Cold Water, The Super Bowl, and and Introduction to Small Groups

We share winter updates, student and kids ministry plans, and a simple way to make a growing church feel personal. The big push: launch small groups shaped by what you want to study, build, and enjoy, with leader training that keeps each group healthy.

• paintball camp dates, limited spots, price timeline
• Ohio Teens for Christ travel and format
• SuperStart details and nursery reopening with named teacher
• Super Bowl party focused on chili and pie contest
• listener predictions and coffee wager challenge
• cold plunge report and takeaways on energy and recovery
• why small groups matter for connection and discipleship
• types of groups: study, hobby, moms, family circles
• how to propose, join, lead, or co-lead a group
• leader training, sustainability, and quarterly all-group gatherings

www.rushchurch.com

Transcript

Winter Banter And Church Updates

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of Rush Hour. Isn't that a great title for a podcast?

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Love it.

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Especially for a rush church podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Very good.

SPEAKER_03 0:08

That's a good title for a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:10

We love rush in everything.

SPEAKER_03 0:11

We put rush in a lot of things, especially in we put the rush in rush hour. But we're glad you're joining us once again. We're back with another episode. A lot of things going on at the church. It's winter time, so we're dealing with snow and cold. I don't think it's been above freezing for weeks. Are you guys staying warm?

SPEAKER_01 0:31

No. Today was a heat wave.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Today was a heat wave. What was it, 24? Yeah.

unknown 0:35

Woo!

SPEAKER_03 0:36

24 degrees.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Swimming time.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

So all the things coming up at Rush Church, we'll give you a quick recap or a quick look at what's coming up. Some student ministry things. If you have any students or teenagers that you know or that you have living in your house. Paintball camp signups are starting to open this coming weekend. And so that is something that usually fills up fairly fast. And the price does go up mid-April,

Student Ministry: Paintball Camp

SPEAKER_03 0:59

so you've got a couple months to get signed up for paintball camp. Limited, limited number of spots for that. It's one of our biggest events we do throughout the year.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Yeah, there's already only 22 spots open left.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Oh, they've already started to fill. Oh yeah. Wow. All right. We better get that out then. Alright. So paintball camp's coming up. If you don't know what that is, it's we take a group of about 24, 25 students and seven adults. We go to West Virginia for a week to a really cool camp called Hal's Mill. Actually, one of their representatives is coming February 22nd this month to talk to us about camp. And I know Tim Yankee came last time, a couple years ago, to our church to talk about it. So that's that's paintball camp. Another thing I wanted to mention is Ohio Teens for Christ. That's coming up April 3rd and 4th. Easter weekend. On Good Friday, we go to Columbus, take a group, and we stay until Saturday afternoon. And it's a it's a teen conference. It's it's really good. We've gone to TCTC in Tennessee. This is like a miniature version of TCTC. Worship bands, speakers, breakouts, workshops, and then a bunch of fun. We do games and we go walk around the mall. We get food. So it's just a a really fully packed 24 hours of ministry. And so look for signups the Sunday at the welcome

Ohio Teens For Christ Details

SPEAKER_03 2:14

desk for that if you want to get your teen signed up. Or if you have more questions, you can ask me. But so those are some student ministry things coming up. What else do we have? Somebody else?

SPEAKER_00 2:22

In kids' ministry, we have Superstart on March 20th and 21st. You can still sign up, but the price did go up about $15. So you can see me if you want to go to that for fifth and sixth graders. And then also just so you guys know, we're opening back up our nursery. We have so many

Kids Ministry And Nursery Reopening

SPEAKER_00 2:38

new babies in the church that we're opening up the nursery starting March 1st. And our new nursery teacher is Kirsten Bayless. So we're very happy and excited to work with her. Because who doesn't love to hold babies?

SPEAKER_03 2:49

I know. To be like the best. I don't hold with their teachers' babies. So I wouldn't like to be able to do it. You don't? No.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Why are you afraid you're gonna like do something wrong?

SPEAKER_03 2:57

Something might happen while I'm holding the baby.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Did you do you have a trauma experience with this?

