Who Are You Inviting?

In this episode of the Disciples Made Here podcast, Drew and Heather move from Identify to the second movement of the Disciples Diamond — Invite. And the invitation might not be what you think.
The highest goal isn't getting people to church. It's inviting them into life with you. Your table. Your gym. Your rhythms. The spaces you already occupy. Because disciples aren't made in a Sunday service — they're made on the three-year camping trip, around a meal, in the parking lot, on the basketball court, in the gap.
Drew and Heather walk through Luke 10 and the person of peace, unpack what green shoots actually look like in real relationships, and share personal stories of what it looks like when someone lives faithfully without forcing it — and what happens when the questions finally come. Heather shares a moment with her dad on Father's Day that captures the whole idea. Drew tells the story of Drew Spencer's baptism and why not being the one to baptize him was actually the point.
This episode is also a masterclass in tone, timing, and theology — and why leading with any one of them out of order can do more harm than good.
We're not asking anyone to do more. We're just asking us to redeem what's already there.
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Reflection Questions
Who in your life has been a person of peace — asking questions, accepting invitations, showing reciprocity? Are you paying attention to them?
What does your weekly rhythm actually look like? Where are the spaces you could redeem for relationship without adding anything new?
Are you leading with tone, timing, and theology in the right order? Or are you answering questions people aren't asking yet?

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Connect With Disciples Made Here
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Website https://disciplesmadehere.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Hey guys, welcome back to the Disciples Made Here podcast. I'm Drew Sodestrom with your host Heather Hodson.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hey, so last episode um we started working through the Disciples Diamond. Um so if you missed that, go back, it might be helpful, but I'll try and catch you up to speed um so you don't have to if you don't want to. Um so basically the discipleship diamond is a framework based on what we see Jesus doing in the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Um and it's just kind of a way to work through how to live on mission as a disciple.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Yeah, and it's important that we define disciple, which again that was like months ago, literally. And so when Jesus says follow me, that was the text we looked at last week, the very beginning calling the disciples in Matthew 4, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. And so what is a disciple? So we use this language, and again, go back to episode one and two and kind of review with us. But our one is a deepening relationship with God, our two is a life-changing with other believers, and then our three is an engaging with the yet to believe. And so we say a disciple is made up of all three of those, it's the intersection of that, but it's all about relationship. And so when we're saying disciple, remember that's what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Yeah. And then uh the first kind of step, the first leg of the discipleship diamond is to identify. So just kind of training our brains to be aware of the people that God has already put in our lives, yeah, um, and identifying them as people that we can influence.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Yeah, and the best way to like phrase up identify would just simply be pray. Just pray to the Lord of the harvest, see what's already there, see what God's already doing, see people for who God made them to be, sons and daughters, yeah, uh image bearers of the gospel. Um, and so then our hope as we're praying and watching is that we're actually introducing people to the Father, that He's the Lord of the harvest. Yeah, yeah, and so that that's that first step that we looked at. And after we identify, today's episode is gonna be all about invite. And it it might surprise you, but it's important to stop and say, what are we inviting them to? And as a pastor, I'm not saying invite them to church. Like I'm saying invite them into relationship with you where you live, work, and play. Like my highest goal is not that they come to vintage grace on a Sunday, but the best invite actually might be to your house on Monday, for dinner on Tuesday, to be in life. And you're just identifying how I can invite people into life with me, whether they're pre-believers, the yet to believe, or believers. And when I say yet to believe, I just mean like on the spiritual number line. If you're looking at this picture, the cross is in the middle, the left side of the cross is anybody that doesn't treasure Jesus yet.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

So before they're treasuring Jesus is all the same.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

That's the yet to believe. Yes. And then the right side of the cross would be people that are fighting for their joy in Jesus, like you and me. So we would call that discipleship, and the other we call evangelism, but really it's the same heartbeat for both of them.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

But you're saying evangelism is to the yet to believe, and discipleship is to the believers.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Yeah, but it's the same thing. I'm just inviting you to find more joy in Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

There's no difference.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Yeah, and so whether you don't love Jesus yet, I'm inviting you to see that he's worth loving and following. If you do love Jesus, I'm inviting you to keep fighting for your joy in Jesus. And so when we're inviting people, we're inviting people into relationship with us, not because we're perfect, but we're fighting for our joy, we're following the perfect one.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

