Curtis: What really inspires me is, are the people, are the mini-families that, you know, think every single day that really, they need Corpus Christi Parish to assist them with the DTE bill. And I chuckle in a very respectful way, because I say, man, that's just what they think they're here for. You know what I mean? They don't know that they're about to have an encounter with Christ, man. They are about to get ready to explode and change the life. Not only for themselves, but for their children and for their children's children. And if we can do that, if we can do that on, I'm talking about a minuscule small scale, then I think we've done great work. Emily: Welcome to Open Door Policy. All are welcome here. We're here to listen to testimonies from all over Southeast Michigan. To hear our sisters and brothers share their faith journey. 'Open door policy' means letting people walk into our lives and telling us their experience of God, what led them to him, and how their life has changed. Tune in every other week for a new episode of Open Door Policy. I'm Emily Mentock. Fr. Patrick: And I'm Fr. Patrick Gonyeau. Emily: Subscribe on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to another episode of Open Door Policy, and we are joined today by Curtis Simpson. Curtis, welcome to the podcast. Curtis: Thank you. Thank you so much, Emily. Thank you for having me. I appreciate the platform. Emily: We're so glad you're here. Fr. Patrick: My main man, Curtis Simpson from Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Detroit. How are you brother? Curtis: Brother, I'm blessed, man. Highly favored. I can't complain about anything. Fr. Patrick: Curtis and I are dear friends. We are at the same parish assignment, Corpus Christi. So this is going to be a lot of fun folks. Curtis is quite a treat. So back to you, Emily. Emily: Awesome. Well, Curtis, maybe you can tell us a little bit about your role at Corpus Christi. Curtis: Well, thank you. So yeah, I I'm the Christian Service Director at Corpus Christi Parish. I been in this capacity for the last, oh my God, it's been now 10 and a half years. We started out at St. Gerard's and we were clustered with Immaculate Heart of Mary, and then we became Corpus Christi Parish. And so it's been an incredible ride and absolutely love what I do, man. The people that we serve and what we do in this city is amazing. Emily: That's awesome. And I have to ask you, Curtis, did you make new year's resolutions? Curtis: Wow. Yes I did. And I've already failed. I wish I was real committed to it. It was a really easy one. It should have been easy. Yeah, I want to give up hamburgers, and January the first I went straight to McDonald's. I'm got there and got a double cheeseburger with mayonnaise and bacon. I just messed up the whole thing. Emily: No "veganuary" for you. Curtis: I'll figure I can start February one, because I'm always a little bit late anyway. So maybe February one be my new year and then I can start then. Emily: There you go. There you go. Well, I'm on five and a half years of being vegan, so no hamburgers for me. Curtis: Congratulations! You are missing out. I hope you know I'm kidding. Emily: Oh my gosh. Father Patrick, what else do we want to know from Curtis today? Fr. Patrick: Curtis who — two questions out of the gate — who's your confirmation saint, and who's someone who greatly inspired you in your walk in Christ? Curtis: Wow, that's a great question. So John the Baptist man, you know, he's like a renegade, man. I mean, if the epitome of the person who was a Christian today was to take example from him, we'd all be on a better path right now. I mean that guy was a renegade. And so that's who he was, and then very much so instrumental person in my life. And I have to just be — there were a few, but Fr. Don Archambault, recent retiree of Corpus Christi parish was intricate. I'm talking about just powerful in my life and how to be a working saint, or working saint in progress. And then also, you know, just how to relate to people and really get to the core of how to engage people, inspire people to be better, to do better, to move better, to walk better. So father Don Archambault, among many people, was probably top on my list. Fr. Patrick: Praise God. Emily: That's great. And Curtis, can you — you mentioned you work at Corpus Christi as a Christian Service Coordinator. Can you tell us a little bit more about what your life as a joyful missionary disciple has looked like lately, because I'm sure that role has changed a lot, even in the pandemic and coming out of the holiday season. So either from your work or in your home life, can you just tell us about what your life as a joyful missionary disciple is? Curtis: Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's been an incredible joyous ride so far. I really have to give a big up to the Archbishop. You know, he was really inspired by the Holy Spirit to move, you know, the Archdiocese of Detroit and our city in a way that is effecting and affecting people's lives. And I think it starts with the core. Us, right? The people who are on the frontline. Lay ministers. Your normal people who are just in the pew that might give you a high five along the way. Your pastors. Fr. Patrick is amazing, spiritual man of God. You can see there's a Renaissance, a movement that is captivating the city. And so you know, for it to be in words, in a, in a document like Unleash the Gospel, excuse me, when you put those things in words, you know, you can't run from it, right? Curtis: You, you become vulnerable to it. And so, yeah, it's been an incredible — don't get me twisted — very busy ride. But it's been something that I've learned more, you know, about my own spiritual journey. I've learned more about people and really, really how to motivate them to find God. Because in my ministry, you're going to find people who say, Hey, Mr. Simpson or Curtis or whatever they call me, I need a bag of food. And again, you know, time and time again, you feel like that is the reason that they're there, right? I'm supposed to give them this food and pray with them and then send them along their way. But Emily, Fr. Patrick, it's so much deeper than that. You know, when you get a chance to talk to people and really get to know them and hear their struggles and their stories and pray with them and cry with them and laugh with them and high five them, where they look at you, not necessarily even as a person working for the church, but they look at you as a friend or a brother, see, that's the real mission. Curtis: And when we really get to the simplicities of what Jesus is trying to teach us, it is the simplicities of life like that. Building friendships along the way, being that positive person, being that light, that joyful light along the way. You never know who you might touch, and we don't know how much time we have on earth. So you want to use these moments as you can, to enact the most change you possibly can. In your families — I'm a single father with two kids. It's hard. I mean, they're at home with school. You know, I got to figure out how we're eating all day long, snacks all day long, and consider, you know, what, they're, what they're going through, you know? And then also still you know, do my job and be a catalyst for people to be able to depend on, because I represent something more, something more that people want, but they