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Empowering the Church: Missions, Mentorship, and More
48 Plays5 months ago
In this episode, Dan Sanchez and Pastor Ridley Barron talked about the sermon on the transforming power from the Book of Acts. They discussed the role of amateur missionaries, emphasizing the importance of staying biblically focused. The episode also covers the significance of seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit and experienced believers, and the upcoming activities at Grove Hill Church, including mission trips, leadership academies, and community events like the 5k missions run.
Links Mentioned:
Timestamps:
00:01 Introduction to the episode and topics
00:43 Discussion on amateur missionaries
04:00 Importance of staying biblically focused
07:46 Listening to the Holy Spirit and seeking guidance
19:03 Exciting announcements and church activities
25:33 Leadership Academy for men and women
27:04 Details about the 5k missions run
30:36 Mentorship programs and affinity groups
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Sermon Overview
00:00:01
grovehillchurch
Welcome back to the Grove Hill Church podcast. I'm Dan Sanchez, and I'm joined by Pastor Ridley Barron to break down the sermon from this last Sunday from the Book of Acts on the on transforming power.
Role of Amateur Missionaries
00:00:13
grovehillchurch
And it was a fun sermon full of all kinds of things. In today's episode, I have kind of a grad bag of things that I've pulled out of the sermon around amateur missionaries. What does it mean to stay biblical, since that was ah ah like a hard call to action in there from you. And I want to break down a few of the the upcoming things the church has going on since that was a rapid fire list at the end. So today we're not diving into one thing. We're going to go over a smorgasbord of a bunch of things from the sermon. ah But weirdly, let's open it up with
00:00:43
grovehillchurch
the amateur missionary piece. I think this was like my big aha. that some It's always interesting when you spend your, I don't know, your life going through sermons and you read lots of Christian books. Most of the time when you're hearing sermons, you're kind of like, oh yeah, that's good, that's good. And it's all good when you've heard things again and again because we often need reminders.
00:01:02
Ridley
Right.
00:01:03
grovehillchurch
A lot of reminders because I forget or I don't submit or I choose to ignore a lot of principles.
00:01:08
Ridley
No.
00:01:10
grovehillchurch
so um But then every once in a while you start to, after hearing a bunch of the reminders, you hit a new thing. And this was one of those new things for me. The idea of like, you know, it wasn't the it wasn't the big hitters in the Old Testament ah that did a lot of the spreading of the gospel in the early church. It was the the individual, the but and the believers who are unnamed going out and being persecuted.
00:01:26
Ridley
Right.
Historical vs. Modern Church Staffing
00:01:32
grovehillchurch
Is that something you just stumbled upon recently in your studies in preparation for the sermon? Or is that something you had known from a while back?
00:01:38
Ridley
Yeah, I think in the back of my mind, I always knew that largely the the backs of amateur missionaries, if you want to use that phrase, is probably been the one that's carried the church into the 21st century. The concept of a full time paid staff is still a relatively new idea, considering the 2000 years of churches history, especially when you start to get into specialized areas of ministry like youth ministry and children's ministry.
00:02:02
grovehillchurch
yeah
00:02:02
Ridley
I mean, that's probably the last 60 years that we've actually seen the development of that kind of stuff.
00:02:03
grovehillchurch
yeah
00:02:08
Ridley
um But, you know, you start looking at. what happened in the story in particular of of you know the church being dispersed out of Jerusalem and sent to places like Antioch and Samaria and places of that regard. um there weren't a There were no schools. There were no trainings. There was no, how do you do this in 12 easy steps or whatever.
00:02:26
grovehillchurch
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:28
Ridley
So when we say amateur missionaries, we're talking groundbreaking. We're talking never seen it done before. Nobody's ever written a book. maybe even going, are we doing this right? you know um So I think there's a lot to be learned and a lot for us to be reminded about the absolute utter complete reliance on the Holy Spirit to do this kind of work rather than the latest training class or the latest course online or whatever.
00:02:41
grovehillchurch
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:58
grovehillchurch
It does remind me of a story of a a missionary who went to Africa who had the opportunity to travel with a native African missionary who was going around and evangelizing very rural tribes.
00:03:10
Ridley
and right yeah and
00:03:11
grovehillchurch
i mean like you The only way you're getting to these is by walking. They're so rural out there in huts and he joined him on a trip and he would go from village to village and preach the gospel some woods here and is get saved and ah They would leave the village after you know, a couple of weeks of the village and he would ask has this African missionary be like well like yeah, but they're not gonna know everything he's like, oh Do the churches in America ever understand everything on the first go?
00:03:41
Ridley
no Yeah.
00:03:42
grovehillchurch
He's like, no. He's like, well, I'll come back. I'll swing back through here this time next year.
00:03:47
Ridley
Yeah.
00:03:48
grovehillchurch
And then we'll begin another wave and discipleship. And it's kind of like it takes time. It takes process. um Missionaries, you don't have to be go to seminary in order to start being a missionary.
