MOVE 2026 Podcast | Wk 2

Hey Pando family, normally each week we drop a Pando exclusive podcast just for you, but over the next six weeks you are going to be hearing and experiencing a podcast led by our senior pastor Kyle Eidelman going through the MOVE series that we're going through as a church family over the next six weeks. And so you're not only going to hear from Kyle, you're going to hear from Stephen Pericelli, who is on Pando every now and then, and a couple other folks on our staff. So guys, I guarantee you, you're going to enjoy it. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this discussion. All right Kyle and Christy, it is week number two of our MOVE podcast as we're just exploring barriers, things that get in the way of us being fully engaged with MOVE. Our primary goal is that we're 100% engaged with Southeast. We're looking at what's it look like for us as a church to just jump in. So this barrier this week is a big one. It's fear. So Kyle, I always start with you when you're here. Like you think fear, you think that you know our membership, our church members, and kind of hold them back and just fully all in. Where does your brain instantly go? The first place my mind goes is that our tendency to confuse like fear with discernment. So I I will let myself off the hook of doing something, and I won't admit that I'm afraid of it, but I'll just say, well I'm being irresponsible or I want to be more prepared. So I'm not saying no forever, I'm just saying no for now. All of those things are a way for me to kind of hide my fear. And I think about that right now in terms of in my family, a hard conversation that I need to have. And I, you know, if I'm being honest with myself, I would say I'm afraid to. But if I'm not being honest with myself, I would say, well I don't know how they're going to respond, and I'm not sure I'm the one that needs to have that conversation. And yet, you know, I have all these reasons to not do it that feel responsible. And so sometimes fear has to be scratched at a little because it hides beneath these layers of our way of justifying it or labeling it as something different. Do you sometimes, I'm going to sidestep just to you, to know you more. Do you sometimes have to have Desi behind you going, no, no, no. Like here you go, you got to step into this. I think of Hebrews about spurring one another on. You know, that we need somebody to prod us. And in order for someone in my life, my wife certainly does that for me. I have to share enough with them so that they know, hey, come on, you can do this, or God's calling you to this, or it's going to be fine. You know, that type of speaking some faith over my fear and someone else's voice, which is one of the reasons that being in a group makes such a difference, because you get to do that for each other. I do think it's interesting because you mentioned timing. And sometimes I know in my fear

that I can do the same thing and just say, it's not the Lord's timing, or it's not my time. Like he may be calling me to do that, but it's not the right time. Do you guys notice that too? Yeah. I think when you're scared at the end of the day, yeah, you'll find a reason, right? Like fear has a way of self-justifying and it'll find a level ground with that. But when, you know, I think when I think about that from our church angle, what do you think keeps the fears at bay on the timing thing or thinking about knowing someone enough to push you into, when you think of our church family, taking that step into church, whether that's literally stepping into the building for the first time, or maybe it's like another layer into, you know, being engaged with church. What do you think that fear conversation looks like that you've observed? Let me ask you this. When did you come on staff as the women's leader here? Six years ago. So tell me about your decision to do that. Was fear something you had to overcome there? And was that something you battled with for a while? What was it to overcome that obstacle? Yeah, I was fearful, felt unqualified, felt like for sure that there would be a commitment, a level of commitment that I wasn't sure I was up for. Some things that I knew would be sacrificed at home and I was afraid of that, afraid of not being in all the places I was normally called to be. And so the Lord was so kind and just in things just going quickly that I didn't have time to press into my fear. And so, yeah, so that is for sure a big time in my life where I had to just... just be obedient quickly, and that the Lord just moved that I didn't have time to ruminate or to think about or press into being afraid. I like, I resonate with that, because when I first started preaching, it was that I was like 20 years old, it was at this little church that just needed somebody to fill in, like 30 people, they just need somebody to fill in. And if they would have said, hey, will you come be our preacher? I would have been, there's no way I would have done it.

