Gardeners Podcast

What is Gardeners Podcast?

Garden Church is a local community in Southern California. This podcast is a container to share stories from our community, conversations with our friends in ministry around the world, and major initiatives we are developing as a church.
We want to bless our community with the content of this podcast and for anything one interested in what God is doing here.

Darren Galindo:

Hello, and welcome to Gartner's podcast. So happy to have you guys with us. I'm joined by Michael Petrella, Amanda Petrella, and Seth Wiese. Hello. Hello.

Darren Galindo:

And I'm Darren. Cool.

Darren Galindo:

How are you guys doing today? That's true.

Micheal Petrila:

Doing well.

Amanda Petrila:

We're good. We're in our coziest

Micheal Petrila:

Cozy. We're coziest. Eating. It's raining today. Finally feels like fall.

Micheal Petrila:

I'm having a great time.

Seth Wiese:

Did you guys hear that, that thunder clap that sounded like a train Oh

Micheal Petrila:

my gosh.

Seth Wiese:

Hit our building? Yes.

Amanda Petrila:

I took a phone call outside because there's no no space in our building for me to take this phone call. And the thunder hit so loud, I literally jumped.

Micheal Petrila:

I looked like immediately hit. I just came back from a meeting with some Mesa, so I must have missed that. It was It was

Darren Galindo:

Oh, it was it was really loud.

Amanda Petrila:

Was so loud.

Seth Wiese:

They're having a they're meeting outside in the sanctuary, and I was in the production room. And it hits so loud, and I grew up in the Midwest. I know thunder.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. But it's just

Seth Wiese:

I'm not used to it. Yeah. Like, 10 years I've been here, and I jump up and run out because I think, like, a car just ran into the side of the building or something, like, legitimate. It would've happened.

Darren Galindo:

Super, super loud. Wow. For those of you that know our space, you know that people that roll trash cans go around our sanctuary all the time. And it it sounded like 30 of them at the same time just rammed into the set of the building.

Micheal Petrila:

I missed that.

Darren Galindo:

I missed all that. It was big. It was a big one. Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

Also, all of the other businesses in Peter's Landing. They were running outside to take videos.

Darren Galindo:

Of course. Like

Micheal Petrila:

it's literally raining.

Darren Galindo:

Thing. Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

California. Not snow, not hail.

Darren Galindo:

I mean, here's here's a California thing.

Micheal Petrila:

Catch thunder.

Darren Galindo:

You're you're from California, Michael. Amanda. I'm raised. Yeah. Also California.

Darren Galindo:

Here's a California thing. Does this also reflect from where you guys grew up? I'm always surprised when it rains.

Micheal Petrila:

Pleasantly surprised. Yes.

Amanda Petrila:

I'm obsessed with the weather app Yeah. So actually

Darren Galindo:

Okay. I always know. I mean, I hear you

Micheal Petrila:

I check

Amanda Petrila:

it like Timing.

Darren Galindo:

Seth, you're you're just like, oh, it's raining again.

Seth Wiese:

I mean, anymore, no. Because it's been a decade. Yeah. But before, like, I don't know in the Midwest, like, weather happens. It doesn't really happen out here.

Seth Wiese:

Yep. Or very rarely, like, oh, holy wow.

Darren Galindo:

Well, that's why I'm

Seth Wiese:

always surprised. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. I had no idea it was gonna rain today.

Micheal Petrila:

The other California thing that maybe us 3 can, like, agree on and maybe is different. I feel like if where you're born and raised in California, you're not good at geography. I'd like and specifically American geography. Like, I know the West Coast. I know Texas.

Micheal Petrila:

Anything to Texas. Anything that, is adjacent to California, like Nevada, After that, I don't know anything. I feel like they're probably

Seth Wiese:

really good. Coast, though. You know some you know, like, New York Florida.

Micheal Petrila:

But I I can't tell you where New York is. Like like, I I

Darren Galindo:

like I Florida. I know. Like, it's like I know we get too lost on that trail.

Seth Wiese:

And Flyer Estates.

Darren Galindo:

Amanda, I love your socks.

Amanda Petrila:

Bringing it back. Thanks.

Darren Galindo:

We do we need to we need to make mention for those of you who didn't see it.

Micheal Petrila:

I told her not to wear them.

Seth Wiese:

Christmas socks before Thanksgiving.

Micheal Petrila:

I I told her not to wear it. I I didn't I told her the people couldn't handle it. I know. You said don't impose your beliefs I Theo said, we are a family that does Christmas before Thanksgiving, but don't impose that. It's like, it's fine in confines of our home.

Micheal Petrila:

I was

Amanda Petrila:

like, what?

Micheal Petrila:

We put our Christmas tree up this week, but then she's like, can I read

Darren Galindo:

this song? I saw that. I saw it in the I was like, what? It was it's super ironic because you did video announcements recently, and you made a very big point of Christmas comes after Thanksgiving, you can't skip over it. And I'm like, okay.

Darren Galindo:

I don't think that's true.

Amanda Petrila:

I'm rebranding myself. I'm in the phase of rebranding.

Darren Galindo:

Here we go.

Micheal Petrila:

We don't practice what we preach. We just, like Just

Darren Galindo:

tell other people what bothers you. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. This is what bothers me.

Amanda Petrila:

I had to say something funny.

Darren Galindo:

Of course. Well, to segue into our conversation today, I think a lot of people say this is what bothers me when churches wanna talk about money. Money. When churches talk about money, it tends to be cringey. It tends to be pass the bucket around because Totally.

Darren Galindo:

We need more. Give me give me. Amanda, you were on stage talking about finances. For those of you that don't know, Amanda is our pastor of operations. Mhmm.

Darren Galindo:

You prepared a lot. What do you have to say about, encapsulating Sunday and why we were talking about money?

