In the World, Not of the World: A Graduation Sunday Reflection

Welcome to the TNC Podcast hosted by the staff of Neighborhood Church. Each episode features: Pastor Tom delivers his first sermon as the newly ordained pastor, exploring Jesus's prayer in John 17. The discussion centers on two key gifts for Christians: God's Word and Christ's intercessory prayer, alongside a warning about the world's challenges. 

Highlights include:

• Insights on graduation Sunday and the priesthood of all believers
• Advice for graduates navigating faith in a complex world
• Reflections on being "in the world but not of the world"
• Personal stories of Christian witness and community
• Practical guidance on staying true to one's faith

The podcast offers a deep dive into Christian identity, mission, and the importance of staying connected to Christ while engaging with the world around us.

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Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
Yeah. Welcome to the DNC podcast. We are here,

(00:03):
recorded in studio in theworship center at the
neighborhood church. And we justhad a conversation about the
print in the Bible being toosmall, and that came from our
wonderful new pastor in thechurch and podcast host, the
one, the only, Tom Hellman, no,I'm sorry. It's not. It's not
Tom Hellman, sure, it's PastorTom. It's still just Tom helmet,
still just to the residentgeezer, the resident Yeah, you

(00:24):
are, yeah, oldest on staff. Nowthat's yeah, that's a moment,
yeah, well, yeah, sure, uh huh,yeah, that's great. Nope. Oh,
wait. We had a birthday thislast week, challenging for the
oldest on staff. Right now, Iknow Tom coming in close, but
here goes to my left. Now, wouldyou like to share what your
birthday was? Or would you liketo say your 60th birthday? It

(00:45):
was awesome. Crawfish boil,hanging out or doing fun. I
mean, it was fun. It was fun 80sthemed. Let's go well, it was
any decade. So my younger sisterwas like, 60s, 70s, yep.
So, yeah, yep. I forgot I waswearing my tie dye when I went
out after your birthday. And Ishowed up at gear head, which is

(01:05):
an out like Outdoor Gear Store,right? And I showed up over
there, and I walked in andcompletely forgot that I was in
my my spray painted hat and mybright tie dye, looking for
rugged outdoor shoes. And theguy walked up, and he goes, Hey,
and he hands me these shoes, andhe goes tie dye. I was like, Oh,
yeah. And I was like, There's astory. Don't worry. It's I was

(01:27):
like, it's good. So yourbirthday carried on. I just want
to let you know it kept on Raw.
Yeah, it's so good. It's sogood. And, but that's the last
birthday party, not the lastbirthday but the last birthday
party. So I'm good, you're good.
You don't need any more parties.
You're done. More parties,they're done. Okay, that was
great. Did you make that choicebeforehand? Why is it the last
birthday party? It's alldownhill. Okay, all right,
that's great. Okay, yeah, Iknow, yeah, it's great. I think

(01:51):
you're still riding up. I thinkyou're on the way moving
forward. It's great. Love it. Ilove that. That's great. And
then all the way to Tom's right.
Director of worship here at theneighborhood church table, Tavo,
it's great to see you did nothave a birthday, but you and
Kara were there, which iswonderful. We were there. Yeah,

(02:11):
freaked out, yeah, the baby. Thebaby had a moment. I was not
there for the moment when ithappened. No, I was there when
you guys were having the moment,yeah? And then I was like, Oh,
they're here. And then I walkedin, yeah, yeah. All was fine
until the baby decided that Iwasn't. Nothing could
thankfully, Cheryl was there,yeah, to help us out with her
calm demeanor, yeah, that'sgreat. And I love that presence.

(02:33):
Yeah, her nursing backgrounds,beautiful. She didn't do
anything that actually helpedthe baby, because you couldn't,
yeah, but she didn't freak out.
Yes, helpful. That's great. Thatis super helpful, super helpful.
Yeah, there's just moments when,like, There's no rhyme or reason
and it's not logical, and you'relike, I don't know what's
happening right now, but man,that baby was crying when tears
fled, just like we never seenthat. We never seen him cry that

(02:54):
way. So yeah, that was amoment. Yeah, it was, yeah,
powerless feeling, and it reallyis. And there's, I read once
that like the cry, like the waythey do it, the sound, it's like
there's something ingrained inthe human brain to make that get
our attention. Yeah, you knowthat, because it just is an
anxiety kind of creating thing,because that way the babies

(03:15):
don't get ignored. Like, yeah,absolutely. It's giving them a
gift to get our attention,whether we want them. Our
attention, yep, and that neverstops, right? Tom, I mean, you
got a high school. I got a highschool that never stops. They
get your attention any way theycan.
So with that, Tom, we are herebecause you just recently became
pastor, Tom, at the neighborhoodchurch, and you were ordained

(03:37):
last week, which I thought waswonderful. We had lots of people
from different congregationscome. We had all the local
pastors show up, which wasincredible. Worship was amazing,
right? The pastors got to be inworship, which was wonderful to
see, just as me leading in theSynod for, you know, 15 years,
and having us together wasreally nice. And then you had to
come together for an ordination,right, which is really

(03:59):
wonderful, right? And to haveyour family there and just see
all that, and to be a part. Andthen the reception afterwards,
where you cooked, how manypounds of how much did you it's
like, 75 pounds of brisket. Andthen what, sure if it'd be
enough, as the number startedswelling. So we cooked another
30 pounds of chicken, no? Andthat was delicious. And then,
and that brisket was solid. Itwas solid. It was super solid. I

(04:21):
mean, it was tender, but, yeah,I was worried. I think I'm
younger because of that.
Let's go back to 59 that meansyou get another party.
So Tom, this last Sunday wasthen your first Sunday preaching
as pastor. Tom, I'm still notused to that title. I know it's
gonna happen. I'm gonna keep onsaying it until they get used to

(04:41):
it, which is great. And we itwas graduation, Sunday.
Graduation Sunday, and we had awealth of graduates, which was
awesome. Also Memorial Dayweekend, but the graduates
showed up in force, which wasreally cool, and they got prayed
over, which was a really awesomemoment, mostly in the second
service, because I think theyslept in. Oh yeah, your son is
wrestling a lot.
For the first service, it wasraining a lot. It was torrential

(05:02):
downpour. Yeah, Andrea Lichfelt, who is our lead worship
coordinator right now? She saidit is torrential when she showed
up in like, Springdale, likeshe's ever bad and so, yeah, so
your son specifically texts mein the morning at like, I don't
know it had to be 830 and he'slike, yep, not gonna happen.
Told you it's gonna be the nineo'clock, not gonna overslept.
Gonna be 745 and I was like, Allright, like, scratch that. Yeah,

