The Other 6 Days

A Future of Influence | The Other 6 Days | Episode 72

• Southwest Church • Season 4 • Episode 72

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In this episode, CJ sits down with Pastor Andrew Statezny to unpack the power of encounters & conversations and what it really means to steward influence for the sake of gospel advancement.

We talk a little about the reason behind the name change here at Wellspring Church why this new identity goes well beyond branding toward about becoming the kind of church known for being a place where EVERYONE is invited to encounter Jesus.

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Meeting Andrew And Rethinking Conversations

SPEAKER_02

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Other Six Days Podcast, where we chat about life outside of Sundays and what it means to live from our gatherings and not just for them. I'm your host, CJ McFadden, and today we're joined by my friend Andrew Statsny, advancement pastor at Wellspring Church. Andrew is probably one of the best individuals I've met at simultaneously partnering both faith and fun to engage hearts in healthy gospel conversation. And today we get the opportunity to do just that as we discuss how a heart for the local church and stewardship intersect to play a major role in the advancement of God's kingdom. Andrew, welcome to the podcast. Hey, thanks, CJ. Hey, so glad to have you. Well, hey, we always kick off the podcast, get to know our guests, obviously. And I know you love people in conversations. So, which this can be a recipe for all kinds of experiences. So, whether awesome, awkward, powerful, or painful, what first comes to mind when you think of some of these impactful encounters you've had?

SPEAKER_01

Oh, wow. That's a loaded question. There's so many different conversations I have throughout the week. Um, I'm always just looking for an opportunity to get to know somebody like what they really are at their core.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so um I've I'd start conversations a little differently. Um I think sometimes as guys, yeah, uh, we want to start a conversation. And the first question we'll say is like, so what do you do for a living? Yeah. You know, and what I think is happening like subconsciously is we're kind of measuring ourselves up. Like, am I more important than this person is? Are they more important than I am? Or do they make more money than I do? Yeah, you know, those kinds of things. Where do I fit in this conversation? Yeah. And uh a couple years back, I just thought I challenged myself. I'm like, I think that's super lazy of me to just do that. And I'm really not looking at somebody, I'm almost kind of comparing myself instead of looking at somebody. And so I started actually asking the question so in the next season, what do you have that you're real excited about? Like, are you working on a project? You know, you got something going on with the family. Yeah. Like, what do you have that you're just looking forward to that you wake up thinking about?

SPEAKER_02

Man.

SPEAKER_01

And if somebody doesn't want to talk, they'll just be like, I don't know, nothing. Yeah. But if somebody does, instantly they light up and begin to share with you about it. And so it's to me, I just want to bring, I want to bring value to every conversation I have. Yeah. And so the best way I can do that is to try to help people connect what they're thinking on the inside of them with what God's thinking. Oh man. So kind of align those two together.

SPEAKER_02

So wherever the conversation goes, you're kind of up for it. You've Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I know I just know you I I always see you, you're a great conversationalist and conversation starter. I love the way you approach that though, because I've thought similarly, similarly, I can't even say that. You thought just like that, just like that. But I said, um, I've said before, yeah, I always ask guys like when we're out golfing, what do you what do you do for a living? You know, and I was like, man, that just seems so like short-sighted or shallow, or you know, just an or comparison, uh comparisons there. So I say, um, I came up with, well, what do you uh so what do you like, what are you doing currently with your time? Like, what do you do with your time? Because it reaches like retired guys too. Right. And so they're like, oh hey, like thank you for not asking what I do. Because currently in the season, I spend my time and it opens up a lot more conversation. It does.

SPEAKER_01

It does, it totally does. The other part is, you know, for you and I, um uh we're pastors at heart, like we're church guys, we love Jesus. Um and and so sometimes it's a little awkward to just come out and go, hey, well, I'm a pastor. Yeah, you know, kind of thing. And I really I'd rather have somebody know me for who I am than than my title that's in front of my name, which I think we all should be shepherding people anyway.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But um, I had a I had a fun conversation. Um I get invited to this golf game uh every week. It's I've got an open invitation to it, and the guy um whose club it's at and who has me come always is bringing people to the to the game that he wants me to meet. Yeah. And wants so if there's a difficult person, yeah, he invites him to the game because he's gonna put him in my cart. And uh, so we're up at the first tee, and it's two foursomes. You know, we're so we're watching the one foursome get ready. I'm in the first foursome, we're all teeing off. Yeah. And the new guy's there. And um, he's a bit of a reprobate cuss, okay, to say the least. And so uh my friend introduces me and said, uh, you know, uh Ray, I want you to meet uh Andrew. Andrew meet Ray. And I said, Oh, Ray, great to meet you.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

