No More Excuses: Why Serving in Church Still Matters

Episode Transcript
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Ti’heasha Beasley (00:00):
Foreign. Hello, and welcome to another episode
of Between Sermons. If you haven't figured
it out, I am not Brent McQuay.
I'm not the lead pastor of Disciples

(00:21):
Church, but I am his co host
who is stepping in today as the
lead host. And I have with me
some amazing guests today. But first, let's
introduce my co host for the show.

Reuben Hutcherson (00:34):
Am I the co host?

You are the co host today and
the guest.

All right.

You play two roles. Are you okay
with that?

I'm okay with that. I mean, I'm
sitting in Bibi's chair. Some big shoes
to feel, I guess.

You do.

Big seat to fill.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah, we're gonna have some fun.
So before we introduce our official guest,
Pastor Harry, which I just said his
name, let's introduce you. Reuben. So you
are Reuben Hutcherson.

Yes.

Right.

Pastor Harry Valentine (01:01):
And me.

Yeah. What do you do here at
Disciples Church?

I am the production manager of Disciples
Church. Usually I am backstage on a
Sunday, directing my team. You know, everything
from the lights, the cameras, the action.
I co lead a production team with
our video director. And usually on today
when we're shooting.

Yes.

I'm behind the scenes, behind the camera,
behind helping set up. So it's different.

Yeah.

Being here now.

So are you excited?

I'm very excited.

Okay.

You know, when Pretty asks me if
I wanted to be on the show,
I'm like, I'm not sure, but, you
know, hey, I'm here.

Yes.

We're having a good time.

Yes. It's gonna be fun. I'm excited.
I said I should have exited the
show and had another guy here since
it's Father Day weekend. You know, we're
still continuing that, but we're gonna have
a good time because we're here with
Pastor Harry. Welcome back. You are. You
are not a guest anymore. You kind
of like, this is Home.

This is Home podcast.

Yes.

Let's do it. This is home.

Yes. And we. And we have you
on the show because you taught an
amazing message yesterday.

Praise God.

That we're gonna dive into. So welcome.

Thank you. Yeah, I'm excited to be
here, as usual. And then I get
to be here with family.

Yeah.

Me and Rube go way back. I
guess we could talk about that a
little later, but now tell us now.
Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Let's get right into
it. So way back for you all
that don't know. Rube has been around
D.C. well, formerly known as CLC for
a long time. Grew up here in
the church, but had the privilege of

(02:34):
helping our students here, like he helped
Us with laying a foundation when we
came over as youth pastors to lay
the foundation of what youth would look
like in terms of the discipleship of
our junior high community. And him and
his wife Kyla had the privilege and
served, I mean, committed to really building

(02:58):
that what was then consumed. Connect, connecting
our students through the word of God
in that junior high community, each and
every Sunday, they led a team, just
providing them with the foundation of God's
word and ways to apply that word
and living it out. And so I
can tell you that our discipleship that

(03:18):
we have today would not be what
it is if it was not for
Ruben and Kyla land as the foundation
to what we have now in our
junior high. And so all of these
many years later, our students are still
benefiting from what they laid. So that
was a big, huge. And, you know,
me and Rube has been on missions
trips, man. We've been, you know, at

(03:39):
this for a long time.

Good Friday, brothers in ministry.

Yeah, that's.

That's amazing. And I like how y'
all left me out because we all
served you right together, right? Me and
David, I was just playing everybody, know
everybody. This really does feel like a
reunion.

It is.

And. And I think it's a. It's
a good segue into the conversation today
because we. We kind of have this
community and this relationship, friendship, because we
serve together. And that was a big
part of your message yesterday. So we
kick off a new sermon series, get
in the game.

Yeah.

That we are also very excited for
here because we really want to encourage
the members here at DC to get
in the game, serve. Help us serve
this growing congregation and make disciples. So
tell us a little bit about that
message you had the privilege on teaching
about excuses what keep us from getting
the game. So how was that for

(04:39):
you?

You know, it was a bit different
when pb, you know, said, hey, you'll
be speaking on this. This theme or
this topic of excuses, because I am
usually the one that would, you know,
be the one to build up the
encourager.

Right.

Not to really have to expose someone
about the excuses that we make. But
I felt that God was really calling
me to that message because of, you
know, one kind of what he put
in my heart as one who is
always about unifying and encouraging that it
could be well received. Right. But when

(05:12):
it comes down to building the body
of Christ is pretty much what getting
in the game is. You know, like
I said and shared yesterday of, in
biblical terms, it's basically building the body.
Right. And so if you Call yourself
a follower of Jesus Christ, then you
are responsible for that call and the
next step. We all have the next

(05:33):
base to get to, right? So knowing
that, it's important that we understand it
from a perspective of lens of how
God sees his church and what he
expects from those who have been called
to his church. And we often could
lose sight of that, right. Become a
casual Christian or that just attends. But

(05:57):
his church wasn't built for us to
be spectators, right? We're not called to
come to watch. Like every time we
walk through the doors of the church,
we are there to receive from God.
Right. But it's not in this receive
only type of thing. Like there should
be an exchange. Every time God pours
into us, he's expecting us to respond

(06:19):
with some application, with a form of
application. So that is something that I've
learned over the years. I can't say
that I walked into the church with
that in my heart. That was revelation
from God of, okay, I've called you,
I've saved you, now what? And exploring
that now what? In my life, I've
come to this point in purpose is.
If you really want to know what

(06:39):
purpose is, is to build God's church.

That's good. I love how you. That
last piece. Like, if you really want
to know what purpose is, it's God's
church. Because we. Purpose is a buzzword
right now for a lot of people.
And it's like, what is my purpose?
And it's like, I think if you
start in your local church.

