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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 episode of Tell Me More. We have Ashley and Sarah from the engagement team in the podcast studio, and we're talking about send Sunday and how, meaningful and moving that was. We also talked about the sermon and the Sunday from yesterday about God's shalom and what it means for all of us. So we're glad you're listening, and we hope you enjoy. Welcome to this episode of Tell Me More.
Speaker 1:It is 100% female in here today. Hooray. Not on purpose, but not sad about it. So doctor Wiles is on study leave. Luke's doing his doctoral cohort this week in Chicago, and so I've got with me Ashley Berryhill and Sarah Bruce Lee from our engagement team, and we're excited to hang out in here together.
Speaker 2:We're excited to be here.
Speaker 3:Sarah. For having
Speaker 1:Are you excited as well? I'm excited. I'm excited. We talked before this. There's a lot there's a lot to talk about, I think.
Speaker 1:But, Sarah, you were on here one time. Yes. But I was not
Speaker 2:in the room. Let's get to know her.
Speaker 1:In some ways, I guess you took my seat.
Speaker 3:Maybe. I mean But
Speaker 1:I can't remember what we were doing. I can't remember why I couldn't make it. It was probably like a kid with pink eye. I mean, that's been, like, my life. I think
Speaker 3:it was junior.
Speaker 1:Oh, junior. Oh. Because I think I also missed one because Sam got had to get stitches. So, you know, real life. But, anyway, he's fine.
Speaker 1:He's doing great, everybody. I still have pink eye. It jumped to the other eye. Talked about that last week. It's so I've got double pink eye over here.
Speaker 1:Preached with double pink eye yesterday. Yesterday. Yeah. Anyway Suffering for the Lord. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 3:It is. It's just real life.
Speaker 1:It's just real life. But last time you were here, Sarah, I didn't get to I didn't get to talk to you. And I heard that the men went real theological. And so there may be some questions left unanswered about Sarah Persley. So we gotta start there.
Speaker 1:Right? Okay. Okay.
Speaker 3:That's great. Tell
Speaker 1:me a little about you and your family. Okay. Where do you wanna start? What do we need to know?
Speaker 3:I'm Sarah.
Speaker 1:Okay. Let's start there.
Speaker 3:Good starting spot. Married to Ryan. K.
Speaker 1:How long have y'all been
Speaker 2:married? Yeah.
Speaker 3:We've been married for twelve years.
Speaker 1:So Well, tell me how you met. We met
Speaker 3:well, that's a funny story. It's long story short story, but we met at DBU. So we both went to Dallas Baptist University.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:I met him in a class that we had mutual friends in including his sister.
Speaker 1:Do you remember?
Speaker 3:It was our Christian leadership class that you had to take in order to get the Christian leadership scholarship, which was like 25% of your Everybody. Yes. So everybody was in that class.
Speaker 1:Ashley's nodding. Ashley, you're also a DBU grad. You don't have Noverlap though.
Speaker 2:No. You're a little bit Just a bit
Speaker 1:older. So y'all were in Christian leadership with everybody Yes.
Speaker 3:And the first time that we crossed paths later that day after the first day of meet and greet where you kind of learn, you know, you shake everyone's hand and get to know them. He didn't know my name correctly. And so I was like, man, that was a cute guy about
Speaker 1:Not a strong first impression.
Speaker 3:But obviously, I didn't make that big of an impression on him. Couldn't remember my name. So that kinda was like, okay. He's not interested. And but then we actually went on a mission trip over spring break with
Speaker 1:his church. There it is.
Speaker 3:That's what happens.
Speaker 1:So in Canada church, you said?
Speaker 3:Yes. With his And so my best friend was going at the time and she invited me to come.
Speaker 1:So you did not go on the trip because he was there?
Speaker 3:No. But he knew that I was like he was one of the only people I knew besides my best friend k. And his sister, actually. And so it was my birthday, the very first day that we left. And so he told me happy birthday, like, I don't know, 12 or 15 times.
Speaker 2:I know. You're asking for forgiveness. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Think he was just trying to be nice like this
Speaker 1:I know. We don't know.
Speaker 3:This this girl doesn't really know anybody from the group. You sure?
Speaker 1:You're sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That sounds And quite so was like, come on guys.
Speaker 1:Like Okay.
Speaker 3:You don't have to keep doing this. But anyways, obviously, by the end of the trip, you know, romance brewed and The end. He asked for my number and then, you
Speaker 1:know, we went on a
Speaker 3:date and we never stopped dating.
Speaker 1:There it is. The rest is history.
Speaker 2:That's that's important. Never stop dating.
Speaker 1:There's your nugget. Yep. There's your nugget of wisdom. Never stop dating. So y'all never stopped dating.
Speaker 1:Got married
Speaker 3:at some three years later.
Speaker 1:Okay. And then Yeah. And then I met y'all here. Y'all were kinda newlyweds
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Ish. I guess you really were if you've been married twelve years. I got here eleven years ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We we've been married probably about a year. Yeah. We came here because we, throughout college, had gone to different churches
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And served in different churches. But obviously, when we made that next step, we decided it was time to to get married. And I actually spent when we were engaged, I spent three months in Slovenia doing an internship. And it was kinda funny because we had been attending the Knot class. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And we maybe attended for like three or four weeks and then I left. And so he would make a joke every every time in the class that like, I really do have a partner. Like, I'm not just showing up to the Knot by myself.
Speaker 1:That would be one of the few classes that first I have showing to you where you probably had need a partner to
Speaker 3:do that. So and then we got married in the spring of twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1:Okay. Very good. You served in the college ministry with me for some time as you were preparing to be sent by our church.
Speaker 2:That is a fact I did not know. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That was great
Speaker 2:for me. Yeah.
Speaker 3:We spent a couple couple years in the knot, and then we moved to college Yep. When Katie was here.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And it was kinda paralleled when y'all were getting trained and equipped and raising money to go overseas? Mhmm. Yep. And then you went there for eight years? Is that
Speaker 3:what Yes.
Speaker 1:Is that the number?
Speaker 3:Yes. We trained, did everything, got ready to go under Jeremiah, and then about, like, six weeks before we got on a plane, Ashley came in as arrows. Hi. So we actually served, you know, and worked under Ashley the whole time we were gone. So I
Speaker 1:love it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's when our friendship began.
