Our Wednesday evening Regeneration class is in the spotlight as Pastor Walton speaks with Josh Mesa. Josh tells his story. Ken Keith invites us to attend.
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Chris Harper: Welcome to Harvest Time. My name is Chris Harper, and our host on this program is Pastor Gary Walton, the lead pastor of Harvest Baptist Church. Every week, we spend these twenty five minutes together telling you the stories of our church by interviewing our members and other friends of the ministry. We’d love to invite you to Harvest Baptist Church this week on a very special week. We do have services at 8:45AM and 10:45AM every Sunday.
There’s Japanese and Korean translation available during the second service at 10:45, and that’s also when we live stream at hbcguam.org. hbcguam.org. This week, you’ll be joining us on a very special Easter Sunday service, The King is Risen, with music and a special Easter message from Luke 23:48. Let’s begin today’s Harvest Time by welcoming Pastor Gary Walton. Hi, Pastor.
Gary Walton: Hey, hafa adai , Chris. Yeah, you know, Easter is, such a hope filled time. Even just in the calendar year, this time of year, a lot of people on island are coming off of Spring Break, so they’ve had a break from school and some of the activities. Just the changing of the year, we’re getting close to the end of the year, and so this time of year, I think there’s a renewed hope in people. That’s just on a calendar basis.
And then the Easter story, for those who are believers, for those who are true followers of Christ and believers in the Gospel, the Easter story is so filled with hope. And this time of year is encouraging for people. Many people, even if they haven’t been as faithful to church over the course of the year, they’ll want to come to church on Easter. And so if you’re looking for a place where the Bible’s going to be taught and you’re going be warmly welcomed, we’d like to invite you to come and join us this Sunday. It’s going to be a great time in the service.
Been preparing for a while for these special services. We’ve got some special music. We’re going to read the scriptures. It’s going to be a service very similar to what we would normally do, but the hope of Easter is just going to be all throughout everything that we do. We’d love to have you come.
We’ve got space for you and we’d like to invite you to join us. I’m really glad to be joined on Harvest Time by a couple of guys that we want to talk about something that’s coming up. So Pastor Ken Keith is with me. Welcome Pastor Ken back. Great to be here.
And then Josh Mesa is here for the first time. I thought we’d had an interview before, but thanks for joining us, Josh.
Josh Mesa: Good morning.
Gary Walton: And we’re going to be launching a new cohort of a Wednesday night group that we have called Re-gen. We’re going to come back to that in a minute. Pastor Ken’s going to tell us about that. But I want to stop or start, Josh, and talk with you a little bit. Tell us about your story.
You grew up here on Island. Tell us about growing up here, where you grew up.
Josh Mesa: Okay, yeah. So I grew up in Agana Heights. I was born here. But during my high school years, I kind of like got into the wrong crowd doing the wrong things. I didn’t finish high school.
Yeah.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Well, that’s a little bit, it kind of leads into your spiritual story. God’s done just amazing in your life, right? Tell us about that.
Josh Mesa: So, yeah, so for, you know, growing up, I actually grew up in a pretty good household. When I was young, it it was just me and my sister at the time for for a long time. And then when we got into, I would say, middle school, my mom, dad had my brother Vincent, and not too long after, my brother Gideon. So growing up, before them, you know, my mom, dad, they were a young couple. Yeah.
They raised, you know, we had a good family life pretty much. We went to church every Sunday. You know, my dad was very strict on me being the first born. He was really hard on me telling me how I’m supposed to be an example to my younger sister at the time, but he said, brothers and sisters, I forget, but I say middle school years. I mean, back then I didn’t know, but my dad has always had substance abuse.
So he, you know, when I was young, it didn’t show much. Like I didn’t see it. I didn’t know of it. But when I started to get into the middle school, I started to notice that I believe he started to use meth more and it started to affect our family a lot. And I started not to see him often, getting to a point where I would only see him on the way to school when I was waking up to go to school.