SPEAKER_03 3:03

I hold my own babies when they're little, and if yeah, I gotta I gotta be really close to that family if I'm gonna hold their baby. So like I don't hold babies because I get that.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Darren used to say that, but then I started taking like Noah, Morgan's child. I just I love that kid. Yeah, I love all her kids, but I would hold Noah and I need to go do something real quick. So I gave Noah to Darren, and at first he's like, uh oh. And then he's like, ah, you're cool, dude. Yeah. And then they were just talking back and forth to each other. It's the cutest thing I've seen.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

I'm talking like babies, babies. Like I like newborns. Like newborns, those are the best. I'm gonna hold a one-year-old if you hand me a kid, but a baby, no, I'm good. I'm not holding the baby. Something might happen. It might not even be my fault. I'll just be like, oh, I can't. It just makes me nervous. So no babies for me. But if you I love holding babies, stop by our nursery, and actually, not anybody can just walk in.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

Peek in the window or Kristen will be well trained to do that.

SPEAKER_03 4:01

She's good to go. So um, then we have Super Bowl Sunday. Is this Sunday coming up? You guys like football? Do you have a who's gonna win?

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Wait, I don't know who's playing. I thought so. Um, so I actually do like football. That's fine. You can like but you still not know. I would wa I watched a ton

Super Bowl Party, Chili And Pie

SPEAKER_01 4:18

of football before I had a family.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Well, well, when I had a husband, I still watch football, but then when I had kids. When I got a husband. When I got a husband, is that right? Yeah. You just said when I had a husband, I decided to keep him. He's like, hello. Still has a husband. Don't worry, you said he doesn't really listen to the podcast anyway. No, he doesn't. Perfect. Uh but yeah. Anyways, what were we talking about? Super Bowl Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

You can come and take part in the chili contest, the pie contest. You can sample all the chilies, vote on your favorite one, same with the pies.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

I've never made anything. I think I might. You never made anything in your life. No, I've never made anything for this event. You should make some chili. I just come there to eat. Me too. Yes. But sometimes I feel like I cook a lot, so it's kind of a nice break.

SPEAKER_03 5:08

Just don't cook anything, just show up and eat the chili.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

And we'll see some pie.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Or I'll secretly enter something and win. I doubt that. Alright, here we go.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

I'm I'm to the point now where I don't even want to make a chili. I'd be like, I give up. Oh wait, weren't you just seven years in the running? Just got taunted today.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

Alright, back to football. All right. I'm gonna ask you who you're gonna win the Super Bowl and what the score is gonna be, and we'll see next time on the podcast. All right. Okay so we have the Patriots from New England versus the Seattle Seahawks. All right.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Haven't they both played before in each other?

SPEAKER_03 5:45

Yeah, this is like the Super Bowl? Yeah, they have. Sometimes you get rematches.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Nobody likes the Patriots. Nobody likes the Patriots because they're like they don't even deserve to be there.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Inflatable balls inflate gate, you know.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Anyways, I was gonna say they're like Jeff Gordon. Jeff Gordon! Nobody actually likes Jeff Gordon. He wins all the time, so nobody likes him. The Patriots won all the time. At least in 2015.

Football Predictions And Coffee Wager

SPEAKER_01 6:20

I don't know. No, okay. Everyone I've ever said that to agrees with me.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Oh, don't get me wrong, I hated Jeff Gordon. See? And then I hated Jimmy Johnson because he was winning all the time after Jeff Gordon.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

You only hated him because of Earn Johnson.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Just like Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls, people hate him because he was always in the world.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

The Patriots are who you choose if you just walked into football.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

If you're the best, people are gonna hate you because you're the best and you always win.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

My prediction.

SPEAKER_03 6:50

Kentucky basketball? People hate Kentucky basketball. People are the best. It always happened. So that's why they're haters.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Okay. I predict the Patriots are going to win.

SPEAKER_03 7:00

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

28 to 13.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Patriots 28 to 13, Ashley. I'm writing these down. We're gonna revisit this.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Oh shoot. Hold on. Let me think about this.

SPEAKER_03 7:09

Okay. I'm gonna go ahead and give mine since that Brittany doesn't know what she's doing.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Well, I do, but my score was the same guess.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

I'm taking the Seahawks.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

So you can take Seahawks.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

I'm taking the Seahawks. It's gonna be 31 to 20. Brittany, what do you have?

SPEAKER_01 7:27

I'm gonna say Seahawks.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

What'd you say?

