High School Graduation Is Not Church Graduation

What happens to your faith when no one is making you go to church anymore? In this episode of Hot Takes and Holy Things, hosts Jarvis Koyate, Cole Bearden, and Jake Kimbrell tackle a timely question: why do so many students drift from church after high school? Centered on the idea that “high school graduation is not church graduation,” the conversation explores the shift from inherited faith to personal responsibility. The hosts reflect on how independence can feel freeing but also carries weight, especially when it comes to staying connected to a church community. They unpack common reasons students disconnect, from viewing church as just a phase to never fully making their faith their own. Drawing on personal experiences and biblical insight, including the example of Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18, they challenge students to see new seasons not as an ending, but as an opportunity to stay rooted and step into a new role. Listen in for a thoughtful and inspiring look at what it means to carry your faith forward!

Key Points From This Episode:

• An update from our hosts, including golfing, donations, and Mother’s Day gifts.
• Today’s word of the day: “SALTS” and a debate of its meaning.
• Student shoutout: Celebrating a student from Family Church Downtown for inviting friends and building church community.
• Today’s hot take: high school graduation is not church graduation.
• Why so many students drift from church after high school.
• The shift from inherited faith to making faith a personal decision.
• Independence after graduation and the weight of spiritual responsibility.
• How treating church as a phase leads to disconnection.
• Personal examples of staying rooted in church through college.
• Biblical example in Acts 18: Priscilla and Aquila staying rooted through change.
• Using new seasons as opportunities to find and build church community.
• Moving from consuming church to contributing to it.
• This week’s challenge: explore church options and reflect on what you value in one.

Quotes:

“High school graduation is not church graduation.” — Jake Kimbrell [00:14:39]

“We don't actually understand the weight of that independence. We don't understand how heavy that burden is to carry.” — Jake Kimbrell [00:16:27]

“Why do so many students disconnect from church after graduation?” — Cole Bearden [00:17:06]

“Your faith is your faith. It’s not your parents faith, it’s not your grandparents faith, it’s not your small group leaders’ faith, it’s yours. You've got to make the decisions on how you're going to prioritize church in your own life.” — Jarvis Koyate [0:18:09]

“Don’t simply just be a consumer at your church, but be a contributor.” — Jake Kimbrell [00:26:09]

“Don't let fear hold you back from finding community as you're going to college and as you're having to get plugged in and find a new church on your own.” — Jarvis Koyate [00:27:37]

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Hot Takes and Holy Things. This is the podcast for the students of Family Church in South Florida. We're tackling the real questions students are asking and bringing you hot takes backed by God's Word. This is Hot Takes and Holy Things.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Hey, what's going on, students? Welcome back to another episode of Hot Takes and Holy Things. Guys, episode nine. Nueve. Nuevo. No, Nueva Nueve. Yeah, Spanish. I don't know enough. I don't know enough. But guys, episode nine. I I mean, it feels like literally yesterday that we were recording episode one. Yeah. And now we're like months removed from that. It is crazy. It's a fun season.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

The character development that our students have gotten to witness over the last nine episodes.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

I mean, we found out that Jarvis didn't have asthma. Now he does have asthma. That's my lock on it. I mean, it's been a busy season, I'll tell you that. Well, guys, one of the things that I I really enjoy about the pod recently is whenever we've got to go around and give the people just a little life update. You know, what's happening in you guys' lives. And let's do that. Let's give the people a little update. I'll go first. And so recently in the Kimbrel household, I've had a ton of fun because you guys know Cassie sacrifices a lot. Right. Like she goes on all of my outlandish ideas that I ask her to go on. Yeah. Every now and then I think to myself, God, you just you never cease to amaze me. Like that girl will endure anything for me. And so this past weekend, she surprised me with tickets a while back, but then I, you know, I knew we were going this weekend, obviously, to the Cadillac Invitational in Miami to go watch a PGA tour event. And so she literally walked around a golf course with me all day. What a dog long.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

You've been in your golfing era, too.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

So that's to end the night perfectly, we go to one of the best restaurants in the history of restaurants. We go to Chili's and get a triple dipper cake.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Get you a triple dipper king.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Now that is not what I expected. Well, what'd you get on the triple dipper? It's a hot take.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Let me guess, let me guess, let me guess. Let me guess.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

