Faith in Action: Rev. Bill Clark's Community Impact
The primary focus of this podcast episode revolves around the transformative journey of Reverend Bill Clark, who shares his unique path into ministry and the impactful work he is undertaking at Timothy Lutheran Church in Council Bluffs. Throughout our conversation, Reverend Clark reflects on the profound influence that mentorship and community have had on his spiritual development, emphasizing the importance of genuine relationships in ministry. He articulates the challenges faced by congregations situated in urban environments, where issues such as crime and mental health significantly affect the community. Notably, he discusses initiatives like diaper and wipes giveaways that strive to foster connection and support among congregants, highlighting the necessity of understanding individuals as more than mere statistics. Ultimately, Reverend Clark's insights underscore a commitment to service, compassion, and the continuous pursuit of God's guidance in navigating the complexities of modern ministry.
Takeaways:
- The podcast emphasizes the significance of mentorship and the profound impact that inspiring individuals can have on one's life journey and spiritual growth.
- Reverend Bill Clark articulates that the essence of effective ministry lies in genuine connection with the community rather than merely fulfilling numerical goals.
- The discussion highlights the necessity of leading by example in ministry, particularly in fostering genuine relationships within the congregation and the broader community.
- A mission trip profoundly transformed Reverend Clark's life, illustrating the importance of stepping outside one's comfort zone to embrace new experiences and perspectives.
- Reverend Clark reflects on the challenges of addressing contemporary issues within the church, advocating for compassion and understanding towards all individuals regardless of their circumstances.
- The conversation concludes with a reminder that true pastoral care is defined by being present for one’s flock during their times of need, nurturing a loving and supportive community.
Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Well, my guest today is a dear friend, Reverend Bill Clark.
Speaker B:How you doing today, Bill?
Speaker A:Good, how are you?
Speaker B:I'm good.
Speaker B:Looking forward to talking to you, talking about the ministry that you have going on and sharing that with the world.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker B:Well, we're going to start out with my favorite question first.
Speaker B:What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Speaker A:Yeah, you sent me that question.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I landed on two.
Speaker A:One was from my grandfather.
Speaker A:He said you have to be a pretty smart person to be a good liar.
Speaker A:He told me to a little kid.
Speaker A:And the second one was it's better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you don't know anything versus to open your mouth and prove that you don't.
Speaker B:Remove all doubt.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Kind of along the same lines.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's kind of funny, you know, I'm curious if you think about your life, who are some people in your life who served as an inspiration for you?
Speaker A:I just had a lot of guys in my life that like church when I mean, my journey is a little different.
Speaker A:I'm like, didn't grow up in a church per se, came back to church.
Speaker A:I got married, started getting invested in church and different things and met some guys.
Speaker A:So there's some guys along the way, guys like Brent and a couple other guys that I met through church that I just thought there's something different about him and started inquiring about what was different about them.
Speaker A:And, and so they've been great, great friends and great mentors for me.
Speaker B:And that's awesome.
Speaker B:I love that because, you know, those people mean so much to us.
Speaker B:Sometimes they don't know who they are and what impact they've had, but we remember them because of what they meant to us.
Speaker B:So I love that.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:So every pastor has a unique journey.
Speaker B:So tell us your personal journey into just life and then what led you into the ministry?
Speaker A:Short answer?
Speaker A:God.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A: th, I think of: Speaker A:It was a very cold day in January.
Speaker A:I believe the Vikings were playing that day and lost in the.
Speaker A:No surprise, lost in the playoffs to the Seahawks.
Speaker A:I believe that day, it was the day that Bud Grant walked out with his.
Speaker A:With short sleeves on.
Speaker A:The Vikings played terribly as normal.
Speaker A:But yeah, I had no, I had no inclination to go to be in ministry.
Speaker A:I was, you know, wife.
Speaker A:I got three kids working in corporate America and doing, working insurance, working my way through, you know, working your way up the corporate ladder and start meeting these guys and really it was a mission trip that got a hold of me and started me, you know, down the path of now it's got to be more life than just all of this.
Speaker B:Right, right, exactly.
Speaker A: t on my first mission trip in: Speaker A:I went to.
Speaker A: o end up going to Seminary in: Speaker A:So between a lot of that time, you know, I started to get the nudge.
Speaker A:And I even remember having the conversation my wife about being a pastor.
Speaker A:And the first time I brought it up, she laughed at me and thought it was there's no way.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:But, yeah, through it back, I'm impatient person.
