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Tell Me More is a weekly podcast hosted by Katy Reed Hodges and Luke Stehr, where they unpack the Sunday sermon with Dr. Dennis Wiles. This podcast is designed on the premise that Dr. Wiles always has more to say than can fit in a 35 minute sermon - so we have fun discussing it here each week. We hope that in listening you are educated, encouraged and more connected to the pastor and his teaching!
Welcome to this week's episode of Tell Me More. We're in the studio with Connor Torialba, our Connor College ministry. Connor preached Sunday on the topic of patience, and we talk about just how you apply that to your life, how it changes you and your view of God. And it's a really good conversation, and we're glad you're listening.
Speaker 2:Alright. Well, we're back in the studio for Tell Me More, and we
Speaker 3:don't have doctor Wiles because he is on study lead. Bye, doctor Wiles.
Speaker 1:See
Speaker 2:you. Although I, full disclosure, have seen him.
Speaker 1:Yes. I He's Yep.
Speaker 3:I thought he's supposed to be gone.
Speaker 1:Well, he's out of the pulpit.
Speaker 2:He's out of
Speaker 1:the He's studying.
Speaker 2:He's studying.
Speaker 1:And he's around.
Speaker 2:But if you haven't been able to tell, just by the voice in the room or if you're watching, you can see, We have the wonderful, illustrious, amazing No.
Speaker 3:Gifted. I don't like all those talents.
Speaker 2:Talents too. Nope. Nope. Kind.
Speaker 1:Handsome.
Speaker 3:Present. That's it. Connor Torialba. Yay. No.
Speaker 1:Not just present. Not just the only guy we could get.
Speaker 3:Not true.
Speaker 2:You know, God transforms the world through his presence, and his presence in us is transformative. So thank you for being present.
Speaker 3:Glad to be here.
Speaker 1:There it is. There it is. We are thrilled. You preached on Sunday.
Speaker 3:It was great.
Speaker 1:Today is Tuesday afternoon. We're a little bit disjointed for many reasons this week, but mostly is Kinder Bible. Kinder Bible school's going on in the mornings, and so some of our team, aka our videographer, and the tech team is over capturing that. From all accounts, it's going really well. Kinder Bible School is going really well.
Speaker 1:It's like a 100 From
Speaker 2:a parent perspective, it's great.
Speaker 1:We love it. Cool. So that's for our going into pre k, going into kindergarten or coming
Speaker 2:out Going into kindergarten and going into first grade?
Speaker 1:Yep. That's right.
Speaker 3:That's what they said Sunday.
Speaker 1:There it is. So I just got That's all I know. And so that's great. There's a lot of wonderful church women over there, like, as I've dropped my boys at CDC, which is different thing.
Speaker 3:It's like a hall of fame over there.
Speaker 1:It it is like every wonderful woman that could be there on a weekday morning. So Amazing. But because of that and schedules
Speaker 2:There are some young men over there too.
Speaker 1:Are there? Yeah. I only saw the women.
Speaker 2:A decent amount of teenage boys.
Speaker 1:Oh, right. Like youth boys?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Youth.
Speaker 1:I love that. The hallway I was on was just all women, which is great. But like I said, top tier.
Speaker 2:Yes. It's top tier
Speaker 1:people Yeah. All When the first face you see is Catherine O'Neil, you're like, this is gonna be good. This is gonna be this is gonna be alright. So but all that to say, full discretion, it is it's pushing Tuesday afternoon. I mean, it's Yeah.
Speaker 1:End of day Tuesday.
Speaker 2:It's pushing Tuesday evening.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:We're We're almost there.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh. Yeah. Speaking of the children's building, I will need to go get some children at some point. So
Speaker 3:Bright eyed, bushy tailed Yeah.
Speaker 1:You're getting
Speaker 3:ready to go.
Speaker 1:You're getting the best of us. Tell Me More. You're getting the best of us.
Speaker 2:I did have my morning coffee this afternoon, so I feel Okay.
Speaker 1:A slight buzz. Good. He's gotten a little a little pep in his step.
Speaker 3:Artificial,
Speaker 2:You know, the joy of the Lord and maybe some caffeine are my strength.
Speaker 1:We love it. Well, Luke, were gone last week
Speaker 2:I was.
Speaker 1:In Chicago.
Speaker 2:I was.
Speaker 1:How is Chicago this time of year?
Speaker 2:Chicago is well, it was very rainy.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:So, they've had a lot of rain and some tornadoes. Thankfully, missed the tornadoes. Got a good amount of rain, but green, lots of flowers blooming, beautiful I spend most of my time in Chicago in a conference room.
Speaker 3:Did you go see the Cloud Gate?
Speaker 2:I did not go see the Cloud
Speaker 1:What is that?
Speaker 3:The Bean.
Speaker 2:The Bean.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's called the Cloud Gate?
Speaker 3:Technically, that is the name of it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I never knew that.
Speaker 2:I did get I flew Sunday morning, so I missed last Sunday. Yes. Not this Sunday, but the Sunday before.
Speaker 1:It was
Speaker 2:like $200 cheaper, so I hated to miss sin Sunday. Sinned Sunday, not sin Sunday. I may have sinned, but not on purpose.
Speaker 3:I got caught. Yeah. What do I
Speaker 1:I wanna think about that statement? Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I
Speaker 1:may have sinned.
Speaker 2:But not on purpose.