(05:23):
it's great. Yeah, that was thetext, scratch that. And I knew
when he said that he was gonnaget up early to go pick somebody
up to be here at the firstservice. And I'm like, right,
yeah, not gonna happen, notgonna happen. Not gonna go.
Yeah, not gonna go. So withthat, we want to break into your
message, right? This was themessage of Jesus praying over
the disciples, which was reallygreat in John 17. And now, was

(05:45):
there any difference? So, like,I'm going to take this just for
a moment of like, when people gofrom being, you know, in a
relationship to getting engagedand they're married, and the
next day, like, oh my gosh,you're married. How does it
feel? Was there any differencethat you felt from being Pastor
Tom on Sunday to, like, priorpreaching experiences that
you've had at the neighborhoodchurch, or Saint Luke, none
whatsoever, none whatsoever,whatsoever, no, because it's the

(06:05):
title, doesn't really doanything, yeah, like the title,
so people know who's supposed tobe doing it, but it doesn't
like, there's not like, thismystical, you know, poof, you're
a pastor now, a sudden, you're adifferent person. Yeah, it's
still just, you don't have adirect line to God, I'm not
gotten that phone number,don't? Doesn't work that way. So
I just don't feel any different.
Speaking of phone numbers, Iwant a 2479367, 2285,

(06:33):
neighborhoodchurch. That was great. Thank
you for that. Lead in Tom to ourwonderful jingle. That is the
TNC phone number. If you want tocall it, you reach the one and
only, Roseanne. Roseanne, right?
And that's what you'll soundlike, Hey, this is Roseanne from
the neighborhood church. Whenyou call, yeah, it's not a
direct line to God. No, it's nota direct line to God as
questions you can get right tothe church. That's great. So

(06:54):
we're going to be jumping intoJohn chapter 17, verses 14
through 23 and then we're goingto break down your message, kind
of dig into that a little bit.
Into that a little bit, whichwill be great. And then, and
then, as we dig into this too,your role here at the
neighborhood church is going tobe pastor of care and education,
right? Can you explain a littlemore about what that means in
the life of the church as youget ready to come on and staff

(07:14):
in the summer? Yeah? So allthings care, like pastoral care,
so that'd be, hopefullyeventually, Steven ministries,
we kind of spread that outbecause, you know, one or two
people can't do all of it that'sright, growing beyond, beyond
that, and then the education isreally kind of a faith
formation, right? Education outthe Scripture is about helping
people discern what the faithmeans for them, hopefully
getting going beyond the headand kind of getting down into

(07:36):
the heart, yeah, a little bit,and just kind of helping them
through that, through thatprocess of discernment, beyond
just the shallow participatory,you know, show up as an audience
member, kind of, yeah, that'sgoing to be beautiful. And then
you're also going to be servingas kind of a contract out to St
Luke Lutheran, so still doingthat twice a month, right? Going
down there to Fort Smith, Ithink it was three, three
Sundays out of the month there,and then one here, okay? Unless

(07:59):
it's a five Sunday month, whichthere's a couple of, yeah, yeah.
And then on Mondays, primarilyfor pastoral care, the the shut
ins, the people that carefacilities taking communion, to
the people who can't come tochurch, and stuff like that.
Yeah, it's going to be great.
It's going to be great. So let'sjump into John chapter 17,
verses 14 through 23 andRoseanne, why don't you lead us

(08:19):
off? But as we do that, we liketo take a breath, right? Like to
prepare our heart for the word.
It's a nice moment to slow downa little bit. And so, Roseanne,
when you're ready, why don't youlead us in?
Well, I do want to point outthat this is Jesus praying, Yes,
correct? Just so Jesus's word,yeah. So, for background, Jesus
is not yet been turned over tothe authorities. He's left.

(08:43):
He's in in Jerusalem. Basically,he's in Jerusalem. And he has
gone to across the KidronValley, to the the Mount of
Olives, the Gethsemane, thegarden there at the foot of the
Mount of Olives, and is praying.
And if you're in, if you read inMatthew Mark, Luke, where Jesus
goes and prays at night andtells the disciples to stay
awake and they keep fallingasleep. Well, this is what they

(09:05):
slept through, except maybe thethe person who the John or the
disciple that Jesus loved, thatis the inspiration for this
book. Okay, so while thedisciples are sleeping, Jesus is
praying. This is where it linesup. I have given them Your Word,
and the world has hated thembecause they do not belong to
the world, just as I do notbelong to the world, I am not

(09:28):
asking you to take them out ofthe world, but I ask you to
protect them from the evil onethey do not belong to the world,
just as I do not belong to theworld, Sanctify them in truth.
Your word is truth. As you havesent me into the world, so I
have sent them into the world,and for their sakes, I sanctify

(09:50):
Myself so that they also may besanctified in truth.
I ask not only on behalf of the.
But also on behalf of those whowill believe in me through their
word,that they may all be one, as
You, Father, are in Me and I amin you, may they also be in us,

(10:11):
so that the world may believethat You have sent me the glory
that you have given me, I havegiven them, so that they may be
so that they may be one as weare one, I in them, and you and
me, that they may becomecompletely one, so that the
world may know that you havesent me and have loved them even

(10:31):
as You have loved Me andTom. I have to say that is a
very confusing text, like, ifyou go back into that with the
world in me, the world in you,the world. Don't take them out,
leave them in, right? I sentyou. You sent me. I've given
them. Like, yeah, I mean,that's, that's a hard breakdown.
You got to kind of break it downa little bit. So to kind of,
kind of break that down, youknow, we know certain verse 14,

(10:53):
that God has given us the word,and Jesus has brought God's word
to us through, himself, right?
And then, so starting at 16,they do not belong to the world.
That's us. We don't belong tothe world, just as Jesus didn't
belong to the world, and theworld is going to hate us
because of being followers ofChrist. There's going to be
consequences, and we have todecide, who is it that we serve?

(11:15):
Are we here to serve the worldlythings or the the heavenly
things, and then sanctifyingthem in truth, that then God's
Word is truth, and sanctifyingjust means cleansing and
forgiving, so that we're we'recleansed of our sins through the
truth that is the word of God,and through faith in God. That's
justthe saving aspect of this of

(11:38):
faith in God's word that isrevealed to us in Jesus Christ,
and then getting into 19 as youhave sent me into the world, so
I send them. And that's themission part, all right, that as
what Jesus started, we are, weare to continue as Jesus's
church. You know, when Jesussaid to, you know, to Peter,
when he made his attestationthat you are the Son of the

(11:59):
living God. He said on this Iwill, I will build my church, or
build my gathered community ofpeople. What Ecclesia means,
gathered for a common purpose.
And then we got into this wholesanctify self in and if you're
in, think of it as kind of likebeing in love with someone.

