10 Rowlie Hutton | ThinkNEXT Session 4

Andrew Estes (00:14)

Welcome back to the Nexus Church Planting Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Estes.

Twice a year, we gather leaders from across our network for an event we call ThinkNEXT It's a time to step back from the pace of ministry, connect with like-minded leaders, and refocus on the mission of making disciples who make

This episode comes from our most recent ThinkNEXT gathering. Our theme was From Maintenance to Multiplication, Reframing Your Mindset to Allow the Gospel to Replicate. Together, we explored how the gospel spreads not through complexity or control, but through simple reproducible practices that ordinary believers can pass on from day one. We hope this session encourages you and challenges you to help you lead your church toward multiplication.

Let's jump in to today's session.

Nexus: Church Planting & Leader Care (01:05)

Well, good morning, everyone. And I do feel like we have been led into the Holy of Holies. So I appreciate the worship here this morning. If you have your scriptures, eventually, hopefully, we might end up in James chapter four. So if you have your Bibles, let's go ahead and turn there. A number of you have asked about how my wife, Suzette, is doing. And I just want to share with you, know, we a little over a year ago, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.

We went the integrative route for about 11 months. Didn't see the results we hoped for. And so Susie has started chemo. She's done four rounds of chemo and she is just killing it. It's been amazing. She has just tipped the narrative upside down. And those of you who know my wife, quite often will say to me, how in the world did you end up?

marrying so far above yourself and I will tell people that my marriage was all about prayer. I prayed for the perfect woman and Suzette prayed for a lifelong challenge. And so there you have it. She has asked me to never tell this story from the pulpit again so I'm gonna move over here. One time we were in

Kearney, my mother and grace was in the hospital and my wife Susie loves a ⁓ Latte Coconut milk latte and then she puts her tea bag in it. So I went to Starbucks. I like coffee the old-fashioned way I just like it black straight up coffee in my coffee and you know when you go into Starbucks anymore everybody looks like they're about 12, I mean they all look young and the older I get the younger they look and so the person behind the counter said

You're going have to wait a minute. We're making a fresh pot of coffee." And I said, that's perfect. So she handed me my coffee and said, be careful. This is fresh and very, very hot. I said, you just described my wife.

So I do want to just say a special word of thanks. Chris Hedges and I were visiting last night. And one thing that when you're going through what my wife and I are going through, you don't realize the impact that a lot of you have had on my life. I think of Mark chapter two, when the four friends brought the paralytic and they lowered him down through the roof. Do you remember what Jesus, what it said about Jesus? says Jesus admired their faith. Sometimes, ⁓

when your tank is empty.

And I would receive a text from Mike Moser or Phil Claycomb or Rusty. You don't know what that means to a person who has gone through what my wife and I are going through. So I know a lot of you have done that for us. And I just want to say thanks to you today. And I love being a part of this Nexus family. I love Phil and Barb. I love the leadership they provide.

And I just want to share two or three things with you here this morning that hopefully you can take home and apply to the ministry you have. I'm not a sports guy. In other words, I don't participate in sports. I always wanted to. I was too slow to play basketball. I was allergic to pain, so I couldn't even wrestle. And I had 20-20 vision, so I couldn't even be a referee. But I love stories about

I love stories about sports and one Katie Ledecky. She's won six gold medals, 14 world championships under her belt, three world records. She did all that before she was 25 years of old. And if you know Katie Ledecky, what separates her from the fast distance swimmers is not her size, it's not her strength. She's built pretty much like any other swimmer. But what separates her is her mindset.

Most distance swimmers jump off the block, they pace themselves and they finish fast. But time and time again when I've heard her from the podium or I've heard her in interviews, this is what she says consistently. I start fast, I stay fast, and I finish fast.

I want you to listen to what she said. I'm afraid I'm going to get to the end of the race and have too much energy left.

Scott, just filled out the whole paperwork to start getting the old social security stuff. That's why I've got snow on the mountaintop. I don't want to get to the end of my life and find out that I've got too much love left to give.

And I want to encourage you here this morning. It's okay to pace yourself, I guess. My wife would say I'm lying when I say that. I just don't want you to get to the end of your life and you look back and say, you know what, I had more to give than what I gave.

Milton Cunningham tells the story on himself. He was a missionary overseas, came back and was on faculty at Baylor University. Milton Cunningham talks about ⁓ being on a flight and he was in the middle seat and to the right of him was, excuse me, he was on the window seat and a little Down syndrome girl sat next to him. And before they took off, she reached over and tugged on his sleeve.

And he looked over and she looked up and smiled and said, do you brush your teeth? He said, yes, honey, I do. She said, that's good, because if you don't brush your teeth, your teeth are going to fall out. And then she said, do you smoke? And he said, no, I don't smoke. And she said, that's good, because if you smoke, it'll kill you. And then she smiled and said, do you know Jesus? And he smiled and said, yes, honey, I do. I know Jesus. She said, good.

