Episode Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Hey, what's up everyone? Welcome to Tether. I'm your host, Joy Morales, and thank you so much for tuning in today. We're on video now, which is so exciting. It's quite a privilege that we have the technology now to be able to do this in this format. And so it is exciting that we have that ability now. And so I just wanted to apologize in advance. Um after the intro music's over, you might hear like the AC going off, and then some noise in the background. My roommates are actually watching the new Avatar show as I'm recording this. So yeah. So I just wanted to give you a heads up on that. But yeah, it's exciting that we get to be on video now. And so just want to give you a quick update on season four. We just released a new trailer. We're gonna be talking about the attributes of God, and so we're so excited to be able to bring that to you, talking to people about the different attributes that God has or his characteristics to just help you understand who he is in a greater capacity, and so hopefully that'll be edifying for

Purpose for remastering

SPEAKER_00 1:21

you. But for today's episode, you may have noticed the title of this episode. It says Students Assembled. But that episode is actually an existing episode, it's actually been out for four years since 2022. What I'm doing is I had the idea of remastering certain episodes and then putting stock footage to the original audio version of those episodes. And so it gives me a chance to make the audio sound a little bit more crisper, but also be able to put stock footage along with captions on the videos, and so hopefully, you know, that will sound a little bit better up to 2026 standards, and so um definitely want to be able to re-work some of those episodes. I won't be able to do that with every single episode that has been published, but only ones that people have indicated that they've been edified by it, and so want to be able to remaster some of those episodes. And so with that, I want to reintroduce Students Assembled in his remastered format. So without further ado, let's get right into it.

Students, Assemble Intro

SPEAKER_00 2:29

No and Emma, thank you so much for coming onto the podcast today. I'm really it's a really an honor to be interviewing you two for this podcast. Um thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to interview for Tethered. It's awesome to have you guys on the show. Um, so let me just uh have you introduce yourselves um and what you do, what are you going to school for, what church you're going to, things like

Meet Noah and Emma!

SPEAKER_00 2:53

that.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Cool. Yeah, well, it's my pleasure, Joey. I'm Noah. Uh Noah Turner, I guess there are a few different Noahs in our student organization. But uh I'm a computer science major. I guess I'm a junior this year. Um besides school, I play some video games, uh, I do some Bible study. Um what else have I been doing lately? A lot of pickleball. A lot of pickleball since this summer.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Dude, pickleball is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

It it's so fun.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Dude, I've got I've recently got into pickleball myself this summer, thank me thanks to you and some of the other students in the campus ministries that we're involved with, but it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

It's it's Noah's pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Yes, it is my pleasure always to play pickleball. I'm a pickleball fiend. But uh I guess uh I go to uh Flack Memorial Church in Excelsior Springs, so it's a pretty small congregation there.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

That's a far drive for you.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, yeah, it is. Uh it's you know right next to my house, but my house happens to be 45 minutes from campus, so that that's right. But uh as far as three fun facts, um I have a secret room behind a bookshelf in my room. And you know, it will remain a secret because none of you listeners know where I live. So there's that. I mean, you did mention the city that you live in, so they could like there are a lot of houses, a lot of houses in Excelsior Springs.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Well, and you said the church is right next to your house.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So right next to is you know debatable. It's near. It's near. Uh so yeah, it's like a secret room behind there. So it's like you know, it's on hinges. You just push the bookshelf, it just swings open. You don't have to like pull a book or anything. That'd be lame.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Uh that would be lame.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

That'd be lame. Yeah. Yeah. It's way better just to push the shelf. Um I guess I have broken a lot of bones. That that happens to be a fun fact. You know, thumbs, arms, legs. So yeah, I was a pretty clumsy kid. Uh and last one, uh, I have an internship at this place called QM Power. It's like a motor design company. And basically, on my second day of my internship, I destroyed my work laptop. You know, absolutely fried the motherboard of my laptop. I think I remember you telling me about this. Yeah, and I'm a software engineer, so I destroyed my laptop on accident. So yeah, I guess those are my fun facts. Awesome. Thank you. My pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Um, so my name's Emma Taylor. I am double majoring in business entrepreneurship and business marketing, and I have a minor in graphic design. Um besides attending school, I like to weightlift, I like to draw, I like to hang out with friends, I drink a lot of coffee, I like to sleep, you know. Um, what church do I go to? I go to Oakwood Baptist, it's in Lee Summit. It's like actually on the border of Lee Summit in Kansas City, so it's technically in Kansas City, but I've been going there since I was two weeks old. Uh, three fun facts about me. Hmm, I'm not really that fun. I like to draw, like I said earlier. So I've been doing graphic design for six years now, so that's that's been really cool. Um I like pickleball as well, thanks to Noah. I've been playing it a lot with my friends throughout the summer. And then oh, I make stickers, which has been really fun, and I saw them around Kansas City, so that's been pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

That's cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

I didn't know you weightlifted. That's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yeah, I've been weightlifting for five years.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Ooh. Fellas, don't mess with Emma Taylor.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

I started when I was 14 and I lost 50 pounds.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Oh, wow, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

And so now I just I like to power lift, so it's really fun.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

That's awesome. That's cool. That's awesome. Well, again, thank you both Noah and Emma for taking time out of your busy schedule to interview for the podcast.

The importance of college students attending church on the Lord's Day

SPEAKER_00 6:23

And the reason why I wanted to talk to you two is because I know like you two grew up in a church, and um, I felt like you two were like the best people to speak about this topic of why college students should consider attending a local church. I mean, we're on a we're in a we're on a college campus where a lot of students, you know, may have come from out of town or may may be on their own for the very first time and may not be thinking about these type of things. Like, so as a Christian, should college students attend a local church? And so that's something that I wanted to talk to you two about today. So let me ask you this first question. Why is it important for college students to sit under the preaching of God's word on the Lord's day?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah, so uh I I guess I can go first. Um I I'll probably draw something from our good friend uh Jacob Wards. Uh he he he uh gave a talk at Crewe not that long ago, and it was over Titus 3, but you know, the intro to it, he was talking about you know why Christians are I I guess especially why college students should look into the Bible because you know the culture makes a lot of false promises to people, you know, promises for happiness, promises for success, and you know, a college is full of people trying to draw you every which way. And you know, uh like Proverbs sort of talks about the theme of it is like all those paths lead to death and destruction if they're apart from the Lord. So uh I think it's important because college a lot of people will be vying for your attention. So this is sort of the way to find, you know, the actual path of wisdom according to Proverbs, which is you know, the fear of the Lord, understanding who he is and having a loving relationship with him, so he'll be your father instead of your judge.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Yeah, I also think it's important to be in a local church because those are the people that are gonna help you grow the most. And so um I know a lot of I have a lot of friends who will travel quite a bit to go to their church. And I think if you're in a local church, I or at least that's what we were talking about, especially in this um question, I think it's good because you can pour into the people who are around you and the people around you can pour into you. And so I think that's been one of the most beneficial things that I've seen in my church.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Yeah. Yeah, maybe talk, maybe touch on your personal experience with, you know, attending a local church on Sundays. Um, maybe talk about that, you know, being college students yourselves, talk about what it's like for you personally.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

