MOVE 2026 Podcast Wk 4 | Move without Self-Sufficiency

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, guys, we are in week number four of MOVE and we're having this podcast and discussion. And so this week and every week we're talking about different barriers that get in the way, the things that stand in the way from us being fully engaged. The primary goal of MOVE is that we're 100% engaged with Southeast, right? Like that we're allowing ourselves to be transformed by the church and leading through the opportunities we have here. And so this week's barrier is kind of a unique one because it's somewhat positive. It's the barrier of self-sufficiency. And James, I want you to kick us off here in the conversation. There's a good side of self-sufficiency. You got two kids in college. You want self-sufficient boys becoming men. But like, lead us from that perspective into the dark side of self-sufficiency as you see that. Yeah, I mean, you know, I've got one son that's about ready to, he's applying for jobs, right? And so as a dad, you're talking to him and you're like, hey, son, listen, you know, it's time for you to, you know, start doing applying. And so it's like, you're going to do this. I'm not doing this for you. And so there are those things where you're wanting him to learn, like, this is what it looks like to be an adult. This is what it looks like to take responsibility. This is what it looks like to even move towards success, right? Like, I think sometimes in church world, we, you know, we, when there's success that comes our way, we're like, well, we kind of push it away or whatever, because we, in an unhealthy way, we feel like, you know, if I say like, oh, I'm successful, then somehow we are cheating or taking from God. There's like a pride element. Yeah, yeah. But you want him to feel the sense of that, right? His independence leading to successful life. Yeah. I want him to accomplish some things. And so that is the good side, right? Like where he's moving towards that. The dark side is when it is the pride, the arrogance of like, hey, I deserve this. I, and starts taking, you know, recognition and title. And, you know, I think probably all

of us have a point in our life where we were able to go back and, and, and, and, and it still reoccurs, right? Like you even see that in scripture where someone was, you know, following the Lord, then they became self-sufficient and then what happens. And, you know, so we can all look at our life and say, hey, I, I, all these things happen and we start patting ourselves on the back. Well, I think you're speaking to exactly what I wanted to talk about, which is usually like a self-sufficient person. It starts in a good way, which is there's something that you've learned to overcome in your life, right? Like there's a lot of different ways that you could speak about, you know, your boys when it comes to work and work ethic and all the next things, we could see it with weight loss and getting in shape. You can see it with, you know, different work experiences and businesses and whatever it is. But there's a point at which when it goes too far, and that's where I was going to lean in, is when does the independence leave and leave the place of being a good thing in your life? And where does it transition into something that's now a barrier to your growth with God? And I don't know that I have a clear cut, like, hey, this is, this is the point. But I can, probably the best way for me to talk about it would just be an example from my own life. You know, I grew up in a pastor's kid, you know, and, you know, kind of went through all the stages of what it means to be a pastor's kid, the good, the bad. And, but in life, it seemed like success came easy for me, you know, you know, starting off in high school, you know, getting elected to, you know, being on student council, playing sports, and, you know, being the MVP of teams, getting scholarships for college, going to college, you know, getting a job, quickly moving up in management and a job, you know, and so it was like, success in all these places. And, and so, you know, then I moved to Illinois, and, you know, had a student ministry there that I was part of first ministry and just experienced incredible success the whole time was there. And, and then, you know, obviously Southeast calls and says, Hey, we'd love for you to come and consider coming here. And, you know, there was, there was the genuine, like, no way I couldn't do that. I'm fearful of something that's that magnitude being from a small town. But then when I moved here, there's

this part of you that really starts to think like, oh, I'm really good. And all these things that happened in the past is because I'm gifted, and I'm talented, and because of me. And in those first few years that I was here at Southeast, the ministry actually tanked. Yeah, I was going to say, it was not successful. No, no, it was awful. And man, I can remember it was this point where I had built my own personal kingdom and didn't care about the kingdom of God. And it was in that point where then my kingdom collapsed. And I can remember nights sitting in bedroom talking to my wife in tears because I didn't know what. I had never experienced this. And I had never to that point in my life thought, I really need the Lord. I believed in the Lord. And I felt like he called me to this. But I felt like everything to that point, just my own talent, gift mix, whatever, had allowed me. I'm going to rely on myself. Yeah, and it just was crushing. It was the worst year and a half of my life. At the same time, I tell people now it was probably one of the best year and a half of my life because it was the first time in my life where I truly understood what it looked like and meant to be dependent upon the Lord. And the great irony is literally as we record this,

