Unsexy Church

Season 3 Episode 6: We Look Back At 2025 And Set A Clear Path For 2026

• First Baptist Tampa • Season 3 • Episode 6

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The Unsexy Church Podcast

New episodes drop every Wednesday Morning

ABOUT THE PODCAST

The Unsexy Church is a weekly podcast exploring the real, everyday life within our church family. Each week, join Pastor Bob (Senior Pastor) and Darren (Worship & Discipleship Pastor) as they sit down to discuss a wide variety of subjects—from deep theological questions to the practical, often "unsexy" work of following Jesus and building a healthy local church.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO THRIVE?

We want to help every person make a genuine commitment to follow Jesus and then follow through with that commitment in Connecting People to a Thriving Life in Christ. These Thriving disciples should Dig In to the Bible, Grow Up in Christ, and Branch Out into the community.

Our Mission: To Connect People to a Thriving Life in Christ. What is a thriving life in Christ? Scripture says that Jesus Christ came “that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Our mission in the city of Tampa is to make disciples who follow the pattern of the believer in Psalm 1 and desire God’s glory above all things.

NEXT STEPS

Are you looking to get connected or learn more about First Baptist Tampa? We would love to help you find your place in our community.

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Wherever you are in life, you have a purpose. First Baptist Tampa wants to help you find your next step.

Our Student & Young Adult Ministries:

Welcome Back And New Year Banter

SPEAKER_01

Hey gang, welcome back to the Unsexy Church Podcast. I'm here, as always, with Pastor Bob and Producer Jordan. Oh boy. We're back. We're back. How are you guys doing? I'm doing amazing. It's been a long time since we've done this. It's uh we looked back, I think it's September, the end of September. We took a hiatus. Yes. Just a temporary little break there. When you're as unsexy as we are, it tends to get a little busy around here. That's right. I don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_02

I don't either, but uh it does tend to get busy around here.

SPEAKER_01

It gets a little crazy. New year 2026.

SPEAKER_02

Man, we're uh we're uh an 11th of the way in or 12th of the way into this year already. Whatever. It is going fast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Because this Sunday is February 1st. Yeah, we are in January. Which is crazy to me.

SPEAKER_02

Of January. It's already flown by.

SPEAKER_01

Bob, what is your New Year's resolution? I don't make them. You don't make them resolve.

SPEAKER_02

That's my resolution is to not be resolved.

SPEAKER_01

Resolution is to not be resolute. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Don't make them. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not really a uh uh resolution guy either. Um do you have any goals?

SPEAKER_02

Always have goals. All right. Yeah, personal goals, church goals. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01

What are you thinking for this year? Just share one. Personal, church, spiritual, whatever.

SPEAKER_02

Uh obviously, always just continued growth. You know, you just don't want to be stagnant. And so mine this year is just not be satisfied with the status quo to both personally and professionally. And um, because that's easy to do.

Resolutions Versus Intentions And Reading Goals

SPEAKER_01

Does that mean we're gonna become sexy? We're moving from unsexy to sexy.

SPEAKER_02

No, we're just gonna be better at being unsexy.

SPEAKER_01

Right, yes, perfect. Perfect. Jordan, how about you? What are you a New Year's resolution guy? Should I ask Lizzie what your New Year's resolution should be?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have no idea. Uh am I one? No, I don't think so. I think I used to be, and then and then I used to not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I don't know what the statistics are, but it's like two weeks in to the new year, most most people have given up on their on their re on their resolution.

SPEAKER_02

Which is which is why they're switching them now to New Year's intentions. Intentions. Yes.

SPEAKER_01

I had every intention of going to the gym. But I had every intention of whatever. That didn't pan out. Yeah. I think mine for this year, just again, just a goal, because I'm not really uh I just kind of I want to read more. Uh I like I like to read, I love to read, but uh last year I just did not, for whatever reason, didn't have time.

SPEAKER_02

It's hard to find time to do it. It's hard, it's hard to be disciplined enough to put reading in your schedule. Yeah. But it's important.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I like reading fiction and nonfiction stuff. So uh either either is good for me.

SPEAKER_00

Unlike you, I hate reading. And I'm it's the only thing that readers are leaders, Jordan. Readers are leaders. Come on. The only actually, the only thing You probably don't even read your Bible, do you? Oh no, actually, the only thing I will read is something that gives me knowledge. Anything fictional, anything like that, I don't like it. Just no. If if I'm learning, that's probably God was like, you know what, you don't have to read, but the Bible, you'll learn something. So Okay. Yeah. Perfect, perfect.

SPEAKER_01

Fun fact for the day.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, we've got fun facts. Fun fact, I can hardly wait.

Why Unsexy Ministry Matters More Than Events

SPEAKER_01

On this day in 1938, a US doctor actually wrote Winston Churchill, a prescription for spirits or alcohol to get around the prohibition laws of the day. Where wherever he was visiting. Apparently they still had it was a dry county or whatever. Okay. And they still had some prohibition laws.

SPEAKER_02

Based on what I know about his uh background, he did not need a prescription for that. But yes, I understand. Apparently he did it here in the U.S. in the U.S.