Speaker 1:We'll switch up there. I do know that from being Ashley's friend for so long that she, even eight years ago, had a very high respect for you and Ryan Mhmm. And understood, like, the the the gift and the caliber of people we were sending. Yes. Yes.
Speaker 1:Could say that from a sideline view. Yeah. And then even the idea that you might come back, her wheels were turning
Speaker 2:Oh, I was planning as much as I could. No And praying.
Speaker 1:A lot. And no money to give. You were like, make a way, Lord. Oh, yeah. And then why I fast forwarded quite a bit, and that did work out and here you are.
Speaker 2:But Such a great team.
Speaker 1:Slimony, what do think back on your time in Slovenia? Can I ask what you feel let me make it narrow? What do you feel like y'all's greatest contribution was while you were there?
Speaker 3:I think we just really got to partner with the church there. They were a young church plant when we first arrived, and we got to really just invest in leadership there, invest in the church life there, and kind of show them how to be a healthy family. First off, have a healthy marriage, and then also how to serve in the church well. And by the time we left, we were able to really launch the ministries that we had been leading and place them in other people's hands to continue on with the ministry, and they still are to this day.
Speaker 2:So They transitioned so well Yeah. They're that and Really healthy. To local leadership. Mhmm. And it's thriving.
Speaker 2:The church is thriving. Really.
Speaker 1:Oh, give us a Slovenia update. Yeah. The church in Slovenia?
Speaker 3:They're doing great. One of the things that's been kind of on their an answer to prayer, I would say, is there's no seminaries in Slovenia. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Not one. I mean, really, there's
Speaker 3:just not like an evangelical prayer. And so for them, that's always been a question mark. How do we really train these pastors? And a lot of them have to leave the country and go other places to America or other parts of Europe, and then do it in another language. And so it's just not ideal.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. And it was also not really realistic to just start a seminary in the way that we would probably think of it. Mhmm. And so they've started a training institute. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:They meet, I think, like four times a year. And there's been about 50 people for like the last two years consistently.
Speaker 1:It's big number.
Speaker 3:Is a And they do a lot of work in between those four times a year that they meet. So that's been really neat to see because we were praying for something like that the whole time we were there and to see that kind of come to fruition
Speaker 1:Really cool.
Speaker 3:Is really neat. And kind of out of that also, they are in the midst of trying to help plant about two or three other groups and churches in other areas of Slovenia. So just kind of seeing them as a church plant now being the church planters and supporting the work of other new churches being started is is neat to see.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's an understatement. Ashley, you're nodding along. Oh, I'm just What do you see? I mean,
Speaker 2:what's I'm your proud of I'm proud of both of them. They came alongside the local leadership and their team leadership and really tried to do as much as possible just getting the groundwork the soil, I guess, tended to
Speaker 1:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:In such a way with not only their posture, but how they invested their time and energy. And, I mean, you you're seeing the fruit of it. Yeah. So we get to all, one, give thanks to God for what he's done over there, but also you played a huge part in that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I hope you know that. Yeah. Yeah. Realize that.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I'm just proud
Speaker 2:of them. They're great. They're a great testimony, great witness. Mhmm. I mean, transitioning back here in stateside is hard.
Speaker 1:No joke.
Speaker 2:But she's just come on to this team and just made us
Speaker 1:all better. Can we talk a little bit about amen. Yeah. I know. It is it awkward for you?
Speaker 1:It's little bit out of contact I mean, of the linear movement that we're doing, but a little bit awkward for you that I just feel like you get a lot of praise because we all see the giftedness that you have brought to a team that needed that seat. Is that awkward for you?
Speaker 3:Sometimes. Keep it alive. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like, almost every meeting I feel like when we talk about the engagement world. And it's not a slant to you and Luke, it's just a missing piece. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And it's
Speaker 1:We know that. Filled. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 1:That's I wanna make sure we all hear that the right way. Yeah. But I wanna back up. So when you were feeling like maybe the work I don't know how to articulate it, how you would articulate it. Feel like maybe the work was ending for y'all, a sense of maybe coming back.
Speaker 1:What was that like for you? What were you hoping to what was the calling? If that calling was kinda coming to an end, what was the new calling for you?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, for us, we knew that we were ending our time in that specific church, that it was time for us to hand the reins over to them or become unhealthy.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And so we really felt like, okay, well then that means we need to move. Like, the the call to move was definitely strong. Mhmm. And so we're like, okay, do we move in Slovenia? Do we move to a new place?
Speaker 3:Or do we go back to America? Those were kind of like the two options that we felt like were before us. And when we kind of just prayed through it, we had some great mentors on the field that we were able to talk to who weren't on our team but had been in Slovenia for a long time, had worked through other with other teammates in their organization, and just had a lot of conversations about our gifting, our calling. We read a couple books. And all of that kind of came together, Ashley as well, in the process of discerning what we wanted to do next.
Speaker 3:And it just became clear to us that we want that it was time for us to come back to America and transition back here. But for me, personally, for me, I just really felt that it was not letting go of the call to missions. That that was still very important to me. And that that even though I was not gonna be a traditional, like, on the field missionary, that that didn't necessarily mean that I didn't have a role somewhere in a calling still to that. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And so kind of looking at my giftings, I just was like, I could do really well at being an administrator and helping people Mhmm. Helping a ministry grow. And so I just feel like that was my gifting. And like Ashley said at the time, I didn't there was no there was no place for me here on staff. There wasn't a position or anything open, but the Lord worked it out in his perfect timing.
Speaker 3:And I think this is a good place for me to land and to use my experience. Having gone on mission, having served as a missionary, to just be able to be a good partner
Speaker 1:Without your job in the recording yet, but we joked about it. I I wanna talk about sin Sunday, which was yesterday, that you as a trainer for these students going, you're like, I've gone.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:I've led. I've received, and now I'm sending. Like, this is the the orb, the the multifaceted. I think that's every hat. Right?
Speaker 1:That's every seat at the table. Mhmm. So you are well equipped to be a part of this. Yeah. She is.
Speaker 1:Ashley, you would you would check all those boxes as well. Sure. I mean, just yeah.
Speaker 2:By the nature of the job, yes. Don't
Speaker 1:yeah. Actually, I mean, I'm trying to I'm not I mean, classically, I'm not a missions person. I sit on the engagement team.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:I have a heart for God's mission in the world, but that's not my background as much. But even in being in college ministry, like, we're always on Yeah.
