Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to Missionize with the Missions Guys, a podcast of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, offering biblical and practical insight and strategies designed to equip and encourage missions leaders to carry on mission work. The goal is to fulfill the great commission from a church's local community to the ends of the earth. That is why we missionize.
Now, here are your hosts, the Missions guys, Sam Roberts and Quint Richie.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Welcome to Mission Eyes. Thanks for joining us today. I am Clint Richie, and today we are missing my co host.
Schedule has not allowed Dr. Sam and I to be in the office together, in the building together. And so due to some time constraints, you are stuck with just me today. But don't click off. Joining me today is Jay Hamm. Jay serves on our missions team. And so, Jay, thank you for joining Mission Eyes today and helping me out. And maybe they'll allow this to continue. We won't mess it up without Dr. Sam. Too bad.
So I have to tell you, I got an email. Dr. Sam and I were going back and forth about this episode, and he says, and I quote, I am totally okay with you doing this by yourself.
End quote. And that was like, I have achieved. I have got to the point where he trusts me. And so hopefully he will still trust me after he listens to this episode. We'll see if he really listens to this episode.
But, hey, as we get started today, I just want to take a minute to celebrate. You know, we had Several episodes ago, Dr. Sam had a horn that he blew to celebrate the second time that Travis McCormick was on the podcast. And I don't have that horn, but I want us to celebrate for just a second because great things have been happening with Arkansas Baptist.
We're at the end of summer and I have just been hearing multiple reports, seeing a lot of stuff on social media about how God has worked in our churches, not just in Arkansas, but other states as well. And we have some listeners from others, but God has worked in our churches this summer through vbs, through camps, through community ministries, mission trips. It has been awesome to see the baptisms that are occurring, the excitement that's happening, revival that's happening in churches. Amen, man. I know you guys have experienced that in your church as well.
Doing an interim at a church, smart start at a church that baptized three teenage girls Sunday from Camp Siloam. And just story after story is coming in. So we thank the Lord for working. I thank you guys that are listening, pastors and leaders that have led your people to be involved in missions and ministries, evangelism, some things just a normal routine rhythm of our churches but also some special things that people have planned and done. It's just been amazing. We give God the glory for that and look forward to seeing what's going to happen this fall.
By the way, look back, last year we did an episode on fall outreach events and with fall coming is a great opportunity through fall festivals and similar events, wild game dinners and things. That is a great opportunity for outreach and ministry to take place. So encourage you to go back and take a listen to that. So as we get on today's episode again, joining me is J. Ham, who serves as a church planning catalyst on the missions team here at the state convention. Additionally, Jay serves as church planter of church in the Dirt church plant in Russellville. And so J, welcome to Mission Eyes.
[00:03:53] Speaker C: You bet. Thanks for the invite. Yeah, can we just pause just for a moment and let my mama celebrate. She will be so excited that I finally made it somewhere.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: So Ms. Ham, your son is here and he is going to do his best not to embarrass you today.
All right. Well, yeah, and my mom listens too. And so we'll just give a shout out to both our moms.
[00:04:17] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: We're glad that they now have a new faithful listener to Mission Island.
[00:04:22] Speaker C: That's exactly right.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: So Jay, for folks that don't know you, who is J. Hamm, tell us a little bit about yourself.
[00:04:29] Speaker C: You bet. So I was raised in Gum Springs, Arkansas and went to Arkadelphia High School, went to Washita Baptist University, met my wife Kristen there, very first class we had together in the fall of 1990. We met each other, started dating in 92.
We got married in 1993. So if the good Lord lets me live a little bit longer, we will have been married 32 years I guess. So. My wife Kristen is a principal at Pottsville High School and we have four kids. Two of my daughters and one of my son in laws teaches at Pottsville Junior High. And then I have another son who's a senior at Arkansas Tech University this year. And then I have a son who trains horses up in Heber Springs.
So and then we have four grandbabies and they're all under the age of three.
