Priscilla Shirer sits down with Anthony Evans in a new interview to discuss his journey to make his new album, Revive, and the value and direction you can find in seasons of waiting. Know that God is aligning your footsteps! This video was brought to you by TBN Networks®. SUBSCRIBE here and never miss an upload! https://www.youtube.com/c/PraiseTBN/?… PODCAST: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast…
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NEED PRAYER? TBN’s Prayer Partners would love to pray with you and are available 24/7: 714-731-1000 (U.S. and Canada) and +1-714-731-1000 (International). On the air since 1973, TBN’s flagship ministry and talk show Praise is one of the most recognizable — and most watched — Christian programs in the world. Taped before a live audience and hosted by TBN’s own Matt and Laurie Crouch along with other popular personalities, Praise features the best in contemporary Christian music and worship, fresh and impacting ministry voices, engaging interviews from a wide variety of guests, and a fast-moving hour of relevant talk you won’t want to miss! #tbn #praise #priscillashirer 00:00 Intro 00:39 The Shirer Family 01:48 Hungry for Revival 04:35 Hidden Hardship 07:48 The Power Within You 10:17 Aware of Your Limits 14:04 Seasons of Waiting 15:52 Investing in Mental Health 19:21 Clear the Table for God’s Plan
the entire culture surrounding Us in
society but also in Ministry is hustle
grind keep going all the way to the end
the end of yourself the end of your
physical health the end of your family
people are afraid in every way but they
feel like around them there’s this
constant pressure to keep going and what
you’re describing is Having the courage
to pause for a second take a deep breath
ask the Lord about the season he has you
in right now and then trust that this is
not a fruitless season even though it
might feel or seem less outwardly
productive right that the Lord is using
this as groundwork for what’s coming
next for those you who don’t know we’re
siblings we just in case you were
wondering we are siblings this is my
baby brother we have there are four of
us Crystal’s the oldest then me then
Anthony and Jonathan is the youngest so
Anthony are right there in the middle
yes so we have this little special
special little Bond thing where we have
all these deep conversations and we get
to have one of them today I’m excited
because you have new music I I do I have
new music and and a New Journey and a
new experience and I’m glad to be able
to talk about it with you and and all
the audience I need to give the audience
a breakdown though you named our
siblings yes crystal is Miss logical
like the tip oldest oldest sister miss
the smart like everything is methodical
yes and then Priscilla is missp
personality I got to tell you she got in
so much trouble for talking too much
growing up but now it’s all worked out
nicely so that’s it and then my brother
Jonathan athlete and very determined but
I just I sit here and have flashbacks to
us being kids and you just be in Miss
personality and I’m like this is great
so anyway so the thing is though you
said Crystal was the smart one no you’re
you’re and then you came me and said I
had personality yes but then you’re
smart right under
that okay you know what I’m saying all
right fine moving on okay yeah sorry I
would like to make clear before we even
begin You Are The Guest okay got it and
I am the interviewer and other words
this is my show I get to say and ask you
whatever it is that I want to say to you
and what I want want to ask you because
what I’m thrilled about is that I we get
to introduce to everyone that you have
brand new music out after how many years
have you now been making music oh 20 24
so I started when I was
eight or or so yeah yeah yeah it’s a TW
24 years okay um and this is your what
number album 11 11 albums in that’s a
lot of investment of creativity of um
vocal Capac
and you’ve been stretching yourself the
kind of music you’ve been doing through
the years has shifted and changed
depending on where you are in your life
yes and this is the thing I love about
your music is you’re always writing
songs whether it’s a collaborative
effort or whether you’re writing it
yourself you’re always always coming out
of a place of where you’ve been in your
life they reflect what you’ve been
processing spiritually emotionally
mentally and this project which is named
revive talk to me about what in your
life has been leading you towards even
the title of the record before we even
get to the songs themselves just what
was happening in your life that made you
want to think about Reviving being
revived well was a lot of things that
was H that was was happening in our
lives really with with our family and a
lot of prayers not being answered the
way that I wanted them to be and my
faith being in question to be honest
like I didn’t make music because I felt
like an actor getting into character to
go sing songs I no longer believed
that’s why I stopped I would go sing
places but I would talk to the people
who had me honestly and be like I’m not
in the
I’m not recovered from what life has
