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
Inside Rush Church: Getting to know the preacher and honest conversations about the church
We sit with our senior minister, John Watkins, to talk about what really makes a church feel like family—and why the measure of a healthy church isn’t louder programs, but people whose lives look a little more like Jesus day by day. John shares his story of preaching close to home, the joy and weight of leadership, and the simple vision that shapes Rush Church: fear God, keep His commands, and let Christ’s character show up in our homes, workplaces, and friendships.
www.rushchurch.com
Welcome to Rush Hour. This is Rush Church's podcast. We're here on a rainy fall day. I'm excited about fall weather. Had some coffee this morning, sat and looked at the pond, read my Bible. It was a it's a bit I love I love fall. I like to just have coffee and rainy days kind of make me cozy and comfy. So we're here with our third episode. We have a guest with us this morning. We'll get to him in just a minute. Some of the things going on at Rush Church, though, we talked about last week. We have Rush Run, Fall Fest coming up on October 25th. We have Russell Mania on Wednesday nights. That's for four years old through sixth grade. That kicked off last week. It was a good kickoff. How many people do we have there, Ashley?
SPEAKER_01:We had 50 kids.
SPEAKER_03:50 kids running around having dinner and doing crafts and learning about scripture. And so it's always a fun time. We also have our student Bible study on Wednesday nights during WrestleMania. That's for seventh grade through 12th grade. What else is going on here? We have a connection lunch this Sunday for new families. That's already passed, though. So can't sign up for that anymore. But we're going to have it. And those are for new families that want to come and ask questions. And we're looking forward to that, getting to know those people. Yeah, that's some of the things, the announcements. What about some cool things that have happened the last week or last Sunday? We have Luke's Get More Teaches a class on Sunday morning. Brittany is a part of this class. Brittany, tell us what's going on in Luke's class.
SPEAKER_00:You're going to take it too, Brittany. I am, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Ashley's joining the class too.
SPEAKER_00:She is. It's during second service. We are reading the New Testament in 90 days. So from October 1st to January 1st.
SPEAKER_03:Three months through the whole New Testament. How many minutes a day is that?
SPEAKER_00:Twelve minutes a day.
SPEAKER_03:12 minutes a day to get through the whole New Testament from now until the New Year.
SPEAKER_00:And then we meet Second Service and we have answer questions. Luke gives you an outline on what you read and tries to explain as much as he can.
SPEAKER_03:Very cool. That's a lot to go through in a in a class because you have like several chapters to recover or uh review. But it's a lot of fun. Luke is telling me it's it's Luke loves answering questions. He loves talking about the Bible. He knows a lot about the Bible. So I'm jealous. It seems like a good class that's going to be going on. Yeah. Well, our guest that we have with us this morning is senior minister John Watkins here at Rush Church. And we thought it'd be fun to have him on, let him know what the podcast is all about, and just kind of get to know him. Let him show some of his personality, answer some questions, talk to us about what it's like to be the senior minister at Rush Church. So uh welcome to the podcast, John.
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's good to be here. I'm not sure how much my personality you want me to unleash onto the world. Not a whole lot.
SPEAKER_03:Just enough to give him a taste of who you are.
SPEAKER_05:All right. Well, I'm distracted. You mentioned lunch. I'm still thinking about lunch.
SPEAKER_03:I did not mention lunch. That's on Sunday, though.
SPEAKER_05:I gotta I gotta refocus here. I'm sorry. It's almost noon. I'm I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we could go to lunch.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, we could go to lunch.
SPEAKER_05:Look, I'll be seen with you guys in a sound booth. That's fine. But out in the wild, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So we do use Calvary Christian School's podcast studio up here in their library. They have a nice studio made for podcasting. So a big shout out to them for letting us come and use their equipment for now, the microphones. And that's the reason we sound so good, is because they have good stuff here. And so we like this little this little place. And so shout out to Calvary for letting us be here and use their space. But tell us a little bit about yourself, John. Where are you from? How long you've been there, all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_05:I've been preaching for about 14 years now. Started out in a little church in Bell Center, Ohio, and I've been preaching at Rush Church for about 10 years now or getting close to 10 years.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and you grew up in WrestleMania.
SPEAKER_05:I did. I did grew up right down the road from here. I I got done with school, and just probably like every preacher, I looked for the furthest away, most exotic place to go and do ministry, and ended up 10 minutes down the road from excited to get out there, excited to see where God's gonna send you.
SPEAKER_03:And he's like sort of a little place down the road from where you grew up. That's where you're going.
SPEAKER_05:Yep. It's uh yeah. God says, uh, you know, God says sometimes he's got big plans for you. I think sometimes we turn around and we say, I got big plans for you, God. And he says, Well, we'll we'll see. We'll see.
SPEAKER_03:We'll see.
SPEAKER_05:But yeah, I'm married. I've been married for 14 years. We just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. Congratulations. Went away for the weekend. That was a lot of fun, refreshing. My son, Sam, 11 years old. As a matter of fact, he goes to school right here at Calvary.
SPEAKER_03:He's in the building somewhere.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I think we passed him. He was eating lunch. I I think it was him because he turned away and looked, right, you know, pretended that I wasn't around.
SPEAKER_03:He saw you first and then was like, oh.
SPEAKER_05:That's right, that's right. And actually a lot of our our kids at Rush Church go to school here at Calvary.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we have several families that uh have kids that go here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So we got we get lucky. We get lucky around here, particularly I think in in Logan County. We get whether it's Calvary or even some of our public schools, I mean they're really they're good schools with good people. And well, I just I just think it's a good good place to be, and a lot of good people doing a lot of good things.
SPEAKER_03:Right. So you've been in ministry for 14 years, pretty local around here, all those 14 years. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, just Bell Center and Rush Church. Matter of fact, there was a guy preaching at Rush Church, Craig, and everybody loved him. He was fantastic. He was there for about five years, and then he moved, he moved home. He he he's from Illinois, and uh his family's back there and things like that. And so everybody at Rush Church said, Hey, we we hate to see you go, but but we get it. Let you know, whatever we can do to help you. And they ended up calling me at Bell Center, and I told the folks at Bell Center, I said, Well, you know, this is Rush Church, it's the church I grew up in. And they said the same thing. They said, Well, we hate to see you go, but you know, we understand wanting to preach there, and so whatever we can do to help you, we'll do. And and so it worked out real real well. And then they've got a minister in there now, Chris, Chris Langstaff, he's fantastic. He is really good.
