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Who Are You When Nobody's Watching? · The Worship and Leadership Podcast

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Oh Jesus, my God, help us Lord, oh man.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody, and welcome to the Worship and Leadership Podcast.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: My name is Elmer Canyas Jr and it's another great day for a great podcast.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Would you agree with me?
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Pastor Willie, he's still dancing.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, I fully agree.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: podcasts.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Would you agree with me?
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Pastor Willie, he's still dancing.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Yes, I fully agree, it's the best day of the week.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: It's the best day of the week, let's go Because we get to speak Some things leadership and talk fellowship.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Chocolate chip, macadamia nut, pecan oatmeal, pizza hut, pizza hut.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's stop the music right this time.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: There we go.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Good job Willie, good job man.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Thank you, man.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Do you want to introduce our guests today?
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I?
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: do.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Yes, we have two awesome ladies on our team with us today.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: To my right side, she is a joy fountain.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: She is the prank master general.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: Prank master general.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: Change the names like yes, the one and only Emily Hines.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: Applause.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, the one and only Emily Himes.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Hello, woo-woo Applause.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: So many people in the studio.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Look at all of them, wow.
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: We're here live with a studio audience.
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: Oh man.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: And over here to my left side, she is a powerhouse of prophetic power.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Come on, come on somebody.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Okay, thehouse of prophetic power.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Come on, come on somebody.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: The one, the hour of power, the hour of power.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: Y'all remember the hour of power.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: The power team, the power team.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: They would bend the, you know like, tear the phone book in half.
• 1:58
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I can do that.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, we believe it, oh, 100%.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: I promise you the one and only Pastor Aaron Smalley.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Y'all give it up.
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: Oh, there we go Live studio audience.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Live studio audience.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: Aaron Clarksville took a seat.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Hey, thanks for joining us.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Aaron.
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: Thanks for having me.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Come on, man, we have listen.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: We have a barn burner for you today.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: Barn burner, this is, this is.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: This will be your favorite episode thus far, I promise you.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: I know I say it every week, but this is going to be your favorite episode because today we are talking about Tell them.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Tell them, Come on, listen.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Come on, tell them, man.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Let me make sure I got the title right.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Listen, we're talking about it's great being faithful when it's hidden subtitle, leading when no one is watching.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Come on somebody, man.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: I think this is important in in leadership, because a lot of people lead in different areas and the things that we wrestle with are the things like are we being noticed Right?
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Did anyone see what I did?
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: And it could be a trap in itself, or, you know, and I think dealing with it and I think today's conversation will really help share everyone's perspective and how we've addressed that in our own personal lives and how we've addressed that in our own personal lives.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Again, all of you sitting here today lead at great capacities a lot of people, different people, teams, some serious stuff, and it's easy for people to want to focus on the things where you're in front of people.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: the platform things Like Emily always jokes like I'm the only one in this place that don't sing.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, erin.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: I don't sing.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Not in front of people, but she sings.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: But it's important.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: It's something that I think goes untalked about and we want to just bring it to everyone's attention and just shine a light on it and hopefully, through our conversation, it brings revelation and healing and some freedom for people to walk in freedom with some of these things.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so this.
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: I kind of want to start with an anchor text here Matthew chapter six.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Matthew chapter six you know this is part of Jesus' teaching on what is known as the Sermon on the Mount and it's really just sort of like this upside down kingdom teaching.
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: He covers a variety of topics and issues anger, lust, serving, prayer, fasting, giving all of these things and he teaches it sort of like counter-cultural, like this is what culture says, but this is what I'm saying.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: So, starting at Matthew chapter six, verse one, it says beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father, who is in heaven.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: And I'm going to just I'm going to summarize the next few verses, starting at verse two.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: He says when you give, don't sound the trumpet like the hypocrites do, because that's your only reward, that's all you get.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: But he says give in secret.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: And he says your father, who is in secret, will reward you openly.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: And then he talks about praying.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: The same way, when you pray, don't pray like the hypocrites do, who love to be heard, but pray in secret.
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: Your father, who is in secret, will openly reward you.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: I want to jump real quick to verse 16, because he says the same thing about fasting.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: When you fast, don't disfigure your face, and oh, woe is me.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: So why?
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Because you're doing it for a man.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: That's performative and that's the only reward you get.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: But do it.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: But wash your face, comb your hair, you know, get yourself dressed and your father, who is in secret, will reward you openly.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: So let's just start with this question.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: I thought you, pastor Aaron, and then to you, Em.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: What does this passage teach us about hidden faithfulness in in God's eyes?
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: What, what?
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: What is this passage here trying to teach us concerning that hidden faithfulness?
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, when I read this verse and when I really think through it, something that really stands out to me is a question, and that's who's getting the glory?
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: Who's getting the applause?
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: Why am I doing?
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: Whatever it is that I'm doing, whether it be serving somebody or serving in church or trying, you know, building something right who am I doing it for and who am I wanting to get the glory?
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: Who am I wanting to get the applause?
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: And I think that really, this is a heart check for us.
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: This verse isn't, you know, necessarily saying like don't go out and serve and you know, if people notice you, then you know it's obsolete and don't do that because that's negative or whatever Right.
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: Notice you, then you know it's obsolete and don't do that because that's negative or whatever right.
• 6:49
  Speaker 5: But it's actually saying it's more of this heart check.
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: Jesus is really wanting us to check our heart on.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: Who is actually getting the glory here?
• 6:53
  Speaker 5: Why are you actually doing what you're doing?
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: Is it for the applause of man?
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: Is it so that you'll be noticed?
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: Is it to, you know, do something in you to make you feel a little bit better about yourself, or are you doing it really so Jesus can be the main star of the show, you know.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: So for me it's really a heart check, that's good.
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: You know why am I doing this and who am I doing it for.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's good.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Em your thoughts.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: I just I love how Jesus is such of a good teacher and shepherd because he knows it's ingrained in all of us to want an attaboy.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: I think it's human nature for all of us to want to be seen, and I love that.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: He's such of a good shepherd that he acknowledges it, going hey, I know that we act out of this way, but I want to correct a little bit in this way and saying hey, whenever you don't do it, don't do that way, because what I have for you do as unto me, and what I have for you is way better than what any of these earthly attaboys can give you, and I just I love Jesus' heart pastoring us through that.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: Come on, that's so good.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Pastor, M Dr Elmer, what are your thoughts, sir?
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: My thoughts on.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: I echo what was said already God is after our faithfulness and it's not about what we're doing for people to see in the sense of for our own, our own glory, like Aaron said, but it's it's.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: It's it's that realignment of you know, are we desiring the same things that our father in heaven desires?
