Sioux Falls Pastors Pt. 2

is trying to learn what it looks like to fully live and follow Jesus in the middle of real life. It is one thing to be someone on Sundays, but what about Monday through Saturday? And so here, we're going to talk about faith and making a difference in the messy, ordinary moments where it's often the hardest to live out. Some weeks, I'll share what God is teaching me. Other weeks, I'll sit down with leaders, pastors, athletes, friends. There's no fluff, just encouragement and truth for your life between Sundays. I'm so glad you're here. Okay. Well, hey, crew. Welcome to Life Between Sundays is Adam and Emily here on this rainy cold day. I'm not ready for what's coming in South Dakota. I can't. It was so cold last night when I got into my car after I'm going to move in some place. Get in, crank my heat up, crank it up all the way, turn the heated seats on. Did you ever move away from South Dakota? You and me both do not like winter. I hate winter. I hate winter. Did you ever actually move? I would. I personally would. My husband would stop me, I think, because I don't think he wants to leave. I don't think he will move out of the city. Like, I think he is like, he's here for life. Yeah. Plus my whole family's here, so then it makes it hard. And that's what gets me every time too, is my family. But my folks, they go to Arizona for the winter. So maybe I could just move to Arizona and then I would see them in the summer and the winter. But anyway, so you would craft with your parents during the winter. I would hang with my parents and then I would just not see them during the summertime. But people in the South are like, but it gets so hot. And I'm like, does it get this cold though? No. Anyways. No. If I could pick up everyone and move them to my ideal location, I think that would be perfect. I think this is I think we just answered my low and high low buffalo without even trying just the weather. Yeah. I think it's the weather. It's always the weather. It is always the weather. My high, this last Sunday at Embrace, we had 190 baptisms take place, including my son, Wilson, which meant so much to me. Shout out to Annie behind the scenes here. She got baptized as well, which is so cool. I just think it's so it never gets old seeing someone publicly declare what God's doing inside of them. Maybe one of my favorites was a guy I did not know. My age, I'm guessing covered in tattoos, even had him in his hair. And he walked up to me before getting baptized. And he's like, I should not be here pastor. And I was like, Oh, you're talking about the old person that used to be. He gave me a look and I'm like, that guy's dead. But just

the baptisms were awesome. That's my high. My buffalo. I'm going to give a shout out if you're watching on YouTube, you can see this to three nails. If you have not worn three nails yet, you need to. It's someone asked me about the quality, very high quality. I've had three nails for a year now, at least, and everything I have still feels brand new. And then the heart and purpose behind it. I've gotten to know the founder and owner, Derek, who is a legend. Shout out to you, Derek, for hooking me up in a whole bunch of different ways. This is not an ad. This is just a buffalo shout out to you, Derek, three nails. That was not an ad. They are not a sponsor. Derek, if you want to be a sponsor, I'll talk about you all the time. They're just awesome. Like customer service is awesome. Like their website experience is awesome. They, yeah, they're, they're great. I and Tim Tebow just bought into industry. I feel like Tim Tebow. My chest just got a little firmer and my biceps just got a little bit bigger. It's just because you put on three nails. I put on three nails and instantly I'm Tim Tebow. So that's a good buffalo. There it is. So high low buffalo. There it is. All good. All fun, great stuff. Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. You want to share a little bit about the episode today? Oh, so this is part two of me hanging with three other amazing pastors here in Sioux Falls that I just have so much respect for. And it's been so fun hearing the response from the first episode of like people just saying it was so cool to hear pastors talking together. And as we talked about in the first episode, a lot of times pastors and churches can be really, really weird with each other and competitive. And these are just three pastors that I just, again, respect so much. There are other pastors that we reached out to that were unable to join us for different reasons. I would say scheduling pastors is probably one of the hardest things ever. You guys are so busy. It's hard, isn't it? You like just like constantly on different conferences. And then you have stuff with your like, I'm like, we're never going to find a day to do this. You tried so many times. Yes. And when I finally happened, I'm like, Hey, it's a miracle. It's a miracle. So again, this is not from my benefit. I just want to say it is pastor appreciation month throughout the month of October. If you haven't done so yet and you have a pastor, be sure to thank them. This seriously, it means I think in any occupation, in any field, there's good, bad, and otherwise, and there's definitely some good, bad, otherwise, and being a pastor and just to hear from random people, I had someone give me a card and a gift card on Sunday, and it just, it literally blessed me

