Nick Gosnell: This year, Andy Addis from Crosspoint, Kent Peterson from Inspire Church, John Wolf from Temple Baptist, and Kevin Guffey from Crossroads Christian Church are joining us. Matt Stafford unable to join us for the recording this year, but we want to be sure to let folks know that First Congregational is going to have their Christmas Eve service going on at 6 o'clock. But I wanted to give Matt our greetings at the beginning of all of this because he really kind of helps get this organized, and our thanks to him for doing that this year once again. But for the pastors that are here, good morning guys. How are you?
Pastors: Good morning.
Nick Gosnell: All right. We're going to kind of start in a place that's is familiar to all of you, but maybe not a place that would traditionally be at the place to start for Christmas. But Kent at Inspire actually spoke here a couple of weeks back in John chapter 1, and so wanted to go there just to kind of set the table for Christmas in a little bit different than the traditional the shepherds and angels place, and then we can go back to that as we go through the half hour, but we'll just start with John chapter 1. I'm going to go ahead and read verses 1 through 14 to get us started, and then we'll start with questions to each of you. John Chapter 1, this is from the New International Version, but use your Bible app and get whatever version you'd like and listen with us.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John chapter 1 verses 1 through 14. Really, that's the crux of the Christmas story, even though I didn't use the word Christmas in it at all, Andy, but but the bottom line is hope has a name, is what you guys have said in previous years, and that name is Jesus. And so, Andy, as we start, just the big thing here is, no matter whether you're reading the Christmas story from Matthew or Luke or here from John, though it doesn't really go through the details, this season is supposed to be about hope and rebirth and a chance for people to go forward, isn't it?
Andy Addis: Absolutely. You know, even the passage that we read there, you say it's not a Christmas story, but if you read the Bible, what we call Christocentrically, right, with Christ at the center, it's all a Christmas story. It's all an Easter story. It's all the story of Christ. What I love about the passage that you quoted is where it says, in the beginning of the Word, and if you'll, no matter what version you're reading, the Word should be capitalized, because that is a reference to who Jesus is. It's a proper name for him. But the original Greek is pronounced logos, which, if we saw it transliterated, we'd go, oh, logos, like a company logo or a soft drink logo. And the meaning behind that in the Greek culture was that the word, the word, the logos, the concept, this thing that people have been talking about, this yearning, this hope. When you see a couple of different sodas on the shelf, you always pick the one based on what you like or what you're drawn to. That's the power of a logo. You don't need to hear anything. You see it and you know it. The logos became flesh, the thing people have been longing for, the people, we've always had this God-shaped hole in our heart. Christmas isn't actually brand new revelation. It's completion of what we had been seeking, even if we didn't know what we were seeking. That word, that concept, that conversation, actually, that logo became flesh.
Nick Gosnell: John, as we get ready to talk to you for just a second, does having the name John give you a little bit of the willies this time of year? Because there was a man sent from God. His name was John. No, but really, names mean so much in the context of scripture. When you talk about the logos that Andy talked about, or Emmanuel, if you're talking about Christmas time, or all the different names given in Isaiah, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, you can go on. Those are all the Christmassy names of God. When you talk about bringing the name of Christ to people, 2,000 years past when it was, where's the help and the hope for you in that, and in knowing that all you're doing is amplifying the logos that you already know about?
John Wolf: Yeah, well, first of all, having the name John has always been an issue for me. But like everyone else, I didn't get that choice. So it has been because it does call special attention, but it also, for me, it carries a little more responsibility. So I want to be very careful on how I represent that. But you're right, names do have a meaning. And I love the fact that you didn't run two together out of Isaiah. I found so many times, we do Wonderful Counselor. Wonderful was a noun, not an adjective. It is a name and it is the name that fits him. And I think I could just stop there. My favorite by far is Prince of Peace, Sar Shalom. That picture of completeness, that picture of perfectness, no discord, no disharmony, everything, all that wrapped up in who this man became in Christ becoming flesh and coming to our world, bringing that forever kingdom by. And it was signified by the names, as you said, which are extremely important.
