Behind The Pulpit

Let's Talk About Vision

• Millington Baptist Church • Season 4 • Episode 12

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This week on Behind the Pulpit, Pastor Bob is joined by Pastor Dave and special guest Amy Huber for a lively post–Vision Sunday conversation. With Thanksgiving around the corner, the trio swaps stories about thawing turkeys, travel delays, and tryptophan myths before diving into cultural commentary ranging from New Jersey’s latest parental-rights debates to robotics on the battlefield and ongoing developments in Ukraine. They also revisit their Book War picks, talk outreach, celebrate upcoming Advent resources, and even critique Hollywood’s newest releases — all while enjoying plenty of good-natured baton humor inspired by Vision Sunday.
The team also takes time to reflect on this year’s Vision Sunday itself, exploring MBC’s 175th anniversary, the newly launched strategic plan, and the ministries and initiatives taking shape across the next three years. From the discipleship portal and theology survey to disability ministry development, outreach expansion, and plans for intergenerational mentoring, the conversation offers a warm, hopeful look at where God is leading MBC and how each person can be part of the mission.
In this week’s Theology Sprint, Bob and Dave unpack the biblical idea of God’s long-suffering — exploring its Hebrew and Greek roots, its connection to God’s mercy and patience, and what “slow to anger” really means for followers of Christ. It’s a timely reminder heading into the holidays: the God who is patient with us invites us to extend that same grace to others.

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ahuber@millingtonbaptist.org

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:05 Thanksgiving Preview
4:08 In the News
17:49 The Great Book War
28:20 Sermon Recap
59:38 House of David Recap
1:05:32 Theology Sprint

Music
"Ventura"
Morgan Taylor
U76EPPNJDYZYU0Y7

Bob:

Well, hey there everyone. Welcome to Behind the Pulpit for uh November the 24th, 2025. We're so glad you're joining us. Uh we're gonna make this a little shorter because our Vision Sundays tournament was uh was so long. Uh but uh I am joined here by two outstanding guests, and I have the baton. So first I'm gonna introduce our the the one and only, the famous Amy Huber right here.

Amy:

Well, actually, I think there's two of us, technically.

Bob:

Okay, the two the the one of the two and only, Amy Huber, but you have the red baton. I have the baton and we have the Christmas color batons right here. There we go. Boom. And then uh to her to her uh left is the uh um is Dave. Uh he's got the blue baton. By the way, I I mentioned by the end, since this week is Thanksgiving, we should pull out the uh the Reese's and actually cut it up as a pre-Thanksgiving uh dessert meal. And Tim said we could do it, so we're gonna we're gonna make an app. So how how's it going? How was your how's the rest of your weekend? Did you guys get any downtime yesterday?

Amy:

I did.

Bob:

I went to a friend's house and I I know I heard you skipped that on pickleball yesterday to go and see your friend. No, I was not, but uh I have a re my my kids would not allow me to go.

Amy:

So no, I got to see some friends and uh found out that the people I was visiting are neighbors of Bruce and Carrie Cork, right in Bloomsfield. Bloomsbury. But yeah. Wow.

Bob:

Bruce and Carey, the uh the legend uh expands. All right. Dave, what about you? Did you get a you get a nap yesterday?

Dave:

How come if we have a long sermon it's a shorter podcast? I would think that that would exceed some of our time. It would be only that much more to cover. Pastor Dave, I'm also outraged. Yeah. I don't understand your logic.

Bob:

Well, I I do have to, it is a short week and I do have to write a sermon for this coming Sunday. Oh, that's the real reason.

Amy:

Everyone needs to do their shopping and cooking, so I agree with that.

Dave:

All right. Well, I have a turkey thawing in my fridge since Friday night.

Amy:

Oh, okay.

Dave:

You guys have the uh thawing going? Are you thawing?

Bob:

Well, we're not cooking, otherwise, we probably would be thawing. Pretty big. Yeah. And it's a large bird. It's uh what's what's the pound? What's the tonnage on the bird?

Dave:

Oh gosh, I got a home home. I'll get you that answer later. Um It's fairly large. What's your uh your uh process for the thaw, Pastor Dave? You know, every single year it's like I can't even believe it's been this many days and there's still ice in here. So Friday night is how we started it. This night it's gotta be ready by Thursday morning if we start six days in advance. So we're trying. Um yeah.

Bob:

So how do you do the bird like uh wasn't there a famous video last year from RFK Jr. He like he like puts the bird, he like what do you call it? He like deep fries the bird or something.

Dave:

I don't deep fry. We do a traditional oven baking, and uh we've got a certain recipe for the stuff that goes in there and you know the nice butter coating on the outside. I think um Tony Iana Cone is the one who gave me this particular recipe like ten years ago. It's good, it's good. You got you got like a lemon in there, a whole thing of garlic, you got a certain uh rosemary and stuff goes inside, and then uh, you know, it comes out pretty good.

Bob:

Okay. All right. Now the question is how how sleepy does it make you after you're done eating it? Not a myth. Tryptophan makes you sleep.

Tim:

Yes, but there's not enough tryptophan in turkey to actually do anything. It's just I don't know.

Bob:

I I want to get laid in on the couch if I have a lot of tryptophy.

Tim:

Well, how much do you eat on Thanksgiving? That's what does it.

Amy:

Oh, and it also depends on the time. I'm curious how many of you have dinner at one versus six p.m.

Tim:

But I have heard recently that I split the difference usually. Yeah. I have heard recently that tryptophan doesn't actually do anything to you from the amount that's in the turkey. It's just the fact that you eat so much on Thanksgiving.

Dave:

Prove it. This is you're you're breaking news right here.

Tim:

This is for in the news segment. This is the in-the-news segment right there. All right, to the men of NBC, it is once again the time to tell you guys about our next men's breakfast. And this one is gonna be a special one. Our next men's breakfast will take place on December the 13th in Fellowship Hall, right here at NBC from 7 30 to 9 a.m. That's December 13th. And this one's gonna be really cool because we're gonna be talking about faith in the arena, specifically the sports arena. We're gonna be having our very own Don Herman on the panel, who was a previous member of the New York Football Giants, along with others who are gonna talk about how they lived out their life of faith in sports. You're not gonna miss that, so come on out.

Bob:

Speaking of in the news, while Tim looks it up, let's let's jump into that segment, the world famous in the news. All right, so we were talking about a few news stories that were worthy of note, other than the fact that it is Thanksgiving uh this week, and hopefully you're gonna have a good uh Thanksgiving. Actually, the one the one news story that caught my my eye that I forgot to mention was apparently um the FAA is warning of travel delays this week for Thanksgiving. So if you're flying, we'll we'll pray for you by the time the service, this uh not the service, this podcast is done. Uh but you had one, uh you had a couple over there, Pastor Dave. Um you want to do the Ukraine one first, or should we uh should we do the Trump Mandami or Mom how do you say his name? Mom Dani? Mom Dani. Mom Dani.

Dave:

First, I think we should talk about what is Thanksgiving. So there was some misunderstandings. Just kind of took that in the took the took the bull by the horse there. This is newsworthy, I think. What is it that we're celebrating this week? There's some different um theories out there, and it's changed since I was in elementary school. So there's the whole pilgrim Thanksgiving thing from 1621 that's really famous, where the um feast was held with the certain Native American tribe. Um I think it's Wapanag. I'm not remembering exactly. But so that's like the OG. And then there were some colonial Thanksgivings before we became an official separated country from England, and then Abraham Lincoln, during the Civil War, declared in 1863 a national day of Thanksgiving for the country to give thanks to God. That's what Thanksgiving is.

Bob:

Honest aid, man. Honest aid.

Dave:

Right. And then modern, I'm looking it up here. The modern date was in 1941, where Congress formally set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November. I have some people in my family that are not uh American, and this is not exactly something that other people know about. So it's good to explain. Like, for example, my brother-in-law Benjamin uh is from Zimbabwe, and they have different ways of you know giving thanks and gratitude to God, but this isn't like their thing. So um that's what Thanksgiving is in America, and I think it's worthy of recognizing. So you guys you guys enjoy the uh little history lesson I gave you there?