SPEAKER_03 7:32

I said 31 to 20.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

I'll say 31 to 28.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

Wow, close one. Alright, there you go. Now we'll revisit this next week.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

That's pretty good. What do I get if I win?

SPEAKER_03 7:47

The winner of this I don't know what I'm gonna do. Gets coffee.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Yeah, then the other two have to split my $6.50 coffee. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Maybe you want a gluten-free cookie together.

SPEAKER_03 8:01

Winner gets a treat of you know a coffee somewhere around a coffee price.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Oh, I want to go to that new one. That uh holy brew thing. No, always brewing.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Always brewing. Yes. I've been there a lot. It's really good. Their drinks look amazing.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

Yeah, something called the Roast Malone. I like that one a lot.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Malone?

SPEAKER_03 8:19

Roast Malone, like post Malone. It's a play on the play, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

A football play?

unknown 8:26

Alright.

SPEAKER_03 8:27

He's a musical artist. Post Malone. Anyway.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

It's so weird because you know so much about music. But it's like it stops at a certain genre.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Well, at a certain issue.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Yeah, I worship music.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

Chris Tomlin and Matthew West. Post Malone, probably not. But alright. But anyway, I like that they have cool names for their drinks at this coffee club. So that's what I was trying to say. Alright, football predictions are in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Mahomes! Mahomes is his name. What?

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Patrick Mahomes?

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Yes, isn't he a bullet?

SPEAKER_03 9:02

He is.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

That's what I was thinking about when you said that. I thought you meant they had a drink after him.

SPEAKER_03 9:07

Okay. I can see where you would get confused there. That's fine. Brittany does not. She is having a field day with you.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

I'm so sorry. I just watched the whole thing. Like I watched you be confused, then I watched your brain

Listener Challenge And Email Invite

SPEAKER_01 9:20

catch up, and then you get so excited, and it just it was an event. It was an event that everyone missed.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

So let us know uh your Super Bowl prediction. If you have a Super Bowl prediction and you're listening to this, email me at codc at rushsturch.com. You can play the game too. And then you can come to coffee with us.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

And if you win, we'll buy you a coffee.

SPEAKER_03 9:41

Exactly. Not just us three. We can let other people play too. We'll get everybody's prediction. If you don't know football, just take a guess and it'll be fine.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Wait, when do they have to say it by? Well, they're gonna hear this on Friday, so they gotta tell us by Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Okay, deal. By Sunday afternoon, sometime before the game starts. As long as you email me at Cody C at Rush Church. Don't text me.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

You want to do that? Or just come up and tell you.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

My phone number is there are people from out of state who's gonna be able to do that. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

No phone number.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

Just email me. Just email. I want people calling me and prank calling me and sending me weird.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Levi's literally the first one to do it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

If you have my number, you can text me.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Oh, we had somebody from uh British Columbia listen the other day. And then I have no idea how accurate this stuff is. I'm just I just opened the app that we run our podcast through and it tells me locations of where people listen from.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 10:31

Near a city, though.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

So like I wonder if they ever heard our episode where we're trying to have those accents like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

That's when they stopped listening.

SPEAKER_03 10:39

That's why

Snow Days And Harry Potter Talk

SPEAKER_03 10:40

we don't have as many listens as we used to.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

All right.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Yeah, come to the come to Sunday night to the Super Bowl party. It's not a Super Bowl party, it's basically chili and pie, and we eat together. The Super Bowl will be on somewhere somehow, but that's not the focus. The focus is the contest of chili and pie. So, what else? Anyone else have announcements before we move on with our lives? Okay. So, on the last episode of the podcast, which was a couple weeks ago because we had snow and weather and shenanigans, we Britt introduced us to something new, something about like cold plunges.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah, why were we talking about that? I can't remember what brought that up.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Because I was like, man, it's birds really cold outside. It is, I don't know why. I don't like a weather I don't know why we I think we talked about going out in the snow.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

We're like, no, that's too cold, and you were like, Well, we actually go in cold water.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Something like that. Yeah, you brought up the idea of your plunging.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

And we thought you were crazy. Right.

