Episode Transcript
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Travis Roehm (00:36):
Oh, no. This is gonna feel really familiar to
some of you guys.
Tony Liston (00:43):
We're gonna do a duet.
Travis Roehm (00:45):
No. We're not doing a duet. That's not what's
gonna feel familiar. So,obviously, this is a little bit
different. I feel like I'm,like, part of a game show or a
anyway.
This is gonna feel reallyfamiliar because it's an
anniversary that you knownothing about. So next year next
year is, 25 years for adventureor for yeah. For adventure.
(01:07):
Right?
Tony Liston (01:07):
Mhmm. Yep.
Travis Roehm (01:11):
So what is this anniversary?
Tony Liston (01:13):
This weekend, it was 24 years ago today that we
had our 1st public worshipservice. Isn't that crazy? And
it was 20 5 years ago this weekthat my family moved to
Davenport, not knowing what wewere getting into.
Travis Roehm (01:31):
So, you know, we'd spent some time just kinda
looking back on that, thinkingabout that, and, thought it'd be
fun. This is gonna be totallydifferent than one of our our
normal, Sunday morning services.But, I get to interview Tony. So
I got to interview Tony andSteph on Thursday, but Steph
bailed on us.
Tony Liston (01:47):
That was the better interview.
Travis Roehm (01:48):
Yeah. He was. And, so talk. Well, gee. I'm not I
have nothing to say about them.
So, so today, we just kind ofwant to talk a little bit about
about that. And and really, Iguess, it goes to why we're here
and what God has called us toaccomplish, because I think the
dream that God gave you guys 25years ago is still alive today.
(02:11):
And so, you know, these are goodmoments because they they help
us to kinda refocus. And, and Ihope you Thursday was really
neat for me because it's also anencouragement. Sometimes we need
those examples of stepping out alittle bit, and this is not to
put ton of your stuff on, like,this high pedestal.
(02:32):
But just to remember, sometimesthe great adventures are hopping
into a U Haul and, and drivingsomewhere you've never been
before. And I I wanna think ofit like the Clampetts where you
had stuff on the roof.
Tony Liston (02:46):
But, you know much different than that. Actually, I
got I got a little backstory foryour statement there. When we
moved to Iowa, we moved toAnkeny, Iowa. And, we moved
right after Christmas of 94, andwe started in Ankeny on January
1, 95. And on the drive up here,we stopped to get gas at Middle
(03:11):
Road in 74.
And, I got out and I got gasthere and I remember looking
around and I had this weirdthought as I'm standing there
pumping gas. And, of course, youremember that intersection was
really different back then, waydifferent back then. And I
remember standing there pumpinggas and looking around at the
(03:34):
town, and I don't know what itwas about it. And I got back in
the car and I told Steph she'llvouch for this. I told Steph,
this might be a good town towork in someday.
I wasn't sure where we were. Iknew we'd just crossed the state
line. I figured it was probablyDavenport, but that whole
Davenport Bettendorf thing stillconfuses me. I can't tell where
(03:57):
the where the city lines are.
Travis Roehm (03:58):
I call it 74. Anything on that side of 70 4,
any that's the 70
Tony Liston (04:02):
4 corridor. And, then when we drove north, I
looked over at 7. I said, goodlord. They have a castle.
Remember Jimer's?
I just thought that was funny.Never mind. Go ahead. Was that
it? Carry on.
Travis Roehm (04:19):
Yes. So going back a little going back to that. So
I know, you know, you've toldthe story a lot. And if you
haven't been to DiscoveringAdventure, you can hear this
part of the story. So the thestory of, you know, you guys
were in Ankeny, and, CEM invitedyou got you to come out.
Really wanted you to plant. Yousaid no. And you came out to do
(04:40):
a bit of a survey for them andand fell in love with the area
and again you can fill in those.I know you've told that story
100 and 100 of times over thelast 25 years. But kinda looking
at that maybe from a differentperspective.
So how do you looking back now,going back 25 years, how did god
prepare, you and Steph for forthis? And then I guess and then
(05:04):
on the other side of that, thesecond part of that question is,
how do you think that God waspreparing the Quad Cities in
Davenport for adventure?
Tony Liston (05:11):
Yeah. Sure. We Steph and I had, we'd worked
traditional churches all of ourlives, and everything was about
preserving the status quo as itwas. And you weren't allowed to
try anything new. In fact, ifyou tried anything new I
remember I remember, a boardmeeting at a former church, and
(05:35):
I had bought a carpet, just abig piece of rug for the
entryway because people weretracking dirt in.
And the next, elders meeting wehad, I got my rear end reamed
out for buying a $30 carpet forthe front of the room, for the
entryway, which made it lookmuch nicer. And I thought then,
I'm going to die here, And it'snot gonna be a natural death.
(05:59):
And I just thought, we've got ifwe can't even change anything a
little bit, how in the world dowe connect with new people? And,
I'd always liked the security ofbeing in an established church
because it's quite secure. Theydon't change, which is both good
and bad.
But as that went on, it was justeating my soul out. We had a lot
(06:24):
of friends that weren'tbelievers and also wouldn't
attend our church. Even thoughthey'd come to our they'd come
to our apartment for biblestudy, but they wouldn't come to
our church. We thought, this isjust not working. And I finally
just got to a point where Icouldn't do it anymore.
And, I actually went and did anapplication at Menards, because
that's how serious I was aboutgetting out. But, we the one
(06:49):
good thing that came out of thatparticular congregation was Ron
and Shelly Wicks. They werehere. They came to adventure and
helped us out, after we moved.After Ron started speaking to me
again.
I was
Travis Roehm (06:59):
gonna say after he forgave you.
Tony Liston (07:00):
Right? He forgave me for leaving. But, the thing
we loved about the Quad Cities,we kind of loved its
unchurchedness, I guess, wouldbe the way to put it. There was
a a big demographic study donethat said 71% of the people of
Scott County were consideredunchurched. And by unchurched,
(07:20):
it means they didn't claim,like, I'm Lutheran, but I don't
go.
They didn't claim a church atall. And to us, we saw that
that's an area that needs tohear the gospel and we need to
find a way that is not we needto find a way that actually
works to do that. And so I thinkwhen we came over, we were at
the right point in our lives,and willing to take a risk. And
(07:43):
Scott County was honestly, at atthe right point in its life too
in development, and it's justbeen a blessing since it worked.
I think, kind of, the rightplace at the right time.
So
Travis Roehm (07:55):
You know, we we kinda this wasn't a question, by
the way, that I did Thursdaynight, so this is totally off
time. My head. Yeah. Yep. Sothis is an adventure.
You know, we romanticize the thedisciples. We romanticize
everything as we look back onit. We put halos over their
heads and stained glass. And,you know, I think a lot of us
read the gospels, and we lookand go, well, they had it all
together, and the beginning ofthe church just went, and it
(08:18):
grew because we read where itwent 1,000. And I have a feeling
there probably it's easy to lookat where adventure is now and
go, well, of course it was gonnabe a success.
And, of course, you know, itthis and, of course, that. So
just out of curiosity, so howscared were you coming here and
what were your biggest fears?