Nick Gosnell: Kevin, as as we continue forward talking about Christmas, the thing is, not only was it a fulfillment like Andy talked about and the names are important, but this is kind of a restart of hearing the voice of God. There was a great, grand period of silence between the end of what we in modern Christendom call the Old Testament and the New Testament. And when you think about the Christmas story, what for you maybe is the place where you would like to start with people? If somebody is coming to know this story for the first time and there's somebody new every year that says, I never paid attention to this before, but I'm paying attention to it now. Where do you want to start?
Kevin Guffey: Well, I think as we think about Advent, as we think about hope, everybody needs hope, everybody wants hope. As we think about love, everyone wants to be loved. Everyone wants love in their life. As we think about peace, we live in a world that is far from peaceful. But to know that we can have peace in Christ, joy, we all we all want joy. That's really where I would go, is that in Jesus, we have all those things, all the things that the world would say that that they wanted, that others would say that they wanted. We have all of that in Jesus. And then as we as we connect with them at that at that level, then then take them to here's Jesus. Here's the story. Here's where he came from. Here's all those things. And that's where I would start. All right.
Nick Gosnell: Kent, not to have you rehash what you talked about here a couple of weeks back, but there's so much about Christmas that if you are a churchy person, you know all of this. But if you're a brand new person to faith, you may not know much of it. If you're talking to someone who has been baptized in your congregation within the last 12 months and maybe this is their first Christmas season, paying attention to Christmas, what's the message for you there?
Kent Pedersen: The message for me is this message I preached recently from the book of John. I was actually supposed to preach it as a part of the Advent series, which is celebrating the coming of Christ, which we celebrate both is coming the first time, but also we celebrate his return is coming again. I was actually that was kind of scheduled, you know, as it was hope. And then it was faith and then it was peace and it was joy. And that was going to be the light and from taken from John. But then I read something and it said, you know, on Christmas Eve, give people the the gospel, give them the the all of the story like you've never read it before and don't get into the details. And I just felt like John chapter one was kind of getting into the details and not celebrating. So I kind of switched it up and moved it around because I'm going to spend my time. I usually spend it in Luke chapter two, but I'm spending my time in Matthew chapter two and talking about the joy that Kevin just talked about, the joy that comes to our lives, that brings peace, that brings hope, that brings that love that we want in the person of Jesus Christ. And so just really my focus this year is not to get too cute and not to make it complicated. Just let the the good news speak for itself and celebrate the the the pure Christmas story, if you will.
Nick Gosnell: Kind of going around just a little bit to talk about Christmas. I again, I love to get in the weeds because for those of us that have been Christians since, you know, VBS as a six year old or whatever it might be. We love Christmastime. We love the idea of hope and the rhythm of the calendar and all of that. But as I've tried to say of the last couple of questions to a couple of these ministers, for those for whom this is news, it's good news, first of all. That's what we've been talking about, Andy. But more importantly, it's it's a chance to literally change the direction of your life. Talk a little bit about when God got a hold of you personally. I know you've done that a couple of times with us, but I want to give you a chance to tell that story again.
