Latest / Andy Stanley Sermons / Andy Stanley - Inflection Point: Pouring Out Part 3

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Andy Stanley - Inflection Point: Pouring Out Part 3 · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: A year ago, as most of you know, we kicked
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Speaker 1: off our Generosity initiative across all eight Atlanta area churches,
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Speaker 1: calling it Deeper Wider, and the goal is to maximize
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Speaker 1: our impact, our collective impact of all their Atlanta area churches,
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Speaker 1: to maximize our impact locally, nationally, and actually globally. And
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Speaker 1: if you've been attending, you know that you were actually
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Speaker 1: making a difference globally. It's it's it's it's really it's unbelievable.
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Speaker 1: So hopefully by now you have picked up your copy
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Speaker 1: of the Vision Guide and hopefully you have looked inside
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Speaker 1: at the commitment card, because next Sunday is Commitment Sunday.
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Speaker 1: We did this a year ago. Some of you were
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Speaker 1: wondering why are we doing it again. A couple of reasons.
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Speaker 1: We want you to be here next Sunday.
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Speaker 2: With your card.
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Speaker 1: If you forget your card, we have some extras. But anyway,
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Speaker 1: the point is for those of you who committed last year,
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Speaker 1: we need to know if you're still in because we're
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Speaker 1: we want to budget responsibly. Some of you didn't make
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Speaker 1: a commitment last year, you're ready to do it this year.
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Speaker 1: Some of you weren't here last year and this is
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Speaker 1: your opportunity to get on board with what we're doing
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Speaker 1: for you would just be a one your commitment because
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Speaker 1: the opportunity is absolutely amazing. In a year ago, I said, hey,
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Speaker 1: we've been doing a lot of this stuff kind of
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Speaker 1: with leftover you know, margin money. What if we got
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Speaker 1: serious about it and your response has been overwhelming and
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Speaker 1: we want to make sure we get to the finish
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Speaker 1: line responsibly, So that would be absolutely great.
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Speaker 3: For those of you who watch online.
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Speaker 1: You don't have a vision guy, but if you go
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Speaker 1: to deeproviider dot com, all that information is right there.
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Speaker 3: And the reason we're doing that this.
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Speaker 1: And this is important from my perspective for you to
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Speaker 1: know it's not because your church needs your money. It's
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Speaker 1: because there is more opportunity locally, there's more opportunity nationally,
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Speaker 1: and because the world and the churches around the world
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Speaker 1: need and are asking for your influence.
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Speaker 3: That there are churches all around the world that are
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Speaker 3: saying back.
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Speaker 1: I heard about when this morning in the green room,
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Speaker 1: a church is saying we need more of what you're doing.
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Speaker 3: Can you help us?
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Speaker 1: And we want to be able to say yes to
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Speaker 1: those churches and those church leaders.
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Speaker 3: And here's the.
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Speaker 1: Really cool thing. We don't attract pastors, we attract leaders.
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Speaker 1: And you know this about leaders and leadership. When you
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Speaker 1: give leaders a little bit of resource and you give
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Speaker 1: leaders a little bit of a model, they figure out
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Speaker 1: how to contextualize it for what they're doing in our
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Speaker 1: country and all over the world. And it's absolutely incredible. Now,
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Speaker 1: if you've been paying attention or if you've been around,
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Speaker 1: the deeper wider initiative falls into three kind of big buckets,
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Speaker 1: where the money's going, where the investments are being made.
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Speaker 3: And today there's.
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Speaker 1: Transformation, expansion, innovation, and today I want to talk specifically
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Speaker 1: about transformation. Transformation is what we're doing in the Atlanta.
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Speaker 3: Area through our local churches.
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Speaker 1: And today there is going to be an ask, but
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Speaker 1: it's not a financial ask, and I'll just give it
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Speaker 1: to you right up front. We need about a thousand
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Speaker 1: more of you at all of our AID Atlanta area
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Speaker 1: churches on the north side of town. We need about
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Speaker 1: a thousand more of you to consider getting engaged with
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Speaker 1: or get Actually, we don't just need you to consider it,
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Speaker 1: We need a thousd more of you to actually get
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Speaker 1: involved in a Sunday morning environment into volunteer in a
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Speaker 1: Sunday morning.
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Speaker 3: Environment at one of our eight Atlanta.
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Speaker 1: Area churches, so that we can continue to create these
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Speaker 1: transformational environments for children and for students and for their parents.
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Speaker 3: And here's the promise. There's a promise that goes with it.
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Speaker 1: If you say yes, if you consider it, and then
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Speaker 1: step into one of these environments, if you say yes,
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Speaker 1: there is something that comes back to you. And that's
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Speaker 1: what I want to talk for the most part about,
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Speaker 1: because there's a lot of misunderstanding about this.
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Speaker 3: Now backing up in just a second.
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Speaker 1: In Part one of the series, Inflection Point, I talked
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Speaker 1: about the fact that the Deeper Wider initiative actually reflected
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Speaker 1: an inflection point for our organization. And as you just
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Speaker 1: saw in the preview, I mean in the message preview
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Speaker 1: title pack. An inflection point is something that happens in
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Speaker 1: the past that we don't know when it's happening, but
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Speaker 1: when we look back, we're like, oh, that's when it started,
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Speaker 1: Oh that's when the change was made. In fact, as
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Speaker 1: we talked about in part one, you can actually identify
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Speaker 1: inflection points in your personal life.
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Speaker 3: There was something that happened.
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Speaker 2: To you or for you, or with.
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Speaker 3: Your family or in your business or maybe even in.
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Speaker 1: Your health, where it's like looking back, that was the
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Speaker 1: beginning of something great, looking back, that was the beginning
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Speaker 1: maybe of something not so great. So back to transformation
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Speaker 1: for just a moment. There are thousands of adults and
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Speaker 1: thousands of college students and high school students in our
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Speaker 1: churches today, in the Atlanta area churches.
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Speaker 3: Today who would tell you, even though they did may
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Speaker 3: not have this language, they.
