HOTLCAST
HOTLCAST
Embracing Faith: Pray More, Worry Less
In this episode of the HOTLCast, hosts Cyle, Matt, and Mark return after an unexpected summer break. They discuss their productive summer, highlighting 48 baptisms and a growing church community with an impressive attendance of 413 people. They talk about the joy and beauty of summer in Michigan, Matt’s first summer experience in the state, and the excitement for the upcoming fall season. Significant church updates include the expansion of youth and children's ministries, the potential shift to three services due to growing attendance, and an impending capital campaign for building improvements. They also explore the important themes of prayer and anxiety, introducing a new song, 'Pray More, Worry Less,' which resonates deeply with the congregation. The episode concludes with a reminder of the series' aim to encourage a prayerful community that seeks to worry less and trust in God's plan more.
00:00 Welcome Back to the HOTLCast
00:28 Summer Recap and Baptisms
00:51 Michigan Summers and Fall Excitement
01:41 Football and Friendly Rivalries
02:21 Church Growth and Future Plans
03:19 Youth and Children's Ministry Expansion
04:29 Capital Campaign and Faith Steps
07:02 Pray More, Worry Less Series
10:22 The Story Behind the Song
17:42 Encouragement and Community
19:44 Closing Remarks
Hello, welcome back to the Huddle cast. This is Kyle. This is Matt. And this is Mark. And we are back after the summer. Yeah. Yes, we are. We didn't intend to take the summer off. It just kind of happened. So it was
a long break. It really was. It was a long
series of unfortunate cancellations.
Yes.
So, uh, it was a
series of unfortunate events.
Yeah. Yes. So we're back. It's, uh, we're back to join you at your drive time or your board time or just when you have nothing else to do. Time. We're, we're with you. So, um. We can kind of give an update. Things are going well.
Yeah.
Well, it's been a, it's been a great summer.
It's been amazing. It's been productive.
Mm-hmm. We've seen a lot of baptisms, especially even this week at the lake. Yeah. It was great.
We, we did 16 baptism Sunday. It was great. I've been part of 48 baptisms summer. It's been awesome. Yeah, it's amazing. It's been watch awesome. Watching God move at every. Kind of age level. It's been fun. Um, Matt, this is your first summer in Michigan?
Yes. How has life been in Michigan for a summer.
It is beautiful up here whenever the weather is hot and the lake weather is beautiful. I absolutely loved it. It was fantastic, and I'm not looking forward to go away.
Well, the best season in Michigan is fall and you've not lived here in for fall yet. Yeah, it is the best season for
sure.
Without a doubt. I'm a warm weather person though.
We were just talking about that. I was like, I, I'd love, I love winter. And you're like, no, thank you. Yeah. I, I'm good.
Fall here is still warm, but you get also the cool nights and it's just like, you get like t-shirt in the day, sweatshirt at night. And like to me, I, I could live in that all year long.
Yeah. Yeah. I get my hot sun. You can get 80 degree days and you get a 56 degree night. To me, that's just, that's not terrible. A perfect day.
Yeah. Nice band. So I love
fall plus you get football.
That's, that is also true. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. So that's the big thing. If you guys don't know, Matt is unfortunately a Steelers fan, which is super, unfortunately because he now has Aaron Rogers as a quarterback.
Hey, we're just doing some sort of a senior citizen outreach program. Yeah. And I think that that is admirable. Yeah. Here's the, the
funniest thing. Detroit Lions fans can't stand. Aaron Rogers. 'cause he was a packer and now he, he's your quarterback. So, well,
it's even worse because we lost a Super Bowl to him.
Yep. Yeah. That's terrible.
That's terrible. So you should retired Fortunate. Yeah. But it's, it's, I'm excited, uh, about Labor Day. I'm excited about Michigan Football season startup. I know other people are excited about Michigan State and there are other teams. Mm-hmm. But, um, yeah, it's just, it's a good time to be in Michigan enjoying church, join a community.
