Dylan Schirmer

Dylan Schirmer tells about his call to ministry. It has been a persistent call for a long time. Like many, Dylan tried to run away from it. He was forced to see the birds. Listen to find out what that means.

Transcript

 Well, hello, friends.

Welcome to the ML podcast.

We're so glad that you're joining us today.

My name is R.W. Moody.

I'm the Family Pastor here at Maiden Lane.

So glad to have you here listening to another story of God's faithfulness and God being at work in the life of somebody here at Maiden Lane.

And so, the purpose of ML Podcast is to highlight how people discover, connect, grow, and share through the story of their journey with Jesus.

Really, it's our hope as a staff that these stories will provide some encouragement for you and inspiration for you to live a Christ-centered life.

Today, we have with us a very special guy.

He is one of our main coaches in the student ministry.

He does a lot to hang out with our students, get to know them.

And some of you may know him, especially if you're in South Dakota, you know him well.

But he's kind of a quiet dude until you get to know him.

And then he kind of talks all the time.

I'm just kidding, man.

I mean, pretty accurate.

Dylan Schirmer.

Dylan, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you.

So glad to have you with us today.

Very glad to be here.

So Dylan, I know that in a couple years that I've been at Maiden Lane, I would see you always sitting almost to the front row.

And then I think you started sitting with Anthony in the front row at some point in time.

But tell us how you came to come to Maiden Lane to be a part of our church.

Yeah, so honestly, my journey here to Maiden Lane has been pretty, I would say kind of pretty crazy.

I did not grow up around Maiden Lane.

Yeah.

I did not grow up in Springfield.

Yeah, you grew up in Dayton, right?

I'm from Dayton.

Yeah.

And the thing about Dayton is we, it's a bigger city.

We don't, it's not a big city, but we don't make it out to Springfield too often.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah.

You got your own stuff down there.

We do.

And so I grew up going to another church.

I grew up in a charismatic church.

Yeah.

And me and my mom would go.

And yeah, so growing up, Christ was kind of in our home with me and my mom, but eventually it wasn't really my own thing.

Yeah.

And...

I got really connected to my youth group in high school, my born-again Christian kind of thing, story.

And at one point, I was kind of having some issues at my home church I grew up with.

There was things going on, and I was struggling with stuff going on at home, too.

Okay.

I had a school teacher who actually invited me to Maiden Lane, who I really love this person so much, honestly.

I don't get to talk to her really much as I used to, obviously, in high school.

Her name's Penny Black, called Mrs. Black.

Yeah.

So...

Lots of stuff going on with my brother.

I'm sure we'll get into it, but go ahead and talk about my brother.

I grew up with a brother who was a heroin addict.

Yeah.

And she knows I have issues with my church we grew up in.

Her and my mom were like really good friends.

Her daughter actually would go to my house to get picked up for school.

And she invited us to go out to Maiden Lane.

She told us the name of it.

Me and my mom were trying to kind of find a new church.

I think we Googled, like, Church of God, and, like, some of the other Church of Gods came up, and we were like, oh.

Oh, even those from Cleveland, Tennessee, those Church of Gods?

Yeah, those Church of Gods.

So we're like, you know, we just came from Charismatic Church.

Maybe you don't want to go to that one right now.

So we did, but even then, though, I really felt like, I don't know.

There's just something like people were inviting us to churches, but there's some reason that one kind of stuck to me.

Okay.

Like, Hey, there's something pay attention to that one.

Right.

So ended up, um, make, you know, long story kind of short, honestly went through a lot of stuff, a lot of ups and downs for a long time, like a decade.

Um, and, uh, eventually, um, started me, uh, dating this one person who goes to here.

Um, and, uh,

I was between churches still.

Still haven't really found a church.

My mom actually had passed away.

And going to a church, trying to church hopping, church shopping by myself.

Yeah, it's not fun.

It's not fun.

I didn't really want to do it.

But had a lot of, you know, issues or, you know, I'm going to call them like giants, honestly, in my life.

Yeah.

Trying to show up by myself.

And at this time, I kind of had a not a, not great relationship with God.

Like he was there, I was Christian, but I wasn't fully connected with him.

And then she could see that, the person I was dating.

And she's like, hey, would you want to go to this church, go to Maiden Lane?

And I've heard about Maiden Lane obviously, before.

Right.

