Staying Steady When Faith Gets Tested | Kevin Downswell | Life's Deceit Podcast

Gospel artist Kevin Downswell joins Jen Simpson for an honest conversation about faith, purpose, obedience, and what it means to stay steady when life doesn't go according to plan.

Every generation reaches a moment where it must decide...

Will we compromise?
Or will we remain steady?

In one of the most powerful conversations of Season 4 of Life's Deceit, Jen Simpson sits down with gospel recording artist Kevin Downswell for an honest discussion about faith, purpose, obedience, identity, family, mentorship and what it truly means to answer God's call.

This isn't simply a conversation about music.
It's about becoming the person God already sees.

Kevin opens up about:

• Why obedience costs more than people realize
• The opportunities he refused for the sake of God's calling
• Why God's voice must become your first mentor
• The story behind his powerful song "Steady"
• Ministry while carrying personal struggles
• Family, leadership and staying grounded
• How to recognize God's voice in a noisy world

If you've been questioning your purpose...
If you've been feeling spiritually exhausted...
If you're wondering whether to keep going...
This conversation was made for you.
Watch until the very end.
One sentence could change your life.

Music by:

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Music: Borealis by Next Route https://nextroutemusic.gumroad.com/
Free Download / Stream: https://links.al/7PM
Promoted by Audio Library: https://links.al/youtube
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to Lice to see. I'm your host, Jen Simpson. I hope you're having a beautiful morning, afternoon, or night wherever you are in the world. This is season four, Legacy by Choice, Chosen, Not Inherited, where we explore stories, lessons, and defining moments that shape the legacy that we're building and will leave behind. Today, we have a very special guest. We are honored to sit with a very special man. This guest is one of Jamaica's most respected gospel artists, worship leaders, authors, and ministers. Through powerful songs like Grace Brought Me Here, the search continues, carry me, and his latest release, Steady. He has inspired countless and millions of people to trust God through every season of their life, regardless of their circumstances. But beyond the music and ministry is a man whose journey has been marked by faith, obedience, perseverance, and purpose. Today we have the absolute honor and pleasure to sit with Kevin Downswell. And we'll be talking about what it really means to stay steady when faith gets tested, the cost of obedience, fatherhood, legacy, and his upcoming album. And the lessons God is still teaching him, even while he continues to minister to other people. So without further ado, please help me welcome Kevin Downswell to Liccese's platform. First, I want to thank you so much for being on the platform. And thank you for being in your purpose and your calling. Amen. You had not accepted your call. And I always say we all have a calling on our life. It's up to answer the call. Absolutely. Okay, God, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it focused and with you. So if you did not answer that call, well, thank you so much for the man that you are, the man that you continue to become, and for allowing God to guide your steps. To God be all the honor. I appreciate that. Appreciate that. And this season is called Legacy by Choice. The reason why I called it Legacy by Choice is because, yes, we know as a culture, generations, humans, we're always breaking generational cycles. Right. After we break the generational cycles, what are we doing intentionally? What are the choices that we're making and the legacy that we really want to leave behind and not just, well, I broke a generational cycle because I knew that it had to be broken.

SPEAKER_06 3:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

What's the legacy are you trying to build? And everybody knows Kevin Downswell. They know the music, right? They know you for that, but I want to focus on the man and who you are. And listeners who are not familiar with you or your music, can you give a little bit about who you are and what would you say you represent?

SPEAKER_04 3:22

Oh man, I'm Kevin Downswell. I if you if you've never met me before, I would say I love God. God is the center of everything that I do. Um, I love people. I don't just love God, but I love those who call me to touch and impact, genuinely, not with a facade or with any other intention, but I literally love people. I love my family. I'm family-oriented, I have my beautiful daughter, my wife, and I have tons of people that I'm trying to lead and guide every single day on my team. But everything that I do, the centerpiece is God, Christ Jesus, that's it. And always my ears is always postured to what he has to say next, and I'm always ready to run. No matter what, no matter the challenges that might seem to surround the path that he's saying, take, I'm ready to take it. I'm like a Peter. Come, okay, Lord, I'm gonna walk on this water as long as you say come. So that's me. I am completely, it's God and God alone. That's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

I love that you explained it that way. Because a lot of times we say we're ready, but are we really willing? We can be ready. I'm ready for it, but are you willing? Are you are you willing to do what it takes to win the race? So it's that willingness that you speak about. Because I find in this season, in a lot of people's lives, they're ready. God, I'm ready. Willingness, because there's sacrifices that need to be made.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

There is, and there's not just sacrifices, but there are doubts we have to overcome. Because when the Lord said, Um, who shall I send? And and and the prophet said, Lord, send me, the next thing that he did was to purify, like literally take a fire from the from the altar and literally purify this tongue. And many times we're thinking that we're not worthy. We we see we see what God is doing with other people. We see what the Lord, we we see you know in the in the souls of our imagination what we want God to do with us. But sometimes we are our biggest um roadblock, we are our biggest giant. Sometimes we don't believe that we're able to, you know, and so maybe this this podcast is gonna help somebody understand that they they have been called, and if they've been called, that's it. It's a simple yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Simple yes. Thank you for saying that. You said that maybe this podcast is going to help somebody to understand that. And I'll be the first to say that that helped me because in a season of my life where God shifted and transformed me, I'm understanding greater. Yeah, we have to understand that even when we're ready for it, as long as God said we're ready for it and it's yes, we have to give him our yes.

SPEAKER_04 6:22

Exactly. When God calls us, he does not see us where we're at. God doesn't, he will never call a man. He when he said to when he said to Gideon, the when he's when he called Gideon and he described him as he did, Gideon said, Me, you're talking about me, mighty man of valor, because God wasn't referring to Gideon based on where he was, he was talking to him based on who he was, not just was to be, but who he was in God. You understand? Yeah, it God doesn't talk to us based on where we are. If he did, he would have never called us certain names, he would have never, it would have never been defined that it would have never been a definition that completely um was a paradox of our current situation.

SPEAKER_07 7:09

Right.

SPEAKER_04 7:10

It's a anytime God calls you, you can't tell when it's in because it challenges you out of your comfort zone. It will it will not it will not feel like a man's word, it's gonna feel like a God's word because it's not a settling, it's a challenge to become something else that you're not, and so I mean, we went to talk about Peter a while ago. Peter was doing something that human beings weren't necessarily able to do or should do walking and water, you know, but God doesn't call us based on where we're at, and so wherever people are at now, get get over yourself, literally get over yourself.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

What has God been teaching you recently that you're still learning yourself? Everything, everything.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

Um man, the closer you get to him is the more you see yourself. The more you see how your your your incapabilities and his the importance for us to lean on him. Um you said you shall keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on him, and that that in the Hebrew tongue means literally to be a crutch. And so every single day, if I learned something yesterday, I'm actually in just being in his presence, he's teaching me something else to what I learned yesterday. I'm like, okay, God, I mean, you're never done. You're never done, he's never done. And so there's never, it's everything, Jenny. It's everything, every area of my life, my family, you know, it's it's always that, it's it's always a classroom, you know, and my posture is always do what you're doing, do what you're doing every single day.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

The reason why I asked you that question, because I was speaking to somebody today who I would say we're building a friendship, right? And we're talking about this, and she's like, all the things that I knew before, I'm learning something different. And I said to her, the closer you get to God and the relationship that you're building, you're always learning.

SPEAKER_04 9:13

Yes, always, always learning.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Everything that we were taught as a child, now you're looking back at it like, oh, I understand now, 20 years later, you're like, okay, so that's why you had to bring me through that whole test for me to understand the lesson. Yes, on your God's understanding of that lesson, because we can do something and we interpret it our way, not one way, until later on He's like, Okay, wait, you you gotta go back.

