June 12, 2024 • 40 mins
Can deep, personal discipleship transform your spiritual journey? Brad Thomas, Pastor of Austin Ridge Bible Church, certainly believes so. Join us as we explore Brad's inspiring 18-month discipleship curriculum designed for small groups. Brad shares the significance of vulnerability, authentic connections, and living transparently in front of others. Discover how these principles, influenced by Howard Hendricks, have shaped the church's approach to fostering spiritual growth and meaningful relationships.
Understanding Scripture and forming deep relationships within a community can have a profound impact on your life decisions and spiritual growth. We dive into Tim Keller's "Prodigal God" and the teachings of 2 Timothy 2:2 to highlight the transformative power of discipleship. Through communal Bible study and scripture memory, we emphasize moving beyond Bible ignorance and bringing the Great Commission to life. Experience the joy of sharing faith and the ripple effect it creates, leading to lasting spiritual legacies and stronger communities.
From Saul's preparation in Tarsus to sharing the gospel in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, this episode takes you on a journey of church planting, missions, and prayer. Understand how even one believer can signify a church's presence in a city. Hear powerful stories of spreading the gospel and the impact of missions in various parts of the world. We conclude with a heartfelt prayer, seeking divine intervention and encouraging listeners to embrace their role in God's mission. Dive into this episode for an enriching conversation that will inspire and challenge your spiritual walk.
Follow @unreachedpodcast on Instagram for more!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dustin Elliot (00:05):
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven
with members from every tribe,tongue, people and language
standing in the throne roombefore the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over7,000 unreached people groups
around the world.
For the last six years myfamily and friends have been on
a journey to find, vet and fundthe task remaining.
(00:28):
Come journey with us to theends of the earth as we share
the supernatural stories of Godat work for the men and women he
has called to reach theunreached.
Hello friends, dustin Elliott,here your host.
21, 22 episodes into this.
We're kind of through the meatof the second season and we've
(00:49):
probably got the most specialguest on the planet for me, the
man that really grabbed a holdof me in my early 30s and
discipled me and took me down apath of really getting to know
God, getting to know God's will,getting to know God's word,
getting to know God's word,getting to understand how I fit
in this beautiful big-picturenarrative, what I've been given,
(01:11):
my gifts, my time, talent andtreasure, and how to harness
those and leverage those and usethose for the nations.
Today we have pastor of AustinRidge Bible Church, mr Brad
Thomas.
Great to be here with you guys.
We're so happy to have you.
God's done so much through Bradthrough the years.
I know 2017-18 is when Brad tookme through a discipleship group
(01:32):
18 months long, six or eightguys.
You do this kind of every yearto two years you get a new
recruiting class of guys andyou've got a curriculum.
And let's just start there.
Let's talk about discipleshipand just the heart of
discipleship and how that playsa role in all this.
Brad Thomas (01:49):
Absolutely.
One of my heroes of the faithis a man named Howard Hendricks.
He's a professor at DallasSeminary and he used to say this
.
He said you inspire people froma stage, you impact them up
close.
And that hit me so hard becausehere I was wanting to preach in
front of a lot of people andthen I had to realize Jesus came
(02:09):
and started a small group.
That's right, three-yearministry, small group, 12 guys,
and it changed the world.
And so that's when I startedtrying to figure out how can I
impact men one-on-one.
And I started by a question.
My question was what is theexcuse that men give not to make
disciples?
And I thought of two things.
(02:30):
I don't know enough.
I don't know what to do.
So I set out, dustin, thatcurriculum I took you through
and some guys to develop somematerial that not just would be
teachable but it would bereproducible in other men's
lives.
And so since I was discipled bya man my senior year in college
, I have determined and setaside in my life that the main
(02:53):
importance of my life is toalways have a group of guys that
I am pouring my life into,because that's what the gospel
does.
Dustin Elliot (02:59):
I love that In Matthew 28,.
It doesn't say just goevangelize to the nations, just
go tell them the good news.
It says to make disciples ofall nations, and so you live
that out.
And then our church has reallyembraced that concept.
You've been here for almost 20years, 20 years.
This week Is it really?
Oh, let's go.
(03:20):
We better figure out a way tocelebrate.
Discipleship.
Ministry is at the absoluteheart and core of our church.
In fact, we have a discipleshippastor.
We have a notebook that men orwomen can get.
You can go through a group andthen it's the way you would say
it.
It's just some train tracks,right?
It alleviates that.
I don't know what to do.
It's like no, no, no.
(03:40):
Here.
Here's a schedule, here's asyllabus, here's the materials.
All you got to do is get someguys and have a consistent
gathering.
Brad Thomas (03:47):
Just show up and go through the material, tell us
about the material that you'vekind of curated over the years.
Yeah, so someone discipled meback in college and I didn't
even know what that word means.
What does it mean to disciplesomeone?
It feels heavy, it feels mentor, it feels you know.
Our culture uses life coach.
What does it mean?
(04:11):
And all it means is to liveyour life in front of someone
else so they can see Jesus in afresh way.
And I've often thought thatdiscipleship is mainly asking
good questions.
You take a guy to lunch and youask questions like hey, man,
how you doing?
That usually doesn't get aresponse from a guy.
Then you ask how's yourmarriage going?
Then you ask what's somethingyou're struggling with right now
, what's something I can liftyou up and encourage you with
today?
And you just you talk aboutthings other than stocks and
(04:34):
weather and work.
You just talk about issues thatactually matter.
It's wanting to be known andit's also knowing that you know
some other people really well,and that's what discipleship is.
Dustin Elliot (04:46):
And so you talked about doing that at lunch okay,
which I can appreciate, howthat is kind of maybe the
onboard ramp to a BTD group,okay.
But what I think is differentis when you are in a group with
six or eight guys and you ask ahard question to a guy in the
(05:07):
group and there is a trust treein that room that you know I can
be vulnerable, and one guytakes that first step forward
into vulnerable space and saysI'm struggling with lust, I'm
struggling with alcohol, I'mstruggling with an addiction,
I'm struggling with whatever thecase is.
As soon as that happens rightin that 1 Corinthians 10, 13,
(05:27):
that temptation that I face isno different starts to hit that
room.
Everything changes yeah.
Brad Thomas (05:34):
I firmly believe that a definition of a leader is
someone who leads, and what Imean by that is I've got to be
the first guy to open Pandora'sbox.
If I'm not going to share, whyshould I expect anyone else
around the table to share?
And so I don't start the firstweek by opening up my heart
about everything.
It would freak guys out.
They wouldn't come back.
So we actually build in ourcurriculum, our content.
(05:57):
We spend several weeks togetherbefore we start talking about
real intimate things.
So by the time we get to it wefeel like we know each other and
we feel like we can be intimatewith each other.
But it always starts with theleader, and so we we get to know
each other.
We share lifelines.
Dustin Elliot (06:13):
Lifelines.
Yeah, that's the first exercise.
So for the first six or eightweeks every guy gets uh, he gets
the mic for 20 or 30 minutes.
Highlights and lowlights ofyour life, five or 10.
Brad Thomas (06:23):
And I start as a leader.
I do the tool first.
So I did my lifeline first andall a lifeline is I was born
here, raised here, went toschool here, got married here,
got a kid here.
You're just telling the eventsof your life and it's not
threatening, it's not toopersonal, it's not intimate,
because we're not trying tofreak guys out on the front end.
Everyone shares their lifeline.
And then when I've heard six oreight lifelines, then I start
(06:44):
the lunches and I take a guy tolunch and I say, hey, I noticed
on your lifeline that your momleft your dad when you were 11.
Unpack that for me.
What were you sixth grade?
Tell me about that.
What impact did that have?
And then all of a sudden theguy will sit there and he'll
share for 30 or 40 minutes atlunch and I'm over there eating
my quesadilla and he thinks thisis the greatest conversation
(07:05):
I've ever had and I haven't saidanything in 30 or 40 minutes.
I've had guys literally at theend of a lunch pouring their
heart out saying thank you somuch for pouring into me over
this lunch and I didn't say muchat all.
Dustin Elliot (07:16):
All I poured was the queso.
Brad Thomas (07:21):
So these tools that we talk about, they're just
keyholes.
They just open the door, andthen the Spirit of God does what
the Spirit of God does.
Dustin Elliot (07:25):
I'm going to stay on this thread because I want
other people that have donegroups or are doing groups to
hear this.
So lifelines are consistentwith Scripture.
Memory, that's anotherdiscipline.
I'm going to probably quote youmany times, dick, but you once
told me the two most importantthings that I could do was to
date my wife.
I didn't date her to get her.
I got her to date my wife.
I didn't.
I didn't date her to get her, Igot her to date her.
(07:45):
That's a Bradliner.
And memorize scripture.
Yes, so take us through.
You say, guys, if you'll dothis with me, you'll know 60 or
70 verses at the end of thegroup and we always start with
we start with.
Brad Thomas (07:55):
The first verse we start with is first Corinthians
10, 13.
No temptation seized you exceptwhat is common to man.
But God is faithful.
He won't let you be temptedbeyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted he'llprovide a way of escape so you
can stand up under it.
The reason I start with thatverse is every guy struggles
with some similar things andthat verse is applicable to
anything a guy will strugglewith.
Here's what I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to trick them longenough and get past their myths
(08:20):
that they think they can't dothis.
So by the end of this timetogether they have memorized
anywhere from 40 to 60 verses.
And I tell them if you have 40or 60 verses memorized, let's
say you memorize one verse aweek.
Let's say you do that for thenext 10 years.
That's 500 verses.
If you have 500 verses in yourheart, you know more Bible than
(08:40):
most pastors who stand by inpulpits.
You cannot not change when youhave 500 verses in your heart.
Dustin Elliot (08:45):
And.
Brad Thomas (08:45):
God's word will change your heart.
Dustin Elliot (08:47):
We'll stay on the D group but we'll segue as well
.
That's maybe a good place tokind of jump in here.
Our very first launch episodewe had Todd Arendt the mission
of God, the mission of the Bible.
What does the Bible say?
The Great Commission didn'tstart in Matthew 28.
Jesus repeated it.
So it goes back to Genesis 12,but really it goes back to in
the beginning.
So, brad, tell us a little bitfrom your perspective.
