CEP SEASON THREE EP: 15 - WITH GUEST BRANDON PETTY

Apr 27

By Dave Mckeown and Nathan Benger

Welcome to part two of the Church Explained podcast with Brandon Petty.

In this episode, you can learn how to build a healthy church community with these practical tips from Pastor Brandon Petty. From modelling transparency and vulnerability to creating intentional practices and fostering small groups, discover how to cultivate a community focused on growth, discipleship, and a relationship with God. Start small and be consistent with your practices to build a thriving community.

We hope you are inspired!

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CREATED BY AI - SO NOT 100% accurate.

David Mckeown 0:00

Welcome, everyone to the church explained podcast, a conversation to grow your leadership and build your Church.

Nathan Benger 0:08

And you mentioned there, obviously, you know, you talk to the Church and you say it's not 30 days to wholeness. 30 years, how do you how do you communicate that to a world that wants the 30 days? Or the quick fix? How do you how do you communicate that to to this world that, you know, like, you know, personally, it's like, you know, what, what can I do you summers comment? It's April, right, like, let's get fit, how do I do the quick fix? How do you communicate to a world that is fed that constantly in culture?

Brandon Petty 0:39

Yeah, I think 100% is model it, you know, transparency, bonus, you know, the thing that people say, when they come to our Church, they say, Man, this was so refreshing, like, the vulnerability the transparency is so like, they say it like, it's, to me, I can't understand why transparency and vulnerability is such a shock to people. Isn't that the point. And so what we are communicating is, I am used to living in a world where everything is fake. And so for me, it's not, it's not even I never say, Hey, I practice what I preach. I think that's a wrong way to look at it. I preach what I practice. And so I never preach a sermon that God hasn't already worked out in me first. So why would I preach about, you know, a healthy marriage, if my marriage isn't healthy? Why would I preach about certain topics, when I still have struggle with certain things, and I need to allow God to take me on this journey, too. So I think the greatest way to get people to that is not convincing them overnight. But if they stay consistent, and being a part of this community of of a body of believers, they're gonna watch witness and be able to learn how to practically walk this out every day of their life, because they're gonna see it in my life, they're gonna see it in my family's life, they're gonna see it in the life of the people that I'm discipling, the people that I'm doing life with. And then over time, they start seeing what those results look like, and why it's important to stay consistent. And so a lot of it is is not even to try to convince them, it's just saying, like, hey, if I stay consistent with this in my life, eventually people will see that this works, that, you know, this is actually beneficial for my soul to say, like, Hey, I'm not trying to get it all taken care of tomorrow, I'm actually the goal is to in the next 30 years, be a completely different transformed person than I was before that. So. But I think a lot of people they don't they don't see that enough in people's lives. And so we have preachers and leaders who are telling them, you know, all this stuff, but they're, they're also caught up in the quick fix. They're all so caught up and get it done tomorrow. Yeah. So

David Mckeown 3:04

definitely, and I think a lot of leaders put value on, what can we do in the moment, rather than what takes process? This is we need to we need to go through process, we need to go through time, we need to use those things to your advantage, rather than what can I can just in this moment. Yeah. You know, I've been thinking through some of this idea. I mean, you've described, but some of the stuff you've used to take care of yourself, but what about for your family? And for your team at Church? Or, you know, you've said you model this amongst them? Is there anything else that you would do to encourage leaders did you could say to maybe, how do they really take care of their family?

