#31. Streets to Service: Bryan Hall’s Transformation and Triumph at the Eureka Rescue Mission

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome Bryan Hall to the 100% Humboldt podcast.

Bryan Hall: Good to see you, Scott.

Scott Hammond: How's it going?

Bryan Hall: I'm good.

Scott Hammond: Good. Good to see you. Man, it is chilly out today, boy. Woo. Need to feel some of that on the way in.

Bryan Hall: Supposed to be, um, emergency weather shelter tonight.

Scott Hammond: Oh, is that right?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's gonna be that cold.

Bryan Hall: It's gonna be 38 or something like that, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And as the Mission Eureka Rescue Mission director-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … you would, you'd have a pulse of that. So tell us, tell us what your job is. What are your duties, your calling? What, uh, how, how did you … We'll talk about how you got there, but what, what do you currently do?

Bryan Hall: I'm the executive director.

Scott Hammond: Okay. And what does that mean?

Bryan Hall: That means I oversee everything, and I'm responsible for everything.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So define everything. How many beds? How big, how big is the mission here?

Bryan Hall: Well, we have about over 100 beds-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Bryan Hall: … I think at the men's shelter, and the women's shelter right now, I'm not sure.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Probably 60-something.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Are they housed together down in Old Town, or are they separate?

Bryan Hall: Yes. Well, yeah, on 3rd Street is the women's shelter.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: 2nd Street is the men's.

Scott Hammond: Okay, gotcha.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They're in-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … kind of the opposite sides-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … of the block.

Bryan Hall: Two different buildings.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha. And, uh, how did you, um, how did you get to … So tell us your story, your, your God story, your testimony, your … You have, you have a pretty colorful background.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I do.

Scott Hammond: I'll let you tell that. Ple- please share.

Bryan Hall: Uh, how far back do you want me to go?

Scott Hammond: Uh, I don't know, till you were a kid in, you know, in Redding or wherever you're

Scott Hammond: from.

Bryan Hall: I've always … I'm a Humboldt County boy, been here my whole life.

Bryan Hall: Um-

Scott Hammond: You might say 100% Humboldt.

Bryan Hall: 100% Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I was adopted when I was a baby.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And, um, uh, my mom and dad took me to

Bryan Hall: Orleans.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And so I spent three or four years, I think, in Orleans, and then we moved to Metropolitan. You know where, uh, Chapman's, uh, Gem and Mineral Shop is?

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: Just right down the road from that is-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Bryan Hall: … a dairy.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: And I lived right behind the big house-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … what we called it, and in a trailer house there.

Bryan Hall: And Al-

Scott Hammond: Right off the 101 down there, yeah.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm. Yeah, Albert Cardoza was my uncle.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. He used to be a bartender in, um, uh, Ferndale.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: And so he's, he's been passed away for a couple, three years. But yeah, so I was raised on the farm.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, had a good life, um, good mom, good

Bryan Hall: dad.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Bryan Hall: You know, I grew up with a bunch of cousins. They're like brothers and sisters, and you know, it was just your normal childhood, running around in the fields barefoot.

Scott Hammond: Farm, farm kid.

Bryan Hall: Stepping in cow patties, and the warm ones were the best on a cold day.

Scott Hammond: On a …

Bryan Hall: Yeah. So-

Scott Hammond: Gross, but probably on a cold day-

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … maybe not.

Bryan Hall: So, um, yeah, and experienced all the farmhood things, uh, when I was a kid, so.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: Uh, just, uh, you know, like I say, I grew up really well. We moved from there up to Hydesville.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, uh, went to Hydesville School. I think it was my seventh grade, eighth grade is when I s- I tried my first, uh, taste of marijuana.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I didn't like it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: I didn't like the way it made me feel. I got real paranoid.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: But there were a couple of friends of mine that I wanted to hang out with, and that's what they did, so.

Scott Hammond: They were smoking weed.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Before you know it, Mom and Dad got a divorce. My dad was an alcoholic.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um-

Scott Hammond: Whose wasn't, right?

Bryan Hall: Hmm. I know. Back then it was-

Scott Hammond: My goodness

Bryan Hall: … it was a, a big

Bryan Hall: … You know, a big thing was beer. Beer and football.

Scott Hammond: Yep. Yep. Cigarettes. Yep. They-

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Um-

Scott Hammond: All the folks in Iowa where I'm from, they would get drunk and fight at the, the pub. They'd just … Fighting was the other pastime, I guess.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They, they … My dad told all these stories. It's like you guys, wow, people don't do that here.

Bryan Hall: Right.

Scott Hammond: That much.

Bryan Hall: Right. Yeah, I, I don't hang out with those that do. I like to keep my face in

Bryan Hall: form.

Scott Hammond: Absolutely. I like my face like it is.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: So, um,

Bryan Hall: uh, ended up going to Fortuna High School.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, and still smoking pot, and then I tried, um, methamphetamine for the first time.

Scott Hammond: Wow, in high school.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And, um, you know, I can just, I could just tell you it went all bad after that.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: You know, it took a good moral kid that had, um … I di- I didn't know Jesus when I was a kid.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: But I had an experience with Jesus when I was a kid, and I didn't have a Bible. I didn't have anybody take me to church.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Bryan Hall: Um, but, uh, Billy Graham on TV, and I can remember when I was just seven years old, eight years old, uh, sitting on the couch. My mom would call me in from being outside playing, and she would call me in, tell me Billy Graham was on TV tonight. And so I'd come in and take my bath and sit down on the couch and watch him. And I can remember crying more than one occasion watching him.

Scott Hammond: He was great.

Bryan Hall: Crying, uh, when he, when he got done and h- everybody went forward, he would do the altar call.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: Um, I wished I was there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And so I would get on my knees-

Scott Hammond: Right

Bryan Hall: … in the living room, and I said a prayer, and I, I received Jesus.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Bryan Hall: Um, but again, I didn't have anybody taking me to church. Nobody had a Bible. Nobody taught me the ways of the Lord, so I-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … I look back on my life now through all the things I've been through. I mean, some really bad things.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I can see His hand on my life protecting me for,

Bryan Hall: for today. There's no doubt in my mind-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … that He had a hold of me and that He came into my heart all those years ago.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Bryan Hall: Um, but so I go to high school on drugs-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … getting in trouble.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: Uh, got out of Fortuna High School, didn't graduate, went to East High School.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um-

Scott Hammond: Is that like a continuation school?

Bryan Hall: It was a continuation high school, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Fortuna.

Bryan Hall: East High.

Scott Hammond: In Fortuna?

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Kind of a-

Scott Hammond: Play football or sports?

Bryan Hall: No, I wished I did.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: You know, I look back now, I wish I, I see them graduate, and the kids get up, and they get their diplomas and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … you know, my heart just sinks-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … that I didn't, I didn't do that.

Scott Hammond: You're like me. You're on the party team, starting quarterback for the- … ball, the bong team. Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, it was, it was, uh, uh … You know, I regret a lot of things. I wish that I would've finished-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Bryan Hall: … the high school and, and maybe been a jock. I probably would've made a good football player, quarterback or something.

Scott Hammond: Funny, yeah. It's a funny story how many people turn out, they turn out okay. They, they … Those are terrible years that, uh, that were, uh, terribly fun.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And it's arguably, but terrible in terms of theirMaybe their long-term possibilities, but how God, uh, yanked some of us out of that stuff.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And I think some people with, with or without God grow out of it, too. There's, there's that element, so, uh, shout out to you guys that do that. Um, so what … So what happened after school? Just got down- downhill?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Um, you know, I'd been to jail a few times.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: All drug-related. Um, and I can, uh, I can take you fast-forward, um, to 34 years ago.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Uh, I was in Eureka drinking at the Schooner Saloon.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I met this beautiful girl named Karen.

Scott Hammond: That's right down by the mission, right?

Bryan Hall: On Third Street, yeah. And she was just, man, you knock

Bryan Hall: out.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: And so I, I was hoping I would go home with her that night, but it didn't work out.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: And so, um, I went home to living in Hydesville at the time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, I had given her my number and, and, uh, I thought, "Nah, she'll never call." Man, that very next day she called me.

Scott Hammond: She called you. Her-

Bryan Hall: She called me, yeah.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Bryan Hall: Three months later we were married.