Speaker 1:K.
Speaker 2:I'm just, you know, in the spirit of confession.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. That looks good.
Speaker 1:Just a blanket. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's good.
Speaker 2:But did get to spend some time in the city before class started. So I went to Chinatown and met up with some people in my cohort for some dim sum.
Speaker 3:What's your opinion on deep dish pizza?
Speaker 2:It's fine. I actually like Chicago
Speaker 3:It's a cake.
Speaker 2:Thin crust pizza better.
Speaker 1:Hot take. Yeah. It's not really what they're known for. Oh, really
Speaker 2:good. It's So, really yeah. Great week. Well, welcome back. It's good to be back.
Speaker 1:And you've hit the ground running. It's gonna be a busy week at First River Charlton. It is. We're already halfway through of
Speaker 2:your What all is going on this week, Katie?
Speaker 1:Well, Kinder Bible School, but by the time you're listening to this, probably missed it because I think tomorrow morning's the last morning of it.
Speaker 3:It is. Quick. End Go back in time.
Speaker 1:We also, for the for the church members, I mean, this for our people that live life with us, we're hosting a very large funeral on Thursday for Vern Hargrave. Mhmm. And we're gonna just try to honor God and honor his family and be here for that. So, you know, some of our team, that's the big thing for the week. And then another part of our team, there's a big Jordanian festival going Hosting on the North Lawn.
Speaker 2:Of Jordan on the North Lawn and at the Levitt.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And we're actually hosting within our building, Thursday night, a come and see little there's an event, a program of sorts, and anyone's invited to that, but you need to get a ticket. And so how would someone get a ticket, Luke, if they're listening?
Speaker 2:How you direct newsletter would be the easiest way to find it. So if you go back through email, find the church newsletter. And so if you want to do any of the events that the Government of Jordan is doing this week, whether it's the one inside of our building or on our North Lawn, they are ticketed events. They're all free, but you do need to preregister. So again, both of those are in the church newsletter.
Speaker 1:Or you can email one of us.
Speaker 2:You can email one of And us, we'll we'll send send you it to
Speaker 1:you for it to you. But you can't get in without a ticket.
Speaker 2:So that's
Speaker 1:It's somewhat controlled in So that
Speaker 2:doors open at 06:30 Thursday night. We'll have a program that starts at seven, and it's basically going over the fact that Jordan is really part of the Holy Land, and a large number of biblical sites are in Jordan. And so they're gonna talk about the
Speaker 1:Who knew?
Speaker 2:Kind of religious legacy of Jordan in the Bible. Cool.
Speaker 1:And they are streaming several of the World Cup games.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think it's a good number.
Speaker 1:Including, Jordan versus Argentina. Yes. Late Saturday night.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Late Saturday night. So Saturday night, 9PM.
Speaker 1:So super fun. But again, if you're like, oh, just walk up, the Levitt. No, the Levitt is currently gated. Like, there's a temporary fence around the entire block the Levitt sits on and the North Lawn. It cuts and kind of it could look like it cuts right next to our church, and South Street is all part of that.
Speaker 1:So if you're thinking, well, it's a watch party. I'll just walk up. You cannot there's gonna be, like, an entrance, which is rare for the Levitt.
Speaker 3:Sure.
Speaker 1:Think through it that way, and you need to get a ticket even if you just wanna go to that.
Speaker 2:And there are volunteer opportunities available. I wanna give the full disclosure that we are not managing the volunteering for this. So if you, you know, I've had several people email me and say, can you tell me what time I signed up for? I actually can't, because I'm not quite sure who's managing the volunteers. I'm working on figuring that out, but, it's a good opportunity to be a good neighbor.
Speaker 2:And I've just been trying to tell people that we really don't know all the fruit that's gonna come from us doing this, but we have the opportunity to make a strong impression for people who follow Jesus, Christians, to a majority Muslim country. And that can have some strong impact for the gospel in The Middle East. And so come, if you don't wanna volunteer, come and participate. Just come out for a couple of hours. Again, preregister, but come be there, rub shoulders with people, and just be the Jesus follower we know you are.
Speaker 1:It is. I think it's gonna be great. So we're excited for it. The engagement team has been working very hard on it, and we're excited to see where to come from it. So that's going on this week
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Along with business as usual, just life together. We're rolling into next week and on from there. Connor, what's going on with college in this, like, snapshot right here? Pretty soon y'all go to Denver.
Speaker 3:Denver is not this weekend, but it's the following weekend. We live on July 4.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Three in the morning. Seriously? Yeah. We're loading up at three in the morning and driving out to Denver.
Speaker 2:And our videographer Addison's going on
Speaker 3:That's true. For it. But that'll be great. It's our fourth year going. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And we'll be working with the kids camp out there. Some like to like a VBS or something. Good
Speaker 1:and fruitful Oh yeah. Each year you've gone. Mhmm. I look forward to hearing Yeah.
Speaker 3:So, we'll be taking 10 students out there. But otherwise, we're doing Thursday night bible studies at my house on my back porch, which Mhmm. Is It's been a lot of fun. And then, June is really just about like planning and dreaming for the fall. And then July is like actualizing a lot of that.
Speaker 3:And then August is executing.
Speaker 2:So Yep.
Speaker 3:You know, we're just
Speaker 2:And are you still prayer walking?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. Every day.
Speaker 2:Are church members invited to join you?
