Who Is Your One?

In this episode of the Disciples Made Here podcast, Drew and Heather build on the foundation of identity and calling to introduce one of the most practical frameworks in the DMH toolbox — the prayer alarm — and what it actually looks like to live as a sent one in the ordinary spaces of your life.
From a youth group in 2008 to a T-ball field in El Dorado Hills to 100 baseball families showing up to Christmas Eve service, this episode is full of real stories of what happens when everyday followers of Jesus stop living on autopilot and start praying with their eyes open. Drew and Heather also introduce the concept of the flipped funnel — why Jesus didn't focus on the crowd, he focused on the one — and what it looks like for your church, your family, and your life to do the same.
This isn't about adding something new to your calendar. It's about seeing what God is already doing in the spaces you already occupy.

⸻

Reflection Questions
Who is your one right now — the person God keeps bringing to mind that you're praying for?
Have you set your 9:38 alarm yet? If not, pause and do it now.
Where in your life are you living on autopilot that could become a mission field — your gym, your kids' sports team, your workplace?

⸻
Connect With Disciples Made Here
Instagram   / disciplesmadehere 
Facebook   / disciplesmadehere 
Website https://disciplesmadehere.org/
Shownotes https://drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Welcome back to the Disciples Made Here podcast. I'm Heather Hudson. This is Drew Soderstrom. Uh last episode we talked a lot about living on mission and the battleship and what does that look like to be doing all of this kind of while living our lives. And um we focused a little bit on what discipleship is not, which I think is super helpful. Um and we we talked a lot about the the places that we tend to fall short and and just cut some of the pitfalls. So um if you are interested, go back and listen to that. Um we we've kind of we kind of build content on the previous episodes. So um if you're feeling it, go ahead and listen to them. Um but I'll give you the cheat code. Really, it's all about just following Jesus. So it we can boil it back every single time. We can boil it down to just that. Um, but we do appreciate you kind of being on this journey. The whole point of this is to kind of invite everybody into this and see how we can help um help you do it better.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yeah, and it's fun. We feel like you guys are now a part of our family. Like there's the Hudson's, there's the Soda Stroms, uh, we serve at Vintage Grace. That's a a family on mission. And now we kind of have our disciples made here family. Um, and so it does it. It starts with you being a son and a daughter, and then a sent one. And so it's been great to get the feedback from you guys, really not just from across the states, but across the globe. Uh, we see you guys listening in Albania, uh, over in Australia. It's super fun. And it's humbling for Heather and I to just, we're just sons and daughters walking with Jesus, and then we get to walk with you. And so something that part of the feedback that we've gotten, not just through the podcast, but also through Disciples Made Here in General, as I've led lead pastor conferences and cohorts and clusters, is that every lead pastor comes to us saying, Tell me what to do. Like, just give me that checklist. I mean, Heather, I've teased you over the years. Yeah, like just tell me what to do. Uh, and they're like, Drew, what's the what's the secret sauce? How do we create a sending station on Sundays? And yeah, all those things. And I promise you, over the last month we'd get there. But this has been really intentional. Like we've started with the why. And it's one of my core vision values is that the depth of your why will determine the length of your what. Right. And so we have an eternal why, the glory of God, the goodness of the king, experiencing more joy in him. But unless we understand our identity, like we've been talking about, yeah, and then our call flowing from that, then I think we're gonna miss. And so disciple making is like spiritual parenting. So when these senior pastors come and say, What's the sermon series? What's the hack? I'm like, it just starts with you as a son. It starts with you as a son, following a good father, and then being a spiritual father to others to say, Hey, follow me. Because even with kids like you and I have kids, if if we just tell our kids what to do, that'll work for a little bit. Yeah, but they gotta know the why because I actually believe that life expands to the size of your why. So the depth of your why determines the length of your what. We want you to walk with Jesus till till eternity, right? And so we want you to continue to understand all the whys behind the what of disciple making as a spiritual parent and as a disciple maker.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

Yeah, and I do love framing it um in the parenting kind of uh way because I can motivate my kids to do what I need them to do with you know the right consequence at the right time. But if I don't also share with them the why and the value that they're bringing to their family by taking care of these things or whatever, then it's always a battle. It's a battle every time I have to ask them to do it. Whereas if they understand why, then it's a maybe less of a battle.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

And the joy set before them, not just I'm afraid of mom.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Yes. Right?