SPEAKER_01

He did. Yeah. So that happened on this day, January 26, 1938. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Fun fact of the day. Man, glad you guys are here. It's good to be back with you guys. Again, like I said, it's a new year. Um, we're going to do something a little bit different uh than maybe what we've done in the past on the Unsexy podcast. We're going to look at last year, take a look back, look in the rearview mirror, kind of see what happened, what God did amongst us, and uh, and then uh maybe look ahead a little bit and see what what God has in store for us.

SPEAKER_02

So uh a year in the review and a year in preview. There we go, man. There we go.

DR Mission Trip And Lives Changed

SPEAKER_01

It's almost sexy. Be careful. I don't know. It didn't alliterate, so it's okay. It rhymed though. Yeah. So man, just kind of thinking back at uh 2025. I mean, we can go in order or we can go like standout moments, um, like kind of a list of some things in order here, but I also have some standout moments. But uh what what do you what do you think last uh what are some of the standout moments for you last year?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, when I when I kind of look back, I I think of both um just standout moments for the church as a whole. But really for me, the things that stick out are the individual conversations I had with people or or watching people grow in their faith or take the next step. So it's it's both a corporate thing that I can look back and go, well, God allowed us as a church to do this. But the things that really stick out in my mind are the things where I know people are personally growing and and I and I got to share in some of that. So obviously I can't share all of those. But um, yeah, some of that like like being able to baptize a a mother and her son together. Wow. Right. Or being able to baptize a a fifth grader who led his friend to the Lord and baptize both of them at the same time. So those are the kinds of things that just you know just really stick out to me.

SPEAKER_01

For sure. For sure. I think ministry, and I think that's you know where we get our name, um, you know, Unsexy Church is full of those are awesome moments, right? But those are those aren't the big event moments, right? Those aren't the planned calendar program big events moment. These are the things that happen in ministry week in and week out when you get to have a conversation, sometimes not uh pretty, sometimes tough, but when you're just in the trenches with with people trying to you know work out their faith with fear and and and trembling and celebrating with them and and struggling with them, and and that's uh that that is a those are all standout kind of things for sure.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, church church life and ministry can be so easily event driven. It can be you turn the calendar and go, okay, we got this event, we got this, we got to get ready for this, we got to get ready for this. And those are all important things because they lead us towards the ultimate mission.

SPEAKER_03

Sure.

SPEAKER_02

But it's easy then to to to miss out on all the people that are in that process. And that and those are the things that that while I I remember events, events kind of roll together from year to year. Sure. But those individual stories of people growing in their faith is is really what sticks. Yeah.

Redeemer City’s Early Gatherings

SPEAKER_01

It could be when do you become too event-driven? It can be the the tail that starts to wag the dog, right? And you just you start working toward and for events. And that's a very easy practical thing to to do. Sure. But and again, we're not against events. We have events all year long, as we'll as we'll see in just a minute, I'm sure. But um, but the remembering, though those should point us toward the main mission to help people connect with the thriving life in Christ. Right. Yeah. So let's just kind of go through the calendar, I guess. Just kind of see uh what what stands out. Uh what's the maybe the first thing on your calendar uh that that you that you're that that you can remember last year?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I did a lot of travel last year. Uh for for my personal calendar, I did more travel than I've ever been. Your jet setup. I was, man, I was all over the place. But just for for mission trips and for different trips that I'm, you know, and groups that I'm involved with. So I did a lot of travel, but the first trip I took last year was on our uh Dominican Republic mission trip. Yeah. Um and that was February. They're actually our team is actually getting ready to leave this Saturday to go back. And I I'm jealous because I can't go this year.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um so the first thing on on my radar from last year was that mission trip to the DR. Just the the team that God put together and just watching them work. Um again, my one of my favorite things is just sit back and see God at work in people and seeing them step out of their comfort zones and and use their gifts. And so going into schools in the DR and watching our team share their their faith, share their testimony, share the gospel. Some of them had never done it before, and just got watching them be used of God and that team gel together and uh the encouragement it was to our partner there, Kenneth and Valerie. So uh yeah, that that DR trip was um a highlight for the whole year for me, and it was in February of last year.

Students Leading Kids And Generational Discipleship

SPEAKER_01

Right. And and it was interesting, one thing I remember about that trip, I didn't I didn't go, but just from hearing the reports when when people came back, uh one person in particular comes to my mind. I don't know if we're allowed to mention their name or not, but uh you'll probably know who it is, I'm sure. But um they just caught fire for missions, absolutely and and sharing the the the gospel with with people, and now they're all about it and went on other mission trips, you know, and and they're just sharing the gospel with anyone that will stop and listen to them. And so that is super cool to see as a result. Not only are they sharing the gospel on the mission trip where they were, they came back sharing the gospel in a much more energetic way, probably.

SPEAKER_02

That that individual was so afraid to go and and didn't think God could use them, and then saw oh, God can use me, and it just it revolutionized her life, it transformed her life. Praise God. Yeah, but that's not just her story, that happens to so many who go on on these mission trips. And then to see them come back changed and and being used by God and on fire for God is is huge. It's great. It's cool. What about you? What's the first thing that comes to mind for you?

