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
Storm Chasers, Stormtroopers, And John Watkins
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We talk with John Watkins about the bold plan to preach the whole Bible in about five years and why seeing Scripture as one connected story changes how we read it. Along the way, we dig into how to keep depth without getting stuck, how to study beyond Sunday, and why discipleship means passing the faith on with humility.
• upcoming events at Rush Church including tailgate, Trick or Treat at Rushelvania Park, and the Rush Run 5K
• why a whole Bible overview helps us see God’s revelation rather than just rules
• realistic pacing for dense books like Genesis and Romans
• practical ways to engage Scripture during the week, including writing down questions and revisiting themes
• what makes a good teacher, including being willing to say “I don’t know” and then search for the answer
• how John decides what stays in the sermon when covering big sections
• ideas for deeper follow-ups outside Sunday, including short behind-the-scenes conversations
• healthy leadership handoffs, knowing when to step aside, and “finding a Timothy”
• the story of how Cody and John first met and how that led to ministry at Rush
You can sign up at rushchurch.com. Go to the RushRun 5K drop down tabs. Go to there. You can donate and register if you'd like.
www.rushchurch.com
Welcome And Cozy Banter
SPEAKER_02Welcome everybody. We're back. Another episode of the Rush Hour Podcast here at Rush Church coming to you from Russellvania, Ohio. Beautiful day. Nice fall day. And we've got a special episode for you. We've got myself and Ashley and Britney. And we have our guest with us today, John Watkins, senior pastor here at Rush Church.
SPEAKER_01Hello.
SPEAKER_02That's him. So good to be here. Just in case you thought it was Brittany or actually. It wasn't me.
SPEAKER_04It is cold season, but we're not that low.
SPEAKER_02Brittany with a cold. Perfect.
SPEAKER_03That only took five seconds. Five seconds out of you. And I've got I'm on a joke.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's fun. That's fine. Yeah. You guys got your blankets? Nice cool morning here. Yeah, what is with the blankets?
SPEAKER_04It's just cozy. It's like it's dimmed lighting. Oh, biscuits.
SPEAKER_02I forgot to grab my coffee. Now it's getting cold. Oh. Sad day. You can get it.
SPEAKER_01We'll cover for you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I don't think so.
SPEAKER_01I didn't know it was bring your own blanket.
SPEAKER_02It always is. They like their blankets.
SPEAKER_04There's one right behind you. It's not bring your own.
SPEAKER_02You provide. Nice. Well, we're glad that you're joining us today and listening from wherever you're at. Where do you guys listen to podcasts mostly?
SPEAKER_04In my car. In the car?
SPEAKER_02Me too.
SPEAKER_01Well, I don't. I try to avoid it. All podcasts. Yes. Yeah. We have a podcast done. I just I'm afraid to listen. Well, not just ours, but like podcasts in general. Oh, like, like I just, I don't know, sit in my office. Okay. I hear good things though. Everybody says that they like the podcast. Like everybody who's heard, every I don't know if anybody's ever like you know, tried to listen to it twice, but at least the first time.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. We have some pretty loyal followers out there who listen to every episode. Really? What's his name?
SPEAKER_04We have like three really loyalties listens a lot.
SPEAKER_02John Young, always two and pain. Fair enough. Um, shout out to John if you're listening.
SPEAKER_04My friends. It's true. All of your friends listen.
SPEAKER_02My mom and dad, they listen.
SPEAKER_03My parents don't. That's not true. My mom does.
SPEAKER_02Who else? Russ Varner listens a lot. He even gives suggestions. He'll text us and tell us. Yeah. That was terrible. Or you know, no.
SPEAKER_04Angel and Jeremy Payne, they are very loyal too.
SPEAKER_02Are they? Yeah. Okay. So we have some people that do like to listen to multiple episodes. They come back for more. Fair enough. So today we're going to talk a little bit about John and what he's been talking about on stage. His series that he's in right now. I thought it'd be good to kind of ask some questions and see if we can get behind the scenes a little bit. We did we had an episode with him. Our third episode ever was with John. He was a guest on the podcast when we were still over at Calvary Studio. Was that your highest rated or was that your lowest rated?
SPEAKER_01You went through that the other day, actually. I did hear that podcast.
SPEAKER_02That was our last one. Our year in review. But that was yours is still like number three on the list. Hey.
SPEAKER_01Number three on the list, number three in line. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Was it number four? Like the one that I wasn't on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, number four was the one me and David.
SPEAKER_02I heard that. For some reason.
SPEAKER_04See the title.
SPEAKER_02Nothing to do with you. It was probably just a I don't
Church Announcements And Upcoming Events
SPEAKER_02know. But announcement time, lots of things going on at Rush Church. We have what do we have coming up? A tailgate on the 16th, the last one of the season for Ben Logan. Last home game, football-wise. We have Trigger Treat. You want to talk about Trick or Treat?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, Trigger Treat. We're going to be back at Rushelvania Park this year. Rush 1.8's going to go out and represent, I believe we're doing a caramel apple bar. So we're not going to do trunk or treat or the fall festival. We're just going to be represented at the park.
SPEAKER_01You believe we're doing a caramel apple bar? You believe we're doing?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01I am believing it. Whose idea was the caramel apple?
