New Pastors Conference: Tom Pileggi

[00:00:00] Speaker A: The unknown is loss of control. Transition is loss of control. You can try to control every dimension of a transition, but there are unknowns in it all. So I'm just giving. I'm just helping you understand that when you say, well, I don't know about what. If I'm going to go into a new place, do I have control? Will I have authority? Will I have power? God's going to break you. If you start saying that, then there's going to be a breaking and a humbling. It's like, I need to be out of control. I need to be in the control of God. Welcome back to the well, An Elam Fellowship Leadership Podcast. Join us today as we hear from Pastor Tom Pileggi as he shares his message given to us at the recent New Pastors conference. [00:00:58] Speaker B: God is good. God is good all the time. He's good. Well, first of all, I'm humbled and it's an honor to be here and to be able to share. I'm going to share my testimony of 15 years and 30 minutes. So it's going to be rapid. But I'm humbled because God has broken me to stand up here. And so I'm humbled to be able to share my life and not in a way like, oh, man, you know, [00:01:31] Speaker A: this is the greatest life. Like Josh was saying, you know, it's like, no, Lord, when you answer the [00:01:35] Speaker B: call, get ready to be broken. [00:01:38] Speaker A: And it's an awesome place to be. [00:01:41] Speaker B: It's an awesome place to be. [00:01:43] Speaker A: You know the title that God has given me in my church, and you talk to my church and they'll repeat this, God is preparing you for what he has prepared for you. And the Lord showed me, you don't have to know what's out there for you. You just need to know that I'm preparing you for it because you'll miss it if you don't stay in the season of preparation, we always want to kind of get out and get to the, you know, the good stuff. But one of the more challenging events in our lives as pastors is we need to transition from one mentality another, from one position to another, from one place of comfort that we think to attain the vision that God has for us. See, it's transition in our life. This is really what God is. This is going to be my testimony. Everything I'm reading is really what I went through. And I just want to share that. Transition is the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another. The reason you are here is because you're going through a transition. That's why you're here. The word transition, it immediately sparks feelings and thoughts of the unknown. [00:03:00] Speaker B: Right? [00:03:00] Speaker A: It's fearful, it's unknown. But I love this. When we walk with God, we will be stretched and it will not make sense to us. Right? And we will be stretched beyond what [00:03:14] Speaker B: we think is our capacity. Oh, think about that. [00:03:20] Speaker A: We tell God our capacity. God, this is all I can handle. This is how big I am for you. And God says, you don't even know your capacity. I know your capacity. And sometimes we get frustrated because we think God is pouring more on us than we can handle. Really, you don't understand how large your capacity is for God. We must be willing to step out on nothing, to land on something. That's transition. That's what it's all about. Many will never transition into their life because they do not trust God that the new will be better than the old. We're so comfortable. We are so comfortable as leaders and pastors. And I'm so glad I'm able to speak to people that are like two or three years into to their ministry because I told our young leaders, I'm going to save. I'm going to. You're going to. I'm going to extend. [00:04:21] Speaker B: What? [00:04:21] Speaker A: God's going to extend your ministry five to 10 years more than you ever thought. Because God put me through the fire, the furnace, the wilderness, the. I mean, it's the Paul and the Joseph. I told Pastor Josh, I love Pastor Josh. I'm standing up here like, you saw that on the board, but now you're [00:04:41] Speaker B: looking at what the board is. [00:04:44] Speaker A: Man, I have been through it, and it's not a prideful thing. It's a humbling experience. I've called Elam many times, the elders of Elam pastors, and they worked with me through this. And so. But transition, you're going to miss it. If you think the old is the best, it's the new, and then it's the transition into another new and then another new. See your new, it never stops. You stop your nude, you paralyze your nude. For we walk by faith, not by sight. That's the journey. The journey is God is preparing you for what he has prepared for you. Oh, it changes my. It changed my life. You know, why so many people refuse to transition is one of them is comfort. There's nothing like being able to be comfortable and settled. Let me tell you, I don't even think. I don't even think God knows how to spell comfortable. Come on ministry is not comfortable. Ministry is not. We're going to settle in and hunker down and, you know, we're just going to do what God calls us to do. He's going to call you to do something different