HOTLCAST
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HOTLCAST
People Quest: How NPCs in Life Point Us to Jesus
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In this episode of the HOTLCast, Cyle, Matt, Ryan, and Mark dive deep into the "Side Quest Life" series — exploring how the people around us (your real-life NPCs) are never just background characters. From Salvation Army bell ringers to card game tournaments, they unpack what it looks like to live non-transactionally, invest in people without expecting a return, and watch God multiply what you give. It's a warm, honest conversation about faith, community, and keeping Jesus as your main quest.
Hello and welcome back to the hodl cast. I'm Kyle. I'm Matt. I'm Ryan.
SPEAKER_01I'm Mark.
SPEAKER_02And we are here talking about all things HODL. That's right. We like to call it full HODL.
SPEAKER_01You like to call it full HODL.
SPEAKER_02Like that's I love having to explain that. But full throttle, full hodl. We like it. Um so we are talking about uh well, Ryan just came back from uh kind of a week away. You were counseling uh in Ohio down in near Cincinnati, right?
SPEAKER_00Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02Uh at Save a Warrior. So that's I know busy and productive all at the same time. So and then you forgot your phone in the car when I tried to get hold of you.
SPEAKER_00I did, I did. Actually, lots of people were trying to get hold of me. Rob, Rob, our home.
SPEAKER_02I was like, man, he must be tired.
SPEAKER_00Rob Rob was Rob was calling me too. I'm like, so I'm like trying to like text on my watch, which is not convenient.
SPEAKER_02When I drive, you know, I say this on the stage all the time. When I drive, I just call people all the time. So I was driving, so I was like, I'll call Ryan. He's gotta be home. He's probably wanting to chat after a week away. And nope, you didn't he didn't answer. So I was like, well. So I just drove for silent in silence for a while because it was getting late. It was like 10, 10:30. I talked to Matt, but we I'd been with Matt for the last three hours. So I called Matt like twice. I'm like, I'm running all the people to call and nobody's answered the phone. So I almost called you, Mark. I was like, well, I'll just call Mark. But you almost made the cut. You were so close. Yeah, I know. So we we we were out playing games till too late. Um, but it was it was fun. So we had a good time.
SPEAKER_01I was out winning those games until too late.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, it was good. We had a good time. We did. Um, but no, we've been talking about side quest life, which we were side questing like late last night. We went out to Lansing and and played uh played a game together with Matt and Caleb, so it was fun. But you were kind of doing a different side quest counseling, and so um we talked about how in this series side quests can be good. It's I think side quests become bad when they when they detour us too far off the from the main quest. Like the main quest is always Jesus, and so if you get detoured from that with your side quest, then it's a bad thing. And if the side quest becomes the main quest, it's a bad thing. Like the main quest should always be Jesus and the purpose of knowing him and making him known to the people in your life. And so we've been talking about side quest life, which I know you guys just did side quest life in a month ago in a series. And so this week specifically, we talked about NPCs, like the the non-playable characters in your life, the people that are part of your story because they exist in the realm of your story, but they're not you, and so you can't control them, make them do anything, but you need them. And in video games, we talked about how those non-playable characters like upgrade you, give you quests, can give you resources that you need. But in life, people are the same thing. You know, Proverbs 27, 17 says iron sharpens iron is one man sharpens another. We need NPCs. So, Matt, you know, I know you really focused more on side quests about the NPC stories in scripture. What are your thoughts about like the NPCs in life?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think that it's I think whatever you covered it during the sermon on Sunday that you really nailed it, where every single person that you encounter is basically an NPC. Every single time you, you know, walk up to somebody that you don't have a deep personal relationship with, that that's exactly how that plays out. And I think that for me, it drew to light from my personal perspective that I'm not doing enough. Like I'm not doing enough with that sort of stuff where there's time that we see things and we could invest that time, we could invest that energy, we could invest that effort, but instead, you know, 2026, we are busy, we've got stuff going on, and we don't put in that time and that focus. Uh, when we had covered the series up at the Jackson campus and we had gone through where we focused on, you know, the NPCs of scripture, the ones where you don't know a ton of stuff about them, I found myself wanting to know more, and I just don't have that information. I feel like I should be applying that same mentality with all of the people that I'm surrounded by in my everyday life, too, where what is their story? Why do I not want to know more about them the same way that I want to know more about the people that we don't have a ton of details in in scripture? And I think there is definitely a push-pull in that where there should be that sort of sensation and that feeling of I want to know more about what your story is. And you can absolutely speak into that, Ryan, because you have just done everything with Save a Warrior, which I love your language for this of you know, sharing your unshareables, you know, with a whole group of people that you know you're trying to get to know them on a level that is more than just like that cursory glance.
