SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, and welcome to the brand new Burnett Church Podcast. My name is Tim, and I'm your host and the pastor of Burnett Church. Today's podcast uh is the audio from part one of our series called Reactions Speak Louder, in which we start to unpack how our reactions affect the world around us and also say something about our relationship to ourselves and to Jesus as well. Hope you enjoy the episode. I have a friend who has some um some ministry experience that has reminded me regularly over the last number of years that it takes at least five years for a church and its new pastor to sort of get in sync. Um and uh and and that's significant to me uh because this is just about the the end of the fifth year that Melissa and I have been here. Um and and this year to me has felt like a year where we really you know sharpened our pencil, where we're really starting to understand that we've we've had some ideas and some things that have been floating around, and it just feels like God sent a number of things to us this year that have really helped solidify, at least in in our staff and and and leadership board's mind, just exactly who God is calling us to be. Um it's funny when when when somebody uh can can share wisdom with you, and then you look back and you go, oh my gosh, I wasn't sure if that was correct. I was really like, I want everything to happen now. I don't know if anybody else is like that at all, but like I want everything to happen now. So when they first said that, I was here for like two years, and they were like, Yeah, it's gonna take about five, and I'm like, oh honestly, Pete's sake, Jesus, can't you move a little faster? Um but but it but it's it's it's been my experience and it's been true. And what I think is happening is something that has to happen for every church. Something that's been happening, in fact, since the beginning of the movement of Jesus. There's a question that every church, whether we realize it or not, has to answer. And and and I guess I've come to experience that as being about a five-year process. What kind of church are we gonna be? Every church has to answer that question, right? And and and by the way, like not every church needs to be like our church. In fact, I'm really grateful that they're not, because there's a whole bunch of people in our city and beyond who this isn't the right church for them. I I don't find it um problematic that there's so many different kinds of churches. I actually think that's a massive reflection of the character of God. God is so multifaceted and so complex that none of us could ever represent him fully. And so the fact that there's other churches doing other things that aren't exactly what we're doing, hey, that's like, praise Jesus. I'm so glad because I just know that we don't have the capacity to do everything for everybody. But it is important for us to have a sense of our own uniqueness. What kind of church are we gonna be? And uh recently we we've had some friends help us. We did a bit of a 360 uh review uh with the help of some of our volunteers and our staff and our leadership board. And one of the things that I was reminded of as we did that process was that vision isn't sticky, you know? So I I think when I stand up here and I say something, you all remember everything that I say. But I'll take your laughter to mean you understand that you don't actually. I'm like, I'm actually probably pretty lucky if you remember one thing I say seven days after I said it. Like if you come back to church the next week and remember what I said last week, you know, um last week we had a video, and he's a better preacher than I am. So um so you probably remember everything he had to say. But you you know, like you just you're not gonna remember everything. And and so, you know, when we get up and we share our heart, you know, one of the things that I realize is like, yeah, our our staff knows exactly what we're trying to chase down, but but but it needs to be repeated over and over and over again. We live it every day. And and in you guys, I'm sure you pray for our church and think about us often, but you're not you're not in it every day. And so why would we expect you to think about it the same way that we do or to have it as ingrained in who you are as we do? And so I say all that to say I am gonna repeat some things that I've already said this year today for the sake of trying to make vision a little bit stickier. If you were here in November, we did a series called Deep and Wide, and I preached a message on Acts chapter 15, and I'm gonna review some of that this morning for us because it has become a foundational piece of our ethos and thinking. It has um solidified some things and given us permission in some ways to be who we want to be. We have found a definition on how we want to participate in what Jesus has made possible. Acts 15 has become a bit of a guiding light. So if you have your Bible digitally or analog, you can open it if you want. If not, good news, we still use the big screen behind us. Here's what Acts chapter 15 has to say, starting at verse 1. Some men came down from Judea to Antioch, okay, and we're teaching the brothers unless you're circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. This is historically known as the worst pitch uh of all time. Hey, there's this guy, Jesus, and he came and he lived, and we saw and he did miraculous things, and then he was put to death, but he came back to life, and we think that