Latest / Refuse To Settle Podcast / How To Shape A City | Ep. 002

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How To Shape A City | Ep. 002 · Refuse To Settle Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: He wept over the city.
0:02
SPEAKER_01: We don't talk about that.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: Like Jesus had this massive burden.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: Like he's going in there on mission to literally save us from us, right?
0:10
SPEAKER_01: Save us from ourselves, die on the cross and be resurrected.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: Like he's he's got a lot on his mind.
0:15
SPEAKER_01: And he goes in there and he he has the wherewithal and the heart and the love for the people, the love for the people that rejected him to stop and say, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: I just need a moment, man.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: My question is when's the last time we wept over our city.
0:37
SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to our podcast, Refuse to Settle, where we are tackling conversations of what it looks like to live a life and uh applications to refuse to settle for uh anything less than really what God has called us to, what he's built us for.
0:54
SPEAKER_03: And today I am pumped about this conversation and I can't wait to jump into it.
0:59
SPEAKER_03: So let me set it up and then we're we're digging right in immediately.
1:03
SPEAKER_03: So something that we talk about often uh at our church, and you're wearing, you're totally swagged out, by the way.
1:09
SPEAKER_03: We talk about product placement.
1:11
SPEAKER_03: Boom.
1:11
SPEAKER_03: This is literally the product placement episode where we talk about being a city shaper.
1:15
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:16
SPEAKER_03: And um really the question is as we tee it off and we'll we'll dig into it as as we unpack it through these, you know, these few moments that we have together.
1:25
SPEAKER_03: Why is it so important to you?
1:27
SPEAKER_03: Again, this is not a sermon, it's not a sermon series, it's literally part of the vision of who we are that everyone that's a part of our church or our community, in whatever way they are, whether it's through groups or ministries, that sort of thing, that we are called to be a city shaper.
1:42
SPEAKER_03: So what is it to be a city shaper?
1:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, and and again, I just want to point back to the fact that this wasn't something I just conjured up in my mind.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: This was something that God whispered to me when I was sitting on my front porch and in these little rocking chairs we have out front.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: God uh said, I've called you to be a city shaper in surprise.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: Um and I didn't know fully what that meant.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure I still fully know what it means, but uh he he whispered that to me, and uh I will never forget it.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: Um and so yeah, what does that mean?
2:13
SPEAKER_01: What does that look like?
2:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I I think a city shaper doesn't just occupy a place.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, they they they carry a burden for that place.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: And and uh, you know, I think our default is in this life is to make this life about this person, yeah, us, right?
2:31
SPEAKER_01: Um but as a God's called us to look beyond ourselves and our comfort and our convenience and to to look at the world around us and say, man, how can I impact lives around me?
2:44
SPEAKER_01: How can I impact the very ground, the very city that God gave us?
2:49
SPEAKER_01: And and um, you know, you you know, you go into a city if you're looking for a place to live and you're like, oh, I check out the amenities, right?
2:55
SPEAKER_01: Right.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: But in reality, we're an assignment.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, we are missionaries called to that city, um, not to to go to the place with the best restaurants, but really to be, you know, the the bread of life that brings spiritual sustenance or spiritual nourishment, you know, to the people.
3:12
SPEAKER_01: And so uh it it's it's a it's it's a God-given vision that takes us outside of ourselves and helps us look at the world around us, not as something that is uh you know, uh there to serve us, but how are we there to to serve them?
3:28
SPEAKER_01: How can we shape the very city God's called us serve?
3:31
SPEAKER_03: Well, one of the things that we are always trying to bring out as we talk like behind the scenes and our uh Joey, our executive producer behind the camera, like one, we all we always want to bring a biblical worldview to this and then an and uh an application view as well, right?
3:47
SPEAKER_03: So what's what's the scripture context as to like what why are we even called to be city shapers?
3:52
SPEAKER_03: How how can you prove that, so to speak?
3:54
SPEAKER_03: I'm doing quotation marks for those listening rather than watching, right?
3:57
SPEAKER_03: So what's the biblical one, and then we'll we'll jump into what's the application of how I really live that out.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think Matthew 5, uh 14 and 15, you are the light of the world.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: A city on a hill can uh cannot be hidden.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
4:12
SPEAKER_01: Instead, they put it on a stand and give light to everyone in the house.
