Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Bella Taylor Smith, The Voice Australia Winner Who Chose Ministry

Transcript

Bella Taylor Smith, The Voice Australia Winner Who Chose Ministry · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Hey, Bella, thanks for joining me.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: Hey, thanks so much for having me.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Bella Taylor Smith, who has a new EP for the
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Home Belle.
• 0:11
  Speaker 4: Of course, you leaked into the public eye after winning
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: the Voice Australia and twenty twenty one, Belli, you know
• 0:18
  Speaker 4: you had lots of opportunities after winning the Voice Australia,
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: both mainstream music and Christian music. Was there a moment
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: where you sense God clearly directing you toward faith based
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: music rather than, you know, simply pursuing the biggest career opportunity.
• 0:35
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, honestly, that moment happened before I did
• 0:38
  Speaker 5: the Voice, and I felt like the Voice was such
• 0:41
  Speaker 5: a strange thing for me to do that, but the
• 0:43
  Speaker 5: Lord's prompting and doing it. But have always really wanted
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: to do ministry and make faith based music full time.
• 0:50
  Speaker 5: So I feel like God really used that in order
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: for us to move here and my husband and nine
• 0:54
  Speaker 5: hour than Nashville and get to do Christian music full time.
• 0:57
  Speaker 5: So I feel like the Voice was a pathway for that.
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: So tell us about the Voice Australia and how you
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: got involved in that.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Why did you want to compete? Did you have confidence
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: that you could win that thing.
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah, honestly, the application popped up on my computer. We
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: were right in the middle of lockdowns in Australia in COVID,
• 1:15
  Speaker 5: and so we weren't meeting as a church. I was
• 1:18
  Speaker 5: working for my church and teaching, singing and leading worship
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  Speaker 5: full time before the lockdowns happened, and so I just
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: felt prompted to apply and applied and then honestly just
• 1:30
  Speaker 5: took every part of the process at that kind of came,
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  Speaker 5: but really felt the Lord's hand on it and saw
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: his purpose in it.
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  Speaker 2: So was it a virtual competition back then? Or was
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: it in studio?
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: It was in studio.
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  Speaker 5: It was kind of like developing as the lockdowns were developing,
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: but we did a lot of pre filming and there
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: was only studio audience for like some of the process.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, your music has a really unique style, bea
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: different than much Christian music out there. Yeah, and I
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: have trouble kind of defining it. Oh how did you all?
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: I know, was I like it? How did that style develop?
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  Speaker 2: And how would you describe it?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 5: Well, my husband produces all of my music, so I
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  Speaker 5: feel like it's definitely our creative child. Lots of conviction
• 2:20
  Speaker 5: around the opportunity that we get to make music with
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  Speaker 5: live musicians. And my husband is a bit of a
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  Speaker 5: purist when it comes to like the recording process, so
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: I think that helps. And then I just love like
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  Speaker 5: an organic sound. I feel like the songs are really
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: honest and truthful to my experience and my relationship with God.
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  Speaker 1: Who wanted the.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: Sonic profile to mimic that. So that was kind of
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: where it all began. But I don't really know how
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: to describe it. I know it's like acoustic pretty, yeah.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, acoustic key pretty. There's a little there's.
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  Speaker 4: A little a soul in there, a little bit of pop,
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: a little bit of everything. It's it's really interestingly if
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: I look, it's very intimate. I think there's a very
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: intiment sound there. You have a new EP for the home, Yeah, yeah,
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: and you had one last year called for the house.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: I want to know the story there. Very some people
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  Speaker 2: would say, hey, that's the same thing, but I think
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  Speaker 2: according to you, it's not in your mind. But go
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: ahead tell us about that.
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  Speaker 5: Honestly, moving from Australia to America, I didn't have an
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  Speaker 5: understanding all of the different pockets of the Christian music
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  Speaker 5: space and felt like it was so interesting that there
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: was like.
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  Speaker 3: CCM and radio and like worship and.
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  Speaker 1: Olt and everything.