So I think for me personally, one thing that um I have loved about continuing, I can I've been continuing to go to the same church um since I started college. And I think it's been really good because I can rely on those people and I can trust them. And they're outside of like just my friends. So I have people who are like older than me who are pouring into me, and I have people who are younger than me that I can pour into. And I think it's really good because they always like redirect me back to Christ. And so I could be going through a ton of things at school that could be really stressing me out, or and I could have like a very like weird mindset on it where I'm not really putting Christ as the head of all of these things, where when I go to church, they'll be like, No, this is how you should be thinking about these problems and situations. And so I think that's been something that's been really, really beneficial for me as I've um just been, you know, going from living at home, going to the same church with my family, and now I'm like living at school. I'm not around believers all the time as I used to be. So I've really enjoyed like continuing those relationships at my local church.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah. Yeah. I I guess my situation is pretty similar. I mean, my church probably looks a little bit different than Emma's. I mean, it's a smaller congregation, and there are a lot of older folks there, so it's a little bit of a different dynamic. And that's been something I've been trying to work through lately because you know, I think most of the people in my church, you know, they don't know me Christian to Christian. I think they know me as, you know, the person that ran around in diapers as a toddler. So since I grew up there and all. And you know, uh, I used to go there with my entire family, and the rest of my family left whenever my dad started to pastor a different church. So I'm sort of the only person from my family behind. So I'm sort of trying to figure that out right now about how to relate Christian to Christian. But so far it's going well. I mean and a lot of it's very similar to Emma's dynamic. It's like bringing things from college from the rest of the world that I'm experiencing and sort of like squaring them up and you know, you know, exchanging accounts on like how how I'm supposed to think about that biblically.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. I know for me personally, like when I was in college, I definitely got a lot of care and understanding of the gospel. Um, I went to a church in Wichita, Kansas, called First Evangelical Free Church. Shout out to them, by the way. It's just awesome how I was able to find community there through people who were faithful and making sure that I understood the scriptures from an expository level, and they really trained me up to do evangelism. I was discipled by my the guy who led me to Christ Joe, and it's just really cool that all that was done under the context of the local church. So if you're a college student listening to this, I cannot emphasize how serious it is to be involved in a local church because it will help you so much in your spiritual growth as a student, especially during these four years where it may seem like, ah, like it's so hard. I'm on my own. I got all this work. Like, trust me, it it's not easy, but if you're under the shepherding and the care of a local church, I promise you, it will, you know, you'll you will endure it because there'll be people there who will truly care for you and truly help you navigate your dad. And so, Noah and Emma, what are the benefits of fellowshipping with other believers on the Lord's Day?

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Yeah. So I I guess, you know, Emma sort of stated that whenever she was talking about her personal experience, but

Benefits of fellowshipping with others

SPEAKER_01 12:51

I guess they're twofold. It's you know, getting poured into and then pouring into other people. So I mean, I guess that's how the church is supposed to build it itself up. It's by you know exchanging wisdom, you know, upwards and downwards. So I I guess for me, I have uh more mentor figures in my church than I do people who I'm pouring into. You know, a lot of older, wiser people who I'm just you know sitting down and learning from, uh, meeting with a couple of the elders and just hearing from them has been very beneficial to processing life issues, to talking about doctrine, to thinking about those things. I mean, that's been very beneficial to myself. There are a couple of people where, you know, uh I I guess they're probably more on a peer level than on like a mentor, mentor what's the word for that? What's the mentor mentee? Menti. That sounds wrong, but I'll trust you on that one. It's like I more than l more of a peer-to-peer than a mentor mentee kind of type of thing. But like still seeing that and like being able to watch as they grow and mature has been nice. I mean, like in Philippians 4, you know, he talks about how uh how how good it has how Paul talks about how good it has been for him to watch the church grow. Where he's like, he doesn't seek the gift of them giving money, he's expressing gratitude because you know he seeks the fruit that increases to their credit. So like he's rejoicing that they're giving to him because he sees that they're acting out of faith in the Lord. So like just yeah, I I've been you know feeling the same way whenever I see friends of mine that you know are stepping out in faithfulness to God. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Absolutely. And I also think that like fellowshipping with um believers in a church versus like a college ministry, like I've learned a lot from being in a college ministry and those friendships and like it says like in Proverbs, like iron sharpening iron, I think that's been something that I've really um had on campus, but also in my church. But one thing that I haven't had here that I do have in my church is like mentorship, like you um like Noah was talking about. And for me, it's been like older women pouring into me, like we see in Titus 2, um, when it starts talking about how like this is how older women should live and then they should pour into younger women. And I think that's so important because you know it can be really hard being a college student and not knowing what to do, how to act, and like the world, the pressure of the world. But when you have these like older women saying, like, I've been here and I've done this, and here's what I regret, and this is what I'm glad that the Lord taught me. And that has just been something that's been really, really good in my life. Um, and also like when life gets hectic and crazy, and I'm like, Am I the only one who's ever experienced this? Am I only am I the only one who's dealing with this sin? Am I the only one who's like struggling in this way? Talking to some of the older women at my church and them being like, No, I dealt with this too. How can I support you in this? And how can I lead you and direct you back to Christ?

