Rooted Leader

How are we going to be relevant as one of our values is? How are we going to reach the current and future generations? Change our means but not change the mission of making Jesus known to the world around us. [Music] But today, we're excited cuz we are continuing on in our study through the book of 2 Corinthians. So, if you have a Bible or your app or however you have access to God's word, go ahead and open to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. And we're going to be picking up in verse 12 today. And if you were with us last week, we started this series uh studying through the book of 2 Corinthians. And this is our heart here at Cross Church as we take books of the Bible and we just dissect them and study through them and see how the truth of God's word transforms our lives. And as we started this journey that we call rooted in holiness, studying through the book of 2 Corinthians, this theme emerged right after off the bat that what we are rooted in determines what we will be ready for. And we see in the life of Paul that as he kind of starts navigating and he's talking to the church at Corenth is he's showing them that in order to be rooted in holiness, to be rooted in Christ, to be rooted in where God is going and what God is doing, we need to make sure we are seeking him so that we'll be ready for what life throws our way. Today, as we continue down this line of thought and we continue in this passage, Paul is going, the writer of this book is going to come against some challenges and he's has some push back and there's some changes that happen in the life of the church at Corenth and Paul off the bat is going to address some things of how do you lead through these hard times? Now, as we're kind of talking about change in and leadership change, has anything ever happened in your life that's caused change? Anyone raise your hand? All right. Th this past week, uh, on Thursdays, my, um, I take my two older kids. They're out of school right now, but, they'll go to a summer camp. And then I take my three-year-old son, and he goes to a daycare once a week. And my wife goes from four kids to one kid. So, she's very happy on that day. But, as I woke up, my two older kids, and they're getting ready. And then I go to wake up my three-year-old. I'm like, "Hey, Arlo, what's up?" And I'm like, "There's some stuff on there." And I turn on the light and he's covered in vomit. Yeah. I'm like, "Bro, you didn't wake me up last night." All right. Like, he just threw up and it was like, "All right, back to bed. I'm good." Um, and I we cleaned him up and then sent him on to school. Just kidding. All right. Some of you are those parents, right? You're like, "Why is the whole classic?" I don't know. Um, but we kept him home and I told my wife, I'm like, "Hey, your day got different. Instead of you going to the new Goodwill by Sam's Club and exploring all the bargain shopping that you want, you're going to get to stay home with a toddler sitting on a towel with a bowl a puke bowl next to him while he watches Paw Patrol for the next 6 hours. So, good luck. But change comes our way. And today, Paul is going to show us how to navigate change. But he's going to show us how to navigate change from the seat of a leader. And now sometimes as we say that that we might hear it and and sometimes you're like, "Well, you know, that doesn't apply to me. That just sounds like you're leading a business. That sounds this or leading that or leading this." But you in some area of your life, whether you like it or not, are a leader. So here's a little exercise to warm us up. Say this out together. Say, "I am a leader." That was pathetic. We can do better. All right. I was going to make you say it a second time, but you really need it the second time. have some some conviction and some ump behind it. All right, we'll try this one more time. I am a leader. I am a leader. That was so much more convincing. I I'm going to I'm going to follow you now. I like felt that. All right, but we're going to see how all of us are leaders, whether in our families or our workplaces, in our marriage, in our neighborhoods. And Paul is going to show us how to navigate the change in that. And as we said in this series theme that he gives us is what we are rooted in determines what we are ready for. Paul shows us that when we are rooted in holiness, we are ready for the change that God directs and ready to make sure we're changing the right things and not the wrong things. And as we dive into this in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 starting in verse 12, Paul starts this here and he says, "Indeed, this is our boast. The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you with godly sincerity and purity, not by human wisdom, but by God's grace." Paul starts here and he's saying, "Hey, is there's been some stuff that as we've led you, things haven't always been easy, but he's saying right off the bat, this is not just with my boasting in how awesome I am, how smart I am, how great of a leader, all things Paul could have boasted in." He says, "I boast in none of those, but I boast in the strength and the wisdom of God." Verse 13, for we are writing nothing to you other than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely just as you have partially understood us that we are your reason for pride just as you also are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus. You see, as Paul begins this letter and as Paul is going to walk through and we're going to get the details in a second of why there was change from how he had to change things in order to navigate this and how there was push back and there was some angst against