In this episode we sat down with Pastor Ritch Boerckel the senior Pastor and Elder of Bethany Baptist Church to talk about what a culture of evangelism looks like. We discuss issues like seeing the culture around you as a member of the church, building a culture in your own home, and ways we can help build a strong culture of evangelism in our church.Transcript

Jimmy Houck: Hello and welcome to The Pray The Miracle Podcast. This is a short run podcast in just a few episodes to help you praise the miracle this year. My name is Jimmy Houck. It's my desire that this podcast would be a tool and an encouragement for you this year as you pray for two people who are close to you but far from God.Jimmy Houck: There's so many ways that our prayer can be derailed, whether it be discouragement, lack of discipline, the normal distractions of life, or even just not knowing where to start. We created this podcast to dive into some of these topics for discussion and to help you break through those barriers. Let's jump into this week's episode. Well, hello, everyone. My name is Jimmy Houck.Jimmy Houck: I'm the outreach minister here at Bethany Baptist Church. And super excited today, sitting down with my friend, my pastor, and a mentor.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yes, sir. Your older friend?Jimmy Houck: Yes, my older, older friend. Not not too old, but a little bit more than middle age.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: But I lived 120. That's right. So.Jimmy Houck: That's right. Well, super excited. Senior Pastor Ritch Boerckel is here with us today to talk about the culture of evangelism that we would love to see at our church here at Bethany. You know, Ritch, just a couple of weeks ago, we sat down and we were talking and you asked me what is a culture of evangelism? And so as a as a good learner, I just reflected back the question to you, and I want to do that again today.Jimmy Houck: And this is ask you, what is a culture of evangelism?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah, you know, culture is a very broad term that describes many different things. There's some parts of church culture that should never change as part of the culture of the first century church in Jerusalem and then Judea and the other most small parts of the world. It's it's part of the church culture today, whether you're in China or Pakistan or the United States, and and evangelism, the desire to go out into all the world as we have been recipients of the Holy Spirit, to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ is an essential part of the mission of the church and as a central part of the mission of the church.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: It's to be part of our culture, our attitudes, our values, the way we think, the way we relate to one another and to the world. You know, think of some other elements that I think of X to when it describes the church as being devoted to the word of God. So every church should have a culture of a devotion to the Word of God, to the fellowship.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: We ought to be a culture where we care for one another deeply to the breaking of bread and then and a prayer. So there are these fundamental elements that necessarily are part of the culture of every church. That's a true church following Jesus. Now there's a dozens and hundreds of things that are part of the culture of an individual church that doesn't necessarily have to transfer to other churches and that don't.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: But but this aspect, it's absolutely vital. It's vital to the mission that Jesus sets us apart. It sets us on. It's vital to our identity. It's it's vital to the very purpose of why we are here. Why aren't we translated to heaven.Jimmy Houck: As we think about a culture of evangelism? Pastor Ritch, let's step back for a second and just why don't we define culture? You kind of just did that a little bit. And so I just want to highlight what I heard you say. Yes. So like you talked about culture being attitudes.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah.Jimmy Houck: And values. Yeah. And it's the way we relate.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yes.Jimmy Houck: Would you are there some other things that that you would add to that to define, like, hey, what is culture?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: I intentionally didn't look up any definitions of culture before I came here because I think it's good to just think, how do we experience that word? Yeah.Jimmy Houck: Yeah.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And you know, I experience that word as very broad. It's sort of, you know, if you use an analogy, you know, of a of a fish swimming in water. The water is a culture in some some fish. The culture is salt water. Sometimes it's freshwater, sometimes it's river running water. Sometimes it can be unhealthy polluted water. But it's it's the water in which we swim in and so I don't know, even if a fish is is conscious of of the culture because they're just in it.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And maybe a very intelligent fish would think about what kind of water, why am I swimming in? And as people create in God's image, we do think about that. But for the most part, we experience it. And so it's it has to do with communication our language and it has to do with relationships how we connect to one another, the sort of the norms that we have of what's the appropriate distance that I keep from people that I know at this level.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: What's it from a distance that I that I draw near to at another level? How does that go about? You know, so manners, customs, values are are really important to to a culture. So all these things sort of make up culture and we think of, you know, a culture of evangelism. And I think one of the questions you're going to ask is, what is evangelism, right?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah. So it's just the telling of the good news of Jesus. That's what evangelism is. It's it's the evangel who has a message that's going forward to people who don't have the message to announce that message. And so when you think of a culture of evangelism, it's some it's it's a kind of environment which it's actually very hard to not think about evangelism and not participate in evangelism because it's all around you.