don't know they want it Emily. Curtis: So it's our job to kind of make sure we check and balance ourselves along the way. I always say one of the most powerful jobs in the world — this is going to make you laugh, I hope. My jokes get horrible after seven o'clock, so forgive me — but is an accountant, right? Accountants actually have the most boring job in the world. Let's keep it real. You know, you're looking at numbers all day long. But let me tell you what they have, that none of us have: they check and balance everything, everyday, all day. So there's no gaps. There's no, man, you know, you were having a bad day and the guy cuts you off in traffic. And now it's time to curse. Oh, because we can go to church on Sunday and ask for forgiveness. It's okay. Accountants check themselves all day. So there's never any little squeaky wheels, any water getting through, they're always on their game. Accountants have it right. That way. The job is boring though, I'm not gonna lie. Emily: Wow. Never thought I'd be taking life advice from accountant work. That's a great new perspective you've brought us. So it sounds like you have a really, you know, just like amazingly inspired, inspiring attitude about being a joyful missionary disciple now, but we would actually really love to explore, you know, how you came to have this perspective, this relationship with Christ that you have. Like, what has led you to now being able to bear witness in this incredible way? So maybe you could tell us a little bit, what was your life like before encountering Christ? Curtis: Oh man, it's a great question. We're going to be talking for a long time. Get your coffee ready. So yeah, well, you know, I was a young man. I grew up in this city, I had a lot of things — and I have to be honest and just talking real. I mean you know, I'm a Black, young man growing up in the city. I was the only — we were the only Catholic family in my neighborhood. You know, we grew up in a pretty, I would say, rough area. It was pretty rough, though. But everybody was Baptist. You know, everybody was Church of God in Christ or Lutheran. And you know, I remember, you know, people will say, "Oh yeah, Curtis, what church you go to?" And it's like, ah, I go to, at the time, St. Curtis: Gerard's Catholic Church. And they're like, "Hold on, you're Black, and you go, you, you praise Mary?" You know, that was the whole assumption back in the day, the whole, you know, illusion when people thought that that's all we did is worship idols and Mary was God, and Jesus was just this guy. And so at one point you know, I really didn't — I was afraid, you know, to express my faith. I was — this was way back. I'm talking about third, fourth grade. Like I just, people asked me what church you go to and I'd just say, oh, I go to church up the street sometimes. But really we were in church, you know, two times a week, you know, we were for Mass. And then, you know, we were also there for, my mom had meetings or whatnot. We were kind of always around the church. Curtis: And then something happened to me. I was always a ball player. I was in sports and stuff. And you know how you get tired of getting pushed around? Like, if you're a little guy they're going to push you, if you're too fat, they're going to call you fat and slow. You know, you can't shoot good, you know, people, you always talk trash on the court. It's like I was sitting. I said, you know, I'm tired of hiding what feels so good. And I made this at the very last — I'm tired of hiding that what feels so good. And so I went to talk to Fr. Don. And I told him all about, I said, I've been hiding from God, almost been, you know, like almost not even trying to even tell people that I actually go to a beautiful church and I'm happy, you know, because I'm a Black kid and I'm supposed to be Baptist. That's what everybody tells me I'm supposed to be. And with his wisdom, he just sat back and said, do what your heart tells you to do. And that put me on fire. I was just fine with that. I got into the church. I was hired to work in the church office as a little office aid, six hours a week. It was four dollars and some change in our back in the day, Curtis: I was making big money! It was big money. And I used to take my Bible with me everywhere. I would read anytime I could get — I always had liked to read, and sports, those are my two favorite things beyond movies. And I just started to learn and I started to really get motivated into just learning about who God was to me, you know, your parents got to tell you who God is to you as you're coming up 'cause you just go to church and do your thing. But you know, for me, man, it was really, really a personal thing. I really want to get to know this Jesus guy, this — you know, what is this thing all about? And that's when I started to pray and, you know, really started to develop not being afraid to speak in public. You know, not being afraid to pray with people, not being afraid, even when you're around cousins or family members or friends that curse, or don't even believe in God to say, "Hey man, you want to go to church? Man, let me tell you about Jesus, man, look. You should pray." I mean, I started to develop this little energy, and then when I was 13 years old. Okay? The then was it, seminarian, Jerry Battersby was a seminarian at our church St. Gerard's parish. Fr. Don was on vacation and I went into my room. My mother was watching, can you believe it or not, Alex Trebek. Miss that man. Emily: RIP. Curtis: Yeah. Right, right. Yeah. That's good, man. That's dope. And I said, "Mom, I'm about to go," and I got done with my homework, I said, "I'm about to, you know, eat dinner and I'm going to read my Bible and listen to some Kirk Franklin." And she said, "Okay, cool." So I go into my room and I'm praising God, man. I'm listening to Melodies from Heaven, melodies from heaven. And I'm just praising God, man. I'm feeling this energy, "had never caught the Holy Spirit before" feeling. And then all of a sudden I started screaming melodies from heaven and through my window came this bursting light. It was so powerful, Emily. And then I was trying to scream to my mom like, "Mom! Come and feel this energy!" like, ut all I could keep saying was, "Thank you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus." Curtis: And the louder that I got, I kept saying, "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus." Like he's the light. And then my mom came in the room. Never forget it. She came in the room — mind you back in the day we had tapes, right? I was playing my Melodies from Heaven, Kirk Franklin on a tape deck. The tape deck stopped, the light burst out of my room. I was sweating profusely, shaking, crying, smiling. I mean, I had like 30 emotions in one and she said, "Baby, what's wrong?" I said, "I don't know. I was just praisin' Jesus." She said, "You called the Holy Spirit. That's beautiful!" And I'm like really? Praise God. So she said, "Well call, not Fr. Don, he's on vacation." So, you know, we called and guess, who answered the phone. Young seminarian Gerry Battersby. And he said, "Yeah, young brother, you caught the Holy Spirit, and it's a wonderful thing." Curtis: And he prayed with me over the phone, he stayed on the phone with me for about an hour and a half. I remember it because my dad used to work a night shift. He didn't get off until 10 o'clock. I should