S1: Coming to you from the Morning Star Mission sponsored studio.
S1: This is Carl and crew on Moody Radio. Young Thunder,
S1: what's the best thing you've ever had a front row
S1: seat to?
S2: Ooh, that's a great question.
S1: Best thing you've ever had a front row seat?
S2: Well, I would say the best thing I ever had
S2: a front row seat to was I went to a
S2: Bulls game with my wife, and we were given.
S1: A front row seat.
S2: I did not I did not purchase these tickets, but
S2: we were given 100 level seat tickets. So it wasn't
S2: like courtside, but it was like, I don't know, a
S2: few rows back, but I've never been that close to
S2: any sports action before and that was pretty amazing.
S1: That's pretty cool. Yeah, the closer you get, the better
S1: it come becomes. Some of those, specially at something like
S1: a basketball game.
S2: Oh yeah. You don't realize how tall those guys are
S2: until you get like 100ft away from them. They're giants, man.
S1: Yeah, it's It's fun. All right. We got a front
S1: row seat for you. You ready for this? Oh, and
S1: I mean this. Seriously, if you take part in what
S1: I'm asking you to join, we are going to give
S1: you a front row seat, and we're going to add
S1: some mustard to it this spring. Share next Tuesday kicks
S1: off spring share. It's going to be crazy. It's going
S1: to be a madhouse. It's going to be fun. It's
S1: one of my favorite weeks of the year. You might say,
S1: you got to be kidding me. No, it's one of
S1: my favorite weeks. And here's why. Because the gospel does
S1: change everything and ministry costs money. But when you, the
S1: boom crew, get involved, it is so fun. The amount
S1: of comments coming in is staggering. Now we have now
S1: for a few years been calling you to come and pray.
S1: Join us in prayer. This year we're going to do
S1: something a little bit different. We're going to still send
S1: out videos in the morning before each day, and you're
S1: going to get a prompt before your half hour slot.
S1: Or if you pick more than one, you'll get an
S1: email from somebody saying, hey, your half hour is coming
S1: up today at this slot. Just a reminder, we're asking
S1: for ten of you per half hour to jump in
S1: and pray. And the mustard that we're adding this year
S1: is we're going to include a link asking you to
S1: give us feedback so that we can hear what the
S1: Lord is saying to you. We're going to give you
S1: prayer prompts, things to be praying about. Observations from our side.
S1: But as you pray and you're hearing from the Lord,
S1: maybe it's a passage of Scripture or something you feel
S1: prompted with just pass along to us as a result
S1: of what you're hearing. We're asking you to give us feedback,
S1: so we're going to make this a real mosh pit
S1: of prayer. We're going to be packed in here together.
S1: It's going to be a lot of fun. And I'm
S1: asking you to jump in. We're down to 200 and change.
S1: That's it. We want to have these all grabbed up
S1: by tomorrow during Freedom Friday. So I'm asking you to
S1: come join in. You've never done this before. You've never
S1: prayed for 30 minutes. We're going to take the question
S1: mark out of it about what you pray for. We're
S1: going to give you all the prompts you need, and
S1: we're going to get feedback from you this year. We're
S1: going to we're going to find a way that you
S1: can give us feedback. This is what the Lord's saying.
S1: So I want you to come in and grab it.
S1: Right now we're down to 200 and change for seats.
S1: And when they're gone, they're gone. So I'm asking you
S1: to come and grab them. If you've some of you.
S1: I know how this works. You grab a link and
S1: then you go on with your day and you're like, ah,
S1: forgot about that. So this is a heads up reminder
S1: right now. Jump in, be a part of this thing.
S1: Text crew to (800) 555-7898. I mean how how better does it?
S1: This doesn't get much better. You get to be in
S1: the in the engine room of making this thing happen.
S1: So I'm asking you to jump in right now. Let's
S1: make this a incredible time. You get a front row
S1: seat to watch what God's doing. Text crew to 805 five, five, 78, 98.
S1: And I'd ask that you not only get this link,
S1: but fill in a slot right now so that we
S1: can know where we're at here in the next few minutes.
S1: But text the word crew to 805, five, five, 78, 98.
S1: And look, we we originate from Chicago. But I'm asking
S1: people all around, those of you in the Nashville area,
S1: I'm asking you to jump in. In particular, I've got
S1: a heart for Nashville just because of a vantage point
S1: that I see. And I'm like, okay, God, you're wanting
S1: to do a work down there. So let's get some
S1: Nashville prayers spoken. Thank you. Las Cruces, Pikeville. Way to go, Alabama.
S1: Way to go, Maryland. Awesome. These are all the different
S1: regions where we are. Even in Alaska. Come on. Alaska.
S1: That's my home state. Yes. I'm asking everyone to jump
S1: in here right now. Text crew to (800) 555-7898. As you
S1: open up the link, you'll see plenty of slots left,
S1: mostly filled in the first couple of days, but you
S1: just scroll down, find a slot that works for you.
S1: If you've got a real heart for prayer, just grab
S1: more than one. No problem there. Text crew to (800) 555-7898.
S1: And I just want to tell you ahead of time
S1: how thankful I am for you. Do I believe in
S1: the power of prayer? Oh do I. My goodness. I've
S1: seen God move mountains through prayer. I've been a part
S1: of two spiritual awakenings that I can absolutely say, without
S1: a doubt, originated through a heartfelt, collective group of people
S1: getting on their knees before God and begging him, asking
S1: him to show us where to go, how to go,
S1: but that his power would go before us. So I'm
S1: asking you to jump in right now. Text crew to
S1: 800 555 7898. In the front row seat, as you
S1: get to see God, do something and it will Enliven
S1: your heart for for things that are on your heart
S1: in your life. And I want to thank you ahead
S1: of time for that. Got a lot of links going
S1: out right now. Grab those slots, guys. Godspeed to you.