And so again, that's that senior pastor moment for me where it's like, I'm actually not encouraging you to invite your friends to church. Yeah. I do, but the primary call is invite them into relationship with you. Um and that actually change starts with us. And so one of the heartbreaking things for me as a pastor is the amount of times I've walked with people and I'm like, who's invested in you? Who's discipled you? And people are like, Nobody.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Nobody.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

And so if that's you, like just hear, hear me, like we're trying to walk with you right now, even on a podcast. But um, may we start now? Who can you then identify, right? Who can you say, hey, follow me as I follow Jesus? Like change starts with us right now, and hopefully you do have people that have invested in you that you can look back on and be like, hey, like you've invested in my journey with Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Yeah, yeah. So so as you kind of ask yourself that of of who's done that for you. Um, and if you can identify somebody, like, first of all, thank God for them. And then, I mean, even thank them. I think that that's such a compliment to somebody when you can share that like they were a part of your walk with Jesus. Yeah, you're gross. Yeah, that's so that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Yep, and we say that's like ongoing spiritual transformation. Healthy things grow.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Ongoing spiritual transformation. He talks fast.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Yeah. Um we just want you to grow, and in my experience, people grow primarily. If you think back of all your gross spurts with Jesus, right? When you were growing up from little Heather to where you are today or little Andrew, you grew primarily with two key common denominators. You grew because of pain and grew because of people.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

And my hope is to never increase your pain level as a discipler, right? Yeah. But when life happens, when gaps happen, God grows you through meeting you in the gap, and he often meets you through people. And so, like you're saying, just praise God for those people that entered into. So, my commitment as a pastor to my people is I'm never gonna intentionally increase your pain level, but I do want to be very intentional with the people that I'm surrounding myself with so that we can grow in our faith and become more like Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 5:07

Yeah, and then just reflect honestly, like how what did they do with you? How did they walk with you? And and what did that invitation like give you? What did that bring to you?

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Yeah, yeah. And what did it look like for them to join you in the gap or to invite you into their gap? Yeah. Like when I look back at again, even my journey with Jesus and the men that God has put in my life, uh, two of them would have been around seminary time, and they were these one was a professor, one was a local pastor, that just said, Hey, I see you, Drew, follow me as I follow Jesus. And so I call him TC. He's on staff now, Todd Chapman, um, and Dave Talley. Um, and they didn't just invite me into study the book with them, although we did that, like whether it be in church or in school, um, but they invited me into their lives. Yeah, like they invited me again into the highs, the lows, their marriages, their families, their recreation. I often joke they invited me to be their babysitter, um which I think is rad. And we've done that with others now, years later, where it's like, hey, we want to hang with you. Yeah, um, we want to like do life with you. And sometimes babysitting is like you get a front row seat to the highs and the lows and all that kind of stuff. For me, it was basketball. Like I love basketball. Okay. They both hooped. So they said, hey, come play with us. Um, come play. And so for Dave and I, we would go to the local Brea Community Center. This is in Southern California. Um, and I got to hang out with him and see like raw moments, real moments. And we would always debrief because we talk about the word and we talk about our life and trust in the spirit. There was one day in particular that I remember very vividly because I'm this young man in ministry. Dave and I are hooping with a bunch of yet to believe, people that don't love Jesus yet, but we like hoops and we like, you know, exercises are out there. And Dave was a little bit older. Um, and so we're playing with all these young guys, and they're like grabbing his shorts and they're being really physical. Yeah, and he kind of lost it one time. Like he just turned around and he just pushed this young guy off of him. And I'm like the young pastor watching the older pastor who's not that old, but he's probably my age right now. And like it's hard to chase the young guys on the court, and he just like pushed him. And then I got to see this moment where I was like, What's gonna happen next? Yeah, and I'm watching, right? Because we say, as much as we want to be praying and watching, someone's always watching us, and so I'm watching Dave, and then he quickly is like, Oh, that was little Dave, right? And so he repents to the guy, he's like, Hey, I'm sorry. And part of me is like, Dave, you're justified. Like he was grabbing you, you're just saying buzz off, and that's what hoops does to you. It brings out little Andrew, and um, but it was so clear, like Dave showed me his desperate dependent reality. Yeah, he just showed me that he's real and wrong. Yeah, and then not only did he apologize in the moment to the guy, but then later we went to Starbucks and we debriefed and we had a whole conversation. That's right. Like, Dave is not the dude, Drew's not the dude. Jesus is the dude.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

