WEBVTT

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Go ahead and get started. I'm recording this

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for posterity's sake, because we're going to

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talk about some things that people might forget.

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So we're going to do it so we don't forget. But

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before we do that, we're going to look at some

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scripture. You ready? All right. We're going

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to pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this

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day. Even the rain, the work, even the tiredness,

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even the troubles, we realize, Lord, that they

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are all part of the plan. And you're a master

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planner, much better than we are, for sure. And

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we're grateful that you take care of us. We confess

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to you our weakness. We don't always understand

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the plan. When we don't understand the plan,

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sometimes we go off plan. And so we ask your

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forgiveness for when we do that. Thank you for

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each person that's here. We thank you for the

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workers in the kingdom and what's being done.

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We especially pray right now, Lord, for Chris.

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He's in a terrible amount of pain. We pray that

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you'd heal us. his hip and his knee and getting

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back on his feet strength pray for those who

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are traveling pray for others who are sick pray

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for rachel but we ask you to bless rachel heal

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her heart help her make all the right choices

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and then to experience your healing firsthand

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i should bless our time together we're just going

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to look a little bit of scripture and then talk

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about some things that have happened so we don't

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forget them and we pray that eventually the news

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of what you've done here will go all over the

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world. We pray all that in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Okay, so the scripture we're going to look at,

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there's no worksheet. So the scripture we're

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going to look at is Matthew 16. So if you want

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to grab a Bible and follow along, you can. Otherwise,

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I am going to read it. So this is a pretty classic

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passage of scripture. Jesus is with the disciples.

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It is during Jesus' public ministry, and it is...

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really headed into the time of when he'll be

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crucified. And it's sort of like people are beginning

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to realize what's going on. So we're going to

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start reading in verse 8. Okay, this is Matthew

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16, verse 8. Matthew 16, verse 8. It says, So

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basically they were talking about why he was

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upset with them, why he had said they had little

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faith. And Jesus being aware of it, he said to

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them, O you of little faith, why do you reason

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among yourselves because you have bought no bread?

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Because that's what they thought they had done

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wrong. Do you not yet understand or remember

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the five loaves of the 5 ,000, how many baskets

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you took up, nor the seven loaves of the 4 ,000

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and how many large baskets you took up? How is

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it you do not understand that I did not speak

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to you concerning bread, but to be aware of the

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leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Then they

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understood that he did not tell them to beware

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of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of

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the Pharisees and the Sadducees. That's the teaching

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of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. When Jesus

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came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he

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asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that

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I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, Some say

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John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah,

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or one of the prophets. He said to them, But

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who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered

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and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the

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living God. Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed

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are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has

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not revealed this to you, but my Father who is

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in heaven. And I also say to you that you are

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Peter, and on this rock I shall build my church,

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and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against

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it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom,

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and whatever you bind on earth will be bound

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on heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will

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be loosed in heaven. Okay, so real quick before

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I get into it, there's a couple things I want

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to clarify. So when he says you are Peter, the

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word Peter meant stone, small stone, generally

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like a pebble, right? And so people do get off

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in a confusion and thinking like that God would

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build the church specifically on Peter. And that

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is where the doctrine of the Pope comes from.

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There's some stuff happens in between there.

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But the bottom line is, I think there is a guy

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who has the descendant authority all the way

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back to Peter. All right. And that's not true.

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That's not right. That's not what was intended.

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But he was Jesus was giving a poetic way to remember

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what he was saying. So the rock that he's talking

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about there is the revelation or the understanding

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of who Jesus is. Okay, so it's the gospel essentially,

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right? The truth about Jesus. So we understand

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that that is what God will build the church on.

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And then he says, the gates of Hades or hell

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shall not prevail against it. So when you see

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that phrase, one thing prevailing against another,

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you think like two wrestlers or two armies or

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two football teams, right? Although they're not

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really, they're prevailing in the sense that

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they score, but not actually in the sense that

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they're destroying the other team, right? So

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he's saying the gates of hell. will not prevail

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against us. The gates of hell would be symbolic

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of the things that would hold back the church,

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that would attack the church, the persecutions,

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evil in the world, right? Okay, so if Jesus built

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his church, if he's the one building the church,

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then the evils of the world, the evils of hell,

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demons, evil spirits, everything that's evil,

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right? None of that is going to prevail or overcome

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the church. So really what we have to just ask

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ourselves is... Two things. One, what do we have

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to do? And the answer is we just need to ensure

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that our faith rests on Christ, not on something

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else, not on like even an idea of who Jesus is

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or even like just on the Bible, for example.

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You say, well, I only believe, you know, what

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the Bible says. Well, the Bible says a lot of

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things, but it is not. Conclusive of all things.

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It doesn't necessarily include everything you

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might have to do. So the Bible doesn't talk about,

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for example, cell phones at all. What about cell

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phones? I don't know about cell phones. What

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do we do with cell phones? Well, I don't believe

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there's anything we should do with them, positive

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or negative, because it doesn't say so in the

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Bible. Well, you might have to read the Bible

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and extrapolate what it means for today's world,

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right? Ultimately, we have to build our lives

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and especially the life of the church as a people,

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as a person in the church, as the people that

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is the church, and then the church growing, reaching

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out on Jesus, on the revelation, understanding

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of who Jesus is. So when people are like going

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like, I believe in Jesus, but then they're living

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kind of like however they want to live or they're

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going after certain things that they want. They're

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not building their lives on the church. They're

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not building their lives as the church on Christ,

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right? So it's nice to be able to go to church.

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It's nice to be able to sing worship. It's nice

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to be able to give and feel good about it or

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serve and feel good about it or, you know, whatever.

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But the key is building it on the revelation

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of who Jesus Christ is. Basically, you say it

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this way. If two or three people get together

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and their relationships are founded on Jesus

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Christ and they begin to live in community like

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the church, then you could say, no matter how

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many people are in the church, Jesus is there

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with them and he's going to make it work because

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the gates of hell will not prevail against them.

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And then the second piece was we have to realize

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that when he says the gates of hell shall not

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prevail, that can take a lot of forms, right?

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So that can take a lot of forms such as... temptation,

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persecution, trials, poverty, hunger, disease,

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famine, pestilence. Pestilence is like bugs and

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rats and things that invade, disease. So all

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of those things can be part of the gates of hell.

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So for example, if death should take my body,

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death cannot prevail against me because i'll

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go straight to heaven right as soon as i'm dead

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i'll go to heaven so even death can't overcome

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me and that's why elsewhere it says it's death

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has lost its sting okay so what we set out to

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do quite some time ago now was to build a church

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to make a church that was uh founded on the lord

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jesus christ that was the whole goal i lost my

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notes oh they're right here okay All right, so

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what I've done on these pieces of paper here

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is I have written or printed, some are printed,

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some are written, examples of crazy things, miraculous

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things sometimes, or sometimes they were hard

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things that we had to overcome, whatever like

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that. that we taught, learned, experienced while

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planting or up to fairly recently even at new

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heights. Okay. So what I'm going to do, I'm going

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to randomly draw one and then I'm going to explain

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it. So maybe it could be anything. Even I don't

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know. There's about 30 of them here. All right.

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I got to look at them. Hi Natalie. Nice to see

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you. Okay. All right. So the first one that's

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on the top. All right. And again, these are,

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this is completely random. So one of the things

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that about the church, right, is that the church

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is led by what's called the priesthood of believers.

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So everybody that's here who loves the Lord,

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everybody that's here who believes in God is

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supposed to be focused on Jesus. Right. So we're

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not looking at each other. We're not looking

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at the structures of the church or where the

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money. coming from or going to, right? Who's

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tithing, who's not, who's giving, who's not,

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who's serving, who's not, all that. The priesthood

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of a believer means your eyes are on Jesus, and

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then when your eyes are on Jesus, you can lead.

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You can do various things and serve, right? So

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our church is led by our membership meeting.

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So those who are members of the church since

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the very beginning have set all of the ideas

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and directions for the church. So you're supposed

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to be praying, you're supposed to be studying,

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you're supposed to be... serving in the teams

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and knowing what is going on, right? And so they

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come to the membership meeting and they would

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say, I think we think we'd like to have a block

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party. And the church says, yeah, we want to

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have a block party. So then who throws the block

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party? The church does, right? He's not hurt

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anything. As long as he doesn't fall down with

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that in his mouth. Okay, so we keep the membership

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meeting orderly, which means we use it kind of

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like Robert's Rules of Order. We use motions

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and we take votes. The whole idea is that everybody

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there is listening to Jesus. If we get there,

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there's another one in here that's a very specific

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time in which that really became huge. So that

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was one example. You may go to another church.

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There are churches that are called elder -led

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churches. So sometimes you could visit one or

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maybe down the road, the Lord leads you to be

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in one. There are elder -led churches. And that

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means that the oldest people, people who have

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been around the longest or recognize being around

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the longest, they make all the decisions. That's

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not necessarily biblical, right? It's not a bad

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thing. Elders should be respected, but it's not

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necessarily biblical that a small, select group

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of people make all the decisions. Even the disciples

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didn't do that. When they wanted to call another

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disciple, they did it with the whole big group

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there. When they wanted to call another deacon,

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they had them put forth examples of who would

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be a good deacon, and they gave them criteria.

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When they wanted to commission missionaries,

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they all gathered around and prayed for them.

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So there's not just a few people making the decision.

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It's the whole church. So I've shuffled the pile.

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I don't want to do that one next. I'll do this

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one next. Okay. So we do, in our church, we do

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a thing called the inspirational moment. So we

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don't do it every Sunday anymore. Okay. But we

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do it once in a while. And it's basically saying,

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how has God spoken to you? Right? Are you able

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to do that and multitask? Okay. As long as everybody

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else is as well. Okay. So we all ask people to

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read their Bibles and then come tell us what

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they read. Ask people to pray, listen to what

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God says, and come tell us. And the idea is that

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it encourages everybody. So when one person speaks

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up, then somebody else hears what they're saying,

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and they say, hey, you know that. that speaks

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to me too, right? Or I can read my Bible and

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hear from God and that kind of thing, right?

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And then we also have what's called a spiritual

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discipline emphasis. And we do them basically

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at the same time in the service. And that is

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every six months, we pick a new spiritual discipline

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to look at. That was something that along the

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way, the Lord led us to start doing that. Now

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we've done it for 10 years. So for 10 years,

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which means 20 different times, we switched from

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one spiritual discipline to another. Well, it'll

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be 20 from May 22nd, okay? And then we explain

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it, we practice it, we talk about it, we do it

00:11:42.610 --> 00:11:45.710
together. Okay. I'm going to stop looking, because

00:11:45.710 --> 00:11:49.129
if I look, I'm going to pick and choose. I told

00:11:49.129 --> 00:11:50.909
myself I wasn't going to do that. Some of them

00:11:50.909 --> 00:11:52.450
I like to talk about, some of them I don't like.

00:11:52.590 --> 00:11:55.049
Okay, now this is it. All right, so along the

00:11:55.049 --> 00:11:57.929
way, we started what's called Fog and Moon Books.

00:11:58.379 --> 00:12:00.960
Okay, so Foggy Moon Books publishes books. Other

00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:03.259
people have written as well, not just me, but

00:12:03.259 --> 00:12:05.700
I do most of the writing. We promote the writing

00:12:05.700 --> 00:12:07.840
online, and now those books have been read all

00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:11.240
over the world. People can donate their writings.

00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:12.980
You can write and donate. We've had a guy do

00:12:12.980 --> 00:12:15.659
that with a couple of stories. Or people can

00:12:15.659 --> 00:12:17.879
financially support, like give money to support

00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:20.250
it. People can buy the books, and all that money

00:12:20.250 --> 00:12:23.049
then goes to help fuel the ministry. Now, this

00:12:23.049 --> 00:12:24.830
late date, we have the Prince Albert series.

00:12:25.049 --> 00:12:28.649
We have the Low Moon Rising Saga. We have One

00:12:28.649 --> 00:12:31.149
Last Soul series, Think Again series, and the

00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:33.070
most recent book was called Another Reason to

00:12:33.070 --> 00:12:36.509
Stand Up. Okay. And so those things are going

00:12:36.509 --> 00:12:39.409
all over the world, having an impact. Okay. Next.

00:12:40.149 --> 00:12:43.570
So New Heights partners with the Life Station.

00:12:43.769 --> 00:12:45.700
Okay. The Life Station is a food and clothing

00:12:45.700 --> 00:12:48.559
pantry. It gives food to the entire city when

00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:51.100
they need it. We deliver food. We didn't used

00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:54.779
to do that. We started that in 2020 during COVID,

00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:56.740
when people couldn't get out, right about the

00:12:56.740 --> 00:12:58.360
same time we started delivering. And it went

00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:00.100
crazy right away because a lot of people wouldn't

00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:01.200
come out of their house because they were scared.

