Welcome to Sharing Life Changing Lives!
Hi. I'm Eden. Hi. I'm Owen. Hi.
Intro:I'm Anna, and you're listening to Staring Life Changing Lives Podcast. Staring Life Changing Life podcast. And you're listening to the Sharing Life Changing Lives podcast.
Intro:Welcome to Sharing Life Changing Lives, a podcast brought to you by the Henderson Church of Christ in Henderson, Tennessee. On this podcast, we explore real life examples of how God works through his people to make a difference. Join us each week as we share conversations that inspire, encourage, and remind us all the power of a Christ centered life.
Robert:Hello, and welcome to sharing life changing lives. You just heard from our kiddos here at the Henderson Church of Christ, at least some of them, and, we thank them for introducing us. My name is Robert Hatfield. I'm the pulpit minister here, and I'll be one of your hosts joined today by Bill Wade, our family minister and our cohost for the day. Hey, Bill.
Robert:How are
Bill:you? Hello. I'm good.
Robert:Good. Life is good in Henderson, Tennessee.
Paul:Life is good. 50 degrees. How long have
Robert:you been in Henderson, and how long have you been on staff at Henderson Church?
Bill:So I came to Henderson in 1991 as a freshman at the at the Fried Hardeman.
Robert:Mhmm.
Bill:And we just never left. Shay and I got married in '94. And, I've been on staff here since 02/2010, full time since '14.
Robert:Fourteen. And most of that serving as youth minister.
Bill:Yes. In some capacity. Mhmm.
Robert:Until about a couple years ago, and then
Bill:we started transitioning out of that.
Robert:Yeah. Tell us what family ministry means, what what that is.
Bill:It is everything as it says. It's about family. It's, empowering and encouraging parents, to be, you know, the kind of parents that they need to be Mhmm. Raising godly children, and it's, empowering and engaging with their kiddos, primarily the ones that are outside of youth ministry
Mark:Mhmm.
Bill:Getting them ready for, to go into the youth program. Mhmm. So just engaging people and letting them know that they are a part of a huger family Mhmm. Huger, larger family, which would be the church.
Robert:Yeah. Cool. So you'll be hearing Bill and my voices throughout on this podcast, sharing life changing lives. And, we're excited about where all this is gonna go. Today, we are joined by a couple of our shepherds.
Robert:Mark Barber and, Paul Johnson are two of our newer shepherds. There are 13 of you guys. So we have a small cross section of you today. Hi, Mark. How are you?
Mark:I'm fine. Good.
Robert:Tell us about yourself.
Mark:So kinda like Bill, I came to Henderson in '19 well,
Robert:none of our business.
Mark:Yeah. Okay. 1987 and Wow. Met my wife at Fred Hartman University, and we've made Henderson our home ever since. So it's it was exactly an hour and a half to both sets of parents in opposite direction.
Robert:Oh, that's important.
Mark:It worked out great. That's close enough to go home. Yeah. But you really had to think about going.
Robert:Yeah. You work in the mental health field?
Mark:I do. Yeah. I work for Quineco Mental Health Center, and I'm their director of operations. And I've been with them for thirty three years. So believe it or not, I've been with Quincol longer than I have been married.
Mark:Woah. Yeah.
Robert:That's quite a stat.
Mark:About three
Robert:months. So okay. Three grown daughters. Three grown daughters.
Mark:Yeah. I've got one that's a teacher at the high school here locally in Henderson.
Robert:Yeah.
Mark:I have one that's a nurse at Le Bonheur in Memphis.
Robert:Mhmm.
Mark:And then my youngest one, is employed here in Henderson.
Robert:That's cool.
Mark:So two married and one available. Can I say that? What?
Robert:She probably wouldn't like that, but, He said it.
Mark:Did say that. I've been I've said that several times, but they're all three fantastic and happy with where they are in life, so I'm happy for them. Cool.
Robert:Hi, Paul. How are you?
