August 25, 2025 • 23 mins
How do food and being with others lead to faith transformation? Check out this week's episode with Pastors James and Rick! Get a peak behind the scenes of all of the ways you can hang out with others, enjoy delicious food, and become like Jesus at HOPE this September!
Come experience community firsthand by:
- Attending a BBQ on September 7 after worship
- Grabbing a donut at the Groups Expo on September 14
- Enjoying a pretzel (with dip!) and finding a place to belong at the Teams Challenge on September 21
Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.online.church! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.
Enjoy what you heard? Be sure to rate us on Apple Podcasts and click the subscribe button so you don't miss new episodes every Monday!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have
conversations about faith andhope.
Hope is one church made ofpeople living out their faith
through two expressions, inperson and online.
We believe a hybrid faithexperience can lead to a growing
influence in our community andour world for the sake of
others.
(00:22):
Welcome to Hope.
SPEAKER_02 (00:28):
Hey there, welcome back to the Meet Hope Podcast.
I am Hope's lead pastor, James,and I am joined with my very,
very good friend anddiscipleship master himself,
Rick Cort.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
Hey, Rick.
I'm laughing at very, very, verygood friend and discipleship
master.
Yes.
Yes.
I am like the Yoda of
SPEAKER_02 (00:50):
discipleship.
Yes.
Every time I see you, you arediscipling someone, Rick.
So I always have to interruptyour very important meeting.
So I'm always sorry when I haveto knock on your door.
So today we're talking aboutdiscipleship.
This fall, we are preaching avery exciting series based on
(01:10):
the Message Versions translationof Matthew 11, 20 to 30.
It says, walk with me and workwith me.
Watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms ofgrace.
I love that.
So Rick, we care aboutdiscipleship here at Hope.
I'm just curious, who does You
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
know, there were so many different people, and I
don't mean that.
I can't think of one moment, butI can think of two significant
moments where I grew in myfaith.
The first one, I was unaware Iwas being discipled, and it was
in college.
(01:51):
I have this...
uncanny knack of thinking i knowit all already uh it's a um i'm
this spiritual discipline ofknowing it all uh and when i was
in my 20s i was convinced i hadalready i already knew i was i
(02:14):
went to college to become apastor uh i knew i was going to
become a pastor and um But I wasalready pretty sure I already
knew enough about followingJesus to be a pastor.
And this seminary...
I was in college and theseminary was across the street,
graduate school for pastors.
And this guy who was young atthe time also, but way older
(02:38):
than me, he was probably like inhis late 20s, really old.
And he had invited me to be partof a small group.
And so we would meet on thesecond floor of our dormitory.
on Sunday evenings, and it wouldbe six or eight of us in a room,
in one of somebody's dorm room,and he would just kind of ask us
(02:59):
these spiritual questions, andwe would give smart answers.
Not really caring as much as hedid, or at least, but yet at the
same time, it was kind ofthis...
It was like this osmosis,discipleship by osmosis.
(03:24):
It just kind of happened.
I just noticed he really caredabout us and he was interested
in how we were developing as menand how we were developing a
faith.
And I didn't know he wasdiscipling me at the time, but
when I look back now, 40 yearsago, I realized that that was a
significant moment for me.
(03:44):
And so that was more about, hejust was like, it was more
about, that was the why of myfaith.
Why was faith important?
Why did I care about Jesus?
Why did I wanna be a pastor?
Those were kind of the questionshe was
SPEAKER_03 (03:59):
asking.
SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
The most significant moment in my discipleship,
though, happened when Igraduated I was going to
seminary and I had to lead agroup of students, high school
students in a small group.
And so now I'm the leader on theother side.
And, um, I picked thiscurriculum.
Um, it was, um, uh, it doesn'tmatter what the curriculum, I
(04:20):
was not going to go into thedetails of that cause it turned
into a commercial for them.
Uh, but, uh, and it probablydoesn't exist anymore.
Uh, but, um, um, we started, uh,Gathering together, and I said,
this is what we're going to do.
We're going to read the Bible.
You're going to show up, andwe're going to just talk about
(04:41):
what you read.
And we're also going to holdeach other accountable to how
many days a week you werereading and how many scriptures
you were memorizing and allthese disciplines that I didn't
even necessarily know.
I didn't have this idea ofspiritual formation yet.
And so what happened was...
(05:01):
accountability became reallyimportant and encouraging each
other to memorize scripturebecame really important.
And then sitting together andsaying, hey, I'm reading, for
instance, I'm reading from Johnand I read this verse in chapter
three and I think it means this.
And then a student would say,well, I think it means this.
And then this combined effort ofdiscovering spiritual truth
(05:25):
together was really meaningful.
Meaningful and powerful.
Kelly, my wife, was in the groupas well, and we still mark that
as a really important,significant time in our
spiritual growth.
And I was the youth pastor.
Yeah, yeah.
(05:47):
because we were leading them.
We had to stay ahead and it justreally forced this significant
growth in our lives over thatnext...
I think it was...
