JimBo Stewart: [00:00:00] Here we are. Back at it again. Bob. I hope you’re ready for the next episode of the bootcamp. This, this one will come out. Right as we are, making our way outta the convention center, the last day of the Southern Baptist Convention down in the wonderful, amazing city of New Orleans. And, if you’re listening to this, the day it’s released and you’re in New Orleans, you should probably go by the seminary this afternoon because I have heard that they have ordered like the entire Gulf of Mexico’s worth of oysters and they’re char grilling them.

and we’re gonna be honoring, a former bootcamp guest, Fred Looter, with the Fred Looter Student Center there at the New Orleans Seminary, with Charcoaled oysters from Dragos, which is a pretty great opportunity. even if you don’t like oysters, I would, I would encourage you to try a charred oyster.

I think. I think you might be surprised.

Bob Bickford: I agree Jimbo a hundred percent. And, a Charcoaled oyster is basically a delivery device for butter and garlic. And, Barb, who [00:01:00] hates oysters, barb’s, my wife, she can’t say in oysters, but she actually kind of liked the char grilled oysters that we had last time we were in New Orleans for the Mi re planter event.

So I counted that as a victory. A culinary victory, Jimbo, I checked that box and she has even said, and so I know she’s now discipled in the greatness of the char grilled oyster because shes will say to others, that was really pretty good. And that’s a statement.

That’s a statement. So,

JimBo Stewart: that’ll, that’ll renew your mind, your heart, and your soul, right there. So, then as, as we’re leaving S B C, you know, I’m predicting that it was all peace and tranquility, great, amounts of unity we’re on display, towards the mission and what the heartbeat of the SVC is all about, and that we all left super encouraged, and ready to, to charge on forward.

Bob Bickford: Yes, Jimbo. That is our, prayer that we’re praying for. And, I will, I hear that word and I affirm that word and amen. That [00:02:00] word.

JimBo Stewart: But just in case that’s not reality and just in case. You don’t leave super encouraged. I wanted to make sure that, today’s episode that comes out while you’re driving home or you’re sitting in the airport, which welcome to the new New Orleans airport. it’s much nicer than the old one. Glad you’re getting to be there.

if you’re listening to this just on the way home, we wanted this episode to be a way of reentering us on what really matters. And coming out of the, the last several weeks, really the last four weeks, we kind of had an interesting series. Started out just talking about summer, how to have a, missional focus.

On your summer activities. And then we went through three weeks of maxims and scorecards based off of some work that Bob has has written. And, the whole idea of that is, is for our, our hearts to be aligned where they’re supposed to be and not on how numerically successful can we be? How clean can our systems be?

But on. [00:03:00] How sustainably healthy can our ministry be? And how can we, like, in a way that doesn’t burn us out and is faithful to what God has called us to? How do we be sustainable? And, by sustainable, I don’t mean just plateaued or, or apathetic, but like we’re sustainably being renewed by Christ and growing in our love, in our unity, in our maturity with each other.

And so, Bob, what I thought it would be good for us to talk about today is, the importance of spiritual renewal for the pastor, for the leaders, and for the whole congregation. in the, in context of church revitalization, church replanting, church renewal, that we need to focus on primarily spiritual renewal.

Bob Bickford: I love that Jimbo, and, and I a hundred percent agree. The pastors that I’ve been interacting with most recently are burdened by what, what I might call, uh, structural renewal or administrative renewal. Right. They’re, [00:04:00] they’re. Neck deep in that and they’re saying, this is not the best way to make decisions, or this is not the best way to serve our body.

Or, I didn’t get paid this weekend, or cuz our treasurer was on vacation and so he forgot to send the check and his house is locked. So what do I, you know, so that kind of thing. And man, that definitely needs to, you need renewal right there. But here’s what I’ve also discovered. You can, you can check all of those boxes, Jimbo.

