Rush Hour
RushHour helps RushChurch members stay connected to each other, informs them about current RushChurch happenings, and also includes bible study/theology talk. We will speak about RushChurch specifics but also on current events, tough questions on faith, church and the Bible
Rush Hour
From Sunday Services to Community Outreach: Exploring Rush Church
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Cody, Ashlee, and Brittany talk all things RushChurch! Get to know the hosts of this podcast, learn about what RushChurch is all about, plus a conversation about why we should go to church.
www.rushchurch.com
Welcome to Rush Hour
Cody CaudillWelcome everybody to Rush Hour . This is our brand new podcast from Rush Church . This podcast is something we've been looking forward to . We've been planning it , we've been wanting to do it . You probably heard rumors about it by now that there's a podcast coming . If not well , here we are First episode of Rush Hour , and this podcast is designed to build a community at Rush Church . This is going to be focused on things that are going on at our church , the people of our church , and also some Bible study , just some topics that come up that we can discuss and just kind of learn together . Bring up some difficult topics , bring up some stuff from the Bible to talk about , pick things out of sermons or teachings that are going on at Rush Church , and just talking more in depth about those things . So we're excited about all this . We're excited about this podcast . Thanks
Meet Your Hosts
Cody Caudillagain for joining us .
Cody CaudillI'm here with Brittany Oglesby and Ashley Phillips . My name is Cody Cottle . I'm the student pastor here at Rush Church . So those are kind of our roles and I'm just going to go around . We're going to introduce ourselves , tell you a little bit about us , our family , maybe an interesting fact or two , and then we'll kind of get into some of the stuff that Rush Church is doing right now , so I'm going to throw it over to Brittany Oglesby and she's just going to tell you a little bit about herself .
Brittany OglesbeeHello , what can I say about myself ?
Cody CaudillAnything you want . Well , not anything you want .
Brittany OglesbeeWell , first I'm a volunteer at Rush Church . I've lived in Rushlevania my entire life .
Cody CaudillI haven't gotten out very much , you haven't gotten out of WrestleMania .
Brittany OglesbeeNo , for a little bit , but then I came back . It's a little fountain , it's huge . I've been married to my husband , levi , for 13 years . We have three children Kaylee , axel and Roslyn . We've been worshiping with Rush Church since about 2018 . My day job ? I am a massage therapist . I have been since for about 18 years probably Wow , long time .
Cody CaudillIt's a long time . I did not know that .
Brittany OglesbeeYeah , since 2007 . Is that 18 years Sure ?
Cody CaudillI think so . It is Good math .
Brittany OglesbeeThank you .
Cody CaudillYou're welcome .
Brittany OglesbeeMy kids are involved in the youth programs with children's ministry and student ministry . They do play sports , so we spend a lot of time with that . A fun fact about my family is that we do demolition derby .
Cody CaudillYou take part in , like actually doing the cars driving around .
Brittany OglesbeeYes , Well , Levi does and the kids do .
Cody CaudillI do not .
Brittany OglesbeeI just make sure they have like food and water and your support . Yes , Cheer on the side , but yeah , that's , that's me .
Cody CaudillVery nice , awesome , good to know a little bit about Brittany . I'm going to go over to Ashley Phillips now . She's going to tell you a bit about herself .
Ashlee PhilipsPhillips , I have lived in Rushelvania . Nope , I don't live in Rushelvania . I moved to Ohio back in 2011 . I have been at Rush Church since about 2015 . I am married to my husband , darren Phillips , for 20 years now and we have three kids Hannah , who's a sophomore in college at Grace College , haley , who just graduated high school from Ben Logan last year . She's headed off to esthetician school . And then Carter , he is a freshman at Ben Logan . He's involved in sports . Soccer , basketball keeps us very busy and , yeah , we love Rush Church . A couple things about us we love camping . We have a big camper . We go with a couple other families from the church camping around the state of Ohio other states too . We stay pretty much on the east side of the US and fun fact about me is I'm a paddleboard instructor . You're a paddleboard instructor . I would like a class I can teach you how to . Paddleboard instructor .
Cody CaudillYou're a paddleboard instructor .
Ashlee PhilipsI would like a class I can teach you how to paddleboard .
Cody CaudillCan you just paddleboard anywhere you want Like . Can you show me on the pond ?
Ashlee PhilipsI can Out behind the church . All right .
