00:00 Chris Grainger
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving Christian men who are hungry to be the leaders. They’re free Destin to be. I’m your host, Chris Grainger. Let’s jump in. All right, guys. It’s your meet episode of the week, and I’m so excited to have you here. Let you know the first thing we’re gonna do on the line within US scripture.

Okay? Scripture this week. Proverbs chapter three, verses seven and eight. Okay, seven and eight, nine. If you missed a spiritual kickoff, go back and check that out. I dug through this scripture pretty. Here we go guys, for, for prove verse three, seven, and eight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil.

This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. So guys, again, great scripture right there. Go back, check that SKO out if you missed it now for today, this is where you are breaking some new grandma friends. We’re gonna be talking about Christian hip hop Christian movie. And this is all new territory for Chris.

Okay, so this has been this. I’m a very excited, we brought in with this, the award-winning film and music producer, Domingo Guyton. He is a man with a powerful story, guys. Okay? He overcome a lot of misguided and trouble life as a young man when he actually grew up in Boston. But he actually was, was able to take that and turn it into a man of purpose and.

And he really has done a wonderful job of, of educating, elevating adult and young men through Christ and through the stuff that he’s doing with music and, and movies and things like that, guys. So he’s been nationally recognized for his music guys. Uh, and he has also won awards at several film festivals.

He even gives us a, a sneak peek into some of his rap music in this conversation. So you don’t wanna miss that. It was a lot of fun when we got through that. So, guys, I think you’re gonna enjoy this when we talk about a lot of different things. We talk about areas of, of, of Christian film and, and music that quite frankly, I just didn’t know existed.

So hopefully this opens your eyes to the different types of, of, of, of media that is out there, and particularly that you can start working or incorporating it to your own personal life. So hope you enjoy this conversation with Domingo guidance.

Domingo guide and welcome to the Line Within Us. How are you doing today?

02:20 Domingo Guyton
Uh, my brother Chris. I’m doing well, man. Thank you so much for having me on here,

02:25 Chris Grainger
man. I’ll tell you what, it’s been exciting. So when, when you, when, when your people reached out to me and said, look, there’s this guy Domingo guide, and he’s doing these phenomenal things out here in the Christian world so far it’s, it’s hiphop music and uh, movie.

I must admit you’re the first that’s come to me like that. So I was like, I’m intrigued. You got me, you got me. Then I watched your, uh, your, your trailer before you movie. I’m like, this is awesome. So man, maybe share a little bit with our, with our listeners about your story and I just let them know a little bit about you,

02:53 Domingo Guyton
man.

Man. My name is Domingo Guyton. I’m from Boston, Massachusetts, and currently living in Atlanta, Georgia. Been here about eight. And, uh, just fired up for the Lord, man. What a journey. You know, he’s, he’s had me on a, on a wow road, and I just, I thank the Lord that I’m alive to be able, uh, to experience it, be able to share some of the crazy stuff that I’ve, that these eyes and hands have been able to get involved with.

So, it’s been a, a encouraging time. If you’ll, uh, I mean, my story, man, grew up in a rough neighborhood, went. A lot of tragic stuff. Got out of there. Ran where? Where was that at? Where’d you go there? I was in Boston. In Boston? Ok. In Boston. Yeah. And then I graduated high school and I got outta Boston. I ran an hour west to Wooster, literally like ran, jumped in the car and got out of there.

And I kind of just went there and restarted my life. And, um, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t give my life to the Lord until I was about 20. So it was a, it was a crazy, crazy, crazy wild run. That’s just what I’ll, I’ll, I’ll leave it there. But, uh, the Lord changed my life. Around 26. I began to walk it, I believe around 20.

And from there it’s just been all uphill for, for the Lord, man. It’s been all uphill. I was doing music secular and began to, um, you know, some of my songs had got chosen for, Just deal TV show. Mm-hmm. , another, um, spring Break Lawyer outta MTV and, uh, paramount Pictures. And then, um, I should have this stuff written out that I’m sitting here trying to, trying to think of it.

Um, 9 0 2 0 2 1 oh. Picked up my song. And then Lincoln Heights, another uh, TV show they picked up. And this was all stuff that was secular. Yeah. And the Lord had. Nah, I got something else for you. And so he snatched me out of all of that. And, uh, after I gave my life to the Lord, I began to do more content that was uplifting of, of the community, more stuff that connected, uh, history to where we are.

And I also started doing material that would be Christ-centered. Oh. So that’s been since about 2004. Okay.

05:23 Chris Grainger
So I’m curious, so you, you were doing the secular. And the transition. So when you go on transitioning from secular rap to more Christian focused, what’s the hardest part with that? Cause I mean, I love, I love Christian rap.

I mean, there, there’s a few Christian rappers that, I mean, you can really, I, I didn’t realize, you know, how awesome that Christian rap world was until I got into it. Cause I was in the secular rap before too, right? But then when I came over, I’m like, this is not gonna be, this gonna be terrible. Then it’s like, oh my, this is, this is, this is awesome.

