Bobby Bosler: Welcome to Thee Generation Podcast. I'm Bobby Bosler and I'm speaking to you today from Pittsburgh, Indiana. And boy, do I have a doozy of an episode for you here today. I've got a very exciting and big announcement to make and I really can't wait for you all to hear it.

What I want to do here and the way I want to do this is I want to begin by reading a text of scripture, a passage that has really been central to the generation from the very beginning. One that has encouraged many young people.

It's encouraged me, many adults for that matter, to take a step of faith and to look to God to enable them to do what they could never do unless God enabled them to do it. You probably don't have your Bible. If you do, though, I'm going to Matthew chapter 14.

I want to read a passage of scripture about a huge step forward that God is leading in. So in the context here, Jesus had just led his disciples to partake in a miracle with him as he fed those gigantic crowds and miraculously multiplied the bread and the fishes and so on, you're familiar with that story.

And right on the heels of this, it says in verse 22, in straightway, Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray.

And when evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. Okay, so let's pause here for a second and just explain what's going on. Right on the heels of that major miracle in the feeding of the gigantic crowd, the multiplying of the bread and the fishes, Jesus says to his disciples, hey, go ahead of me, go ahead and cross the Sea of Galilee.

I'll meet up with you on the other side. And Jesus, it says he went up into a mountain to pray. He was seeking the face of God. Evidently, Jesus knew that something very, very important was coming. He knew, again, being God and knowing all things, he knew that there was going to be a lesson on the lake for his disciples.

He knew that he was going to teach them something that would be absolutely transformative, that would, if they understood it and gripped it and lived it, would really change the course of their lives. in the big, huge step that he was leading them to.

So verse number 24, but the ship was now in the midst of the sea, in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, tossed with waves for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled saying, it is a spirit. They said, it's a ghost. They didn't know what it was. It says they were troubled, saying it's a spirit, and they cried out for fear. Ah!

Hopefully I didn't just blow out your speakers or your AirPods with that. It says, but straightway, Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

And he said, come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Again, you and I, we know this story. We've heard it preached. I don't know how many times I've preached it myself at times.

I've lived it. You've lived it. Not on the Sea of Galilee, but in our lives, right? when we find ourselves having Jesus asking us to step out of the boat in a way that's completely impossible, to take a step of faith depending on him to do what is humanly impossible, what could never be done unless he enabled them or you to do it, and then to take that step, to count on Jesus by stepping into an impossible situation and then to see him enable you to stand on top of the water, to experience the miracle as you yield to his direction, as you depend on his power.

That's the generation, young people. You know that. I know that. And you know, God has been leading us to take a pretty big step out of the boat ourselves. there's a lot I can say here, and I kind of want to shift into story mode here, testimony mode here.

I am my family. We're about to make a major ministry move, you could say, a major change of situation, and I couldn't be more excited. Let me cut to the long and the short of it. If you're hearing this, then fellowship, Baptist Church in Fairmont, West Virginia, just south of Pittsburgh, about an hour, will have voted affirmatively to call the Bosler family to come to their church and me to be their pastor.

Now, I know that might come as a major shock to some of you that are listening. And before I go any further, before I tell you any more, I plan, and with the church's blessing, which they've already been super positive about it, I plan to continue in full capacity with the generation and in continuing to lead as the director of the generation, to continue to produce podcasts and articles and so on, to continue to lead the team, so to speak, Thee Generation team, that is.

And so this is not going to be changing. There may be some other things that will be. But let me give you a little bit of the backstory. When I was a senior in high school, God showed up in my heart and my life.

There were a number of things that happened. I heard Dr. Jim speak at a weekend retreat, and God just stirred my soul and spoke to me in ways that I had never had God speak to me in a preaching service, honestly. I was saved as a young person.

I do remember the conviction of the Holy Ghost upon me as a child. And I remember calling on the name of the Lord and trusting him alone to save me. But when Dr. Jim spoke, God spoke to me. It was one of the first times that I can really remember that it was like it was just God, me, and the preacher in the room.

And the focus was on God and what he was talking to me about. As a result of that, the following Sunday in my home church, God spoke to my heart and called me to be a preacher. I remember saying yes to the Lord, and if you've heard me speak and give my testimony, you know I said yes to him without so much as a white-knuckle-just-as-I-am invitation.

