January 13, 2025 • 35 mins
In this episode, we reflect on the memorable experiences that defined 2024, from personal stories to church milestones. One of our biggest takeaways from 2024 is the importance of having and rely on our church community. Tune in to this week's episode with Pastor Bob and Pastor Trent!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to 2025.
I mean, it's already likeJanuary.
When are they going to listento this?
The 10th, 12th, 13th somethinglike that.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's the 8th.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Well, the 8th is today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
But I don't know when they're going to listen to it.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Oh, yeah, true.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
But welcome to 2025.
They're a solid weekend, buthappy new year.
You're here.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
We made it.
You know, Did you guys stay uplate to watch the ball drop?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
No, I did not.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Bob asked that question in the sermon on Sunday
.
I did actually so.
My family's never made a bigdeal of it.
I do remember in the year 2000,.
Believe it or not, I know I'mnot that old, but I do remember
it.
My mom made what are the.
The kids play with those.
They're like a metal thing youcan bend around and they're
(00:52):
shiny and they got pipe cleanersKind of pipe cleaners the kid
pipe cleaners though you knowwhat I'm talking about right?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, we have no idea what you're talking about.
Colorful pipe cleaners, you canmake bracelets from them Kids
do.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Okay, so she made she made 2020 glasses out of pipe
cleaners when I was, what sevenyears old then, okay, and uh,
you know that was y2k and allthat, but we, we, I remember
celebrating it that year.
Uh, since then, we didn'treally celebrate that much
growing up.
Now jesse's family did.
They would all kind of likethey'd have the welch's
sparkling grape juice and theywould talk about their you know
(01:23):
the goals they accomplished in2024, the year before and then
what they had desired for 2025.
And so we did that becauseJesse's father was in town, we
had the Welch's sparkling grapejuice and at 12.01, I was in bed
.
So I don't like to stay up late.
If I'm up past 11, it's not agood night.
Yeah, what about you guys?
You?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
stayed up.
I stayed up, darlene didn't?
She crashed, but I stayed up.
This year, did you watch theball drop?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Not so much.
They have all these artists andI feel like today I don't know
them anymore.
No, so what did you do?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I went to bed.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
At 1130 almost, I think it was 1130 or 1145.
You make it that far.
You might as well I should have, but I was so tired, I know.
I get it.
What were we watching?
We were watching somethinguntil it got close.
Was there some?
I don't know if there was agame on or something, I don't
(02:19):
know.
We were watching somethinguntil it got closer.
Our kids went to bed by 10, Ithink, and I think Cadence went
to bed by 9.
So Judah will stay up as lateas he can until he's told to go
to bed.
Cadence will literally say Iwant to go to bed, I'm tired,
bedtime, bedtime.
So, speaking of New Year's Eveand the celebrations included,
it's a big deal to celebrate NewYear's Eve on Times Square, not
(02:41):
for me.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Thank you, million plus bucket list.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Million plus people gather there.
Did you also know this?
This is not the fact of the day.
We're about to get to the factof the day, but the confetti
that's thrown out on TimesSquare for New Year's Eve is
thrown by hand.
Do you know that?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
No.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And always has been so.
Back in the early 90s, I think,they hired a guy this is a part
of a small documentary thingthat was on YouTube.
They hired a guy to basicallyjust get confetti out, and of
course he could have used a fanto help.
No, no, he hired a bunch ofyoung people and they just sit
on the top of buildings allaround Times Square and they
(03:21):
just throw it off.
He's like that's the magic Didall around Times Square and they
just throw it off.
He's like that's the magic Didyou say all the way back in the
1990s?
Not all the way back, but it'sbeen the same guy since the 90s,
way back in the 90s.
You think about that?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
That's the same guy.
They've been celebrating atTimes Square for a lot longer
than the 90s.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
No, but the same guy has done it.
He's been doing it and handthrowing it for 30 years, more
than 30 years.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
What a talent.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So yeah, way back in the 90s he got the job and he's
kept the job for 30 years.
He's been the same guy's sonevery year.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
See, the guy that impresses me is the guy that has
to clean it up.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's the guy that impresses me.
A lot of guys, a lot of guys,yeah, yeah.
Well, here's the fact diaperson Times Square.
There would have to be.
Yeah, so Newsweek wrote.
In 2024, times Square famouslydoes not have a porta potty, or
any porta potties, and with anestimated 1 million people
expected to watch the ball dropon December 31st, hotels and
(04:15):
restaurants will likely turnrevelers away.
Continues without ready accessto public bathrooms.
For hours, some attendees areforced to resort to wearing
diapers and other forms oftransportable bathrooms while
celebrating new year's Eve.
And time, wait, wait, wait,timeout.
Other forms of transportablebathroom.
I'm reading the article.
I have no idea what it means.
I don't know if it's a funnelin a bag.
(04:35):
You asked, so I had to say it.
Yeah, okay, yep.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
You.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Okay, yep, you know I don't know All right.
Well, more than that, I learnedsomething else, so I knew that
you know.
Sure, it's intuitive, but NewYork Times posted in 2024.
They wrote the streets come toa standstill as one million
(05:00):
people pack to a bath, almostarea.
Here's what they say.
But if you have cash to burnand a taste for double crunch,
boneless wings or unlimitedbreadsticks, there are some
venues around Times Square thatoffer a respite during the
mayhem.
The catch you must be the sortof person willing to spend $850
for a table at Applebee's, sothey charge for just the table,
(05:21):
so you can use bathrooms and youcan, you know.
And if you go to Olive Garden,you can have unlimited
breadsticks.
Kind of interesting, honestly11 hours of standing in the cold
, $850.
If you're already going to makethe trip to Times Square, it's
insane, but also warm and youdon't have to hold the potty for
11 hours.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, I stopped listening at other forms of
portable.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I'm still trying to figure that out.
I don't even like to stay up inmy house.
I don't want to go stand for 11hours to watch this ball drop,
not interested.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
No, not at all.
No, I hate crowds.
To begin with, a little less.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
What about?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
you Kara, Kara, would you do it?
Free trip offered to you Free.
Yeah, what about you, kara?
Kara, would you do it?
Free trip offered to you, freetrip, so you get to go and be in
the best spot to watch thatball drop and maybe watch a few
artists, whoever they are.
But the potty is an issue, doyou do it?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I don't think I would .
I feel like there's someoneelse who would appreciate it
much more than I would.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I don't think you could pay me.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I mean, I'm sure there's some amount of money you
could pay me to do it, but thatdoes not sound fun, you would
have to pay me $850 for a tableat Allgard.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Olivia loves to go to Disney, right, and for me,
Disney is like the DMV.
You're standing all the time,there's crowds all around you.
Right?
You're just in a queue to ridea minute-long ride.
Right?
The ball's dropping for aminute.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Oh boring now I have been to time square like four
days after new year's was it amess?
No, no, it was immaculate.
It was amazing that it was soclean.
Is it ever immaculate?
It's still, I mean for time,square.
Um, it still had, like, all thebarriers, but they had been
pushed off to the side andstacked up, but all that, there
was no confetti, it was allclean.
(07:04):
Yeah, yeah, it was interesting.
That was, oh gosh, 10 years agomaybe.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I've never been in New York, never, never even
flown through when we flew yeah,I don't think we went to New
York, we flew straight fromOrlando to Europe.
So I've never been to New York,all right, well, hey, this is a
fun episode.
Today, everybody urban New.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
York, all right, well , hey, this is a fun episode
today.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Everybody's excited.
They're all fun episodes.
So we're going to talk aboutour favorites of 2024, but we're
also going to talk about thebest of 2024 and the life of
first Baptist Tampa.
It was a good year.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It was fun.
It's a great year.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So so here we go.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I have written down some different favorite
questions for you, so you'rewelcome to participate.
Of course you have a mic.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
You're in, by the way .
It's good for the three of usto be back together.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
It's been a while.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
It's been a long time since we've all three been here
to do this.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
We're in the room hanging out.
Let's go Like a bunch offriends.
2025 is going to be good.
Hey, what was one of the?
Oh, I didn't write this onedown.
This is the only one I didn'twrite down.
Uh-oh, what was one of thefavorite your most favorite
restaurant you ate at in 2024that you can remember?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You have to go first.
I have to go first.
No, because none of us.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
You're asking a question none of us have an
answer for.
The only one that comes to mindis Darlene and I were on a trip
in Rio and we went to arestaurant with this pastor
couple that was hosting us, thatsat overlooking the ocean, but
then the jungle was on the otherside and it was an outdoor deck
and the food was really good.