Right. So what about you that transition? Was it,

05:56 Domingo Guyton
Well, for me, I’ve always been one who is straight up and honest about where I am. Mm-hmm. . So even when I was in the secular world and I was doing music, I wouldn’t talk about guns and I wouldn’t talk about selling cocaine and crazy stuff cuz that’s not what my life was like.

Mm-hmm. , you know, and I, when I was younger, I was involved with some CREs, like I said, crazy stuff once I graduated high school. It wasn’t. So I talked about what was real in my life. And so what was real at that time was going out to the clubs and drinking Right. You know, marijuana, the women. And so that’s what I talked about.

Yeah. And I, I was just true to who I was. Mm-hmm. . And once I, once my life began to change, I began to, I started reading more history books. So then I started talking about history. Yeah. And I was just real about that. So then when the Lord changed my heart and my life, I just talked about what was real and what God did for me, and it was a, it was a platform for my testimony.

Mm-hmm. , and I just, I’ve always been one who’s been real to whatever’s going on in my current, in my current life. Right. And that’s, and so Christ was current and so I just said, let’s go ahead and just talk about Christ and, and, and, and go hard, like when I was out there in the clubs. When I was out partying, man, we’d be up all night.

You know, we, we start around eight o’clock and we’d just be sitting there drinking and, you know, ironing clothes and then we’d get prepared and then we go to the club. We’re in the club from 10 30 till about two. Then we got drive home, and then the after party at the house. So it’s like when you come to the Lord, why not go ahead and let’s hang out all night for the.

Let’s let it all hang out for the Lord. We don’t have to get all holier than thou and, and, and you know, I can’t go out past nine 30. No, let’s go ahead and hang out late for the Lord. And so that same kinda zeal, being able to have that, you know, and looking at what God did for me and being excited about that.

07:52 Chris Grainger
Yeah, man, that is intense. So I’m, I’m curious, so from your Christian rap standpoint, any songs that you, that you, that you made that really jumped out that maybe were your favorites? I’d love to, to kind of give. Give our listeners a little taste here.

08:06 Domingo Guyton
Yeah, I have a few favorites. Uh, one of them is called Goodbye.

Goodbye to the world. Okay. Goodbye to the guns. Goodbye to the drugs. Goodbye. So that’s, that’s one of my, one of my favorites, um, is, is a song called Goodbye. If you look on any platform you put in, do mingle ga Goodbye, you’ll, you’ll, you’ll be able to check that out. So that’s one of my favorites. Um,

08:32 Chris Grainger
we’re gonna put that in the show notes.

We’re gonna find that too. Domingo. We’re gonna put that in show notes. So you listeners go, go check the show notes out so you can find that.

08:40 Domingo Guyton
Yeah, another one would be, but now I, and it’s, but now I, and so that’s another one, just talking about what God had brought me from. And, but now I rock for the God who saved me out the depths of hell.

Hell on Earth. Devil He played me. I wasn’t a street thug. I was a punk. Matter of. I was scared of the streets. So a gun I would pack and, but now

09:02 Chris Grainger
I see. Now see? Yes. We didn’t talk about this Domingo . This is on my, this is on my, my notes here. Cause I was gonna call you out. I, I was gonna make you, I was gonna, was not gonna make you, I was gonna ask you if you wouldn’t mind sharing a little bit about the, of your Christian raps.

I mean, you just went through. Uh, but now I, how about Goodbye? Anything from Goodbye you wanna share, like give us a version.

09:28 Domingo Guyton
I think I said, well, where’s my book? I got my book over here. I can cheat a little bit if that’s okay. That’s fine. Cheat away. Cheat away. . Cause I, with, with with the Lord has blessed me with probably a little more than 350 songs Oh, wow.

Over 28 years. So it’s hard to remember all of these lyrics. But I do have Goodbye here. I’ll, I’ll read a piece. Okay. I’ll read a piece of goodbye for you. Um. The world had me smoked out ld out chasing chicks, making personal flicks on my own. No doubt. Giving cats a peek into the life of a true player who got played.

In the end, God gave them a new prayer. I used to be in the club holding the wall, telling lies in these girls ears. Yeah, I told them all like, girl, you so fine. You need to go buy me a drink. Tell that cat to buy it for you, then walk by me and wink and hand it. Although my man is sober, the plan is no buts.

I’m staying elevated like the seats on a Land Rover. I might dip a swerve off the beat, but I’ll come right back cause we all know that talk is cheap and so that’s just a little bit. I used to walk with heat. Knew some girls that set me up. I got pistol whip. I’m glad God didn’t let ’em wet me up. The same cats are doing double life.

They killed two cousins for a chain and some shameless hype. Goodbye to the world. Goodbye to the guns. And, uh, yeah, that’s a little piece of it. . Well,

10:55 Chris Grainger
guys, you have heard it here first on the line within, we’re breaking new ground. We actually have a rapper giving us, give us some Christian rap here live.

Guys, it doesn’t get any better. Thank you. I, I did not realize you were gonna share so much. That was

11:08 Domingo Guyton
awesome. Amen. Thank you brother Chris for having me. I thank my brother Ivan for making it happen. You know, Ivan Thomas, man, he’s doing some great things. You. Amen,

11:17 Chris Grainger
man. And I’m curious, so, you know, when Ivan and I were talking about having you on, he was talking about the pain cycle Domingo and, and, and how we can get stuck in that pain cycle and it’s hard to get out of that and to, and to get into the true purpose of life, what we’ve been called to do.

