Conversation - with Pastor Jared & Pastor Robby - MidYear Checkin

Kingdom Conversation – Mid-Year Kingdom Check-In

How are we doing halfway through our journey of embracing a Kingdom Mindset?

In this special mid-year episode of Kingdom Conversation, Pastor Robby Strock and Pastor Jared Priset reflect on the first six months of Church of the Lakes' 2026 theme: Living with a Kingdom Mindset. Together they revisit key teachings from the Sermon on the Mount, Altar'd, Philippians, and James, sharing insights, lessons learned, and practical ways these studies are shaping our lives as followers of Jesus.

The conversation explores why a Kingdom mindset is essential, what it means to build God's Kingdom in our everyday lives, and how each of us can take intentional next steps in becoming more like Christ and living counterculturally in a changing world.

The episode also features our "Real Questions, Real Answers" segment, where Pastor Jared shares personal reflections on what has made him laugh, cry, and think this week.

Whether you've been with us since the beginning of the year or are just joining the journey, this episode offers encouragement, biblical wisdom, and practical application to help you continue growing as a disciple of Jesus.

At Church of the Lakes, our mission is to Connect all to Christ, become healthy in God, and courageous in love. We pray this conversation inspires you to live each day as a faithful citizen of God's Kingdom.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Kingdom Conversations Podcast with Church of the Light, where our mission is connecting all to Christ to become healthy in God and courageous in love. In 2026, we're focusing on living with a kingdom mindset, becoming more like Jesus, and living care-culturally in a world that often pulls us in the opposite direction. Today's podcast checks in on this year's progress towards kingdom mindset. Join Pastor Jared and Pastor Robbie as they see how our small group studies and sermon series have been going this year. Be blessed.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Welcome to another Kingdom Conversation. I'm Pastor Robbie Strock, and today we are really doing a checkup. A checkup six months into our year-long theme, the Kingdom of God, and to do a checkup with our fearless leader, uh Pastor Jared, as we kind of take some summer weeks off here. It'll be good to see how he's doing and how summer's progressing. And uh believe it or not, as our habitat house progresses as we get ever so closer to RFKC. And yes, once again, we are going through another sermon series this time of James as we get closer and closer to our next sermon series. But Jared, how are you doing, brother? I'm doing really great. Thank you. Well, I thought I would start off by doing just a personal check-in. It's always fun to check in and see how you're doing and let everyone know a little bit about yourself a little bit more personally. So I thought I would throw out some questions. You ready for him? Let's go. All right. Okay, how about this? Jared, tell us something that made you laugh this week.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

I would love to tell you something that made me laugh. Let me think about it. So I am not a soccer player uh by any stretch of the imagination, never really watched soccer. However, my youngest son uh plays soccer and loves uh the World Cup, which is playing right now. Oh, yeah. All across the nation. However, in our home, we don't have a subscription to watch in English, so we're watching every game in Spanish, uh, which actually makes me laugh, but it does has it have its uh uh Have you figured out the word for goal yet? Goal. They do they do get much more animated when a team scores a goal, although I'm finding in soccer that many games end zeros at zero. Um it not like football, right? Americ American football. Um yeah, that makes me laugh that we sit there together and we have no clue what the the announcers are saying or the commentators are saying, but we're we're watching the game and having fun doing it.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

I have a friend who always makes a joke that he says he would rather watch it on uh Telemundo than Fox because the games end nine to eight instead of one to nothing. Yeah, it's that much more exciting from the commentator. Um I do have to joke because you brought up the World Cup. Our family is uh love soccer. We grew up loving soccer. Um, and we've really enjoyed the US so far. Um, but the real World Cup for us is next year when the women play because we actually have a chance to win it. But I digress. Well, the men look all right this year. They do. We're of course recording this before they crash out or whatever, but but good. All right. Well, thanks, Jared. Uh, that's something that made you laugh this week. Yeah, uh, how about this? Um, what is something that made you cry?

SPEAKER_02 3:14

It's another great question. Uh let me share with you uh something that made me cry tears of joy. Oh, okay, fantastic. Actually, it today is uh June 29th, which I know we don't like to often stamp the dates on our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

