Plugged In Podcast
Plugged In Podcast
Episode 20 - The Episode with Captain Meghan Labrecque from Brockton
After a tough week on the sports front with the Mets and Jets, we're sharing some candid moments on how we cope with those gut-wrenching losses. Loreita confesses to drowning her sorrows in ice cream and Matt will reluctantly stream "Love is Blind" for a distraction. Meanwhile, our Halloween nostalgia kicks in as we revisit those childhood memories of crafting the perfect costume—from a majestic Queen Amidala to a surprisingly heartfelt Spider-Man suit. These reflections take us through the highs and lows of parenting during Halloween, with tales of both joy and unexpected mishaps.
Our newest podcast segment is a book club, and we're inviting you to join us on this literary journey with "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry" by John Mark Comer. This book challenges us to reflect on the hurried pace of life and its impact on our spiritual well-being. Alongside this discussion, we welcome Captain Meghan Labrecque from the Brockton Corps, who shares her inspiring experiences working within her community. Meghan's stories about the vibrant youth at her Corps and the evolving food pantry program provide a rich insight into her heartfelt ministry.
We're also getting candid about the pressures of success and how they can lead to spiritual exhaustion. Inspired by Comer's insights and the teachings of Commissioner Samuel Logan Brangle, we explore the skewed metrics of success in our culture and the importance of intentional time with God. From light-hearted family anecdotes to visionary thoughts on the future of The Salvation Army, this episode promises laughter, introspection, and meaningful conversations that encourage us to slow down and focus on what truly matters.
and welcome everyone. We are back for another episode, episode number 20. 20 big 20, pretty amazing 20 of the plugged in podcast. How you guys doing this. Oh, I let it out of the bag. It's the morning. It's the morning Another morning episode.
Speaker 3:It's a Monday.
Speaker 1:That is true. We almost never record on Monday.
Speaker 4:I know there's a reason for that.
Speaker 1:I don't have any opening rants. I'd throw it to Loretta. You got any opening thoughts? Today Rant it up Rant, rant, just sad, sad, sad day, sad, sad day. I wasn't gonna bring this up.
Speaker 4:I know you don't, you don't have to it's at the forefront of my mind so we're recording today, the day after the mets lost the nlcs and the jets lost to the steelers it was a big, it was a night, it was a night I shed some tears because I had so she did.
Speaker 1:It's true, I was so I was just so sad not only did the jets lose, but they were playing the stealers. I texted you guys and I was just like what? What is it even like in your house right now?
Speaker 4:no, nate was a very gracious winner, but I did at some point think, when they, you know, ran in that final touchdown to make it what? 35 to 16, I was like you could turn the tv off at this point, but he didn't. And then we watched the post game and then they announced the mets to 16. I was like you could turn the tv off at this point, but he didn't.
Speaker 3:And then we watched the post game and then they announced the mets loss and I was like I'm just leaving the room I was just watching because I wanted to see if russell wilson was going to have some cheesy like sign off at the end. That's why I wanted to watch the danger us I. I sensed the sorrow in the room, and so I was like I was like grabbing laundry out of the dryer and I'm like I'm just gonna fold the laundry here.
Speaker 1:And just I do want to know in the last episode you said that you uh stand up, basically the whole game. Oh, I do. Were you standing?
Speaker 4:he was standing, so the first what quarter he was sitting. And then he said I think I have to go put my tj watch jersey on and stand up and I was like, can we just talking?
Speaker 3:And what happened after?
Speaker 4:like the second quarter, and then he's like well, that's why I stand up.
Speaker 4:And I was like you really need to stop talking. Um, it was hard, though, Cause I had like the Mets on my phone and then I was watching, so I kept missing things. I'm like what was In the bottom of the eighth in the Mets game. I just turned it off. I walked myself to the kitchen, made myself a bowl of ice cream, and I was like I'm going to turn to my ice cream at this point, In a weak moment, but I was so sad.
Speaker 1:You know what I was watching last night against my will. Love is Blind.
Speaker 4:I knew you were going to say Love is Blind Love is Blind, season seven, nice I haven't gotten into Love is Blind, season seven, yet Love is Blind season seven Nice I haven't gotten into Love is Blind season seven yet Against my will.
Speaker 1:But now that my team no, I love it.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 4:We recap every season. I'll be watching that tonight, just to turn my brain off.
Speaker 1:So episode 20 of the Plugged In Podcast. We're going to jump right into it. I feel like this could be a long episode, I don't know, but here's what you have to look forward to listen to. Today we're going to cover some Halloween talk, favorite costumes, biggest fears, and maybe we're going to talk about our favorite candies Also further along in today's episode. So we're starting a new thing. I'll hold this up for the camera, but we all purchased this book called the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, and so we're going to start this thing where we're going to read a couple chapters and then we'll start to recap on the podcast what we've read. So if you want to do this with us, go ahead and purchase this book. You can buy it online. It's very not expensive. No, not at all. Ten bucks, yeah, ten bucks, you can buy it online.
Speaker 4:It's very not expensive.
Speaker 1:No, not at all Ten bucks, yeah, ten bucks. You can have it delivered probably the day of Same day. Yeah, the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, is that how you say it? Yeah, it's not. Comer, oh, comer, oh, to eat. Yeah, so yeah we'll talk about this later, but the first couple of chapters very, very engaging, very very easy read.
Speaker 1:So if you want to purchase that book and and work through it with us. Uh, you are more than welcome to do that. And also, maybe the most exciting part of today we have a special guest. Uh, pretty soon we're going to have captain Megan Lebreck from the Brockton core. She's going to come in and she's going to come in and she's going to highlight some of the ministry that the Brockton Corps is doing and we're going to hear a little bit more about her. Yeah, but you guys have any thoughts about Megan before she comes in?
Speaker 4:I love Megan. She is not only just like a just a good human being, she's like a great speaker and so down to earth and I think, doesn't let the politics of stuff get in the way of her ministry.
Speaker 3:I love, love, megan. Yeah, and their family seems to have a great balance between ministry and family life, which I'm always desiring.
Speaker 1:that Well, it's exactly what this book is going to be talking about.
Speaker 4:Plus, Megan and Stefan are great foodies. They're always telling us where to get good food.
Speaker 3:They know all the all-you-can-eat sushi spots everywhere. Well, we'll have to ask her about that. The all-you-can-eat sushi spots everywhere?
Speaker 1:Well, I'll have to ask her about that it's pretty awesome my experience with both of them. So I wouldn't say that I know Stephan or Megan very well personally, but from what I see programmatically from afar is just that they love their people, they are real pastors to their people and that is just so needed in our Salvation Army officers.
Speaker 1:For sure, so we're going to hear from Megan in just a little bit, but let's jump right into this. So this episode, I believe, is airing November 1st, the day after Halloween, going around the table. When you were a kid so the highlight of your Halloween life what was the best costume that you ever had? Go?
Speaker 4:ahead.
Speaker 1:Go ahead, Larry Start us off.
Speaker 4:I don't know how old I was, but I was Queen Amidala like. I don't know the scene, but like when she I think she's like in her yeah, I don't know, royal garb where it's like it was like the long with the white face and the red lip Queen of Naboo, right, I guess?
Speaker 1:No, I just want to make sure I got the right queen Correct.
Speaker 4:Correct, no, so that was probably the best. It was the most intense Halloween costume. I can't really think of any others off the top of my head. Larissa and I were cheerleaders one year together, but Queen Amidala was the most effort I put into Homemade costume. Or a purchase, oh purchase we always went and it was like the week of Halloween so it was whatever was there.
Speaker 3:We should recreate that now we charge our banks you, just you just keep talking wait, they don't end up.
Speaker 1:You be her subject. How about? How about?
Speaker 3:you just tell your costume, okay. Okay, so this dates back to age six, oh, here we go Circa 1994.
Speaker 1:Circa, the year of our Lord. The year of our Lord.
Speaker 3:I was a huge fan of Power Rangers, and so the Red Ranger, Jason, was my favorite.
Speaker 2:Jason.
Speaker 3:Because Jason, his Megazord character, was a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Speaker 2:I know that.
Speaker 3:Justin Barter is watching this right now and he's like, yeah man, amen brother. So uh, jason, I was the red ranger so ridiculous my brother was always the green ranger. And close your ears, larita.