And then I freaked out about it later as I realized that meant I had to get up and talk in front of people. But God called me to preach, and I say that because I think that's important. I didn't know what form of preaching God was going to have me to take.

I didn't know exactly all of what it was going to look like. All I knew was this. God was calling me to communicate his word, to stand up and preach, thus saith the Lord, to explain the Bible, to preach the Bible, to call people to obey the Bible.

And I didn't know a whole lot more beyond that. So the call to preach was a call to prepare, and God began to work deeply in my heart about living for the Lord and to be serious for him. Even early on, I remember God stirring my heart to call my peers to follow the Lord and to step out in faith and to obey him and to reach the world with the gospel that's always been core to my heart in serving the Lord.

And when I came off to Bible college, I began to realize that God had gifted me a spiritual gift, you could say a leadership gift out of Ephesians chapter 4. And he called some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

And it became clear to me and to others around me that God had given me a leadership gift to benefit his church, to call his saints, to be perfected or equipped for the work of the ministry so the body of Christ can grow.

So I yielded to the Lord, and I surrendered to him to take those next steps. It appeared that I was going to be in evangelism, and I was, and God, and I am an evangelist. And so I had some assumptions as to what that would look like.

Initially, I thought that meant that I was going to travel in missionary evangelism, and I was super excited about that, to travel to mission fields and do gospel crusades and so on. And God began to continue to clarify that his marching orders for me were that he was, he wanted me to step into itinerant evangelism, as he clarified, And he wanted me to travel and join with Minutemen Ministries and preach the gospel to teenagers all across the country.

And I said yes to God, and my family and I have been doing that ever since. However, I want to point out some other things that I haven't really shared publicly, even in my own heart, from real close to the beginning. One of the things I was passionate about before I ever joined the war is I wanted to see lasting fruit.

I wanted to see young people who not only trust Christ, but would go on to serve him. I think I've shared some of those things here and there. But in 2014, in January, Pastor Van Gelderen had been talking to me about getting ordained, and I was all about it.

And as a part of the process, I met with the deacons of Falls Baptist Church, very grave, serious, sober, godly men. And I remember sitting down with him, and I remember this thought was in my mind. God's called me to go into evangelism, but I think perhaps one day he might call me to be a pastor.

And so I looked at those men because I didn't want there to be any confusion. And I told them, men, God has called me to preach. He's given me the gifting of an evangelist. I believe he wants me to travel itinerantly, preach the gospel to teenagers.

However, I want you men to know that God is my boss, and no mode or method of ministry is my master, but God in heaven is the one who tells me what to do, and as long as he leads me to do this, I will continue to do this.

But I want you men to know if he ever calls me to go off the road and to step into a pastoral position, I am not forsaking my calling. I am just obeying my boss.

and I share that just to say both my wife and I have had in our hearts and in the back of our minds that perhaps one day God would call us off of the road and to step into a local church in leadership either to plant or replant or pastor a church and yet we don't step into anything as a stepping stone we never have that's never been my mentality my dad taught me that when you step into something, you are loyal to it for the rest of your life until the Lord calls you to do something else.

So that being said, in a certain sense, as much as I've kind of thought and known in the back of my mind that the Lord would have this, we were serving the Lord in our current capacity as if we would do it for the rest of our lives, planning to do it for the rest of our lives.

And so let me even share another thread of what God has been doing. I've been aware that this church, Fellowship Baptist Church in Fairmont, West Virginia, has needed a pastor for many years. A friend of mine, someone who's made an impact on me, Dr.

Bob Shaw, he served as their interim pastor. They've been without a pastor for nine years, and for I think four or five of those years, he was there filling the pulpit, interimming, if that's a verb, for them. And he would, from time to time, call me up as he was there and say, Bobby, these people, they need a pastor.

Do you know of anybody who can serve as their pastor? And I would give him ideas and I would share, hey, what about this guy? Hey, this young fellow would do a great job. What about this guy? What about this man? This fellow is looking for a church and nobody would take him up on it.

And honestly, even years ago, it was a little bit frustrating for me. I was thinking, man, this is a church. They need a pastor. These folks could do it. Why are they not doing it? And I didn't understand what God was doing. So even continuing on, even in the last year or two, there have been some men that I've recommended and it's not been God's will.