SPEAKER_04 9:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's and that's the thing people run away from, you know, because most of us human beings, we wanna our comfort zone is the most comfortable place, you know. We're happy with ourselves. Um, and which that's what that's one of the reasons why people people find it hard to to surrender to God because surrendering means you're daily uncomfortable with the comfort. You actually have to be comfortable without the discomfort daily. It's joy, it's a peace, it's an incredible feeling, and it's something to watch yourself literally sit back and watch yourself growing. But it's there's a discomfort you have to become used to, you know, you have to become used to the stretching and the daily, but it's joyful to watch change happening right in front of your eyes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm never settling, I'm never comfortable with God, I'm never at a place where I say I've arrived. Like men would like, bro, you're you're you have OD and you have you have you have doctorate and you are trying to tone the world. No, today that tomorrow. Today, that might be the ceiling, tomorrow that's my floor. I'm never settled when it comes to God.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Have you experienced a season in your life where you are ministering and pastoring to other people while you were struggling? Every day, and you know what? Because I want people to understand this that a lot of times we see people in ministry pastoring, doing the work, and naturally people forget that we're human, you're human. So it may look like I have this strong face on, and I'm listening to everything's going well for me, but I'm battling things too.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

And every day, every day. And one of the things I've always I do Instagram live, like every Wednesday, every Monday and Wednesday at 8 30.

unknown 11:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 11:27

And this is one other thing I've learned to communicate to my community that never you ever see me as perfect. The very brokenness that's on that's on your side is maybe the very similar brokenness on my side, but I've learned, I've learned to daily let go all my broken pieces into the one that puts them together perfectly. I don't try to carry them, I don't try to fix them myself. Um, every day, man, every day, every day. Never a day that I feel like I'm perfect. Because the day I feel like I'm perfect is the day I start, I start seeing from things from a completely different perspective. And I'm and I'm I've actually stopped truly, genuinely impacting you because I'm not speaking to you from a place of relativity related what's the word? Relatability. I'm talking to a place of perfection, and perfection, meeting imperfection will never match.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

That will never match. And you speak about your beautiful wife, and I want to ask you while you're going through those seasons, who pastors to you when you're going through those challenging times?

SPEAKER_04 12:41

Let me tell you, family is oh man, family is my number one ministry. Family is number one for me. And my wife is my she's my soulmate, she's my prior warrior, she's my best friend, she's my confidant, my little princess. Even she, she has no idea how much she has poured into me, and she doesn't even know. I'm grateful for my family. My family is my is my is my foundation, it's my strength. When you come off stage and you carry that thing home, and when I get home and I hear, Daddy, there's nothing like coming home. I I it's there's nothing like it. But not just that, but mentors in my life. From I was a teenager, I've always had mentors that were twice my age. And it's the same thing now. Mentors, I've always had friends and mentors who are way older than me. Um, and mentorship is basically means it's it basically is some someone who has walked the path you've you're walking, who's been there, who are who's been there, who's there, the place that you're actually trying to get to, and has already had the experience, know exactly how to do it, bumped them foot, made the mistakes, and I try to help you not to make the same mistakes. That's mentorship. And I've had some incredible mentors to just say, Hey, let me guide you on this. And that's it. Just having people around you, that's everything for me. Everything. Listen, if you're watching this and you have one person, protect that one person. If you have one person you can confide in to just know that you can actually be vulnerable, because there's not many these days where you can actually just be yourself and not be judged. If you have one person, guard that relationship.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

I'm glad that you said that. I'm absolutely thankful that you said that because I was going to ask you. A lot of people are searching for mentors. They know they have a calling on their life, they know they have a gift, they know they're supposed to be in ministry. But there's so many, and I'm gonna say it like it is there's so many false prophets out there. And they pray. And trust me, I can I can speak from experience because I've had people pray on me. And I was like, okay, this person, maybe this person is supposed to be my, you know, they say spiritual mother or mentor. And then I find out later, and God's like, mm-mm, like I clear as day of vision, like God says, no, and I but God, they're so nice, and He's like, No, yeah, so for somebody who's searching for a mentor, they they're confused because when you're walking this path, there is confusion. Yeah, what would you say to them when they're searching for something and they keep running into people that are trying to deceive them? Use them.

SPEAKER_04 15:27

Let God let God and God's word become your first mentor. The more you get to know God's voice, the safer you are. Let God and His Word be your first mentor. I mean, I I described mentorship a while ago by saying, a mentor is it tells you what to do, what not to do, the path to take, the path not to take. That's God's word. You understand? And if we walk and trust God's word and begin to learn God's voice, the Bible says, My sheep know my voice. The more you begin to know God's voice, is now you're able to hear God's voice in leading you to the right people. And you will never get it wrong because there are, as you said a while ago, there are many people who come as wolves in sheep clothing. You understand? And if I don't know God's voice, if the foundation was that I never knew his voice, but I became acquainted with men's voice, I'm gonna continue to be acquainted with men's voice means trickery, means abuse, means misuse. But get used to God's voice. Once you get used to knowing his voice, knowing his word, the rest will be fine. Because once you know, start feeling that urge to trust somebody, you will know God's voice by then. And you will know you know, this is a yes, this is a no, because you're at a place now where you understand how God talks to you.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

I agree with that, and it's the truth, and I can I understand that because I had to go into a quiet space, find my prayer closet so I can understand what God's voice sounded like. Exactly. That is an important thing for everybody who's listening. You have to build that relationship, you have to know his voice, the difference of his voice, just like Kevin said, from the voice of man, because there will be many voices in your head.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

Many, and not just that, but so social media is noisy, the world is noisy. Where what is your quiet place? Where is your safe place? You have to have something where you when once you go in, everything does go shh, and it's just you and God. That's the place. Every other voice gets silence, and it's just you and him. Don't be afraid of that place, man. Don't be afraid because we've got sometimes our nervous system becomes so used to noise that when we become quiet, we feel edgy, yeah. We feel uncomfortable, like because it's alright. But practice, practice that quiet place with God. It's everything, it's everything. When you learn his voice in private, once you stop and you step in public places, no matter what public place that is, you're not able. You're you're not trying to determine who you are from that space. You've already known who you are before you stepped in.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Yes, it's true. And I won't I won't stay too long on that, but the atmosphere shifts before you even step into that room.

SPEAKER_04 18:29

You know before you step into that room, you feel it. A lot of people don't know that before I step on a stage. I've already ministered and I've already been ministered to. It's it's it's like our athlete trains. It's 98% is off that track, 2% is on that track, and everything is off that track, everything is before you get to that stage, everything is on your way to that venue, everything is in your prior closet, everything. Before you get to that stage, the battle has already been won. Not just in this on the stage, but in many people's lives. Because I've already established who I am, what God wants to do in that atmosphere. We're declaring what he should do, and by the time we get there, it's done. The quiet place is everything.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Quiet place is everything. Now I want to talk about steady. And I was listening to the train, and I'm like, wait, no, sir. I have to pull that back up, and I have to pull the train number, and I know the person beside me is like, why is she playing her music so loud? But blasting it in my ear. Oh, you're one of them.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

You are one of them that plays music loud in public transportation.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

And I'm like, okay, bring it down a little bit, but it was so like it was refreshing for me. It was so refreshing listening to song. And I listened to it about maybe five times until I got interrupted with my daughter calling me on the train. I'm like, man, I'm listening to something. What is it? Is it important? But the it literally felt like a reminder, a challenge and almost a warning.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

And that's probably why I kept listening to it. That's it. Because I was listening to every word that you said, and for the people that are fully aware right now, they have to have felt the same thing that I felt.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

You said it right. The people who are fully aware.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

People who are fully aware.

unknown 20:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

People may hear the song and think of it like the rhythm is nice. Yeah, but the but it's not the rhythm, the words of the song. The rhythm is like one percent. It's not only five percent. I swear to you. I kept looking to it, and I'm like, God, you kept telling me this. Oh my gosh. Anointing, please. No. But that song was a war. And I wanted to ask you what was happening in your life when this song came? When you birthed this song, what was happening in your life? Where were you?

SPEAKER_04 22:14

So we were wrapping up the album. We're in the middle of getting the album done, which we've which we've now completed. But I was there in the studio, and I just felt like the Lord said, I need a message. I need you to drop a message for me. And I'm like, wow. Um, and steady was the message. Um, everything that I said in the song was the message. Drop this message now because I feel like my people are are losing themselves in this season. I feel like my people are allowing circumstances and the weight of what they're carrying to push them off center, push them off of their true, their true, the true identity. Um, young people. That nowadays you have young people waking up and the first thing they're checking is the amount of likes instead of saying, thank you, Lord, for another day. And so it's like people are carrying weight. I felt like the message was so universal, yet it was so personal. Um, because people were carrying things in their private space that simply needed that word. Because everybody understands what that word means. And if it and as a matter of fact, what you understand what that word means, how that word might be the very completely different thing, how I understand the word because of how personal it is with your situation. But God needed to drop it immediately, and I just said, Okay, Lord, I knew that the message was urgent, and so I knew that the best thing was to put it on a vehicle that was already moving, not something that was stationary, something that was in the ears of the people, and that rhythm was the perfect rhythm. You understand? Because the minute it dropped, everybody went boom, like whoa. But I immediately, before we even dropped it, we made it clear this ain't about no hype, this ain't about no rhythm. God is trying to send a message, it's a clarion call, and so I feel like it was not a it's not a Christian song on a what you call it, secular rhythm. It's a clarion call, it's a trumpet that found the perfect vehicle, and people just needed to hear it now, not tomorrow, because there are some people that are on the edge, you know, like literally on the edge right now, who need who that word is their lifesaver right now. Steady yourself, steady.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Yes, we think we can deliver it tomorrow. But the impact is not the same as what he wants to do. Not the same now.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

