Kerry Wood, host 0:07

This is the Pursue Holiness Podcast, an official podcast of the North Carolina Conference of the Global Methodist Church. We are engaged in scriptural holiness, applying it to everyday life so that we can have the new life in Jesus springing forth so richly and powerfully within us that all we are and all that we do accurately reflects the true character of God. Thanks for being with us today. Hey friends, welcome to the Pursue Holiness Podcast. I'm your host, Kerry Wood, and with me is Earl Bradshaw. And today we're going to be talking a little bit about getting ready for Christmas and the way this season can be celebrated in some creative ways. So, Earl, tell us a little bit about yourself. Um, what are you doing and how has God impacted your life, your career, your family, et cetera? Just whatever you think would be good to share.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Well, uh, number one, I'm a child of God, saved by the grace of God, through the blood of the Lamb. I was one of those kids that grew up going to church and loved going to youth group because that's where the girls were. But it was not until I was a young adult that I received Christ as my personal savior. It was at Weddington Church and um was led to Christ by Lenny Stadler, who's gone on to be with the Lord at a lay witness weekend. That's how long ago it was in 1990. And he used to be a member of an old Southern rock group called Blackfoot. So him and Bud Streetman, who was the leader of the Lay Witness Weekend, who is a retired IRS agent, led me to Christ. And so I love to say I was led to Christ by a tax collector and a sinner. So that set me down the path.

Kerry Wood, host 1:49

That's great. That's great. I love that story.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

And uh I was appointed in the United Methodist Church in 1994 and served faithfully until we disaffiliated. So and I've been serving here at Mount Pleasant Methodist Church in Mount Pleasant uh since July of 2019 and absolutely love it. I get to serve on the cabinet as presiding elder for the Concord district. And so God's grace is so good. I I just I'm I'm overwhelmed. I'm not worthy, but I think I thank God he found that I was worth worth it to go to the cross.

Kerry Wood, host 2:21

Yes, absolutely. Well, great. Do you're you're married?

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Kids? Married, happily married, Kim. Uh, we've been married 37 years. She says best 33 years of her life. Uh we don't have kids. Um, she has a rare genetic bonus. She'd call it osteogenesis imperfect. It breaks bones easy. And so before we got married, we made the decision not to because it's a dominant gene. So I am fun Uncle Earl and she's fun Aunt Kim, and we take really good care of her care of our nieces and nephews since they'll be making the nursing home decisions for us.

Kerry Wood, host 2:54

That sounds great. Well, blessings to her as she uh goes through that that journey and uh prayers for strong bones and good health. Amen. Yeah. So what is your favorite aspect of the Advent season? What makes this so special for you?

SPEAKER_01 3:11

I absolutely love it. The church I'm serving at now, we do churchwide devotions uh this year. We're actually using a John Piper book, uh Joy to the World. And so just to have everybody on the same page reading daily devotions is always impactful because I preach the series through it and it just speaks to my heart. And I love Advent. Of course, we think about the first Advent, but it's also that second Advent, the second coming of Christ, where hopefully we can give people an idea going, mortality rate's a hundred percent. So you better be prepared. That's right. And so it's a wonderful opportunity to preach Christ the reason he came. You know, it's cliche, three he's the reason for the season, but even the reason behind the reason for the season is that we need a savior, and that savior is Jesus.