(08:38):
So it was yeah, that was theone that was.
Probably the most memorable wasthe one in Rio.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
That's cool.
Can you remember any reallynice meals you had?
Food at your wedding was good,it was.
That's memorable.
Yeah, that is very memorable.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Jude and I also, on our honeymoon, went to this
really good barbecue place.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I'm a barbecue fan.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, that was pretty good, Maybe there.
I forget what it's called.
It was called somethingexciting, though.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
We went to a Go ahead .
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I just said how about you?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
We went to a steak place in Indianapolis that I
thought was pretty good.
It wasn't the best steak I'veever had, but I rarely order
really nice steaks.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I ordered a nice steak, and it was great, the
only other place I thought of.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
now I've lost it, I forgot.
That's not annoying.
Well, sorry, we'll go with thesteak place.
Yeah, filet.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Mignon, the best cut of steak.
Okay, so I'm going to guessmost of our listeners are local.
Not all, but most of the folksthat tune in to the Unsexy
Church podcast probably live inthe Tampa Bay area.
Yeah, and none of us listedrestaurants.
You didn't mention where yourswas, Kara.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
We do have great restaurants here we do have.
So what's one of your favorites?
What's one maybe you ate at in2024?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
I say that and I don't really have a go-to here.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah, just recently we walked down to.
I like eating outside of thehistory center where the
Columbia is.
Um, I like that version of theColumbia.
It's not as packed, so we atethere.
While Jesse's family was intown.
That's really good.
You, lately is great, um it'sexpensive.
You lately are at the Columbia,you lately is Columbia is not
that bad.
I mean, you can order thingsthat are definitely expensive,
(10:18):
but you can also order picadillowhich is 14 bucks or something
which is cheaper than OliveGarden these days.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It's not fancy, but I like La Terrasita Just
authentic food.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, it's just good Very good.
Yeah, there's a Russian placecalled Babushka's.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Babushka.
I love that place.
I've never been to Babushka's.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
You should.
You should get their dumplings.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Okay, you know, I don't think I've found a Chinese
restaurant here in Tampa that Ilike other than like Pei Wei,
which is a chain have you beento Yummy House?
I have.
It's okay, it's okay.
It's okay, it's not bad, it'sjust okay, but Asian's not like.
(11:04):
Top of my list of favoriteMexican restaurant is, is, and
honestly there's.
There's.
Some of my favorite mexicandishes aren't here.
The cuban dishes, of course,are, and I had never had cuban
before I moved here but, um,we're lacking for some mexican
restaurants here.
I think what you got favoritemovie or series in 2024?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
I struggled with this , but I remembered some favorite
movie or series so does it haveto be one we saw in the theater
, because, no, I've been in thetheater once this year and it
was in the last two weeks we sawMufasa.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
We saw actually went to the movie theater twice, once
with my parents to take thekids and once with Jesse's
parents to take the kids.
We saw Sonic 3.
It was the worst movie I thinkI've ever seen.
It was so bad, so boring totake the kids and once with
Jesse's parents to take the kids.
We saw Sonic 3.
It was the worst movie I thinkI've ever seen.
It was so bad, so boring.
I fell asleep in it twice,which is pretty common for me in
anything animated.
And then we watched Mufasa.
Actually the good movie thatwas good.
(11:55):
Okay, so you favorite movie of2024, series of 2024.
I don't know that.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I have any favorites.
Okay, I mean darling and Iwatch um, it's gonna sound crazy
.
We watch a show on netflix, thegreat british baking show.
A lot of people love that show.
We like it.
It's it's.
I mean, it gets redundant, itgets boring, but it's really
interesting.
It's fun.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So we enjoy it, the great british baking.
So what about you?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
so it's just a show or a movie that you watched.
It doesn't have to be onethat's been released, that you
liked.
Okay, I enjoyed.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I tried a new release , but I did write one for myself
.
That was, I think, 2023.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Okay, I have a movie that I watched for the first
time, that I really enjoyed, butI probably shouldn't mention it
.
And then there's another one.
Okay, that was released Becauseyou don't want to give away the
secret of how good it was.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Exactly, I figured so .
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, and then what was Matt Walsh's?
Am I Racist movie?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Not bringing anything on the podcast that could be.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I enjoyed that.
Yeah, I'll leave it there.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay, so Inside Out 2 came out.
Inside Out 2.
You can tell you have smallchildren.
I have small children.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I usually tune out any animated movie.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
That was a good one.
The first one was great.
The second one was also great.
Jesse and I watched a fewmovies together.
I feel like we haven't watchedhardly anything together this
past year.
We didn't, but the fall guy waspretty good.
That was Ryan Gosling.
And then the one who's marriedto John Krasinski, emily Blunt,
(13:32):
and he is a stuntman.
It was pretty good.
Still, there's some cheese init.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It's cheesy but it was pretty good, based on the TV
series from the fall the fallguy the 80s was I born around
the 80s just I'm asking.
It sounds similar, I don't knowI don't know yeah it
Speaker 1 (13:51):
was okay.
I'm sure it probably was again.
It wouldn't be top 50 on mylist, but maybe 51.
It was good.
Uh, now I am gonna.
I am gonna share.
No, well, there's two here.
Gladiator 2.
I haven't seen Gladiator 2 yet.
I love the first one.
I haven't seen it.
Looking forward to the secondone.
I've heard it's pretty good.
The TV show Severance on AppleTV+.
I was a big fan of the firstseason.
(14:13):
The second season is coming upout in eight days, so I'm kind
of excited about that.
Because of the writer's strike,it was supposed to come out
like two years ago and it'sfinally going to come out in
eight days.
Written by Ben Stiller, reallyInteresting.
Alright, favorite trip orvacation in 2024?
(14:33):
I think I know yours becauseyou're married and you had a
honeymoon.
Yeah, exciting times, yeah Fun.
You went walking out in theforest and lost where you were.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, for eight hours .
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Got lost in the forest on your honeymoon.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
We didn't get lost.
We were never lost With yourmilitary husband.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Did you know where you were at?
We were never lost.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
We knew where we were at the entire time.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
It just wasn't where you thought you were going to be
.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
It was where we thought we were going to be.
The whole thing just was longerthan we anticipated.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
So it's just a longer walk.
Oh, it just took longer yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
We estimated for maybe three hours, and it ended
up being eight.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Which you know, you have to calculate there and back
, you have to calculate in yourhead a lot of things.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
But it was great there were a lot of variables
there, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
It was so much fun.
Good, yes, good.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Your favorite trip Indianapolis with me and Darren.
That had been your favorite.
It's on my list.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
It's not at the top, but it's on my list.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Sitting and listening to a convention meeting was not
you know it was.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
It was a fun trip.
We had a good time.
I had a better time.
I already mentioned our trip toBrazil that Darlene went with
me to do that mission trip to.
Brazil.
And that was a really good trip,yeah, we love that, just to
encourage pastors and then justget to see a part of Brazil I
had not seen before, so that wascool.
Then we did a trip to Texaswhen Ryan was out there coaching
out in Texas and I got to seemy son Ryan coach against my
former college and that wasreally cool.
(15:53):
Sit at Baylor and watch himcoach against them.
That was a cool trip.
Did you say?
Baylor, you stink.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I did.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I cheered for the other team that night.
Very good.
It didn't work as you should.
It didn't work, but I did cheerfor the other team that night.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, we went to Legoland.
We had never gone Judah lovesLegos our oldest and we tried to
think through okay, what aresome things we could do?
We're not interested in Disneyreally.
We've been to Universal anumber of times because of youth
stuff and so we went toLegoland, took Judah back in
June for his birthday.
(16:26):
We went and did like the resortthing.
So we stayed two nights at thehotel and the hotel was the best
part.
So when you go in, there'scharacters everywhere.
It's like Disney used to be,where there's characters just
walking around.
So they had like shows as youwalk around, they're getting
kids to do fun things.
They had a pajama party onenight.
They had like a big climbthrough thing when you get
(16:48):
inside.
The food was great.
At the resort.
The room had like a.
We stayed in the pirate hoteland so you had a treasure map to
find the treasure and thetreasure had Legos in it.
They could play with Legostations by their bed.
It was a lot of fun.
Who had more fun?
You were the kids.
Honestly, like it was just areally good experience.
It was great.
