WEBVTT
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Hi, and thank you for listening to this message from Shepard's GateCurrent, located in Kelby Township, Michigan.
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To learn more about Shepherd's Gate and to access more content, visit FgCurch.org.
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Good morning.
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It's great to see all of you here in person, and I want to thank everyone who is watching online today, staying connected through the summer.
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Thanks for being here.
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My name is Jim.
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People at Shepherd's Gate call me JJ.
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And I'm very excited about today.
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This is one of my favorite Shepherd's Gate Sundays.
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We're calling it Volunteer with Purpose.
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It's our serving fair Sunday.
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I think I like it so much because it gets to the core of what a church is.
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What is a church?
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It's us, it's people.
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And what do we do?
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We can serve one another and we can serve those around us.
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And a church that's activated to serve is unstoppable.
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You know, we have staff at this church.
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I'm on staff at Shepherd's Gate.
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We have many dedicated staff.
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They work very, very hard.
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But the scale of what God has called us to do, there's no way that that staff could do everything.
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And there's no way I'd want the staff to do everything because a church only works right when we come together and serve together.
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We're powered by you.
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We're powered by the commitment that we make to each other to say, we're coming together, Wurts and all, we're going to love God, we're going to serve Him, we're going to serve others, we're going to do the thing that God has called us to do in this world and share his light and his love and his gospel with as many people as possible.
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That's at the heart of what serving is for a church, and that's what I get so excited about today.
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And so we're going to take a look at the Bible and what the Bible has to say about serving, and you're also going to hear from several of our volunteers and their stories.
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And then we'll get to go into the former worship center where all our teams are represented, people wearing t-shirts like this, that can share with you the different opportunities we have to get involved here and to serve one another.
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So that's the scope of the day.
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There's lunch on us as well.
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It's just going to be a fun day.
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The only downer is it's not outside.
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We were planning on it being outside, but the rain prevented us from doing that.
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But we have we have everything inside, and I'm excited about it.
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But let's look to the Bible, let's uh let's set the stage for why it's important that we serve each other in the church.
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This is from the book of Galatians.
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It says, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
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What is the family of believers?
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That's a church.
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That's us.
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Don't you think it's interesting that the Bible says, especially, especially to the family of believers.
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God designed the church to thrive when we serve one another.
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It's part of our operating manual, it's baked in.
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Now, uh, we have two kinds of serving here at Shepherd's Gate.
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They're like two sides of the same coin.
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The first is step out and serve.
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And this is where we serve outside of the four walls of the church.
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And we just had a couple months ago a step out weekend where we were serving in so many different sites.
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How many participated in that step out and serve weekend?
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I would say probably most of you in this room.
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Uh we had over 500 people.
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It was amazing.
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That kind of serving is very important, and we do it throughout the year, not just on that weekend.
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And then the second kind of serving is the serving we're talking about today, step in and serve, and that's serving one another in the church.
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Now, this is the fifth time that we've done a serving fair Sunday, so this is an annual thing for us, and I kind of nerd out on numbers because that's kind of my thing.
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So I'm going to share some numbers with you.
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So uh I track how many people are serving in a given month.
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So I don't count repeats serving.
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This is individuals that are serving.
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So how many total individuals served at least one time, and I chose I chose the month of April for these numbers.
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So in April of 2024, 225 people served at least once in that month.
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But we track it year over year.
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2025, 287 people served in the month of April, which is great.
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And then I got to this year and it threw me for a loop.
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So 283, I said that's a little less than 287, and you know, you want everything to go up and to the right.
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And so I thought, well, what's going on?
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Because I happened to know that uh way more than 50, 60 people signed up to step in and serve in this last year.
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Uh, and where are they?
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Like they're not represented in this number.
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So I had to go looking at a different set of numbers.
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And this is what I found.
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So instead of taking one month, I took a period of 12 months and said the same thing.
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What's the total number of people that served at least once in a whole year?
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Thinking that maybe people weren't serving once a month as much as they used to or something.
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So in 2023-2024, uh 283 unique people served in that April to April 12-month period.
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You tracking with me?
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All right, so in 2024, 2025, that number went up.
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330 people served at least one time during that 12-month period.
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And then I got to this last 12-month period, April to April.
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There's the number right there.
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Look at that.
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404 people.
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So over 70 more.
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We can clap for that.
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That's wonderful.
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So, what is this telling us?
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This is what it's telling us.
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This last year was all about depth.
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It was all about having a bench.
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See, when we got out of the pandemic, we were running a shoestring team.
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There were many people that were just coming back to church, getting involved in it again, and people were serving two, three, four times in a row in a month to accomplish the mission and vision here at Shepherd's Gate.
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But over the last several years, and especially last year, we didn't necessarily increase the amount of people serving once a month, but we greatly increased the amount of people that were serving throughout the year.
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Maybe people were serving once every five weeks, once every six weeks.
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That tells me that a lot of our teams got a lot of depth.
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And that's so important because we don't want to burn anybody out, right?
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If you're one of these people that has been serving over and over and over again, you probably took a victory lap this year because we had so many more people coming into the teams, and we can even out the serving so that nobody has to carry the load alone, because of course that's what this is all about.
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Coming together, being a community together, and serving one another.
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So we saw that happen last year in the depth of our teams.
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Now I just want to just pause here and say thank you to all of those that serve, all of those that are represented in that 404.
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Thank you so much.
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As I said, we couldn't do what we do as a church without you.
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And we've made great strides in serving others in the last year, both in step in and step out.
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And I'm just so proud of our church.
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I'm so proud of you.
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Thank you for doing what you do.
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Thank you for leading by example.
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And let's just give everyone that's been serving a round of applause.
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So this puts us in a great position for this message.
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Not that I ever did this, but you know, in the early years of our serving fair, when we were really running on that shoestring team, I felt like I almost had to be a little bit of a salesman or, you know, uh kind of uh try to try to really get people to step up and be a little edgy with that.
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And I I still believe that everyone that calls a church home should be serving somewhere in their sweet spot, the way that God has intended them to serve.
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Uh and but today we can just focus on what the Bible has to say about what it means to serve and what it does for us and for our community.
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And so that's what we're gonna focus on today.
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As I said, we're gonna hear from some of our volunteers.
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So would you please welcome to the stage Liliana Kiefer?
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There you go.
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Liliana, thank you so much for uh being willing to do this interview.
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So uh tell us uh how uh how you serve at Shepherd's Gate.
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All right, well, first off, good morning.
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I am Liliana and I serve at Shepherd's Gate on the worship team.
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Great.
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And how long have you been doing that?
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I've been on the worship team for a little under four months.
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Right.
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So fairly new to the step in and serve here at Shepherd's Gate.
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Now, as we talked about um what you might say in this interview, we got on to the subject of your family, and there's there's a story there that I just want you to share that uh is an inspiring story about uh what caused you to get into serving.
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So share that with us.
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So I'm gonna be honest, I had a whole script.
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I had practiced with my mom last night, and then this morning I was driving here, and I I believe that God talked to me.
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He said, I have another plans for you this morning.
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And I said, Okay, Jesus, take the wheel, I'm ready.
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So I came in here, and I would like to start off with I have a humongous, faithful family, and my grandparents planted a seed, and I've been able to watch it grow into an amazing faith that I have today.
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But just recently, my grandpa got diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.
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And uh a couple weeks ago I was at his house, I was visiting him, and he looked at me, he calls me Angel Face.
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I said, Angel Face, I said, What's her and I uh had a meltdown, I broke down in his arms and he said, Honey, I only ask that God give me one more day or extra time, just read the word of the Lord.
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And I thought that is so impactful, like that is huge.
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So uh last week we were at the hospital, he got admitted into the hospital, and I just found out my mom had to leave because he got uh put on hospice between the last service and this service.
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And uh I was at the hospital last week and she goes to pray.
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She goes, Can I pray over you?
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And he said, Yeah, go ahead.
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And him being the jokester that he is, it was like an hour, it felt like books that she was just reading for a prayer and he starts snoring to joke around with her.
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And we were leaving, and the nurse looked at us and she goes, That was beautiful.
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And I thought, my grandfather is you know passing away and he's impacting people in a hospital room.
