of associate pastor in his church and all, and how he felt that, especially back in the day, this had been close to 50 years ago, that he felt like there was no way he could ever serve the Lord again.

5:07 He could never speak or teach or preach. You know, he was done. Well, I had the senior pastor tell me, your ministry's over. And I just remember thinking, you're not the one that gets to say that. And it took me a while, and maybe for your husband too, but then the next time God uses you, whether it's speaking or teaching or singing, and you know God's moving people because of what he's doing through you, you go, now wait a minute. You told me it would be over. And yet God, which I love that line, and yet God still takes us and uses us.

5:51 So be careful who you listen to. I think the enemy uses the lips of the faithful, quote unquote, sometimes to just devastate us. There's good counsel, but there's also bad counsel. Yeah. Yeah. Would you say that you see God differently now from before? Absolutely. Absolutely. I just have to. Because if I saw him and if I lived the way I grew up living, where every passing thought, every expression, every expression, was either a plus or minus, so that when I die, my book of pluses outweighs the book of minuses, maybe I'll squeak in.

6:45 I hear it all the time. I heard it on a radio program this morning. They were talking about someone who had an eight-minute death experience, was legally declared dead for eight minutes and came back and described. We've all heard some of these descriptions. And they were saying, so I don't know if it really matters if you're really good and go to church and don't do this and don't do that or not. And I just thought, well, it matters, but that's not what does it. Yeah. What matters with all the privacy, the invasion of our privacy and the secrets and things, if you just keep your nose clean, if you just do what is right, the Scripture said if you just do what's right, you'll have no criticism from others.

7:31 Just do what's right. And I definitely see God more because of what I said earlier, the infinite dimensions of space and creation. the computer calculations of Almighty God and how you pay attention to Jacqueline and to me and to all these people listening. It's just beyond my comprehension. And I'm not trying to comprehend it anymore. I'm just more trusting. Wow. Well, you said that, you know, the next chapter of your life is returning to writing and mentoring and also on the road.

8:11 But perhaps in a different way. What do you think that is stirring in you, given your experiences in life and in serving the church? What do you think the church needs to hear now? Well, I hope that. They'll be open to hearing it. Of course, I love to be out and sharing with people. Many churches these days don't do the kind of things we used to do, you know, where we would come in as a guest and play a concert or a worship service. And I think there are a lot of reasons for that. I think there are churches that probably got burned by artists that came in and maybe were a little demanding or maybe grading their paper a little high and coming there to be served instead of serving.

9:04 That's one reason. Other reason is there are a lot of talented people in churches that create their own worship teams and bands and worship experience musically. So they think, well, why do we need to bring this guy in? I think the reason they do need to is because we have life, or I'll just say I, I have life experience and perspective that a 25-year-old doesn't have. And maybe I could say something or speak something or sing something into the life of young families, young couples who might be on the edge. And if in your church you think there aren't couples that are one step away from, I'm out of here.

9:44 And you think again. So maybe what I could share would be helpful in those situations. Yeah. But I'm also writing new material, and I never have written what I thought people wanted to hear. I want to write what I think, God, what they need to hear. And sometimes that's difficult to get in the ear. But I'm writing more transparent now. I'm less guarded. I don't have to answer to a record company or anybody else. And that's nice, but it's also I miss that. I miss the team, the team's building. Yeah. Of record people and radio people and all that.

10:24 But it's a different world. You know, the way music is dispensed and consumed is nothing like it was 30 years ago. So we're doing it different. Yeah. Even radio is different than it was, you know. I mean, there's no way that Grace Ray Radio would be in existence, you know, 30 years ago. Over public airways, right. Yeah. Yeah. Right. The internet and… you know, has totally transformed even our audience because we're worldwide. So we're broadcasting, you know, places like South Africa, you know, what we're doing here. How do you let people know where you are and what they can hear?