00:13:01.460 --> 00:13:03.080
And the governor said, you can still go to food

00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:05.360
pantries, but a lot of people didn't want to

00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:07.120
do it. They were afraid to. So we started delivering

00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:08.820
and taking them the food. And we've been doing

00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:10.870
that since then. Now we're at the point where

00:13:10.870 --> 00:13:12.470
every month the Life Station helps between 1

00:13:12.470 --> 00:13:14.690
,500 and 2 ,000 families with emergency food.

00:13:14.850 --> 00:13:16.990
Several of our members work at the Life Station.

00:13:17.169 --> 00:13:19.889
And if you count volunteers, like almost half

00:13:19.889 --> 00:13:22.049
the adult and teenager population in the church

00:13:22.049 --> 00:13:23.889
works there at some point in time. It's a very

00:13:23.889 --> 00:13:28.289
active way of serving God. What most people don't

00:13:28.289 --> 00:13:30.769
know is that when I... I first started the Life

00:13:30.769 --> 00:13:32.870
Station. I've been there about two years. Northwest

00:13:32.870 --> 00:13:34.929
Ohio Food Bank, which is the largest food bank

00:13:34.929 --> 00:13:38.110
in this region. And they serve like nine counties.

00:13:38.669 --> 00:13:41.429
And it's downtown. And they have a $120 million

00:13:41.429 --> 00:13:43.629
budget or something. It's a lot of money. Big

00:13:43.629 --> 00:13:46.730
money budget. And they appealed to the Life Station.

00:13:46.870 --> 00:13:49.350
So we come use the Life Station. Or come use

00:13:49.350 --> 00:13:52.309
Northwest Ohio Food Bank. There we go. I'll get

00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:54.429
around. And we said, we'd love to. We want to

00:13:54.429 --> 00:13:55.870
get more free food to give away to people. That

00:13:55.870 --> 00:13:58.029
would be great. But they had a rule that you

00:13:58.029 --> 00:14:00.470
can't talk about Jesus. But more than that, not

00:14:00.470 --> 00:14:02.289
only can you not talk about Jesus or any faith

00:14:02.289 --> 00:14:05.370
at all, but you're required to train every volunteer

00:14:05.370 --> 00:14:08.549
and every worker not to talk about faith. But

00:14:08.549 --> 00:14:10.570
a lot of other religions can do that. Right.

00:14:10.629 --> 00:14:12.149
So they can say, well, we're just not going to

00:14:12.149 --> 00:14:13.769
talk about it while we're here. That's fine.

00:14:13.929 --> 00:14:16.309
But Christianity has built in the commands. Right.

00:14:16.370 --> 00:14:19.090
So go ye therefore and you should be my witnesses

00:14:19.090 --> 00:14:22.370
and and so on. And so we I am not ashamed of

00:14:22.370 --> 00:14:25.230
the gospel. Right. So we are kind of like commanded

00:14:25.230 --> 00:14:27.450
and required to share. So we can't train our

00:14:27.450 --> 00:14:30.220
workers. That makes that policy directed right

00:14:30.220 --> 00:14:32.399
at Christianity because we're the only ones that

00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.980
have it built into our faith that says that we

00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:37.200
must share. Not the only ones, but primary ones.

00:14:37.480 --> 00:14:41.379
And so we went and toured the Life Station. One

00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:42.639
of the guys that was working there at that time

00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:46.320
and myself went and toured Northwest Ohio Food

00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:48.980
Bank. And at the end, they said, OK, just sign

00:14:48.980 --> 00:14:51.429
here and you can start using our food bank. I

00:14:51.429 --> 00:14:53.029
read down the list, and sure it was. They were

00:14:53.029 --> 00:14:56.230
right there, number 17. It says you have to train

00:14:56.230 --> 00:14:58.809
all your people not to talk about faith. I said,

00:14:58.850 --> 00:15:00.330
we can't do that. I said, if you'll mark that

00:15:00.330 --> 00:15:01.970
off, we'll sign right now. We'll start using

00:15:01.970 --> 00:15:03.870
it right now. And she said, no, we can't do that.

00:15:04.610 --> 00:15:07.809
So then the director called me, the CEO. Actually,

00:15:07.870 --> 00:15:09.330
he's the CEO. He makes hundreds of thousands

00:15:09.330 --> 00:15:10.850
of dollars a year. He called me and said, we

00:15:10.850 --> 00:15:12.929
really want you to use the food bank. And I said,

00:15:12.990 --> 00:15:15.250
well. We wouldn't mind, but you'd have to take

00:15:15.250 --> 00:15:17.269
this policy. So I'm going to task one of my vice

00:15:17.269 --> 00:15:20.730
presidents with, or whatever she was, with getting

00:15:20.730 --> 00:15:24.750
rid of that rule. And she called me two weeks

00:15:24.750 --> 00:15:26.750
later. I called her several times. She was on

00:15:26.750 --> 00:15:28.210
vacation and she called me back and she said,

00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:30.070
well, we can't do that. So the bottom line was,

00:15:30.090 --> 00:15:33.879
if you will not talk about Jesus. Here's a whole

00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:35.539
bunch of resources you can have. You can get

00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:37.779
cheaper product, cheaper food, get free food

00:15:37.779 --> 00:15:39.679
to give away. You have all these resources. You

00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:41.720
just have to agree to not talk about Jesus. So

00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:43.799
we didn't do that. We refused. We would not do

00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:45.379
that. So we said, no, we're going to keep talking

00:15:45.379 --> 00:15:46.779
about Jesus. It means we're going to go out of

00:15:46.779 --> 00:15:50.399
business. Well, about a year later, I got a letter

00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.820
in the mail from the state saying that there

00:15:52.820 --> 00:15:56.620
were funds for people who were not using Northwest

00:15:56.620 --> 00:15:58.620
Ohio Food Bank. So if you're a food pantry and

00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:00.559
you're not using Northwest Ohio Food Bank, you

00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:03.070
can get funds. So I applied. Put in an application

00:16:03.070 --> 00:16:05.769
and I asked for the funds and they approved like

00:16:05.769 --> 00:16:08.210
$40 ,000 the first year, $50 ,000 the second

00:16:08.210 --> 00:16:10.710
year. So right there, I'm $90 ,000 ahead of where

00:16:10.710 --> 00:16:12.210
I would have been if I had just said, okay, we'll

00:16:12.210 --> 00:16:14.129
stop talking about Jesus. And then in the middle

00:16:14.129 --> 00:16:16.769
of that, COVID hit while that was going on. And

00:16:16.769 --> 00:16:18.250
they called me and they said, can you take more

00:16:18.250 --> 00:16:20.490
money? And so I wrote it again for like $100

00:16:20.490 --> 00:16:23.629
,000 and like $115 ,000 the next year. And they

00:16:23.629 --> 00:16:25.710
approved it. And then in the middle of that,

00:16:25.789 --> 00:16:27.649
they called again and said, can you take more

00:16:27.649 --> 00:16:29.710
money? And we said, yeah, we'll take whatever

00:16:29.710 --> 00:16:33.509
you got. So then it went to, the first year was

00:16:33.509 --> 00:16:35.929
almost over. So it went to like, I think it stayed

00:16:35.929 --> 00:16:37.549
115 or something like that. And the next year

00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:41.669
went to $250 ,000. So now I've gotten $365 ,000

00:16:41.669 --> 00:16:43.929
from the state that I would not have gotten if

00:16:43.929 --> 00:16:46.269
we had just agreed not to talk about Jesus and

00:16:46.269 --> 00:16:47.909
been able to use that other food bank. I would

00:16:47.909 --> 00:16:49.710
have got a lot of food and stuff, but we wouldn't

00:16:49.710 --> 00:16:52.769
have got all that money. During 2020, actually

00:16:52.769 --> 00:16:55.809
20. fiscal year 2021 because they switch over

00:16:55.809 --> 00:16:58.370
in june right so the second half of 2020 was

00:16:58.370 --> 00:17:00.889
fiscal year 21. they called me and they said

00:17:00.889 --> 00:17:02.830
well they still have money on the table can we

00:17:02.830 --> 00:17:05.690
take more and i said yes and then still later

00:17:05.690 --> 00:17:07.690
with only like three months left in that fiscal

00:17:07.690 --> 00:17:09.809
year they called me again and asked and the end

00:17:09.809 --> 00:17:14.190
result was in fiscal year 21 we got 750 000 from

00:17:14.190 --> 00:17:16.269
the state and we would not have gotten a penny

00:17:16.269 --> 00:17:18.710
had we agreed not to talk about jesus and so

00:17:18.710 --> 00:17:21.690
this church Any ministry that I'm a part of,

00:17:21.710 --> 00:17:23.829
I hope I can always say, we will never accept

00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:26.329
the ultimatum to not talk about Jesus. We will

00:17:26.329 --> 00:17:28.769
always talk about Jesus. And so if we ever start

00:17:28.769 --> 00:17:29.750
saying, well, we're just not going to talk about

00:17:29.750 --> 00:17:31.329
Jesus here because it's uncomfortable or something

00:17:31.329 --> 00:17:33.549
like that, you can be the one who says, no. That's

00:17:33.549 --> 00:17:35.210
not us. That's not what we do. We're going to

00:17:35.210 --> 00:17:38.890
talk about Jesus. I almost got arrested. I don't

00:17:38.890 --> 00:17:40.150
remember for sure who was with me, but it was

00:17:40.150 --> 00:17:42.170
Northwood and the Woodville Mall. We were talking

00:17:42.170 --> 00:17:43.869
with a guy with a couple of evangelists and one

00:17:43.869 --> 00:17:46.430
other person from our church was there. We were

00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:47.849
talking and he was on the verge of accepting

00:17:47.849 --> 00:17:50.210
Jesus Christ. And the security called the police

00:17:50.210 --> 00:17:52.589
on us because they had asked us to not talk about

00:17:52.589 --> 00:17:56.950
Jesus in the mall. And so we were edging toward

00:17:56.950 --> 00:17:58.930
the door but still talking about it. And they

00:17:58.930 --> 00:18:00.309
said, you got to go, you got to go. We went out

00:18:00.309 --> 00:18:02.390
by his car. He said, well, come on. He still

00:18:02.390 --> 00:18:03.829
had questions. He was going to accept Jesus.

00:18:04.089 --> 00:18:07.329
And we went out by his car. And they followed

00:18:07.329 --> 00:18:08.930
us all the way out to the car. And the police

00:18:08.930 --> 00:18:10.470
were turning in the parking lot with their lights

00:18:10.470 --> 00:18:13.109
on. And he didn't want to get in trouble with

00:18:13.109 --> 00:18:14.849
the law. So he got in his car and went across

00:18:14.849 --> 00:18:18.450
the street or whatever. And then he didn't stay.

00:18:18.589 --> 00:18:20.269
So we didn't get a chance to finally finish talking

00:18:20.269 --> 00:18:22.190
with him or get his information or anything.

00:18:22.390 --> 00:18:24.569
But the point is, they said, you can't talk about

00:18:24.569 --> 00:18:26.630
Jesus here. Might have gotten arrested for that.

00:18:26.970 --> 00:18:28.809
And then I talked to the owner of the mall about

00:18:28.809 --> 00:18:31.170
two weeks later while I was out bowling and ball

00:18:31.170 --> 00:18:32.849
things. And I told him, I said, that's the way

00:18:32.849 --> 00:18:34.190
it's going to be. Just be aware. God's going

00:18:34.190 --> 00:18:35.650
to do something. God's not going to take that

00:18:35.650 --> 00:18:37.630
lightly. And I said, and he said, I don't believe

00:18:37.630 --> 00:18:39.690
in God. It's kind of fine, whatever. About two

00:18:39.690 --> 00:18:41.589
years later, the mall closed. They went out of

00:18:41.589 --> 00:18:43.769
business. He said, we are, they said, we understand

00:18:43.769 --> 00:18:45.990
our business to be people come directly to the

00:18:45.990 --> 00:18:47.309
mall. They buy what they want to buy and they

00:18:47.309 --> 00:18:48.769
leave. They don't want to talk to anybody while

00:18:48.769 --> 00:18:50.369
they're at the mall. So if you go try to talk

00:18:50.369 --> 00:18:51.670
to them, you're going to chase them off. So we

00:18:51.670 --> 00:18:53.109
don't want to allow that. I said, that's not

00:18:53.109 --> 00:18:55.529
even true. That's not what malls were. Malls

00:18:55.529 --> 00:18:57.190
have always been about. community so you'd be

00:18:57.190 --> 00:18:59.009
a shopping center so you're talking about a shopping

00:18:59.009 --> 00:19:01.970
center not a mall malls have huge indoor spaces

00:19:01.970 --> 00:19:03.930
where all kinds of things go on that's how they

00:19:03.930 --> 00:19:06.230
stay alive and he just wouldn't listen so anyway

00:19:06.230 --> 00:19:09.000
so then it went out of business A more recent

00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:14.440
thing in 2014, we started podcasting New Heights

00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:17.720
services. So in 2020, we started putting them

00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:20.359
on Facebook, but we started podcasting before

00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:22.680
that. And then our podcasting provider went out

00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:24.880
of business and it all went away, lost 300 episodes.

