Leading with Purpose | Teamwork, Calling & the Holy Spirit - Between Sermons // Audio

Episode Transcript
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Pastor Carlton McCarthy (00:00):
Foreign.

Pastor Brent McQuay (00:10):
Welcome to another episode of Between Sermons
where we are continuing our conversation from
Sunday. I'm your host, Brent McQuay. I
am the lead pastor at Disciples Church.
In case you have no idea who
I am, which if you don't know
who I am, it's interesting that you
clicked to watch this video, but I'm
glad you're here. But we get to
have some fun today because what we
do is we take this monologue that

(00:32):
is a sermon. You know, a guy
stands on a stage and talks at
a bunch of people, and we love
to take that and just kind of
flip it on its head a little
bit, change up the flow and create
a real dialog out of the content
from Sunday. It's kind of a like
a glimpse into what would take place
during the week in a small group.
And so in order to have that

(00:52):
conversation, it'd be really weird if it
was just me talking at you. So
instead, we're going to have some fun
conversation with my co host, Taisha.

Ti’heasha Beasley (01:02):
Yes.

And with us, Pastor Carlton, the one
and only.

The one and only. The co co
host. You've been out here.

I think he's the co host.

A long break, though.

You have had a break. But I
still think, like, if we do episode
counts, which we're in the 100 and
something episodes, I think.

Wow.

Is that what it is?

We didn't celebrate the hundredth episode.

We did. We sort of.

It was like 101st episode. We were
like, hey, last episode was 100.

You realize it ever so late.

We.

Yeah. Okay, so 200. We got to
go wild.

What are we going to do at
200?

Have an episode.

Exactly.

Whoop.

So you. I like how you said
we continue the conversation from Sunday, but
actually today we're continuing the conversation from
today because you guys were in deep
conversation and I was like, no, we
got to save this.

I feel like that always happens. Like,
we probably should start the cameras rolling
as soon as we walk in the
room.

Podcast conversations are better than the podcast
conversations.

Dang.

Sometimes that might be true. Sometimes that
might be true.

So you gotta. We have to continue
the conversation. Pastor Brent asked you a
question. You asked him if he's ever.
Because yesterday you.

We.

We're in the. At the movie series
before I dive in. Right, right. I
don't want to leave people guessing.

And yesterday lead into what?

Yeah. So yesterday the movie was Arthur
the King.

Arthur the King, Yes. And about. It's
about an adventure racer, a competitive adventure
racer. Michael Light.

Yeah.

And his team. And all the struggles
and Obstacles that they go through to
complete the race.

Yeah, and we'll get to that.

And it's based on a true story.
Did you. Did you read up on
the true story?

I did read up on the true
story.

Some of it a little bit disappointing.

Didn't like the true story as much
as I like the movies.

What? Why?

There's some differences.

Yeah, there are some differences. They did
a very good job with the movie.

They did.

And keeping you away from some of
the tragedies of the true story.

Okay.

I like tragedies. Isn't like somebody died
on the race or anything like that.

It's just very different. So, like, movie
version, they come second place. Real story
version, they come in 12th place. Real
story version. It's a whole Swedish team
with, like, an American woman on it.

Scandal with money involved.

Yes.

It's a lot of just weirdness.

Wow.

But, like, the. The important thing with
that. So, like, if you watch the
movie, the things that are true is
they really did find this random dog
a couple of days into the race,
fed it meatballs, and it followed them
for the rest of the race. They
really did put it in the boat
with them. Like, there's a picture of
the real race with the dog trying
to swim alongside the. The canoe or

(03:47):
whatever they're in. The dog really did
get adopted by the racer and brought
back to his home country, which was
actually Sweden. He's not an American guy,
so. Wow. But it was. Yeah, it
was. It was cool. Sadly, the dog
dies in real life in the movie
and not race. Yeah, no, the dog.

(04:07):
And the dog dies in, like, 2020.
And I think the. The race actually
happened in, like, 2015. So we got
like, five years with this dog.

That's cool.

But he died. So sad.

Well, watch the movie. Don't read the
book. So you were. Before we started,
you were talking about your experience.

Yeah. I wanted to know if Carlton
had ever done an adventure race before.

So not all the aspects of an
adventure race, just mountain biking. So I
went to Oral Roberts University for two
years. And at orau, you're able to
take an elective for pe basically, so
you could take bowling or tennis. I
took mountain biking because I'm like, man,
come on. I'm a kid from Englewood,
inner city Chicago. Why not?

That is seriously. Like, I don't think
any. Like, when you walked into that
classroom, was anybody, like, betting money that
this six foot three?

Okay. So I didn't have a bike.

How did you sign up for mountain
biking without a bike? I didn't know,
they provide equipment. Like, they give you
a bowling ball.

As much money as I paid for
the school, I would have thought they
had bikes ready for you.

That's crazy.

Borrow one.

And so they were like, you know,
there's a bike shop that rents bikes.
And I'm, you know, I don't know
anything about bikes. About bicycles, mountain biking,
mountain bikes or anything. And I'm like,
you know, how much is a bike?
Like, what's. What's this bike? Trek. What
is that Trek you started at the
Sugar 4. And they're like, yeah, this

(05:39):
bike was $1500.

Yeah.

And I was like, I think I'm
in the wrong class. Like, when's the
drop ad date? And so they were
like, yeah, you can rent a bike
from the bike shop. I go up
to the bike shop. You know, you
can rent a bike for a day
for like 200 buc. I'm like, I'm
a college. I don't have any money.
First of all, you know, you guys
are living in a different economic space
than I am.

$200 to ride a bike.

And so they were like, okay, Carlton,
you need to get a bike. So
I go up to our favorite store,
Walmart.

Walmart.

Wow. Come on.

And I picked the best $100 Schwinn
bike I could find.

That's crazy.

And so I did it have the.

Little peg stands on it.

I had to buy clips because, you
know, when you're mountain biking, you have
to clip into the pedal. You can't
use a normal pedal. You can't even
use cages. So I had to buy
the clips. So I got clips. I
took the schwing pedals off, put the
clips on them, got the shoes, clipped
myself in. I am. So we have
this one for it, man. 25 mile

(06:44):
trail. It's not a trail. Okay, so
when I say trail, I'm not saying
a trail. You're just in the jungle
riding through trees and rocks.

