SPEAKER_03 0:07

Elizabeth Seost is vice president and co-founder of Kingdom Winds. Beth cut her teeth in the banking world and is now thrilled to be surrounded by writers and other creatives furthering the Kingdom. One of her greatest joys is helping collective members realize both their God-given potential and dreams. Beth is very comfortable in her role as evangelist for Kingdom Winds, and we have an amazing conversation about marriage and what it looks like to live that out in everyday life.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Welcome to the Pursuing Redemption Podcast with Heather Scholz.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

Yeah, I'm excited to be here. I'm curious where this is all going, honestly. See where God leads us.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

That's right. God's going to do something fun. So we would love to hear a little bit about your journey and how you came to know Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 1:49

Okay. So I was raised in a Catholic home and um somewhat of a home divided, but not fully. My mom was raised Protestant, and my dad was a very strict Catholic, and she converted for him. So it was like 8 a.m. mass every week, rain or shine. And um he was he was just very particular about that, that it was that time, and we all went, and you know, more about religion, I guess, than anything. But and he wouldn't really set foot in any other church. If we would be on vacation and would go into another church that he thought was Catholic, we would be exiting. So um I do think at a young age, I was already being drawn to the Bible. I mean, in Catholicism, you're not really focused on reading the word. Sure. It's pretty much kind of just in church. And I remember as a young girl somehow getting a hold of like an evangelistic, um, it was a New Testament. It was called The Way, and it came out in the 70s, and it was very um 70s, if you will. Um, but anyway, I love that. And I actually ended up finding an old copy and buying it recently because I wanted it again. But anyway, um I I did somewhat similarly when I got married. When I met Gary, I was probably 22, and he was not Catholic and did not have any interest in being Catholic. So I left the church, I guess you would say. We got married in his church, and um that's I mean, it wasn't we were it wasn't like I went through any kind of c I guess I did go through some classes to be. It was UCC. Okay, but it was it wasn't any kind of intimate or relationship-oriented connection at that point. So um, young married woman working, we both worked for the same bank at the time, uh in separate areas, and I think I must have started talking to um a person who was she's actually younger than me. She was an intern at the time. And maybe confiding a little bit about our marriage struggles. Gary was very involved. He played a different sport every night of the week, and he told me from the beginning, I'm not changing this when we get married. I'm still gonna play softball and basketball and bowling and volleyball. I mean, he literally did everything. But you know, I guess I thought that will get better once we get married. But anyway, I think I was complaining to her and confiding in her, and she said, My mom has so many books on marriage. I'm gonna bring you some books on marriage. And she literally brought in like a suitcase of Christian books about marriage, and so I don't know if these names will be familiar to you, but it was like Ed Wheat and um The La Hayes. There was a like a Darren and I forget it, the wife's name. But anyway, this I mean she was in her 20s, right? And it was her mom's so these were older books, but I mean there was probably 20 of them, and I I'm an avid reader, and I found Jesus in these books. I mean, it was just it it was amazing, and I and I can't say that the marriage transformed believing me immediately at all, but um I was all in, and I was you know a thousand percent pursuing him from then on, um, whether it was books or so back then they had um cassette tapes, and you there was actually libraries where you could rent cassette tapes. It's crazy to think about how things have changed, you know, like content is so prevalent now and it's right at our fingertips. But you would have to fill out forms and mail them in of the tapes that you wanted, and then they would mail them back and you would return them. Like it was a library via the mail. And I did that for a while, and then you know, I probably found focus on the family and would get their tapes. You know, they always talked about, oh, you know, get the tape from this message, and you know, of course, that was about marriage and things like that, often or family-oriented things. So that was basically how it started.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

That's wild, that's great though, because you never know how he's gonna reach you.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, it's such a it's a testament to his faithfulness and it and just the simplicity of sometimes the way God works in our lives, you know, it's not always a dramatic, you're on the floor overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, you know. I mean, I mean, that's amazing too. And that came a lot later, but anyway, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

Oh, that's great. And I love that. I love how simple it was. So, what sort of encouraged this whole thing for you guys to start like Kingdom Wins? And what is the inspiration behind all this?