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Like in a church that has a culture, a strong culture, evangelism, that person enters the church, you say, Wow, there's this thing called the gospel, even if they're unbelievers, that it's really important to this group of people. And I'm hearing it, you know, from the sermon, but I'm also hearing people talk about it when they come up to me.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: They seem to want to talk to me about this thing, you know, that they call good news. And and then if you are a believer, you come into that and say, you know, I can't leave here without somehow thinking how I'm taking the message that I just heard and experienced with people and deliver it to others because it's so vital to life.Jimmy Houck: I love the I love the image that you used of a fish and and water. And I, I hope that this podcast and even our conversation, our conversation helps us to be smart fish.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah, right. That's right.Jimmy Houck: And it's about like so, you know, what kind of water are we swimming.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: In, Right?Jimmy Houck: And so, you know, as you as we think about, like the water. Yeah. The community that we are in here at Bethany. Yeah.Jimmy Houck: As we stop and try to be smart fish.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yes.Jimmy Houck: Right. What, what are some encouraging signs that you see in our community? Yes. That would that would help you to. To be encouraged. Yeah. That.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: That actually that's really good.Jimmy Houck: You know, we are in a culture of evangelism to some extent.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: That's right. So first, on the issue of being a smart fish, you know what the church is made up of? God's people have experienced the gospel, first of all, so that everybody has a who is truly a part of Jesus church, has a profound sense of the gospel and its power to bring salvation. So we've all experienced. And so you think of those fish, they all experience the water and it's fresh water.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Is life giving water? I don't think that every fish has to think about the water, but some fish do. Like in other words, that's that's part of leadership. That's part of spiritual leadership, whether it's the leader or the elder level or it's at a Sunday school class or a youth group or, you know, small group leader leaders, it's right for them to think, what am I doing to help advance this culture?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Others just come in and they enjoy it and they experience it and they're changed by it. And they might even thought very differently. It's just what they grown up as a Christian, experiencing a very similar to a family, you know, like so mom and dad have to think about what's a strong family. The kids, they're just experiencing it.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: You know, they're they're they're they're new babies and they're growing as toddlers and they don't even know all the dynamics and the thoughtfulness put in to what it means to be a healthy family. They just experience it. And then eventually, as they grow inside that, they come to learn to think about it and then be able to replicate replicate it when they become leaders of various kinds, moms and dads.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So, I got off on a little bit tangent there.Jimmy Houck: That's good. That's a good.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: She has the question of how do we experience that? Yeah.Jimmy Houck: Bethany We don't want anybody to be like, Man, I've never thought about the culture, so. Am I doing something wrong? Right? What I hear you saying is like, there is a culture, whether we like it or not, right? And it's not necessarily wrong for everybody to not be aware of it. But but somebody better be right, is what you're saying.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: That's right. And ideally, you know, I guess one of the better way for people to ask about the cultural evangelism at Bethany is really kind of like a a layperson, maybe a new person who is somewhat new to the church. And ask, how do you experience the value of evangelism as a result of being here? Tell me talk to me about, you know, what have you experienced?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And my hope would be, you know, for instance, that that that person would say, well, first people have told me their testimonies. They're telling me how this gospel has changed their life and how they received the gospel and how God used that telling to them. And so all of a sudden I'm thinking about my own life. I'm thinking about who brought the gospel to me.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: I'm thinking about how God propagates the gospel. So something as simple as that is what we're becoming. People who just tell the story of what God has done for us. And then ideally they'll think, as I'm listening to the messages I'm hearing, one of the themes that does roll through the messages is the theme of what the gospel is, why it's so important and what need.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: We have to communicate it to others. So I'm having to think about that. You know, and and then from there, you know, hey, I saw the ad, for instance, we had a a gospel institute class on evangelism. I saw that they had a class. I didn't take it, but I saw it. They had it caused me to be curious about why would a church have a whole class and why would there be people who are interested in the class on learning about the gospel so that that again, it's subtly it's like, okay, it's on the mind.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: One thing that we we don't have the church that I grew up in had that really was simple but it, it caused me to think about the gospel as they had over the the door as you were leaving. You know, you are now entering your mission field. And it impacted me. You know, this simple thing, if you say how much does that impact your time?