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Like and so God has this joy for you and for me. Yeah. And so today I just want to not just appease Heather or you, but we do get to start our checklist. We do get to lean into what are some of the what's, knowing that they're all rooted in this constant why. That's what the focus is.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Right, right. And so when you get to combine that simple, a simple task, a simple to-do, um combined with that really truly like deeply bought in why, that now we're in like the right spot.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Yeah. So we're gonna build on where we've been the last few weeks and even over a month. Uh, our Western Christian culture, um, I I think we've missed the mark, myself included at times, right? Like we've talked about writing a wrong assignment, writing on the wrong paper, and having to go back, and God's grace is sufficient and it's with us and it's for us. So we really started this whole journey with you guys as a family saying, okay, let's define what a disciple is. Yep, let's lean into our identity, not only who we are, but what he's calling us to, what I want for other people for their joy, for his glory. So we talked about that. The the wrong target, the wrong scorecard, even like as a golfer who's not very good. Like, but if I thought golf was about having the highest score, I mean that's what you would guess based on my scores, right? Then you're like, oh shoot, we're way off. It'd be tough.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

But yeah, like every other sport, you want more. So you gotta understand. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Yeah, you gotta have clarity. And so the cultural waters that you and I and all of us swim in, we think that it's gotta be bigger. We think bring them in, right? That's the whole reverse of the arrows. Don't just come to church, be sent from church. And so I do think in Western Christianity, we have settled for the wrong scorecard, right? Bigger buildings, bigger worship concert, bigger events. Um, but actually, what Jesus is offering us isn't just bigger, it's better. It's himself. Right. It's a journey with him and inviting other people to do that too. So as we step forward now, officially today, launching into next steps, some of the what's, let's never forget all the whys that it's about his kingdom come, his will be done. But today, step one.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah, and I love um being able to look at the Bible and have it just be really clearly laid out. I don't have to trust that you, Drew, have it figured out or some other pastor has it figured out. I can read the book and it, I mean, if if I look at Jesus' mission and journey and his life, it wasn't bigger, better, it wasn't flashier, it wasn't, it was so opposite of that. And so he, instead of bringing everybody in, bringing everybody in, he was sending, you know, sending people out, sending, sending out, and going to people. And so I think that that's really cool that we can bring it back to something really concrete and specific. Um, and and it does come back to what you track, you're gonna do more of. It is human nature, it is psychology. You're just gonna do more of it. What you, you know, you measure, what you measure, you multiply. And so that's a phrase that we use here, vintage. So it matters what you're you're spending that time thinking about and and tracking. So um, I've gotten to watch vintage grace um for 12 years. Yeah, even a link seat on the bus. Yeah, from the very beginning, right? Just a tiny, tiny church plant to what we are today. Um, but I've got to watch a a group of people who say that this is what they want to do and then try to actually do it, yeah. Which sometimes looks counterintuitive and and just grapple with that and iterate on that. And and one of those examples that I think kind of paints this really well is our prayer alarm. So tell us about Vintage Grace Prayer Alarm. How did you come up with it? What was that?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Yeah, so when we launched Vintage, uh, I came as an adults pastor, teaching pastor in Southern California, but before that I was a youth pastor. Um, and so this my prayer alarm pattern and and habit goes all the way back to 2008 as a youth pastor, and I noticed that we had a lot of like we had a good youth group, a lot of kids from church and other church families, but we weren't really reaching the yet to believe. And I just think high school ministry is one of the best places in the world. They're trying to figure out who they are, what's their identity. Like, what a great kingdom come gospel moment than living, especially at a public high school in our culture. So 2008, I'm a youth pastor, um, and I asked all of our kids to set their alarms for eight, oh eight. In 2008, we were praying for eight people to come to faith out of the harvest, and I believed at a young age that prayer was the work. And so I'm just trying to walk my kids as I follow Jesus. Let's pray to the Lord of the harvest, eight and oh