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Speaker 1: Would tell you that their decision to volunteer on Sunday
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Speaker 1: morning in one of our environments in Wamboland or with
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Speaker 1: Upstreet on their elementary age kids, or in our service
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Speaker 1: programming group or guest services, or coming to Sunday afternoon
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Speaker 1: to be a small group leader inside out or hosting
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Speaker 1: one of these environments. There are thousands of high schools.
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Speaker 1: There as thousands of adults in high school students who
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Speaker 1: would tell you that looking back, that when they said
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Speaker 1: yes to that invitation, regardless of why they said yes
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Speaker 1: to the invitation, it was an inflection point in their
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Speaker 1: faith story or in their faith journey, that that began
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Speaker 1: something new. There was a heightened sense of the awareness
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Speaker 1: of God, There was a heightened sense of dependence on God.
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Speaker 1: There was something that happened in their faith that hadn't
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Speaker 1: happened before. And the point I'm going to make today
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Speaker 1: is that it probably couldn't have happened any other way.
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Speaker 1: And the reason I know this is true about those
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Speaker 1: thousands of adults and high school students and college students
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Speaker 1: is because they tell us, and they tell me every
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Speaker 1: time I stop a volunteer, say hey to a volunteer,
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Speaker 1: I see the sweatshirts and the T shirts on and
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Speaker 1: say thank you for volunteering, thank you for volunteering. Or
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Speaker 1: at your church, when your lead pastor or a volunteer
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Speaker 1: sees that T shirt and says thank you for volunteering.
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Speaker 3: You're like, are you are you kidding?
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Speaker 1: You don't have to thank me, thank you for the opportunity.
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Speaker 1: And then they say things like I get more out
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Speaker 1: of this than I give. Or I've met so many
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Speaker 1: great people, or I finally have friends at church, or
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Speaker 1: I finally appreciate just what our church is doing. I
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Speaker 1: have so much more appreciation for the church.
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Speaker 3: And so many of them say, now it's my church.
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Speaker 1: Before it was the church, and then andy was like
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Speaker 1: your church, and now it's I feel like it's it's
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Speaker 1: my church and.
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Speaker 3: Just you know, putting it all out there.
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Speaker 1: They would admit that, you know, honestly, the reason I
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Speaker 1: said yes was some people would say it was out
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Speaker 1: of guilt. Andy, you made me feel guilty, or the
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Speaker 1: lead pastor made me feel I need to do something.
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Speaker 3: You know, Some out started out of guilt. Some started
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Speaker 3: out of need. You know, oh the church has in need.
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Speaker 1: Some would say a friend talked me into and said, hey,
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Speaker 1: just come along and try this out.
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Speaker 3: And whatever got.
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Speaker 1: Them, and of course them as so many of you,
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Speaker 1: whatever got them across the threshold to get involved. Initially,
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Speaker 1: for many it was more of an ought to than
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Speaker 1: a want to.
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Speaker 3: We get that.
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Speaker 1: But then something changed, and when they look back on
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Speaker 1: their decision to get involved, they would say, you know what,
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Speaker 1: something happened to begin happening in me. And again when
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Speaker 1: I said yes, it's something I didn't necessarily want to do.
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Speaker 1: I definitely wasn't prepared for and I didn't.
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Speaker 3: Know what to expect.
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Speaker 1: And now it doesn't feel like a sacrifice.
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Speaker 3: It feels like an investment.
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Speaker 1: I have volunteers tell me all the time, you couldn't
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Speaker 1: pry me out.
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Speaker 3: Of this place. I mean, this is this is.
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Speaker 1: Such an important part of my life, an important part
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Speaker 1: of our family's life.
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Speaker 3: It's an investment. In fact.
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Speaker 1: One volunteer and we get these great comments. We collect them.
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Speaker 1: This was this was great. A woman said this. She said, Initially, Andy,
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Speaker 1: if I'm actually would didn't tell me. I read this later,
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Speaker 1: so I don't want to mislead, she said. Initially, she said, Initially,
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Speaker 1: I volunteered to get to get as a break from
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Speaker 1: adult life. She said, I'm just surrounded by adults, so
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Speaker 1: work with adults, adults, adults, And I thought, you know what,
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Speaker 1: maybe if I can just be in an environment that's
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Speaker 1: not a bunch of adults.
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Speaker 3: So that's why she started. But that's not why she stays.
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Speaker 1: There's a corporate pilot that we know, and he started
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Speaker 1: off volunteering in Wambleland. Now he's just a rands at leader,
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Speaker 1: small group leader for our middle school environment. Here's what
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Speaker 1: he said. I wanted to read this quote to you.
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Speaker 1: He said, quite possibly, the real reason I volunteer is
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Speaker 1: my job. I am a corporate pilot. Besides jet exhaust,
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Speaker 1: I'm not leaving anything behind that will outlast met. Now,
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Speaker 1: this is an important statement because he recognized what so
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Speaker 1: many people who step into these environments. Recognize that I
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Speaker 1: went from maybe you know, filling a need or doing
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Speaker 1: something for the church, or doing something I had to do.
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Speaker 1: It started that way, but I have found a sense
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Speaker 1: of purpose. I have found an element and a layer
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Speaker 1: of purpose that I didn't have before. It's not like
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Speaker 1: my life didn't have purpose, but I found some renewed purpose.
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Speaker 1: There's going to be something to show for the time
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Speaker 1: I spent with these kids and the time I spent
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Speaker 1: in those environments. So to maximize our impact locally, to
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Speaker 1: maximize our impact with the children and the students and
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Speaker 1: the adults and the parents that are parts of.
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Speaker 3: Our or in part of our community.
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Speaker 1: In fact, to maximize our influence on the future of
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Speaker 1: our communities wherever our churches are.
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Speaker 3: I want to invite you again to consider.
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Speaker 1: I would love for everybody who's not currently involved to
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Speaker 1: at least consider volunteering and joining one of our volunteer teams. Now,
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Speaker 1: if you never engage, and here's going to press a
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Speaker 1: little bit, and you may disagree, but you talk about
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Speaker 1: it over lunch or maybe not. But if you're a
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Speaker 1: Jesus follower, if you're a Christian, if you never this is.
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Speaker 3: I'm so confident in this.