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: I might not have thought very deeply about it, but I, I couldn't leave the church without seeing it in some way. Sometimes it fully registered, sometimes, you know, just part of in your peripheral vision. But I recognize this church wants to teach me that when I leave my responsibility to represent Jesus Christ is beginning. You know, that's this is where I'm to take the the message.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And and so, you know, doing things we we have in the past put tracks and in the back of the seats and curse people take them and and share their various ways that we're trying to build that culture of evangelism. But but it happens, you know, mostly to me when people who are really excited about what God has done in their life tells me their story.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And oftentimes that story includes someone outside of their family sharing the gospel with them. You know, other ways we do have, you know, individuals in our church who ask for prayer because they're going to have a neighborhood sort of party or social at their house. And they want to to use that to leverage those kind of social events to share the gospel.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: I've I've had people say, hey, pray for and they say a specific person. They need to hear the gospel. Pray a door would be open for me. So those are kind of things that happen there. Little things that all together make up a culture.Jimmy Houck: Yeah, that's really good. Pastor Ritch, what are what are some things that you saw in your your home growing up that, that as you look back, you realize, you know, even in your home there was a culture of evangelism, right?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah. So, you know, again, almost anything that I say is not so profound and and we run the risk of thinking that we build a culture by, you know, making a plan and doing certain things. We can do those things. And still a culture wouldn't be built because a culture, something that's accepted and then becomes included without almost thinking, you know, And so it has to be sort of a part of the life of those who are leading.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And it has to be part become a part of life of those who are participating. And that's that's always, you know, it's a miracle and it happens related to evangelism. But we look for that miracle. In fact, we pray for that miracle. Yeah, yeah, yeah.Jimmy Houck: So especially next.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Year, especially next year, we're going to Jimmy's leading a theme called Pray the Miracle. But so in my home, first, both my mom and my dad had been changed by the gospel, and my dad didn't come from a Christian, I'll say an evangelical or gospel gospel receiving home. And and so it would be part of our daily conversation about the life of God in some way.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So it wasn't it wasn't strange. It wasn't like, hey, let's pray before dinner and then let's depart from that conversation. And and it wasn't just let's say a prayer, you know, it was hey, let's let's thank God for our food. And then we would talk. He would open up the Bible and the whole the Bible really is the gospel, whether it's to unbelievers or believers, because we, we believe, are still need the gospel.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: We need we need to be evangelized in some way in the sense of here in the gospel, you know, from each other. And then, you know, I saw that commitment and relationships. My mom and dad, you know, when we were were in the neighborhood, they had a concern for their neighbors as, as many of them were unsaved.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And so we talk about that. You know, they both prior would say, well, we we wish we would have been more bold, you know, like almost every Christian would, would say those things. But they there was on their heart and I know that they did share I loved how, you know, my dad and I this is one when I was growing up but especially he became more bold because he was he wasn't like this outgoing.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Hey, you know, Bob Circles entered the room. You know, he he was very personal, but he wasn't the guy that takes the center stage in a in a room when he walked in the room. But he spent a lot of time in his last ten years in doctor's office, as he said he would. All he said, you know, I found people really don't mind talking about God in the doctor's office.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So he'd bring tracks with them and he'd share them with them and ask if we want to talk about about the Lord. And oftentimes he'd enter into conversations. He said, I'm just sitting there anyway. So. So he'd have those kind of meaningful conversations. But he was always thinking about that, like it was constantly on his heart, like, I want to do this.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: There are obstacles and how do I how do I overcome this obstacle, either of, you know, starting the conversation or of overcoming the the obstacle of, you know, I'm not sure how I'm going to come across, you know, how is the person going to respond and how can I do this effectively? You know, those are all obstacles that believers, believers, all have.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: But it was on his heart, too, because he knew that what his life was like. And my mom did, too. She grew up in a Christian home, but she also was a say, a first generation Christian or every true Christian is a first generation Christian. And and my dad, though, knew the hopelessness of not having the gospel like he grew up that way.