¤ ¤ 00:00:01.06\00:00:30.58 Hello, and welcome back to Issues and Answers. 00:00:30.62\00:00:33.81 Today again we want to talk with you about building bridges. That 00:00:33.85\00:00:39.64 just seems to be something that is very important today because 00:00:39.68\00:00:45.26 we as Christians need to be in the bridge building business. 00:00:45.29\00:00:50.80 Maybe you've never seen yourself as being in that business, but I 00:00:50.84\00:00:55.32 think we all should be. And when we go to work for the Lord, 00:00:55.35\00:01:00.06 building bridges in his name, bridges of love and compassion 00:01:00.10\00:01:04.87 and concern and interest and helpfulness to people around us 00:01:04.91\00:01:09.90 he is there with us. I love this text from Deuteronomy 28:12. 00:01:09.94\00:01:15.78 He says that he will bless the work of your hands. HE will 00:01:15.81\00:01:21.58 bless the work of your hands, so we know it's going to be blessed 00:01:21.62\00:01:26.51 and when it's blessed it has much greater meaning and much 00:01:26.54\00:01:32.40 greater power for eternity than anything you or I could do. 00:01:32.43\00:01:36.95 So we're glad you're with us. Our guests, I'm glad that you're 00:01:36.98\00:01:42.57 with us too. Tim Garrison from Southern California, Camarillo, 00:01:42.60\00:01:48.16 thanks for coming. And Bill McClendon from Oklahoma. 00:01:48.19\00:01:53.60 Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa. You know both of you are 00:01:53.63\00:01:58.97 building bridges. Both of you have a unique calling and 00:01:59.01\00:02:07.47 empowerment. Well I'm excited, Ruthie, to be 00:02:07.50\00:02:11.23 here with Bill because we're both church planters and so 00:02:11.27\00:02:16.39 we've talked a little bit about our common experience and it's 00:02:16.43\00:02:20.75 thrilling to really talk about the joys of planting church, the 00:02:20.79\00:02:25.08 environment it creates and the way in which with church 00:02:25.11\00:02:28.15 planting you can build bridges to people. 00:02:28.18\00:02:31.62 Now a church planter doesn't pastor a church in the same way 00:02:31.66\00:02:36.32 that a pastor of an established church works, is that right? 00:02:36.36\00:02:40.59 Well that's correct. I mean in a church plant you're out in the 00:02:40.63\00:02:44.22 community and you're starting from scratch. You have a small 00:02:44.26\00:02:47.69 group of people, sure, but you're establishing that church 00:02:47.72\00:02:51.12 for the first time in that community. 00:02:51.15\00:02:52.76 And you go to a community where there has not been a church 00:02:52.80\00:02:56.78 before. That's correct, that's right. 00:02:56.81\00:02:58.21 Because you're needed in that community, but the people of the 00:02:58.25\00:03:01.51 community don't know that they need you. 00:03:01.54\00:03:03.97 So you have to, I mean, you're forced to build bridges to 00:03:04.01\00:03:09.40 the community because your livelihood, your sense of 00:03:09.43\00:03:12.74 accomplishment, your establishing that church is all 00:03:12.77\00:03:16.01 dependent upon the degree to which you utilize the power of 00:03:16.05\00:03:21.30 prayer, your relationship with God to create a special place in 00:03:21.33\00:03:26.55 that community. Don't you believe that God 00:03:26.58\00:03:28.55 really wants us to expect big things from him. I think that he 00:03:28.59\00:03:35.03 is disrespected and dishonored when it's like coming to the 00:03:35.06\00:03:41.24 ocean to get water and you're carrying a teaspoon. I don't 00:03:41.27\00:03:46.38 believe that that's honoring to him. I believe he wants us to 00:03:46.42\00:03:50.98 expect something enormous, something that only he can do. 00:03:51.01\00:03:55.50 Otherwise he's not glorified. Bill, I want to ask you, in your 00:03:55.54\00:04:00.71 ministry as a church planter, how has God confirmed to you 00:04:00.74\00:04:05.90 that he had people out there who needed him and he brought the 00:04:05.93\00:04:11.06 two of you together? 