So, man, would you mind sharing, why do so many guys particular get stuck there and that pain.

11:38 Domingo Guyton
I believe we get, one of the reasons we get stuck in the pain cycle is because we haven’t had any male role role models who can show us how to get out of it. Mm, okay. Most of the male role models that we know are still in the pain cycle.

They’re trying to use weed to cover it up. They’re trying to use alcohol to cover it up. They’re trying to use multiple women to cover it up, and so they’re stuck in the, in the pain cycle. A lot of older. My dad. My dad was a functioning alcoholic, stuck in the pain cycle. He was using alcohol to try to, to make him feel better and to cope with everyday life, right?

And so I think a lot of men, older men have been stuck in the pain cycle. And so that’s what we do as younger men. We follow what our daddy did. Mm.

12:27 Chris Grainger
I mean, I think you’re all over it. And, and it’s so interesting that you went straight to no male role models. Cause I’m telling you, I mean, I know we have, we’ve gone through covid, we have all these pandemics, but I’m telling you, man, from my point of view, and it’s just one man’s point of view, the, the fatherlessness, that is a, that is the, a major pandemic and, and the impact that it’s having on this country and, and, and people around us, you know, just having strong male, you know, role models in the.

It’s so, it’s, it’s, it’s, you can’t even put words around it. How big an impact it has on that next generation. I think. This is what you just spoke to.

13:03 Domingo Guyton
Mm-hmm. . What I think what’s amazing is the amount of men who have current daddy issues and not being able to resolve those issues with dad. Whether he died or he left, or he went with another family, or he just wasn’t there for you, or he was all about his career.

Whatever thing I, whatever the case is, I, it’s just amazing how many men are currently struggling with that. Mm-hmm. , and because of that, however their dad is handling issues, that’s typically how a lot of us will do it also.

13:38 Chris Grainger
Mm-hmm. , I’m curious, what’s your, what’s your, uh, take on masculinity, you know, the church.

Where do those two worlds come together? What are you seeing there? Because cuz this is what we talk, we talk and now look, we talk about the hard stuff. I get it. And, but the guys out there listening, they, they know we we’re gonna talk about it as we gotta get there. So we’re talking about follower listlessness and the impact that’s having on men.

But then in the church in general, it’s been really feminized the bingo, at least from my point of view. Love to get your point of view and just understand what, what are you seeing and what could we be doing differently to make an.

14:14 Domingo Guyton
Again, even some of the pastors who are, you know, for the male pastors who are running the church, they haven’t dealt with issues.

They’re still, they’re still hurting. And so what a pastor position gives them is, gives them power. Mm-hmm. , it gives them money, it gives them a say, it gives them people following them. And a lot of them, a lot of them haven’t dealt with their daddy issues. Mm-hmm. , and so they bring the daddy issues to the church.

That’s one example. Another example, you, you mentioned the church being very, uh, feminized, if you will. Mm-hmm. , well, first of all, the women have had to step up and the women have had to step up to cover the gaps and where the men weren’t doing what they supposed. And in many ways you find majority women that are in the church, you’ll find majority male leadership in our churches.

But you’ll find majority women patrons or mm-hmm. tithe pairs or . That’s right. So, so, uh, there is a place, uh, with the feminized men. There has been a, even I was watching something about the culture. Of some of our, uh, historically black churches being a, a haven for homosexuality. And again, here we are, we’re talking about men who are in church, who are touching on little boys.

We’re talking about men who are in church, who are not dealing with some of the issues that they dealt with as young as, as youngsters. And again, using that, or not necessarily using it, but since they haven’t coped correct. They’re just passing it on to the next generation.

15:52 Chris Grainger
Right, right. That’s amazing, man, that, that’s so impactful.

And I’m curious, we, we we’re gonna have to unpack ideas. What can we be doing? I mean, what are you seeing? I mean, you’re, you’re a strong Christian man, obviously, you’re out there doing things for the Lord from the church standpoint. Maybe what, let’s just start there and then we can move to the home. But from the church standpoint, what can men be doing to make that, to make that impact, to really.

You know that, that that driving force inside the church to help come along beside the pastors, right. And, and help them, you know, deliver that message.

16:26 Domingo Guyton
I believe the men have to get on their knees. So there’s a, there’s a piece of humility and there’s a piece of a lot of us, a lot of men just believe that they’re their own God.

And so they’re God of their house. They’re God of their job, they’re God of the things that they’ve put and it. Foul shot have no other guys before g o d capital, g o d himself. And so we gotta get broke down out of our pride. I know that was a big thing for me. We gotta get down on our knees, began to pray.

We need to let our families see that we are broken, let our families see that we are leaning on the Lord. Mm-hmm. And I believe that’s, and getting to the, the crucial backbone of what Jesus Christ told us. And you know, he gave us a commandment. First of all, love the Lord your God, all your heart and mind, soul and love your neighbor as yourself.