00:03:58
Ridley
Right.
00:03:58
grovehillchurch
There is room for error.
00:04:00
Ridley
yeah
00:04:00
grovehillchurch
I even have heard some people say like, of course people young in faith are going to be here radical.
00:04:01
Ridley
Yeah.
00:04:04
Ridley
Yeah.
00:04:04
grovehillchurch
Like, like, of course they are. they're They're brand new believers. Now, hopefully, as we grow, we become a little less heretical every year.
00:04:08
Ridley
and
00:04:11
Ridley
Yeah. Right. I think you can make the argument too that you're better off as a remote African tribe in the hands of the Holy Spirit with a Bible than you are in modern day America with all the online access to all the information that's out there because there are too many competing voices and it's even more difficult to hear the Holy Spirit leading you.
00:04:34
grovehillchurch
I've heard that said. I remember ah book an influential book called The Heavenly Man, um which is a persecuted Christian from China.
00:04:39
Ridley
Hmm.
00:04:42
grovehillchurch
Great book.
00:04:42
Ridley
Yeah, yeah.
00:04:43
grovehillchurch
If you haven't ever read a Christian biography and like a modern one, um it's a great one. cause like The fun thing is like it's it's insane persecution. It's also insane miracles taking place, and it happens in like the late 80s and 90s, which is when I was alive. So I was like, whoa, like this happened in my lifetime.
00:05:00
Ridley
Yeah, yeah.
00:05:01
grovehillchurch
people like breaking out of jail just through the Holy Spirit opening all the doors and binding all the guards and legs being smashed to pulp and then all of a sudden he can walk because it got healed you know like crazy things like that but he said like the christ the Chinese church was doing a lot better before the introduction of all the theological material that came from the west
00:05:11
Ridley
my
00:05:20
Ridley
Mm-hmm.
Maintaining Biblical Focus
00:05:22
grovehillchurch
At the same time, I was working with a missions organization and maybe it was because of all this theological material. I don't know, but they were in working with a large underground church, you know a church network. And when they got to the top of the church network in China, they found that the guy who had started it actually believed he was Jesus.
00:05:39
Ridley
Oh, my word.
00:05:42
grovehillchurch
You're like, well,
00:05:44
Ridley
Yeah.
00:05:46
grovehillchurch
So it's like to move into the second topic is something you hammered at the end. It's kind of like we have to stay biblically focused.
00:05:53
Ridley
Mm hmm.
00:05:54
grovehillchurch
So I think it goes hand in hand with this amateur missionary one, which is like this emphasis of like, you don't need to go to seminary or have robust training in order to start sharing the light of the gospel.
00:06:03
Ridley
Right.
00:06:03
grovehillchurch
whether it's people coming here, whether you're going there, short-term, long-term, whatever it is, it's really the it's the body of Christ doing most of the evangelism, not just trained and hired missionaries, which we need those too.
00:06:15
Ridley
Yeah.
00:06:15
grovehillchurch
um But how do you know you're staying on the right track? How do you know you're preaching and teaching the right thing? How does one know how how would you know if you're unbiblical?
00:06:23
Ridley
Right, right. um I think you there's ah there's got to be some kind of um external accountability as well as internal accountability. The internal kind of accountability obviously is that you are praying sincerely if the Holy Spirit guides you into all truth.
00:06:38
grovehillchurch
Yes.
00:06:38
Ridley
That's how you find truth. The Holy Spirit works in you, teaches you, trains you. But external accountability in the sense of older, mature believers who know the word themselves um And I would argue that the internal is a more powerful, more reliable source than the external. Because again, men have their opinions and they are swayed by their biases. So it's easy for a man that you trust and love to actually be mistaken sometimes.
00:07:00
grovehillchurch
Yes.
00:07:05
Ridley
ah Not that they have evil intent, but maybe they just misinterpreted things. But I think those kinds of account will be or accountability are essential because not only is there a lot of misinformation and even straight up lies regarding the scripture, um But there's also a lot of times you can spend focusing, or let's put it this way, majoring on the minors. Things that really don't um matter, maybe things that you're never really gonna have the answer to, but you spend so much time looking at them, you don't focus on the truth that God so loved the world, he gave his son. And so I think there's there's lots of areas where we have to constantly check our hearts against the word itself to make sure we're staying in tune with what God wants us to focus on.
Guidance from the Holy Spirit
00:07:46
grovehillchurch
When it comes to listening to the Holy Spirit, I got challenged recently by a really good friend of mine because I was, I think coming out of the more chrismatic movement, and it's not that I'm not, I still have chrismatic beliefs and the gifts of the Spirit and all that kind of stuff.
00:07:59
Ridley
Yeah.
00:07:59
grovehillchurch
but I was kind of burned ah from the like overly chrismatic and the barking in the spirit and all just the weird, like if you haven't heard about those things, they're out there, they're weird.