You got mozzarella six. Yeah, mozzarella. Obviously. But what flavor? But what flavor?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Nashville hot.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

And then you got the honey chipotle chicken crispers and the sliders.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Nope. Oh, egg rolls. I felt good about sliders. Well, you said egg rolls already. You said southwest egg rolls. Oh, no, no, no. Yeah, I did. Yeah, yeah. Southwest egg rolls. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, that's my word. Cassie's goal.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Well, hey, I don't honestly, I don't think we can move on from that without giving Cassie three. Because she deserves three. Ruins at every time. All right.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

I thought we were going as soon as you said give her three. Because my brain, when I hear give them three, I immediately, my brain goes three claps.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

All right, well, here's the deal. Hey, Cassie, because you are awesome, gentlemen, let's give her three. There we go. There we go. Come on.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Well, hey, for us, we're gearing up for Mother's Day next week. And this is Macy's first Mother's Day with Miles. Because last Mother's Day, Miles was still in the womb, and so he wasn't officially born yet. And so this will be the first one that she gets to celebrate holding Miles. And so I'm super excited for that. I actually, one of the things that I pride myself on is gift giving. Really? I like I love giving gifts, but I don't do like shallow gifts where it's like, oh, like I saw some nice jewelry and I know you want that or whatever. Like I think of what's something that's just gonna be so meaningful to her. So like when me and Macy first started dating or whatever, one of the first presents that I gave her was my very first stuffed animal. His name's Tricky. And I said, Sure. That is so romantic. I said, Macy, I want you to have Tricky so that when I'm not around, you've got a piece of me that you can what is the stuffed animal?

SPEAKER_02 3:55

Yeah, what animal?

SPEAKER_00 3:56

He's from Build-A-Bear, and he's he's a white bear with pumpkin patches all over him. And go's like, I got it, my junior year in high school.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Macy's like, Wow, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

An avocado. But I told Missy, I was like, I I wouldn't give Tricky to just anyone, but I'm giving him to you because I know that one day I'm gonna marry you. You know, and that was like the first time that I told her I'd marry. So powerful.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

And so those that's the kind of gifts that I appreciate that because gift giving, honestly, you can ask Cassie, like, it stresses me out, dude. It stresses me out.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

I mean, but you've got a new technique that you're doing with your gift giving.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Oh yeah, dude. It's it Cassie actually has a shared note with me, and as things pop into her mind of like gifts that she wants, she puts them on the app and then puts stars next to them by level of like how much I want them. Yep. And so, like, some of you are like, Wow, well, that's not very creative. Okay, well, this way she actually gets the gifts that she wants, as opposed to the seven years prior to this, where she was like, Yay, an avocado. Yeah, you are a smart man.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah. So, no, I get that. No, we're really excited. Obviously, Hannah and I were in the final couple weeks of her giving birth. Who knows? By the time this episode comes out, we might have a baby. So who knows? Wild. Which is crazy. So it's anytime. So we're really excited about that. I got a bone to pick with Publix.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

We're shopping is a bunch.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yeah, I got a bone to pick. I wanted to share that with you guys.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

So they're not gonna be like sponsors of season two?

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Not for this one. So I'm going through Publix, I'm checking out, and uh, you know, at the register, they always go, Hey, would you like to donate a dollar to the so-and-so club? And uh usually they're pretty specific with those and just enough to make you feel bad. Sure. So past couple days, she goes, Hey, would you like to donate to the environment? I go, to what? And usually, you know, I'm going through, I don't have time. I was like, today I actually had time. She says, Would I donate to the environment? I said And you're the perfect person to have time for stuff. Like what do you talk? I was like, first of all, I was like, so if I donated to this hypothetically, where would this go to? Because she doesn't know all she's doing, she's just reading the screen. Today's promotional is the environment.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

And so for some reason, I don't know why that just got me worked up. And I obviously didn't donate any money to the environment because you know I recycle every now and then, you know. Sure. But yeah, I don't know why. I just got a bone of pipes.

