Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Good morning. 11 o'. Clock.
[00:00:07] Hey, good morning. My name is Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the village church. So if I haven't had the opportunity to meet you after the service, I'll be right up front. I would love that moment. If you are newer to the village church, this, I believe, is a fabulous Sunday for you to be here. We're gonna take two weeks off of the book of Joshua because twice a year what we do is we have what's called the Vision Sunday. And this is an opportunity for us to share with you, like, what God has been doing and then to open up his word and to make sure that as a church family, we are grounded in the word of God. So on the front end, two things you need to know. Number one, my introduction is gonna be longer than normal, okay? So prepare yourself. Number two, the first service told me that the way I communicated was that they were expecting that I was gonna drop some sort of a bomb on the church.
[00:01:04] And I just like building the tension. But let me just tell you, there are no bombs that we're going to drop.
[00:01:10] There is nothing huge and major that you need to be concerned about. In fact, I think by the end of this, a whole bunch of questions maybe that you didn't even know to ask or things you maybe felt in your spirit. You're like, ah, like, I think we're gonna be on the same page. And I really pray this blesses you. And then at the end, what I wanna do is I wanna open up God's word with you and I wanna share with you some of the scriptures that have been especially really impactful for me as we have navigated this last season of ministry at the village church. Okay, you ready?
[00:01:40] Yes. All right, good. All right. At the village church, we have one philosophy of ministry, and it essentially fits on a napkin. And here's what it is.
[00:01:49] We want to help every person take their next step with Jesus. You hear this every Sunday morning in one way or another. At the end of my messages, we have, so what's which are really just like, okay, what is the next step that this text demands in your life? And then at the end of every service, somebody gets up and they say, what's your next step? Why? Because we believe that the Holy Spirit, whether he is in you or not, whether you've trusted in Christ or not, the Holy Spirit is always working. And so when we come together and we worship and we pray and we send to the teaching of God's word and we fellowship together like Our conviction is that the Holy Spirit is up to something. And we want to encourage you to be in tune with that and to take whatever next step that God might have for you. Okay? Our philosophy, our way of doing things, it is not better or worse than other churches. It's just sort of uniquely ours. Okay? So other, I would say most American churches function under a different philosophy than what you'll find at Village. And here's the philosophy. I just want to stress, this isn't a bad thing or a good thing. It's just an is thing. Okay? And the philosophy goes like this. It's a plug and play philosophy of ministry. In other words, our objective is to get you connected to the church. And here are the four ways we do it. Sundays, serving, giving in groups. And so in most churches, they would call it a connected person.
[00:03:14] They are attending Sunday worship two to four times per month. They serve consistently, give regularly, and they're in a group. And this philosophy is good. This philosophy is measurable. I would love for every one of you to know the joy of worshiping regularly, of giving generously, of serving faithfully, of being in a group of people on a consistent basis. That puts you and your faith with Jesus Christ. Okay? So in most churches, the primary goal is for you to be connected to the church.
[00:03:50] All right, let me be clear. Would I love for all of you to be deeply connected to Village Church as your local church? The answer is for sure that is not our primary goal.
[00:04:02] Our primary goal, we are primarily interested in each one of you flourishing in your personal relationship with Jesus and taking whatever next step he has for you.
[00:04:14] For some of you, your next step, like, you might be young in the faith, and your next step would be for someone to actually teach you how to read the Bible. For some of you, your next step might be us giving you your very first Bible. For some of you, it might be baptism. For some of you, your next step might be finally figuring out what it means to forgive your dad.
[00:04:32] For others, it might be leading a group, going on a mission trip, giving generously, becoming an elder, or becoming a deacon.
[00:04:40] Maybe it is leaving behind everything that you know and going full time onto the mission field. For some of you, it actually might be just getting the guts to go to youth group for the very first time. For some of you, it might be marriage counseling. Others, it might just be marriage enrichment. For some. For some of you, like, God might be calling you to be a part of a church plant where you have unique gifts and abilities that they need, and he's like it's time for you to go be a part of this thing. For some of you, it is repentance, overcoming pornography, destroying or exposing the secret sin in lives that you've been trying to cover up. I don't know what your next step is, but here's what I do know, right? An assembly line approach to church where everybody goes through four things doesn't really work for our philosophy of ministry. Because our philosophy of ministry is that we really do believe that even though, like the Holy Spirit is doing one big thing, which is he wants all of you to be more like Jesus, right? But the way that looks in every one of your individual lives is very, very unique and different. And what we wanna be able to do is be able to come alongside of each one of you who are willing and help you take whatever next step that God has for you.