SPEAKER_04Wasn't it yours? It was. Okay.
SPEAKER_02It was so my idea. On the last podcast, we called them Apple Nachos. I think that's going to catch on real fast. Yes.
SPEAKER_01I I that's not what I pictured originally.
SPEAKER_04The reason why we believe is because we still have to test it out to make sure this is going to work.
SPEAKER_01Pretty look. There's nothing to test. I'm pretty certain caramel apples have been tested over the years. People love them. Tried and true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They're going to get toppings and drizzle. The drizzle's the important part though for you, right? Oh, I can't.
SPEAKER_04You know, I want to put it in a squirt bottle, which we just found some. Yeah. Looking forward to it. We are two old squirt bottles that we will wash out. Um Halloween night. Halloween, October 31st.
SPEAKER_02In WrestleMania Park.
SPEAKER_046 to 7 30.
SPEAKER_02So if you're in WrestleMania trick-or-treating, come and see us 6 to 7 30. Get your caramel apples toppings. It'll be it'll be delicious, I think. It'll be grand. We're going to give a limit on that. Like you can't keep coming through the line.
SPEAKER_01No, I'll tell you what we're going to do though. Here's what I hope we do. Are we going to have salt as a sea salt? Yes. Oh, we have sea salt. Okay. All right. I just think that would be really good. Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_04I already have that.
SPEAKER_03They're like, I'm going to tell them about your other idea, your other topping.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Are you sure they're ready for it?
SPEAKER_03Probably.
SPEAKER_01Bacon bits. Well, yeah. Bacon bits. Bacon on anything. Well, that's true. That's fair enough. But I'm thinking caramel apple with bacon bits.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01That would be.
SPEAKER_02Have we just anybody like caramel bacon? Is that a thing? I know chocolate and bacon's a thing, but.
SPEAKER_04I think this is getting more complicated.
SPEAKER_01No. No. But you know full well that if somebody's listening to this right now, driving in their car, they're going, yes!
unknownYes!
SPEAKER_02But I don't want the fake bacon bits, though. I want real bacon.
SPEAKER_04Well, Costco has a huge bag of real bacon bits. So apparently that's what we're getting. I saw it the other day. Because I am not making bacon and then crumbling them up.
SPEAKER_02She's not doing it. Oh, that's not much. This Halloween stinks. Wasn't any bacon bits? And it wasn't real bacon. But please come get some caramel apple things. Trick-or-treat night. What was the other announcement that we have coming up?
SPEAKER_04Rush run.
SPEAKER_02Rush run. Come run the race. Come help with the race. Come donate to the race. Have you run you've run the 5K before, haven't you? Sir? Over there.
SPEAKER_01You. Um have you done the 5k before? I I have. I I I have attended the the race every year. Good. So that's what I'm saying. That's all we'll say. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I ran it before. I too have attended.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I have once in my life.
SPEAKER_02Well, hopefully you guys come out. It's October 24th in the morning. You can sign up at rushchurch.com. Go to the RushRun 5K drop down. What do you call those things? Tabs. Yeah. Tabs. Go to there. You can donate and register if you'd like. So that helps us support our TCTC trip, which you can sign up for if you're wanting to go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, 7th through 12th grade. Students, we have about 45 kids or 45 people signed up as of now. Gotta fill up the bus. So that's what's coming up. Thank you for those announcements.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Anything else? You can go to rushchurch.com and check it out. Brittany does a great job with the website, keeping it up to date. Right? Hope it's up to date. Yep. It's up to date. It'll be great. So yeah. That's all the stuff that's going on here. What do we got next for this episode?
Jokes That Go Off The Rails
SPEAKER_02Ashley, it's your joke.
SPEAKER_04Do you want jokes or icebreaker first?
SPEAKER_02Let's do some jokes and see how that plays out today.
SPEAKER_04Okay. All right. First joke. How many storm chasers does it take to change a light bulb?
SPEAKER_02Do you know I used to want to be a storm chaser when I grew up?
SPEAKER_04Of course.
SPEAKER_02I was thinking that exact same thing. I used to be a lot of fun. Meteorologist. I was gonna do that. What was the joke again? Sorry, I forgot the.
SPEAKER_04Wait. Oh, you mean like a real storm chaser? A storm chaser or a meteorologist? I'm talking about, right. You're saying, okay, I'm talking about what's the movie. That's the movie. Yeah, the movie that you guys like to watch all the time. No, no, no, no, no. Wrong storm chaser. There's a different movie. Isn't that what they're called?
SPEAKER_01What's happening right now? A storm chaser is, yeah, like Twister. They tornadoes they chase them around.
SPEAKER_04Okay, maybe I meant stormtroopers.
SPEAKER_02Oh my goodness. So you meant to say you meant like Star Wars? Not all. I didn't used to want to be a stormtrooper when I grew up. That changes everything. I am so confused. Well, I'm not anymore. I was. But she thought stormtroopers from Star Wars were called storm chasers, which is not the same thing. Now wonder you're confused why I brought up. Oh no, you probably. All right. Well, that was a good joke. Good job, everybody.
SPEAKER_04Hey, let me say this again, please.
SPEAKER_02Please do. Please give us the real joke this time. Okay.