00:19:25.339 --> 00:19:27.359
And I have some of those recordings that could

00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:28.900
eventually be edited and put up on there, but

00:19:28.900 --> 00:19:30.980
they haven't. Most of them have not been. And

00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:33.200
then we got a new podcast provider and it went

00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:35.140
pretty well. So we've been still doing it. And

00:19:35.140 --> 00:19:38.680
now I, so the new. podcast provider just changed

00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.220
their policy that you can't go back and see how

00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:43.099
many people have listened to your podcast back

00:19:43.099 --> 00:19:45.019
to the beginning anymore, unless you pay money.

00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.140
So it's behind a paywall, basically. If you want

00:19:47.140 --> 00:19:48.640
to know all the way back to the beginning, you've

00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:50.440
got to pay money, more money. We already actually

00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:52.000
paid out of the podcast. It's not very expensive.

00:19:52.740 --> 00:19:54.420
But they pay more money if you want to go see

00:19:54.420 --> 00:19:56.259
all of that. So I thought, well, I'm not going

00:19:56.259 --> 00:19:58.319
to do that. I'm going to pay the money. So how

00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:00.700
far back can you see? So I went back and looked

00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:05.400
at 180 days. This is from today. 180 days back.

00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:07.920
The New Heights podcast. which is just the sermon

00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:10.059
from Sunday, and then usually it'll be like one

00:20:10.059 --> 00:20:12.279
or two songs or excerpts of songs. I usually

00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:14.720
want to do whole songs because you get into copyright

00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:18.859
issues with that. In the last 180 days, the New

00:20:18.859 --> 00:20:23.140
Heights podcast was listened to in 378 cities

00:20:23.140 --> 00:20:28.740
worldwide. 378 different cities in 87 countries.

00:20:29.369 --> 00:20:31.430
Is that not nuts? So we come in here, we preach,

00:20:31.490 --> 00:20:34.190
we hear like 30 people in the room. And then

00:20:34.190 --> 00:20:36.430
we take that audio and we edit it, put it up

00:20:36.430 --> 00:20:39.369
on the podcast. And in the last 180 days, which

00:20:39.369 --> 00:20:41.730
is just less than right around six months, right?

00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:46.660
It was listened to in 378 cities in 87 different

00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:49.140
countries. That's crazy. The live station doesn't

00:20:49.140 --> 00:20:51.279
do quite as well, but it's the same way. That's

00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:53.259
just the encouragement call. So each episode

00:20:53.259 --> 00:20:55.480
is like a minute and a half, two minutes long,

00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:57.059
and it's just the encouragement call. All it

00:20:57.059 --> 00:20:59.079
is is we edit it, put it up, same as what it

00:20:59.079 --> 00:21:01.200
went out to everybody in Toledo or wherever they're

00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:02.700
at. So we've got a lot of people getting it all

00:21:02.700 --> 00:21:05.480
over the U .S. now. And it was listened to in

00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:10.059
the last 180 days in 172 cities in 57 countries.

00:21:11.549 --> 00:21:13.930
And that one has an extra interesting statistic

00:21:13.930 --> 00:21:17.509
in that because they're so short, each one's

00:21:17.509 --> 00:21:21.150
less than two minutes long, there was 152 different

00:21:21.150 --> 00:21:25.269
computers or different devices. So people listen

00:21:25.269 --> 00:21:27.730
to more than one episode. So there's 154 different

00:21:27.730 --> 00:21:31.690
devices. So that's why we're recording this right

00:21:31.690 --> 00:21:34.289
now. So then this will become a podcast, and

00:21:34.289 --> 00:21:36.109
then who knows how many times it will be heard

00:21:36.109 --> 00:21:38.970
all over the world. I'm kind of ready to do that

00:21:38.970 --> 00:21:41.829
one. All right. So here's a tough one. Along

00:21:41.829 --> 00:21:44.710
the way, we realized that New Heights, this church,

00:21:44.710 --> 00:21:47.269
is not going to be a church for everybody. And

00:21:47.269 --> 00:21:49.230
that was a hard realization. So we don't tell

00:21:49.230 --> 00:21:51.109
anybody, unless they're causing a problem or

00:21:51.109 --> 00:21:52.490
something, we don't tell anybody they can't come.

00:21:52.890 --> 00:21:54.910
Everybody's welcome. Every walk of life, every

00:21:54.910 --> 00:21:58.029
social class, every skin color, pretty much every

00:21:58.029 --> 00:22:00.170
age, we pretty much don't tell people they can't

00:22:00.170 --> 00:22:01.930
be here. Now, if they come in, they're disrupting

00:22:01.930 --> 00:22:03.950
the service, or they're not properly dressed.

00:22:05.150 --> 00:22:07.349
come and smell so bad of weed that it's making

00:22:07.349 --> 00:22:10.009
people sick or things like that, then we would

00:22:10.009 --> 00:22:12.089
probably ask them to leave and come back when

00:22:12.089 --> 00:22:17.589
they're more able to do so. But this is New Heights

00:22:17.589 --> 00:22:19.809
Fellowship Baptist Church. So the New Heights

00:22:19.809 --> 00:22:22.009
is about reaching new heights in Jesus. It's

00:22:22.009 --> 00:22:24.630
about growing. So the people that are here are

00:22:24.630 --> 00:22:27.009
supposed to be people that want to grow in their

00:22:27.009 --> 00:22:29.109
relationship with Jesus, grow in what they know

00:22:29.109 --> 00:22:32.000
about the Bible, and grow. So the theme of the

00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.279
church is I'm growing and Cary's growing. Now,

00:22:34.299 --> 00:22:36.440
the next step for me is not the same as the next

00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:38.799
step for Cary. But Cary can help me get to my

00:22:38.799 --> 00:22:40.500
next step just the same as I can help him get

00:22:40.500 --> 00:22:43.619
to his next step. We can work together. And it's

00:22:43.619 --> 00:22:46.279
not like the step that he's on is higher or lower

00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:48.440
than my step because it's in his journey. It's

00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:50.039
not even on my staircase. It's a whole different

00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:52.839
staircase or a whole different. hike or trail

00:22:52.839 --> 00:22:54.799
or road, whatever you want to say. And so the

00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:57.000
step that I'm on, it's not the same step he's

00:22:57.000 --> 00:22:59.259
on, but we can work together so that we can both

00:22:59.259 --> 00:23:02.039
get to our next steps. And that's what Reaching

00:23:02.039 --> 00:23:04.099
New Heights of Jesus is all about. But some people

00:23:04.099 --> 00:23:06.319
don't want that. There's people that want anonymity.

00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:08.279
That means that nobody knows your name. There

00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:10.160
are people that don't want to be convicted. I've

00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:12.880
had a lot of times where people come in and we're

00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:16.380
preaching and then... At the end, someone will

00:23:16.380 --> 00:23:18.359
be very polite or whatever, but then when you

00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:20.059
follow up with them, you find out, well, they

00:23:20.059 --> 00:23:22.759
had a funny feeling while you were preaching.

00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:24.519
Something wasn't, I didn't feel right. When you

00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:25.940
were preaching, I didn't feel right. I said,

00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:28.559
well, not right, like what? Like you did something

00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:30.400
wrong? Like I did something wrong? Did I say

00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:31.920
something wrong? No, what was it? He said, well,

00:23:31.960 --> 00:23:34.579
you made me feel like I should do something or

00:23:34.579 --> 00:23:37.140
I should be something. I'm like, okay, let's

00:23:37.140 --> 00:23:39.319
talk about the gospel. Let's talk about Jesus,

00:23:39.539 --> 00:23:41.740
right? So all we really call to is to be a follower

00:23:41.740 --> 00:23:45.589
of Jesus and, you know, like that. And we're

00:23:45.589 --> 00:23:47.710
talking about conviction of sin. That's present.

00:23:47.930 --> 00:23:49.650
I'm not saying it's not present in other churches.

00:23:50.170 --> 00:23:52.109
It's present wherever the gospel is preached.

00:23:52.630 --> 00:23:54.309
But that means that some people are not going

00:23:54.309 --> 00:23:56.130
to be interested in growing. Right. They want

00:23:56.130 --> 00:23:57.970
to just be able to go sit in the back, drink,

00:23:57.970 --> 00:24:00.569
drink free Mountain Dew or have coffee or have

00:24:00.569 --> 00:24:04.769
doughnuts or get prizes. Right. And and not there's

00:24:04.769 --> 00:24:06.950
a problem with any of those things, but they're

00:24:06.950 --> 00:24:08.910
not what this is all about. But this is all about

00:24:08.910 --> 00:24:12.029
Jesus, right? And so we decided to do that. And

00:24:12.029 --> 00:24:14.490
what that has resulted in, a couple of things.

00:24:14.549 --> 00:24:16.329
One, we have a lot of men. If you look around

00:24:16.329 --> 00:24:17.789
the room right now, there's more men than women

00:24:17.789 --> 00:24:20.809
by no small margin. And it's like that on Sundays

00:24:20.809 --> 00:24:24.089
too. Because men don't mind being told like it

00:24:24.089 --> 00:24:26.650
is. And I'm not saying that women are the other

00:24:26.650 --> 00:24:28.289
way. I think a lot of women don't mind being

00:24:28.289 --> 00:24:31.509
told like it is either. But men need that. I've

00:24:31.509 --> 00:24:33.630
been to churches where the message was kind of

00:24:33.630 --> 00:24:36.210
pretty gentle. And I just felt... you know kind

00:24:36.210 --> 00:24:38.289
of like it really wasn't the gospel you know

00:24:38.289 --> 00:24:42.150
and that and so it's a different thing um and

00:24:42.150 --> 00:24:44.369
so why why it's exactly like that i don't know

00:24:44.369 --> 00:24:46.329
for sure but this is what i know i know we've

00:24:46.329 --> 00:24:48.430
attracted with men uh and then we've tracked

00:24:48.430 --> 00:24:50.089
a lot of young people we have a lot of teenagers

00:24:50.089 --> 00:24:52.329
we have a lot of young people who want they're

00:24:52.329 --> 00:24:54.670
smart for their generation they're smart they

00:24:54.670 --> 00:24:56.470
understand this is the place to grow this is

00:24:56.470 --> 00:24:58.109
the place i'm going to get what i need right

00:24:58.109 --> 00:24:59.890
but also because they're young people a lot of

00:24:59.890 --> 00:25:02.009
times they make bad decisions they go in a direction

00:25:02.009 --> 00:25:03.509
that they should not go they do something they

00:25:03.509 --> 00:25:06.599
should not do But they can recover from it. That's

00:25:06.599 --> 00:25:08.559
another thing about young people. Older people,

00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:10.019
when they make a bad decision, a lot of times

00:25:10.019 --> 00:25:11.859
they get stuck in it for a long time. Like, why

00:25:11.859 --> 00:25:14.980
did I do that? If that's true, then we think,

00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:17.460
and I'm including myself in this, I think simply,

00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:19.779
I make a mistake. And man, I own it. And I'm

00:25:19.779 --> 00:25:22.099
feeling bad. I feel guilty. And then, okay, give

00:25:22.099 --> 00:25:23.779
up the guilt because God doesn't do that. Okay,

00:25:23.799 --> 00:25:25.420
now I'm feeling convicted. Okay, I repent. I

00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:27.559
turn to God. I still have to figure out why did

00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:30.000
I let that happen? Why did I do that? Whereas

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.059
young people are ready to go, that was stupid.

00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.579
I shouldn't have done that. I'm done. I'm over

00:25:34.579 --> 00:25:36.359
that now. I'm not going to do it again. I'm moving

00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:39.460
on. And that's good. But it's also about personality

00:25:39.460 --> 00:25:42.039
types. So you do, you know, because you're going

00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:43.299
to have young people that are the other way too.

