Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / Living BOLD | a conversation with David Perkins Pastor of Radiant Church

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Living BOLD | a conversation with David Perkins Pastor of Radiant Church · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hi friends, welcome to a special episode of the Simply Wholehearted podcast.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: I am Amy Wix, your host of this week's episode, and our good friend Ashley Pittman will join with us again next week for another special episode, which we honor those who serve our country, and we'll be sharing this just in time for the Memorial Weekend.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Here at Simply Wholehearted, we are sharing our journey as we discover how to better love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: We hope to inspire you by inviting friends to share their ideas of how they live unplugged, purposeful, and intentional in their everyday.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: Over the past two decades, I've been calling young people to live in pursuit of God.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: I remember when I was 18 years old, I encountered God at a youth conference, and I saw passion and worship and prayer celebrated.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so all across America, we've been trying to celebrate through youth conferences passion and going after God with all that you have.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: I believe that that window of time is the most crucial.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, two out of every three adults that are Christ followers made a decision to follow Jesus before their 18th birthday.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_03: That's why we're gathering young people here in Kansas City in the middle of America to cry out to God and worship and prayer and set our lives apart to follow him.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: This is the most strategic window and out of all the 20 years that I've been doing youth conferences.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: May I remember hearing some about Radiant Church in Kansas City during my conversation with David and Renata Perkins back on episode 45.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't listened to that one yet, you'll want to hear more about what it looked like to step out and witness the miracles which unfolded over the last several years.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because I do believe that marking the lives of our kids is the best investment.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to be a part of sharing the message of bold and the history of what the Lord has done so far.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because here you are again.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: We had to just like it's been um it's not been quite six months, maybe five months or so.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Talking about Radiant, we've had a lot of your parents are still like the favorite podcast really ours.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: They're my favorite too.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: They are, they're great.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: I actually loved the podcast as well.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was beautiful.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: Really love and respect them.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I still get feedback every once in a while, like, oh, that was so good.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was so awesome.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And anyway, so we're getting the whole family involved because now you're here with your son Dawson, which is so fun.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: Dawson, thanks for being here.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, I love being here.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's so fun.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_04: My boy's 13 years old.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Can't believe it.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: It is crazy because we started a youth prayer gathering movement.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: 2001.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And never in my wildest dreams would I think that we would be in the same vicinity again these all these years later.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And our kids are going.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's just it's weird to me and wonderful.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: I think it is wonderful.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's amazing because I feel like I care more now than I ever have.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's your babies.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I think believe in it more now than ever before.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because you've seen so many lives transformed.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's it's a passion and a burden.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Seventeen years ago, I joined David and Renata and a band of young zealots to share a message which called youth to a passionate pursuit of God.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: What we didn't know then was that it would quickly grow into a national conference, which would attract thousands of high school and college students to Colorado Springs every summer.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, we also didn't know that this little baby dream of worship and prayer events would birth amazing songs written by our good friends John Egan, Jared Anderson, and Glenn Pacquiaum.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: David and Renata Perkins never lost their passion for leading youth to revival and prayer.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's no surprise, really, that less than a year into Radiant Church's history, another group of leaders touched by desperation conferences years ago would raise their hands to help lead another move calling this generation into passion, prayer, purity, and purpose.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're getting to experience firsthand some of the fruit uh from what you sowed all those years ago in like actual leaders and people who have moved here to start a church, right?
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And to think that we're sowing that kind of seed again into our own kids, and then what are our kids gonna go do?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_03: That's exactly right.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: To like be excited and passionate about starting a church, who knows where?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: Dawson will be leading a youth conference for my grandkids one day.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love that.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that's awesome.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Dawson, do you have some?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I are you I mean, you seem you're very involved.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know you like the media stuff, and you've been able to design some cool things.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: But where you know do you have some you know, fire to teach and create that?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: So I mean, yeah, I wanna do bold one day.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_04: I'd be I mean, that sounds really exciting.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_04: So that's awesome.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so we we're doing the bold um nights once a month, and we're small groups.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: We're like really focused on small groups.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: I get to help lead women in that.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: You are all in.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I am all in.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we also would and I think this is really important to point out because the foundation of the church was built on prayer.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's it's who you are, it's part of your DNA, you know.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it started out with a once-a-week prayer meeting and then kind of several nights.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's something you've maintained is that once-a-week prayer meeting.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: There may not be small groups happening or anything else, but that's a way people can connect to each other and also connect to the Lord, you know, midway through the week.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: So talk about prayer meeting and all of that and how that feeds into prayer feeding into bold.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think a few things.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: One, when I think of the local church, I see the local church starting in prayer.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_03: So when I read Acts, I see an upper room where there was a prayer meeting early on, and when there was gatherings of the early church, they gathered together and prayed.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh speaking of when they had prayed, the place where their remaining was shaken and they began to speak the word of God boldly.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_03: So all of it comes together.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that's a part of who we are as a church.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_03: And it's also something that I'm really uh committed to seeing at the conference is I've seen young people commit to go start prayer meetings either at their local church or uh at their campus in their school, and and really become missionaries to their school.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: And so um honestly, it's kind of one of the fun things.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Dawson went with me to a conference in Montana.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_03: How old were you when you went with me to Montana?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think I was eight.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: He was eight years old.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: I love this.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: And we're on the flight returning home, and he said, Dad, you challenged those teenagers to start a permitting on their campus.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: Can I start one in my elementary school?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: What your third grade?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_04: So we met on Wednesday mornings in the art room.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_04: There were like, you know, ten kids coming.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but I mean, it was amazing.