Speaker 3:As a six-year-old kimberly, the pink ranger was the love of my life yeah, no, hey, a lot of people thought that, a lot of people thought so my brother the green ranger that, and so my brother the Green Ranger Tommy, and me, the Red Ranger Jason, we would fight to the death for the honor of Kimberly the Pink Ranger, and we would rock that costume as often as possible, probably long beyond Halloween.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:So I was part of that small group of kids where I don't remember what age it was, but I was not allowed to watch Power Rangers in our house because it was like, based on like fighting yeah, you know that was not allowed in my house, so I never. So I like feel like I either watch it at friend's house or like secretly watched it and like, but I knew all about Kimberly everyone, everyone knew about Kimberly the pink Power Ranger.
Speaker 3:Come on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we know right, so my best costume ever. So one side of this story is at some point in my life I became Brett Favre on Halloween and then, whenever that happened, like every Halloween for the rest of my life, I was Brett Favre.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had like a Packers helmet and then, as I got bigger, I different farve jerseys and I feel like when I was a kid I had, like it was the expectation, I had the cleats and like the yellow pants and the whole thing and then, like by the time I was like 13, it was just a jersey yes, and I was just walking, just walking around in a jersey yeah exactly no, but the best one I can remember probably grade school my mom like homemade a spider-man costume where stop it?
Speaker 3:yeah?
Speaker 1:yeah, so I had. I can't remember if the sweater was like blue or red, but she basically like sewed on this like black spider web, and then from a craft store, my mom's like super crafty, like her whole life and she like somehow built or glued together this like giant spider across the chest.
Speaker 1:That's insane. And then put that on the but. I remember when, like our halloween party started's insane and then put that on the but. I remember when, like our halloween party started, or whatever, at school, we put on our costumes and like within like five seconds, one kid was like oh, that's so cool. Reached out, grabbed the spider and like pulled it off the the sweater. Wow. No, we fixed it later for trick-or-treat, but I but I remember being like my heart just broke. Oh, I remember being stunned.
Speaker 3:It's traumatic, that's terrible.
Speaker 1:Best costume ever. Shout out to my mom because she does listen to the podcast.
Speaker 4:Spider-Man costume. Probably second grade. That's awesome, I remember it. Obviously my mom always fixed the costumes that we inevitably broke because we would wear way beyond. We were never allowed to wear it before. Before thanksgiving, before halloween yeah because inevitably one of the many like accessories would break. Because yeah, last year aren't cheap last year.
Speaker 1:As far as like kid stories goes like, I think last year was the first time that like well, mackenzie went trick-or-treating yeah but she couldn't uh walk yet. Uh, caleb last year I feel like it was the first time he like got it yeah same he was up at the door saying trick-or-treating like he really loved it so, man, you really gotta limit the candy like it's like for a parent might be the worst.
Speaker 3:Like the worst go ahead seriously I just wanted to tell a sad story so, oh okay, everyone go for it bro. So last weekend we took Jackson up to New Hampshire.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is a sad story and they're Storyland.
Speaker 3:It's a children's amusement park up there. They have this thing during the weekends in Halloween season called Happy Hauntings, yeah, and so it's just a day where characters are out, they're giving candy, and so we were hyping this up to jackson and he was fully dressed and we got his costume early in his woody costume from toy story oh nice he loves woody and we were up there and it was closed.
Speaker 2:We arrived at the park.
Speaker 3:We arrived at the park the day that our dated tickets were for monday, uh, and it was closed because of the rain. But even the website said open rain or shine, but that only meant the summer season and not during their.
Speaker 1:This is like classic Clark Griswold vacation. That's what I said. You roll up and it's closed.
Speaker 3:I made Loretta watch the YouTube clip of them arriving at Wally World.
Speaker 4:We're standing in the parking lot and he's like man. Do I feel like Clark Griswold, right?
Speaker 2:now.
Speaker 3:And then I'm like.
Speaker 4:I don't know what you're talking about. He's like let me show you I'm like. This is not the time.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. Before your time, we saved the day. We saved the day, of course.
Speaker 4:We found a water park and went to an aquarium that was very overpriced, very overpriced yeah, yeah we spent more money doing that, but it was a good day, but you know it wasn't a short trip, three hours up and we were like what?
Speaker 3:but then like anyway, like two days later jackson was like remember when we went to the story land and it was closed.
Speaker 4:That was really disappointing yeah, I know I'm sorry, I was disappointed. Yeah, we tried to save the day honey man.
Speaker 1:All right in the line of halloween, though. So outside of costumes, let's get real biggest fears. Who wants to go first?
Speaker 3:nico first this time all right, I think um growing up. I think my fear has changed, uh, over the course of my life. But I think growing up.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, you start with the dark.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then, well, I think, I think my biggest fear growing up during my teenage years high school years, college years was failure or letting people down, yeah, not being good, good enough, and that's nothing that was like projected on me. I think I just really internalized criticism a lot or constructive criticism and so that was my biggest fear growing up.
Speaker 3:But I think now as a parent and I think I'm growing in that that other area a lot, but I think now, as a parent, my fear has shifted now to wanting to make sure that jackson, our son, is safe and so wanting to do everything I can to protect him and the fear of not being able to protect him that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yours is about others. I'm immediately self-conscious, like my fear is about myself.
Speaker 4:Yeah, my fear is definitely about myself, so we'll take this away from from nate.
Speaker 1:You go ahead all right, I have two, one is like practical and one is existential.
Speaker 4:So I'm going to think of an existential no, no, no Go ahead.
Speaker 1:One is just like as far as handy stuff around the house goes.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Electrical work oh yeah. It's just a practical fear.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 1:Like there's been a couple of times where I have tried to do something that I probably shouldn't do, and there's just that. Is this going to be the last time that I touch anything? So it's silly, but I think the last time I tried to install something.
Speaker 1:I swear I went down and shut all the breakers off. I swear I did that. And then I didn't have one of those wire testers that would tell you that it's still live. So anyways, I gave myself a little shock and also something like popped and like a mini fire started.
Speaker 2:And like.
Speaker 1:So I was just like not only did I shock myself, but I like probably almost burned my house down, like, yeah, yeah. So it's just a practical fear, the other one. So I am the passage of time, the passage of time.
Speaker 4:Both of you have deep fears.
Speaker 1:Well, I just like, because it revolves. There's just so much to it Like right now I'm thinking about the growing up with my kids and trying to hang on to every single moment, the passage of time.
Speaker 1:I think, about my parents. I just think about in terms of myself or my wife. You think about what are you doing, accomplishing what is your legacy? Will time pass and will you have mattered how you lived your life? Will that have mattered to other people? And there's that old cliche like you can get more of anything in the world yeah, except for time your time is finite and you don't know how much you have of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I think that I I try not to think about that often, but it's just, I know because it's so. It's usually so sad my, my wife, gets on me because, like I'll be thinking you, for example, the vacation that we just took. You know, I'm like okay, if we can afford like that kind of vacation, like once every 10 years. Well, right now we're, you know, 36. So 30 more years we'll be 66. So basically we only have got like three life epic vacations. And she's just like, why don't you just put us in the grave already? She's like, why does your brain think like that? You're talking the end game already. Anyways, the passages of time, that freaks me out. I don't know if it motivates me to do better or it just like it also goes right along with this book.
Speaker 4:When we started reading this book, I was like holy cow. Your text last night was like laser beam of conviction through my soul yes, so that was the text.
Speaker 1:Those are mine electrical work and the passage of time.
Speaker 4:Well, lorita's gonna bring this one home. Let's hear it. I am terrified. Personally, I'm. I just don't like ride like roller coasters okay I don't like heights. Why are are you saying this is news to you?
Speaker 3:No no. When we were dating, she would go on roller coasters. I went on one roller coaster and then it's like she reeled me in, she's like I don't need to do it anymore. No, it's true.
Speaker 4:I just don't like and this is the only way I can define it I don't like the feeling of my stomach leaving my stomach area. I can't stand it. Uh, we went on a roller coaster roller coaster with jackson at disney, at the slinky dog. That was enough for you. That was, I gave myself a headache because I clenched my teeth, so the whole ride instantly got off and I was like I'm dizzy and jackson in the back was like of course yeah, so that that can be your new roller coaster partner yeah um, and then I think we I psych myself out a lot because we listen to a lot of like true crime podcasts and documentaries and stuff, yeah.