00:04:11.09\00:04:13.00 Ruthie, my experience started out as just a person who really 00:04:13.04\00:04:16.80 wasn't even a Christian and shortly after I became a 00:04:16.83\00:04:20.29 Christian and became a part of a church, I was just so excited 00:04:20.33\00:04:23.61 about what God had done in my life as I was looking around 00:04:23.65\00:04:26.69 month after month, year after year I wasn't seeing the church 00:04:26.72\00:04:30.71 growing. You know, good people, very busy doing things but yet 00:04:30.74\00:04:35.13 the church wasn't growing and I just believed, again, reading 00:04:35.17\00:04:39.63 the book of Acts, learning about how the church started there 00:04:39.67\00:04:44.10 in those days, and I just believed that there were 00:04:44.13\00:04:46.60 hundreds and even thousands of people who wanted to hear the 00:04:46.64\00:04:50.46 gospel. So as I'm going through this experience and getting a 00:04:50.49\00:04:54.18 little bit discouraged and I was probably a lot of trouble to 00:04:54.22\00:04:57.55 some of the people in the church you know. Here's this young guy 00:04:57.59\00:05:00.89 all on fire. Now I don't know how many times they said ah 00:05:00.92\00:05:03.26 he'll calm down after a awhile. He'll become just like the rest 00:05:03.30\00:05:07.41 of us. You hear that but that's sad. 00:05:07.44\00:05:08.72 Yeah it is. It is. Well praise the Lord I 00:05:08.76\00:05:12.05 never really lost that and I kept... You know one of the 00:05:12.09\00:05:15.12 things that really happened and brought it home and made it 00:05:15.16\00:05:18.68 personal to me is I kept asking why doesn't the church do 00:05:18.71\00:05:21.74 something? Why doesn't the pastor do something? And finally 00:05:21.77\00:05:25.65 the Lord brought it back to me and said what are you doing 00:05:25.69\00:05:29.54 about it? And through a providence of God I was given 00:05:29.57\00:05:33.46 the opportunity, my wife and I, as a lay person, to start a 00:05:33.50\00:05:37.53 brand new church and the idea of church planting there in Tulsa, 00:05:37.57\00:05:42.22 Oklahoma. How big was it when you stepped 00:05:42.25\00:05:43.79 out to do this? How many people did you have with you? 00:05:43.83\00:05:47.81 The agreement was that we could take five families. Originally 00:05:47.85\00:05:50.59 they said we just want you and your wife to go and I thought 00:05:50.63\00:05:53.51 well she plays the piano and I preach but there wouldn't be 00:05:53.54\00:05:57.52 anybody to listen. Because we didn't want to hurt the existing 00:05:57.56\00:06:01.34 church and so we wanted to take a very small group. The other 00:06:01.38\00:06:06.21 reason is we wanted this DNA, we talk about DNA in church 00:06:06.24\00:06:10.36 planting. We wanted this not to looks just like the existing 00:06:10.40\00:06:14.48 church but we wanted it to have its own personality and it's 00:06:14.51\00:06:18.11 own mission. And so making it small we were able to do that. 00:06:18.14\00:06:22.80 Yeah, I think it's critical. Our group, we have 20, we went 00:06:22.83\00:06:27.46 through a process of meeting together first before we planted 00:06:28.58\00:06:32.91 the church to talk about our purpose, our goals, our vision 00:06:32.94\00:06:37.23 so that we were completely united before we ever held our 00:06:37.26\00:06:41.52 first public meeting. 00:06:41.55\00:06:42.58 And no group can look like another group and shouldn't have 00:06:42.61\00:06:45.87 to. But how did the Lord confirm this to you? 00:06:45.90\00:06:48.73 Well, a very similar experience. We picked up those five 00:06:48.77\00:06:52.14 families. There were about 20 or so on our very first Sabbath but 00:06:52.18\00:06:55.77 we spent six months praying and asking God. We didn't read a lot 00:06:55.81\00:06:59.37 of books. We didn't go to a lot of seminars about church 00:06:59.40\00:07:02.21 planting. I'm thankful I didn't because it probably would have 00:07:02.25\00:07:05.09 scared me off. I didn't know what I was getting into but it 00:07:05.13\00:07:08.83 just seems to make so much sense We'll just believe in God that 00:07:08.86\00:07:12.33 there are people that wanted to hear about the gospel and so we 00:07:12.36\00:07:15.80 stepped out in faith and our very first worship service I 00:07:15.83\00:07:20.02 think we had 27 people there, men, women and