Kerry Wood, host 4:00

Yeah. So how does this get lived out in terms of you you have a pretty amazing light show that uh you put on? So maybe describe a little bit about what that is and and how you came to even get started in doing it.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Well, even though I'm I'm in my late 50s now, the eight-year-old boy lives right underneath the surface of who I am. And so I have absolutely loved Christmas lights from the earliest age. My mother uh really embedded that in me and my brother and just enjoy it. We used to go look at lights, uh, the displays. And I guess it got ramped up after we were serving in ministry for a while, and we were able to get our own house and moved into a neighborhood. There was a light contest in the neighborhood, and I just participated. And Kim absolutely loves uh doing the design in the house and decorating in the house, and um, I'm outside. And so for many years we did the classic kind of display, which when I say display, I mean just that it's stationary opposed to a show, but covered the bushes with the nets, did the wired frame deer, and we lived in an equestrian-themed neighborhood. And so we even got a horse with the carriage pulled behind it and did well in those and it thoroughly enjoyed it. We moved to another church and decorated the house uh there inside and out, and then coming to Mount Pleasant, they had a light contest uh for the town, and I went, well, we'll enjoy, we'll be part of that. And we did a beautiful, what I thought was display, classy, had the warm white lights, a touch of red, touch of green, and went, went to the other house and went, we're gonna win this. We're classy. And then I didn't even place in the show in the contest. And then the next year I was like, Well, I'll do it again. And guess what? I didn't place it. I finally went to the assistant town manager. I said, Crystal, what's wrong? She said, Earl, you we think yours is the prettiest, but there's no music, movement, or color, or very little color. And I went, I can change that. So the following year I did a search because I had always thought loved the idea of a megatree. And what I mean by a megatree, where you have the strings of light going up, usually to a flagpole. Always loved that, always kind of had it in my bucket list. And I started doing research, and a company kept coming up in the Google holiday core and reached out to them. They had a pre-package that I could do it, and for um around five, six hundred dollars, I could create my own mega tree that you could put pictures in. It would be set to music, and I went, that's the deal. And so that year I did that. Then I created a little bit of had an FM station that the music played. You could turn in your radio to 89.1, listen to music, watch the tree, and I won. All right. But the next year, someone said that Bradshaw guy's not gonna win. And I once again, that eight-year-old little boy that's extremely competitive, said, You think you're gonna beat me? And the show went from about 800 lights of pixels, and I'll explain the difference in a moment, to about 10,000 pixels. And the difference is a light, obviously, we understand those little mini lights, but a pixel has a circuit board in every one of the pixels or every one of the lights, and it can be red, blue, or green, or when you combine those, one point something million colors. And so it went from just a tree to about 10,000 lights on the house. And then after winning it a couple of years in a row, the town said, Earl, will you quit entering? No one has a chance of beating you. And that was the ultimate compliment to me. And uh what's happened is that it's continued to grow. Last year we were about 35,000 pixels. This year we're over 45,000 pixels. And um, for me, what I love about it, it's no longer winning winning a contest, but it's that the opportunity to bless people as they come along.

Kerry Wood, host 7:58

Yeah, so just to make sure that I'm understanding what you're describing, the pixel is an individual light, but it's not just a light, it is a light with a tiny computer circuit board that allows you to then control how that light operates, whether it's doing any different kinds of colors on, off, and um being able to sequence it and do all kinds of crazy things with it. Am I getting that clear? Is that right? That's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

That's perfect, yes. And so it's grown, and I use a software called X Lights, which is a shareware and some great developers own it. And then you everything in this hobby, you have to build yourself. Um, much of it you can get the components, but then you have to build it like uh the lot the props themselves that are typically uh core plastic. You think about cardboard, but it's plastic, core plastic, usually 10 millimeter, and you have to insert the pixels. And so I've done over 45,000 of those. I have a variety of mega trees now uh that range from 3,200 pixels up to right at 5,000 pixels on my main tree. And so it can create images that are fairly high definition, especially if you're about 60 feet from the display, it looks really good. And I think one of the neatest experiences we had uh last year, uh we went to a local restaurant and a lady came up to uh me and my wife and said, You're the light guy, aren't you? I went, Well, yes. And she said, We love your lights, we come by every year. And then she invited her daughter over and said, This is the magic lights man. And she was just so celebratory. I was like, Kim, that's why we do it to my wife. Went home and I enjoy my own show, I'll admit that. Uh I pick out the music I like, um, and I watch it and enjoy it. We went home, we're sitting there maybe two minutes, and a vehicle pulled up right in front of us, and two little girls popped out of the sunroof, and you could tell they immediately turned over their radio. The girls started screaming and laughing and giggling, and I went, Kim, that's why we do it. That's why we do it. And then even this year, uh, one of our own church members just said that it's been a difficult year for her. And she was feeling blue. And early in the season, because I start the week of Thanksgiving, Susan shared that she went by the house and was feeling blue, and her favorite Christmas song, and I know I'm in we're an advent, but I actually started Christmas songs because it feels appropriate. Noelle was on, and she said it changed her whole uh attitude about it, and it really blessed her. And I'm like, that's why we do what we do, so we can be a blessing to others.

Kerry Wood, host 10:42

Right. I I love that. So, how much traffic does your light show generate along your street?