it. Paul kind of sets the foundation here to start from and the first thing we see that Paul kind of guides us is in that rooted leaders. They change their minds but not their morality. His rooted leaders change their minds but not their reality. You see, Paul starts here by defending his integrity because as he's changed things, as he's changed his mind and the way he's going to go about and we're going to see changing his mind kind of led to changing his means and his methods of how he was talking to this church. But as he changes his mind, a lot of people questioned him. They questioned his authority, his apostilhip. They questioned the fact that he wasn't doing this for the right reasons. And Paul starts by defending his integrity. He almost says in this first verse in chapter 12 of our passage, he's saying this, the testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world, especially towards you with godly sincerity and purity. Here's what Paul is saying. He's like, hey guys, I'm smarter than you at Corenth. Paul could have easily said that. He's like, I'm a better leader than you. I've started other churches. Other people are following me. He's like, God has literally gifted me to be ahead of you and help leading the charge. But Paul's like, I'm not boasting about that at all. Instead, he's like, "I've led you with purity, with godly sincerity. I'm relying on the wisdom of God here." And I love this cuz Paul's not being arrogant, even though he has every right to. And how many letters he's written to this church, that causes him problems. If I was writing these letters, I would probably be pretty frustrated at this point. But Paul's not doing that. Instead, he's saying, "Look, I can change my mind about the plans I have, but I will never change my moral standards." Here, I think as we break this down a little bit, some of the lessons we get from this that Paul shows us is that leaders when they gain new information will have to change their mind. Paul is essentially saying, and he's going to get into the details of this a second. He's like, "Yeah, I changed my travel plans, but that doesn't mean I changed my character and who I am. I used to think I was a good leader." Uh cuz right out of I got my degree in business management, my undergrad before I went to seminary. And I got my first big boy job was in HR overseeing and hiring and doing all sort of kind of management for and being like the number two of the GM of a store of about 200 employees. And here's what I thought. I was like, I can just tell little jokes, be winsome, like be funny, be there, and then when like someone goes against the policy, I'm like, this is what it says. Boom. I thought I could lead. And then I had children. Here's what I found out about kids. They don't care about handbooks. They don't care that I'm funny because they don't get my jokes. They don't care about rules cuz they're little jerks coming out of the wombs at times, right? Kids, you got to lead in a different way. But as I've kind of learned about leadership and how to lead my kids, I'm like, there are some things I'm consistent on and there are some things that constantly change. One of the things I'm consistent on is what are the standards of our household? Right? If you punch your sibling, that's not good. That doesn't change. Right? If you bite them or hit them or cause harm, if you use bad language, all those things are these standards that if you go against this, that is not a shifting scale. This is set. These are the rules of our house. But what might change and what me and my wife have changed our mind about a lot is how do we discipline when they break these rules? Because every kid's different. Some kids you spank them and they're like, "What was that?" Like, "Got anything else?" Like, bro. Some kids you spray in the mouth with apple cider vinegar. We call it our sassy spray. And others are like, "Dude, hit me again. No big deal." Right? Some kids you're like, "I'm you're going to go in timeout." Some will lose their mind. Others will be like, "Good. I was done with you fools anyway. I'm ready to go in the corner." And you got to change your mind. And we'll talk about means and methods in a second of how you approach that situation. And Paul here is saying, "Hey, I didn't compromise on my integrity, on the morals that this book has given us, that we build our lives around us that God has said is the standard." He said, "I have not changed that whatsoever, but I have changed my mind about things that are lesser." And here Paul provides this kind of map and sets this foundation that as leaders things will change as long as we're changing the right things and not compromising in the face of integrity. We think about this and I think about the decisions I've had to make over the years as a leader and and sometimes they don't make a sense from a business perspective or even a logical perspective but I felt like God was leading me in that direction. And God was forming my character in that direction. And this is the way it was going to go and I was going to stand firm in it. And Paul as he continues down this road, he's setting this standard. He's saying, "Guys, I could just push you and strongarm towards this, but instead I am he yielding to the power of God. I'm yielding to the strength of God and keeping my character integrity intact." But he keeps going in verse 15 and he says because of this confidence because of this foundation I've laid because I have not compromised my integrity because I love you and because I'm moving in this direction this morality that I have got from God and I'm so confidence in it. He said this, "I plan to come to you first so that you could have