you're standing right now in the exact spot where the student ministry took place before we turned it into this room. That is true. And so I think that that's exactly right, when it becomes about your kingdom, not God's kingdom. Justin, I know bits and pieces of your story. James and I go way back. But tell me a little bit, where does self-sufficiency in your story show up for you? Yeah, personally, recently, I would say, as a newer campus pastor, I think it's very similar to James's. It's, hey, throughout all of life, I had always been maybe not the smartest. But if I worked hard enough, I got the recognition. Like you could find a path forward. You could always find it. I could always find the solution. Like I could provide the solution. I had the skill set. I had the resiliency. And some of that was built and developed not out of being a pastor's kid, but out of some hard things. And I had covered that in, hey, I am self-sufficient because God has created me into this leader in this person and given me this story. And because of that, He is using me for His glory. But in turn, I made it very similar to what He shared of, oh, this is about me and what I can produce.

Like I'm going to get affirmation from the Church or from God for what I can bring to Him. And He's just on the side. But He is giving me this to do. And since I'm doing it, and since it's fruitful, like, oh, God must be in this. Like God is the center of this one. Really, I'm not placing God at the center of it. I've actually placed myself at the center of it. And over this last year, you know probably about what was this, eight months ago, at 35, I got shingles like all over my face, man, inside my mouth. You have an angry face. Oh, dude, like it's still numb on this side. Like I still can't feel it. Man, it was in my ear, like God literally made me lie down. And He showed me that, hey, like, Justin, you're not self-sufficient. You're not even dependent upon me. And none of this is yours. Like this church isn't yours. The staff isn't yours planting this campus and growing it. It's not just dependent upon you. Like it's actually, it's all me. Like this church is making you look better than you really are because my hand's on it. And you have misplaced yourself above me. So yeah, that's what I've learned from self-sufficiency because I justified it because of my drive. I justified it because of my story or my hurt

or what I could produce. Yeah, that's good. Even when you were talking there, and maybe you alluded this earlier, Steve, but it's interesting that so many times in our walk with the Lord, when success does come our way, we automatically assume that God is with me. God is doing this. God is, you know, and so. And if it's not successful, He must not be with me. It must not be part of His plan. Yeah, yeah. But then what happens, I think, often is it's like, oh, I can make no mistake. I can do no wrong. I can, you know, and it's, man, it just becomes like this arrogance where it's like, for sure, like, I can do, you know, we say, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And we would say, I can just do all things. Yeah. You know? and I don't need Christ strengthening me. I can just do this because I've seen all these things and he just continues to bring success, success, success. And you're right, like, and when you see that over and over again, and then maybe God is trying to refine you into what he really wants you to be, a lot of times that's painful.

It is painful. It's rushing. Because it's the only way to peel back, you know, the layers on it. So, you know, when we think about it, this two year journey is a discipleship of generosity. And I think uniquely, our finances speak to the heart of this. And so I want us to be honest right now about that piece of the puzzle. Because I think a lot of times when we think about giving, the most common thing I heard, you know, growing up and James was, we were in the same church, is that we give because Christ gave, or we're returning 10% because he gave us 100%. You know, here are these different things and I'm not getting down to that. But when I think about what God really does to transform our hearts through our finances, it has a lot to do with this topic of putting ourselves in position with our finances of saying, I am gonna send it out before I know if I can provide and trust that God you're gonna provide because I'm entrusting this to you first. So as you think about this as a barrier, specifically with giving, how have you journeyed through self-sufficiency and your own personal journeys when it ties to this other part of move, is that we wanna be discipled in our generosity?