From Small Talk To Soul Talk

SPEAKER_01

And he goes, Oh, great to meet you. And he starts telling, like, because there's a whole audience of people on the first tee. He starts telling this dirty joke. Yeah. And oh man, everybody else knows I'm a pastor. Yeah, he doesn't. And so everybody's laughing. You know, they're laughing because it's so awkward. Yeah. So he just doubles down. He thinks everybody's laughing because he's so funny. Yeah, so he keeps it going. Yeah. And uh, so I I walk up and everyone's just laughing. I tee off, and I come back and I'm standing right next to him, and uh my buddy leans over and goes, Oh, by the way, Andrew's my pastor. And this guy looks at me and he goes, Oh, father, I father, forgive me. I'm so sorry, father. And I just like looked at him, I said, Ray, I said, I'll tell you what, I have a feeling there's gonna be a few more curse words that I hear before we're done. Yeah. So why don't you say the apology to the 18th, right? And so he's like, you can see this look of relief come over his face. By by the third, by the third tea box, yeah, this guy was telling me his life story and about how he had been abandoned by his mom, and his mom was a prostitute, and his uh father's new wife didn't want him, and so he was given up to the system. Wow. And uh how a priest um really took him under his wing, and without that guy in his life, um, his life would go wayward, but he wasn't following Christ right now. And it just led to this whole conversation for the next, I don't know, 15 holes of what that looked like and what faith could look like for him. So it was a lot of fun, a lot of fun. But those conversations are always unique. Yeah, you know. Every time you get them, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That was perfect, dude. That's exactly what I was thinking when I think of you. Like I think of those kind of conversations. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Kanji Kanji and I um we probably golf with each other um the most on on staff here. Yeah, but we're all you know, the our com we have the most fun of anybody. We might not have the lowest scores, yeah, but we just have a blast because we love being with people. Yeah. And so, yeah, anyway. It's a lot of awkward fun conversations and yeah, powerful ones too. That's good.

SPEAKER_02

I love that. I'm just getting the king of I'm the one that brings the awkward. I didn't find that out at first. I thought like, I'm always end up in awkward conversations, and then the call the common denominator was always me. So I always found that out. I was like, whoops, I think I'm the awkward, I'm the guy. So I've just embraced that.

SPEAKER_01

It's like they uh they say in small groups, you know, like there's always that one person in your small group, you know, that everyone kind of gets on pins and needles when they start talking. Yeah. And the person goes, uh we don't have anybody like that in our group. Uh it's you. It's you. You're the guy.

SPEAKER_02

You're the guy. Yeah. Well, why don't you share a little bit about your role here at Wellspring Church, kind of your background, family, hobbies, passions. Like who's Andrew Statsny?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, I came here uh from Monterey, uh, California. Uh I was friends uh with Ricky for quite a while, and um he started talking about this project, this encounter project that we're just stepping into right now. We can talk more about that later, but um it was it really because of him. Um and I thought, okay, this is a project that I would love to be involved with. And my background comes in uh partnerships and um connections and mergers and acquisitions for churches adopting another church, you know, kind of uh kind of repurposing kingdom dollars and and those kinds of things. And probably, I don't know, several years ago now, uh somebody said, Hey, could you come speak at this conference? Um, you do great at talking with business leaders about generosity. And I got flattered for a second and said, Yes, oh sure, I'll come and do it. And the next morning I woke up and I was like almost in cold sweat going, What did I do? Wait, I don't know why I'm good at it. They just said I was good at it. I might not even be good at it. And so I I went and I I got this idea and I went and interviewed my four wealthiest friends. And I just said, How do you want a pastor to talk to you about generosity? Wow. What what don't you want him to say? Yeah, what do you need from a pastor? Um, you know, these guys all have great um affluence and they also have a lot of influence in their lives. Yeah. And so they began to just lay it out. And I I watched these four interviews back, I had them all on video.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I watched them back, and they said four things in common, and that became my talk. Wow. And when I went to go do that conference, I walked into the green room, and there's Ricky Jenkins.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_01

So Ricky's like, What are you doing here? And I'm so I tell him, and and he goes, Well, what are the four things? Yeah, you know, he was just like super excited. And so that just started a whole other conversation. And uh several months later, uh, he called and said, Would you and Amy come down and and talk with us here? Um, I've got something I want to show you. Yeah. And didn't wouldn't tell me what it was. Yeah. I mean, knucklehead, he wouldn't he wouldn't tell me what it was. So, like then he got me my curiosity up. I'm like, well, shoot, I'm gonna have to go to the desert to figure out what it was.

SPEAKER_02

It's gotta be good, yeah.

Influence Over Affluence

SPEAKER_01

And then it actually was, it was really good.