done to me and I’m not aligned with what
I’m singing right now so it took me a
second to kind of like I don’t want to I
don’t want to feel like an actor singing
Christian music that that’s that that’s
not a good feeling yeah so what happened
is I had to make a decision do I just
continue to let my faith deteriorate or
do I take the steps and take take do
what I can and then believe that God’s
going to do what I can’t and add himself
to the effort that I put forward because
I didn’t even know which way to go to
recover from like for example us losing
our mom or in that way um or having the
emotional spaces in my life just clouded
I didn’t know which way to go so the
album’s called revive because I started
taking steps and I felt God bringing
things back to life in my heart and in
my experience and I was like people need
to know and experience this so it’s
about the music but it’s more about the
message that he can bring dead things to
life in your heart that you think that
are just done yeah okay here’s the
question I want to ask you like five
questions spk off in my my brain from
everything you just said but did you
keep going even while you knew you
didn’t feel like what it was you were
singing or you didn’t feel like showing
up there are a whole lot of people that
have been through loss just like we have
devastating hardships one after the
other because not only did we lose mom
but there were nine family members in
the scope of five years that we lost it
was like backtack loss and Chaos in our
lives and you’re saying that you had to
keep showing showing up to do a job that
you didn’t feel emotionally spiritually
connected to so I’m wondering did you
pull back and stop doing certain things
or did you keep going while just
recognizing at the same time I need to
be working on the other area of my life
there’s so many people that have to keep
going yes yeah while they’re struggling
yes it was a balance because I had to
keep going yeah but I would be strategic
I the honest conversations that I have
being vulnerable and honest and
authentic with the whether it was the a
church you know the church in Florida I
go to often sitting down with those
pastors and saying
this is what’s going on in my life right
now so to get up on the stage I I it was
hard but I didn’t feel like an actor cuz
they knew the truth cuz they knew the
truth because they knew the truth and
then doing things with our family that
was underg guring and helpful to me I
got rid of the things that I could get
rid of that were that were draining me
of the energy to work on myself okay and
that that varies for everybody watching
there are certain things though that we
can clear off our plate that leave
capacity for healing because you’re not
exhausted and and I had to strategically
work that out in in my life you think
that it takes a measure of Courage oh to
be willing to number one be authentic
with the people around you that you can
trust um to know the truth about what’s
happening with you but it also takes a
level of courage to say you know what
this this this this people may be
appreciating this people may be
applauding me for this other folks may
think based on what they prioritize that
I need to do this but it takes a level
of courage to say you know what actually
I’m I’m doing this and this is draining
me this is not helping me right and you
told you you taught me that you taught
me the power of no and you taught me the
art of when you say no to something
you’re s you’re saying a simultaneous
yes to something else so when I said no
to whatever opportunity that people
thought was amazing and huge I was
saying yes to my spiritual well-being
and that yes matters more than the no
there’ll be another opportunity you you
said this to me there’ll be another
opportunity to go do that there won’t
necessarily be another opportunity for
you to walk this walk forward in healing
at this time yeah so that was the
decision that I had had to make make and
some of the NOS were hard until you
experience the yes yeah yeah when you
start to experience the yes like me
sitting here with a light heart and
talking about music I thought that would
never happen again so but that was
because the nose landed at this yes
that’s good and this yes in this project
too like that’s a big yes that you got
to have the mental margin the spiritual
margin the emotional margin and the
Sparks of creativity that are required
to be able to put any sort of project
together in Val way all of that
diminishes when we just keep going and
going and going while not tending to our
emotional needs absolutely the the sorry
go ahead the depth of these songs and I
is because of of that like if I wouldn’t
have taken the time to heal and just
cranked out more music it would not be
it wouldn’t have the depth of these
songs there’s a song on the album called
828 that’s Romans 828 him working things
together for your good but that’s coming
from a different place now like we’ve
quoted that verse for years a lot of us
that’s coming from a different place or
the bridge of that song as Ephesians
3:20 um now to him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly more than we