SPEAKER_04How many stormtroopers does it take to change a light bulb? Time out.
SPEAKER_03Hold on, timeout.
SPEAKER_04What?
SPEAKER_03What do you understand about the punchline? Did you write this joke? No. Because how did you not know that it didn't say chasers?
SPEAKER_04Because I'm not a Star Wars fan, so I don't know what they're called.
SPEAKER_03It's okay. I got the two words mixed in. If this punchline has anything to do with a meteorologist anyway, my head's gonna explode.
SPEAKER_02Please. What do you call how many stormtroopers do they do? How many stormtroopers from Star Wars does it take to change a light bulb?
SPEAKER_04None because they're on the dark side.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Well, that was worth it, right? I hope so.
SPEAKER_03Are they actually?
SPEAKER_02No one cares about the punchline at this point. You guys, you wonder why I avoid the podcast. Good stuff.
SPEAKER_04My abs hurt.
SPEAKER_01Okay. All right.
SPEAKER_04Next last joke. Oh, we got another joke. One more joke.
SPEAKER_01It's not gonna live up to the first one. It's just not.
SPEAKER_04What does a mermaid use to wash their fins?
SPEAKER_02Um I don't know. Wait, does a mermaid even have fins?
SPEAKER_04Like the little things that are on their feet.
SPEAKER_02Those are flippers. That's it. They don't have to.
SPEAKER_04I think it covers their covers their feet.
SPEAKER_02Perfect. Tell us what mermaids use to wash their feet? No. Fins. Fins.
SPEAKER_04Tide.
SPEAKER_02Oh no.
SPEAKER_04Oh, like the tide, but the tide laundry turkey. Oh, we got it.
SPEAKER_02That was not good.
SPEAKER_01We're not not laughing because we didn't get it.
SPEAKER_02That's I like how that's the best part. Nothing'll beat the storm chasers. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I'm still in my mind. I literally was picturing because you love Star Wars. I'm thinking, well, that's obvious. Of course you want to be a storm trooper, you know, with a white hat and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_02It's obvious. Look at me. I wanted to be a stormtrooper. Could you uh yeah. Could you move on to the icebreaker for us, please? If you're still listening, thank you. I can't. All right.
Dream Jobs And Icebreaker Picks
SPEAKER_04Okay. Now the icebreaker. Okay. So I was thinking about this morning on the way here. Why are we still laughing?
SPEAKER_03I just love when you make up the icebreakers. Okay.
SPEAKER_02That's just whatever Ashley's thinking about. So like I was thinking.
SPEAKER_04If you could do anything prof like if you could change your profession from what we are now, in any aspect of what we are now. So like a children's minister, youth pastor, lead pastor, secretary, massage therapist, anything other than what we're doing right now, what would your profession be?
SPEAKER_01First of all, I don't think there's anything professional about what we're doing right now.
SPEAKER_02So what would you do? Anyone got any ideas? If you thought, if I wasn't doing this, I'd be doing uh realistically, like I mean.
SPEAKER_04It could be realistic. No, it doesn't have to be real anything that you want. If money, time, knowledge was not an issue, what career would you want to do?
SPEAKER_02Wow. I'd probably say like I want to be a superhero.
SPEAKER_03It's not a profession.
SPEAKER_02It would be if I'm allowed to.
SPEAKER_03Money, time.
SPEAKER_01Batman can do it. I can do it. Yeah, I mean, I could understand that. I think that's reasonable. Batman? Yeah, absolutely. If there's no if we're just sake and stuff.
SPEAKER_03I am trying so hard to actually focus on what I want.
SPEAKER_01Sorry. That was funny.
SPEAKER_02I think that's good right there. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Cody wants to be Batman.
SPEAKER_02I hate Batman, though. He's my least favorite hero. I'd be something else. Like, how can you hate Batman?
SPEAKER_01He's the coolest one. Really? He is. Yeah. Oh, come on.
SPEAKER_04Well, he's you gotta he's like the Batmobile flame.
SPEAKER_01He's always been never heard that put together. Okay. All right. We're not talking the rest of the nine.
SPEAKER_02When it comes to heroes, like he's a guy in a black suit.
SPEAKER_04He doesn't have to have a superpower, though. He is actually realistic.
SPEAKER_02Which makes him lame. So here we go.
SPEAKER_03Cody is the superhero expert.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm not.
SPEAKER_01He thinks he.
SPEAKER_04John, what profession would you choose?
SPEAKER_01I don't, I I don't know. That's a that's a hard question. There's a lot of stuff out there. I had a a list one time of eight things that I wanted to do. Like if I could do anything. And believe it or not, that's gonna sound silly. But actually preaching was one of them. I've told people before that like when I start preaching, actually the actual preaching part on Sunday morning, I have a blast. I I really do have a lot of fun. But if I wasn't, I see I gotta give that some thought.
SPEAKER_02Well, these are icebreakers on a recorded podcast, so that's true. I can't think about it.
SPEAKER_01Think about it, and then we'll come back at the end. I was gonna say, go to the next person, come back to the next one.