Yeah, I was actually just thinking about this this week. And I was thinking about how I was a part of a church in my young 20s and I was not generous. I was not tithing. And honestly, how I got to be able to lean into being generous and tithing and the spiritual formation of that was because I had a friend who called me and actually called me out on it and said like, hey, why are you not giving? Why are you not trusting God with this? And I was like, well, man, I got this marriage. I'm about ready to get married. I'm in my first job. I'm paying off student debt. I'm trying to save for retirement because I've been told now I need to start saving for this retirement. Like, I'll trust God later. Like when I'm- But you were gonna be self-sufficient. Like when these things are removed and he literally looked at me, his name was Anthony. And he said, Justin, if you literally won't trust God right now with what he has given you and with what you have, you'll never do it. Well, and the other thing I'll keep telling people is they don't understand until they've experienced it that this is a tool God uses to shape you in ways that you don't understand until you've done that

because it tests your faith in very unique ways because it is the ultimate way of giving up control. I literally had a conversation with a staff member this week who had an adult child and they say, well, I mean, we were talking about the cost of rent and they're like, well, I mean, they're not able to tithe yet and I was like, I'm not sure that that's true. I'm not sure that that's true. But self-sufficiency our entire life has been talked to us about, hey, when you get that job and you're applying, like, well, what brings self-sufficiency from that job? It's not just the job, it's actually the resources and the finances. Like the world teaches you that, right? Like you learn that at a young age and if you grew up in a household where you didn't have a lot, you're operating out of this mindset of scarcity. So you're not giving because you're thinking, oh, if I can just get more, then I'll be able to. Then I'll be self-sufficient when that's the lie. Yeah, so it's fascinating. So you're relying on yourself to acquire enough to be able to give rather than giving with what you have and relying on God. For sure. To move it forward. That's a fascinating spot. How's this at you? I know your story a little bit more.

Yeah, so obviously growing up a pastor's kid. So I grew up, I probably mentioned this to you before, Stephen knows this, but I grew up in the poorest community in Iowa, in the poorest county with the highest unemployment rate. So you can imagine. Son of a pastor of a small church. Yeah, within that community. Lots of finances flowing through the house. Very insecure. Yeah, not a lot of high rollers in Lee County, Iowa. It's Keokuk, Iowa. I mean, literally you can Google it. And I used to just for fun Google like worst city in Iowa to live in and Keokuk on all these little things would pop up. So it was great community, incredible people. Kingdom work happening there is amazing, which is just another thing that says that God doesn't need your money, right? Like, I mean, that is true, but he wants your heart. And, but when I was growing up, I can remember, you know, when I was, you know, the first time money became a thing where I connected my, where money and your value were connected was when I was in fourth grade. So our church would do like the board meetings, church meetings, the old projection screens. I don't know if you guys remember that. Some overhead projectors where, you know,

throw it up there, I'm showing my age. And, and so, and they would put the pastor's salary on there and they would, they would say, you know, hey. All in favor of paying the pastor, there it is, you know? And it was a small number. It was a small number. I think the year that I remember, it was like $19,000. And so with my mom and dad, and then my two older brothers and my sister, that's not much. When you think of all the, and dad's, everything came out of that. Social security, insurances, all the things came out of that. And I remember I was playing basketball outside, showing off my skills as a fourth grader. And a little fourth grade girl came out, and she said to me, I saw how much money your dad makes. And I was like, OK, didn't think anything of it. And then she just continued to almost berate me, like, your dad doesn't make much money. You guys are really poor. My dad makes so much more money. And it was almost like this, I feel so bad for you. And then it was at that point where I started to pay attention to what kind of shoes I had and what kind of clothing I had. And because it was the first in my life where I not realized to be true, but I thought in my brain, oh, if you have a lot of money, then you have great value. And so up to that point in my life, I had said, someday I'm going to take my dad's position.

I'm going to come back here and be the pastor of this church. And it was at that point where I started looking around and go, who's the wealthiest person that I know that I have close relationship, which was my grandfather, who was an engineer at Iowa State. And so immediately, my heart shifted from being like my dad to being like my grandpa, who loved Jesus, but had money. And I thought, that's what I'm going to pursue. And so I went down that path for a long time and worked hard, did all the things. Obviously, went to Bible college one year because my parents said, we want you to do a year of Bible college. And I was too naive to know, but I could say, no, I'm not doing that. And so I went for one year, and it was at that point where I remember in my dorm room one day, where the Lord called me, and it wasn't anything spectacular. Literally, it was I understood grace for the very first time. I remember bawling my eyes out in that room, not because I fully understood grace. That was something. But because I was giving up my dream of being wealthy. And man, it was hard. I'm choosing the path that my dad was on. But it was one of those things where I look back on it, and I can see so many different ways where God was just working in my life, and he was teaching me about money. And obviously, it was about that same time