Um, yeah, it was memorable.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I'm thankful for that time was this the trip
that you promised judah on hisbirthday, and he got like six
months later yes, okay, yeah,exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, we went at a time we all could do it, sure,
of course.
Yeah, yeah, it was.
Yeah, it was great, it's somuch fun.
So so, yeah, good stuff.
Yes, uh, favorite book, uh,something you read and have to
be out.
It didn't have to come out in2024, but just something you
read.
It was really good, aside fromthe Lord's book, the Bible man.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I know I didn't, honestly, I didn't read any
books this year that I went oh,that was life changing, that was
ministry altering, that was.
But I read some good stuff wereyou re-reading the Adoniram
Judson?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I did, I did read and you liked that one.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
To the Golden Shore, the biography of Adoniram Judson
.
Read it before years and yearsago, so I re-read it.
Enjoyed that.
Yeah, thanks for that reminder.
I hadn't remembered I'd donethat again this year.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
And I've never read it.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
It's good.
It's long but it's a good read.
You got to commit when you getinto it.
I read two ministry books thatI do remember reading One really
small book on how to memorizescripture for life which was
encouraging.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's just.
I mean, it's a tiny little bookFor Life.
Was it Alistair Begg?
No, it was not.
Andrew Davis, I believe, is theauthor of that one, but it's
just how to internalizescripture.
Andy Davis.
He wrote the Psalms commentarythat we did for Psalms on Sunday
mornings for core groups and heis well known for memorizing
(18:41):
scripture.
He's got large swaths ofscripture memorized.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
And that's the point of the book is not only just
memorizing individual verses,but how you can memorize
chapters, how you can memorizeentire books of the Bible.
So it was challenging.
I enjoyed it.
Read a book by two guys that Iknow, scott Pace and Jim
Shaddock's ExpositionalLeadership which I thought was
well written and Jim's goingthrough some difficult times
(19:05):
with cancer, so that was good toread that.
Southeastern guys right yeah,both Southeastern guys.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I don't know who Scott Pace is, could not pick
him out of a lineup, but Ialways when he said Scott Pace,
I'm like R Scott Pace because Iknow, he's gotR on those books.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
For some reason I R on those books.
For some reason I left off theR.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
No, no no, no, you're a trustee, you're on a
first-name basis.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
You can call him Scotty if you want.
No.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
None of it.
All right, so I'll go and yougo.
So a book by Kevin Young cameout called Daily Doctrine, and
so it's about five paragraphs,500 words, something like that,
devoted to some form ofsystematic theology, but it's
super readable.
It's for the person just tohave kind of a morning devotion
but learn doctrine at the sametime.
(19:47):
I just think he's a greatwriter, he's a fun writer, he's
easy to read and so I've beenreading that.
It's great.
It just came out and then at theend of November, around
Thanksgiving, I had a number ofbooks on my bookshelf that I've
just never touched.
I I have a number of books onmy bookshelf that I've just
never touched.
I've seen there, never lookedinto them.
So I grabbed the Imitation ofChrist by Thomas Akempis.
So a Catholic beforeProtestantism, before the
(20:12):
Reformation, in the early 1400sor so, was a part of the modern
devotion movement of theCatholic Church, recognizing now
that adult indulgences in the1300s- came about just some
concerns he had, and so the bookis just devoting himself to
piety and to purity and it's areally good read.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Simple read, real short book, so not finished with
it, but close um, so I don'tknow how well I read this past
year um, but I would say one ofmy favorite books that I always
kept with me was my likedevotional book.
Um, that leads you throughscripture, but it also has a
(20:52):
bunch of fun liturgy and whatnotin there, um, and it brings you
through like, like the call toworship and whatever in your
daily walk with the Lord, and ithas prayers in there from
Puritans and whatnot in the past, and so I really like that.
It's called Be Thou my Vision,so that was really cool.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yeah, oswald Chambers .
Speaker 2 (21:13):
I'm not really sure he does Be Thou my Vision.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
No Be Thou my Vision.
It's not Oswald.
Oswald Chambers is my utmostfriend's highest Be Th Oswald
chambers is my, my, my vision isis the collection of different
periods and prayers and stuffRight?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, yeah, I've seen it Never read it All right.
Uh, I do have a couple morequick ones.
We've we've spent a lot of timehere, but I've got a couple
more quick ones.
I didn't write down, ohfavorite Christmas present of
2024.
Any kind of cool gift you got.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
I got one gift, and it was for Darlene and I to go
away for a couple days.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
That was a great gift .
Speaker 3 (21:46):
It was a good gift.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
In my stocking, my aunt got me this book by Preston
Perry that I'm excited to readthis year.
I've already read some of itand it's called how to Tell the
Truth, and I've read like 50pages.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It's so good.
It says do it yeah, do it, yeah, always, don't lie.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
It's about evangelism and how to like tell share the
gospel in truth and loving them.
So he's an evangelist.
That's kind of his thing.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So I got Bass Pro gift cards from just different
members of the family and I wassurprised how cheap 22 revolvers
were, and so I bought a 22revolver.
I was pretty excited about it.
So it's it's like an oldrevolvers, little 22 bullets.
It's kind of fun, yeah.
So I bought that.
Had to wait five days because Idon't have my concealed carry.
I didn't realize you don't haveto, you have to wait you have to
(22:33):
wait five days if you don'thave a concealed you don't have
to, you don't have to have it,but you oh to actually get the
gun, to actually get the gun.
So I was able to buy it, butthen I had to wait to pick it up
for five days.
Yeah, that's dunk, but um, okay,uh.
Last thing uh favorite newhobby or new, uh, something you
tried to pick up in 2024 more of.
Maybe is it a diet you try todo, or maybe you wanted to get
(22:54):
outside more something like that, something you just picked up
in 2024 you're thankful for.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
About 15 pounds.
Does that count?
Sure, that's pretty much what Igot.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Okay, all right, you Marriage life.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, you picked up a husband.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
There we go.
That would be a new life event.
And you have a new life event.
Oh, that's true.
How can I forget that?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Oh yeah, you had a little granddaughter.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Yes, Annie came along .
So yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Literally she just came along.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
She was almost on the podcast.
I was holding her just a minuteago.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
That's not really a hobby though.
No, it's really not.
That's why it's not a hobby.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Life event, but first time grandfather Annie's
awesome hobby um, I don't know,I'm not quite sure being married
is her new hobby yeah, yeahjust staring at him because he's
awesome yeah great, justbecause you know he can do no
wrong.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Exactly just looking at his eyes ah right, uh,
sitting outside.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
More is for me um just being outside no, no, no,
just sitting outside taking theshoes off.
Well, it's cooler.
It's cooler now.
So you're not just likesweating.
The minute I was sittingoutside Taking the shoes off,
well it's cooler.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
It's cooler now, so you're not just like sweating
the minute you walk outside.
Sitting outside has been niceand then I am on a quote unquote
diet right now.
What?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I am so hungry, carnivore diet.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I am day four or five in the carnivore diet.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Are you actually I am , I just way you are, I am,
that's so cool, so here's thecarnivore diet.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
It's meats, uh, vegetables, fruits, uh, and a
little bit of dairy.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
That's it so basically no that's what can't
you eat.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
You can't eat any processed foods whatsoever.
Okay, so any kind of processedfood.
So you think about it.
It's that sounds likeeverything.
It's not, so.
You can't eat breads, cereals,any sort of you know treat like
chocolate that has anything youcan't do any of that.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
How long are you doing this?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
for We'll see so far I'm good.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I did it for three days.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I have no carbs except for fruit none.
And so my stomach feels emptythe last four days pretty much
all the time Can you have milk?
You can have milk, right, Ieven bought a special kind of
milk, but you can have milk, Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I remember when I did it for three days only three
days, but I remember.
I don't remember having beenhungry.
I'm hungry, you should probablyeat, I'm very hungry.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
The only thing I've drank is fresh squeezed like
orange juice, like you getPublix when it's like a there
orange juice, milk and water, nocoffee.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Oh coffee, sorry coffee.
I'm like you have not gone fourdays without coffee.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
No, that should have been on the list.
There's no shot.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
You'd be in the field position in the corner if you
didn't have coffee.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
The only kind of specialty coffee I have is just
like just steamed milk in it,which is what I drink.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Wait.
So why haven't you eaten todayA meal?
I have eaten today Freshlysqueezed orange juice.
No, I ate a meal.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Okay, I made ground beef grass-fed ground beef this
morning with eggs, and I hadsome frozen fruit that I put on
yogurt this morning there you go.
Okay, there you go, All right.