Speaker 2:Anyway Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I've been adjacent to it for a long time. You have a great appreciation for it. Yeah. Takes village. Anyway, Sarah, what else do we need know about you?
Speaker 1:Your kids? Kids. Yes.
Speaker 3:I have three kids. Sadie is seven. All of them were born in Slovenia.
Speaker 1:What is the citizenship like with that?
Speaker 3:We were just permanent residents by the end. They just kinda fell under our residency status.
Speaker 1:So just little US citizens.
Speaker 3:Yes. We definitely wanted them to be US citizens. And so then Riker is five and Maverick is two. So we're in the little years, but we're moving slowly towards the elementary years. So
Speaker 1:What's your favorite part of the little years? What's your favorite part of being a mom right now?
Speaker 3:My favorite part about being mom right now, and while two year olds are great, even though, you know, terrible twos and, you know, they're figuring out their will and that they can enforce it or try.
Speaker 1:For our boys, they had just turned the corner from like, I feel like 18. They're just cute, you're just keeping them from running into stuff, but there's no real discipline, whatever. And then closer they get to two, the more it's like, oh, man. We gotta yeah. The the pushing boundaries and big emotions and all that that comes with it.
Speaker 3:But super loving. And he's a very goofy kid, which is just so different from our other two personality wise. So it's fun to, like, experience that with all of them. I think we've been adjusting to, like, mom was in the house all the time, and now mom is
Speaker 1:Not.
Speaker 3:At work all the But I think this last school year was really helpful in that, and we landed in a great school for the older kids. But I would say my favorite part about being a mom is just, I don't know, just getting to spend time with them and make memories with them. And getting to see them interact with our larger family, which obviously we didn't have as much Mhmm. When we were in Slovenia, that's been a a real blessing in this season.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Mhmm. Yes. I would imagine being part of the extended family. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:More more easily accessible Yes. Than you were last or two years ago, I guess. Yeah. Ashley, you also had Harrison not in The US. Correct.
Speaker 1:Y'all both have We have both done it. You'd be birthing it. Although this is women on a podcast, it's not a women's podcast. So we'll move past that. Let's move Let's
Speaker 2:talk about this past Sunday.
Speaker 1:Let's do it. There's so much to celebrate from yesterday. So much to celebrate. I have a mental image. Well, mine is unique because I was on the back of the stage looking forward, but I have still that mental image of at the end of the second service, just calling up all the students and their leaders that are going on these trips for the summer.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And it filled the Filled the stage. We didn't have the what we call the preaching thrust out because there's a wedding over the weekend. So it was just the full kind of panorama of our sanctuary. Steps I mean, everybody up all the way up, all different ages, and Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Really a cool image for me Yeah. To see that.
Speaker 2:It was a special day. I mean, it's a day that we've been I've been dreaming of for years.
Speaker 1:But And I want y'all to talk about it a lot. Mhmm. Because what what we saw in the service, that snapshot was just a little glimpse of, like, the day that those that all the teams had and that y'all had behind the scenes. So tell me about your dream. What was your dream?
Speaker 2:Let me kinda tell about the why.
Speaker 1:Wanna go.
Speaker 2:Can we do the why around? Great. And then we can talk about what actually happens future. Mhmm. And see if you
Speaker 1:feel okay. Alright.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna grab my notes out
Speaker 1:too. Well, Ashley, to be transparent. Yeah. In a meeting this morning, Ashley had an opportunity to tell a little more of the the vision behind these trips, the the big picture that they fit into, and I thought it was awesome. And so I said, bring your notes.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. I wanna hear a little bit about it in here. So I think it's helpful for our people to see. I mean, obviously, is our thing. It's the church's thing that y'all are leading.
Speaker 1:So it's not siloed. It's not just for the extra holy people that wanna go I'm looking at y'all because you did it. But like the It's not just for those that feel called to give their whole life and uproot and move, but it's the church's work of participating in the mission of God. Mean, it's all of us. So I wanna make sure we all kinda get the vision.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, as ascent people, we talk about that. We are also ascending people and we live life.
Speaker 1:That's a phrase we used.
Speaker 2:Yep. Sent. So I I think one of the things when we when we talk about send Sunday, we do assume that it's about getting as many people on trips. And this and that's
Speaker 1:not the purpose. Right. That's a great outcome, I think, is what you talked about
Speaker 2:this morning. It is a great outcome. It's neat. And it's I think it helps us become a very healthy culture in an ascending sense when we have more people on trips.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But attendance on trips isn't the goal. Correct. It's what tap
Speaker 2:it's what goes into those trips. Yes. Yes. And so, you know, when when I'm thinking about this, the send Sunday, we were talking about we were dreaming about this for about a year is when we started coming up with this idea. But before then, it was, okay, what does it mean for us to build in a scent culture?
Speaker 2:What does this look like? You know? And so really leaning into the mobilization piece of our people, but specifically focusing on the youth.
Speaker 1:And why youth?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the youth, I mean, they're they are our current I mean, we wanna invest in our youth. Right? And so Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And they're well, my
Speaker 2:They're being molded.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Like, my kind of generic answer, not knowing what you thought put into it, but it is an incredibly formative time. It is. You're making all your decisions. Right?
Speaker 1:Who you're gonna be, who you are, just what you're gonna worship, mean, all of that. But they also have time on their hands Yes. Like a whole summer that they can experiment with. And hopefully supportive parents that'll help them do that. So it's just a unique cross section.
Speaker 2:It is a unique cross section.
Speaker 1:And it's What they can do in that season is they're trying to
Speaker 2:support And it's something that the church wants to invest in. I mean, for sure. You, children, like, let's let's really invest in our future, our present and our future. What does this look like?
Speaker 1:Have kinda the unique POV that we've all been there. Mhmm. We've all been here. We all kinda know. Even if it
Speaker 2:was a totally different world. Yes. So that's that's one thing is that when we're looking at the world that these youth are going to be living in as adults, I mean, currently, our world has rapidly changed in the last few years. I mean, just as adults. And we wanna what does it mean for us to really build up healthy disciple makers, in the world that they're going to be adults to be able to steward well, to be able to disciple well, to be able to live in the giftings that God has given them.
Speaker 2:But what world is that? Yeah.
Speaker 1:How are they ready for the the world that they're going to be Yeah. Living in, their worlds. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so thinking through that, I mean, we thought about, what is it? We're we're noticing that it's increasingly connected. That generation right now has more in common around the world than they do with their own grandparents. Well, that means
Speaker 1:they I love that.