every single day. Is your heart open? Not your mind. You're not going to process this? Is your heart open for change? This always holds us back. [00:06:06] Speaker B: Comfort. [00:06:07] Speaker A: Moses lived this. He was 40 years in the backside of the desert tending sheep. He was comfortable in his life and with his family. He had no desire to go forward and to be a deliverer. [00:06:20] Speaker B: But God woke him up one morning and said, comfort is not your place. [00:06:26] Speaker A: About loss of control. Pastors, we know we don't like to [00:06:31] Speaker B: be in control of anything. [00:06:36] Speaker A: The unknown is loss of control. Transition is loss of control. You can try to control every dimension of a transition, but there are unknowns in it all. So I'm just giving. I'm just helping you understand that. When you say, well, I don't know about what. If I'm going to go into a new place, do I have control? Will I have authority? Will I have power? God's going to break you if you start saying that. There's going to be a breaking and a humbling. It's like, I need to be out of control. I need to be in the control of God. That's where we miss it. I'm just giving you everything that I went through. Hallelujah. Around every corner. God wants us to move forward. Around everything that we do. It's a moving forward. Our personal limiting constraints, that's another thing that stops us in transition. I'm not gifted. I don't have the education. I never did that before. We all will start saying, we all have these personal limiting constraints that we use. And many use excuses to validate the their lack and their desire for transition. [00:07:54] Speaker B: I know not anyone here, but think about it. [00:07:57] Speaker A: We'll say things like that to God. It's okay to say it to your wife, it's okay to say it, maybe to your elder of the church. But we're saying this, we're saying this to God. So for so many reasons, we refuse a transition that God has called us into is because of comfort and loss of control. And I don't think I can do that. Many use that excuses. Moses tried to use that excuse, Exodus 4, 10, 12. But Moses said to the Lord, o my Lord, I am not eloquent either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant. But I am slow of speech, of tongue. Then the Lord said to him, I love this. Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. That's what this is all about. This is all about, you know, it's okay to say God, are you really sure? And then allow God to say, yeah, because I'm going to do it. You can't do it on your own. We need to stop with the constraints, man. When I used to. I mean, I wasn't educated in some of these things, and I didn't have the experience, and. And I looked at this. Then we read in 1 Corinthians, I [00:09:17] Speaker B: think it is he chooses what the foolish things. [00:09:24] Speaker A: I'd be a fool for Jesus. Why? [00:09:28] Speaker B: Because I know he has a plan for the foolish. Hallelujah. This is so important. [00:09:35] Speaker A: If you stay in your box, we [00:09:38] Speaker B: only see what's in our box. [00:09:41] Speaker A: If you're not being stretched, then we are not embracing new things. We will become critical. We will criticize and we will critique [00:09:51] Speaker B: everything that's outside of the box. Think about that. Think about that in your own life. When you're settled in and you're comfortable and you're in control. You critique and you criticize everything that doesn't match up to what's in your box. [00:10:09] Speaker A: We limit ourselves. We limit ourselves. If you want to grow, we need to embrace change. God never called us to fail or settle in. He has placed everything inside of you that you need to grow. See, that's what I had to learn. I was waiting and saying, oh, God, you know, I'm going to have to do. I'm going to have to get education. I'm going to have to go here, go to this seminar, hear this preacher, find out. You know, I'm going to have to get counseling. I'm going to do all that. Those things are all good. But when you say, I need all those things to do what you've called me to do, that's not good. When you need to do it, you do it. But sometimes I learned that God has already equipped in me. He's already equipped in you. Everything you need for the next season. But it doesn't need to come up until it's ready, until it matures, until it grows. It's already planted. He's watering it. He's fertilizing it. He's planted it. But it will grow. You don't have to worry about it not growing. If he has called You. He has equipped you, and he will continue to equip you. He has prepared you for what he has prepared for you. Every season you go through. I learned this. Every season is a preparation for the next season. I always. I call God. He's a big setup. God is. All he's doing is setting you up [00:11:27] Speaker B: for the next one. [00:11:29] Speaker A: That's all he's doing. And when you see it, it's like, wow, God, this is awesome. And he says, don't get too comfortable because I've got another setup. [00:11:37] Speaker B: For [00:11:40] Speaker A: God is