Well, hey, let's talk about ourchurch and not about what I'm
eating.
So you wouldn't believe it, butI have gained weight this past
(25:59):
year.
So, yeah, I'm on a diet.
Um, uh, maybe you would believeit.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
You're like we've been meaning to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Maybe, maybe, so I don't know, you just looked at
me funny when I said it.
I'm like, uh, truthfully, I've,I've.
Yeah, all right, so best wehave the same list.
You have the same list as well.
There's a list.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, I've given you the list.
We talked about the list, let'sjust list them off, maybe make
a couple comments here and thereso our people can be reminded,
just to celebrate what God hasdone.
Yeah, there's been a lot ofgood stuff and it always
revolves around the people andwhat they're doing and what
God's doing through them.
So we've had 50 new folks jointhis last year, which was really
(26:43):
cool as they come through theprocess and connect with the
church.
So 50 new members a part of FBC.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Tampa.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, we've had more folks come to participate, but
50 actually have committed to bea part of the church.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Talking about our membership, six couples got
married in our church.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yes, and you have to be members of our church to get
married here.
So that was a really cool yearthat we had six, six weddings,
If my math is correct 12 membersgot married this year.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Six couples, yeah, wow, that's how we do those.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Yes, that's right, we baptized 20 this year, which is
a good number.
We always want it to be more,and we always want to reach more
.
But twenties, you know, it'sgreat.
We praise God for those souls.
And so, out of the 50 thatjoined, 20 did so by, by baptism
20 people added to the kingdomof God.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Uh, we married six and buried nine.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, we had nine homegoings, some longtime
members here as I was kind oflooking at that list earlier
today just reminiscing about theimpact that some of those folks
have had at this church fordecades yeah, so some really
good folks that we're going tomiss.
As in the Psalms, precious inthe sight of the Lord is the
(28:02):
death of his saints.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, we hired two new ministerial staff members
Olivia Dodson for children'sministry, as we said goodbye to
Claudia long servant here at thechurch.
And then we hired a new nextgen pastor, your son, Ben Block.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Yeah, so it was a year transition in ministries.
Ben came on what?
In January of last year, sohe's been well a year now, and
Olivia came around April or May,if I'm remembering right, and
so, yeah, time of transition.
But it's gone.
Well, they're both killing it,they're both here, as we knew
they would, and it's been asweet time.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
One thing I don't like about them here I'm no
longer one of the younger ones,I'm like in the middle.
Now We've added so many youngpeople on our staff Like I can
make the old jokes just to befunny, but I'm I'm not one of
the younger ones anymore, yeah,and there's more people to to
pick on you around that's right.
So that's right, which doeshappen.
Yeah, uh, super glad to havethem.
Uh, a new space was constructedto gather on the fourth floor.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Really beautiful space, the loft yeah that was
actually an old space that wewere remodeling and intending to
put back into smallerclassrooms, and when we opened
it up, we just it was amazinghow it looked, and so we
redesigned it, and so it's now abig open space that we can use,
and we have used consistentlyfor meetings and wedding showers
(29:26):
and baby showers and all kindsof things, and so it's a great
space.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
So committees have met there regularly.
We've had baby showers, we'vehad wedding kind of reception or
even engagement reception.
What else?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Christmas parties- that were just there.
Christmas parties core groupChristmas parties.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Our staff meetings up there.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Staff meetings up there.
It's a multi-purpose but justsuch a beautiful room.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, you can see the Riverwalk.
It's a unique space.
You can see the Riverwalkoutside those windows.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, there's what 14 windows to the outside.
It's just a really amazingspace.
13-foot high vaulted ceilings.
It's just a cool space.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Great to fellowship.
There we had the largest ThriveCamp we have ever had, so it
was the fifth annual Thrive Campeither from Missouri, texas,
florida or Arkansas.
Nine churches were involved andthat was the largest one we had
.
Yet Pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
That's really good.
It's only going to get biggerthis next year, right?
That's exciting.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
That's the plan Twelve, for sure that we know of
, and hopefully definitely over400, hopefully between like the
420, 440 range.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
That would be great.
We'll see It'd be really good.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
We got to see and fellowship with six of our
missionaries, six of the sevenat Go Conference.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yeah, plus our local ministry partners as well at Go
Conference.
We got to focus on them alittle bit in the Sunday morning
worship time, introducing allof our local partners, but it's
always good to have ourinternational partners and our
national partners come in andjust love on them and encourage
them and let them encourage us.
So it's always a good time.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I think it was really good this year I don't know if
we've done it the last few years, but it was really good this
year, I think to highlight, topoint out, to invite those local
ministry partners Because Ithink for some people who are
newer to the church or are justbeginning to kind of commit more
, they get to hear oh, I couldserve in that area.
This really interests me andthere's a face they can go talk
to at the ministry fair afterthe service and meet them and
(31:30):
learn how to serve.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Yeah, and I think most people are surprised when
they see how many ministrypartners we have locally and
internationally.
And you're right, it is anopportunity for them to hear
what that ministry is about andsay, oh, that's something that
God's kind of put on my heart.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I want to go be a part of that and I can go talk
to that person, so it's reallygood.
Uh, we, uh, oh.
This is uh in my realm Now.
We secured a building forRedeemer city a mile away from
the campus of the university ofTennessee a really cool building
to a dance hall and you havedanced there.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
I have, mr Baptist, you have danced there.
I have In the dance hall yes,with your wife, of course, With
my wife, of course.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Just slow dancing.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
It was still dancing.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I had to turn away.
You guys were looking at eachother, smiling at each other,
winking at each other.
We turned on the plethora ofrandom lights they have inside
that building.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
That's right, you guys danced it was like a middle
school dance all over itdefinitely looked like a middle
school dance.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Not your dancing skills, just the environment
itself.
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
No, that's awesome, though, because that building
that you guys have secured is amile off of campus, less than a
mile off of UT's campus, notmany churches around it, nope,
it's a great location, goodplace for you guys to start A
lot of just great potentialright there.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, we're looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
We finalized our number for Redeemer City as of
today, including a couple newfamilies, are you?
Counting the baby that was bornyesterday.
I am now counting the baby.
You need to adjust your number.
You need to adjust your number.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I went and adjusted it in that room so the number is
35.
That's 20 adults and 15 kids.
One of those adults is joiningus.
Two of those adults are joiningus later because of college
things, but they're committedand let's see a couple of those
adults.
Four of those adults arealready in Knoxville, so one
(33:21):
family's in Knoxville and thenanother couple that, then
another couple that they'redating.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
They're up there.
Yeah, that's a great group andGod's just putting together the
team that he wants to go tolaunch Redeemer City.
It's going to be a great workof God there 20 adults, 15 kids
make up the 35.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
There's one family of five just kind of considering
right now.
So yeah, pretty exciting,really exciting.
Last thing we went to theSouthern Baptist Convention and
it still exists.
It does for another year.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I have hope so it exists.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
When the churches get together, it is a convention,
and we gather this year, lastyear.
We'll hope to gather again thisyear, yeah, and then we'll hope
to gather again the next year.
It will.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
It Last year, we'll hope together again this year,
yeah, and then we'll hopetogether again the next year.
It will, it will, for sure.
There's another thing thatstruck me this last year, and it
wasn't necessarily a good time.
We went through a rough seasonlate September, late August
September, with the storms thatcame through, two hurricanes
that hit directly into the areaof Tampa and south area of Tampa
(34:24):
and South.
And I bring that up because itshowed it demonstrated the love
in our church and the commitmentof our church people to care
for each other, because we wouldget calls about hey, do you
guys know about this situation?
Or this home was flooded.
And we'd call to check on themand they say our deacon's
already been here, Our coregroup has already been here to
help us clean out, and so it wasjust an encouragement to me to
just watch our people.
Not only love our people, butthey would go out in the
community.
We went to homes of people wedidn't even know, to just help
(34:47):
out and so just putting the loveof Christ in action, hands and
feet, and seeing our people dothat was a highlight for me this
year, even in a difficult time.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
When we had an opportunity to serve it never
lacked people, right Difficulttime when we had an opportunity
to serve, it never lacked people.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Right, that was really cool.
Yeah, yeah, anything else youcan think of Kara that was our
list.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
It was a great year.
It was an amazing year.
Yeah it was a good year.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
God was good All the time.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
All right, all the time God is good.
Hey, thanks for listening in.
Hopefully you'll hear.
Welcome to 2025.
I mean, it's already likeJanuary.