Paul:I'm well. I'm delighted to be here. I'm just curious if if, Mark has found mental health yet after thirty three years.
Mark:I have not. It is a constant search.
Robert:He's gonna need a little extra help once his daughter hears this episode.
Mark:Yep. And she will listen to it.
Robert:Tell us about yourself, Paul.
Paul:Con, as opposed to the first two, our time here is very different. We I did come to Henderson and Freed Hardeman way back in the seventies, attended Freed Hardeman. My wife, Patricia, and I met here.
Mark:Mhmm.
Paul:And then life took a change for us, and I spent, we spent thirty one and a half years in the active duty air force. We we were all over the world. And so we are relative newcomers or returnees to Henderson. You know, people ask me how long we've been here, and that's not a simple question. So anyway, this latest time we've been here, sir, for about three and a half years.
Paul:But we're we're so familiar with Henderson and the family. We have, we we have family here. Our kids all attended here. They met their spouses at Frida Hartman. So Henderson has always been kind of an anchor point for us even when we lived in various parts of the world.
Robert:Mhmm. Yeah. Well, that's cool. You all, as I mentioned, are some of our shepherds or elders or bishops or pastors. These terms are all used interchangeably in the New Testament.
Robert:And we're going to talk a little bit about, you know, what that means here in a bit, but, lest anyone be, you know, led, in a different direction. You you are a team of 13 of you, and we can't fit 13 people in this tiny room. So we're starting with you guys. And, in part, that's because you're actively involved in our outreach efforts at Henderson, and this podcast is kind of a part of that. So we appreciate what you do, and and, thanks for being a part of our very first, the inaugural episode.
Bill:So, Mark, even before Robert was on staff, you were part of a group that was charged with the responsibility of coming up with a church tagline.
Mark:Correct. Mhmm.
Bill:So we eventually, ultimately landed on, sharing life changing lives. Just from your perspective, go back to those days and kind of think about what the process was, what what our what our aim was, and then why we ultimately landed where we did.
Mark:Okay. It's hard to believe that it's been so long since we put that group together and that that theme is still here and it's still meaningful today. This group from a cross section of the congregation came together to come up. What is our theme? You know, every year, you come up with a theme for what our city is gonna be for
Paul:the year, but this one was more overarching. This was for the whole wire why is the
Mark:Henderson church what is our goal? And so what we kept thinking is, you know, our goal in evangelism is to share life, share Christ, and what better way than to let people see him living in us. And, hopefully, by sharing those lives that we've lived Mhmm. That we can see changes in other people's lives to the positive Mhmm. And have them come to Christ.
Robert:It kinda reminds me of, first Thessalonians chapter two where Paul is really talking with this church that's in Thessalonica. And he says, we shared ourselves with you and you with us, and we shared the gospel with you, and you've obeyed the gospel. And that's what I think about when I think about sharing life changing lives. You know, the the early church in Acts two, they they shared everything. They shared faith.
Robert:They shared fellowship. They shared physical goods. You know, they were just there for each other. And I guess that's kinda what this is about. Right?
Mark:Yeah. And, you know, you think about it. It's more than just, hey, won't you come and go to church with us? You have to show individuals that you truly love them. And it's through your actions and, you know, being hospitable Yeah.
Mark:Individuals, whether it's at the local grocery store or when you're going when you've been sitting in line at one of the local drive thrus trying to get your order, you know, you still have that example that you're setting and we should stand out
Robert:Mhmm.
Mark:As Christians. We should be set apart.
Robert:Mhmm. And I
Mark:think that's part of that. And then why is that guy different in a good way? But
Robert:but that's We're different in other ways
Paul:as well.
Mark:In other ways. Yeah. But that's where I think the crook of it is Mhmm. Is seeing Christ living in us, and we want to share that with individuals.
Robert:Paul, you wanna add anything there?