Speaker A:I pushed back.
Speaker A:I even hired a guy to, like, be a Christian, like, personal coach, you know, like, discern different things.
Speaker A:And, you know, it was.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It was a good exercise.
Speaker A:I met with him, and when I met with him, his name was Ed.
Speaker A:And he said, what do you want to get out of this?
Speaker A:And I said, I want you to tell me not to be a pastor.
Speaker A:I told him I wanted to get.
Speaker B:Out of it, so didn't work out too well, did it?
Speaker A:Now, at the end of it, he said, well, I'm not going to tell you not to be a pastor, but I'm not going to tell you to be between you and God.
Speaker B:So that's interesting.
Speaker B:So what led you from where you started to where you are now?
Speaker B:Tell us about that journey.
Speaker A:In pastoring.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So I got ordained in 16.
Speaker A:I was at Glory Day, big church.
Speaker A:We raised our kids up in Urbandale.
Speaker A:I was on staff there.
Speaker A:And right after I started the specific ministry program, our senior pastor took on our call.
Speaker A:And so, you know, as things change and good, bad or otherwise, but things change.
Speaker A:And I originally was going to do men's ministry and missions at that larger church, but then I was filling in, doing pulpit supply at different churches because Pastor Turner, he said, get as much preaching experience as you can get.
Speaker A:Go fill in.
Speaker A:So that's what I was doing almost every weekend.
Speaker A:I was preaching at different churches and ended up one weekend at Norwalk.
Speaker A:And long story short, they called me to be the pastor there.
Speaker A:I think I'd filled in for maybe a year, you know, year and a half or something like that.
Speaker A:And so I was pastor there for year, year and a half or so.
Speaker A:And this could be for another day.
Speaker A:But believe that God definitely led me there to help close that church, that chapter, that church.
Speaker A:And that's hard for people to hear.
Speaker A:It's like.
Speaker A:But it was time and it was.
Speaker A:I asked God to be abundantly clear about that.
Speaker A:And he was.
Speaker A:And so I took, what, about a year off, and then Covid hit find myself driving a school bus.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Still doing pulpit supply, filling in.
Speaker A:And it was.
Speaker A:It was.
Speaker A:It was Martin Luther King Day.
Speaker A:It was Monday.
Speaker A:I got a phone call from a area code in Kansas.
Speaker A:He was.
Speaker A:It was this circuit visitor.
Speaker A:Want to know if I would be interested.
Speaker A:Interested in hearing about the opportunity to be a pastor at Timothy Lutheran Church in Council Bluffs.
Speaker A:And so I didn't recognize the number.
Speaker A:I declined it.
Speaker A:Actually looked at it later and listened to it and was kind of floored because I wasn't expecting anything at that time.
Speaker A:So, yeah, I just went through that process and accepted the call.
Speaker A:And that was January.
Speaker A:Accepted the call in March, started here in May, and I've been here three and a half years.
Speaker B:So tell us about Timothy and about the ministry.
Speaker B:Because you have a unique ministry.
Speaker B:Having served in kind of an urban area, It's a little different than some other ministry settings.
Speaker B:So describe us a little bit about Timothy in your community.
Speaker A:Yeah, so we're really east Omaha.
Speaker A:I mean, there's a river that separates us.
Speaker A:We're at West 31st and Broadway, about 15 blocks from the river and from downtown Omaha.
Speaker A:So a lot of the.
Speaker A:A lot of things you see in a city in, like, a big city spill over into Council Bluffs.
Speaker A:And being on the west end of Council Bluffs, a lot of people in our congregation were people that raised their families here in this neighborhood.
Speaker A:But now I've moved away, so there's still some here, but a lot of them have moved away, but they're still here, but they still come back to our church.
Speaker A:And so being.
Speaker A:Man, just call.
Speaker A:What is.
Speaker A:We're.
Speaker A:We're in the rougher part of town, you know, and unfortunately, we don't get le.
Speaker A:Get to leave our doors open.
Speaker A:We have to keep them locked all the time.
Speaker A:Because there's a lot of crime.
Speaker A:There's a lot of petty crime, There's a lot of drug abuse.
Speaker A:There's a lot of mental health issues.
Speaker A:There's just a lot of stuff going on around here.
Speaker A:Not.
Speaker A:Not good stuff either.
Speaker A:And so.
Speaker A:And in the middle of the street, screaming at the air.