SPEAKER_03 11:35

Dark watery depths. But so we actually took the challenge.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

I did. I told you guys that I would go and test it out and and report back, and well, I did it. You did it. I did it yesterday. Yes. Cue the applause button.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

If I had an applause button, I would hit it right now. Yeah. Need a soundboard. Sound effects.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

So I will say that I was really nervous. It I was not sure how it was gonna go. She started talking about how like the door has to be open, and I started freaking out because I thought, am I gonna shock? Like, like, was I gonna die because of how cold of water I was getting into? And so I was I started getting myself really nervous. So what I did is I did their fire and ice. So I got into a sauna first, got my body heated up, and then I went into the cold plunge room. And it now, and I there was a few minutes definitely between both because I wasn't sure what I was doing, so I had to ask questions, and but it was 50 degree weather. If you see the video later, it's not five degree like I thought it was. 50 degree weather, water. There you go. 50 degree water, and Brittany suggested to not touch the water before getting in. Yeah, no, you don't want to touch it, and so I did. I got I got I believe I got all the way into much that I felt comfortable with. I do feel like I needed a coach in there kind

Introducing Small Groups Vision

SPEAKER_00 12:57

of telling me what to do. Because it was so cold, I lost all thought in my brain. Like my brain cells were gone. I couldn't remember to breathe. I couldn't remember what I was doing.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yeah, like it was your chest is really hard to get under. Like your lungs definitely do not want to be underwater. Yeah. It's not just my lungs, my whole body just like I know, but as soon as it gets up and it starts to hit your lungs and it feels that, it's like, oh, like to get up from you know what I mean, like right at the bottom of your rib cage to your neck, that's a hard cell.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

So next time I'm gonna take you with me. Yes. And I'm gonna have you there. And I'm fully clothed, so it's just to be clear. Just to be clear, you are fully clothed when you do these things. And so we can have you in the room.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

I think you didn't tell me what's yes, I think you did absolutely wonderful. You were so when you do get in the cold water and you're still your body creates like the heat of your body starts to come out. So you almost have like this barrier of heat between your cold a little bit. You can't tell that, but you start to feel more comfortable. You were moving to where that probably couldn't happen.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

So you were like

Purpose: Connection And Community

SPEAKER_00 14:15

the full effects for that entire time.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Because I was like, Oh, she's still going. Because I knew we had talked about it, but then I think when your brain left and you were like, wait, am I supposed to move or not move? Like it just makes it harder. But you did wonderfully.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

I'm telling myself to breathe in and I'm not breathing in, like I'm only breathing out, and I'm like, wait, I'm not breathing in.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Yes, it's so you did the experience, it's a lot and you got done, and you thought, what, after you finish the whole thing?

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Okay, so final thoughts. I would wholeheartedly do it any day. I felt amazing.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Cue applause.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Like the circulation in my body felt whole again. If that's even like like my legs felt light. I felt like blood was actually moving through my body and not getting stopped. I don't think it is getting stopped, but I think sometimes you feel tight.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

I definitely think my blood is pumping through my body. My teacher was a football coach. You guys knew this. So we are reminded of that a lot. Like that's a weird fact that I know about you that comes up a lot.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

You know what the funny part is? She reminds us of better teachers. In other words, it changes the subject changes all the time.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah, you had a lot of football coaches here.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

No, funniest industry. No.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Whenever Ashley doesn't get something right, she does tell us that that category of her life was taught by a football coach. Also, this is not a cut on football coaches that are also teacher.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Football coasters are he just so happened to be a football coach and really just a bad teacher.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

And this was this was Palm Bay, Florida. Like, this is a reasonable Iowa and put my children in the football coaches

Types Of Groups: Study And Hobby

SPEAKER_00 16:06

care about our students.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yes, they should.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

Most of them do.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

No, but then the other thing was after the ice, like not only did I feel better circulation, I felt like I should have gone straight to a workout. Yeah. Like I probably would have lifted heavier, ran faster.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

Came out of the water pumped.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

We have used it as a pre-workout before. It is the best pre-workout ever. And it is good what you did, like letting your body warm up naturally, which is hard because you instantly want to be like in front of a heater or something.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Right. But like even I got out, dried off, changed, and went on my way.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

I hate being cold. Like just the thought of getting a cold same people in the summertime makes me just like, I don't like getting in the water.

unknown 16:50

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Well, the more that you do it, the more that your body does like your body's able to handle cold weather better.

SPEAKER_03 17:00

Very cool.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

So should you 100% recommend I do that?