SPEAKER_03:Chris Langstaff was at KCU when I was there. So I knew Chris while I was he was uh he was he had a job down there at KCU on security and some other stuff that he did down there.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, he's he's he's a great guy to know. He used to be in law enforcement, I know, years ago.
SPEAKER_03:That's why he was in charge of campus security down at KCU while I was there. So and then I realized he was up here, and I was like, Chris Lakestaff lives up here. And so that's uh I talked to him once in a while. He's done so a few things for me when I need somebody to do a devotional for different places. Uh Bill Center has a ignite program for basketball, and we do halftime devotionals there in the winter. And so I'm in charge of getting people to do those sometimes. And so I think all of you guys, you've done one before, have you over there? Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Ashley, you've done some halftime devotionals, and so yeah, a couple a couple of them over the over the year. I don't know how long they've been doing that. I don't know either.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, that's a little bit about John, where he's from, his family, and and so yeah, let's ask uh a few questions to John. I don't know if Britney and Ashley want to ask the first question.
SPEAKER_05:We got some are these good questions? Well, are they?
SPEAKER_03:I will say they are questions.
SPEAKER_05:They are most certainly questions.
SPEAKER_03:They are most certainly questions. Some of them will just be a little bit non-serious, but some of them we'll just kind of go through your take on some church stuff, some uh preaching stuff, and then some other questions that Ashley and Brittany have for you that they just think would be fun to ask, I think.
SPEAKER_05:So this is this is get to know.
SPEAKER_03:Get to know John Watkins, the why behind the Watkins.
SPEAKER_01:I think it might be a good thing.
SPEAKER_03:Ashley said that yesterday. It was great. You said you what did you say?
SPEAKER_01:I said the why behind the Watkins.
SPEAKER_03:What makes him tick? Just kidding. We know that. Let's let's double check her questions before she's no, she's she's good. She can ask whatever she wants. Uh who's gonna ask the first question? I'll ask the first question. All right.
SPEAKER_01:What is your favorite thing about Rush Church?
SPEAKER_03:That would be the church that you preach at.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, that one. All right. Well, I will tell you this. Growing up, we had we had a fairly large family. And there were a lot of times when we would get along very well. A lot of times we would uh sometimes disagree, and you know, just the your moments when you're kind of down in the mud and the muck, what you might call intense fellowship, right? And but it was a very loving family, very close, and we we still are to this day. We love each other, we we spend time with each other, we tease each other, we disagree with each other and things like that. And uh, Rush Church, honestly, in many ways, just reminds me of the family that I grew up in. Of course, we were a part of Rush Church, and maybe that had something to do with it, but but it reminds me very much of our our you know, close family, our biological family as we grew up. Rush Church is kind of the same way. We we care about each other, we spend time with each other, we love each other, we help each other, serve each other, but we also disagree, you know, from time to time. There's been people in the church that you know, different people that have been in an argument with over the years, or or even around the eldership table. And but but that's that doesn't define us. That's uh you know, once once that's done, we go back to life as normal. We go back to caring and loving and trying new things. That's the other thing I like about Rush Church. There's things that we try, whether it is a certain ministry or whether it's a whether it's children's program or or whatever it might be, any anything, all kinds of things. And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. And if it doesn't work, we say, all right, well, that didn't work, let's try something else. You know, let's we don't have to shut the door on things, we don't have to quit, we don't have to give up. It's a lot of freedom to do those types of things, so long as it's Christ-centered. And and I really that's I mean, that's kind of the point. That's when it comes to Rush Church, what is taught is truth. It's it's from Scripture, it's it's interpreting scripture correctly, it's trying to apply scripture correctly. And I mean a lot of church bodies do that, but you gotta be if I don't know the church, if if I wasn't raised in the church, if I wasn't raised knowing scripture, and I was unleashed into the world trying to figure this stuff out for the first time, I would be I would be cautious. I I don't I don't know that I would be nervous, but but I would be cautious about where am I where am I going? Who am I listening to? You know, are they going about it the right way? How do I even know they're teaching it the right way? And I think Rush Church, Rush Church does. Of course, everybody probably thinks that about their own individual body, but but that's what Rush Church does. And they they're not gonna they don't sacrifice that. They they continue to teach what scripture says, they continue to teach Christ and Him crucified. Yeah, that's the main point.
SPEAKER_03:And kind of like our first episode, we talked about why go to church, why is it important? And Rush Church is a good example of that that family that you get when you when you're part of a church, when you're part of the body of believers. And just like any family, it's not gonna be perfect all the time. You're gonna go through ups and downs, you're gonna have disagreements, it's the way you handle all those things. And so I think Rush Church has always, uh, since I've been here for six years, has done a great job of discussing and working through things, even if we don't always get along, but we always work through it and and and do what's best for the body.
SPEAKER_05:True. You know, I've told people before who are looking for a church. I've said, hey, Rush Church is a great place to be, and it's a great place to learn and know that you're you're being served the truth of scripture. But I've also said, kind of like the schools, there's a lot of places around here. There's a lot of church bodies around here who are just absolutely wonderful. And I've helped people, you know, be introduced to people in other church bodies. I'll tell you, it's it it's not like that. It's not like that all over the world. It but here in our little corner, there's a lot of good church bodies to be a part of, including Rush Church. Um it's good.
SPEAKER_03:Let's kind of talk about Rush 1.8 when we talked about that the first episode, and how we just want people to go to church and we'll help you find one. If it's Rush Church, we we'll love having you. But sometimes there's different places for different people, everybody's different. And so uh gotta find the right fit. Yeah, so good at good answer. Uh Rush Church is a good place. Good job when answer that one. That's the one question down. Uh Brittany, do you have a question?
SPEAKER_00:I do. Oh boy. Also, since we're talking about Rush Church, do you have a vision for Rush Church in the future? Or what would you like our church to be known for?
