SPEAKER_00: All right, well, good morning.
SPEAKER_00: You want to find your seat?
SPEAKER_00: We can wrap up these conversations.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good morning, guys.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Ethan.
SPEAKER_00: I am the youth and young adults pastor here at the Road at Chapel Hills.
SPEAKER_00: And Steve is out of town.
SPEAKER_00: So today it's my privilege to be able to share with you guys something that God's put heavily on my heart over the past month, something that we've been praying through as a leadership team.
SPEAKER_00: And so for our time together today, I'm really excited to be discussing the concept of one body, that we are the church, all of us.
SPEAKER_00: I love what was happening up here with the whole family.
SPEAKER_00: That's a picture, I believe, of God's intention, his desire for his bride is to be one body made up of many different parts.
SPEAKER_00: Now, kind of help me out here.
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you'd say, man, sometimes I feel like I'm kind of one of the different parts of the body.
SPEAKER_00: Help me out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not the only one.
SPEAKER_00: I know.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, what's gonna be a great time today?
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to be with you.
SPEAKER_00: First off, though, I was talking to my wife, Deb, this week, and I realized that a lot of you might not know our family.
SPEAKER_00: So my name's Ethan, and I'm married to Deborah, who is the missions and outreach director here at the road.
SPEAKER_00: And we have a three and a half-year-old daughter named Penelope.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me tell you, if you have not met Penelope, she is a fierce little woman.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, this St.
SPEAKER_00: Patrick's Day, maybe you heard this story, but she decided that it was time to bring the mullet back.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, the mullet had been gone for too long.
SPEAKER_00: She cut herself her very own mullet.
SPEAKER_00: New hair, don't care.
SPEAKER_00: That's her attitude.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, she is fierce.
SPEAKER_00: If you meet her, you'll know which one she is, probably because of the mullet.
SPEAKER_00: My son, Rocky, is a year and a half, and man, this kid is a tank.
SPEAKER_00: You might see him kind of wandering around in here.
SPEAKER_00: He loves to worship, he's kind of laid back, but he can eat.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I've done the math and I'm convinced that he is about to surpass Michael Phelps in daily caloric intake.
SPEAKER_00: Like for real.
SPEAKER_00: If you make it, he will eat it.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as you can see, according to my math, in our family, we have two kids.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is where it gets a little bit confusing.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you were to ask my wife Deborah, how many kids do we have in our family?
SPEAKER_00: She's gonna tell you, we have 17 children.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, she's gonna say, we have two human children, we have four cat children, we have one dog child, and we have ten puppy children.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: So as we transition in the words of Apostle Paul, uh, remember me in your prayers.
SPEAKER_00: Please.
SPEAKER_00: Seventeen.
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me let's let's get some things out of the way from the very beginning today.
SPEAKER_00: I want to start us off on the right foot.
SPEAKER_00: So, this is what I want to say.
SPEAKER_00: This is going to be an interactive service today.
SPEAKER_00: What that means is that I need you.
SPEAKER_00: I need you guys, and so when I ask a question, I need you to respond.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a couple ways that you can help me out.
SPEAKER_00: One way, raise your hand, you can say, let's go, you can say preach it, you can say whatever you want to do to show me that you're not sleeping.
SPEAKER_00: I would appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, it's greatly appreciated.
SPEAKER_00: So let's try this out.
SPEAKER_00: Let's practice.
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys ready?
SPEAKER_00: So raise your hand or let me know if you were here last week at our block party.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody get excited.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we're heading the right direction.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, it was a great party.
SPEAKER_00: It was a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00: Um I was really blessed on Sunday last week because I got to meet so many people I haven't met before.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to encourage you guys, as a church, God has blessed this church family with some incredible, incredible people.
SPEAKER_00: And so I feel privileged today to be able to share.
SPEAKER_00: So grab your Bible, grab your tablet, grab your palm pilot, whatever you got.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is where we're gonna start off today.
