From Seat to Street
The leaders of First Baptist Church Chaffee Campus dive deeper into the topics of Pastor Greg's Sunday morning sermon. The goal is to give you the tools necessary to take the message you hear on Sunday and apply it in your everyday lives.
From Seat to Street
Remaining Faithful to the Body (2 Samuel 11:1)
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Join Trey Overton, Mavric Herrera, and Tristan Weaver as they reflect on Pastor Greg's Sunday sermon, continuing the Bible recap series. The church started reading the Bible chronologically together, and this sermon continued the series that dives deeper into the readings. During this episode, Trey, Mavric, and Tristan shared some ways that we can apply Greg's sermon and be a more active part of the body throughout the summer. Every year, churches see attendance and participation drop significantly during the summer. It is important that families set the standard and share the importance of being involved. This episode shares some ways that families can get more involved and break the cycle of disconnection from the body. Join in and reflect with us as we discuss the sermon from First Baptist Church in Fort Smith, AR.
Mavric Herrera - mherrera@fsfbc.org
Trey Overton - toverton@fsfbc.org
Psalm 119.11 says that Scripture is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. That means God gave us His Word to guide and equip us in practical ways as we walk through our everyday lives. Join us now for this episode of From State to Street, as our FBC staff and church members talk about how this week's Sunday morning message comes alive as we walk through the streets and moments of everyday life.
SPEAKER_02Hey everyone, thanks for joining us. My name is Trey, and I am your host today, along with my good friend Mavic Carrera. Hello. All right, so today we have a special guest. He's joined us before. Um, he has been requested again, and I thought, you know, this is a perfect week to have him. But Tristan Weaver here. Say what's up, Tristan. Hey, hey. Tristan is joining us here. He's he's a um if you've listened last time he was on here, so we kind of gave him an intro, but I'll give it again. He um is all over the place, volunteers all over the place, and does a lot of great work with the with the youth down there um at the at the base and and on Wednesday nights and and um everywhere else Sunday school with the kids. And I think you you teach my son's Sunday school, don't you? Yeah, fourth and fifth grade boys. Sorry. That's that's a rough one. Nah, yeah, but he uh he he does he's a little bit everywhere and he helps out in major ways, like just a huge, huge, huge asset to us here at First Baptist. So we really appreciate him. Um and like I said, I just uh with with the dedication level that that Tristan has, I thought this would be a great time to have him on here just to kind of speak into what Greg talked about on Sunday. Um and just to dive into that. You know, this last Sunday um Greg kind of dove into some things that um I I you know it let's just let's call it what it is. He ruffled some feathers, right? You know, he talked about you know giving a little bit, that always is kind of a touchy. Yeah, it's all not always a tough, you know, um uh subject everybody wants to talk about. Um and then he talked about just kind of how people take the summer off. Just like, you know, David, he decided that, you know what, everybody's going to war in the spring. I'm gonna stay home this year. I'm tired, right? He's I'm tired, I'm worn out, you know. I've everybody got the winter off, but I was busy kinging, and you know what, I'm gonna uh take the summer off or take you know spring off. And and he stayed home, and what happened, right? He ended up you know falling into sin with with Bathsheba. So Greg used that um story as an illustration as to how we often take summers off, right? And it's not just our church, it's churches everywhere. You know, I've been a part of different churches all over the place during the summertime. People go on vacation, everything else, and it just um it snowballs into um a place where we just all of a sudden come out and break a habit. Yeah, break break out of the habit of going, and it just becomes not an important thing. And and so um, but there again, let's just kind of let's start off with what what do you what is your opinion on like what causes like summertime happens all and it's a fact. Like for those listening, you're like, ah, summertime's really no. I like literally that's that's my job to run these numbers and these statistics. All right, so giving giving is down 19% in the summertime. Yeah, every year, year over year. I did a did a did a 10-year span. And over 10 years, the average is 19% in the summertime is giving is down. Attendance is down 28% over the last year over year and the last 10 years, 28%, right? So this is a fact, it's not something that we're just throwing out there like ah, we could just kind of observe. No, it's it's something that like is statistically a fact. And so um, for those listening thinking, oh man, they're just blowing this out of the water. No, like it's a thing. And then we take two steps back as a church because families take two steps back, right? So then we're trying to reset and restart, and then we finally get momentum, and then we hit summertime again, and then here we are. Yeah, so let's talk about this. What what do you think causes people to take the summer off?