have already been in bed. I was just getting off the phone with Gerry Battersby, who is now Bishop Battersby. So yeah, we prayed and we just, we just, I mean, we had a worship-fest man, for about an hour and a half and it was beautiful. And then that, from that day forward, Emily, Fr. Patrick, that's what just kind of confirmed in me that I know I have a mission here. I know I got something I need to be doing. And that's where it kind of started. Fr. Patrick: That's powerful, Curtis. And, you know — Fr. Dan baptized you, right? Curtis: Correct. Yes. Fr. Patrick: That's awesome. And when you were worshiping and that experience happened, you know, there's a theological term, man, that is — it comes right from Jesus. So it's a scriptural term and then a theological term. When John the Baptist, your confirmation saint, when he said, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit," and when, we're worshiping, when, you know, when we're worshiping the Lord, when we're opening our hearts more and more to him there, there are times where God can sovereignly — Pope Benedict used to talk about how baptism in the Holy Spirit is becoming aware of what we've received in baptism and confirmation. And that what you described, man, like catching the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit, is — I think it goes right back to what John the Baptist prophesied that Jesus would do. He's going to baptize you with the Spirit. He's going to fill you with his presence as you describe it. I get goosebumps because it sounds like you were utterly filled with the presence of God. And then you got a future bishop to confirm it within like an hour. Curtis: And I'll tell you, man, God is good, man. And you know, there's so many different things that happen along the way of life. And I appreciate that, because that does clear up something too, Fr. Patrick, for me. But, you know, like I say, I would love to be here for 98,000 years, man, but you know what, if it all stopped tomorrow? Man, I'm happy. To have a relationship with Jesus Christ, man, to be able to try your best, to save souls along the way and then have fun doing it like to be myself, and I'm big on being authentic and real, even when you screw up, like, you know, it's just an incredible journey to be a joyful missionary disciple. And it's an incredible journey to be in the presence of the God and know whose you are at all times of the day. I don't care where I'm at, man. It's a job that we have, like it's bigger than a paycheck. You know what I mean? Like, I could do it for free. My kids would be upset 'cause we'd be like — but the money does make it a little bit better. I'm making a little bit of money, but no, but it's a privilege. I love this man, the good, the bad and the ugly. Emily: That's a really — that's just one of the most powerful stories I think I've ever heard, Curtis. Thank you so much for sharing that with us. You know, in something in the letter that really stood out to me as like another way that, you know, Archbishop in the Unleash the Gospel letter describes an encounter with Jesus, is that once you've encountered Christ from that point forward we're either all in or all out. And I think it's just so clear in the story that you shared with us and in hearing you speak today, all these years later that you are, you know, a person who is all in. But maybe you could talk to us a little bit more about, you know, you described the journey leading up to that point. But once — after you encountered Christ and the Holy Spirit in that really powerful and amazing way, how did you live your life differently? What was it like going into early adulthood and just, how was your life changed? Curtis: No yeah, thank you for keeping it going. Right. So this is a combination or culmination of like, you know, what I have learned along the way and then what I was feeling when I was younger. When you're blessed with an — when you have an encounter with the Holy Spirit and you have that relationship and you're building that bond, just like with a husband or a wife or even your children. I mean, it takes time for that relationship to maturate, for you to be able to, out of a hundred people, hear that particular voice and know exactly who that is. And so I went through a time of about three years where I was always searching for, okay, where's God at? Where's the Holy spirit at? What am I supposed to be doing? I was more of a — I know I have a job like, okay, so what's my job, right? Curtis: And I was always on the hunt, like, go, go, go. And I had to learn to do three things. One: to sit and be still and sometimes just rest in his word and rest in his love. Because you can hear clearer when you slow down. See, even when you're set on mission, you got to know when to break back and slow down. Jesus did it himself, you know, he had to get away from the riff raff talking and, "Hey, high five, we love you," and, "Hey, can you heal my sister?" He had to stop and go and almost like workout. He had to have an exercise plan to kind of get himself back into shape. And that really — that time is actually more critical than the larger, people would consider "larger" moments, you know, those encounters, those impactful experiences. So I went through a time where I had to learn what it truly was and is to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus. Curtis: Like, what did it really mean to me as a young man? Because of course I was still young. I'm playing basketball. I mean, I want to make millions of dollars. You know, I want to have a hundred kids. Hey, am I supposed to be a priest or a pastor? And so I went through that. I had to go through that journey. I had to pray about that. I went to some of the discernment nights. I mean, I think I was like a repeat offender on discernment night, like three years in a row. I'm still discerning after 30 years. So I had to really pray at what is it that God wants me to do? And at one point, yes, I did want to be a Catholic priest or pastor. And in fact there's some days where I still say to myself, man it kind of would've been, you know — I wish I would've got that, you know — but you know, life happens that way. Curtis: So yeah, I ended up taking a lot of courses and a lot of classes, whether they were, you know, just for credits or just for educational purposes. I continued to go to school. I went to college. And of course when you get to college, that kind of throws a bone in everything, because you're not as consistent on Sundays, you're trying to get through life. You know what I mean? Emily: College is so like that. That was my college experience for sure. Curtis: Yeah, you just got to run away a little bit, you're doing some partying, you're enjoying life, you're trying to figure out, you know, if that way is the way, even though, you know that's the way — is that the way that you want to go? And so I had to go through some life experiences. I always remind myself, I tell my son to this day, you know, every experience, man, really, and I mean this, good, bad, or ugly, it's going to teach you something for later on. For you to be a blessing to someone later on, or maybe a blessing to yourself to stop you from doing something stupid. Curtis: So I had to go through some life experiences. But I always stayed in the Church, you know, I always came back, I always volunteer for Christmas decorations. I had the altar