Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:03 Hey, Brian Phillips here today. Welcome back to the Grace House Podcast. I'm sitting with, uh, my friend Lenny LaGuardia, great friend of mine from, uh, Kansas City. We've been running together for a long time, couple decades now.
Speaker 1 00:00:18 Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:00:19 So, hey man, we've had a really good weekend here and we kind of felt like on the podcast we just wanted to talk through some of the different, I don't know, talk points or things that we saw God do this weekend that would be encouraging to man and the guys that tune into our podcast. So
Speaker 1 00:00:34 I love coming here because I just get a chance to see all that you guys have been through your church, what you're doing with Grace Hops, and it, it's such an encouragement to me and I, I just encourage those of you that are listening to this podcast to uh, really appreciate those people in your life that have just counted the cost to keep walking with Jesus and to keep things going. And Brian, I've just been so encouraged by being here at The Grove. I'm encouraged every time I come, You know, we're in Kansas City and we're in the thick of it, and all of you are listening out there. You're in the thick of it, but you just gotta pop your head up once in a while and you just gotta appreciate those that ran the race before you. And, uh, you're running a good race, man. I just really appreciate you.
Speaker 0 00:01:20 Well, thanks man. You know, talking about running a race, it was kind of, we talked about one of the things that you really have to kind of fight through in your own personal life. And we kind of, you identified the region I'm in as kind of like one of the common struggles is like apathy.
Speaker 1 00:01:38 There's definitely a smothering covering.
Speaker 0 00:01:41 I mean, apathy's kind of like a Yeah, it's a, it's a broad brush and you could say a lot of the country's apathetic, you know, you could, but like, I don't know, like what does the guy gotta do to, to see he's apathetic and overcome that kind of stuff? Cause that's, I think a lot of people got their head in the sand or they don't know what to do. What is apathy? What do you mean by that? Like, what, I mean, what are
Speaker 1 00:02:04 We saying? Well, when I say smothering covering, I, I look at the children. I have been ministering to children for 40 years and equipping them and speaking life into them and helping families get restored. And what I see the children in the region here in various regions, I just feel that their voice is smothered. They're not free to speak about who God is and, and what they're about in their own hearts. So I, I really am calling a generation fourth to just speak off the things of God. And I think men, we need to speak life into our children no matter what we're going through. We need to separate our stuff and speak life into our children. And I watch you do that and I watch what's happening in Kansas City and I'm sure it's happening across the earth.
Speaker 0 00:02:55 But yeah, it's a good way to put it. And I, you know, I know your story. We've been together for like almost over 20 years now. Wow. And I remember like, you know, apathy applies to this part of your story of like, you came in like I've always loved that about your heart. Like you, like even how you're sharing today, it's not like you don't just come in and see children or see, see like a program or see some kind of brain to the church. Like you, you see it as such a more, um, probably biblical level of generation upon generation. You know, it's way larger than, than a lot of times we pigeonhole kids or children into something and they really are everything, you know, in a lot of ways. But anyway, going back many, many years ago, you would stepped into a role where you had to take over for something that was more like clowns and puppets. Yeah. And uh, you had to come in and like talk about what you valued over clowns and puppets. That helps. Cause I think that's a good picture of like how to deal with a apathy, See it. Yeah. It's kind of a spiritual battle that you've gotta step towards. You know, I, I think there's some more takeaways, but talk about that. Like what that part of your story is always like fun for me to
Speaker 1 00:04:07 Listen to. Well this, this very region was where the Lord sent us to pastor. And out of that we learned some things and that's what took us to Kansas City, our next journey. And I think you cannot take for granted where the Lord has you now. You can't take for granted where you're at now. And you have to understand that where you're at right now is really part of the journey to take you where God wants you to go. And we don't always have those answers, but I know when I came here, all I saw was the church wanting to have programs that would grow the church. It would be entertainment systems that would come into the body of Christ to make kids feel good. So parents would continue to go back to the church. And it was this very region that the Lord spoke to me personally about children or not my hobby.