in a whole bunch of ways. So if you have a pastor, if you have a church, make sure you say thank you. We talked about what keeps us going in ministry on the days that we want to quit. Honestly, there's crazy stats like all the time about how many pastors are leaving. And I mean, even in my 20 years, there's been times that I've thought about leaving just because it is hard. So we talked about that. If someone's considering being a pastor, what would we tell them? I think that was really important. Something I feel like I haven't talked about enough is if you feel a call to be a pastor. I'm always focusing on the people who are bankers, and I'm like, God wants to use you right where you are, or nurses right where you are. But there are some of us who are called to be pastors, and I haven't talked about that enough. So we talk about that. And then we just talk about where we see God moving in Sioux Falls. I really hope you love this episode. Sit back, relax, and enjoy. So what keeps you going, and what is like kind of thinking about the hard days and the hard stuff, and you know, like just all the things you could work, all each of you could work 24/7, and you would never complete your jobs, like you would always have something to do. So what's kept you going? And then, and hopefully this will transfer for anybody in leadership. What's kept you healthy? So what's kept you going, what's kept you healthy? And it might be something really, yeah, it doesn't be, yeah, whatever you want to go. What's kept me going, what's kept me healthy are kind of the same thing, and I can't even frame them without complaining about one more thing, that I sometimes don't want to go to the show, which is the monotony of faithful obedience in the same direction.

I'm wired a little entrepreneurial and dreamer and all of that. And so, and I know Monday I'm going to do this, Tuesday I'm going to do this. I got to write another sermon, I got to, that grates on me, even on the best days, I like things that break that up, but so that call to faithful obedience. And so the thing that's kept me in it, the thing that's kept me healthy is, I think I've shared this with you before, during my sabbatical in like 2021, when God is working on identity stuff with me, he really pressed in on what success are you chasing? Because there's no success worth chasing other than obedience. And when obedience became my lens, on the best day, how that translates is, 50 people get baptized, and I celebrate that I got to be part of something that God did, not that we did. Yeah. And when obedience is my lens on the worst day, when people have just raked me over the coals or a bad thing happened, or I had to walk with a family through a tough tragedy. If I can lay my head on my pillow, even if I was treated poorly and go, was I obedient today and say, yes, I can sleep like a baby. Okay, and that is, that's one of the things that's kept me healthy. The other thing that's kept me healthy is figuring out how to do time off well, because do time off and time on well, you know, like, when I work, how do I work well? How do I work focused? How do I, how do I not think the world rests on my shoulders? And then how do I shut it off and make my family the priority and those types of things? Those are the things that I find most joy and I keep me healthy. That's so good. Really quick side note on that. Arthur Brooks's latest book, The Meaning of Life, he talks about how to rest well. And I, and I, I thought specifically for a hard charging leader, highly recommend what he talks about. He said, you put as much, you need to put as much planning and intentionality into your work as you do into your resting, you know, because for me, I just picture laying around

on my couch and I just feel I get done at the end of the day of doing nothing and I'm, I'm depleted, like that's life taking for me just to lay around. And he's like, no, no, no, no, no, like, intentional rest. So doing things like activities, even that fill your cup and I just thought that was a really beautiful way of putting it. Sometimes you rest by milling your lawn because that's what you love to do, my ministry for me is so there's no finish line. Yeah. If you mentioned you, 24 seven, and so there's very few times in ministry where you can tangibly go, we're done because there's like another Sunday coming or we achieve that. And so I find rest in things that have a start and a finish line. I like to bake. I like to smoke meat. I like to build something. My wife goes, can you build that? I'll figure it out. And I like to do that. And start and there's nothing I can end and go, it's done charges me. And so I do on my rest time, a lot of that. - That's great, I love that. - Take anything I say with a grain of salt. I've been a ministry five years, so vital. - Who made it somewhere bigger? - Absolutely qualified. - But I think for me, it's just the calling. I always come back to God called me. And as clear as he called me in, he would have to call me out in order for me to do anything else, or to consider going anywhere else. And so I've never considered leaving the ministry.

There's been days I'm like, am I supposed to be at celebrate 'cause people are situations, but if God called me in so clearly, he has to call me out just as clearly for me to do anything else. And so every weekend I preach, I preach with the Bible I got ordained with, because I'm reminding myself God called me to this, as this calling has been affirmed on my life, and until he calls me somewhere else, I'm gonna keep showing up. But from the beginning, I'm grateful for mentors and people speaking in on the health thing. I think that's the blessing I have that I don't know if everyone else has had is people who have made sure my foundation was healthy from day one. And so like people asking what's your hobby right away? Yeah. Now I'm a terrible golfer, but it's my hobby. And I'm running, then I'm a terrible runner, but it's my hobby. You're Instagram makes you look like a po golfer. Yeah. I've been noticing young people know videos, though, only photos. So I think hobbies, like those things have been good, and then relationships. I've been a young lead pastor. I was so aware that I've so many blind spots, which we all have blind spots. But being young, I have more blind spots. And so immediately I was like, I don't just want a mentor who lives in a different city, who sees glimpses of my life.