servers, you know. I tried to keep myself, you know, one leg all the way kind of in, and then I'm still out here with the right leg still trying to figure out, you know, what, what did I want to do? And then I had my son. He was born in 2005 and I had my degree, so I was already kind of secured there. And I was working for the State of Michigan at the time and making pretty good money. I thought that that's exactly what I was supposed to do, was just work for the state, you know, get a good retirement plan and that's it, you know? And then something happened. Speaker 1: And then, and I got an opportunity to work as a pastoral youth minister at the then Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish. And I always had loved the youth and working with young people, you know, because I know some of the struggles, especially the African-American Catholics had to go through, especially African-American man, young man Catholics go through. So I always had a passion for, you know, really getting in and talking to young people and you know, trying to preach to them a little bit, you know? And so I started to, again, get back into reading and I really started trying to preach. People thought I was talking, but really I was preaching them. Like I swear, I thought I was a preacher and I loved it. And it kind of, like, sparked a match, like a flame in me, man, psh! I love this. Curtis: I gotta get back into church ministry. And so time would have it, where I was kind of doing that, but I was also still at the State, so I was still kind of one leg in — still kind of one leg in one leg out. And then another opportunity popped up in 2010 for a Christian Service role at Corpus Christi. And it wasn't a quick decision. Because I was discerning on whether or not I wanted to become a deacon and I want to put all of my energy and effort into really giving my life to Jesus. And I didn't know if I wanted to, and I don't want to say this in no way of disrespect. Well, "waste my time in being the Christian Service guy." And so I really — it took me about four months really, it took me four months. Speaker 1: I interviewed for it and the offer was there. It was considerably less money than what I was making. So that was another reason for, why would I do this? Why would you do this? And after a lot of prayer, I went on a retreat, a two day retreat at Subiaco house in Oxford, I believe, or Washington, Michigan. I can't remember, but anyway. And the whole retreat for me was designed to see if I was going to take that role. And I did. And something was confirmed in me. It was almost like somebody was screaming at me saying, "serve the people, serve the people." And ever since then as far as ministry work, Emily, I've been, I've been rocking. Really. And very blessed and happy and really, you know, this has been a great ride. Like, seriously. And I'm glad I took that leap of faith. You know, I really had to. Fr. Patrick: Curtis, everyday in this neighborhood where you minister, where I'm at with you, there's never a shortage of need. There's always — I remember when the pandemic started, like, the phone for you that first week, the outreach center, if I remember correctly, it was pretty overwhelming. You know, what inspires you to keep going? Because I got firsthand experience of watching, like you pour yourself out. There's no shortage of need, and I love how your Christian Service, like, you really — I always think of you as this evangelist preacher, and Christian Service is the vehicle that you use to evangelize and preach, and you do it beautifully. What inspires you to keep going and keep growing? Curtis: Ah, thank you. Thank you for those beautiful words, too, Fr. Patrick. What, what really inspires me is, are the people, are the many families that, you know, think every single day that really, they need Corpus Christi Parish to assist them with the DTE bill. And I chuckle in a very respectful way, because I say, man, that's just what they think they're here for. You know what I mean? They don't know that they're about to have an encounter with Christ, man. They about to get ready to explode and change the life. Not only for themselves, but for their children and for their children's children. And if we can do that, if we can do that on a, I'm talking about a minuscule, small scale, then I think we've done a great work. If just one household could say, "Hey man, they didn't give me nothing. But what they did give me was a prayer and a high-five, and my life changed because of that," man I'll retire tomorrow. Curtis: But I have a pastoral scripture that also gives me motivation, is the first book of Corinthians chapter 15, verse 58. "Therefore," I love this man. "My dear brothers and sisters," look at this, look at this family "stand firm. Let nothing —" And I wish they would have bolded that, "Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves," here's a word here, Emily, listen to this, "fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." And I can say is, you know, this is one of — this is probably the most powerful scripture that I read and I kind of meditate on as I'm, you know, kind of praying in the morning time. Curtis: When I get up, before the kids get up and life gets crazy, I meditate on a few scriptures. This is one of the more powerful ones. "Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord." This is what we're here for, Fr. Patrick. Like, there's no mistake. There is no coincidence, no "that's a nice, cute word that somebody, an English major made up." There's no coincidence that God has everything already pre plotted and planned. And he knew when Curtis Simpson, Jr. was going to be born. He knows what I'm going to leave. Same with you. Same with everybody who's listening. You know what I mean? There are no coincidences in this world. What we have to do is be able to let nothing move us. The death of a family member. Maybe your friend who doesn't like you anymore. Maybe you're a young person in school and somebody hurts you. Speaker 1: Let nothing move you. Let nothing disturb your journey to glory. Nothing. Nothing can do that. And so, as long as we're doing it, we're committed to that work of the Lord, then nothing that we do is in vain. Even when we think we're doing wrong. And that's why I love God so much. I had to learn that, you know, he's such a beautiful God, man. There's nothing that he doesn't want for us that's good. Even when we're being stupid children. So that's what inspires me, man. That's what motivates me is that there's work to be done. There's work to be done. Fr. Patrick: Praise God. As you're talking to just think about that scripture in Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," and all these things will be added onto it. And I just, you know, picture you getting up day after day. I know we, our campus, we have two buildings. Curtis is just down the road from me. But our paths cross a good bit, but every day, I mean, there's always people in need waiting. Waiting for your time and your attention. And each I love how you go after — you're seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness advancing his kingdom and always sharing the Gospel with them and letting them know that there's a beautiful church right down the road. And, Emily, part of my job honestly, is keeping people from hiring Curtis. New Speaker: [All laugh]. Fr. Patrick: I