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Ride Along!
16 Plays2 months ago
The longest edited video ever! Join Logan for a ride in the mustang.
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Transcript
Introduction and Unexpected Episode
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello everybody, how's it going? Welcome to From Dublin to Cleveland. i am Logan Howard. You are joining me on a ride-along. I am on my way home from school, and I have not put out an episode this week, so that is what I'm working on right now as I drive home.
00:00:22
Speaker
Unfortunately, my first go of this did not work. The phone went flying, and...
00:00:30
Speaker
when I stopped and went to pick it up, I like, got my neck pretty bad, so, you know, ugh, painful. But, anyway, today is, um, the 25th of February.
Family Reflections and Faith
00:00:44
Speaker
Um, you know, I, I missed couple weeks ago when Brendan did one, uh, because my grandpa wasn't doing well. He did, he had to go back to the hospital today. he had a bloody nose that's been kind of causing him problems, so be praying for him. He is back home now, so they got the bloody nose to stop. um But just keep him in your prayers. He still has cancer, and, you know, we know that he, going home and seeing the Lord, because he knows the Lord is his Savior, is way more important and better for him than staying here on earth with us, but...
00:01:25
Speaker
We hope that he'll still have longevity of life and be able to enjoy his life and his grandkids and great-grandkids and all that stuff. So be praying for him.
Personal Growth Through Challenges
00:01:36
Speaker
Be praying for Brendan. He lost his voice over the weekends, so we couldn't couldnt film an episode. So, i am again, that's why I'm doing this.
00:01:45
Speaker
um But I just want to talk for, don't know, a little bit about a time if about what's been going on in my life. So, guys, a lot of you guys know I was working at a camp last summer, and you guys know, maybe some of you know, but depending on how personally you know me, just that that was that was an interesting time. It was a stretching time, it was growing, but not always in a good way.
00:02:17
Speaker
And coming out of that, it kind of dampened my opinion on people in Christianity and my opinions of, I don't want to say my opinions of God changed, but it didn't. But my opinions of people did, and my frustration with people did.
00:02:38
Speaker
And that kind of affected my lens on how I was living, the Lord. And so I've seen this whole stage of becoming a teacher and, um you know, living with my parents again as a but chance to refocus and re-get my head straight, right? I think God has been slowly doing that. um
00:03:08
Speaker
Started off... not so well, and just falling into it, and getting into the stuff I shouldn't have, and thinking I shouldn't have, and anger that I wasn't really dealing with or processing.
00:03:26
Speaker
Because I honestly thought it should have been this great thing this past summer, that, you know, and there were a lot of elements that were really great, that God did some really good things, but I...
00:03:38
Speaker
was sometimes blinded by the frustration I had with people.
00:03:45
Speaker
And so God's been working on my heart and working on that and helping me to give those people grace. And it's still hard. It's still rough. It's still hard of how I was treated in some ways mistreated.
00:04:04
Speaker
But I feel like God has been using that opportunity to to grow me and giving me a fresh start and a new slate and all that stuff. So um I started going to a new church.
Preaching and Pursuing God's Glory
00:04:18
Speaker
The church that I've gone to growing up was a good church, but we were starting to have some differences with the leadership and the way things were going. and it didn't feel like home anymore. It felt frustrating to go to church every Sunday. and So my parents decided while I was gone in New York to go and move into a, or go join a new church.
00:04:43
Speaker
And partially it was the church I suggested because I knew the pastor from working at Patmos the previous summer. um And he, he's great guy. I went and had a,
00:05:00
Speaker
breakfast with him at one point, and yeah, it was just great opportunity, and he kind of asked me, what is it that I want to do ministry with us? What is it that I'm good at? What is it that God has given me, an ability that God has given me to do?
00:05:14
Speaker
But just tough question answer. I mean, I don't know what you guys would answer if somebody asked you that. new I guess the first thing I brought to mind was, feel like God is given me an opportunity, an ability to be a teacher, right? To be a preacher, to preach God's Word. And so the doors have really opened up since then. He has given me three or four times the opportunity to preach and to preach the church. And God has been working through that in awesome and mighty ways, and even ways I don't even know, right? I'm not out for...
