JimBo Stewart: [00:00:00] Here we are, back at the bootcamp. Back at it again, Bob. I hope you’re ready for another episode. Jumping ahead. Couple of weeks ahead of the Replant Summit and moving on into the fall. College football has started, temperatures have dropped from 97 to 93 here in Florida, and uh, I am excited to see what God has for us as we move forward into the fall.

Bob Bickford: Jimbo. I actually contemplated wearing a jacket when walking the dogs a couple of days ago. ’cause it felt like 55. And I knew you would probably be in your Alaska coat

JimBo Stewart: Yeah,

probably so. Yeah.

Bob Bickford: So, but yeah, I mean I, uh, I’m, I love the fall and I love the fall because, get out your flannels, your boots, it’s just exciting time.

And one other thing we’ve got a chance to look forward to this month is the battle of the.

JimBo Stewart: Yes.

Bob Bickford: Continues and I believe the score is three to one in favor of the togas.

JimBo Stewart: It is go.

Bob Bickford: um,

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. Battle of the Boot is September 23rd. Not too far from now. I’m [00:01:00]actually, you know, my sister flew down last year to watch the game with me, and so I’ve decided this year I’m gonna fly up. You and I’ll be in Nashville together, Journey Church, replant Middle Tennessee. If you’re in the area, just Google Replant Middle Tennessee, and you’ll see that Bob and I and Clifton and Hallock will be together at Journey Church in Lebanon, Tennessee.

up there, I think the, what is it? Like the 15th? 16th?

Bob Bickford: 16th. Yeah.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. And so I, instead of flying home, I’m just gonna go spend a week in Arkansas with my family and, watch the game with them before heading back and, and excited. I’ll be, I’ll bring the boot for a visit to the natural state, Arkansas.

Bob Bickford: That’s awesome. So I’ll, will I get to see this actual boot?

JimBo Stewart: Yeah, I’ll, yeah, I’ll have it with me in Nashville.

Bob Bickford: you’ll have to get like a whole nother suitcase, uh, especially for the boot, probably right.

JimBo Stewart: We will, we’ll, we’ll have a, I need to get like a real, like, I need to get one, like with a foam cut out and everything, like a Pelican case, like . That would be, that would be the best. Like I need to [00:02:00] take it to like a professional shoe shiner and get it shined. And, I might do that and like get, hey, go shine this thing up for me real quick then make a Pelican case for it.

Bob Bickford: Yeah, well, I’ll, uh, shine up the hog hat Jimbo, and I’ll get that ready because if the hogs prevail and beat the tigers, I will have the opportunity to bring the hog hat with me to an event that we’re having in the, Oklahoma,

uh, area. So we’ll be in Tulsa and Oklahoma City coming up at the first part of October.

So I’m hoping that I will see you in the hog hat and people will not see me in the pajama top.

JimBo Stewart: Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. Pay attention listeners. And, hey, I think we’re adding video now a little bit, uh, here and there to our podcast. So might even do it on the podcast and, have a little bit of video of that, of, um,

Bob Bickford: that’d be great. I think, uh, I did wear the pajama top, in an entire podcast

with Kyle Bearman,

JimBo Stewart: you did,

Bob Bickford: and uh, I think we have a picture of that on our archives somewhere.

JimBo Stewart: Somewhere. Yeah, man. Speaking of, fall [00:03:00] and things being new and changing, you got some things going on in your world, don’t you, Bob?

Bob Bickford: Yeah. Speaking of Tennessee Jimbo,

uh, I’m not just visiting Tennessee, middle Tennessee in the, the middle of September, Jimbo. I have announced, uh, to the replant team and also to the world on social media that, uh, I am gonna be joining, uh, the company called 3 1 3 as the vice President of operations. And I’ll be joining them full-time at the end of. September, first part of October and 3 1 3 is a company that helps churches utilize underutilized space, education space for coworking coffee shops. And then Jimbo, something I’m pretty excited about is they’re creating coffee trailers out of Airstream trailers,

and we’re dropping those on. Church lawns where they have green space and, and it’s a walkable neighborhood. And so that is with Surefire coffee. And so I’m, I’m joining them. It’s, it’s been bittersweet,

uh, for me to, to wrestle through this decision and think about it, but [00:04:00] we’ve just sense the Lord’s leadership in it and I couldn’t be happier. To have served with the replant team for almost nine years, in a lot of different ways and different roles to, we’ve seen a ton of things

yesterday or ton of things over the last couple of years, and, uh, you’ve been part of that. We brought you on, we brought some others on. So I just sense that this was a good, uh, time for me to write the last sentence of the last chapter of the season of my leadership for Replant.