[00:05:51] Our philosophy of ministry, it affects how and who we staff. So in America, you probably would not naturally know some of this stuff. So let me share it with you. In America, churches, the average church, they hire one full time staff for every 100 people. That is the kind of basic philosophy that works very well with a plug and play approach.
[00:06:14] We don't do that.
[00:06:16] We hire one full time staff for every 60 to 80 people, depending on the season and what we have in the bank and what our budget allows. The point being that it requires more leaders to be able to individually come alongside of each person, especially when they need it. And then when we do hire, we hire two kinds of people. Shepherds, administrators. But even our administrators have to have a shepherd's heart, because we want every single person you interface with to be able to come come alongside of you and help you take whatever that next step is. So our philosophy of ministry also affects the way we think about space and the way we think about buildings.
[00:07:02] What we are trying to do is we are trying to create space and places for each one of you to take your next step.
[00:07:12] This facility has made that very challenging. And so I'd love to maybe bring you in to a little bit of our experience with Sunday mornings because if you have not noticed, we're out of space now. You might be looking around and being like, there's some seats here and there and that's great. I'm gonna explain why that is.
[00:07:33] But because of the way we do our philosophy of ministry here, space matters not because bigger is better, because it's not always better, but because every person uniquely matters. So Sunday morning, we need space for. Here's one. Pastoral counseling. Do you know, like this morning we just actually had one of our deacons who was gonna sit down with somebody. I don't know what they were talking about, but they were like, can we go in this room? Can we go in that room? And I'm like, I don't know. I think they're using this room for that thing. Do you know that we have no room for pastoral counseling in this building on a Sunday morning? Here's what that means. Like, we're opening up the word and worshiping and praying and the Holy Spirit is doing things in all of our lives. And if you need to sit down with a shepherd or a leader or a deacon or an elder or whatever, and you want a private room with confidentiality, it is really hard to find that space.
[00:08:20] Every week our elders oversee our new member interview processes. And so, like, that's happening most weeks. And so they need a room and a place to have some of those confidential meetings.
[00:08:32] There are 15 to 20 people on production and worship. And you may not know this. You probably rolled out of bed at 10:45, 11:00 clock service. But they were here. That was a joke, by the way.
[00:08:43] They were here at 6:15, and they're gonna be here until 12:30 or 1 o'. Clock. And there are some of this crew, not staff, and they do this every single week. And they need a place to go and to even just put their stuff.
[00:08:57] Winter comes now, you've got jackets and everything you can imagine. And they all park off site. We have over 20 staff, most of whom are here every morning. They are here early. They're here until everybody leaves.
[00:09:11] And we have functionally four offices for 20 staff. And so we end up sharing spaces. We have everything in this place is multipurpose. Like my office is another person's office in a small group room and a nap room for some people, and a women's ministry small group room and a forage leader small group room. And. And that's just the way we do everything. And honestly, I kind of love it. But we don't have enough multipurpose spaces.
[00:09:34] The following classes are, I would call, just very graciously competing for space on a Sunday morning. We have our Discover Village class, four Sunday school classes, five, six Sunday school class, ministry team meetings, coffee connection classes. And then ideally, the person preaching, it would be good for them to have like a room where they could go decompress if they need to.
[00:09:57] Then there's one of our highest priorities, food and coffee. Can I get an amen?
[00:10:02] It's not just Cause I'm a foodie.
[00:10:05] I think some of the most amazing conversations and experiences and going deeper happens over shared meals. Sitting down, having a cup of coffee together. When you don't know what to do with your hands, you can always take a sip of tea or whatever you want. But there is something really amazing that happens when. When people are able to just be. And they're able to be around a meal. Let me just bring you into what I think about every single week. Every single week. I watch the insanity. I try to get to the bathroom, and it's just. It's like an absolute, like, introvert nightmare, right? You know this.
[00:10:38] So I'm an extrovert, so I love it. It's a party. But, like, I get half of you aren't okay. So every single Sunday morning, I dream of a foyer that blesses introverts. I tease you a lot, but I love you a lot.
[00:10:52] And I would. I know that you're like, half the population.
[00:10:55] And I know that when you walk into that place, like, you have to just, like, focus and you have to shut down the anxiety that, like, ruminates in your soul. And so, like, I see that. I watch people, like, when they leave church, they're like, I just gotta get outta here. There's too much going on. There's too much insanity. And I see that.
[00:11:15] I think about and I dream about a place where new people can come in and know where to go.
[00:11:21] They can find somebody who has a little bit of, like, space for them to talk to.
[00:11:25] I dream of a place where as really meaningful, important conversations happen, that our pastors, our shepherds, our leaders, our elders, our deacons can just take somebody aside and say, let's just go. Let's go have a talk. This is not for everyone's ears to hear.