(09:08):
How do you start walkingthrough the Bible and
understanding kind of how Godset this thing up?
Brad Thomas (09:15):
Yeah.
So with my guys I do what Icall a walk through the Bible
and I really do Genesis, 3,nehemiah, because that is
chronologically the beginning,end of the Old Testament.
I find that another excuse weuse is we don't know enough
Bible and because of our Bibleignorance we make some of the
biggest mistakes in our life,some of the biggest struggles we
cause in our life.
And I think if we just knew ourBibles better, our life would
(09:36):
be better.
And so I do the walk throughthe Bible as I do these tools.
Now, the other excuse peoplehave is I don't know what to do,
meaning I don't know what bookto read, I don't know what book
to study, I don't know what thecurriculum should be.
My focus is never curriculum.
My focus is relationship.
The curriculum comes aliveunder relationship.
Relationship is what opens upcontent to matter.
(09:58):
And so, as we do the walkthrough the Bible, we do the
scripture memory.
So now, all of a sudden, we'reseveral months together.
These guys are memorizingscripture, reading their Bibles,
they're praying and they'reactually sharing their heart
with other men.
If we stop the group afterthree months, their life would
already be changed, because thatis the essence of what the
great commission does Baptizethem in the name of the father,
son and spirit, teaching themall that I command you, and
(10:20):
doing it together in community.
That's what the greatcommission is about.
It's about bringing more peopleinto the family, the household
of God, so they can encounterJesus, just like we have the
first book that we read with youas well was Prodigal God, tim
Keller.
Dustin Elliot (10:34):
We do a couple of Keller books.
We do counterfeit guides aswell, but rest in peace, tim
Keller.
What a great teacher and somuch great wisdom he put on
paper for us to use.
But prodigal God, I mean evenfor most guys coming into a
group and typically these areguys that have had a lot of
church in their life, they'veheard a lot of sermons but I
think when we think of theprodigal son story, we think
(10:55):
it's all about the youngerbrother, right?
And then you get into that bookand you're like, hold on a
second, that's not the maincharacter.
Yeah, you realize you're bothbrothers, right, you are, you
are actually both brothers.
You're not only the olderbrother or the younger brother,
but you've got some of the same,some of the context of both in
your own life, right?
Brad Thomas (11:12):
Yeah, and there's no victim in that story.
But everyone thinks they're avictim in that story and there's
only one hero, and that's thefather.
That's why that book is so good.
Dustin Elliot (11:21):
What is a disciple, though?
We said to disciple, but adisciple is.
Brad Thomas (11:25):
A disciple is someone who learns and follows
and reproduces their life inanother person.
So someone who's a learner,following Jesus, doing what he
tells them to do, and thenreproducing that in someone
else's life.
And again, that's whenChristianity gets fun, not when
you're sitting in church, notattending church, not listening
to a sermon.
When Christianity gets fun isyou get to do what the big boys
(11:49):
in the Bible did.
You get to do what Peter andPaul did.
You get to share your faith.
You get to be an evangelist.
You get to reproduce your life.
You get to actually have aspiritual impact.
That's when this stuff getsreal and it's when it gets fun.
I believe most people are bornin church because they never
experienced what we're talkingabout.
Dustin Elliot (12:00):
You're a basketball guy.
You played basketballAbsolutely.
And the basketball, the pickand roll of the church, the
unstoppable play of the church,the heart of your discipleship
group ministries is 2 Timothy2.2.
Brad Thomas (12:11):
2 Timothy 2.2.
Paul says to Timothy, an olderman discipling a younger man,
the things which you've heardfrom me in the presence of many
witnesses, these things, timothy, entrust to other men, faithful
men, so they can teach othersalso.
Things, timothy, and trust toother men, faithful men, so they
can teach others also.
You got four generations ofChristians right there Me, you,
men, others.
When that happens in the church, the church is not a Rotary
(12:31):
Club, it's not a communitygathering or a junior civetan
organization.
It is a force that becomesunhinged, separated from the
world, empowered divinely by theLord himself, and is
unstoppable.
That's what the church becomes.
Dustin Elliot (12:47):
And there you go.
There's today, there's livingproof of it biblically from 2000
years ago.
We're living it out today.
And what's so cool about arelationship, once you get into
one of these kind of trees andyou're branching off of the vine
, if you will is Brad.
I'll see Brad and he'll go tellme about your guys, how are
your guys?
And then somebody in my groupwill go run another group and
(13:08):
somebody two or three down willrun into Brad and go hey, I'm in
so-and-so's group and so-and-sowas in so-and-so's group and he
was in Dustin's group andDustin was in your group and
they're like your great, great,great grandkids.
Brad Thomas (13:18):
And what's really cool is here at the Ridge and
we've done it, dustin wherewe're sitting there and we've
got the great, great spiritualgrandfather, the grandfather,
spiritual and the spiritualfather of that kid being
baptized yeah, because Iimpacted him, he impacted him
and this guy's being baptizedbecause of it.
Dustin Elliot (13:33):
It's awesome.
Let's talk about that, becauseit also says in the Great
Commission to baptize them inthe name of the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.
So, biblically, what is thattalking about?
Brad Thomas (13:41):
Yeah, baptism is not salvation, it's not
conversion.
Baptism is an outward symbol ofsomething that's already
happened inwardly.
Jesus Christ did not need to bebaptized to be saved because he
was sinless.
So that's not about conversion.
And babies can't make decisions.
Right, they can get wet, theycan't make decisions.
Baptism is me going public withmy faith.
We always say here at the Ridgethat your faith is always
(14:05):
personal, it's never private,and so one of the greatest ways
to take a step of faith publiclyis baptism.
It's a public proclamation thatI'm all in with Jesus and for
the rest of my life I'mfollowing him and I want all my
friends and family to know thatI am going to walk with the Lord
.
It's drawing a line in the sandNow for us in America.
(14:26):
It's not quite the same land asother people in other places,
where being baptized means youmay die.
Being baptized means yourfamily may never speak to you
again, but all of it's buildingup to the same persecution
that's going to be worldwidebefore it's all said and done
anyway.
So if we can't do that smallstep publicly, then we're
probably not ready to bepersecuted.
Dustin Elliot (14:42):
There you go, step publicly, then we're
probably not ready to bepersecuted.
There you go, segway to thenations right there.
So, through the work with theRidge and the work with Bless
and what we've got to be a partof for the last seven, eight
years now, one of the things wewere doing we had kind of a beam
the gospel off a satellitestrategy.
The Western American churchcannot go to certain nations and
hand them their pastor card andget in right, right, and so
(15:06):
there are certain places wherewe're not allowed.
And one of the cool thingsAmerica, the Western church,
does have is we have a ton oftraining, we have a ton of
written content and we are ableto equip pastors and church
leaders in other nations thatcan get there, leaders in other
nations that can get there.
So, way before Russia-Ukrainewar ever started, one of the
(15:31):
things we did was we wereequipping Ukrainian pastors who
were able to go into othernations that we couldn't, and I
remember, I'll never forget wegot an email and pictures of 22
baptisms in Iran in like 2018through Ukrainian pastors,
through content that was kind ofcreated and curated and built
here, and that is today'spicture of the global church at
(15:51):
work.
I want to hit on this baptismand discipleship component again
, though, because I want tobring this back to my own life.
I met the Lord when I was ateenager.
I got baptized when I was 17,but shortly after I went to the
University of Texas and I got inthe fraternity scene and into
the business school and intoworking in college and chasing
(16:11):
cocktail parties and girls andthings that I got distracted
from focusing on the Lord and Ididn't have anybody grab me and
pull me back in, take me intochurch, take me through the
Bible I didn't have anybodydisciple me really.
Take me into church, take methrough the Bible I didn't have
anybody disciple me really.
My salvation moment and then mysanctification journey had a
delay, a pause.
Now I can look back now and seeGod very active through my life
(16:34):
.
I can see pivot points.
I can see where he was savingme from myself and turning me in
certain directions.
Talk about the importance, brad, of being in a community.
Post your conversion moment,post your salvation moment and
your baptism and all that, whatshould you do next?
Brad Thomas (16:51):
Yeah, I think the Christian life is very difficult
.
It's impossible by yourself.
I think community, the contextof community, the power of
community is hey, I may not beable to get through today, but
if you're with me I can, becauseyou will encourage me.
We bear each other's burdens,we walk the path together.
You know it's interesting.
This Sunday I'm preaching inActs, the book of Acts.
(17:13):
We've been in there for a longtime and in this book Barnabas
goes to these Gentiles andBarnabas sees everyone getting
saved and he's like I need somehelp.
Then he goes and finds inTarsus.
He finds Saul, who's not Paul.
Yet Well, saul gets convertedback in chapter 9.
Most scholars think it wasbetween 8 and 10 years that have
(17:33):
passed and he's in Tarsus andhe's not doing quote anything.
And you look at that seasongoing.
What was that about?
Why did I get converted?
And I felt like I got shelvedspiritually for years.
You weren't shelved spirituallyfor years.
Who was he around in Tarsus?
What kind of people?
(17:54):
Gentiles.
Who is God going to use Saul toreach for the rest of his life?
Gentiles, he's Jewish.
He's going to reach Gentiles.
I'm going to set you in thislittle town in the middle of
nowhere unknown and you're goingto be surrounded by the very
people that I'm going to grow aheart during that season for
your heart toward those people,and you don't even have a clue
what I'm doing yet.
And then one day Barnabasknocks on the door.
Hey Saul, all these folks inAntioch, which was Vegas of the
(18:16):
day, are getting saved and theSpirit's filling them.
I need some help.
Barnabas goes 100 hundred milesjust to find him in Tarsus,
brings him back, says I needsome help.
You never know when thatknock's going to come.
But I can assure you this thatwhatever season you're in, you
think it may not be useful.
You think God's not at work.
People were discipling youduring that time, dustin.
Your heart just wasn't readyyet to be discipled in that way.
(18:38):
But there was a seasonhappening spiritually in your
life, preparing you for yousitting at this table with me
today.
And if you had not gone throughthat season, you would never
have the understanding of sinand the struggle and the
darkness and you would never beas effective as you are right
now, reaching non-Christians forthe glory of God.
Because you've been there, soyou've been places I haven't
been, you can say I know whatyou feel like that is powerful.