SPEAKER_03Hey, Brittany, what would you do? I think uh I would be really knowledgeable, like those people that do the stock market, but then don't have to do anything ever. Like with their job, their job's just already done, and then they can just go do whatever they want, travel the world, do whatever. But like their computers working for them.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_02That'd be cool. I don't know what that job is called, but neither does Britney. Is it a job that doesn't exist? I want to make a lot of money and go wherever I want. Do things. It's a thing that people do. I know. I yeah.
SPEAKER_04It's like they studied like trade, like day trading. I wish we had sure.
SPEAKER_02I wish this was a video podcast because you could have seen John's face when he was looking at Britney when she was talking.
SPEAKER_03Wasn't going, that's a great idea. No, it was just so you're yeah Why then I could have do whatever I want. Hello, I just came up with this answer in 10 seconds. Good job. Hey, yeah, that's what an icebreaker is. We don't have to think too deep into it.
SPEAKER_01Massage therapist. I think that's what I want to do. I could do anything.
SPEAKER_02That's no, but legit one of my things. I wanted to be a storm chaser. I wanted to do like that. No, that would be fun. Honestly. Ride around and take pictures of tornadoes, and maybe that would be fun. I mean, yeah. For a while.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Until you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, exactly. Might be short. Yeah. But what about you, Ashley?
SPEAKER_04What's so I've thought hard about this one.
SPEAKER_01Since your drive in. I know. We know.
SPEAKER_04No, it's always this is always the same answer. I want to be a sign interpreter.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you want to sign?
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_01Okay. I think that that would be very cool. It runs in my mind though that like you were thinking about that for a while. Like you, you you wanted to take that pretty seriously. I mean, you were considering, I think, taking some classes, weren't you?
SPEAKER_04I was. I did actually look into them last year. But I'm I'm the kind of learner that needs to be in the classroom. And so I would have to travel to one of the colleges and do it. And I just don't know if I'm ready for that commitment yet.
SPEAKER_01Do they well? I mean, sometimes up here in Bellfoun, they offer things like that, like extensions from from schools like that. I'm I don't know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I I just think that'd be a neat idea. And I think it's something that we ought to do, which would be really cool here. And maybe there's there's places like this or church bodies like this in Bellfoun or in Logan County. I guess I'm just unaware if there are.
SPEAKER_05And if there's not, definitely need to be some.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01I think. 100% with that.
SPEAKER_02Well, Ashley was just the most serious answer of all of ours, and instead of Batman or stock market.
SPEAKER_01Chasing the stock market.
SPEAKER_04Let the computer do the work for her.
SPEAKER_01Isn't what you the isn't there a movie? There's the never mind. There is a movie about that. There's a lot of movies about that. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03That's where I learned it. I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay. I believe you. Did you have anything? You know, you passed last time, so. Did I did I pass? Come back to me later. That's right. That's right. You said you wanted to be a preacher. Okay, so we were like, that's the one thing you're not supposed to say because we want to say if you weren't doing language.
SPEAKER_01So I can't be a sign language interpreter. You can't be a storm chaser. You can't be a storm chaser. You could be Robin. You could be the wolf of Wall Street or whatever you want to be.
SPEAKER_00Wolf on.
SPEAKER_01I can't. I can't. There you go. Robin. That just registered ten seconds later.
SPEAKER_02He's like, oh yes.
SPEAKER_04John's dream is to be a sidekick.
SPEAKER_02You and me could just get a car. We could go out in WrestleMania at nighttime and paint it black and it bust our.
SPEAKER_03We can all ride together. Yeah, okay. We're all together again.
SPEAKER_02Oh, then we'd have to be like four of those and friends.
SPEAKER_04The Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four.
SPEAKER_02Flame on. All right. So we're not superheroes. We're not gonna be Isn't there Super Friends or Super League or something?
SPEAKER_01Justice League. Justice League. There we go. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm at least I'm glad we got all have a fallback position.
SPEAKER_02We do. There we go. We've got things that we could do potentially. Yeah.
unknownAll right.
SPEAKER_02Good job, Ashley. Is that the only icebreaker we have? Thank goodness. All right. That ice broken. It's something.
Why Preach The Whole Bible
SPEAKER_02So I just wanted to have an episode where we talked to John a little bit about what's been going on on Sunday mornings on the stage. And so we have been starting our starting your series and your just kind of tell us. Well, the whole idea was you wanted to go through the entire Bible with everybody on Sunday mornings, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I do think that there's a point where with everything, not just with not just with scripture, but with everything, you you gotta put all the parts together. And we don't really have that opportunity. You you you can do a a big, quick, you know, extremely fast overview of scripture and kind of see all the parts or kind of see what the overall form looks like. But but when you're going through different books and you're going through different chapters and different verses and and all of these things, eventually you have to put every part together, all the parts of the engine you have to put together and kind of see how they all how they all work, but also how they all complement the other one, how one leads to another one. And when you do that, I think you see the the story of scripture differently. I I think you do grasp that that God is revealing Himself to us rather than just giving us rules of life. I think there are some rules of life. I think there are some good things and some bad things, things that you should practice and things that you should refrain from. But but overall, scripture is God's revelation, God's revelation of Himself to His creation. And once you see the whole thing, you begin to see it. You read Things differently than you've ever read them when you see how all the parts go together, you you know, your your eyes are open to some of those things. Now, if you do it, if you want to go chapter by chapter, usually that that would take a long time.