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_04: It was one of the best times of my life.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_04: E even as a third grader, it was one of the times where I felt closest to God because I was challenged.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: That takes some boldness.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know, right?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_04: So, yeah, I mean, even to this day, I look back on it and say, man, I was close to God at that time.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_04: And wow, you know, and it so yeah, it was awesome.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, what did those prayer meetings look like?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean, because I'm trying to wrap my mind around my page leading, you know, for third grade, a fellow third graders in a prayer meeting.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like we got pictures.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_04: So I mean how'd you get him there?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_04: You brought something.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_04: Donuts?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_04: We brought donuts every Wednesday morning.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_04: That's where you track third graders.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: It makes complete sense.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, it was awesome playing Keith Green through little iPod speakers.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: So oh, even better, Keith Green.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Raising him right, David.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Raise him right.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it was it was amazing.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_04: So Keith Green and Johnny.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, important.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Little Jared Anderson too.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got it.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's so good.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So this year, first year bold.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: All right, what are we gonna expect?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I think it's just starting, you know, like it's it's more my expectation is about kids' lives being transformed.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I think sometimes when we get in the church world, we can look at a lot of the externals and see where's it gonna be, how many people are gonna come, what's gonna take place, um ticket sales, all the stuff, big names, right?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: We could get caught up in that.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_03: But years later it's about the lives that were marked.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so the big measuring stick is hopefully young people's lives will be marked uh by God.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: And that's really the dream.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: For me, my life was marked in 1995 at the conference, and um we've been doing it ever since.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um I did five years at the Rock of the Nations and then 14 years at New Life, Desperation, and then we did it at Ever Him for Christ, and now we're starting here with the Bold Conference, and I think it's just a burden.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's like it's something that we've seen so much fruit from that you can't help but want to see kids encounter God.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now why um and why bold?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, what's what's unique about that?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And what obviously it's Kansas City based, it's under Radiant Church.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um is that how you consider it like under or partnered or Yeah, I think it's a ministry of Radiant Church.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: So um I didn't know if you meant the title or uh the above.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Tell me more.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I um I think for me, the burden has never left.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: And so the burden has been around for 20 years.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: And so when you start a new church, um it was just something that God was doing out of our church.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: And so something that uh the Lord is doing that's fresh and new, but old at the same time.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's different people and different words, but it's the same burden, it's the same calling.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so the idea of bold I just love that when they saw the courage or the boldness of Peter and John, they knew that these men had been Jesus.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: And that's my dream that kids would um encounter God in such a way that they would become bold.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so for years, uh we started what we call desperation, and it was about being desperate, and I feel like that was a great starting place.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: When I think of bold, I think it's a it's a conclusion.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: It's by the time we leave, let's walk out of here with supernatural boldness and courage.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so kind of taking it to the next step.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think both are good.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, serve different purposes though, which is important.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and so beautiful.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: And for me, the dream would be to not have a festival, not have a concert.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this is different than the event that attracts some kids to have a small introduction into Jesus.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: But that's not really our goal.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Our goal is a youth movement for local churches where kids see fervor and passion from the moment they walk in.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Where um there is a real intensity uh in passionate worship.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: We're giving long amounts of time for prayer and uh big moments to respond.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: And so there are some churches that they want uh just an environment that brand new Christians or brand new people that have never been saved might come to a big event and think it's bold.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: And that's a little bit different than bold.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: Bold is really for uh the next step.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's that step towards becoming passionate and becoming bold in your faith.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I've seen so many kids that have encountered God in such a way that they left determined or resolute to turn their closets into prayer rooms, to spend time alone with God each day, to reach their friends with Jesus, some of them stepping foot on a foreign soil the next summer and sacrificing significantly in order to go.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, some of them committed to even helping the poor and the orphan.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I think we're trying to create a cultural shift out of a kind of a materialistic church world where we're trying to entertain kids, right, and we're trying to have something that is really deep.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're raising the standard, we're raising the bar for them.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: Whenever we challenge kids to lead their faith, it becomes more dynamic.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's one of the core values of the Bull Conference.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: We have passion, prayer, purity, and purpose.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: Those four values, and there's an action item for each one.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: Passion, we're going to encourage them to spend time alone with God each day.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: Prayer, we're going to encourage them to be a part of or lead a prayer meeting either at their local church or on their campus.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: Purity, we're going to encourage them to set apart their lives during their teenage years and not engage in dating, which will be a l a big turnoff to a lot of them.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: But uh And you call it tithing your teen years.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: And kind of put that uh frame around it, which I think is is is different.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the way that I see that is just the way it says in Psalm 90 that a person lives 70 or 80 years.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: And so I take that 70 years and just say you have seven years that are your teenage years.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: And take those seven teenage years and set apart to God.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Be tithe them.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: Give one tenth of your life.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: And when you turn 20, you'll be shocked at how you've developed relationships, methodologies, relationship with God, vision for around him and give him those seven years.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_03: And it's the idea of tithe is your first and your best.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so it's hard for them to give zero to seven.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm kidding.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, don't even remember those years.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: Right, right, right.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_03: The way that I talk about is it's your first adult years.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's your first years where you are out of the childhood phase where mom and dad make literally every decision for you.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_03: And where you're starting to have some freedom.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_03: And so anyway, yeah.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: So that's it for you.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: How do you okay?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm totally gonna go off a little rabbit trail here.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: But how do you help that not become legalistic or from a place of um creating like an unhealthy fear, even of um yeah, just how do you like foster that culture?