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah. So we talked about money, because it first really matters to God's heart. We see Jesus talk about money money more than anything in the scriptures, so, obviously, there's something connected to that for us. Mhmm. We also someone told me this recently that it it's difficult to gauge, and this could probably be debated, but it's difficult to gauge the spiritual maturity of a church because there aren't as many, like, external things that you can look at to gauge that.

Amanda Petrila:

Like, if I'm leading worship, I could look in the church and I could see people with their eyes closed. I could maybe see people raising their hands, and that could maybe help me gauge if people are involved if they're participating in worship. But it's so different looking at spiritual maturity, and we were talking to someone recently who was, like, the number one way to actually look at people's spiritual maturity is if they're giving, if they're generous. Like, it's a very practical, physical way to, like, gauge the health. Actually, I think he might have said health instead of maturity.

Amanda Petrila:

The spiritual health of your church is Interesting. Connected to

Micheal Petrila:

how they give, how

Amanda Petrila:

they're generous, which

Micheal Petrila:

that's what,

Amanda Petrila:

like, sparked a desire to talk about this in me, at least, because we're always wanting to gauge, like, where is our church at in regards to spiritual health? I mean, in health in all 5 spheres, but, yeah, I don't know. Just it's it's really important to, I think, assess how people are and not just giving finances, but stewardship in general, which is what Darren presented for us on Sunday Yeah. Talking through yeah. How are we stewarding the entirety of our lives?

Amanda Petrila:

And, obviously, our finances, our resources are such a huge part of that. But, stewardship of your soul, he said stewardship of your grief, like, so many good things. So

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Yeah. And this is from, Sunday's talk, which the title of the sermon portion was stewarding abundance.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Darren Galindo:

And Darren was able to give a very compelling talk about it's not just the church wants money. It that has nothing to do with it. Yeah. It's abundance. Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

There's more. And as stewards of the kingdom and and material things and relationships and emotions. It's like we wanna steward everything well, and we don't wanna steward it in a scarcity mindset. We wanna do it with this abundant abundant mindset. And, Seth, I wanted to get get your take, listening to this because you're you're our audio engineer wizard, and you get to you get to listen to every single talk more than once.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. What was your big takeaway from listening to Darren, Amanda, and Alex talk about money for so long?

Seth Wiese:

My big takeaway, I think, was because the stewardship piece, Darren's talked about that in-depth. And I think, like, being on staff, I've heard it more and also referencing podcasts and stuff. But a big piece was bringing up Amanda, yourself, and Alex and having them go through the things that they're dealing with day to day. So you guys are dealing with the money as you guys are seeing it. You're seeing how it's and you're not just reading the reports and being like, cool.

Seth Wiese:

Someone processed this. Yeah. You're the one actually taking it and processing it. Yeah. And there's so much beauty that you brought in that that was not only, like, very transparent, but also you walking into it in your story, just like you briefly touched on your distrust in the church.

Seth Wiese:

Yeah. Mhmm. Like, that's a big thing that I think that gets missed a lot of times is, like, people just don't talk about that.

Amanda Petrila:

Totally.

Seth Wiese:

And the church as a whole has done a poor pretty poor job. The American church, specifically, I can speak to that. Yeah. Of both the transparency and also what they're doing with it.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Seth Wiese:

Yeah. They are like like you you you think of you think of where's the money going, and you see these huge buildings, and you see

Micheal Petrila:

Oh, there.

Seth Wiese:

You see this money and stuff being spent, and you're, like, wait. This is what you're doing with God's money.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

This is your money. This is got you're stewarding this, and this is what you've decided.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Seth Wiese:

And that's not so much bad things even. Right.

Micheal Petrila:

But a

Seth Wiese:

lot of people don't even talk about it.

Micheal Petrila:

Right. 100%. You know what I mean?

Seth Wiese:

Where's the value in it? And you see someone, like, spend a ton of money. We'd spend a lot of money to move in here. Here. Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

But then we talked about the value and why we did it. Yes. Like, it actually took me a minute to be comfortable Mhmm. Spending as much to buy a brand new sound system. Because I'm such a, like, no.

Seth Wiese:

Make it work.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Yeah. Making good choices. Totally.

Seth Wiese:

Yeah. But the board here specifically trusted me with this money. So you will steward this well. Yeah. Do it.

Seth Wiese:

We trust you. And that transparency was really beautiful to see from the stage. Mhmm.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah. That's so cool. When you asked, like, why we wanted to talk about this, that was one of the main reasons was and one of the main talking points even as we, like, were preparing for this talk on Sunday was, like, we have to be transparent about

Seth Wiese:

this. Mhmm.

Amanda Petrila:

And I think that's something that marks our church in so many different ways. Like, our worship leaders are transparent. Our teachers are transparent. Our staff is transparent. Our kids leaders, like Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

That is something we really value. I think I think that's what makes garden church so beautiful partly and why people love calling garden home. So, yeah, that was part of it. Yeah. We have to be transparent because so many churches aren't.

Amanda Petrila:

And, yeah, I don't know. I just I think there's a different level of, like, trust that we get to build Mhmm. With our church. So

Micheal Petrila:

Each time each service, as you and Alex were talking about it, I was moved to, like, just emotionally. I was so I knew the facts. I'm like, we're on staff. We I kinda know the bigger picture, but there were just something about talking about the financial piece, the behind the scenes, why we're making decisions. I feel like there's a lot of assumptions that go on and there's a lot of distrust or even just fear.

Micheal Petrila:

I I think just money culturally, in the West, we don't talk about money. It's it's like it's a social taboo to talk about how much are you making, where other cultures, that's actually, like, a normal part of conversations. Like, hey. What what what are you making? It's very open, transparent.

Micheal Petrila:

But for us in the West, that is not the case. Yeah. And so I got so emotional when you were each time you and Alex shared because I was like, wow. Like, there's such an intentionality with this, regarding our community and regarding our church, and it it was just really cool to to hear.