Speaker 1 00:05:01 And when I ask the Lord, what do you want to say next? When you're raising up a generation and you see the church meeting on Wednesday night, Tuesday night, Thursday nights, Friday night, Saturday services seek this, seek that the Lord said, I want you to go throughout the earth and tell the church that children are not my hobby. And that uh, we're not just to perfect these gifts of puppets and, and entertainment and juggling and all that kind of stuff so that we would get children through the service, but we would truly, truly raise them up as men and women of God thirsting after his righteousness and doing the things of God for his, for theirs is the kingdom Luke 18, 15 through 17, for theirs is the kingdom. He called them forth. He hijacked a meeting. He said, Let them come. Don't hinder them for theirs is the kingdom. So children across the earth and our children, my children, grandchildren, your children, those that are listening, your children are living with components of the kingdom of God that you need to call forth. I need to call it out.
Speaker 0 00:06:06 But yeah. And there was like, it was cool, you know, Cause I know that over that whole, the bigger story of everything, it came out where it was like there was such thankfulness where there was, there was a time, you know, and expressions that when guys were like, You touched my granddaughter and you touch this person's life. They used to. Right. They used to be in the clown and puppet show kind of thing. Yeah. And you came in and taught 'em how to pray for the sick and do kingdom stuff. Right. You know, And I think what's cool, one of the things I learned from you while long time ago is, and because I can see it on your life over the longevity and faithfulness that you have, is so yeah. You're asking God questions. Like, what do you want to say on all these different meetings? What's your heart? And you know, that's really cool cuz that's the way a messenger carries himself. Right? And then you take that message and you've actually been speaking a little variety, but a lot of the same passionate context for 40 years, you
Speaker 1 00:06:58 Know? Yeah. Same
Speaker 0 00:06:59 Stuff. So now you're really good at the message, you know?
Speaker 1 00:07:01 Yeah. I, I own two violins, man. That's, that's it. I don't have a whole orchestra. It's just,
Speaker 0 00:07:07 I, I think that's important for parents and, and men to see too. It's like, you know, like as a young, you know, I'm a, I love to preach the gospel and you know, you get a message and you like, Oh, I delivered the word good. But then you start to realize you're a message and you're carrying something deeper and more, you know, more ancient than you could even imagine. And you really just wanted to be a steward of how you steward your words and your timing and how you say things and when you should say things. And, but most of the time you're carrying the same input. Like, Hey, I'm gonna say this again. I've only said this 892 times, but I'm saying it 900 times. You know, it's
Speaker 1 00:07:39 Like I,
Speaker 0 00:07:40 I I think it's just that repetitive.
Speaker 1 00:07:42 I totally agree with you. And I think for me, I never saw this ministry as a stepping stone to a greater ministry, you know? Yeah. That's, so I felt like, man, I wish I was doing more important things than what have you. And I've struggled with that to be honest. I go, Man, I'm only a, you're gonna be a kid's guy the rest of your, uh, your life. And, and you know what? I get to oversee, I get to oversee 17 ministries at the international House of Prayer and speak and lead, but even the enemy sometimes just wants me to believe, Oh, you're nothing but a kids guy and you're not the, you're not the most important and what have you. And now what I say to the enemy, I'd tell him to shut up. And, you know, thank you for the compliment. If I hear an accusation that says, Well, you're just a kids guy. I, I'm appreciative of that as a compliment. Yeah. Because
Speaker 0 00:08:30 There's no, like, if he's a liar, the opposite's true.
Speaker 1 00:08:32 Right. That's no other place I'd rather be than that in terms of raising up men and women to equip their children. And I've never seen children's ministry or youth ministry as a program because children and youth are not called the programs. They're called the people. I've never seen it as a program. I've, I've seen it as a ministry to the family. And that's what I love about Grace Hops. That's what I love about what, what you're doing, bro. You are talking to men and you're talking about how they can get their lives into an upright position to where they would honor their, their wives and honor their children. And, and, and just more importantly, honor the Lord. Right?