[00:11:41] Let's have a place where we can go. I dream about a place where our coffee bar is 2 to 3 the times the size it is so that you can get through more quickly.
[00:11:50] Where there are tables to sit down at, right?
[00:11:55] Where if you stay longer in the back of your brain, and if you're not thinking about this, don't worry about it too much. But in the back of your brain, you're not thinking to yourself, am I taking someone's parking spot because I'm hanging out here too long? Hang out.
[00:12:09] We're working on that behind the scenes. But on Sunday morning, here's what we need a place for. We need a place to put food. The problem is, everywhere we put food is a place where people should Be.
[00:12:20] And then you have two foyers. You have a village kids foyer and a regular foyer. Our village kids foyer. It's insanity.
[00:12:26] And if you're like, oh, there's a second foyer that's only for people with kids. So unless you have kids, they're going to kick you out. And then, and then there's this foyer. Imagine that, but smaller. Okay? And then you have our parking way past max.
[00:12:38] Off site parking, still manageable. But here's the deal. New people and visitors, they don't want to park off site. And when it's snowing or raining, it's way more complicated. And you all, I wish you could see this.
[00:12:52] When the Bears play, this service is half the size. Right? And I'm not saying you don't go to church. I think you go to an earlier service. Benefit of the doubt. Right, Got it. Good, Good.
[00:13:04] Offices again, 20 staff plus four offices. And again, we're not really interested in building 20 offices. We'll always do shared space. I think it's become a part of our leadership culture here. But most of our staff work virtually because of this attendance. And this is, again, this is a reality that most of you don't think about. But when I come to the 11 o' clock service of the nine or the eight, these are the things that go through my brain, okay? So max capacity for every service is different. It doesn't matter how many seats you have. And we are essentially at max capacity for all three of our services. Here's what that means in the Midwest and really throughout a lot of America, but the Midwest especially, any service at the 9 or the tens is going to be considered like your most packed service.
[00:13:52] And if you are full, you're going to be about 95%. Okay? And if you sat in our 9:30 service today, I think it was like 97% full. And that is normal for a 9:30 service.
[00:14:03] When the Bears aren't playing, that's a whole different story. Put that aside for a service that butts into lunchtime, you're looking at like 75 to 80% max capacity because there are just people who are not gonna go to church over lunch. And then you go to an early service and you're typically looking, depending on the demographic of the church, if there's more older people, that could be bigger, but like 50 to 60% capacity.
[00:14:29] Now here's the deal. You could tell people at the 9:30, hey, go to the 8. They won't. And if they do it, they'll do it for a month. They'll resent you and they will default going right back to where they want to go back. If somebody would have told me that, one of the most interesting things that I could have never expected that as a pastor, butting up against group psychology in churches is futile. You will always lose. So don't even ask. So that is a reality. Storage. Constant. Problem Production. Cure Kid Supplies. Seasonal items. Bathrooms. We have catch this one bathroom stall for all males 5th grade and older at Village Church.
[00:15:07] What? That's crazy. Okay. Anyways, I'm going to keep going.
[00:15:12] I just want to say this before, like, before we move on. Truly, from the bottom of my heart, I. I thank God for the men and the women who built this building.
[00:15:23] And I thank God for the men and the women who paid for this building because we are debt free.
[00:15:31] I know. Amen.
[00:15:33] And like, I really believe we have honored them and the Lord who gave us those by trying to maximize every square foot of this building.
[00:15:46] Like, if you've been here, if you notice, we just put up a first step spanner a couple weeks ago. And we had to figure out, we're like, that's two or three chairs we have to take out so there can be breathing room over there. And then the question is, like, where do we put them? So we started adding them in different places. Because even at the 9:30, to take out a couple chairs is actually impactful at that point. And so that's the level of like square footage obsession that we kind of have over this facility. Now. I told you there's gonna be no bombs that we're gonna drop here. Okay, that's all next week. No, I'm kidding. There's gonna be. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
[00:16:18] So what I wanna do is I wanna be just blunt and candid with you. Because honestly, this is just the way we talk here at Village Church. Wanna tell you how it is, what we're thinking.
[00:16:29] And so I wanna go back to 2019.
[00:16:31] In 2019, we started preparation for planting a third village church.
[00:16:38] We had a really considerable amount of people who were very excited about it, very interested in it. And then in early 2020, we had a very excited about the vision dinner. We were gonna cast Vision for this raise money, really be intentional, like, very excited. And then the day before the Vision dinner, the whole world shut down.