(19:01):
So, no matter how dark yourtestimony is or where you've
been, use that for the glory ofGod.
Don't shove it, don't act like,well, I can't talk about that.
That was my bad past.
No, that past is where theglory of God started in your
life.
Dustin Elliot (19:13):
You just thought you went to the University of
Texas, but you went to theUniversity of Tarsus, my friend.
That's where you were.
It was more like he was inAntioch.
That's why Clint's here.
So what happened in Antioch?
Let's just talk about thefaithfulness of Barnabas and
Paul.
In that season they go andplant one of the first churches
in the New Testament, the firstchurch plant.
Brad Thomas (19:33):
Yeah, and in Antioch they worshiped this
goddess named Daphne, and Daphnewas, the story goes.
This man would rush and runafter Daphne through this garden
every day and basically pursueher sexually, and that's where
people would go.
Like I said, it's the Vegas ofthe day, that's where people
would go to be immoral, and soit's interesting.
God says you know what?
(19:53):
That's a great place for achurch.
Yeah, let's just go there.
Yeah, what do we do?
We sit sometimes, we're inthere.
Every ismasm and spasm is inAustin and sometimes you wonder
why are we here?
Why don't we go somewhere wherepeople actually want to hear
the gospel?
Dead people don't know whatthey want to hear.
So we've got to love deadpeople so they can hear the
(20:14):
gospel.
And what better place to be inAntioch?
What better place to be inAustin?
What's amazing is God sentprobably three of the most
powerful preachers in thehistory of the world to Antioch
Barnabas, the son ofencouragement, then you've got
Saul, who becomes the greatestteacher, maybe of all, and
you've got Peter, who comesthere as well.
So it's amazing.
(20:35):
God says you think you're Vegas?
I can get the most powerfulpreachers in your hometown and I
will make people talk aboutAntioch 2,000 years later in
Austin, texas.
Dustin Elliot (20:44):
So you talk about the guys, the trio, the power
team that got sent to Antioch.
But when the church was gettingstarted the early church,
antioch being the first churchplant, to your point, church
plants were starting to pop upas well.
Soon after, I mean, paul's, 40%of the New Testament mostly is
letters, where he's planted achurch and then he's traveled to
(21:05):
the next city to go plant hisnext church and then somebody
journeys to him with a letterand says hey, we got some
problems, there's some stuff,there's some heresy, there's
some false teachers that haveshown up, and he's writing a
letter back.
He couldn't hop on a jet andfly back over and correct it,
right.
So he's writing a letter back.
And that's what we've beengiven.
We've been given this NewTestament, which is this series
(21:25):
of letters from a pastor pouringout his heart for his
congregations.
But the big three didn't gostart all the churches.
In fact, the church in Rome wedon't know any big name that was
there that started the churchin Rome, right?
So that tells me for theeveryday listener to this
podcast and the everydayChristian, global Christian in
(21:46):
the world God can use you toplant a church in a new place.
You don't have to have a bigtitle or be a varsity Christian
to do it.
You just have to be faithful.
Brad Thomas (21:55):
Yeah, and the reason is is because if you're
there, you are the church, thechurch is there.
If you're a believer in a city,the church is there.
You know what's interesting toowhen you look at the Bible.
Ever in the Bible leading up tothe New Testament, in Acts,
where we start to see the gospelgo to the city, the city is
seen as a dangerous place.
You start with the city of Cain, you have the city of Babel,
(22:16):
and then you have the citycalled Sodom and Gomorrah, where
Lot gets in trouble, and thenyou have the great city, nineveh
, where Jonah is a missionary,since Already God's got a heart
for the mission of the city.
And then you don't see it untilActs, where Saul becomes Paul.
He goes to Philippi, he goes toThessalonica, he goes to
Corinth, he goes to Antioch, hegoes to Greece, he goes to Rome.
(22:38):
What do all those places have incommon?
They were all lost, they wereall dark, they were all
anti-Christian, and that's wherethe gospel goes.
So all of a sudden in the NewTestament, instead of the
Christian being part of theproblem, the Christian becomes
this heat-seeking missile, withthe gospel being used as a
bullet from the chamber of thegun of God.
(22:58):
That's what we get to do, andthe city now is a place of
revival.
Then fast forward all the wayto Revelation.
The city of Babylon, the lastbad city, goes down in the Bible
and then the city of God raisesup and the city of God stands
for eternity.
We're going to be in a city,but God is going to purify that
city first.
Dustin Elliot (23:16):
We talked about memorizing scripture and you
know I love Ephesians six.
If you get up and read anythingevery morning, man, let it be
Ephesians 6.
If you can't think of somethingelse to do, Strap on that
helmet, get your belt, get yourshoes, get your shield.
But here's the thing you can bea totally decked out warrior
standing on a battlefield withno sword if you don't know your
(23:37):
Bible.
Talk about the importance ofthat.
Brad Thomas (23:39):
Yeah, you have to know your Bible, because
otherwise it's just your opinion.
So I decided a long time agoI'm going to preach the Bible
verse by verse.
And if we spend a year in Acts,we spend a year in Acts.
Well, every pastor told me youwill kill the church.
People cannot.
You know, they have 23 minutesof a show with seven minutes of
commercials.
They can't handle it.
I beg to differ because Ibelieve people want to hear the
(24:00):
Word of God being taught and Ibelieve our hearts leap up
toward the word of God.
And so when I think aboutteaching the word of God and
again, this is why this podcastexists If you're one Christian
somewhere, you mean Godentrusted that whole city to you
.
What an amazing privilege.
You mean God entrusted thatwhole family to you.
(24:22):
He put you as the truth in afamily, and then you get to be a
part of changing the genealogyof a whole family lineage.
So I want to encourage all yourlisteners right now.
If one of your listeners islooking around the office,
they're like I'm the onlyChristian here.
What an amazing opportunity tobe in that mission field.
You see, if you're a Christian,you're a pastor.
If you're a Christian, you're amissionary If be in that
(24:44):
mission field.
You see, if you're a Christian,you're a pastor.
If you're a Christian, you're amissionary.
If you're a Christian, youpreach a sermon every day.
The question is do you believewhat you're preaching and the
only way you're going to?
Dustin Elliot (24:51):
believe it is.
You got to know your Bible.
You've got to be in the word ofGod.
You've spent 20 years in Austin, south Carolina, before that,
but you've traveled a good bit.
So part of what we love to doon the Unreached podcast is to
share some stories.
Maybe tell us a little bitabout where you've gone, where
you've been, what you've seenhappen, kind of among the
nations.
Brad Thomas (25:08):
Like I said, god's already working in you before
you even realize.
He's working in you and he'sdoing things to prepare you for
things that may happen yearslater in your life.
I went to some mission trips inthe United States, but my first
international experience was1996.
I was a student at DallasTheological Seminary and I went
to a place called Uzbekistan.
(25:29):
Now I had never been in anyRussian communist country in my
life.
I go to Uzbekistan.
No one told me it was going tobe February.
So I get to Uzbekistan.
I was there for three weeks andwhat I did in Uzbekistan was I
taught homiletics, how to preachto a group of 25 Russian
pastors, and now I realize thathalf of that class were Uzbek.
(25:50):
We talked about UzbekistanUzbek pastors from the Ukraine.
I didn't realize that then, andso, as I spent three weeks in
Uzbekistan teaching Russianpastors many of which were
Ukrainian pastors how to teachthe Bible, 1996, I was 26 years
(26:11):
old and here's what hit me as Iwalked around the city I was in
Tashkent.
When I walked around Tashkent,here's what struck me.
Everyone seems very sad.
I didn't see anyone smile forthree weeks, except the pastors
I was with.
It was gray and cloudy.
I've never lived in Seattle orPortland I think of that being
(26:31):
rainy.
It was gray and cloudy andrainy and cold every day.
And here's what I noticedPeople were sad and they had
this desperate look on theirface Like I would watch.
I'd walk by this one woman.
She would sweep her front porchit was like a eight by six foot
front porch and she had amakeshift broom she had made and
she was sweeping it.
(26:52):
Every morning for three weeksshe was sweeping it.
When I walked by, when I walkedback, she was sweeping it.
That was her whole world, thatporch.
She can't control anything inthis gray, cold world, but I
anything in this gray cold world, but I can control this little
porch, this slab being clean.
And then it hit me when youdon't have Jesus, why would you
have joy?
When you don't have Jesus, whywould you have hope?
(27:16):
And so I was literally in themiddle of a city that was
hopeless and joyless becausethey had not encountered Jesus.
Communism would promisesomething we'll take care of you
, we'll provide health care,you'll have money to live by,
but you can have all that andnot have anything because you
don't have hope.
And so that's what I saw myfirst missionary trip.
As I look back, I saw that thegospel is not just content, it's
not just words.
(27:37):
It is hope and joy for a heartthat desperately is looking for
it.
Dustin Elliot (27:42):
Yeah, I've said this before that I think I've
fallen somewhat victim to thismindset that the places the
gospel is not yet don't want thegospel.
That's right, and so you haveto kind of break through the
political barrier and all thatto get the gospel there.
But the more we've interviewedpeople on the ground in this
podcast, the more we found outit's completely not true Like
(28:05):
the people want it.
The people thirsty for livingwater.
They are starving for the breadof life.
They want somebody to come andtell them the good news, right?
So what happened?
You taught how to preach, bythe way, I know you've got like
a one, two, three, right, it'slike read the Bible with Brad is
observe, interpret, apply,right.
Brad Thomas (28:24):
So observation, interpretation, application.
What do I see?
What does it mean?
So what?
And a lot of pastors will tellyou what they see and they tell
you what it means, but theywon't tell you what matters on a
Tuesday, if you can't apply thescriptures, why use the
scriptures?
It's for application.
So I'm walking around the cityand I'm getting just a burden
for people because I agree,dustin, I think people want to
know the good news, but theyalso need to see the good news,
(28:49):
and to see the good news, youhave to interact with a
Christian, and when you're theonly Christian somewhere,
there's no other Christians.
You don't see another Christian, maybe for years of your life,
maybe ever.
But I also believe this I knowthe sovereignty of God, that God
can get the gospel anywhere hewants, anytime he wants, any way
he wants, and he uses unlikelypeople like us to do things only
he can pull off, and the reasonis he gets all the credit, he
gets all the glory.