Um, here's a cool thing. I don't think I told you guys this in staff meeting, but we had, um. I'm trying to do the numbers. We had 413 people at church on Sunday, which was awesome. Nice. In August is insane for us. Yeah. Yeah. That's super cool. Yep. So God is definitely moving. We are growing. Uh, the announcement's been the summer we're three services is probably coming by the end of, it's definitely looming.
It's there. We just aren't sure when we have a date. We have a date picked out that we're probably gonna have to be at three services. Yep. By the end of September. So we're, we're actively working on that. And I know, listen, I know people don't like change, but like. We don't know what else we're gonna do.
Like, so it's kind of like one of those
kinda have to have three services we have
to do in in, in Brooklyn. Uh, Jackson's going well as well. You guys have had the strongest number since we've ever merged with what was Once Pathway.
Yeah. Yeah. And,
uh, into Hot All Jackson. It's been awesome. You guys are, you guys are great, doing a great job.
And the big news. The big news is what Mark over there?
Uh, our expansion for lodge and children's Ministry. Yeah. We're starting up the lodge. Cool. I'll be running that. Cool. And then we're expanding, we were just doing preschool ministry at Jackson campus and now we're gonna expand it all the way K through fifth grade.
So really we, we all three talked and said we gotta do something different. Yeah. Yeah. And so we've kind of adjusted seats in the bus so we could offer. Um, the opportunity to have youth group there, uh, and begin to build more towards a weekly thing, but it's gonna be not weekly yet. I don't, I don't believe we're gonna kinda start it.
Right. What, two what times a month or something? Uh,
it's a little bit in flux right now because in flux. Yeah. We'll figure, yeah, we're trying to kind to figure out based on numbers, attendance and how it's gonna work.
But Mark, you had a great summer doing youth ministry all also youth and children's ministry, so that's really kind of after landing through that, you're like, yeah, let do this.
I felt
very passionate about it. It was awesome over the summer,
so it's kind of a natural outpouring of what God's been doing in our own lives, individually poured into the church. So we're excited about some opportunities coming up. Uh, and partnering with some local, um, local places up there. So, yeah, I'm thrilled about the fall.
I think we got a great, exciting plan for Brooklyn and Jackson. So it's, it's fun. A lot of changes coming. We have to do a capital campaign. That's the whole thing. Um, I. I hate capital campaigns personally as a pastor 'cause I have to run 'em. And, uh, it's a lot of work, but it's, we don't, there's no way forward for us to continue to grow and be able to have space and have parking and be able to remodel our facility to keep meeting together without it.
So, um, so if you're listen to this and you attend the church capital campaigns, come in. We, we desperately need you to just get excited about it and talk about it and pray about it. Because God is doing some big things. Life change is happening at just an awesome level.
Yeah.
And part of that, we have to just continue to create space for people that are having life change to continue to come and worship together.
Well, I mean, it, it's a, I don't know how anybody could not be excited about it, because you had even said yourself that there was one Sunday morning several weeks ago where it was the middle of summer and you were at the nine 30 service and it was like up to 9 29 25. And you're like. I'm still waiting for someone to walk through the door that I actually know.
Yeah. Because there were so many new people. That particular service, I don't know how you can't be excited about that. Yeah. All these people who are coming here to learn more about God and to figure out ways to follow him. That's great.
Yeah. So I mean it, so it's been, it's been a, a summer of growth of summer excitement.
We're really looking forward to the fall.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, concerned about how many people are gonna be walking through the doors a week. 'cause it, it is great, but God, God has a plan and we just have to keep following him. Uh, we've had. Um, there's stuff I haven't even told you guys, like the governance team's working on some just exciting things that God keeps kind of opening doors for us.
And so, um, even last night at our meeting, we like did a field trip and so together and to look at something. So, um, it's just, it's really been amazing and, uh. We're just trying to figure out what is God saying? What is, what is God's not saying? How do we respond? How do we, how do we respond in a way that knows that, that when God calls us to do something as church, he does provide.
Yeah. But it usually requires us to take a step of faith.
Mm-hmm.