children. And we 00:07:20.05\00:07:24.14 were so excited. You'd have thought it was a church of 2000 00:07:24.17\00:07:27.83 the way that we worshipped and what we had put together. But 00:07:27.86\00:07:31.22 you know you talked about asking big things from God. Before we 00:07:31.26\00:07:35.78 ever held our first worship service, it was our hope and our 00:07:35.82\00:07:40.31 prayer that we would grow to 100 people in the first year and 00:07:40.35\00:07:45.09 300 by the third year, 500 by the fifth year. We weren't even 00:07:45.12\00:07:48.94 sure if we were going to survive and we'd already been asking God 00:07:48.97\00:07:52.76 for 500 people after five years. 00:07:52.79\00:07:54.71 Don't you think he likes that? 00:07:54.74\00:07:56.59 Well he does. I think God really asks us to be visionary, to have 00:07:56.63\00:08:03.07 a sense of what he can accomplish, not what we can 00:08:03.10\00:08:05.55 accomplish, but what he can accomplish. 00:08:05.58\00:08:08.15 Bill tell us about this tennis player. How in the world did he 00:08:08.19\00:08:14.11 find Jesus? Wasn't that a God thing? 00:08:14.14\00:08:15.97 You know, everything about church planting and growing 00:08:16.01\00:08:20.31 God's church is a God thing. If we think we can make it happen 00:08:20.35\00:08:23.82 I think God has a way of setting us straight very quickly. Our 00:08:23.85\00:08:28.90 church started with the focus of reaching people and so that was 00:08:28.94\00:08:32.86 what the church was going to be about. There's a lot of things 00:08:32.90\00:08:36.77 that we can do in a church to keep us busy but it wasn't about 00:08:36.80\00:08:39.97 that. We wanted to be a church that would be focused on winning 00:08:40.01\00:08:43.81 the lost and because of that we've adopted a very aggressive 00:08:43.84\00:08:49.01 evangelistic program. We're always inviting people to study 00:08:49.05\00:08:54.19 the Bible, to study about prophecy, to learn about the 00:08:54.22\00:08:57.64 second coming and as a result of that we had an encounter with a 00:08:57.68\00:09:02.35 young man who... God was working independently. You know, so 00:09:02.38\00:09:07.08 often when we get ready to do an evangelistic meeting we find 00:09:07.11\00:09:11.37 out that God has been at work way ahead. I've had so many 00:09:11.41\00:09:14.68 people that walk in the very first night and say I want to be 00:09:14.71\00:09:17.89 a member here, I want to be baptized. And I'm thinking to 00:09:17.93\00:09:21.04 myself, look you don't even know anything yet. We haven't shared 00:09:21.08\00:09:24.79 anything only to find out that God got there ahead of us and 00:09:24.82\00:09:28.50 they were ready. 00:09:28.53\00:09:29.56 I like something that I heard about you, maybe you told us, 00:09:29.59\00:09:34.80 but you are an evangelistic group that does church rather 00:09:34.83\00:09:39.93 than a church that does evangelism. That really says our 00:09:39.96\00:09:45.03 priority is singular here. 00:09:45.06\00:09:47.02 The gospel commission is go ye into all the world and teach and 00:09:47.06\00:09:51.41 baptize and make disciples. It doesn't say go ye into all the 00:09:51.45\00:09:55.99 world and have church. And I think that too often we keep 00:09:56.02\00:10:00.49 that as our main purpose, just worshipping together every week 00:10:00.53\00:10:05.31 and it's a big part of what we do but it's not the most 00:10:05.34\00:10:08.54 important thing we do. We're not called to worship, we're called 00:10:08.58\00:10:13.30 to serve. We worship as we go. So we have tried to keep that 00:10:13.34\00:10:17.49 our focus and the Lord has blessed. You know I set those 00:10:17.53\00:10:21.77 big goals that we have on our third anniversary. We baptized 00:10:21.81\00:10:26.02 our 300th member. In our fifth year, not on our fifth 00:10:26.05\00:10:27.08 anniversary, but in our fifth year we baptized our 500th 00:10:30.32\00:10:34.77 person. Then it makes me wonder what if we'd asked for 1000. 00:10:34.81\00:10:39.23 You know, what could God have done? 00:10:39.26\00:10:41.72 And in your area you have the population. 