S1: Got a crazy question coming up for you. I mean, crazy.
S1: We're talking about being the church, and we know that
S1: it requires a certain level of passion to make that
S1: move from just attending or going to being. And it's
S1: that passion feature that we're going to mess with here
S1: for a little bit. And I'm going to prove it
S1: to you in a funny way. You're going to want
S1: to keep it pinned right here. Can I say 80
S1: plus thousand dollars for a Cheeto? What would motivate someone
S1: to pay 80 plus thousand dollars for a Cheeto? Now,
S1: some passions are guided. Well, some are misguided. As in
S1: Cheeto man. Hang on.
S3: He's a sports fanatic with a stat for anything you
S3: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
S3: curling crew on Moody Radio.
S1: I want to thank you, those of you that have
S1: jumped in. Grateful for you. A lot of people grabbing
S1: that link crew and some of you maybe didn't hear it.
S1: You're like, what's that again? Half hour slots during share.
S1: Not only are you praying and getting video prayer prompts
S1: from us every morning, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday,
S1: but then prompts for the slot or slots that you
S1: selected and we're grateful for you. We've got we're probably
S1: nearing just at 200, maybe less than 200 slots left,
S1: and they're going to go fast. Now, invariably what happens
S1: is people are like, ah, is it too late? So
S1: get signed up because you're going to get a front
S1: row seat and we're going to have a new feature
S1: this year. We're going to have a portal so that
S1: we can hear back from you what you're hearing from
S1: the Lord. If you feel led to send us something back,
S1: we're going to we're going to take that so seriously.
S1: I've already been talking with my bride. Yesterday we were
S1: on a drive and I said, hey, baby, you know,
S1: I'm wondering what what your thoughts are for share this year.
S1: Always praying through. What are the angles? And she said,
S1: you know, Bob, I really love to give when our
S1: minds are enthralled with the power and the goodness and
S1: the providence of God. I said, really? She says, yeah,
S1: that's what really captures me almost more than anything else.
S1: When we realize how big God is and how great
S1: he is and how good he is toward us. So
S1: I'm going to make every effort that we remind you
S1: that all year long this year. And I'm asking you
S1: right now, I don't want you to give right now,
S1: but I want you to prepare your heart. I want
S1: you to be here and be part of the boom
S1: crew this year. And one of the first ways you
S1: can do that is to grab this half hour slot
S1: of prayer. And we're ready for you. Text crew to (800) 555-7898.
S1: And it's a really cool roster. It's a cool thing, man.
S1: The automation of digital right now is just crazy. Soon
S1: we're going to have an AI bot in here running
S1: this whole thing.
S2: It's very true.
S1: But right now we just got humanoids. So here we go.
S1: Just text crew to (800) 555-7898. Okay, I want to prove
S1: to you that passion can move us. Little passion in
S1: the belly can move us to good. Can move us
S1: from going to church to be in the church. And
S1: that's our aim this whole week long. Really be in
S1: the church. But I want to prove this passion point
S1: in the weirdest way. Young Thunder gave me a story
S1: and I said, where do you go when you're finding
S1: these stories? Man, it's so bizarre. This is so bizarre.
S1: Take it away, young thunder.
S2: So, uh, Carl had never heard these stories before, but
S2: you might have boom crew. You know, when someone is
S2: eating a bag of chips and they pull one out
S2: and they go, oh, that looks like Darth Vader, or, oh,
S2: that looks like Abraham Lincoln. And they try to sell
S2: it because it's a it looks like a famous person
S2: kind of kind of looks like a famous person. And
S2: people go crazy for it. So the latest.
S1: Something, man?
S2: Yeah, I know the latest one is a hot Cheeto
S2: shaped like.
S1: Hold it. What's a hot Cheeto?
S2: A hot Cheeto is just a Cheeto. That is. It's
S2: it's flamin Hot, so it's it's like a spicy cheese.
S1: All kinds of preservatives and chemicals. And it will kill
S1: you in ten years or less. But anyway, I digress.
S2: Yeah, absolutely. It's for those who are here for a
S2: good time. Not a long time. You know what I mean?
S1: So that's outstanding.
S2: I love it.
S1: All right.
S4: Go ahead.
S2: So someone was apparently eating a bag of Flamin Hot Cheetos,
S2: and they pulled out something that looked like a a
S2: cartoon character from the cartoon or the video game Pokemon.
S2: A little, little thing like that. I know the character.
S2: It kind of kind of looks like it. It's like
S2: a dragon type of thing, but it doesn't really look
S2: like it. But they they put it up on auction.
S2: They said, oh, let's put it up here. I'll put
S2: it up for $250. That's, that's where the auction.
S1: That's where it began.
S2: Yeah. I mean, that sounds like a lot for a
S2: for one Cheeto. When a bag.
S5: Of Cheetos, it's a lot for a Cheeto.
S2: Yeah, a bag of Cheetos is, like, $3. So? So
S2: one Cheeto, $250. It's a lot. Apparently, the auction went crazy.
S2: And where it finished out was someone spending $88,000 for
S2: this one Cheeto. And they spent $15,000 in fees. So
S2: they spent over $100,000 on one Cheeto. That kind of
S2: looks like a cartoon character.
S1: The word unbelievable gets overused, but right now it's appropriate.
S2: I think that's pretty appropriate.
S1: 88 K plus 15 K in process fees for the
S1: auction house.
S2: Yes.
S1: Oh, for crying out loud.
S2: So what's that? 103 $103,000?
S4: Yeah. It's ridiculous.
S1: Anyway, we do crazy stuff, so.
S2: Yes, we.
S4: Do.
S1: I'm going to give you an opportunity to get a
S1: Carl and crew prize pack. Your passion drove you to
S1: purchase something. You look back going, what was I thinking?