00:25:43.339 --> 00:25:45.619
Young people get beat themselves up. And older

00:25:45.619 --> 00:25:48.740
people can be quick to let it go. Anyway, the

00:25:48.740 --> 00:25:51.099
bottom line is, in this church, you can't get

00:25:51.099 --> 00:25:53.680
by for long. As a member of the church, pretty

00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:56.240
soon, if you're not holding up your weight, people

00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:58.500
know it right away. If you don't show up three

00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:00.539
Sundays in a row, of course everybody knows.

00:26:00.940 --> 00:26:03.960
If you join a ministry team and you're serving

00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:06.579
and you don't show up to your meetings or you

00:26:06.579 --> 00:26:08.940
don't show up to serve, then people know. Because

00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:10.700
you're not in a meeting of 40 people. You're

00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:12.440
in a meeting of like four people. And you're

00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:14.039
one quarter of the people are missing. Everybody

00:26:14.039 --> 00:26:16.680
sees it. And so that's different. So it's not

00:26:16.680 --> 00:26:18.700
going to be a church for everybody. OK, this

00:26:18.700 --> 00:26:22.559
is another one very early on. So and Karina can

00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:25.140
attest to this one, even though she has struggles

00:26:25.140 --> 00:26:27.519
with it a little bit, too. And that is we don't

00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:29.980
go to church. We do go to church, but we don't

00:26:29.980 --> 00:26:33.380
go to church. Right. So the church is the people.

00:26:34.089 --> 00:26:36.730
So when we're not here, the church is wherever

00:26:36.730 --> 00:26:39.410
we are out there, right? So New Heights Fellowship,

00:26:39.410 --> 00:26:40.910
we tell people when they get voted in as a member,

00:26:41.049 --> 00:26:43.170
you can now call yourself New Heights Fellowship

00:26:43.170 --> 00:26:44.849
Baptist Church. You become the church and you

00:26:44.849 --> 00:26:47.130
become a member. And it's not a member like a

00:26:47.130 --> 00:26:51.680
name on a list. I probably shouldn't even say

00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:53.099
this. It might be controversial to somebody,

00:26:53.160 --> 00:26:55.140
but I'm registered to vote Republican. Not because

00:26:55.140 --> 00:26:57.140
I'm primarily Republican, but because I want

00:26:57.140 --> 00:26:59.339
to vote in the primaries, right? And if I'm going

00:26:59.339 --> 00:27:00.779
to vote in the primaries, the people I feel like

00:27:00.779 --> 00:27:02.480
I want to be able to have a say, that's the parties,

00:27:02.539 --> 00:27:03.779
that's the one I'm registered to. It is what

00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:05.980
it is. Like it or not, I'm not political. But

00:27:05.980 --> 00:27:07.480
anyway, the point is, so because I'm on that

00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:09.720
list, they consider me a member of that party.

00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:13.119
That is not how this works, right? I go to Glass

00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:15.259
City Federal Credit Union for my bank. And if

00:27:15.259 --> 00:27:16.960
you're a member of Glass City Federal Credit

00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.079
Union, every dollar you have in your bank account

00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:21.259
counts as a share in their credit union. That's

00:27:21.259 --> 00:27:23.259
a membership. This is not a member like that.

00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:26.619
This is a member like a lung, a liver, or a leg,

00:27:26.740 --> 00:27:28.759
right? And so when you join the church, you become

00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:31.680
that important. And if you suffer, the church

00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:34.240
suffers. If somebody's missing, and somebody

00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:35.740
says, well, I'll do this, yeah, I'll take care

00:27:35.740 --> 00:27:37.079
of that, and then they don't show up, then everybody

00:27:37.079 --> 00:27:40.079
else is suffering, right? So, what, two weeks

00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:43.980
ago on Monday, Josh was sick, right? I can't

00:27:43.980 --> 00:27:45.339
remember what stopped him, but anyway, he was

00:27:45.339 --> 00:27:46.720
sick, so he wasn't going to be able to do arts

00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:49.910
and crafts night. Well, that same night, Most

00:27:49.910 --> 00:27:52.390
of his team was having struggles, right? And

00:27:52.390 --> 00:27:55.109
so nobody could pick up his load. And so we didn't

00:27:55.109 --> 00:27:57.529
have arts and crafts. Josh is the one that God

00:27:57.529 --> 00:27:59.809
has called to lead that ministry in our church.

00:27:59.930 --> 00:28:02.210
He's the one. And so when the one who's called

00:28:02.210 --> 00:28:03.869
to lead is out, if there isn't somebody else

00:28:03.869 --> 00:28:06.849
to pick up, then everybody suffers, right? And

00:28:06.849 --> 00:28:08.230
that's the way it works. We have people who want

00:28:08.230 --> 00:28:10.269
to come and take part in ministries, and that's

00:28:10.269 --> 00:28:12.730
good, or they help out, and that's good. But

00:28:12.730 --> 00:28:15.109
it's when you say, I'll be there. You know you

00:28:15.109 --> 00:28:17.130
can count on me. I'm a member of the church like

00:28:17.130 --> 00:28:19.630
a lung or a liver. You're going to be able to

00:28:19.630 --> 00:28:22.509
depend on me from now until I die or until God

00:28:22.509 --> 00:28:24.470
calls me to another church, right? Yeah, I'm

00:28:24.470 --> 00:28:27.190
dependable. If you ever have to have your entire

00:28:27.190 --> 00:28:29.250
liver taken out, you'll never be the same. If

00:28:29.250 --> 00:28:31.170
you ever have to have an arm taken off, you'll

00:28:31.170 --> 00:28:34.109
never be the same. He was in his shirt. Okay.

00:28:34.410 --> 00:28:37.470
All right. So we don't go to church. The church

00:28:37.470 --> 00:28:40.519
is the people. I know this is another one that

00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:42.799
we do fall into sometimes. The pastor doesn't

00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:45.700
preach the sermon. I preach and I deliver the

00:28:45.700 --> 00:28:48.480
sermon that God has given us, but the idea is

00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:51.769
God is writing that sermon into all of us. So

00:28:51.769 --> 00:28:54.769
if I preach something and nothing I said in it

00:28:54.769 --> 00:28:56.910
resonates with you, it doesn't connect with you,

00:28:57.009 --> 00:28:59.910
that doesn't matter to me. He talked about something

00:28:59.910 --> 00:29:02.609
that was pretty hyper -focused today and it really

00:29:02.609 --> 00:29:04.890
doesn't apply to me at all. Then you have to

00:29:04.890 --> 00:29:07.650
ask yourself, well, why is that? There's one

00:29:07.650 --> 00:29:09.569
possibility because you're not in the right church.

00:29:09.789 --> 00:29:11.750
Another possibility is because God was preparing

00:29:11.750 --> 00:29:13.309
me for something that's coming down the road.

00:29:13.710 --> 00:29:16.170
And so maybe this is preparation you're learning

00:29:16.170 --> 00:29:17.789
today because next week you're going to need

00:29:17.789 --> 00:29:20.500
it. Maybe it's something that happened in your

00:29:20.500 --> 00:29:22.440
past years ago and you haven't dealt with it.

00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:24.690
So whatever. The bottom line is God is writing

00:29:24.690 --> 00:29:26.910
the sermon, not in one person, but in the whole

00:29:26.910 --> 00:29:29.630
church. And then we own everything. The church

00:29:29.630 --> 00:29:34.089
owns everything. So we have 40 -ish, 45 members.

00:29:34.490 --> 00:29:38.049
This building is appraised at $2 million. Last

00:29:38.049 --> 00:29:40.630
time it was appraised. And so every member owns

00:29:40.630 --> 00:29:43.930
1 45th of this building. That's how that works.

00:29:44.089 --> 00:29:45.650
We all own everything. All the money we have

00:29:45.650 --> 00:29:48.029
in the bank, we all own it, right? Now we all

00:29:48.029 --> 00:29:50.410
together decide what to do with it. So that's

00:29:50.410 --> 00:29:52.190
why in the church building, we all use the church

00:29:52.190 --> 00:29:53.750
building. I'll take care of the church building.

00:29:53.809 --> 00:29:55.509
You're supposed to. Sometimes we don't, but we're

00:29:55.509 --> 00:29:57.130
supposed to. I'll take care of it because it's

00:29:57.130 --> 00:29:59.670
ours. It's really God's, right? It's God's. And

00:29:59.670 --> 00:30:02.119
so... That's another one. Every person has a

00:30:02.119 --> 00:30:03.559
responsibility to grow. So if you're here and

00:30:03.559 --> 00:30:05.200
you don't want to grow, you're in the wrong place

00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:06.700
because every person has a responsibility to

00:30:06.700 --> 00:30:09.079
grow. Every person is empowered. We want to bring

00:30:09.079 --> 00:30:11.259
along people and let them serve. We have some

00:30:11.259 --> 00:30:12.720
people who are not members, for example, and

00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:14.140
they want to serve. We want to let them serve.

00:30:14.259 --> 00:30:16.140
We want to let them participate. At the same

00:30:16.140 --> 00:30:18.420
time, there is a difference. And not to be rude,

00:30:18.500 --> 00:30:19.900
but there's a difference between being a lung

00:30:19.900 --> 00:30:22.339
or a liver and being like a piece of clothing.

00:30:22.500 --> 00:30:24.960
Clothing is valuable. It's necessary, right?

00:30:25.059 --> 00:30:27.680
But your lung or liver is more than just valuable

00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:31.730
or necessary. Okay, and then... So we've worked

00:30:31.730 --> 00:30:34.130
throughout our history to kind of limit. So my

00:30:34.130 --> 00:30:35.970
household, for example, we don't say we go to

00:30:35.970 --> 00:30:38.309
church. We say we're going to the church building,

00:30:38.450 --> 00:30:40.710
right? Or we're going to worship service. Or

00:30:40.710 --> 00:30:42.309
we're going to Bible study. Or we're going to

00:30:42.309 --> 00:30:44.190
Tuesday nights. Or we're going to Faith Force.

00:30:44.490 --> 00:30:46.009
Because all of those things are true. But we

00:30:46.009 --> 00:30:48.130
don't say we're going to church. Or if we slip

00:30:48.130 --> 00:30:50.009
into it, we're constantly correcting ourselves.

00:30:50.329 --> 00:30:52.890
Because remember, this is the church. Those that

00:30:52.890 --> 00:30:55.250
are here that are committed and have become members.

00:30:55.549 --> 00:30:58.210
Okay. Funny thing happened early on. We got this

00:30:58.210 --> 00:31:00.180
building. We were still renovating it. When we

00:31:00.180 --> 00:31:01.599
first got the building, there was a ton of leaks.

00:31:01.859 --> 00:31:04.200
And there was a lot of water damage. And we took

00:31:04.200 --> 00:31:06.059
the walls out. So we had a mission team come

00:31:06.059 --> 00:31:07.980
in from Mississippi. This used to be three rooms.

00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:10.140
Some of you probably don't know that. You see

00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:12.279
this line right here behind the piano? There's

00:31:12.279 --> 00:31:13.900
one line right there. That was a wall that went

00:31:13.900 --> 00:31:15.519
all the way across the room. So that was one

00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:17.779
room. And this was a bigger room. And then there

00:31:17.779 --> 00:31:19.900
was another one of those lines right here at

00:31:19.900 --> 00:31:22.079
the edge. It's behind that wall where the bathroom

00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:24.059
was. So that was the third room. Those rooms

00:31:24.059 --> 00:31:28.099
were 14 inches thick. block. So blocks, you know

00:31:28.099 --> 00:31:30.480
what I'm saying? Like cement blocks, 14 inches

00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:32.900
thick. And they busted them up and carried them

00:31:32.900 --> 00:31:36.500
out. And back, it was two 15 -year -old girls

00:31:36.500 --> 00:31:39.079
with buckets that carried out all that weight,

00:31:39.180 --> 00:31:42.339
which turned out in the end to be 7 ,000 pounds

00:31:42.339 --> 00:31:45.119
of stone. And they busted it up, and they put

00:31:45.119 --> 00:31:46.700
it in the buckets, and they carried the buckets

00:31:46.700 --> 00:31:48.119
like this, and they took them out, and they put

00:31:48.119 --> 00:31:50.160
it down in a plastic tunnel that was trying to

00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:51.940
keep the dust down. It went from this door to

00:31:51.940 --> 00:31:53.240
the mortal perfection door, and they carried

00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:55.500
them out there to a dumpster waiting by the dock,

00:31:55.539 --> 00:31:56.700
and they dumped it in. And the reason why we

00:31:56.700 --> 00:31:58.640
know how much weight it was was because after

00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:00.559
they dumped it all in there, it went over the

00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:01.759
weight, and then they had to pay more money.