And I just didn't understand. I'm thinking, these folks, they need a pastor. Also, right along with all of this, A year ago, in 2014, I had a young man, Austin, travel on my team, the war team, and he's from Fellowship Baptist Church. Last summer, I had Charlie on my team.

He's from Fellowship Baptist Church. And so these young men, they shared with me, just even bared their heart with me, their church's need for a pastor and how much they're praying for God to give them a pastor. And through Austin and Charlie's influence, we got a Cola Clash to do down there in Fairmont, West Virginia in the summer of 2024.

Charlie was one of the team captains, and that was probably one of the best weeks of the whole summer. And I remember while we were there observing the folks, seeing their passion for the gospel, seeing their willingness to work, their faithfulness. And frankly, one of the things that struck me was how much they needed a leader.

They needed a pastor. They needed someone to step in and shepherd them and lead them into the harvest fields. And I enjoyed the week where I got to function in a temporary role in that way. But to be honest with you, I didn't think anything further of it at the time.

I didn't imagine that we would come back. I just thought that was a great war. Those are great people. God needs to give them a good leader. So fast forward a little bit. some of you probably know that we've had some challenges over the last several years with our truck and then with our trailer.

And there have been multiple times throughout that time that God has tested our willingness to continue. And you've heard me share some podcasts and you're welcome to go back and listen, keep your hand to the plow where God has told us that it was absolutely necessary for us to continue obeying him and the course that he had set for us until we get other orders from him.

And so along the way, we've seen God bless out of our weakness, give strength and power and life out of our deaths. And we've seen God provide miraculously. We've seen the Lord do great things. And so when at the end of the summer, I began to look at my trailer and realize, and again, this all does have to do with this, began to realize that that frame issue was coming back.

Be perfectly honest with you, I was incredibly discouraged. I didn't know what to do, and I knew that we needed to resolve it, because as far as we're concerned, we're going to continue in this thing until the Lord tells us to do otherwise, which probably he won't, so we're just going to continue in this thing until the day we die.

So we got to fix it. So I don't even remember all of what I shared on the podcast, but we had found a place that specialized in the particular kind of repair that we needed. And on our way to a revival meeting, we stopped in and they gave us kind of a ballpark assessment.

And I thought, well, I don't have that money, but I know God will provide that money if we go for it. We set up an appointment and I thought, hey, praise the Lord, they don't normally have appointments like this. And this is great.

I think God might be in this. And so then they sent me the actual estimate. And I looked at that amount and I thought, whoa, that's a lot of money. But I have seen God provide money. And I knew if God orders it, he'll pay for it.

And so honestly, I didn't really bat an eye. And yet, as I looked at the opportunity, I had several thoughts going through my mind. Number one, that's a third of what I paid for this trailer. I'm not sure if that's a good stewardship.

But there was something else that I could not explain. I literally couldn't put it into words. Every time I looked, again, there was kind of a whole bunch of logistical challenges to doing it. Our trailer was in Greenville. We were in New Jersey.

The repair shop was in Indiana, and I'd have to book a plane ticket to fly to Greenville, drive the truck and the trailer because of all of the floods and everything up near Asheville. I'd have to drive down to Atlanta, up to Indiana.

Then I'd have to figure out what to do after I dropped it off, and it would take a month to get repaired, and then I'd have to do it all but in reverse again and hope the repair stuck and pray that God would provide the money for it.

So I didn't have peace about it. Like every time I literally had my web browser up ready to buy that first ticket, in my mind that first ticket to fly down to Greenville, that was kind of the Rubicon that I needed to cross.

That was the point of no return where once I bought that ticket, we were going through with this repair, But every time I hovered the mouse on the purchase button, there was just this dread in my soul. I couldn't do it. And it got to the point where, like, literally the ticket prices were going up and up and up.

And I just had no peace. And I felt like, well, this is what we have to do, though, because God's called us to travel on the road. So I have to repair the trailer. God, why are you not giving me peace about this?

I don't understand. And it was like, again, I talked through with a couple of folks and got some advice and some opinions. But ultimately, at the end of the day, I didn't have peace about it. And I just called him up and I said, hey, listen, I don't think I'm supposed to do this repair.

Can you cancel my appointment? And at that point, it was like, well, now what am I supposed to do? And it was like, okay, well, we're going to travel. So we need to buy a new trailer. And maybe God is not giving peace about that because he doesn't want us to continue in the trailer.