SPEAKER_04 7:18

Yeah, well, I mean, that's probably more Gary's story, but um he had to step away from a job. Um, and okay, kind of he was taking a rest on things. He had been banking in banking his whole career. And this was after we were like, this is fast forward many years. Um and we were both at this point filled with the Holy Spirit, which we hadn't been, like that came later in our in our lives. And um God told him that we were supposed to write a book as a family. So at that time, our daughter was living in Atlanta, she had you know maybe been out of college, graduated from college maybe two years at that point, and God told him that we were supposed to write a book about joy, and um gave him some directives as to what that was gonna look like. And basically it was a um, you know, little what do I want to say, little essays within the book that we each contributed to. So I wrote some, he wrote some, Tara wrote some, um, she did some illustrations, illustrations within the book as well. So um we completed that, and and then God just started talking to Gary about well, what would you dream about doing? And you know, he Gary hasn't really shared how those kind of conversations went too much. When when he started like telling me that God was giving him ideas about something, he said, I don't want to, I don't want to tell you too soon because I'm afraid you're gonna be negative about. And um he ended up creating this whole PowerPoint. So he was a he was a mortgage executive, very, very successful in the corporate world. And so he has a PowerPoint, and that's how he told me about Kingdom Wins. So anyway, it was like 30 pages long. Um, and we hadn't really even like stepped into everything that was on that PowerPoint, but um anyway, that's how he introduced the idea to me, and I I was amazed and I was excited, and I was a thousand percent in. And and in reflecting on it, like more recently, you know, I probably because I'm thinking about coming on here, it's it seems to be more my dream. Like, I really need to talk to him about that. I even brought it up the other day. Like, I'm not sure how dreaming with God ended up in creating Kingdom Winds, which is a a publishing company, when I'm the one who loves books. Like, I don't, you can't really see my office, but it's just like filled with books, and we're in an interim home. It doesn't okay, it's not even a fraction of what I have. So it's interesting that you know what he found in that conversation with God is really I mean, I feel a lot is more for me, honestly, you know, and like for my blessing. But I mean, I'm not saying he's not blessed by it, but I just it's interesting to me. But um, yeah, that's that's how it started, and it's it's been a journey, that's for sure. You know, anytime you step out doing something for God, it's a lot of great things and a lot of hard things, and you know, it's it's a journey.

SPEAKER_03 11:09

Yeah, well, I know it's blessed a lot of people. Well, that explains a little bit about this kingdom marketing and how you guys are helping businesses reach other people who are sort of the glory of Christ. So maybe could you speak a little bit to that?

SPEAKER_04 11:22

Yeah, I mean, to me, our main goal is, and I'm sure you've seen this in our writings, but is is really just to share God's words and works. So the call is is you know, just get his God out there in in whatever way we can, like doing our part to share, right? And in doing that, we help our collective members because they might be, you know, there's we just have all different, I don't want to say levels, because I don't like to categorize it that way, but people with different levels of reach, right? So someone might have a greater reach and someone might have a smaller reach, and we're we're just trying to expose them to new viewers and listeners and readers, and um in that way it's it's helping them, right, and in their exposure, but it's really for me, it's really the expansion of of the kingdom, and you know, we're always adding links to their books or their you know, all the different ways that we could help promote the things that they're doing for the kingdom as well within that. So yeah, and it's the idea of just the power of that collaborative reach, right? So what if you have you know a lot more content coming in, you're gonna have a lot more reach. And it's it's it's interesting. We're seeing, we're really seeing the fruit of that when you randomly do something. I forget what we Googled the other day, and you know, I was shocked that Kingdom Winds rankings was up, you know, so much higher than I expected it to be in that search, if you will, you know. So that's encouraging.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

That's super encouraging. So can you tell us any of the stories that you've seen or heard of or published? Because you guys published so many different stories, which you have seen God's healing power at work.