S1: What was I thinking? Cheeto man's going to believe that
S1: one day he's going to look back and go, what
S1: was I thinking?
S4: That's right.
S1: Leave it out on the counter. And his kid eats it.
S2: 88 you better hide that thing. Hide it after you
S2: sell it, because.
S4: Oh my.
S1: Goodness, who's got those kind of ducats to do that
S1: crazy stuff?
S4: I don't know.
S2: I don't know.
S4: But.
S1: What is that crazy thing that you purchased? And if
S1: you call in and are willing to be a little
S1: bit self-effacing and you look back and go, why did
S1: I do that? I'll give you a prize back. I'm
S1: proving a point. Passion drive initiative can be great and
S1: it can be not so great. 800 555 7898. Give
S1: us a call right now. Light em up. We're going
S1: to go lightning round here. Get your stories in. I
S1: don't care how many prize packs I give away. You
S1: got a crazy story of something you bought. And you're
S1: looking back going, why did I do that? 800 555 7898.
S1: Give us a call.
S6: Money money money money money money money money money.
S1: But it seemed so right. It had to have.
S5: It.
S2: Got to throw my money at it.
S1: Man, I got to have that. My life will change
S1: if I can just get that thing.
S2: You just have it.
S1: Uh, so I'm asking you for proving a spiritual point here, because, listen,
S1: there is an effort to move from going to church
S1: to being the church, and there's got to be something
S1: that's enthralling your mind to make that move. And then
S1: it boils a passion inside you goes, I got to go.
S1: And we're proven the power of passion, both for good
S1: and for evil. And it's funny sometimes because I'm asking
S1: the question, would you go by and you're like, this
S1: is going to be it, man, I'm so excited. And
S1: then you found out, Well, it wasn't quite it.
S2: Not so.
S1: Much. Marion, Indiana. What do you say, Mary?
S7: I bought a car a long time ago from an
S7: old man at work, and later on I found out
S7: it was a beater. Later on, I found out that
S7: the engine was held up by a thick chain.
S2: It was held together by a chain hold.
S1: It was it was it? So there weren't mounting bolts anymore.
S1: It was a chain holding it to the frame.
S7: It was a chain. It was a thick chain.
S2: Did you try to drive it?
S7: Yeah, I drove.
S5: It, I.
S7: Drove it, but I got rid of it after I
S7: found out about the chain. Because I had my kids,
S7: I would drive my kids around in the car.
S5: Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Mary.
S1: Thanks. Hold on the phone there. Hold on. You get
S1: a calling crew prize pack. That's why we call you
S1: the boom crew. Oh my goodness, why are we getting
S1: so many calls? Okay, by the way, chaining a vehicle together,
S1: that's an Alaska thing. We had a Willys Jeep on
S1: a commercial fishing setnet site on the edge of the ocean. Yeah,
S1: and the saltwater got into this Willys Jeep so much
S1: when they were driving down the beach and the and
S1: the whole thing just broke in half chunk. And so
S1: the middle just went right down to the sand. And
S1: so we jacked it up with hydraulic jacks. No joking.
S1: We chained it together as tight as we could. And
S1: then we spot welded it to the metal that was left. Yeah.
S1: Drove it around for the rest of the summer.
S2: That's crazy.
S1: Yeah, it was good. It was good for hauling fish around. But, yeah,
S1: we chained that sucker together.
S5: It's so good, man.
S1: Oh, Willie. Haven't heard you forever in Illinois. What do
S1: you say, Willie?
S8: Hey, man, good to hear you. But I listen to
S8: you every day. But I bought some tee tee shirts,
S8: 52 tee shirts that 20 something years ago in Utah. And, uh,
S8: I paid $15 for them. I got home, and I
S8: was bragging to my dad them that I had bought
S8: the tee shirts. When I opened it up, it was
S8: only one tee shirt in there. The rest of them
S8: was baby doll clothes.
S9: You thought you had won the lottery on t shirts. Willie. Oh, Willie.
S8: I thought I had did something. I paid $15 for
S8: a t shirt 25 years ago.
S2: He said. He said I'm fully grown. I'm never going
S2: to have to buy clothes again. This is a perfect deal. Oh, man.
S9: Willie, 52 shirts was one.
S8: Of them clothes. Baby doll clothes.
S9: It didn't say what size it was for. Oh, Willie,
S9: you're a hoot, man.
S1: Thanks for calling in. Willie, how are you doing with
S1: the Lord? You walking strong with them, man?
S8: Hey, man. Stay blessed. Hey, man, I'm going to send
S8: you a picture. I was a speaker at my home
S8: church for the nurses and the nurses, and I was
S8: a speaker man, and the Lord really blessed me. I'm
S8: going to try to send you a picture. Okay?
S1: Yeah, send me a picture. I want to see it. Willie. That's. Godspeed.
S1: Stay on the horn, Willie. We're getting you, Carl and
S1: crew prize pack. Uh, Beth Ann, do we have Beth in? Yeah.
S1: Beth in New Mexico. What do you say? Beth Ann.
S10: I bought a fancy 2021 organizer calendar planner and had
S10: nowhere to go and nothing to do, nothing to put
S10: in it.
S2: Because it was Covid.
S9: Oh, that's.
S5: Right.
S9: That's right.
S5: I got this.
S2: This nice new planner, and.
S5: I don't need to write anything. Planner man.
S1: And got it for 149. Was it a Franklin Covey?
S10: Uh, no. It was one of those happy planners with
S10: the little clips in it, I customized it.
S5: Oh, the customizable jobbies man.
S1: Oh my word.
S10: Yeah, that was the year I was going to get
S10: everything together. And then the world fell apart.
S2: Isn't that always how it goes? This is the year.
S2: This is it. And then something like that happens.
S5: Oh my goodness.
S10: Listen to Jane.
