Latest / Hunger & Thirst / Saying Yes to God: What's Your Fear Costing You? - Ep. 1

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Saying Yes to God: What's Your Fear Costing You? - Ep. 1 · Hunger & Thirst

• Hunger & Thirst: All right. Welcome everyone to the first Hunger and Thirst Podcast. I'm your host, Joshua Griffiths. And joining me today on the pod is our lead pastor Jeff. Hey, dude, so glad to be here. excited to jump into this. Been definitely a long time coming, but I'm excited for the conversation today. I'm just as excited. Yeah. Feels like it's been years coming, you know, in in the works, but it's only been you know about six months. Right. Yeah. yeah, here we are. first, before we start diving into kind of how this all came to be. I just want to say thank you for taking a chance. I'm I feel so honored to be part of a team that just says yes to spreading the word of God and just yes to opportunities to just serve in this ministry. So thank you and thank you to everyone that's kind of been a part of this. so I guess we should dive in dude. What started. Yeah. From your perspective, I I know it me and you were kind of back and forth with it, but from your perspective like How did this come to be? Yeah. So I Josh, you're actually the reason this came to be. And so a few years ago we had a podcast here at the church and it was it was a much smaller production. It was just myself, it was Teresa, our women's ministry director and teaching pastor, and then it was my wife Jessica, who's now the youth pastor. and so we had it, it was a small production, like we didn't have equipment, like we didn't have our own microphones. We had to like steal microphones from the sound room and w you know, rig them up to a computer and Yeah, it was not the highest production, but the the content was solid. And so you actually had come to me at one point and you're like, Man, when are y'all gonna start back up the podcast? I'm like, dude, I have an even better idea. Like what if you host the podcast and and we'll come on, we'll be guests, we'll have these conversations. Like and so that's really kind of how it birthed is like you kind of bringing it back to my attention as you were watching through those old episodes or or listening through them. We didn't have video at the time. And so you were listening through those old podcasts and you just kinda brought it back to me. I like, Man, it's something I would love to get going again. but You have a passion for it. And and so I I kinda talked over to you and you surprisingly said yes. And so I kind of got the ball rolling. Yeah, it was I so remember everything about that that text exchange where I told Steph, it it all started on my end. some Sunday, you were up there preaching. And you just you you were in the groove, man. You were feeling it. And you're like, I I gotta get back on topic. I gotta get back on topic. And that I was in the the pews going like, no, no, keep going. Like, let's go more. And that was around the time I was listening through those episodes of the old podcast, and it was like, I feel like there there are so many good podcasts out there. I mean, if from Josh Howardson's Live Free to Joby Martin's and Bryce, all of these podcasts out there. But I I don't know, just hearing the people that I grew up with, you know, Pastor Dennis and Teresa and and all the all the learning that goes on around here. I was like, an hour each Sunday, or if you stick around for both services, like a couple hours each Sunday just doesn't feel like I I She I'm craving more. Right. And so that's where, you know, I reached out. I was like, I feel bad because you you are involved in so much around here and understandably so. Right. Yeah. And I felt bad. Like, hey, I know you're doing a lot, but what if we did even more? Like what if we did a positive thing, too. No, I I mean, but you're right. Like and and myself, all the teaching pastors, like we're in it and like we're studying. We're like we in the way that we do our our teaching rotation too, is like most of us have a couple weeks to study. And so we we have An absolute like kind of ton of stuff, most and that's why I get kind of off because it's like I've studied things that I didn't intend to put in the sermon, and then I'm on in the pulpit, and then I just end up in it anyway. And so that's that's kind of how it goes. It's like you end up with way more content and and way more information than you're able to share in what would ideally be a 35-minute sermon. don't go check those times on YouTube because they're not gonna be 35 minutes, but we do our best, all right. I love going to second service 'cause you can really like take your time. Like yeah, you might be late for for lunch. Yeah. But like buckle up buttercup. We're getting in the word of God today. Like we are we're on fire today. Yeah, I do those are my favorites too. Yeah, I mean first service is amazing too. When we're fresh, we got that coffee kicked in. Yeah, man. you know, being on the worship team, I do feel kind of like each service has its own flair, like depending on what you're looking for. Yeah, I I feel you. Like it that you're studying so much and there's so much that you could talk about, but we're kind of constrained and in timing and everything. So as far as the the name as well, because I I think that's what carries the most power behind the why of the podcast. Absolutely. We can have amazing teaching. We could, you know, talk about the most interesting stuff. but the name hunger and thirst is important to me for the reason of where it came from and how it came about. you know, I I a little bit about me. I was born and raised in the church. I mean, I come from generations of pastors, you know, all the men in my family essentially have been or, you know, are pastors. So I, you know, considered myself a Christian and I've heard your testimony as well, and we'll get into that in just a moment, but You know, I basically would treat the Bible as a magic eight ball. I'd be going through something in life and I'd, you know, open it up, like, God, show me something good. Get me through this week. And it's like, I have a pain in my loins or something. Like just the most random like next phase, next page. All right. This one. Yeah. Yeah. And that is in