Tony Liston (08:39):
Well, I'd say that over the first 5 years of living
in Davenport, I probably, about2:30 in the morning, vomited
twice my body weight in themiddle of the night from nerves.
It was just it was scary, and wedidn't know what we were getting
into. And I would have peoplewould ask, and they'd say, well,
(08:59):
what's your goal? Is it youknow, what what's your immediate
goal as a church planner? And Iwould tell them, well, to be
alive when it's over, to be ableto have church next Sunday.
That's my next goal. And, it wasit was it was kinda terrifying.
I knew the first day that forsure that there would be 4
(09:19):
people there because Steph and Iwere making Josh and Caleb come
with us. And, so when we whenwe, had people show up, that,
you know, that felt pretty good.But I'll tell you what, we were
making it up as we went along.
And we made a lot of changesfrom what we thought was gonna
happen. We made a lot ofchanges. A lot of them were
(09:41):
good. Our prayer was you know,at first, we were praying, God,
bring us people. They brought uspeople and he brought us some
weirdos.
Not gonna lie. One of the darklittle secrets of church
planting is is that anybodywho's looking for a power vacuum
to get sucked into and take overwill come to a new church. And
(10:02):
so that first wave of people,new church is often sick and
perverted. And, we had some ofthat, at the beginning, and then
we realized, oh, wait. We needto be more specific.
Lord, bring us the right people.And, then you guys started
showing up. And, so that's youknow, that was kind of a change
(10:23):
of plans, but it was it wasgood. I wouldn't trade it for
anything. Don't really everwanna do it again, but wouldn't
trade it for anything.
But it did not go according toplan, but it went according to
God's plan. And that's the planwe were hoping to hoping to work
with.
Travis Roehm (10:39):
So I I know and I've had the opportunity to work
with Centimeters and and churchplanners. You've worked with
many, many, many churchplanners. And one of the things
that we know for sure is, thepeople who are people who are
planting the church, you know, alot of the DNA ends up of the
church is is from them. But thesame time, that early group that
kinda comes in for, really, thefirst probably 3 years or so
(11:02):
really sets the DNA for achurch. So who are the people
when you look at what adventureis now?
Whose DNA do you see? And whatwhat did they what what other
people kinda contributed in? Andwhat what did they look like?
Tony Liston (11:13):
Sure. So one of the one of the fun things we did
when we were still meeting atCaissei. We met at Caissei. Yes.
Back before they did theremodel.
And, who
Travis Roehm (11:26):
who's still here? Anybody here from Caissei?
Tony Liston (11:28):
Anybody here? Not not going to Kaysai now.
Travis Roehm (11:30):
Yeah. Not going to Kaysai now, but, actually, we're
at Kaysai when yes. We still gotsome people.
Tony Liston (11:35):
Yeah. So I passed out cards one Sunday, and we're
probably running I can'tremember. I think we might have
been running about a 180 orsomething like that. I passed
out index cards in the service,and I asked people, write your
name at the bottom and write thename of the person who invited
you to adventure at the top. Andso they did.
And so I took all those cardsout. I got permission from Case
(11:57):
I had to go out in the middle ofthe night. So I went out on
their dance floor that they had,and I started putting cards in
clusters based on the name thatwas at the top of the card and
built basically a family tree ofwho came from who. And I found
that even at that time when wewere, running about a 180, that
(12:19):
everybody in the church could betraced back to 3 or 4 families
who were there at the beginning.And, honestly, I think if we did
the same thing today, it wouldprobably go back to about a half
dozen families that were thereat the beginning.
But that's just that DNA of thechurch growing and friends
inviting friends invitingfriends. And so it was really
(12:42):
interesting to see and, like, soour welcome center, when we
started it, it was just a placeto pick up stuff. I mean, there
wasn't even anybody there. And,then we had a couple named Tim
and Dina Golson. Some of you mayremember Tim and Dina.
He worked for Wells Fargo. Andafter about 2 years, they sent
him to Iowa City, and he's theone who started all the Wells
(13:04):
Fargo banks in Iowa City andCoralville and all that. He's an
adventurer. But, Tim and Dinatook over the welcome center and
made it a fantastic thing. Wehad a gal by the name of
Margaret Lewis who started ourcafe for us and really developed
the cafe into what it became.
And there's just a lot of stuffthat has been really good. Most
(13:27):
of the good things that havehappened at adventure have come
from people who came along withideas and and or my wife, to be
real honest. So that DNA is allthrough there, and we love it's
been allowed to modify and adaptand so forth as we've gone, but
it's just been so much funseeing things that happen. Our
(13:48):
technology stuff started with, agal named, Mitzi Yocum. And with
Mitzi, we used an infraredkeyboard so she could sit in the
crowd and run the computer,which was behind the screen out
in front of us.
And one of the things we hadn'tconsidered when we were at wood
was that fluorescent lights,like in a gymnasium, are sending
(14:09):
off an infrared signal. And sothe slides would randomly
change. And sometimes, theslides would go all the way
through, like, in 4 seconds.Every slide we have go all the
way through, and Mitzi would besitting on the front row. And so
I would make fun of her.
And then she would go up try tofigure out what it was. Then she
came up with the simplest ofsolutions, which was to put a
(14:31):
piece of duct tape over the topof the eye so that it couldn't
see the ceiling. But it onlytook us about 6 weeks to come up
with that and thousands ofslides we ran through in one
service one day. So, but youlook back at all that, and it's
just been so much fun becauseevery person who's come here and
has volunteered here has addedsomething to what we've done and
(14:54):
and help make it what it is.
Travis Roehm (14:57):
So scripture says that, every church, the word
like the body of Christ. So someof you are the fingers and toes
and legs and arms and eyeballsand all that stuff. But we also
kinda believe that about thechurch in an area as well. So
what part of the body isadventure in Davenport? I'm
scared to ask this question.
Tony Liston (15:14):
We tried to avoid one part. I've probably failed a
few times with that.
Travis Roehm (15:21):
Hopefully, we don't need to explain what that
is.
Tony Liston (15:23):
Yeah. I think probably in the community, we're
from what I I understand from mypastor friends and other people,
we're kind of seen as the handsand the feet and sometimes the
back, because Adventure has donea lot of heavy lifting in the
community, on all kinds ofthings. If there's something
needs to be done in thecommunity that, is church,
(15:45):
capital c, universal churchrelated, adventure people are
always in the middle of it.Always in the middle of it. And,
when we go do disaster reliefstuff, we have a bunch of other
churches that jump on with usand go because they can't do it
themselves, but they'll run withus.
So that's been fun. That's beengood.
Travis Roehm (16:06):
So this is kind of throw away, but give me one of
the funniest moments over thelast 25 years.
Tony Liston (16:13):
Well, probably what most people would consider.
Travis Roehm (16:17):
Sorry.
Tony Liston (16:17):
What most people would consider funny usually
involves bodily injury to meinjury to me. I don't know. I
mean, we've had so many weirdmoments, some good moments. Do
what? When you called usdingleberries.