SPEAKER_04So uh, I mean, for me, you know, just as today is the last day of school year for Fort Smith Public Schools, you know, kids are now they they feel that freedom. Parents are like, Man, I don't have to wake up, you know, uh 5 a.m. to do my day morning routine, then get the kids ready, and then take them to school. So, you know, everybody's kind of, you know, all the all the your scheduling, all your your life rhythm has just been interrupted. And now you're kind of going, well, you know, I can sleep in another 30 minutes, you know, and it's and then you're you're starting to look at it. And I mean, let's be honest. I mean, summer is a is viewed as a time of relaxation, right? It's like it's time to, you know, I don't have to worry about kids' schedules. I don't have to worry about, you know, I've got vacation time, I can go do all this stuff. And so it's just kind of your your rhythm, your life rhythm is just now all of a sudden one day today thrown out of out of out of whack. And now you're just kind of, you know, trying to fill, you know, these new gaps or whatever with a new schedule. So I mean that's that's kind of how I see see the the change.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, and I think I mean we what soon as soon as school lets out, all of a sudden we as parents, and you know, I experience this, you experience this, all of a sudden, we've got to figure out what we're gonna do with our kids for the summer, right? It's a thing, you know, like and and they they get to a certain age where they can stay home. I think you know, yours are at an age where they can stay home probably. Um, and and so that's not it's mine are not there yet, right? So I've got to figure out I've got to, you know, are they going to Mimi's? You know, are they gonna what are they gonna do? Right. So uh which you know, mine goes to the boys and girls club, so we're we're that kind of people, I guess. I don't even know what that means, but those people were those people. Um and Noah's still in daycare, so there's that. But uh Yeah, but but you do, you have to figure out what to do with them for the summertime, and all of a sudden you start filling your schedules, right? Yeah, you've got that's when you start fit planning summer vacations, which we'll get into that, but uh summer vacations, uh uh maybe you throw them into summer sports, maybe you know, there's you know summer baseball, something like that. Um there's you know training camps and there's this and there's that, and all of a sudden you start filling their schedules so that you can keep your kids busy in the summer. Yeah, not at school, right?
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, next thing you know, your schedule's all out of whack. Right. And that that happens too. Um, but it's it's not do I and and I haven't observed this, I haven't run run the numbers on this. So um, like I said, I I know the overall numbers. Let's let's take a snapshot at young adults. What how do you feel the young adults are affected in the summer?
SPEAKER_05I mean, I wouldn't say it's super dramatically, but like it it's especially with you know college students. Yeah. Because most of the time, you know, they're doing the same thing. They go they go home for the summer if they're not from the college like that they're going to. Um, they go on trips. Uh some of our some of our young adults that are really into serving in ministry are going to serve at camps and other ministries during the summer, internships, whatever it is. Yeah. So it's a lot of like, okay, my summer is a time to be used. Um I'm just glad they're using it. For most for the most part, they're using it effectively. Yeah. And those who are going home are going home and going to stay connected with their church, their home church. Um the ones that are leaving for camp are obviously serving in a ministry is great, and learning from an internship is awesome. And then the ones that are staying are trying to still stay connected to maybe the young adults' ministry. But there's something about Sundays, Sunday mornings.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05The gathering of the body that really just doesn't click with them a lot.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And so I've really tried to encourage them that like this is the time where the whole body gets together and we get to really pour into them, and this is your time of nourishment. Like, young adults is great, and that thing that whole community is awesome, but we're just having fun. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a community fellowship-based young adults group, and so it's really just for fun, and it's not really for your spiritual growth and health. Like we want it to be feeding that, obviously. So we we implant scripture, we're we're having a worship night tonight. Um, we want to do things that are spiritually enriching, but this should not be a replacement for church.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So it's a weird dynamic where they they seem to feel like they can still miss church for some reason.
SPEAKER_02Do you think it has has any and this is just kind of a this is just kind of a random thought, but do you think it has anything to do? And I this is kind of something I've noticed, but like it's about my walk, right? And not about others. And so, and I think that you know, and I um just and I've noticed a lot of that with and I don't know, I you know, I start to say I noticed that with a lot of younger generation, but I think that's everybody. Oh, yeah. You know, it's it's a phenomenon in the church as a whole, but you know, it's about you know, if I'm getting what I need out of Thursday nights, then what do I need to come on Sundays for?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02And it's not about how I can help others grow in their walk, you know.
SPEAKER_05That's the big part. Yeah. And I guess it just comes down to not understanding why we're Christians, you know, like the reason that we that we're safe to something, you know, we're not just given salvation as a free pass and then we can just live. And it's all about me and Jesus walking together. Like that's very much it's hard because that has been really emphasized to young adults to the younger generation. Yeah, like you just need to get your walk with Jesus right. Like, just make sure you're walking with Jesus right. And I can say that for myself. Like, that's something I get easily caught into um because something's not going right in my life, or I'm stressed out, or I feel like I'm being uh like overly angry angry, I'm irritable, uh, something like that. And so I then think, oh, I need to get my walk with Jesus right. So that means isolate. Yeah, you know, right for some reason that means isolate and get alone with Jesus. And like it's hard because yes and no. Right. You know, we're called to so much more. Right. Right. We're called to, you know, make sure that that relationship is right and that is your your you know, your point of existence is literally being in fellowship with God. Um, but it's part of that is the blessing of walking with other people, walking with God. Yeah, yeah. You know, and they're there for your nourishment and for your um like to help you. But then you're in contrast, you're also there to help them.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05So it can't just all be about, okay, I'm going here to to get something on Sunday.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Because that's the big thing, is the consumer.