SPEAKER_05:What do I want our church to be known for? I think a lot of churches, a lot of church bodies, and a lot of churches, a lot of individual church bodies. There's one church, one church around the world. That's those who have given their life to Jesus. There's one church, brothers and sisters in Christ. Now they worship different ways and and they go about their their time in a little bit different ways, but but there's one church, but our little corner of it, our individual church body. I think the best way to sum up what we should do and how we should be thinking what our goals ought to be, is is Ecclesiastes. They're at the end of Ecclesiastes. I love it when the teacher says, you know, now that now that all has been said and all has been heard, I've come to only one conclusion. That to fear God and to keep his commands is the full duty of mankind. And that's what I'd like to be known for. And and what I mean by I would like to be known for that not so much looking at the building of Rush Church, but getting to know all of the people who are involved in the Rush Banning Church Christ and watching their lives and saying, look, I can I can see a picture of Christ in that person. And I think every every person knows that. Every person that's involved, that is invested in the kingdom, they know that. Sometimes they have a hard time living it out. Sometimes I have a hard time living it out. You know, our our pride and our selfishness and our fear and things like that get in the way. But the fact is, Russ Church ought to be a picture of Christ. Ought to be a picture of his hands, his feet, what he says, how he acts, you know, his character, I don't know about his personality, but his character. And that's what that's what I'd want to be known for. That's what I would want the church to be known for, and the people in the church to be known for. I want somebody who is a part of Rush Church to be out into the world. And for someone who doesn't know Jesus to look or listen to or watch that person, how they interact with their spouse, or how they interact with their family or their friends or their workplace, or whatever it is, the hope that they have, to watch that person and say, I want what they have. I want what they have. They're unique in this world around us. And hopefully we can be known for something like that. And how the avenue to get us there is certainly knowing who Christ is, but it's also obedience through faith. You know, practice makes perfect. And if we're not to the place where we practice obedience, I think it's gonna be a hard time living out the character of Jesus in our life. I and I don't here's the thing there's no there's no program that does this. You're not gonna put together a special program that by the time you graduate, you're following Jesus perfectly. Each person, each person who has accepted Christ has the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit to make the decision to tune their actions, their thoughts, their their attitude to the same as that of Jesus, certainly as they look at other people and his kids around the world and treat them that way.
SPEAKER_03:So good stuff. That's what I hope. The idea is to be salt and light, like Jesus asked us to do out in the world.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. To to be a preservative, to be flavor enhancer.
SPEAKER_03:Flavor enhancer, salty.
SPEAKER_05:But but but I also say this, and and you know, there's a couple ministers here. You know, the the the people you're leading or or the the sheep you're leading, uh they're they're not gonna go where their leader is unprepared or unwilling to go. That's that's leadership one-on-one. You know, if if we don't want to do that, if we don't decide in our own minds and our own hearts that this is how we're gonna live and this is gonna be the most important thing to us, then you can't expect the people that you're trying to teach or lead or or set the example for you can't expect them to do the same thing. They ought to. They each have their own life, they each have their own way of making decisions, they each have their own responsibilities. But if you're gonna be in a leadership role, then you have to expect that the people you're leading are only going to go where you are willing to go or able to go. Same way with parents and kids. You know, that's when you're raising your kids. You know, they're gonna they're gonna go where you're going, where you are going to go, where you're willing to go, where you're able to go. I guess you'd say yeah, I see I've heard that, and and and I I don't know if that's the most accurate way to put it. I don't think they have a higher calling. I think everybody has the same calling in the church, but I do think that leadership has a greater responsibility.
SPEAKER_03:It's the res that's the word that I would use too is responsibility, being prepared to lead those people, making sure that you're on task, I guess you'd say, yeah, and well equipped yourself to lead the way. Because all of our calling is the same. Like we got ministers in this room right now, and we got people on stages and we got people leading places, but if you're a follower of Christ, then your calling is to be a holy people. That's right, set apart from the rest of the world. And so some of us might be on stage, some of us might be leading Bible studies, but individually, we all have that same responsibility to go out and represent, be ambassadors for God's kingdom and show Christ. Yeah, so to represent. Wow. Good thing we're not on video. Um any other questions over there?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So get to know you a little bit personally. What are hobbies you like to do outside of church?
SPEAKER_03:Do you have hobbies? You do anything besides?
SPEAKER_05:I used to change.
SPEAKER_03:Used to.
SPEAKER_05:That's a problem.
SPEAKER_03:But you've you've tried to have some hobbies, I think. We've talked about some stuff that you've tried to get into, and maybe you're just trying to find another new hobby now.
SPEAKER_05:I don't know. I mean, over the years, I suppose I do a few things here and there. I uh ski a little bit in the winter. That's a hobby. Yeah, I like I like well, up until now, I've enjoyed coaching Sam with baseball, but I think he's getting the age where I need to maybe step back or step down a little bit with that. I uh when the weather turns cold, I'll I don't know if I want to do I want to tell all this stuff. I don't tell us what you want. I want the people to know. Yeah, I I I have tried. I've been trying, and I tried last winter to paint a little bit. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, I wasn't it wasn't it wasn't fantastic. It was fun, it was it was very enjoyable. So like canvas, not walls, right? Like Bob Ross in it, right? Yeah, that's that's that's my goal.
SPEAKER_03:I got you picture you with your easel and your paintbrush. Yeah, you got the happy trees.
SPEAKER_05:That's my yeah, I want to be the next one. Bob Ross Sunday. That's yeah, that's uh that's what I'm working on. Well, but yeah, it was it's a lot of fun doing that.
SPEAKER_03:All right. So you're not gonna offer any painting lessons for the church anytime.
SPEAKER_05:No, no, I don't think that's gonna happen. All right. I I do enjoy it though. It's good time. Good other things I I probably should do or would like to do. I I I do have this. There's a million things I would like to do, and a million things I'd love to do, but I just don't have time to do them really get into them very much. And again, I don't think that's necessarily a wise thing. I don't think that's a great answer, but that's the truth of it. Matter of fact, there was one of the elders one time that was asked about his hobbies, and he says, Well, I don't really have any hobbies anymore. And and I was thinking, oh, that's that's too bad. You know, that's sad. And then I thought, well, neither do you, man. I mean, you know, you gotta do something about this as well.
SPEAKER_01:I think it's definitely something we all struggle with.
SPEAKER_05:It is, and what we you know, I saw uh something on TV the other day joking around about having no time and always being at work and stuff like that. I I I don't think that that's something we should take lightly. You know, we miss a lot of the flavor of life. Speaking of flavor and salt, we miss a lot of the flavor of life, I think, when we when you know we identify only as our whatever, our job or career or time spent in the office, whatever it is. I think we miss we miss half a life, or at least a third of life, anyway. And there's a lot of stuff out there, and so I don't think it's something to really take too lightly. I think we should take that kind of stuff seriously.
