SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hello, welcome to the Placid Come Place of Buddha's church. And the weekend hunger blasting the wildly monster, and then Chris, the shorthanded one paragraph cattle joined us in the morning. He has come to realize that everything here is all natural. He showed up that first week.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

And he realized we are not as prepared as we want to be. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 0:54

Rick just married his son, so he's still wiping tears from his face. Chris didn't have Bowser this morning, so he booked up a schedule, come flying in this morning. So it's been a uh a very busy weekslash weekend. So thank you for tuning in today. Today we're gonna look at the topic of faithful church members, those that are faithful, those that are loyal, those that are behind you 100%, those that you can call at 2 o'clock in the morning and know that they're gonna do whatever you ask them to. And I gotta be honest with you, those are rare.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

And not only are they rare, but man, when you lose one, it hurts. You know, I tell people, anytime you lose a faithful church member, you know, the Lord calls them home. Everyone you lose hurts, but there's some just cuts a little deeper. And I'll be honest, we buried one just two weeks ago, Doug Fournier. Great guy, loved me, loved my family, loved our staff, loved our church. And I could call that guy at two o'clock in the morning and tell him I needed anything. And so when you lose those kind of people, it really hurts.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Yep. You're just gonna drop it right there. I'm gonna drop it right here. Yeah, the long the longer you're in ministry, uh, you've got a you've got a uh a list of those people throughout your life that has been faithful, committed, helpful. And you never forget them even when they move on or you move on. That's right. They're just uh they're always on your mind. Every once in a while you'll think about them, and they're just they're just they just lift up your spirit, even when they're not around because uh they were dependable, they helped you, they encouraged you, and um, they're just always there for you.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Yeah, I've had um, I don't know if it's a privilege or or or the other way around, but I've been a part of, as a pastor's kid, been a part of several different churches, you know, just in my in my 26 years of life. And you, you know, I've seen this on full display. You know, church can be, and the people of the church can can be the ones that hurt you the most. Um it could be discouraging, disheartening. You can go on and on. We can probably talk about, we probably talk about that, that end of the spectrum of of this conversation for a for a long time this morning. Uh, but um what I've seen just on full display is man, the the few that are faithful, although they're few, um, man, those people just go a long way in the encouragement and in how they and how they minister to you and and who they are to you, what they mean to you and your family. And just being a part of a couple different churches in my lifetime, um, as my dad being a pastor, I I have seen that. I've seen those faithful members, those faithful um churchgoers that you know, even when we maybe moved on to another church or God called our family elsewhere, whatever it may be, you know, those people were still a part of our lives. You know, those people were still people that that caught up on my dad and checked up on him and encouraged him and and you know, the other way around as well. And so, yeah, just at the start of the conversation um this morning as as we're tackling uh this kind of uh topic today on the podcast, um, though those kind of people mean mean the world. Uh that they really do, not not just to you know, like the person on staff at the church, but also to the to the to the family um as well. And so um, I've seen that on full display in my life, just those although they're few, um I've seen those people that have just been such an encouragement to my dad and his ministry and just to our family as well over the course of my life.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

The uh I tell you, I I haven't been at this as long as y'all have, but one thing as far as that is a comfort uh is is having the ones that you know is gonna that has the heart for serving, that's gonna volunteer, that's gonna help out with things, whether you you know without you having to go ask them. And those people I've I've tried to find are are far and few between as far as on those people. But uh just kind of what we're hearing y'all talk, maybe you know, thinking you can't expect for f for to to have faithful servants if you're not one yourself. So we need to be constantly trying to be faithful servants to everybody above us.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Well, that's in it right there.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

Um you know, in my uh 26 years, uh 11 as a youth pastor, 15 as a as a senior pastor, I've had a lot, I've had uh the privilege of having a lot of people that were faithful. Um moved on to different places, some the Lord called home, you know, some even went into ministry themselves. Uh, we got several men out of church that have been faithful and loyal and very supportive of me personally that are doing ministry now that are no longer here. So it's a joy when you see them go and kind of, I guess you say, sprout their own wings. The Lord leads them to a new place, a new challenge, a new opportunity, and they go and they serve and they have their now they have to go and build their own core group of people. But whenever you have those that are faithful to you, because and I'll be honest with you, as a pastor, if preaching was all we had to do, it'd be a piece of cake.