I need someone who sees my life and who sees how I treat my wife and my kids, and who sees how I navigate the staff at the church. And so I have accountability on our team. I have mentors close and far because I'm like, I just need that. And not to mention how much I don't know that these men are helping me learn as I go. That's great. I love that. So so good. Tim, I echo a lot of what you guys have said. I mean, my wife will tell me, you kind of love Mo and the lawn, don't you? We've got a big backyard lawn. And I said, yeah, I kind of do snow blowing coming from California and Arizona. And she said, you kind of like getting out there at 5 a.m. and clearing off the snow. I said, well, I don't know if I like it. But once you get out there and you do it and you see it finished, it's like, yeah, that's good. But I love to go off time off as keeps me going. But I would say my spouse, my wife, is one who helps in that tremendously. I mean, she's a gift and one of the saints in my life. And to have a partner like that that kind of knows you're able to talk to about things going on in life and ministry, certainly not breaking confidentiality with people, but sharing some of the really the joys together, doing a lot of things in the church together, but also some of the challenges.

But it keeps me going all of that. But I've learned in my ministry and in my personal life that for me, if you want to go deep into Christianity, you need to go deep into grace. It has to be deep in grace. And by that, I mean that everything's not perfect. You guys talked about messiness. There's messiness in all of our lives to not just our parishioner lives. I'm so grace and I saw a car on the drive over here today. You guys have maybe seen this. I hadn't seen it, but it had a bumper sticker or a window sticker on the back. And it said, I can't. And then it has a cross. And then it says, but I know a guy. And it's, you know, referring to Jesus. And a lot of my ministry, I say, well, you know, I can't. But I know a guy. I liked that phrase and that guy's Jesus. And so knowing that that's part of grace for me. One more thing about that. It was impactful for me to hear a speaker talking about Larry David, who was the writer/producer for Seinfeld, but also Arrested Development. And he was talking about somebody asked him why in both of those series, when the series came to an end, did you have the last scene in both of those shows in the last episode in a courtroom? And that's how those both ended in different situations,

but they were all in a courtroom. And he said, because in our society and culture, people today feel judged. They feel judged all the time, judged for whether they've had a mistake in their personal life, whether they've been through a hard time in relationships, whether they're judged for being a Democrat or a Republican. and what people need rather than judgment is a word of comfort and a word of grace." And I've taken that kind of as a theme and I've shared it with our staff and even with our congregation. And for me personally, it keeps me going to say, when people come to worship, you can challenge them. Yeah, you want to challenge them, no question. But man, they don't come to hear more judgment or oppressiveness in their life. There's so much of that going on that they need a word of grace that, "Hey, you are enough. You are a child of God. God loves you. God's empowering you to not only know the meaning and purpose in your life, but then to live it out." And maybe you can't, but going back to that window sticker, "I know a guy and it's Jesus." And it really comes down to that kind of grace for me that keeps me going and I think helps to keep the church going strong. So good. For me, several things that come to mind is just, you mentioned it, gosh, my wife, I don't know what I would do without her, just being, you know, she's a pastor's kid. She knew coming into ministry so much more than I was just clueless. I'm the son of an electrician. And so Becky, close friends, too specifically that I can be completely unfiltered with, share the good, bad otherwise and ugly, ugly, ugliness inside me and not be condemned for it. But just like, nope, this is a safe place. In many ways, they're my pastors. And then mentors has been so huge, both in Sioux Falls, out of Sioux Falls. Just older men who have just been around the block longer than I have counseling even. Just going to regularly see a therapist. Just went and saw Mary Weber, who I'm not related to her. I'm trying to figure out a way to change that because I'd love to be related to her. She's so awesome. So a therapist, I think even doing 360s has been so good for me. I'm like, what is it really like to be on the other side of me? Yeah. And to hear it unfiltered. This has been one of my, this is probably since now, from January till now, it's probably been one of the three steepest climbs in my 20 years. And so I did a 360. I sent it out to 18 different people in my life. When Becky got it, she called

