PJ Crescenzo 0:13

These are the world class star leaders and industry leaders formating generational and world tests. And that's what it shows designed for. This is the high level 55 cast and welcome to today's episode. Welcome to the high level 55 cast today. I have a dear friend, a brother in Christ, close to a brother by blood, even though there's no relationship because he's from Arkansas and has taught me all things about for the hogs. An incredible leader, somebody that loves the Lord, somebody who's had a huge transformation on how I view my work-life integration, my personal health journey. So it is with great joy that I welcome my brother Carson Case. Come on, my man. Thank you so much, bro. I'm honored. Let's go. All right. So, bro, so much to dive into. I think my first question is what was your first uh experience or inflection point with the idea of leadership? Like where did leadership first come into Carson's life?

Carson Case 1:29

Yeah, man, that's a great question. I would say I was involved in sports growing up. Had a lot of coaches. I had my father, who's always been pretty present, just a confident leader and somebody who gets things done. So I think there was, you know, everybody probably has this DNA story where you see um multidimensional leadership. I'm not saying just good or bad, but you just see a lot of different ways to lead. And I think that's the beautiful thing. So for me, man, I would say five years old to 17, I had a lot of leaders, coaches, and people. Um, and I know this question may be coming as well, but I think spiritual and emotional leadership was really tagged onto my life in the later years. I think this ambitious, this driven vocal leadership was something that I knew from a very young age within my family and within my coaching and just men around my life. So, you know, what I saw, PJ, was those things kind of started to blend the older I got into later years of high school, where I was seeing, you know, I don't know, man, you you grow up and you think, okay, that's a leader. It's got to be that one thing. And then you get a little older and you say, Oh, here's some other things. You get a little bit older, and here's some other things. Good to be a father, and here's some other things. So, but that was, I would say five to seventeen was kind of this gradual push of vocal leadership within these different instances of leadership that were a little bit different. Um, I wouldn't even say intimidating, but it was just kind of hard to pinpoint, okay, what is what? But man, just just different men who came into my life, starting with my father, my family, my coaches, playing a lot of ball, traveling a lot. Um, and then the Lord really got a hold of me, I would say, at about 17 or 18.

PJ Crescenzo 3:10

I love that. So that's a good answer. That when you start in your journey, leadership can look like one thing. But as you get older and more mature, you realize that leadership has a lot of different identities and it's more of a chameleon than it is a cement block. Right. Who, as a father of three, as an entrepreneur, as a soon-to-be head pastor, right? We're gonna get into some of the new ventures with the church planning and Myrtle Beach. Who is a positive influence in your world today when it comes to leadership and who you need to be as a man?

Carson Case 3:39

Oh man, it's hard to nail down one. Um, I'll say it again, you know, my my dad, Scott Case, just seeing him operate in confidence, authenticity, um, some comedy here and there, but I think a time to know when to get serious. Um, I think, man, there was other coaches. Um Doug Williams was a guy early on in my life who, man, was vocal and was hard and was disciplined, but it made me better as I grew. I think now when I look at my 20s into my 30s, I got a I got a birthday next week, I'll turn 31. So I've seen a lot of church and sports and business, a lot of different leadership. Man, I love, you know, this is part of my story, you may ask. I love um the military teams. I love leadership that doesn't look just like one person. It's it's collaboration. I think true leadership is really service and sacrifice and it's team embodiment. And so I think sometimes when you're younger, like I know to your question, certain individuals, I thought, hey, it's it's one person, it's one trait, and we go, go, go. And I feel like I did that early on. I think what I began to notice through some of these different guys or these different people that I would watch, these different people that came into my life was, man, to collaborate, to be a team guy, and to really be a team guy in business or in ministry, even in your family, we talk about this a lot, is to really cultivate a team and a culture where you just don't win. Everybody begins to win because of your service and your leadership and your direction, which just takes maturity over time. So I didn't give you one there, uh, but there's many men that I just looked at.

PJ Crescenzo 5:21

Well, I love the military per parallel because even if it's not biblically based, it's the spirit of servant leadership. Right. If if somebody's listening to this that's a leader and maybe they don't know God, maybe they grew up in church, but they haven't been as close to God as they would like to be, how would you speak into what the kingdom and and the word can do for the everyday leader who's maybe carrying a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibility, leading people? How can the kingdom and kind of build in their spiritual foundation help them exceed and excel as a leader in other areas?

Carson Case 5:56

I mean, the first phrase that comes to my mind, because I experienced this, is really come as you are. I think spiritually, spiritually, this is a heavy concept, but even in business, right, in these worlds, and maybe some of the listeners, you feel like you need to be someone you're not to gain approval from people you don't even know. Right. And that may be one moment, one business, one move, one time with the Lord, but that's an exhausting life to live where you feel like you have to put yourself together to be accepted. And the best thing, bro, about the Lord, and the best thing I've seen with great teams is look, we want you to come as you are. You know, we don't want you to stay that way over time because we want everybody to grow and to progress in a healthy way. But I think one of the things that hurts leadership in a lot of different worlds right now is people coming in and not being authentic to who God made them to be. Authenticity, man, I think is a secret sauce. You know when you go into a boardroom, when you're on a team, when you're on a sports team, maybe even when you're in church, that people are trying to mimic something that they may not be. And the beautiful thing about the Lord that we see in the scriptures is he comes and he says, Hey, I'm meeting you where you are. I know you, I see you, right? Like you can't get behind me with this. And I really believe that people can be used spiritually, but definitely on teams and maybe some of the listeners in business when you are who you are and who God's made you to be, but you also are humble and open and teachable to receive feedback to say, Hey, let's take that authentic sauce and let's create something over time. But I think it's really hard for people who want to be leaders to come back from insecurity and wanting to be approved by others because you're really gonna have to peel back those layers. You got to get down to the foundation. So just coming as you are, but also knowing that there's gonna be a process of maturity over time.