Because if you don't know Jesus, you don't get to heaven. And he kind of smiled to himself. Pretty soon a businessman sat down on the other side of this Down syndrome girl. She reached over and tugged on his sleeve. And she said, do you brush your teeth? know, Cunningham thought, I know where this is going. He said, yes, honey, I do. She said, that's good. Because if you don't brush your teeth, they're going to fall out. And then she said, do you smoke?

And he said, well, yeah, I do. She said, that's bad, because if you smoke, it's going to kill you. And Milton Cunningham said, I knew the third question. And she looked over at him and said, do you know Jesus? And he kind of had this hardened look on his face. And he said, no, no, honey, I don't. And the little Down syndrome girl looked at Milton Cunningham and said, well, tell him.

You know, I live by mantras a lot of my life. If you've been around me for very long, like to mantra, listen to the chirp. I stole that from Randy Garris. I love the mantra. God's always a work upstream. But lately, the mantra I've been living by is I want to make a 10,000 year difference. Now you think about this, leaders will tell you it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient.

You're encouraged to take 10,000 steps in every day. I don't know if you know this or not, but there used to be a $10,000 bill. It was discontinued in 1969. So if you're still carrying that in your wallet today, you probably should put it in a safe or give it to Rusty for Ozark Christian College, either way.

We sing the song, bless the Lord, oh my soul, 10,000 reasons. I want to go through life with a 10,000 year perspective on my life, and here's why. We sing the old hymn, Amazing Grace. When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun.

I was challenged to make a change in my life by a guy by the name of John Gucci Foley. He was a former Blue Angel, he's got a podcast, I like to listen to his podcast. John Cucci's tagline is glad to be here. So every morning he will get up and he puts his left foot down first because it's more natural to put his right foot down. Puts his left foot down and he'll just simply say glad to be here.

what I've started doing.

is I'll get up every morning and I put my left foot down and I'll say, God, help me to make a 10,000 year difference today.

Here's what I mean by that. Rusty, you and I are gonna get up to heaven, we're gonna be singing around the throne, and someone's gonna come up to you and say, you don't remember me, but I attended a funeral that you did for my uncle. I was at my lowest point in my life, and you spoke truth from the pulpit, and I'm here today because of you. You make a 10,000 year difference.

And Scott, you and I are gonna be singing around the throne and someone's gonna come up to you and you don't remember this because it was an Easter morning and Third City was packed, but I was at my lowest point in life and I thought, is it life even worth living?

and you preached a message on hope.

And I'm here today because of you.

You see, you and I need to be reminded that we can make a 10,000 year difference in the life of people.

And the people who come on Sunday morning need to be reminded that they too can make a 10,000 year difference. You know why? Every week, they go to the same Casey's or QT or Senex and they get gas. And every Monday morning, they have the same conversation with the same young lady who's behind there. And if they just had some intentionality,

If they understood that they could make a 10,000 year difference in the life of that person who's taken their credit card, they would live life differently. You have people who come on Sunday morning and they've got little toddlers in soccer or basketball or baseball and every week they're sitting in the stands next to the same parent having the same conversation. But if they understood

they could make a 10,000 year difference in the life of that person, they would live life differently. We can all do that. And somehow you and I need to convey that, that not only is it important to us, but they too can make a 10,000 year difference.

James chapter four, now listen, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, make money, why you don't even know what life will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if it's the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

Anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. Now I'm assuming that most of you have probably preached on this text. I don't need to unpack it for you today, but James is just sharing with you and me. We don't know about life. Life can sneak up on us and all of a sudden you look back and you've got more life in your rear view mirror than you do your front windshield.

And I think James is just simply saying to you and me, we've just got to make the most of every moment.

And once again, I'm just encouraging you, don't get to the end of your life and have more love to give. Don't get to the end of your life and have more energy to give. Life is a mist.

So two or three things I wanna share as I wrap up here this morning. I wanna just make sure that when we go back to our respective churches that we can do the Second Timothy 2-2, that not only do we understand it, but we take it from the top shelf when we put it on the bottom shelf so that everybody can understand it and everybody can implement it. Because you know, it doesn't do us a bit of good to come to a gathering like this

unless we put something into practice. Amen. Now I love the fellowship and I love the encouragement and I love the pie.

But I want to make a 10,000 year difference. So here's one thing I want to encourage you to do. Go back and encourage everybody within your church to begin to do prayer walks.

walk through their neighborhood, make a list of the people that God allows them to cross their path, and begin to pray for those individuals specifically by name. And here's why. When Suzy and I moved to Omaha and we stepped into a situation that was less than ideal, we knew that what we needed to implement at the church at Kingsway Christian, whether we were able to

right out the storm or not was prayer and fasting. Every Wednesday, we encourage people within the church to fast and pray for their children because everybody wants their kids to do better than they do. Everybody, including myself, wants their children to do more for King Jesus than I can do. So every Wednesday, we encourage people to fast and pray. And second, we encourage people to pray through their neighborhoods.