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And that is so big.
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And like even I was thinking when you were talking, if I hadn't have stepped out to serve on the worship team, you guys wouldn't hear any of this.
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And I hope that it's impacting at least one person in this room.
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But it's amazing what God can do.
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And I think that it's beautiful that he's impacting you from a hospital room, he's not even here.
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And I think that serving is an amazing part of that.
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And I often pray, I said, God, please take the sickness away from my grandpa, make a miracle happen.
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Please, please, please.
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And when I was driving here, I believed that if God was talking to me, he would have said, Honey, what if healing him and answering your prayer is bringing him to paradise with me?
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And there's so much peace in that.
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There's so much peace.
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I know where my grandfather's going.
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And so that's my story.
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It's just incredible to me how um you know you have these examples in your family.
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Your grandfather's just pointing your to Jesus and pointing you towards serving because they know the power of it, and now you know that in your life.
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Um, so you're uh a young adult now, and uh you've you've started serving.
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So talk to the people your age uh here and online.
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What would you say to them about this these serving opportunities?
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Yeah, so I'm 18 and serving here has been a miracle.
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I've got confidence I didn't know I needed, strength I didn't know I had, and it's been a it's been a blessing.
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And I believe that if you're even thinking about serving, the Lord is already working in your heart in ways you don't know yet.
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And it's on your time that you need to step out and serve.
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But I think that if you're already thinking about it, you need to just do it because it's beautiful what it can do to your life.
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It's it's amazing.
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Well, Liliana, thanks for sharing your story.
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Thank you.
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Appreciate it.
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I feel like uh maybe next year I'm just gonna do stories.
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So amazing.
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But I do want to look at what the Word of God says in addition to the Galatians verse we looked at.
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I do want to look at a few other verses about what serving does in our lives.
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As you can tell from Ileana's story, it's impactful, it changes lives.
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And uh the the bottom line uh for one point is that serving others, it's good for us.
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It does something in us, it does something in our hearts.
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Look at this verse from Philippians.
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Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ?
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Any comfort from his love?
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Any fellowship together in the Spirit?
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Are your hearts tender and compassionate that make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose?
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You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
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See, I think serving does something for us.
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Look at those words: encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness, compassion.
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We want these things in our lives.
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This is what's expressed when we get together and we're of one mind and purpose, and we're working together in serving.
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You know, life centered entirely on the self eventually becomes very small and unhealthy.
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And we know this in our culture.
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Selfishness produces isolation, passivity, and preoccupation.
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And serving gets us out of that.
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It opens us, it removes our blinders so that we can see the world, we can see each other, we can see other people, and we can become active, we can have meaning, purpose, joy, and add perspective to our lives.
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So serving not only helps others, the person that we're serving, it helps us as well.
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God knows that, and that's why he asks us to serve.
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Here's another thing: serving others strengthens our community.
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It strengthens us as a church together.
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Consider this from Ephesians.
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Jesus makes the whole body fit together perfectly.
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That body is the body of Christ, the church.
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As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow.
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So that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
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Church health is not just produced by pastors or staff or by us agreeing about everything.
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The church is healthy when each person contributes what God has given to them and gives it to others in the church.
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Serving changes people from spectators into participants and from attenders into partners.
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It unites us in purpose.
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I don't know how much more plain to say it than to say that the church would not exist as the powerful force that it is in this world for change if we didn't strengthen one another by serving one another.
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It's at the heart.
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It's at the heart of the gospel, it's at the heart of what we do.
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I want you to hear from another couple of our volunteers.
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So I'm gonna invite uh Amanda and Ryan Theo to the stage.
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Can you uh welcome them?
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I'm so proud of myself for getting the names right.
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I'm bad with names, I've gotten two for two so far.
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But you told me Theo Hero, and that's I can't forget it now.
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Yeah.
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So um uh tell us what you guys uh do for serving at Shepherd's Gate.
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I sing on the worship team.
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And then I serve on the tech team and on the worship team.
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Uh, I'm usually back there or behind there on the drums.
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So yeah.
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And how long have you been uh serving at Shepherd's Gate?
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We account this by Easter, so we're about a year in because this will be our second Easter with Shepherd's Gate.
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So cool.
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That's great.
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Well, when we were talking uh together about this time, uh we got onto the idea of having the right fit for ministry, just as we just talked about serving one another in the body and finding that fit, and that's really important to you guys.
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So um just talk a little bit about the fit for serving.
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Yeah, I I feel it's very important to have that fit, the synergy, or as we're saying, the sweet spot.
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Um, because you don't want to serve in a capacity that you're not comfortable in doing unless the Lord is calling you into that capacity.
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But uh just having that sweet spot, it gives you joy that also then flows out of you to the people who are serving with you on the team, and it's just it gives you an excitement about coming every week.
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Yeah, definitely.
00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:22.960
I think that um no one would want me uh changing diapers, for example.
00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:24.240
I think that would be really stupid.
00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:25.839
No, safety pins and babies.
00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:27.519
I don't I shouldn't get anywhere near that at this point.
00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.079
But yeah, we're past that phase, so I'm done with that.
00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:35.039
Speaking of uh children, though, uh you guys are a family of six.
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.799
You have four kids, and uh they're still at home growing up with you.
00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.440
And uh just maybe uh Amanda speak to that a little bit.
00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:49.200
How do you manage serving in the church and uh and doing that part while you're uh handling the busyness of family life?
00:17:49.599 --> 00:18:00.079
Yeah, so when the kids were really little, I didn't serve as much, but now that they're a little bit older, uh they kind of come along with us for the ride.
00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:01.599
They're here today.
00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:08.240
And um I think it's important as parents to set an example for your children.
00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:18.960
Um it it's so important to like show them that our world is bigger than just the four walls of our house.
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:28.160
And we participated in the Step Out and Serve this year for the first time, and they joyfully served with us and had a great time.
00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:29.279
That's amazing.
00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:30.079
I love that.
00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:32.400
I'm gonna add to that a little bit too.
00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:36.000
So we were we were a vocational ministry family.
00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:41.279
Uh we were in a portable church, so even for the parents that have little ones, you can still bring them on.
00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:47.440
I've got pictures of my son who's gonna be 15, pushing road cases at age five safely.
00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:55.039
But yeah, so I mean, don't don't worry about the age gaps and you know, just step out and serve, bring your family along with you to do that.
00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.079
I love this idea of um bringing your family along.
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:05.039
What a great example for them in faith and in serving, and to know what it means to be a part of a church, not just attend a church.
00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:06.000
So that's great.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:11.759
So for the families out here that might be listening or uh watching online, maybe they're considering serving.
00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:12.880
What would you say?
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:17.200
I would say just step out and do it because you don't know what opportunity is gonna come.
00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:22.799
Um I'm excited, my son's stepping in and serving on camera, and then you never know what the Lord's gonna do.
00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:26.079
I mean, just between services, I'm derailing you a little bit.
00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:37.920
Um just three weeks ago, I was talking about okay, my AC is not working, and then I found out that my brother on camera over there, he's like, oh, my AC is not working either, and I was able to refer him an HVAC guy, and now his AC is working.
00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:42.319
It's like you never know what the Lord's gonna do in the moment and in the place that you're serving.
00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:44.240
It's just get out and do it and trust God to take it.
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:44.960
I agree.
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:57.200
If you're if you're in your house and it's just you and it's just your family all the time, and you never talk to anyone else, or you're never involved with anyone else, then you don't know what God might have in those connections, even practical connections like that.
00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:01.039
It definitely starts, you know, here in the the church home.
00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:07.200
We're all family, and then it's impacting like even our neighborhood that my kids will go to the neighbors now and be like, hey, how can we help you?
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:08.880
Can we go walk your dogs with you?
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:12.079
So, yeah, it's definitely growing them as well.
00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:13.119
That is awesome.
00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:15.039
Well, guys, thank you so much for sharing today.
00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.319
Appreciate it.
00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:33.599
I want to cover another aspect of uh serving and what happens when we serve, and that is that serving others actually draws us closer to Christ.
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:35.680
It draws us closer to Jesus.