4:15
SPEAKER_01: We are to be this city on the hill, this, these, these people that are literally shining a beacon of light to a hopeless world to say, no, no, no, there is hope, but the hope isn't um found in this world.
4:29
SPEAKER_01: It's found in in the person of Jesus Christ.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: But the people in the world, we are the bearers of that light.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: We are the ones that are are to call called to like direct people's chin to Jesus, the the only one that won't let them down.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, it it's a tall order.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, it takes us really stepping outside our ourselves, but man, uh the implications are eternal.
4:53
SPEAKER_03: And I love I love that scripture verse because again, here's the second part of what we're trying to bring through this podcast is that scripture clearly says, let them see your good deeds and then glorify your father in heaven, right?
5:04
SPEAKER_03: So there is a natural aspect to where Jesus is like, you are a city shaper in in, you know, using this vocabulary by doing something.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:14
SPEAKER_03: Right.
5:14
SPEAKER_03: And you're not a city shaper by uh uh, you know, just thinking it.
5:18
SPEAKER_03: You know, it's like let them see what you're doing, your good deeds, right?
5:22
SPEAKER_03: And so as we as we talk about those things, we're gonna we're going to uh dive into those kinds of things.
5:29
SPEAKER_03: But if we if we take a little bit of a step back, why should we as Christians even care about the well-being of our communities and and where we're at?
5:37
SPEAKER_03: Why why does it even matter?
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh and I I think that's um I well let me let me point out this too.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh there before we before I go there, uh I want to make sure that people understand that there's a there's a geographical calling, you know, to us.
5:57
SPEAKER_01: And so um you know I because you know you might be living so somebody might be listening, you know, living in Florida, and they've got this God-given burden for uh a place in Ohio.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: And I'm a buckeye, so that's uh that's okay.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, but and you're like, well, God's calling me to this, I feel like to this city.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Biblically speaking, there are times where God calls us to a different city besides the one we're living in.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: Right.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: Um and so that that's but what I guess what I want to point out is there's a geographical um implication to to to the very calls on our life.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's seasonal.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: I know God had called you to California, yeah, right, but then he he then he called you to surprise.
6:37
SPEAKER_01: Now you didn't even fully know why.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: And I thank God he did, because our church and my life is is so much better uh for you being obedient to that call.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes he will put you on assignment and take you uh to a place for a season.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh and so I just want to make sure that the people who are watching understand that, like, you know, sometimes the the very call that God has on your life um isn't in the city you're in, it might be to a city he's taking you to.
7:00
SPEAKER_01: But for most of us, the truth is it's probably is in the city we're in.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: But even that has, biblically speaking, there's there's a uh um a priority to the mission.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh Acts 1.8.
7:11
SPEAKER_01: You will be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the outermost ends of the earth, right?
7:17
SPEAKER_01: So even when Jesus establishes the priority of mission, um, of of of city shaping, he he said he establishes first and foremost our very own Jerusalem.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the problem, Tommy, is that so the the challenge is because is that sometimes people want to they want to go overseas, you know, and and they want to reach people over there, and and yea, God, like do that, and and there's an absolute need and there's an absolute place and time for that.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: But first, Jesus said, be effective in your Jerusalem.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Be effective for our for us in surprise and in the West Valley where we live, and then go reach your Judea, your Samaria, and the ends of the earth, right?
7:56
SPEAKER_01: So I just I just want to make point that out because biblically speaking, it's not something that the God just gave us and it's an aberration from every other God-given vision.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: No, like there is some sort of congruency to what other people are feeling in in you know, in their city for for a burden for that city.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: I I I I I'm gonna set you up for a question, just so you know.
8:17
SPEAKER_03: I I somewhat know this answer, but I want to pull it out of you because sometimes um we romanticize this, right?
8:24
SPEAKER_03: You're a pastor, oh, that's so easy to talk these talking points, romanticize it.
8:30
SPEAKER_03: Everything is just done easy for you.
8:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, um, you know, in that sense.
8:35
SPEAKER_03: But I look at like the story of Jonah, for an example, who was like, Nope, I don't want to, I don't want to do that.
8:41
SPEAKER_03: I want to go somewhere else.
8:42
SPEAKER_03: And where he was called to shape, he got spit out, vomited out by uh a whale, right?
8:48
SPEAKER_03: To get to where he so before we get to like all the you got it easy because you know how you're supposed to shape a city because you're a pastor, yeah.