And then watch him show up. And like last time we did that, we, a couple years ago, we set a faith budget believing like, Hey, we've gotta increase our budget to offset what we're doing. And we all kind of prayed about it for a couple months, came back with a number.
We all, we all agreed upon. And then like within 30 days, a big check rolled in. It was almost exact dollar amount that we went over the budget of what the income was last year. And actually it was just like the guys were like, God's so good. Yeah. If you just trust him. And so that's the, that's the really, the prayer.
It's just like, are we listening to God? To the point of we we're following his lead, and so we talked about prayer. There's, we're in a serious pray more worry less in the, in the Brooklyn campus. And part of that pray, we, I like the acronym for Pray, which is PRAY, which is, um, praise God, which is P. So when you're praying, you praise God for, tell him first how good he is, how thankful you are for all the things he's given you.
You praise him, then you repent. You talk about your sin. God, I, this is where I'm broken and I'm sinful and I need you to forgive me. And then you ask where you make a, that's where you make your request known to God. The Bible says, so you ask God for the things you want and the desires of your heart, the characteristics, and you want to be more like him.
And then I love the last one's Y. It's yield. So it's listen, like really PRAL doesn't really work. So it's yield where you just kind of stop and listen to God talk. And so that's one of the things I'm praying for, for our leadership, that we, we yield enough to listen to God's direction. Because there's so much we could do.
What should we do based on what God is telling us to do collectively? And um, the great part has been our guys have been unified over and over again. And so I, I'm not one of these persons that I, I don't try to ram rob things through. I'd rather just take time to give time for prayer and consideration.
We could always come back to another meeting. Um. And talk about it and really talk about that thing. And when we do that and we let God speak, we tend to to come to an agreement where everybody's hearing the same thing. And then when we, when we do take that step of faith, God shows up. And so, yep. That's one thing we always are trying to protect about our leadership team is just, are we giving God the space to be God and lead and not just doing our, our earthly thing where we're trying to push.
And so that means you don't always move as fast forward. I mean, we've been talking about a campaign to some degree for months. Because we're waiting on, we're waiting on God to say it's time.
Yeah.
And I think in human mind, we would've probably started it months and months ago, but we wouldn't have had all the pieces Right.
How they should be. So I think the pieces are coming together well. God is opening up door after door after door right now, and so it seems like God's saying, all right, this is the time. So we're trying to get a plan together for that. We're gonna have a big meeting at the end of September, uh, and invite everybody to come here about the campaign and invite them to participate in it.
So, I'm excited about the, what that means for sharing our vision for 2030 and beyond, uh, about what it means for, for our facility and our growth and the future. So it's, it's exciting about what God's doing, but a lot of that comes outta this mindset that we need to worry less and have less anxiety about things and stuff and situations and really trust God more.
We need to pray more,
and I've always admired how much we. As a church and leadership team, how much the emphasis is on God moving and what God's doing. Because I think when you get too focused on your hands and what your hands are doing, you miss what God's hands are doing and all of it. Sure. And so the fact that it's such an intentional thing that you do and the governance team does, is to take that time to be like, Hey, let, is this what God wants?
Not like, well, it's just about us. Like, 'cause it's easy to get caught up in what we want, what our desires are, but. It's always been an intentional push for our church to be like, what does God want out of this? What is God's desire and how can we follow that? Right? So we wanna do, we wanna follow those trails and make pushes and make huge movements, but is that the direction God wants first and foremost?
So I've always admired that, how intentional that's been part of the process.
Well, while we're talking about Pray More, worry Less, we have to talk about the song. Like we have to bring that up. I mean, whenever you and Cody sat down and kind of figured out what that was gonna look like, like Mark and I were even here when you guys were still kind of working through the lyrics and trying to figure out what made the most sense, how it played out.
And then to see how the people of the church responded. Like the heart behind the stuff we do for worship is one thing, and the stuff behind the sermons and how we prepare everything and we just lay it out there and we give it to God. Because we know he's gonna take it and he's gonna do something with it.