SPEAKER_04I I mean, and in that, you know, we have to look for each other to each other for that encouragement, that, you know, that motivation, you know, um, like, hey, you know, I need to be there because, you know, I only get to see this uh brother in Christ uh one day of the week. And that's that's this, you know, that's somebody that you know means something to me spiritually, you know. Yeah, like somebody that's really kind of added value to my walk with Christ, right? And so you kind of you know, you hold on to those, you're like, that's that's somebody I need to see. And you know, and for the same thing, yeah, you know, uh as a greeter, for instance, you know, I can tell when somebody didn't come through my door, that usually comes through my door. Yeah, and you know, I would be lying if I didn't say, I think, I wonder what they're doing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you know, I wonder where they're where they're wonder what's going on with them.
SPEAKER_04You know, uh, but you know, it it is it is kind of like Mav said, is you know, you want to you want to kind of isolate and say, you know, I'm just I'm not in the right mind. Right. Well, what better place to be than with the body, you know, even going through serving, or even if you needed to take a step away from serving, but just to be in the body, I mean, that's definitely something that's totally fine. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I think there's there's something that's to be said about i if you're if you've ever experienced being used by Christ, like whether it's in a relationship with somebody or helping them along you know in their walk and and um or sharing the gospel, being evangelistic or in in whatever manner, or sometimes just serving. But if you ever experience work being used by Christ and working with Christ in in a relationship with somebody, um it's a huge encouraging thing. And I think some people come into their their walk with Christ too, and and I'm just thinking about the young adults just because you know there's probably a lot of newer, there's at least some newer Christians there, right? Yeah, you know, you come into your walk with Christ, you're focused on your walk with Christ. But the moment that you actually experience being used by him and it actually being an active working moment with him, like it changes how you look at it too. So I think some of that is just timing too, and God's timing and their walk too. But um, but yeah, I think I think there's something to be said about that too. Absolutely. Um Greg mentioned a couple of of results, like um things that happen when you stayed home. Obviously, we saw an example when he used um of David there, but um he used a couple, and I'll just kind of read them off here. But he said, uh when you when you stay home, you're open to temptation, uh, you end up leaving your responsibilities, you have no accountability. Um, it puts you on a bad trajectory. Which one do you think has had the highest impact on your life?
SPEAKER_05Ooh, mine has always been you leave your responsibilities. Like I will, after staying home for, you know, if I get a taste of like relaxation, I am willing to give up whatever so I can keep that. Yeah. So I will make make excuses, make you know, cancel plans, whatever like that, just so I can stay home.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05You know, and that that includes, you know, to the extremes, giving up responsibilities and being like, ah, this is just I I I can make it not valuable in my head. I can I can invalidate it in your own head, yeah. I can invalidate my responsibilities for sure.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Uh I mean I guess for me, you know, it's kind of the I guess it's more of a s you know, whenever if you've missed, you know, Sunday or Wednesday or something, you look at it and you're like, well, they didn't need me. Or you know, it's kind of it's almost like you you start putting that self or that doubt or you know, even minimizing your own uh calling and own impact that you know that you've been called to make. You you even uh even say, Well, you know, they they don't they didn't need me, you know, it's it's it's gonna be it's gonna be fine. And so you kind of you know kind of walk yourself back, which can really do some some mind games with you, right? You know, um and you know, and that's that's kind of that's kind of what um uh Satan wants, right? He wants you to start doubting and doubting and doubting, not only yourself, but uh, you know, your purpose of your calling and what you've been doing. He wants you to start, you know, really dwelling on that doubt and and making it, you know, bigger and bigger than it is. Um you know, um I said earlier as we were talking, I said, you know, last night, Wednesday night church, I I I needed a day to kind of just be be awake, right? Well, even in that day, even though there was a part of me is like, well, I should I should I should just probably just I should probably just go, you know, and I I kind of fight it. Well then as I'm sitting there you know, even that doubt it's like, man, you know, I you know, do they I wonder if they need me. Do they need me? No, they they probably don't need me, you know, and it's it's just it's one of those things, even though it wasn't you know, it's not like I've you know missed, you know, uh four weeks of church or anything like that. It's just that one night, even for me, you know, it just gets into your head of you know, that kind of self-doubt of uh, you know, I d I don't uh there's not an impact I need to make there anyway. So you know, um, but uh that's kind of that's kind of how you know, even from yesterday to today, it's kind of even in my own mind and you know how I felt, it was kind of kind of interesting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well and it's a it's a terrible it's a terrible thought, you know, to think, well, the church, I say the church, you know, if I miss and it continues to go on as usual, right? What difference did I make? You know? And and it's like, do I even make an impact at all? Right. And and so it's like all of a sudden that thought creeps in and and what am you know, what are what am I even doing? And next thing you know, you're spiraling and like what is it? It's a snowball. It's a snow cheap. And um, oh man, I've been there. And you you know, operationally, yeah. Like and and and I say that just like operationally, you know, can we I tell people that at the you know, I used to, you know, run restaurants, and and if I have a server that calls in sick and and whatever, and something happens or whatever, and they take off, and maybe they feel better. I'm like, dude, I've been running this restaurant for 10 years and and um you're not the first person to call in sick. Like you're not the first person that something happened, and like life will go on, business will go as usual, I will figure it out, like we're gonna make it happen. It's not like it's the end of the world, right? Um, does that mean that that person does not make an impact in what I do? Absolutely not. There's things that that person does as far as um helping others, speaking into their lives, and it's an individual impact that nobody, you know, operationally, you know, yeah, I can run a business as usual. Yeah, but in the minds of the people that are there, they notice the impact.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you notice somebody's missing, you know when somebody's missing.