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think that could be a whole podcast conversation, but how do you like broad sweeps?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Again, saying someone who's leading youth or raising those, and they're trying to explain this concept to their kids.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: For me as a parent, how do I talk about tithing your teen years but coming from a place of like where it's not legalistic, it's like an abundance thing, and that there's just a lot of health in life that will you'll get to see thereafter the the years that you give to Lord?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: It's all in the root.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: If the root is love, then it's an overflow to tithe your teen years.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: If the root is law, you will end up legalistic.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: So if it's a commitment that's a legalistic commitment, uh when it's made, then there's the possibility of shame, disappointment, frustration when you fall short.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: But if the root is, hey, I'm in love with God and I may fall short and I will fall short, but I want these years to be set apart.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: I want these years to be belong totally to the Lord, um then I think that that's beautiful.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: And so even the idea of purity, I I'm I'm the goal is is that we wouldn't have kids engaging in immoral relationships when they're teenagers.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: And that we would only step into uh dating relationships if it's someone that we have that the aim of this is a potential spouse.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: This is someone that God might have for me.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of dating aimlessly.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: But also the purity thing goes in a lot more because I think actually our our bigger problem is um friendship with benefits, but also the secret sins, the things that aren't actually a dating relationship at all.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I think that's even like the bigger picture that I feel like I want my kids to really get in their heart of like you said, it's coming from a heart-centered standpoint of like and I think we have to say a lifestyle.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: If we're if the it is so in their face that the only way that we'll even be able to see change in their lives is if we actually talk about it.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: If we actually say, All right, guys, here's this is a a war zone for you.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_03: And as you go through these years, let's just talk about it.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: And let's let's commit to live with purity.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and for girls too, the statistics lately have are just they're getting to where they're a little bit more equal, which is heartbreaking.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it's almost the same conversation, obviously, I think appropriately separately.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: But the the battle is beginning to take away.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's a battle physically, it's a battle emotionally.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you talk about you know the lack of being wholehearted.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_03: Man, when you start giving your heart in every direction, yeah, it can be challenging.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so when we say that, uh the idea is that you're committing to these things out of love for God.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: And obviously we serve a God who is filled with mercy and grace and kindness.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: And so to say we're gonna make these this commitment is not to the absence of a message of God's affection and love and grace and mercy.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: But if you if you if you never aim at a target, you'll never hit it.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and so we're at least aiming.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: Let's aim at prayer, let's aim at purity, let's aim at passion, you know, and let's aim at our last one is purpose.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: Purpose.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: And let's figure out what your call is, what God's wired every single young person differently, and let's help them take a step in what God's called them to do.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Which is so good, because I think that purpose piece, then if you get that kind of established and rooted too, that helps um with the purity.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because then you're running with like-minded comrades and you're forming friendships around that, and you're figuring out more of what does the Lord have for me without dealing with another relationship or person involved, or I have to find this person before I know what I'm supposed to do or get to do.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: So and just to say, we see that at our local church.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we see our goal is to help teenagers get on the dream team so that they're in a ministry position when they're 14.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_03: So this is a little embarrassing because my son's sitting right here.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: But I think my son has significantly less battles than his peers right now because he is focused.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_03: He's sitting here on this bold podcast talking about ministry.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: He started a prayer meeting when he was eight.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: He just went with me to a pastor's conference, the ARC pastor's conference.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Love the social media pictures.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like, okay, Doss, you're on mission.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: You got purples.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_03: Discover it and get him on minute.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's even a part of the idea of hey, be the campus pastor at your school.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah is how if if it if the mission isn't being fulfilled in the local church, then man, you be the campus pastor at your school.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_03: You go after him.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so I love to say that.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_03: I love to tell kids, hey, listen, it takes a lot of work to be ordained at your local church.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: But you can ordain yourself at your campus and go be the campus pastor at 14 years old.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: Because you can be walk be walking those campuses and you can be the most dynamic leader there.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: So nobody has to write a certificate for you.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: Just go do it.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you think I have a podcast?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just true.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's just true.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_03: Even there's not like podcast ordination papers you have.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thankfully, no.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_03: Great thought.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, there are several national conferences and tours specifically designed to reach our youth.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: But after hearing the bold core values, I think it's going to be carried out and looked differently than what you or I or a kids may have previously experienced at traditional youth events.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: I asked David to share where he got some of his passion and vision for leading youth, which has led him to begin ministries like Desperation and Bold.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think for me that happened in 95.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_03: I had been around I had been around church camp my whole life.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: And most of what church camp was for me was keep the teenagers entertained, put peanut butter in your arms, play chubby bunny.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Just keep them in the church somehow and keep them clean.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Coming, but not really hunger.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do some silly songs.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: Let's play some games.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_03: And then let's have kind of our our most entertaining communicator try to keep their attention.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: And um when I was a senior in high school, when I went to an event where they were, let's spend this lunch time fasting, let's uh let's spend an hour worshiping, let's give slides where we talk about calling kids to give their lives to reach unreached people in 1040 window.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: And I was hooked because that made sense to me.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: That was we're not here to play games.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: It echoed something in your heart that you couldn't maybe articulate until that point.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know it existed.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: Up until that point, I had not seen radical abandon, give everything.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'd only seen popcorn and peanuts.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_03: And it was a game changer.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think I've been addicted to that for the last 21 years.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And because there's nothing like that peer pressure to of you are creating in this environment where that is the standard and like the want-to standard.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's not weird, it's not abnormal, it's not uncomfortable even.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like they come into that, and that's just that's cool.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's how you want to be.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's how you want to be.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, they're they're jumping up and down.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: They have hands raised, right?