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Speaker 1: If you're a Christian or believe you're a Christian, and
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Speaker 1: if you never engage, if you never engage in some
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Speaker 1: form of personal ministry outside of your family, there will
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Speaker 1: always be something missing. There will always be something missing
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Speaker 1: in your faith experience.
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Speaker 3: And I'll own this as.
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Speaker 1: Presumptuous as that sounds, because I don't know you. As
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Speaker 1: presumptuous as that sound, and perhaps as emotionally manipulative as
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Speaker 1: that sounds.
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Speaker 3: Here's why I know that to be the case.
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Speaker 1: What I'm about to show you. If you're new, you
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Speaker 1: haven't seen this before. If you've been around for a while,
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Speaker 1: this should be reviewed. But this is why I'm absolutely
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Speaker 1: sure what I'm saying is true. There are five things
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Speaker 1: we've discovered. This is over forty years of conversations. There
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Speaker 1: are five things that God consistently uses to ignite and
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Speaker 1: to grow a person's faith. Whenever people tell their faith story.
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Speaker 1: If I were to say to you, hey, tell me
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Speaker 1: about your faith story when you became a Christian. Tell
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Speaker 1: me as I listened to your story, four or five
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Speaker 1: of these five things will show up in your story.
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Speaker 1: These are the things that God con consistently uses to
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Speaker 1: mature a person's faith.
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Speaker 3: And we refer to these as many of you.
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Speaker 1: Know as the five faith catalyst and here they are.
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Speaker 1: I'm just going to give you the whole list real quick.
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Speaker 1: Practical teaching people say, the first time I went to
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Speaker 1: a church or a Bible study and they didn't just
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Speaker 1: tell me the theology, they told me what to do
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Speaker 1: with it. I had handles from my faith that ignited
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Speaker 1: my faith. Providential relationships. I'll tell you what ignited my faith.
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Speaker 1: I met this girl, I met this guy, I met
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Speaker 1: this couple. There was a new family in our in
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Speaker 1: our neighborhood. I had a boss who was a Christian
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Speaker 1: and he was open or she was open about her faith.
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Speaker 1: And that was like, I feel like God brought that
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Speaker 1: person into my life. Pivotal circumstances, I wasn't paying attention
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Speaker 1: to faith. God was the furthest thing from my mind.
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Speaker 1: Then my wife said she wanted a divorce. My husband laughed.
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Speaker 1: One of our children got into trouble, had a health crisis.
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Speaker 1: My parents, you know, you would say, got divorced. And
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Speaker 1: suddenly you looked up and looking back, you would say.
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Speaker 3: You know what.
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Speaker 1: One of the catalysts for my faith was something bad
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Speaker 1: that happened to me.
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Speaker 3: Pivotal circumstance, private disciplines.
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Speaker 1: When a person starts reading scripture for their first time,
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Speaker 1: when they begin giving on a regular basis for the
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Speaker 1: first time, when they begin praying and having a consistent
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Speaker 1: prayer life for the first time, that ignites faith. And then, last,
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Speaker 1: but certainly not least, is this one. It's personal ministry.
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Speaker 1: People say, you know, one of the things that lit
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Speaker 1: up my faith, one of the things that stretched me
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Speaker 1: and grew my faith, was I got invited to do
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Speaker 1: something for other people, and I thought, oh, my goodness, I.
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Speaker 3: Don't know. But engaging here's the thing.
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Speaker 1: Engaging with an individual or a group of individuals to
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Speaker 1: help facilitate their faith journey will always facilitate your faith journey.
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Speaker 1: And stepping into that role for the first time is
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Speaker 1: almost always an inflection point in a person's faith journey.
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Speaker 1: People realize that in hindsight because and.
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Speaker 3: Here's why this is the case.
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Speaker 1: When we are faced with our inadequacy, I'm just not
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Speaker 1: up to that. When we're faced with our insecurities, I'm
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Speaker 1: just not going to feel comfortable doing that. And when
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Speaker 1: we're faced with our fears, I don't know what will happen.
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Speaker 1: I don't think I'm ready for that when we're faced
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Speaker 1: with the fact that I don't have.
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Speaker 3: Time to do that. Here's the thing.
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Speaker 1: Because of all that, because of all that, not in
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Speaker 1: spite of all that, because of the very things that
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Speaker 1: cause us to resist, the things that cause us to resist.
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Speaker 3: Don't miss.
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Speaker 1: This positions us to have to depend on God. We're
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Speaker 1: in a position to experience the presence and the power
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Speaker 1: of God in the unique way, in a way that
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Speaker 1: you will never experience. And this is coming from the preacher.
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Speaker 1: You know, I like to talk to full rooms, full chairs.
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Speaker 1: God will do something in your life in a way
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Speaker 1: that you will never experience sitting in here listening to
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Speaker 1: someone talk, because sitting in rows listening to preaching requires
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Speaker 1: nothing of you except patience with me.
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Speaker 3: How much longer?
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Speaker 2: How a time is it?
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Speaker 3: How long have we been here?
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Speaker 1: And look, for those of you who are watching from home,
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Speaker 1: it doesn't even require patience with me.
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Speaker 3: That's why you've got.
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Speaker 1: Your phone out and you're scrolling on your phone while
13:48
Speaker 1: you're sort of listening to this. You know, no guilt,
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Speaker 1: but I get that right, But that I mean and
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Speaker 1: information is important practical Bible teaching is one of the
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Speaker 1: faith catalysts, but it is not enough but engaging and
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Speaker 1: systematic personal ministry. In other words, when I say's systematic,
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Speaker 1: somebody's depending on you to show up, somebody's counting on
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Speaker 1: you to show up prepared. Engaging systematic personal ministry accomplishes
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Speaker 1: something that's sitting in roads doesn't accomplished. And it accomplishes
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Speaker 1: something that's sitting alone at home reading your Bible and
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Speaker 1: praying won't accomplish either. And here's why. And I don't
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Speaker 1: know any other way to say it. So if this
14:21
Speaker 1: sounds kind of mystical, I don't mean for it too.
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Speaker 1: I just don't know how to say it any better.