S1: I missed you, I missed that, you hear I lost her. Anyway,
S1: Beth Ann, stay on the horn. Your connection to strings
S1: broken somewhere over Texas between here and New Mexico. All right.
S1: Stay on the horn. Um. Oh my goodness. Young thunder. Go!
S2: Yeah. So for me, I I'm a big sports fan.
S2: I love my sports teams and I can get really
S2: crazy about them. And my my most favorite sports team
S2: is the Chicago Bears. And so a couple years ago,
S2: I'm not going to say the name of the player. I, uh, we,
S2: we drafted really high and got a player that I
S2: was really excited about. And I said, this is it.
S2: This is the player. He's going to change everything. We're
S2: going to be good. Finally. And so I bought a
S2: jersey preemptively before he'd played one game, and I spent
S2: like $150 on it because I was like, this is it,
S2: I got it. And this is like, you know, when
S2: you buy a jersey before a player has played a game.
S5: You bought.
S1: A Justin.
S9: Fields jersey.
S2: I'm not saying the name of the player.
S9: You bought a fields Jersey?
S2: I bought a fields jersey. And and I said, this
S2: is it. And I bought before he played a game.
S2: And I was like, this is my confidence to show
S2: that that he's going to do it and this is it.
S2: This is our year. And then like three years later,
S2: he was off the team and and we traded him.
S5: He got a late round pick, $50.
S1: What you got is $150, uh, garage rag.
S5: For.
S9: Your car cleaning.
S2: I still wear it, but I'm like, you know, so
S2: I don't buy jerseys until they play a game anymore
S2: because I need him to stay around here a little longer.
S1: This is so funny. See, a little bit of passion
S1: boiling in your soul will cause you to do something.
S5: Sometimes it's for.
S1: Good, sometimes it's for not so good. Or is line
S1: six ready?
S5: Line six is ready.
S1: Lewis in Illinois, first time caller. What do you. What
S1: did you do? Lewis?
S11: Hey, all the gamers out there, I ended up buying
S11: for my PlayStation four a mod controller for this Black Ops.
S11: I was really into the game and so this thing
S11: was supposed to make me faster. I was supposed to
S11: get drop shots. I was supposed to like get all
S11: these reward points, and no matter how hard I tried,
S11: I still did not was not a winner on that.
S11: So and that was about 500 bucks. I might have
S11: fired it like the the buttons were actually like little
S11: nine millimeter bullet's on there. You know, I was like
S11: a superstar with this in my own world. But the
S11: stats obviously proved different.
S9: So all the gaming metaphors, all the.
S1: Gaming, all those gaming words you were saying, it makes
S1: no sense to me at all, dude.
S9: I mean.
S1: I.
S9: Played.
S1: Ping pong back in the day. Did anyone else play pong?
S1: I had a first generation pong game. My folks pop
S1: for it. It was black and white. You change, you.
S9: Could change.
S1: The size of the paddles and the speed of the ball.
S1: It was amazing.
S9: Lewis.
S1: Do you remember.
S5: Pong?
S11: Atari? Uh, yeah. I had one of my first game games.
S11: Was like an Atari, and I grew up with the Nintendo.
S11: Then I got, you know, all of them, the Super
S11: Nintendo and, you know, so I was always a gamer
S11: throughout my whole, uh, younger life. And now now it's just, uh,
S11: an expensive, uh, it's an expensive DVD player. My daughter
S11: plays it every now and then. I don't have time
S11: for that.
S5: I love it.
S11: I'm not leveling up in that game. I need a
S11: level up in the reality.
S1: We got to level up in Jesus, man.
S2: Hey, man.
S5: I love it.
S2: I know exactly what he's talking about. All those little
S2: behind the scenes words and stuff, and that's hilarious. Five.
S5: What was he saying? What was he talking about?
S2: He's basically saying you can buy controllers. That the main
S2: controller that you can buy for a video game console
S2: now is like 60 bucks. That's about what it cost
S2: to get a normal one. But you can pay to
S2: modify controllers to add extra buttons and put them over
S2: here to where your fingers can press them faster so
S2: you can.
S5: Play.
S2: It better. But I guess a waste of 500 bucks
S2: it was.
S1: Trust me. It doesn't say in the word well done,
S1: good and faithful gamer. Don't say.
S5: That. No it doesn't.
S1: And by the way, I don't want to denigrate all gaming.
S2: I know I love video games.
S5: I mean, yeah.
S1: It's so wild to me. So I've got, you know.
S1: I've got people around me who are like, you know,
S1: they're like blowers and goers in industry. They're in their 30s. And,
S1: you know, I'll talk to them. I go, what are
S1: you doing tonight? And I'm. Oh, I'm going to I'm
S1: in a game and I'm like, it doesn't even make
S1: sense to me. What do you mean? You're going to.
S5: Game.
S1: You're gainfully employed. You have a wife. You have children.
S1: What do you mean? You're going to game? Do those
S1: things go together? I know I'm sounding old now.
S2: They do. I love.
S5: It.
S1: Too funny. Thanks for staying on the horn, guys. That's
S1: the boom crew right there. Proven a point. And here's
S1: the point I want to prove. We've been talking about
S1: being the church all week long. You know what? There's
S1: got to get and get on your knees and pray.
S1: Because there's got to be enough boiling passion inside you.
S1: Akin to we've heard the funniest stories today. Buying something
S1: that it's that same like, yes, let's pray for that
S1: passion that caused us to do something stupid with some money,
S1: to do something wise with our life. That's what we need.
S1: The funny thing is, from a brain science standpoint, it's
S1: the same endorphin kind of area in our brain, and
S1: yet we've just got to get it directed toward God
S1: and what he wants to do. It's pretty cool.
S5: Yeah. It is.
S1: Uh, give us a quick hit. News. What do we
S1: got going on out there? Anything great?