We're just following him, and as we follow, we repent as we go, we confess as we go, we share the yuckiness. And so when we're praying and watching and inviting people into relationship with us, we want them to see Jesus, not just because we're crushing, because he is actually the hero, and we're just following him. And that's a lesson I learned. I'll talk more about it in in the next couple weeks. I'll have Jen on as a guest to talk about our kids see us. Like our kids are gonna see us when our prayer alarm goes off, our kids are gonna see us on the basketball court when things don't go well. Oh, really? And what are they seeing in us? Hopefully, a humility that says, I'm just following Jesus as my lead rabbi.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah, yeah. So for me, my discipleship journey was different, everybody's is. Um, I didn't grow up in the church, so to speak. My family kind of investigated Jesus a little bit throughout my life and still are.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Um, but God placed just what felt like random people, random.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

And we say random is just when God's anonymous, but yes, random.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

Random people in my life that just had such a huge impact. There was um a lady at the gym named Karen, and she just like invited me into life with her, and we just had like conversations and just spent time. She wasn't like preaching at me or trying to get me to do anything, she just was spending time with me. And it's crazy, she was uh from the gym. At the time, I didn't even go to Vintage Grace yet. I didn't know. We haven't watched the church yet.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

I was at that same gym.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Yes, and we didn't know each other, we didn't like put anything together, and now that woman, Karen's daughter, works on staff with it, just like God's fingerprints all over, and it's just funny. But um, and then another just unique one, I guess maybe not unique, but it's unique to me, is um God placed peers in my life who were further along in their spiritual journey. So we had Andy and Amanda, and we just had such interesting like conversations as we were really just starting to figure this out, me and my husband, and you know, I know their parents now, and I've I've told Shannon, like, thank you for discipling your daughter because essentially through her, like I was discipled, you know, and so it's just cool to like watch the full circle moments as as you go through it. But I think my point is it's not cookie cutter, everybody's journey is a little bit different, and like God's gonna place who you need in your life and place us where we need to be to be that for you know the next generation, so to speak.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

And what's fun for me is again, Karen and I would have talked about living on mission at the gym.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

We don't know who Heather is, right? She would have been the person with curly hair on a prey watch list. We don't know her, so funny. And yet you started to ask her questions and you guys would have coffee afterwards. Or like Shannon, right? Like you don't know you're you're investing in your daughter because you love her. Right. You don't have any clue that she's actually investing in someone else because she doesn't know she's investing in someone else.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Like, we're just friends.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

You say God's fingerprints, that's like a Jen quote. Like, I love it. Like God's the Easter eggs, the white issues rodeos, like they're literally everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

They're everywhere if you're paying attention to them. Yeah, and all of those led to my, you know, essentially to Drew and Jen, where then they've discipled. Yeah, so it's just on to the next, on to the next, and and it's kind of just like it's just a cool person.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Yeah. So identify is just praying and watching. You're just watching to see what's already happening and saying, Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me, help me have eyes to see, and then to take a step, which would be invite. Um, and so that's what we're gonna talk about today. Like we're inviting people into relationship with us as we follow Jesus at the gym, at the basketball court, wherever we live, work and play, and we're praying and we're watching for opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, yeah. And so we're watching for green shoots.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

Not shoes.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Not shoes. Shoots. Sorry, inside jokes. Yep. If you watched last episode, um, but yeah, green shoots. What is what are those little sparks of interest, those little sparks of the door opening um that we can be aware of, that we can be clued into.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Um, that give us those next steps.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