8:56
SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about the ugly for a second.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: And be like, where have you uh either you didn't want to be a city shaper or you refused to be a city shaper, and then God spit you out where where you needed to make that impact.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a hundred percent.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: I I can I can totally relate to that, Tommy.
9:14
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, I I I I said in our first podcast episode um that, you know, I shared this painful transition and how I wanted to get the heck out of Dodge, man.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to get out of surprise.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: And and um, man, I I I I tried to run.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: And and for eight months I would interview at these different places, right?
9:33
SPEAKER_01: And every church I interviewed at is like, God shut it down.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: Now, that doesn't mean I did I did get some job offers, but in my spirit, even the ones that I got job offers for, it was like something was there, it was just a check in my spirit, right?
9:46
SPEAKER_01: And so I was like, I said, I, you know, I I've been hurt and surprised and I want to get out of surprise.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: And and by the way, the one of the greatest weapons that Satan has is butthurt Christian.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: Right?
9:59
SPEAKER_01: Where we where we're butthurt, we get all upset and then we mope around and we wonder why no one wants to follow Jesus because of our example.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: Well, of course they don't.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: We're what we you know, you're a spiritual Eeyore.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: But man, I tried to run uh from you know from the call.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: I tried to run from this city.
10:15
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's terrible to say, but I gotta keep it real.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: Like I wanted out of surprise, and God just kept shutting it down.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: And he said, you know, I've called you to be a city shaper in surprise.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: And so I think um, you know, sometimes there's that burden, man.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: You know, how do you know you're called to a city?
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh some of you might be asking, yeah, you'll have a God-given burden for that city.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
10:35
SPEAKER_03: I I I I have told this to many people, and and one, I brought that question up because we, even though we have the title pastor with our name, we we don't get a pass on this.
10:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
10:46
SPEAKER_03: So whoever's watching or listening, you're going, oh, they got it easier than me because we know how or where we're supposed to shape people.
10:53
SPEAKER_03: That's not always the the case, honestly.
10:56
SPEAKER_03: And we we fail at this, you know, and we have to be corrected by God.
10:59
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
11:00
SPEAKER_03: Um, but many times it's what you're bothered by, yeah, is what you're called to shape.
11:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh, it just bugs me that, you know, and you can fill in the blank of um, you know, nobody gets greeted at the door of church.
11:11
SPEAKER_03: Oh, maybe, maybe you're called to shape communities, yeah.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: You know, as a part of wherever you you gather, you know, that sort of thing.
11:17
SPEAKER_03: Or it just bothers me that, you know, this these homeless people, yeah, blah, blah, blah.
11:22
SPEAKER_03: Again, you can fill in the blank with whatever.
11:23
SPEAKER_03: And so many times what bothers you is the the the call you can't escape to shape.
11:29
SPEAKER_03: And so again, you know, uh going back to that question, why why should we even care about those communities, or why why should we even pay attention when we're we're bothered by those kinds of things?
11:39
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, I I I think number one, just a the simple answer is obedience, right?
11:44
SPEAKER_01: I mean, God, God called us to, you know, to be the light on that hill.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: And so that's the easy answer, um, even though it's not always easy to obey.
11:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but but I think as you peer into scripture, and we really look, you know, we we hold up the Bible um, you know, as as this um not only a mirror for for our own life, but a lens through which we we look at the world around us.
12:07
SPEAKER_01: And so to answer these questions, it's it's not my opinion.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: We go, we go to, you know, what did Jesus do?
12:13
SPEAKER_01: And you know, think of Luke 19.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: You know, the the this last his last entry into Jerusalem.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the triumphal entry.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: Now, Easter, we get all fired up and all excited.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, we talk about how he came in on the backside of a donkey and and they're waving the palm branches and blessed is the king, and woo-hoo, party, celebrate.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: But like a few verses after that, man, is the part that no one talks about.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: All right.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: He Luke 19, it says, as he approached Jerusalem, he saw the city, he wept over it and said, If you, if you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: They will dash you to the ground, you and your children within your walls.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: Of course, he's talking about uh 40 years later in 70 AD, this this the temple walls would be just destroyed by the Romans, right?
13:28
SPEAKER_01: After the Jewish revolt.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: The point is, he wept over the city.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: We don't talk about that.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: Like Jesus had this massive burden, like he's he's going in there on mission to literally save us from us, right?