a second benefit and I and to visit you on my way to Macedonia and then come to you again by Macedonia and be helped by you on my journey to Judea." He's saying, "I wanted to visit you two times in this great Macedonian call that we see in the book of Acts." But he says this verse 17, "Now when I planned this," he said, "I wanted to do this, but it didn't happen." He said, "When I planned this, was I of two minds?" He asked this question like did I know that I couldn't make these plans? Was I was I being double-minded in this or would I plan? Do I plan in a purely human way that I say yes yes and no no at the same time. Verse 18 he says as God is faithful our message to you is not yes and no. for the son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Sylvanius, Timothy, and I, we we shared the gospel with you. Jesus Christ did not become yes and no. Jesus Christ is not double-minded. Jesus doesn't say yes to some things and no to other things. In the contrary, in him, it is always yes. Verse 20, for every one of God's promises is yes in him. Therefore, through him we also say amen to the glory of God. Now it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ. It is Christ who has anointed us. He has also put his seal on us and given the spirit, the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. Paul continues down this track and he shows that these rooted leaders, leaders rooted in holiness, rooted in the the truth of Jesus Christ, that we can change our minds but not our morality. And he continues on and we change, we can change our means but not our mission. Paul here gets into the specifics of his travel plans and why they changed. He had originally planned to visit Corinth twice, but one once on his way to Macedonia and again on his way back, but he had to change that plan. And actually in verse 23, we'll read in a minute, but he he gives the reason. He says, "I call on God as a witness on my life that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corenth." He says, "It was for your own good." But as Paul gets into this, here's what happened. is Paul changed his means, meaning how he was going to accomplish his task, his ministry, what God put in front of him. But he did not change his mission. His mission was to strengthen the church of Corenth was to start more churches in the known world at that time. But that never changed. But the way he was doing it, how he was going to accomplish it, needed some tweaking. And Paul shows us, I think, here as we read this text, as we kind of learn from his example and in his exhortation, that rooted leaders are flexible with resources and tool. And you see, Paul, he could have visited twice. He could have wrote some more letters. We actually first and second Corinthians are probably part of four letters total. And we don't have the other two letters. And they're pretty angry letters at times because the church of Corinth kept messing up. I wish we had the other two leaders or letters. And maybe the Holy Spirit buried those cuz Paul was just like, "You guys are morons. Stop doing this." Um, what he did for most of the other letters. But Paul used all these different resources. He sent Timothy. He used all these other means to accomplish his goal. The means were negotiable, but the mission was not. And we see from Paul that if we want to be a leader like him, a leader that is rooted in Christ, that is rooted in holiness, the mission does not get compromised. His mission was always to build up that church. His mission was always to collect resources from that church to go start more churches across the world. And that never changed. But here's what I love about verses 19- 22. Paul reminds them that just like Jesus Christ is always yes, meaning Jesus is reliable, he's trustworthy. So Paul's ministry among them was consistent. I I think this is huge for us in the church. We just sang songs that talked about the faithfulness of God. And and the reason we focus on the faithfulness of God is often we as people are not always faithful. But when we root ourselves in Jesus and in Christ, we have this God who does not waver. His promises are yes. And it also says are amen. His promises are yes and amen. When he says he's going to promise us something in scripture, he does it 100% of the time. But here's where we kind of get some recoil is we go to churches and and we become part of a church that is imperfect. Why is it imperfect? Because all of us are here. And then decisions are made and sometimes we don't agree with those decisions because we are people of habit and people of routine. And when our routine gets disrupted, we don't always like that. Give me a case in point. You come to church, it's probably the same Sunday routine you do every week. You either get your coffee on the way or you get your coffee here. You might eat a donut. You might eat breakfast. Whatever that is, you have some sort of routine. And then usually you try to sit in the same area every single week. If someone's sitting there, you're like, "Bro, you in my seat. What you doing?" Right? Like that's where I sit every week. Good thing it's summer. There's a few more seats available than in the fall. Okay. And it's like we're creatures of habit. You're like, "That's where I sit." Like or you're in this section. You like can't move sections. that just throws off completely. Actually, uh, Pastor Jackie's preaching Elm Mirage uh, this week and but he usually always was down here by me. He recently just moved into the middle of a section in the middle of our sanctuary. I'm like, "Bro, what you doing?" Like, I see you now when I preach. I think he did it on purpose to mess with me is my kind of idea on that. But