It will not be the same. Time has passed, the season has passed, the the the the soil has gone dry. You understand? I remember when I released in 2020 when the pandemic was about to hit, January, the Lord said to me, Drop carry me now, release carry me now. And I'm like, Father, but that's a part, gonna that's gonna be a part of the album I'm gonna release it later in the year because the plan was to release the album late 2020. And the Lord said, Drop carry me now. This was January, and I'm like, okay, Father, we dropped we dropped carry me January 22nd. The pandemic hit Jamaica in March, and I had no idea what was about to come. I had no idea that the Lord wanted a sound to help carry people to a season that I had no idea was coming. And so when it comes to trusting his voice, there's nothing like it. As I meant trusting him with steady, trusting him with carrying me, whatever. It's his voice is everything because once he says drop this word, it's for a particular season. And let me also say this: um, as one of the things I do as an artist is never try to recreate a moment when the moment has passed. For example, if you if you think you've you've you've released a hit song and the song is big and it's exploding, I don't try to go back to that place to recreate another song. God has moved on. God is he's he's he's not a static God, he's uh he's moving, he's moving, even though he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I wanna and and I and and my I've never tried to recreate moments because sometimes you're in the five years ago when the Lord is trying to say, I'm doing a new thing. Can you just open your ears and listen to what I'm doing? I'm doing a new thing. I'm part Caremy has been amazing, but Caremy, I gave you that for a season, and even though people are still singing it, I needed to carry a word no for me, and this word right now for this moment is steady yourself, steady yourself because the season changes, the cheat the seasons change, and there's something new he needs to do in that season, and use the voice in this season. Let me tell you, and many are there but can't come off a bed, can't crawl up, can't come out of a many are there but are completely unable to do what a normal 40-year-old should do.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Right, we try to keep ourselves stuck in expired seasons.

SPEAKER_04 27:30

Expired, you cannot drink a juice, you cannot drink or eat anything that is expired. It is not good for you. You cannot ingest what is expired, it is not good for you. There is something else on that shelf that is for this season that has not expired. Move across to the shelf, show that away, because there's something fresh for you to intake and ingest that will do you much better.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

There is a line in the song repeatedly. And we know bend. Has there ever been anything personally in your life that you refuse to bend to? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

Absolutely. I mean, we are we are every day, I want to say every day, there's always something that's challenging you to take the next route to it. Um, one of the most obvious things for me is the fact that when as coming up as a Christian artist, the offers that came when people saw the magnitude of my gift, they were numerous. The offers to can you can can we would love to sign you. We would love to sign you, and and because you're amazing, I love your voice, it's incredible. Oh my god, the world needs to hear you. Gospel not do nothing for you. I'm telling you the truth. Gospel not doing anything. If you just we will take everything over, we will do everything for you. That's just sign it, just sign here and keep in mind that we're gonna change your song a little bit, change up the words a bit and go. And many times, many times, the opportunity to come, and the money, the money, the money came, but what they didn't understand that I was not doing gospel. As a matter of fact, where I'm at now, I didn't choose. God chose me. God, I was I'm like Paul, it's like I'm here not because I'm a self in a bro, I'm here because somebody chose and said, This is what I've called you to be and to do. You understand? So, so I there is no choice here, there's no alternative here. There is no screen of pastures, whether or not money comes and money don't come. That's not because it's never conditional. It's never conditional on on if I'm applauded or not, if the stage is big or the stage is small, if the crowd is too 200 or the crowd is 2,000 or 200,000. That has never been it. God says, go. God said, This is I've called you to do this, and that's it. So there have been many scenarios of where I've been would have had that, you know. That that that three three Huber boys challenge, because that's the foundation of the scripture that why I wrote that. Where we're asked to bow and to compromise, and this is what they said, and this is what I've always said. If God does not choose to deliver me, I'm sorry, okay, but I will not bow.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

That goes back to obedience. That that that is obedience. Obedience ever cost you anything? Obedience is expensive, and it's very expensive.

SPEAKER_04 30:54

It costs it costs you friends.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Answer that question. Obedience is something that we cannot afford to compromise. Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

It is costly, man. It is costly. It's your obedience to God will cost you friends, it will cost you companion, it will cost you money. As I said a while ago, they were throwing money, they were saying this this is what you're gonna be paid. This is what I would man, I would I would be rolling, I mean, like like 50 different maybe a hundred different real estate buildings across the world. That was it. But what shall it profit a man to gain that that and then lose his soul, die, and somebody else, that's somebody else's inheritance, that's somebody else's. Uh, but obedience is expensive. Obedience is expensive, but that's one thing I'm willing, willing. That's one expense I'm willing to carry.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

What does obedience look like for you? Because a lot of times people interpret it wrong. A lot of times, even for me, I could say, Well, God, I was obedient. You told me to give you this, but I did give it to you. And he's like, No, you didn't follow my instructions. These were the clear ones that I gave you, but you altered it.

SPEAKER_04 32:17

Obedience is Peter sitting in the boat with the rest of the disciples, comfort zone. Obedience is hearing God's voice, knowing what the others may be thinking in that boat that you don't belong. That should have been mean. Why are you stepping out of this place now? Why do you think that you are so important for you to step out when everybody is in this spot? Everybody's good, we're good. Make him come to the boat. But he said, Come. He said, Come. Obedience is defying people's expectation of you because God said it. Obedience is following him outside of where the family and the bloodline has ever gotten to. We're used to this. We live here, we breathe here, we die here. How dare you think you can become better than this? That's obedience. Obedience is just because God says so. Obedience is keeping your eye is Peter walking under water. And the reason why he never sunk, it's not because the wind started to blow heavier, it's not because anything changed, it's because he his eyes was on God. That's obedience. Obedience is ah, my eyes are on you, Lord. A lot of things happening around me, but what are you saying? And obedience, oh obedience is falling. Obedience is even though he took his eyes off God and began to sink, obedience is being so vulnerable that you can say to yourself, Lord, help me. And literally, fine. God didn't even, Jesus didn't even hesitate. He pulled him out of that water and brought him back to the boat. Obedience has so many different levels, but that for me is the epitome and the different sections of obedience. People, situation, keeping your eyes on God simply because you know God says so. God said it.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

And obedience and surrendering go hand in hand. I had to learn that. On my journey of saying, okay, God, I'm gonna be obedient and stop running from what you're telling me to do. I had to understand what surrendering looks like. Exactly. We surrender portions, like for example, you could go be going through a situation and God says, give me that problem, give me that situation, give me your marriage, give me, give me your calling, and I will trust me. Surrendering is challenging, I will say, because a lot of times we think that we surrendered, but we didn't, because we're still touching that very thing that he told us to take our hands off of. Okay, God, I'm gonna give it up, but they're still drinking at home. It could be somebody that's battling with an addiction and they minimize how much they do it, but what they're doing, they're still doing it. How would you define that and give them an encouragement?

SPEAKER_04 35:22

The backbone of surrender is trust for me. Trust is hard. Trust to trust anybody, it's a process. But when you have one whose reputation precedes him, when you know and you see the history of his character and his ability to be trusted, it comes easier. But trust is the backbone and the DNA of surrender. The reason I'm surrendering is because you see more than I do, you know more than I do. You have while I'm on this, for example, I'm running 100 meters in life. My life is a hundred meters. You're at the finish line while you're in the middle. You know what's coming, you know what's at the end before I get there. Surrendering is knowing that God doesn't operate within time as I do. I'm going like this, but he's there it with me right in the middle, and he's there at the end. He knows exactly where my simple obedience, how it will bless me, and how it will destroy me. And so for me, surrender is the level of which I can trust. And trust is hard for people. If trust is hard, surrender will never come. But if you can trust him, it's easier to surrender. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, but in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. That is trust, that is surrender. Not my understanding. My understanding and my logics will tell me, um, don't let it go. Don't let go for that thing, don't let go of it. As a matter of fact, not just don't let it go, you can't let it go. You cannot do without this, you cannot survive without this. As a matter of fact, not just, let's go deeper. You will go back to this thing when you let it go. You will let go, you will go back to that addiction, you will go back to that cycle, you will go back. But with the fact that somebody within in somebody like God would come to me and say something like that to me, it means that He's trying to say to me, My trusting me is not you doing this by yourself. Trusting me is you. The minute you trust me, you have not taken on my strength to get it done. When you simply say you can't, you are trying to operate in your own strength and logic. But when you trust me, you have taken on a part of me that can never fail, cannot fail, cannot fail. Trust is the backbone of surrender.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

You just gave me a whole person, a whole different perspective. Trust is the backbone of surrender.