We only did that group for threeyears because I moved on to
another church.
But man, it was...
And two people from that group,two high school students are
both in ministry today.
Wow.
Because of that group.
(06:08):
That's awesome.
Or from that group, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:10):
Yeah.
And Rick, even now, you aregoing through...
You're leading a small groupthrough John Mark Homer's book,
Practicing the Way.
Yeah, we just finished that.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
And I love...
And even this phrase, theunforced rhythms of grace, the
first time I really came acrossit, because it's the message
version, was in another book hewrote, The Ruthless Elimination
(06:30):
of Hurry.
But he mentions it again in thisbook.
And I love...
that that is one study thatyou've been doing, and it's also
been formative for both of us aswe've been preparing for this
series, because he describesdiscipleship as sort of these
three steps of being with Jesus,becoming like Jesus, and doing
(06:52):
what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:53):
And that was such a simple way.
I love how he describes it.
What has been sort of theresponse from your group?
SPEAKER_01 (07:00):
Yeah, I think I'd even go a step back that what I
loved he said is thatdiscipleship in the first
century was about being astudent and it was about being
like the rabbi.
And so if it wasn't just beingwith Jesus, becoming like Jesus
and doing...
It was that...
if I'm a student of Jesus or adisciple of Jesus, that means I
(07:21):
need to do the things Jesus did.
And so I think it's John MarkHomer who says, the reason Peter
got out of the boat and decidedto walk on water is because he
was doing what the rabbi did,right?
And I'm like, man, that's reallyneat.
So it became so practical for usas we're talking about this in
(07:42):
our study that, all right, sobeing with Jesus is just that.
It's just...
Spending time, what does thatlook like?
You know, so we each had a, asin our group, each of the small,
guys in the small group wouldtalk about what does being with
Jesus look like for you?
And it looks different for eachof us, but yet there was these,
some, you know, common thingslike, oh, reading the Bible and
(08:04):
praying, and what does prayingfeel like?
And it's different for each ofus, but yet it still is being
with Jesus.
And then what does becoming likeJesus, what does that look like,
right?
And it's like, oh, again, sopractical, right?
It's It's like, oh, how do Irelate to people?
How do I respond tocircumstances in my life?
And that is becoming like Jesus.
(08:26):
And then for doing what Jesusdid, I love John Mark Homer
says, doing what Jesus would doif he were me.
I love that.
Like, all right, if he were me,for me, again, this practical
idea, so tangible of, all right,it's not religious.
(08:48):
It's life.
It's how do I live this life andhow I live this life the way
Jesus would live this life wasreally meaningful.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:55):
And I love that.
So at Hope, the way we...
have described our discipleshippathway was worship plus two.
And I love that wherever we seedifferent people, different
churches, different traditionsof the Christian faith,
different denominations, seem toultimately come back to this
three...
I don't want to say stepsbecause it is more fluid than
(09:17):
that, but three sort of ways inwhich we grow in our
discipleship, right?
So John Mark Homer said, be withJesus, become like him, do as he
did.
And here we say worship plustwo, which is worship groups and
teams, right?
So we worship, it's being withJesus.
It's to look at him.
(09:38):
and to be with him, be in hispresence together as a
community.
As
SPEAKER_01 (09:41):
community.
SPEAKER_02 (09:42):
Right, as community.
And then we are to become likehim.
And that happens in groups wherewe are asked questions and we
learn and we grow.
And then it's not just about,learning and becoming better
myself, but really to share andto do as he did.
And we do that in service.
We do that in teams as we serveour community and serve our
(10:03):
world.
So I love that even worship plustwo, it's not just a hope thing,
right?
It is really a Christian thing.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
Oh yeah.
It's a spiritual formationthing, right?
Yeah.
Here's how we can grow in ourfaith by, by, you know,
connecting with God andconnecting with each other.
Right.
Yeah.
Can you know, it just, it just,um, It's just
SPEAKER_02 (10:23):
a way to live
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
life, right?
SPEAKER_02 (10:24):
It's a way to grow in our faith, yeah.
So, I mean, one, before we goon, just a shameless plug, that
we please continue to considerjoining us for worship, whether
it's in person or online.
I think that is one step to justbe with Jesus each week.
And it doesn't end there.
Find a way to plug in with asmall group.
(10:45):
You could find out more aboutthat at meethope.org slash
today.
But that is how we become morelike him.
Yes.
And then it's then now we'realso invited to do, do as he
did.
And there are many teams wherewe can serve and to be like
Jesus, do like Jesus did.
So worship plus two.
We really want you to plug inthat way and grow in your faith.
SPEAKER_01 (11:07):
Yeah.
And again, back to the fluidnature of those pieces is that
over the years, we've seen howpeople find their connection to
hope in different ways.
For some, it's worship is thefirst way, is the way they come
into the door.
And probably for the majority,it is.
Sometimes, though, it's peoplewho it's, oh, they were invited
(11:28):
to a small group, and the firstthing they do at Hope is a small
group.