You can have a great. administrative and systemic organization. You can have organizational health, but Jimbo, that’s not gonna give you life and vitality for the long term. It might make your life a little bit easier and it may make it a little less hassle. or makes it a little more hassle free, but, you’re gonna need something besides that cuz we’re, we’re spiritual beings and we’re created to walk in the spirit, stay instead with the spirit.

So I’m pretty excited about this, this conversation we’re about to have.

JimBo Stewart: Well, here’s, here’s what I, you know, that was the topic I wanted to go, today. Then as I was, I was working on kind of preparing [00:05:00] for it. What hit me, Bob, is that this is one, this has been on my heart because as a team, as a replant team at your North American Mission Board, we have been really praying about this for a while now, and we decided, Back in January as a team, when we met that, the replant summit this year in August, the focus of it would be the importance of spiritual renewal.

And I think it was just, I think it was sovereign, I mean, sovereign timing, divine timing, that we would, we would land on that. We were led by the Holy Spirit. I mean, that was before. Asbury, that was before, you know, a lot of things. That was before a, an emphasis of a lot of kind of people talking about renewal and revitalization of the S B C.

and so I think it’s gonna be very timely. So what I wanna do, Bob, is permission to make this episode also kind of a commercial, but listener don’t tune out on me. I want. Not a commercial because like, oh, I want to get as many people to the summit as possible, but I really am [00:06:00] excited about how this got dreamed up back in January and how it’s come together to really fit into some of the things that we’re gonna talk about today.

Bob Bickford: permission granted, and I, I think it’s a good, it’s a good thing. And I, I think more than anything else, if, if guys can’t join us for the replant summit in August, at some point we’ll release audio, perhaps even video from this, and they could access it at a later date. So, maybe this is a wedding of the appetite to simply say, if you’re struggling, you’re spiritual, you’re spiritually dry, and you’re just like, man, I don’t think I can make it to Atlanta cuz the treasurer won’t gimme the credit card to, uh, book a flight.

know that, that after, The replant summit, we can get these sessions to you and hopefully it would be a, a cool drink of water in a spiritual sense to help you refresh. But I think Jimbo, what you’re, what you’ve done in terms of, of structure and, and prayer and, and organization is looked at some major categories in terms of, uh, thinking through renewal.

And, and we’ve [00:07:00] got some incredible leaders, pastors who are gonna come and speak to us. So I think we’ve, we’ve got something really great that’s gonna happen here in late August.

JimBo Stewart: And my hope listener is if you go ahead and register now, the first 100 request for hotels that we get, we’re paying for, we’re gonna pay for your hotel, uh, at Hilton Alpharetta. as of the time of this recording, about a week prior to its release. there are still, some hotels available and so I’m, I’m hopeful that by the time you hear this, there would still be a few left.

and so go ahead and register as quick as you can to see if you can get one of those free hotels. let’s jump in. I wanna tell you my prayer for this episode. My prayer for the Replant summit, is centered on Psalm, Psalm 51 12. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. And sustain me with a willing spirit.

 that’s my heartbeat behind all this and, is that God would restore our joy and our salvation, that he would renew us spiritually. He would lead us on how to renew others spiritually.[00:08:00] And, I think one, we have to talk about the importance of spiritual renewal. and look at like signs of spiritual stagnation.

We have often on this podcast, Bob, uh, appealed to Ephesians chapter four versus one through 16 in particular. and for a lot of ways, and you can find that all over where we have talked about that before, but we have never on this podcast, at least I don’t think continued on and to. The next section of Ephesians chapter four, and I just wanna, I know it’s a lengthy passage for me to read real quick on a podcast I wanna read to you, Ephesians 17 through 24.

Make a couple quick observations on that passage. So after Ephesians four, went through 16, which gives us kind of a formula on how to. Make our churches healthy. There’s this idea of, a need for renewal. And Paul says, now this, I say, and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.