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Um, it it it will clog it up at times, it will absolutely clog up the uh street, but our neighbors are amazing. There's only about five home, I think there's five homes on our street, and everybody on the street loves the light show, they understand the traffic, and so there are times typically during the week, we may have four or five cars out there on the weekend. There may be 10 plus cars vying and waiting to get to the premier kind of sites where you can watch the show. And on Christmas Eve, the last couple of years, uh, there's probably been 15, 20 cars because they're like we come to the church's uh candlelight service, and then we go to your house, and it feels like Christmas is finally here. And so that's really uh I'm a words of affirmation kind of love language guy.

Kerry Wood, host 11:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Um, that's probably it's gone why it's gone from 800 pixels to 45,000 plus pixels.

Kerry Wood, host 11:44

Yeah, and each one of those you put into place by hand and then place them out in the uh appropriate place in your yard, and then you have your what I'll describe as your little angels in the software program who make sure everything goes correct.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Exactly. And one of the things I it's become such a big project that I have two young guys that have strong backs and willing to go up on ladders that help me each year. Um I prefer my safety over money, and they would rather have money than their safety. And of course, they're much safer on the ladder than uh myself, but they're they're a great part of the team. Uh and part of this hobby is not only do you have to do the pixels and uh running the cords, but the control boxes are basically single board computers that uh you have to build yourself and then output through the um basically the connectors to the lights so that they work seamlessly together. And I build those boxes as well. So there's this aspect of technical that you have to have, but there's also the artistic aspect of putting the show together, picking out proper music, making sure the effects on all your different props are synced together and making sense together.

Kerry Wood, host 13:05

So you have a lot of fun doing this, but it also sounds like that it is a a labor of love, not just in the sense of you enjoy making it all happen, but you really enjoy the results of being able to share this with others. Is that is that a fair way of saying it?

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Absolutely. That's the whole point to share with other people. When I look out and I see vehicles in front of the house, it makes me smile because I know people are enjoying it. And then uh, even this past week, one of our church uh folks, and it's really cool, Wesley, his father was the pastor here some 15 years ago. They attend the church now. He stuck around even as his dad was moved on, and he has a little one that is a three-year-old boy. You don't have to teach three-year-old boys, but they're like, we can get him to sit still in front of your house because he's uh just loves the show. And they're like, it's peaceful for us and engaging for him. But it's the gospel that I want to share. Now we do the fun kids' songs, of course. We have Frosty, we have Rudolph, we have All I Want for Christmas is a hippopotamus, all of those fun songs. We do some Trans-Siberian songs that are wonderful, but I make sure that we interweave the classic Christmas songs as well. Yeah. And it's to get the message out there. I mean, it ranges from Noel to uh we even incorporate Hallelujah in there and some fun new Christmas songs. If you've never heard the elf song by Crowder, please do. It is hilarious and it's fun. It's one of the kids' most favorite. But if you're um a fan or know the Sidewalk Prophets, they do a song, What a Glorious Night. And it has become my new favorite Christmas song because it just speaks of that. And of course, we do Mary, did you know? And then I do a voiceover um between the beginning and the end of the show that of course give a little direction. Turn, you know, please turn to your in your radios to 89.1. We have a speaker outside so they can also listen in their cars if they tune in the radio. Turn off your lights. But then I'm going, if you don't have a church home, we'd love to invite you to Mount Pleasant Methodist Church to be part of this congregation. And of course, I let people know about the Christmas Eve service beforehand. Um, and then of course, I usually have a little comment going, the reason we do this is to bring honor and glory to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Kerry Wood, host 15:34

And have you had uh a response from that? Have you seen a change in uh attendance in church of engaging because they saw the light show? You then learned later, yeah, they came they came to worship with you.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Yeah, actually, it's been kind of interesting this past summer. I uh volunteered with a motor racing um organization, Sons of Thunder. And at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Tuesday, they have uh Tuesday night speed. There it was basically legend cars. And we pray with all the drivers before they start. Well, I was praying with one young lady and uh her mother came up and we started talking. I'm like, Oh, you guys live in Mount Pleasant. I live in Mount Pleasant, and then I looked up on Facebook, I'm like, hey, we're friends, and she went, You're the light guy, aren't you? I was like, I am the light guy. And of course, it started a great conversation. And so it's hard to directly say that we've had an impact, but uh I ser, I also do photography on the side, so I'm at the local high school almost at every sporting event. So I'm known uh for three things in the community: known as the pastor of the Methodist Church in town, I'm known for photography and the lights, and so I think cumulatively that's helped in getting our name out there. Um post disaffiliation in our summon runs. This is the latest numbers we had for us. In 2023, we averaged 234 in worship. In 2024, uh we averaged 264, and this past summer we averaged 309 in average worship attendance. And I love being part of a small community, not only for the lights and the photography, but that we get to share our faith with people and the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. Yeah, this is just another leg of that trying to be in the community and make a positive difference.