00:08:07
Ridley
yeah Yes, yes.
00:08:09
grovehillchurch
And, but even, even the, some of the smaller things over on that side is I would just hear people saying, talking about the Holy Spirit, telling them what to do in ways that just didn't, it just didn't, I'm like, there's just no way that the Holy Spirit would tell you to go do this and then change his mind and be like, actually now go do this now. You're like, did he tell you to commit to that thing or not? I don't know. It just seemed like the Holy Spirit wasn't reliable for truth sometimes. But then my friend challenged me. He's like, yeah, but. You still have to push into that. You still have to seek out the Holy Spirit. Because if you don't, you'll you'll definitely miss it.
00:08:43
grovehillchurch
Because it's the Holy Spirit, ultimately, that reveals the truth. Kind of like when ah Christ turned to Peter, when ah Peter gave the revelation of him being the Messiah.
00:08:52
Ridley
Yeah, yeah.
00:08:53
grovehillchurch
He's like, only it's because of my Father in heaven that this was revealed to you. Like, we all need that. Without the revelation, we don't have a chance.
00:09:01
Ridley
Right, exactly.
00:09:03
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:09:03
Ridley
Exactly. And I think many times, too many times, we confuse the um the encouragement of the Holy Spirit or the voice of the Holy Spirit, we confuse it with circumstances.
00:09:13
grovehillchurch
Mm hmm.
00:09:14
Ridley
um And we all we've all said it, we all talk about it, the open doors, shut doors, those kinds of things. And I don't deny that spirit can sometimes use those things. But let's just go to one of the stories out of the Book of Acts that we've been talking about. Peter is preaching the gospel and he's saying, um I refuse to shut up even though the Pharisees have told me to. Well, obviously the Holy Spirit wanted him to preach the gospel, but he winds up in jail. And many modern day Christians would go, oh, well, that must mean the Holy Spirit wants me to stop because he's obviously put a roadblock in my way. Instead, Peter starts worshiping God and God opens the door for him to continue that work. I think that's a perfect example of
00:09:53
Ridley
Peter listening to the Holy Spirit in spite of the circumstances that he was put into. And because of that, he prevailed and pursued and persisted, and people came to know Jesus Christ.
00:10:05
grovehillchurch
It's always a good reminder that if you pray and pray earnestly, like God will guide you.
00:10:11
Ridley
yeah Yeah.
00:10:12
grovehillchurch
Now, i think you got to you gotta to ah i don't know i think you've I think you've said this in the pulpit before, but like it's easier for him to guide you when you're in action. You're actually moving and doing things.
00:10:19
Ridley
Yep. Yep.
00:10:21
grovehillchurch
um you know Sometimes bringing in counsel from the elders or from your other other believers in the local your church who know you, or again, always consulting the scripture and lining up everything you think you're hearing or doing with what's what's said in scripture. um
00:10:37
Ridley
And it's always wise if you're consulting other Christians for their input, their their accountability, do not ask anyone who's not as mature as you are in their faith. Those are not the people you want to seek out because like you pointed out a minute ago, young you believers are mostly heretics because they're still trying to figure out the faith.
00:10:49
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:10:54
Ridley
Um, looking for those who are further along in their journey, those who are elders, those who are solid students of the word, they're going to be much more beneficial in guiding you in those conversations.
00:11:05
grovehillchurch
And you might just go looking for somebody who has gray hair.
00:11:09
Ridley
Yeah.
00:11:10
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:11:11
Ridley
Don't be afraid of that.
00:11:11
grovehillchurch
I'm like, if they don't have gray hair, you should probably go look for someone who at least at some of the people you talk to, you have some gray hairs because they've seen a thing or two and have been around a few times and have
00:11:17
Ridley
Yeah. Right.
Scripture vs. Creeds Debate
00:11:21
grovehillchurch
maybe stumbled over the same thing you have.
00:11:21
Ridley
but I would agree with that, but I would also caution, don't let that be the sole determining factor because Paul encouraged Timothy, don't let people look down on you because you're young.
00:11:26
grovehillchurch
Sure.
00:11:30
grovehillchurch
For sure.
00:11:30
Ridley
Set an example for him. And so, Timothy would be an example of a young person who has matured beyond their years because of his life experiences being with Paul. So yeah, I think there's several different, I mean, I think probably the little cheat sheet, if you're trying to figure out who to talk to, go look at Titus and go look at 1 Timothy 3, the requirements to be an elder or a deacon. If somebody's meeting up to those standards, whether they're an elder or a deacon or not, even if they're a woman, at that point, you know, a woman can seek out a woman's benefit or input if she meets a lot of those qualifications, you know, if she's raising her family right, if she's in the word of God, she's a person of prayer, has good reputation, those kinds of things.