11:05 How do you, I guess, for lack of a better word, how do you market people? That is a really good question. You know, we're all volunteers here at the station, and we're completely listener supported. We have absolutely no advertisement on our station. We don't even charge our speakers for airtime. We just want to get the word out and worship, Christ-centered worship and spirit-inspired messages. And so marketing is like me. And I haven't. no marketing background or anything. And so we rely heavily on word of mouth, you know, but also social media, which I can't stand, but there you have it.

11:51 That's what we have to do. And then also we've started a YouTube channel for all of our interviews that we're doing and to help not only get the word out about the station, but get the word out about the artists and the ministries even that we would love to promote and to come alongside. And so, you know, we're doing conferences now. So to help at least people in the church know, you know, about us. And so, but yeah, marketing is like... It's hard. It's hard. Because there's so much for people to, I mean, there's so much to choose from.

12:34 Yeah. And most of it's not very good. I mean, my TV back there, there are thousands of channels, most of them absolutely worthless. And I don't, you know, I watch a couple, I watch sports a lot. I mean, I'm a big baseball fan, but still, and... Yeah, it's hard to let people know Graceway's out there when there's so many other brands of candy on the shelf. I mean, you know, it's just a challenge. But we can reciprocate, you know. I will let my people, my people, whatever. I will let my people know. That we did this, you do the same, and you never know.

13:17 But I agree with you. I hate the requirement of social media, and I'm so concerned for people's posture. I think in 10 years, the most, you know, we were taught to sit up straight. And I think in 10 years, there's going to be a lot of tops of heads. There's going to be a lot of this, like, oh, I know that bald spot right there. I know that guy. Yeah, that is so true. That's why, you know, we at Graceway Radio, one of the things that we want to do is a lot of our speakers, you know, some of them have passed on now.

14:09 relevant today that needs to be heard. And it's not going to be, there's not going to be a chance to hear that on a normal radio station, you know, like a Caleb or any of those. And so, and we play messages as much as we can that we receive that are from start to finish. You know, there's no commercial interruptions and breaks and that, but we also want to be like a repository. songs, worship songs, songs you have done that still need to be heard. And we want to introduce those to a new generation. Yeah. I mean, honestly, when I was letting some friends know, I get to interview Rain Watson.

14:54 I'm so excited. They're going, who? Yeah, I know. You know, friend of a wounded heart, you know, and the younger ones that were, you know, 40, you know, 30 babies, you know, I didn't expect them to remember, but I had to kind of remind even people in my generation, you know, Wayne Watson, he did. And they go, yeah, oh yeah, of course. He thought he had died. But to have these wonderful anointed songs heard and played, and that's why we are so excited to do this feature for you this weekend over your birthday coming up.

15:39 Thank you. Well, thank you. You know, I'm fascinated by the lifespan of pop songs from our childhood. I mean, someone gave me a book about the Rolling Stones, and I read it, and I'm like, how are these people still alive? I mean, Mick Jagger and your listeners are like, why would you read that? You know why I read it? Because my heart is soft toward people who have ignored God all their lives and yet have been very successful. And in my heart, I just pray, God, just somebody, send somebody. Yeah. Yeah. And we see time is short for them. I know. I know. But the strange thing is, and this is one of my many questions for God, I guess, I've tried to live a relatively good life and not abuse my body too badly.

16:29 And I mean, there are people that have really abused it, and they're still out there kicking it. These are mysteries that we'll never understand. But I hear songs from 1960, and it just still is very nostalgic, and not in a spiritual way, but it transports me back to another time. And I hope that you playing some of these songs that have been around for a long time— not only will make a nostalgic recollection, but something that's pointed for them now. And again, I never dreamed I would spend my life doing this. This was not something, uh, we didn't dream big where I came from and I don't know what I thought I'd be doing, but it's not this and does go by fast.