00:10:41.76\00:10:45.29 That's correct. We have 844 in our town. 00:10:45.32\00:10:48.78 It's interesting. I identify so much with what Bill is saying 00:10:48.82\00:10:52.90 in terms of a church plant really provides a place where 00:10:52.93\00:10:56.87 you can be evangelistic every week and that's the thing about 00:10:56.91\00:11:01.44 established churches. They need to really look at that. To what 00:11:01.47\00:11:06.08 extent is there worship service an outreach service? To what 00:11:06.11\00:11:10.36 extent is it a service that when somebody comes in from the 00:11:10.39\00:11:14.12 community that they feel immediately comfortable and that 00:11:14.16\00:11:17.82 they are connected with what's going on there. It's not just an 00:11:17.86\00:11:21.93 internal, sort of exclusive language that only a certain 00:11:21.96\00:11:24.62 kind of people understand? Is it a safe place? 00:11:24.65\00:11:27.41 Yes is it a safe place? Exactly. So like you say evangelism is an 00:11:27.45\00:11:35.11 attitude or state of mine. Building bridges is an attitude, 00:11:35.14\00:11:38.88 a state of mind where everything you do really focuses in on 00:11:38.92\00:11:42.63 whether or not it's reaching that community person. 00:11:42.66\00:11:45.11 I like what a pastor friend of mine did when he had a little 00:11:45.15\00:11:48.79 team that would go out and clean restrooms. They cleaned 00:11:48.83\00:11:52.40 restrooms in businesses and he went into this carpet store one 00:11:52.44\00:11:57.06 day. He had on yellow rubber gloves and he had his little 00:11:57.09\00:11:59.86 tray with all his stuff in it to clean and he walked in and he 00:11:59.90\00:12:04.23 said to this manager, we'd like to just clean your restrooms. 00:12:04.26\00:12:08.38 She looked at him and she kind of you know like are you some 00:12:08.42\00:12:12.70 kind of idiot. She said I ought to call the police on you. And 00:12:12.74\00:12:16.96 he kind of smiled because I could see my rubber-gloved hands 00:12:17.00\00:12:21.15 with hand cuffs. He just kind of looked at her and smiled and she 00:12:21.19\00:12:26.57 said to him, Well all right. If it makes you happy go and do it. 00:12:26.61\00:12:32.10 So he said to his team, let's do a really good job and let's get 00:12:32.13\00:12:37.04 out of here. We are not going to annoy this woman. So they did 00:12:37.08\00:12:41.01 their work and when they left everything was shining and spic 00:12:41.04\00:12:45.45 and span. When he came back going out to the main entrance 00:12:45.49\00:12:49.81 to leave, she looked at him, she saw him. She said sit down! 00:12:49.85\00:12:53.92 He said I felt like I was a teenager again called on the 00:12:53.95\00:12:57.95 carpet to the principal. He said I sat down and I was wondering 00:12:57.99\00:13:02.46 what is coming next? She said just wait. Well she was waiting 00:13:02.49\00:13:06.48 on a customer. When she was finished she came over and sat 00:13:06.52\00:13:10.47 down beside him. This time her attitude was totally different. 00:13:10.51\00:13:14.43 She had been gruff and the manager and intimidating. 00:13:14.46\00:13:21.52 And now her attitude was open and she said I was thinking 00:13:21.56\00:13:26.57 while you were in there cleaning our restrooms, I wonder if I 00:13:26.61\00:13:31.78 would fit in a church where people go just to be helpful? 00:13:31.82\00:13:35.98 Just go and clean somebodies restroom just to be helpful. 00:13:36.01\00:13:41.46 She said I'm 26 years old. I'm single, I have a daughter, I'm 00:13:41.50\00:13:47.13 addicted to drugs, my life is a mess and she said I just wonder 00:13:47.16\00:13:52.26 if I would fit in your church. And he looked at her and smiled 00:13:52.30\00:13:57.45 and he said, (I love his answer) he said, you know I think you 00:13:57.48\00:14:02.60 would absolutely fit in our church, but if you didn't he 00:14:02.63\00:14:07.03 said we would start a new church for addicted carpet store 00:14:07.06\00:14:12.92 managers. Isn't that good? And she smiled but she started 00:14:12.96\00:14:18.75 coming to church because he was just out there where she was and 00:14:18.79\00:14:25.53 wanting to meet and to be helpful. And you never know when 00:14:25.56\00:14:30.85 