SPEAKER_04 13:17

Sadly, I mean, I'm not able to like consume all our content. So um, I mean, I have story personal stories about healing or yeah. Okay. Well, um this is interesting too, because it it took place in a church that ended up being a very bad situation um for us, but but I love it because God can work in you know any right in any situation, even if there's inherently some bad stuff going on. But we were going into church and uh Gary was limping. He had this groin pain, and I said, We oh, we I think he was asking me, do we want to play tennis later? And I said, I think you I don't think we should play tennis because I think you need to take a break and just let this injury heal. And he's and he was like, It's never gonna go away. I'm always gonna have it. I just have to, you know, just play through it. So we went into the church, and um, at one point there was a testimony on stage from someone who was a um, I don't know, like a UPS. It wasn't UPS, but basically lifting heavy things and was sore and had some kind of injury, and they were giving a testimony of the healing. And Gary wasn't really even like trying to receive that. I mean, I don't know if prayer was going on or what, but um he said all of a sudden he felt this like gust of wind go up from the bottom of his leg to his waist, and I mean it was very noticeable to him, and um he he would just kind of was recognizing that, and he thought that maybe the pain was better, but it wasn't really wouldn't be evident till he stood up, and and then of course at the end of the service when he stood up, the pain was gone, and that pain stayed away for years. I mean, sadly, it's back now, so but um I mean I shouldn't laugh at that, but I I really I think we have to get better about combating that. It's all the enemy, I have no doubt that you know there's random attacks that come against and that and for him it's physical. I went through a at the same church, I went through a healing um class, I guess if you will. And I don't I can't tell you how many weeks I would come home and pray for these different things that were facing him, and he would have immediate immediate relief. Like we would see it over and over, and he could pray for me as well. And I would, you know, like if I was feeling like a headache was coming on and we're getting ready to go into an event, he would pray for me and it would go away. So I really feel like as husband and wife, especially, you know, we're able to, you know, take care of that and help get the enemy off our backs, basically. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

That's so cool. That's great. I mean, that's also a great testament to what a great relationship you have as well.

SPEAKER_04 16:35

Yeah. Well, I mean, I can tell you more about that if you want. I mean, it was it really, I mean, it was a journey, and I prayed for years really, um, that he would grow closer to God. I don't know if you've heard of, I'm sure you've heard of Stormy Ameritan, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, right. So I those books are duct taped. I have the praying for your children, praying for your husband, praying for yourself. I mean, that's those aren't the right titles, but um anyway, I mean, I could say probably about 10, 15 years ago, I was looking through the the husbands, praying for your power, praying for your husband, and so many of things, those things were true now. Like what I had been praying for every day for years and years and years was you know, it was fulfilled basically. So um, but probably when I was about 40, it was really it was really bad, and we were just on each other a lot. We were fighting, and I remember just sitting in my bed. He also traveled a lot at various times throughout our marriage, and I would just immerse myself in the psalms. There was something about the psalms that just really was healing for me at the time, and you know, I didn't really I didn't really know how I was gonna manage on my own, but I also knew that if we did get divorced, that God would be with me and He would see me through it. And I I had no doubt about that, you know, but it was still overwhelming to me, and I was very, it's not what I wanted, you know. I wanted it to work out, and you know, I don't know if if it was just our tenacity or our unwillingness to put we only have one daughter to put Tara through that, or we didn't want to like divide up the cats, like we're both kind of obsessed with the cats. Um, but we we just never I think he actually almost rented an apartment, but that's as far as as we got with that. And um, but I will say that the the most restorative time in our marriage was was when we both went all in with God and Holy Spirit. Like, you know, when we were both baptized by the Holy Spirit or however you terminology you want to use, and and really hearing from him daily and talking with him. And I I mean I had been all in from day one pretty much, but but I will say, because of the marriage, I I wasn't always walking as I should. You know, I would get go through those indifferent times. Well, if you know, I'm just gonna do my own thing, right? And kind of work on making myself happy and distancing myself somewhat from trying to make that work. But um it was just a powerful, it was just such a change in our life. I mean, it it really was. It just opened up so many um, you know, it was new life. I said it was like somebody talked about it, I said it's like going from you know, black and white to technicolor in your life. I mean, it's just you you can't really even explain how amazing it is, you know. And I loved God.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Do you maybe want to tell that story a little bit of how you guys got baptized in the Holy Spirit?