SPEAKER_00: I know somebody had a palm pilot, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone here ever have a palm pilot in your life?
SPEAKER_00: I felt so high tech when I got my first palm pilot.
SPEAKER_00: I was 11.
SPEAKER_00: It was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Picking up in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: This is Paul writing to the church in Corinth and starting in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: Just as a body, though one has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For we were all baptized by one spirit as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one spirit to drink.
SPEAKER_00: Even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.
SPEAKER_00: If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
SPEAKER_00: If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
SPEAKER_00: Let's just pause right there.
SPEAKER_00: As an emergency room nurse, if I had to give up one of my senses, it would be the sense of smell.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Let's continue.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: This is actually the key verse.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
SPEAKER_00: If you got a pen, I want you to underline that verse.
SPEAKER_00: Circle the verse, highlight it in your phone, double-click on your palm pilot, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: This verse is key.
SPEAKER_00: This is gonna guide our time this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read it again, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: But in fact, God has placed parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I've got a confession.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Ethan, and I am a millennial.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: So, because I'm a millennial, I can read these tweets about millennials because they're funny.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Millennial culture is when your friend actually calls you on an actual phone, and your first response is, are you okay?
SPEAKER_00: I'm my name is Ethan, I'm a millennial, and I'm changing my voicemail to say the following.
SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm a millennial.
SPEAKER_00: I never check this.
SPEAKER_00: So please, for the love of all that is good and glorious in this kind earth, please just text me.
SPEAKER_00: It seems to be that everyone has a problem with millennials until it's time to convert a PDF into a Word document.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of true.
SPEAKER_00: Kind of funny.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, here's the reality though.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the reality.
SPEAKER_00: So, according to good research done by the Barna group, massive study, over 59% of millennials who grew up in the church have since left the church.
SPEAKER_00: They're gone.
SPEAKER_00: And the reality, as a millennial, is that I firmly believe that this is not God's intention for his church.
SPEAKER_00: And so today I'm privileged to share with you guys what God's put on my heart because I believe we have a unique opportunity here at the road at Chapel Hills.
SPEAKER_00: I believe God is giving us an opportunity, He's handing us an opportunity where we can do something that's contrary to the culture.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in culture, we've got really good at making dividing lines, at making chasms between generations, between different groups of people.
SPEAKER_00: And in reality, we are one body made up of many parts.
SPEAKER_00: Each part is important, each part is essential to the unity of the whole body.
SPEAKER_00: And so here at the Road at Chapel Hills, I believe that we have a unique opportunity to build a church where we have many generations working together for a common mission.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, is anybody excited about that idea?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, somebody help me out today.
SPEAKER_00: And so my prayer for this morning is that one, our hearts would be inspired by the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And then two, that we would be practically equipped so this week we can start working towards a culture here at the road of many generations working together for a common mission.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's how we're gonna go down.
SPEAKER_00: First off, I'm gonna be talking to millennials, and then we're gonna switch.
SPEAKER_00: And if you find yourself to be someone who is older than a millennial, we'll talk to you that we'll address that second, and then we'll go practical.
SPEAKER_00: So, turn in your Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna pray, but turn in your Bibles, we'll get this set up with Joshua chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we just thank you for this time this morning.
SPEAKER_00: God, I ask, would you move in power?
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, would you speak to us today?
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that our hearts would be stirred with a noble theme.
SPEAKER_00: God, that we would be inspired to be different, Father, than a culture where there's been division, where there's been lines that have been drawn between generations, where there's been lies that have been believed.
SPEAKER_00: God, would you use us here at the road, Father, to speak truth?
SPEAKER_00: God, where there's a divide, would you use us, Father, to build bridges?
SPEAKER_00: God, we love you so much.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this time.
SPEAKER_00: We pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, Joshua chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: I love the book of Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: It's getting me fired up.
SPEAKER_00: So, alright, so if you're a millennial, you might know you're a millennial if you are in between the ages of about 23 to 24 and about 39.