where I started giving for the first time. And I was like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. So I started giving for the first time. I could tell stories all day, which is my current wife. We were kind of dated off on, I should say dated. She broke up with me a bunch. You were not surprised. A bit under-defined in the early days. She had some work to do. Yeah, and so but I can remember where I had to tell her, like, hey, I told you this. I was going to pursue this because I kind of presented myself one way, and then I had to say, hey, if you don't see yourself marrying a pastor, then we probably shouldn't go out tonight. And she looked at me, and she said, you know, it's funny, as my mom said, she always thought I'd marry a youth pastor, which was how I chose youth ministry. But I was like, yeah. Yeah, she says that, going to be a youth pastor. Yeah, so but that also was the point where I was like, hey, if I'm really serious about this thing, then I probably should start giving. And that's where I started the journey of tithing when I was in college. I had not given a dime until then. But man, it was part of money, was something that I was pursuing that I desired so badly,

because for all of my life, I thought my value was in that. Yeah, and I think it's interesting. I think so many of us in our congregation, and us included, our childhoods really do shape us. I think you tell a famous story where it took you guys three cars to get to church one time, because they kept breaking down a little bit further down the road. And that's true. People in our church were so generous to give us their old used cars that were broken down, and all of that. But those moments kind of form us and shape us, you know, James. And I can't help but think, you know, little James is thinking, man, I'm not going to die. That's not going to happen to me. And to a certain degree, right, like there's some health to it, like we've talked about. But when we think about trusting God with our finances and seeing what you see as this barrier of self-sufficiency in your congregations, how do you see this popping up where people are starting to engage this for maybe the first time of like, man, I've got to trust God first with my finances? How do you see that popping up in your campus? I would say most of it that I hear about is people who are engaging it for the first time. that it's new and it's bright, and it's something that they didn't understand that they could do, that God can still provide,

just like when we gave for the first time, we realized very quickly, oh no, God is still faithful. Like He's still providing, all of my needs are being met. Oh, and I'm a part of something that's bigger than me. Oh, also, wow, God, all this really is yours. And while I'm giving, it's doing this formative work in me that's shifting my heart towards you. And now my security isn't found in what I do or the money that I have or my plan, now it's in God. And when that starts to happen in people's hearts, and when we see that at our campuses and our young people specifically, they can't help but share about it. And it's not a sharing about it in a bragging way, but it's a sharing about it of like, man, I can't believe I wasn't doing this earlier. Yeah, I think about like, it's fascinating in this move journey, we've heard stories of people that have come out sharing about previous campaigns at Southeast, previous moments in time. And they said, oh, I got to be a part of that. And it's very fascinating. And Kyle shares about that from time to time, where in the early days of Southeast, people were cheering about their giving in the sacrifice they were gonna make. But I also, like one of the illustrations I love on this is I've seen, there's a famous photo of like, I think it's either Apple, I think it's Microsoft actually, in the 1970s.

And they put up there if you would have invested $100 or whatever you need, whatever today, billionaire. And it's like the lines, would you've invested? And it's fascinating because our faith tells us the investment's worth it, right? Like it literally is like, you've got the opportunity where you're on the ground floor of an eternal investment where you will look back and there will be a day. And do you have enough faith to entrust it that you will look back? And I think, like you were saying, the retirement, right? Like that's hard for a 20-year-old even to understand with retirement. It's so much harder for us to understand with eternity of knowing that level of investment of would you step into? How do you see it showing up at your campus where self-sufficiency, you just see it just kind of getting in the way of the folks that are at your campus? Yeah, I think the common conversation you had, I mean, it just had one even this last Sunday is I was a guy who came up afterwards, heard the message was like, him and his wife were talking and we're like, man, we need to do something. And, but his job is like, it's hit or miss, right? Like sometimes they're really busy, sometimes they're not. So he's like, sometimes I'm working 60 hours a week, sometimes I might work 10. And he's trying to find another job

and he's like, I'm trying to be more consistent, but he said, because our finances are so up and down, it's hard for us to commit to any certain amount because we don't know what's gonna come in. And so, for him, he says, hey, what if I'm not able to give anything, but I can give my time, I can give talent, I can give all the other T's, right? And, but it was almost as if saying, like, is it okay if I don't do money, right? And there's everything in me wants to say, I get it, man, yeah, you're good, you're good, you're good. But I do go back to scripture and it's like, no, if we are truly wanting to disciple people and Jesus spoke so much about money, for me to give him an easy out and say, yeah, you don't have to, just show up to paint the walls of the church, that's what we need you to do, or just, you know? And- It is tempting. It is, I mean, cause you feel it, right? And you're like, I get what it's like. I mean, it's easier. I need to give you a parallel example. If we talk about fasting, really quickly, everyone turns to fasting about anything other than food. Oh yeah. We'll fast from social media. Anything that's not essential.