PJ Crescenzo 7:50

Bro, it feels so good to just be vulnerable. And I think so many alpha men. The first thought is I don't want to be vulnerable because I'm a leader, because I'm strong, because I want to be tough, right? And I think one thing we were talking about last week was the idea of gentle strength, and that gentleness is the vulnerability, is the common you are so fragrance. Literally, we were just talking about the how spraying it feels to go to walk into church on a Sunday or a Wednesday or even in a closet and be able to just lay it off the feet of the Lord and you know my same response to that would be how much more dynamic can you be when you pick up that capacity because you have a partner that's Christ, that's God that loves you, therefore you're power of eternity. If you just want to share some of the chapters of your 20s and heading into 30s, leading a young group, publishing a devotional, launching a business, mental development, leading community about to start a church. So kind of walk me through your journey over the last 11 years of some of the different roles you've filled and kind of what you've learned as you've gone from selling boots where you had an encounter with the Lord to planning a church back in the same city 11 years later. Walk me through, you know, kind of the last 11 years for a Carson case.

Carson Case 9:12

Yeah, so I'll give you some quick chapters. I'm from Arkansas. You said that, you know that. Shout out to the Arkansas Razorbacks Go Hogs. But born and raised in Arkansas, man, I had a crazy spinal injury. I got surgery before that. I would have loved to go to the Naval Academy. I had everything kind of set and signed and sealed, and then I had this crazy injury. I had a pastor come into my hospital room. I was there for about two or three days. I was kind of interested in a greater life. I just didn't really know. I came from, hey, I'm this sports guy, I'm gonna go do this thing, I'm gonna go to the naval academy. I had these plans, and man, I told one of my buddies, I was like, man, I just need something deeper. You know, I had kind of all the things. I had a great life, great family, and still do to this day. But I knew that there was more for me. And so this pastor by the name of Tim Caldwell out of Arkansas came to me and said, Hey, if you want to know the Lord, you need to commit with me two days, Tuesday and Thursday, 6 30 a.m. for a full year. We're gonna read the scriptures. I'm gonna teach you who Jesus is. And I was like, man, I'm in, let's go. And uh man, through that process post-surgery, I gave my life to the Lord. And uh it was really raw, it was really vulnerable. It wasn't like kind of as I just said, it was just come as you are, hey, this is who I am, let's do this thing. And that changed my life. I started a Bible study at my high school, I think it was one of the first of its kind. I was young, I didn't know much of what I was doing, but man, I love people and I love the Lord, and I had a knack for just um evangelizing and reaching people. I didn't really know that terminology at the time, but I knew that I loved to talk and to reach people. And then I had an opportunity, man, to go to school on the East Coast for college. So I just sent it, and I think that's been a theme of my life of I see fear, I see something. We had never vacationed in the Carolinas. Bro, we we didn't know a thing. And I just said, I think I'm gonna go there. And had somebody pray with me about it. And so I go to Coastal Carolina University and Myrtle Beach, not knowing anybody, had never really been there. We go, it was so hard. Like, let me just put it that way. I think for anybody listening, it's like spirit of adventure, take a risk. Man, it's hard. And it was hard for about six months. And I had my dad and some others speak into me, and so they were like, hey, you gotta stay for a year. So I stayed. A couple years later in college, we launched a movement called Young and Free. Young and Free turns into soul movement, spirit of the Lord movement. And our whole idea at that time, early in the chapters of 20 to 21 years old, was we want to reach fraternities, sororities, and athletes. Those are the people, for me, like it or not, they have the most influence, whether positive or negative, on a college campus. People were saying, hey, there's parties there, that's happening there, there's guys, there's girls, there's athletics. And so our whole mindset was let's get free Bibles and free food, and let's just say, hey, here's how to know Jesus, here's how to know Jesus. You can get baptized, here's how to get into community. And man, it grew. And I had great people around me. And again, I still didn't really know what I was doing, but we began that, and man, we had hundreds of college students meeting for a Bible study in apartments that were really used for some of the biggest parties on the weekends, baptizing people in the ocean, baptizing people in these party pools. And I learned a lot. I met my wife there, and she's from Virginia Beach, Erin, just phenomenal. We we had kind of a friend group, we start dating, and um, we got married at 23. So definitely felt when you mentioned some of those things, we kind of felt a pause in our life of man, we love it here. So much gratitude for Myrtle, and it's crazy because now I'm 30 and I'm about to move back there. But we had an opportunity in Charleston to help plant a church, an extension church of uh of Awakened Church. And man, it was amazing. I walk into a living room at 24 years old with the tattoos and the hat and the chain and and loving the Lord, and I don't know anybody, and I'm like, look, we're gonna build a church in downtown Charleston, and let's go. This is the team, right? And and we start grabbing people. I learned so much. That room and those groups went from about six to twelve to a hundred, a hundred and fifty, still have incredible friends there, and then COVID hit, right? And I mean, I think that was a mile marker for my journey. I was uh I was into a lot of ministry and preaching and loving the Lord and evangelizing, and I was newly married, we had no kids at the time. But man, I was wrecked through I think the COVID process, the church plant not being able to grow. I think maybe this is for somebody listening. There was a failure in an operation that I had some sort of leadership over. And I think there was a season of my life in the early to mid-20s, call it 24 and 25, where I thought, this failed, I'm a failure, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't think I'm meant for ministry. Right? So it could be like, hey, the business deal, all that, the Lord's called me to this, we're gonna do this. It doesn't work. Does it mean you don't work, or does it mean that this season did not work, but it's still on you? I say that because I feel that now, but it took me about two years to understand the love of the Lord, the redirection of the Lord, the maturity and humility that I needed. I think I thought way too much of myself at the time as a youngster that I could do, that I could speak, that I could gather. And I just got wrecked, man. And so in that PJ, I wrote a devotional book for young adults and college students called Born for It. And it's a 90-day devo, and you know, devos and the scriptures and books. I know you're a big book guy. It's always been to just grab information and learn. And so that was an incredible opportunity. Um, but man, all these chapters, we're in Orlando now, and we're about to leave Orlando in 19 days as we're filming this podcast. And I never could imagine leaving Orlando to go back to a place that the Lord had given us vision to probably seven years ago. But now it started to make so much sense, man. So we moved from Charleston to Orlando. Uh, we have my first son, Cash. So I have three kids. I love them so much five, four, and seven months. Cash is my oldest, Cruz is my middle, and Phoenix is my little girl. So I got my little girl, bro. Um, we would love to continue to grow the family, and and we get here, man, off prayer and fasting. That's what I want to say. So if there's anybody the DNA that I have found and that I have been taught by great leaders and mentors in my life is you could have strategy, you could have a whiteboard, uh, you could have guts, you could have grit, but to pray and fast is really how we've directed every move and submitted to every move. So we're going to God in prayer and we're fasting from food and resources of this world to say, look, our strength and our resource is from heaven. And I know, man, that may be different for a lot of folks, but just stick with me and try that to say, look, I need greater strength that I can't find here.