[00:16:59] Remember that whole Covid thing, you know, and the whole world shut down. And we had to cancel that Vision dinner. And so we didn't quite know what to expect. Nobody did. And two weeks ended up being two Years. And so, like, as we kinda got our head around what was happening, by roughly 2022, 2023, village church attendance had doubled in size. Village church giving had doubled in size. Everything doubled in size, which we did not expect, nor did we see that coming. And we got to a point where we said, all right, before we send out one or 200 people to start a church, we gotta, like, get this place in order. Because even if you send out one or 200 people, we're still gonna have the same problems that we have right here. So 2022, we started semi seriously looking at the Awana building. Do you guys remember that in Streamwood? It's about five, seven minutes away.
[00:17:56] We were going through that, looking at it, and here's what we came to. We came to the conclusion that it is so unbelievably big, it was too much for us. And if we were to purchase it, the purchase price was fine. It was the retrofitting of the building. It would have been cheaper for us to go actually buy property and build from scratch than it would be to retrofit that building. So we were like, that's way too much. Not happening in 2023.
[00:18:25] We essentially, in 2022-23, went through and kind of restructured this whole building to maximize it for people. Everything from kids ministry to hallways and offices, you name it, went through everything to maximize our space. 2023, we also had an architect who was. He owned an architecture company and they built churches. And so for months and months and months and months, we worked with this incredible man to develop plans, worked with our staff and our leaders and guys, let me just tell you, the drawings for this property are awesome. They're not even crazy. Like, you would look at it, and I think you would say, that's reasonable. Like, that's not crazy. That's just reasonable. But we got to one huge property or one huge problem at the property.
[00:19:06] Parking.
[00:19:08] You can't build something if you don't have comparable parking.
[00:19:13] So across the street, Devon, which I'm severely dyslexic. So it is this direction. Okay, There's a road there, and on the other side of that is 13 acres of land. Well, it was owned by the sisters or the nuns and the. And so we called the Sisters way back when and said, we'd like to buy the property. They said, sure. Then they said, no. Then they said, just kidding. Sure. Then they said, no. Then they said, let's talk. And then in the middle of that, a venture capital firm purchased all of the Properties. So we called the venture capital firm and said, would you be interested in selling us some or all of these 13 acres? They said, no, we're not interested. So over the last few months, we called them again. You never know. The Lord could be working, changing their heart, hearts. And they said, no, we're not interested. We've got plans for this space.
[00:20:00] The most logical path forward is for God to do a miracle and allow us to purchase those 13 acres or even 4 to 6 usable acres of land.
[00:20:12] We have the space here to build a new worship space, an expanded foyer, and then even some if we have the space to move part parking.
[00:20:21] As we've been teaching the Book of Joshua, one of the things that I did not expect was how much. Personally, I would probably need the Book of Joshua. I mean, we need every book. But you know how the Lord just kind of does things through different books of the Bible, as we've seen in the Book of Joshua. God's logic and our logic aren't always the same.
[00:20:39] Logically, that's the best.
[00:20:42] But I actually cannot tell you with a clear conscience that that's what the Lord wants or doesn't want. And to be honest, all of our leaders, we're like, God, what are you doing?
[00:20:53] So one of the things that I think Joshua has been, like, really formative for me on, and, like, you know, the things theologically, but they hit your heart sometimes, is that one of the things Joshua or God wanted to do with the. With the Promised Land generation is he wanted to make sure that God got the credit.
[00:21:09] God got the credit for all of the miracles at every corner.
[00:21:13] It wasn't gonna be by the power of man, the wisdom of man, the ingenuity of man that this nation was gonna cross, let alone the Jordan river, let alone take down Jericho, let alone take over the entire Promised Land. God was gonna get all of the glory. What I've learned is that whatever God is up to, it's gonna be done in a way where only he is gonna get the glory. Cause none of you are gonna say, Pastor Michael had a great idea.
[00:21:33] The elders were really, really smart in the way they went about this. Cause believe me, we're at our wit's end with this.
[00:21:38] In 2024, we hired a giving consultant, an incredibly godly man who knew one of our pastors. And we wanted to make sure that whatever we did next, we were wise. We didn't want to spend more than we had or ask more of the church than was appropriate.
[00:21:53] As of last year, we kind of paused that until we actually knew what we would be doing next. Over the last year, we hired a realtor, another godly man who actually worked with us on the Awana property. And he has been calling, checking, looking, opening doors, looking at properties, having conversations, and every single door has been closed.
[00:22:17] We have communicated with the village of Bartlett. They love us. They're committed us to being in Bartlett, if all possible.
[00:22:23] Like, we're literally just at a place where we're like, all right, Lord, we have no idea what you have next for us.
[00:22:31] When you boil it all down, there are three options. Option number one is stay, God willing, purchase some or all of the 13 acres across the street.
[00:22:39] Option number two is move somewhere close enough that our Wheaton folks, St. Charles Crew, our Elgin Gilbert's people, are not too far away.