Speaker 4:So I always just have it kind of feeds my irrational fears of like someone's going to break into our house and steal my son, and so when we had like a camera in jackson's room, I'd like wake up in the middle of nights, make sure he's still there. So I think I just have like irrational fears of someone coming into my house or any noise I hear, because our house is so creaky and like everything is so loud um so isn't that wild how like it just feels like old houses they're alive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, literally nothing could happen and it's just like pop, something's got to like.
Speaker 4:We're sitting on Friday at Bible study with all the young adults and something is popping in the kitchen and Elizabeth's like that sounded like someone and I was like can you?
Speaker 3:not, yeah, don't say that please.
Speaker 4:And. I was like I have to live here but it makes so many noises. But I do. I love listening to true crime and I love that probably doesn't help.
Speaker 1:No, I know.
Speaker 4:You're fueling the fear we watched a thing on Netflix Friday night or something, and I just spent the whole night thinking, okay, well, I'm going to get murdered tonight, someone's going to come in. I'm like I need to stop watching these, but I can't watch a horror movie to save my life.
Speaker 1:Heather is a huge fan of svu oh my gosh, yes like, like massive fan. Anytime I come home from yam or mass brass or anything, I come home and she's watching tv. It's svu 100 and I'm always like why? What draws you into this? And she's like strong female lead.
Speaker 4:It's got me it's so true, and there's like 35 seasons, so odds are you're not gonna catch a repeat. I think I watched as much as they had on hulu at a couple years ago yeah probably during covid.
Speaker 1:It was just a binge like in the background of stuff because you can also put it on and do other things yeah I'm a huge svu fan but it also feeds my irrational fears going all the way back to your roller coasters like I love roller coasters. What I cannot do, what I cannot do like the teacups spinning rides.
Speaker 4:You put me on the teacups I'll throw up. I can go on a teacup any day. Put me on it. Put me on every teacup.
Speaker 1:Off, man, if I'm on a ride, like with other children who are trying to spin that thing.
Speaker 4:I'm like yeah, and I like hold that thing, we're not spinning anymore yeah, I could do a teacup any day. I hate roller coasters log flumes, anything that makes my stomach move Anything with a drop sensation Any drop Can't do it.
Speaker 1:Well, if you have a list of your I was going to say favorite fears, no, your worst fear.
Speaker 4:What's your fave fear?
Speaker 1:Leave us a comment. This is on YouTube. You can also find some of our shorts on Instagram and Facebook. We put those vertical shorts out there, so drop us a comment. Let us know what your worst fears are or if you had favorite costumes growing up. Just before we bring in Captain Megan for our interview, we're just going to talk really quickly about Halloween candy. You want to do two or three. I had originally written three, but what do you?
Speaker 4:think let's do three quick yeah.
Speaker 1:And then one terrible candy, okay, and we're doing like draft style, right? So if someone selects it, it's gone, and I promise not to say Loretta Potatoes Heintzman on the podcast well, my son now says it. Yes, he does okay, so, loretta, how about you go first? How?
Speaker 4:awful would that be if I said potatoes, just kidding everyone, that's what she hands out at halloween just full potatoes in many forms. Okay, my first pick reese's pumpkins oh, that was my first too wow, that's very specific the peanut butter to chocolate ratio in a in any of the specialties, like the the trees. Allison Heinsman gets it because she texts me every time the pumpkins come out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, reese's pumpkins.
Speaker 4:You have to try the pumpkin or the tree or any of the holiday ones, or the football ones. All right, that's my number one.
Speaker 1:So we're going like if you were trick or treating today what you want in your bag the most.
Speaker 4:Yes, all right.
Speaker 1:All right, reese's pumpkins, yes, okay, all right. All right, reese's Pumpkins off the board.
Speaker 3:Yeah, go ahead, nate, I'm going with a I don't know, an underrated.
Speaker 1:X Factor.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The Caramel Apple Pops.
Speaker 4:Oh.
Speaker 3:Those lollipops with the caramel and the sour apple. They're only around this time, so that's why I consider it a Halloween candy.
Speaker 1:Can you say that again? This is really specific.
Speaker 3:What is it? The caramel apple pops? I don't even know who makes them. They're green. They have a green wrapper. They're drenched in caramel around the side.
Speaker 1:That's your number one, number one.
Speaker 4:That's your number one. That's worse than potatoes.
Speaker 1:How many of those could you eat?
Speaker 3:before you get sick. I don't know Well she took my number one. My number, but I just think that that's such a. It's a specialty candy?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that only shows up around all the definitions. All right, matt, what's your number one?
Speaker 1:Oh well, I'm really boring, I'm just going to go with a Kit Kat. Oh, I reach into my bag.
Speaker 2:I want a Kit Kat it's not like too much.
Speaker 1:So I don't know. I've never had this, never asked a doctor about this, never checked it out. I feel like I have some sort of allergy to chocolate. Really, I could eat half of a Kit Kat and I feel full. I'm like stuffed. What I wish I had that problem. No, I just like. Chocolate has never been my thing, that's amazing. I just can't eat very much of it. You, that's amazing, I just can't eat very much of it. You're a medical marvel. No, I'm not?
Speaker 2:No, really I'm not. So that means, how much Taco Bell do I?
Speaker 1:eat to make up not to eat chocolate. No. So, Kit Kat, if I reach in my bag, I'll find a little.
Speaker 4:Kit Kat. I love a good Kit Kat yeah that's me. All right, my number two would be Twix.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:The little twix yeah, I love them. Just the bite size, that's good. I love the cookie underneath good texture.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, got a lot of flavors.
Speaker 3:I'm for that it's a good twix, solid yep. Um, I'm gonna go with sour patch kids yeah it's on my list. Yeah, a lot of sugar and a lot of sour okay, I'm a lot of sour.
Speaker 1:Um okay, where do I go here next? So so can I say just Reese's Cups regular.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 1:That's still on the board.
Speaker 4:Yeah, okay, because you can reach into a bag and there's pumpkins and Reese's Cups.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I'm going like I want the full size. Yeah, I want the full size cups on these.
Speaker 3:The mini ones are not good.
Speaker 1:I don't want any specialty. I don't want the white chocolate. I don't want your pumpkins or whatever they are. I just want my normal cups. I peel the wrapper off. Everyone eats them a particular way. There's just something about them. The chocolate to peanut butter texture is magical. You have to try the specialty ones.
Speaker 4:Bring me one.
Speaker 1:Okay, done the guy who doesn't eat chocolate, is never walking into a store and purchasing these things on my own Actively doing it If you drop it in my Halloween bag maybe.
Speaker 4:I will experience it.
Speaker 3:I'm going to bring you one and just be like oh I'm so full.
Speaker 1:Maybe I did bring back some Swiss chocolate you did and pass it out to some people around the third floor I had some.
Speaker 4:I walked in the other day and I was amazed it was still there, I'm like that Potter, grindelwald, grindelwald.
Speaker 1:Thank you, sorry. We walked into this chocolatier and the place was insane. It was like the most fanciest chocolates I've ever seen, packaged immaculately. That's something where I always struggle to spend money in those places, because it looks amazing, it tastes amazing, it's also gone in like four seconds.
Speaker 4:Yeah, like, yeah, so it's rough, but so good though, okay, all right, I have a whole bunch more on my list because, just in case, someone took stuff, but I have to go with something fruity and not chocolate okay nerds clusters yeah those are so good, that's good, such a downfall for me yeah, good job, thank you, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 3:Sorry peanut allergy kids, I'm gonna go with peanut m&ms. They are the top tier m&ms.
Speaker 4:They're better than regular m&ms we've already had peanut butter discussion on the show.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but the peanut butter is so processed and rhesus that is is true.
Speaker 4:It's not really.
Speaker 3:But peanut M&M's like that's a legit peanut.
Speaker 4:So your top three are whatever that pop is you? Don't know what I'm talking about. I know I can see it, but I will gladly throw it away.
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness, caramel apple pops, caramel apple pops, sour Patch Kids and peanut. M&m's.
Speaker 1:Wow, all right my. Wow, all right, my mom. Second reference to Mama Lun today.
Speaker 4:She loves M&M's.
Speaker 1:Bring her on the show. She got Matthew, Mark and Mason. We were her.
Speaker 4:M&M's, triple M&M's, yeah, m&m's.
Speaker 1:Okay, my last one. We were M&M's.
Speaker 4:We were her M&M's. All right, my last one.