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Save us from ourselves, die on the cross and be resurrected.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: Like he's he's got a lot on his mind, and he goes in there and he he has the wherewithal and the heart and the love for the people, the love for the people that rejected him, to stay stop and say, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: I just need a moment, man.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: Y'all are gonna, you're all about to go through hell, self-induced hell, and it's breaking my heart because the answer was right in front of you and you rejected me.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: Like, my question is when's the last time we wept over our city?
14:13
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time we we drove by that that that homeless person, man, who was just like broken, and we're like, instead of looking at it as that dude as like a an inconvenience, we're like, man, maybe I should stop and get him some food.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
14:26
SPEAKER_01: Like, and I'm I say that having driven by many, you know what I'm saying, guilty, but like Jesus had a had a burden.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: And and um, you know, I I one one of the things I I have the privilege of doing is is being the chaplain, one of the chaplains for surprise police department.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, and and like I went on a ride along not too long ago, and just in one night, Tommy, like in a six-hour shift, uh, there was a gunshot, uh, you know, a person shot, got shot at a at a bar.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there was a suicide call, there was a mental illness issue, there was a DUI, there was a person at a restaurant who pulled a knife, just in one six-hour shift.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: And it's like I came back from that, you know, um, you know, just just convicted, stirred, and just even with a greater burden for our city.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: Because it happens while people are asleep at night, right?
15:14
SPEAKER_01: Getting their rest, getting ready to go into their their job and live their life.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: This stuff happens right, you know, right in our own city, and God's called us to do something about it.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: So uh I I think um I think obedience, I think because Jesus cared, and I would I would also say that our blessing is tied to our city.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: And what do I mean by Jeremiah 29, 7?
15:41
SPEAKER_01: Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: Pray to the Lord for for it, because if it prospers, you prosper too.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: And of course, these were the the exiles who had been exiled into Babylonian exile, and God's just calling like, hey, listen, your own blessing to some degree is predicated on your involvement, your love, your care for the residents of your city.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: And granted, it would only be a city for them, the ones that actually would return home for 70 years.
16:15
SPEAKER_01: But for those 70 years, it's your mission field.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: Get off your butt and go love the people I've called you love and shape that city.
16:22
SPEAKER_03: Well, and I think too, the the thing that fires me up about this is again, the schemes of the enemy.
16:28
SPEAKER_03: Uh the title of this show, this whole podcast is Refuse to Settle.
16:32
SPEAKER_03: So many times we allow the um either misunderstanding of our motives or the false accusation of our motives to allow us to settle.
16:42
SPEAKER_03: Oh, people think I'm doing it for this ulterior motive.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: So I yeah, so I settle uh uh to not reach or shape a soul, right?
16:51
SPEAKER_03: To not shape a city because so somebody might question what my what was like, somebody would question, John, what's your motive behind being a chaplain?
16:58
SPEAKER_03: Why do you what are you trying to buddy up to and this and that?
17:01
SPEAKER_03: There's all kinds of accusations because the enemy is always accusing.
17:04
SPEAKER_03: Right.
17:05
SPEAKER_03: So wherever you need to go plug in and and and make a difference, let be that light, right?
17:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
17:11
SPEAKER_03: Shape, let them see your good deeds.
17:14
SPEAKER_03: Jesus literally said, let them see your good deeds.
17:17
SPEAKER_03: So of course I'm gonna get accused of, you're gonna get accused of having ulterior motives.
17:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, when you when you have that, uh those good deeds being shown off to the world like, oh, you've got something else in mind.
17:29
SPEAKER_03: And so, anyways, I just say that because we we have to refuse to settle from those false accusations of whatever our real motive is.
17:37
SPEAKER_03: It comes down to obedience, yeah, you know, the what Jesus modeled.
17:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
17:42
SPEAKER_03: You know, we follow his example, that sort of thing.
17:44
SPEAKER_03: And so let me just ask this question because I again I want to try to bring it down to um where most listeners are at.
17:51
SPEAKER_03: Most listeners do not past what would be a uh multiple services.
17:58
SPEAKER_03: You get to speak to thousands of people every weekend, right?
18:01
SPEAKER_03: That sort of thing.
18:01
SPEAKER_03: So you, of course, you can talk on broad terms of being shaping a city, but we narrow it down.