Bob:

Yes, I I was enthralled right there, Pastor Days.

Amy:

I appreciated it. Thank you.

Tim:

I can put a bow on the tryptophan claim, which is not a claim. Uh, this is from TexasHealth.org, and there are many other organ uh things that have articles on this. Uh tryptophan from turkey. Um well tryptophan is an amino acid that helps create chemical called serotonin in your brain. Uh, it's also present in other foods like chicken and beef. It's not just turkey. Uh, some nuts and cheeses also have it. Uh, there is not nearly enough tryptophan in turkey to give you any sort of reaction. It's a combination of the amount of carbs you eat, uh, a blood sometimes the blood sugar spike from the sugar, uh, the amount of food, and some people like to enjoy like a glass of wine or two on Thanksgiving. So a combination of those things is what puts you to sleep. So don't blame Tom on your dre on your post. Fake news. Right there, fake news.

Amy:

I think that it's a good idea to incorporate a turkey trot as part of your Thanksgiving festivities because you know, burning off that calorie uh plate, I think uh on average people consume about 3,000 calories on Thanksgiving.

Bob:

That's a lot of that's a lot of calories. And and you know, and you're not really moving either, so you know what you're saying.

Amy:

Get that 5k in before you you dine on the turkey trot.

Dave:

I've done one, the Greenbrook turkey trot, which was fun. Yeah. My time was not great. It was like 33 or something ridiculous. I was so you did you decided to be a little bit of a big thing. I wasn't the last one, but I was drotting across the finish line after a lot of people already finished. Well, all right. Johnny would be laughing at me.

Bob:

Maybe next time. Yeah, did Johnny Johnny say anything to you after your uh your rebuke of him with his running during the sermon yesterday?

Dave:

He disappeared. I think he's mad at me. Yeah. We're not friends anymore after that blasphemy that I gave him yesterday.

Bob:

All right. Alright, so what's the next story at now that Thanksgiving? What do you want to talk about? I got this I got the parent right one down in Colts Neck. Okay, let's talk about that. Alright, so here's here's the headline. Um Colts Neck School Board adopts parents' rights policy, LGBTQ plus advocates object. So so basically, this is down in my neck of the woods where I grew up. Coltsneck is not far from Middletown, uh, but Mammoth County, which is a more conservative part of New Jersey. The Board of Education down there in Colts Neck adopted a parent bill of rights on November the 19th, which has drawn criticism. The nine-member school board of uh Coltsneck Township Schools, which educates a thousand children in preschool through eighth grade, unanimously approved the parents' rights, and the measure says the parents should have the right to know if their child changes pronouns or gender identity. What a concept, Pastor Dave. So this is something that's debated. And I I you know, I was actually just having a conversation since we were talking, we did the the the spot for little footprints in the sermon yesterday. Somebody came up to me and was even talking about the challenges with public schools and curriculum, and this is a this is another thing. So curriculum's one thing, but then um uh this is a totally another thing that that the school boards or s or the school districts might be hiding things the kids are doing in the school in the actual classroom from what's going for their parents at home. Um so I see that as being a problem. What do you think?

Dave:

I mean, I think there's a a general philosophical difference uh there that you know who has the ultimate authority over a child's life? Who is the rightful person who's responsible for you know upbringing? And do we at what point do we cede control over to the government? Like what is the definition of danger and at what point is it appropriate for a government to intervene on on on uh in a family's you know life? And I think right now our society is wrestling with that. I would obviously veer more towards you know the parents ultimately have rights in this way. But um you know, different people consider the the the problem is we're defining like what's dangerous and what's abusive differently because of different worldview.

Bob:

Um some people would say, well, the fact that you're not affirming what your child wants to do, that's actually the it's being re-recast as being abuse.

Dave:

Yeah, I mean that's actually harmful. So you know, they're casting themselves as the hero in the play, saying we're gonna swoop in and we're gonna like look at you pulling in the drama triangle right now. There's the like there's the threat of suicide is typically what's what's trotted out there. So if you don't affirm, if you d you know, then your child is gonna be at risk. And that's a pretty significant like card to play. Hey, if you don't do this, just so you know, you might be responsible for someone taking their own life. That's that's like the ultimate Trump card, right? So that I don't know that the research really bears that out, but that's the that's what's been said. Um I would disagree with that. Although I do think there's a some point where you have an abusive household and the authorities do need to protect children from certain environments, but we would take issue with you know gender transitions being of of that caliber. I think parents should be very aware of what's going on.

Bob:

So here's a statement from the board, the school board president, an Angelique Volpe. I that's how you say her name. But she says, Parents' rights will remain at the forefront of every decision we make. Parents are the primary authority in their children's education, and we will not permit any sexual conduct, ideology, or identity to take prior priority over the rights of our families and the educational mission of our schools. That's a pretty strong statement from the school board president right there. Yeah. But you're right. I mean, it really comes down to who who is it that has primary authority, and some people don't think it's parents. Um but from a Christian worldview perspective, we would have some disagreements with that big time. All right, next story. What do you want to talk about? Anything else?

Dave:

Uh you we can talk about Ukraine a little bit. So here's the BBC.

Bob:

Give me a summary of what's going on in the Ukraine.

Dave:

So Ukraine. Um US and Ukraine signal peace plan progress after Geneva talks. This article is from today. There were some negotiations that were drawn up with an updated and refined peace framework with plan to continue to work on that peace in the coming days. Uh a joint statement said talks on a U.S. backed plan in Geneva, which are now understood to have concluded, were highly productive. Marco Rubio uh said a tremendous amount of progress uh was made, honing a plan, but there's still work to be done. So the plan, I guess, is the question uh, you know, is this a positive plan or is this a problematic plan? There's there was originally 28, 28 points to the peace plan, um, some more controversial points than others. The biggest thing that I saw that was kind of troublesome is all of the territories that were attacked and taken over by Russia were essentially going to be ceded to Russia as part of this peace plan. Like, and more, more, and even more than that, I think. Number two, they wanted to permanently limit the size of Ukraine's army. I think it was like 100,000 or 500,000 or less, or something. I can't remember the exact number, but it had to be a small army. Um Ukraine could not join NATO, and um there was some reconstruction finances involved with the plan. Uh so you know, there were several things to talk about from a Christian worldview perspective. Obviously, 2,000 years ago, the greatest peacemaker who ever lived said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. We want to uh obviously advocate for peace and resolution of conflicts like this. Uh there's a terrible loss of life half happening on a weekly basis. There is a just war tradition in the Christian faith, and we believe that Ukraine has a right to defend themselves as a matter of last resort in this case. Um I think we want to be advocating for the vulnerable and uh those who have suffered as a result of this uh war and the the atrocities there. We need to pray for wisdom for our leaders, and um I think we need to be careful about what is justice here, and uh is justice going to be served by this peace plan. There seems like some uh it seems like it's tilted more in favor of uh basically a laundry list of what Russia wants. That's what it seemed like. So some honing needs to happen, and we'll see if this is uh something that both sides are willing to agree to. We would certainly pray that this would end quickly. But those are some thoughts on the So what is Ukraine what does Ukraine get?

Bob:

Does Ukraine get anything? You didn't mention anything. What are they getting?

Dave:

They get to stop dying. You know, they get to the arms get to be laid down, they get to have a ceasefire. Um you know, I'd have to look deeper into all these points. There's probably some things, but I I do know they want elections to happen. So they Zelensky, I think, has had some kind of there's a wartime um hiatus on democracy. So he's basically the president um for the interim time. There's no end in sight to his term. So part of this is potentially him losing power, which I'm sure he's not that happy about. But uh it doesn't look to me like there's that much in favor of the Ukrainian position here. So that could be a good idea.

Bob:

So that they have some guaranteed protections in the future.