Oh, yeah. I called everybody inthe church dingleberries one
day, and I did not know that wasa real word, nor did I know what
(16:41):
it meant. I just thought itsounded funny. And I went back
to sit down, and Nida Brookshanded me her phone with prove
that I was right when I said it.But, yeah.
(17:04):
So there's been I don't know.It's there's been a lot of funny
times. I I love our people. Weget we've had people get up and
give our testimonies. And asthey're giving their
testimonies, they drop the fbomb.
But as inappropriate as that is,it's still reality. Right? It's
people growing, and I've lovedthat. But we've had a lot of
(17:26):
we've just had a ton of funstuff. We've done so much stuff
wrong and figured it out afterthe fact, but, I don't know.
I I really can't isolate anyone.Thanks. Sorry.
Travis Roehm (17:37):
It's alright. How about I open up to you? Anybody
got a question for Tony about,kinda looking back over the last
25 years and thinking aboutadventure. We had some good
ones, Thursday night. Anybody?
I know I'm springing it on you.
Tony Liston (17:50):
How did we end up here?
Travis Roehm (17:52):
How did we end up here?
Tony Liston (17:53):
Oh, man. That's
Travis Roehm (17:56):
so We got I gotta go 13 minutes.
Tony Liston (17:58):
Got 13 minutes. Okay. I gotta go way back to
answer that question. When wefirst came to town, we had to
find a place for the church tomeet. And so the first place
that I went to look for a placeto meet was the Moose Club.
And so I came into the MooseClub, and they walked me back
down the hallway. It's It's thesecurity room now. And that was
(18:21):
I went into the office doorthere, into the nursery, which
we've rearranged the doors andstuff there, so it's kinda hard
to picture. But there was, like,3 offices across the front
there, and they took me into thefar office. And, the guy who was
in there was smoking a cigar,sitting behind a newspaper, and
the, gal that greeted me kind ofI don't know what her job was,
(18:43):
secretary or something, walkedme back there and said to him,
hey.
I got a guy here that wants torent, wants to rent, our dance
hall for having church in onSundays. And he didn't even
lower his paper. The smoke justcontinued to poof up over the
top like there was a steamengine behind the paper. And he
said, we don't rent to churchesfor anything, and that was the
(19:05):
extent of it. And, so we endedup eventually down well, we end
up starting down here at West ornot West.
Wood. Oh my goodness. Okay.Wood. Not gonna lie.
That was a good feeling. Downhere at wood. And, so during
that time, as we're looking fora place, we finally came to a
point to where we realized weneeded to do something
(19:28):
different. We knew we werewearing out everywhere we would
go. They would end up remodelingat some point, not because of
us, done a spiritual gifts classthat falls was in the fall of
2,005.
(19:52):
Their primary spiritual gift wasthe gift of craftsmanship. And
which means being able tocreate, develop, build, and so
forth things that contribute toworship and serving God. And the
most we'd ever had would be,like, 2 people maybe in a whole
class. Well, in this one, it was2 thirds of the class had that
spiritual gift. And So I satdown with the leadership team,
(20:13):
Mark and and Ron and, Greg.
And we're looking at this thinggoing, what does this mean? This
is just so far out there. Thisis bizarre. And so we talked
about it. We prayed about it andwe decided maybe what that's
telling us is it's time for usto get a building because we
have the people to deal with it.
(20:34):
And, so we decided let'sexplore. And so we opted to sell
bonds, And so we brought in acompany to sell bonds. Most
churches can't go get a loan atfirst. They have to have bonds.
And, which like people buyingstock in the church.
And so we, brought a guy in. Hetalked to everybody. We set up a
(20:54):
day for people to go and buybonds. And we sold out of all of
our bonds to buy this place,which we found, which was a
whole that'll take 30 minutes totell that story. But we were
able to, leverage our land,which we bought when we were a
couple years old as collateral.
And then with the bonds, we soldout of a $1,000,000 something in
(21:17):
bonds in about 45 minutes. Wedidn't know. And I walked back
in. I was like, one of the lastpeople have an appointment
because I was like being thehostess upfront. And, I walked
into the room and I said,alright.
And he goes, pastor, I gottatell you something. I said, Jan,
he goes, we don't have any bondsto sell you for your church.
They're all gone. His name wasDwayne. And I looked at him and
(21:40):
said, Dwayne, I cannot walk outof here without church bonds.
And so I bought bonds for achurch of Christ in Texas, and I
walked out with my paper going,I got my bonds. But we ended up
we ended up here because thisplace had been a school, and it
had failed. And it actually wentinto foreclosure. And we figured
(22:02):
out the bank that bought itback, and we talked to them, and
they sold it to us. And we wereable to buy it for about a third
of what the asking price was acouple days before.
And, so we moved in here, and Iused to have an office down the
hallway. Guess which office wasmine? The guys are going, we're
gonna give you this big offices,and I want the big office. I
(22:22):
want the office in the back.It's gonna smell like cigar
smoke.
And so that was my office for awhile. But God just opened a lot
of doors to get us in here. And,it's been a good home for us.
But it's it's a weird it's aweird room, but it's been a good
home for us.
Travis Roehm (22:39):
So what was the dream? I mean, you guys god's
Sure. You're in Ankeny. You'resorting through, and you talked
a little bit about this. Butwhat was the dream?
What was the prayer hopping inthe car and, and driving to
Davenport 25 years ago thisweekend.
Tony Liston (22:56):
Yeah. We just wanted to we wanted to make sure
that we could create a spacewhere new people could find find
Christ and find family. That wasour goal. That was everything
else was secondary to that. Thatwas literally the the goal.
We wanted to have a place thatpeople wanted to go to go to
church, especially my kids. And,that meant all the traditional
(23:21):
stuff was off the table, not thebiblical beliefs, but the way
we've done it. Because much ofwhat the church does today I
know a lot of churches wanna ripon the Catholic church, and we
have some significantdisagreements with the Catholic
church. But the reality is isthey still imitate the Catholic
church as much as they wannacomplain about it. And we
thought we need to findsomething that is more like
(23:42):
scripture and more like theearly church.
And one of the things we notedupfront was that the early
church, anytime Jesus did deepteaching, he did it sitting down
over food. And so that felt likethe best format for us to try to
follow, and, and it's it'sworked.
Travis Roehm (24:01):
So in 25 years, what's the prayer today? I mean,
you've gotten through that. Yourkids are here. Your grandkids
are here. You get to baptizeyour grandchild just, what, 2
weeks ago.
Tony Liston (24:12):
Yeah.
Travis Roehm (24:13):
So what's what's the prayer now?
Tony Liston (24:16):
The prayer is just that adventure keeps doing what
it needs to do to reach newgenerations and that, really, as
far as man made traditions go,that the one man made tradition
we need to keep is change. Weneed to hang on to that and
continue to change and continueto adapt. And I've said it's
kinda tongue in cheek and it'salso kinda true. I have my style
(24:39):
of music you like or I like. Youhave your style of music you
like.
My goal is that when I finallydie, that I die, and I leave
behind a church with whose musicI am completely uncomfortable. I
hope to absolutely hate themusic here by the time I die.