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Yeah, amen. Definitely. Thank you for both for sharing that. College students listening to this again. My encouragement to you as you hear fellow college students talk about the importance of fellowshipping with other believers in your local church. I mean, I would definitely agree with them. Like a big benefit of that is being under the mentorship, or you could say discipleship, of people that are more mature and more farther along in their faith. Like for me personally, um, I've definitely benefited from that. Um, I had a mentor named Eric Thompson who passed away last year, who attended my local church that I was attending at the time. And it's just been really cool to be under his leadership and authority. Um, for those four years that I was able to learn from him, he taught me the importance of valuing the attributes of God. And if it weren't for him teaching me what it truly means to abide in Christ, I honestly don't know where I would be today. Um being under that discipleship mentorship relationship with Eric has really sharpened me to be the man that I am today, and I don't say that lightly, and he challenged me continually to consider others more highly than myself. And he listened to me when I was struggling with sin, when I was dealing with heartache, or didn't know how to process through a decision. I cannot emphasize for any college student that may be listening to this, like it's so important for you to be in a local church where you can receive that sort of mentorship. First Timothy five verses one through two says this don't rebuke an older man, but exhort exhort him as as a father, younger men as brothers, older men older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters in with all purity. Um So essentially what this is saying is like when you're in the mentorship of someone that is um helping you grow in your faith, I think it's important for you to understand that they once were like in the same position that you were in, and they're able to walk alongside you. And so if you're being in mentorship, like listen to what they have to say because it chances are they may have gone through what you've gone through. And it's so beneficial for you to learn from that. Um but yeah, thank you for answering that. So, next question that I have for you guys is this is attending a local church only limited to Sundays?

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Um, I would say no, because

Church only on Sundays?

SPEAKER_02 18:21

um as a body of believers, I think you should be meeting, you know, as often as possible in order to build one another up and to encourage one another. I know um in my church experience, which I mean isn't like perfect, you can meet more or less and it's totally fine. Um I we have Sunday mornings, which is like a traditional regular church service, and then Sunday evenings every other week where we have like another service, and then um on the opposite weeks we have our small groups, which have been really good. I really enjoyed um attending a small group because um my small group leaders are you know a little bit older than um I'm in like a college group, so they're a little bit older than us, and they have like three daughters, and so they've been in our shoes and they have like a lot of wisdom to give. And so that's been really good. And then I also we also meet on Wednesday nights and we have different things. I just started teaching a class on Wednesday nights for children, which has been interesting. It's been fun, but if you've ever um dealt with children, they can be a lot sometimes. Um no one knows exactly what I'm talking about. Um so I would just say, you know, and like we have things throughout the week normally, just the more you can fellowship with those um believers, the better, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah, so I I'm I guess for me, our church really doesn't do anything except for Sunday mornings. So I I imagine if you have the means to do that, to gather on other days, have other activities, I I imagine that would be very beneficial. We're in the in the works of trying to do that, of trying to have because we do have a Bible study on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. at our church. Oh yeah, so that one's more for aimed at like the retired age people who don't work through the midweek. So we're in the process of having another one for people who work during the day. So sometime in the evenings, and then also another uh sort of weekly or bi-weekly event just to actually get to know the other people in the church. So we're aiming at trying to do something like that. But it sounds very beneficial, but you know, we we haven't done it at our church.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Well, and it's not even just limited to exactly like what your church is doing. Anytime that you're like fellowshipping with like your fellow believers, I think that's really positive. And even more than that, anytime that you go out together, I think um evangelizing together, serving in the community together, any way that you can um be proclaiming the gospel, I think is also fellowshipping with your fellow believers. And so just I mean, having the mindset that you guys are a part of a family. So, like, you know, I know from my family we don't we have like a family dinner every other night, but I'm gonna see my dad on like Friday mornings and random times throughout the week. So I think if you view it like that, you know, you can have fellowship with your the people at your church, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

That's good. No, yeah, I like how you put it like it's a family, like that's what the local church is all about. And the reason why I asked that question is because there's probably some college students out there, they were like, I thought churches only on Sundays. Um the word church in the Greek is the word ekklesia, which actually means assembly, like to assemble together. And so it wasn't just like exclusive to a building. The church is not limited to a building, it's more of like a family, it's a gathering. And so when you think about church, think about a family of believers that wants to care for you and shepherd you. Instead of it being like, Oh, I just need to go to this particular building. Like I know for me when growing up, when I thought of church, I thought of a very old rustic building that I needed to go into every Sunday to listen to a boring priest. And I found out that that's not what the church is about. The church is a movement, it's a it's a movement of God that you know showcases his people and his glis. Yeah, exactly, his glory.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

I think also hitting on that, some that's been a lesson that I've learned um in the past like five or six years. Um, when we had a new youth pastor and his wife come on staff right as I was entering high school, and they taught me a lot about, like you said, that community and like what that means. And the global church itself, they actually announced last Sunday that they are leaving um to go to the mission field, and they're actually gonna start a house church here and then in. Hopes to go overseas in the next few years. And just having that perspective of like this isn't just a building we go into. This isn't where we just meet on Sundays and then don't talk to each other. Because um my heart was really sad hearing that they were gonna leave because I love them both so much. But I know that like we are still brothers and sisters in Christ, and I will still like I still love them deeply. So even when they're overseas, like we're still a part of the same global church, and it's such a beautiful picture. And so we can be glorifying God no matter where we are.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Amen. Yeah. And so for students, like, yeah, definitely attend a church, a local church that um showcases that community aspect because it's essential for your spiritual growth. And so actually, that's the next thing I wanted to talk about is what should you as a student look for in a local church? So there is this organization

