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Plugged In Podcast

Episode 27 - We're Back!

March 19, 2026 • Matthew Luhn • Episode 27

0:00 | 58:15

298 days is a long time to leave a microphone sitting cold, so we came back the only way we know how: a real conversation. We start with the kind of everyday honesty everyone relates to, the clutter you swear you’ll fix, the texts you forget to answer, the light switches you still hit wrong after years, and yes, the USB that never goes in correctly on the first try.

From there, we reset the rhythm with rapid-fire choices that open up bigger questions about faith and ministry in The Salvation Army Massachusetts Division. What actually helps people connect in worship: brass band music, a contemporary worship set, clear lyrics, good leadership, or the story behind the music? What forms disciples more deeply: a camp meeting altar call or a small group conversation? We also share real wins from the past year, including Youth Councils momentum, upcoming fellowship that supports a local corps, and the people who quietly make ministry happen through service, follow-through, and heart.

We close by going deeper: the scripture and advice that carried us, the worship songs and brass pieces that match our lives right now, and one-word reflections on how faith has shifted toward authenticity, gratitude, and resilience. If you care about youth ministry, worship leadership, Salvation Army culture, and digital evangelism, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend, leave a review, and tell us: what’s your one word for this season?

Welcome Back And Two Rants

SPEAKER_04 0:11

Well, welcome back, plugged in podcast. This is episode number 27. I wouldn't blame anyone for losing track. I didn't know. I was gonna ask you. It's been a long time. Episode number 27 of the Plugged In Podcast. We are back. We will uh only mention it maybe once today that this is uh 298 days since our last episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

298 is crazy.

SPEAKER_06 0:34

I was wearing the same shirt in our last episode. Are you really? Which is funny because this is for the 100th year of camp, and it seems like it's been 100 years since we've been together, so it's appropriate.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

And we've already finished now the 101st year. We're about to go into the 102nd year. Jeez. Man. Insane. All right. Well, some things are the same. Uh, I have an opening rant. If you guys are ready for it, I'm ready. Some things never change. I love it. Go for it. Actually, I have two rants. Oh, okay. So if you hopefully you can't see this on the camera, uh, but this studio is it's a mess. It's it's crazy. It's just, it's a real mess. Is there something in your life? This is some, I can't get it together. You know? Yeah. This is something. Do you have something in your life that you were bad at as a kid? And you kind of like thought, when I'm a real adult, when I grow up, this is just gonna get better.

SPEAKER_06 1:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

I'll get better.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

And this never did for me. I physical organization. Uh, if you were to look at my office, now this studio, I guess this you can call this my second office. Extension of office the overflow. My vehicle, um, the side of my bed in our in our bedroom. Like, I am just I'm not good at this. And um, my dad used to call me a professional slob. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

And at the time I was just like, what are you talking about? It's like so overkill. And uh, no, he was right. Yeah. He he he was right. Is there anything in your life that you thought as a teen or something like you're bad at, but it was gonna get better? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Oh, for sure. I definitely thought as a teenager that when I'm an adult, I'll be it'll be easier to wake up early. That's not true. Never happened. No. And I've never ever, ever been a good texture backer. And I thought, oh, when I have real responsibilities and when I'm like a grown-up, like I'll get better at this, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

I've never I've never wanted to tell you that, but I've thought it once or twice. But I'm also the same. There are people that that call me out a lot and say you are not good at texting back.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

If you on the other side of this microphone have ever been victimized by Matt and Larita's inability to text back, raise your hand.

SPEAKER_06 2:32

It's not you, it's them. Okay, yeah, yeah. What about you, Nate? Um, so I thought that math would get progressively easier as I got older. But what what happens is I'm actually worse at math math now uh as an adult. I wasn't very good as a teenager, and I'm terrible now. And I'm reminded of this now that Jackson, who has first grade math homework, right, and I have to like figure out how to help him with it. I'm like, man, this is first grade, and I'm still not good at that.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Still not good.

SPEAKER_06 3:00

Are you uh you have to go back and like read his chapter and see what he's working on? Yeah. Yeah, and it's different math than when we were kids, you know? It's new math.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

They always said math would never change, but I do love that like I remember teachers saying, You're never gonna have a calculator in your pocket.

USBs Light Switches And Life Fails

SPEAKER_04 3:12

And I'm like, Oh, stun you, Mrs. Jones. Uh, you know who does math for me these days? AI. Yeah. So when I was trying to figure out that our last episode was 298 days ago, I I just asked. Yeah, I just said April 19th, 2025. Wow how many days has it been? All right. My second rant though. Uh, there's gotta be something in your life that when you go to do it, like 100%, not 100%, there's a 50-50 chance that you can get it right, but it's like 100% of the time you're wrong. You're wrong. And so for me, this is uh USB sticks. Okay. You have a 50-50 chance? I never under over never if you don't if I don't look at that thing. And even sometimes when I do, yeah, I'm still wrong. Also, um outlets, like when you go to plug something in, oh yeah, I'm always upside down. Yep. And then the last thing would be for me, uh, and this is a again a personal problem with my personal organization. When I go to when you have men's dress socks, sometimes can be ambiguous whether they're inside out or right side in.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

I can't I was like half left out, right?

SPEAKER_04 4:14

So I look at it and I'm like, oh, surely this is inside out, and I switch it up and then I put it on my foot and I'm like, nope, nope, that was that was wrong.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Wasted five seconds doing that.

SPEAKER_04 4:23

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Um for me, it's either well, I don't know what the what the situation is in our house right now, but we have about 700 light switches, and only about half of them work. And so, I mean, we've been in this house six years, and I still hit the wrong light switches. But the other thing I I am notoriously bad for is saying you two at the uh like incorrect time. So, like someone will hand me my coffee through the drive-thru, like, hey, enjoy your coffee. And I'm like, you too. Yeah, they're not drinking coffee, or like like saying thank you when I'm the one holding the door open for someone. It's just like all of those interactions, I it's good. Yeah, I'm 100%.

SPEAKER_06 5:03

Then you go back into the car and you're like, I'm such an ootie.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

I know.

SPEAKER_06 5:06

Drive away very self-conscious.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Like, oh man.

SPEAKER_06 5:09

For me, it's choosing the wrong self-checkout lane at at Walmart because I'm like, oh, if I go to this self-checkout lane, it's gonna be so much faster. And then I get there and it's either not working or like I scan one thing and then it has to call the associate over to do something. So there's that. And then also in our house, it's if I put um clothes in the in the washing machine to wash, there's a 50-50 chance that I will ever move it over to the dryer before before I have to wash it because it smells musty.