Speaker 1:Tell our church about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Every summer, I prayer walk UTA every day that I'm in town. And it's right now, we're doing Monday through Thursday. So, when I'm here in the office, 08:30 in the morning is when I'll per walk the campus. And then, Friday through Sunday, it varies because life is different, and I'm not always at the office at 08:30 in morning.
Speaker 1:But, Monday through through Thursday, pretty predictable.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. For sure. So, if you wanna jump in, you can message me on, just email me. That's great. The easiest way.
Speaker 3:I think my email's on the church website, for sure. So, do that. You can message me on Instagram, I suppose. I will check that much less often. But otherwise If
Speaker 1:you can't remember how to spell Connor's name, you can just email me and I'll connect you with him.
Speaker 3:My name is also on the church website. You can find it there. It's all phonetic.
Speaker 1:Connor dot torielba Yeah. @fbca.org.
Speaker 3:Boom. Easy to remember.
Speaker 1:And you too can prayer walk the campus.
Speaker 3:Come and prayer walk.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, I think what's
Speaker 1:Oh, go ahead. Sorry. No.
Speaker 2:I think what's amazing is, I think everyone in our church sees college students getting baptized and throughout the we're all just amazed and so grateful for that work. But you would say, and I'm saying this because I've heard you say it, that that work really starts
Speaker 3:with prayer. I think it's because we're praying about it a lot, and then stuff happens.
Speaker 1:You say it no so nonchalantly.
Speaker 3:That's how it works y'all. You just pray about it a lot and then it happens. So I don't know. Keep praying about it. Pray for your neighbors.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Amen.
Speaker 1:What I was gonna ask because we've jumped into the content because it's easily, it's ripe and it's rich, but I wanted a little bit of like a Torielba update.
Speaker 3:Okay. Sure.
Speaker 1:I don't know the last time you were in here, but I know in the last
Speaker 3:might have been last summer.
Speaker 1:In the last wow. Okay. Well, we need to write that wrong. Noted for next time.
Speaker 3:Maybe? I think.
Speaker 1:But since give it a year. In the last calendar year, you've had a lot of life.
Speaker 3:Some might say too much.
Speaker 1:Y'all purchased your first home?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Together. Homeowners now. We like I said, we can host stuff on our back porch now. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That was kinda you alluded to, like,
Speaker 2:hosting people. Home.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You're you're in the 76013
Speaker 3:Yep. Which is Yep.
Speaker 1:I won't get any closer
Speaker 3:Yeah. Thank you.
Speaker 1:You know, for your own security and safety, but we are also a one three year Yeah. It's the most time.
Speaker 2:First Baptist Arlington saturated ZIP code in Arlington. Oh oh.
Speaker 3:Okay. Great. Lovely little Well, I love living that close to Aldi. That's my big
Speaker 1:Oh, The Aldi Yeah.
Speaker 3:The Aldi is awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:We we have many reasons that we like This has
Speaker 3:very much quickly become a people in their
Speaker 1:thirties podcast. Immediately, Typhoon comes through a compliment as I am no longer in my thirties.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay. Well,
Speaker 1:sure. We sure. I love the little band of Arlington, our little slice of the world, you know. I've got some some point of pride
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Place of pride, pride of place, whatever that is. So, okay. Y'all bought a home. How is that going for you?
Speaker 3:We love it. It's it's been really great to have Phoebe there. It's been awesome to have.
Speaker 1:We didn't even get to that part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know right.
Speaker 1:We had a kid this year.
Speaker 3:We had a kid. But Patience is still working from home and it's been great because we have a nanny that comes in and works with Phoebe. Patience gets to work in her office and pop out whenever she
Speaker 1:It's wants great.
Speaker 3:Say hi and all that. Kind of best of both worlds of being able to still work from home, but also be around the baby as much as you can while you're also having a full time job. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's a good set up for y'all.
Speaker 3:It's been really good. Wouldn't that have re it might have been possible in the apartment, but it would have been difficult. So this makes it way easier. My mom's been living with us for the last couple of weeks and well, she just went on a trip. She'll be back in a couple weeks and she'll be with us.
Speaker 3:But we're able to host her in one of our rooms so Great. You it's know, a four bedroom house, so we're able to host everybody pretty comfortably and it doesn't feel like we're on top of each other and still host college students and couples and all this other stuff that we
Speaker 1:can So, been able to actually kinda
Speaker 3:It's been really great.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You You had a fire alarm problem?
Speaker 3:We were talking about this before. I guess, publicity for one of our church members.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Sure. If you want, you should.
Speaker 3:I know. I know.
Speaker 1:I don't know. Know.
Speaker 3:Has started his own company. He's an electrician. Called him out because
Speaker 1:Nolan and Jenna, a younger couple in our church, came up through the college ministry.
Speaker 3:That's true.
Speaker 1:Met in the college ministry.
Speaker 3:That's true.
Speaker 1:Did you do their wedding?
Speaker 3:No, didn't. Doctor. Weilson. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh. Doctor. Weilson did their wedding? Mhmm. And now, they're friends.
Speaker 3:And now, he is he helped rescue us because we have wired smoke alarms in our house. So, like, wired into the house and everything. Okay. And for the past week or so, they just like been randomly going off.