And, you know, I was really clear with them in the beginning, like, hey, if I go to a church, I'm not going just for a person.

I want to go because I want to actually be connected to you know, God, the church.

So if I say yes, you know, if we break up, I'm still going to probably go if I'm connected.

And that's pretty much what happened.

That's incredible that you laid that out to begin with.

Hey, I just want you to know if this happens, you're still going to see me.

Yeah.

So it's going to be awkward.

Yeah.

Hey, you can rescind the invitation.

But she didn't.

And honestly, that invitation from Mrs. Black from back still was on my heart.

Yeah.

And seeing all that work out and actually, Mrs. Black, she's actually my uh job reference still so many years later.

Penny!

Yeah, and um, see some of y'all call her Penny, it feels icky to me sometimes.

I get it. I get it. I can't call some of my professors from college Fred you know.

Yeah, but um, and I actually missed her, unfortunately, by like a week. Like, she left like a week before I started coming here. 

That's right, yeah.

But even like she's my reference for everything.

She was even like my dating reference.

They said that if it wasn't Mrs. Black talking about my mom and me, it probably wouldn't.

So honestly, looking back at it.

I'm sorry. I can't get over that.

So if you're looking to go on a date with Dylan, just call Penny Black.

Exactly.

Yeah.

She will be able to tell you the good and bad.

That's kind of how I got here.

Gotcha.

Came in and looking back at it, it's one of those stories where those journeys were like, everything kind of had to fall together the right way.

Even like the, the, we look at it at that time as a negative things, you know, if it wasn't for all those turmoil, and those issues probably wouldn't have made it here.

So really thankful, really for Mrs. Black, you know, really thankful for the person I was dating a time that brought me over here.

Their whole family's awesome.

And really thankful for being plugged into this family.

Yeah.

It's a greater church family.

Yeah.

Well, Dylan, number one, it's incredible to hear how God worked and orchestrated a weird path for you to come to this place.

But since you've been here, I've gotten the awesome privilege to get to know you, obviously working in student ministry together.

You're in our Connect group together as well.

So kind of living life together, you know, it's been awesome to kind of see what God is doing in you to this point in time.

So, you know, as you've been journeying with Christ, what has what has God been teaching you about his faithfulness to you in this time?

So that's so much, honestly.

And it's really kind of hard to get it started.

But I mean, like I said, I'm facing a lot of, I'll call them giants, honestly.

Not just issues.

Really, ever since High School.

I mean, so many different things that have been placed in front of me.

Struggles with school, for instance, my journey of trying to get a degree.

I am, to my knowledge, the second man in my family to get a degree, like only the third or fourth, I think, in my whole family to get a degree.

That's a very large family, so that comes to a lot of people.

Trying to get through all that, struggling with my purpose in life and some generational challenges, struggles with sin, with having a son out of wedlock, but then also all the issues that surround doing things out of order and having to go to court just to fight to see him, things like that.

Death of my family, my mother dying, my brother dying, so many aunts, uncles, grandparents dying in the last few years, all these things.

And the biggest problem, not the biggest, but one of the big ones also is just money, like having resources to take care of myself, to care of my child, to eat.

You know, in all these issues I've seen that God's, you know, allowed to be put in front of me, I really think that he's been showing me, you know, to rely on him like things to work hey, you see all these giants, the only way you're going to surpass these is relying on me.

And um a verse that's really been, from the beginning of like this season and has been brought to me so many times throughout, God's put on my heart so many times throughout this whole long season, is um you know when Jesus preaching The Sermon on the Mount. He's talking about looking at the birds to the sky you know.

 Yeah do not worry yeah.

So it makes me and my friends at work, like we'll look at you some days, and we're struggling and we'll just say, hey, look at the birds.

And like we just know, because we all kind of were struggling with the same thing at one point.

And a few years ago, actually, a little story of he was so much on my heart trying to throw this verse at me because, I mean, I was panicking so much.

I had so much anxiety.

I was I was literally throwing up every morning, like like an hour from just anxiety, just panic attacks every morning.

And that verse kept coming back to my mind like, hey, look at the birds.

Why are you panicking?

He's got you.

And um, one morning, I remember, this is kind of funny to me.

People kind of think it's a gross story.

But there's one morning I really just threw up.

I had to go to work.

So I would get up early to throw up, by the way.