Amanda Petrila:

That's cool.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Thanks. Michael, I'm gonna put you on the spot a little bit here. I'm here. You mentioned in the West, we don't typically talk about money.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. And I have my own ideas about why that is, but what would you say is an underlying reason why we in the West are not talking about how much we make or how much did your car cost or how much did your house cost?

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good that's a really great question. I wish that I was a social expert. I do have a minor in sociology, but that I do.

Darren Galindo:

I'm gonna have to

Micheal Petrila:

take a minor expert? A minor expert.

Amanda Petrila:

A sociology minor.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. Like, a a community college. Like, I just got it because I wanted to get out of the community college. I was like, what what minor community college?

Darren Galindo:

Is that a disclosure? You're you're Yeah.

Micheal Petrila:

That's a disclosure. I I don't know. I I think there's something about the privatization of our lives and the compartmentalization of our lives in the West. And so you see this lived out with our faith. You see this lived out.

Micheal Petrila:

It's, like, it's me and Jesus or me and my family and Jesus. But, like, there's so many couples as we walk through premarital, as as pastor John and I walk through premarital, like, classes with people where, like, they don't talk about money. There are people who are in marriages who they don't talk about. It's a taboo thing. Like, they don't know about the debt that someone else carries.

Micheal Petrila:

Like, they don't know about, how much the other person's making. There's kind of this ambiguity, and I feel like there's shame. I feel like there's kind of like a maybe a pride depending on, like, what where you are on that scale. I think there's also just, like, just it's my business. No one is allowed to know it, which is a very American Western thing.

Micheal Petrila:

It's like, this is what I'm doing. This is my business. No one has any say regardless. The church, especially, because of the way that it's abused its power and abused its, like, benevolence, like, or at least, like, the trusted benevolence of people. And I also feel like, yeah, there's also in the West, like, no one else other than my family can really know this about me.

Micheal Petrila:

But, again, like I said, there's people who even keep it from other family. And I think there's that that that, I think, shame if you're in debt or shame of, like, how much you're not making. And so, yeah, I think there's just so much taboo around it, comparison. I mean, like, the the list goes on, and I think it just continually finds itself in a web of, like, our lives and, like, keeps us from showing up fully and honestly around this conversation.

Amanda Petrila:

Well, I think we carry a mindset that we own it

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Oh,

Amanda Petrila:

yeah. Is what makes it private because you're like, this is my this is my claim. This is, like, what I own in this world. Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

Why would I, like, share that information with people? No one else needs to know that. This is, like, my property, my

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Or whatever. It's not worth boasting about. It's not worth

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

Anything. I'm thinking also, like, what do you do for work is probably one of the first questions that you ask a new person Totally. Because it's so tied to our identities Yeah. That Yeah. That's true.

Darren Galindo:

We want to know, oh, who are you? You naturally gravitate. Well, I work at this and I do this Yeah. For a living and, you know, this is my career, but you've never said anything about who you are. Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

But we tie it all to what we do and what we what we see that we're worth and we tie our Mhmm. Work and our money so much to our identity Yeah. That it becomes almost impossible to have these conversations because Yeah. We don't wanna be vulnerable with our debt or with our spending habits or with Mhmm. How our lack of generosity.

Darren Galindo:

It it's it's nothing to to be proud of. Yeah. Anything that we do with our money, which is a very sad thing. So I think right off the bat, I wanted to to have you answer that, and and that was I loved it. When we have this conversation, we wanna hold humility.

Darren Galindo:

Mhmm. And I love a quote from Rich Volodis, that we as Christians, being humble people, have nothing to prove, nothing to possess, and nothing to protect.

Micheal Petrila:

Oh, good.

Darren Galindo:

And as we're talking about money, it's like I can say I can I'm I'm a barista. I take out the trash. I'm a maid. I'm a, like, whatever. I'm a doctor.

Darren Galindo:

I'm a neural scientist Mhmm. Engineer person, whatever. Like, it doesn't matter, and I'm not coming into the conversation saying this, like, it means so much Yeah. Or it means very little. Like, it it actually has no bearing on my soul.

Darren Galindo:

My soul is protected. My identity is hidden in Christ. Mhmm. And so, for those of you that are listening that are new to the conversation of money and work and how it affects your identity, we wanna grow towards, maturity in this space. That way we can have conversations around it and not feel so Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

Like, it's tearing us apart in the inside.

Amanda Petrila:

Right.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Amanda, when you are talking with money, has it always been this easy for you?

Amanda Petrila:

No. No. Absolutely not. I have had the privilege and honor of doing the giving talk on Sundays for a couple years now. And I would really only say the last 6 months have I felt like, okay.

Amanda Petrila:

I can, like, stand on stage and talk about this. And I think it's because I am just so aware of what people are carrying into that conversation, and I'm someone who I mean, whatever. People are like, I'm an empath, but, like, I'm standing in the room.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

No. I'm a pastor. Like, I stand in their room, and I I'm like, I am I I care about what people are feeling and caring. You see it on their faces. You can see it when they tune out and look at their phone.

Amanda Petrila:

And

Seth Wiese:

Mhmm.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

I think just, like, carrying all of those preconceived, notions before I even step on stage to talk about it makes me nervous. But, yeah, I love so part of my role, I oversee HR too. So I'm the one who kinda onboards, really, every staff member into, like, most things, but specifically love bringing new people into the budgeting process because as we're talking about transparency, like, I just the longer I've been in this role, I'm like, there is nothing to hide. There's just actually nothing to hide, which, like, makes it so freeing to be able to, yeah, onboard people into that process to stand on stage and talk about our finances. Like, regardless of how weird people are feeling out there, I actually don't have to feel weird at all because there is great.

Darren Galindo:

And when when Seth and Michael were talking about how beautiful it was to hear you and Alex talk about money, I think we all felt it. Like, your comfort level, it saturated the room, and it kind of put everyone else at ease. What are you doing? We're gonna talk about money. And then you guys started talking.