Speaker 2:They know people who in going to intersect with people who have different backgrounds of faith Mhmm. Live in different contexts, have different, you know, lifestyles, everything. Yeah. Everything. So what does it mean for us to build up a kingdom minded people to really steward the gospel well in those moments?
Speaker 2:So
Speaker 1:there's education. There's also exposure. Yes. Like, go see Yes. The world.
Speaker 1:Yes. Right?
Speaker 2:You know, and that's why we want we we push you I was talking to the parents yesterday, really push a posture of humility, of learning, because we need them to learn from the global church. Yeah. Because they're gonna be in a global world. I mean, they already are, but they will continue more so.
Speaker 1:So that was one of my not to I wanna get back to Mhmm. Where you are, but we had joked about, well, had joked about a lot of things before this, this isn't really a joke. We talked about how we went on trips when we were of some age Mhmm. And how that exposure kinda changed our world. For me, my first international trip was, I'm not sure I recommend this, Ethiopia.
Speaker 1:Wow. Mhmm. I mean, I'd been on a Carnival cruise.
Speaker 2:Doesn't count. No.
Speaker 1:It might not. I I've been to Jamaica, kind of. You know what I mean? And and but I was in college and my my BSM was going and they wanted me to go kind of on that team. And so I went with someone who had lived there and had a little more experience.
Speaker 1:But it was obviously culture shock. I mean, I hadn't been to anything. Right? And I genuinely think I thought that, and I was 20, that the American church had all the answers and that we were the most spiritual and holy. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that we had something really good to go give. Mhmm. Mean, y'all are nodding like Yeah. Yeah. So But I got there and they're I mean, they have it's the classic.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's Ethiopia. It's a little bit like the poster, you know, of poverty Mhmm. Nothing as far as assets and resources. But faith through the roof. Right.
Speaker 1:I mean, you listen to him pray and you think, god, I trust god with anything in my life. Mean, I have to or, you know, just total and I was only there two weeks, and it it rocked my it changed my life. I mean, it really did. And I I think the further away from it I am, I'm now 40, that was when I was 20, so, like, half of my life ago, it changed my my worldview. And now and it was only like fourteen days of my life.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean? Right. But it marked me on a path. And I did a lot of other summer mission, and I had that same experience kind of in Central America with just the faith of Costa Ricans, but it it blew my freaking mind.
Speaker 2:You know? If you weren't exposed to that, you
Speaker 1:wouldn't have And you can't put that on a slideshow.
Speaker 2:That's exactly
Speaker 1:You could not have come to my BSM and give me a slideshow of because obviously I'd already been exposed to that. I live in America. I was in church. I had to go see it. I had to go walk there.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Our global Christian faith, there's something that we've gotta learn from. Each More and more too. I mean,
Speaker 1:been humbled several times. This whole polycentric thing, it's right and good, but it's new to me too. I mean, I probably still had some hubris I think we all do. A couple of times. Know for a fact that I still do have blind spots and just my own culture that blinds me to the gospel.
Speaker 1:Anyway, you know, obviously, you don't have to convince me that these trips are good for that, but I've I've experienced it myself. And it doesn't mean I turned into an international missionary.
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:But it but God used it to make me just a a more faithful disciple.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And and that's the thing that we're looking especially for, like, the youth engagement pathway. It's this is Trips are laboratories for
Speaker 1:That's good.
Speaker 2:Students to learn from global Christians, to be exposed to things that they're never exposed to, and wrestle with big faith concepts and see God at work in those areas where maybe they wouldn't see that in an everyday. Mhmm. They come back. They bring that back with them. And and one of the things that I challenged the parents yesterday was that we have to be intentional in how to debrief that process with them.
Speaker 2:How do you bring back what they saw God do back here into their life? And that's just that one next step. What's that next step? If that's one rhythm that they add to their life or if that's, you know, I learned about compassion, real compassion there. Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, how can we show compassion? Here. Let's go do that now. You know, not waiting a month to do something, but in the next couple weeks, lining it back whenever they come back. What does that look
Speaker 1:like? Not just like a Correct. An experience.
Speaker 2:An experience. Yeah. Or I've done I've gone on a mission trip. Okay. Great.
Speaker 2:Served. Done. It's really we want to form the hearts of our people so that that DNA stays there. And whenever they become adults, they know how to really present the gospel. They're they're fluent.
Speaker 2:I like to call gospel fluency Mhmm. Across cultures.
Speaker 1:Know how to yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes. And really just share the love of Jesus across all the nations, whether that's here locally or elsewhere. So,
Speaker 1:I mean I interrupted you. Go. Sorry. You got more.
Speaker 2:Oh, I do. I'm trying to think through
Speaker 1:Sarah, do have anything to add to that while Yeah. While she gets her thoughts together? What's your No.
Speaker 3:Think I think that's great. Yeah. That just realizing that trips aren't just for trips within themselves like we've been talking about. And just really the I don't know. It's easy to only to see it from the perspective of, like, we're going to these people, and it's about the people we're going to.
Speaker 3:And that is part of it, but a lot of it is, for us, on our side, is about our people as they go, and how they grow, and how their faith changes. And we want them to be formed well. And that's a big part of how we go into planning trips and choosing trips and all that kind of stuff. It's all related around our people Mhmm. And making sure they're ready.
Speaker 2:Yeah. When whenever we think about we see nations around the world become more insular, more nationalistic, you know, To me, that's really pushing against the idea of connectivity that God draws us near to people Mhmm. To others instead of closing ourselves off to others. So, really, trips help to us to really point back to the image of God in everyone, but sometimes people don't realize that they were made in God's image. So how do we point them to the creator?
Speaker 2:How do we help them understand that God wants restorative restoration within their own selves and in their community, and what does that look like? That shalom that you were talking about yesterday, so you can bring that in, that peace. How do we be peacemakers in this? So I think sometime you know, in the years past, we've we've talked a little bit about this, like, trips. We come and go and serve.
Speaker 2:Now the global church is asking the American church, yes, come and serve, but come serve in the posture of humility and learn from us. Mhmm. You do we do have things to gain from you, but you really need to mature. And that's what we're trying to help our kids understand. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:We need to be mature in our faith and part of that is you learning from global Christians Mhmm. Around the world. It's good. So with that, we do have trips. And we did send we are sending people out this summer, which is great.