SPEAKER_05 5:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

I mean, it's what you love to do, it's what you have a desire to do. You love studying and digging and learning and applying and putting sermons together and preaching and expounding. If that's all there was to it, it'd be a piece of cake. But it's the emotional battles and the mental battles and the spiritual battles and helping families and helping marriages and and helping personal situations and mental crises and family issues and kid issues and meetings and I mean the list goes on and on, man. That's the stuff that'll suck the life out of you. And you're impressing me right now.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

And the reality is, you know, you never, you know, you never know what a day will bring. Absolutely not. Just in ministry. I mean, it could be any of those things you just said in in one moment of one day. You just never know um what the next moment um just serving in ministry is gonna bring. Um and that's and that that even puts that emphasis, that significance on those faithful people even more when you don't know what's coming next or where you're gonna be or what you're gonna have to do, or the conversations you might have to have. It just puts that much more of the significance on those faithful few that we're kind of talking about today.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

Yeah, you know, and like I said, it's and and I'll be honest, and I'm sure some of y'all would even admit this in ministry. I know, Chris, you mentioned your time in ministry has been very brief at this point, but some of the people that you thought were on your side ended up being your biggest enemies. Yep. They stab you in the back. And some people who, you know, they complain because you didn't do this, this, or this, but they don't tell people at the night you cancel plans with your family to come and deal with an emergency in their family. I bet I'm starting to get angry. I better stop. This is supposed to be encouraged. That'll be uh next week's podcast. This is supposed to be encouraging. Stay tuned for next week. That'll be next week.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

We'll talk about them next time.

SPEAKER_04 7:37

So, and but the point is when you look at all that, man, you cherish those that are faithful in ways that most people can never understand. And if you've never been in ministry, you you can't really comprehend it. And and the scripture I'm gonna use today comes out of 1 Chronicles 12. And when we were talking about using this um speaking on this topic, this scripture popped in my mind yesterday pretty much off the bat, because I've preached on this before. But, you know, um, King David, he was the youngest of his brothers. He was considered the least of them. You know, Samuel even told his father Jesse, I'm not gonna leave here until you go get him. You know, his father Jesse thought, well, he's just a ruddy, shriveled-up kid. He's a nobody. But David was a kid that God raised up kind of from the backside of nowhere to be not only the greatest king then, but even today in Israel, they still revere him. I mean, he's still seen as a very revered king. But in 1 Chronicles 12, you know, David's been through all this battle with Saul. Saul wanted to kill him. David had a chance to kill Saul. He said, I will not touch the Lord's anointed. I mean, David basically illustrated character all through his life. Was he perfect? No. We know that. But in 1 Chronicles 12, they they're at the point where they're about to make David king in Hebron. And in 1 Chronicles 12, to me, this is uh absolutely powerful scripture. And it says, Those that were a Zebulun went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war, and there were 50,000 men that could keep rank, and they were not of a double heart. And the Bible says in verse 38, All these men of war that could keep rank came with a perfect heart to Hebron to make David king over all Israel, and the rest of Israel were of one heart to make David king also. I've had in ministry, if you can count ten people that you know are faithful to you, you're a blessed man at any point in time. That's right. Bible says David have 50,000 soldiers. And that word, um, that word could keep rank. If you study it, it means elite and loyal. So David had 50,000 men that were elite warriors and they were loyal to him. And the Bible says they were not of a double heart, which means they didn't have divided allegiance. They were totally for him. Man, if I got out of bed tomorrow morning and had 50,000 soldiers that could keep rank, we could probably change his county. Yeah, I'd be strutting around. But my my point is, my point is, you know, David had those men, and I believe that's probably what made his kingship so powerful. Because these 50,000 men, we don't know who their names were. We don't know, we don't know what they done. But every night when David went to bed, and every morning when David woke up, he knew he had 50,000 soldiers that if he needed something done, there wasn't gonna be a question asked. That goes a long way.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:28

And some of you that are listening, um, I know we're talking about things from a ministry perspective, but those of you that are listening uh even, you know, to the podcast, it you may be an electrician, mechanic, plumber, secretary, whatever the case may be. But I'll even say to you, if you got two or three friends that you know are divide or that are elite and loyal, and you know they're for you, yeah, you got something worth gold.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

Because those are few and rare. And people will come in your life, people will leave your life. But if you got folks that you know that are going to be your cornerstone, they're not just on your side, they're in your corner, you got something that you need to treasure and value because that's a rarity.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Yeah, exactly. I was thinking about uh first thing that came to my mind was Paul when we talked about uh doing this topic today. Every one of Paul's letters, he wrote somewhere in his letter, most of them is at the end, the people that matter to him. He always praised them and always lifted them up. And then 2 Timothy, we see one that really he was with Paul and then he deserted Paul, and Paul had a problem with him for a while. Then he straightened himself up and got back right with the Lord on track. And then we see one of the last remarks Paul ever made in one of his last letters, he says, Uh, get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry. So uh not all people who stand with you are gonna be perfect.