What students should look for in a local church

SPEAKER_00 23:35

called Nine Marks that started in the year, I think in 2004, something like that. Started by a guy named Mark Dever, and he essentially provided nine marks that you know showcases what a healthy church should look like. And so I'm linking an article in the show notes so that will dig you know deeper into those topics because it's a lot. But I'm just gonna highlight you know the nine marks and then just kind of ask you some clarifying questions as you do your research on what to look for in a local church. So the first one I want to talk about is expositional preaching. If you listen to the episode Show Don't Tell, I actually talked about expository preaching. Essentially, what it is, it's making the text known by showing you what the text says, not someone trying to tell you what they think it says. And so here's what you gotta ask yourself if you're looking for a church, does the pastor preach God's word or his own ideas? Does he allow scripture to set his preaching agenda or does he pick topics by some other criteria? And I get this from 2 Timothy 2.15 and then 2 Timothy 4 through 2. The next thing that I want to highlight, the second mark essentially, is biblical theology. Does the church openly confess key biblical doctrines? Like, do they do they talk about like how is one saved? How does one grow spiritually? Do they talk about those things? Did they talk about the essentials of the gospel? And do the leaders consistently teach sound doctrine? And so that's something you also gotta look for, and that comes from Titus 1, 9 through 11. The next mark, the third mark, is a biblical understanding of the gospel. And so the gospel essentially is this that we are all born sinners. If we we inherit this sin nature that no matter what what we do, no amount of religious duties or good deeds can save us from our sin. But Jesus Himself, fully God, fully man, lived a life we could never live and died a death that we completely deserve because we are that wretched. And so, because of that, Jesus died a sinner's death, and he took on the wrath of God that we deserve. And he rose again three days later, defeating Satan's sin and death to show that he fulfilled the law, he kept that law that we were required to fulfill, and he took on that so he could fulfill the righteousness on our behalf. And so that's the biblical gospel. And if you believe in his name, confess with your mouth that he is Lord, you will be saved. That's the gospel. And so the church that you go to, does the church clearly proclaim the good news about what Jesus Christ accomplished for sinners in his death and resurrection? And here's the thing: consistently are they constantly preaching it. First Corinthians 15, 1 through 4 says that. Does the church teach that people must be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God? And that is highlighted actually in John chapter 3. And so, verses 1 through 8, that you know, one cannot just go into his mother's womb and then be born again. I mean, that's kind of naturally impossible to do, anyways. And so, but yeah, want to make sure that you understand that. And does the church teach that in order to become a Christian, a person must repent of sin and trust in Christ, both of which are the ultimate gifts of God? And so that's something that is very important for you to understand. And so the fifth mark is a biblical understanding of evangelism. Does the church preach the gospel to non-Christians and encourages members to do the same? Because we're supposed to do something with this good news that we've been given. We're supposed to go deliver it. Like if you're willing to go share on your Instagram that you know you got into a sorority or you got that bonus, or you get you know you're dating somebody, I mean, you're gonna do the same thing with the gospel if you truly taste it and see that he is good. And so it's your church training you up to actually do evangelism because I mean, that's the mission of the church, is to make Christ known everywhere you go. And does it under understand that it's our responsibility to preach the message of salvation? Yet God is the one who can do the saving. Like the important thing is that all we do is share the message. God is the one who saves. So that's an essential thing that your church has to teach. And that comes from Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20 in Ephesians 2, 1 through 10. Next one is biblical church membership. Does the church take membership seriously by seeking to ensure that its members faithfully attend, and does it encourage members to fulfill the biblical one another with each other? And so you this comes from Hebrews 10, 24 to 25 in Ephesians 4, 11 to 29. Another way to say this is like, is the church you're going to, did it do they take care of your family? Do they take care of their family? Like, think about it like this. If you had a mom who loved you, she would go out of her way to make sure you're okay, that you're being fed, that you're being like having something to drink, that you have money to get by, things like that. The church essentially does the same thing, but it does it like, hey, are you growing spiritually? Are you making sure that you're faithfully attending every Sunday service? Like, is there a way that we can come alongside you to help you navigate some of those issues? So that's the essential of biblical membership. And so the biblical the next mark is biblical church discipline. Does the church lovingly, patiently practice church discipline? This comes from Matthew 18, verses 15 through 17, and 1 Corinthians 5, verses 1 through 13. And when you might when you hear the word discipline, don't think of the word like, you know, spanking or anything like that. Think of like, you know, are they if if something goes wrong, are they helping you, you know, come go back on the right path? And so we can even talk about that more if you want to, because I know this is kind of a sensitive topic for some people. Um, the next one I want to talk about is biblical discipleship and growth. Does the church expect and equip this members to grow spiritually? 2 Peter 1 through uh 3 through 11 talks about this. And does the church encourage its members to disciple one another? Romans 15, 14. And then did I also, you know, emphasize that growing as a Christian should be normal, not exceptional? And so it's like, is the church you're going to encouraging you to grow in your faith by sitting under the leadership of one person that is more further along in their faith? And then the last mark is biblical church leadership. And so is the church led by godly qualified men? Does the church look to scripture to determine its leadership structure? Like, make sure that the church that you're going to is led by the under the authority of the Bible and get godly men that are qualified to lead the flock, essentially. So that comes from 1 Timothy 1 through 7 and Titus 1, 5 through 11. That was a lot, but I felt like I needed to lay all that out there because it's important for you listeners to understand what to look for in a healthy, you know, in a healthy church. But Noah and Emma, what would you two say college students should look for in a local church?

SPEAKER_02 31:29

If I were to look for a church, you know, like I said, I I go to a church right now. I'm not planning on leaving. Um I would be looking for, you know, these nine marks, exactly what they said. Um, like the theology of the church, um, how does the pastor preach every Sunday, um, its understanding of the gospel. I think that's a big one to hit on too, because how a church um understands the gospel changes how it does its ministries and how it, you know, because if you go to a church that's gospel isn't biblical, it could become more seeker friendly where it's like trying to gain people to these like to this kid's ministry or to this or to that. So I think that's a really big one for me. Um kind of like what you were talking about with the the community, because um it's really important to have people who go to your church who are willing to build you up and willing to come alongside of you. Um so I think all of these nine marks that um we talked about are definitely things I would be looking for if I was going to attend a different church.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

Yeah, yeah. I I I'd agree on the order of importance there as far as like, you know, theology first. I I think you know, if you're going to a church with bad or even you know uh false theology, I mean, you know, there's not much point, especially if they get the gospel wrong. Yeah, mostly if they just if they get the gospel wrong, then you know, it's not really a church anyway. But um out of all those nine marks from Mark Dever's, you know, nine marks of a healthy church, I think you know, expositional preaching is like one of the easiest ones to look for. And you know, one of you know the greatest ways to encourage a church to actually be getting good teaching is just by going straight through a book. I mean that way God sets the agenda and it's not necessarily whatever the pastor wants. Um so I I I just keep keeping an eye out for those things whenever you're looking for a new church. You know, it's like, does it seem to be whatever the pastor's thinking, like Joey said, or is it whatever comes straight from the Bible? Uh an understanding of the gospel, you know, it's Christ crucified for sinners and you know, dying so that his people can be made holy, you know, starting now. Um I think you know, trying to make sure that they understand that and living as though that's true also. So being oriented in that direction of evangelism, trying to give people this good news. So I I guess having a right understanding of the gospel and living as if the gospel is true.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Wow. That's awesome. Thank you. So next thing I want to talk talk about too is so so far we've talked about like attending a local church, sitting under the preaching of God's word. Um like what's

What's a good way for students to give back to their local church?