And the reason for that is thatit's outgrown me because it's
(24:59):
not about me. It's not about me.And it never has been about me.
And I want it to continue togrow and thrive and and change.
And, I just wanna see the churchbe healthy and continue on the
mission for as long as God willhave it.
Travis Roehm (25:15):
Considering your favorite music is bagpipes with,
with electric guitar over top ofit, I I I think you're safe.
Tony Liston (25:23):
I want you to know that we had the best Christmas
Eve service a couple years ago.I brought a bagpiper in to play
Christmas carols on ChristmasEve, and we sang with a
bagpiper. I'm seriously thinkingabout bringing him back, but,
like, for a Sunday in March,like, right around Saint
Patrick's Day.
Travis Roehm (25:44):
So and I've heard you mentioned before change is
kinda number 1 tradition, andand you see that. So we're 25
years in. We have no idea whatthe next 25 minutes holds. I
think 10 year plans are off thetable for I didn't think IBM's
making 10 year plans anymore.That that's out of that.
But as you look towards thefuture, what are some of the
(26:05):
what are 2 or 3 things that yousee that's that you think are
integral for us as we continueto move forward and continue
that that dream on that godplanted into into adventure
here? What are some things thatthat we need to be doing to to
kinda carry that dream on?
Tony Liston (26:22):
Well, I think we need to be sure that we're not
turning into some of the peoplethat we've resented in the past.
Mhmm. Because a lot of you'vecome from churches, or you've
visited churches, and you go,like, I can't stand that.
They're so lost in the past.Right now is the next
generation's past.
Right? And we need to not belocked into our comfort. We need
(26:42):
to be sure that we're able toadjust, and the theology is not
gonna change. What God says isright is still gonna be right.
What God says is wrong is stillgonna be wrong.
But how we deliver and what wedo can can modify, can adapt to
share. The world's becoming moreand more digital. And so I think
our ministry is gonna have tobecome more and more digital.
(27:03):
Music's gonna have to evolve.Maybe even this setting has to
evolve.
We're gonna have to continue toreach out. But the reality is no
matter how much everything elsechanges, the one thing that will
never change is that peoplestill have to have people. And
(27:23):
the gospel still has to beshared, and it's 99% of it is
gonna be 1 on 1. Yeah. Andpeople have to continue to share
the gospel 1 on 1 with theirfriends, with their loved ones.
And that's really what we'regonna have to we just have to
make sure that stays the same.Everything else can change. I
don't care. Maybe we go back tochairs someday. Maybe we go back
(27:44):
to straight rows if that's whatthe if that's what the younger
culture is gonna need at somepoint.
I'm okay with that. But themessage doesn't change. All this
other stuff is these areaccouterments.
Travis Roehm (27:54):
I'm not going back to pews.
Tony Liston (27:56):
You're not going back to pews?
Travis Roehm (27:57):
I'm not doing that.
Tony Liston (27:58):
So I have one back there just for Dave Lang, so he
feels at home. I come in andfind him whimpering on that pew
once in a while. But, anyhow
Travis Roehm (28:06):
No. I appreciate that. Because the the one thing
that the death of every churchis when the people of the church
quit developing newrelationships and quit inviting
friends. Period.
Tony Liston (28:18):
Yeah.
Travis Roehm (28:19):
Right?
Tony Liston (28:19):
That's it.
Travis Roehm (28:22):
Yeah. Again, today is a little bit different. And,
hopefully, it's been a littlebit fun, maybe a little
insightful. I I think the thebig thing that we, that we were
hoping would come out of this isjust it's not as much looking
back. And, again, it's not toput Tony and Steph on a pedestal
or to do any of that.
It's really just to go back towho are we. And the reality is
(28:42):
the vision's never changed.
Tony Liston (28:44):
Right. No.
Travis Roehm (28:45):
And the vision is still the vision. The the thing
that got planted, that dreamthat got planted is still the
dream today of of reachingpeople, broken people, hurting
people, people who don't fitanywhere else and giving them a
place to encounter God andpeople to, walk with them
encountering God and doing that.Is that a fair summary?
Tony Liston (29:05):
That's a fair summary. Yep.
Travis Roehm (29:07):
Anything what what do you wanna say just the end of
this thing as we close this out?
Tony Liston (29:12):
I love you guys, and my wife especially loves you
guys. She loves all of you. Ilove most of you and like some
of the others, but, I'll tellyou the the whole thing with
adventure. I mean, this is mywife and I, this is our church.
(29:32):
Someday, we won't be on staffhere anymore.
Don't know when that'll be, butthis is still gonna be our
church. And, we love thischurch. We'll always always be
around somewhere even if roleschange. But, my best
encouragement to you, keep youreyes on Jesus. Don't follow the
culture.
(29:53):
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Look atwhat Jesus has said. Look at
what he's taught. And, look atlook at the New Testament. That
describes the church, the newtestament.
The rest of the new testament isthe commentary on how the church
is to live out what Jesus said.Don't rule part of it out. Don't
do this crap where people say,oh, that was 2000 years ago and
(30:15):
I don't believe that anymore.It's still true. It's still
true.
And it doesn't matter if youbelieve it or like it or not,
it's still true. And a life thatisn't built on that kind of
understanding of scripture is alife that's built on a fake
gospel and it's built on a fakesavior. Fake savior the the real
(30:35):
savior makes demands of us thatwe don't like, and the new
testament explains what some ofthose demands are. So stay
faithful to scripture even whenyou're told by your friends
that's foolishness, that'sbigotry, that's hate, What
(30:59):
scripture says is wrong is stillwrong, and we've gotta be
faithful to that. That's thewhole thing we're built on.
I just encourage you, continueto grow and continue to be
faithful. And, this family ofGod in this place, this location
may change locations over theyears, may branch out over the
years, but the reality is it cancontinue for generations to come
(31:20):
and have the same lovingprinciple of evangelism and
getting Jesus to broken peoplethat you have had. So I'm
Travis Roehm (31:28):
gonna ask you guys to do something he would never,
he'd never do on his own. I Iwanna pray over Tony and Steph
and their ministry over the last25 years and also just pray over
adventure, where it is now andwhere we go. 24 years, and I
(31:50):
thank you for the dream that youplanted in Tony and Steph 25
years ago. And, I get to be partof that too. I don't know if I
would be in ministry today if 15years ago, I didn't encounter
adventure and Tony and Stephand, just everybody who is who
is a part of this.
So I'm a product too, and Ithank you for for how that
(32:11):
you've impacted me and impactedso many people, because it's not
just the the people who show upon Sundays now. Over the last 25
years, it is 1,000 and thousandsof people. And keep them
(32:34):
faithful to to what you'vecalled them to. But father, I
also pray that you moveadventure forward in whatever
way, shape, or for form that youneed to do. Father, just help us
to be faithful to being open towhatever next steps you lay in
front of us, whatever they looklike, whatever it entails.
No matter what, father, justnever let us get in the way.
(32:58):
Father, we thank you for whatyou do. We thank you for how you
love us. We thank you fordrawing us together as a family.
We thank you most of all forJesus.
It's in his name we pray. Amen.