[00:22:48] Option three is be dumb and shrink the church by making a bad decision. Or three, or maybe be dumb by just not doing anything and neglecting what God has given us to serve. Steward, we're going to skip option three. So our options are either move or stay.
[00:23:07] And so, kind of here's the honest truth. It has become apparent that whatever door opens for us next, it's only going to happen by the power of God as we fast and as we pray together as a church, that's where we're at. We have tried everything. We've looked everywhere. Like, the leader in me, the pastor in me, the shepherd in me wants to say to you, here's where we're going. What do you think? Let's talk. Like, I'd love to have anything, right? And so there's a bit of, like, I don't. Just, like, sadness, and I'm like, I don't know what I got for you, but here's what I do know. I think the Lord is trying to humble all of us, especially me, and make you look not to the leaders of our elders, who are incredible, or our deacons, who are amazing, our staff are incredible. But to say whatever happens next, it's not gonna be because you have a really, really good leadership team at village church, because none of us are going to get the credit for whatever happens next, I can tell you that it's going to happen solely because our good God opens a very clear door and then provides the resources needed to walk through that door. Nothing more, nothing less.
[00:24:09] So what do you do when you don't know what to do?
[00:24:14] The same thing God's people have done forever.
[00:24:18] Number one, we pray and we fast.
[00:24:22] Number two, we go to the word and we ask God for Wisdom. See, I told you guys. Long introduction. Get to the word. Now it's time.
[00:24:29] I want to show you a handful of proverbs.
[00:24:32] And I don't think we're the only ones, by the way, who have been in a situation of like, what do we do next? These have been proverbs, I think, that have really, really formed the way. Especially I've been processing, trying to figure out what to do next when you don't know what to do and God has not spoken clearly. Proverbs is the Old Testament book of wisdom. And essentially it's how do you live in a world to the glory of God when you don't have burning bushes and Jordan rivers that are parting?
[00:25:00] So, as you guys know, I end my messages with so what's. And there are three so what's, all rooted in the proverbs. And I hope they're encouraging to you, and I hope they kind of frame and bring all of us together on the same page. So what? Number one, be faithful and healthy now.
[00:25:16] So we are ready later. Proverbs 24, 27 says, Prepare your work outside.
[00:25:23] Get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that, build your house. And you should be thinking, pastor Michael, what does this have to do with where we are at? Okay, so in a farming world, the field is what feeds you.
[00:25:37] And I want you to notice the order here.
[00:25:39] The order is feeding, field first, house second, and this, okay? This proverb is written for a reason. It's written because we tend to like to do the right things, but in the wrong order. Do you know what I'm saying? So let me translate this into modern terms.
[00:25:56] Get a job before you get a house, okay?
[00:26:01] Get your finances in order before you go to the bank and ask for a loan, okay? So if you're, like, a little bit older, do you guys remember the movie Field of Dreams?
[00:26:11] If you build it, they will come, which is adorable for a movie about a ghost, okay?
[00:26:18] But it's an abysmal plan to try to build a business or a church or anything. And so there is a natural order to things. And sometimes ego or ambition or just being hasty can. Can push us to do the right thing, but in the wrong order. And so we don't know what the house is yet, but we do know what the field is that we're supposed to tend to. And the field is our people.
[00:26:44] The field is our leaders. The field is our ministries. The field is our finances, our prayer life, our relationship with God, our relationship with our community.
[00:26:51] Like, we need to steward this and as we steward this, this is the highest priority. Who. Who cares if you go into a new building? But this is all a mess.
[00:27:01] Proverbs 27:23. Know well the condition of your flocks and give attention to your herds, for riches do not last forever. And I love this. Does a crown endure to all generations? Of course not.
[00:27:15] And so a shepherd, most of you aren't shepherds, but a shepherd's wealth was his flock. And if you neglect your flock, you neglect the most valuable asset that you have.
[00:27:25] And so before we are too hasty to build or buy or move, we have to ask, and we have been asking consistently, are we caring well for the sheep that we have?
[00:27:37] Are we caring for them personally?
[00:27:41] If you have gone through it, if you have had something come up where you didn't have the resources to meet ends meet, or you didn't make ends meet, or maybe just like somebody you love passed away, or there was like a catastrophe in your home, if you let us know and you were willing to let us help. Do you know that this church moves heaven and earth for people in their worst circumstances?
[00:28:04] Like, do you like? And so here's what we do. We listen, and we have built an infrastructure of people that we can do more than you can possibly imagine in the course of a day or a week. The things we are coordinating behind the scenes right now with multiple families are beautiful. They are painful, but they are beautiful. And so our job has been to make sure that we build a church that is able to help each one of you take your next step. And sometimes you didn't choose the circumstances, and your next step is, I need help.