The jungles of Oklahoma.

Yeah, it was along the Arkansas River.
River. It was the side of a
cliff. Colorado River. Arkansas. I think it
was Arkansas River. It was red. I
knew that much. But it was basically
a valley that they called a mountain.
It was Turkey Trail, I think it
was called. Yeah, Turkey Trails. One of
the hardest trails in the country. And
so we're riding, and I'm like an
hour in to the trail on my

(07:17):
Schwinn, and I'm barely keeping up because
it's like, I got a Toyota Camry
and everyone has a Lamborghini. And so
I am Struggling because I don't have
the right gears. The bike is not
balanced properly. It's too big, it's too
thick. It's heavy, you know, And I'm
also heavy.

Your physique is not screaming mountain bikers.

Right.

And so I get about, you know,
halfway into this race, and the frame
of the bike breaks in two.

You broke your bike?

Oh, my goodness.

And so the guys just keep going.
And I'm in the middle of the
woods or whatever it is with a
broken Schwinn. So I put the frame
over my head and I wear it,
and I walk out for hours out.
And I don't know because there's no
trail again. So I don't. I'm just
following the river along, and I have

(08:13):
to walk out of the woods with
this bike on my neck for hours.
I'm walking for. Seems like all day
through the woods, like, you know.

Nobody came back for you?

No.

Did you have the Holy Spirit?

I had a Camel pack which kept
me alive.

Did you have a dog?

I'm sure the Holy Spirit was laughing
at me as he was with me,
but, yeah, that's my mountain biking experience.

Wow.

I said, I'm not doing this class
again. I did have to figure something
out. I don't know.

Wow.

So, yeah, there you go.

Good for you.

Got so far in the trail, bike
broke. Had to wear the bike out
of the trail.

So this movie hit hard, hit home.

So. So when you finally got out,
were, like, people cheering for you? Was.
Did anybody.

No, nobody was there. It was an
empty parking lot. Like, all the cars
are there from the guys riding, but
I just had to sit there and
wait for them to make their trip
back around, which, you know, it's. It's
hours. So you just.

Wow.

Yeah, it's awesome.

Are you okay?

You.

All have wounds, so, you know, this
is where the journey was greater than
the destination, man. Kind of. What did
I learn?

You needed a team. You learned that
you needed a team to go on
this trek with you?

I learned that I needed a different
economic position to buy a more expensive
bike so I could actually make it
the trail.

There's so much to unpack there.

Resources.

Taisha, what about you? What's your adventure
racing experience?

9 0.

Adventure racing?

No, my adventure racing. Chasing after Neo
when he was a child. So, no,
I have none. What about you? Pastor
Brent?

Yes, that's right.

We're seven. Of course, we did triathlons.

Yeah. So we did all kinds of
stuff. But, like, we actually. So our
adventure race, it's called an eco challenge.
And so we did ours. It's a
two day, one hundred and something miles.
So ours is like, compared to the
Dominican 435 mile race, like it was
nothing.

Well, your mileage had three digits on
it. Like, that's quite a bit.

Yeah, but so, but we did. So
ours. Ours was interesting because it was
all. It was team dynamic, team based.
Our. The weird thing about ours, though
is it was like two days after
our missions training, which was like this.
Five days of sleep deprivation. I think
we've talked about it a little bit.
What, like, stuff that like the organization
would totally get arrested for doing in

(10:40):
2020.

Then you went on a.

So we finished my race. Yeah, so
we finished that and two days later
we started the. The eco challenge. And
it was part of this whole, like,
it was in the first three months
of the program, it was part of
this whole, like, initiation process. And basically
once you finish that, it was like
our first graduation. And so like the
first. Yeah, because it wasn't like the

(11:02):
final graduation. It was just like the.
Hey, you made it through the breaking
point. Like a checkpoint, right? That's a
good way to put it. Like, it's.
It's like if you lasted in the
program past this moment or to this
moment, you are going to make it
through the end of the year. I
think we had like 20 or 30
students drop out within the first three
months because of the intensity of. But
yeah, so our eco challenge, we're all

(11:24):
exhausted before the race starts. And then
it's team based. I had thrown my
back out during the missions training thing
because we were like lugging this thing
and it got stuck and I tried
to yank it and threw my back
out. So I was like, miserable to
be around for this two days. And
then ours, like, we had like stations
kind of like in a. In a
real adventure race. But our stations, instead

(11:46):
of just to give you a chance
to grab some water and take a
break, they were like team challenges and
like mental exercises. And it was like
you got to the checkpoint and now
you had to like, quote Bible verses.
You had to like, it was like.
And so you're like, physically exhausted now.
They're like asking you hard questions. You're
like, two plus two is seven. I
don't like, I don't know what's happening

(12:07):
right now. So it was just. But.
But the race itself was a lot
of fun because we did. We did
a boating thing. Ours was like a
raft, not a canoe, but we did.
We did boating, we did mountain biking.
Luckily, I didn't have to buy one
at Walmart. Our organization provided for us,
unlike your oral robbers. So. So we

(12:29):
did mountain biking, hiking, and then the,
the. The boating and everything else was
just kind of walking or jogging through
the jungle.

You guys did Pikes Peak?

We did Pikes Peak at the start
of the program. That was like in
the first, like, week or two, I
think. Second week of the program, we
did Pikes Peak, which is kind of
a fun story too. Pikes Peak was
named after a guy that said that
nobody would ever summit the peak. Like,
he tried. There's literally a restaurant at
the top. Yeah, like, it's like the
most commercialized mountain peak ever. No one

(13:01):
would be able to ever conquer this
mountain. And it's like there's toddlers, like,
playing at the top of this mountain
now. They literally turned it into a
race. Like, there's a. There's a foot
race to see who can get to
the top of the mountain fast. Like,
like he rolling in his grave.

Wow.