SPEAKER_04 11:49

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

And uh Mark helped Paul, deserted Paul, and then came back. And Paul accepted him back in. And we know through the portals of history, through his writings and to Timothy, that he said, Bring Mark with you. He's he's useful for ministry. And so when Paul mentioned somebody, we can think of the tens of thousands of people that Paul met. We almost knew every one of them that meant something to him by name because Paul took the time to praise them and uh put it in his letters, uh, how wonderful they were, how helpful they were, and how encouraging they were. We talk about men who went to jail with him, men who got beat with him, men who were hunted with him, threatened with him. And uh men faced a lot of and not only that, Paul always mentioned women uh in his letters that were helpful. And so with all the struggles that Paul had, he lifted up and praised these men. And I gotta think that's what got him through those dark times. He was thinking about John Mark, he was thinking about Luke, he was thinking about uh Lydia and all these other people throughout his time that have been faithful, yeah, been helpful, and uh just kept Paul's fire lit as he was uh faithfully serving the Lord. That's right. So uh these people uh not only in Paul's day, but in my personal life, I could just I could start naming them. But of course, I don't want to leave anybody out, not knowing who's who's listening, but uh those people just flash through my mind and they just bring joy. And anytime I meet them, even though we may not be serving together today, anytime I meet them, it's just a joy to have that connection once again because man, they were there when you needed them. They were faithful, and uh you could depend on them, and they were just a joy to be around.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

That's right. Yeah, and there just thinking about Paul real quick, there's several other people throughout the scriptures, um, you know, in the letters they wrote that you you know, there there's several people that if we mentioned their name on the podcast today, you you you would have a hard time knowing who that is, right? I know Rick, you just mentioned a couple people that, you know, are pretty known to people, especially students of the word of God, but there are other people throughout scripture. If you if you read some of those things, some of those letters and and some of the books in the in the New Testament, there are some people that Paul mentions that these names that if we threw them out here on the podcast this morning, people would be like, wait, that name's in the Bible. Um But the reality the reality is this I would rather be faithful than famous, right? And there's people in scripture um that you know they're not the they're not the the the famous people to a certain degree, they're not the known people, they're not the people that are probably preached about week after week in churches all across the world, but they were people who were faithful to the people that we preach that we preach about often. And I I just think that is such a testament to, you know, that Paul, a lot of times in scripture and in his letters, he would call them out by name. He said, I'm sending you this person or or remember this person. And it's not not super well-known uh names that, like I said, you would probably even recognize on the podcast today as you're listening, but they were people who were faithful. And that is what counts. That's what matters in the end is people who who were faithful. And so uh Chris, I'm gonna throw it to you. I got I got something I'll mention in a in a few moments, but I'm gonna throw it to you.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Well, I I was uh kind of on the same uh in the same lane you're on right there as far as I I went with Colossians 3, 23 and and and 24. It says, uh whatever you do, work it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters. You know, I think you said you'd rather be found faithful. I think a lot of times, uh, you know, her even her pastor Rick mentioned this numerous times, you know, find out where to get the Lord's working and get involved. But I think as far as you're in it for yourself, it is something you know, some people want to volunteer for things and be there and and say they're gonna be there, but if they're not felt led to do what what you're what you're coming to do, that's the ones that say, Yeah, we'll help out and and then turn around next week and can't find them. I mean, it's the uh this is uh you know, I feel like people who feel led to serve is the ones that volunteer to help and shows up with excitement to serve. That we should be excited when just that we have the opportunity to serve.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

And uh some people they say they'll show up but then they don't show up. And and it's not necessarily uh you know being faithful as far as showing up. Sometimes some people uh can't show up. They're just not physically able. Maybe they're up in their years, maybe they show up financially, maybe they bake a cake, maybe they do something. Um but but that's kind of where I'm at right there.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Oh, you want me to throw mine away?