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_03: They're on their face skipping lunch to pray and fast.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: They have the names of their friends written down on a piece of paper.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's a little crazy.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's unusual and it's a real and and it's happened.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um when you see 12-year-olds that are fasting, it it it does something in you.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um that's our dream.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: Our dream is to have that sense of abandonment and radical continue.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_03: And um and that's what we're all about, a bold.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's huge.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's oh my goodness.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I just to think that my babies are gonna get to be a part of that and grow up in that.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because I didn't either.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we stumbled on something when I was in high school, later high school, and you know, you know, the charismatic movement, if you will, and the understanding of the Holy Spirit.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: That was really new and different.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I just remember getting to meet some other people who are my age who who felt that way, and that was just that was instrumental in like the positive peer pressure of going that direction and going, wow, this really seems to be making a difference in their life, and I want that.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, just to to create that imitation environment for kids to go, that it's possible, it's here, and there's a lot.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just you, it's not just like those one or two people you you know maybe get made fun of at school, even, or who you're just not really sure how to communicate to, it's it's a movement of people.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_03: I think when they um have moments where they can remember encountering God, yeah, it changes them.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_03: And uh John Wesley who might say, My heart was strangely warmed.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: It was a moment.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_03: It was an encounter.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so at Radiant Church, we're working hard to create an environment where though there's the possibility of an encounter.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: And when you encounter God like that, then then it changes them.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's the big dream is that they encounter God in a way that's their own.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_03: And sometimes it's easy to embrace doctrines or belief systems of parents.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: But when there's personal testimony, this is my resume.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, God has done this inside of me.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: And so I made this commitment to purity, I made this commitment to spend time alone with God.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_03: I experienced worship like I never have before.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, those things are priceless in the heart of a young person.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so Yeah, it's the the personal choice and the personal relationship, which is I'm assuming, why you guys have kind of started the bold night.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now Paige is gone.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so explain kind of that idea and that concept too.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because I feel like that maybe is a little different than what you did, you know, it's uh 17 years ago.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: 17 years ago.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, do you think that's a good one?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: Just don't say years and we just keep going like faithful oxen that just keep pulling a load and going after that.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_03: I think um yeah, bold night is what we do locally, um once a month.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: And we're trying to be really intentional here in Kansas City with teenagers in discipleship in small groups.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so uh instead of having a weekly service uh for teenagers, yeah, we're having a monthly service, but having weekly small groups.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: I like that model.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the idea is that they would um be discipled um consistently, be in tight, close relationship.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and they're in a sense in a service every week that hopefully they love.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, coffee with queens is what Paige looks forward to every week.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: And to have someone else like Allie speaking into my daughter's life, all right, you can't buy that.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like you just like that it's just amazing.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because she can complain about me, she can complain about her siblings, you know, school, whatever it is, and it's safe, and she gets good counsel and wisdom.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then she also gets to see her friends work through their stuff too, and realize, oh, I'm not the only kid, you know, dealing the, you know, working through this sort of stuff, like everyone else is too.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: And the environment of authenticity and it's just so good.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: I think in this age group it's important not to just have monologue, but to have dialogue.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: And when we look at the Jesus model, he was always asking questions.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so Jesus would look at his disciples and say, Who do you say that I am?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: Are you listening to me?
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, do you understand what I'm saying?
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and all those kinds of questions.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_03: Do you love me?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: And so our aim is to have environments where we have students that are dialoguing about Jesus, dialoguing about what God's doing in their lives, and uh that's more than just hearing a teaching.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: Which hearing and teaching is is great.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um but we do that on a monthly level instead of a weekly level.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then when you're when you're forming relationships around Jesus, that becomes the catalyst for honestly a deep life in God.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's so different um than like what you talked about.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're not doing the weekly big gathering, and so they're not getting lost in a crowd.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Where, you know, they can go to that once a month and have the more excitement, maybe some energy, you know, driven experience.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: Coffee.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: But then on a weekly basis, they're getting that, you know, face-to-face, eye-to-eye opportunity to share and you know, then create relationship outside of that.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think it's really, really awesome.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: I love and plus I feel better for my daughter.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like I know that she's going into an environment where she's known.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when I send her to the big group, you know, there might be an element of getting lost because you can, but I know that there are people who know her and who are looking out for her in that way, and you know, friendships and all that sort of stuff.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really, really neat.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Really great.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now that you're doing this and you've you've kind of taken a few years off because you worked for Every Home for Christ and you did some maybe youth stuff there.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because I remember you calling me about it once and talking about it, but then you're starting a church, which takes a lot of work, a lot of people, and now this the youth movement is still burning in your heart and you want to take it to another level.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: How how do you approach it now compared to the 17 years ago?
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, besides the obvious, you know, social media wasn't even in play.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like all these things are so different.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: What's some of the stuff, you know, or even that you felt like you learned from last time that you're putting into bold and whether it's leadership or format, kind of all that sort of stuff.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, I think I I've been learning from summer after summer, um year after year, uh since 2002, more than just kind of like what I knew then and what I know now.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: But I would say that um I I think you're I'm coming in it as a father rather than a young zealot.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: I think that in those days you're wanting to help your peers that are a couple steps behind you.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I think in this new season um we're coming at it as as parents.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like we want to see the next generation of kids know God.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I do think that um we're in a a dogfight for their affection.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I think this generation of kids are so tempting to live online and to have virtual relationships that aren't real.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that honestly, the need is only higher because for sure.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_03: Every generation needs a God.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um but the bad thing is that the distracted we have a distracted kids right now.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: And so um I think we go after the ones that well, we have distracted parents.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we have distracted kids.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah because a lot of times their parent-child connectivity isn't even there.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean that's uh something I speak to moms about, you know, all the time.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's just so much easier sometimes to create those online uh connections than it is with the people in your own home because it's tough work.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so you know, but our kids are hungry for that, and so they're looking, and so they're gonna go ahead and just the addiction levels and all the different things and battling and going after their hearts, and um, but anyway, I just think I agree.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh distracted parents and kids are massively distracted.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, kids' uh affections are all over the place, and so we want to narrow their focus and help them encounter and know Jesus, and so um yeah, I think with with bold specifically, it's just you just start, it's like anything, and you measure based upon God's activity and you just keep rolling.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_03: And so uh I'm excited.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, currently we have uh 11 states that are coming, so they're coming from Alaska and Michigan and Texas and Oklahoma, and so they're coming.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: And um we're excited just to get in a room and go after God together.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're inviting people and also to glow camp because some of them are doing glow camp, the other, you know, and uh anyway, it's a lot of people.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of kids from Kansas City.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so that'll be great.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it'll be really, really good.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: What's some of your anticipation for this first one?
