Season 2 Episode 11: When and How to Delegate as a Pastor

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In this week's episode, we discuss the ins and outs of delegation.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Delegation is evidence that our pastors do care for us, not that they don't. Christopher Ash. Welcome to the Small Town Church Podcast, the weekly podcast where we discuss all aspects of being in a small town church. Whether you are a member, on staff, or have just begun attending a church in a small town, this is the podcast for you. Welcome back to the Small Town Church Podcast. We are on episode 11 of season two. I I don't know why God sees us to fit to let us continue to talk into microphones, but he did, and y'all are listening and we're appreciative of it. It's gonna be a good episode. Um we are excited to be back with you. I really enjoyed doing this, and honestly, y'all probably get annoyed with the self-deprecation, and maybe we should stop with that. But it's we're just excited to see what God is doing. Um, we're excited that God um God has such a love for the small town church, and so do we. Um, it's it's really so funny um how Brad and I have um, I mean, he's been in the mission field and all over the world, and I had ridiculous illusions of grandeur earlier in my life before I became a Christian, and it's so funny that God has given us such a heart for small town churches. Um, it's just amazing to see what God is doing. But we're back and um we're excited to be here. My name is Zach Leonard. I am one half of the uh hosting team on here, and as always, I have my uh my better half. What's what we're calling him today? Um uh Brad Borgren. Brad, how are we today?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

I'm doing well, thank you. It's good to be here.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

It is good. Um, it's it's good to have you here. I always look forward to these conversations. We hope that you enjoyed our last episode with Colin Rayburn um regarding missions. It was a good episode. He had a lot of good information, a lot of timely information regarding missions. If you haven't listened to that, we invite you to go back and do so. And if you haven't listened to the rest of our catalog, we ask that you would do that as well. There are it's a variety of episodes, and we cover everything um just about being in a small town church. This season we are talking about the overseer, the pastor, uh, the role of the the leader of the church, if you will. This is the person who most often is paid staff, though not always, depending on what the church looks like, especially in the small town church. But that's the role we're speaking to to in this season. And this episode we're going to be talking about delegation, as you heard from our uh opening quote. And delegation is one of those things that is kind of a, I don't even know how to not a dirty word. That's not what you want to say, but it's kind of one of those words where it's just it's got a connotation with it. We just especially in small town churches, we have a hard time delegating sometimes. Uh, my wife will be the first to tell you that it's hard for me to ask for help. And so that's kind of what this episode is about. So we're we're gonna cover the whole gambit. We want to talk to pastors, we want to talk to congregations, and we just kind of want to cover it all in between about what it means to delegate, what godly delegation looks like, when you should delegate, when you shouldn't, and and just kind of go from there. So, Brad, why don't you jump in and just kind of give us your thoughts and uh and just kind of talk about kind of lay the groundwork, set the terms, and go from there.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yeah, it's it's a it's a good thing we we probably all know what we mean when we say delegating, because uh a pop a definition that popped up on Google says the act or process of delegating or being delegated. Wow, that's you learned that in like first grade. You can't define something with a word. Um, but but just that it is an important step, whether you're in a church of 30 or 300 or 3,000, uh, to be able to have people around you uh in various forms of leadership that can assume ministry-related tasks. Of course, we we talk about Ephesians, how how we as pastors are called by God to equip the saints. Jesus gave the church uh apostles, uh, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. And so our role primarily is equipping uh so that all believers can work together to fulfill uh the ministry so that we as a church and we as individuals uh look like Jesus, that we be his hands and feet, that we continue to grow to be more like him. Um yeah, me and Zach were talking earlier, and and delegation is something that I can struggle with because I am um I'm mainly, you know, I'm the only one at our church that draws like a true salary. And so a lot of the things that uh are smaller, I feel like I, well, I I should just do it because one, I'm here more, and two, I'm being paid. Uh not necessarily to take out the trash, but it's you know, I'm paid, I'm here, I'm available. Uh, it's not that much of a burden to me to do some of those things. Uh and so the the the the danger side of that is um it can I can begin to to let that that idea or that attitude spread from oh just taking out the trash to doing to trying to do everything. Uh and and that's where it can become dangerous. That's where it we did an episode on burnout where um I think this this should probably pair up well with that, that delegation is one of the ways to to keep us as leaders from burning out, to to have people around us who can who can help take on those tasks. Um yeah, and and we've done we've done episodes on deacons as well, and and I think this really lines up the more I was thinking about it, the more I just kept coming back to Acts 6, right? That uh, and of course they're in the church not of 30, but of of several thousand at this point. And and there's this issue that comes up, and and everybody's looking to the apostles, and what do they say? No, you go select men who are competent, who are faithful, select men of good reputation um who can take care of these things so that we can continue to devote ourselves to the word and to the prayer, to to prayer. And so um delegation is is a safeguard for us as pastors. Not that um not that we just kind of hole ourselves up in our office and do nothing but prepare sermons and pray. Uh there is a practical aspect of ministry that happens outside the church building. Um but that is our primary calling, right? That if we don't set aside the time to study scripture accurately, properly, uh, to dedicate ourselves and our churches in prayer, uh, then then anything else we try to do on our own is it's it's just gonna fail. And so Yeah, that's good. Yeah, Zach, what would you add to that?