SPEAKER_04 20:24

I can tell that. I was just gonna say, you know, I I loved God and I heard from God, and you know, it's not like Holy Spirit isn't with you before that kind of experience, but um, yeah, so we knew that that, you know, in our church before we got to a spirit-filled church, it wasn't really talked about. So it wasn't, it wasn't anything that was in our vernacular, I guess, or an understanding. And then when we knew it existed, we were like, we want that, we want that. And um for me, I was at I was at an intercession. Um, we had weekly intercession for the church, and I was there, and one of the leaders said, Do you want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit? And I was like, Well, yeah, of course. And um, so she called someone else over, and then they they prayed for me, and I don't really remember exactly what happened, but it it was it felt like liquid love to me. That's the only way I can describe it. It felt like liquid love, and I just wanted to be alone and listening to music. So I think you know, I got in my car and I just put on the music, and it even took me a while to leave the car when I got home, and then I went to my office and I continued to listen to worship music. I think I probably told Gary what happened, and then I just went in there, and I didn't want to be apart from him, and you know, just the feeling that I was having at that time and and worshiping him. So that was my experience. Gary's was kind of crazy. He was at church and someone asked him the same question. He said yes. So the guy prayed for him and nothing happened. And then he was upstairs in our workout room. And um, I don't know what happened, but he then he was on the floor and he said it was like waves, it was like waves coming over him. And um and it went on for a while, and then he knew I was probably downstairs getting hungry because I'm kind of a regimented eater. And this this is an aside about how sweet God is. So God paused that, and he came downstairs. We went out to dinner, we get back home, we're in bed. Like it's not nighttime, we're just like hanging and out in bed talking. And God brought it back, and I was able to witness it. And Gary's body was like it was underwater, it was doing stuff that it couldn't do in the natural. It was like like like unjuly, like it was moving through his system, and his body was moving, and I saw it, and I mean it was amazing to see, and I was blessed to see it. But look at that, like God paused it so that we could go out to dinner, right? And then he didn't he didn't truncate what he wanted to deposit into Gary, he he he continued it later. I just think it's such a sweet, interesting um story about God.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

That is so cool. So that's so cool that you got to witness that.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

I know, I know. And Gary has an amazing um like his his um prayer language is pretty amazing and powerful. I'm like still in kindergarten with mine, so I think I think his his time um like in that exposure was really powerful. But anyway, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:17

I get the whole kindergarten thing. Um this doesn't sound right. Are you sure? Right. Mother friends are like this beautiful, beautiful language. I'm like, yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

I I'm exactly that, but just keep doing it. Like I just feel like if we if we honor what we have, right? And and there's been times when God has specifically said to me, you need to be praying in tongues all the time. So I mean, I would be I would be doing that. Like I'd find myself doing it at the grocery store because and and I in retrospect, I think it was like prior to like bigger things that were gonna come against us. You know, it was, and even though it sounds like not much to me, I mean, I believe it's real. And I mean, God wanted me to do it, so I was just gonna do with what I had, right? I can only speak what I am able to do. So that's right.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

That's right. It sounds like, I mean, you guys have several gifts and giftings that you use to really encourage the body of Christ. What sort of giftings do you feel like you can give out and pour out through some of the ministry things that you guys are doing? And then also to what are some of the trends that you're seeing happening in the Western church right now, especially for through some of the content that's coming in from the different partners that you have?