SPEAKER_02Right. And and it's just it's it's a void there. And and that's what ends up happening. Yeah, like the church is gonna operate, like, you know, if you miss, yeah, we're gonna figure it out and we're gonna figure out how to operate as normal. I mean, that's just what we've got to do.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_02But that doesn't mean that you're not missing, you're not needed, because those kids, you know, on Wednesday nights, the ones that are down there that recognize you're there and have a relationship with you, all of a sudden they're uh, you know, they're affected negatively, like they're all of a sudden their minds thinking, man, um, he's whenever I come here on Wednesday nights, he's kind of one that puts me in a better mood. If I've had a bad day, I can look at Tristan and he's gonna throw a football at my head and make me laugh, and it's gonna be fun. And and so like it's it's you know, we don't realize how much we have an impact on the individual person. Um, so yeah, it's easy. Like sitting at home and I man, that snowball's bad. Yeah, it can it it's definitely I think um I think for me it's it's temptation. Um when and this just whenever I've got into modes, um, especially in my earlier life, you know, when I've got into modes where all of a sudden I missed a Sunday or two. Um obviously it set me on a bad trajectory where all of a sudden I'm missing quite a bit just because I got in the rhythm, which we kind of talked about. Um, but all of a sudden I found myself like, well, I'm already not going to church. Let's I can I'm gonna go do this, you know, or I'm already, you know, I'm already here, so let's do this. And so like, and all of a sudden temptation, and that's the devil speaking, you know, like you know, leading me to think that way, but it's just opening my mind to all this temptation, right? Like, well, you know, I'm already here, let's just, you know, let's just keep going down this path. And and um, and once again, another snowball effect. It all leads to a trajectory, I guess, when you think about it. But it's all you know, all of a sudden it's a snowball effect, and and all of a sudden sins creep in my life. My my son, you know, who's been watching me go to church and all this other stuff, seeing me not go to church anymore and not make that a priority in my life. And all of a sudden he's like, Well, I mean, if he doesn't need it anymore, I guess I don't need it. And then next thing you know, he's impacted, and and so like there's just this huge and so um, yeah, so I think for me, you know, I'm just open to temptation and just um allowing other things in my life when I'm disconnected. I think that's probably always been one that affected me most. Um, which there again all leads back to trajectory, but yeah, um okay, so from a church member's perspective, what are ways that we can encourage others to stay active throughout the summer? Now you made this this point earlier, like we need to go vacation. Oh, yeah. You've got to take a break. You have to take a break, you know. Even as you know, ministers, you know, we we need to have that that that pause button for a week, you know, go on vacation, go to the beach, take your family, go to the lake, whatever. You know, we need to take a break. We need to reset, but that doesn't mean that right, we take the whole summer. Right. Yeah. Um, and so how can we encourage other members, you know, part people of the congregation, um, to not take the whole summer off, you know, to just be continue to be active parts of the body.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, I I think it all comes back to all you know being intentional about, you know, your your scheduling and your you know, understanding we all have a rhythm of life. And, you know, when uh school gets out, that rhythm's messed up. When you go on vacation, that that rhythm's messed up. You have to, whenever you have to come back, you know, that time of vacation was was a reset. You needed it. We're all thankful for that. I know I'm thankful for my vacation time, or whenever I get to just, you know, uh go out and do something that I really, really enjoy. Uh but whenever you have to know that there was a reason I was doing what I was doing before. Right. There was a reason that I was in this rhythm of uh going to Sunday school. Uh I was going to uh the worship service and I was doing uh Um, you know, maybe it was some kind of event like a cookout or something for the church, right? And you you have to kind of be intentional of uh putting that stuff back into your your rhythm, into your your scheduling, your your calendar. And um, you know, you know, especially as a father, you know, kinda like what you said. If if I say, well, we went on vacation, let's you know, let's you know, even though we're you know we're well rested, let's um let's do something else this week and not go back. Well, I'm not sending a very, very good message to my kids, right? To my family, you know, as as the leader of my family. You know, I'm sending mixed messages, you know, because I've always been telling them, hey, you know, we're going to church, you know, even during the school year, they'd be like, Well, I'm so tired. Yeah, me too. Let's go. We're going, me too. We're going, we're going, we're going. You know, this is what we're doing. Or it's like, well, well, do you know, are do we have to go to Sunday school? Yeah, of course we have to. Like that's a that's a big part of of the church. And so I think it's just, you know, for me, it's that mindset. It's uh being intentional. I mean, and you know, funny enough, you know, it whenever I go on vacation, I'm not just missing church, I'm missing work. I have to do the same thing for work. I have to get back into okay, what was I doing? You know, and I I really, you know, I sit down and I think, okay, what projects was I working on? What what was my goal? What was my mission? What was the vision that I, you know, that I had before, you know, I put I I took that vacation. It's the same thing, same thing with church is that you know, you have to you have to sit there and go, okay, what was I doing? What was my goal? What was, you know, even what is my calling? Um, you know, and to put that, you know, back into your vision. Because when you do go on vacation, it's all behind you, you know. You're eating ice cream for breakfast and you know, all this, you know, you're doing stuff that's un you know, kind of out of the ordinary. And so whenever you come back, it's like, okay, that was fun. I enjoyed it. I I'm rested, I'm relaxed, but now this is what I this is what I was doing. So and then you jump back in it. So it's kind of the you know, just being intentional about it. Like I said, it's no different than the church than it is for work, right? You have to you have to do the same thing. I can't be gone for a week and again to go back to work without thinking about anything else. But um but you know, you have to do the same thing for uh for your church body, you know, especially as a member. You know, we're here for a purpose, we're here for each other, we're here to uh you know, be involved in these uh fellowships and be involved in uh different uh ministries, whether that's uh children's, whether it's students, whether it's uh college-age kids, whether it's you know, 60 plus, you know, or greeting even. You know, you have to get back into that. You have to understand this is my calling, this is my purpose, this is what I have to do.