But there's so many people thattheir connection to Hope is
because they started servingThey started serving at the food
pantry.
They served on a mission trip orone of those kinds of things.
And so I do love that it's notsteps.
It's not even a pathway becauseit really is these three
(11:49):
components, these three pieces,and they're all equally
important.
And it's like there's so manydifferent on-ramps.
Each is an on-ramp.
I
SPEAKER_02 (12:00):
love that.
I love the language component.
That really lands for me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(12:34):
compelling missional disciples.
So for instance, if you only dopresence, he calls it hyper
spirituality.
If you only do formation, youare, you could fall into
spiritual narcissism, et cetera,et cetera.
And it's just a fascinatinglook.
It's something I'm studying andprobably going to explore deeper
throughout the sermon series.
(12:56):
But I love that again, it's,it's not just one thing.
We hope that you, we all enterinto one or we lean more into
one.
Maybe you really love worship.
We love the music.
Maybe I don't know aboutworship, but I really love
serving in the food pantry.
My hope is that you would growin all three of these areas in
different ways throughout your,your, your life.
(13:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (13:19):
I'm excited
SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
about
SPEAKER_02 (13:20):
that.
Yeah.
I'm
SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
excited about the series.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
So Rick, tell us, there's a lot of events also
happening throughout Septemberalongside this series.
Can you tell us first andforemost, September 7th, we have
the barbecue.
So this is kind of new for me.
So can you share with someonelike me who will be their first
time participating?
What can we expect?
SPEAKER_01 (13:39):
Yeah.
So September 7th, we're doing acommunity barbecue and that's
going to happen right after thesecond worship service.
So it's starts at 1130.
We've done it, done a barbecuebefore, uh, at different times,
but we're excited about thisone.
And, and I love how it'sconnected with the series.
So it's, we worship together ascommunity and then together as
community, we're going tocelebrate and have a barbecue.
(14:02):
Uh, we're going to have some funtimes.
Uh, there's going to be an icecream truck there.
That's dessert.
All right.
So let's start with dessert.
Okay.
All right.
Uh, then we're also going tohave some great food.
It's going to be a catered meal,uh, with some, with some grilled
hot dogs and hamburgers and allthat kind of stuff.
So it's going to be, it's goingto be a lot of fun and And you
can go to the Today page, andyou'll be able to register, and
(14:25):
people are allowed to sign upfor that.
So we're excited about that.
It's going to be fun.
Thanks for the kids, that kindof stuff.
So that's the barbecue.
The next week, we're going tohave donuts.
I love donuts.
Donuts is a big deal for us.
We do Donut Sundays a coupledifferent times a year.
And so we're going to do donuts.
(14:47):
And we're going to do something–this was your idea, I think.
We're going to end service alittle bit early on that Sunday.
Yep.
On that Sunday and the followingSunday.
We're going to end service alittle bit early so that we want
people to hang out in the lobby,have some donuts, and– be with
each other.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_02 (15:05):
And I want to tell the adults, like, don't go pick
up your kids early becausethey're still going to be very
busy with their, the kidsministry programming.
And they're going to have donutstoo.
And they're going to be havingtheir own donuts.
So they're not going to want toleave anyways.
But yes, I will be preaching ashorter sermon.
Yay.
So that, you can go out into thelobby and the other spaces in
(15:26):
the church because we are goingto be having, what is it called?
We're going to have a groupsexpo.
Groups expo.
Because we really believe thatthis is not something we want
from you.
We want it for you.
To join in with a group.
I get it.
Joining a small group, if you'venever been in a small group
(15:47):
before, could be very awkward.
But this is where we...
from experience.
I've found that small groups isreally where we grow in our
faith.
It's where we really become morelike Jesus.
There's some, you getchallenged, but also you just,
you belong.
You know, in today's world whereloneliness is an epidemic, I
(16:11):
believe that small groups is theantidote that Christ offers to
us.
So we long for you to join inwith a small group.
SPEAKER_01 (16:17):
Yeah.
I'm five for five in my smallgroup invites right now.
All right.
Yeah.
So I have a group of six oreight guys that are already in
my group and I've invited fivenew guys to join my group and
I'm five for five.
Amen.
Five yeses.
So to your point of people wantto be in the group, want to be
in a group, they want to beinvited.
So we have worship and barbecueon September 7th.
(16:39):
We have a group Sunday withdonuts on September 14th.
And on September 21st, we'redoing a team's challenge and
we're going to have pretzels,soft pretzels.
Yes.
And all the dips.
Okay.
Thank you.
I was going to ask, is theregoing to be cheese?
Yes.
Yes.
We're We're working on cheese,mustard.
I heard there's a selection ofdips.
Yeah.
So we're going to have barbecue.
(16:59):
We're going to have donuts.
We're going to have softpretzels.
Yeah.
It's going to be
SPEAKER_02 (17:03):
fun.
It's going to be fun.
And that team's challenge willbe an opportunity to see all the
different ways in which you canserve at Hope Church.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:12):
Yeah.