Like I'd get up an hour early knowing I was going to throw up in the morning from anxiety.

Because how is this bill going to get paid?

How is this going to get paid?

How am I going to have gas to go see my son?

And I go outside, and again, it's just like look at the birds.

It's been just repeating in my mind.

And I go out to see my car, right?

This is one of the worst mornings.

And I kid you not, from the front bumper to the back bumper, I was parked in the middle of the field.

There was no trees.

Covered in bird like fecal matter and I looked at it I'm just staring at I'm like what is this?

And then I think it's like in the winter too so like there's none even around.

And um and then it's just like first thing is hey, look at the birds.

And like that's kind of funny.

It is funny.

So i'm like all right so I got a napkin, wiped it off. I'm like, you know, I'll even let it sit there to remind myself, look at the birds.

But um like I think it rained that day, thank goodness so it got off.

But you know, even that little things got God's sense of humor.

Um, look at the birds.

And so that kind of has been on me, right.

And then also, um, again, just relying on him, in big situations.

Another thing that kind of came up to me too, and this is like, as an example of his faithfulness in me, um, in my life and his journey with him is so few, I guess a couple of months ago now, um, you know, I was supposed to teach about Jesus feeding the 5,000.

Yeah, you were going to be doing it on a Wednesday night.

Yeah.

Not many kids showed up that day, unfortunately.

Did we have any show up that night?

We did, too.

But it was, like, really late.

Yeah, yeah.

Two of them, they showed up.

And, you know, looking back now, I think I was preparing that.

I think God was having me prepare that for myself, too, for an extent.

That's good.

But there was a story I was going to tell.

And because in that story, you know, God, you know, Jesus, God feeding the 5,000, you know, he's testing his disciples, you know.

Hey, what are you going to feed these people?

And they're scrambling, trying to figure it out.

Instead of turning to the right source, they're trying to figure out all of their earthly ways, you know.

And God can bless us through those.

You know, my family is such a huge blessing to me trying to get food to eat, right?

My dad would let me, you know, eat whatever.

But sometimes, you know, stuff works out where I go hungry sometimes.

Yeah.

And, uh, so at the end, you know, this kid comes up, and he's like, hey, here's everything I got.

He's got his lunch with him.

He's got five pieces of barley bread and two pieces of fish.

You know, if I could, like, message translate that to modern times, he's got, like, five pieces of white bread and two fish sticks.

Like, barley bread was poor people's food.

It wasn't worth much.

But the kid gave everything he got to Jesus.

And what he did with that, they feasted, right?

In fact, 12 baskets were full, you know, one for each disciple to look at and be like, oh, look, that's what God could have done.

We should have turned to him.

And that scripture says that they ate all that they wanted, which means that they didn't just eat a bite.

They ate until their bellies were full.

Twelve baskets were full at the end.

That's like an abundance.

So I was going to tell a story of, you know, like, hey, when we feel like we don't have much to bring to the table, you know, and one of my stories in life is very much I feel like that, like inadequate, you know, why does God want me, some kid from Dayton that, you know, has rough edges and, you know, wears too many wrestling t-shirts.

You're wearing an Austin 316 one today.

Austin 316 says beat your butt.

That's the message translation.

That's the nice version.

The heart's kind of there.

But yeah, so this kid who did all that.

And what do I have to give, but I don't have much, but you know, give what you got.

And, um, you know, I first started and he brought up, you know, me being a coach with the youth.

Like, you know, when I first started doing that, like even just getting invited to do that was crazy.

Like God showing me so much and we'll probably get to that later.

But, um,

When I first first few weeks, you know, I was kind of struggling.

I'd message you sometimes like, hey, I'm so sorry.

I don't have money to go tonight.

I don't have money for gas.

And what I would have to do at that time is I was literally putting money, all my money in my bank account into my gas tank to go DoorDash to get more gas money.

So I can DoorDash to get something to eat.

I remember you telling me that.

And but one day I was just like, you know, like I put my heart like, look, give to him, you know, what I have and let him cook with, let him work with it, you know?

And so one day I was like, you know, I only had the same situation.

I think like 10 bucks in my account.

And I didn't eat that day at all.

I had nothing to eat.

I was very hungry.

And I could like go get like a little potato taco or some Taco Bell, get some ramen.

But I just felt, you know, put it in the gas tank and go to youth, you know, be there for those kids.