moving forward. His desire is for us to move forward. [00:11:45] Speaker B: And so I'm going to give you a little personal testimony. [00:11:51] Speaker A: When I was. [00:11:51] Speaker B: I've been in a new Life Church for 40. I've been in there since high school, since junior in high school. Go to that church. We get married, have children, and I'm working in the church. I'm serving in a church. I've gone, um, from worship leader, small group leader, kind of executive pastor, elder, [00:12:12] Speaker A: deacon, all the whole thing. [00:12:14] Speaker B: And then about 15 years ago, actually, Joe Jansen was my pastor. He mentored my wife and I and Joanne and I thank God for Pastor Joe. Amazing man. Amazing man. Really just brought me to where I am. So he decides to get up and come to US Ministries. And I'm still there. And so we had to look for a pastor. And I said, okay. So in the midst of looking for a pastor, I'm on the search committee. [00:12:47] Speaker A: And then all of a sudden, I [00:12:48] Speaker B: felt like my wife. And I felt like, hey, I feel like it's time for us to put in for this. So I put in for it in the interview. But the church wanted to go outside the church. I said, okay. Here 40 years, they don't want me. And so I said, okay, God. I go back on the committee, I [00:13:14] Speaker A: look for a pastor. [00:13:16] Speaker B: I said, okay. But God was really, you know, working in my life. I said to the board, you can't tell the church that I put in for this because it'll split the church. [00:13:28] Speaker A: I won't tell you. [00:13:30] Speaker B: Don't tell. I said, okay. [00:13:32] Speaker A: But I didn't lie. The people had asked me, and I just would be honest. [00:13:35] Speaker B: Hey, they went a different route. But I said, God, what do you [00:13:40] Speaker A: want me to do? [00:13:40] Speaker B: Then he goes, I want you to pastor the church. [00:13:43] Speaker A: But they don't. And he goes, no. He goes, you pastor the church. Keep it physically healthy, financially healthy, and spiritually healthy until the next pastor comes, and then you mentor that next pastor. [00:13:57] Speaker B: Okay. I needed a lot of help, called a Lot of elders of Elam. And they said, well, eventually you'll probably have to go. [00:14:06] Speaker A: I say, why do I have to go? I was here first. And so I did. [00:14:16] Speaker B: I had the pastor come in. He didn't have a place to live. [00:14:18] Speaker A: Him and his wife, they lived with us. [00:14:20] Speaker B: And. And so. But it went downhill very quickly. And well, this is what I learned through the process, and I'll continue to share. Integrity. Integrity. [00:14:36] Speaker A: If you're going to be able to [00:14:37] Speaker B: promote spiritual growth in people, one of the important characteristics of a leader is integrity. People will follow a person with integrity. [00:14:47] Speaker A: Integrity is so important. We see many leaders failing because of [00:14:51] Speaker B: the big reason of integrity today. [00:14:54] Speaker A: Psalm 78:70 says, he chose David, his servant and took him from the sheep pens. Transition. From tending the sheep, he brought him into the shepherds of his people, Jacob of Israel, his inheritance. Transition. And David shepherd, laying down his life and them with integrity of heart. With skillful hands, he led them. [00:15:18] Speaker B: Integrity. I had to learn that real quick [00:15:21] Speaker A: because I always said, my wife and I said, we'll never split a church [00:15:24] Speaker B: because I've seen too many splits. I said, okay. God said, I'll hold you to that. [00:15:31] Speaker A: And so, man, we just hung in there. We hung in there. 1 Chronicles 29:17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and. [00:15:39] Speaker B: And are pleased with integrity. [00:15:42] Speaker A: God tests our heart. God is all knowing. He's already aware of what's in the person's heart. He's already aware of what's in my heart. In your heart. The test is for us and others to see where our trust and loyalty truly lies. That's all it is. He knows he's doing this for you and I. And when I learned that, I. Just as I learned and learned and understood, I understood that God is doing this for me because he has something for me. He has something for you. Spiritual. It's okay to be spiritually tested. It's okay for spiritual surgery. We need it sometimes. Psalm 25:21. I'm going to read a couple of integrity scriptures. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee. And that word preserve means to guard, to watch over, to keep from danger. So you want to walk through transition. What you need to understand is integrity. He'll guard you. He'll protect you. Integrity protects you. You don't have to fear things. You walk in freedom, knowing God has gone before you. Proverbs 10:9. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely. But whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. Integrity provides you with security, hope, confidence, with assurance. You do not have to worry about having shaky foundations. Integrity provides a firm foundation. See, when you're going through transition, you need this. You need integrity. Proverbs 11:3. The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. Integrity provides you with guidance, better decision making, learning how to govern and lead, and you can't take integrity for granted. One thing I learned was when I went into the new position of Calvary Gospel, the church that he sent me to, I sit in that pastor's chair in that office. Guess what? I have no integrity. I have no respect. No one trusts me. They don't owe me anything. They don't even know me. Integrity comes. So you see too many pastors and leaders. I can say this because I've been around for a long time. Too many pastors and leaders, they want to take integrity. Hey, I'm entitled because I have a title. You're not entitled to integrity. You earn integrity. You need to build relations with your elders, your leaders, your congregation. You need to earn that. Just because you sit in that chair, in that new position, you don't have integrity. Build relations. We don't like to have to work at something that we feel entitled to. You are not entitled to anything. You're entitled to the grace of God. That's what gets us through. Things were not working out with the new pastor. They went downhill very quickly. And so they were looking for a new pastor. Like, things went downhill so fast when I was there that my wife and [00:18:49] Speaker B: I were looking for other churches. Okay. We said, we can't do this no more. We can. [00:18:54] Speaker A: I told God I want out. God said, not yet. I said, what do you mean? It's been four years. Four years I've been here. I've been serving and honoring, and people would look at me in the service, and every time something would happen. [00:19:11] Speaker B: I'm being very careful because I don't talk about pastors. [00:19:13] Speaker A: But every time something happened, you know, the whole congregation would look at you. You know, man, if you're an elder of a church or you're a deacon or you're a ministry leader or you're a worship leader, when the pastor does something kind of off color or what, you can see all the eyes shifting to the elder. [00:19:29] Speaker B: What are you going to do? What is he going to say? How are they going to respond? [00:19:34] Speaker A: It was like almost every Sunday this is happening. I said, God, I said, I want out. He says, not yet. I didn't stretch you enough? You didn't meet you didn't meet your capacity yet. Like, are you kidding me? How big do you think I am? I don't think I'm that big. God said, you are looking for what you think will make you happy. And I said, yes, I have no problem of wanting to be happy. I'm almost entitled to be happy. [00:20:10] Speaker B: God said, I have a need. I said, what do you mean you have a need? [00:20:15] Speaker A: You can't even. You created. You don't have needs. I'm not even exaggerating, okay? Some pastors were exaggerating. I'm not exaggerating. [00:20:26] Speaker B: I literally talked like that to him. And I said, okay, what's your need? This went on for a long. I'm giving you five years and 30 minutes or 15 years. He goes, my need is Calvary Gospel Church. Will you go? Let me tell you, we went there six months earlier. It got pretty bad where we were, so we took a sabbatical, my wife and I. So we went there. Calvary Gospel, of course. Bernard Evans was there preaching. Walk out of the service, and he says, you know, you wouldn't have to move if you took this church. I looked him straight in the eye. I love Bernard. He's my elder at the church. At the church at Calvary, where I am now. I said, bernard, I love you, but I don't care. I'm moving. I don't need to come to this church because I can stay here in the Valley. My wife and I walked out and I said, we will never pastor this church. And my wife was more adamant about it than I was. She goes, no way. No way. And then six months later, after that, my wife is praying, and she comes and talks to me. She goes, I think we need. I think you need to put in for the church. Okay, wait a minute. Did you just, like, you and God teamed up on me now? He goes, no, I really think you need to pray about it. Long story short, we said, yes. God, he put blinders. Like when Paul on the road to Damascus, you know, just the scale. I mean, the scales went on my eyes. Like, they didn't tell me anything till, like, two or three years into it. But they were ready to close the doors. There was no young people. I walked in there, literally blinded God. Literally. [00:22:42] Speaker A: Just like. And I thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. And I didn't want to go. But then when you answer the call, it's like. It's like you're a kid in a candy store. It's like, this is awesome. I mean, this is awesome. And I look back, back I go. It was not awesome. No one was there. There was like 30 people. [00:23:07] Speaker B: Let me give you this illustration. I know I want to try to keep in time constraints. There's a story of a father, the story of Father Damon. Sometimes love doesn't look like fireworks or dramatic rescues. Sometimes love simply