And for me, it does. It goes back to not just the words, but the ways of Jesus. So in Luke chapter 10, we see this principle of this person of peace. As we're going, and again, if you have your Bibles, you can follow with us in Luke chapter 9. You'll see the context of chapter 10 in this person of peace. But in chapter 9, Jesus sends out the 12 in power. Um, he feeds the 5,000, so they get an opportunity to like see the kingdom of God in action. Uh, Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus says, Take up your cross, follow me. Um, he's equipping them with the cost of discipleship. You're gonna leave everything, but gain even more. Um, and then we get to chapter 10, where he sends out the 72. And so there's this beautiful, beautiful picture of he sees us, he invites us to him, and then he equips us to send us as the 72.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Yeah, and that's the best part because I I get to be part of that 72. Like I get to go do something.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Even if you don't have the gift of evangelism, your daughter, right, and you're a deployed disciple maker, I'm a son, and I'm a sent one. And so look at chapter 10 with me. It says this after this, the Lord appointed the 72, and he sent them to go ahead two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And I love this basic principle of two by two. And so you and Wes go, me and Jen go, we actually go as couples, two couples together, as our kids are in school. Like, we've gotten to live the pray watch overlap lifestyle for a decade together on mission. And I think that's really a good definition of what a church is. A church is a family of God, saved by God and sent by God on mission. And so that's verse one. Verse two, then he says to them, the harvest is plentiful, but laborers are few, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest. And you're like, wait, Drew, that was in Matthew. No, it's in Luke also. So Luke's recording this. In fact, one of the churches that we partner with in Wisconsin, they set their alarms for 1002, just because I think they want to be different, but that's fine. But great, 1002, 938, I don't think set an alarm to disrupt your day to remind you what matters most. The harvest is plentiful, labors are few. Skip down to verse five. He says this as you go, whatever house you enter, first say peace to the house. And if there's a son of peace, it will rest upon him, but if not, it will return to you and it will remain in the same house, eating, drinking, and providing what our labor deserves. Do not go from house to house. What he's saying is redeem those normal places and spaces. And when someone asks questions, that's a green shoot.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:57

When they ask you a question on that three-year camping trip, remember that what Jesus is doing on this camping trip, he's not giving us a lecture. It's like a lab. Discipleship is a lab. Let's gather, let's learn, let's go. Let's come back, let's learn, let's go. I hope that's happening on the podcast. Like you're learning new skills, you're gonna go practice them. Yeah, they're gonna come back, and then you're gonna go, and you're looking for that person of peace as you're on that camping trip.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Right, right. So, so again, to kind of distill it down, like what are those clues, right? So they're people who keep engaging with you, there are people who are asking you questions, there are people who are inviting you into stuff.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Yeah, if they slam the door in your face in Luke 10 or at the gym, yeah, no big deal.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

It's not time, you know? And so, but but they're inviting you into stuff and they want to be around you, and they're you know, they keep accepting your invitations when you're and that's so significant.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Like we want to encourage you to invite people to your house because that's the front door for the gospel, not the front door of the church, front door of your house. But when when you tell Karen as a yet to believe, and you say, Hey, tell me more. Yeah, all of a sudden she's like, Oh, not only, and this is huge, and then Jeff Vandersel talked about this a few months ago. We talk about in the context of we want to invite friends to our Super Bowl party. Yeah, but man, what happens when they invite us to theirs?

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Right? That's a huge green shoot. Not just that they accepted our invitation to coffee, true, but that they want to hang out because they're seeing something in Heather, right? You're seeing something in Karen, and you're like, Karen, tell me more. I don't even know what it is, just tell me more. Yeah. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Especially that the questions, they're asking questions. That's just a great sign.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Um, yes.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

And when they ask questions, this is kind of fun for me too. If you study the gospels, Jesus actually asked 307 questions. So he's rabbi, he's teacher, but he's asking you and me questions to get us to think. And so when people are asking us questions, that allows say they're interested, they're curious, and they care about the answer, which is a big deal. Like that's where real discipleship is happening in proximity, where questions can be asked, intimacy can be increased. That's why again we say discipleship can start online, can't stay online. Like, ask questions, find a Heather, find a Drew, find someone that can walk with you who is a satisfied customer in Christ that now gets to say, Let me show you, people will see it in us.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah, and that brings us to a topic that you've said forever that I've known you, but that like is one of the most powerful things to me is don't answer questions that you're not being asked. And I that's kind of what we're talking about here. Like, what are those signs that somebody is a person of peace or that they're ready for more? And answering questions that were not being asked is just totally pointless. Like, it's talking to like a blank wall, they're not gonna be able to do that. They're not like they don't want to hear, and not only is it pointless, I actually think it's damaging. Yes, because anytime we're just like beating someone over the head with it, it's like ew, there that just gives Christians a bad name. It just is like it's where we go wrong a lot of times.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Especially because I grew up in the church and I've done it wrong. You came to faith later in life, like my wife, and so you've gotten a different perspective, which I really appreciate. But for me, it's not only don't answer questions people aren't asking, but I try to encourage our church, live in such a way that people ask you the question.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

So you have to be in proximity, you have to go to the gym with eyes open, praying and watching, praying that the Lord of the harvest would do a work in their life and they'd ask the question, like they're actually kind of taking the step in that. And I think that's a big deal. So don't answer questions they don't ask, but live in such a way that you're the first person that they're like, Karen, can you grab coffee?