somebody is almost attacking you maybe that's the person the Holy 00:14:30.89\00:14:35.75 Spirit is really working on. 00:14:35.78\00:14:37.16 Well, yeah, I think people are really desperate for someone 00:14:37.20\00:14:40.49 that will listen to them and somebody that will just hear 00:14:40.52\00:14:43.74 their story and if people will just start the day with a prayer 00:14:43.78\00:14:48.82 that says let me be sensitive to others. Let me be willing to 00:14:48.85\00:14:53.95 listen, it's amazing what will happen. Let me tell you about 00:14:53.98\00:14:58.84 nine-year-old Sawyer. When we first hung out our banner and 00:14:58.87\00:15:02.98 had our first service, why he came in the door from the 00:15:03.02\00:15:07.06 neighborhood without his parents just him. He saw the sign and 00:15:07.10\00:15:11.55 he was curious. He began attending week after week after 00:15:11.58\00:15:15.58 week. The neat thing about a church plant, and I think Bill 00:15:15.62\00:15:18.91 will confirm this, is that when somebody comes in your door 00:15:18.94\00:15:22.39 you're just grateful that they are there for one and if they 00:15:22.42\00:15:25.59 offer to do something you're just grateful they offered. 00:15:25.63\00:15:28.77 Because you can always use help. 00:15:28.80\00:15:30.29 You can always use help. Nine- year-old Sawyer, bless his heart 00:15:30.33\00:15:35.23 he wanted to be helpful so we allowed him to be a greeter out 00:15:35.26\00:15:38.88 in the parking lot as people would come. He goes out and he 00:15:38.92\00:15:43.89 greets them, hands them a program, and he loves it, and 00:15:43.93\00:15:48.91 not only that but the people who come love to see him. When 00:15:48.95\00:15:52.72 he can't make it for one reason or another they always ask well 00:15:52.75\00:15:58.46 where is Sawyer this week. Well just a few months ago he is now 00:15:58.50\00:16:04.18 14 years old, he's attended for five years and I had the 00:16:04.21\00:16:08.11 privilege of baptizing Sawyer because of the relationship, the 00:16:08.15\00:16:13.14 bridge, that we built and openness that we had to this 00:16:13.17\00:16:16.29 young man who simply wanted to serve the Lord. 00:16:16.32\00:16:18.79 Wow. I love that story. I want to come back to you because I 00:16:18.83\00:16:25.89 heard you tell the story about this pro tennis player and that 00:16:25.92\00:16:32.18 is such an example of the Lord working all of the way at every 00:16:32.22\00:16:38.08 step with you and with him. I just want our viewers to hear 00:16:38.11\00:16:43.94 that. You're not going to let me get 00:16:43.97\00:16:46.16 with it? No I'll come back to this. 00:16:46.19\00:16:48.31 Yeah, we do several evangelistic campaigns a year and we're 00:16:48.35\00:16:52.81 always praying that God will bless. You have to believe that 00:16:52.85\00:16:56.93 God's going to work because you're out there; you're out of 00:16:56.96\00:17:00.69 the boat, you're on the end of a limb and you just believe that 00:17:00.72\00:17:04.11 God's going to do something. This was no different than any 00:17:04.14\00:17:07.46 other meeting that we had and it was unusual that we were having 00:17:07.50\00:17:11.07 a meeting in a hotel. Night by night I would come out and I'd 00:17:11.10\00:17:15.08 share the Bible and this young man, Joshua, came in first 00:17:15.11\00:17:17.08 night and he sat on the first row. If you want to be noticed 00:17:17.12\00:17:19.40 by a preacher sat on the first row. If you want to be noticed 00:17:19.43\00:17:21.84 by a preacher sit on the first row. So many people want to sit 00:17:21.87\00:17:25.07 in the back. But he sat on the front row. Then I preached to 00:17:25.10\00:17:27.70 him. You know I preach to the people on the front row. Night 00:17:27.73\00:17:30.40 by night, you know, he's nodding and enjoying all this, the 00:17:30.44\00:17:33.13 second night, the third night and the fourth night. Well we 00:17:33.17\00:17:36.18 got kind of into the program and we hit a subject where I was 00:17:36.21\00:17:39.32 going to begin to talk to them about making a decision, making 00:17:39.35\00:17:42.56 it personal and suddenly the next night Joshua isn't there. 