Yourself. And so we have to love those that are treating us wrong. We have to love, we have to be the example for our household. First of all, you know, we are having, me and my wife are kind of going back and forth. If I get sucked into that, I’m not showing them how to deal with it the way Jesus would. So I’m already, I’m failing at the house, but you asked about church.

So the first thing we gotta do is get on our knees. We need to be in our own word. Mm-hmm. . We can’t expect the pastor to be doing what God is gonna do for us. Mm-hmm. , we supposed to spend that time with the Lord. So when we get around other believers, Then we can share what God has been doing in our life all week, right?

Not go to the church empty on Sunday, looking to get filled up by the pastor. Cause now you’re relying on this individual who’s broken, who is gonna have flaws, who is gonna be messed up. But you need to be in your own word, and you need to be praying during the week. You need to be the head of your household during the week.

So when you get to church, you’re already fueled up, ready to go.

18:33 Chris Grainger
Hey, we’ll take a quick break. We’ll be right back.

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So Domingo, you’re all over it, right? We, we need to be doing it that work. And I tell guys all the time, look, if you’re, if you’re counting on one. To be your, your entire God on one one hour a week. You, you completely missed the per, you’ve missed it. Right? You’ve missed it. This is a daily that sanctification.

Every day you got, it’s a everyday process, right? Mm-hmm. , and we’re missing that. But I’m, I’m curious, let’s go back to church for more minute. What can we be doing at the church to engage guys more? Cuz I hear some guys talk about, well, I don’t wanna go. And sing songs where it sounds like Jesus is my boyfriend and here’s some guy, talk to me for an hour about like, you know, stuff that doesn’t relate to my life.

So some what, what, what can we do to come along to maybe help that worship part? Cause this, I know this is big, music is big into you, in your world to, to really connect with the men, the next generation of men to want to want them to come there. Right. Man,

20:30 Domingo Guyton
that’s a great point. We have to actually be looking at the context of our service.

If we want men to be involved, you gotta listen to what the men is saying. And worship doesn’t have to be songs that it sound like Jesus is my boyfriend. Mm-hmm. and, and you know, there could be, that’s not only what worship is, that’s not only what it’s about. And so if we have to diversify and look at, we have to stop singing so many Bethel and so many hills.

Maybe we need to let, allow a, a gentleman to get up and maybe there’s some poetry he wrote in honor of the Lord. Maybe we can use that. That’s a piece of worship. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So get the man involved, get, get those around us that are involved. Maybe there’s an opportunity for someone who does some rap to get up and do something in honor of the Lord.

Right. And that’s what I’m just thinking. We have to, there are, you know, with the, the Bible doesn’t say this particular genre, this is worship. Or, or even similar to, I think it, I think I heard something about, um, they were trying to evangelize to some of the, um, um, believers overseas and they were saying, we have to bring a Hammond, b3, Oregon over there because these people in, in the Congo, these people over here in, in this part of Africa, they’re not gonna be able to worship God without the organ.

It’s like, who said that? Who makes that up? Right. So wherever the context is, if it’s just drums and hand drums and you guys are out there, worship, God, if the Bible says, make a joyful noise, run to the Lord, make a joyful noise, and so you should just be happy and glad about what God has done for you. It doesn’t have to look like a particular genre of music.

Yeah.

22:12 Chris Grainger
Amen into that man. Amen Into that. I’m curious, so like outside of the week, outside of the church service, You mentioned when you, when you found a Lord, you were all in. You sound like you’re all in type of guy, right? And you, you, that that whole club scene didn’t just shut down from it, shut down from the club scene to now, but you’re still, you can be rocking out for Jesus all night, right?

I mean, , what does that look like during the week for guys trying to give them, I’m trying to paint a picture of things they could be doing during the week to engage their, their, I call it their lions. Then you may call it your, your men’s group, whatever you wanna. To get, you know, to, to, to be able to grow together in discipleship.

22:50 Domingo Guyton
I mean, it’s just literally get, it’s doing what they did in acts, getting together, breaking, breaking bread, making sure nobody has a want. That’s not, that’s unmet, right? I mean, that’s what they did in, in the early church. And so the men, I mean, get together, go do top golf, get together, go bowling. Or go to play basketball on Saturday or go play a football game with each other or whatever.

Get the young people involved. That’s one thing we did at my church in Boston that I missed every fourth Saturday we would get together. Every Saturday we would play basketball. Okay. Seven. Seven to 9:00 AM Yeah. I gotta

23:26 Chris Grainger
ask you now, church lead basketball to me, something that’s the roughest leads out there, so, oh, man.

Yeah. .

23:32 Domingo Guyton
Yeah, because, because you get an opportunity to, you say basketball, you’re gonna get a whole bunch of people, right, who are probably not walking with the Lord. They just like to play ball. That’s a great,

23:42 Chris Grainger
that’s a great

23:43 Domingo Guyton
opportunity though, right? That’s a great opportunity. But then what happens? Some of them go fouling or, you know, do some hacking or, or hard foul on one of these new believers.