Darren Galindo:

You're like, oh, this is it's not that bad. Yeah. And it it actually became quite good. Not, you know, due to how well you presented it, but just like your demeanor, how well, you guys were just so casual and very simple and just held things very loosely for everyone to observe and to and to celebrate. You know, there's a lot of celebration that we when we talk about money.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. There's no shame involved. There's no, like, scarcity involved. Yeah. And even when even when churches in general, but even specifically Garden Church, like, sometimes we haven't asked.

Darren Galindo:

Sometimes we need to ask. Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

For sure.

Darren Galindo:

There's no shame in that. It's like, hey, partner with us Yeah. In this. Mhmm. Seth, what has been your observation with the conversation of money as a person on staff, but also just someone that loves Jesus and a family man.

Darren Galindo:

You got 2 kids now. Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

Family man. Listen, Sam.

Seth Wiese:

I think I kinda covered my observation of it from both inside and outside a little bit with what I was saying before. One thing I'm reminded of a lot of is the old saying, like, if you wanna know where someone's heart is, look at their checkbook. Mhmm. You can't say time is money and money is time. But at the same time, you dedicate so much of your life to going to work.

Seth Wiese:

So you invest the thing that can never get back, which is time. Yeah. Mhmm. And you trade it for currency.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Seth Wiese:

And then you trade that for things or experiences or whatever. And so when we, as a church, ask for people to donate money, we are very aware of what that means, what the implications of that are. And I don't think a lot of people look into that or think about what this money stands for.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

This is x amount of if you took, like, the average, like, wage, this is x amount of hours

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

That our congregation has worked. Sure. Yeah. And it's a really, like it's just a thing to, like, keep your mind on. I think, like, we've done that pretty well.

Seth Wiese:

And it's really cool just to to observe that.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Seth Wiese:

And breaking it back to stewardship of what are you what can you steward? Like, how do you steward your time

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Seth Wiese:

And steward your money? How much time do you spend here or there or there or whatever? Like, this is the gift that we are given. Yeah. So how are you taking care of it?

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

And that's one thing that I come back to when the conversation of money is happening. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Micheal Petrila:

Did I

Seth Wiese:

go off topic?

Darren Galindo:

No. No. Okay.

Seth Wiese:

I was like I feel like I kinda,

Darren Galindo:

like Oh, yeah.

Seth Wiese:

No. Steered the road a little bit. Because that's one thing that It's

Micheal Petrila:

helpful.

Seth Wiese:

Yeah. That, like, I constantly come back to is you tithe 10% of money.

Micheal Petrila:

But

Seth Wiese:

do you tithe 10% of time? And do you tithe 10% of your social do you tithe like yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah. No. That's interesting.

Seth Wiese:

It's a question I've been asking myself specifically. I thought about it before but ask myself for the past 2 days, like, I'm now on staff. I'm paid for my time here. Mhmm. I used to donate my time to churches.

Micheal Petrila:

Like, I've

Seth Wiese:

done that. I was actually very weary of coming on staff because I'm like, this is where I give. This is how I serve. Yeah. And now I'm paid for what I used to do to serve.

Seth Wiese:

Yeah. So if now I am being compensated for the time that was my giving Yeah. Like, where am I giving time?

Amanda Petrila:

Right.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. It's good that you're having those questions because I've been in church environments where the paid time is wrongfully considered your giving time. Yeah. Like, oh, I prayed today. I I studied today.

Darren Galindo:

I gave a Bible study today and got paid for every second of it.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

And it it's like it doesn't count, but that goes more towards, like, the heart of us as individuals. Like, we're still people, and money and time aside, like, how are we building our generous. Cultivating our relationship with God through the means of generosity, specifically when it comes to money and time, and I love how you bring those those 2 together. Mhmm. I had an observation after Sunday, and I wanted to pitch it here Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

In this group. Drop it. Okay? So the conversation of generosity because that was, like, the goal of what we wanted to be invited into as a church Yeah. Is, you know, we're technically still in the, the Jesus People series.

Darren Galindo:

We wanna know how to be more like Jesus, and in the concept and idea of money and giving and being generous. We are being called to steward our stuff well, steward our time and money and and relationships and and all these all these things well. I find that the topic of generosity is very heavy on the giving side. Yeah. Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

And not so much on the asking side. Mhmm. And so so let me talk a little bit about that, and I I would love to get your guys' thoughts. Yeah. There's a friend of mine, who on Sunday had car problems with their with their car battery.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Darren Galindo:

And my first thought was, oh, we're talking about generosity. Ask for help.

Amanda Petrila:

Mhmm. Right.

Darren Galindo:

A friend of mine asked for help.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

You're gonna get a car battery. This is gonna be amazing.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

And the it it was not much of a struggle, but, like, you know, as we think about, oh, I can actually afford this. I can actually pay for it myself. I I can I can do it? Like but that wasn't the point. I kept on encouraging.

Darren Galindo:

Hey. Ask for a car battery.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Darren Galindo:

So my friend asked for a car battery, and, you know, long story short, you know, someone from their house church came, took them to Costco, got the right battery, installed it. Like, everything's everything's taken care of. Yeah. And I'm thinking to myself, this is what the kingdom is.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

But they could have not asked Yeah. And done it all themself. Yeah. Yeah. In which case, if we're contributing to a healthy ecosystem of generosity Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

Asking is playing a pretty major part in that. 100%. Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

Asking and there's not only the asking piece, there's just the being willing to receive piece.

Darren Galindo:

The willing to receive.

Seth Wiese:

Something that, like, about the about a year ago, I started battling as, like, I hated when people, like, paid for stuff for me.

Micheal Petrila:

It was

Seth Wiese:

just one of these, like I don't know if it's a pride issue. Probably is.

Darren Galindo:

But, like, absolutely the politest.

Micheal Petrila:

Well, it

Seth Wiese:

was just one of these things where, like

Amanda Petrila:

Like, I'm telling you.