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the cutoff that we're using.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of the research is using that age demographic.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Did you guys want to know something crazy?
SPEAKER_00: Millennials are really not the people graduating college now.
SPEAKER_00: The majority of college students who are graduating this year are actually Gen Z.
SPEAKER_00: So they're the generation that's coming behind millennials.
SPEAKER_00: So, millennials, man, if you're a millennial, you're like me, man, we're getting older.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, maybe you're starting to feel it, maybe starting to wake up and needing that neproxen on a cloudy day.
SPEAKER_00: I'm there with you.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua chapter one, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua chapter one, verse one.
SPEAKER_00: After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' aide, Moses, my servant, is dead.
SPEAKER_00: Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I'm about to give to them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Your territory will extend from the desert of Lebanon and from the great river, the Euphrates, all the way to the Hittite country, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
SPEAKER_00: No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life.
SPEAKER_00: As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: I will never leave you nor forsake you.
SPEAKER_00: Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to theirs to their ancestors to give them.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stop there.
SPEAKER_00: So, what I believe God is telling Joshua as a new leader.
SPEAKER_00: He's a young leader coming up after Moses.
SPEAKER_00: And what I believe God is speaking to him is absolutely directly applicable for millennials today.
SPEAKER_00: If God is saying, hey, it's time to go, it's time to step up, I'm preparing, I have prepared you.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's time to move forward.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that word is for millennials today.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that God has prepared us, and now it's time for as a generation for millennials for us to be brave, to be courageous, to start moving forward in leadership, whether that's in our homes.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us are getting married, have kids, to be brave leaders in our homes, to be brave leaders in relationships, to be brave leaders in our churches.
SPEAKER_00: It God, I firmly believe, is calling millennials forward.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what's amazing about this passage is that when God gives us a mission, He often, or I believe, I would even say always is going to provide for us the way that we're going to be able to accomplish that mission.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Be strong and very courageous.
SPEAKER_00: Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave to you.
SPEAKER_00: Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8, keep this book of the law always on your lips.
SPEAKER_00: Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
SPEAKER_00: Then you will be prosperous and successful.
SPEAKER_00: Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00: So God's telling Joshua, hey, here's your mission.
SPEAKER_00: And you need to be brave.
SPEAKER_00: There's some obviously some fear that Joshua is feeling.
SPEAKER_00: But God's saying, here's your mission.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be courageous, but here's the way that you're going to be able to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's where you're going to find your courage, and it's in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Tells Joshua, you've got to be in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're a millennial, I want to challenge you that the time of us kind of messing around with our consistency in the Word of God, that's got to end.
SPEAKER_00: We have got to be rooted in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: If we're going to be brave enough to start walking towards the mission that God has called for us, we have to find our courage in the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Practically, if you're a millennial and maybe like me, you've had issues with being consistent with the Word in the past, I'll encourage you, we have a really cool resource here at the road called PBJ, Prayer, Bible, and Journal.
SPEAKER_00: And it's a little booklet and has a reading plan on it with the word.
SPEAKER_00: And so grab one after today, grab one, and let's just get started.
SPEAKER_00: Millennials, I want to challenge you.
SPEAKER_00: If we're going to have the courage to do the mission that God is leading us to do, we have to be rooted in the word.
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: So, ladies and gentlemen, I have a little brother.
SPEAKER_00: Who has a brother?
SPEAKER_00: Raise your hand if you got a brother.
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: I've got a little brother, but he's not little.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Levi.
SPEAKER_00: He's 11 years younger than me.
SPEAKER_00: And this guy, let me tell you, is a beast.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: He plays football for Pine Creek.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll just kind of show you what he does.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how he came up with this, but he, one of his favorite things to do, as they're starting to get ready, the game's about to start, man, he starts to growl.
SPEAKER_00: Like, dude, I've heard it.
SPEAKER_00: It's terrifying.
SPEAKER_00: He starts to growl.