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's expectation but anticipation.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: What is what is your heart anticipating?
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh a few things.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_03: I think, you know, in the very first desperation, there was this raw rootsy reality where um we had more people than we expected.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: Where we uh really there was it was it was no names.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_03: It was there's there was no f famous bands.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: There was no famous speakers.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I that's just the people we were doing life with and and were part of what we were doing already.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I'm anticipating here.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like I don't have super famous people coming, I have friends.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: And so I've got some old buddies that it's like, hey, we've been doing this a long time.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_03: Let's just do this together.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_03: And that's kind of my heart is let's just get on our face before God and pray.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_03: Let's just lift up our eyes and worship and let's seek the Lord together without glitch, without glamour, without any of that.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: Just con just old friends getting together and seeking the Lord together.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I anticipate a move of God.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: I anticipate something beautiful that I believe will take place for decades to come.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: I think this is the first one.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_03: This is the little rough, ugly year that you just get it on the map and you just get started.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_03: And yet also the one that you look back and go, Yeah, that was the most glorious.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: That was my favorite.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I expect that way about disparation.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's nothing like it.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: That year where everything was in black and white paper before there was gloss.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_03: That year before we had fancy videos or famous people.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: But people were hungry.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: And that's what I'm dreaming about is that kids will be hungry and that there'll be um anticipation for what God's gonna do, not what we can create.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this time I'm assuming you have a bigger team of people compared to just no team.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, pretty much.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm amazed at what we actually pulled off.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was pretty significant, the first desperation with the little band of people that you mean you're this was just before kids.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: Dan.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_03: Renata.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I mean, it's kind of fun because obviously as Radiant Church, we have hundreds of people that are excited about it.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's different.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: And people who found the Lord through desperation or oh yeah, you know, cultivated a hunger.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: And now they get to be a part of this new movement.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Taking it to another level.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a lot of people that would say, I encountered God when I was 15 and now they're 30.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but they're half a life ago.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and they're eager, and they're eager for the next generation of kids to encounter the Lord like that.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's so cool.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: So, and you know, the truth is, is I love to look at guys that are in their 60s right now, and they were in their forties when we were starting this.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and they're still leading young people towards God.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think of passion one day, you know, going to those like that muddy field out in Sherman, Texas, and you know, some majesty coming from that.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just a couple of amazing uh just calls that I mean that was huge for a lot of people.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, the you know, this is like they're still doing it, they're getting to see the fruit from what they did.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I mean, I feel like I'm part of you know that of like I raised my hand and you know said yes, you know, to another level in this word.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so and they're they all overlap, and God uses all kinds of different leaders, yeah, and we're all touched.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_03: The worship songs, the leaders, the the sermons, the the books, they all overlap.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and when it just keeps encouraging yeah young people to give everything.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so Yeah, it's not a competition, it's about going after, you know, expanding the kingdom exactly.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: All of us join forces, link, yeah, link.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I love I love that local churches all over the country are are doing youth conferences this summer, and yeah.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's awesome.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because we need to be reaching our cities, whether it's turns into a national event or not, we need to be, you know, doing something that can just draw in the youth as much as possible.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_03: Just do something.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_03: Just do something.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we we have so many young people that are leaving local church.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_03: We have by far more local churches shutting down than we have new local churches starting.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_03: We need as many new churches, as many new conferences for young people, as many new things as possible to just keep being a light to our cities and to our nation and the world that we're advocates of everybody starting.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_03: And so we just we're just gonna go for it.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think bold will ever travel?
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, that just popped in my mind, but like I just thought about because I think that's it's sort of what happened with desperation.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: I actually started traveling first and then it became a local and then traveling, and then so like because you say that.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, what would be your your encouragement to the local youth pastor or the pastor, you know, who's like, I can't bring my youth group um to Kansas City this year.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, do I try to start my own thing?
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what?
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_03: How how I wouldn't try to start your own thing until you have a burden that you can't shake.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but I would, if you couldn't travel to Kansas City, I would go somewhere where you could.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_03: I would go to Motion in Birmingham, I would go to Desperation in Colorado, I would go, you know, wherever to one that there is that that's nearby.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um my friend Brandon's doing one in Tucson, Arizona.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_03: They're all over.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um but go somewhere.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um and so and be a part of something, without a doubt.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_03: Because I think that you can't deny that when kids get in those bigger environments where they encounter God like that, it's just powerful.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you said, it marks you.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: It marks you, yeah.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: Dawson, what are you most excited about for this summer's event?
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I'm really excited to be able to come together with other teenagers that are my age and just be able to go after God together because you know, I felt a little bit of that at desperation, but yet I wasn't I was like 11, 10.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_04: But I'm really excited this year, um, you know, to have real friends there and you know, meet new people and go after Jesus in a whole new way.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm really pumped.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_04: That's awesome.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that's great.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna get to help out in any way or you just get to participate?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_04: Oh I'm gonna try to do as much as I can.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: He's making a video tomorrow.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Are you?
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's great.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's gonna turn 14 on the days of the conference.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, happy birthday! Thank you.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, what a great and did you plan that?