he has the key to life with God. Do you want to be a part of that? Oh, that sounds amazing. Awesome. Lay down on that table, you have to get circumcised first. Like it's just it's not a very good idea. Like, hands up, no, don't, it's okay, right? It's it's a big deal, but it wasn't just a big deal because of the physicality of it. I mean, these people believe that what they were doing was protecting what they had been given and had been taught about being a part of God's family. Hey, if you're gonna be a part of God's family and you're a man, this is what you this is what you do, this is what you have to do. It's a sign of inclusion in God's people. They had been taught to protect it at all costs. And for them, it was it was a deal breaker and probably seemed wildly unfair that all these new people were getting in on it and didn't have to go through the torture. This brought Paul and Barnabas, uh, verse 2 into sharp, no pun intended, dispute and debate with these men who were teaching this. So, Paul and Barnabas were appointed with some other believers to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and the elders about this question. Okay? It's a big deal. This is not like uh you and I sitting down in our living room and having a conversation about, you know, different sides of the same coin. These guys walked 300 miles through the Israeli desert to have this conversation. It took them weeks to get from where they were to where they needed to go. This was a moment of desperation for Paul and Barnabas. It was a moment to protect the heart of the gospel, of the good news about Jesus. Once they arrive, this mission-critical conversation happens between the people who are there, some people who are part of the church in Jerusalem, and these people who had come together down from Antioch to have this conversation. Here's what it says in verse 7. After much discussion, okay, so big discussion happens. After that, Peter, the rock upon which Jesus is going to build the church, that Peter, Peter gets up and addresses everyone who's there. Brothers and sisters, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them. How? By giving the same Holy Spirit to them that he gave to us. He, God, didn't discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Okay? Which is the heart of what we believe about the gospel. The work of Jesus gets done by faith, and faith is a gift given by God. So if God gives the gift of faith, who are we to argue with it? This is very personal for Peter because Peter's had a pretty extraordinary experience with this. Back in Acts chapter 10 and 11, you can read about it. But Peter basically has this dream where God makes it very clear to him that he is to not discriminate between Jews and Gentiles. If you're new to the Bible, Gentiles is just like a word that the Bible uses for everybody who's not Jewish. Okay, so Jews and Gentiles, you're not supposed to discriminate between people when it comes to the gospel. Peter had a vision and he's seen it worked out in front of him. And so, if this is what's happening, why would we stand in the way? Verse 10, now then, why do you trust God or test sorry, why do you test God by putting on the necks of the Gentiles, on the necks of everybody else, a yoke? Okay, you know what a yoke is? A yoke is a thing designed to hold uh two oxen together so that you can multiply their effort and plow fields, okay, but keeps them kind of going straight and together so they don't wander off, okay? So it's like a it's a it's a tool of entrapment. Why would you put a yoke that neither we or our ancestors have been able to bear? Right? If you read the first part of the Bible, the part of the Bible called the Old Testament, you read story after story after story after story about how the law couldn't be upheld by people. And I think that's kind of the big point that we're supposed to get out of it. It's a great big object lesson. If if faith depends on our ability to keep the rules, we're all doomed. Every one of us, right? So if we already know that, why in the world would you want to put that on somebody else? Peter says, no. We believe it's through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. The gospel of Jesus set us on a better path. It secured for us a better way of life. Freedom from the necessity to keep all the rules in order to feel like God is still happy with you. Why would you want to stay in that world? Jesus has done so much to make it possible for us to live differently. And in this moment, that group of people are answering the same question that we have been asking ourselves over the last five years. What kind of movement, what kind of church will we be? And then James, he stands up and has his moment. And if anybody had a bigger voice in the life of the early church than Peter, it was James, right? I've said this before, but I'm gonna say it again because I think it's really important for us to remember. James is the brother of Jesus. What would God have to do to convince you that your brother or sister were the literal son of God? Because remember, Jesus is fully human and fully divine. So he pushed James buttons when they were young. Right? Like they live together as you would expect. Brothers and sisters live together. All of that is a part of their experience. And somehow, in spite of all that, James still comes to the conclusion that Jesus is actually the Son of God. So when James spoke, his voice had weight. Right? If God can convince even Jesus' brother that he is the son of