Cody CaudillMaybe we'll do that one day , maybe next summer , but very cool . Those are the other two people that have been doing this podcast with me ,
Student Ministry Overview
Cody Caudilland my name is Cody . Like I said , I'm the student pastor at Rush Church . I'm in charge of 7th through 12th grade . I've been in some form of youth ministry for almost 15 years . I've been paid for that about 12 years , and so it's just where my heart has always been with that age group showing them the gospel , showing them how there's a better way to do life and that's through Jesus . And so , yeah , and I'm married to Erica . We've been married for 11 years . We have two kids , timmy and Eden . Timmy's in fourth grade , eden's in first grade . They're involved at Rush Church and the kids stuff . They do a lot of sports , they're very active , and so that's our family .
Cody CaudillA little bit about me is I like to play disc golf a lot . I'm into watching lots of sports . I'm a Cubs fan for baseball . I'm a big Kentucky fan because I grew up in Kentucky . That's where I'm from . I lived my whole life in Kentucky until I moved to Rushelvania in 2019 . And so that's a little bit about me . I also like to smoke meat . Sometimes I got a smoker a few years ago . I've been making delicious food for people and I just enjoy doing that kind of stuff .
Cody CaudillSo , yeah , let me tell you a little bit about the student ministry here at Rush Church , since that's my role , and then I'll go around and see what everybody else is up to and what their role is here at Rush Church . So , like I said , student ministry is 7th through 12th grade . We offer classes on Sunday morning , both services 9 , 30 , and 11 . Those are our church services and offer classes for teenagers during both of those . Sunday night is Rush Life , once again for 7th through 12th grade . Rush Life is a time to come kind of hang out together , build a community . We have volunteers that feed us , bring us meals . If you're interested in doing that , you can sign up to feed the youth , feed the teenagers , and we eat together .
Cody CaudillWe hang out , we play games , we do activities , and then we always have some kind of teaching and then we have small groups so students are able to learn and then discuss , talk with their small group leaders , just either about the lesson that night or about life in general , what's going on with them , and then praying together . So yeah , we do lots of trips . We do different events throughout the year . We just finished our color war a couple of Sunday nights ago , which was a lot of fun . Had some students come out and play a lot of games . We had through colored powder at each other and just got real colorful , real messy and it was a lot of fun . And then we do stuff like paintball camp , we do stuff like TCTC . Those are trips and things that we go on and the whole goal of the student ministry for me is to always look at helping these students grow in their faith .
Cody CaudillI want them to be able to own their own faith , which to me is know what you believe and why you believe . That and it's good for you . It's good to know what you believe and why so you can tell other people about it , but also just for your own faith , just to know what you believe and be able to back that up and have confidence in your faith . I guess you'd say so . That's kind of a little bit about student ministry , a little bit about what's going on here at Rush Church with our students . I try to get involved in Ben Logan as much as possible and some of the other schools too , with some programs that . You know I try to show up at different things , but we can talk about that another time . I'm going to throw it over to Ashley . She's going to tell you what her role is here at Rush Church .
Children's Ministry at Rush Church
Ashlee PhilipsYeah , so I am the children's minister at Rush Church . I've been in this role since August of 23 . And we have about roughly 60 kids in each service for two services a Sunday . So we've got a lot of kids back there . I serve anywhere from babies all the way through sixth grade In the hallway . We've got our nursery through two years old and then we've got our three and fours class in the hallway and then you go to the backyard once you turn five years old and we've got our pre-k and kindergarten . Then we've got first and second grade , third and fourth grade and then fifth and sixth and then second service . We have a combined worship time and most of our kids come together for worship time , for lesson games , we feed them , snack back there and they just have a great time .
Ashlee PhilipsBut a little bit why I love kids ministry and a perspective of why I was called to this is first is that I love to see the kids experience God's love . They experience it in a real and a raw way , very unfiltered when they talk about different stories or different concepts . I just love to see their minds open up to what they can read back as a story , what they're learning back there . It's more than just teaching . It's also about relationship .
Ashlee PhilipsI'm really big on having a relationship with these kids . I want them to feel comfortable with me . I want them to be able to , you know , see me outside of church and say , hey , there's Miss Ashley , you want to run up and give her a hug , you know , or go talk to her . You know , relationship with these kids is a big part of why I do this . And then , of course , I want to see them come to Jesus . You know , that's ultimately why we're here is to present the gospel to these kids , to give them a firm foundation in their beliefs , so they grow up and can be able to go out and be witnesses themselves . So , yeah , that's what I , why I love what I do . Yeah .
Cody CaudillAwesome . You never know what kids are going to say .
Ashlee PhilipsIt's one of the fun parts about no-transcript .
Cody CaudillWell , I like to do everything that I can , because you're not on staff . You're just a volunteer , aren't you ? Yeah , I just show up probably the well .
Brittany OglesbeeI do help with social media and the live stream which now has kind of taken off on its own , so I don't spend too much time on that and the website .
Cody CaudillSo I help with that kind of stuff yeah , rushtourishcom you go on there you see how cool it looks all the information , because brittany keeps it updated .