And so I did that.

And, you know, that was one of those times where I think I told myself I was fasting that day.

But I think my bank account was really the one telling me I was fasting that day if I tried to turn it around.

But this is an example of God's, you know, being faithful.

I don't know what it is because that night, I didn't know this, but see, Bob Mako was teaching that night.

He was teaching on communion.

And he didn't want to just have little crackers.

He wanted to actually have us break bread together.

So he actually went and got bread and um and we all just passed the bread.

We all took a piece, everyone, there's enough bread for everyone to take decent pieces. 

I was so thankful for, for one the bread right. 

Yeah.

I could take a bite of something that day.

Um, but also like it did not escape me where I was, I was eating, sitting in that room doing what God's called me to do, giving him that gas money.

He got me food.

Yeah.

And what's even greater is at the end of that, you know, after breaking bread with our church family there, you know, there was like a loaf and a half left over.

And he's like, who wants this bread?

And he just looked is like here you take it.

So I had, like, a loaf and a half of bread.

Yeah.

And I ate, like, I didn't eat it all. I was full.

I ate until I was filled.

Like the story in the Bible.

And it did not escape, I think I was, like, giggling and laughing.

Like, this guy's weird.

He just really likes bread.

But, like, I was kind of like, this is funny.

I'm like, dude, I didn't have money for food.

Right.

I just gave it.

I just put my money in my gas tank so I can go, you know, serve in an area and I got food.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.

And, like, so that's just one example of, you know, God being faithful.

And then God, you know, when I'm trying to give Him my time, give Him, you know, answer, like, the callings put on my life.

Yeah.

And He's like, here, I'll walk you through that.

So let's talk about that call for a minute.

Absolutely.

Because I know that you've experienced a call to minister in your life.

Yes.

So tell us a little bit about that calling.

Like, you know, when did you experience Jesus talking to you?

When did He kind of point you in the direction?

Yeah, tell us about that.

Yeah, so, I'm going to do the abridged version because it could be kind of a long one, honestly.

We got five minutes.

I'm just kidding.

So I basically was called, I mean, you get called and, you know, I kind of say I'll get recalled.

I got reaffirmed.

I'll say recalled, reminded.

I was called in high school originally.

Okay.

I was a baby Christian.

Like, I just became born again.

And I remember, you know, I was watching, like, I think my mom had, like, some televangelist on TV or something, and I don't think it was really paying attention, but she just had it on, so it wasn't just some garbage show.

Noise in the background.

Yeah.

I was watching it, though, and, for context, a month before this, I was selling drugs, you know what I mean?

I'm a baby Christian.

I was sitting there.

I remember where I was standing.

It was a video.

We have these thoughts that are memories that are videos, not just pictures.

I had this intrusive thought come in my mind.

We all have intrusive thoughts.

A lot of times, we try to fight those ones.

I don't want to look at that.

That's not biblical.

But what struck me about this thought was it was intrusive, but instead of, like, kicking the door in, it's like it just opened it up.

It was gentle.

It's like it just opened it up, came in, and just, like, everything in my mind got quiet, and I just heard this thought, you know.

And it was just really weird, you know.

And it was, hey, wouldn't it be kind of, like, fun to do that?

Like, I was just watching them preach on TV.

Like, wouldn't it be kind of fun to do that?

Like, wouldn't you?

And I was like, the first thought was – response to that thought was, no, not at all.

That sounds horrible.

I have like social anxiety.

I'm not doing that.

And I'm also like, look what I was doing.

I'm like, no, no, no, no, I'm not doing that.

And he's like, oh, and my thought came, thought was there again.

He goes, oh, well you're going to.

So interesting.

And I'm like, that's weird.

I didn't know what that was.

And I mean, it's sat with me for like a couple of days.

I'm like, this is, that was weird.

Talked to my mom about it, and she was like, you know, that's what they say, I'm like 15 at this time, that's what they say, like the voice of God is sometimes those thoughts.

Yeah.

And I'm like, oh, that's weird.

And ended up, you know, got plugged in more to the church I grew up in.

Started going to youth group there.

I answered an altar call, right?

Yeah.

The first time I was there, the youth group, I know nobody's name, including the pastors.

They don't know me at all.

I skipped a lot of church services.

And I answered the altar call, and our youth pastor was going around just laying hands.