You're tearing down the fourth wall, yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Uh but I apologize for that. But it is a significant date for the precip family in that we adopted uh Jaden into our family who's been with us for three and a half years through foster care. And uh seeing him swing and hit that gavel, which made him a permanent, natural, legitimate member of our family was a pretty uh awesome moment for me. And brought me tears of joy today. And so that was just really cool to see.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Um, you know, just to be a fly in the wall in that room myself, it was incredible, Jared. I, you know, you uh I love you as a friend. I certainly am a coworker with you, but uh uh I don't think I've ever been more proud of you than in that moment. And you've done some pretty incredible things, brother. I want you to know that. Well, thank you. Yeah, you and Meredith and the kids accommodating Jaden and foster kids into your family. Can you uh just walk us through maybe something that took you by surprise and the whole adoption ordeal? Um Wow.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Um Yeah, like you know, we we've talked in the past, and we you you've had people here highlighting our foster care ministry, Church Lakes. And I gotta go back probably back to 2019. Uh actually has another funny thing in the courtroom. I he asked when we started uh this this uh love for foster care ministry, and I said uh 1920, which I meant in 2019, 2020, not 1920, which would have been well over 100 years ago. And that was kind of funny in court today. Um but back in 19, 2019 and 2020. Here it is again, uh, where the Lord was calling us into foster care ministry because it really felt like a call. Um the the word he gave me was the disruptive function. We've talked about that in past podcasts, and uh, you know, bringing children into our homes since then, what's six years now? Uh we've had 11 children living with us. Uh it definitely is the best of times and the worst of times. It's very emotional, it's roller coaster, but it is worth it. Uh, and the reason I say it's worth it is because you really feel like you're doing the Lord's work in that capacity. I tell people all the time if you want to be working where God is working in America today, it's in the foster care ministry landscape. Uh God has a heart for the vulnerable, he's got a heart for the fatherless. Um, if you think about it just from a spiritual sense, for all of us Gentiles, uh, we every single one of us has been adopted in the family of God.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

And so I can't help but kind of see that that spiritual dimension to just the adoption of Jaden uh in court on June 29th at 1130.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

And um it's just really cool to see uh well, even like I'm if I could reflect just for a second, like you you know, we're going through the book of James right now, certainly on Sunday mornings, and in James he tells us to serve the most vulnerable. Yeah. And uh I like I always like to use the phrase the least, the last, and the lost, but uh James highlights the orphan and the widow. He does.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

James um exclusive verse 19. True religion is those who look after orphans and widows in their distress. Amen.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

And and uh it made me uh be reminded of what your uh wonderful wife Meredith said when she came on. She says if you want to make a difference in every single area of what's going on in our culture and our world, all the problems, you know, that's the beauty of foster care. Because if you have a heart against racism, guess what? You're gonna deal with it in foster care. About uh financial instability, guess what? Foster care. Hunger instability, yes, every everything. It touches every corner of it.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

It really does. And uh I actually is I was you know, over the past say months, as we're leading up to the adoption of Jaden, uh, I started writing some notes and doing some reflection just on adoption. Can we go on a little side? Let me go on a little side for not a tangent, but just uh a comment I think could be fruitful. And it's just looking at the and reflecting on the theme of adoption all throughout scripture. And I see in scripture adoption is is uh it's kind of illustrated in two powerful ways. The first, of course, is the obvious one is we're all spiritually adopted in the family of God. Uh, you know, but back in the Garden of Eden, uh, Adam and Eve uh disrupted humanity's relationship with the living God by being disobedient. And in doing so, every generation that followed Adam and Eve were born with a sin nature, born cut off uh from relationship with God, dead in sin and trespasses. Uh and it really took God who was rich in mercy, as if uh Paul says in Ephesians 2, to make us alive in Christ. And um and so we are not the children of God until we claim a faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and he transforms us, as Paul says, from objects of wrath to the adopted children of God. And so there's definitely a spiritual component that I think is necessary to consider when talking about the issue of adoption. The other side of it is what we're saying right now with with uh where God is working. Uh, God has a heart for caring for vulnerable children. We see that all throughout the scriptures. Uh God welcomes, for instance, I think Isaiah talks about the welcomes the fatherless, uh, gives them a family, calls us as his people to do the same thing. Uh, you know, in the early church, uh, when we became uh a people on that first Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, over the next 300 years, what you saw is some Christians under some pretty heavy persecution from the Roman Empire. And often what would happen is uh one of the consequences of receiving Christ as your Lord and Savior for many people was you would lose your biological family. They would cut you off, they would kick you out. And so that family As a matter of survival, as a matter of survival, because I mean it it could cost them their life as well as you. And so what these Christians who became homeless would do is they would knock on the door of the church and they'd be welcomed into a new family. Uh, and they would have new spiritual mothers and new spiritual fathers and new spiritual siblings. And so we see we see that you know God welcomes the fatherless, gives them a new family, calls again, calls us as his people do the same for one another. Um, just a few uh quick verses that that speak to the you know adoption in the scriptures is adoption is really again at the heart of the gospel. Uh Romans chapter 8, verse 15. Uh you uh who've claimed Christ have received the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by whom we now cry out, Abba Father. Um so again, we're not as as Gentiles, natural part of God's family. Uh God intentionally chooses us as we chose Jaden, right, to be part of our family. Um and so adoption, and this is good to know, is it's not a second class salvation, it's full sonship. I made the comment to you prior to starting this recording that uh it was an emotional moment to see him swing that gavel where he became a part of our family. I can only imagine legally, uh naturally, the judge said, to the point where I was emotionally caught up in the moment as I was when my biological kids were born. Like it's on that same level. Yeah, it's no second rate, uh second class type of uh family sonship. Um there's a theologian named John Stott. Anything you read by John Stott is amazing, but he uh observed this about adoption. He says, Adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Which is a powerful statement. Um so so adoption, justification changes our legal standing before God. Uh and again, adoption changes our family relationship uh within the family of God. And so that is just a quick thought on adoption, as you know, since we're we're there right now uh mentally and emotionally with what has transpired these few hours.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