the Bible. Yeah, it is. It's there. It's there. Yeah. But In recent years, at the age of thirty four, you know, in the past year or so, maybe even less, like I I truly did start to Pour into the Bible as a teaching tool, a way to live life, walking through God's word. And that's where I saw the biggest transformation in my life. And for anyone new getting into the Bible, I want to hear your thoughts on this as far as where to get started. But for the genesis of this podcast and just my journey, it started with first Proverbs and then the beautiful book of Matthew. Yeah. Because we have the Sermon on the Mount. And if you go to Matthew five, six in the NLT version. This is where this passage came from. It it just kind of it sticks out is God bless blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. And that right there was everything going on in my life. That verse stuck out. I didn't really think that much of it at the moment until I ran it by Michael. Yeah. And his head whipped around. He's like, That's it. Dude, that's such a good name. And I love the inspiration from it. Cause I mean, that's really what we're talking about right now is that hunger, that thing. thirst for righteousness. And and because we're living in a world which can go be a tangent of its own, but like we're living in world that's not looking for righteousness. but the people of God, that should be our desire. Is is I I love the I don't know. It's so good. The hunger and thirst. That's what we need. It is. Yeah. And yeah, I I think there's just that that need for individuals who may not be, you know, seminary scholars and, you know, have all these this is for the the people that are just living their daily lives here in rural Crossville, Tennessee that are just having that that conviction on their heart of just I I know this is this relationship with God is everything. I just don't know where to get started. Or the people that are on the outside that are just not sure they're like, yeah, that that you know, Christians, they they may have this this wild exper like previous experience that may be negative or, you know, just this curiosity of, you know, are the are those people a cult? Like Yeah, yeah. You know, what's going on in there? They're singing all these songs about this guy and yeah yeah, he died at some point and rose again, like weird magic tricks and right. And just this is a good way to just put things in layman's terms that, you know, we're not gonna stand on a fire and brimstone and kind of preach to at people. But I think the topic of just getting started in your journey in faith is a unique one in and of itself. So if you could just walk through how you even came to be in the faith. Yeah. So it's funny you mentioned you you came from a lineage of pastors. I came from the opposite of that. And so I didn't grow up as a Christian. my grandparents were Christians, they went to church. I I never went with them. My parents weren't really church attenders. always say that, you know, I grew up a heathen, and so I'm always like, hey, be nice to the heathen, they might be your pastor one day. Right. And so, like I grew up, like my my wife was like in youth group, she was from a Christian family. I was just a bad influence, right? and so yeah, my testimony really kind of started when I was like 22. I mean, you probably go back a little bit further when I first started seeing the the site, slight, you know, proofs of God. one of those being we were in a car accident when I was 17. I was driving, we were going, I was taking Jessica home. We lived less than a mile from each other. It was a trip we made every single day. She'd come to my house, she'd stay for All day, and then I take her home. And we were about to pull out, and I had a little 96 Dodge Dakota with a long wheelbase on it. And I was yeah, I love that truck. it was it was such a cool truck. But we were pulling out and it was raining, and I'm like, hey, put your seatbelt on. We this was back before they mandated. You didn't have to wear seatbelts back then, okay? And so we're about 1900s, yeah. It was no, it was, it was like early 2000s, you know, close enough. And I was like, put your seatbelt on, it's raining, you I've hydroplaned stuff before, and so she She argued with me a little bit, ca you know, the wives never do that, but you know. Mine sometimes. And she finally she did. I put mine on less than 30 seconds later, we got hit by a drunk driver doing 80 miles an hour. down East First Street where the cemetery is, like right by the cemetery. totaled the truck, both of us walked out without a scratch on us. Wow. and it what was wild is my back windshield shattered and was all on the dash. Neither of us had a single piece of glass on us. And it was one of those things, and I remember hearing someone, like after there's the confusion, my ears are ringing, but I hear someone say, like, you better thank your maker. Now, 17-year-old Jeff didn't give enough thought to that. Yep. But later on in life, I started to really think about it. And I'm like, you know, God spared me that day. Like God had a plan even then, before way before I had any sorts of plans. but I spent the the next five years pretty much as a non-Christian. if you'd asked me, I'd have told you as a Christian, because I'm from the South and everyone in the South's a Christian, but not everyone follows Jesus. Right. just to jump in there, you said one of the best quotes in the pulpit not too long ago is there's gonna be, you know, I love everybody in the south. There's gonna be a lot be a lot of e-hauls and in hell. Absolutely. And that sucked with me so it's like, yeah, but continue on. I just saw the power in that statement of just like, yeah, like it takes actually having a relationship. It it it's so much like it's so much more because people will grow up and they're like, you know, my grandfather was a pastor, I was drugged to church as a kid, and like we think that's enough. Like, no, Jesus. didn't call you to to go to church every once in a while. He called you to follow him, and that's actually a life of action. And and so it's not that's not something I had. I didn't follow Jesus, I didn't live according to Jesus, I didn't even really consider Jesus' morality. and so but whenever I got married, you know, my