It was a charismatic church.

We did things differently there.

And just laying hands, praying a little over people.

And they got to me.

I did the altar call trying to pray, like, is this really what you want me to do?

Like, with everything I've done in my life?

And the youth pastor, and he never said anything.

I was praying in my head, just bent over and goes, hey, I just really feel like God wants me to tell you right now that he does have a lot of plans for you.

Remember, I'm actively praying, God, this is what you want me to do.

And in fact, he paused for a minute and goes, and actually, I think it's in ministry.

God does want you to go into ministry.

It's the first time he's ever seen me, never talked to me before.

So I started bawling, honestly.

I'm like, that's crazy.

How would you know about all this?

Why would you say that?

Especially working in youth now, I'm like, you don't just say that to a youth.

Right.

Oh, no.

No, no.

And that was perfect.

Right what I needed to hear, right?

So I got really connected to the youth group and started being a youth leader and stuff there.

Eventually, you know, without airing all dirty laundry, all this stuff going on in kind of my church, kind of ended up leaving it, kind of talked about it already.

Unfortunately, I kind of left the church in general.

Yeah.

And God eventually would call me back, bring me back into the fold.

And I was way right before my, so the second time it kind of reminded me, you know, my calling.

I was getting back into the fold.

I was getting ready to actually graduate with my bachelor's.

I've would have been done on time, 22 years old.

I would have been good.

But right before I was able to apply for my senior year, it was just, I had a little thought come in that, and that, that gentle intrusive thought came in and goes,

Hey, did my calling ever change?

My plans ever change?

What do you, what are you doing then kind of thing?

Like, why are you about to go get this degree?

So that kind of wrecked me a little bit.

And then I ended up dropping out of there, going into another school.

It didn't really work out there.

Um, got into a relationship with somebody.

I remember actually, they, they weren't really into a lot of the Christian stuff.

They weren't really hip on me doing the pastor stuff either.

They kind of had an intervention with me one day where they told me, like, look, Dylan, there's not really one pastoral thing about you.

They said I don't see you as a pastor, Dylan.

Do you have a passion for this?

Come on, think about it.

Is this really what you think God wants you to do?

Or are you just really into it?

And you're just hyper-fixating.

And that kind of stuck with me.

And it's like, look at your life.

Do you really think you're being a pastor right now?

I'm like, you know, that was my fiancé at the time.

And I was like, you know, maybe they're right.

So, went away from it for a bit.

A lot of stuff happened.

And, you know, we then broke up eventually.

You know, it's where my son's from.

And, you know, fast forward to already coming to Maiden Lane, I'm still in that mindset of maybe I'm just called to be a really good Christian.

And maybe I kind of lost that privilege to, you know, going to pastor.

Yeah.

And see, this is, I've never told anyone this story.

This is kind of a crazy story.

Yeah.

I remember after I graduated college, I started, you know, being around ministry, I always get reminded, like, oh, I had that calling growing up, and I kind of walked away from it, kind of like the Jonah, you know, I kind of walked away from it.

Man, I really, it breaks my heart that I did that.

You know, I really want that.

I feel that's what I'm supposed to be doing, but I didn't think I deserved it.

But it kept going on me, sitting down there.

I knew nobody from Maiden Lane at this time.

And eventually I was like, you know, what am I going to do with my degree?

Because a bachelor's in history doesn't really get you much money.

It doesn't really do much.

Unless you're a teacher, even then, it doesn't give you much money.

So I'm like, what am I going to do with it?

And then in my heart, I was getting ready to apply for a master's degree in history or something.

And in my heart, like, you know, don't do that.

Go to divinity.

Go to Liberty.

Go to divinity.

And so I talked to the person I was dating at the time, you know, and they were correct in this extent.

They were saying, you know, hey, is it actually smart to go to your master's when you're facing all these issues financially, all this?

Also, are you sure you're being called to ministry and all this?

You know, I'm like, I don't know.

And so I kind of wrestled that again.

And every, you know, gentle, intrusive thought that came to my mind to try to affirm it, I kind of blocked it out going, that's just me wishing, wishful thinking.

And then one day, this is a kind of crazy story.

I was sitting after worship.

We were sitting down in that pew in the front on the left, you know, the right, you know what I'm talking about, second pew.