S2: Uh, no. Well, yeah, we got some good things going
S2: on out here.
S5: Give me.
S1: A good.
S5: Thing.
S2: Okay, I'll give you a good thing. So I think
S2: this is, uh. Let's see. Hold on, I gotta I'm
S2: going to skim through my stuff.
S5: So, in other words. No, no, we don't.
S1: We're doing news live here.
S2: No, I think you know what I'm going to say.
S2: This one. It's it's important because of who the countries are.
S2: All right. President Trump is warning Hamas that it must
S2: release the hostages held in Gaza.
S5: This is a good story.
S2: Or, in his words, it's over for you. A six
S2: week Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas expired on Saturday.
S2: There have so far been no discussions on a second
S2: phase of the deal, which calls for the release of
S2: remaining hostages. The reason I say that's a good news
S2: story is because enough already Hamas has been holding these
S2: hostages for now, almost two years, about a year and
S2: a half. And and they're not letting them go, and
S2: they're torturing them and they're causing them great psychological harm.
S2: And Israel wants them back and needs them back and
S2: deserves them back. And I'm glad that the US is
S2: standing with Israel in that saying, we're going to give
S2: them all the support they need. Go do what you
S2: got to do.
S5: Yeah.
S1: Oh, man. You look at the world and I mean,
S1: sometimes you just shout out, come, Lord Jesus. My goodness.
S5: Yeah.
S2: No doubt about.
S5: That.
S1: Um, listen, as the Lord tarries, meaning that's an old
S1: term for he's waiting, willing that none should perish, by
S1: the way. God's delay is not because he is slow
S1: to move. It's that he is extending his arm of
S1: grace to people who you love. And you want to
S1: see him saved. Quick shout out here. We're needing. I'm
S1: trying to get a head count on this. We we
S1: got super died down with a horrible flu bug. Like chills.
S1: Like shaking chills.
S5: Yeah.
S1: Ali's got the same. And Young Thunder's feeling sketchy. We're
S1: out of. I mean, I feel like we need some
S1: lug nuts around here to get the wheels back on.
S5: Yeah, I.
S2: Know, I know.
S1: We're going to make it. So here's here's what we're
S1: going to need. We need you to pray because next
S1: week is a crazy, fun spiritual circus around here. It's
S1: awesome where we watch God do amazing things, leveraging resources
S1: to his glory and and our satisfaction, quite candidly. But
S1: if you haven't gotten a seat yet at the table
S1: to pray half hour slots, we're going to send you
S1: updates as it's leading up to your slot. We're going
S1: to give you early morning videos, the whole everything you need.
S1: So I want you to come and get it. Would
S1: you text crew to (800) 555-7898, get a half an hour slot,
S1: get registered. We'll send you prompts to remember to be
S1: their text crew to (800) 555-7898.
S3: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
S3: God showed her she didn't have to. Ali is in
S3: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S1: All right, guys, this is, um, an important question. You
S1: shifted from going to church to being the church. Somebody
S1: needs to hear your story right now. How did that work?
S1: What did God do? Give us a call right now.
S1: Simple to do. 800 555 7898 800 555 7898.
S2: Carl, you know, in your testimony, you you share openly
S2: that you grew up in church, but you didn't get
S2: saved until your, your early 20s. How was it going
S2: to church for you? Because you went to church for
S2: your whole childhood. What was the difference when when you
S2: came to Christ about how you went to church and
S2: now how you're being the church?
S1: Yeah, I think the difference was that, you know, I
S1: had a Pretty common problem. I was lost, so I
S1: was I was known, but I wasn't known at a
S1: deep heart level. So I was in church a lot,
S1: so I was going to church. But my shift was
S1: when I was radically transformed by Jesus.
S5: Yeah.
S1: Then I had this urge to open up my heart
S1: and be known by others. And it was it was
S1: a powerful thing. It's it's a fascinating it's a fascinating
S1: thing because the dichotomy is we are not to effort
S1: in our own strength to prove anything to God or
S1: like we're earning. But the work of getting from the
S1: pew or the chair into the hoop and work for
S1: the church, that's a that's a work.
S5: Yeah. And you know, yeah.
S2: What you said made me think about it because I
S2: grew up in the church, too. I think that this
S2: can really it's a difficult problem for everybody. But I
S2: think about those, especially who grew up in the church.
S2: It's so easy when you're learning the motions as a
S2: kid to just kind of think of them simply as
S2: motions and not as anything different than that. And so
S2: it's so important that we understand what being the church
S2: really is, because if we're not given that greater vision,
S2: we just fall into those motions. And then as we
S2: get older, it's harder and harder to get out of it.
S5: Yeah.
S1: And I know there's a lot of I mean, we
S1: got scores of texts that came in and the majority
S1: by slightly. It's about a 5050 split going to church
S1: versus being the church. But then I've got text messages
S1: I've got to respond to here, people that want to
S1: know how in the world am I going to do this?
S1: And let me just tell you right now, it's going
S1: to take a little risk. It's going to take a
S1: little risk. You're going to get you're going to have
S1: to get out of the comfort zone. The effort that
S1: we put in the grace of God that is given
S1: to us means if there's a QR code that pops
S1: up to get involved in a group, you got to
S1: get your phone out, hold it up to the QR
S1: code and click it. You've got to get to the
S1: new member class. You've got to move toward opportunities that
S1: are afforded. And that's healthy. That movement is healthy, and
S1: it's one of the greatest gifts that you can give
S1: to yourself. Grace is not against effort. It's against earning.
S1: But the opportunity that we have is absolutely huge. Lewis
S1: first time caller right here in Illinois. What do you say?