Oh, no. This is gonna feel really familiar to
some of you guys.
Tony Liston (00:43):
We're gonna do a duet.
Travis Roehm (00:45):
No. We're not doing a duet. That's not what's
gonna feel familiar. So,obviously, this is a little bit
different. I feel like I'm,like, part of a game show or a
anyway.
This is gonna feel reallyfamiliar because it's an
anniversary that you knownothing about. So next year next
year is, 25 years for adventureor for yeah. For adventure.
(01:07):
Right?
Tony Liston (01:07):
Mhmm. Yep.
Travis Roehm (01:11):
So what is this anniversary?
Tony Liston (01:13):
This weekend, it was 24 years ago today that we
had our 1st public worshipservice. Isn't that crazy? And
it was 20 5 years ago this weekthat my family moved to
Davenport, not knowing what wewere getting into.
Travis Roehm (01:31):
So, you know, we'd spent some time just kinda
looking back on that, thinkingabout that, and, thought it'd be
fun. This is gonna be totallydifferent than one of our our
normal, Sunday morning services.But, I get to interview Tony. So
I got to interview Tony andSteph on Thursday, but Steph
bailed on us.
Tony Liston (01:47):
That was the better interview.
Travis Roehm (01:48):
Yeah. He was. And, so talk. Well, gee. I'm not I
have nothing to say about them.
So, so today, we just kind ofwant to talk a little bit about
about that. And and really, Iguess, it goes to why we're here
and what God has called us toaccomplish, because I think the
dream that God gave you guys 25years ago is still alive today.
(02:11):
And so, you know, these are goodmoments because they they help
us to kinda refocus. And, and Ihope you Thursday was really
neat for me because it's also anencouragement. Sometimes we need
those examples of stepping out alittle bit, and this is not to
put ton of your stuff on, like,this high pedestal.
(02:32):
But just to remember, sometimesthe great adventures are hopping
into a U Haul and, and drivingsomewhere you've never been
before. And I I wanna think ofit like the Clampetts where you
had stuff on the roof.
Tony Liston (02:46):
But, you know much different than that. Actually, I
got I got a little backstory foryour statement there. When we
moved to Iowa, we moved toAnkeny, Iowa. And, we moved
right after Christmas of 94, andwe started in Ankeny on January
1, 95. And on the drive up here,we stopped to get gas at Middle
(03:11):
Road in 74.
And, I got out and I got gasthere and I remember looking
around and I had this weirdthought as I'm standing there
pumping gas. And, of course, youremember that intersection was
really different back then, waydifferent back then. And I
remember standing there pumpinggas and looking around at the
(03:34):
town, and I don't know what itwas about it. And I got back in
the car and I told Steph she'llvouch for this. I told Steph,
this might be a good town towork in someday.
I wasn't sure where we were. Iknew we'd just crossed the state
line. I figured it was probablyDavenport, but that whole
Davenport Bettendorf thing stillconfuses me. I can't tell where
(03:57):
the where the city lines are.
Travis Roehm (03:58):
I call it 74. Anything on that side of 70 4,
any that's the 70
Tony Liston (04:02):
4 corridor. And, then when we drove north, I
looked over at 7. I said, goodlord. They have a castle.
Remember Jimer's?
I just thought that was funny.Never mind. Go ahead. Was that
it? Carry on.
Travis Roehm (04:19):
Yes. So going back a little going back to that. So
I know, you know, you've toldthe story a lot. And if you
haven't been to DiscoveringAdventure, you can hear this
part of the story. So the thestory of, you know, you guys
were in Ankeny, and, CEM invitedyou got you to come out.
Really wanted you to plant. Yousaid no. And you came out to do
(04:40):
a bit of a survey for them andand fell in love with the area
and again you can fill in those.I know you've told that story
100 and 100 of times over thelast 25 years. But kinda looking
at that maybe from a differentperspective.
So how do you looking back now,going back 25 years, how did god
prepare, you and Steph for forthis? And then I guess and then
(05:04):
on the other side of that, thesecond part of that question is,
how do you think that God waspreparing the Quad Cities in
Davenport for adventure?
Tony Liston (05:11):
Yeah. Sure. We Steph and I had, we'd worked
traditional churches all of ourlives, and everything was about
preserving the status quo as itwas. And you weren't allowed to
try anything new. In fact, ifyou tried anything new I
remember I remember, a boardmeeting at a former church, and
(05:35):
I had bought a carpet, just abig piece of rug for the
entryway because people weretracking dirt in.
And the next, elders meeting wehad, I got my rear end reamed
out for buying a $30 carpet forthe front of the room, for the
entryway, which made it lookmuch nicer. And I thought then,
I'm going to die here, And it'snot gonna be a natural death.
(05:59):
And I just thought, we've got ifwe can't even change anything a
little bit, how in the world dowe connect with new people? And,
I'd always liked the security ofbeing in an established church
because it's quite secure. Theydon't change, which is both good
and bad.
But as that went on, it was justeating my soul out. We had a lot
(06:24):
of friends that weren'tbelievers and also wouldn't
attend our church. Even thoughthey'd come to our they'd come
to our apartment for biblestudy, but they wouldn't come to
our church. We thought, this isjust not working. And I finally
just got to a point where Icouldn't do it anymore.
And, I actually went and did anapplication at Menards, because
that's how serious I was aboutgetting out. But, we the one
(06:49):
good thing that came out of thatparticular congregation was Ron
and Shelly Wicks. They werehere. They came to adventure and
helped us out, after we moved.After Ron started speaking to me
again.
I was
Travis Roehm (06:59):
gonna say after he forgave you.
Tony Liston (07:00):
Right? He forgave me for leaving. But, the thing
we loved about the Quad Cities,we kind of loved its
unchurchedness, I guess, wouldbe the way to put it. There was
a a big demographic study donethat said 71% of the people of
Scott County were consideredunchurched. And by unchurched,
(07:20):
it means they didn't claim,like, I'm Lutheran, but I don't
go.
They didn't claim a church atall. And to us, we saw that
that's an area that needs tohear the gospel and we need to
find a way that is not we needto find a way that actually
works to do that. And so I thinkwhen we came over, we were at
the right point in our lives,and willing to take a risk. And
(07:43):
Scott County was honestly, at atthe right point in its life too
in development, and it's justbeen a blessing since it worked.
I think, kind of, the rightplace at the right time.
So
Travis Roehm (07:55):
You know, we we kinda this wasn't a question, by
the way, that I did Thursdaynight, so this is totally off
time. My head. Yeah. Yep. Sothis is an adventure.
You know, we romanticize the thedisciples. We romanticize
everything as we look back onit. We put halos over their
heads and stained glass. And,you know, I think a lot of us
read the gospels, and we lookand go, well, they had it all
together, and the beginning ofthe church just went, and it
(08:18):
grew because we read where itwent 1,000. And I have a feeling
there probably it's easy to lookat where adventure is now and
go, well, of course it was gonnabe a success.
And, of course, you know, itthis and, of course, that. So
just out of curiosity, so howscared were you coming here and
what were your biggest fears?