Host Intros And Quick Updates

SPEAKER_04 5:36

Yeah, yeah. That's uh yeah, along with my cleanliness habits, I got that going on as well. So well, uh, this is kind of our welcome back reset episode. So just take a second to introduce ourselves. My name is Matt. I'm the music director here in Massachusetts, and we've been uh co-hosting this podcast now for three years. That's crazy. The uh the time marker is always my daughter McKenzie. Mackenzie, yeah. Who was uh our first episode. If you go all the way back and listen, we were talking about how large my wife was and uh about to give birth. But McKenzie's almost three years old. But you guys want to introduce yourselves real quick?

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Yeah, yeah. My name is Larita Heinzman, and um I am well the divisional candidate secretary and youth secretary, and all that means is I don't even know these days. It's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_06 6:20

Wow, I'll edit that part out. Job ambiguity. Yeah. Uh I'm Nate Heinzman. Uh work alongside uh my wife Lorita and our amazing youth department team to help facilitate impactful ministry opportunities for youth and young adults across Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

That's a great way to define it. Thanks, Sonny.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Boom. Yeah. Now, 298 days later, any any personal updates? Any any brief things you want to share, or should we jump into the episode? It's my parents' anniversary today.

SPEAKER_06 6:48

Wow. So I just want to give them a shout out to Tim and Christine Heinzman.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

Yeah. We always mention that our parents are usually the top listeners of the podcast. They're bolstering our views. Yeah, for sure. All right. Well, happy anniversary. Yeah. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

I can't think of any update. I can't think of anything. No, it's just nothing in the past nine months. I mean, a kid started first grade.

SPEAKER_04 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

I got a new, you know, I'm on a new kind of insulin. That's that's the only update in my life.

SPEAKER_06 7:14

Do you want to talk about the Jets at all? No, I don't. Okay. All right. Thank you. That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Nice shirt, though.

SPEAKER_06 7:17

That's thank you. Hey, we should talk about the Patriots losing the Super Bowl, right?

SPEAKER_04 7:21

You know what? Uh I'm wearing this jersey today because they had a great season. They did. And I'm proud of them. They overachieved. And uh, you know, amidst all of the the haters out there, like yourself, yeah. You know, that say bad things about them. Proud, proud haters. Uh they made it, you know. So, yes. Did they have a really, really ugly showing in the Super Bowl? Yes, they did. They did. But they were there. They were there. So it was a it was uh yeah. I'm happy they had a great season.

SPEAKER_06 7:43

And they won four games last year. That's true. That's true. They did lose to the Steelers this year, though. But I I would take Drake May. I would take Drake May over Aaron Rodgers any day.

SPEAKER_05 7:52

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

I was very happy for Sam Darnold. I feel like the Jets really tried to ruin him at one point in his career, and he really overcame. So I was happy for him.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

That was yeah, there was I think that was an angle for Jets fans for sure. That was cool. I was happy for him to see him win. Um, personal updates. I don't know if I have any uh real updates. We this has been like a real uh Boston, New England type of winter. Oh, yeah, that is true. Like I feel like it's been cold since before Thanksgiving. Yeah, all of my gas and electricity bills will show that. Uh, but we also just had we had a huge snowstorm a couple weeks ago. And this is my like I uh not my first taste of home ownership because we've had quite a few things go wrong. Uh, but we've got about thirty thousand dollars worth of damage uh on our on our roof. Nice in some of our yeah, no, it's not nice. It's uh terrible, it's very painful. Yeah, so hopefully, uh fingers crossed, insurance pays for most of that. Uh but that is a mess. That is uh that is a real mess.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Than that like what I guess now adding it all up, it's probably 20 plus inches of snow we've got sitting on our oh and the drifts are four feet deep with all the wind and stuff. Yeah, it's insane.

SPEAKER_04 8:58

Yeah, thankfully, my my wife is a boss lady and she uh she takes good care of that stuff and whips contractors into shape and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

And I would never mess with her. I'd just be like, yes, ma'am.

This Or That Boston Edition

SPEAKER_04 9:08

She just sends me the like the AI generated pictures of uh so if our roof looks like this, what do you think? And I'm like, oh great. I love that one. Okay, uh next spot of this podcast. Like I said, this is just getting getting back into it. Listeners out there want to know you guys. Um, so I guess I'm this or that. All right. We'll go rapid fire. Nice. Okay. You ready for this? Ready. All right, this is round one. I'll throw them to you guys. You guys have the same list that I have, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

Okay, so all right. So round one, uh, we're gonna do Boston edition.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Love it.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

Okay, so first one up, we got Freedom Trail versus the Museum of Fine Arts.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

I would go Freedom Trail.

SPEAKER_06 9:44

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

I think the history on that's really cool.

SPEAKER_06 9:46

Yeah, I would because the Museum of Fine Arts is$30 a person for an adult ticket. Is that true? Yes, it's$30 a person.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

What about on weekends? I don't know about weekends. I'm going to go against you guys. I'm picking the Museum of Fine Arts. Freedom Trail is like what? How many miles is that? Two and a half.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

I don't know. Do it in small sections. 16 spots.

SPEAKER_04 10:04

But there's also parts of the Freedom Trail that just aren't interesting. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Take me to the museum. Take me to the museum.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

I want to be cultured. All right, uh Boston Common versus the public garden.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Um, I've only been to the commons, I'm gonna click, I'm gonna click. I'm gonna click commons. I think you've been to both. Have I? What?

SPEAKER_04 10:19

Because it's literally like the same thing, but separated by one street.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Oh, I don't know enough about Boston then. So uh yes to both. That's where I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

Yeah, I didn't know that I was at the garden either. So okay, next. We'll go uh Bruins game or Boston Pops.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Are you gonna hate me if I say Bruins game?

SPEAKER_04 10:38

I won't hate you.

SPEAKER_06 10:39

I won't hate you. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

I would say Bruins game.

SPEAKER_06 10:41

Yeah, really? I'd say Boston Pops because I'm not a Bruins fan. I do enjoy hockey, but hockey games are fun. It's hard for me to get into a game that the team that I don't really care about.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Okay, you know, that's fair. I'm going Boston Pops.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

I could have, I could have uh guessed that one.

SPEAKER_04 10:55

I could have assumed. There is one photo that someone snapped from an audience perspective. So one of the seasons, opening night of the pops, I got to I got called contracted to play on opening night. And so at the very end, when you play Stars and Stripes Forever, they drop all the balloons from the ceiling. That is cool. And there's this one photo that someone in the audience got. So all these balloons, you can barely see anyone on stage, and then there's this tiny little window, and at the very end of Stars and Stripes, the whole brass section is standing up. You can't see anyone else on stage except for here's me standing up with my trombone in the midst of all these balloons. Just got my trombone up there.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

One a one-person act.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

That was great.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

That is cool.