When are they going to listento this?
The 10th, 12th, 13th somethinglike that.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's the 8th.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Well, the 8th is today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
But I don't know when they're going to listen to it.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Oh, yeah, true.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
But welcome to 2025.
They're a solid weekend, buthappy new year.
You're here.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
We made it.
You know, Did you guys stay uplate to watch the ball drop?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
No, I did not.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Bob asked that question in the sermon on Sunday
.
I did actually so.
My family's never made a bigdeal of it.
I do remember in the year 2000,.
Believe it or not, I know I'mnot that old, but I do remember
it.
My mom made what are the.
The kids play with those.
They're like a metal thing youcan bend around and they're
(00:52):
shiny and they got pipe cleanersKind of pipe cleaners the kid
pipe cleaners though you knowwhat I'm talking about right?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
No, we have no idea what you're talking about.
Colorful pipe cleaners, you canmake bracelets from them Kids
do.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Okay, so she made she made 2020 glasses out of pipe
cleaners when I was, what sevenyears old then, okay, and uh,
you know that was y2k and allthat, but we, we, I remember
celebrating it that year.
Uh, since then, we didn'treally celebrate that much
growing up.
Now jesse's family did.
They would all kind of likethey'd have the welch's
sparkling grape juice and theywould talk about their you know
(01:23):
the goals they accomplished in2024, the year before and then
what they had desired for 2025.
And so we did that becauseJesse's father was in town, we
had the Welch's sparkling grapejuice and at 12.01, I was in bed
.
So I don't like to stay up late.
If I'm up past 11, it's not agood night.
Yeah, what about you guys?
You?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
stayed up.
I stayed up, darlene didn't?
She crashed, but I stayed up.
This year, did you watch theball drop?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Not so much.
They have all these artists andI feel like today I don't know
them anymore.
No, so what did you do?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
I went to bed.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
At 1130 almost, I think it was 1130 or 1145.
You make it that far.
You might as well I should have, but I was so tired, I know.
I get it.
What were we watching?
We were watching somethinguntil it got close.
Was there some?
I don't know if there was agame on or something, I don't
(02:19):
know.
We were watching somethinguntil it got closer.
Our kids went to bed by 10, Ithink, and I think Cadence went
to bed by 9.
So Judah will stay up as lateas he can until he's told to go
to bed.
Cadence will literally say Iwant to go to bed, I'm tired,
bedtime, bedtime.
So, speaking of New Year's Eveand the celebrations included,
it's a big deal to celebrate NewYear's Eve on Times Square, not
(02:41):
for me.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Thank you, million plus bucket list.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Million plus people gather there.
Did you also know this?
This is not the fact of the day.
We're about to get to the factof the day, but the confetti
that's thrown out on TimesSquare for New Year's Eve is
thrown by hand.
Do you know that?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
No.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
And always has been so.
Back in the early 90s, I think,they hired a guy this is a part
of a small documentary thingthat was on YouTube.
They hired a guy to basicallyjust get confetti out, and of
course he could have used a fanto help.
No, no, he hired a bunch ofyoung people and they just sit
on the top of buildings allaround Times Square and they
(03:21):
just throw it off.
He's like that's the magic Didall around Times Square and they
just throw it off.
He's like that's the magic Didyou say all the way back in the
1990s?
Not all the way back, but it'sbeen the same guy since the 90s,
way back in the 90s.
You think about that?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
That's the same guy.
They've been celebrating atTimes Square for a lot longer
than the 90s.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
No, but the same guy has done it.
He's been doing it and handthrowing it for 30 years, more
than 30 years.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
What a talent.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So yeah, way back in the 90s he got the job and he's
kept the job for 30 years.
He's been the same guy's sonevery year.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
See, the guy that impresses me is the guy that has
to clean it up.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
That's the guy that impresses me.
A lot of guys, a lot of guys,yeah, yeah.
Well, here's the fact diaperson Times Square.
There would have to be.
Yeah, so Newsweek wrote.
In 2024, times Square famouslydoes not have a porta potty, or
any porta potties, and with anestimated 1 million people
expected to watch the ball dropon December 31st, hotels and
(04:15):
restaurants will likely turnrevelers away.
Continues without ready accessto public bathrooms.
For hours, some attendees areforced to resort to wearing
diapers and other forms oftransportable bathrooms while
celebrating new year's Eve.
And time, wait, wait, wait,timeout.
Other forms of transportablebathroom.
I'm reading the article.
I have no idea what it means.
I don't know if it's a funnelin a bag.
(04:35):
You asked, so I had to say it.
Yeah, okay, yep.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
You.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Okay, yep, you know I don't know All right.
Well, more than that, I learnedsomething else, so I knew that
you know.
Sure, it's intuitive, but NewYork Times posted in 2024.
They wrote the streets come toa standstill as one million
(05:00):
people pack to a bath, almostarea.
Here's what they say.
But if you have cash to burnand a taste for double crunch,
boneless wings or unlimitedbreadsticks, there are some
venues around Times Square thatoffer a respite during the
mayhem.
The catch you must be the sortof person willing to spend $850
for a table at Applebee's, sothey charge for just the table,
(05:21):
so you can use bathrooms and youcan, you know.
And if you go to Olive Garden,you can have unlimited
breadsticks.
Kind of interesting, honestly11 hours of standing in the cold
, $850.
If you're already going to makethe trip to Times Square, it's
insane, but also warm and youdon't have to hold the potty for
11 hours.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, I stopped listening at other forms of
portable.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I'm still trying to figure that out.
I don't even like to stay up inmy house.
I don't want to go stand for 11hours to watch this ball drop,
not interested.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
No, not at all.
No, I hate crowds.
To begin with, a little less.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
What about?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
you Kara, Kara, would you do it?
Free trip offered to you Free.
Yeah, what about you, kara?
Kara, would you do it?
Free trip offered to you, freetrip, so you get to go and be in
the best spot to watch thatball drop and maybe watch a few
artists, whoever they are.
But the potty is an issue, doyou do it?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I don't think I would .
I feel like there's someoneelse who would appreciate it
much more than I would.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I don't think you could pay me.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I mean, I'm sure there's some amount of money you
could pay me to do it, but thatdoes not sound fun, you would
have to pay me $850 for a tableat Allgard.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Olivia loves to go to Disney, right, and for me,
Disney is like the DMV.
You're standing all the time,there's crowds all around you.
Right?
You're just in a queue to ridea minute-long ride.
Right?
The ball's dropping for aminute.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Oh boring now I have been to time square like four
days after new year's was it amess?
No, no, it was immaculate.
It was amazing that it was soclean.
Is it ever immaculate?
It's still, I mean for time,square.
Um, it still had, like, all thebarriers, but they had been
pushed off to the side andstacked up, but all that, there
was no confetti, it was allclean.
(07:04):
Yeah, yeah, it was interesting.
That was, oh gosh, 10 years agomaybe.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
I've never been in New York, never, never even
flown through when we flew yeah,I don't think we went to New
York, we flew straight fromOrlando to Europe.
So I've never been to New York,all right, well, hey, this is a
fun episode.
Today, everybody urban New.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
York, all right, well , hey, this is a fun episode
today.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Everybody's excited.
They're all fun episodes.
So we're going to talk aboutour favorites of 2024, but we're
also going to talk about thebest of 2024 and the life of
first Baptist Tampa.
It was a good year.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It was fun.
It's a great year.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
So so here we go.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I have written down some different favorite
questions for you, so you'rewelcome to participate.
Of course you have a mic.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
You're in, by the way .
It's good for the three of usto be back together.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
It's been a while.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
It's been a long time since we've all three been here
to do this.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
We're in the room hanging out.
Let's go Like a bunch offriends.
2025 is going to be good.
Hey, what was one of the?
Oh, I didn't write this onedown.
This is the only one I didn'twrite down.
Uh-oh, what was one of thefavorite your most favorite
restaurant you ate at in 2024that you can remember?
Speaker 2 (08:13):
You have to go first.
I have to go first.
No, because none of us.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
You're asking a question none of us have an
answer for.
The only one that comes to mindis Darlene and I were on a trip
in Rio and we went to arestaurant with this pastor
couple that was hosting us, thatsat overlooking the ocean, but
then the jungle was on the otherside and it was an outdoor deck
and the food was really good.
(08:38):
So it was yeah, that was theone that was.
Probably the most memorable wasthe one in Rio.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
That's cool.
Can you remember any reallynice meals you had?
Food at your wedding was good,it was.