SPEAKER_02And it's a good teaching moment if you've got kids. I mean, it's a good, I mean, it's a good teaching moment. I have I I don't remember how many times, you know, maybe not I'd probably more, I'm probably exaggerating it, but several times where Bo is like, Do we have to go to church today? And I'm tired or whatever. Yeah, I had this going on, you know, I was like, do we have to go to church? Can I just like go do this? I want to go to a friend's house or whatever. And I'm like, and I just have to remind him, and this was especially when I was in my internship. I was like, Bo, I'm working three jobs, I'm going to school full-time, I'm broke, I'm tired, and I'm going to church. And we're going, yeah you're going to church. Yeah. And so like it's it's a good teaching moment, you know, though, you know, to stop it. And then you can, you know, and then not stop and tell them why we're doing it. But um, but it's a good teaching moment and it and it helps them. It sets if you've got kids, it sets them up for an you know, an understanding of where where we prioritize. Yeah. Right. Um and even why. Like why we why we prioritize where we prioritize, why we prioritize.
SPEAKER_05That's a good point. I think it also like it comes into making sure people feel like as ministers uh and as leaders in the church, like it's comes it's important to make people feel important, you know, and to feel valued, to feel like they're making an impact. Um and so talking to people is literally one of the most undervalued things on the planet. Oh yeah. So many times I I you know, I love our people. Um we see them come in and then sit down and wait for the service to start, and that's it. When there's a good, you know, there's a good like doors open very early, you know. Yeah. It's so there's still like 45 minutes by the time the doors open to the tar the start of the service. And that is sometimes like that is the most valuable time for me whenever uh I'm coming into church is the time that I get to spend talking with the people, hearing about their weeks, uh, them encouraging me, me encouraging them. It's like that's where the the work comes down to the before and the after service, you know. That's that's where you really start to actually get intertwined with a church and start to feel that pull of like when I miss it hurts. When I miss it sucks. Um and that's that's the only way you're gonna get to a point where you understand the value of church. Because if you're just going for the service and you could be in and out and nobody knows, like yeah, uh to miss church is no big deal whatsoever. You know? And uh I really just feel like it comes down to who do you know? Who do you know at your church? What do you know about them? You know, do you really know them? Do you know your people? And so if you if you don't, then maybe that's now the goal. Like you you've been sitting in the service for so long and worshiping, and that's great. Obviously that's what we're here to do as well. That's part of it. Um but we gotta know our people. Like God has God is not a it's not a god of coincidence, right? And like I strongly believe that the people in our lives have been placed in our lives. It's not just because I moved here that I get to meet Trey and Tristan. That's not just it's not just because of that. It's because there's something that God wanted me to gain from having a relationship with Trey and with Tristan, and there's probably something that they want that God wants them to gain from having a relationship with me. And that's just how he works. Yeah, that's just how amazing he is. He can orchestrate. It's just one way. All those people it's probably just me learning from them. But um yeah, like that's that's how intentional our God is, is that everybody in your life has been placed there. Uh, and I really, really believe that.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I and and there's people that I mean, I can just think of our congregation out there at Chaffee, and um, you know, we're getting a text from one right now, me and you, um uh from somebody who's who's going through something right now. And um there's there's people in that congregation actively going through things that need somebody's um prayer, that needs somebody's um companionships, that needs somebody to to to just bounce things off of, and there's people that just that need that um in and um they're not gonna ask for it. Some will, and and some have that boldness, um, but there's gonna be a lot that don't. Um they're they're they're not especially at first, like especially if you're just getting to know them, they're not just gonna be like, you know, hey, I just met you. Oh, by the way, you know, I'm feeling like I'm doing this, this, and this. Are there some people that are they're gonna have that confidence and boldness to do that? Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, uh, but a lot of them are not, right? And so I think, and that's another great point, just uh think about your your attendance at church. You know, it's not just checking a box saying that I'm here, it's being a part of something far greater. Oh, yeah. You're called to something far greater. There's people out there that are hurting, there's people out there broken and going through things you've been through things. If you're listening right now, you you're you're one of those people that have been through something. You maybe you had somebody in your corner, or maybe you didn't and you wish you had. I've been in both of those places in my life, right? And so, like, um know that there's somebody going through something that needs somebody in their corner, well, the best place for you to be there for them is by coming to church and building that relationship and being that person for them. Yeah. Um, and so that's a great point, Maverick. Great point. Um let's just uh we only got a couple minutes left, and I just kind of want to talk about something. Um, if you were to provide one solid concrete piece of advice for something that in their house, Maverick, you're looking at starting a household, right? And so future, future household, right? But um, but in your house, you're gonna set this standard. Like it is important for me to um we're we are going to be, it's not just of there again about checking a box and I'm attending. We are gonna be an active part of the body, right? That's gonna be the standard of our household. What would be one piece of ad white advice for somebody who's looking to um to set that standard?