Weddings As Discipleship Moments

SPEAKER_01

It's a February date, and it's just it's not a big thing, but it was a blip on the calendar, but it just it reminded me um about what we're what we're about and some of our goals. But um we the Redeemer City group started meeting together uh in a worship gathering and and so of their own right uh here on on our campus, but before we sent them to Knoxville, they started uh meeting together and worshiping together, it looked like so um that just kind of reminded me. It reminded me of people that I who I love and love to serve with and and miss them dearly, but am also very excited what God's doing in their life and and and how God is is taking the best from us in a lot of ways and using them to further his his kingdom. It just reminded me that I need to not hold on so tightly to to folks and and and to things.

SPEAKER_02

So for those of you new to us or new listening, Redeemer City is the church plant that we sent uh some of our folks out to plant a church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Um and that was a that was a key point in their maturation as a team, as a as a group that was going to start having their own time to meet together. And that was uh that was a it was a highlight, yeah. It was it was good. Another highlight is when we sent them out, of course, but we'll get to that later on the calendar, I'm sure.

Easter Season: Good Friday To Resurrection Sunday

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah. Uh probably another thing, I don't know, just just something they again, we are event driven, but there are uh there are rhythms that we do as a church that just continue, you know, and and uh every every time we have a members meeting, um our students and our children will join together. And they so they do this three or four times a year, right? And they'll join together and they call it one night. And so your your students and your children's ministries get together and they do ministry together on that night while we're having members' meeting. That's not super exciting. Actually, it probably is. It sounds when I when I hear re reports and uh how that the kids uh are responding to the teenagers' lead leadership, and it just reminds me of just again, generations passing the baton of the faith to to to the next generation. We usually think of that in adult to children or adult to teenagers, and to see that being practiced on a pretty regular basis, it's super cool. I love that. I think it's pretty neat. They the kids have a blast.

SPEAKER_02

They do. And it's and it's an important part of the design of that transition from childhood into preteen adolescence, um, so that those kids begin to get a comfort level with those teenagers aren't as scary as I think they are. Yeah. They probably are actually, but uh, but at least I can get a comfort level of of seeing what that's like. And so yeah, that's always a fun night when they get together and do this.

SPEAKER_01

And our teenagers are great. I mean, they sometimes the the kids will lead the worship and and the teenagers are just all about singing their song, you know, singing the kids' songs and doing the motions and all that stuff. They they do a fantastic job. It's cool.

SPEAKER_02

I I had a couple um weddings early last year, with those are always fun times, um, just gathering with those couples and walking them through uh covenant marriage and biblical marriage, and then seeing them make a gospel proclamation in their wedding ceremonies. Uh so that's always a highlight for me when I get to do that with with couples. And I had a couple of those early last year. That again, these aren't event-driven things from the church calendar, but they are discipleship things where you're seeing God bring these people together and then the uniting their lives for the glory of God. Um, so those are fun for me.

Commissioning Redeemer City To Knoxville

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's super cool. I love just being able to talk to young couples and uh and and see them grow in the grace and knowledge and just help them get a better and a more biblical view of marriage as you start walking walking through those those kind of things. It's just like you said, those are discipling moments and they're important moments in any any church's life. And so I man, I think that that's awesome. Um next thing probably for me, it looks like our resurrection day celebration. Yeah. I mean, we're uh there's some things that happen, you know, before that. There's a maybe there's there's a widow's dinner or lunch, uh widow widower's dinner, lunch. That's always fun. I get to you and Darlene do just such a great job of putting that on ministering to those folks, but I you let me be a part of it. I like to I get to MC a little bit and do a little trivia game and and that's always fun. And I I love I usually like the same kind of music that those folks like. And so so I man, I get to play uh music that I like, and so I yeah, I love that, man.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's a neat, that's a neat time that we we set aside every year right around Valentine's Day, where we just as a multi-generational church, we just want to honor folks that are at different stages of life. And in this particular case, we just want to love on those who have lost somebody that they love dearly. And so it's for widows and widowers, and our deacons come alongside them all year long and love them. And it's just a it's just a luncheon where we can have fun and and just tell them that they're loved and remind them of that. And you always do a great job with leading some of that. And um, they're they're a hoot to get to fun to get together with. They're fair blast.