SPEAKER_03:You guys should take up some disc golf. It's fun.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I have disc golfed with me. Oh, you have before. That was an interesting experience.
SPEAKER_03:It's fun.
SPEAKER_05:That's well, it's a it's a thing. That's throw disgusting hit trees and yeah, yeah, it's harder than I thought it would be.
SPEAKER_03:It is much harder than anybody thinks it is. I'd say they're like, throw a frisbee. I can throw a frisbee. I take a disc golf and they're like, this is stupid. They're like it takes a long time, but just some hobbies and stuff, so yeah, yeah. What else? Yes, Brittany, you have more questions?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I have a whole book of the book.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my god, so we don't just pick some of your good ones, pick some of your best ones.
SPEAKER_00:What do you do when you want to I use the word grow, but maybe recharge your faith?
SPEAKER_05:Recharge my faith.
SPEAKER_00:You're feeling kind of like I mean, it's your job, so you're doing it every day.
SPEAKER_05:Well, that is true. I I think you have to, as best you can, I think you have to have times of refreshment, times of being alone, or you know, you and your spouse being alone together. Again, we just went up on a trip just you know last weekend, and uh that was very refreshing having a conversation and and and just just kind of getting to know each other again. That was that was a good good thing. But the other thing about recharging sometimes people think that it's or refreshing is always about taking it easy or taking a break or backing off. Sometimes it's the other way. Sometimes in order to recharge or refresh or refocus, sometimes you need to take risk. Sometimes you need to do something that you wouldn't ordinarily do, get involved in something that you wouldn't ordinarily get involved in. And then you come away from that, actually rather refreshed and recharged and refocused, your priorities are straight again. So sometimes sometimes the refreshment, the recharge is reprieve, sometimes it's a it's a battle. And when that battle's over, you stand victorious on the field and you feel you feel good, you feel like there's a major accomplishment.
SPEAKER_03:Do you have an example of that that you've done in your life recently? Recently, where you tried something new because you wanted to.
SPEAKER_05:I don't know, it's been a while. It's been a while.
SPEAKER_03:I can see something attached to your bag right now that you have. What's up?
SPEAKER_05:Oh well, yeah, that's one thing, I suppose. We've got a lot of good people around here who are part of our emergency, you know, our EMS and our our fire and things.
SPEAKER_03:Maybe that's maybe that's not the right thing, but you like that's that was you trying something new. It is. That is was that refreshing for you a little bit?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, absolutely. It it allows you to focus on on maybe a slightly different aspect of human human care and human health. There are some challenges that are faced with that. One of them is just the challenge of whether or not you think you can do it and the training and things like that that go involved. Now, there's a lot of people that do that and they they do it very well, they do it far better than I do. I uh I don't have I don't have the time to really participate as much as I would like.
SPEAKER_03:But yeah, as you were talking about that, I just thought you went through the whole EMT process to get certified and kind of went to the classes and kind of worked through that, and then you got to the end and you accomplished it, and it was uh something that you're proud of.
SPEAKER_05:So it is it is a neat it is a neat thing to to be a part of and good people too. Good people to do that. Sometimes you plan and you practice and you work something out. You know, other times again for for a challenge or a refreshment, sometimes you just you just jump and you figure it out on the way down. And you know, you gotta throw yourself into a few things to be recharged, refresh. It's really just a a perspective to change your perspective on things. But I'll tell you this, if you stop long enough, it's hard to get started again with just about anything. You know, a break is a break. A break is just that. A break is I intend to start again very soon. So don't, you know, you don't want to get lazy, you don't want to get complacent, you know, none of that stuff.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. You have to rest wisely, I guess you'd say refresh wisely. Cool. Reminds me of a story in Acts when somebody fell asleep in a windowsill, you know, because Paul was talking too long. What was his name? Eunuchus, something like that.
SPEAKER_05:Well, I I Paul, at least Paul brought him back to life, right?
SPEAKER_03:Well, yeah, but like the idea of like people be like, well, he shouldn't have fallen asleep while he's preaching. Well, no, he shouldn't have fallen asleep in a windowsill. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, wasn't uh the best move.
SPEAKER_03:So relax wisely rest accordingly, but don't get complacent or too lazy to fall out a window and Paul had to bring back to life.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, that was exactly the point I was trying to make with all of that. No, don't fall asleep in the window.
SPEAKER_01:That's not the that's this is an example of but I get that because anytime we do a rush one eight event, like as tired as I am, I am always so recharged after those. I'm like, okay, when's the next one?
SPEAKER_05:Yep. Yeah, yep. And also bear in mind everybody doesn't act the same way and feel the same way about everything that that you do or I do. You know, sometimes I and I've fallen into this trap before. I've I've said, well, you know, we need to stop or we need to break or we need to change or we need to settle down. And I'm I'm thinking about it from my perspective rather than someone else's. And someone else's actually, no, this is great. This is perfect. This is exactly what I need right now, and and and vice versa. That changes as well. So you got to keep those things in mind.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. You got another question? Ready to go?
SPEAKER_01:I can. I have one. What is something you would like to see happen in your lifetime?
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's happened once, but I would like to see it again. And that is the Reds make it through at least one postseason series. Yes. Well, I don't know. I mean, they I have at least back in the 90s. I believe it. It's terrible. I'm getting that.
SPEAKER_02:They've been terrible the whole time I looked here.
SPEAKER_05:I want to do away with the designated hitter rule. I can't, I I don't like that. I don't know how why they extended it to the National League. Look, I don't understand. Never mind. That's a discussion for another time.
SPEAKER_03:Really?
SPEAKER_05:Yes. But I I would keep that simple. What do I want to see in my lifetime is a lot of things that are just very close to home. And one of the things that I think about all the time, particularly at night when I pray over Sam and his when he's sleeping, is you know, what happens if you know he's 11? What happens if I I do pass away tomorrow? So because we're not promised, we're not promised the next day. So that's to me, that's the most important thing. What do I want to have happen in my lifetime? And that is, I want I want Sam to know to fully embrace not just the truth of Christ, but actually who he is and what he is. And I think he's getting there. For some reason, with him taking it slower, I don't know why. Maybe that's intentional, maybe it's not. I don't know those things. But to me, that's out of out of all things, that's number one on my list. I mean, I'm not there's other things here and there, I suppose, nationally and locally and and and things like that, things that I think are really neat, but I would I would I would give all those up, you know, for for that one thing to happen. And that's that's the most important thing because that's that's the child that we've been given. So that's that's ministry number one, you know, right there. I think he knows who who Jesus is. I just I think there's more for him to learn to understand greater greater things. But that's that's without a doubt the number one thing that I want to see happen in my lifetime. Hopefully it's a long life, but who knows? Right.