Paul:I just think of, I think it's Galatians three twenty seven where we're baptized baptized into Christ and we put on Christ. And and so we we wear we should be wearing Jesus every day, which is a sobering thought when we we ponder it a little bit, the the the responsibility of of wearing Jesus, and that is people should see Jesus in us. And while we we want people to come here and see Jesus in the text, that's where you really get to know Jesus is in the text. Mhmm. But before they ever see Jesus in the text, they're probably gonna see him in someone Mhmm.
Paul:And let us be that someone that then they wanna come and learn about him personally rather than just seeing him reflected in us. And I think that's the sharing is we are sharing that reflection of Jesus with everyone we come in contact with. That's a tall order.
Robert:And as a result of contact with Jesus, lives are changed. That's the effect
Paul:of the
Robert:changing lives part. Right? Okay, good. So we emphasize this a lot in our congregation here. It's on the sign.
Robert:If you've ever driven past our building, you see it there. I mean, this is all over the place. And when we were thinking about a podcast title, it just seemed natural. And as we go through, just so people know, we're gonna hear from real life people who go through real life things. They share life within a Christian community.
Robert:And as a result, their lives are changed because they all connect each other ultimately to Jesus. So I think that's kind of where we're headed as we go through these conversations.
Paul:And as you go through these the the people you're going to talk to, the the the lesson to learn is that when Jesus changed our lives, it doesn't mean that problems go away. Good point. It doesn't mean we're we're wealthy or healthy or or those things, not at all. But but the change is very different, and the people you're gonna have on here are gonna are going to show that.
Robert:Yeah. Tell us, what what do elders do? I mean, shifting gears a little bit. I don't know what people think about when they think about elders. You guys don't wear any long, flowy robes or anything.
Robert:You you do have a a meeting room where you gather pretty regularly. But what what's the crux of the work of an elder?
Paul:I, you you actually captured it so well in a sermon you did. I think probably a year and a half or two years now, but the the task of an elder that is, and and we would talk about all those terms of an elder. The one I continually go back to that I prefer is shepherd. Yeah. That that's the one I just relate to.
Paul:Yeah. It it makes sense to me. I've got a degree in story. Long story.
Robert:I didn't know that.
Paul:Yeah. Long story.
Robert:Okay.
Paul:But but anyway, this Farmer Paul.
Robert:Yeah. Got it.
Paul:This notion of the flock. And and we we feed the flock. We help nurture the flock. We protect the flock. Mhmm.
Paul:We help grow the flock, and all of those things go in there. And that that resonates with me as opposed to the the notion of bishop or overseer or whatever. All those those are all biblical terms. And it's, I would say it's the ultimate people task. But because if if we're if we, as Shepherds, are concentrating on the right things, we're concentrating on people.
Paul:We're we're not concentrating on buildings and parking lots and grounds and all of that, and those things all have to be done. And those and and this is a a huge complex here, physical complex here. But but our focus is on the people and how we lead the flock and guide the flock. And when you think about the shepherd, the shepherd doesn't cut the grass and feed it to the sheep. The the sheep has to graze.
Paul:The the the the flock has to graze, and and our responsibility isn't to feed them. It's to, you know, get them to the right pasture, you know, and then make sure we're watching that pasture for for the the predators, be it Satan or whoever, because people are busy.
Robert:Mhmm. Good point. Mark, you you've got a lot of irons in the fire. You're involved in the community. You've been you know, you're high up at your job.
Robert:You've got those daughters. Paul's got kiddos too and grandkids. How do you balance everything? I mean, this sounds like an all encompassing kind of deal, and it's none of the 13 of you guys. It's not your full time job.
Robert:It's not what you do all the time. How do you bear that?
Mark:It is a balancing act. That's really the best way of doing it because it is more important than my day to day JOB, my job. But I have responsibilities at work as well as responsibilities here at church. That's why there is a plurality of elders. So it doesn't fall on one individual to take care of everything.
Mark:We share burdens. We, if there's work to do, it's not just one elder's responsibility to oversee that one piece. And so that helps a lot. But it is a challenge when you get those calls during the day that something needs to be taken care of. That is something that I'm one of those that I have to work out of town.