Yeah, so. So we did that. My
team, I think we came in somewhere
in like the middle of the pack.
There was like six or seven teams.
I forget. And yeah, we were like
third or fourth, so we didn't do
that great. But we did all right.
And then my second year of the
program, I facilitated the race, so I
wasn't in it, but I was like,
setting up stations and stuff. And then

(13:38):
my third year was in Mexico, and
Mexico, we turned it into what we
call an urban eco. And so think
of more of like the Amazing Race
where, like, you have to like, navigate
a city that you don't know and
accomplish tasks at different checkpoints. So ours
was a two day version of that.
And I got tendonitis in my knee
the week before we started the race

(13:59):
and didn't realize it. I just, I
was like, man, for some reason my
knee really hurts. And like, first day
of the race, I'm like two hours
in and like, I'm in the most
pain I've ever felt in my life.
Like, it was just horrendous. And so
made the hard decision after like three
or four hours. Like, I was holding
my team back. And my team, my
team, we were good. Like, we were.

(14:20):
We were ready to win this thing.
And I was holding them back. We
were falling further and further behind, all
because of my knee. And so I
told the director, I was like, hey,
I think there's something wrong with my
leg. Like, I need to pull out.
And so I dropped out, went to
the doctor, found out tendonitis gave me.
What is it? Cortisol shots in my
knee.

Yeah.

Knee was so swollen that, like, the.
The holes where they injected, like, shifted.

Oh.

By the next day, so, like, it
was like they. They had injected, like,
on this three points on, like, the
side of the knee, and they injected
it here. And then the holes were,
like, over here. The next day, like,
it was. The whole thing shifted. It
was really bad. But moral of the
story was I dropped out of the
race and my team ends up winning.
It was one of those, like, lessons
that I learned.

So we need to get rid of
our baggage.

So. So here's the lesson that I
learned.

Like, the people that are holding us
back.

So. So I had this mentality, and
you could probably take a bad lesson
from this, but the good lesson that
I took is I had this mentality
of, for my team, I needed to
persevere and push through the pain. And
so that's what I was trying to
do for, like, three or four hours.
And it was just causing us to
fall further and further behind. When I
recognized the ability and the talent of
my team and I said, they can

(15:30):
actually do better without me holding them
back. I need to encourage them, but
I need to step aside and let
them lead. And so that's part of
why, like, leading. Leading the church, like,
I try and get out of the
way, Like, I don't want to be
the thing that's holding back. Somebody that's
got drive, got passion, got ability, all

(15:51):
that stuff.

You have to be self aware.

Yes. And that. That's the. That's the
thing where it's like, okay, when, as
a leader, do I need to step
in? Where, as a leader, do I
need to step out and let them
run? And I think that there's. There's
some leaders out there in the world
that are great leaders in. In their
own ability, but they don't know when
to get out of the way.

This is why I hate group projects,
because you got the one person who
needs to be self aware, and they're
not.

And they're not self.

Aware.

Your perspective is a little more harsh
to pass the bread. So I'm gonna
need you to.

What do you think I learned from.

Yeah, I mean, self awareness. It is
huge, man. It's a vital skill set
that I didn't realize a lot of
people didn't have. Like, I thought everybody,
like, was self aware. And then I
watched that little TV show that used
to be on called American Idol, and
that's when I realized a lot of

(16:42):
people are not self aware.

Lack of awareness.

It's like, I'm an amazing singer. It's
like, no, you are not.

Everybody of my. At my town of
a hundred people, my church of three
people think I'm great.

Oh, man.

Self awareness is important in teams. But
yeah, so. And I mean, the negative
lesson you could pull from that story
is get rid of the weak link.

That's what I got from it.

Because honestly, there was a. There was
a person, my man. I don't think
any of them are gonna listen to
this podcast.

And don't say the name.

Most of them don't speak English, so.
But there was. There was a member
of the team that was not as
physically fit as everybody else that we
felt like if I wasn't there, they
would struggle. But it was cool to
watch as the rest of the team,
like, rallied around that person and encourage
them and push through. And even without

(17:36):
my adding to the help, the team
was able to come together. It was
one of those where, like, watching them
cross the finish line first, I was
like, yay. With my crutches. Yay. It
was awesome.

I guess it depends on what the
destination is or what you're running the
race for, whether or not you can
unload somebody who's the weak link on
the team or not.

Yeah. And like the. So the Colorado
version, a bunch of us were injured.
Nobody dropped out because it was. No,
we're. We're a team in this. We're
going to support each other. I remember
in the biking section, my back was
just killing me, and one of my
teammates literally just put his hand on
my back and started, like, pedaling beside
me with his hand on my back.
And it was. It was amazing how
just that little bit of, like.

Yeah, support.

Yeah, right. Like, it took some of
the pressure off my back. It helped
me pedal a little bit faster, like,
glide a little fast because he was
pulling some of the weight, and it
was just like, yeah, you're supporting each
other. It's awesome. But as leader, sometimes,
and I think that's more of the
leader decision, sometimes as a leader of
an organization, you've got to realize when
you've become a ceiling for somebody, you
become a hindrance to their growth and

(18:41):
their ability.

So they should have left the dog
on the shore in the kayaks and
finished the race and won it.

No.

Is that what we're saying?

No. It's a little dog.

No. So the lesson there would be,
the dog should have realized, hey.

Not jumping a water.

And that's why this is the self
Awareness part has to be so key
because, like, the balance here is like,
somebody could be like, well, I'm not
as good as the rest of the
people around me, so I'll step out.
And sometimes. No, actually, probably most of
the time, no. You shouldn't be. That
self deprecating humor and that self, like
sabotage and that just negative self image

(19:22):
that comes out and it's like, well,
I'm not good enough for the team,
so the team will do better without
me. Nine times out of 10, like,
that's just not true.

Yeah.

And the team actually rallying around you
is what makes the team better. It's
what makes you better. I think that
there's a nuance to it though. Sometimes
as leaders, we need to know when
we need to step aside.

I would say leaders and team members
just being self aware in all places.
But yes, I like the perspective of
leaders.

Yep.

So I'm listening to both of your
stories. You didn't have a team.

No.

And you had a team.

I thought I had a team.

Yeah. Yeah.

You did not have a team.