17:16 And for whatever time is left, I want to, I want to make good use of it. I think retirement is sort of unbiblical and, uh, I don't think we're meant to just stop. I agree. I totally agree. And every now and then I think, what would it look like to just do what I want to do rather than do what I, you know. And then it always ends up coming back to. I want to serve the Lord. But you are kind of doing that. You are kind of doing that. Yeah. Yeah. I just want to serve him. And whatever capacity, however that looks like, it really doesn't matter. Even through the minutes of the day, Jacqueline, I mean, I certainly have not lived every day this way.

18:03 But even today, I was like, I just want to hear you whisper in my ear. I don't want you to have to scream at me. And even about things that might seem insignificant, is this the time to do it? Or do I need to wait an hour? Or do I need to go do this? I want to be in that kind of relationship. And I think God wants that for us. And I think the Holy Spirit provides that for us. And I want to be there. I'm not always tuned into it, but I want to be there. It's that idea of abiding and remaining in Him and Him and us and just growing in that each day. I realize that just in my own personal quiet times over the years, that's probably the most reoccurring theme that the Lord is calling me to, is just to abide in Him.

18:52 And I look at that and I go, Lord, I stink at it. I really am bad about that. I feel like there's... There's times I'm just kind of do-do-do-do, you know, bee-bopping and doing my own, in my own little head and not even aware of his presence and what he might be saying. And so. But you know, if there's overriding love that we know what love feels like, and if God's love goes so far beyond that that we can't. I just, I don't have the energy to beat myself up anymore. I trust the Holy Spirit to convict me when there's, maybe if I'm taking a step off the line or not, but I don't have the energy to live under condemnation.

19:39 Yeah. Right. Because the Bible addresses that too. If there's condemnation, that's you. That's not him. That's not God. That's not him. Yeah. And his conviction, one thing I've, I experienced, I think, more that kind of surprised me because I grew up in that list of do's and don'ts. You know, this is what's right and what is expected and what you shouldn't do, what you should do. And anytime I felt correction, then that was like, no, I'm going to. This is, you know, I hated it. And to read the Psalms or David saying that, you know, your conviction, your law is life and work.

20:20 And I'm like. Yeah. I don't know if I know that. But as I've gotten older, I've come to realize that, oh, it is. It's sweeter than honey when the Lord convicts me or speaks to me just in that gentle, wonderful way of ways that I can so that I can know him and experience him. more deeply is why he's doing it. You know, it's just as a correction. Yeah. Sometimes the correction is not gentle. Sometimes just a yank you by the scruff of the neck correction. But I wrote a song called The Long Way Home. The name of the album was The Way Home and the song was The Long Way Home.

21:02 And it talks about we're on this straight and narrow. And how did we get so far off? You get far off by taking one step here and thinking, well, I'm not that far off. And then taking another step and another step. And before you know, you're way off the way home, you know. But little corrections. I've shared this so many times probably. My dad used to take us over to the high school track and let us drive. And the track was nothing. It was just a little, I mean, the football field had different. Bleachers for the visitors and bleachers for the home team, little bitty school. And the track was just cinders, you know. And he would take us over in the big Buick and let us drive.

21:46 And I would sit on a pillow in my dad's lap and he let me drive. And I love driving still. I just enjoy it so much. I'd rather drive than fly any day. But I'm sitting in the back seat. I watch my dad drive. And he's doing this. He's steering. And I'm thinking, okay, is it left, left, right, right, right? Or is it left, right? I don't think I'll ever memorize that. How is he doing that? Wow. Wow. And somewhere in my life it occurred to me he was making unconscious small corrections to stay out of the ditch.

22:26 Yeah. And if as a parent and as a follower of Jesus, if you make conscious or even unconscious small corrections or allow God to make small corrections, there's a good chance you won't end up in the ditch. Right. Because if you don't make those little ones, you're going to have to make a big one. And it's going to be violent. And that lesson goes back to my dad. I remember we were driving one time and dad's sitting in the passenger seat. My brother, who's two years older, was driving. And I'm in the back seat and my brother, dad's looking out the window. And my brother looked in the rearview mirror at me and he took his hands off the wheel.