wife decided a couple years in that we needed to go to church. And I was interested because I wanted to know. And so I've always been sort of an intellectual, and that's kind of weird to say because I was terrible at school, but I just I like to know things and And so I was like, yeah, let's go. I want to learn, you know, learn more about the Bible. It's right around the time that the Bible TV or Bible moves TV show, I think it was a TV show, it Before the Chosen. it had come out and we'd been watching. I was like, yeah, I want to know more about this. And so we start going to church and I I I enjoyed the church because it felt like I fit in. I'd never been to a church where I fit in. Granted, I only showed up for like lock-ins. So that that's probably why it was different. and so like I started coming, I started listening, I started learning. my story is like kind of backwards. Because I was not yet a Christian, but we decided to stay for a volunteer meeting and just, you know, we figured we would we would help out wherever we were able to, wherever there was a need. And like Teresa, who was the youth pastor at the time, she grabs us. She's You guys stay? And we're Yeah. She's You're coming with me. you guys need to, you need to work with me in youth ministry. And I'm like, I don't think I even like teenagers. They scare me. They scare me. Yeah. And so like we start like working in youth ministry, which I mean, at the time I was a glorified chaperone. I played basketball with teenage boys. You have the energy for it. I do not. Dude, yeah. I mean, I I loved it. It was awesome. But it was like I then all of a sudden God's pouring into me from every area. Like, I'm hearing the word on Wednesday nights with Teresa teaching. I'm hearing the word on Sunday mornings. I'm like, I'm at work where I'm supposed to be working, like listening to sermons, because I just to know more. I at this point it is fully intellectual. And then we go to a conference in Nashville. We've been in like youth ministry for like two months, and she like takes us to Nashville. and I go to this conference and day like three of this conference. I surrender my life to Christ and I say yes to the call of ministry. I felt both instantly at the same time that Jesus was telling me to follow him and work for him. And I had no idea what any of that meant. And like two years later, Jessica and I end up taking over the youth ministry. I come on full-time at the church, and it's like, but I've always said, like since the day that I got saved, since that day at that conference in Nashville, Tennessee, I've never done anything spectacular. All I do is say yes to Jesus. Yep. Every time God calls me and e even the things I'm uncomfortable with, I I it's just a yes. And and that's put me where I am right now. I think that's such a powerful testament of just what saying yes can do. Yeah. word of caution. If you do have an idea around here, like be prepared to be the one running with that. Absolutely. Yes. but I I think a lot of the best things that have happened to me, whether they were best in the sense of like Discipline, you know, fathers who love their kids, discipline them to show them the better way of life. You know, that's biblical. Yeah. I think the all the best things that have happened in my life come on the other side of saying yes when the Lord's involved, of just I'm terrified of public speaking, you know. Hey, do announcements. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Hey, I'm terrified doing this. Like say yes. All right. So take me back to that moment, because I think that's one thing that can be a common misconception for somebody who's not familiar with the faith. I mean, I remember growing up in the the 1900s and going to church. Yeah. And, you know, seeing people speaking in tongues and, you know, falling out on the floor. We cover them up with a little like blanket. Yeah. And it's like, all right, I guess we're napping in church. Napping in church. Yeah. something happened. I through a kid's brain, it's just like, I don't understand all this. Like, So with that in mind, kind of walk back through what does that feel like to be saved? Cause in the Bible it describes, you know, the Holy Spirit descending down onto these people when they spoke in other languages and this and that. So for the everyday person that may not be familiar, like what does it feel like? Do I break out in a sweat? Like how does it feel to be saved? Mm-hmm. It's funny. So I have I have two of those stories that that I felt the Holy Spirit in such a a powerful way. And so for me, this was I'll be honest, it felt like I was wrestling with God up until that moment in in Nashville. And and it's like I it's hard for me to explain because I'm someone that like I just love to learn stuff. So it's like I'm going to a youth ministry conference to learn how to do youth ministry better to serve a God that I don't yet believe in. Right. And so it's like it's wild. And so I and I don't even know if I'd really process those thoughts even at that time. And so like we're We're like going through this conference and I'm learning these things and I'm learning how to do this and I'm learning, you learn the kids' name, you know, like the the practical things are there. And then like Don't lose them. Yeah, don't lose don't lose the children. Do head counts, right? Like the practical things are there. But then like we'll have these big sessions where we come together and I remember Rin Collective is playing, and just one of my favorite bands ever, dude. wasn't then, had no idea who they were at that time. but Rin Collective was playing, and I remember just there being a moment in worship. It wasn't like an altar call or anything when this happened. There's a moment in worship where they're singing, and I'm singing and then all of a sudden like the the thoughts in my head come from go from like the lyrics of the song to what I can only describe as like the Holy Spirit saying, Jeff, you have to make a decision. Right? Like you're kind of l living in two worlds here. And it's like and so like I just instantly knew that I'm going to follow this Jesus. Right. This this one that they're hyped up about and they're singing about and everybody's celebrating, everybody's worshiping. It's like