SPEAKER_02I I well, yeah, and you wanted to do this not chapter by chapter, not like everything, but more of an overarching story. Like you said, just said the story of what the Bible is. Correct. Yeah. And so I think that was kind of the premise behind your first thoughts when you decided to do this series was let's get to know just the story throughout the whole thing from the beginning to end, how it connects, how it's important, how it relates to us today.
SPEAKER_01And how and how the stuff, you know, things at the beginning help you to understand and see things at the at the end.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know.
SPEAKER_02So I wanted to ask Britney and Ashley what you guys, what were your first thoughts when John said he wanted to go through the Bible, the whole thing in five years? What was your initial reaction or thought to this series that we're in? And please be as honest as possible. Oh no, they will be. I know.
SPEAKER_03Um I had no thoughts other than that is a great idea. That is wow.
SPEAKER_02That is such a lie. That is a lie.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_02You told me that I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_04But no, did you were you like Well, I uh I had two thoughts. First of all, my first thought was there's no way he's gonna do it in five years because Romans took forever. Um, and two, we've only been through Genesis with you before as a staff, so that took like weeks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, that's true. Well, that's not the same though. This is not the same as going through a Bible study with a small group of people.
SPEAKER_01It's that's right. Right. That's right. And Romans did take you know, slightly longer than I was I was playing. But but Romans is packed with a whole bunch of information. And you know what else is packed with a bunch of information? The entire Bible. Yeah, just but but the but I'm also yeah, you're right. I mean, you know, it's gonna be a it's gonna be interesting to see if it happens in five years. Brittany, did you have any thoughts? Or did you really just think I can convey Brittany's thoughts?
SPEAKER_03No, I can convey my thoughts.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Honestly.
SPEAKER_03Well, I liked how I liked Romans a lot and I enjoyed how it went. And it did take a long time, but we did verse by verse, verse by verse. And I was a little concerned on how he was gonna be able to get through chapters only using one or two verses.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so everybody's first thought was concern when they heard that John was gonna preach the Bible in five years. My first thought was that's cool, that sounds like a great idea. Like, I was excited to go through from beginning to end.
SPEAKER_00Um that first Sunday, Cody was the only one sitting there. Yeah, everybody else was.
SPEAKER_01Correct. There are some parts of scripture, particularly at the beginning, and and things like Romans, if you're just doing Romans, where you do have to slow down and you do have to go into more detail.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's reading my next question. Okay.
SPEAKER_01If you wanted to go ahead, what's your next question?
Pacing Deep Books And Short Books
SPEAKER_02I was just gonna ask, as you're the one preparing this series, how are you gonna balance the idea of you know, some books are more deep than other ones, and then you have, you know, you could spend hours in Genesis or Romans or these big, heavy, dense books against other sections that the congregation, you know, might struggle with, like the Leviticus or a minor prophet or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. I I I think that you know, in Genesis you have to start out slow because and I I've probably mentioned this that you're setting the stage for everything else. And anytime you set the stage, it just it it takes a little while for for everything then later on to play out on top of it. So you need to go a little bit slower at the beginning of Genesis. But then some of those books, Leviticus, Leviticus, for example, you can actually break those down into you know, kind of like a like an eight eight-message thing, an eight message section message section, and describe each of those things, you know, hopefully succinctly, in eight messages for for Leviticus. You can group the psalms and and talk about the significance of each group or styling in the psalm. You were you were showing me that uh the other day and how those things are broken up.
SPEAKER_02Some books are lead well into that kind of idea of I can really get through this book in a short amount of time because it's sectioned off nicely.
SPEAKER_01And then you get to you get to things like first and second chronicles, and you begin to realize there's a few things in there that's not talked about in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2nd Kings, but for the most part, a lot of that is a retelling.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So there's gonna be a lot of that, and then as you guys pointed out so patiently and compassionately, once we get to Romans, you know, we've already we've we've covered that, we've we've done that, and so we'll be able to go over those things very, very quickly. Oh, yeah. One Sunday. Yeah, exactly. But then things like, you know, Third John, stuff like that's gonna be very quick as far as as far as teaching.
SPEAKER_02It might seem like a slow start for Genesis, or we're still in there, and but other books are shorter.
SPEAKER_01You got other ones that are not as complex, I guess you could say, in ways to kind of speed up the yeah, and I think once you average everything out, average, it's gonna be in the five-year five-year mark. But the other thing, you don't want to go so slow that by the time you get to the revelation, you forget things that you were talking about in Genesis that set the stage for the revelation. So you know, you gotta kind of march through there pretty quick if this is your goal.
SPEAKER_02That's the
How To Study Beyond Sundays
SPEAKER_02goal. Speaking of like forgetting what you've talked about before, because if we go through years of this, people are gonna be like, oh yeah, way back in Genesis. I don't really so this isn't to supplement like personal study and kind of reminding yourself and all these different things. So, how are you how would you encourage the church to engage with the Bible throughout the week? Not just Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01Every time, every single time you see a general principle or a general theme in Scripture, there's a lot more that goes into it. There's a lot of things under the surface, and that's when you go back into scripture. What what you've been what you've been given is well, just that kind of the tip of the iceberg. You've been given the direction, you've been given the topic, and it's important to go back into that topic and see some of the depth of it and ask questions about it. People ask all the time, well, how do you know this? How do you know that? Well, uh, because I had a teacher, you know, it's you're you don't you don't just start, you don't just wake up one day and and and know everything. You don't even know everything that you read. You don't get baptized and instantly know the Bible by yeah, and which would be cool. Yeah, but but you can read things for many, many years and not see everything that God's trying to reveal about himself, but somebody before you did, and so they can walk you through some of those things, and the way they saw it was somebody before them and before them, and there's this long line of teachers all the way back, you know, to all the way back to scripture, all the way back to the apostles, and that is are unbroken.