could ask or imagine sometimes I stop
that verse there and I don’t go in to
the end of that verse that talks about
the power that is already in us I was
not experiencing The Power Within me
that was already in me because I was so
distracted by doing too much and I did I
was not connect I think the enemy’s
objective is to distract us from the
power that is within us so that we will
not be able to experience exceedingly
abundantly more and I was distracted
from that power come on
I just really was you know Daddy I’m
talking a lot cuz I’ve had too much
coffee I’m slow down slow I always have
to tell him to slow down yeah it’s it’s
your coffee situation is out of control
sir so okay Dad you gonna say something
he used to take us to the circus growing
up and I loved animals so so much and I
remember seeing the elephants in the
parking lot and being mesmerized by the
fact that this elephant had a chain
around its ankle that was in a Stak in
the ground and it didn’t realize if he
just pulled one good time he’d be
try hard to pull exactly but he was
fooled to he forgot the power within him
because of that chain that was around
his ankle he’d been trained to stay put
exactly the enemy’s objective is to
train us to stay put and forget that we
have the power within us to just do the
effort to pull that pull that break that
chain and we can do it but if he can
keep us distracted we don’t experience
don’t experience don’t experience it and
that’s this album is revived uh called
revived because I’ve now experience the
power of breaking breaking those those
chains my life I felt that in my spirit
I felt it in my spirit that’s a big deal
because you’re the you’re the speaker no
okay but this is something people may
not know about you which I’m sure lends
itself to your songwriting and your
creative capacity but you are a master
illustrator you’re a great Storyteller
and you know that like we always are
commenting on when we’re having
conversations about regular life stuff
you were able to pull out an
illustration like about the cus and an
elephant and make a substantial
spiritual point about something that’s
impactful and people can grab hold of
that so you do that through your music
too you’re telling a story that has
spiritual principle and encouragement to
help people to stay booed up in the
midst of life’s hard stuff absolutely
absolutely so describe a little bit more
about this disparity you were seeing in
your um work your ministry and what you
were feeling tell us how you were
feeling in your heart your soul and your
mind that was causing a discrepancy
between what you were singing I felt
like I was I felt like I was playing
injured I like an athlete here goes the
illustration here it is here it is like
an athlete who has a sprained ankle but
the athlete that everybody expects to be
on the court dunking so they just wrap
their ankle and go out and keep playing
and ultimately the damage that can be
done by you playing injured you can be
completely forever taken off the court
if you keep playing injured so that’s
what I felt like I felt like something’s
off I know what I’m capable of with
Ministry and I know what I’m capable of
but something is off and I didn’t make
the choice to to sit down I uh the
Olympics 2020 Simone biles the champion
of the universe everybody knows she’s
about I mean the expectation on her was
huge and she went up to do this Vault
and landed crazy and everybody thought
what is happening to the champion there
was she was capable of a lot but her
mind was not right and she had to admit
I have the twisties and and if I keep
going for y’all I’m going to injure
myself in a way that I might not be able
to recover from because I’m trying to
perform for y’all yeah so I that’s what
I felt like and I had to get to the
point where if I keep going like I have
the twisties spiritually mentally
emotionally I have the twisties and I
have to stop because if I keep going the
injury to me is and the people ATT
people attached to you is going to be a
problem so that’s that’s what I that’s
what I felt like and so I had to you
know kind of let let people down in some
ways but I I love I don’t know why
Anthony and I often joke about and
comment on the fact that we are thinking
similar things or like we’ll be one of
us will text the other one when the
other one is composing a text to send to
the other one like it happens all the
time or you’ll wear a purple shirt today
and I wear this purple sht on today we
showed up and it looks like we tried to
coordinate and we didn’t we just showed
up like this and the reason I say that
is because I kid you not yesterday I was
thinking about the Simone B situation
the courage that it took that girl to
say I don’t care cuz I mean I remember
the media coming I remember people
canceling her speaking negatively about
her why in the world you’re representing
the US I mean think about the pressure
that you’re representing all of us and
you’re going to give up and I just
remember seeing her look squarely into a
camera to do a news um little conference
that she was doing and she was just
saying and describing what the twisties
were and that she knew she could