SPEAKER_05I'll let you start this one, Tristan.
SPEAKER_04But he called you out, man. Yeah, he literally called you out. I need an idea first. Oh yeah, okay. I'll give you a I'll give you a sounding board. All right, I gotcha. No, uh I think I think the standard is uh and one thing that you know Mav and I uh with the Wednesday night uh middle school boys and you know just pray for us uh on Wednesday nights about seven o'clock, you think. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, and that's one thing we tell them is that, you know, and it's the same thing I I tell my family, and you know, they've they've they're picking up the same stuff is that hey, there's a place in the church that God can use you. Like, you know, we had uh we had a couple kids who are like, well, we're in we're in tech. I'm like, great, I love it. I was like, but you you just you know, for the last three weeks, we've been praying about um your orchestra and band competitions and how how you want this guidance. I was like, so we're going, man, hello like hello, like do you hear what you're saying? Like, our team has been like, hey, we're looking for new band members and we want to teach you whatever instrument. And so yeah, we're looking for people, and like, and so he's like, Well, you know, uh I well, I would I'd kind of like to learn how to play guitar. I'm like, hello. Uh Mav uh just happens to know how to play, you know. It's like I know a guy, yeah, I know a guy, and he's he's right here. And so even uh so then one kid, you know, he he doesn't he's not in band, he's not in this, he's not in tech. I'm like, what are you doing? He goes, I don't know. I said, Well, I said, I know this about you, is I see you every Sunday morning in Sunday school, then I see you in church. Uh, so why don't you come down and greet with me? Like, let's start out there, you know, look, you know, get you uh, you know, introduced to these people that are walking through my door who I so love every morning. Like, you know, let's get you out here and and you know, get you comfortable with, you know, just smiling and you know, just feeling a part of it, not just going from you know, uh third floor to the sanctuary, from the sanctuary to the parking lot. Like there's so much more in between this that that and so so ultimately my my concrete uh my my one piece of of concrete and has to do uh for the advice to you know being involved is there's something there for you. There's something for you to be involved in. And once you're involved in that, guess what? Now you have the kind of the feeling I do. It's like it's like my secondary job. Like I know I have to go to work on these days, these hours. Well, guess what? I also have to do this and this through these on these days, through these hours. Yeah, you know, it's it's my job, it's what I've been called to do. So, you know, find that spot, whatever it is. If it's uh if you want to learn how to play an instrument, or you know, well, I used to play uh trombone whenever I was in high school, but that was 30 something years ago. I'd like to kind of get back into it. Fantastic. I guarantee we can find somebody to help you figure that out. Or, you know, well, I'm I'm kind of shy, and but I I I'm kind of shy, but I want to get over it a little bit. Great. You know what a fantastic place to start is standing at a door going, good morning. Yeah, like you you can literally repeat the same thing over and over, and then you get comfortable and you're like, I'm gonna mix it up this morning, and be like, hey, how's the weather? You know, and then you start like it's jurishumid, you know, and you just like but that's you have to get in those positions of uh being uncomfortable for that true growth. Um this is this is something that is you know, professionally and personally, uh something that I you know I I believe in is that if you feel comfortable, you should probably be looking around. Yeah, like something something's going on. There's a shoe gonna drop somewhere. Something's going on. And and uh, you know, and I feel like that in my my my spiritual walk as well as my professional walk, you know, my job is that if something's comfortable, I start going, okay, whatever let's let's let's find something to get a little bit more uncomfortable. Yeah, yeah, you know, and you know, it really does produce that that growth. And and once you you get involved with the the church body and you've you've picked up that uh confidence, you know, you want to have that confidence not only that you belong to a place, like these are this is my family, right? It's a you know, you know, I may not know all their names, but I can I see their faces, you know. I see their faces and I know I know who they are. Uh um, you know, I know what car they drive, I know, you know, what all this stuff about it's like you know, that's my that's my family. And it just kind of brings that that bonding um to you, to Christ, to you know, his church body and and what we're called to do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I like that. And I'll take that even a step further, just as far as you know, encouraging people to get active and stuff like that. Um you can see that in your kids, you know, in your household easily. I mean, um, which you know, I I we have a little bit easier out there at Chaffee because you know, which you know, Maverick sees it every Sunday morning, but you know, whenever I get there, what does Bo do? He's got he's got his jobs, right? Yep. And so he he goes and he sets up the nursery, and then he comes out and helps us set up chairs, you know. Um and so like it's a you know, we've got you know, I've got jobs for Bo that immediately gets him to plug in and gets him active, and he's 10 years old. Yeah, you know, and and you can see as you're if if you're listening right now, you've got kids, be looking for opportunities to get your kid active, not just show up for um DBS or not just show up for awanas or any of that stuff. Like, like look for intentional ways for your kid to be active, whether it's in conversations, whether it's whatever it is. And I know the younger they are, the little bit harder it is. I get that, you know, but that's your foundational blocks, right? Maybe it's standing there with you as you're a greeter. Yeah, you know it's easy. Yeah, my son loves to talk. If you've met Bo, yeah, he loves to talk, right? And if you if I set him up there and I was a greeter and he stood up there next to me, he would strike more conversations than I ever thought of striking. And and he's gonna tell everybody about everything, even if they don't want to hear it. And and but but it gets him in that mode, right?
