What If Being The Church Meant Showing Up Everywhere

We trade stories from prom, after-prom, and school events, then zoom out to the deeper why behind Rush 1.8 and our push to serve beyond the building. We connect scripture to practical outreach and remind each other that being salt and light shows up in everyday life, not just on Sunday morning. 
• upcoming Rush Church dates including Graduate Sunday, Fifth Sunday, Kids Jam needs, and Pineapple Palooza 
• prom and after-prom recap with the photo booth, obstacle course, and late-night laughs 
• Rally for the Cure at the middle school and high school, plus what it takes to serve for hours 
• why people may not feel ready to enter a church building and how outreach lowers that barrier 
• Jesus’ pattern of going to people and what that means for modern church outreach 
• Great Commission insight on “as you are going” and everyday discipleship 
• lost sheep language and why we prioritize showing up where the community already gathers 
• outreach tools like free cotton candy and conversations that open doors to faith 
• salt and light as a call to visible, consistent influence together 
Please sign up to help us. 

www.rushchurch.com

Transcript

Welcome And Rapid-Fire Announcements

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hey everybody. We're back. Next episode of Rush Hour Podcast. I'm here with uh Britt. You're here. I'm here. Ashley's here. I'm here. Good. Alright, roll call. Perfect. So yeah. Glad everybody can make it on this bright and early morning in WrestleMania. Had my coffee. You guys had coffee?

SPEAKER_03 0:29

No. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Oh, good. Ashley said.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Sorry that I was giggling through your music.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I don't care.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

I want to hear it. Hopefully, Russ Varner likes that better than the last music. If he doesn't, we'll change it again. Russ, if you're listening. But yep, we're glad that you keep listening to us. We have some stuff to go over, what Rush Church has been up to, what's coming up. We'll go over kind of what we've been doing with Rush 1.8 recently and what is to come with Rush 1.8 ministry. And yeah, talk a little bit about that today.

Graduate Sunday And Summer Camps

SPEAKER_00 1:00

But first, announcements. This Sunday, which is in two days, if you're listening to this on Friday, May 17th is Graduate Sunday. We're recognizing eight graduates this weekend. A couple college ones and a couple a lot. The rest are high school. But so that's what we do. We recognize our graduates. We just do kind of a little small ceremony in both services. So that's what we're doing this weekend. Let's see. My camps are full.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

We had girls' camp's full too.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, girls' camp's full. Paintball camp is full.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Everybody wants to go to camp.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

It's gonna be a good summer. What else announcements do we have coming up? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

Uh Pineapple

Pineapple Palooza Volunteer Push

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Palooza. Oh yeah. Yep. June 7th. June 6th. June 6th. Oh my word.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Saturday, June 6th.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Please sign up to help us. It's not very hard. Uh we got a photo booth, obstacle course.

SPEAKER_02 1:48

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

That's it. That's it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Those are easy. Right now we have two people per shift. We really need six people per shift. So please, please help us out.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

All you have to do is come and sit and watch people go on the obstacle course. You tell them when to go. And then you say, Good job.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

We also have chairs. Yes, you can sit. We will have chairs. You don't have to stand.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Correct. Photo booth is easy. You hit a button and you tell people to dance. Yeah. So it's pretty simple. It'll be a fun time. We'll be out in Bell Fountain outside the Kiyomi. Kaomi. Okay. It's really tasty. I like going there though. It's good. They got good lunch specials and yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

That is a good restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Try to think what I always eat there.

unknown 2:35

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

I get all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

Pot stickers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Why?

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Crab raccoon.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Crab raccoon. Egg rolls. The hibachi at lunchtime is good.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

I do. I do the chicken hibachi.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

I just do sushi rolls.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Wow, look at you. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

You know what I found out about ginger? You know why they serve? Yeah, you know why they serve ginger with sushi?

SPEAKER_03 2:56

I do know why.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

It's a natural parasite defector or whatever the heck you call it. Like it keeps you from getting parasites, which means there's parasites in sushi.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Parasites in lots of things, Ashley. It's fine. You know how many bugs you eat at night when you're asleep? Okay. So pineapple Palooza. That's coming up if you want to help out with that. Uh let's

Kids Jam Wish List And Fifth Sunday

SPEAKER_00 3:21

see. I don't have anything else. Kids' jam. When does sign ups for kids' jam start?