So yeah, so four, four grandbabies and we're loving that, that part of life. So we planted was on staff at First Baptist Church in Russellville for I guess about 18 years. Steven Davis hired me a long time ago, youth pastor and then missions pastor. And then we started church in the Dirt as An outreach ministry trying to reach cowboys in the area. And then we constituted as a Church on January 1st of 2023 and I became the lead pastor there. And then shortly after that came on with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Awesome. And prior to entering ministry full time, you were a schoolteacher?
[00:06:06] Speaker C: I taught school for seven years in Camden, Arkansas and coached. So yeah, I've been a part of the. My whole family are educators. My mother in law is an educator and just come from a long line of educators.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Wow. Well, I bet. I know there's some hard days in ministry, some long days, but I have to think that if you ever think, man, you know what, this is tough, but I could be teaching school again.
[00:06:31] Speaker C: Driving a school bus, coaching track and teaching seventh graders.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Hey, shout out to all the teachers that have gone back the last couple of weeks.
[00:06:39] Speaker C: That's exactly right. God bless you.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: So when you joined the ABC staff, you started in a part time role that focused on cowboy churches mainly. And you did such a great job in that role. And then we had some couple staff resignations that you became full time and your role expanded. That happens around, I think here in every church. You do a great job, you just get more responsibility. Right. So tell me what it, what does it look like now? What do you do now? I know you're working with all kinds of church plants, not just cowboy churches. So give us a idea of just what is your role here?
[00:07:14] Speaker C: Yeah, so I have a lot of involvement with the missions team and I do a lot of specific things as a part of the missions team, but specifically with the, the church planning side.
When Arkansas became a part of the SIN Network as a sinned state, then we, part of that agreement was that we would just fall under kind of the, the NAM's plan for planting churches and endorsing church planters and all of those things. So two times a year we have an assessment process that's endorsed by nam and we normally assess pastors or planters coming from Southern Mississippi, Oklahoma and Arkansas.
So we have one coming up September 22nd, 23rd, we think we have 11 planters that will be a part of that. Six of those are from Arkansas. And so we also do the Send Network church planner training with all of those guys, take them through a pretty rigorous training program that we do with them. And then after they come on and they become endorsed, and when I say endorsed, I mean they're funded through, through the North American Mission Board. So through that's Annie Armstrong giving all of that is how that's funded.
Then we they're under our planter care for five years and they're under a funding grid for four years. So really, once they become endorsed, we have a pretty serious five year relationship with them where, you know, we're meeting with them regularly, offering other training opportunities, bringing them together, encouraging their wives, sending them birthday presents, you know, just all kinds of things just to comfort them and care for them, along with trying to help fund the work that they're doing. Okay, so that's, I guess that's my job in a nutshell, if that makes sense. On the church planting side.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: Well, and we've had Tim Wicker on recently and he shared as the director of Send Network Arkansas. So you guys are working closely together.
You mentioned, you know, six planners come in through assessment. Again, these aren't all cowboy churches. I mean, we've got tell us, you know, just a broad overview of what our church plants look like right now.
[00:09:28] Speaker C: Yeah, so church planting in Arkansas, I think looks a little different than it has in the past because with the involvement with the North American Mission Board, their missionary task says that we first begin by engaging a community.
And as we engage the community, we work to make disciples in that community.
And as we make disciples in that community, that's who we plant the church among.
So I think in the past, especially folks that grew up in the church, church growth movement, the idea was, hey, we're going to, we're going to parachute a guy into a place and we're going to rent a building for him and he's going to start preaching on Sundays. And as he preaches on Sundays, he's going to hope to make disciples out of that group. And then those disciples are going to go engage the community.
And really when we became a part of the SIN Network and when Vance Pittman became the leader of the SIN Network, you know, we recognized that some of that was backward.
And so we worked really hard to try to help planters think first. I want to be a missionary in this community, I want to engage this community. And as I'm engaged in the community, I'm making disciples. And the church will grow up out of that group of people. And as a result, I mean, we have churches, we have a church plant meeting in a tent right now. We have a meeting in storefronts. We have a meeting in buildings that were donated by the association.
