1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,040 All right, so if we haven't met my name is Greg Hampton and I'm one of the pastors here and I would 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,400 Love to meet you if we haven't met yet. I'll buy you coffee 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:16,600 At your your place first. I see ohs is open again round of applause for Theos. So glad that they are 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:25,540 Back, you know, I won't bring up that it was gonna happen months ago and it's just finally here, but you know 5 00:00:25,540 --> 00:00:29,540 Okay, I did bring it up didn't I? 6 00:00:29,540 --> 00:00:34,140 All right, so we are going through a series called a church called 7 00:00:34,700 --> 00:00:35,900 Tov 8 00:00:35,900 --> 00:00:42,220 Forming a goodness culture that resists abuses of power and promotes healing if anyone would like to read it 9 00:00:42,220 --> 00:00:43,340 I have an extra copy 10 00:00:43,340 --> 00:00:48,940 You're welcome to come and grab it at the end of the service if you think that you'll actually go through it 11 00:00:48,940 --> 00:00:54,220 You're welcome to bring it back when you're done or just keep it and pass it along to someone else 12 00:00:54,220 --> 00:00:59,040 But this is what we're gonna be talking about for the next couple of weeks and to jump into that today 13 00:01:00,300 --> 00:01:03,000 41 years ago in December of 14 00:01:04,580 --> 00:01:10,800 1982 right have you seen those memes where I'm old enough where people go, you know when someone says 15 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:13,660 Oh, yeah, 20 years ago you think 1993 16 00:01:14,220 --> 00:01:20,940 But that wasn't 20 years. That was 30 years ago. So 41 years ago if vehicle called the quiet 17 00:01:21,660 --> 00:01:22,780 achiever 18 00:01:22,780 --> 00:01:28,300 Became the first practical long-distance solar powered 19 00:01:28,900 --> 00:01:29,980 car 20 00:01:29,980 --> 00:01:31,980 two guys named Larry and Hans 21 00:01:32,700 --> 00:01:34,700 drove it 22 00:01:34,700 --> 00:01:40,580 2500 miles across the entire continent of Australia using only solar 23 00:01:41,540 --> 00:01:43,060 power 24 00:01:43,060 --> 00:01:45,500 The car they drove looked like this 25 00:01:45,500 --> 00:01:57,280 Got that Clara looks like this 26 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:03,400 I believe any guesses what their average speed was 27 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,960 Twelve what thirty twelve any other guesses or 28 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:15,160 14 miles per hour. Yeah, it took them 20 days to 29 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:17,960 get across 30 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:19,960 the continent 31 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,480 I remember being a kid in reading about cars like this 32 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:28,440 But I don't know which one it was but there was a car that had gone all the way across the United States of America 33 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:35,800 And I was convinced that by the time that I was a full-fledged adult that all of our cars would be electric and or 34 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,400 solar power because even if you were a full-fledged adult 35 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,840 You're not gonna be able to get gas powered because even in the early 80s 36 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:49,800 There was a sense that if we can develop ways to travel that don't depend on oil. Why wouldn't we right? 37 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,520 Why not give it a shot? So I pulled up the data and 38 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:54,840 Clary you ready? 39 00:02:54,840 --> 00:03:01,880 Here we go. This graph shows the growth in sales since 1982 of 40 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:04,360 gas-powered trucks and SUVs 41 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:11,160 The exact opposite of what I thought would happen in my lifetime has happened 42 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:16,760 Trucks get 30% fewer miles per gallon 43 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:21,920 They cost 20 to 30 percent more to purchase 44 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,520 but last year alone almost 80 percent of 45 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:34,160 All light vehicles or vehicles that you're in, you know, your average person buys 80% were trucks or SUVs 46 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:37,240 Why? 47 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:44,720 Some of us need a truck it's true. Let's be honest. Most of us just need a friend that has a truck, right? 