And I’m really excited that I’ll, I’ll get to go serve churches still, this. Organization, this company 3 1 3. And in fact, I think in a couple of weeks we’re gonna have Brennan Mobley, the, the founder, president, c e o entrepreneur, uh, behind 3 1 3, on to talk about what they do and what what we will do and what, what I’m gonna be a part of.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. Next week he’ll be, he’ll be on the podcast. yeah, I mean, bittersweet, definitely. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions for me. And the only like saving grace for me to keep me from falling apart is that we have the bootcamp and every week we’re gonna, we’re gonna, we’re gonna [00:05:00] keep doing this together.

So,

Bob Bickford: Yeah.

JimBo Stewart: it forces you to talk to me at least once a week. and.

Bob Bickford: Hey, this is, you know, I’m, I’m most excited to talk to you ’cause we laugh and, uh, We have a lot of fun. So I’m grateful that, that the relationship will still be there. I’ll still be involved in, in renewal work, helping churches renew through a different, way in terms of, you know, creating economic engines.

And honestly, over the last couple years, I think we’ve even talked about on the bootcamp, that’s something I’ve become more focused on and interested in and passionate about, is how do we help churches remain viable?

JimBo Stewart: Yeah.

Bob Bickford: So too many, too many of them are losing their facilities or selling their facilities or just holding up in their facilities and not really engaging the community.

And so I’m super pumped to be part of a, a company that is helping churches thrive and reach their community. So the the quick goal that that, you’ll hear this from Brennan, but he wants to have a, in the next 10 years, a hundred locations that are reaching over 500,000 people on a weekly basis

JimBo Stewart: Yeah.

Bob Bickford: to help them come in contact with a faith community and hear the gospel.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. man, I’m excited for you. Uh, I am sad [00:06:00] for me and the replant team, but you have laid a great foundation for us to just keep running and, know, we’ve got some new members coming on the team.

some contractors, we’ll be bringing them onto the podcast, you know, trickling them in here and there to so you can hear what they’re doing.

But man, that sounds like that was a, weighty decision. probably didn’t come across that decision very easily. you know, you mentioned that you really wrestled with that for some time. know, we’ll talk more about this decision you made, I’m sure next week, and as we go and hear updates from you.

I’m excited about that. I think for the benefit of our listeners, this is a good opportunity for us to talk to about how do you weigh out big decisions, like, so as, as big things come. And it doesn’t always have to be a transition. I mean, there’s all sorts of big decisions that you could have to make.

From the lead chair of being the, a pastor of a replant revitalization, a heaviness and a weightiness to decisions. and, you know, my least favorite kind, like I had to do this a little bit the other day, you know, with, uh, some of the meetings, know, you had to head back and I was leading some of the team meeting [00:07:00] time and all of a sudden we realized there’s a hurricane coming.

And, and, you know, and I’m, and then you’re forcing this, like, do we adjust our schedule or not adjust? That’s, that’s my least favorite kind of decision making. I would rather make like super weighty decisions than things like, you know, do we adjust for the weather? there’s some pretty heavy things that come down the pipe when you’re leading.

And so, talk to us a little bit about how you came to this decision and how we can learn from that, as we weigh big decisions as leaders.

Bob Bickford: I think first of all, there’s, you know, before we jump into some of the thought process, Mihir, um, there’s some decisions that are easy to say no to.

JimBo Stewart: Mm-hmm.