SPEAKER_02 6:10

That's just really set the course for a pretty bad week. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I don't know why I thought about it every single day. Like, where would that dollar go to? Like, what organization, like what account would that get deposited into?

SPEAKER_02 6:23

I should imagine like a cloud coming through.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Man, I get it. Like, some people are like, hey, you know, there's like cans in the ocean, you know, donate a dollar, we'll pick up the cans in the ocean somehow. You know, but to the environment, I just can't do it. It's too bad.

unknown 6:39

I can't do it.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

I can't do it. So I don't know that that really got me going this week.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

Well, hey, students, this next segment is our word of the day segment. I love this segment. This segment is brought to you by none other than the Hudson Champion from Family Church Village. Shout out, Hudson. We love you around here.

SPEAKER_04 6:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

And so for this segment, you guys know how it works. I'm gonna bring a word to the table, a word that you guys are using, but a word that our friends Jake and Jarvis don't know what it means. And so they've got to guess what that word is. Yeah. And so, gentlemen, today's word is Oh, okay. So we're just going straight into it. We're going straight into it. So jumping right in. Today's word is SALT. And I'll be nice to you. I'll be friendly since this is episode nine. I will give you a hint. This word is not a word, it's an acronym. It's words.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Can you define the acronym?

SPEAKER_00 7:35

L-O-L. Laughing out loud.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

No. No. I knew what you meant, Jake, and I knew what you meant. You guys just couldn't be on further pages. All right. Alright, so SALT, Jake, what this means is SALT's actually S A L T S all are separate words. And it all creates an acronym called SALT. Yeah, okay. That's what I thought. I'm going to make sure I was on the same page. Jake, would you like to kick us off on what you think the word SALTS means? I don't. Alright, so I can go for it. Alright, so I think of the word salt. I wish I could have it in a sentence, but I don't want to give Jake an advantage. So I'm just gonna do this off the top of the dome. I had to type it out here so I could visualize it as well. Right. When I think of salts, I think of something silly. Okay. So that's our S. I think of these are silly affirmations. And so when you're talking to a friend, like maybe you're gonna affirm them, but you're being silly about it. You know, you and the boys. Silly affirmations, laughing. And so obviously the part of it being silly, it's double silly.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

So silly affirmations, laughing, you're talking and sharing. So silly affirmations, laughing, talking, sharing. And so it's really uh it's really a big communication acronym. So it's something you can share with your friend, uh-huh, something that you can share with a sibling. There's all different ways you can communicate and express affirmation by silly affirmations, laughing, talking, and sharing.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

The fact that you could just say all of that again.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Silly affirmations, laughing, talking, sharing. Yeah, it's salts. How would you use that in common lingo?

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Uh hey, what's up, bro? Uh, I see that you're down on your day today. Let me give you some salts.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Okay. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 9:16

And it works. Obviously, he's thinking, oh, is he gonna season my food? No. No. He's gonna give me some silly affirmation laughing. You're gonna season his life. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Okay, so I'm gonna go a different approach. Sure. We usually do. Because I don't know if I could replicate that if I wanted to. I'm gonna say it's someone, it's describing a person who stops a lot to speak.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Stops a lot to speak.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Stops a lot to speak.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

So I think this describes Jake Kimbrell. Uh I think uh whenever we go somewhere with Jake, uh, we can't go more than three feet because he has to stop a lot and talk to someone. So yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

So I think it's someone that like, okay, if you're gonna use me, I think it's someone who gets distracted a lot when they're just like they see someone they know. And for them, so like I grew up thinking that like if you drive past someone or walk past someone that you know and you don't say anything, like that's incredibly rude. So like even Cole, so like when we went to Athens to do the Athens half marathon, one of the things you said when we got back is you were like, I think that Jake waved to every person on the trail, right? Because in my my parents I grew up thinking like it was incredibly rude if I pass by this person and I don't wave or say hi or do anything. So I think it's someone who stops a lot to speak.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

I love that your mom taught you how to salt at a young age. That's awesome, man. Cole, what we got?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

All right, so we've got stopped a lot to speak and silly affirmations, laughing talking.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Talking sharing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

I know it's silly, I know. That's how it goes. But it's salt. It's all I think there's no world either of us are close.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