Speaker 2:And we've we've been a part of, you know, with the youth group, I mean, with the youth team and, you know, a great commission council has been, you know, helping to mobilize and shift how we fund Mhmm. And make it accessible. Way to go GCC. Yeah. And make it accessible for families to do this because it's important.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's important for them.
Speaker 1:Make it within reach Correct. For kind of the average family. Correct. That's a very helpful way to do that. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:No. It's good. Yeah. Love it.
Speaker 2:So what did yesterday really entail Sarah? Sarah was the mastermind behind all the details. Yeah. And it wasn't leadership.
Speaker 1:No small feat. No. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I mean, if we're gonna be sending the teams, we wanna send them out well. You know, we don't wanna just have them pack their bags and get them a packing list in an itinerary and send them off on a van or on a plane. And so that's what a lot of yesterday was about that you didn't see if you weren't part of it.
Speaker 1:Had You had trainings all day long.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Right? So during the Sunday school hour, we invited in all of the college and youth together for a training session. And just kind of talking about, first of all, that we're all part of the sending process. So just those who are in the college or youth group that didn't go on a trip, they were still part of this since Sunday because they are praying for and helping to make their friends be able to go on these trips.
Speaker 3:And so that was part of it. And then we also just talked about culture cause like Ashley said, it's not just something that our youth and college students experience when they go on a trip. They are seeing and experiencing other cultures right in Arlington, Texas.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And so all of that training was just how do we relate? How do we communicate with people who come from different cultural backgrounds? And how do we be a learner? That was a big part of it too. And approach others in that spirit and have humility.
Speaker 3:And so that was really nice that that time that we had together. Then we had the commissioning and the service, which was beautiful. Like you said, the picture of all those students just filling up the stage. Mhmm. And then we had some in the afternoon, we had some other trainings about how do you travel well?
Speaker 3:What are expectations we have for you going on a trip? What postures do we want you to have?
Speaker 1:Don't embarrass us in public.
Speaker 3:Yes. You represent Christ Yeah. Whether you want to or not. Yeah. In some places, truly, just because you're coming from America, you're gonna be representing Christ.
Speaker 2:Or here's our boundaries, and you'll be set home. Yes. So
Speaker 1:Yeah. Don't embarrass us. Don't embarrass yourself. Yeah. Don't make your parents buy your flight home.
Speaker 1:That's right. That's right.
Speaker 3:We also had Connor, our college minister, kind of share with us how he shares the gospel and just show in a really practical way how kids can have conversations with their friends or with people they meet. Why'd you choose Connor?
Speaker 1:I mean, of all people.
Speaker 3:Well, he's doing the work.
Speaker 2:He is doing the work.
Speaker 3:It's massive.
Speaker 2:Practitioner through and through.
Speaker 1:He's faithful in it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so they got to see a real life role play of that happening, and I think that was really unique and really interactive for them to to not just sit through a lecture on it, but actually see it Mhmm. How it can play out. And then we had a really fun security training with Ashley, learning kinda what it means for those who are going internationally to, you know, stay safe and make sure that they're ready for being in another country that has different laws, different rules, and we wanna make sure that we're that our kids are ready and protected That's good. And that our adult leaders as well. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And, you know, those things, nobody wants to sit through until they matter. Until they matter. Until they matter. And hopefully, they don't.
Speaker 2:But when
Speaker 1:they do, when crises come up, aren't you grateful your church made a plan?
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:And has people prepared. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Ashley, you've helped us come a long way.
Speaker 3:We have come a long way, haven't we? Yeah.
Speaker 1:I remember. The days. First When started working here, and this isn't a slant to anybody, but it all worked well. It worked. It worked.
Speaker 1:But it was like, how do I go on a trip? Like if I wanna just take students on a trip and it was like, you pretty much just do it.
Speaker 2:Do it by yourself and figure it out.
Speaker 1:And how do I yeah. Like, anything I need to bring in the van or you know, I had done BSM, which had a little more protocol. And it was like, no. So you have brought it way up to speed. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So thank you for that.
Speaker 2:We got a lot of partners helping you do that.
Speaker 1:Yes. Yes. Yes. When I say you, that's a y'all.
Speaker 2:Restore hope.
Speaker 1:That's a greeting you. Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. There's a lot of people to be thanked for
Speaker 3:that. But And then we ended our day kind of split up in our teams. More specific. Time, yeah, with teams to build some of that team spirit that we want them to go out with, but also for them to kind of know about their specific trip, what are some things they need to prepare for. So it was a great day.
Speaker 2:We're excited. We're excited for the next one. I mean, next year. You know, Sarah already has a goal.
Speaker 3:I do already have a goal.
Speaker 1:Do you wanna say it out loud?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, this is just like a numbers goal, which obviously, holy spirit, we wanna follow the spirits leading.
Speaker 1:Right? Talked about the heart behind it. However We gotta sweep that thing. Right?
Speaker 3:We should set goals sometimes. Yes. And so
Speaker 1:Tell us the numbers. I'm not sure who said that out loud in here.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah. That's right.
Speaker 1:There were eighty five
Speaker 2:Eighty five. Across the city.
Speaker 1:That's like the picture is everybody's being sent this summer Mhmm. On those student trips Yes. Is 85 people.
Speaker 3:Correct. Which was about a 30% increase from last summer.
Speaker 1:So last summer was 50 something. Yes. I'm not good at math, but Yeah. Summer. Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes. And your goal for next summer?
Speaker 3:Would be a 100. I would love to see a 100.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's a good stair step. Healthy growth.
Speaker 2:You know, and our and I think our overall goal, if we can get there as a church, we wanna be able to mobilize 2020% of our church on trips.
Speaker 1:Does that mean, like, annually? Annually. Yes. Twenty first.
Speaker 2:Twenty first. So the need like, how how formational it is for themselves, but also what they can be a part of
Speaker 1:the Lord's percent of our church would be, like, 250 people? Mhmm. That's all about right? Yeah. If you do 1,200 on a Sunday Yes.
Speaker 1:Ish.
Speaker 2:So, I mean, the youth the students make
Speaker 1:up a good
Speaker 2:portion of that, about 10%.
Speaker 1:We've got we have If we
Speaker 2:can get 10 with them, then it's the adults. Adults, what do you think?