(12:19):
You're in love with someone,yeah, all of your being and your
thoughts and your purpose andwhat you do in life is
intertwined with this person,like when you get married, yeah,
the two shall become one flesh,right? So that the two people
are now one entity, one person,one common interest. And so
when, just as Jesus is of thesame substance of the Father and
is one with the Father, and nowwe are one with Christ, meaning

(12:42):
our life is supposed to becompletely in every way,
intertwined with Jesus and withthe Word of God we have through
Jesus. And that's supposed to bea part of our motivation, of how
we make decisions and what wethink about every day, how we
live our life, the interest, thereason we live our life, the way
we do things. And that ties intothe priesthood of all believers.
When you you go out into theworld working as a bus driver or

(13:03):
a cook or a janitor or whateverit is. You do it to the glory of
God because you are in Christ,like your your whole life is
intertwined where the two cannotbe seen as as separated, as two
separate things. So I love like,if you look back in
18 right, as you have sent meinto the world, it's a
juxtaposition to really goingback into like, 14, right?

(13:25):
I've given them Your Word, andthe world has hated them because
they do not belong to the world.
And so there's this interestingsense that even though we do not
belong to the world, and webelong, and this is where I
would say that we almost makeit, need to make a distinction
from, like, belonging to Christ,right? And does that mean we
belong to the kingdom, becausewe have this kind of two Kingdom
identity of the Kingdom of Godand the kingdom on earth. And so
we almost want to make adistinction, that when it says

(13:46):
you do belong to the world,right? Does that mean you're
belong to the kingdom of God, oryou belong to Jesus? And then it
says, but you've been sent intothe world like Jesus, right? So
it's not that we don't belong tothe world, therefore we don't
have to deal with the world. AndI think that's a really hard
statement, right? As opposed to,like, monasticism that just
wanted to pull away from it,yeah? But, but it's like Jesus
is sitting to the world, like,now I quit. You can't go live in

(14:08):
a cave. Yeah? That's right. It'sYes, yeah, right. And I think
that's a monasticism is a greatlook at that, right? There's
ways to live into the world, butnot have to necessarily embrace
the world, right? You can beseparate apart from extra nose
outside of the world, eventhough you're in it. And I don't
think that's what this text issaying, because it can be hard
to hear that the world hates usand then to say, Great, I'm done
with the world. Yeah, it's notsaying that the world is, is the

(14:29):
enemy, just that, you know, it'slike, do not be conformed. Yeah,
that same, that same language,that that, you know, we're to be
one with Christ, Jesus, and thenbe in the world as it goes to
the the Great Commission, youknow, go and be disciples of all
nations. I said, we're to behere as a reflection of Christ
on the earth for people to seethat Jesus was sent and that God

(14:51):
loved loves us as as God alsoloved Jesus. So we're set we're
supposed to be set apart, youknow, be be different.
Different than just what theworld tries to mold people. And
I think that's why that wordsanctify is so important.
Because that sanctified word isto set apart like, even though
we're in the world, we're setapart as holy, right, because of
Jesus Christ. And so thatrelationship that I love here in

(15:13):
the text is that relationship toJesus Christ being sent into the
world as we are sent into theworld, right, set apart from the
world, but in the world at thesame time, and not just sent,
just for the sake of being sent,but being sent so the world will
know that God sent Jesus, andthat God loves all of them that
we're being sent to. So yeah,when we go out and we live our
life as a living testimony andwitness to the to our neighbors,

(15:36):
our friends, our coworkers, it'sso that they can see that what
God has done, and that we'vebeen sent as an extension of
that, to be able to come tobelieve that, that the John 316
that God for loved them so much,that God sent Jesus to die so
that they could have, they couldhave that promise. Yeah, so
there, it's not just being herefor the sake of being here. It's

(15:57):
being here for that, thatpurpose of that, that Christian
example and witness in theworld. You know, I love kind of
the structure of how this works.
Because if I think about Jesus,Christ being sent into the world
as part of the Triune God,right? We get Jesus coming into
the world with the message ofthe Kingdom. I mean, that was
the primarily, the gospel thatJesus brought, right? It wasn't
the miracles, wasn't anythingelse. It was the message of the
Kingdom. There was a kingdom foryou, a kingdom of heaven. I go

(16:18):
to prepare a place for you,right? That's the message of
Jesus in relationship to God,right? And the kingdom. And yet
we have this very importantpart, when it says we're sent
into the world, that we have amessage of Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness ofour sins. It's, it's a small
distinction between what Jesusrepresents is the kingdom and
what we are sending to peoplerepresent Jesus, correct?

(16:39):
There's almost like a like, Weare the intro messengers into a
relationship with Jesus. Andonce you have a relationship
with Jesus, you're introducedinto the kingdom, right? Like,
like, you have this kind of likeunfolding, developing
relationship that we are calledto. So when we go into the
world, we're really referencingJesus. And so this, this
language here, is a wonderfulkind of introduction into Jesus.
And so, yeah, I love it. It is,I would say, the like, sitting

(17:02):
in the congregation and justreading through this, if you
just read through it, like I waslistening, a little confusing.
Yeah, let's go and like, it's soit's so many words that are
like, in out of because not inthe world, but you're in the
world. The world hated you, butloved the world. Like, I'm like,
whenever you're trying todiscern the meaning in a text,
in Scripture, you're readingscripture if you see something
mentioned more than once, likethe, my New Testament professor

(17:22):
is like, if you see somethinglisted multiple times, like
repeated, pay attention to it,because there's a purpose. It's
not on accident. It's when youget repetition. It's for
emphasis, you know. And so weget these things that that being
sent and not of the world thathappened, you know? It's, it's
written in here multiple times,and the the Unity aspect of it
that is in there repeatedly.

(17:46):
It's because that's important asemphasis there, that we should
really pay attention to that. Soas confusing as it is, it's
something that we need to diginto, because it's that way to
draw your attention, you know,to that, to emphasize that. Now,
you said, this is Jesus's prayerto the Father, yeah, yes, for
for us. So he's repeating itbecause he wants us to

(18:07):
understand how important it is.
That's why he's telling thedisciples, stay awake, yeah, and
listen to me. Most of them sleptthrough it. Obviously one of
them didn't, but they keptfalling asleep, which is why I
think there's such a distinctionin John's gospel, rather than
Matthew, Mark and Luke, becausemost of them were like, sleeping
through it. But, yeah, I mean,this is Jesus knowing he's about
to be turned over and to becrucified, and it's gonna be

(18:30):
this traumatic event for thedisciples, and he's praying for
them,you know, things of the night
he's about to be crucified, andhe's praying for the other
disciples who are gonna abandonhim, yeah, and I think there,
there's awhen you look at it on the flat
page of the paper without, youknow, which is without emotion.
But if you, if you imagine itoccurring in your mind, imagine,