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: And and I think that word faithfulness just stands out a lot for me when, in the context of what you know, the scripture is talking about and remaining faithful when you're unseen, remaining faithful when you are seen, because I think that's even harder when people do see you.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Sometimes you might be fasting and you might have to say something like hey, as a church we're fasting 21 days of prayer and fasting, and so there's moments that you do make it public and you do say, hey, I'm on this journey.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: But, like you, you do make it public and you do say, hey, I'm on this journey and you know, but are you?
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Does the public eye appease you, does it like fill you, or is it just the, the reason why you actually do it Like I'm just staying on fasting?
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: What do you benefit from fasting?
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: A lot of times, people will never know.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: And a lot of times you know what.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: What do you benefit from fasting A lot of times?
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: people will never know.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and a lot of times you're, you're praying and fasting for for other people, for other circumstances, and you don't see it yourself in your own life.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: And is it still worth it?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: So I think there's a lot of things that we're called to do as believers that will.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: We won't see the fruit in our own life, but is it still worth it?
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I I think it is yeah and that's why verses like that are important because, are we about the immediate results which we say is part of our culture today?
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: we want instant, instant gratification, instant results.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: But being faithful requires process, being faithful requires time.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Being faithful requires being corrected, you know, being shaped and molded Right.
• 10:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's really good, I think, to add on to that.
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: Pastor Elmer, as you were talking, I just thought you know the this question of you, know, if no one else saw me, if no one sees me, would I still be doing this?
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: And I think that that's a marker of, like our faithfulness and we're in the right place with God.
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: Like, okay, God, you see this ultimately, but if no one else sees this, am I still going to be doing this?
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: Am I still going to be fasting?
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: Am I still going to be serving others?
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: Am I still going to be praying?
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: Am I still going to be serving God, even if no one else sees it?
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, right right before we started.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: You know this, this episode, pastor Elmer, you had brought up a really good point.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: You know, I just kind of discussing, you know this episode and really just like this excitement for today's topic and you had, you and I were just talking through like the benefits of the hiddenness, you know, while serving or leading it, or something that you said that I thought was awesome in terms of how there's a quote when I referenced the movie Aladdin.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: Listen man, that was a great quote.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: That was like compact.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: What happened?
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: That was left field.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: It's okay, we're back.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, my brain reset for a little bit right there which rarely happens.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: But yeah, which rarely happens.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: But yeah, you got me.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: It's rare to make me speechless, but you got me there.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: That's a rare thing to get to the Holy Ghost.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: But you said that there was a benefit of the developmental nature of being hidden, where God can cultivate some things in you and he can root some things out of you in private and there's just a safety.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: I just feel like to say this to whoever's listening.
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: If you feel, like you're in a season of hiddenness, thank God for that, because there is a safety in God developing you in that, in that season of hiddenness.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: It's not that you're ineffective, it's not that you're, you know, not doing things or serving or leading, but just thank God for that, because it is so much harder to be corrected on the open stage than to be corrected backstage Like it's just, it's that's man.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: That is such a gift and a blessing in terms of allowing God to, especially when God exposes, you know, defects, character defects.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: He exposes shadows in your leadership.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: And so, pastor Elmer, you know, if you would just kind of expound on like the blessing of God, cultivating fruit in our leadership and really just in who we are, just as people, as Christians, as Christ followers, in the hidden season.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the hidden seasons are important because it's again I just said it a a while ago it's where we're shaped and molded, it's where we wrestle with identity, it's where we wrestle with decisions that at times are made for us, and and how we deal with them in those seasons of being hidden really determines how, how god's gonna or I, I would dare say that if it's gonna be delayed or not, like, like where god's gonna expose us.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know, man, I don't even, I don't even make brisket and I think it's just lunchtime and I'm hungry and but, but you think you think of a good brisket?
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: Like you know for those of you that you might smoke me and do stuff like that I just use a, you know, blackstone griddle that's it but it it takes time because it has to slow cook it has to.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: There's juices in the meat, there's all these processes and if you watch those shows where they're like grilling masters and all that stuff right like, it's a real intricate process and there's a lot of details that go into it.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: And the main thing that everyone has in common, regardless of what they're using for their food, is time.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Like time is valuable, because if you take it out too early it's still not cooked, right.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you take it out too late, then it's burnt.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Take it out too late, then it's burnt.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: And I think, in the same same way, we have to trust god, I think, foremost before anything.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, trust that god's timing is perfect.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: And there's times that we'll get anxious and we'll get, like you know, just overexcited and want to step into things when it's not god's timing.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, or there's times that we we're holding on to things and god said, hey, you're done.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's time to let this go.
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: Develop somebody else, you know, empower someone else, and we're like, nah, I'm gonna hold this and it ends up falling apart and uh.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: And I think the hidden seasons are important because that's where you learn how to communicate with the Lord, that's where you get to communicate, you learn to identify how God works.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: I think of King David, or just David in the fields in general.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: When he was a kid, like you know, god had some.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: He had big plans for David, and we could talk about this more.
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: God had big plans for David, but David was never in a hurry for the next.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: He was just a shepherd boy, even when he was anointed.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: King my.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: Lord, yeah, just that mindset that David had.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: I mean he wasn't even thinking of himself as king.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: It's not like David was in the field and be like man.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: I want to be king one day, man, I wish I was doing something other than tending the sheep.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: Man, he was all in and it was there.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: He's writing songs, communing with the Lord.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: He's engaging in battle.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: He learns how to fight and be victorious in fights predators that would seek to be a threat against the sheep.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: And you see that play out when he stands before Goliath.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's not fearful, he is confident.
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: He's not arrogant, but he's confident.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: He's like this uncircumcised Philistine, I'll take you down too, just like I took out these other predators.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: But then David says I come in the name of the Lord, I'm not coming in my own name, my own strength, and that is birthed out of that season.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: So I want to just kind of park there.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: Thank you for that, pastor.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: Let's just park there about.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: You know personally, how has God developed you both, all of us here, in the hidden seasons?
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: And you know, pastor, I'm going to start with you how has God, how have you seen the Lord develop you and what has developed in you in those seasons where you felt hidden and kind of more obscure.
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: A lot.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: But some of the things that really stand out are resilience and a dependence Okay, realizing that it's not my own strength.
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: Realizing that I can't accomplish anything that the Lord has called me to do without truly relying and being dependent upon Him.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: And when that is really all you have, that's enough.
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: And coming to that place of realizing like, if nothing else goes according to my plan, if nothing else gets fulfilled, that in and of itself more of the Lord is enough.
• 16:48
  Speaker 5: And that dependence and that leaning in and that resilience of going like, okay, god, you are my strength, you are my help, you are my source, nothing else else, and you see me yeah I'm called to to be your daughter first.
• 17:05
  Speaker 5: You see that, you see me, and that's all that matters, you know.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: And so I think to just kind of sum it up, it would be those two words is that dependence on god and more of that resilience that's so good to do challenging things yeah because we don't really know what we are able to do, until we hit those moments of feeling like wow, I don't know if I can do this, I don't know.