SPEAKER_00 17:04

100%. 100% recommend Cody.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

You're doing it.

SPEAKER_03 17:06

Like I think I'm I'm like I understand the concept of like to energize yourself and to make you feel better. I might stick my face in like some ice bucket of ice water every morning for a week. That'd be cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Yeah. That'd be a good start. Or we could put a trough right outside your office. Outside your office doors, fill it with snow and water and jump in it.

unknown 17:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:28

We cannot do that. Say we did. All right. Baby steps.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

That'd be great. I'm still do the face. Do the morning face.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Maybe I'll do a cold shower after my shower.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Oh, I would hate that. That's when you're the warmest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

I actually like that stuff though. Maybe that's why I was good at it. I like going from a hot shower to cooling off and then getting out.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Like turns to cold?

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Oh, I'd rather do the bath. All right. Anything else from your experience?

SPEAKER_00 17:58

Experience or show you. I just I told our listeners I would try it. I did it.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

Should you guys do anything for snow days that we had? We haven't been on since it snowed, I don't think.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

No. No. Shoot. What did we do? We literally were stuck inside Sunday and Monday. Yeah. My driveway had never seen so much snow in our life. We actually had to hire someone to plow plow us out.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

God dang.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah. It was but we're going to west earth.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

We had a small driveway. But like me and Timmy went out Sunday morning while it was still snowing. We cleared all the stuff that came Saturday night. And so it was kind of easier the next day to like do half of it at a time. If I had to do all of it one time, that would have been. But we did get so that's good. I was like, Timmy, get to work. Get your show.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Oh, I I started the

How To Propose Or Lead A Group

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Harry Potter movies during the snow days.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

What?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Which one did you? I don't know which one's the first one.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

We've well, one number one.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

No, they're not numbered. Yes, they are. They are.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Netflix, they're numbered one, too.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

I mean, they're just like they have titles, but they're not just Harry Potter one. Harry Potter two.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Like, wait, what? How did I do that? How many did you watch? Okay, so we've Dare and I have now been through five. We've gone. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

So which one's your favorite one so far? Oh gosh. Have you have you enjoyed them? I guess I do.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

We are invested now.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Like, and I am seeing the whole resemblance thing happening here.

SPEAKER_03 19:16

What resemblance?

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Like Christianity. Yeah, you do. Yeah, I'm starting to do that.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

I'm gonna have to start over.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Maybe it's because you kind of put plants at that seed in my face. But I am starting to see the resemblance.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

If you read Harry Potter or you watch the movies, then if you have the idea of Christian themes in your head, they will stand out even more. Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

I think so far the one was when the one guy who oh sorry.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

People don't yeah, I don't really.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

You ask me which one of my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Just tell me which one your favorite one was. One, two, three, four, five.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

It's the feeling number out of it, basically.

SPEAKER_03 19:48

Oh, okay. I know which one you're talking about. The third one. Yeah. Prisoner of Az Quebec. Yes. All right. Wow. That's your favorite one out of those five.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

So far.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

Okay. You're allowed. I rank mine by book, though. I don't know. The movies are anyway.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

So yeah, that's what we did. Well, now I'm gonna have to.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Have to what?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Watch Harry Potter.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

You guys could all watch them and then we can talk about the Christian themes in Harry Potter. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

You know what's really funny though? Darren

Leader Training And Sustainability

SPEAKER_00 20:15

looked up when these movies started coming out. Back in 2001.

SPEAKER_03 20:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

I was in high school.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

I'm like, I don't remember Harry Potter when I was in high school. What? No, I do not remember.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Oh, I do. You know what? I do. I went to the stores at midnight to get the books. I waited in line when the books came out.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

So yeah, I do not remember this coming out back when I was in high school.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

All right. Well, it was a big deal. Well, it was I'm glad you're watching the movies. You only got two left. I take at least three.

unknown 20:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

There's seven books. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

They turned this the last book into two movies. So there you go. All right.

SPEAKER_01 20:52

What did you do on yours nowadays? Bake bread. Clean my house. With your fresh milk. My fresh milled flour.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

So today's we're just kind of talking about some random stuff, but we do want to talk about something that's coming up at Rush Church that we're going to be putting some emphasis on. Pretty excited about it. I am. And and Jim Hoffman was on stage this past Sunday. You might have heard him talking about the idea of starting up small groups and kind of what that's going to look like and what the idea behind all this is. We just kind of wanted to talk a little bit about it today. And so if you've never been in a small group or you don't know what small groups are, I think the best way to put this is like the purpose of small groups. What would you say the purpose of a small group would be? If I said, what's the purpose of having small groups?

