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
What If Being The Church Meant Showing Up Everywhere
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
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
Welcome And Rapid-Fire Announcements
SPEAKER_00Hey 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_03No. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Oh, good. Ashley said.
SPEAKER_03Sorry that I was giggling through your music.
SPEAKER_00I don't care.
SPEAKER_01I love it.
SPEAKER_00I 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_00But 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_02We had girls' camp's full too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, girls' camp's full. Paintball camp is full.
SPEAKER_02Everybody wants to go to camp.
SPEAKER_00It's gonna be a good summer. What else announcements do we have coming up? I can't remember.
SPEAKER_02Uh Pineapple
Pineapple Palooza Volunteer Push
SPEAKER_02Palooza. Oh yeah. Yep. June 7th. June 6th. June 6th. Oh my word.
SPEAKER_00Saturday, June 6th.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00Please sign up to help us. It's not very hard. Uh we got a photo booth, obstacle course.
SPEAKER_02That's it.
SPEAKER_00That's it. That's it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Those are easy. Right now we have two people per shift. We really need six people per shift. So please, please help us out.
SPEAKER_00All 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_03We also have chairs. Yes, you can sit. We will have chairs. You don't have to stand.
SPEAKER_00Correct. 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_03That is a good restaurant.
SPEAKER_02Try to think what I always eat there.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_00I get all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_02Pot stickers. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Why?
SPEAKER_02Crab raccoon.
SPEAKER_00Crab raccoon. Egg rolls. The hibachi at lunchtime is good.
SPEAKER_02I do. I do the chicken hibachi.
SPEAKER_03I just do sushi rolls.
SPEAKER_00Wow, look at you. Okay.
SPEAKER_02You know what I found out about ginger? You know why they serve? Yeah, you know why they serve ginger with sushi?
SPEAKER_03I do know why.
SPEAKER_02It'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_00Parasites 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_00see. I don't have anything else. Kids' jam. When does sign ups for kids' jam start?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 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_00That's in two weeks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 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_00Are you sure?
SPEAKER_02Yes.
SPEAKER_00Okay, 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_01A lot of screaming, yes. I kind of got reprimitted a little bit for the screaming. It was pretty loud.
SPEAKER_00Let 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_01Pancakes.
SPEAKER_00Pancake Day.
SPEAKER_01Pancake.
SPEAKER_00There you go. Chocolate chip pancakes. Put some chocolate chips in them.
SPEAKER_01Should I?
SPEAKER_00Make them happy.
SPEAKER_04You could.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. I feel like it'll be really nasty.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'll just give them a bowl of chocolate chips. The same as in the pancake. Anyway.
SPEAKER_03How do we got? Do we want to talk about relay?
Pancakes Then Prom Highlights
SPEAKER_00Oh. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03We did do some stuff.
SPEAKER_02I'm like sitting here trying to remember the name of it.
SPEAKER_00We 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_02The three of us have had a really busy last two weeks. It's true.
SPEAKER_00We've been out and about. We went to prom, we danced. Um we prom was fun.
SPEAKER_02We take a photo booth to prom. This prom was better than the last one, I think.
SPEAKER_03I 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_02A lot of 80s, 90s remix. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So 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_03Actually, within all the fancy, I say fancy suits. They're not fancy.
SPEAKER_00Didn't one have monopoly money over it?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that was I saw the disappointment on your face. Like, I should have worn it. I should have worn it.
SPEAKER_00Next week, next year I gotta get something.
SPEAKER_03You want to have a normal suit.
SPEAKER_02You want to know what your wife texted us and told us to do prior to Rob.
SPEAKER_00Oh, 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_02I was like, Man, if we would have thought about that, that would have been funny.
SPEAKER_05That would have been funny.
SPEAKER_02We wouldn't have it.
SPEAKER_00All right. So prom
After-Prom Obstacles And Late Night Fun
SPEAKER_00was good. Then we went to after prom and we set up obstacle course.
SPEAKER_03I was very toasty.
SPEAKER_00And so you never were outside, were you?
SPEAKER_01I mean, I was.
SPEAKER_00You walked out there and said, Are you okay? Good.