Our church, we rent the Wesley foundation on Arkansas Tech's campus. They don't use that building on Sunday. And so we're able to use that. And so we have all kinds of Church plants, all kinds of backgrounds and all kinds of scenarios. And so really what we say is that we're planting churches everywhere for everyone. And so that means it looks a little different than, I think, what church planning has looked like in the past.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Yeah, and that's why, I mean, bring that conversation up. Because church planting is not a one size fits all.
[00:11:24] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: I mean, just as not all established churches or what Dr. Horne likes to call legacy churches, they're not all the same.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: That's exactly right.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: You know, and so we look at our churches and it is a natural tendency for people to be drawn to other people like them. I mean, that's why some churches are more blue collar, while others are more white collar. One church may be composed of people with a higher educational level than the church just right down the street from them. Same can be said of economic status, many other factors. Now, none of those churches are strategically targeting one group over the other, but again, people are drawn to other people like them.
That's often seen further even inside a church. Small groups, sure.
Various ministries. I mean, you'll have a men's group, maybe even a young men's group, you know, outdoors group or outdoors ministry, a sewing class. I mean, this has been going on in churches for years. And this has been referred to as affinity based ministry or affinity based churches. And through the years, those affinity based churches and church plants have come under attack as being exclusive. But I like to push back on that because, Jay, we don't see that in cowboy churches. We don't see that in ethnic churches or any other church that focuses on a specific group of people in their community.
So how do you respond to that?
[00:12:50] Speaker C: Yeah, so I do get that question every once in a while. And my favorite way to respond to that is that we know and understand that like produces like, you know, the cows on my farm, they're going to have calves, they're not going to have horses. You know what I'm saying? It's not going to happen. If they do, I'll let you know, we'll be rich. Okay, but like produces like. And if you go all the way back to the book of Genesis, that was the command goat, like, produces like. And so what I. What I wish people would see is that if, among certain groups of people, if you're going to produce disciples in those groups of people, you're going to have to do it with people who are like them.
Now, you know, our cowboy churches across the state, and we've got 29 cowboy churches that are Southern Baptist, cowboy Churches across the state. There's a couple in Nazarene and there's a couple of other churches out of the Texas Baptist Convention that are over on the, on the eastern side of Arkansas. But you know, more realistically, most of them are a Bubba church. And what I mean by that is that they wear the same clothes to work as they do to church.
You know, just really laid back. And they're going to have a kind of music that sounds like what those guys are listening to on the radio a little more. And they're just, you know, they're a lot of them. Like we have a meal every Sunday. We have a potluck meal every Sunday at our church. We, we meet, we have a meal at 12:30 and, and then we have church at 1:00 clock because we understood the guys that I'm trying to reach, if they were at a Rodeo until 2am on Saturday morning with their kids, they're not coming to church at 9 o'. Clock. And so we just. Those kind of things. And so we're trying to start a disciple making movement among those people. And if you're going to do that, you just have to remember that like produces, like, now that's not to say that some guy in his three piece suit couldn't reach a cowboy or couldn't reach an Hispanic person or couldn't reach somebody from a bike group or whatever, but we just know like, produces like. And so that's how I kind of like to respond to that and get people to think about it that way.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: That's good stuff. And I tell you, you can't get truths on any other podcast like a cow is going to produce a cow, not a horse. I'm just down.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: I mean, we get that, Clint, we get that intellectually. It's just sometimes we don't think. And then we think as church we can create these programs or we can do these things and, and those are all well and good, but the truth is like produces like, if you're going to, if you're going to have, if you're going to try to reach some of those folks, you're going to have to do, have to be like them and you're going to have to think a little bit like them. And, and so that's what I wish people would see that as a challenge.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I love some of the work I've been able to do with some of our cowboy churches. Specifically, several of them have hosted some of our medical dental clinics and man, they just knock it out of folks. Let's talk about those cowboy churches because the Lord is using them in great ways. And like you mentioned, it is people from all walks of life. There are people at cowboy churches that have never been on a horse, you know.