S11: Hey, Carl. Yeah. So, uh, first of all, uh, you know,
S11: it just took a long time of prayer. My bride was, uh,
S11: continue praying for me, and, uh, I just totally committed
S11: myself to Jesus Christ, uh, here a few years ago. And,
S11: you know, I've always attended church, but it was. There
S11: is a big difference attending and being the church. Uh,
S11: you know, you do have to have that, you know,
S11: a little bit of risk, you know, out of your
S11: comfort zone. Going to church and, you know, being intentional
S11: about joining small groups at our church, at Robertsville Bible Church,
S11: we have MTM, where it's a man to man. It's
S11: a small group of believers. We get in vulnerable places.
S11: We share each other's testimonies, we pray for each other.
S11: You know, we're just, you know, fellowshipping with each other.
S11: Iron sharpens iron, you know. Yeah. And so I'm a
S11: firm believer of, you know, small groups and you can't
S11: do this walk alone. And we have to lean on
S11: each other. And that's what the body of Christ is.
S11: And we just have a heart to serve, um, other
S11: people to serve, you know, to serve people that walk
S11: alongside with them and to and to to help them
S11: in their walk with Jesus Christ. And and the Lord's
S11: just really has transformed my heart and me and my bride.
S11: Now we're actually doing a Art of Art of marriage
S11: seminar group. You know, at our church, we're kind of
S11: being like in a little bit of risk, like we're like,
S11: it's a little bit risky, you know, because, you know,
S11: being up on stage and stuff like that. But, you know,
S11: the Lord called us, hey, the Lord restored our marriage
S11: and did wonders. And we just want to bring that
S11: hope that there is hope in your marriage. And there is,
S11: you know, and in Jesus Christ, you can do you
S11: can do anything, you know, I mean.
S5: Lewis.
S11: Lewis. And we need all the believers.
S1: Yeah. Lewis, this is this is you're a poster boy
S1: for this man. This is great. But here's here's the deal,
S1: isn't it? Lewis, you've got to make a move. You
S1: can sit there till the cows come home, baby, but
S1: you've got to some. Sooner or later, you got to
S1: take that step into the body of Christ. You got
S1: to go to em. To em. You got to get there.
S1: You got to open your heart. And that's an effort
S1: that takes you said it risk. And that's a good word. Lewis.
S1: Hey thank you man. Boom. This is why we call
S1: you the boom crew. Two brothers back to back right there.
S1: The point is this. It's a big difference From going
S1: to church and being the church. And I want to
S1: ask you, would you take a risk this week? Would
S1: you take a risk? Would you grab a QR code?
S1: Would you join that member class? Would you be a part?
S1: Would you identify your gifts?
S5: Let's go.
S3: She's a choreographer extraordinaire and everything is Greek to her.
S3: Super dei is in the crew. It's Carl and crew
S3: on Moody Radio.
S1: Well, going to church, that can be hard, especially post Covid.
S1: Being the church. Oh, that's another step. But what if
S1: that all came together with me right now, Jonathan Griffiths.
S1: You might have heard him when we had him down
S1: in Dallas, Texas. This guy, it's in his wheelhouse when
S1: we're talking about getting gathered up for the good of
S1: each other and for yourself. Good morning, my man. How
S1: are you?
S12: I'm doing well, Carl. Great to be with you again.
S12: How are you doing?
S1: Ah, we're doing great, man. We're doing great. We're looking
S1: at some numbers. We've been using these over the past
S1: several weeks. 22% increase in Bible purchases year over year.
S1: Last calendar year. Pretty amazing statistic. There is a hunger
S1: for God out there. It isn't always translating to the church.
S1: And I just want to begin with a tough question.
S1: What are the obstacles to getting people to even go
S1: to church? And then we'll talk about being the church.
S1: But what are the barriers that keep people from getting there?
S12: Well, I think I think there are a few of them,
S12: you know, we're naturally consumers and we're thinking about what's
S12: convenient and what works for me. And that that attitude
S12: just spills over to church life. And so if I've
S12: got something else going on, some something that makes it
S12: inconvenient to get there one weekend, I might just be
S12: disinclined to go. I think that's more and more common.
S12: Gone are the days when someone who views themselves, you know,
S12: who views themselves as a regular at church gets there
S12: every single week. Regular for a lot of people, means
S12: two Sundays in four. That's a problem. But I think
S12: also the fact that we've got so good at our technology,
S12: streaming our services, we had to learn that over Covid.
S12: And and I think people have started to love that.
S12: And that's become an alternative to showing up for a
S12: number of people.
S1: Yeah, that's a tough one. Jonathan Griffiths, my guest. He
S1: serves as lead pastor of Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa, Canada.
S1: You're a little bit in front of us. We were
S1: talking about this, but you're a little more European than
S1: us in that it's more post-Christian. How would you describe
S1: where you're ministering in Ottawa?
S12: Well, I think you hit the nail on the head.
S12: I think all that's coming down the pipeline for the
S12: United States, culturally, we seem to encounter it just a
S12: little bit more quickly in Canada. Uh, and, and, you know,
S12: it's not it's not vastly different, but we're a bit
S12: further ahead. We're a bit more post-Christian. Uh, and one
S12: of the factors in our particular context in the city
S12: of Ottawa, capital city of Canada, National Capital Region. We're
S12: right on the border of English Canada and French Canada,
S12: border of Ontario and Quebec and and French Canada has
S12: moved in a in a direction of secularism that has
S12: been vastly accelerated beyond that of the rest of Canada.
S12: Historical reasons for that. But the province of Quebec is
S12: the least reached region in the Americas, North south central
S12: Caribbean probably about 1%, evangelical Christian 1%. And so, yeah,
S12: that's on our doorstep. Many in our congregation drive over
S12: from Quebec. So we're we feel that very acutely as well.
S1: Jonathan, let's linger on this point because, you know, my
S1: goal here isn't to get people to go to church.