SPEAKER_04 38:18

That is true. And that's can you can I tell you that that we find that very same thing in marriages? Come on now. Come, come, come, come. Can you can there are people, you know, when you when you when you meet somebody, when you when you've lived for 20 years or 25 years and third, and you've developed your own journey and your own path and your own belief system, trusting somebody as a stranger is the hardest thing. It is the hardest thing ever. But God is still in the picture because didn't God put you together? Wasn't God in the in the in this beginning? Didn't you pray for this blessing? You said that you said that earlier. We prayed for it, we cried for it. And question is, wouldn't my trust bring this relationship even closer to God? Wouldn't my trust it keep God's presence more centered in this marriage rather than my mistrust? Um it's hard for people to trust when they have experienced something else. As a matter of fact, it's hard for people to trust when trust has been damaged. It's hard to trust when the when you literally opened that door once and your trust was taken for granted and abused and misused. And so maybe trust and up surrender, maybe a part of the whole process is healing, is healing. Because for me to trust you, I can't say I'm gonna trust you. Okay, okay, I'm gonna trust you, but you can't just say I'm gonna trust nobody until you get there where it's complete surrendered, completely surrendered. So I just spoke about trusting God and then trusting in a marriage. It's it's hard for me to trust my wife. It's gonna be hard for me to trust my wife if I don't allow God to heal me of my past encounters that I'm still holding on to. And if I don't allow him to let allow me to let them go as well, and to believe that I can trust somebody again, because no, I'm not just the one, I'm not the one in charge of this. He is. And so while I can learn to trust him directly, I must also learn to trust him with who he has given me.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

Yes, and trust and trust him with the relationship. I'm glad that you touched on that because we see it happening especially a lot on social media, where social media has become the counsel for people. Social media is now the blueprint for people to go to and run to with their relationship problems instead of going in their prayer closet and saying, God, I need you. God, you can repair this. Oh we have social media confuses that when people offend us, when things go wrong in our relationship, that automatically means X, Y, and Z. So we're done. Done. We're done. And we take advice from the comment section.

SPEAKER_04 41:12

We take advice. The comment section, it's the worst section to go to. We take advice from the comment section, and if even if we don't take advice, we read through it, and somewhere the residue of some what somebody said will stay with us, and that might eventually affect our decision.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

That is true. We have to be careful with that. We have to be able to think for our own selves. That's why in this season, even with the song Steady.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

Listen, 15 years ago, was there Instagram, Facebook 20 years ago? No, we we didn't have none of that. We we had none of that. It what we had was me talk to you, talk to me. We never we we never had none of these influences. But the point is, even though times have changed, don't you don't have to change. And change meaning not not becoming adapted, not not being adaptable, but there are some values you don't have to let go of because there's the values that kept you then are the values that very same values that can keep you now.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

And and and stop bringing everybody into your situations, like you go back to the mentor thing. You have that one solid person that you can go to and speak to. Stick to that one person, stick to them.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

If God brings another, fine, but but but in time, but but stick to that one person. I agree, and and and and be careful of what you share, be careful of the how much you share, what you share, to whom you share it, because there's somebody who is waiting there who's simply just ready and excited to hear your vision so they can run with it, and not just that, but sometimes we don't share our vision, we share our vulnerabilities. Be careful what you share, how you share it. We we don't have to, there's something I don't have to tell that, but just a reminder some other people in the back. Be careful who you run to with what you run to, not in a time like this, not in a time like this, not in a time like this. Sometimes we share our vision because we want value, we want to be valued in the eyes of the person we're sharing with. Now recognizing that this was the worst thing we ever did. Let's be careful of trying sharing things with people because we want to feel as if we're going. We want them to feel as if we're going somewhere. We you know, I'm I feel I'm gonna buy the car two years from now. I'm saving my money. Yeah, I'm gonna come out of this little tire time. I'm gonna drive a bends, I'm gonna drive a benz, and I'm gonna reach five million now. By by the end of the year, I'm gonna reach like eight million.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

But you have no idea what you're doing. You have no idea what they're doing. You know, it's funny that you brought that up, Kevin. Because the same person I told you I was speaking with today. I touched on that because I'm like, what's happening in this generation where we see so many people so boldly talking about voodoo, witchcraft, obia? What is happening? And I said to her, you know that obya is not just them working things, but it's their intentions and their thoughts and the things that come out of their mouth wishing for you.

SPEAKER_04 44:22

I they don't have to go to nobody. They don't have to go to nobody who on no altar. They are themselves, they are themselves, they're their own altars. Their conversations and their thoughts about you are their own declaration, which is why the word, which is why the word of God says, No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. And every tongue that rises against you in judgment, you well, you must condemn it. Then the Bible says, This is your heritage. This this is what you've inherited, this is your inheritance that it will not prosper, and that you condemn it. Therefore, watch it, just watch it, man, because the very people that we're sharing with uh may be the very reason. As a matter of fact, for some of us, if we stop sharing some stuff, we're gonna realize our lives get easier. Say it again. There are some people if you if you learn to start, keep your mouth, you're gonna realize your life literally starts to get easier, and then you're gonna realize, oh the very same thing, and even with children, like my children.

SPEAKER_00 45:38

I I teach them that daily. I said, Your dreams and vision, you don't have to share it. Even when people ask you what you want to become when you're older, you don't have to lie, just say, I don't know yet.

SPEAKER_04 45:48

Yeah, yeah. And leave there's always, there's always somebody waiting. Always, there's always always it's it grandmother said, Kiba your mouth. Let's keep it, let's keep it mouth. Kiba, your mouth now.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

We understand when we're young, we're like, Where's shows that come with a kiba memo? Kiba memo as you grow, you understand what kiba your mouth means. Yes, yes, yes. Has there ever been a season in your life where you achieve something that you thought would make you feel fulfilled, but it didn't?

SPEAKER_04 46:19

Absolutely. Can you share? Absolutely. Uh, you know, my last for me, any accomplishment, I've learned that accomplishments are not full stops. That's one of the things I've learned. Um, there's a thing that people say, God blessed you to bless others, and if God blesses you, I feel like God placed you there, not necessarily for yourselves, but there are things, there are times in the past where I got to the place where I've asked God, is this it? Because I've mistakenly looked at it as a dead end. I've been pressing for this, I've been praying for this, I've been hoping for this, and now I have it. But is this really it? That's it, that's it, and oh, thanks be to God for being such a gracious, merciful God. Hey, hey, sometimes we can be foolish, you know. The Bible says amazing grace, oh sweet, that same like me. Oh my god, I'm great. Yes, but I've been there. I've been places where where I've I've I've been disappointed after running after something for years, but then I've I've I've the Kevin today has graduated from that. Um, any for example, Africa the other day, when when when I've been praying for Africa to open to me and to my ministry for years, and we would get invitation in a gym. But the thing is, a lot of those invitations were carbon copy for what God actually wanted. They would call, they would get the quotation, and the Lord would just say, That's not my will, and block it, end the conversation because it wasn't his time. And I would say, God, when when is Africa? I know that my ministry, one of my one of the places the Lord has called me to ravage, quote unquote, and to impact is Africa. When? And last year, let me let me say this quickly because it can be, it can, it can be a long thing. But let me say this fast. A friend called me. Somebody wants you to sing something at something at the national arena. They don't have any money. I'm like, okay, cool. You you what you will do it? They have no payment. Bro, yes, I'll do it. I had no restriction. Long story short, I got to the place, didn't know who was coming, found out that this was one of the top three names in Africa, top five names in Africa. Um, didn't even know his Instagram, didn't even know him. He called, he he we he invited me to sing and did one song, and the rest was history.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

Here we go, here we go, here we go, here we go. Let's go, let's go.

SPEAKER_04 49:35

Paul and then chief. The name, he this man is like a Rhinard Bonkey, and I didn't know him on my end. This man has the biggest church in Africa: 100,000 seater church, bigger than the national stadium.

SPEAKER_00 49:55

Listen, listen, I was getting ready to ask you about Africa, but what look, listen, look at God. You see God's timing.