SPEAKER_02

It was the encounter project. That's awesome. Well, I we'll talk a little bit about that, but um actually you just said it. You always you've always used this powerful phrase that's really stuck with me, and it's that we're called to steward influence, not just accumulate affluence. Yeah. And so let's unpack a little bit by what you mean by that. Like what happens to the church when we build on influence? Like, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, I found I don't like when somebody does this to me, like tells me what I should be doing with my money. Yeah. Right? Especially my generosity. Like, I feel like God's gonna speak to me. And I'm like, Amy and I have some things that we love to give to. Um, obviously, we believe in in giving to the church, we believe that in the tithe. Um, you know, it's the first thing that we do. Um, but then we have some things that we're just passionate about, some different ministries um that we're passionate about, some individuals that we're passionate about, we want to help. And um I found that every every person I talked to um that had affluence or resources, probably a business guy, yeah, um, probably been successful at life, they'd been winning. And all of them have employees or friends that look up to them and they want to help, they want to shepherd them. Yeah. So if you've got 300 employees, right, um, and you're a godly uh person, you care for those employees, like they're they're your family. Yeah and their families are extension of your family. Yeah. And so I just found myself going, how do I how can I show up well, not just uh pray for this person, but there's people in their lives that don't go to church that need a pastor. Yeah. And so the influence that they have, I try to be a pastor to their influence that they have where they can use me. Um you know, some somebody's going through a divorce, somebody got a DUI, um, they need somebody to talk to, somebody um their their mother died and they don't know who's gonna do the funeral. And um, just some of the somebody's, you know, their family member went off the rails and needs somebody to sit down and talk with them and pray with them. Um I find that that's one of the best things I can do is just show up and and put love on people and pastor them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And the generosity part, um, I just believe this. When you align your heart with God's heart, you become generous. Yeah. You just you just do. Um you know, uh, I think in the end, um too often pastors are looked at because we've got a we've had a black eye over the last couple decades of um guys that aren't responsible and don't steward well um people's gifts that they give to the kingdom. You know, you think of the television evangelist that's always asking for money and things like that, and it's such a turn off to me. Yeah. Um, you know, uh I think when you are are good for people, um, you know, they're turning around and looking, how do I bless the kingdom out of it? And the kingdom ended up being the benefit of it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So that's a little bit I love that. Yeah. Yeah. I noticed that with your conversations, like you show genuine interest in people. And so when you had told me that, like I had almost seen when we started having those conversations and you had mentioned influence over affluence, like there wasn't even talk of the affluence piece. There was just a genuine interest in someone's life. You start, you spark those kind of conversations and you show value and you kind of build, you know, you're like, hey man, you're really good at this, and you kind of build equity into people and you talk to them about that, and then you help them to see that and their other relationships as well. Yeah. And you you're really good at identifying that. And I was just like, man, that's huge. And you're like, you know, that and that was more of the focus, like it's genuine authenticity in those relationships and stuff. So genuine interests.

SPEAKER_01

So really cool. It it's it is weird because I I haven't always been comfortable in those situations. So um it's something I've really tried to um be better at uh throughout the years. And for whatever reason, um I think what ends up happening, the kingdom of God gets established in our relationships, yeah. Right. And Jesus came so that we could have a relationship with God, right? And to restore that relationship. And so I just look at it and go, okay, well, relationships are the key. Um because that's I mean, Jesus is the relationship that now puts us between uh, you know, God and and man. And so that's that bridge, that connection. So relationships must be a big deal in the kingdom.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So anyway.

Why The Name Change To Wellspring

SPEAKER_02

Well, which is that's really hard though, too. I mean, I a hundred percent, but I think like it, you know, obviously affluence can get in the way sometimes of people engaging in that relationship because all you see is their affluence, and um, you just have a tendency to be able to look beyond that because you're looking for something different. There's other something deeper, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That's great. Well, um, so we recently changed the name of uh Southwest Church to Wellspring Church. Yeah. And uh we currently rolled out the Encounter Project, and you helped play a significant role in much of the both of those. So let's glean some of your insights and talk a little bit about the why and why now and behind all those things. So the name change or the encounter project or all the above.

SPEAKER_01

Go name change first and then let's talk encounter project. Okay, name change.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, yeah, I it was funny because um we there were probably a couple people that were a little flustrated, flustered, frustrated. Frustrated's good, I like that um by the name change. Yeah. That just because uh the the the name Southwest has had 25 years of of history and story, and it's been ups and downs. There's been goods and bads. Yeah. Um, there's been the great seasons and seasons where you're kind of like, uh go to Southwest Church, you know, get real kind of say it real fast, Dave. Um but but the bottom line for it is is that we're we're not changing uh the church is just the name. Yeah. And the name identifies kind of the season we're moving into. Um and I always think it's kind of funny, but the I, you know, one one couple, very sweet couple, they were not pleased and they were bending my ear about it.