PJ Crescenzo 15:49

And man, fasting. Let me let me go deeper on the question of fasting. I got so many things that I want to extract from the journey you've shared so far. But when you guys are seeking fasting or you're talking to different leaders in the spiritual community about fasting, is it, hey, I'm gonna fast because I want a word from the Lord? Is it I want to fast because I want to see something shift in my atmosphere, in my home? What is the spirit and the intentionality behind fasting? And what does that talk track look like when your body and your flesh start saying, You don't need to do this, do you really need to fast? And by the same voice that's telling you, do you really need to go to the gym and do you need to eat healthy? But what so walk me through the intention and the spirit behind, hey, I'm gonna fast because of blank, and how do you offset some of that flesh getting riled up when you're trying to honor the spirit? Gosh, bro, it's a great question.

Carson Case 16:40

I would say as my time has matured with the Lord and my life over these years, fasting primarily is to honor the Lord, to honor the Lord without expecting anything in return. To say, hey, my strength comes from the Lord, the strength of my life, my heart is yours. Um, and I think that takes some growing pains. So that's what I know now. Number one, to just honor and just to minister to the Lord. Now, the twos and threes of that, the next steps could be, hey, I'm in a tight season, um, I'm tired out, I'm exhausted, I've gotten all the pleasures, I've gotten all the entertainment, I got all the things, I've got them all, but I feel empty. I I need I need help from heaven. So not just prayer, but I need to find my strength. Because you know, there's fasting, bro, that we hear of like, I'm gonna fast from social media, I'm gonna fast from this, that, and the other. And that's hard and that's fine. But ultimately, biblical fasting is saying, hey, food, nourishment from the world, I'm gonna move out the way, and I need nourishment from God. I need nourishment from his hand, I need bread. Um, and in the talk time, I think you asked that, man. I think morning, noon, and night has been really heavy on me. I've heard that from some great pastors and leaders. Psalm 55 talks about that. But just to say, look, I'm gonna build a rhythm. I'm not gonna go to God as a last resort. I don't have to. You know, I can have friendship with God, and he's my Lord, he's my authority, but I can come to him as a friend morning, noon, and night and say, look, this cycle of my life is I'm gonna seek him in the morning before I start, before I start my business, before I start my stuff, my family. I'm gonna seek him midday because we all know midday, the emails are flying, the meetings are flying, I got stuff to do. I'm gonna recenter my life around the Lord and his authority. And at the end of my day, maybe I had a good one, maybe I had a bad one, but I'm gonna sit at night and I'm gonna say, Lord, you have it all. I'm grateful. I'm grateful what we have, the challenges, the blessings, and you can build that rhythm, bro. And I think it will bless so many people as it's blessed me, as we see it in the scriptures, just to say, Come to me, come to the Lord, submit all those things, don't rely on these other things. We know it, we've seen it. I mean, even I feel like some sort of a high-level person. I know that you're that, and we have some friends like that, but there comes a time for every person to say, I don't have the answer. I'm not strong enough, I'm not smart enough, let me submit to the authority of heaven to get guidance for what I need to do.