(18:51):
like a scene in a movie ofwhat's going on, it can tug at
your heartstrings a little more,because this is, you know, a
love, a love filled thing thathe's he's praying for all of us,
fallen sinners. Well, the mealwas before, correct, yes, the
meal. So he said, what he saidat the meal? Yep. And then he's

(19:13):
praying this prayer, telling hisdisciples, this is very
important. And he's waitingbecause this is where they came
and got him right? He just ledthem to him, as at this place
where he where he was praying,man, there is a like, if you go
back into 15 in chapter 16,right, 15 ends with the world's
hatred, and then 16 jumps rightinto the work of the Spirit,

(19:34):
right? Because I was with you,but now I was going to Him who
sent Me. You know, where are yougoing, right? But because I've
said these things to you, sorrowhas filled your hearts, right?
Like he's trying to give themthis identity, that there's joy
and things that continue to moveforward. And then, literally,
the next section of sorrow willturn to joy, like, like, even
though you're sad, that I haveto depart, right? And they don't
understand it fully. Yet thiswill turn to joy eventually. And

(19:56):
then again, praise for peace,for the disciple.
I mean, I love thisrelationship, and if I go back
just a little bit, so chapter17, verse six, it says, I have
made Your name known to thosewhom you gave me from the world,
they were yours, and you gavethem to me, and they kept your
word very interesting in thetext, because it's almost as if

(20:16):
Jesus is talking about how Godaligned people in his circle,
right? And these were the onesthat I I've continued to give
the world to, and I feelsometimes that we feel that we
have to take on everyone'scircle as leaders in the church,
like we are responsible forevery single person. And if you
look in here, I've made Yourname known to those whom you
gave me from the world, right?
And it's interesting to think,like maybe that circle is very

(20:39):
important about who we're givingthat message to, and how it goes
out from there. That's the firstthe first step. And you know, so
Jesus raised up these, thisgroup of disciples, and each of
them go out and raise their owngroup of disciples. And the
church still does it now. Andpart of this towards the end of
the reading is talking about notuniformity in the church, but
unity in the church, which iswhy I still liken the Apostles

(21:00):
Creed have the one holy CatholicChurch with a lowercase meaning
of worldwide church, because itis still the one we try to, we
try to, to chisel ourselves offas separate entities like the
Lutheran church or the Methodistchurch or this or that, we're
all part of the one Christianchurch, and to realize that we
are all united together infaith, in Jesus Christ, and that

(21:22):
we're supposed to go out in theworld. And this, this Christian
unity, so that the world can seethe glory of Christ through the
church. Yep, and it's each ofthose disciples. We keep
spreading out more and more andmore disciples. And you know,
you being raised up. Me beingraised up. We continue to go out
and to disciple to other peoplein the church, and everybody

(21:42):
here on Sunday morning goes outinto the world as a living
Christian witness. Yeah? And itjust keeps expanding
exponentially over the last 2000years, and hopefully for another
2000 years, yeah, or whatever.
God decides to call thiswhole thing done when we get the
ending part, Jesus comes again,right? But God says cut. That's
it. You know, it was great. Itwas great. So as we sit out,
there are a lot of peoplelistening to your message on

(22:05):
Sunday, awesome, right? You hadsome visitors come from the
police department that you kindof noted on Sunday too, which
were great other retirees, yeah,that's great. That's right, kind
of hearing some things going on.
But we have a segment here wherewe actually hear notes from
people who are in thecongregation, and we call that
segment Roseanneand Roseanne, we have heard that
you really got a lot out of themessage from Tom, I did. I

(22:27):
wasn't even here. That's, yeah,I know. So that means you
watched online. People youwatched online. Oh, that's
wonderful. Okay, that's great.
Now, what did you take away? Doyou have a couple notes for us
to discern from those whowatched online? I loved that.
Tom titled it two gifts, awarning and a mission. I want
you to talk more about that, butso my notes were, what advice

(22:52):
would you give to graduatesabout their faith as they step
out into the onto out onto theirown? Mm, hmm, and my advice
would be, stay true to your pathwith God and stay true to
yourself.
And because it's so easy to beinfluenced either by social

(23:16):
media or by friends, who are youknow, you have your friends that
you grow up with, and then yougo away to college, and it's
like you're exposed to people ofdifferent backgrounds, and it's
so easy to be influenced certainways. And just like the water in

(23:37):
our mud pit out here, it kind ofjust, what what are you to a mud
pit? What it finds its own pathand wrecks the playground. And
soyou mean the fun Adventure Land,
yeah? It's an adventureplayground. It's an adventure
playground. Yeah, okay,mud pit. To fun pit. Yay, so,
but they can easily just findthat path of least resistance.

(24:02):
And what you don't want is forthem to do that. You want them
to stay the course. But that'swhat God wants all of us to do,
is stay the course. You knowyou're going through a hard time
right now. You're going througha rough time. You're going
through sorrow. Stay the course.

(24:24):
He'll be with you. That's great.
That's great. Table. What advicewould you give to graduates? She
was talking about the advicethat we would give ourselves to
graduates. I shared some advicefor Tom on on your ordination
night, kind of one to one, butshould kind of relate to
everyone. I can share a littlebit
more about, yeah, that's, yeah,yeah, Tom and I've been rolling

(24:45):
together for years. So there's,there's a lot there, but table,
what about you? What's someadvice that you would have for
graduates that are comingthrough? I think, I mean, it's
not different than thanRoseanne. I'd say the that.
Of course, it's very easy to beinfluenced.
Bo goes so far as to say thatit's impossible not to be

(25:08):
influenced. And the questionthen is, what are you allowing
to influence you? And I thinkthat's how you you kind of stay
the path. You know, the Jesus inthis passage that we read, He
says, I sanctify Myself, whichis itself confusing, because
so often, like what weunderstand is sanctification in

(25:31):
our in our sort of Christian orevangelical worlds, it means
that you you're just a good agood boy or a good girl. You
know you're a saint. You knowyou're holy. You don't like you
don't do all of the thingsyou're not supposed to do. But
that's not quite whatsanctification is, because
obviously, if that, if it were,then Jesus would already be

(25:52):
sanctified. So why would he tellwhat? Would he say that he
himself is becoming sanctified?
It's ais, you know we're this whole
passage, we're talking about theword, the word world. There is
Cosmos, right? Which is, that'sthe Greek, it's the it's it
means the universe. It meansthis, the created order. And
there's a separation between thecreator and the creation that is

(26:16):
inherent to this biblical story.
God created creation. He's not apart of creation. He's not a God
that that emerged from creation,but he himself out of nothing,
created the created order thecosmos. And so