And then they’re like, wait a minute, I thought you was a Christian. Why are you swearing? And so they got, they get to see the, the real side or they get to not necessarily real, they get to see the sanctification in process there. I’m not fully redeemed off of some of these. That’s some of these things that I used to struggle with.

That’s right. And, and so I think it’s a perfect opportunity to let, um, nonbelievers. Christians are real people. They’re not these people who walk around. You know? One guy told me, he said, man, I can never be a Christian. I said, why can’t you be a Christian? He said, cause I do. Too much wrong. I said, it’s not about doing wrong and doing right.

It’s believing and asking God for help. If you going, if you going to God already having it figured out, then what’s the point of God being there? Right? And so you go to God with your hands open saying, father, you gotta. You and, and Lord says, I can step in and I can, but somebody who’s got it all together and they, they don’t never curse and they don’t never do nothing.

It’s like, well, what’s the point of having, I guess you were already saved, you came out of the room, saved . So, but for some of us, we struggled with something that might be drinking. I had one guy tell me, he said, man, I don’t have an issue with women. I don’t have an issue with drugs or alcohol. He said, my issue, if I’m walking down the.

And somebody dropped their wallet. Mm-hmm. , he said, that’s my issue. He said somebody dropped their wallet. He said, I’m looking around, I’m seeing, and I’m starting to, he said, that’s where I need God’s help. Right. Cause my first instinct is not to get these people back their money. Right. But for me, that’s not for me.

That’s not an issue. But for me, you know, eating the wrong foods is the issue. Gluttony. Right. That’s something I deal with. So we all have stuff that we deal with and I think it’s. To allow nonbelievers to see that we are human. We have been saved by grace. Right? But we are not perfect. Right. And God can, God can help all of us.

That’s why, that’s why he’s here.

25:53 Chris Grainger
We need to show that more. I mean, I’ve heard, I’ve had so many guys tell me before you, I, I’m not coming to church, you know, a bunch of hypocrites, and I say all, and I always say, you’re right, and we’ve got room for one more. So come on. You know, because at the end of the day, we, we all fall shorter to Gloria.

And then you, you mentioned glu. Same thing. Same thing, bro. Like I struggle with that. You know, I cannot out exercise the fork. I try to, but it, it never works, you know? And but then to, to your point, you know, with the, with the basketball league, I ran that league a couple times with our church, and when you get a hard foul and you grew up like me, I didn’t grow up in a church.

It’s easy to let a word slip out. It just is. When you get that hard power, you just, it’s easy to let it slip. In those moments though, that’s a, that’s a teaching opportunity or to, or to at least to share with, with others around you that, Hey, I’m not perfect, I slipped. You know, and maybe you repent right there and they see that repentance.

Right. If they see that repentance Yes. All of a sudden, okay. It may start clicking for, for a young believer or somebody who hasn’t accepted

26:53 Domingo Guyton
Christ yet. Yeah. And I think sometimes there are believers, Use that as an excuse. So they’ll just curse and they’ll just, you know, drink a bunch of alcohol in front.

Like, Hey, you know, there’s nothing wrong with alcohol. You know, Jesus turned water to wine. I can, and they’re sitting out there drinking and getting drunk with the people. And it’s like, see, that’s why a lot of people say they don’t wanna deal with Christians. Because you guys are hypocritical. That’s a hypocrite right there, right?

Somebody just having a casual drink, not being drunk saying, Hey, you want another beer? No, I don’t want another one. Cause if I drink another one, it’s gonna be over the edge. Right? And as a believer, I don’t have to drink two, I can drink one. That’s right. And I think that being able to show the humanity show I can’t handle two.

Right. Or I, or if it’s, if I’m in a group, in a crowd, I’m in public, I’m not even gonna have one. Because it, somebody might look and say, wait a minute, isn’t that the guy? And so anything that might cause someone to stumble again, right? These are things that we need to make sure that we’re doing when we’re in the midst of non-believers.

27:53 Chris Grainger
Man, that’s such wisdom right there. I mean, my favorite pastor, he does a thing called af. Um, every list, he, he writes, every year he writes out one, like one affirmation, one thing that he has a gratitude list rather he, one thing he’s grateful for, and he actually went through his list. He’s like almost 50 years old.

And, uh, like late in his list, bourbon hit the list. This is a pastor leading one of the growing churches in the country. And, and he stopped there. He’s like, now I know this is gonna make a lot of you uncomfortable. He’s like, and a lot of you that does not need to be on your list. Yep. But for me, you know, I know, you know, I, I enjoy the taste of bourbon and, and I can have that, that one taste and I’m.

But some, you can’t, to your point, like some, one beer, at least two leads to three. Next thing you know, you, you’re six in. So if it’s there and, and if, if it doesn’t convict you, that’s okay. But you need to be, be cautious because like you said, that walk your testimony, there are people watching that, right.

And you wanna make sure you, at least you’re doing all you can to show that light wherever you’re at. Yeah, man.

29:02 Domingo Guyton
Yeah. That’s good. I can’t have one.

29:04 Chris Grainger
Amen. Man, that’s, that’s why it’s

29:06 Domingo Guyton
crispy. Creamy, man. I just don’t eat them. I just don’t eat them. Cause if I get one, I want two, I want three. I’m just like, forget it.