I've I've as Sam was saying in the message today, like I've been following at a distance, but I've never actually submitted. And so it was just like in that one moment I've I felt like I had to make a decision. And it was just it was an overwhelming yes, absolutely. And then it almost immediately after that, I don't remember if maybe there was they were talking about you know, working in ministry, anything like that. I don't remember any of that. But all I remember is that That my answer is yes, I will follow Jesus, and yes, I will serve him in whatever capacity he calls me to. And it was like, and and I don't think I could have put those word those thoughts into words at that time, but that was the feeling. But I I felt the Holy Spirit. And it wasn't like tingles and goosebumps and stuff like that, because I feel like you can get that at like a Taylor Swift concert. But like old T Swift. And I had to give a response to it. And and and I think for me, the most convincing thing from that moment was how my life changed afterwards. And I think we see that in the lives of all the disciples. Every disciple says yes, says yes to Jesus. They didn't keep living the same way. Right? They left their father and mother. They left their business. They left the the tax collector's booth, right? They they left their their life of sin, right? They they all had to leave things and they their life had to change. Like everything about their life looked different after they started following Jesus. And my life did an entire 180 after after following Jesus. It's like I I had a terrible terrible mouth and it that was one of those sins that like I immediately broke and most people don't I know people still struggle with that and and things like that so it was like my life just started to look different and so that to me was the like confirmation and I'll kind of rattle off this because it goes along with it. The other time that I felt the Holy Spirit in an overwhelming way was I'm trying to remember the timeline, terrible timelines. But I remember I was feeling called to speak, which if you knew me before would have been wild. I barely talked to my mother-in-law prior to becoming a Christian, right? Like I just I was so shy. now you give me around my group of friends and I was wild, but like in a crowd, in public speaking, like I always have a story about public speaking. As an adult, I'm like 20 years old, and I had to go and give a safety briefing to my six coworkers at Colinx. And I remember my hands are sweaty, like I'm Mouth is dry, like I don't know why liquid's going where it's not supposed to and not where it needs to be. And like we need still toe boost. Yeah, I'm like, there's a hole in the break. Like it was so like it was so bad. And I remember being like, man, I nothing terrified me more than public speaking. Yep. And then like after I give my life to Christ and I'm following him and I'm serving, I start kind of feeling this call. And I sit down in a in a quiet time. And I am I'm way too distractable. So whenever I go into like a quiet time, all I take in, sometimes I take absolutely nothing. but then my mind wanders a little too much. So I like to have some sort of direction. And so I went sat down. I went sat down in my room way before Jessica woke up. It was early in the morning. And I sat down, I wrote down a verse of scripture on a piece of paper, like ripped it out of a notebook. It was I barely could read it because I have terrible handwriting. And I went and I sat down and I just began to pray this verse. And I actually I pulled it here. It's Jeremiah 20:9. And it says, If I say I will not mention him or speak any more in his name, there is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in. I cannot. And so it was like and I was like I was sitting there and I was praying the scripture and I I didn't fully know what it meant, but I I felt an overwhelming like burning inside of me. And and I and like the scriptures talking about the word of God burning in your bones. And I began to like sweat in a sixty seven degree house, right? Like you know. Anyway, like I had to. It's for the teenagers. Yeah, it's for the teenagers. but like, I mean, I just begin like profusely sweating, and and that was almost like confirmation that God's calling the one thing I don't want to do. And and so those were the two times that I I've overwhelmingly felt the Holy Spirit is in those two situations. It's such a funny experience. Like, I I can remember. To back up to your first story as far as like you were called like your thoughts shifted into Hey, you gotta pick, you gotta pick a lane here. Yeah. I had that similar experience. I I don't know if it truly spoke to you in third person, but typically when I'm it happened during praise and worship here. This Brandon Lake song was playing, you know, you get all you get all in the fields and you know the music takes over and it feels awesome. But it usually if I'm praying, I'm like, you know, God, I, you know, help me. Yeah, you know, I need you, God. Like it's it's very like self-centered. But I remember just For whatever reason, my and it's usually in my head, but this one time during worship, it was like I said the words Joshua, surrender. I ev it was me speaking, but it was the only way I can explain it is the Holy Spirit like speaking through me, telling me to like, Hey, get in a lane, man. Kind of like what you're saying. It's like i I never speak no one ever says their own name, like kind of in that area. Maybe you're doing I don't know. not frequently, no. Yeah. So it stuck out to me and I remember grabbing lunch with My my uncle, you know, Pastor Dennis and you know, my dad who's also pastor, and and I was telling them I'm at the 19th hole with like fried chicken fingers, like just and I'm crying and sobbing. We're in a packed restaurant. I'm just like, and it smoked me. And like it just overwhelms you kind of like you're saying, like I can't hold it in. I was so excited to just tell everybody. And that was really a pivotal moment for me because I've grew up in this church. Like I went to youth group here, I had all my friends here. I was here, you know. on the worship team in middle school and I'm now thirty four. But I remember just moving away and then coming back a couple years ago