Seth Wiese:

Like, it's just, like, you hate to be an inconvenience or you hate to be, like, oh, no. Don't worry about it. It's not like I can always afford it, but it, like, it's one of these things of, like, I hate to be put somebody else out.

Darren Galindo:

Sure.

Seth Wiese:

And every time you don't let someone do that, you don't allow them to be generous. Yeah. And that was something I had to almost struggle with to the point where, like, one of our one of our elders takes me out once a month, and we go get lunch. Cool. And I brought my intern with, and he bought us both lunch.

Seth Wiese:

And you know what? I didn't blink. I let him do it. And it was one

Micheal Petrila:

of those things

Seth Wiese:

where internally, I'm like,

Darren Galindo:

could you take me next time?

Micheal Petrila:

Yes. But

Seth Wiese:

but it was one of those things that, like, it actually it takes something of me pausing and, like, no. He said he's gonna he he said he is just taking care of him. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not gonna, like, I I invited somebody else Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

Knowing

Amanda Petrila:

He would pay.

Seth Wiese:

That he would pay.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah. Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

And I don't think I was in the wrong.

Micheal Petrila:

No. No. I don't know.

Seth Wiese:

And it was one of these things where it definitely was, like, an internal, like, struggle.

Amanda Petrila:

Totally. Because I feel the same way. I feel the same way. No. It's just like

Darren Galindo:

Go ahead.

Amanda Petrila:

Like, I don't I don't want you to think I can't provide for myself.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

I don't want you to think I can't take care of myself, and I don't want you to think I'm ever gonna take advantage of you.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. I think that's the piece almost as

Seth Wiese:

as much as anything.

Amanda Petrila:

But I think you're so right. It's like robbing people of the opportunity to, like, act in the way of Jesus and be generous. So, yeah, exactly what you're saying. We have to, like, ask and be willing.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

Don't you have a really good story about this? You were just telling me about talking to another pastor at Sea Rock and

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't even know where start. Let me just start with putting

Amanda Petrila:

you on the spot too. Sorry.

Micheal Petrila:

Let let me story. No. Let let me start with this. I remember, Darren, he connected me with some of his mentors, and he told me, like, you always buy them lunch. And so when I would meet with them, they would offer to buy lunch or coffee or whatever, and I would, like, put, like, the card down and say, no.

Micheal Petrila:

I'm gonna buy you lunch because they're older and I wanna honor them. And they would, like, be so angry. They're like, no. Like like, I'm gonna buy you lunch. And and in my head,

Darren Galindo:

I, like, froze because I was like, I

Micheal Petrila:

I'm supposed to do this and and but, like, they wanna do this. I'm, like, I'm, like, I don't know where to

Darren Galindo:

I was, like, where do what hill do

Micheal Petrila:

I die on? And that, like, always stuck with me because I was, like, I and I let them because it was them wanting to be generous. And and you want that. You want that kind of culture where everyone's fighting for generosity, not that fake kind of to appear generous, but to genuinely be generous. And the story that I was reminded of or or that that reminded me I was reminded of that story when I was meeting with this pastor because I wanted to get him coffee.

Micheal Petrila:

I was, like, like, I really honor and respect this guy. And he came up for coffee and I was like I like, I gave the cashier I was like, here's my card. Pay for them. And he saw that, and he took it, and he, like, threw it at my face. And it was really rude, but it was also like, okay.

Darren Galindo:

But What kind of mentors are you hanging up with?

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm learning I'm learning a lot. But what what he was he he told me a story where he he was serving at a church and he, like, there was a guest speaker and the guest speaker let went, after a day of preaching, went back to his hotel room.

Micheal Petrila:

He was driven by this guy to his hotel room. So it was maybe, like, 30, 45 minutes away. By the time they got to the hotel room, speaker realized I left my bible at the church. And so the guy, he's, like, I'll go get it. So he ended up spending his time going back to the church 45 minutes back, grabbing the Bible, coming back to the hotel room.

Micheal Petrila:

And by the time we got to the hotel room, the pastor walked to a bank, came back and he had a lot of cash for this guy who was just like, did this favor for him and it was like it was like a a generous amount like like, just I don't know the amount, but he said it was just it it embarrassed him receiving that much. And he essentially said, I can't accept this. I can't this. I can't accept this. I can't accept this.

Micheal Petrila:

And the speaker put in his hand, took his Bible, put the cash in his hand, and he said, you you we often pray for God's generosity and we will often reject it when it finally shows up because it's not how we expect it to be. Mhmm. And so since then, he never says no to receiving generosity, except when I try to.

Amanda Petrila:

He said

Darren Galindo:

no. Except

Micheal Petrila:

except for me. But what what He's got one exception. One exception.

Amanda Petrila:

Does Michael

Micheal Petrila:

But it changed the way that he's generous. And, Darren has, like, spoken at his church, and he said it's the most generous and hospitable, environment he's been a part of. And I think we, as a staff, have, been pushing towards that because of what he's experienced. And I I'm just thinking about, like, you know, what is the difference from hospitality and generosity and all of that versus, like, philanthropy. And so some of us, like, we are happy to give money because it's, like, extended from our time or whatever.

Micheal Petrila:

But there's, like, this real vulnerability when you wanna be generous because you're, like, in relationship with people. And, like, you being generous is not putting owing someone, but you're saying, like, what you're showing is that you also need to be, receive generosity at some point. And we talk about the garden. I think the phrase is, if you don't bring your needs to your house church or to your friendships or to whatever, you're robbing the church from being the church. And I think at the heart of it, like, that's what family is about.

Micheal Petrila:

Like, we are family together. We're living together. We're supposed to be we're the new family of God. God is our father. We have brothers and sisters.

Micheal Petrila:

And, like, in a like, your, again, with your brothers and sister, your your spouses, and your kids, you're not gonna hide needs. You're not gonna hide your financial, needs from one another. You should be inviting everyone in it and for them to be able to, like, out of their generosity, help, especially in your nuclear family, so even more so with the family of God because it takes precedence. The priority is lifted up. And so I think we need to, like, be willing to receive that as much as, like, give it away.