Yeah.

Using those gifts and those talents, I
feel like that's something that can be
developed. What do you think, Reuben?

I. I do think that purpose is
a very big buzzword, especially in church
today. At the same time, I, I
think we kind of overthink it too.
Like we, we make purpose about gifts,
talents and abilities. And I mean, yeah,
I mean, I guess we could say
as human beings as like God's creation,
we're kind of multipurpose, right. Kind of

(07:27):
like a tool. Like God created man
and he had relationship with them and
put them in the garden and walk
with them. And then also in other
ways, we're called to be disciples and
disciples makers. And then there's parts of
the Bible that tell us, hey, if
you can do this, do this well,
if you can do that, do that
well, if you can be hospitable or
be a helper or something like that.

(07:48):
So I think we, we overthink it.
And I think there's just like a
general guideline that God is asking us
to really just be used by him.

Yeah, that's good. You said something there.
God created man with our purpose in
mind. Right. When he created Adam, the
purpose of Adam was already established. Right.
That purpose was not Adam tending to

(08:20):
the land. That was not the purpose.
We oftentimes see that as using our
hands, our gifts, you know, the things
that God is like, the doing. We
see that as purpose.

Right.

Doing is in purpose.

Yeah.

Being in the presence of God.

Exactly.

And glorifying God is the purpose. Like
him and Adam was with each other
each and every day. That was the
purpose. That's why he was created to
be with the father.

All that other stuff follows after.

That's after. As you can see it.
It came after the fact. So I
think we get caught up in thinking
that are doing is the purpose.

Right.

It's a part of it, but it's
not the true purpose.

I love that phrase. We said a
lot in Bible college, like, you're not
a human doing. You're a human being.

So, yeah, you come on this show
already dropping.

You said you wanted to support.

I'm a beard. Thank you.

Thank you. That's amazing. So, Ruben, let's
start with you. Okay. And your testimony.
When did you feel like it was
time for you to get in the
game and why did you feel like
you should?

When it was time to get in
the game, I mean. Oof. So I
grew up in a Christian home. I'm
not gonna get my whole life story,
but around 13 or so, I really
gave my life intentionally to Christ at
the church I was at at the
time. So I got baptized and all
of that. You know, we talked about
the gifts of the Holy Spirit and
all those different things. And. Yeah. So

(09:51):
from there, somewhere at a young age,
I was, like, serving. Once we got
to CoC, you know, not Disciples Church,
I think I started in, like, kids
life. Like. Like, really now we call
it on D.C. kids, but, like, the
kids ministry, like, the little bitty kids.
I was probably way too. Too young,
in my opinion, to be helping out.
I mean, I was older than those

(10:11):
kids. I ran sound like, hey, play
the video for the kids. And we
kind of stand, make sure the kids
are doing good. That was my earliest
history of life serving. And then from
there, I mean, going from volunteering in
that I was a, you know, a
youth student in youth ministry. So when
I got older, the pastor at that
time was like, hey, I want you

(10:32):
to help out and serve. And so
I did. And then, you know, we
had different youth leaders and pastors later.
And to connect the dots with Harry,
like, when you were saying the discipleship,
like, I remember when you were saying
that, like, when you were talking about,
like, laying the foundation for, like, our
discipleship classes on Sundays. You asked me
at a staff chapel. It was a

(10:53):
staff chapel. And you asked me, hey,
you know, I want you to lead
the discipleship group on Sundays. I'm like,
hey, you know what? I was eager,
but at the same time, I was
like, man, I'm praying about it. And
then I got back to Harry and
I was like, yeah, I'm going to
do it. So, yeah, yeah, just the
rest of that is history. I mean,
I've served in a lot of areas.

(11:14):
I've done music. I've played with the
worship team. A lot of people know
that. A lot of people ask me
about that.

But I do remember that.

Yeah.

You got a resume?

I do. I've been in the. Listen,
I have been in the game. I've
been in the game. Yeah. I feel
like a bit of a veteran, but,
yeah, I've been in the game. That's
a little bit of my.

That explains it. That's why we call
you Popeye around here. I call him
because he moves so slow. And I
be like, ruben, you just too relaxed.
But you like, I've been in the
game. I've been doing this. I've done
everything. I love it. And so we
got to hear a little bit about
your testimony yesterday. That was a moment

(11:56):
for you.

Yeah. Listen, we don't have the music
playing. Justin is not playing the music
because I was. Listen, he did it.
But, yeah, so, you know, when you're
on the sideline, I mean, you don't
know what God has in store for
you. You really don't know. But what
you. When you know his. His true
nature and his character, like, he. He

(12:18):
wants to best for all of his
children. And being on the sideline and
just saying yes to God again really
was trying to discover what. What is
this and what it looks like, you
know?

Yeah.

Had no. No intentions on becoming a
children's director to a youth pastor to,
you know, missions and, you know, going
across the country and all those things.
That was never on my mind. But
I can see now in hindsight how
God was using just that parking lot

(12:57):
experience of being out there every morning
with Lynn, even with my excuses at
times. But just being around Lynn and
that wisdom and. And seeing that commitment,
like being the example of what building
a church should look like with no

(13:18):
agenda. No agenda, no motive. But to
help people experience God through helping them
park their cars and protecting the church.
And so one thing that I would
see Lynn do at times, he would
do his walk around the parking lot,
right? He would take his. Make his
rounds. And so I started making my

(13:38):
rounds. And in making those rounds, I
would start praying. Right. And so that
prayer led to becoming more confident in
praying, you know, and so, you know,
when you're doing the things that are
really, like, selfless, you know, doing it
for God and God alone, you start
to figure out that you learn your

(13:59):
giftings in that process, you know, like,
I didn't know about spiritual gifts. I
didn't know about any of that. I
just said, okay, God, whatever you want
me to do. And what it was
doing was just shaping me. And I
had no clue.