Speaker 1:Hey. What what trip would you go on? Y'all have to let us know. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Luke's trying to experiment with, like, a long weekend, which is thoughtful, right, about just the time away that you can take. I think that's Yeah. Gonna be I don't know. Y'all tell us.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Service. Service oriented. We've got some Texas on mission stuff that we're doing. But, you know, sometimes we have to be get out of our comfort zone.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And
Speaker 2:really be challenged. What would the Come and see. See come and see and see what the lord is doing in different regions around the world. What is your what is god calling you to invest in? So if you
Speaker 1:could launch a new adult trip that would accomplish that Mhmm. What do you what's what's the vision?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, the vision was Lebanon, and that has not happened. So we can be praying
Speaker 1:for Lebanon. Settled right now Yeah. To go? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That'll be great. Yeah. That'll be great. We have a lot of organic formal, but the the partnership in Lebanon seems strong, and we wanna invest in that. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:I'd say we're particularly we particularly positioned We are. To have a a mutual reciprocal relationship with Lebanese people. Mhmm. So let's pray for a little bit of peace. Yes.
Speaker 1:Shalom. Let's talk about peace. How much time we got? We got a little bit.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about peace.
Speaker 1:What do you want yeah. What was left undone just
Speaker 2:in the week? You tell me. You you brought this back to our personal lives today
Speaker 1:I did.
Speaker 2:With staff, anxiety.
Speaker 1:I did. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that was that would be a good word
Speaker 1:to move towards. Well, okay. Let me see. Because I think yesterday, I went a little, like, solving the whole human story.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Solving the whole And you needed to go there.
Speaker 1:Well, the I I felt that the text went there. Mhmm. I felt that that was faithful, what God had. You know? But I do worry that at the end of the day, I did make snippets of how it can affect your own personal life, but I didn't spend a lot of time there yesterday.
Speaker 1:And so this morning, Brad asked me to do the devotional this morning at a staff meeting, which I'm happy to do, but I kinda tried to land the plane on a little more personal. Yeah. You want me to talk a little
Speaker 2:bit about that?
Speaker 1:I Well, I I I opened up the other part of the sermon on the mount because I did put best blessed are the peacemakers yesterday. I didn't mean to do it that way, but Matthew six thirty three and thirty four, which is seek first well yeah. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you, which I think is a great it's a very compelling verse for me.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:The context from this morning that I wanted to get across to our staff is this this idea of worry, which I think worry and anxiety are the same as what I was trying to talk about of this, like, anti Shalom, this Mhmm. Defracturing, this undone chaos that's that the world experiences. And what God tries to speak into that, what Jesus tries to speak into that is that if you reprioritize your life and focus on the kingdom and focus on righteousness Mhmm. Then all these things will be added to you, which is a great kind of the rate the great reprioritization reprioritization that that if you can keep this, the first things first and be single-minded, then That's right. Then everything else will fall into place.
Speaker 1:What I said about worry and anxiety, it's the same worry the the word, it's the same worry when, is it Luke 10, Mary, Martha? I think that's Luke 10. When Martha is so busy around the house and Mary chooses to sit at the feet of Jesus, Martha doesn't like it. And Martha turns to Jesus and says, Jesus, tell Mary, dot dot dot, basically, to help me. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:To get up off her booty and come help me. And and I I love that because I think we often, whether we wanna admit it or not, run ahead.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. I am a Martha.
Speaker 1:And I am more of a Mary. You are. But to a fault, maybe both of us sometimes. Yes. And at our best, we mirror each other.
Speaker 1:But Martha ran ahead and just assumed that she was doing what Jesus thought she ought to be doing. Yeah. And there and I let us all be cautioned that when we tell Jesus what to do, at least for Martha, there was a rebuke. Yeah. She rebuked her.
Speaker 1:That's what the text says, that Jesus rebuked Martha. I think lovingly. I mean, we all have to project our own tone on the
Speaker 2:The father disciplines his children.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But it wasn't I mean, it's Jesus. Like, yeah. Exactly. It was Martha Martha, you're worried about many things.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. Mary's focused on the one thing. She's chosen the one thing. Mhmm. And then he says something great after that I can't place.
Speaker 1:She's focused on the one thing. Anyway, you can look it up if you want. It's it's what's the of of loop 10 if you want to? Okay. Anyway, that word worry, he says, Martha, Martha, you're worried about many things.
Speaker 1:Focus on the one thing. That word be taken from her? Yeah. What is that? They won't be taken from her?
Speaker 1:He he wraps it up really nicely. I should find it first. I'll find it, and we'll talk about it. Yep.
Speaker 2:Okay. Martha Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. K. But few things are needed or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.
Speaker 1:Sarah got it right. Yeah. What version are you reading? An Ivy. Is that An Ivy?
Speaker 1:Yep. Okay. I had to look
Speaker 2:because it seemed a
Speaker 1:little odd. But Yeah. That's an interesting wording. Anyway, so you get the point. I mean, you get the story, and I think a lot of our listeners, y'all are pretty mature bible readers more than you're probably filling it in as you listen before we can get there.
Speaker 1:But the idea that I wanted people to understand We're young moms. We're In our minds. Yeah. I can ask your kid's birthday in favorite color, and you got it. But whatever scripture you memorized, Yeah.
Speaker 1:So that word worry, literally in the Greek, means pulled in many directions Mhmm. Or distracted. I think some of the some of the translations just call it distracted. Martha Martha, you're distracted by many things. And I think that's the defrag that's the fragmentation of, like, the world.
Speaker 1:I think that's the the pit that we could fall into is just the anxiety of never being fully present, worrying about the next thing. I mean, that's what Jesus talks about before this verse in in the sermon on the mount. It's all about worrying about what you're gonna basically, worry about tomorrow. Mean, you see, he names that, but it's the parts of tomorrow, the food and the drink and whatever, which you're gonna wear. And I think that there's a lot of what ifing that get can get us really anxious.
Speaker 1:Particularly, I mean, we I talked about this both at camp and then a little bit this morning and the rise in anxiety in the in the youth of America, which is, you know, who we were talking about. Their anxiety is up, like, a 150%, a 130 from just fifteen years ago. And technology and Hovering Parents. Way of life. Yep.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Technology is the main thing. Literally, the algorithms started real like, when businesses started realizing that they could utilize an algorithm to make a profit off of viewership on an app is when anxiety started skyrocketing. Let this be a caution to all of us. We're
Speaker 2:that's what need to learn and how we steward what when we're at certain tables. Right? Totally. Yep.