SPEAKER_04 25:35

Yeah, yeah. Well, um, I mean, for me personally, I consider myself an encourager. And I I would love to be able to do more of that. Like I feel like right now I'm kind of limited in my ability to do what I see myself doing more in the future with Kingdom Winds. So, you know, role shift, seasons change, but um that's definitely where my heart is, so that so that kind of the mama of the company, if you will, would be able to encourage our writers and our podcasters and just um you know, be that voice of keep going into their lives, you know, this matters, this is important. And you know, I've had a lot of I've had people pour into me, which has been a blessing, you know, prophetic people who are part of our community, and that's been a huge blessing as well. You know, I don't know if I'm seeing it, I am I am seeing it in some of our content, but I tell you, it's really on my heart. Like I'm very interested and curious to see what is ahead for the Western Church because clearly there's new on the horizon. And what is that gonna look like? And I've been stirred lately. I've been talking on our we have a Voxer group of women that are really um, you know, chasing after God, and you know, we've been just so sequestered in our churches, and it's it's a platform-based focus on a celebrity, quote unquote, leader, and and we're not influencing society, we're not getting out and you know, changing laws or you know, working at the schools and getting involved in the schools. And I mean, obviously everyone has jobs, but I feel like you know, that we've just been so much closed off and staying in our Christian circles. And then, you know, what does that look like for the church itself? Is it gonna be more home group based, or is it gonna be like an evolved larger church like we have it now? I don't know, but I don't know what you're doing thoughts on that, or what are you got? What are you hearing?

SPEAKER_03 28:14

Yeah, I mean, I definitely think both. I'm part of a home church network. I do think that's really important because that's how the early church operated. And I know several people that believe will eventually go back to that. I also wonder, like you're saying, if there's just gonna be more one of the podcast people that are guests that we spoke to earlier in the year really believed that there is going to be more like massive events like outside the church, okay, like more healings, that type of thing, deliverance and everything outside of these church buildings, because people don't I'm not saying everyone when I say this, so please hear me. But like a lot of people don't want to go into a church building, they want to have a different option, absolutely. And that was one of the things that that person brought up, and I thought that was really good. And I think that speaks to the larger crowd at you know, at play, too.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Reaching the massive and something that isn't so even necessarily church oriented, like it can be outside the walls and still very much seem like a Christian event, but how can it be more mainstream, like more under the radar, if you will, so that a lot more people would be. I I love the idea, idea of doing that, you know, like getting involved in things like that. That is very much exciting to me. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

Exactly. And I I do think God is laying that on the hearts of lots of people right now.

SPEAKER_04 29:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:45

And I think that's really cool to see.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

Yeah. Well, I mean, we're definitely in a front row seat time of history here, right? Which can be somewhat unnerving, but you know, we just have to right ex embrace it, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:02

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

Um, so what are some books that you would recommend from your own personal shelf? And what are the things that have changed your life?

SPEAKER_04 30:13

That's that's a tough one. Um, because I do read so much. When I when I was an early young Christian, I was reading strong biblical books like Kay Arthur Arthur. I don't know if you even know who that is, but then of course I got into Joyce Meyer at one season, and um um another book that I was remembering really profoundly affected me, which I actually dug out and started reading again, was when the heavens, I think it's when the heavens opened, and a round tree. Are you familiar with that?

SPEAKER_03 30:52

I'm not familiar with that, but I've heard it.

SPEAKER_04 30:54

It's vision, I guess. It's visions from heaven, and it's really beautiful and um really profound. So that's powerful. Right now I'm reading um Unlikely, which is a Rick Renner book, and it's it's his autobiography, basically, from when they went to the former USSR and just incredible ministry story, like reading about people who have done such sacrificial things for God and done it as a family is also really encouraging and great to read about, and um and hearing all the all the things they had to overcome, honestly. And I like I felt like we had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at us, and then you read something like that, and it's a whole it's a whole nother level. But I love Rick Renner. I you know, there's been so many, obviously, people who have fallen, if you will, or been exposed for things lately, and you know, of course, I have like all the books of a lot of these people, right? So um I don't really know where I'm I'm going with that, but it's it's just I guess that's sad, but I do I do believe that even though I don't know, I'm just gonna stop. I'm gonna stop my comment.

