Know God. Know His Word. Walk With His Spirit.

When something captures my attention, I go all in.

I don’t casually enjoy things; I temporarily restructure my life around them. That could mean building territory and hunting unknown captains in Shadow of War, rewatching The Steve Harvey Show, developing a website, or reconstructing an entire movie from YouTube Shorts without ever watching the actual movie.

I’m fascinated by alternate realities and unanswered “what ifs.” What if Lucas forgave Dan on One Tree Hill? What if Future Gohan defeated the androids? If a story ends incorrectly—in my completely unbiased opinion—I will continue mentally rewriting it long after everyone else has moved on. I’m still hurting over Keith Scott, and it has been more than a decade.

My permanent favorites include One Tree Hill, Dragon Ball Z—despite the fact that I don’t even like anime—classic Smosh, 2013–2016 PewDiePie and Jacksepticeye, The Steve Harvey Show, The Emperor’s New Groove, Ratatouille, Kung Fu Panda, Shrek, and Cars.

Basically, I like strong personalities, ridiculous humor, redemption, and stories where people become who they were supposed to be.

Truth can be serious without becoming stiff.

I love physical comedy and jokes that take a leap of faith—the kind of joke that crosses the line, circles back around, and somehow lands so perfectly that the whole room falls apart.

My own humor usually involves absurdly specific statements that have never before been spoken in human history. Why simply tell somebody they smell bad when you can tell them they smell like cockroach oil and horse knuckles?

I used to make comedy sketches, and I’d love to make more. I enjoy what I call comedic truth—or truthful comedy. I want people to laugh until they cry and still walk away having learned something. I’m not interested in passive-aggressive comedy that humiliates people. If the joke is about you, I want you laughing too—even if you eventually have to admit, “Okay, that really is me.”

Creatively, I move through eras. Sometimes I want to livestream and preach. Sometimes I want to rant and edit videos like it’s 2016. Other times, I want to make classic Smosh-style sketches or build an entire fictional world because one small idea refused to leave me alone. I may not always have one consistent format, but the personality, the jokes, and the truth underneath them are always mine.

Good music, autumn weather, and unresolved clothing investigations.

Most of the music I listen to is worship music. My all-time favorite is “I Sing Praises to Your Name.” I also love Christopher Cross, Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, the Carpenters, and Ambrosia—music with good writing, memorable melodies, and a certain old-school suaveness.

That music takes me back to childhood road trips from Virginia to Florida. We would be on our way to Disney with Christopher Cross and the Carpenters playing in the car. While other children dreamed about meeting Mickey Mouse or seeing the castle, my favorite attraction was the wave pool: the random giant wave, the thunderous sound it made as it approached, and the sudden shriek of the crowd when everybody realized what was coming.

I love mid-to-late autumn: orange trees, leaves on the ground, cool weather, and significantly fewer bugs. I hate bugs with a passion. I’m not certain whether insects will receive individual hearings at the Great White Throne Judgment, but I am prepared to testify.

Church fire and worshipful intimacy.

I grew up around two different expressions of faith. At my mother’s house, especially while my grandmother was alive, faith sounded like church and Hezekiah Walker’s “Wonderful Is Your Name” playing through the speakers. At my father’s house, it was more flowing, tender worship—songs like Hillsong’s “Worthy Is the Lamb.” One home gave me church fire. The other showed me worshipful intimacy.

My grandmother had a relationship with God that I didn’t fully understand as a child. She would suddenly feel a quickening in her spirit, stop whatever she was doing, begin praying, and start thanking Jesus. At the time, it seemed random. Now I’m older, and I catch myself doing the same thing.

She also taught me not to play with the enemy. You don’t say “please.” You don’t negotiate. You command him in the authority of Jesus.

My grandfather went home to be with the Lord when I was very young, but I grew up hearing about his life of prayer and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. My family tells stories of him groaning so intensely in prayer on the third floor of the house that they could feel it downstairs. People have told me throughout my life that they recognize something of him in me. I don’t pretend to understand exactly how all of that works. I can only say, glory to God.

I believe that if my grandfather were still here, he would be preaching beside me.

Loved, grounded, encouraged, and given room to grow.

My father gave me stability. He cared about me, remained present, and never built a victim mentality into me. He doesn’t agree with every method he used when I was growing up, but he did what he knew at the time—and I always knew I had a father at home who loved me. Today, he has become more than my father. He is my brother in Christ and my friend.

My mother has a heart of gold and is one of my greatest cheerleaders. Sometimes she lays it on a little thick, but she is always thinking about me and looking for ways to support me. Her love has set a very high standard. It actually makes me excited to meet my wife one day, because whoever God has for me will have to care about me even more than my mother does.

My pastor and spiritual father, Apostle Larry Herring, was also close friends with my grandfather, who served as an associate pastor. More than anything, he has simply been for me. He has never judged me. He has been patient, kind, and willing to give me room to grow. For that, I will always be grateful.

I feel like I’m doing what I was born to do.

I love the Word of God. I want to learn it, understand it, and communicate it clearly. I appreciate powerful services, spiritual manifestations, and moments when God’s presence becomes undeniable—but I never want theatrics to become a substitute for truth.

I don’t want to manufacture a moment, manipulate a room, or copy somebody else’s preaching mannerisms. If people respond, I want them responding to the Holy Spirit and the truth of God’s Word.

I don’t preach because I’ve mastered every part of life. Again, there is an unresolved clothing investigation happening in my bedroom.

I preach because I have encountered a God who is good. His Word is true, Jesus is alive, and the Holy Spirit still works through ordinary people who say yes to Him.

Through Saunders Ministries, I want to help people know God for themselves, understand His Word for themselves, and discover that following Jesus is not a boring religious obligation. It is the greatest life anyone could ever live.

I’m also the author of The Death of God’s Timing, but even that book came from the same conviction: God’s character is good, His Word can be trusted, and believers do not have to spend their lives waiting helplessly for Him to do what He has already equipped them to believe and act upon.

I’m still growing. Still creating. Still laughing. Still learning. I love Jesus, man. And I’m probably more like you than you think.