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Yeah, those won't start till June yet. However, our wish list has come out. So you'll see QR codes all around the church and on our Facebook page. All you got to do is put your camera right up to it, click the link, and it'll show you the different needs that we have this year. And then later on in the summer, we'll come out with a list of dinner items that we'll still need donated for the event. But yeah, it's really exciting. We serve about a hundred and about a hundred to one thirty each night. Uh so five nights of a lot of kids here. Really excited for that. But we do have Fifth Sunday coming up. That's in what are we, May? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

That's in two weeks.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah, in two weeks, May 30th. So if you have never heard of Fifth Sunday, that's where I take over the backyard. Uh all the teachers get a break that day, and then I do something different each time with the kids. Last time was a lot of games, loud craziness. I think this time is gonna be a little different. I don't want to reveal what I'm doing, but it'll be different, but it'll be it'll be good. I think they'll enjoy it. It'll be fun.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Are you sure?

SPEAKER_02 4:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Okay, well, they had fun last time. There's like teams and they were competing and doing crazy things, and you had your fancy sparkly jacket on. Yeah, I still think you need like a fifth Sunday outfit that you wear for everybody like, oh, look at Ashley, it's Fifth Sunday in the back yard.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

A lot of screaming, yes. I kind of got reprimitted a little bit for the screaming. It was pretty loud.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Let them let them have fun. That was fun. So, but that's all good things that are coming up. Let's see. I don't have anything else really. Good. Come to Rust Church. We got lots going on. Yeah. What's for breakfast this Sunday? Do you know?

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Pancakes.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Pancake Day.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Pancake.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

There you go. Chocolate chip pancakes. Put some chocolate chips in them.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Should I?

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Make them happy.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

You could.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

I don't know. I feel like it'll be really nasty.

SPEAKER_04 5:13

Yeah, I'll just give them a bowl of chocolate chips. The same as in the pancake. Anyway.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

How do we got? Do we want to talk about relay?

Pancakes Then Prom Highlights

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Oh. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

We did do some stuff.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

I'm like sitting here trying to remember the name of it.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

We uh, well, you want to talk about prom first? Yeah. I don't think we've talked about prom on here yet. I know we told people we were going.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

The three of us have had a really busy last two weeks. It's true.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

We've been out and about. We went to prom, we danced. Um we prom was fun.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

We take a photo booth to prom. This prom was better than the last one, I think.

SPEAKER_03 5:50

I enjoyed it more. I mean, I enjoyed the music more. I really enjoyed the music. I know that a lot of the teens probably weren't excited about the music, but I really enjoyed it. Yeah. I liked it.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

A lot of 80s, 90s remix. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

So we did that. We were at prom. We saw all the there's some really cool suits. Some guys had some good suits up there. Yeah, you gotta stuff in. Look at those guys. Next year. You would have fit in really well. I gotta get, I gotta get a fancy.

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Actually, within all the fancy, I say fancy suits. They're not fancy.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Didn't one have monopoly money over it?

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Yeah, that was I saw the disappointment on your face. Like, I should have worn it. I should have worn it.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Next week, next year I gotta get something.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

You want to have a normal suit.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

You want to know what your wife texted us and told us to do prior to Rob.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Oh, she told me. Oh, did she? I was leaving the house and she's like, Oh, by the way, what are you gonna do if you show up in there in jeans and rush church t-shirts? And I'd be like, What? I halfway expected to show up and be decked out in my nice suit, and you guys would be like, What are you doing? Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

I was like, Man, if we would have thought about that, that would have been funny.

SPEAKER_05 6:52

That would have been funny.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

We wouldn't have it.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

All right. So prom

After-Prom Obstacles And Late Night Fun

SPEAKER_00 6:56

was good. Then we went to after prom and we set up obstacle course.

SPEAKER_03 7:01

I was very toasty.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

And so you never were outside, were you?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

I mean, I was.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

You walked out there and said, Are you okay? Good.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Bye. You brought me food and that was it. And you're shivering in my little tent.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

I went back in and I was like, oh man, Ashley looks cold out there.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

It was freezing. It was hard. And then and then I text him and I couldn't get a hold of him. I'm like, I need to change with somebody. And then what's her name?