00:32:02.059 --> 00:32:04.440
And so they said, you are right. It fits, but

00:32:04.440 --> 00:32:07.200
it's way too heavy. Anyway, and so while all

00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:08.960
that was going on, we were getting ready to be

00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:12.140
in this building one night. We never did find

00:32:12.140 --> 00:32:14.259
out who. Somebody came up and went up on the

00:32:14.259 --> 00:32:16.460
roof of this building. And if you look at it,

00:32:16.500 --> 00:32:18.700
it looks kind of like a kind of castle edge around

00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:21.460
the outside. But there used to be big, huge,

00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:25.259
huge stone blocks that sat on each one of those.

00:32:25.299 --> 00:32:27.279
They were like caps. They sat on each one of

00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:29.450
those pieces. And they just sat there. And underneath

00:32:29.450 --> 00:32:31.910
of them was copper plating. So you have this

00:32:31.910 --> 00:32:34.009
big, long, eight foot long thing that weighs

00:32:34.009 --> 00:32:37.450
about probably 400, 500 pounds easy. And then

00:32:37.450 --> 00:32:40.309
under it was copper sheeting. Somebody went up

00:32:40.309 --> 00:32:42.609
there on the roof and they pushed those pieces

00:32:42.609 --> 00:32:45.519
off. onto the roof bed to get the copper out.

00:32:45.619 --> 00:32:48.039
And they stole about $900 worth of copper was

00:32:48.039 --> 00:32:50.160
what the police estimated it was worth. $900

00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:52.740
worth of copper. When they did that, they pierced

00:32:52.740 --> 00:32:55.619
the roof bed in 14 places. So there were holes

00:32:55.619 --> 00:32:58.420
in the roof. And then it rained. And water came

00:32:58.420 --> 00:33:02.539
in everywhere. And so we had insurance. So insurance

00:33:02.539 --> 00:33:04.039
came and they looked at it and said, well, this

00:33:04.039 --> 00:33:06.920
is vandalism. So then the insurance paid for

00:33:06.920 --> 00:33:08.740
us to get a new roof. Now, we had some minor

00:33:08.740 --> 00:33:10.859
leaks before. And I was up there several times

00:33:10.859 --> 00:33:12.539
trying to make the water stop leaking in, right?

00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:15.299
They put a whole new roof. And some of us, I

00:33:15.299 --> 00:33:16.920
think, Karina, you were in Vacation Bible School,

00:33:17.019 --> 00:33:20.160
right? This is way back. Like, she's tiny and

00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:24.200
snotty. Anyway, so they pierced the roof in 14

00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:26.299
places. Water's raining in. Like, right over

00:33:26.299 --> 00:33:28.359
there in that door where that exit sign is, there

00:33:28.359 --> 00:33:31.289
was a waterfall this big around. pouring into

00:33:31.289 --> 00:33:34.210
the room. And Kuzhno's disaster came in and they

00:33:34.210 --> 00:33:37.049
had heat blowers and they blew all the water

00:33:37.049 --> 00:33:38.869
out and tried to keep it from doing too much

00:33:38.869 --> 00:33:42.349
damage. Anyway, in the end, it was $880 ,000

00:33:42.349 --> 00:33:45.190
that they paid to replace the roof on this building.

00:33:45.349 --> 00:33:47.289
And the insurance paid it all. And it didn't

00:33:47.289 --> 00:33:49.230
cost us a cent. And all the leaks were gone.

00:33:49.490 --> 00:33:54.190
See? So there's a verse in the book of Genesis

00:33:54.190 --> 00:33:58.680
talking about Joseph. And he says, what you meant

00:33:58.680 --> 00:34:02.539
for my hurt, God used for mine and a lot of other

00:34:02.539 --> 00:34:04.849
people's good. And so we're able to meet in this

00:34:04.849 --> 00:34:06.970
building today without a leaking roof and probably

00:34:06.970 --> 00:34:09.409
for another 30, 40 years without any major repairs

00:34:09.409 --> 00:34:11.730
on that roof because somebody stole $900 worth

00:34:11.730 --> 00:34:14.809
of copper from the church. Also, Ariana was a

00:34:14.809 --> 00:34:16.889
baby at the time, and they put me on the news

00:34:16.889 --> 00:34:19.329
talking about it. I was holding Ariana while

00:34:19.329 --> 00:34:21.150
I was talking on the news, talking about the

00:34:21.150 --> 00:34:23.150
vandalism. And so the church got a lot of free

00:34:23.150 --> 00:34:25.849
publicity out of it too. Okay. From the very

00:34:25.849 --> 00:34:27.849
beginning, it was the Southern Baptist Convention

00:34:27.849 --> 00:34:31.579
that helped us plant this church. Okay. Here's

00:34:31.579 --> 00:34:32.960
a couple things about Southern Baptist. Number

00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:35.159
one, this is huge. You might get this because

00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:37.199
someone's going to ask you. I guarantee it. Number

00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:40.019
one, this is huge. Southern Baptist is not a

00:34:40.019 --> 00:34:42.880
denomination. People go, what denomination church

00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:45.340
do you go to? So we are a Southern Baptist church.

00:34:45.460 --> 00:34:47.659
That's true. They planted us. We follow the Baptist

00:34:47.659 --> 00:34:49.619
faith and message. We give the cooperative program.

00:34:50.019 --> 00:34:51.539
I'll talk about those things in just a second.

00:34:51.780 --> 00:34:53.579
We are Southern Baptist through and through.

00:34:54.170 --> 00:34:56.250
Being Southern Baptist is not a denomination.

00:34:56.489 --> 00:34:58.250
So I was talking with a guy today who asked me

00:34:58.250 --> 00:35:00.210
what denomination we are, and I said, well, we're

00:35:00.210 --> 00:35:02.989
Southern Baptist, but actually being Southern

00:35:02.989 --> 00:35:05.230
Baptist is not a denomination. It's a missions

00:35:05.230 --> 00:35:08.170
organization. It's a convention. We all participate.

00:35:08.349 --> 00:35:10.849
Yes, sir? Okay, I'll explain that. One second.

00:35:11.070 --> 00:35:15.550
Okay? And so it's not like being Lutheran or

00:35:15.550 --> 00:35:18.409
Methodist or Presbyterian because we choose to

00:35:18.409 --> 00:35:20.809
be involved. There's nobody above us. So in our

00:35:20.809 --> 00:35:23.670
church, guess who's the boss? Easy. Jesus, right?

00:35:24.150 --> 00:35:25.789
That's what matters to Jesus. And then after

00:35:25.789 --> 00:35:28.070
Jesus, it's the opposite of no one. It's everyone.

00:35:28.550 --> 00:35:30.530
Like I talked about with the membership meetings,

00:35:30.630 --> 00:35:32.869
the members come together and make the decisions.

00:35:33.170 --> 00:35:35.550
So it's kind of like no one, because no one of

00:35:35.550 --> 00:35:38.389
us is in charge, but we together decide. So we

00:35:38.389 --> 00:35:40.329
have a team that gets together to write the budget.

00:35:40.429 --> 00:35:42.110
They bring the budget to the membership meeting.

00:35:42.210 --> 00:35:44.090
The members vote. If the members don't like the

00:35:44.090 --> 00:35:46.670
budget, they say, write a new budget. Say, you

00:35:46.670 --> 00:35:48.250
want to get rid of me as the pastor. You want

00:35:48.250 --> 00:35:50.610
to hire a new pastor. The members say, we think

00:35:50.610 --> 00:35:52.349
we should get rid of Pastor Dan. And as long

00:35:52.349 --> 00:35:54.619
as you get enough people to vote. I'm out. Then

00:35:54.619 --> 00:35:56.400
you're going to call a new pastor. Well, let's

00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:57.820
make a team. Let's get a team together and call

00:35:57.820 --> 00:36:00.900
a new pastor. Or say I got killed in a car accident

00:36:00.900 --> 00:36:02.340
or something, right? We're going to get a new

00:36:02.340 --> 00:36:03.780
pastor. Who's it going to be? Bring a team of

00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:05.440
people together, review candidates, bring it

00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:07.099
to the members. The members are going to decide

00:36:07.099 --> 00:36:10.099
who that's going to be, right? So in denominational

00:36:10.099 --> 00:36:12.019
churches, it's not like that. Denominational

00:36:12.019 --> 00:36:13.960
churches have a pattern of leadership. So for

00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:16.179
example, in Catholic churches, Presbyterian churches,

00:36:16.280 --> 00:36:18.079
and most Lutheran churches, you don't decide

00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:20.119
who your pastor is. They make a circuit out of

00:36:20.119 --> 00:36:21.860
it. So they're there for whatever length of period

00:36:21.860 --> 00:36:24.300
of time. And then the leadership, that's outside

00:36:24.300 --> 00:36:25.920
the church says, okay, they've been there long

00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:27.360
enough. We're going to move them to Arkansas

00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:28.980
and we're going to bring this guy from California

00:36:28.980 --> 00:36:30.820
and he's going to be your new pastor. Even though

00:36:30.820 --> 00:36:32.800
you like the guy you had, you liked his teaching,

00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:34.420
you liked his preaching, everything worked for

00:36:34.420 --> 00:36:36.039
you, it was working great, everything's, no,

00:36:36.139 --> 00:36:37.780
you don't have to have him anymore. There's somebody

00:36:37.780 --> 00:36:39.320
outside you telling you what you have to do.

00:36:39.380 --> 00:36:40.659
In the Southern Baptist Convention, it's not

00:36:40.659 --> 00:36:42.480
like that. So anyway, so I told him, I said,

00:36:42.500 --> 00:36:44.880
we're non -denominational, but we're Southern

00:36:44.880 --> 00:36:48.110
Baptists. All right, so now to answer your question

00:36:48.110 --> 00:36:51.449
about denominations. So denominations, to denominate

00:36:51.449 --> 00:36:53.829
something, is basically like to separate it down

00:36:53.829 --> 00:36:56.349
into parts. So Christianity, those who believe

00:36:56.349 --> 00:36:59.269
in Jesus, are separated. Maybe they shouldn't

00:36:59.269 --> 00:37:01.170
be. Like maybe we shouldn't be separated at all.

00:37:01.230 --> 00:37:03.369
Jesus, before he was crucified, he prayed, let

00:37:03.369 --> 00:37:05.590
them be unified. So maybe there shouldn't be

00:37:05.590 --> 00:37:08.369
any separations. But we're largely separated

00:37:08.369 --> 00:37:11.789
by two things. So one of them is doctrine. So,

00:37:11.809 --> 00:37:16.869
for example, we believe. that people are saved

00:37:16.869 --> 00:37:20.150
only by faith in Jesus, by God's grace and faith

00:37:20.150 --> 00:37:22.929
in Jesus. They're baptized by immersion because

00:37:22.929 --> 00:37:25.050
that's a picture, that's what Jesus did, and

00:37:25.050 --> 00:37:26.889
it's a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection

00:37:26.889 --> 00:37:29.670
of Christ. So that's why we do that. We believe

00:37:29.670 --> 00:37:32.210
in the Lord's Supper and taking the Lord's Supper

00:37:32.210 --> 00:37:36.110
as a body. Some church denominations might say,

00:37:36.170 --> 00:37:39.190
well, it's okay to be sprinkled. Splash the water

00:37:39.190 --> 00:37:42.119
on you. Don't you. The problem with that is the

00:37:42.119 --> 00:37:45.300
word baptism comes from the word baptismo in

00:37:45.300 --> 00:37:47.340
the Greek, which means to be dumped or to be

00:37:47.340 --> 00:37:51.010
immersed. That's a problem. So we try to have

00:37:51.010 --> 00:37:53.730
the best biblical understanding that we can and

00:37:53.730 --> 00:37:56.510
go by that. And that separates us from certain

00:37:56.510 --> 00:37:58.849
denominations who have certain rules. One of

00:37:58.849 --> 00:38:00.630
the examples of Presbyterians, for example, they

00:38:00.630 --> 00:38:03.269
have higher level leadership. They have somebody

00:38:03.269 --> 00:38:05.110
telling the Pope, for example, is the highest

00:38:05.110 --> 00:38:07.110
person in the Catholic Church. So he's telling

00:38:07.110 --> 00:38:09.150
everybody below him. He tells all the bishops

00:38:09.150 --> 00:38:11.789
what they have to do. And then all the bishops

00:38:11.789 --> 00:38:13.409
tell all the priests what they have to do. And

00:38:13.409 --> 00:38:15.239
all the priests tell all the... under priest

00:38:15.239 --> 00:38:16.920
what they have to do and then the under priest

00:38:16.920 --> 00:38:18.699
and the priests all tell the people what they

00:38:18.699 --> 00:38:20.840
have to do so it's all handed down from the tops

00:38:20.840 --> 00:38:24.400
sort of kind of sort of isn't too but um that's

00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:26.500
what they say so we don't do that we don't have

00:38:26.500 --> 00:38:29.199
those other rules we follow the bible so if you

00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:31.440
if you read your bible and you think you see

00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:33.239
something we have not seen and you come in here

00:38:33.239 --> 00:38:35.400
you say i see this and we talk about it yeah

00:38:35.400 --> 00:38:38.400
that's right that is there and we realize that

00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:42.050
we'll all adjust according to the what we found

00:38:42.050 --> 00:38:45.050
in the bible but we will confirm it right so

00:38:45.050 --> 00:38:47.269
you can't just go oh i think oh the bible says

00:38:47.269 --> 00:38:49.110
you don't have to tithe anymore so i'm just not

00:38:49.110 --> 00:38:50.730
going to do that because this says you don't

00:38:50.730 --> 00:38:52.409
have to do that anymore and you don't talk to

00:38:52.409 --> 00:38:54.110
anybody about it you just don't do it anymore

00:38:54.110 --> 00:38:56.599
right you can't do that Because the church teaches

00:38:56.599 --> 00:38:58.780
what the Bible actually says, which is that the

00:38:58.780 --> 00:39:01.260
tithe continues. In fact, so just touch on that

00:39:01.260 --> 00:39:03.019
for a second. The Old Testament standard was

00:39:03.019 --> 00:39:05.840
a tithe, but it wasn't a tithe, right? They actually

00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:09.699
did two and a third tithes. So they get 23 and

00:39:09.699 --> 00:39:12.800
a third percent of their income every year. Yeah,

00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:17.119
so they didn't get 10%. They gave two 10 %s,

00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:19.280
and then they give another 10 % every third year.