Speaker 1:Number three Smarties. Really, yeah, I love Smarties, I do, and that's not not chocolate. So I feel like I balanced my list out, but so I don't know if you eat them this way. This is like but I will untwirl the ends yes, all of them at once just make that noise and do it just like just plow those Smarties like you're opening a Pez and just like but then like, if you like, don't chew them, but like literally let the sugar just kind of dissolve into your mouth.
Speaker 4:I feel like my jaw, you know when. Like you smile after you've eaten sugar. And like your jaw, like seizes have you ever?
Speaker 1:had that. I feel like I feel that happening right now. Yeah, so let's recap your list. Give me your three.
Speaker 4:Reese's Pumpkins.
Speaker 1:Yeah, twix, yep.
Speaker 4:Nerds Clusters.
Speaker 1:Okay, twix, yep.
Speaker 4:Nerds Clusters. Okay, yeah, I feel like I win, I'm I win, I win.
Speaker 3:I might vote for yours.
Speaker 4:You're like before the draft is even over.
Speaker 1:You're like just letting you know I win.
Speaker 4:I have to win. Okay, I've never won a draft yet.
Speaker 3:Caramel Apple Pops. I know you guys are out there. Yeah, caramel Apple Pops. I don't think you knew where your camera was when you pointed out Wherever, you are Sour Patch Kids and Peanut M&Ms.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then I've got Kit Kat. Wait, yes, kit Kat, you were going to say a word and I'm just like, is that the actual? Thing, yeah, that just happened. So Kit Kat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups traditional, and then Smarties was my sugar of choice.
Speaker 4:Now, what's your worst? Your least favorite candy ever, oh least favorite.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I'm looking at my. I think the ones where Put me on the spot. Do you want me to go? No, no, I would say I have to be in a certain mood to have an airhead, and that mood is like a seven-year-old. So airheads, what is?
Speaker 4:happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you just chew that thing up and it starts to get stuck in your gums and your teeth.
Speaker 4:I love an airhead.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, that thing airhead will be like lodged in my molars for weeks.
Speaker 4:That is a pet peeve of mine. I hate candy that sticks in my teeth, so I can't stand a Butterfinger or things like that. But probably my least favorite is those Whoppers. Those little right, that's what they're called those malt ball things called little malt ball whoppers.
Speaker 1:I will not eat those. Well, uh, so we just recapped our list in the draft. Uh, we are going to take a quick break here on the plugged in podcast and coming back after the break we are going to welcome captain megan labreck yay, we'll be right? All right, here we go. Welcome back. This is part number two of episode 20 on the.
Speaker 1:Plugged In Podcast. We teased this earlier, but we are so thankful and blessed to have Captain Megan Lebrecht from the Brockton Corps. Yeah, which one's the applause? No, not that one. Megan Lebrek from the Brockton Corps? Yeah, oh wait, which one's the applause?
Speaker 4:No.
Speaker 1:Not that one, that was not on purpose.
Speaker 4:Here wait, there's only four buttons.
Speaker 1:I like legitimately feel so bad, we may need to redo that. Okay, so first special guest we've had on the show in a long time, I know. So we're thankful that you are here today and we want to learn about you and about your ministry and your core. So we have some questions for you. I'm going to start with the easy one who are you voting for and why?
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I'm just kidding. Another applause.
Speaker 1:No, so you're a core officer in Brockton right now. Can you tell us a little bit about the community of Brockton and kind of the role that the Salvation Army plays in the community?
Speaker 2:Yeah, the community of Brockton is a multicultural community. There's a lot of different, so there's Hispanics, a lot of them from Ecuador, a lot of Haitians and people from Cape Verde a huge Cape Verdean population. So we see that in our core, like our kids, there are some people that some of the kids are Hispanic, some of them are Haitian, some of them are.
Speaker 2:Cape Verdean and we see that in our core people to the families the role we play. Like we have a food pantry so we get to serve the community. We have a large Christmas ministry with giving out gifts and we have right now for our youth programs. We have music ministry and Sunday school and the kids love it, like whenever they come they don't want to leave, like the other day I had a girl. She was like Captain Megan, do you like church or home more? And I was like ooh you're testing me, right?
Speaker 4:now like 50-50, yeah, exactly so they like to be right now like 50-50. Good answer, yeah exactly so.
Speaker 2:They like to be at church more. They'll fight on who's going to get dropped off at home first. Like I want to get last, I don't want to go home first. You have such a good group of kids.
Speaker 4:They're so fun. There's such a fun atmosphere, such a good atmosphere, family atmosphere at Brockton. We love going to Brockton, love the kids that come from brockton to youth arts ministry and the ones that came to conservatory over the summer, just the best, yeah, we love the kids from brockton.
Speaker 1:Absolutely well, go ahead.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in our first season of the podcast, we had this reoccurring segment that would show up, uh, every single week, and it was called so stinking proud of. And so if we were to ask you, uh, captain megan, what is something that you are so stinking?
Speaker 4:so formal what?
Speaker 3:are some that you're so proud of, about the brockton core what I really am proud of is the teens.
Speaker 2:Um, so we have a music ministry and I am not musically inclined, like I don't dance, I don't sing, I don't play an instrument, so we came into this and they had been doing like singing company and stuff and stephan and I like he does some things yeah but the teens they took on, like teaching the little ones dance.
Speaker 2:so like when we compete in star search, it's the teens teaching the dance and it's like they took the responsibility to take it very serious and I am so proud of that because I'm like I can't, you do not want to see what I will produce for everyone. No, I always tell my church like if you don't see me clapping in a song, I can't sing and clap.
Speaker 1:Like I'm concentrating like no, not happening.
Speaker 4:Like the two things at the same time is too complicated it is. I can't dance for the life of me and when I see people that can dance, I'm like how did?
Speaker 3:you just remember that.
Speaker 1:To do that Like how did you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a gift.
Speaker 1:For your teens at the Corps. Have you seen in your time? We talked earlier in the episode about the passage of time was actually one of my fears, but for teens that you're really proud of in the time that you've how long have you been court officer at brockton um for? Five years. Five years, yeah, and for salvation officers, that's a, that's a decent stay yeah, so in the teens that you've seen. Have you seen spiritual growth? Have you seen them, you know?
Speaker 2:grow in their faith yeah, definitely, like just one. Like example is bianca going to conservatory? Like her giving her testimony on the last day? Like it was just got us all choked up because just seeing them maturing and like being able to talk about their faith and also, just you know, some of them were talking at camp. They're like one girl was like, oh, the kids would want to go do bad things, but they never asked me because they knew I wasn't you know like they were. People knew like their morals and like they were being examples and stuff.
Speaker 1:So yeah, can you tell us? You said, the christmas assistance is a big deal, you said the food pantry as well. Can you tell us a little bit about that, like when? When does that happen in brockton? How often?
Speaker 2:yeah, so we have our food pantry um once a week. We used to have it two times a week, but right now we don't have staff for it. And it grew a lot during COVID because people were desperate for food and we were just giving out the boxes, not taking names and stuff, so it grew a lot, so we have it once a week. We serve about 80 people every week at the food pantry and a lot of the families that have come into our church are through the food pantry.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 1:The kids that go to our youth programs, the kids that attend on Sundays and their families are from our food pantry, so that's something I mean. We always have conversations off air about. This is, how can the Salvation Army better marry the social ministries? To a relationship with Jesus. How have you seen that? I mean, the people are coming. Are they invited, are they prayed for? How does that kind of work together?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we always invite people. We have a sign right where our food pantry line is like saying worship on Sundays at that time. So a lot of times people will ask. They'll say you know, I saw that sign. Are you guys a church? Like what's that about? Yeah, and then we um with our kids youth programs. We'll advertise it every year and their parents really want good environments for their kids right so they're very interested in that, and then when they hear their children being like, I love going there I love being there.
Speaker 2:Can I go on sundays? And then the parents are like well, I kind of have to see what this is about like why do they? Like this much, and then they come, and then they enjoy it too.
Speaker 1:That's great, yeah, we have these talks all the time just about how, how can we be more intentionally evangelical?
Speaker 4:as a church.
Speaker 1:Yeah and not, and just kind of like stepping away from that idea of sorry, I keep hitting your mic. I'm not used to the four around the little table. You know a lot of people will look at the Salvation Army as their social services and their church as two separate things, and I know that we talk a lot about the mission, and the mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human needs in his name without discrimination.