We'll fast from our phones, we'll fast from all sorts of things. And the reason we don't want to fast from food is it's really stinking hard to fast from food. It is so hard because it is a tangible, you get headaches, your stomach hurts, you're tired, you're cranky. And it's a constant reminder that you have, set aside time to God, that you've set aside this space to be praying about something specific. And the reason we don't do that with our money is it's really hard to give our money. And if you think about, just through the lens of marriage, how many times are you counseling a marriage because their talents and their time is out of whack? I mean, a little bit, but how many times is it about their money is out of whack? Yeah, the treasure is- It's always, I mean, it's the most common thing because it controls, it's got that grip on our hearts so much. And I think about self-sufficiency. It's another, money is one of those things, you constantly have a data point. You look when you are paid and you have data on your value and your worth. And you can just see that so much firsthand. So if I were to spin us to kind of-

to close our time out, we got a lot of time here, but like to think through how we wanna conclude our conversation. The last part of it, I wanna talk a bit about what can we do, like what are steps we can take to intentionally dismantle this barrier of self-sufficiency and place ourselves in a posture of trust in God, right? Like I think, you know, of the rich young ruler where Jesus says to him, his barrier was that, and says, well, you better sell everything because it had such a grip that that had to be the solution for him, is like, you can't even touch this stuff, it's so poisonous to your soul. But when we think about everyday people, think about you and others, what are some initial things that you can think about to put self-sufficiency and replace it with God's sufficiency that we can do right here, right now to take a step? I think of another biblical example is where my mind instantly pivots to, and I think with the rich young ruler, I think it's also important to understand that like, hey, scripture says like when Jesus saw him, he loved him. And I think that's an interesting fact with that story, even though we don't know what happened after he left. I think of Zacchaeus and just like the rich young ruler, Zacchaeus was a very secure man by what he did and how much wealth that he had accumulated, even though he did it in the wrong way.

But when he came to know Jesus, Jesus saw him, called him by name, spent time with him, his life was changed and transformed. And what did he do? Like, yeah, he made it right. Yeah, he went above and beyond and made it right with everyone. He released like his control on his wealth and his security of being self-sufficient. I think for us, I think a lot of times, it's really hard for us to release our self-sufficiency with our resources because it's tangible, like you said. And I think of like, I think of our campus in Nelson County. Like what's tangible for my campus and my people at Nelson County to understand is, man, there's in this last year, over 300 people who have came to know Jesus and been baptized. Like that's a tangible thing that I can see. That was an investment that was given by people at Southwest at his campus that they will never see. Like there's a return on investment, an ROI, right? And that is an internal thing that we will never see, those lives and how they impact other lives in Nelson County when I'm long gone. And man, I would say to our people, I would challenge you to look and think bigger than just your time here on earth. And that it's not just about an ROI here that you get to see and enjoy,

but that other people get to see and enjoy. I love that. And I love that it's so tangible at Nelson County right now because we are a new campus. They can see the fruit of other people here at this church that have given so that other people can be reached. And I hope that the community and the people here at Nelson County at Southeast say, hey, I want to do the same for other people to be reached. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I hadn't even thought about the story of Zacchaeus, but you know, it's interesting is that, you know, when I think of, you know, life really before I loved Jesus and loved all people, right? I remember when I moved to Louisville in my 2003 Toyota Camry and in Salem, Illinois, I was a baller driving that car, you know? Yeah, it's a good car. And I pulled in here and there were 16 year olds who were driving Hummers. And I was like, what did I do? Where am I at? What's going on here? I resented people who had money. Yeah. I just, I did. And I said, it took a long time for me to get to a place where I loved people who had money. And I think about Zacchaeus and you gotta think,

so many people hated him. Yeah. And the people who liked him, liked him for his money, which is the thing he gave away. For sure. And so he was literally saying like, hey, not only am I, I'm hated by this group of people, I'm giving away my money, which means these people no longer want me. And he was in desperate need of a new community. And so, I think sometimes money is the barrier that keeps us from actually entering into a community, which is also why I think so many people put up their guard. Yeah. Right? And so they're like, well, all the church ever wants is my money. All the church, you know, because man, that is their security because they're thinking, if I don't have this, will people like me? Yeah. Will people want me around? Will people be my friend? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And you just talked about that and I was like, oh, well, yeah. Yeah. I see that.