23:07 And without dad even looking, he said, no more of that monkey business. He's like, how did he see that? He saw the reflection in the window. But I have such great memories, great memories of lessons that I didn't really get at the time. And now they mean a lot to me. Now they're much more poignant than just, you know, driving, learning to drive. It's a life lesson. Yeah. And now the car will tell you if you're about to get off the road. Put your hands on the wheel. Yeah, I don't want one of those cards that I don't have to do anything. I still like doing it. And these advertisements for, you know, you don't even have to have your hands on it.

23:50 Okay, what's the point of that? I mean. Well, you know, that kind of leads me to this next question about, you know, after five decades of being in Christian ministry and being on the road and that life of touring and all that stuff. I know that, you know, temptation really is probably one of the most dangerous things for a Christian artist nowadays. Even, I mean, worship leaders, you know, anybody in the music industry. But so what kind of advice would you give how to resist it and what would keep someone from making some really bad things? over-correcting mistakes.

24:30 Well, the thing that kept me from it, by the grace of God, again, nothing to be proud of, but I never had to make that decision. I never had one time where I was in a situation where I had to think, If I go here, this will happen. And the only thing I can attribute it to other than God's protection and favor was having good people around me. Not people that just said, yes, everything you're doing is great. They kept people at a distance that seemed to be a threat. And there were a few. There were a few that I found out later that. through mountains of letters that were very, very ugly and just, yeah.

25:14 I didn't even know about it. But good people around you, and I'm afraid a lot of times in ministries, especially as a ministry is a mega ministry, you surround yourself with people that do nothing but tell you how great you are. And that's probably not very healthy. Nobody wants to hear... criticism, but again, small corrections, better than a big correction. Yeah. I've, you know, especially megachurch situations and people that, you know, you think about these young artists coming up that, you know, in their early 20s are singing to crowds of you know, 10, 20,000 people, you know, and you think about how old you were when you, the first time you sang to someone, you know, that kind of a crowd, you're probably older than, you know, your early twenties.

26:07 And it makes you wonder to have that sort of experience so young where you have that energy and that almost drug of that, those kind of accolades and having all responding to you singularly on that stage, it sounds frightening to me. I don't know how that can't be a buzz. We went to hear you two years ago at the football stadium here in Houston, NRG Stadium, 80,000 people. Here's little Bono, who I believe to be a Christian, comes out and 80,000 people are singing every word with you.

26:47 How can that not get to you? How can you not feel like, wow, I am really something? There's a kid named Forrest Frank who's very popular, Christian radio, young people. My 12-year-old loves him. Very down-to-earth, kid from Baylor, graduated from Baylor. Musically, I don't know. It's not Mozart. But at the same time, very popular. And he played the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on Christian Music Night. There were 70,000 people. Wow. that bought tickets because he was the featured artist. From what I can tell, he's really grounded, really good guy.

27:29 But like you say, the attention span is even shorter now for everybody. I'm thankful to still have some followers, but the tension, I want to tell these young artists, you know what, you need to, Pay attention because it's going to go by quick and somebody else will be in your place and make sure what you're contributing is eternal and what you're trusting to happen with your life is eternal. Because this buzz goes by pretty quick. Yeah. It's kind of a weird question. And if you don't have an answer for it, that's fine. But I was just wondering, are there any songs that you've written that you would rewrite today? Oh, yeah, lots of them.

28:11 Every once in a while, a song from the past pops in my head, and I think, why did I say it that way? Not necessarily so much about the spirituality of the message, but more just the craft of the lyric itself. I tended to feel like I have on this interview. I tend to talk too much. I tend to have too many words in a verse, in a song, let the listener fill in a lot more of the blanks if I were to rewrite them. I was playing a date one night and I was talking in between songs and this little girl in the front row sitting with her mother and she said real loud, when's he gonna sing again?