Speaker 1:Like not cooking? No. Or not.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Initially, was like while we were like turning the oven on or something. We're like, okay, well, that's that's really sensitive. We'll figure this out. And then at midnight, which is terrifying, one, for the smoke alarms to go off at midnight.
Speaker 3:But then realizing, oh no, it's a false alarm and we have a baby. So that was great. So they went off again on Saturday like two or three times during the day. And I was like, alright. Well, I'm calling Nolan.
Speaker 3:Let's see if he's available to come on over
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And help me out. So he did great. Would recommend. I don't have his business card on me, but I'm sure you can find him at We can help connect you. Yeah.
Speaker 3:But it was great. It was great. You did a good job.
Speaker 1:So you're kind of initiated into homeownership?
Speaker 3:Oh, very much so. You know, we got the hired the plumber out today, all sorts of stuff, man. It's been great.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. And tell us, you you've mentioned that you've had a baby. Yes. Phoebe.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We had Phoebe on March 3.
Speaker 1:March 3.
Speaker 3:Yeah. She's just almost four months now. Three. It's crazy. Okay.
Speaker 3:Crazy to think about.
Speaker 2:I'm still really disappointed that at our parent dedication for her theme verse, you did not do from Romans 16. I commend to you.
Speaker 3:I almost did. But I was like, I think it needs to be a, like, a life verse for them, not just like a meme. You know? So
Speaker 1:Give it some good consideration. Yeah.
Speaker 3:She is named after that Phoebe for sure. But, you know, but yeah. Yeah. Though she's been tons of fun. She's extremely talkative.
Speaker 1:She's cute.
Speaker 3:Which is really really fun. So she just talked back to you the whole time. I love it. So
Speaker 1:I hung out with her a little bit on Sunday. Yeah. The patients brought her into the welcome home center. Oh, man. She's just a cute She's just a girl.
Speaker 2:She's super cute.
Speaker 3:Yeah. She's the best.
Speaker 1:Love it. Well, speaking of, patients brought her in while you were preaching.
Speaker 3:Yeah. On patients.
Speaker 1:On the very topic of Yeah. Patients or forbearance.
Speaker 3:Forbearance, maybe.
Speaker 1:Because doctor Wiles assigned it.
Speaker 3:Right. And I changed the title because I was like, who says forbearance?
Speaker 2:Doctor Weil.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's fair enough. And I guess, NIV does, baby. But, you know
Speaker 1:You have that liberty, Right?
Speaker 3:I guess so. I mean
Speaker 1:You did it. Yeah. So you know you lived with Maybe I
Speaker 3:had, and now I don't have
Speaker 1:it
Speaker 3:anymore.
Speaker 1:You tested a boundary.
Speaker 3:We will revoke your privileges. Maybe. We'll see.
Speaker 1:Tell me I mean, this is so broad. We created this podcast based on like if you had more time, what direction you might go. So, are there are there things that had you had to chop? It didn't Like, make
Speaker 3:it was interesting when I was trying to read over all my notes prior to our recording today. I was like, I got to say most of what I wanted to. And that's nice. You know, it's nice to be able to work it all in there.
Speaker 1:Right. You don't feel like, dang it, that was I chased the rabbit and that won't fit. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. But I think, you know, getting the chance to talk about waiting through circumstances while waiting with people well. It was a lot of fun, you know.
Speaker 1:Tell me, have you gotten much feedback?
Speaker 3:I think the feedback I get in general is just like appreciation. Several people said that's what they needed to hear that morning or what they're walking through a season.
Speaker 1:I would have to think
Speaker 3:of A season of waiting or a season with or whatever. I think that I heard good feedback from that. And for me, like, more than just a, hey, great job, or you're a good speaker, it's encouraging to hear, oh, the Lord spoke to through that. Sure. You know?
Speaker 3:Yeah. What you're always looking Yeah. That's like the
Speaker 1:whole reason.
Speaker 3:Right. Right. So when that happens, and it happened a few times, that's really encouraging. Feels like, okay, I did what I was supposed to do with that. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Serve the church in that way, which is fun.
Speaker 1:Yes. Mhmm. I've heard some good feedback on it.
Speaker 3:Just What have you heard?
Speaker 2:Was just just looking for compliments.
Speaker 1:That's our Connor.
Speaker 3:You're like, well, I've heard some negative feedback. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I brought you to this podcast to really
Speaker 3:correct Okay. Here we go.
Speaker 1:I'm in passing in my little circles, I'm trying to think who or if they would want to be said, but just that it's You're a very practical preacher.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:That you're gonna People are gonna be able to walk away with some application and how this applies.
Speaker 3:I'm always thinking about Tuesday when I'm preaching.
Speaker 1:Tell me more about that.
Speaker 3:What are you gonna do with this on Tuesday? You know, like the boring day of the week. You know, how are you gonna live this out?
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And that plays. I see that. Like, I think that's the feedback of like, man, wasn't that good? Which again is kind of a
Speaker 3:Great.
Speaker 1:Broad. Yeah. But there was something for me there. Mhmm. I can
Speaker 3:Could do something can
Speaker 1:apply some of that. And I thought, I mean, just from watching, like, very practical. Very practical. Yeah. I appreciated Kurt Greiss and I talked today about your analogy of, like, cleaning up the closet.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Getting an intern to clean up the closet. Like, you're not gonna micromanage it. Do whatever you want to, but do it. But, like, if you're not sure what to do next, like, well, did you house the closet?