SPEAKER_00: And then right after kickoff, or right during kickoff, he releases like this earth-shattering roar.
SPEAKER_00: And man, like I from the stands, I'm like, I'm terrified.
SPEAKER_00: Like it terrifies me.
SPEAKER_00: I can only imagine what's happening in the hearts of those 16 and 17-year-old football players on the other side of the field.
SPEAKER_00: We've actually had families who do not come from a faith background come up to my parents and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Um, I've heard this thing that they do at churches where they can actually pray, and like sometimes like demons actually leave, and it's like, maybe you should consider that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if it really works, but it might be an option for your son.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, anyways, my brother Levi is a beast.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as the older brother, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like, I can't let my little brother be showing me up all the time.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Who's an older brother?
SPEAKER_00: Who can relate to what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: You can't let the younger brother be showing you up.
SPEAKER_00: And so we went elk hunting last year, and um, consistent with how the story is going, he was the only one to get an elk.
SPEAKER_00: And so we are packing up the elk, we're putting in backpacks, we're carrying it up this steep hills about this hill is about a half mile of a pretty steep incline.
SPEAKER_00: And um, like this guy is just like, no problem, man.
SPEAKER_00: This guy's just running up this cliff, and and I'm like, man, I cannot let him pass me.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I cannot.
SPEAKER_00: He's my little brother.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna, if I have to, you know, if I'm if I can't walk for two days after this, I gotta keep up.
SPEAKER_00: And then about halfway up the hill, like, my back is hurting, my left knee is a sharp pain somewhere there, my heel is hurting, I gotta give up.
SPEAKER_00: Halfway up this hill.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm watching him just kind of continue up this hill.
SPEAKER_00: Well, oh, and so my dad, who's right next to me, because my dad is also a beast, he comes right up next to me, Sean Perkins, so he's probably somebody in my life that has spoken more truth into me than anybody else in the history of my life.
SPEAKER_00: And he came up to me, it's just simple.
SPEAKER_00: He just put my hand, he put his hand on my shoulder, and this was profound, stuck with me, and he said, Well, you're not a young man anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You're just a man, you're just a man, and so that's my heart for millennials.
SPEAKER_00: That's my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Is that in reality, by age, by whatever way you want to look at this, the reality is we're not the young people anymore.
SPEAKER_00: We're the people.
SPEAKER_00: We are the church, millennials.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to encourage you, if that's your demographic, let's go, let's move forward.
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
SPEAKER_00: So now that I'm gonna shift a little bit, if you find yourself to be older than a millennial, I want to talk directly to you because first thing I gotta say is I cannot believe how rapidly things are changing in our world.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody agree with that?
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Like in my lifetime alone, the internet, social media, smartphones, music, popular music, has finally gotten better.
SPEAKER_00: No, it has not.
SPEAKER_00: It has not, right?
SPEAKER_00: But guys, the rapid rate of change.
SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of reminded of this on a regular basis because of my other job.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a male nurse.
SPEAKER_00: And so even the fact that what some people still refer to me as a male nurse kind of demonstrates what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Because I guess for a long time, for a variety of reasons, traditions, dudes weren't really nurses.
SPEAKER_00: Like that really wasn't a thing, like that just didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's a regular basis in the emergency room where someone says, Well, no, like, you're the nurse?
SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, I know, I know, I'm a guy, but I'm your nurse today, and it's gonna be great.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna take really good care of you.
SPEAKER_00: But, anyways, um the most memorable experience I had with this, and let me just say, there might be a reason, and now that I kind of think about it, there might actually be a reason why dudes really weren't nurses for a while, and I'll explain what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, because in the emergency room, help me out.
SPEAKER_00: Who's ever worked the night shift?
SPEAKER_00: Who's ever pulled an all-nighter?
SPEAKER_00: You worked the night shift.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's this like weird time in the emergency room between about 3 and 5 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: And often, or am, I'm sorry, 3 and 5 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: And often the the whole emergency room will clear out and there's no patience.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's nothing to do.