I didn't know it was classmates. I
had classmates. I didn't know it was
an individual journey. Like everyone collectively is
going on an individual journey. It looks
like a team, but it wasn't. But
it's not. Everyone's on their own journey
that'll preach that. Will you be with
people going in the same direction, trying
to reach the same destination, but you're

(20:24):
not a team.

Yeah.

You got people in your life that
are going the same direction that you're
going in, that are with you, but
they're not. But they're not on your
side. They're not a part of the
journey that you're on.

That is right.

What's the scripture to back that up?
I have no scripture. I need to
do some study first.

No, that's good. I was just thinking
about Nehemiah because I was reading Nehemiah
and it was talking about how he
rebuilt the wall and how he needed
other people to rebuild portions of the
wall and they were working together in
unity. So that's the importance of, like
having team.

He has some outside opposition too.

Yes, that's my thought.

Should have been on his team and
they weren't.

My favorite line from, from Nehemiah is,
I'm doing a great work. I can't
be distracted or can't. Can't come down
right now. Like, I forget how he
phrased it.

He was getting called to a meeting
and he was like, no.

Yeah. They're like, hey, Come meet kings
and their influence. I mean, it was
a trick. Like, they were wanting to
kill us. But he didn't know that.
He just knew, man. These really, really
influential people are telling me that I
should come. And he's like, it'd be
a good thing to meet with these
kings and these leaders, but I'm doing
a great thing. I can't be distracted
by the good thing. Like, that Nehemiah
moment is fire.

That was good.

Love that one.

I was asking. I'm like, why am
I right? Why do you have me
reading it? And he literally. I read
it on my Bible app. And then
I was like, this ain't for me.
Picked up a real. A physical Bible.
It opened in. Yeah. I'm like, oh,
gosh. What are you trying to tell
me?

Nehemiah is great.

Nehemiah is a great leadership book.

It is. Because his disposition while he
was serving in the worst position in
the kingdom was pleasant. It was pleasant
enough where the king saw a contrast.
And his face.

Yeah.

When he wasn't happy.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I think sometimes so powerful.
Because he was a cup bearer, Right.

Yeah.

And I think he's got the worst.

Job in the kingdom because I think.

Culturally, we're like, oh, that's cool. Like,
he gets to, like, hang out with
the king, drink. His job is to
die. Like, literally. It's like, I don't
know. The equivalent of that would be,
like, if police officers wore a human
being as a bulletproof vest.

Right.

Shoot at me. You're going to hit
this guy first. Like, right. Like, your
job was to take a bullet for
the king.

But they noticed when he was in
the form of complaints, pleasant when he
wasn't happy in the moment. So that
leads me to know that he did
his job with care. And, you know,
I'm sure he didn't want to be
in the position, but he didn't bring
that to the table.

Yeah. And then just his leadership structure.
We're so off tub.

No, no. I think is three.

Reasonable. But his, like, his leadership structure
of assigning different people to different tasks
and how they're supporting each other. I
mean, there's. There's a portion where, like,
they're building the outer wall with, like,
one hand while holding a weapon with
the other hand. Like, you. Oh, my
God, you got to be ready to
defend what you're doing. And, like, it's
just the. The way he set everything
up. It was.

And then how God gave him. He
gave him boldness, and then he gave
him authority, and then he gave him
resources, and then he gave him protection.
Favor gave him favor gave him a
team, gave him a ways to defend
himself. Like God provided everything along his.
His path and his journey to pray.
Rebuild that wall.

That's good.

That's a great story, man. We need
to do a. At the movies, Nehemiah
version or something.

Well, I see that it relates because.
I see that it relates because in
the movie yesterday, you had. You had
a lot of team aspects. Like, you
had these dysfunctional people on the team
that came together to try to accomplish
something. And there was a lot of
obstacles. There was a lot of. There
needed to be a leader to step

(24:04):
up. And we clearly saw who that
was, who put the team together. So
I just think. I feel like even
with the get in a Game campaign
that we have, I feel like God's
heart is for us to understand that
we need each other. No matter, like
what, you know, what the unique things
we bring to the table, good and
bad, it all works together for the

(24:25):
good of what needs to be accomplished
for the good of your journey. It
all works out together for that. So.

And that's good that we need a
team. And one thing that the movie
was able to do was to tell
us that the team is not perfect.
And that's okay, because we fill each
other's holes and gaps, and the Holy
Spirit can come in and do the
things that we can't do. You know,
a lot of times we think about
that we need a team, and we
need these particular individuals who have these

(24:53):
abilities and who can do these types
of things. And sometimes we tend to
overlook their flaws or their imperfections or
the trauma and the things. The issues
that they have in their life. And
we say that, well, if this person
has this issue, then that disqualifies them
from the team. But we have to
understand, well, that's what the team brings.
Because like I mentioned in the sermon,

(25:15):
a lot of times our trauma becomes
a testimony that then can help someone
else accomplish a goal or accomplish a
task that's part of the. The team.
And so we shouldn't hide our wounds.
We should expose them and allow that
to teach people how you've overcome and
how you've gotten over an obstacle and
how you struggled and made it through.

(25:35):
And that will encourage someone else to
then say, well, I have this disability
or this issue that I'm dealing with
in my life, But I see how
Pastor Brent or Carlton or Tyisha has
overcome the struggles that they've had in
their life, which will help me then
accomplish the things that I need to
accomplish even with my issues.

Yeah.

So a. A team is great. The
idea of a team is great. But
understanding that the. The wounds and the
trauma and the struggles of the. Of
the team is also beneficial to the
team as a whole.

Yeah. I liked how you saw, even
in the clips you show yesterday, you
saw, like, how they were having disagreements
and it was ugly at times, and
it was like, no, I think we
should do it this way. We saw
how people came to the table with
their own agendas. But then at the
end, you see.

Leo pulls out a phone, right.

He's like. He's like, this is all
to build my social media platform. But
even the leader, he had his own
agenda. He's like, okay, you can do
you, but I want to win this
race. I have something to prove.

Yeah. His initial reason for forming the
team was just so he could. Like,
it was his. The last race of
his career, but it was to feed
the thing that was a negative about
him. Is that his. His pride?

Yeah.