00:12:15
grovehillchurch
I find when advice is being given around whether a topic is biblical or what the interpretation of it is regarding the Bible, a thing that I hear often, even with my own peers, is, oh yeah, I heard a teaching on that, and this was their interpretation of it. How do you feel about that?
00:12:30
Ridley
Yep.
00:12:31
grovehillchurch
Because that's often what's being slung around. I mean, that's what's slung around, period. Like, hey, it could be about parenting. You'd be like, well, I read this book once. You should read it.
00:12:40
Ridley
yeah
00:12:40
grovehillchurch
it's never like it's It's rarely practical experience from themselves or what they're reading from the word.
00:12:40
Ridley
Yeah.
00:12:44
Ridley
Hmm.
00:12:44
grovehillchurch
It's usually somebody else's interpretation of it.
00:12:49
Ridley
I think. you have to be very careful about the outside writings that that are outside of scripture. They're not bad. They're never bad. It's always good to hear differing thoughts because and can expand your thinking and your perspective on the scripture a little bit. But um I would say that that writings about the Bible should always point back to the Bible for their value. So so here thing I think the best illustration I can think of is the the lights along the runway at night. When you're trying to land a plane, you don't want to land where the lights are. You want to land where the runway is. It's the lights that guide you to the runway. Writings outside of the scripture are to guide you back to the book and help you pick up the book. and the I'm guilty of this. I know many people are. If you're reading a book about the Bible and it keeps referring to scripture in the Bible and you never read it, you just skip over that part and keep on reading the book, then you're missing the point of the book.
00:13:44
Ridley
The point of the book is to get you back to the word and and help you to to dig into those places where the spirit has been the leader in the writing of the book.
00:13:44
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:13:53
grovehillchurch
To kind of deviate a little bit, but it's still within the same topic. um How did you feel about like the bapt the the ah Southern Baptist Convention recently said they weren't going to affirm the Nicene Creed as like a major part of the, I guess the confession of the Southern Baptist. Did you read about this?
00:14:11
Ridley
I did not know that, actually. um
00:14:15
grovehillchurch
There was disagreement on the Nicene Creed, which was interesting to me because, I mean, oftentimes we're like, well, how do we line up what's biblical?
00:14:17
Ridley
ah like
00:14:21
grovehillchurch
And a lot of us will come back to like a creed of some kind of be like, well, there's in-house debates on some of these topics. And then there's the things we all know and hold true. Like we, I think we've recited the apostles creed in church and Nicene Creed close, but a little different.
00:14:29
Ridley
Yes. yes So I think the the reasoning behind that, if you know anything about the Southern Baptist, well, even the Baptists in general, even before they started breaking into regular Baptist, Southern Baptist, American Baptist, those kinds of things. ah Baptists were birthed out of a reaction against creedalism. They were incensed that they were being forced to adhere to certain creeds because they valued the Bible above the creeds.
00:14:58
grovehillchurch
Interesting.
00:15:00
Ridley
um And I get that and I appreciate it. That's part of the reason why I am a Baptist because I believe that the Bible is the book that we worship.
00:15:04
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:15:07
Ridley
It's not the creeds. I think the greeds the Creed's again do a great job of lining our hearts with some great core teachings. They help us draw out and highlight some really important doctrines of our faith. And I i mean, I can't, I'm just speculating because like I said, I hadn't heard this, but I'm guessing that probably the resistance to it adopting a Creed of that nature is that they don't want to fall backwards towards this idea that you have to sign on to some certain belief before you can
00:15:38
Ridley
could be a part of us. In fact, that's why the Baptist Faith and Message, which has kind of guided the convention for years, the most recent one I think was the 2002 version or whatever, but um ah even that, they' you'll never hear them call it a creed. They're scared to death of that word creed. It's more of just a statement of faith or whatever that they want to call it. But, i you know, I kind of see that a little bit, but I have nothing against the Nicene Creed. I mean, I think it obviously establishes some very strong truths for for followers.
00:16:10
grovehillchurch
it is It is difficult and a nuanced and touchy touchy thing. And you're right, the reason why they ah ah a lot of people push back on the Nicene Creed is because it has the idea that baptism is necessary for salvation.
00:16:22
Ridley
Right.
00:16:22
grovehillchurch
I confess one baptism for forgiveness of sins, connecting baptism to forgiveness of sins, aka salvation.
00:16:29
Ridley
Yeah.
00:16:30
grovehillchurch
So interesting, interesting thing. um But you even see this like, the it's almost like humans always want to add more rules on top of the rules, you know?
00:16:40
Ridley
yeah
00:16:40
grovehillchurch
Because it just, everybody wants more clarity, but in the in the search for clarity, we end up creating what the Pharisees fell into.
00:16:46
Ridley
Yeah.
00:16:49
grovehillchurch
of creating circles around circles and then we lose the heart of the whole thing. So I could see but there is this tension of like, well, we need more clarity because people are wandering off into weird and different directions and we don't agree on the thing.