That's so good.

Had no clue. So that's good.

I. That is so many nuggets there
that I wish, like, I knew back
in the day or that I want
people to grasp. Because you have conversations
with people and they're like, oh, I
want to work in the church, or
I want to be a pastor. I
want to be this. They have all
of these aspirations, no excuses. They just
know they want them positions. But when

(14:35):
it comes to serving, it's all the
excuses and it's all the motives and
it's all of the. You know what
I mean? And so, man, I have
a lot.

It's kind of like the money thing.
Like, man, if I had a million
dollars.

Yes.

I would just donate it, give it
to the poor and do all that.
But it's like, you don't budget.

Yeah.

And so it's, you know, it's like,
we want to give our big yeses
to God.

Yes.

But we don't want to give those
little yeses like serving in the parking
lot or, hey, I'll play some music
for the kids, or, you know what
I mean? Things that are not always
so glamorous but that do, like you
were saying, teach you so much about
yourself.

Yeah.

And. And who God is calling you
to be and. Yeah. And even what
passions you might have for the church.
Yeah. It's. It's huge. So, yeah. I
mean, we like those big yeses that.

Yeah, we like those big yes.

Put it on a T shirt.

Listen. There's a life that we could
glean from that, that we can look
at and see that very thing, but
the opposite of side of it. And
what they did was, David, is that
when he was given that basically call
to be king, he went back to
the Field after, after the fact. So

(15:49):
oftentimes, if we get that prophetic word
that seems big or just like, hey,
I want to give my big yes
to this, we don't return to the
field right where we, where we started
from, we kind of abandoned it, you
know. But David himself, even after the
prophet says that, hey, you're the next
king, he knew that there was still

(16:11):
more learning and training that needed to
happen before he actually even became king.
And so you have to go through
the process. Right. All of what he
experienced and what he knew of God
took place on the back of the
mountain. And most of us abandoned the
back of the mountain, man, to get
to the kingship.

Yeah, yeah.

And that is the danger and not
trusting God in his process.

Right. And I mean, I was saying
big yeses, but that's even a perception
thing, that's us thing. Because with God,
when it comes to giving our yes,
that's just obedience.

That's right.

There are no big or small yeses.
It's just yes, yes or no. Are
you going to obey or are you
not going to obey? And you know,
we have a perception of what we
think is small. You know what I
mean? Like, oh, I don't want to
volunteer with the youth, but you want
to be a pastor. You know what
I mean? We want the glamorous things
and a lot of times we want
the results that come with some of

(17:07):
those things, some of those titles, some
of those things that God can entrust
us with. But yeah, I mean, to
get in the game, you just gotta
get in there. And sometimes you might
just be on the bench cheering the
team. Say that. Yeah.

But there could be character being built
on the bench.

Absolutely.

I think that's one thing I've been
just recognizing maybe since working here. Honestly,
like, it's all about the heart with,
with God. He does not care about
positions or titles or any of those
things. He just cares about your heart.
And what he does is he'll put
you in positions like, oh, you want

(17:48):
this? I'm gonna put you here. So
you can see why I'm not giving
you that right now.

Right.

And I was just telling this to
David, like, we as believers got to
become more self aware of the things
we need to grow in. And we
need to accept it and be like,
okay, God, work this thing out in
me because I can fumble the ball
when you give me whatever I'm trying
to pursue.

Right, right.

We have honest conversations. We need to
just have a heart to serve. Like
that should be the heart. And Even
in these positions. Like, I can't imagine.
Maybe you could speak more to this
as a pastor. Like, as a pastor,
you should still have a servant's heart.
Like, it shouldn't be like, oh, now
I'm in, like, this leadership role. Like,
absolutely it should, Abs.

So one Sunday, I think I shared
this before, but one Sunday, when Ramon
was in the back row. Romel. Yeah,
yeah, Rome. He was productions, right? He
was doing the video. And it was
right before the bumper was transitioning. And
we didn't have anybody up there on

(18:52):
stagehands to get the podium. And I
just. This is when I used to
sit in back, love sitting back there.
And he's like, here, can you run
up there? So I run up there
and I put. Right, get prepared to
put the podium up. And in that
moment, I hear God tells me, this
is where I want you to be.
Now, I could have heard something different,

(19:14):
right? I could have heard, is this
guy telling me I'm going to be
the one on the stage speaking? No,
he was telling me, I want you
to be the one to bring the
podium every single Sunday till I tell
you not to, man. Is that. Is
that what we want to hear? Right?
Because if you're telling me the stage,

(19:36):
is it. Oh, man, God told me,
no, that's not what he said. And
so it was then for over a
year, every Sunday, I was taking that
podium up. But guess what? Somebody after
church would come, like, why you? Like,
why are you doing that? Right? Because

(19:56):
I said, yes, I'm obedient to what
I heard God say, right? And what
I was learning is how to serve
your pastor from that place. It may
not seem as glamorous, and it may
not seem like this big thing, but
I knew where exactly Pastor Jerry wanted
that podium.

That's so good.

Every single Sunday I knew. And every.
If he had to come and adjust
it, I made sure that next week
he's not doing any adjusting.

That's crazy.