Like, he just wanted to feed his
pride. And that was the only reason
why he put this team together. He
wanted to appease the sponsors. So that
was the only reason why he had
one of his teammates, Leo, there. He
didn't want him there at all. But
he was just trying to please the
sponsors that gave him money so that
he could feed his pride. So his
whole deal was just off base, you
know, And. And, you know, later in

(27:18):
the journey in the movie, he starts
to understand the value of the team
more than his pride.

That's. Man. I'm just thinking, like, even
sometimes when people are called to leadership,
like how that development happens while you're
in the trenches, it doesn't.

Sometimes it doesn't happen. Sometimes you see
leaders out there who are leading for
all the wrong reasons, who have. Have
selfish ambition, who have pride.

Yeah.

And it hurts their team if they
don't have a inner transformation about why
they're on the journey that they're on.

That's good. I think we all having
that moment of like.

No, but it was. It was a
good movie. A good. It was before
team dynamic.

Yeah.

And I think it. It captured a
lot of the disciplines of a team
from forming a team, forming a team
for the wrong reasons, identifying everyone's struggle,
how those struggles can come together to
actually help the team. There's parts in
the movie where leadership needed to happen,
where Michael, the main character, had to
lead in a way that cared for

(28:24):
the team because Olivia got stuck on
the zip line halfway and he had
to take some risk that put himself
in jeopardy in order to help her
and save her come across. And so
at that moment, he had to put
his pride aside and he had to
put his selfish ambition aside to help

(28:45):
his teammate. And that really turned the
corner for their. Their. Their relationship.

That's good.

That's one of the dynamics of, like,
the adventure racing and especially portrayed in
the movie that I love, is how
much the team would sacrifice for each
other. So, like, when. When Cheeky is,
you know, struggling with his knee, right.
Michael takes his bag, right? He's like,
let me carry the weight for you.
Like, there's a moment when Leo is
like, dehydrated and is passing out.

Yeah. And it's a four hour penalty
if they stay and get him hydrated.

And they're like, you know what? Let's
take the penalty because our teammate is
too vital to this. Like, he's too
important. And then obviously it's portrayed at
the very end when the dog is
drowning and they turn the boat around,
they dramatically pull him out of the
water.

So they say that he's one us.

Yeah, yeah. It's a member of the
team, like, and that's, that's what I
love. When Michael's apologizing to the second
boat that comes up, like, they didn't
know, like, what was going on. Stop.
And they're just rowing up and they're
like, I'm sorry we couldn't leave him
behind. And they're like, yeah, he's one
of the team.

That's so great.

Like, duh, like first place. But we
let a guy die, like, that ain't
gonna happen.

Right, right, right.

How do. I'm thinking about this more,
like, from a perspective of serving in.

In a church way to keep us
holy and not just talk.

I'm sorry.

No, no, no.

It's not a movie podcast.

No, no. I like pract. No, I
was just thinking, like, how can we
see that operate within different ministries where
it's like, you have this objective, you
have this thing that you're striving towards,
but when. When does it. Should you
ever shift to, like, okay, we know
this is the end goal, but my

(30:25):
team is suffering here and I gotta
take an L. Like, how is that
okay to do question?

Yeah, yeah. So I think that's where
that awareness comes to play. But, like,
I've had those moments where I was
supposed to be doing something, but there
was somebody on the team that was
hurting in a way that, like, I
needed to address. And so I would
grab somebody else on the team and
say, hey, I need you to do
this thing for me because I need
to go do something that only I

(30:53):
can do. And so, like, there have.
There have been times when, you know,
I'm supposed to be doing something, and
there's just. There's somebody that needs me
more than that thing. So it's okay
for me to not do the thing
that I was supposed to do. But
what I. As a good leader, I'm
grabbing somebody else from the team to
make sure that both things are happening.

(31:13):
So the task is being accomplished, but
the person is being cared for.

You don't want ministry to suffer, but
ministry is suffering when you don't care
for your team.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's like, people hopefully will understand
why things didn't go perfectly because they're
only getting the. The end result. I
think about summer kickoff, when we're all.
We're in the npr, the multipurpose room
in the gym, and we had hot
dogs going, we had the merch store
going, we had bounce houses going, we

(31:43):
had a DJ going. And all of
these components had to work together perfectly
with the logistics of our members going
into the gym and flowing through. And
if one of those components was off,
it would, you know, not make the
logistics of the room experience the experience.
Right. And so it's like, okay, we
want our members to have a good
experience, but we also want to make

(32:04):
sure that our team is cared for.
And so there's two different types of
ministry that's happening. There's ministry within the
team and their ability to serve and
their ability to care for each other.
And then there's the ministry that's for
the congregation. But I. I think when
you have ministry that's right there in
your face, when you have somebody on
your team that. That needs help or
needs encouragement or needs a boost or

(32:26):
is struggling with something, as a leader,
you have to step up and. And
help that person, even if it means
that the buns aren't going to be
open for the high dolls to be
put in it to get this line
moving. Like, I think the ministry that's
present needs to be taken care of.
And I think people understand the Holy
Spirit will come through and people will
still have a good experience for the

(32:46):
ministry that they're experiencing.

Like, for Sol and I, like, our
policy for every ministry we've ever led
is the policy is people over policy.
And it's really. It's just this reminder
that people are most important. And so,
yeah, there's a task to accomplish. There's
a thing to do. But when you're
face to face with a person who's
hurting, like, you put all of that
aside so that you can care for
the individual. And so I think, yeah,

(33:08):
like, back to that team dynamic. When.
When the team has a goal to
accomplish but somebody on the team is
hurting, you find a way to care
for the person. And most of the
time, I don't think that means that
the whole purpose of the team has
to be sacrificed. I think that there
are ways to do both, but if
you have to let go of one,

(33:30):
I'd let go of the purpose before
I let go of the person.

Yeah. Relationship over the race.

Yeah. 100%.

Yeah. There you go.

So, I mean, we talked a lot
about the team dynamic. I like how
you tied in the Holy Spirit to
kind of. For me, I kept seeing,
of course, the dog as, like, protecting
them, guiding them, and things of that
nature. So how can the Holy Spirit
play a huge role in team dynamics,

(34:02):
Helping with the journey and those things.