The only time I see him. I grew up, my dad’s side of the family, they were very close to one another. You know, when we had family gatherings, it was, my dad’s side of family was probably the more funner side than my mom’s. What’s interesting enough is my mom side, my grandfather was an alcoholic. He died from cirrhosis of the liver.
Gary Walton: Wow. Yeah.
Josh Mesa: So I didn’t realize it back then, but my mom’s household was a little bit more of lot of turmoil. When I was young, I didn’t realize it. But as I got older, I kind of see the difference. Growing up, my dad’s side of the family, my uncles, my dad, they were involved in a lot of criminal activity and a lot of drugs, more like, more so. And so I kind of, I idealized that.
And like when I was young and I’ll see them and I’ll watch them and I’ll be like, Man, I wanna be like them. I wanna be with my dad. There were many times I would walk in, come home, and my dad and his buddies will be in the house messing with guns. And every chance I have when I have friends over, I’ll take my friends over to the closet and like, look. So act like it was my guns, but it wasn’t.
So I kind of had this, I started at a young age wanting to just be like my dad. I thought my dad was such a cool guy and people in the village would they would acknowledge me because of my family. Or, you know, and I felt this need to, like, be like them and share the same qualities as them. And so I try to like build myself on that.
Gary Walton: Josh, it’s a powerful thing. You know, you said a minute ago, I want to be like my dad. Yeah. Most boys want to be. It’s a really powerful part of fatherhood.
You know, you know it now as a dad, Exactly. Okay.
Josh Mesa: Cool. And so funny that I wanted to be like my dad, and yet I saw my mom. I saw the other side. I saw my mom distraught. I saw my mom sad, crying all the time, you know, trying to keep the family together.
And so I wanted to be like my dad, and yet I hated what my dad did. Yeah. So for a long time, miss, I didn’t touch drugs. I didn’t use drugs. And I idolized my dad and what they did.
So I was trying to be like I wanted to be a drug dealer very much. You know? I wanted to be that guy that if you need something, I got it. You know? So I kind of did those kind of things.
And in my early twenties, that’s when I started using meth. It was weird how it all came about, but once I started using, it clicked. I’m, woah. Wow. Okay.
Now I now understand why my dad was going all the time. Now listen. Once I got involved, it was I just went full force straight on. Great.
Gary Walton: How’d you feel during that time, Josh? What was, I mean, what was going on when you could get a little bit of clarity?
Josh Mesa: Early on, when I started using meth, early on, I learned how to cook meth. And so when I started doing that, there was a sense of power I got, the respect from people, and a sense of like, oh, this is mine. I can do this, and a false sense of power. That’s what I had.
Gary Walton: And it lasted for a little while.
Josh Mesa: Oh, man. I think it lasted for I did I when I started getting heavy into drug, I I said, I had a my first child.
Gary Walton: OK.
Josh Mesa: So once I started getting into drugs, I met my, kid’s mom, Rebecca. And, not too long after that, I had my first daughter, Rocky. When I had her, I was in deep, deep into, the drug game. You know, there was always people coming around doing me favors, and I would do things for people. And I would, you know, it was a real toxic style way of living, you know?
I would do things for people knowing that they couldn’t pay me back. And and I’ll do it because I I there’s something I can I can use that later as an as an advantage over them? And so I live that kind of mentality thinking that, you know, a worldly, I guess, a worldly mentality like, I did this for you and now you you owe me now.
Gary Walton: Right. Right.
Josh Mesa: And so, you know, at that time, I I thought I was on top of the world. Thought I was doing everything right. Mhmm. You know? I would brag hard.
Got a house. I got a car. I got this. I got money. I will do whatever I wanna do.
And I have my second child. Her name is Skylie. And the toll of living that kind of lifestyle, me and my family meant a lot to me. And it still does today. Yeah.