Again, the trailer had his other issues. And so it wasn't just that one particular major frame issue. So I just assumed, okay, well, we're supposed to buy another trailer. And so my wife started scouring the Internet, looking at floor plans, looking at the latest models and the floor plans to see what's a good build quality.

called up some friends and and they oh you need to check out this brand and this brand and avoid this brand and all these things and so we began to look at trailers that are out there new trailers used trailers everything in between trailers and we formed a game plan and our game plan was we were going to drive where we were spending some time with family over Christmas up in New Jersey we were going to drive down to Myrtle Beach and we'd seen a bunch of trailers that we were interested in down there.

And then we were going to go down to Greenville and finalize the transaction. So we, we did all that. We stopped, we saw a bunch of trailers, some that we thought we were going to like, we didn't really like, we didn't think they were the right thing.

But then there was another trailer that just seemed outstanding and an amazing floor plan. And so kind of to me, one of the big litmus tests of this next step was to get a trade in for our current trailer. And so they offered us, sight unseen, a really good trade-in.

And I thought, oh, I think this is it. We love the floor plan. We love the trade-in value. And so we went down to Greenville, and they were going to send somebody over from one of their local branches to look at the trailer.

Well, that never happened. The guy never came over. And while I was waiting, I began to do some Google research on that trailer and that brand and that frame, and I found out it was garbage. The frame was so bad and so flimsy that if you put a bottle jack on the thing, it bends the frame.

And so I called him up and I was like, Hey, I'm, I don't think we're going to go with that trailer. But then it's like, Oh, but we need a trailer. Cause we can't go on our trailer. We need a trailer. And so, uh, we began to look at some trailers locally in the Greenville area.

And we found a dealer that had some trailers that we were interested in long story short. We went in, we fell in love with a particular trailer and we thought we're going to buy this. And on top of that, they'd offered us an unbelievable offer for the trade-in, almost what we paid for our trailer, even with the issues that it has.

Again, we were forthright about that. So we thought God's got to be in this. Yes, this is it. And so we went into the office. We started working through the paperwork. I won't go into the specifics of how this happened, except to say at one point along the way, God so clearly spoke out of heaven and said, no, I don't want you to buy this trailer.

In fact, he spoke to my heart, said, I don't want you to buy any trailer. And you know, you would think that would be a discouraging thing. What? What are you talking about? I mean, like we only have so many options. We're going to continue to travel.

And so we need a trailer. And well, it's funny in that moment, the no, I was getting a little nervous about the purchase and the trailer. And I won't again, go into all the details there, but the no, as soon as I heard that no, I had joy in my heart.

I had peace in my soul. It was like the no from God was actually a yes from God. and yet I didn't understand. I didn't get it. My wife looked at a few more trailers, but the whole time as she was showing me other trailers, it was like in my heart, it was just ringing in my soul.

I don't want you to buy another trailer. You don't need another trailer. And as I'm asking him why, it's as if he's saying, because you're not going to be living in a trailer for a whole lot longer. Well, we had a tour schedule and we needed a trailer to live in.

And so as we prayed about it, as we saw the Lord about it, the Lord said, just go with a trailer you've got. I'll hold it together as long as I want it to hold together. And yet this still didn't answer the question, what do you mean we're not going to be in a trailer a whole lot longer?

Well, through a course of a series of events I can't go into here on the podcast, God began to work in our hearts. if I can rewind a little bit before all this trailer stuff, um, over Christmas and, and before God didn't give me peace about the repair and so on.

Um, my wife and I had just kind of thrown out, I wonder if we're supposed to go to Fairmont. Um, I wonder if we're supposed to go to that church at West Virginia. But honestly, at that point in time, um, I was just continuing to pursue the present course.

Um, in fact, a couple of years ago, I felt a little guilty about us just continuing in this present course, God had been doing things in my heart, my mind. I've been communicating with my pastor about it, but I told the Lord, I said, Lord, if I'm missing something, like if we are not supposed to continue in this present course, I'm going to need you to rock my boat a little bit.

And I'm going to need you to shake things up a little bit. And there are so many different ways I could share that God has done that and been doing that. And perhaps all of these truck and trailer triers over the last couple of years have been a part of that, among other things.