eight. So that was our prayer. And so we set those alarms and it was rad, and we had eight baptisms that year, and it was a really incredible process. That's 2008. Fast forward, we're moving here to plant vintage, and I'm like, let's take those same principles, right? Like, I didn't know if our church would grow, it's a long story, it's a journey of me and Jesus, but I just want to be faithful. So growth wasn't the goal per se, but faithful. But I did want lost people to be found. Right. I wanted people to find more joy in Jesus. In fact, I often joked with our team. I said, hey, we're gonna grow by 25% in year one, which feels like a big number. But when we moved here, we were parachute planters, we didn't know anybody, so we were a family of four. Okay, and you know Jen was pregnant. Yes. And so I'm like, we're gonna go from four to five in year one, no matter what. 25% growth. So, but it was this idea of how do we pray? How do we watch God move and how do we step into that? And so our launch team that we started to build, we had some believers on it, some yet to believe. I asked all of them to pray at 250 for 250 people. Okay. Here's why. Um, 200 is the hardest growth barrier to break in church planning. So we wanted to break it as fast as possible. So we're like, we want to pray for our launch. We have 250 people show up. So for months we prayed for 250 at 250. And it was cool. And by God's grace, we did it. And then the church grew. And then I asked all the church to pray at four o'clock for 400, and you would have been a part of that, right? Where it's like as we're young and as we're growing, and then we got to 400. And then I'm like, okay, church, now we got to pray for 750 because that's the next hardest growth barrier. Um, and by God's grace we crossed that. And so it's just fun. And you you remember these days, but it hit me at 750 when I was like, oh man, for being a non-Sunday guy. Right. A guy that's not that's got the right scorecard putting it. Again, with the cultural waters, I swear, I just missed it. I I remember clear as day the spirit being like, Why are you praying for attendance on Sunday? When did I say that that's what I cared about? And I was like, Woof. Like, it was genuinely convicting. And so I remember going to church on a Sunday morning and just telling people, like, guys, I want to repent. I didn't I don't want to make it dramatic. That's not what I was trying to do, but I was just saying, I missed. Like, I remember this. And so, as a team, as a staff and elder board at the time, we said, really, we want to reach our city, that's why we're here. And so we changed our prayer alarm from numbers of Sunday attendants to 1142. Uh, and the reason why we did that is because the population, according to Wikipedia in El Dorado Hills, where we live, was 42,108. That was the amount of people. And then, of course, me and my math wizardry, I'm like, the 42nd, 108th second of every day is at 1142. So it actually worked out really well. So 1142, we're praying for the 42k. And that was fun. And people were like, okay, I get it. Reach the city, yeah. Reach the city. That's what that's why we exist. Glory of God, you to grow in your faith, but then you to reach the yet to believe. So that was cool until someone comes up after ascending one Sunday and she goes, and I remember this other. She goes, I live in Placerville. Uh, and I have 10,000 people, so I'm changing my prayer alarm. And I'm like, well, the 10,000th second is really early in the day, but that's on you. You got this, right? And it like, it caused me to laugh a little and to say, no, the harvest is the focus. Right. Like, we don't want to be a destination church. So actually, I would argue that she was and she was a part of the first church plant team in Placerville, right? Because that was our hope. Our hope was never to come to El Dorado Hills, but to send you where you live, work, and play. And so we got we changed our prayer alarm to 938, away from 1142, right? Because it wasn't just about EDH, it was about all over 938.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Okay, but why 938?

SPEAKER_00 11:06

So 938 is Matthew chapter 9, verse 36 through 38, where Jesus says pretty directly, I'm the Lord of the harvest, cry out to the Lord of the harvest that he would send kingdom laborers because the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. And so I don't argue with Jesus, he's God, but I've always told our church, I hope that's not true of you. I hope you are at least a part of the few, right? But Jesus is saying a broad, true statement that says most people aren't living as kingdom laborers. And so we changed our prayer alarm to really focus on 938. Oh my goodness. No way. That is not planned. There's no way that's really cool. And I also have my phone on snooze crazy. I don't even know if you can see that. Is it oh it went off? But anyways.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

We we joked that someday we hoped that that would happen. Yeah, that's pretty good. The fact that we're talking about it right now is really crazy.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