But I couldn’t live like that and keep like, my relationships, kept, like, were falling apart. And I was trying to my relationship with my kid’s mom at the time, Rebecca, she when after the second kid, it’s just things got real rough and the life we were living, you know, it was real stressful, you know, because you all I always have to look over your back and always worrying about the cops and, you know, I’m just lot of chaos.
Gary Walton: yeah
Josh Mesa: And it came to a point where everything I thought I can control was falling apart. And so the more I fell apart, the more I tried to control things.
Gary Walton: Amazing how things go from the things I can control to the things that control me.
Josh Mesa: Right.
Gary Walton: You know?
Josh Mesa: And you know what? There there were times where, you know, I growing up, I I knew brother Gundscher, so I I knew who Jesus was. I knew prayers to pray. And so the time to time, I would always look to God and say, oh, help me do this. And yet still live that, oh, after I’ve still lived that lifestyle that go on my way and things would just keep on falling apart.
I just always try to hold it together on my own. Mhmm. Yeah. For a long time. And my Rebecca finally left me.
Actually, right before she left me, we had we have three kids together. And, this was the probably the the breaking point. So we had my my son. And at that time, we were I was still trying to hold my family together. And my son was born and I’m like, okay, I tried to quit drugs.
I tried to like make it right. But yet every time I needed money, I’ll go back to the same way I knew how. And so I’ll get sucked back in and I would, okay, I’m doing it for my family because we need money. Right? I’ll do these things, make some money, and life will be good again.
Because, you know, when we got money, it can pay for things. And my girlfriend will be happy. The kids will be happy, we got things. And for some reason, everything everything I knew how to do, all of a sudden, it wasn’t working. And when my son was born, things started to fall back into place.
Things were working the way I used to do it and was working. And then my son dies. That was- How
Gary Walton: long ago was that?
Josh Mesa: Oh, April 14 makes it fourteen years ago. Okay. Yeah. Heartbreaking. Heartbreaking.
Yeah. And that just threw me down this road where I was super lost. I got into gambling. And then on top of my my drug addiction, I was gambling. And eventually, at one point in time, I ended up on the streets.
I would steal my clothes every day. I would sleep on the beach and then go down, go to the mall and steal some food and eat, and I was like, I don’t need money, I can just steal. And that, you know, I knew it was wrong and stuff. And at that time I was like, But I’m hungry. I need to stay high.
If I don’t stay high, then I’m sleeping on the street. So, yeah.
Gary Walton: Josh, how did all this start to come to a head?
Josh Mesa: Oh man. So what came to a head is I finally came back home, started doing what I used to do and finally got busted. Yeah. So that-
Gary Walton: What year was that?
Josh Mesa: 2018. Okay. 04/25/2018. I got arrested for receiving drugs in the mail. And that’s when things started to change.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Tell me about that because it’s an amazing story, right?
Josh Mesa: Yeah. So in 2018, by this time, I’m with my I was with my wife now, and we we weren’t married yet, but we had one kid. And so This is Pearl. Right? Pearl.
Yeah. So Pearl. So she was with me. Yeah. And me and and at this point, me and Pearl’s relationship was falling apart too.
Because here I am trying I’m still doing the same things and then I get arrested. I I remember maybe the first night in jail, get one of the New Testament books. And I I would read. I just read, and for some reason, I felt a little a little better. I didn’t know what I was reading, but I read it anyways.
And and then I think that’s when, you know, God started working in my life. Know?
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Josh Mesa: I get I get shipped off to Oregon. Back in the Mainland, they offered more programs, and they have Bible studies, they have chapel. And so I started to meet other guys and then one of the other guys says, because I’ll be reading, don’t understand what I’m reading. And he said, Do you pray before you read? I said, No.
So I started and then Sophie showed me how to pray and started reading well, praying and came to a point I don’t I don’t know exactly when I became a believer, but I came to a point where I started asking more questions like, how do you how do you know what is a born again believer? Yeah. And
Gary Walton: because you’re reading that in the Bible, right?