Speaker 1:So how do you marry those two? But that's great. I'm really. That's awesome to hear. It's good for our soul. It's awesome to hear. It's good for our soul, it's good for my soul. So thank you for what you're doing.
Speaker 4:That's awesome, yeah, so you talked a little bit about that. You have been here for five years, so just can you tell us a little bit about now? I know because I have had the privilege of hearing pieces of your testimony, but can you tell us a little bit about your officership journey? Like, how did you get here, how did you maybe things that you wrestled with to to get to this point, but a little bit about your officership journey journey as an officer, yeah, or like you're yeah either either the journey to get to officership or your officership journey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I didn't grow up in the Salvation Army. I grew up not knowing anything about the Army at all. My dad saw an ad in a newspaper about a Salvation Army camp that I was hiring.
Speaker 4:So interesting yeah.
Speaker 2:So he liked working at camp when he was a teenager and thought it would be a good experience for me. And when I went to camp I, like, felt really loved and accepted. I was, you know, a teenager, so I struggled a lot with identity and insecurities and I was really self-conscious and feeling that community and that love and acceptance.
Speaker 2:I was like, well, these people are different right, like they're different than the people I go to school with, they're different than the people I'm around, and I wanted to be a Christian. Like at that time I was like, oh, I really want to be a Christian, but I didn't really know what that meant. And so it wasn't until, like I was in college, when I really accepted Jesus and I surrendered to Jesus, I was doing things I wasn't really proud of and like hanging out with not good people, and I was in college in Boston. So you know, it's like party city, like it's. You know, every Friday night there's a frat party in every corner.
Speaker 2:So like that's how I was living my life. And one day I was hungover and my dad was like going to come and visit and I was in the bathroom dorm like just broken. Like I was like I don't like who I am, I don't like what I'm doing, like just really empty, and Jesus really spoke to me in that moment. And he, jesus, really spoke to me in that moment. He said you know, I love you, like I want you, and so in that moment I surrendered my life to God and I decided to leave college that I was going to and went to a different college where my friend Alberta she worked with me at camp and I wanted to be her roommate because, you know, I knew she was a good Christian and she was going to church and all this stuff. I wanted that for my life.
Speaker 2:So I started attending a corps, I became a soldier and then after that, my life exploded right Like I moved to Vancouver to do a missionary program, to Chicago. I went to Venezuela. Like, came back, worked in Pennsylvania with the Salvation Army and went to training in 2017. Wow, and like just seeing the journey, you know, like how God works everything out is incredible. And just seeing the journey, how God works everything out. It's incredible, and so I became an officer in 2019, commissioned to Brockton, which we love, and we love being there, and God, through all of it, has always shown me his love and his faithfulness. All the times that I've struggled, all the times where I'm doubting myself like, really, can I do this Really, but God's always there and he's like you know, I got this, I can work this out. Whatever the struggle is, whatever the doubt is, and he's really shown that for me throughout my journey, especially in officership. I mean my first year of officership, covid.
Speaker 4:Right, Exactly I mean what a?
Speaker 2:start.
Speaker 1:Right Like.
Speaker 2:You don't know anything and no one else knows anything, right? You don't have anyone to help you Talk about a level playing field for everyone. So that's my first year of officership, and then after that it was just like you know, god just continually showing us his faithfulness and, just you know, through all different things in our family.
Speaker 2:Like our second year, my second year of officership, my mom died. My third year of officership, my husband's mom died and, you know, my fourth. Like just every year there was something and it was always God being like. You know, I'm here, I'm with you and sometimes, as a pastor, you're like oh, like I'm the pastor, I have to. No, like our community was always there, like you're struggling. Okay, we're here with you, we're here supporting you.
Speaker 2:I never felt like I had to act, like I had it together, Never felt like I had to be perfect or anything, because I was surrounded by so many people that loved me. And God did that right. There are some communities you get to where there are expectations, right. Some communities where they're like you have to be perfect and do not mine. And God knew I needed that right. He knew I needed to be in Brockton.
Speaker 1:He knew, and he's always showing me his faithfulness and his love for all of it, all those things that you listed off before getting to Brockton. It sounds like you said yes, so many times I mean, that's what struck me when you listed off the cities and different places. I was just wondering has it been difficult for you to say yes, or have you been? You know, here am I Lord, send me, because it sounds like those have been a lot of opportunities before you and you just go. You just go for it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think there were a lot of times it was easy, right, like I think once you experience God's love and you just realize like he like cares for you so much when he's like you have to do this thing, it's like it can be easy. Yeah, there's always fear and doubt and like questions, like I remember when we felt called to officership and we were offered a position in pennsylvania and we were like well, what's the pay? Like I have a kid and like you know like, and we need this, and so there's things that are like in the back here mine. But when we like pray about it, we're like yes, we got it. You know, like, if God's asking me to do it, I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2:There might be that little hesitation, but it's always easy because I know that God's in control. Right, like I know God cares for me and loves me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's an incredible testimony. I don't think I knew all those pieces.
Speaker 4:I knew some of them. But that's awesome. Seriously, you amaze me, girl. I just we were talking beforehand just about how you also and I know that in the weeds of it it probably doesn't feel like it from the outside like you find balance with your family and you know, care for them and for you and stephan, and so just we just celebrate you and love you and love that you're in a place, especially a core family, that you can just be you, you can be real Cause.
Speaker 4:I think that's the biggest like testimony is showing people like hey, I know I wear red on my shoulders, but I got struggles too.
Speaker 2:And we're going to go through them together.
Speaker 4:So just the realness and that's yeah, it's awesome, love it yeah, it's very much appreciated, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Uh, before we get to our kind of rapid fire silly questions, can you tell us a little bit about your family?
Speaker 2:we've we've referenced them a couple times now yeah, so my husband stefan, um, he's venezuelan american. Really it's like there's been people that go to him and he's like, do you speak Spanish?
Speaker 1:and he's like yes, I speak Spanish, I'm from.
Speaker 2:Venezuela, but yeah, so he's from Venezuela. He likes to joke around and have fun basketball and running his favorite things. I have two sons an 11 year old, no, 12 year old oh my, yeah, he's 12 going on.
Speaker 1:17 yeah, he's 12 going on 17.
Speaker 2:He's mature for his age, for sure. He's a 7th grader and he loves basketball, and he's in cross country right now so athletic and then Max, who's 8 and in 3rd grade and the biggest ham ever the life of every party he's very impulsive and just says anything on his mind like there's no filter. We're like Max.
Speaker 4:I love having a side conversation with Max. Anytime I have the opportunity, I'm like Max, give it to me, Cause he's so funny. We need to have Max as a guest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah, I'm all for it. Let's do it, let's do it All right, all right, yeah, go for it.
Speaker 4:Okay. So got some rapid fire for you, so just off the top of your head.
Speaker 2:These are not meant to be well thought out, right, if you?
Speaker 4:could travel back in time, what period would you go to?
Speaker 2:I've always liked, like the 60s and 70s, you know, like the peace movement and music like, I definitely love to see the beatles and their height oh yeah, oh yeah, cool for sure.
Speaker 3:Good answer, good answer all right, mine's not very serious at all, um, okay just practicing that um, you're from maine, right, and this is true. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to see a moose in the wild. Oh and so my question is have you seen a moose and, if so, where are they? Because I can't find them I've seen many moose.
Speaker 4:We actually we're starting to think they were mythical. Do they actually exist?
Speaker 2:my grandparents have a camp, a moose head lake, so it's not named for the fact that there's a lot of okay, the lake is shaped like a moose head. It just happens to have a lot of moose there. That lake is shaped like a moose head. It just happens to have a lot of moose there.
Speaker 4:That's so interesting.
Speaker 2:So we used to go on drives at night to find moose. Especially in the wintertime, they like to lick the salt off the street.
Speaker 1:You need to drive around with salt in your car.
Speaker 3:I'm taking notes.
Speaker 2:But I will say, we've tried to get Stefan to see a moose and we have not been able to find one for him yet.
Speaker 3:Maybe you and Stephan need to go on a quest, a moose journey, a moose quest, a moose quest Pilgrimage.
Speaker 4:Pilgrimage.
Speaker 3:That's awesome, that's so funny.
Speaker 4:Okay, and then a more serious question what would you say is something that the Lord has been speaking over you in this season, whether that's season of life, season of ministry, what's?
Speaker 2:the Lord been confirming or saying to you. I think recently he's been really just asking me because I think, being in Brockton for five years, it can feel comfortable, right and just to like get out of, like to not be comfortable.