SPEAKER_02

They let you know, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

In in Jesus' name, right? Um and and so I just listened, you know, and heard everything that it's and it really came down to uh we kind of feel like our history is being erased. Oh wow. And I went, oh, well, that's not that's not good. Yeah, right. That's that's that's as no one likes that that feeling, right? And uh so I kind of just said, Well, can I can I help you guys with just a little bit? Can you tell me why we got named Southwest Church? Yeah. And they're like, Well, I don't know. Right. And the story goes, yeah, uh, that a pastor and his executive pastor at the time, um, the church was a different name before that. It was like Evangelical Free Church of the Palm Desert Valley Area, quad tri Seven Cities, whatever it was, right?

SPEAKER_02

This long name.

SPEAKER_01

And so they're like, we gotta simplify this name. And so kind of the same time they moved out to this property here on Fred Warin in Washington, um, they were going up over the hill to Temecula. And the back way up over the mountains, there's a fire station at the top. And they're having this conversation about we should rename the church, you know, because it's just make it simpler for everybody to understand. And they went by this fire station that says Southwest Regional Fire Station. And the guy goes, We should just name it Southwest. And they went, Yeah, that's great. And that's that's how that Southwest got its name. Like so I know. So with Wellspring, um, I I think it's beautiful, yeah. Um, because it means so much. There's so much meaning and richness in it. Yeah. Um and I can it's a it's a longer story than a podcast would would take because it's been on um Ricky's heart, the elders' hearts for for many years now. Uh but it really comes down to the woman at the well encountered Jesus and it changed everything. Yeah. And so you're like, what are what do we want this church to be? We want it to be that place where people encounter Jesus like the well was. So you got the well, we're in Indian wells, yeah, right? And then you have Palm Springs, right? And so you go, you know what, Well Springs, uh Well Spring Church. And I I I love it. I love it, and it kind of all puts it together, and it's you know, we we are at the ground floor, the very beginning of what God's going to do uh in this valley. Um, you know, we think, oh no, we've got all this history. Yes, we do. But it's gonna, this is a marked point in time where we'll look back and go, do you remember at the very beginning? And people are gonna think they were here 50 years ago, right when the church started. They're gonna think this is the embarkation point.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, God's doing something so significant with that. And I see it over and over again. And and Wellspring, it's it's a great name.

SPEAKER_02

It does, it just fits. Like it's so funny. Like it it definitely just grows on you over time as we've talked about it. And you know, like you said, with the history, like there is a little bit of like, oh man, what's happening there? But I mean, some of the stuff too that, like, uh, I mean, obviously Indian Wells and uh Wellspring, John chapter four, the woman at the well, uh, living water, all of the things. Um, I think uh too, like Ricky had made one of them. All these motifs keep popping up that just fit, and you're like, oh, you're like, you know, uh it's deep, you know, uh Bill Wells, don't put up walls. Like, I'm just hearing all this stuff, and I'm like, oh, it's so good. But uh Ricky said that we sit on a here in the desert on an aquifer.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

Inside The Encounter Project Vision

SPEAKER_02

And so that literally right underneath us, it's like it's a massive aquifer. So it's like tapping into well, like he had said it so well, and I was like, and I'm like, oh man, it just what a fitting name for where we're at, and so many levels, but biblical. So yeah, very biblical, so cool. Yeah, I love it. Oh man, I love that. Well, um, yeah, so right on the heels of the name change was that little thing called the encounter project that we're right in the middle of. So um tell tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so the current uh the current property sits on 43 acres. Yeah. And the building that we're in is really at the center of that property. Um and if you've gone here for a while, what what tends to happen is it things just get very familiar because you see it every week in, week out. You're here a couple times during the week for different things. Uh it's kind of like, you know, uh, it's a your house. Um, there's a project I want to work on, I haven't worked on, right? And I just forget it's there. You know, it's just totally I'm there. And somebody comes in for the first time and goes, why is that that way? I just haven't got around to fixing it yet. I'm going to. I'm going to work on that project. Um, you know, or or I always like the uh this one where you know your computer screen, I always want to show somebody when I get to, oh, hey, check this out in my computer screen. And I realize, man, I I must spit when I talk or something because my screen is so dirty. I never notice that it's dirty until I show it to somebody else.

SPEAKER_02

Dude, and the podcast, I'm always like, don't see my screen because it looks horrible.

SPEAKER_01

Well, this is the same way at the at this property. Yeah. You pull in and you see a massive field to the west of us. It's all grass and it's beautiful, but it's just an empty field.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And if there's not cars parked on it, it doesn't get used. Then if you go towards Fred Warin in Washington, towards the actual street corner, there's a huge field out there as well. It's all grass, it's beautiful. It's cut nice all the time. Um, but if you just if you're used to it, you just go, Oh, that's our field. But I look at it and I'm like, I think it's a it's a misuse of kingdom resources to not develop that to its fullest potential.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, there's a term in real estate called highest and best use. And we've got uh some vacant land here on this property that is not at its highest and best use for the kingdom. That's true. And so the Encounter Project is about making this property the highest and best use for the kingdom that we can possibly make it. So we're growing like crazy. Um we're up like 30 plus percent year over year. Um we if you don't come on Saturday night, it's really hard to find a seat on Sundays, even out church on the lawn, it's it's packed out there. Online has is it like doubled or something in the last how many months since it's doubled?