And I was just sitting there, and I was still just thinking, like, man, while I don't know anybody, I'm not plugged in at all.

I don't have any, like, mentors in ministry.

I'm still struggling with so many different things.

I really still feel like I'm supposed to go into that.

I don't know, that's just me wishful thinking they're right, and I kid you not, that's the moment though when I when I pushed it out of my mind.

I was sitting I was listening, like I said we just got done worshiping and I heard, I audibly heard, I'm not kidding, my name twice said.

I'm trying not to cry.

You're good, man.

I literally heard, like, stern, like a male voice stern, but, like, trying to get my attention.

Like, when your son's doing something, I pay attention a little.

And you're like, hey, Leo, listen.

It was Dylan.

Dylan.

I mean, I literally stood up and looked, I looked around.

I'm like, who said that?

You know, I remember I've looked around like, who said that?

I mean, asked first I was with, it's like, did you, did you say my name?

No.

I looked around like there's no men sitting around.

I'm like, what's going on?

Like, and then it kind of slowly started clicked with me.

Right.

And that gentle and true thought came back in where it's like, did my plans ever change?

Did my calling ever change?

And then it's kind of like, oh, you know?

Yeah.

And then that day, I think like either immediately after that or like the after service is when I filled out the form to try to volunteer.

I'm like, if I'm going to do that, I gotta plug in.

Yeah, take some steps.

Yeah.

So that's when I filled out the volunteer form.

I think I checked like almost every box.

Because like, are you willing to do this?

Yeah, I'm willing to.

Like whatever it was.

I thought I was going to just have to like, I thought y'all were going to be like, well, you can't like, not going to minister to the kids yet.

But, you know, you can go shake hands.

You can go, you know, clean this or go, you know, make coffee or something.

But no, you said, hey, you want to go be a coach?

And like that took me, that was big for me because I was like, man, because to me, I read that as, you know, God's like, hey, it's what you're supposed to do. Go do that.

So I'm hearing you say, like when God puts a call on your life, he doesn't stop.

No.

You know, sometimes, as you said, we're like Jonah.

We run the opposite direction.

Yeah.

But even for Jonah, God didn't stop.

No.

I mean, he kept saying, hello, McFly.

Hello, that way.

Hello, Nineveh's over here.

He's doing the same thing for you.

Exactly.

And like I said, the audible voice thing is like where it's like, that's crazy.

Yeah.

You know me.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

But even then, after that, I still had some doubts.

Yeah.

Well, that's normal.

That's also why I'm so thankful for the mission trip because that's where a lot of it got affirmed.

I'm like, I do have those, he's given me gifts to do things.

I can do this.

So beyond going to Liberty.

Yeah.

What are the things that you're doing to help kind of mold that call?

I mean, obviously, you talked about going on the mission trip, and that kind of helped solidify some things.

But what are some things that you're doing to help you mold in that call?

I mean, first and foremost, if you're going to minister to others, you first got to be a disciple.

If you're going to disciple, you got to be a disciple yourself.

Yeah.

So...

I mean, really, I feel like I like that.

I like how you just said that.

Thank you.

So like God is not, you know, he's been very blunt with me about like, hey, here's the thing.

You got to play catch up now because you've allowed a lot of other stuff.

So you got to, let's chisel out those, you know, edges.

And so I would tell people, like, you know, seminary, going to school, you know, it's like spiritual warfare on steroids.

Like, it's crazy.

Like, every day is like a different thing, man.

But I feel like I never felt more stretched before.

But, you know, when you stretch something out like a shirt, it never goes back to the place it was before.

It's stretched now.

It's bigger.

But it still has to go through that turmoil of stretching.

And so...

Yeah, even when we wash it and try to shrink it back to the original, it's not going to go all the way.

Exactly.

And so being a disciple first, you know, trying to work on my spiritual formation, my, you know, discipline of like reading my scripture, which definitely, you know, I need to get, you know, I'm working on it and he's working through me on it, you know.

But I can tell, I don't know if you can, but like even when I first started being a coach, I've, it's, I've grown.

Yeah.

And, um, so that's first and foremost, right?

I'm going to teach others about him.

I got to learn about him first.

I got to, I have to be his follower next, you know, like I said, school learning things, learning big words, Christology, you know, hermeneutic, um, you know.

If you know the definition of hermeneutics, you need to come and tell it to Dylan.

Yeah.