I already forget it. I mean, that stuff’s gonna be sitting in me for the next 21 days, so I might as well get a couple of them .

29:21 Chris Grainger
That’s right, that’s right. Hey, we’ll take a quick break, dingo. We’ll be right back.

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So I am curious to make, so when when we got connected too, the they, Ivan was telling me about this, this new movie that you’re working on, or you’ve done some movies in the past and. I’m curious, you know, how, how, how do you come up with the ideas for the movies and how does that work from a Christian film standpoint?

Just give us some insight cuz we literally have never talked to anybody in the Christian film business before. So this is all new territory for us.

30:35 Domingo Guyton
Awesome, man. I think the, I you said, where did the ideas come from? The ideas really. Sometimes the other people coming to me with ideas. Okay. And I just say, Hey, that’s brilliant.

Let’s, let’s work with that. So those, that’s one way. Another way is just, you know, The Lord had gave me ideas for a couple different movies. I had wanted to do a, to do a series about new believers and things that they encounter, um, on their walk to be in Sanctified. So there’s one movie we did, it’s a short film called Surprise, and it was based off something that actually happened, uh, where it was a group of guys who were meeting at a pool.

We were shooting pool and just hanging out. You know, we were hanging out, we ordered food and it, it looked like a, a, it was probably like a Friday night. It was probably about 10 of us all in this pool hall, just hanging. It looked like it looked like a little gang. So, you know, people kind of looking over like, what’s going on over there?

But they didn’t know that we were, we were all believers and these two girls that came over and they were like, they were, they were drunk and so they came over to. Hey, what’s up y’all? You know, they was all like, oh, what’s up? What y’all doing tonight? It’s my girlfriend. It’s her birthday. And, you know, we just kind of, we looking at each other like, right, who’s gonna whip the Bible out?

And so, right. It was, it was funny because, um, we ended up evangelizing to him and then the one girl was like, you know, stop their tracks. Like, oh man, how we gonna get outta here?

But that inspired to do a mo I did a short film called, And it was based off of elements of that. So that’s another film idea. Right. Um, uh, just, just things that you go through as a, as a believer we’re tempted and how the Lord provides a way out. Yeah. So that, yeah. So the, the different movie ideas come from the, you know, either from someone or real life events, or the Lord says, yeah.

Yeah.

32:34 Chris Grainger
I, I’m curious your take too, cuz you know, a lot of times when people think Christian films, they think low budget and maybe not high quality. I’ll tell you what, flipped that from me. I don’t know if you’ve started with, you’ve watched any of the chosen, uh, that, that, that series is unbelievable. The quality, just the way it does, it walks right with the, uh, the scriptures.

They do, they take liberties. Yes. But they even tell you that they do. Right. So it’s just So, they kind of just like put their, their, their fist up to, to the ones that, to the, to the Bible people who are saying that you’re not, you know, walking line by line by, they just submit it like, no, we’re not, but we’re, we’re taking some liberties, but we’re.

Very much aligned with the gospel. So the chosen is for us, for me and our family, has really flipped our mindset of, of, of Christian, um, movies, type of entertainment, if you will. So have you seen that in, in, in the Christian film world? Has that been a, a ripple effect or just, just curious your take there?

33:28 Domingo Guyton
Yeah, it’s interesting. One of the producers of that film, him and I talked, we talked for several. Probably a couple of hours, a couple of years before Chosen came out Uhhuh. And so, um, and I was telling him about my modern depiction of Jesus in the inner city. And so I released a film, a short film in 2012.

I began, I had that conversation with him 2015. And I think Chosen may have came out two or three years later. Right. So it’s been an interesting ride. Yeah. And I just say, Hey, I can’t copyright the gospel. So I’m happy to see what they’re doing with the chosen. Uh, we had this idea that came in 2007 and then I grabbed the cameras.

We began shooting 2010, 11. We released a short film 2012, and I started working on the feature length version of it 2013. That’s what prompted the family to move to Atlanta in 14. Ok. So it’s been a long journey for. Particular film. So I am familiar with chosen of the Chosen and um, our short film YTF stands for Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, forever.

Right? So that’s what YTF stands for. And now the feature length version of that is called Yesterday, today, forever. And I believe you saw a trailer. Yes. A teaser. A teaser for the new.

34:55 Chris Grainger
Yeah, so I mean, give us some more, give us some more on that. Ytf. I mean, what, what, when is it gonna come out? Where are you guys at?

I’m just curious on, on how that process is going.

35:05 Domingo Guyton
It’s been a, it’s been a uphill battle. Um, we don’t have all the funds that we need to shoot, and so I’m definitely currently trying to seek the funds to shoot this. We do have the teaser and we do have the trailer that we did for Ytf and we. The short film Ytf, which is about 46 minutes long.

So we have all of that, but now I’m trying to go ahead forward with this new, with the new film, the, uh, the feature link version of yesterday, today, forever. So we shot the teaser, we have the new script put together, new pitch deck. We have everything ready. Just the funds. And I believe, man, through your prayers and through those who are listening through prayers and if anybody wants to donate, oh man, we would definitely accept, cause we’re gonna help put this, we’re gonna put the Lord on the map.