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: I feel, you know hidden.
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: I feel not seen.
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: What am I doing?
• 17:33
  Speaker 5: Is this even how it's supposed to go?
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: But when God reminds you that he sees you and that he's with you, that's all you need.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: That's all you need.
• 17:44
  Speaker 5: And that's the encouragement that, I feel like, has kept me going in those times.
• 17:49
  Speaker 5: Also, to obscurity is not a negative thing, because obscurity means that you're I.
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: Well, I actually wrote down the definitions of obscurity.
• 17:59
  Speaker 5: I want to refer to it cause I don't want to butcher it, which I contend to do.
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: As she crosses her leg like I got this no, no, no, yes, you do, ma'am, Because none of us came with no, no no, you're good, oh man, but obscurity, it's the state of being unknown and unimportant, and that is exactly the place where we need to be.
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: Come on, is it's not us that's important, it's not us that is being known.
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: And going back to what I said earlier, it is God who gets the glory, it is God who is on display here, and so, when we're living in this season of obscurity and feeling like we're unknown, that's exactly where we need to be.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: You know, because that's where that reliance and that dependence comes from.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, man, that's a word right there.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Obscurity I love yeah obscurity.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: I like it.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: Come on, emily, can you spell that for me?
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: Well, you know, I have it written down here because I'm actually a terrible spaller.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's hilarious.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: Speller.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Speller.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: I mean Sorry, speller.
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: Well, I know for me.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: So the hidden places.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: Now that my frontal lobe is fully developed, I have actually learned to really love that spot.
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: I prefer that spot.
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: I prefer that spot you know, simply because it is just a process of humbling yourself and being OK with only God seeing you.
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: You know, and it's that, it's that dependence on him, and it is the I'm OK right where I'm at, and it's and it's the being content, you know.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: You know being content in all that you are and all that you do, because you know that I'm dependent upon the Lord with all of this.
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: And I've noticed, once you come into your hidden spot, and just that season God does.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: You know, that is where you do wrestle with God, that is where he does build character, that's where because I mean, I mean, I'm allowed bubbly personality, right, so I stick out a lot just because of who I am and just the natural joy.
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: I know that.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: But I also know that the hidden seasons, god is going to do something so incredibly special that only he can do in that, and it's just.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: You know, there are so many scriptures talking about like being hidden in his wings for protection, and so not only am I being molded, am I being changed to what God wants me to be, I'm also being protected by him, whereas when you're out in the open and you're in the eye not, here's the thing God will never lift his hand off of you.
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: No, but you are more susceptible to attacks Because you're out in the open, you're being seen.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: You're doing all this when you're in that hidden season.
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: God's got you like no matter what, and so, honestly, I prefer to be in that hidden place because that, that's that sweet spot.
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, that's really good you make a good point.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Um, I think a lot of times we think of the hidden season as like, like taking something out of the oven and then here you go, everyone, you know, for everyone to see forever.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: But I think that, as you're talking, like, I'm thinking the hidden, the hidden place or the hiding place is not a not so much a season.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: I think there is a season for things that we're not called to step into yet, like, like we don't get married just because you like a person when you're a teenager, like there's a see everything has a season, right, yeah?
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: and the Bible talks about it, but I think there's this hiding place where God prefers us to be hidden in, because that's where, like you said, we're protected from I think number one ourselves.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Our own thoughts.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: And I think that's why he covers us with his wings from our own thoughts, from ambition, from our own self selfish desire, and then from the things of the world, and so like being in proximity to God allows us to again realign our heart with his and be in a place where you hear his heartbeat.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: You know, just think about that, like you think of that, that analogy, analogy of or metaphor of of being under the wings of, of god yeah you know, if you're beneath, beneath his wings like that means you're close to his chest you can hear his heart that's good and so like, if there's anywhere we want to be is in proximity with the lord.
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: Yes, and that's not a seasonal thing, it's, I think that's an everyday thing that's so good, yeah, and I think that and it's, and I think that's why it's so important and to understand that, yes, seasons, because I know that someone may be listening to this and is like, oh my gosh, I just really want to step on stage and preach right now.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: I've got so much to say Enjoy this sweet spot, because there are different levels of hiddenness that I do believe somebody has to go through in order.
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, sanctification is real, you know, and every single day, we're shooting and get closer and closer to Christ, but that hidden place is that sweet spot where God can form you, and all of that.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: And it's right now is not the time.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: However, right now is the time for you to be seen leading your small group.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: Okay, you see, but yet you're still hidden from the main stage.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: But right now is, you know, God said right now is the time for you to be seen leading your small group, you know?
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: So there's.
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: There's different, that's good.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: I love that.
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: I just you know, pastor Mike, pastor Steph, the Lord's laid it on their hearts to take us as a team through the fruits of the Spirit and fruit Fruit of the Spirit.
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Fruit of the Spirit.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Jacob, edit that out.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: Fruit of the Spirit Jacob's not here, he's in Tanzania.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: He's in Tanzania.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: Somebody's slacking Jacob, edit that out.
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: And I have enjoyed it.
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: I've enjoyed journeying back through the fruit of the spirit, like for real, and I thank God for pastors, who, man, who just like they hear from the Lord and then they just obey, and it's been good for us.
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: And as I'm thinking through the fruit of the spirit, one of the things that they have said repeatedly is you know, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are I don't want to miss the word, but I'm going to paraphrase but like they're negotiable and like the Spirit gives the gifts as he wills, does that make sense what I'm saying?
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: But the fruit, like that's non-negotiable, like that is a must.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, we must make a demand and say okay, god, like I need you to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit, like that that's your characteristics, your attributes.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Like I can't do life apart from the spirit and it's a non-negotiable that I become more like christ through the spirit.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I I shared with our students a few weeks ago that the gifts of the spirit are the things that god gives us to do right for him.
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Yes, that the fruit of the spirit is who we're supposed to become.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we're supposed to become, yeah, yeah.
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: We're supposed to become.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: So, just taking that metaphor of the wings and being close to the, to the chest, the fruit has to remain connected to the plant.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: That's how the fruit develops.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: So there's a closeness, and so that that's the benefit of that that you know.
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: The hiddenness, or the obscurity that you talked about, is that I remain close to Jesus.
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: John 15, he's you know, he is divine, we're the branch, apart from me.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: Jesus says you can do nothing, and he says I chose you, that you would bear much fruit and that your fruit would remain.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Well, how's my fruit remain?
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: I abide in him and he abides in me, and so there is a beauty to allowing the Lord to cultivate in me this love, this joy, this peace, this kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, humility, this self-control, like this meekness.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: There is a blessing in staying close to the Lord as I am serving and as I am leading, in whatever capacity that is.