48 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:51,720 So why and Clary you can take that down now if you want 49 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:58,960 So why when we have the technology and have the technology to move forward with things like solar and electric 50 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,160 For 40 plus years. Why have we gone the other? 51 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:09,920 Direction there's actually a lot of legitimate answers. It isn't really just one thing new technologies are 52 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:12,800 Expensive and when you develop those new technologies 53 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:20,600 You have to get people to buy them in bulk so that you can drive down the price of that new technology the fossil fuels 54 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,080 Lobby isn't a huge fan of alternatives 55 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:29,720 Then truck sales happen to go up when the price of oil goes down 56 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:33,560 It's like this sense that we think. Oh, okay gas is cheap now 57 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,680 So that that that makes it better but the big reason is that 58 00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:46,000 Battery storage technology has lagged behind our electric vehicle technology. It's not hard to make the electric vehicle 59 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:53,200 It's hard to store the energy in a way that actually makes sense for an everyday person 60 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,000 You just can't recharge the car as quickly as you can refill a tank 61 00:04:56,600 --> 00:04:58,600 You can't 62 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:01,280 And this might just be my opinion 63 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:08,720 But I put it on the list of why trucks rule the roost why literally they sell three 64 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,520 Trucks and SUVs for every one regular car three to one 65 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:15,520 It's because of power 66 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:21,400 Trucks are strong trucks are big and 67 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,040 They make us feel 68 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:29,840 strong and big and powerful I may never tow a 69 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:36,520 Seven ton trailer, but if I wanted to I could if I have a truck I 70 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:42,520 May never loads 24 hundred pounds of gas 71 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,120 100 pounds of gravel in the bed of my f-150 72 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:51,240 But I could if I wanted to if I had a truck I 73 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:58,280 May never line that bed with plastic and fill it up with water and turn it into a traveling hot tub 74 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:03,300 But I could if I wanted to if I had a truck 75 00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:11,420 The president of an automotive research firm had this to say about why people buy vehicles with off-road capabilities 76 00:06:12,620 --> 00:06:18,020 Quote the thought process is this if I want to be proud of myself 77 00:06:18,020 --> 00:06:21,620 And if part of the way I imagine that is through the ideas of freedom 78 00:06:21,620 --> 00:06:29,420 Being able to go anywhere do anything and I happen to be someone who is tied to a job or family where I have so much 79 00:06:29,420 --> 00:06:33,420 responsibility that I can't actualize that 80 00:06:33,420 --> 00:06:41,420 By purchasing this vehicle and having that capability that fills that emotional deficit or gap that I'm having 81 00:06:41,420 --> 00:06:49,420 It says I still am that person even if I'm not doing those things 82 00:06:51,140 --> 00:06:57,900 Truck has the power to do a lot of things even make you feel more powerful like you can do anything 83 00:06:57,900 --> 00:07:00,900 Go anywhere and it can project to others 84 00:07:02,900 --> 00:07:09,900 What you want them to think that you are capable of even if you never do it 85 00:07:11,900 --> 00:07:13,900 Now what happens when a pastor 86 00:07:14,900 --> 00:07:19,900 when church leaders that are meant to be good 87 00:07:20,900 --> 00:07:24,900 Look at their congregation and see the quiet achiever 88 00:07:24,900 --> 