Scott Hammond: Wait. They never call.

Bryan Hall: Call.

Scott Hammond: But they c- she called. That's great.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Three months.

Bryan Hall: Three months later, yeah, we were married.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And we, uh, uh, I was working at the sawmill at the time, uh, pulling green chain at Eel River Sawmills, Mill A.

Scott Hammond: That was out in Hydesville, Carlotta.

Bryan Hall: That's right. As you're going to Rio Dell-

Scott Hammond: Oh, right

Bryan Hall: … uh, right before you go over the bridge to go to Rio Dell, you should be on the side of the big mill-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … and I worked there.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Worked my butt off.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And, um, drinking after work, and so the party life, but got fairly responsible.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Um, but then, um, June 19th, 2002, uh, we had built a home in Fortuna, um, on Murray Court, right off of Thelma Avenue.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And brand spanking new home.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And, um, I had, uh, gone to work for another company after that.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, I was off on disability, and, um, I'd learned how to make methamphetamines.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And so on June 19th, 2002-

Scott Hammond: It's like Breaking Bad kinda guy.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah. It was … Yeah, all the stuff that was on the streets was not potent.

Scott Hammond: Just-

Bryan Hall: So I figured I'd make my own.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: This is kinda like growing your own, I guess, if you're-

Bryan Hall: Uh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … a weed guy.

Bryan Hall: It's a little different, but

Scott Hammond: Ramifications are quite different.

Bryan Hall: Right. Yeah. So, uh, needless to say that I did get caught. Uh, I was raided by the Humboldt County Drug Task Force.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Bryan Hall: And a drug enforcement agency from Redding came over, and we lost our home, lost my kids, lost my wife, lost everything.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: In one fell swoop.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: In, uh, September of 2002, I was sitting in San Quentin Prison, West Block, fifth tier,

Bryan Hall: cell two-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Bryan Hall: … uh, waiting to go down to California Rehabilitation Center, which is a big, long name for a level two prison.

Scott Hammond: Where's that at?

Bryan Hall: That's down in, um, well, down by LA.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: It's, um

Bryan Hall: … I forgot the name of the place.

Scott Hammond: There's a couple down by Bakersfield-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … that way, but anyway.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you were gonna go bye-bye.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I went bye-bye for a while.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: My wife went through to Streams of Living Water. Um, we never got divorced.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, I spent 14 months

Bryan Hall: and got out, and did do- good for a while.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Uh, started lifting weights, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … I was listening to ungodly counsel.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, and so I was gonna file for divorce and thinking that she was going to be the one that was, you know, causing me to live a life like that.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: When really, you know, it was my own sinful nature.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: And I wasn't being the man that I should've been and the father that I should've

Bryan Hall: been.

Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah.

Bryan Hall: So I, I broke a lot of things, you know.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: A lot of hearts.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What's Streams of Living Water? Let's go back. What, what was she-

Bryan Hall: That's, uh, Sue Tilley-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … at the time, uh, was running that.

Bryan Hall: And, um, um, she, it was a I don't know how many long, a year, I think, program.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: It was a live-in program, so.

Scott Hammond: Where she went to that.

Bryan Hall: She went to that. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Was that up here near Eureka, Humboldt?

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: It's where-

Scott Hammond: And-

Bryan Hall: … the women's, uh, center is, I think, on, um … It's, it's at downtown Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And so while I was in prison, she was there.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And so, yeah.

Scott Hammond: With the kids?

Bryan Hall: Uh, no.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: No. The kids-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … actually went with my sister-in-law, who worked for, um, the Department of Health and Human Services, and so she got the kids, thank God.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And they went into her custody for 14 months.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: More than that. And so we fought and fought and finally got our kids back.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Good for you guys.

Bryan Hall: But then, you know, the story didn't end well there-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … 'cause I got out of prison, and I had tattoos all over me, and I was lifting weights, and I was a big guy, and I thought I was all that, you know.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, I got hooked back into meth. Not cooking meth, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … but using meth.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And then, uh, got arrested again.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: On probation probably.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I think I just, I just, uh … Uh, the day that I finished my parole, I think it was the day after, that I actually got arrested again.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: And then I got OR'd, so I was on felony probation, and then I did another crime, and yeah, I was, I was looking at six years prison.

Scott Hammond: So they just send you back up at that point.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah. That was-

Scott Hammond: I take it that didn't happen?

Bryan Hall: That didn't happen.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. I lied. I mean, I could tell you what happened, the crime.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: It's pretty comical.

Scott Hammond: Okay. If it, if it's a good story, absolutely.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Bryan Hall: It's a terrible story.

Scott Hammond: Cheers. It's-

Bryan Hall: It's gonna … Everybody out there looking at me right now is gonna go, "Dude, you are so stupid."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I know.

Scott Hammond: Could say that for most of us. At least you're being honest about it.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. It was early morning.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Bryan Hall: I had gone down and stolen … A guy that I was with broke into an Ace Hardware van.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And we popped the lock off the side of it and went in and got a bunch of stuff out-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Bryan Hall: … put it in my truck, and took it back to the apartment, and, um, had forgotten a knife sharpenerThat was

Bryan Hall: inside.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: And so, um, I thought, "Where's the knife sharpener?" And he goes, "Oh, we must have left it there."

Scott Hammond: In the van?

Bryan Hall: In, in the, in the semi truck trailer, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Geez.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. So, I know.

Scott Hammond: Better go back and get it.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, and that's what I was thinking. A friend of mine wanted some heroin, so he gave me some money, and I jumped in my truck, and I was gonna go get his heroin, and it was still dark, and I thought, "Oh, I'll go get that knife sharpener."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And so I went down, parked the truck down the street, went back in, got greedy, tried to shut the door to go inside and get more stuff.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Bryan Hall: But while I was in there, the trucker that was staying at the motel room came back- … to get, early morning, to go do his route.

Scott Hammond: Right. Lock-

Bryan Hall: And he heard, he heard me in the back, yeah, and locked me in the back of that-

Scott Hammond: Perfect

Bryan Hall: … pitch, yeah.

Bryan Hall: So.

Scott Hammond: We're going for a drive.

Bryan Hall: Oh, it was terrible.

Scott Hammond: Boy.

Bryan Hall: So my story was that, you know, it was somebody else in the truck, 'cause I made my way through the top of the truck-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Bryan Hall: … with a couple gardening tools while he was calling the police.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And I was on top a pallet, and peeled the aluminum top of that truck back and-

Scott Hammond: Got out of there somehow

Bryan Hall: … I went out through the top, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh. To get your knife sharpener?

Bryan Hall: No.

Scott Hammond: No.

Bryan Hall: I, it, it's still in the truck.

Scott Hammond: Still in the truck.

Bryan Hall: Locked.

Scott Hammond: The proverbial truck.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. So long story short, I got arrested, and, um, I was looking at six years. I was, I made up a story that I heard somebody in the van. I got up on top and was trying to help him out the hole, and it was-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Bryan Hall: … just stupid. I lied to my attorney. I lied to everybody.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And it was the early morning, about 3:30. I was in Dorm 385, H Quad, and, uh, Ryan Craig was the correctional officer.

Scott Hammond: This is here?

Bryan Hall: At Humboldt County Jail.

Scott Hammond: Downtown?

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna-

Scott Hammond: Was that the Pig House then? Was it down, the, the same one we know-

Bryan Hall: Yep

Scott Hammond: … today? Okay.

Bryan Hall: The new jail, yep.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, I, uh, I, God pr- impressed upon my heart, said, "I want you to tell the truth."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And I had to tell somebody in authority the truth. I knew I wasn't gonna get

Bryan Hall: out, um, but God spoke to my heart and said, "The truth is gonna set you free."

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. So I got on my little jailhouse slip- slippers and walked up, and Ryan was standing there at the podium, and I told him I did it, and he looked at me, and he said, "You did what?" I said, "I did the crime."

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Bryan Hall: "I've been lying all along."

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: "I'm guilty, and I deserve to be here."

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good for you.

Bryan Hall: And he kinda looked at me, and he said, "Oh. Okay, cool." And I turned around and walked back to my bed, and I felt like a million pounds was taken off of me.

Scott Hammond: Amazing.