immediately. And she's like, why are you asking for feedback during one of the most stressful times in your life? She's like, that's just a bad idea. And I'm like, oh, I said, I know, I said, one year under pressure, that's when the crud goes to the surface. And so I was like, you know, eight months ago, it probably would have been the nicest 360 ever. But I'm not, I'm not after that. I'm after like, what is the hard stuff that I don't want to hear? And that's just been so game changing because I am a stubborn mule. I'm not a yeller. I'm not whatever. But to quote Jim Lake, he always says, Adam, people like you and I, we wear people out. And I'm like, that's probably true. So that's been really, really helpful for me. On this, on this topic, one last question. If someone was considering, man, I think I'm supposed to be a pastor. Yeah. Or I think I don't know, but I got this weird thing going on inside of me. What would you tell them? And I just want to acknowledge, I kind of regret because I always speak to the banker. And I'm like, you are a light at your bank, at your, you know, your coach, your teacher, your school. So I'm constantly having a size in that. But I'm really regretting that I've rarely ever said, but you might actually be called to be a pastor. Yeah. And so I'm trying to pendulum swing back to a middle ground. Or yes, you can be a, you can be the light anywhere. I've always said, I'm jealous of the nurse. No one expects the nurse to be like Jesus. People expect pastors to be like Jesus. And so your light can shine even brighter as a nurse. But I'm, I'm trying to get back to a middle ground for what would you say to that person of like, I don't know, I think I might, I mean, what would you say to them? We get that sit down with Larry Osborne on North Coast and ask him, how did you stay somewhere for 40 years? And he said something kind of that kind of shook the guys up. He said, because I don't have calling messed up like all you do. And he said, I know as a Christian, I'm called to share my faith. Yeah, I know the husband, I'm called to love my wife. Scripture speaks directly to both of them. the way that I look at the church is I'm always called to be a pastor leading North Coast was not a calling as much as an opportunity to live out by calling. And if that if something had changed, I know my wife can't leave Southern California, her family's there. And my calling to her was greater than my opportunity with North Coast. So I was either going to be a North Coast 40 years or I was going to not do ministry because I would have had to forsake my calling to do ministry. Yeah. If with that perspective, I would say to anyone, you are

called like you said, you're called maybe maybe it's to be a nurse, maybe it's to be a businessman, you are called. But what is God doing in you that might make you think that ministry is the right opportunity, that full time vocational ministry is the right opportunity. Because there is something and if they can identify like, I can't just live out this calling in my workplace, I do feel a sense to preach God's word vocationally. I do and they can identify that. I'll pour gas all over that. But I want them to be able to, I never want to pull people out of their call because I think in our denomination anyway, I think we've pulled a lot of people, like the minute they have a call of God on their life, we assume it's vocational. And I think a lot of our pastors were never meant to be in vocational ministry. I think we pull them out of their mission field. Yeah. So I want to know what you're talking about. So I want to, so I want to, I want to find the balance of, do you understand we are all called as a preset of believers? But then what is it that God's doing in you? That is putting vocational ministry on your radar. And I want to follow that, give them, give them reading material to unpack that there's good looks on that and stuff. But, but that's, that's something that I would say, no, what would you say to that person that's just like, yeah, man, I see what you do. And I like, I just feel like there's like, I feel this pull towards it. Yeah, I need to be careful because I, I could try and convince anyone to go into ministry because there's nothing I'd rather do with my life. And I wake up. There's not going to be yet where I haven't been excited to go to work and to get to be a part of what God's doing in our church. It's coming. Right. Yeah, I understand that. Yeah, it's right. Oh, well, I got, I got in the ministry though, because I was literally bad at everything else to the point where I was like, okay, God, this must be what you're doing. It was embarrassing. My dad's a roofer. I tried that. I got around mechanics. That would be nothing else worth. It was smart enough to go into anything. And so God made it plainly obvious. And so, um, I know what I'm supposed to do and I could market that to anyone because I just love it and I'm obsessed with it. But I was with, um, I got to be a Judah Smith and a small group of pastors earlier this year. And I love what he said. He said, if you could do anything else, do it. Like seriously, if there's any other option in your mind, do it. If there's any plan B, go there, don't even come into the ministry because you're going to hurt yourself and you're going to hurt other people.