Dave:

It doesn't look like that's gonna be an option. Yeah. So the question is asked, like, okay, okay, so how long is this gonna last? And what you know, it's only a matter of time until Russia invades again, right? Because it seems like we're rewarding them for the aggression. So we'll see. We would love to see an end to this war. I think we're coming up on year four.

Bob:

Is that March of 2022, I think, is when it started.

Dave:

So it is a coming year four, yes. It's getting really drawn out here.

Bob:

I'd love to see an end to this. But didn't you were you the one that was saying, Amy, that they had they had robots fighting in the field, and of course, drone warfare has been a big thing?

Amy:

The robots were uh considered a lifeline in the kill zone bringing uh precious supplies to the troops that are trapped on the Eastern.

Bob:

How close are we to having Terminators and warfare? That's the question. I guess this is happening, right? I thought we were much farther out than this. I did not realize this was happening. Yeah, that's amazing. Wow. I've seen some images. They're pretty versatile machines. We'll see. We'll see. Maybe in the next five to ten years it's gonna be Yeah, things are gonna change. All right. So anything else on the news stories? We feel good about those? Our cultural commentary for the day. All right.

Tim:

Done. Once again, this one is for our men. So, men of NBC, we are excited to tell you about a men's small group that's gonna happen from 7 to 8 30 a.m. every single morning in the YFMB room 202 here at NBC. And this group is gonna be called the Men's Power Hour. The Power Hour is a group of men seeking to know God better by concentrating on how he speaks to us through scripture. After an opening prayer, we look at a portion of scripture directly or use a topical book based on scripture, seeking not only knowledge but wisdom. But the power hour is more than just that. It's a place where men can share personal concerns and seek help and guidance, knowing that everything discussed will be kept in the strictest confidence by the group. If you have any more information on that, check out our website and contact Jim Ludecker, who will be leading the group. This sounds like an awesome group for men who are looking to seek the Lord in community.

Bob:

Let's let's move on to the Great Book War. Alright, so Tim, give us an update over there. What's going on?

Tim:

So going into um last the going into this week, Pastor Dave had a five to two lead.

Bob:

Um and then at asterisk, because you did not get me give me my forfeit wins. So an asterisk next to his wins.

Tim:

Well, the competition wasn't here, so exactly.

Bob:

That's what a forfeit means.

Tim:

Uh well, we'll we'll we'll discuss with the commissioner of the league here. Um we'll get back to the state.

Bob:

I will be launching uh an appeal.

Tim:

Um duly noted. Um so Pastor Dave will continue to roll on here with a uh 12 response victory for Pastor Dave. Look at that blue. Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, the basis of Christian Unity. But I also want to take this time and kind of address something that I noticed. Okay.

Bob:

Um I'm gonna address an injustice here with the voting. You know what the injustice is?

Tim:

Pastor Dave recommended a $200 book. What? Oh yikes. That might be the injustice here. So, all of you blind voters of Pastor Dave out there, why don't you?

Bob:

You can get that thing for a lot less than that.

Tim:

I don't know. It says right here. I don't know, Tim.

Bob:

I think I think Dave's doing some ballot harvesting over these book wars right now. That's fake news. Maybe that particular cover or that particular publication, but you can get that book for two. I was ahead, but then in the middle of the night, all of a sudden, that's a paper battle book for $200.

Dave:

Nah, it's cheap. You can get it. It's just that particular.

Tim:

That was the only one I saw on Amazon.

Dave:

Trust me, it's out there. You can get it. All right. You don't have to pay that. It's a good book. You'll like it. All right. There you go. Brother Martin.

Bob:

So uh are we doing we're doing recommendations?

Tim:

We're not doing Christian Unity. We're not doing recommendations.

Bob:

Yeah. So by the way, I'm not even quite sure why I recommend books anymore because apparently everybody has it in for me out there. But I will roll on and give a recommendation today and see what happens. So yesterday we did Vision Sunday, but we'll talk about that in a minute. Uh, if you need to pick up your uh your beautiful outline of our strategic plan.

Dave:

Look at that. Let's all hold them up just for like a good shot.

Bob:

That's beautiful. That should be the cover there. 11 by 17.

Dave:

Look how big it gets to hold the whole thing.

Bob:

Wow. Dave, he just man, he just smell it. Does it smell like a new book? I hope everyone's a new book posted in their in their kitchen or pray for us as a reason I'm bringing that up is so our we launched our three-year strategic plan, and under the Made to Multiply section, a big strategy was um building out a uh a robust disability ministry. Uh for uh so I think we we voiced it as um building a culture of compassion, and the disability is the piece of that. So the book that um our family team and our our disability leadership team is going to be reading, and that I would highly recommend, is a book called Accessible Church by Sandra Peoples. Uh the subtitle is A Gospel-Centered Vision for Including People with Disabilities and Their Families. And uh I really appreciate um how she's put this book together. So at the beginning, she basically gives a theology of disability. And if and if you think disability isn't in the Bible, uh read chapter, I believe it's chapter uh two, where she goes over all the Bible verses that talk talk about this. And then uh she's got a whole lot of uh practical suggestions um in in the following chapters from how we develop policies, how people are impacted by this, um, who needs to be on the leadership team. Um uh we just got through the section with our family team about kids ministry, and next month we're gonna be looking at um teens and young adults, uh teens and adults, I should say. Um but ultimately one of the things that she says is the goal is the gospel, that we want everybody to have access to hear the good news about Jesus Christ. How can we do that for those that are impacted by disabilities and have some limits? So this is a uh fabulous book for that. I highly recommend it. And I'm sure I won't get the votes for it, but that's my recommendation.

Tim:

1642, free on audiobook, by the way. Oh, there you go.

Dave:

For me, I'm gonna recommend a book by a um fellow German, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In case you don't know the last Hentchel is German. Um so Bonhoeffer lived in the early 1900s. He was a Christian pastor, he was a seminary professor, he was also a political prisoner in Nazi Germany. And um before he was captured and taken into prison, he spent some time in different contexts. One of those contexts was living um in essentially a community atmosphere with a bunch of other clergy, where he got some insight in terms of what it means to live life together. And so Life Together is a short book. I think it's like a hundred pages, 120 pages. Um, I'm I just read it this past week, and it is all about the common life that we have in Christ and the gift that it is to live in fellowship and live in community. The book is divided into uh five big sections. The first one is about um, you know, the value of life together. Then he talks about the rhythms of the Christian life, and he gives some really, really practical tips on how to do things like morning devotions, evening devotions, how to incorporate the psalms, how do you pray the things like the imprecatory psalms, which is like, you know, God smite my enemies. How do you do that? And he says basically you're essentially taking on the mind of Christ there and recognizing that he died for his enemies, and so you're kind of adjusting uh things based on the age of grace that we live in. Uh, he also talks about how to have solitude in here and what to do with your solitude. And there's some really key uh parts of fellowship in here about how to have confession and how to receive a confession and how to give a confession and how to prepare yourself for the Lord's table. It's basically a treatise on how to have like an authentic Christian community experience. And I found this book to be really accessible, really amazing, really relevant. Bonhoeffer um is a great theologian that I think sometimes is overlooked. What I also read about in conjunction with that is he actually put together a confession called the Bethel Confession, where um because Hitler was elected and in the 30s he was coming to you know more and more totalitarian power, he put together a theological statement that never really got published. But the statement was the traditional articles of faith and theology, but it also had integrated in there very sharp cultural critiques about what was happening in Germany and how we as Christians respond to those things. It was a very different way to think about like a doctrinal statement, like there was this whole section in there on the Jews and how Christians should think about Jewish people. So it's like, okay, wow, you don't normally see that in a doctrinal statement. And there was a big section about the government, a big section about things that were going on in Germany, and he was like telling you how to think about these things as a Christian, right inside of the Bethel Confession, which I found to be super helpful. So that's my recommendation. You should have this on your shelf and you should get it. And I think you can get it for like 10 bucks. I I don't think I'm lying about that, Tim.