Kerry Wood, host 17:26

Yes, indeed. Indeed. So one of the unfortunate drawbacks of the uh the platform that we use to do the Pursue Holiness podcast is obviously we are audio only, which means I can't show any video of what you're doing. So are there ways that someone who's not geographically close enough that they would be able to experience your light show?

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yes. Um the easiest by far is just on Facebook, Earl Bradshaw. If you see a bald guy with a beard that looks like he's in his 850 as the profile page, that's me. There's not too many Earl Bradshaw. So I post videos usually weekly of some of the songs. I don't post all of them. Uh, and I say weekly because the show changes every Thursday evening. Oh, wow. I try to run the show about 25 minutes, and I bring in new songs each week to for appropriate times of it. And then also I know that that allows parents to bring their kids back week after week and it'd still be fresh. Uh, I shared about the elf song. Uh I have some church members, um, some eight-year-old church members that say that that has to be in every week. So the elf song stays in there every week. And beyond that, we rotate through about 45 different songs uh through the season. Okay. And so Facebook is the best.

Kerry Wood, host 18:46

Earl Bradshaw is the very easiest to go and listen and also watch. Well, I'll put into the description with this a link to your your Facebook page, and that'll make it a little bit easier for people to get to it and see that. Um, so what encouragement do you have for people in this Christmas season? You mentioned the the lady who was able to come and experience a refreshed sense of joy with the light show. I know this is a season where we're all supposed to be happy and excited, and yet there is the reality that for many people this is a hard season. So, what words of encouragement do you have for someone who's maybe not feeling particularly joyous right now?

SPEAKER_01 19:30

You know, it's one of those, and I'm going, I I've experienced it myself, and we're even coming up on uh the fifth anniversary of my father-in-law passing, and he passed the day after Christmas, and we're mindful of that. And so we go, we're not going to solve world problems here, but if you can come and laugh at a silly song, and then also come and hear the gospel message in these great old hymns or these even new songs that are being put out there, somehow it div it just allows us to not focus on our sorrow, but it we can focus on God's joy. And so, how do I see this? I'm like, I think sitting on Valley Street in Mount Pleasant just allows people some escape time to go, even in this darkness, I can see the light of Christ. So maybe 45,000 lights.

Kerry Wood, host 20:29

Well, we're all supposed to reflect the light of Christ, and so this is just another one of those ways in which uh you're creatively able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Yeah. Well, every once in a while someone will go, You you you're like Clark Griswall. And I'm like, No, I'm offended by that. And they're like, You're offended. I'm like, not because you're saying I got a lot of lights. I'm like, Clark did not have music or movement or color to his lights. And so we just kind of laugh about it. But uh there are times that I'll go out and speak to people in their vehicles if they're out. I mean, even two days ago, it was after nine o'clock, and we saw a vehicle pull up, and kids got out, set up their chairs, and they were in their PJs already, and we heard them laughing and giggling and screaming. And I'm like, even if you're not in that family, if you're two or three cars away and you hear that, that brings joy. There was also a lady, I was thinking about it two years ago. She went through a divorce and said, Earl, I come to your show just to forget about that. And I'm like, Penny, thank you for letting me know. So I hope it's a little escape from the hardship of life, but it I hope in the midst of that, through the gospel, that people know that this is not the end. This is not all that there is. Right. And I, you know, of course we understand Jesus came because he loved us so much. Not just the uh baby Jesus that we think about Bethlehem, but he loved us so much that he came and taught. Among Us, lived among us, healed, blessed, and died on the cross and rose again. And so even in the midst of this, we find hope. I mean, one of the songs that we have in this week's playlist is Go Tell It on the Mountain. Okay. And I'm like, I love it. Um, Go Tell It on the Mountain that Jesus Christ has come. And not only has he come, but he loves us so much. And so for me, it it seems a little almost trivial to say a light show brings a little hope. But I think people know my motivation on it, which is the share of the good news. Right. So I think it does make a difference.