Josh Mesa: I’m hearing it all hearing
Gary Walton: it from people. Yeah. What’s this mean?
Josh Mesa: Right. Yeah. And so what I would do a lot too was I would listen to the radio stations.
Okay. And so I hear all these things about being born again. And so I started asking questions about what did that mean? And I was on the phone with my mom one day and I was like, Mom, do you know what it is to be born again? And there was a time where I went to church with her and I been in Hawaii and she’s born again.
So I went to church with her and she after church service, they asked if she wanted to give her life to God. And that time I did the prayer, but I don’t think I Nothing changed. I didn’t know. Yeah. Nothing changed and nothing.
But I I I made the connection.
Gary Walton: Yeah. Okay.
Josh Mesa: I made the connection and and then sometime in in in prison, you know, I I knew I made that that that change had happened. I understood what it mean what I I finally understood what it meant to believe. Yeah. And and so eventually we we were in a bible study and a group of us decided or asked, can we be baptized? Mhmm.
It was funny because in prison, you know, when we’re getting baptized, we had to prep, we had to get a container. They had to have one, but we had to fill it up with hot water. And so here we are jugging a bunch of hot water through the through the unit. And people
Gary Walton: Yeah, right out in
Josh Mesa: the Yeah, people looking at us and saying, What are you doing? And laughing and making fun of us. Yeah. Got saved that day.
Gary Walton: Or I
Josh Mesa: got baptized that day.
Gary Walton: You got baptized. Earlier than that, giving your heart to God in some way, you know? Yeah. And in front of, I mean, just a bunch of guys right there in Oregon.
Josh Mesa: In Oregon.
Gary Walton: So awesome, Josh. So you got out when and tell us real quick about that. You got out and then
Josh Mesa: Yeah. So I got out in, I think, 2022. Okay. I, was trying to find a home church.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Josh Mesa: And so I went around a few churches and, ended up here.
Gary Walton: You did end up here.
Josh Mesa: I ended up here.
Gary Walton: Yeah. And
Josh Mesa: when I first came, when I first serviced, I came to, I met you, but there’s something I felt and I knew this is where I wanted to be. And so I made this my home church. Yeah.
Gary Walton: Josh has been, I mean, just faithful. Your wife, Pearl, not very long after that started coming, just a little bit, right? Not quite sure. And now, you know, she’s here so faithfully and your little kids. You got how many kids are
Josh Mesa: between So I got two kids with Pearl now.
Gary Walton: OK.
Josh Mesa: And, yeah, they’re down at the ELC now. Yeah. And it’s beautiful.
Gary Walton: It is beautiful. If you don’t know Josh, those of you that are listening, Josh has just such a joy in his life and the evidence of a transformed life are all over him and just brings so much joy to our church and our church families. Loved serving in areas. Just came back from a missions trip to I mean, we could talk about all kinds of stuff that God’s doing in your life, Josh. It’s been such a thrill see all of that.
We’re coming up on Easter. We’re gonna launch a new cohort of a Wednesday evening ministry that you’ve been involved with, Josh, for a couple years. I’m actually gonna pull Pastor Ken into this real quick. But Ken, could you tell us about Re-gen, what it is, what’s next? Josh has been involved for a little bit.
Ken Keith: Yeah. So Regen is a program that we started a little over a year ago and meets on Wednesday nights at 7:00PM. We come together as a group, walk through some teaching, and then we split up into different cohorts, based on when you when you come into the program and then based on gender, male, female. And in those, what’s unique about it is in those, we take a deep dive into God’s Word and allow God’s Word to change us. Regen is really based off the idea of regeneration in the Scripture, and we see this awesome picture in our salvation where Jesus Christ gave himself, substituted his life for us, that’s what we’re celebrating this Easter.