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Speaker 1: The reason is this, when you are in a position
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Speaker 1: to where you are pouring out, it creates an opportunity
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Speaker 1: for God to pour in. That's the only way I
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Speaker 1: know how to explain it. And so many of you
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Speaker 1: have experienced this, either because of service in one of
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Speaker 1: our churches or in some other context or some other
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Speaker 1: environment where you just poured out and you weren't ready,
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Speaker 1: and you were insecure, and you were afraid, and you
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Speaker 1: didn't know how it was going to work out. And
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Speaker 1: when you came home or you're driving home, or you
14:51
Speaker 1: got it. You know, after the fact, you were like,
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Speaker 1: there's just something amazing that it was emotional for you.
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Speaker 1: In fact, many of you, me included, have had those
15:03
Speaker 1: experiences that just thinking back on those experiences, it is
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Speaker 1: still emotional for us because of what we knew that
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Speaker 1: God did through us on behalf of somebody else, and
15:14
Speaker 1: what God.
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Speaker 3: Did in us that stayed with us.
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Speaker 1: Every Jesus follower, every Jesus follower needs a context, an environment,
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Speaker 1: a group, or a person where they can pour out. Now,
15:29
Speaker 1: I want to say something to parents real quick. This
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Speaker 1: is so important. You've heard me say on multiple occasions
15:33
Speaker 1: that when it comes to children, Sandra and I are
15:36
Speaker 1: thoroughly satisfied customers. I know it's kind of weird to
15:39
Speaker 1: say it that way, but when it comes to what
15:41
Speaker 1: this church did for our children and preachers kids, you
15:45
Speaker 1: know they have an advantage and a disadvantage, right, but
15:48
Speaker 1: what this church did for our children, we are so
15:51
Speaker 1: extraordinarily grateful. And now all three of our kids attend
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Speaker 1: one of our churches in the Atlanta area and they're
15:55
Speaker 1: bringing their children, our grandchildren to experience the same environment
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Speaker 1: we are so so, so grateful. But here's the point
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Speaker 1: I want to make. Engaging Please don't miss this, Okay,
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Speaker 1: engaging your kids in ministry. Engaging your kids in ministry
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Speaker 1: will do more to keep them engaged with their personal
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Speaker 1: faith than anything else you do. Getting your children involved
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Speaker 1: in doing ministry will do more to keep them engaged
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Speaker 1: with their personal faith than perhaps anything else you need
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Speaker 1: to do. The challenge is we've been told as parents,
16:36
Speaker 1: we've been told his parents that our kids.
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Speaker 3: Just need to be taught the faith.
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Speaker 1: I want to get them in a class. I want
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Speaker 1: to get him in a school. I want to get
16:43
Speaker 1: them somewhere where they're taught the faith. Okay, so I'm
16:45
Speaker 1: gonna ask you a question. Don't raise your hands, Okay,
16:48
Speaker 1: this isn't confession time. I just want to make this point.
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Speaker 1: How many of you, how many of you were taught
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Speaker 1: the faith and then when you're old enough, you walked
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Speaker 1: away from the faith, and you walked away from the
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Speaker 1: Christian faith knowing all about the Christian faith. In fact,
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Speaker 1: the version of the Christian faith you were taught, it's
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Speaker 1: one of the reasons you walked away from it.
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Speaker 3: Or maybe it wasn't that at all. It's just that
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Speaker 3: you were taught all about it.
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Speaker 1: So when somebody talks to you about Christianity, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
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Speaker 1: I can quote the verses of just not interested. I'm out,
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Speaker 1: and then life happened to you, and now you're back.
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Speaker 1: But you're not back for a lack of information. And
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Speaker 1: you didn't walk away because of a lack of information,
17:30
Speaker 1: it was something else. I'm just telling you. Getting your
17:34
Speaker 1: kids involved in living out on behalf of someone else,
17:38
Speaker 1: pouring out on behalf of someone else is the primary way,
17:42
Speaker 1: or I will say a primary way to keep your
17:44
Speaker 1: kids involved and engage with their personal faith.
17:47
Speaker 3: And I know you want their faith to stick.
17:50
Speaker 1: And engaging them in faith through serving is how you
17:54
Speaker 1: do it because and you know this from other contexts,
17:56
Speaker 1: not just a spiritual context. Doing is stick here, then listening.
18:02
Speaker 1: Doing is stick here. Listening, And when they experience God
18:07
Speaker 1: using them and the life of another student or the
18:09
Speaker 1: life of another person, there's something about that.
18:12
Speaker 3: There's no replacement for it.
18:14
Speaker 1: All the Bible study in the whole world can't do
18:17
Speaker 1: for them and can't do for us what that active
18:19
Speaker 1: faith does for something. Listen, something happens to our faith
18:24
Speaker 1: when we engage in that way, because when you engage
18:26
Speaker 1: in that way, when you engage in a different way.
18:29
Speaker 3: Your faith is activated.
18:32
Speaker 1: In a different way, a way that can't happen again
18:34
Speaker 1: simply listening to content or even sitting alone.
18:37
Speaker 3: And the reason and.
18:38
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm certainly not discounting the importance of personal
18:41
Speaker 1: Bible study. If you knew me and knew my schedule
18:43
Speaker 1: new sandal and ized schedules, you would know. One of
18:47
Speaker 1: the things we love about being empty nesters is our
18:49
Speaker 1: morning quiet times are long and wonderful because we don't
18:53
Speaker 1: have anyway.
18:54
Speaker 3: I don't want to make anybody uncomfortable. It's wonderful.
18:56
Speaker 1: Okay, So this isn't a discounting, But I'm just telling you.
18:59
Speaker 1: As much as I love and we love reading and
19:02
Speaker 1: studying the Bible, there's something about engaging in an environment
19:07
Speaker 1: that you're not thoroughly prepared for, but you know God
19:09
Speaker 1: wants you to do it. There's something that happens. This
19:12
Speaker 1: isn't in my notes, So I just don't take this
19:14
Speaker 1: any different way than I mean it.
19:17
Speaker 3: But as I've mentioned before, Santra.
19:19
Speaker 1: And I were foster active foster parents for ten years.
19:23
Speaker 3: I thought I was a good Christian.