Brittany OglesbeeSo yes , it should have everything on there all the time . Probably the thing that everybody loves the most that I do is
Hospitality and Connection Team
Brittany Oglesbeehospitality . That's every Sunday , probably . Two years ago Ashley had thrown an event called the Women's Tea , which is in December , around Christmas time . It has the best food , as women should . Yes , for the women it has the best food . And we actually had a ton of leftovers and I don't know that she was thinking of anything other than just getting rid of leftovers , and she had set out this great display for Sunday morning to just give people something to eat and our foyer was full and everyone was spending time with each other and we thought , oh , this is great , this is wonderful .
Brittany OglesbeeSo I kind of presented the idea of doing that every Sunday and it was met with . That's great , but the staff here is really busy . So if you want to do it or if somebody wants to do it , by all means , that's fine . So I did and at first it was just me setting out food and everybody was very surprised . You know what is this ? Why is there food ? Why is there food ?
Brittany OglesbeeBut then it turned into now we have fellowship before first service , in between services and after second service . After second service is pretty short . It's mainly just kids running up to grab things before their parents make them get in their car . So if you're looking for the fellowship part , it's more before first service or in between services . But I have a great team my mom , sandy McCurhan she helps me a lot . Kelly Johnson helps me , becky and Gerald Neal , laura Ramsey , kelly Hurley , mary Spence , lori Short they all help me , so they all contribute things . People in the church contribute things too . People will come up just on Sunday and handed a plate of cupcakes Like , hey , I had these things too . People will come up just on Sunday and hand a plate of cupcakes Like , hey , I had these left over . Do you want them ? Yes , yes , we do , you know . And then everybody goes wow , brittany , this looks great .
Cody CaudillAnd I'm like yes , and you're like . You're welcome . I did this all myself . Yeah , I'm like oh , but you do have a good team of people . And you've kind of put this team together over the two years and it became this really cool thing at Rush . Church on Sunday mornings where people can come and they can have breakfast and coffee , and it's just there and you can just sit down and have a conversation with fellow church members that maybe you didn't have time before to actually have a conversation with .
Brittany OglesbeeThe fellowship , the friendship , the building of relationships all of that seems to be working . They just needed something to eat .
Ashlee PhilipsThey met more people in the church by doing that than anything else .
Cody CaudillFood always brings people together .
Brittany OglesbeeYes .
Cody CaudillIt's just even in the Bible .
Brittany OglesbeeAnd I've definitely noticed that , even like family members that I have that have children or friends that have children , it's and for myself too . I can take my kids out of class , give them something to eat , stick them back in class and then I can go to class , you know . So it helps me be able to stay at church longer and get more out of my Sunday mornings than just in and out the door .
Ashlee PhilipsRight .
Cody CaudillVery cool . So , yeah , we're all really appreciative of your hospitality ministry and how that got started . Especially me , I love just showing up and there's biscuits and gravy or a breakfast burrito or just you know it's good .
Brittany OglesbeeYeah .
Cody CaudillWhat else ?
Brittany OglesbeeOkay , so I'm also part of the connection team . Ashley and I do that together as well . We do a lot of things together . We do .
Ashlee PhilipsWe love doing things together .
Brittany OglesbeeAnd now Cody's hanging out with us , and now I'm here too . Wow , lucky me . The connection team is right now just a group of women that are in the church , and our whole vision with the connection team , I would say , is designed to help new families find a circle , find where they belong in Rush Church , what Rush Church can do for them , to help them feel comfortable with their kids as teachers , to start building relationships and just okay . I've came to church a couple times Now . I'd actually like to feel connected to the people in church . We also want them to be able to come and tell us you know , this is where I want to volunteer or this is where my kid might need help , or just things like that . At the connection team we've had several dinners , or we've had one dinner we're going to have a second one .
Brittany OglesbeeJust to introduce the elders , the deacons , the teachers and everybody . Just feel like they belong .
Cody CaudillSo kind of the connection team was put together for the purpose of making sure guests or new visitors have a good experience at Rush Church .
Brittany OglesbeeYeah .
Cody CaudillAnd it's kind of developed into offering other things along the way and like this lunch coming up . You know you can come and see who the leaders of the church are , you can ask questions , you can kind of get to know this specific church better in a general kind of way .
Ashlee PhilipsYeah , it kind of started going in a direction of connecting not just the new people who are coming in , but also connecting the different ministries that we have , because we don't want to just be like , oh , they're the youth , they're over there , you stay over there . The kids , you stay over there . Do we want to connect the whole family as a whole ? So what can we also provide that brings us all together ? You know that can kind of connect . So if you're interested in something like that , come talk to Brittany and I . I mean , we would love to get you involved with the connection team .