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_03: Which actually has happened since he was three.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_03: Because I used to bring him up.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_03: Because we used to bring him up.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: It seemed often.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good way to spend your birthday.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: A good opportunity.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: I'm popping in here to share another aha moment I recently had as I studied the Enneagram and its impact on relationships.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've recently had to give some no's in my life, and I hate giving no's.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: It truly flies against everything in me.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: But now I know why, for me at least, I was struggling with a recent relational decision.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes giving my best yes to the most important thing in life means saying no to really impactful things.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what this means is I'm guilty of giving myself to what is immeasurably impactful, then what is most important to me, which is my family.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: So trust me, I'm still squirming as I share this one.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_00: But if you haven't yet listened to episodes 37 and 38 with Beth McCord, those can be the most helpful as you discover some more of the basics of the Enneagram.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure and check out all that she offers at your EnneagramCoach.com and find a discount code for her introductory programs in the show notes.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now back to our bold conversation with David and Dawson Perkins.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us the schedule of events for is it three days, two days?
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Three.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Three days, okay.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like some of whose speaking, is it like, you know, worship half the day, speaking half the day?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: What does it look like?
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's seven sessions, and so we'll gather together on Monday night, and Mark Pettis from Church Behinds will uh speak.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: And Mark is phenomenal at calling kids to enter a new relationship with Jesus.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_03: He's very evangelistic.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh he's an incredible speaker.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um Katie Reed and the Radiant team will be a good one.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: We love Katie Reed.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that'll be the first night, Monday night.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then we'll do three sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday and then afternoon and evening.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_03: So we've got great speakers coming in.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: My friend Brandy Cormier uh will be here.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_03: He's phenomenal from Arizona.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then Banning Leepsher, who started Jesus Culture.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, he'll be here and speaking.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_03: Bran Kim, uh, who's gonna talk specifically about calling kids to give their lives in the nations, wow uh will be here, and he's pretty radical.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: Love him.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: He leads um a missions organization called Axe in Colorado.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_03: And so he's phenomenal.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_03: And then you know John Egan and Jared Anderson, they'll both be here and they'll leave worship.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so it'll be a lot of old buddies.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: And then we'll all actually speaking of small groups, we're gonna help the kids get into small groups at the event.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_03: And help them dialogue about what God is doing inside of them so that there's uh not only some processing of God's activity, but also cultivating new friendships while they're there.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: And so it'll be really great.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_03: So it'll be seven sessions Monday night, all day, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: Is there gonna be like meetups?
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you know, maybe a bunch of people from Michigan are there?
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like will they, you know, kind of are or is it more like just meet other people, your own age, your own, you know, when you talk about that opportunity to get into small groups, what is that?
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_03: Both.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm sure it'll be easy to connect with people that are regionally where you're from, uh, but it's organized based upon age and gender.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_03: So it'll be kids from Kansas City talking to kids from Michigan or from Texas or Colorado.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, awesome.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, which would be so great, I would think, for the youth pastors or even if maybe parents drove their kids or to have that connection back home where they're, you know, finding some sort of community together and to live it out.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I think when you connect um kids from smaller towns to other kids from smaller towns, and let's say they make this commitment to spend time alone with God, or they make this commitment to try to reach their school by the gospel.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_03: When they develop some camaraderie with friends in our social media age, it's easy for them to connect.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: It's easy for them to build some relationships, and so that's gonna be a part of what it looks like.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's oh, that'll be perfect.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now you did say that you weren't gonna have any like you know, it was just gonna be a bunch of no names.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: But you just threw out some really awesome names, which is great, which I know they're all friends, and that's Part of the beauty of it.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like it was I think when I say that, what I mean is not that they're no names, but they're proven friends that have been doing it for a long time.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_03: And a lot of times when I see events where people invite people that they don't know, sometimes they'll even pretend to know them and they don't know.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: It just gets weird.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: And so um I like the idea of doing this with people that you know and love and trust.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: It makes it genuine.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's really good.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying that's how everybody has to do it.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's just how I like to do it.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, I think it's great.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's just um I think there's a ton of freedom in it because then it it changed it like you talk about not just a performance, you know, we're not looking for like concert.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's where the deeper level comes in.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: That it's not we're not billboarding here to attract.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're you're gonna get a deeper call.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just to entertain and all those things that we had talked about in comparison of what it is.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: Which absolutely the entertainment can serve its purpose.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: The the cool Christian concert, worship concert absolutely can bring people in and serve them wherever they're at and take them to another level in Jesus, but just your approach.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and there's a lot of those.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_03: This just isn't one of them.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh there's a lot of things where their goal is to have someone who has never stepped foot in church feel like they can go in, and there's someone who's either a comedian or a rock and roll guy.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_03: That sounds weird, rock and roll.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_03: That's kind of old school there.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: What do you say?
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_03: A banned person.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_03: And and so that would pique interest.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh this is I'm I'm I'm desperate for the kid who who who's in church but doesn't know God.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_03: Who lives in an environment where they could answer questions, but they're not walking closely with the Lord.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_03: They don't they don't they don't love prayer.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I want those kids to have that deeper experience with God.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: Take them from half-hearted to whole-hearted.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's exactly right.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_03: Wholehearted.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, sir.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I mean, it's true.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: But it's true all the time.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and I I know like the name, obviously, but in the Word of God, all the time.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: The chastisement over and over again towards God, towards His people is that you're half-hearted.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want your whole heart.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think that's the thing, is that we do unfortunately have a lot of churches full of half-hearted, and our youth is half-hearted.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, if we can bring to that whole heart, then I think we save them so much pain.