18:08
SPEAKER_03: We don't always talk in big terms of go shape your whole city.
18:12
SPEAKER_03: So it's on my sweater because it's one of our you know how we define this, right?
18:15
SPEAKER_03: Of like uh one one soul at a time, right?
18:19
SPEAKER_03: So how uh how could people try to become a a city shaper in their own community, right where they're at, wherever they're listening to, wherever they're watching from, wherever they're wherever their circle of influence is, right?
18:33
SPEAKER_03: You talked about, you know, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the ends of the earth, right, that sort of thing.
18:37
SPEAKER_03: So how is it that somebody's becomes a shit uh how is it that somebody becomes a city shaper?
18:44
SPEAKER_03: Thanks for making that a tongue twister, by the way.
18:46
SPEAKER_03: Uh God gave me the vision, okay?
18:49
SPEAKER_03: It's our job to enunciate it.
18:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thanks.
18:51
SPEAKER_03: Thanks a lot.
18:52
SPEAKER_03: You know the question.
18:53
SPEAKER_03: How do we become those in our own community?
18:55
SPEAKER_03: By the way, the whole This just went viral.
18:58
SPEAKER_03: It just went viral, and our whole team is losing it right now.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: Oh, our team is losing it here in uh in our little studio.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: But um, but yeah, no, it it's you know the one of the challenges, I think, in in and again in Western civilization and in and in church on this this part of the country is that we turn you know growth into some strategy.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: Right.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: I meet with church planners all the time where they say, Oh, hey man, what's the secret sauce?
19:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, well, um, you know, how you know it's like they're and what they're asking is how do you how'd you grow the church?
19:27
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I didn't.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Paul plants, Apollos Waters, right?
19:32
SPEAKER_01: And God causes the growth.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: So number one, um you know, the the answer is Jesus, right?
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, but but so how do we how do we um become you know, what are we doing in our community, right?
19:46
SPEAKER_01: To really to really live this out.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, I I think we're we're just first and foremost, we're trying to raise up city shapers.
19:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: You have it on your your your you know, we shape a city by shaping a soul.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: It's not a growth strategy, it's not, you know, we're reading some leadership book or going to some, you know, new uh, you know, convention or conference, right?
20:05
SPEAKER_01: Like, no, no.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: Like God's called us, Matthew 28, 19, go make disciples.
20:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: And if we do that, he doesn't say go make converts, he doesn't say go make fans, go make people who memorize a bunch of scripture and know how to talk the talk.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: No, he said go make disciples.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, how do we know what it if we're a disciple?
20:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, Luke 6, 40 said Jesus said a teacher who is fully trained, a student, a student who's fully trained is like his teacher.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: So how do we know if we're raising up disciples?
20:33
SPEAKER_01: If we're like Jesus, right?
20:35
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus, could we agree that Jesus was a city shaper?
20:38
SPEAKER_01: Yes, 100%.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: And so if we raise up people who emulate, look like, act like, talk like, and believe like, and most importantly, live like Jesus, we are raising up disciples.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: We are raising up future city shapers.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and and I think specifically, my man who cuts your hair, yeah.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: Oh uh Junior is his name.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: And and and maybe you should tell the story of what God has done in his life, but like there's a perfect example, it comes to my mind, of a city shaper.
21:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:06
SPEAKER_03: I um first of all, I would just say this like as a as our church, um uh, and again, we've we've mentioned this, you know, possibly uh potentially one of the largest um set up and tear down churches in the country.
21:19
SPEAKER_03: We don't have our own building.
21:20
SPEAKER_03: We we actually spend more money on one-on-one cups of coffee than we do on programs.
21:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:26
SPEAKER_03: Because we are about shaping a soul.
21:29
SPEAKER_03: So junior, my barber.
21:34
SPEAKER_03: So junior, my barber, um, which is even funny to say my barber, I I literally just started going to him uh and and um here's the thing while I'm sitting in his chair, I have him trapped for 30 minutes or to an hour, because sometimes it takes a long time, mostly to just have conversations.
21:52
SPEAKER_03: And um, as he's walked in his faith, as he's grown in his faith journey, as we've been uh shaping his life, there's been conversations.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: Conversations of habits, hangups, right?
22:03
SPEAKER_03: Things that things that he's been having to cut out of his life, things that he's been having to work in, everything from these conversations about his marriage, these conversations about a fatherhood, you know, because he has a son and a daughter, and how does he parent them so differently?
22:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
22:19
SPEAKER_03: Um his past.
22:21
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
22:22
SPEAKER_03: We did a we did a road trip to Mexico, and and um uh it was amazing to hear that story coming across the border.
22:31
SPEAKER_03: He used to smuggle other things across the border.
22:33
SPEAKER_03: Now he's smuggling his pastor across.
22:35
SPEAKER_03: Actually, we didn't smuggle, we didn't smuggle me across the border.
22:38
SPEAKER_03: But as a part of his past, he's like, oh, this is so different, and we just keep shaping.
22:43
SPEAKER_03: Now, here's the thing uh he's not a pastor, yeah, he's a barber.
22:48
SPEAKER_03: But now every time I go to him, he's telling me another story of another guy that's he he's helping to shape one haircut at a time.
22:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
22:56
SPEAKER_03: Right.
22:56
SPEAKER_03: So it's easy to go, we're gonna shape a city because we've got thousands of people that come.
23:01
SPEAKER_03: And he's like, I'm gonna help shape this guy for the next 20 minutes.
23:04
SPEAKER_03: And he's been challenging.
23:05
SPEAKER_03: And he might be, I don't have the stats on this.
23:08
SPEAKER_03: I don't, I, I don't, because I don't track it this way, but he might be one of the number one uh uh soul shapers in our church as far as how many people he's brought over the last few years.
23:19
SPEAKER_03: Uh on every Sunday, he's introducing me of oh, here's my friend, he's here for the first time.
23:23
SPEAKER_03: Here's this couple, he's here for the first time.
23:26
SPEAKER_03: Here's this, here's this elderly people, and and the number of people that just across the board, it's not one type of guy, it's not one type of story, it's not one type of person that he just keeps bringing.
23:38
SPEAKER_03: Um, and he's he's helped shape people I would never have a chance to sit and have a cup of coffee with.
23:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'd never have access to them.
23:45
SPEAKER_03: Yep, right?
23:46
SPEAKER_03: Uh you would never have access to them.
23:47
SPEAKER_03: They would, they would maybe because of their upbringing, maybe because of their past, you know, again, guys right out of jail, yeah, guys right out of prison, guys, you know, all different types that would never meet with you and I, he's been able to shape.
24:02
SPEAKER_03: It's been amazing, amazing to watch.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: And I think that that would would make me think of one other point as we look at how we try to live this out and take this to our community.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: We have to take the church to people.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: It is a mistake for us to, as Christians, not just as pastors and leaders, but to all the Christians watching online.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Like it is a mistake for us to think that we can just bring people to church and that that's the means of evangelism.
24:33
SPEAKER_01: That's the means of shaping our city.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: I believe one of the most effective ways to shape our city is to take the church to them.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I I know we have a business meeting, uh business leaders meeting coming up, right?
24:45
SPEAKER_01: Where we're we're we're getting the business leaders together, many of whom are not Christians, to to have some synergy and to, you know, as a as an on-ramp to the gospel.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: And not necessarily even on-rap to church, yeah, because they may not come to church, but you can still lead them to Jesus.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, we'd love for them to come to church.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: But the first and foremost, we want them to know Jesus.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we have, you know, we worked on the veterans wall and we do different service things that we do in the community, but obviously our biggest is Christmas in the park.
25:14
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: Something that another vision that God gave us.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: And and uh it's just something if if you're watching out of state, you you wouldn't know about it.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: But if you live anywhere really in in our in our state, the state of Arizona, you probably have heard of Christmas in the park.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: It's something we started, and this past year we had 40,000 people over the course of five nights that came.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: We had uh 2,500 decisions, a little over 2,500 decisions for Christ.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: And from that, this past year, we had over over 600 baptisms.
25:41
SPEAKER_01: Here's why I say that.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: I celebrate that as we have a we have a God-given mandate, not to expect people just to come to church, but to take the church to the people.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: Um, I I think of uh of a young man named Tyler who showed up.
25:57
SPEAKER_01: It's I get emotional talking about it, man.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh he was a server at a restaurant, and so I'd invited him to church and and we even exchanged exchanged numbers.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, he never came to church, but one night at Christmas in the park, he he shows up and I didn't know he was there.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: I get a text after after that night, and it said, Hey, this is Pastor John, this is Tyler.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: You know, that used to be um, you know, I waited on you at this restaurant.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: And um he said, Tonight I was gonna take my life.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I had the gun in my car and I was gonna shoot myself.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: I was gonna end it all.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: But I saw a light.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: We use it at Christmas in the park, we have all these moving lights, right?