SPEAKER_01 7:33

I and I've this is what keeps popping into my head, and I forgive or just please forgive me for the bluntness with which this may come uh come out. But um oftentimes, and I know this is my this is my fault uh problem in in my life, is when I don't delegate something that absolutely should be delegated, I'm almost sending the message to my congregation that I don't trust them to be able to handle something. And and and this might come as a shock to you guys. It certainly came as a shock to me when I finally realized it. We're very replaceable as pastors. I mean, and not that we should be scared of our job, but we're not the only pastor that's ever gonna pastor that church, God willing. That, you know, it we hope that a church that we are pastoring has a 500-year plan, if you will, if a God, if God decides to tarry. Um and so we need to understand that we should be preparing the church to outlive us. And part of that comes from delegation, part of that is telling your congregation, hey, I don't I shouldn't have to do all this alone, not because I'm lazy, but because ministry is supposed to be done in unity. Um just like in the elder episode, we talked about how there's always a plurality of elders in every single time that it it comes up in well, regardless, in all of the Bible. I mean, even even the elders in Israel, there was more than one, right? And so the the idea of churches actually working together towards a common goal has been the the hallmark of ministry from the old covenant all the way through. I mean, it was even even in the garden, Adam and Eve are working together. Yes, he's he is providing headship, Adam is, and there's there's submission in in in regards to um Eve, but they are working together to be fruitful, to be um mult to multiply, and to bring the earth under under the dominion of of God. And so the idea has always been that it's not a solo act. And so when we delegate, we are telling our congregation, I value your membership, I value your unique gifts that you can bring to um the table, and and I want you to come alongside with that. Um an example of this is where my wife and I are heading up VBS this year, and um that is certainly outside of my comfort zone. Um, I for anyone in my church that listens to this, I've said this out loud, so this is not um new news. Um I am gifted in a lot of areas, um, and I don't say that to my own, yeah. Like I've just God has given me gifts, and those gifts don't always communicate to the little ones. Um I just my my brain is not wired that way. I can have fun with the little ones, I can enjoy them, but uh I I don't I'm just not wired that way, right? But um, so I have had to realize that there are people that are better gifted for that in the for VBS that are gonna do that well that allow me to just kind of handle the administrative things, and the people within that are um can get in where get in where they fit in for like I I really wasn't gonna use that phrase, but you know what I mean. And um, there's one there's a a specific woman that comes to mind at our church that I I adore as a I mean she is just she is one of my favorite members there. She loves the kitchen. I mean, that is just where she wants to serve. And and it would be a disservice for me to take her and go put her in something completely different. I mean, it she has been she has been gifted in a hospitality realm to be able to she heads up our um our potlucks. She I mean that is just that is what she enjoys doing. And so she's running our our hospitality room, if you will, as a way to serve our our our volunteers. She's putting together snacks and things of that nature. And I want her to do that because she takes delight and joy in that. And I that's another thing in regards to delegation is people are gifted to do things that you may not necessarily enjoy doing. My grandfather, for years at the church that he attends, gets goes and gets the donuts and starts the coffee. And I asked him about it one time. He said, I'm a behind-the-scenes guy. That's what makes me tick. I go into the church early in the morning, I I deliver the c or the donuts, I turn the coffee on, and then I'll go into the sanctuary by myself in the quiet before anybody gets there. And that's my time where I am before the Lord and praying. And I mean, what would that do for my grandfather if the pastor said, No, I got it. Well, you just show up for Sunday school. Well, now he's missing out on that quiet time that he's getting with God on a Sunday morning before all the hustle and bustle of a Sunday. And so we need to remember that everybody is wired in a different way and able to bring different gifts and remember that we are not God's gift to the church. We are actually God has gifted the church to us and we should serve it in a way, and sometimes that is by calling others to serve. So, Brad, why don't you kind of jump in and give some pointers about ways to address delegation? Like what are some ways you can go to people, but also how do you tell whether or not it is something that you should do or something you should delegate to others?