And you've shared endlessly, Jared, that through the powerful spirit that we have that we can tap into, we can serve these less fortunate, including um those in the foster care network. But it doesn't always lead to adoption.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

No, it doesn't. No. The goal the goal is honestly reunification. Right. Um it's it's to you know provide a safe space for these kids to land for a season so their parents can can heal to the extent where they can actually raise their own children in in fruitful ways.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

But we're so grateful for people that step and bridge the gap when that's not a possibility, because that's certainly obviously not always what happens. Um so just incredible. And I know we're gonna celebrate that as a congregation uh later in July as a faith family as we get together. Um it'll be good. It'll be good. It's uh, you know, Jaden, uh your youngest, my oldest are all in the same age, yeah, yeah. All in the same Sunday school room and stuff. So and uh he's it's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah, it's just it's fun to be able to know him on a personal level and and it's been cool for me to just see how our faith family has received him as as part of the church, faith family. Well, let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Like what what what are some like we don't have to please don't name names, it's not about names.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Well, well, I mean like the courtroom today, uh June 29th. I'm just gonna throw that date out so it it stays stamped on it. Yeah, June 29th, we had 28 people in that courtroom. Wow, and some of them, yes, were from my biological family or from Meredith's biological family, but the majority of them were people from our congregation who serve on our care community, including including uh uh several people who serve in foster care ministry or care.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, you know, um, which is really cool. Um, you know, uh the the judge who was asking some questions didn't realize that you were even a pastor when you were going through the adoption process right then. Because certainly the state files the paperwork or the county does, excuse me, and so on and so forth. And when he finally connected the dots, he's like, uh he said, These are your sheep. And you're like, he's like, no, I'm pretty sure they're leading me to this. They've helped me get to this point, which was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Well, really, it takes uh, you know, something Pastor Bryan said in the courtroom today uh that I absolutely loved was, you know, it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a church to disciple a Christian. And I, you know, I I I just see I I I I I grieve um what what maybe what some people have experienced within being part of faith family that wasn't good and it's turned them off. Or I grieve people who don't even give it a chance. Uh, but but I know that being part of a faith family throughout the course of my entire life, uh, before I even was a pastor, um and also now as a pastor, has has only enriched my life. And so I certainly would would recommend to all of our listeners like find a faith family that can love you and you love them the way that God has intended us to love one another. Uh we say it a lot of times, we're the one another religion. We are. You know, we love one another, encourage one another, support one another, come alongside and help one another. And certainly Churchill Lakes has been that for our family through this whole fostering process and adoption process. Uh, and they continue to uh with with with not only us, but other families do the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

And the amazing part, Jared, is and once again, I don't know how you and Meredith do it. You guys are just so amazing, but you're still fostering.

SPEAKER_03 14:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, foster kids in your home right now, even and you know it's a full house, certainly, right? Yeah, but God equips uh He equips the call.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

And it it is a calling, it really is a calling. Um, sometimes we get tired in the work, but never of the work, right? Because it's the work that has been ordained for us by our living God, by the God whom we serve. And so yeah, we get tired in the work sometimes, but never of the work. Uh this the Holy Spirit breathes life into it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Well, the beauty of of this whole conversation is your authenticity and uh uh your transparency. Thank you for giving us just a little bit of a sneak peek into this emotional, incredible moment, uh, not only in your life, but in Chaydon's life. We get to say his name now. How cool is that?