(26:37):
as God created this in order toinhabit this place with us. And
so he sets up his tent or histabernacle here with us. And so
the whole story is, how are wegetting back to that after the
fall, right? How are wecontinuing to look for and live

(26:58):
in such a way as that we arewelcoming God back into our
world. And so when Jesus says, Isanctify Myself, is He? Is? He
is setting, as Paul says, He issetting his mind on the things
that are not of this world, butare of the Creator. Paul says,
Set your mind on the things ofthe Spirit, and that's how you

(27:19):
are sanctified. And so I'd say,if you're wondering what, what
is going to influence you,that is, what are the things
that you pay attention to? Whatare, what are the things that
your mind is drawn to on a givenon any given day? Because you
can, anybody can wax lyricalabout their plans and hopes and

(27:39):
dreams, but really, what yourplans and hopes and dreams are
are the things you think aboutwhen you're not trying to think
about anything. You know that'sit's the very bottom of where
your heart is and where yourheart is is where your treasure
is, as Jesus himself said. Andso the question is, what
influences you, is where yourheart is, and where is your

(28:02):
heart like? What do you thinkabout all the time? If all you
think about is money, that isyour God, yeah, you know, if all
you think about is what's onNetflix, then entertainment is
your God. And you might be justerasing yourself into oblivion
in this world, and that isdefinitely not what Jesus calls

(28:24):
us to do as people who are to besanctifying ourselves too. So
sanctifying ourselves like JesusHimself did, is setting our
minds on the things of ourCreator, and that's what we
think about. And you know, Psalmone says, set your blessed is he
who meditates on the law of theLord day and night. You know,

(28:46):
he's planted by streams ofwater. I'd say, then if, if
that's where your heart is, thenthat's what you're allowing to
influence you. And so then thatis how you're sanctifying
yourself. That's how you can, ofcourse, go through the many
difficult, the difficulties ofthis life, and be protected from

(29:07):
the evil one and and press intoChristian community with
brothers and sisters who arealso trying to do that. And
that's how I think you can staythe course and hopefully see the
great day where the Lord finallycompletes his his work. I think

(29:27):
it's important what voices weallow ourselves to listen to.
And in college, it's difficultif they go to college or
workforce, because they're goingto work with people that are
maybe supervisors, people aresupposed to look up to that have
a very different view thatmaybe, whether consciously or
not, pulling them awayprofessors that are going to be
teaching things that arecontradictory to the Christian
truth. You know, and you know,Jesus said that you're, you

(29:50):
know, Sanctify them in thetruth. Your word is truth. We're
to be sanctified in the Word ofGod. So it's important to hear
voices that are repeating theword of God.
God to us, it's like campusministry is so important, but
it's harder if they're goingstraight into the workforce. You
know, the military has Chaplainsees the their their campus
ministries, but the kids that gostraight into the workforce,

(30:11):
they're kind of thrust into thisworld of the the people around
them. That's why they need tobe. That's why we have to be in
a in a community of faith, sothat we can hear these voices to
counteract all the other stuffin the world, because it's God's
Word that sanctifies us, andGod's Word in Jesus that comes
to us. It's God's work coming tous to do this on our behalf. But
if we're constantly turning awayfrom it and turning to all the

(30:33):
other voices, and that's whatechoes in our in our head, and
it's hard for, I mean, the kidsdon't realize that yet, for
people who turn away, there'salways something missing, and
they're trying to find thatthere's a level of discord.
This passage brought to mind, Idon't know if, well, you

(30:54):
probably get, if you guys readThe Silmarillion, I can't
imagine. It's a kind of a nerdyyou know, the Silmarillion. The
Silmarillion starts with just,just this beautiful sort of
narrative recounting a sort of acreation story. Of, you know,
this is prior to Middle Earth,you know, yeah, whatever age I
forget, but it's, it'sessentially God, you know, Arda

(31:19):
is the story in the in thesummer million but the creation
story is, is Arda is decidesthat he wants to create a world,
and in order to do that, hestarts singing a song, and he
creates the Valar, which arethese, these being, sort of
angelic beings that he surroundshimself with, and he asks them
to sing the same song inharmony, until one little valor

(31:44):
decides to sing his own song.
Yeah, right. And, you know,obviously, yada yada yada,
Sauron, right.
He that's such a beautiful storyto me, because it really paints
a picture of our actualcreation. You know, there is a
song, there is a sequence, afrequency, there is an

(32:04):
environment of the soul, which,which is it? Which is a harmony
that God is singing, you know?
And the question is, Are Are wealigning to that particular
song, or are we going off on ourown, trying to sing our own
song? And and what that storyencapsulates is that when you do
that, when you go off and startto sing your own song,

(32:25):
destruction and decay starts tohappen in small little ways, but
it becomes bigger and bigger andbigger and bigger like an
avalanche, right? And so the ourwork as Christians is to come
back and and learn to join andthe and the choir, if you will,
of Christ. You know, I love thatlanguage about harmony, because

(32:46):
I was thinking as you weretalking before about kind of the
step in, like, Who are youlistening to, and who is the
world, and who is yourinfluence, and where your mind
is and your heart is, is whereyour influence is at in the
world. And I thought, but somany people are lost in that,
right? So many people exist inthat on a daily basis, right? To
say, hey, switch your heart tothe word you know, like, as it
says in here, it's sanctified bythe truth. You know that
sanctification and made holy isreally, you know, the cross with

(33:08):
Jesus Christ, right? That's thesanctifying myself as the cross,
right? There's a choice in that.
And so that sanctification andmade holy, then we have the
truth. And then the truth isJesus Christ, right? And that
word that we rest on. And sowith that truth, that's a hard
language, though. It's a hardlanguage for people to go from
the world, right, that they'rein and fully in, and be like,
hey, go to the truth. And you'relike, well, that changes my

(33:29):
life, like that changes how Iexist, right? It changes my
daily interaction with theworld, if you just want me to go
to the truth, right? And I thinkabout this harmony, and I think
about people who are in choirswho don't have harmony, right?
And they're like, Look, I needthe melody for a little bit. I
just, I just need to sing witheveryone, right? And feel that,
and then teach me the harmony,like, teach me how to be in

(33:50):
harmony with everyone else, andlet me extend into the different
groups where I have influence,and different things like that.
And I think there's a languagethere about how we as Christians
go into the world, right? Like,we need to go into the world
understanding that we're movingpeople out of comfort, right?
We're moving people out ofcomplacency, right, out of
conforming to the world, andsaying, Hey, don't conform,

(34:10):
right? Like, change in this wayand move in this way. And it's
small steps all throughout. AndI think that's why this never
ends right until Christ comesagain. It's this language of,
hey, you're not gonna see me fora little while. You're gonna be
on your own, right? It's almostChrist saying, hey, it's now
your turn to take on the truth,right? It's now your turn to
change your life, right? I'vegiven you this example, I've

(34:31):
shown you the path, and then westart to move from that. And,
yeah, I think this is anincredible text for that. And so
you kind of named it two gifts,right? A warning and a mission,
right? What can you talk usthrough? What are the two gifts?
What's the warning and what'sthe mission? Yeah. First I gotta
give the observation that youknow, talk about the disciples
being sent out at this time withChrist that you know, I'm not
going to be with you muchlonger. Yeah? And when you're

(34:53):
sending out our high schoolseniors,
parenting is over, yeah? Thing.
And now they've got to go make.
Their own choices for the forthe good and the bad. And you
know, which is why they needthose communities to help them,
right? Help them be lifted up.
But, yeah, but they go into theworld with with two gifts, yep,
first they they go out into theworld having the Word of God.