SPEAKER_00: And the problem is this is also the same time period where it's also very difficult to stay awake.
SPEAKER_00: And so here I was in the emergency room, three o'clock in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: We have no patience.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm kind of I'm so bored, I'm bored out of my mind, and I look over here and I see an IV pole.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00: IV pole?
SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's it's kind of this long pole, it's got hooks on the top where you hang your uh IV bag, and it's got wheels.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the purpose, the reason that this was invented was so that people could walk their i've walk themselves to the bathroom, walk around the hospital while they're attached to an IV pole.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's the problem is I look down at this Ivy pole and I realized, hey, the wheels on the bottom of this IV pole are almost identical to the wheels that I had on my 1999 razor scooter.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're almost identical.
SPEAKER_00: Oh and let me just tell you, back in the day, and here's a note if you ever find yourself saying back in the day, if you're a young person, you're probably older than you realize.
SPEAKER_00: So back in the day, man, I was I was it on the razor scooter, man.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I got I had my wheelies, I could jump the curb, I was quick, we had races in the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: I knew what I was doing on a razor scooter, so when I made that connection in my brain at three o'clock in the morning, oh man, I bet those wheels could actually move.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I bet we could get some speed with those wheels.
SPEAKER_00: And so I realized that if you hold the IV pole kind of right in the middle, and then you take your one foot and you set it on one of the arms of the IV pole, and then you use this foot and you kind of start pushing off, man, you can start getting some speed and you can start moving around that empty emergency room pretty quick.
SPEAKER_00: Alright?
SPEAKER_00: So we're doing that.
SPEAKER_00: And racing, it's pretty fun.
SPEAKER_00: And I realized, hey, I'm gonna branch off, I'm gonna go this other direction from the rest of the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, what I did not anticipate with this hallway had double doors, and there was a pretty low-hanging overhang of these double doors.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Ivy poles can be kind of tall, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm coming full speed, like I'm like, I'm gonna cut through here and I'm gonna beat that other guy, I'm coming through here.
SPEAKER_00: The top of the Ivy pole hits the overhang.
SPEAKER_00: Ivy pole stops, I keep going.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Fifteen feet later, on the freshly waxed emergency room floor, I finally come slide to a stop, and I look up and I realize, man, this emergency room isn't empty anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And I look up into the four-pronged safety cane that was being waved at me.
SPEAKER_00: Now let me tell you, if you've never been threatened by someone waving a four-pronged safety cane, have you even been threatened?
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment of my shame, I'm lying, I'm on the floor looking up this safety cane being pointed at me.
SPEAKER_00: The first words were, is this the level of professionalism that I'm going to expect from this establishment?
SPEAKER_00: Probably.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_00: Second words were, why did we decide to let men start being nurses anyways?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: That's a really good question.
SPEAKER_00: I can't answer that.
SPEAKER_00: But man, stuff has been changing rapidly.
SPEAKER_00: And Harvard, they did a real a pretty big study, actually, I thought was fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: And what they found was what they were researching is as millennials were coming into the workplace, they were noticing that there was this pretty big divide between millennials and working with other generations.
SPEAKER_00: And so they started to study this.
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, their reasons that, man, we gotta overcome this barrier so that we can make money.
SPEAKER_00: We gotta overcome this barrier so that we can be effective.
SPEAKER_00: And what happened in the study is they found uh something really interesting.
SPEAKER_00: That contrary to what people, the perception of millennials, then one of the number one things that millennials are looking for today is coaching and mentoring.
SPEAKER_00: And what the study found was that it might not appear that way because millennials are often hesitant to reach out for a coach, to reach out for a mentor because we don't we we want to look like we we can handle it.
SPEAKER_00: We want to appear to have it together.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's often a barrier for us in reaching out.
SPEAKER_00: And so what Harvard says, so if that's the facts, if that's the if that's the landscape, what do we recommend?