Speaker 1:You know? Yeah. Like, it's just going back to, like, what you know God has for you. Yeah. That's practical.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. That's a very practical sitting in there, like what do I do with this right now?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I remember that analogy came together because it's what I used with a previous associate as they were trying to figure out, like what am I supposed to do next? I was like, well, you're cleaning out your closet right now, literally. Like we're talking about it as we're organizing it. Then And it came together that way.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:So Mhmm. Love it. Life. Good. Love a good illustration.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know? Just gotta keep you gotta keep them in the back back of your mind.
Speaker 2:What do you you know, since you're you're preaching for Tuesday
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:It is Tuesday.
Speaker 3:Welcome. Welcome. We're here.
Speaker 1:Are you applying it, listeners?
Speaker 3:Well, yesterday, I definitely got annoyed at a red light that didn't change. So like, you know, already failing. But Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I have three year olds
Speaker 2:so Okay. Callbacks.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What do you hope people are doing today?
Speaker 3:I hope, as it relates to people who are in like waiting seasons or circumstances, that you know, the attention is turning less to, well, when will this be over? Or, when is the thing that I'm wanting to have happen? When are gonna get that callback for that job or whatever? Mhmm. And more so attention turning towards the Lord, and, okay, Lord, what do you have for me in this time?
Speaker 1:I'm Right gonna speak
Speaker 3:today, you know, because he has good works for us every day to do. And so, I hope hope for that. I hope that if you're back with that difficult coworker, whoever it could be, that maybe you're seeing them with a bit more eyes of grace and possibility. And so, I would hope for those things with a Tuesday with it that, I guess like the burden of impatience being lessened, you know. As you're walking through this week, if you're able to take in some of the things that we talked about on Sunday.
Speaker 3:I think it helps me with different things that I'm waiting on or whatever. You know, whenever you're writing a sermon, it's very much like, oh, well, I needed to hear that. Or, oh, that's for me. Sure. You know?
Speaker 3:And so, trying to apply those things in my own life and make sure that, you know. You know, it's interesting. Tatum, who's our new college ministry associate Mhmm. And I a meeting this past month quite a bit, planning out this semester. And one of the things that she said as we were talking about how to have even better hospitality within our college ministry.
Speaker 3:Which I think is really good. We're a very welcoming environment. But we want to move from just like welcoming to creating belonging.
Speaker 1:It's kind
Speaker 2:of the
Speaker 3:goal for us this coming year. And she was saying how one of the things that she's wanted to train our lead team students in is not to say no for people. In other words, if you're talking to somebody and it feels like a brick wall or whatever, you can just keep talking to them. They'll tell you no or And that idea of not saying no for people was even in my mind when I was thinking about grace and possibility when it comes to ministry or evangelizing to neighbors or whoever it is. If we're not careful, we can, the Pharisees, look at someone like Matthew and say, well, they're not interested.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We're saying no for them. Yeah. You know? And instead, have a more open perspective on it.
Speaker 1:That's good.
Speaker 3:This past today, was prayer walking Greek Row over at UTA. Mhmm. Which I've never prayer walked before. Just because it's like the exact opposite end of
Speaker 1:Free Far Walk.
Speaker 3:Campus. Yeah. You know? And, but, now that I'm biking to work often, like
Speaker 1:You had not mentioned that
Speaker 3:yet That's true.
Speaker 1:In this podcast.
Speaker 3:I got my bike. Biking to work, like, well, times per week is the goal. My route actually takes me right down Greek Row, I don't think is an accident from the Lord. But, like, that's something we're gonna be doing this coming fall as we get close to Dollar Steak Night is we're gonna canvass Greek Row and like knock on doors and invite
Speaker 1:them to parties.
Speaker 3:See if they come or not. It's a charge.
Speaker 2:Church members to be praying for the frat boys and supporting girls of UTA.
Speaker 3:It's for sure. But you know, I think that's a group of people who in years past have been like, well, they might not be interested so I'm not gonna put a bunch of effort in them.
Speaker 1:You've said no for them.
Speaker 3:Or they're busy, or whatever is kind of the mindset you can have about it, and less of that, and more of the, okay, what about the grace and the possibility that could happen if some people come to Christ and have inroads into those communities that we wouldn't otherwise. That's really good. Can
Speaker 1:I ask you to share, we've been doing this this summer a little bit? I mean, I guess two times in a row is a pattern, but at first time It's straight line. Yeah. This summer, we meet on Monday mornings as a staff, and so last week, when I preached, Brad asked me if I would kind of give a follow-up to it in the He staff asked you the same thing. You preached you preached Sunday and then Monday morning yesterday, you gave a little follow-up to it to the staff.
Speaker 1:Sure. I think everybody I've talked to has just received it incredibly well.
Speaker 3:Okay. That's good.
Speaker 1:Not to just say, like, it was a good talk, because that's not really the goal, but I feel like it was well timed, and that God used it for But a lot of I kinda wanted you to run some of it back for us.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't know if that's I'm not gonna tee you up to just give the devotional again.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:But what themes came out? Because I think you put a lot of thought into how do I take this concept that I've been studying for a week or more
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And put it into a devotional that's applicable to the 30 people in the room. Yeah. That are on staff at First Time in Showington right now. Right. So, can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. What we talked about yesterday was the fact that we as a church are in a waiting season. You know, from one standpoint, you can look at that and say, we're waiting for these staff roles to be filled. You know, the search teams and other staff positions at our church. Other things that we're waiting for, we're waiting for Doctor.