In the futility of their minds, they’re darkened in their understanding. Alienated from the life of God because of [00:09:00] the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart. They have become calloused and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity, but that is not the way you learned Christ.

Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness.

Thi this Bob, I think if, if you follow up Ephesians, Chapters one through three give us our theological identity as, as members of the body of the church and as the church. And then four, one through 16 lays out, what it looks like to lead a church to be sustainably healthy. and then here, this is, we go into the rest of Ephesians is what are the implications of that in our [00:10:00] daily lives?

And we start out with this appeal of, Hey, we have to constantly be putting off our old self like. Transformation. Sanctification is progressive. It’s renewal is progressive. It’s something we have to constantly be growing in and putting off the ways of the world and not acting like the world, but but continuing to pursue righteousness and holiness in our lives.

Bob Bickford: Yeah, absolutely true. I think, and Paul does something here. He’s hearkening back to their former way of living, right? He says, remember how the, you used to live and walk as those who don’t know Christ do. That’s so he’s using the word gentiles there, right? So he’s saying that those who are far from God, And then he lists some of those things, Jimbo, where he talks about futility of their mind, darkened, callous, hard-hearted, engaged and given up to sensuality, greedy, just practicing impurity, those sorts of things.

He said, that’s not, that’s not how Christians are to be. That’s not how you learn to walk in Christ. And so I think what he’s doing here is he’s saying, look at where you were [00:11:00] before you knew Christ. And look at where you are and is there a difference, right? And what, what does that, what does your life look like right now?

Like, how are you, how are you living? And so I think sometimes when, if I would ask a pastor like, how are you living? He might say, man, I’m busy. I’m frustrated. I’m fearful. I’m having a hard time relaxing and what, what I think you might also say, Jimbo, is what you highlighted in the, in the verse there in Psalm 51, is he may not have a lot of joy And And so there’s, there’s a need for, and I love how Halek, uh, happy huggy Halek, who we’ll get to see. And we’ll have a new version of the hug, the hug meme, for this year. I’m looking forward to developing that. But, um, there’s a lot of guys that are just, they don’t have joy, and the joy comes from.

Not from the, the circumstances going well in our life, but the joy comes from, from the fact that Christ has saved us, from our sin has delivered us. Right? And I think Paul’s [00:12:00] highlighting that there. So the joy is founda was found, finds its foundation in Christ, and then from there moves out into the rest of our lives and impacts our life.

And so I think it’s a, these are two really great passages that really speak towards the renewal. And, I, I think it’s important for us to think about. Take an assessment of ourselves. Where, where were we and where are we now?

JimBo Stewart: Yeah, so starting off the replant summit, mark Clifton is gonna kick us off talking about the importance of spiritual renewal and and so we’re gonna address some of these ideas and, you know, you’re talking about not having joy. I literally, um, very recently was sitting with a pastor and I said, Hey, don’t let this steal your joy.

And he immediately like, Laughed and went, what? Joy? I mean,

Bob Bickford: Yes.

JimBo Stewart: he was like, I have no, I have no joy in ministry right now. And, and if, and if your members sound like that passage we read in Ephesians four of, you know, all those attributes of stagnation, man, it’s hard to have joy [00:13:00] in that and it can feel, really discouraging.

And so, I was thinking about from a next point, second Corinthians chapter four, verse 16. Through 18 says so we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away. Our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction as preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.

Beyond all comparison as we look, not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen for, the things that are seen are transient, for the things that are unseen are eternal. One of the ways that I think. We have to make sure we have an eternal mindset and we’re setting our mind on the things above and not on the things of this world, and not getting discouraged by the fact that everything outside of us does seem to be decaying and going in the wrong direction.

But how do we focus on being renewed in our inner self and eternally focused? And, and one, I would, I’d say there’s, there’s two pieces to that. Prayer and worship, right?[00:14:00] and so you’ve got to have a. Strong prayer life, and you have to have personal disciplines of worship. and, and by worship I don’t necessarily mean music.