28:52 You know, so I think But I wrote a song called Untouched by Human Hands. It was on the Fine Line album. It was about AIDS, and it was about our reluctance to touch people who we, as self-righteous evangelicals, deem untouchable. And it was conviction to me that Jesus would not have done that. I think some of the songs that might have come off a little judgmental, I would have tempered a little bit, not completely, but I think I would have tempered them a little bit given the life experience I've had in the last 20, 30 years. Yeah.

29:32 Wow. It's wonderful how, and yet also horrible, the things that we can, you know, we can look back on and think how differently we might've handled that or done that and, But yet in hindsight, what would you say or would you say that you can see God's hand in all of it? The good, the bad, the ugly, the rotten, the hard? Yeah, I do. And again, it's not for me to decide which parts were instrumental in taking me down this road I'm walking now. I could stay up.

30:14 for days trying to figure that out. And I just don't have the energy for it, and I don't think God wants me to use the energy for it. Someone said regret is a form of self-pity. And if that's true, then I've had a lot of self-pity. People that say they don't have any regrets, the little Frank Sinatra song, regrets. I've had a few, but yet too few to mention. Like, boy, that's not me. But regret over bad decision, or not necessarily a bad decision, but just the wrong decision. Scripture's pretty clear that what the enemy meant for bad, God uses for good.

30:57 Yeah. And he doesn't give up on us. Yeah. I think that's the most remarkable thing about his redemptive work is that those hard times, those ugly times, those regrettable times, he uses all of that. It's for good. I mean, that's just crazy. Yeah. What God does that other than our God? Right. Not the performance-based God that we grew up with. I hope churches—I think we've talked about a lot of the not necessarily good things in the contemporary church, but I think one of the good things about it is there's less emphasis on the performance, life performance, impressing God with our goodness than there used to be.

31:43 I'm sure some churches still preach that. There's a lot more grace, and I've experienced a lot of churches that preach grace but didn't practice it. And I think that's one good thing about the church these days. It's a lot more transparent than preaching God's grace. And those who are opposed to that would say, well, there's grace, but then there's judgment. And, yeah, you're right. It's all somewhat mysterious. Yeah. I lost my train of thought now. You talked about how our life in Christ is supposed to come out of our relationship with Him.

32:31 The way we are living our life is supposed to be out of that relationship, that we don't do these things because of. who's in us and who we serve and who we love and who loves us. Well, and we don't do them because they're not expedient. I mean, Paul said everything's lawful, but not everything is advantageous. And, you know, people talk about moderation and all things. Like, really? I'm not sure about that. But not everything is. One of the things God's blessed me in so many situations with the ability to play the tape forward is, And I haven't always appreciated it, but he's given me some ability to, okay, if you do this, here's what's going to happen.

33:14 And if there was a time when I wanted to throw a chair through a window because I was so mad and I didn't, but I thought about it. And I remember thinking seconds later, if you throw the chair through that window, That's an expensive piece of glass. And you're also going to have to board it up with duct tape. And before you go to bed tonight, you're going to have to fix it. And then you're going to have to pay for it to be. And I'm like, okay. Message received, you know, and that's extreme. But, you know, if you just stop and evaluate the steps you're about to take and at least consider what the outcome could be.

33:54 I used to just be so amazed. And in college, I was straight shooter. And people would brag, oh, we got so drunk last time. What? Why would you brag about that? And I never experienced that. By the grace of God, I never experienced that. But if you just stop and consider the choices you're about to make and maybe play the tape forward a little bit, it might slow you down. It might stop you. Yeah. After almost 50 years in the ministry, you still have something to say. So what is the Lord putting you in your heart for this chapter? Yeah. And how are you trying to discern what his assignment is versus just another unfinished ambition?