It just feels like we're trying to be faithful to the spirit, and so 9 38, it's awesome. And some churches that I've coached, they do like 1002 for Luke 10-2. Right. Uh, because it's the same patch. Same thing. Yep. And so we pray to the Lord of the harvest. We say, Jesus, you're the Lord of the harvest. Would you send kingdom laborers? And I think it's important that we talk about what we pray. It's not just converts. Right. So what? We're praying, yeah, we're praying that out of the harvest, they yet to believe would become kingdom laborers, which means that they're leaning into the harvest, right? That yeah, that we're saying, God, would you send kingdom laborers into the harvest, out of the harvest, like in El Dorado Hills, in Orangevale, in Placerville, so that there will be true as it is in heaven. And so that's our hope. That's our prayer. And so literally 938, I'm gonna just pause and pray. Um, Lord, you're the Lord of the harvest, and that we just pause and we pray for our pray watch list, for our neighborhoods, for our sports teams, that you would raise up kingdom laborers out of these places for your glory, for their joy in you, and for the good of other people, that they'd find you through them. We pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 12:59

Amen. That is hilarious. It's awesome. So, anyways, um, I got to be a part of this from you know, early on, from I remember being a baby Christian and kind of you know, Drew's coming up on stage and and talking about this and changing it multiple times and then and explaining why he was changing it. And and it's it's just it's been a cool process because A, it's shown me kind of like as we as a church have developed that why and like and and also just watching your leaders lead with humility of being like, oh, I messed up, we should change it. Yep. And then like again, oh, I messed up again. And doing that like a few times, it was it it truly, I think, shaped a lot of kind of how I think about all this stuff. Cause I'm like, A, I don't have to be perfect, we can totally iterate and figure this out as we go. We're gonna make mistakes, whatever. So I loved that. That was like really important to me. Um, and then also it it really invited me into the process of like a really again tangible, concrete handhold.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

You have a role prayer is the worst.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Yeah, I can do something, I can really do something, and I can put something into place in my life that's gonna help me do that. And so this is just one of those practical, simple things that kind of takes care of that. Yeah, um, so I'm like, you know, figuring all this out, and you know, my husband and I are talking about it and setting our alarms and all that stuff. And um, so then it's like Christmas. This is like five years ago. Um, it's like Christmas time, and w what my husband and I are like, okay, this year let's invite like all of our friends to Christmas. Like we're talking like our whole gym crew, our whole like all of our friends that are, you know, our kids, our kids' friends, parents, and just like we have multiple different kinds of social circles. Like, let's just invite, let's get everybody to come to church. It'll be so fun, you know. Um, and this will be kind of part of that practice. Um, and so you know, our comms teams is cool and they make these cute graphics. And so I sent this graphic that showed all of our service times um to just all of our friends, all of them. And um, we have a saying at vintage, it's like invite and then remind and then bring. And that's how you kind of get people um to church for Christmas. Now, the other thing that kind of goes along with this that I feel we've always done a really good job of making sure is the point is like it's again, it's not about attendance at Christmas. So it's not that we just want this record attendance at our Christmas service. Yep. It is about, though, the fact that somebody who really does not want to come with me to church on a you know, February Sunday, they might say yes at Christmas or Easter. And there's like stats to that.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

And I love that. And Barnes says 80% of people will accept your invitation to Christmas or Easter. Um and I still wonder why culturally, and that's not true of every cultural context, but in our suburban context, it is true.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