VBS As A Local Mission Field

SPEAKER_01

Lots of fun. I love the trivia. I love the trivia. This some of the answers are are fun. They're great. That event's coming up in a couple weeks. We're getting ready for that one again. Yeah, and then we've obviously the the resurrection season. You've we've got Good Friday. Good Friday service. The Easter egg hunt, uh, our our resurrection service uh celebration on on Sunday. Um, just for me is always a huge highlight. We're as a as a worship ministry, as as a choir, as a band, and and the tech team, we're we're working from January on to to that date. Soon as Christmas is over, you're headed to each other. We've turned the page, baby. It's time, right? And so uh man, those are just great, those are great times, those are fun rehearsals. Um and just reminding us because we've just come out of Christmas, right? And so we we've celebrated the coming of the Lord, but reminding us why he came, right? And and just as we learn new music, uh celebrating the resurrection, it's just man, it's great. We love that. Um I love Good Friday service. It's uh kind of stripped down, not kind of stripped down, it's very stripped down. I mean, usually one or two, maybe three instruments, and then uh you know, one or two, three vocalists and um a a gospel message talking about the cross and the sacrifice of just preparing us, man. Just it's good. It's good.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. When we get to Resurrection Sunday, there's a lot of moving parts. There's a lot of planning that goes into it, just because we know that we'll draw everybody who normally attends church and then we'll draw guests and visitors. Um it's a big Sunday. So there's there's a lot of it. It's like the one Sunday when everyone shows up at the same time. Exactly. And so the our our our buildings are full, our parking lots are full. So it takes everybody, our first impressions team, our parking team, uh, the worship team, our A V team, safety team, safety team, you know, our ushers. Everybody has to kind of just be on top of their game. So there's a lot that goes into it, but we don't try to overthink Resurrection Sunday. We don't we we want to make it simple. It's about the resurrection, it's about the it's about the truth of the gospel. And so we celebrate that. Right. But it's always fun to be in that room. And then our decorating team just kills it every year. Yeah. They always do a great job with flowers, but that's just a spectacular display of flowers on that particular day.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah. My mom, man, always just comments every Sunday, your flowers. But then on Resurrection Sunday, man, she is just cannot believe it.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, it's crazy how good they do. Yeah. It's it's it's it's nice. I take a little extra Benadryl that day for the Right. Yeah. If you have any allergies at all. You want to be you ought to be covered. But it's always a it's a great day just and and hearing our church sing. And our church is really good about participating in worship. Um and so on that particular Sunday, it's really good to just hear them.

Parent–Child Dedication And Growing Families

SPEAKER_01

It's amazing. We try to build spaces for them just to hear themselves sing, hear, hear their voice sing. We try to build space in this every service for for that. And when that many people, close to a thousand people in that room in a building made for that kind of singing, yes, is it's it's beautiful. That's cool. It's a little taste of heaven for me, man, for sure. And we turn right around, you know, that's usually mid to end of April. April. And then we start VBS training. Yeah, you know, we have Mother's Day that that that's cut coming up, all kinds of stuff. But at this particular May of last year, uh, that's when we sent out Redeemer City. Redeemer City. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. We we did a um commissioning service with them and sent them out uh after the school year so they could get up there and get settled in during the summer and be ready to roll in the fall as as UT, University of Tennessee, started back. And you know, that was that was an answer to prayer. For years we'd been praying about that, and God's blessed us. And so what a what an honor it was to send that many people from our church and some other sister churches that joined with us uh to go plant them. And and they're doing a great job. Yeah. Trent reached out to me last week and God's just blessing them and doing some great things there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we just need to remember to keep them in prayer. They've got some cool things maybe coming up on the horizon. Maybe we'll talk about some of Those in a future podcast, but we just need to keep praying that that God would just continue to go before them and pave the way.

SPEAKER_02

We now that they're off campus, it's e it's easy to to forget to to to do that, and we need to just continue to pray for them.

SPEAKER_01

That's a that was a bittersweet service. Um you know, again, sending people out that you that they're part of you, you know, and then you just they're like they are family and you dearly love them and sending them out to do what God's called them to do is you're you're rejoicing with them at the same time you're you're grieving because you'll miss them. Right. Yeah. But it was it was a great it was a great service.

SPEAKER_02

But that that for me has to be the highlight of last year. I mean, if you had to pick one highlight for the year, it has to be God just blessing us to be able to send a a group out to plant that church.

SPEAKER_01

And like you said, that we had been praying about this and working toward this for for years. And First Baptist Church, Tampa has been a church planting church, you know, and then we've gone through a dry spell of that, it seems like. And so, but now um it's it was just great to to send that out, send another church out. Absolutely. Yeah. And again, you know, we start uh it seems like you would get breaks, but you just don't get a lot of breaks here, you know. At the end of May, I mean, you're it's we're all in by the end of May, we're all in full swing VBS mode. And uh first week of June, we're all about V VBS. Vacation Bible school, right? Yeah. I'm thankful for vacation Bible school. I was saved. Uh came to know Christ during uh a VBS when I was nine years old. And I just praise God for adults who love the Lord and who love children who pour into kids and share the gospel with with them. And and we want to see that happening in in our VBS as well. And we do see that happening in our VBS as well.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. Yeah, we talk about taking mission trips all the time and sending teams out. Yeah. This is a mission trip where we don't have to leave our building. It's right here. It's right here. And and and families come and children come and we can just present the gospel, and that's what is faithfully done year after year. And Tammy and Olivia and our whole team just do an amazing job. They really, really do. And um, that's one of the highlights for me. I I joke every year that it's one of my favorite weeks of the year, and it truly is. It's exhausting, but it is it is really fun. And I I personally get to share the gospel with the the kids that are in third grade through fifth grade or sixth grade.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um and that's just uh that's just a fun time to just every year just dedicate time to go sit in that room with those kids and just and then family night on Thursday night of of VBS where their their parents come and see what what's been going on all week and getting a chance to to share the gospel with their parents, getting a chance to to talk to people and maybe form a relationship or have conversations with people you may never have met in any other context. So it's a great opportunity for sure.

South Africa Mission And School Outreach

SPEAKER_02

It is big week. Olivia was telling us this morning that she's almost got BBS for this next year already fully staffed. So if you're interested in getting a part of what God's doing and you want to be a part of that, let Olivia know. Let her know.