Bob:

I got his whole three major volumes. So he's got Life Together, he's got the cost of discipleship, another famous one, and then he's got a whole ethics uh uh volume.

Dave:

This one I think is probably the simplest one. I think you'll like it. Um yeah, classic exploration of Christian community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Check it out. I think you'll enjoy it. That's my recommendation.

Amy:

Well, I do. I actually come on the heel. We're gonna split the vote this week. But I just actually I in um all transparency, I haven't read it yet, but I just received it from Christian Book, which by the way, if you order from Christian Book, put in Millington Baptist Church and we will get some proceeds from those sales back to the book. I don't know if you can see it on my phone. I am about to read a book called Growing Together. The uh focus is on taking mentoring beyond small talk and prayer requests. So I'm going to be going through this book with another young lady uh in a mentoring discipleship relationship.

Bob:

Well that sounds like a good book right there. Can I see that? Melissa Kruger? Yeah, she's good. Oh yeah. She is uh Michael Kruger's wife, Michael Kruger, the president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte.

Amy:

But this book is highly recommended by the Gospel Coalition. So I have a PDF of that. You do. Okay.

Dave:

And you know Kim used it as a mentoring tool. Yeah. So it's it's uh it's got a little bit of inner reputational uh weight there. There you go. Got an endorsement from the women's ministry.

Bob:

Growing together. Boom. All right. All right. As always, we recommend you decide. So we'll see, we'll see how this goes with. I don't know if Tim's gonna represent Amy's gonna be the green party in in the colors, so we'll see what happens.

Amy:

We have the red. Do we have red represented? Yeah, but they yeah, but I usually running as an independent. I am running as an independent. Vote for me. Purple.

Tim:

I think based on recent local election results, uh statewide, Pastor Dave, I think you would be the Democrat in this situation. That's right.

Dave:

He's got the blue baton over there. Yep. There you go. I want to switch colors.

Tim:

Hey guys, we are about to jump right into the Vision Sunday recap where we're gonna talk about all the things that we are excited for coming up in our 175th year here at NBC. But before we do that, on December the 20th, we will be having our City Relief Packing Party, where we will come together as a church and pack over a thousand hygiene kits that we will provide to City Relief to give out to those who are struggling with homelessness. So come on out on December the 20th. It's gonna be from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock. However, if you are hungry and want to come for breakfast, those doors will open at 8:30. We're gonna have a continental breakfast. There's gonna be some really good coffee from local coffee roaster Barrister Coffee House right here in Basking Ridge. And I think we're gonna have some hot chocolate and some candy canes and stuff like that too. There's gonna be Christmas music. Bring your Christmas cheer to the City Relief Packing Party on December the 20th. One final thing: this is the last week to contribute to adding more hygiene kits. We are up over almost 1,300 in total. Our goal is to get to 1,500 kits that we're gonna pack on December the 20th. So by December 1st, if you would like to contribute to the event, click the link in the show notes where you can sign up for the event as well as contribute if that's something you'd like to do. We can't wait to see you there on December the 20th.

Bob:

All right, well, let's let's uh switch over to a recap of our Vision Sunday sermon. So, again, if you are uh if you're just new with us and you haven't been with us before, we we do a vision sermon around this time every year um to kind of just reorient our congregation into our vision statement, what we want to be about as a church, as well as talking about some initiatives that we're Planning in the coming year. Although this year we were trying to do several things, which made it a little bit more complicated. So if you if you look again, the brochure is highlighting our 175th anniversary, so we have a big milestone coming up next year. We also have been working on, every few years we we re um reassess and and recast uh our strategic plan. Usually those run for three to four years. Um so we're shooting for three years with this one. And uh we wanted to give you information about that. And then we also baked in some things that are specifically uh happening in in the coming year. So again, pray over this, look at this, pray about what God's calling you to do, how God's calling you to be involved, whether that's serving, giving, etc. And uh Amy, do you want to talk about the merch store? I brought one with me. So if you want to commemorate this 175th, you can get something that looks like this, right? There it is. You can get a t-shirt. Can we admire the logo? There you go, the logo's on there. T-shirt, they have long-sleeve t-shirts, we got polos, we got sweatshirts, and I don't know if we have hats, I think there's a mug. We're talking about lapel pins, so it's it's uh uh go to the merch store, it's right on our website. Click on there.

Amy:

You can also stop by the Welcome Center to see the actual samples, the physical samples are on display.

Bob:

There you go.

Amy:

Check it out.

Bob:

All right. So uh maybe let's uh let's talk a little bit about um about what we uh what we covered here in this in this message. We tied it with in with Isaiah.

Amy:

Well I have to say it was such a wonderful sermon, especially because you did a recap of some highlights from this past year, and my heart was just swelling with gratitude over all the things we can be grateful for. I mean the bapt tell me, what what did you love about this past year? Baptisms, new members?

Dave:

So many things, yes. I don't think I properly thanked Tim for that video. That was outstanding. I was so moved by the way you visually put together all of those events and uh they had the the speed up version, what's that called when people walk really fast? Uh time lapse time lapse version. And you know, just having all those baptisms one after the other after the other at the end, and you really had a a lot of content in there that was squeezed into a very small amount of time that gave us a great snapshot of a great year at NBC.

Bob:

It was it was indeed a feast for my eyes, Tim. I felt full after watching that. It was like why do we need to preach? Like this is it.

Amy:

You should give a season of Thanksgiving. Thank you.

Bob:

Yeah, but it's it's a good point, though. It it is uh a Thanksgiving season, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Um so you know the video, uh I don't know if there was tryptophan in it, but as Tim told us before, it didn't make us sleepy. Um hopefully you stuck with us for the whole message. I know it was long, but there was a lot that we covered and a lot that we were excited about. And oh, good, good. I'm glad you put that up because I did comment to Tim this looked a bit like the an Avengers poster right here. It does. So it's like Dave has the the gauntlet, I have the the magic book from Doctor Strange, and then we have the uh um the other Avengers below us right there. So go and go and take a peek at it. Live right now. It's it is live right there.

Dave:

Um wait, wait, wait, go back, go back. So see that book in Bob's hands. See that book? Okay, that brown thing at the top. That's this. So I was trying to look up some cemetery records like a couple months ago. I think I've already showed you guys this on the podcast, but I found this like feel this thing. It's it's got some weight.

Bob:

It was a hundred, they used it for a hundred years, right?

Dave:

It starts in 1851 and it stops around like the early 1950s. I can't remember when, but they they used this one book for like a hundred years. It's like, what do you think? Ten pounds, five pounds? It's pretty heavy.

Bob:

So um they don't make books like I I've held it, Amy. That was I've admired it.

Dave:

The old record book.

Amy:

I thought that was your book recommendation.

Dave:

What I loved about it is it like I found it it had the literal handwritten out New Hampshire Confession of Faith here with all the people's names and the the church discipline statement and all kinds of stuff. And you could see when they had like new church clerk, totally different handwriting. Some have bet better penmanship than others. And uh, you know, it was really cool. They have like a certificate of dismissal here from this guy here who I guess moved on. They have some really cool stuff just tucked in here. So 175 years ago, this is how long we've been.

Bob:

Maybe you get that digitally preserved right there in two million fall parts. We should start keeping records like that again. Yeah, yeah. Put it on on microfilm from back in the day. You know? Remember microfilm with the they still have it.

Dave:

Yeah. So that was really cool. 175 years, a lot of new initiatives, a lot of cool stuff happening in the life of our church. Doesn't necessarily mean we're gonna stop doing what we are already doing, but there's some new things that we're excited about too. So, Amy, I wanted you to maybe just highlight again uh what were some of the things that you were highlighting in your portion when you got up there? Because I want people to know about taking that survey and the accessible tools that are ready for them.

Amy:

Sure, sure. And uh my apologies to those of you who were looking for this insert yesterday, and we ran out during the second service.

Bob:

So I will make sure that people were flying off the flying off the presses.