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: I love how you said that you know being hidden.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: That's really more of like I think it's a mindset and a heart posture where I just say man, my dad would say this all the time when I was younger and he would just talk about ministry.
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: You know, he was in the army, but he served as a pastor and he would say son, the two things that you are never to mess with are the glory nor the gold.
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: Just don't touch those things.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: Don't think it's about you.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: And when he talked about the goal, he was just talking about compromise and temptation, just like.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: Don't be tempted to take the easy way out.
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: And that's just burned in my mind.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Don't touch the glory nor the goal.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: How do I not do that?
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: I just stay close to the Lord and just say, man, I want to become more like Jesus.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Holy Spirit, do your work in me.
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: I did have this question while you guys were singing Emily.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: You did kind of touch on it.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: Just because you feel hidden or obscure, it doesn't mean that the Lord doesn't want to use you right then and right now.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: It doesn't mean that he doesn't want to use you to lead.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: And that's where the westernized thinking becomes so toxic, because we think we have to be visible in order to lead.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: I have to be visible in order to influence.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: I have to be front-facing in order to make an impact.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: So let's unpack that.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Can I jump in there?
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Just going back to David, because a lot of people know David from the Bible he was still a shepherd.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: He still had to tend to his father's sheep they weren't even his sheep, right?
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was his father's.
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: That's a good point there.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: And so he still had to develop responsibility.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: You know accountability.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: He still had to, you know, grow and and taking care of something that wasn't his.
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: But before he had anything of his own, he was called to tend something that belonged to his father, right, and had had the sheep all.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: He left them in the desert, had they all died or whatever got eaten by lions.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: And he got home and his dad said, david, where are my sheep?
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know.
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: Like he would have lost that responsibility.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: And so there's a lot that he learned that prepared him to fight goliath, like you mentioned earlier, or even even future battles yeah, that he would face that that were crucial to that season.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: So had he not invested himself wholeheartedly in that season, had he not invested himself wholeheartedly as a warrior, yeah, you know, when he was a king he wouldn't have understood military and and you know what needed to happen so every season is crucial to our future and to really our purpose in life, and so you can't be little.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: So if you're called to be a small group leader, you know, while you're chasing your dream like be the best small group leader you can be come on because you don't know what's next.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, come on anyone else.
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: come on, ladies, jump in there.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: About you know again, I want to.
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: Let's just Come on, because you don't know what's next.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, come on.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: Anyone else, come on, ladies, jump in there.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: About you know again, I want to.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: Let's just encourage our people.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: You can lead in the season of hiddenness and obscurity.
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: Pastor Aaron, I almost called her Pastor Karen.
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: Ooh With a C, oh no, karen with a C.
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: But you have to say, karen, it's in Chick-fil-A.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: Pastor Karen, which Chick-fil-A did it though.
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: Oh man, Don't you want to put them on?
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: blast.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to put them on blast, put them on blast.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: We love Chick-fil-A.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: It's delicious, it's okay.
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: Honestly I think it's how I talk, probably, so I'll take the blame.
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: Honestly, I think a lot of leadership and a lot of what the Lord calls us to do is actually stuff that is hidden.
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: Most of the stuff isn't out in the open right, it's not on the stage, it's not, you know, doing these big.
• 29:39
  Speaker 5: I don't know.
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: I was gonna say seminars, but if they even do seminars anymore, well anyway, you get what I call them TED talks.
• 29:46
  Speaker 5: TED talks?
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, or well, I was gonna.
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: I don't want to say podcasts, but you know we are on one.
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: You're listening to one right now.
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: That's hilarious, but you know what I mean yeah a lot of leadership and a lot of being faithful is in this stuff.
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: That is really just not seen.
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: It's in the small group, it's in the store, it's in being faithful to your family, it is being faithful right where you are.
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: At that no one else really sees.
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I just that actually is so good.
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, even just just just the life of Jesus.
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: I mean, even just the life of Jesus.
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, our Lord and Savior.
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: What was it If you timed out all of Jesus's life of?
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: What was actually recorded was only like 1% of what we have, yeah, to be able to read.
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: Everything else was hidden.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm right, even the things that we do know about him.
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: There was so much more, so much more.
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: I mean it says you know that he did so many signs and wonders that that we didn't even record, yeah that we're not like yeah, too much, we're just writing down the high notes.
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: So it's like you know if, if god chose to even conceal jesus, you know like you will be okay in your hidden season.
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: I promise you know, like you can rest assured in knowing that you're going to be okay.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: And the opposite of that is, if they did what they did to Jesus, we, we should count that they're going to do it to 100% so the same people that applaud you are the same people that will crucify you.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so if we're doing this for the wrong motives.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: You're going to face a hard reality.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: It'll take you out, yeah yeah, way quicker I mean you want to talk about abandoning your faith?
• 31:28
  Speaker 5: If you are not ready, if you are not faithful with the little in the unseen, you're going to just jump ship when things get challenging and hard and you don't want to hear it you know you're gonna be like, oh, why me, why me?
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: This is, this is terrible.
• 31:43
  Speaker 5: And then you're just gonna abandon it yeah, can we?
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: can we sit on?
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: Uh, aaron, you made a comment, karen, aaron, you made a comment, that's right.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: You said even be, even, even sorry.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: Even I forgot, you stated it, I was trying to remember.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: But you said being faithful with your family, just that simple.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: I don't think people realize how important that is, because we would prefer to shine outside of the home.
• 32:12
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: But being faithful at home with our family, in our marriages with our children.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: Like that is massive, that's huge, that is huge, that's huge.
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: I'm reminded of a conversation I had with my wife, carolyn, a couple of days ago, and just encouraging her and thanking her for just the amazing mom that she is and the example that she sets in our home.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: And I said this I said, babe, I'm telling you, in my line of work and in my calling, I have to pastor adults who did not have the gift and the benefit of a loving mother or a loving father.
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: I have to pastor adults through that who are you know, you've heard the phrase, you know, hurt people, hurt people, broken children become broken adults.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: And I said, you know, I have to pastor people on the back side of that and and just encouraging her and just reminding her, hey, that is good kingdom work.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: The bible does say that charity does start at home.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: Like, it really does start at home.
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: And that's not jv, that's not second rate, that is foundational, because the only people who you know exist in the world in terms of like, making big long-term impacts, like are adults, like you don't.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: You're not raising kids, you're raising adults.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: You're raising men and women and, to your point, that is a blessing.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: And even if it is a single parent home, like to be raised in a godly home, to be raised in, a home where you are affirmed, where you are accepted, where you are loved, where you are appreciated.
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: That is foundational and it is priceless and you cannot put a, you can't put a dollar amount on that.
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: And and also that is leadership.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: That's the thing.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: That's leadership, because the Bible says to raise your kids in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean, like to lead them, and so even that it's crazy because that's hidden, but I'm like it's not hidden, it's more like you're launching out, but it's crucial.