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Yeah, and it's not we're not saying don't be bold in your faith. That's a really important line there. Um, because when you do get tagged in and it is that time, and you are paying attention and you get that kind of sign, then then then it is time to be bold in your faith. But but you have to be paying attention as to when that's kind of the right time.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

So you and I have talked about my dad for my essentially my entire time I've known you. Um he's you know, my one, okay. So we talked about everyone has one. Um he's somebody that I've just prayed for a lot. And um, you know, for a lot of years, he just wasn't really interested. Right. And he that's fine. It was just like that, and we would talk about it every once in a while, and he'd come to um Christmas and Easter and we'd have a great time. And um, but recently, um, over the last year, he really started kind of getting investigating and like getting interested in kind of what all this was, and I think God was really working on his heart. And um it was Father's Day, we were kind of talking about it this last June, and he said to me, like, you know, for a lot of years I've watched you kind of like live like this, and um, obviously he knows my whole story of like leaving my nursing career and coming to work for a church and a lot of that, but also you know, just kind of living this out. And he said, like, it was it didn't really click, but one thing that just like has always stuck with me is you never pushed it, you never forced it, you never shamed me or guilted me into it. Um, and I was so happy to hear that because that is always how I want to be, but you know, I don't know, I get it wrong all the time. So um, so yeah, it's been fun to like watch his journey and then to honestly to hear that feedback of like, okay, I I didn't like overdo it or I didn't push it or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

So but you have lived in such a way that when your dad has a question, he asked.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

If he was ready, he did talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

And it's why I like that language, as weird as it might sound to some people, because I don't mean it in a crass way, but be a satisfied customer in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Like I'm not trying to evangelize you or or like make you go be an evangelist. Yeah, I'm trying to say, where are you already living? And if you have joy in Jesus, everyone woke up this morning wanting to be happier tomorrow than they are today.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

And so that will be something that when they have questions about their joy, their eternity, about their practical reality right now, they miss you. And so it's just really fun for me to watch you be a daughter of the king, but then also a daughter of your dad, right? In the sense of like, hey dad, you know, I love you, and that's what I want for you, but that's what we want for everybody, right? And that's why I do like using another triad because everything is like a Venn diagram for me. And I call it tone, timing, and theology. And so I'm a theology professor, pastor, bible thumper. I love the word, but sometimes we lead with theology, and then our tone and our timing doesn't line up. And that actually, to your point, you said, man, that could be damaging. Yeah, it could be damning. It's a stumbling block. And so you have to have the right tone, which is hey, I'm Drew, I'm a sinner saved by grace. If I'm gonna invite you to follow me, I'm gonna have basketball moments just like Dave Tally. Right. I'm gonna have arguments with my wife. You're a good friend, you've seen them, right? Like I'm gonna have experiences, and so the tone is always one of humility, satisfied customer in Christ. I didn't earn it, I was dead in my sin, but God made me alive. Um, it's really, really important. Um, the timing's also really important. So it's not just the theology of the gospel, the tone coming out, but the timing is people asking questions, right? Living in such a way that they can. Like when I was in high school, I transferred from a Christian school to a bigger public school for sports and all sorts of reasons. Um and I still remember when I got there and my my friends called me Rev, and it wasn't out of reverence. It was like I just talked about Jesus a lot all the time. And so again, it's not not being bold, it's being wise. Right. It's it's how does tone match your timing, match your theology? Or there's a basketball player who got drafted number one overall, and I remember watching the NBA draft, um, and he's like, I'm gonna evangelize the NBA for Jesus. And I just wanted to like put my arm around and be like, bro, how about you just live, love, and look like Jesus first? Right? And he kind of turned people off. And it's this is not about not being bold, it's about being wise, it's about being the person that's praying and watching and stepping and be bold to take the step to find the person of peace. Um, and so again, more Venn diagrams, but theology matching tone and timing. Yep. And I think we've seen a fruit to that at vintage. I've seen a fruit of that in my life. Absolutely. Um when we do baptisms at Vintage Grace, I don't do the majority of them.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