Bryan Hall: And God gave me a peace that was beyond anything I could ever describe.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: Um, I knew I was going to prison, but he was gonna take care of me.

Bryan Hall: And so-

Scott Hammond: That's great.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. It was strange.

Scott Hammond: So who, who was Ryan again? He was the, he was correctional officer?

Bryan Hall: Ryan Craig, yeah, corrections.

Scott Hammond: He's the overnight guy.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow, okay.

Bryan Hall: And I, I, he's a good friend of mine today.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: You probably know a lot of these guys that you-

Bryan Hall: I do

Scott Hammond: … had run-ins with, right?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's funny.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's great. It's funny. It's wonderful.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Actually, it's great.

Bryan Hall: About a week later, after I did that, or two weeks later, he, um, had come back from vacation. And, um, I was laying on my bed, and he came up to my little bed and leaned over the concrete wall and said-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Bryan Hall: … um, "I had some lunch with some higher-ups this weekend."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I said, "Okay." And he goes, "Yeah, we talked about you."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I said, "You talked about me?" And he goes, "Yeah. Don't blow it this time."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And, um, I tried to get more information out of him. Even to this day, he won't tell me who he talked to.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um-

Scott Hammond: Higher-ups

Bryan Hall: … some higher-ups. Yeah, I don't know who they were, but-

Scott Hammond: They're in the top. They're way up there

Bryan Hall: … he talked to the right person.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Uh, because I was completely transparent. I'm being honest, and I had repented-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … and asked God to forgive me.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And, um,

Bryan Hall: he, um, wouldn't tell me, and a couple, three weeks later, I went to court, and the district attorney came off of six years mandatory prison.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And they gave me probation.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And I needed a Christian program, wanted a Christian program, but I didn't know

Bryan Hall: where to go.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And my, um, uh, uh, probation officer, uh, we were just brainstorming places, and I said something like, "I heard the Rescue Mission had a program." And she said, "That's it." She got on the phone and was talking with Steve Lorenz-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … just seconds later.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, uh, the next day I had an interview, and two days later I was in the program at the Rescue Mission.

Scott Hammond: Wow, okay.

Bryan Hall: It's been about 17, over 17 years now.

Scott Hammond: So there were those in the jail ministry, uh, while you were there, too, right?

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Steve Darnell or Russ Knett, was any of those names?

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I, I, I remember the names.

Bryan Hall: Um, Stuart Sundet.

Scott Hammond: S- Sundet, yep.

Bryan Hall: Stuart was, he, he would come in there. But I know- I had known Stuart from before when I'd got saved, radically saved years

Bryan Hall: ago.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: And, um-

Scott Hammond: Small county

Bryan Hall: … oh, I didn't wanna see him when he came in jail because I was so ashamed.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: You know? But, um, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love it, man. You're super raw and honest.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: This is, I was a liar. I was, I was lying through my teeth.

Bryan Hall: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And then, which makes the, which makes the confession and the, the turning, turning away from that, turning toward God just that much more

Scott Hammond: real.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? And-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … free. I slept good that night.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, it felt great.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. When he pushes on your heart and you're in the wrong,

Bryan Hall: um, you need to respond.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good word. Truth shall set you free.

Bryan Hall: It will, yeah. I had no idea-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … when he told me that, God spoke to my spirit.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: I had no idea that he really meant that he was gonna set me free.

Scott Hammond: Literally free.

Bryan Hall: Literally, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you got to go to the, the Mission then.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: What, how did that go?

Bryan Hall: Oh, it was great. Yeah, my first two weeks I stayed there in the dorm-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … with the homeless people-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Bryan Hall: … because there was no room in the program member rooms.

Scott Hammond: All those people.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: And I d- was just like, "Oh my goodness."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: I didn't know what to think. I thought there was a program house uptown-

Scott Hammond: Right

Bryan Hall: … you know, that the Mission sponsored and had.

Scott Hammond: The biggest screen TV.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, but I didn't know I was gonna be in the shelter with the homeless people.

Scott Hammond: On a cot or whatever.

Bryan Hall: In, in a bunk bed, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: With somebody above and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. It didn't smell good.

Scott Hammond: No, I'm sure.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: I didn't wanna take my shoes off and-

Scott Hammond: Probably still doesn't

Bryan Hall: Now it actually smells good now

Scott Hammond: Is it better? Okay.

Bryan Hall: Well-

Scott Hammond: Well, you would know

Bryan Hall: … as much as we can.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Do what you can.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So how long were you in the program then?

Bryan Hall: It's about a year.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: I did 10 months. At the time, it was a 10-month program.

Scott Hammond: Do you guys do outside work and stuff like-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … day- daytime stuff?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. We do out, we go out in the community and clean up stuff, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So how would that differ from Redwood Teen Challenge in terms of what you guys do day to day? I, I imagine it's a pretty structured program.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Ours isn't nearly as structured as Teen Challenge is.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, Teen Challenge has more of a curriculum and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … um, uh, our, ours, that would never work where we're at-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … uh, with the homeless folks. Yeah. There's no way.

Scott Hammond: Two different demographics.

Bryan Hall: Two different demographics, two different styles, but the same Jesus.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: You know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well, you're meeting people where they're at.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Saw a thing on the Sisters of St. Joseph this week. I'm, I'm on a board, and it's a really good video if you ever get to see it. The, the sisters came here. There was no hospital in Eureka.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Nothing. And there's eight or 10 of them-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and they just hit the streets, and they wanted to find needs, and, "Hey, let's start a hospital." And they, they did, and they … This was ground, you know, ground zero for the S- the Sisters

Scott Hammond: of Orange-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … who later went to Vancouver and Orange-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … Orange County, and quite a, quite a … You know, met people where they're at.

Bryan Hall: Yep. Yep.

Scott Hammond: So you did a year. What, did you then go to the work- workforce, go back to work or?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Um, I was going to go to Bible college, and the director at the time, Dan

Bryan Hall: Ice-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … told me that people aren't praying if they're gonna help me financially. They're praying how much they're gonna-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Bryan Hall: … give me to go-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … to Bible College.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. So what I was gonna, I was thinking, "How can I get all my kids together and my wife, and they're living up in the projects, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … um, I'm living at the mission. You know, how, how am I gonna put this all together?" Because it was crazy.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. The kids were running amok, and two of my kids were doing drugs, and three of them were and then-

Scott Hammond: Right

Bryan Hall: … yeah, it was really tough.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: But, um, um, then Dan asked me one day, he said, "You know, um, maybe you think maybe God might wanna use you here."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I was just like, "Man, that would be so cool."

Scott Hammond: Wouldn't that be cool?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Because I love the mission.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: I loved everybody coming in. I couldn't wait till 5:30 at night when all the homeless people come in.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: I just met, I just got to know them.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: You know, I got to know their stories, their lives and-

Scott Hammond: Every story

Bryan Hall: … yeah, I'd start with a little handshake, maybe a fist bump.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Bryan Hall: Fist bumps weren't too popular back then.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: But, um, yeah, just getting to know people, you know. And my favorite was that people didn't want to be touched because I'm affectionate. I like gi- giving-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Bryan Hall: … people hugs.

Scott Hammond: You're a hugger, yeah.

Bryan Hall: And so, uh, my favorite ones were the ones that didn't wanna give a hug, so I would work on them. And, uh, after a while, I was always getting hugs.

Scott Hammond: It's a challenge.

Bryan Hall: And I think it was a both way thing, you know, 'cause I needed the hug as much as they did, and I still do-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Bryan Hall: … to this day. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Amen.

Bryan Hall: So.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Goes both ways.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. So I, um, started at the thrift store.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I worked there for about three months. I learned, um, why.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Uh, heard a preacher say, "A man who knows how will always have a job, but the man who knows why will always be his boss."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And so God was taking me down the why road.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I learned why.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And pricing on vases and pricing on knick-knacks and things.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: Um, and just tracing that item to the shelf, to the register, to the office, to the bank, to-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … you know, to paying the bills and taking care-

Scott Hammond: Sure

Bryan Hall: … of the mission, and the very purpose of it is to-

Scott Hammond: Was it at the old Large Market or does it-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Still going strong today.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We're big donors, man. I'm a big fan.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. You guys are awesome. Thank you.