SPEAKER_00 34:00

a good way for like college students to like give back to their local church? And what I mean by this, like, why is it good for college students to serve in their local church? I mean, I see you two are very active in your churches, so I wanted to you know hear your perspective on that.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Well, I mean, I guess in general, you know, it's good for church members to serve in their church, you know, regardless of whether they're college students or not. I mean, you know, they're taking time and resources, you know, even just to keep the building open and to pay the pastor to, you know, uh grow you spiritually. So I mean, you know, paying them back with service is good, you know, actually uh tithing to your church is a good idea. It's like just doing those things to help the church that you know took a cost to develop you spiritually. You know, I think that's a good idea. And also in terms of like, you know, if if it's a question of where should I serve, why shouldn't I why shouldn't I serve in a college ministry instead of serving in a church? I I think the integrity of the organization that you're serving with, you know, talks about how or it will determine how well protected your work is, if that makes sense, or how effective it is. So if you're serving with a ministry, like a a college ministry and it doesn't happen to be solid, or if they you know mismanage resources, then it it's possible that your work could be less effective. So I mean as far as a church that has, you know, in a biblically determined elder structure, like that's I think the safest place to serve. So if you're going to put your work somewhere, I think in your local church, it's probably the best way place to put it.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Yeah, I really like how you put that. I think that's I think that's really beneficial. Because I think, you know, campus ministries and other ministries are extremely fruitful and or can be extremely fruitful for sharing the gospel, but they should all point you back to a local church. Because I mean that's what we see throughout the Bible is these local churches. I think that's gonna be the best place to grow a new believer and you know, not even a new believer, but just to continue growing as you age and then continue pouring into people. Um so the question was why should we serve? I think um I think I've grown the most from while I've been serving. So I remember like I think I started serving in like children's church when I was probably like thirteen or fourteen and had no clue what I was doing. But it's been such a joy to like build into the younger kids and it into those younger generations and teach them the little knowledge that I had, um, get to teach them that has been so cool. And like to see to see all those little itty bitty babies now like to be like middle schoolers is like crazy, but also it's it's just so sweet, and it's like I got to play a little role, by God's grace, I got to play a little role in their life, and I can't wait to see, you know, what how they serve um and how they bring people to Christ.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

That's good, yeah. Because I I love what you said there, Emma, because like when you serve in a local church and you get a chance to see, you know, for example, like if you serve in children's ministry, just to see those kids grow up and when you know those kids look like they get older and they look back like I remember Miss Emma, she was so sweet, she taught me to love Jesus. And because, you know, Miss Emma was in you know in influential in my spiritual walk, I praise the Lord that you know Miss Emma was in my life.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Yeah, and I think the coolest thing about that too is it's not like it's not like my words are going to like like the kid's gonna look back and be like, oh, if she wouldn't have said this, I wouldn't have believed in Jesus. No, it's the fact that like throughout our lives, like I could have planted a seed that someone watered later. And like it's just getting to be a part of other people's journey and other people because like I can think about I can think back on like the teachers I had growing up, or even just like my parents, like the role they played in my life and just how beautiful that is and how the Lord used these different people to reveal more about Himself to me.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Yeah, and uh it doesn't really have to be in a teaching role in whatever way that you're serving, 'cause I mean you know if you think about it, any given church only has, you know, a couple of teaching roles open, and you know, not everyone it teaching children isn't for everyone either. So I mean, like, you know, if you're helping out with coffee or if you're cleaning the church or if you're doing anything that keeps the church building open, then you're critical to the actual church's operations, you know, and doing its regular ministry to everyone.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

So yeah. What you just said there made me think of a passage in First Corinthians chapter twelve, actually, because I think it's important for us to you know recognize, especially if you, you know, you if you're listening to this, like I don't I don't feel like I'm beneficial to the church. Like I don't feel like I'm I don't feel like I'm adequate. Well hopefully by reading this passage, maybe I can encourage you to maybe reconsider your position. And so this is 1 Corinthians 12 verses 1 through um essentially the whole chapter, but I'm gonna focus on verses 12 through 28. And so I'm gonna read this. It's uh quite a long passage, but I think you'll kind of get the idea of what's going on. Yeah, get down, get ready to go. So for just as the body is one and has many parts in all the parts of that body, though many are one body, so is Christ. For we were all baptized in one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, and we were all given into one spirit to drink. Indeed, the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, Because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body. It is it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. And if an ear should say, Because I'm not an eye, I don't belong to the body. It is not for that reason any less a part of a body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you, or again the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. Remember that word indispensable. Um and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with great honor. Remember that as well. And our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, which our respectable parts do not need. Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and individual members of it. And God has appointed these in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping and ministrating, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all do miracles, do all have gifts of healing, do all speak in other tongues, do all interpret, but desire to greater gifts, and I will show you even a better way, which is the next chapter, which is all about love. But the reason I read all that to you guys who are listening is because you might be thinking, I'm not adequate enough. I don't feel like I have the skills. I mean, think of a human body, like, yeah, my hand can't do what my ear can do. Like, I have headphones over my ears right now, not over my hands. It'd be weird to put headphones over my hands or headphones over my foot. Like, my foot does not listen. Unless you're that nasty foot from courage and a curly dog, if you know what I'm talking about. Um, besides that, like, you matter in the church. Like, yes, there's gonna be people who may have different giftings than you would. Like, yeah, we need all people to be involved with the church because it all composes of one body. Like the human body, there's different organs in your body that have different functions, and so um, you are very important to a body of believers, and so my encouragement to you is pray about what spiritual gifts that you have that you can benefit that help benefit the local church itself, because you do matter to a local church, and so I would just ask you to pray. I would ask you to maybe ask somebody like, hey, what areas of my life do you see that I excel in? And maybe ask your pastor or anyone in at your local church, like, how can I use my gifts to better further the mission of the local church?

SPEAKER_02 42:41

And so And something I would add is like um like even it like when you see a need, like I think if you see a need, that's a good place for you to be serving. I mean, sometimes no, like there's some times where you're like, I see this need, but that probably wouldn't be the best spot for me. Like if there was a need in the men's ministry at my church, I probably wouldn't volunteer for that. But I think that's something that's really good. And even if it's like n I can think some of the people who I um look up to the most are some of the older men in my church who serve in almost every single capacity that they can, from like plunging toilets to like like building um a play set in the back, like those type of like being like those type of people, you just do a little bit of everything where you see those needs and like totally in the background, not doing it for their own glory, doing it for God's glory. I think that's like one of the coolest things in the church.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

That's awesome. That's awesome. All right, next question for you too. What are the benefits of being under the authority of local elders?