SPEAKER_04 11:31

All right, Boston edition continued historic church versus a modern skyscraper.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Church.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Yeah, historic church. Same thing. Uh duckboat tour versus whale watching.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Ooh, I've never done whale watching, but I've done duckboat. That was fun. So I'm gonna go whale whale watching because we've already done one.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

Yeah, yeah. I was gonna say the same thing. Oh, copy copy. The whale watching, uh, if you get it on like a windy day, oh yeah. I came really close to throwing up, really. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

I've been we did deep sea fishing and I almost got so sick one time.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

I've never been seasick in my life. On the whale watching tour, not only did we not see any whales at all. Oh no, but like I had to like sit down and close my eyes for like the the the like back half the hour. Oh my gosh. I was just like, I'm done. Jeez. I I can't I can't do this anymore. Were you Gloucester? Uh no, it was at the uh the launch was at the aquarium. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_04 12:18

Yeah. So it was like cool for the first like 30 minutes. And then I was like, wait, there's no whales. Wait, it's super windy. Oh, I'm not feeling great. Not feeling great. Uh all right, last one, Boston edition Fenway night game for the Bruins or TD Garden playoff game.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Oh, I gotta go playoff game.

SPEAKER_06 12:36

I went Fenway night game. Oh, why? I just think Fenway Park is so iconic. Yeah, and you know under the lights, it just reminds me of like the movie Fever Pitch back in the day, Jimmy Fallon, you know. Fever pitch. Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barry War. Drew Berry War. Yeah. Come on.

Ministry Choices That Reveal Values

SPEAKER_04 12:52

And uh, you know, that is like a sappy sucker good movie. Yeah, it's a kid. You're making fun, but then you're like, oh yeah, that was good. All right, calm down. It's like if you're not from Boston, I could see you being like, what a great little town. Like that's what another I could fall in love with that place. Okay, more questions for you guys. Round two, this is ministry questions.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 13:11

Okay. Uh we got early morning Sunday service.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 13:14

Like, let's call this uh church starts at 10. Yeah. Or Friday, Saturday night service.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

I would do Friday, Saturday night service.

SPEAKER_06 13:22

I would do Sunday morning because I like I like having the rest of the day to kind of decompress afterwards. Yeah. You know? And uh during football season, it's cool too. You know, at the church football.

SPEAKER_04 13:35

I feel like I could really get into a Saturday night service if you told me that I could have my entire Sunday. Yeah. Like a real Sabbath. Like you just all you're doing is waking up, having pancakes, maybe do devotions at home. All right, uh ministry, brass band, prelude or offertory versus contemporary worship set.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Time and place.

SPEAKER_04 13:57

I don't even like the word contemporary. I know. But also if you just say worship set, I feel like I know. This is uh it depends on.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

I don't know. I'm like right in the middle of this. I think I would err on just like a worship contemporary worship set, just because I feel like it's more accessible.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

Let's assume that both groups are very good.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Oh, then I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 14:19

I'm back to I don't know. Yeah. Well, I think for me, the way I viewed it is if I'm in the brass band, yeah, there's an extra element of personalizing the piece. So I enjoy that. If I'm not in the brass band, I think I'd rather participate in just like sitting and taking in the contemporary worship set.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Uh for me, um the the contemporary worship set I feel like is so much of quicker accessibility to your heart because the lyrics are right there. They're like right there. The brass band stuff though, the really good ones will speak like intellectually and spiritually and emotionally if you know what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Right.

SPEAKER_04 15:02

So it either takes a leader to explain that or the properly placed words on screen. Cause let's be honest, like, you know, not a lot of us know the hymns, word for word, yeah, or verse two of you know, blah, blah, blah. It's just it ain't working.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

But truth, truth.

SPEAKER_04 15:19

I don't think I really made a pick, but okay, next.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

That's where I am with that.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Okay, uh, camp meeting altar call. Let's think like family camp uh versus a small group discussion. So we'll go yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

I gotta go small group discussion.

SPEAKER_06 15:33

If it's Jesus theater altar call.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

These are not rapid fire for me, just so everyone's cool.

SPEAKER_06 15:38

No, seriously, if if it's Jesus theater altar call, there is nothing better in my mind than that to see kids lining the stage. But if it's if the choice is like a family camp versus small group, I'll take small group any day.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

Yeah, I think I'm altar call. I think I'm altar call. I don't know. Honestly, I haven't attended enough churches outside of the Salvation Army to really, really know if altar calls are something like pretty unique to us. Yeah. Um I don't know. Yeah, honestly. But I do know that when those are taking place, whether you're part of them or whether you're just uh seeing them, yeah. It's pretty powerful. It is.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:14

I don't really feel this sounds terrible. Like the aesthetics of that spiritual power when you're looking at small groups, when you're seeing it. Like it's still it might might even be more personal. But that like um that witness of being like driven to your knees at the altar, like in an act of submission. Like that's I don't know. That's that'd be my call.

SPEAKER_03 16:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:37

Um, okay, and then we got youth councils versus family camp. Which one you going?

SPEAKER_01 16:42

I think we're just going straight like youth role. I'm going youth councils. And I don't know if that's just because of a more like a closer perspective to the experience. But I'm yeah. And I was I found Jesus first at youth council, so it's a very near thing of that.

SPEAKER_06 17:00

You guys can't not say youth counseling. I know, that's what I'm saying. Well, I was I really love the children's meetings at Family Camp that you get to be a part of. But yeah, youth councils, the proximity of that and just firsthand knowing you know the power of that as a kid. Yeah. I'll just stick up for Family Camp.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

You go for it, man.

SPEAKER_04 17:17

I'll say family camp. Thank you. Family Camp allows um some unique opportunities because it does. Like your resources are are wider. Yep. I'm just thinking maybe from a music arts perspective, it's like everybody's there.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

It's a multi-generational thing, too.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

So you can do bigger things or more things. Not that it doesn't happen at youth councils, but um, I'll go family cancel. And then um, this is a tough one for me. So planning months ahead versus wing it and trust the spirit.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

I'm I'm too much of a planner. I think when I start, when we get to the you know, the cusp of youth councils weekend, I know there's gonna be things outside of my control, and I'm just like, holy spirit, roll with it. Yeah, but I'm such a planner, like a type A.

SPEAKER_06 17:59

Yeah. See, my problem is I will I will look so far ahead to escape the imminence of the moment. And I'll focus on the things that are four months away.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

What's your answer, Nate? What's your answer?

SPEAKER_06 18:12

I'll focus on the things four months away because the stress of the moment. Um, so yeah, I think planning. Okay. Yeah, fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Are you gonna hold on to winging it?