Yeah. One thing I wanted to say
in the sermon that I didn't say
is that the Holy Spirit is not
a dog, and the dog is not.

I'm so glad you clarified.

I was thinking to myself, like, how
in the world do I do this?
There's no good transition to do this.
Like, do I just say it? Like,
there is no parallel or any kind
of example that we can use to
represent the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit
is divine in itself. It doesn't need
for you to create some kind of

(34:36):
character parallel or anything for it. The
dog is not the Holy Spirit, and
the Holy Spirit is not the dog.

Yes.

But there are some aspects of the
dog that parallel. Yes. This is the
funny thing. So when Carlton was first
putting together the message.

Yes, I can see you.

Okay, Brent, I got a problem. Like,
am I making the Holy Spirit a
dog? Okay, first of all, before I
even.

Started writing, I was just like.

But it does. It does highlight, like,
there's an issue. There's a. There's a
shortcoming of any kind of analogy or
illustration. At some point, it will break
down.

Yeah.

Like, at some. Because there's no perfect
parallel. That's. That's what makes God unique.
But it's. It's why, like, when. When
people are like, man, can't you just
explain, like, the Trinity using something like.
No, you can't. All of them end
up in here. Radical teachings. Like, yeah,
if you're like, well, he's like water.
It's like, no, he's not like water.

(35:32):
He's not like H2O because that's just
a change of form. And God doesn't
change form. Like, so that, that falls
apart. Oh, it's a three leaf clover.
No, because if you pull a leaf
off of the clover, it's no longer
a three leaf clover. Like, but, but
Jesus is still God. Like, no matter
what, he's still God. Like, so it's
like every kind of illustration analogy, like

(35:54):
you can take it too far where
now all of a sudden it falls
apart. It's no longer accurate or it's
even teaching something blasphemous.

Yeah.

So yes, there's danger in using a
movie clip and using a dog and
saying, just like the dog is acting
for the team. That's what the Holy
Spirit does.

Just playing.

Okay, what was your question?

They br the dog out. That didn't
help the sit.

But the dog was like beaten and
they had to rescue it. So is
the Holy Spirit beaten and we have
to rescue the Holy swimming.

Towards us and drowning in the river?
No.

If we don't reach out, is the
Holy Spirit going to die?

No. So let's take the dog out
of the equation.

No, but what was your question though?
But once we got that out there,
we can then talk about the dog
and the Holy Spirit.

Okay, so how is the Holy Spirit
spirit a good element or a good.
I forgot how I phrased it. But
how is the Holy Spirit helping his
team, Guiding us, leading us, protecting us?

And I think, you know, from my
own personal experience, the Holy Spirit is
always talking to me constantly. A lot
of times he's yelling at me because
sometimes that's.

How would you say he's barking at
you?

Barking at me, because sometimes I need
to listen. No, no, he's not barking.
But I, I think. Okay, I'm saying
talking to you. The Holy Spirit is
always communicating.

Yeah.

With us.

Yeah.

Are we listening? Do we hear the
Holy Spirit? Because I thought I was
like, man, I was a professional ignorer
of the Holy Spirit. I could ignore
the Holy Spirit with the best of
them.

Who's the best of them?

I don't know. Hitler, sure. Whoever it
is. But I could ignore the Holy
Spirit with the best of when the
Holy Spirit would nudge me or just
puts drop something in my, my thoughts
and my mind and my spirit. And
I would be like, nah, I'm gonna
keep going in this direction that I'm
going in because it's pleasurable to me
or feels nice or I enjoy that

(37:54):
thing. And it's like the Holy Spirit
is Never not trying to communicate to
me. I. I just feel like for
me and my experience, God is always
chasing me. And when I can stop
and just remove the distractions and the.
The things, you know, my own thoughts.
From a moment, I can hear God

(38:15):
speak to me, whether it's through His
Word, whether it's through teachings. You know,
in my. In my quiet time, if
I'm meditating and worship, I mean, God
is speaking through to me in so
many ways through my wife all the
time. You know, just things that are
happening around me. It's not an audible
voice in my mind, but I can
see how my life. How things are

(38:36):
around me are being moved in my
life where God is leading me in
a direction, and I just need to
open my eyes and my ears and
pay attention to it. And I think
that I say that when you follow,
when you make the decision to follow
Christ in your life, the Holy Spirit
is there. He's there ready to go
on the journey with you, ready to
run the race with you, ready to
get you to be more like Christ.

(38:56):
It takes our listening skills and for
us to open our eyes and our
heart to actually receive what the Holy
Spirit has to say to us. But,
yeah, I say that the Holy Spirit
is always yelling at me. Sometimes he
yells at me in silence. And I
can feel the silence of the Holy
Spirit. And I know he's talking to

(39:16):
me. I know he's communicating to me.
It's not that he's like, yelling in
my ear sometimes the silence is deafening.
And I'm like, God, where are you?
And it's like, oh, yeah, I know
you want me to move in this
direction. You want me to do these
things or stop doing this?

I told you to do something. You
still haven't done it. I'm just gonna
wait until you do.

You're right. And then when, when, when,
when you. He has this way of.
His silence is, like, tangible.

Oh, yeah.

And it's like God is not speaking
anymore.

Yeah.

And then it, like, it grabs your
attention. And now you're like, wait, God,
where. Where are you? Like, I. I
don't want to keep going with. Without
you. Like, I need you here with
me. And so God communicates to me
in so many ways. I was mentioning
how the Holy Spirit yells at me,
but he yells at me in so
many different ways through especially reading His
Word. His Word just jumps out at

(40:07):
me and, like, smacks me in the
face all the time. His Word is
so good. It's so. The Bible is
so beautiful. And if you Want to
hear from God? Just read His Word,
because that's his voice.

Yeah.

So there you go. I don't know
if that answers your question.