I think, you know, for a tangible step would, for many people would be like, hey, what would it look like if you actually stepped into and were part of real, authentic community where you're using your resources. sources, not to build a sweeter pad or to get a better car or whatever, but you're using your resources, like you were saying, to invite more people into real community that truly sets them free and helps them understand their true identity in Jesus. It's what changed my life, right? Like when I realized who I was in Christ, it changed the way I view everything, including the one thing that I wanted more than anything else. Yeah, it's interesting you say that. I think I want to clarify that a 2003 Toyota Camry is still a sweet ride. It was one of my favorite cars. It's perpetually a great ride. But the other piece of self-sufficiency that I think about at our church is how many times I've seen leaders in our church that are way smarter, way more gifted, way more successful, all the things and in every category. And when I've watched them humbly submit to me as their leader, as in just an immature kid at different points in my time, I think about how secure they are and how they're not relying on themselves. And when I watched that, I'm like, what a humble example. And I know you guys think of those people at your canvases. And that I think is a tangible thing is when you take the heart of a servant and I'm going to entrust God that he's going to do something immeasurably more through our church and through us. And I'm going to take the humble approach with my finances and all of the things. That is one of the best ways. You strip yourself out. You drain the ego that you carry completely out of the equation so that you're looking with pure eyes and a pure heart to engage the lost so that you can have that. I love that what you're saying, Justin, you can zoom way out. And who would have thought, you know, who would have thought, you know, 30 years ago, we would be at all these locations and the impact God's done to this church. And so I love that we're pausing with move to reflect upon what's next, what lies ahead. And I can tell you what lies ahead is a journey through this, not letting this be a barrier and saying, God, what do you want to do in me and what do you want to do through me? Yeah. As you're talking about the rich young ruler, it's interesting that he lists all the things that he had, that were easy to give up, kind of like you're talking about with fasting.

Yeah, he lists all the things. And then Jesus pinpoints the one thing, which I'm willing to get that for most of us, it's the same thing. You know, I mean, you know, like most of us haven't killed anybody. Most of us haven't, you know, like he goes through all those things, but it's. He located the one thing. Yeah. And it was the one thing that he just, he was like, I can't, I can't. And so. But I think that's why Jesus talks about it. Like he knows that it controls the heart. Yeah. Right. I think a lot of times, even when we are generous, even when we are willing to give of our resources or our time, we want to give in a way that we can still control it. We can still control what it goes to. We get to still control what my time goes to and what I do. So if I'm giving even to God or to move in this church, like, Hey, you're, you're giving to something that you have to humble yourself. Like you talked about earlier, like you have to humble yourself to be willing to say like, Hey, I'm willing to submit to the elders and spirit and where we're going with this in the direction of my church and say like, I'm all in on this regardless of where my resources and my generosity goes, because I want to be humble and die to self the way that Christ did and the way that he modeled it. That's a good word. Why don't you pray for us? And we'll close out there. Cool. Father God, I am so grateful. I'm grateful for this time. I'm grateful for your church. God, I'm grateful for how you continue to move through your people and through your Briden. God, I pray that anytime that we start to think that we are more important than we really are, God, I pray that you would slow us down and humble us, even if that's in a way that's uncomfortable or painful. God, I pray, man, I pray for this church and this body of believers that we would be a people that see people the way that you do and also know that when we look back on our life, we can see how you have been so good and so sovereign of how you've pursued each and every one of us, that we are only here and get to even do this and be a part of this because you sent your son Jesus to die on the cross. So God, I pray that we anchor ourselves in that as followers of Jesus and that he is the head of the church and that he leads and guides us and we follow his example. We pray all that in Jesus' name. Amen.