Speaker 0 00:09:11 Yeah. And that's, that's, to me, that's the most powerful way to live. Not to me that's the, the biblical, you know, we talked about this, I mean, it kind of goes along with apathy, but it's like, what, how have we failed the next generation? Cause I feel, I feel responsible in that area. Like I know I'm a certain age or whatever, you know, I know the leaders before me. You know, I think even what you were saying and how the enemy attacks you, I think it's kind of part of the fabric of how we failed. Cause like when we start to look at churches like big business and we start to run it like CEOs and that kind of stuff. And we, we disconnected from the context of family and calling and, and authentic, uh, you know, the, because you got a lot of guys in the body of Christ that, you know, they like their titles, their stepping stones to the next place of power. I think all that kind of, I think it's coming to an end. A lot of it, like I'm, I don't know if it'll ever be extinct, but I think it's coming to an end. I think this millennial generation's going, Yeah, not, I don't like that. I'm not, I'm not gonna participate, which is gonna, I don't, I think it's gonna create a whole new, it's gonna carve a whole new shaping of what the church looks
Speaker 1 00:10:18 Like. I believe with Alma Heart, Paul, when he was speaking to the church in Corinth, they were feeding the poor. And among them, the voices started murmuring. And Paul had to address this because the church in Corinth, they, they all of a sudden they didn't see results. And I think how we failed the Gen A generation, how we can fail a generation is by being a group of people, adults that are solely fixed on our understanding of what a result is or what success is. Yeah. It all says, Wait a second, this service that you perform is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, it's overflowing with many expressions of Thanksgiving to the Lord. What he's saying is, you're not just putting food in their valleys because the church was feeding the poor and they weren't seeing results. And Paul had to go back and say, Wait, this service you perform is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints.
Speaker 1 00:11:17 And so we're not just putting on children's programs to get families through the church service so the churches can continue to grow and have good offerings. Paul was really saying, this service is connected to servanthood and if you research it, service in this text is connected to servanthood and servanthood is connected to priestly duties. So what I see in terms of failing the generation is the men and women haven't seen that God has given them authority to actually change lives and speak into their lives. They've been just programming and getting through the day and getting through the service. And
Speaker 0 00:11:54 Yeah, there's this concept in scripture like, may your offspring possess the gate of their enemy. Right. And you know, you find that all through the scriptures of like the next generation is a strategic piece.
Speaker 1 00:12:06 Yeah. And Hebrews text 13 seven, we talked about it today, Consider your leaders and their outcome in their life imitate their faith. And are we really truly leaders in the body of Christ where a generation would grow up and want to imitate our faith? Or are we a bunch of complainers or we oh man, that's still trying to figure things out. And that's convicting, you know, for me it is convicting. And I have to be careful of that because I truly think we're a minute away from having another generation grow up underneath us trying to still figure out what went wrong with the church. Yeah. You know, and uh, some of it's lack of forgiveness. Put your offense aside and I don't know what everybody out there would need to do to have children want to imitate their faith, but I know one thing, you've gotta quit complaining about each other.
Speaker 0 00:12:58 Hey, I'll tell you another thing that's evil, and I'll put all this on me. You don't even have to agree with me <laugh>, if you don't want to. I think it's evil. And I'm gonna say it that way. And it's bold, bold thing to say, I think it's evil to take your kids out of church community and put 'em in sports. I just, I just do. I think, you know, hey, news flash, your kid's probably not gonna make the NFL news flash, probably not gonna be major league baseball player. And you know, but why would you trade weekend or Sunday or family for that? Right. It's just, and I'm not just saying that cuz I'm a pastor, I don't want to be a pastor. God made me be one. He called me to do this. He called me to plan a church. If it was up to me, dude, I'd just be a marketplace guy supporting a good pastor out there, whatever.