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Well, what's so cool that this happened at this time during this year at Church of the Lakes, in that we're in a sermon series out of the James's Latter of the Early Church. Sure. Is you know, we've talked about it in the past several weeks. James is a very practical book. Like you've said, it it's not, it doesn't necessarily give you the why of the Christian faith, but the the how. Not that the why isn't important. The why is incredibly important, but James is saying, all right, you know the why. Let's talk about how you're gonna do the why. And and here's uh getting our hands dirty doing good.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

And Jane and James certainly, you know, being the half-brother of Jesus, we tend to focus a lot about his congregation, which would have been the church in Jerusalem, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:01

James is a leader in the church in Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

So so so a lot of their uh background would have been in the old testament stories of their faith. So whereas some of the Gentiles trying to build up that history, you know, James isn't so worried about that anymore. He's about worried about getting people all rowing and pushing in the same direction. Yeah, um, which can be well, and you know, this was only part of our check-in. Thank you, Jared, for letting us check in with you and and your family. But I wanted to check in then also with this idea that we have crafted uh as a congregation because certainly this was not just uh Jared Brainchild or Robbie Brainchild. This is something that our leadership breathed life into last year. Very much, yeah. And it is about a kingdom mindset. Six months ago, we started recording some of these podcasts. Six months ago, we set on this vision for 2026, and it was simple. It was a simple vision. It was to encourage people within our congregation to live more intentionally with a kingdom mindset. So I wanted to just kind of reflect on where you think we are going, how is it going? Um, some of the sermon series we've done to help support this, some of the small group studies, and then believe it or not, Jared, I want to repeat some of the questions. Uh-huh. And if people want to listen back, they can and see how how maybe we've shifted our mindset because I'm sure we have a little bit, certainly, as we've educated ourselves and gotten some first hand real-world James-like experience. But here's some things I wanted to check in with this yearly theme in 2026. Jarrett, why do you think living with a kingdom mindset is so important?

SPEAKER_02 17:43

It's important in my in my mind that we're part of something bigger than ourselves.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Oh wow. I like that. Why, why more than just you said the one another religion just a few minutes ago. Is it more than that?

SPEAKER_02 17:55

It's it yeah, it's more than that. It's it's it's what God is doing in this world. You know, I you know, I we don't necessarily do new things for God, we just partner with what God is doing. Right? You know, I I like to use the phrase that you know, our job as the church is to help ex help expand the boundaries of God's kingdom here on earth, right? A kingdom that is inevitably here and is growing, with or without our help.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

You got that.

SPEAKER_02 18:22

We just have the blessing to be able to that God says, I want you to partner with me. You know, like God doesn't need us to well take foster care, He doesn't need us to to to to uh uh help these vulnerable children just to help these vulnerable children. He could do it himself if he wanted to, but he calls us to partner with him in that work to make faith real and raw in in people's lives, in with the hope of maybe um, you know, even let your light shine before all people that they may see your good deeds and bring glory to God in heaven. You know, so so I certainly in Meredith I would say the same of Meredith. Our our goal with fostering adopting is not to receive applause for ourselves and what we're doing. Well, one, it's to give God glory.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

It's to it's to bring another person into his family to expand the boundaries of God's kingdom in our circles of influence, but also maybe it's to motivate somebody else to join God in what God is doing, right? And so a kingdom of guy of mindset for me is that it's what God is our it's bigger than me, it's what God is doing in our world. Um, you know, Jesus says uh upon Peter's profession of faith that he is the Messiah, the Christ, that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. And so the church has a unique part to play in what God wants God is doing in this world. Um and so yeah, the kingdom of God is it it's big, it's massive. And it and again, it it's this idea that you know we look at time as linear, right? Uh the present is pushing into the future. Uh that's not how the kingdom of God works. The future kingdom is pushing into the present. Which is it's kind of makes your your head spin a little bit, you know, and smoke come out of your ears, as Pastor Mike Glenn used to say in his sermons from Bretton Wood Baptist. Um and so how are we kind of expediting or accelerating this future kingdom of God being pressed into the present moment? And uh yeah, so that's where I'd go with you know the kingdom of God, it's bigger than any one thing or any one person.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Well, the kingdom mindset then needs to become a corporate but also an individual endeavor upon ourselves, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:33

I think that's a it's a bull that thing. I I know it's a both and okay in that regard.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

With that in mind, what have been some of the highlights this year that you think have helped emphasize this well? Was there a small group study? Certainly, we went through the Sermon on the Mount, we went through altered uh where throughout Lent, you know, certainly when we encourage people to surrender at the altar, not just in their hearts or in their minds, but physically do it, you know, something that was a little different for us in a Methodist church. Um, we did that by talking through Philippians and now we're into James. Jared, what is maybe something that you think can support that argument and structure that we've gone through this year, if we could just do a quick review.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