But you kind of took a step of faith with that even. Yeah. Just to say, you know, we're gonna put this out there and see how it goes. And to watch the way the people have responded. Even to that, you know, it, there's something special about this church and the way that things are happening and the way that they're growing.
You know, there's a book out there called, um. It. Not Stephen King it, but it's a different book by a pastor where he talks about there are churches that have it and there are churches that don't. Oh, Craig, Rochelle, I love it. Craig Gelle. Yep, exactly. And you don't necessarily know what it is, but when you see it, you recognize it.
And it is so true for what I have been seeing since I've been here, even just since March, walking, watching stuff kind of come to fruition and the way it plays out, it's been incredible.
Right. And the funny thing about that song is that song I wrote I think on March 30th and told nobody about it. And I was like, I think this is great.
But I didn't, I didn't tell Cody about it until. I'm looking back through when I was sang the, the audio, 'cause I shared a little bit Sunday. I've been trying to get Cody probably for the last 10 years to, to perform and some music. So, and it's always been a big pushback. Cody kinda mentioned it on stage, like it's always been a big pushback 'cause like it just, this really like belief that he, he can do it.
And so, I mean, you might see Cody and think, oh, he's really like big personality. He is.
Yeah.
But like to have the confidence to, to be able to, to put that vulnerability and sing in front of people, something like that, that that's, that's a whole nother step. Yeah. And so especially just coming out of like the church background and everything, so I, I know that I've been praying about it.
I've stopped asking over the years. I'm like, huh. And every once in a while I'll bring it back up and like, nah, it's not the right time. So And so it, from March, I didn't say anything until, I think July. I'm looking at July. I think July. Um, somewhere in July. Yeah, it looks like in July I sent him the file and said, Hey, just take a listen to this and let me know one what you think.
And then. When he said what he, what he thought he liked it. I was like, well, this is for you. So
nice.
And he is like, I want you to do this at church. And so, uh, it's just exciting that like the response from that was Yeah. Yeah. I think I, I could do that now, which to me, I, yeah, that's back in July 11th. I just find the date.
But like, it was a. It was the time. 'cause it was just like, we've talked about this. I mean, I'd known Cody as a, a singer, like we used to do stuff and Cody, he would get up and goof and sing on stage. And we've seen this Oh yeah. Where we used to do these huge productions and Cody would get up and he would do like parodies of like famous songs and he would kill it.
Like Yep,
full on Kill It.
Ovations Services, right? Yeah. Ovation Services.
But it wasn't original stuff that, that. He was pouring into it with somebody else's stuff and we were just goofing around. And from that point forward, I was like, man, we need to get you like doing more of this.
Mm-hmm.
And that was like 2011 when we were doing those big ovations perfection.
Oh yeah. So it's been 14 years. Yeah. So I've really been pushing on this. And so I just, I was just so, I excited when Cody was like, yeah, I'll sing this. I'll do it. Like, and 'cause, because it, I wrote it with Cody in mind, like it wasn't gonna work with anybody else. Cody has his kind of his own vibe. Right.
And, uh. So it was good. And so that's kind of what led us to Sunday. Uh, you know, we, we sung, you know, he sung the song, prayed More, worry Less, which I know everybody wants to listen to at, at home. But we've kind of just been throwing this together since July. And then we, we were, weren't even available 'cause we've had finishing camps and everything.
So we really just, this has been quick. And so we're trying to get like vocals recorded and so we can do the whole thing. We don't have it recorded, but I mean that stuff like, it's just a matter of we got background track and the, the lyrics. So that's, um, it's coming. I know people are wondering it's coming, but part of that we did sweatshirts and that went really well in the store.
We want people to feel like, you know, there's something happening here that's special and life changes happening, but we wanna give people ways to talk about it outside of here. The song, the purpose of the song was to give you encouragement. I mean, I sent the song to my mom because my mom was going through like a really rough season.
And so, um, that's, that's kind of for me, the, like, my mom's response was like, I needed that and like. That's, that's powerful. We wanted to put, be able to put this on social media. I think you shared a post of it Yeah. On social media and it's done, done really well. 'cause I think to me, that mindset of like, we live in this anxious world of talking to parents with so many anxious kids now.