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: I mean nobody, you go to Cape Canaveral and no matter where the rocket ship is going, it starts at the launch pad.
• 34:13
  Speaker 3: It has to start there, like they don't just sit there and say, okay, we're going to drop this thing from 30,000 feet and hope it flies.
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: No, it has to have a stable foundation to be set off from, to be launched out from, and that that's the home.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: To your point, pastor Elmer.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, All the work on the rocket happens in a hangar, yep.
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: Then they move it to the launch pad and then they just make sure everything's ready to go.
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: 100, they release it before they release it.
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: I was just about to say I mean an possible unpopular opinion is I 100 believe that what happens in your home should stay hidden.
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: I mean, here's the thing cool if you want to post pictures of your kids every now and then, but I just I don't think it's healthy to blast it all the time, because God did give you that first.
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: You know you should want to hide and protect it, just as God does to us, you know, hiding us underneath his wings.
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: We should want to do the same with our household and protect that and hide that and really cultivate that to where we can launch it out.
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: Just because the rocket starts in the hangar, you know like we're going to send these kids out.
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: But we need to protect, we need to.
• 35:26
  Speaker 4: You know we should want that hiddenness.
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: We should want it.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 35:31
  Speaker 3: And even with spouses, like we lead each other and we, we, we connect with each other.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: You know you may not have children, but you know, know you can lead and have influence in each other's lives.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: You know, by loving, by serving, there's a beauty in that and to your point, yeah, we're not putting that all out for the world to see, man, there's a beauty that happens there and there's a sacredness just about that element.
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: So if you're a husband, if you're a wife, man, lean into the influence that God has given you with your spouse and with your children, the people that are under your house.
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: Lean into that.
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: That is such a gift.
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm telling y'all listen, I'm just telling you as a pastor, just as one who just cares for people, it is a blessing to be in a home where you know, no home is perfect, but where there is love, there is joy, there is acceptance, there's forgiveness.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: You know there is, to your point, the Adam boy, there's affirmation.
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: That is a blessing because when you live without it as a child and you grow up man, that's where addiction happens.
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: We were talking about that earlier.
• 36:28
  Speaker 3: That's where addiction happens and abuse and misidentifying things and toxicity and compromise, because you didn't have that stable foundation in the hidden, obscure season of life for sure.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: Come on somebody.
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: So question though how do y'all personally know that y'all are in a hidden season?
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: What are some things that?
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: Because, honestly, for me, whenever I'm in it, I don't necessarily realize that I'm in it until I look back and realize, oh, these are some things, and so there are a little few things that pop up for me.
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: So how do y'all know that y'all are in, or going through a hidden season and are you in one Mic drop, thank you, I will be here next month.
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: You actually will yeah month you actually will yeah, sunday no.
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: Yes, okay, oh, you'll actually be here next month on the schedule.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, here in the studio, not like at work Right here.
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: I was like, do I get a break?
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: Same chair.
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: The exact same chair At the same time.
• 37:37
  Speaker 5: Same time, the exact same at the same time.
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: I'm like do I get it?
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: Okay?
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: Sorry, okay, we had to do like a little comedic relief to give.
• 37:43
  Speaker 4: Let y'all think for a second.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: That's us verbally.
• 37:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no, that's a really all of y'all's eyeballs that's a good question.
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: I can go ahead.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: I was trying.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: I was gonna go, but go ahead.
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: I was trying to give them a chance, yeah but I talk a lot.
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: I think I think like for me, even though I'm in the season that I'm in right now, that can seem from facing.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: For me personally, it feels like a hidden season.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: And so I'm doing things I've never done like being an executive pastor.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: I've done it at different capacities but not at how I'm doing things I've never done like being an executive pastor.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: I've done it at different capacities but not at how I'm doing it here at LifePoint.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: You know I've been a front facing leader for most of my life, being a worship leader in front of a lot of people, platforms.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: But regardless of the exposure, I think really what's happening on the inside is what determines.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: You know where you're actually at and so people could see you in front of hundreds of people, thousands of people, publicly on social media, all that.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: But that doesn't mean that you're free from the desires that you carry on the inside.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: And so there's things that God's put in me, that he's put in my wife and both of us in our spirit, that you know in our season in Australia and then coming back to America, that it's still there, and there's things that we know that that God has called us.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: Hey, one day you're going to step into this, but we're not there yet and I'm not anxious to step into it because I'm trusting God's timing and so, even though it might seem like, oh, he's doing these cool things or he has, you know, whatever authority or privileges you know, I still feel like I'm in a hidden season and so I want to steward it well because, again, this is where, like I think you said earlier, like if you're faithful in the little, god will bless you with much, and so I don't want to mismanage what God's trusted me with.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: I don't want to mismanage the time, the relationships, the trust from leaders you know and the trust from the people I get to serve with.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: I want to be the best steward I can, because I'm still praying God, like you know.
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: I think there's a God-given purpose in all of it.
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: There's something that's just driving us, and sometimes we know, sometimes we don't, and so in pursuit of that I.
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: The only word that keeps resonating in my head is the word chase, because you're either chasing that or you're chasing god, yeah, and so I think I've just chosen to chase after god, even in this, this season, where I feel like I'm hidden and then whatever he wants to do, like I don't, don't even know, and I'm okay with that.
• 40:20
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: You know, so that's good.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: That should have been plenty of time, yeah.
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: No, that's good.
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: Well, pastor Willie, rock paper scissors, you got it All right.
• 40:29
  Speaker 3: No, you got it, I got mine, but you got yours.
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: Okay, I think you mentioned a really good point, pastor Elmer, of yes, you lead forward facing, but that still doesn't mean that you don't have a hidden season in the midst of being forward facing.
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: And I really resonate with that because even if we're forward facing, even if we're doing things that maybe, you know, people see a little bit more, it's more visible, that still doesn't mean that there's no hidden season.
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: You know, for me personally, that is something that I, me and Jordan really have really walked through of, you know, being in that hidden season of wrestling with dreams, wrestling with ambitions or desires.
• 41:18
  Speaker 5: God, god desires good desires, but in God's perfect timing, and if we rush things too soon, going back to the protection, going back to feeling like, okay, if I rush this, then it can be a negative and it will be harmful, detrimental, maybe catastrophic big words but really, and God knows that, and I think in the time, you know, going back to to David, you know David was shepherding his father's sheep Like you mentioned, pastor Elmer, which is a great observation of they were.
• 41:55
  Speaker 5: They weren't even his sheep, but he was shepherding them and he was learning and he was growing and he was learning all of these things that were so beneficial for the next season.
• 42:06
  Speaker 5: And so, while it may look different and maybe feel different, I think that being in that hidden season is just this utter dependence on God that you really go like, okay, god, I can't do any of this that I'm currently doing without you, and I can't do any of that without you.