Music. If music is helpful for you in that, do music, what I’d tell you is if you’re in a place where there’s not a lot of joy in your ministry, then the music worship portion of your service probably isn’t super joyful. and

Bob Bickford: Hundred percent.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. And, and so you gotta find that somewhere else, man.

And so I’m super excited at the Replant Summit this year. We’re gonna have Nicholas Carter back. he was there last year, did such a great job. And, we’ve been talking a lot about what to do this year. And even Monday night of the Replant Summit, we’re gonna have a night of prayer and worship. That Nick and I are working together to design a time centered around scripture and prayer and, and, and worshiping the Lord.

some of that will be through songs. Some of that will just be through scripture, readings and prayer together. We’re also gonna, we’re working on having some strategic partners [00:15:00] there that are just there to pray with you. Like, man, I just, I have no joy. I got a lot going on and y’all just need somebody to hear me talk for a minute and then just pray over me.

and we’re working to have some people ready to do that at the Replant summit. and, and I think this is part of how we keep that at. That mindset on our eternity. And Nick Carter’s also gonna do a breakout session on how to have a healthy worship team and set up, and that’s not just for worship leaders, that’s for pastors, ministry leaders to help inform.

A lot of, it’s gonna be heavily informed off of scripture guided worship by, Joe Kreider. but it spun through even, Nick’s experiences in developing his team at the church that he leads at. And so, prayer and worship, whether you come to the summit or not, I think have to be major emphasis in your life of pursuing spiritual renewals so that you can have a mindset on the things above.

Bob Bickford: Absolutely Jimbo. a as you’re talking and I’m thinking through, you know, my own [00:16:00] experience of being full of joy and absent, having joy absent in my own life. I go back to this foundational truth, and I think we mentioned it before and we’ll continue to, to circle back to it. the best place that I can find joy is in what Jesus has done for me.

Right. And just knowing the fact that I’ve been saved from my sin. I’ve been delivered from darkness light. I’ve been brought in and adopted as a son, or in some cases a daughter, your daughter listening. we have some ladies who listen to this, that you’ve been adopted and, and in Christ you are redeemed and restored to a right relationship with a father.

Right? And so that’s where, that’s the foundation of our joy. Right. And everything else is just like icing on the cake from that, right? And so that’s something, and the reason that is so important is cuz that can never be taken away from us cuz we are secure in Christ. Ephesians talks about how we are marked and we are sealed, right?

And, and we are given a deposit guaranteeing our salvation in the future. And so [00:17:00] I love how Paul and, and Ephesians here weave so many different themes together. Uh, regarding Christian life and joy and, and relationships and all those sorts of things. And so, um, I’m super excited about the worship. Now, here’s what I do know about worship.

it fuels your joy, specifically as it reminds you. And this is what, this is so helpful. and I love this at our church that, that we’re attending is our worship is designed in such a way is it reminds us of what God has done for us and who he is, and who we are and how gracious he’s been to us. And that creates a sense of joy more than man, they didn’t sing the song that I wanted him to sing this week.

Right. So we’re way past that, or it, and it doesn’t matter. Like we’ve, you know, that, that there’s the theme, the content is there, is what we base our joy in, right? The message of the song. And so, I know that Nick is gonna do a great job of, of, uh, helping us understand that. And you, you’re going to do a great job of helping create that experience for us to, to enter [00:18:00] into.

So I’m, I’m pumped about it.

JimBo Stewart: Well, one of the things you just said, Bob was talking about looking back on God’s faithfulness in our lives and on our salvation, and I think there’s a lot to be gained from looking back and seeing the moments where God has been faithful and seeing the moments where, God has done things that no one could have expected, and knowing that that’s still the same God that we, we serve.