But when God brought us to the point where, but I still, again, I wasn't in the frame of mind to think of such a drastic change. And so I dismissed it. I dismissed it. I just said, I don't think so. I don't think so.

So in the process of this whole trailer thing, when God's saying, no, don't repair it. No, don't replace it. You're not going to be in it a whole lot longer. And I'm asking God, what are you talking about? What do you mean we're not going to be in it a whole lot longer?

My wife and I, we sat down, we revisited the Fellowship Baptist Church in Fairmont, West Virginia thing again. And as we looked at it, we said, Lord, is this what you want? Is this? Well, we pretty much, that was a Saturday. And in the midst of all of this, we were looking for a team member.

It was kind of a little bit of a crisis to find our second team member. And I won't go into all of that. But this was, I think, all a part of God preparing us. But we prayed on a Saturday night and said, God, we need you to show us if this is the step.

This is a big step. And we certainly don't just want to step into something for selfish purposes. We don't want to step into something for wrong purposes at all. We want you to bid us come unto thee. Again, even as I was looking at that verse, the Lord was just stirring my heart with the parallels of Peter in that boat.

It wasn't the exact words that we said, but that was the essence of what we were asking him. That next day was Sunday. We were at actually Fellowship Baptist Church in Taylor's, South Carolina. And a friend of mine, Rick Pardee, was preaching. And God said some things to us throughout that day.

But there that evening, I honestly, I had a sense that the Lord might be in this. But as we prayed, I said this to God. I said, God, if you want us to take this step, I am willing. I'm willing. And young people, from the second that I said, I am willing, it was as if peace flooded my soul.

from that moment, there was clarity. There was hope. There was light. There was life. I'd gone from a season of months of not knowing. And you remember how I said when God said no to buying that new trailer, as much as it was a no, it was a yes.

And there was some peace in that. I still didn't know what to do as far as bigger picture. But this was like an avalanche of peace in my heart. And young people, feelings can come and go. I'm not saying we need to go based on feelings, but there was a real transaction with God in that moment that I could not, I couldn't miss.

And so it was like, whoa, I think God wants us to do this. whoa, I think God is in this. And from that moment, it was like Jesus calling to Peter. Peter said, if it's you, tell me to come. There was a yielding there.

And then Jesus said, come. And it was like that peace, that avalanche of peace was Jesus saying, come. And we began to take steps out of the boat. The first step was putting together a resume. Again, I called that friend of mine, Bob Shaw, who knew those folks very well and said, hey, here's what God's doing in my heart.

What are your thoughts? What do you think the next steps were? And he gave me some next steps. I spent the morning putting together a resume. Never done that in my life. Sent it off to the pulpit committee there at the church to let them know that I was interested.

And, you know, it's funny. God has ways of setting you up through things that you wouldn't have chosen for his perfect plan and his perfect will. So smack dab in the middle of my tour, I had these pesky three weeks where I had no war.

And it bugged the fire out of me. Like, again, you don't necessarily understand the pressure of this. But when you have a team of guys along with you, you want to do what they're volunteering to come and do with you. And so I had these two and a half weeks is really what it was of openings in the middle of my tour.

And I didn't understand. Well, it appeared that God had literally carved that out of my schedule. That's prime time. Like that isn't normally a hard time to schedule. And yet it just didn't schedule. And when in the process of me talking to the men, they knew me from the Cola Clash the previous year, but they certainly weren't thinking about me as far as a pastor at that time.

I wasn't thinking about them as a pastor for that time. And so we agreed that we would come and we would spend two and a half weeks there in Fairmont, West Virginia. And I would fill their pulpit for three Sundays, two Wednesdays and anything and everything in between.

And it was kind of an exploratory time where I was exploring them as a church. They were exploring me, at least the pulpit committee was initially, as a potential pastor. We had lots of closed door meetings during that time. And I'll tell you, during that time, I had a couple of questions in my mind.

Number one, is this a church that I could lead? Is this a church? Is this a group of people that we would be a fit for? Obviously, that's a human consideration. God's will is the primary consideration. But another one, and probably an even bigger one, was am I even capable of pastoring?

Can I even shepherd? And so I came there definitely feeling the whole walking on water thing very keenly, like you can't walk on water. And so as I came, I just told the Lord, I said, Lord, I'm going to try to shepherd these people while I'm here.