So tell us what you're seeing from our cowboy churches and why is the Lord using them the way that he is?
[00:16:14] Speaker C: Well, I think just exactly what you said, you know, a lot of the folks in a cowboy church, they're not a 32nd cousin to a cowboy, but they, they like that idea. They like the laid back atmosphere. They, they enjoy the western culture. You know, I say, cowboys are my people. Those are my people. That's my tribe. And, you know, my people stand for the national anthem and they say amen when it's over. You know what I mean? And they, they believe in Jesus. I think so many of our folks, they would tell you, no question, I believe in Jesus. They believe the Bible is the word of God.
But are they following after Jesus and are they using that word to let it transform their lives? And what happens, what you're seeing, and you can just get on Facebook and start searching for cowboy churches across the state. You're going to see baptism after baptism, after baptism. You're going to see, I mean, we have cowboy churches that have incredible facilities that they've built and they're, they have ministries built around those facilities. They're putting on rodeos and different things. But, but what you see happening, Clint, is you see those men and women who, and you might want to call them cultural Christians or whatever they were, they were raised in America. So of course, you know, they, they believe in Jesus and they say the Bible is God's word. Those people, it's like Acts, Acts 11:21 says that the hand of the Lord was with them and many turned and followed after the Lord. And I believe that's what you see happening in a lot of these rural churches and especially a lot of these cowboy churches, is that those people, they, who say they believe they've now turned and they've followed after Jesus. And you see that happening. And when they do, like, we've got one family in our church, her daughter got saved, she granddaughter got saved, started coming over our house doing riding lessons with my daughter. She got saved, Grandma got saved, dad got saved, brother got saved. We baptized 11 people out of her family. It's like the Book of Acts. Like, you know, Lydia's whole family getting saved, or the, the Philippian jailer's whole family getting saved, or Cornelius, when he invites Everybody that he knows to hear the good news of the gospel. That's what you see happening as these people who are honest, hardworking, you know, good, salt of the earth people. The hand of the Lord is with these churches, and people are turning and following after the Lord. And I believe that with my whole heart.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And that's one thing that I thought in preparing for our conversation that I really just want to throw out, that while the churches, while cowboy churches may be targeting cowboys or targeting people interested in a Western culture, or churches may be targeting any other group of people, that's not their main focus. Their main focus is the gospel.
[00:19:10] Speaker C: You bet.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: And I think that's what is so encouraging, is like, you're talking about going in, learning the community, beginning to make disciples.
Like, is attracted to, like.
[00:19:20] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: But the focus is not. I mean, you could show up at a cowboy church or, you know, with a coat and tie on, and you're going to be welcome.
[00:19:27] Speaker C: And we'll have people do that.
[00:19:28] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:29] Speaker C: Once.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
You know, and. And you could show up at, you know, at a ethnic church and be Anglo, and you're going to be welcome.
[00:19:40] Speaker C: And they're going to love you.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Yeah. You may not understand anything that's going on, but the focus is the gospel.
So the majority of our listeners, I anticipate, are from established churches, mainly because that's what mostly comprises the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention. What are some lessons that the established church can learn from affinity churches and church plans?
[00:20:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I think a huge lesson that this is not a new idea. This is a New Testament idea that as Southern Baptists, we believe strongly in the idea of the priesthood of the believer. But I think sometimes established churches have gotten to a spot where they think we can only pastor people with paid professionals and we can only disciple people in a program.
And I think what you see happening with affinity churches and especially church plants all over the state and is they're. They're reaffirming that idea that we all have a responsibility and a privilege to share the gospel with the people that we live and we work and we play with and that we. We each have roles, not the office of the pastor, but we each have pastoral responsibilities in our community where we can pray with people and we can encourage people and we can love people and yes, we can even teach them the Bible.