SPEAKER_00 7:28

There was no service in the building.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Megan. Yeah, Megan Carpenter. She's like, Can I do anything for you? I'm like, go get Cody. I need to change.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

She's like, I think Ashley wants you outside. I was like, oh, biscuits. But I then I go outside and my phone leg gets service, and I'm like, oh, Ashley's been texting. She wants something.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

She's been begging for me to come outside.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

I was like, let me go get some food real quick. I'll be back. You stay here.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Five more minutes.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

It was fun.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

It was. It was a good time. It was a late night. The kids liked it.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

I saw a lot of kids out to talk to a lot of people. Yeah. Yeah, we gave out cotton candy and Bob Gordon. So that was prom.

Rally For The Cure At Schools

SPEAKER_00 8:02

And then last week, so that was two weeks ago. Last week we did rally for the cure at middle school and high school. Middle school day we were out there with all the middle schoolers in the bus circle parking lot. How many cotton candies do you think we made?

SPEAKER_03 8:16

I'm gonna guess 10,000.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

10,000.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

It was at least over 500.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

Let's just say we never stopped. We had a line.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

There was never 20 to 30 kids for five hours.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

For six hours. Yeah. I'd say we did at least over 500, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:33

Well, I had to order two more cases of cotton candy for the next day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

We I thought we did a lot of after prom.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

No, this was a good one.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

And we didn't even empty the bottles, and we had to refill the bottles so many times.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Oh my gosh, it was a lot of fun though.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

I mean my arms were very tired. I was making popcorn.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

I was popping popcorn and passing popcorn out, and it was just like making it, passing it out, nonstop.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

At one point, you had to go in to talk to somebody, to an admin, and I was running from the popcorn machine to the photo booth, running back and forth. Hold on, hold on.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

I had children holding down the cotton candy stuff. Trying to roll the cotton candy.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Stupid windy. Cotton candy's flying through the air all day.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

Needless to say, after the middle school, we were all laying on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

And here's the thing this whole segment, nobody's ever gonna want to sign up for relay.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

This is fine.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

This should rush one eight.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Look, me and Britney went to the high school the next day. Yeah. Right. And you had something to do. You couldn't come with us, but we should.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

I actually thought, good luck. Yeah, she's like, after that.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

But we show up, we didn't do anything, did we? We had high schoolers helping us out. They volunteered. They're like, Can we make cotton candies? Like, yes, you should be able to do that. They put up our tents, they waited them down.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

And Britney's just standing there drinking ice coffee all day watching these kids work.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Yeah, you should have been there.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

I should have been there. I should have chosen that one to help out. It was it was really fun. Yeah, but we love our schools. We'll always be there.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

So yeah, those are good times. That's what we've been up to. A little bit busy, but all good things. And we can't wait to do more with Rush 18, like pineapple Palooza, like the park this summer for 4th of July, stuff like that. So join us in our crazy adventures. Um The Joked. Oh no, I'm not sure. No, icebreakers are just switched it up. Sorry about that.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

All right.

Peanut Butter Eggs And Dad Jokes

SPEAKER_02 10:28

First icebreaker. You haven't heard this one. Okay. Do you prefer crunchy or smooth peanut butter? And why?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Do you prefer?

SPEAKER_02 10:40

Yeah, do you prefer crunchy peanut butter? I like all peanut butter. Nope. Yeah. You gotta choose one. I'm gonna go with crunchy.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Crunchy.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Wow. I am a smooth. I cannot, I cannot do texture in my peanut butter at all. No, seriously. It like makes me gag.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Oh, it's so good.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Nothing like a little crunch in my peanut butter sandwich.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yeah, that's great. No.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

I don't like I don't peanut butter and jelly is okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

I prefer just peanut butter and honey on my sandwiches.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Nice. Yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Not any jelly, but I'll eat it if it has some jelly.

SPEAKER_02 11:13

All right, next icebreaker.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Moving on.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Tell us what you think.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

I like are we wrong? Like you're disappointing. You are wrong. Yes, you are wrong. I think icebreakers are supposed icebreakers are supposed to bring you together.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Yeah. Not judge us.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

A little instantly like shame, shame.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

How dare you like crunchy peanut butter?

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Whatever. All right. Next question. How do you prefer your eggs, Ronnie?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

I know eggs have like all these different names of ways that you can fix them. I don't know what any of them mean. Over easy, all the all the things.