• 42:24
  Speaker 5: And that's actually not the goal of, like, my desire and my dream or whatever I feel like God has placed in my heart to do.
• 42:33
  Speaker 5: That's actually not the end goal.
• 42:35
  Speaker 5: That's actually not that that could be a thing goal.
• 42:42
  Speaker 5: That's actually not that that could be a thing.
• 42:43
  Speaker 5: But that isn't the thing.
• 42:44
  Speaker 5: That's not the thing.
• 42:45
  Speaker 5: What the thing is is hearing well done, well done, my good and faithful servant, I it's knowing like I'm not going to have to answer to anybody else but to the Lord for this.
• 42:53
  Speaker 5: That is my goal, that is my aim.
• 42:56
  Speaker 5: It's not, it's not the dream, it's not the desire, it's not what we've planned and all of this stuff.
• 43:04
  Speaker 5: Well, that's great, sure, that's not the end goal.
• 43:07
  Speaker 5: And so, allowing the Lord to really form you in those hidden seasons, even if you are more in, maybe, a forward-facing ministry or doing whatever, leading people, and all of that you still have to really go through those, those hidden seasons and I don't know if I answered the question exactly, but just kind of sharing that.
• 43:29
  Speaker 5: And how do you know that you're in that?
• 43:32
  Speaker 5: I think how you know is in your quiet time with the Lord.
• 43:37
  Speaker 5: I think it's this discernment that really only the Holy Spirit can give you.
• 43:43
  Speaker 5: It's this knowing that you're in this place with the Lord, not physically but spiritually, that he's called you into and that is the only one who can really reveal that to you.
• 43:57
  Speaker 5: But you have to silence yourself.
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: You have to silence the voices in your head, you have to silence all of the hustle and bustle and what's going on and you have to surrender and you have to get quiet with the Lord and you have to be still and you have to come to a place where, okay, god, you've called me into this.
• 44:16
  Speaker 5: I'm going to be obedient in that and that's all I can do for today.
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: I love to say this sometimes when I'm counseling and caring for people last year, maybe two years ago, about last year timelines really don't matter but last year sometime, the Lord kind of just spoke to me this, saying for today, for today, and I started processing through it.
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: I started, you know, I was in this season of really wrestling with the Lord and it came down to this for today, I am choosing to follow you.
• 44:51
  Speaker 5: For today, I am going to do what you have asked me to do.
• 44:55
  Speaker 5: I'm not going to worry about tomorrow.
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: I'm not going to worry about years from now, but for today I will be faithful to you.
• 45:02
  Speaker 5: For today and some of you I think online listening you need to know that it's for today.
• 45:08
  Speaker 5: Be reminded for today.
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: Choose who you will serve for today.
• 45:13
  Speaker 5: Choose who you will be faithful to, because God honors that and it's in those secret places where he will.
• 45:19
  Speaker 5: He will really reveal that to you.
• 45:20
  Speaker 5: That's good Kind of all over the place.
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: I appreciate that.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: That's a good word there, pastor.
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: I love that.
• 45:26
  Speaker 3: For me, the way that I know that I'm entering into sort of a hidden season is I am given increased opportunities to serve as a facilitator and supporter.
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: I'm just given increased opportunities to do that, which is exactly where I'm at now in terms of my role in this team and I honestly, I love it.
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: I think part of that is because, you know, in my former life, before coming on staff here, I was part of teams professionally where I led but I supported.
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: You know it's like, hey, there's a function in regards to, like, safety management that I oversee, but I supported.
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: You know it's like, hey, there's a function in regards to, like, safety management that oversee, but I'm doing that for the sake of project management.
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: Does that make sense?
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: And then you have a project, a construction project, and you have a project manager, sort of like a senior lead.
• 46:08
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I'm not running the entire project, I oversee the safety function and training, for sure, but I'm doing that to facilitate support of the overall operation.
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: I want the employees to stay safe so they can get the work done.
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: Does that make sense?
• 46:20
  Speaker 3: And that's my role here on this team become a little more centralized and supporting campus pastors and campus teams, and so that's how I know.
• 46:30
  Speaker 3: For me it's a development season.
• 46:31
  Speaker 3: Why?
• 46:32
  Speaker 3: Because it's it's caused me to humble myself and change the way that I'm thinking.
• 46:37
  Speaker 3: I've reoriented my calendar.
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, like my work week looks different and I'm not doing that for the sake of me, I'm doing it for the sake of those that I'm supporting, and so that's for me.
• 46:50
  Speaker 3: That was the signal and so it did lead me to say, okay.
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: Number one I reached out for mentorship to say, hey, man, help me.
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: Like, how do I think?
• 46:55
  Speaker 3: And literally, one of my mentors at Church of the Hounds was like well, literally, do this.
• 46:59
  Speaker 3: I was like for me, when it comes to mentorship, my approach is hey, whatever you tell me to do, I will do it.
• 47:05
  Speaker 3: It's not like I'm not here to argue hey, you're doing this better than me, so obviously I'm going to take your advice on that.
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: So that's the way that I know.
• 47:13
  Speaker 3: Number two is what the Lord reveals to me in regards to shadows and my character and leadership and prayer.
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: That's the other way that I know that it's a hidden season, because I just feel this kind of drawing where the Lord's like, hey, I need you to come a little closer because there are some things that I want to reveal in you.
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: It's Psalm 139.
• 47:33
  Speaker 3: Lord, you have tested me, you have known me.
• 47:35
  Speaker 3: Then the bottom half, the bottom of that is search me again, know me again.
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: And the whole point is, I'm just going to be completely transparent.
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: A week or so ago, the Lord just revealed some things in me in regards to just shadows in my just who I am as a person.
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: And he just said, man, where you're at right now, this can't stay with you, it just can't.
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: And so thank God for that, thank God that it was exposed there in the secret place to just say, okay, hey, we're like this mindset, like, hey, man, this hard stuff that you have, you just can't.
• 48:05
  Speaker 3: And again, it's not just because the Lord wants me to walk in holiness when he does, but it impacts my ability to be a supporter and facilitator, like that's the whole point.
• 48:16
  Speaker 3: Does that make sense?
• 48:17
  Speaker 3: What I'm saying?
• 48:22
  Speaker 3: It's like when, when you want to lift weights, you know, I mean when I played football, you know one of my favorite exercises to do was was the squats.
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: I know some people like, man, you know, you put this heavy weight on your back and you just go like an elevator up down, up down.
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: Well, like if, if I have a, you know, if I have a sore knee, that's going to impact my ability to lift that weight Right.
• 48:38
  Speaker 3: So I can choose to ignore that, I can choose to ignore it and continue to try to exercise and try to put a burden weight on that knee but, like, to use your word, that's going to be catastrophic.