No, no, no, no, it does. And
I. Man, I even felt like, well,
before we end, I would love to,
like, pray over those who are watching
that they will hear from God and
hear clearly. Because I really feel like.
I don't think it's a coincidence that
we are, you know, talking about working
together as a team, being in unity,

(40:44):
hearing from the Holy Spirit, being obedient.
Like, I just feel like the world.
It's just a weird place right now.
And I feel like everyone has their
own agendas. Everybody has these. Their own
things that they're battling. And I just
feel like if we tap into the
Holy Spirit, man, we can see ourselves
operating as we should as a church,

(41:04):
as a community. And I just feel
like that's. We're. We're distracted. Our attention
is on things that. Our goals, our
agendas.

Right.

And we're missing. It was like the
scene in a movie where the dog.
They're arguing.

They're all fighting each other.

They're all fighting each other. And the
dog is literally barking like, you are
about to fall off of this cliff.

Right?

Like, put that in real perspective. Like,
you're in his team dynamic, and you're
like, no, it should be this way
and, no, it should be that way.
And the Holy Spirit's, like, barking like,
y' all about to fall off this
cliff if y' all don't stop and
listen to me.

And so, yeah, that's a good scene
because they're fighting. And Leo kind of
storms off on his own and starts
walking down the trail. And the dog
comes and he starts barking at Leo.
And Leo, like, you don't see the
dog in the scene. The shot is
an upper shot at Leo, and Leo
kind of like, shoes the dog away
with his leg to get past the

(42:03):
dog, ignoring the dog as he goes
on. And Michael, the main character, character
comes and he says, you feel that
win? Like, they start to notice what
the dog had been warning them against
and going forward, and he and the
dog, you know, saves them from falling
off the cliff. It's a good scene
that is.

I didn't realize, man. I didn't realize
how connected I was to this movie.
Like, this is really.

I mean, somebody that doesn't like adventure
racing.

But, I mean, you think this movie
would appeal? I love that saying, because
that's what the Holy Spirit does. He
lets us know when we're drifting into
Sin or when we're compromising our faith.
And a lot of times we'll be
like, is that really the Holy Spirit
talking to me? Because we really want
what we want in our flesh. And
sometimes we could argue with ourselves, was

(42:51):
that the Holy Spirit speaking to me?
And we will walk past the Holy
Spirit, not barking at us, but trying
to communicate to us that we are
going in the wrong direction. And the
Holy Spirit will sometimes let us get
so far where we can start to
sense the danger ourselves. We start to
see, like, this isn't right, or these
people around me are moving in the
wrong direction, or I'm in the wrong

(43:12):
environment. Wait a minute. That was the
Holy Spirit that was speaking to me.
Let me turn around and go back.

Yeah. And. And the. The hope or
the desire is that the more you
hear that voice, the more you listen
to that voice, the more you. You
do what that voice is telling you
to do, the more you'll be able
to start noticing those things earlier and
earlier.

Right?

Where it's like, the first time, the
Holy Spirit was like, hey, don't go
that way. And you're like, I don't
know what that was, but I'm gonna
keep going this way. And then a
little bit further down, it's like, don't
go that way. And you're just like,
well, this is. This is getting really
weird. And then you have the. Do
you feel that breeze?

There's danger here.

It's like, okay, have that experience four
or five times. And maybe by the
sixth time that first time, the Holy
Spirit's like, hey, don't go that way.
You've had enough experience walking in the
Holy Spirit, working with God, living out
this Christian journey, that now all of
a sudden, that. That first mention of,
hey, don't go that way. You're just
like, okay, right?

You even get to a place where
you then don't move, and you're checking
with the Holy Spirit, which direction should
I go in? Even before you start
walking? And it's just like, we just
got to get to a place where.
I don't know when we get to
that place, but we got to get
to a place where the Holy Spirit
is the foundation of our steps, of

(44:29):
the directions that we go in in
our lives.

One of the cool things when. When
Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, he says,
the Holy Spirit's gonna remind you.

Yeah.

And so, like, I. I think that
some people are like, well, I just
don't know, you know, what the Holy
Spirit's trying to tell me. And that's
why I love that you talk about
how beautiful the. The word of God
is. But like, I use this point
a lot with people is like, you
can't be reminded of something that you
never learned or you never heard before.
Like, then it's not a reminder. Right
now you're being taught. Right. And the
job of the Holy Spirit is to

(44:58):
remind you, which means you.

Actually need to first happen first.

Yeah. First you need to be spending
time in your word. You need to
be listening when the preacher's talking. Like,
you need to be paying attention. And
then in those moments when you're just
ready to do your thing, then the
Holy Spirit's like, hey, remember last month
when you were reading in Matthew, like,
hey, this is an opportunity to practice
that.

Yeah.

I think, I think overall this was
just a really well rounded message.

Well, thank you.

Yeah, good job.

It was the Holy Spirit and full
of food.

Accountants can't preach.

Who said we can watch movies? That's
for sure.

What? Isn't it a movie called the
Accountant? But he really was doing everything
but like Assassin. He was an ass.

He was also an accountant.

He's a very good accountant.

Very good accountant. He's saving people money
and taking their lives.

I don't know why it just came
to me.

Are you trying to say that Carlton
is a secret assassin?

He has maybe in the spirit, maybe
spiritual assassin, but no, I think this
is a good place to kind of
like give some good takeaways for. For
those who watching. I think we talked,
we hit on the. The team aspect,
the Holy Spirit aspect. And I feel
like, I don't know if this was
a, like, get in a game message,

(46:20):
but I think this was an awareness
message where it's like, yes, you are
part of a team now. Hopefully you
are part of the team. God has
put you there for your team. So
be led by the Holy Spirit in
that team. Because God has a. There's
a bigger assignment or agenda that we

(46:41):
are all a part of and he
wants to use us. I like how
you, you brought that out in the
message. Like, there's different members and different
pieces.

We're not all toenails.

Yeah, we're all not. Where did the
toenail come from anyway?

I don't know if that was the.

Holy Spirit or he was hungry, but
I like how you, you brought that
out. And the only way to know
how to play your part on team
is to be led by the Holy
Spirit. So that was my takeaway. See
how I did that?

Beautiful.