SPEAKER_01Bye. You brought me food and that was it. And you're shivering in my little tent.
SPEAKER_03I went back in and I was like, oh man, Ashley looks cold out there.
SPEAKER_02It 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_00There was no service in the building.
SPEAKER_02Megan. Yeah, Megan Carpenter. She's like, Can I do anything for you? I'm like, go get Cody. I need to change.
SPEAKER_00She'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_03She's been begging for me to come outside.
SPEAKER_00I was like, let me go get some food real quick. I'll be back. You stay here.
SPEAKER_02Five more minutes.
SPEAKER_00It was fun.
SPEAKER_02It was. It was a good time. It was a late night. The kids liked it.
SPEAKER_00I 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_00And 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_03I'm gonna guess 10,000.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_0310,000.
SPEAKER_00It was at least over 500.
SPEAKER_02Let's just say we never stopped. We had a line.
SPEAKER_03There was never 20 to 30 kids for five hours.
SPEAKER_00For six hours. Yeah. I'd say we did at least over 500, right?
SPEAKER_02Well, I had to order two more cases of cotton candy for the next day. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03We I thought we did a lot of after prom.
SPEAKER_00No, this was a good one.
SPEAKER_03And we didn't even empty the bottles, and we had to refill the bottles so many times.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, it was a lot of fun though.
SPEAKER_03I mean my arms were very tired. I was making popcorn.
SPEAKER_00I was popping popcorn and passing popcorn out, and it was just like making it, passing it out, nonstop.
SPEAKER_02At 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_03I had children holding down the cotton candy stuff. Trying to roll the cotton candy.
SPEAKER_00Stupid windy. Cotton candy's flying through the air all day.
SPEAKER_03Needless to say, after the middle school, we were all laying on the ground.
SPEAKER_01And here's the thing this whole segment, nobody's ever gonna want to sign up for relay.
SPEAKER_00This is fine.
SPEAKER_01This should rush one eight.
SPEAKER_00Look, 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_03I actually thought, good luck. Yeah, she's like, after that.
SPEAKER_00But 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_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00And Britney's just standing there drinking ice coffee all day watching these kids work.
SPEAKER_02That's great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you should have been there.
SPEAKER_02I 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_00So 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_02All right.
Peanut Butter Eggs And Dad Jokes
SPEAKER_02First icebreaker. You haven't heard this one. Okay. Do you prefer crunchy or smooth peanut butter? And why?
SPEAKER_00Do you prefer?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, do you prefer crunchy peanut butter? I like all peanut butter. Nope. Yeah. You gotta choose one. I'm gonna go with crunchy.
SPEAKER_03Crunchy.
SPEAKER_02Wow. I am a smooth. I cannot, I cannot do texture in my peanut butter at all. No, seriously. It like makes me gag.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's so good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Nothing like a little crunch in my peanut butter sandwich.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's great. No.
SPEAKER_00I don't like I don't peanut butter and jelly is okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I prefer just peanut butter and honey on my sandwiches.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Yeah. Interesting.
SPEAKER_00Not any jelly, but I'll eat it if it has some jelly.
SPEAKER_02All right, next icebreaker.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Moving on.
SPEAKER_00Tell us what you think.
SPEAKER_03I 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_00Yeah. Not judge us.
SPEAKER_03A little instantly like shame, shame.
SPEAKER_00How dare you like crunchy peanut butter?
SPEAKER_02Whatever. All right. Next question. How do you prefer your eggs, Ronnie?
SPEAKER_00I 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_03Yeah, I don't know either. I like the white cooked. You're good now. I don't know what happened.
SPEAKER_00You good? Okay.
SPEAKER_03I like the white cooked, not the yellow. Okay.
SPEAKER_00What's that? So you don't know the names either. Over easy. I just call it runny.
SPEAKER_02It's overeasy.
SPEAKER_00What about eggs benedict?
SPEAKER_02No wonder when I order it at the eggs benedict.
SPEAKER_00I don't even know what that means. What is eggs benedict?
SPEAKER_02It'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_00It's too fancy. I don't know about it.
SPEAKER_02But it tastes good. I'm an eggs over easy person.
SPEAKER_00I like all the eggs. I'll probably choose deviled eggs. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Satan eggs.