God, maybe, just maybe, it's true. So James stands up with all the weight and force of his voice and says, It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. I'm not gonna drop the mic because it's expensive. That was my mic drop sound. Right? Because it's a mic drop moment. It's like, oh my gosh. Like, that's the summary. That's what we need to understand. Right? What Jesus made possible, we will not make difficult. And I don't know if you know anybody. In fact, I'm gonna guess that you do know somebody who their experience with people who claim to be living with Jesus has made coming to Jesus more difficult for them. I'm gonna guess everybody in the room can think of at least one person who struggles with what this whole thing is because of some interaction they've had with some other Christian or church. And if you don't, praise the Lord. But that's not common. It is far more common for us to know somebody in our life for whom coming to faith has been made difficult because of the experiences they've had with other people. So what happens after this, this, this, this meeting, after this revelation? We are not going to make it difficult. Well, Peter, or sorry, Paul and Barnabas are sent back to Antioch along with the other people with an answer. And maybe you've heard basically this answer given about how we're supposed to follow Jesus. Essentially, the instructions that they're given boil down to this: go love God and love the people that you're surrounded by. If you break down the instructions, they're given these very unique instructions about like, don't eat this in front of these people, and like, but it was all about making sure that the people that you're living with are not hampered by your behavior. In other words, love them enough to sacrifice bacon for them. Right? Like, love them enough to change some of the things that you're doing. The instructions were very, very simple. Love God and love others because what Jesus made possible, they were convinced they would not make difficult. And for us, as we've talked behind the scenes, in front of the scenes, it has become crystal clear to me that this is not just, it's not just something we believe, right? It's something that changes the way we interact with the people around us. It's a responsibility that we are glad to take on. And it shapes what we do and it shapes how we invest. So in the last year, you may have noticed we made some changes to our facility, right? We've improved some spaces around here. And we've done that so that we are more ready to welcome guests when they come in. I don't know if you've ever noticed this or not, but people like hanging out in spaces that are actually well cared for. You know, does anybody else have a really hard time working when your office is chaotic? Does anybody else have a really hard time making dinner when the kitchen is messy? Right? Like we we like places that are actually well curated. And as we've done the investment into this space and place, we've actually seen an increase in the number of families and people that are coming and getting engaged. Attendance is up about 20% year over year, which is a lot in a church. You don't expect that kind of growth most years. Our next gen, we already talked about this. You know, we we made an investment this year to give the vast majority of Melissa's attention to having a plan for how we're gonna raise up the next generation from birth until they're done high school. We have some very specific things we know we want to teach kids before they're done our youth program. Tools and skills and gifts and wisdom and knowledge that we want to give them before they have to go out into the world and make their own decisions. You know? And and and we've seen an increase in participation in that as well. Praise God. Right? Bringing Beth onto staff is part of our commitment to make sure that we're ready to welcome in as many guests as we possibly can. And to make that experience not just, hey, you showed up and you left again, but like like compelling, right? That they actually want to come back. Like we talk about in the office a lot, the win is not just when somebody comes through the door. The win is when somebody comes through the door, enjoys it so much that they go home and invite a friend and bring somebody back the next week. That's the win, right? Like, and and and I think we can see the attention and we can feel the ability for us to be that kind of welcoming community. And we've tried our best this year to get really clear about how we think we can help you grow. If you remember back to September, we talked about five ways that God wants to grow your faith. And this is a summary of that. But look, if you want to know here, it's really simple. We think you should come and belong, you should serve, you should get connected to other people for growth. And then someday you should think about leading in ministry, right? Like, like these are the things that you can do to grow. And we want to help you make those steps at every way. Each week almost, we've we've tried to show you somebody here at the church who has this year kind of taken on a leadership role. So, hey, look, like look what happens when you do this journey for a while. And there are opportunities for people to invest, find meaning, have their life changed, and participate in helping others do the same. So, as we've leaned into this conviction, we're seeing God work and move, which is ideally what we're trying to do. We're trying to figure out that's