19:26
Speaker 1: And then we started fostering kids, and we tell parents,
19:30
Speaker 1: families all the time.
19:31
Speaker 3: Look, it's not for everybody.
19:32
Speaker 1: You know, You've got to feel called to do this,
19:34
Speaker 1: and we felt called to do it. But I'm telling you,
19:36
Speaker 1: I thought I had dealt with selfishness. Oh no, oh no,
19:40
Speaker 1: I thought I had dealt with my self centeredness.
19:42
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean, I'm not a professional Christian.
19:44
Speaker 1: I mean right, I mean I preach and teach this
19:46
Speaker 1: stuff all the time. Oh no, stepping into that environment
19:50
Speaker 1: did and I think we were certainly helpful for a
19:52
Speaker 1: lot of children and sibling groups. But what she would
19:56
Speaker 1: would we would both tell you what God.
19:59
Speaker 3: Did in us.
20:00
Speaker 1: I'm not sure there was any other way for God
20:03
Speaker 1: to surface. I know in me personally what I needed
20:05
Speaker 1: to deal with other than stepping into that environment. And
20:08
Speaker 1: that's not meant to scare you or threaten you. I'm
20:10
Speaker 1: just saying it is part of what it means to
20:13
Speaker 1: follow Jesus, because when you read the New Testament, here's
20:15
Speaker 1: if you look for it, it's everywhere Christianity is. Christianity
20:20
Speaker 1: is not exclusively in fact, I don't even think it's
20:24
Speaker 1: primarily vertical.
20:27
Speaker 3: It's a horizontal faith.
20:29
Speaker 1: It is a one another faith, and you're not following
20:33
Speaker 1: Jesus if you're not one another in some people who
20:36
Speaker 1: are difficult to one another because God sent his son
20:40
Speaker 1: into this world to one another. You and you are
20:42
Speaker 1: difficult and you're challenging. And we prayed all kind of
20:47
Speaker 1: prayers and broken all kinds of promises to God.
20:49
Speaker 3: All of us have right.
20:51
Speaker 1: So this is this isn't an add on, This isn't
20:54
Speaker 1: hey do something for the church. This is critical to
20:57
Speaker 1: your faith journey, even if you're never able or never
20:59
Speaker 1: want to apply it within the context of the local church.
21:01
Speaker 1: Everybody needs a person, everybody needs a group that they
21:04
Speaker 1: are pouring into because when you pour in, it allows
21:08
Speaker 1: God to pour into you and something happens that just
21:11
Speaker 1: won't happen any other way.
21:12
Speaker 3: Because again read the New Testament.
21:15
Speaker 1: Christianity is not a spectator sport. You cannot it's impossible.
21:21
Speaker 1: You cannot follow Jesus from the sidelines. And you can't
21:26
Speaker 1: follow Jesus by just learning more stuff. If you follow Jesus,
21:30
Speaker 1: I mean, if you surrender your life to Jesus, like
21:35
Speaker 1: we talk about, it's just a matter of time. You're
21:37
Speaker 1: gonna get the elbow in the ribs from the Holy Spirit.
21:40
Speaker 3: It's just a matter of time.
21:41
Speaker 1: You're gonna feel an internal nudge. You're gonna feel pushed
21:45
Speaker 1: or called to step into an environment that you're not
21:48
Speaker 1: ready for. You're inadequate for it, you're not prepared for.
21:51
Speaker 1: You don't know what's on the other side. You're too old,
21:53
Speaker 1: you're too young, you're too educated, you're too you're just not.
21:57
Speaker 3: You're gonna feel that nudge.
21:58
Speaker 1: And when you say yes, you're going to come out
22:00
Speaker 1: on the other side and say, God did more in
22:04
Speaker 1: me than God did through me. But he did something
22:07
Speaker 1: in me when I experienced him doing something through me
22:10
Speaker 1: and I didn't see it coming. He's going to lead
22:15
Speaker 1: you to engage with other people. And the problem is
22:17
Speaker 1: the challenges. In fact, one of the reasons I'm so
22:20
Speaker 1: adamant about exporting what you're doing to other churches and
22:22
Speaker 1: other church leaders is that for too many Christians, especially
22:25
Speaker 1: in the West and especially in the United States, Christianity
22:28
Speaker 1: has just been reduced to attending something Again. You read
22:32
Speaker 1: the New Testament, you hardly even find this. In fact,
22:37
Speaker 1: just can I tell you a preacher secret, Okay, and
22:39
Speaker 1: don't tell anybody I told you this, okay. See, you know,
22:43
Speaker 1: preachers they want more people to come to their church.
22:45
Speaker 1: Of course, you know, it's a sign of success.
22:47
Speaker 3: I get that. I'm susceptible to that.
22:49
Speaker 1: And the problem is, whenever preachers decide to preach a
22:53
Speaker 1: sermon on attending, you need to be in God's house
22:56
Speaker 1: and you know all that stuff.
22:58
Speaker 3: There's only one verse.
23:00
Speaker 1: We all preach the same verse over and overs in
23:02
Speaker 1: the Book of Hebrew is we don't even.
23:03
Speaker 3: Know who wrote it.
23:04
Speaker 1: But because that is not the theme of the New Testament.
23:08
Speaker 1: The theme of the New Testament is one another, one another,
23:12
Speaker 1: which requires relationships, which requires access.
23:16
Speaker 3: That's why we say circles.
23:18
Speaker 1: They really are better than rows, because circles is where
23:21
Speaker 1: life on life happens, and that's where something happens that
23:24
Speaker 1: can't happen this way. And I'm all for this room,
23:27
Speaker 1: and I'm all for the opportunity and the privilege I
23:29
Speaker 1: have to preach weekend and week out. But at the
23:32
Speaker 1: end of the day, I want us to continue to
23:35
Speaker 1: be a church where men and women are engaged.
23:38
Speaker 3: In the life of other people.
23:40
Speaker 1: And this is not New Testament Christianity. This is New
23:45
Speaker 1: Testament Christianity. When Christianity is reduced to simply believing things.