Tony Liston (08:39):
Well, I'd say that over the first 5 years of living
in Davenport, I probably, about2:30 in the morning, vomited
twice my body weight in themiddle of the night from nerves.
It was just it was scary, and wedidn't know what we were getting
into. And I would have peoplewould ask, and they'd say, well,
(08:59):
what's your goal? Is it youknow, what what's your immediate
goal as a church planner? And Iwould tell them, well, to be
alive when it's over, to be ableto have church next Sunday.
That's my next goal. And, it wasit was it was kinda terrifying.
I knew the first day that forsure that there would be 4
(09:19):
people there because Steph and Iwere making Josh and Caleb come
with us. And, so when we whenwe, had people show up, that,
you know, that felt pretty good.But I'll tell you what, we were
making it up as we went along.
And we made a lot of changesfrom what we thought was gonna
happen. We made a lot ofchanges. A lot of them were
(09:41):
good. Our prayer was you know,at first, we were praying, God,
bring us people. They brought uspeople and he brought us some
weirdos.
Not gonna lie. One of the darklittle secrets of church
planting is is that anybodywho's looking for a power vacuum
to get sucked into and take overwill come to a new church. And
(10:02):
so that first wave of people,new church is often sick and
perverted. And, we had some ofthat, at the beginning, and then
we realized, oh, wait. We needto be more specific.
Lord, bring us the right people.And, then you guys started
showing up. And, so that's youknow, that was kind of a change
(10:23):
of plans, but it was it wasgood. I wouldn't trade it for
anything. Don't really everwanna do it again, but wouldn't
trade it for anything.
But it did not go according toplan, but it went according to
God's plan. And that's the planwe were hoping to hoping to work
with.
Travis Roehm (10:39):
So I I know and I've had the opportunity to work
with Centimeters and and churchplanners. You've worked with
many, many, many churchplanners. And one of the things
that we know for sure is, thepeople who are people who are
planting the church, you know, alot of the DNA ends up of the
church is is from them. But thesame time, that early group that
kinda comes in for, really, thefirst probably 3 years or so
(11:02):
really sets the DNA for achurch. So who are the people
when you look at what adventureis now?
Whose DNA do you see? And whatwhat did they what what other
people kinda contributed in? Andwhat what did they look like?
Tony Liston (11:13):
Sure. So one of the one of the fun things we did
when we were still meeting atCaissei. We met at Caissei. Yes.
Back before they did theremodel.
And, who
Travis Roehm (11:26):
who's still here? Anybody here from Caissei?
Tony Liston (11:28):
Anybody here? Not not going to Kaysai now.
Travis Roehm (11:30):
Yeah. Not going to Kaysai now, but, actually, we're
at Kaysai when yes. We still gotsome people.
Tony Liston (11:35):
Yeah. So I passed out cards one Sunday, and we're
probably running I can'tremember. I think we might have
been running about a 180 orsomething like that. I passed
out index cards in the service,and I asked people, write your
name at the bottom and write thename of the person who invited
you to adventure at the top. Andso they did.
And so I took all those cardsout. I got permission from Case
(11:57):
I had to go out in the middle ofthe night. So I went out on
their dance floor that they had,and I started putting cards in
clusters based on the name thatwas at the top of the card and
built basically a family tree ofwho came from who. And I found
that even at that time when wewere, running about a 180, that
(12:19):
everybody in the church could betraced back to 3 or 4 families
who were there at the beginning.And, honestly, I think if we did
the same thing today, it wouldprobably go back to about a half
dozen families that were thereat the beginning.
But that's just that DNA of thechurch growing and friends
inviting friends invitingfriends. And so it was really
(12:42):
interesting to see and, like, soour welcome center, when we
started it, it was just a placeto pick up stuff. I mean, there
wasn't even anybody there. And,then we had a couple named Tim
and Dina Golson. Some of you mayremember Tim and Dina.
He worked for Wells Fargo. Andafter about 2 years, they sent
him to Iowa City, and he's theone who started all the Wells
(13:04):
Fargo banks in Iowa City andCoralville and all that. He's an
adventurer. But, Tim and Dinatook over the welcome center and
made it a fantastic thing. Wehad a gal by the name of
Margaret Lewis who started ourcafe for us and really developed
the cafe into what it became.
And there's just a lot of stuffthat has been really good. Most
(13:27):
of the good things that havehappened at adventure have come
from people who came along withideas and and or my wife, to be
real honest. So that DNA is allthrough there, and we love it's
been allowed to modify and adaptand so forth as we've gone, but
it's just been so much funseeing things that happen. Our
(13:48):
technology stuff started with, agal named, Mitzi Yocum. And with
Mitzi, we used an infraredkeyboard so she could sit in the
crowd and run the computer,which was behind the screen out
in front of us.
And one of the things we hadn'tconsidered when we were at wood
was that fluorescent lights,like in a gymnasium, are sending
(14:09):
off an infrared signal. And sothe slides would randomly
change. And sometimes, theslides would go all the way
through, like, in 4 seconds.Every slide we have go all the
way through, and Mitzi would besitting on the front row. And so
I would make fun of her.
And then she would go up try tofigure out what it was. Then she
came up with the simplest ofsolutions, which was to put a
(14:31):
piece of duct tape over the topof the eye so that it couldn't
see the ceiling. But it onlytook us about 6 weeks to come up
with that and thousands ofslides we ran through in one
service one day. So, but youlook back at all that, and it's
just been so much fun becauseevery person who's come here and
has volunteered here has addedsomething to what we've done and
(14:54):
and help make it what it is.
Travis Roehm (14:57):
So scripture says that, every church, the word
like the body of Christ. So someof you are the fingers and toes
and legs and arms and eyeballsand all that stuff. But we also
kinda believe that about thechurch in an area as well. So
what part of the body isadventure in Davenport? I'm
scared to ask this question.
Tony Liston (15:14):
We tried to avoid one part. I've probably failed a
few times with that.
Travis Roehm (15:21):
Hopefully, we don't need to explain what that
is.
Tony Liston (15:23):
Yeah. I think probably in the community, we're
from what I I understand from mypastor friends and other people,
we're kind of seen as the handsand the feet and sometimes the
back, because Adventure has donea lot of heavy lifting in the
community, on all kinds ofthings. If there's something
needs to be done in thecommunity that, is church,
(15:45):
capital c, universal churchrelated, adventure people are
always in the middle of it.Always in the middle of it. And,
when we go do disaster reliefstuff, we have a bunch of other
churches that jump on with usand go because they can't do it
themselves, but they'll run withus.
So that's been fun. That's beengood.
Travis Roehm (16:06):
So this is kind of throw away, but give me one of
the funniest moments over thelast 25 years.
Tony Liston (16:13):
Well, probably what most people would consider.
Travis Roehm (16:17):
Sorry.
Tony Liston (16:17):
What most people would consider funny usually
involves bodily injury to meinjury to me. I don't know. I
mean, we've had so many weirdmoments, some good moments. Do
what? When you called usdingleberries.