and I felt like restarting my journey with faith because I moved away, I went through a bunch, you know, COVID happened. You know, I got got married, like all this crazy stuff. And I I gave away a career to move back to my hometown. All these life changing, like shattering things. But I was so busy that I didn't really stop and think, you know, about my salvation. Right. So along the way I was like, I'm gonna get back into church. my wife was like, We need to go to church. We need to go to church. And I was like, we'll watch online It's different though, being in the building with other believers, building that fellowship. The first time I came back, wife was feeling sick that morning. The first time I came back, I came by myself. And I had the biggest panic attack the whole service that I I was dealing with some medical stuff and the only way I can describe it is just a flat out panic attack the entire service. Right. I guess I just wasn't used to being in a big crowd and to the point where I was just like rocking back and forth, like drinking water, just like, Okay, I got yeah, just make it to the prayer song, don't cause a scene and then just once prayer song starts, slip out the back. Yeah. I went from that to slowly like, all right, I can make it through. At least to the prayer song, now through the prayer song. And and now I'm back in the worship team. Like I just God is really kind of transformed me. And all of that came from just saying yes and like getting involved. And I still have those moments, but ever since that Joshua surrender, like truly surrender, all of your worries, all of your anxiety, all your you know, fear casted at his feet. Can you talk a little bit about that in those moments of I'm sure through your walk, like, all right, now you're saved. How do you get from being saved to getting into actual like leading a church or a ministry? And if we need to back up to like the youth group, go for it. But like That's just such a extreme jump to somebody on the outside. If you've been it was an extreme jump to me, dude. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I I so the the ministry started two years after I got saved. Teresa's daughter was coming up in the youth group and she wanted to be able to step away by that point so that she could have her own experience in youth group. Sure. And so she she asked Jessica and I to take it over. and we're like definitely unqualified for this. But yeah, sure, we'll do it. And again, say yes to everything, you know. And and so we we Took over the the youth ministry. I came on, Jessica came on full time before me. So she has a little bit more seniority here than I do, which is fun. right. And sure she doesn't remind me. No, she doesn't remind me at all. No, never. but yeah, so she came on and then I got hired in shortly later. And I got hired in like kind of twofold. I was like, yeah, I'm the youth pastor, but I'm also the tech guy. Cause I went to school for IT. That's that is my specialty, is tech. And so I got hired in to do both. And so I'm leading the youth ministry. At this point, I've got a decent grasp on teaching teenagers, right? That's one thing. but I'd always kind of said, you know, teenagers is one thing I'm never gonna never gonna teach adults. Like that's not something that that I'm comfortable with doing. Everyone out there has way more like Christian experience than I do. I'm still a heathen, you know, like I'm I'm not, but like in my heart I feel like I still am, right? Yeah. And and so I thought I'd never do that. And you listen, you never say never to God. Like that's just not a smart idea. and so I don't know, a couple years later, I couldn't even tell you how long. a couple years later, Pastor Dennis starts kind of building out this teaching team. And I thought it was a great idea when I wasn't part of it. And I was like, yeah, because he grabbed like Sam and he grabbed Teresa and they kind like split a message with him. So he kind of eased them into it. Like he preached half and they'd come and preach one point and like, that's awesome. That's so good. Then he comes up to me and I'm he's like, All right, I need you to take the point of this sermon. I'm like, I okay. Right? Because I I don't say no, right? Like I say yes. That's what I do, is I say yes. And and so it was so dude, it was so nerve-wracking. And because Again, I'm I I can't be more than four years into my walk with Jesus. And I'm up here teaching the Bible to people that's been following Jesus for 50 years. And I'm like, I've never felt more unqualified to do anything. And then but but Pastor Dennis, he he kept that rotation and and evidently he had like a 2020 vision. I wasn't here for that. I wasn't even present. But in 2010, he gave a 2020 vision that by 2020 he wanted to have like his replacement in place. I wasn't even at the church at the time. And and which is which is just crazy in itself. And so going forward from there, I think for probably the next like eight years, we just kept a rotation. And and slowly, like I'm telling you, Pastor Dennis is a genius. If he ever watches this, absolutely. still in this model, I keep telling you he's writ written so many books now, he needs to write this book for church transition. Because over like eight years, he he was like he would preach like two weeks in a row and he'd let someone fill in. Then he preached two weeks in a row and he someone fill in. Then like the next year, he's like, Okay, he'd preach one week and he'd let someone fill in. And he slows. Slowly moved it forward. And then as he figured out who was going to be the next lead pastor, he started putting me in through rotation more. And so like by the time it was announced to the church that I was gonna be taking over as the lead pastor, everyone was like, well, duh. Like it, like no one wouldn't, everyone was ready for it. And he did it, he did it so smooth. but for me personally, like my whole story is just yes. Like, I mean, even things I didn't want to do, I it was still a yes. And I don't know, I it's hard for me to say that I did anything exceptional. Just say yes to God. And I'm someone who strives to be good at everything that I do. And so, like, whenever Pastor Dennis asked me to preach, I start reading books on preaching. I start watching YouTube