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So he would say, you know, I just felt just absolute, utterly hopeless until I had Christ. And he didn't really know. He didn't know that Christ is for him. He'd heard about the gospel, he'd seen Christians worship, and he thought, Well, I guess I'm just not one of those people that would be granted that gift. And so so when he heard the gospel and experience, like everything changes and so I think, you know, the culture of the gospel begins with the miracle of New Birth first, and then with that new birth continuing to feed the life of God in one soul and one's home and one's church.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Because where the life of God has grown strong, you will talk and it will become part of the culture. Not because, like we did have special times where we have family devotions. So we did have structured times, but by far the greater impact was the unstructured times when my dad didn't think, Hey, now I need to talk about the Gospels because that's what I'm supposed to do.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: You know, I got to create a culture. He just thought it just it just flowed through him, became natural, then so became natural for us kids to think about the gospel together and to talk about. And I remember whatever happened. I remember going to school as a kindergartner, as a five year old child, and the number one thing in my head was how many of my my friends, how many people I mean, do not know Jesus.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And they need to know Jesus. You know, that was rolling through the heart of a five year old boy. And it wasn't like, hey, when you go to church school, make sure you think about it. So it was just there because the culture taught me to have the spirit of God use the culture, you know? You know, I need to make that distinction to the culture and create this culture communicates something that wasn't grabbed on to by faith, and God does the miracle.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And then at that, that that's passed on. But I do not remember not having a deep concern for the for the lost. Well, you know, my dad also would participate in things like you'd take us as kids to he'd preach at the rescue mission, for instance. And I'd sit there and I'd be with people that the kind of people I'd never seen before.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah. Yeah. And it was like, okay, if there's my dad in love sharing the gospel, and that had an impact on me as well. It's like, this is so important that we're taking time out of our family schedule to go and participate in sharing the gospel. People who clearly need something in their life to give them hope, you know?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So those things like that. We had our missionaries in our home and, you know, they'd stay in our home and then the, you know, we would family dinner. We talk to them about their work and talked to them about their participation in the gospel. You know, one family was an Iranian GI and boy, that's that's that's crazy.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: You know, their families in Japan. And so getting to know these families and you could tell my my mom and dad generally loved and honored these missionary servants. Like it wasn't like, here's some charity that we're doing, you know, it was like genuinely loved them as people who are doing the work of the Lord and honored them for their sacrifice, you know?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So anyway, those are some things I'm sure there's more than that. Yeah, you'd have to ask my sister and brothers more and more of her.Jimmy Houck: Yeah. Yeah. Well, maybe we'll have to have Alexander get in here to talk about his upbringing for Alexander is. That's Ritch’s one of his sons is in the area but so you know one one aspect to evangelism that you already noted that we're going to be really focusing on this year is prayer.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah.Jimmy Houck: And it's interesting, though, as I was doing just some research on, you know, preparing for this upcoming year and and the theme that we're doing is called Pray the Miracle, because the idea is that, you know, the Lord uses prayer in his intercessory prayer for the lost often before or as or during the time period where he's bringing servants with the gospel to to bring about faith and regeneration in people's lives.Jimmy Houck: Right. So prayer is as an integral part. Yes. And so just as a as a as a community, as a church, we hoping to pray the miracle together. This year and focus on that. But as I was doing a lot of research on this topic, I found that most books on evangelism had a chapter on prayer. Yeah, and most books on prayer had a chapter on evangelism.Jimmy Houck: But there's I couldn't find any books that were solely devoted to the topic of prayer and evangelism. Yeah. I don't know if you find that, if you want to comment on that or not, but I would love to have you talk a little bit or share you know, let's I want to discuss with you or hear your heart.Jimmy Houck: Yeah. When it comes to comparing these to really significant disciplines. Sure. And I would say means of grace. Yeah. Even which we see in prayer and evangelism and how they fit together. So, yeah, go ahead. You know.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: That's a great observation and I'm not too critical of that because, you know, prayer includes more than prayer for evangelism. So it's appropriate that you have a chapter because there's a lot to talk about. Prayer and evangelism includes more than prayer. So it's appropriate to talk about things. But I think your point is, is that these two are are wedded in a way that with a bond that must not be broken, I mean, they're they're so they're so essential to one another.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So true prayer has to have a concern for the lost in evangelism. And true evangelism has to be built on on prayer. The the scriptures, you know, that cause me to think about prayer and evangelism are a couple of them. I'm sure there's more than this, but the two that come to mind kind of work at prayer at different angles.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: The first is prayer and the angle of the evangelist's life. You know, what do we pray for ourselves? And that's, you know, Ephesians six, he, the Apostle Paul, is speaking about spiritual warfare and fascinating because evangelism really is the means by which the Kingdom of God battles and and gains victory over the kingdom of this world, the king of darkness.