moves in. In the 1800s, there was a remote [00:23:26] Speaker A: Hawaiian island called, [00:23:32] Speaker B: Used as a leopard colony. It was a place of isolation, despair and death. Those sent there were considered untouchable, rejected by the society and frankly forgotten. Some of our people that God may bring to your church. [00:23:46] Speaker A: But there was one man who refused to forget. [00:23:48] Speaker B: His name was Father Damien. He was a Catholic priest from Belgium. [00:23:52] Speaker A: And when he heard about it, he [00:23:54] Speaker B: didn't just send prayers or resources, he volunteered to go. [00:23:58] Speaker A: He sailed to the island, knowing full [00:24:01] Speaker B: well that leprosy was contagious and often fatal. [00:24:05] Speaker A: He didn't wear gloves. He didn't keep his distance. He lived among the people. He embraced them, built homes, dug graves, bandaged wounds, held dying hands. And eventually he caught leprosy himself. [00:24:19] Speaker B: He became what they were not by accident, but by love. [00:24:23] Speaker A: Before he died, he would begin his [00:24:25] Speaker B: sermons with a simple, devastating. [00:24:28] Speaker A: We leopards. [00:24:29] Speaker B: He no longer said you. He said we. That is what Jesus did for us. He didn't save us from a distance. He moved in the word, became flesh and dwelt among us. He didn't stay in heaven and shout instructions. He came to where we are. [00:24:45] Speaker A: He lived in our brokenness. He touched the untouchable. He bore our diseases, our sin. And like the father, he, Father Damien, he died not just beside us, beside us, but as one of us. This. That's unconditional love. It's not afraid to get close. It's not afraid to suffer. It is a love that says we, a love that. That became one of us so that we could be one with him. [00:25:13] Speaker B: That's what God told me to do when I went to Calvary. See, we built the church in Herkimer New Life Church in 2000. Our worship was awesome. I mean, we had professional musicians, some recorded in Nashville. Now God sends me to a church that was built in 1881. I think it was the St Pews. It's where Charles Finney came through. [00:25:40] Speaker A: That's how old this church is. No young people. Worship was questionable. This church was predominantly Russian. I had a translator stand on the next to me. You hear me talking or anything, I'm preaching this way, and I got a translator. [00:26:00] Speaker B: So it's like we had built the church in 2000. And I was like, oh, Lord, help me. [00:26:09] Speaker A: And I didn't know the culture. I didn't speak the language. Later on, I knew how they were brought up, with their upbringing, of their spiritual, what they were taught about God. And it was like, oh, my Lord. And I asked God, why did you send me here? Two years into. I said, why? I'm still happy to be there, But I just, like, I've got courageous now. Why? [00:26:34] Speaker B: This is what he said. [00:26:36] Speaker A: He said, because you know what hurt [00:26:38] Speaker B: is, and you won't hurt my sheep. I said, okay, I got it. [00:26:47] Speaker A: He goes, why did you. [00:26:49] Speaker B: He goes, I. I put you through all that for five years and more, and you stayed there because I had a plan for you. [00:27:01] Speaker A: I was preparing you for what I [00:27:05] Speaker B: have prepared for you. You know what hurt is? [00:27:10] Speaker A: My need was you. [00:27:13] Speaker B: I created you for this. I would go to Bernard all the time. I'd call him all the time, talk to him. And Bernard and Sharon, I love them. They go, you're the man. [00:27:24] Speaker A: You're the man for Calvary. [00:27:26] Speaker B: And I said, bernard. And I look him right in the eyes and I said, bernard, because you don't want to be the man anymore. [00:27:34] Speaker A: He laughs. [00:27:35] Speaker B: As he got to know Bernard, he laughs his head off. [00:27:38] Speaker A: It was a big transition for me. It was a big transmission. But God said, you do what that [00:27:44] Speaker B: man did with this congregation. [00:27:48] Speaker A: I met them where they were, because as they were. And then I could lead them where God wanted to lead us together. But I couldn't do it unless I met them where they were, became like them. That passage, that story is just. That was me. That wasn't me when I was in Herkimer. But God said, I created you for this, like Pastor Josh was saying. [00:28:14] Speaker B: So here's how to quickly go through this. [00:28:17] Speaker A: He gave me five. I said, God, okay, this church is [00:28:20] Speaker B: not on my radar, but I'm going and I'm excited to go. But then you tell me what you want me to do, because I have no clue. [00:28:29] Speaker A: I'm answering your call and I'm excited. I mean, I got blinders on. I think this is the best thing since sliced bread. I don't know what to do. [00:28:37] Speaker B: He says, I'm going to give you five things. You do these five things, and I will bless you, your family, and this church. [00:28:44] Speaker A: Okay? [00:28:45] Speaker B: Tell me what they are. Love