SPEAKER_01

There's always there's always room, but yeah, it's nice to to have your your spaces and your your slots filled, man, for sure.

SPEAKER_02

For sure. Right around VBS is Father's Day. And and here at the church on Father's Day, we do parent-child dedication. Um we intentionally do it on Father's Day, just that driving home that point of the father being the spiritual leader and the parents being the primary disciples, disciplers of their kids. Um and God has blessed us as a church and our church is growing, um, and we've got more and more children being dedicated every year. So I think we had a the the front of the church filled with kids this year and uh me getting to hold them and pray over them. Yeah. Got to hold my own granddaughter this year. So that was fun. So cool. Yeah. So um, yeah, so that's one of my favorite Sundays of the year as well. It's just we're not these children aren't being baptized, they're just being dedicated to the Lord. We're we're we're coveting with the families that we're gonna help raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord and come alongside those parents to do that. But it it's such a beautiful picture of that process, but also a beautiful picture of God's blessing on our church to see so many young families with children.

Fall Restart: Prayer Nights And Midweek Classes

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I think this year it looks like it's gonna be another uh fairly full year. Bumper crop. God's blessed us uh several fold. Praise the Lord. That's awesome. So cool. Yeah, and then you know, that's you know, that's the beginning of summer. You know, we go to the SBC, which is sometimes eventful, sometimes just fine. You know, it's always fun. It's a good trip that uh um that we just kind of get to not just hang out together, but uh sharpen each other, even encourage one another uh with the rest of the ministerial staff, Ben and Olivia. Um that's always a good trip. And then we're right into Centricid. Centricid, our kids' camp. Um then coming up in the summer would be probably Thrive Camp. Thrive Camp, Worship Week. Worship Week is in there as well. Just you know, a lot of things. So we take a lot of so we take our Wednesday nights off during the summer, trying to make help families make margin and space for them to to to be a family, right? But doesn't mean we're not doing anything. That's right. Uh there's lots of things going on, like Centricid, where we uh, you know, we take the the kids to a gospel-centered camp where they'll hear the gospel every day. Um got a lot of great adults who volunteer to go chaperone that. But God bless them for you know each and every day. Uh so uh some dads even you know taking off work, you know, taking vacation time to go do that. And kids won't forget that they've done that. That's right. They won't try it. And again, this is all part of our what our model here, being very intentionally multi-generational. Um, I tease people a lot of times, you know, I wasn't on the cradle roll of the SBC, I was on the pre-birth role, whatever that, I don't know what you call that, if there even is such a thing, but man, that's just such an important part of what we do as a church and how we minister to one another is um multi-generational minute ministry. And so we see that uh with the kids. We see that during worship week where our students gather together uh for a week. Uh, we do a lot of fun things, but we also work really hard at getting the service ready for Sunday, and then our students will lead us through the worship service the the following Sunday, and that's always fun. We usually discover some new talent there or some talent that that we knew was there, and we help get that developed, and we usually will get uh people serving in ways that they weren't serving before, so that's super exciting. Like I just think about Olivia Tallant. I'm sorry, I'm not supposed to maybe I'm supposed to say her name or not, but why not? Yeah, she she came up through worship week, right? She started playing the bass during worship week when she was a teenager, and now she's our our normal bass player. Yeah, which is uh praise God for that kind of stuff, man. So we could talk about that. We have people in tech that are doing those kind of things because of that. And so we just praise God for those kind of things.

SPEAKER_02

Thrive Camp. That that one continues to grow. Um, I think they're at what 15 churches now that are participating in Thrive Camp and several hundred kids that are coming to that every year, and that's you know, we something we started during COVID. Um, just trying to find a good alternative to a camp for our students. And um, so we take the lead on that and have some great partner churches that come alongside us now and uh had some great guest speakers come in that just teach and preach the word, and uh kids love that camp. And so yeah, that's always a highlight.

Arkansas Mission: Schools, Prisons, Community

SPEAKER_01

It's been fantastic, it's been a blessing for our church. Our kids, our students come back uh just wanting to love Jesus more and serve him more. And so we just it's we love seeing that for sure. Um, end of summer, we took another trip.

SPEAKER_02

We did, we took a big trip, yeah. We um that was our South Africa trip last year to go see Pastor Hoppy and work with the Kosa Gospel Mission. Uh, you were able to go on that trip with us. I love going on that trip. Yeah, that's a that's an incredible trip. My wife Darlene got to go with us this year, which made it special for me. She'd never been able to travel with us before.

SPEAKER_01

How many times have you been to South Africa?

SPEAKER_02

At least a dozen, somewhere in that ballpark. I've lost count, but maybe a dozen times 13 somewhere in there. Um and it's every trip is different, every trip is a blessing, and every team is different. And God just put an incredible team together this last year. Uh as we got to do things like um pastor training and pastor encouragement, uh just doing some um backyard Bible clubs with with kids in a in a in a township, you know. So uh that was incredible watching folks work.

SPEAKER_01

Very economically depressed.