If this isn't exactly what God has called you to do. And so I think for young people, one, that foundation established that foundation. If you're not in God's word every day and in conversation with God, focus on that, um, get accountability in your life. If you have hidden sin, start confessing that and let God heal that part of your life before stepping into vocational ministry. So good. But cling to someone in ministry, learn from them, see what it's actually like. And then once God has called you, nothing's going to stop that and you're going to see the grace of God in unique ways in that I was the worst. I think I was the worst preacher I've ever been around when I first started preaching, not that I'm some professional now, but I was terrible. I hated public speaking. Yeah. But for some reason, people would get saved. You know, for some reason, people would take steps on their faith. Even though I was terrible and I was anxious and I'd want to throw up before and after, the grace of God was on that in a unique way. And so they watch the parts of your life where the grace of God is on that. And if that's vocational ministry, like, nothing's going to stop that. Yeah. Can I make a confession? And you guys can join me in it if you want. Okay. If I'm out here on an island, that's fine. But you could join me if you want. I know in each of our denominations or denominational background, there are a significant number of churches that didn't see any salvation last year. Yeah. And there's a direct correlation between the churches that didn't see salvation and the churches that can't put their finger on the last time they didn't salvation challenge or an altar call or a moment of decision or whatever you want to call it. So you can't not do the moment of decision and then wonder why you didn't have any salvation. Yes. Clear as day. I don't often enough as a pastor in a public setting, challenge people who might have a vocational calling. Yes. When was the last time in your services where you said you might be vocationally called to ministry? God might be doing something in you. And I think that to do that better. That's what I've been. I think the last time I did, we did a series called Here I Am Lord, like three years ago. And I think that's the last time that I've even mentioned it. And before then, I don't even want to know how long it had been before that, just because I've just never, again, I default to being Christ right where you're at.

And yet, offering those opportunities, yeah, you can't expect decisions for Christ if you haven't offered an opportunity. And so I think that's... And you can't expect calling if you haven't offered an opportunity. Yeah. That's so good. Tim, anything you would add? I'm right with all of you on that. I think I would delve into that person and just kind of ask some questions first and just listen to their discernment and listen to their sense of calling, but to go back and to reaffirm that at your baptism or wherever you want to say that, God has made a decision for you already. All right. God has decided for you, God has put a calling on you and your life. That may look different for you, will look different for you than it is for me than anybody else, but then explore that vocational part of ministry, if that's where God's leading. But to assure them that wherever that goes and encourage it, absolutely, what gifts do you bring? What are your passions? What is God put on your heart? But to let them walk away knowing that God has made a decision for you and you need to know that. That's so good. Yeah. I think the only thing I'd add is even to just get more like specific on ramps, talk to your pastor and just say, "Hey, I'm feeling this tug, just talk to your pastor if you have a small group leader that's further on in the journey, even just to mention it to them." Like, "Hey, I don't even know what I'm asking, but I'm just pursuing or if you have an old or mentor or even a grandparent in your life who deeply loves Jesus, that'd be a great

person to share, like, "Hey, grandma, I don't know why, but I just feel like whatever. Would you be praying with me about this?" And you find the power of a praying grandma who loves Jesus and you'll be in a good place. So I'd say those. What I was so blessed with was my pastor, he did such a good job of not telling me this. So I gave my life to Christ in high school, came back and three of us were asked to share during a service. And maybe he said this to all three, I need to ask him. But afterwards he found me and he just said, "Hey, Adam, I just want to tell you, I think you might have a gift." And even like the think, I think it's just like, "Hey, I don't want to like concrete like saying you're outside of God's will if you become an electrician." But like, I just think it was so, and I even asked him, like, "What does that mean?" And he's like, "I'm not sure. I just wanted to tell you that." And then when I come home from college one time, he's like, "What are you involved with?" And I was like, "I don't know, like, some campus ministries and stuff." And he's like, "Oh, what are you leading?" And I was like, "I'm not really leading anything. I didn't know what you were supposed to or whatever." And he's like, "When you go back, you should lead something." That's all he said to me. And I was like, "Okay." So I came back to Augie and I was like, "I got to lead something." So I literally went up to one of the group leaders, it was called "Under the Influence of Christ," UTIC. And I just said it, and I was like, "Hey, I think I'm supposed to, like, lead something." And he's like, "Oh, man, we'll take any warm bodies." Basically what he said to me, he didn't say that, but that's really, he's like, "Well, we'll utilize you."