SPEAKER_00: And I love this, I think it's brilliant.
SPEAKER_00: It's called reverse mentoring.
SPEAKER_00: Has anyone heard of reverse mentoring before?
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of an obscure concept, but I love it.
SPEAKER_00: And basically what it is, is they encourage, if you want to have an effective workplace, if you want to learn how to work with the millennials on your team, and you want to be productive, this is what we recommend.
SPEAKER_00: It's called reverse mentoring.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, it's where someone of an older generation identifies a skill or attribute that a millennial has, and then they go and they ask the millennial to coach them.
SPEAKER_00: Say, hey, I see that you're good at XYZ.
SPEAKER_00: Will you coach me on this?
SPEAKER_00: And what happens is almost immediately there's a level of trust and a level of mutual respect that's beginning to form, and then there's a natural transition of that coaching-mentor relationship to where that millennial begins to ask questions, where that millennial begins to be coached and mentored by that older person.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to encourage you guys, as I'm talking to somebody who might find yourself older than the millennial generation, the reality of the situation is that we desperately need you.
SPEAKER_00: That is the number one thing that millennials are looking for is coaching and mentorship.
SPEAKER_00: And so when it doesn't feel like that's the case, the reality, I want to encourage you, consider being the first one to initiate.
SPEAKER_00: Consider being the first one to reach out to that person.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you do reverse mentoring.
SPEAKER_00: And then if you're a millennial and you have that, if that's true for you, you're like, man, it would actually be really helpful if I had a coach.
SPEAKER_00: It'd actually be really helpful if I had someone telling me if I was doing a good job or if I was doing a bad job or how I could do better, but you're hesitant to reach out to a mentor.
SPEAKER_00: This I want you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody look to your right.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to look to your left.
SPEAKER_00: Slide to the right.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So, reality, this church is full of men and women who have lived life and who have gained valuable knowledge and experience and who could speak worlds of truth and encouragement into your life.
SPEAKER_00: So, millennials, I want to encourage you, exactly what God was saying to Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, it is time to be bold and it's time to be courageous.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're older than a millennial, the reality is that we desperately need you.
SPEAKER_00: If you've had moments in your life where you feel like, man, I wonder if my time has passed.
SPEAKER_00: That is a lie.
SPEAKER_00: We desperately need you.
SPEAKER_00: You are not done.
SPEAKER_00: Turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter 14.
SPEAKER_00: As we begin to conclude today, I just want to end with this passage.
SPEAKER_00: And then we're gonna talk practical.
SPEAKER_00: So, passage and then practical application.
SPEAKER_00: So Joshua chapter 14.
SPEAKER_00: I want to start in verse 7.
SPEAKER_00: Here we find the Israelites have largely taken the land, but Caleb is a warrior, and he's not done yet.
SPEAKER_00: And so I love his attitude, I love this heart, and this is what I believe God intends for the road.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7 I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land, and I brought back him a report according to my convictions.
SPEAKER_00: But my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear.
SPEAKER_00: I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_00: So on that day Moses swore to me, the land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_00: Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said to Moses while Israel moved about in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: So here I am today, eighty-five years old.
SPEAKER_00: I'm as strong today as the day Moses sent me out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just as vigorous to go out into battle now as I was then.
SPEAKER_00: Now give me the hill country.
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: Let's go.
SPEAKER_00: It is time.
SPEAKER_00: I believe wholeheartedly that God is calling the road to be a church where we have generations who are working together.
SPEAKER_00: We have generations who are encouraging each other, where we go out of our way to build each other up, where we go out of our way to encourage and empower each other.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's three practical ways I want to I want to end today.
SPEAKER_00: Three practical ways that this week we can start working towards a culture of unity.
SPEAKER_00: We can start working forward towards a culture of honor where we are fighting together with a common purpose and a common mission.
SPEAKER_00: Number one.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a note taker, I want you to write this down.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not a note taker, start taking notes today.