SPEAKER_05And so like you give him a sign.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, no kidding. He can be the waving it out there. Yeah, side dancer. I like it. But it it's it's something that you can think about in your household, I guess, is my point. And that is like, you know, how can you get your kids active and just kind of joining you in in your ministry, right? And whatever it is that you're doing.
SPEAKER_04And I think I think whenever you do that, it does make those, you know, even back to the the very first question, it makes those times that you've had the time off, you've had your vacation, you're wet rested. Well, guess what? Now they feel like, hey, I've got a job to do as well. Like I said, you know, just like you said, Bo knows that whenever he walks in, I've got I've got jobs I have to do. Like this is something that, you know, I've I'm I'm doing. And not just because you're you're you're his dad and you're telling him to do it, but I guarantee he's found some joy in doing that.
SPEAKER_02He loves it when people come in, they're like, Bo, you set all this up. Yeah, yeah, no big deal. Uh I do what I do. I carry the world on my back. That's great.
SPEAKER_05That's great. Oh man. Well, you'll never believe it. I was gonna say the exact same thing. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01That's so wild. That's crazy, man.
SPEAKER_05But no, really, yeah. Like I think it is just about getting plugged in in some way. Um, but like I said, I mean, something that I really want to do that I've seen modeled for me in other men in my life, um, is showing that importance uh in the household, you know, showing that importance that our spiritual walks are also so important. Yeah. Because if it's just church that's important, um, then you know, whenever they leave the house, yeah, um it's not gonna last. Yeah, it's not gonna last. That's just box checking, right? Right, exactly. And so implementing that into the household, I would really love to have, you know, a day or a time where there's family time where we just get to like fellowship together and bond, but then also like a spiritual family time where we get to spend a lot of time either in the word and worshiping and um praying together as a family, praying for each other, praying for our church, figuring out where we can serve, checking in with one another, you know, that kind of thing. Um, because that your your house is supposed to be like a reflection of that, a reflection of the church. And so if they don't really get to see that a lot in the household and they're kind of only seeing it in church, I wouldn't want to say you're like setting it up to fail, or you're setting up the church to fail them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_05You know, I don't I don't know if that's a bit extreme, you know, but um it's broken people, you know, it's broken people. And not to say that you're not broken, but I would definitely want to model that myself, uh then put a put a lot of faith in the church to in the people in the church to model that for my kids. Yeah. You know, because just because I've come from a a past of I don't like I don't want to say church hurt, but just like people in the church hurt. Yeah. You know. And so I want to be able to show my kids that even though people might fail you, this is this is how it it should be. This is how it should look. And people will fail you.
SPEAKER_02People will fail you. Will.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's going to happen. Yeah, yeah. People will fail you. I will fail you, but this is how it should be. And um it's not any reason to get mad at them, it's a reason to extend grace to them. You know, it's a way to extend grace to them. And so um, I would really love to model that in my home eventually.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, I I to just kind of piggyback off that, that was gonna be my point, I think, too. No way. No way. It was crazy, you know, like we identified, yeah. The same thing. No. Um I took a class uh when I was working on my master's degree, and and it it it took us through in an instructional way of how to set the standard in your household. Um not just for going to church. It was more than that. It was you know for your walk with Christ and and what that means and how to set the standard in your household. Um I saw that if you've ever seen uh I'm trying to think of the movie, but it's got the police officers. Um man.
SPEAKER_05Um the movie with the police officers.