00:17:42.59\00:17:48.14 And I'm crushed, because even though it wasn't really that 00:17:48.18\00:17:52.12 personal but you'd just see the potential of what someone can 00:17:52.16\00:17:56.06 be. So for the rest of the meeting Joshua didn't come. 00:17:56.10\00:17:58.98 Well it turns out a week or so after the meeting I get a phone 00:17:59.02\00:18:04.22 call and it's Joshua. Joshua had been out of town and he was in 00:18:04.26\00:18:08.10 town and he attended the seminar but he said I had to leave and I 00:18:08.13\00:18:11.11 want the rest of it. Do you have it on tape? Do you have is some 00:18:11.14\00:18:14.28 way I can get it. So we made an appointment and we met together 00:18:14.32\00:18:17.74 and I gave it to him and I just extended the invitation for 00:18:17.77\00:18:21.30 Joshua to be a part of our church family and he just could 00:18:21.33\00:18:24.93 come and worship with us. So I wasn't sure where it would go 00:18:24.96\00:18:28.98 but Joshua took the things that I had given him and I guess it 00:18:29.02\00:18:32.53 was a couple weeks later he called and said would it be okay 00:18:32.57\00:18:36.11 if I started attending your church. And I said well sure! 00:18:36.14\00:18:39.61 Joshua came in and he sat right on the front row, which you know 00:18:39.65\00:18:44.22 doesn't have a lot of people in it. So week by week he stayed in 00:18:44.26\00:18:47.87 there and finally Joshua wants to make an appointment. He said 00:18:47.90\00:18:51.57 I've got to tell you a story. As I made this appointment with 00:18:51.60\00:18:55.52 Joshua it just confirmed to me how God works. Joshua is a young 00:18:55.55\00:18:59.67 man who felt a call to ministry but he was also good at tennis. 00:18:59.70\00:19:04.71 And the life of a tennis player with the money and the girls 00:19:04.74\00:19:08.83 and Joshua was a young man and he just wanted that as well and 00:19:08.86\00:19:12.41 so he put that feeling that he was called to ministry aside and 00:19:12.45\00:19:16.60 he pursued his tennis career. I guess he'd done fairly well but 00:19:16.64\00:19:19.83 something happened in his life and he just went to his trainer 00:19:19.86\00:19:23.90 one day and he said I want to take a break. And Joshua was 00:19:23.93\00:19:27.94 surprised when his trainer said okay. 00:19:27.97\00:19:30.39 Usually these trainers are hard on you. 00:19:30.42\00:19:32.77 That's right. I don't know what he was doing but he was 00:19:32.81\00:19:36.35 traveling and he was traveling across the country and he 00:19:36.39\00:19:40.04 arrived at an airport and he gets on the plane and he goes 00:19:40.08\00:19:44.37 to one of the hubs to get on another plane. He goes across 00:19:44.40\00:19:48.62 the terminal or wherever it is and he gets on his new plane and 00:19:48.66\00:19:51.96 he realizes that he's forgotten his sport coat, the jacket, a 00:19:52.00\00:19:55.50 very expensive one. His plane is getting ready to leave and as 00:19:55.54\00:19:59.01 he's there at the counter he tells the person what has 00:19:59.04\00:20:02.66 happened and she says you don't have time. We're holding this 00:20:02.70\00:20:05.06 plane, you've got to get aboard. 00:20:05.09\00:20:07.84 Kind of like forget the coat. 00:20:07.87\00:20:10.55 Right. You just don't have time. Well some gentleman is listening 00:20:10.59\00:20:15.51 to this and as Joshua turns away and gets ready to get aboard, 00:20:15.54\00:20:19.22 he's an airport personnel like one of the people that work on 00:20:19.26\00:20:22.75 the tarmac. And he said you know this might sound funny but I 00:20:22.78\00:20:26.84 have a question for you. He said if I get your coat back will you 00:20:26.87\00:20:31.09 promise to go to church. And Joshua hadn't been to church and 00:20:31.12\00:20:34.62 Joshua wasn't going to church at the time. He didn't really 00:20:34.66\00:20:37.62 know what to say and he didn't even know how to respond to 00:20:37.66\00:20:40.55 this person and the guy repeated if I get your coat back do you 00:20:40.59\00:20:44.19 promise to go to church? And they're trying to board this 00:20:44.22\00:20:47.04 plane and Joshua is trying not to make a scene