You never know what's going to happen. So I started praying through the neighborhood. And one Saturday morning, I was on my way down to the church because Susie and I deliberately bought a home close to the church. I'm on my way. We'd had rain Friday night. I saw a couple that I'd been praying for putting stuff out on their yard. My first thought was they got water in their basement and they're going to need some help.

Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. I was running behind. I didn't have my sermon done. But then I thought, you know, I've been praying for this couple. Don't even know their name. So I went over and I just said, hey, sorry that you got some water in your basement. They said, no, actually, we didn't have water in the basement. We're having a garage sale today. I lit up. Do you need some help? Carrying it from the garage out to the yard.

They asked me the question, what do you do? I said, well, actually, I'm the preacher at the church right down the hill. You can see it. They looked at each other. They then looked at me. They looked back at each other. Tim said, you may not believe this, but Jenny and I just got up this morning. We're not happy with our church. His word's not mine. It's going, whoa.

And we just said to God, if you want us to try another church, would you please, please send someone our

And if you don't take anything else home, because here's what happened. Tim and Jenny came to church that morning and you know what? They told everybody. Tim was telling the men in the bathroom, you're not gonna believe this, but yesterday we prayed and Raleigh showed up. Jenny was telling everybody around the coffee pot, here's what I want you to remember. Your obedience could be someone else's testimony.

There are people right now praying close to where you assemble, looking for someone like you. And if you're obedient.

becomes their testimony.

Second thing is I want you to see people with the potential. I look at it like sometimes it's like when we put a bird feeder out and we're tired of all the birds showing up and we're just disgusted and we're shooing the birds away and you're thinking, well, wait a minute, you put the bird feeder out. Sometimes we think people annoy us. I want you to take a look and I want you to visualize having a set of

Night vision goggles. Now everybody from Arkansas, keep their night vision goggles right next to 30-06, but that's another story.

You know, the thing about a night vision goggle is it doesn't see something that's not.

but it does see something that you can't see with the naked eye.

And sometimes the person within your church that you need to fulfill a ministry is right there, but you don't have your night vision goggles on. You haven't been seeing the potential.

And James is just simply saying, life is short for you, but it's also short for someone else, and they want to be involved.

Susie and I have five kids. We wanted a small family, so we stopped at five. And two of them ⁓ both live in Eugene, Oregon. And ⁓ the last time Susie and I went to Eugene, we flew from Denver into Eugene. And Susie was on the window side, and I was in the middle seat, and a young guy sat next to me. And so I struck up a conversation with him. And we have this place that we love to go to in Eugene.

best tacos ever, Taco Vora. So I asked him, what do you do? He said, well, actually I'm a bartender. I said, okay, if I'm in Eugene, what's the one drink I gotta have? And my wife is like rolling her eyes, don't go that direction, don't go. And he told me the kind of drink and I said, so where do you tend bars? He said, well, there's this little taco place, Taco Vera. I said, my family and I love Taco Vera. And he said,

tell you what, I worked there on Tuesday. Now I knew I was going to be in Newport, Oregon on Tuesday, but my family was going to go there for tacos. I didn't tell him I was a preacher and I didn't tell him that my wife has never had a drop of alcohol in her life. And he said, I tell you what, you and your family show up on Tuesday, I will set you up. I will make sure you've got any kind. And I said, that would be fantastic. I would love to have you set my family up with.

whatever drink it might be. And my wife is just like so disgusted with her husband at this point. Well, pretty soon, he's got his headphones on and he's kind of dozing and he lifts his leg up and I see a ⁓ very satanic tattoo on his calf. So I looked over and I made sure that, you know, he didn't see what was going on.

motioned to Suzette and pointed at his calf. You know what my wife did? She tugged on my sleeve and said, do you brush your teeth?

I just want to tug on your sleeve here today. Life is short.

But you can make a 10,000 year difference.

Father God, I just thank you so much for each one who's gathered here. And I thank you God for the joy that we have in serving you. I thank you God for the encouragement that this group has been to me over the years. I thank you God for the joy I have in hearing the stories of people being baptized into Jesus and churches being planted and walls being tore down.

Father God, I pray that each and every one of us here this morning will just understand that every day is valuable and that life is a mist and that not only can we make a 10,000 year difference, but we need to encourage those who come on Sunday, they too can make a 10,000 year difference. We love you God, we praise you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And all of God's people said.

Nexus: Church Planting & Le... (23:30)

Thank you for checking out the Nexus Church Planting Podcast. We hope this conversation was helpful and inspires you to lean deeper into your calling. If you want to learn more about Nexus, visit us at nexus.us. There you'll find church planting resources, upcoming trainings, events, and more. We also want to encourage you to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Leave a review or rating to help others find us.

And please share this episode with someone you know, a pastor, a leader, a friend, somebody who needs to hear this conversation. And until next time, move with vision, lead with courage, and multiply the kingdom.