00:07:26,900 Running on the power of the Sun 89 00:07:27,900 --> 00:07:34,900 Going 14 miles per hour, but what they really want is a Cadillac Escalade 90 00:07:35,900 --> 00:07:38,900 Or a Range Rover with the towing package 91 00:07:40,900 --> 00:07:48,900 They want to project to the outside world that I am a great leader look what I built look what I'm capable of 92 00:07:48,900 --> 00:07:56,900 What will that person do to feel what they want to feel and project what they want to project 93 00:07:57,900 --> 00:07:58,900 I 94 00:07:58,900 --> 00:08:04,900 Remember about ten and a half years ago when Cindy and I were in the church planners training events 95 00:08:04,900 --> 00:08:12,900 One of the people got up and said you all every one of you in here has a picture in your mind of who you 96 00:08:12,900 --> 00:08:19,900 Who your pastor is for? But you will have to pastor whoever walks through your doors 97 00:08:22,900 --> 00:08:28,900 Sometimes people and pastors aren't all that pleased with who walked through their doors 98 00:08:29,900 --> 00:08:36,900 And so they do whatever they can to change the makeup of who they are 99 00:08:36,900 --> 00:08:48,900 Maybe not just who but how many? But we aren't meant to hold these positions as pastors to fulfill our dreams 100 00:08:51,900 --> 00:09:01,900 We're not meant to turn a minivan into a dream car if it's a minivan and we're not meant to turn the quiet achiever 101 00:09:01,900 --> 00:09:12,900 Into a suburban we're meant to be told we're meant to be good in position to fulfill God's purposes 102 00:09:13,900 --> 00:09:20,900 So let's open up our Bibles and see what Jesus has to say about trucks not actually but about this all right 103 00:09:20,900 --> 00:09:23,900 We're gonna go to two places. We're gonna be Matthew 20 and 104 00:09:23,900 --> 00:09:30,900 1st Peter 5 if you don't have a Bible we have paper Bibles physical Bibles in the lobby that you can grab on your way home 105 00:09:30,900 --> 00:09:38,900 They're blue. They're on the bookshelf if you don't have that or want one of those you can download a Bible from any of the digital app stores 106 00:09:39,900 --> 00:09:43,900 Matthew is the first book in what is broadly called the New Testament 107 00:09:43,900 --> 00:09:47,900 I often call it the second testament because it came second 108 00:09:47,900 --> 00:09:55,900 It's the first one at the very beginning that and then 1st Peter is toward the end of that testament goes Hebrews James 109 00:09:55,900 --> 00:10:01,900 First Peter 2nd Peter 1st 2nd 3rd John so if you find that neighborhood you know that you're in the right spot 110 00:10:01,900 --> 00:10:07,900 And we have a tradition of giving the scriptures are a full attention when we read them during the message 111 00:10:07,900 --> 00:10:11,900 In a service and one of the ways we do that is by standing together as we are able or 112 00:10:11,900 --> 00:10:17,900 If you prefer to sit I'll just give your attention to the scriptures all right if you'd like to stand with me I'll read first from Matthew 113 00:10:17,900 --> 00:10:21,900 20 starting in verse 25 114 00:10:23,900 --> 00:10:29,900 But Jesus called them together and said you know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people 115 00:10:29,900 --> 00:10:35,900 And officials flaunt their authority over those under them but among you it will be two 116 00:10:35,900 --> 00:10:41,900 People and officials flaunt their authority over those under them but among you it will be different 117 00:10:41,900 --> 00:10:49,900 Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave 118 00:10:49,900 --> 00:10:57,900 Even the son of man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many 119 00:10:57,900 --> 00:10:59,900 And later in first Peter 5 120 00:10:59,900 --> 00:11:07,900 Verse 2 says this care for the flock that God has entrusted to you watch over it willingly not grudgingly 121 00:11:07,900 --> 00:11:17,900 Not for what you will get out of it but because you are eager to serve God don't lord it over the people assigned to your care 122 00:11:17,900 --> 00:11:23,900 But lead them by your own good example let us pray 123 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:31,900 God of every tribe every tongue every color every nation we thank you for the scriptures that they have persisted 124 00:11:31,900 --> 00:11:39,900 Throughout the millennium I pray that today whatever you have for us to learn from them that it would stick 125 00:11:39,900 --> 00:11:47,900 That it would become a part of the framework of our faith that our faith would become stronger as we become more like your son Jesus 126 00:11:47,900 --> 00:11:53,900 Amen. Amen. Thanks all I can have a seat 127 00:11:53,900 --> 00:12:03,900 First thing I want to point out here is that Jesus knew that power can be poisonous 128 00:12:03,900 --> 