Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / Hollywood, Camp Counselors, & the Enneagram 3 | A Midsummer Detour with Actor Nathan Gamble

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Hollywood, Camp Counselors, & the Enneagram 3 | A Midsummer Detour with Actor Nathan Gamble · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hey friend, before you keep listening today, I need to give you a quick heads up because later in this conversation, Nathan shares a very vulnerable and honest detail about a dark season in his life.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it includes some real talk about suicidal thoughts.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: So it is part of his testimony and it's a really beautiful moment of how God met him.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: But I do think it's important for you to know it's coming so you can choose if this is the right moment to listen or if you're listening with the right people as well.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: So if it's not today, no worries.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_02: This episode will be here when you're ready.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Here is where you'll find conversations where faith meets story and strategy for lasting transformation.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Amy Wicks, here to help you find wisdom and wholehearted rhythms for moments that matter most.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Whether you're learning your type or deepening your spiritual formation, these conversations will remind you that the Enneagram shines a light, but Christ is the transformation.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: So as we continue to do this detour, when this opportunity popped up in my inbox, I said, yes, summer camp one, I'm a seven, and that sounds like so much fun.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: And it happens to be at a crossroads where my son is also at camp as a camp counselor this week.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I just thought it was fun.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: And once I saw the preview for the movie, I was like, sign me up.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'd love to talk about and I read a little bit more about Nathan.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I've seen him here and there in Hollywood and in movies before.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't know about his faith.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna dive into that.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: So just sit back.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be fun and inspiring.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: And Nathan, welcome to the podcast.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so glad to have you here.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Amy, thank you so much for having me.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is awesome.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, tell us a little bit first.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: I want to talk about the movie.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: The movie is called Bad Counselors.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: It's about a camp counselor role.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: What was that filming experience like?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Bad Counselors comes out July 22nd.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Between July 22nd and so make sure you guys, if you're listening, get your tickets now.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's in about a thousand different theaters across the country.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you should be able to find it unless you're in the middle of absolutely nowhere.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then you might dive a little further.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's a awesome, fake, entertaining comedy movie that just so happens to have a little Jesus sprinkled on top.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: But it's got some really good heart.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's got a little bit of edge.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is PG 13.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: They are holding red solo cups.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that's a little good to know.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's a little wide.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, for the normal uh faith-based stuff, but it's it's really about two guys' journey through coming to the Lord and and it's their pre-Christ transformation and then post.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's I play a camp counselor in in in the movie who is kind of actually the antagonist.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: He kind of sniffs out that the two main characters aren't really believers, and he's trying to expose them for the frauds that they are, so it's kind of a fun cat and mouse game.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, it looked really intriguing.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I have young adults in my home, college-age girls and a high school boy.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And when they saw the trailer, their interest was totally piqued.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think what I really love for them as they are coming into adulthood and finding their faith is movies like this that it's not preaching at them, but it's allowing them an opportunity to experience a real life, very familiar type of situation and find what the biblical concepts that could be caught along the way and how it can maybe shift life experience based on the decisions that you make, right?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I have been a believer for the last seven years.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have a lot of experience going to camps, right?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Going to these types of environments.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was a youth pastor's assistant for four years.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: These are my life experiences that I was able to take into the movie.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people who are in the Christian realm sphere, wherever wherever they are located, they will resonate with everyone's story in this movie.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: They'll resonate with my character who's been a believer his whole life and knows all the Christianese, but they'll also resonate with the two main characters of the movie who aren't believers too, because they probably have met people at school, at work, who talk and act.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And at times their hearts can be soft towards the gospel, like these characters.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll be able to find so many different things in this movie that they can relate to, resonate with, and at the end of the day, be entertained by it.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, which is always great.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: I actually, one of my first loves is writing.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and part of what I would love to do, I've I've started weaving in fiction to my nonfiction, but eventually I would love to write books that give a fuller arc where they are there is Christian inspiration in them, but it's the real life experience and the lived experience where it's not perfect and we're not singing Bible verses all the time, or we haven't always followed in the footsteps of faith because we were, we didn't know and we didn't know what we didn't know.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so I love that's a story that helps us go, oh yeah, me too.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: But then also what to hope for, even look for in our own lives and the lives of people that we touch.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think there's a lot of Christian content right now that is it's good, it's solid, but you usually see like their transformation happen at the end of the project or the film or show or whatever, and then it ends.