SPEAKER_02

Very uh township. Yeah, it's hard to describe how economically depressed it is. Exactly. Um it just incredible to see um folks step up. Um some preach for the first time, some teach for the first time, some share their their faith for the first time. Uh but it was just an incredible trip. It really was. I I I I'm anxious to go back as I always am when we come home, but um that was just uh that was a highlight to watch that team work.

SPEAKER_01

And we got to speak at a school there as well. We did. Like the day that we were going to the airport on our way out of town. Supposedly flying home. Yeah. Supposedly flying home. Uh we got to stop at a at a school and stayed there all morning, you know, just uh in different classes.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, going room to room.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. That was really cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That was that was a good trip.

SPEAKER_01

So great trip.

SPEAKER_02

A little bit of delay coming home. A little bit, but even through that, you know, God God just blessed us and took care of us and provided for us, and the team was, you know, in in great spirits. And I thought they did fantastic. Oh my gosh, yes. Yeah. All things considered, they really did. And and we got home a few days later than we expected, but yeah.

Fellowship Events: Picnic And Trivia Night

SPEAKER_01

It was good. Yeah. Then we in August we always you know ramp back up on Wednesday nights, uh, start 1-9, our student ministry, awana starts back up. Um, our midweek ministries start back up. Discipleship classes. Yep. So that that was that was really good.

SPEAKER_02

Um Yeah, last year didn't uh we had Mike Eidens talking with us about how to engage our Muslim native neighbors, which was a was a fascinating conversation.

SPEAKER_01

A unique class compared to what we normally talk talk about. That was he did a fantastic job. He's got great stories, just great experiences. Just love that guy. We took another trip.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we did. But before we go there, uh we earlier in the year we had spent our Wednesday nights just praying together. That's right. And just spending time. And that another highlight for me was just a church getting together and and praying over the church, praying over the mission, praying um for God's will. It was just it's good to gather as a as a church and pray together. Yeah. And so those Wednesday nights were were good as well. For sure. But we did take another trip, went to Arkansas. Yeah, that's an annual trip we've we've been taking. Um uh another good team. I was blessed to go on this trip as well this last year, um, in another economically depressed area. This one just happens to be in the United States in in Durmont. And um again, just watching our folks step up and uh let God use their gifts and abilities was was a blessing.

GO Conference And Mission Partners

SPEAKER_01

I think one of the most amazing things about that trip to me is we get to not during school hours, but we go into a literal public school and they let us do whatever we want. Yeah. We get to share the gospel with with kids very clearly. We don't have to dance around or circle around it. Um so we get into a lot of the community there through the school, through um nursing homes, senior centers, through prisons. We do prison ministry there. It's just a it's a great we do some just some practical, helpful things to for people in in the in the community in the neighborhood. So I like that. That's a great trip.

SPEAKER_02

That's a very practical trip. Yeah. Um it's also very spiritual in nature, um, sharing the gospel. Um going into those those prisons is is a stark experience. It's amazing. It is a stark experience. And then watching the the the men in that prison just genuinely worship the Lord. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's imp impactful.

SPEAKER_01

You know, it's like to me, uh there are like there's a few times in my life where I can think where like I've walked into a place or around a place and literally felt darkness, even though all the lights are on, right? And all that. Right. But you just feel darkness, you feel oppression. But then you get into that room. You get in that room when they're gathering to worship and exalt Jesus, and it's like someone flips on the light switch, man. It's beautiful, it's it's amazing. Yeah, it's really cool.

Local Outreach At The Manor

SPEAKER_02

Can't imagine the darkness they live in, and yet they are shining the light of Christ. Yeah, exactly. When they wear when they're an encouragement to us when we walk in, that's that says something right about their faith. So that's wild. Yeah, that's a great trip. So we we'll do that trip again this next year. So if you're looking for a mission trip, that's a good, you know, if you've never been on one, that's a good starter trip. It really is.

SPEAKER_01

It really is.

SPEAKER_02

And it's a good trip for families. We have a lot of families that take their children on that trip. So it's an inexpensive trip. Um, no flights. We we drive out and drive back, and uh, it is a good trip. Yep. Yeah, it's great. I love that one.

Centennial Of The Sanctuary And Purity Study

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, we get into October. October's another busy month. What month isn't busy? Have I found that month yet? We haven't we haven't we haven't got there yet. I'm not sure we're going to. Yeah, October. We've got a few things going on. Um uh the first thing we usually do, this is a fun thing, I think. It's it's kind of our annual uh church picnic that our deacons put on. Man, I love that. That's so fun. I've gotten to know a lot of couples like the the Smiths, who now teach a core group for us. Like my first real conversations with them were at a church picnic two or three years ago, you know, when they first started coming. And uh just real I just love I just love sitting there and uh just talking to people that I normally wouldn't get a chance to to talk to, man. We eat. Uh the deacons do a just a fantastic job of of getting us food and and preparing that and hosting that. And the kids are all playing games. I think not this last year, year before, like we played some touch football out there, man. I had to actually run. I didn't like that. I didn't like that. Oh man, but that's a that's such a that's such a bad thing.

SPEAKER_02

That's an event that's we there's no program involved in it, right? There's really no agenda other than folks getting together and and fellowshipping and spending time together. And so it's just again, like you say, the the deacons do a great job putting that on, providing, and then it's just show up and and get to know people. Yeah, and it's it's a great event. It's fun.