Scott Hammond: They do, no, they do a great job.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Eureka

Scott Hammond: Rescue-

Bryan Hall: Mission

Scott Hammond: … Thrift- Mission Thrift Store.

Bryan Hall: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What's the address on Broadway? Shout out.

Bryan Hall: 10, 1031 Broadway, Eureka.

Scott Hammond: So it's right there by, uh, Don's Rental and-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … well, Leon's.

Bryan Hall: Kind of across the street.

Scott Hammond: Leon's Lovely.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, Leon's is-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … the gas station and then Le- and then Leon's, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you guys have nice stuff. It's, it's-

Bryan Hall: Yeah, really nice stuff.

Scott Hammond: Pretty-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … pretty nice stuff.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Gently used items. I mean, we'll take any kind of donation. There's days we don't take linens and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … uh, various things. There's a board out in the alleyway where-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … you drop stuff off.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: It tells you what we're taking that day or not, so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: No cash.

Bryan Hall: Mm.

Scott Hammond: No. Kidding.

Bryan Hall: Oh, you can bring cash.

Scott Hammond: You can bring cash. I have, I have a big bucket of cash.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, so, uh, how, does, how much, uh, without saying how much of that funds the

Scott Hammond: … Is it a chunk of what funds the mission in Old Town?

Bryan Hall: Ev- every bit of the proceeds from the thrift store go to the ministry, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: And so-

Bryan Hall: And paying the wages.

Scott Hammond: And so-

Bryan Hall: So we offer employment

Scott Hammond: … and the folks that work there are usually m-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … mission f- program people.

Bryan Hall: Right. We have seven, seven graduates that are working there right now.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: That's wonderful.

Bryan Hall: They keep it running. Work hard too.

Scott Hammond: And, and also current, current mission folks that are maybe enrolled?

Bryan Hall: Um, I have people that, our manager's not part of the mission, has-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Bryan Hall: … and she hasn't been part of the mission. There's other employees that-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … have never been a part of the mission, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And Dan Ice, man, shout out to Dan.

Scott Hammond: What a-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … I remember when he was a roofer.

Bryan Hall: Oh, man. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, so he brought you in, uh, up and, and raised you up in that, that

Scott Hammond: ministry.

Bryan Hall: He, he took me under his wing-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Bryan Hall: … when I was in the program.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And, um, I had no idea. So I was working under Dan, uh, at the thrift store, and then back at the shelter, I came back to the shelter as a house manager.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I did that for a couple years, worked as the men's shelter director.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Uh, so I was in charge of, uh, the men's shelter and partially the women's shelter as well. Yeah, and it was 11 years ago last September that Dan told me that I was going to be the next executive director.

Scott Hammond: Wow. And you said, "Yeah, r- okay."

Bryan Hall: I said, "Mm."

Scott Hammond: Me?

Bryan Hall: I said, "Yeah, right."

Scott Hammond: What did Moses say?

Bryan Hall: I, yeah.

Scott Hammond: To God? He goes-

Bryan Hall: How about…

Scott Hammond: "I can't even talk good." "Pick Aaron."

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah. You know, that's how I felt.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: I really did. He sat in his chair. I was in his office, meet with him-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … every Wednesday and discuss the, the ministry and things going on.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And he leaned back in his chair and tapped the arms of his chair and said, "You know, Bryan, someday you're gonna be sitting in this chair."

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Bryan Hall: And I said-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … that's when I looked at him, I said, "Yeah, right." And he goes

Bryan Hall: … One thing I learned is don't question Dan.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And I learned. He dis- so he's very, a man of good, good discipline.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Bryan Hall: And, um, yeah, he, um, he said, "No, I'm serious."

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Confident.

Bryan Hall: I'm taking a full-time p- pastor position at-… Calvary Chapel Eureka. I've already talked with the board, and you're the next guy.

Scott Hammond: Oh. It's, it's done.

Bryan Hall: I said, "I'll give you six months."

Scott Hammond: Yeah. You're a made man.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's already gonna happen.

Bryan Hall: Had to pray. Had to talk to the wife.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: And, um, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, so let's back it way up to say, uh, magnificent ministry. I'd like to talk about the history of the, the rescue

Scott Hammond: missions on, you know, all coasts, but this coast, and, and then the, the acute need that Humboldt has always had. Uh, Humboldt County's been, you know, the home of

Scott Hammond: homeless-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … homelessness-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … big time for, you know, since I've been living here.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: But especially really acute since Jerry Garcia died in '95. I mean, certainly in the 2000s, and then homelessness now is just normal.

Scott Hammond: I mean, and, and, and specifically Eureka.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Um, my observations, I don't think they're all together correct, but, you know, even Fortuna has some homeless people now, and places that we never had homeless people has a few. And, and I always marvel that some towns just don't have the pro- the, the issue.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Um, but so, so history of homelessness in Humboldt, what are you- what are your

Scott Hammond: thoughts?

Bryan Hall: You know, when I was a kid, I never noticed.

Bryan Hall: Um, uh, the Rescue Mission became the Rescue Mission in 1967, and I was born in 1965, so there was a need.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, and I can remember, um, in my dad's orange, um, Plymouth Scamp-

Bryan Hall: … with my mom, and it had the… I forgot the top, the roof. It was, like, uh, vinyl, but it was-

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Uh, we would drive through Old Town Eureka, and I would always beg to drive through Old Town, so I could look at, at the winos and the bums.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And, uh, I never could figure out why they were laying on the sidewalk. I couldn't understand that.

Bryan Hall: Why s-

Scott Hammond: This is, this is before Old Town had a retrofit and a renaissance, and-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it hadn't been gentrified quite yet, right?

Bryan Hall: I was probably seven years old, eight years old, six, seven.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, so Old Town was still pretty gross back in the day, right?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Probably. I don't remember much except for watch- and looking out the window, uh, in the back of the car and seeing people laying on the sidewalk in the doorways.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, my dad always said, "Those are winos and bums."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: So, um, but I couldn't figure it out. I was thinking like, "Why, why would they… You know, why do they lay on the sidewalk? Why don't they lay in their bed?"

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: You know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And I, I never knew, and I understand now.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: I know, I know why. Yeah. Primarily substance abuse.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: Alcoholism. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Mental i- illness too.

Bryan Hall: Now, more so now. Maybe back then, I don't know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Um, but now it's really, really prevalent. There's a lot of mentalness, illness.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Yeah. It's, uh, really sad. It's really sad.

Scott Hammond: The chief was here a couple weeks ago, and he said, "You know, that's… The training is different for that now."

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm. It is.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's not all just a whole total enforcement.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … counseling. It's-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it's coming, coming in gentle and soft-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and trying to figure it out.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, yeah, different world.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But so this coast, this part, this county, this town has been kind of a

Scott Hammond: magnet for, I, I think, a, a westward migration, and it is kind of the end of the line in some ways, right? Could that-

Bryan Hall: Well, right-

Scott Hammond: Is that-

Bryan Hall: … right on the coast.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's kinda part of it. I mean, I guess you could go to San Francisco or San Diego. The weather's better. But-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … seems like a lot, lot of folks end up here.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, and I imagine many with different stories, which we'll get to in a minute. I'll, I'll ask you about maybe some of the more memorable stories, uh, 'cause I imagine you have dozens. But, um, so w- what do we know about the m- the, the Rescue Mission system? I know, um, George Vaughn, who used to work with us at the Tri-City newspaper, he, he worked at the PDX Mission-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … in Portland, which is apparently a pretty big one.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Uh, where are there other missions, uh, up and down the coast?

Bryan Hall: Uh, I haven't been. I know Santa Rosa has one.

Scott Hammond: Oh, do they?

Bryan Hall: But I haven't been out-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … uh, to visit those.

Scott Hammond: But they exist, and they-

Bryan Hall: Uh, Redding has one.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Um, larger areas, of course, they're a lot, uh, bigger.

Scott Hammond: Sacramento would have one of some sort-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … downtown.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. There was, uh, it used to be called the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, and now it's called City Gate.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: And so we are a part of that.

Bryan Hall: Um, it's a networking of, uh, missions all across the country.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Was that started by, uh, like a specific denomination?