It is.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Um, and so I tell our church all the time, which you've been a part of, at Christmas and Easter, I will talk to the yet to believe. Every other 50 Sundays of the year, maybe Mother's Day, but really every Sun of the Year, I'm training you to be a sent one, to see your identity as son and daughter, and then if you can go. And I tell people all the time, too, your invite to Christmas is probably an invite to Easter, right? And so, so don't wait till Easter to invite them. But people will say, Yes, I I do want to go. I do like Heather. I enjoy who she is as a person. They don't know this, but they see the image of God through you. And so they might, with their chaos or their schedule, not get to go to this Christmas, but they'll go to the next one. So invite now so they come later. And so, yeah, so you you've seen that, you practice that, but this this was a unique Christmas.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Yeah, so so we um we also, I think it's important to say these aren't just like random people that I like come across at the gym that I'm just like, hey, come to church with me. Yeah, it's like these are my friends. These are people that we always say the first invitation is not to church, it is to your house to get a cup of coffee, to have a meal, whatever. So these are like my friends, these are like actual people that are in our life. So, so there's that. And um, so we invite all these friends and we're we're like super excited about it, and we were not specific in what services we were or service we were gonna go. The invite was super vague, and it was like, hey, which of these works for you? I didn't even like track it forward that like the chances of everybody being able to come to the same one is impossible. Yeah, so it's it kind of snowballed, but it was like a couple friends were like, Oh, we can do this one and this one. And then we were like, okay, we'll just go to two. It's fine, you know, whatever. Well, long story short, eventually it kind of rolled out and we went to like all six Christmas services back to back to back.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

And I remember this so well because I'm like, hey Wes, good to see you again. And he'd introduced me to his friend, his yet to believe friend. It was so awesome. And again, you weren't on staff, yeah. You know, you were just living out your identity as a daughter, him as a son, and living on mission. And it was beautiful. And I view my role as pastor kind of like I'm a wannabe basketball player and and point guard, and I pass. Like my job is to pass the ball, to to preach a sermon, to get people curious, to read the text, to look at the context of our life, and to say Jesus is meeting you in the middle of that. And so my hope is by me hosting something, it leads to you having convos later. And so, so what happened maybe the next week, the next month, the next year, I mean, this is five, six years later. What has God done through that experience, even in those relationships?

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Yeah. So as much as I would love to be like all of those friends, you know, came to Jesus and on the moment, we ran to Lake Folesome and got baptized. Yeah, and everybody was, you know, radically transformed, but that's not usually how it works. Um, but what I will say is it did lead to some good combos, you know, throughout the years, um, and I do think there have been some of those people like really diving in and taking next steps, some just kind of seeds planted. Um for sure. One thing that I do know is that if anything, it deepened my relationship, Wes and my relationship with these people and just opened a door a little bit more of just like a deeper relationship, not even specific to God, but just more opportunity and more room for us to try to shine the light of Jesus into that. And something I feel so grateful for is that I don't feel the pressure of like what happens after that service? And did they, you know, take next steps with Jesus? Nope, that's not my job. The Lord of the Harvest is in charge of that. I don't feel any of that pressure, which is probably part largely due to you and saying that. Like what happens after that's not your deal. So, like, I trust 100% that his timing is perfect, and I just get to be kind of like a part of it. And it's so that's fun. It takes a pressure.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

So we just faithfully sow, but he sovereignly grows, and so there's a freedom to that. Exactly. But we don't want to miss opportunities, yeah. Like everything's an opportunity, and I just love that, right? Like, so that's the prayer alarm from OG VG, Christmas Eve, every Christmas Eve. But from you, five or six years ago, most recently today for me, um, I've coached baseball since I moved here. Um, and everyone who's on my team is one of my ones. Like, they're people I'm praying for. Um, before we had kids, my wife was a high school teacher, I was a youth pastor, and so I had more free time without kids. And so I was on campus all the time, coaching varsity sports with her, and and we love that. When we moved here, we had kids, and we kind of gave up the intense coaching of like varsity ball and get your kids to college and scholarships and winning championships, and we became T-ball parents, right? Which is totally different and way better in my humble opinion. But um, so I started coaching T ball, and what I found is everyone, we do like the team intro, like meet the coach party. We'd sometimes host it at church, host it at Steve's Pizza across the street. And I would always tell parents at that intro meeting two things. Um, I wanted them to know my coaching philosophy, right? So, one of which is is that look, I care about you as a family way more than our record is a t-ball. In fact, if you know our record, you probably have issues. But, anyways, but I care about you. Uh, my three things for the kids is I want them to learn the game, I want them to have fun, and I want them to come back next year. Like that was it. Um, and so I'm gonna be praying for your kids as a pastor. Like, no one actually took offense to that. They were like, okay, that makes sense. You're a pastor, whatever. Um, but you're all in for my kids. I said, the second thing, can I have permission to um buy them lots of ice cream and lots of pizza? And so we just had fun. And my like that was one of my communities, like you have your gym, and I'm not like adding new things to my life. My kids wanted to play baseball, so I did baseball. And so that's something I did. Now, don't misunderstand me. I wanted my kids to win because I think it's more fun when you learn the game and win. But I cared a lot more about them being young men someday than what our record was in double-A baseball. Um, and so in that context, like my goal was not league championships. It was ultimately they'd find more joy in Jesus someday, right? Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not like leading six year old micro Bible studies, right? Right. I'm meeting them where they're at. I'm praying and I'm watching and I'm engaging. Um, I'm being a fun, faithful dad, um, buying lots of ice cream and pizza. Um, but now fast forward, because we've lived here for 13 years now. So fast forward, those six to ten year olds are now 19 to 23. Wow. Like it's crazy. Some of them are playing college sports, some of them have hung up their spikes, they're getting married, they have jobs. Like they're young adults now, they're young men. That's like my favorite life stage. I don't understand why. Well, well, here's why.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