SPEAKER_03 16:21

You said you'll come back.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

I said I'll come back, but I didn't know we were thought we was gonna work the rotation back around here. Um well, just thinking about um, Chris, you said something earlier about how, you know, if we are if we want to have those faithful people in our lives that are faithful to us, that are faithful to our ministries or whatever it may be, then then we need to have that certain level of faithfulness, even going above and beyond that to them as well, and to the people that God has entrusted us with. And, you know, I I just think about Moses, you know, Moses leading the leading the Israelites out of Egypt. And and I mean, we could be here for for for hours talking about the Israelite people. Um, but I preached a message to the youth a few weeks ago called When the Valley Becomes Home, and talking about how sometimes a temporary valley can easily become a permanent home. Um, and and we looked at the Israelites and how the Lord had just delivered them, and obviously the Lord's using the his servant, his faithful servant, Moses. Um, but throughout Exodus and even in Numbers and things like that, we see their their grumbling, we see their complaints, um, we we see them questioning, like, why in the world did you take us from Egypt just to be here in the wilderness or whatever it may be? We go on and on. But I love it because Moses did not let his faithfulness to the to the people that God was entrusting him to bring out, he did not let his faithfulness be determined by their faithfulness to him. And I think a lot of times it's it's easy in ministry when people are not faithful to us or are faithful to it's not even us, that's not even the what it's not even the term I should use, but faithful to the Lord through, you know, and being those faithful friends and faithful members and and so on and so on. I think oftentimes we get in our we can easily get the wrong viewpoint in our minds and say, Well, I'm not gonna be as a faithful friend to them because they're not they're not faithful to me. But I love it because Moses, he he continued to be somebody who was counted and found as faithful even when the people were grumbling, complaining, questioning, on and on and on, even after God had delivered them from Egypt, even after the fact that the Red Sea was parted and they were able to go through on dry ground. Um and we could talk about a lot of different um kind of examples in scripture, but that's just one that pops out in my mind and just serves as an encouragement to me. Um, because oftentimes in the church, the grumbling and the complaining can be the thing that takes the forefront, right? But that that shouldn't determine the level of faithfulness I have back to some of the some of those people who may be doing that same thing.

SPEAKER_05 18:52

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Amen.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Um and I know many of you listening may be thinking, well, you know, what has this got to do with me? I'm not a minister, I'm not on staff, I don't serve full-time, part-time, whatever the case may be. But the point is you can be faithful, loyal, loving, and supportive to your staff, and you don't understand how much I mean to them.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

That's a ministry.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

That's a ministry, it really is. Because uh I tell people ministry is a lonely place. Uh, you know, you bear a lot of burdens for people that you can't go talk to anyone about. And you bear a lot of burdens that you can't discuss with people. And some things you just gotta figure out on your own and ask the Lord for wisdom. There's some folks you could reach out to and trust them, but at the same time, you don't want to turn a negative viewpoint towards somebody else and discussing something with people, even though you know you can trust them. So ministry can be a lonely place. Well, and let me pause right.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

It's the strangest thing because with what we do and get to do and be a part of, we're a r- I mean, compared to other occupations, we're we are around more people than most other most other people, right? We're around so many people, yet it can be the most lonely, lonely position and lonely feeling um at times and in different seasons. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

And as I said, because you just bear the brunt of so much stuff that you can't discuss with other people. And so knowing someone's praying for you or you know, just calling you, saying, Hey man, I love you. Uh, I mentioned Doug Fournia a while ago, and he would text me during the week, just say, Hey, praying for you, thinking about you. That stuff means something. I mean, it really does, because if the Lord put me on his mind, that means the Lord's reminding me, I got people praying for you. So don't ever take for granted your love, your encouragement, your faithfulness, your support, and just kind words to your staff, your pastor, you know, those in your arena of life that are such a blessing to you. And and I think about David because, you know, I mean, think about David went to bed at night, you know, wondering how how close to Saul. I mean, think about all the battles he faced with Saul. Think about his own misery that he wrote about when he went through sin in his own life. But man, in this particular scripture, to know that he had 50,000 men that were elite, loyal, and were not going to stab him in the back. They were gonna be there. You know, when you when you uh I use this as an example, and I know it sounds ridiculous, but you know, I tell people, there are some folks in my church, I can call them at one o'clock in the morning and tell them come paint the building, and they'll do it.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:14

Those people were of gold. Yeah. And my point is, it doesn't matter how ridiculous or crazy it may sound, they understand there's a need, and all you gotta do is verbalize it. And sometimes they'll hear you having a conversation with somebody, they weren't even in it. But if they overheard it and know it's a need in your life, they're gonna take care of it.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