practice giving people dirty looks. I shake my head. Uh, uh, don't even think about it. Curtis Simpson, Jr. And if somebody, maybe giving him the look of, "He could help us out." No, he can't! Just kidding. Well, Jesus, whatever you want for your beloved disciple Curtis Simpson, Jr., I say amen to that. And just horsing around a little bit. So Emily what's on your mind to ask Curtis? Emily: Well, you know, Curtis, something that really stood out to me there that I think would be great for — maybe you could share a story with the audience about, you know, things that maybe other Catholics in the archdiocese or other disciples who, they go through their life and, you know, maybe 'cause they haven't had, haven't been blessed with that same sort of encounter with Christ or that same "mission first above all else" attitude that you are demonstrating here in the most inspiring way — something that maybe that they would have written off as a coincidence or just, you know, going through the motions in life, doing works of mercy, or mercy in action, and then having something that you recognize as the Spirit moving in your work and opportunity for evangelization, could you maybe share a story — it could be recent, it could be one from in your, you know, decade-long career at Corpus Christi that stands out to you of, you know, when has one of those moments, it's so clear the Holy Spirit's working, such a great moment of you being called by God to step into that opportunity for evangelical charity, like, evangelization through the works of mercy that you're doing, that is not just a coincidence? Fr. Patrick: Take your time, Curtis. I know you got a ton of them. Let it rip, baby. Curtis: Emily's like, hold on, Fr. Pat's going to ask these questions, I'm going to ask these really, really theoretically deep questions. Thanks, Emily! No, no, no. So I'm going to give, you know, people who know me — and I hope I don't sit here and bore the audience or you all, really — but I kind of, give you a story. So that's the only way I can explain things. So here's the first thing that comes to thought, as you were asking that question. Number one: as Catholic Christians in this city and state, I'll say, we have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Okay. See, just because we are enlightened, just because we have a path to God, a relationship with Christ and we're trying our best to be good people, we have to practice the art of when it's not comfortable. Okay. Curtis: When it's, maybe, a different cultural perspective, maybe a different race perspective, maybe a different educational perspective. Maybe the economy, maybe, you know, one person makes, you know, $2,000 a year, the other makes a hundred thousand when you're at your most uncomfortable, we have to lean on that Holy Spirit in order to make us comfortable. Those are the times, Emily, when God is at his best, because both parties are now open. They're like a clean slate. There's nothing you can do but be real. There's nothing you can do. And I talked to some pastors, and I have some cousins who are pastors down in Houston, down South where my family, you know, reside. And, you know, we always talk all the time, like, you know, the biggest thing that we could all agree on is Jesus was real. He was authentic. Curtis: I mean, he hung out with some of the most slummiest of slummiest people in the universe. And he changed them. But he had to be comfortable with being uncomfortable with who they were. Maybe they don't think the same way. Maybe they don't breathe the same. They don't eat the same. Whatever the case is — you're a vegan, too, Emily. [laughs]. Emily: Lean into the uncomfortableness. [laughs] Curtis: Right [laughs], lean into the uncomfortable. But we have to be comfortable in uncomfortable. Those moments, when we allow ourselves to be open, the Spirit will pour into us things that will change the fabric of people's lives. It will change the atmosphere forever. And it'll all be because we're open and we're comfortable with being uncomfortable. The second thing that comes to mind, and I'll make my Chicago Bulls, Scottie Pippin, Michael Jordan debate, when you're on a basketball team, okay, and Fr. Patrick is six foot and 90, all right, I'm two foot seven, 500 pounds who cares. Curtis: Okay. Everybody has to play their role. So if Fr. Pat's role is to be the defensive stopper and rebounder and Emily, your role to get the ball down the court, pass to our shooter, who is myself in the corner. If everybody plays their role, like a symphony orchestra, it comes together beautifully. So not only do we have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, but we also have to be comfortable with playing our role, right? If you're not the preacher, don't get out there and try to say, "Hey, I'm about to evangelize this brother and preach it in 'scripture'" when you haven't read your Bible, right? Don't say, hey, if you know you're not in that position or you know the Spirit is telling you not to do or move this kind of way, don't play that role. Don't be the small forward when you're supposed to be the point, or the center when you're supposed to be the shooting guard. Curtis: But it comes with time, right? It comes with an openness and a willingness to be open to the Spirit. But also, we have to be intelligent and wise enough to know God's voice through the mess. See, just because we have this wonderful journey doesn't mean it's going to be easy, right? There going to be your closest people, sometimes even your family, your friends, who are going to be the most critical of you. Right? So we have to be able to see through the mess. Hear God's words, hear God's voice, right? And be comfortable with being uncomfortable. And that, that would be my advice to people who probably say, well, you know — whatever they might be saying, I don't, I'm not for sure — "I'm not comfortable with going to a person and doing that." That's fine. Curtis: Pray for them. Well, you can be an inner — you have more strength than I do. Because you're, you're praying that the Holy Spirit is put upon someone else to maybe bless that person. Right? The last thing I'll say to that is to be open. Right? On — doesn't matter what platform it is. Doesn't matter if you're just in the grocery store, "Hey honey, I'm about to go down the street and buy some vegan meat," wherever you're at, whatever you're doing, shopping, hanging out, always look for those opportunities that God can use you. Because it's not always about the people who are sitting on the top of the mountain and preaching. What it's about is those interpersonal real relationships. Those things are the ones that matter the most, because that makes people change. We can't change the world. We can start by doing one person, one family, one child at a time. And that would be my advice on this journey. Fr. Patrick: Hey, Curtis, this is awesome. This is some beautiful discipleship you're laying down right now. When Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, you must, let your — Matthew five, seven- 16, just, "So let your light shine so bright before others, that they may see your good deeds and give thanks to your heavenly Father." And yet before that, I think of the Lord saying, "if you would be my disciple, take up your cross and follow after me." And that the uncomfortability that you speak of, that there's times where you