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  Speaker 5: I was kind of praying and talking to the Lord
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  Speaker 5: about it and just felt like God and say, like
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: you can make music for the house and for the home,
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  Speaker 5: so like for the local church and for people in
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: their homes. And then just felt really inspired by that
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  Speaker 5: and decided to make a project that for the house
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  Speaker 5: service as the local church and scripture filled songs that
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  Speaker 5: really don't have much of my story at all, but
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  Speaker 5: definitely conviction. And then so the home is just yeah,
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  Speaker 5: just that complete the other side of the spectrums at
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  Speaker 5: home listening as people putting your kids to sleep and
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  Speaker 5: just like steal people's homes. Yeah, with the Lord's presence.
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  Speaker 5: So that was kind of the thing.
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  Speaker 2: Tell us how you got involved in music, hey, and
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  Speaker 2: then how you got involved in Christian music? Did you
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  Speaker 2: grow up singing wanting to be a singer?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 5: I grew up and always knew that I could sing,
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  Speaker 5: but didn't really have any drive to do it or
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  Speaker 5: desired to do it. And then when I was fifteen,
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  Speaker 5: I got saved at some ACCOUMP in a worship service
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  Speaker 5: and really felt like that was just what I was
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  Speaker 5: made for.
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  Speaker 3: I was like, oh, this is why I came sing
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  Speaker 3: and Joe.
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  Speaker 5: I just felt such a heart and a passion for
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  Speaker 5: the local church and then using the gifts that God
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  Speaker 5: gave me to bring him glory.
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  Speaker 1: So that's sort of how I, yeah, got into it.
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  Speaker 4: Amen of that circling back to circling back to the
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  Speaker 4: Voice Austraia, There's one question I forgot to ask you,
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: because some choices are always kind of kind of controversial, and.
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  Speaker 2: Some I've watched.
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  Speaker 4: I've watched these songs, these competition reality programs before and
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: sometimes somebody else say, well, that's the wrong.
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  Speaker 2: Song choice for her, him or whatever. How did you
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  Speaker 2: decide what songs to sing on the Voice Australia.
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  Speaker 3: I honestly got super lucky.
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  Speaker 5: Australia is not a Christian nation at all, but I
• 5:16
  Speaker 5: was pretty clear about like my morals and values and
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  Speaker 5: wanting to only sing songs that kind of aligned with those.
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  Speaker 1: So that was some good guard rails.
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  Speaker 3: But I didn't get to pick.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: The songs I sung. It was sort of them producers
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  Speaker 1: and my coach, and at.
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  Speaker 5: The beginning of the process, you basically get to sing
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  Speaker 5: like a stend a massive list in I think of
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  Speaker 5: like thirty or forty songs that you like love to sing,
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  Speaker 5: and so generally they pick from that list, but then
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: sometimes they don't.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, And what were some songs you sang?
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  Speaker 5: Then?
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  Speaker 4: I mean did you think they matched your voice?
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 5: I mean they definitely like big ballad songs, which is
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: so much fund to sing and not really reflected in
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: the music that I personally released, like as far as
• 6:04
  Speaker 5: my artistry.
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  Speaker 3: But I sung alve Maria like.
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  Speaker 5: The Beyonce version, and I sung a song called the
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  Speaker 5: Voice Within, which is like a Christina Aguilera song, and
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: I sung ever enough from the Vertie Shaman, so big
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: ballad souls that had like good themes.
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, those are some good songs. And take us
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: to the moment when the winner was announced. Oh yeah,
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: how many finalists are there? First of all, okay, and
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: they put did they put all four of you belt stage?
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: And then say and the winter is.
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: Because it's COVID, we tree recorded for alternate endings. So yeah, it.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Was very funny.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: So we all had to like pretend win and pretend
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: to lose. And then after the show, like as the
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: show was airing, which is like six months after filming.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I was sitting on my.
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: Parent in laws, who it was just my boyfriend's parents
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: couch at that time, with like some of my family
• 7:06
  Speaker 5: zoomed in because of COVID and restrictions, we like weren't
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: allowed to be around people. I was just like sitting
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: on the couch watching the show and then they just
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: played the version of.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: The ending where I was the one that won. So
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: some really strange experience.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: So did you find out you want watching it live? Yeah?
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a video. Actually, my mother in law took
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: a video. It's so funny.
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  Speaker 5: I posted it on social media and like it got
• 7:32
  Speaker 5: a lot of traction because people were like, why is
• 7:35
  Speaker 5: she acting surprised?