But also did that and then he just continued to see and he gave me opportunities. "Hey, my brother's looking for someone to fill in for him for this summer." And he went from one and then he's the pastor who had the idea, "Hey, we're thinking about starting a church in Sioux Falls. What do you think?" And he just said such a good job of asking questions and opportunities instead of saying, "This is God, like, this is what you're supposed to do," and that gave me the ability to wrestle with God and process with God in my own, you know? I love it. I love it. I love it. It was just so, so helpful. Before we go any further there, this is awesome partners that we want to thank for making life between Sundays possible. I would like to share about our partners. I would love to share about our partners. Our partners are amazing and I'm not just saying that every single partner that we have, I just believe in so much. Our first partner today is Mission Haiti. Mission Haiti is a nonprofit that I have personally known and supported for over a decade. I'm going to guess 12, 13 years. Right now my wife and I, we sponsor three different kids through Mission Haiti. I've been to Haiti multiple times. I just have such a huge heart for the work that they're doing. Mission Haiti's goal is to love Jesus, love others, and to make disciples in the country of Haiti. And they're doing so much. They have a clinic. They have different businesses that they're equipping people to learn a trade so that they can flourish.

Right now they're sponsoring over 2,800 kids, which is just like insane. Every single kid gets an education, they get a warm meal, and they get to hear about Jesus. They also get access to healthcare. I mean, it's insane. If you are looking to make a difference in a child's life, and when I say a difference, altering every part of their life, go to mission-hady.org. Mission-hady.org, I promise you it will be the best spent money that you do. We feel so honored that we get to partner with these three kids. So that's our first partner. Our second partner is Vern-ID Mitsubishi. Vern-ID is a growing employee-owned faith-based company that strives to deliver dreams and transform lives. And their goal is excellence in everything that they do. Bless you. - Thank you. - I talk about Vern-ID all the time. I just do not look anywhere else. If you are looking to buy a vehicle, a car, a truck, like literally a tractor, a boat, go to Vern-ID.com. The best, the best customer service. They'll treat you right. If you live here locally, talk to Jared at the Honda dealership. He's who my wife and I talk. Anytime we look at a vehicle, we always call and reach out to Jared. Can't say enough, Vern-ID.com.

I want to get two more questions. Is that okay? - No. - Are you guys okay? - Yeah, great. Okay, so it's okay if you don't have to answer this. Is there a question you wish I would have asked? Or like, gosh, this is what I think people would want to hear from a group of pastors. Any question that comes to mind that you're like, I think people would want to know this. Or I thought you were like, this is a question I thought. I'd be curious to even ask this group. And no problem if you don't have an answer. We can cut this out for sure. Anything that comes to mind comes to mind. Phil, I'm like, I'm waiting for your questions specifically. - I mean, okay. The first thing that popped into my mind was, is Jesus a Republican? - Oh, this is gonna, oh my gosh. - Wow. - No love, but what Jesus said. - Yeah, this is, we're gonna have that one out. - I'm not asking that seriously. - What politics, what I'll say there, I really loved like what you were mentioning earlier. More and more, I'm more, I'm just telling people, hey, I have my own political leanings, but that's not what you're here for.

You're here to meet Jesus, and his politics are gonna challenge you. Wherever you are, he's gonna full court press you. - Yeah, unless your faith lead you in the direction that God's calling you. - I'm like, I have very strong feelings about X, Y, and Z, but I'm like, let's follow Jesus, and he's gonna full court press all of us. So, but I had to say that. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Do you have another question? - No, I'm a serious one. - Um, I mean, I, maybe where do you see God moving the most right now in our society? - Oof, can I make that even more specific in Sioux Falls? - Yeah, that's good. - Well, I mean, like, I can't remember, I've been here, you know, almost 20 years, I can't remember the last time that you get four pastors around a table, and they were all like, yeah, and people are getting saved, and baptized, and the church is growing, and it's at a time where the narrative has been that the church is dying, and it's just not true. - Yeah. - I got an 80 plus year old, 80 some year old mentor in my life, and she said, as Joanne, right, Joanne Laine,

and she said, she said, like, yeah, there's generations that have been inoculated to the gospel, but she described, when I look at young people right now, it's like untouched snow, it's like a new snowfall. Like, there's just a freshness and a newness, and I don't know anything but I want to, and there's a hunger, and she said, it's just really encouraging. She said, I, her quote was, we're not post-Christianity, we're pretty revival, and that perspective, that's what I see in Two Falls. I see that there's a spiritual hunger in the midst of everything that is really, really cool. - That's great, I love the picture even of fish, no. - Yeah. - That is so cool. What would you guys say back to that? What word do you see got moving in Two Falls? - You resonate with that. I was playing golf the other day. I got to play the new country club, Mapleton, which is really cool, really fun to play, but brought out there. - No, I had an opportunity when I missed it. - There were no videos on the picture, so. But, gentlemen, in our congregation, know, one of the things that I'm seeing, not only, you know, in our world at Gloria Day, but, uh, in other places he's been, is that there are middle schoolers, high schoolers who are, uh, jumping into worship, jumping into, uh, studying, you know, really wrestling with their faith. And so kind of resonate with what you're saying. That's, I think there's a movement of the spirit that's, that's