SPEAKER_01 21:44

I would probably say building personal relationships.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Probably. That'd be my number one thing. That's what I would want.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Yeah. That's that's pretty much been the outcome of our small group. They're it's basically a life group now. You know, we kind of do life. with them.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

You can call them whatever you want

Next Steps And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_03 22:03

to. I mean small groups, life groups, you can call it whatever. But the idea is people getting together, doing something that they all enjoy doing together and then growing closer to one another in the group.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

I think that's the whole goal of what these are. And so our church is growing. We got a lot of people that are coming. We got a lot of new people that are coming. And so I think this will be a really cool thing that we we start putting together these groups. And yeah, I think the the idea behind small groups is connection, deeper relationships, growing together and just finding new friends too. I think you can do all that stuff with small groups. And it keeps us united as a church, keeps us together. And it's kind of like we talked a lot about Rush 18 one of our early episodes about going out into the community, finding people that you know we can just tell about Jesus and tell them introduce them to the idea of church and be like we have a church and if you like this come see us or if you need it we have other churches that we know we can send you there. The idea of going out into Logan County or into the area or wherever going out telling people about Jesus telling people introduced into the idea of church and then hopefully the goal is what they come to church. They visit us on a Sunday morning. They come to our church and they come see it and they come check it out and see what it's all about. And then maybe they'll like it or whatever church they go to not just Rush Church but just like any church that you go to you see it you're like man there's something about this place. I think me and my family would enjoy it here or like I think I get a lot from this place. Really learning it's a good place to be and so you're like I'm going to stay here. I'm going to go to this church. And then what next after that well we have some classes on Sunday mornings. We talked about those before yeah a little more we have stuff for teenagers we have stuff for kids. We have a few groups that meet here and there but this new idea of of coming together for these specific small groups will give people a place to go to once they've been coming to your to our church.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

And so I think Jim's idea behind all this is like you tell us what groups you want to have. Like we could put together all kinds of groups and have them but if no one is interested in those groups then what's the point?

SPEAKER_02 24:13

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

And so we want you to tell us what kind of group you want to be in.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

And so does that make a sense I think yeah yeah definitely I mean sky's the limit.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

Sky's the limit and so I think Jam has like a few categories that he was thinking like study groups. Like if you want to study something in the Bible or you want to study faith or you want to study and really you know do a Bible study do a a book study something like that where you're taking information you're learning you can have all kinds of groups for that. If you have a hobby hobby groups say you have like scrapbooking like scrapbooking or quilting or quilting or knitting. Okay we'll just put all that as a a craft group a crafty like hobbies a craft group like you do all kinds of stuff. You know there could be shooting go to shooting range and shoot guns. People like to do that you can have a group for that hobby where you get together with people that like the same thing. Right. And you do it together and you grow together while you're doing it and it's just kind of and the the purpose of all these groups will all be different. All the purposes of these groups will be different they'll have different goals and different things that they want to accomplish but it still brings people together gives people an opportunity to know people from the church more or you know find out somebody has the same interest as you're there's study groups there's there's Bible groups and then you can have hobby groups and that's un unlimited I mean whatever you want to do with that. And then there's I think you know something that you're passionate about. So you can have all these different type of groups like you said the sky's the limit. But that's where you guys come in and so we're going to eventually I don't know if it's going to be this Sunday or in the future we're going to have more information about these small groups come out and you get to like write down a group that you might be interested in having or or being a part of I think that's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Yeah yeah yeah like if you want to lead if you're interested in leading or if you just this is something that you don't know if you can lead but you would love to be involved in.

unknown 26:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Or if you want to co-lead with somebody you know you want to make sure it's not just on one person. Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:20