00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:38.720
I'm gonna go to a passage that may be familiar to you.
00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.400
It's a it's kind of a more famous story from the Gospel of John.
00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:43.359
And here it is.
00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:51.119
Jesus got up from the meal, that's the Passover meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
00:20:51.599 --> 00:21:00.720
After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with a towel that was wrapped around him.
00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:05.680
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:07.440
Do you understand what I've done for you?
00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:08.400
He asked them.
00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:13.039
You call me teacher and lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:20.799
Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:29.599
Don't you find it interesting that Jesus felt it necessary to demonstrate serving and not just teach it?
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.279
He did a lot of teaching.
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:36.880
But he showed his disciples serving.
00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:38.000
Why?
00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:39.920
Why?
00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:46.000
Being a servant is at the heart of who Jesus is.
00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:49.599
The truth is, we're all broken people.
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:52.880
We're born sinners into a sinful world.
00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:54.799
There's nothing we can do about that.
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.960
No amount of serving or good deeds will make us right with God.
00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:02.480
You know it can't save us.
00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:06.720
These good works that we do, it's good, but they they're not they don't save us.
00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:10.319
Our sin separates us from God, but Jesus changed all of that.
00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.160
He came as a servant, and he did what only he could do.
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:21.119
He was in his sweet spot, he died on the cross for our sins, the only one that could do that for us, and was raised again to life.
00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:24.960
And then we can receive that free gift of salvation and be right with him.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:31.200
And then, out of gratefulness and love to our Savior, we can serve others.
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:35.200
Because he led the way, he showed us the example.
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:42.480
We don't earn God's favor by the good things that we do.
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:45.119
But we can worship him with it.
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:47.039
We can serve one another with it.
00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.519
We can follow in his footsteps with it.
00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:51.920
What does serving really do?
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:57.119
Serving makes us more like Jesus because it forms his character in us.
00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:06.960
Things like humility, compassion, sacrifice, patience, faithfulness, and love.
00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.839
Serving makes us more like Christ.
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:16.240
Transforms us.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:21.680
It's part of what he uses to bring us closer to him.
00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:26.480
I want to illustrate that by our final interview today.
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:31.039
So I want to uh welcome Melissa Zahadnik to the stage.
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:37.759
I don't know, I almost feel like I mispronounced that.
00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:38.319
Did I get it right?
00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:40.000
Yes.
00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:42.000
Three for three.
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:44.160
I don't know how happy that makes me.
00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:48.799
Well, Melissa, um tell us what uh you do at Shepherd's Gate.
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:49.759
Sure.
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:51.680
Um again, my name is Melissa.
00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:55.759
Um I am um a member now at uh Shepherd's Gate.
00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:58.000
I've been coming here since about 21.
00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:05.039
Um, I want to say I did my first step out and serve here probably within the first year um of my attendance.
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:09.359
And um I then found the I was going to school for marketing at the time.
00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:17.279
Uh I haven't graduated since, but um, it was something that was going to bring me, you know, uh more knowledge in that in that sense.
00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:25.359
So uh I stepped into their social media and started doing some Instagram uh reels for the church and then uh stepped into some blog work.
00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:33.119
Uh so I I've written a few blogs, which is where uh you had found me for the uh sobriety meeting that I helped lead here at Shepherd's Gate.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:41.920
Um and so that strength and sobriety that starts up um in a couple weeks here for our care programs if you're interested or that's something that you're struggling with.
00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:43.200
We we welcome you.
00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:48.559
Um and then recently I actually picked up uh working with the SG kids.
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:56.400
I don't have children, so um I I enjoy them, I find them funny, interesting, uh a little intimidating.
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:15.200
But um, you know, give me a little bit more uh I guess insight into the child, the childlike um like and then um also I have also started um helping with the women's groups to start uh getting some um events planned and things of that nature.
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:20.000
And then as I was standing here today, I was helping uh do the greeting.
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.079
So I think I'm uh an unofficial greeter.
00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:24.240
I was gonna say, what don't you do?
00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:26.000
That's a lot.
00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:33.839
Well, we're talking about how uh serving actually helps us go glow go close grow closer to Christ.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:37.680
Uh so and you've done a lot here, so do you find that to be true?
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:44.000
Yeah, and it's funny because um even just coming to this church was a prayer that was answered.
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:48.799
I had connected with an old friend who had uh told me about this church.
00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:54.720
I sat down in the pew and cried and found that this was my new home, and um, and then I wanted to do more.
00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:58.720
I wanted to feel like I belonged, I wanted to, you know, come in and be part of something.
00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:09.759
And uh gratefully I was I was accepted into many areas where I could um you know find that I guess that spark of interest or many sparks of interest.
00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:20.160
Um so it's been it's been really interesting to watch, you know, how he's been answering little prayers that I've been putting out there throughout my time here at Shepherd's Gate.
00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:20.799
That's great.
00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:21.119
Yeah.
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:30.000
You know, uh one of the uh things that your story illustrates, I think, is that you can just move, like there's there's no like you sign up and then it's for life.
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.799
But you you can sign up for different things, you can try different things, you can explore and find your sweet spot.
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:36.960
And I'm glad that you found that to be true here.
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:38.799
Yeah, absolutely.
00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:43.920
So um for those that may be sitting out here and thinking, Well, I don't know, like what should I do?
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:45.359
Like, I'm not sure what to do.
00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:46.319
What would you say to them?
00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:47.920
I would say give it a try.
00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:49.519
What do you have to lose?
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:58.000
Um, I can say that every time that I've stepped in and served, I've walked out of here feeling more rejuvenated and more of a grateful heart.
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:15.839
Um, I've learned more about myself, as you've mentioned, some of the things that we learn as far as like compassion and um patience and uh love, you know, those are all things that um I've been able to help uh or have helped mold some of those things that I've been asking for in my life.
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:34.480
Um, you know, I think when I asked him for some of these things, like, you know, uh women to come in my life or maybe to be closer to children or social media work, I didn't I didn't see it as me serving, but I'm so grateful that it turned into that just because it's it's a whole new perspective.
00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:35.039
Right.
00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:35.519
Wow.
00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:38.400
Well, Melissa, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today.
00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:38.960
Yeah.
00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:58.400
Well, as I mentioned, this is our fifth annual serving fair, and I think every time, except for maybe one, uh, I have ended the message with what I call the lightning round, and I'm gonna do that again.
00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:20.799
Uh so I've been in full-time ministry close to 30 years, and a lot of my ministry has been about volunteers and leading volunteers, finding volunteers, and I've heard lots of excuses, uh, because you I know that if your heart may be moved here today, and you say, Well, I can see how serving is part of the church and how it makes us who we are and how we accomplish our mission and vision.
00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:28.240
And I see that uh uh if everyone does a little something that we can we can be strong together, stronger than we ever were apart.
00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:44.720
But, and then whatever happens after that, but there's so there's uh there's often a hesitation, and here are the most common things that I hear uh about that, and I just uh just to uh quickly go through them, just in case this is where you are.
00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:52.000
And if you're feeling like, ah, yes, I would like to do this, however, or but, uh maybe this answer will help.
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:54.000
So I'm just gonna go through them here quickly.
00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:56.240
Uh are you trying to guilt me into serving?
00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:57.359
I've heard that.
00:28:57.519 --> 00:28:59.119
Um the answer is no.
00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:07.839
And uh I think you can see here that uh the people that have uh spoken on the stage today, uh uh we haven't guilted them into anything, they've stepped in to serve.
00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:17.200
We found that if you uh plead with someone to fill a spot because you have a spot, they may out of compassion fill that spot for a while, but it never lasts.
00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:19.680
Because that really shouldn't be our motivation to serve.
00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:20.960
It shouldn't be out of guilt.
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:28.559
It should be finding our sweet spot of ministry, uh, wanting to do this because of uh being a part of the family of God.
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.680
And so uh we don't try to guilt anyone into serving.
00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:33.359
Uh I'm too busy.
00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:34.559
This is a big one.
00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:37.119
We're all very busy, it's true.
00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:38.960
Uh this is my answer to that.
00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:41.680
Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day.
00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:45.839
And so it's really, really not about busyness, it's really about priority.