• 46:25
  unknown: Yeah.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: And and making those choices that they regret for the rest of their life and just the trajectory of their life can completely change.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Getting that passion from the world.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that could be the name of the conference.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we chose bold because wholehearted was taken.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: But I love that idea.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: Wholehearted conference coming to City New Year.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think it is.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's that they're wholehearted.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_03: And that the crazy piece that you and I know is that once that happens, then Christianity becomes a delight instead of a duty.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: And the majority of young people live with it being an obligatory response instead of a a lot of grown-ups, a lot of people, a lot of Christians, a lot of people who go to church.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: They just they don't know, and they're just checking a box, and it's we have this amazing, beautiful invitation to just live from this place of where we love and desire, and exactly it directs our everything.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not fractions, it's all it's whole.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_03: And that would be the dream, Amy.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_03: All right, that's what it is.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's wholehearted.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_03: Bold.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_03: When we create a a little line underneath this wholeheartedly following Jesus or something like that.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: I love that idea.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I have you here.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, but Amy, let's just take that.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like the truth is how amazing that the Lord used this idea when you and I were in our young 20s.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_03: And now you're not only raising your kids, but creating podcasts.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_03: Because though there's a whole lot of different things that marked your life, this marked your life.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it marked my life.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so we weren't just facilitators, we were actually kids ourselves.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_03: We were so young doing it.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: In our early 20s.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm I'm eager for kids to encounter that.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm eager.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_03: Honestly, with when when it comes to like my son who's 13, you know, sitting right here, he's already been to concerts.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_03: He's already, he's seen a lot of counters.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: You've gotten to travel a lot of cool places.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_03: But I'm eager for him to have encounter after encounter with the Lord.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_03: And so it is way easier to put on a show.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's way easier.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_03: Anybody you can you can bring in big bands and make that kind of thing happen and fill up an auditorium.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_03: But to create an environment where there's where you just wait on God.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_03: That's to me, that's where where kids encounter his presence.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: And and we're desperate for them to encounter his presence and encounter God.
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, I'm turning into a preacher here.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_03: No, I'm not doing it.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_03: That's the passion uh that I have.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so um it's beautiful, even as you say that, I think about the impact that those kids are gonna have in their own home.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because maybe their parents haven't tasted and seen and known that the Lord is good and don't hunger and thirst for him.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you you take a kid, maybe who's struggling, half-hearted, whatever you want to call it, and you put them in their parents are gonna see change and whether they can put their finger on it or not, I mean that's gonna have impact, even just within their own family.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be, you know, just that excites me too, to think, you know, that's their first step of evangelism that they could possibly have is you know, the rest of their family, their siblings, their parents, who knows, you know, the rebel effect.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_03: Marking the lives of kids is your best investment.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_03: It is because they have so many years to mark the world.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_03: And so making an impact in their family, making an impact in their school, making an impact honestly in the nations.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_03: I received an email today from a young man who's a missionary to Tanzania and was explaining what God did for him at desperation 15 years ago.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_03: And so this is our best investment if we can see these kids encounter God, help them live set apart in these years so that they can be arrows and help build a kingdom wherever God takes them.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we're rest it's it's God rescuing them, but it's also an investment in helping to see his kingdom established.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well the most important question here.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: In desperation, part of the fun of it was camping, Tent City.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see a future in Tent City, Kansas City?
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_03: We shall see.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's certainly not gonna happen at the Overland Park Community Center.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, convention center.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: I know you said community center the other day in church and I was like, I thought it was the convention center.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_03: I got it wrong.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's the convention.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we yeah, you referred to it.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I know we, you know, we pray once a week in the community center.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_03: But we said it wrong to God, he knew.
• 51:08
  unknown: It's fine.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, but I just thought, oh, like maybe I misunderstood because I mean this, like, I think you should share a little bit of that story.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know how much, you know, you're gonna keep sharing that story over and over again, but um, you know, I know you try shared it to the church family about this really, I mean, profound miracle in your move of faith to go this direction because it's sort of ludicrous to in the first, you know, we're 18 months old.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: You're starting a national conference, you know, for youth, which we've we've already explained, there's a huge need and why and where it comes from.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think I think that story is so amazing.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think as we started this church, we started to see God work miraculously in providing.
• 51:52
  SPEAKER_03: And until you step out, you don't necessarily see the miracle.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_03: And once you see a miracle, you're addicted to seeing God work more.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_03: And so you keep risking or walking by faith.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_03: Which seems synonymous.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so the burden to reach young people continued to burn inside of me.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: And which is bizarre because I'm in my 40s.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so if it's a young man's game, I'm done.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_03: But I felt like the Lord continued to obviously have that have that burn.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, of course, we as a church we're portable, and so we're setting up and tearing down every week for church and so faithful, faithful servants of God doing that work.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the dream team, yeah.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_03: They're amazing.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: They are awesome.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_03: They're actually what makes the church work.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and so I didn't know where we could do this.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I looked at some different venues and some different places, and when I went into the Overland Park Convention Center, I just sensed this is it, but it was scary because it was so expensive.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, I just had this knowing like this is it.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I wrestled because you want to be a good steward and you want to be um yeah, you yeah, yeah, yeah, walk by faith.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a it's a tension.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's a real tension.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we do in our personal in our personal lives as well as as as we step out in ministry.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: And now even bigger ramification because this isn't just stepping out like for the church, but like the church, like you leading the church to step out in faith for this.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, but I but we did felt like this was what God wants us to do, and the expense of the convention center was higher than what I had hoped.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um but we stepped out in faith, and then seven days later, um I received a voicemail from a friend that said, I saw that and heard that you're gonna do this, and just want to let you know that uh I I put a check in the mail because I feel called to help you.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_03: And he verbalized how much the check was for, and it was to the penny the amount for the Commission Center.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_03: Rocked my world.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: I couldn't believe it um for what was on the contract.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so and for you, hearing the voice of God, because um you know, like that's the that's a big leap.
• 54:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we talk about like we once we start asking to hear from the Lord and move by faith, that it's it's something that's somewhat addicting.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: But for you, what does that look like or sound like to hear the voice of God?