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yeah. Yeah, and that kind of brings in, you know, that's the hard part, and that's gonna look differently for every pastor and and probably for every task, right? That um and I think for me it's I see delegation as a way to begin to develop leaders, right? That uh not every not every person that um makes coffee or gets donuts or you know sets up chairs and things like that is is gonna be an elder one day. Right. Um but but we don't know, right? If we do everything ourselves, we're we're not setting the opportunity ourselves and giving others the opportunity uh to take that leadership role. And so it's um yeah, how to do it, you know, there's one of the things I'm trying to do now is just in our worship services to not be the only person on stage. Uh that we've kind of gone through a season where we've lost a couple of different uh worship leaders. Uh, and so for a season, I kind of had to fill that gap because there wasn't anybody else there. And I realized, like, man, I'm I'm standing up here for an hour. Uh, not that that's I don't I didn't mind doing it. Uh people probably don't want to listen. I know they don't want to listen to me sing. Um, but it's just a matter of okay, we we we have a room full of people, and I'm not the only one who can do some of these things. And so just trying to to incorporate others who uh who lead worship, who well, who lead music, everything we do on a Sunday morning should be worship. Um, but lead music, uh I try to have others pray different times. I try to have others read scripture just to um just to I guess put that presentation out there that hey, no matter who you are, no matter what your spiritual gifts may be, uh you can help us worship the Lord together. Amen. I think also knowing people's spiritual gifts is a good, is a is a is a great place to start. We don't want to have people serving in ways that they're not gifted. Uh, and so we've done, I've had our people take spiritual gift surveys a couple of different times. Uh, but also as as pastors and leaders, um, you know, they may not always come to us and say, hey, guess what my spiritual gift is? And and we kind of have to look and discern and say, okay, uh, I feel like God has gifted this person this way, and then just have those conversations and say, Hey, would you want to take this on? Um again, deacon ministry is a way that really that really lines up well uh with this. Um trying to think service teams or core team. Um, you know, we have committees uh at our church, but just having a a core team of people that uh that could be over a certain area of ministry. And and whether that's greeters, whether that's bulletins, whether that's hospitality, uh, you know, whatever that may look like, just trying to bring more people in and have more people at the table. Uh and in that way, as pastors, we can we can kind of delegate to three, four, or five, six people, and then they can then delegate to to others within the church. But again, it's it's gonna look differently for every for every pastor, every small town. Many small town church pastors aren't in the building very much during the week. And so it's uh a lot of people, you know, they they may have office hours one, two days a week, uh, whereas I'm a little bit more flexible. I'm usually here or either working in the church or working on church things from home almost every day of the week. And so it it it's gonna look differently, but just uh you know your church, you know the needs of your church. Uh and and yeah. Colin mentioned last time like everything we do should start with prayer and just asking God who are some people, who are three or four people in our church that I can look to uh to help out with some of these areas to kind of take the burden off of me.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Yeah, that's great. One thing that you said um in regards to delegation is uh we as pastors often have to have the courage to be able to see someone's gifting sometimes even before they see it. And I don't know how many times I have heard someone say especially someone that had done it for have done this for years, say, Oh, I didn't even think about doing that, but an elder, a pastor, somebody came up to me, they heard me singing because I was standing behind them and they, you know, thought I would be a good fit for the worship team, or they saw just how my countenance when people walked through the door and how I engaged with people and they saw that I could be a greeter, and I'd never even thought of that. And it's it's interesting to me how many people have ended up where they're at in church serving faithfully because someone else saw that they should do it. And and and that's true of of so many of us. I mean, there was a time, I mean, my love of music, there was a time where I thought that if I were going to be in ministry, I was going to be a worship leader. Um, that's just what I thought I was going to do. And when I finally surrendered and and became a Christian, and and you know, this isn't my testimony right now, but when I when I finally surrendered to God and and gave overlordship to him, he was like, All right, I'm calling you into full-time ministry. Like, you're gonna be a pastor. And I just I remember thinking, hold up, what? Um, you know, like that wasn't where I thought my life was going. And and granted, that wasn't someone up at the church telling me that, um, but it was it was a direction I was not expecting. And