Cody CaudillYeah , team . Yeah , they do it together with other ladies . Yes , so you have your hospitality . Metropole loves that connection team , which is has a good purpose and does good things . What else ? My favorite your favorite what ?
Brittany Oglesbeerush 18 rush 18 is my favorite , rush 18 , is is
Rush 1-8: Community Outreach Program
Brittany Oglesbeethis amazing new development at Rush Church ? Rush 1-8 is from Acts 1-8 , which essentially says that once we accept the Holy Spirit , that we are to share it with others .
Cody CaudillYeah , essentially . Let me just read it for you . Yeah , go ahead , Full context of it . It says in Acts 1-8 , Jesus actually these are Jesus' words , it's written in red but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth .
Cody CaudillSo we get this idea that Jesus has given us a responsibility as Christians , as followers of his , to go out and be witnesses , Christians as followers of his , to go out and be witnesses and to witness how he changed his lives , how he loves us , how he wants good things for us . He has a specific way that we should live and that way of living is actually really good . And so we had this idea of we want to be out in the community , we want to go to these places where the people are . Basically , we want to go out where people are , meet them where they're at in the community . And so Rush 1-8 is something that we started doing this year , a little bit officially , but the idea came from a conversation you guys had , correct ?
Brittany OglesbeeYeah , so last year Ashley and I were talking about improvements we want to do to the church , to the building of the church .
Cody CaudillYeah , what can we do to make this better for people ?
Brittany OglesbeeTo make everything better , and that turned into a conversation about an outreach program that Ashley used to run in Florida .
Cody CaudillYeah , tell us a little bit about what you did in Florida .
Ashlee PhilipsYeah , so I was born and raised in Florida . I forgot to tell you guys that . But back in our old church I had Darren and I my husband and I had formed a outreach called the Christmas Family Extravaganza , and it was a spinoff of the Christmas parade that we would do . So we would spend time and a lot of money building a float and going down the streets in a parade . We'd probably get to see people for like three to five seconds with our church name and hope that they could hear our Christian music playing and all that and pass out flyers . But we weren't really reaching them for the gospel doing that . So we wanted to have some more time with them . So we decided to stop doing the parade and form this outreach , and so I went to different businesses , got donations . The whole event ended up being free . We had all of the carnival games , the food , we had a train come in that gave kids rides , we had bounce houses and pony rides , and so it was just a really fun time for parents to bring their kids have something free to do . That was our biggest mission . Well , our biggest mission was to bring the gospel , but we ultimately wanted it to be free because Jesus died on the cross . That was all free gift for us and so , yeah , we just wanted them to be able to feel love at that time .
Ashlee PhilipsIt was also during a really the housing market was crashing . It was just during a rough time . People were losing jobs and it was kind of hard . Even myself at the time was like , how am I going to give my own kids Christmas gifts ? I was just rough . But I remember watching families during that time and the biggest thing was just a mom coming up and being like , really , this is all for free . Like my kids can go and play , you know , as long as they want , on all of this stuff for free , they can win prizes , they can have food . I'm like , yeah , I see , you know Jesus . Jesus gave up his life for free . This is all for free . We just want to love on the community . So ultimately that's what we used to do in Florida and then we wanted to bring that here to Ohio and so we kind of found an avenue to be able to do that and I'm excited to see it grow .
Brittany OglesbeeYeah , after hearing that .
Cody CaudillYeah , what'd you guys ? So , ashley , you guys had a conversation and she was like I used to do this thing , yeah , so she says this amazing thing and we're like yes that sounds amazing .
Brittany OglesbeeCan we do that too ? So our first unofficial Rush 1A event was the Rushylvania 4th of July .
Cody CaudillThat was last year , in 2024 , right , yes , yeah .
Brittany OglesbeeAnd we had nothing that we actually needed . I mean , we did , but not in like travel form .
Cody CaudillIt was like families in the church being like you have a tent and you have a tent , Bring your tents , bring some tables that you have laying around .
Brittany OglesbeeYeah , we have some tables we're going to set up this thing at the park for 4th of July . Yes , and so it was like trial run , if you will , and all of the volunteers got to experience what Ashley's talking about . They also got to sweat and work very hard , but they got to experience showing that love to the community and I think we were pretty hooked after that .
Cody CaudillYeah , it was a good experience . We did it and just kind of unofficially set it up and we did it for the day and everybody that helped , everybody that you know , volunteered and got to see the joy that people got from being like I can just have cotton candy for free and you're like yeah , take some . And then there's kids that came back through and had 10 cotton candies you know some of them were bigger than the child's head .