So I'm a 26-year-old nobodywalking around Tashkent,
(29:13):
uzbekistan, freezing to death,thinking God, you have as big of
a heart for that woman,sweeping her slab as you did for
me ever in my existence, andyou know her as well as you know
me and just as intimately.
And that gave me all of asudden a compassion for that
woman Didn't know her name Acompassion for that woman
(29:33):
because I realized that she toocan encounter Jesus and is
creating the image of God.
So I went and I literally forabout a week every day, walking
back and forth.
I'd stop in the morning, I'dcome back and by the nighttime
I'd come back.
She'd ask me if I wanted sometea.
They drank hot tea at everymeal.
It was scalding and I remembersitting in her little one-room
(29:54):
apartment and sharing the goodnews of Christ with her.
She said why are you here?
I said to watch you sweep.
Dustin Elliot (30:00):
And we drank tea.
I'm studying brooms and theefficacy of removing dust.
Brad Thomas (30:04):
We drank tea for five nights in a row.
Dustin Elliot (30:06):
Come on.
Brad Thomas (30:07):
And I shared Christ with her.
Her name was Elaine and Iprayed for Elaine for years.
I've obviously lost touch withher, but I know one thing she
heard the gospel, and you know,you think well, what about the
people who have never heard?
What about the people overthere?
We always worry about peoplewho have never heard.
We don't worry about ourneighbors.
They haven't heard either.
But Elaine got the gospel fivedays in a row and God can get
(30:29):
the gospel any way he wants.
But here's the question what ifhe wants to use you, the
listener?
What if he wants to use you?
Dustin Elliot (30:35):
That's the question we all have to answer.
Yeah, I think there's a part ofthis.
You've said this before If youlist the five worst people you
know and you're not in that list, you don't get it.
Brad Thomas (30:46):
You don't see it right, right, yeah.
We have a phrase here at theRidge, you've heard me say it
You've got to get downwind ofyour sin.
There you go.
So here's what I ask peoplesometimes hey, name five or six
sin struggles you had before youcame to Jesus, and they'll name
them.
It's always lust, greed, envy,strife revenge Seven deadly sins
.
Dustin Elliot (31:02):
Whatever, take your pick.
Brad Thomas (31:04):
Name your five or six struggles after coming to
Christ.
Same ones, right same struggles.
So if we think God can save usand God can extend grace to us,
but that person's not worthy ofme to spend my time and energy
to do the same thing, then I maynot know God at all.
Because here's the truth whenyou understand grace, you have
(31:25):
to tell people.
When you understand grace, youwant more people to encounter
Christ because you realize thereis no reason why I should have
grace extended to me.
And we always say like neverforget what it feels like to be
lost.
You've got to remember whatit's like not to be a Christian.
The Bible says you're dead inyour trespasses.
You're dead in your sin.
Dead people can't do anything.
(31:46):
Dead people can only do onething be dead.
And so until God brought lifeto my corpse, I was a dead man
walking around and I thought Iwas a smart dead man.
I thought I was a pretty goodguy.
But the truth is I was dead andI do what dead people do.
So when someone hurts me, Iexpect that from dead people.
I don't expect dead people tobe righteous to me.
I don't expect dead people tolove me and care for me.
(32:07):
I expect dead people to be dead, and so the truth is, once we
start thinking that we deservegrace and someone else, you're
not talking about grace anymore.
That's not even the definitionof grace.
Grace is getting what you couldnever earn and was unmerited
favor.
It's a gift.
And if it's a gift, then mybehavior, my conduct, did not
achieve it.
(32:27):
My conduct can't keep it, can'tlose it, didn't get it.
And so why would I not havecompassion for people?
Conduct can't keep it.
Dustin Elliot (32:33):
Can't lose it didn't get it, and so why would
I not have compassion for people?
I love that.
So you told us about 1996.
Now, since then, god has takenyour life and Courtney and your
family and planted you here andhe has grown our local church
significantly.
I brag on this church.
What's happened here?
But we have been involved inmissions locally and globally
(32:56):
the whole time you've been here.
Maybe share a little bit about,let's say, padere and the work
that's going on there, and maybeIndia.
Brad Thomas (33:03):
Yeah, even before Padere and India, my journey for
missions at the time WestlakeBible Church, now Austin Ridge I
went to China my first year asa pastor here.
I went to China my first yearas a pastor here, and when I
went to China I did not realizethat there were more Christians
in China even at that time thanwe have in the United States
right now.
That China was the power thatGod, the Spirit, was waking up
(33:26):
to be the missions agencysending throughout the world.
And so I'm sitting in Chinaback in 2004,.
And we went to these factories,these just regular business
factories.
And you realize, a Christianwould take a factory and buy it
and he would become the CEO ofthat factory and then he would
share Jesus with employees.
They would make disciples.
(33:48):
These disciples come to faithand then these disciples who
didn't have anything would livethere in the factory at night
and live there on the weekend.
And then that factory became achurch on Sundays because the
Chinese controlled their church.
It was a government-run church,so the real Christian church
goes underground.
It was happening in thefactories, it was happening at
(34:09):
work, revival was happening atwork.
And I remember being in Chinathinking, okay, I was in
Uzbekistan.
I've seen God start to move inUzbekistan, breaks down the wall
of communism, and then now Isee God, the spirit, coming
through China and then all of asudden he goes to India.
What's he doing?
He's going from west to east.
The gospel started in Jerusalem.
(34:31):
I saw it in the communistcountries, now I've seen it in
China, now I'm seeing it move toIndia.
So I go to India.
One out of every three peoplein the world live in China or
India.
So where would God, the Spirit,want to start doing what only
God could pull off?
China and India.
So we started doing work inIndia.
We got involved with a greatagency in India and, with Hindu
(34:55):
danger in India and persecutiongoing on, we got a part of a
church movement, a churchplanting agency in India.
So here's where our missionsphilosophy started to form, at
Austin Ridge.
We want to be about not justdoing great things for people,
not just helping people.
We want to start churches andwe want to train pastors,
(35:16):
because we believe the power isin the word of God and we
believe the church is the force,that is the mouthpiece for that
power.
So we started planning churchesin India back in 2006, 2007.
We've been a part of hundredsof churches in India and we've
seen God move in India.
So where did we see God movefrom India?
We saw him start to move inAfrica.
(35:36):
So we thought here's what we do.
We're not real smart here.
Where is God moving?
Let's go there.
That way you don't have toreinvent the wheel, you just see
where God's at work and youjust join him.
So we started seeing God move inthe central part of Africa
called Uganda, and so we got apart of a great agency there.
We said where in Uganda do evenyour people not want to take
(35:57):
the gospel?
Where are the darkest places?
And they told us about a placeyou mentioned.
It called Padere.
Padere was a war torn area ofnorthern Uganda where drug lords
and bad people came in andbasically killed all the men in
that whole area Trauma, childrenwithout families.
And we started going to Padere.
(36:17):
Honestly, the first time I wentto Padere it took like two days
to get there and it should havetaken three hours.
We rode bikes and buses andplanes and all kinds of ways to
get there.
There was and I'm notexaggerating, there was nothing
there.
And again I saw the same thingI saw in Uzbekistan.
Sadness, no hope.
Why get up in the morning?
Why work?
(36:38):
Why do anything?
It's interesting when peopledon't have any hope.
It's the dirtiest places I'vebeen.
It's the trashiest place I'vebeen.
Why pick up the trash?
If you have no hope, you haveno joy.
Christians actually come to aplace and say we want to bring
those things there.
So we started going to Padere,uganda.
We've now been involved inPadere gosh 15 years probably,
and the first thing we did we'renot going to build a church
(37:02):
first.
What we're going to do first iswe're going to start to pay for
kids to go to school.
We're going to start loving onthe kids.
So if you go to school inPadere, you get shoes that's a
big deal.
You get books that'ssupernatural.
You get clothes.
You get three meals a dayUnbelievable.
So our church literally signedup to pay for every child in
that entire region to go toschool.
That's how you change thecommunity.
Then we build a hospital, thenwe'll be the church.
(37:24):
And now, when you go to Padere,this region is now the most
bustling, amazing, awesome partof northern Uganda.
Now they have started otherchurches outside of Padere.
Matter of fact, when we openedthe hospital in Padere we had
some of the main leaders ofUganda come in and say what is
(37:44):
happening here Of course, yeahwhat's going on and that's what
the gospel does.
So now we have people in Paderecalling us asking us hey, what
commentary should I read?
I'm about to preach onGalatians and I get to tell the
pastor here are the Galatianscommentaries you ought to read
for Galatians, and we're seeingthem start churches.
It's been unbelievable inUganda.
Dustin Elliot (38:03):
Oh man, all right , look, I want to continue on
this thread.
I want to talk about the roleof the church in local missions
and global missions and what ismissions, and I'd like to talk
about more of your story, and wejust don't have time, so we're
going to have to cut this intotwo episodes.
We're going to have to comeback in two weeks Before we let
everyone go today.
Here's what I'd love.
We always end a podcast withthe guest praying for the
(38:27):
listeners, and so, if you don'tmind, would you pray for
everyone?
We're going to cut it off fortoday and we're going to come
back in two weeks.
We'd love to.
Brad Thomas (38:34):
Father, I probably don't know most of the listeners
that are listening.
I don't know where they are.
I don't know what they're doingright now as they're listening.
They may be driving, they maybe sitting in a coffee shop, I
don't know.
But here's what I do know.
I know that in everybodylistening to my voice right now
on this podcast with Dustin andClint, that you are already at
work in their life.
I know that there's a storythat's being created and they're
(38:56):
not the main character.
You are, and I know that youwant to do something.
Only you can pull off in theirlife.
And, lord, I pray for whoever'slistening right now that they
would just do a simple thing.
Today, as they're listening, aswe close this time together,
they would just say God, wouldyou do something in my life that
can only be attributed to you?
Would you do something thatwould be a miracle in my life?
(39:24):
Would you make my life count?
Would you do something that Icould give you the glory for and
I could see you work?
And I want to yield my heart toyou today, father.
I want to give my heart to you,I want you to be in charge.
My heart to you today, father,I want to give my heart to you.
I want you to be in charge.
I'm the one person here and Idon't know what I can do, but I
know this I know you can doanything and I want to be a part
of that power.