00:16:58
Ridley
Right. Right. Yeah.
00:17:01
grovehillchurch
um Which was probably the same reason why they came up with the Mishnah, which is all the written or the unwritten now it's written rules for the Judas, ju ah the Jewish faith, the extra rules on top the rules.
00:17:10
Ridley
Yep.
00:17:14
Ridley
Right. um Yeah. Again, I just feel like, you you know, you go to the the theme parks and they have those little cars that you ride with your kids that have the rail that the car rides on the rail. um And then they put up these guide rails around them, like guardrails, like on a regular street. To me, the Bible is the rail. It's what keeps you right dead center of God's will. When you pay attention to that, it's going to keep you focused. It's going to keep you where God wants you to be in your journey. um But I get it, you know, the the idea of a gardener on the outside is kind of like the creeds, the confessions, the statements of faith. There are things that keep you from getting off course if something were to go wrong with the Bible part of it. And so again, um I just
00:18:03
Ridley
I feel like those are good guidelines for us, but you're always going to be better stepping back within the friendly confines of the scripture um to determine the answers. And you know, again, I said this earlier, you can get really distracted by so what seems to be really important topics, but they're not. I mean, the one that's dividing even the Southern Baptist denomination today, many denominations are divided around this question of predestination versus free will. And the truth of the matter is none of us really know the full answer to how that all unfolds and the mystery behind it. So we spend time debating it, arguing it, labeling each other. and And one of my friends wrote this today and I really appreciate it. He said, you know what, whether it's more free will or more sovereignty of God doesn't matter. What I do know is that the Bible tells me I was supposed to share the name of Jesus.
00:18:53
Ridley
And so that's that's the obedience part of it. We don't have to know the answers to all the other. What we do know is that we have been commanded to go and tell the world about who Jesus is.
00:19:03
grovehillchurch
Amen.
Mission Trips and Youth Engagement
00:19:04
grovehillchurch
so With that, let's segue into some of these exciting announcements you laid out.
00:19:08
Ridley
but
00:19:08
grovehillchurch
I think you just counted, there was like 24 different things going on in the fall.
00:19:12
Ridley
Yeah.
00:19:12
grovehillchurch
Some of them are things that we had done before that I won't be getting into, but some of the ones are kind of new and it peaked it peaked my ears when you were going off the rapid fire list at the end of the sermon, I was like, oh, whoa, wait.
00:19:15
Ridley
Right.
00:19:23
grovehillchurch
um But first, I wanna start with them two that we've all heard about and some of us are even signed up for and are going, is these two different missions journeys. so We have one going to Alaska and one going to Guatemala.
00:19:34
Ridley
huh
00:19:34
grovehillchurch
Do you think this will be a thing we'll repeat every summer ah when it comes to short-term missions?
00:19:41
Ridley
um Ideally, I think that's what we would love to do. You and I both have probably have read the articles, especially since you've worked with mission organizations, you know this. that actually more damage is done when when churches do this whole pop in, serve one time and leave and never have a connection again, that they they do some good things, but the value of long-term relationships is cannot be overstated.
00:20:04
grovehillchurch
yes
00:20:05
Ridley
I don't know that Alaska and Guatemala are those for us. they um It would be nice if they were, but I think this year specifically is about trying to find those good connections for our church, the good fits, um Alaska is a great trip for us. um and We call it local, a local trip, just because it's not out of the country.
00:20:22
grovehillchurch
Yes.
00:20:25
Ridley
It's pretty safe. Obviously, you speak English the whole time.
00:20:26
grovehillchurch
Yep.
00:20:28
Ridley
and It's not a big change in culture. um But it challenges and it instructs you enough that you're you're getting your your money's worth out of this trip, if you will.
00:20:31
grovehillchurch
Yep.
00:20:39
grovehillchurch
Short term missions is interesting and I've read, you know, when helping her it's and I've read all the blog posts that are anti short term missions and all that kind of stuff.
00:20:45
Ridley
Right?
00:20:46
grovehillchurch
um At the same time, I worked at a missions college where I was a marketer recruiting aspiring missionaries to come to a four year degree program where they spent half the degree overseas.
00:20:55
Ridley
Hmm.
00:20:56
grovehillchurch
You know what I found out is that almost every single person, every student that I right recruited had gotten the call on a short-term mission trip or after a short-term mission trip.
00:21:06
Ridley
Yeah, yeah.
00:21:07
grovehillchurch
So I'm like, if we stop going, one, we won't be sending any long-term missionaries because it's in the short-term that they're getting the heart for the long-term.
00:21:14
Ridley
Yeah.
00:21:14
grovehillchurch
And I've heard that, I can't remember who quoted this, but it's like, if we stop sending short-term missionaries, all the giving going to long-term missions will die within a generation.