That's memorable.
Yeah, that is very memorable.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Jude and I also, on our honeymoon, went to this
really good barbecue place.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I'm a barbecue fan.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, that was pretty good, Maybe there.
I forget what it's called.
It was called somethingexciting, though.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
We went to a Go ahead .
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I just said how about you?
Speaker 1 (09:10):
We went to a steak place in Indianapolis that I
thought was pretty good.
It wasn't the best steak I'veever had, but I rarely order
really nice steaks.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I ordered a nice steak, and it was great, the
only other place I thought of.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
now I've lost it, I forgot.
That's not annoying.
Well, sorry, we'll go with thesteak place.
Yeah, filet.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Mignon, the best cut of steak.
Okay, so I'm going to guessmost of our listeners are local.
Not all, but most of the folksthat tune in to the Unsexy
Church podcast probably live inthe Tampa Bay area.
Yeah, and none of us listedrestaurants.
You didn't mention where yourswas, Kara.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
We do have great restaurants here we do have.
So what's one of your favorites?
What's one maybe you ate at in2024?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
I say that and I don't really have a go-to here.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah, just recently we walked down to.
I like eating outside of thehistory center where the
Columbia is.
Um, I like that version of theColumbia.
It's not as packed, so we atethere.
While Jesse's family was intown.
That's really good.
You, lately is great, um it'sexpensive.
You lately are at the Columbia,you lately is Columbia is not
that bad.
I mean, you can order thingsthat are definitely expensive,
(10:18):
but you can also order picadillowhich is 14 bucks or something
which is cheaper than OliveGarden these days.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
It's not fancy, but I like La Terrasita Just
authentic food.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, it's just good Very good.
Yeah, there's a Russian placecalled Babushka's.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Babushka.
I love that place.
I've never been to Babushka's.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
You should.
You should get their dumplings.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Okay, you know, I don't think I've found a Chinese
restaurant here in Tampa that Ilike other than like Pei Wei,
which is a chain have you beento Yummy House?
I have.
It's okay, it's okay.
It's okay, it's not bad, it'sjust okay, but Asian's not like.
(11:04):
Top of my list of favoriteMexican restaurant is, is, and
honestly there's.
There's.
Some of my favorite mexicandishes aren't here.
The cuban dishes, of course,are, and I had never had cuban
before I moved here but, um,we're lacking for some mexican
restaurants here.
I think what you got favoritemovie or series in 2024?
Speaker 3 (11:18):
I struggled with this , but I remembered some favorite
movie or series so does it haveto be one we saw in the theater
, because, no, I've been in thetheater once this year and it
was in the last two weeks we sawMufasa.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
We saw actually went to the movie theater twice, once
with my parents to take thekids and once with Jesse's
parents to take the kids.
We saw Sonic 3.
It was the worst movie I thinkI've ever seen.
It was so bad, so boring totake the kids and once with
Jesse's parents to take the kids.
We saw Sonic 3.
It was the worst movie I thinkI've ever seen.
It was so bad, so boring.
I fell asleep in it twice,which is pretty common for me in
anything animated.
And then we watched Mufasa.
Actually the good movie thatwas good.
(11:55):
Okay, so you favorite movie of2024, series of 2024.
I don't know that.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
I have any favorites.
Okay, I mean darling and Iwatch um, it's gonna sound crazy
.
We watch a show on netflix, thegreat british baking show.
A lot of people love that show.
We like it.
It's it's.
I mean, it gets redundant, itgets boring, but it's really
interesting.
It's fun.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So we enjoy it, the great british baking.
So what about you?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
so it's just a show or a movie that you watched.
It doesn't have to be onethat's been released, that you
liked.
Okay, I enjoyed.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I tried a new release , but I did write one for myself
.
That was, I think, 2023.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Okay, I have a movie that I watched for the first
time, that I really enjoyed, butI probably shouldn't mention it
.
And then there's another one.
Okay, that was released Becauseyou don't want to give away the
secret of how good it was.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Exactly, I figured so .
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, and then what was Matt Walsh's?
Am I Racist movie?
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Not bringing anything on the podcast that could be.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I enjoyed that.
Yeah, I'll leave it there.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Okay, so Inside Out 2 came out.
Inside Out 2.
You can tell you have smallchildren.
I have small children.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
I usually tune out any animated movie.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
That was a good one.
The first one was great.
The second one was also great.
Jesse and I watched a fewmovies together.
I feel like we haven't watchedhardly anything together this
past year.
We didn't, but the fall guy waspretty good.
That was Ryan Gosling.
And then the one who's marriedto John Krasinski, emily Blunt,
(13:32):
and he is a stuntman.
It was pretty good.
Still, there's some cheese init.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It's cheesy but it was pretty good, based on the TV
series from the fall the fallguy the 80s was I born around
the 80s just I'm asking.
It sounds similar, I don't knowI don't know yeah it
Speaker 1 (13:51):
was okay.
I'm sure it probably was again.
It wouldn't be top 50 on mylist, but maybe 51.
It was good.
Uh, now I am gonna.
I am gonna share.
No, well, there's two here.
Gladiator 2.
I haven't seen Gladiator 2 yet.
I love the first one.
I haven't seen it.
Looking forward to the secondone.
I've heard it's pretty good.
The TV show Severance on AppleTV+.
I was a big fan of the firstseason.
(14:13):
The second season is coming upout in eight days, so I'm kind
of excited about that.
Because of the writer's strike,it was supposed to come out
like two years ago and it'sfinally going to come out in
eight days.
Written by Ben Stiller, reallyInteresting.
Alright, favorite trip orvacation in 2024?
(14:33):
I think I know yours becauseyou're married and you had a
honeymoon.
Yeah, exciting times, yeah Fun.
You went walking out in theforest and lost where you were.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Yeah, for eight hours .
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Got lost in the forest on your honeymoon.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
We didn't get lost.
We were never lost With yourmilitary husband.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Did you know where you were at?
We were never lost.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
We knew where we were at the entire time.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
It just wasn't where you thought you were going to be
.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
It was where we thought we were going to be.
The whole thing just was longerthan we anticipated.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
So it's just a longer walk.
Oh, it just took longer yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
We estimated for maybe three hours, and it ended
up being eight.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Which you know, you have to calculate there and back
, you have to calculate in yourhead a lot of things.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
But it was great there were a lot of variables
there, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
It was so much fun.
Good, yes, good.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Your favorite trip Indianapolis with me and Darren.
That had been your favorite.
It's on my list.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
It's not at the top, but it's on my list.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Sitting and listening to a convention meeting was not
you know it was.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
It was a fun trip.
We had a good time.
I had a better time.
I already mentioned our trip toBrazil that Darlene went with
me to do that mission trip to.
Brazil.
And that was a really good trip,yeah, we love that, just to
encourage pastors and then justget to see a part of Brazil I
had not seen before, so that wascool.
Then we did a trip to Texaswhen Ryan was out there coaching
out in Texas and I got to seemy son Ryan coach against my
former college and that wasreally cool.
(15:53):
Sit at Baylor and watch himcoach against them.
That was a cool trip.
Did you say?
Baylor, you stink.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I did.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
I cheered for the other team that night.
Very good.
It didn't work as you should.
It didn't work, but I did cheerfor the other team that night.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, we went to Legoland.
We had never gone Judah lovesLegos our oldest and we tried to
think through okay, what aresome things we could do?
We're not interested in Disneyreally.
We've been to Universal anumber of times because of youth
stuff and so we went toLegoland, took Judah back in
June for his birthday.
(16:26):
We went and did like the resortthing.
So we stayed two nights at thehotel and the hotel was the best
part.
So when you go in, there'scharacters everywhere.
It's like Disney used to be,where there's characters just
walking around.
So they had like shows as youwalk around, they're getting
kids to do fun things.
They had a pajama party onenight.
They had like a big climbthrough thing when you get
(16:48):
inside.
The food was great.
At the resort.
The room had like a.
We stayed in the pirate hoteland so you had a treasure map to
find the treasure and thetreasure had Legos in it.
They could play with Legostations by their bed.
It was a lot of fun.
Who had more fun?
You were the kids.
Honestly, like it was just areally good experience.
It was great.
Um, yeah, it was memorable.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I'm thankful for that time was this the trip
that you promised judah on hisbirthday, and he got like six
months later yes, okay, yeah,exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, we went at a time we all could do it, sure,
of course.
Yeah, yeah, it was.
Yeah, it was great, it's somuch fun.