decimate her entire career not to
mention the quality of her life with an
injury if she just kept going because
everybody else wanted her to exactly the
courage it takes to admit something is
out of balance here whether emotionally
spiritually even physically we can run
ourselves into the ground physically in
the in the in the name of ministry in
the name of ministry so it takes courage
what you’re saying is freeing somebody
up right now is what it’s doing because
the entire culture surrounding Us in
society but also in Ministry is hustle
grind keep going all the way to the end
the end of yourself the end of your
physical health the end of your family
people are afraid in every way but they
feel like around them there’s this
constant pressure to keep going and what
you’re describing is Having the courage
to pause for a second take a deep breath
ask the Lord about the season he has you
in right now and then trust that this is
not a fruitless season even though it
might feel or seem less outwardly
productive right that the Lord is using
this as groundwork for what’s coming
next exactly exactly when you talk about
um the season of kind of just waiting
and you watch people people around you
are moving that this is so random but
here’s another story now I’m I’m I’m
aware of it now that you talking about
illustrations I you know I love boats I
love being on Water I love it so much
but that they took us to the engine room
because I was so intrigued about how
this thing actually works and they got
to this point where they showed us in
the engine room this automatic automatic
stabilizer system
that that this yacht had and and bottom
line is that when waves hit it there was
something inside of it that shot water
out on the side that a wave hit on so
that would not capsize it was an
automated system that was built into it
but for that system to be built in it
had to go to dry dock and had to sit it
was made for the water but it had to sit
on the dry dock to get the system put in
it so it will not turn over when the
waves hit the the time that I have taken
off wow was my dry dock time while
everybody else is sailing and having the
greatest time but what got put in me
through work on my mental health on my
obviously my spiritual health are
stabilizer so when life’s waves are
hitting me I don’t not feel the wave but
I don’t capsize because uh Romans 828
will shoot out of my heart or
Philippians 1:6 will shoot out of my
heart on the other side while while the
scenarios are are hitting me hard so I
sh you need to know that I’m gonna steal
all of that I can assure you y read this
in a book I I told her the first time
I’ll give you credit after that the Lord
the Lord told me I said it was okay I’m
just saying yeah that that’s kind of
that’s great people need to hear that
and out of you being at the dry dock a
whole new project a project that
wouldn’t have the depth it wouldn’t have
the creativity it wouldn’t have the
beauty and power that it’s going to have
in people’s lives if you hadn’t taken
time to just let the Lord stabilize you
okay we’re gonna talk about the music
but I want to ask you one more question
because you mentioned specifically
mental health oh yeah and I I want to
sit here for just a few minutes and talk
to you about this because this has been
a big deal for you um and you have
invested in your mental health yes I
think that folks particularly in the
church it’s more and more um acceptable
now to discuss openly yes but um it
hasn’t been historically right so I
think you even discussing it now will
give somebody permission to realize they
can address their mental health how what
brought you to that point of realizing
uh I need just like I might get a
trainer to help me with my physical
health or a financial adviser to help me
because I want to plan and budget well
for retirement you’re like I need some
training somebody to G me up in my
mental health what brought you to that
point and what have you done over the
course of more than a decade now yeah
yeah just walk through this yeah you you
mentioned the trainer the or the
somebody helping you with your finances
I liking it to a tutor in ninth grade I
had the hardest time in math class I
could not understand Miss Simmons would
be at the board explaining this formula
Works time and she had a book of Truth
formulas she was working out on the
board and I had my AR my hand up the
whole class and finally she goes Anthony
in order for you to pass you’re going to
need tutoring and we have a book of
Truth here we have the formulas that
always work but you’re having a hard
time understanding these formulas so in
order I did not fail because I admitted
that I needed tutoring mental health and
therapy and working through things it’s
not saying that the Bible doesn’t have
the power or that you’re you don’t trust
the Lord it’s saying if I read be
anxious for nothing I need tools to help
me be anxious for nothing cuz that’s not
how do I do that how do I do it and
implementing those in into my life and
and having to admit to myself I think
it’s hard for Christians or people of
Faith or people in professional Ministry