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, wait, the testimony is afterwards is way more important than it was before.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and that's actually um kind of mostly the theming of the the show that I'm working on right now, which is Bible college.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it kind of starts off with the main character getting uh acclimated with this new world, which is all things Christian, and then we see her testimony after she understands what the cross is, what it means to her.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is also what a lot of people need is they want because it's not just like, all right, we gotta get you saved, and then we're done.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's not the goal.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because if that's the case, then we would just hold people under the water when we're baptizing them and they would go to heaven and we're like, all right, perfect, great.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's so right.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's the journey and it's the walk and it's the race that we as believers walk out in our day-to-day lives that I think we need to hear more stories about.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that is also this is perfect because that's how I really like to use the Enneagram.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: Because the Enneagram isn't just about getting a number, it is a tool to help transform, to help us get out of the box and to understand that there's a different direction and path that we can choose and not just consistently go into the maladaptive behaviors that we are prone to, and each of us uniquely in that way.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really what my next book has been about and my writing and my community.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm curious.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: I heard that you do know a little bit about Enneagram.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us what you know.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: We'll go from there.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, no hard questions here.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll be honest, I don't know if I remember the numbers attached to the name, but I did I retook it today just to confirm because I did take it years ago.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I got the achiever, or I I don't know what name or number that is.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: But as I I took it today, and to no one's surprise, I got the performer, which I think is a three.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so that tracks.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I've been doing since I'm a middle child, so I'd okay, growing up, my older sister, she was a singer, she got a lot of attention.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: My younger sister, she was way cuter than me, so she got a lot of attention.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to like make up these stories, aka completely lying, but I had to make up these stories to just get any kind of attention from my parents so that I would be performing, be like, yeah, and then this happened and this happened, and they'd be like, Nathan, did that really happen?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and no, it didn't.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't actually happen at all.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: But it I was getting some eyeballs on me, and that was all that mattered.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: That was really important.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: I love that, Nathan.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's it is fitting, it's not super shocking, like you mentioned, because the Enneagram three would be known as the performer and someone who does love to succeed.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: They're driven type of person.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: And actually, my son, who the one who's a camp counselor this week for kids with special needs, he would fit in that category of a three.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: And he's the baby.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm familiar from that standpoint.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: But what's really wonderful is that a three is all about not only doing things, but also potentially performing and kind of getting out there and not being afraid of putting themselves out there.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: They're also about excellence and about quality and about imparting hope to others that they too can realize their dreams.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of different facets of that.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm kind of curious.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_02: You said you were working on some other movies and you know, you've been involved with in Hollywood for a long time.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_02: How much do you think through what is this person's personality type as you engage in the role, or how much does that shift so you can kind of separate your person out from the role and or even being able to interact with other cast and characters?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a great question.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: When I first went to Bible college, I went to Bible college and then I got saved.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's a long story.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: So when I got there, there was an entire class on personality tests.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: We had the different colors tests, obviously the Enneagram, the strength finders, um, and uh a couple other ones that I can't remember right now.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember every class, it was only one once a week.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was always sitting in the back and I was always crossing my arms like this is you can't put me in a box, man.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: I you can't just I'm not a color, I'm not a number.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then as time progressed and I got a little less uh uh immature, I realized that those tests are so vital to understanding when I became an RA the next year and I had everyone take these tests, I was able to communicate with these people, my first years who are going through some really rough stuff differently, knowing their personality type.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I viewed it as like, man, this is an incredible tool that uh when it comes to acting or any kind of business endeavors that I want to be a part of, it does help.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: It does aid with uh how we communicate with each other, which is uh which is everything.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, lives can uh relationships can be completely dismantled if communication is flawed or if there's something that's missing.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's exactly how the enemy works too.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like he he's gonna try to distract and he's gonna try to distort and he's gonna try to pull apart Christian relationships, like solid Christian relationships.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And a great way to strengthen that or a great way to combat that is knowing their personality type.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So whether I'm on set or whether I'm I mean, with my wife, with my friends, knowing that sort of stuff, my knee-jerk still at times would be like, hey man, you're not just the number, you're not just the color, but absolutely as I understand the weight and the effectiveness of it, it just is so vital to know.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's so vital to know.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love hearing that.