00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:49.440
We do the things that uh are high priority for us.
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:52.720
Is stepping in to serve in the body of Christ is a priority for you?
00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:53.920
It will happen.
00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:59.440
But I'll also say this you're not signing your life away when you serve at Shepherd's Gate.
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:01.680
Uh we have many opportunities.
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:07.440
Uh, some of them uh are on during the week, some are in the evening, some are in the morning, many are on Sundays.
00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:11.680
Uh often they're just once a month, and we can work around schedules.
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:18.000
And so we're not looking to have people sign their life away and quit everything else in their life and just do this.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:26.240
Uh, but uh we make it accommodating, and I think you'll find, if you try, you'll find a serving spot that fits your schedule.
00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.400
I don't have special skills.
00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:30.960
Sometimes people will say, Well, I don't, I'm not good at anything.
00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:36.079
Like I, and especially because there are some high-profile serving opportunities here at Shepherd's Gate.
00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:37.759
I would think like the platform ones.
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:46.559
Like you see someone sing or play the drums or something, like, well, I don't I don't do that, but there are lots of different places that uh require lots of different kinds of skills.
00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:48.559
I would say, uh try.
00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:49.519
Try something.
00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:50.880
Look at your natural gifts.
00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:57.920
If people have said that you're kind, there are places we can serve at Shepherd's Gate where that kindness will really pay off and make a big difference.
00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:01.839
Or someone might have said, You're an encourager or you're a leader.
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:07.039
If you know of anything like that in your life, we can start there and find a spot that works.
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:09.680
We also provide training for most positions.
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:11.759
Uh uh tech has been mentioned.
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:19.440
That is one of the teams that is a little light right now with people, and you'd say, Oh, well, I enjoy tech, but I don't have a lot of training in it.
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:22.640
But we train, we train for almost every spot we have here.
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:27.440
We have great leaders and great staff members that will train you in uh what to do.
00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:29.359
Here's one I've heard before.
00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:30.960
I'm new to Shepherd's Gate.
00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:36.319
Great! You don't have to be a member or a long attender here to serve.
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:42.400
In fact, serving is a great way to just jump in and learn, uh get to know some new people and learn what makes us tick.
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:55.839
It's it's it's a wonderful community, and the only exception to this, which I will mention, is for kids and students, we ask that people attend six months before they begin to serve with our kids and students, and we do that for safety, I'm sure you understand.
00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:58.960
Uh I'm too messed up to serve.
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:02.000
I actually have heard this one a few times.
00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:03.440
Uh I'm too messed up to serve.
00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:04.880
Well, nobody's perfect.
00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:06.319
In some way, we're all messed up.
00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:09.279
I mean, we're all just living life, we're all sinners saved by grace.
00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:25.359
Unless you're in crisis, serving is actually a great thing to do when you're messed up because you can come and be a part of a community of people, and they can pray for you and they can support you, and you can you can get strength and comfort from that while you serve.
00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:29.759
I'm too young, I'm too old.
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:31.680
Nah, you're not.
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:37.200
We've got uh, as Ryan said, you know, uh kids as young as five do things around here.
00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:40.079
We get them involved in the capacity that they can.
00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:47.440
Uh we have octogenarians that are serving, and uh we find uh something for every life stage and age.
00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:50.079
And finally, this one, I don't know my sweet spot.
00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:52.160
I hear this uh fairly often.
00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:54.880
I don't know what I'm I've never served in church before.
00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:56.160
I don't know what I'm gonna like.
00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:00.559
I'm not sure what what might what might be the center, the target for me.
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:09.039
And I can tell you that at Shepherd's Gate, it is it is a very easy and uh well thought-out environment to find your sweet spot.
00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.319
As you heard from Melissa, you can try several different things.
00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:21.200
All of our leaders and our staff members know that if you try something and uh someone's trying a serving opportunity and they don't like it, it's not a problem.
00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:23.759
We'll we'll stop that and we'll start something else.
00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:27.759
We'll find a place of serving for you that is your sweet spot.
00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:36.079
So don't worry about signing your life away or signing up for something and thinking, but but if I start doing this and then I back out, um, I'm letting somebody down or whatever.
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:37.279
No, it's not true.
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:38.640
Uh we're prepared for that.
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:43.119
We want you to find your sweet spot in the body of Christ.
00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:49.599
And I just want to go back to something I said, and I'll just say this as heartfelt and as passionate as I can.
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:57.279
I do want every person that's that's here today and watching online to find your sweet spot of serving.
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:03.680
I want you to know the joy of what it's like to be a part of something bigger than yourself.
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:18.159
I can tell you that God has his hand on this church, and we're going places, and he has more for us to do, and he has there are more people that need to hear and see and feel the love of Jesus, and you can be a part of that.
00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:20.159
I don't want you to miss that.
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:23.440
Because it's not just about them, it's about us too.
00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:28.079
God never wastes anything, it does something in your heart, it does something in your life.
00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:33.199
And we're all just we're all just here doing it together.
00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:41.519
There's nothing special about any of us except that we know we need Jesus and we know we can share his love.
00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:53.360
And so I just want to challenge you today, especially if you have never stepped in to serve, go to the serving fair after the service, talk with some people with these shirts, investigate it.
00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:55.039
Let God lead you.
00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:57.760
Let him guide you.
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:01.199
Let him guide you to be a part of something.
00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:03.760
I don't know how to describe it unless you're in it.
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:05.440
Those that serve know.
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:07.760
You will not regret it.
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:13.039
And together, together's nothing we can't do.
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:16.000
In his love and his power.
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:17.199
Can I pray for you?
00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:19.519
God, thank you so much for this time together.
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:21.119
Thank you so much for these people.
00:35:21.360 --> 00:35:25.679
Thank you so much for an opportunity that you've given to be a part of your work in the world.
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:33.119
Thank you that we can serve together, that we can serve one another, that we can help each other.
00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:45.440
God, for each person that's listening to this message, I pray that you would speak into their life in just the way that you know will hit them, will reach them.
00:35:47.920 --> 00:36:00.639
God guide us all as we seek to love you, to serve you, and to be the very best church, a beacon, a light shining on a hill that we can be to share your love with others.
00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:01.679
In Jesus' name.
00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:02.480
Amen.
00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:10.159
Uh normally we go right into the offering after a message, but we have such a wonderful, powerful song we want to share with you.
00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:11.920
It's called I've Witnessed It.
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:17.199
And during the song, you're gonna see video of all of you who are serving.
00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:18.880
And we have witnessed it.
00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:26.079
We've witnessed life being changed, we've witnessed families coming back together, we've witnessed young people coming to Christ.
00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:29.599
We've witnessed the power of what it means to do this together.
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:33.920
And I want that for all of you today.
00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:35.760
So let's share the song.
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:36.719
We're gonna stay seated.
00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:42.559
You can sing if you want, look at the video if you want, but let God speak to your heart in this moment.
00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:51.280
We hope this message was helpful to you today, and we welcome you to join us live in person or online every Sunday.
00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:57.920
If you're interested in accessing more on-demand content, please visit escapechurch.org.
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:07.440
Hi, and thank you for listening to this message from Shepard's GateCurrent, located in Kelby Township, Michigan.
00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:14.000
To learn more about Shepherd's Gate and to access more content, visit FgCurch.org.
00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:18.800
Good morning.
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It's great to see all of you here in person, and I want to thank everyone who is watching online today, staying connected through the summer.
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Thanks for being here.
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My name is Jim.
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People at Shepherd's Gate call me JJ.
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And I'm very excited about today.
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This is one of my favorite Shepherd's Gate Sundays.
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We're calling it Volunteer with Purpose.
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It's our serving fair Sunday.
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I think I like it so much because it gets to the core of what a church is.
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What is a church?
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It's us, it's people.
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And what do we do?
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We can serve one another and we can serve those around us.
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And a church that's activated to serve is unstoppable.
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You know, we have staff at this church.
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I'm on staff at Shepherd's Gate.
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We have many dedicated staff.
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They work very, very hard.
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But the scale of what God has called us to do, there's no way that that staff could do everything.