PJ Crescenzo 19:14

How I was gonna repeat myself again and so I have so many things I want to say, but we could just make that a blanket statement so I don't need to repeat it again. How has your relationship with the Holy Spirit transformed your understanding of Christianity and what it looks like to lead with the kingdom? Because I've seen you know, we've had a lot of conversations recently, the worship, the type of ministry, the type of prayer, the belief architect. I think most people, and maybe not at least people that I know and men we know, they come to God through an academic or an intellectual understanding. They're like, oh, this is just a story I'm able to identify with if creation came into existence. You've been spent more time in the church and more time in ministry, and you've seen healing nights and you've been to worship nights, and you've you know started to submit and get led by more miracle believing and belief-believing ministry. How has that impacted your understanding of the kingdom and and change how you lead?

Carson Case 20:09

Oh man, um, I think it's both and I think it's both and I think there's structure and then there's things you can't control, right? Like you don't want you don't want chaos, but you don't want rigidness to where there's no joy, there's no power, there's no authority. So again, I think it's the scriptures, but it's also being filled with the spirit and the power of the spirit. I think, you know, us as people, we could be afraid of things that we don't understand. I've been there, I get it, but I think you begin to inch into the Lord, you see the scriptures, and it's like it's both and, right? Like we're gonna we're gonna preach the word, we're gonna gather people in that word, but we're also gonna be filled with power, the power of the Holy Spirit, it's the Trinity, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So the glory is is Jesus. You know, Jesus is that redeemer and connector to us to the Father. But then Jesus also says, I believe it's in John 14, hey, it's better that I leave and that you get the advocate, the helper, the encourager, which is the Holy Spirit. And so the Holy Spirit leads us, fills us, gives us power, gives us authority. What I will say for anybody listening is again, if it's all spirit-led and there's no structure and truth and teaching, we might have to pull back a little bit. But man, I've been a part of things, I think sometimes in the Bible belt personally, where there's so much structure and rigidness and behavior modification where there are miracle signs and wonders, and we can't explain them. And we see the spirit of God move, we see the presence of God come, and we just we just submit to that. So discernment is good too, discernment and who you're around. But bro, I see it as a both and, so and it fires up your life, man. It gives you fire in your life.

PJ Crescenzo 21:56

All right, I love it, bro. So to transition a little bit, And leadership, right? I mean, we've probably had thousands of hours around what it looks like to lead, to commit to marriage, to have kids. You know, we're in a generation where marriage is optional, kids are optional, health is optional, everything's optional. There is no required standard like our grandparents had, or our great grandparents had, where the standards were just higher. So walk me through if I'm a man listening to this and I'm like, man, it's not important to go to the gym, or it's not important to get married, or I don't really know if I need to have kids. Like, what is some of the responsibility you ought to carry as a man? And maybe what are some of the unseen fruits that come with doing the hard things that people may never get to experience if they don't put in that sacrifice?

Carson Case 22:46

Yeah, I mean, you know some of this from me. I'll give you some practicals for people. I think a couple questions. Number one, as a man, tell me about your habits, patterns, and routines. Tell me about those things. You got to be able to say, okay, these are my habits and patterns and routines. This is the life that I live, right? Um, number two, tell me what you want to be known for. The reality is everybody wants to be known for something, whether it's a couple traits, it's three things, it's five things. But most people go to bed at night saying, Man, I want people to think these things of me. So then it's the process of like, how do I live these things? How do I activate these things? A culture that we've instituted, man, with with bulletproof and bulletproof men in the startup of that is cobra culture. You know that. So character, ownership, brotherhood, resilience, and accountability. Those five things to have those things, to be a man of character, a man that takes ownership, a man that has brothers. I think it's really easy for high-level people and leaders to go high level and really not have anybody to care for them. Resilience, resilience is needed, right? There's there's a grit, there's a no-quit attitude. Um, and then accountability. I think I've had to learn that over time too, man. Is everybody needs this accountability, this humbling, this teachability, and this feedback. So that's another part of the culture. I think, man, with family and things, we um I think there's some spiritual in this and some psychological and even your your family DNA, right? So, PJ, we've we chatted about this before. I think every man has to look back at where you came from. And that's not just saying, hey, where I come from, you know, we hunt and we fish and we do sports and we do yada yada yada, but it's like, no, like, what was that culture like? What did I experience as a kid? Um, what did I not experience? What was disappointing to me? That's hard as a man, even if you're like a tough guy, you're like, man, I don't want to open up that Pandora's box. But to understand your personal culture as a leader, as a husband, and as a father, you've got to extract where have I come from and how do I actually feel about it? What are my habits, patterns, and routines? And then where is this taking me? Right? Just I gotta be very honest with the man in the mirror. We talk about that a lot. I gotta be honest to say, like, what are these parts of my life look like? And then I've got to scan and I've got to say, who do I want to be? Do I do I find that in the scriptures? Do I find that online? Do I find it from my dad? Do I find it from my buddies? One of the hardest things, bro, is looking around at your tribe and your community and your people and saying, hey, is is this how I want to operate? Are these things that I'm proud of? Are these things that I want to live? And then the home thing, bro, that's the big one, right? Because I think as men and as leaders, no matter your age, you can get by for a long time uh without looking, without kind of sensing and seeing, kind of uncovering these things. But when you get a wife, when you get a son, when you get a daughter, these things are happening and they're coming off of you, right? Like heat off of your body.

PJ Crescenzo 25:52

And you have to start making my body, taking my shirt off my body, taking my wallet out of my pocket.

Carson Case 25:57

Take it, take it all. Um, but you have to come to grips with okay, now I've planted my own tree, and that tree that I'm planting, we call them oak trees, is this legacy tree, this family culture, this family team that I'm responsible for. So do I like what I'm putting off? Do I like the communication, the intimacy, the love, the friendship, the health, the wellness, the culture, the discipline, the dealing with things, the reactions to people? And if I don't, then I can change those things, you know, with the help of the Lord and other people. But so I think it's just those front-facing issues that graduate. The family thing is big, bro. It's big.

PJ Crescenzo 26:39

I love it. What have you learned as a father of three? How is Carson different today than before he had three kids?

Carson Case 26:46

Oh man, I'm still selfish, so Lord help me. But man, I was stripped of my selfishness when I got married and when I had kids. And I think each kid Cash, Cruz, and Phoenix has been beautiful in their own way. I don't look at it like all right, I'm just adding a tally, I'm just adding a team, you know. Um, but there's been a unique journey to each of those. So when we had cash, we were coming out of helping a church plant. Um, we were at the lowest level, I feel like, of life, just trying to figure out, and we moved to a new city and a new state. So that was hard. And then weeks into that, we get pregnant again with my second son, Cruz, and we're like, Lord, we we got nothing. We had to figure this out. We got to stay tight in our marriage. And then we just had Phoenix last November, and I think, man, just being stripped of like selfish ways and boyish ways. I think there were we've talked about alcohol and any other vices and addictions and gambling. Uh I'm not saying those things are inherently evil things, but every man's got to get a grip on what you do, right? And if those things are pulling you away from presence in your home, presence with your kids, love and intimacy with your wife, because because we know this, PJ, and I think probably guys listening. When you have kids, at least probably two to three, um, the first one's very tough, but as you have more kids, you're getting pulled away from your marriage union. Right? And and the first point of contact is hey, me and Aaron, me and my wife, we gotta be good because this tree is feeding the kids in the presence of our home. So that that's what I've learned.

PJ Crescenzo 28:28

I love that, bro. You changed my life. I'll never forget. You said, look, bro, if you win at work and you lose a home, you're a bum. And I know it's I know it's candid, I know it's blunt, but bro, that changed my life because before we met, it was income, hours worked, deals closed, climbing the ladder, and I found myself in a black hole where as you start to detach and you really surrender to the kingdom. I mean, even just before this call, bro, I got issues on deals, and you're never gonna not have problems. I was having a fruitful conversation last night with a pilot and he was telling me, I mean, bro, you're always getting through something. Like there's never a situation where if you work, you don't have something you're getting through. But what you really helped uh bring into my life is you're only gonna get through toddlers once. Yeah, and and if you don't get through your marriage, you won't have a marriage. Like if you don't get that thing right, you got nothing. I mean, what is a man that gains the whole world and loses his soul? Um so it's a it's just so powerful, bro. What so as you look at patterns, habits, routines, you know, you could talk personally. You can also talk, you know, if I'm a man, listen to this and I'm looking to just upgrade. And I I don't have any patterns, I don't have any habits, I don't have any routines. What would you say are some some best practice spiritually, physically? What are some things I should start to constitute or institute into my rhythm of life?

Carson Case 29:51

Yeah, I would say uh first thing is find someone that does. Find someone that does, right? Like we spend so much time looking at what everybody else is doing online. We all get caught up in it. We know that we got things to do, we got things to change, but we get caught by others. But sometimes the positive in that is you know someone, you have someone. Maybe you've ignored them for a little bit because you're like, man, this is too much, but there's someone that you're looking at to say, I want to be like that. Can I contact them? Can I reach out to them? Can I contact PJ? Can I contact Carson and just say, hey, how are you doing those things? And then I think you bring it to the basic points of hey, movement every day. Movement is medicine. Um, I used to think when I was younger, because I've always been a little bit crazy about movement, like, hey, everybody needs to move this much and do this much. It could be as easy as say, look, I need to take a 20-minute walk every day, right? I need to clear my head, I need to walk and talk with the Lord, I need to get steps.

PJ Crescenzo 30:47

I need to run 30 miles and do 3,000 reps in a 12-hour day, but I'll never forget that the first time at that point. Maybe we were just into the friendship. I mean, bro, as I look at your story, I think it's why you've had so much you know, joy in different moments of the friendship. I'm getting off track because we're talking about habits and routines, right? So you say, Hey, find somebody who does have patterns. I love what you said, which is just asking, how do I do this, right? I mean, I think that's probably one of the biggest gaps of men give you the answer. You just gotta ask. You just gotta be willing to think what you said, come as you are, which I love, that vulnerability is just ask somebody what their habits are. You went into movement as medicine. I don't want to disrupt the habits and routines, but as you were talking about movement, I was thinking about when you did this these two charity races, 30 miles and 3,000 reps. Walk me through that first year when it was just you. Um you're in an apartment. What inspired you to run 30 miles and do 3,000 reps in uh in one day? Like walk me through the mindset behind that.

Carson Case 31:46

Yeah, yeah. I mean, real quick, do what you say you're gonna do. Do what you say you're gonna do. That that's a missing piece in manhood right now, is I told you I was gonna do this and I'm gonna do it. And if I this is my dad's words, if I don't do it, I'm either dead on the side of the road or I miss the mark. You know what I'm saying? So it doesn't say that there's not grace, but just mean what you say. So when I did that, man, I think uh I was not in shape for it. And I think this could be a life thing, right? There's just things that you're not in shape for, you haven't trained for, but you you have interest in, you have curiosity. So I think most people, most men, it's like have a scendant mentality. Again, you don't don't be a fool, but try something that you know is gonna push you. You're probably not gonna die, but you're gonna hurt. You're gonna hurt and you're gonna suffer. And the suffering and the hurting, it's gonna peel back the layers in you that maybe you've ignored. So for me, I was like, oh, I'm I'm pretty fit, but running long distance I can't do. And so I found somebody, I plugged into their Facebook group, I paid them $100, I got a shirt, and I said, Well, I don't have a racetrack and I don't have a group and I don't have anywhere to go in the city, but I live in this apartment, so let me just block out how many laps. I think it was like 169 laps. And I'm gonna do all this and I'm gonna stop by the gym and I'm gonna do this. And I think a lot of it was, you know, we say character with culture, PJ, but I find this in the scriptures a lot and in the Psalms. But man, I want to have integrity. I want to have integrity. I want to be a guy that isn't just posting things online for clicks, all the while knowing that I don't do that in my private time. We're seeing that a lot. So I'm like, hey, if I tell PJ, and if I tell everybody I'm gonna run 170 laps around the apartment, I'm gonna do these reps, and it's gonna take this much time. I better mean it, right? Because that's credibility, that's honesty, that's integrity. And so, dude, it was oh, it was so, so tough. I think it took me like like 13 hours that time, you know, the first block, and then we got people around it. We were able to bless a friend who you know with a brand new kidney. Like, literally raise this money, do these miles, do these reps, hand this over, and it's the exact amount of money that they needed for a new kidney. Two months later, surgery out of it, families blessed. Praise God.

PJ Crescenzo 34:07

Let's go.

Carson Case 34:07

Just things like that, bro.

PJ Crescenzo 34:09

So good. All right, so walk me through the chapter we're in now. Nineteen days left in Orlando, three kids about to turn 31, planning a church in Myrtle Beach where you started your first spiritual movement. What's the heart, mission, vision behind soul? How can people support you today with this new church plant? Just walk me through where we're at in present-day 2026.

Carson Case 34:33

Yeah, I'll say this, man. I told you this privately. Uh, this was not something that I was telling everybody I wanted to do. I think that's been the magic and the power in this is I was I was content here, bro. I mean, I like my life and I like my community and I love Orlando, I love the city, it's meant a lot to us, but the Lord began to minister to me and my wife privately through other people and through prayer and fasting. I'm gonna bring that back. And I believe that when the Lord begins to prompt you, just if you go to the coffee shop and the Lord's like PJ, go speak with them, go go buy their coffee, go give them a hug. Everybody experiences that as a believer, to me, it was 10x that. It was in the past year and in the past four months, hey, pack everything up, get rid of all this, love all your people, and then move this summer and build me a house in Myrtle. And I'm sitting there thinking, like, no, there's no way, there's no way. Well, we go through this prayer and fasting time, and six or seven things happen, signs and miraculous things that I could not explain. I'm kind of crying about I'm talking to my wife, you know, are we serious? Are you serious? She's like, No, babe, I think this is what we gotta do, we gotta obey. And so, man, for us to kind of get to the practical steps, this was something that we wrote on some of our vow sheets and notebooks at 23. Was, hey, we're we're gonna we're gonna build a house for the Lord, we're gonna plan a church. And over this time, we found other ways to minister and to do stuff. And at 30 years old, with three kids in Orlando with a church, with a community, with some training business that we love, the Lord says, Look, it's time to go. Get rid of this and go and take your kids with you, and I'll make a way. So we're in a place right now, man, where over the past three or four months we have gotten into a church planning network, gotten into another network in the Carolinas. They've been really kind to us, gotten involved with a church in Myrtle to help kind of receive us, our church here at Key Church, speaking with them and building partnerships. Um, and then just people, letting people know. So we we share the vision. I do want to share this, PJ, because you know this spiritual attack, warfare, man. Again, I didn't really beg God to say, hey, make me a leader, make me a preacher, make me all these things. I feel like the Lord kind of alerted me over this time and said, You're gonna go, you're gonna go. And I'm like, Are you serious? Like, we're gonna do this. And we announced it two and a half weeks ago officially, that hey, we're gonna go to Myrtle, we're gonna plant soul, Spirit of the Lord movement, soul house, soul gathering, we're gonna plant this thing unto the Lord, and we're gonna get helping hands from people. A few hours after we posted online and got crazy amounts of feedback and love and encouragement. We've got donors, we got offerings, we got some backing. I got incredibly sick. I mean, I got two days worth of sickness that I hadn't felt in a couple years. That happened. Um, I I just want to be vulnerable on here. It's like there was other things that began to happen and shift and cause doubt. My my grandfather passed away uh about four days ago. And uh again, I'm not saying that this for anybody listening, this isn't like, oh, God's doing this. But I think when you take a step and a risk of obedience with the Lord, you gotta understand that things are gonna try to keep you and your family from doing the thing that God told you to do. And uh man, we're 19 days out. We plan four or five phases of getting there, building fundraising and people just just helping our family kind of establish roots and our three kids, beginning to minister, fill up our living room. We're going from living room first. So uh we've got some other churches and partners there in the city, we've got some friends that we still love and know, but we plan to just build teams, man, over these next six to twelve months.

PJ Crescenzo 38:19

I love it. My question was gonna be, and then I want to I lost a let me say this, and then I'll ask the question. So, as you know, we're in similar seasons, right? Relocating from Colorado, where we felt like the Lord called us to. And I don't even told you this, bro, but we've shared a lot of uh moments about the wolf, right? The wolf logo, some different things of the wolf. And I heard this last night from a family member. My first week in Colorado, I was going for a 5:30 in the morning run, and along the river I saw a wolf. Didn't have a gun on me, didn't have any bear spray, and I just kept running and didn't change my pace, but I made eye contact with the wolf by the river. And I heard last night that again we're believers of the kingdom, so I'm not adhering to any other spiritual belief frameworks, but there's uh things in mystic culture that the wolf is a representation of an identity shift and it's who you are when no one else is around and that's who you need to become. And I almost broke this is crazy. So I almost didn't put in the offer on the house in Georgia and a friend who recently got stated that it's a radically changed. It's like when you live in the darkness and you first get the presence of the Lord, it's like that woman at the well that live in water that never run a trip to everyone. I just want to remind you that there's giants in the promised land. So just because there's giants doesn't fill with fucking money, just my thing that fight some giants at 15 so much favor after that we said, hey, we're gonna do this, and we've had to fight a lot of giants. Both things were true. It's both an end, as you said. So my question with all of that is what have you found to be the cost of obedience? Because you've been obedient several times. What what would you say to somebody today that's trying to be more obedient? What is the cost that comes with obedience? And what is and what is the I would say reward, not that we're in this for rewards, right? But selling and reaping is is a kingdom principle. So what's the cost of obedience and what's the reward for obedience?

Carson Case 40:08

Golly, that's so good, bro. Um the phrase that comes to my mind is teach me how to die. So when I say that, I've been praying that a lot. Teach me how to die, which is not a good saying. That's not a familiar saying, but really when I look at the scriptures and I think of let the dead bury the dead, bury it, all these things. Oh, I want to do this, I want to do that. And the Lord's like, Yeah, that's cool, but I want you to do this. So, man, I've cried a lot. I don't know if it's because I'm a girl dad now, I don't know if it's because the Lord's matured me.

PJ Crescenzo 40:42

I don't know if it's just because I just show in the house got increased.

Carson Case 40:46

I mean, I just I I feel different, and so I've just cried before the Lord, and I'm like, Man, I I I kind of like this, and I love these people, and I love that family, and I love those friends, and the Lord's like, all right, I love you, but you're gonna go now. Go ahead and pack your bags, you're gonna go now. And so I think the cost is having to die to things that aren't necessarily bad or wrong things. They're just not the right thing, it's not the obedient step. And that, oh, it it pulls at you, pulls stuff off of you, right? Just like parenting, it's like, get off of me, get off of me. And then and then you're able to see you've got clarity. So when you ask the other question, I'm like, you receive clarity, supernatural boldness and confidence. Bro, I'm in a place right now as we're podcasting where I'm like, I don't even know how some of this is gonna work, Lord. And it it hurts, but man, the peace that I feel. Wow. Because I can look and I can say to you as a close friend or to my wife or to anybody and say, I'm doing what he told us to do. Wow. We're doing what he told us to do. So I feel peace.

PJ Crescenzo 41:49

That's so good. Yeah, so the cost may be not doing what you want to do, right? Not understanding, being able to act without understanding and reason, but having this peace, which I mean, bro, even that's so powerful. You think about the flesh and the spirit, and that's something that really I never got to experience until the move to Orlando, which you were a whole part of. I never thought in a million years I'd move to Orlando. It was when I was going through a trying time and I came and stayed at your house, and you guys were so gracious. And you know, you had two kids at the time, and it's probably the quietest your house ever was. It was just a great word that first time in Allen came and we talked, and you know, we almost we were five minutes away from not even going to downtown Winter Garden. So we hit the butter shop before the Arkansas game, and we went and I threw an offering on the house and it got accepted. And next thing I know, when I'm living in Orlando, I'm like, No, I got here. It wasn't for Carlos. I met you, bro. Ethan Earhart in a birthday class. And you know, now we're both rocking stashes. The only reason I introduced myself is to get a great stash. Hey bro, I like your stash. And it sparked a whole conversation. Got it. Bro, it changed it changed my whole life. It was I was 220 pounds when I met you, which is crazy. What are you now? 192, 188. I never, I never I never get more than 192. Um but anyway, I still have to say the cost of obedience, but then you said the reward, it's like you're rewarding your spirit. So it's like the idea of building those treasures in heaven. I think that's the fruit of the Holy Spirit, bro. Because I had a call earlier this morning. And when you're in the presence of somebody else that's seeking the Lord, there's a different word bank that gets unlocked. Like different things just start coming out of your tongue and uh coming out of your mind because you're in the presence of the Lord and you want to honor the Lord. And I think that's the most fruitful. I mean, I think about if you spent your whole life climbing up a mountain only to find it was the wrong mountain and you got to the top. I mean, is there anything worse than that, right? I I'd rather climb a hill that the Lord wanted me to climb and climb a mountain and find out it was the wrong mountain. So I'm asked a couple final questions that were coming up on the 45 minute mark. I definitely want to share the ways that people can support Seoul. Uh, definitely give it give them the opportunity to do so when this episode comes out. Uh just kind of a couple final questions I could talk to you for four hours about leadership and data. Proud, bro. You brought so many great voices into my life. Spirit re-bringing Michael Couleanos back, bringing in DJ Shipley, bringing in Cam Haynes, bringing in guys that just show me how to be a good man. Jordan uh Jordan Comer, John Comer, Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. I mean, bro, you've brought phenomenal content into my life. Um what does Carson at Carson now about to turn 31? What would he tell 21-year-old Carson? What has the last decade taught you that if you could give one word to 21-year-old Carson, what would you tell him?