So you get to learn your shepherd
and the things that he's made him
and kind of what makes him tick.
And it was from that place I
learned how to just be led in
a sense of just directing, making sure
that I could be the one that
in whatever ministry God calls me to,

(20:45):
that I'm going to be the one
to make things right. That's good, right?
And you learn that. Who wouldn't have
never thought that God wanted to teach
that? But it showed commitment and dedication
for over a year. And until we,
you know, God said it was. It
was time to Let it up. So
it's just in the small things, man.
It's in the small things. You learn
so much.

That's. Well, all those things you're saying
are still a big part of my
job now.

Yeah.

Even as a production manager. Because now
we got people on our team that
are bringing that out.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? It just
grows from there. But I mean, because
you were doing that, got people thinking
about, oh, hey, maybe we should think
about wear replacement. Now there's markings on
the stage. Not that it's about the
stage and all of that, but there
are just details that God entrusts us
with.

Yeah.

A lot of times he's just using
it to see our heart where we
are.

Yes.

And I think sometimes we think because
the responsibility grows because the placement of
the playmates. This one thing, I wouldn't
call it a small thing, but it's.
It's. It's a. It's a fine, detailed
thing, but there are so many other
bigger things, too. And sometimes we think
about the big things, but it's like
God still wants us to be faithful
in the small things as he gives
us more into our hand.

That is so good.

So.

Yeah, man, that's so good. I love
that. That where it talks about being
faithful over the little.

Right.

And I think that's a principle we
just don't see in 2025. No, like,
I. You have conversations with, like, oh,
I want to be a speaker to
thousands of people.

Yeah.

Are you. Have you spoken to, like,
that one or are you discipling, you
know, like, where. What are we doing
here?

Yeah.

And so I. Man, this is such
a beneficial conversation. And what. One thing
that came to mind when you were
talking Pastor Harry was the principle of
submission.

Yeah.

Let's just keep it a buck. A
lot of people have a problem waiting
with submitting to something, because when you
serve, you're. You're. You're saying, like, I'm
submitting to this process. I want to.
What. What details do I need to.
To do to help this department flow?

(22:56):
How can I submit to this? And.
Yeah, that's a hard thing.

Yeah. I think. I mean, you have
two sides. If you come with a
thought of what serving will look like
in this capacity, and then you arrive
and see that it's different. You're now
struggling with your perception of what something
should have been. And so it doesn't

(23:23):
look like what you thought it would
be. And then the other side is.
It's the excuse side of things.

No, bring it in.

Right. Like, the excuse of, like, that's
too much.

Yeah.

You know, and because we are a
creatures of convenience. Right. Creatures of comfort,
where we're looking for. We were talking
about house shoes before we got on,
and we. The reason we love house
shoes because of the comfort that they
bring is like. Like when I get
home, I feel relaxed. I could throw

(23:56):
my, my, my house shoes on and
I could get into this relaxing place.
And the thing about it is we're
wearing house shoes to build the church.
And and so we want to be
comfortable all the time. And that's not
the case. Right. It doesn't mean that
his peace that surpasses understanding isn't in
the room. That doesn't mean we know
that he is the God of all
comfort. But there's times where we have

(24:19):
to push past our convenience and our
comfort and put it down in excuses,
because you could be holding up that
prayer that you pray for. It could
be right on the other side. Right
on the other side.

Yeah.

Of comfort.

Yeah.

But because I want to be comfortable
and it's like, that's just too much.
I really don't have the time. Then
you're, you're, you. You hold up that
answered prayer waiting for you to just
walk through that door.

Yeah.

So, yeah, getting in the game's not
comfortable. I mean, our whole theme and
branding is like the sports baseball theme.
And I mean, athletes got to. They
gotta stretch, they gotta warm up. So
you can't just get in the game
going crazy, swinging hits or shooting shots,
and you don't warm up and limber
up. But ministry is just in general,

(25:06):
it's not always comfortable. Getting on stage,
being on a podcast. Not always comfortable.
We've done a lot of missions, trips.
Not always comfortable. The flights. Not always
comfortable. Being another culture. Not always comfortable.
Yeah, all those things.

Yeah.

Some of the things that we had
to do on the streets in Croatia,
skits and talking to people and praying
for people. Not always comfortable.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I mean, it's just a
lot of ministry, a lot of saying
yes isn't. The things God's gonna have
us say yes to, getting the game
about aren't always going to be comfortable.

Yeah.

You know, some of it could be
fun, you know, but it's not always
going to be comfortable.

Yeah.

You probably wasn't 100% comfortable on stage.

Oh, no, absolutely not.

The stage ain't comfortable.

How good you might be at.

Yeah, no, yeah, yeah.

It gets. It gets to a point
where you have to. Self awareness. I
think you talk about that Self reflection,
part of, okay, forget me, forget me.
God, what is your purpose? What is
your purpose and reason for what we
do? And this is why I took
the time yesterday.

Because.

Because it was like, we only took
maybe 10 minutes on excuses, but when
you reflect the heart and show the
heart and show the why and the
purpose, you then have to sit with
that.

Exactly.

Because if you are a follower of
Jesus Christ, then yes. He said, build
my church. Right? Build my church. And
that isn't like, we have a choice
in that. Like, that's a command for
us to do that very thing. We
have to put down our excuses as
to why. Like, and you don't, man,
listen, God is so intentional to every

(26:49):
detail of our lives that what may
seem small is actually the preparation for
that. What he's opening up for you.
Right. But you can't see it. And
you look up and it's like, man,
it's been 10 years.

Yeah. And the excuses will look real
logical to you.

Yeah.