Bryan Hall: I, I don't know.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Bryan Hall: I don't know how that started.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Um, but, um,

Bryan Hall: um, gosh, um, John is his name. He's no longer the CEO.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: But, uh, we had him up here for a fundraiser.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right. Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, and he spoke. And so,

Bryan Hall: um, a- and now it's somebody else. I don't know who it is. So-

Scott Hammond: So it's c- it's, so it's an association, but i- it's, it's loosely knit in the sense of-

Bryan Hall: Yeah. They're, they're not telling us what to do.

Scott Hammond: Right. So you guys are autonomous.

Scott Hammond: You do what-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … what you, what's good for Eureka.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha. And I imagine most of them don't have a thrift store.

Bryan Hall: Uh, there's a few that do. I know that, you know, ours is, for the area, is pretty good sized. There's-

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the old Larry's Market.

Scott Hammond: That was-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … that was pretty big.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: A lot of square foot.

Bryan Hall: Big, big floor. Yep.

Scott Hammond: Any idea how big that is? Must be-

Bryan Hall: I don't

Scott Hammond: … 10,000. It's a pretty big store.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: I, I should know because they're, we're getting a bid to put a new roof on it, so.

Scott Hammond: Oh, you'll know soon.

Bryan Hall: Cool. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That'll be real money.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I know it.

Scott Hammond: Is A&I gonna do it?

Bryan Hall: I, I actually-

Scott Hammond: I know

Bryan Hall: … I, I called A&I to get an estimate.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, so.

Scott Hammond: Dan w- by the way, was a heck of a pastor at, at, uh-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Calvary Ark-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … Eureka, sorry.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, always good to see him, and he's a solid guy.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, uh, in fact, his son went to school with my son, uh, 100 years ago, but… So tell us a couple, couple stories about, uh, folks that you met that, you know, um… I, I think homelessness is a mystery to most of us.

Scott Hammond: It's-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … it's like, it's, it's, it's the guy in, in the alley, uh, listening to Jimi Hendrix while he shoots up i- in my alley, literally on G Street downtown.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But I've gotten to know him. He's a really nice guy. He's always respectful. He's, doesn't, he, he's yes sir, no sir. And he's really a nice man. So he's, he's this human being I've gotten to know a little bit.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Um, another story is a guy wrote me a little card. He goes, "You, you never treated me like, like, uh, um, like dirt, 'cause you always spoke to me like a human being."

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so I think we forget as we drive by.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, so, so what would you say to that, that perception and maybe a couple of stories of folks and, and maybe a couple graduates? I mean, you're, you're graduating guys.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: I'm, I'm looking at Facebook all the time going-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … "Hey, there's another one."

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Um, you know, it's, there's such a mix of, across the board, um, every homeless person, drug addicted person, alcoholic or whatever you call it, whatever you wanna call them, um, is somebody's child.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: They at one time were a soft,

Bryan Hall: beautiful-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … little baby.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Um, with little fingers and little toes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And beautiful little eyes, you know?

Bryan Hall: Um, and life just takes a toll on us. We've got a sin nature, and we make bad decisions.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: We suffer the consequences, and some people get so stuck-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Bryan Hall: … um, that they either can't get help or refuse help.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: You know? And, um, you know, we see, we see, we see the bodies of broken spirits.

Scott Hammond: Hmm. Well said.

Bryan Hall: Uh, I believe that the

Bryan Hall: spirit can, um, maintain or handle a broken body, but I don't think the body can ma- uh, maintain or handle a broken spirit.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And so there's a lot-

Scott Hammond: Do you, do you see some of this?

Bryan Hall: I see broken spirits every day.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Every day.

Bryan Hall: Um, there's, um, there was… But you, but you never know. You can't judge them by the way they look.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Bryan Hall: You can, uh, but you're missing out.

Scott Hammond: I think God can un-break a spirit too, right?

Bryan Hall: Oh, he can.

Scott Hammond: Heal it.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, instant-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … instantly.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: A born-again experience and a brand new person.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Just maybe no teeth.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Right. Not the body, the spirit.

Bryan Hall: Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: But I've seen people that you'd swear they'd never make it have, uh, get born again and, and become so whole that you never… You see the before and after pictures, you just-

Scott Hammond: Didn't have the brain damage, didn't have the-

Bryan Hall: Ah, maybe some.

Scott Hammond: Some. Yeah.

Bryan Hall: But they don't realize it, you know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. That's good.

Bryan Hall: So there was a guy named Don. You know, this is several years ago. Um, Don wore the same coat. Uh, Don's coat did not smell nice. Uh, it had food on it, but he refused to ever give up the coat. There was some kind of sentimental value to that coat.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: Um, he never talked very much, uh, but I got to know him. He had really long fingernails with dirt underneath his fingernails,

Bryan Hall: a beard.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, again, he didn't talk very much. Uh, but he would say, he would start to say, "Hey, Bryan," when he would come in at night. And, um, so over the years, I just would talk to Don, and a man of few words. I would share the gospel with him, and he didn't really respond a lot because… And even then, I would be teaching at night for, um,

Bryan Hall: uh, chapel on nights when somebody wouldn't show up from a church, and, and I would share, and I, I was kind of forceful with the word sometimes-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … because I knew everybody, and they knew where I was coming from, so I could do

Bryan Hall: that.

Scott Hammond: How's Cedar doing with that, my friend Cedar?

Bryan Hall: Cedar's awesome.

Scott Hammond: Is he, is he a good preacher?

Bryan Hall: He's teaching for our guys in the, in the program. Yeah, he's phenomenal.

Scott Hammond: Oh, man.

Bryan Hall: I just love him.

Scott Hammond: Brings me great joy.

Bryan Hall: He's, he's perfect.

Scott Hammond: No, no greater joy.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Saw him, saw him today, and I thought he-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … he told me that he was doing that.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's great.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. I just love him.

Scott Hammond: So this Bryan came…

Bryan Hall: Don.

Scott Hammond: No, you're Bryan. So he came in.

Bryan Hall: Don came in.

Scott Hammond: Don came.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Um-

Scott Hammond: And you're preaching that night.

Bryan Hall: I'm preaching, yeah. And so, you know, you look at the faces. Um, you try to read the faces. Are, are they receiving? I just don't know, you know? So I just, I just, just did what I did. So, uh, Don never talked about Jesus. He never professed Christ or anything like that. Of course, I couldn't get much of a conversation out of him. But then something happened to my eye. I can't remember if it was my right eye.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, I woke up-

Scott Hammond: Hmm, that's weird. Emergency alert. That's weird. Is this a tsunami?

Bryan Hall: I hope not.

Scott Hammond: So roll the film.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. So, uh, something happened to my eye. I got some kind of a blood thing in the back of my eye, and I was losing vision out

Bryan Hall: of my eye. Um, and I had been at work that day, and I shared that night if anybody would pray for me. I'd gone to the ophthalmologist or optometrist, one of the two, and they took pictures of my eye, and they didn't know what it was, so they wanted to hurry up and get me down to Santa Rosa.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Bryan Hall: Um, but I didn't have a way to get there, and the, the guy was coming up from Santa Rosa in two days. So, um, I

Bryan Hall: was at work, and, uh, in the parking lot. I went out to get into my truck, and we had the gate, a gate with slats in the gate, and the day use area was right there, and you couldn't see in-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … um, because of the slats. And as I was walking to my truck, I heard this voice say, "Bryan, I've been praying for your eye."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, and I thought, "Who was that?" And I walked around and looked around the edge of the fence there, and it was Don.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I, and he-

Scott Hammond: Did he see you?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. He-

Scott Hammond: Oh, so he did see you prior to that.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, he, yeah, he s-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Bryan Hall: … yeah, he knew I was getting in my truck.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Bryan Hall: Um, and I walked around, and I said, "Thank you, Don."

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Bryan Hall: And he said, "I'm believing that God will heal you."

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: "And I'm praying for you."