Amy:

I will make sure that there is more next Sunday. But I'm inviting our community to take part in two activities. One is a state of theology survey. If we can, we'll drop the link in the show notes perhaps if we can do that. The reason we want to invite people to participate in the survey, it's completely anonymous, by the way. You will not be identified, but it does give us a snapshot of what our congregation believes as a whole on critical issues of theology and uh cultural uh position statements. So this information will help us better provide the type of teaching and the seminars and the small group materials to help ensure that we are a community that is firmly planted in biblical truth. So take that survey. It's 35 statements. It should only take about five to seven minutes and uh get your feedback. You will get the results right away. You'll get to see where you believe based on the trend both in our community and nationally. So take that survey.

Dave:

Yeah.

Amy:

All right.

Dave:

And then go ahead. That's gonna be part of an email that goes out either today or tomorrow. Yeah, so look for that.

Bob:

In in the email for the pastors.

Dave:

And if you're not getting our emails, just let the office know, give us a call, we can get you on our list.

Amy:

Absolutely. Or if you picked up the survey uh insert yesterday, there is a QR code, you can scan that with your phone, and it'll take you right to that survey. That's wonderful.

Bob:

I I I I took the survey myself as well as the discipleship portal, and they they were wonderful experiences.

Amy:

So I'm so glad.

Bob:

I think you will feel uh you will feel very full uh spiritually after you're done doing them.

Amy:

By the way, maybe I should uh mention that that survey was produced by ligonier ministries in combination with Lifeway. So it is a national survey on the trends of American beliefs. So but they created an opportunity for churches to conduct it in their local congregations so we can have a more accurate picture for our community.

Bob:

Well, what a wonderful tool, I I think, and thank you for putting that together. I I I am on the list of people that get notified when somebody fills it out, and my email was dinging all afternoon so people were excited.

Amy:

Yes, yes, we need you. Yes, the second activity is uh well the announcement was about launching a discipleship portal. I'm super excited about this because there are two uh features that I want to highlight. One is uh creating your own profile, which allows you to enter and track your interests, your skills. You can take personality assessments, they're all free. And most importantly, to me, is a spiritual gift assessment. If you do not know what your spiritual gift is, this is a tool to help you discover what that is. And so you can employ your gift with joy and use it not only for your own joy, but to serve the larger community. And we see a lot of people. I I started naming the people in my draft, and my husband said, Oh, it's gonna take too long if you start identifying people who are serving with their gifts here at MBC. But uh take that, fill out that profile, begin to understand how God has uniquely wired your experiences, even your educational background, your career, how all of that fits together to serve God in the kingdom.

Bob:

Well, let me just I'm I just give a shout out to this because I think um we want people serving in their areas of strength, if possible, right?

Amy:

Exactly.

Bob:

Um obviously there's some things that people uh we just need people to do, but it's it's great if they're serving in their area of strength. Yes. And the thing that I liked about that um discipleship portal is that we we get a sense of who who's got the guests that might work well on a team that we're forming.

Amy:

Yes.

Bob:

And uh before this happened, we we would always just say, um, there's gotta be somebody out there with this this particular skill set, but we didn't know. We didn't know. So when you fill this out, you're gonna let us know, hey, now we know so-and-so, they might be a good fit for this team because of their skill set and their background and their passions.

Amy:

Exactly. I was even thinking about, I believe it's in your bucket for me to multiply the possibility. Pull out my bucket right there. There it is. Yes, you talk about intergenerational vocational discipleship programs.

Bob:

Oh, yeah, let's talk about that because we didn't get to mention it in the sermon. So we we've had a um well, actually at the beginning of the service, you know, we we introduced a couple new interns that we have, and we've been working at building out uh an internship program. I've taken on interns. Uh I don't think you have had an intern yet, but Tim's had some interns. And uh one of the things that we want to do is not only have them serve with church staff, but sometimes people serve with us in an internship just to get an experience within church work, but they have a heart for we had somebody last summer who wanted to go and do business as mission. And so we were trying to find somebody in the congregation who could meet a few times with her and talk about what it looks like to be a Christian business person. Um yeah, we've we've had others, others that want to do that as well. So when we know who's good at what, we'll know, oh, here's our list of people that we might want to approach that can can potentially be a mentor for an intern or um or even beyond that, you know? Yes, I think. It kind of grew out of the the internship idea, but we we we're hoping that it'll expand.

Amy:

So please, if you haven't already created a profile, I hope that you will do that. Uh that allows us to get to know your experiences and background and fit you to the right ministry opportunity.

Bob:

There we go.

Amy:

For sure.

Bob:

It's the key to unlock.

Amy:

Yes, absolutely.

Bob:

Unlock the uh the potential, I guess.

Amy:

Yes, we're unlocking potential.

Bob:

Last week we unlocked fears, now we're unlocking potential.

Amy:

This is so much better. Uh no. Uh the other feature of this portal is to support and provide discipleship pathways for learning and to support your your spiritual growth. I'm excited to create um content. Well, not create content. I'm going to take the content that you wonderful pastors have already created and create discipleship pathways for growth. I'm envisioning categories for new believers so they can get firmly planted in spiritual growth disciplines, uh growing together in community and uh leadership and uh seminars for the multiplication portal, uh the multiplication channel and learning how to disciple others, but Jesus calls us to make disciples. So there is going to be so much relevant content for every person in this portal.

Bob:

Awesome. That's wonderful. Dave, why don't you tell us about your stuff? Firmly planted? You were you and and give us a sense on this wonderful image that you you came up with the baton. You were pretty passionate about the baton and not dropping it. And we had we had a few creative moments in in the message where you had people stand up um to kind of to break up what we were doing.

Dave:

Yeah, so I mean I was thinking about images, and this one seemed to work well. So 175 years is a long time, and we want to pass the baton to the next generation so that we can have 175 more years, Lord willing, if the Lord tarries. And so the question about this is like, how well will you perform in the exchange zone? And Tim and I were kind of talking about this because he's a little bit more of an expert in terms of tracking.

Bob:

Tim was rebuking me on stage yesterday for my baton passing.

Dave:

So, Tim, did did we figure out what happened in the Olympics in Paris a couple years ago? Him and I had to like have a conversation. There was a bad trans transition, and I think what what was the problem, Tim? What happened?

Tim:

The um the guy I believe two things might have happened. Um one for sure. So the guy who was receiving the handoff went too early. Um he took off too early, um, so he never would have been caught. So he had to slow down and they kind of ran into each other um in a way, and so the baton handoff was not good. Uh and they might have been out of the exchange zone. Um and if you if you um handoff outside the exchange zone, it's an automatic DQ. Um so that might have been another thing that happened. But yeah, blind handoffs um are practiced extremely often. Like uh when when races are coming up for track teams and stuff, and they're your relay teams are you are running and working handoffs the day before the meet and at the meet when you're warming up. It's a very, very important thing.

Dave:

Yeah. And it's been a it's been a real struggle for the United States of America um since the 90s, we've had, I think, 13 or 14 different bad exchanges, whether that's a drop baton or a disqualification or you know, something went wrong in the exchange zone. And so the image there is, you know, how will we perform in the exchange zone individually and then corporately as a church? And how are we going to best pass off uh what we believe to the next generation? I think we have an opportunity here to do this well, and a big anniversary is a good time to talk about that. So uh really Vision Sunday is about new initiatives that will help us be able to pass the baton well. A couple things that I talked about were first of all, we want to be expanding the parking lot to create more spaces for people to come check us out. Number two, we wanted to plant a tree and actually commemorate the last 175 years. And we um have been actually talking with Bruce Cork. Amy's been also helping with that a lot, thank you, um, to design uh a prayer garden, which would be a beautiful place to sit, meditate, pray, fellowship, and enjoy some beautiful landscaping on campus. So we have some plans for that. We're gonna have to figure out a date for this tree planting and talk to the experts about when's the best time to do that. Our friends at Back to the Nature, I think, are gonna help us with that.