we're creatures of habit. So when things change and when we come to church and stuff change, we're like, "Why is that changing?" Like we might like the end result of change like more people coming, Jesus being preached, all that stuff, but sometimes the process of change is not so comfortable. We're like, "Hey, why we why are we changing the way we doing? Why we add that light? Why we add this light? Why do we have bounce houses outside? Why are we doing this? Why that? How did Jackie all of a sudden overnight get younger and better looking in one week and then all of a sudden this guy who talks too fast is on stage?" And if we're honest, we often do not like change and the process of change, but we like what it results in. And Paul here is saying, "Hey, the means are going to change. The tools and the resources we are going to change, but the mission will not." And Paul is getting the church at Corenth to understand that all of this points to the fact that Jesus is in charge. That our mission is to share the gospel. That I want to strengthen you. And how that looks, whether I see you in person or not, will change, but the mission will not. And I love in verses 21 and 22 how he just gives us a preview of who this God is. He he literally just Paul just loves to do this in the middle of talking about travel plans and saying to get over being upset, he just drops some theological truth about who our God is that we're making known. In verse 21, he says, "This is the God, the God who strengthens us." You know who the God he who strengthens us, he's talking about? He's talking about Yahweh, God the Father. He's saying God the Father, it is not our intellect. It is not our ability. It is not our charisma. It is not our personality that pushes us, that perseveres us, that leads us in our families as Christians, but it is God the Father who strengthens us. And then he continues in with you in Christ who has anointed you. He's saying Jesus Christ, the son of God, the one who died on a cross for our sakes, he anoints us. He declares us a child of God, a fellow heir in the kingdom of God. And he says, "I've given you this message so you can go take it to the people around you." But then he also throws in there in verse 22, he has put his seal on us and given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. You see, Paul in two verses tells us the mission of who this God is we're making known. It's the triune father and son and holy spirit. The one who strengthens us. The one who anoints us to tell us to go forward in this mission. and the one that gives us the security in our hearts that knows we are his and we are not of the world. And Paul is doing all this to push them to to see the bigger vision that hey guys we will change the tools of how we share the gospel. And inside the church we have to because things change so quickly in 5 years. Who knows if we even gather as a church or we're just all like on AI headsets and like we have an avatar that's worshiping there, right? Um, that was a joke and hopefully it is a joke or we're going to be like, you know, slaves to all of AI. I think I saw Terminator before, but I don't know if that's pre or post rapture how that all works depending on your theology. But change happens so quickly. And how are we going to be relevant as one of our values is how are we going to reach the current and future generations? It will change our means, but it not change the mission of making Jesus known to the world around us. But Paul keeps going in verse 23 as he kind of wraps up this section that we are going to see in second Corinthians here. He says this, I call on God as a witness on my life that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corenth. I do not mean that we lorded over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy because you stand firm in your faith. In fact, I made up my mind about this. I would not come to you on another painful visit. For if I cause you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me? Verse three, I wrote this very thing so that when I came, I wouldn't have pain from those who ought to give me joy because I am confident about all of you that my joy will also be yours. For I wrote to you with many tears, out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart, not to cause you pain, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you. As Paul continues down this passage, he shows us that as rooted leaders, we might change our minds, but we will never change our morality. We might change our means, but we'll never change our mission. And he bookends this and kind of wraps this up is we will change our methods, but not our motives. Paul here gets to the heart of the matter. He explains very bluntly why he changed his plans and he decided not to follow through with them because he didn't want to cause pain to them and to him. He says this cuz apparently his last visit had been very difficult. There had been conflict. There had been confrontation. There had been painful conversations. And Paul realized that showing up again right away might do more harm than good. Which is why he sends a letter instead. And I love this. He changed his method. His method was the timing and the approach in way he led. But he did not change his motives and his motives was his love for the church. I I love this as we talk about this as leaders is sometimes as leaders we need to adjust our processes and our techniques. Paul could have shown up. He could have powered through the conflict. He could have made everyone mad in the church. He could have maybe drove away all the crazy angry people and he could have just said like this is how it's going to be. this is