and even Brad and I, in our early conversations, I was convinced that I was not going to stay in the small town church. I was convinced that um, you know, I was going to teach at a seminary, which God may still open that door one day, but God has really given me a burden, a a love for the small town church, which isn't something I didn't expect. And so we as pastors need to have the the the we need to see the opportunity. We need to know our congregations well enough to um know their giftings, which means we're gonna need to be in the trenches with them. And we need to have the the capacity and the the courage, if you will, to say, hey, have you thought about doing this? You know, and I think that's important for us to do. Um when it comes to delegation, I think it's also a good thing to explain the why when we're delegating. Um oftentimes um churches can't not churches, that's not the right word. Sometimes people in church can misunderstand why you're delegating something, especially in a small town church. Because what may seem like just one job that you're doing at the moment could very well be 30, 40 jobs that you're doing because you wear a lot of hats, but not everything happens at the same time in a smaller church. And for those of y'all that are pastors in a small church, you know if you're not real careful the list of things can do to do can be death by a thousand cuts if you're just not really careful about it. And so sometimes delegating is is us saying, I really think you could do a good job at this, would you be willing to do it? And it doesn't necessarily mean just a role in the church, it very well could be I I'm really bad about, you know, we're sitting in a business meeting and someone says, Hey, this one job needs to be done, and I'm on staff and I'm getting paid to do this, my brain immediately just goes, Well, I mean, that's my role, I'll do it, right? And sometimes I have the time and the capacity to do it, but there should be other times where I need to say, you know, hey, that I think that would be a good job for someone else, so that other people can have um feel like they're a part of the church. Um too often in especially in the West, too often Christianity, especially in bigger churches, is Centered around what can I get from the church. Um and we need to change that thinking. Um, both as pastors and as as just church members, we need to think that change that that into no, in what capacity can I serve the church? You know, if I go into my marriage, which is a covenant between my wife and I, if I go into my marriage and I'm constantly asking, what am I going to get out of this marriage, it's not really going to be that great of a marriage. But if my wife and I are constantly saying, How can I better serve my spouse, that sacrificial love is going to make for a stronger marriage. And there is a covenant in church membership as well. And we need to remember that by delegating, by asking to serve, by doing those sorts of things where other people can get involved, we are saying, I value this covenant enough to give of my time, my talents, my treasures, so that the success of the church is tantamount. You know, this is Christ's bride we're dealing with, and we need to hold her in high regard, and seeing her succeed is one way we can do that. Um, Brad, kind of if you want to just jump in and give any other thoughts, kind of what just kind of how you're thinking about delegation as a whole.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Yeah, you know, I think you mentioned it it um we really need a vision for it.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

And I know uh for me I need a vision for it because a lot of the reasons I don't delegate is because it's it's a lot a lot of times it's easier if I just do it myself. You know, I can do it on my timeline. Uh not that I'm a perfectionist, but it sometimes it's just easier to do things. We think about um we've talked about that that God chooses to use us, not because he needs us, but because he values us. He created the world in six days and he's been working to redeem it for 8,000 years. Like we drastically slow him down. Amen. Um because he but he wants, he's delegated much of uh the not the I mean we're saved through or redeemed through Christ alone, but how that spreads to the nations, he's delegated that to the church. And we he could have done that in a moment, in a day, right? But he's taken 2,000 years since Jesus ascend ascended, um because we we can kind of slow things down. But it and so just understanding that yes, even though I could probably do this quicker or maybe even more efficiently, um, I've got to value the people and and value the people more than the process. And uh if you are a perfectionist, you know, be willing to let go of that and say, hey, it's it's better to have a community that's imperfect than try to put on a show that that's seems a little bit cleaner, uh, that you know, allow people the opportunity to make mistakes uh because that's that's how we grow. Um and also another area I struggle with, like I can ask people, hey, will you help with this or will you kind of take this over? But then I don't really give them a whole lot of training on how to. And I guess that's where the time crunch comes in, too. That it's sometimes it's easier for me to just do it than to actually train somebody how to do it. But just uh that missionary approach of well, we want to model it, we want to uh assist, we want to kind of give them leadership, watch them do it, and then just kind of leave them alone and and release them. And so um that takes time, but at the end of the day, it's ultimately we're called to make disciples. And and when we see delegation um as as a way to make disciples, as a way to develop leaders, even developing the next generation, um, it it then it becomes something that okay, maybe it's not something that we need to do, it's it's really something that we're mandated to do.