SPEAKER_00Yep, yeah. No, I I hear you. It's you know, the interesting that I've thing I've found is that we all, and and Kyle, you talk about this too, just that how how we all have stuff, right? And and and on some level we all are a mess and we're we're all we're all ugly ugly and we're all beautiful, and you know, it's just really the story we attach to what's happening in our life. But um yeah, this idea of of uh you know the people in our life and and how do we how do we really like conceptualize that and and and see how that both connects us with God and and has a tendency to be a stumbling block, right? And and how do we discern what's what, how do we discern how long we spend because you know, we got to meet people where they're at, so how how long do you spend in that space? You know, I I often think about it as like more of like a linear sort of thing as as a path I'm on, right? And and I have I have people behind the path farther down, I have people above, you know, farther on the path, I have lots of people coming constantly coming back and and guiding me that are these same kind of NPC type people, but I also have the people God's putting in my path that maybe I'm supposed to stop and and and offer what I have to offer. And I think really having that vision to understand that we we all have stuff and we're all we're all just working along that, right? So I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Right. No, I think that's that is true for all of us. Like we we all are kind of our own bit of chaos sometimes. We're all we're our own bit of blessing sometimes in our life, and so I think when we move forward in our story, like we we are going down the main quest of our life, the path, and we've got our own story, and we've got to recognize that everybody else has got their own story, and we interact with each other, and sometimes those interactions are good, sometimes they're not so good. And the purpose of those interactions are really to propel us each further in our own stories. Like we should, the relationships in our lives should better us, like should improve us, should sharpen us, should encourage us, comfort us, help us. Like that's the that's the part of life. Like having these non-playable characters, these people in our life, that it should be a benefit to our own journey and to help us through our own struggle to also help us celebrate when things are good. Like we should move down the path together. I think ultimately the goal as followers of Christ is that we're all moving down that main path together. And while doing so, we're helping each other along the path. Like when I stumble, somebody helps me up. When I need a lift, someone's giving me a lift. Like those are the things I think that are important. But when we don't treat people with the value that they need, we we should respect them with, then we we tend to abuse those relationships and just make it all about us. And we don't help people because although someone, you know, NPCs, we said Sunday, those people in your life might be there because you need something that they have, the tool or resource or upgrade that they have for you, but you might also be that person in their life that's the person that's gonna sharpen them, that's gonna push them forward. So I think it's a both, you know, there's ebbs and flows of life where you need to be the person who's the who's you know sharpening someone else, and there's times that they need to be sharpening you. And I think, Matt, that's kind of what we see as pastors, but also just in our own lives, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it kind of reminds me of a story that I told you years ago about a church elder that we had dealt with at a church that was challenged, had some struggles, and I I was sitting one time in a parking lot, and I saw the one of the elders from that church who had, you know, gotten out of his car and he went over and he was talking to all of these people as he was walking into a supermarket. He had no idea that I was there, didn't see me, didn't know that I was there. And I just kind of sat there and I was watching as he was kind of going in. Caleb was just a baby, you know, it was a long time ago. And I watched him kind of, you know, talking to all these people as he's walking his way over to the supermarket. He gets to the Salvation Army bell ringer, and he's standing there talking to the guy. He drops some money in the thing, and I'm like, oh, well, that's you know, pretty cool. And then the bell ringer guy hands the bells off to him and takes off, and he stands there and he's going to be doing a shift as a bell ringer for the salvation army. I think that there's something to be said, not only about the side quests that we see in our lives, the things that distract us, but also that there are times that there are people watching the quests that we're on collectively, where they're seeing the things that we do, the actions that we take, the things that we prioritize, the things that we say are important, where as we're kind of going down that path and we're walking through that journey, you know, there are people that are kind of standing on the outskirts that are like, okay, so this guy or this lady say that they're a Christian, you know, I kind of want to see the things that they prioritize, the things that they say, this is important enough to be part of my main quest. This is important enough for me to take this step forward. And sometimes it's just seeing somebody interact with a bunch of people as they're walking into a supermarket, you know, just saying hi, greeting them, talking to them, being sociable, being friendly, you know, letting them know that in that moment, while you're talking to them, they matter. You know, there are things that are part of our main quest that other people are constantly watching. And that is something to kind of be cognizant of because if they're watching what you're doing and you're demonstrating that love of Christ with all the aspects of your life, they're going to take note and they're going to recognize. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I couldn't help but kind of think about that. Something that kind of struck with me, and I don't know how it relates. I guess I'm going to talk it out right now. But uh the this idea of like being non-transactional, right? And in, you know, something, something, some language I have is like like we don't really get it until we give it away.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And so the the more tran non-transactional I can be, the more I I can just be of service, right? Um the more are does it is it revealed to me all these fruits of God. God has have a unlimited amount that are always at my fingertips, that are always there. And oftentimes for me, I can't tap that until I make myself in a non-transactional, of service sort of way, like like something simple, like standing there ringing a bell. And there's nothing in it for people who are giving money, right? Like they're they're not they're not getting anything out of it. There, there's no there's no trading of anything. And in those moments, like I I I often find myself, if I'm struggling with something internally, the first thing I do is is think about that person in my life who I think they got they got this on on lockdown somewhere, and I'll call them up. Oftentimes it's about being a you know something to do with my kids and feeling like I'm failing as a father. Call up that dude and I'll be like, hey Matt, man, I really, you know, how you handle yourself as a dad is is just phenomenal, and I love you for it. And with that, it's multiply, right? Like it helps me to remember God, like goes, Oh yeah, yeah, you're a pretty good dad too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's interesting how God God multiplies things when when I exist in a non-transactional service-oriented kind of way.
SPEAKER_02Right, yeah. You don't always have to be getting something for what you're doing, right? The time you're investing, the energy you're spending, like you don't always have to walk away with with something. You can just be sharpening somebody else, you can be pouring into somebody else. And then the great thing about what you're saying is like God returns that back to us. Like, that's the awesome thing. God can multiply that, God can return that back to us, often through other people, through other relationships, other blessings. I mean, that's the thing. It's like the more you give, the more you often receive. That's uh like the Bible, right? So we we need to give more of ourselves and our time and our energy and our effort to each other so that we can then watch God move as He does the same thing and returns it to us through those NPCs in our life, the people that are not us, that are just in our in our circle of influence, circle of of of life that can pour back into us. And I think the problem is as modern-day Americans, we tend to be as a culture, as individuals, pretty selfish. It's about self-seeking, servicing me. I want, if I'm gonna give you my time, I want something in return. If I'm gonna give you my energy, I'm gonna go with something in return. And the problem is that's kind of the antithesis of scripture. Like, scripture is like, no, give of yourself, and then I will, I will give to you. When the world is give more to me, and then maybe I'll give back to you if I get enough.
SPEAKER_00Easy now, hard later, right? That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02I think that's the difference. So and the problem is, you know, when we're looking at like the side quest life, we get so trapped in these things that are not the main quest. And then we get we try to get everything from that and like for ourselves. We want to take, take, take, take, take. We're supposed to be in those things that we're doing, whatever side quest it might be, sports, hobbies, entertainment, you know, arts, education, whatever. We're supposed to be still giving. We're supposed to be doing that non-transactional. I like the way you're saying that, um, type of giving to to that thing, investing in those people. And that's just not normal in our in our culture.
SPEAKER_01So it kind of we've talked a lot about riftbound and how you've kind of been trying to bring people into this group, into this collective to be able to play this game. And when you first kind of got Caleb in and got him involved, I was like, okay, so you know, yeah, this is cool. You know, I'm terrible. Like, I am terrible at Riftbound. But arguably after last night, me too. But but it was funny because Kyle had, he he called me up, he's like, so we've got a person who's you know interested in learning more about the church, they maybe want to start attending. And I it it took that conversation for it to finally click for me because I had been practicing with Caleb and you know, trying to get better at. And I'm like, okay, Kyle wants me to come out to these events, you know, I need to do better, I need to be able to win, I need to be able to do this. And he's like, No, I'm doing this as a ministry thing where this is going to be bringing people together and building relationships and stuff. And in that moment, I was so consumed with the you know, earthly main quest idea of, oh, I need to be good at this game to be able to go out and compete. To whenever you made that con had the conversation with me, I'm like, oh, so you just want me to be able to come out and talk to people and lose every game I play for Jesus. I can totally do that. Losing for Jesus. We're at the top of this podcast, losing for Jesus. Yeah. But that's what it became for me was being able to look at it and say, okay, so the point is not to come out and win the card games. I'm not gonna ever have the championship mats that, you know, Kyle's been racking up left and right. But if I'm building the relationships, that's the only part of it that actually matters. It doesn't matter if I win the card games, it doesn't matter if I ever, you know, get one of the play mats that says champion on the bottom. It doesn't matter. None of that matters. What does matter is that I'm out there with the people, spending time, building relationships, getting to know people, and being the hands and feet of Jesus in my conversations, even if I am terrible at this game. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I think it's just there's an intentionality to that non-transactional kind of experience. Um, you know, we last night when we were filming, you know, this is we're filming this on a Tuesday, so Monday night, we were in Lansing till 10:30. Um, we were playing an event where we got cards and made a deck and play it. So three games in, I'm talking to a guy I had seen two other times, but I'd never talked to, I've never played against him yet, because there's often a lot of people at these events. And uh I'm like, hey, so you look from Lance? I mean, I I started up a conversation with everybody because that's just the purpose of why we're doing this. Like, let's meet people. Let's yep, this is my my opportunity to to have an experience with non-Christian people because I'm surrounded by Christian people. And so I always introduce myself, I always see where they're from, and then when hoping they're gonna ask me where I'm from and what I do, because then I'm like, Well, I'm a pastor, and these are all my people and that are with me. And so um, the one guy's like, No, I'm not from Lansing. I'm like, Where are you from? He's like, Spring Harbor. I was like, Oh, Spring Harbor, I'm more from Jackson. I was like, I was like, well, we you know, we hang out and play in Jackson when I come play with us. So he's like, Yeah, yeah. And then his buddy was from Spring Harbor, goes to school there. I said, Well, I'm also you know, oversee the camp Somerset beach. He goes, I went to Somerset Beach growing up. So like we they started having this conversation, so we're having lunch today. Um, I was like, Well, you're gonna grab lunch tomorrow and just talk. And so, yeah, he's he's telling me about his life and we're just talking. I was like, Well, let's grab lunch and talk. I mean, there's an intentionality that I think people need to live more with. Like, um, I didn't have to do that. I didn't have to have that conversation. We were we were there to play cards, but there's still people. And if you're if if you're trying to like give, like, I do I should I do I have to go to lunch with this guy? No, it was just like, hey, we should get together sometime. We got things in common. It's like, yeah, let's grab lunch, let's talk. And so I don't know where it goes. It's it's not it's not like some traps are getting to come to church because his spring armor's not close, but like we don't know where that's gonna go. I mean, maybe, maybe at the time in the life that I have lunch with this guy, he's you know, God's speaking to him. I don't know. We'll see. But like that's kind of what you do when you're intentionally trying to go meet people and share in their journey. You know, he's just an NPC in the story, but like, could I be that NPC that sharpens him? Like he just quit his job at the university, probably like seeking the next stage in life. I might be the right person at the right time. I don't know. Yeah, could just be a lunch, but you never know unless you go out there and you just you just try. And so I think that's the importance of you know, you can do that in anything that you're doing. You can do that sitting at your on the on the sidelines at one of your kids' sporting events instead of being on your phone, just talk to people. I've been guilty of being on my phone too much of those things. And um I've had to really work hard to not do that in the context that we're in with Riftbound because it'd be so easy just like be done playing, go play on my phone for 20 minutes and wait for everybody to be done. But I've really tried to be more intentional about like this isn't a community I can pour, pour into for Christ and see what God can do. And God's already doing awesome stuff. I mean, we're already seeing people come into our Jackson campus and relationships developing, it's really wild. But you have to do it non-transactionally. Like, it's not I'm not getting anything out of it, so I'm giving and pouring into it and seeing what God can do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, see, it's like that connection like of like intentionally like being a disciple, right? Like if I'm if I'm living it out and I I'm really like being intentional and I'm I'm being bold about it, it you know, the the um the immense amount of connection and peace that I find with God, um I I mean it's like indescribable. And so I think that I but I think the hardest part is that like giving up that that that worldly concept that says the world says, Oh, you gotta look good. And God says, you know, what looks good to me does not look good to the world.
SPEAKER_01So true.
SPEAKER_00And and and so it's really just there it requires a lot of faith.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So hopefully, as you're living and you're living this side quest life, that you really focus on keeping the main thing, the main thing. Recognize the people that are in your story that are not you, the NPCs, they matter because either they're supposed to pour into you and strengthen you, encourage you, or you're supposed to do the same thing for them. And you're supposed to help each other down that main quest towards Jesus, towards an eternity spent with him. And so we hope that you're you're listening and you're hoping you're learning, and hopefully you're applying this in your life. And so I go out and really focus on having more non-transactional relationships and watch what God does as you pour yourself into him. Thanks for listening.