It's a hard phase.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

I it is, but here's it's my favorite because of this. And there's no like science to this per se, but a lot of people in our cultural context, between the ages of 19 and 25, are making what I would argue three of the biggest decisions of their life. Um, and you know everything's an acronym, so you can call it M cubed if you want, right? Who's your master? What's your mission? And who's your mate? Between 19 and 25, not everybody, but a lot of people, even if they grew up in the church or if they're far from God, or like all these young baseball kids, they didn't know Jesus at all. They're asking questions. Who sits on the throne of my heart? Who am I giving my life to? Who am I following? That's master. Mission is how am I following? And mate is who do I get to follow with? Right. And so what I've found all the way from my coaching days is that a long obedience in the same direction is it's called lifestyle evangelism. It's called a three-year camping trip, like what Jesus did. It's just faithfully showing up. And these kids, some I get them year after year, some I see them through all-stars, or I do some training with them afterwards, even when they're in high school. We stay connected. But in all those years, these kids got to see my imperfections. They got to see my misses, they got to hear me apologize, where it's like, yep, I shouldn't have questioned the umpire there. Um, they get to see me be happy and buy ice cream, but also say, but my joy is not rooted in food, uh, it's rooted in Jesus. And we get to have those conversations appropriately, and it's what I want for them. Like, I want them to be happier tomorrow than they are today. I told them that all the time. And so they knew that as young kids, young adults. And now, as young adults, they're asking these questions. And again, for years, it's been fun to watch and humbling and hard. Like I've done funerals. There was one team, I've literally buried uh six of my kids' dads or moms. Yeah, like that's hard, but but I'm their pastor, even though they've never gone to church. Like I was their coach, I'm their pastor. And um, I've even had a funeral for one of my players, right? And like that that's painful. Um, but there are also moments to pray and to point people to Jesus, right? That he meets us, like that is disciple making, it's entering the gaps with people. And so these past few years um has been really humbling to see the fruit of a long obedience in the same direction. Uh, even some of these kids coming back to me years later and saying, I've decided to follow Jesus. Like, there is nothing better than that. And now I'm watching them as kids, former players, give their life away in a way, like they're multiplying out the kingdom of God. One guy just this week, Brent called me and he's like, and I didn't coach him, but I coached his friends, so we connected. He gave his life to Christ three years ago, and he's like, Hey, got an up to a new coach. And he's like, I want to do it for Jesus. And so, how cool that now these young men, long obedience in the same direction, not only did they get the gospel, but now they're giving the gospel. Right. Like it's incredible. And so it's it's personal, it's corporate. Like last Christmas Eve uh at vintage, one of our services. I don't know why everyone decided to come to the Christmas Eve Eve service. So if you're listening, find the service that isn't packed. But they all showed up. There was a hundred baseball people from my pray watch list that came to Christmas Eve. It was incredible that God is moving, but you don't know when. Yeah, like it's his timing, he's the Lord of the harvest. My job is just to be faithful. So you don't know who, what, when, where, how. You do know why. Depth of your why. Glory to God, the good of the people in your relationship with. So you're just praying and saying, God, do a work in their life, help them to be happier tomorrow than they are today.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Yeah, and it is fun to, you know, I get to sit and kind of watch all of this, and you know, you'll have these like meetings with the these group of young men. Yeah. And you just come out of them so excited. And it's it's cool because it's like it it is, this is super real for you. This isn't just something you say, this is something you you really believe in and live out. Um, and it's just fun for me to get to kind of like watch that.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Nothing's better.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Um, but um the the concept there that you're talking about, um, that I think just really needs to be outlined is is that concept of flipping the funnel, right? So um if you think of like a funnel, um you you a lot of churches, a lot of American churches just um the concept is bring as many people in as you can. And I get that. I totally get it. It's like just get people exposed to the gospel, it's great. So get as many people as possible, and then a few of those people um might actually like stay and come regularly. And then, you know, a percentage of those people might join a small group, and then a fraction of those people um might start volunteering, and then a couple of those people might actually be leading. Right. And it and the funnel kind of shrinks, shrink, shrink, shrink, shrinks. And and of that whole picture, you have a fraction, a percentage of that whole group that is truly in relationship, living life for Jesus. Okay. So the idea to me that you're talking about is the opposite of that. So flip the funnel over. I'm not focused on the 5,000 coming in and and keeping as many as possible. Yeah. You're flipping it over and you're starting with a few guy. A guy, a couple people. You're starting with a person, and then hopefully that relate your relationship with Jesus sh, you know, rubs off on that person, and they start having a relationship with Jesus, and then they have a one. Yeah. And they have one person that they're trying to do that with, move it, you know, forward with. Um, and then they have a one, and then they have a one. And you can see, then it starts multiplying. Truly grows.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