I remember when I first became a believer, in college, one of the things that always fascinated me was looking at the stars, cuz I thought, as we look at the stars in the heavens, like that’s, it’s, it’s the one thing we can look at that probably looked exactly the same to like Moses and to David and to Abraham and Right.

Like, And it just, it’s fascinating to think back to how long God has proven his faithfulness in that we’re in this little bitty moment and blip of history. And it, it’s a temptation to be like, oh, this is the most important moment in history. And, uh, and it is, you know, this is the worst that it’s ever been.

[00:19:00] And, and, and surely God could never revive, you know, the s BBC or our church or whatever. And so one of the things. I think you ought to do is look back to the past. Look to history, look to, I know man in, in my darkest seasons, man, I started reading a lot of Bon Hoffer. I started reading, uh uh, some George Whitfield, some Spurgeon.

I started reading a lot of guys just that have been dead and gone for a long time and learning from them. And so part of the summit, we wanna do that. So we’ve brought in, two. guys from different seminaries that are gonna help us do that. Dr. Tim Buer, from Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky is gonna come and he is a, avid student of awakenings and revivals and spiritual movements in America is written extensively on an academic level and, uh, but just as a.

Phenomenal communicator. We had him speak at the m i re planter event we did at Southern Seminary, and I was very impressed with his ability to communicate clearly. and so we’ve [00:20:00] asked him to come talk to us about what are, what are things we can learn from looking back in the history. Of America in awakenings and spiritual movements and revivals.

as we look back at that, what can we learn from that for today? And then Dr. Jeff Chang is at Midwestern Seminary. He’s the curator for the Spurgeon Library and is a Spurgeon expert, which means, uh, mark Clifton. Loves him dearly. and he’s actually, he’s actually an elder at Warren Road where Mark Clifton replanted, uh, and Jeff is gonna come talk to us about Spurgeon on renewal.

And so whether you attend the summit or not, uh, there is some joy and renewal that can come from just looking back on God’s historic faithfulness and learning from that to apply it to today.

Bob Bickford: You know what, Jamal, I, I’m more and more the older I get, and I dunno if this is just a season in life and maybe you arrive at this, um, as part of your [00:21:00] aging or maturing process, but I really value the, the things from the past, the heritage from the past, the thoughts from the past. And so whether that’s.

Um, you know, I’m listening to books that talk about history and, uh, world movements and world wars, and I go to flea markets and antique malls and discover old things like toys that I, you know, all that. I mean, there’s this, oh man, that’s so great. And I think what, what happens to us is we move so fast through life, or we move through life with a lack of joy that enables us to see things. That we miss the truths in in those moments. And so when we have individuals who can come and highlight the truths from the past, the timeless truth from scripture and the way God operates from the past, it brings joy forward in the present. And it also enables us to see if God works in the past. He’s working right now.

And I think that’s what you’re really saying is like, man, that is, that’s the key. It’s like, don’t lose sight of fact that, [00:22:00] that it’s, you know, not everything is the best or the worst or the highest or the lowest. Everything is as God has intended it to be. And God has intended it to be that way. So you will know him and walk with him wherever you are in whatever season, high or low.

Uh, so I’m super excited to hear from Dr. Booker and Dr. Chang.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah, I think it’s gonna be, uh, it is incredible to hear from them and look back on those things. Uh, and then here’s the last one. This is, a lot of this has been focused on us, right? Uh, uh, you know, how do, how do we renew in, in our lives? How do we have the rhythms? How do we pursue joy? What are the relationships, our prayer, our worship life?

How do we look back in the past? Um, but we’ve said it so many times on this podcast, Bob, if you’re gonna lead change, And spiritual renewal is change. If you’re gonna lead change in a church, you need to lead from the word that needs to be a, a major catalyst for, uh, that’s where we see, I mean, like your strategies aren’t [00:23:00] enough, your winsomeness is not enough.