Andy Addis: Well, I really appreciate that. You know, the Christmas season is a time for change. We have it filled with traditions and it's, you know, got all kinds of things that we look forward to every year. But it really is the opportunity for significant life change. For me, I was not raised in a Christian home. And I actually became a believer when the neighbors down the street who ran a bus ministry were harassing my stepdad during Monday Night Football. And he said, if I put my kid on your bus, will you leave me alone? And so I was a sacrificial lamb for the family. And I did accept Christ as my Savior. But I went through a period of time where I went to church. It was a drudgery. I never accepted him as Lord until I was 18. When I was 18, really nothing was going on except my life was falling apart. No one was sharing Jesus with me. But I had I had him echoing in my in my head, in my heart. And I pulled out a 33 LP. So for all you young people, that's what we used to play music on. And I bought it at camp. And it was just this moment where God said to me, you got to choose, is it my way or your way? I was getting ready to go to college, so I'll just be straight up. I was in a puddle on the floor. I told him I wanted to go his way. I got up from there. I decided to grow my hair long because every picture I'd seen of Jesus, he had long hair. I had to quit a part time job because they wouldn't let me go to church. And from that day, that spring, everything changed, and I'm so thankful that the Holy Spirit and God's grace came to me in that moment. And I'm thankful. And that's why this is the season. You know, we've been talking at Crosspoint about, oh, holy night, the night that changed everything. And whether you're a believer or not, if you're celebrating Christmas or not celebrating Christmas in twenty twenty four, he changed everything because you think it's twenty twenty four. And that's on a B.C., A.D. calendar where he has monumentally shifted the world. And it's not just the calendar. It's grace. It's adoption. It's mercy. It's hope. It's all those things. He changes lives. And I pray for everyone listening that this Christmas will be when you enjoy traditions, but also be a time that changes everything.
Nick Gosnell: We're talking to Andy Addis from Crosspoint, Kent Peterson from Inspired Church, John Wolf from Temple Baptist and Kevin Guffey from Crossroads Christian Church. Before the initial break, I let Andy tell his story of how God got a hold of him. But I want to do that for each of you. For John, what to when when did your life really change? And did did God really get a hold of you?
John Wolf: Well, I don't have the longevity aspect that Andy does. God didn't get a hold of me until I was an adult. I had already chosen a career path and I was married and all those things, but it was started. My wife and I started going to a small little church. And as we went there, I got to hear this guy share the gospel. And in fact, that pastor was just wanting someone to study with him. And as a result of that and me reading some material, I was reading a Billy Graham book one night and really went with oh, my, I think it was The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. So and it was absolutely like, oh, no, I have to make sure I have to know that this is the case. And like Andy, though, my life changed some. But it wasn't until I surrendered and surrenders the right word, because God and I argued for quite a while about me going into ministry. And I pretty much said no repeatedly. And pretty much the last one was, but God, there's no money in it. And he said, dude, you've been teaching. You already know about no money. And that was the end. I gave up after that. But since that point, then it's like, Andy, everything. Yeah, everything has changed. And I think there's a significant difference, as he pointed out, between accepting Christ as savior and accepting Christ as Lord.
Nick Gosnell: Kevin, talk to us about whatever you consider to be your big life change point with Christ.
Kevin Guffey: I really appreciate that question also really making me think back. I was also I was raised in a home where we would say that we were we were a Christian home, but we rarely went to church. We went to church when we lived in a small town. Well, when my mom got remarried, we went to church in a small town. And I think it was because you got talked about if if you didn't go to church. And once we moved from there, we we kind of stopped. And and then it was actually when I went to college, I started going to the Bible chair and and but quickly I met my wife and then we kind of fell away from that. And it was when I was 26 years old, we I got transferred here. I got my degree in meat science, which most people have never even heard of that. But but I just say I can understand all the parts of the scripture that talk about sacrifices and all the parts of the animal, you know, but when we got transferred here, I was invited to to Crossroads by a guy I worked with at Tyson Foods. And and so from from there, it was not long. And I surrendered, surrendered to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And then I was I was all in with the church. And nine years later, was asked to come on staff. There's a whole long story in all of that. I've been praying since in a call to ministry, praying about it and and had the opportunity. The church has given me the opportunity. And now I've been there for 19 years. But it really it was at 26 when when I was invited to go to church.
Nick Gosnell: Kent, tell your story.