Speaker 3:Wiles to come back from study leave, But you I think also, there's a waiting for, I don't know, is not ominous or something, but it's just kind of like, I wonder where we'll be in five, ten years. What's the future trajectory?
Speaker 1:And a lot of these people represent plans. Right. Like, we're kind of waiting to see Exactly, what's actually gonna where?
Speaker 3:You know, you've got some pretty key roles. Yeah. That are going to impact the trajectory.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:You know, for the near and long term future of our And so, and waiting, where will that go? You know? And hopefully waiting with expectation and hope. Yeah. But, it can be easy to become cynical in the waiting.
Speaker 3:You know? That's something I talked about yesterday is that like, I think in my less than Christ like moments, I'm more cynical. You know, if I'm gonna lean towards something, I'll tend to be a cynic. That's not good. I think one of the things I said yesterday is if we're leaning towards cynicism, then we're probably not looking at Jesus.
Speaker 3:Which
Speaker 2:was such a good line. Thanks. It was so good.
Speaker 3:But I do believe that, because I know that that's what I'm doing, when I'm getting really cynical. I'm not looking at Jesus as, you know, the provider of this future hope that actually strengthens our patients. Good. You know? And so, we talked about that, and we talked about the that, you know, the future trajectory of this church, though it will be impacted by various leaders that we hire, or raise up, or whatever.
Speaker 3:Ultimately, what our hope is that it's most impacted by Jesus, you know, because He's the one that's in charge of this church. And as our congregational church, I think the desire and goal there is that we're all listening to the Holy Spirit. We all have an ear to the heart of God, and together we can move forward in what He's calling us to do.
Speaker 1:This is the goal.
Speaker 3:That's the hope. Yeah. And so, I think that's the hope that we can look towards if we trust Jesus. You know? Sometimes it can be tough if we're not careful in our cynicism to wonder what's somebody else's motivation or when is this gonna happen or whatever.
Speaker 3:But, I think if our, what sets us apart as an organization from another non profit or a company is that we're not putting our trust in a certain board of directors. We're putting our trust in Jesus as the head of this church. And so, that was kind of something I wanted to encourage all of us towards as we wait, you know. We're not putting our trust in, well, we hire the right people or whatever. Though, hopefully we do.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:You know, but our
Speaker 1:Our faith is not in a search committee.
Speaker 3:Right. You know. Yeah. As great as our search committees are. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Faith is in Yeah. Believe in them.
Speaker 1:That God is speaking to them though. They're unified in the way you're talking about. Yeah. The spirit is among them.
Speaker 3:Exactly. So, that was a point of encouragement I had, or I don't know, encouragement like stay the course for us.
Speaker 1:And you kinda said like, sometimes this is a confession.
Speaker 3:Yeah. For sure.
Speaker 1:The preparation of this is a confession.
Speaker 3:I think There's a I said that anytime you publicly present anything about scripture, you're confessing something. Yeah. Because you're not living
Speaker 1:in Which I think is a great preaching, not strategy, but you're inviting people in to say, like, I'm part of this too. Yeah. This isn't just a word for Yeah.
Speaker 3:Talking about, like, having grace and possibility and waiting with all this stuff like I talked about on Sunday is not because I've got it down, y'all.
Speaker 1:It's like a chat for y'all to get better.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Here. Right? If you guys wanna get on my level, let me tell you how to know. You're thinking You know, I think the other thing we talked about on Monday was, you know, what are we waiting for?
Speaker 3:It was a question I had during the sermon as well. Are we waiting for a specific outcome? Or are we looking to what is God teaching us in the season of waiting? And I think that also helps us wait better. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:If we're waiting for a specific outcome, we can be disappointed in that. Mhmm. Because the specific outcome might not happen, or it might not happen in the time frame that we want. But, if we're looking for how can I draw near to Christ in this, and what can he tell me, even in today, even as I'm waiting, that I don't think we'll ever be disappointed? That's what I found even in, you know, in between seasons in my life.
Speaker 3:I didn't get into it in the sermon because I thought that the closet illustration was better. But, for me, when I was between ministry positions, I was a bi vocational college minister before, and then here full time. Between that, it was a couple of months. There were all sorts of possibilities, and very little clarity from the Lord of what's actually gonna happen here. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And I was just waiting and I would go and pray and meditate and be like, maybe today he will part the clouds and tell me what's gonna happen. And, that didn't happen. What did happen was
Speaker 1:Yeah, what'd you learn in that season?
Speaker 3:Keep waiting. The thing I learned was like
Speaker 1:because there's a lot of learning and Yeah.
Speaker 3:Thing I learned about right. I talked about on Sunday was what was the last thing he told you
Speaker 1:to do?
Speaker 3:You know, what are your standing orders? And I didn't have some specific, well, go and do this thing you left undone. It was more of a, I'm still called to college students. I'm still called to make disciples. So, how can I do that right now, even if I'm not working at a church, or don't have a church job, or a residency, or whatever it is?
Speaker 3:And so, I, you know, did a small group with a couple of guys. Led that for a season. Got re involved with a ministry I was part of in college, and kind of helped, helped consult on that, and was a camp speaker, and like did some of those things. And just tried to invest in other people in that way. And that helped me weight well, but it also taught me like, oh, well, I've never, just because I don't have it as a job doesn't mean I'm not supposed to be a disciple maker.