SPEAKER_04 50:04

And so when that door opened up, after crying for years, I knew that this was not a dead end. The way how I've maybe treated God's blessing in the past. This was not a dead end, this was the beginning of something else. And so my attitude was different, my everything was shaped, was different, and then I was brought back this year again in January, and it was in front of around 300,000 people, 300 in the venue, the church full, standing up, packs, maybe about 150,000, and another 150 outside the church. The church compound is bigger than the university campus. If you know Yui, Yui at in Mona, bigger than that. Look at Florida State University, bigger than that campus. That's a church campus, and there were people everywhere. And I just knew that God was opening this door, and I never asked him to do anything else, but give me grace to do with this what you've brought it to me to do. You understand? Whatever you want to do through this door, let it be done. And it just continue to expand. Um, conversations are happening, doors are opening, we're connecting with some of the biggest names in Africa now. It's just the in the most incredible thing that's happening because God's blessing was never for you. You bless me, okay, Lord. Why did you bless me with this? And I'm surrendered to do exactly what you want.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

I'm replaying the beginning of our conversation and everything that we're talking about that led to here.

SPEAKER_04 51:39

Yeah, carry me on steady, yeah, yeah, changing God's timing when you wanted it, but he you if you had bowed, if you had gave in to those people that wanted to sign you, carbon copy, it would have been fake success, it would have been the fakest success ever. Because I would have not been happy, you would have not been happy, I would have not my family. Might have already been this um um divided because my wife is not coming that direction. My wife is a prayer girl, she's alter girl. So when we run upon them and up, uh uh, it would have it would have been devastating.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

Come with you, we're done.

SPEAKER_04 52:29

It's but thanks be to God for his mercies, man, and his grace.

SPEAKER_00 52:33

Surrendering, patience, time, steady, look at steady, steady. What was the biggest lesson Africa taught you?

SPEAKER_04 52:43

Oh gosh, believe in yourself, believe in your brand, believe in who you are. We I was sharing the stage with people like Duncin, Nathaniel Basi, Moses Bliss, um, what's her name again? Um but but the the the kings of Africa. That was my last event. But when they called my name from Jamaica, the place erupted as if I was I've been in Africa for the last 10-15 years. Not just because they heard KD, they heard Jamaica, and Africa is in love with Caribbean. Anything to do with Jamaica, reggae, that's their I cannot go on that stage and not do a reggae, song. I'm in trouble. And so one of the things I've learned is sometimes what your very own rejects may be the biggest thing. You see, those people in your comfort zone who may not necessarily appreciate you the level that you're you're hoping, you mean them, they may not be the ones you're called to. Somebody always say, go where you're celebrating, not you're tolerated. And a lot of us have been tolerating, but we have no idea that we simply just need to continue being who we are because God is gonna bring us to that crowd eventually. That's gonna lay floors at our feet. And I'm not saying I'm not using that to say Jamaica has never appreciated. I just wanted a symbolic. Um, I just wanted people to understand, hey, if you do what you do and God said it said to do it, and you're not getting the right response, it means that you might not yet walk through that door where the right eyes have seen you. Because when the right eyes see you, I promise you. Great, he shall your your gift shall bring you before great men. That's what the Bible said. So Africa was everything for me. Africa taught me a whole lot, it taught me humility, it made me recognize how important my process was. Because if I never wasn't processed well, when I got to Africa, it would have broken me. When you get to Africa, let me tell you something. The spirit over this, the this the wafie of Africa. So let me tell you, for example, I was at my hotel and somebody came and knocked on my door, right? Coming up to my door and I opened the door, and it was a young girl, and she was said, She came to arrest me. She came to arrest me. You know what I mean, right? Yes, she came to arrest me, and I said, What is your name? And she told me your name, and I said, I'm gonna be praying for you, okay? And I slammed the door shut. Let me tell you something that that might have been an attractive person, but that could have been a witch, that could have been somebody else in disguise, and so my process. Listen, man, one of the things I've always said to God, don't give me no blessing overnight, please. Please, because the process is what keeps you when you are there, and I thank God for the process that I wasn't gullible uh over for in my whole process, and Africa is not easy. There is there are things that you do not see that is in front of you that is because of his righteousness and the relationship you have with him that causes you to have such impact. Without that, you're just noise.

SPEAKER_00 56:21

No hurry, come up. The promise is necessary, every single part of it is necessary. Everything, everything, everything. When you were in Africa before you got on the stage, after you got on the stage, actually, no, before you got on the stage, while you were on the stage, and after you came off the stage, was there a moment that brought you to your knees where you were like, look at me, a man from young, remember going back to your childhood, like that flashback, a boy from Jamaica here now in Africa, on such a large platform? Was there a moment that you just cried out to God and said, Oh my gosh?

SPEAKER_04 57:08

I might, I think I might have done that every half an hour. Like, like every minute I'm broken. Every minute I'm in tears. Every minute I'm like, God, you've you thank you. Every minute, Jen. It's like every I'm flying there, I'm I'm I'm in praise, I'm in worship. I'm there, I'm in worship. I'm coming back home, I'm in worship. It's like God, God, you, you, you've done it.

SPEAKER_00 57:40

What did you bring back spiritually from that experience?

SPEAKER_04 57:45

My first trip to Africa, one of the things I thank the Lord for is that the door that He brought me through into Africa was the church. I think this church prays the most when it comes to Africa. They do not play when it comes to prayer. And so when I came back, my wife said, Baby, I think this encounter has literally shifted our prayer life to a whole new level. Because we thought we prayed, but when I was in that atmosphere, man, with 300 people going shut up, there were much up in place. We came back charged, man. It was like, no, no, you need to get to the next level. You need to go deeper. You need to go deeper in prayer if you want to take the historical territory called Africa. So praying got to a whole new level. Not just praying, but but but I think I think I deep I began to go deeper in my time with the word. That changed significantly because everything is the word, everything is the word in Africa, especially on these larger platforms, they do not mince when it comes to God's word. It's word, word, word. It's prior, prior, prior. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 59:10

That's what I was gonna ask you if that experience changed your ministry and purpose, but you just said that it did.

SPEAKER_04 59:18

Significantly. Up to today, our last trip was in January, and up to today I'm still feeling the resonance of January's trip. So I feel like every time I go to Africa, I feel like we come back different. Even my musicians, we come back different. Something is left on us that helps to push us and to lift us a complete to a complete new level.

SPEAKER_00 59:41

Let me give you my congratulations again. Not on Steady Alone, but your new album. Because I'm I'm looking forward to it, okay?

SPEAKER_04 59:54

It's gonna be amazing. It's gonna be incredible.

SPEAKER_00 59:57

What's what season of your life broke this project? What made you say we need a new album?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:04

A lot of these songs were written during the pandemic. During the pandemic, 90, I wouldn't even say 90, maybe more than that. All our engagements were cut. All of them. Every event globally, everything was cut. And my wife and I were exiting out of a year where we spent a whole lot on an event that we call realignment. We spent millions out of our pocket. And so it was a it was a season that let me tell you, man, that season broke us and put us back together. Because we came out, we went in, broken, and came out. It was you know, like, you know, like you know, like that sand going in that pearl when it comes to the oyster, and that sand, that sand going in that shell, it went in as a sun and it comes out as a pearl. That is what happened to us with the pandemic. We went in as sand, and the whole process made us priceless. That's what happened to us. So I think that's where the songs came out of just being being the whole process of being broken and being, and so the songs are with unbelievable. The songs are so relatable, and the songs are massive. When it comes to the it's a whole new different level of writing. I can't wait. I can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:28

Okay, so what version of you are listeners going to meet on this project that they've never met before?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:38

You've never seen Kevin like this before. You've when it comes to worship, you've never seen me worship like this before. When it comes to um writing, you've never seen me write this deep before. When it comes to relatability, and my songs have always been relatable, but this is a whole new level. It's almost like I've allowed myself to become more vulnerable in my writing, yet without having to say, I went through this and I went through that. Because there's a way you can write without having to say, This is me, but yet you know that no man, you can't write this without having to walk through something like this. You know?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:21

So yeah, yeah, I'm um I'm excited. So for listeners who are huge Kevin fan and they're prepared to listen to your album, where would you say they should start first? Because there's always like one song that you could say, listen, people need to listen to this one first. Start from here and then go to the rest. Is there somewhere is there a song on the album that they should start with first? The first album.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:48

Okay. Can I get close, close to you? I'm that first interview.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:02

What can I do too?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:17

Um so if it's not you, if you walk through my catalogue, then you'll connect with what's to come even way more. If you if you if you walk through my catalogue. And the funny thing is, whatever I was trying to do, if you notice, that's a word. Whatever I was trying to do on those albums, I'm doing it now. Um properly. If I was practicing on this album, Kevin has found it. He has found it, he has found the right place. If I was timid, no, no, no, no. This is a whole new, this is a whole new animal. It's a whole new guy, it's a whole different level.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:01

If this project leaves one spiritual imprint on listeners, what do you hope it is?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:08

Oh I'm I've I've I've heard over and over again men saying the reason why they've they have not surrendered their lives to God is because they have felt ostracized, and the very people that we've been called to impact are the very people that we are literally pushing away. And I've heard many people, many, many people who's in the world say, the reason why your ministry touches me so much is that you make me feel as if I want to serve God, I need to serve God, but you but the way how you do it is so effortless, and that that is what this album is. It makes them fall in love with God without even knowing it. That's what it does. It makes them fall in love with the the love of God, the goodness of God without me being preachy, and so so that's what this album will do for them. Um draw them in, change them right on the spot, and they don't even realize that they've been changed.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:14

Do you have a title for us yet?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:16

Not yet. Not yet, not yet. But I think in the coming weeks we should have a title, and um we should be able to drop a new song from the album in July. People people have been asking, bro, are you dropping the album in summer? And I'm like, please talk to my management about that because I want to drop the album in the summer. But the challenge is that I wouldn't say challenge, I have to trust my guys behind me. Here we come back to trust now. I'm done vocalizing, I'm done with the studio. I have to trust their process now in getting this album ready for the road. So I trust my team and I'm just ready. When they're ready, I'm ready. When God is ready, I'm ready. But In the coming weeks and days, we're gonna maybe reveal a name and then drop a new single from it, and then we take off from there.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:08

You've recently been asked, you've been invited to speak and minister in schools across Jamaica. That is a big deal.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:17

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:18

I love this because it goes beyond music, and our young youths need to understand that there's purpose in them too, regardless of what people say.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:28

Finding this season that young the younger generation, the young kids are being torn down before they even have a chance to bloom. Before they even have a chance to show themselves, yes, their own selves and who they are and who God called them to be. What why is this important for you? Why is this important for you? Why was it important for you to say yes to doing this?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:52

If there's one place I want to be, is it's it's where the own people are at. There's so much noise in their ears right now, and they are so confused of their identity with their identity, they're so confused with their calling. They're so confused about they're so confused. There's no better place to be. This afternoon, I was with some of some kids in Monique at Money Teachers College, and I just standing there in the midst of them looking, have them look at you, look at me, and I can just simply say to them, hey, it's gonna be okay. God's got you. Ah, listen, when they're in a world and where they're saying the popular thing is you got yourself, or you're gonna figure it out yourself, or it's it's powerful when you can say to them, This was my journey, I walked this path, I could not have gotten myself, I could not have carried myself. There have to be somebody bigger than me. It brings their attention way off of that now, completely vertical. Well, they recognize it. Whoa, whoa. So when when when this afternoon I leave this, I left this scripture with them. I know the plans that I'm thinking towards you. And what I said to them, I said to them, do you recognize that somebody's thinking about you? The very one who created you actually have plans for you. Hey, that is big for kids, you know, because sometimes they don't know what's ahead. And just to remind them that somebody has already thought out what's ahead, somebody has already planned out what's ahead. Can you find that person who has planned out your future so you can find out what they have planned rather than you trying to buck your foot and trying to stumble through life? That is everything to them because now they recognize that their future is not abstract, it's not random. Their future is sure, their future is secure, and they have to just do one thing, anchor themselves to the one who knows what their future holds. That's what I left with them. Man, oh god, they were so excited because that's not what the world is saying to them. The world is saying the world is saying everything else, but when you can take their eyes off themselves and help them to see that it's gonna be okay. Your future is okay. Your your future is gonna be all right. It's everything, Jen. It's everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:29

What do you think young people are searching for that social media can never give them themselves?

SPEAKER_04 1:09:36

They're they are searching for identity, they're searching for value, they're searching for everybody wants to be happy, they want to be happy, but social media showed that me social media's happiness is the is the is the 50th picture that this person felt like was the best one that didn't really reveal the other 49 flawed attempts. Social media is never reveals the flawed attempts, it it shows everything as perfect, and they are trying to find themselves in all of that. The 50s. I show me the 49th, show me the 48th, where you actually mess that photo up, where you actually argue with your wife before you came on the live with her. Let us see that part so you that can recognize that I'm perfect and the path that I'm trying to take, though it may be perfect, I will get there anyway. You understand? Because some of these people, um, as I say, the perfection is what is shown, not the journey to it, not the struggles, not the battles, not the so they're trying to find their value, they're trying to find their image, they're trying to find themselves, but it's the wrong place to try and find yourself. You have to know yourself before you go to social media. I agree. You have to know, you have to know you before you've ever tried to get a comment or a response on what you do. Because the response must never determine anything about your value, it must never tell you to run or to slow down. If you're running, you keep on running. You simply made a post, and the post will draw responses, but those responses should never be gospel.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:27

You have to be confident in yourself.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:29

Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:32

If every student in Jamaica was listening right now and you had five minutes to speak directly to them, what would you say?

SPEAKER_04 1:11:41

Uh, God loves you more than you know. Battle with that word, you have seen, you might have had personal experience with that word, love, and you people might have taken you for granted with that word love. They might have tried to, you know, use it as a facade to accomplish ulterior motives, but this love is a love that is not emotional love and it's not conditional love and it's not love with in ungodly intent. This love is coming from the one who created you, the one who knew exactly where he placed you here, and he's trying to let you know that your mistakes yesterday never disqualified you from that love. Your flaws and where you grew up and where you're growing up, and the fact that your mother, the mother, don't have what she should have each day. None of those things disqualify you from God's love. God's love, God is trying to say to you, I love you, and I will love you forever. Um and this is this is the love you don't have to perform for. This is the love you just simply surrender to. This is not the love that you you try to you try to be perfect in front of either. This is the love you become naked to, it's the love you can be vulnerable to and still feel safe, still feel guarded, still feel as if this is the love where I, Kevin Townshill, have surrendered to, and it's the safest place ever. It's the safest thing ever. So I want to remind you, God loves you, man. He loves you with everything, and he said he loves with an everlasting love, which means it will never run out. Therefore, when you feel as if God has left you, he's not. When you feel as if the situation has gotten so noisy and chaotic, he's still there with you. And he said, I will never leave you and forsake you. And he never said that conditionally to um your friends walking away, your boyfriend or your girlfriend walking away. Whoever walked away, he's trying to say, I will never walk away, I will always be there. That's the kind of love that God has for you. Try him, man. Try him. I tried him when I was a teenager and I've never looked back. Try him. Try him.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:03

I love that. What responsibilities do artists, influencers, and public figures have when it comes to shaping young minds? I asked that question because a lot of times we hear public figures and artists that sing music say it's not their responsibility. They're not trying to be role models for young youths. We didn't tell you guys that our children that your children should be looking up to us, they're listening to our music. But would you say that they have a responsibility?

SPEAKER_04 1:14:33

It's like we can deny, but truth is always truth. Um Jamaica is predominantly a musical nation. Everybody's listening to something. And if there's one thing I've learned is that is that you can say one thing, and if you keep saying it, it becomes somebody's truth. And what does a song do? When you said you were in the train, how many times did you listen to the song? Five times. And so if you are saying to the girl, whine, throw your body there, so, and she's listening to that sound 10-15 times for the day in her ear party, you're telling me that that's not gonna impact, you're telling me that it's her mother's fault. You're telling me that even whether or not it's brother or sister, you're telling me that you don't have some sort of influence there, and so it's just men running away from their real influence, just men trying to deny anything you let me say it again. Anything you listen to over and over again, you will eventually believe it. It that is that is universal, and music is it. So I I take, I remember the day when I surrendered to God. That when I said Lord, when I said Lord, okay, I'm gonna stop run and I'm on a full-time ministry. Do you know what one of the things I said to God? I said, Can you do it without popularity? Can you do it without me becoming a can you just do it? Can I just just do a one without that? Because I don't like that. Yeah, and it was inevitable. It's like that the important thing is for you to get from A to C, you have to go through B. But B is not the destination, B is not what you keep your eyes on, B is not, it must never distract you. And so I've always said to God, this is the responsibility. When people walk up to me, Jen, and say, Bro, you saved my marriage. I'm like, What? Bro, you literally saved my life. I was in my dorm. This was a true story. I was in my dorm, I was feeling overwhelmed. I felt like I couldn't continue. My life was done. I write my thank you, I wrote my message, and I had the tool in my hand to end it. And your song started to play on the radio, and all I felt was everything dropped, and I fell on my face and I started to praise God and worship and cry to God. You're telling that we don't have influence, and so and so this what I carry, I consider it very high, highest level of responsibility, and to not just sing, but to walk what I sing, live what I sing. Because you know, there's double personalities and so on. I'm I'm not who I am on the stage, like people say. The person behind the stage is not the person on the stage. I, as Christian artists, we have to be who we are off stage, on stage. We have to carry what we carry in the living room as we are in front of the lights. So it for me, it's a grand responsibility, and I don't take it for granted.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:47