Kerry Wood, host 22:38

Yeah. Well, I think also when you you said, you know, you're you're offended at being compared to uh Griswold from Family Vacation, the motivation behind what you're doing and the motivation behind what that character in the movie was doing, I think that is also a very clear difference. And so yeah, I I applaud you and what you're doing because you're doing it out of all of the right um mental approaches, the the right spiritual approaches. And I think as a result, that's how God is using you in maybe some very surprising ways compared to um any other way that somebody might be thinking about uh the Christmas season. And we are in Advent. Advent is a time of preparation, but we're not preparing ourselves for December the 25th. We're preparing ourselves for the the new birth of the power of Christ in us. And there are 12 days of Christmas that follow after that because that's the real Christmas season, which launches us to Epiphany, and Epiphany is the recognition of oh, this is not just another baby, this is God with us, which leads us into Lent and going with Jesus all the way to the cross and to Easter Sunday and the resurrection. I mean, there's a there's a trajectory of this season that propels us nearly halfway through the year to come. And I love that you help bring us into such a powerful way to get ready.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

Kiri, I appreciate that so much. And one of the things that we I appreciate the calendar that we have for that very reason with the year starting off in Advent and going to Epiphany, I don't even stop the show until Epiphany. Um, because I'm like, we need to know this because many people, like you talked about, fill the blues, even that don't fear it, fill it and experience it until post-Christmas when things are being packed away and taken down. And I'm like, we're not stopping until Epiphany. And people are like, you have it up in your yard a long time. I'm like, it's okay.

Kerry Wood, host 24:47

I'm good with it. Then it will be put away. That sounds great. Was there anything else that you'd like to share while uh we're here together?

SPEAKER_01 24:57

I I want to say thank you for doing this. I mean, I love it what you're doing, I love the Global Methodist Church, I love what we're doing in North Carolina. Whenever I get to a gathering, I remember the first time I went to a GMC gathering and I cried probably 10 times. Yeah. Not out of sadness, but I went, This is my tribe and these are my people. And even when I get together now with GMC, either at annual conference or a cabinet meeting or just a learning opportunity, I'm overwhelmed because I went, This is the tribe I had been hoping for for the last 30 years, where I have brothers and sisters in Christ that have a similar understanding and a vision of who God is, and just enjoy being part of whatever God's doing in this movement called the Global Methodist Church. Uh it's been amazing to me. I have a prayer partner that's in Uganda that we communicate with on a regular basis, and I'm going, thank you, Lord, for this. So I know this is pursuing holiness, and I think for me and the congregation I'm serving, and also in the district I get to serve in, I see when we are truly pursuing holiness, God blesses in those ways. Uh I look at this congregation, I share the attendance numbers, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. We have started circle and small group uh over and over again, and watching people come closer to know God in a real and authentic way in Christ Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit is absolutely amazing. We're seeing our young folks come and grow, and I'm going, it's that accountability, it's practicing what we have given lip service as Methodists for many years, but putting into the practice and we go, hey, John Wesley knew what he was talking about with those bands a long time ago.

Kerry Wood, host 26:50

That's right. And it it translates well into the 21st century and beyond. So, well, I appreciate Earl you've given me some time today to describe some of the things in your light shows. Friends, take a moment to go out to Facebook if you aren't anywhere close to uh to Mount Pleasant, North Carolina. And hey, if you're going to be going into the Charlotte area for some shopping, just go ahead and make a little detour and uh take in the light show, the the music, and most of all, just take in Jesus. Thank you, Earl, so much and blessings to you. May you have a wonderful Christmas and a blessed new year.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Thank you very much, Carrie. Thank you for the opportunity. God bless you.

Kerry Wood, host 27:30

Blessings to you. We have pursuitholiness.org as our website. You can leave us an email at pursuitholiness at ncglobalmethodist.org. There are many ways to reach out and engage with me. If you have ideas about a future podcast, please share that so that we can keep going with the good news of what God is doing here in North Carolina. And I look forward to seeing you next time.