00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:23.439
And there's no way I'd want the staff to do everything because a church only works right when we come together and serve together.
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We're powered by you.
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We're powered by the commitment that we make to each other to say, we're coming together, Wurts and all, we're going to love God, we're going to serve Him, we're going to serve others, we're going to do the thing that God has called us to do in this world and share his light and his love and his gospel with as many people as possible.
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That's at the heart of what serving is for a church, and that's what I get so excited about today.
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And so we're going to take a look at the Bible and what the Bible has to say about serving, and you're also going to hear from several of our volunteers and their stories.
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And then we'll get to go into the former worship center where all our teams are represented, people wearing t-shirts like this, that can share with you the different opportunities we have to get involved here and to serve one another.
00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:13.599
So that's the scope of the day.
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There's lunch on us as well.
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It's just going to be a fun day.
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The only downer is it's not outside.
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We were planning on it being outside, but the rain prevented us from doing that.
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But we have we have everything inside, and I'm excited about it.
00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:32.159
But let's look to the Bible, let's uh let's set the stage for why it's important that we serve each other in the church.
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This is from the book of Galatians.
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It says, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
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What is the family of believers?
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That's a church.
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That's us.
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Don't you think it's interesting that the Bible says, especially, especially to the family of believers.
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God designed the church to thrive when we serve one another.
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It's part of our operating manual, it's baked in.
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Now, uh, we have two kinds of serving here at Shepherd's Gate.
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They're like two sides of the same coin.
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The first is step out and serve.
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And this is where we serve outside of the four walls of the church.
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And we just had a couple months ago a step out weekend where we were serving in so many different sites.
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How many participated in that step out and serve weekend?
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I would say probably most of you in this room.
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Uh we had over 500 people.
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It was amazing.
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That kind of serving is very important, and we do it throughout the year, not just on that weekend.
00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:44.800
And then the second kind of serving is the serving we're talking about today, step in and serve, and that's serving one another in the church.
00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:54.319
Now, this is the fifth time that we've done a serving fair Sunday, so this is an annual thing for us, and I kind of nerd out on numbers because that's kind of my thing.
00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:56.400
So I'm going to share some numbers with you.
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So uh I track how many people are serving in a given month.
00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.800
So I don't count repeats serving.
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This is individuals that are serving.
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So how many total individuals served at least one time, and I chose I chose the month of April for these numbers.
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So in April of 2024, 225 people served at least once in that month.
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But we track it year over year.
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2025, 287 people served in the month of April, which is great.
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And then I got to this year and it threw me for a loop.
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So 283, I said that's a little less than 287, and you know, you want everything to go up and to the right.
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And so I thought, well, what's going on?
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Because I happened to know that uh way more than 50, 60 people signed up to step in and serve in this last year.
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Uh, and where are they?
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Like they're not represented in this number.
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So I had to go looking at a different set of numbers.
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And this is what I found.
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So instead of taking one month, I took a period of 12 months and said the same thing.
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What's the total number of people that served at least once in a whole year?
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Thinking that maybe people weren't serving once a month as much as they used to or something.
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So in 2023-2024, uh 283 unique people served in that April to April 12-month period.
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You tracking with me?
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All right, so in 2024, 2025, that number went up.
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330 people served at least one time during that 12-month period.
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And then I got to this last 12-month period, April to April.
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There's the number right there.
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Look at that.
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404 people.
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So over 70 more.
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We can clap for that.
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That's wonderful.
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So, what is this telling us?
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This is what it's telling us.
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This last year was all about depth.
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It was all about having a bench.
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See, when we got out of the pandemic, we were running a shoestring team.
00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:10.319
There were many people that were just coming back to church, getting involved in it again, and people were serving two, three, four times in a row in a month to accomplish the mission and vision here at Shepherd's Gate.
00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:22.879
But over the last several years, and especially last year, we didn't necessarily increase the amount of people serving once a month, but we greatly increased the amount of people that were serving throughout the year.
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Maybe people were serving once every five weeks, once every six weeks.
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That tells me that a lot of our teams got a lot of depth.
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And that's so important because we don't want to burn anybody out, right?
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If you're one of these people that has been serving over and over and over again, you probably took a victory lap this year because we had so many more people coming into the teams, and we can even out the serving so that nobody has to carry the load alone, because of course that's what this is all about.
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Coming together, being a community together, and serving one another.
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So we saw that happen last year in the depth of our teams.
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Now I just want to just pause here and say thank you to all of those that serve, all of those that are represented in that 404.
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Thank you so much.
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As I said, we couldn't do what we do as a church without you.
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And we've made great strides in serving others in the last year, both in step in and step out.
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And I'm just so proud of our church.
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I'm so proud of you.
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Thank you for doing what you do.
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Thank you for leading by example.
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And let's just give everyone that's been serving a round of applause.
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So this puts us in a great position for this message.
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Not that I ever did this, but you know, in the early years of our serving fair, when we were really running on that shoestring team, I felt like I almost had to be a little bit of a salesman or, you know, uh kind of uh try to try to really get people to step up and be a little edgy with that.
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And I I still believe that everyone that calls a church home should be serving somewhere in their sweet spot, the way that God has intended them to serve.
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Uh and but today we can just focus on what the Bible has to say about what it means to serve and what it does for us and for our community.
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And so that's what we're gonna focus on today.
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As I said, we're gonna hear from some of our volunteers.
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So would you please welcome to the stage Liliana Kiefer?
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There you go.
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Liliana, thank you so much for uh being willing to do this interview.
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So uh tell us uh how uh how you serve at Shepherd's Gate.
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All right, well, first off, good morning.
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I am Liliana and I serve at Shepherd's Gate on the worship team.
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Great.
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And how long have you been doing that?
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I've been on the worship team for a little under four months.
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Right.
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So fairly new to the step in and serve here at Shepherd's Gate.
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Now, as we talked about um what you might say in this interview, we got on to the subject of your family, and there's there's a story there that I just want you to share that uh is an inspiring story about uh what caused you to get into serving.
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So share that with us.
00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:08.399
So I'm gonna be honest, I had a whole script.
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I had practiced with my mom last night, and then this morning I was driving here, and I I believe that God talked to me.
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He said, I have another plans for you this morning.
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And I said, Okay, Jesus, take the wheel, I'm ready.
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So I came in here, and I would like to start off with I have a humongous, faithful family, and my grandparents planted a seed, and I've been able to watch it grow into an amazing faith that I have today.
00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:39.360
But just recently, my grandpa got diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.
00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:46.399
And uh a couple weeks ago I was at his house, I was visiting him, and he looked at me, he calls me Angel Face.
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I said, Angel Face, I said, What's her and I uh had a meltdown, I broke down in his arms and he said, Honey, I only ask that God give me one more day or extra time, just read the word of the Lord.
00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.039
And I thought that is so impactful, like that is huge.
00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:15.039
So uh last week we were at the hospital, he got admitted into the hospital, and I just found out my mom had to leave because he got uh put on hospice between the last service and this service.
00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.600
And uh I was at the hospital last week and she goes to pray.
00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:20.879
She goes, Can I pray over you?
00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:21.919
And he said, Yeah, go ahead.
00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:32.480
And him being the jokester that he is, it was like an hour, it felt like books that she was just reading for a prayer and he starts snoring to joke around with her.
00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:36.639
And we were leaving, and the nurse looked at us and she goes, That was beautiful.
00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:43.360
And I thought, my grandfather is you know passing away and he's impacting people in a hospital room.
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And that is so big.
00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:52.799
And like even I was thinking when you were talking, if I hadn't have stepped out to serve on the worship team, you guys wouldn't hear any of this.
00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:56.080
And I hope that it's impacting at least one person in this room.
00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:58.639
But it's amazing what God can do.
00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:03.120
And I think that it's beautiful that he's impacting you from a hospital room, he's not even here.
00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:06.399
And I think that serving is an amazing part of that.
00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:11.840
And I often pray, I said, God, please take the sickness away from my grandpa, make a miracle happen.
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:12.879
Please, please, please.
00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:21.440
And when I was driving here, I believed that if God was talking to me, he would have said, Honey, what if healing him and answering your prayer is bringing him to paradise with me?