23:51
Speaker 1: There are things that need to get done that don't
23:54
Speaker 1: get done, and that wasn't the case in the first century,
23:56
Speaker 1: and that is not the case here, and it's never
23:58
Speaker 1: been the case here.
23:59
Speaker 3: In fact, from the.
24:00
Speaker 1: Beginning, we have it taught and preached and modeled Faith
24:04
Speaker 1: with feet. We've taught that doing is ultimately what makes
24:08
Speaker 1: all the difference.
24:09
Speaker 3: Active faith again, faith with feet.
24:11
Speaker 1: And some of you remember, and again, if you've been
24:13
Speaker 1: around for a long time, this is going to bring
24:15
Speaker 1: back memories.
24:16
Speaker 3: Most of you aren't aware of what I'm about.
24:18
Speaker 1: To say, But every once in a while, probably maybe
24:22
Speaker 1: once or twice a year, somebody will walk up to
24:25
Speaker 1: me who's been here from the almost the beginning, and say, Andy.
24:28
Speaker 3: Do you remember when? And I'm like, oh, yeah, I
24:31
Speaker 3: remember that, some of you.
24:33
Speaker 1: So in the early years, we had one building. I'm
24:35
Speaker 1: in it right here in Alpharetta. We had one auditorium.
24:38
Speaker 3: For those of you in the west, there was no west,
24:40
Speaker 3: there was just the East.
24:41
Speaker 1: Had one auditorium, one campus, and there were Sunday mornings
24:44
Speaker 1: there were people sitting on the floors, sitting in the aisles,
24:47
Speaker 1: sitting along you.
24:48
Speaker 3: Know the back wall.
24:49
Speaker 1: We sent kate and cookies to the fire marshals, you know,
24:52
Speaker 1: every every you know, we didn't really but anyway, it
24:54
Speaker 1: was there's a lot of people. And so once a
24:56
Speaker 1: year I would preach my infamous if you're we're a
25:00
Speaker 1: Christian and you don't plan to actively engage with our mission,
25:03
Speaker 1: we need your seat sermon. Now, that's nothing. That wasn't
25:07
Speaker 1: the name of the sermon. That was just kind of
25:09
Speaker 1: the theme of the sermon.
25:10
Speaker 3: And I al would say, look, if you.
25:13
Speaker 1: Come to this church and you just like the music
25:15
Speaker 1: better than the other church, are you like the preaching
25:18
Speaker 1: better than the other church, but you don't plan to
25:20
Speaker 1: ever get engaged in this church, we need your seat.
25:24
Speaker 1: Go back to your other church. We will send you
25:26
Speaker 1: the sermon and will tell you where you could access
25:28
Speaker 1: the music.
25:29
Speaker 3: But we're serious.
25:30
Speaker 1: About what we're doing in our community and we don't
25:32
Speaker 1: need people who are just gonna take up space.
25:36
Speaker 3: And maybe I should bring that back. Maybe I just did.
25:40
Speaker 1: Anyway, Okay, no, so back back to personal ministry for
25:44
Speaker 1: just a second.
25:44
Speaker 3: Okay, personal ministry.
25:45
Speaker 1: It stretches us, it scares us. We're out of our
25:49
Speaker 1: comfort zone. And here's the thing, you. For those of
25:52
Speaker 1: you who do that know this, you know you're cheering
25:54
Speaker 1: me on in your heart because you're like, you know exactly,
25:57
Speaker 1: nobody has to tell you to pray. Nobody has to
26:00
Speaker 1: tell you to pray on Sundays. I mean, I'm I'm
26:04
Speaker 1: I'm so prepared. I hope that's hope, that's evident.
26:07
Speaker 3: We're prepared.
26:08
Speaker 1: I work with this amazing, amazing team people. We get
26:11
Speaker 1: here early, we run through the whole service. I literally
26:14
Speaker 1: get up here and preach the sermon every Sunday morning
26:16
Speaker 1: to six people standing right here watching me taking notes
26:19
Speaker 1: with a computer. Okay, every Sunday. I mean, I want
26:22
Speaker 1: to be that prepared. But every Sunday, right before the service,
26:26
Speaker 1: I have a little room back here that I get
26:28
Speaker 1: to kind of sit and be quiet in. I literally
26:31
Speaker 1: get on my knees in my green room and say,
26:36
Speaker 1: to some extent, God.
26:38
Speaker 3: Is prepared as I am. If you don't come through,
26:42
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter how.
26:43
Speaker 1: Well I do, and all my prayers don't rhyme, but
26:46
Speaker 1: that's what you know. If you don't come through, it
26:48
Speaker 1: doesn't really matter what I do. It doesn't matter how
26:50
Speaker 1: prepared I am, because I'm attempting something that's impossible. I
26:54
Speaker 1: want people's lives to change. I can't change the life.
26:56
Speaker 1: I want people to go home and be better husbands
26:58
Speaker 1: and wives and kids and citizens. I mean, i want
27:01
Speaker 1: to preach for life change, and I'm incapable of changing
27:05
Speaker 1: another life. So I'm just gonna do what I know
27:07
Speaker 1: to do and trust you to do what only you
27:09
Speaker 1: can do. And that never changes, and that will never change,
27:13
Speaker 1: because that's the reality of spiritual leadership. And that's the
27:17
Speaker 1: reality of stepping into someone's life to help bring about
27:21
Speaker 1: life change.
27:22
Speaker 3: And that is the invitation.
27:24
Speaker 1: And nobody has to tell me to pray on Sunday morning.
27:27
Speaker 1: And it keeps me, and it keeps anybody who's doing
27:29
Speaker 1: any kind of ministry like that. It keeps us so
27:32
Speaker 1: dependent and so so wired into the fact that every
27:36
Speaker 1: day is a gift and every day is a new opportunity.
27:39
Speaker 1: And the thing that makes the difference in another person's
27:41
Speaker 1: life is something we have no control over, but God
27:46
Speaker 1: calls us to step.
27:48
Speaker 3: Into it anyway.
27:50
Speaker 1: When we see God use us, our faith gets stronger.
27:56
Speaker 1: When you experience transformation on the other side of something
27:59
Speaker 1: you say, or somebody you serve, or something you do,
28:02
Speaker 1: Your faith gets stronger because you're exercising your faith muscle.