SPEAKER_02

It's uh probably I'd say the last like six months, it's slowly moved towards doubling, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

That's crazy. So it's there's this momentum that's happening, and it's the right time to do this. But we're gonna add a 2,500-seat auditorium, a sanctuary, a new sanctuary. The sanctuary we were in was meant to be a banquet hall, yeah. Wedding receptions and stuff. Yeah, that kind of thing. Yeah. And then we're gonna add 750-seat dedicated chapel so that the Spanish church, Spanish-speaking church, will actually have a permanent home there. And then during the week, I don't know, many people don't really probably realize this, but we do free memorials uh for people, especially if they don't go to the church, they they call here because they've heard that we'll do a free memorial for them.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

So it's a big ministry, the church. Um, weddings, that kind of thing can be done there, receptions. Um, there's a lot of great nonprofits and other ministries that are based in the valley here that'll be able to use that space as well. And then the current property, the current building that we're in is getting retrofitted out. And it will be the best for kids, the best for middle school, the best for high school uh students, um, anywhere I've ever seen at any church, it's gonna be optimized. It's gonna be absolutely the most incredible place to do ministries. It's not gonna be opulent, but it's gonna be done with excellence.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And uh, and then we're gonna connect those three buildings with a massive, it's a lobby, but we're calling it the Concorde. Yeah, that sounds so cool.

SPEAKER_00

It sounds so cool. Yeah, it sounds so cool.

SPEAKER_01

But it is it is just massive. And and the reason why, it's not because we want to be bigger and better and say we've got the biggest church lobby in America or anything like that. It's because five months out of the year, it's so stinking hot in this valley that moms and with small kids just disappear into their homes for the whole day because it's so hot. Hibernate. Hibernate. Yeah, run out to the pool, jump in, come back inside. And so there's gonna be a cafe in there. There's gonna be a huge indoor playground in there that moms can come and throughout the week just come and enjoy a cup of coffee with their friend and have their kids playing in a safe environment. Um, and then the back property between the building and Ford Elementary School is gonna be fields of play, of soccer, of flag football. There's gonna be pickleball courts. Um, the the covering for church on the lawn, uh, we're gonna try to repurpose and put that over the pickleball courts. We'll have the only covered pickleball courts in the valley. That's pretty awesome. Uh, bocce ball, there'll be dog parks, there's an exercise track that goes around, and um, there's gonna be a splash pad for for kids and and moms and to have their kids play, and it's just gonna be an amazing place. Our goal is this is that right now in this facility that we have, there's about 1,800 people on average from Monday to Saturday that enjoy um the facilities here.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, midweek ministries, yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so the preschool, um midweek ministries, uh, you'll have uh women's men's groups, all the small groups all over the place, right? Celebrate recovery. Yep. Um there's about 1,800 people. We're gonna be able to, with the new facilities, 10x that. 18,000 people will be able to use this property throughout the week. Wow. And then on the weekend, it'll more than triple the capacity that we have right now to do ministry. And we're super stoked that that's coming. So the Encounter Project is not building so that we can relieve a little pressure for a couple years. Yeah. The Encounter Project is something that we're going to leave a legacy for the next two generations. We'll be able to look back and go, those folks, those folks back in in 2026. Sacrificed and had the foresight to build this. And because of it, my family's serving Jesus today. Uh my family has a place to go that's that's got sanctity to it, that's got safety with it, that people love Jesus there and are sharing it with us, and we get to share it with others. And so we're setting this up for the next 50 years. And it's not a small thing, it's a big thing. Um, but it's a it's a pretty important task. So we believe it's worth going after.

SPEAKER_02

Man, what a what a gospel uh oriented uh value statement to the valley, uh creating an outpost for uh families and people for midweek ministries. I mean, it's just it it's a it's a beautiful thing. And the value to like even the concourse just in itself connected to the various aspects that you talked about, like our Spanish ministries and stuff like that, like that speaks about that connectedness that we're trying to develop and create so that people can come and experience and have an encounter with Jesus, right? Absolutely, absolutely. It's it's um it's time. Like it's time and what would yeah, why would you say we're like, why now? Like, why are we ready now? Are we like what do you I mean growth, right?