You know that two people are and then like what kind of group would you like to see you know we we might list a couple off for ideas and yeah we're going to put some examples on the handout or the slip and it'll be like a poll tell us which ones you like study groups disc golf group shooting group I don't know crafting group but really I want to see a mom's group. A mom's group yeah me too so we'll have different examples like that but then we'll also have a place for you to like write your own and like have ideas and and so the goal with this whole thing is we want to do the things that people are interested in doing and give an opportunity to do them. So like yeah like a mom's group if you wanted like a group for moms to get together and their kids to come hang out and play and give the moms time to you know I don't know what do moms do.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Well I remember I was in well I was in two different ones one I was in a Mops like a regular mom's group which is mother preschoolers and then in Belstre I was in one that was called moms moms to moms. And it was basically any age because we had some homeschool kids you know who came and hung out but it was just a time for us to be able to sit and talk as moms and let the kids play. Yeah we each brought a snack to share and you know sometimes we do a craft or a little bit of a Bible study. It wasn't every time but yeah something it was more of just being able to relate to other moms who either A are in the same situation you're in with the same age or even have a mentor of I went through that let me tell you how I handled it you know and maybe get some ideas like that. But it was just a really nice time we met like on Thursdays from like 10 to noon. So yeah I love to see that kind of thing happen. And then I also have another group that I've been a part of which is basically families. So you have five families who get together every other Friday night and they literally have become part of my family. Like it's we've met now for I think five years we've been a part of this group. And so it's just become they've become family to us like we go to their graduations and some of them are getting engaged now and we're going to start having you know marriages and baby showers eventually you know so it's just different different things.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

I like what you said about different Bible study classes. I definitely wonder if there's people that are sitting maybe in church for the first time and are like I would love to know what the Bible's all about because I don't know anything about it. I think that would be cool if there was interest for that.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Because there's only so much you come to church and John goes up and does a great message and talks about a lot of things that are important. But sometimes you're like I'm a little bit lost who's he talking about right now where do I even start to be able to have a group that you just go through the basics of the Bible introduction to the Bible what it is or Christianity or just faith or just like an introduction to Jesus class kind of like what it's all about would be a good option like if you I mean if I was going debating whether I was going to give my life to Christ or not that would probably be a good place to start. These groups will be places you can learn you can ask questions you can go like you know you can't really do that on a Sunday morning in a sermon.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

So hopefully some of these small groups will be opportunities for people to be like I really want to know more about what's going on and so these groups will be able to do that. And if you want a group like that. But like the whole point of this and what Jim is imagining I think with this whole new thing that we're going to try to do is we want to do the things that people want to be a part of. Right. And so we don't want to just be like oh well we think these groups will be good and people will like them. No we want to hear from the people and we want to do the things that you want to do.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

And if you have an idea for a group then let us know and we'll and also let us I mean if you if I'm giving an idea for a group I would hope that I would want to be involved in that group in some way you know like if I write that down I mean don't come in and like I'm going to write down something that I think would be great for others but that I don't want to do kind of thing. I'm like I'll be like well you know it would be good for the teenagers I'm like oh well are you going to come and no yeah we want you to be involved like my idea of lock inside nope if you have an idea for something then make it something that you would actually go to.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

That's the whole goal but it's not because I think people would like this we're not we don't want that we want yeah I would like to do this.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

I don't want a workout group I was just thinking I think I'm already in a small group like I'm well because my friends and where there's six of us five of us that are in this group and we go to a workout class once a week together and it's so much fun. We don't get we get to visit with each other obviously my point being that like it doesn't have to be scripture based. It doesn't have to be a study. A study is great if that's what you're looking for but it might just be going and hanging out.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

I mean we go and do this workout and then we go get coffee you're looking for like minded people to be with to surround yourself with.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Because as we've talked about before when you start going to church and start changing your lifestyle it can get lonely. I mean sometimes you do get this kind of separation from the world and then you're looking for people that you want to spend time with that have the same experiences you do.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