I would have been too scared to do that, too unqualified. 20 years old, I shouldn't be doing that. But I didn't mind filling in one time. And then they asked me to come back and do it the next time. And I'm like, okay, I'll do it again. And they asked me to come back and do it again. I said, I'll do it again. And then I showed up one Sunday morning and I finished preaching and I walk out into the lobby of this little church. And they put up on their bulletin board, it said, Kyle Eidelman, senior minister. And I'm like, hey, wait a second, I didn't even agree to it. You know, that God didn't really give me a choice. Like I didn't, the fear of that, I'm not sure how I would have overcome that, but he opened up the door. And before I knew it, I had said yes to. I think that's how calling works for a lot of people. You just keep saying yes to what God has in front of you. If you look really far ahead, you might feel overwhelmed by it. That you just say yes to this next thing and then yes to this next thing. And then he's faithful and he leads you along the way and he gets you there. It's funny, I was gonna say like, you don't know this part of my story, but that resonates because we were missionaries

in Haiti for four years and that part you guys know. But the process of going there, I moved there, I'd never been there before, never visited when I moved there. And the process before that is my wife and I'd always talked about doing that sort of thing. And there's a little application of his place. And I was like, all right, I will fill this out. But God, you're gonna tell me no, I'm gonna shut that door and I'm gonna move on with my life. And I can say, well, it's my fault. And every door we knocked on the way I described it, it just kept opening and opening and opening. And then like six months later, I'm moving there. And that's what it is, right? Like it's just slowly kind of stepping through that. And what it reminds me is that fear does not disqualify. Like throughout his word, fear is not something that the Lord pays attention to when he's calling you to something. And so he, at least in my life, has so sweetly opened a door and just asked me to step through this little part. And then, yeah, not the big picture all at once. That is frightening. The scripture that comes to mind while you're describing that was of Moses being called by God to go stand in front of Pharaoh and speak. And Moses says, immediately gives an excuse,

like says, I'm not a good speaker. He didn't feel like he was good with words. And God says to him, Moses, I made your tongue, which I love that because you would think God might say something like, yes, you are a good speaker. You've got this, Moses, just be more positive. But he doesn't, he says, I made your tongue. In other words, Moses, your faith isn't in your capacity or capability, your faith is in me. And so the overcome fear is not necessarily that you put, or it's not that you put confidence into yourself. It's not psyching yourself up saying, I got this. It's a recognition of what God's calling you to and that he is faithful and that you can depend on him to give you what you need to be obedient to what he's asking. Yeah, because there's a fear, I guess, what Moses is thinking is I'm not enough. Like this thing you're calling me to do is I'm not enough. And it's that reminder of you are enough because of me, not because of you anyway. Yeah, there's a shift that I've experienced in my role in preaching over the years. And people will ask me sometimes when I get up to preach, I don't know if you get this, Christy, when you teach, they'll say, don't you get nervous when you get up there? And I used to be nervous. I used to be, I would say scared. Now I feel excited.

And the difference between being fearful and excited physically is not that different. Like you get, you know, you're maybe a little short of breath, maybe a little, but the difference is not, but here's for me, the difference between being afraid and being excited is my confidence in me or is my confidence in what God's gonna do. I'm confident of what God's gonna do and how he's gonna move. I'm excited. When I am thinking, man, I gotta perform and I've gotta, you know, I have to come through in this moment, then I'll get anxious. And so one of the things for me is to say, okay, I wanna be excited. I want to have this anticipation of how God is working and how he's going to move. And if I'm counting on him, then I'll be excited and not afraid. And don't you think, don't you think you have to, he, you have to allow him to stretch you to get there. Like if we only ever do the things that we feel confident in doing, we won't ever get to that joy and that excitement by saying yes to the thing that we don't think we can do by saying yes to the thing that feels like we are inadequate and unqualified, that he, that's when we get to see that excitement. I call that the Holy shakes. Yeah. Yeah. Like you were like just shivering, but it's him. And you're just excited to see how he is, how he's going to move and that he gets, then that he's using us is crazy town, crazy town. Yeah.