And so that's one thing that we see happening. You know, we have a church plant that meets in Mountain View.
I'm sorry, I always have to slow down and make sure I get that right. And they meet in the community center. And you know, you walk into a community center and really all the guards are down. You know, you walk into a 10 building that is on your fair ground and really all the guards are down and they, you know, they've got, you know, different things happening, but just that the idea that everything doesn't have to happen within the walls of an established church building, I think is huge, you know, and that, that's not. Listen, I'm for churches and established churches. I'm 100% for them. I've been a member of one since I was in. I think I was 16 years old when I got baptized.
Third Street Baptist Church in Arkadelphia. I love the established church, so I'm not against that. But I think we're going to have to agree that we're going to have to do things outside of the walls of the church and we're going to have to think like missionaries think if we're going to. To make a dent in, in the communities around us. Because as. As nice as we can be and as great a program as we can put on and as nice of buildings we can have, we're. We're still not going to get the majority of our community to ever darken the doors of those churches. Yeah. So I think that's one thing that churches can learn and, and, and another thing I think is just totally relying on the Holy Spirit. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes it's. I was on staff for a long time at a big church and I loved being there. But I'll be honest with you, sometimes I relied on the money that we had and the buildings that we had and the programs that we had. I thought that's what was going to make it all work. And sometimes. And those are good. There's nothing wrong with that. You know, my kids went through the Awana program and I loved Awana program.
But sometimes we have to just be led by the Holy Spirit and remember that. That God is already at work in the community around us. He loves them. God loves the people of Russellville more than I love the people of Russellville. And he wants to see them saved more than I do. And so he's already at work in those people in my community.
And so sometimes we just have to remember we're going to be led by the Holy Spirit to do what. What God. What he wants us to do and listen to him and follow his leading.
And I think that that's some not Again, not to dismiss those programs that churches have or the buildings. I'm not against that at all. It's just sometimes we use that as a crutch, maybe, and I think we can think outside the box a little bit, maybe, if that makes sense.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, and you mentioned the church meeting in a community center. We have a church plant that meets in a tent in the church planter's yard.
[00:23:52] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: And name is Basic Church. I mean, it doesn't get much more basic than that. So, hey, let's change gears for a few minutes. Our last couple episodes, we have focused upon evangelism. And a theme in those conversations and in other episodes we've had has been the need for intentionality in evangelism. You've already referenced that a little bit. You just. Among our team, we have talked about your very intentional and impersonal in personal evangelism and have led others to do the same. You have challenged us by just watching you. How did you get to that place in your own life?
[00:24:34] Speaker C: Yeah, so I became. I didn't start going to church until I was really in the ninth grade. I got saved when I was young at a vacation Bible school, but I didn't really start going to church. So I was in the ninth grade, and then I got baptized when I was in the 10th grade. I felt called to the ministry when I was 18 years old. And so I just kind of fell into, this is kind of what a minister does. And I started thinking along those lines. And I, you know, I was a youth pastor while I taught school.
We led a lot of kids to the Lord.
I love that, you know, so that. That. That idea of evangelism in the workplace and evangelism out among the community was just.
It just got in me early. It got in me deep. But I'll tell you what happened to me. I was missions pastor in Russellville, and I went to the Middle east, and I got off the plane and was working with a guy named Matt, who's a pastor in Arkansas now. Love him to death. And we went through a training called the Heart and Four Fields. And in that training, I remember distinctly him saying, you cannot be a follower of Jesus without being a fisher.
Jesus said, Matthew 4:19, Come follow after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And I remember Matt saying, you. We in the. In America, we've convinced ourselves that you can follow Jesus without fishing. And I. That just. It stung me to think, I don't want to live my life that way anymore. I want to deeply Trust and follow after Jesus. But I want to be a fisherman. I just want to do that. And so I started thinking about what are easy ways that I could do evangelism, what are just simple, easy tools that I could use and simple ways that I could do that. And so, you know, I.