And then we read of our final glorification one day when we’re gonna be made perfect and where sin’s not gonna be part of our story anymore. I mean, we’re not having to learn about love and, you know, get convicted and Pastor Gary’s message, hearing what First Corinthians says about love and trying to work that out, we’re now perfect. And and it’s amazing. Can’t imagine that. But we’ve got this in between time where God’s, you know, doing a work in us.
And in this time, he’s given us really three things. His son is who saved us, but he’s given us his spirit. He’s given us his word, and he’s given us his church. And those are really the foundations to what the power is behind Regen. It’s not the program, it’s not the steps, it’s not the booklets you get, it’s not any of that.
It’s those three things combined. We really are relying on the spirit to lead us and and help us understand his word. And then we have this camaraderie, this accountability, and you see this throughout the scripture in all the one another passages where we come together and help one another, whether that’s confessing sins to one another, whether that’s exhorting one another, whether that’s just praying for one another and loving one another. But what we’ve seen is God change. And know, Josh and I went through the program together, and it’s amazing just as God revealed.
We would talk about this. And just so you know, I mean we’re kind of talking about this in the open right now. Right. Because Josh is willing, I’m willing, in these really nothing we have a whole brotherhood for the guys. You know, we’re we’re not talking about what we’re discussing in there.
Even amongst the pastors, amongst our family, we’re it’s we’re we’re helping each other grow through this. But as as we’re talking, you know, today openly about this, just God working and and us allowing God to to do a work again through his spirit, through his word, and and using his people, his church. So it’s a phenomenal opportunity. If you’re struggling, honestly, I tell people, if you’re human, you need it. Right.
You really do. There’s it’s funny as I learned a little bit about this and met with some of the people who started this program, they said it’s not uncommon for a husband or a wife to bring the other in. Like, hey, I’ll go with you because you need this. And then you find out you need it. Here I am, you know, this does not mean I’m super spiritual, but I’m a pastor.
I’ve got Biblical training, I’ve got these things. And I did go in a little bit like this is, you know, I love this, this is some of the stuff I’ve been taught, this is some of the stuff I’ve taught. So I kind of came in with a, I don’t know, man, God worked me over, God worked my wife over, and and drew us closer to him. And so really at any stage, whether it’s I can’t say no to fill in the blank, whether it’s fear to a substance to a lost, whatever it is, Regens for you. If it’s I just feel there’s a distance, I just feel I need to grow, and God, this is an intense discipleship where you’re around other people, by the way, who need it to and an opportunity to grow together.
Gary Walton: Well, it’s such a clear theology of change, and we all want change. We all have things that are part of our lives that we don’t want. So this is really a biblical understanding of how does my life change? What does those three things, God’s Spirit, God’s Church and God’s Word, how is it used together to see my life change? And it’s really been cool to see the first group.
We’re talking about it today because of Easter. I mean, that’s regeneration. We’re talking about it because you’re launching a new cohort, so now is a good time for, you know, new people to jump in.
Ken Keith: Yeah, so the twenty third will be the first time. What I tell people, if you’re at all interested, if you’re at all interested, really the twenty third, thirtieth, and the May 7 are kind of this open time. There will be a time when that cohort gets closed and we break out into those groups a little bit more where it becomes more of a of a accountability. We’re we’re just talking truth to one another. Those first couple weeks though, you could get a flavor and feel for it, you could see what we go through, kind of what it is.
You’ll actually come alongside another cohort that’s going. We’ll all be together and then we’ll all split up. So you’ll be able to get a feel for it. So I encourage people, if you’re at all curious about it, the next three weeks come through, see what’s going on, we’ll answer all the questions and encourage you. If God’s prompting you at all or you’re just like you said, pastor, you just want you want this to be a new beginning.
Mhmm. You know, something’s gotta change and I don’t even know really what. Yeah. I don’t know what’s bothering me. I don’t know what’s behind this.
This would be a great opportunity to grow with us.