And it won’t be corny. Right? It won’t be. So what you’re talking about was an aspect of people hearing Christian film or Christian hip hop and it being corny and, and not appeal. Excuse not appealing to those who are not walking with the Lord. And so this screenplay took us seven years to kind of define and get polished up.

Wow. Yeah. I started in 2014 and we finished it around 2021. Wow. Seven years of, of revisions to the screenplay just to get all the coin out and to make sure that we still, anytime the Lord spoke, anytime Jesus speaks inside this film, it’s like reading the red out of the. Right. And um, but everything else around him is in a modern context.

36:44 Chris Grainger
That’s awesome. So what’s the hardest part of that movie production? Once you have the funding? Is the, is the the shooting the hardest part or is it the post production? What, give us some insight of something Maybe the average person wouldn’t know when it comes to making a movie there. What, where, where do you, where, where the struggle is?

37:00 Domingo Guyton
I think the hardest part is behind After Post. The hardest part is already behind. Meaning the, the seven years of script writing. Oh, okay. The seven years of, of screenplay revisions, uh, starting up of a company, trying to get the funds, closing the company down, having money taken from you. The i you sharing the idea.

I’m, I’m going all over the country trying to get producers and, and get individuals to come along. That’s been the roughest part. Gotcha. That’s been the roughest part. Now it’s like the screenplay is done, the vision is there. All I gotta do is get the money. I can hire the actors, I can hire everybody that we need and we can go ahead and make it.

It’s like the hard part is actually behind us already.

37:49 Chris Grainger
Okay. What the guys that want to go check out, you know, where you have a ytf, maybe see the trailer. We’ll put that link in a show notes. So is there, is there a particular website you wanna point them to to so they can learn more?

38:01 Domingo Guyton
Yeah. You go to domingo.com, you go to domingo.com, you’ll see everything from the new teaser to the old Y TF movie to the music videos.

You’ll see the songs, you’ll see the store, the vinyl records. Um, yeah, you’ll see everything in there. Everything in domingo guide.com.

38:22 Chris Grainger
That’s awesome. That’s awesome. We’ll have that in the show notes for you guys. So we’re gonna take our last break and we’ll be right back guys.

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So Domingo, I have learned a ton from you around the, the whole Christian rap Christian movie industry. I never thought in a million years I’d be able to sit and talk to someone who’s actually in this business. So thank you for sharing so much my friend. I. On the line within us, we always do a lightning round towards the end of the conversation where we, we, we fire all some things at you just to, and it just helps our listeners get to know you a little bit more on a personal level.

So if you’re willing to play, man, we’ll jump in and and have some fun here. I’m

39:52 Domingo Guyton
always up for a challenge, man. Let’s go .

39:55 Chris Grainger
Right? Right. So what’s your favorite thing about God? His

40:00 Domingo Guyton
patience. Okay. Yeah. Without his patience, I mean, we’re all. Amen. So he is patient. He was patient with me, and even now he’s continuing to be patient with me as I’m wishy washy, as I’m flipping around and you know, thinking I’m on fire for God next banding I’m off, and then I’m back on.

And so God’s patience.

40:24 Chris Grainger
Yeah. What’s your least favorite thing about Satan?

40:29 Domingo Guyton
The least favorite about Satan is that he is so powerful. That’s what I. I don’t like about Satan is that, um, he has, he has power. Mm-hmm. . Um, although God is the winner, we still have to currently deal with his power. Mm.

40:48 Chris Grainger
Is is the struggle’s real for sure, man.

So what’s something that right now that you’re struggling with?

40:56 Domingo Guyton
What am I struggling with? I, I mean, I just mentioned it. I struggle. I’m saying to myself, okay, we did this short film in 2012. We got, you know, four awards here in Atlanta, got a couple in California. It was a great film. I give it a b, I just wanna be done and say, all right, I’ll go on with my life.

Right? And the Lord is like, no, you’re not done yet. And so I forgot what the original question was, but there was, that was the answer to it. Yeah. What, what are you struggling

41:29 Chris Grainger
with?

41:29 Domingo Guyton
So I’m struggling. Just staying on course and not, you know, God says if, you know, if you say you got faith and you’re wavering, you’re going back and forth, then you’d basically just be tossed away.

Like, you know, you, you’re wavering. You need to be able to believe and have faith and continue going regardless. Not being like Peter on the water and being wishy-washy. And I feel like I’m, I feel like I’m wishy-washy at times because I don’t wanna be in my own.

42:00 Chris Grainger
All right. You’re, that’s, that’s, that’s why.

Now, when you think about the last year, 12 months, what did you spend too much time doing?

42:13 Domingo Guyton
I spent too much time. Social media, man.

42:20 Chris Grainger
I feel like we all are there, right, man. Yep. It sucks you in. I mean, and sometimes it’s good intentions, but it really is, it can be a suck.

All right. Well, what do you wish you would’ve learned sooner about God when you looking back? What do you wish you would’ve known sooner about him? Cause you said what? 26 is when you got saved.