You know, I love the King's Witness bracelet. I got that from the duck commander. I noticed how easily those guys shared the gospel using that, the King's Witness.
And I started writing it on my forearm. We'd go on mission trips, and I'd hold my arm up and I'd share the gospel using that. And so when the King's witness bracelets came out, that was something that was so easy for me. And then, man, when you guys designed that John3.16 bracelet, that was like. That was like a shot of caffeine to me, man. I could grab ahold of that thing. And there's no telling how many of those bracelets, literally, that I've given out or our church has given out, or I know all across the state, man, that is just such an easy tool for us to share the good news of the gospel. And so what I do, I'll just tell you honestly, I. I put one of those bracelets on, whether it's a king's witness or John 3:16. And I just ask every single morning, God, would you give me somebody that's wearing a bracelet that I can add to their bracelets and share the gospel with them? And it never fails. I gave away four this morning helping my. My wife this first day of school for them, and I was helping her unload cars at the high school, and I gave away four bracelets in the line there today and shared the gospel with four kids. So, I mean, it's. It's. It never fails. I just ask God, would you'd let me do this? God, would you give me the privilege of sharing the gospel with somebody?
And it never fails. And so every waitress that I come into contact with, every person behind the desk, you know, somebody, whatever, you know, especially people in the service industry, you know, what an incredible opportunity we have to share good news with them just by offering them a bracelet. And then, Clint, what I do is I look for good soil and those people who lean into that, and they, you know, I was with a church planter a couple weeks ago.
We were at the Purple Cow in Little Rock. A girl came up to our table.
She had on a bracelet. I said, hey, can I add a. You know, give you another bracelet? Sure. You know, so we gave her a bracelet. And the church planner said, well, where do you go to church here in town? And she literally just started crying right there at our table. And in five minutes later, she bowed her head and asked Jesus to be her savior. Repented of her. Like, it's just good soil. God makes the soul good. I don't. I don't have some slick presentation of where I say, hey, I'm going to say all the words right and do this in right order so that you're going to get saved. God already made that soil good. And I was just privileged to get to be there and be a part of. But one of the ways I think that we find good soil is by sowing. And so that's. I just try to constantly remind myself, you know, there's a direct correlation between the number of people get saved and the number of times you share the gospel. You know what I'm saying? So I want to find good soil. And the way I'm going to find good soil is by. By sewing. And that bracelet, to me, man, is such an easy, simple tool to be able to use. And so that, man, that. That was such an encouragement. What y' all did with that bracelet was such an encouragement to me.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: I appreciate that. And don't forget, you can check that out if you haven't absc.org 316bracelet and you can order some of those and see a video on how to use it. And there's some resources there for you.
And like you said, you've given out a ton of those in your church.
There are other people following your example. I mean, you set that culture and church in the dirt, but also and church plants and then on the BCM at Arkansas Tech and working with them.
[00:29:59] Speaker C: Yeah, we have committed to prayer that on the campus of Arkansas Tech University, U of O and Ozark and uaccm, we have a group of students that are going to try to share the gospel with every single student on those campuses this fall. And the way they're going to begin that is by offering. They're going to start by praying, make a list of people that are close to them but far from God, and pray specifically by name for those people and look for opportunities to share the gospel with them. And so we've ordered thousands. I think we ordered 5,500 bracelets last week for, you know, with the BCM's logo on there.
And so, yeah, I mean, it's just such an easy, simple tool.
I will say this, Clint. I've in and thousands of bracelets. I'VE given away. And I've had about three people or maybe four people, very few who've said, no, I'm not interested, or don't want that.
You know, One of them was on a subway in New York City and just cold turkey, she said, no way. I don't think she understood what I was saying, really. And I think it was a little awkward because talking to a lady on a subway, she said no. And I've had a couple of other people that have said no. But by and large, by far, most people say, yeah, thanks, you know, and they're, they're very, they're super appreciative. And I just say, hey, if you'll give that away and let me know, I'll give you another one. You can, you know, because you can't be a follower without being a fisher. And so that's kind of the way we use that. So.