what the last five years have been about. Exactly how can we maneuver ourselves to be where God wants to work and move. Right? And and I know that some of you feel it because you tell me you do. Like I got an email a couple of weeks ago from somebody that serves in our coffee ministry, and they said, I just want you to know, I think I said hello to more new people today than I've ever seen at our church before. It's so exciting. People come and talk to me on a regular basis. Hey, did you notice how many visitors we had today? Can I tell you something wild? We're currently running some invitations on Facebook and Instagram for our Easter service next week. We've been running them for three days. We have 50 families, 55-0 signed up in three days to come to our Easter service who don't come to church here on a regular basis. Right? Yeah, praise God. It's it's the momentum is is building. We can we can feel it. And and I just I I want to say it again so that like, you know, I'm not I'm bragging about you a little bit, not bragging about me, but bragging about what God is doing in our midst, right? Like, can we be really, really clear on that? Every single one of these positive things is just because God is showing some level of favor among us, and it's our job to like hold on and try to go on the ride with Him as best we can. It's it's exciting. I'm excited, if you can't tell, I'm excited, but but I also feel it it raises another question. Like, now what do we do with that momentum? Right? Because if you if you read the the New Testament, if you read the Gospels especially, Jesus is pretty clear that like when he gives, he does expect us to use to bless other people, to grow what he gives. There's a responsibility when we receive what we've been given, right? So do you remember Jesus told this story of the talents? There's a parable he told. And so he tells about a master and and three people who work for him. Okay, master just means you know, landowner, businessman. He has three people who work for him. And and he's he's got so much that that he he gives it to the three men and and and he asks them to steward his money, right? Take this and and make it grow. And he gives one man one talent, and one man five talents, and one man ten talents, sort of according to their ability, is what it says. You know? The point isn't really how many talents they were given, the point was what they did with it. Because two of the men took it and they grew it. And one of the men was was extra cautious about it, kept it to himself, buried it in the ground, and then he tried to give it back to the master. And the only one at the business. Man wasn't happy with was the one who didn't do anything with what they had been given. Right? And and even though it was it was just the the one the one talent, he was he was he wasn't he wasn't creative with it, he wasn't risky with it, he didn't do the things that are required to make something grow. And so I think as God gives us these things to steward, we as a church are in a place where we need to ask ourselves, hey, well, like what are we gonna do with this? Right? Because to whom much is given, much is required. Which is different, you know, than um uh uh what what did what did Uncle Ben say to Peter Parker? Uh with great power comes great responsibility. It's kind of like that, but not the same. Friends, I I I really think that that it's time for us to think, to think bigger. Think about how we can take what we enjoy here and offer it to more people. Um and and that's gonna take the the form of yes, continuing to improve the facility. Uh, if if you come here regularly, we we did say, hey, on AGM Sunday, we're gonna try and bring some plans to you for facility upgrades. We're not quite ready to do that yet, um, but that's not off our radar in any way. We're hoping in the next couple of months uh to be able to do that. But but what we have here is a facility, what we've been given and what we've been stewarded, we want to we want to make sure that it's as compelling as possible and as ready as possible to welcome people from our community. We've had the opportunity to do that several times this year, and the feedback is amazing. Uh Beth is gonna invest a bit of her time in helping us sort of be ready to to welcome people in. That's a part of what's coming down the pipe. We would like to add to our staff, right? We think that that's gonna be pretty mission critical here in the next little while. You know, that might take the form of somebody who can really help us uh expand usage of our facility. It might look like somebody who can help us uh make sure that we're helping people in that grow section, uh, you know, with uh with adult discipleship, the way that we're investing in next-gen discipleship. Um we've got we've got ideas, but you know, we need partnership and investment to make sure that that can happen. The one concrete thing I want to tell you about this morning is that come the fall, we are planning to add a second Sunday morning service. Okay? We've gotten to the point, yeah, that's I mean, I know. Uh if you if you've been at a church with two services, people are like, okay. Pastor Tim. We're definitely gonna do it. I know this church has a has a history of having a Saturday night service. We are not going to do that. Okay. Uh we're gonna make sure that they're both at the same time, you know, close to each other on Sunday morning. But but there are mornings where you look around and you're like, man, there's less empty seats