26:41
SPEAKER_01: And and they shoot up into the sky.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: It's like the bat signal.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like the bat signal.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: And he saw the bat signal.
26:47
SPEAKER_01: And that signal literally, God used that light.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: And it's so metaphorical because again, we're the light of the world, we're the city on the hill.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes that light is a literal light that our volunteers, our people, the people that serve and love our community, they set those lights up.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: I didn't just set them up, I helped, but it was a collective effort of this one light that just shined brightly.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, it wasn't our light, it was the light of Jesus shining through us.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: And dude, it it literally saved this young man's life.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: And he would end up coming back to church and giving his life to Christ.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: And he's he's he's alive and well today because we didn't rely on you know someone else to invite him to church or even us to invite him to church.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: We took the church on the road.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: We met in this park and this eight-acre field and turned it into a an evangelistic church service where people could be loved on, fed, nurtured, and most importantly, be hear the message of hope.
27:46
SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm so glad that you brought up Christmas in the park because the the value of Christmas in the park, and why I would want to bring it up here, where we refuse to settle, is that it's not that we do this big event where 50,000, 40,000 people come.
28:01
SPEAKER_03: That while that's impressive, again, sometimes people look at the big and go, Oh, I could never do that.
28:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
28:07
SPEAKER_03: But it's the simple things of uh, and and Brad, our rain man with numbers, would would have to tell me this, but it's thousands of working hours of volunteers with small things like stuffing bags of popcorn, yeah, handing out the little cookies, right?
28:24
SPEAKER_03: You know, it's not the big crowd and the pyrotechnics, all of that is cool.
28:28
SPEAKER_03: But honestly, what really shapes our city is that one person at the door handing out the program, handing out the little tickets, you know, all the little touches that we do, where the impressive thing about Christmas in the park isn't that we do this big event for five nights, it's that there are thousands of people who have refused to settle, to be a city shaper on their own.
28:54
SPEAKER_03: And they might just be a parking lot attendant.
28:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, and you're like, that that actually could turn in the most significant moment for somebody who's afraid to walk through the gate, but suddenly they saw a smiling face.
29:06
SPEAKER_03: It's the people who are in a costume who no one even gets to see their face, yeah, but they're there making kids feel welcome because we've got the Grinch there, or we've got Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer, we got Santa and Mrs.
29:17
SPEAKER_03: Claus, right?
29:18
SPEAKER_03: That's all working volunteers who are like, I'm gonna do my little part to refuse to settle, to shape a soul, to shape this city, to shape somebody who who's gonna be impacted.
29:30
SPEAKER_03: And again, uh these are all just examples.
29:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
29:34
SPEAKER_03: Nobody needs to try to recreate what we do.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:37
SPEAKER_03: But but we want them to catch the heart, the vision behind what does it mean?
29:41
SPEAKER_03: Is I happen to be convinced and convicted that every single person who's transformed by Jesus is called to be a city shaper wherever they're at.
29:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
29:51
SPEAKER_03: Right?
29:52
SPEAKER_03: Like just planted in that community, right?
29:55
SPEAKER_03: In that thing.
29:55
SPEAKER_03: So, how can someone begin shaping their community right now?
29:59
SPEAKER_03: What's some just like practical steps?
30:01
SPEAKER_03: They might not pull off a Christmas in the park with 40,000 people, but it's like, where do I start?
30:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, where do I go?
30:07
SPEAKER_01: Well, again, let's let's go back to to God's word, man.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: You know, back to this, the people who were exiled.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: What did God what was the advice?
30:14
SPEAKER_01: He he essentially God answered that that uh question through the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 29.5.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: He's he told the people who were there going through this this kind of crisis, this having to have a new life, new home, new job, right?
30:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: He says in Jeremiah 29, 5, build houses and settle down and plant gardens.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: And so I think how can we begin shaping our community, your community, wherever you live, wherever your Jerusalem is, yeah, I would tell you to build houses, settle down, plant gardens.
30:51
SPEAKER_01: What does that look like?