00:21:24
Ridley
Wow. That's astounding.
00:21:25
grovehillchurch
and
00:21:25
Ridley
And I think you're right as you think about that. I think the biggest return on a dollar that's spent in missions is the inability to engage indigenous people into reaching their own people.
00:21:38
grovehillchurch
Yes.
00:21:38
Ridley
But that kind of stuff happens because of short term trips where a church comes in and sets up a sports camp or a Bible club or even a work project and are able to engage those people. um Obviously, ideally, if we're going to disciple them, a long term relationship coming out of that's better. But that's not to to completely undermine the value of not only the short-term impact of the people who've gone, but the long-term impact on their lives because they've gone. I've had teenagers back when I worked in student ministry that I took on mission trips who now are in ministry because of it, got their first taste of it.
00:22:14
Ridley
Some of them felt their first call to be a missionary because of it.
00:22:14
grovehillchurch
Yep.
00:22:17
grovehillchurch
Yep.
00:22:17
Ridley
So ah your your point is well taken.
00:22:20
grovehillchurch
Like I love that our youth summer camps are but spent serving.
00:22:23
Ridley
Yes.
00:22:24
grovehillchurch
Selah came back, she had a great time and she the first thing she did when she got in the car and we were driving back after picking her up was I met this woman at the nursing home and we prayed for her.
00:22:32
Ridley
Mm-hmm.
00:22:33
grovehillchurch
That was the first thing, like the most exciting thing to tell me about is this prayer and ministry moment she had with an elderly woman in the nursing home.
00:22:38
Ridley
No.
00:22:40
grovehillchurch
And that's what happens when you sow seeds of service rather than taking them to the, and I mean, I used to work at T-Mania where we had to acquire the fire, very flashy and all that kind of stuff.
00:22:44
Ridley
Yes.
00:22:48
Ridley
Right. Right.
00:22:49
grovehillchurch
Yet, I found the fruit, the service projects and the mission trips yield more fruit in the people who go than the the fancier conferences.
00:22:53
Ridley
Mm-hmm.
00:22:58
grovehillchurch
And I think there's a place for conferences, but I'm very much looking forward to taking SAIL on a short-term mission trip to some place like Guatemala in probably the next couple of years, because I know it's going to be a huge impact on our heart.
00:23:06
Ridley
Yeah.
00:23:10
grovehillchurch
and
00:23:11
Ridley
Absolutely.
00:23:11
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:23:12
Ridley
You know, this is a shameless plug for our church, but I think that's one of the things Kyle does well. He does not entertain our kids. He challenges our kids.
00:23:19
grovehillchurch
Yes.
00:23:19
Ridley
He stretches them. That's one great example. When I was, i I spent six and a half years at my longest period as a student pastor. And what I saw happen is at the beginning of my term, I'd get 80 kids signed up, ready to go for camp, summer camp every year. We did camp and mission trip every year. And in mission trip, we'd get 30 or 40. And by the time my six years was done, it was completely flipped. I would get more kids going to mission trip than I would camp because they valued that experience. And it gave them a sense of worth, if you will, to go, hey, I can contribute to the kingdom of God by my going and giving to these people.
Church Expansion and Leadership Plans
00:24:00
grovehillchurch
Some of the other things we have coming up is a church plant coming in Lewisburg.
00:24:04
Ridley
Correct.
00:24:05
grovehillchurch
What's the current status of that?
00:24:07
Ridley
So right now the group that's kind of interested, several of them are meeting on Sunday nights. They're praying together. We are officially announcing, and it's not a secret, but we're officially announcing this Sunday that the elders have selected Cliff Vines to go and be the pastor of that congregation. We've got people like Adam Oxford, who's one of our current elders, who will be going down with them as well. But Cliff's going to lead that group. um Right now it looks like probably they will start meeting and having some worship times together in August, but September, I guess it's like the seventh, which is the first Sunday in September, seventh or eighth, will be like their first soft will out launch worship.
00:24:42
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:24:46
Ridley
So it'll be them getting together and worshiping. And then the the plan is that sometime in January, they'll do a hard launch where they'll actually open up to the public and start really strongly inviting people to come and join them.
00:24:58
grovehillchurch
It's exciting. It's coming up fast and we'll be here before we know it.
00:24:59
Ridley
It is, it is. And if you're out there and you're in Lewisburg and you're listening, or if you're one of our church members who lives in that area and you feel a nudge to go down there, I told a guy last night, he said, I'm really praying about it. It's hard to leave Grove Hill. I said, well, some people will be called to leave Grove Hill. Some people will be called to just step away from Grove Hill for a season and then return. um So going down there doesn't mean you have to commit to spend the rest of your life in that church. It could be that you go down there for six months to a year and invest and then come back and and plug back in where you are here at Grove Hill. There's lots of options to be involved there.
00:25:33
grovehillchurch
We have another leadership Academy coming up this fall for men and women. Are you going to have two separate groups? They all in the same group. How is it working this fall?