Like, you know what I mean? Like,
the excuses will look real logical. I
had a convicting moment yesterday. You know,
I was pondering the message. I know
I was going to be on the
podcast. I'm like, man, let me really
lean in and think about this. How
does this apply to me? And somebody
stopped me at the end of second
service, like, man, I miss hearing you
teach on Wednesday prayer. I was doing

(27:29):
that like once a month. I felt
like God told me to do that,
speak once a month. So we pull
on our staff for Wednesday prayer. Tune
in if you're ever available to listen
into that. But on Wednesday prayer, we
go live. We have a prayer service
in a devo. And I was doing
that once a month. And I felt
God say, do that. And I'm like,
I do enjoy teaching. I'm passionate about
the Word. Is it a comfortable thing?

(27:50):
Not always. And then with me being
on production, I usually had to have
somebody take my spot or have someone
fill in. So it was work to
kind of like, be there. And so
they want some changes with staff. And
a sound person wasn't there anymore. And
so now we're having to have our
video person on there. And now I
gotta bother pretty or somebody to help

(28:12):
out with a camera or something. I
was like, okay, maybe it's getting a
little too busy. And then, you know,
just transparency. My mom passed away this
year. And, I mean, that was also
a big thing. And I'm just like,
okay. I don't know if mentally and
emotionally I'm there where I feel like
I can Pour out to people right
now. And, I mean, that is a
very logistical, like, thing. That's a real

(28:35):
thing. That's a good excuse. And you
might need to take a break.

Yeah.

But at the same time, I do
feel like, man, maybe God's pulling me
to get in the game with that.
Again, not a maybe. Definitely. Without a
doubt. Because I've thought about that back
and forth. Like, should I be getting
back to that? I don't feel like
God told me to necessarily stop, but
I had a little off season, you
know.

Oh, that's good.

And sometimes we gotta. Sometimes we gotta
get back in there. And just because
you took a break don't mean that
you're not in there.

Come on.

You know what I mean? I mean,
there are sports injuries. That's a real
thing.

Yeah.

You might have to ice it. Yeah.
Therapy on it. You know what I
mean? So don't feel bad because you're
not in the game, because someone listening.
I'm sure you've probably been in the
game, but you might have been hurt.
You know what I mean? And I
don't mean, like, even, like, necessarily like
a church or thing. And God may
have to deal with that with you
on that. But like I said, my

(29:26):
mom passed away, and, like, there might
just be emotional things or maybe you
had to pick up a second job,
so now you're like, okay, I don't
know if I had the time to,
like, get in the game. But there
will be seasons where. You know what
I mean, the door will open to
say yes again and to get back
out there. So, yeah, that's great.

That's a great thought. Because I know
what we spoke to yesterday was about
getting in the game and getting in
the game, but you're right. Like, there
are off seasons. Right. And so even
with our teams, we ask, hey, is
this a go season or a slow
season? Because it's important to understand what
people are in their seasons. Absolutely right.
Because last year you could have been
just all in. Yes. Discipleship, teaching camp,

(30:07):
all the things that. That youth ministry
that we present to do for our
students. But this season, because life is
different, things have changed. And I think
this goes back to the heart because
I'm. I'm in a slow season, off
season, because a life is different for
me, but my heart has not changed.
And I think if you could see
your heart hasn't changed, then God understands

(30:28):
that you're still in the game. I
just need to. I'm working on you
in a different way right now. Right.

And you had. The marriage excuse was
your third point. The different excuses, the
real estate excuse, the oxing excuse, the
marriage excuse. That was one of my
excuses at one point. And again, an
excuse is not like a lie, right?
It's a true thing. You are excused
if you're at the dinner table.

May I be excused?

You are excused. It's okay to be
excused. Excuse. But for how long, though,
Right? For how long? So that's just
the thing. Like, I think in Hebrew
culture, like, if he was. They had
the men serve in their army or
whatever, and if you got married, you'd
have, like a year off or something
like that. So for me, I was
on the worship team, serving very heavily.
I'm like, you know what? I'm inspired

(31:13):
by that. Let me. I was newly
married. Let me take a break. Because
people don't understand how much it takes
to practice at night.

That's true.

And during the week, you gotta know
them songs. So, yeah, shout out to
the worship team and Lashawna and all
them. Because it's a lot of work.

Yeah.

So I had to take a break.
And I did come back, but at
the same time, man, it felt so
good to rest and take a break,
and that's okay.

Let's talk about it.

That's okay. But at the same time,
for how long, though, right? Because if
God is still wanting you to do
it, for how long are we gonna
be excused? And how long does it
become an excuse? Well, okay, I'm just
using that. And it gets old. And
it's like, okay, bro, but you got
your affairs in order. Things are good.
You ain't got to keep checking on
that land. You ain't got it. Your

(31:59):
wife is good. John had the honeymoon
season and all that, but, yeah, how
long?

Go ahead and free the people. Because
in real life, I talked to and
I know a lot of. I have
a lot of friends. I'm not gonna
call them out, but we hear that
a lot where it's like, oh, I
used to serve. I mean, you started
hearing people resumes. You like, what, you

(32:25):
used to be a pastor at your
old church, or you used to lead
this, or you used to. And they
come here and they just like, oh,
I'm coasting. I'm good. I'm Gucci. And
I'm like, why? They was like, oh,
I'm burned out. I've done too much
in that old season. So I love
that. It's like, okay, you can rest.
That can be a legitimate.

Yeah.

Reason.

Sure.

Like, I mean, because God will have
us in different seasons, to heal, to,
to grow our families, whatever. And you
can still be in the game, but
sometimes that season, and we know it
goes too long. Yes, it goes too
long. So what is some practical advice
we can give to those watching who
may be in that space where the

(33:09):
season has gone too long or they
just need to jump in, they've never
been in the game. Like, what's some
practical things we can do to encourage
them to get in the game.