And I think that's the other side of faith, right? Is you have to take the first step. You know, I think a lot of times I want to know how something's going to play out. I want to know what's on the other side. And we, we don't get to see, you know, the reward of that. I didn't get to understand what was on the other side of the risk of stepping through a lot of different journeys in my life. Can I say something here? I, you know, who else has come to my mind in this conversation is Peter. I think of Peter, you know, when he's being asked if he's a follower of Jesus and he denies Jesus three times, what, what caused him to do that is fear. It's just, he was afraid of what would happen to him, you know, the position I was going to put him in. And so he's, you know, cursing and saying, I never knew him that all of that, you know, is, is driven by fear. It's not that he was, you know, in that moment, um, wanting to willfully rebel against, he was scared, but, but then. You have him, you know, just a few chapters later in the book of Acts, you know, standing up in front, preaching, uh, unashamedly, and I guess what I would want to just encourage people in is if fear has, has marked your life in some ways, where you look back on, on some missed opportunities, or you recognize that, that God called you to some things and you just didn't step into it. That, that kind of transformation that Peter experienced, um, through the power of the Holy Spirit can be true for you too, like that kind of boldness, uh, and, and his life can be true for your life. And, um, and, and so having a story of, uh, you know, from fear to faith story is, is such a powerful testimony. And so I just want to encourage people who feel like fear has marked them to, to know that they're positioned uniquely to demonstrate God's power as a person of faith, because of where they've come from.

If I refocus us on to move for just a second, Kyle, I want to indulge you in a couple of questions with it. So we have, I think, 20 initiatives with that, and there are pieces of them. You, I think as the senior leader here could have a little fear as you're stepping into these things, because I mean, there's some bold things. So when you think about how we as a church are interacting with these initiatives, what one comes to mind where you're going? I don't know. I don't know. We're trusting God in some of this. You know what I'm saying? I mean, golly, I would say, but I'd rather be honest with that. Like when you think about it, I don't know. I will say that I, I tend to feel that way as a whole. In other words, what creates, if I use the word fear in me, when I look at it, it's not any one of them. It's that there's all of them. If we, if we were just going after one or two, I'd be like, okay, I can grapple with that. I get my hands around that. Yeah. I get what you're saying. And, uh, and by the way, I think that's what creates fear with a lot of us, you know, it's this cumulative effect or, um, you know, it's what, what do they call this? Psychologists call this, um, stress contamination. You know, it's not one thing. It's 20 things and that triggers that fear. So for me, that's true with you. But what I have also understood from the beginning is this is a journey that

doesn't work if God's not, and I, I really believe that. I will use, I'm going to talk about the heartbeat of the elders with that statement right there. Yeah. Well, the way the elders have expressed this as part of our church's history is we want to be a part of something so big that if God's not in it, it will fail. Yeah. And that's different than saying God do something big, like saying the only way this works is by being dependent on him. Like he he'll have to do what only he can do. We, we can't in our own resources and power make it happen. We're putting ourselves in a position where that kind of dependency is required. And, and so going into it with that commitment, you're like, okay, well, that's what this is. You know, we, we are putting ourself in that kind of place of dependence. But if I could, you know, if I could just draw a line here for some of. the folks who are joining us is, you know, put this in the context of something very personal for you. What's come into my mind is you make a commitment in your marriage to say, I'm going to love my wife sacrificially I'm going to love my wife sacrificially and intentionally by praying with her every day. I'm telling you, if you try to pray, if you say I'm going to pray with my wife every day, you're not going to do that out of your own power. You'll be tired, you'll be frustrated. She'll annoy you. You won't want to do it. You'll annoy her.