42:43 Domingo Guyton
Yep. So that’s almost 20 years ago. Yep. So I think one thing I wish I would’ve learned earlier about God, I don’t have to have it all figured out and come to him.

I can come to him as I am. Right. Broken a mess. Women weed, whatever. In those days, it was like you had to get yourself together to get to the Lord. Yeah. And it was, there’s nothing, Theo, there’s nothing theological about that. No. God wants us to come. You know when he met Saul, Saul was in the middle. He was on his.

It wasn’t like he, it wasn’t like he was at home thinking, oh, I gotta get my life together. It was like, no. He met him. He met him while he was on the way to go persecute. He was on, he was in route. Right. You know, he met that center on the cross. He was already almost dead. Right. And if it wasn’t for his grace to.

He said, you know, this day you will be with me in Paradise. If it wasn’t, if it wasn’t for his grace, God’s grace. And I wish I would’ve had a much more understanding of that when I was younger.

44:01 Chris Grainger
Amen. Two more questions, Domingo. So, what’s a new habit that you want to create this year?

44:09 Domingo Guyton
A new habit. Hmm. A new habit.

Can I see a habit? I wanna continue. Yeah, sure. That’s sort of been new, I think within the last year or two. Okay. I’ve been trying to see if I can make somebody smile every day. Okay. That’s great. That’s a great one. I think I want to just continue trying to do that, like, you know, man, I’m in the grocery store.

I’ll say something or crack a joke or something and the person will look up and smile and. You’re smiling. There we go. On my wife’s with me. I’ll say, Hey, they smile. That’s, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. Just have somebody smile every day. Some. There

44:53 Chris Grainger
you go. There’s power in that, my friend. Amen.

Last question, Domingo, what’s one thing that you hope the listeners out there remember from our conversation today?

45:04 Domingo Guyton
God is patient. He’s patiently waiting for you. God also does not wait for you to get it. He accepts you the way you are and you don’t have to get clean and you don’t have to. It’s not, I had this song called Work, that’s another one of my favorite songs.

Do Mingle Guide Work. I think in the song work I’m talking about, he didn’t have to clean me up, you know, clean up my, I didn’t have to have clean urine. You know how I used to be Urine test to make sure you’re not dirty with any drug. He’ll take you dirty as you are dirty. He’ll take you and I, I hope the listeners will, will.

Will take that to heart, that God will accept them the way they are. They don’t have to go and clean themselves. You’re gonna try and clean yourself up to then get to God. You’re never gonna be there. Cause none of us are clean.

45:53 Chris Grainger
Right, right. Well Domingo, you survived the lightning round and feeding time with you.

You got through it.

46:00 Domingo Guyton
The lion within, man. Thank you so much man. That’s it. So

46:04 Chris Grainger
for our listeners out there, anything else you’d like to share with

46:07 Domingo Guyton
them today? Man, I just appreciate you all for what you’re doing to your platforms for US creators and us out here who are trying to find ways of getting, you know, our messages and things out to more people who ordinarily wouldn’t be listening.

And I just say thank you. Thank you so much for what you’re doing, what you’ve done, what gonna continue to do. And, uh, please stay in contact with me. There’ll be ways that I can help. I would love to do.

46:35 Chris Grainger
Absolutely my friend. And, and for the listeners, just one more reminder, go to the show notes. You will have all the ways you can connect with Domingo, with y Tf, all the wonderful things he’s doing, as well as those songs that he, he he gave us earlier.

So we’ll, we’ll make sure all that stuff is synced up for you. So Domingo, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us on the line with Dennis.

46:53 Domingo Guyton
Hey man. God bless man. Thank you so much, man.

46:59 Chris Grainger
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Domingo has done done some great things out there. He’s really made a big impact for the. Again, his movie Ytf, he, he’s got a lot of things in process right there. We definitely want to, to support and encourage him to go check out his website, maybe check out the trailer. It’s a really interesting trailer.

Think you guys are gonna enjoy that. The question I want you to think about this week, how would it look to move from pain to purpose in your life? Cause guys, we can’t get stuck in that pain cycle. I get it. Life’s gonna throw us curve balls. It’s gonna be tough. We just can’t get stuck. We have to, we have to move.

We gotta keep moving forward. Okay? So just think about how would it look for you to move forward. So again guys, if you enjoyed the line with Dennis, share it with someone, go leave us a rating and review. That’s two simple things you could do right there. Join our brand new community. Guys. There’s links that’s all over our, our go to our website to check it out.

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Connect with us on Facebook. Connect with us on Instagram so you can see some of the things we’re dropping out on social. Guys, we’re just want to be on some light for you. We, we get it. You are, you’re in a dark world. You’re fighting, you’re in a battle for your, for your. For your finances, for your career, for your kids.

We want to come alongside of you and help you just to know, look, you don’t have to do this alone, to go check out the line with n Us for all that information. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to listen. It means more to me guys than, than, than Words can express. So thank you again. Come back on Friday.

I got some great tips for you Follow on our Fun Friday episode. Looking forward to sharing those. So again, I pray that this one served you well. Have a great day. Get after it. Unleash the lion within.