SPEAKER_01

And we had a another event like that. I just skipped over, just realized. Um, we had our uh kind of our first trivia night. We did do a trivia night last week. A churchwide trivia night. That was a hit. Man, people love that. People love that. That was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun. A little competitive side coming in some folks there. Some people need some sanctification. I'm just kidding. No, but we did. We had a we had a blast. We just we got together. People, it was a potluck. They brought they brought food. We played trivia, just enjoyed being together. Yeah, the gym was back that night. It was. And we're gonna probably do that again. Well, not probably, we have it on the schedule for for this this coming fall. So excited about that again for sure.

Advent, Caroling, And Christmas Eve

SPEAKER_02

October's octo October's also the the time of year where we do our Go conference, which is our missions conference, where we have all of our mission partners come in and we encourage them and we we challenge the church to continue on mission. That's all of our local partners and all of our international partners and national partners. And uh, it's always a highlight for me that that that service when we announce all of our partners and have them stand down front. And it just, you know, 25, 30 partners filling the front and our church saying, I didn't realize how many mission and and ministry partners we had. And uh so it's just a highlight of the of the year as we're just reminded, we were constantly reminded we're a missional church, but uh that's just a tangible reminder. And our mission partners that come in internationally always tell us it's one of their favorite weeks because it is such an encouragement to them to know that there's a church that's coming alongside them, not just in word, but in prayer and in in tangible ways as well.

SPEAKER_01

You know, one thing uh looking at my list here, I forgot. We we do another local mission trip in a sense. We uh we go over to the manor and host a barbecue. That's true, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Just uh that that's always fun. Our our people get together. Randy Sheets does a great job of organizing that, getting our folks together, providing them a barbecue dinner. We put some entertainment on and just uh a good way to reach out to the folks at the manor. And I think as a result of that kind of work, and then having a a presence there through used to Bill used to be Bill Bill Lang and as a chaplain, now Thomas DeGroove. You know, we're we're seeing more and more people from the manor come be a part of FBC Tampa, which is amazing, which it's why it's there in the first place, right? It's a mission field, yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's a fun night. Yeah, and the entertainer usually does a really good job. He's all right. He's okay. In a pinch, man. Yeah, he can pull it through. He can pull it through.

SPEAKER_01

No, that's that's good. Um I I love our Go conference, man. Just uh one of the cool things, I and this is just a selfish thing, but uh one of our missionaries is just a uh partners is a fantastic singer, Charles Graham, and we we have him come be a part of our worship team, and and sometimes I'll get to sing with him, and that's that's pretty cool. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02

He's he's a talented man, yeah. Super, super guy.

Ongoing Weekly Ministries And Groups

SPEAKER_01

Super guy. Um we started a men's basketball league, not league, it's just really just pick up basketball. Yeah. Just uh that that's something that stood out to me.

SPEAKER_02

But that and that was individual from the church led. That wasn't staff driven. That was somebody coming up and saying, hey, can we use a tool? Absolutely. Yes, let's make that happen.

SPEAKER_01

And we got a lot of guys over there who who come and play basketball, and they're they're trying to make inroads with and have gospel conversations with. That's what it's about. That that's super cool. Yeah. Yep. Man, we've done, I mean, we've go to October, you go to no November. The one thing cool in November last year, I think, was celebrating the 100-year anniversary of um The Sanctuary. The worship center. Yeah. Our church is older than that. But the worship building, the worship center that that we gather in is a was a hundred years old last November. Yeah, that was a fun thing. Just again, to think about being multi-generational, there's proof. You know, there's not just proof, but there's result, right? We're here because generations before us, we're faithful with the gospel, faithful to share, faithful to steward. And uh, that was fun just to think about that and pray, pray about that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was a cool reminder of God's faithfulness and and his desire for a gospel presence here and uh seeing us through thick and thin.

Looking Ahead: Trips, Mark Series, New Groups

SPEAKER_01

So I would say another thing about that time we started the pure in heart studies on Wednesday nights, uh part of our Wednesday night uh midweek ministries where we gathered all the men together uh in one place, gathered all the women together in another place, and uh and and just walked through that book together talking about what it means to be pure in heart, how to battle sin, how to battle temptation, how we need each other for accountability, and and just man, that was one of I think that's probably our best attended, consistently uh best attended classes that we've done on on Wednesday nights.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, definitely. Struck a nerve. We found a place where folks just want to be encouraged to pursue pursue the Lord with everything. Yeah. It was, it was, it was, it was encouraging to us as as leaders as well.

SPEAKER_01

For sure. For sure. Man, we're about the at the end of the year, right? And and uh just Christmas around here is wonderful. You know, in November we decorate our our team.

SPEAKER_02

After Thanksgiving.

SPEAKER_01

After Thanksgiving, obviously, yes. Although don't tell Pastor Bob.

SPEAKER_02

No, I know. Don't confess it to everybody.