Speaker 1:Yes. It is the
Speaker 2:Decisions being made.
Speaker 1:And these companies know it, but the profits are good. Yeah. And that's the bottom line. And it's and it's That's a whole another podcast. It is.
Speaker 1:But it's contributing to our anxiety as a culture, not just, but the kids most susceptible because the range is still forming. So anyway, that's extra. It's very important. Parents, I'm a parent, we're really talking about technology in our house because I don't I wanna give my chance a chance. I wanna give my kids a chance at shalom, you know, and a good peace filled mind and life and spirit.
Speaker 1:So anyway, I don't know what I was trying to say this time.
Speaker 2:One wholeness.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I don't know. So Jesus' offering in the sermon at the end of the sermon on the mount, at the end of that movement on the sermon on the mount, you're worried about many things. So to Martha, he says, choose the one thing. To the crowds, he says, seek first the kingdom and its righteousness.
Speaker 1:And I I think that's a great word. And what I talked about this morning, it I joked that when my husband and I not when we fight, but, like, you know, you come home and you're trying to fix something or there's this list of to dos around the house, but you also have big jobs. And Ryan will tell me sometimes, hey. Don't worry about it. It'll take care of itself.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, you son of a gun, you know how it's gonna
Speaker 2:I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Like, if you say, like, it'll work out, I'm like, you know who will work it out? It's me. I'm gonna work it out. It's always me working it out.
Speaker 2:You know? Sounds like you're my husband. That's what
Speaker 1:I would say too. We all play a role. We all play
Speaker 2:a role.
Speaker 1:And Ryan is a good partner. He obviously is gonna help me work all things out. He's just trying to, like, give you the bigger perspective. But what I joked this morning with staff is, like, I appreciate very much Jesus the Messiah naming it for the crowd, like, don't do the what ifs. Don't worry about tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Consider what God has provided for nature. But instead of just saying, like, okay. Good. You're good. Don't worry.
Speaker 1:He gives them a task. He gives them something to do. Here's what you can do. You can seek first the kingdom and its righteousness. And I think the kingdom was like, where's God's rule and reign?
Speaker 1:How do you help it come in both in personal salvation and justice in the world? There's so I mean, you could obviously, Jesus talks a lot about the kingdom. Mhmm. Mostly in parables because it's huge and it's beautiful and it's it's the reign of God in the world. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:It's good. And his forever reign. And it's really good and it's not, you know, singing hymns on a cloud. Right? I mean, let's get let's get a really good view of the kingdom.
Speaker 1:It is when everything's as it should be. That's what the kingdom is. Yeah. So can we work on that? Can you work on helping the world become as it should be?
Speaker 1:Seek that. But I also felt the need to talk about, I think sometimes we leave out the righteousness part. Seek first his kingdom.
Speaker 2:Say more.
Speaker 1:Well, seek first his kingdom and its righteousness. And I think I mean, word righteous is more like courtroom, like what God deems right.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:You know? And I think that has a little bit more, I think of like a personal holiness. Like, I picture just more of a courtroom of, like, our own guilt and sin Yeah. And this opportunity to be cleansed and right through Christ in his kingdom. We gotta focus on that too.
Speaker 1:And I what I took and this wasn't really premeditated, but I do believe this this morning when I talked about it. Perhaps churches that focus so much on the justice and the kingdom building, they drift a little bit liberal. And I think churches that focus too much exclusively on righteousness and personal holiness but they might miss out on the other, they drift a little too conservative. And I think one of the things that keeps us moderate is both personal holiness and corporate justice and corporate shalom. And that is peacemaking as well.
Speaker 1:But we have to make peace with God.
Speaker 2:Personally, yes. Personally.
Speaker 1:Yes. The Colossians verse that I quoted yesterday talks about us being enemies of God.
Speaker 2:That's that's harsh. But it's true. It is true.
Speaker 1:And we don't like it. Of course not. Because God loves everybody and God is loved.
Speaker 2:Right. But God is also just. He is just.
Speaker 1:And he made a way for us to know him through Christ. Mhmm. But that's the way. I mean, that's the this is the path.
Speaker 2:We have to reconcile
Speaker 1:with that. And you have to reconcile with that. Mhmm. Before you go do his work the world Correct. So that his spirit can live within you.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Otherwise, you're a broken person going doing work in the world without the spirit living within you.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And we got enough of that. Yes. We have enough of that. Yes.
Speaker 1:And that's not the key. Correct. The key to building the kingdom is is we are the body of Christ.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. That's that needs to
Speaker 1:be whole. Think about that. Mhmm. That all we've got to redeem the world Yeah. Is his spirit dwelling within us.
Speaker 1:But your spirit can't dwell within you if you if you don't repent. I mean, that's just But his spirit is dynamite. Dynamite. That's literally the Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's really the yeah. And y'all I mean, y'all just got back from Sierra Leone not that long ago. Yes. The spirit is dynamite. It's dynamite.
Speaker 2:Active. Moving. But sin will entangle you. That is exactly right.
Speaker 1:And and you won't be able to hear from god, and you will not be able to have peace. Mhmm. And that's what I I I I nodded to that this morning because I I joked, it is true though. I lived I lived a lot. I was a college minister for, I don't know, I think eleven school years.
Speaker 2:I'm say fifteen years.
Speaker 1:Thirteen years, I think, is what it was. I took one year off, like, the beginning of seminary and then went right back to it. I mean, I was in seminary. Anyway. Lot of years.
Speaker 1:It might have been twelve school years, it doesn't matter. But I lived a lot of life with college students and really two generations. I did millennials and gen x when I was at the end. They just sin a lot. They just do.
Speaker 2:Confessions do. But
Speaker 1:it's on display. It's on display in the college because they're finding themselves, they have freedom for the first time and they're exploring that and they're pushing limits and they would come to me with so much anxiety. And at some point, if you just talk about their lives, it's like, you just have sin and you need to get right. You need to stop sinning. You confess it and you could walk in freedom.
Speaker 1:And I watched that path and all of a sudden the anxiety lowers because you're living God's way. Like, you're living and not just God's way in this purity culture Correct. Legalism, but like as You're God living into the self God created you to be. Living in community. You're flourishing.