Man? Yeah, that really depends on the
season. I feel like if you're like
a newly born again Christian, like a
babe in Christ, maybe getting in the
game is you coming to Sunday service,
starting there and then getting in your

(33:40):
word during the week. And then, you
know, we have our growth track. You
know, if you're not new to the
church or if you are new to
the church, you've probably heard of growth
track and you've probably gotten connected with
us. And we have like this whole
process, like four weeks, and we help
people get in the game. That way
we get to know our church, our

(34:00):
values, our belief system. But then there's
also a part of where it talks
about gifts, abilities, personalities and things like
that. That's a good place to start.
If you are like, don't know where
to go. Grove track, pbs. Don't take
me for that. Since I'm in the
PB chair, I'm gonna push growth track.
Be a part of growth track. That's
what I would say. For someone that's
like new to the church or new

(34:21):
to the faith. Find out where you
can be serving. And maybe it doesn't
have to be so heavy. May not
be like worship team heavy. It could
be greeter or something that doesn't have
a huge intense commitment for someone that
maybe you're in hiding. Like you're saying,
maybe it's time to like, you know
what your gifts are.

Yeah.

Connect. Tap in with the people here
that do the thing that you do.
If you're good with cameras, listen, come
on. You know, if you a good,
like, ability to teach in your studious
and love the word, like Harry or
your husband and David. Listen, tap in
with the youth.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? It's no
secret. It ain't like we got a
thousand different ministries here. You know what
I mean? Like, for those who are
a part of our church, in most
churches, it's not like there's a thousand
different ministries. Like you can help build
God's church somewhere, take inventory. If not,
go to growth track. Yeah. And just
if you've been in hiding, come out

(35:19):
of hiding, you're probably rested up. We
need you.

Yes.

So that's, that's what I would say.
Be honest with yourself if you've been
serving for a long time and actually
ask God, because that's another thing is
we don't have to give our yes
to God because we ain't really asking
and we're not really checking.

Right?

So we don't have to say anything.
So you, you know, ignorance is bliss.

Yeah.

But, yeah, so true.

Yeah, I think you. You hit it
right on the head. After service, Castro,
good friend of mine came up to
me, was like, man, I was, I
was reading haggai and it was, it
was right on spot to what you
were talking about. And I want to
just read this, this verse right here.
And Haggai1 says, why are you living

(36:02):
in luxury houses while my house lies
in ruins? And this is the prophet
speaking to God's people that hit living
that good life, right? Because we, our
intentions are in the wrong, our priorities

(36:23):
in the wrong place.

That's huge.

It's like God says, you're building luxury
houses and that may not be your
physical house. That could be the things
that you prioritize and the things that
you want to do right over his
house. And his house sits in ruins.
And so I think for me, for
those, that message on yesterday was for

(36:46):
that. Those who are in hiding, right,
Those who are in hiding and understanding
that God, God's house, his church, will
not fail, period. But the fact that
he uses that language, because there are
some areas that he needs you in,
he needs you building brick by brick,
right? Supporting the body of Christ, because

(37:08):
it's something that you have that we're
missing, right? There's a word, there's a
teaching gift that I placed on the
inside of you for children, for youth,
for the next generation, or there's a
gift of production in you, right? Media,
whatever that may be, but the excuse

(37:28):
is preventing you from walking in it.
And so when they got their affairs
in order and their priorities in order
and they begin building, they built the
temple of God, then God bless their
homes. And see, oftentimes we just have
our priorities in disarray. You start with

(37:48):
building a house, his house and your
house would then be blessed.

As a result of that, the scripture
that comes to mind, I don't have
the reference, but Jesus said in the
four gospels, like, seek first the kingdom
of God and all the other things
will be added unto you. And I
think that's. That's the big part, we
want to seek those other things, you
know, we want those comforts or the
lifestyle that we're trying to maintain that's
taken away from what God's purpose and

(38:16):
plan, you know, has for you. And
it's so much more than just. Not
that I'm trying to take us away
from that because I know we're talking
about, like, serving our church and things
like that, but like, so much more
than just, hey, church on Sunday.

That's right.

It could be a lot of different
things. God might be calling you to
serve at a not for profit that
serves people in need in your communities.
You know, it could be something even
outside of here. It could even be
getting the game at home with your
kids and having Bible study. And there's
so much of our ministry too, at
Disciples Church. That's more than just Sunday.

Absolutely.

Youth ministry, Wednesday nights, like, come on,
you know what I mean? Rehearsals on
Thursday nights with the worship team, whatever
it is that God is looking for
you to say yes to and put
aside those other things that we, we
really prioritize and refocus, you know, we.
It's so easy, especially at, you know,

(39:12):
for me and you and yesterday was
Father's Day, you know, for men especially.
We, we prioritize work, finances, provision and,
and like, okay, I can't do this
because I'm focused on locked in. I
need my rest for work or I
need to do this XYZ or this
extra hustle to, to sustain. And it's
just like you seek first and have

(39:35):
some priorities on what really matters. God
will add those other things. It's not
that those other things don't matter.

Right.