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Uh and and pairing that up. Like you said, with our vision of how can we be a church that looks like Christ and makes disciples of Christ. Well, it's uh it was never meant to be a one-man show.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Amen. That's good. I want to as as we kind of start to wrap up the episode, um, I'll just kind of give my final thoughts and then I'll kick it over to you, Brad. I for the congregations, don't be afraid to ask how you can help. Um that's you know, for those of for those of you that want to be delegated to and want to it's okay to make yourself known. Um this might come as a shock to you, but your pastor is not all-knowing. Um he's not a mind reader. Um and and and and as their wives will be able to test to you, there are many times they're just clueless. We're men, it's what we do. It it's just it's kind of the fatal flaw of manhood, is just we don't always see what needs to be done. So don't be afraid to come in and step in. A perfect example of this is I run the sound uh at our church. Um, I love doing it. I I I kind of picked it up during COVID. I learned I've dealt with sound most of my life. Um, my first job was actually in AM radio back in the day. That kind of shows my age. But um I I've always had an affinity for that kind of stuff live streaming, sound, those sorts of things. And so I just naturally picked it up when I became the youth pastor at at FPC Tarzan, and it's just a natural thing for me. I run the graphics, I do all of that, and I had several men come to me and say they were interested in helping. I said, Great, thanks. I moved on with my life and kind of forgot about it. I didn't necessarily mean to do anything, uh you know, not do anything with it. I just kind of just got busy and just forgot. And I actually had someone come up to me at a Wednesday night and say, All right, look, the three of us want to help. You said we could help. Get your phone out and text a schedule to the three of us right now. And so I did. I pulled my phone out, I created a you know, first week, second week, third week, fourth week, you know, those sort of things schedule. And for the first month or two, I sat up there with them. I ran it through it. We I mean, we're such a small church, we don't, it's not an overly complicated system, right? Um, but I ran them through that system. I taught them how to do it, and now, you know, praise God, I get to sit with my wife a lot of the time during the, you know, I I was I I kind of joked, I almost had to reintroduce myself to her when I when I sat down, you know, hi, I'm Zach, I'm your husband. Can I sit with you during church? Because I I'd been up there so many weeks in a row. But there were men right there that were willing to help. And we I just I just got busy and I didn't take I didn't um get them scheduled and they just jumped in and said, Hey, buddy, take care of business. And that was so helpful for me because it wasn't that I meant to, it was just, oh, right, yeah, I can just pull my phone out and text this and we're good. And they've been so great, they are super helpful. I am I am incredibly blessed that I get to do that with them, and they're always on the ball. They're better at it than I am in most regards. And um, you know, anytime that I get the chance to preach, I'll usually get a text on Thursday and Friday. Hey, have you thought about picking one of us to do sound because it's your week to do it? I mean, they really pick up the slack for me. And so when you're delegating, you're gonna have some real diamonds in the rough. I mean, you are like you're not gonna realize who you have on your team until you start putting them in positions. And just because you delegate for some someone for something and it's not their thing and it doesn't work out, that doesn't mean that they don't have a place that they can serve somewhere else. You know, uh if at first you don't succeed, try try again, right? Um, not skydiving isn't for you. It's try try again. Um obviously there are places where people can serve in your church and we want them there. We want them not just on the bus, but on the right seat on the bus. And so use that as your opportunity to find where people are. And congregations, don't be afraid to pipe in and say, Hey, how can I help? What can I come alongside to help you to do? Um, one thing that I've started saying, not because I'm such a great husband, but because I need to remind myself to do it, is I will actually, I've actually started saying to my wife, how can I serve you? Because it trains me to remind myself that it's not about me. It's about it's about serving my marriage so that my marriage can grow stronger. And as congregations, we can do the same thing. Go to our pastor, how can I serve you? We know you're the chief servant here. We appreciate what you're doing. How can we serve you in some way so that this church can run efficiently for for Christ's kingdom? Brad, do you have any final thoughts before we wrap up the episode?