00:25:39
Ridley
yeah We're going to split them into two separate groups because one of the things we know is that despite what the world tells us, men and women are slightly different. And so um we've got some women who have stepped up who are very interested in this, who wanted to lead it for the women.
00:25:47
grovehillchurch
Hey.
00:25:53
Ridley
So the men will be doing their own version of this. Women will be their first go around. And I and i've said the same thing to the women that I said last year when we did the first one. It's not about the number of people come. It's the heart of the people who come and and you know how engaged you can get them into stretching themselves through this process.
00:26:12
grovehillchurch
It's going to be the same length. It's about, last time it was, it ran about a quarter.
00:26:16
Ridley
Yeah, it was supposed to be 12 weeks, but I think it wound up being 14 because we had like a snow storm one Wednesday night and something else was, oh, it was one when the school breaks or something interfered with one night. So it wound up being about 14 or 15 weeks. But yeah, it's going to be the same time period. Going over basically the same material, maybe some new additions to some stuff, but ah about the same.
00:26:39
grovehillchurch
And if somebody's interested in that, what's the next steps to either sign up or learn more about it?
00:26:43
Ridley
ah Just shoot an email to me or Ari here at the office. Either one of us can get you the information. We'll be sending out final details. Obviously closer we get to it, but right now we've already got about five guys signed up. Nobody yet for the women's course because we really haven't announced that out except for just the list I read last week, but we're getting ready to start pushing both of those.
00:27:04
grovehillchurch
One of the things that's coming up pretty soon here is very exciting to me is the 5k missions run.
00:27:10
Ridley
Yeah.
00:27:11
grovehillchurch
And I'm a runner. So I'm like, come on, let's run.
00:27:13
Ridley
Yeah.
00:27:13
grovehillchurch
I'm going to get my kids in it. I've been wanting to do a 5k anyway, because this year I've been working with my kids through studying what what a growth mindset means.
00:27:14
Ridley
Awesome.
00:27:22
Ridley
Very cool.
00:27:22
grovehillchurch
Um, and I'm like, oh, nothing better than doing a growth mindset when it comes to running, especially if you don't like it. Right.
00:27:29
Ridley
That's exactly right.
00:27:29
grovehillchurch
So we're working on it. We're going to be working on it and working with 5k.
00:27:31
Ridley
Yeah. yeah
00:27:32
grovehillchurch
I want to know like, where did this come come from? Have you done a 5k as a church before?
Community Engagement Initiatives
00:27:37
Ridley
So we have not done it as a church here, but the college church that I attended where I worked as an intern, they had a regular one that they did every year, same premise, you know have a lot of fun, run ah do a run, but it raised money for the mission journeys. There's got so successful that the town where I lived actually would promote the church's thing because it was a big event for the town that we lived in. So that's kind of where we would like to go with this, this first go around. I'm sure we'll learn a lot of tips about how to make it better. but John Ballard, our our associate pastor has engaged a organization that helps make runs qualify for points to get to places like Boston Marathon or the Chicago Marathon. So it's going to be legitimate. We're going to have tags to, you know, run your times and all that kind of stuff. And so we're going to try to make it as professional as we can. And, you know, this year will be a first shot at it. But over the years, we hope it grows and becomes even bigger deal for the community.
00:28:31
grovehillchurch
That's cool. Where, where are we doing the race?
00:28:33
Ridley
At State Park. state parks working with us on it. So I think my understanding, and and this is probably not true, but I think where you run through the park, come back around on the outside, go up towards where Horton Haven Camp is on the backside there, but and the ah the state range park rangers will be helping us out with traffic. We'll have some of our safety people involved, but it's going to be a real cool thing.
00:28:53
grovehillchurch
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:55
Ridley
And then we're going to have the little mile run for those who just want to support, but don't feel like running the full 5K.
00:29:03
grovehillchurch
Gosh, I remember my first 5K. I was in seventh grade and they handed out medals to the first hundred people.
00:29:09
Ridley
Wow.
00:29:09
grovehillchurch
And I finished strong. It was my first 3.2 miles and I finished strong, passed a bunch of people, got in line. They were handing out medals in front of me and I ended up being 102.
00:29:19
Ridley
Well, maybe we can get you one day and make you feel better about it.
00:29:22
grovehillchurch
You're like, no, so close.
00:29:26
grovehillchurch
This time I might make it. No, I still, I don't know. I think because of that, I still fell in love with running anyways. It was, it's the process more than the piece of metal that you get at the end.
00:29:33
Ridley
Good.
00:29:36
grovehillchurch
Right.
00:29:36
Ridley
That's very cool.
00:29:37
grovehillchurch
Um, so I'm looking forward to doing that. Where do we, where do you sign up if you're interested in that?