It's so hard to actually decide a winner on. Uh let me tell you what it means, and then I'll decide a winner.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

The definition for salt is smiled a little, then stopped. So it's kind of like a like, haha, that was that was funny. Like you gotta you gotta smirk out of me like a like a little bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

So it was silly because you smiled. Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

So that's what that's my thought probably. Like it was silly. Because it's silly, it's not like so you're supposed to laugh. Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

But then you're stopping.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

But I think I had two of the words. Uh did I have two of the words? I think I had one of the words. I think I had one of the words.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

I had stopped.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Mine was laugh.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Laughed, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

And I think the You know what, Cole? Here's the deal.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

I think yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

I think that we should save it to the end of the episode. And I think we should leave the people on a little cliffhanger. And I think that you should tell us at the end who gets the point.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Or should we let them decide in the comments?

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Or should we let them decide in the comments? It all means nothing. All right, let's give it up. I lost this season, all right. We all know Janiker. We all voided Jake won. We all know we all know Jake won this season, indeed. Congratulations, Jake. They need to hold up, all right?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

You're the champion this season for War of the Day. Congratulations. Teams won champion. Jarvis, I want you to give me three, please. Congrats. Would you like to hear, Jake? You're the champion. All right, congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Wow, awesome. What you can't see right now is Jarvis storming out of the room, just holding his microphone walking down the hallway.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Man, well, congrats, Jake. I also want to I like this next segment. It's our student shout-out segment. Yeah. And it's where we shout out a student who's active in our ministry, and we say it all the time. There's a student who's being the church in here and also the church out there. Awesome. So, Cole, you have a special student that you want to shout out today from Family Church Downtown.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

From downtown. This student has been consistently modeling our family value of we are bringers. This student has consistently been inviting friends to church, and not just friends that come on occasion and come every now and then, but friends that have come to church and gotten so engaged that they've gotten the first connection and have become members at our church. Assimilation. Assimilation. And so I want to shout out today from Family Church downtown, Jacob Melhorn. Yeah, Jacob. Jacob, man. Gentlemen, let's give them three.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

I was there.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

It was close. It was good though.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Felt good. I will say this, man. Like, I love doing the student shout-out segment because the thing is like our students aren't doing these things because they're like, oh man, I want to do this to be on the student shout-out. Like, if this never existed, these are just the things that our students are doing in their everyday lives. And so like they're taking the things that we're talking about in midweek, that we're talking about on Sunday mornings, that we're preaching about for our family values, and they're actually living those things out. And so, Jacob, it's super cool to see you doing all this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Cole, why are you wiping your nose right now? I know you gotta run any nose. Jacob, man, we're super super proud of you. I think one thing if I had to add really quick for Jacob, I think it's really cool, it just shows the intentionality. Because, like, yeah, Cole's crying over here. Like, yeah, it's intentional to invite someone to church. Yeah, but I think it's super intentional to get them to take a next step and then another next step to officially become members of our church. I think it just shows not just Jacob being intentional, but parents being intentional, the whole family is being intentional. I think that's really cool. Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 14:28

Well, guys, it is time for my favorite segment. Even though I am the champion of another segment. Congrats. This is my favorite segment, the hot take. And today's hot take is this it is that high school graduation is not church graduation. Ooh!

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Ow! I got burned, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Oh, that's a good that's our best we've said so far.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

John sizzled last week. You want me to say it again?

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Say it again for the week.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Is that high school graduation is not church graduation?

SPEAKER_01 15:10

You know, this is uh this is a hot take too because we're coming off of graduation season. Yeah, we shot out our seniors a couple weeks ago where this is a season where people are are moving, people are seasons are changing, lives and rhythms are gonna look really different. So I'm excited to talk about this hot take today, boys.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