34:42 Well, the big answer to that question would be to say things that I don't hear others saying that I think need to be said. Okay. But, you know, like you say, the menu is so full of people saying things that maybe they're saying it. I just don't hear it. Like some of the songs I'm talking about, maybe those songs are very popular. I just don't know it. But to say things that I feel compelled to say, that I feel like, as you and everybody else, we're a mouthpiece to the world of what God wants to say, whether it's to our neighbor in private or whether it's to a friend or to a big public audience.

35:28 Yeah. So to be faithful to that, on a much less glamorous side, I have very few years left with this little boy who would love to have a little brother, but I've already said not in this lifetime. But I have, you know, he's in seventh grade. And in six years, who knows if we get that time? Yeah. So what might seem very mundane is me taking him to school, making sure he's got his stuff together. My wife's an assistant principal out of school, so we're very busy. I'm grateful right now to not have a job where I have to go to meetings and do that.

36:09 I'm grateful to have the time to pour into him. I spent all day yesterday with him, 15 hours between baseball and McDonald's and that church we went to. And I loved it. I loved it. Yeah. So how can our listeners be praying for you? The fast answer is that I would have opportunities to do what I need. The only thing I know how to do. I don't know how to do anything else. I've tried. I tried to tune up a car one time. It didn't work very well. It never worked very well. I'm not handy. Anything that needs to be done around my house, I have to pretty much call somebody else to do it.

36:51 But I still love, I don't, I would love to go into a room and play and sing by myself. But if there are other people there, I would love that too. But the opportunities are just because the marketplace is so crowded with people. And some of us who've been around a long time, kind of not sure. But I would love more opportunities. I would love more open doors, whatever those doors may be. There will be time in the near future where I will have time to do that. So your listeners can pray for that. Open doors. And for me to come and share what God's given me, I would love that.

37:33 I would be very grateful for those prayers. Wonderful. I hate to wrap up our time, but I know I don't want to hog your—you've been so gracious to consent to this. Thank you. I've really enjoyed it. Thank you, Jackie. For this interview. And I just was wondering, you know, if one of our listeners is in their car, tonight and they're tired, they're faithful, but they're barely holding on. And what would you want them to know about Jesus? It's not over yet. Whatever chapter you're on, it's not the last one. Your story is not finished.

38:14 Even if I were finished or you were finished, today our story goes on through either your family, your children, your spouse, your friends. Your story goes on. And today. Hopefully, maybe there's a lot of good stories in there. I'm sure there's some you'd rather not have printed, but there are a lot of good stories. And this story's not over. We are so time affixed to I'm tired, it's bedtime, and God doesn't work that way. He doesn't have an Apple Watch. And he's not on your timetable. Be patient with your, give yourself a break.

38:54 Give yourself a break. It's okay. Who was it? Who's the artist I saw recently said it's okay to not be okay. I think it's Jelly Roll, that guy, big guy, country guy. I'm not, I think the court said, I'm not all right, but it's going to be okay. And it's okay to not be okay. I grew up thinking if you're not okay, you need to fix it. And if you're not okay in this moment, it's all right. It will be. Amen. Well, thank you so much, Wayne. And I hope listeners that you'll go to WayneWatson.com. He's got a wonderful podcast. I've enjoyed listening to the episodes. Well, thanks.

39:34 He's like he's available. You know, he's got stories to tell. He's got songs to share. If you need or want, desire someone to come to your church, to your event, Wayne's going to be the guy that you want to call. Oh, thank you. He's really going to be the guy you want to call. So thank you again so much, Wayne. The Lord bless you and your endeavors, and we will be keeping you in our prayers. Thank you. Nice to be with you today. Thanks for listening to the Wayne Watson Podcast, where stories of faith, purpose, and everyday life meet and continue to uplift hearts around the world. Be sure to follow, leave us a review, and share this episode with a friend. To learn more about Wayne's music, ministry, and upcoming projects, visit waynewatson.com.

40:19 Every journey of faith begins with a story, and every heart finds its rhythm in the Lord. Until next time, go well, and may you keep walking in step with his song flowing through you.