28:06
Speaker 3: And faith is a muscle and.
28:07
Speaker 1: The only way for it to get bigger is to
28:09
Speaker 1: exercise it. And the Christians who all they do is
28:12
Speaker 1: consume the Christians, all they do is sit and they
28:15
Speaker 1: go to a thing and they go through the routine
28:17
Speaker 1: and they feel like it's conscience relief. They're not exercising
28:21
Speaker 1: that muscle. And we've never been that church, and we're
28:23
Speaker 1: never going to be that church. And if you have
28:26
Speaker 1: been sitting.
28:26
Speaker 3: On the edges and on the periphery, and I don't.
28:29
Speaker 1: Know, and I get it, but if God elbows you
28:34
Speaker 1: in the ribs and if you feel the nudge, I'm
28:37
Speaker 1: just telling you on the other side is something you
28:41
Speaker 1: may experience, that you will experience that perhaps you won't
28:43
Speaker 1: experience any other.
28:46
Speaker 3: Way.
28:47
Speaker 1: Ministry to others is transformational for the person we minister
28:52
Speaker 1: to and for those of us doing the ministry right.
28:57
Speaker 1: The go to example of this, and i'll make this
28:59
Speaker 1: quick is in the New Testament. It's so interesting to
29:02
Speaker 1: go to example is one of the three probably most
29:05
Speaker 1: famous stories in the whole New Testament. In fact, if
29:08
Speaker 1: you're from a different faith, tradition or no faith tradition.
29:11
Speaker 3: Even if you didn't grow up.
29:12
Speaker 1: In church, you've heard bits and pieces of this story.
29:16
Speaker 1: Jesus one afternoon commands his twelve disciples to do something
29:21
Speaker 1: they are one hundred percent incapable of doing. It was
29:24
Speaker 1: completely beyond their capacity. He turns to them one afternoon
29:28
Speaker 1: and he says, famously, says, you give them something to eat.
29:34
Speaker 1: They didn't even have lunch for themselves. And he looks
29:38
Speaker 1: at a crowd of one gospel says five thousand men,
29:41
Speaker 1: which meant maybe ten thousand people. Who knows massive crowd.
29:45
Speaker 1: You guys, give them something to eat. Jesus had been
29:48
Speaker 1: teaching all day, you'd probably know the story. It's hot,
29:52
Speaker 1: it's late, the sun starts to go down. These people
29:55
Speaker 1: have walked for miles and miles, many of them, and
29:58
Speaker 1: the disciples are actually the ones this. In my opinion,
30:00
Speaker 1: I think the disciples are the ones that are tired
30:02
Speaker 1: and hungry. But they're not about to say Jesus, we're
30:04
Speaker 1: tired and hungry. That are like these other people.
30:06
Speaker 3: They're all tired and hungry, so you need to send them.
30:09
Speaker 1: In fact, it's interesting, it's one of the few times
30:11
Speaker 1: in the New Testament somebody tells Jesus what to do.
30:14
Speaker 3: They're like, hey, Jesus, here's.
30:15
Speaker 1: What you need to do, because aren't you lucky to
30:18
Speaker 1: have us send the crowds away so they can get
30:22
Speaker 1: to nearby villages and find something for them and their
30:25
Speaker 1: families to eat. And I think Jesus pauses and looks
30:30
Speaker 1: out at the crowd and crosses his arms and turns
30:35
Speaker 1: back and looks at them and grins and says, I
30:37
Speaker 1: got a better idea.
30:39
Speaker 3: They do not need to go away. You give them
30:44
Speaker 3: something to eat.
30:46
Speaker 1: And this was a day we know from the gospels
30:48
Speaker 1: because of where it shows up. This was the day
30:51
Speaker 1: the disciples never forgot why.
30:56
Speaker 3: Because they agreed to.
30:59
Speaker 1: Step into try to do something they were one hundred
31:02
Speaker 1: percent incapable of doing, and they experienced God doing something
31:10
Speaker 1: through them that was beyond their capacity.
31:13
Speaker 3: Here's the question. Why did Jesus ask them to do it?
31:16
Speaker 3: Here's why?
31:18
Speaker 1: Because he knew sitting and listening even to the Son
31:22
Speaker 1: of God was not enough to activate their faith in
31:28
Speaker 1: a way that he knew their faith would need to
31:30
Speaker 1: be activated based on what was coming down the road
31:35
Speaker 1: for them.
31:35
Speaker 3: These are the men eleven of the twelve.
31:38
Speaker 1: These are the men that ultimately turned the world upside down,
31:41
Speaker 1: not because of what they knew, because of what they
31:46
Speaker 1: did with what they knew. Every Christian, every Jesus follower,
31:54
Speaker 1: in just about every season of life, needs a context
31:57
Speaker 1: or an environment, a group where they can pour out.
32:01
Speaker 2: And I know this.
32:02
Speaker 3: I just illustrated that I know this. There are many.
32:04
Speaker 1: Many ways to do this outside the context of a
32:07
Speaker 1: local church.
32:08
Speaker 3: I get that.
32:08
Speaker 1: And many of you are doing extraordinary things in different
32:12
Speaker 1: organizations in different places in our city. I get that,
32:14
Speaker 1: and I so appreciate that. You know we do because
32:16
Speaker 1: of what we do with be Rich and our intersect partners, but.
32:20
Speaker 3: Your church, our church.
32:22
Speaker 1: Has opportunities for you as well, and we need about
32:25
Speaker 1: a thousand of you to step up because transformation is
32:29
Speaker 1: core to what we do.
32:32
Speaker 3: Transformation is core to what the church does.
32:35
Speaker 1: And again we need some more of you, more of
32:37
Speaker 1: you to engage in the process, and real quick to
32:41
Speaker 1: those of you that are already engaged, those of you
32:43
Speaker 1: wearing your sweatshirts and your T shirts that show up
32:45
Speaker 1: every Sunday and walk the halls and rock babies and
32:49
Speaker 1: sit in carpet circles with kids or hosts and give
32:51
Speaker 1: out candy are the amazing mostly men who are out
32:55
Speaker 1: here before I get here, setting up cones and making
32:58
Speaker 1: sure people are greeted in I mean guess services in
33:00
Speaker 1: our service programming directors and all their black shirts and
33:03
Speaker 1: jeans that you can't see backstage, making all this happen possible.