SPEAKER_02You know, that's probably the best definition of discipleship, I think. Yeah, I think it's a good one, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02Like take what you have, being discipled and passing it along. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Give somebody else. It changes. The the other thing is you you have to think critically about it if you're gonna grow. You know, this is what this is what God talks about all, you know, tells people all the time. We see a lot of this. Probably the most obvious one is when when God's talking to Joshua and He says, I want you to meditate on my word day and night, you know, that is to roll it over and over and over in your head all the time, to mutter, to, to, to speak to yourself, you know. And I think that's how we how we begin to oh break apart and understand some of the depth of scripture. We we were talking about this uh Monday night at our prayer meeting. You were praying, actually. And you know, and while we're while we're sitting there and I'm I'm listening to you praying, and at the very same time, something pops into my head about the character of Christ. And so while you're praying, I'm writing it down, you know, on the on the paper just so I don't forget it. Maybe not the most appropriate time, but I wanted to, I didn't want to forget things.
SPEAKER_02I think it's I think that's just is what it is.
SPEAKER_01But that but that's what happens when when when that when those things are in your mind all the time, on your mind and in your mind, you begin to either understand things a little bit clearer or you at least have questions. Questions pop up and you're like, man, I I gotta have this answered. I want to look at this, I want to study this.
SPEAKER_02And so that's what I would encourage people to do. Like as we go through this series, like if you go through anything like through the whole Bible, you usually do like a Bible reading plan for the whole year. That's fine. But as you're going through your reading plan for the whole year, I thought about like write down things that you really want to go back to and go deeper into as you go. Because you have to do something like that. And as you go through this series on Sunday morning, maybe people can hear a section of or a part of the Bible and be like, I want to know more about that. Yeah. Write it down, do some study, ask you, because you'll take them through it.
SPEAKER_01Or well, yeah, and I and I'll tell you this you know, one of the things if you if you're gonna find a teacher, find a teacher who is also willing to say, I don't know, that's a good question. You know, uh there's a lot of very good teachers out there, and and and one of the marks, not the only mark, but one of the marks of a good teacher is to be asked a difficult question and for them to be humble enough and desirous enough to find the correct answer to say, Wow, that's a good question. I don't know the answer, but let's find it. Let's let's let's discover what this is. Yeah. So, you know, those things, and the other thing is this I've noticed that when it comes to scriptures, some of the most almost all really, almost all of the most important things that you can gain from scripture are the easiest to understand. There's the either the e now, they're not necessarily the easiest to believe or live out. Exactly. To believe, to live out, that they can be difficult, but to understand. I I I think most of those things are fairly simple. Um the other things that are harder to understand, some of those are kind of neat and kind of exciting to get into. And once you start, you just want to keep going and you know, see what more there is to know.
SPEAKER_02Very good. Any questions about John's series from you guys or something that you want to ask?
SPEAKER_03Oh, I have a question.
SPEAKER_02Oh, there we go. All right.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so you've been planning this whole Bible series for a little while.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, have you been thinking about this for a while? Yes. Okay. That's all we need. Keep going, Brittany.
SPEAKER_03Is this how you envisioned it?
SPEAKER_01No. No. I I envisioned not already not setting the stage quite as long as I needed to in Genesis. Something that that Cody said, and and others have said it, but I I believe he said it recently, and and that is don't just assume because you know something that that everybody else knows something, or or don't just assume that because it's common to you, nobody wants to hear it or needs to hear it.
SPEAKER_02Didn't we just talk about this? Yeah. I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01And and I think that's that's absolutely true. I think once you get into it, so my original my original plan years ago was to you know, kind of hit the high points and and talk about talk about creation, almost really kind of skip over the flood, just kind of go from creation to the fall to Abraham. And it because in my head, I've thought about that. I I I get it, I know it, you know. But but not everybody, not everybody does. And and you know, you don't want to you don't want to take what you think and just assume everybody else is thinking that same thing. So it has changed. It has changed. One time, you know, when I was planning for it, kind of that surface picture, someone came up to me and and they said, So, so you're planning on going five years without any real depth of scripture. And that that that made me stop and and think and kind of reevaluate how I wanted to do that, you know, as a lady in the church. She said it nicely and really kind of was I I think that must have been great advice because the sermons have been really good. Yeah, yeah, they've well, yeah, they they certainly have been brilliant. That's uh it goes without saying. Wow. But but um, you know, usually I and I I could tell she was serious. I mean, usually she's pretty she's pretty rough with with me and the way she she comes across.
SPEAKER_02She's just like that sometimes. But you get used to her. Um, not me. So that is one of the you know things I was thinking about when you take on a series like this and you're gonna go because there's you really want to do like an overview and get your main stuff across, but then also there's some times where you just have to explain some things or have to go a little deeper.