Bob:

We have an exchange zone on when it can be planted, right?

Dave:

Yeah, it's uh you missed the handoff not too. Not too late, not too soon. There's a certain uh window there where it's best, right? So that's kind of fun. Um, you know, I also didn't get a chance to talk about this, but we're gonna continue our caring ministries like Bucksmont Counseling. Grief Share is gonna continue. I didn't get a chance to tell this, but um, you know, last year we decided to do grief share, and we didn't really know uh how this would go. And a lot of people came from like outside of Millington, which you know, grief share has a way of marketing and promoting their materials, um, which helps us to be like a a hub, a host of someone who will a church that will will hold these groups. And so people came that we didn't know. And, you know, there was this one particular couple that had just lost their son, their only son, their 17-year-old son, like a month or two before grief share started, and they came really broken, and they were able to find uh leaders and participants here who rallied around them, cared for them, cried with them. It was hard to hear their story and not cry every single week with this poor kid that died, um, 17 years old of cancer, and they had just buried him. And what struck me there is that uh when we first like thought about doing grief share, their son was still alive. Um, but God in his sovereignty knew this family would need a place to go and to find comfort and to find people that were willing to mourn with them. And we were ready when that happened to be a tool in God's hands. And so that was just one cool story of how God used MBC last year, which you know we'll continue that, but it's kind of neat to see how God, like the book of Isaiah says, already knows. He knows the end from the beginning. You know, there's stuff that we're planning that we announced yesterday. We have no idea how God is going to use that, but he knows, and he's preparing us um to be able to be a useful tool uh in his hands in that way. So those are a couple things that we talked about that I'm that I'm excited about. So you have any uh things to add that you guys are excited about?

Amy:

You mentioned a bookstall. Are all of the books that you've been recommending going to be part of that bookstall?

Dave:

You know, um I think our books would be part of that. We're probably gonna have to um gradually roll out the the bookstall um initiative. It might not be this this year. We have to look for some three years, financial issues there, but uh we're gonna try to work those out and roll it out asap. But we are writing some books. I think we're gonna reveal something new in a a week or two, right?

Bob:

Yeah, not this Sunday, but next Sunday. That will be a big reveal. So make sure you're here for that week.

Dave:

We're not gonna tell you, but you're gonna hear about a new resource that's actually gonna be a tool for the person in your life that doesn't know Jesus. And we think that you're gonna be excited about this, and it could potentially be a way of witnessing. And so um stay tuned for that. You'll hear about that not this Sunday, but I think the following Sunday. Is that right, Bob? Yeah, the seventh.

Bob:

We decided on December December 7th. Yeah. For Sunday, December, you need to be here.

Dave:

There's a teaser. You don't want to miss. You don't want to miss the page.

Bob:

The peace week in Advent. Hope peace, two is peace. Joy, love, right? Yep, there you go. There you go.

Dave:

I can't believe it's Advent already. Here we go. Here we go. The wreath is coming out this week. That's right. So the four weeks of Advent leading up to the big day of the big reveal.

Bob:

The coming will Jesus be born. Yes. Always wondering every year. Is the Messiah going to come? Yeah. It manages to come every year.

Dave:

Yeah. Advent liturgically, theologically, is actually about the second coming. It's actually about the expectation of the return of Christ. And it just so happens to coincide with Christmas and remembering the first coming. So it's a very rich way to think about anticipation and waiting.

Bob:

Very cool. Last year we were in Revelation and we actually got to end with the second coming of Christ and weave that in. This year we're in Isaiah, and Isaiah, of course, has a very eschatological future focus. So the last Sunday in the month, we will get again to the new heavens and new earth. Isaiah 65 and 66.

Amy:

Could I mention though, speaking of Advent, I noticed something really cool in our e News. I believe there's a Spotify Christmas song list.

Dave:

Oh, thank you.

Amy:

Yes, thank you. Was that Sean on Aventura?

Dave:

John and I concocted this idea. I asked him last Monday. I'm like, what if we could like create a playlist? And he's like, actually, I already have one. I'm like, you do? So um Oh yeah. He like cleaned it up a little bit and then sent it over to Noah, who put a graphic behind it and then like made it available. So I think it was available in this Saturday's e News edition, but we'll continue to promote that. Oh, it's not bad, right? I've I've checked out a couple John has good taste. There's some good songs.

Tim:

To those of you who are new to the John Bottom and Chair Christmas post, welcome. I've been around for a little bit.

Dave:

So that's available. Click on that, and then you'll have stuff to listen to while you're like, you know, drinking your cocoa, while you're decorating your tree. You know, maybe the after Thanksgiving vibe in your house needs a little Christmas music. So uh that's there. We're here for you. And is is that the proper time to listen to Christmas music? That's when it's permitted. That's a little bit of a after Thanksgiving. Some people have started Mariah Carey's stuff already, man. I've I've I've been disappointed. But all I want for Christmas is you. I've heard it already. So it's happening. Sad. All I want for Christmas is.

Bob:

This is where this is the cultural drift that's happening in our world, Pastor Dave. Cultural drift. Yeah. All right. Well, I'll mention um uh the the Made to Multiply, the Living On Mission on Mission initiative. So one of the things that I I highlighted in my section was the um the launching of a disability ministry uh compassion, uh the cult building a culture of compassion is how it's voiced in here. So we're we're doing things like I'm already in the process of putting together a disability leadership team. We've got some people interested. We've met a few times to kind of plan. Um I mentioned a disability dads group. I've had a few guys that are impacted by that, that we've gotten together. Um Johnny and Friends is a great disability ministry. Uh you saw their video yesterday, but I love their their you know, Johnny Erickson Tata uh builds their vision off of the parable of the Great Banquet in Luke 14, and she talks about going out and bringing people in so the house will be full. And uh that's that's part of our our heart with this, that we could bring people in that might naturally have have barriers to being part of the community, um, and we could care for them and help come alongside them. So I talked about that five-to-one caring initiative and the uh at some point doing parent night night out respite. I know I know people that are caregivers, they get caregiver fatigue. Um, and there's a whole lot of other stuff, but uh, you know, that's I think that's gonna be an exciting initiative as we as we start to put legs on it. We're doing a sermon series to kick off the new year, uh, so we'll talk about that a lot more in depth and and look at what scripture says about things and how we can how we can partner with what what God is doing. Um The other ones, uh Tim talked about some local outreach and outreach initiatives. Um so why don't you why don't you mention uh some of those, Tim? Um just to highlight for these folks.

Tim:

He had three um because I don't have a camera on me.

Bob:

There you go. He had three uh three three points very well, and they almost rhymed. Almost.

Tim:

Yeah, uh so when about local outreach things, uh I highlighted that you know we want to do something uh what did I say? We want to reach someone new, we want to provide something more, and we want to do something big. So uh the first one we want to do is in terms of reaching somebody new. Uh in here in in Basking Ridge, there is a uh VA hospital, um, and that's been there for the last 95 years, and we've already been starting to build a relationship with some of them here at NBC. Um, we just want to continue to do that and grow that. Uh, this is a population of people that is often overlooked, and we feel that uh could really be reached um uh with the gospel. So between their um campus that they have there, and they also have an online on-campus uh supportive housing unit called uh Valley Brook, uh, where there's already a Bible study going on over there, so we want to support them doing that. Um we also want to help them get to church uh by giving making them a shuttle stop. So we're looking forward to um providing that. Uh second, uh in terms of providing something more for people who are struggling with homelessness, uh, we want to continue our um partnership with City Relief, continue to um you know give to them financially, but also uh really start going out and serving physically. So we have 12 dates that we are gonna go out next year in 2026, January, February, March, April. You get the idea. Um every single month we will have a date that we can go out uh to bring some people out there. So sign up. Uh that's gonna be really amazing to go out. I've I've been out a bunch and it never gets old. So uh please do that. And we also want to continue the packing party. We're providing them with hygiene kits and we want to provide them more and more every single year. Um, you heard a little bit about that uh on one of the ads that you have heard or might hear um already on the episode. So I'll stop there. And then the last one, do something big. Um yeah, we wanna we want to close out the loop of our um yearly uh seasonal events uh that we have here for outreach, and we want to do something in the summer to close out the year uh and help people and families enjoy the summer, uh the end of summer before they go back to school and everything gets all busy. So we want to do an event called Summerfest, where we're think of it like almost like a carnival type vibe. We're gonna have food and family fun, uh some live music, some local bands, in-house bands that we're hoping to bring in. Uh we also want to give these people the opportunity to do outreach themselves. So we want to do a fundraiser that will um hopefully contribute to uh saving children from sex trafficking. Um we also want to use this as an opportunity to showcase our strategic local partners, but also hopefully some small local businesses as well that we want to outreach to as well. So uh do something, reach someone new, provide something more, and do something big here at MBC in 2026 when it comes to outreach.

