Why Sign Up to Serve?

Hello and welcome back to Celebration Baptist Church's Live Boldly Podcast.

I'm Jessica, and today Pastor Tommy will be sharing on why we should sign up to serve.

So, first of all, Pastor Tommy, how did serving change and shape your worldview?

Well, we've been talking about Waterloo, Iowa.

Yep.

And so if you've been listening, now you know there's a little town called Waterloo, Iowa.

So that's where I started, at least my kind of full-time mission experience, and it changed everything about my worldview.

Because you know, I'd known Oklahoma, I'd known my college area, the churches I'd worked with.

But you hear about other places, and I know I'm still in the U.S., but man, life in church and ministries is completely different in a different setting.

So when I went up north, you know, instead of every corner having a church of a couple thousand, you're doing good if you find a church with people in it.

So I'm talking about changing my worldview.

It really did.

Ministry kind of hit the road when you have to go out and you have to find the people to build a church.

So instead of coming to you, you've got to go to them.

You know, we mentioned, I mentioned Adam last time as a kid who lived across the street, taught me how to make macaroni and cheese.

Later I got to baptize him.

But one of the things I got to do with him was build a youth, kind of a youth ministry, about four or five other kids.

And my background, I have some drama, some musical stuff, creative entertainment.

And I was able to take these four or five kids and we put together a little, kind of like a little ministry event show with some skits and songs and creative ways to share.

And this church, who had no youth group I was serving at, got to go to other churches and do entertainment for their lock-in and for VBSs and other things during that five months.

So you said, How does this change my worldview?

I would tell you, you know, that God can take anybody and use them in ways they never thought.

And so for me, from going from small town Oklahoma to thinking, no, this is God's big old world.

Everybody needs the gospel and he can use anybody to share his word.

Yeah, that's awesome.

So you mentioned that you started serving and traveling at first when you were young, unmarried, fresh out of college.

Is that the best time to serve God, you think?

Or is there even a best season of life for us to serve God?

I don't know if there's a best season of life.

I like to kind of view of all of life I think we should serve.

So this past year I've got the privilege of leading our college Bible study group.

Yes.

And it's just kind of taking me back to my college days, and you realize, man, I think everybody right out of high school during their college years ought to have at least some time in there for missions.

So whether it's a summer to go serve, because you know, you just don't have the same things you have when you get married and have kids.

You do have more time to go.

And so I've challenged all my kids, you know, to take a summer and go work a summer camp, take the whole summer, because it does change your worldview.

But you know, later in life, I spent three years as a missionary, but I I met my wife during that time.

But even as married with kids, I've tried to every year still take mission trips.

Yeah.

So through the church, whether that be a week trip or you know, or just a weekend kind of thing, or look something local.

No, I think that your entire life you should really be on the look for God, where can you take me and use me?

And so there's not just a one season of life, I think it's all of life.

You should be looking for ways to serve.

Mm-hmm.

That's awesome.

So right now, in this particular season, traveling has been a little bit difficult.

So say I really want to get involved and I really want to serve.

How can I do that in a local church?

Yeah, so this past year we really haven't taken any trips to, you know, obviously we're not going out of the country or anything like that.

Yeah.

But there are plenty of ways to serve right here.

So I know that, you know, we're going to talk about how to sign up.

You can go to the church app, you know, at the end also you can go to the website, just click on the team celebration to sign up.

But there is no excuse for really for anybody not to be serving now, because we have opportunities all over the page.

There's still people in need, you know, there's still uh hands and feet that need to be serving, and that's right here in our city.

We don't have to travel to do that.

So, you know, specifically I think in our own church, you know, children's ministry, student ministry, you know, our group life, teachers, everything from greeters, from tech ministry, there are plenty of opportunities for everybody to be serving.

You know, I'm a firm believer that people grow more when they serve.

Yes.

So I mean, I've been a church, right?

I've been in, you know, I was going to church before I was born, you know, I've been in church my entire life, so I've seen thousands and thousands of people come through church, and I'm honestly gonna say I've seen people grow more when they're part of the church and serving than just when they attend.

Services are great, sermons are good, it's great to come to church, but when you serve, there's just something different.

You know, you're investing, you have to prepare.