Honestly, I got like a B in that class.

I don't know if I know, but, uh, yeah.

So like, doing that, you know, and definitely there's a lot of learning about that, like discipleship learning.

That's where I was able to recognize, oh, I need to be a disciple first.

That's good.

Also, the biggest thing I think I'm doing too is, well, through discipleship too is, you know, serving.

He came to be a servant, so we need to serve with a true heart for service, not just trying to, you know, check boxes.

Right.

And youth, hey, go do this, I'll do it.

If you need help, do it.

That's what Jesus would have done.

And mission trip, go be a servant.

But the biggest thing, too, is without being annoying, trying to get myself in proximity of people that are in ministry, trying to get myself in proximity of you, Matt, personal mission trip, Jim Wallach, trying to get in proximity of y'all without being too annoying or overbearing.

Um, cause you know, uh, I heard this phrase, you know, you sit in a barbershop long enough, you're going to get a haircut, you know, except for unless you're, you know, follicly challenged like me.

But, um, so like

Follicly challenged. 

Actually, you know, I'm getting old.

Um, but, uh,

 If you sit around chefs long enough, you're going to get a meal.

That's right.

So if you sit around ministers enough, you learn ministry, you're going to learn about it.

So I'm trying to, without being annoying, overbearing, trying to be like, what little ways can I get close to see what y'all do?

Yeah.

And trying to learn from y'all.

Well, no, I appreciate those steps.

I mean, I think it's important, as you said, if you want to be a pastor, you got to learn what it means to be a pastor.

Mm-hmm.

If you want to be a cook, you do the same kind of thing.

So don't ever feel like you're overstepping your bounds.

As a matter of fact, I would say jump in even further.

I mean, jump for you, jump for people who are listening.

If there's an area of ministry that you feel like God has called and equipped you to do, you need to like engage in that ministry in such a way that you learn some of the ins and outs of it so that you can, for one, a better word, build some thick skin in the midst of it.

I mean, it gives you practice.

It gives you the opportunity to to kind of see what your giftedness is and how that intersects with that area of ministry.

So don't feel like, I mean, I'm speaking for Matt too.

So Matt, when you hear this, don't be like, I can't believe he said that.

I mean, that's also me, like I said, I self-doubt stuff, not want to be annoying.

No, I get it.

I get it.

But I'm about to get to y'all anyway because I got to do an internship soon.

So I'm about to go annoy y'all anyway.

But Matt invited me to talk to him about it, so it's all good.

Yeah, that's good.

So, people listening to the podcast, what word of wisdom would you give them, when it comes to pursuing Jesus?

Based off of everything we talked about today, I would say the biggest thing is, you know, trust the process.

That's good.

In the moments, you know, so in that, you know, valley of death, you know, it's scary.

You don't see it, but you got to trust that, hey, he's going to guide us through.

He's been through it already before for a long, long time.

That's good.

So just follow him, be trusting in him, and, you know, all these are learning opportunity, everything in the past is a learning opportunity.

You learn something, you know, losing my, my brother to addiction, you know, for relapse and addiction.

No.

First, obviously, it's heartbreaking.

It learns, teaches me, you know, to be heartbroken, you know, and how to be relationship with God while heartbroken.

But, it also teaches me a thing about spiritual warfare.

It teaches me about how dangerous it can be.

All these things, financial stuff, give it to God and let him, as our kids would say, let him cook.

And just trust that he has plans for us, plans, Jeremiah 29:11, plans for us to succeed, plans for hope in the future, you know.

And so, yeah, trust the process, keep going.

That's good.

Dylan, thanks for being candid.

Thanks for being transparent and open.

Appreciate your story.

And I know that you've told a little bit about your faith story a little bit here and I've heard in other places.

Lean into that, man.

Keep sharing that because there are people who need to hear it.

Friends, if you see Dylan around, today he's wearing an Austin 316 shirt.

He may not be wearing that.

He may be wearing some other Austin shirt or some other wrestling shirt.

Just tell him that RW went to WrestleMania 3.

That will get him all worked up.

Trust me.

That's pretty cool.

But, yeah, so, Dylan, thanks for joining us on this episode of the ML Podcast.

Friends, the next time we drop, we're going to hear some more stories about how God is at work in people's lives here at Maiden Lane.

Until next time, we'll see you soon.

God bless you.