Different teams.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
And again, I think, you know,we're doing food and food is
fun.
And I love the...
So I'm going to tell a quickstory, and Ashley, you might
have to edit this out becausemaybe it doesn't fit, but I
think it fits.
Years ago, when we had a MountLaurel campus, we went to the
Taste of Mount Laurel.
(17:33):
And the Taste of Mount Laurel,real quick, was an event once a
year where they invited all therestaurants to come into a
school, and they all had tobring free food samples.
And the idea is people can comein for free food.
You go around and you couldsample all the different
restaurants.
And so it was a great promo forthe restaurants and it was a
(17:56):
great community event.
So we found out about it.
And so as a Mount Laurel campus,we said we would help them
serve.
And so they asked us to hand outflyers.
So all we had to do was hand outflyers.
So I had a team of volunteershanding out flyers.
And my job as the pastor wasjust walk around and just
connect with people because I'mgood at that.
I like doing that.
So I was just going around justshaking hands and saying hi and
(18:18):
going up to restaurant ownersand getting to know them and
then introducing myself.
And it was a very non-spiritualevent.
It was just a food event.
Except God...
when a group of people gettogether, sometimes changes the
agenda.
So I'm there, and I am talkingto one of the township
(18:40):
officials, and he got askedabout why I was there, and I had
said I was the pastor of the newchurch in town, and he said I
was really glad that I wasthere, and we got talking.
And while I'm eating a piece ofbrisket from a barbecue place.
He says, can I ask you aquestion?
(19:01):
And I said, sure.
He says, do pets go to heaven?
Wow.
And I said, and I just sensedthat there was more to that.
So I said, yeah, you know what?
I think maybe they do.
I said, why do you ask me that?
Right.
And he said, um, I got smallkids at home and our dog, we had
(19:22):
to put our dog down and, um, Itwas really hard.
And I told them that they'll seetheir dog in heaven.
And I hope that's true.
And I said, you know what?
I hope that's true too.
And I said, can I pray for you?
And he went, you would do that?
I said, yeah, I definitelywould.
And he went, here?
(19:44):
And I said, or I can just prayfor you later by myself.
And he went, I would like thatone.
And I went, okay, I'll do thatone.
Well, that turned into an emailconversation about faith for
days following.
Wow.
And it was all about food.
It all started because of food.
(20:05):
Yeah, brisket.
Yeah, over brisket, right?
Yeah, with hundreds of people inattendance, but...
God made it a spiritual moment,right?
So that's why I love things likebarbecues.
I love things like donut days.
I love soft pretzels in thelobby because God moves in those
moments, and especially when thechurch is together, right?
(20:25):
It's this whole idea of food andfaith.
I think there's a connectionthere.
All right, so you can edit thatif we need to take that out.
No, I
SPEAKER_02 (20:33):
think it was a very valuable story.
It was a great story.
We're not editing anything.
I love that because that'sexactly the way of faith is.
accidental conversations thathappen when we come together and
we're challenged.
Our faith grows and usually foodis involved.
(20:53):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (20:55):
yeah.
And the connected discipleship,it's so practical, right?
You got to eat and you got to bein community.
We're designed to be incommunity with people and those
things happen.
It's got to turn spiritual,right?
It's who we are, right?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:15):
so
SPEAKER_02 (21:16):
I would love for you all I'm excited about this
series Unforced Rhythmshappening in September and all
the different events that arehappening this is the kind of
Sunday where excuse me this isgoing to be the kind of month
where even for our regularonline folks to say hey you may
want to come in person just forthree weeks because there is
(21:38):
barbecue there is donuts andthere is soft pretzels or maybe
if you're usually hey I comeonce a month kind in person, I
would say, all right, well,that's a good week.
What food do you want?
Right.
Yeah.
Pick one and we'll make surewe'll save a donut for you.
SPEAKER_01 (21:54):
I guess you could, I guess you could go buy burgers
and have them at home whilewe're eating them at the same
time, but it just doesn't havethe same impact.
SPEAKER_02 (22:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
Just, just for September,
SPEAKER_02 (22:03):
I would just say, Hey, if you are local and
typically you're online, maybeyou do want to come in person
for this one.
Yes.
UNKNOWN (22:10):
Uh,
SPEAKER_02 (22:11):
especially if you're feeling a bit of FOMO right now.
I'm really excited because Iknow God has called Hope Church
and all churches to makedisciples.
And sometimes that can be verymysterious, like what does it
mean to be a disciple?
And I think during the series,we'll be teaching about what
(22:32):
that really breaks down to andwhat does it mean to be Be with
Jesus, become more like Jesus,and then do as Jesus did, right?
Not live just for myself, butbegin to live for the sake of
others.
Absolutely, yeah.
And I know that is going to be apowerful transformation, that
God is going to do some amazingthings.
So you don't want to miss out.
Please join us on Sundays,September 7th, 14th, and 21st.
SPEAKER_01 (22:56):
Yeah, I'm
SPEAKER_02 (22:56):
excited.