what we've done before. Instead, he chose a different approach. Instead, he gives one of maybe the most heartfelt letters we see in scripture of him literally pouring his heart out and telling them he is writing this with tears in his eyes. We also see that that here that leaders despite changing their process and techniques, they never change their heart motivation. In verse four, he says this, "For I I wrote to you with many tears, and I'm extremely troubled and anguished heart, not to cause you pain, but that you should know, listen to this, the abundant love I have for you." Paul's motive was always to build them up in love. His message ch method changed from a personal visit to a letter, but his heart in this whole thing remained the same. Now you think about this for a second. This is huge for all of us who are in leadership. How how often do we stick with methods that aren't working because we want to be consistent or we're afraid that people will question us? We're afraid that people will push back against our motives. And how often do we change that in order to match whatever seems easiest? But Paul is saying, "No, no, no. We can change those motives, but we need to keep the heart in in and the mindset that is right behind it." And here as he dives in, he's showing this leadership principle huge. That Paul never changed his heart. Even when he had to give difficult information, even when he had to have hard conversations, even when he had to go in and say things that were not fun, but he had their best intentions in mind. This past week, as you celebrated and as you got to see some pictures of maybe followed online and you're hearing the ports of is we got to go to youth camp and I loved Zona youth camp. It is a great camp. Um I I actually grew up going to that camp. I'll mention that in a second. But as I was there and I kind of popped in for about almost 2 days and then I left and said our leaders can sleep on the uh couches enough or the hard beds. I actually slept on one of their couches. Um but I'm like I'm going to go back to my comfy bed. All right. I'm done with this. I I need kids screaming at 6 a.m. Otherwise, I don't feel like it's right. Um I'm just used to my home. But as I as I was there at camp, I was looking around and I'm like, "Some of these kids are weird." Not in our group. Not in our group. All right? And in other groups, but you know, you have this idea and you think this, I just say it out loud. All right? So you judge me. It's just in your head and you're too afraid to say it. Um I say things that are in my head that should stay there, but I don't keep them there. I say them out loud. All right? But I was looking around. I was like, "All right, just some of these kids are odd." And I'm like, "We need to never mind. I'm not going to say that." Um, there are some things we need to bring back. Uh, but okay, here here, let me give you an example. There was a senior in high school, a guy from a different church. I'm going to preface that. Not attacking his character, really attacking the leadership behind his pouring into him. He walked around the entire camp with a stuffed seal this big. All right, you can judge me and you're thinking you're a jerk. That's all right. I'm okay with that. I've been called worse. But here's the whole thing. I thought and I actually had a conversation with that kid because we had some weird run-ins with our group. And I kind of talked to him. I tried to have a change. And the only thing I could think is there needs to be an adult to speak into your life. Be like, "Bro, you're going to get ready for some things in life that are going to be different cuz this is this is a senior in high school ready to go on into the world." And someone hasn't pulled him aside be like, "You're not going to be able to bring that to the workplace." I hope depending on what your workplace is. All right? Unless you're working from home and you stash that under your desk. I don't know. Uh it's a different work environment now, but I'm like someone to speak into them. And Paul was not afraid to say the hard things to push people to have the difficult conversations. But the reason Paul did all this, the reason that thought ever even entered my heart is because he did it through a motive of love. He wanted what was best for the church. He wants what's best for the next generation. I want people to speak harshly into my life when I need correction. so that it is the best for my relationship with God and how I lead my family and the church and everyone around me. And here's the thing is Paul was not afraid to back down from these difficult conversations. Paul was not afraid to never compromise on his mission or his morality or his motive behind it because he knew he was moving them in the right direction. And Paul as he kind of closes this passage we look at today, he essentially is saying, "Guys, I could have come to you and I could have had another painful confrontation and it probably you weren't ready for it. I changed my approach, but here's the thing. My heart remains the same. The conviction remains the same that you can't stay in the place you are at and God is calling you to move forward." As we reflect on this passage and what do you take from this other than you shouldn't walk around with a giant seal as an adult? How do you attempt to apply this in your life? How do you attempt to apply this in your sphere of leadership? Here's I think the holy reflection that God calls us to and this question to kind of dwell on to ask honestly and let kind of penetrate our heart is do you lead change to make life easier or to make Jesus known. You see in all the things Paul did it made his life so much