But you're committing, yeah, you'll annoy her. But you're committing yourself to something that requires you to depend on God's help. And I think, you know, what I hope happens with our church is by all of us as a community doing this together, that we start doing it in our own lives. We're like, okay, I'm a part of a church family that's doing this. I want to live this out personally. And so just to find a way to practice that same principle, I want to do something that's hard enough, that's challenging enough, scary enough that if God's not in it, it's going to fail. You know, and if I were to stay on that just a touch further if you go to sc.church.move, you can see all the initiatives right on our move landing page. And the point of that with these initiatives is to pull our congregation into what we're doing as a church. You want someone to take that step through fear and go on a mission trip somewhere and to step through these different initiatives, to be engaged with the next generation and maybe like a volunteer for the first time through our student ministry or wherever it is, is this is an opportunity where you get to live that out practically are these initiatives. They're not things we're just wanting accomplished. We're wanting the church to be a part of that. But the other part of move

is there's a generosity component. It's a two year journey of generosity, Kyle. And I'd like to speak to specifically for a minute on fears related to making financial commitments. You know, there's a lot of fear with it, but also there's this backside to our hearts on what God does through that. Could you take some space? I'd love to have a conversation about that piece of the puzzle, because that's what God's using as a tool to conquer this fear thing inside us too. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what's helped me the most overcome my fear. Yeah, okay. So my fear as it relates to money shows up in control. Yeah, I wanna have more control over, I wanna have enough insurance that if anything goes wrong, it gets covered. I wanna have enough money in the bank to make sure, you know, I've got my emergency fund in place and I've got some savings for retirement. Like it comes down to control. What has helped me let go of some of that is testimonies. It is the word of people who make me feel like I'm missing out when I hear them tell stories of the adventure they're on. And like, oh, well, I want that. I want that more than this.

But there's no way to have some of that testimony without releasing some of that control. So listening to people in the church share some of their stories of how God's been faithful, of how they've risked together, that fills my heart with courage. Yeah, no, I think that's- Me too, and it does feel like you're missing out when you hear somebody share something that literally makes your hair blow back on his kindness and his brilliance and his specifically loving on them through them overcoming their fear and being generous. Like we want that. We want, yeah, it is a miss. It feels like a missing out when you hear what other, how he's moving in other people's lives. When you see in your role, because you spend lots of time with ladies who are on some kind of journey here, right? You've got to see a lot of them walk this path of kind of starting off in their spiritual life, a little timid or unsure, and then you go a year or two and they're one of your leaders. Do you see, I mean, how do you encourage them or do you see some things that are consistent in how they grow or grow through that fear specifically? I think leading specifically is that they see the movement that's happening with those that they're leading.

And they begin, because they were faithful to say, yes, I'm gonna lead this. And most of them are like, I can't believe you're asking me. That I feel so inadequate. How am I going to do this? And then literally a week or two in tears of how the Lord is showing them. through their group, how their leadership is making a difference and changing, and that they're getting to see these little seeds of faith grow. And yeah, for sure, the Lord is so faithful when we say yes and step into something scary, how kind He is to let us see the fruit, I would say, quickly. Yeah. And you, you know, just hearing you talk about it, and like, it's so fun to watch people experience, like, oh, I want that for everybody. And that's, that's definitely our heart with MOVE is, you know, wanting people to embrace the adventure of faith and experience what it's like to join God and His mission. And, and, you know, my heart like comes alive when I see somebody with that, that light bulb come on, like they're, they have a deeper purpose, deeper meaning, they see, like, what it's like to be a part of what God is doing. But that requires a risk. Like, you cannot, you cannot go with God and stay safe at the same time. I mean, the whole Old Testament is really one story after another, with that consistent thread that saying yes to God requires you to move past fear. It requires you to take a step of faith. Yeah, I think that right now, what's not lost on me is there are folks listening in right now on the edges of our church. Maybe they only join us online. Maybe they come in person and slip in and slip out, and they have not really engaged beyond, you know, the occasion. And they're watching this right now. And I want to focus in on that, because I think a lot of times there's a lot of fears associated with understanding the wealth of God's grace, right? Like, can this church, can God, can Kyle, can the people here, can the congregation accept me right where I'm at? And so I'd love, Kyle, for you to begin to speak to that, because there are some people that are looking at their life and going,