00:39:20.010 --> 00:39:22.389
So that's 23 and a third percent, right, in the

00:39:22.389 --> 00:39:24.869
Old Testament. In the New Testament, Jesus said

00:39:24.869 --> 00:39:27.489
that essentially the standard now is sacrificial

00:39:27.489 --> 00:39:29.530
giving. So you're supposed to give what hurts,

00:39:29.670 --> 00:39:32.710
give what's hard, right? But then when they questioned,

00:39:32.949 --> 00:39:34.829
he said to the Pharisees, you know, you tithe

00:39:34.829 --> 00:39:36.730
on the mint and the cumin, but then you don't

00:39:36.730 --> 00:39:38.610
do the greater works of compassion and mercy

00:39:38.610 --> 00:39:40.710
and kindness and whatever the actual words there

00:39:40.710 --> 00:39:42.650
are. And he said, the one you should have done

00:39:42.650 --> 00:39:44.849
and still done the other. So he said, you should

00:39:44.849 --> 00:39:47.570
still tithe. But the truth is we should be more

00:39:47.570 --> 00:39:50.150
than tiny because that might not be sacrificial

00:39:50.150 --> 00:39:53.070
giving for some of us. For some of us, 10 % is

00:39:53.070 --> 00:39:55.449
a real sacrifice. to really be able to get 10

00:39:55.449 --> 00:39:57.070
% of your income, that's a real sacrifice. But

00:39:57.070 --> 00:40:00.070
for some of it, it's not. And that depends a

00:40:00.070 --> 00:40:01.610
lot about where you're on your journey and how

00:40:01.610 --> 00:40:03.949
God has set things up. So to answer your question

00:40:03.949 --> 00:40:05.909
is, Mike, are you ready? Answer your question.

00:40:06.110 --> 00:40:08.469
Denomination means they have a certain set of

00:40:08.469 --> 00:40:11.170
beliefs or doctrines that they follow that they

00:40:11.170 --> 00:40:13.389
think distinguishes them from everybody else,

00:40:13.550 --> 00:40:17.510
and they've named it. So they say, this is Presbyterian

00:40:17.510 --> 00:40:19.909
doctrine. We go this way. We're Presbyterians.

00:40:19.949 --> 00:40:23.289
This is Catholic doctrine. We go this way. We're

00:40:23.289 --> 00:40:25.210
Catholics. we're Catholics. This is Lutheran

00:40:25.210 --> 00:40:26.809
doctrine. We go this way, we're Lutheran. So

00:40:26.809 --> 00:40:29.050
we go, we believe in Southern Baptist doctrine

00:40:29.050 --> 00:40:32.809
in that sense. But even in that sense, in a given

00:40:32.809 --> 00:40:35.150
church, it might not be followed the exact same

00:40:35.150 --> 00:40:37.289
way. That make sense? So for example, in our

00:40:37.289 --> 00:40:40.949
church, we are fully members -led. I have a friend

00:40:40.949 --> 00:40:43.050
of mine who's a pastor of a Southern Baptist

00:40:43.050 --> 00:40:45.590
church locally. And they only have a business

00:40:45.590 --> 00:40:47.670
meeting twice a year. And they don't make any

00:40:47.670 --> 00:40:49.590
significant decisions in that meeting. So the

00:40:49.590 --> 00:40:52.030
members do not have any control over the direction

00:40:52.030 --> 00:40:53.949
of the church because they don't get to vote.

00:40:54.110 --> 00:40:55.949
They just, in the meeting, which they have twice

00:40:55.949 --> 00:40:57.570
a year, they tell them what's going to happen.

00:40:57.670 --> 00:40:59.869
The church that we went up to up in Holt, Michigan,

00:41:00.110 --> 00:41:02.789
when we were in, we lived in Mason, it was in

00:41:02.789 --> 00:41:06.150
Holt, was called Pastor Led. And so he made it.

00:41:06.429 --> 00:41:08.190
All the decisions. He made all the decisions

00:41:08.190 --> 00:41:10.590
about all the money. And the only committee that

00:41:10.590 --> 00:41:12.469
they had in the church was the personnel committee.

00:41:12.690 --> 00:41:14.889
And that was just formed whenever they needed

00:41:14.889 --> 00:41:16.989
to hire staff. That's it. Otherwise, he made

00:41:16.989 --> 00:41:19.070
every decision in the church. And he was a good

00:41:19.070 --> 00:41:21.389
guy. He was very godly. And he made good decisions.

00:41:21.429 --> 00:41:24.250
Don't get me wrong. But that's not biblical because...

00:41:24.920 --> 00:41:26.500
then what happens is something happens to him.

00:41:26.639 --> 00:41:29.380
Or if he turns in a direction that's ungodly.

00:41:29.420 --> 00:41:32.400
There was a church in Georgia at one point in

00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:37.739
time, this is 25 years ago, 19 years ago. We

00:41:37.739 --> 00:41:40.320
thought God might be calling us to Atlanta, Georgia,

00:41:40.500 --> 00:41:44.880
Sherry and I and the kids. And I had a job offer.

00:41:45.699 --> 00:41:47.980
And Sherry had a job offer. And so when we went

00:41:47.980 --> 00:41:50.139
down there, she was visiting the properties that

00:41:50.139 --> 00:41:51.900
she would have been governing. She was going

00:41:51.900 --> 00:41:54.110
to be a regional manager. And one of the properties,

00:41:54.269 --> 00:41:56.869
this lady, she got witness into her, which I

00:41:56.869 --> 00:41:58.349
encourage her to witness every opportunity that

00:41:58.349 --> 00:42:01.650
she can get while she's at work. And I think

00:42:01.650 --> 00:42:03.710
God encourages her to do that, too. And this

00:42:03.710 --> 00:42:05.949
lady was just crushed. She was having a hard

00:42:05.949 --> 00:42:07.869
time working because she was in a really bad

00:42:07.869 --> 00:42:10.230
emotional state. And she was like, what is going

00:42:10.230 --> 00:42:13.090
on? What had happened was they had joined a church.

00:42:13.170 --> 00:42:14.969
And it was a big, beautiful, wonderful church.

00:42:14.989 --> 00:42:16.590
They loved being there and everything like that.

00:42:16.750 --> 00:42:20.719
And it was a pastor -led church. The pastor made

00:42:20.719 --> 00:42:22.380
all the decisions, had all the control of all

00:42:22.380 --> 00:42:25.699
the money, hired all the staff, everything. And

00:42:25.699 --> 00:42:28.539
it had grown a lot. It had thousands of people

00:42:28.539 --> 00:42:31.260
attending this church over the whole week. And

00:42:31.260 --> 00:42:34.480
he got up one Sunday morning after preaching

00:42:34.480 --> 00:42:40.360
for 20 years about the sexual... appropriateness

00:42:40.360 --> 00:42:44.940
of heterosexuality only, right? So he didn't,

00:42:44.940 --> 00:42:47.500
that homosexuality is not biblical. And after

00:42:47.500 --> 00:42:49.480
20 years of doing that, he got up in one morning,

00:42:49.539 --> 00:42:51.719
informed the congregation that he was becoming

00:42:51.719 --> 00:42:54.119
a homosexual and that he was involved in an active

00:42:54.119 --> 00:42:56.460
homosexual relationship and that he was not going

00:42:56.460 --> 00:42:58.639
to resign. And overnight, the church went from

00:42:58.639 --> 00:43:01.619
like 2 ,000 people to like 600 people. The 1

00:43:01.619 --> 00:43:03.880
,400 people didn't come the next Sunday. And

00:43:03.880 --> 00:43:05.739
then, so there were 600 people. That made like

00:43:05.739 --> 00:43:08.340
all the Sunday, they come in on Sunday and all

00:43:08.340 --> 00:43:10.019
of a sudden, teachers didn't show up you know

00:43:10.019 --> 00:43:11.780
all the mature christians in the church or whatever

00:43:11.780 --> 00:43:13.559
there's tons and tons of people not there and

00:43:13.559 --> 00:43:15.079
they knew they had no avenue there's nothing

00:43:15.079 --> 00:43:17.320
that they could do about it and so then they

00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:20.260
they couldn't change it so then the next week

00:43:20.260 --> 00:43:22.679
it was down to 400 and then she had just gone

00:43:22.679 --> 00:43:24.599
the chair was there on a monday she had just

00:43:24.599 --> 00:43:25.980
gone the day before on sunday there were 300

00:43:25.980 --> 00:43:27.699
people it's like i don't know what we're gonna

00:43:27.699 --> 00:43:29.280
do we can't even we're not even gonna afford

00:43:29.280 --> 00:43:30.900
to pay for our building or anything and he was

00:43:30.900 --> 00:43:33.550
he was just refusing to resign And so if the

00:43:33.550 --> 00:43:36.349
pastor takes a doctrinal position that is wrong,

00:43:36.489 --> 00:43:38.110
there's nothing anyone can do about it unless

00:43:38.110 --> 00:43:40.050
the body has that vote, unless the body has that

00:43:40.050 --> 00:43:43.630
control. So we've been represented in the Southern

00:43:43.630 --> 00:43:45.309
Baptist Convention since the very beginning.

00:43:45.550 --> 00:43:48.110
We had a vote from the beginning. I served as

00:43:48.110 --> 00:43:50.429
a moderator for four years and a vice moderator

00:43:50.429 --> 00:43:53.670
for two years or vice versa. RJ served as a moderator

00:43:53.670 --> 00:43:56.130
for two years in the association. We've always

00:43:56.130 --> 00:43:58.090
had messengers. We've always had responsible

00:43:58.090 --> 00:43:59.969
people who go to those meetings and then come

00:43:59.969 --> 00:44:03.489
back and they know what's going on. And all that

00:44:03.489 --> 00:44:06.530
kind of thing. All right. I think we're about

00:44:06.530 --> 00:44:12.269
done. Okay. This is the most important. Okay.

00:44:12.369 --> 00:44:14.769
This will be the last one. So team structure

00:44:14.769 --> 00:44:16.869
is the other one. So in our church, Natalie,

00:44:16.989 --> 00:44:20.150
do you know what the word team stands for? It's

00:44:20.150 --> 00:44:23.469
really good. So for us, it's an acronym. It's

00:44:23.469 --> 00:44:27.369
Together Empowering a Ministry. Okay? Together

00:44:27.369 --> 00:44:29.170
Empowering a Ministry. That's what TEAM stands

00:44:29.170 --> 00:44:32.070
for. We don't always often say it, but you'll

00:44:32.070 --> 00:44:33.630
notice that on most of the paperwork, if you

00:44:33.630 --> 00:44:36.670
look on here, the letters are in all caps. T

00:44:36.670 --> 00:44:38.789
-E -A -M is in all caps. It's because each letter

00:44:38.789 --> 00:44:41.050
represents a word. Together Empowering a Ministry.