So so, yeah, good stuff.
Yes, uh, favorite book, uh,something you read and have to
be out.
It didn't have to come out in2024, but just something you
read.
It was really good, aside fromthe Lord's book, the Bible man.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
I know I didn't, honestly, I didn't read any
books this year that I went oh,that was life changing, that was
ministry altering, that was.
But I read some good stuff wereyou re-reading the Adoniram
Judson?
Speaker 1 (17:48):
I did, I did read and you liked that one.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
To the Golden Shore, the biography of Adoniram Judson
.
Read it before years and yearsago, so I re-read it.
Enjoyed that.
Yeah, thanks for that reminder.
I hadn't remembered I'd donethat again this year.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
And I've never read it.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
It's good.
It's long but it's a good read.
You got to commit when you getinto it.
I read two ministry books thatI do remember reading One really
small book on how to memorizescripture for life which was
encouraging.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's just.
I mean, it's a tiny little bookFor Life.
Was it Alistair Begg?
No, it was not.
Andrew Davis, I believe, is theauthor of that one, but it's
just how to internalizescripture.
Andy Davis.
He wrote the Psalms commentarythat we did for Psalms on Sunday
mornings for core groups and heis well known for memorizing
(18:41):
scripture.
He's got large swaths ofscripture memorized.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
And that's the point of the book is not only just
memorizing individual verses,but how you can memorize
chapters, how you can memorizeentire books of the Bible.
So it was challenging.
I enjoyed it.
Read a book by two guys that Iknow, scott Pace and Jim
Shaddock's ExpositionalLeadership which I thought was
well written and Jim's goingthrough some difficult times
(19:05):
with cancer, so that was good toread that.
Southeastern guys right yeah,both Southeastern guys.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I don't know who Scott Pace is, could not pick
him out of a lineup, but Ialways when he said Scott Pace,
I'm like R Scott Pace because Iknow, he's gotR on those books.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
For some reason I R on those books.
For some reason I left off theR.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
No, no no, no, you're a trustee, you're on a
first-name basis.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
You can call him Scotty if you want.
No.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
None of it.
All right, so I'll go and yougo.
So a book by Kevin Young cameout called Daily Doctrine, and
so it's about five paragraphs,500 words, something like that,
devoted to some form ofsystematic theology, but it's
super readable.
It's for the person just tohave kind of a morning devotion
but learn doctrine at the sametime.
(19:47):
I just think he's a greatwriter, he's a fun writer, he's
easy to read and so I've beenreading that.
It's great.
It just came out and then at theend of November, around
Thanksgiving, I had a number ofbooks on my bookshelf that I've
just never touched.
I I have a number of books onmy bookshelf that I've just
never touched.
I've seen there, never lookedinto them.
So I grabbed the Imitation ofChrist by Thomas Akempis.
So a Catholic beforeProtestantism, before the
(20:12):
Reformation, in the early 1400sor so, was a part of the modern
devotion movement of theCatholic Church, recognizing now
that adult indulgences in the1300s- came about just some
concerns he had, and so the bookis just devoting himself to
piety and to purity and it's areally good read.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Simple read, real short book, so not finished with
it, but close um, so I don'tknow how well I read this past
year um, but I would say one ofmy favorite books that I always
kept with me was my likedevotional book.
Um, that leads you throughscripture, but it also has a
(20:52):
bunch of fun liturgy and whatnotin there, um, and it brings you
through like, like the call toworship and whatever in your
daily walk with the Lord, and ithas prayers in there from
Puritans and whatnot in the past, and so I really like that.
It's called Be Thou my Vision,so that was really cool.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Yeah, oswald Chambers .
Speaker 2 (21:13):
I'm not really sure he does Be Thou my Vision.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
No Be Thou my Vision.
It's not Oswald.
Oswald Chambers is my utmostfriend's highest Be Th Oswald
chambers is my, my, my vision isis the collection of different
periods and prayers and stuffRight?
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Yeah, yeah, I've seen it Never read it All right.
Uh, I do have a couple morequick ones.
We've we've spent a lot of timehere, but I've got a couple
more quick ones.
I didn't write down, ohfavorite Christmas present of
2024.
Any kind of cool gift you got.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
I got one gift, and it was for Darlene and I to go
away for a couple days.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
That was a great gift .
Speaker 3 (21:46):
It was a good gift.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
In my stocking, my aunt got me this book by Preston
Perry that I'm excited to readthis year.
I've already read some of itand it's called how to Tell the
Truth, and I've read like 50pages.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It's so good.
It says do it yeah, do it, yeah, always, don't lie.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
It's about evangelism and how to like tell share the
gospel in truth and loving them.
So he's an evangelist.
That's kind of his thing.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
So I got Bass Pro gift cards from just different
members of the family and I wassurprised how cheap 22 revolvers
were, and so I bought a 22revolver.
I was pretty excited about it.
So it's it's like an oldrevolvers, little 22 bullets.
It's kind of fun, yeah.
So I bought that.
Had to wait five days because Idon't have my concealed carry.
I didn't realize you don't haveto, you have to wait you have to
(22:33):
wait five days if you don'thave a concealed you don't have
to, you don't have to have it,but you oh to actually get the
gun, to actually get the gun.
So I was able to buy it, butthen I had to wait to pick it up
for five days.
Yeah, that's dunk, but um, okay,uh.
Last thing uh favorite newhobby or new, uh, something you
tried to pick up in 2024 more of.
Maybe is it a diet you try todo, or maybe you wanted to get
(22:54):
outside more something like that, something you just picked up
in 2024 you're thankful for.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
About 15 pounds.
Does that count?
Sure, that's pretty much what Igot.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Okay, all right, you Marriage life.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, you picked up a husband.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
There we go.
That would be a new life event.
And you have a new life event.
Oh, that's true.
How can I forget that?
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Oh yeah, you had a little granddaughter.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Yes, Annie came along .
So yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Literally she just came along.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
She was almost on the podcast.
I was holding her just a minuteago.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
That's not really a hobby though.
No, it's really not.
That's why it's not a hobby.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Life event, but first time grandfather Annie's
awesome hobby um, I don't know,I'm not quite sure being married
is her new hobby yeah, yeahjust staring at him because he's
awesome yeah great, justbecause you know he can do no
wrong.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Exactly just looking at his eyes ah right, uh,
sitting outside.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
More is for me um just being outside no, no, no,
just sitting outside taking theshoes off.
Well, it's cooler.
It's cooler now.
So you're not just likesweating.
The minute I was sittingoutside Taking the shoes off,
well it's cooler.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
It's cooler now, so you're not just like sweating
the minute you walk outside.
Sitting outside has been niceand then I am on a quote unquote
diet right now.
What?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
I am so hungry, carnivore diet.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
I am day four or five in the carnivore diet.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Are you actually I am , I just way you are, I am,
that's so cool, so here's thecarnivore diet.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
It's meats, uh, vegetables, fruits, uh, and a
little bit of dairy.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
That's it so basically no that's what can't
you eat.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
You can't eat any processed foods whatsoever.
Okay, so any kind of processedfood.
So you think about it.
It's that sounds likeeverything.
It's not, so.
You can't eat breads, cereals,any sort of you know treat like
chocolate that has anything youcan't do any of that.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
How long are you doing this?
Speaker 1 (24:43):
for We'll see so far I'm good.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I did it for three days.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I have no carbs except for fruit none.
And so my stomach feels emptythe last four days pretty much
all the time Can you have milk?
You can have milk, right, Ieven bought a special kind of
milk, but you can have milk, Yep.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I remember when I did it for three days only three
days, but I remember.
I don't remember having beenhungry.
I'm hungry, you should probablyeat, I'm very hungry.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
The only thing I've drank is fresh squeezed like
orange juice, like you getPublix when it's like a there
orange juice, milk and water, nocoffee.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Oh coffee, sorry coffee.
I'm like you have not gone fourdays without coffee.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
No, that should have been on the list.
There's no shot.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
You'd be in the field position in the corner if you
didn't have coffee.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
The only kind of specialty coffee I have is just
like just steamed milk in it,which is what I drink.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Wait.
So why haven't you eaten todayA meal?
I have eaten today Freshlysqueezed orange juice.
No, I ate a meal.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Okay, I made ground beef grass-fed ground beef this
morning with eggs, and I hadsome frozen fruit that I put on
yogurt this morning there you go.
Okay, there you go, All right.
Well, hey, let's talk about ourchurch and not about what I'm
eating.