videos on preaching, which is there's some out there. Not a lot, but there's some. And so like I try to learn and I'm like, I'm learning from him. And I'm like, he's given me notes and he's giving me like what, and I'll tell you, the most nerve-wracking thing is the first time we ever preached, all of us, we had to go up and preach our sermon before Dennis. Like, just him. Just him sitting there in the front row. Yep. Yeah, I would rather preach to two million people than just to Pastor Dennis sitting in the front row, man. And so I was like, by the time Sunday came, I'm like, I'm ready for this. All right. And so, but yeah, that's that's how the whole transition. And then we'd been talking about it probably four or five years that that I would be the next lead pastor. and he was kind of getting me ready. And and one thing about Pastor Dennis is he he moves everything, he does everything slowly, right? And then it's a dimmer switch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a dimmer switch. Never, never on off, it's never go. It's just slow. And and which is awesome. It worked out so good. And then one Monday he comes in. And I and I always come in a little bit early. And so he comes in, no one else is here. He comes in, he he comes over, stands by my desk, and he's like, So you re are he's So are you ready to take over? And I'm like, I'm like, yeah, yeah, of course. And he's like, All right, January. I'm like, wait, what? This January? Like, I didn't know I didn't know the timeline we were talking when we mentioned this, Dennis. And and he's Yeah, this January. And it was like, maybe two. Two weeks later was announced to the church that January I would be coming in as like the interim, you know, pastor for the for the year to kind of test things out, try the water. and so that whole year I led and I I did everything. And so the following January, he comes out, they do a official service of putting me over the the lead pastor of the church and everything's permanent. My name's on all the stuff. It's you know, it and that That's on the light bill. So it's yeah, that's how you know it's really it's in, it's in it's it's solid now. And so yeah, I mean that's I mean, I I don't know. The story to how I got from where I was to where I am again is nothing exceptional. I just kept saying yes. And God did things through that. That's just so awesome to not only to witness I I remember that that changing of the guard ceremony and I was in the back just bawling. Did not expect to be emotional at all that day, but just seeing kind of one chapter in and another one pick up. It was just so yeah. It was just so overwhelming. And I I Couldn't have happened to a better guy. Right. I appreciate it. So awesome to just see again that that not to be cheesy here, but that hunger and thirst that you have because you're constantly looking for new angles. Like, how can we how can we do things better around here? Like who are we not reaching that needs to hear the word of God? And I think this is kind of part of that. Right. Of just you know, for me personally. I'm not I'm not good at just walking up to people on the street like, have you heard the good news? Like let me tell you about Jesus. But he's done so much in my life that I wanna shout it from the rooftops of like, you know, y Come see how awesome life is on this side. Yes. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. There are those dark days. It doesn't matter how long you've been following Christ or how good you've been. You could be on the worship team, you could be a greeter, you could be the head pastor. Being a Christian doesn't mean that life is always gonna go good. Like I you can get on a real good stretch of like things are going great. Even like you know, you know, the cable company was being kinda snobby to me and I was not. Nice to them. Like, I'm doing good. Yeah. And then, you know, you kind of get a little bit ahead of your skis. And then life just crumbles around you, it feels like. And it is like it gets dark and it gets heavy. And you know, as people suffer from depression, maybe they get a horrible diagnosis or a family member or XYZ. Things could happen to them. But it takes those the Battlefields to truly test your skill as a warrior for Christ. What are some of those moments? Cause I imagine you've you've taken this journey from, you know, just showing up to a church to you know attending that church to being a leader amongst that church and then into taking over as the lead pastor for that church. It's not a stretch to say at some point. It felt like things around you were crumbling. yeah. What are some things that n not only you did to kind of make it through, whether it's scripture or hey, I just got on my knees in the backyard and prayed until I could not speak anymore. Right. What are some of those things that you did that maybe worked, maybe didn't work? Yeah. So okay. So definitely had those moments. I mean, pretty much prior to becoming a Christian, I'd only ever lost one person in my life that I knew. since That moment, I have I'm not gonna say I have no family, but like a lot of the members of my family have passed. And it was like it all felt so fast. Like I lost my mom, and then like a year later, I lost my dad. And you know, it was like it was just one after another, after another, after another. And I will say, like, I don't know if this is like uber spiritual, it is, but people don't consider it all that spiritual. Fellowship. Like, I mean, the one thing that's always like that has helped me through those times is being around people who are close. To God and will lead me there as well. You know? And so I mean that one of the greatest blessings I think that we've had in our life is our friend group that we've made here at church. And it started with the members of the the youth leadership team, right? Yeah, I got like Sam and Sarah, and then we eventually brought on like Brooke and Lucas and like and and Michael and Tasha. And like, you know, we've we have all these people in our life that like when I'm going through things, like I have someone I can go to, you know? And and I know that like there's a lot of people like, I go to the closet. I pray it out, and I'm I pray, I'm constantly praying. And but I what I found to be the