Bob:

Yeah, it's exciting. A lot of exciting things. There's a few other things that are mentioned in the pamphlet that we didn't get to talk about, but uh we're hoping to do to roll in things like coffee houses that could be opportunities to have non-Christians come on and then uh or come to campus, and then spiritual movie nights would be watching movies um and then pulling out spiritual themes as a way to have a non-threatening uh engagement with somebody who's not a Christian, and continuing our Christianity explored uh courses. So um lots of exciting things, lots of outreach opportunities, lots of places to serve. So um join us. Join us. We're we're excited about 2026, 27, and 28, maybe even 29. We'll see. Should the Lord take it? Speaking of 29.

Dave:

Have you guys made plans to see Wicked 2? Oh Wicked for Good.

Bob:

I've already seen it. Oh man, that was quick. Well, my wife my we we had some uh unexpectedly, somebody offered to watch our kids on Friday night, and my wife is a big Wicked fan, and so How was it? Um uh well, not as good as the first one, but that I think that is um also partially because of how um the the second act is not as good as the first, so they decided to split it into two movies and stay pretty close to the actual production. It probably would have worked better if they made it one movie. Um but still a lot of people went and saw it that made a lot of money, and I'm sure that was their motivating factor to doing two movies.

Tim:

I was at the movie theater on Friday, but it was not to see Wicked.

Dave:

The tagline is you will be changed. Were you changed?

Tim:

Uh it looks like uh the two actresses were changed in the making of the movie, but we don't have to go there.

Bob:

I suppose were you defying gravity? Uh not in this movie. Uh it's it's an interesting discussion about worldview. I think we talked about this when the first one came out that you you kind of had this rewritten story where it's it's the wizard who's bad and it's the wicked witch who's actually good, and she's fighting this kind of globalist establishment with the the animals or the oppressed peoples, and you know, so it's it's it's and then everybody at the end, everybody's kind of like lying about everything. So even even the um Glinda, the good witch, she's like covering up what actually is going on, and the wizard kind of goes away, and you don't really know why he's le he lies about why he's leaving, and she sort of takes power at the end, I suppose. Um it's it's interesting, but a lot of the songs are fun. Um we could we could break that down. Somebody asked me that when they came into the Colson Fellows thing on Saturday about the worldview implications for Wicked, and we started to talk about that a little bit. So interesting. Maybe that could be maybe that could be one of our underground podcasts, Tim. I'll break down a movie review of Wicked. You should do that. Wicked too. Alright, there we go. I got an idea. So have you seen it yet? Do you have plans?

Dave:

Highest opening for a mu musical adaptation, estimated $114 million at the domestic box box office. It's been a rough year for Hollywood, so this could maybe save them at the end of the day.

Bob:

I heard people saying that today.

Tim:

I thought that looked really good. Bob, I don't know if you got to see that preview. There's it.

Bob:

I didn't I didn't see that, but there were some fun previews I saw at this one. Maybe 2026 will be better than 25. Hollywood just needs to start making better stuff, right?

Amy:

Agreed.

Dave:

Back to the vision campaign. So if you're interested in giving towards NBC, at the um bottom of the panel of one of your panels on the brochure, there's a QR code. You can simply scan that with your phone and it'll take you to the giving page. Our challenge for you is to say a prayer and ask God, how do you want me to contribute to the vision of NBC here at the end of this year, above and beyond your normal offering? And say that prayer and then listen to the Lord whisper an answer and then obey God what He's calling you to give. We're trusting God for $375,000 as our giving goal in the month of December of 2025, and we would invite you to partner with us as we continue to make disciples of Jesus who are firmly planted and growing together and made to multiply.

Tim:

Ladies, I am done talking to the men, and this next one is just for you. Women of NBC, we would love you to come out to our women's ministry Christmas event called Rejoice. Rejoice will be a Christmas celebration and a potluck breakfast that will take place on December the 6th from 9 15 to 11 o'clock AM. Bring your favorite potluck dish to share and enjoy a sweet time of fell. Fellowship, worship, and devotional to prepare your hearts this Advent season as we get ready to celebrate God's beautiful gift in Jesus. That's right. December 6th from 9 15 to 11 a.m. Childcare will be provided. So don't let your kiddos keep you from coming out to this incredible event. Rejoice with the women of NBC on December the 6th.

Bob:

You know what? Speaking of Hollywood, uh coming back to uh giving and all that, so I I think the tension too is between the movie theater and the small screen, because a lot of productions that are going on in the streaming services, the the production quality is super high. So I don't know if you've been catch catching up with the David series, but I thought second season was Well, I finished it. Oh yeah, did you watch the whole thing?

Dave:

I needed a study break.

Bob:

So what did you think about the I gotta do something about the uh the last episode like worked in like six chapters?

Dave:

I was like already prepared for it because you told me that was gonna happen. And I was like, okay, that's they're covering a lot of ground. Certainly a lot of uh stuff there that didn't really happen in the Bible. That whole scene with uh the sword fight and Ishbel and that was oh yeah obviously creative. But um I can't remember when David you know when he fled. So in the series it looked like his wife stayed behind. Is that accurate? Did she not go with him?

Bob:

Like she didn't Yeah, if you remember, then eventually Saul gives her in marriage to somebody else, and then later on takes her back. David, of course, marries Abigail and I forget the other one, and then when he comes back into the city, he asks for Michal back in marriage.

Dave:

Okay, so that's accurate then. Right.

Bob:

But what's interesting about the Hebrew narrative though is that I think it's in 18 or 19, uh, first Samuel, when Saul throws the spear the first time, David goes away, but then somehow he's like back a couple chapters later, so it's not I think there's a question about whether it's actually chronological, you know.

Dave:

So I liked it. Um season two was not as great as season one, but it was a good season. Right. Well, David's got a lot of things. That's just because the narrative isn't as exciting, but it it is good, it's well done. My favorite scene from the last episode of episode of season two, episode whatever, eight or whatever it was, is that bond between David and Jonathan. They captured that really well. Holy moly. So here you got the king's son, Jonathan, and really he should be like David's archenemy. Really, David is like the biggest threat to Saul's family, and he's got this anointing from Samuel. He's gonna be the next king. He's gonna basically usurp his own dad, and Jonathan is supposed to be the next king. But here's Jonathan playing his humble role, saying, I'm not gonna let this get the best of me. I'm gonna humble myself before God's choice. You're a better king than I would be, obviously, because that's why God chose you. So I'm gonna get on my knees and choose to serve you. And I think this was very meaningful to David that he would choose to do that. Um that scene there where they um exchanged their covenant vow to like be brothers was like, whoa.

Bob:

They captured that really, really well.

Dave:

I hadn't pictured that scene in my mind the way that the So to me that was the most meaningful part of that whole scene.

Bob:

What did you think about the uh them turning Samuel into Gandalf and having a you shall not pass moment?

Dave:

So Samuel took his staff and like drew a line.

Bob:

Well, there is some Samuel, like the all the all the Saul and everybody's prophesying, so their their imagination was Sam Samuel was there keeping Saul and his people from going up to capture David, but it was it was kind of like a Gandalf and the Balrog scene. Yeah, that was wild.