and he says sure 00:20:47.08\00:20:50.72 and so Joshua gets on board and he gets kind of near the back of 00:20:50.76\00:20:54.27 the plane, turns around and this guy is following him onto the 00:20:54.31\00:20:58.88 plane and as Joshua looks at him he says now I want you to make a 00:20:58.91\00:21:03.45 promise that if you get your coat back you promise to go to 00:21:03.48\00:21:07.36 church. And Joshua said okay. He just wanted this guy to go 00:21:07.40\00:21:11.21 away. This guy now very loud in front of the whole plane he says 00:21:11.25\00:21:15.96 you guys have heard him that if he gets his coat back he 00:21:15.99\00:21:18.84 promises to go to church. Joshua goes on, I think he was going to 00:21:18.88\00:21:21.80 New York. He goes to his hotel, he gets up in the morning and 00:21:21.84\00:21:25.16 his telephone rings and it's the concierge who said we have a 00:21:25.19\00:21:29.43 package for you. So Joshua goes down and he sees his coat in one 00:21:29.46\00:21:33.67 of the plastic dry cleaning covers and his phone rings. 00:21:33.70\00:21:37.01 He answers his phone and it's that gentleman and all he said 00:21:37.05\00:21:41.48 was did you get your coat back? Joshua says yes; he says 00:21:41.51\00:21:45.91 remember your promise. 00:21:45.94\00:21:48.41 So he must have known what hotel to send it to. 00:21:48.45\00:21:51.56 I don't all of the details but I've got to believe that guy 00:21:51.60\00:21:55.84 was an angel that God had placed in Joshua's life. Through a 00:21:55.87\00:22:01.01 number of other circumstances Joshua found himself in our 00:22:01.05\00:22:05.99 hotel the night our meetings started. So Joshua is telling 00:22:06.02\00:22:10.34 all this story and he says what do you think I ought to do? 00:22:10.38\00:22:13.77 And I said well Joshua what do you think God's calling you to 00:22:13.81\00:22:18.03 do. He said I think I'm to be a pastor. So I said well I think 00:22:18.07\00:22:22.82 so too. So he said can you give me some information. He said the 00:22:22.85\00:22:27.57 things I've learned in this meeting you know I believe them 00:22:27.60\00:22:30.81 all and so I want to teach what you've been teaching. I want to 00:22:30.85\00:22:34.03 do these kind of things. So I gave him a little bit of 00:22:34.06\00:22:36.72 information about some of our colleges and universities. He 00:22:36.76\00:22:40.45 took a trip. He came back and he said Andrews University, I 00:22:40.48\00:22:44.10 think that's where I want to go. And he said do you think you can 00:22:44.14\00:22:47.16 get me in. And I said well, I hate to say this, but I said 00:22:47.19\00:22:50.77 Joshua do have any money. Oh yeah I've got money. I said well 00:22:50.81\00:22:55.20 I think I can get you in. So it turns out that next weekend I 00:22:55.23\00:22:59.75 had the privilege of baptizing Joshua and within three or four 00:22:59.79\00:23:04.28 days he was on the campus of Andrews University doing his 00:23:04.31\00:23:07.25 undergraduate work but planning to go into the ministry. 00:23:07.28\00:23:10.15 You know Bill I love that story because it shows how God sees 00:23:10.19\00:23:17.11 every person as unique. God understands what the needs are. 00:23:17.14\00:23:23.14 I like Joshua's story but I like the way God put the two of you 00:23:23.18\00:23:29.15 together and you became a role model for him. As you were 00:23:29.18\00:23:34.09 teaching and preaching and you know sharing God's word the Holy 00:23:34.13\00:23:38.77 Spirit was saying this is what I want you to do. I want you to be 00:23:38.81\00:23:43.42 like Bill. You can do this. It's just amazing how God works. 00:23:43.45\00:23:47.28 You notice too that there's a chain of activity. In other 00:23:47.32\00:23:51.71 words Bill is a link in the chain. The airport worker is a 00:23:51.74\00:23:56.06 link in the chain. It all comes together as God uses each link. 00:23:56.10\00:24:02.55 When we pray to God let me be a link, let me be a piece of the 00:24:02.59\00:24:08.15 puzzle that connects somebody to you then we become a part 00:24:08.19\00:24:13.72 of that greater picture. 