Speaker A:It's not like it happens every once in a while.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It happens more than you.
Speaker A:You.
Speaker A:You think it does.
Speaker A:You know, you do actually think this time of year, when it gets cold, it kind of tapers down a little bit, but it hasn't.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:It's bad.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Suffering doesn't take a day off.
Speaker A:Right, Exactly.
Speaker A:It does.
Speaker A:You know, and.
Speaker A:And drugs.
Speaker A:Don't know if it's cold out or not.
Speaker A:You know, the appetite's still there.
Speaker A:And so, you know, when I got here, we started looking.
Speaker A:What's some of the things we can do?
Speaker A:Because I.
Speaker A:We've got.
Speaker A:There's so much you can do here.
Speaker A:I mean, you've got it.
Speaker A:To me, you've got to pick something and do it well, because if you don't, if you just scatter shot, it's.
Speaker A:You don't do anything well.
Speaker A:And so what's our church known for?
Speaker A:And we start bottling clothes with a diaper giveaway, which we do once a month.
Speaker A:So diapers and wives to give away.
Speaker A:And it's been going really good.
Speaker A:We're getting repeat people, but probably half the people come back every month to repeat people.
Speaker A:And we're getting to know them, and they're coming in and about half are new, and they just hear about us on Facebook and.
Speaker A:And come in and we've been doing different things for them.
Speaker A:But, you know, just get an opportunity to tell the people.
Speaker A:It's like, it's not about giving something away and just cutting the numbers.
Speaker A:Get to know the faces, get to know the color of their eyes, get to know their names, find out what their story is.
Speaker A:And so I'm really quite pleased that our people do that.
Speaker A:And they really do.
Speaker A:When people walk in, they repeat.
Speaker A:They know.
Speaker A:It's pretty cool to see.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:I love that about a couple other things, but I love that about your church.
Speaker B:And I'm curious for, you know, for those listening.
Speaker B:One of the things I served in the city too, and what was so hard was you, right?
Speaker B:You can't be all things in terms of programs to the community.
Speaker B:You have to pick something.
Speaker B:How do you get your people ready?
Speaker B:I know my people initially struggle with.
Speaker B:We want to be part of the community, but we're just not sure how to connect with people that are very different from us.
Speaker B:How do you prepare your congregation to connect with people who may not be like them?
Speaker B:You may not have the same situations that they're in.
Speaker A:Well, for me, for me, if I'm going to talk, to talk, I better walk to walk, and I better lead by example, because they're looking at you.
Speaker A:You're the pastor, you're the shepherd, and if you're just telling them to go do it and stay in the background, they're not gonna do it.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But if you're out there talking, I mean, seriously, if you're out there talking to people.
Speaker A:You know, I mean, I come here for almost every Saturday that we have our diaper and wipes giveaway.
Speaker A:And I've had, like, last Sunday, this girl was having anxiety about.
Speaker A:She's like, I have so much anxiety.
Speaker A:I don't know what to pray.
Speaker A:And she's crying, and she's just sitting there crying, and so I notice it.
Speaker A:And you go over and start talking and start.
Speaker A:Start a conversation.
Speaker A:Yeah, Know, and I've had people ask me.
Speaker A:I've had one.
Speaker A:One lady asked me.
Speaker A:She's like, well, we were Lutheran in this other town, and I got two little kids.
Speaker A:Would you.
Speaker A:Would you baptize my.
Speaker A:My two year old?
Speaker A:My.
Speaker A:My one year old?
Speaker A:And I'm like, yes, let's.
Speaker A:Let's talk about it.
Speaker A:So stuff like that, you know, but yeah, it.
Speaker A:You have to lead by example.
Speaker A:You gotta walk the walk, in my opinion.
Speaker A:But you also need to have the conversations.
Speaker A:You know, it's.
Speaker A:It's just getting beyond of the numbers, you know, I mean, we love the numbers.
Speaker A:It's like, how many people did we serve?
Speaker A:How many kids was it?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:What if it's a bad week?
Speaker A:You know, but, you know, the one week we had the baptism trumps all those weeks to me, you know, So, I mean, we're not here just to give stuff out.
Speaker A:I mean, that's not our purpose.
Speaker A:So proclaim the gospel.
Speaker B:So you talk about the gospel.
Speaker B:I'm curious.
Speaker B:I know church is different for you guys than when I was in the parish 13 years ago.