I I think we've been very intentional with the sermon series we've we've uh uh kind of developed in in order to push this kingdom of God uh concept and reality through. Uh I absolutely love that we started out with a Sermon on the Mount. Kingdom values, right? Kingdom values. I mean, like Jesus lays them out in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Like, if you are part of my kingdom, this is how you are lived. They're not suggestions. Right. You know, uh in now, I know we're not I don't necessarily live it perfectly in this moment. I I, you know, pursue perfection that that I think one day I can achieve uh because of the Holy Spirit that lives within me. Um, you know, I'm more perfect today than I was yesterday. Becoming more and more sanctified, right? Uh becoming holy as Christ is holy. Probably the series that has spoken mo uh most profoundly to me personally was our altered series of why is that uh just the top just the idea of surrender, of relinquishing my control, my priorities, my desires for greater priorities, greater desires, um, and that being of God. Um, it was during that series early on that I really gained the conviction that if the preacher doesn't invite people to Jesus, who is? And so we use that that series, at least I did, to kind of make the altar rail and the invitation to come kneel at the altar rail more familiar to our congregation. Because, like you said a moment ago, we haven't done it necessarily in any type of consistent manner within Methodist churches and probably the past 50 to 100 years. Right. Um, but actually an invitation to the altar rail uh as an element of uh uh a Sunday morning worship service is historically Methodist.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

It absolutely is.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

And so I made the comment a few weeks ago in church that we're getting back to our Methodist roots, we're getting back to becoming people who are vulnerable, that are willing to surrender ourselves, uh, not only in our heart, but in physical manners in public settings. Uh we want to, you know, have more conversation over the the significance of and influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Uh you know, the the importance of the blood of Jesus. All that came out of that altered series for me. That really has kind of um helped me understand more fully, just okay, what does it mean to actually be part of the kingdom of God? Uh and who's who's following whose lead? Well, it's it's me following the Lord's lead. It's me being prompted by the Holy Spirit in a way that I can make that a um physical uh public declaration is simply by kneeling at the altar uh and and drawing near to God, as I know He in that moment is drawing near to me. And so altered was probably personally something that really spoke profoundly to me. We also went through during that series the different types of offerings that were laid on the altar. Absolutely from the burnt to the sin to the grain to the peace, so on and so forth, and uh just the significance of what each of them then met in terms of the relationship between a human being and the living God. Uh, I loved Philippians just for the sake of that's my favorite Paul Pauline letter. Oh, is that right? I love it, it's it's not Ephesians, it's not Galatians, it's not Philippians. It's it's it's the letter of joy. It is the letter of joy. It is Paul saying, You're rejoice in the Lord. Listen, your circumstances don't matter. Your circumstances is just where God has placed you to make known the mysteries of his gospel, to pursue him fully, and to make him known. And you know, this idea of not allowing your circumstances to to dictate your inner countenance, your relationship with Jesus is supposed to do that. And if you're finding it just a challenge to the listener, because I challenge myself with this, if I'm finding my circumstances dictating my inner countenance, that brings me back to the altar rail. It brings me back uh on my knees to the Lord. Say, okay, this is a growth area in me that I need you to help me with.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

So what you're saying is we should be building upon these themes that we've been talking about.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Sound like we were intentional with the way we did it, right? And of course, like you like you, you know, you've mentioned how you much you love the book of James, this letter that you've got to be.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

I do, I do, but it's it's oftentimes um Jared, I would never call myself a creative person, rather, I'd call myself a doer.

SPEAKER_02 25:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

So my skill set is more administrative and background, and I mean it's why I'm an engineer. Like I, you know, I see a problem and I try and fix it as opposed to like sound like uh vanilla ice, right? But my my my uh my hardest my hardest part with James sometimes is often like what good is it to do good? Anybody can do good if it doesn't tie back to a bigger purpose. And oftentimes when I was younger and this and I get caught up in the in the now, I get caught up into the uh Jared, look at what I did. Uh I'm so proud of someone in my family. I helped to do this, I helped to do that. And instead of going to God first and being like, hey God, thanks for giving me the opportunity to do this with you. Yeah, you know, it's just that's this is where I've learned the most, I think this year was like um two things. One at the surrender series, I've struggled with uh I've never struggled with surrendering to God. What I've always tried to do is partition a part of my life to God. I am a calm, compartmentalized person. Yeah, work stays here, home stays there, church stays here, and certainly parts of those break into each other. But Jared, this year I made a concerted effort to be like, you know what? It's time to stop building walls because God can get over them anyways. Yeah, amen. Amen. Yeah, that's good. So I I, you know, that's been something that I've really tried to hone in. But the other thing is with James is to remember the purpose of the reason why I'm doing good works. It's not just for altruism. Well, and that's the thing is oftentimes we can feel good by doing good things, but it is so much different when I can hear the stories of our youth come back from a mission trip and be like, hey, um, do we do this flooring job perfectly? No, probably not. In fact, one group specifically said they had to start over again. Yeah. But they got back with the resident who they were doing the work with and they had breathed life into them. That's great. That's what it's about.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