[00:31:33] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:31:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: And again, it boils down to being intentional.
[00:31:36] Speaker C: You bet.
[00:31:37] Speaker B: And the Lord's placed you in the right place, the right time. The soul's ready, the Holy Spirit's working, but we have to do our part and we have to be intentional on that.
[00:31:46] Speaker C: That's right. In the rodeo world, we say, you better be getting it on your mind that's being intentional.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: Well, as we begin to wrap up, people have had a chance to get to know you and hear your heart, but we need to dig a little deeper in our knowledge of Jham with some rapid fire questions. We asked these of all of our guests the first time. These are major theological questions. So here we go. Favorite meal.
[00:32:11] Speaker C: Well, this word has an L in it where I'm from. My mama calls them salmon croquettes, but I know salmon croquette, that, that would be my ultimate favorite meal right there.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Favorite restaurant.
[00:32:25] Speaker C: I love Old south and Russellville. That's probably my favorite one to be a part to go to. And Brangis, I don't know. Couple of good restaurants in Russellville. I'm kind of a hometown boy, so yeah, I like those.
[00:32:36] Speaker B: That's good food. The kings have dined.
[00:32:38] Speaker C: That's right. The kings have died in the old South. That's exactly right.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: What's your go to relaxation spot?
[00:32:45] Speaker C: Man, I'll tell you, I love. We have a rodeo arena at our house and I love to either be roping with my kids or riding back there sitting on swing. But the truth is, and this sounds so corny, but people who know me that they know, they'll nod their heads and I just love being where Kristen is is where. Where my wife is. And we've. We've learned over the years because our life has been so fast paced, raising four kids and all the things that we've done. You know, my soul finds rest in Jesus, but my body finds rest with Kristen. And that I. It. We've just learned, man, we can relax, we can be together and we can relax anywhere. And so I've been a lot of cool places and enjoyed a lot of things. And, you know, I love to hunt and fish. Obviously those are relaxing things to me and being at rodeos and things like that. But, man, wherever she is, that's where. That's a good relaxing spot for me.
[00:33:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
Besides the Bible, what's your favorite book, man?
[00:33:43] Speaker C: Anything that Louis Lamour wrote, probably the west was one. How the West Was One is my favorite. Hondo. I love that one. Where the Red Fern Grows, man, I just. I go back to those, man. I've. Sometimes I feel like I was born at the wrong time. You know, I want to live in one of those westerns or in the turn of the century. But, man, I love those books in terms of like a book that I would say is one of my favorites in terms of like church planting or church work. Church Unique really stretched me. And that's a book that I continually go back to.
Probably go down as one of my favorite books ever. Just Will Mancini and just the way that he looks at churches and what we're doing, that's a fantastic resource to me.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: Awesome. Favorite podcast, man.
[00:34:31] Speaker C: This one.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:34:33] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:34:35] Speaker C: Yeah. This one for sure.
Yeah. I listen a lot to discipleship.org and just anything about discipleship. I love the replant. So.
And what is it? Replant, revitalize, revitalize and replant. I listen to that one a lot.
I love those things. Just really anything that's helping me with church planting or helping me with discipleship, those are things that I love.
[00:35:03] Speaker B: Favorite genre of music, man.
[00:35:04] Speaker C: Anything with a mandolin in it.
[00:35:08] Speaker B: With Church of the Dirt Band, we.
[00:35:10] Speaker C: Actually don't have a mandolin player right now. I play the mandolin a little bit, but I'm trying to get back into that and do that. But I love. I'll tell you a funny story. We were in Nashville, Tennessee. My son was a senior in high school and he wanted to buy a new guitar. And so we went to every one of those little music stores, the guitar stores in Nashville, and we let him play every guitar that he wanted to play. And then we said, you know, this is going to be your senior present. We're going to pick this out. We're going to pay for this for you. The second one we walked into, Ricky Skaggs was sitting in there picking on a guitar. And I like, I still haven't gotten over it. I mean, I just really. Man, I tell you what, it was. It was crazy to see Ricky Skaggs sitting in there playing that.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: So anyway, what's the first concert you attended?