the church. Wow, that's cool. I could do that. Preach Jesus. I could do that. Don't compromise my word. Okay? Be relevant. Okay. [00:28:58] Speaker A: Relevant? [00:28:59] Speaker B: What is that? I mean, we have a church like this. Lights the whole thing, you know, music was beyond. We've had people come from California and they go, man, where'd you get your worship team? He goes, it's not about lights, no smoke, no nothing. I said, what is it about? The millionaire comes in and he says, I have everything leaves. I have nothing without Jesus. The homeless person comes in and says, I'm not worthy. [00:29:28] Speaker A: I have no value. [00:29:29] Speaker B: Walks out, says, I am valuable with Jesus. That's relevancy, okay? They're a diamond that I already created. You don't get to create this church. [00:29:41] Speaker A: I went back to the first. [00:29:42] Speaker B: I'm going to just talk to you about the first one real quick. Love the church. [00:29:46] Speaker A: I thought, okay, that's. That's what we're supposed to do as pastors. No. [00:29:50] Speaker B: Jesus said, he has these conversations with me. Jesus said, no, love the church like I love the church. Go lay your life down, okay? [00:30:01] Speaker A: Not knowing that this church was taught [00:30:04] Speaker B: the fear of God, not the love of God. He didn't save us from a distance. He moved in. [00:30:14] Speaker A: He didn't stay in heaven and show instructions. He came where we are. He lived in our brokenness. He touched the untouchables. [00:30:23] Speaker B: So an example is when I first came there, Pastor. It wasn't our pastor at the time, Ben. Ben was in a mission field. He was actually at a Bible college in Jacksonville. [00:30:35] Speaker A: And so I couldn't wait to meet him. I go up to his mom all the time. Oh, I can't wait to meet Ben. I can't wait to meet Ben. [00:30:41] Speaker B: And I don't even know Ben. [00:30:43] Speaker A: I couldn't pick him out of a lineup. I don't even know who he is. [00:30:45] Speaker B: But when I looked at the church, I finally. The scales were coming off and my eyes were looking at this church. I'm going, I need Ben. [00:30:53] Speaker A: I need Ben. So he comes in, he comes back, and he sits down with me. I'm the new pastor, and I meet Ben for the first time, and I'm all excited. And I say, oh, wow. He's on the mission field. He's living in the bush with the lions and everything, and he's going to come back on fire. [00:31:09] Speaker B: And I say, oh, man, he's going [00:31:10] Speaker A: to take over the youth, because we don't have any youth. [00:31:13] Speaker B: He sits down in my office. [00:31:15] Speaker A: I start talking to him, and he [00:31:16] Speaker B: says, pastor, do you know how depressing it is here? I said, ben, these are your parents. [00:31:27] Speaker A: These are your aunts and uncles. This is your family. [00:31:31] Speaker B: It's pretty depressing. [00:31:35] Speaker A: God, my only hope. [00:31:39] Speaker B: Two years after he comes back. Mother comes up to me, she says, you know why we're still here? I said, why? Out of this stuff, I could get emotionally and cry because it's so. She goes, we're still here because you loved my son before you ever met him. Okay, I know what love means. God, you need to start loving people even before you meet them. Your community like you. You could have a parent come to your church, a mom, maybe a single mom, or even a couple that's married and. But their children don't come. You ever talk to them and ask them, hey, how's your. How's your son doing? How's your daughter doing? How's your husband doing? [00:32:30] Speaker A: I can't wait to see them. I can't wait to meet them. Man, I love to go out and [00:32:35] Speaker B: have a cup of coffee. [00:32:35] Speaker A: This is what I did with all these young people. Like, I'm 58 years old. God brings me into this church as like, oh, my Lord, 58 years old. And I'm hanging out with 16 year olds. And they're loving it. Why I had been. And I can say it because he said it from the pulpit. He goes, pastor Tom taught me how [00:32:52] Speaker B: to love my father. [00:32:56] Speaker A: I had a Slavic pastor come up to me who's in our church now. He says, do you know why people keep on coming here? [00:33:02] Speaker B: I said, hopefully for Jesus. And he says, yeah, but they come here because you have shown them the father's love. [00:33:14] Speaker A: I'm 40 years old. [00:33:17] Speaker B: I've never been taught the Father's love. [00:33:19] Speaker A: He's a pastor [00:33:24] Speaker B: love. [00:33:26] Speaker A: There's a difference between loving the church [00:33:27] Speaker B: and showing them the Father's love. I gotta go on. I just use this one because my 30 minutes are up. He says, they're a diamond I already created. I said, okay, God, what do you mean? He goes, you don't get to create this church. They're a diamond I created. You don't get to create them. Every diamond is unique with no two being exactly alike due to the combination of the natural characteristics and the cutting process. [00:33:58] Speaker A: Isn't that just like