S1: I often tell parents with wayward kids, pray that your
S1: child comes to a troubled point in their life when
S1: they cry out to God and say, My God and
S1: my Savior, Jesus Christ, because we want them in Christ
S1: more than we want them in church. What's going on
S1: that it's caused people, especially post Covid to just say
S1: are assembling. Isn't that important for me? I guess there's
S1: a lot of people in that bucket, some of which
S1: have an illusion of salvation. They don't really know Jesus.
S1: They aren't in Christ. So getting into church doesn't have
S1: that motivation. What are some of the other issues that
S1: are there that these are all issues of the heart,
S1: aren't they, Jonathan.
S12: They well, they're all issues of the heart. And, you know,
S12: Covid was a great disrupter. And, you know, post Covid, actually,
S12: we're seeing a new wave of people come to Christ.
S12: And that's interesting. And we could maybe circle back to that.
S12: But I think one of the things that Covid did for,
S12: you know, cultural Christians, people who had a cultural reflex
S12: to show up at church, maybe to maybe to please
S12: an earlier generation in their family or out of habit
S12: or something like that. You know, Covid broke the habit.
S12: And if the heart wasn't there anyway, the the people
S12: who drifted away during Covid, they haven't come back. And
S12: that's a sadness. I think it's had a refining effect
S12: on the church, because I think the people who are
S12: there post-Covid are the people who really want to be there.
S12: It's no longer cultural reflex. I think a lot of
S12: that has just gone away.
S1: Yeah, I see that as well, both on our church
S1: campuses here in Chicagoland. And I hear it from pastors
S1: around the country, here in the States. How do you
S1: pray for people like that? There's a lot of people
S1: that are hurting. They might have a spouse that doesn't
S1: join them any longer. They might have wayward kids. It
S1: seems to me that yes, we pray that their heart
S1: condition would change more than they get to church.
S12: Yeah. You know, I think the great prayer is that
S12: spending some time at a distance from the people of God,
S12: and maybe not hearing the word of God would generate
S12: a hunger in their hearts. And that and that does happen.
S12: I mean, you know, you spend too much time just
S12: out there in the world and imbibing the culture and,
S12: and and it's it's not an encouraging experience. You discover
S12: the emptiness of what our world has to offer. And
S12: I think our particular cultural moment for a whole variety
S12: of reasons is is particularly vacuous in what it offers
S12: the heart and the soul and, and people are seeing that.
S12: So so we've got waves of young people without a
S12: Christian background who are getting interested in the gospel and
S12: who are maybe listening to the live stream or something
S12: and watching the live stream first, but showing up at church.
S12: And that's really interesting. And I think it's because in
S12: our cultural moment, we are just seeing the emptiness of
S12: attempts to find meaning and cohesion and hope apart from Christ.
S12: There's nothing else out there and people are seeing that.
S1: Coming up here. What I want to hit with you, Jonathan,
S1: is being the church, because it seems to me that
S1: if we become a group of people, and I want
S1: you to cast a vision for us, a group of
S1: people who are really becoming what God intended, that we're
S1: bearing one another's burdens, that we're all expressing our gifts
S1: in the body of Christ. Give us a vision. Coming
S1: up more with Jonathan Griffiths moving from just going to
S1: church and praying for those that aren't. But being the church.
S1: Hang on.
S3: You can take him out of Alaska, but you can't
S3: take Alaska out of him. Carl is in the crew.
S3: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
S5: With.
S1: Me right now. Jonathan Griffiths, lead pastor of Metropolitan Bible
S1: Church in Ottawa, Canada. He's got a great vantage point,
S1: and frankly, one of the great advantages that we have
S1: having Jonathan on. Is there a little more European there,
S1: a little ahead of the curve with regard to people
S1: leaving the church? But it's good because you were mentioning this.
S1: It's with the people that are coming to church post-Covid
S1: and in this season that we're in for all kinds
S1: of reasons. There's a there's a higher intensity with these
S1: folks that are coming. Right? Jonathan?
S12: Well, that's what we're seeing. And and particularly with our
S12: young adults. I mean, I think this is my greatest encouragement,
S12: seeing the waves of young men and women, like college
S12: age or early career who are showing up. And I'll
S12: tell you, I think I've mentioned this in conversation before
S12: with you, Carl, but but it is our young adults
S12: who seem to have the most intense hunger for the
S12: Word of God. You know, gone are the days that
S12: they're interested in a cultural Christianity or a form of
S12: Christian entertainment on Sunday. They don't care so much about
S12: the packaging, but if they don't get, you know, deep
S12: teaching from the Word of God from the pulpit, they're
S12: going to be the first people who are going to
S12: complain about it and then probably go somewhere else, actually,
S12: because they're here for substance, they're looking for truth. I
S12: think many young, young people, young men in particular, I'm noticing,
S12: are feeling very disenfranchised in this cultural moment. They don't
S12: see a future for themselves. And they're looking okay. Where
S12: is meaning? Where is hope? Where is my value to
S12: be found? And they're finding that in Jesus Christ, which
S12: is which is just thrilling to the soul.
S1: Yeah it is. Give us a vision for what it
S1: looks like. And I'm going to give you a link
S1: here in a little bit. Uh, Jonathan Crew has a
S1: book called gathered for Good God's Good Design for the
S1: local church. What is God's good design? What should it
S1: look like? Give us some descriptions.
S12: Well, you know, in the great salvation plan of God
S12: throughout the Scripture, and we won't have time to trace
S12: all this. But but our salvation is not merely an
S12: individual thing from my soul. God saves us into a
S12: community and a family and a and an eternal kingdom,
S12: and he saves us so that we can be part
S12: of something together. And and we need to have an
S12: understanding that the, the local church is the visible expression
S12: of that and the the manifestation of it being a
S12: saved person means, um, entering into the life of that
S12: community fully. So it means showing up at the regular
S12: assembly of the people of God at the weekend, on
S12: a Sunday, prioritizing being there. It means finding your place
S12: to serve because God has given you gifts to use
S12: for the for the good of the body, so you
S12: find your place to serve. It means being there around
S12: the Lord's table table to participate in the Lord's Supper.