really working and, um, don't know exactly where, you know, what the spirit's going to do with all that. But I think, uh, I see a lot of that and I can name different organizations and churches and people that I've, that I've, uh, been with that are seeing and experiencing the same kind of thing. So, um, I kind of wish you would ask about the Vikings chances of winning the world, uh, the Super Bowl this year, but, uh, we won't get into that. Who has a Viking shirt is my favorite. It says, the Vikings, uh, optimistic since 1961. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. That's so good. No, I would say, I feel like I see just a hunger for scripture, a hunger for a hunger for what's real, a hunger for truth even. Um, just a hunger for it being unfiltered. Um, like there just seems to be just a hunger and then just a hunger for decisions. Like, uh, for the longest time, I wasn't really bold and it's weird because I have the heart of an evangelist. I mean, a person coming to Christ is the driving force of my life. And really what I feel like the Lord's put me on earth for. But I, I, I didn't offer many opportunities. It's what's so bizarre. I'd basically lead them with the wall, like, and just not share what specifics. And since then, every time, I mean, and it's, and it's bold decisions from people that it feels very out of their comfort zone, even to raise their hand and baptisms and even just, I mean, the amount of Bibles we've given out, we've been on, we're like, I think 1200 Bibles so far this year. Amazing. And you're just like, what? Yeah. So I feel like that's been so clear. Um, and when I love about what you just said, not just at one church, but like this church and this church and that church. That church. No, the Lord told me this week, do a, do a salvation challenge at the beginning of the message before you preach. Oh, so two minutes into the message, I was like, before we jump into this, maybe you're here and 16 people except the Christ. At the beginning. How this works, right? You're supposed to leave them in Jesus. Jesus. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so I, it's just, yeah, we're seeing that just everywhere. And it's across our denominational landscape, but definitely across our city. I love that. Anything you could add to that? No, we're specifically, you see God moving or how you see him move. No, I see it in the young people. And I was the youth pastor to celebrate before I was the lead pastor. And so I get to be with them. But I'm noticing a difference even in the last year and a half and what God's doing in the young people. And you know, in Israel, the, we all hear the scripture and we've probably used it where the, they put the worship leaders at the front of the battle. And I'm like, our worship leaders aren't just the people on stage. Our worship leaders are our young people right now in our

church. And we have at our second service, the front rows filled with young people. And they take a couple of rows and they worship their hearts out. But what I'm noticing, and I'm Gen Z, just like a lot of these students, I'm in the same generation, but I'm noticing a difference from when I was there age, because they're passionate about worship, just like my age was when I was that age. But they're so hungry for truth like you talked about. And I'm high conviction in my preaching, we're not holding back, we're going to give you the truth. And they're responding and they're receiving and just the hunger to worship. I think we sometimes we create this false dichotomy. And it's like, no, they are worshipers. And they are truth seekers. And they want both. And I'm like, that's world changers. Nothing that could stop them. It's not just in celebrate across our city, we're seeing a movement of our youth. And I'm like, as a lead pastor, what can I do to support that? Because I think that's not just the youth pastor's job. That's the church's job to run around that and support that. So I'm like, I'll preach twice a year of youth or whatever you need, like, not the future of the church that is the church. I love that. Any other question that you wish would have been asked? And the bingles are going to go to the server wall. If you listen to me, Joseph Bird always talking right now. I've never been more excited. Chiefs, bingles, AFC championship. That's what I'm hearing. My genius. Any other questions that you wish I would have asked? Last last question I got then, as honestly as you're willing to share, how can we be praying for you? Like, how can we be praying for you? If you want to share how we can be praying for your church as well, how can we be praying for you? That would be one of my greatest hopes, whether the listeners are from Sioux Falls or from across the country, like that, Hey, here's, here's like, four specific people you can be praying for, four pastors, church. All this, whoever wants to go first. - Well, we're in midst of a leadership transition. And I think leadership in the church, as in any organization or business is extremely important. And so just praying that God would continue to lead in that process. And we've got a great team and glory day and just pray that that continues. And I trust to know that it will.