(35:13):
Yup, the word of God and theScriptures, the word of God.
They can hear preach. Shouldhear preached on a Sunday
because there's so there's somuch out there that the world
out there that tries to preachother things to them that it's
important for them to go to aplace where they can be rooted
in the word of God beingproclaimed, which is ultimately
the responsibility of a preacheris a herald of the good news
that they have, that they havethat relationship. They have the

(35:34):
access to the Scriptures. Theyhave the relationship with the
embodied word of God and Jesus,and that's a huge gift. The
other it's, I think, the mostimportant gift any human being
has ever received in all ofcreation is that Jesus prayed
for them, and hopefully thatthey'll go into the world,
realizing that on the night hewas about to suffer a most

(35:56):
horrible death, he sat in thegarden at night, and he prayed
an intercessory prayer for them.
And I don't, can't think of anybetter, more important, more
powerful prayer any human beingcan ever receive than a prayer
from Jesus Christ. And that thatis a huge gift, that I think
that it's so easy to forgetthat, that we've been we've been

(36:18):
given. And then the warning isthat you know the world's going
to hate you if you follow Jesus,which is kind of ominous,
because the you know, thedisciples probably didn't
realize that right away, but asthings went on, they began to
realize that, especially onceyou know the stoning of Stephen
and on from there, that therewere things that the world tried

(36:39):
its best to destroy, this thingknown as the way, yet it it
still is. Mm, hmm. And thatcontinues today, in some ways,
not so much. In we're going tostone you if you admit to being
a Christian, but that, yeah,you're a Christian, and this is
what, what you're compelled todo, and how you're compelled to
behave because your faith. Andwe're going to do everything we
can to draw you away from thatthrough social media, the

(37:02):
internet, temptations tosubstances, to, I mean, all
kinds of ways. Yeah, the world'sgonna try to act against you in
that. Well, this career, thiscareer, bring you so much money,
and especially social media, youknow, your glory, yeah, yeah.
So, I mean, it's, doesn't, it'snot, not all negative. Some of
it is like, you know, go takethis career path, and you'll be

(37:27):
set for life. Yeah, the Americandream, yeah, yeah, which, which
is fine and good, as long as youdon't make it your God, right?
As long as you don't make that,you know, your firm foundation,
you know, you don't. You've gotto stay with what your true
foundation is and enjoy all thegifts that God has given us in
the world, but without turningthem into into an idol. Yeah,

(37:49):
yeah. No, go ahead. That remindsme, I don't know if ever read
there's, there's a popular levelbook called The courage to be
disliked. I've signed them notread it. It's, I just looked at
this like two weeks ago, like aJapanese name, yeah, it's a it's
a fun book. It's essentiallygrabbing, sort of the the
thought ofat one of the Adler, one of the

(38:10):
first psychologists with, youknow, Jung and Freud. And
essentially, we don't need toget into the whole the details
of it, but the title kind ofsays it all. And the idea is, if
you're not willing to face beingdisliked by people, you're

(38:33):
essentially not free in any realsense. That doesn't mean that
you're actively seeking outbeing disliked by people, but if
you can't stomach it, you areunable to be free to do
anything. You know, if that,then you're unable to be happy.
Yeah, you're exactly you'reunable to Who do you? How do you
define who you are? You know isit? Is your identity reliant on

(38:56):
people liking you, yeah, and youbeing popular and thinking
you're super awesome? Or is youridentity, which is why, like in
in relationships, up withpeople. You know, I've told
people before that have gonethrough relationships is broken
up, that until you're happybeing single, you'll never be
happy in a relationship. It'strue. And I didn't get that
advice. I read it somewhere in ain a book, right? But when we go

(39:17):
out into the world, if we canroot ourselves and knowing that
we belong to God, that we areChristians, and that's our
identity, then if somebodydoesn't like us, well, yeah, I'm
sorry you feel that way, butOkay, yeah. But if we're, if
you're crushed by that, it'sbecause you don't have that,
that firm foundation. And Ithink that's why Jesus says, I

(39:38):
mean, you need to expect thatyou will come up against
tension, yeah, in that way. Andthat's, and that's a normal
part. It's, you know, it's afeature, not a bug,
of you actually taking a stanceand trying to it's kind of like
when psychologists talk about,or counselors talk about setting
boundaries. You know, theyalways say, when you start to

(39:58):
set boundaries, people, who areyou?
Used to you not havingboundaries, will, will will
dislike it very strongly, andthey'll protest. But that
doesn't mean that you shouldn'tset those boundaries, right,
right? You need in order togrow, you need to to make
decisions, regardless of whetheror not you're pleasing people.
But I think the boundaries too,that come in, right, are

(40:20):
creating boundaries to createback to yourself with God,
right? Like, those boundariesare guiding you back in, and
they should teach at the sametime they're setting boundaries,
detecting that really, yeah,right. Like the Yeah, the parts
when we get frustrated people'sboundaries, we're usually
frustrated ourselves for nothaving the same hopefully
healthy boundaries that otherpeople are having, right? And
hopefully that frustration isonly from seeing someone set

(40:41):
that in a holistic way, right?
That says, Hey, I'm setting thisin a holiness, sanctified way to
set myself apart, right? And ifyou're trying to gather me back
in, then I can't do that, right?
I can't come into that. I thinkbecause I know you've got, I may
have finished the the missionparks. I know I want to see what
your other notes are,no, so the third one
is the third one is the mission.
Yeah, right. And that's thepriesthood of all believers that

(41:02):
as Jesus has been sent in theworld, Jesus has sent all of us
in the world, not just Joe and Iand Roseanne and table, but
everybody has been sent into theworld by Christ for a purpose.
No matter how big or seem or asmall society may see it. We're
all sent for that purpose and areflection of Christ in the