[00:35:57] Speaker C: Man, I saw.
I'm going to take you back on this and. Okay, I saw Reba McIntyre at the Arkansas State Fair and there was a guy named Garth Brooks that nobody knew opening for her at the Arkansas State Fair. And I don't know if that was 86 or 87 or something like that, but, man, that, that's the first concert that I remember going to. You remember when they did them at Barton Arkansas State Fair. And man, it was just, it was during the middle of the rodeo and it was. Oh my goodness. Still remember that. Wow. Yep.
[00:36:34] Speaker B: Favorite place to visit.
[00:36:37] Speaker C: You know, I was a missions pastor for 16 years and I filled up almost two passports. I've been to so many cool places in my life that I love to visit, but I think it would honestly like Alaska was.
I just couldn't get over Alaska. Just in your face the way Alaska was. But most recently my wife and I have started every year trying to visit New York City. And I know that sounds funny for a guy like me to say New York City, but my wife is so happy there and it, it just, just the culture is in your face. We love Mediterranean food and, and just I, I love. I, I'm literally, I look forward to going back to New York City every year. And I. That sounds so funny for me to say that, but you know, I'm from. There's 187 people in the town that I'm from, but I love to visit New York City.
[00:37:30] Speaker B: Last one, favorite sport.
[00:37:32] Speaker C: Well, I love the team rope, so that's going to be me.
Anything in a rodeo, I love that. But that's a good one.
[00:37:39] Speaker B: Well, man, Jay, I appreciate you joining us. It's been a great conversation.
This is one last. As we wrap up, just one last push here from when this dropped. Time is ticking for folks to join us for our Sin Network day on Friday, September 5th. Give us just a quick reminder about that day.
[00:37:58] Speaker C: Yeah, so it's going to be happening at Guyer Springs First Baptist Church and It starts at 10:00am and it's over at 3:00'. Clock. It's just a local one day event hosted by the SIN Network to help really to inspire and equip planters and pastors and anybody who follows after Jesus on this idea of expanding God's kingdom through church planting.
And so the worship band from the Grace Cowboy Church in Warren, Arkansas is going to be there to do the worship music. George Ross, who is the SIN Network director of the south region, he's our keynote speaker.
They're going to be breakout sessions for church planning, for engaging your community through outreach events, replanting something for church planter wives, Hispanic church planting, something about how to reach people that God has brought to us from the nations. There's going to be something for Everybody. So again, September 5th starts at 10 o' clock in the morning, is going to end up around 2 o' clock and it's at Guyer Springs First Baptist Church. If you Visit our website absc.org you can find it. It's right there on the top and you can register for that and we would love for you to be a part. I think Tim would like, probably like for me to remind you first 200 people show up, get a free T shirt and there'll be a lot of other opportunities there. So really looking forward to that. This is a national event that the Send Network is putting on.
In the past they've done three big events across the nation and tried to encourage everybody to go to those. And now their mindset is we're going to do these locally in the regions in the different states.
And so we are privileged to get to be a part of this and get to do this. And so I'm really looking forward to it. So thanks for that shout out. I appreciate it.
[00:39:53] Speaker B: Sure thing. We look forward to seeing folks there. And again, just want to thank you for listening. Hope you've enjoyed the content. Encourage you if you would give us a rating, a review, share our content with others, have other people listen and we look forward to being back with you in two weeks.
[00:40:09] Speaker C: Or call our mamas and tell them you really appreciate it.
[00:40:12] Speaker B: That's right. Yes, absolutely. Thanks again.
[00:40:18] Speaker A: Thanks for joining the Missions guys today. If you liked what you heard, rate and review us on your favorite podcasting platform.
And to keep up with what is happening in Arkansas missions, visit absc.org missions.