It's connecting people to Christ. Yeah, and it's expanding the boundaries of God's kingdom.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

And a kingdom mindset is not get frustrated when you do the project backwards or wrong or maybe not perfectly, but instead rather look for the gospel sharing opportunity. And uh I think these are some of the questions I want to dive back into from our very first episode where we talked about this theme that we were going to do in 2024. I'm curious, um, you probably don't remember these questions, and that's okay. Uh-huh. Uh, but I I'll be curious to see uh how things maybe have perhaps shifted because we certainly are not um where we envisioned is certainly something that God has helped drive, but certainly God has probably changed our course a little bit. Detours, it's summer construction season, Jared. Oh my gosh, especially in uh Cannes, Ohio. How about this? Here's a repeat question from our very first episode. How do we as a church family, how do we better cultivate disciples who go on to build the kingdom? How can we do that? What do we've learned this year? What tools can we use?

SPEAKER_02 28:28

So, you know, you made a comment uh a moment ago, and it it's thinking about the paradigm switch I made in my own my own soul. And it has to do with that partnership. I'm not necessarily doing new things for God, I'm simply partnering with what God is doing. And it got me thinking about um I was at a church conference last week, and one of the preachers started talking about legacy leaving. And and you know, it felt very um self-focused, and it started reminding me of something the Moravian Christians 250 years ago said it was their battle cry. And I love the battle cry, this has become one of my battle cries, honestly. Uh preach the gospel, die and be forgotten. Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

There's a good casting crown song that echoes that sentiment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

And what's the name of the song?

SPEAKER_01 29:18

It's uh I'm gonna blank on it. You put me on the song.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Okay, we'll look in it, we'll think about it in a second. I love that idea because that really is our job. It's the partner with what God is doing. And so what we want to be left behind is not necessarily our name, it's the name of Jesus. And when we can get that paradigm switch in our head, then we can understand that the work we're doing is kingdom-building work that we're simply partnering with God and doing.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

All right, here's here's the lyrics. My quick Google search. Uh it's a song called Nobody by Casting Crowns. Yeah. Because I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody all about somebody who saved my soul. Yeah. Um it's good, but it's exactly what it's echoing the sentiment that you said, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:04

Very much so. And it's like I my hope is six months into this at Church of Lakes, and even on those listening to the podcast, that you that our people are at least beginning to think more about the kingdom of God and how what they're doing on any given day or how they're pursuing Christ on any given day fits into the kingdom of God. And you know, the hope is that you want we want to be more effective kingdom builders. That's the other part of that vision, is we cultivate kingdom mindsets so we can be more effective kingdom builders within our circles of influence. So in our homes. Like, can you imagine if a mother and father in every one of our homes pursued Christ with diligence and intensity? That would transform the home. It would. And then when the home gets transformed, guess the next concentric circle that gets transformed? The neighborhood that that home is placed in, which includes schools, workplaces, and then when that's transformed, the next thing is our city. Oh, you're getting concentric circles. And then our nation, yeah, and then the world at large. Yeah. And and so it's to start thinking about that, okay, God, you're doing okay, the God's kingdom's here and it's going to continue to come until Jesus returns, and then heaven and earth will be one and the same again. But in this interim time where the kingdom is already here, but not yet, what are we doing to partner with God in making all of those concentric circles vibrant with kingdom of God? Not only conversation, but living, and that's where James is, right? Homes, right? Marriages, homes, neighborhoods, cities, nation, and world. Seems big, but God can raise the dead. Like God created all things out of nothing. God can do it. Can we do it? No, but God has asked us to partner with what He's doing, and God can do it because God is God.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Yeah, it's exciting because I know where we're going next in our year-long strategy. And it's kingdom relationships. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Yeah, that's exactly what we're going to do.

SPEAKER_01 32:01

And and and like I yeah, you did a great job of laying out why we spent time, so much time in the Sermon on the Mount. Why did we talk about sacrifice and surrender? Why did we talk about joy? It's so that we get to this point and build up that foundation so that we can go out and talk about a more mature Christ-like relationship. Yeah. Um, and yeah, it's exciting. Here's another question from the beginning, Jared. What's one step every listener can take this week to live more intentionally as a kingdom builder?