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And I just told him, "Thank you." And I got in my truck, I went home, and the next morning, I woke up, and I'm getting ready for my day, and about 10, 15 minutes after I got up, I realizedNothing's wrong with my eyes

Scott Hammond: Wow. Healed

Bryan Hall: And I went back to the op- optometry, ophthalmologist

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: Uh, Dr. Gibb

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: And he had the specialist that came up, and they went in and looked in my eye, and they saw absolutely nothing

Scott Hammond: Wow

Bryan Hall: And so they had the photos of my eye that they took a couple of days before compared to what my eye was, and they couldn't see anything.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: Nothing.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And so just my point being is that, uh, oftentimes we see homeless people as just no good vagrants.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: But on the inside-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Bryan Hall: … there's something there. And then Don ended up leaving, and I don't know where

Bryan Hall: he went.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: I haven't s- seen or heard from him in years.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: So…

Scott Hammond: I don't know if you knew Jeff Kasunic. He was a pastor at, uh, Coastline. He t- died last, about two years ago. But he had a fella come in church once, one Sunday. Pretty rough looking. And Jeff's, if you knew him, he would, he would sit, talk with you and ask good questions. He was a great guy, and he, he sat with this guy, and he found out his story, and he, and he shared it.

Scott Hammond: He said the guy came home, uh, to his wife cheating on him with his best friend, and he went, he went crazy. He went nuts. He, he lost his mind. He lost his, his wife, his home, his job, and he'd been on the road for 10 years. And it was just… You're going, "What?" Okay, that's not the typical story, but that's another one in a collection of human stories-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … that, um, you know, the, the story we always tell ourselves is, "Oh, eh, just a bunch of bad choices. He just wants to live in the woods and, you know, in a five-gallon bucket and shoot up, and it's-"

Bryan Hall: Right

Scott Hammond: … you know, just party till…"

Bryan Hall: Right.

Scott Hammond: I don't f- you know, we don't, we don't fully narrate that, but I think a l- a lot of us prejudge in a way that's, and pre-narrate, uh, in a, in a way that we have no business doing, and it's to our detriment

Scott Hammond: because-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … um, Imago Dei, image of God.

Scott Hammond: These are-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … you know, child of God. You're right.

Scott Hammond: That was-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … that was a… I often think of that and pray for folks when I drive by and go, "That lady screaming at the top of her lungs with no teeth, who's freaking out, crying, and swearing-"

Bryan Hall: Is created in the image of God

Scott Hammond: … that was, created. And that was somebody's daughter-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … who was a really awesome sixth grader-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … and played basketball or, or did something.

Scott Hammond: And then, and then, oh my God, you know, all the, all… Then life happened.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, and she… And it's not over for her either. That's, maybe that's the hope piece that keeps-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … y- y'all going.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know, to go, "Hey, come on in."

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "Cedar's preaching tonight. You're gonna love it." "He's, he's great. You're gonna dig what he's got."

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: "It's gonna be good." So, uh, how about individual stories, right? Without names or HIPAA rules, but, uh, people that have, you've seen, um, uh, that are amazing over came odds. Um, may- maybe a super sad story. Maybe somebody that was sober 10 years and dove back in. Uh-

Bryan Hall: I've got, I got a super sad story.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: And I've got a really good story.

Scott Hammond: Let's start sad.

Bryan Hall: Um, I'll call him Rich. He came to us, um, absolutely, completely just the worst drunk I've ever seen.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: And he came in and out, in and out, in and out, and finally there was one day that he actually made a decision to come in the program.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, and he did well, and he came alive.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And you, if I showed you pictures of before, you wouldn't even be able to

Bryan Hall: tell-

Scott Hammond: You said it was a-

Bryan Hall: … that was the same person

Scott Hammond: … a real Rich. Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Bryan Hall: And so he did well for a long time,

Bryan Hall: um, and unfortunately went back to drinking and using drugs.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: Um, and I think, uh, it was behind the Bayshore Mall that they found him

Bryan Hall: overdosed.

Scott Hammond: Rough.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. So,

Bryan Hall: um, those are sad stories.

Scott Hammond: That's-

Bryan Hall: You know?

Scott Hammond: It's, it's heart-wrenching.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Especially when you have an investment, you know this person, and-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … it just happened to us. We have a good friend that graduated Teen Challenge, and I was gonna go down and work at the, uh, the headquarters in LA, and six weeks later he's dead in Motel 6 in Arcata.

Bryan Hall: Hmm.

Scott Hammond: And, uh, one, one of us got to go get his car and his, and his stuff, and it was

Scott Hammond: just… It was pretty important for my 21-year-old and I.

Scott Hammond: We-

Bryan Hall: Hmm.

Scott Hammond: I said, "Aaron, do you, do you know what we're doing right here? And do you know why?" And I s- and I explained to him that, um, Jeffrey just, uh, couldn't make it. We tried, we tried to come get him, and-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … you know, the Marines come back for their men and women, and sometimes-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … they're not there.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And he didn't, he didn't make it for whatever reasons, but-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know, that still, that still sits really f- really weird.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? And, um, uh, let- let's hear… Now we're in the sad part. Let's hear the, let's hear the, the good story.

Bryan Hall: Um, there was a probably six foot four, six foot five, uh, three, over 300 pound Hispanic male that came to the Rescue Mission, uh, deeply involved with

Bryan Hall: gangs.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Bryan Hall: Um, he came to us-

Scott Hammond: Should we give him a fake name?

Bryan Hall: Uh, I don't know.

Bryan Hall: Let's-

Scott Hammond: Jose

Bryan Hall: … let's call him Jose. Right.

Scott Hammond: Jose works.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And he came to-

Scott Hammond: Is that his real name?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And he came to us, um,

Bryan Hall: uh, still with that penitentiary gang mentality.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: Um, the Lord got ahold of him,

Bryan Hall: and, um,

Bryan Hall: it was a night and day difference.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And then he graduated, and he went to work for a local flooring company.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And then, um, he had some ups and downs and had

Bryan Hall: struggled.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, but he got back on his feet and then, um, started his own flooring business.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And so, uh, has done pretty well.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: He's still had some up and downs, but now-He's doing really well now. It sounds like he's going to be, um, retiring from his flooring company.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Bryan Hall: And, um,

Bryan Hall: he paid for his house and everything, so he's-

Scott Hammond: That's-

Bryan Hall: … and married and-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … has kids with him that, that he didn't have before and-

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But wound up in Eureka.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Probably not from Eureka.

Bryan Hall: No.

Scott Hammond: No.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah. Southern California, I think.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Remember talking to a graduate from, um, Teen Challenge. I, I don't mean to keep juxtaposing, but-

Bryan Hall: That's okay. No, it's good

Scott Hammond: … it's, it's a, it's the same… We're playing on the same team-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … like you said. And he, um, he was going back to med school, uh, one morning. It was his last day in the program, and we used to gather down at, uh, the, um, where Del Norte Cellular was, where their old headquarters.

Bryan Hall: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, so we would go down there and, and a good-looking guy, man. He, uh… He just a good-looking young guy, and he's going, "I'm going back to grad school at UCLA and gonna, gonna be a doctor." And he goes, "Two years ago, let me just tell you what meth does to you." And he had this whole story of, you know, "It, it destroyed my body." He goes, "It was, it was the worst thing that I've ever, ever could imagine." And, um, he, you know, another success story. Got to walk through it. I have no idea if he's a doc or where he's at, but,

Scott Hammond: uh-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … he's on the path.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Any other stories come to mind?

Bryan Hall: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Go for it.

Bryan Hall: Really good one.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Uh, Chris. I'll, I'll say his name 'cause I'm gonna tell you who he is. Uh, he came to us. Um, great big guy. Uh, big booming voice. Um, big personality, but he was

Bryan Hall: a wreck-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … when he came to us, and, um, had contemplated suicide and all kinds of things going on in life.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Bryan Hall: So he came in the program. Um, he did a year in the program, and then basically begged us if he could do another year 'cause he was just wasn't

Bryan Hall: ready yet.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: And so we granted him another year, and in that time he got involved with, uh, systematic theology.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And when it was, uh, taking classes for that,

Bryan Hall: and so, um, it wasn't too long after that, that he was attending a church

Bryan Hall: in Redway.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And then, uh, he is now senior pastor at Redway Baptist Church.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Bryan Hall: Isn't that amazing?

Scott Hammond: Down in SoHum.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How about that?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know, it occurs to me there's probably a, a whole cadre of itinerant

Scott Hammond: great local-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … lay pastors-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … that come in and do, and do the, uh, the chapel, right?

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Are… Now, are you guys all generally plugged into Calvary Chapel Eureka?