Micheal Petrila:

And I think that's why it's really hard because when we hide our finances or we hide that piece of us, it's easy to feel shame when we're, like, asked for help. And so I think there's also that piece of that. So, I think it's really important to, like, make sure we receive generosity as much as we give it and be part of that culture of generosity.

Darren Galindo:

Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, I always think about if someone asked me like, Michael, if you asked me, can you buy me some food? I forgot my lunch today. I'd be more than happy to help.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. And somehow I think to myself, like, oh, but if I were to ask Michael, that would be so embarrassing for me. I don't wanna do I don't wanna, you know, put him out. I don't wanna, like Mhmm. You know, impose it.

Darren Galindo:

Like, I can just hand I can just suck it up. Yeah. Yeah. And that is me being, you know, having a double standard for myself because I would be more than happy to help, but I assume that that's not true of other people, and it's completely wrong.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm. What what is there part of that?

Seth Wiese:

Could you find me lunch tomorrow?

Darren Galindo:

I will throw the card in your face.

Micheal Petrila:

He's like

Darren Galindo:

a I'm sorry. Mind his mentor. Yeah.

Micheal Petrila:

But what's at the heart of that? What's at the heart of that that you don't wanna receive it and think underneath You don't

Seth Wiese:

think you deserve it.

Micheal Petrila:

You don't think you deserve it or we don't wanna appear weak. We don't wanna appear like that we are we need help. Like, I and as you're saying that, I was like, I wouldn't ask you. I was

Darren Galindo:

like I was like

Micheal Petrila:

I would never do that. No. No. But, like, but what's what's that about? And it just I think it uncovers, like, what is in our culture that we're afraid to do.

Micheal Petrila:

Some people are unafraid, and I find it so in, refreshing. They're like, hey. I'm here out of town. Can you help me, like, find a place? Is there anyone in your community that has, like, an extra room?

Micheal Petrila:

I'm like, I'm so happy to do that, but I would hate to impose that whenever I visit and I have a friend in the town. Like, I'd rather pay a hotel room than impose on anyone. But, like, that's the whole point of being family is that we should be willing to be inconvenienced by one another. And, and there's obviously like, I hope people listening are like, well, now your game plan is not to just ask everyone in your house, church, like, can you buy me families, can you buy me can you buy me lunch for the next week, just so I don't have to, like, spend money? But it's like, no.

Micheal Petrila:

In a healthier environment, when you do when you are in need, you should just be able to say, like, I need help. Yeah. And, yeah. So I think that's just an observation of what's underneath

Darren Galindo:

It puts a new light to when Jesus said you have not because you ask not. It's like, Michael, you don't have a burrito in your hand because you didn't ask for 1. And then I ask I can't buy you a burrito now because you didn't ask. And it's not this, like, oh my goodness. I need to come under and make this grand gesture.

Darren Galindo:

It's just like, I'm hungry. Can you help me?

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. And it's such a sweet thing. And I can say firsthand in our own house church that, you know, I've I forgot who it started with, but, like, there was these needs that popped up, and people were so lavish. And even to the point where we had a we got a a text message back in a group chat, please stop sending money. I have more than enough.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. And, like, that's what you want.

Seth Wiese:

Come on. That's what you want. I've got another I've got a really good house church story. This is this is our, like, my personal family receiving, which is rad. Mhmm.

Seth Wiese:

But,

Micheal Petrila:

we were given a bedroom set,

Seth Wiese:

and we just buy

Micheal Petrila:

a house.

Seth Wiese:

Ruth it was for Ruthie's first, like,

Micheal Petrila:

you

Seth Wiese:

know, bedroom set. And so we go over to pick it up, and it's one of Sarah's, like, coworkers. And she's like, okay. Here it is. And we had thought it was coming with the mattress.

Seth Wiese:

And so we're given this free gift, which is rad.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. But it

Seth Wiese:

was, you know, we wouldn't have gone out and locked looking for this per se. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. But, we're taking it home. We're kinda like, great.

Seth Wiese:

Okay. So we weren't expecting to purchase a mattress. And so, my, my house just passed at the time, Ezra, I was just chatting with him. Like, I was giving him a call. Just we're just talking.

Seth Wiese:

And he's like, what do you have to do? And I was like, oh, we just picked up this bedroom set. It was rad, but kept the mattress. Kinda bummed. We're like, really?

Seth Wiese:

Like, it's the one thing you have to have. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have your bed.

Seth Wiese:

And he he it was just, like, one of those unexpected, we just move, blah blah blah. It's not like we couldn't buy a mattress. True. We were not you know, we could have purchased a mattress. And we were going to purchase a mattress because we had to.

Seth Wiese:

But my house church, without even, like, telling us, just ordered 1.

Micheal Petrila:

Wow. Come on.

Seth Wiese:

And it just showed up.

Micheal Petrila:

Yes. Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

And, like, it's one of those things where it was just a really, really beautiful

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

Thing that they saw a need. And they saw, like it's not like we couldn't do this, but they would just blessed us

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

With generosity above and beyond Yeah. What we needed or even what we were asking for. Yeah. And all we had to do was go, thank you.

Micheal Petrila:

Yes. Yeah.

Seth Wiese:

And that was, like, that was one of the most beautiful ones that I've been the

Micheal Petrila:

Recipient. Recipient.

Seth Wiese:

There we go.

Darren Galindo:

I'm like Recipient.

Seth Wiese:

Recipient. There we go.

Darren Galindo:

Recipient. You got it.

Amanda Petrila:

Recipient. Sorry. Is is

Darren Galindo:

that that's a word. Right? No. It's a word. It is a word.

Amanda Petrila:

Is it? Yeah.

Micheal Petrila:

Recipient sounds sexier. So we'll go with that.