to admit I need help but once I did that
and people started coming to my life who
were trained on a on
a in mental health yes and I got to tie
that into my faith that changed
everything I learned the art of being
kind to myself I learned about toxic
relationships and actually because of my
faith I was setting myself up and
getting into scenarios where I became a
victim of my own compassion because I
was forgiving and all that St there
comes a point where you know like if my
Apple my MacBook breaks or something
there comes a point where the restart
doesn’t work you have to send it back to
the manufacturer because they know how
to fix it I wouldn’t send people back to
the manufacturer I would not turn them
back over to God I would still keep
trying to fix and fix and fix and that
was messing with my mind so I had to
learn I had to I mean those are just we
could talk about this forever but those
are just a few things and once I got rid
of toxic relationships once I started
being kind to myself once I admitted
that I needed tutoring uh you know
tutoring that changed everything that
was a major part of the Revival in my
heart and it I know it can be a major
part of the viewers Revival in their
their heart of having tools to help them
yes so you’re not saying any of that for
you displaced or removed the pracy of
the Bible of Prayer of Faith all those
things you’re just saying here’s what I
know to be true now I’m going to take
this to someone so that they can have a
conversation with me on the practical
way to live in light of what I just read
practical way to live in light of my
faith that that’s where the how does
plus two equal four in this next 24
hours of my actual day exactly exactly
and um I remember just having to clear
things out of my life we were growing up
our mom who we love so much she’s the
best cook she just would cook stuff but
I remember she would not come place
things on the table if I had my homework
and like Twinkies or whatever on the
table dinner dinner would be I know just
random snacks because I ate too much but
she would keep the she would not um
serve the dinner until I cleared the
table until I cleared and set the table
clear the table off y’all set the table
yes and so me working on my mental
health I believe that happens a lot with
the Lord he has something fresh for us
but we have clouded up our lives with so
much and clearing the table of my heart
my emotions my life I got things placed
in front of me that now make it so much
easier because that were prepared for
you they were prepared to give to you
but you had to clear the space so you
could receive them yes and when I didn’t
clear the space for our mother the meal
would get cold and when you don’t clear
the space in your life for what God has
for you what he has piping hot and ready
can start to cool down you may miss some
of those things so that’s also part of
revive is and and part of mental health
and everything is just kind of clearing
out all the Clutter and allowing God to
plac something there he had for me and
every time I clear he places something
down so now it’s easy I’m like okay okay
right CU he has something because you
have a track record that he’s faithful
and he’s good he’s faithful and he’s
kind and just in case anybody’s
discouraged because in that last
illustration you mentioned you know
waiting too long the meal gets cold
God’s grace and mercy is so sufficient
that it is retroactive yep that he’s
like don’t worry about that I got a good
whole microwave system back here or I’ll
do something better that’s what God does
nothing is lost with him and out of this
season of your life of a lot of hard
work CU I I don’t want anybody to think
you were sitting at the dry dock just
like enjoying the sunrise no you no no
uhuh you you’ve done a lot of had a lot
of hard conversations with therapist
with your family with the people close
to you that you can be authentic and
vulnerable with a lot of hard
conversations a lot of Tears a lot of
struggle as you try to contend with the
word of God and what it is that he wants
you to do and and then creativity that
God so he’s so good that in Seasons
where we feel like nothing is happening
all of a sudden you start to see through
the dry cracks of life just little bits
little glimpses of growth and Greenery
and like the Lord’s saying I’m still
here I got it some Goods coming out of
this and now we have revive yeah yeah
it’s such a good record Anthony thank
you we’ve had I keep saying record does
that date mean we still it’s it’s kind
of a throwback term you know what I mean
a good record album you know what do you
call it an album what do the artist call
it yeah an album record we say that body
of work a new body of work that sounds
so official over over the top the thing
is I’m glad you mentioned that because
it is a body of work and in this day and
age where everybody’s downloading one
song here one song there what I see in
revive is a story that you have told
from beginning to end and I think when
someone grabs hold of the whole story
there’s Revival that’s going to take
place in them because they’ll see the TR
trory of where you were headed from
point A to point B