Speaker B:How do you approach some of the difficult topics?
Speaker B:And maybe you're preaching or teaching that you have to deal with that maybe I didn't deal with 15 years ago.
Speaker A:For me, the caveat is I think we spend too much time talking about some of these fraction things.
Speaker A:I mean, yes, they've come up, but, like, I just asked him, like, how often do you.
Speaker A:How often do you encounter a transgender person in your life?
Speaker A:How often do you, you know, encounter somebody that is whatever.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Things were going on.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:In our life.
Speaker A:It's like this much, I think.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:But we spend all.
Speaker A:We spend all of our time consumed about it.
Speaker A:Like some people want to talk about.
Speaker A:It's like, what?
Speaker A:Well, and then they start words using words like they and them.
Speaker A:And, you know, it's like, well, every one of them's a child of God.
Speaker A:Every single one of them.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:And so God created them in his image, Created you in his image.
Speaker A:You know, you just go back just talking about this Morning.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The Samaritan woman at the well, you know, Jesus made it so he could meet with her one on one and talk to her.
Speaker A:And so, you know, as I tell her, everybody's got a story.
Speaker A:I mean, everybody's got the lives, the struggles, the things that's going on in their lives.
Speaker A:It doesn't matter what.
Speaker A:Where we're coming from.
Speaker A:But, you know, you're just gonna go back to the word of God.
Speaker A:I mean, when we get in those difficult situations, I mean, the Samaritan, well, Jesus showed her compassion.
Speaker A:He forgave her.
Speaker A:But then what'd he tell her?
Speaker A:Stop.
Speaker A:Stop doing what you're doing, right?
Speaker A:And, you know, and that's the hard part, is speak the truth in love.
Speaker A:Because now society says, well, you're being judgmental and you're.
Speaker A:You're just casting stones and you're doing this, and you're better than me.
Speaker A:And it's like, no, we're not.
Speaker B:So, you know, I'm curious, as you.
Speaker B:As you think about your ministry, what is the next chapter that you see Timothy heading?
Speaker B:I was.
Speaker B:I'm always.
Speaker B:When I was in a parish, I was always thinking, this is going well.
Speaker B:Is there something else I need to be?
Speaker B:Our next initiative, our next goal, our next community?
Speaker B:What's.
Speaker B:What's the thing that you're seeing down the road that Trinity Timothy needs to be thinking about next?
Speaker A:I think What's.
Speaker A:What's our next generation look like?
Speaker A:I mean, and that kind of sounds like everybody's like, boy, everybody wants to know about that because the aging congregation, right?
Speaker A:But I don't know too many congregations.
Speaker A:I've been here three years, three and a half years.
Speaker A:I've done 25 funerals in three and a half years here.
Speaker A:Which, by the way, it's been a great outreach because a lot of these friends and family, the people that have been church members, come back for a funeral and they see it's like, well, something's different here.
Speaker A:And I'm.
Speaker A:I'm missing this.
Speaker A:And also, it's a time where people need to hear good news, you know, but, like, the next day, it's like, we've got three couples been married 69 years, right?
Speaker A:And a lot of people that were aging out.
Speaker A:So what's.
Speaker A:Who.
Speaker A:Who's next?
Speaker A:Like, what's the next generation?
Speaker A:You know, for me, it's like you feel like some days you're pushing a rock up a hill, right?
Speaker A:And some days it feels like if you are, you know, and then the rock's pushing against you harder and you can push against it, and you know it.
Speaker A:I just tried to be conscious of what's.
Speaker A:What's God's.
Speaker A:What's God's will and what's God's plan here.
Speaker A:Just like my last church, and I closed it.
Speaker A:I want him to be abundantly clear what he wants us to do.
Speaker A:It's not what I want.
Speaker A:I can come up with good ideas.
Speaker B:Right, right.
Speaker A:Or ideas that I think that we need to do, but if they aren't God's will and ordained by God, then you're just gonna be fighting it, and it's gonna wear you out, make you tired.
Speaker B:Most definitely.
Speaker B:I just saw an article that said that people are okay if the pastor is struggling in their faith.
Speaker B:They feel like they're more genuine.
Speaker B:How do you talk to people that you run across?
Speaker B:And I had them in my church, too, who are just having a really difficult time with their faith, and they have all kinds of questions and struggles and difficulties.
Speaker B:How do you pour into those people?
Speaker A:That's hard because, you know, I talk about a lot of people.