SPEAKER_01 43:42

Yeah, yeah. So uh I've

Benefits of elders

SPEAKER_01 43:44

had an experience with this recently. So uh one thing I was thinking of is you know about the human heart and basically, you know, how we can deceive ourselves. So Jeremiah 17, 9 says that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? So we often have the ability to deceive ourselves that our current actions are acceptable. So, you know, we all know we can justify our own sin, we can justify isolation from the body, we can justify a lot of things that really aren't acceptable. So what it takes is someone else looking into our lives and having the authority just to call us out and call us to, you know, repent of what we're what we're doing and to change what we're doing. So I think you know, that's that's that's especially suited to the role of an elder. I mean, to look out over their flock and you know, out of concern for them, call out the dangerous things that they might be doing. So like I recently had a situation of my own where it was like a ginger situation where I had to make the right decision. I had lots of competing counsel. So like I had gotten opinions from a lot of people, it was a lot of conflicting counseling. I felt like you know very unsure about what I should do. I had a you know a leaning, a persuasion, but you know, I I talked to one of my elders and it's like, here's what's going on. If I'm wrong, tell me. Please please tell me if you think my decision right now is wrong. And continue to counsel me as I continue with this. So like being able to submit to someone and you know have someone that is a clear set of eyes that's concerned for your own soul, that's willing to say it's like, you know, hey, you need to pull out and stop what you're doing now. So I I I think that's you know a measure of safety for the person's own soul.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

Yeah. Amen. So yeah, for college students that may be like, you know, curious to know, like, why should I obey my church pastors or elders? Let me read you a passage from Hebrews chapter 13, verse 7. Remember your leaders who have spoken God's word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. And some of you might may have come from churches where that was not the case. And I just want to say, I'm sorry if that was your church experience. Like that is not what a biblical leader should be. A biblical leader is one who genuinely walks out their faith. And if your church, if you don't see the leaders being consistent in their walk with the Lord, my encouragement to you is maybe find a another church. Um because in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17, it says this obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief. For that would be unprofitable for you. Like the elders that are in your church do this with joy because they truly care for the flock. And so, yeah, they're they are held to a higher higher standard to make sure that they're walking with the Lord faithfully because they're responsible, they're held accountable to a higher degree. And I would just encourage you, yeah, make sure that you look at their lives because you are called to imitate their faith.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

And I also think it's good to know that like your church leadership should never contradict what contradict what the Bible says. So if you like start to notice, you're like, mmm, that doesn't that doesn't sound right. Like that doesn't sound right. I think go to scripture, see what scripture says about that, because if they're going against scripture, they're not they're not being a good pastor or authority over you.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Yeah, and it helps having a right definition of authority. So it's not saying it's like you must wear this on Tuesday afternoon. It's like it's not universal authority, it's it's about spiritual matters, and uh I think it's you know based out of love.

SPEAKER_00 47:29

Yeah, because those leaders are under the great shepherd himself, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and so it's his bride, and he will go to great lengths to make sure his bride is protected. And so, yeah, my encouragement to you guys is yeah, submit yourselves to local elders who faithfully walk out their faith in Christ.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

I do have something here that might show like the right attitude of an elder and the right attitude of someone submitting to an elder. So it's Philippians chapter 2, and starts at verse 16. It says, uh, it's Paul commanding the uh church at Philippi, who happened to be very faithful, very loving, and very devoted to Paul, but and to Christ most of all. But uh at 16 it says, uh, holding fast to the word of life, so in the day of Christ I may be proud of you, that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. It says, Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. And says, likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. So it sort of gets the idea of this self-sacrificial shepherd over them, who is willing to, you know, spend their time, resources, and uh everything else at their disposal for their faith. So it's the sacrificial offering of their faith. So it's all to their increase. And uh you know, it talks about the attitude of someone under them, and says, likewise you all should be also should be glad and rejoice with me. Uh you should you know recognize what your elders are doing for you and you know recognize it's a good thing, and you know, acquiesce to their authority.

SPEAKER_00 48:56

Amen. Amen. Alright, next question that I have for you guys, and you kind of alluded to this already, Emma, but I feel like it's a good question to ask. Is attending a campus ministry

Is college ministry a replacement for the church?

SPEAKER_00 49:09

a good substitute for attending a local church?

SPEAKER_02 49:14

No. Um to be just a short answer, no, but to go more in depth, uh, attending a local church should be a part of your every like weekly routine because uh like we talked earlier, like being in a campus ministry is great. I know I was in one last year that I really enjoyed and I learned a lot and I made a lot of friends through it who like iron sharpens iron. We you know, I learned a lot, grew a lot in my faith, but I think a majority of my growth happened at my local church with those people who knew me, who um knew like what my life had looked like, knew almost everything about me, they could really pour into me and say, Hey Emma, you might not want to be doing this, or hey Emma, you might want to start doing this, where you know my peers can't do that as much. Like I I have an amazing set of friends. Um, I have you know wonderful influences in my in my life, but um, I think the local church is where you'll probably do the majority of your growth. And you should, and you should, because you're under that authority from your like pastors and elders and teachers, where in a campus ministry, you know, you have wonderful people who are sharing the gospel, but um, it's not the same.

SPEAKER_00 50:25

Amen. Yeah, amen. And you know, I'm a campus missionary myself, and I would agree with that statement a hundred percent. Like, yes, it's campus ministries are a great outlet for you to find biblical community on campus itself, but it cannot be a replacement for being in a local church, and that's something that I know for me in the campus ministry I'm involved with, I always try to pivot students towards, and we will continue to pivot them towards joining a local body of believers that preach Christ crucified, because it is essential for their spiritual growth during college. But here's my next question that I'm gonna ask you guys. It's not on the script, but I figured I would ask you this. Uh-oh. So let's say there's a college student, like,

College ministry involvement post-graduation

SPEAKER_00 51:15

but what happens when I leave college? Like, what do I do if you know if I'm in campus ministry and I graduate, like, what do I do then? Go to church. Go to church.

SPEAKER_02 51:28

Maybe go to the same church that you would already joined because we talked about it on this podcast. Yes. Exactly. Um, well, first of all, I won't I kind of want to backtrack a little bit because like I think a lot of people, um, which is beautiful, I think a lot of people join campus ministries who are unbelievers. And I think if anyone is listening to this podcast and is an unbeliever or doesn't know the gospel, I think that, you know, first of all, like the gospel is the fact that we are sinners. We were, you know, we fall short from what God has told us to do every single day. We go against his commands and we're sinners. And Jesus loves us or God loved us so much that he sent his only son to take on our sins and die on the cross, bearing those sins. But he didn't just die, he rose again, and he um when he rose again, he conquered sin and death, therefore offering us a bridge to the Father so we can have that relationship with the Father that was lost through um Adam and Eve and sin entering this world. So I think first of all, if you go to a campus ministry and you don't know anything about the gospel, I think that is a great place to hear the gospel for the first time. And praise the Lord that there are campus ministries who are preaching the gospel to unbelievers. So I think a campus ministry is an amazing thing. Um, but like you said, campus ministries should point you to a local church. And so that's why it can't be a substitute. And then I was taking that somewhere. What was your second question that you asked?