SPEAKER_01

We sing Christmas well before our just our choir starts working. I think our choir's first look at Christmas music last year was in May, if I remember correctly. So yeah. Gotta be prepared. You gotta be ready, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, Christmas is it's a it's a great season around here with all the activities, the caroling and the Christmas night of worship was fun this year. Oh man. Just beautifully presented the gospel in a creative way. Uh taking the gospel out with the caroling and and those things. And uh then our Christmas Eve service is is uh kind of equal to that Easter service. Right. It's just a a a highlight spiritually of gathering and remembering what Christmas is all about. So yeah, it's uh that's cool. December's a fun month.

Final Encouragement And Weekly Return

SPEAKER_01

It is fun. We take Wednesdays off in September, or it's not September. Don't take in no one take when uh Wednesday off in September. Not September. December, right? December. Um just again to give our families some time to to be together and to just uh remember what Christmas is about, the coming of our Savior. And uh just I love it. I love it around here that and I like it that it's not really, really cold because where I'm from right now. Right now it's like seven degrees where I'm from, and so this is wonderful today. It's 669 or something like that. It's supposed to get cooler the next week or so, but not not seven. Not seven. It won't see seven. Yeah, praise God, man. Love Florida. Um, so just that's the that's kind of there's a lot more we could.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, we just scratch the surface.

SPEAKER_01

Every every week there's things going on here. There's men that are getting together to pray. There are D groups that are getting together, holding each other accountable to memorize scripture, to be in the word, to love on each other. There are core groups that meet every week. There are core group fellowships. We're women on mission. I mean, we there's a pastor's gathering here each month. I mean, yeah, I we could go on and on and on of the things that happen every single week here or every single month, and all for the kingdom of God, right? All to help us grow in the grace and knowledge of him and to further his kingdom here in Tampa and to the ends of the earth, right? It's almost like we're connecting people to a thriving life. That was almost sexy. Oh, I got a little excited for a minute. Almost like that. That's amazing. What are some of the things that just real quick, right? Because pretty much everything that we said that we just went through, those are going to be the highlights for next year as well. Sure. Right. Or this this year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

What are some of the things you're looking forward to, maybe? Same things I I I celebrated in 2025, just seeing people continue to grow in their walk and encouraging people along that line. Um, more baptisms. We've got baptisms scheduled for this coming Sunday. We got more baptisms down the road. So just you know, watching people grow, encourage people with the mission trips we've got going. Pray for the team that's going to to the DR, but we've got a trip to Kenya coming up in this in the summer and then Arkansas again. So um Kenya is a big trip, but it's a it's a really, really cool trip.

SPEAKER_01

That's another great trip, right?

SPEAKER_02

It really is. It really is. Um, so you know, praying towards that. Um, I I'm personally encouraged. I preached through the first half of the Gospel of Mark last year. We're taking the second half of the Gospel of Mark this year, and then the first Sunday of every month, we're going to talk about our measures, how we measure if we're connecting and growing in Christ. So we'll do that the first Sunday of every month. Um, and then I would encourage people with core groups and D groups. Yeah. Um get connected. Yeah. If if if if what we're talking about, you yeah, I I attended that or I attend that. We we don't attendance isn't what we're after. No. We we want you to go to the next level and get connected to individuals that will help you connect to a deeper walk with Christ. For sure.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I think that's kind of where I am. Is you know, we I'm excited. We just started a new core group uh with the Smiths, Scott, Scott, and Karim Smith, uh leading a young married. Um, we say that you loosely, you can go to any core group you want, just about, but I mean, but that's primarily young, young married folks. And and honestly, like I've lost some couples out of my core group that are going to his core group, which but I'm that's okay, right? Exactly. I'm excited about that. I mean, will I I will miss them? They're they're great contributors to my core group, but at the same time, I'm excited um because that's gonna make space for more people to come to each to each core core group. I love that. That's right. And so um, and so that it that excites me. We've been praying about this for a while, and we've probably got at least one, probably two more core groups that may form by the end of the summer, I think. And so uh if if they've if people would start listening to Holy Spirit and get no, I'm just kidding. I no, I just we're we're in we're in heavy negotiations right now with some folks to maybe uh start start a couple more core groups. I'm just I'm super excited about that and and D groups as well. Um one D group in particular I'm excited about is some some older men um who I think are just great examples of of what we what we should be doing and and how we should be doing it. They they've just started meeting and I got another group of not quite as old men, you know, they're probably you know middle-aged to young guys, and just so I'm excited. Um we've seen a lot of ladies start D groups. Now we're starting to see some men start some D groups, and I'm excited about that. That's gonna be awesome. That's right. I think God's gonna do great things through through those things.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, if you're interested in those, reach out to Darren, reach out to myself, and we can we can help you get connected to some other folks that are just looking for um spiritual accountability and folks to walk through life with. Exactly. So yeah, I'm I'm encouraged towards 2026. It's gonna be a great year. We're already into here we are in February. So goes fast. Don't blink. It's rolling. Yeah, it is rolling. Don't, don't, don't slow down. Um, but uh all of that we talk about is designed to just come alongside and help people to connect with Christ. So uh get involved, dig in, grow up, and then God'll use you to branch out. I love it, man.

SPEAKER_01

I love it. Well, man, I've enjoyed this conversation. It's good to be back. Good to be back. We'll be back each week. That's the plan. That's the plan, right? So until next time, remember, stay unsexy.

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Bob Block

Host
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Darren Selvidge

Host