Speaker A:What do we do when we get to church?
Speaker A:We put on our church face, right?
Speaker A:We put.
Speaker A:We look up in the mirror and get ourselves all pretty and, you know, what's.
Speaker A:What's.
Speaker A:What's the.
Speaker A:The answer that most people.
Speaker A:You walk in church.
Speaker A:How are you today?
Speaker A:I'm good.
Speaker A:I'm fine.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, and when really they're like, I'm a hot mess, and I'm.
Speaker A:My life is, you know, not going well right now.
Speaker A:And I said a lot of times when I preach, I'm like.
Speaker A:I write.
Speaker A:I usually write a sermon for myself first.
Speaker A:If it doesn't apply to me, I.
Speaker A:Why am I giving to you?
Speaker A:Because.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Like me standing up here, wagging my finger, lecturing at you.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:Like you, you, you, you.
Speaker A:I mean, I.
Speaker A:Very well, very seldom do I say you from the pulpit.
Speaker A:It's we.
Speaker A:It's us, right?
Speaker A:You know, and I tell him, it's like during confession, I face the altar too.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:And I've talked to.
Speaker A:I said, you know what I miss most about being a pastor Is having the words of forgiveness spoken over me.
Speaker A:No, I don't get to hear those.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I get.
Speaker A:I get.
Speaker A:Don't.
Speaker A:Don't get me wrong.
Speaker A:I get to say those, but I don't get to hear them spoken over me like you guys do.
Speaker B:You know, I missed that, too.
Speaker B:So every once in a while, there's actually a liturgy in the Lutheran book.
Speaker B:Lutheran Bible.
Speaker B:Lutheran book.
Speaker B:Service book.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:The Whatever.
Speaker B:The green one.
Speaker B:The green hymnal.
Speaker B:Where.
Speaker A:Yeah, the green one.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Where the church actually gets to pronounce absolution over you too.
Speaker B:And I, I would use that probably once a month just because I, I wanted to hear it for myself too, and it was part of the liturgy, so I thought, what a neat way to kind of do that.
Speaker B:So we both are very transparent before one another that we both need that forgiveness.
Speaker A:So I gotta write that down.
Speaker A:I just write green book.
Speaker A:I know what I mean.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It was a beautiful piece of liturgy.
Speaker B:It's like that's just, that was.
Speaker B:Whoever thought about that must have been, pastor, go out here.
Speaker B:I need to hear that myself.
Speaker B:Was it?
Speaker A:Oh, well, absolutely.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I just, I just keep telling people my door's open, you know, and, you know, one of the funerals I did here for very, A very good guy.
Speaker A:I mean, just a great guy, everybody.
Speaker A:He was just really outgoing and stuff.
Speaker A:And I just told the famous, thank you for letting me in your life.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because so often when it gets to, gets to those tough times, they just, they want to keep.
Speaker A:We'll keep pasture away, you know, or keep him at arm's length and, you know, only let us see the good side and, you know, the good part of our lives.
Speaker A:You know, I think, you know, the old.
Speaker A:What's that one book from seminary.
Speaker A:You're supposed to go out and visit every person in your congregation once at least every three years.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:I don't know if there's.
Speaker A:80% of my congregation would let me in the house, you know.
Speaker B:Exactly.
Speaker B:So do you have a favorite Bible verse that, that you as a pastor kind of say, this is my go to verse for myself personally?
Speaker A:Yeah, there's, there's several of them, but the one, that guy was, I, I, there's, there's a couple.
Speaker A:One was, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening from.
Speaker A:For Samuel.
Speaker A:And if you truly, you know, speak that as a prayer and truly want God to speak, then you better be ready for him to listen.
Speaker A:And I love the verse from First Kings, arise and eat because the journey's too great for you.
Speaker A:You know, you got to be able to keep learning and feeding yourself, you know, and, and nourishing yourself.
Speaker A:You just, you can't, it's not, not to be done alone, you know.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'd always have mine as a, as my signature on my, all my emails and things.
Speaker B:So I, I, Mine changes from season to season.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I don't put that on their mind to.
Speaker A:My little thing on there says make every day a mission trip, Right?
Speaker A:That's what mine says.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's great.
Speaker B:I'm curious, Bill, as you think about the journey you're on now, when this is all said and done and you preached your last sermon, what do you want your legacy to be?
Speaker A:You know, I saw that question.
Speaker A:I really struggled with it.