Lightning Round On Daily Habits

SPEAKER_04 18:21

I just want my my role players to play my roles. So I think me personally, the planning, but I like want my preacher to be a like shoot from the like he pull Yeah, whatever the pull it out of the holsters, like let the spirit move. Like no, it's true. And so yeah. Yeah, it's so true. Time and place. All right, and then moving on to our lightning round. Okay. Uh, no more mission ministry or leadership life, none of that. Nope. Lightning round. All right, coffee before your devotions or devotions before your coffee. Coffee before. Yeah. I need my brain. You gotta get your brain going. Yeah, same. Uh all right, Larita, text our phone call.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Well, I just got a phone call and had to ignore. Nice. I'm gonna still still say text. I'm gonna stick with text. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 19:03

If it's a serious conversation, I want to have a phone call.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

Yes, you know. Oh, neat. All right, the end of your day. You gotta get your email box inbox down to zero.

SPEAKER_06 19:12

Never happened in my life.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Or just controlled chaos. Zero. Controlled chaos. Um, hold on. I want to pull up my uh okay, my inbox. Unread messages. 11,411.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

That's giving me anxiety.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

11,411.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Holy cow.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

Yeah. Um, okay, early riser or night owl.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Of the two, I'd have to say night owl.

SPEAKER_04 19:39

Night owl, for sure. Yeah. And then uh big vision or small faithful steps.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Small, faithful.

SPEAKER_06 19:46

I don't think it's possible to have small, faithful steps without the big vision anchoring it. It's fair. Boom.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

You have to choose one or the other in the game. I don't think I chose unhappy. Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_04 19:58

Uh all right, our next segment today. Uh, so we just want to do um, do we need to take a break? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:05

I was trying to do it equally. I was trying to say three. Throwing up gang signs over here. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 20:11

Jeez.

SPEAKER_06 20:11

All right, we'll edit that.

Mission And Ministry Year Check-In

SPEAKER_04 20:12

We'll take it. Yeah, I can't. Yeah, we'll take a break. We'll be right back. All right, our next section segment here in Plugin Podcast. What episode did I say? 27? 27. 27, season four, three, wherever we're at. 3B. Something like that. Uh, mission and ministry check-in. So uh we have been away for a long time. We're not gonna cover all the events that have happened, but maybe we'll start with Nate. Yeah. You want to highlight one event in the past year? Yeah, it's on top of your list.

SPEAKER_06 20:55

Sure. Uh Youth Councils 2025. Yeah. It was uh it was great. I think um we had 170 people that were there, uh, that includes chaperones and delegates, which was a a huge increase over the previous year. Uh 72 commitments were made and rededications. Um I thought it was a powerful weekend. The speakers were great. Uh love to see uh the different youth in the division featured and and spotlight um the spotlight on them. And um yeah, just coming away from that, uh seeing the the impact of small groups and uh just the relationships that have been forged uh really kind of sets the sets the tone for summer ministry right off of that.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Do you have one event you're looking forward to that's coming up?

SPEAKER_06 21:36

Yeah, Friday Night Fellowship is coming up. Yeah, it's true. Uh at the end of the month, uh the twenty seventh, we're doing uh a hockey game at uh Harvard in Cambridge. Nice it's Harvard versus Princeton. And the cool thing about it is it's a uh a nonprofit night, and so five dollars of every ticket that's purchased by our group uh goes to support the ministry of the Cambridge Corps, and so it's great to have a ton of fellowship, but also Just a tangible impact for their ministry there.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

Captains Bree and Trish? Yeah. Neither one of our major?

unknown 22:06

No.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

No, they're both in eighth session.

SPEAKER_04 22:08

They're awesome. They are great.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

So intentional. So intentional.

SPEAKER_04 22:11

They are awesome. They're great.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

And uh Nate, one one more for you. Do you have an individual that uh you want to highlight?

SPEAKER_06 22:18

Yeah, I have a collective. It's uh it's a husband and wife duo at Worcester. Uh Connor and Amy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They have uh they've really jumped into the um to the ministry there at the Worcester Corps. Uh they're teaching core cadets, they're helping bring kids to Yam. Uh, they're a part of our Young Adult Bible study and young adult fellowship. And it was Amy's birthday yesterday, so I want to give her a big thing. Happy birthday, Amy.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Yay, happy birthday.

SPEAKER_06 22:39

She's really, really proud of them. Um, they're they were a husband and wife duo at camp this past summer, and uh just love the ways that they jump in and uh are part of the ministry.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 22:49

Connor was one of the first, like uh he was part of the older YAM students when I first started. But I mean that was about a long time ago. That's crazy. What about you, Lorita? One you want to highlight one event in the past 298 days?

SPEAKER_01 23:03

When you put it like that.

SPEAKER_04 23:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Well, obviously, I think camp is always a pinnacle of our ministry year.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Um, so camp was wonderful. Um, I think we had a great staff this year. And um, but the other thing I w another highlight, um not really an event, but I guess a highlight is um our two cadets who went to the training school this past year. So uh Yolanda Seriako from Boston Central and Moonasha China Kadufa from Fitchburg. And again, just two women who are awesome and wonderful, and I just celebrate them and and um just love them. And that has been a highlight of my year was working through the paperwork journey with them and was with both of them had such significant things that could have been hindrances to them and just seeing them overcome and now where they are and the community they're a part of has been rewarding. That's awesome. So I guess that's kind of my highlight and uh and event all wrapped in one.

SPEAKER_04 23:59

Oh, that's great. What about one individual? That's someone on your heart?

SPEAKER_01 24:02

I do. Um, I have been so thankful for the past year for Jorge from Quincy.

SPEAKER_04 24:08

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Um, any divisional event, he both he and Angelina, but are the last ones there, sounds of Christmas, they're the last ones there helping clean up.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Uh Yam, he's jumped right in and he's been a part of my EM class. Um, but even this past week when we had Bible Bowl, he stayed at Bible Bowl, hung out, helped clean up, helped set up, took pictures for me because he knew I couldn't get any pick document anything. Yeah he's just um so willing and eager to be involved, and I'm just so appreciative of him. And no one has to ask him to do it. Yeah, yeah. He just wants to, he wants to serve.

SPEAKER_04 24:43

I think back to when you guys first arrived in uh COVID summer in 2020. Right? I I think at the it felt like at the time, like me and you were running around with the cameras in our hands, like like documenting all this like everything stuff. Yeah, and now it's not really us with the cameras in our hands anymore. And but Jorge and Angelina document so many of our events, whether they get video and and uh photos. Um if you check out our our flickr page, F-L-I-C-K-R.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

Um, we're trying to build this photo bank that's there's oh there's some old stuff on there now too, but there's huge albums, but everything from Family Camp to Sounds of Christmas to Youth Councils, uh, all those photos live there.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 25:26

Um so but Angelina and Jorge uh have done a great job with that.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:30

My highlight for for uh the past year, I think you can probably guess it, but uh Sounds of Christmas. Yeah. Um that was really great. Um when we think about the jobs that we do, you kind of look at and analyze like what's going on, and as time goes on, there's stuff that you uh you build up and and fix and try to like make better. There's some stuff that you have to tear down and and stop doing because it's not working anymore. Um and then there's some stuff that you just have to create. And I think where Sounds of Christmas hits my heart is it didn't exist 10 years ago. We had no divisional like Christmas concert. And I kind of look at the the journey of this was the 10th an annual, yeah, and uh to kind of see where it started. Um I remember the first meetings of pitching the idea to to where it came now, and um, it was just really great. We had Randy Bonifield come as a special guest.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

So good.