know, as we follow the Lord that we're going to be uncomfortable, whether it's denying ourself of something and you know, like an act of, you know penance, you know, just disciplining ourselves, or it's, you know, seeking to share the love of the Lord and in a situation where there's a cultural difference. Fr. Patrick: And you might just, yeah, I'm out of "my comfort zone", but that leaning on the Holy Spirit that like you said, leaning on it, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom, and this is leaning into him. And then knowing your role, like, what are my gifts and my talents? What's the Lord calling me to do? That's powerful, that we continue to say, "Lord, whatever you want for me, that that's what I want." And I he's given us all gifts and talents, and part of this Unleash the Gospel movement in Detroit is a real investment in charisms, people knowing their charisms. And I just love how you know you are a preacher, an evangelist, you carry a pastoral gift on your life and you just service gift, whew, through the roof. And you just deploy those all the time. Fr. Patrick: And then finally, man, those everyday encounters where we get to let the light shine. Being wide, open that everywhere we go, the Lord — everywhere we go, the Lord wants to enable us to have the ability to encounter people. And I just think that you do that so well as a Christian Service Director, who's really got grassroots on the ground. It's really another name for "joyful missionary disciple. And I just love how the Lord's working through you. Thanks for giving us those words about get comfortable with being uncomfortable, lean on the spirit, there's freedom there, knowing your role, know your gifts, and be open in the everyday moment. Yeah, I think you've got a teaching gift too, Curtis. Curtis: Hey! Emily: I would agree with that! Fr. Patrick: Emily, I'm being a ball hog. Forgive me. Can I ask Curtis one more quick question? Emily: Go ahead. Fr. Patrick: Oh, here we go. Now you just got old buddies talking, sorry. Curtis. If you — man, every disciple, like, it's clear listening to you and being around you, but for those listening to you right now, like, you guys, Curtis is real. This is authentic. He's dialed in. He's plugged in and it's awesome. Sometimes people feel like there's a gap. Like when we hear a testimony of somebody and it's just like, "Well, I'm never going to be there." Curtis, could you share a little bit, like what, what was like one of the greatest challenges that you went through that threatened? That was a threat to, like, am I going to keep being — following Jesus all in? Was there ever a time that you went through like a difficult challenge and how'd the Lord bring you through that? Because it's clear you're on fire for him. And I think taking us into one of the, the times where, yeah, the evil one was trying to take you out, and yeah. A story of a challenge you went through and how you got through it with the Lord? Curtis: Yeah. Yeah. And I'm going to speak very, you know, frank and open and be honest. And, as you know me, Fr. Pat, I don't sugarcoat it. I kinda just kinda tell it how it is you know. I had to struggle with the fact that, you know, our beautiful Catholic faith was going through a tumultuous time, you know. Through the, you know, priest situations and shortage of priests anyway in the City of Detroit, and shutdowns and closures. And, and there were thoughts in my head that, you know, maybe, you know, the leadership in our Church doesn't care about me. I didn't want to use the word us, but yeah, I went through a dark time where I thought maybe, you know, am I really doing this for the right purpose? You know, do I need to be doing something else? Curtis: Maybe I can put my time and energy into just being a good guy. Right? 'Cause most people who are good people have the same characteristics of a Christian and vice versa. And so yeah, just be a good guy. I mean, I don't, you know, get out there and do anything wrong. I'm not robbing anybody, killing anybody, so I'd just be a good guy and I'm going to put the Bible down and be done with that because I kind of at one point did lose my faith. Not in God, not in Jesus Christ, but I did lose faith in my — in leadership of our Church. Fr. Patrick: Thank you for your vulnerability and honesty. I just want to thank you for that. Keep going, sorry. Curtis: I hope this doesn't lose me my job now. Right? [laughs] Fr. Patrick: Part of your job is always calling me out, but back to your brother. Seriously. Curtis: Yeah. So yeah, I went through a time of about a year. It was quiet and it was actually pretty sad because you know, a person — I always tell people, you know, who leans on the person that leans on everybody or everybody leans on, or who talks to the person that talks to everybody, who listens to the person that listens to everybody? And sometimes I have to be honest and say, no one. And so again, you know, when God gives us these different charisms and gifts, you know, there does — there is a cost. There's a sacrifice, right? You're going to lose some friends along the way. You're going to feel alone at times. And so I went through about a good 12 to 13 month time where no one knew it, but I was second guessing the whole thing. Curtis: And, you know, I had stopped my reading. I'd stopped my Bible. I slowed down my relationship with God. Not stopped it, but I'd definitely slowed down. But it was a very dark time. And I knew after a point, I didn't- it wasn't just like a light switch, that was a long time, 12, 13 months. But the closer that I got to month 13, I started to realize that I know my God would not have me with my stomach, you know, turning and nervous, or feeling a certain kind of a way. And I knew the feeling I felt when I was open to the Spirit and when I was talking to God and when I did have my relationship with him. So I knew what was happening was, the enemy was throwing me off. And then as a single man who is a single father, you know what you have to do be with somebody, you have to date, you have to go out, you have to, you know, you have to do those things, right? Curtis: You have to have experiences. And so there was a mix of a lot of things that were going on that pulled away from that this fire that you see today. But again, and I'll like end it with a lightning bolt is that is still how it was supposed to go. See, there's never an error. There's never an omission. There's never some, just random things. It was pre-planned that way to build me up, to get me stronger, to prepare me for the lifelong journey. And so I appreciate it. After I went through it, of course, I appreciate the opportunity to go through that dark moment. To question, to second-guess. To see if this was all for what I'm supposed to be doing it for. So yeah. Fr. Patrick: One of the greatest mysteries in our faith is that God is omniscient. God knows everything. And then we have free will. And like, does God know what I'm going to choose? Like, yeah, he's omniscient, he knows everything, but am I still free? Yeah. It's wild. But thank God that, you know, he does honor his word, Romans 8:28, that "he makes all things work for the good of those who love him." So yeah. I love how you can see, like — and I see it too, man, like in our lives, like all of us disciples — like he writes straight with crooked lines, even when we're writing that