Speaker 2:I guess Christians were not meant to be comfortable, right, we're not meant to be accepted by the world, we're meant to, like, kind of bring chaos right In the sense of like the darkness, like we're supposed to be light, and so I've been really like just challenged with like you know it's kind of easy to get in that five years you've been here being comfortable, the flow of things, but really just like getting out of my comfort zone, like what's next for Brockton?
Speaker 4:or what's next for my ministry. Oh, that's so interesting. I feel like sometimes we feel like comfort is the goal, but just to shake that up and say it's not the goal. As Christians, our calling is to not live comfortable lives.
Speaker 1:That's great. I have one serious one, and it's twofold. So in terms of thinking of what's next, or vision casting. So if you were to look at the Salvation Army as an organization, let's say let's look 50 years down the line. In one scenario, everything has gone right according to God's will. What does that look like? And then the flip side is 50 years from now, what might be your greatest fear for the salvation army as an organization.
Speaker 1:Early in the episode we talked about greatest fears around halloween time, and so it's just something that's been on my mind. But I know those are kind of loaded, so don't feel any pressure.
Speaker 2:But yeah, no. Yeah, you said this was going to be for us. Are you trying to get me fired?
Speaker 1:here. Well, we can edit whatever we need to.
Speaker 2:Now it's interesting because I was actually thinking of that similar thing, just seeing where the army has come in the last couple hundred years or so, and I was thinking about the vision that William Booth had for the Salvation Army, right, like he wasn't really aiming to start a church, like he was just aiming to preach, but then he saw other churches weren't accepting these people, so he made a church for these people. But now we see a lot of like a lot of core are getting smaller and smaller and our you know, our ministries are getting smaller and smaller but our social services are exploding, yeah, and so it seems like we're getting kind of away from that, like not really bringing people into the churches as much as serving their human need, which is part of the Army's mission. But I think really what the Army's vision should be for the future is bringing those people in right.
Speaker 2:Because those people still need a place right, they're still not accepted in other corps. Whenever we look at other churches, those people still need a place, right like they're still not accepted in other core like whenever we look at other churches like we had a friend next door neighbor who was a pastor and I went to like some of their events and it was just very different like than the type of people that come into the salvation army.
Speaker 2:It's like those people still need a home right, they still need a church and we need to be working in this vision of bringing those people in and giving them that place Absolutely. And that should be our goal. Right, human need is very important, but there's plenty of nonprofit organizations that are meeting those human needs right, and ours is about the soul, not necessarily the human need. We're serving the human need so we can minister to these people because of their soul.
Speaker 1:I mean, I always look at it as spiritual need, is a human need.
Speaker 2:The soul, the spiritual.
Speaker 1:To me that's always like. It just is encompassed in both parts of the mission. Absolutely, but yeah, well, thank you for answering that. I know I didn't put you on the spot there, but it's something that I know. The three of us we don't talk about it too much on the podcast, but it's something I feel like we're always kind of talking about and chatting about and keeping that evangelical mission in mind that those people need Jesus and not just soup and soap. You know the salvation is the most important thing.
Speaker 4:That's what we just the other day talked about. That and to preach the gospel and meet human needs. There needs to be that and you can't just do one.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, well, I just want to thank you again for coming in and hearing your story has been awesome, and I know we don't have a gazillion listeners, but we do have a lot of people that tune in and enjoy the show, so I know that they're going to be inspired by your story, like we've been today. So we just wanted to affirm the work that you're doing in Brockton and before you came on, we were just talking about how it's just so evident that you love your people in Brockton.
Speaker 1:And we don't have to see that by your actions loving them. You see that through the people that you have loved, and so it's it's powerful and it's important, and we just appreciate you.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you. So before you go, I don't remember where we were, but I know that we were going to pray for you and but just thank you again.
Speaker 4:Yeah, let's pray. Heavenly Father, I just thank you so much that you invite us into the practice of serving, preaching, being your hands and feet. Father, we say it all the time, we think it a lot you could do this without us, and yet you choose to use us and to desire more of us, and to desire us to be better than we would desire for ourselves. We just thank you, god, for choosing us Today. I just thank you so much for Megan. I thank you for her life. I thank you for her story and her testimony. I thank you for the ways that you are still moving in her life and still shaking up the things that maybe society would tell us are good, comfortable and normal.
Speaker 4:And you're still, lord, speaking very clearly over her, and I pray, lord, that you would just continue to raise up the volume of your voice in her life and in her heart. I pray, lord, for her family. I pray for Stephan and for Zia and for Max. I thank you, lord, for the gifts that they are to her and the gifts that they are to each other as a family. God, would you protect them. Just put your hedge of protection around them, lord. Just continue to bind them together, continue to help them find balance in their ministry and in their family, for one another, for their marriage, for their time with their kids. Lord, just protect them from anything that Satan would try to distract them with Lord. We just pray against that and we pray that you would have your way, lord, lord, that you would continue to be um just laying the path before them.
Speaker 4:Father, I thank you for just the, the heart that megan has, the heart not only for people, but the heart for you and the heart to see others brought into that kingdom.
Speaker 4:And we want to do that.
Speaker 4:We want to be a people that bring people in, not just meet them at the door and leave it there, but we bring them in to relationship with each other, relationship with you belonging, and just a place where they can feel your love radiating between the people that worship together.
Speaker 4:So, lord, would you bless the Brockton community, the beautiful fellowship that they have there, father, bless their teens, bless their young adults and their adults and their families, just the beautiful ministry that's happening there, that is so, so focused on you, so focused on your word and your teaching and your desire for the community there. So, father, just keep pouring out your blessings upon them. Father, would you give them eyes to see those blessings that are being heaped upon them? And in these days where Kettles is just around the corner and the busyness of the season is coming, lord, would you create time where there seems to be no time? Lord, would you give them patience and peace. And, lord, would you center their hearts to remember, and all of our core officers hearts to remember, the reason for this season, and that is you, jesus. We want to focus our hearts on you in the midst of the busy.
Speaker 4:We want to remember and honor and celebrate you, jesus. Thank you for Megan, thank you for her family, thank you for honesty and thank you for the testimony you're still writing in her life. We lay her before your throne. We thank you for her. In your name, we pray Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen, amen. Well, I thank you again one more time for coming on the show and if you are listening in the Brockton area, check out the Brockton Salvation Army for church on Sunday at 11 am, 11 am Church every Sunday in Brockton.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to take one more break here on the Plugged In Podcast and, like we said earlier, when we come back we're going to start our kind of book study that we're working through. So, if you want to get a copy of this book, this is the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, and we're going to start to dive into this next. Thank you again, megan, and we'll be right back on the Plugged In Podcast, episode number 20. All right, welcome back. Welcome back to the Plugged In Podcast, episode number 20. We are in part three today. Yeah, extra long episode, the trifecta. Ooh, maybe I don't know. We just had a great interview with Captain Megan from Brockton. Yes, and now we're moving on to I don't know what to call this segment. We're not doing like a what Book review? Book review.
Speaker 4:I kind of liked your book report.
Speaker 1:Book report.
Speaker 4:I felt like I was fifth grade again.
Speaker 1:But we haven't. We're not doing a book review yet because we haven't read the whole thing. We want to read along. Book club, book club, book club.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think that's what we're looking for.
Speaker 1:Plugged in book club. It's hard to say, yeah, something like that book club sounds older than millennials, like you know we whoops. But okay, so we've plugged this a couple times. But this is the ruthless elimination of hurry by john mark comer. It is a bright orange hardcover book if you're looking to buy it online. Uh, but nate kind of. The basis for this book is a verse in matthew. Can you read that?
Speaker 3:for us sure matthew 28 through 30 says this Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we came at this from a couple different avenues. Nate, you said there is like a Bible study on Right Now Media. Can you tell us about this? It's six different sessions that deal with Sabbath simplicity and solitude, silence and just decluttering our lives, slowing down and creating space to really just rest in who God is and taking on that easy yoke that he has for us.
Speaker 1:So I think in preparation for this, you were looking through some of this. I don't my way of approaching it for right now is I did like no outside research. I didn't know who this guy was. I'm not familiar with him. He could I mean so just from the book. My gathering is he is a former yeah like mega church pastor. Yeah, in part of the book he was saying at least in his church he said this was an embarrassing problem to even tell people about.