And so just the, the purpose behind it was how do we address something that's so. Such a big issue in the world today and give people hope and point them back to what the word says. 'cause in Philippians four, we're, we're told to, to not worry. Yeah. But to pray more and take our, take our concerns to the Lord.
And so that's the purpose behind it all. Um, you can get a hoodie and you can listen to the song and that's great, but it's not about getting money, it's not about the church. It's really about, I can wear the, I can wear a hoodie or a t-shirt and I can go tell people, Hey, you guess what's happening in my church?
Yep.
Life changes happening. And we had Chris, uh, Lee get up and talk about her testimony and just God doing a miracle in her life. Uh, actually two miracles in her life. Really a health miracle and a financial miracle. And like it was so cool to see God move in the midst of it. And we want more people to, uh, to trust that God is doing these things and see it, but also experience our own life.
But you gotta go to him through prayer and not be lost in the anxiety, uh, of life. And that's, that's kinda the whole purpose behind.
And to see someone who has suffered from anxiety issues be willing to get up on stage in front of, you know, collectively 400 and some people, that's a testimony in and of itself.
Mm-hmm. Because there are people who, and this is an old joke and it's kind of lame, but I love the illustration where the number one. Fear in the United States is public speaking. Like there's nothing higher than public speaking as a fear. The number two fear is death, which means that at a funeral, you'd rather be the person in the box than giving the eulogy.
Since we, since we all speak for a living, is our number one fear of death. I don't know that's what that means or not, but.
But yeah, I think that that's, that's something to be able to say, Hey, yeah, I dealt with this and God got me through this, and he brought me along the path of all of these things. And then not only has he helped take care of this problem for me, but now I'm able to stand up in front of all of you and give him glory for what he's done, which is exactly the purpose of miracles.
Mm-hmm. Like we talked about that during the Miracle Series.
So what what we want you to do is we want you to be encouraged. If you, if you attend the Jackson campus, you haven't watched the sermon, go, go watch it. Just so you know the bigger picture of what we're trying to do. We wanna encourage people to pray more and worry less.
We wanna be able to handle our anxieties through going to the church, which means. Your Bible studies, your life groups, your grief shares, your counseling, your pastor conversations, your one-on-one time with, with people in the community. Like we, we help navigate anxiety together as we live life together.
That's why I think it's so important to live in community and we help each other. Go to prayer and not go to that anxiety. And when we do have anxiety, we, we wanna be encourage each other, Hey, let's take this to God in prayer. Let's, let me pray for you and not just make it a, a thing I say, but a thing I actually do.
And so if you're watching the video, share the video. Like, I'm so excited about, uh, Cody and singing the song, and I'm just, I, we talk to also about how we get great joy. Like I get great joy in seeing our team be successful. I'm, I'm so glad, uh, people liked Cody s singing the song. We wanna share that. Um.
Out in the community so people can also be encouraged to pray more and worry less. And so we're excited about how God is, is really just moving in our community right now. And this fall's gonna be fun. We're gonna stay in this series for a few more weeks. Um, we'll sing it again here soon. Um, but you know, Cody's got a big, uh, trip this weekend, so.
Probably not Sunday. Yeah, he's taken, uh, like 35 teenagers up north, I think at this point for a, a Viking Games retreat. And so, uh, so it'll, it'll be soon. So get ready, more's coming and we're excited about what God's doing and really more's on the horizon. 'cause we've worked excited about some other similar things coming up with other series in the future.
And so God is, God is moving. If you're struggling, if you're anxious, if you're worried, if you're worried about like life, economy, politics, health, relationships, whatever. I think a good answer is just pray more and worry less, and when if you struggle, go to God's word. Go to Philippians four. Read through that, and also like feel free to watch that song and maybe you can find some encouragement and just listen to Cody sing.
Yep. Get a church community and let them feed in and speak into your life about the things that are going on around you. Yep.
We will catch you on the next episode of the Huddle Cast.
Peace. See you then.