Brandon Petty 3:44

Yeah. So for me, it's, it's how do I read some incredible books over the years, but one that recently that really kind of wrecked me, was won by John Tyson, where he is talking about this idea of basically giving rites of passage to your kids. And so for me, it's how I think, in the Protestant world, when you use language like liturgy, or liturgies, you know, it's it's kind of a foreign word. But it really is consistent habitual practices or moments of spoken worship or, you know, moments with with God that I create with my kids. So, so one of the things that we started to do was when we pray over our meal, will light three candles. And I taught my kids the Shema, you know, the Deuteronomy six, four through five, which is the you know, hit Listen, O Israel, the LORD our God is God alone. You must love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And but that liturgy, you know, it seems like it's just a repeated prayer, but over time that sinks in right creating those liturgies throughout the day, where we where we understand we're not Not just going through the motions here. But we are praying a prayer that we want to remember our lives, creating liturgies daily, creating one on one time with each of my kids. So I tried to set aside time monthly to spend one on one time with each of my kids. So that's a way that my family, my wife, and I have a date, day or date night, every single week, where I'm blessed and fortunate that my wife is also on staff. So Fridays are our Sabbath. So while the kids are in school, we're able to spend time together go out. And it's not another night away from the kids most of the time, and, but once a year, we do a vacation, obviously. And then once or twice a year, we'll do a trip together as a family and like a weekend trip or whatever, my wife and I do, and my wife and I do an annual vacation, just us. So we've been blessed with some connections that where we have a place to stay in Florida. And so in February, every year, our kids know that my wife and I are going to take a trip just us and to go and enjoy that. And so very intentional about that intentional about our devotional time. And then once usually once every two weeks, we will do what's called table talks. And those table talks are it's an acronym, you know, T a b l e t stands for thankful. So we challenge them. Who are you thankful for? And why? Because we teach them gratitude is never silent gratitude sets your attitude gratitude is it keeps your mind state on the blessings of God. And so they had to write they write that out in a journal, we talked about it, we discuss it, we tell them to send thank you cards or tell them in person. The A stands for ask. So that's when we asked like, Hey, how are you doing? mentally, emotionally, physically? And then hey, how can we pray for you? And it's cool, because each you know, we'll we'll get in a circle. And the challenge is you have to pray for the person to the right of you. And so it's cool, watching the siblings pray for one another. And then the B is Bible. And so we're walking through Scripture together. The L is usually learning so we've tried to create learning experiences for them, like how are we teaching them everyday practical things in life, whether it's how to handle their money, how to, you know, Steward their resources, different things like that, you know, as our as my daughter gets older, it was teaching her how to drive teaching her how to change oil, teaching her how to change a tire, you know, those type things. And then the E is entertainment or experience. And so that is what we do for fun. So sometimes it's game nights. It's movie night, we'll go bowling, we did Top Golf, all those different things. We go play disc golf together, or frisbee golf as you guys. But so yeah, I think it's just intentionality. Putting it on the calendar. Yeah. Consistency.

Nathan Benger 7:59

So yeah, you know, like, some people listen to it will see that as a big long list, but you mentioned it earlier, start with something, start somewhere, start with something start small, and begin to build it in. That's where the power is, you know, you're not doing anything, just start with one thing, and begin to have for it.

Brandon Petty 8:21

And that's and that's, you know, what I'm telling you today, it's been a process of the last 10 years, you know, it's just little things added here and there. And you know what, we're not perfect at it. You know, there's times where it's like, man, we missed a devotion this morning, you know, but I think what we try to teach our kids that the devotion isn't the point, the point is spending time together in the presence of God and teaching them. You know, I told them, I asked him one time I said, What, why do you think we discipline you? What is the point of discipline? Yeah, I think every, every leader out there, even every parent out there, the point of discipline is not to get not to control you, or get you to behave. The point of discipline, the very meaning of the word discipline, when you put it in the sporting context or athletics, yes. Is I can't do something right now. I either don't have the mental or physical maturity or capacity to make it happen, right? Well, I can't run a four to 40 right away. So but I discipline myself over time, so that the thing that I can't do now I will one day be able to do. And so the thing that I teach my kids is, we have to be we have to be the emotional mature one now, because you can't be but I'm teaching you to make decisions for yourself later, with an emotional and mental maturity that you're not able to do now. But you will be able to do when you're an adult. And I think that should always be the end goal. And the end goal is always reconciliation and relationship. So I think if you're always working toward those things you're creating eating those moments to keep your family healthy? Because that should be the point.

Nathan Benger 10:04

Yeah, no. Yeah, really great. You mentioned prayer a lot during our conversation and just wanted to find out how that practice of prayer in your Church has impacted what you're doing.