30:52
SPEAKER_01: Build build a house.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: Um before you go out and try to change the world, change your home.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh men, let's lead our families, let's let's raise up champions for Christ.
31:05
SPEAKER_01: Let's uh and and and and not that everything's you know, not that we can wait for everything to be perfect in our house um before we you know do something for Jesus, but keep in mind doing something for Jesus is is first and foremost building your house, right?
31:20
SPEAKER_01: Building your house, raising up champions for Christ that will go out and be city shapers in their own right.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: So I think we we build up build a house.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: I think we we settle down.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Um what does that mean?
31:30
SPEAKER_01: It means um we we we are we are under the control and discipline of the Holy Spirit.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: How do I know if I'm under control and discipline of the Holy Spirit?
31:40
SPEAKER_01: Well, God answered that question in Galatians uh five, where he said there will be evidences, there will be the fruit of the spirit if you are under control and submission and the direction of the Holy Spirit.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: Fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, uh uh self-control, long suffering, long suffering.
32:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:01
SPEAKER_01: All all of those nine fruit of the spirit, like there, those will be the tangible evidence of a life that's governed and under the control of the spirit.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: So build a house, right?
32:12
SPEAKER_01: Get your home, lead your family, focus on Jesus in your own home, shape those souls first, uh, settle down, right?
32:20
SPEAKER_01: Be live under the governance of the of the uh of the spirit.
32:23
SPEAKER_01: And then lastly, what did you what did God say?
32:25
SPEAKER_01: Plant a garden.
32:26
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
32:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh maybe, you know, get some roots in your city, right?
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Don't just ask, oh, what you know, what can the city do for me?
32:34
SPEAKER_01: No, what can I do to be a city shaper in my own city?
32:37
SPEAKER_01: Get on a school board, volunteer for the food bank, uh, coach a sport, get off your butt and get out there and and and put some roots down in your city.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing that's so profound, there's nothing that I'm gonna say that's gonna be such an aha moment.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: It's more just let's do what we know to do.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: Let's live what we know to live, let's let's believe what we believe, but belief in action, where we get off our butts, man, and we have this burden.
33:04
SPEAKER_01: That burden translates into action.
33:06
SPEAKER_01: And that action of being a city shaper translates into salvation.
33:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so good, so good.
33:12
SPEAKER_03: I I just think about when Moses was given the task of go and set my people free.
33:18
SPEAKER_03: Big task, shape a city, big task.
33:21
SPEAKER_03: But God simplified it down to take what's in your hand.
33:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, take what's at hand.
33:27
SPEAKER_03: And the the truth is, is everybody have been we've all been given an at-hand resource to just go and shape and go and make an impact.
33:36
SPEAKER_03: And it's not necessarily rocket science, you know, it's not, it doesn't, we're all chasing the big moments, but it's really the little moments.
33:44
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and then uh uh uh one of the phrases that I've that that is true of my own life.
33:49
SPEAKER_03: Um when I went into ministry, uh, I certainly didn't want to do the preaching thing.
33:54
SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to be a pastor now.
33:55
SPEAKER_03: I was like 15 years old and you know, that sort of thing.
33:58
SPEAKER_03: And you're like, oh, at 15, I knew exactly what I was gonna do with the rest of my life, but I didn't know what I was gonna do with my life until I was actually doing it.
34:06
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
34:06
SPEAKER_03: I was I was preaching and God said, This is what I want you to do.
34:10
SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, oh, there it is.
34:12
SPEAKER_03: And so many times the reason we don't know to do is because we haven't started doing.
34:16
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
34:17
SPEAKER_03: And so I would say, Oh, you get your sending in the doing.
34:20
SPEAKER_03: 100%.
34:21
SPEAKER_03: And so I would say this as you're watching, if you've been with us today, refuse to settle by just start doing.
34:28
SPEAKER_03: And that puts you in that environment where the Holy Spirit, where God can start cultivating, start moving, start shaping you into the city shaper.
34:36
SPEAKER_03: He's planted you wherever you're at.
34:38
SPEAKER_03: So thanks for joining us today.
34:40
SPEAKER_03: Really want to encourage you to refuse to settle.
34:42
SPEAKER_03: Be sure to hit that subscribe button so you catch all of this conversation.
34:46
SPEAKER_03: We got tons of more content coming.
34:47
SPEAKER_03: Can't wait to take this journey together as we refuse to settle.