Cody CaudillOh , yeah , and to watch their eyes light up , that's the thing about the cotton candy machine , who depends on who's running it , who's making those and how big they are . But uh , so , and that really got us really dreaming big about how can we take what we did today and make that a part of this church in an official kind of way . And that's where Rush 1-8 was kind of born . We've had this dream of doing it and now this year we've actually done lots of things with Rush 1-8 . We have a big trailer , big pretty trailer with our logo on the side of it , and inside that trailer we have all kinds of stuff . Name some of the stuff we have , what we have that we can take places .
Ashlee PhilipsYeah , we've got a . We've got a 63 foot obstacle course . We've got , obviously , tables , chairs , tents . We can set up our own little connection area . We've got cotton candy , popcorn , snow cones , yard games . Got a big inflatable axe throwing that's really fun we've got a fully functioning gaga pit and we also have a huge outdoor sound system where we can do worship outside . So that's , that's a new event we're hoping to plan this year is worship in the square .
Cody CaudillYeah , so yeah those are just some of the things we have lots of . I mean , we have this trailer packed full of just . It's designed to be able to just come pick it up , hook it up to your truck and take it on location to different places where we want to go and be able to set up and just offer things to the community . So some of the things we've done so far . We did another 4th of July more official this year .
Brittany OglesbeeIt looked a little cleaner .
Cody CaudillIt was nice . We had all of our matching tents and signs and it was really cool . We did that . We did Rock the Lake , which was a big event for us . Rock the Lake is something here in Logan County . It's a free Christian concert out by Indian Lake and just thousands of people show up to listen to music . But they asked us to be there all day to kind of offer an area for families , for kids , and so that went well . I thought what ?
Ashlee Philipsdo you think it did ? Yeah , I think it went really well . I mean , we had close to 8,000 people showed up at the whole event , so let alone , I mean they all saw us there .
Cody CaudillIt's really hard to miss a 63-foot inflatable obstacle course and say what's going on over there ?
Ashlee PhilipsYeah , yeah , and I forgot we also had our photo booth out there too . Our 360 photo booth out there too , our 360 photo booth out there .
Cody CaudillYeah , we have a 360 photo booth , which is where you stand on a little circle and the camera flies around you . Yeah , 60 motion . And like you , get to take silly video . Kids love it . Yeah , don't they kids like they get to take silly videos and then you just type in their phone number , it sends it right to them . So you take that with them . And we did something to film with that , didn't we ?
Ashlee Philipsyes , oh yes , oh yeah , yeah , we went to Rush Church went to prom .
Cody CaudillWe were actually , you know . They asked if we would come to Ben Logan's prom and we set up at prom itself with our 360 photo booth and the students there really enjoyed . Just , we had props , we had stuff you could use .
Brittany OglesbeeI think my teenager really enjoyed me being at prom . What about yours ?
Ashlee PhilipsYes , my teenager loved it . It's what she dreamed of at her senior prom .
Cody CaudillNever expect that , oh good .
Brittany OglesbeeOur moms are here , but we kind of stayed out of the way .
Cody CaudillWe were just over doing our video thing with our equipment and stuff and so they had a good time . We did it and went to after prom , set up some of our games and set up some snacks and stuff . So we've been able to do a lot of stuff so far with Rush 18 , and we've got bigger plans . We want to do more things . We're excited about it . I'm sure you've heard if you're at our church at all , you've probably heard Rush 18 . That's a new thing . Then we've made a video showing some of the stuff that we've done in form . If you hear it and you're like I'm still not really sure what Rush 8 is supposed to do or what it's all about , what do you think the best way for somebody to know all about Rush 8 would be ?
Cody CaudillCome , yeah , come to the event Next time you , next time we advertise something , next time we do something , I would just encourage you to just show up wherever it's at and you don't have to do anything . You can just come grab some of the popcorn we're giving away and just watch and see how it's all done , see how it's all operating and stuff like that , which is the best way , right ? So if you're still unsure , just come to the event , right ? Come see us , come be there .
Brittany OglesbeeAlso , if you're thinking about volunteering and you're kind of wanting something in particular , like if you want to be a part of the event but maybe you just want to be labor , we can help with that . Or if you want to come to the event but you just are able to dish out popcorn and that's all you're able to do , we're able to work with anyone in any way that they want to volunteer and all abilities .
Ashlee PhilipsYeah , we will show you exactly what to do . Like Brittany and I will , come by step-by-step , teach you how to run it . We're not , you know we're not stranding you , putting you out there you know , with nothing to do . We're going to show you exactly how to do it , you know . And new this year too is we're going to actually form a permanent Rush 118 team , so ones who are going to set up and tear down . So if that's your , if that's your , you love that .
Brittany Oglesbeeyou know , we want you part of that we have some people that are really good at it .