And I need to see if this is even something that you can do in and through my life, because I'm an evangelist. That's my spiritual gifting is an evangelist. And so I need to know that you can help me in this. And I'll tell you, young people, not only does God pay for what he orders, but what he calls you to, he enables you to do.

Again, that's been something we've said so many times. We can put ourselves, I think, sometimes into a box of what we think we're capable of. But at the end of the day, we need to obey the Lord, even if it seems outside of our comfort zone, even if it seems outside of our talents or our abilities or our gifts or whatever.

God knows what God tells you to do. He'll enable you to do so. I went there. I can't even tell you, young people, the ways in which God opened my heart, the ways in which God blossomed in my soul, things that I never even thought possible.

As an example, when I come in to a church for a revival meeting or a war, typically very focused in on the task at hand, the matter of getting out there for a war and getting young people in and just very laser focused.

And honestly, sometimes I don't always notice all the needs and opportunities around me because I'm typically pretty focused in on the ministry at hand. From the moment I showed up there in Fairmont, it was like God had torn scales off of my eyes and I saw spiritual needs.

I saw spiritual opportunities. I saw opportunities for investment and ministry, the kinds of things that I just don't normally see or notice. On top of that, God began to open up opportunities in the community, just people that I met that God began to give and begin relationships with and people who need to be saved, who God was giving me progress with.

And it was like every time I turned around, there was blessing and there was life and there was, in some senses, there was fruit. And then on top of that, even in the preaching and even in some counseling opportunities, just meeting needs and just seeing God bear his fruit in my heart and in my life in these people.

God gave me a love for the people. One thing we've kind of joked about is along the way on my teams, the evangelists are ready to go when the week is done. And me too. I'm typically when I get to the end of a week, it's kind of like, all right, it's your job now.

We'll see you later. We got to head to the next meeting, got to head to the next opportunity. God's used us here in the way that he wants to use us. And so we're out of here. It's not that we don't care about the people.

It's just our burden and our target and our mission is to continue on. And we joke, we've joked the pastors are the ones on the team, the pastors on the team, the young men that are gifted as a pastor. They're the ones that are like, oh, I just want to stay here.

There's so much more work to do. And, you know, and we've always joked like you pastor, you know. And here's the thing that to me was a little bit interesting, shocking, encouraging. We had to move on because we did have five more wars after those two and a half weeks.

And as we were packing up, I told Abby, this feels wrong. She said, what do you mean? I said, this feels wrong, us packing. I feel it's wrong to leave these people. There's just so much more here. And she looked at me. She said, you passed her.

Now, what does that mean as far as my spiritual gift? I think I'm still an evangelist. In fact, part of the way through our time there, while I was in the midst of it all, I had a little bit of an identity crisis.

What am I? You know, what does this make me? Does this mean I'm not an evangelist anymore? Does this mean my spiritual gifting has changed or I lose one gift and I get another? And what is this? And it honestly, it bothered me.

It bothered me a lot. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to put a square peg in a round hole here. And I got on my face. Nobody was at the church. I got on my face at the altar in the auditorium, and I just poured my heart out before the Lord.

And I said, God, what am I? And as clear as a bell, this verse began to scream in my mind. Not scream. It was melodious. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth forth good tidings, that publisheth peace. You may know this, but that's the verse Jesus used, excuse me, Paul used to describe the preaching of the gospel.

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach of the gospel. And there were several things that God put together in my heart there in that moment on the mountains. In Fairmont, it's surrounded by mountains. It's a mountain area. You go through brakes and transmissions on all of your vehicles there.

It is full of hollers, full of hills and mountains. And it is a place that is a mountainous region. And it was like God was saying, I'm going to take your beautiful feet. My feet aren't that beautiful, but you know, I am going to take you as a gospeler and I'm going to send you up and down these mountains to bring forth good tidings.

And it's like God was giving me the place and the gift and telling me, don't worry about your gift. Don't worry about how I made you. You just focus on doing what I tell you to do. And this is what I'm telling you to do.

I am calling you to come to this place to proclaim good tidings, to publish peace, and to shepherd these people in the mountains. And for me, that was just such an encouraging weaving together of my gifting and God's calling and this particular opportunity that he had placed before me.