But more in general, maybe praying for people to see and know, and you touched on in your last question, but the relevance of Christianity that people, everybody in their life at some point ask the questions, the deep questions of life, what am I here for? Why did God make me and the answer to those questions is found in the message of Christ and the message of the scripture. And to just dig in deep, dig into that. So a prayer that not only at the ministry, I'm part of at glory a day, but all of your ministries and across the city and state in the world that people would have people in their lives to share and proclaim that, talk about with or that they would simply discover and God would put it on their hearts. Because the gospel of Christ is relevant. I don't care if it's first century, all the way to 21st century. People are asking and longing for the same kinds of things. Bono, he's saying, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. Well, let me tell you what you might be looking for for people right then that's found in Christ. - So great, I love that. Phil, how can we be praying for you? - So we're chasing a pretty big vision and the only way that vision can happen is if it can't happen because we the staff do church really well. It can happen when every person takes spiritual responsibility for their spaces and places.

- Yeah. - So you can pray that not just in my church, but in all our churches that the priesthood of believers is activated, that people start living out of their calling. And it's not just us, it's us equipping the saints to do the work, that's how revival is going to happen. If there's going to be a revival, it's going to be on the backs of lay people. And so I am praying that people take spiritual responsibility. That's number one. Number two, just a theme in my life right now, friend of mine, Chris Conrad did a teaching on how often ministry leaders missed the mark because we decide rather than discern. And I'm trying to, we're trying to lead our teams to sit in a space of prayer and discernment, to not be in a hurry. And, you know, he points out in scripture like one time that the disciples decided was like, after Jesus left and they're waiting on the Holy Spirit and they're like, well, we should probably appoint somebody which the Holy Spirit never asked them to do. They appoint Matthias and you never hear the guy again. (laughing) Then there's other times where you see the script and it says, it seemed good to the Holy Spirit. - Ah, yes, yes, right. Like, I want to sit in that space. - Yeah. - We're consulting the Holy Spirit on every decision.

- Yeah. - So. - So good. - No, how can we be praying for you? - Yeah, I could give you a handful of things from the church. I got to be honest with the thing that's heavy on my heart is my family. - Yeah. - Just being young and minister with young kids. Like, I'm feeling that big time right now. And so I got emotional the other day and I was talking to Jayden about it because I was thinking about, we have all these things we're doing the evening, couples we're meeting with or business leaders we're talking to and things to move the ministry forward and to be faithful to the call God to put on our life. And I got emotional because we were talking about another opportunity we had and I was like, but I don't get to put Salem and Judah to bed. - Yeah. - And Salem is my three-year-old daughter and Judah's one. Yeah, I was just like, gosh, I mean, I never want to miss my first ministry. - Yeah. - My family. And I'm not the big chaser, big visionary go-getter guy, but I just feel the needs of the church and the people. The poll there.

- Yeah. - And so you can just pray for my focus and for my family, protect my family from me God, you know? So. - That's great. Thanks for sharing that. For me specifically, we had a guest this last weekend, Ashley Wees spoke at Embrace and afterwards, she said to me, I could feel so many people on the edge of just going all in. Like to worship to whatever. She's like, you could just feel it in the room. Like people were so close to going all in. And so my prayer for Embrace is that we just go all in. That, you know, young and old would look like fools, worship in Jesus. who's worthy of our praise. And that would just be true. And that Sundays would just be a launching pad to the rest of their week. Like they'd be filled up, they'd be all in, and then they would just go, you know, just go for it. For me specifically, I'm really feeling, so this has been a really busy season. We're pursuing something. You can be praying for finances. We're just raising resources right now to pursue something that we feel like we're supposed to do. So pray for that. But I really feel, I'm just hungry for more and more time

with the Lord and just stillness and solitude, which is not a normal thing for me, but has become a normal thing for me. Just my morning time with Jesus is so important. And so I think just for me to continue to really say no as much as I can so I can say yes to more time with Jesus, more time in scripture. I'm really feeling a passion even to be preaching more, which again is not a normal thing for me. And so that would be something that'd be so grateful for us is that God would fill me up, that I would run the next 20 years so much better than the last 20. So that would be the specific ways that you can be praying for me. Man, I'm so grateful for you. I respect you so much. Just honor that you take the time and just sharing so candidly just a huge, huge blessing. So just love and appreciate you guys. - Thanks very much. - Yeah, thank you much. - Thank you all so much again for listening in to this episode, for joining Adam, for a fun conversation with a couple of pastors. - Yeah, I would encourage you, if this encourages you in any way, whether you live in Sioux Falls or not, share it with a friend, text it to somebody. And again, if you go to any of these other three churches

really would just encourage you just to bless them in some way, shape or form. Thanks to our partners, Mission Haiti and Variety, Mr. Vichy, these episodes would not happen without you. Last but not least, thanks to every single one of you who you listen in. It's a huge, huge honor. God bless. - Thanks guys. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪♪