In today’s episode of According to The Cassels, we are joined by Bill Schiel Sr. and Billy Schiel Jr. Bill has been in agriculture and horticulture for over 50 years and, after retiring, is now an elder at his church.

Billy started his journey in ministry at a young age, studying at Bible College, and is now in vocational ministry and local-church planning. The father and son duo talk to us about how we can flourish as humans through Christ. Bill shares how we can use gardening to unlock our spiritual gifts while Billy gives us the Biblical reasons why being in a community is essential. We learn that God designed nature to help us better understand ourselves as humans and that it is important to remain in constant prayer with our Creator.

Tune in for this incredible episode and find out more about how Billy is using house-churches to grow Christ’s community and deepen faiths!

Key Points From This Episode:

• A brief look at Bill’s professional background in agriculture and Billy’s early roots in ministry. 
• How we can flourish as humans through Christ. 
• Using your God-given given gifts to bless others. 
• God’s design for human-flourishing and how gardening ties in with us using our gifts. 
• Being exiles on Earth. 
• Why we need to be beneficial to the community we live in. 
• How Bill’s gift for gardening has blessed him and the lives of those around him. 
• Organic gardening as a Biblical example of not wanting to take the easy way out.
• Bill’s tips for starting your own home garden: it’s all about the soil. 
• Gardening as a tool for unlocking spiritual gifts.
• How God designed nature to help us understand our anatomy as humans. 
• Pulling the weeds out of our lives, spiritually. 
• Maintaining spiritual growth even through the isolation of a global pandemic. 
• The importance of disciplining ourselves to remain in the Biblical community. 
• House-churches as spaces for cultivating relationships and deepening your faith. 
• Prayer as the primary way in which we participate with God in the world. 
• How house-churches have helped people who are new in their faith. 
• The undeniable Grace of God. 
• Why it is important to be spiritually healthy. 

Tweetables:

“I think the idea of humans flourishing was God’s plan from the beginning.” —Billy Schiel Jr.[0:03:12]

“We’re just exiles here. This still isn’t our eternal home. America is not what we’re living for. Another nation is not what we’re living for. We’re living for the Kingdom of God.” —Billy Schiel Jr.[0:06:08]

“I learned a lot from trial and error, which is what you do in gardening.” —Bill Schiel Sr. [0:09:43]

“Our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak, so it’s a fight daily to say, ‘I’m going to pull the weeds out of my life, spiritually, by being in the Word, being in prayer, being in Biblical community.’” —Billy Schiel Jr. [0:17:13]

“You belong before you believe. You have a community before you’ve even crossed over the line of faith.” —Billy Shiel Jr. [0:30:05]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Amy Cassels

Amy Cassels on Twitter

ONE Way Life

Mentioned in this episode:

NingxiaRed

Sparkle Dust