SPEAKER_02I know, I know. Um man, uh now I'm drawing a blank on it. But anyways, they they it it's essentially what they did in this movie. There's some uh this guy, he's a police officer, and they're a group of police officers, anyways. Um, he all of a sudden really kind of he he they go to church, they check the boxes, um, but he realizes that his kids, his relationship with his kids are failing, his relationship with his wife's failing, all this other stuff. And he has his friend who's a mentor for him, didn't realize it was at the time, but the guy had been kind of feeding into that, right? Um uh all of a sudden kind of speaking to, well, what's your household look like? What's this? And and he kind of pointed to something that he did in his house that set the standard for how they operate, right? And what he did was he created like this um uh a statement of uh I forget how he put it, but basically like it was a statement of belief and a st and uh and a covenant is what it was with his household. It's like he as a father, you know, we you know, just kind of like Joshua did, me and my household, I will serve the Lord, right? Well, he did the same thing in his house. He's created this and he made this big deal, like he created this this frame and he put it in there like uh this me as a father, I you know, me as a father and as a husband, I will continue to serve Christ first, and then I will put you, and so he made this covenant with his family, but but within that covenant that came with, well, and if I'm gonna do these things, you are gonna follow me in my steps, right? And so, and then they all all the whole family, him, the wife, and the kids signed at the bottom, right? And so, like, we're gonna go to church, we're gonna be an active part of the body, and all these things. And so, anyways, in this movie, it was a great movie. Um, but then you know, this he showed him this guy that, right? And then he's like, Well, you know, that's a big deal, and like this covenant's a big you know, that's a big deal to make a covenant. Oh, yeah. And so he had to think about a pray about it, you know, and and so and then all of a sudden he says, I'm in. Well, and then this Other guy that happened to be working for him, which this is you know, it's a movie, so there's all kinds of scenarios in there, but like it ended up being like five guys that jumped in on this this you know bandwagon to create this covenant and all this, like yeah, and then like there's this big deal next thing you know, and of course it goes through in time and how it affected their lives and stuff. That's awesome. In this class, they they did the same thing, or you know, it's kind of a similar step, like you know, start with making a covenant with your family. Start with making a statement, like um making and I say covenant, uh, it can be a commitment, you know, or or whatever, but it needs to be something in writing that everybody sees and everybody understands. Like, if you're looking to set the standard in your house, like this is what we're gonna do as a family, we're gonna serve God and we're gonna be a part of his body, and we're gonna be used by him. If that's gonna be your standard, let's put it in writing, let's put it up on the wall and everybody sign it. Everybody's gonna be involved in this, right? And so I think putting it in writing and putting it to where everybody can see it changes the dynamic. Oh, yeah. It makes you get up when you go put it above the dinner table. When you sit down at dinner at night, you look up and you see that covenant, right? That that's what we do as a family. This is what we are about. And and so uh my concrete piece of advice would be to pray about that. And everybody's covenant's gonna be a little bit different, you know. It's obviously gonna be based around serving God and being an active part of the body, right? But how it goes about is gonna be a little bit different, you know. Um, and so and then how it's actually written, and maybe the scripture basis that you use is gonna be a little bit different than somebody else's. So pray about that. But I encourage you to put something in writing and get your whole family involved in it. Your whole family, your wife, kids, everybody, put in your writing, put it up on the wall, everybody sign it, and then it'll change the dynamic of your household and and how you function because everything that you do will be based around that, right? And so that would be my concrete piece of advice. And I'm gonna close on that. It was we we don't want to sit here and and beat you to death with like, hey, you need to be, you need to do that. I know that's what it sounds like, right? Um, and it kind of is. I was about to say it kind of is. Um, but it's we started with this, or I started with this, and and I'm gonna repeat it, the numbers don't lie. I mean, there's a reason why we're talking about this because it's a thing. You know, people stop showing up, people stop giving, people stop, you know, being a part of the body. Um and so we we want to cut out the the taking two steps forward and and one step back that we see in the summertime, right? We want to continue the momentum, we want to continue moving forward and working together as a body, and let's do that together. Let's do that together. Let's jump in and let's make a commitment, make a commitment in your household, make a commitment in your life, make a commitment with the church to continue to be a part of that. Um, and so I encourage you in that. Um, I want to thank everybody for listening. If uh just uh just a few quick things on the 31st, we've got the cookout at a Chaffee, come be a part of that. Maverick's gonna miss out on that, but it's whatever. And but we've got burgers, hot dogs, and all that. We're gonna be grilling out out there. So um and we're gonna do potluck sides. So, you know, bring your sides, yeah, and desserts. Bring them. Yeah. So um if if you if you're not, if maybe if you're a downtowner and you want to come check, maybe it's a good time for you to come check out Chaffee. Um, everybody's invited. So if you want to come out there, have some burgers and hot dogs with us and all that stuff, come check out, uh, come be a part of that. I encourage you to do that. And then we've got VBS the first week of June, right? So the first week of June, we've got VBS. Um, if you've got kids, um be thinking about that, be playing on it. Uh, we've got bands running. If you need rides, just reach out to the church. We can get them, get them rides. And if you've got any questions on on any of that, like maybe some of the advice that we gave there again, how to how to start a commitment with your family. Um, if you have any questions about how to set that up or maybe some advice on that, um, our I'm gonna put our emails in the bio bios, but you can always call down uh to the church and I'll be here. Um I I will more than be more than happy to sit down with you, be more than happy to uh walk you through what that looks like and um and and and and I promise you it's something that will change the dynamic of your family. Um so I want to thank everybody once again for listening, and we are out of the house.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for joining us for this week's From Seat to Street Conversation. This podcast is the Ministry of First Baptist Church, Fort Smith. As a reminder, you can always listen to each of the messages we discussed here on our chapter and first sermon podcast each week. Thank you for listening.