Speaker 1:But his church was growing by a thousand people per year for like seven years in a row. So the prologue of this book is called Autobiography of an Epidemic and he kind of goes through. He introduces us to this problem of hurry and lack of time as it pertains to his own life. Now he goes on to say, like I'm not you, I'm not your problems, Right? But every single person that I have talked to, whether it's CEOs, whether it's restaurant workers, whether it's stay at home parents, everyone who he talks to says, oh, I'm fine, I'm just busy, I'm just really busy. People fill their lives with stuff. So I thought, if we go around the table in this prologue Autobiography of an Epidemic, I just highlighted a couple of things. I want to read a couple of them and then you guys can do the same. But some of this stuff just went straight to my heart. When he's describing himself, he says I'm introverted and creative and, like most millennials, I get bored way too easily. Me and a lot of meetings is a terrible idea for all involved. Amen.
Speaker 3:I mean read that one out loud. I was like, oh man, this is. I circled that one.
Speaker 1:So, as he was talking about what I said a couple episodes ago, like where am I going, what's next? What are? When I got there, it turns out some lessons are best learned the hard way, it turns out I don't actually want to be the CEO, executive director of a nonprofit, slash HR expert, slash strategy guru, slash leader of leaders, et cetera, and so he's kind of asking this internal question who am I becoming?
Speaker 1:And then why am I in such a rush to become somebody that I don't even like? I thought that was really interesting, powerful to become somebody that I don't even like.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I thought that was really interesting, powerful. There's a section in there where he says that I am my worst self when I'm hurried.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because peace, perfect peace, perfect love, perfect joy is incompatible with a hurried life where we're always just trying to check the box, always trying to get things done because we have responsibilities, we have pressures. But he's his worst self. He recognizes that when he's embracing this hurried life rather than slowing down and allowing himself to dwell in the Lord. I was really fascinated.
Speaker 3:This book is incredible for anybody who's in any form of ministry, because it resonates so strongly he has this line in here that just hit me that you can be a success as a pastor and you can be a complete failure as an apprentice of Jesus. You can gain a church and lose your entire soul. And, uh, just little context. He like he. He formed this mega church in Portland, oregon that was experiencing explosive growth every single year. Multi sites he was. He was preaching six. He was in six meetings a day. Six Sunday services on Sunday.
Speaker 3:And was an in-demand speaker, traveling around the world and, in the eyes of the world, super successful, in the eyes of the church, fruitful ministry, and still recognized this emptiness because he had given so much of himself without actually leaning into the grace of God.
Speaker 1:He kind of painted this picture of.
Speaker 1:There was one time that he was going home and he was just like I don't even like Kung Fu movies but, I was going home and all I wanted to do I was going to turn on this Kung Fu movie, sit on the couch by himself and, like, his wife's not there, his kids are not there. He's coming home late at night from ministry or whatever he's doing, and he's, like I, have been so, like emotionally, spiritually drained by the busyness of my life that, like the, the remaining time left is not valuable time spent with family, it's not time spent with God. He said. Like you know life, what is life if it's not, uh, filled with moments? And if you're too busy to live those moments, then what is actually living? I just found some of this stuff fascinating. Did you have a couple, loretta?
Speaker 4:Well, the one that I probably one of my first highlights man, it's like it's hard to read, but I think that we've all we can all say if we're honest, we've been, we've experienced this before, but right into that, I think it's right after that martial arts comment, yeah, yeah, he says, but the thing is, I feel like a ghost, half alive, half dead, more numb than anything else, flat, one-dimensional, emotionally. I live with an undercurrent of non-stop anxiety that rarely goes away and a tinge of sadness, but mostly I just feel blah, spiritually empty, like I feel like, I feel like we've, I feel like everyone has reached that point right where it's just like blah, I feel empty, I feel like a ghost. But then where do I go from there? Um, and I don't know, that just resonated with me. Um, because then he talks about how he's like a type, a personality, and like he wants to get stuff done, but there's just still not the fulfillment that he expected all of these other things to bring him um.
Speaker 4:The worldly things are there, but he's like I. I've done nothing with my soul, yeah.
Speaker 3:And it shows how our barometer of success is so skewed.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:In prioritizing that which, yes, are those things important. Yeah, they're important, but are they the most important thing? And so it's getting us back to the heart of what is most important, and as he continues to remind us in the book, that love, joy and peace are at the heart of Christ's mission.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's the gospel. And if we?
Speaker 1:are so hurried, we are not going to experience Christ in his fullness.
Speaker 4:He said that love is a painfully slow process and it's just straight up incompatible with hurry.
Speaker 1:I keep interchanging hurry and busy, but he uses hurry a lot.
Speaker 2:The word is hurry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but what you just said, nateate. So, as he wraps up the prologue, uh he's talking about. I found this part interesting. Um, he says here uh, talking about jesus, a man whose closest friends all said he was anointed with the oil of joy more than any of his companions, and then his translation he was the happiest person alive. Most of us don't even think to look to jesus for advice on how to be happy.
Speaker 4:How to be happy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was very interesting and then. So he's talking about if you're weary, if you're tired of life as you know it, you might be missing the whole point. And then what you said, nate, the metrics for success of our culture handed you might be skewed. They said that said success might turn out to look a lot like failure. So that's just kind of the beginning, the prologue. He kind of lays out his personal story a little bit. You want to move forward to the next chapter?
Speaker 4:Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 1:So the next chapter is called Hurry, the Great Enemy of Spiritual Life, and then he really starts to get into what you were just saying, nate, in terms of incompatibility with love.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. He's very clear here in the beginning of this second section that if there's a secret to happiness, it's simple and it's being present in the moment that God has given you.
Speaker 3:The more present that we are right now, the more joy we tap into, the more we see the people that we're ministering to and the more we recognize our need, like Jesus, to draw away to a place of solitude and spend time with him, and so being present in the moment instead of opening up our calendar and looking six, seven, eight, nine, 10 months down the road, which we all do or more, but being present in every moment, recognizing what God desires and wills for us in that moment and wills for the people that he's placed under our care our children, our spouse, the places where we have influence.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I like where he says in chapter one they're not really chapters, but they're broken into little sections the first section. But he says Rory, I'm combining.
Speaker 1:Rory, don't Rory through this, rory.
Speaker 4:Rory is the root problem underneath so many of the symptoms of toxicity in our world, and I think he it might be in the prologue where he talks about when he is in that state of hurry that he's like when he's emotionally unhealthy. He is like toxic. What does he say? Toxic something over all the people around him, all his staff, yeah, yeah like it's the hurt people, hurt people idea. But just this idea that hurry is the root problem underneath the many symptoms of toxicity in our world. That just stuck out to me.
Speaker 1:I have a couple quotes highlighted here. In the first chapter, after the prologue, he's recapping kind of the stuff he's saying, but he says To restate love, joy and peace kind of the stuff he's saying, but he says to restate love, joy and peace are at the heart of all. Jesus is trying to grow in the soil of your life, and all three are incompatible with hurry. And then this is a quote from CS Lewis to walk with Jesus is to walk with a slow, unhurried pace. Hurry is the death of prayer and only impedes and spoils our work. It never advances it.
Speaker 3:Man deep stuff. He makes it clear that it's not these things that we do for God are not bad. These are things we have been called to do, but he labels it as a pathological busyness where it's.
Speaker 3:We aren't able to separate the distraction or or filter the distraction out of our life that allows us to truly be present where we are. Um. So we give priority and we give a power to those things in our life that really are so meaningless and so trivial, right Like. We live in a world that is super convenient, and this kind of leads into the next chapter. We live in a very convenient world where things are are made to be quick and efficient, and we've replaced the time that we've saved with things that don't matter and we've replaced the rest that we can only find in Christ with those things that are actually draining us of our soul.
Speaker 1:Yeah, in the next chapter. So he kind of outlines the journey of human history and how time has just been sped up for us. And I think the main question he asks in this second chapter is, as life got more efficient, as it got more detailed, schedule wise, nobody paused to ask if this was good for our souls, if good for the human soul. So he talks about, as he's kind of outlining, this first you have the Roman sundial.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And even you have poets writing oh God, confound the man. Because, we started to segment the day according to the sun.