Young Adults in Church: Challenges and Solutions
00:05:53
Speaker
people's praise, worship, honor, glory, any of that jazz. I'm really just living life, and I want God's name to be glorified.
00:06:03
Speaker
I don't care how many people hear it. i don't care how many people know about it. i just want to know. i just want to see God glorified and, you know, that God's going to do some works through some minute message that I said or thing I said that I don't even remember, right?
00:06:20
Speaker
Um... So God's given a couple opportunities to do that. My pastor is given me a couple opportunities to that. So the next phase that's coming up here soon is yeah young adults. um And I guess this is a thing i I kind of want to talk about for a little bit on my on your ride along with Logan. Is young adult ministries and young adults in... the church, okay?
00:06:50
Speaker
I don't know if you are a young adult or you're not, but whether you are or not, I want you to look at your, i just want you to to think about your church for a minute, okay? How many people would you say in your church are in between the ages of 18 to 35. Okay, so start, answer that question first. um I think ours is, my new church I've joined somewhere in the 10 range, right? um But at the previous church I've gone to, it was me, my sister, my cousin,
00:07:32
Speaker
And the list about ends there. Maybe one other guy.
00:07:40
Speaker
So I think we have this epidemic in Christianity where the 18 to 35-year-olds are gone. They're not there.
00:07:53
Speaker
Whether they are still Christians or not, or going somewhere else or any that, I don't know. But we have this epidemic that we don't have young people in the church.
00:08:05
Speaker
And have we might have large youth groups, and maybe you do. We might have young kids' ministries, but that in-between age, there's nobody.
00:08:18
Speaker
I think there's a couple reasons for this,
Singles in Church: Equality and Value
00:08:21
Speaker
okay? First of all, ands let's think about this 1835 group. And usually, when i when I want you to think about this group, I don't want you to think i don't want you to include the married people, okay? Because once you get married, you are almost, I don't know, grandfathered in. You're thought of differently than if you are a single between 1835. Um...
00:08:45
Speaker
Because when you have kids or when you're a young couple, there is a lot of, you know, investments and people investing in you and people investing in what you're doing because you have kids and you're parents. I guess it just feels like we sometimes treat it like it's a little bit more serious than the young adult news trees that we have.
00:09:08
Speaker
um But I guess I kind of want to ask, and I want you guys to be thinking, why is that the case? Why is it that we have this epidemic? Why is it that we don't have these young adults? What is it that they, whether they're seeing or not seeing, that is leading them to go, well, I don't need to be a part of that?
00:09:29
Speaker
And I can count on multiple occasions of situations that would, if I wasn't settled in my faith or wasn't, some you know, firm in where I was what I believed in and going to church, I have met some opportunities where I would probably say, i don't need to go back to that place because those people don't really care about me.
00:09:50
Speaker
Or they don't necessarily want me there, right? Right. um Because we have we have group activities for seniors, we have group activities for kids, we have group activities for families.
00:10:03
Speaker
We don't really do group activities for single individuals. They are like the black sheep of Christians, right? um And i think it it comes from a philosophy Whether it's an old philosophy, ah like it's from generations ago, or it's a newer one, I'm not sure. I haven't done enough thinking on it to give you an answer. But we have this vel philosophy that Christians are, or that single individuals are like,
00:10:40
Speaker
suffering. You know, if you don't have your special someone, you are less than, right? You are not as good of a Christian as somebody who's married.
00:10:54
Speaker
Now, again, if you are one of those logical people thinking logical people thinking through this situation, she would go, that's not right, though, because know married people, certain married people, and they are terrible Christians. You know they swear and drink you know, whatever. Whatever it is that you're going to say about them. And, yeah, that's true for married people and sickle people. So there's not really an difference. There shouldn't be a difference.
00:11:24
Speaker
um And there are philosophies in Christianity that you are... um if you have a desire to be married, right, if you have this desire that if you if you're not currently married that you are you know like suffering for Jesus, right, that it is a burden that you bear, um that you are unqualified or disqualified for fill in the blank.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah, that doesn't make sense to me. Okay?
00:12:03
Speaker
We are who we are and how we're defined is not by whether we're married or not. Never has done right has not been, There's not been a moment in history where people are said, oh, well, you are a horrible person because you're not married. No.