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: I really like I I coach a couple of coaches and on a regular basis, and our conversations are about the fruit, the fruit of these tools.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: And when they stop being fruitful and they're not beneficial, then maybe it's time to put them on the shelf or toss them out.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_02: But when you talk about how it impacts marriage relationships and it can be whether it can change whether relationships are thriving or growing stagnant, because a lot of it is understanding communication and how we communicate, how we receive.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I love that.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: That's big.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, fun to hear that it's been part of your world for a little bit, even RA, which I was wondering timeline-wise, you mentioned um finding the Lord maybe around seven years ago or making a confession of faith.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Give us a little scoop on that story, like behind the scenes.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: What was that moment like for you?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I was in the industry from about age seven.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: My first project I ever did was a movie called Babble, um where I played, I played Brad Pitt's son in, and we were filming in Tijuana, Mexico, and it was this I had a bodyguard, it was this wild, crazy experience.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Wild, yeah.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And my mom is and has always been for such a long time, not just a Christian, like she's a Christ follower.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: She is an interceder, she is an amazing woman of God who thank God she is, because I don't know where where I would be or who I would be without her constant praying for me, covering me in prayer.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I always had a faith that was just so different than my parents.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I respected them.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: We went to church, I got confirmed, I got baptized as an infant, but I never I knew all of the shtick of being a Christian, all the head, no heart, if that makes sense.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I was okay with that.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, this is this is really just for show for everyone, right?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is they're just they want to be holier than now.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I can do that.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: I can act.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: That's my career.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I did that for most of my time.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I was doing Dolphin Tail and Marley and me in the dark night, my mom was there, she was praying for me, and I was like so cringed out by it, so cringed out by it.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I respected her, so I was like, okay, yeah, yeah, I'll allow it.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then I turned 18 and I moved out.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I did this thing that all 18-year-olds think, which just the belief that you know everything.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Everything, and your mom knows nothing.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: I go, I'm gonna move, I'm gonna move out and I'm gonna go to California and I'm gonna continue this career, and I I got it from here.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do my own thing.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Famous last words.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And during that process, I became incredibly isolated in in LA.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: I had no friends, I was working a ton.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's really weird.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was working the most I have ever worked, and yet I had no community.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: I had no friends, and isolation is the devil's playground, man.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: It really is where he starts doing his thing.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I was convinced at 19 that there's a reason I don't have friends.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's because I'm a loser and it's because I don't deserve to be in community.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I think if I'm gonna be honest, I was I was gonna end it.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was gonna end it all.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: I said 19 years, that's a good run.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'm ready to hang it up.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had a whole plan and everything with the bathtub, and my dog, who hates baths, came in and thwarted my plan and like put his paw on my hand, and I was like, all right, I'll go one more day.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: I gotta take care of this dog, so I'll go one more day.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And the next day, a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a that many degrees.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not kidding.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: And none of them were Kevin Bacon, which is crazy.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: And a dean of a Bible college named Vic Famenko, who is an incredible man of God, got my number, said, Hey, I know you have no idea who I am, but you should come to this Bible college.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Ha ha ha, you're hilarious.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: No thanks.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And but then something about it just was dropped in my heart.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: This little seed of like, it was just a hmm.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I started to interact with some of the Bible college students there, and they had something that I didn't have, which was I didn't know it was this, but it was the joy of the Lord.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: They they they stood out from the rest.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: The world did not offer what they were offering, and I wanted it.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's when I said, I told my manager, I said, I'm gonna go to Bible college, and she freaked out.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I don't know why, but I think I have to.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think I have to.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then two weeks in, I gave my life to the Lord, and uh here I am.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here I am seven years later, and I'm so gung-ho for what I believe in.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the Great Commission is not a suggestion, like it's how I believe we're all supposed to live in any mission field.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just you know going to Africa, which is admirable and awesome, but it's also your work, it's also your family, your friends, the whatever people group that the Lord has placed you in.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's your mission field, and that's kind of how I want to live live my life.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it's it's wild.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: However, during those seven years of when I gave my life to the Lord, and now, Amy, I I had no work in the industry, none.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, it was dried up like a desert, and I say desert specifically because I believe the Lord had to purge Egypt out of me, like the Israelites.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like I had so much of my identity rooted in this in this Hollywood land, right?