Amy:

I haven't seen any of this season yet. I'm going to have to watch it. It'd be a good Thanksgiving weekend.

Bob:

And and Stranger Things is launching on Thanksgiving Day, so speaking of the opposite side. Oh my goodness. What the first half, Tim? What'd you tell me?

Tim:

Uh it's like there's like three parts. So the first bit gets done on Thanksgiving Eve, then the next bit Wednesday or Thanksgiving, whatever it is. The next bit gets done on Christmas, and then the last bit gets done on New Year's Eve. So it comes out in three different parts.

Bob:

Alright. Well, they're gonna hook you in. So that's what I'm saying. People are more excited about those things than the Hollywood movies, but anyway. I'm very excited for the Odyssey.

Dave:

Is there gonna be a season three? David's season three? Is this for sure?

Bob:

I've heard them say they wanted to finish David's young David's rise to power. So there's gotta be a season three that gets you into like the first part of Second Samuel. Not getting him into like his own.

Dave:

We got a little preview. There was a scene with a full beard. So he's gotta at least get that far when he's like King David.

Bob:

So I don't think they're taking to David and Bathsheba, but like him kind of reunite like defeating Eshbal and taking o i Ishbasheth and reuniting the two kingdoms. I think that seems like where they want to end it. Oh. And then I don't know. That then they kind of have to recast it because the guy who's playing David will be too young.

Dave:

Yeah. I don't know, man. They can do some crazy stuff with AI. We'll see what happens.

Bob:

He's a good he's been a good David, though. Yeah. Yeah. Good David. He can fight now. That's right. All right. So, Amy, there you go. You gotta catch up.

Amy:

I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. It's on my watch list.

Tim:

Good stuff. Here at Millington Baptist, we believe in the power of prayer. We believe that prayer is so important to our lives and to the lives of others. So we want to prioritize prayer here at Millington Baptist Church. One of the ways we're doing that here at Millington Baptist Church is to open up opportunities for communal prayer as a church body. We're doing that through our prayer rooms, which happen on Sunday mornings, but also now during the week. On Sunday mornings, we have two prayer rooms, one for men, one for women, that open at 8 a.m. upstairs in the YFMB. We would encourage you to come out to church a little early on Sundays to take advantage of this amazing time that we spent together with the Lord in prayer. And then on top of that, something we're really excited about here at NBC is that the men's prayer room will be opening up three times during the week here on NBC's campus. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6 to 7 15 AM in room 203 in the YFMB, our men's prayer group will be meeting every one of those days. And it's open to whoever wants to come and share a time in prayer. So as you continue your walk with the Lord, you may be asking, How can I be better about prayer? Well, joining one of these prayer groups might be your first step in improving your prayer life. So come on out and check it out. NBC Prayer Rooms. It's an awesome time. Alright, Tim, are we sprinting? Yes.

Dave:

Alright. We got our relay batons and everything. So maybe we can like do this as a relay sprint or something. Like we can do like a three by one hundred.

Bob:

Oh, that's right. The dash. Has Amy seen the graphic? Can we put Amy into the graphic?

Tim:

What graphic?

Bob:

The theology sprint graphic. Oh, not this last minute.

Amy:

I don't feel equipped.

Bob:

Well, maybe show her. Show her. You've seen the theology sprint graphic? Oh, here it is. See? Comment. What's your comments on this?

Amy:

Oh my goodness.

Bob:

That's my auto mechanic jumpsuit. How many times is it actually 60 seconds?

Dave:

Zero. You guys want an oil change 10 W30 or 5W30? I'm going down the pit.

Amy:

I have a squeak in my car if you can help me fix it.

Tim:

I'm ready. I got my overalls. Alright. So today uh we're having a little bit of an a different tone to the theology sprint. It's more of like a it's not really a getcha. It's I think it's a question that you guys know the answer to that people might not know the term. Okay. Um what does it mean, or can you guys explain the concept of that God is long suffering?

Dave:

The Greek term for long suffering is makro thumas. Macro meaning big or long. So essentially what it means is God takes a long time to get hot, that he's patient, that he's long in his he's willing to suffer a long time. It's one of the most repeated attributes of God in the whole Bible. Um I think it's a wonderful characteristic of God. And I I love the way that Tim Keller used to say it. Uh he used to say that anger in the Bible is not inherently sinful, and there is something to be said for righteous indignation. You should be angry about injustice, you should be uh able to, you know, have some kind of reaction when you see wrongs that are done, but God has the perfect balance. And so Kellard kind of drew a spectrum, and he said on the one side, there's like blow anger, which is uh the kind of anger that just erupts, the kind of anger that's escalated, the kind of anger that's you know, gonna be abusive, that's gonna be perhaps using some words that you regret when your heart rate goes a little too high and you start using language that you shouldn't use, that's blow anger. Uh, and then on the other side of the spectrum, there's no anger. And that's when um you allow passively evil to triumph and you never stand in its way, and that you are um, like King David with his sons, not willing to confront things that you should confront. That's no anger, that's also sinful. So you got blow anger and you got no anger on the two ends of the spectrum, and in the middle is slow anger, and that's the way that God is, that he is perfect in his timing, and that he is patient and that he is long-suffering, but eventually his patience does have an end, and he gives lots of warnings and tripwires along the way, but um we serve a very patient God, but he's not everlastingly patient. At some point, he's gonna allow us and turn us over to our own decisions, and um his long-suffering nature will come to a close.

Bob:

So that's it You used that example in a sermon one time. Did I? Yeah, the I remember the the slow the blow and the slow and the go anger or whatever it was. Yeah, it's a killer. I think I wish what it was, yeah. It's a keller thing. Okay. Well the uh the Hebrew word, if I say correctly, is uh Herech uh, which is again the long, like kind of long anger, but literally the phrase means long of nostrils. So that's a Hebrew idiom for this kind of slow of anger, which uh you know you see in Exodus 34. He's he's slow to anger, abounding in love. Uh Numbers 14-18. So yeah. Yeah that's good good explanation.

Dave:

In Hebrew, it's like, you know, if you see like an angry bull or an angry animal start to like get the nostrils start to flare like but they're not charging you yet. That was the you know, imagery behind that word. That's why nostrils got associated with anger in the Hebrew culture. So um eventually it became known at the way it is. But that's the background. Why, why would you say nostrils with regards to anger? That's why. Yeah, it's weird. Yeah, it's a little weird. Words can be fun. There's interesting background studies. Tim, is that what you're getting after? Are we I believe yes. All right, Amy, any last thoughts on your final word-suffering person on the panel?

Amy:

No, I just when I think about God's long-suffering, I also think about his mercy and that he gives us time. He is patient with us and gives us time for redemption and for us to pray for those who need to be in right relationship with him. So as we are entering into the season of Thanksgiving, I thank God for his attribute of long suffering because he is patient with us and with those whom we love that we should be praying for.

Bob:

So if you got some weird people coming for Thanksgiving, remember the long-sufferingness of God, right?

Amy:

Yes. I think that's a great analogy and illustration.

Bob:

Those uh relatives you see once a year, you know.

Dave:

I saw this funny meme of Donald Trump, and the the top of the meme is like what I say to my therapist about my extended family. And then as there's Trump, like this little animated cartoon Trump going, There's something wrong with these people. I don't know, but there's something wrong with these people. Gotta be more patient. Gotta be more patient. That's long suffering. Oh, we could, we could bring it back out, yeah. Try to keep it light around the Thanksgiving dinner table. Try to keep it light. Talk about tryptophan or something.

Bob:

I don't know. We caused a great debate today, so I don't know if I could bring it up.

Dave:

Yeah, maybe that's not safe.

Bob:

All right. Well, from all of us to you, have a great Thanksgiving. Eat lots of turkey, even if it doesn't make you tired, take a nap, enjoy the stuffing, and uh, we will see you back here for the first BTP of December next week.