00:12:11,900 Jesus knew that power can be poisonous most of us probably aren't surprised by that most of us probably agree with that 129 00:12:11,900 --> 00:12:19,900 But we still tend to think that just a little power can make a smart person even smarter 130 00:12:19,900 --> 00:12:25,900 Or that a little power could take a decent leader with good ideas and make them great 131 00:12:25,900 --> 00:12:37,900 Think about it we've probably all done this if you ever met or seen someone and had the thought if that person would just run for office 132 00:12:37,900 --> 00:12:47,900 If that person would just run for office if that person were just on the school board if that person was just our police officer 133 00:12:47,900 --> 00:12:55,900 If that person were the mayor, senator, fill in the blank but here's the truth 134 00:12:55,900 --> 00:13:07,900 Once that person becomes any of those things the chances of them being that person anymore dissipates 135 00:13:07,900 --> 00:13:15,900 Because power can be poisonous and this isn't like my opinion about trucks okay there's actually research behind this 136 00:13:15,900 --> 00:13:25,900 Research actually shows that and I quote subjects given power acted as if they had suffered traumatic brain injuries 137 00:13:25,900 --> 00:13:35,900 Becoming more impulsive less risk aware and crucially less adept at seeing things from other people's points of view 138 00:13:35,900 --> 00:13:51,900 The research suggests that quote once we have power we lose some of the capacities we needed to gain that power in the first place 139 00:13:51,900 --> 00:14:01,900 That person you thought was a good person would make a great fill in the blank probably was probably would have been 140 00:14:01,900 --> 00:14:15,900 Power does funny things to us power does weird things to us it has the potential to change us and Jesus knew this 141 00:14:15,900 --> 00:14:27,900 Jesus taught his disciples not to wield and lord their power over others because he knew that eventually the disciples would be placed in positions of power 142 00:14:27,900 --> 00:14:39,900 That they would get elevated they'd go from being like the guys on the street arguing about which one of them was the best to actually being the one that was in charge 143 00:14:39,900 --> 00:14:54,900 They ran the risk of being like a monster truck running over the quiet achiever if they weren't careful about what power was doing to them 144 00:14:54,900 --> 00:15:07,900 That's why Jesus said among you it will be different will should be I want it to be I'm telling you to let it be different 145 00:15:07,900 --> 00:15:19,900 Whoever wants to be a leader among you must actually be a servant Jesus said for I did not even come to be served but to serve 146 00:15:19,900 --> 00:15:33,900 Peter was there with them and so later he writes a letter to a smattering of early churches around the region for them to read for their leaders to be reminded 147 00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:50,900 And he says what he learned from Jesus watch over the congregation willingly not grudgingly not for what you will get out of it because you are eager to serve God 148 00:15:50,900 --> 00:16:13,900 When we don't follow these words of Jesus that Peter reminds people of there are warning signs Scott and Laura in this book wrote that one of the first problems is vesting too much power in an individual person that has no real accountability 149 00:16:13,900 --> 00:16:36,900 That sounds obvious but why why is that the beginning of the problems because that person's approval can become like gold to the people that they lead particularly people that they lead that also wants to share in that power 150 00:16:36,900 --> 00:16:50,900 They might create a culture where people learn that if they just affirm and praise the pastor they gain status they get promoted they get positioned higher in the congregation 151 00:16:50,900 --> 00:17:03,900 I think that it's actually a gift from Jesus that I don't like compliments it's not that I'm insecure I have plenty of security ask Jen she knows how full of myself I can be 152 00:17:03,900 --> 00:17:17,900 But when I get compliments it's really I it's not that I don't believe them it's that there's something in me that immediately goes don't let that go to your head 153 00:17:17,900 --> 00:17:40,900 Oh it's not it's not don't it's not don't believe that it's don't let them think that you want what they're saying too much because if they learn that you live for this then you will create a culture that lives and dies on whether they like you 154 00:17:40,900 --> 00:17:59,900 And not just for me but for the people in the congregation that whether someone likes me or not will actually affect what kind of experience they have in this congregation and that is not healthy 155 00:17:59,900 --> 00:18:21,900 The