Designing Spaces For Weeklong Community

SPEAKER_01

The that, but yeah, there's so um I've been in ministry for 35 years and been a part of some incredible ministries, incredible churches. And over time you see that there's there's certain leading indicators that you kind of look at behind the scenes to go, oh, there's uh there's something here. Yeah. And uh Craig Gershel wrote his, I think his first book was called It. And it was, you know, some churches have it, some churches don't have it, right? And it's uh it it could be anointing, it could be blessing, it could be favor. Yeah, it's kind of that mixture of all those things. And do we have this church has it? It's momentum, um, it's kingdom impact that's that's happening. Um some numbers that I look at behind the scenes, uh, you know, we we saw like 2,500 people, I think, or almost 3,000 people make commitments to follow Jesus in 2025. Um we've seen 30% plus growth in people, but here's a number that you probably don't know a lot about, but for me it's a big deal as the advancement pastor. Over 1,100 people gave to the church for the very first time in 2025. And that's a big deal because usually that's the last thing that people tend to give over to God is like that. That's a hard thing to give over to God, right? Yeah. It's time. Those small little leading indicators are um, you know, when you see several of them line up, uh another one that's it's kind of unique, but um and this is more of an art than a science to it. But people invite their friends. And so I I can't go without uh a service, without somebody going, Hey, can I introduce you my friend? Yeah. And I'm like, I know why they're doing it because they're they're they're they know that you've asked us to do this. We to invite people, and they're inviting people like crazy. Yeah, and so that's that's contagious. Those all those things kind of line up. And then the financial part, like that we are we sit on 43 acres. Yeah, we're debt-free. Yeah. In California, not many churches can say that, right? Yeah, uh, we're debt free. And it's it's a big number. Like this, this number is a big number. It's gonna cost 71 million dollars to build out the buildings, it's gonna cost 19 million dollars to build out the fields and the solar infrastructure to to power this baby. Um and then three years worth of of our actual budget um get put into that as well. So it's a big number.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But we've got the we've got the best people at this church.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We really do. And um people have already been making commitments behind the scenes for this, and it's significant. Um, especially ones that really understand building and projects. So many people have given on the front end and said, Hey, I'm gonna do a commitment yearly, you know, or monthly for the next three years, but I want to give this portion up front. What they're really saying is get busy building, right? Like get this thing done. I see this in my lifetime. Exactly, exactly. And so we've had people show up in some really unique ways. Um, you know, stuff like stock transfer. They bought Apple stock, you know, when it was in the late 90s, you know, and they're going, I don't want to pay the capital gains on it, but I want to bless the church. And so we can just simply have their broker work with our broker and it transfers all that over and they get the full write-off for it and don't have to pay the capital gains tax on it. I've had people walk up to me and give me gold coins really uh in church. Yeah. And, you know, looking around and go, security, I need some take this to the safe like as quickly as possible. But silver and gold are actually at an all-time high right now. Yeah. Silver just went over$100 an ounce for a long time, even 10 years ago, it was going for like$12 an ounce. Yeah. Um, gold uh hovered between$1,000 and$2,000 for the longest time. It's over$5,000 an ounce today. Wow. So there are people that have accumulated that just as a safety net.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And they're looking around going, well, no, I've got great investments here, but I've got this asset over here. It's what's in my hand. I'm gonna let God use it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so we've got uh a broker that allows us to get the actual spot price of gold and doesn't charge us a fee. Oh, that's cool. And so we're we're just we're very fortunate, real estate. People have been, you know, here I this property here, I don't I don't need this. I'm gonna give it to God. Yeah. And the Encounter project. Um even crypto stuff. I mean, you everything, right? Crypto stuff. You know, you've got people that have bought crypto when it was, you know,$100 for one coin and now it sits on$60,000 a coin or whatever. That's wild. Uh for a Bitcoin. Um, and it's a big deal. Yeah, we can uh completely receive, like any vendor can receive Bitcoin uh as well. And so we've tried to make multiple pathways, not just yeah, hey, um, out of your checking account, you can, you know, give give this or whatever. IRAs, um, you know, some retirement accounts that are out there uh are great because you can transfer that ownership to the church and not pay the penalty. If you would take it out early, you'd pay the penalty. There's some great ways we can do that. We've got a broker that helps us do that as well. So people have just been very creative in the way that they've shown up for this. Yeah. And we've got a good foothold. Um, like before we even do commitment Sunday, we're gonna, we're going into that pretty strong. God's done some really good things with our people.

SPEAKER_02

I really like how thoughtful you guys have been to how people can get involved in generosity because you know, it's a like you said, it was a stewardship thing. People are saying, hey, we see this happening down there in the valley. We want to be a part of it. I mean, even all the way up to we even have international solutions for that, right? Through Canada and stuff.