When your daughter is old enough to fully understand your journey, what's the one lesson you hope she learns from watching your life? Oh my god, that's a that's a loaded question. Give me, give me all of it, load me up with your answer. Oh my god, what is the one thing, man? One one valuable thing that you want her to know.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:11

I think she already knows. She's five years old, and I think she already knows. Because when I recognized that my daughter got my gift, was when she was a one and a half year old, and she started to hum. And I'm like, what? I'm like, do that again, baby, baby, do that again, do that. One and a half years old. She didn't start talking yet. This was one and a half, and then she got to two, and then she in 2003, in two sorry, 2023, I released the my my Grace album. My daughters on my grace album singing. I call it Grace, Grace, Grace brought me here. My daughters, go back to that album now. That was her.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:02

I figured, okay, two years old.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:05

Two, and so I think now she's at five, she's five. I think there's so many lessons she's already gotten. She's already gotten the fact that Daddy will celebrate her. Um, she will sing and she's like, Daddy, how do I sound? And I'm like, baby girl, that is beautiful. You understand? She approval, the approval that I've given her so far, just to just to be herself, um, just to be able to express herself. If she's writing, if she's writing her ABCs and she's singing, um, and she's singing and she's looking at me and I say, sing, sing louder. I didn't, it's not shh, keep quiet, or or um why you have to sing and write, or why you have to do this? The environment in the home is go ahead, my baby girl. Sing louder. What are you saying? If she's expressing herself about something and she's passionate about it, she's never shut down. It's like, tell me for real, and I come down to her level, and so I think she's already getting it. She's already getting it that uh that um her parents are her biggest fans, and that she's she's uh she is uh she's really gifted, she's loved, and she has freedom to be her. And as and the funny thing is, in being her, she's been guided. It's not just freedom to be anything, she's being guided. It's like a river being guided in a tunnel by the banks. You are free, but free in a control sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:52

Absolutely love that. Yeah, I absolutely love that. I'll tell you at the end why I love that beyond the music, the stages, and the ministry. What do you hope people remember about Kevin Downswell?

SPEAKER_04 1:21:11

That um, you know, when it went that I that I was a faithful husband, gave everything to his family, made his family know, not just feel, know that they are number one. Um this maybe the next thing is made people felt like their opinion and their presence was kingly. Um, never, never felt, made another man feel less than any other man. Never made another man feel like they were less than I am. If I'm at the stoplight, if I'm in the supermarket, never walk past another man who's trying to get my attention. Every man felt like their hello and their I love you or whatever mattered. Um loved people unconditionally, never made a man feel as if the flaw or whatever they consider themselves as the thing that may limit them. I would never look at that. I he never looked at that. He always found the the God in each man and pulled that out. You know, um, and all and maybe the maybe the last thing is worship was everything, and all is everything. Worship, the center, God, everything, and that was the foundation of how he ran his family, ran his ministry, ran his businesses, ran his foundation. God, God is the DNA and had always been the DNA.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:48

You miss one thing. What's that? That you are a tremendous father. I'm getting there. Husband, but I'm like, where's the tremendous daddy? You are a phenomenal father. You I'm getting there. Known for that. And the reason that is because I'll tell you, it's this is we talk about alignment, but we don't realize sometimes in life we need to take a take a second and appreciate and acknowledge alignment. We're just speaking about this today. When you know, because we're we're their parents, we we had them, we know them best, better than they know themselves, to be honest.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:29

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:30

When we see certain gifts, an anointing on their lives, we are responsible. We are, we are responsible for fostering that and teaching them. We are, and those flickers come on, they're early now. When you talked about your daughter being one, I remember when my daughter was four, and we're all worshiping in the house in front of the TV, singing, and she raised her hands up and she was singing, and she closed her eyes and she was singing, and she said, God is coming back, and she was shaking, Kevin. Wow, she said, God is coming back soon, God is coming back soon, and she was in pain. Like you could see her shaking, and I'm like, God, this is not what it is. How is are you sure? But I remember when I was pregnant with her, that's when I was filled. Wow, and I held her and I started praying. I started saying, Thank you, Jesus. I will do what I'm supposed to do for her. So when you just describe what you are doing for your daughter, you are a phenomenal father. Your wife as well, because I will I will never leave out that you guys are one, one skin that sharpens each other. Daughter, when that your name will be known for that because a lot of us don't know how to do that. We're still learning, and it's it's it's not an easy road. Especially when we never got it that far from from from ours, especially when we never got it from yours. Because I remember a quick thing I'll share when I what my mom when my mom finally found out that I was filled with the anointing, the first thing she said was she's I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. And I'm like in my head after, I'm like, what did you know? Because you did not know me when I was younger. I struggled, I battled, I told God I didn't want it, and I wish I had you there for me. Well tell me that it was gonna be okay, don't run from it. But for the whole of my life, my adult life, I struggled with it on my own. And when I finally obedience, surrender to God, I was no longer alone. So I thank you for doing that for your baby girl.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:48

Man, I I'm grateful. There's so much to learn, so much more to learn as the time goes. As a father, you're you you're you're grateful for the for the for the for what you've where you've come, but you don't, you just know it's a process, it's a day.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:04

It's a process, and you gotta you gotta go through that process no matter what comes your way, right? Every day. If you won yesterday, you better get ready, get ready again. You can't take it for granted, you go again the next day.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:18

I want to try something different with you today. No preparation, no rehearsal, no pressure, just your authentic self. You spent years singing what God has given you for others, but right now I don't want you to perform. I want a moment. But before I ask you to do this, what is your spirit carrying right now that most people don't know?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:42

What is my spirit carrying? You know, the other day I was on my life, and um I was speaking to them, and before we finished, something dropped on me, and I just opened my mouth and started to sing, and I recognized that God is trying to let people know who have been through life, and life has been living that He's not done with them. And I I I was like, this almost came and like he's not done with, he's not done with me yet.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:16

I'm not done with you yet, I'm not done with you yet, it's not over, it's not over. I'm not done with you yet.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:27

I still love you, man. Yes, when I started singing that song on the live channel, we had about 1400 people on the live. Let me tell you something, man. You see tears for the for the whole comment. I still love you, I still love you. I'm not done with you yet. Life, I feel like that's where I'm at with people now. It's like I'm trying for them to see what life has been. Trying to for them not to see. That though life has battered you and bruised you, and some some people left you for dead, God is saying that's where I'm gonna pick up from. I think that's been one of my heaviest weight lately. Helping people recognize God has not turned his back. He's not giving up off you. And so, if though you may want to think that or feel as if you even want to get to the place where you're giving up giving up on yourself, giving up on your own self, God has not given up.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:34

He's not done with you yet, he still loves you, he still loves you, he said, I still love you, I'm not done with you yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:50

That's it. Thank you for that. If your season had a current melody, if your heart could sing, what God is teaching you right now, if your spirit could release whatever it has been carrying, can you give us 30 seconds completely on the spot of what that melody sounds like? That's it. Look at I kept the word kept coming back to me, alignment. Because you did it right then and there. You're gonna have to finish that whole thing. Because as as I is as you were singing it, and I'm like, look at the alignment, he already did it. Already did it, you already did it, already, already done.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:43

I'm not done with you yet. That's it. That's it, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:49

That's it. That is that's it, you know. I as simple as it sounds, it's heavy.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:57

Listen, man, when a word is for somebody, it's gonna come on you heavy. It may pass over somebody else who is that who that's who they that's not there where they're at, but once you are there, that's gonna cut you like a sword, you know. He's not done, he's not done. There are some people who are at work in a part at a particular age in life where you know they're not married yet, and they're not certain stuff yet, and they're worried about life. And they is God forgotten, God is I'm not done with you yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:25

I'm not done with you yet.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:26

I'm not done. I'm not done. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:30

That's it. I know we spoke about the album, but that song that you you just said, is that gonna make the album?