Mark:So Okay. It's not where I can just run by the building and take care of things. So a lot of times it's doing things over the phone, by text, by email. But as much as one on one, having those communications with, the flock here Mhmm. And I think it's a very good way of describing this.
Mark:And you see this in in scripture that that we are shepherds. Mhmm. And it's that you protect them to the best you possibly can. Yeah. And so that also they still have their free will.
Mark:They're still gonna be that lamb that wanders off, and we try our best to get them all back in within the fold.
Robert:Mhmm.
Mark:And so we had to focus on those also that are are pulling away.
Robert:Mhmm.
Mark:But we also look at take care of the ones that are right here in home.
Robert:Yeah. And meanwhile, try and take care of yourselves, you know, because You do. It could happen to anybody. Right? I mean, we're all boneheaded.
Robert:It's sometimes or the other, especially the one who's speaking. Yeah.
Paul:Yeah. Some others more so than others. Absolutely.
Mark:And it's just and here's the thing. Paul is one of my shepherds, and I'm one of Paul's shepherds. It's not that we are a whole separate entity.
Robert:Yeah.
Mark:Yeah. But we are members here at this congregation just the same as anybody else.
Paul:We are all sheep.
Mark:We are all
Paul:sheep. We are all sheep.
Bill:I love that. Mhmm.
Robert:Yeah. Cool.
Bill:So I know that you've served as an elder at another congregation before.
Paul:Yeah. This is my third time.
Bill:Okay. So you kinda knew, in theory, what to expect a little bit. Mark, this is your first first Yeah. So now that y'all are in it here, and y'all y'all were just appointed this past year, what are some of the without being specific, just kinda in general, what are some of the the challenges that that an eldership faces that you have come to realize, oh, this is a weight that I don't know if I'm ready to carry. I don't know if I want to carry. Is that a fair question?
Bill:Yes. Very much. Yes. Well, I I think it would be helpful just to know, that, I mean, yes, you are men, but you you've been you've been charged with a task of of leading a flock. What what is what are some challenges that you that you're, seeing that you could share just to let let anyone that's listening to this know, hey.
Bill:These men are under some pressure.
Mark:I think I'll take the first stab at that. I think from prior to being an elder, you think you get a pretty good feel after being here for thirty three years plus that you kinda have a feel for what's going on and different families. And, you know, if you would assume being here thirty three years, I should know everybody that meets inside this building, which is not the case, believe it or not. I meet someone new all the time, and they said, yeah. Been a member here for ten years.
Mark:I said, it's nice to meet you. But elders see it from a whole different standpoint. You start to really understand families that are hurting, individuals that are struggling in their faith, and that weight that comes with it. And what can we do to help these individuals through this, period of weak faith, for lack of a better term to use. Mhmm.
Mark:And what can we do to make these families whole and to give them the support that they need?
Bill:Mhmm.
Paul:Mark Mark said it so well, because it is just that. We we get in a a sometimes it's our practice when we show up on Sunday mornings, you know, we we show up with a smile on our face and a ready handshake and glad to see people and so forth. And and we maybe it's unintentional. Maybe it's intentional. People mask the pain that can be there.
Paul:Yeah. And and as a shepherd of the flock, you get to hear about the pain in intimate detail, and you and you carry it. You you don't get to put it down because you're constantly asking yourself, what can we say? What can we do? How can we intervene?
Paul:And and what's most, I wanna say, frustrating, but but but it is at some point, you come to the realization just like the shepherd cannot physically hold every sheep and keep them within their arms, similarly, we can't do that to the entire flock. People will do what people will do in their free moral agents, and they can make their decisions, and they will make their decisions. But but knowing what they're going through and what we think they could do to help their situation, yet they may not be willing to do, you just you just don't get to put it down.
