Bryce Crawford

**Bryce Crawford** (0:23)
I grew up in church, so I kind of knew a lot about basic Christian things. I went to a Southern Baptist Church, so it was like, dress fairly nicer, khaki pants, button up.
We sang hymns, we sang songs, and they would preach at the end. We would take communion about once a month, and it was a lot of people that I would see throughout the week, too. It wasn't just like, I would only see them on Sunday. So yeah, I grew up there, and we kind of stopped going every Sunday about 4th or 5th grade, and we were just going every now and then, holidays. That was about it.

**Rick Rubin** (1:00)
How many people were in the church?

**Bryce Crawford** (1:02)
Oh man, a couple hundred, maybe. Then that would be like on a holiday. So I think consistently, maybe 100 people.

**Rick Rubin** (1:10)
And what would be the feeling in the room?

**Bryce Crawford** (1:13)
I don't know, I guess for me, when I was young, it was just a lot, it was more routine. It was just, oh, you know, we're coming here, we're singing a few hymns, singing a few songs. We passed around the offering plate. There's a 20, 30 minute message and then we closed. And then as I got older, it felt, I don't know how to say it, like weird.
Weird, I guess that's the only word to describe it. It was just kind of difficult because I was starting to learn more and just kind of understanding like, okay, I'm having a hard time because like I'm seeing you at church on Sunday and you're encouraging me to live my life one way, but then I'm seeing you outside of church doing something completely different. So it felt like you're holding two North magnets together and they're like repelling each other. I don't know how to feel about this right now.

**Rick Rubin** (1:54)
And you think most of the people around you felt the same way?

**Bryce Crawford** (1:59)
I think if they were being honest, yes. I think even outside of that church in my hometown, I grew up in Georgia, so most everybody went to church.

**Rick Rubin** (2:08)
But you think people went out of the ritual, not out of the love?

**Bryce Crawford** (2:13)
Yeah, I don't think to the core that's like completely inherently bad. You know what I mean? Like discipline is a good thing. You know, sometimes I don't feel like going to the gym, but I choose to go to the gym. So, you know, obligation may not be necessarily bad, but I think there is in the south in particular, this, they call it the Bible Belt for a reason. Everybody goes to church and everybody does the thing. And so I definitely thought it was interesting when I met the first few Christians that I could see actually really loved God and I'm not dogging on people. And I, you know, I don't know everybody else's faith standing, but like from an outward appearance, you could go, wow, that person really loves God.
Kind of like caught me off guard because I wasn't used to that charisma and excitement about Jesus.

**Rick Rubin** (2:55)
And then when did you first feel like your own personal connection?

**Bryce Crawford** (3:00)
So I had two encounters with Jesus. One of them was just a moment. And then the other one fueled me into being a believer. The second one is really the most important. The first one was kind of vague. I just remember feeling like an overwhelming love in my car, driving home from school and recognizing that it was the Lord. It was amazing.
And then you ride that high for two days and then you kind of forget and you're like, wow, it's not even there. And then it just went back into normal life.

**Rick Rubin** (3:29)
Do you know what sparked that one?

**Bryce Crawford** (3:30)
No, nothing really sparked it. I remember just driving home. I've always been a thinker. I like to think that can harm you and help you sometimes. But I was driving home thinking after sports practice one day and I remember experiencing the love of God in the car and that was like the most addicting truth I've ever felt. And I'm like, wow, this is amazing. That was the first time I've ever felt God. And so I was overwhelmed. I just began to weep in my car. That's all I remember is weeping in my car. And then I called my grandma because she was a saint, loved Jesus and just as such a servant still is. I was just like, I don't know what's happening to me.