So you wouldn't believe it, butI have gained weight this past
(25:59):
year.
So, yeah, I'm on a diet.
Um, uh, maybe you would believeit.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
You're like we've been meaning to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
Maybe, maybe, so I don't know, you just looked at
me funny when I said it.
I'm like, uh, truthfully, I've,I've.
Yeah, all right, so best wehave the same list.
You have the same list as well.
There's a list.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Yeah, I've given you the list.
We talked about the list, let'sjust list them off, maybe make
a couple comments here and thereso our people can be reminded,
just to celebrate what God hasdone.
Yeah, there's been a lot ofgood stuff and it always
revolves around the people andwhat they're doing and what
God's doing through them.
So we've had 50 new folks jointhis last year, which was really
(26:43):
cool as they come through theprocess and connect with the
church.
So 50 new members a part of FBC.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Tampa.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, we've had more folks come to participate, but
50 actually have committed to bea part of the church.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Talking about our membership, six couples got
married in our church.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yes, and you have to be members of our church to get
married here.
So that was a really cool yearthat we had six, six weddings,
If my math is correct 12 membersgot married this year.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Six couples, yeah, wow, that's how we do those.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Yes, that's right, we baptized 20 this year, which is
a good number.
We always want it to be more,and we always want to reach more
.
But twenties, you know, it'sgreat.
We praise God for those souls.
And so, out of the 50 thatjoined, 20 did so by, by baptism
20 people added to the kingdomof God.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Uh, we married six and buried nine.
Speaker 3 (27:39):
Yeah, we had nine homegoings, some longtime
members here as I was kind oflooking at that list earlier
today just reminiscing about theimpact that some of those folks
have had at this church fordecades yeah, so some really
good folks that we're going tomiss.
As in the Psalms, precious inthe sight of the Lord is the
(28:02):
death of his saints.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, we hired two new ministerial staff members
Olivia Dodson for children'sministry, as we said goodbye to
Claudia long servant here at thechurch.
And then we hired a new nextgen pastor, your son, Ben Block.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Yeah, so it was a year transition in ministries.
Ben came on what?
In January of last year, sohe's been well a year now, and
Olivia came around April or May,if I'm remembering right, and
so, yeah, time of transition.
But it's gone.
Well, they're both killing it,they're both here, as we knew
they would, and it's been asweet time.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
One thing I don't like about them here I'm no
longer one of the younger ones,I'm like in the middle.
Now We've added so many youngpeople on our staff Like I can
make the old jokes just to befunny, but I'm I'm not one of
the younger ones anymore, yeah,and there's more people to to
pick on you around that's right.
So that's right, which doeshappen.
Yeah, uh, super glad to havethem.
Uh, a new space was constructedto gather on the fourth floor.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Really beautiful space, the loft yeah that was
actually an old space that wewere remodeling and intending to
put back into smallerclassrooms, and when we opened
it up, we just it was amazinghow it looked, and so we
redesigned it, and so it's now abig open space that we can use,
and we have used consistentlyfor meetings and wedding showers
(29:26):
and baby showers and all kindsof things, and so it's a great
space.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
So committees have met there regularly.
We've had baby showers, we'vehad wedding kind of reception or
even engagement reception.
What else?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Christmas parties- that were just there.
Christmas parties core groupChristmas parties.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Our staff meetings up there.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Staff meetings up there.
It's a multi-purpose but justsuch a beautiful room.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, you can see the Riverwalk.
It's a unique space.
You can see the Riverwalkoutside those windows.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Yeah, there's what 14 windows to the outside.
It's just a really amazingspace.
13-foot high vaulted ceilings.
It's just a cool space.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Great to fellowship.
There we had the largest ThriveCamp we have ever had, so it
was the fifth annual Thrive Campeither from Missouri, texas,
florida or Arkansas.
Nine churches were involved andthat was the largest one we had
.
Yet Pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
That's really good.
It's only going to get biggerthis next year, right?
That's exciting.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
That's the plan Twelve, for sure that we know of
, and hopefully definitely over400, hopefully between like the
420, 440 range.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
That would be great.
We'll see It'd be really good.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
We got to see and fellowship with six of our
missionaries, six of the sevenat Go Conference.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Yeah, plus our local ministry partners as well at Go
Conference.
We got to focus on them alittle bit in the Sunday morning
worship time, introducing allof our local partners, but it's
always good to have ourinternational partners and our
national partners come in andjust love on them and encourage
them and let them encourage us.
So it's always a good time.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I think it was really good this year I don't know if
we've done it the last few years, but it was really good this
year, I think to highlight, topoint out, to invite those local
ministry partners Because Ithink for some people who are
newer to the church or are justbeginning to kind of commit more
, they get to hear oh, I couldserve in that area.
This really interests me andthere's a face they can go talk
to at the ministry fair afterthe service and meet them and
(31:30):
learn how to serve.
Speaker 3 (31:31):
Yeah, and I think most people are surprised when
they see how many ministrypartners we have locally and
internationally.
And you're right, it is anopportunity for them to hear
what that ministry is about andsay, oh, that's something that
God's kind of put on my heart.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
I want to go be a part of that and I can go talk
to that person, so it's reallygood.
Uh, we, uh, oh.
This is uh in my realm Now.
We secured a building forRedeemer city a mile away from
the campus of the university ofTennessee a really cool building
to a dance hall and you havedanced there.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
I have, mr Baptist, you have danced there.
I have In the dance hall yes,with your wife, of course, With
my wife, of course.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Just slow dancing.
Speaker 3 (32:05):
It was still dancing.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
I had to turn away.
You guys were looking at eachother, smiling at each other,
winking at each other.
We turned on the plethora ofrandom lights they have inside
that building.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
That's right, you guys danced it was like a middle
school dance all over itdefinitely looked like a middle
school dance.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Not your dancing skills, just the environment
itself.
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
No, that's awesome, though, because that building
that you guys have secured is amile off of campus, less than a
mile off of UT's campus, notmany churches around it, nope,
it's a great location, goodplace for you guys to start A
lot of just great potentialright there.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, we're looking forward to it.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
We finalized our number for Redeemer City as of
today, including a couple newfamilies, are you?
Counting the baby that was bornyesterday.
I am now counting the baby.
You need to adjust your number.
You need to adjust your number.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
I went and adjusted it in that room so the number is
35.
That's 20 adults and 15 kids.
One of those adults is joiningus.
Two of those adults are joiningus later because of college
things, but they're committedand let's see a couple of those
adults.
Four of those adults arealready in Knoxville, so one
(33:21):
family's in Knoxville and thenanother couple that, then
another couple that they'redating.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
They're up there.
Yeah, that's a great group andGod's just putting together the
team that he wants to go tolaunch Redeemer City.
It's going to be a great workof God there 20 adults, 15 kids
make up the 35.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
There's one family of five just kind of considering
right now.
So yeah, pretty exciting,really exciting.
Last thing we went to theSouthern Baptist Convention and
it still exists.
It does for another year.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
I have hope so it exists.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
When the churches get together, it is a convention,
and we gather this year, lastyear.
We'll hope to gather again thisyear, yeah, and then we'll hope
to gather again the next year.
It will.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
It Last year, we'll hope together again this year,
yeah, and then we'll hopetogether again the next year.
It will, it will, for sure.
There's another thing thatstruck me this last year, and it
wasn't necessarily a good time.
We went through a rough seasonlate September, late August
September, with the storms thatcame through, two hurricanes
that hit directly into the areaof Tampa and south area of Tampa
(34:24):
and South.
And I bring that up because itshowed it demonstrated the love
in our church and the commitmentof our church people to care
for each other, because we wouldget calls about hey, do you
guys know about this situation?
Or this home was flooded.
And we'd call to check on themand they say our deacon's
already been here, Our coregroup has already been here to
help us clean out, and so it wasjust an encouragement to me to
just watch our people.
Not only love our people, butthey would go out in the
community.
We went to homes of people wedidn't even know, to just help
(34:47):
out and so just putting the loveof Christ in action, hands and
feet, and seeing our people dothat was a highlight for me this
year, even in a difficult time.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
When we had an opportunity to serve it never
lacked people, right Difficulttime when we had an opportunity
to serve, it never lacked people.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Right, that was really cool.
Yeah, yeah, anything else youcan think of Kara that was our
list.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
It was a great year.
It was an amazing year.
Yeah it was a good year.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
God was good All the time.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
All right, all the time God is good.
Hey, thanks for listening in.
Hopefully you'll hear.
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