biggest difference maker is that when I'm going through hardship, is that I just get with people, I know it's gonna lead me Christ closer to Christ. And and not even that, we're sitting down, have biblical conversations the whole time. We're sitting down talking about football. But like, you know, I know that I have people in my life that hey I can go to, and I'll be Yeah, that game was awesome, but dude, have you ever gone through this? Have you ever been here? Like, you know, how are you in this season? And and so, like, to me, that fellowship is is key. And that's one of the reasons I really. Want to push small groups because I I know too many people that like you can go into a church and go to the same church for a year and not know anyone, and it's like I mean you're missing out on a pivotal piece of doctrine. Is that Jesus calls us to be in fellowship with other believers, with people who are going to push you closer to Christ, and it and that's why let's I agree with you. I don't think church online alone, and I know we have an online service that's not meant to be a replacement for a regular church. Exactly. If you need to watch in case of emergency, yes, yes, exactly. I've done it, yeah. Absolutely. We we all have. I'm on vacation, I'm watching all. Online, right? Like you're sick, please don't, yeah, yeah, just stay home, take you know, sit the next one out. Yeah, yeah. I mean you're you're sick, watch from home, right? I mean, or if you're in another area and you found us on the internet somehow, I mean, watch us until you find a home church, but please find a home church. Yeah, right. And if you still want to tune in and watch our messages after the fact, that's great. But you need that community around you. And so the illustration Pastor Dennis always used, and I still use it every time I talk about the topic. he always talks about, you know, this there's this old guy and young guy around a fire, and the young guy's like, you know, I don't I don't have to. To go to church to be a Christian. I can follow Jesus on my own. and so the old guy, they're kind of hanging out and he just pops one of the coals out of the fire. They keep talking for a few minutes. And then he finally looks back at him and he says, Hey, can you tell me what's different about that coal than the coals in the fire? And he's like, Well, that coal's out. And he's You're right, that coal's out. You don't know why? Because it's been removed from the fire. Isolation. That it was the it was those coals in the fire that was keeping it lit. It wasn't staying lit on its own. And so whenever it was out by so the same thing happens to us as Christians, right? Like we can be the most on fire Christian in the world, but if we're only surrounding ourselves with the world, that fire will get put out. And so we have to constantly be surrounding ourselves. And I I I see it in myself. Like I can I can get to hanging out with like the the wrong groups of guys. Like I say I get into a new hobby because I I'm a hobby guy. I love hobbies. Say we're bad about that. And so I can get with like a certain group and they're like they're not following God and they're not talking like they do. And I start to find my mind going, you know, more in that direction than it should be. And and whereas the opposite's true whenever I'm hanging out with people that are on fire for God and there are people that are chasing after Jesus and they're they're working you know working to get the word of God out. Like I am so much my thoughts are so much clearer my my my words are so much clearer and it's like I have such a focus on God. And so for me it's it's it's always been fellowship. And I say that as an introvert with an extrovert's calling. That's the best way I can put it. That's a great way to put it is like I I I'm an introvert with an extrovert's calling. I turn on my extrovert button on Sunday mornings. So I can get out, I can talk, I can hang out with people, and then I want to go sit on my couch and watch football by myself. Like, you know, that's that's like perfect day. My social battery is drained. And so but like just being around people that are pushing you closer to God is so, so needed in those times. I love that. And that's such a great answer because the Bible does tell us, you know, not to isolate. Yeah. There is time for that, you know, to reflect and you know, rest and to take care of the things in your own house. Household, whether you're you married in a relationship or you know, single living on your own, you know, there is that time for reflection, but you also do need other people there. Absolutely. As hard as that is, I'm the same way, yeah. Introvert, I'm a homebody. I have my wife, that's my best friend. Like we have our two dogs, we have everything we need. Yeah. But it's taking ourselves outside of that comfort zone of like, you know, gotta get involved in the church. They gotta just be around other people 'cause I could be having the worst week. And show up here and all it takes is one conversation to pull me out of that. Yeah. And that gives me enough juice to just get to the next day and through the next day and through the next day. I guess a good point to circle back on is just life here at Grace. I think the I might mess it up here, but real people, real church, real God. That's it, dude. Nailed it. I I heard it on the radio yesterday. So let's go. I was listening for the balls game and I was like, this Pastor David. Yeah, yeah. but w walk me through just somebody coming in here for the first time and just what can they expect? Like what are we all about here at Grace? Yeah. So I mean, like you said, we're real people. at a real church, serving a very real God. And so what that really looks like is you're you're not gonna get fake, right? We're we're we're we're past fake. Like I mean, God can't use fake. God wants to use the real you. And so that means we come with our our problems, our our our hurts, our our past, like we'll all that's there, and all that's out in the open. Like if you listen to one of our sermons, you're probably gonna hear us telling one of those stories. And and it's like, you know, I wasn't always the perfect pastor, right? Like I was the heathen. And so I and I'm I'm open to that. And I'm not saying That like I'm fully cured of sin, no man is till we pass and go to go to the Father, right? And so it's like we're we're real, and so we don't want a fake version of you. We don't want you to come in and be perfect because none of us are perfect. Yeah, no three-piece suits. Yeah, yeah. If you feel comfortable, if that's what you want to wear. And that's another thing is like there is absolutely no dress code, right? Like most time I'm gonna be up there in jeans and a t-shirt. Yeah, wear clothes. Wear clothes. That is the requirement. Yes, clothes. Because there was a couple people very early on in this book weren't wearing clothes. Weren't wearing clothes? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We model after the later ones that were close. Yeah, exactly. And so, but otherwise, like we have people here that, like you said, they're in a three piece suit. We have people that are in nice flowing gowns. And it's second day of deer season. I saw a guy walking full camo, man. Yeah. It was a bus this morning, but I I'm here at church. Dude, I love that. I love it. God's grocery store is open. Yes, absolutely. Yes, dude. but yeah, so I'd be full get deer season. We're gonna see full camo all over the place. And so like we got it, we got a camo church shirt, you We're We're helping people out. yeah. So proud. Dude, I I love this shirt. but yeah, so real people, the next thing is like we're a real church. And so that what that means is like we're not here to to self-fluff, right? We're not here to make you make you feel good. I hope you feel good when you leave. But at the end of the day, we're teaching the word of God. We go expositionally through the word of God. we started not COVID, January 2020 in the book of Genesis, and we've worked our way through book by book by book of the Bible. we're finishing up our series right now, going through the chronological life of Christ, where we went through all Four gospels simultaneously to paint the broadest picture of the life of Christ as possible. Because at the end of the day, we might give up and give a nice hype message, but it's only the Holy Spirit that changes you. And it's only Jesus that saves you. So if I'm selling you anything else, I'm doing you a disservice. And so that is our intention. We we try to have an amazing worship to get you there to spend that time worshiping Jesus because that's so important. but at the end of the day, we're real. There's going to be tech issues and there's going to be stuff that happens. Boy, it's a tech issues. Issue. I heard a I heard a quote, I think actually Michael might have sent it in, where it was like the the tech booth is where spiritual warfare happens every Sunday. And I'm like, bro. That is so true. But it's like at the end of the day, we get up and we're real. I mean, it's something I mean we have to make like do microphone changes in the middle of the sermon. And like, this is how it goes, guys. we're not aiming for perfection here. We're just aiming for serving God to the best of our ability. And so like we're a real church, we're focused on the word of God, we're focused on Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and then the very real God. And I mean that is at the at the height. We're not talking about an ancient book. We're not talking about just something that only existed in history. We're not talking about a fictional being, but the real God that created the universe, that loved you and I so much that he breathed life into your lungs and made you who you are. Right? Like our God is real. And that is like that is the foundation of everything, is we're not walking into this thing like it's a fictional book, right? We're walking into it like this all happened. There was seven days of creation. The real God rested. Jesus was in the beginning before the beginning through which all things were made. And that is the focus of everything, is everything in this book is real. And and so if it's real, then that means heaven is real, hell is real, and a very real Jesus died on a cross for the real you. And and so that that's our our focus is like showing people this God that can change everything in your life. Right. And so yeah, that's our our whole the whole slogan, real people, real church, real god. That's the memorable version. but every piece of it means something and and about the culture we have here at Grace. I love that. Yeah. And if people wanna actually experience it for themselves. Where can they find us? When can they find us? Yeah. Dude, absolutely. So we're Church in Crossville Tennessee, 2125 Miller Avenue. We got services at 9 and 1030 AM. Kids Services at all. Everything from the nursery to the retirees, we we're teaching Jesus on every level. and that is that is one of our huge focuses. But you can also find us online. we have YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, everywhere. It's it's it's Crossville Grace everywhere you look. Love that. Love that. Well, Pastor Jeff, I know this is the first of many. Yes and it's been an absolute honor getting to talk with you, getting to know you. Would you mind doing me a favor and just closing us out with a prayer? Well, I'd love to. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day, Lord. We thank you for your mighty works. God, we thank you that you are a real God, that you you you exist, Lord, that you created everything, that you looked at us and you chose us, and you created each of us unique as to who we are, that you love us, Lord. I thank you for this conversation we're able to have here. And I pray that if there's anyone listening to it right now, God, that feels like they might might be far from you, that they would lean in, that they would open up your word, that they would go to you in prayer, and Lord, that they would surround themselves with faithful followers. Of you, that they would be led closer, that they could experience the hope and the peace and the strength that we have found in you, Lord. And God, if they leave with nothing else, that they just leave with a constant yes, Jesus. That in every situation, in every circumstance, and every ask, their answer is yes, Jesus. Give us the boldness to love you, to follow you, to serve you, Lord. We love you and we trust you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.