SPEAKER_00 52:52

My second question that I was asking is like, so what what would you say to a student that doesn't know what to do?

SPEAKER_02 52:59

Oh, yes, it does. That's where I was taking it. So um, if you like hear about the gospel, because I know that there are a lot of unbelievers who attend these campus ministries, if that's where you hear about the gospel, it's kind of easy to stay put, because it's like, oh, that's what I know, that's what I know. But like those campus ministries should be pointing you to a church. So if you're like, oh, I'm graduating, oh no, this campus ministry, I can't, you know, I can't just go to work and then come back to this campus ministry. Like, I think that's when you should, you know, take your faith, like take another step in your faith and start attending a local church because that's where you're gonna be growing. And that you I mean, you won't ever graduate from church. Like you can be in there your entire life.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

That's true. Yeah. I haven't graduated yet. Maybe maybe someday.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

Oh, really? I'm on my last leg in my church.

SPEAKER_00 53:46

For for legal reasons. That's a joke. You can't graduate from church.

SPEAKER_02 53:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:49

Yep, there's no such thing as church graduation unless you're like an awana or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:55

And the cool thing is that they love you so much that like they will put up with you. Like, I know I have a lot of people in my church who probably at some point or another are like, oh my gosh, can Emma go away, please? She is on, she is pushing all my buttons. But because it's a family, like, you can't just get rid of your brother. Yeah, I've tried, and he's just he's still there. So I think that's another cool thing of church about church is you can't graduate, you know. You can't, you know, people love you. So they'll put up with you.

SPEAKER_00 54:24

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

I I guess as far as a practical thing, I mean, if you're leaving a campus ministry and you don't have a church yet, you know, hopefully you'll find one before you graduate your campus ministry. I mean, you know, uh it's not even a temporary substitute. I mean, you know, find a church as soon as you can. But if you're in that kind of position, uh hopefully you've met people at the campus ministry who are faithful Christians, and hopefully you can go to church with one of them. Like that, that would probably make the process easier. So, I mean, maybe the social inertia that keeps people from, you know, going to a church when they're not normally is because it's a group of people who they know zero things about. So, you know, going to church with someone else that you already know, you know, could make that process a little bit easier. Yeah. As far as just a practical tip of what to do.

SPEAKER_00 55:05

Amen. Thank you. And something I also wanted to touch on too, we've talked about this a little earlier, but the church discipline thing, it it is important to belong to a local church because I mean

Church discipline

SPEAKER_00 55:17

your your church is going to make sure that you're walking on the right path, that you're doing what you know scripture has asked you to do, and that's to live a life that is marked by holiness. And church discipline itself is for your own benefit. And so I know like that's something that you know one of the nine marks touched on, but yeah, for you, you might be listening to this who's probably been through some awful experiences of excommunication. Like, I get it. Like, um, and what I mean by that is like the church treated you badly, and that should not be the case. Like, church discipline should always, you know, the project should be done to bring you back, to restore you. And so maybe touch on that. I don't know if you've ever personally have witnessed that yourself. I know I have. Um, not going to mention the person's name, but I've seen this guy go through church discipline process, but it ended up being for his own good, and the church welcomed him back with you know open open arms, just like the father in the story of the prodigal son opened up his arms to his son and received him back, drew him a celebration.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

Yeah. I personally don't have any stories, actually. Yeah, I've I've actually never seen that happen in my church. But uh, do you have any, Emma?

SPEAKER_02 56:30

You're like, what's church discipline? I don't know. Well, maybe if you don't know what it is, maybe you're under it right now and you just don't know. No, no, no. No, no, it's just too good. Noah's just too good.

SPEAKER_00 56:39

He's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 56:40

Um no, I think church discipline is something that's extremely important in a church. Um, because it's how a church deals with conflict, and because a church is made up of sinners, there's no perfect person, people will sin in the church. And church discipline, like you said, is to keep people, you know, from doing things they shouldn't. And so, I mean, there are examples in the Bible of church discipline or why reasons are reasons for why people should be removed from churches, because you can be like a false teacher or someone who's in a church like actively spreading things that are contradicting the Bible. I think that is a perfect example of why church p discipline needs to be in place, because if there's someone like in in a church who's trying to lead people astray, that is um toxic for the church, and that's something that's not not good. Um, but the goal of church discipline should always to be to like redirect and bring people back in, like you said. And so um I don't have any like I don't have any like specific examples of church discipline that I'd want to just be like, yeah, so this person I'm yeah, probably best not to. And I think um I think that's another reason why you should trust the authority of your pastors and find pastors that you trust. Um because their goal should always be if church discipline needs to happen, it should be to bring the people back in and to correct their sin. I mean, I think that's you know, the process of sanctification and becoming more and more like Christ every single day. We're going to sin and we're gonna fall short. But that's why we need people in our lives, um, like especially in a church setting, to come alongside you and say, Hey, I love you so much that I can't bear to see you walk into this sin or and continue into this sin. And so I think that's you know why church discipline is so important. And normally I feel like when we talk about church discipline, they're in like bigger, like bigger events where it's like a lifestyle thing where you're like, you know, maybe it's like committing adultery on your wife. Like that would be when you would be put under church discipline. So it's not like, you know, I told a lie and everyone's gonna be like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, you know, not that any sin is different, but like there are lifestyle sins that that's when I feel like church discipline comes into play more.

SPEAKER_01 58:48

Yeah, I I feel like there are probably two categories of it, and you know, it's gonna be very similar to what Emma Top talked about. I think it all has to do with the fact that the it, you know, the synonymous with elders is the role of a pastor, which is, you know, like it gives the idea of a shepherd protecting sheep. So what reason would you remove something from the herd? Well, if it's in danger to the other sheep, or if you find out that it's not a sheep in the first place. So uh one of the examples would be like I I guess if uh like with with a false teacher like Emma was talking about, that is spiritually dangerous to the rest of the flock. Like that is posing a real spiritual danger by leading them, you know, off the path. That is, you know, uh like spreading a false gospel. So yeah, that that's an immediate danger where you, as a pastor, can't allow them to affect the rest of your congregation. So it's in your best interest for the rest of the flock to remove them. And also for the case of like unrepentant sin, I would say. So like the book of first John talks all of that because it it's not just for the purpose of shaming them, it's not for the purpose of uh proving that as a pastor you're more holy than the person unrepentant sinner in your uh congregation. It's because you know, first John says, you know, if someone is in unrepentant sin, then they have no right to call themselves a Christian anyway. Yeah, like that's a a serious charge. So whenever there's something like that, you it's like finding out one of your sheep is sick with possibly sick with a terminal illness. So that's where the process of church discipline comes. And it's not immediately drag them up to the pulpit and shame them and eject them from the church. It starts with personal confrontation, you know, approaching them quietly and then with another and then bringing them before the body. So it's out of interest to them, you know, because if you find out they have this huge tumor, you're going to try to remove it.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:27