Carson Case 44:31

Give me a second. Slow down. Slow down.

PJ Crescenzo 44:40

What does that mean, Dio? Go a little bit deeper.

Carson Case 44:44

I think when um and I'm sure this is a lot of the listeners I would believe. You know, when you when you have confidence, um probably a lot of guys that are around us, it's like you got confidence, you got flair, you know you have gifting for certain things, and I think you feel like you've got to drive the car so fast all the time. I used to say, and I had good friends in my life tell me at 21 and 22, hey man, you're always going 200 miles an hour, and I'm thinking to myself, well, it's either 200 or it's zero. You know what I'm saying? Like, there is no in-between for me. And I think, man, that's a beautiful gift to have. You're like that, right? I'm just gonna drive them to go, I got great, I got resilience. But it's really dangerous and it's really prideful. Like to think, hey, I I got this, I know what I'm doing, so I ain't slowing down for nobody. I think you lose I've lost relationships that way. Um, and then we said this early on, PJ. What it means to me is if the Lord hadn't have slowed me down, if Aaron Case hadn't slowed me down and and shown me this joy and this grace and this easiness and our difference of personality with my wife, I don't think I would be where I am to be able to kind of halt and be present in certain things. And I think for a lot of leaders, man, it's like you could be killing it, but if you're not slow and smooth and present for the things that might matter more than the thing that you're gunning after, there will come a time. There will come a time, and I think my time, bro, was 26. It was 26, and I was just shot. I was angry, I was mad. I don't think I liked myself as much as the confidence that I knew that I had. I didn't really know who to trust. And I had to get back to the basics. You didn't ask me this question, but I would say another thing for a lot of guys in business space, but fitness space, family, just master the basics. Master the basics, man. Get back to the core, get back to the book, you know.

PJ Crescenzo 46:43

Bible, work out, pray, reflect, have intimacy with your wife, be present for your kids. I mean, bro, so good. Brother, I love you. I mean, you've been by far one of the biggest influences and have really shifted the trajectory of my 20s. So I don't think I give enough honor and not because I'm not willing to give honor, just because we don't have enough time to give honor. It's just not the opportunity to do so. But bro, I mean, you've significantly changed the trajectory of my life by helping me master the fundamentals. I was always a 200 mile an hour guy. I'm sure I always would have, you know, sold a lot of whatever I was selling. Um, but you've helped protect what matters most in my life, which is my marriage and my kids and my walk with the Lord. So I just want to thank you, bro. I don't even think you've realized the impact you've had by impacting me. And now I'm sending out a devotional to 50 employees a day. I don't even know if some of these people are believers. I'm sending it out anyway, because you put me on a different path in life. So, bro, I would love to just pray over you, pray over soul. Uh, when this episode comes out, we will definitely give everyone the opportunity to support this new church plant, Spirit of the Lord movement and Myrtle Beach. Um, and let me just pray before we wrap up. Do it. So, dear Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you so much for Carson and Aaron and the Case family. Uh, Lord, I just thank you for the opportunity of obedience. Uh, Lord, I just ask that anybody that's listening to this right now that might be stuck, that might be stagnant, that feels like they're not sure what the next move is, uh, maybe give them a hunger, a curiosity to lean in closer to you for the answer, not on AI, not on Google, not in a group chat, but going back to their creator, going back to the Redeemer, going back to the spirit that lives inside of them that needs to be awakened. Um, Lord, I just pray for supernatural favor and protection over the case family. May in this moment, as we say this prayer, may donors just come to life. Uh, may people just get reminded of Aaron and Carson and be encouraged to reach out, find out what's new, and find out there's an opportunity to support them, encourage them. I pray for protection over their children. May you bring amazing friends, healthy, God-fearing friends into their lives as they build new friendships and relationships in Myrtle Beach. Uh, may the Holy Spirit guard Carson's tongue through every sermon, through every prayer, uh, through every message he delivers. Let it be a message backed by the Spirit. Uh Lord, will you just uh just part the Red Sea as they go to make this move, even if they're looking at, you know, 20 feet of water right now, make a clear path where they can walk through dry land without a drop of water touching their family. Uh Lord, just honor them for the obedience that they've shown over the last 11 years. Lord, we know we're never perfect. It's a fallen world. We can never uh reach the fullness of your glory. But I just ask that you just favor and bless this family as they go to make an impact in Myrtle Beach and lives and generations uh beyond just the territory and what they're planning this church. So, Lord, we just lift you up. We are so grateful to know you. I'm thankful for this friendship, Lord. I'm thankful for this moment in time, this moment of fellowship. We love you, we praise you, we honor you, we thank you. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's go. I love you, bro. You are the man. I can't wait to see what the Lord does in your life over the next 11 years. I'm looking forward to getting back to Patmos, Arkansas, and having a men's retreat sometime in your future. And I appreciate your time, brother. Hey, love you, bro. Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the High Level People Podcast. If you've learned anything from today's content or if it made a positive impact on your life in any way, please feel free to subscribe on your favorite platform. More importantly, if you think there's somebody in your life who would benefit from today's episode, please shoot them a link. Encourage them to do the same. Encourage them to subscribe because every week we're committed to adding value. I look forward to seeing you soon. Hope you guys have a blessed day, blessed week. And let's go.