SPEAKER_00 31:09

No, I think that's great. That it it is a I'm glad you brought in that other aspect that it, yes, we as pastors are to delegate, but as church members, we have to be willing, right? We have to, and and sometimes we need to be proactive uh to to to lend a helping hand, to to to be looking for areas that uh say, hey, I've got an idea that that might make this run more smoothly. And um, yeah, it's it's definitely we need we need both sides of that coin.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Amen. That's great. Well, as we wrap up the episode, um Brad, as always, I I'm so grateful to be able to do this. I'm grateful for your friendship. I I I I get to so I get I get to meet with Brad. We meet regularly anyways, but I get to meet with Brad for seminary, and we meet we met recently. And one of the things I put in my paper that I have to write each each uh semester was just how much that I have come to cherish knowing you. What was such an incredibly chance encounter um from someone that we mutually knew that just out of the blue said, Hey, have you thought about talking to Brad about being your mentor? has really kind of turned into this brotherhood. And I am I'm so grateful to get to know you. I'm grateful to get to do these episodes. Um, thanks for putting up with me and my wacky ideas, and uh and thanks for being a part of this, brother. Um I enjoy it, thank you. Yeah. As we wrap up this episode, we're thankful for you, the listener, that you uh tune in each week and make this possible. We ask that if it blesses you in some way, share it. Um, get the conversation out. We do have a Facebook page. Um, I've forgotten to uh add that in the last couple of episodes. That's kind of a new development for us. Um, I really just kind of wanted to give a a central location for people to go find episodes. Um, and so I post our episodes on there each week, and I've started trying to do little snippets of episodes as well, um, just so you can kind of get an idea of what the show is about. So if you're looking for um a way to get people involved in the conversation, uh jump that jump in there and and share that um on there. I'll put that in the show notes. Um and also we really do want the conversation to keep going. Like we want to know your thoughts. We want to know how delegation's working for you. What are some tips? What are some tricks that have worked for you? So jump in and comment and and and don't just share the episode, don't just like it. That's great. We love all that, we love the listenership. Um, we we enjoy watching the you know, seeing what God is doing with it, watching the the lead the listenership go, you know, rise. But at the end of the day, we really do care about small town churches and we want to partner with you. So if we can pray for you, email us uh the smalltownpod at gmail.com or you can comment on on one of our episodes and we'll be happy to uh to join you in that prayer as well. And um, we do have some really fun episodes coming up in the pipe um that that we think you're going to enjoy as we uh as we start kind of the downhill progression towards the end of season two. We've still got several episodes that we want to bring to you, but as we look forward possibly into season three, if you have ideas for episodes, and I actually had from a friend of ours, a mutual friend of ours that actually listens to our show, he texted me the other day with a fantastic episode idea that would probably do well in season three. Um so as we kind of start to compile that, um, send your ideas. I mean, we want to talk about what you want to talk about, basically. I mean, even if we have no idea what we're talking about, um, and we just give it as a spot for us to continue the conversation in the comments. Yeah, we'll sound like idiots for 30 minutes so that you guys can sound much smarter in the comment section. I'm I'm good with it. I don't have a problem with that. Um so if you have ideas for questions or ideas for episodes, please share those with us. Well, as we as we round out the episode, we pray that you'll be blessed that that you continue to serve your small town church well and that you are um you just are faithful to your church, and we will see you back next week here on the Small Town Church. Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Small Town Church Podcast. We pray that you have found this episode useful. If this episode has blessed you in some way, please share with someone else who might benefit from it. If you would like to partner with us, leave us a review so the algorithm can share this podcast with other people. If you have a question, please email it to thesmalltownpod at gmail.com and we will do our best to answer it either in a later episode or in the QA episode at the end of the season. Also, if we can partner with you in prayer in any way, email us so that we may have the honor of joining you in that prayer. Until next time, we pray you delight in God's mercies, which are new every morning, and remember to stay faithful to your small town church.