Ashlee PhilipsThey are , yes , man , jeremy Payne , wes Varner , jeremy is a professional .
Brittany OglesbeeHe really knows how to roll up an inflatable .
Ashlee PhilipsI'll tell you that I think that's all that camping experience he has .
Cody CaudillHe has some good people that know what they're doing . But yeah , setup team , teardown team . But if you can't do that , we have , I will say , Rush 18 is set up to really offer service opportunities for almost anybody . If you want to serve and you want to be involved , we have a spot for you .
Ashlee PhilipsYeah .
Cody CaudillSo I would just encourage you to come check it out or ask us about it personally . We'll let you know . What else about Rush 18? .
Brittany OglesbeeHave we talked about it enough ? I think yeah . I mean it's going to keep growing . I'm really excited for our calendar this coming year .
Cody CaudillOh yeah , adding events , adding different things that we can take the trailer to right and I will say you know , ultimately our trailer is filled with things
Programs and Classes for Everyone
Cody Caudill.
Ashlee PhilipsIt's . It's what it is , but that's not the reason why we're doing this . The reason why we want to go out is because we want to love on the community . We want them to feel hope . We want them to see Jesus through us . You know , we might not get to present the whole gospel while we're out there , but us just having a smile on our face and showing the love of Jesus , like that's what it's about . We want to .
Ashlee PhilipsSome of these people may never have entered doors in a church . They might be outside at a park or at the beach Oldfield Beach or whatever and they see us . And because they saw us , we planted a seed In my ministry . I live by one degree . I'm not going to change a kid's life immediately on a Sunday morning , but that seed that's planted , if it's even just a one degree change years from now , it could have changed their entire path . And so the purpose of this ministry going out is to just hopefully plant seeds in our community , hopefully show them the love of God and you're welcome . We want you to come to our church . We are going to tell you all about Rush Church , but if you're not in that area and you want to find a different church , we'll help you find another church , Like there are many out here in Logan County and surrounding counties that are great .
Brittany OglesbeeWe just want you plugged in where Jesus is being taught .
Cody CaudillAgreed , the mission of this whole thing is to meet people where they're at . And yeah , we have Rush Churchill all over the place and my whole thing is you know , go to church , go , experience Jesus . And if that's at our church , wonderful . If not , like Ashley said , we know people in the county . I know a lot of people at different churches and there's good churches around . The point is to just go to church . That's what we want .
Cody CaudillIntroduce people to Jesus Agreed . Oh good , I'm glad I just wanted to hit on that and be like why are we doing Rush 18 ? What's the purpose behind it ? And for me I think it's a great opportunity to just start conversations with people , and so I want people to remember that these Christians they're out there and they're doing good things , and so maybe they don't come to church that Sunday after an event we do . Maybe they don't come to church , you know , any time after one of our events , but maybe later on in their lives a crisis happens or they're going through a really hard time where something happens in their life and they start to think about faith more deeply and they start to think about church in a different kind of way and they remember that event that we did for them . They talk to each other and be like well , remember that time we were at the park what was the name of that church ? Rush Church . They started to do that stuff for us . Maybe we should go check them out , maybe we should go to church , and so that's kind of the goal behind this is , I think , to plant seeds , like Ashley said , and hopefully down the road they'll remember what we've been doing , different things like that . So Rush Monday is exciting . It's taking the church to people .
Cody CaudillBut here at Rush Church we have all kinds of stuff for all kinds of different people . We talked about student ministry . We talked about children's ministry . We have newly formed young adults ministry for college-age kids . They meet two times a month on Thursdays , led by some cool people . We'll probably talk about that in the future . We have adult classes on Sunday mornings . We have a couple classes . I know Bill Johnson does one on Isaiah during . Is he first service ? I think he's first service and I know Mark Long's going through . I think he's going through Job right now in his class during first service . Luke Skidmore is starting . Some of you guys are in his class , aren't you ?
Brittany OglesbeeYes , I'm in his class . We're starting a new class . Well , a new course .
Cody CaudillThey meet during second service , and what are they going to be talking about ?
Brittany OglesbeeWe are going to read the New Testament in between October 1st and the first of the year .
Cody CaudillYeah , it's called the Bible Recap , isn't it ? Yes , we use the Bible .
Brittany OglesbeeRecap app . It's 12 minutes a day .
Cody CaudillIt's all it takes , if you read the Bible 12 minutes a day . You can be done in a year , right , yeah , wow .
Brittany OglesbeeSo the New Testament .
Cody CaudillOh , the New Testament .
Brittany OglesbeeThe New Testament is from October to January , so I think that's right .
Cody CaudillIf you do the whole Bible , you can do it all in a year .