00:12:22
Speaker
And it's it goes back to James, right? James had that whole Bible verse that talks about don't show partiality. And we can show partiality...
00:12:34
Speaker
in not just money, right? Justine's just james is talking about money. He's referring to, well, you've got to make sure that you don't let the rich But we show partiality in whether you're married or not.
00:12:47
Speaker
That's insane to me, okay? That's insane as Christianity in the 21st century, that we show partiality, that people who are married and have, like, little kids, they get more discipleship, get more care than...
00:13:03
Speaker
Those who are single, that doesn't make any sense to me. All right? And I'm not saying that married people don't need counseling and don't need help and don't, you know, I'm not saying that all. I know that it takes a whole it takes a whole community to raise kid.
00:13:19
Speaker
Okay? I totally get that. I totally get that. That's the thing. I know that raising kids is important. I know that marriage is important. And I know it's hard. know it's not an easy thing. But we create this society where you aren't good enough if you are single. If you are not married, you are not good enough.
00:13:40
Speaker
And so then it creates this pressure, okay? So, thankfully, I haven't heard this from my new church, but my old church, you would hear this. Well, have you dated anybody? Got anybody? You're still single?
00:13:55
Speaker
Why are we asking that question? If we know somebody well enough, why would you have to ask that question? Right? If we're supposed to be the church, we're supposed to love people, we're supposed to care for people, we're supposed to be fill in the blanks for the people that are under us. We're supposed to care for them.
00:14:16
Speaker
Why do i need to ask them every Sunday, well, do you have a boyfriend? Do you have a girlfriend? Because you're telling me without telling me what's important. Do you know what's most important? Is finding a spouse.
00:14:31
Speaker
And genuinely, there are Christians out there, maybe even you listening to this right now, that thinks that your value is found in whether you're married or not, or whether you're dating or not. It's not. Your value is found in what Jesus Christ says about He loves you.
00:14:48
Speaker
He loves you for everything that you are, and he doesn't love you for what you do, what you can do, you can marry, any of that stuff. He loves you because of you and your personality.
00:15:01
Speaker
That's what we all want in a Christian relationship. That's what we all want in a marriage. We want somebody who loves us for us. God does. Okay? So, getting back on this.
00:15:13
Speaker
this mistreatment, this segregation, whatever. There are people who, if I went around and I asked people who have left church, right, because...
00:15:27
Speaker
I think we can do surveys and we can do all this stuff inside the church, but we're not really getting the opinion of what's going on outside the church. But if asked somebody who's left church or any of that stuff, they would say that they they felt that that they weren't cared for, that nobody one cared what they did or who they were until they got married.
00:15:47
Speaker
Again, that's insane. This is a big problem. But that's where we're at. That's where we're at right now. That is the culture that we've created.
00:15:56
Speaker
So, um I guess that leads to to my point here. See, I see a need, right? We have a church that, we have churches that don't have community groups. We don't have young adults. We don't have a mission for them.
00:16:15
Speaker
We don't have a place for them.
00:16:18
Speaker
And we kind of just welcome them. You know, we'd be welcoming. We'd say hi to them. But to get them to actually, like, join our church, to do anything for our church, no, that would be us.
00:16:32
Speaker
We wouldn't do that.
00:16:36
Speaker
we ah We might want them to join our church, but we have to actually do something. we have to love them. We have to care for We have to serve them. we have to give them a place where they can feel safe and
00:16:50
Speaker
And it's not about the numbers, it's not about the amount of people we bring in, it's about the safety of the home we just need. Um, the care that we show. I think we get so focused and wrapped up in, oh, well, this could be an opportunity for us to bury everybody off. Aha, we won!
00:17:15
Speaker
oh This is kind of group, young adults group. Sure, people don't get married, right? You know, i would love it if I met somebody at the young adult group ended up getting married.
00:17:26
Speaker
That'd be awesome, right? we all learned There's all that desire in our hearts, right? But that's not the purpose. We need to do this because we love this group. We need to care for them because they are a valid concern. And whether I was married or not, I would say this.
00:17:46
Speaker
Single individuals are just as much and just as important and just as valuable.