SPEAKER_03:Very good.
SPEAKER_00:Next well, I can imagine that your job gets a little stressful sometimes. It is right now. You're involved in a lot of people's lives and good and bad. So if you want to share what the most stressful part is, we would love to hear it. But we want to know how your congregation can help you to maybe ease that stress.
SPEAKER_05:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:All right.
SPEAKER_05:Well the answer, you're not gonna like the answer. All right, you at least you're not gonna like the answer as far as how the how the congregation can help. Because we think it's a we think it's a cop-out answer. We think it's it's too easy, it's it's you're not putting any thought into it, but it it truly is the answer. The I'll get to that in a minute. The the hardest part about leading anybody, the or teaching anybody, the hardest part of interacting is conflict between people that is not handled in a biblical way. That is without a doubt the hardest thing. That is that is the most difficult thing to be involved in, it's the most difficult thing to come to a resolution on. You know, there's a lot of stuff. There's there's you know, there's uh programs that we do, and there's Rush 1-8, which is a lot of fun, and there's late nights, and there's meetings, and there's putting together a budget right now, and there's financial stuff, and all that stuff is not particularly fun, you know, that that part of it, putting together financials. But none of that is really the the hard, hard part. Even even talking to somebody who's ailing or or visiting somebody in the hospital and things like that, that's not the that's not the hard part. The hard part is whether it's two people, you know, two friends, two members of the church, two family members, whatever it is, you know, or or multiple people. And they have difficulty, friction, some sort of conflict, but but they don't handle it biblically. They don't have the mindset of of love and care and humility and generosity. What they have is you know, in the middle of that battle, what they have is me first. And I'm telling you, that is that is that's a difficult thing to go through. It's a difficult thing to be put in the middle of sometimes. You need to be. I mean part of the job, really, but but and and I care about the people, but that can be that can be very difficult. Anytime, anytime, anytime that we know who and what Jesus is, his what he wants, what he teaches, how he wants us to act, how we treat other people. Anytime we steer away from that, anytime we ignore that, it gets much, much harder between two people and then certainly a third person, you know, that that that needs to come in and be involved in that. The other thing that can be frustrating is com is commitment. You know, I I I find more and more that we don't live up to our word. Whatever it is, whether it's a role we want to play in the church, whether it's a thing we want to do, but even whether or not it's a commitment to each other. We you know a person's word used to be sacred. And the world was gonna burn around you before you were gonna break your word because it's who you were. That's what it meant. I can't be there, but I'm gonna leave my word there, it's gonna stand for me. But we don't we don't live up to our word, and and we don't live up to our word. I'm not painting everybody with this brush, but many people don't live up to their word, especially even outside the church, and that's what makes it difficult inside the church. Well, we don't live up to our word, and then we we break our our commitments here, we break our word there, we don't obey Christ here, we don't do this there. But then when someone asks us asks us about our commitment to Christ, we say, Oh yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm committed to Christ, and I I give my word that He's you know, He's my Lord and Savior. Well if that's true, show that in the rest of your life. Do that with everything. So so commitment and and living up to your word, I think, is can be a struggle, can be a can be a challenge.
SPEAKER_03:Those are the struggles. How can the congregation help you with those struggles?
SPEAKER_05:Okay, so so I told you you weren't gonna like this answer because that's that's the answer. Yes. And and and that's why it's it seems like a cop-out answer, but it's not. Yeah, if if your focus every day, if your focus every day is no matter what you do, no matter what you say, no matter what you think, and the attitude you have in every situation to honor Jesus, to honor Christ, then even if you and I sit down and disagree on something, who cares? We're gonna get through that without any issue, without any problems. In fact, we're probably gonna learn something about the whole situation along the way. Because we're going into the situation, we're going into the conflict, we're going into the disagreement or or the the struggle with the same mindset as Christ. And when you got two Christ-like uh Christ-minded people across the table from each other and debating something, you can get through it pretty easily for the most part. Then the only thing you're you're focusing on is is external stuff, the things you can't control. I mean, we're at the point now where we we've got to be concerned about things we can't control and concerned about things we can control. I mean, you don't need to, you don't need to why add that second part to your life? Why worry about the things you can control as far as your own attitude in Christ? Just take that off the plate completely. And now you only have to focus on, well, like EMS stuff, things you can't control. You know, the the the hard stuff comes along that way.
SPEAKER_03:Seems like a lot of Sermon on the Mount stuff to me.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, you know, I think when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, I think he really knew what it was talking about. You think so? I do, I do. I thought I think he thought that through. So, you know what? This is what humanity needs.
SPEAKER_03:Go up on the mountain and wing it. He was not off the cuff. No, no, I'm telling you. He talks about integrity, he talks about just say yes, let your yes be yes and your no be done, and do the things that you say you're gonna do. Yep. Be committed, and then whatever you just said. Well, I forget what we're talking about, the second thing.
SPEAKER_05:I'm not sure what I said. It was brilliant, whatever it was.
SPEAKER_03:But some of the things you were mentioning.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah. Um so and I think that's where the the difficulty in conflict comes. Conflict's always gonna come. That's part of life. You're never really gonna get to conflict resolution, but you can get to conflict management. And conflict management happens very well when you have two people, and there's that their their goal in life is to honor Christ. You can have conflict management between those two people easily and all day long. There's something else I wanted to say, but I forget what it was.
SPEAKER_03:That's my fault. Talking about Jesus stuff. Well stop that. So yeah, it's stressful parts. Working with people can sometimes get stressful and get conflicts and a little bit messy.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, but but yeah, that's true, but but also working with people also has the highest rewards.
SPEAKER_03:I was gonna ask you. I was gonna ask I knew what you were gonna say. What's your favorite part? Or like what is what's the what gets you? Why do you do this?