Yeah, I love that. Because in Acts
Jesus tells his team, he says, don't
go anywhere until the Holy Spirit comes.
Stay here in Jerusalem. Don't go out
and try to start ministry. Don't go
off and try to accomplish things like
live the rest of your lives, because
these are very young men and the
ambition that they had, you know, they

(47:34):
may have thought that, you know, these
three years are interesting, last three years
are interesting. You know, saw some things,
did some things, you know, saw the
resurrected Messiah. Now I could just go
on with my life or try to
start ministry on my own. Jesus doesn't
tell them individually. He tells his disciples.
It says, it tells his team, don't
move forward until the Father gives you

(47:56):
what has been promised to you. And
so, like, for me, it's like whether
you're an individual at, at home or
wherever you are, with your own goals
and desires that God has planted in
you for you to do, to follow
in his will and to fulfill what
he has for you, or you are
a part of a team. You are
a part of the body of Christ,

(48:17):
but you could be serving on a
team or a part of a group.
You could be with a church body.
The thing that we have to remember
and know is that we should not
move forward in anything without the Holy
Spirit. Like, the Holy Spirit is the
foundation of our faith. He's not an
accessory. He's essential to our faith. And
just like Jesus told his team, don't

(48:39):
move forward without the Holy Spirit, we
too, in our own lives and in
the teams that we are in, in
our church, should not move forward without
the Holy Spirit.

That's good.

Yeah. Well, I said before we started
filming, like, the, the, the moment. For
me, the, the fire line that you
had was just what you reiterated, that
the, the Holy Spirit is not an
accessory to our Christian journey. He's essential
to it. And I think that even
for charismatics, which, you know, I think
the majority of our church would be
classified as Charismatic, I think that we

(49:09):
can still put on the Holy Spirit
like an accessory or it's. It's the
thing that makes our faith even more
fun.

Right?

Yeah, exactly. But, but the reality is
Jesus said, you need this. If you
don't have this, you can't do what
I'm calling you to do. It's through
the power of the Holy Spirit that
you're going to actually be able to
keep my commands, that you're going to
actually be able to abide in me,
that you're actually going to be able
to love one another. All of these

(49:38):
incredibly difficult and let's be honest. In
some cases, impossible things that Jesus tells
us to go do, we can't do
them without the Holy Spirit. It's only
when the. The power of the Holy
Spirit is. Is working in our lives
and we're listening to him and we're
following him, that we can actually be
Christians like, that we can actually go

(49:59):
on this Christian journey. So, yeah, without.
Without him, we got nothing.

Right.

So not an accessory. Essential.

Yep. Cool.

That is so good. I really hope
this. This message encouraged you. And like
always, I'm gonna encourage you to go
and. Why do I always say that?
This is at the movies. Go to
our website.

Yeah. Can't watch on YouTube.

Can't watch on YouTube, but go to
our website. I was just about to.

Oh, okay.

I was about to say that DC.

Dot one O N E. I was
gonna.

Did you see? And then he was
like, anyway, go to the website and
watch it. It was really a good
message.

What's the website like?

Dc1pastorprint just said it.

I just wanted you to say it
again.

Wow. This is the things that. This
is the opposition.

1 o n e. O n e.

The question that I didn't get to
ask that I really feel like I
need to ask is, do you think
that my dog has an acting career
in front of him? How did he
do?

Oh, would be. I think he did
great.

They are. Yep. Both of them. Yep.

Not the stuffed animal one.

I know Duffy. I like Duffy. He
did good when we were filming for
that. He. He was good. I mean,
he had his moments, but. Yeah. Yeah,
he's cute. He could definitely. You know
what? Cuteness gets him through the door.

He was panting so heavy. It's like,
yeah, those lights are hot, bro.

Yeah. Now he has a career, Duffy.
We share a birthday, so I am
rooting for you.

What's the website?

You tell us.

DC1.

Yes. And while you're. And while you're
at it, go ahead and pray us
out. I feel like we should pray.
So we. I want to.

We pray in our podcast.

No, we don't. But I feel like
we should pray. I feel like the
Holy Spirit is leading us to pray
over those that they hear God's voice.

A good charismatic prayer.

No, I don't have any charism. Charismatic
prayer days are over. I went to
my grandma house.

Oh, God, here we go.

Another story. I went to my grandma's
house and my grandma, she's wonderful. She's
90, and I forgot how Pentecostal she
was.

Yeah.

Because I hadn't been in church with
her since, like, a teenager.

Yeah.

And she prayed, and I was like,
whoa. Like, this is a very Pentecostal
prayer, which is fine. It was just
like, I wasn't expecting the cadence and
just like, the whole thing that she
put together, the language, you know, it
was. It was great. It was a
wonderful prayer, but I was.

It just took me off guard when
I'm. When I'm sick. I would love
a Pentecostal to pray for me when
we're about to eat. I do not
want a Pentecostal praying for that food.
Like, I need a Baptist to pray
for that food or something.

Good girl. Good me. Good Lord. Let's
see.

That's it. Come on, let's go.

All right, so give us a Baptist
prayer.

All right, let's. Let's pray. Well, God,
we. We thank you that we have
the opportunity to call on you and
to pray in any platform in social
media, in the public, and service in
our private time. God, we thank you
that you are a God that encourages
us to call on you in every
area of our lives and every place

(53:10):
in our lives. God. And we thank
you for hearing our prayers and acting
on our prayers. God. Always pray that.
That you are a God of action.
And you don't just hear our prayers,
God, but you act in response to
our prayers. And today we pray for
those who need to hear from the
Holy Spirit, those that are trying to
find their way, trying to find their.

(53:30):
Their path in life, the course that
you have created for them on their
race, on their journey, and their faith
to be more like you. God, I
pray that you allow the Holy Spirit
to speak to them in ways that
they're able to hear it, ways that
they can receive it and then move
in the ways that the Holy Spirit
is telling them to move. God, thank
you for nudging us and checking our

(53:51):
hearts and checking our spirits, keeping us
from danger, from sin, from compromising our
faith. We thank you, God, for always
speaking to us, always going after us,
always chasing us. And for that, God,
we give you glory, honor, and praise.
In Jesus name. Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Big old hug. Thank you, Holy Spirit.
We hope you enjoyed this episode. We.
We hope you enjoyed this episode. Until
next end. Till next end. Till next
time. We love you. See you.

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