Brittany Oglesbee12 minutes a day Do it all in a year , but we're going to start so in that class which we still have one more class this Sunday , where Luke's still prepping us for the class or to start reading , but he's opened up a group chat to where you can text questions throughout the week . But then on Sundays we'll be reviewing what we read .
Cody CaudillYeah . So my point is there's all kinds of stuff happening for you to get plugged into , to be involved in Rush Church . So if you're listening and you didn't know about these things , ask questions , go to the Welcome Center . We have all this stuff that you can sign up for , know about , find information about what are some other things I don't know . We have casual coffee for the more wise age group . I would guess you would say , as John says from stage sometimes they meet the first Thursdays of the month .
Cody CaudillYeah , they have coffee , hang out and talk discuss .
Ashlee PhilipsWe have the new family , the new young family group too . They call it Life .
Cody CaudillGroup . They have young kids and they just meet and all together one night a month on Thursday . I think that's Grace Link . She started that up .
Ashlee PhilipsGrace and Miranda .
Cody CaudillReally , really . They have a lot of people , I think , coming to that .
Ashlee PhilipsSo exciting things . It's awesome to see these young families come together because they're in the same stage of life , like that's . You know that's awesome .
Brittany OglesbeeSuch a hard stage too it is .
Ashlee PhilipsI remember having kids that age and I was like help me please no-transcript church somewhere .
Cody CaudillBut let's talk a little bit about why we feel church is important .
Why Church Matters
Brittany OglesbeeWell , I can start with saying how I used to think of church .
Cody CaudillYeah , sure , maybe you have never Before .
Brittany OglesbeeI wasn't frequent flyer . Frequent flyer , so there was a time in your life where church was just kind of not important . Yeah , like there was a time in my life where church was just my Sunday thing Check off the list . And I felt really good afterwards and I was like , oh good , I'm recharged for the week and that was a really I'm not sure what word to use for that .
Cody CaudillSo you saw church as a time . I go Sundays and it makes me feel good . Yeah , I recharge for the week and then maybe I'll go back next week if I need another recharge .
Brittany OglesbeeIf I didn't , if I had something else going on , that was okay . You know , I mean , I'm being honest , I guess that's how it was .
Cody CaudillWhy do you think you felt that way about church ? I'm not sure , or is that wrong to feel that way about church ?
Brittany OglesbeeAnd I don't know about that , but I can tell you how I feel now about church is completely different . Like I actually feel , like I'm going to hang out with my family , I am completely plugged in . Obviously , I'm very plugged in .
Brittany OglesbeeI am volunteering a lot to do a lot of stuff but the way that I look at it now is now I am trying in my best abilities to develop a christian or a christ-like mindset , and that has helped me so much through my day-to-day and what I'm experiencing all the time , whether it be parenting or house problems or You'd say , just life in general .
Brittany OglesbeeJust life in general anything death , birth , anything and just having that education . That's something that I very much value from Rush Church is how much education we put out . I can come home and say this is what I learned in my study , and I can start talking about it and my son which I've talked to , ashley before , because we have amazing teachers in the backyard and my son can say I know the rest of that story . Can I finish telling that ? And it's just a really cool experience .
Cody CaudillYeah , ashley , you have any thoughts about church ?
Ashlee PhilipsWhy church ? Yeah , so I mean , I've been going to church for a very long time , not just Rush Church , you know , I've been in church since I was a baby . You know I was actually adopted into a Christian family . So from the moment I was adopted I've never not been in church . But I definitely think that for me , the body of Christ , being a part of the body of Christ , is huge . Just feeling like I have a place where I belong , having community around me , feeling those relationships that you know . When I'm struggling , you know , with something at home , or if I'm having community around me , feeling those relationships that you know when I'm struggling , you know , with something at home , or if I'm struggling with something internally , I can go to people who I trust and be like , hey , this is what I'm struggling with . How would you approach it ? What would you do in this ? You know , in this scenario , and just being able to have that bond with people that you don't get when you just come on a Sunday morning listen to .
Ashlee PhilipsJohn preach and then leave . You get that by sticking around , by going to classes , by getting to know people , talking , reaching out , finding those circles . We're not an inclusive church . We don't have circles that you are not allowed a part of . We are open . You are allowed to come join us in any area of the church that you feel called to and that you want to get involved in . But definitely you know like recently I had a surgery to where I couldn't physically do anything , and I'm the kind of person who's go , go , go , and so for me to not be able to do anything was hard . But watching people families from the church come and bring us food and feed us was just an amazing benefit of being a part of the body of Christ . And that's just something small , but it's so impacting to see people who want to come around you and love on you .