Bryan Hall: Uh, we do Calvary Chapel. I think some of them go to, um, Cutten Community Church.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Uh, some go to First Covenant Church, some go to Faith Center, so-

Scott Hammond: Just spread around.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, I also remember, uh, doing… Dan would always bring some of the guys to a men's breakfast or a men's retreat up at Dr. Holmes up-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … South Fork and-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … um, al- always great. You know, "Hey, come on down, man."

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's, it's all level down there at the cross.

Bryan Hall: It is.

Scott Hammond: It is. It's good. Thank God.

Scott Hammond: Thank God.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Any other stories come to mind?

Bryan Hall: Uh, let's see.

Bryan Hall: My story is, is, is played out in so many other individuals.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: You know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: It's just the resurrection power of Jesus Christ, man.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Bryan Hall: It's not religion.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Um, it's a relationship with the Lord, you know. Religious people put Jesus on the cr- on the cross. They joined together with their enemies, which was the Roman government, to do it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And so, uh, he hung out with, uh, uh, the worst of the worst.

Scott Hammond: Talking about that today.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: He, he wasn't welcomed up in the higher echelons of the religious leaders. As a matter of fact-

Scott Hammond: No

Bryan Hall: … they hated him-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … because he showed them up.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: You know? He was healing blind people.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Uh, raised dead people.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Causing the lame to walk, you know? Um, and that was showing them up. They should've been doing that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: They should've been reaching the people, but they weren't. They were too busy about their-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … outward appearance, uh, you know, maintaining that, that

Bryan Hall: popularity.

Scott Hammond: And I think we both know better than to rip God's bride, the church, but the church has failed. Some churches have failed 'cause they don't-

Bryan Hall: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … they don't, they don't, uh, they're the, like the unseen or, you know.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: How many churches have a bunch of prostitutes come in or, or tax collectors or-

Bryan Hall: Mm

Scott Hammond: … our version of that?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, you know, publicans and, and unbelievers. You know, "What are you do- wow, what are those guys doing here?"

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? And which would be the greatest answer. They're here 'cause they're, they're looking-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … for that wake-up call.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … moment with God.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, and which I think is, you know, the whole idea, but that's, you know… I don't run a church, so I don't have a whole lot of say-so,

Scott Hammond: but-

Bryan Hall: Mm

Scott Hammond: … um, yeah, to your point, I think that's great. So, uh, real quick, tell me about, um, your vision for Humboldt in terms of, uh, where we're, where we're at, maybe y- in your world, and where you see things going, where you'd like to see it go generally within, within y- your perspective, your, your mindset.

Bryan Hall: Where I would like to see things go

Bryan Hall: is no more homeless people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: You know, everybody gets radically saved-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Bryan Hall: … and preaches the gospel everywhere they go.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Bryan Hall: You know? Um, that's a perfect world.

Scott Hammond: That's a big vision.

Bryan Hall: It is a perfect world, but is it gonna get there? Well, maybe not.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: But I don't know.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: You know, and I'm gonna strive for that. I'm gonna keep preaching the gospel.

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Bryan Hall: Loving on the people.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, treating them human.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, bending over backwards for them. Uh, you know, it's-

Scott Hammond: That's what the county's known for.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know, in, in many ways.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: In and out of church.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: It seems like-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … that it's that, that, uh, camaraderie, that connection, that-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … uh, community idea.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, not 100%, but I, I, we get pretty good marks on that one.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Larry Doss, Larry O'Doss called it, he called, uh, we have grit.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I think there's also grit, which means people grind, and they, till they, till they

Scott Hammond: don't.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um-

Bryan Hall: It's, uh, the really, the difficult partAnd I understand, 'cause I, I weigh the business community with the homeless community 'cause we're so, uh, tied in with Old Town-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … uh, and working together with the businesses.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And so the guys that were homeless come into our program, get their lives together. We then go back out into the community-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … and make a difference.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Bryan Hall: And the difference that we're making is we're cleaning up homeless camps-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … within town, and we work together with the CSET team and Eureka Police.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um-

Scott Hammond: John Shelter in those case?

Bryan Hall: Um, John, I think John's working southern.

Scott Hammond: Is it-

Bryan Hall: I'm not sure

Scott Hammond: … he's down elsewhere, okay.

Bryan Hall: I think that's where he's at, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Same i- he does the same kinda idea though.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then Aaron Ostrom with, uh, Green Pack Out.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah. Phenomenal. We're, we're primarily right there in Old Town.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And, uh, sometimes we'll go to different places like that and work together.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: But, uh, down by the docks, um, sensitive areas, and we're, we work together with the ci- can't just go in and make somebody

Bryan Hall: leave.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Bryan Hall: And that's law enforcement and how they wanna deal with that, and tag the camps and stuff like that, you know. But we'll go in, and we'll, we'll load all the stuff up and, and, um, work together with the city as good as we can.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: So but, you know, that's the, the, the difficult part is, um, there are so many people that are so addicted and so mentally ill.

Bryan Hall: Um, you know, I understand somebody wanting to pitch a tent for the night.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, you go in there, you go to sleep.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: You get up in the morning, you roll your stuff up, put it in your backpack, and on

Bryan Hall: you go.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Bryan Hall: Um, but that's not the case.

Bryan Hall: And so-

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, yeah

Bryan Hall: … what's hap- it's, it's just you look around. You drive through town, you see it, that people are just really, really,

Bryan Hall: really, um, severely addicted or, or-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Bryan Hall: … just mentally, so mentally, um, sick that they just can't function.

Bryan Hall: And-

Scott Hammond: And I think it's where the h- non-homeless tolerance goes in the toilet-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … because here's po- mounds of trash-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and feces and-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … needles, and it just-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it's outta control. And you go, "Wait, this is w- we, we don't li- this isn't society." But to your point, it can be.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. I, I mean-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … you just gotta stay on top of it. There's, you know, um, I don't know, uh, politics and all of that stuff for, you know, the laws and,

Bryan Hall: um, I just look at it, it's, it's a huge problem.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And I can't fix it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: But what I can do is pour my life into other people-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … and, um, give them the hope that I have, and that's the hope of Jesus.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Bryan Hall: And, you know, the Rescue Mission is, our newsletter's called Changing Lives, and that's our motto is changing lives one life at a time.

Scott Hammond: I was reading it this week.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And that's what I tell people is there's a difference between, uh, speaking to somebody and speaking into somebody.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, and that's by the power of the Holy Spirit. Uh, you can speak the word of God to somebody, but when the Holy Spirit gets ahold of the word, it goes into them.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And when God's word goes into them, there's something's gonna happen, and it's gonna

Bryan Hall: be good.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: It just may not be right now.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And so we never give up hope and never give up.

Scott Hammond: That's what I… And I'm hearing from you, and I, I think it's really important, 'cause I, and I believe this, the Holy Spirit works on people from day and year one.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: You know, all the way through, whether it's through Billy Graham on a TV show or Great Sunset.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And God's, God's always speaking.

Scott Hammond: It's just-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … are we listening?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And are, and maybe more important, are we responding?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I, I really like that. Um, I'll, I'll ask you this. I've never asked this to anybody in the show, and you're, you're number 30, so congratulations. Um, there seems to be, uh, after 43 years here and hanging out with Christians and talking to different people from different faiths and different backgrounds, and some are dead, and some are still living, but there, there is a, a sense of a destiny for Humboldt County. Uh, you kinda spoke it. "Hey, I'd like to see a radical revival." You didn't use the word, but-

Bryan Hall: No

Scott Hammond: … I'll use it. And that there, there's something really special about this county on a, on a spiritual basis and, and, and a God thing and a Holy Spirit thing. What, what do you think? Do you think that's, that's in the cards, or is that real? Is that just some guys that were prophetically feeling good one night?

Bryan Hall: I, I think that there's truth to that.

Bryan Hall: Um,

Bryan Hall: however, for that to be true, there must be a huge impending darkness.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, a darkness that you can feel.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, and that's when the light of Christ shines so bright-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … is, uh, when there is a lot of darkness.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And I, uh, like I said, I've lived here my, I'm 58 years old. I've lived here in Humboldt County my whole life.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, um, I've seen things get worse and worse and worse, and I've sensed it in my spirit, you know?