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: It is a spiritual warfare. And so it's not sort of like an ancillary thing that at the end of talking about the armory, he starts talking about prayer. Now, it's sort of fundamental. I think he's ending on a high point of the necessity of prayer in this whole field of spiritual warfare against demons who are destroying, who are dividing, who are darkening and blinding and keeping people from being interested in and seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And so he says, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. So he says, to that end, keep alert with all perseverance. So to the end of prayer, making supplication for all the saints. So there's there's intercession for the saints. And I think, you know, in reference to evangelism or supplication related to evangelism, which he's going to get to here and says and also for me, so what what supplication we make for all the Saints and for Paul, well, he says that words may be given me in opening my mouth to boldly proclaim the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassadors in chains that I may declare boldly,Pastor Ritch Boerckel: as I ought to speak. That there's a little bit of irony here, because here's a man so bold with the gospel that he is literally in prison. He's an ambassador in chains. He's in prison because you've been so bold and yet even this bold guy, you know, this guy with, I'll say what we might think of as a natural boldness, a send.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Pray for me. For what? How can we pray for you that I would have boldness, you know, So. So it's like, man, if he needs boldness and prayer for boldness, what about me? It's me. And he says, you know, again, it's supplication for all the saints, because one of the one of the assaults or schemes of the devil is to is to quiet the believer's witness and to make his fraid of what what the consequences will be when we share the gospel and to render us really ineffective in our world, in this world.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And so. So here he says, Pray for all the saints, but also pray for me. And he prays for boldness also that words may be given me. I think that's important too, because while I do believe and have benefited from sort of memorizing a gospel outline sort of follows a Romans road type approach and a bridge illustration and good news, bad news is kind of how how that outline that that outline sort of liberates me to think about, well, how how am I going to approach communicating with a specific person, the gospel today, you know, and and so he says, you know, I can't rely just on my own smarts or my own experiences.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And Paul was very intelligent. He knew the scripture and he had a lot of experiences with cultural relevance by this time. But he prayed for words to be given him that, that his words would be words that the Holy Spirit was leading in. So the way he shared the Gospel would be the most effective and and and wise, wise, wise way as well.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And then, you know, I think of the Apostle Paul and in Romans ten and he says, Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they might be saved. He's talking about his fellow Israelite and he knows that Israel is a nature nation by this time had had not embraced the Messiah. There were some Jews.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: In fact, that's that's how the church started. It's started as a Jewish church with the with the 12 to 12 apostles and with the Holy Spirit coming in Jerusalem. And and so it started primarily as a Jewish, a Jewish, a Jewish matter. But then they were to take take the the gospel, then to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the world.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So that was the commission. And, and so on the one hand, the Ephesians, he said, pray for me that I will have words to speak and boldness. But here he says, and my heart, Zion prayer to God for them is that they might be saved, that he's recognizing that while he wishes to use persuasive language, I wish to persuade people that his own powers of persuasion are not going to be effective unless the Holy Spirit is working in a way that opens eyes that are blind, that that gives legs to walk and causes dead souls to to live again, you know.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And so his prayer was for very much for the individuals who needed to be saved. And I think that's a, you know, a great encouragement to us and relationship to how prayer is such a vital matter of of a culture of evangelism.Jimmy Houck: So with our remaining time, Pastor Ritch, there's there's two questions that I would love to just briefly touch on with you. So. So one would be what what are what are some hindrances that you see in people's lives that keep them from praying the miracle? In other words, what keeps people. Yeah. From regularly praying. Yeah. For the lost.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah.Jimmy Houck: In their in their lives, in their neighborhoods.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yeah. And I think that's because there might be a little different list if you say what what hinders people from sharing the gospel. Yeah. So we're just saying what keeps people from praying for the gospel to have a saving effect, right? Yeah. Well, number one is a loss of zeal of will say holy fire of first love for the Lord.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So when our own soul begins to to shrivel in its zeal for the Lord's love for the Lord, then evangelism is one of the first things to go. It's it's one of the first signs that something's wrong in our life. And there is no believer who is on fire for God, who does not have a zeal to share the gospel with others.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: That's what I know. And and so if if I'm sitting here listening and I say I have no zeal to share the gospel, well, I would urge you, first and foremost, consider the condition of your own heart, because I don't really know anybody who's on fire for God, who's who's not desiring to have an impact with the gospel in other people's life.