Speaker 1:Flourishing. There we go. The way that God And so I I just tried to I think I may have You know, anytime you preach or speak, like, you hope you peaked in that moment, but on the drive home, you're also thinking, oh, I should've said, oh my gosh, And so that's a little bit of like, I wanted to make sure that our staff at least, the chance I got with the staff, that they understood the personal effect of peacemaking. Mhmm. First, like in your own spirit.
Speaker 1:The text I thought yesterday, to me it just Abigail as peacemaker. So good. Yes. But to me it's like, yeah, but I know the rest of David's story. It just goes on.
Speaker 1:The next is a struggle with Saul again. And then, okay. Well, after David, you get Solomon and my gosh, that wasn't exactly the hit. You know what I mean? And and then and then the kingdom splits.
Speaker 1:Yeah. The kingdom splits and then the Assyrians come in and then they get exiled to Babylon and then there's exile, which is not great. And even when they get back and rebuild the temple, like, we all know. We all know that that what that's it's not done. Do you know what
Speaker 2:I mean? But isn't it great that though, that god is in the midst of the macro stories and the micro stories?
Speaker 1:Yes. And I I think And
Speaker 2:and you were focusing at that. You were focusing on Abigail who is a tiny micro
Speaker 1:That's good. Awesome. That's really good.
Speaker 2:And Yeah. Like, what we talked a little bit about offline was Yeah. Go ahead. The margins. Like, she's she's a marginal store.
Speaker 2:She is. But we learn so much of God's goodness and grace and righteousness Right. From those on the margin too.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, and she is, in some ways, like the no name wife of a fool that goes up against David. I mean yeah. Not even of the descent. You know what I mean? There's a lot
Speaker 2:there I would've yeah. Yeah. His name was she had. You know what? Courage.
Speaker 1:In the text. First Samuel 25 speaks very highly of her. She's intelligent, she's discerning, she's quick witted. I mean, are all words from the text. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And she's named. I mean, she gets a whole chapter. Yeah. She's the you know, you read the commentaries, which I did. How many?
Speaker 1:Trust me. Yeah. Don't know.
Speaker 2:A lot. Yeah. You did. And I didn't mean for
Speaker 1:quantity sake. I think I read four real paper commentaries on this and then a number of articles and books on shalom. Sure. That's my honest deal. But for Samuel 25, I read four commentaries.
Speaker 1:They're all about her part in David's story.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. And not her.
Speaker 1:And not really her. Mhmm. And that's not wrong.
Speaker 2:Has anybody written about Abigail out there? Let us know.
Speaker 1:Let us know.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Literally. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I mean, I think that's not wrong. You look at the big picture, like, just this Yeah. It's the Mac Yeah. Mean, and if you read the daily bible readings today, Curt does a good job about the context. At 24, he has that incredible David and Saul when Saul goes into the cave, he he cuts off part of his robe and then he goes on from there for another conflict.
Speaker 1:And so it is part of David on this hero's quest or this journey, and Abigail helps him stay on that. And it is another challenge of sorts in his journey. But I do wanna give Abigail her due as it is so unexpected for her to be named and the heroine of the story in a lot of ways and the peacemaker. So fun to preach on Abigail.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And there's a lot of good qualities and characteristics that we can learn from her and to be in
Speaker 1:our Yeah. Someone today said like because I told I was talking in the on the 5th Floor of our offices, and then this is too long. We gotta stop. Someone said, Katie, you could have preached on, like, what it's like to be married to
Speaker 2:a fool.
Speaker 1:I was like, well, she didn't have a lot agency back then. That was not the point of this. Yeah. Yeah. Perhaps perhaps a different time.
Speaker 2:Man, I'm thinking third time, you just keep getting better and better at telling these stories and the more I think the more Third time told your third time hearing me talk Yes. About But it's all in different angles. All different angles.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's good. And It's so much. And that's why we started the podcast four years ago, almost four years ago. Because y'all know when you prepare a sermon and a talk for something like this, you study so much that we'll never make it into the sermon.
Speaker 1:Because it just you don't go that direction. It just doesn't make sense or it's just too much. And I feel like this one, I had to cut a lot that just, to me, didn't fit. I had, like, 18 points. Well, you can't have 18 points.
Speaker 1:You know what I
Speaker 2:mean? Mhmm. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's fun to talk about in here.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for helping us walk through what peacemaking really means in the shalom.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Of not being a fragmented life.
Speaker 1:I love the the most I for some reason and then we'll stop. The most compelling middle image for me is that Deuteronomy 27, when the Israelites are building the temple and they want or or a worship altar, and they want a shalem stone.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Go find me a stone that has not been altered, chipped at, shaped in anything other than its natural form. Mhmm. That's a whole sermon. Mhmm. Like That is.
Speaker 1:That's the offer. Mhmm. And we we see glimpses of it. We experience it. I think we have access to it.
Speaker 1:But, man, when Jesus comes in his fullness Mhmm. It's all there is. It's all there's going to be. It's just everything unadulterated as it it was intended to be. We have no idea.
Speaker 1:But we wanna be a part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We do. We
Speaker 1:do. We're more helpful
Speaker 2:than for you. I'm thinking through, like, okay. Our next step, if you're if we if you are seeking conviction She's always experiencing the next step.
Speaker 1:Always thinking about the next step. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just if there's a conviction in your life of, like, I'm not I'm not my whole self, you know. I need to get right with God in certain areas of my life or I'm a fragmented Yeah. It's Living a fragmented life.
Speaker 1:And sometimes that is sin, repent, reborn. Sometimes, like, life has Oh, course. But we can also help with
Speaker 2:that. Yes.
Speaker 1:It's something on our care page, fbca.org/care, fbca.org/care, was like, the opener was like, are you shalom? You know? It may still be there. I don't know if you can click around.
Speaker 2:So may you find shalom.
Speaker 1:And if you're not, let us help you. Right? So Yeah. What was your blessing? It's so good.
Speaker 2:May you find shalom today.
Speaker 1:That'd be great. Yeah. We'd love that. Amen. Thank you all for being on here.
Speaker 1:We've gone too long. If you're still listening
Speaker 2:It's great.
Speaker 1:Email us. We'll buy you a snow cone.
Speaker 2:That was Katie. Katie will buy
Speaker 3:you a snow cone.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'll buy you a snow Okay. Thank you all for listening, and we'll see you next week. Bye. Thanks for listening to the Tell Me More podcast today.
Speaker 1:You can subscribe to this podcast on your app 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.