You see, I really like this hot take because I think that there's a lot that goes into this. Like I think when when our students graduate from high school and they start to think about how they're going to get involved at church or if they're going to get involved at church at the college that they're going to and the new town that they're going to be living in, I think that there's a lot more that actually goes into this decision than what our high school students realize. And so I love that we're getting to talk about this today because I think we're going to get to talk about multiple different things that are affecting their church attendance after high school.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, and I think the thing about this that to me, you know, if I'm even thinking back to when I was a high school senior, the thing that can kind of and I was I was super involved in church, like loved the Lord in high school, but even then, like I always thought about when I graduate, I get my independence, right? Well, then I can start making my own decisions. Yeah. Then I can start doing whatever Jake Kimbrell wants to do. And so, man, you know what? Mike, if I want to get up one Sunday and and go to a to a different church, I can. But the thing that I think a lot of us realize is that we don't actually understand the weight of that independence. Like we don't understand like how heavy that burden is to carry because we think that like independence is just leaving behind like systems and those kinds of things like that. But in a lot of ways, it's also leaving behind something that's comfortable, something that feels like home, something that it's our rhythm and different things like that. And so when we talk about, you know, this idea of this hot take, how do we best help our seniors not think of it as just leaving behind, you know, gaining independence, but also like the weight of what's next?

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah. That's really good. And I think we've seen it all the time in in student ministry, but why do so many students disconnect from church after graduation?

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah, I mean, Cole, you were mentioning it a little bit about this, but it goes back to the personal decision, right? And so it goes back to growing up in middle school and in high school. Have I been going to church because my parents have made me and I just want to make them proud? Or have I actually made a personal decision with my life that I want to follow Jesus? And being a part of a body of believers is a big part of that.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yeah. And you know, honestly, I think some of these students deserve a a a shout out on the podcast because for our students that have been going to all of their proms and their dances the last few weeks, a lot of them are out late Saturday night. What I love seeing is the next morning, Sunday morning, they're at church because that shows that it's not a decision that their parents made for them, but it's a decision that they made to be at church. Because even though they're tired, even though they got a little bit of sleep, they want to be there. And so I think like when we're we're thinking of the personal decision, what's a decision that you've got to make for yourself? Your faith is your faith. It's not your parents' faith, it's not your grandparents' faith, it's not your small group leader's faith, it's yours. And so you've got to make the decisions on how you're going to prioritize church in your own life if you want to make it a priority when you graduate from high school and out of student ministry.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

And it wasn't even like they just came to church. I mean, a lot of my kids, like the day before their celebration Sunday for graduating, had prom the night before. That's crazy. And so they're out late at prom, like they're doing all the things that seniors do, and like the next day they're at the 8 15 service going in front of our church family, talking about whatever God has next in store for them. And so, like, you're right, like they do deserve a huge, huge shout out. And so, why do we see so many students disconnect from the church is is maybe because like they've actually failed to maybe make their faith their own. Yeah, and so they've not made that personal decision. I'm gonna follow Jesus. It's just been kind of something they did because that's what their family did. And so thinking about the idea of well, how do I make my faith my own? I mean, what do you guys think?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Well, I mean, I think it goes back to like the whole you've got to make these decisions for yourself, but also like the things that you're being told to do by your parents, or maybe not told, but encouraged to do at church or by your small group leaders or by whoever, like reading your Bible or praying, or cutting bad sin habits out of your life. These are decisions that you've not got to make because others said you need to make them. These are decisions that you've got to make because you want to make them, because you want to be spiritually transformed into the image of Jesus. Yeah.

unknown 19:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

And I don't know about you guys, but for me, when I graduated high school, it kind of felt like a reset button. Like I finished the line at the end, right? I made it through high school, and now it's kind of like a reset button. And so sometimes for me, like it kind of felt like church kind of became something that was tied to my parents or something that was tied to schedules. Or for me, church, like youth group and student ministry was just like a phase of life. And so now, like this phase of life is just ended. And so now I'm gonna go and do something else. And so I wonder if that's what our students are thinking. Like it's just uh end of a phase, and now that phase is over, now I can transition into something new.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Well, yeah, I mean, we live in a culture, I think, that is so constantly fixated on what's the next big thing, what's the next trend, what's the next like thing to blow up in culture, right? So, like even if you're on social media, it's never, you know, if you're off social media for a week and you come back on, like you're suddenly on a whole different wave of of like trends and different things like that. And so I think it can be so easy for our students to think about their life in phases. And so, hot take, I even think that sometimes like you can even see like maybe seniors checking out of the phase a little bit early. And so they're like, Oh man, well, my youth group phase is is almost over. But really, thinking about church shouldn't be about a phase. So, like you're not graduating from the church, maybe in the church, you're actually just moving to a different uh seat in the church or a different role in the church. And so I actually had a question for you guys, Jarvis. You kind of started the answer, but like, I mean, you guys are adults who who love Jesus. I got to spend a lot of time with you guys while you were in college. You both pursued the Lord, you both were very heavily involved in your churches. I mean, what were things that you guys did to make sure that that transition, you know, you didn't lose your place in the church in that?