opposite is also true Scott and Laura right people that disapprove get degraded they get demoted maybe talks down about behind closed doors but also in their actual roles in the congregation you used to be director of this well now you're not 156 00:18:21,900 --> 00:18:37,900 You used to lead this team well now you don't you used to serve twice a month well now it's once a quarter how dare you question the leader that's not healthy 157 00:18:37,900 --> 00:19:03,900 And then when the people that are in that are working to move their way up see what happens to people that disagree their fear of not being able to move up and being demoted only grows and only reinforces a circle of yes around the leader that can just hand out 158 00:19:03,900 --> 00:19:14,900 Approval disapproval promotions demotions 159 00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:35,900 And then depending on the level of disagreement, you might not just get demoted. You might get removed. You might get fired. You might get asked to quietly resign and be told that you can never tell anybody why 160 00:19:35,900 --> 00:19:51,900 This is these are real things guys real things that happen churches have employees sign NDAs that say they cannot talk about what really happened 161 00:19:51,900 --> 00:20:16,900 So what do we do this church the house what do we do to avoid that kind of culture really that's what all of the next following weeks are going to be about are going to be about the elements of a healthy of a toll good culture but actually want to spend a few minutes here probably more than a few minutes I'm honest talking about our structure here at the house 162 00:20:16,900 --> 00:20:40,900 We are considered what is called a staff led church model. It means that as the lead pastor I lead a lead team people that have leadership over separate teams and so that's Alex Campbell, he leads the student ministry. It's Andy Boswell. He's the treasurer. It's Chris Britain. He's one of the teaching pastors currently on sabbaticals. 163 00:20:40,900 --> 00:20:57,900 So you don't don't don't ask him questions about his next sermon. Jen Swift associate pastor Kelsey Campbell social media director Chris Olson does facility care Robin Mesterly the treehouse kids director and Scott McConnell who is our first impressions director. 164 00:20:57,900 --> 00:21:15,900 We meet as a team on a monthly basis. We talk about what's coming up. We ask for updates however one is doing and we try to together plan for things that are happening in the church and then depending on each of those individual persons availability. 165 00:21:15,900 --> 00:21:36,900 I meet with most of them individually on a monthly basis to encourage them and to see how I can equip them for the ministry that they are doing in the church in a staff led model small decisions are localized to team leaders. 166 00:21:36,900 --> 00:21:48,900 Robin and treehouse Alex in the shed if they want to do an event with their leaders or shed if Alex was like hey I'm going to invite all the students to come to the building this Friday night for movie night. 167 00:21:48,900 --> 00:22:08,900 He does not need my permission. He doesn't even have to run it by the team. He leads that ministry. He can decide to do things like that for their ministries but if they needed an additional budget for that that wasn't already budgeted yeah then they would run that up the flagpole. 168 00:22:08,900 --> 00:22:21,900 They'd ask me and I'd go okay I can say yes to this much but I can only say yes to this much because I have a limit. I am not supposed to. I say supposed to right because that is how rules work. 169 00:22:21,900 --> 00:22:33,900 I could say I'm not allowed to be really I'm not supposed to. I'm not supposed to spend more than 250 unbudgeted dollars without asking the treasurers for approval. 170 00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:40,900 And so if they need 100 bucks I can go yeah absolutely just get us the receipts. We will take care of that. 171 00:22:40,900 --> 00:22:45,900 Actually just this past week I made a new budget request. 172 00:22:45,900 --> 00:22:49,900 I asked if we could start having donuts once a month. 173 00:22:49,900 --> 00:22:53,900 And because a number of people have asked for that so it's not my idea. 174 00:22:53,900 --> 00:23:04,900 And I asked hey can we start paying Robin something as the treehouse director can we start paying her something on a monthly basis. Now here's the deal. 175 00:23:04,900 --> 00:23:09,900 That is a hard sell when you missed budget by 1100 dollars last month. 176 00:23:09,900 --> 00:23:13,900 But I wanted to be on their radar. 