Oh, yeah. I called everybody inthe church dingleberries one
day, and I did not know that wasa real word, nor did I know what
(16:41):
it meant. I just thought itsounded funny. And I went back
to sit down, and Nida Brookshanded me her phone with prove
that I was right when I said it.But, yeah.
(17:04):
So there's been I don't know.It's there's been a lot of funny
times. I I love our people. Weget we've had people get up and
give our testimonies. And asthey're giving their
testimonies, they drop the fbomb.
But as inappropriate as that is,it's still reality. Right? It's
people growing, and I've lovedthat. But we've had a lot of
(17:26):
we've just had a ton of funstuff. We've done so much stuff
wrong and figured it out afterthe fact, but, I don't know.
I I really can't isolate anyone.Thanks. Sorry.
Travis Roehm (17:37):
It's alright. How about I open up to you? Anybody
got a question for Tony about,kinda looking back over the last
25 years and thinking aboutadventure. We had some good
ones, Thursday night. Anybody?
I know I'm springing it on you.
Tony Liston (17:50):
How did we end up here?
Travis Roehm (17:52):
How did we end up here?
Tony Liston (17:53):
Oh, man. That's
Travis Roehm (17:56):
so We got I gotta go 13 minutes.
Tony Liston (17:58):
Got 13 minutes. Okay. I gotta go way back to
answer that question. When wefirst came to town, we had to
find a place for the church tomeet. And so the first place
that I went to look for a placeto meet was the Moose Club.
And so I came into the MooseClub, and they walked me back
down the hallway. It's It's thesecurity room now. And that was
(18:21):
I went into the office doorthere, into the nursery, which
we've rearranged the doors andstuff there, so it's kinda hard
to picture. But there was, like,3 offices across the front
there, and they took me into thefar office. And, the guy who was
in there was smoking a cigar,sitting behind a newspaper, and
the, gal that greeted me kind ofI don't know what her job was,
(18:43):
secretary or something, walkedme back there and said to him,
hey.
I got a guy here that wants torent, wants to rent, our dance
hall for having church in onSundays. And he didn't even
lower his paper. The smoke justcontinued to poof up over the
top like there was a steamengine behind the paper. And he
said, we don't rent to churchesfor anything, and that was the
(19:05):
extent of it. And, so we endedup eventually down well, we end
up starting down here at West ornot West.
Wood. Oh my goodness. Okay.Wood. Not gonna lie.
That was a good feeling. Downhere at wood. And, so during
that time, as we're looking fora place, we finally came to a
point to where we realized weneeded to do something
(19:28):
different. We knew we werewearing out everywhere we would
go. They would end up remodelingat some point, not because of
us, done a spiritual gifts classthat falls was in the fall of
2,005.
(19:52):
Their primary spiritual gift wasthe gift of craftsmanship. And
which means being able tocreate, develop, build, and so
forth things that contribute toworship and serving God. And the
most we'd ever had would be,like, 2 people maybe in a whole
class. Well, in this one, it was2 thirds of the class had that
spiritual gift. And So I satdown with the leadership team,
(20:13):
Mark and and Ron and, Greg.
And we're looking at this thinggoing, what does this mean? This
is just so far out there. Thisis bizarre. And so we talked
about it. We prayed about it andwe decided maybe what that's
telling us is it's time for usto get a building because we
have the people to deal with it.
(20:34):
And, so we decided let'sexplore. And so we opted to sell
bonds, And so we brought in acompany to sell bonds. Most
churches can't go get a loan atfirst. They have to have bonds.
And, which like people buyingstock in the church.
And so we, brought a guy in. Hetalked to everybody. We set up a
(20:54):
day for people to go and buybonds. And we sold out of all of
our bonds to buy this place,which we found, which was a
whole that'll take 30 minutes totell that story. But we were
able to, leverage our land,which we bought when we were a
couple years old as collateral.
And then with the bonds, we soldout of a $1,000,000 something in
(21:17):
bonds in about 45 minutes. Wedidn't know. And I walked back
in. I was like, one of the lastpeople have an appointment
because I was like being thehostess upfront. And, I walked
into the room and I said,alright.
And he goes, pastor, I gottatell you something. I said, Jan,
he goes, we don't have any bondsto sell you for your church.
They're all gone. His name wasDwayne. And I looked at him and
(21:40):
said, Dwayne, I cannot walk outof here without church bonds.
And so I bought bonds for achurch of Christ in Texas, and I
walked out with my paper going,I got my bonds. But we ended up
we ended up here because thisplace had been a school, and it
had failed. And it actually wentinto foreclosure. And we figured
(22:02):
out the bank that bought itback, and we talked to them, and
they sold it to us. And we wereable to buy it for about a third
of what the asking price was acouple days before.
And, so we moved in here, and Iused to have an office down the
hallway. Guess which office wasmine? The guys are going, we're
gonna give you this big offices,and I want the big office. I
(22:22):
want the office in the back.It's gonna smell like cigar
smoke.
And so that was my office for awhile. But God just opened a lot
of doors to get us in here. And,it's been a good home for us.
But it's it's a weird it's aweird room, but it's been a good
home for us.
Travis Roehm (22:39):
So what was the dream? I mean, you guys god's
Sure. You're in Ankeny. You'resorting through, and you talked
a little bit about this. Butwhat was the dream?
What was the prayer hopping inthe car and, and driving to
Davenport 25 years ago thisweekend.
Tony Liston (22:56):
Yeah. We just wanted to we wanted to make sure
that we could create a spacewhere new people could find find
Christ and find family. That wasour goal. That was everything
else was secondary to that. Thatwas literally the the goal.
We wanted to have a place thatpeople wanted to go to go to
church, especially my kids. And,that meant all the traditional
(23:21):
stuff was off the table, not thebiblical beliefs, but the way
we've done it. Because much ofwhat the church does today I
know a lot of churches wanna ripon the Catholic church, and we
have some significantdisagreements with the Catholic
church. But the reality is isthey still imitate the Catholic
church as much as they wannacomplain about it. And we
thought we need to findsomething that is more like
(23:42):
scripture and more like theearly church.
And one of the things we notedupfront was that the early
church, anytime Jesus did deepteaching, he did it sitting down
over food. And so that felt likethe best format for us to try to
follow, and, and it's it'sworked.
Travis Roehm (24:01):
So in 25 years, what's the prayer today? I mean,
you've gotten through that. Yourkids are here. Your grandkids
are here. You get to baptizeyour grandchild just, what, 2
weeks ago.
Tony Liston (24:12):
Yeah.
Travis Roehm (24:13):
So what's what's the prayer now?
Tony Liston (24:16):
The prayer is just that adventure keeps doing what
it needs to do to reach newgenerations and that, really, as
far as man made traditions go,that the one man made tradition
we need to keep is change. Weneed to hang on to that and
continue to change and continueto adapt. And I've said it's
kinda tongue in cheek and it'salso kinda true. I have my style
(24:39):
of music you like or I like. Youhave your style of music you
like.
My goal is that when I finallydie, that I die, and I leave
behind a church with whose musicI am completely uncomfortable. I
hope to absolutely hate themusic here by the time I die.