SPEAKER_05:Same, same thing, man. I'm telling you, I uh just to get to know the people of Rush Church, just it's it's almost it's almost uh if you if you imagine them not being there, you almost feel this hole and this you know pit of your stomach, you know. It's just it's wonderful. The people are great. Well, it is kind of it's it's wonderful having that kind of a lost feeling if you're not there when there's a victory between two people. I mean, there's a victory between two people at Rush Church that you're not even involved in. Man, I I love that. I mean, that's just that's fantastic. Two people have a conflict, they come together uh just completely on their own, and and and and they display the the love of Christ to each other, they come to this kind of resolution or whatever it is, and and yeah, and that's great.
SPEAKER_03:And so that's that's the rewarding part of what we do when you see people doing the things that you talk about on stage, I guess you could say.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, you get up there and you preach sermons or you teach lessons, and then when you see it happening with the people that you're talking to and they're doing it, you know, doing the things that they've been taught, it's yeah, now, yeah, that now that is that's almost that's almost emotional. I mean, that's almost overwhelming when that happens. That's that's a special thing. When when something is taught, whether it's by me or anybody else, it doesn't matter, but it comes from scripture, and then just like you, just like you said, you know, a week later, six months, a year later, oh yeah, you know, they put it into practice and or they they say at it or they tell it or teach it to somebody else. That's man, that's that's the good stuff.
SPEAKER_03:When you get to hear about the conversations that happen, you hear the stories about people you know working through things or discovering something new about scripture, and you're like, ah, look at that. So it's it's what it's what we do it for, I think. Yeah, so and and I was looking online, I don't know if you know that, but October is pastor appreciation month.
SPEAKER_05:Well, now that you mention it, I I didn't even think about that.
SPEAKER_03:But that's that's I'm throwing it out there. But like I saw somebody post somebody, I don't know, it was online, the internet. Somebody on the internet said, you know, if you really want to show your pastor appreciation the month, we're we're grateful for the cards and and the kind of the gifts maybe that you give. But if you really want to show appreciation, then you know, live for Christ.
SPEAKER_05:That is that is exactly it. That's and and number one, that would be perfect. Yeah. All right. And number two, bear in mind that the majority of things that people struggle with, at least on in some way and in some level, you know, whether it's your whether it's your Sunday school teacher or your elders in the church or your preacher or or your you know, some other minister, they're they're dealing with the same things. I mean, sometimes it's a different way, sometimes it's a different level, sometimes it was at a different point in life, but they're dealing with the same stuff. Yeah, they gotta go through that, they gotta figure that stuff out for themselves too.
SPEAKER_03:Right. I think one of the misconceptions about ministers or preachers is that they don't deal with the same stuff. They're up on stage, they have it better, or they're on another level, but they're really not.
SPEAKER_05:No, they're they're they're not.
SPEAKER_03:You're not another another level of us, are you?
SPEAKER_05:I do well. I'm in this room.
SPEAKER_03:Not in this room, I'm in like the whole church, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You just said you would miss us if we weren't.
SPEAKER_04:That's a good point. So I said I would miss the church, and you just took that as you two. Like, you are part of the church. All right.
SPEAKER_05:All right. Yeah, yeah, you gotta you you you're you're a human being just like everybody else. Yep. You know, a lot of people make a lot of mistakes, and sometimes you make the same mistakes. You were we're just talking about Moses earlier this morning, and how you know the Israelites made a lot of mistakes and in the wilderness, and sure enough, then Moses turns around and makes some mistakes in the wilderness. But I do think that that conviction is there, and sometimes that's at a different level. Yeah, but bear in mind, whenever you talk to a preacher, yeah, a couple of things. Number one, a lot of times uh people only see them on Sunday morning preaching a sermon, and yeah, that that looks that looks great. Everything he's joking, he's he's teaching, he's getting excited, whatever it is. And or, you know, when you have a con conversation, they're in teacher mode or they're in leader mode, and they're you know, it's time to go to work, it's time to get down to business, and let's let's talk about you and let's help you and let's Sundays are work days. Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Kind of like you gotta be you have a conversation with you or or one of our staff in the hallway on a Sunday morning. It's gonna be a little bit different than it would be like on a Tuesday night at a soccer game or at a football game.
SPEAKER_05:That's exactly right. Yeah, it is gonna be a little bit different. Now, hopefully, hopefully, though, your your well, your character is not different. You know, it's not you want to be authentic, you don't want to pull up style of conversation.
SPEAKER_03:Style of conversation. Still the same, you know, like you're being somebody different at different places, but just the way you communicate and the way you every pastor needs a pastor.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, that's that's just the way it goes. I've I talked to Ashley sometimes, talk to Britney sometimes. I've I've talked to a lot of people just over the years, just to be able to kind of talk and share and work through things.
SPEAKER_03:You guys got any other questions that you have ready to go?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. What book are you reading right now?
SPEAKER_05:Oh, I didn't want to answer this question.
SPEAKER_03:Don't say the Bible.
SPEAKER_05:Well, I see I think I if does Luke listen to this? Is he gonna look has he listened to any of this stuff? I don't know. We can't tell that. Because I just broke into a book that he gave me, and he gave me this book like two years ago. Oh my word. But see, here's the I've got a stack. People, oh you gotta read this, you gotta read this, you gotta read this, and it just goes on the list, you know.
SPEAKER_03:And I've given you books before, too.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, exactly. I matter of fact, I read a book that you gave me during a this this probably during a family vacation.
SPEAKER_04:I know I you know they're going out doing some things, and I was just involved in this book, and yeah, I said, No, it's all right, I'll just sit here in the kitchen table and keep reading.
SPEAKER_05:You know, I just got got really involved in that book.
SPEAKER_03:Sometimes you find good reads and you just thought this is really good. And then interesting.
SPEAKER_05:And then I got about halfway through that book, and then it took kind of a left turn, I I thought, and I was like, Wow, this is okay. This is getting interesting. But Love Does was was what he gave me by Bob Goff.
SPEAKER_03:You've never read Love Does?
SPEAKER_05:Bob, look, what do you want, man? I've just got a list of books.
SPEAKER_03:I've got a stack that I gotta give. You guys read Love Does by Bob Goff? You know Bob Goff?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, he's an interesting, he's an interesting character.
SPEAKER_03:If you haven't read his books or listened to some of his stuff, just kind of listened to his life. I mean, he's super interesting.