All right, well, we hope to seeyou there.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (23:03):
Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we
continue our conversations aboutfaith and hope.
If you don't already, pleasejoin us for worship on Sundays
or on demand.
You can learn more atmeethope.org or find us on
socials at Meet Hope Church.
Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have
conversations about faith andhope.
Hope is one church made ofpeople living out their faith
through two expressions, inperson and online.
We believe a hybrid faithexperience can lead to a growing
influence in our community andour world for the sake of
others.
(00:22):
Welcome to Hope.
SPEAKER_02 (00:28):
Hey there, welcome back to the Meet Hope Podcast.
I am Hope's lead pastor, James,and I am joined with my very,
very good friend anddiscipleship master himself,
Rick Cort.
SPEAKER_01 (00:41):
Hey, Rick.
I'm laughing at very, very, verygood friend and discipleship
master.
Yes.
Yes.
I am like the Yoda of
SPEAKER_02 (00:50):
discipleship.
Yes.
Every time I see you, you arediscipling someone, Rick.
So I always have to interruptyour very important meeting.
So I'm always sorry when I haveto knock on your door.
So today we're talking aboutdiscipleship.
This fall, we are preaching avery exciting series based on
(01:10):
the Message Versions translationof Matthew 11, 20 to 30.
It says, walk with me and workwith me.
Watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms ofgrace.
I love that.
So Rick, we care aboutdiscipleship here at Hope.
I'm just curious, who does You
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
know, there were so many different people, and I
don't mean that.
I can't think of one moment, butI can think of two significant
moments where I grew in myfaith.
The first one, I was unaware Iwas being discipled, and it was
in college.
(01:51):
I have this...
uncanny knack of thinking i knowit all already uh it's a um i'm
this spiritual discipline ofknowing it all uh and when i was
in my 20s i was convinced i hadalready i already knew i was i
(02:14):
went to college to become apastor uh i knew i was going to
become a pastor and um But I wasalready pretty sure I already
knew enough about followingJesus to be a pastor.
And this seminary...
I was in college and theseminary was across the street,
graduate school for pastors.
And this guy who was young atthe time also, but way older
(02:38):
than me, he was probably like inhis late 20s, really old.
And he had invited me to be partof a small group.
And so we would meet on thesecond floor of our dormitory.
on Sunday evenings, and it wouldbe six or eight of us in a room,
in one of somebody's dorm room,and he would just kind of ask us
(02:59):
these spiritual questions, andwe would give smart answers.
Not really caring as much as hedid, or at least, but yet at the
same time, it was kind ofthis...
It was like this osmosis,discipleship by osmosis.
(03:24):
It just kind of happened.
I just noticed he really caredabout us and he was interested
in how we were developing as menand how we were developing a
faith.
And I didn't know he wasdiscipling me at the time, but
when I look back now, 40 yearsago, I realized that that was a
significant moment for me.
(03:44):
And so that was more about, hejust was like, it was more
about, that was the why of myfaith.
Why was faith important?
Why did I care about Jesus?
Why did I wanna be a pastor?
Those were kind of the questionshe was
SPEAKER_03 (03:59):
asking.
SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
The most significant moment in my discipleship,
though, happened when Igraduated I was going to
seminary and I had to lead agroup of students, high school
students in a small group.
And so now I'm the leader on theother side.
And, um, I picked thiscurriculum.
Um, it was, um, uh, it doesn'tmatter what the curriculum, I
(04:20):
was not going to go into thedetails of that cause it turned
into a commercial for them.
Uh, but, uh, and it probablydoesn't exist anymore.
Uh, but, um, um, we started, uh,Gathering together, and I said,
this is what we're going to do.
We're going to read the Bible.
You're going to show up, andwe're going to just talk about
(04:41):
what you read.
And we're also going to holdeach other accountable to how
many days a week you werereading and how many scriptures
you were memorizing and allthese disciplines that I didn't
even necessarily know.
I didn't have this idea ofspiritual formation yet.
And so what happened was...
(05:01):
accountability became reallyimportant and encouraging each
other to memorize scripturebecame really important.
And then sitting together andsaying, hey, I'm reading, for
instance, I'm reading from Johnand I read this verse in chapter
three and I think it means this.
And then a student would say,well, I think it means this.
And then this combined effort ofdiscovering spiritual truth
(05:25):
together was really meaningful.
Meaningful and powerful.
Kelly, my wife, was in the groupas well, and we still mark that
as a really important,significant time in our
spiritual growth.
And I was the youth pastor.
Yeah, yeah.
(05:47):
because we were leading them.
We had to stay ahead and it justreally forced this significant
growth in our lives over thatnext...
I think it was...
We only did that group for threeyears because I moved on to
another church.
But man, it was...
And two people from that group,two high school students are
both in ministry today.
Wow.
Because of that group.
(06:08):
That's awesome.
Or from that group, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:10):
Yeah.
And Rick, even now, you aregoing through...
You're leading a small groupthrough John Mark Homer's book,
Practicing the Way.