Momentum, Metrics, And Why Now

SPEAKER_01

Like yeah, our Canadian, um, you know, our Canadian guests that are here uh for I think they can be, I think they can uh is it 90 days? No, it's 120 days. Whatever it is. There's a list, yeah. That they're they're here one day under the amount of time to hear us go home on that day right before. Um but yeah, so in Canada, they you know, if they give it to a church in the United States while they're here, they don't they don't get a tax write-off. Yeah, but we have an agent in Canada that we work through that they can give through that agency in Canada and get their full tax write-off in Canada. Oh, that's so cool. And so that's been really helpful to do that. And anybody that you know wants to know more about that can can email me. We'll give my contact information at the end of that kind of stuff. And um, but yeah, that's that's it's fun because I sat with a couple Canadians this week. Yeah. And they were asking uh um they had given uh to the residency program. Yeah. And they were asking about it and just thrilled with what God was doing and that they got a chance to contribute to it in a unique way because they wouldn't have been able to otherwise. Yeah. And so um that's yeah cool. So just good stuff all around. And we've got like a good, you know, even even with the tension between, you know, Canada and America and all the political stuff, right? Um But people that love this church and love this valley and that are a part of us, and uh they're showing up in a big way. And yeah, I'm really grateful for our Canadian guests, our Canadian brothers, sisters. They're awesome.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. Well, um, so what about those people that are feeling like, I like all this, I love what you're saying. That sounds amazing. Um, but it's a pretty big endeavor, obviously, big price tag. Um, what would you say to someone who's just still kind of sitting on the sidelines thinking about that? Like how would you encourage them?

SPEAKER_01

Or yeah, I would say um a couple things. One is like I'll give you this example. I I was a freshman in college and um you know seminary was um just a great time for me, but um it was it was a hard time. I worked my way through. Um I never took a loan out. Oh wow. Um I worked a full-time job, I went to full-time school. My parents helped me a little bit as well. And but I remember like I was so budgeted out um because I didn't have any money and I was paying for school, didn't have any extra. You know, my friends would go out for a pizza, I couldn't go out. Um, you know, they'd they'd go for a burger, okay? I couldn't go do it. You know, like, yeah, totally. If you want to pay, maybe I'll go. Yeah, like I'm I'm sneaking extra cereal at the cafeteria, right? So I had something to eat on a Sunday morning. Um and I remember um the president speaking at a chapel, the president of the college speaking at a chapel, and he was talking about uh the money he had to believe God for so that the school would run. And he said, Some of you are being challenged right now with your finances. Some of you are trusting God to come through for you so you could even be here. And I'm thinking, he's talking right to me. And uh he just said, Can I just tell you something? This is gonna be something for you that you will learn um and it'll benefit you for the rest of your life. Because the difference between you and me right now, it's it's just a couple zeros. It's the same faith. I'm believing God for millions, and you're believing God for hundreds or a thousand or five thousand or whatever to pay your bills. Yeah, but I'm believing God for fifty million dollars or whatever. So all those numbers, I thought it is the same faith. Like it's totally the same faith. So I would just simply say this to to start somewhere. You know, if uh if if you're like, I wonder how this is gonna go, there's thousands of people that go to this church. And if everybody does something, yeah, this thing gets done. Yeah, when someone says, I don't want to participate because I think it might fail, yeah. Um, I look at it and say, Well, that's a little pessimistic view because we serve one that can do anything but fail. Yeah, you know, I always kid around with Ricky's like, how does this how did that happen? I'm like, we know a guy. We know he walks on water, right? He's the miracle worker, and he loves this. Is this the key? Like all throughout scripture, God loves to take nothing and make something out of it. Yeah, right? In the beginning, yeah, there was nothing. The earth was void. Yeah. And God spoke and it came into existence, right? So he took nothing and made something out of it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Look at our lives. Yeah, our lives were a broken wreck and a mess. And God goes, Oh, I love that. I'm gonna take and make something out of that. Yeah, a hundred percent. Stories throughout the Bible. I mean, there's not one person that was used by God that didn't go through a rough time and didn't have challenges and didn't have, you know, they needed their faith built into them and again. And and I just look at it and go, I think it's the same thing. Trust God with what he's put in your hands. Wow. And then then watch what he can do with it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Because he it he doesn't add, he multiplies. Yeah. Um, and I just, yeah, you put something into God's hands and watch what it watch what he does with it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And I love like that you guys constantly keep putting back in front of people this like this isn't like a building, this isn't just a building project. Like this is creating space for people to have an encounter with Jesus. Like totally. It's a future, future forward thinking about creating like all those spaces, everything you talked about was building relationships, creating beautiful conversations and community, and like, I mean, just you know, valuing the local community. Like it's just such a wonderful gospel expression.