Mark:Don't. But, you know, it's also the flip side of that. We get to have individuals come to us that are on fire, that want to be active. And so it's that balance piece that, you know, we just say for, you know, for every bad thing, you have to have so many good things to to counteract it. Yeah.
Mark:And but then hatch happens naturally within the body here that we see is we have individuals that say, hey, I've been having this Bible study with someone that I met, and they're ready to become a Christian. And so it's not just well, it's the minister's job to do that or it's the elder's job to do that. But we have individuals that are eager to serve, not just within the building, but in our communities. So that's exciting as elders as well. Mhmm.
Robert:More more on the joys, Paul. Sorry, Bill.
Paul:No. I just I I I I admire that. There is an eagerness. First of all, there is so much going on in the Henderson Church. It is an incredibly busy congregation.
Robert:Yeah. Wow.
Paul:It's hard to keep up with it all. But there is an eagerness to do the work that needs to be done, and that is motivating to us because we can't do it all. We know we can't do it all. The deacons can't do it all. And and and with nor nor should we.
Paul:But to provide the avenue and the venue and the encouragement, and the connective tissue, and then to sit back and just watch, to watch people grow, to see people I knew where they were as Christians, you know, x years ago. Mhmm. And now I see where they are now. Mhmm. Maybe as a young person and now as a parent or, you know, first as a parent and now as a grant.
Paul:Whatever it may be, you see them at different times phases of their lives. And to see how much they have grown from where they were, that that is an encouragement and that's a motivator.
Mark:Wow.
Robert:Bill, what were you gonna say? I cut you off.
Bill:Well, I was just gonna go back to when we first started talking about this this tagline, sharing life, changing lives. I think one one thing that the us regular, for lack of a better description, church members forget sometimes is you guys, as elders, are sharing life with us too. And and that means there's a layer of vulnerability there. So you talked about, you know, a shepherd and the sheep. I mean, yes, the shepherd needs to know, the sheep, but also the sheep needs to know the shepherd.
Bill:And and you guys are are kind of that go between, if you will. I mean, with the good shepherd, Jesus, y'all are our shepherds here within this local congregation. And so the church needs to be able to come to you and share the joys, share the heartaches, and you guys have to be approachable. You gotta be willing to listen. You gotta be willing to hurt and encourage Mhmm.
Bill:In whatever way. And and so I'm thankful, that we have as many good men serving in this area as we do, because it takes all of us working together. I mean, y'all are our leaders, but we have to be susceptible to your leadership. You know, we have to be open to that. And one of the pressures that I would think that you guys feel is, are we taking this church in the direction it needs to go, which which means a lot of self reflection, a lot of prayer, a lot of focusing in the word, those kind of things.
Bill:So I I just wanted to say I appreciate you.
Robert:Yeah. Me too. Amen. I echo that. Got about five minutes left.
Robert:We're gonna spend a lot of time on this podcast discussing discouragements, people who need some encouragement. What spiritual advice would you give? I mean, you're the shepherds of this congregation, and we we use the term autonomy in churches of Christ, which reflects this notion that we believe the New Testament teaches that there are shepherds in each local congregation. And it's not like a diocese or some of that where where bishops may serve over a region of of congregations. You guys serve this flock at the Henderson Church of Christ, two forty White Avenue.
Robert:But there are others who are listening to this right now, and you guys are spiritual leaders. What what advice would you give or encouragement would you offer to somebody who's struggling in their faith right now as they're listening to this? Yeah.
Paul:I'd I'd like to take the first stab. I I probably you know, you you gave us, you know, the cheat sheet. You know? If you you know? Not this morning, but but not too long ago.
Robert:Right. Yes.
Paul:And and so I will confess this this question has occupied my time more than more than the others. And I finally came upon three things, and there is no pat answer. If if you're struggling in your face, there is no pat answer to fix that. Yeah. Because we all struggle in different ways and at different times for different reasons.
Paul:But but I think of, Mark chapter nine verse 24 when the the father with a a possessed son comes to Jesus and says, can you help him? He says, if you believe.
Robert:Mhmm.
Paul:And he says, I believe. Help my unbelief. Yeah. And that captures it for so many of us. While we would like to think that what if we're at the moment in our life when we believe, we flip the switch and it's always that way.
Paul:It it's never that way. We all struggle. And here's a man confronted by Jesus staring at Jesus, the son of god, and he says, I believe, but help my unbelief. And and and to realize it's okay to be in that position. It's okay to be in that place because we've all been in that place.
Paul:The second, thing I would offer is if you're struggling, say say it to God. If you're struggling in your faith, he already knows it. Mhmm. Don't be afraid to tell him. If it's one of the things that strikes me about David in his Psalms, how he is unwilling he is willing to unburden himself in exceedingly blunt language
Robert:Mhmm.
Paul:About what's on his heart. And and saying the words get somewhere where you can say the words out loud to God that you're struggling, can be helpful. And then the the last thing is, it just go back to the word. You know, we we we live a life where we're often say, you know, all things in moderation, temperance, don't overdo things, don't eat too much. We we just came out of the holidays where we eat too much and and all of these things going on.
Paul:You cannot overdose on the word of god. You cannot consume too much of god's word. So stay in the word. Yeah. And, again, that there there's no snap decision that's gonna fix it all, but understand we've all been there.
Robert:Yeah. Mark?
Mark:You know, I think about I'm gonna play on your agricultural background.
Paul:We have to This will come back to haunt me.
Robert:We have to do this.
Mark:We will. But, you know, I think about, challenges we have all faced at one time or another in our faith. And it's that seed of doubt that Satan plants. Mhmm. Now it's up to us whether we water that seed and whether we give it fertilizer and and let it grow within us, or we dig into, for lack of a better term, the roundup of the word that can go in there and that can kill that doubt that's within us.
Mark:So I'm I'm working on as much as You're
Paul:working today. You're
Mark:working. I'm working that angle. But that's what I've always thought about when it comes to I didn't mean to take y'all so far off track.
Robert:This is great.
Mark:Roundup of
Robert:the word. It needs to be this way. Yeah.
Mark:But that is the thing. The word is what will kill that doubt. Mhmm. And it's the trust that that word was put there for a reason. Mhmm.
Mark:It's to help me grow, and it's for for me to share with you and help you grow as an individual.
Robert:Yeah. That's right. And come and see us at the Henderson Church of Christ. If you're listening to this and you're local, I know we're on podcast. So there may be some who are not in our area, but let's help bear that burden together.
Robert:I mean, you're gonna find people who too are burdened. And, and it's so that's not a substitute for everything you guys just said. But in addition to that, come and come and see us, and you'll find people who also are struggling. Right. Right.
Robert:We'll be wrong. To the word. Yeah. That's right. Thank you guys for your time today.
Robert:I appreciate it. And thank you for coming on. And thank you for the service you give to God and to us as our shepherd. We appreciate it.
Paul:Thank you for the invitation. Thanks for doing the podcast. Oh. I look forward to all these others you're going to be talking to.
Robert:This is fun. Bill, I've enjoyed it. Thank you for being part of this too. This is fun. And, thank all of you. We, hope you will continue sharing life, changing lives, and join us next week.
Intro:Thank you for listening to sharing life changing lives, a podcast from the Henderson Church of Christ in Henderson, Tennessee. We hope you've been encouraged by today's conversation and inspired to live a life of faith in Christ. You and your family are always welcomed with us at the Henderson Church of Christ. Join us on Sundays at 9AM for bible classes. We have classes that everyone in the family will enjoy.
Intro:We meet for worship at 10AM and 5PM on Sundays. Our midweek Bible study takes place each Wednesday at 06:30PM. We'd love to see you anytime. Be sure to subscribe and share this podcast with others who might be blessed by it. To learn more about the Henderson Church of Christ, visit us online at hendersoncoc.com.
Intro:Until next time, let's keep sharing life and changing lives for his glory.