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  Speaker 1: You know, so I had to explain, Yeah, this is incredible.
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  Speaker 4: So all four all four finalists had to record a
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: I guess a video or they recorded them winning, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: not knowing if they were actually winning.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, Like we were all standing on the stage and
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  Speaker 5: they like did the confetti and then one person one
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  Speaker 5: and they did the confetti and the first, the next first,
• 8:01
  Speaker 5: the next version.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, but we're we'll all for all four of you
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  Speaker 4: are on the stage at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so it was in the studio.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, was that sat So I guess I guess you're
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: an actor?
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  Speaker 2: Is an actress as well? Then it's funny.
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  Speaker 5: So many people actually also were like, I was wondering
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  Speaker 5: why she didn't look that excited, you know, because I'm
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: like such a cheerful person, and I feel like it
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  Speaker 5: was a really awkward experience and all of us kind
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: of were like, this is so awkward, and you can
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  Speaker 5: kin didn't feel that when you watch it, but it's fine.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, that was such a weird period in
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  Speaker 2: the world, and was this your story might be the
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  Speaker 2: weirdest I've been. That is unbelievable. Let's transition back to
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: music and live in Australia.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: I was going to ask you, how is life in
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: America different from life in Australia.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's really different. I feel like we live in
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  Speaker 5: the South so in Tennessee. Obviously there's like massive parts
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: of cultural Christianity that kind.
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  Speaker 3: Of are here, which is something that just where not used.
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: So it's really foreign to us being that Australia is
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: not really a Christian nation. We definitely miss our friends
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  Speaker 5: and family and I love to cook and so I
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: miss a lot of the.
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  Speaker 1: Food in Australia.
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  Speaker 5: But it's pretty incredible that we have the opportunity to
• 9:14
  Speaker 5: make Christian music and that be something that we do
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  Speaker 5: full time here. That's an opportunity that I didn't get
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: when I was living.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: You know, amit of that? Well, God's using your talents
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  Speaker 2: here you're in America, that's for sure. What you said
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: he missed foods in Australia.
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  Speaker 3: What types of food?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, like I just miss I don't think how to
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  Speaker 5: explain this in a good way, but like the ingredients,
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  Speaker 5: Like I missed the meat, I miss the fruits and vege,
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: and like the dairy, Like there are just some.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Ingredients in the food here that my body struggles to
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  Speaker 3: take in.
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  Speaker 5: You know.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think many Americans will probably agree with you.
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  Speaker 4: And let me ask you a question about Australia. If
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: people are able to know, did you see kangaroos in
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: the wild?
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  Speaker 2: Do they cross the road? I mean, what's what's that?
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  Speaker 3: Like?
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  Speaker 5: I mean, I guess what people don't realize is Australia
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: is very big in like footage, like square footage, but
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: over eighty five percent I think of the country lives
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: on the coast, so you know, the fur of the.
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  Speaker 3: Inland you get, the more wildlife you see.
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: But most of us live in the cities and on
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: the coast, so sometimes, yeah, we would see a kangaroo
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: like if I went on like it's the equivalent of
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: if I was living in Tennessee, I went to Florida
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: on a beach holiday, I would see kangaroos in that setting. Okay,
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: but you're not seeing them like crossing the road in
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: the normal.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you've just bursted a lot of myths for America.
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  Speaker 2: I think, we think.
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  Speaker 4: I think if you think that kigaroos are all over
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  Speaker 4: the all over, all over the country, there are just
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: not circling back to your EP for the home, which
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: is which is out?
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  Speaker 2: What are you hoping listeners take away from the EP
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: when they listen to it?
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I just hope that it's an encouragement and that
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: people take it as an invitation that God's presence is
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: accessible and that as people are just like doing their
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: day to day lines and in their homes and they
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: cause But yeah, just like the testimonies and the things
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: that I share and those songs, the lyrics are encouraging
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  Speaker 5: and inspiring and lead people to a greater understanding of
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: God and his character and a depot relationship with Jesus.
• 11:16
  Speaker 6: If you enjoy today's interview, please make sure to subscribe
• 11:19
  Speaker 6: and share the episode with a friend.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: A big thanks to the.
• 11:22
  Speaker 6: Team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
• 11:24
  Speaker 6: the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio dot com, you
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: will find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: See you next time.