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is it audible?
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is it stirring?
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think that's a really good thing to share.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, I've heard so many different authors and preachers talk about it in such dramatic ways that I had always hoped for it to be dramatic.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_03: Riding in the sky, lightning, well, I mean, I've heard people hear I I don't really hear people talk about like riding in the sky, but I've heard people even say things like a near-audible voice, and sure um that's not how it's ever been for me.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh when I read Jesus and he talks about abiding in the vine, um to me that makes sense that it's a a dialogue with God all the time where you're growing in your confidence of what his voice is, and for me, it's a burden, it's impressions, it's n it's I have never heard anything close to an audible voice.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I've never been someone that said, I it was near audible.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, right, right.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_03: So far from what I my experience.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, my experience is oh man, I'm I'm I'm pretty sure this is God.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and it aligns with scripture, right?
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_03: And it aligns with what logically makes sense, yeah, it aligns with what seems good to the Holy Spirit according to what I know of the Holy Spirit, and then taking that risk that I believe this must be the Lord.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_03: And so And then He meets you, and then He meets you, yeah.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that when our lives get really comfortable, it's easy to not need the comforter.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_03: But when you're taking risks, that's when He sends the comforter.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, I need you.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_00: I need you.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_03: I love the old song, every hour.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, and and a lot of times people that say they don't hear God are living comfortable lives.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_03: And if you wanna it's like when Jesus talks in Matthew 28, when he says that I'll be with you always, yeah, I mean honestly, it's when he's telling them to go to the uttermost parts of the world and risk and sacrifice.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that all of our lives require stepping out in faith and risk doing these things that shine the person of Jesus, that it's actually not safe, not comfortable, doesn't feel good, but it's it's it's where God has us, and that's when we tend to hear God the most.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway, I I think that's for me.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_03: I I I tend to um the most comfortable years of my life were the hardest years to hear God.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but they were my most financially secure.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, the years of a geographical transition, a risk in ministry, yeah, um where you're out on a limb.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, those are the times that you're the most sensitive because you're saying, God, I need you, I need you, I need you, I need you, I need you.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, totally dependent.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: Desperate.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_03: Desperate, one of my favorite words.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_03: When you're in that place of holy desperation, God, I need you, because if you don't come through, I'm in trouble.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_03: I need you.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's the place where God often comes through.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so interesting how for everyone we have those things, whether it's health, um, maybe you know, where we are geographically away from, you know, community or you know, people we love or finances.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we all have those different things that the Lord obviously can use to invite us into deeper, closer, absolutely intimate relationship.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, it and I'm giving just m my story in terms of testimony, but it's oftentimes people that will go through some other form of hardship that they'll say, it was in that time that I leaned into God like never before.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so I think too, that's what a little bit what the fasting does.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I it's always one of those wrestles because my flesh really wants to be done with fasting, whatever it is.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: But I also know my trade-off.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and I like I can't recreate it.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think that somehow I can carry it out after I'm fasting.
• 58:56
  unknown: Right.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't, it doesn't, there's just a difference, and I think it's that too.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like almost like it's creating that discomfort to lean into the you know, to Holy Spirit Comforter.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um, yeah, and we can experience that too.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: You don't just have to suffer, you know, like big things.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can kind of create that environment too where you're leaning in a little bit more and hearing so clearly.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_03: So absolutely.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for sharing about bold.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really, really excited and anticipating amazing things.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I know the Lord is delighted, and I know that He He desires, you know, a generation falling in love with Him in a radical way.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: A generation who's gonna just, you know, scream his name all over the you know, the nations and in their schools and in their homes and live wholehearted.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just I'm just excited that I get to be a part of it again and to see.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is, it's really fun.
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I wish I could play a bigger role in this season of life, but I'm thrilled that I can share this on the podcast and send my kiddos and be praying and cheering you on.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be really, really good.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's really exciting.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you guys.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we can get some hamburgers ready to eat.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: I promise I didn't set up our conversation to tie into simply wholehearted vision, but it fits so well.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: Bold is going to be an amazing experience.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_00: With guests like John Egan, Brandon Cormier, and Mark Bettis, I cannot wait to see what the Lord is going to do.
• 1:00:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm guessing this will only be the beginning of an incredible movement.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: Check out our show notes for the link to find out more.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you decide to register, you can use the special discount code at checkout.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_00: Use Simply in all caps and get 25% off the ticket price.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure and keep in touch and up to date on all the local events and happenings that we will be involved with this summer.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can follow us at Simply Wholehearted on Instagram and Facebook.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, literally summer is around the corner, and there are just a few more days to get the Simply Summer course for only$14.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: Also, if you just want some helpful ideas to get the creative juices flowing as you begin your plans with your kids for the summer, you can get 50 free boredombusters at SupersummerChallenge.com.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, y'all are so great about leaving those ratings and reviews.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_00: Claudia Farr left a review to let others know this podcast is relevant and encouraging.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Claudia.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate you rating and sharing the message of Simply Wholehearted.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_00: Next week will be a special Memorial Weekend episode with our dear friend, Kelly Campbell.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: You won't want to miss the stirring conversation.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it is also our final episode for season three.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: I know our seasons have been different lengths, but there were really so many things to think of when we started this thing.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't plan for seasons.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I promise we will be back in June with several fun and laid-back episodes for the summer.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we can hang out with you at the park or the pool, or whenever you're tasting a grill.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or as you grill your tasty dinner.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_00: Next week, I'll share more about some of the exciting guests to be expecting in our summer lineup.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_00: Until then, we hope you'll be joining us as we discover more ways to live a simply wholehearted life.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_00: Unplugged, purposeful, and intentional.