00:24:13.75\00:24:14.80 And the exciting thing of it is it is such a huge thing. I mean 00:24:14.84\00:24:19.96 any step of this is far beyond anything that human devising 00:24:19.99\00:24:25.08 could come up with. 00:24:25.11\00:24:26.14 You couldn't plan it. In so many spots I thought we had failed. 00:24:26.17\00:24:32.49 You know when Joshua wasn't at the meeting the first time. 00:24:32.52\00:24:35.11 Because we are so puny with our understanding. 00:24:35.14\00:24:39.08 That's right. You know as we were establishing 00:24:39.12\00:24:42.99 our church plant we had a lot of things that we needed to take 00:24:43.03\00:24:45.87 care of and get a lot of equipment. We were portable. 00:24:45.90\00:24:48.97 We had to get a truck and trailer and all the 00:24:49.01\00:24:52.35 accoutrements that go with it. So our group prayed and said 00:24:52.38\00:24:55.60 Lord we don't know how we're going to do this. We contacted 00:24:55.64\00:24:58.83 one company; it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars 00:24:58.86\00:25:03.02 to make it happen. Well we were put in touch through a series of 00:25:03.06\00:25:07.15 connections unbeknownst to us with a former evangelist's wife 00:25:07.19\00:25:12.20 who had a truck, a trailer and all the equipment that we needed 00:25:12.24\00:25:16.89 and it was up for sale. Here's the really amazing thing. The 00:25:16.92\00:25:21.54 daughter of that evangelist lives in the neighborhood 00:25:21.57\00:25:25.19 surrounding the school where we meet. Now you know that is not 00:25:25.23\00:25:30.77 circumstantial. That is not some isolated event. That is a series 00:25:30.80\00:25:36.31 of events that come together when you're willing to really 00:25:36.34\00:25:40.31 put your request before the Lord make a radical prayer and be 00:25:40.34\00:25:44.28 open to his guiding. 00:25:44.31\00:25:45.34 I think of the text in Psalm 20:5 that says that when you are 00:25:45.37\00:25:51.12 walking with the Lord he will give you the desires of your 00:25:51.16\00:25:56.86 heart and your plans will come true. The 20th chapter of Psalms 00:25:56.90\00:26:03.22 is so encouraging and you agree. You were giving the Lord a 00:26:03.26\00:26:08.15 certain number and the Lord said all right, We'll do it, We'll 00:26:08.19\00:26:12.38 work with you. You're serious. You believe me. And I really 00:26:12.42\00:26:17.10 believe that God wants to have us take him at his word. The 00:26:17.13\00:26:21.78 Bible says he's the same yesterday, today and forever. 00:26:21.81\00:26:25.18 Have you found, Bill, in your church planting experience that 00:26:25.22\00:26:29.32 as you go through each of these steps of faith and you see the 00:26:29.36\00:26:33.43 Lord work, that it strengthens you? 00:26:33.46\00:26:36.00 It's a faith-building experience. 00:26:36.04\00:26:38.51 Isn't it? It is. When the Lord takes you from 00:26:38.55\00:26:39.88 A to B you're not the same. 00:26:39.91\00:26:41.84 He gives you a lesson in faith and then he tests you. 00:26:41.88\00:26:46.13 That's right. But there are rewards at every step. 00:26:46.16\00:26:50.34 I can't believe we are just about out of time. But I want 00:26:50.38\00:26:54.34 to thank you for coming. It's been a blessing to hear your 00:26:54.37\00:26:58.30 stories. Will you come back? Of course. We promise. 00:26:58.33\00:27:02.05 Thank you Tim. Thank you Bill. Great to have you. 00:27:02.09\00:27:05.74 I believe that as you've been listening to this today that 00:27:05.78\00:27:12.36 the Holy Spirit has been saying to you, you are unique. You have 00:27:12.40\00:27:17.18 people around you who are unique. I can do the same in 00:27:17.21\00:27:21.33 your home, in your neighborhood, in your church. Ask me. Expect 00:27:21.37\00:27:26.55 me to work. I've promised in the first chapter of Psalms to give 00:27:26.59\00:27:32.21 you fruit, to plant you like a tree by a stream of living water 00:27:32.24\00:27:37.83 and give you fruit in season. We can stand on that promise 00:27:37.86\00:27:41.94 we can take it to the bank because of who has said it. 00:27:41.97\00:27:45.98 What a wonderful God we serve. Thank you for being with us. 00:27:46.02\00:27:50.62 We pray for you. God bless you. 00:27:50.65\00:27:53.83