And the reason for that is thatit's outgrown me because it's
(24:59):
not about me. It's not about me.And it never has been about me.
And I want it to continue togrow and thrive and and change.
And, I just wanna see the churchbe healthy and continue on the
mission for as long as God willhave it.
Travis Roehm (25:15):
Considering your favorite music is bagpipes with,
with electric guitar over top ofit, I I I think you're safe.
Tony Liston (25:23):
I want you to know that we had the best Christmas
Eve service a couple years ago.I brought a bagpiper in to play
Christmas carols on ChristmasEve, and we sang with a
bagpiper. I'm seriously thinkingabout bringing him back, but,
like, for a Sunday in March,like, right around Saint
Patrick's Day.
Travis Roehm (25:44):
So and I've heard you mentioned before change is
kinda number 1 tradition, andand you see that. So we're 25
years in. We have no idea whatthe next 25 minutes holds. I
think 10 year plans are off thetable for I didn't think IBM's
making 10 year plans anymore.That that's out of that.
But as you look towards thefuture, what are some of the
(26:05):
what are 2 or 3 things that yousee that's that you think are
integral for us as we continueto move forward and continue
that that dream on that godplanted into into adventure
here? What are some things thatthat we need to be doing to to
kinda carry that dream on?
Tony Liston (26:22):
Well, I think we need to be sure that we're not
turning into some of the peoplethat we've resented in the past.
Mhmm. Because a lot of you'vecome from churches, or you've
visited churches, and you go,like, I can't stand that.
They're so lost in the past.Right now is the next
generation's past.
Right? And we need to not belocked into our comfort. We need
(26:42):
to be sure that we're able toadjust, and the theology is not
gonna change. What God says isright is still gonna be right.
What God says is wrong is stillgonna be wrong.
But how we deliver and what wedo can can modify, can adapt to
share. The world's becoming moreand more digital. And so I think
our ministry is gonna have tobecome more and more digital.
(27:03):
Music's gonna have to evolve.Maybe even this setting has to
evolve.
We're gonna have to continue toreach out. But the reality is no
matter how much everything elsechanges, the one thing that will
never change is that peoplestill have to have people. And
(27:23):
the gospel still has to beshared, and it's 99% of it is
gonna be 1 on 1. Yeah. Andpeople have to continue to share
the gospel 1 on 1 with theirfriends, with their loved ones.
And that's really what we'regonna have to we just have to
make sure that stays the same.Everything else can change. I
don't care. Maybe we go back tochairs someday. Maybe we go back
(27:44):
to straight rows if that's whatthe if that's what the younger
culture is gonna need at somepoint.
I'm okay with that. But themessage doesn't change. All this
other stuff is these areaccouterments.
Travis Roehm (27:54):
I'm not going back to pews.
Tony Liston (27:56):
You're not going back to pews?
Travis Roehm (27:57):
I'm not doing that.
Tony Liston (27:58):
So I have one back there just for Dave Lang, so he
feels at home. I come in andfind him whimpering on that pew
once in a while. But, anyhow
Travis Roehm (28:06):
No. I appreciate that. Because the the one thing
that the death of every churchis when the people of the church
quit developing newrelationships and quit inviting
friends. Period.
Tony Liston (28:18):
Yeah.
Travis Roehm (28:19):
Right?
Tony Liston (28:19):
That's it.
Travis Roehm (28:22):
Yeah. Again, today is a little bit different. And,
hopefully, it's been a littlebit fun, maybe a little
insightful. I I think the thebig thing that we, that we were
hoping would come out of this isjust it's not as much looking
back. And, again, it's not toput Tony and Steph on a pedestal
or to do any of that.
It's really just to go back towho are we. And the reality is
(28:42):
the vision's never changed.
Tony Liston (28:44):
Right. No.
Travis Roehm (28:45):
And the vision is still the vision. The the thing
that got planted, that dreamthat got planted is still the
dream today of of reachingpeople, broken people, hurting
people, people who don't fitanywhere else and giving them a
place to encounter God andpeople to, walk with them
encountering God and doing that.Is that a fair summary?
Tony Liston (29:05):
That's a fair summary. Yep.
Travis Roehm (29:07):
Anything what what do you wanna say just the end of
this thing as we close this out?
Tony Liston (29:12):
I love you guys, and my wife especially loves you
guys. She loves all of you. Ilove most of you and like some
of the others, but, I'll tellyou the the whole thing with
adventure. I mean, this is mywife and I, this is our church.
(29:32):
Someday, we won't be on staffhere anymore.
Don't know when that'll be, butthis is still gonna be our
church. And, we love thischurch. We'll always always be
around somewhere even if roleschange. But, my best
encouragement to you, keep youreyes on Jesus. Don't follow the
culture.
(29:53):
Keep your eyes on Jesus. Look atwhat Jesus has said. Look at
what he's taught. And, look atlook at the New Testament. That
describes the church, the newtestament.
The rest of the new testament isthe commentary on how the church
is to live out what Jesus said.Don't rule part of it out. Don't
do this crap where people say,oh, that was 2000 years ago and
(30:15):
I don't believe that anymore.It's still true. It's still
true.
And it doesn't matter if youbelieve it or like it or not,
it's still true. And a life thatisn't built on that kind of
understanding of scripture is alife that's built on a fake
gospel and it's built on a fakesavior. Fake savior the the real
(30:35):
savior makes demands of us thatwe don't like, and the new
testament explains what some ofthose demands are. So stay
faithful to scripture even whenyou're told by your friends
that's foolishness, that'sbigotry, that's hate, What
(30:59):
scripture says is wrong is stillwrong, and we've gotta be
faithful to that. That's thewhole thing we're built on.
I just encourage you, continueto grow and continue to be
faithful. And, this family ofGod in this place, this location
may change locations over theyears, may branch out over the
years, but the reality is it cancontinue for generations to come
(31:20):
and have the same lovingprinciple of evangelism and
getting Jesus to broken peoplethat you have had. So I'm
Travis Roehm (31:28):
gonna ask you guys to do something he would never,
he'd never do on his own. I Iwanna pray over Tony and Steph
and their ministry over the last25 years and also just pray over
adventure, where it is now andwhere we go. 24 years, and I
(31:50):
thank you for the dream that youplanted in Tony and Steph 25
years ago. And, I get to be partof that too. I don't know if I
would be in ministry today if 15years ago, I didn't encounter
adventure and Tony and Stephand, just everybody who is who
is a part of this.
So I'm a product too, and Ithank you for for how that
(32:11):
you've impacted me and impactedso many people, because it's not
just the the people who show upon Sundays now. Over the last 25
years, it is 1,000 and thousandsof people. And keep them
(32:34):
faithful to to what you'vecalled them to. But father, I
also pray that you moveadventure forward in whatever
way, shape, or for form that youneed to do. Father, just help us
to be faithful to being open towhatever next steps you lay in
front of us, whatever they looklike, whatever it entails.
No matter what, father, justnever let us get in the way.
(32:58):
Father, we thank you for whatyou do. We thank you for how you
love us. We thank you fordrawing us together as a family.
We thank you most of all forJesus.
It's in his name we pray. Amen.
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