SPEAKER_04 26:19

Um I think of the Noelle finale, and just kind of like everyone who had performed in the show was on that like piece. And it was just kind of to uh I I like epic things. I I like I like big. No, I like I like big and and that was one of those things where it just kind of always feels like I shouldn't say this, but you know, we're just the Massachusetts division. Or and but we got to do we got to do something big, yeah. Like it felt yeah it felt cool. So it was fun.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

I think I loved the the addition of all of the additional voices that have spoken into it through the your the call to worship that you put together. So having the rocks and the nags and Justin Caldwell's and like the Heart Shores, having all of those voices, the Davises, was such like it was a visual reminder of the 10 years. And I thought that was really cool.

SPEAKER_04 27:13

Yeah, every one of those voices had had a part in the show at some point, whether it was just a meeting with me in their office or like helping me get it off the ground, or yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:22

I love I love how much of like it's it's an all hands on deck thing too, because it really speaks to the power of the body of Christ, where like everyone has a role to play, everything from decorations to tech stuff to coordinating the staging and and everything. Everyone who participates in the meeting, like everyone has a role to play, and it all makes a huge impact.

Childhood Habits And Everyday Joys

SPEAKER_04 27:40

It's getting um for all the DHQ help that we have and all the people that come and volunteer and help. Like, we are the operation is getting smoother. We're like we're finally finding a groove of uh you know. Um the the individual I wanted to highlight was uh is Mercedes Miranda from Quincy. She's the the the youth pastor, the youth worker there. Um she's led a great movement of of getting some young people in the door at Quincy, but uh just to watch her, she she's another one. She's really intentional with the way, excuse me, she uh works with the young people. Yeah, uh, but but she isn't just like the door doesn't just close there. Uh she's with the fellowship of the rest of the Quincy Corps, she's in the fellowship of the division, she's not just someone who's there, she's a contributor in every kind of aspect of ministry. Yeah, and um she's someone that you definitely look at and you're just like, uh, is how long is she gonna be around? Because she's real good. She's she's she's a real good one. She's very talented, she's very intelligent. And uh, while she is here, we're really thankful to have her. Absolutely. Yep. Sorry, pro prolonged a little break there. Um, all right. So last last section uh we have today, I just uh as we continue this kind of get to know you reset episode, uh, just had some questions for you guys. Uh some light ones and then some deeper ones. Uh but uh I'll just throw a lighthearted one out there and you can kind of uh whoever wants to answer go first. Uh what's a childhood hobby or habit that you still secretly have to this day?

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Nate, you go first.

SPEAKER_06 29:14

Sure. Hobby is uh video games. Yeah. So I love video games growing up. I got a Super Nintendo for Christmas when I was like five years old, and so that kind of started the journey. But it's cool now to see Jackson, who's six, uh playing Zelda on Nintendo Switch. Nice. And so I was like, you know what? I need to school this kid and introduce him to Nintendo 64, Zelda Ocarina of Time. And so it's kind of like a cool thing that we uh are experiencing together. He's kind of going back and he's like, Oh, dad, was this what you played when you were young? I was like, Yeah. And he's like, Whoa, I can't really tell what's happening because the graphics are so terrible. And he's like roasting my games, but um it's just cool, it's just cool to kind of have that um have this cross-generational impact. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, one Laria?

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah, so I hadn't really could not think of anything, but something that I still do that I did as a kid was like re-watching the same shows and movies that I've always I am such a creature of habit. It's a comfort, it is a comfort, and so Nate's like, how many times are we gonna watch Friends? And I'm like, I don't care. It's many times. Yeah, yeah. I never get bored of it. But like those kinds of things. I've when I was a kid, I rewatched all the movies. As an adult, I just re-watch all my shows. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:21

I have a weird one. Of course, it has to do with food. I love it. So I would not do this in public. But if but if but if I'm if I'm on my own, so it's how I eat Oreos.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

So if I'm just by myself, you're gonna parent trap Oreos and dip it in peanut butter. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

It's nothing even dramatic, but it's just something I've done as a kid. But so I'll un I'll untwist them, separate them. Then I'll like lick the cream and then scrape it off with my teeth.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

With your teeth, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:47

And then eat the cookies. Isn't that that crazy? It's not that crazy. But like I wouldn't do that like here at work. Uh but yeah, no judgment, but if I'm at home enjoying an Oreo, I'll still do that.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

We can't have Oreos because they're like we'll have a whole bag of them or a whole gone. Yeah, don't we just it's like a control thing we can't.

SPEAKER_04 31:04

What's a small everyday joy you look forward to no matter what?

SPEAKER_01 31:08

Oh my gosh. Um a serious one is coming downstairs every morning when Jackson's eating breakfast, and he just every morning is like, Good morning, mama. And it's just like his little face, like just melt me. Uh, unserious one is getting home and taking my uniform off as quickly as possible and putting pajamas on. Like that is my I will go right upstairs and just like oh, come be close.

SPEAKER_06 31:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. For me, it's the smell of coffee in the morning. Um, I need that. Yeah. Uh I also love so I bookend my day with the smell of coffee and then a late night bowl of cereal, fruity pebbles, cocoa pebbles. It's probably not good for me. Wow. Yeah. But then another thing. Wait, this is every day. Not every day. Most days. I have a late night bowl of cereal.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Well, have you seen have you seen? Well, we have a blink camera downstairs to kind of watch Brooklyn, and now it like AI is telling you basically, like every night it now says a person is walking in the living room with a bowl, and I'm like, oh, Nate's having a cereal.