Would you do that in my hearttoday, father, we pray that
prayer for those that arelistening, that you would do
(39:46):
something, god, that would blowthem away, and that you would be
so powerful in their day andtheir days to come that they
would know it's you, it's inyour name we pray and lift our
friends up to you.
Amen, and amen.
Dustin Elliot (40:03):
Thank you for listening to Unreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you andwe hope it does would you please
rate and review the podcastwherever you listen.
Also, share with your family,your friends, your church, your
life group, small group, d group, wherever you do life, and if
(40:24):
you want to connect with us,find us on Instagram at
unreachedpodcast, or email us atunreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven
with members from every tribe,tongue, people and language
standing in the throne roombefore the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over7,000 unreached people groups
around the world.
For the last six years myfamily and friends have been on
a journey to find, vet and fundthe task remaining.
(00:28):
Come journey with us to theends of the earth as we share
the supernatural stories of Godat work for the men and women he
has called to reach theunreached.
Hello friends, dustin Elliott,here your host.
21, 22 episodes into this.
We're kind of through the meatof the second season and we've
(00:49):
probably got the most specialguest on the planet for me, the
man that really grabbed a holdof me in my early 30s and
discipled me and took me down apath of really getting to know
God, getting to know God's will,getting to know God's word,
getting to know God's word,getting to understand how I fit
in this beautiful big-picturenarrative, what I've been given,
(01:11):
my gifts, my time, talent andtreasure, and how to harness
those and leverage those and usethose for the nations.
Today we have pastor of AustinRidge Bible Church, mr Brad
Thomas.
Great to be here with you guys.
We're so happy to have you.
God's done so much through Bradthrough the years.
I know 2017-18 is when Brad tookme through a discipleship group
(01:32):
18 months long, six or eightguys.
You do this kind of every yearto two years you get a new
recruiting class of guys andyou've got a curriculum.
And let's just start there.
Let's talk about discipleshipand just the heart of
discipleship and how that playsa role in all this.
Brad Thomas (01:49):
Absolutely.
One of my heroes of the faithis a man named Howard Hendricks.
He's a professor at DallasSeminary and he used to say this
.
He said you inspire people froma stage, you impact them up
close.
And that hit me so hard becausehere I was wanting to preach in
front of a lot of people andthen I had to realize Jesus came
(02:09):
and started a small group.
That's right, three-yearministry, small group, 12 guys,
and it changed the world.
And so that's when I startedtrying to figure out how can I
impact men one-on-one.
And I started by a question.
My question was what is theexcuse that men give not to make
disciples?
And I thought of two things.
(02:30):
I don't know enough.
I don't know what to do.
So I set out, dustin, thatcurriculum I took you through
and some guys to develop somematerial that not just would be
teachable but it would bereproducible in other men's
lives.
And so since I was discipled bya man my senior year in college
, I have determined and setaside in my life that the main
(02:53):
importance of my life is toalways have a group of guys that
I am pouring my life into,because that's what the gospel
does.
Dustin Elliot (02:59):
I love that In Matthew 28,.
It doesn't say just goevangelize to the nations, just
go tell them the good news.
It says to make disciples ofall nations, and so you live
that out.
And then our church has reallyembraced that concept.
You've been here for almost 20years, 20 years.
This week Is it really?
Oh, let's go.
(03:20):
We better figure out a way tocelebrate.
Discipleship.
Ministry is at the absoluteheart and core of our church.
In fact, we have a discipleshippastor.
We have a notebook that men orwomen can get.
You can go through a group andthen it's the way you would say
it.
It's just some train tracks,right?
It alleviates that.
I don't know what to do.
It's like no, no, no.
(03:40):
Here.
Here's a schedule, here's asyllabus, here's the materials.
All you got to do is get someguys and have a consistent
gathering.
Brad Thomas (03:47):
Just show up and go through the material, tell us
about the material that you'vekind of curated over the years.
Yeah, so someone discipled meback in college and I didn't
even know what that word means.
What does it mean to disciplesomeone?
It feels heavy, it feels mentor, it feels you know.
Our culture uses life coach.
What does it mean?
(04:11):
And all it means is to liveyour life in front of someone
else so they can see Jesus in afresh way.
And I've often thought thatdiscipleship is mainly asking
good questions.
You take a guy to lunch and youask questions like hey, man,
how you doing?
That usually doesn't get aresponse from a guy.
Then you ask how's yourmarriage going?
Then you ask what's somethingyou're struggling with right now
, what's something I can liftyou up and encourage you with
today?
And you just you talk aboutthings other than stocks and
(04:34):
weather and work.
You just talk about issues thatactually matter.
It's wanting to be known andit's also knowing that you know
some other people really well,and that's what discipleship is.
Dustin Elliot (04:46):
And so you talked about doing that at lunch okay,
which I can appreciate, howthat is kind of maybe the
onboard ramp to a BTD group,okay.
But what I think is differentis when you are in a group with
six or eight guys and you ask ahard question to a guy in the
(05:07):
group and there is a trust treein that room that you know I can
be vulnerable, and one guytakes that first step forward
into vulnerable space and saysI'm struggling with lust, I'm
struggling with alcohol, I'mstruggling with an addiction,
I'm struggling with whatever thecase is.
As soon as that happens rightin that 1 Corinthians 10, 13,
(05:27):
that temptation that I face isno different starts to hit that
room.
Everything changes yeah.
Brad Thomas (05:34):
I firmly believe that a definition of a leader is
someone who leads, and what Imean by that is I've got to be
the first guy to open Pandora'sbox.
If I'm not going to share, whyshould I expect anyone else
around the table to share?
And so I don't start the firstweek by opening up my heart
about everything.
It would freak guys out.
They wouldn't come back.
So we actually build in ourcurriculum, our content.
(05:57):
We spend several weeks togetherbefore we start talking about
real intimate things.
So by the time we get to it wefeel like we know each other and
we feel like we can be intimatewith each other.
But it always starts with theleader, and so we we get to know
each other.
We share lifelines.
Dustin Elliot (06:13):
Lifelines.
Yeah, that's the first exercise.
So for the first six or eightweeks every guy gets uh, he gets
the mic for 20 or 30 minutes.
Highlights and lowlights ofyour life, five or 10.
Brad Thomas (06:23):
And I start as a leader.
I do the tool first.
So I did my lifeline first andall a lifeline is I was born
here, raised here, went toschool here, got married here,
got a kid here.
You're just telling the eventsof your life and it's not
threatening, it's not toopersonal, it's not intimate,
because we're not trying tofreak guys out on the front end.
Everyone shares their lifeline.
And then when I've heard six oreight lifelines, then I start
(06:44):
the lunches and I take a guy tolunch and I say, hey, I noticed
on your lifeline that your momleft your dad when you were 11.
Unpack that for me.
What were you sixth grade?
Tell me about that.
What impact did that have?
And then all of a sudden theguy will sit there and he'll
share for 30 or 40 minutes atlunch and I'm over there eating
my quesadilla and he thinks thisis the greatest conversation
(07:05):
I've ever had and I haven't saidanything in 30 or 40 minutes.
I've had guys literally at theend of a lunch pouring their
heart out saying thank you somuch for pouring into me over
this lunch and I didn't say muchat all.
Dustin Elliot (07:16):
All I poured was the queso.
Brad Thomas (07:21):
So these tools that we talk about, they're just
keyholes.
They just open the door, andthen the Spirit of God does what
the Spirit of God does.
Dustin Elliot (07:25):
I'm going to stay on this thread because I want
other people that have donegroups or are doing groups to
hear this.
So lifelines are consistentwith Scripture.
Memory, that's anotherdiscipline.
I'm going to probably quote youmany times, dick, but you once
told me the two most importantthings that I could do was to
date my wife.
I didn't date her to get her.
I got her to date my wife.
I didn't.
I didn't date her to get her, Igot her to date her.
(07:45):
That's a Bradliner.
And memorize scripture.
Yes, so take us through.
You say, guys, if you'll dothis with me, you'll know 60 or
70 verses at the end of thegroup and we always start with
we start with.
Brad Thomas (07:55):
The first verse we start with is first Corinthians
10, 13.
No temptation seized you exceptwhat is common to man.
But God is faithful.
He won't let you be temptedbeyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted he'llprovide a way of escape so you
can stand up under it.
The reason I start with thatverse is every guy struggles
with some similar things andthat verse is applicable to
anything a guy will strugglewith.
Here's what I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to trick them longenough and get past their myths
(08:20):
that they think they can't dothis.
So by the end of this timetogether they have memorized
anywhere from 40 to 60 verses.
And I tell them if you have 40or 60 verses memorized, let's
say you memorize one verse aweek.
Let's say you do that for thenext 10 years.
That's 500 verses.
If you have 500 verses in yourheart, you know more Bible than
(08:40):
most pastors who stand by inpulpits.
You cannot not change when youhave 500 verses in your heart.
Dustin Elliot (08:45):
And.
Brad Thomas (08:45):
God's word will change your heart.
Dustin Elliot (08:47):
We'll stay on the D group but we'll segue as well
.
That's maybe a good place tokind of jump in here.
Our very first launch episodewe had Todd Arendt the mission
of God, the mission of the Bible.
What does the Bible say?
The Great Commission didn'tstart in Matthew 28.
Jesus repeated it.
So it goes back to Genesis 12,but really it goes back to in
the beginning.
So, brad, tell us a little bitfrom your perspective.
(09:08):
How do you start walkingthrough the Bible and
understanding kind of how Godset this thing up?
Brad Thomas (09:15):
Yeah.
So with my guys I do what Icall a walk through the Bible
and I really do Genesis, 3,nehemiah, because that is
chronologically the beginning,end of the Old Testament.
I find that another excuse weuse is we don't know enough
Bible and because of our Bibleignorance we make some of the
biggest mistakes in our life,some of the biggest struggles we
cause in our life.
And I think if we just knew ourBibles better, our life would
(09:36):
be better.
And so I do the walk throughthe Bible as I do these tools.
Now, the other excuse peoplehave is I don't know what to do,
meaning I don't know what bookto read, I don't know what book
to study, I don't know what thecurriculum should be.
My focus is never curriculum.
My focus is relationship.
The curriculum comes aliveunder relationship.