If you're teaching, even if you're leading kids or students, you know, you're learning, you're walking through another curriculum or learning about the Bible in a way that you don't learn just by going to church.

So I don't I don't think people are without excuse.

I think right now there are plenty of opportunities to serve, you know, not just our church, but even in our community with different ministries around us.

Yeah.

So here at Celebration, we have several ways for people to get involved.

You can sign up to serve on our app, on the website, at the Team Celebration Tenet on Sundays, and that's community things and church things.

What would you say to encourage those people to sign up, to take that step and to serve?

Well, you know, I think no matter what age or what phase of life you're in, I think that God's given everybody gifts and abilities.

And so, you know, you've heard the body illustration before.

If we don't have all our fingers and all our toes, and we don't have an arm, we're missing a foot, we're missing out on that ability that our body could use by having all of our parts.

The same is true for our church.

So if people aren't serving, we're missing out on the God given gifts that you've been given.

And so I know working in you know preschool and children and student ministry and even college ministry, we need people that can do it all.

Not just teachers, we need people in the room who are good encouragers.

People who can bring the food, set up, you know, help with kids stuff, all kinds of things, ways to serve.

And so I know you know how to serve up.

You go to the app, you you click a button, you know, you get a part of the team celebration, you make it happen.

But I think when you serve, you're saying, I'm part of the body, you know, I want to be a part of what God's doing in our church, and then you're gonna make a difference, but you're also gonna grow in your faith because when you serve, you're gonna grow more.

For sure.

Pastor Tommy, we're wrapping up our week on serving.

Is there anything else that you want to tell people about why serving is important?

Absolutely.

You know, I want to kind of finish my little three-year journey there that kind of helps shape my life.

So I know we talked about Waterloo, Iowa.

You know, from there I'm gonna spend a couple summers in Charleston, South Carolina.

I spent nine months living out in San Diego, you know, working with America's Cup.

It's a yacht race.

I've never even heard of.

Next thing I know, I'm like an office manager at this event out in San Diego, California, eating my lunch daily down by the ocean.

I mean, how cool is that for a kid from Oklahoma?

And then my last year, I ended up serving on a team called Missions USA Live.

It was a team our whole mission board put together to basically be a mouthpiece for missions.

So we we obviously we sang songs, we did drama, you know, creative entertainment, we got to do the Olympics in 96.

Wow.

But kind of putting all those three years together, those three years of just saying I'm willing, living off of 60 bucks a week, sleeping in a church and a hotel and host homes and who knows where else, those years changed my life.

They they changed my life.

I got my wife out of it.

So here I am, you know, 25, 30 years later, uh father to seven kids, and I look back and say, man, I wouldn't trade that mission experience for anything.

So I just want to challenge anybody listening today that, you know, if you've got an opportunity, whether it be a week, short-term mission trip, or even again overseas or somewhere else, take that opportunity.

It's gonna change your life.

I know it has changed mine, and I still enjoy serving today, and I can't wait to get back out there and keep taking trips all around the world, and I want to be used by God.

So I just want to challenge you.

You're the hands and feet, we are the body of Christ.

We need you to go and serve and do what you were called to do.

Yes.

Pastor Tommy, thanks for joining us the past several days.

To everyone listening, don't forget, find Celebration Baptist Church on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

That way you can keep up with our current sermon series, live boldly, and explore other things that are happening in the Celebration Family, including ways to serve.

Pastor Tommy, would you close us in prayer today?

Absolutely.

Let's pray.

Father, I thank you just for the experiences you've allowed me to have in my life.

I thank you for just the call, the ask to go and serve, and Lord, more than willing to say yes, and Lord for the how, how you took care of all my needs, and Lord, you more than provided for me.

And then, Father, also I pray now for a challenge, just for people to accept the challenge and go and serve in their own way.

So again, whether that be here in our local church, around Tallahassee, or maybe even around the world, I just pray for us to be faithful to go and make a difference.

So, Lord, thank you for our challenge to ask people to live boldly, and I pray that God that we will take a step forward, and God, we will answer the call, and we will go and be your people, and that you will use us in ways we never even imagined.

Thank you, Father, for your name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Pastor Tommy, thanks for sharing your story with us over the past few days.

All our listeners, be sure to tune in again tomorrow for a special challenge from Pastor David.

We'll see you then.