harder. He got more complaints. He heard more reports. He had more issues. And people pushed back and pushed back and pushed back. But he was doing it not for his own ease, not for his own good, but he was doing it so that he could strengthen the church in the right way and that he could create more churches because he was more focused on making Jesus known than making his life more convenient and easy. The questions to ask in this as you think through this, are you making changes and are you leading changes in your life because it's more convenient for you? That's never a good time to make a change. Are you making changes because it avoids difficult conversations? Are you making changes because it makes you look better in the moment or it's easier to manage? Or are you like Paul here? Are you changing things because it better serves the people you lead? Are you changing things because it more effectively accomplishes the mission that God has put in your life? Are you changing things because it honors it and makes Jesus known? Are you changing things? Because it reflects godly wisdom rather than the human convenience of our worlds. You see, Paul is calling us. He's almost giving us a blueprint. He's giving us a charge on how do we lead through a difficult world that is constantly changing while sticking firm to the things that truly matter. this week. Kind of crazy as I was thinking about it. Exactly 17 years ago, this summer, my family went through a pretty big transition. And this is crazy. This is also half my life. I'm 34 years old. Got to ask my wife about that often, but that's that's correct. I am 34. But 17 years ago, about half my life ago, my family made the really hard decision that we had to leave the church that we had been at for many, many years. And God called us somewhere else. And the reason for that is I literally had only known this church. When I came home, as I was told, from the hospital after being born, we stopped at the church to pick up my brothers before we went home. It was a second home to me. It was everything I knew. My friends were there. The leaders that poured into me were there. I loved that place. But we ended up leaving that church because they had compromised their mission. They had compromised their morality and weren't using it from scripture to define those things. And their motives became more about being divisive, about cutting off from other churches rather than expanding the kingdom. And it was the hardest decision we've ever made. and and and today there are there are times when we have to leave a church and when in our case when a church stops believing in the inherency of scripture that is no longer God's word finally we're like we can't do this. This is not the church we grew up in. My dad who's an elder at a church now we we moved away and eventually we landed at Mountain Ridge Church which in God's sovereignty I married the pastor's daughter and u the rest is history from there. But 17 years ago, I went to my first Zona camp with Mountain Rich. It was like a full circle moment that this camp that I got to watch our students experience, I got to experience for the first time in their shoes. But here's why I tell that story. Is that was such a hard season for me in my life. The church I loved, the church I knew, the leaders I trusted, all of that, they changed things that were too far. It felt like it hurt me. It broke my trust. I felt like I was so lost and so confused. Like God, why did you allow this to happen? And there are times when we need to look at both our personal leadership, but then the leaders around us and we need to put them through the methods or put them through the structure that Paul gives us here. Are they changing the right things? Because sometimes at church, we get mad about the dumbest things to change, right? Change too many light bulbs, change too many paint too many things the wrong color. And people will leave churches for that. The music's too quiet, the music too loud, the chair is not comfy enough. There are only things that we can leave for the wrong reasons. And here at Cross Church, we will change things. But as Paul shows us, what will never change is the morality, the foundation we get from God's word. is the mission of making Jesus known. That is above all else. That more people need to hear the gospel than less in the motive we lead out with. That we love the people around us. We love our family members who are lost and far from Jesus. We love our neighbors who do not know him yet and are far away. We love our co-workers who are moving in the opposite direction of the creator of the universe. And when we make changes in our church, in our homes, in our communities, in our workplaces, in our lives, are we doing it for the right reasons? And as we go out this week and really attempt to, I think, put into practice some pretty heady principles. This isn't an easy one of like check your Jesus box and you go, but of like how do you start to make sure you are the leader that God has called you to be that you are rooted in the holiness and the sovereignty of the savior of the worlds and it has changed your worldview changed the way you live your life changed your purpose. It has aligned the church that you're involved in so that we can make Jesus known to a greater degree here in Surprise and Elmarrage and Phoenix and Cornville and wherever else God opens up doors because that's the church we want to be a part of. That's the church we want to continue to foster. And that is why God uses us as leaders to make change in the world around us. Church, let's pray to our heavenly father who guides this, who moves this, and who ultimately leads us. [Music]