Amanda Petrila:

That's like all.

Darren Galindo:

That's the case for everything that we've heard. Yeah.

Micheal Petrila:

Let's see.

Seth Wiese:

But, yeah, no. That was that was just Let's be a So To be on that end of that

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm. Of

Seth Wiese:

Yeah. Unnecessary grace and blessing.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the kingdom. Yeah. Seriously. This is what this is what we got to talk about on Sunday Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

And this is what we want to grow in as we get better at giving generously and receiving generously. Yeah. I am thinking about what am I thinking about? I'm thinking about a story of a an individual in a community who was, like, not doing so well financially. And everyone would always give him, like, you know, spare clothes or whatever, but it was always, like, the ripped up suit jacket.

Darren Galindo:

And, like, he never had nice stuff because no one ever gave him nice stuff, and he couldn't afford to buy anything for himself. Mhmm. And, the the story comes from the perspective, I think he was a pastor, but that's besides the point. He was like, oh, I'm gonna be so generous with this person. I have this old suit of mine that I'm gonna give him.

Darren Galindo:

It's not that bad. And then when he goes to put it in this in this gentleman's closet, he realizes he's had a long history of just, like, receiving the leftovers. And so, like the story goes is that he, like, takes him shopping to buy a brand new suit. Yeah. And it's just like, as we're thinking about being generous, we tend to give what's the most convenient.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Or, you know, oh, I have I have 5 extra dollars in my wallet. That doesn't hurt to give a homeless guy $5. This is gonna sound like I'm bragging. Maybe I'm losing my reward or anything.

Darren Galindo:

What anyways, I had told myself, like Lead by example. When I have something in my wallet, I and I feel prompted, I will give it. Yeah. I was walking away from Ralph's the other day in in Long Beach. You guys know the 1.

Amanda Petrila:

The 1.

Darren Galindo:

I was driving past. There was a dude, and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna stop and give him money. I had a $100 bill in my wallet.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Darren Galindo:

Yikes. That hurt. Yeah. That hurt a lot. Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. Walking away from that. Yeah. Yeah. And I did.

Darren Galindo:

And that's what we want to be. We don't wanna be stingy. We don't wanna be Scrooge Yeah. Because Christmas is coming up. We don't wanna be Scrooge with our giving, you know.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah. We

Darren Galindo:

want to be lavish, And I think about what date what King David said, I will not sacrifice to the Lord that which cost me nothing. Yeah. And we wanna go above and beyond. And we we even wanna be okay when it feels like other people are taking advantage of what we're giving. Yeah.

Darren Galindo:

Because again, I I have all these stories, but Jesus, when he fed the 5,000, what did it say? Like, people were following him because he fed them.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah. Totally.

Darren Galindo:

Be okay with that.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. I mean, the people of God have always given, like, the first, like, the best, the first thinking about, like, the festival of first fruits that Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

The cereal lights, perhaps.

Micheal Petrila:

I was like, that was really cool when you when we when you you first, like, discovered that and you're like, did you know this? I was like, I had no idea. So Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

I got, like, really deep into this. Oh, really? I taught on generosity a couple years ago and just, like, went really deep into this rabbit hole about the festival of first fruits. But, basically, at the beginning of the I don't even know all the terms, but the the harvest no. They would have planted their crops.

Amanda Petrila:

The first, like, bunch of crops that actually came up, they, the farmers would tie something to it. They'd tie, like, a ribbon or something. So if they planted all of these vines, all of these rows of grapes, the very first ones that popped up at the at the first of the season, they would tie something to it, then they would let it grow throughout the rest of the season. And when it came to harvesting, they would go harvest the things that had kinda that tied ribbon on it. And that's what they would donate to the lord.

Amanda Petrila:

That's what they would give to the lord in the temple.

Micheal Petrila:

It's crazy.

Amanda Petrila:

And they wouldn't just bring it to the temple. They would, like, throw this lavish party beforehand and, like, bless it. They would, like, deck out these cows and get them all dressed up with flowers and all this stuff and put all the food on them. And the whole, community would, like, scream and worship and chant as, like, these animals took the first fruits that they had now planned for

Darren Galindo:

Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

You know, 4, 5, 6 months. I don't know how long crops are harvested for. But,

Micheal Petrila:

Animal Crossing, it takes a day. So,

Darren Galindo:

just kidding.

Amanda Petrila:

Don't put me out like that. I love Animal Crossing. I I just was so impacted by that, and it even is reminding me now. Like, that's what stewardship is. You're, like, setting aside in the beginning.

Amanda Petrila:

You're, like, making plans far in advance. There's so much space for, like, the the spontaneous generosity. Like, Darren, what you said, I think is so beautiful. Like, the holy spirit prompted me, so I gave him the $100 bill. Like, yes.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah.

Amanda Petrila:

And that's what I think generosity is. What I think tithing is, what I think, like, giving your first fruits to the Lord is, is that, like, in advance, I am gonna be stewarding what I have knowing that this is the thing I'm gonna bring and it's the best thing that I'm gonna bring to the lord.

Micheal Petrila:

Can I add? Yeah. Just like that when when you first shared that with me, I was like, what's crazy is, and my limited knowledge of crops as well, is just that you never know how the crop is gonna go. Is it gonna be a good season? Is it gonna be a bad season?

Micheal Petrila:

So the fact that whatever is first fruit that comes up is tied and this is dedicated to the Lord, it meant that if it was a bad crop, they're still gonna be faithful and be like, this is God's. This is God's.

Amanda Petrila:

That's good. And Like, those those might have been the only crops you got here.

Micheal Petrila:

Yeah. And and it's like and so they're probably, like, left in asking the community, asking their church to to receive their generosity because they were faithful to God first. And I'm sure that it comes back. They gave the first fruit to the church and I'm sure the church would take care of them. But I feel like, just in light of that, I think what you're talking about is like when you're dedicating that first, there's this mindset that what I have is ultimate is first God's than anything else.