177 00:23:13,900 --> 00:23:19,900 And I said hey let's think about this. Is this something that we could do. Can we take the chance. Can we just risk it and do it. 178 00:23:19,900 --> 00:23:33,900 And here's the absolute honest truth. There was a moment in the conversation in that text thread where I could tell that someone in the conversation was deferring to me. 179 00:23:33,900 --> 00:23:37,900 And I could have if I wanted to pushed it. 180 00:23:37,900 --> 00:23:45,900 I could have been the monster truck that went over the quiet achiever and just said we're going to do it. 181 00:23:45,900 --> 00:23:50,900 And I could have even made it sound holy. Well we're just going to do this on faith guys. 182 00:23:50,900 --> 00:23:56,900 I really think that the Lord always provides. God always has what we need. Our bank accounts never been zero. 183 00:23:56,900 --> 00:24:03,900 The Lord will give us what we need so that we can do this good thing. 184 00:24:03,900 --> 00:24:08,900 But we have treasurers for a reason. 185 00:24:08,900 --> 00:24:19,900 And while the truth is that they wanted to make the change we all agreed that it wasn't the most wise financial decision. 186 00:24:19,900 --> 00:24:27,900 So the answer was let's wait and see. Let's see how this month goes. See if that turns around. 187 00:24:27,900 --> 00:24:35,900 And then we have elders. Eric Rowell is one of our elders and Jen Swift is what would be called a staff elder. 188 00:24:35,900 --> 00:24:40,900 She's an elder of the church but she's also on the staff. My wife Cindy is an elder and I am an elder. 189 00:24:40,900 --> 00:24:47,900 And if you're thinking oh that doesn't sound like that elder board has a whole lot of power to tell Greg what to do because they're all friends. 190 00:24:47,900 --> 00:24:52,900 It would be important for you to know that our elder board is not a governing board. 191 00:24:52,900 --> 00:25:00,900 Our elder board is a spiritual board. Spiritual meaning that if someone is sick if someone needs encouragement if someone needs counseling. 192 00:25:00,900 --> 00:25:11,900 We call the elders together in order to pray for those people because in a staff led model we have we try to build consensus as much as possible. 193 00:25:11,900 --> 00:25:19,900 But we lean on the accountabilities that we have built in for those and we expect the elders to be people of prayer. 194 00:25:19,900 --> 00:25:24,900 But I also want to say that the elders are people that you can trust. 195 00:25:24,900 --> 00:25:32,900 That if someone in our congregation is mistreating you and this is the truth if I am mistreating you. 196 00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:38,900 Eric and Jen in particular you know you may not want to go to my wife. 197 00:25:38,900 --> 00:25:48,900 But if I'm doing something that is sinning against you then you should feel completely free that Eric and Jen are not going to take my side immediately. 198 00:25:48,900 --> 00:25:56,900 If you go and tell them that I've done something wrong and I encourage you to do that because that's the way that it should be. 199 00:25:56,900 --> 00:26:04,900 Then in addition to our local team in addition to our elders we have what's called overseers. 200 00:26:04,900 --> 00:26:10,900 Overseers are like elders that are part of other churches. They are pastors of other churches. 201 00:26:10,900 --> 00:26:16,900 They care about me. They care about the health of our congregation. 202 00:26:16,900 --> 00:26:23,900 And in particular they are meant to pray for me and give me advice when needed. 203 00:26:23,900 --> 00:26:32,900 Because in the event that I were to be accused of something and let's say that you went and talked to one of the elders. 204 00:26:32,900 --> 00:26:35,900 And we weren't able to work things out here locally. 205 00:26:35,900 --> 00:26:49,900 Our bylaws say that then the overseers are supposed to be called and the overseers have the authority to fire, discipline, suspend or replace me as pastor. 206 00:26:49,900 --> 00:26:53,900 I am not without accountability. 207 00:26:53,900 --> 00:26:58,900 That does not mean that people always know what that accountability is. 208 00:26:58,900 --> 00:27:01,900 Right? Some of you are hearing this for the first time. 209 00:27:01,900 --> 00:27:11,900 Part of the reason some of you are hearing this for the first time is because since COVID we have not gotten back into the practice of having a new members class. 210 00:27:11,900 --> 00:27:14,900 Where we would normally share all of those things. 211 00:27:14,900 --> 00:27:24,900 And so I was talking to Scott McConnell recently and we've talked about how with our new emphasis on first impressions we need to start doing in a about the house thing again. 212 00:27:24,900 --> 00:27:31,900 Where you would hear all of these things and be able to ask questions about what that means. 213 00:27:31,900 --> 00:27:35,900 Now just so you know, I don't want to belabor the point. 