SPEAKER_03 11:49

Yeah, I don't know either. I like the white cooked. You're good now. I don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

You good? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

I like the white cooked, not the yellow. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

What's that? So you don't know the names either. Over easy. I just call it runny.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

It's overeasy.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

What about eggs benedict?

SPEAKER_02 12:04

No wonder when I order it at the eggs benedict.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I don't even know what that means. What is eggs benedict?

SPEAKER_02 12:09

It's a poached egg. You're getting a poached egg on eggs benedict. Eggs Benedict is like the English muffin, the ham, the Hollandaise sauce. But the egg style for Eggs Benedict is a poached egg, which is basically a boiled. You drop the egg in boiling water, and so you're opening it and you're letting it cook within the boil water.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

It's too fancy. I don't know about it.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

But it tastes good. I'm an eggs over easy person.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

I like all the eggs. I'll probably choose deviled eggs. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Satan eggs.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Not devil, like devil eggs. I like satanic eggs. Obviously. Obviously. Um, but if I'm just like breakfast eggs, I like the way my granny used to make them. She used to just fry them all hard. Just like solid. Smash it down. Or no. Wow. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Yeah, my grandmom did that too. I don't think I've ever had that.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

I don't know what it's called. It's just the fried egg just smashed.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

It's uh so the like it's runny, like it does.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

It's like you take the pan that you just cooked the bacon in. Okay. And then you fry an egg in it. And but it's got so much grease that it's like really crispy. Huh.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

And everything's solid. There's no runny parts to it.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

Try this. Yeah, your family will be like, what?

SPEAKER_00 13:29

It's probably not good for you, but probably not.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

But I'm sure we eat a lot of things that are not good for it.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

But okay. Those with icebreakers. Tell us how you like your eggs. How do you like your peanut butter?

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Did not expect about eggs and peanut butter this morning. That's not what I was thinking, but.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

That's okay. All right. Now it's time for the joke of the day. Which I heard that my jokes are a little cheesy. That's okay.

SPEAKER_05 13:51

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Yeah. Oh, and can I make a side note here, please? Just to clear the air. I do not sit around smelling money, people. Okay. Why did you bring that up?

SPEAKER_00 14:04

We were past it.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

No.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

And we need to.

SPEAKER_03 14:06

Everyone is gonna go, wait, what was the last episode?

SPEAKER_02 14:10

Yeah, no, I don't do this. I know that it's dirty. Okay. I do not smell money. I have smelled money before, and I remember the smell of it. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 14:20

You're not open your case. You just and I've never smelled it again.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

I don't put it up to my face. Okay. All right. Now it's time for the joke of the day. What?

SPEAKER_04 14:32

That was the joke of the day. All right.

SPEAKER_02 14:38

All right. All right. The real jokes. What do you call someone who helps chickens?

SPEAKER_04 14:47

That's another word after that.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

Help chickens. What do you call someone who helps chickens?

SPEAKER_00 14:52

A farmer?

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Chicken helper.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

Chicken helper.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Chicken tender.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

Oh, this is your first non-biblical joke. Yes. This is it.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

We're expanding. Wow. Really threw me off there. Here's my second non-biblical joke.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

What is the father of all fruit?

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Papaya.

SPEAKER_05 15:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 15:26

Yay, I got one. Paplaws.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Papaya, because he's the papa. Okay. Papaya.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Oh. Papaya.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Wow. I was like, surely that's not gonna be right. But that concludes joke time with Ashley.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

Oh, I'm crying already.

Why Church Shows Up Outside

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Alright, real quick, let's get into a little uh more in-depth topic. I don't know. We've since we've been doing a lot of stuff, we've been busy with uh Rush 18 going out into the community. That's what Rush 8's all what the hippie that's what rush 18 is all about. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 16:04

Remix.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Remix. We wanted to talk about a little bit why the church goes out into the community, why we go beyond the walls of our buildings that we have, why it's important to go out and reach people in different ways. And so just start the conversation off why is it important to go do things outside the church walls? I mean, we all have our individual churches where we do things we meet, but then most churches have some kind of outreach or some kind of ministry that goes beyond just their church buildings into the community. Why do churches like to be out in the community?

SPEAKER_02 16:40

You want me to go first? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

I'll just sit here in silence until somebody says something.