Yeah, we just finished that.
Yeah, okay, yeah.
And I love...
And even this phrase, theunforced rhythms of grace, the
first time I really came acrossit, because it's the message
version, was in another book hewrote, The Ruthless Elimination
(06:30):
of Hurry.
But he mentions it again in thisbook.
And I love...
that that is one study thatyou've been doing, and it's also
been formative for both of us aswe've been preparing for this
series, because he describesdiscipleship as sort of these
three steps of being with Jesus,becoming like Jesus, and doing
(06:52):
what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_03 (06:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:53):
And that was such a simple way.
I love how he describes it.
What has been sort of theresponse from your group?
SPEAKER_01 (07:00):
Yeah, I think I'd even go a step back that what I
loved he said is thatdiscipleship in the first
century was about being astudent and it was about being
like the rabbi.
And so if it wasn't just beingwith Jesus, becoming like Jesus
and doing...
It was that...
if I'm a student of Jesus or adisciple of Jesus, that means I
(07:21):
need to do the things Jesus did.
And so I think it's John MarkHomer who says, the reason Peter
got out of the boat and decidedto walk on water is because he
was doing what the rabbi did,right?
And I'm like, man, that's reallyneat.
So it became so practical for usas we're talking about this in
(07:42):
our study that, all right, sobeing with Jesus is just that.
It's just...
Spending time, what does thatlook like?
You know, so we each had a, asin our group, each of the small,
guys in the small group wouldtalk about what does being with
Jesus look like for you?
And it looks different for eachof us, but yet there was these,
some, you know, common thingslike, oh, reading the Bible and
(08:04):
praying, and what does prayingfeel like?
And it's different for each ofus, but yet it still is being
with Jesus.
And then what does becoming likeJesus, what does that look like,
right?
And it's like, oh, again, sopractical, right?
It's It's like, oh, how do Irelate to people?
How do I respond tocircumstances in my life?
And that is becoming like Jesus.
(08:26):
And then for doing what Jesusdid, I love John Mark Homer
says, doing what Jesus would doif he were me.
I love that.
Like, all right, if he were me,for me, again, this practical
idea, so tangible of, all right,it's not religious.
(08:48):
It's life.
It's how do I live this life andhow I live this life the way
Jesus would live this life wasreally meaningful.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:55):
And I love that.
So at Hope, the way we...
have described our discipleshippathway was worship plus two.
And I love that wherever we seedifferent people, different
churches, different traditionsof the Christian faith,
different denominations, seem toultimately come back to this
three...
I don't want to say stepsbecause it is more fluid than
(09:17):
that, but three sort of ways inwhich we grow in our
discipleship, right?
So John Mark Homer said, be withJesus, become like him, do as he
did.
And here we say worship plustwo, which is worship groups and
teams, right?
So we worship, it's being withJesus.
It's to look at him.
(09:38):
and to be with him, be in hispresence together as a
community.
As
SPEAKER_01 (09:41):
community.
SPEAKER_02 (09:42):
Right, as community.
And then we are to become likehim.
And that happens in groups wherewe are asked questions and we
learn and we grow.
And then it's not just about,learning and becoming better
myself, but really to share andto do as he did.
And we do that in service.
We do that in teams as we serveour community and serve our
(10:03):
world.
So I love that even worship plustwo, it's not just a hope thing,
right?
It is really a Christian thing.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
Oh yeah.
It's a spiritual formationthing, right?
Yeah.
Here's how we can grow in ourfaith by, by, you know,
connecting with God andconnecting with each other.
Right.
Yeah.
Can you know, it just, it just,um, It's just
SPEAKER_02 (10:23):
a way to live
SPEAKER_01 (10:23):
life, right?
SPEAKER_02 (10:24):
It's a way to grow in our faith, yeah.
So, I mean, one, before we goon, just a shameless plug, that
we please continue to considerjoining us for worship, whether
it's in person or online.
I think that is one step to justbe with Jesus each week.
And it doesn't end there.
Find a way to plug in with asmall group.
(10:45):
You could find out more aboutthat at meethope.org slash
today.
But that is how we become morelike him.
Yes.
And then it's then now we'realso invited to do, do as he
did.
And there are many teams wherewe can serve and to be like
Jesus, do like Jesus did.
So worship plus two.
We really want you to plug inthat way and grow in your faith.
SPEAKER_01 (11:07):
Yeah.
And again, back to the fluidnature of those pieces is that
over the years, we've seen howpeople find their connection to
hope in different ways.
For some, it's worship is thefirst way, is the way they come
into the door.
And probably for the majority,it is.
Sometimes, though, it's peoplewho it's, oh, they were invited
(11:28):
to a small group, and the firstthing they do at Hope is a small
group.
But there's so many people thattheir connection to Hope is
because they started servingThey started serving at the food
pantry.
They served on a mission trip orone of those kinds of things.
And so I do love that it's notsteps.
It's not even a pathway becauseit really is these three
(11:49):
components, these three pieces,and they're all equally
important.