my fear is I don't think you guys, I don't think God's enough to deal with what I got going on. How would you tell them to understand just the enormousness of God's grace? Well, I mean, I would start by saying, oh, I understand what that's like. I mean, you know, just that, and I know me. I know my own heart sometimes and my own shortcomings. And, you know, I know all of that. And so I guess, like, one of the scariest things is being alone. And what I would want to say to that person is you're not alone. Like, you might walk into church and feel like I'm the only one who's carrying some of this or feeling this kind of shame or this kind of anxiety around things, and you're not. Like, we are in this together. So you're not alone. And that God's grace meets you right where you are. One of my favorite passages of scripture out of, I want to say 1 Corinthians 12, but it might be 2 Corinthians 12. I don't know why I'm drawing a blank, but it's, God's grace is sufficient. And it's in the context of Paul talking about his thorn in the flesh and wishing it would go away. It had to be a really scary thing when God says, no. And Paul's like, oh, okay, so this is it then? And then God says, you know, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. And Paul says, oh, okay. If that's true, then I'm going to delight in my weakness. Which is a wild statement. It's a wild statement. Do you delight in your weaknesses? No. But if that really is true, that my weakness is where God's power shows up most dramatically, then, you know, your fear where you feel least qualified or least adequate or most overwhelmed, that's margin, that's space for God's power and grace to be demonstrated in your life.

And I would just encourage folks to say that his grace is sufficient. You're surrounded by people who've experienced that. Not because they're good enough, but because God's grace is big enough. And it'll meet you where you are. You know, like, Christy, specifically when someone walks into your ministry carrying the heavy weight of the brokenness of life, and they're scared right now going, these women aren't going to accept me. You've seen this so many times. Help people see what actually does happen when someone opens up and says, this is me. And it ain't pretty. And they're giving you the best version because it's even uglier when you get behind the scenes. What do they see when they get there? Like, help people see that. Well, what I have found to be true is that the Lord in his kindness, whatever the person is coming in and carrying, he just beautifully orchestrates just the right person to greet them, to welcome them over and over and over. over. I have seen him just match and pair people who were carrying similar things. And this one's just a little bit more down the freedom path than the other one. He just does it. And so what I would say is just come and see how the Lord is going to bring somebody that you're going to connect with and they're going to understand. And you'll see, you'll see. I've seen him do that over and over again. And also in our vulnerability, he binds us closer to him and closer to one another. And my goodness, how people resonate when other people are sharing their stories. One of my favorite things as a church has been when someone comes in and experiences that for the very first time and they don't know what to do with it. And what it is, it's the first time I think some people have felt unconditional love. And it's like, they can't get enough of it. And they are arriving at 7am for the nine o'clock service. And you're like, why are you here? They're like, I just want, this is not what they're saying, but it's what they're actually saying is I just want to be in this place of people. Kyle, I know, you know, you lead our campus pastors and you talk to them all the time. And I'm in there with you and you do.