00:44:41.349 --> 00:44:45.289
So we don't do committees. The other thing about

00:44:45.289 --> 00:44:47.010
committees is if you have a committee, then in

00:44:47.010 --> 00:44:48.610
Robertsville's order, when they bring a motion,

00:44:48.849 --> 00:44:50.469
then they don't have to have a second. It comes

00:44:50.469 --> 00:44:52.190
to the floor automatically, and you have to decide

00:44:52.190 --> 00:44:55.630
on it or table it, one or the other. And so we

00:44:55.630 --> 00:44:57.949
don't do committees, which means if one of our

00:44:57.949 --> 00:44:59.730
teams makes a decision and somebody comes in

00:44:59.730 --> 00:45:01.150
and is going to make a motion, then they have

00:45:01.150 --> 00:45:03.230
to bring a second person. That way, if Josh is

00:45:03.230 --> 00:45:05.010
the only person in the arts and crafts team,

00:45:05.110 --> 00:45:06.650
then he doesn't have the power to automatically

00:45:06.650 --> 00:45:08.750
get any motion that he wants. Everybody has to

00:45:08.750 --> 00:45:11.119
listen, right? But the other thing about teams

00:45:11.119 --> 00:45:13.099
then is we have people who are called to lead

00:45:13.099 --> 00:45:15.440
or serve in those teams. I think God wants me

00:45:15.440 --> 00:45:17.780
to serve this way. And then they marshal the

00:45:17.780 --> 00:45:20.159
other people in the church who want to serve

00:45:20.159 --> 00:45:23.360
in that same way. Right. So, for example, Josh,

00:45:23.460 --> 00:45:26.679
our team leader, he's got 10 or 11 members of

00:45:26.679 --> 00:45:30.579
his team now. And he has to organize them, serve

00:45:30.579 --> 00:45:33.679
them, keep them kind of going in the right direction.

00:45:34.199 --> 00:45:36.840
He has to unlock the door, lock the door, you

00:45:36.840 --> 00:45:38.659
know, all those kinds of things for that team.

00:45:39.210 --> 00:45:41.869
And then Brother Tim has, for the longest time,

00:45:41.929 --> 00:45:43.650
Brother Tim was the team leader for the largest

00:45:43.650 --> 00:45:45.210
team in the church, which is the music team.

00:45:45.389 --> 00:45:47.170
And you've got a bass player, you've got a drummer,

00:45:47.329 --> 00:45:50.469
and you've got three vocalists who can also play

00:45:50.469 --> 00:45:53.250
instruments. And so he's been anywhere from like

00:45:53.250 --> 00:45:56.250
seven to ten team members most of the time. And

00:45:56.250 --> 00:45:58.510
some of those people, he brought them from not

00:45:58.510 --> 00:46:00.469
knowing how to do music at all up to being able

00:46:00.469 --> 00:46:02.710
to help them, assist them to be able to do music.

00:46:02.849 --> 00:46:06.369
And so he was called to do that. And their team

00:46:06.369 --> 00:46:08.550
does that together. They're together empowering

00:46:08.550 --> 00:46:11.050
a ministry. The crossover line is when a team

00:46:11.050 --> 00:46:13.769
wants to do something and another team is going

00:46:13.769 --> 00:46:17.369
to be affected. So, for example, let's say we're

00:46:17.369 --> 00:46:19.690
going to have a concert on a Tuesday night. So

00:46:19.690 --> 00:46:21.449
we're going to cancel Faith Force and we're all

00:46:21.449 --> 00:46:24.210
going to get together and do music. Well, Aaron

00:46:24.210 --> 00:46:26.849
is the God's Kids team leader and Sherry is the

00:46:26.849 --> 00:46:28.510
Little Wonders team leader. You would have to

00:46:28.510 --> 00:46:30.889
get clearance from them. in order to be able

00:46:30.889 --> 00:46:33.110
to cancel their club, right? You can't just go

00:46:33.110 --> 00:46:34.849
canceling it. Same thing if somebody wants to

00:46:34.849 --> 00:46:36.590
do something on Monday night between 6 and 8.

00:46:36.670 --> 00:46:38.769
If it needs to be in the multi -purpose room,

00:46:38.809 --> 00:46:40.650
we use the multi -purpose room now for arts and

00:46:40.650 --> 00:46:42.510
crafts because we don't fit anywhere else really,

00:46:42.650 --> 00:46:45.949
right? I mean, not comfortably. We might have

00:46:45.949 --> 00:46:48.230
just fit. It would be tight. But some nights

00:46:48.230 --> 00:46:49.750
we would not have fit. And it's probably going

00:46:49.750 --> 00:46:51.349
to be like that again. So we're in the big room.

00:46:51.679 --> 00:46:53.260
So if somebody wants to use the big room between

00:46:53.260 --> 00:46:55.280
6 and 8 p .m. on a Monday night, they've got

00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:57.039
to get permission from Josh because he has an

00:46:57.039 --> 00:46:59.239
ongoing thing, and he would have to move it to

00:46:59.239 --> 00:47:01.440
somewhere else. So that's one of the values of

00:47:01.440 --> 00:47:03.599
teams. If you want to adjust something in a team,

00:47:03.619 --> 00:47:05.500
you know who to go to, who to talk to. Or you've

00:47:05.500 --> 00:47:06.659
got a great idea. Oh, I think it would be great

00:47:06.659 --> 00:47:08.599
to do this with the kids. So you go to Aaron.

00:47:08.940 --> 00:47:10.219
Or I think it'd be great to do this with the

00:47:10.219 --> 00:47:12.539
toddlers. So you go to Sherry. You have somebody

00:47:12.539 --> 00:47:15.179
in the church that can do that. In our church,

00:47:15.340 --> 00:47:18.039
a team leader does not have to be an adult. There's

00:47:18.039 --> 00:47:19.579
nothing that says a team leader has to be 18

00:47:19.579 --> 00:47:22.340
years old or older. So we've had a couple of

00:47:22.340 --> 00:47:25.519
times where kids, older kids, usually in the

00:47:25.519 --> 00:47:28.780
15, 16 range, were close that they were feeling

00:47:28.780 --> 00:47:30.380
called to a ministry. And they were close to

00:47:30.380 --> 00:47:32.119
taking over and leading a ministry. It's never

00:47:32.119 --> 00:47:34.659
actually happened. But a couple of times it's

00:47:34.659 --> 00:47:36.199
been close. It could happen. Which means that

00:47:36.199 --> 00:47:38.360
you could have a 16 -year -old. leading a group

00:47:38.360 --> 00:47:40.199
of four -year -olds to do something. That's entirely

00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:43.940
possible, right? And the church is not against

00:47:43.940 --> 00:47:46.599
that. We don't age discriminate. If you went

00:47:46.599 --> 00:47:48.320
in a lot of churches, there's no way. There's

00:47:48.320 --> 00:47:50.300
no way that anybody under the age of 18 would

00:47:50.300 --> 00:47:52.460
even get a vote or would be allowed to serve

00:47:52.460 --> 00:47:55.460
or be allowed to decide how money is spent, right?

00:47:55.539 --> 00:47:57.639
It's mostly all kind of like sit over there and

00:47:57.639 --> 00:48:00.780
be quiet, behave yourself, come to this fun event,

00:48:01.000 --> 00:48:03.380
invite your friends. I mean, that's pretty much

00:48:03.380 --> 00:48:07.340
what goes on. The last piece of that then is

00:48:07.340 --> 00:48:09.780
that every team leader who has an active ministry

00:48:09.780 --> 00:48:12.159
that's actually doing things has a discretionary

00:48:12.159 --> 00:48:14.179
fund, a budget, an amount of money that they

00:48:14.179 --> 00:48:17.090
can use every month to fuel their ministry. It

00:48:17.090 --> 00:48:19.389
isn't much, usually, but it's something. It's

00:48:19.389 --> 00:48:21.650
something that will keep them all rolling. And

00:48:21.650 --> 00:48:23.909
if they don't spend it, then at a certain time

00:48:23.909 --> 00:48:26.349
it caps, and then the rest of that extra money

00:48:26.349 --> 00:48:28.469
that would have gone into their budget goes back

00:48:28.469 --> 00:48:30.110
into the general fund and the church's savings.

00:48:30.349 --> 00:48:32.050
The reason that is is because somebody steps

00:48:32.050 --> 00:48:34.730
out of that role, that money doesn't stop accumulating.

00:48:34.869 --> 00:48:36.650
So, for example, for a while we didn't have a

00:48:36.650 --> 00:48:39.349
preschool nursery team leader. um and so then

00:48:39.349 --> 00:48:41.570
the pastor steps in and fills that role temporarily

00:48:41.570 --> 00:48:43.710
or a deacon fills that role until they can find

00:48:43.710 --> 00:48:46.110
somebody new um and if it was arts and crafts

00:48:46.110 --> 00:48:48.289
for example if nobody stepped up if something

00:48:48.289 --> 00:48:49.989
happened to josh nobody stepped up and took his

00:48:49.989 --> 00:48:52.949
place that team after a period of time nobody's

00:48:52.949 --> 00:48:54.909
taken a place would just cease to exist because

00:48:54.909 --> 00:48:57.739
he has a calling by god to do that And if nobody

00:48:57.739 --> 00:48:59.699
else has that calling by God, then that ministry

00:48:59.699 --> 00:49:01.260
is not supposed to be here. And it's the same

00:49:01.260 --> 00:49:03.099
way with almost everything. Now, some of the

00:49:03.099 --> 00:49:05.219
age -based ministries, they never really cease

00:49:05.219 --> 00:49:08.320
to exist. They just sort of combine or fall under

00:49:08.320 --> 00:49:09.500
something else. You're always going to have,

00:49:09.559 --> 00:49:11.400
hopefully, always going to have young kids. And

00:49:11.400 --> 00:49:13.699
so when we didn't have the preschool and nursery

00:49:13.699 --> 00:49:15.360
team leader, I let it go out, and then it just

00:49:15.360 --> 00:49:18.159
kind of got lumped in under all the kids. And

00:49:18.159 --> 00:49:20.420
the youth is the same way. You're always going

00:49:20.420 --> 00:49:21.559
to have teenagers. You're going to have something

00:49:21.559 --> 00:49:23.360
going on. So if you don't have a youth team leader,

00:49:23.480 --> 00:49:25.599
then we're going to have youth activities, but

00:49:25.599 --> 00:49:27.960
we don't have somebody. who's really leading

00:49:27.960 --> 00:49:31.260
it and but like to talk about a lot of it for

00:49:31.260 --> 00:49:33.699
example we do not have we know we have two very

00:49:33.699 --> 00:49:35.760
avid workers cleaning the building we do not

00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:37.880
have a cleaning and maintenance team leader i'm

00:49:37.880 --> 00:49:40.099
filling that role but that's not me we don't

00:49:40.099 --> 00:49:42.719
have one we don't have a uh let's see what's

00:49:42.719 --> 00:49:46.699
the other one that we're missing tech yeah although

00:49:46.699 --> 00:49:49.159
we have one in the queue so keep praying because

00:49:49.159 --> 00:49:50.780
there's a family right now that is probably going

00:49:50.780 --> 00:49:53.719
to come to join the church in june and that's

00:49:53.719 --> 00:49:56.800
what he does at his current church So God may

00:49:56.800 --> 00:50:00.500
be providing. That would be really great. But

00:50:00.500 --> 00:50:03.199
the point is, there are areas where, and then

00:50:03.199 --> 00:50:05.280
it could be something different. I'm talking

00:50:05.280 --> 00:50:06.659
with a guy who's looking to join the church.

00:50:06.780 --> 00:50:09.219
He's a veteran, and he feels like God is calling

00:50:09.219 --> 00:50:11.820
him to do a ministry specifically with veterans.

00:50:11.960 --> 00:50:14.480
Not just veterans in the church, but with the

00:50:14.480 --> 00:50:17.639
veterans of foreign wars, connected to the VSC,

00:50:17.860 --> 00:50:22.000
veterans all over. You know, and then he said,

00:50:22.139 --> 00:50:24.239
we'll have events, appreciation events, Bible

00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:28.679
studies and things. Which is a great idea. And

00:50:28.679 --> 00:50:30.179
he feels like God's calling to do it. I'm all

00:50:30.179 --> 00:50:33.139
for it. So, you know, don't put the cart before

00:50:33.139 --> 00:50:34.420
the horse. Let's not figure out what we're going

00:50:34.420 --> 00:50:36.019
to do first. Let's figure out who we're going

00:50:36.019 --> 00:50:37.840
to be the church first and how to be the church

00:50:37.840 --> 00:50:41.840
and then do it. So that's how that could work.