Relationship is what opens upcontent to matter.
(09:58):
And so, as we do the walkthrough the Bible, we do the
scripture memory.
So now, all of a sudden, we'reseveral months together.
These guys are memorizingscripture, reading their Bibles,
they're praying and they'reactually sharing their heart
with other men.
If we stop the group afterthree months, their life would
already be changed, because thatis the essence of what the
great commission does Baptizethem in the name of the father,
son and spirit, teaching themall that I command you, and
(10:20):
doing it together in community.
That's what the greatcommission is about.
It's about bringing more peopleinto the family, the household
of God, so they can encounterJesus, just like we have the
first book that we read with youas well was Prodigal God, tim
Keller.
Dustin Elliot (10:34):
We do a couple of Keller books.
We do counterfeit guides aswell, but rest in peace, tim
Keller.
What a great teacher and somuch great wisdom he put on
paper for us to use.
But prodigal God, I mean evenfor most guys coming into a
group and typically these areguys that have had a lot of
church in their life, they'veheard a lot of sermons but I
think when we think of theprodigal son story, we think
(10:55):
it's all about the youngerbrother, right?
And then you get into that bookand you're like, hold on a
second, that's not the maincharacter.
Yeah, you realize you're bothbrothers, right, you are, you
are actually both brothers.
You're not only the olderbrother or the younger brother,
but you've got some of the same,some of the context of both in
your own life, right?
Brad Thomas (11:12):
Yeah, and there's no victim in that story.
But everyone thinks they're avictim in that story and there's
only one hero, and that's thefather.
That's why that book is so good.
Dustin Elliot (11:21):
What is a disciple, though?
We said to disciple, but adisciple is.
Brad Thomas (11:25):
A disciple is someone who learns and follows
and reproduces their life inanother person.
So someone who's a learner,following Jesus, doing what he
tells them to do, and thenreproducing that in someone
else's life.
And again, that's whenChristianity gets fun, not when
you're sitting in church, notattending church, not listening
to a sermon.
When Christianity gets fun isyou get to do what the big boys
(11:49):
in the Bible did.
You get to do what Peter andPaul did.
You get to share your faith.
You get to be an evangelist.
You get to reproduce your life.
You get to actually have aspiritual impact.
That's when this stuff getsreal and it's when it gets fun.
I believe most people are bornin church because they never
experienced what we're talkingabout.
Dustin Elliot (12:00):
You're a basketball guy.
You played basketballAbsolutely.
And the basketball, the pickand roll of the church, the
unstoppable play of the church,the heart of your discipleship
group ministries is 2 Timothy2.2.
Brad Thomas (12:11):
2 Timothy 2.2.
Paul says to Timothy, an olderman discipling a younger man,
the things which you've heardfrom me in the presence of many
witnesses, these things, timothy, entrust to other men, faithful
men, so they can teach othersalso.
Things, timothy, and trust toother men, faithful men, so they
can teach others also.
You got four generations ofChristians right there Me, you,
men, others.
When that happens in the church, the church is not a Rotary
(12:31):
Club, it's not a communitygathering or a junior civetan
organization.
It is a force that becomesunhinged, separated from the
world, empowered divinely by theLord himself, and is
unstoppable.
That's what the church becomes.
Dustin Elliot (12:47):
And there you go.
There's today, there's livingproof of it biblically from 2000
years ago.
We're living it out today.
And what's so cool about arelationship, once you get into
one of these kind of trees andyou're branching off of the vine
, if you will is Brad.
I'll see Brad and he'll go tellme about your guys, how are
your guys?
And then somebody in my groupwill go run another group and
(13:08):
somebody two or three down willrun into Brad and go hey, I'm in
so-and-so's group and so-and-sowas in so-and-so's group and he
was in Dustin's group andDustin was in your group and
they're like your great, great,great grandkids.
Brad Thomas (13:18):
And what's really cool is here at the Ridge and
we've done it, dustin wherewe're sitting there and we've
got the great, great spiritualgrandfather, the grandfather,
spiritual and the spiritualfather of that kid being
baptized yeah, because Iimpacted him, he impacted him
and this guy's being baptizedbecause of it.
Dustin Elliot (13:33):
It's awesome.
Let's talk about that, becauseit also says in the Great
Commission to baptize them inthe name of the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.
So, biblically, what is thattalking about?
Brad Thomas (13:41):
Yeah, baptism is not salvation, it's not
conversion.
Baptism is an outward symbol ofsomething that's already
happened inwardly.
Jesus Christ did not need to bebaptized to be saved because he
was sinless.
So that's not about conversion.
And babies can't make decisions.
Right, they can get wet, theycan't make decisions.
Baptism is me going public withmy faith.
We always say here at the Ridgethat your faith is always
(14:05):
personal, it's never private,and so one of the greatest ways
to take a step of faith publiclyis baptism.
It's a public proclamation thatI'm all in with Jesus and for
the rest of my life I'mfollowing him and I want all my
friends and family to know thatI am going to walk with the Lord
.
It's drawing a line in the sandNow for us in America.
(14:26):
It's not quite the same land asother people in other places,
where being baptized means youmay die.
Being baptized means yourfamily may never speak to you
again, but all of it's buildingup to the same persecution
that's going to be worldwidebefore it's all said and done
anyway.
So if we can't do that smallstep publicly, then we're
probably not ready to bepersecuted.
Dustin Elliot (14:42):
There you go, step publicly, then we're
probably not ready to bepersecuted.
There you go, segway to thenations right there.
So, through the work with theRidge and the work with Bless
and what we've got to be a partof for the last seven, eight
years now, one of the things wewere doing we had kind of a beam
the gospel off a satellitestrategy.
The Western American churchcannot go to certain nations and
hand them their pastor card andget in right, right, and so
(15:06):
there are certain places wherewe're not allowed.
And one of the cool thingsAmerica, the Western church,
does have is we have a ton oftraining, we have a ton of
written content and we are ableto equip pastors and church
leaders in other nations thatcan get there, leaders in other
nations that can get there.
So, way before Russia-Ukrainewar ever started, one of the
(15:31):
things we did was we wereequipping Ukrainian pastors who
were able to go into othernations that we couldn't, and I
remember, I'll never forget wegot an email and pictures of 22
baptisms in Iran in like 2018through Ukrainian pastors,
through content that was kind ofcreated and curated and built
here, and that is today'spicture of the global church at
(15:51):
work.
I want to hit on this baptismand discipleship component again
, though, because I want tobring this back to my own life.
I met the Lord when I was ateenager.
I got baptized when I was 17,but shortly after I went to the
University of Texas and I got inthe fraternity scene and into
the business school and intoworking in college and chasing
(16:11):
cocktail parties and girls andthings that I got distracted
from focusing on the Lord and Ididn't have anybody grab me and
pull me back in, take me intochurch, take me through the
Bible I didn't have anybodydisciple me really.
Take me into church, take methrough the Bible I didn't have
anybody disciple me really.
My salvation moment and then mysanctification journey had a
delay, a pause.
Now I can look back now and seeGod very active through my life
(16:34):
.
I can see pivot points.
I can see where he was savingme from myself and turning me in
certain directions.
Talk about the importance, brad, of being in a community.
Post your conversion moment,post your salvation moment and
your baptism and all that, whatshould you do next?
Brad Thomas (16:51):
Yeah, I think the Christian life is very difficult
.
It's impossible by yourself.
I think community, the contextof community, the power of
community is hey, I may not beable to get through today, but
if you're with me I can, becauseyou will encourage me.
We bear each other's burdens,we walk the path together.
You know it's interesting.
This Sunday I'm preaching inActs, the book of Acts.
(17:13):
We've been in there for a longtime and in this book Barnabas
goes to these Gentiles andBarnabas sees everyone getting
saved and he's like I need somehelp.
Then he goes and finds inTarsus.
He finds Saul, who's not Paul.
Yet Well, saul gets convertedback in chapter 9.
Most scholars think it wasbetween 8 and 10 years that have
(17:33):
passed and he's in Tarsus andhe's not doing quote anything.
And you look at that seasongoing.
What was that about?
Why did I get converted?
And I felt like I got shelvedspiritually for years.
You weren't shelved spirituallyfor years.
Who was he around in Tarsus?
What kind of people?
(17:54):
Gentiles.
Who is God going to use Saul toreach for the rest of his life?
Gentiles, he's Jewish.
He's going to reach Gentiles.
I'm going to set you in thislittle town in the middle of
nowhere unknown and you're goingto be surrounded by the very
people that I'm going to grow aheart during that season for
your heart toward those people,and you don't even have a clue
what I'm doing yet.
And then one day Barnabasknocks on the door.
Hey Saul, all these folks inAntioch, which was Vegas of the
(18:16):
day, are getting saved and theSpirit's filling them.
I need some help.
Barnabas goes 100 hundred milesjust to find him in Tarsus,
brings him back, says I needsome help.
You never know when thatknock's going to come.
But I can assure you this thatwhatever season you're in, you
think it may not be useful.
You think God's not at work.
People were discipling youduring that time, dustin.
Your heart just wasn't readyyet to be discipled in that way.
(18:38):
But there was a seasonhappening spiritually in your
life, preparing you for yousitting at this table with me
today.
And if you had not gone throughthat season, you would never
have the understanding of sinand the struggle and the
darkness and you would never beas effective as you are right
now, reaching non-Christians forthe glory of God.
Because you've been there, soyou've been places I haven't
been, you can say I know whatyou feel like that is powerful.
(19:01):
So, no matter how dark yourtestimony is or where you've
been, use that for the glory ofGod.
Don't shove it, don't act like,well, I can't talk about that.
That was my bad past.
No, that past is where theglory of God started in your
life.
Dustin Elliot (19:13):
You just thought you went to the University of
Texas, but you went to theUniversity of Tarsus, my friend.
That's where you were.
It was more like he was inAntioch.
That's why Clint's here.
So what happened in Antioch?
Let's just talk about thefaithfulness of Barnabas and
Paul.
In that season they go andplant one of the first churches
in the New Testament, the firstchurch plant.
Brad Thomas (19:33):
Yeah, and in Antioch they worshiped this
goddess named Daphne, and Daphnewas, the story goes.
This man would rush and runafter Daphne through this garden
every day and basically pursueher sexually, and that's where
people would go.