SPEAKER_02 32:33

I'm going back from the most previous sermon, and I can just simply say, watch your mouth. James 3, yeah. James 3, just watch your mouth.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Um I laughed because Jared, I told you I can't preach that week. I I need to work on it myself. And it's not that I'm a cursor or it's it's because oftentimes I live and die by sarcasm. Yeah. And that doesn't always build up the kingdom of God. It doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Yeah, yeah. I think I mentioned sarcasm. Yeah, you did. Something that cuts the kingdom of God. Um, but not only watch your mouth, if I can add to that, watch what you're ingesting through your ears and your eyes. Because sometimes you become what you eat. You become what you eat. You know, what what you ingest in your ears and your eyes goes into your heart. Yeah. And like I said at that you know, James 3 sermon, what comes out of your mouth is a revelation of what's in your heart. And so we really got to try to get you know, we're do the work of the soul work of transforming our heart. So what comes out of our mouth is kingdom of God conversation, and not like, you know, I love the illustration you gave months ago about the toothpaste, and you know, when you're squeezed, you know, what comes out of you is what you know, what c when you're squeezed is what comes out of you. And so what's coming out of you when you get squeezed? When when life pressures you. And so and it's the same thing with what comes out of your mouth, it's what's it's already in there, it's what's already in you. And so it it it's yeah, not only watch your mouth, but watch what you're listening to and you're you're you're seeing because that's what's cultivating your heart.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Well, if I could push then a little bit more and just get it some of your insight, we have a God who transforms. Amen. In an instant. And and so with that, there are oftentimes people who maybe James, the sermon series we're going through, and the and and his and his letter to the early church where they understand the hands part, serving with hands and feet. There's uh people who are more ingrained maybe in Paul, where it's much more a head theology. Okay. Um, but when it comes to the heart, how do we get the transformed heart as disciples of Jesus Christ? Is it simply just to open our hearts and do the surrender that you talked about to allow God to be the great heart surgeon of our lives so that He, as they say in Deuteronomy, circumcises the parts that maybe are a little rough, maybe a little crass, maybe uh sinful in nature, um, and transform us into something more. Because isn't it an all thing? Isn't it yes, hands and head, but heart, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:04

It's all three. You're making me think of uh Eugene Peterson wrote a book called A Long Steady Obedience in the Same Direction. And I I love that when it comes to the you know the moving towards sanctification, entire sanctification, Christian perfection, becoming holy as Christ is holy. It really is a long um long steady obedience in the same direction. But even with that said, like the work of justification happens in a moment. And so I think you know, months ago we talked about the difference between imputed righteousness versus imparted righteousness. And if I can remind the listener, an imputed righteousness when you claim a faith in Jesus Christ, in that moment when you bow your knee and surrender to his lordship over you, when you ask God to give you the Holy Spirit, you in an instant are clothed with Christ's righteousness. So when you stand before God the Father and Judge, guess what? He doesn't see sinfulness on stamped on you anymore, he sees the righteousness of Christ. That's imputed righteousness. Imparted righteousness is that process of becoming holy as Christ is holy. And that's why I use that phrase from Peterson, long steady obedience in the same direction. Because it's it's a daily relinquishing uh more and more of the world and grabbing hold of more and more of the kingdom of God.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

So you what you're saying, it's not just this one moment where we relinquish, it's a consistent, constant relinquishing each and every day when we wake up, each and every moment, each and every situation.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

I would say yes to both.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Right? It's a yes, yes. Because we are instantly uh in a spiritual sense, when we're justified in Christ, we we're instantly um we're adopted in the family of God, we are are claimed, and we are saved. But then there's also this process of continuing to be saved.

SPEAKER_01 36:59

The m maturation process.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

The maturation process, yeah. And so it's it's it's really is a both and.

SPEAKER_01 37:05

We could use all types of John Wesley terms here.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

We are so Wesley say we are being saved, we we are saved, but we're also being saved. Yeah, that's how I put it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Okay, last question. Um once again, a call back to our first episode, and I'm gonna make a plug. So be be ready. How can listeners stay connected and accountable on their journey? Jared, what's something here that we're trying to do to hold people accountable?

SPEAKER_02 37:32

Get into anchor groups.

SPEAKER_01 37:34

What's anchor groups?