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: So if there are gaps in my leadership, if there are gaps in my character yes, it's, don't get me wrong Like the sore knee hurts for sure, but, man, what it does for those that I'm supporting.
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: And hear me, I'm not saying like, I'm like the cog, the central cog to this, but I'm a support, I'm a facilitator, which means I mean that means I want to be trusted.
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: I want people to say, hey, we can lean on Willie to help us get this done, to help support us and what the vision is of the house and what the Lord has laid on our, our leadership, to do.
• 49:19
  Speaker 3: And so that's how I know is number one.
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: I've been given opportunity to support more and the Lord's like okay, now that you're giving this role, let me show you what you have to get rid of and what you got to surrender, so that you can do it effectively.
• 49:30
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's great.
• 49:31
  Speaker 5: It reminds me of the Lord's kindness.
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 49:33
  Speaker 5: You know, scripture talks about it.
• 49:35
  Speaker 5: So, god's kindness, that leads us onto repentance.
• 49:37
  Speaker 5: And maybe it's not repenting of some.
• 49:40
  Speaker 5: You know huge sin here, but it's those pitfalls, right.
• 49:43
  Speaker 5: It's the dark side of leadership if you will, and God is so kind to take us through that season to show us, hey, you got a gap here, you got a gap here.
• 49:52
  Speaker 5: And not to make us feel terrible about ourselves, but to truly pull us back into reliance and dependence on him.
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: Absolutely To your point.
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: Like I remember years ago what set me free to your point from like the fear that the Lord would expose something.
• 50:05
  Speaker 3: The Bible says that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin and I looked at the word convict and it literally means this I want y'all to pay attention the word convict literally means to convince of a better way.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: I mean it was like light bulb.
• 50:18
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I want you to convince of a better way.
• 50:19
  Speaker 3: I mean, it was like light bulb.
• 50:21
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I want you to convince me of a better way.
• 50:23
  Speaker 3: If I am doing something the wrong way, please show me the right way to do it.
• 50:27
  Speaker 3: And that's what the Spirit is doing in this season.
• 50:29
  Speaker 3: He's like hey, willie, can I convince you of a better way to think about this?
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: Hey, can I convince you of a better way to look at this?
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: When you think about being convinced I mean, nobody here has ever begrudgingly been convinced to do something better like if, if, if you're, if you're eating like with, like with chopsticks, or you're driving, that's how you use chopsticks I know I was like I.
• 50:55
  Speaker 5: What are you doing?
• 50:55
  Speaker 5: Are you doing what the new kids do these days?
• 50:57
  Speaker 2: clock it oh, no sorry cut that out hold on.
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: What was that clock it?
• 51:07
  Speaker 5: what does that mean?
• 51:09
  Speaker 3: I have no idea I don't know is that what the young folks are saying?
• 51:13
  Speaker 5: they are.
• 51:14
  Speaker 5: I don't know if I said that within context, because I'm not one of them.
• 51:19
  Speaker 3: I thought I was caught up by saying 6-7.
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: I thought I was caught up with that and crashing out and Riz.
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: I thought I was caught up.
• 51:30
  Speaker 4: I have nothing.
• 51:31
  Speaker 4: I'm so at chopsticks nothing is happening in my brain right now nothing y'all don't use chopsticks.
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Y'all don't use thumbs.
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Y'all look like this.
• 51:46
  Speaker 3: Oh my God, we were throwing gang signs.
• 51:50
  Speaker 2: You dress the same today.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: Come on what's up.
• 51:53
  Speaker 4: I was going to mention that y'all look, but you're just like in different fonts though.
• 51:57
  Speaker 4: It's like the same outfit, different fonts.
• 52:01
  Speaker 5: It's like the East Coast font and the.
• 52:03
  Speaker 5: Southern font.
• 52:05
  Speaker 4: Mike difference.
• 52:06
  Speaker 4: I'm going to support my church.
• 52:10
  Speaker 2: It's all church merch.
• 52:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: All of us is church merch, churchmerchcom.
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: We do look like we're a couple of youth pastors.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: Hey, what's up everybody.
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: My name's Clint and I'm the youth pastor over at Creatine Church.
• 52:23
  Speaker 5: Creatine.
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited to be with you here today.
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: If you would just go ahead and scan the QR code and you're going to be on our mailing list.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: We call it the vibe check.
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: He probably doesn't remember what he was saying before this.
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: I have no clue.
• 52:38
  Speaker 2: What was I?
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: talking about.
• 52:40
  Speaker 5: I'm serious, I apologize.
• 52:43
  Speaker 3: No, that was fun.
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: They clock it.
• 52:48
  Speaker 3: Is that really what they say?
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
• 52:50
  Speaker 5: And some of those young adult gals will be really proud of me for even mentioning it on this.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: So praise God.
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: Why are y'all looking at me?
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: I have nothing.
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: You got a young kid Cause you got young kids, you got one of them young adults, and you serve with the youth.
• 53:05
  Speaker 4: Y'all don't know how bad I want to FaceTime her and say what is this?
• 53:08
  Speaker 4: I will not, though.
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: What does?
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: that mean man, clock it man.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: They told me and I forgot.
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: I don't remember, I don't even want to make it.
• 53:18
  Speaker 4: We're probably doing something that we're gonna have to cut the whole, like this whole part for it's not, it's not yeah like bad, it's not bad it's not bad, but are we sure?
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: Because none of us know what it means can we go to urban?
• 53:32
  Speaker 3: let's go to urban dictionary.
• 53:33
  Speaker 3: I've asked.
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: Oh okay, it's not bad, it's not bad okay, it's a.
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: I see it, acknowledge it like I understand, I see what you just did there okay, it sounds like, you know, like poetry, like okay, like, like, the snap the snaps kind of, but clock it, oh, I get it okay, little sass there yeah, all right, all right.
• 53:59
  Speaker 4: That's fun.
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: Okay, going back to what we were saying, yeah.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: About the hidden place.
• 54:03
  Speaker 2: I think this is the end of the episode.
• 54:05
  Speaker 3: I think we just have to end it here.
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: Do we?
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: I do, no, I think.
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: Let's just recap real quick it's not a bad place to be in, yeah, and sometimes it's a continual place that we need to revisit.
• 54:18
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 54:19
  Speaker 2: Every season looks different.
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: And I love the word obscurity and it means like you still have significance, like every season is significant, and so, you know, those of you that are listening don't I know you're probably sidetracked with our conversation and if you didn't turn us off already, just you know, continue to trust in the Lord, and just I think it stems from there, that proximity with the Lord you know that we started talking about at the beginning.
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: Just stay in this place, a constant place, you know, of faithfulness to his presence, faithfulness to your relationship with him.
• 54:53
  Speaker 2: Pastor Mike preached on it this last week.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: You know, we started the letters to the church, the book of Revelation.