Brandon Petty 10:18

Oh, it's, it's been incredible. But it's also been, you know, I'm also it's sad to look back and and think, why didn't we do this before? You know, I think prayer is an assumption that most believers have, you know, I just, yeah, I mean, I know, we pray we pray, you know, yeah, we're gonna pray about that, you know, we say we use the word prayer more than we actually pray. And so, for us, you know, I guess it was about a year ago, you know, like I said, it was during my sabbatical. I just began to pray. God, because we've been in a season for the last two and a half years of trying to tear down the consumeristic mindset, and the modern Church, which has been very difficult. And so the two things we say we're going to go hard after is community and prayer. And so then it's like, where do you begin, like, how do you do that? Right, like, what does that even mean? And so the advice I got from actually, Pastor, Jonathan Moynahan, I know, you guys have had him on here. Man, he's fantastic. But he said, Just give your people reps. And so since last fall, late last summer is like how do we create moments for people to pray. And so coming into 2023, we did our first ever 24 hour prayer experience. We just opened the Church, and we created stations, we had what was called a prayer labyrinth, which I had never heard of. But apparently, it's popular in the Methodist world. But it's basically just like a little prayer map that you walk around on. And it's like a little, it's not a maze, but it's a labyrinth, because it leads you to the centre, which reminds you that your beat, you know, every journey, every step of your journey leads you to the heart of God. And then we had crosses where people could nail their prayer requests. And then we had candles where people could light candles for lost loved ones. We had silence and solitude areas like it was just a space we created. We said, Hey, you can come in and stay as long as you want, or as short as you want come in at any point. And it was the most life giving life altering thing for our Church. And it was amazing, because people would walk in and they wouldn't even get past the lobby. And people would just start crying. And they would just be like, I never realised this was available to me. And I gotta be honest with you guys, I felt so convicted, because I was like, I can't believe as a Pastor, we've been at Church for 11 years now. Am just now leading our Church to the heart and treasure that prayer is. And all it took was given space, creating space. And so we're actually getting ready for our good Friday Prayer experience. So from 6pm to midnight, this Friday, we'll do the same thing. And that's, that's been kind of our goal is how do we consistently build these risks for prayer? And I started off the year teaching on it, which I think is key. And Pete, Greg, I'm sure you guys have heard of Greg 24/7. Prayer. I mean, his books and his insight had been incredibly helpful on trying to dive into the practice of prayer. And so what I have found is that people, sometimes you don't know what you're hungry for until you get that first bite that first taste. And so I think we're in that season where we're just giving people a taste of what prayer can do in our lives and in the churches lives. And then my prayer is that within a year from now, the hunger for it is it becomes something that is just happening every day and every week within our Church. So that's kind of where we're at right now. But since then, we have seen, we said that the 40 days leading up to Lent, we were going to focus on the gospel in the sense of like challenging people to discipleship and baptism, and prayer. And in the last four to five weeks, we've seen 100 over 130 people baptised. Now, what's incredible about that, as probably half of them have happened through small groups or community. People are actually getting saved at small group and they're driving up to the Church to baptise their people to baptise in their small group. And that's what's been incredible and that's how prayer has started to shape and kind of create this renewal season that we're in as a Church. Because since we have said that we are going to focus on community and prayer and we've been serious about it. We You're seeing the fruit and the harvest of that in an incredible way.

David Mckeown 15:03

Wow, amazing. Amazing. Yeah. So I love that because I think what you're describing there, you know, not just from the stuff that's happening in your life, but the stuff you're modelling in the Church, it is about taking those consistent steps and doing something else. I think sometimes leaders hear stories like this, and they think, Okay, we've got to do something, and they go all out. And you know, it's like trend they create the room revival isn't very helpful, or healthy, long term, I think there is something about creating those rhythms and having that as part of your programme and part of the culture of your Church. And just listening to the culture of your Church there, that sense of vulnerability, openness, but actually, you know, using prayer and using community and connection, as part of building the Church and moving away from consumerism, they're all big cultural shifts. Aren't they really? Within the Church? Even today? I

Nathan Benger 15:57

think, yeah. Yeah, no, so

David Mckeown 15:59

amazing. Yeah. So well, well done. And all that stuff, I think we want to encourage you, as a leader, to keep going, you know, and keep doing what you're doing in the Church, take those consistent steps, because we know, God's gonna bless those. Yeah. And

Nathan Benger 16:12

it's so good to hear the stories of, you know, like the life transformation, stories of baptisms, and all of that, and you mentioned the power of prayer in that. But also, you know, your focus on community as well, and how you're saying that's happening. Definitely, in your small groups, I wonder, just kind of like to finish off this section, what's helped shift that in the mindset of your Church to see people come to faith in those small groups, whereas traditionally, small groups were like, Let's gather, for a Bible study together and pray together, how have you helped to shift that focus in your Church?