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was Nathan the actor, and then if I wasn't acting, I was Nathan the failed actor, and that's a completely horrendous way to live life, instead of a correct perspective, which I'm actually Nathan the child of God.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's the most important thing.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it took seven years of me being a believer to actually get that.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's so easy to say it, but where it is actually in your heart, yep, it took a long time.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I finally came to that conclusion of like, you know what, I'm never gonna act again, and that'll be okay.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: If I never step foot on a set again, that will be okay because the Lord has something better for me.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Plot twist.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: The next week I got a movie.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I booked a movie called Flip on the Precipice with uh Jen Gatson, and and it was that was a most incredible experience because I thought I would never be on a movie set.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then a year after that, I book a movie called Bad Council out in July 22nd, which is in a week, which is crazy.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and it just is my passion.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I get to work on a show um that I was a I am a co-creator on called Bible College, that uh is I think a lot of people are gonna know about it real soon.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, and it just yeah, that's but if it if none of that happened, if I never got the these three things and then it just didn't work out, I would be okay because your identity is not in my work, my identity is in the work of the cross.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's really, that's really what it what it comes down to.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, that's amazing answer.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: That was a long tangent answer.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_02: I am here for it all.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: I want to say a couple things and give you a chance because I know that a friend or two or five that are listening and have a child that they're praying for, they've just been encouraged because there's I'm in that seat, raising young adult kids.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: They've got to find their faith on their own.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: And to hear about how the Lord didn't stop pursuing you and used your dog and used I know from a long seat away and brought you back, um, is really that's beautiful in itself.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: Clearly, you're also very passionate.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I I want to say this before I turn the corner to one more thing that I want to hear from.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_02: But what I love is what you just said that I do think the Lord allows the wilderness seasons to refine us, to, like you said, purge even.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think we as believers get to the journey of belovedness is lifelong because there's so many circumstances in life where we it tests us, do I really believe I'm beloved, even if this doesn't work, even if the outcome isn't what I want, even if I never get fill in the blank.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_02: We all have those things.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think what's so beautiful is in this moment, you arrive to that place of even if I'm still a child of God, I'm no longer failed or successful, which that three Enneagram three tends to live in those two dichotomous thinking, right?
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: But instead to live in the middle of like, I'm a child of God, that is so powerful and reminds us when we're in those moments, like keep hanging on, because the Lord isn't probably finished yet in a lot of these circumstances.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: I will say this I'm no expert with the things that I just described.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I I am not some like I got it all going on when it comes to my my mindset.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: But what does help and that does keep me grounded and it does keep me rooted in Christ is a community that holds me to a higher.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people, a lot of people experience this, experience the love of Christ.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: And they go, wow, this is great.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is how it should be forever, right?
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And and yes, it can be, but also there's gonna be some valleys.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, there's gonna be some times where the Lord is, He gave you a tool belt and He's gonna be sharpening said tool belt over a period of time before actually ever using the tool in the tool belt.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that can be hard for people.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not in a community, you don't have friends who are also believers or mentors in your life who hold you to a higher standard, it can be very easy to fall by the wayside.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: I know people who are very good friends who have done similar things, who had an explosion of their faith at once.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, wow, this is great, this is awesome.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then they separate from the community, and then inevitably it they just start to pestles out.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then they sort of like, oh, maybe it was just a feeling, maybe it was just a fleeting emotion instead of the truth.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I would say, whoever's listening, is not only should this be an encouraging testimony, but get rooted, get plugged in.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Have mentors in your life who I mean, you want to be 10 years from now, you want to be 20 years from now.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Ask their advice, let them sharpen you and have friends who are also in the same area of of your life, whether it be you know with life or kids or work or whatever, like have people who can like iron sharpening iron, have those irons sharpening you.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I've got to imagine that is challenging in Hollywood, in the scenes that you're in, in the circles that you run in.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: What's been your not only fulfilling the Great Commission, but this point, how have you intentionally built community to hold you accountable and to keep that flame going in a place where it could easily be snuffed out?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'll start off with probably my best friend.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: He was my RA in Bible college, and we have stayed in touch throughout these seven years, and I was in community with a lot of those people at that church.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now I I live in Texas now, but I'm on calls every single day.