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Now, the matter of prayer, too, is, is then this in the sense of utter dependance and helplessness. So you could be on fire, but not have a sense of utter dependance and helplessness, you know? So a lot of zeal. But but, you know, I've got to do this, you know, a sense of absolute helplessness that the zeal has nowhere to go to bring fruit apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, and then a genuine awakening to a love for the unsaved, a recognition, a contemplation upon their life now without God and then really their life forever without God.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And it's terrifying. You know, we don't like thinking of hell because it's so terrifying to think about it even as believer. I don't like thinking about it, but it's it's present in Scripture for good purpose because it is real. The judgment of God is a reality. And every time I think about the reality of the judgment of God upon those who are left in their sins, it awakens me to to, to to pray and to seek ways to share the gospel.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So, you know, those things, I think to busyness, you know, you put that in there, you know, but that's tied into what I've already said. It's just, you know, you get up it and this is my my struggle sometimes, you know, I have a meeting today at 630 and oftentimes in jail at eight or 830 and tired. And so where do you put it?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Well, you got I've got to make room for it. And that's, you know, part of the the disciplining yourself for the purpose of godliness, you know, and and so that also is another aspect.Jimmy Houck: Yeah. Well, praise God. Thank thank you so much for what you've shared today. It's always good to sit down with you, my friend. I'm a pastor, my mentor. As we close it out here, just in, just a take. I would love to hear just in a couple of minutes, would you share one story? I know. I know you've you've been pastoring at this church for almost 30 years, is that right?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Yes, It's been just over 30 years. Right.Jimmy Houck: So you may have you probably have more than one story, but would you share one story.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Kind of roll through my my heart? Well, you know, again, there's so many I'm so thankful for that. The one that one that's all so close, close to home. You know, it's because my what's really it's one my own children I'll just share that because that's what we pray for. We pray for our children. Right. And and there's one child that seemed to be later than the other in in embracing Christ.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: The Savior, you know. And so we would we just prayed for him. And, you know, I'll always remember because it was a well, Kimberly would remember more I believe it was a good Friday service. I need to ask her about that. But it was a special service. We had communion and so sorry about that. But so I'm preaching or I'm actually leading communion and she talking about communion.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: So I didn't get to experience. I noticed down front something was happening. So my wife is in the front and my son was next to him and and he just broke down in tears and he talked to his mom about how he needed Jesus Christ as his savior. And and so, you know, who could put that kind of emotion?Pastor Ritch Boerckel: It wasn't emotionalism service, you know, But as he just contemplated the bread and the cup, the gospel came to him in a way that struck his heart. And and and brought it to life. And so, you know, that's what the gospel does. I mean, I another my son's, you know, he had a deep problem early on with anger.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And we prayed about that. We knew that he hadn't confessed. Christ, you know, we didn't, you know, as a little child, you know, not sure. Have they come faster than believed? Not it's not that he was rejecting, but but there was a time or two when and this was a home or he said, I need to trust in Jesus Christ, my savior.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: And I'm not saying that he didn't have any problem with anger from that point forward, but it was a noticeable, palpable difference. That we saw in a five year old child in their struggle with a particular sin. And I say, well what explains that? Because our parenting didn't change. Well it's the life of God in the soul.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: You know, he was a child who didn't have a life God, and suddenly now a child who does. And that made all the difference in in his in his ability to to engage with the sin that was wanted to destroy his life, you know?Jimmy Houck: Well, Pastor, thank you so much. I those stories as a dad who's praying the miracle for my kids. Yeah I'm encouraged. Yeah. And as as somebody who is is good friends with two of the year three sons, I'm thankful that all three of them we're.Pastor Ritch Boerckel: Working on the third.Jimmy Houck: Yeah, I need. I just haven't had enough time with Daniel so. But I know I would be close friends with him as well. But so I think it's significant as we're going into this next year and focusing on praying the miracle that we remember, that we're praying for miracles in our neighbors, but we're also praying for miracles in our very homes.Jimmy Houck: And so thanks for for for ending on that. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Pray, The Miracle Podcast. We pray that you found this week's episode helpful and inspiring. Our challenge for this year is to pray for two people who are close to you but far from God. And so we created a special tool to help you to do just that.Jimmy Houck: It's an email list that will send you a simple action step each week. All of them are designed to get you praying and sharing. You can sign up for a 13 week challenge, a solid 26 week challenge, or go all the way and do the 40 week challenge by going to Bethany Central Dorrigo Pray the miracle.