Brandon Petty 16:52

You know, I can't even point to a specific formula, other than, you know, I was telling you guys about the vulnerability and the transparency. You know, it's, I guess, we are living in the harvest now of stuff that's been really cultivated over the last five years. So this past fall, we had our, I think it was our fourth ever, men's retreat. And at that retreat, the whole retreat was about coming to the well. And the point was, the story of Moses kind of goes like this, you have 40 years of Moses being raised in Egypt. But he gets to a point in his life where he realises he doesn't he doesn't fit into Egypt, he doesn't fit in with his own people. He's full of anger, he's full of rage is full of dysfunction. He's full of insecurity, narcissism, he runs to the desert, and the Bible says something so interesting, and yet we overlook it. It says he rested beside a well. Now, if you'll look through the Old Testament, the whale is used so often in different moments that you just totally miss. But in ancient in the, in the ancient east, a well represented someone's soul. And you know, when you think about a well, it's not just looking at the surface level, but it's, it's what you're drawing from the deep. And it's in that moment where he sat in, in this moment with his soul that for the next 40 years, when you see him encounter God, it's a completely different Moses is He's a humble almost like, man, there's no way I could do that, you know, and you see a completely different man. And so the whole theme was, who's waiting on your healing because Israel had to wait an extra 40 years to be delivered out of slavery in order for Moses to get healthy. And so we just created these, these camp fires of vulnerability and transparency. And guys, I kid you not. It was some of the most sacred. I mean, you're watching these grown tough, rugged men confess deep trauma, deep sin in their life. And I'm telling you, it sparked the fire in our Church. And we were seeing a completely complete families be baptised complete, families come to know Christ. And from that, I think once people experience what that feels like, and what life can be like in that, like, people don't want to go back. And so what it is sparked is like, those people are now leading smaller communities of people. And that is the aim is how do we get to this place of transparency, vulnerability, confession. This place of real deep community, I taught an entire series just on there's a book called a meal with Jesus. Yeah. And the whole book covers the Gospel of Luke and how all throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is either at a meal, going to a meal or coming from a meal. And the point is, is like that's how he helped announce the kingdom was by doing life with people sharing. And so what we've said is We want to go from just Church around the stage, not just Church around the stage, because that's important. corporate worship is important and vital. But how do we also have Church around a table? Because that's we say that Church around a stage is informational. But Church around a table is transformational. That's where you get down to people's personal lives. And so what we've seen is people step up and take that challenge. And because of that, they're creating smaller communities of vulnerability and transparency. And so I'm even on Monday night, just one of our men's Nights is Monday night, and that's the night that I tend, but we have about almost 80 Men showing up. And then they'll will have meals together around tables, and then they have smaller groups that they go to, and break off to. And every week we're seeing this thing continue to grow because and it's men from like, 18, all the way into their 60s. Like, it's, it's been incredible to watch. So much so that here's a guy who, every day coming home from work would stop and get a case of beer, and and he was addicted to gambling, alcohol, other drugs. He'd been in prison a couple of times. He sees the testimony of one of the guys in our group, he knows him for years and says, Man, this guy's life has been changed. I need to know when you go to Church, he starts coming to the small group gets saved and baptised at the small group. And now this guy, it's like as a kid, his story, he immediately stopped drinking and what like he had to go to rehab, like, done with alcohol done with gambling. And this guy three weeks ago, he stops at a local market, he sees a homeless guy behind the market brains, that guy, that group, this guy gets saved that size two weeks later finds out that he's got stage four cancer, this homeless guy. And last week, we brought it up to prayer with our men. And we have a couple of contractors in our community. And they had been building they thought that they were building a tiny home there's like this fad called the tiny homes where they were building a tiny home for to rent out as like a you know, an Airbnb. And that night, they said, we realised we weren't building it for an Airbnb, we were building it for this man. So this guy, so you're seeing people give away houses, giveaway cars. And I truly believe that the root of it is people finding a place of because like you said, I think a lot of small, I mean, they're great. I'm not it's not a derogatory statement. I think a lot of it is a boss. It is we're going to do a six week study on whoever do whatever. And then we're gonna go back to our normal lives. Instead of like, how do I get into a community where like, it's probably even polarising because you're either going to, like, be totally weirded out by the authenticity and the transparency and walk away from it. Or it's going to be so impacting that you can't help but be drawn to it like a mug to a light. Right. And I believe that's what's happened is we've just seen this. And it really does come from I think the leadership when the leadership is vulnerable and transparent, it starts to trickle down to everyone else. And that's what we're living in is the fruit of transparency and authenticity. Wow. So good.