And God just puts those people in your life. And you know, you're not gonna have many, but if you got a few, you're you're a very blessed man. Yeah, they're everywhere. They're everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Yeah. Chris, mention us, uh, tell us about the thing you got going on, because I know we get the blessings of uh all these faithful people that we can praise today, but about your uh I don't even know what you call it, the uh volunteer dinner thing that you're kind of you know putting. To practice how you come back.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

That's next Sunday, a matter of fact. Yeah, yeah, the 17th. Well, me and Pastor Bryson talk about it, and I mentioned the other day, you know, when we one thing I found out is it's hard. I mean, there's there's there's a million things that's got to be done in ministry. I've seen that and just in the church in general, but the uh but it makes it a whole lot easier having faithful volunteers that's gonna that that's gonna serve and that's gonna volunteer to be in there and help. And like I said, some of us some people do it by their time, some people do it by just like Pastor Jason said, praying for you, and some people do it by voluntarily, but but we know that we just want to make sure we let our our all our volunteers know that we how much we appreciate them because it makes it a whole lot easier doing what we do and and uh and takes a lot off our plate to have people coming in. But I said we had the volunteer appreciation dinner we're doing for you know anybody who has any hands on children in this church, whether it's from the nursery, keeping the nursery and toddler classes all the way up to the high schoolers. You know, just uh we want them to know we appreciate everything they do, whether they teach a Sunday school class, uh, do the parking thing, uh help park cars on Wednesday night. And uh, you know, most people, you know, they're doing it not for for fame. Like I was just talking about verse 24 of Colossus that uh since you know that you will receive an inheritance as a reward, it is the Lord's Christ you are serving. You know, we're not serving each other, we're not serving a person. We're we're all doing this as far as to to to to be a servant of the Lord. And and I'm just so thankful for uh the volunteers that help me. I'm still building my core group. I don't have the the core group that Bryson has yet, but he's been doing it a little bit longer. And uh so uh but when you can find uh the couple that just that that's gonna show up regardless, then that's that's just such a blessing.

SPEAKER_04 23:51

And I'm glad you mentioned that, Chris, because you know, we're talking about people that are kind of in our arena of life, but even as pastors, staff members, whatever the case may be, you know, when those people show up faithfully Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, they help with children, help with youth, help with a wana, uh cook meals here at our church on Wednesday night. It takes a lot of people for this church to function. And I just want to say, as a pastor, those you may be listening from our ministry, or those you may be listening to attend another ministry and you serve in, you know, various roles, I want you to know your pastor as well as me uh are blessed and thankful for all those who give their time to help this ministry function because without them it wouldn't.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

And and no, nothing is insignificant either. I mean, what no matter what you do, um, and man, if you're played a part in serving um the Lord and serving and building the kingdom of God and the church, um nothing is insignificant at all. And and like you said, it takes so many people um to to to put these things on and and to to serve and to to minister. And um I know I'm I'm just as grateful as as Chris is for the people that um you know we get to to partner with and people who give up their time and sacrifice um and and their commitment and investment, it gives me it makes it makes a world of difference.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Yeah. I guess we got to wind it down somehow.

SPEAKER_03 25:09

Uh we gotta land the plane, we gotta start the descent at some point. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

We had we had 30,000 feet, we got to draw some altitude. Uh yeah. I'm just thinking um uh just had another name to flash back that a person that meant a lot to Paul, and I'm gonna kind of ramp up what I say with this, is uh Barnabas. Uh his name in scripture means son of encouragement. So it doesn't specifically say how Barnabas encouraged Paul or other people, but that's the name that was given to him, son of encouragement. So uh there's a lot of Barnabases out there. We're so appreciate them for being faithful and committed and helpful and painting the church in the middle of the night or even making jokes.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

I got people like that. So let me know who you got.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

Yeah, but uh it's a joy to have those people around. I mean, it's not always what they do for you, it's just them being there. Uh sometimes you just run into them and they don't have to say nothing, you don't have to do anything, they just lift your spirit. And you're just glad that they're around. We appreciate those people so much. And uh we all have them in our life, and they just uh if you're one of those, whether we say it or not, uh you know who you are, and uh you're just an encouragement and uplifter, and you you what keep us going.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