SPEAKER_00 21:26

I think for me, I was blessed and fortunate enough for how God just kind of worked things out in my life to get me connected to family church. I won't go into it, but there was just a series of events where finding family church when I made the decision to come to PBA was such an easy thing that before I even got to PBA, I knew family church was the church that I was going to attend. I had friends that were already going there, and so that was super easy. But I think for me, it was the affirmations that I experienced from church and high school from my youth pastor and from small group leaders that were like we see. See this in you. We see you being a good leader that kind of encouraged me to think, well, I'm not just a leader in this student ministry. I can go and be a leader in another student ministry, but now not as a student, but as a small group leader.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

That's really good, Cole. And I think for me, so like towards my high school years, I feel like that's when I started getting more involved in church. I think it was super important for me in my life, like having those rhythms of like, all right, on Sundays, like we're gonna worship the Lord. And I was making that decision like before Sunday actually came, talked about that podcast episode a couple of while. But making that decision early on, I think that kind of led to the the foundation of like, all right, now I'm in college. Same thing still applies. I went to Liberty, and so a lot of my friends were Christians. That was our thing. We all just grew up and we all decided, all right, we're going to church. We don't know what church we're going to, we're gonna figure it out. But that's what we want to do. We wanted to get plugged in, we wanted to serve somewhere. So yeah, I started that rhythm back in high school, yeah, back in students, and then now kind of applies kind of after high school.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Yeah, I mean, just to honor you guys, like like I said, like I got to spend a lot of time with you guys in those college years for you, and like you could actually see in both of your personal walks with Jesus that like church wasn't just uh a thing you did, it was an identity that you lived out. And church wasn't just a temporary environment that you were in, it was like an identity that you held and that heavily impacted your walk with Jesus and the people around you. And so, I mean, huge shout out to you guys, and I think you guys are incredible examples for our students as they're moving into this next season. But not only is it the people around you that can help inform some of these decisions, but really the word of God is what really helps inform this and is a great place for us to turn to whenever we're thinking about man, well, what is my role in the church and how do I stay connected? And even in this next life phase, maybe I'm moving on from West Palm and going somewhere, maybe far away, maybe not. But what's next for me? So, Cole, where can we turn to in the Bible to see the holy things about this hot take?

SPEAKER_00 23:54

I think of a a good character study, if you will. I look at Acts chapter 18, where Paul, the Apostle Paul, meets this couple, Priscilla and Aquila. Looking at Priscilla and Aquila, just a little bit of their backstory. They originally lived in Rome. They were a part of a church in Rome, but something happened. They get kicked out of Rome, and now they're sent to Corinth and they're living in Corinth. This is where they meet Paul. But when they go to Corinth, they're having to start life over. They're having to find a new home, they're having to meet new community, having to make new friends, having to go through and experience a lot of the things that students, you guys are going to experience when you graduate student ministry and go to college, or things that maybe some of you have already experienced because you've moved in your family. And so when they got to Corinth, they didn't let this new season and this new change be an obstacle to their faith of them being plugged in and connected to a church. No, when they got to Corinth, they found community and they helped plant and launch neighborhood churches in Corinth. And so they didn't just let that change be an obstacle, but instead they decided to use this as an opportunity to join the mission of what God was doing in the early church during that time and to plant more churches in Corinth. And so I think students for you guys, as you're heading into this season of change, use this as an opportunity, maybe not plant at church, but to go and start community at a church or just go and find and get plugged into a small group or a college ministry at a church.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