SPEAKER_03 16:46

We're playing rock, paper, scissors. No, I think it's put the money down.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Answer the question.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

No, I think it's okay. On a serious note, we've got to meet people where they're at. Not not everyone is comfortable yet to come inside the church walls. And so I think that if we go out into the streets beyond where we're comfortable with, that's where we're gonna meet people. That's where we're gonna be able to share the love of Jesus where they're at so they can see and start to be comfortable with us and grow a relationship to then be like, oh, I want to follow you back to where you go to church, you know, or or point to any church, really, you know, that's that's biblical standing.

SPEAKER_03 17:26

Yeah. I think that Jesus was a traveler. And if we want to be like him, he went to a lot of different places. And I think we should follow suit.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

All right. Good way to start the conversation. Leads me into my first couple points for the day. Going outside the walls, going out into the world is what we're called to do as Christ followers because it's what Jesus did himself, as Britney just brought up.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Ding ding.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

So that's the model of what Jesus was all about. I don't have a ding ding button, but good job. Um ding ding ding.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

We are recording, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Yeah, we're recording.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

We're 18 minutes in, and we haven't even said anything at all. But here we are. Should we tell them?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Go ahead. We're gonna have to. I just wanted to make sure.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Well, we did this whole podcast already. What? Wednesday?

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Tuesday. Yeah, Tuesday.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

We did it on Tuesday. It was wonderful. It stopped recording about seven minutes in, and so now we're redoing it again for you guys. But there you go.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

So if we get a little goofy, start giggling.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

The church outside the walls, the going out into the community. We see this. Well, first thing I think about is what Jesus did for us. He left heaven, he left heavenly realms and came down to earth and became one of us. It says in John 1:14, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. So he came down to where we were, to our level, to be with us. Jesus didn't wait for people to show up, he came to them, and it started with him becoming human. And then while he was here doing his ministry, you didn't find Jesus kind of just hanging out at the temple or hanging out with the religious people. He was on the move, as Britney said. He was uh traveling, going around. He met people at wells, he met people on mountainsides, he went to their homes. If you want to be Christ-like, we have to go where the people go where the people are. Like that little mermaid song. Yes. I want to be where the people are.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

That's my favorite Disney man. Disney.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

There you go. But that's what Jesus was. That's the kind of guy he was. He went out to the places. We got to go to the places too. We got to go to the parks, the the sidewalks, the wherever we go with, you know, our jobs. So any place you go, we're going out and we're meeting people where they're at.

The Great Commission As You Go

SPEAKER_00 19:41

And this is what we're called to do in the Great Commission in Matthew 28, 19 through 20. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, says Jesus. Go and make people followers of me. Teach them about my commandments, show them how I did things, and go and do that. And so this word go in the Great Commission in the Greek original language of the New Testament's written in, you could also put this in a different way. You could you could say, as you are going, make disciples of all nations. Sometimes when we hear the Great Commission of go and make disciples, we think, well, we got to go far away, we got to go to these places, we have to actually pick a place and go and make disciples there. Really, this is like an everyday commandment. As you are going about your life, make disciples. As you go to the store, as you go to your job, as you go to the ball games, as you go to these places, as you're living your life, make disciples of Christ, which means we're supposed to look like him. We're supposed to let him lead us in these different ways. And so I always like that. Have you guys ever heard that before? The as you were going.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Not until you just told us the other day.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

On Tuesday, when we recorded this art. Yeah. Good job.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

But I think it's really cool because it makes a lot more sense that no matter what we're doing in life, that's how we're supposed to be making disciples. It it totally blew my mind that. So yeah. Good job, Cody.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

I just think it implies that ministry and and doing the things Jesus cost, it should happen in a natural flow of life. As we're, you know, we're living every day. It should be on our minds that, yeah, this is this is a time to make disciples. This is a time to live out what Jesus has asked me to do so other people can see it. And that just kind of changes the whole whole thing for me. At least it did when I realized as you were going, instead of just go. But I wish it was translated like that a little bit more often. But that's that's what that is.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Well, I also think that it makes it to where when you first read that, the Great Commission, when you first read that, it almost can make you feel like okay, on Wednesday, I'm going to go out and try to make a disciple of someone else. You know, I'm gonna be very intentful on that. Where when you read it the other way, then you know that it's Every day, all day, in every single place that you're that you're at. And I feel like it it holds you to a different accountability on what we're doing every day and how we're behaving and just how we respond to people or how we treat others. I think that does open it up.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yeah. So that just kind of as we're talking about community outreach and stuff like that. Community events aren't just extra things the church does, they're actually living this Great Commission out. That's the intentional going and living it out as you go that Jesus asked us to do.