Like I said, it's the Vegas ofthe day, that's where people
would go to be immoral, and soit's interesting.
God says you know what?
(19:53):
That's a great place for achurch.
Yeah, let's just go there.
Yeah, what do we do?
We sit sometimes, we're inthere.
Every ismasm and spasm is inAustin and sometimes you wonder
why are we here?
Why don't we go somewhere wherepeople actually want to hear
the gospel?
Dead people don't know whatthey want to hear.
So we've got to love deadpeople so they can hear the
(20:14):
gospel.
And what better place to be inAntioch?
What better place to be inAustin?
What's amazing is God sentprobably three of the most
powerful preachers in thehistory of the world to Antioch
Barnabas, the son ofencouragement, then you've got
Saul, who becomes the greatestteacher, maybe of all, and
you've got Peter, who comesthere as well.
So it's amazing.
(20:35):
God says you think you're Vegas?
I can get the most powerfulpreachers in your hometown and I
will make people talk aboutAntioch 2,000 years later in
Austin, texas.
Dustin Elliot (20:44):
So you talk about the guys, the trio, the power
team that got sent to Antioch.
But when the church was gettingstarted the early church,
antioch being the first churchplant, to your point, church
plants were starting to pop upas well.
Soon after, I mean, paul's, 40%of the New Testament mostly is
letters, where he's planted achurch and then he's traveled to
(21:05):
the next city to go plant hisnext church and then somebody
journeys to him with a letterand says hey, we got some
problems, there's some stuff,there's some heresy, there's
some false teachers that haveshown up, and he's writing a
letter back.
He couldn't hop on a jet andfly back over and correct it,
right.
So he's writing a letter back.
And that's what we've beengiven.
We've been given this NewTestament, which is this series
(21:25):
of letters from a pastor pouringout his heart for his
congregations.
But the big three didn't gostart all the churches.
In fact, the church in Rome wedon't know any big name that was
there that started the churchin Rome, right?
So that tells me for theeveryday listener to this
podcast and the everydayChristian, global Christian in
(21:46):
the world God can use you toplant a church in a new place.
You don't have to have a bigtitle or be a varsity Christian
to do it.
You just have to be faithful.
Brad Thomas (21:55):
Yeah, and the reason is is because if you're
there, you are the church, thechurch is there.
If you're a believer in a city,the church is there.
You know what's interesting toowhen you look at the Bible.
Ever in the Bible leading up tothe New Testament, in Acts,
where we start to see the gospelgo to the city, the city is
seen as a dangerous place.
You start with the city of Cain, you have the city of Babel,
(22:16):
and then you have the citycalled Sodom and Gomorrah, where
Lot gets in trouble, and thenyou have the great city, nineveh
, where Jonah is a missionary,since Already God's got a heart
for the mission of the city.
And then you don't see it untilActs, where Saul becomes Paul.
He goes to Philippi, he goes toThessalonica, he goes to
Corinth, he goes to Antioch, hegoes to Greece, he goes to Rome.
(22:38):
What do all those places have incommon?
They were all lost, they wereall dark, they were all
anti-Christian, and that's wherethe gospel goes.
So all of a sudden in the NewTestament, instead of the
Christian being part of theproblem, the Christian becomes
this heat-seeking missile, withthe gospel being used as a
bullet from the chamber of thegun of God.
(22:58):
That's what we get to do, andthe city now is a place of
revival.
Then fast forward all the wayto Revelation.
The city of Babylon, the lastbad city, goes down in the Bible
and then the city of God raisesup and the city of God stands
for eternity.
We're going to be in a city,but God is going to purify that
city first.
Dustin Elliot (23:16):
We talked about memorizing scripture and you
know I love Ephesians six.
If you get up and read anythingevery morning, man, let it be
Ephesians 6.
If you can't think of somethingelse to do, Strap on that
helmet, get your belt, get yourshoes, get your shield.
But here's the thing you can bea totally decked out warrior
standing on a battlefield withno sword if you don't know your
(23:37):
Bible.
Talk about the importance ofthat.
Brad Thomas (23:39):
Yeah, you have to know your Bible, because
otherwise it's just your opinion.
So I decided a long time agoI'm going to preach the Bible
verse by verse.
And if we spend a year in Acts,we spend a year in Acts.
Well, every pastor told me youwill kill the church.
People cannot.
You know, they have 23 minutesof a show with seven minutes of
commercials.
They can't handle it.
I beg to differ because Ibelieve people want to hear the
(24:00):
Word of God being taught and Ibelieve our hearts leap up
toward the word of God.
And so when I think aboutteaching the word of God and
again, this is why this podcastexists If you're one Christian
somewhere, you mean Godentrusted that whole city to you
.
What an amazing privilege.
You mean God entrusted thatwhole family to you.
(24:22):
He put you as the truth in afamily, and then you get to be a
part of changing the genealogyof a whole family lineage.
So I want to encourage all yourlisteners right now.
If one of your listeners islooking around the office,
they're like I'm the onlyChristian here.
What an amazing opportunity tobe in that mission field.
You see, if you're a Christian,you're a pastor.
If you're a Christian, you're amissionary If be in that
(24:44):
mission field.
You see, if you're a Christian,you're a pastor.
If you're a Christian, you're amissionary.
If you're a Christian, youpreach a sermon every day.
The question is do you believewhat you're preaching and the
only way you're going to?
Dustin Elliot (24:51):
believe it is.
You got to know your Bible.
You've got to be in the word ofGod.
You've spent 20 years in Austin, south Carolina, before that,
but you've traveled a good bit.
So part of what we love to doon the Unreached podcast is to
share some stories.
Maybe tell us a little bitabout where you've gone, where
you've been, what you've seenhappen, kind of among the
nations.
Brad Thomas (25:08):
Like I said, god's already working in you before
you even realize.
He's working in you and he'sdoing things to prepare you for
things that may happen yearslater in your life.
I went to some mission trips inthe United States, but my first
international experience was1996.
I was a student at DallasTheological Seminary and I went
to a place called Uzbekistan.
(25:29):
Now I had never been in anyRussian communist country in my
life.
I go to Uzbekistan.
No one told me it was going tobe February.
So I get to Uzbekistan.
I was there for three weeks andwhat I did in Uzbekistan was I
taught homiletics, how to preachto a group of 25 Russian
pastors, and now I realize thathalf of that class were Uzbek.
(25:50):
We talked about UzbekistanUzbek pastors from the Ukraine.
I didn't realize that then, andso, as I spent three weeks in
Uzbekistan teaching Russianpastors many of which were
Ukrainian pastors how to teachthe Bible, 1996, I was 26 years
(26:11):
old and here's what hit me as Iwalked around the city I was in
Tashkent.
When I walked around Tashkent,here's what struck me.
Everyone seems very sad.
I didn't see anyone smile forthree weeks, except the pastors
I was with.
It was gray and cloudy.
I've never lived in Seattle orPortland I think of that being
(26:31):
rainy.
It was gray and cloudy andrainy and cold every day.
And here's what I noticedPeople were sad and they had
this desperate look on theirface Like I would watch.
I'd walk by this one woman.
She would sweep her front porchit was like a eight by six foot
front porch and she had amakeshift broom she had made and
she was sweeping it.
(26:52):
Every morning for three weeksshe was sweeping it.
When I walked by, when I walkedback, she was sweeping it.
That was her whole world, thatporch.
She can't control anything inthis gray, cold world, but I
anything in this gray cold world, but I can control this little
porch, this slab being clean.
And then it hit me when youdon't have Jesus, why would you
have joy?
When you don't have Jesus, whywould you have hope?
(27:16):
And so I was literally in themiddle of a city that was
hopeless and joyless becausethey had not encountered Jesus.
Communism would promisesomething we'll take care of you
, we'll provide health care,you'll have money to live by,
but you can have all that andnot have anything because you
don't have hope.
And so that's what I saw myfirst missionary trip.
As I look back, I saw that thegospel is not just content, it's
not just words.
(27:37):
It is hope and joy for a heartthat desperately is looking for
it.
Dustin Elliot (27:42):
Yeah, I've said this before that I think I've
fallen somewhat victim to thismindset that the places the
gospel is not yet don't want thegospel.
That's right, and so you haveto kind of break through the
political barrier and all thatto get the gospel there.
But the more we've interviewedpeople on the ground in this
podcast, the more we found outit's completely not true Like
(28:05):
the people want it.
The people thirsty for livingwater.
They are starving for the breadof life.
They want somebody to come andtell them the good news, right?
So what happened?
You taught how to preach, bythe way, I know you've got like
a one, two, three, right, it'slike read the Bible with Brad is
observe, interpret, apply,right.
Brad Thomas (28:24):
So observation, interpretation, application.
What do I see?
What does it mean?
So what?
And a lot of pastors will tellyou what they see and they tell
you what it means, but theywon't tell you what matters on a
Tuesday, if you can't apply thescriptures, why use the
scriptures?
It's for application.
So I'm walking around the cityand I'm getting just a burden
for people because I agree,dustin, I think people want to
know the good news, but theyalso need to see the good news,
(28:49):
and to see the good news, youhave to interact with a
Christian, and when you're theonly Christian somewhere,
there's no other Christians.
You don't see another Christian, maybe for years of your life,
maybe ever.
But I also believe this I knowthe sovereignty of God, that God
can get the gospel anywhere hewants, anytime he wants, any way
he wants, and he uses unlikelypeople like us to do things only
he can pull off, and the reasonis he gets all the credit, he
gets all the glory.
So I'm a 26-year-old nobodywalking around Tashkent,
(29:13):
uzbekistan, freezing to death,thinking God, you have as big of
a heart for that woman,sweeping her slab as you did for
me ever in my existence, andyou know her as well as you know
me and just as intimately.
And that gave me all of asudden a compassion for that
woman Didn't know her name Acompassion for that woman
(29:33):
because I realized that she toocan encounter Jesus and is
creating the image of God.
So I went and I literally forabout a week every day, walking
back and forth.
I'd stop in the morning, I'dcome back and by the nighttime
I'd come back.
She'd ask me if I wanted sometea.
They drank hot tea at everymeal.
It was scalding and I remembersitting in her little one-room
(29:54):
apartment and sharing the goodnews of Christ with her.