crooked line. And he's okay. You know, right on Curtis. Emily: Curtis, for anyone who's listening, who's gone through something similar who might encounter that in the future, you know, that like that period of time where you do start to question things, you feel separated, you lose that kind of, like, extra spark that you had and things get tough. You know what, once you've sort of had — started to have that revelation that it was, you know, just the evil one trying to pull you away and it wasn't really God who was giving you that feelings and you need to get that peace back, what did you do to kind of reconnect with your faith? What did you do to reignite your journey as a joyful missionary disciple? Emily: Great question again and again, you know, I love giving stories. So here we go. Just like anything in life, right? It all takes this, this big, old thing that man wants to control and everybody, is time, right? The thing that we can't get back the most, it's time. And so if you're trying to work out and you getting a six pack, you're not going to wake up in the morning and just get a six pack. You've got to do 20 sit-ups. Right? And you're struggling to get to 20. You're breathing hard, you're sweating, and all of a sudden you get to 20, and you got 23. And you're sweating and breathing hard, it's hurting, your stomach hurts and you want to eat hamburgers but you can't c'ause you want the six pack, and then you get to 27. And you just keep going until all of a sudden, you're at a hundred sit-ups 50 pushups, 20 barbell lifts, and you're running for 30 minutes a day. Curtis: Right? But it didn't start that way. So my advice, sister, would be number one, don't travel the journey alone. Because even the most dedicated, most powerful, most strongest people in this earth, they never did it alone. Right? They always had people they could depend on. I don't care who it is. It might be a drinking buddy. It might be a bar buddy. People, we all have purpose. And no matter — we cannot judge where God is going to be. Right? We can't, we don't know. So we have to open up and don't travel that journey alone. Second thing is, you've got to continue to work out. You've got to continue. Even when you don't want to do it. 'Cause you know, you get days like that, leg day, you don't want to do it. Right? You're tired. You're making excuses. It's the holiday, hey the sun's out. Curtis: All kinds of excuses. You have to almost — it becomes a part of every fabric of your being to continue to seek out God's voice to make sure that you're balancing yourself by checking and balancing the Holy Spirit that's in you. Because he, this is already in us. But sometimes the light goes out and it's another person's job to light it for us. So we have to be — we have to know that we're not on this thing alone. See the enemy wants you to think you're by yourself. See, that's why [inaudbile] that's why your auntie died last week. Yeah, look you sick right now. You got diabetes and high blood. They want — the enemy wants to trick you into thinking everything that you're going through, you're the only person that's ever been through it before in your life. And you'll be the last one to deal with it. Curtis: So we start to feed that, right? But the more we feed that we lose our fire. So, you know, yes, you do have to have a committee of praying warriors and folks that pray for you, that love on you. That can keep it real with you behind closed doors and just say, "Hey, you need to do this." Or, "You're not doing that." You've got to be open again to being vulnerable. And that of course goes back to what I was saying earlier, is being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Everything ain't going to be peaches and cream and cute and tasting good and smelling good. You're going to go through some fires and some wars. You're going to be wrong sometimes. You're going to be dead wrong, so wrong that you're going to lose friends. You're going to lose people that love you. You gotta be willing to take that. Curtis: You gotta be open for that. But you do have to continue to move on. And I've got to give a shout out to Ms. Mary Nunnelly who is an elder in our church. And she is a beautiful, beautiful woman of God. And her birthday had passed, I think this was last year before the pandemic, and I said, "Ms. Mary, you are such a beautiful lady." I said, "Tell me, just give me one secret in life." And she looked at me — and I wish you guys could see me, I'm touching one hand like it's her touching my hand — she said, "Baby, never stop moving. That's the key to life. Never stop moving, never stop praising, never stop singing and never stop moving." That's the advice she gave me. And it was so simple, but it's so powerful. Because that's the key to life. The enemy wants you to stop, because once we stop, we become conformed to where we're at. Curtis: And as you know, perception changes reality. So now you think that everything is just the end. So you stop and you no longer can now fight for God. And you've lost the battle, but you think you've won. The key is to continue to keep moving. Never stop, never stop. So that's what I did. I had to even when I didn't want to, right? Man, let me read this Bible. Let me, let me go ahead and pray, man, talk to God and let me see what he's going to tell me today. Even if it was a snobby kind of way, like a child who was told he couldn't get the cookie on top of the refrigerator. I know he's going to say no, right? But I had to still ask anyway. You got to keep moving. You got to keep those communication lines open. You got — even if it's a crawl, Emily. Even if it's a crawl, you got to keep moving. Don't let the enemy take you out. We've got a beautiful thing on in the Archdiocese of Detroit right now. We're unleashing the Gospel, we're unleashing the Holy Spirit, and you know what? We unleashing a whole lot of kick butt on the enemy. And I don't think there's anybody that wants not to be in this circle. Even if they're not in this circle, they really want to be in this circle. Fr. Patrick: Praise God. Hey Curtis, when you spoke about to Emily, you know, when she asked that question, how do you get through, how do you reconnect? And then you, you just encouraged, like, you know, don't go it alone, stay connected. It, it comes back to me. I think this is one of the good habits that the archbishop talks about for joyful missionary disciples, docility to the Holy Spirit. And really first Thessalonians chapter five verse 11, when St. Paul says, "Encourage, therefore encourage and comfort one another. Build up one another, just as you are doing encourage," and another translation, yeah, it's encourage and, let me pull out the NIV, "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up." That's the translation I'm looking for that's the one we use in church. "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up." And just a reminder, like, as you've given this testimony, just a reminder for everybody listening that life and death are in a certain way in the power of the tongue. Fr. Patrick: And when Jesus said, "The words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life," that as disciples, we never know who, the person who around us needs a word of encouragement of first Thessalonians, chapter five, verse 11, word to encourage them to build them up and to help stir that fire. There might be a