33:06
Speaker 3: For all of you who fall.
33:07
Speaker 1: Into those categories and the ones I've left out, thank you,
33:10
Speaker 1: thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope you hear
33:12
Speaker 1: me say that enough, because every time I see one
33:14
Speaker 1: of you, I try to stop and say thank you.
33:16
Speaker 1: We could not do what we do without you. To
33:20
Speaker 1: those of you who are at home and you could
33:22
Speaker 1: be here, we need you, and maybe you need to
33:28
Speaker 1: be here, not because the sermon's going to be any better,
33:32
Speaker 1: not because the music's going to be any different, but
33:35
Speaker 1: because of an opportunity to experience God working through you
33:39
Speaker 1: that you can't experience any other way.
33:42
Speaker 3: And that's not to make you feel guilty.
33:44
Speaker 1: It is an opportunity, and I think it's an opportunity.
33:47
Speaker 1: If you take advantage of it, you will never ever
33:49
Speaker 1: regret it. And if you don't believe me, ask Mike
33:55
Speaker 1: Unlets say take a look at this.
34:01
Speaker 2: Last year I heard the invitation to serve a transit.
34:04
Speaker 4: I just remember any preaching that sermon.
34:07
Speaker 2: Made for more. I decided to jump in.
34:09
Speaker 4: Because I felt God just pushed me and was like,
34:12
Speaker 4: that message is for.
34:13
Speaker 2: You and you need to do something about it. I
34:15
Speaker 2: couldn't have known what was in store for me when
34:18
Speaker 2: I made that.
34:18
Speaker 5: Decision, especially when I got to take my group of
34:21
Speaker 5: sixth grade It's sorry my.
34:22
Speaker 2: First camp together. Hi, my name is Mike.
34:28
Speaker 1: I'm a new sixth grade transit leader and we're head
34:31
Speaker 1: of the camp.
34:32
Speaker 4: Hey, I'm Leche.
34:34
Speaker 5: This is my first sixth grade camp, but with coffee
34:36
Speaker 5: and co leaders, it's going to get done.
34:38
Speaker 2: So I'm sixty one, my youngest kid is twenty one.
34:41
Speaker 2: It's been a long.
34:41
Speaker 3: Time since I've been around middle schoolers.
34:44
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's a little bit nerve wracking.
34:46
Speaker 5: I think I'm really nervous about making sure like every
34:49
Speaker 5: girl is accounted for and keeping everybody together. And my
34:52
Speaker 5: plan this weekend is to make sure they're fed, fed
34:54
Speaker 5: and fed.
34:55
Speaker 2: What I hope to leave with these kids is the
34:57
Speaker 2: same thing I got when I was at age. You know,
35:00
Speaker 2: someone poured into me. You know, that's a big thing
35:02
Speaker 2: that I would like to get out of the weekend.
35:04
Speaker 5: I'm feeling good, I'm feeling excited. I'm ready to see
35:07
Speaker 5: what God's gonna do this whole weekend.
35:25
Speaker 2: You've been a great time so far. Kids are great,
35:28
Speaker 2: middle schoolers aren't as bad as I thought.
35:31
Speaker 5: Just seeing these kids just be a kid, be a
35:33
Speaker 5: kid who loves Jesus. It's beautiful to see like all
35:37
Speaker 5: of this coming together. Wishing I was the kid here,
35:40
Speaker 5: and I get to be the kid here as a
35:42
Speaker 5: small coup leader.
35:44
Speaker 2: For six graders. It's good for them to see that
35:46
Speaker 2: Jesus is cool, right, I mean, it's cool to be
35:48
Speaker 2: a Jesus follower.
35:50
Speaker 5: You really don't have to know everything. You just show up.
35:53
Speaker 5: You just show up.
35:54
Speaker 2: Ready, God's gonna do the work, not me, you know.
35:57
Speaker 2: Let them know that middle school is not easy, and
35:59
Speaker 2: we're gonna be here to your back.
36:01
Speaker 4: A lot of them were just glad to be here.
36:03
Speaker 5: One of them she just said, I just thank God
36:05
Speaker 5: for a church like this, and I'm so glad to
36:07
Speaker 5: be a part of it.
36:10
Speaker 2: Last night session was amazing. Everybody was very willing to
36:14
Speaker 2: share in small group, and they asked some really good questions.
36:18
Speaker 4: Small group was very emotional. It was very healing. In
36:23
Speaker 4: each one of those girls' stories.
36:25
Speaker 2: I saw me.
36:26
Speaker 4: I saw something in them that was me.
36:29
Speaker 2: Camp this week has been a lot of fun. I
36:32
Speaker 2: had a blast. I think I really enjoy being with
36:35
Speaker 2: this age group. And maybe it is because deep down
36:38
Speaker 2: I am in middle school, or maybe that's why I
36:39
Speaker 2: can relate.
36:41
Speaker 4: We really enjoyed this.
36:43
Speaker 5: We had no low moments, and if I could do
36:45
Speaker 5: it again, I would.
36:47
Speaker 4: If we came back next weekend, I would.
36:52
Speaker 1: Now Here we are eight months later, and I'm still
36:56
Speaker 1: grateful that I made that decision to volunteer. Now my
36:59
Speaker 1: love for church and my community is even deeper.
37:03
Speaker 5: Serving has brought a lot of peace into my life.
37:06
Speaker 5: I feel like it's done more for me than what
37:08
Speaker 5: I thought it would do for me. These girls just
37:11
Speaker 5: don't know that I need them more than they need
37:13
Speaker 5: need and these past eight months have proven just that.
37:17
Speaker 2: I would say, if somebody is thinking about serving, just
37:19
Speaker 2: jump in. Just do it. You're gonna get.
37:21
Speaker 1: So much more out of it, and it's an opportunity
37:24
Speaker 1: to give back to your church.
37:25
Speaker 5: You're not gonna want to say no because of what
37:28
Speaker 5: you see