So even times in talking with some of the folks, again, the folks didn't know that we were there. Some of them suspected maybe that we were there interested in the church, but the Sunday night before we left, they turned off the live stream, and one of the deacons stood up and said that we were interested, and the deacons had fully vetted me and recommended me to become an official candidate, that we would return for Easter Sunday for an official day of candidating, and then that they would vote one week later.

They would vote to call me to be their pastor. and as soon as he announced that the church burst into tears it was like um it was like a bomb of relief and joy and uh peace and excitement and had people coming up to me you're an answer to my prayers giving me hugs and it was exciting honestly it was an exciting day and so we asked them to keep it under their hat.

We've tried to keep it. Again, there's a lot of moving parts and we didn't want to count our chickens before they had hatched. The vote still had to happen. When we returned for that day of candidating, I preached on Wednesday before Easter and then all day on Easter.

The folks were very excited, very much asking me, when are you coming back? When you are our pastor? And everyone was telling me, you're going to be the next pastor you're in. And so it is a joy. to have this opportunity. Now, as of the time of the vote, we are in the midst of a war week here in Pittsburgh.

We got one more war week in Amboy, Illinois, and we have felt that the Lord would have us get down to West Virginia as soon as possible. So we're going to head back to Wisconsin to pack up our stuff and to move down, hopefully, third week or so of May, Lord willing, again, all plans are subject to change, but that's what we're planning at this point.

And then to dive into the ministry of shepherding those folks and leading those folks to live lives of total surrender to God and total dependence on his power to reach them hills with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And, you know, our traveling days may be drawing to a close as far as the war and the Cola Clash and seeking counsel and praying and talking to the pastors.

Our summer itinerary is canceled. It seems like such a strong word, and yet it is. So we won't be taking out a Cola Clash team here this summer, but we will be jumping into a ministry that's going to grow us, that's going to stretch us, that's going to change us.

one where we trust will be a blessing to that people and that community. And I wanted to share much of this story with you young people because I want you to know sometimes God does call you to take a big step. Sometimes he calls you to take a step that you don't even fully understand, a step where you don't even feel like you can, a step where you, it appears that maybe people won't even understand the step that you're taking.

I can't tell you how many times folks are saying, you get a new trailer yet, you know, how are things coming on that? I just smile as I know what God's leading me to do in my heart. And by the way, my wife and I and my kids are all just so excited.

They've got WVU gear already. They're ready to go. So, but young people, as much as this might change a little bit about some of what we do, it doesn't change a thing in our mission. Our mission is to be totally surrendered to God, our Lord, our boss, and do whatever he tells us to do and to depend upon him to enable us to do even the impossible so that we might turn the world upside down with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What's the huge step of faith, the huge step forward that God is calling you to do, young people? Maybe it's to get right with your parents. Maybe it's to hand out that gospel tract. Maybe it's to say yes to God in a particular college route he's been working on you about.

Maybe it's to say yes to him, maybe your college student about a ministry opportunity or just some means of obeying him in your community or with your parents, or maybe he's leading you to give a certain amount to your church and faith, or maybe he's, I don't know what he's leading you to do, but I do know this.

When you take that big step of faith, when you step out of the boat, that's where Jesus is. I go back to the text. Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water. Lord, I'm willing, he said, essentially.

And Jesus said, come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Well, listen, I understand there was a time and a moment where Peter got his eyes off of Jesus. I know there was a moment where he stopped looking to him.

But listen, And again, as Dr. Jim preaches, even when he did, Jesus caught him. And I love this verse. I just noticed this verse. And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. It's like as soon as the lesson was learned, peace.

Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying of a truth, thou art the son of God. I wonder how your step of faith, your big step forward, I wonder how that might cause other people to come to Jesus and worship him.

I wonder how that might inspire others to take their own steps of faith, which would cause other people to worship Jesus, which would cause other people to take their own step of faith. I hope and I pray. I released this special episode here totally out of our normal schedule because I want to share what God's doing and I want you young people to know we are continuing forward in the same journey.

We are continuing forward in the same heart cry. I'm still a part of the generation and I always will be. So would you follow me as I follow Christ? Would you take your own step and count on Jesus to keep you afloat, to enable you to do what's impossible?

And would you endeavor to turn the world upside down with me with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Thanks so much for listening.