SPEAKER_00: It's a great day to start.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, you guys love this one.
SPEAKER_00: Be kind.
SPEAKER_00: So the May Clinic did a pretty extensive study on relationships, their psychology department.
SPEAKER_00: And what they found was like a shocker, but kindness is essential to building healthy relationships.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 13, verse 55, Jesus said, that's how people are gonna know that you're my disciples.
SPEAKER_00: It's the way that you love each other.
SPEAKER_00: Gotta be kind.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Someone's clapping in here.
SPEAKER_00: You're making me feel good.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Stephanie.
SPEAKER_00: Be kind.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, this week, be brave.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read you a quote.
SPEAKER_00: This is from Brene Brown, and I love it.
SPEAKER_00: But vulnerability sounds a lot like truth, but it feels a lot like courage.
SPEAKER_00: And so this week, I want to encourage you to have one critical conversation this week.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: Reality in life, we have conflict with people, and over time, if we don't handle that conflict in the moment, we start carrying things against people.
SPEAKER_00: It's just how we are as humans.
SPEAKER_00: We start to acquire issues that we have with people.
SPEAKER_00: And so this week I want to encourage you to be brave and be kind and go have one critical conversation with somebody that you've been carrying something.
SPEAKER_00: You've been carrying something against them, and you're not confronting them, you're essentially just going to them in love and you're letting it go so you don't have to carry it anymore.
SPEAKER_00: So this week, be brave.
SPEAKER_00: Have a critical conversation with somebody.
SPEAKER_00: And number three, this is my favorite.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, this one's super fun.
SPEAKER_00: You could probably even get this one out of the way today.
SPEAKER_00: But this week, I want you to find one person in a different generation than you.
SPEAKER_00: One person in a different generation than you, and I want you to give them a genuine, uplifting word of encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: One person in a different generation, speak life into that person's life, build them up intentionally this week.
SPEAKER_00: So be kind, be brave, and pull out the gold and somebody else this week.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so by the worship team come back up, we're going to transition into worship here.
SPEAKER_00: And um as I was praying about this topic, this is like how new I am as a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Like I didn't even know that today was Pentecost Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_00: And so I found that out today, and I was like, oh my gosh, it makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is moving.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to be reminded why do we care?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we care about unity?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we care about treating people well?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we care about building each other up?
SPEAKER_00: What's the point?
SPEAKER_00: Why do we need to be united?
SPEAKER_00: Why can't we just be separated and divided as generations?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the reality is that I believe God wants to move mightily at the road.
SPEAKER_00: Does anyone else believe that?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone else want to see God move mightily at the road?
SPEAKER_00: And in the early church, we see in the book of Acts, right before Pentecost, where do we find the disciples?
SPEAKER_00: Where do we find the early church?
SPEAKER_00: It says that they were united in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: They were of one mind.
SPEAKER_00: And so I firmly believe that if we want to see the Holy Spirit move powerfully at the road, let's be united.
SPEAKER_00: Let's be let's be connected in prayer, working together to create a culture where the Holy Spirit feels welcome.
SPEAKER_00: We need you.
SPEAKER_00: You are we are one body and we are the church.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, we thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00: God, I just ask, would you inspire our hearts, Father, to move forward?
SPEAKER_00: God, would we not be comfortable with the place that we are today?
SPEAKER_00: Would we be inspired to move forward, God?
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, I ask, would you show us practical ways, the people that you want us to reach out to, to build that bridge where there's been a chasm, to speak life into somebody where all they have heard is death.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray you would restore.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray that you would build something new.
SPEAKER_00: But God, most of all, I pray that you would be lifted high in this place.
SPEAKER_00: Holy Spirit, would you move powerfully here at the road?
SPEAKER_00: We want to go with you.
SPEAKER_00: We want to go the direction you are heading.
SPEAKER_00: We love you so much.
SPEAKER_00: It's your name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.