SPEAKER_06 32:04

That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, that's me. Um, and then another thing, just go into the gym. Um, I try to. It's kind of like my own antidepressant. So yeah, hey, yeah. It works. I gotta work off that cereal, you know.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

Um, so I'll go, I'll be with my kids. I'll stick my kids. So uh Caleb and now Mackenzie. So they've never been able to say the word morning. It's Morgan. Good Morgan. Good morning. There's that one. That's so cute. McKenzie. Mackenzie's a very smart little girl. Yes. She cannot put her shoes on the right feet. I mean, she does so many things really well. Like she's been corrected a billion times. It just so when I like see her get her snow boots on, and I'm just like, yeah, yeah, I don't even do I keep correcting. No, just do it. All right, last lighthearted one. If you could swap places with any fictional character for a day, who would it be? I'll go first. Go for it. So uh recently on the uh Quincy Corps took a band trip and uh uh the two towers, Lord of the Rings, was in theaters. So a couple of us went to the theaters and saw the extent it was awesome. Wow. Uh so this is my answer. If I was if I could guarantee that I would live through the battle, I just want to be one of the riders of Rohan. I don't want to be Theodon. Theoden does die, and I don't want to be Aragorn or Gandalf because they were in Minas Tirith. Okay. But the riders of Rohan, if you remember that scene, it's like the greatest scene in cinematic history. Theoden gives a speech and like the entire riders of Rohan, like thousands of them, are like riding across the countryside to war in Pellinor Fields. If I could be one of the riders, if I was guaranteed to live, I just want to be a part of that charge. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

That was like Just one of the riders.

SPEAKER_04 33:46

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I want to because I want to hear the king's speech.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

Oh, you want to be you want to be a part of the kingdom?

SPEAKER_04 33:50

I want to be like motivated by it. I want to be like so jacked up. Like I'm like riding to death, but I want to I want to know that I'm another one.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Fun story. I've never seen any Lord of the Rings. Oh, I was listening, I was like, I have no idea the words he's saying right now.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Yeah, Eleanor Fields minister.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

I'm like, well, he's really into it, so that's lovely.

SPEAKER_06 34:07

Yeah, I uh it was uh it was good. All right, nice. Mine's not that epic. Um, I told you I like epic, so I chose Kevin McAllister because I think it'd be sweet to use my dad's credit card to book a penthouse tweet at the Plaza Hotel. Yes. And then foil the criminals who broke into my house again by rigging up uh my uncle's apartment new.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

What's the number of Kevin? Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:32

Adjusted for inflation, it'd be like six grand easily. Yeah, for like a whole week or whatever. Yeah, probably way more than we.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

We were a home alone house all winter, Jackson Loving. Um I said Hermione Granger. I never was really into the books. My sister loved all the books, but I enjoyed the movies.

SPEAKER_04 34:48

So I'll get you back and say that I've never read the books. Really? I haven't seen all the movies. Really? I just never got into Harry Potter.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

I just I there's all about it. I loved watching the movies as a kid. Nate read the books too. Nate's read all the books. But I just loved Hermione. She was so smart. She's a little arrogant. And I thought she was No, she was confident. Confident. She was confident. Thank you, Nate. But I liked her. I would be I would love to be her for a day.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

All right. So these are a little bit uh deeper or more thoughtful. But what's uh how are we doing on time, by the way?

SPEAKER_01 35:17

We have we're good. We've got seven minutes.

SPEAKER_04 35:20

Okay. Until we have to switch our cameras out again because we still live in this world of 30 minutes. SD cards can only record 30 minutes at a time. That's why that's the only reason we take breaks on this show. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

So now you know the glimpse behind the curtain.

Scripture And Advice That Carried Us

SPEAKER_04 35:33

Now you know. Someone's gonna write in and be like, you know, you can do this a lot easier. Like just if you're someone give us a tip. You weren't such an amateur. Um okay, so uh what's one piece of advice or scripture that carried you through this past year?

unknown 35:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:46

I can start. Go for it. Um it was it came up in one of the um breakout sessions at uh youth councils this past year, and it was a quote that simply said, rightly ordered love leads to rightly ordered living. And basically the whole premise behind that is that what or whom we love most ultimately governs our decisions, our priorities, and our behaviors, um, and even our identity shapes the way that we live. And so it's just uh this reminder to me um that when when I'm loving God rightly, um that that's gonna manifest itself in everything else the way that I treat others, the way I spend time with him, the way I pursue justice, um, the way I think. Um and so yeah, just trying to keep that in alignment that right rightly ordered love leads rightly ordered living. I love it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Um so mine um is I think this is the message version of this, you know, very familiar um passage in Isaiah. But it says, Do not be afraid, I've redeemed you, I've called you by your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end because I am God. And I think just I I appreciate both the voice and the message versions of scripture for the imagery that they paint. And I just think um that idea of not being swallowed up by the circumstances around me. And I think Nate and I have been talking a lot recently, just within our family, about peace and about what peace looks like in different seasons of life and uh different seasons of our family. And um, just this idea that the Lord is so much bigger than all of it, no matter what we are going through, no matter what we are facing, and no matter what the circumstances and situations that surround us, He is so much greater that He will not allow those things to swallow us up and have the control as long as our you know feet remain planted on His you know foundation of faith and trust. And so that just something that has come up a lot in like my my scripture reading and devotions. It's just that verse from Isaiah, and I was like, all right, Lord, what do you what are you saying to me here? So that's been something I've returned to a lot.

Songs And Brass Pieces With Meaning

SPEAKER_04 38:00

I love it. Um what's one praise and worship song or brass band piece that fits your personal story right now?

SPEAKER_01 38:10

Well, that kind of leads right into my song, actually.

SPEAKER_04 38:13

I'm gonna pull this up. We are gonna try to play some clips for you. Okay, we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Um I heard so Jackson and I think Caleb and Mackenzie have a similar routine. Uh at night we play some some like a pre-made worship set that we found on Spotify or Amazon music or whatever, and just play it as Jackson's falling asleep. And you know, as we're laying there with him, the things of the day, the worries of the day often just kind of flow through on my head. And so this song came on one night and it's called Lost in Your Love by I think it's Brandon Lake.

SPEAKER_04 38:44

What's the time marker you want?

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Uh I think it was 108.

SPEAKER_04 38:48

Okay, let me pull that up.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

You can go ahead and um and it just says, where is it?

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Just as the chorus just says, I'm going all in.