Yeah. And so the second part of this conversation is the leaders for these groups. And so when I when I've been in around ministry things for a long time I've been in different churches and done different things and small groups is always like yes that sounds really good for all the reasons we've been talking about community and fellowship and and growing and in depth and things like that. But what I've seen with small groups is a tendency for them to start out strong and then slowly crumble and fall apart and then you just skip a meeting or you don't meet and then pretty soon oh yeah we used to do small groups and then you know the the whole idea is to keep these going I think and find out how to make them what they're supposed to be. And so we we've come up with the leader of each small group has to be you know passionate about that thing. They have to be they have to know what they're doing. So we're going to offer you know leader training for every each leader that's leading a small group whatever it may be is going to have some sort of training and it might not be all the same training. Like if you're leading a in-depth Bible study on the book of Romans then you're going to have different training than somebody who's like oh we just want to craft and pray yeah hang out over here then you you'll be trained. You'll we'll give you the equipment that you need to to run a small group effectively whatever that looks like for your group. And so what we don't want to do is start these and then in two years be like oh well we tried and and because we didn't make it the best that we could as a church. So the leadership and and the people behind this idea we want to make it do our best to set it up for success. And we think leaders for each group is where that's going to start the person that heads up the group the person that you know structures it to how we're it's going to meet like yeah each group will be left to the leader and the group to decide when they meet how often they meet what that looks like so they you know use your imagination for structure and how these things are put together. But so yeah we we will have trainings for these leaders to make sure that they are equipped and that they are set up for success if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Yeah sounds like a great idea.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

Yeah and and so I don't want to like I said I don't want to do these and then look back and be like well we could have done this better so that they didn't fail or you know but I think we're on the right track for that. So pretty excited about this new idea for small groups you guys had some great ideas for ones already. Like if I was going to start a small group for my for for me starting one I would probably well I don't know I'd probably do like I really love the Bible so it'd probably be some kind of study on the Bible. But maybe somebody out there is wanting group for parenting teenagers and so I would like to like I'd like to I would like to lead a group of parents who are parents to teenagers and like just give them a place to give them resources and and give them things that like I don't have teenagers myself as a parent but I've been around enough teenagers to kind of be able to know teenagers in general.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Right.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

And the resources to help with certain things even though I don't have experience raising a teenager I feel like I could be a little bit helpful in different areas.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

It's probably more helpful when you're not directly parenting a teenager. Yeah a lot more that little bit of separation actually is probably a great thing.

SPEAKER_03 35:10

Timmy's going to be 10 years old in the two months I'm like oh my gosh double digit Tim here we go. So yeah so the the possibilities are unending I guess for these groups and and what we want you to do is you know just think about if you were to join a small group what would you want it to be and then write that down and let us know. I'm not saying you have to lead it. I'm not saying you have to be you know behind the scenes making it work but like maybe you do want to lead it and then we'll have an option for you to like go through the leader training and all that good stuff. So am I missing anything?

SPEAKER_00 35:38

I think we talked about wouldn't it be cool to also do something where like all the groups get together at one time to see each other.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

It would be really really cool.

SPEAKER_03 35:47

Like a like a carry-in like we could do like a big carry-in yes and maybe like a game night or a good night yes yes that's another one of our behind the scenes thoughts that we've had of you know bringing these groups all together at some points throughout the year.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

A great idea that is a great idea there.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

It is it is a big I think it'd be wonderful to do something like that.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

So if you hear more about this talk about small groups you know ask questions about it. Jim will be happy to talk to you about it. I know he he's very passionate about this one of our elders Jim Hoffman like I like I said if you were that Rush Church Sunday he was up on stage talking a little bit about this but if you see him ask him some questions. Ask him what makes him passionate about getting people together and doing things that they like to do. And he'll be happy to talk to you about it. So will we I mean we'll talk about it too. Yeah just wanted to throw that out there today that you guys know that's something that we're trying to do to push this year because we think it's beneficial and we think it's good for the church in general.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

So I'm excited.

SPEAKER_03 36:52

Me too I'm excited to be part of a group maybe lead a group and so we'll see how it goes. All right well I don't have anything else to say so that'll be the end of this episode.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

Good place to end.

SPEAKER_03 37:06

It's a great place to end. I'm gonna go find some lunch after this and start so hungry. All right let's pray Lord thank you for this time thank you for the opportunities to do things like this for you for your church thankful for thankful for Rush Church and the leaders and the people that are passionate about things and the people that you have put you know ideas in and so yeah we just ask you to be in all these things that we're trying to do all the events and all the things we want to do them for you and to just create opportunities people get to know who you are more we thank you for Jesus in his name we pray. Amen. Amen well thank you guys for listening again and we'll be back next time with more conversations more topics and we'll see who wins the Super Bowl predictions.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

It'll be me.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

It'll be Brittany all right we don't have to err now all right thanks for listening we'll see you next time on rush hour