And who knows, maybe you are staying local, and maybe you do want to be a part of like a family church, us launching a new neighborhood church. Like that's a huge step of your faith. We just, gosh, we gave a student shout-out not that long ago. Vaders. Yeah, fader. Like we're talking about. And she went to go do that. I mean, that takes up, I mean, you're building a whole new community. You're building a whole new set of friends and different things like that. And so maybe you are staying local, but maybe you're not. So Kawhi, I I love what you said, but we also don't want to set our students up to just be hearers of the word, but also doers of the word. I know you wanted to jump in on that, Josh. I almost said doers, but I'm figuring now it's actually gonna do it myself on Lum Rapper. And so we want to really give you guys some application. Like, how can you apply this conversation to your life? And so one of the things that I would encourage you to do, because maybe you're listening and you're like, well, I'm in seventh grade. I'm not really thinking about this next phase in my life. What I would encourage you to think about right now is don't simply just be a consumer at your church, but be a contributor.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

That's good.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Don't be the person who sits on the sidelines and just kind of benefits from the church existing. I want you to be the person that's in the game. Like I want you to be the person that's like constantly focused on, man, like what can I do to contribute to this place that I love? And what I think will happen is the more that you begin serving and the more that you begin to take ownership in your church, I think the more that you're gonna fall in love with the church. That's what happened to me and in my story. And then now you can't imagine your life without the church.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

And without the body of believers that you're around us. So when you go to that next season of your life, you just can't imagine what this next leap is gonna look like without a church home.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

That's good. I think for me, another way we can apply is like actually figure out what your church believes. Like I think a lot of us just go to church because like just where our parents wants to go. But I think even as a middle schooler or as a high schooler, like, hey, what does my church actually believe? And I think one thing I love about family church, we have a bunch of different ways you can actually figure that out, right? We have first connection, right? We can figure out what we believe. And then honestly, if you And you'll get free lunch. And you get free lunch. That part's nice. And honestly, if you just go to our website, you can even look up what we believe, right? The Baptist faith, the message, right? You can go through all these different things and what we believe about the Bible and what we believe about humanity. So it's a bunch of things that you can look up. I think even as a middle schooler and as a senior, as you're getting ready to graduate, you're looking for other churches.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Yeah, and students, I just want to encourage you with what the Bible tells us. We don't have a spirit of fear, we have a spirit of power. And so don't let fear hold you back from finding community as you're going to college and as you're having to get plugged in and to find a new church on your own. Remember that everywhere you go, Jesus is with you and he's sending you out in power.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Absolutely. So every episode we like to end with a challenge. All right, something you can do this week. All right. So my challenge is since we just celebrated Senior Sunday not too long ago, for the seniors who are listening to the pod, I want you to ask your student pastor or ask your campus pastor about some churches in the area. So if you're leaving, you're going off to a different school and different state, maybe, maybe ask your pastor or ask your student pastor what are some churches that they'd recommend. Maybe you're listening to the pod, you're a middle schooler, or you're just like a freshman or a sophomore junior. Maybe one thing that you can do is I want you to think about some things that you really enjoy about your church currently. Because as you prepare, right now you're just preparing for this new season that you're going into. So think about what are some things that you love about the church that you attend currently. I'm sure most of you guys attend Family Church. But for those who don't attend family church, what's something that you enjoy about your church currently? Type it in the chat. We'd love to love to hear it.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Well, students, it has been a great episode. And I'm gonna, I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little sad. I'm a little sad that we're only gonna be around this table one more time.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

And next episode is going to be it's gonna be a big one. We have a really big guest.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Really big guest, an insane story for you guys. Like it it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

And also we settle the score on the great debate.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

And we settle the score on the great debate in this guy. Currently in a three-way tie, one to one to one. Yeah. Well, students, it's been a great episode. Thank you for tuning in to Hot Takes and Holy Things. On behalf of Jarvis, Jake, and myself, we appreciate you and we love you. Gentlemen, let's give them three. Thanks for tuning in to Hot Takes and Holy Things. To stay up to date on new episodes, follow us on Instagram at GoFC Students. Share this podcast with a friend and send us your questions. We'd love to talk about the stuff you care about. Catch you next time on Hot Takes and Holy Things.