(41:23):
church. I think we couldreinforce that every single
Sunday, and it would still needto be reinforced every single
Sunday. Yeah, right, the factthat it's not you and I up here,
I mean, you made a big pointabout that on Sunday, which I
thought was great, that it's,it's not you or I, right? It
we're not the only sake of thechurch, right? We are literally
sending you out into the world,and you're an extension of the
neighborhood, but that fails, incomparison, to be an extension

(41:45):
of God, right, an extension ofJesus Christ, right? And what
happens outside of these walls,and that that distinction,
right, needs to be charged andcommissioned over and and I
think you talked about that alittle bit from your ordination,
right? But being called andcommissioned like you're
commissioned, you're sent,right? You're sent for the sake
of the world. And that's everysingle person walking outside of
these doors. And I think it goesback into like when you're in

(42:07):
the world, no matter whereyou're at, you have that as your
identity, right? Your identityin the world is that whatever
workplace you're in, whateverfriend group you're in, whatever
social environment you're in,you are there representing
Christianity, right? 24/7 and Ithink it's hard for people to
understand. It's even hard forme to understand in the world. I
mean, I'm seen as a pastor,pretty generally, for the people

(42:28):
that know me and but like when Iwent to mission in Uganda,
right, was sitting in mission inUganda, and it's great. And I'm
there on mission. I'm thererepresenting Christ, I'm there
learning about the mission. I'mthere helping out villages
Great. All these things are veryholy. They're very Christian,
right? That sounds great. And wesat down at the lodge at the end
of the night, when we're goingto kind of the safari through
Uganda and visiting God'screation. We sat down, and the

(42:50):
group that was from across mewas from the UK, right? And they
were talking, and we sat withanother group of people from
like the Middle East, and it wasjust this great conglomeration
of different people groups,right? And they looked and they
said, Well, why do you try tobring Western Christianity over
here?
And I was like, Well, I'm just aChristian. Like, no, but you
represent Western Christianity.
And I was like, Oh, I'm and itwas the first time someone had

(43:14):
looked at me and said, yourepresent Christianity, right?
Like you represent the whole ofa religion, right? Like, so why
are you bringing like, it was ait was a charge, it was a
question. It was almost astatement against, like, what
are you doing here that's soimportant that you think it's
valued here, right? And I reallystepped back for a second,
because I was like, Oh, I'mreally representing in this

(43:35):
small moment, in this smallgroup of eight people, Western
Christianity, right? It's notjust the neighborhood. It's not
just a Uganda trip. It's not ourgroup that we're on, right? We
represent Christ. And why do weneed Christ in other areas of
the world? And why do they needto hear about Christ? And what
does that mean? And I thinkthere's two sides of that. Is
one people making people thinkthat Christianity there has to

(43:55):
look like it looks here, youknow, because then we get into
like, kind of the colonialaspect, issue that, because
Jesus was not a a whiteEuropean, you know, you know, a
mid 30s, Middle Eastern male,right? So it looks very
different than people think whenyou see images of white Jesus,
yes, like white, blue eyed.

(44:18):
Jesus, white, blue eyed. Yeah,you know, European features
like, No, it just we have, youknow, we see that reflection
ourselves in that reflection,which is okay, but that it's a
everybody else's reflection.
That's why all human beings arecreated in the image of God,
not, you know, not just here,which is why when we we go do
those things, those trips likethat, we have to set aside
cultural norms, because it's a,it's a fine line for us, because

(44:39):
Christianity has becomeenculturated to a point that
people can't always show thetell the distinction between
what is a cultural issue andwhat is a faith issue, because
and ultimately, and you'reright, ultimately, my goal is
not to be seen as a pastor.
Yeah, I don't want people to.

(45:00):
To recognize immediately thatI'm a pastor. I'd rather just
them recognize that I'm aChristian, yeah? Because that,
yeah, that's true. Yeah, you do,yeah. Come on now you wear it
out, yeah? But it gives it has ait has a place. I mean, I wear a
uniform as a police officer, sothat when I show up something
going on, they know my purpose.
And so when you wear the collarin certain instances, it defines

(45:20):
your purpose, and it it greasessome wheels, make some things
easier to do, like when somecontext you need to, you know,
sometimes wear the stole or theit sets you apart to know who
you are, what your purpose isthere, but it doesn't even give
you any greater ability orpower. Yeah. And so the best
thing anybody can aspire to isnot being a pastor or a bishop

(45:41):
or the Pope, but just to be seenas a Christian. Yeah,
absolutely, absolutely. WhenI've told this story before, but
when I worked at Walmart atstore level,
people would certain. Peoplewould come up to me and say, can
you just add into your prayers.
And I never, I never saidanything about being Christian

(46:04):
or, you know, because I didn'tknow if that was acceptable,
especially when I first startedthere. So, you know, it was, it
was not something that I walkedin like Joe would come into the
store all energy.
But I didn't walk in and go, I'mChristian, and I'm here to save

(46:27):
everyone, but people would askme to pray for them, or pray for
a situation, or pray with them.
I had a lady that was in myline, and my goal as a cashier
was to get everybody through asfast as possible.
So but had a lady that wastelling me about things going on

(46:48):
in her life, and the lady behindher, what kind of jumped in the
conversation, and we had alittle impromptu prayer circle
right there. And it was amazingthat is the priesthood of all
believers. And I love that, thatI get to be that wherever I'm at
and and I don't wear collar aclerical color. Get her one.

(47:12):
Yeah, that's great. Priest ofall believers, make it pink. I
was in Oklahoma City this pastweekend,
and we were there, and onFriday, we decided to go out and
go shopping and different thingslike that. And we ended up in a
shopping center out in front ofREI, another rugged outdoor
store. Apparently, that was justmy jam this last weekend. And so
we ended up in front of thestore, great. We bought some
shoes for Kaylee, differentthings like that. Landon got

(47:33):
some clothes. Great. We'recoming out, and we're sitting in
the car and we're getting readyto find our next destination,
right? And we're talking withthe family, right? And Katie
looks at me, and she's in theback seat. She goes, there's a
guy coming to the door. And Iwas like, what? And I'm just
looking, I was like, What do youmean, right? And I turned to the
left, and there's this guy justcoming straight for the car,
right? Like, we're in theparking lot in a big, you know,

(47:53):
one of those huge, like, there'slike, nine stores in this, like,
shopping center, and this comesright, and I could see that
obviously unhoused, right, andcome into the door, right and
and so I rolled down the window,and he goes, Hey. He goes, You
know, I got a wife, and, youknow, I got kids, and I just
need some money for food, youknow, for lunch and everything
else like that, because you gotcash on you. And that morning,
I'd found cash in my bag, andI'd put it in my pocket, and I

(48:16):
never carry cash. And I waslike, God is good. I was like,
let's go and so, but in like, ateaching moment for Kayleen
Landon, right to hand cash isnot, I think, the relationship
that God calls us to right? It'sto see someone for who God sees
them as, right? And so I got outof the car and I just said, Hey,
can I pray with you, like, CanI, can I talk with you about

(48:36):
what's going on in your life andeverything's like? And we talked
for a good couple minutes,right? And he told me about his
wife and things that are goingon. Asked for prayer. Ask for
prayers, but you could see inhis face the difference in,
like, someone wanting arelationship, right? And saying
that I care about you for like,what's going on in your life,
versus just like the passthrough moment. And I think
that's the difference, right?
It's the stop in the line. It's,I'm gonna take time with you.