Speaker A:I mean, as a pastor, I'm like, okay, if I'm not a pastor and I'm just a dad, well, yeah, I want to be a good dad.
Speaker A:Do I want to be a good husband?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, it's kind of like, well, he's a good guy.
Speaker A:And he did this and he went on mission trips.
Speaker A:He did that.
Speaker A:You know, when I, when I do a funeral and I tell people this, that told people from the pulpit, it gives me no greater joy as a pastor.
Speaker A:Yes, I'm grieving, but at a funeral, to know without a doubt that they are in heaven.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And I guess if that's all my legacy is, I'm completely good.
Speaker A:I do it perfectly now, but I believe in Jesus as my savior and I tried to live the Christian life and knew what forgiveness was.
Speaker A:And so that's a good enough legacy for me.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker B:So, as you wrap up our conversation, what do you want the audience take away from our talk today?
Speaker A:That's really good.
Speaker A:It's a good question.
Speaker A:There's so many things.
Speaker A:You know, I just got back from a mission trip, just got back Friday, and I love mission trips.
Speaker A: I've been on, I've gone since: Speaker A:And I would love everybody to go on a mission trip.
Speaker A:But understand there's a lot of people that you can't.
Speaker A:I mean, I always tell people, it's like, oh, I'd love to go on a mission trip.
Speaker A:And then they get to the word, but here it comes.
Speaker A:Here comes.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:You know, And I was like, I, you know, I, I get it.
Speaker A:But I wish every person had the opportunity to do at least one.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:One short term mission trip just once in their life because you give up control.
Speaker A:A lot of people tell me, oh, I can hear God speak to me.
Speaker A:Well, I always tell him, God is speaking to you.
Speaker A:You just have so much other job going on in your life.
Speaker A:You're not listening to him.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:You know, it open.
Speaker A:It opens your heart and your eyes to see things differently, you know?
Speaker A:You know, it's.
Speaker A:It just works on your heart.
Speaker A:I mean, and I.
Speaker A:And my biggest thing with the mission trip is it shouldn't be One week.
Speaker A:You know, that you live your life that way.
Speaker A:You should, you should take it back home.
Speaker A:And it should, because we talked last week when our mission trips, like, every day, do you have any epiphanies?
Speaker A:You know, is there any epiphanies you had today while you're out in the community or working or doing whatever that you're going to take home, that, that, that you can.
Speaker A:That are going to resonate through the, through your, like, every days.
Speaker A:And so, yeah, I'm a big proponent of that.
Speaker A:It.
Speaker A:I mean, and I'm biased because a mission trip, that's where, that's what changed my direction in my life.
Speaker A:That's where God got ahold of me and said, hey, something better, what you're doing.
Speaker B:So we, we didn't take a church on one, but we actually adopted a, a family who was a mission for us, someone who located here from, from Sudan.
Speaker B:And it totally transformed our church, too.
Speaker B:So you're right.
Speaker B:Taking the time to give up control and to pour into someone else's life is life changing.
Speaker B:And it totally transformed the direction of our congregation.
Speaker B:So I agree with you.
Speaker B:If you can go on a mission trip and you can see how you can pour into someone's life and to see the impact that that has by you doing that, it does change you forever.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Well, Bill, thanks so much for being on.
Speaker B:Any last words of wisdom for a young pastor just starting out?
Speaker B:Want to kind of with your.
Speaker B:Your years of experience in this, in this field?
Speaker A:Oh, my years.
Speaker A:My nine years.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Nine years is a lot.
Speaker A:My biggest thing that I've learned is you got to love your people, you got to love your, your flock.
Speaker A:At the end of the day, they're not going to remember messages, they're not going to remember prayers, they're not going to remember a lot of things.
Speaker A:They're going to remember were you there for them when they needed you and was their church there for when they needed them?
Speaker A:And if you can answer yes to both those things, then go be a pastor.
Speaker A:So, yeah, we need more of them, a lot more of them.
Speaker A:But it takes.
Speaker A:You gotta have the heart for it.
Speaker A:You can have the brain, knowledge, and everything else, but you gotta have the heart for it.
Speaker A:If you don't have the heart for it, this would be a really hard thing to do.
Speaker B:And most definitely.
Speaker B:Well, Bill, thanks so much for taking the time to kind of give us some insights into what's happening and Timothy and Councilor Bluffs and how God is using you to, to make an impact in that community.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:Thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker A:I appreciate it.