00:29:42
Ridley
Uh, there is a place, uh, I think on our website, um, there's QR codes in the worship folder. I think there's a announcement on our Facebook page. Of course you can always call the office and we can help you out with any of that. And if you're like me and either beyond the age of running where it's comfortable, or you just never run her in the first place, you can also help sponsor some of this. Um, there's sponsorships, three different levels of sponsorships for you know businesses, but like my wife and I probably will do one of the sponsorships just cause we don't run much anymore, but we really want to support what's going on with the missions part of our church.
00:30:15
grovehillchurch
There you go. You're going to run it off or give it off, which which you either the one, or both, or both.
00:30:17
Ridley
That's right. It's kind of like a, kind of like the sale of indulgences. I'm going to buy my way out of this race.
00:30:26
grovehillchurch
We don't call it that anymore.
00:30:27
Ridley
That's right. I know.
00:30:28
grovehillchurch
Um, one that I'm think probably peaked a lot of years at the very end was the mentor programs. Tell me about that.
00:30:36
Ridley
Yeah, so this actually was birthed out of one of our life groups. This is one of the things I love about our church because everybody's always involved with coming up with new ideas, new thoughts, new ministries. But they approached John and said, we We would love to see a mentorship started for young believers of any e age. These are all back to our category of older saints who are more mature and can guide people.
00:30:58
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:30:59
Ridley
This this life group fits that category. These are people who've walked with Jesus for decades, who are very strong in their faith, and they are willing to offer their time to walk with young couples, young individuals as they grow in their journey. and so I think last time I checked, John said they were in the final stages of planning some of that out, and we probably will be rolling in that out pretty quickly.
00:31:21
grovehillchurch
And lastly, we have affinity groups, which in my search on the website for the run thing, I found there's a long list of affinity groups on the website.
00:31:28
Ridley
Yes, yes.
00:31:29
grovehillchurch
But tell me about like the need for affinity groups and why, why we're starting those.
00:31:34
Ridley
So one of the things research tells us is that when people visit a church, the first couple of weeks are really critical that you have to get people engaged so they can feel like it it could possibly be their church.
00:31:42
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:31:44
Ridley
Sometimes that's done through small groups. Sometimes it's done through engaging them face to face or getting them involved in the ministry. But this is one of the ways we thought we could do it through the summer because our life groups all time you know kind of take a break, step back a little bit. So we can't take somebody new and say, hey, go visit this life group and begin to get know people. Instead, we try to encourage them towards affinity groups, which are just this idea that you pick a common joy, a common hobby, common interest, and you just come together without any iin commitments.
00:32:14
grovehillchurch
Yeah.
00:32:14
Ridley
We've already had walking affinity groups, golf guys the other day, a bunch of people got to play board games together this past weekend. So there's a lot of different varieties and choices for people.
00:32:25
grovehillchurch
That's right. I came to the game night. That was fun. um I'm looking at the list on the website.
00:32:28
Ridley
Yeah.
00:32:30
grovehillchurch
And I'll link to it from the show notes. But I'm seeing disc golf on the 29th that's coming up this next weekend.
00:32:34
Ridley
Yep.
00:32:35
grovehillchurch
That's going to be fun. I'm definitely going to that.
00:32:36
Ridley
Yep. Yeah.
00:32:37
grovehillchurch
um There's embroidery, stained glass, gardening education thing. I need to show up to that.
00:32:45
Ridley
Yeah, we've got a women's kayaking group.
00:32:45
grovehillchurch
My poor garden.
00:32:48
grovehillchurch
There you go.
00:32:48
Ridley
You know, and again, there's something for everybody. I think a couple of nights, there's just going to be a bonfire for people just to show up and sit around and enjoy each other's company.
00:32:51
grovehillchurch
Yeah. yeah Yep. Yep.
00:32:55
Ridley
So.
00:32:56
grovehillchurch
So it's going to be fun. Find one of these, join the 5k. I still haven't found the link to the 5k, but I'm going to make sure to put it in the show notes right after we're done recording this.
00:33:03
Ridley
Man, if you don't see it, email RE, she'll send you a link to it.
00:33:04
grovehillchurch
Um, there we go. So weirdly, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast and going diving a little bit deeper into the sermon, talking about, uh, what it means to be an amateur missionary, how everybody can be, how to pursue biblical theology and how to make the most of being a part of Grove Hill.
00:33:26
Ridley
Yeah, absolutely.
00:33:28
grovehillchurch
So if you're listening to this and you've been wondering how to get plugged in, we've just given like a smorgasbord of ways to get plugged in based on your interest, based on doing missions, based on, I don't know, getting involved in so many different ways or, or coming and running with me on a 5k or watching everybody run with pastor Ridley on the sidelines, be handing out water.
00:33:46
Ridley
There you go. Hand out bottles of water.
00:33:53
grovehillchurch
All right. But this has been a fun week.
00:33:57
Ridley
Yeah.