00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.440
And there's so much peace in that.
00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:24.639
There's so much peace.
00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:26.799
I know where my grandfather's going.
00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:28.320
And so that's my story.
00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:33.679
It's just incredible to me how um you know you have these examples in your family.
00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:41.519
Your grandfather's just pointing your to Jesus and pointing you towards serving because they know the power of it, and now you know that in your life.
00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:47.279
Um, so you're uh a young adult now, and uh you've you've started serving.
00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:50.320
So talk to the people your age uh here and online.
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What would you say to them about this these serving opportunities?
00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:58.720
Yeah, so I'm 18 and serving here has been a miracle.
00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:04.960
I've got confidence I didn't know I needed, strength I didn't know I had, and it's been a it's been a blessing.
00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:10.159
And I believe that if you're even thinking about serving, the Lord is already working in your heart in ways you don't know yet.
00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.519
And it's on your time that you need to step out and serve.
00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:19.120
But I think that if you're already thinking about it, you need to just do it because it's beautiful what it can do to your life.
00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:20.080
It's it's amazing.
00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.320
Well, Liliana, thanks for sharing your story.
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:22.799
Thank you.
00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:24.159
Appreciate it.
00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:35.360
I feel like uh maybe next year I'm just gonna do stories.
00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:37.519
So amazing.
00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:42.399
But I do want to look at what the Word of God says in addition to the Galatians verse we looked at.
00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:47.039
I do want to look at a few other verses about what serving does in our lives.
00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:51.919
As you can tell from Ileana's story, it's impactful, it changes lives.
00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:59.120
And uh the the bottom line uh for one point is that serving others, it's good for us.
00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:02.799
It does something in us, it does something in our hearts.
00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:05.440
Look at this verse from Philippians.
00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:08.879
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ?
00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:11.039
Any comfort from his love?
00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.279
Any fellowship together in the Spirit?
00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:24.799
Are your hearts tender and compassionate that make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose?
00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:29.840
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:32.240
See, I think serving does something for us.
00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:38.399
Look at those words: encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness, compassion.
00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:40.080
We want these things in our lives.
00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:46.720
This is what's expressed when we get together and we're of one mind and purpose, and we're working together in serving.
00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:53.279
You know, life centered entirely on the self eventually becomes very small and unhealthy.
00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:54.559
And we know this in our culture.
00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:59.360
Selfishness produces isolation, passivity, and preoccupation.
00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.679
And serving gets us out of that.
00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:15.919
It opens us, it removes our blinders so that we can see the world, we can see each other, we can see other people, and we can become active, we can have meaning, purpose, joy, and add perspective to our lives.
00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:22.240
So serving not only helps others, the person that we're serving, it helps us as well.
00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.840
God knows that, and that's why he asks us to serve.
00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:30.879
Here's another thing: serving others strengthens our community.
00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:34.799
It strengthens us as a church together.
00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.360
Consider this from Ephesians.
00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:41.200
Jesus makes the whole body fit together perfectly.
00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:44.399
That body is the body of Christ, the church.
00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:49.679
As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow.
00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:55.759
So that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:02.000
Church health is not just produced by pastors or staff or by us agreeing about everything.
00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:11.039
The church is healthy when each person contributes what God has given to them and gives it to others in the church.
00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:17.840
Serving changes people from spectators into participants and from attenders into partners.
00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:20.799
It unites us in purpose.
00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:35.200
I don't know how much more plain to say it than to say that the church would not exist as the powerful force that it is in this world for change if we didn't strengthen one another by serving one another.
00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:36.960
It's at the heart.
00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.919
It's at the heart of the gospel, it's at the heart of what we do.
00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:44.320
I want you to hear from another couple of our volunteers.
00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:47.679
So I'm gonna invite uh Amanda and Ryan Theo to the stage.
00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:48.960
Can you uh welcome them?
00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:59.840
I'm so proud of myself for getting the names right.
00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:03.600
I'm bad with names, I've gotten two for two so far.
00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:07.360
But you told me Theo Hero, and that's I can't forget it now.
00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:07.759
Yeah.
00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:13.519
So um uh tell us what you guys uh do for serving at Shepherd's Gate.
00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:15.519
I sing on the worship team.
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:19.679
And then I serve on the tech team and on the worship team.
00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.879
Uh, I'm usually back there or behind there on the drums.
00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:23.679
So yeah.
00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.960
And how long have you been uh serving at Shepherd's Gate?
00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:33.919
We account this by Easter, so we're about a year in because this will be our second Easter with Shepherd's Gate.
00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:34.720
So cool.
00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:35.440
That's great.
00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:47.840
Well, when we were talking uh together about this time, uh we got onto the idea of having the right fit for ministry, just as we just talked about serving one another in the body and finding that fit, and that's really important to you guys.
00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:51.840
So um just talk a little bit about the fit for serving.
00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:59.600
Yeah, I I feel it's very important to have that fit, the synergy, or as we're saying, the sweet spot.
00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:06.960
Um, because you don't want to serve in a capacity that you're not comfortable in doing unless the Lord is calling you into that capacity.
00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:17.519
But uh just having that sweet spot, it gives you joy that also then flows out of you to the people who are serving with you on the team, and it's just it gives you an excitement about coming every week.
00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:18.799
Yeah, definitely.
00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:22.960
I think that um no one would want me uh changing diapers, for example.
00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:24.240
I think that would be really stupid.
00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:25.839
No, safety pins and babies.
00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:27.519
I don't I shouldn't get anywhere near that at this point.
00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:30.079
But yeah, we're past that phase, so I'm done with that.
00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:35.039
Speaking of uh children, though, uh you guys are a family of six.
00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:38.799
You have four kids, and uh they're still at home growing up with you.
00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.440
And uh just maybe uh Amanda speak to that a little bit.
00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:49.200
How do you manage serving in the church and uh and doing that part while you're uh handling the busyness of family life?
00:17:49.599 --> 00:18:00.079
Yeah, so when the kids were really little, I didn't serve as much, but now that they're a little bit older, uh they kind of come along with us for the ride.
00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:01.599
They're here today.
00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:08.240
And um I think it's important as parents to set an example for your children.
00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:18.960
Um it it's so important to like show them that our world is bigger than just the four walls of our house.
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:28.160
And we participated in the Step Out and Serve this year for the first time, and they joyfully served with us and had a great time.
00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:29.279
That's amazing.
00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:30.079
I love that.
00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:32.400
I'm gonna add to that a little bit too.
00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:36.000
So we were we were a vocational ministry family.
00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:41.279
Uh we were in a portable church, so even for the parents that have little ones, you can still bring them on.
00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:47.440
I've got pictures of my son who's gonna be 15, pushing road cases at age five safely.
00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:55.039
But yeah, so I mean, don't don't worry about the age gaps and you know, just step out and serve, bring your family along with you to do that.
00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:58.079
I love this idea of um bringing your family along.
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:05.039
What a great example for them in faith and in serving, and to know what it means to be a part of a church, not just attend a church.
00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:06.000
So that's great.
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:11.759
So for the families out here that might be listening or uh watching online, maybe they're considering serving.
00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:12.880
What would you say?
00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:17.200
I would say just step out and do it because you don't know what opportunity is gonna come.
00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:22.799
Um I'm excited, my son's stepping in and serving on camera, and then you never know what the Lord's gonna do.
00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:26.079
I mean, just between services, I'm derailing you a little bit.
00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:37.920
Um just three weeks ago, I was talking about okay, my AC is not working, and then I found out that my brother on camera over there, he's like, oh, my AC is not working either, and I was able to refer him an HVAC guy, and now his AC is working.
00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:42.319
It's like you never know what the Lord's gonna do in the moment and in the place that you're serving.
00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:44.240
It's just get out and do it and trust God to take it.
00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:44.960
I agree.
00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:57.200
If you're if you're in your house and it's just you and it's just your family all the time, and you never talk to anyone else, or you're never involved with anyone else, then you don't know what God might have in those connections, even practical connections like that.
00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:01.039
It definitely starts, you know, here in the the church home.
00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:07.200
We're all family, and then it's impacting like even our neighborhood that my kids will go to the neighbors now and be like, hey, how can we help you?