But our priorities a lot of times
are just out of whack.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you look at
the oxen excuse, I mean, he had
five pairs of oxen. In that culture,
oxen was, was used to make money.
I mean, he used that for, for
land. Right. Like, those were basically a
resource for provision. Right. So it wasn't
a bad thing what he was doing.
It's just a priority is off, you

(40:08):
know, because if God has blessed you
to obtain the oxen, do you not
think that he's going to give you
the opportunities to utilize those oxens that
he's provided you with? Right, right. But
first and first and foremost is God.
Your will first. Right. And just thinking
about, you had mentioned, like, burnout. You

(40:28):
know, when we think about burnout, you
could be burnt out. Yes. With a
lot that's happening in life, mentally, emotionally,
physically. Right. It's a thing I've never
respectfully. And this is in love. I've
never felt burnt out from doing God's

(40:48):
will ever. Now when I really sit
back and look and say, okay, this
was happening at the same time this
was going on too. So it felt
like it was a lot. And so
I just compiled everything to. Oh, man,
I'm just burnt. It's just too much.
It's. Guys, you know, I just can't
do that. No. When I take a

(41:08):
step back and say, wow, I was
supernaturally sustained, I found a stamina that
I would not have been able to
do on my own. That was because
I put him first.

Yeah.

Right. And his presence allowed for me
to continue in that season. So every
time I would get in the classroom,
every time I would do something for
the Lord, I didn't feel tired. It
was like, oh, okay.

The work was a pleasure.

It was a pleasure.

Yeah.

Even if you felt tired walking in,
you. You got there, you was like,
oh, this ain't bad.

What is this? This is God. Right?
And so you do. And I'm. I'm
saying this to those who have been
in ministry, have done all of these
different things in ministry. The thing is,
we are blessed to have opportunity to
serve the body of Christ. And. And.
And we have a. We're blessed even
more if you have the opportunity to
even work for God's church. But you

(42:02):
have to understand that just working. I
think Pastor Carlton mentioned this earlier, that
there's your job or your service job.
Function is in serving. It's what you've
been compensated for. So this is for
the. The body of Christ that has
the blessing to be used in the
body and obtained in that space that

(42:24):
you have to find your serving opportunities
outside of your function. Because you could
just. They just all blend if you're
not.

You know, not careful.

Yeah.

You're like, I'm at church all the
time. I ain't going back.

Don't call me.

Because that's something that God wants for
you to get.

Yes.

You know, in that process. But we
can make excuse. We have excuses, too.

And the burnout could be because you're
not refueling. Like, you're not getting your
word during the week. You're not praying.

Yeah.

It's so easy to just get on
the game and volunteer on Sundays, but
then the rest of the week, your
life's a mess. Like, realistically, like, you're
not studying. You're not pouring into yourself.
So you're pouring out, pouring out, pouring
out. You might need to reset and
pause the game for a second and
say, okay, what am I doing here?
Or. Or you might need to just
start a routine while you are serving

(43:11):
and realize that. Take inventory. You know,
I mean, if we're talking about this,
like, athletic theme here, like, what do
athletes do? They do eat, they train.
It's a lot of things. It ain't
just on game day that they work.

Say it.

And it's not just on game day
that they're preparing. So you might have
to adjust things. And some of the
yeses God has me may require you
to adjust your lifestyle.

That's good.

Might have to go to bed earlier.
You might have to go to bed
earlier. I go to bed early on
Saturday nights before church on Sunday.

Yeah.

And I think I'm probably more of
a night owl. Realistically, I would love
to have that time. I love that
me time. My kids are in the
bed, but I'm like, man, am I
gonna get my best on Sunday if
I'm staying up late? I already gotta
get up early anyway.

Yeah.

So, like, am I gonna just stay
up late and then come in? Yeah.
So I mean, you. You might. The.
The purposes and plans that God have
for us might really, really require us
to be proactive on, you know, the
maintenance of our life, the. The way
we condition our bodies, the way we
treat ourselves, the way we. Our habits.

Yeah. Yeah, that's good.

As we conclude, be thinking about a
takeaway. We. We like to do our
takeaways. I just wanted to give a
quick theme with the burnout situation as
a personal testimony. I feel like last
year I was in that season of
burnout. Or was it this year? No,
it was last year. And I feel

(44:45):
like God was revealing to me that
it was because I was operating in
my own plans for things and not
his. So it's like you. I didn't
tell you to do all that with
this life group you leading. You wanted
to do all that. And you know,
and it wasn't until I really just
was like, okay, God, what do you
want? How is it gonna look?

That's good.

Your will be done. Now it's enjoyment.
It's like, oh, if. If five people
come listen, we five people, we finna
get in the word. You know what
I mean? You take the expectation off
of the grinding, the striving. Those are
the things that burn you out.

Right.

So you have to think about your
motives. Am I being a part of
this ministry to position myself somewhere? And
now I'm burnt out because I'm doing
all this work and nobody noticed me
or you know what I mean? Like,
it's like different things that come that
causes the burnout. So, yeah, no, it
goes back to a heart thing.

I'm glad you said that because I
was just thinking, like, that was something
I thought about, too. And I'm like,
you can say yes to good things,
but you really need to say yes
to the God things. Because, I mean,
you can say yes to a lot
of things, and that's probably why a
lot of people are burned out, is
because you're saying yes. You serving on
this team, that team, this team. You're
not even gifted for some of them
teams, but God didn't even tell you

(46:00):
to serve on that team. But you're
just saying yes to a lot of
things. He's afraid to tell people no.
And a lot of times we have
to give our no in order to
say yes. So, like, we gotta say
no to some things that are good.
He may not require you to go
on every single trip, but he has
a trip he wants you to go
on for admissions. He may not ask
you to serve on the worship team,
but he might want you to serve
on you.

Yeah.