Kent Pedersen: Well, first of all, Nick, thank you for this question. I love this question. And I don't think any of the four of us, any pastor, actually any follower of Jesus gets tired of hearing someone's story of coming to Jesus and finding him as their savior and lord. And I just love it that God works in our lives in so many different ways and different seasons. And each of our stories is different, even though there's a commonality of that decision point. You know, I was thinking as Andy was sharing his and John and Kevin were sharing their stories of my family's story. And it just comes at different places. So my grandpa, my dad's dad, it was 72 years old. And it's never too late to turn your life and give your life to Jesus. And he had rejected Christ many times. But near the end of his life, he accept that invitation. A great moment for our family. My dad was when he was 19 and confused, like Andy didn't know what he was going to do with his life and was kind of feeling lost. And he took a right turn on Main Street, wrote a book about it called The Gift of the Journey, a right turn on Main Street. And on a Sunday night, found Jesus as his lord and savior after services were over at a small little church in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska. And so for me, it was I had this Christian heritage given to me, but we all have to receive this gospel for ourselves is where there's no grandchildren in the kingdom. There's just children. And at 10 years old on a Sunday night after services were over there, we had back when we had Wednesday night, Sunday morning, Sunday night church. It was a Sunday night. And I went in and stood by my mom and dad's bed because something was kind of eaten at my heart. I just felt a conviction. I just stood there and like a creepy little boy I would do. Sometimes my mom woke up scared. You know, I kind of freaked her out. But I just simply that time, not from a bad dream. I wanted to pray and receive Jesus as my lord and savior. And that night I went back to my bed after praying with them. And I just remember a joy that I could not explain. I couldn't go to sleep that night because I was overjoyed. And I love that each of you are talking about not just Jesus as your savior, but as your lord. For me at 19 is when Jesus not only became was my savior, but he became my lord where we surrendered my life to him. Didn't mean I was perfect, but it was a surrendered life where my bent was on wanting to please and follow Jesus with all my heart and soul and mind. And I love it.
Nick Gosnell: I've asked each of these gentlemen to give their personal story. And the reason why is there's no other way that I have found that people really get it as Christians is except your story. So if you know Jesus and love Jesus and these are your pastors and you're listening to this because they're your pastor, do yourself a favor. And when you go to your Christmas Eve service, which I'm going to give you guys a chance to talk about those in just a second, find somebody you haven't met before and greet them and ask them for their story and tell them your story. Because that is the way to build that relationship that ultimately allows you the opportunity to bring somebody to the feet of Jesus, whether it's your own child and it happens at home like it did for Kent, or whether it is somebody that you that you didn't know before, before what happens on Christmas Eve. It's just an important opportunity for each one to reach one person because it's a one on one relationship between each individual in Christ. And they just need somebody to make the introduction. Kent, I know that you've talked about this at Inspire quite a bit. Just the focus on one. And that's really what you want to see everybody do. I know you've got some services on Christmas Eve that are an opportunity for that.
Kent Pedersen: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Jesus is for the one. He's for one more and he's always seeking one more. Our Christmas Eve services were excited, like my friends around this table, as well as Andy prayed before we even got on this program for the 80 plus churches in our town. We don't just represent ourselves, but 80 other churches. And of course, around our state nation, we celebrate that Christ is being lifted up in ways even where they know it or not. Christ is being lifted up in this season. So Inspire simply two candlelight services 4:30 and 6 o'clock on Christmas Eve.
Nick Gosnell: All right, Kevin, what's the schedule for Crossroads?
Kevin Guffey: We have one Christmas Eve service at six o'clock.
Nick Gosnell: OK, John, what for you guys?
John Wolf: We're doing a candlelight Christmas Eve service that includes a focus on communion as well. And we'll do that at six o'clock on Christmas Eve.
Nick Gosnell: Andy, Crosspoint, you know, you guys normally have several.
Andy Addis: Yes, we do Christmas Eve and Christmas Adam as a joke trying to get both days in. But as I give you that schedule, let me just say that I want to echo what what Kent had just said, as we all gave our testimonies. I think everybody at the table, we gave our time, date and place. But we all want to make sure you hear that we had that time, date and place because we recognize that we were separated from God by our sins and that Christ came and Christ died. And then and that's the reason we have a testimony. And so we want to make sure that you don't miss that part with a time, date, place. And when we tell our stories, people argue with the Bible, but no one's ever heard your story, Nick and gone, no. I mean, your story is your story. It's powerful. And we're going to be sharing in Christmas Eve services at Crosspoint Hutch on the day before Christmas Eve at four and six and then on Christmas Eve at two, four and six.