Speaker 1:Right, confound the man, because we started to segment the day according to the sun, right. Then he says in 1370 is the first public clock tower that's put up in germany. Later he talks about thomas edison in 1879. So now light bulbs are invented, right? So before you had humans wake up with the sun, they go to sleep, you know when the sun down. Now you have the ability to stay up and be productive past the setting of the sun and then fast forward all the way to 2007,. And he really talks about how, when history looks back, 2007 and the birth of the iPhone, and then eventually, following it, the explosion of social media and now present day, we're right on the cusp of AI being everywhere, everything. So he kind of really tracks this course through human history. I found it very interesting, well.
Speaker 3:I was fascinated. I know that I touch my phone way too often, but it said in here the average iPhone user touches their phone over 2,600 times a day.
Speaker 1:And he said another study on millennials put the number at twice that. Twice that. So you're talking about 5,000 times a day.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's us, that is us, that is you and I.
Speaker 4:Millennial shaming, yeah right right Millennial shaming. Yeah, right, right, no. But then he said that studies showed that before all of this, that people slept an average of 11 hours a night Amen. I don't know, in my life if I've ever had 11, but because it was a natural cycle to the moon and the sun, it's the Acadian rhythm and it was just like. That's the way it was 11 hours.
Speaker 1:Well, he said, you know. So humans woke up when their body was rested.
Speaker 4:Yes, was ready.
Speaker 1:Now we have told machines to wake us up when we need to be woken up Exactly. Because there's stuff to do. There's stuff to do, a little flip yeah.
Speaker 3:So we're constantly running on fumes if we're not making a priority to spend time in God's presence. I'm reminded of a quote that Commissioner Samuel Logan Brangle once said. Someone came to him and said Commissioner Brangle, you're a wonderful teacher on holiness. You're obviously anointed by the Lord, but what has been your greatest temptation in ministry?
Speaker 2:And Samuel.
Speaker 3:Logan Brangle. He paused, he thought about this and he said you know, my greatest temptation in ministry is to try to do something for God without first spending time with God are just all consuming and the things we have to get done just need to get done.
Speaker 3:And people need us and our bosses need us and we say to ourselves you know, I'm just going to go on autopilot and get it done yeah and think of how many times we've trudged through life running on fumes before resting in the presence of god yeah, so at the end of this second chapter.
Speaker 1:So he hasn't really gotten to like the there's not solution oriented like text, yet he's setting the stage, yeah he's setting the stage.
Speaker 1:We're learning the problem Right. So we're not there yet in terms of the solution oriented language, but he just says at the very end, to summarize after millennia of slow, gradual acceleration, in recent decades the sheer velocity of our culture has reached an exponential fever pitch. My question is simple what is all this distraction, addiction and pace of life doing to our souls? Yeah, so, um nate, you said on right now media, there was just kind of like some uh, I want to say a way to like wrap this, but kind of like some, there were some questions, or maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 3:Maybe I'm wrong, no, you're right, you're right. Yeah, no. On Right Now Media, there is a supplement that goes along with it, and the first section focuses on Mary and Martha and just the busyness where Jesus is just saying like hey, slow down, I'm here, be present with me. And so the challenge is how can we find intentional space to be present with Christ in our everyday? Because the things have to happen right. The kids need to get changed and off to school, the extracurricular activities they happen.
Speaker 1:We're not, yeah, yeah, I was just saying this. I'm thinking like he's laying out all these problems. We're not going backwards. No, we're not. Yeah, yeah. As you're saying this, I'm thinking like he's laying out all these problems. We're not going backwards. No, we're not going back to the sundial. We're not saying everyone become Amish and just eliminate you know, cut everything out of your life.
Speaker 3:We're not saying that there is a simplicity that God calls us to, but what we're talking about is in the midst of the chaos, how are you being present with Christ?
Speaker 3:How are you drawing rest and shalom that wholeness from him and allowing joy and love and peace, the things that Christ perfectly embodied? How is that spilling over into your everyday life? Because you have found ways to not just eliminate hurry or cut a piece of hurry out of your life, but to prioritize that which is most important, Our connection to the Father, and in that it allows our connection to others to really thrive.
Speaker 4:Intentionality over mindlessness. Yeah, how can we be more intentional with our time?
Speaker 3:Well, if we were to take a real inventory of our day, we would see just how much of our time is wasted. I mean the iPhone actually helps us with this. Well, if we were to take a real inventory of our day, we would see just how much of our time is wasted. Yeah, I mean, the iPhone actually helps us with this in giving us our weekly rundown of how many average hours we spend. It's a shaming. So thank you, Apple for shaming me today. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a rough way to start a Sunday morning, yeah it's interesting If you really were to add it up, the Instagram scrolls, the TikTok scrolls, like it really adds up and did you really gain anything? Yeah, yeah, like the what did you say? The soil of your life, like, is that really being fertilized with something that's useful by those scrolls? I don't know if you found now, but even now, social media, the capitalization of all of it. I just find, even scrolling Facebook or Instagram, I'm not even you know it's mostly ads now, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're not even seeing, mostly your friends or your people.
Speaker 2:No, no, no.
Speaker 1:You're getting fed uh ads sponsored ads, but also groups, and like it's just mostly irrelevant.
Speaker 4:And he says somewhere in the end of that chapter too, that how our attention span is dropping. Like in 2000 our attention span was like 12 seconds. Yeah, he says, now we're down to eight. And you know what a goldfish is what?
Speaker 1:nine we're losing to a goldfish love it love it.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's just like it's again, that's just like hurried life yeah and I think the great danger is that being lulled into this spiritual oblivion, as he puts it. Yeah, it's, it's we don't even recognize it sometimes. You know, it's not this blatant renouncing of our faith. He says this is not us renouncing our faith, it's we're becoming so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we're okay with a mediocre version of our faith.
Speaker 3:That we'll keep Jesus at an arm's length and we'll just do the bare minimum when it comes to tending to our spiritual life, because everything else has to take priority and precedence. But we look at the gospels and Jesus calls us to an abundant life. So what does it mean to live an abundant life in Christ? And I think that it's pretty obvious, as we're going to move into these other sections, that it's finding ways to find solitude, to make space for that, to make space for simplicity and to ask the Lord to just kind of reorient and reframe our motivation each and every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, boom, awesome. Well, we're off to a good start If you want to join us, if you're listening to the Plugin Podcast, episode number 20 today, and you want to join in on our book club.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I like that we should get stickers. Okay, did you do? Book it when you were in elementary school and you got?
Speaker 2:free pan pizza from Pizza Hut oh yeah, you read all the books.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Can we get pizza after this?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and where I was from we got the pan pizza, but I feel like we also got vouchers to St Louis Cardinals games Nice.
Speaker 3:Okay, now you're bragging.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying I hated the Cardinals Couldn't wait to go Trying to get someone into the stadium. So if you want to join us on the PluggedIn Podcast, this is once again the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer. You can pick that up, probably on Amazon sponsoring this episode. No, they're not.
Speaker 4:I wish yeah right.
Speaker 1:But yeah, pick that up and you can join with us today, all right? Well, we're about to wrap here on the PluggedIn Podcast. I think this episode, like I said, is dropping on November 1st and, if I'm correct, that means Yam is right around the corner.
Speaker 1:It's going to be our final rehearsal of the fall season, and then, as we're kind of hurtling towards the month of December, we have the Sounds of Christmas coming up. On Sunday, december 8th, that's 6 o'clock at the Boston Kroc Center Really looking forward to it. Last year kind of exploded the expectation of the program and the number of performers, and we'll be doing the same thing this year, so it's going to be a really great time.
Speaker 3:You look like you're saying something. Can I do a quick plug for some young adult?
Speaker 1:things coming up, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:November 15th we have our next Young Adult Bible Study at our house in Sharon Massachusetts.
Speaker 2:Just started that last on friday last week, uh, last weekend a couple days ago, yeah, a beautiful study on the book of acts.
Speaker 3:A great group always have good food and good conversation. So november 15th at seven o'clock at our house, is that? And then, uh, november 23rd, uh, young adult friendsgiving.
Speaker 4:Everyone loves some good food and some good fellowships high competition some potatoes relax everyone, everyone relax, blanched covered, and Everyone loves some good food and some good fellowship and pie competition. Some potatoes Relax everyone, everyone relax.
Speaker 3:Blanched, covered and smothered. You know what that means.
Speaker 1:All right, everyone. Well, thank you for joining us today on the Plugged In Podcast. Plugged In Podcast, the Pugcast is what I said. Plugged In Podcast episode number 20. Thank you for being here. We will see you next time. We'll number 20. Thank you for being here. We will see you next time.