Bryan Hall: Um-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … a lot of witchcraft. There's a lot of,

Bryan Hall: um,

Bryan Hall: I believe, uh, a lot of Satanism that goes on. Um, it's just not in front. It has a different form now. It's not some devil with horns and stuff running around.

Scott Hammond: No.

Bryan Hall: It's more natural. It's more earthly. It's more sensual.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. Um, Pastor Jim up Arcata Calvary Chapel. I'll, I'll show you where that is. It's right up here in Arcata.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You already know. I, I-

Bryan Hall: Yeah, up by the high school

Scott Hammond: … it's part of my schtick. I, hey, this is, and Eureka's right here. Southern Humboldt.

Bryan Hall: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: So, um, he said this should be Shangri-La. It should be marijuana, fun, better weather, fun, and beaches, rivers, fish and hunting.

Scott Hammond: And

Scott Hammond: instead, it's a darker version, uh, i- in many ways. We, we hold statistics in, in drug abuse, alcoholism, child abuse, uh, human trafficking. I mean, there, we, we have some s- you probably are in touch with that more than I would be, but that there is, um, craziness and violent crimes and, and fentanyl, and you just start, here comes the list.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So it isn't Disneyland.

Bryan Hall: It's not, no.

Scott Hammond: But it's, it, i- and that's, and that's kinda to the darkness point that, hey, hey, it's Humboldt. Come to Humboldt. It's where Leo DiCaprio was filming a movie, and you can go up to the redwoods and-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and I know you're from Europe. You've never seen the woods, and it'd be great to see the beach. And, and that's all true.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: HoweverThat, that dark underbelly

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: And, and, you know, we don't … Even now I'm uncomfortable addressing it, but it's,

Scott Hammond: it's,

Scott Hammond: uh-

Bryan Hall: Yeah, but Scott-

Scott Hammond: It's, it's real, and you would see it as real on a daily basis, I would s-

Bryan Hall: Yeah, but-

Scott Hammond: The toll of that

Bryan Hall: Scott, you really gotta … You c- when you look at that, though, and I agree with you, but you really have to look that that's everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Bryan Hall: That's everywhere. There's a dark underbelly everywhere.

Scott Hammond: Good point.

Bryan Hall: Okay. Um-

Scott Hammond: It's not just Humboldt.

Bryan Hall: Right. And it's-

Scott Hammond: It's Santa Rosa. It's-

Bryan Hall: I mean, it's easy for me to get on my phone-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … and look through all the news feeds and go, "Oh, man."

Scott Hammond: That's right.

Bryan Hall: You know what I mean?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: So if I'm always focusing on that-

Scott Hammond: Good point

Bryan Hall: … and so for me, uh, I get up in the morning and I spend my time in the Word of

Bryan Hall: God.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Bryan Hall: Um, I constantly listen to teaching on, on my way to Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, in the mornings I'm listening to some kind of teaching. My favorite teacher is Jack Hibbs, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Love him.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, it's too bad he didn't have a message every single day-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Bryan Hall: … you know.

Scott Hammond: You'd listen to it.

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I would. I would. I just love him. Um, and there's others too that I listen to, but if all I ever do is focus on the negative-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Bryan Hall: … I'll become negative.

Scott Hammond: Correct.

Bryan Hall: Okay. And I know there's a lot of negative to focus on.

Scott Hammond: Oh, boy.

Bryan Hall: But you know, if we rise above that, that … A p- preacher, Ed Cole, said one time, he s- he said he was outside and it was raining and he was praising God, threw his hands in the air, "Praise God. Thank you, God, for the sunshine," you know, and people think you're a nut. He said, "Above the clouds the sun is always shining."

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Bryan Hall: "And above every circumstance there's a savior." And when we have our eyes focused and fixed on Jesus, um, yeah, it's, it's a dark world we live in, but you know what? Light will always overcome the darkness.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And we are to be children of light.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: And, uh, we're s- we're to speak love, kindness, gentleness,

Bryan Hall: uh, into situations. It's not like I'm a word of faith guy. I'm just saying that that's who we need to be.

Scott Hammond: That's who we are.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's who we are.

Bryan Hall: And if we-

Scott Hammond: Created to be that

Bryan Hall: … if we fail to identify ourselves with the person of Jesus Christ-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … then we'll succumb to just whatever is coming down the pike.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Bryan Hall: You know?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: And-

Scott Hammond: Whatever's on Fox News or CNN tonight-

Bryan Hall: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … or Channel 6 News-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … or whatever it is, it's … You're, you're right. And, um, we boycotted news about three years ago.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'm so much better for it. I mean, my joy levels are just like, you know-

Bryan Hall: I bet. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I just don't have to-

Bryan Hall: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know, the, it, it's, it's, it's fed as a discouragement. It's just here it comes.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, um-

Bryan Hall: Yeah, I killed my TV. I still have it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Um, we watch YouTube videos and stuff.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: So I no longer have the news and, but I do have news feeds.

Scott Hammond: Well-

Bryan Hall: I, I don't want to be stupid.

Scott Hammond: Right. If something dumb happens or hard in the world today, somehow we get worried about it even though we're not-

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … un- plugged, plugged into it.

Bryan Hall: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's funny how that, that … If you really had to know about it, you'd know about it.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know?

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, so great point. Well, hey, what a, what a delight. Uh, what, so the contest. Here's my bell. Are you ready?

Bryan Hall: I'm ready.

Scott Hammond: Here, here's for all the prizes.

Scott Hammond: What, uh, what do you do on your day off w- in Humboldt? What's your favorite things to do?

Bryan Hall: Uh,

Bryan Hall: stay home.

Scott Hammond: Ah, staycation.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Stay home with my wife, yeah.

Scott Hammond: What would you do? Just projects?

Scott Hammond: Spend time-

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Sit by the fire-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Bryan Hall: … and watch YouTube videos and just hang out with my wife. Yeah. That's what I would do.

Scott Hammond: That's a good one. Yeah. Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And mow the lawn.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well-

Bryan Hall: Um-

Scott Hammond: … big wife points on all of those. Yeah. That's good.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Bryan Hall: She's awesome.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. She's-

Scott Hammond: Where do you, where do you drink coffee in Eureka? N- question number two.

Bryan Hall: Uh, I don't usually go out to coffee.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: I bring my own from home.

Scott Hammond: If you could, where would you have a coffee?

Bryan Hall: Oh, I don't know. I like Jitter Bean and-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Bryan Hall: … yeah, Rick at Jitter Bean. He's a good dude.

Scott Hammond: Great guy.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. He's awesome.

Scott Hammond: Great product.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. Super good.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I know that coffee.

Bryan Hall: Um, Starbucks, I've, I've had a few coffees from Starbucks, but I, I like

Bryan Hall: the-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Bryan Hall: … the local people.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah.

Bryan Hall: Somebody who's built something here, you know. I like those.

Scott Hammond: It's funny how that shifted. So if you were to go for a hike, where do you hike?

Bryan Hall: Um, if I was gonna go for a hike, I like the Fortuna, uh, Rohner Park.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's nice back up in the woods.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Bryan Hall: Yeah. And then you can also go, uh, back behind Carson Woods Road, uh, back behind the park.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Bryan Hall: Um, I haven't been there for years-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Bryan Hall: … but you can go way back in the woods back there.

Scott Hammond: Somebody said behind CR you can go all the way over to Elk River too.

Scott Hammond: There's-

Bryan Hall: Oh, wow

Scott Hammond: … a series of trails up there.

Bryan Hall: Hyattsville. I grew up in Hyattsville and-

Scott Hammond: Beautiful out there

Bryan Hall: … I've ridden my motorcycle, um, on the PG&E, I think it is, the gas pipeline, all the way to Bridgeville.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Bryan Hall: I had an XR75 and-

Scott Hammond: Bet that was fun.

Bryan Hall: Oh, it was a blast.

Scott Hammond: See a bunch of stuff back there.

Bryan Hall: Oh, yeah. Carry a can of gas on the back, me and my buddy Johnny. We would just ride. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: The, the good old days.

Bryan Hall: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, Bryan, thanks for being on the show.

Bryan Hall: Thank you, Scott, for having me.

Scott Hammond: Appreciate you. 100% Humboldt, and, uh, we'll talk again.

Scott Hammond: Thank you.

Bryan Hall: All right.