The power of the word is so important. And so we’re bringing in one of my favorite preachers, HP Charles Jr. Is gonna come and he’s gonna share with us both in a plenary session. And then a little more granular and instructive in a breakout session, HP Charles is gonna come and talk to us about preaching for renewal.

How do you, from God’s word, lead that and help lead your people to renewal?

Bob Bickford: Man, such a great, uh, leader to instruct us in that. And I think every. Renewal pastor, whether it’s a revitalization or replant, the one of the questions they have going in is, okay. Where do I start and what do I preach about and how do I preach? And so I’m, I’m pretty pumped. I wish I had this before I was, uh, going into my replant.

I wish I could stop the clock and rewind to go back and hear HB Charles talk about this. Cause I think it’s so, [00:24:00] so key. The pulpit is oftentimes I’ve heard the, this described this way. The pulpit is like the steering wheel, uh, or the rudder. Uh, for the church renewal, like, like it drives renewal. So it’s, it’s helping people understand who God is, who they are, and what he’s called us to do.

And the more you can be effective at that, um, and the more the spirit can be, the one who empowers your, your teaching and your preaching, not just something you thought up or some consultant gave you, you know, 10 sermons to turn around a dying church. Right.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah.

Bob Bickford: you’re, you’re gonna be, You’re gonna be encouraged, you’re gonna be equipped to, to, to begin to preach towards renewal.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. So if you look, if you attend the Replant Summit, we’re not necessarily gonna give, give you strategies to break the 200 barrier or ceiling or anything like that. but we’re gonna focus on, What the importance of spiritual renewal. We’re gonna, we’re not just gonna talk about prayer and worship.

We’re gonna spend some time praying, worshiping, guided by the Scriptures [00:25:00] and the Holy Spirit to just ask God to renew us, to restore to us the joy of our salvation and sustain us with a willing spirit to. Boldly be courageous and follow in obedience to what Jesus has called us to do so that we can lead the change of spiritual renewal in our church through preaching and through pursuing our own personal renewal, through the right relationships, through the rhythms that we need and through, uh, the.

Finding joy in that. We’re gonna look back to the past with Buer and Chang. Uh, you’re also gonna get, uh, a couple free books. You’re gonna get, uh, a copy of the new version of Reclaiming Glory that’s come out by Mark Clifton, uh, on preaching by HP Charles Pastoral Friendships by Brian Croft. Uh, and then some other things, you know, pen stickers, things like that.

Uh, and then an ebook by. Andy Addis on the rhythms that you need in your life for spiritual renewal and our, our heartbeat for this success for us in this summit. And so even if you’re not attending, I’d ask you to join us in prayer is not a, our goal is not [00:26:00] necessarily even a numeric. So many this many people come.

Uh, our goal is that we see legitimate renewal happen in the hearts of those who attend. and that that renewal in their hearts catalyzes renewal in their churches. Because it’s not gonna be the the best strategy that’s gonna win this day. It’s gonna be spiritual renewal. It’s gonna be God’s spirit moving, and that needs to start with you leader.

And so if you’ve not signed up, This is my shameless plug appeal. come be a part of this. Pray with us, worship with us, learn from the past with us, pursue personal renewal with us, and let’s see what God has for us as we look forward, uh, together to leading renewal in our churches. Um, there’ll be other breakout sessions, uh, as well.

there’s a breakout session. Two breakout sessions for the wives on renewing her mind and renewing her heart. that’s gonna be really great. Darlene Dryer, Barb Bickford, Andrea Stewart, the wives of the [00:27:00] bootcamp and Double Docs, which is now Dr. Darlene.

Bob Bickford: Dr. Yeah.

JimBo Stewart: so double doc and doc and, uh, it’s gonna be just a really great time together.

so if you’re, even if you’re not attending, pray with us for it. But then also in your own life, look for the signs of stagnation. Spend time in an intentional prayer and worship. Pursuing renewal, have the right relationships, build rhythms into your life. Learn from the past and lead by the word.