(48:58):
It's, hey, the world is goingon, but we're gonna set
ourselves apart from the worldfor a second. World for a
second, and the world's going tokeep on hustling and bustling
and doing all that kind ofstuff, but we're going to stop
for a second, right? And we'regoing to go into, I hope this
church never gets too big,because there is, there is
anonymity and loneliness in acrowd. Mm, hmm. Oh yeah. And out
in society, you have people thatare part of the unhoused

(49:18):
community, that are sittingthere not knowing what to do,
and people walk right by themand never look at them. Yeah,
they're not seen oracknowledged, yeah. And you can
walk into a huge, crowded roomlike a convention center or a
huge, like mega church, andnobody look at you, yeah, and go
in and sit down and go throughthe whole, you know, our service
or whatever, and then leave andnot really be part of the

(49:39):
community, because things gettoo big and it just changes
people, you know, you have tohave, there's a certain size,
there's a limit to how big youcan be and and people actually
be friendly in a community.
Community? Yeah, absolutely. Youget lost in the crowd all of a
sudden. So I'm curious Roseanne,what? Yeah, and if I.

(50:00):
Notes. Rose notes, well, do youfeel like we don't say table
note number two, thanks tablefor joining. Gotcha.
Do you feel like you belong tothe world? And I thought that
wording was interesting. Do youbelong to the world?

(50:20):
I belong in the world, but Idon't belong to the world. I've
never, never felt like I fit inso but, but I am loved, and I
know that, yeah, because if youfeel like the goal is to fit in,
then we're trying to belong tothe world, right, instead of
belonging to God, right in inthe world, absolutely,

(50:43):
absolutely, and that, that is ahuge difference. And I think
it's hard with kids right nowwith social media, because
they're trying to, they're,they're, it's easy to be to fall
into temptation of seeingthemselves through that lens, of
trying to be partner, becausethey all want to, you know, they
get to a point where they, younotice, they all come to youth
on Wednesday nights. And there'scertain trends that hit, like

(51:05):
the Uggs when that first cameout. That's right, yeah, all the
girls were wearing it, and thenthe Stanley Cup thing came in.
Oh, okay, it's all sudden. It'sthe Stanley Cup crowd. They're
all coming in the exact samething, because nobody wants to
look. Oh, man, I thought you'retalking about hockey for a
second. You're talking about theStanley Cups. Yeah, the mugs,
yeah. Awful. Crocs. Oh, man,crocs. Tom wears crocs. I've

(51:25):
been wearing crocs for 20 years,yeah, but only for 20 years. Do
you guys wanna hear funny storyabout crocs? Guys, when you're
funny story about crocs, I'lltell you a funny story. Blade
Runner, original Blade Runner,back in, gosh, what was it? It's
gotta be 70s, 80s. Why are youlike, I'm sorry.
Okay, so Blade Runner comes out.
They're planning for BladeRunner, and they're doing the

(51:47):
costumes for all the people inthe future. And they found this
small company that had thesereally funky shoes, and they
said, Look, these shoes willnever hit the market, but
they're really funky and theylook futuristic, and so we're
going to put them on all of ourcast. So that way it's like a
future or something. You knowwhat? They were, crocs, right? I
kid you not. Kid you not. Now,I'm almost positive it's Blade
Runner. I got a one was positiveBlade Runner, but it is a sci fi

(52:10):
movie meant for the future wherecrocs are the shoe that's used
for all the future population.
And so that's the note, like,right now. Like, that movie hit.
Like, nailed it 20 years, 30years ago. So, yeah, so crocs
came out in the market,according to Google, in 2002 Oh,
interesting, because so currentwas born in oh one, and I got
pictures of him when he's like,maybe two or three years old,

(52:31):
wearing bright orange crocs,nice. Oh, my God, for that long.
Oh, and I've been wearing itthat long. Oh, wow, yeah, he'll
kill me for saying this. But mydaughter thought crocs were the
best shoes for potty trainingbecause they were so easy to
clean. Yo, yo, yeah, it's greaton their feet. Just hold them
off. It's all day. So mygrandson will probably kill me.
He won't listen great. But onceyou go back, once you do it, you

(52:55):
can never go back. I mean, it'sjust, it's the perfect house
shoe. I am committed to stayaway. I don't own a pair. I
don't own a pair of crocs.
Yeah, when you're at home andnobody's looking, and then
you're like, I'm gonna try itjust because I'm curious. And
you're like, then you have to goon knowing that you can't ever
wear those things like theysmell. No, they don't. There's

(53:18):
no smell because of thematerial. It's better than when
you feel like Birkenstocks orleather sandals or something
burning. Stocks do look likethis smell, those will get a
smell. Crocs don't. And you canjust, like, hose them out if you
need to. You can have your feetso you can, yeah, pretty much if
you're in the pool and you kickthem off in the water, they
float and you just put them backon and

(53:40):
curious how we got to this, youso the last one was, I gotta
find it here. Oh, what does itmean to you when the Scripture
says, be sent into the worldlike Jesus was, and that's just
witness. Be a witness. And youdon't necessarily have to do it
with words. It's actions, it'skindness, it is acknowledgement.

(54:08):
Yeah,so many ways that you can do
that without using words. Andfor an introvert like me, that's
great. Yeah, that's awesome.
That's awesome. Well, there yougo, Pastor. Tom, great. First
message out of the gate.
Fantastic. Roseanne had somewonderful notes from listening
to it. And I'm excited to hearyou as you grow into this new
identity as pastor, but not anew identity as a Christian,

(54:30):
right, and as a member here atTNC and as a staff person here
at TNC coming up through thelife of the neighborhood church.
We're excited to have you joinus. I think it's going to be an
incredible journey going forwardand and I know that many people
have already been impacted byyour ministry, and there's many
lives that have been changed bythe words that you share in the
leadership that you have. And soI just want to say, welcome.
It's fantastic to have you onand coming on. And I think many

(54:53):
people will continue to beimpacted by our ministry. And so
today, that is the TNC podcast,And all God's people said.
Hey.