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: You know, don't abandon your first love.
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: And so, just as as we were talking to the church, you know, I think that's something for each of us as individuals, like, don't abandon your first love.
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: And so, whether you're in church ministry or if you're in the secular type of work, you know, just you, we all need God on, we all need god as we're developing and growing in in the different areas of life.
• 55:23
  Speaker 3: Amen, amen.
• 55:24
  Speaker 3: If you, there was a question here we had on the list just thinking through, how can we help people enjoy?
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: Thank you, and she's like the teleprompter girl, you know, like you like the news anchor.
• 55:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, five minutes, five minutes.
• 55:39
  Speaker 3: I'm Ron Burgundy.
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: Oh no, oh no, I told you, man, we should have.
• 55:48
  Speaker 5: Listen, listen.
• 55:49
  Speaker 5: Okay one of the questions.
• 55:50
  Speaker 3: Was.
• 55:51
  Speaker 3: How can we help?
• 55:52
  Speaker 3: That's hilarious.
• 55:52
  Speaker 3: How can we help leaders to?
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: really lean into and enjoy that season of hiddenness?
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: I want to.
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: I want to say this answer with another question is it easy?
• 56:04
  Speaker 2: Is?
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: it easy.
• 56:06
  Speaker 2: It's not it it is not.
• 56:08
  Speaker 2: Sometimes it hurts yeah I think sometimes it's painful because we we get in our head, we overanalyze things, yeah, and and it's easy for us to feel counted out Like people don't really believe in me.
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: I'm out in the fields, my brothers are in the house, with my dad going back to David, and it's easy for us to feel insignificant, and so it's hard.
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of emotional turmoil, but I think that's I've been on this word, you know trenches.
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: It's part of the trenches of our soul where we have to learn to wrestle with some things Like it's not a bad thing.
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: You have to learn to wrestle with these things and then just bring them to God and find some type of you know relief in knowing that, okay, I'm human.
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know this hurts, and when you think you're invincible, then you're going to have a hard time.
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah hurts and when you think you're invincible, then you're gonna have a hard time.
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and you're gonna have a hard time going through the seasons and and growing through the seasons, because it has to hurt.
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: Things have to be removed, things have to be taken from us, things have to, we have to be corrected right.
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: Mentors have to speak into us and tell us hey, what are you doing?
• 57:15
  Speaker 2: dummy, you know yeah and and we gotta be like uh, yeah, okay, and receive it, and so it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be easy, and I think that's why that proximity part with to the Lord you know, that's so important.
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: Amen, that's good.
• 57:33
  Speaker 3: I think it also comes down to identity.
• 57:34
  Speaker 3: You're like you're, you know you're.
• 57:37
  Speaker 3: You're seasoned, you know it's obscurity doesn't change the fact you're like you're you know, you're you're seasoned, you know it's obscure.
• 57:42
  Speaker 3: It doesn't change the fact you're a child of god, right, and?
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: And.
• 57:44
  Speaker 3: So you can't get so in, to use your word, entrenched in, like what you're doing, and I and, and connect that to your worth as a, as a human being, as a, to your worth as an image bearer of god.
• 57:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you're just.
• 57:54
  Speaker 3: You're not marked by that, because that can change.
• 57:55
  Speaker 3: Yes, you know what I'm doing now and mean, I mean that, like, it may change next month, and I am man.
• 58:01
  Speaker 3: I am not only am I okay with it, I rejoice in that because I'm like okay, god, that means that you saw that I faithfully completed that assignment.
• 58:07
  Speaker 3: I did it to your satisfaction.
• 58:09
  Speaker 3: If my leadership says, hey, we'd like you to do this, man, praise the Lord, because the Lord has shown them that this assignment is over.
• 58:15
  Speaker 3: Willie, hey, you've done what I've sent you here to do.
• 58:17
  Speaker 3: Man, praise God.
• 58:18
  Speaker 3: But I don't want to be entrenched and enwrapped in that and then think, oh, man, I must be worthless now because I'm not doing this thing.
• 58:25
  Speaker 3: That's why, you know, just don't let your identity be wrapped up in that You're a child of God.
• 58:29
  Speaker 3: You're an image bearer man.
• 58:34
  Speaker 3: He delights in you.
• 58:40
  Speaker 2: He not del you, and that will get you through those hard seasons.
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: Come on, hey, and on that note you're done talking what?
• 58:45
  Speaker 4: because we gotta end that was like a heartbreak, wow he said what?
• 58:48
  Speaker 5: and on that note, you're done I'm just kidding.
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: You're cut the show, you're done, sorry says you're done sorry you're done no, sorry guys, that was good we got sidetracked on this one at the end we did, but it's been good I've enjoyed this pastor erin any any last words yeah, actually, can I share a really quick little analogy?
• 59:21
  Speaker 5: so I grew up in oregon, what used to be the cherry capital of the world I don't know if it still is, don't quote me on that, but it used to be and so there are cherry orchards everywhere, okay, all over the city there are cherry orchards, and cherries go through five stages of growth, okay, cherry trees do, and a lot of that is not seen.
• 59:46
  Speaker 5: Before you get the fruit, it's not seen, but all of it is significant, and so I wanna remind you, guys who are listening, every single season that you are going through, even though it may not be visible, even though it may be painful, even though it may not be visible, even though it may be painful, even though it may be a challenge, god sees it and it is invaluable.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 5: God sees it, it's, it's priceless, and so let him do the work in you that he is wanting to do.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 3: Amen, amen, amen.
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 3: Can I just call you and like you can just be like Aaron.
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 4: Can I just call you and, like you can just be like Erin, I'm having a tough day and you're like, listen what you're doing.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 4: I'm like this is great.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 5: Thank you, I feel like Delilah.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 5: You know that show, delilah.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 5: Their heads are going back and forth like they're watching a hockey match.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 3: I'm no wonder Lala.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 5: Oh my goodness, Praise God, Okay Well anyway, let the.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 5: Lord, do what he wants to do in you.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 5: Yield to his leadership, not your own.
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: Amen, hey, clock it.
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 4: Oh my.
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: I thought you were doing the chopsticks again.
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 3: I thought you were doing the chopsticks.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 3: I thought you were about to say that Okay those of you that are watching this isn't this how you eat with chopsticks like this.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: Don't you eat with chopsticks?
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: This is how you hold them Like this, like this.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 3: Really yeah.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 3: Okay, I'm showing.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 4: I'm about to go get chopsticks, go get them.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 4: This is how you hold them.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 4: I guess, I don't know.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: I'm bringing chopsticks with me next time, yeah, bring them with you oh man.
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: Hey, we're glad you guys were part of this podcast.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 4: Thank you for having us.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 4: We will derail you next time, just off the tracks.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: There we go.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, this was fun, this was fun, all right, hey.