us? [00:33:59] Speaker B: We are unique. Psalm 139, 13. You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. [00:34:08] Speaker A: Every one of us are unique and different. We are created by God down to the very atoms and molecules of our DNA. [00:34:16] Speaker B: He goes, I'm sending to you to [00:34:18] Speaker A: a church that's my people. I created them. I created them. Jesus said, they're mine. They're mine. Your job is to uncover all the spiritual dirt that means religion, traditions, wrong teaching, the hurts, the failures they feel, the betrayals, the offenses that prevents them from seeing Me, the loving Father. You do all the dirty work. If you're not dirty every day spiritually, because you're digging down and you're finding out, how can I empower this person? How can I love this person more? What do they need? What can I give them them? How can I encourage them? How can I lift them up? How can I walk into the like he says? That's all your job is. Let them see me. I didn't create them to look like you, act like you, worship like you, pray like you, serve like you, or give like you. Jesus said, I sent you to Calvary to look like me and act like me so they could see me. Jesus, that's all I sent you there for. Don't make it harder than it is. I just want to encourage you. So I'm going to end with this. [00:35:34] Speaker B: I didn't even get the shepherding. Maybe that'll be another time. But I want to encourage you the story, you know, walking into that church, April, we've been there 10 years. Two years ago, like Pastor Phil said, New Life Church that I was at, they called me and said, would you come back and pastor our church? I said, pray to both of my wife and I. I said, no, we won't come back to pastor the church, but if you want to come under us, we'll pastor both churches and I'll send my associates and myself down and we'll cover you. But that's your church. I was there 40 years, man. I could have just said, got my church. Only took 10 years, but I got my church back. God said, it ain't your church. I said, okay. I said, I'm not going to take your church over. You keep your identity. It's you. But I will come and we'll pastor this. Long story short, two years into it, about a year into it, they said, we'd like to ask Pastor Oleg, your associate, to pastor the church. Okay, you're only taking my best, but that's okay. I only got two, and you took one of them. And Pastor Oleg and Leanna, beautiful couple. My spiritual son, he told me, was in my office one day. He says, I want you to be my spiritual father. I want you to love me like you love your children, and I want you to discipline me like you discipline your children. That's what God. That's what we gave away. And so I said, fine, we're going to send him Down. The reason why they called me this again, you know, like, I've had to work with a lot of the elders of the church. I talked to Josh Finley. I was going through this, and he says the reason why they called you back because you have no blood on your hands. Integrity. I'm not standing up here and saying as a proud, it hurts. It's humbling. But, you know, it's more humbling as a pastor to be able to send one of your best to the church that I grew up in. I get goosebumps thinking about it. That's got to be your attitude as young pastors. Who am I raising? Who am I mentoring? Who am I loving like that father did on that island? Who? They're a diamond that he's already created. I don't get them to create like me or sing like me or want to be like me. I just uncover everything that stops them from seeing Jesus. It doesn't get any better than that. Just as bow your heads and then the musician come up. Father, we just thank you for this time of God. Again, humbling time for myself. But your word penetrates the hearts of everyone. God, we just thank you. Lord, you are preparing these young pastors for what you have prepared for them. There's nothing better than that. What you have prepared for them, God, let it be imparted into them this morning. Everything from Josh and Pastor Phil and this message. God, they don't have to do it alone, but they're going to have to be broken. Be men and women of integrity, love. Give them the father's love. Don't create them. Just uncover everything that stops them from seeing Jesus. And he has blessed our church immensely. We have three teaching pastors, an associate [00:39:42] Speaker A: pastor, [00:39:44] Speaker B: all our young people. No one was there. All our young people now, they weren't even in church when I got there. And now they're all leaders. Most of our leaders, probably 90%, are 30 and younger. God said, you'll get the parents if you get the kids. Go after the next generation. Like Josh said, this is generational. This isn't about today. This is about many years down the road. Father, instill that in our hearts this morning. In Jesus name, amen. [00:40:21] Speaker C: Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of season two of the well, we hope that you enjoyed the message that was shared and we would love it if you would take a minute to like and subscribe. See you next week.