Nick Gosnell: All right. So that's when all the services are, but for those that maybe say, well, this is my Christmas Eve service. I've got to work. Something's going on. I'm in retail. They don't want to they don't want us to close. We're not going to be able to go. What whatever else it might be. I'm going to give Kevin, because this is our first time together, the opportunity to give just a quick message to those for whom this is their Christmas Eve service.
Kevin Guffey: As we really look around too often, Christmas becomes all about the presence and the hustle and the bustle and and and all that that's going on in our world. But really, Christmas is about Jesus. Christmas is about freedom in Christ. Freedom. Christmas is about Jesus loves you more than you can imagine. He wants a relationship with you, and he loves you, whether you are at work or sitting in in a service somewhere. He wants a relationship with you. He left. He gives the he tells the parable of leaving the ninety nine to find the one and and the one. He he looks until he finds the one and then carries that one. And so wherever you are, whether whether you have a great relationship with him or or whether you don't know him, he loves you more than you can imagine. And wherever you're at, wherever you're at, he wants to grow that relationship with you.
Nick Gosnell: You know, I never thought about this before, Kevin, so forgive me. I've only got a couple of minutes left. So I thought we could have done the whole half hour on this on this topic. So I apologize. But when when God came down and the angels told the shepherds about Christmas, think about that. They all had to leave their flocks to go. I never thought about that before. So they had to trust that those would be safe as they went to find the one. And that that's just something that I'd never that I'd never really grasped, I guess, is that that for them, it was a risk for for the shepherds to go. Wasn't it, Andy?
Andy Addis: Yeah. You know, you're getting at the heart of what I think we're missing in a lot of Western Christianity today is that for the shepherds, it was not informational. It was transformational. And when we hear the gospel, when we say we believe in Jesus, when we read the word, it can't be about what we know. It's got to be what we know translated into who we are and what we do.
OK, John. Yeah. So when you think about just the parts of the Christmas story that are new to you, what's maybe something you've learned this year?
John Wolf: Oh, well, several things. And I want to give away some of what I'm about to do. So but at the same time, but, you know, I think so many times we we sanitize that whole scene. You we start. And what I mean by that is we start thinking things like, well, you know, Jesus was God. He never had a dirty diaper. Wrong. And we miss the human element. I mean, start thinking about, you know, we think about, oh, you know, the Magi show up and said, we're looking for the one born king of the Jews. One of the things that just struck me is who's born a king? You're born a prince. Hmm. Not a king. But Jesus was. And that's what makes his birth very unique. And there's so many elements that I think if we just slow down and quit thinking with our familiar brain and just start looking at what's there, the amount, you know, just thinking through all the things that that take place in that story, just putting yourself in the position of Joseph and Mary for a second is just I don't know. I can't I think we would all need. We'd be at a therapist's office trying to get some help because it is so disruptive to their life.
Nick Gosnell: What about you, Kent?
Kent Pedersen: I'll give away a little bit of my Christmas Eve message. No problem at all. Just in the Matthew chapter two, when the Pharisees and the teachers, they were summoned by King Herod to to know how to tell these wise men where to go, where to find the you know, of course, they came to the palace thinking that's where you're going to find a king. They went to King Herod's palace first. But these priests and teachers who knew the scriptures, who knew the prophecy of Jesus, of the Messiah coming, they pointed the wise men to Jesus, but they themselves did not go seek Jesus. And so to me, that is like we can be wise and be stupid at the same time. Information with no information, without transformation.
Nick Gosnell: And the transformational piece is back in John one. As we as we started here, when we started the program, I read verses one through 14 at the beginning. But verse 18 is a worthy close to our conversation. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only son who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the father has made him known. If something is pulling on your heart right now, just as a result of this, go to one of these services or one of the 80 churches in Hutchinson and just ask questions. What does this Jesus thing mean? I know that the five of us in this room and any of the ministers across the community would love to give you their answer to that and allow you to begin a relationship with the Christ of Christmas.