Speaker 3:Like, that's always gonna be the call, whether you're in church or not. Yeah. And so, that was helpful. And then, you know, I think that through that, through just being faithful to be a disciple maker, it was interesting. Trying to invest in another previous student of mine who was teaching at a church.
Speaker 3:I went and liked to support him. Had a conversation with another student there who was active at the BSM. He was like, hey, when was the last time you talked to Gary? And I was like, maybe a little, it's been a little while.
Speaker 1:Haven't really
Speaker 3:talked to him recently. And he was like, you should talk to him some time. Should get a chance to catch up and everything. I'm sure he'd love to hear how you're doing. And so, texted him, and then that's how I heard about this job.
Speaker 3:You know, so it's just interesting how like, I'm just gonna wait. I'm gonna be faithful to do some of these things. And again, it's not that God was like parting the clouds, but he utilized that movement towards the general call to be a disciple maker to direct my steps. You know? So, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think those things there in terms of like what are we waiting for. Are we waiting for a specific outcome? Are we just open to doing what we're supposed to be doing as ministers? Know? We can't control the outcomes of all the complexities of this organization.
Speaker 3:You know, whether it be search teams or different leadership or whatever it could be. You know, not any one person just like says, this is it. You know? And so, we all kind of have to trust the Lord in the midst of
Speaker 2:it. I
Speaker 3:think that's what I said yesterday.
Speaker 1:That's what I heard.
Speaker 3:That's what That's what I
Speaker 2:If it wasn't, it was well done.
Speaker 1:You also had a word about venting. Alright. Because I heard it. Sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Just about venting.
Speaker 3:I said that on Sunday. It was very similar. Right? Okay. I think that we, it's so easy to get into a mindset when somebody is annoying you to, like, okay, I'm going to capture this moment, so I can tell my best friend about it.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And say, isn't this crazy? And, yeah, I was encouraging the staff yesterday, and just everybody at the church, just, hey, go to God first. Talk to them about talk to God about it first.
Speaker 1:Bless you.
Speaker 3:Bless you, Greg.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 3:Go to God first. Talk to Him about it, and He'll give you some wisdom before you even if you're gonna go and talk to a mentor about it or somebody wiser than you.
Speaker 1:Start with God.
Speaker 3:Why not? Yeah. Right?
Speaker 1:And maybe even keep it there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. He'll tell you if you should keep it there. And that can be tough sometimes too, you're like, oh, but I really, really want to get their perspective.
Speaker 1:A story.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know? Yep. But it might not be for that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. A good reminder that gossip is a sin. Right? Right? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Let's not Yeah.
Speaker 3:Be careful in your prayer requests too. Right?
Speaker 1:Right. Right. I think Baptist churches do it the worst, perhaps. But Yeah. Luke, anything?
Speaker 1:I mean, there's a lot What what do you what are you feeling?
Speaker 2:You know, you sat with and we haven't talked about Abraham at all on the podcast so far. No. And you you preached through, you know, a section of Abraham's life. Yeah. What's standing out to you about Abraham slash Abraham?
Speaker 2:Kind of on the other side of your sermon, on the other side of Monday think what's
Speaker 3:so funny is, you know, yes, he was he believed God and it was accounted accounted him for righteousness in verse six as it said. And it's like, good job, Abram. And then the next chapter is him like, getting with Hagar and everything. Yep. And it's like, okay, well, could've waited a bit better.
Speaker 2:It's a good reminder that the people in the bible are really just people.
Speaker 3:Really, really messed up. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Really had a mountain top experience.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know? And I think, you know, with Abram and his story, I'm encouraged by it because it's like, man, God uses broken families too. God uses messed up situations and like our own. We can have mountain top experiences and fall on our face the next day or whatever, and like God still has purposes for us, and still has grace for us, and still sees us with possibility, like all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3:And that blows me away, you know. I think, like when you grow up in church, don't hear about all of the warts and stuff with some of our Bible heroes, you know. And then when you read it for yourself, you're like, woah, this is who we're looking to? And there's a lot to admire there for sure. And there's a lot to raise your eyebrows about as well.
Speaker 3:And God uses all of it. Know? Like eventually, he tells Hagar, like, I'm the God who sees you. Right? Like, gets to, she calls him now.
Speaker 3:She calls him, you're the God that sees me. And that's such a powerful story.
Speaker 2:And she's the first person in scripture to name
Speaker 3:Right. A Exactly right. I was trying to remember what the trivia point for that was. But like, that's something that happens because he doesn't wait well. You know?
Speaker 3:Like, God's able to redeem that situation. Doesn't make it like, good that it happened
Speaker 1:But, doesn't, God doesn't waste anything. Right. You know, everything's used. Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah. You know? And so, I think his story is incredibly impactful for that. I think the other thing that we didn't get into during the sermon was, I think the promise happens to him in Genesis 12, and he's 75 years old, and then he has to wait twenty five years or so for the sun to come. You know?
Speaker 3:That's a long time to wait.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of waiting.
Speaker 3:You know? A lot mistakes along in that waiting. Mhmm. But the promise still happens. Know?
Speaker 3:God still keeps his word. To me, he still has his purposes, and he's still,
Speaker 1:you
Speaker 3:know, through whom all the nations, all the people of the world be blessed.