I do baptisms of the people that I've discipled. I've prayed, I've watched, I've taken steps with them. Um, but the majority of the the d baptisms that we do are other people living on mission. In fact, I still remember recently. Um, probably four years ago, a guy got baptized at Vintage and I was I remember seeing his name on our Slack channel being like, Drew's getting baptized, this is incredible. I have prayed and watched for this guy for f at this point, four or five years.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Different Drew.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

Different Drew. Um uh Drew Spencer. And it was so rad because I felt heavily invested in him, even though he didn't necessarily know that I was invested. I was just praying.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

That prayer is the word, right? So I'm just praying, and then the the note comes in that he's getting baptized, and I'm so pumped, and I'm like assuming that I'm gonna baptize him, and I'm like so excited because I feel like for years I prayed and like we've never really had spiritual conversations. One time I saw him reading a C.S. Lewis book and I asked him a question about it, and he didn't really respond with questions, and so we just continue on, I just kept praying. But I got him connected with other men and our YA group and other leaders and disciplers. Um, and when when the time came, actually, uh Tim and Kevin baptized him, guys that I've invested in, but that and I and I pause and I was kind of laughing and smiling like you are, where I'm like, Yeah, this makes sense. This is actually what I want, right? But I thought I was and I wasn't, I was just the lead prayer. But how beautiful is that? Yeah, I didn't invest in you at the beginning. Karen did, but I prayed for Karen. I equipped her, and she like this is how God designed it to work in relationship for his glory, and so it does. It reminds me of verse 20, where the disciples come back after they're like they've been sent in chapter 10. Yeah, they come back and they're fired up. They're like, dude, I do think they call Jesus dude sometimes, but they're like, dude, like Satan fell from heaven and we cast out this and this happened, and Drew Spencer got baptized, and they're fired. And Jesus reminds them, and he's so patient with them, he says, Don't be celebrating the fruit. I'm the Lord of the harvest. So be celebrating your sonship and daughtership. That's number one. That's satisfied customer in Christ. I love you not because what you did for me, because what I did for you. So first just pause and be like, this is not even about kingdom movement, it's that I'm in the kingdom. And then number two, I'm calling you to be faithful, not fruitful.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

And that was like, whoa. So for you and me as like achievers and activators and go, how many of the prophets were faithful and they didn't see any fruit? And God's like, I still got you. I'm the Lord of the harvest. Just keep being faithful. And so I just think that's a significant thing when we're praying, watching, and stepping, when we're identifying and inviting, when people don't accept our invitation, okay, just keep praying and watching.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Yeah, and and when we are identifying them, and then when we are inviting them, what are we inviting them to? And and it's not necessarily church. Like maybe it is like I did invite my dad to to church, especially to Christmas and Easter. Um as those are kind of like easier ones to join on. But like, but I was also in relationship with him the whole time. So you're you're inviting them into just walking with you.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

And that may end up at church, but it it's just not the whole thing. It doesn't even start there necessarily.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

And the church is like your wingman, right? Like we say we're a joy-filled community of faith. Yeah, we can't be a joy-filled community of faith unless it's filled with joy-filled individuals. So you're the joy-filled individual just living out the gospel, yeah. And the church just comes alongside you. So we tell people all the time when you invite someone to church, like they're gonna get the gospel more on the patio, maybe, than from the pastor.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

Like on that space, when they're walking in the parking lot, when they interact, when they see, they don't know that all the pray watch lists have overlapped, but when they see, oh, you go here, you go here, I saw this attributed Jesus in you. I don't know, Jesus, but I like it in you. And it's beautiful. And to your point also, it's not adding new things to your plate.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

It's just saying how do I be faithful at my gym, at my coffee shop, as I live, work, and play. It's just redeeming the spaces that are already there. And so one exercise I'd encourage you guys to even just pause and ponder as you're again doing your laundry and driving, just think critically about how do you redeem what's already there? And so I tell people all the time, you eat 21 meals in a week. I eat 25 because I'm an overachiever. Um, and what if you just tithe 10%? What if you looked at those 21 meals or 25 and you said, okay, two of those meals this week, I'm gonna intentionally use them for the yet to believe. Right. Someone in my office, someone at my gym. Hey, you want to grab lunch? Because everyone's got to eat. Um, and so how do you redeem those places and spaces to actually see those as kingdom moments? Even we were looking at Matthew 8, 9, and Luke, Luke 10. Remain there, eat with them, drink with them, hang out with them. Have conversations because ministry happens around a table.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Yeah, yeah. So we kind of call this like a chart your rhythms kind of a thing. And I love this. It's like, um, it's kind of like a time audit. Like, what am I already doing? Where I my days are full. All of our days are full. Everybody's days are full. They're full with something. So chart that out. Like, what what are you spending your time on? Where what do your rhythms look like? What do the days look like? And then where are you seeing those green shoots, those little opportunities within that space that you know you're already doing the things you're doing?