Gary Walton: Josh, I know that you’ve been part of one of those early groups going through Regen. At the end of that first section, you guys share a testimony of what Regen means to you. Would you be willing to share that?
Josh Mesa: Oh yeah, sure. Okay. So before coming to Regen, I struggle to get through a single day without drinking. I had a few drinks to relax, loosen up, or just have a good time. I didn’t think I had a problem really.
I was wasn’t drinking to get drunk and I wasn’t trying to out drink anyone. Sure there were times when I started drinking as early as 9AM or even during work hours. And I sometimes show up to Wednesday night service at Harvest after having a few drinks. I still felt like I had under control. Know, after all, I knew what it meant to be out of control.
Right. You know, like I said earlier in the early two thousand’s I started using crystal meth and I quickly learned how to manufacture it. And that knowledge led me down a dark destructive path. I loved the false sense and power the drugs gave me. I was arrogant, self righteous, and convinced that I earned everything I had.
I gave no credit to God. I lived a reckless, lawless lifestyle and for many years until February until 04/25/2018 when I was arrested for receiving drugs in the mail that led to a fifty one month sentence in federal prison. But it was in that prison that I met the Lord and gave my life to Him. It’s been over five years since I used drugs. Even after all that transformation though, I wasn’t ready to give up alcohol.
I had already walked away from meth, changed my lifestyle and built a relationship with God, made Harvest my home church and joined a community group. But the Holy Spirit kept stirring in me and convincing me about my drinking. And I had a few honest conversations with Pastor Gary and when Regeneration became available, he pulled me aside and suggested I check it out. At first I thought the program had been made just for me, which sounds silly now. But on the day one I realized I wasn’t alone and Regen wasn’t just for people with substance abuse issues.
It was about sin in every form. And that excited me. I took the self assessment and discovered other areas in my life that need healing and areas I haven’t been aware of. So I committed to regen six weeks at a time until it became something I truly wanted to do. And here I am 12 steps later.
I wish I could stand here today and say I stopped drinking the moment I joined Regen, but I can’t. Still, that doesn’t mean God hasn’t given me victories. Today I’ve let go of the desire to keep drinking. And my prayer is that God will completely remove that craving from my life in His time. Step 10, it’s called Continue, has become especially important to me.
Because it reminds me to keep examining my life, to confess sin promptly, and turn back and walk with Christ. I know if I’m not careful I could easily fall back to the very sin that once enslaved me. Yeah. Yeah. And I say something about the men I’ve met through Regen is the relationships I’ve built here are special.
Something about fighting alongside another man in battle.
Gary Walton: Yeah.
Josh Mesa: It creates a deep bond. Yeah. And I’m so thankful for those guys. Yeah. Mhmm.
Gary Walton: Josh, that’s so powerful.
Josh Mesa: Yeah.
Gary Walton: There is something about fighting alongside other men in battle. Yeah. And if, if Christian men don’t realize they’re in a battle, then we’re in trouble. Thank you, man, for being willing to share, you know, so genuinely, so transparently about God’s work in your life. When we come to Easter, you know, this picture that Jesus changes things.
He regenerates our lives, makes them new. It’s a powerful story. Josh, thank you for being willing to share this with thank for having me. Yeah. Pastor Ken, thanks for being willing to come in.
Praying for this new cohort. You lead it alongside your wife, Sam. There’s a men and ladies. And, if if anybody has any questions, they can contact you.
Ken Keith: Yeah. Yeah. Please do. Love to answer those.
Chris Harper: Well, thank you for listening to this edition of Harvest Time. Of course, at this point in the program, we wanna invite you again to services this weekend at Harvest Baptist Church. It’d be a great weekend to join us. Easter services, 8:45AM, 10:45AM. Remember, have Japanese and Korean translation during the 10:45AM service.
You can also hear that service live here on 88.1FM and khmg.org. We hope to see you this resurrection Sunday. Thanks again for listening to harvest time.