And and it's what Jesus did.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Like if you look at the life of Jesus, he wasn't anti-the-large crowd, he fed the five thousand. But it sure seems like he focused on the twelve. Right. And he also really focused on the one, right? He only did what the father told him to do. It was all about Abba and being a lockstep with the Spirit. So he's the lead disciple maker, the spirit of God. But then also Jesus gave his life to the three, the beloved, right? You got Peter, James, and John. Those are then he's like, walk with me, and I'm gonna send you, Peter, to go build the church. And so he invested in the three. He invested in the 12. And so, yeah, that funnel of 5,000 to 120 to 70 to 12 to 3. It's like we flip it to say, what did Jesus do? Yeah, he focused on the 12, sent the 70. Right. There was the 120 in the upper room, and he ministered to the crowds, but it was always about you have to go to your ones. Right. You have to go find. Yeah. And actually, we will reach. I mean, think about that. We're still talking about the 12 disciples now, thousands of years later, because of Jesus' strategy. Yeah, it was his method, not of marketing, but of discipleship, of a three-year camping trip. And I just I see that in baseball, I see that in my coffee shop. Like the other day, there was a guy at church, I hadn't seen him for a little while. Um, but his wife, I got to marry him and his wife years ago. Um, but it was when I moved here, she was one of the very first people that I met because she was a breast at Starbucks. And literally within the first year, her dad dies, church hasn't even opened yet. Her dad dies, and she calls me, she gets my number and just says, Drew, you're my pastor, you're the pastor of Starbucks. And I don't think that's a pastoral call because I wasn't pastoring in El Dorado Hills necessarily. Every one of us, you are the pastor wherever you live, work, and play. Right. And so Andrea calls me and I get to step into that space, and it's heartbreaking. Um, years later, she's dating this Royce guy, I get to bury his dad. Uh, years later, I get to marry them as a couple. And so he's at church the other day, and I'm like, dude, I miss you, man. Like, welcome back. They came to putt-putt, mini golf, and now they're here. Um, and it's just so fun to say, no, these are our ones. These are the people that we live with, that we love, and we're in relationship with, and all I want for them is that they find more joy in Jesus. And so that 938 alarm, when it goes off, even in the middle of a podcast, I'm just praying that the Lord of the harvest would do a work in everybody in my life for his kingdom come and for his will to be done.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Yeah. So we talk about it all the time as a church. Who's your one? Yep. And you can have multiple ones. You can have you can have a handful of ones, or as many as you want, I guess. Um, but it's just a it's just a way to think about like who is somebody that you're you're praying about, that you're thinking about, that you're taking any opportunity to, you know, advance your relationship with that, with all of this. Um for me, um, my one has been my dad for like 10 years. And that just means that I just pray about him a lot and pray for him a lot and pray that he'll meet Jesus and um, you know, get to know Jesus and and love that. Um, but it really just means being intentional and being aware when I'm with him, you know, is there any opportunities that I can take and that sort of thing. So um it's it's really comes back to just that intentionality, really. I'm not really doing anything different. My dad's my dad no matter what. Yep. Um, but it's just an intentionality um where we can just be living our life on autopilot, or we can kind of like be honed in and looking for these opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