What Stays In The Sermon
SPEAKER_02So one of the questions I was asking is when you're covering these large blocks of scripture in your pre preparation or your study, like how do you decide what stays in the sermon and what gets left out? Wow. Uh well for maybe it's easy for you. Maybe don't leave anything out.
SPEAKER_04Five years is now six.
SPEAKER_02But like you would say like you would say, especially in this series, there's times when you're like, I wish I could go into this, but I can't because we got to keep going. All the time.
SPEAKER_01That happens all the time. But fortunately, if if we want to take the initiative, you know, everybody that listens to these these messages or these lessons on Sunday morning, almost every Sunday, and I I probably not every Sunday, but many Sundays. You know, I'll I'll tell people, you know, if there's more to this than than just these things we're talking about. And I'm available and other people, I'll talk about other people in the church available to answer questions and to go in a little bit deeper in scripture. Part of that though, is you know, you can roll out the red carpet for people, but you can't make them walk it, right? And and so people I think need sometimes to to avail themselves of that of that invitation.
SPEAKER_02And and I was well, maybe I shouldn't say it on here, but I was thinking like as you go through this series, and there's lots of things that you have to leave out sometimes, or you know, you can't really get to on Sunday mornings. Maybe if you and me sat down with these microphones like for like 15 minutes or 20 minutes the week after and just did a mini podcast about behind the scenes of your circle on Sunday.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, actually, that's not a bad idea. There's there's actually quite a few people or uh preachers that do that, you know. On on Sunday, they'll have their their main lesson. Right. And then on Sunday night, kind of everybody will come back, or those who want to come back and they'll they'll go over the same thing. Yeah. And what what was the uh Dr. Road Cup told me uh one of his friends did did pie, like pie with the pastor, something like that. And on Sunday night, everybody come back, they'd have pie, and they'd go, they'd go deeper into you know, or you know, just something like that. Maybe punch with the pastor. Punch. Now I can make I can make punch. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Do you know I miss your punch bars?
SPEAKER_01Do you really? I do. See, I think we should do this again. I think we should do maybe there's somebody listening that's like I remember punch. Yeah, yeah, the punch.
SPEAKER_04It was like double like double tiered, and he had all these different flavors. So good.
SPEAKER_0114 different flavors of punch. That's a that's excessive, don't you think? Uh it was exactly the right amount. Exactly the right amount. Perfect. I still have the recipes too. Very nice. I would love to. My favorite was Island Boy. We should do that. Island Boy? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Oh man.
SPEAKER_00It was hey.
SPEAKER_02Don't knock it till you try it. I don't know. I I just thought about maybe just calling you calling you Island Boy from now on, but it was it was delicious punch. All right. Uh as we kind of wrap up this episode, I just want to make sure you guys didn't want any ask any John anything as he hurt his shoulder apparently sitting on the couch just now. I didn't see what happened, but he's okay. No big deal. Fine. Fine. Do you have anything for John Ashley, or did you uh get all your questions answered?
Knowing When To Hand Off Leadership
SPEAKER_04I mean, is this is this like your final? Is this it? Is this your ending to your chapter? Like, I mean, are you planning anything after this? Or you just wanted to go through the whole Bible?
SPEAKER_01I I There will be a day. I don't know, I don't know when that day is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02Do you see yourself being a preacher until you're like 80?
SPEAKER_01No, no, no, I don't. I'm not saying this is this is the the the the end or the the you know final message or anything, but but I do think with with preachers and maybe maybe all kinds of of folks and service a specific service in the church it's always it's always healthier for the rest of the body for that person to find the door rather than them show you to the to the door, you know? Yeah, just kind of know like before you get to the point of exactly and and and I've seen it both ways, you know. I also think that it's good for everybody at some point and and I'm not there yet, but I think it's good for everybody at some point to maybe to find a a Timothy, you know, to to raise them up specifically to take over you know a particular ministry. It doesn't always happen. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it it's not readily available in in your in your church. But I do think that that's important as well. We we we just had this this conversation Monday night, you know, when John John was talking about uh earlier. John was talking about another young lady here in the in the church who's taking over some of the financial peace classes and and things like that. And and that's what that was. That was that was a that was a handoff, you know. You you take it so far, and then you you find somebody who can take it the the next the next step, the next mile. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And when you say find your Timothy, you mean train your replacement. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. One of those things where somebody's listening, they're like, right, right.
SPEAKER_01It's one of those things where we assume. Yeah, we assume. Don't assume. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And we have to kind of like, I don't know. I like to do that just to make sure everybody's you're exactly right. Yep, yep. Timothy was Paul's, you know, he's Paul was training Timothy to do the things that Paul was doing when he was doing them.
SPEAKER_01So yep, yep. And so I think it's good for everybody to and and it it may not be there right there immediately, but I think it's good to have in the back of your mind so that whenever you're meeting anyone or talking to anyone or or teaching anyone in the church, maybe in the back of your mind, you're always kind of thinking, you know, I wonder, I wonder how interested this person is. I wonder how how deep they want to go and and and where their excitement is and that type of thing. You know, and so the just kind of think about that all the time when you're when you're talking to people. And it's not it's not an automatic, you're not, you're not looking, you're not looking for a way out. That's not what I'm talking about, but but you're always kind of keeping that.