00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:08.880
Can we go walk your dogs with you?
00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:12.079
So, yeah, it's definitely growing them as well.
00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:13.119
That is awesome.
00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:15.039
Well, guys, thank you so much for sharing today.
00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.319
Appreciate it.
00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:33.599
I want to cover another aspect of uh serving and what happens when we serve, and that is that serving others actually draws us closer to Christ.
00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:35.680
It draws us closer to Jesus.
00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:38.720
I'm gonna go to a passage that may be familiar to you.
00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.400
It's a it's kind of a more famous story from the Gospel of John.
00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:43.359
And here it is.
00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:51.119
Jesus got up from the meal, that's the Passover meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
00:20:51.599 --> 00:21:00.720
After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with a towel that was wrapped around him.
00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:05.680
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:07.440
Do you understand what I've done for you?
00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:08.400
He asked them.
00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:13.039
You call me teacher and lord, and rightly so, for that is what I am.
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:20.799
Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:29.599
Don't you find it interesting that Jesus felt it necessary to demonstrate serving and not just teach it?
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.279
He did a lot of teaching.
00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:36.880
But he showed his disciples serving.
00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:38.000
Why?
00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:39.920
Why?
00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:46.000
Being a servant is at the heart of who Jesus is.
00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:49.599
The truth is, we're all broken people.
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:52.880
We're born sinners into a sinful world.
00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:54.799
There's nothing we can do about that.
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.960
No amount of serving or good deeds will make us right with God.
00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:02.480
You know it can't save us.
00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:06.720
These good works that we do, it's good, but they they're not they don't save us.
00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:10.319
Our sin separates us from God, but Jesus changed all of that.
00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:14.160
He came as a servant, and he did what only he could do.
00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:21.119
He was in his sweet spot, he died on the cross for our sins, the only one that could do that for us, and was raised again to life.
00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:24.960
And then we can receive that free gift of salvation and be right with him.
00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:31.200
And then, out of gratefulness and love to our Savior, we can serve others.
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:35.200
Because he led the way, he showed us the example.
00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:42.480
We don't earn God's favor by the good things that we do.
00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:45.119
But we can worship him with it.
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:47.039
We can serve one another with it.
00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.519
We can follow in his footsteps with it.
00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:51.920
What does serving really do?
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:57.119
Serving makes us more like Jesus because it forms his character in us.
00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:06.960
Things like humility, compassion, sacrifice, patience, faithfulness, and love.
00:23:11.200 --> 00:23:13.839
Serving makes us more like Christ.
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:16.240
Transforms us.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:21.680
It's part of what he uses to bring us closer to him.
00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:26.480
I want to illustrate that by our final interview today.
00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:31.039
So I want to uh welcome Melissa Zahadnik to the stage.
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:37.759
I don't know, I almost feel like I mispronounced that.
00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:38.319
Did I get it right?
00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:40.000
Yes.
00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:42.000
Three for three.
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:44.160
I don't know how happy that makes me.
00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:48.799
Well, Melissa, um tell us what uh you do at Shepherd's Gate.
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:49.759
Sure.
00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:51.680
Um again, my name is Melissa.
00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:55.759
Um I am um a member now at uh Shepherd's Gate.
00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:58.000
I've been coming here since about 21.
00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:05.039
Um, I want to say I did my first step out and serve here probably within the first year um of my attendance.
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:09.359
And um I then found the I was going to school for marketing at the time.
00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:17.279
Uh I haven't graduated since, but um, it was something that was going to bring me, you know, uh more knowledge in that in that sense.
00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:25.359
So uh I stepped into their social media and started doing some Instagram uh reels for the church and then uh stepped into some blog work.
00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:33.119
Uh so I I've written a few blogs, which is where uh you had found me for the uh sobriety meeting that I helped lead here at Shepherd's Gate.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:41.920
Um and so that strength and sobriety that starts up um in a couple weeks here for our care programs if you're interested or that's something that you're struggling with.
00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:43.200
We we welcome you.
00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:48.559
Um and then recently I actually picked up uh working with the SG kids.
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:56.400
I don't have children, so um I I enjoy them, I find them funny, interesting, uh a little intimidating.
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:15.200
But um, you know, give me a little bit more uh I guess insight into the child, the childlike um like and then um also I have also started um helping with the women's groups to start uh getting some um events planned and things of that nature.
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:20.000
And then as I was standing here today, I was helping uh do the greeting.
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.079
So I think I'm uh an unofficial greeter.
00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:24.240
I was gonna say, what don't you do?
00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:26.000
That's a lot.
00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:33.839
Well, we're talking about how uh serving actually helps us go glow go close grow closer to Christ.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:37.680
Uh so and you've done a lot here, so do you find that to be true?
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:44.000
Yeah, and it's funny because um even just coming to this church was a prayer that was answered.
00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:48.799
I had connected with an old friend who had uh told me about this church.
00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:54.720
I sat down in the pew and cried and found that this was my new home, and um, and then I wanted to do more.
00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:58.720
I wanted to feel like I belonged, I wanted to, you know, come in and be part of something.
00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:09.759
And uh gratefully I was I was accepted into many areas where I could um you know find that I guess that spark of interest or many sparks of interest.
00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:20.160
Um so it's been it's been really interesting to watch, you know, how he's been answering little prayers that I've been putting out there throughout my time here at Shepherd's Gate.
00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:20.799
That's great.
00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:21.119
Yeah.
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:30.000
You know, uh one of the uh things that your story illustrates, I think, is that you can just move, like there's there's no like you sign up and then it's for life.
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.799
But you you can sign up for different things, you can try different things, you can explore and find your sweet spot.
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:36.960
And I'm glad that you found that to be true here.
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:38.799
Yeah, absolutely.
00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:43.920
So um for those that may be sitting out here and thinking, Well, I don't know, like what should I do?
00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:45.359
Like, I'm not sure what to do.
00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:46.319
What would you say to them?
00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:47.920
I would say give it a try.
00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:49.519
What do you have to lose?
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:58.000
Um, I can say that every time that I've stepped in and served, I've walked out of here feeling more rejuvenated and more of a grateful heart.
00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:15.839
Um, I've learned more about myself, as you've mentioned, some of the things that we learn as far as like compassion and um patience and uh love, you know, those are all things that um I've been able to help uh or have helped mold some of those things that I've been asking for in my life.
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:34.480
Um, you know, I think when I asked him for some of these things, like, you know, uh women to come in my life or maybe to be closer to children or social media work, I didn't I didn't see it as me serving, but I'm so grateful that it turned into that just because it's it's a whole new perspective.
00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:35.039
Right.
00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:35.519
Wow.
00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:38.400
Well, Melissa, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today.
00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:38.960
Yeah.
00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:58.400
Well, as I mentioned, this is our fifth annual serving fair, and I think every time, except for maybe one, uh, I have ended the message with what I call the lightning round, and I'm gonna do that again.
00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:20.799
Uh so I've been in full-time ministry close to 30 years, and a lot of my ministry has been about volunteers and leading volunteers, finding volunteers, and I've heard lots of excuses, uh, because you I know that if your heart may be moved here today, and you say, Well, I can see how serving is part of the church and how it makes us who we are and how we accomplish our mission and vision.
00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:28.240
And I see that uh uh if everyone does a little something that we can we can be strong together, stronger than we ever were apart.
00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:44.720
But, and then whatever happens after that, but there's so there's uh there's often a hesitation, and here are the most common things that I hear uh about that, and I just uh just to uh quickly go through them, just in case this is where you are.
00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:52.000
And if you're feeling like, ah, yes, I would like to do this, however, or but, uh maybe this answer will help.
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:54.000
So I'm just gonna go through them here quickly.
00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:56.240
Uh are you trying to guilt me into serving?
00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:57.359
I've heard that.
00:28:57.519 --> 00:28:59.119
Um the answer is no.
00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:07.839
And uh I think you can see here that uh the people that have uh spoken on the stage today, uh uh we haven't guilted them into anything, they've stepped in to serve.
00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:17.200
We found that if you uh plead with someone to fill a spot because you have a spot, they may out of compassion fill that spot for a while, but it never lasts.