SPEAKER_01:I need to know what book this is that you couldn't walk away from Failure Vacation.
SPEAKER_03:Oh no, we're not.
SPEAKER_05:I don't even remember what that one's talking about. Yeah, that's that might be a subject for another time.
SPEAKER_03:That's uh I'll bring that up another time. It's called Unseen Realm.
SPEAKER_05:Which and Unseen Realm is probably a book. If you're if you're new to faith, if you're a child in faith, if you're if you're just coming to understand who Jesus is, it it's probably not a book you know that you that you want to read through without someone kind of with you, kind of walking you through.
SPEAKER_03:Also, the way that book's written, it's more of a scholarly book anyway. It's got a lot of footnotes, right? It's got a lot of deep, deep things.
SPEAKER_05:At no point, if you read that, at no point, you know, are you gonna come away and say, well, this is the way it is, or this is what the Bible says, right? Anything like that. It's more of just looking at things from a different angle.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I do have a smaller version of it if you're interested, though. Yeah, it's more of a for a lay person.
SPEAKER_05:Uh but yeah, love does, and and yeah, so it's been sitting on the shelf or it's been on the bottom of the stack for a while. And when you get done with one, you just move on to the next one. And finally, I'm I'm in love. Does so I wouldn't lie to Luke if if he asks about it, you can tell him that I've enjoyed the book.
SPEAKER_03:He probably forgot he even gave it to you two years ago. He's not even worried about it. But it is a good book. I like Bob Goff, and he tells some awesome stories. I love good storytellers.
SPEAKER_05:And then earlier, I now it's not what I'm reading now, but I remember you know, earlier this year or when I was going through uh The Forgotten God by Francis Chan. That was that was a neat that was a neat read as part of our Holy Spirit, you know, series and teaching and things like that. But The Forgotten God's a great book. That's Francis Chan.
SPEAKER_03:Awesome.
SPEAKER_05:Some good reads, yeah. And those are meal books. I got dessert books at home that I read before bed, but that's what I'm reading.
SPEAKER_01:I have a question. Yes. What are your thoughts on AI?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, tell us about AI.
SPEAKER_05:Well, you know, when I was growing up, I uh well, I went to Ben Logan, I was in the F of A chapter. AI was a whole different thing. But I I'll tell you this. Here's here's I'm gonna have to sit forward for this one.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, he's sitting up. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Trust me, actually, AI now stands for artificial intelligence, and uh, I think there's there's plenty of artificial intelligence that goes around. I don't think we I don't think we need more.
SPEAKER_04:We've had that for a while.
SPEAKER_05:We're loaded with that. Look, like anything, it's a tool that maybe you can use and maybe you can't, maybe you should use, maybe you can't use. That's the bottom line. It's uh it's an interesting tool. I don't know a whole lot about it. I just know it answers questions fast. I mean, that's pretty much all I call.
SPEAKER_01:That's kind of that's what I wonder. Like, what's the how can we rely on that question that answer being correct?
SPEAKER_05:Well, I don't think you rely on any one answer when you're seeking you know advice. So if if you're going with you know, if you're trying to interpret whatever passage in Romans and you ask uh an AI, I don't even know you phrase that.
SPEAKER_03:Is it called is it called an AI? Well, I mean they're all there's there's AI, but then under the branch of AI, there's different ones different like Chat GPT and Gemini and Grok, I think is one.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. So so let's say you ask about uh ask one of that thing about the interpretation. Well, I wouldn't stop there. I mean, I would I would I would then ask a teacher and then ask your preacher and we just could commentary.
SPEAKER_03:Any tool that you use, you just you don't just use one tool, you kind of go to different places, different resources.
SPEAKER_05:I wouldn't even do it with people. I mean, forget about the the AIs. If you're if you're talking to uh just a person, can you explain this to me? And they explain it, they may explain it perfectly, but I'm still, especially if I'm teaching that, I'm still gonna go to another source and say, okay, well, now how do you see it and how do you read it? Because I'm having having difficulty understanding it. So yeah, I wouldn't, I mean, if you're just if you're just gonna go there for an important question, and that's all you're gonna take, well, that's just foolishness. That's I mean, that's just foolishness. You you do I mean you're you're earning whatever's coming to you as far as that goes. Right. You still gotta use common sense, but it's a tool that can be used, and sometimes people can use the tool, and sometimes people can't. You know, I I like a like a phone. That's a that's a tool that you can use. You know, Sam and I have talked about that before. He's 11, he doesn't have a phone, he's not gonna get a phone for a while. He says, Well, when will I ever get a phone? I said, Well, number one, you're never gonna get a phone. I'll get a phone, and you'll have my phone. That's how that's gonna work, so long as you're living here. I said, but here's when. When you go into my shop and you can use all the saws and everything else, when you can do that on your own, then you can have this other tool as well. Because those tools, they can only hurt the body. Some of these other tools can hurt much more than that. And and so, and and actually right now he's very excited about whenever I go to the shop. He says, Can I go with you? You know, can I do that? Can you show me how to do that? Can I get, you know, and it's the same kind of care that I'm gonna use when he's exposed to some of these other tools. I think sometimes we forget that as parents, maybe as teachers. You know, if you're gonna look over a kid's shoulder when he's you know using a miter saw or a whatever, you know, a table saw, you you better be looking over his shoulder when he's using some of these other tools because they can do just as much damage, just not in the physical way, but they could do just as much damage, long-lasting damage. When you're exposed to, as a child, information from all over the world, that's that's it's dangerous. It's dangerous, can be good, but it's dangerous.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. AI is good, AI is bad, but that's the AI we have. Any tool can be good, any tool can be bad. We just this is this is one though that you know everybody's using AI, everybody's hearing about it.
SPEAKER_01:It is it's more common lately.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I don't know that I've ever used it. I don't think I've ever used it. I don't know. Maybe I have.
SPEAKER_03:I don't even know how you know if you I've used it and not even know that I used AI.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, maybe that's maybe that's what it was.
SPEAKER_03:It's interesting, but we can have another whole podcast about AI sometime and the effects on the culture and and some of the stuff that to look out for because it it's hard to detect sometimes, and you can be tricked. And that's why this culture that we live in of quick videos on the internet, look scrolling through quick reels or TikToks and just seeing clips of people talk. You can't just watch clips and get your get your opinion on things. You you don't know if it's real or fake, and it's gonna be a problem. It already is a problem, but it's gonna become more of a problem. So we'll have an episode on that probably soon.