S12: It means being generous with what God has given you,
S12: that you might use your resources for the good of
S12: the gospel. And so we need to move away from
S12: this individualistic, consumeristic vision that we can we can cast
S12: for ourselves and have a God shaped, Bible shaped vision
S12: for what it means to be in redeemed community.
S1: What's the best practices for a person identifying their spiritual gifts?
S1: My estimation is that we've probably got, oh, in most churches,
S1: I would guess 20 to 30% of people can clearly identify.
S1: This is my spiritual gift according to Romans 12. First
S1: Corinthians 12. How do you help people discover those gifts
S1: that God has given each person who is born again?
S12: Well, of course, you know, there are tools and surveys
S12: available and those can be a help. But I think
S12: what I always want to give as an encouragement to
S12: people is to, um, discern these things and pray over
S12: these things, uh, in conversation with your church leaders. Whatever
S12: your structures are in your local church, you don't want
S12: to simply be doing this on your own and then
S12: show up at church and say to your leaders, my
S12: gift is this, and I want you to allow me
S12: to serve in this way. That's not quite the right
S12: way round. You want to you want to come in
S12: a spirit of humility and say, I'm ready to serve.
S12: And I'm. I think these may be my gifts and
S12: I'm discerning this, or I've seen the Lord use me
S12: in these ways. But would you help me to to
S12: to discern and discover these things and then to grow
S12: in the use of these gifts? I think that's a
S12: great posture. And as a church leader, as a pastor,
S12: if someone comes to me for that conversation, I tell
S12: you I want to help them. And I'm so thrilled
S12: that they've come to me to ask those questions.
S1: Love it. Jonathan Griffiths, my guest right now. And, Jonathan,
S1: there's a river that runs through it with you. And
S1: I can sense that. That's why I love to have
S1: you on here. This I've been wrestling with the inability
S1: to make disciples that the church seems to struggle with.
S1: And I know that our primary metrics for church success
S1: often default to how many people are coming and how
S1: much money is given, and we can do so much
S1: more if we begin to measure discipleship. What have you
S1: learned about making disciples, as opposed to growing a church
S1: from a size or giving standpoint?
S12: You know, I think we went through in our church
S12: a season post-Covid when we realized that, you know, we
S12: had we had the numbers of people showing up on Sunday,
S12: but the number of those people who were with us
S12: on Sunday who were actually being discipled in a discernible way,
S12: that we were really confident of, that that was a
S12: more discouraging number. And we came to realize again that
S12: discipleship is going to happen in the context of vital relationships.
S12: The the gathering on Sunday is crucially important. The public
S12: preaching of the Word of God. I have a very
S12: high view of that, but that needs to be followed
S12: up with much smaller units of relationship where where people
S12: are known and they are they are knowing others, and
S12: we've got trusted leaders who are engaging with individuals in
S12: the church family who are being discipled. So you constantly
S12: need to be breaking down the larger group to smaller
S12: groups where you've got trusted leaders who are who are
S12: given to the work of discipleship, who are opening up
S12: the Word of God with other believers and encouraging them
S12: from the word, who are giving them personal encouragement to
S12: grow and challenges where they need to have challenge, and
S12: those smaller units and those more personal relationships. They need
S12: to be there in every church. And and actually, the
S12: bigger the church, the more strategy and intentionality it takes
S12: to make sure that that is happening.
S5: Yeah, that's.
S1: A wise words. You know, I want to call you
S1: if you're a leader, pastor, small group leader, member. But
S1: you got a passion for discipleship, really discipleship. And to
S1: be the church gathered for good is Jonathan Griffith's most
S1: recent book, gathered for Good God's Good Design for the
S1: local church. This might be what God's Spirit is prompting
S1: you with right now. It's easy to get just text
S1: the word gather to 800 555 7898. Just the word
S1: gather g a t h e r. Just gather to
S1: 805 five five 7898. I feel prompted. Something's on your heart, Jonathan,
S1: before we cut you loose, what do you say, my man?
S1: From moving to going to church to being the church,
S1: what do people need to know?
S12: Well, I think one of the things we really need
S12: to understand is that our own Christian discipleship and growth
S12: in Christ likeness is, at the end of the day,
S12: going to be severely inhibited if we have not invested
S12: ourselves in the local church? And I'm sure there are
S12: a lot of people listening today, even to this, even
S12: to this broadcast, who are in a place where you
S12: know they love the Lord, love the Word of God.
S12: But for whatever reason, you've decided to sit loose to church.
S12: And maybe the maybe the background of that is some
S12: personal hurt or disappointment. Lots of those stories, and I
S12: know so many of those stories so well, but the
S12: truth of the matter is, if we disengage personally, we're
S12: not going to grow and we're not going to flourish
S12: in our Christian life, because God's good design is that
S12: we should embed ourselves in the life of the local
S12: church for the good of others and for our own
S12: good to boom.
S1: That's why we call it the boom crew here, and
S1: that's an amen. Grab this link. Uh, if especially. And
S1: I'm I'm calling you as a pastor. If you need
S1: a fresh read, something to reorient yourself around what the
S1: church can be. Small group leader member who's got a
S1: passion for this? Get a copy for a friend or
S1: another leader or your pastor. It's called gathered for good.
S1: God's good design for the local church. What a work.
S1: And I'm asking you to grab it. Text the word
S1: gather to 800 555 7898. Just the word gather to
S1: 805 five five 7898. Jonathan, as always, man, thank you
S1: for being with us here.
S12: Thanks so much, Carl. Great to be with you.