Empowering Young Adults in Leadership
00:17:51
Speaker
In fact, let me tell you this. If you're a single right now, you have the ability and opportunity to do things that other people can't. marry people can to Married people have to spend a certain amount of time every single day.
00:18:08
Speaker
certain amount of time every single week. investing in their marriage relationship, or it's going to fall apart and they won't have a marriage break soon, very long, right? You're single. You don't have to worry about that concern.
00:18:21
Speaker
And you go, well, Logan, you know, I just want the love. and You have all the love you could ever need from your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today, forever.
00:18:37
Speaker
you're thinking through this, I want you to be thinking, what can I do? How can I help make or get young adults to come back to church? How can I, what can I do fix this need? That's usually how I think. It's not, I know that's not everybody, but I want you be thinking about that. What can I do? What is the thing that I can do? And, you know, I don't know where you're at in your stage of your life. Maybe you're listening you're an older person.
00:19:08
Speaker
And older, I mean, you're outside of this need. So you could be 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 100s.
00:19:15
Speaker
Be careful how you talk to those people who are single. Right? The first comment or thing out your mouth should be, Oh, well, you're still single? You dating anybody? Oh, you can date my daughter or my grandniece or whatever. That should be the first thing at your mouth. When you see somebody, be thankful and kind for who they are. Not because you want to fix them or that there's some kind of seized written thing that's called singleness. but because you care about them, that you love them for who they are, that you see what they bring to the table and that they offer to our local church.
00:19:55
Speaker
I would recommend adopting them, right? Disciple them. Because they need discipleship. They are at a stage in their life where there's not a lot of people around to encourage them and help them.
00:20:07
Speaker
And that's the reason why it it leads to our whole pandemic or and epidemic of you know, anxiety, because they don't think people actually care about it.
00:20:23
Speaker
So I say all this, you know, so its again, that's older group, right? And maybe you can even start your own young adult group and be that person that cares about them. But let's let's change this attitude of you need to get married to you need to realize how much Jesus loves you.
00:20:44
Speaker
That's the important thing. And we to change the atmosphere a little bit. Change the attitude. Change our hearts. Change our focus.
00:20:55
Speaker
And let's get back to what the main things are. Let's keep the main things the plain things, right? Let's stop getting lost in the weeds of, oh, you need to be married. Because let me tell you, even if they get married, it's no guarantee they're coming back.
00:21:13
Speaker
because of how you treated them and how you didn't love them when that's what Jesus called you to do So let's change this focus about that. So if you're a young adult, right, maybe you are in this age grade age range, maybe you're maybe even a little older, you're still single.
00:21:30
Speaker
Remember your value, right? Remember that you are loved by Jesus Christ for who you are. Period. Period. No pluses, no add-ons, no subtractions, no divisions, no multiplications. Sorry, I'm a math teacher.
00:21:45
Speaker
You are loved for who you are and what you bring to the table. Sorry, I'm turning. But um what you bring to the table, right? Remember your value, that God loves you. He doesn't love you because, oh, you're married or, oh, you're this or, oh, you're that. He loves you because of who you are.
00:22:06
Speaker
And he wants good things for you. He wants good use. So if you have a heartache or you're pained about a relationship and you feel like you deserve one or need one or any of those kind things, trust God. Right? Trust God. Love Him.
00:22:22
Speaker
Find your all in Him. Because even when you're married, you're going to you're gonna realize pretty quickly that you're going to have to choose God. You're going to have to love Him first and foremost. Because even when you love somebody, even when you're married to somebody, they'll still hurt you.
00:22:40
Speaker
It's not like it's a smooth sailing. They're going to make mistakes. So are you. So it's not it's not all roses and sunshine when you're married. There can be some hard times and some frustration that
00:22:57
Speaker
comes along. And, you know, maybe consider to start a group for you. You know, grab some of your friends, grab some people, and start a young adults group and start doing things that connect it the church, right?
00:23:09
Speaker
Start trying to change this attitude that we have of you have to be married or you're this or you're that. Right? Let's get back to this, focusing on what's important.
00:23:21
Speaker
People who are single should be allowed to serve in any ministry that they need to because they have the time, the heart, and the willingness to it. If you have the heart and willingness to do it, I'm signing you up.