SPEAKER_05:And and there's a lot of tools. The other thing you need to remember about tools, there are tools that have been invented in the past that everybody thought was absolutely wonderful, and they're not even used anymore, right? I mean, it's all right, we've we've moved beyond that. It's not as good as we thought it was. There's there's something better, there's something else that comes along. There have been tools in the past that we've invented that we found out later that they were very dangerous and and harmful to people, and so we don't use those anymore. I mean, there's all kinds of things. And and then there's tools that we've invented in the past that some people liked, some people didn't, but because the invention was in its infancy, once it became mature, once it once it actually grew up through time and was changed and refined, then it became very useful and very wonderful. Well, and and this tool is I don't know, to me, it's the same same way as all those. It's brand new. I mean, to me, it seems brand new.
SPEAKER_03:All right. We're about out of time. You guys got any other questions you really wanted John to answer for you?
SPEAKER_00:I do. If people want to talk to you or they want to learn from you or just ask you questions, when's the best time for that?
SPEAKER_05:Well, I mean, any time really. Just like everybody else, I do have office hours, usually from nine to three. You gotta make it. If it's important to you, then then schedule time. You know, when I go in to see, you know, my dad's lawyer, if you go into the law firm or you go into the doctor's office, you you you schedule time, you go in, you do it, you sit, you talk, you you discuss, you figure out what's important, what's not important. You know, you don't you don't tell the doctor, well, you know, the only time I have is at 9 30 at night on Friday. You know, the doctor's gonna say, Well, is this important or not? Get in here, make it happen. You know, so I've got office hours, but that being said, is it important to me then to make make myself as available as I can? Absolutely. And so, you know, people we talk in the evenings, people call me, and and it's really kind of any time. If I can't be there, if I can't do it, then I'll tell you I can't be there, I can't do it. By the way, I am booked this Thursday evening, for example. Okay, on my schedule, if you look at my schedule, on my schedule, it says nothing. That's what it says from I don't know about 4 30 on, it says nothing. That's filled. It's filled with nothing, but that's filled. It's filled with me being at home. Sam and I are we're we're working on a chicken coop and a couple things. That's so that's filled. So so I I leave that. And so I'll tell people, and I mean it. Well, I'm booked that time. I'm booked at that time, and I'm booked for important things. And sometimes that's just hanging out with Sam and Ashley. But they can call me, they can call the church. By the way, call the church. I hear a lot of people, well, not a lot of people, but once or once in a while, you know, I'll miss uh maybe a call on my cell phone and I'll and I'll say, Well, I just couldn't get a hold of you. And I say, Well, you know, it's it's a Tuesday afternoon. Did you call the church? Well, no, I didn't call the church. Well, come on, let's let's you know, let's let's use some common sense there.
SPEAKER_03:So, yeah, if you want to schedule a time, call the church. Let's talk to Katrina, like we said last week. Katrina will get you set up and where you need to be.
SPEAKER_05:And then of course, an emergency is an emergency. If it's an emergent thing, hey, I'm gonna be there. Let's do it. You have an email? Whatever it is. I do, John W at rushchurch.com.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. John W. Rushdurch.com. You can email him, he'll respond.
SPEAKER_05:Maybe you can't Facebook me.
SPEAKER_03:Can't Facebook you.
SPEAKER_01:No, he's not on Facebook. Did you ever have a MySpace?
SPEAKER_05:Uh my no, I've never no.
SPEAKER_03:He doesn't like people in his space.
SPEAKER_05:So yeah. I've never had a a MySpace.
SPEAKER_01:Well, he was talking about things how we used to have them, and then they're better now. MySpace was that thing. My space was okay, but now we've got Facebook.
SPEAKER_05:Used to, used to, I don't think when I think of used to, I don't think of MySpace. I I I mean, that to me that seems I mean it's not new, but it's it's still Lukey was thinking of the 1900s.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Back, you know. When was MySpace? I had one for a while. I know. The best part about MySpace was what?
SPEAKER_01:The music.
SPEAKER_03:The music. You get to put your song when people come to your page, a song plays. You get to pick the song they get to hear when you come to your page. Really? How exciting is that? That's it.
SPEAKER_00:You could be very happy that mine disappeared forever. I pretty much have a skillet the whole time.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I don't remember anything about MySpace except for I like to put songs out for people to listen to when they came to see my page. People would write on your page. So do you have a lot of people writing on your page? Probably not.
SPEAKER_05:I don't see that's the other thing. I put out something that says, hey, this is this is John Watkins' page. Anybody who wants to come and see this can. You know, it's gonna be like three people. I mean, there's why would I want to go do that?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you three.
SPEAKER_03:Do you guys remember when Facebook used to poke people?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that was weird. Strange times. I don't, that just sounds weird. Yeah, you'd log on and be like, you've been poked by this person. That's that's just that's I don't even know why it happened.
SPEAKER_01:Or why we even invented that thing. Yeah, how do you respond to something like that?
SPEAKER_03:You don't you poke them back and you just go back and forth for years, and that's what happened. So that's a real thing. Virtual poke on Facebook.
SPEAKER_05:Virtual poke. Well, you can get a hold of me whenever you want. It's certainly if you're I mean, if you're a part of the church, just get everybody's got my number and they've got the church number and just whenever you want. But I will say, you know, make it a priority. If it's important, make it a priority in your own life as well. That's the that's really the all right.
SPEAKER_03:I think we're out of time, even though we have lots of questions we could ask and talk about. I think that was a good conversation. Get to know John a little bit better, the senior minister here at Rush Church, once again. So thanks for coming on.
SPEAKER_05:I know it was a great time. Great time. Yeah, it was fun. We enjoyed the podcast. This is just number three. You guys got a long way to go, right?
SPEAKER_03:We're having a good time. So thanks for listening. We appreciate you guys get on your phones, you get on computers and listening to our conversations. If you want to suggest anything or have a question you want to ask or just a comment about rush hour, the podcast, you can go to the description that you're listening to right now, hit the text me button, and it'll give you an opportunity to text if you're on your phone. And then also you can just send an email to me if you have suggestions or questions or comments about the podcast at CodyC at RushCurch.com. But that's it for us today, and we'll see you next time here on Rush Hour.