And your ones is really where it all starts, right? Exactly. You're falling with Jesus, he's radically changed your life. You just want that for other people. Exactly. Like I have yet to believe that. They know that I pray for him all the time, and they know that I pray they're happier tomorrow than they are today. Like my buddy Justin, he was one of my assistant coaches, and he says this. So he's like, You'd be a jerk. He used a different word, but he's like, I want to be on your prayer list. Like, I want to be happier tomorrow than I am today. And so thank you for praying for me. And of course, he knows that I think that's only gonna happen in Jesus. Exactly. Um, and so it's not new news, but I am like, I'm all in on these guys, whether it's ice cream, pizza, six-year-olds, 16, 60 year olds. Like, I just want us to be captivated by the gospel and to follow the path of Jesus. And so it's just so fun 13 years into living here to see God's kingdom continue to come. And it's he's the Lord of the harvest. We're just faithful. Um, the other day, about six months ago, I had a kid getting ready to go to college for the first time. I leave in high school. He sends me a text, and he's not really a part of our church, he's not in our youth group. I actually discipled his older brother. Um, and he sends me a text because of that relationship I have with his older brother. He says, Drew, I want to give my life to Jesus. I'm like, What? Like, this is the out of the blue.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

I have not had one spiritual conversation with this young man in 10 years that I'm aware of. Yeah. Right? Um, I mean, everything's spiritual, but I don't think I have. Um, but God is moving in those 10 years through other coaches, through his parents, through his brother. He's watching his brother fall more in love with Jesus, and he's like, What's going on? And so as I invested in his brother, right, right, he sends me a text going, What's next? What do I gotta do? And I'm like, You gotta text your brother. That's the first thing you gotta do. Tell your brother. And so again, I I remember his brother calling me, like, dude, my brother just called me. This is amazing. I know, I told him to call you. Like, nothing is better than this. Like, guys, this is so stinking fun. Yeah, and so I'm just calling people, follow me as I follow Christ. Like, he has changed my life, and I want that for you. Um, and I just I talked to my buddy recently, Dean Mayeda, who I talked about, he did my church plan assessment a few episodes ago. We used to talk this week, um, and he came back from sabbatical, and part of his study was he's like, Drew, like 85% of churches nationwide are in decline, or best case plateaued. A few are plateaued, most are declining. And he's like, We gotta do something about this. And I'm like, I agree. That's what Disciples Made Here is. Right. It's you guys seeing yourself as the sent one. It's it's every one of us going, I have a place that I live, work, and play. It's structuring our churches around an upside-down funnel and creating spaces. And obviously, we want to go deep with people in the joy of Jesus, right? And we want to have shallow ends of the Baja step, we want to have barbecue space, it's it's churches, and and Dean was just saying, Drew, these are churches that are closing their doors. They have properties, they have spaces. And I'm like, dude, what Jesus did is a grassroots one-to-one, one to twelve movement. That was his funnel. And so that's our call. And that's why I just am so thankful to be on the journey with you, Heather, with you, Disciples Made Here community. That's what we're about.

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Yeah. Yeah. So we just encourage you all to set your alarm and and pray. Who's your one? Who's that person that pops in your head right now when you think of like, oh, I wonder who my one is? Yeah. Like the spirit will will will reveal it for you. So just, you know, pray about it, think about it, but set your alarm and um yeah, then just go about your life and uh look for these people uh wherever you live, work, and play.