00:50:41.980 --> 00:50:44.360
You could be like, I think we should have a ministry

00:50:44.360 --> 00:50:51.000
giving out flowers to ladies. They're trying

00:50:51.000 --> 00:50:53.579
to get in. Okay, anyway, so whatever it might

00:50:53.579 --> 00:50:55.820
be, if it's flowers to ladies, for example, and

00:50:55.820 --> 00:50:57.719
you feel like that's a thing, you could come

00:50:57.719 --> 00:51:02.179
and be the team leader of flowers to ladies,

00:51:02.360 --> 00:51:05.219
right? That kind of thing. And then sometimes

00:51:05.219 --> 00:51:08.239
we'll segment the teams down with lead team members,

00:51:08.460 --> 00:51:11.519
like Holly McCrory is a lead team member in Little

00:51:11.519 --> 00:51:18.199
Wonders right now. And also... Hold on, who's

00:51:18.199 --> 00:51:24.239
the other one that I know of? At least she's

00:51:24.239 --> 00:51:28.159
a lead team member. Do you have a lead team member?

00:51:29.360 --> 00:51:33.000
Ariana's? She's your lead? Okay. You want to

00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:34.420
decide whether you want to formalize that or

00:51:34.420 --> 00:51:37.219
not, and if so, get her some parameters so she

00:51:37.219 --> 00:51:40.719
knows what she's up against. I think there's

00:51:40.719 --> 00:51:45.340
at least one more that I'm missing. Ricky's the

00:51:45.340 --> 00:51:48.179
lead team member of Active Sports and Christian

00:51:48.179 --> 00:51:51.820
Games. So I like that. So the lead team members

00:51:51.820 --> 00:51:54.699
that are not called to separate off from their

00:51:54.699 --> 00:51:56.780
team, they just take over a certain aspect of

00:51:56.780 --> 00:52:00.159
what's going on. All right. Well, I did most

00:52:00.159 --> 00:52:03.699
of them. Is there one that you can think of that

00:52:03.699 --> 00:52:06.099
we do that's different or an event or something

00:52:06.099 --> 00:52:08.519
that has affected our church that you think we

00:52:08.519 --> 00:52:11.360
should add in this before we cut off the recording?

00:52:13.300 --> 00:52:16.960
I didn't make one, but COVID was huge for us.

00:52:17.059 --> 00:52:19.400
I don't know if you know this or not, but Deacon

00:52:19.400 --> 00:52:23.519
Tony and I in a prayer meeting felt maybe informed

00:52:23.519 --> 00:52:26.659
by God that COVID was coming to the United States

00:52:26.659 --> 00:52:28.699
and that we would have to decide what to do about

00:52:28.699 --> 00:52:30.719
it almost three months before COVID came to the

00:52:30.719 --> 00:52:33.400
United States. So we had that advanced warning

00:52:33.400 --> 00:52:36.719
and we already had plans to sanitize everything

00:52:36.719 --> 00:52:39.500
in between services, to shut down things that

00:52:39.500 --> 00:52:41.699
were more like just like fellowship and recreation

00:52:41.699 --> 00:52:45.260
and not. really a god like bible study and worship

00:52:45.260 --> 00:52:47.559
and stuff like that to keep worship probably

00:52:47.559 --> 00:52:49.139
open although we were going to let the church

00:52:49.139 --> 00:52:51.280
make that decision those kinds of things before

00:52:51.280 --> 00:52:52.840
it ever came to the us and then when it came

00:52:52.840 --> 00:52:55.639
to the us we had a conversation about whether

00:52:55.639 --> 00:52:58.440
to stop having public worship and they lots and

00:52:58.440 --> 00:53:00.300
lots of churches did right a lot of people stopped

00:53:00.300 --> 00:53:02.400
meeting on sundays talking about study put everything

00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:06.469
online or not at all um and then we It was a

00:53:06.469 --> 00:53:08.389
unanimous decision in the team leader meeting,

00:53:08.610 --> 00:53:10.610
and then also there was a couple of very strong

00:53:10.610 --> 00:53:13.070
proponents for it that we would remain open and

00:53:13.070 --> 00:53:14.710
continue to have Sunday worship, and we did.

00:53:14.849 --> 00:53:17.070
And we took a lot of heat for it. The health

00:53:17.070 --> 00:53:18.789
department was calling me, bugging me about it,

00:53:18.829 --> 00:53:20.590
and eventually I just told them I'd stop answering

00:53:20.590 --> 00:53:22.090
the phone, and then when I did that, they stopped

00:53:22.090 --> 00:53:25.949
calling. So the point is, we were legal. Everything

00:53:25.949 --> 00:53:27.690
was legal. You're allowed to keep worshiping.

00:53:27.690 --> 00:53:29.349
It was nothing that required church to stop in

00:53:29.349 --> 00:53:31.969
Ohio. But we were one of very few that did. I

00:53:31.969 --> 00:53:33.809
think maybe we weren't quite. We probably should

00:53:33.809 --> 00:53:35.449
have been a little bit more public about it.

00:53:35.469 --> 00:53:37.409
Let everybody know that we weren't stopping because

00:53:37.409 --> 00:53:39.469
that might have been a good thing. But it also

00:53:39.469 --> 00:53:40.929
probably would have drummed up a lot more trouble.

00:53:41.070 --> 00:53:43.889
So what else? Anybody else think of anything

00:53:43.889 --> 00:53:48.929
recent or not even recent? Yeah. So I don't know

00:53:48.929 --> 00:53:50.309
if you know or not, but in the early days, the

00:53:50.309 --> 00:53:53.119
church was in Northwood High School. So we started

00:53:53.119 --> 00:53:57.219
in Perrysburg Heights across from Levis Commons,

00:53:57.440 --> 00:53:59.159
which was just getting started at that time.

00:53:59.340 --> 00:54:01.619
And when I would stand up and preach, right out

00:54:01.619 --> 00:54:03.599
the window behind me was the mosque. You could

00:54:03.599 --> 00:54:06.300
see it framed perfectly when I was up there preaching

00:54:06.300 --> 00:54:09.980
the gospel. And we got persecuted out of there.

00:54:11.300 --> 00:54:14.219
A powerful church in the community came after,

00:54:14.420 --> 00:54:17.690
didn't want us there. got us kicked out of the

00:54:17.690 --> 00:54:19.250
building, and then they were supposed to be allowed

00:54:19.250 --> 00:54:20.909
to go back in the building in the fall, and then

00:54:20.909 --> 00:54:22.309
they came and just told us we were allowed to

00:54:22.309 --> 00:54:24.570
go back. So then we came, so we met in my house,

00:54:24.630 --> 00:54:27.590
and it was hot. I didn't have air conditioning

00:54:27.590 --> 00:54:30.030
until this last year's first time I've ever had

00:54:30.030 --> 00:54:31.389
air conditioning in my whole life. Never had

00:54:31.389 --> 00:54:32.610
air conditioning in my house. Still don't have

00:54:32.610 --> 00:54:35.610
air conditioning in my vehicle again. But anyway,

00:54:35.849 --> 00:54:38.800
so... We didn't have air conditioning, and we

00:54:38.800 --> 00:54:40.719
crammed a lot of people in our house and stuff.

00:54:40.860 --> 00:54:43.059
So we started meeting outside. And then my neighbor,

00:54:43.139 --> 00:54:44.619
who was Jehovah's Witness, I remember this or

00:54:44.619 --> 00:54:46.079
not, Tim, you probably remember, he would come,

00:54:46.099 --> 00:54:47.739
and during our worship every Sunday, he would

00:54:47.739 --> 00:54:49.460
mow his lawn while we were trying to worship.

00:54:49.619 --> 00:54:51.159
Remember that? I don't remember that at all.

00:54:51.820 --> 00:54:53.920
And eventually, I did give him what for about

00:54:53.920 --> 00:54:58.500
it, and he did stop. And then from there, we

00:54:58.500 --> 00:55:02.079
went to Northwood High School for about a year

00:55:02.079 --> 00:55:04.860
and a half. Had an Awana club there, or kids

00:55:04.860 --> 00:55:08.279
club. It was basically even Awana material. So

00:55:08.279 --> 00:55:12.199
Jehovah's Witnesses, basically, they would say

00:55:12.199 --> 00:55:14.179
that they are Christian, right? But their doctrine

00:55:14.179 --> 00:55:16.460
is not Christian. It's a cult, is what it is.

00:55:17.519 --> 00:55:28.699
What's that? Yeah. So they don't believe in heaven.

00:55:28.820 --> 00:55:31.380
They don't believe in hell. The Catholic believes

00:55:31.380 --> 00:55:34.099
in Mother Mary, if I'm not mistaken, because

00:55:34.099 --> 00:55:37.880
my mom was Catholic. And we believe in Jesus.

00:55:38.039 --> 00:55:44.139
Yeah, in Jesus alone. He was talking about how

00:55:44.139 --> 00:55:49.119
to build a house. And I was about 13 years old.

00:55:49.360 --> 00:55:52.900
And not because my mother was. I got into some

00:55:52.900 --> 00:55:56.099
problems in school. And they wanted to rehabilitate

00:55:56.099 --> 00:55:59.639
me. I went up to this family I didn't know. They

00:55:59.639 --> 00:56:03.539
took me to Finley, and I was in an airplane.

00:56:03.880 --> 00:56:07.940
And then they took me in a boxer, and I was there.

00:56:08.659 --> 00:56:11.099
Well, their families would be too tough. And

00:56:11.099 --> 00:56:13.460
they said, come on in, we'll take you down there.

00:56:13.760 --> 00:56:17.340
At the time, I didn't know the weather was bad.

00:56:17.519 --> 00:56:23.400
I really didn't know. from God, things from God,

00:56:23.420 --> 00:56:26.519
to do what he wants you to do. We get down here,

00:56:26.659 --> 00:56:29.380
and before you know it, these people had their

00:56:29.380 --> 00:56:32.420
chairs all out, and they went to church every

00:56:32.420 --> 00:56:34.739
day, second to second, and they worshipped the

00:56:34.739 --> 00:56:37.619
Lord, and they did the Bibles. And everybody

00:56:37.619 --> 00:56:40.219
had to do it. The next thing you know, we built

00:56:40.219 --> 00:56:43.179
these metal things that come across with these

00:56:43.179 --> 00:56:46.179
handles and go over the top. And then all of

00:56:46.179 --> 00:56:48.280
this got together. And one thing I like about

00:56:48.280 --> 00:56:51.539
the barn people, for the armors, they all get

00:56:51.539 --> 00:56:53.659
together and they help each other. You don't

00:56:53.659 --> 00:56:55.679
see them getting, I don't know how much armors

00:56:55.679 --> 00:56:59.300
they get or this or that. They do what God wants

00:56:59.300 --> 00:57:01.340
them to do. They all work together. So we got

00:57:01.340 --> 00:57:03.480
there, man. The next thing you know, we had this

00:57:03.480 --> 00:57:11.260
big old plant we worked on. I don't know what

00:57:11.260 --> 00:57:15.139
that's called. And they had that preacher guy

00:57:15.139 --> 00:57:17.760
down there. He preached to everybody and everybody.

00:57:17.760 --> 00:57:20.260
We got their Bibles and stuff. The next thing

00:57:20.260 --> 00:57:25.840
you know, we built this small chapter bar thing

00:57:25.840 --> 00:57:28.920
that was really huge and it was really jerky.

00:57:29.920 --> 00:57:32.800
And, you know, one thing, I would love to go

00:57:32.800 --> 00:57:35.039
back there, and I would love to see it, because

00:57:35.039 --> 00:57:38.539
it's always got together. My grades got better.

00:57:38.659 --> 00:57:41.630
I was able to go home after that. I didn't have

00:57:41.630 --> 00:57:44.130
to wait until I was 18. I got home when I was

00:57:44.130 --> 00:57:46.750
16. So, you know, I got early, but my grades

00:57:46.750 --> 00:57:48.429
started to get good, and I started to do good.

00:57:48.530 --> 00:57:51.429
And that's one thing I will carry with me as

00:57:51.429 --> 00:57:55.130
long as that church we build. Sometimes it just

00:57:55.130 --> 00:57:57.050
takes putting somebody in a different environment,

00:57:57.130 --> 00:57:59.210
and it's like that with the church. If people

00:57:59.210 --> 00:58:01.429
will come in here. that people will come with

00:58:01.429 --> 00:58:03.510
an open heart, they'll be exposed to the Bible,

00:58:03.630 --> 00:58:06.130
exposed to the Word of God, see the community

00:58:06.130 --> 00:58:08.329
that's here, that people care about each other,

00:58:08.429 --> 00:58:12.210
then it will help them. It's different than the

00:58:12.210 --> 00:58:14.150
world, and it helps them realize there is something

00:58:14.150 --> 00:58:18.489
different. All right. Anything else? We are done.

00:58:18.750 --> 00:58:19.690
We're going to pray together.