Creative Pathways For Generosity

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. This, like I said, this it'll be it's not gonna be opulent, it's not gonna be the Crystal Cathedral. Um, but people will walk in and go, they did it with excellence. Yeah. And I I think this, I think excellence honors God and it inspires people. And so we're gonna be good stewards with what God's given. Yeah, and we're gonna make sure that it goes a long way. And uh, there's been a lot of great conversations along the way and helps for people that are, you know, professionals in building and real estate and design and um that are coming alongside that go to church here, that this is their church. You cut them and they bleed wellspring.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, that are, hey man, how can I volunteer my time? How can I be a part of you know, helping overseas so we can maximize everything God's doing here? So good. So you know, I'm hoping we come in under budget, and I think we will.

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Well, as always, we hope our conversations are engaging, but we also want to help resource people to live this out. What are some things that we you'd like to point people to to continue this conversation?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, the encounter project, if you have questions about the encounter project, you're a Wellspring person. If you maybe don't even go to Wellspring, but you, you know, catch Ricky all the time and you want to do something for this project, um, you know, there's ways to give uh to that specifically. We'll put some links uh to this that you can give to the Encounter Project. And actually, there's a whole web page built all around uh all around the Encounter Project that will keep you up to date on everything that's happening and will allow you to participate in giving and praying, uh, supporting the Encounter Project. So that's a pretty big deal.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Uh and then there's guys that that are looking at this podcast, listen to this podcast right now that actually um are maybe they're pastors themselves. And so um you you can contact me. I I've got that whole talk I did um with the the four things that it takes to help business guys unleash their generosity. Yeah, uh, I put that into an e-booklet with a work uh worksheet with it that allows you to go through it and and it's something everyone can learn to do. Most pastors don't like to talk about money.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I really don't like to talk about just money. I like to talk about resource and what you can do for the kingdom. But um, it'll allow you to have conversations in a way that uh are vision casting and are and are forward-looking as opposed to people feeling like you're interested in them because they have a dollar that they can give you.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, it has zero to do with that. It has everything to do with the relationships and what God wants to do through somebody.

SPEAKER_02

That's great. Well, yeah, like Andrew said, you can visit the encounter project website at uh thewellspring.church slash encounter. You'll see there's all kinds of cool videos, information, FAQs, tons of stuff and ways to get involved. Also, if you want to hear about that resource that Andrew talked about, you can email him directly at andrew s at thewellspring.church. Uh, he'd love to just chat with you, you know, even have a conversation if you had any questions. Sure, sure. Yeah, I do every week. Yep. Awesome. Well, um, if you were to leave our listeners with one last encouragement or challenge, what would it be today?

SPEAKER_01

Say it with a check. Yeah. I didn't think you were gonna say that. That's awesome. I love that. Honestly, uh uh it's a big deal. Um, I've had a lot of people that um they're giving, they're they're gonna give regularly, uh, but they realize if I give something up front, this thing's gonna start and get moving. And so I just wanna I want to thank every person that's participating in this, no matter how small the amount, no matter how great the amount, it's a big deal. Yeah. It's a big deal. Again, when we align our hearts with God's heart and God's heart's full of generosity, um, he'll unleash it and he'll get it done.

SPEAKER_02

Oh man, what what have you guys been saying? Maybe not equal, not equal, uh not necessarily equal gift, but equal sacrifice.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Everybody, everybody gives something. Um it's a everybody can do something. Yeah. Everybody can do something. And and I just would encourage you to, and um I I just give you an anecdote. Yeah. Um Amy and I added our numbers together and came up with a number we wanted to give. Yeah. And um I do, you know, obviously some God's God's taking care of us and has blessed us. And and the next day, after I take the number and I I go in and talk to my uh uh uh administrative assistant, Melanie, and I'm like, put this number down for Amy and I. We're this is what we're doing. The next day I get a call and someone goes, Hey, um, I need you to help me with this, da da da, and I'm willing to pay you this. And it was the entire amount. So now I'm like, okay, God.

SPEAKER_00

Well, back to the back to the back to the drawing board.

SPEAKER_01

We gotta do something, we gotta do something a little bit different uh because this isn't gonna hurt anymore. Um and so we just wanted it to hurt a little bit. We wanted it to to stretch us and say, God, use use us. And I honestly I can't sit across from somebody and ask them to participate in this project if you know if Amy and I aren't aren't in on it. And um and the same thing with Ricky and April, you know, I'm so glad they're they're leading the way uh with their own generosity and the the choices they make. Um it's a big deal. So uh thank you guys for participating.

SPEAKER_02

Uh thank you guys. Yeah, what a great example. Well, Andrew, thank you for your leadership, your heart, your friendship, and your commitment to steward influence so well. And uh to everyone listening, uh, as we'd love your participation, uh our prayers that you encounter every encounter is an opportunity to have a conversation that leads to an invitation for gospel transformation. So um, there you have it, folks. Thanks again for joining us on another episode of the Other Six Days podcast. Be sure to hit that subscribe, follow, share, and like. And uh as always, spread the word and take what you've heard and turn it into something you can do to further the gospel and the world around you. Until next time. Peace.