David Mckeown 23:33

Well, thanks for sharing those stories, and really help people and just encourage people again, just to think where they're at what small steps they can take. One of the key things, hey, we just want to switch it up for a moment or two. I've got a few quickfire questions. It's been so good to have you on the show. So these are quickfire. Just switch up a little bit. Where we, Ryan day today.

Nathan Benger 23:57

Yeah. So Brandon, what are you most excited about at the moment?

Brandon Petty 24:01

Oh, my gosh. I think obviously, what's happening in our Church, just the beautiful communities being formed. The whole Church around a table concept has been just so refreshing for for Church in our community. So that's probably what I'm most excited about. And even the community that I have around me, man, it's so life giving for me as a Pastor and leader to

David Mckeown 24:22

so great, what do you most challenged about,

Brandon Petty 24:26

oh, man, probably challenged in changing the mindsets of our Church in our community. Even some of the mindsets I helped shape early on as a Pastor, just consumeristic very activity based, you know, if we're doing a bunch of events and stuff, then somehow where we're being disciples of Jesus, but you know, I think the challenge is getting people to stop doing so much and start being more.

Nathan Benger 24:56

Yeah, what would be your top two book recommendation? Jinns and why

Brandon Petty 25:02

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl powerful book, I don't know if you know his story, and he's, you know, he survived Auschwitz concentration camp. And it was a psychologist and he actually helped people after World War Two and counsel them so he lived out, you know, in the prison camp but then also helped people afterward help them find healing and restoration. Man it's just a powerful book on the the health of the soul. And so it was very life impacting and life altering for me. And then renovation of the heart by Dallas Willard, I think every I think every believer needs to read that book. Dallas Willard stuff sometimes is really dense. And so some of it's really hard. Like, it's like chew in a really, really, really tough state. You gotta like take it small bites. But one Ovation of the heart to me is one of his easier reads and very just life giving and beautiful. I think everyone needs to read that book if you're a follower of Jesus. So yeah, to

David Mckeown 26:07

two great books, those. I just picked up Dallas Willard book yesterday, the grid a mission? Yes, the grid operation and that one? Yes, sir. Yes. And effective Frankel stuff, great stuff, you know, its whole thing again, around harvests there, isn't it? The ability to choose between stimulus and response? What happens in the middle that we can make choices, no matter what's happening around us? That's one of the big key things in there with Viktor Frankl. And who inspires you the most in the world? You can't see Jesus, of course, that's no.

Brandon Petty 26:45

Honestly, I mean, that was probably another cliche answer. But my wife, my man, she, she she grew up in a completely different environment than I did. She grew up in Church. And so she's just always been a beautiful example of a servant of somebody who loves people. Well, I tell people, I She makes me look way better than I am. So since day one, she has served in whatever capacity she is needed in this Church. And so I'll never forget when we had our son, we were portable. We were setting up and tearing down every Sunday and in an elementary school, and we have a picture of her putting up pipe and drape with baby strapped to her chest. That's just that's just her real commitment. Yeah, she inspires me to love people better because she loves people. Well.

Nathan Benger 27:34

Thanks for sharing them. Yeah, Brandon, it's been so great to have you on the podcast, what's the best way for people to connect with you?

Brandon Petty 27:41

Sure. If people are interested, I have a podcast called made to win. You can go to made to win podcast.com. If you want to engage there, you can check that out. Also on Spotify, iTunes, and youtube. And then of course, I'm on Instagram and Facebook. That's B, petit G see on Instagram, and of course, Brandon petty on Facebook. So those are three of the easiest ways

David Mckeown 28:08

to connect. Right? And we'll stick those in the show notes.

Nathan Benger 28:10

Yes, we will. Yeah. And well, like we said, Brandon, it's been so great to have you on the podcast and thanks everyone for listening. And remember to support what we're doing. Remember to share, subscribe, leave a review wherever you're consuming this content. Don't forget we have a whole load of resources for you on your Church IKON dot Church forward slash open, but we look forward to seeing you next time on the church explained podcast. We'll see you soon.

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