Curtis Simpson walking right next to you who just needs his flame stirred a little bit by an encouraging word from a disciple. I just feel privileged, Curtis, to hear your testimony and to hear you say that, don't go it alone. And that, that played a role in your rekindling as well. Is those who would encourage you still along the journey. Fr. Patrick: Cause Fr. Don was always there, wasn't he, man? 31 years here. He wouldn't let anybody get away. And then that's also the other — that's part of the gift of this community, Corpus Christi, so connected, there's others as well. And like, you know, a Mary Nunnelly, or even your mom, I'm blessed to know your mom, she's a powerhouse. But that people can continue to encourage those, that we can continue to speak words of life and encourage those around us. Just, yeah, that's what I was drawn when you were saying that about "don't go it alone." Curtis: Yeah, praise God, man. And you're right. Like I said, I mean, there's some names I really am — and God is telling me to say these out loud: minister Wallace Hill, one of the first black ministers in the Archdiocese of Detroit, you know, that I saw, that I was able to talk to. He would talk to me, we would call these coffee dates every Saturday, man. It didn't matter if it was sleet, rain, and snow. That man was a warrior. And he'd say, "Young man, I want to talk to you. What's going on in your life?" And he would give me an hour man, every Saturday and pray with me, taught me how to pray, taught me how to be strong. Those were those times where people were igniting that fire in me. I didn't even know it, right? I thought it was just coffee talk. Curtis: It wasn't, it was bigger than that. And people see in you what you can't see in yourself sometimes. And so again, being open that Holy Spirit. Again, Fr. Don Archambault, we would just kick it, you know. We'd go out and get a sandwich or something. Everybody knew I like burgers. So anybody — July, my birthday. But you know, we just go out and have a bite to eat, just talk and just, just being able to be authentic and open. Deacon Bill Dorsey, Deacon Bill Dorsey, man, praise God for his life and his ministry. He was powerful, man. I mean, he was powerful. He was a convert. He came from I think a Church of God in Christ church, way back in the day. This is way back in the day. And he would just talk to me. He invited me to come by his house. Curtis: I would cut his grass. After I would cut his grass, his wife would make us sandwiches and we would just kick it, man, for two hours. Those were times where I could be fueled and refueled and I didn't even know what was going on. I thought it was what we were supposed to be doing, right? But people like that, Deacon Paul Mueller. These people have been in my corner praying for me, man rooting me, pushing me all these times. Took me a long time to realize, though, that's what it really was. And that's why I say to people on the air, you know, Emily, Fr. Patrick, you know, we're okay. Where you are, are where you are and it's fine. And be kind and be okay with that, because there is a greater purpose for what ever — even this, this what we're doing right now. It's for a larger purpose. We think it's just for this podcast and it's not. It's going to be life-changing because we've spoken into existence. We prayed for it before we started. It's going to change someone's life. Who? Now that I will never know. Or maybe I will. Doesn't matter to me. We're where we're supposed to be. Anyway. I'm sorry. That just kind of fired me up a little bit. Fr. Patrick. Fr. Patrick: Praise God. Emily: Yeah. That's amazing. Thank you so much, Curtis. I think that high note and just thinking of the community and, you know, putting the impact of those podcast back into God's hands, knowing that he has a plan for it is the perfect way for us to wrap up this episode. So Fr. Patrick, would you — or I guess first I want to say thank you, Curtis, for joining us. It has been so inspiring, so amazing to talk with you this evening as we're recording this. And I think that there's a lot of joyful missionary disciples — I have honestly, in my time here in the AOD which has been almost a year now, I'm not sure I've met someone who has lived out so many aspects of the letter in their life that I've met yet. Granted, I haven't been able to meet that people because of the pandemic, but just so, so inspired by the testimony that you've given tonight and Fr. Patrick, I was wondering if you could close us with a prayer please. Fr. Patrick: Oh, I'd love to. Name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Oh Father, thank you so much for your beloved son, Curtis Simpson, Jr. Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to let us gather and listen to testimony from your beloved son who's our brother. And we pray, Father, that everybody who heard his testimony would be lifted up, would be inspired, would be encouraged to be an on-fire, joyful missionary disciple, and whatever role that we have, we just ask, Father, that we would all be inspired by what Curtis has laid out for us and go with that fire that Curtis has. And Curtis, I just want to ask you brother, would you — I'm going to pitch it. I'll leave it to you. And I just want to ask you specifically, please, would you pray that every person listening receives a dose of the fire for love of God and love of man and women that is in your heart? 'Cause I see it firsthand. There's a fire for God and for people in your heart, I just, you know, there's an old saying, if you can touch it, you can have it. Like you can always ask God for — ask, seek and knock, "God, can we have some of that?" So Curtis, why don't you drop a prayer on us to have some of that fire for a love of God and love of others? Curtis: Yes. Well, thank you. Thank you, Emily and Fr. Patrick for allowing me this opportunity to share, you know, testimonies and to be with you all this evening, this has been an amazing opportunity and I appreciate it. I thank you for it. So at this moment, I just want to ask that the Holy Spirit bless anyone who's listening to this podcast tonight, Lord. I ask, Lord, that you be with all of us, particularly the people who feel alone or threatened, Lord, the enemy is trying to destroy them. Oh, Lord, I'm too old. Or I have a handicap, Lord. Or I can't do this because I don't have the finances. Lord, we remove all of that because you promised us life. And so we give you all praise and glory for every single thing that you've given to us. Allow us to be comfortable, Lord, with being uncomfortable, allow us to be strong and convicted to not travel this life alone because you don't want us to be alone. And heavenly Father, I ask that everyone pick up their arms, and pick up their cross and become joyful missionary disciples. We can change the world one home at a time. So we give you all the glory. We give you all the praise and we love you with our everything in the sweet name of Jesus. Amen. Fr. Patrick: Man, exclamation point. Be blessed in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thanks Curtis. Curtis: I love you guys. Thank you so much. Speaker 2: Thank you so much. This was just amazing. Want to thank our listeners for listening to Open Door Policy today. You can subscribe and find more episodes at unleashthegospel.org/podcasts, Apple podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.