She said why are you here?
I said to watch you sweep.
Dustin Elliot (30:00):
And we drank tea.
I'm studying brooms and theefficacy of removing dust.
Brad Thomas (30:04):
We drank tea for five nights in a row.
Dustin Elliot (30:06):
Come on.
Brad Thomas (30:07):
And I shared Christ with her.
Her name was Elaine and Iprayed for Elaine for years.
I've obviously lost touch withher, but I know one thing she
heard the gospel, and you know,you think well, what about the
people who have never heard?
What about the people overthere?
We always worry about peoplewho have never heard.
We don't worry about ourneighbors.
They haven't heard either.
But Elaine got the gospel fivedays in a row and God can get
(30:29):
the gospel any way he wants.
But here's the question what ifhe wants to use you, the
listener?
What if he wants to use you?
Dustin Elliot (30:35):
That's the question we all have to answer.
Yeah, I think there's a part ofthis.
You've said this before If youlist the five worst people you
know and you're not in that list, you don't get it.
Brad Thomas (30:46):
You don't see it right, right, yeah.
We have a phrase here at theRidge, you've heard me say it
You've got to get downwind ofyour sin.
There you go.
So here's what I ask peoplesometimes hey, name five or six
sin struggles you had before youcame to Jesus, and they'll name
them.
It's always lust, greed, envy,strife revenge Seven deadly sins
.
Dustin Elliot (31:02):
Whatever, take your pick.
Brad Thomas (31:04):
Name your five or six struggles after coming to
Christ.
Same ones, right same struggles.
So if we think God can save usand God can extend grace to us,
but that person's not worthy ofme to spend my time and energy
to do the same thing, then I maynot know God at all.
Because here's the truth whenyou understand grace, you have
(31:25):
to tell people.
When you understand grace, youwant more people to encounter
Christ because you realize thereis no reason why I should have
grace extended to me.
And we always say like neverforget what it feels like to be
lost.
You've got to remember whatit's like not to be a Christian.
The Bible says you're dead inyour trespasses.
You're dead in your sin.
Dead people can't do anything.
(31:46):
Dead people can only do onething be dead.
And so until God brought lifeto my corpse, I was a dead man
walking around and I thought Iwas a smart dead man.
I thought I was a pretty goodguy.
But the truth is I was dead andI do what dead people do.
So when someone hurts me, Iexpect that from dead people.
I don't expect dead people tobe righteous to me.
I don't expect dead people tolove me and care for me.
(32:07):
I expect dead people to be dead, and so the truth is, once we
start thinking that we deservegrace and someone else, you're
not talking about grace anymore.
That's not even the definitionof grace.
Grace is getting what you couldnever earn and was unmerited
favor.
It's a gift.
And if it's a gift, then mybehavior, my conduct, did not
achieve it.
(32:27):
My conduct can't keep it, can'tlose it, didn't get it.
And so why would I not havecompassion for people?
Conduct can't keep it.
Dustin Elliot (32:33):
Can't lose it didn't get it, and so why would
I not have compassion for people?
I love that.
So you told us about 1996.
Now, since then, god has takenyour life and Courtney and your
family and planted you here andhe has grown our local church
significantly.
I brag on this church.
What's happened here?
But we have been involved inmissions locally and globally
(32:56):
the whole time you've been here.
Maybe share a little bit about,let's say, padere and the work
that's going on there, and maybeIndia.
Brad Thomas (33:03):
Yeah, even before Padere and India, my journey for
missions at the time WestlakeBible Church, now Austin Ridge I
went to China my first year asa pastor here.
I went to China my first yearas a pastor here, and when I
went to China I did not realizethat there were more Christians
in China even at that time thanwe have in the United States
right now.
That China was the power thatGod, the Spirit, was waking up
(33:26):
to be the missions agencysending throughout the world.
And so I'm sitting in Chinaback in 2004,.
And we went to these factories,these just regular business
factories.
And you realize, a Christianwould take a factory and buy it
and he would become the CEO ofthat factory and then he would
share Jesus with employees.
They would make disciples.
(33:48):
These disciples come to faithand then these disciples who
didn't have anything would livethere in the factory at night
and live there on the weekend.
And then that factory became achurch on Sundays because the
Chinese controlled their church.
It was a government-run church,so the real Christian church
goes underground.
It was happening in thefactories, it was happening at
(34:09):
work, revival was happening atwork.
And I remember being in Chinathinking, okay, I was in
Uzbekistan.
I've seen God start to move inUzbekistan, breaks down the wall
of communism, and then now Isee God, the spirit, coming
through China and then all of asudden he goes to India.
What's he doing?
He's going from west to east.
The gospel started in Jerusalem.
(34:31):
I saw it in the communistcountries, now I've seen it in
China, now I'm seeing it move toIndia.
So I go to India.
One out of every three peoplein the world live in China or
India.
So where would God, the Spirit,want to start doing what only
God could pull off?
China and India.
So we started doing work inIndia.
We got involved with a greatagency in India and, with Hindu
(34:55):
danger in India and persecutiongoing on, we got a part of a
church movement, a churchplanting agency in India.
So here's where our missionsphilosophy started to form, at
Austin Ridge.
We want to be about not justdoing great things for people,
not just helping people.
We want to start churches andwe want to train pastors,
(35:16):
because we believe the power isin the word of God and we
believe the church is the force,that is the mouthpiece for that
power.
So we started planning churchesin India back in 2006, 2007.
We've been a part of hundredsof churches in India and we've
seen God move in India.
So where did we see God movefrom India?
We saw him start to move inAfrica.
(35:36):
So we thought here's what we do.
We're not real smart here.
Where is God moving?
Let's go there.
That way you don't have toreinvent the wheel, you just see
where God's at work and youjust join him.
So we started seeing God move inthe central part of Africa
called Uganda, and so we got apart of a great agency there.
We said where in Uganda do evenyour people not want to take
(35:57):
the gospel?
Where are the darkest places?
And they told us about a placeyou mentioned.
It called Padere.
Padere was a war torn area ofnorthern Uganda where drug lords
and bad people came in andbasically killed all the men in
that whole area Trauma, childrenwithout families.
And we started going to Padere.
(36:17):
Honestly, the first time I wentto Padere it took like two days
to get there and it should havetaken three hours.
We rode bikes and buses andplanes and all kinds of ways to
get there.
There was and I'm notexaggerating, there was nothing
there.
And again I saw the same thingI saw in Uzbekistan.
Sadness, no hope.
Why get up in the morning?
Why work?
(36:38):
Why do anything?
It's interesting when peopledon't have any hope.
It's the dirtiest places I'vebeen.
It's the trashiest place I'vebeen.
Why pick up the trash?
If you have no hope, you haveno joy.
Christians actually come to aplace and say we want to bring
those things there.
So we started going to Padere,uganda.
We've now been involved inPadere gosh 15 years probably,
and the first thing we did we'renot going to build a church
(37:02):
first.
What we're going to do first iswe're going to start to pay for
kids to go to school.
We're going to start loving onthe kids.
So if you go to school inPadere, you get shoes that's a
big deal.
You get books that'ssupernatural.
You get clothes.
You get three meals a dayUnbelievable.
So our church literally signedup to pay for every child in
that entire region to go toschool.
That's how you change thecommunity.
Then we build a hospital, thenwe'll be the church.
(37:24):
And now, when you go to Padere,this region is now the most
bustling, amazing, awesome partof northern Uganda.
Now they have started otherchurches outside of Padere.
Matter of fact, when we openedthe hospital in Padere we had
some of the main leaders ofUganda come in and say what is
(37:44):
happening here Of course, yeahwhat's going on and that's what
the gospel does.
So now we have people in Paderecalling us asking us hey, what
commentary should I read?
I'm about to preach onGalatians and I get to tell the
pastor here are the Galatianscommentaries you ought to read
for Galatians, and we're seeingthem start churches.
It's been unbelievable inUganda.
Dustin Elliot (38:03):
Oh man, all right , look, I want to continue on
this thread.
I want to talk about the roleof the church in local missions
and global missions and what ismissions, and I'd like to talk
about more of your story, and wejust don't have time, so we're
going to have to cut this intotwo episodes.
We're going to have to comeback in two weeks Before we let
everyone go today.
Here's what I'd love.
We always end a podcast withthe guest praying for the
(38:27):
listeners, and so, if you don'tmind, would you pray for
everyone?
We're going to cut it off fortoday and we're going to come
back in two weeks.
We'd love to.
Brad Thomas (38:34):
Father, I probably don't know most of the listeners
that are listening.
I don't know where they are.
I don't know what they're doingright now as they're listening.
They may be driving, they maybe sitting in a coffee shop, I
don't know.
But here's what I do know.
I know that in everybodylistening to my voice right now
on this podcast with Dustin andClint, that you are already at
work in their life.
I know that there's a storythat's being created and they're
(38:56):
not the main character.
You are, and I know that youwant to do something.
Only you can pull off in theirlife.
And, lord, I pray for whoever'slistening right now that they
would just do a simple thing.
Today, as they're listening, aswe close this time together,
they would just say God, wouldyou do something in my life that
can only be attributed to you?
Would you do something thatwould be a miracle in my life?
(39:24):
Would you make my life count?
Would you do something that Icould give you the glory for and
I could see you work?
And I want to yield my heart toyou today, father.
I want to give my heart to you,I want you to be in charge.
My heart to you today, father,I want to give my heart to you.
I want you to be in charge.
I'm the one person here and Idon't know what I can do, but I
know this I know you can doanything and I want to be a part
of that power.
Would you do that in my hearttoday, father, we pray that
prayer for those that arelistening, that you would do
(39:46):
something, god, that would blowthem away, and that you would be
so powerful in their day andtheir days to come that they
would know it's you, it's inyour name we pray and lift our
friends up to you.
Amen, and amen.
Dustin Elliot (40:03):
Thank you for listening to Unreached.
Our sincere desire is that whatyou've heard today will cause
you to see the mission of Goddifferently and your role in it
more clearly.
If this adds value for you andwe hope it does would you please
rate and review the podcastwherever you listen.
Also, share with your family,your friends, your church, your
life group, small group, d group, wherever you do life, and if
(40:24):
you want to connect with us,find us on Instagram at
unreachedpodcast, or email us atunreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
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