SPEAKER_04I watch that sometimes in the youth. Like I watch, I watch what sometimes the youth will do or say or teach on or and I'm like, I wonder if that's their calling. You know, I wonder if they're gonna lead this church someday.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's that's part of our job is to notice that and be like, hey, I see that you're you're good at this, or you're like we used to do that with I like to do it with all students though, but like find what they're talented at and be like, remind them like you're good at this thing, right? Even if you don't know it yet, like help to whether it's preaching or ministry or or whatever they want to do, but finding things and being like, This is what you're because sometimes you can look at somebody and they don't realize that they're good at something or you like you can kind of help pull it out of them.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, and the other thing is you can't it's hard to teach desire. So if you have somebody who you know desires, who who wants to do that type of thing. The mechanics of it, you know, you can teach. But but the my I'm reminded of I I don't want to I don't want to speak out of turn here. I but the the way I remember the story anyway was was Craig here at this church. He preached here for for a while and he was he was fantastic and everybody loved Craig and it was just I still to this day just just very special to this body in this church. But if I remember correctly when he when he started in school preaching was not something he wanted to do because he didn't think he could do it well. It didn't have anything to do with the desire it was the mechanics of it un until he was taught that you know until he learned that over time and then became a very effective preacher and pastor and and and leader of the church.
SPEAKER_02That was that was me. Is that right? Okay I felt a desire to go into ministry and then talk myself out of it for several years because I wasn't I was like I can't I don't know how to do that. I
The Story Of How We Met
SPEAKER_02tried to talk you out of it for several years. Yes but we see how that turned out I'm still here wow we ever tell the story of how we met before on here I don't know if we ever did I don't remember or not but we could do you mentioned Dr. Road Cup a minute ago and I that made me think back to when we met but um well I'll tell you do we have time I how long is it supposed to be we have like 10 minutes if we really wanted to we could end anytime we want is that right it's our podcast.
SPEAKER_01Wait a minute you're telling me we could have ended this whole thing like 30 minutes ago that was before you started talking though sure we could have but yeah well yeah I mean I I remember when you came here I called I called Joe down there. Nobody knows who Joe is I know I call Joe he was your your senior the senior pastor at the church I was at last yeah yeah and uh and I told him I said I said it'd be great if Cody was here and he was very gracious he said I I don't want I don't want Cody to go away and uh well it worked out but it worked out yeah but we met at a men's retreat that you happened to come my church did a men's retreat at a state park down there in Kentucky Tennessee border and it was a nice time and we had like 50 guys there and you came down as part of the one of our speakers was a professor at yeah CC Dr. Road Cup C U and you were one of his I don't know what well we we had a we had a discipleship group we had a that was when I was in my my graduate stuff and and this was like 2018 I think this was yeah there was four of us that were a part of that. So you came down and you spoke at one of the sessions for this ministry and yeah you got up there and you were like hi I'm John and I'm from a small place in Ohio that nobody's ever heard of before Wrestlevania and I was like oh I know that place yeah and we're sitting in the like in the middle of the room and he raises his hand he's like I know where that is and I'm pretty sure I I think I yelled at him and that I said oh you do not I said there's there's one in every room you know just that same that same tone and everything yeah shut up and he said sit down he said yeah I know Dan and Joanne Mitchell I said what started naming people in places yeah in town Michelangelo's pizza's my favorite pizza and you're like oh prove it but that's oh that's how I met Joanne he thought I was a liar but really you had Google Maps pulled up the whole thing. That's right who's the most famous person in Russia Dan Mitchell okay that's how we met but and then I don't know but I don't remember talking to you much after that at the retreat no we you know it was just kind of a thing like oh yeah I know where you live and I've yeah I've been up there and it was kind of cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah and then we left and I was like I'll never see that guy again and then I saw in that December I guess later on that winter I saw a post on the internet that was like Wrestlevania Church of Christ looking for a youth minister and I was like wait I'm a youth minister I know Wrestlevania and after we went through everybody else I said well I kind of know a guy and I think I sent you an email I was like hey I'm that guy that randomly met you in this place. Pick me pick me pick me and you're like oh jeez no I talked to Ben a little bit too he called me and told me this was a great place to be and so ended up here but that's how we met. That's how we met all right I think that's good enough for today we'll end on a ridiculous story apparently thanks for coming on thanks for sharing behind the scenes of your sermon and your series anybody can always talk to you whenever they want to um but I make sure you know I know you guys talk about this a lot but you know everything's online. Yep which works really well you know so thank you for listening to today's episode let's pray and then we'll be done for this
Prayer And Sign Off
SPEAKER_02one. Lord thank you so much for opportunities to discuss things talk about you who you are to have fun and laugh together. Thankful for this church thankful for Rush Church and the leadership and the staff and all the people that make things happen here. Thankful for John and his ability to get up there and and and speak and have people hear that and know who you are more and a desire to know you more from that. Be with those listening this week whatever's going on you know what it is and I ask that you uh show up in Jesus' name pray. Amen. All right good job guys thanks a lot and we'll see you next time here on Rush Hour