Cody CaudillReally good insights on church in general . I think people who aren't Christians or haven't always gone to church have a certain view of what the church is and like what people are like in the church , and sometimes that view is a little off , I guess you could say , and even Brittany's story about what she used to think church was . It used to be just the thing . I don't know , I heard you talking , but tell me if I'm wrong . You kind of saw church as just like a checklist kind of thing .
Cody CaudillYeah , I checked it off the box of what I'm supposed to do .
Brittany OglesbeeYeah .
Cody CaudillI'm supposed to go to church and if I have time for it I'll go .
Brittany OglesbeeLike I knew that I believed in Jesus and that I was in my mind there , you know , but I didn't realize that I wasn't giving the relationship in the time that I should be to .
Cody CaudillAnd I think church helps us do that . Because I ask this a lot . I'm like can you be a Christian and not go to church ? And I think you can be a Christian , you can follow Jesus , you can say you love him , you can make him savior and Lord of your life and not go to a church . But I do think God gave us the church for a specific reason . I think he intended us to go to church and he wants us to be with other believers for the reasons you guys already mentioned . Hebrews 10 , 24 through 25 , it says and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds , not giving up meeting together , as some are in the habit of doing , but encouraging one another . So the writer of Hebrews is telling us here don't give up meeting together . It's important . You can do life together , you can encourage one another , you can spur each other on . He uses those words too when life gets hard . We have each other's back . And you said , brittany , you see the church as like a family .
Cody CaudillNow you feel like you're going to hang out with your family , and I think that's what the church was intended to be . God gave us the church because he knew life is difficult . He knew it would be full of challenges , he knew it would be full of hard times , and we're going to need a support system .
Cody CaudillAnd we have the Holy Spirit , we have Jesus and you can have that . But there's something about going to a place where you know everybody's going to share your faith with you and you know everybody is kind of on the same page and it's like a second family . When you pick a church , and you choose a church , that is family and they support you and they encourage you . And when you go through hard times , when you have a surgery , people show up at your house and bring you food because they know you're going through something hard or you're going through something difficult . So , yeah , can you be a Christian and not go to church ? I think yes , but should you ? No , you shouldn't be a Christian and avoid going to church . So if you're listening and you think like I haven't't been to church in a while , or I really go to church but I don't see the purpose of it or whatever , think about it that way .
Cody CaudillThink about the ways that you can get connected here at Rush Church . Think about all the things we've talked about , how you can be involved . And when you do get involved , you're going to start to build relations with other people around you . You serve together , you have class together , you talk about your kids together that are in the backyard , or your students or your teenagers or all these different things . So why church ? Why is it important ? It's because life's hard and I think the church is to encourage us , to give us a family to go to , to talk to , to work through things together . That's kind of my little short take on church . Why church ? What do you guys think ? You agree ?
Cody CaudillI agree , disagree .
Brittany OglesbeeI agree . I definitely have had the thoughts before where I thought when I first started okay , I'm going to . What's the saying ? Get out of the pew and get in a circle , or ?
Cody Caudillsomething like that . I don't know what the saying is .
Brittany OglesbeeWhen I decided that I was going to start building relationships . Okay , I'm going to make an effort to do this .
Cody CaudillIt's not going to just be me going to sit in a pew for an hour and going home and going about my week .
Brittany OglesbeeYes , like I'm actually going to plug in and see what can come of this . I was like , oh , I can't let these people actually know about my life though , because it is way too imperfect to share , turns out , Turns out , everybody's the same , everybody's going through a struggle , don't be scared at all .
Cody CaudillEverybody's got their own problems , their own issues and , yeah , it could be intimidating , but I think we're supposed to share with each other .
Brittany OglesbeeIt makes it .
Cody CaudillIt's awkward sometimes or it's like I don't really want them to know about this part of me , but once you kind of open up and you are real with people around you and you share that faith together , it actually makes you stronger . It actually gets you closer to Jesus , james . In the book of James , it tells us to confess to each other about things that are going on in our lives . Share Is it always fun ?
Ashlee PhilipsNo , is it awkward sometimes . Yes , the amount of things I've confessed to Brittany Same . Oh , we're going to have a whole podcast full of that .
Cody CaudillWe've already been through that . All right , we won't do that . So , yeah , I think this was a good first episode , kind of let you guys know what this is going to be all about Hopefully know what this is going to be all about . Hopefully we'll have some guests on sometimes . Maybe you want to share your story or you want to have a question answered . You can talk to us or we'll have ways that you can maybe eventually email us or communicate with us to have suggestions for the podcast . But this was really good . So I just thank Brittany and Ashley for being here and , once again , this was Rush Hour episode number one , so hopefully this will be coming out every other week as we get going , so two of these a month . We appreciate you listening and we'll see you next time on Rush Hour .