SPEAKER_02 37:36

So um, you know, going back to can I like concentric circles, that's how I work. And so that you know there's a number of different concentric circles that you need ahead. So you we you have to be um consistent with corporate worship. I have corporate worship is like the the the biggest concentric circle. It's the it's it's in such an important concentric circle. Yes, I I don't like that people um think they can do it by themselves. Think that's corporate worship is optional. If you can, you know, there's no such thing as private Christianity, it's an oxymoron. Like, you know, as a Christian, we have to be live that out in community, and it starts with worshiping together. And so that's that's the biggest circle. And then there's like Bible classes, which is where you're kind of gaining information and knowledge about God's word. Um much more learning focused, much more learning focused, sharing focused, yeah. More than then, you mentioned sharing, so you get into not only from Bible classes, you get to the next circle, which are small groups, which is much more conversational driven. Conversational driven iron sharpens iron as iron sharpens, it's more facilitating, yeah, you know, of groups. You and I lead a lot of small groups, absolutely. And then the um smallest concentric circle are anchor groups, which is about four to six people, same same gender people in groups, uh, where you're doing account of the work of accountability. Nobody's leading, well, we're all leading one another, but nobody's like above another person in terms of like any type of hierarchy of teacher, student. We're all students, we're all teachers of one another. And it's a place where you you're accountable, you you know, you you bear your soul, you get transparent, you confess sin, you pray for one another, and you spur one another on toward love and good deeds and and doing the work that God has called you doing each of your circles of influence.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Well, one of our goals this year is certainly to help breathe life into what we're calling anchor groups. And as we get closer and closer to the end of the year, I'd encourage people, even through these summer months, to reach out to people within their own circles who they feel a call could potentially hold them accountable and you know share in the burdens of living daily life. Um, you know, I don't know why people think they can do life alone or whether and I've certainly we've got a mental health crisis not just in our nation but in our world where people feel alone. Yeah, we've never been more connected, but feel more alone.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

I know it's amazing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 39:58

And my heart goes out to all those that feel alone um in the sense that all you have to do is speak up uh and take a leap of faith. And I get that's scary. Um, but you know, I can't tell you how many times I've been scared to ask someone to come alongside of me. And it's like, you know what? I'll be the one to make sure I ask because who am I to say no to some for somebody else? Just because I think they might say no, who am I to say that for them? So I hope people feel encouraged to ask people to join in an anchor group with them. And if it's a no, that's okay for this season of life, perhaps. But you know, don't always take no as an answer right out the gate, right? I mean, you can always come back and circle back around um where people can find a season maybe.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Often anchor groups are also formed naturally. You know, I can't I can't say you you three being an anchor group together, you yeah, there's a there's a common interest, there's a common pursuit, you're at the same degree of spirituality.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Once again, who's who are we to to you know ordain or predicate what somebody might what group they might be in? Who who are we to do that? God will certainly help in that. Uh and hopefully people come naturally through that but by prayer. But Jared, I I wanted to thank you for this check-in. I I thought, you know, six months in, um, newborns go to the doctor. You know, they go, they go like what seems like every week for the first six months. But but it's important, it's important to check in and see how we're doing, not only as an accountability tool for you and I, but an accountability tool for all of you out there who are listening right now, as an opportunity for us to check in and make sure that we are intentionally living with a kingdom mindset. And then, Jared, I'm so excited because these next six months, we're really gonna push people to start living with that mindset openly and letting it affect their relationships, affect the way they do good works, the way they use their time, time, talents, and treasures. Yeah. So we're certainly looking forward to the uh next six months and where God sees us leading. But before we go, um, thank you again, Jared, for being so transparent and sharing you and Meredith and the whole preset family. Um it's been a season of celebration for us. It and certainly I I would uh uh invite all those in the Church of Lakes family to come and celebrate with the Preset family in July uh here in a couple of weeks. Uh, but before we go, once again, I want to say a big thank you to Betsy, our director of communications. I want to thank Len Brown, who's our editor. God bless you, Len, for all the hard work you do to make us sound good, which is a hard thing to do. And certainly you're our chief encourager. And then I want to say thank you to my wife, Stephanie, who helps get this all out on our podcast channels. Uh, if you'd like to reach out and submit a question, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach out at podcast at churchalakes.org. Um, we're hoping to focus some of our uh ministry partners here in the next couple of weeks and months as we head and continue throughout the summer, uh, as we get back into a rhythm. I think Jared and I are probably gonna do a weekly discussion as we go through Overcomers, our series based on Matt Chandler, just because the book of Revelation is uh a heavy topic to talk about a little bit and how we're gonna focus upon that. But before we go, I just want to remind everyone that's listening here today that it's our mission as followers of Jesus Christ to connect all to him so that they become healthy in our Lord and Savior and courageous in the way that we love. So until next time, God bless.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

Thanks for listening to this episode from Church of the Lakes with Pastor Jared Priestett and Pastor Robbie Stride. If today's message encouraged you and helped you grow as a devoted follower of Christ, we invite you to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also help others discover this podcast by leaving a five-star rating or review and sharing it with your friends, family, co-workers, and others in your circle of influence. We're also grateful for your generosity, which helps make messages like this available to more people. If you feel led to give, please check the link in the description. And if you're in the Canton, Ohio area, we would love to invite you to join us in person on Sunday and worship together. To learn more about Church of the Lakes, visit Churchofthelakes.org or click the web link in the description. Until next time, stay encouraged and keep walking in faith.