Searching For The One Lost Sheep

SPEAKER_00 22:36

You can do that anywhere. So I think this next part, I'll talk a little bit about lost people, like people that don't know who God is, don't know anything about the church really. The the scripture talks about them as if they're lost. And so that's where we get that from. Jesus uses parables about lost sheep and lost coins and things like that in the in scripture. And it's like a search and rescue mission. And in Luke 15, 4, he's talking about a sheep that's gone off. And he said, Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? So you have a hundred sheep, Jesus says, You have ninety-nine, and then one's lost somewhere out on the mountainside. And he says, Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine and go find the one that's lost? And so the ninety-nine are safe inside the church walls. But the shepherd's priority is the one who isn't there. So if we only hold events inside the church, we only focus on inside this building with our people, we are asking the lost sheep to do what?

SPEAKER_03 23:36

Find us.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Find us on their own. And they might, they might not. But if we go out and we make it intentional about searching for the lost, and we show up to where people are, wherever that may be, there's a better chance that they'll be able to be found, or at least hear about Jesus and hear about the good news of God loves you and wants life for you. And so how does our ministry, how does Rush 1.8, how do we what does all this? I mean, we talked about a lot of cotton candy and photo booths and all this different things. How are we using this? How does this affect us getting to lost people? What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 24:17

It's just a tool. Like it's just it's it's a tool to get us in to events to offer something free. Uh, I love it when somebody walks up and be like, Why is this for free? Like, why aren't you charging? That's I mean, that's an easy answer. You know, that's because God gave his son for free. I'm it's okay for me to give you something for free too. But it just it's just a nice, easy avenue to be able to talk. But I think I look at way more as these things are just tools to get us in.

SPEAKER_00 24:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:49

I think that when we go out into these events and where we have all this fun stuff for their families, it it's so relaxed that it can be very we're we're easily approachable. Yeah, it's easy for people to walk up and talk to us. It's easy for us to kind of just open that conversation up to where maybe they've had bad experiences or they've had things in their life that they've maybe never even set side foot inside of a church. They don't know what it's like, and it just gives us kind of an easy open to just a relaxed environment. Because sometimes walking in the church door is really intimidating.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

It is, and out there we're having fun, you know. We usually have music playing or we're just being silly, and it's it's very lighthearted, like you said.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

We have fun here too.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

We do, yes, we do, barely.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

No, I know what you're saying. It's more of a different type of environment. So I think the way that our our goal here is like, yeah, we want to reach the people where they're at, we want to reach the lost sheep and and kind of bring them into what we have here at this church. I mean any church, really. But the way it does that is like what we just talked about, you know, you get to break down barriers of what people think about the church sometimes. They're like, well, it's very intimidating to show up on a Sunday morning to a place that you know you don't know what to expect, or you know, heard things about church, and you're like, I don't know if I want to go there. But then you can come to like you see Rush Church on our trailer and all of our stuff, and we're doing all this stuff for the community, and they're like, Oh, that's a church, and they do this kind of stuff. And so I think one, it can change the mindset of what the church is and the people in it, and be like, they're just like me, they're throwing cotton candy at people, and you know, and then it also that just by itself is breaking down barriers of what people have in their heads about what church is, and then when you're there, you get to actually talk to people, you have conversations, and you know, I think those are the two ways that Rush 18 really can impact what Jesus is talking about here, finding the lost and searching them out, just showing up and having genuine conversations, and then being like, Oh, you should just hope to see you Sunday or our next event or whatever this thing is, and kind of just throwing it out there and being like, Yeah, well, this is just this is us, this is Rush Church, and we got breakfast Sunday morning, come get a biscuit with biscuits with Brittany.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

I mean, it it really shows that we care about them because like we do, you know.