Talk about the heartbeat you see as you hear the stories of this going on at all of our campus locations. Give us confidence on what you're seeing from your perspective as you sit back and listen. What's it do for you, but what's it do for our congregation that's listening? Well, I, you know, I think about people who are experiencing some fear and they have a right to because of maybe what was true for them in a church experience, or maybe the family they grew up in wasn't what we're describing. And what all of us know is that as a church, like what's true of us individually, it's true of us as a church, like we're broken and God's working in us. So we're not where we want to be is, you know, but he's, he's sanctifying us. So I guess I wanted, I want to say, you know, to people who feel some, some fear based on their past, you know, I want to validate that. Like there's, there may be a reason for that, but God doesn't want you to stay there. You know, he wants you to surrender that to him. And I know it takes courage to say, I'm going to put myself out there again, even though maybe what I felt was some rejection or what I felt was some betrayal, I'm not going to let that define me. I'm going to take a step towards it. And, you know, the heart of our campus pastors, the heart of our ministry staff is to help you take that step. Um, and, and really that's the, that is the invitation. If you're in a place of fear is, you know, not to just climb the mountain, but just take a step, just take the step. I think of Abraham when God calls him, you know, he didn't know where that journey was going to take him, but he took the step. And, um, and that's how I guess I would want to challenge people that we spend, you know, a long time as campus pastors, ministry staff, you know, thinking through this question, how do we help people take the next step? And that would be my encouragement is, is, um, is you don't feel like you have to take, make the whole journey, but take a step. Yeah. And I think too, it's one of my favorite things about you is, uh, when we meet in different settings, your, your favorite thing is not a strategic conversation, right? Like you're not, I wish I was, I wish I was more that way. Your favorite thing is always let's get our hearts set, right? Let me hear the story of how God's grace is showing up through our church. Yeah. And let me pray for people. Let me know what's going on. We'll get to the strategy stuff later because that shapes it, right? Like that shapes the direction. And so I think that that hopefully gives folks listening confidence to know that my fear right here is going to be treated respectfully. Um, but it's worth the risk. This is a church that's worth the risk with that. And it's worth stepping through, um, this fear.

Because those stories are really how the old Testament describes an Ebenezer, like how, how David, when he is going to fight Goliath, how he says the same God who saved me from the paw of the line and the paw of the bear is going to see me through this. Those stories are that for us. And, and so being in community where you hear those stories and witness it and see it, that also becomes your paw of the line and paw of the bear. Like you can be like, oh, I see him moving in all these ways. And sometimes when, and fear, when we are staying outside, we're missing out on building our faith in what he's capable of and what he's doing. That's so good. You know what, before we hit record on this thing, that's kind of what we were doing with each other talking about parenting. You know, the two of us were talking to Steven, our kids are just a little bit older, and we're like, hey, you know what, like this is okay, and God's gonna work in his timing, and we're speaking courage into each other as parents, because we've seen him show up and deliver, and we've seen the bear be taken out, and so keep moving, have your faith in him. So I love that, and I want us to be able to do that for each other, because sometimes I need people to speak that into me, and in fact, I've needed it this week several times. I've got texts on my phone right now from people who have done that, who've said, hey, you know, have courage, keep moving ahead, and that kind of voice at different times, we just all need that, and I think about people who are trying to live life without that, and I don't know how you do it, I don't know how you do it, if you're trying to do it on your own,

without God's power, but also without his people around you, holding up your arms, and speaking courage and life to you at the right time, we all need it. Yeah, one of my favorite things to say is the church is a gift for us to live a life, like let's use this gift. Kyle, as we close, will you pray over our people today that fear, you know, hold them back from moving to what God's called them to? Yeah, let's do it. God, I wanna thank you for fear, because it allows us to depend on you, it gives us an opportunity, but I feel some of that fear in my life, it is like this warning on the dashboard of my car that says you need help, and God, when we find ourselves in those vulnerable places, when we know it's beyond our control, and we're not sure what to do, it's an invitation for us to reach out to you, to put our confidence in the God who made our tongue, who gives us exactly what we need for each step of the way. And so, God, I pray that you would allow each person listening to this to take a step. If they're in a place of fear, maybe they sense that you're moving in their life in some way, or maybe they've wanted to be part of this move commitment, but they just don't feel like they can do much, I just pray for just the courage to take one step.

And I know for some of them, just watching this is a step, or being in a group is a step. And so I pray you would meet them there, that you would fill them with your spirit, that you would give them a confidence that comes from you, that you would replace their fear with an excitement, with an anticipation of how you're gonna work, how you're gonna bring good from something that's hard or difficult, or they see no way out of. I pray that that fear would turn their eyes to the hills, to the mountains, to the mountains, to the mountains where our help comes from. So we commit this to you, it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.