[00:28:37] And when that is your next step, to ask for help. We want to be able to come alongside of you. And so God has asked us, we believe clearly in his Word, make sure you care for the flesh.
[00:28:47] Make sure you are ready to care for the flock that you have. And if this is in order, then we can start talking about other things. All right, so number two, plan with open hands. Okay, that's easy to say, but if you've ever had to plan with open hands, when you have ambition and dreams and desires and problems, that's really hard. Proverbs 16, 9.
[00:29:09] The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
[00:29:16] We make the plans. And then God says, maybe you have to ask yourself, why even make plans if the Lord's gonna do whatever he wants anyways? Like, here's what drives me nuts right now.
[00:29:28] God in his omniscience knows exactly what he wants.
[00:29:32] When he wants it how he wants it, what it's gonna look like, how he's gonna resource it. He knows everything.
[00:29:39] And here we are, we're like, well, if you know, give me the answer. And that's not the way he works.
[00:29:46] He says, plan, and as you plan, hold him loosely, essentially. And so we plan. And I can tell you that every plan we've made was not wasted energy. We make plans, and then the Lord says, not yet. Nope, nope. Shift change. Here's the most annoying part about being a pastor, okay? Almost every plan I make, the Lord says, no.
[00:30:05] Like, all of these ideas and dreams and whatnot, whatever. And the Lord's like, eh, we'll do it this way. Instead, I'm like, okay, fine.
[00:30:11] And so this is kind of the nature of life. Like, we all have dreams and plans and ideas. And then sometimes the Lord walks into those things and says, not my plan. And the real question is, are we gonna say, okay, better your will than my plan fulfilled?
[00:30:28] I think one of the questions that. That. I mean, one of the questions I want to ask is God here, what do I want? I want this or that? The question that we need to be asking is very simple, Lord, what do you want?
[00:30:40] That's a really, really hard prayer.
[00:30:43] So here's the tension of Scripture. Make plans and then ask the Lord what he wants. And you hope the two converge.
[00:30:50] But I'm telling you guys, we've all made enough plans in our hearts to know that the Lord sometimes says, no, that's not right. We're gonna do it a different way.
[00:30:57] And I want to be in a position, and I want you to be in a position where we can say, lord, whatever your will is, even if it's not our plan, our desire, we will follow you wherever that is. Proverbs 19:21 says, Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it's the purpose of the Lord that will stand. I'm not interested in getting in the way of his purpose. Proverbs 16:33. The lot is cast into the lap by. But it's. Every decision is from the Lord. And what I appreciate about this one is, like, even the things that look random to us in the mind of a sovereign, omniscient God, they're not random. The things that look random, like, what's for sale, who's selling it, how much is it, what people are willing to negotiate.
[00:31:43] All of these things are in the mind and understanding of God. And all the Lord has to do is to open up a next step.
[00:31:51] Lastly, so Number three, God moves what we can't.
[00:31:56] Just one proverb. And for me, this has been, I think, the most personally encouraging.
[00:32:01] The King's Heart, Proverbs 21:1. The King's Heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He God, not the king. He turns it wherever he will.
[00:32:12] The king is the most powerful person in. In the land. And I love this proverb, says the king's heart, even the most powerful person, his heart is like a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. And the Lord can move it wherever he wants.
[00:32:26] And so this is. I just, I want you to hear this. If God can move the heart of a king, he can move the heart of anyone who owns land. He can move the heart of a venture capital firm. Who knows? Maybe the venture capital firm just tuned into this message, right? God saved. And they're like, we gotta do something about this. I don't know. The Lord can do whatever he wants like a dream, right?
[00:32:47] When it comes to hearts, moms and dads, you get this really personally, that's. You can't control people's hearts. You can control their behavior, but not their hearts.
[00:32:54] Whatever happens next is gonna. It's gonna require some heart motion and heart movement in some people. And so we just go to the Lord and say, listen, when things are not within our control, we pray. We typically don't pray for the things we can control. I don't pray. God help me brush my teeth this morning, right? I pray for the things that I don't have control over, the things that I can't move, things that need the power of God for motion. And this is one of those things that it's going to need the power of God for motion.
[00:33:19] So I don't know what door the Lord's going to open. I don't have a big bomb to drop on you. Here's what I do know.
[00:33:25] We're going to be faithful now, so we're ready later. We're going to keep pursuing healthier before we build or move. We're going to plan with open hands and let him move. And we're going to trust him to move what we can't.
[00:33:37] Over the last years, by the way, I just love how openly you guys ask questions. And I, whenever you ask, I tell you whatever I know. There's not like really a whole bunch of secrets that I can think of. And so we prefer to just be pretty blunt and honest with this. And I want to share with you a handful of questions or comments that people have made over the last couple years.