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Another just practical note you have to set aside time for communication and be intentional about it because you'd be like, hey, we should call sometime, and it never happens.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing that a lot uh when I have first moved.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: And this last year I've been no, Monday and Tuesdays are for these guys.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wednesdays, I always talk with my mentor or my dad or something, or Thursdays, blah blah blah.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like having that structure in your life, again, I'm not perfect at it at all, but it does help so so much because the enemy knows the type of power that you have.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have the ability to literally snatch souls from him, and now heaven got another one.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that that's that sucks for him.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So he's gonna try whatever he can to maybe he can't determine where your eternal destination is, but he's gonna try to distract you.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna try to distract you from doing what you're supposed to be doing.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: And he can't rob your soul, but he can rob your time big time, big time.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I think focusing on that and leaning on your group and being intentional, just practical, set a schedule.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: I used to think as a a performer, like at times scheduling was I don't know, cringe or lame to me.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, but as I've uh the last like year or two, my wife is really good at helping me with this because she's a very type A person who her whole schedule is in her phone.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've been able to schedule these phone calls, and it just has made me a better person being involved in these guys' life.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and being intentional with that and being an adult and setting aside the time for it, whether it be 20, 30 minutes, whatever a week, like that goes a long way in forwarding the enemy's plans.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_02: Ah, Nathan, I love it.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: In our community, we call those rhythms whole-hearted rhythms.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just intentionality.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: And they can, they have the give and take, right?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: You like you said, it's not perfect, it's not rigid.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, but we're our intention is set to follow that rhythm unto that idea of it drawing us closer to the Lord.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: And another piece here, and I I'd love for you to talk about this, is I a lot of the conversation around a big summit that I'm having this fall and the book that I'm sharing is about the first step is being awake and aware, right?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: We find out our Enneagram type or we become aware of some of our behavior that isn't serving us anymore.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: But it's really us taking that next step into believing that we're enough.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: And that was your moment when you realize I don't have to be a successful actor to be enough.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like God loves me as I am, and that is good enough.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: So receiving God's love fully.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: And in that place where we finally believe we're beloved, the idea is that the belovedness is not just for ourselves, but it's to impact others, to be an agent of change where we're sharing the gospel and we're inviting other people to this wholehearted process.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_02: So for you, obviously, you've chosen you while you're living in Texas, you're flying back and forth and you're onset and you're riding things.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: What has it looked like for you to show up and offer the truth and the hope of the gospel?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe not just on screen, because maybe sometimes that's easier.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's padded because it's built into the role.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: But what does it look like to share the gospel behind the scenes in all the different areas of life?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: Great question.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: I when I, you know, when you first get saved, you're on milk, right?
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you're you're so passionate, you're so excited, and the pendulum swings one way, you're like, I need to who needs to hear the gospel right now.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that person's vaping.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: I need to talk to them right now or whatever.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: And as the pendulum's back the other way, you realize the Sunday school answer that you heard a gajillion times growing up is such a valid and worthy way to live life.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Love like Jesus.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Do they need to hear everything about the Bible right now, or do they need a husband?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was I was like, Oh, it's like hippie, hippies, right?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's the thing that type of that most people in the world are missing.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna be like, hey, why are you like this?
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you so happy, go lucky?
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you so intentional?
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you so empathetic?
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you so loving and understanding?
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you memorize my name?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: My dad always said, memorize names on sets, like it'll go a long way.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why did you memorize my name?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm a grip, like I'm a sound guy.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why did you do that?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then you go, well, I Jesus would memorize names.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm just trying to love like Jesus.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's the way to do the Great Commission.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually, you start loving on people like that, they're gonna be the ones who ask the questions, not you.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: So it becomes super easy and super seamless where you're not forcing it to happen.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: It comes naturally because they're that's what happened with me.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: I hung, I hung out with these Bible college kids, and I just was like, hey, you what do you well, what's your secret?