You know what I mean? So you
just have to really take inventory on
what God is actually saying. And, like,
you're saying, like, manage the expectations of
what God is asking us to do,
because sometimes we're doing it way harder
than he wants us to and really
just do it at the pace. You
know what I mean? Not that you.
I'm sure you had the initiative. Like,
I'm not talking about, like, just doing
it. Like, I got. I'm gonna just

(46:41):
do it. You know how kids can
just. All right, I'm gonna fold the
clothes. And they just. You know what
I mean? But, like, no, like, do
that with a good heart and the
motivation, but don't go harder on it
than God is asking you to. Don't.
At a pace that he's not asking
you to go.

Come on.

He actually run a 5K and you
do On a mile.

That's right.

I mean, not a mile, but you're
doing a marathon, right? So it's like,
set the pace. Follow, follow, follow the
pace. That guy said.

Yeah, yeah. Because moving out, moving at
a pace without grace, Burnout. That's the
equation. Quick. And so the prayer should
always be, your will be done, your
will be done in my life at

(47:24):
the pace in which you would like
for it to be done. And so
oftentimes when we're sharing stories, people can
think that that was like, was that
last year or was that two years
until you really start talking and they
say, well, I can show you a
picture. I didn't have these grays. Right.
Like, this is not yesterday.

Yeah.

This has been a decade. Right, right.
Like, so we could get really excited
about hearing a story. You get motivated
to get encouraged, but understand that God
is so, so thoughtful and intentional at
every step that he has on your
path. And so because of that, he
wants to make sure that you get

(48:04):
it. And if you don't, then I'm.
Okay, let's slow this down a bit.
Yeah, let's. Let's relax in this. Let's
take our time. So I think that
you hit it right on the head
as well as you. Rube is like
man heart and moving at a pace,
a God's pace. Godspeed. Right. His pace
is the most important. And if it's

(48:25):
not time, I'm okay with that. I'm
okay with that. So. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I think this is good.
Any final takeaways as we land this
podcast? I feel like that's become my
little phrase.

Final takeaways.

Yeah. I would encourage.

Yeah.

That we self reflect of. Of the
things that we've excused or made excuses
for as it relates to God and.
And building his church, because it could
have started out as a real reason,

(49:08):
a reason why I can't. But then
that reason can definitely turns into an
excuse over time. And so just evaluating
our hearts and say, God, okay, am
I using this as an excuse now
because I'm comfortable or things have changed
and it's giving me a sense of
convenience and allow for the Holy Spirit

(49:29):
to help you, to see you and
it. And. And then once you are
aware, you move accordingly. You move.

Yep, that's good.

I think my final takeaway would be,
is just going back to that heart
posture conversation we know we talked about
in the beginning about people desire those
big yeses and platforms. And, you know,
today, unfortunately, in our influencer culture, being
a pastor is almost like being a

(50:01):
rock star. Sometimes the way we put
them on pedestals, and sometimes the way
they live outwardly. But. And. And even
just in your own church, you can
say, wow, that person does that. And
that's really amazing. People love what they
do and they're getting blessed by them,
and you can see that. But, like,
remember to, like, really see the value
and the purpose of what God is

(50:22):
asking you to do. Like, the purpose
of a pastor is to feed the
sheep and to guide them. It's not
because it's to look Cool. Or everyone's
clapping at those cool phrases they say,
you know, as a production manager, a
big role for me is to. Is
to make sure there are no distractions.
The lights are working the way they

(50:43):
should, the camera work, camera shots are
focused and things look good. And we
want to set that tone for our
church. But you can get so caught
up in sometimes the work and the
weeds and the way it looks that
you forget about the purpose of it.
You know what I mean? Like you
were saying your life group and you
had some goals and things that you
wanted to accomplish with that. But it's

(51:05):
also like sometimes we can have our
own agenda of what God is asking
us to do and we can think
about him lifting us up part and
not the focal point where, hey, you
know what? I called you to this
because I need you to pray that
person. Or I called you to this
not to be perfect, but to share
your testimony, which is uncomfortable. You know,

(51:26):
a lot of times we worry about
the optics. Well, if I get too
vulnerable, are they going to judge me?
No. Give your yes to God. Get
in the game. You know what I
mean? In baseball, you're going to slide
in the dirt a little bit to
hit that base. And you know, don't
be afraid to get dirty down and
dirty for like the gospel. Like, don't
be afraid to get in the game
and get uncomfortable. And remember that the

(51:47):
purpose and the plans for you, not
necessarily because of just some glamorous thing
or for promotion or for a job.
And I've been there and have some
people asking about, can this lead to
a job? It's like, I don't want
to set up a carrot in front
of you that you ain't gonna get.
You have to ask the Lord about
that one. So like don't, don't serve

(52:08):
out of agendas because I've seen that
a lot. I've been working in ministry
for over 10 something years. That's also
old saying that, but like establish that.
Exactly. Listen, I got the gray hairs
too.

Yeah.

Don't do it for the reward. There
is a reward. But like don't do
it for chasing.

Yeah.

Platforms or promotion. Do it because he
asked you to.

Yep.

And that's. I think that's my takeaway.

That's good. You guys were. Your takeaways
were so good. I have nothing and
I'm a slide on that. I would
just encourage you to go back and
re. Watch that sermon from Sunday. Pastor
Harry did an amazing job just really
breaking down the different type of excuses
that people can have. But I want

(52:57):
to say you also gave encouragement through
your testimony and how God just used
you in that season of getting in
the game. And so it was a
big encouragement. I know you felt like
that was a rough thing to teach
on with the excuses, but I do
think it was an encouragement. And we
do hope that this whole series get
in a game encourage you to ask

(53:19):
God, like, how can I help get
in a game to build your church?
So let us know if you have
any questions that we can address in
the next episode. But until then, we
love you and have a great day.

Sam.

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No More Excuses: Why Serving in Church Still Matters

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