[00:33:57] But, Pastor Michael, I don't want to be a part of. Of a big church.
[00:34:04] Me neither. Okay. So I got a bunch of buddies who are megachurch pastors, and let me tell you their experience.
[00:34:12] The moment your church grows to a certain size, the political and theological left and the political and theological right will essentially try to destroy you and assassinate your character and do it in ways that are unethical, immoral, and devastate people.
[00:34:26] I'm not pumped about that. I like peace. Anybody else like peace?
[00:34:30] Like, I enjoy that.
[00:34:32] And so, like, my biggest question, it is never. We've never once said, how do we grow village church? There's never even been a subject that's come up.
[00:34:40] The question that we keep asking is, how do we be faithful to what God has given us as steward?
[00:34:45] And so if God gives us more to steward more souls, more property, more anything, I just want to be faithful. If he gives us less, we just wanna be faithful. If the Lord takes away all my ministry and calls me to something else, I just. I just. I just want to be faithful. And that is it.
[00:35:01] But, Pastor Michael, I don't want to be a part of a growing church. Some of you have had some pretty transparent conversations. And so, like, here's my general response.
[00:35:12] Okay, then what do you want to be a part of? A shrinking church? Well, no. A dying church? No. A church in conflict? No.
[00:35:20] A church that doesn't see people come to Christ? No.
[00:35:24] Okay. A country club? Well, definitely not.
[00:35:27] And when they say this, it's actually probably not what they're.
[00:35:31] What they're saying is not what they mean. What they mean is this. But, Pastor Michael, I want to be a part of a small church. There it is.
[00:35:37] There it is.
[00:35:38] And I'll be sharing with you guys. Love the small church. 90% of churches in America are under 100 people.
[00:35:44] The vast majority of my friends that I run with, who are pastors, Pastor small churches of under 100 people.
[00:35:51] I think we all need to get in the habit of asking very different questions because we are a culture of people who love our preferences and demand our preferences. And I think a better question is, Jesus, what church do you want me to go to?
[00:36:05] Like, inevitably, you're all going to move, right, somewhere, sometime, and you're going to land in some city where you don't have a church. And the question is, like, okay, there are a lot of churches that would probably meet your preferences. But here's my question, Jesus, where are you wanting me to go to church? Maybe he Wants you to be a part of a big church. Maybe it's a medium sized church, maybe it's a small church, maybe it's a church plant to like that really needs your resources and gifts. And here's what I've learned, guys.
[00:36:29] I know a lot of small churches. Some of them are crazy.
[00:36:34] And I know a lot of small churches, and they are run by phenomenal people and they're really healthy. And I have. Man, I have navigated a handful of megas. I grew up in one. And some of them are insane.
[00:36:47] But most of them are just really fabulous people doing the best they can and leading really healthy environments. Are there exceptions to that? For sure.
[00:36:56] But Pastor Michael, I'm afraid if we grow, things will change.
[00:37:03] And that's fair.
[00:37:06] I would love to take a moment and just set some realistic expectations.
[00:37:11] Whether we grow or not, I have no idea.
[00:37:14] In the next 10 years, tech will change, staff will change, chairs will change, music will change, our website will change.
[00:37:21] Everything will change. The only things that will not change is our God and his word. Kids grow, they change. It's a good thing. Churches grow. Churches change. That's a good thing. Growth and change are really good when good things grow.
[00:37:37] Growth and change are really ugly when ugly things grow. And our dream is to grow good things. I married my wife 23 years ago. I can tell you I'm not the man she married.
[00:37:48] I mean, it's me. Don't get me wrong. Just read into that.
[00:37:52] I'm a very different person. She is a very different person. When we got married, it was us in an apartment in downtown Chicago.
[00:38:00] And then all of a sudden, it was five of us with a dog and five chickens and a goldfish who will not die.
[00:38:12] And over the last couple months, it's now four of us with a kid in college. And as of yesterday, it's one dog and four chickens and a goldfish who. I'm telling you, it's a miracle.
[00:38:25] Like, this thing should be dead 100 times over.
[00:38:29] So if you come to Village Church, I just want you to know this. Everything will change.
[00:38:36] I like change sometimes. I know you know that even if I didn't like change, everything will change. There will be a day when I'm not your pastor. There will be a day when the elders who are your elders are not your elders, where every single one of our staff will be new people. Some of you will be gone and some of you will be here. I don't know when it is, but that is good and that is right when it comes To Village Church growing. Let me just address one more elephant in the. In the room.
[00:39:04] Some of you have been at a church where a pastor.