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: What's the secret sauce?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I almost killed myself a couple weeks ago, and now I'm like questioning stuff.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is what is it that you're doing that I'm not?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: I reached out first.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't them like, hey, you look like someone who just killed you, who was thinking about killing themselves.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like it wasn't at all.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: They just loved me for who I am, they accepted me, and new to me.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it was it was that simple.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sunday school answer works 10 out of 10 times.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: Love like Jesus, and people will eventually ask you questions about the gospel.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that is so good because then it's about relationship, just like Jesus did, and he was honest and forthright whenever asked and whenever needed, but it really he led from that place of love, yes, which we're all invited to as well.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, this has been so good, Nathan.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: I just think that people are inspired to learn more about you and find more just based on your story.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: But I want to give you the runway to tell us a little bit more about the movie, something behind the scenes, or do we need to go see it?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: And um, just anything else that you haven't gotten to share yet so far.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I mean Bad Counselors is a movie that you genuinely could take the entire family to.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not a movie that if you're an adult, you're gonna be rolling your eyes.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be jokes that the kids won't understand, not because they're like sleazy or whatever, but because they're just for a mature audience.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: Mature audience.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it can be it can be enjoyed by the entire family.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: It can be enjoyed by just some bros, some some frat guys, because it literally takes place in a frat.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it really is a movie that can be that's palatable to everyone, uh, whether you're a Christian or a non-believer, like you will find stuff in this movie that will make you laugh and will entertain you, which is our goal uh from the beginning.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to preach, we don't want it to come across like we're hitting hitting you over the head with the Bible, but just know that Jesus is a part of this movie, and it's a part of the story because I'm sorry, you can't take storytelling and Jesus and separate them.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's just inevitable.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, this movie is going to, I think it's gonna touch, touch the lives of a lot of people, and we just gotta get the word out.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're sandwiched between two kind of unknown movies.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: One is called The Odyssey and one is called Spider-Man.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna have to find a way to get and peel away some sort of audiences from those two.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: But please go see Bad Counselors if you if you can.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: July 22nd through 27th.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's worthwhile, Nathan.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: I know I personally, but also my community really wants to support TV shows and movies just like that, but the family can come, be entertained, also maybe be inspired in some way to each his own and how that's gonna land.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think it's I think it's just so important.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Last but not least, give us maybe a little runway too that little you've given us some sneak peeks, you're working on some other things.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_02: What else can we expect from you?
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: Where should we be looking?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: Is there a channel?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: Is there TV show names, things like that?
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: Help us continue on with the journey.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to follow the account Bible College, the series, is that correct?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yes, Bible College series on Instagram.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be a lot of cool updates regarding that.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I am a co-creator on I'm acting in as well.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: We have an incredible acting team in it.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's basically based on a true story of all the various lives that I have met in Bible college, and we mushed it all together to make this fun, family-friendly comedy show that's has some really solid heart moments.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's got some drama, it's got a little comedy in it too, and it just is gonna make you want to watch the next episode.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start off with a movie, hopefully, and then work our way into the show, and you'll be seeing it on streaming platforms hopefully really soon.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm excited.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: That is totally my genre and I love it.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: I'm here to support it.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: Nathan, this has been really great.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: I just again, when it was one of those coincidence of moments where this came across my desk, so to speak, and I was like, yeah, let's just make it work.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_02: But I've been blessed to get to just get to know about you and your story.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: I know so many others are as well in hearing this, but just I think encouragement not only to pray for people like you in Hollywood, but pray consistently for those who are searching and looking.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: And God does the work, and you're a prime example of that.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: So keep up the great work.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: We're in your corner to be for you from Kansas City and really across the world now that as our friends listen.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate that, Amy.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: This conversation is exactly why I am enjoying this a midsummer detour.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: You never know where they might take you.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: So if Nathan's story stirred something in you today, I'd love to hear about it.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_02: Share the thoughts with me and what you appreciated from it.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: And go support the movie Bad Counselors when it hits theaters July 22nd through 27th.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: I really do think that stories and movies and media that is being created for people like us, we need to be showing up for them and supporting them.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: In addition, I'll put all the links in the show notes where you can find some of Nathan's other work and maybe even say thank you for being here on the podcast.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for joining me for the Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_02: If this conversation spoke to you, please share it with a friend.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: You can also visit simply wholehearted.com to take the free Enneagram quiz and also get your personalized podcast playlist specific for your Enneagram type.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_02: And remember, friend, your starting point doesn't have to be your stuff.