And it's like there's so manydifferent on-ramps.
Each is an on-ramp.
I
SPEAKER_02 (12:00):
love that.
I love the language component.
That really lands for me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(12:34):
compelling missional disciples.
So for instance, if you only dopresence, he calls it hyper
spirituality.
If you only do formation, youare, you could fall into
spiritual narcissism, et cetera,et cetera.
And it's just a fascinatinglook.
It's something I'm studying andprobably going to explore deeper
throughout the sermon series.
(12:56):
But I love that again, it's,it's not just one thing.
We hope that you, we all enterinto one or we lean more into
one.
Maybe you really love worship.
We love the music.
Maybe I don't know aboutworship, but I really love
serving in the food pantry.
My hope is that you would growin all three of these areas in
different ways throughout your,your, your life.
(13:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (13:19):
I'm excited
SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
about
SPEAKER_02 (13:20):
that.
Yeah.
I'm
SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
excited about the series.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
So Rick, tell us, there's a lot of events also
happening throughout Septemberalongside this series.
Can you tell us first andforemost, September 7th, we have
the barbecue.
So this is kind of new for me.
So can you share with someonelike me who will be their first
time participating?
What can we expect?
SPEAKER_01 (13:39):
Yeah.
So September 7th, we're doing acommunity barbecue and that's
going to happen right after thesecond worship service.
So it's starts at 1130.
We've done it, done a barbecuebefore, uh, at different times,
but we're excited about thisone.
And, and I love how it'sconnected with the series.
So it's, we worship together ascommunity and then together as
community, we're going tocelebrate and have a barbecue.
(14:02):
Uh, we're going to have some funtimes.
Uh, there's going to be an icecream truck there.
That's dessert.
All right.
So let's start with dessert.
Okay.
All right.
Uh, then we're also going tohave some great food.
It's going to be a catered meal,uh, with some, with some grilled
hot dogs and hamburgers and allthat kind of stuff.
So it's going to be, it's goingto be a lot of fun and And you
can go to the Today page, andyou'll be able to register, and
(14:25):
people are allowed to sign upfor that.
So we're excited about that.
It's going to be fun.
Thanks for the kids, that kindof stuff.
So that's the barbecue.
The next week, we're going tohave donuts.
I love donuts.
Donuts is a big deal for us.
We do Donut Sundays a coupledifferent times a year.
And so we're going to do donuts.
(14:47):
And we're going to do something–this was your idea, I think.
We're going to end service alittle bit early on that Sunday.
Yep.
On that Sunday and the followingSunday.
We're going to end service alittle bit early so that we want
people to hang out in the lobby,have some donuts, and– be with
each other.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_02 (15:05):
And I want to tell the adults, like, don't go pick
up your kids early becausethey're still going to be very
busy with their, the kidsministry programming.
And they're going to have donutstoo.
And they're going to be havingtheir own donuts.
So they're not going to want toleave anyways.
But yes, I will be preaching ashorter sermon.
Yay.
So that, you can go out into thelobby and the other spaces in
(15:26):
the church because we are goingto be having, what is it called?
We're going to have a groupsexpo.
Groups expo.
Because we really believe thatthis is not something we want
from you.
We want it for you.
To join in with a group.
I get it.
Joining a small group, if you'venever been in a small group
(15:47):
before, could be very awkward.
But this is where we...
from experience.
I've found that small groups isreally where we grow in our
faith.
It's where we really become morelike Jesus.
There's some, you getchallenged, but also you just,
you belong.
You know, in today's world whereloneliness is an epidemic, I
(16:11):
believe that small groups is theantidote that Christ offers to
us.
So we long for you to join inwith a small group.
SPEAKER_01 (16:17):
Yeah.
I'm five for five in my smallgroup invites right now.
All right.
Yeah.
So I have a group of six oreight guys that are already in
my group and I've invited fivenew guys to join my group and
I'm five for five.
Amen.
Five yeses.
So to your point of people wantto be in the group, want to be
in a group, they want to beinvited.
So we have worship and barbecueon September 7th.
(16:39):
We have a group Sunday withdonuts on September 14th.
And on September 21st, we'redoing a team's challenge and
we're going to have pretzels,soft pretzels.
Yes.
And all the dips.
Okay.
Thank you.
I was going to ask, is theregoing to be cheese?
Yes.
Yes.
We're We're working on cheese,mustard.
I heard there's a selection ofdips.
Yeah.
So we're going to have barbecue.
(16:59):
We're going to have donuts.
We're going to have softpretzels.
Yeah.
It's going to be
SPEAKER_02 (17:03):
fun.
It's going to be fun.
And that team's challenge willbe an opportunity to see all the
different ways in which you canserve at Hope Church.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (17:12):
Yeah.
Different teams.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
And again, I think, you know,we're doing food and food is
fun.
And I love the...
So I'm going to tell a quickstory, and Ashley, you might
have to edit this out becausemaybe it doesn't fit, but I
think it fits.
Years ago, when we had a MountLaurel campus, we went to the
Taste of Mount Laurel.