[00:39:09] Where your pastor became someone different and not in a good way as the church grew.
[00:39:17] And I think that is a really fair concern.
[00:39:22] I also think the 1% should not cause us to treat the 99% as suspects.
[00:39:29] So 1% of men beat their wives. But I don't go to the 99% and be like, did you beat your wife? Are you doing it right? Like, we can't live in that kind of paranoia.
[00:39:39] Since I have been the pastor of Village Church, you should probably know this village is just about 10 times the size it was of when I became the senior pastor.
[00:39:48] And in that spirit, let me share with you some of the ways that people have been very honest with me about how I have changed.
[00:39:56] You've gotten fatter.
[00:40:00] You're more bald.
[00:40:03] People are very happy, and I don't know if I should be offended at this. Very happy that I don't wear the clothes I wore in 2008, 9, and 10. I had this killer white belt that really upsets some of you. I wore it for a whole year.
[00:40:16] People have told me that the pace of my preaching has slowed down a lot.
[00:40:21] And if you are older, you know who you are. You're like, you haven't slowed down enough. And if you're younger, you're like, speed it up. Okay, got it.
[00:40:31] If against, and I mean this, all statistical odds. Village Church. 10 x's in the next 15 years. Again, if I am heck's still alive and Jesus doesn't come back, I very well might change.
[00:40:45] I think more likely what's gonna happen is if there is a really negative disintegration of my character, it's gonna be because of unforeseen and traumatic life events that I don't have the tools to deal with.
[00:40:57] Whatever it is, I can't predict the future. I don't even know Future Michael today. Michael has great intentions. Future Michael. I've never met him.
[00:41:05] And so we have really phenomenal elders. And I just want to encourage you, if you ever are in a place where you're like, I think he's changing. Go talk to them. And one of the things that I love about these men is they are not impressed by me. They love me, but they are not impressed by me. And they will say the hard things and have the hard conversations because they love me and the Lord far more than anything else. And they've also been around a little bit and have seen what happens when you love a pastor more than maybe the Lord sometimes.
[00:41:35] Pastor Michael. I don't want to change our building. I like it here and the way it is. And I agree. Nobody wants to stay here more than me, with the exception of those of you who built this building.
[00:41:45] I mean, I wish I could just tell you I have hundreds, if not thousands of memories of almost every room in this building where I saw God do really beautiful things. I also experienced really hard things. And, like, this building is filled with so much nostalgia. The. The only physical location on earth that has more nostalgia for me is my bedroom that I grew up in.
[00:42:03] Like, the amount of hours I spent pouring my heart into this room with the word of God is just unending. And the Lord has been so, I think, good and faithful. But I never want to be so in love with a thing or a place that it stops me from going wherever Jesus might lead.
[00:42:19] Moving is scary. And somebody shared this with me once. It said, new homes always become home with a little bit of time, a good attitude, and intentionality. Okay, so I'm not saying we're doing anything right now. I just want us to all be on the same page, and I want to give all of us one clear next step. And if you're watching the clock, you're like, we're hungry. I got it. We're fine. You'll be okay.
[00:42:40] I want to ask individually, as families, as small groups, would you commit to fasting and prayer? We're going to talk a lot more about this over the coming weeks and months, but I want to just ask you, would you commit to that? I want to ask you. I mean, ask the Lord for whatever you want. I think it's good to say, God, give us that land. Right? Great.
[00:42:58] And then I want you to end your prayers with God. Would you do whatever you're going to do in a way that gives you as much glory as humanly possible? Would you just do things in a way that we all step back and say, this is from the Lord. It's not the heart and vision of Michael or the elders of the staff that this is really from you, so that we can move forward in unity and confidence of whatever it might be?
[00:43:22] If I even had a hunch, guys, I would tell you, I think I'm just in a place with all of our leaders when I say I have no idea. But he does. And so I think we just need to. We need to focus in this next season, fast and pray and ask him to reveal himself. So what I want to do right now, very quickly, before we close is I want to just give ourselves a minute or so just to pray, you and the Lord quietly. And I want to ask you just to go before him now and ask him to move and to reveal and to do what only he can do. Then I'll close in prayer and then Michelle will come up and give us some next steps.
[00:43:54] Father, I love that you hear every single prayer that is being lifted up and collectively we just come to you and say, would you move?
[00:44:02] Would you get all the glory?
[00:44:04] Would you keep us unified in Christ and would you show yourself to be the God who is the one who moves and provides? We already know it in our hearts, God, but I pray that we would be able to experience it in our lives. Lord, we just love you and we are so thankful and we count it our honor and joy to pray to the only God, the true God, the omnipotent God, good and kind and loving, the God who acts for his people. So we just ask you to do what only you can do. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.