SPEAKER_03 32:36

Yeah, you're fine. I th I think I see where you're going with that though. Like even though they've had the moral failings that they have, they did produce great content that has really impacted a lot of people.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

I believe they I believe they did, and I know some people wouldn't like I know people who have like, I'm throwing all this out, I'm not keeping it. I haven't I haven't gone to that yet because I mean you think of David. If you know, I mean, we can't get a better example than that. Not that they're or Moses. I mean, you could pick so many of them, right? That if that was modern day, then we wouldn't be buying their books. And I'm not saying we should continue. I'm just saying I don't think it's so black and white as far as um what we should do. But but anyway, Rick Renner to me is still like very much esteemed and seems like a great guy, and um so biblically literate. It's just see, I I love the Bible, so you know, my tendency is spiritual disciplines and Bible reading. I probably own I probably own like 70 Bibles. I mean, a ridiculous amount of Bibles, just because I love them and you know they're beautiful, and that's so cool. You know, there's all obviously different translations, but I mean some of them are just because they're beautiful, you know, just beautiful. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

I love that. That's great. Is there a favorite translation?

SPEAKER_04 34:08

Right now I'm well, right now I'm I'm loving Christian standard Bible, so that's that's kind of that's kind of where I where I'm in now, but it it it varies and um yeah, so I love it.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

If you could encourage somebody to chase after Jesus and pursue redemption, what would you say?

SPEAKER_04 34:33

I I think for me it's be faithful. Um you know, we know God is faithful, He is faithful even when we're faithless, and we are gonna be faithless many times throughout our journey. But I think if we purpose to be faithful, um and I think like my life, let's say, if people really knew about my life, is an example of like God in the ordinary. You know, I'm just an ordinary person who did whatever I could with like Moses, what was in my hand. So like when I was in a neighborhood in our old neighborhood, I did a Bible study with just the neighborhood women. And I did it every week, and I was faithful, and I went to the you know, the local Christian bookstore, which sadly they are disappearing, which breaks my heart. But anyway, and I would find new studies, and I just think that's it. You know, what is in your hand right now? Is it encouraging the women that you go for a walk with when you're you know walking your toddlers? Is it you know blessing your coworkers when you give them encouraging stories about God or give them, you know, well, I mean, there's what an in unlimited way that we can do that, but what what what does God have us have for us today and what is in your hand now? Because it's it's really not about the platforms and the big stage. It's really not as much as we love that, it's really about the day-to-day interactions with people and how you can be a blessing and how you can be faithful with what he has shown you, what he has told you, you know, what material blessings you have. I mean, we're like Kingdom Winds is on us, like we don't make any money in any way from the platform. It's all being funded by us personally, and you know, I believe God gave us that financial um blessing years ago, you know, through banking and and uh different things to do this, like it isn't for us, it isn't for us to go on a bunch of vacations, it's you know, to help bring more people into the kingdom, you know, not that vacations are bad. I'm just saying, I'm just saying it's it's really what is in your hand and then being faithful with that because he's faithful. And as we step out and do things, we're I mean, he's the miracles are around us all the day, all day, every day, if we look for them, right? I mean, it it it's really true.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:44

Oh, that was such a great answer. We've this has been so good, Elizabeth. I really appreciate you coming back. This has been fun. I enjoyed talking with you.

unknown 37:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

Absolutely. Well, you'll have to come back on when things go further down the road with Kingdom Wind.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

At some point, we'll have other um there's a redemption story that and there's lots of redemption stories in our lives that I feel are being played out. So um yeah, love to come back at some point.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

We'd love to hear about it. All right. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Here I am in the store. Here I am.