SPEAKER_00Not 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_02Yeah, my grandmom did that too. I don't think I've ever had that.
SPEAKER_00I don't know what it's called. It's just the fried egg just smashed.
SPEAKER_02It's uh so the like it's runny, like it does.
SPEAKER_03It'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_00And everything's solid. There's no runny parts to it.
SPEAKER_03Try this. Yeah, your family will be like, what?
SPEAKER_00It's probably not good for you, but probably not.
SPEAKER_03But I'm sure we eat a lot of things that are not good for it.
SPEAKER_02But okay. Those with icebreakers. Tell us how you like your eggs. How do you like your peanut butter?
SPEAKER_00Did not expect about eggs and peanut butter this morning. That's not what I was thinking, but.
SPEAKER_02That'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_05For sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. 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_00We were past it.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_04And we need to.
SPEAKER_03Everyone is gonna go, wait, what was the last episode?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, 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_04You're not open your case. You just and I've never smelled it again.
SPEAKER_01I don't put it up to my face. Okay. All right. Now it's time for the joke of the day. What?
SPEAKER_04That was the joke of the day. All right.
SPEAKER_02All right. All right. The real jokes. What do you call someone who helps chickens?
SPEAKER_04That's another word after that.
SPEAKER_02Help chickens. What do you call someone who helps chickens?
SPEAKER_00A farmer?
SPEAKER_03Chicken helper.
SPEAKER_04Chicken helper.
SPEAKER_02Chicken tender.
SPEAKER_03Oh, this is your first non-biblical joke. Yes. This is it.
SPEAKER_04We're expanding. Wow. Really threw me off there. Here's my second non-biblical joke.
SPEAKER_02What is the father of all fruit?
SPEAKER_00Papaya.
SPEAKER_05Yes.
SPEAKER_04Yay, I got one. Paplaws.
SPEAKER_00Papaya, because he's the papa. Okay. Papaya.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Papaya.
SPEAKER_00Wow. I was like, surely that's not gonna be right. But that concludes joke time with Ashley.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I'm crying already.
Why Church Shows Up Outside
SPEAKER_00Alright, 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_03Remix.
SPEAKER_00Remix. 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_02You want me to go first? Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I'll just sit here in silence until somebody says something.
SPEAKER_03We're playing rock, paper, scissors. No, I think it's put the money down.
SPEAKER_00Answer the question.
SPEAKER_02No, 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_03Yeah. 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_00All 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_03Ding ding.
SPEAKER_00So 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_02We are recording, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we're recording.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00We're 18 minutes in, and we haven't even said anything at all. But here we are. Should we tell them?
SPEAKER_01Go ahead. We're gonna have to. I just wanted to make sure.
SPEAKER_00Well, we did this whole podcast already. What? Wednesday?
SPEAKER_01Tuesday. Yeah, Tuesday.
SPEAKER_00We 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_03So if we get a little goofy, start giggling.
SPEAKER_00The 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_02That's my favorite Disney man. Disney.
SPEAKER_00There 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_00And 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_02Not until you just told us the other day.
SPEAKER_00On Tuesday, when we recorded this art. Yeah. Good job.
SPEAKER_02But 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_00I 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_03Well, 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_00Yeah. 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_00You 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_03Find us.
SPEAKER_00Find 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_02It'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_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I 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_02It 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_00We have fun here too.
SPEAKER_02We do, yes, we do, barely.
SPEAKER_00No, 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_02I mean, it it really shows that we care about them because like we do, you know.
SPEAKER_03We genuinely do.
SPEAKER_02Right. 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_03That 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_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So just an afterthought.
SPEAKER_02And 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_00Yeah.
Salt Light And Serving Together
SPEAKER_00Um 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_03Yeah, I like it.
SPEAKER_00Okay, it's good. Well, good. If Britney likes it, then we can close with that.
SPEAKER_03Oh, good.
SPEAKER_00Good job.
SPEAKER_02Just waiting for Brittany's approval, waiting for her headphones to come off. And we're done.
SPEAKER_00And we're done. But yeah, good talk, good episode.
Prayer And Send-Off
SPEAKER_00We'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.