than there are full seats. There's less empty parking spots than there are full parking spots. And we know that if we don't make space, we just limit our own ability to grow. So so we've that's that's like a pretty firm conclusion that we've come to. There's some conversations that we need to have, there's some partnership that we need to get, there's some investment that needs to happen. We'll explain all that as time goes on, but we would love for you to start praying about that because I just think it's like it's a it's a non-negotiable. We've gotten to the point where if we don't do it, then we're gonna not be able to steward what we've been given. And uh and that's what we want to do. We want to make sure that there are many spaces and many places for people to get connected. And and what does that mean for all of you? I mean, it means the things that if you've been around church for a while, you probably you probably know, right? So there's some things that we just need to continue to do together. It's a commitment for us to serve, right? We think that that's really important, not just for for other people. I like I think we miss the community and the growth that happens when we play a part on a team. And so if you've been here for a while and you're not doing that, like as your pastor, like if you care about my opinion at all, I think this is something that you should be doing. I really think that it's hard for you to make progress in your relationship with God if if you're not playing a part in what's going on here. Come and and and sit and observe for a while. There's a time for that for sure, you know, but but as quickly as you possibly can. I just have a bias for action in your spiritual life. There's a place for study and growth and contemplation. But I think sometimes we overemphasize those things when it comes to people's spiritual growth. So I would just I would encourage you. And if you're here and you're like, I don't even know what I think about all this stuff, I'm trying to figure it out. It's easier to figure out when you participate. So serve. Uh for some of us, it continues to mean in in investing, right? And I watched a reel this morning where uh somebody was um suggesting that sometimes we beat around the bush about this too much. So this is part of the this is part of the service where I said, if it's your first time here, um don't like we don't expect anything from you right now. But it it does require resources to do the things that we do, right? And so as we grow, part of the budget that we're gonna present after the service at the actual meeting part of this morning is a budget that implies some growth, right? Which which means what we're asking any of you who call this your church home to think about is where am I at in the progress of my own generosity through Burnett Church? You know, is God calling me in the next year to make any changes to the way that I invest around here? You know, the the the the the growth of our budget is is pretty modest, we think, you know, 7% or so over the next year. But if you know we don't do anything, then we don't meet that goal. And understand, it's not about the money, it's about the people, it's about the stories, it's about the life change that happens because we partner together, right? You don't just give money to us, you give money with and through the church, out to others to change lives and to build community for people. You know? So we need people to serve, we need people to invest, and and we need people to invite. If we're gonna open up more seats, like it means that there's more seats. And it's wonderful that Facebook and Instagram are doing so much work for us on the invitational side of things. I will tell you that there is nothing more powerful in the world than an invitation.

unknown 28:47

Right?

SPEAKER_00 28:47

People want all the time when we you know we do ministries, hey, can you make an announcement about that from the stage? Yeah, I can make an announcement about it from the stage. It won't work as well as if you just go invite people. If you take the personal responsibility to invite somebody. I mean, I asked earlier, we probably all know somebody who needs the kind of church that we're becoming. Right? A church that makes it easy for them to connect. Right? God made it possible, we're not gonna make it difficult. There are people who need that. In our city today, there are people who are asking questions. You know, and if if you don't believe it, I will show you the 50 people who signed up to ask questions in the last three days alone. Right? There's somebody who's living with a bad experience of church and they're just not sure. They kind of they're interested in Jesus, but but they don't think that there's a place for them, or they don't know us, and they don't feel safe, and but they would if somebody would literally just like hold their hand and walk in. Somebody is wondering if they can belong even if they don't believe. And so we've decided what Jesus made possible, we're not gonna make it difficult. We're gonna make room. Right? We are going to together serve more, invest more, invite more because there is always one more. The work is never done. One more person who just who needs to know that they can come as they are and discover who God has made them to be. Friends, I am so thrilled to be doing this work with you. I hope that you are thrilled to be doing this work with us. God has given us a beautiful gift, and He's called us to steward it well. I'm gonna