SPEAKER_01 39:22

You hear it there, in over my head, I'm not scared to get drenched in your love. Um, and so we've been as a family going through not, you know, crazy things, but Jackson's in first grade. The demands of a first grader are very different than the man the demands of a kindergartner. And so we've been working through with him and his school and his counselor to try and give him the best supports to be successful in school. And so a lot of that is, you know, scary when you don't know how to help your kid. And so um, that's a lot of the thoughts that go through my mind at night. And so this idea of I don't have to see where the road ends, just as long as my hand is in your hand, here's where I want to stay. And oof, I'm getting teary. Um, go for it. Um, just this idea that as long as my kid is safe in my hand and I'm placing my hand in the father's hand, that there's nothing um that we can't face and we can't see victory over, and there's nothing we can't see victory over for our son. And so it was it's just a it's a reminder check for me to make sure my hand is placed in the father's hand. Because the first thing my kid does when he gets out of the car is grabs my hand because it's a safe place. And so I heard that that line, um, and I just thought of every time he's held my hand. And he's so sweet, he'll hold my hand and he'll kiss my hand because he's just such an affectionate kid. But it's just a reminder to me that um I need to continually place my trust in the father's hand. And uh you played that or you posted that video of Yolanda's testimony where she was like this, and she was like, Yeah, it's either all mine or all God. And then I realized if I can put everything that matters to me with God, I can't go wrong. And it was again this this visual of putting it all in the father's hand. Um, and so that hearing that, and then that verse about not being swallowed up by the waters has just been a constant um reminder to me of placing my trust and therefore placing my kid and the concerns of the day in the father's hand. So that's been playing on replay in my in my head.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

I'll go I can go next. Yeah. Uh I want to hop on that just because um uh the piece that I'm going to the piece that fits me right now is called For Our Transgressions, and it's something that we're working through uh in MassBrass. And for me, um, you're talking about putting your trust in God.

SPEAKER_03 41:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:54

Um it always comes back to the simplest of questions. Uh do you believe?

SPEAKER_03 41:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

Do you actually believe in this?

SPEAKER_03 42:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:02

Like everything can fall in line not easily, but a little bit better if you can answer that first question. Right. Because I mean, let's be honest, these aren't easy things to believe in. And um so this piece for our transgressions, um, it's in line. It's uh it's an Easter time devotional. And it's one of those, um, I think I spoke to this a little bit earlier, but it's uh it's one of those brass band pieces that um can get you intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually, but it takes some homework. You've got it's like when I look through these scores, it's kind of like a treasure hunt that I really appreciate. Um, so it's based on the text of Isaiah 53. You also brought up Isaiah. Um sorry, it's a big book. I know there's a lot, there's a lot of verses there. Um but you're talking about Isaiah 53, like in verse 4. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shears is silent, so he did not open his mouth. Um so some of the lyrics of the songs that are now when I presented this to Mass Press, I said, I'll be honest, I've never sung any of these songs in a Salvation Army service. I mean, it's just like the the honesty of the situation. It doesn't mean they d don't have value anymore, it just means that we've moved kind of past the usefulness of its time, which is you know, I could say things both ways. But um, here's uh some of the lyrics of the the what the music is uh is from. Uh there's a song out from out from his wounded side. And the chorus just simply says, Out from his wounded side, rivers of mercy are flowing. Out from his wounded side. There's a song called Life for a Look. And it says, There is life for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. Then look, sinner, look unto him and be saved, unto him who was nailed to the tree. And the chorus says, Look, look, look and live. There is life for a look at the crucified one. There is life at this moment for thee. And then where it all ties together, the composer of this piece, Morley Calvert, at the very end, you kind of have it's a programmatic piece where the the person is traveling through the ups and downs of life. And to me, it's always the question Do I I'm hearing these things, but do I really believe? So every time some of these choruses are presented, uh they're broken, or you hear kind of music get interrupted. And then finally, at the end, uh there's an old Salvation Army chorus called I Shall Know Him. And for the first time, the the text becomes personal. Um and it says, I shall know him, I shall know him. When redeemed by his side, I shall stand. I shall know him, I shall know him by the print of the nails in his hand. Um I'm just gonna play the final 30 seconds of this, and it won't really have too much significance for anyone, but it is one of those uh Salvation Army uh pieces that kind of end at the foot of the cross in complete submission. It's so quiet and thoughtful. And so this is just the last uh 30 seconds of for our transgressions, if I can pull this up.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

You're multitasking on the other.

SPEAKER_04 45:38

Tell me if you can hear this.

SPEAKER_01 45:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 46:17

This is where I get weepy, because I like if it touches you on the intellectual, emotional, spiritual, if you understand what's going on, and then for me, I think about the uh whatever you call this in the Salvation Army, whether it's tradition or whatever, but I think of all the people who have played that music through the years, who it's who it's you know, what it's meant to them, and and now what it means to me. So it's uh that's that's what fits my story right now. Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_06 46:42

Well, we must have been on the same wavelength because I also selected a Morley Calvert Salvation Army brass of all composers. Yeah. Iconic piece. Um, my all is on the altar. Um if you've ever been to commissioning, uh the commissioning Sunday, this is always played as they're bringing the cadets in, walking down. And it's just for me as uh someone who has accepted the call to full-time ministry, um and those moments of uh not knowing and the uncertainty and and the fears of of what this call demands and requires, not just of us as as individuals, but uh a family as well. Um that line, you know, my all is on the altar. Um do you sing it through you know, gritted teeth? Do you sing it through tears? Do you sing it through difficulty and hardship? Um, what's the posture of my surrender? And that's kind of my questioning. What a phrase. What's the posture of my surrender? Is it one of apprehension? Is it one of comfort? I'll surrender when it's comfortable, I'll surrender when it's you know what I want, or is it one that's anchored in the trust of a faithful God? And if you read the lyrics to the song, um there's this progression. It starts, My body, soul, and spirit, Jesus, I give to thee a consecrated offering, thine evermore to be. Verse 2, O Jesus, mighty Savior, I trust in thy great name. I look for thy salvation, thy promise now I claim. O let the fire descending just now upon my soul, consume my humble offering and cleanse and make me whole, and then driving it home with the fourth verse, I'm thine, O blessed Jesus, washed by thy precious blood. Now seal me by thy spirit, a sacrifice to God. And just viewing um our lives as a sacrifice to God. Um Christianity is not comfortable, our faith isn't it's not an easy faith, right? Um, it's a battle-tested faith. Um but we have a Lord who knows more than we do, who goes before us and uh sustains uh sustains us through whatever season comes our way.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

It's a good all good selections. Maybe we should do this segment more often. Um I love that piece. It's an amazing piece. Um it's so good. The uh at at commissioning every year, I mean you brought that up in your own story. There was a uh they changed it a couple years ago where they don't walk into this, they haven't walked in for the last two or three years. And uh there was a committee that they put together a couple years, and um, I got to be on it one time, and maybe because I spoke up, I'm not on it anymore. But I but I did say when they were talking about changing this, I was like, that song and the text, so close I'm not an officer, but when I hear that and when I see the officers walking down, like I just think of this like this lifelong commitment to service. Yeah, and that was the piece, and uh they they changed it. I it's I spoke up and I was just like, I don't get that. Yeah, and also just thinking, take the spirituality spirituality out of it when you're watching these services on the live stream, which SA Connects has gotten very good at, yeah, like the cinematic quality coming to the end of this piece as the cadets are like it's really like a holy moment. Yeah, it's like real, real powerful. And um I don't know, to me, the the replacements have would not have been my first choice, but that's I'm being critical.