Bob Bickford: They’re just outside of, of who you are. They’re outside of the will, will of God, they’re against scripture, those sorts of things. And so, you know, there, there’s a lot of things that we can say no to every day.

Like Brussels sprouts, Jimbo, I can regularly say no to them incredibly quick. Right?

JimBo Stewart: Yeah.

Bob Bickford: it’s, it’s just super easy. you moving to Alaska,

um, you could probably say no to pretty quick,

JimBo Stewart: very [00:08:00] quick, very quick.

Bob Bickford: So there’s, there’s some things that, that don’t even register for us. It’s just a quick no, but then there’s some things that cause us to go, wait a second here. I need to, I need to lean in a little bit more. And so for me, over the last couple of months, this was one of those decisions that I just said, you know what? I think I need to start listening, uh, a little bit more and leaning in a little bit more in processing this because, it was a decision that was easy for me to say no to. A couple of times. ’cause you know, Brendan, Brendan and I, we were talking, he was making me ask and I was like, no, you know, I think I wanna move to Texas. My kids are there. Then, you know, some things happen where my, daughter now is moving to Oklahoma and my son lives in Amarillo. And so they’re, you know, the reason for us to move to Texas would be to clo be closer to grandkids and our older kids.

And Olivia’s not, you know, the youngest, she’s not figured out where she’s gonna plant her life yet. So, it was easy to say no. But then that started changing and then as I was working In and on structure and strategy for the replant team. My heart began to change and some things [00:09:00] began to change. So as he approached me, again, it was something that I needed lean into.

So the first thing we have to do, and this first thing we do is pray, right?

JimBo Stewart: Mm-hmm.

Bob Bickford: You, you gotta pray about it. Um, I wanna say this, it’s the first thing, but it’s not the last thing. Can, can I just say that, that way?

JimBo Stewart: Yeah, that’s good.

Bob Bickford: have you, you met, uh, have you met somebody who every decision is, they’re just gonna pray about it?

Well, we need to pray, right? And I a hundred percent agree, but you know that by saying that it’s almost like a pocket

veto, right? That’s all they’re gonna do. They’re just gonna pray and have this kind of nebulous spiritual experience and not really do much else about it.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. That’s, uh, that’s such a good distinction to make that we don’t. Uh, this is not like, pray for a minute and then you’re done. Now you, now you weigh out the praise, pros and cons on your own and figure it out. Like, I think as you pray, you’re, I think of James one 15, right where it says, now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, which is prayer, to all generously and begrudgingly and it will be given to him.

And so what you’re asking for in a big [00:10:00] decision is wisdom. You need wisdom. You’re, you’re going, Lord, I need you. I need your Holy Spirit. I just, Help me know the wise way forward here. What’s the, you know, in a decision like the one that you’ve made, it’s, it’s not between a good and a bad, it’s between both two good decisions.

Do you continue on the replant team, do you transition to this other opportunity enroll? and so it’s not like there’s a clear like, oh, this was the bad one, this was the good one. And that makes it even harder to make the right decision. And so you really need the Holy Spirit to, communicate to you, as you pray.

But I think so, so we pray it’s not the first, it’s the first, but not the last. I think that’s really good. And we ask for wisdom. And then part of that is we can actually go after and pursue wisdom in God’s word, right? And so we can, we can spend time in God’s word can help us decide what to do.

Bob Bickford: Jimbo, when I was first, following Jesus as a middle schooler and a high schooler, I used to do the, uh, bible roulette thing where you would just, you know, spin the pages [00:11:00] and then fall down on something and then hope that would, you know, speak to you.

JimBo Stewart: And then you read that verse in the Psalms where it says like, throw babies against the wall or something.

Bob Bickford: The, the, yeah. The youth pastors that I would sit under would say something like, you, you know, that they would talk against Bible roulette and say, you know, ’cause you could spin the Bible and. Land on a page and Judas hanged himself and then flip again, and then said, you go and do likewise. Right? So there’s this, you know, there’s this idea of, that’s just not the way to go.

But I, I think, you know, regular intake of scripture over a prolonged period of time. And then I think there’s a couple questions to ask. One is, has God given an example in scripture that speaks to the decision that you’re weighing, whatever that decision is, right? Has he given you some kind of, example,

That, that you see in scripture through the lives of others.