Micheal Petrila:

And I think, to go back to what we were talking about earlier is, like, in our context, like, we we see that everything I work for, my time, my money, it's mine mine. It's like it's it's this is mine. And no one and no it's not. It's not. Like, when you're in the church, it's part of the the contract in Jesus' blood is that this is now God's.

Micheal Petrila:

This is God's family. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like and you're saying yes to that when you believe in him. But we kind of like to kind of gloss over that because it's like, yeah, that's great, but I really wanna frame TV Or that's just my, like, personal

Darren Galindo:

it's like it's like it's like, yeah. Yeah. Like But

Amanda Petrila:

on the podcast, the patrilos really wanna frame TV. Yeah. Yeah. Of course.

Seth Wiese:

You guys are feeling very,

Darren Galindo:

very generous. Please. No. No. Cut this

Micheal Petrila:

out. So

Darren Galindo:

send in your text.

Micheal Petrila:

Let me let me

Amanda Petrila:

let me

Micheal Petrila:

let me rephrase that so you guys can take that out.

Seth Wiese:

No. Like I am the editor.

Micheal Petrila:

I think in in the American church, we have all the things with we want, not that we need. And that, like, kind of comes before, like, God. And so it's like, I want to go on vacation. I want to go on these things, and they're not bad wants. Mhmm.

Micheal Petrila:

But the question and what Darren brought up is that your time, your finances, your energy, your resources, your gifts, are they brought to the Lord first? So everything needs to be brought to the Lord. Your family, like, it's like it's not God added on top of that or God gets your leftovers. That, I think, essentially, it was, Cain's sin. Cain didn't bring God his best offering.

Micheal Petrila:

Abel did. Abel brought him the first fruits, brought him the best Mhmm. Of his of his stuff, and I don't think Cain did. And, and that's, like, that's the thing. It's, like, are we bringing God our first and because he deserves it, and are we bringing that to the community because they deserve it?

Micheal Petrila:

And that's what you see in acts. It's like there's this there's this willingness to, care for one another, cover one another, be generous with one another so that there's no needs among them.

Darren Galindo:

Well, just the just the concept of first fruits and bringing God our best. Yeah. I am reminded by a poem that I wrote recently. Come on. Darren Glynn is gonna lose it.

Darren Galindo:

I'm gonna just step out there and drop it

Seth Wiese:

Drop it.

Darren Galindo:

In a in an effort to bring a shameless plug for the Forge creative gatherings that we've been cultivating here at Garden Church. And when you hear about it and you're a creative, we'd love to have you join us because we're called to make the world beautiful. Come on. Come on.

Micheal Petrila:

Page 12. Page 12.

Darren Galindo:

Again, you can send your checks too.

Amanda Petrila:

Expect check checks too.

Darren Galindo:

I would love to to just end with this as a means of bringing beauty into this space of generosity Yeah. And giving God our best. Yeah. He moved with passion, often biting lower lip. He moved with intention, considering every step.

Darren Galindo:

Sweat dripped from waving head. Arms flailed like palm trees caught in a storm. He danced. The crowd roared, but not for him. Cheers landed on deaf ears as his mind was enraptured by movement of body.

Darren Galindo:

His steps doubled and tripled. His eyes closed tightly shut. Grunts and moans burst out involuntarily. He moved. Fist flew.

Darren Galindo:

Shoulders swayed. Pounding steps. All the effort in his body focused on a single task. The banner of his imagination repeating, it cannot cost me nothing. If it must be bought, it must be costly.

Darren Galindo:

If it must be sung with melody sweeter than honey, if it must be tasted with spices and flavors abundant, if it must be built only by skillful mastery, written, every word only scratches the surface. If it must be played, the endless heavens cannot contain the songs. If it must be danced, only with all one's might, just like David did.

Micheal Petrila:

Get out of here.

Amanda Petrila:

Get out. I like Just go.

Darren Galindo:

I just you know, off the top of my head, just riffing. That's so good. Beautiful. But as we bring this this conversation to a close, remembering that we're not just forgetting something that we wanna remember at the end of a pay cycle. We're not just trying to come through at the at the very edge.

Darren Galindo:

We're not just saying, if I can afford it, then I will. Yeah. We're almost in defiance Yeah. With all of our might, with all that we have in our being. We're coming to the table linking arms and saying, the kingdom is worth it.

Darren Galindo:

Yeah. We're coming in this all in. All of it all the chips are down. Yeah. Everything that we have is available Mhmm.

Darren Galindo:

For God to use in beautiful ways. Yeah. And I just get excited thinking about that. I get excited when I hear stories of of of a house church buying you a mattress

Micheal Petrila:

set. So good.

Darren Galindo:

And just so many opportunities that we've yet to be discovered. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, we're we're stepping into a season of Thanksgiving right now, the one that comes before Christmas.

Micheal Petrila:

Mhmm.

Darren Galindo:

Get the

Micheal Petrila:

Thanksgiving socks out.

Amanda Petrila:

And and

Darren Galindo:

who who knows, like, Michael, we have, what, 200 Thanksgiving baskets? Yeah. And we're giving them away. Yeah. When is that do you know when that happens?

Micheal Petrila:

That happens on Next week. Next week. I don't really think we need it. I mean, I I don't know if

Darren Galindo:

I mean, we get to celebrate that. Yeah.

Micheal Petrila:

We get to celebrate that. And that's

Amanda Petrila:

them.

Darren Galindo:

It's gonna be amazing. Yeah. And we're so looking forward to that, and I'm just so grateful for this space. Thank you guys for sharing your wisdom. Thank you for sharing stories, And I look forward to just being generous together.

Amanda Petrila:

Yeah. Yeah. Loved it.

Micheal Petrila:

So good. Thanks.

Seth Wiese:

Alright. Thank you, guys.

Darren Galindo:

Thank you for listening to Gardener's podcast. For more information about our church, please visit garden.church.