That's exactly right. And you know, I would even say, you know, we talked about children workers, youth workers, awana, but those of you that, as I said, may attend Pleasantville or another ministry, those of you that are Sunday school teachers, you put in time during the week studying a lesson. Those of you that sing in the choir, you put in time on Sunday evening, you know, practicing. So all of you who give time and effort to help the ministry function, whether it's worship, teaching, or just being a body somewhere, you are more important than you can imagine.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Yeah. That's right. I didn't mean to discard anybody else in the church. I've just got to make the problem. Chris is like, well, what did I start here? The uh I feel like I'm getting uh softly reprimanded right now. The uh, but no, we we do appreciate everybody in the church that uh that uh that that do that do anything. I mean, uh you know, uh I just think about uh Glenn Henry coming up here and blowing the parking lot off as far as on on Sundays and I mean on Saturdays and just things like that. I mean, there's so much of a church our size, and just any church. And uh there's just so much has to happen to make things run as smoothly as they do. And uh there's there's so many things going on behind the scenes that you don't see it on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights, all the preparation, all the hours and the time that it takes and the number of people it takes to make this happen.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Right. Yeah, I would just I I know we're trying to descend here. I don't know how it's going. Yeah, I don't I don't know how I don't know how landing this plane is is gonna be today. Uh just because there's so many different avenues and ways you could kind of take the conversation. But I I would just say um, I mean, even like speaking outside of ministry, you know, outside of outside of the church and just just being just you know, having people in your corner in your life who are faithful. Um and then there might be somebody listening who who you're like, I don't have that. Um I don't feel like I have anybody that I can um necessarily count on to the level of like that that we might be speaking to today here on the podcast. But I would just encourage you if you know if you're looking for faithful people, then be faithful first. You know, like be faithful first, be faithful to some people, take some time out. Um you know, life is so busy. Life is, I mean, we live in just a generation and a time in our world where there's just so many things vying for our attention, so many things going on. But take take just take some time out uh of your day. Um reach out to somebody, encourage somebody if you see somebody, be a blessing. Um, it's the little I say it like this to our to our youth leaders all the time, especially we got our youth weekend coming up this weekend um that we're preparing for. I say it like this, little things make a big difference. Um and that's just I mean, and I that's church speaking, ministry speaking, that's outside of that too. So just the little things, um, that that that that text, that phone call, you know, that hug, that smile, um, that that attitude, even when you, you know, having that good attitude um and just lifting somebody's spirit, even when you don't even maybe necessarily feel like um kind of having that good attitude on a particular day, whatever it may be. Um if you're looking for people who you know, you know, kind of throw in a pity party or nobody really faithful to me, I would just encourage you to be faithful, be faithful to some people, um, and you'll get some even even some um encouragement out of that yourself. Anybody else? I'm good.

SPEAKER_04 29:38

As we're winding down. Y'all good? Uh I'll just close by saying this. You know, why why do we and appreciate faithful people? Why do we love faithful people? Why do we desire faithful people? Because I've always said this and always and I always believe it's true. If a man can't be faithful, he can't be nothing.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:57

Some people may not have the ability to teach, some may not have the ability to sing, some may not have the ability to do different functions and various things in the church. But the easiest thing you can do is be faithful. That's right. I mean, anybody can do that if they want to. You know, and and it may be a person that may never teach a class, but there's some people, and I know y'all y'all gonna understand what I mean by this, there's some people that if they're not here Sunday morning, I know something's wrong. Just their face, you know, you know they're gonna be here if they can.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:28

And some of you may think, well, you know, man, I there's a lot I can't do at two o'clock in the morning. Listen, if a pastor walks in and sees your face every Sunday, you just be in there. Sometimes it's not what you say or do, it's just being seen.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:39

It's just the visual aspect of knowing that you're still in the fight. So the easiest thing you can do is be faithful, so please do so. And thank you guys for tuning in today. And as we uh I think Bryson said earlier, you know, we can take a lot of avenues with this uh topic because there's so many roles that people support and play in the ministry. So there is no role insignificant, remind no matter what it is, because somebody's got to do it. So thank you for those that sir. Thank you that are faithful. And if you're not faithful, it's the easiest thing you can do. So get right with God and take your pasture you love him, right? All right, 16-year-old bus driver. It's 1982. What do y'all think will be his biggest encouragement? Man, y'all ain't even walking around in 1982.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

Y'all ain't even taking a stand up. Uh uh. 16 year old bus driver in 1982, his biggest encouragement. What is his biggest encouragement? I get some little kid coming up and give me a nice and appreciation, give me a bunch of minutes.