SPEAKER_01 50:13

But I love as a like no one from THQ listens to this.

SPEAKER_04 50:18

We can we could say anything.

SPEAKER_01 50:19

It's fine. As a especially when I was actively playing in bands, um, I would love to write the lyrics on like in the margins of my music. And I remember I remember writing right, come on now. We played uh in the Greater New York youth band, we played uh the power of your love, and I can't remember the arrangement, but the second cornets had the melody. And I wrote it in because you and this is my dad always said this as a lifelong bandsman. You want to communicate the lyrics and you wanna like you can speak through your instrument. And so, especially in in pieces like with the when the stat band was here and all these mass brass concerts, and we put the words on the screen. Yeah, um it matters, it matters, it matters, and it's it's it's again hitting all of those points.

SPEAKER_05 51:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

And we made it right to the end.

SPEAKER_04 51:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

It's a good piece, it's a better arrangement than the one Nate originally picked, so thank you.

SPEAKER_04 51:16

Well, I wasn't gonna bring that up.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

Oh I am.

One Word On Faith Growth

SPEAKER_04 51:18

Um Nate, can I throw you the last question of the day?

SPEAKER_06 51:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:23

In one word. How is your one word? One word. You can one word it and then justify it. Yeah. How has your faith grown or shifted since we last recorded?

SPEAKER_06 51:33

In one word. Sorry, I didn't see that. I didn't because mine was really tied into the song I selected. Yeah. And so really like that question, does my faith actually cost me anything? And so I think it all if it was all encapsul encapsulated into one word, it would be um like one of authenticity, I guess. Is my faith an easy faith, or is my faith um does it cost me anything? And it goes back to that, like what is the posture of my surrender? If everything, if I'm able to control the conditions, if I'm able to control the outcomes, if I'm able to, you know, um give my all when I feel like it, let alone trusting blindly and trusting uh in faith, um, then it's an easy Christianity. It's it's not a road. It's that you know, we're reading a book in a small group uh with young adults called The Narrow Path uh by Richard Velotis, and uh it really focuses on how, you know, like the narrow path that Jesus walked, um it's not one of popularity, it's not one of uh prestige, it's not one of comfort. Um and when we convince ourselves that our faith is is comfortable, um, we're on autopilot and we're not going out into the deeper waters that God has called us to. And um so I don't know how to put that into one word. Authenticity is good. Authenticity, I it's a a a real a real faith, yeah, not a shallow faith.

SPEAKER_04 53:02

My words gratitude. Um saying thank you is not something that comes supernatural to me. I've had to work at that, and um I'm trying to be thankful for everything the good stuff, the bad stuff, um, the stuff that I I have trouble seeing. Uh, you know, my wife, the boss lady, like I need to show her, you know, that I'm thankful that she's taking care of our house. I need to be thankful that my kids are giving me opportunities to grow into a different person. Um, I need to be thankful for frustrations at work that that shape me to think a different way, yeah. Or problems that occur that force you to be a different kind of leader or have a different vision. Um so I'm just trying to f to find gratitude and then uh going back to my brass band piece like that um just coming around to Easter. I just like Yeah. There's nothing more you can be thankful for than than what Christ went through. Yeah. Um so that's my word.

SPEAKER_01 54:01

I would say my word is uh resilience.

SPEAKER_04 54:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

Um resilience in faith, resilience in motherhood, resilience in character, just knowing that we're going to fail. Like we're going to have moments of failure. It's what really marks your character. And for me, my my journey as a mother, my journey as a pastor, my journey as a DYS, whatever, um, is how I deal with that on the other side. Um and that's something that we say at camp. You know, like, yes, we are the heads of, you know, especially the church of camp, you know, and and we take that very seriously and we say, we're gonna mess up, but like our conviction, like I I will own, you know, my mess up or if I snap or if I whatever. And that's kind of just over every area of life as a leader, as a person, as a believer, as a mom. What does my resilience look like? Um because I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna mess up, I'm gonna do wrong. But what does it look like on the other side of that? Yeah. How do I how do I reclaim that? Um and is it one of resilience or is it one marked with um like bitterness and anger?

Closing Thoughts And Digital Evangelism

SPEAKER_04 55:13

Yeah. All right. Well, that's all we have for on paper today for the plugged in podcast. Did you guys have anything else you wanted to add? I don't think so. Any unspoken segments? Unplanned. Unplanned segments? Spontaneous creativity? I couldn't get that up my ball there.

SPEAKER_01 55:30

Man, it's like getting back on a bike. This is we haven't sat around this table in a while.

SPEAKER_04 55:35

I know, back around the little table. I was just meant to mention that earlier.

SPEAKER_06 55:38

We did have Chick-fil-A and Duncan in our last one.

SPEAKER_01 55:40

So we had the bar really high.

SPEAKER_04 55:42

I do routinely say that was one of our worst episodes, though. We were burping. I was burping into the mic. Everyone, we were just slurping down milkshakes and burping into the microphone. You had a full sandwich, bro. I think I had multiple things. I think I think we all had, yeah, but no, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

It was like something we talked about day one. We were like, we should eat around the table. Not a coffee in sight today.

SPEAKER_04 56:03

No, that's really, really rare for us. Unheard of. Well, episode 27 of the plugged in podcast, it's been a while, but uh we feel like we got back into things. Um, I still feel like this podcast is uh it's a conversation between the three of us, but I've I hope that people around um if you're listening in the Sabbath Sharon Massachusetts Division or outside that, hopefully you can participate in the conversation.

SPEAKER_03 56:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:26

And if you enjoy uh listening or watching, uh you know, drop us a comment. Um let us know. Uh if you want a new segment or if you have something to say about the choices that we've made, um head over to SA Mass Music YouTube channel. Uh all these episodes are on video. Uh we are actively trying to grow that subscriber count and get that content out there. I really, I'll just say this. I really believe I really believe in the mission of digital evangelism with the Salvation Army. How many times in your life have you have you heard someone say, like, oh, I had no idea you were a church? Yeah. Like that's like always like the first thing that comes out. Yep. And I really just think one of the, not the one of the only ways, but one of the ways that we have to be engaging that warfare is like if they see the shield and they hear the word God or Jesus or forgiveness or hope or compassion, there's just the association.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

A connection point, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 57:21

Those things are fine. I mean, I'm like very thankful that we are doing those things, but just by the association of seeing the shield and and seeing who we are. Yeah. And um, so changing that for the next generation. So um, today's episode may be long, but I will tell you as a content creator that long form content gets you lots of shorts, uh lots of little YouTube shorters. That's true. So uh check us out on the SA Maths Music YouTube channel. Um, but other than that, I don't I want to say see you next time, but I never know if we're gonna get another episode. We'll see you in 1925. All right, we're taking it into existence. We will see you next time.