Speaker 1:Like, that
Speaker 3:still happens. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. You know?
Speaker 1:Even with, yeah. All God has is broken people. Yeah. I mean, like, if you're gonna work through people, all he's got is us.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And that's, I mean, I think that's also what should give us motivation to have patience with other people too. Like, if God has patience for us, and how much we know about our own Gosh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, think on it. Just think on it.
Speaker 3:You know, how much we need to be loving even more, you know, and more like Jesus in that regard.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Such a good point.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What are you looking forward to for the rest of the summer?
Speaker 3:Denver's gonna be great. Always cool to see how it impacts students. And then, other than that, I think I'm looking forward to my 500 checklist being done. Whatever all the things that have to happen. So I'm just it's gonna feel so good, and then it's gonna be like the day before, the first Sunday.
Speaker 3:And so, that's where we're
Speaker 1:gonna Are you just ready to like check all the boxes?
Speaker 3:I think so. Yeah. You know, like today was, even before this was, you know, we've had all these planning meetings over the past month, and there's just so many cool ideas. And now what I was doing before this was, okay, what are the action steps from each of these planning meetings that actually I casted? What requests do I need to put in?
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:All that kind of stuff. So, Maybe less of a fun answer, but good answer. Project management. That's
Speaker 2:You're excited to have the project managed.
Speaker 3:I'm excited to manage this project.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you
Speaker 3:know, it. You know, they will be in the fall and then it's off to the races and it's gonna be tons of fun. We'll see what students we meet, and who comes to Christ, and you know, all that. We're praying for 20. So
Speaker 1:I love it. Let us pray with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Shall we? For sure. Church, let's pray with you.
Speaker 3:That'll be
Speaker 2:great. And may him who is able do exceedingly more than we can ask or imagine.
Speaker 3:I know. Right? Let's do it.
Speaker 1:Let's go. I love it. Well, I mean, we could talk for a long time, but Connor
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Let it not be a whole year before Yeah. We have you back We will
Speaker 2:It's laughing again. Yep.
Speaker 3:I don't know if it's been year. I just also, it has been quite the year.
Speaker 1:So maybe the memory is a bit shot.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Gary Steele can tell us.
Speaker 1:My kids reset my whole memory. I have no memory.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a before and after.
Speaker 1:It is what it is.
Speaker 2:It does change everything. Yep. You know, but in the name of you, the listeners remembering, here you know, just some prayer points for the week. Our College Spain team is on their way home this weekend.
Speaker 3:Been doing really well from what
Speaker 1:I can
Speaker 2:tell. Which is awesome. Our youth team to Toronto is heading out soon as is our youth team to Indonesia. And then Denver's coming up Here we go. On the heels of that.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. So just keep all of these trips in prayer. Think, hopefully, you picked up a send Sunday handout with a prayer guide, but remember to pray for these teams. Yeah. Pray for us and you, everyone who is gonna serve with this World Cup event this week, and kind of the long term unforeseen impacts it can have for the gospel in The Middle East.
Speaker 2:And pray for Doctor. Wiles as he's kind of planning out the next year. Mhmm. It's important. Pray for those things.
Speaker 2:And pray for at least 20 Yeah. Absolutely. Students to come to know Christ.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Let's go. Love it. I think it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1:I love that you
Speaker 2:I will not be surprised.
Speaker 1:This is who you want in your college ministry seat. I love it. Let's ask for it.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna pray that it's just 20 I'm praying for 20 from Greek Row alone.
Speaker 3:That'd be awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Movement. Okay. Movement.
Speaker 2:Let's go.
Speaker 1:Well, it's been a treat.
Speaker 3:Oh, man. It's always fun to be here, you guys.
Speaker 1:Church, aren't we grateful for our college minister, Conatorial? If this was live, we'd all be clapping, but no clap. Clap as they hear it. Don't worry. Okay.
Speaker 1:Last week, we we went kinda long and I said something like, if you made it this far to the end, I'll buy you a snow cone. And someone emailed me
Speaker 3:How many
Speaker 1:snow cones? And we're gonna buy I'm gonna buy a snow cone.
Speaker 3:So you only had to buy one snow cone?
Speaker 1:That's my follow-up question. Out of our 200 listeners, one made it to the end Hey. Okay. At Caramelton, and we're taking a snow cone next week. So
Speaker 2:the fun person to get a snow cone.
Speaker 1:I said Rita's. I mean, I I gave her the choice. I'm like Right. Rita's is I don't know
Speaker 3:if it's It's snow
Speaker 1:cone? I don't know if it counts but it is snow cone esque. But I said, or we can meet at like a traditional snow cone stand.
Speaker 2:I'm a Daisy's fan.
Speaker 1:Where is Daisy's?
Speaker 2:It's on Little Road by Little Elementary.
Speaker 1:Oh. I think we're gonna stick with Rita.
Speaker 2:Go Little Rascals.
Speaker 1:Love it. So all that to say, if anybody made it to the end of this one, you can clap for Connor.
Speaker 3:Yay. Yay.
Speaker 1:Alright. Well, thank you all.
Speaker 2:Thanks everyone. And we'll
Speaker 1:see you next week. Thanks for listening to the Tell Me More podcast today. You can subscribe to this podcast on your app of choice, or you can visit us at fbca.org to find out more information about the podcast and our church. Thanks for listening. Have a good day.