SPEAKER_03 27:28

We genuinely do.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Right. Like I got an email from the high school principal, and he was like, you know, thank you for what you guys do. And I'm like, I was no, thank you. Thank you for allowing us to come in and love on these teenagers because we know teenagers are hard, but but we love them and we want them to know that that they are loved no matter what, you know. I just I think that this this whole ministry has been such an avenue to be able to just love on the community.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

That was one thing that I was just thinking about is that we through all of these outreach programs that we've or places that we've gone, yes, we've gotten to love on the community, but I maybe you guys have noticed too the people that are hosting these events, the burden that we lift off of them as well. Yeah, because throwing an event is hard. It is. You know, we went to the school and they had stuff for the kids, they did, but us coming in just helps them, it takes that burden off the people that are throwing the the event, and so that was something that I was also thinking about that that can be a blessing for those people that are trying to do their best with what they have.

SPEAKER_02 28:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

So just an afterthought.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

And like you said, with the whole the trailer and like people recognizing. Remember, John said he was at the baseball field and probably just wearing a rush shirt, and the guy was like, Do you go to rush church? He's like, Yeah, I do. He's like, My son went to prom and man, you guys are everywhere. Well, great. That that's great. The church should be everywhere, it shouldn't be everything else shoved in your face all the time. Let the church be present. Like that's that's the goal.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Yeah.

Salt Light And Serving Together

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Um to kind of close out the last thought I had on why we do what we do from scripture, Matthew 5, uh, where it talks about Jesus talks about being salt and light. He says, You guys are salt and light wherever you go. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. So light doesn't exist just for itself, it exists to light up dark places. That's what light does. It can't darkness cannot be in the light. And so a church that stays inside its walls is like a light that's being hidden under a bowl, like Jesus talks about. And so these events that we do are, you know, going out into the world, shining light into these uh different places, these darks, dark places, so the neighborhood can actually see God's glory out and about, and not just glimpses of it through windows of the church and from the building, but actually fully going out into the world, into the community. So, yeah, that's a and all these things that Jesus talks about are individual things. Like you can do all these, you can go make disciples, you can teach people about Jesus, you can live it out yourself, you can be salt and light wherever you go at your job, at your kids' events, the schools. I mean, that's what we're called to do. If you've given your life to Christ and you say, I trust you, I'm gonna live for you, Jesus says you are salt and you are light, and these things are influencing words. This means you have influence, you have impact where you go, and it doesn't matter if you like it or not, Jesus says you are these things. Not that you should be, or you could be, or you ought to be, or whatever. It's you are these things. And so remember that when we go out, you are the light, you are the salt, you are the influence of God's kingdom in this world that we live in. And like I said, these are things that you can do on your own, but sometimes that's so much easier just to be a part of it as a bigger community. So that's why we already had this conversation about why going to church is important. But this kind of wraps it all up of yeah, you do it on your own, but it's a lot, for one, it's a lot more fun with other people. It's more, it's less scary to do it with somebody else. And so yeah, go out with your church community, be a part of what we do at Rush 18, be a part of these different ministries that we have. Rush 18's just one of the things we do. We have food pantry, we have I know we have lots of different things that the church does that you can just serve and be a part of, and it all comes into this idea of wanting to go outwards, wanting people to know who Jesus is and wanting to show that he makes life so much better now. And so yeah, that's what I have.

SPEAKER_03 31:58

Yeah, I like it.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Okay, it's good. Well, good. If Britney likes it, then we can close with that.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Oh, good.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Good job.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

Just waiting for Brittany's approval, waiting for her headphones to come off. And we're done.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

And we're done. But yeah, good talk, good episode.

Prayer And Send-Off

SPEAKER_00 32:14

We'll uh pray real quick, and then yeah, Lord, thank you so much for this day. Thanks for this opportunity to talk, have conversations, discuss things, and the opportunity to go out into the world for you and to be light in the darkness, to go after the lost sheep that has wandered away or hasn't even found you yet, that we give opportunities to find you. That's what we're doing. We want people to know who you are, and so that's why we go to things like the schools and we go to the parks and we go to the downtown and we go to these things to benefit your kingdom. And so be with us as we go. Help us to remain focused on you. I ask for those that are listening that you be with them, all the things going on in their lives. Life can be hard, life can be a struggle. So I ask you that you bring comfort and peace where it's needed, bring healing where it's needed, and just lift us up. And so, thank you for Jesus. Any pray. Amen. All right, guys. That's it for this episode. Uh, we'll see you next time, uh, next week. Uh same time, same place. Bye.