214 00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:41,900 But in case you need to know, the two overseers are Michael Ummenauer who I have known for 31 years. 215 00:27:41,900 --> 00:27:43,900 He was my youth pastor. 216 00:27:43,900 --> 00:27:46,900 He has known me since I was just a little lad. 217 00:27:46,900 --> 00:27:50,900 And he was a youth pastor at Frusciano Presbyterian where I went to church. 218 00:27:50,900 --> 00:27:56,900 He currently pastors a church in California just outside of Sacramento. 219 00:27:56,900 --> 00:27:58,900 And the other overseer is Ross Parsley. 220 00:27:58,900 --> 00:28:00,900 I've known him for 17 years. 221 00:28:00,900 --> 00:28:06,900 He was the worship pastor at New Life Church when Cindy and I first moved to Colorado. 222 00:28:06,900 --> 00:28:13,900 And both of them, both of them have seen everything that can happen in a church happen. 223 00:28:13,900 --> 00:28:20,900 So they are more than qualified to help sort out anything that might happen. 224 00:28:20,900 --> 00:28:27,900 Now I could, if I wanted to, make it sound like the system that we have is working perfectly. 225 00:28:27,900 --> 00:28:32,900 I could just end it there and be like, so that's what you get guys and it's awesome. 226 00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:34,900 It's absolutely perfect. 227 00:28:34,900 --> 00:28:41,900 But a system is only as good, system is only as good as you work it. 228 00:28:41,900 --> 00:28:47,900 And you can only work it as well as you communicate it. 229 00:28:47,900 --> 00:28:51,900 And the reality is that we've not done a good job of communicating that. 230 00:28:51,900 --> 00:28:54,900 We can use COVID as an excuse. 231 00:28:54,900 --> 00:29:00,900 The truth is that when COVID hit, I kept individually meeting with leaders. 232 00:29:00,900 --> 00:29:08,900 But it's only been a month since we started having our team leaders all together again for a monthly gathering. 233 00:29:08,900 --> 00:29:16,900 And the truth is that our elders have not gotten together to pray together as often as we probably should. 234 00:29:16,900 --> 00:29:26,900 And the truth is that having overseers that live on the other side of the country makes it easy for one of us to forget that we had a phone call coming up. 235 00:29:26,900 --> 00:29:30,900 Because we don't see each other on a regular basis. 236 00:29:30,900 --> 00:29:39,900 A system is only as good as you work it and it can only work as well as you communicate it. 237 00:29:39,900 --> 00:29:51,900 So coming up on 10 years as a church, I want to make sure that we have a system and a structure that shapes a good culture. 238 00:29:51,900 --> 00:29:55,900 That is safe. That is healthy. 239 00:29:55,900 --> 00:30:05,900 That is not the kind of culture that would allow me to hide in a golden tower far away from any real accountability. 240 00:30:05,900 --> 00:30:14,900 That is one of the reasons that tomorrow night when we have our monthly leadership team meeting, this is going to be one of the things that we talk about as a team. 241 00:30:14,900 --> 00:30:19,900 How do we make sure we communicate this? How do we make sure that Greg actually talks to his overseers? 242 00:30:19,900 --> 00:30:23,900 That we get the elders together on a regular basis? 243 00:30:23,900 --> 00:30:34,900 How do we make sure that people know how to reach out to someone safe if something happens? 244 00:30:34,900 --> 00:30:41,900 Because we can stand up here and say we're healthy, we're healthy, we're healthy, we're healthy as much as we want. 245 00:30:41,900 --> 00:30:51,900 But unless we actually have things in place for people to make healthy decisions, then we're just lying. 246 00:30:51,900 --> 00:30:53,900 I don't want to do that. 247 00:30:53,900 --> 00:30:57,900 So tomorrow night we're going to be discussing that as a team. 248 00:30:57,900 --> 00:31:01,900 What I know about myself is this. 249 00:31:01,900 --> 00:31:08,900 I know, I believe that I am called and that I am meant to care for this congregation. 250 00:31:08,900 --> 00:31:27,900 That God has entrusted this to me for this time in my life to watch over it willingly, not grudgingly, not for what I will get out of it, but because I am eager to serve the Lord. 251 00:31:27,900 --> 00:31:34,900 And I am not immune to the effects of power. 252 00:31:34,900 --> 00:31:58,900 I do not want to turn into a monster truck driving over the quiet achiever when the quiet achiever may have only been going 14 miles per hour, but it did so in a way that was only powered by the sun. 253 00:31:58,900 --> 00:32:01,900 That is beautiful. 254 00:32:01,900 --> 00:32:06,900 So I'm grateful for the role that I have here. I'm grateful that I get to be your pastor. 255 00:32:06,900 --> 00:32:15,900 Let's all continue to pray for each other, for the future of who we are together, so that we can be good. 256 00:32:15,900 --> 00:32:31,900 Amen. Amen.