(17:33):
And the Taste of Mount Laurel,real quick, was an event once a
year where they invited all therestaurants to come into a
school, and they all had tobring free food samples.
And the idea is people can comein for free food.
You go around and you couldsample all the different
restaurants.
And so it was a great promo forthe restaurants and it was a
(17:56):
great community event.
So we found out about it.
And so as a Mount Laurel campus,we said we would help them
serve.
And so they asked us to hand outflyers.
So all we had to do was hand outflyers.
So I had a team of volunteershanding out flyers.
And my job as the pastor wasjust walk around and just
connect with people because I'mgood at that.
I like doing that.
So I was just going around justshaking hands and saying hi and
(18:18):
going up to restaurant ownersand getting to know them and
then introducing myself.
And it was a very non-spiritualevent.
It was just a food event.
Except God...
when a group of people gettogether, sometimes changes the
agenda.
So I'm there, and I am talkingto one of the township
(18:40):
officials, and he got askedabout why I was there, and I had
said I was the pastor of the newchurch in town, and he said I
was really glad that I wasthere, and we got talking.
And while I'm eating a piece ofbrisket from a barbecue place.
He says, can I ask you aquestion?
(19:01):
And I said, sure.
He says, do pets go to heaven?
Wow.
And I said, and I just sensedthat there was more to that.
So I said, yeah, you know what?
I think maybe they do.
I said, why do you ask me that?
Right.
And he said, um, I got smallkids at home and our dog, we had
(19:22):
to put our dog down and, um, Itwas really hard.
And I told them that they'll seetheir dog in heaven.
And I hope that's true.
And I said, you know what?
I hope that's true too.
And I said, can I pray for you?
And he went, you would do that?
I said, yeah, I definitelywould.
And he went, here?
(19:44):
And I said, or I can just prayfor you later by myself.
And he went, I would like thatone.
And I went, okay, I'll do thatone.
Well, that turned into an emailconversation about faith for
days following.
Wow.
And it was all about food.
It all started because of food.
(20:05):
Yeah, brisket.
Yeah, over brisket, right?
Yeah, with hundreds of people inattendance, but...
God made it a spiritual moment,right?
So that's why I love things likebarbecues.
I love things like donut days.
I love soft pretzels in thelobby because God moves in those
moments, and especially when thechurch is together, right?
(20:25):
It's this whole idea of food andfaith.
I think there's a connectionthere.
All right, so you can edit thatif we need to take that out.
No, I
SPEAKER_02 (20:33):
think it was a very valuable story.
It was a great story.
We're not editing anything.
I love that because that'sexactly the way of faith is.
accidental conversations thathappen when we come together and
we're challenged.
Our faith grows and usually foodis involved.
(20:53):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (20:55):
yeah.
And the connected discipleship,it's so practical, right?
You got to eat and you got to bein community.
We're designed to be incommunity with people and those
things happen.
It's got to turn spiritual,right?
It's who we are, right?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:15):
so
SPEAKER_02 (21:16):
I would love for you all I'm excited about this
series Unforced Rhythmshappening in September and all
the different events that arehappening this is the kind of
Sunday where excuse me this isgoing to be the kind of month
where even for our regularonline folks to say hey you may
want to come in person just forthree weeks because there is
(21:38):
barbecue there is donuts andthere is soft pretzels or maybe
if you're usually hey I comeonce a month kind in person, I
would say, all right, well,that's a good week.
What food do you want?
Right.
Yeah.
Pick one and we'll make surewe'll save a donut for you.
SPEAKER_01 (21:54):
I guess you could, I guess you could go buy burgers
and have them at home whilewe're eating them at the same
time, but it just doesn't havethe same impact.
SPEAKER_02 (22:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (22:01):
Just, just for September,
SPEAKER_02 (22:03):
I would just say, Hey, if you are local and
typically you're online, maybeyou do want to come in person
for this one.
Yes.
UNKNOWN (22:10):
Uh,
SPEAKER_02 (22:11):
especially if you're feeling a bit of FOMO right now.
I'm really excited because Iknow God has called Hope Church
and all churches to makedisciples.
And sometimes that can be verymysterious, like what does it
mean to be a disciple?
And I think during the series,we'll be teaching about what
(22:32):
that really breaks down to andwhat does it mean to be Be with
Jesus, become more like Jesus,and then do as Jesus did, right?
Not live just for myself, butbegin to live for the sake of
others.
Absolutely, yeah.
And I know that is going to be apowerful transformation, that
God is going to do some amazingthings.
So you don't want to miss out.
Please join us on Sundays,September 7th, 14th, and 21st.
SPEAKER_01 (22:56):
Yeah, I'm
SPEAKER_02 (22:56):
excited.
All right, well, we hope to seeyou there.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_00 (23:03):
Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we
continue our conversations aboutfaith and hope.
If you don't already, pleasejoin us for worship on Sundays
or on demand.
You can learn more atmeethope.org or find us on
socials at Meet Hope Church.
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