00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:19.680
Because that really shouldn't be our motivation to serve.
00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:20.960
It shouldn't be out of guilt.
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:28.559
It should be finding our sweet spot of ministry, uh, wanting to do this because of uh being a part of the family of God.
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.680
And so uh we don't try to guilt anyone into serving.
00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:33.359
Uh I'm too busy.
00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:34.559
This is a big one.
00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:37.119
We're all very busy, it's true.
00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:38.960
Uh this is my answer to that.
00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:41.680
Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day.
00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:45.839
And so it's really, really not about busyness, it's really about priority.
00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:49.440
We do the things that uh are high priority for us.
00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:52.720
Is stepping in to serve in the body of Christ is a priority for you?
00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:53.920
It will happen.
00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:59.440
But I'll also say this you're not signing your life away when you serve at Shepherd's Gate.
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:01.680
Uh we have many opportunities.
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:07.440
Uh, some of them uh are on during the week, some are in the evening, some are in the morning, many are on Sundays.
00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:11.680
Uh often they're just once a month, and we can work around schedules.
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:18.000
And so we're not looking to have people sign their life away and quit everything else in their life and just do this.
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:26.240
Uh, but uh we make it accommodating, and I think you'll find, if you try, you'll find a serving spot that fits your schedule.
00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:28.400
I don't have special skills.
00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:30.960
Sometimes people will say, Well, I don't, I'm not good at anything.
00:30:31.039 --> 00:30:36.079
Like I, and especially because there are some high-profile serving opportunities here at Shepherd's Gate.
00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:37.759
I would think like the platform ones.
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:46.559
Like you see someone sing or play the drums or something, like, well, I don't I don't do that, but there are lots of different places that uh require lots of different kinds of skills.
00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:48.559
I would say, uh try.
00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:49.519
Try something.
00:30:49.680 --> 00:30:50.880
Look at your natural gifts.
00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:57.920
If people have said that you're kind, there are places we can serve at Shepherd's Gate where that kindness will really pay off and make a big difference.
00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:01.839
Or someone might have said, You're an encourager or you're a leader.
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:07.039
If you know of anything like that in your life, we can start there and find a spot that works.
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:09.680
We also provide training for most positions.
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:11.759
Uh uh tech has been mentioned.
00:31:11.839 --> 00:31:19.440
That is one of the teams that is a little light right now with people, and you'd say, Oh, well, I enjoy tech, but I don't have a lot of training in it.
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:22.640
But we train, we train for almost every spot we have here.
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:27.440
We have great leaders and great staff members that will train you in uh what to do.
00:31:28.000 --> 00:31:29.359
Here's one I've heard before.
00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:30.960
I'm new to Shepherd's Gate.
00:31:31.519 --> 00:31:36.319
Great! You don't have to be a member or a long attender here to serve.
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:42.400
In fact, serving is a great way to just jump in and learn, uh get to know some new people and learn what makes us tick.
00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:55.839
It's it's it's a wonderful community, and the only exception to this, which I will mention, is for kids and students, we ask that people attend six months before they begin to serve with our kids and students, and we do that for safety, I'm sure you understand.
00:31:56.960 --> 00:31:58.960
Uh I'm too messed up to serve.
00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:02.000
I actually have heard this one a few times.
00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:03.440
Uh I'm too messed up to serve.
00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:04.880
Well, nobody's perfect.
00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:06.319
In some way, we're all messed up.
00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:09.279
I mean, we're all just living life, we're all sinners saved by grace.
00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:25.359
Unless you're in crisis, serving is actually a great thing to do when you're messed up because you can come and be a part of a community of people, and they can pray for you and they can support you, and you can you can get strength and comfort from that while you serve.
00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:29.759
I'm too young, I'm too old.
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:31.680
Nah, you're not.
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:37.200
We've got uh, as Ryan said, you know, uh kids as young as five do things around here.
00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:40.079
We get them involved in the capacity that they can.
00:32:40.160 --> 00:32:47.440
Uh we have octogenarians that are serving, and uh we find uh something for every life stage and age.
00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:50.079
And finally, this one, I don't know my sweet spot.
00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:52.160
I hear this uh fairly often.
00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:54.880
I don't know what I'm I've never served in church before.
00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:56.160
I don't know what I'm gonna like.
00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:00.559
I'm not sure what what might what might be the center, the target for me.
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:09.039
And I can tell you that at Shepherd's Gate, it is it is a very easy and uh well thought-out environment to find your sweet spot.
00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.319
As you heard from Melissa, you can try several different things.
00:33:12.559 --> 00:33:21.200
All of our leaders and our staff members know that if you try something and uh someone's trying a serving opportunity and they don't like it, it's not a problem.
00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:23.759
We'll we'll stop that and we'll start something else.
00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:27.759
We'll find a place of serving for you that is your sweet spot.
00:33:27.839 --> 00:33:36.079
So don't worry about signing your life away or signing up for something and thinking, but but if I start doing this and then I back out, um, I'm letting somebody down or whatever.
00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:37.279
No, it's not true.
00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:38.640
Uh we're prepared for that.
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:43.119
We want you to find your sweet spot in the body of Christ.
00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:49.599
And I just want to go back to something I said, and I'll just say this as heartfelt and as passionate as I can.
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:57.279
I do want every person that's that's here today and watching online to find your sweet spot of serving.
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:03.680
I want you to know the joy of what it's like to be a part of something bigger than yourself.
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:18.159
I can tell you that God has his hand on this church, and we're going places, and he has more for us to do, and he has there are more people that need to hear and see and feel the love of Jesus, and you can be a part of that.
00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:20.159
I don't want you to miss that.
00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:23.440
Because it's not just about them, it's about us too.
00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:28.079
God never wastes anything, it does something in your heart, it does something in your life.
00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:33.199
And we're all just we're all just here doing it together.
00:34:33.360 --> 00:34:41.519
There's nothing special about any of us except that we know we need Jesus and we know we can share his love.
00:34:42.079 --> 00:34:53.360
And so I just want to challenge you today, especially if you have never stepped in to serve, go to the serving fair after the service, talk with some people with these shirts, investigate it.
00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:55.039
Let God lead you.
00:34:56.239 --> 00:34:57.760
Let him guide you.
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:01.199
Let him guide you to be a part of something.
00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:03.760
I don't know how to describe it unless you're in it.
00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:05.440
Those that serve know.
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:07.760
You will not regret it.
00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:13.039
And together, together's nothing we can't do.
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:16.000
In his love and his power.
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:17.199
Can I pray for you?
00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:19.519
God, thank you so much for this time together.
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:21.119
Thank you so much for these people.
00:35:21.360 --> 00:35:25.679
Thank you so much for an opportunity that you've given to be a part of your work in the world.
00:35:25.840 --> 00:35:33.119
Thank you that we can serve together, that we can serve one another, that we can help each other.
00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:45.440
God, for each person that's listening to this message, I pray that you would speak into their life in just the way that you know will hit them, will reach them.
00:35:47.920 --> 00:36:00.639
God guide us all as we seek to love you, to serve you, and to be the very best church, a beacon, a light shining on a hill that we can be to share your love with others.
00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:01.679
In Jesus' name.
00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:02.480
Amen.
00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:10.159
Uh normally we go right into the offering after a message, but we have such a wonderful, powerful song we want to share with you.
00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:11.920
It's called I've Witnessed It.
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:17.199
And during the song, you're gonna see video of all of you who are serving.
00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:18.880
And we have witnessed it.
00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:26.079
We've witnessed life being changed, we've witnessed families coming back together, we've witnessed young people coming to Christ.
00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:29.599
We've witnessed the power of what it means to do this together.
00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:33.920
And I want that for all of you today.
00:36:34.559 --> 00:36:35.760
So let's share the song.
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:36.719
We're gonna stay seated.
00:36:36.800 --> 00:36:42.559
You can sing if you want, look at the video if you want, but let God speak to your heart in this moment.
00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:51.280
We hope this message was helpful to you today, and we welcome you to join us live in person or online every Sunday.
00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:57.920
If you're interested in accessing more on-demand content, please visit escapechurch.org.