And I think that was good because I was about to like touch on that too. Like it's not like just like a all of a sudden, like, all right, here you go. Go in front of your church and like talk about all of your dirty laundry. No, it's like if someone sees you and they're like, Hey, Noah, I noticed you've been doing this, and then Noah's like, nah, nah. And then so I'm like, okay, maybe like Mike and I will go and talk to Noah. And like Noah's like, nah, times two. Then that's when like I feel like church discipline would be like, okay, like he is an unrepentant sin. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:57

Yeah. Thank you for sharing that, which actually pivots greatly towards the last question I have for you. Because Emma, you mentioned that the church is made up of sinners.

How does one be tethered to Jesus because of attending a local church?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:08

Like, if you're listening to this, like the church is not perfect. There is no there is no such thing as a perfect church. Like, like I have been to three different churches in my lifetime, and none of them are perfect. None of them are. And I'm really grateful that I know for me personally I've learned that early on, but some of you haven't. And if you've had a negative church experience because you went to a church where, like Noah was saying, the pastor put himself like holier than thou, then that's not a good representation of the church because the church is made up of sinners that need Jesus. And so it's a that's why it's so important for you to have your own personal relationship with Jesus by abiding with him daily or staying tethered to him daily. Because you want to understand what God is like for yourself and be part of a body of believers that are pursuing that same thing, knowing Jesus deeply and intimately. So the word theology, it essentially it if you can sum up the word theology, it's just this to love and know God. Like that's what theology should lead you to. And you want to be in a church that teaches you all these things we just talked about in order to love God and enjoy Him forever. And so my question to you, Noah and Emma, is how can a student stay tethered to Jesus as a result of attending a local church? From you know, answer it from a college student's perspective.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:51

Sure. Yeah. So uh I read a book recently uh by Jonathan Lehman, who is actually, you know, Tybek. It's part of he is part of uh the Nine Marks Ministry. So nice, yeah. Very very great author. Uh he has a great podcast. Uh but uh the book is called Word Center Church, and basically it's about how to actually have a church that's you know founded on Christian ideals and about you know connecting each of the members to Christ instead of having it be a social club. Like C.S. Lewis has a famous quote where it's like, you know, church isn't a social club, it's like a beachhead into the world, you know, giving the idea of like uh like an invasion, basically. So it's counter to everything else the world stands for. It's preaching ideals that are opposite of it. So it's not a social club, you know, it's not just a place for people to meet up and play pickleball, it's you know, it's in a spiritual invasion, basically. So uh the premise of the book that Jonathan Lehman has is you know, ha basically have the word of God echo throughout the walls of the church from every angle. So whether that's in your discipleships, now and discipleship can look a number of ways, but like if you think about a one-on-one meeting with like a mentor and a mentee, as we learned is a word today, uh like you know, it'll be present there. Like you'll be counseling one another based on scripture, you'll be encouraging each other based on scripture, singing scripture, teaching scripture, uh just everything will be, you know, basically the word of God bouncing off the walls of the church. So that's the best way to have a church that's built that way. That'll be connecting people to Christ.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:20

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:21

Um, I think one thing, so how I kind of view church and in relation to my life is like my church is kind of like my home base. So like I might I go out and I, you know, I'm at UMKC, I'm at my job, I'm at XYZ, you know. Um, but I'm always coming back to that home base. I'm always like in like fellowship with those people. So even like as we all go out our separate ways, we should always be coming back and fellowshipping with our fellow believers because Christ is the center of our life. And so just um so I think that's like kind of one way to stay like tethered to Jesus in regards to like a local church. And in your everyday life, all of your actions should be to the glory of Christ, whether it be in your schoolwork, whether it be in playing pickleball, whether it be in my um secretary job where I sit at a desk for a gym. Like it's just all of these different things, all of the things you should do should be for the glory of Christ. And so I think in regards to like the local church question, um, viewing it kind of like a home base, like I'm going back to these people, I'm giving them a report of like, hey, this is what I've done here. This is, you know, asking questions of like, how can I, how can I do better? One thing, um, one example that I really like, um, my boyfriend Mike, he is crazy about evangelism. He has such a heart for evangelism, and seeing him do it with his church and then go out and do it on campus, and then them ask him ask him about it is really cool because it's just like, yeah, that's that's how a church should look. They should be training people up to do like evangelism, to do, to teach or to do, you know, whatever. And then these people should be going out and doing that and then coming back together and fellowshipping. So Amen.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:04

Thank you. That's awesome. Yeah, students. So if you're listening to this, um, just some final thoughts. It is so essential for you to be part of a local church because at the end of the day, a

Final thoughts

SPEAKER_00 1:06:16

local church, it is your home base. It's like your, you know, your secret cave, if you could say it. Like where you can go and just get fueled up to go fight and to go battle for the Lord. And what I mean by that is you're gonna be facing a lot of things in the world that are in the darkness, and only Jesus is the light, and so he states heterogeneous. Jesus, you'll be you'll go out and be equipped to go share the good news that brings brings people hope. You're like the Avengers, essentially. And so what did the Avengers do? They assemble together to go fight, and that's why I named this episode Students Assemble. Nice, nice, and so because, like, that's what the church is. The church should be a safe haven for you to go and be equipped, to go and be challenged, to go and grow, to go and be mentored, to help you live your life for the glory of God, and to help you endure suffering that you will encounter if you're walking with Jesus. Because those who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted. And so the church should be a place for you to be able to be fed, to be filled anew again, so you can go out into the world and be able to live your life to honor and glorify God. And so, thank you guys again for coming onto the podcast. I really appreciate you guys coming out and uh just sharing your input. We do have a guest here in the studio that was pretty quiet this entire time. His name is Henry Fudenbergie. I totally mispronounced that Fundenberger.

Episode Conclusion

SPEAKER_00 1:08:03

He's fun, but he is our special producer for today. And so, and then thank you for the K Roo Studios. That's where we're actually doing this podcast today. It's the university's radio station, so um, thank you to them for allowing us to use their studio. And that's pretty much all I had for today. Thank you for tuning into Tetter, and we'll see you next time.