00:23:32
Speaker
You might not be the perfect person, right? You might make mistakes. You might do some things. But if you're willing to learn and you're willing to grow and you're willing to do the thing that we ask you and you're willing to take correction,
00:23:46
Speaker
Dude, we need those people. We need young people because we're dying out, dying on the vine. We have churches that the average age is 50 plus.
00:23:58
Speaker
We need young people. We need the next generation who are going to lead this church because right now that generation is AWOL. And it's AWOL because the previous generation didn't show them love, didn't give them the time, didn't give them the heart care that they need.
Unconditional Love and Personal Worth
00:24:20
Speaker
So, um you know, wherever you're at in your life, wherever you're at in this life, I want you to remember where your value comes from, right? Jesus says, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life.
00:24:39
Speaker
For God, right? God Himself, up above, the God who created us, authored everything, loved everything, And I don't mean love in the goody two-shoes, kiss, kiss, all this stuff.
00:24:55
Speaker
I mean love in the true sense of the word, which is his care, his passion, his focus, all of that. He loved the world. Now you might say, Logan, the world, it's not me. Well, Phil, change the world here.
00:25:12
Speaker
For God so loved, Phil, in your name, for God so loved Logan. Right? He loved me. He gave his only son, Jesus.
00:25:24
Speaker
He gave Jesus to me. He gave Jesus to die on a cross for me.
00:25:29
Speaker
He gave for me. That's how much he loves me. Even people you're married to, even people you're dating aren't going to love you that way.
00:25:42
Speaker
God did. So God loves us so much more than we can ever imagine. god sent us on the dive first. And then he's willing to give us eternal life. You know, we're going to have eternal life. We're going with God forever.
00:25:59
Speaker
And we need to share that with other people. We need to to show that every day. Even people who already and believe in Jesus Christ, we still need to show that love back to them because how much love we receive.
00:26:12
Speaker
Same thing goes for forgiveness. Same thing goes for grace. All that stuff. We want to show that back to the people who have worked. Show that back because of what God did for us.
00:26:27
Speaker
And the group that right now in our culture, in our Christianity, that needs it the most is young adults.
Community Investment and Discipleship
00:26:35
Speaker
They need grace. They do. They need They need people coming down and saying, I'm going to help you.
00:26:43
Speaker
I'm going to choose you. going to invest in you.
00:26:47
Speaker
We know God does that, but we're supposed to do it too. We're not off the hook. We're supposed to go and make disciples, right? We're supposed to go be
00:27:01
Speaker
That's what our job is. So go disciple somebody today. Go grab somebody. Whether that's somebody you know at work, whether that's somebody that's your friend that's struggling, go grab somebody. Go invest in them.
00:27:15
Speaker
Go care for them.
Closing Remarks and Prayer
00:27:17
Speaker
Thank you all for giving me your time. I'm going to close this out prayer and I'll send you on your Thank you. Thank you for listening.
00:27:27
Speaker
Thank you for riding along with me this afternoon on a sunny day. It's just beautiful. 40. Sorry, my car says 53 degrees. It's beautiful out here. Let me pray in closing. Jesus, I thank you for this day and thank you for each and everyone who's listening. Even though my eyes are open as I pray, Lord, I'm still talking to you. I pray that you give each and every one who's listening heart for ministry, heartdministrative heart for young adults, a heart for people, really. you know i know it's easy to say, you know, oh, just take care of the young adults. It goes for everybody. We've got to take care of kids. We've got to love on kids. We've got to love on adults.
00:28:07
Speaker
to love on old people. We've got love people. I want to be loving people just as you loved us.
00:28:13
Speaker
Give us a rest of the day that is honor and glorifying to you in what we say, do, what we think. Help us to start thinking long-term, big-term, as to what we can do to help grow our churches and grow them in your word.
00:28:28
Speaker
Give us a great evening. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, friends, thank you for listening. You'll hear from us soon, I hope, um and maybe we'll have another ride-along one of these days when...
00:28:43
Speaker
doesn't work out for Brandon. So thanks for coming. Thanks for listening. um And I hope that this has been an encouragement and investment in your heart and life. Bye, friends. We'll see you.