Now we recognize that I’m not David to borrow Matt Chandler’s, or you’re not David, to borrow Matt Chandler’s, you know, phrase. We’re not the Bible [00:12:00] characters, but we might find ourself in similar situations.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. And I think, you know, similar to what you said about, you prayer’s the first thing you do, but not the last thing you do. yes. Can you in an emergency run to God’s word, even if you haven’t read it in a long time, and it could illuminate some things for you? Yes, that is certainly true.

Uh, I, it’ll be a lot easier, I think, to see and utilize how God’s word informs if you are already in a regular practice

of seeking wisdom in God’s word. So this is a really good reason to just continuously be . God’s word to abide in it, to, to dwell, to let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as it says in Colossians three.

and you know, Psalm 1 19, 1 0 5, your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path. I remember the first time I, I heard somebody preach about that and they said, it’s a lamp for your feet and a light on the path, but it doesn’t show you the whole destination. you know, it, it shows you a few of the next steps and you don’t know what’s gonna happen.

You know, even with your move to 3 1 3 and to Nashville, [00:13:00] you don’t know what it’s gonna look like in a year from now, uh, two years from now, but you’re trusting the Lord, he’s led you and guided you here, uh, we know that all scripture, second Timothy. 3, 16, 17, all scriptures inspired by God is profitable for teaching, rebuking, for correcting, for training and righteousness so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.

And so, prayer, uh, I think what I love about these first two, uh, you’ve listed here on how you’ve come to this decision and how we can come to big decisions, they’re, they’re God-centered. Like we start with understanding and humility, we need wisdom from God and we need wisdom from his word.

so what, what’s next? So we pray, we continue to pray. We abide in God’s word and let it dwell in this richly. But what else?

Bob Bickford: Yeah. I think the other thing is give yourself time, right? if it’s a big decision, Jimbo, you, you probably need to give yourself some time, more time than if you were eating at the Cheesecake Factory and just trying to turn the pages of their menu.

Right.

JimBo Stewart: Yes.

Bob Bickford: Not, I haven’t eaten at the [00:14:00] Cheesecake Factory in, I can’t years, Jimbo.

It’s probably been like nine or 10 years

or more. But, I’m told, and if I remember correctly, the menu’s really big

JimBo Stewart: Yeah. It’s a novel.

I mean, it’s,

Bob Bickford: So I mean, but you know, give yourself time. Not every decision has to be made right then and there.

It’s not immediate. Right.

And so, um, You know, do you feel the pressure of that?

Oftentimes,

some of us are more decisive and we wanna make a decision quickly. Others of us, uh, maybe who’ve grown, grown, uh, through some experiences realize that, Hey, I think I need to give myself time. You can also give yourself too much time and be in indecisive. I’m not talking about being indecisive, but appropriately sit with the decision. And I think the key is I’m continually taking a step and evaluating a decision. I’m not just waiting for some kind of. Outward sign, you know, something kind of in the clouds, so to speak. I’m still disciplined in my action in pursuing prayer and, and scripture reading, and then also some of the [00:15:00] further steps that I’m talking about here. Um, and maybe give yourself time would, would also indicate not only do I, I need to pray and read the scripture, but I need to do the other things that we’re gonna talk about here in a second as part of an overall process. And some of these take time.

JimBo Stewart: 1429 says, A patient person shows great understanding, but a quick tempered one promotes foolishness. Um, is hard sometimes to sit on a decision and just, just take some time, sit on it, be patient, wait to hear from the Lord. and make sure you’re hearing from the Lord. One of the things I always pray in decision making is, Lord give me the discernment to know difference between your voice and mine and others.

Bob Bickford: a big one.

Yep.