SPEAKER_04 1:30:39

Listen, I said I uh it was this week, I think it was Monday or Sunday, where actually did a piece on social media social media, and I said, Do you guys want me to drop this on the album? And they were they were like, Come on, Kevin, of course, come on, come on. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So, as much as this the album, the album is well, well advanced in regards to release, we're gonna have to find a way to put this on the album. Have to. It is it is it is raw, it is it connects. It connects.

SPEAKER_00 1:31:15

This podcast is called Lice to see. At some point in our lives, I can admit, and I know a lot of people can relate to it. We've believed something that wasn't true. What's one lie you believed about yourself that God had to break?

SPEAKER_04 1:31:33

I think one of the biggest lies was that let me take it in levels. You grow up, you're born in a small community, then you grew up in rough terrains, Maxfield, um, central village. Your environment can somewhat try to define you and define how you act and how you are, and in the very middle, like the three Hebrew boys in the middle of the fire, in the very middle of those while I was growing up in those communities, I literally had to break the lie that this is where I live, this is where I die, this is as far as I come, and not just that, but to break that tradition. Oh, that's the best word. Break the tradition where my bloodline would only get to a particular place and no further. I had to step out and say, I'm gonna be the breaker of this thing where we only get to a certain level, and that's it. We struggle for the rest of our lives and we only get to a certain level. I had to break, I had to break poverty from my back. Poverty is loud, but poverty is a mindset, and I have to break that mindset. I have to get up every single day. Somebody might ask, How do you do that? I had to get up every single day and intentionally say to myself, speak God's word into myself to remind me that I was not born to die in something that God never gave me. Yeah, and so poverty was one of them. I had to just reject it. How I how I grew up and the limitation that you that that your environments put on you, I had to reject it, I had to aggressively and violently reject it. And that is one of the reasons why I'm here today. Because if I never rejected it, I would have drowned in a lot of scenarios that may not have may not have become public. Just a statistic. One of those who never made it out. But God.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:01

What's one truth that you had to what's one truth that you had to accept that changed your life forever? That I can't do this without God.

SPEAKER_04 1:34:16

I think that's the simplest truth when a man gets to the place, a man is taught to be the breadwinner, the one who carries everything, the one who carries the weight, the one who is independent, carries his family, being this, being that. The day I recognize that when it comes to God is the complete opposite, that's the day my life changed. The day I recognize that I wasn't able, the day I recognize that I was not as handsome as I thought, as as charismatic as I thought, as as my words weren't as compelling as I thought, that's the day I surrendered to God and recognized that it was Him who was Him that needed to do this. I couldn't do it. I we were trying, I was trying to do everything on my own, but I recognized that I couldn't, and I had to just relinquish and say, okay, God, you do it, you carry it, you fight it, you speak it, you say it, you sing it. And that's when my sound started to change people's lives. Because I recognized that this was not Kevin's message, it was God's message. This was not Kevin's sound, but this was heaven's sound. That changed everything about me. Everything. Everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:35

Giving God full control, every decision, every plan, every direction.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:40

Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:42

I have a quick little game for you. I call this rapid fire. Let's go. Questions, words. You just answer quick, no overthinking.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:54

No pause. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:55

Oh, just quickness. You ready? All right, let's go. Let's go. Morning devotion or midnight devotion? Midnight. Leading worship or preaching. Oh gosh. That's hard. I don't know. I can't survive. Both. Both. Oh my god. All right. We'll take both. One scripture you never get tired of.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:22

That he may increase and I decrease.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:25

One worship song that still moves you every single time. I surrender all. One word that describes your current season. Moving. One thing that people would be surprised to know about you. That I'm a comedian. One gospel artist that everyone should listen to right now. Oh lord, that one hard.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:56

Oh gosh. Right now for me, it's Dunsen. Dunsen Eric or you can from from Nigeria, from Africa. He's connected. He's connected.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:06

Most underrated gift God gave to you. McCokin. What?

unknown 1:37:12

What?

SPEAKER_04 1:37:12

My wife needs to respect that more. You see? My house needs to appreciate that some more. You know? She's gonna hear this.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:26

Who makes you laugh the most? My daughter. What's the one thing you're deeply grateful for today? My family. Without a doubt, my family. And that we have to give thanks for. Absolutely. Because a lot of times we question and when things go wrong in our families, we got asked God, realize the beauty and the blessings, despite what may arise in the family.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:55

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:37:57

Imagine God was sitting beside you tonight after every sacrifice, every prayer, every disappointment, every victory, and every mountain you had to climb, every life you've touched, and he asks you a simple question. Kevin, was it worth it?

SPEAKER_04 1:38:18

What would be my response?

SPEAKER_07 1:38:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:25

Who said this? Who said, Lord, you know? Elijah? Oh my god, Lord, you know. You know, you know, I thought you were gonna say, would you do it all over again?

SPEAKER_00 1:38:44

That you know what? That's my next question. No, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:50

But yes, you would. I would do it all over again, but there's so many things that that would have been changed completely, knowing what I know now. True, knowing what I know now. Some some but some you you if you you should understand this, but some buck foot wouldn't happen, some cuts wouldn't happen, some bruises wouldn't happen. Listen, if I know now what I let me tell you, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:16

I swear, some some some disobedience wouldn't have happened. I would have listened right away when you said yes to the left and not move to the right when I was moved to the right. Yes, but that's it. That's the whole point of it, and I'm understanding that now that some things allow us to do so that we can learn the lesson, exactly, because with the harm, we wouldn't understand that next time you must trust your own discernment, exactly, because if we from the beginning, we wouldn't really learn that lesson or understand things on a different note, right? So I really mean a lot of times we say, Lord, would I do things different? But God would have still made it the way that it is.

SPEAKER_04 1:39:58

That's the thing about grace. That's the thing about grace, that's the thing about grace.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:06

Kevin, I want to thank you for your faithfulness. I want to thank you for your reminder. I want to thank you for who you are. Some days may be challenging. Accepted your calling. You picked up that phone, you reasoned with God, and we don't see that reasoning. We don't see you in the battlefield. No, no, we don't. Thank you for the man that you are. Thank you for the work that you continue to do on yourself. Thank you for surrendering and going back to the source when you need to go back to the source. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 1:40:52

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:53

For trusting God with your life, amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_06 1:40:58

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 1:40:59

I appreciate you so much.

SPEAKER_06 1:41:02

Appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:04

And I thank you for who you are. You said carry me on, and I want to tell you that carry me on came at a time when I was releasing my first book. Wow. And I said to God, what do you mean? I was sitting out with me. He said, right, I said, I'm not writing this book. You want them, you want them to chastise me. I'm not writing the book. And he said, and I listened to your song to carry me on. When my grandma passed away, I wanted to destroy every copy of the book and tell them to take them down off of every site you can think of.

SPEAKER_07 1:41:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:37

Carry me on. God said, Trust me. Your music is more than you could ever imagine. People will go to the Bible, they'll journal, but listening on music can change a lot of things in people's lives. Accepting your calling is a heavy burden to bear. And I know it because you said something somebody called you, or you seen somebody that thought about committing suicide. Last week I got a call on my phone, WhatsApp, a call from Jamaica. And I said, I'm not answering this call. Who's calling me from Jamaica? It's not even saved. And I decided to pick up the phone and call back. And it was a gentleman on the other line asking me, telling me he watches my platform, the platform that I don't, I didn't even think much of when God told me to start it. He said, I listened to you, and I wanted to ask you, what would you tell somebody that wants to commit suicide?

SPEAKER_05 1:42:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:31

I'm on the phone and I'm saying, what kind of prank call is this? And how did this person get my number? Kevin, he said to me, My number is on what's on Instagram. And I said, I said, he has to be lying. There's no way my personal number is on Instagram. And I just kept and I kept ministering to him. Wow. And then he showed me a picture of where my number was saved on Instagram. And I said, How did this happen? I called my assistant right away and I said, How did my personal number get on Instagram? Till this day, we don't know how. Oh wow. God has used you to sharpen people, to speak to their souls, to speak life in them. And I truly want to thank you. Appreciate it. Continuing to be a sponge. And I say a sponge because you're always willing to learn. Always pour into you. So thank you. And more importantly, I want to thank you for being a guest for talking with us today.

SPEAKER_04 1:43:38

No, the pleasure was mine, man. I mean, it was a blessing. I feel like many will be blessed through this. So thank you for having me, Jen, and thank you for your continued obedience. Um, may the Lord continue to bless you and enlarge you, you know, as you can to be obedient to him. It's an honor and it's a privilege. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_05 1:44:03

Thank you so much.