SPEAKER_02 26:47

And maybe you do need to actually cut something out so you can redeem that meal differently. Like sometimes I'm like, as an introvert, I'm like, I just need dinner by myself or whatever at lunch by myself. And so sometimes it's like, okay, I want to redeem, they're already there. And if we're praying to the Lord of the harvest, we see the rodeos, we see the Easter eggs, we see people the way God sees them, as sons and as daughters. Um, and I just can't think of a better prayer that Jesus is like, I'm ready to answer it, Drew and Heather, if you just pray it. And so we pray at 938 to the Lord of the harvest that he would raise up kingdom laborers. That's what he does. He makes dead people alive. And so the call to action today is not just to pray. We think it's the work, it's the steering wheel, it's everything. Yeah. But it's to watch and then it's to step. As the spirit stirs in your heart or in someone else's heart, they ask questions, they're persons of peace, they accept your invitations, they make invitations to you. You're praying, you're watching, and you're stepping, just then lockstep with the spirit. One of the patterns I've seen preaching through Matthew is it starts with an invitation from God, transformation from God on that three-year camping trip, and then a commissioning from God. So he's inviting us to follow him, he's transforming us into his image, and then he's sending us. Jesus did the diamond with me. Right. He did it with you, not just the one at the well, not just the disciples, and then he sends us to do it with other people. And and in humanity, we want inspiration and lights and lasers and miracles. And Jesus does miracles still, but we want inspiration and just like I'm offering you incarnation, I'm offering you relationships. So if we're imitators of Christ, we are not necessarily saying, look at all the wows. We're saying look at the who, look at Jesus, walk with him. And as we do that, that's the best gift we give to people. Yeah in our too busy society. Right. When you can stop and look someone in the eyes and be like, I see you.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

And I'm not too busy, I'm not looking at my phone, what do I got to go next? Like, also, like, what's different about you? Well, I love you and I want what's best for you. And that is Jesus, and that will come out inevitably and naturally. So at the end of this, you know, Disciples Made Here season one podcast, we will encourage you to take that action step. Who can you invite to follow you as you follow Jesus? But for now, we're just encouraging you to pray and to watch and to be ready to step as the spirit leads.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Yeah, so we talked about a little bit last episode. I really, really want your guys' questions and your kind of places that you're stumbling and things that feel awkward or hard in this. Um, please DM us those because I want to work through those. I want to um talk about those and or respond to you and kind of work through them with you. Um, because Satan doesn't want this to be successful. He wants us to be just distracted and busy and frantic. And so he's gonna do his best to kind of keep that up and make you feel uncomfortable so you don't kind of be a useful tool for God. So um just walk through this, give it a try, and then let us know how it's going.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Yeah, and don't settle for just inviting people to church, invite them to your life. Yeah, and we'll talk about imitate next week and the wonkiness there and what that looks like. But I do think that sometimes, like Satan, like we've said, will distract you so he doesn't have to attack you.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:41

Um, and not only that, but he'll even have you at the wrong target, right? The wrong goal, like to invite him to church. Do that, that's great. But ultimately, invite him to follow you as you follow Jesus. In fact, that's why we clap at the end of all of our gatherings. In fact, I clapped last week at the end of our podcast, and it kind of messed up Trent. He kind of jumped in his chair, which makes me happy. Um, but for me, it is this sense of like, no, the clap is we're breaking huddle. Right. The clap is like, we're done here. Now it's game time. Go, and as you are going, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, make disciples. And so, man, DMH, podcast, family, thank you again, like Heather said, for your feedback, for journeying with us. We are convinced that the Spirit of the Living God rests on you and He's leading through you for His glory to be seen. So let's keep living this out wherever we live, work, and play.