JimBo Stewart: like I wanna know, like, how do I know if this is just my voice or others’ voices? Or how do I know? Like, gimme discernment God to know that it’s yours, um, that this is what you’re saying. And then when I hear that, gimme courage. to do what it is that you call me to do. And so that’s one of the things I pray [00:16:00] for myself when I’m trying to make a decision and I pray over others when I, and they ask me for prayer in their decision making.

that takes time. I mean, he doesn’t always an, he doesn’t always He doesn’t always answer you immediately, or we don’t always hear it and understand it immediately, one of the two. Right. Um, so, uh, right, so what else? So prayer, spend time in the word. Give yourself some time. What else?

Bob Bickford: Yeah, I wanna, uh, one that I think, uh, I think about Nehemiah. and you need to walk around the issue. Uh, you need to walk around and see it from a variety of different perspectives. In particular, here’s some that matter. those who are making the decision. Okay, that’s you, right? And maybe a group of leaders.

JimBo Stewart: Mm-hmm.

Bob Bickford: What’s your perspective? Well, we need to decide this, right? And this is important. All right. Okay. Next. You would need to think about, those who are gonna be impacted by the decision. Alright? What is it like to sit on the other side of the table in a different seat? And be the recipient of the consequences or the joys or the, new whatever as a result of this decision, right?

How is this gonna impact people? And [00:17:00] I wish that more people did this on a regular basis.

And, and I think it’s hard. This is a, this is one of those things that, um, leaders can get in the leader’s chair and they can never walk across. And sit on the other side of the leader’s table, or they could never go outta the leader’s office and walk around in the people’s, you know, that that’ll be impacted by the decision.

So I think you’ve gotta, you’ve gotta do that. And then, think about this. What are the context, are the consequences of the decision in the immediate future, like in the short term,

JimBo Stewart: Yep. Yep.

Bob Bickford: and then also in the long term because we, we often make a decision based on the immediate pressures, and we discount the future implications of that. And so I, I think that’s what I mean by walking around the issue, different perspective, yours, those who’ll be impacted by different perspective from timeframe, immediate and context of into the future.

JimBo Stewart: We gotta look at this from different perspectives and not just, You know, I, I’ve heard Bob Bumgarner say, uh, Rick Wheeler say, perspective adds 50 IQ points. just getting a little bit of perspective and understanding, [00:18:00] all right, lemme look at it from this angle. Let me look at it from this angle.

is a very wise way to approach it. And, you know, I think speaking of wisdom, one of the things we’ve gotta do is we’ve gotta seek wise counsel, right? We’ve gotta, we gotta ask, we gotta go to some other people

that help us, that can help us with some outside perspective and, you know, Proverbs 1114.

Without guidance, uh, people will fall. but many counselors, with many counselors there is Deliverance. Proverbs 1920, listen to advice and accept discipline and you’ll be wise later in life. Um,

none of us is as smart as all of us, need people to speak into, that we’re doing. We never outgrow this either.

I mean, at no point in your life do you outgrow the need for outside wise counsel.

Bob Bickford: Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, as I was waiting this decision, I reached out to, several of my mentors and peers, people who have made good decisions over the, the long course of their life and know me and love me and, and would love me enough to tell

me The.

truth about something. And, so I got some really good feedback, [00:19:00] which really helped.

And then the next thing, Jimbo, that I did, after doing all of these kinds of things, I just kinda let that marinate. Just soaked in it all and didn’t feel like I had to make the decision right away. I knew it was coming, but I tried to sit with everything that people were, you know, speaking in or what God was doing in my life and all of those sorts of things.

And just let it kind of season me

JimBo Stewart: Mm-hmm.

Bob Bickford: help, help me, be led to a decision that I felt like was the right one for us. And then the last step, is one that a lot of people never get to, surprisingly. You have to decide,

JimBo Stewart: Yeah.

Bob Bickford: right? have to decide.

So I, I, I’ve, I’ve never been more shocked and surprised when people will go all throughout a process like this, of trying to arrive at a decision and then something comes up and they just delay the decision or they decide not to decide

and, deciding not to decide is making a decision

JimBo Stewart: It’s, yeah.

Bob Bickford: They, don’t wanna [00:20:00] experience the conflict or the, the challenge. And so here, here’s what I would say, your decision if you are, if you are being led by all of these things that we’ve talked to previously and they’re pointing in one direction, and then you short circuit that decision choosing not to decide or choosing differently because it’s hard or difficult,

JimBo Stewart: Mm-hmm.

Bob Bickford: um, man, that, an unfortunate waste of time.

And, and really kind of, you, you’ve gone through this process. And, and it makes me sad when I see people who don’t decide because it’s gonna be hard and it change is hard. Jimbo

for everybody and change is challenging. And those of us who sit in a leader’s chair, uh, oftentimes as pastors, we, we know that if we’re gonna change something of the church, that some people are gonna like it, some people ain’t, and we’re gonna hear about it, right? And, we still shouldn’t, delay our decision just because some people are gonna be upset or because it’s gonna be difficult.

JimBo Stewart: Yeah, and that’s where, I mean, I think at this point, if you, I mean you’ve been spending time in prayer. You have been letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly. You’ve been patient, you’ve set some time, [00:21:00] you’ve walked around. It, looked at different perspectives. You’ve gained perspective from wise counsel, you’ve, I.

You’ve kind of let it marinate. You’ve sit when that, I think about Psalm 46, 10, cease striving or stop your fighting, and know that I am God exhausted. Like just for like, it starts to feel super, super weighty and like this decision impacts everything in the world. Just remind yourself like it doesn’t like, God is way bigger than all of this.

And you’ve sought his counsel, you’ve sought his wisdom, you’ve gotten counsel from others as, as he has made it clear and has been affirmed by wise counsel. in the Lord, know, proves three, five and six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t rely on your own understanding. And I would add to that in your anxieties, and in all your ways, just know that God’s gonna make the path straight, and there’s a reason he didn’t show you the destination.

And he is just showing you the next steps, and you just gotta trust him, for each of those steps to take. And you gotta make the decision. and that’s where, you know, you pray for discernment, you pray for wisdom, and then you pray for courage. and boldness to just take the step that he’s asked you to take and know that it’s not all [00:22:00] up to you.

That he’s, leading, guiding that. And, and there will always be a lot of unknowns.

On, on the other side of any big decision, whether you decide or not, there’s a lot of unknowns and that can be, that’s really scary for us as human beings and, and we just have to remind ourselves that there’s nothing unknown to him And we just, we trust him as he leads us. know, I’d say I, you know, one of the things I’d encourage our listeners is, know, we will, I’m sure be bringing Bob back to the replant team events as an adjunct periodically. but you know, there’s a few opportunities for you to jump into. One of his last speaking opportunities is officially on the team.

not far after this goes out, we’ll be in Birmingham. For the Revive event with Richard Blackaby and Clifton and Frank Lewis and Joe Kreer and all the guys we’ve had on the podcast to talk about that. then we’ll be in Nashville together for Replant Middle Tennessee and then in Oklahoma, the beginning of October, I think October 2nd and third, October 2nd, and Tulsa October 3rd in Oklahoma City.

that’s kind of your farewell tour now and.

Bob Bickford: Yeah.

JimBo Stewart: [00:23:00] and so, uh, man, if you’re a listener, uh, I’d encourage you to come be a, a part of those. And I think all of those are free too. So, be a part of one of those events and come say hey to Bob and, wish him well as he continues to serve churches through 3 1 3.

And next week we’ll have, uh, your new boss on

from 3 1 3.

Bob Bickford: I’m excited. We get, we’ll get to tell the story about how he tried to drown me,

JimBo Stewart: Oh yeah,

Bob Bickford: yeah.

JimBo Stewart: All right. Uh, but you’re also continuing on the bootcamp, so Fear not listener. You’re not losing Bob Bickford on the, on the podcast.

Bob Bickford: I’m super thankful for that, and, um, I’m super thankful for, Clifton, our replant team. Jimbo for you. And, there’s gonna be no bigger cheerleader, the replant team in the coming season than me. And, I’m so, so excited about what’s ahead and I can’t wait to, to hear about, um, those things.

And, and I’m just, I know that the, the impact is gonna just continue to build and it’s gonna be even better.

 [00:24:00]