Speaker 0 00:13:45 But you know, here I am this guy doing grace ops and the grove and all that stuff, but I think it's evil and I'm just gonna say it, I think playing his day, and I think we put our children on the alt of sports and uh, now we're paying a price culturally, morally. Yeah. You know, they, they grow up without, and then you put your kids in the center of the family and then mom and dad should be the center. The relationship of mom and dad should be at the center, not the children. You should have a, a covenant centered marriage, not a child centered marriage. So then once you put the children in the center, Yeah. Don't get shocked if you end up in divorce. Don't get shocked if you end up with all kinds of problem. Cause you're not putting the love of the covenant love of a man and woman on display for the children and the children. Hey, you can play ball Monday through Friday, son, even on Saturdays. But I'm going to say no on Sunday and I'm not, you're not gonna be in the travel league. Sorry, I'm going a little too far. But I'm
Speaker 1 00:14:40 Just, I'm just saying, I I totally love what you're
Speaker 0 00:14:42 Saying. I just think, you know, you think about apathy. Yep. Come on man.
Speaker 1 00:14:47 We lead him right into the apathy because if the kingdom according to Jesus is
Speaker 0 00:14:52 Theirs, look at that new vet. Sorry, we're on I 90 record
Speaker 1 00:14:56 This part. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:14:56 It's nice part
Speaker 1 00:14:57 That the kingdom is truly theirs and there to move it forward. We can't lead our children right out of the environment and the culture that allows them the opportunity to walk out the things of God. Well I had a mom tell me, well my, my son can witness on the playing field. My son can witness on the soccer field. My son can do all of that. Yeah. But your son is also in, in need of the word of God in their life to be filled up. And if you're doing that at home and that's going well and you can blow off church or the program and not all God given things are in church. I understand that
Speaker 0 00:15:36 Artistic community, it's all off to, it's all mar
Speaker 1 00:15:39 It's degrees,
Speaker 0 00:15:40 You know, we're trying the best we can, but it's the essence of what it is. Right. That's right. Like, why does the Bible say don't forsake the gathering, You know, like what we just did an hour ago. You can't download that online.
Speaker 1 00:15:49 No, you
Speaker 0 00:15:50 Can't. You can't get that. No. You know, you know, another thing, um, that I like about you and I I think that we have in common is, is that we're both strategic men. We both we're very strategic and every time we get together we cross pollinate on vision. And you know, like your world is like really developing. Yeah. You've been so faithful steward in your world. Know you've got thank you've, you've got an app coming soon, books, you're building out all kinds of resources like, you know, and once you get all that kind of built out, I want to talk about it again on our podcast and get, get men connected to it, you know,
Speaker 1 00:16:22 Families, I believe I'm gonna connect this stuff with you and what you want to do with the family and you win a father, you win a family, you win a mom, you win a neighborhood <laugh>. Yeah. But when you win a father, you win a family and a lot of children don't have their fathers with them. And that's why more than ever, you gotta keep your children in the spiritual family. And, and that's just what I long for.
Speaker 0 00:16:47 Yeah. So I've always loved that about the two of us. Like the strategy. And I, and I just want encourage, man, you know, you, you do need to have a strategic view of your life and uh, you know, it may not be your, your gifting or your your leaning, you know, it is more so for me and I know for you. But uh, but yeah, you should set goals and you should be passionate about where your family is spiritually. And That's right. You should be, uh, you know, and so strategy and goals and all that kind of stuff is kind of a counter to those whole concept of like apathy, right? Like, um, be a strategic man, look yourself in the mirror, you know, kick yourself in the nuts <laugh>. Like tell yourself the truth, right? Get a friend that would tell yourself the truth. Like, you know, like when Lenny says things are convicting, he says, the word says that we're supposed to live in a way that another person could follow.
Speaker 0 00:17:39 I mean, that is convicting because you know that that should pull out the draws. You know, my own apathy, my own, you know, cuz I've got it. You probably probably got it. Absolutely. You know, we all have it to different degrees and measures like Right. We're all really sloppy fools on the inside and that's why we need discipline and we need moorings and we need goals, and we need to really learn how to set our gaze and step I how the Bible says, just take the next step in front of you. Don't turn to the right, Don't turn to the left. Just keep going. Right. You know, and you gotta know where you're going. You gotta know your goals. So I don't know, Lenny, you got any closing thoughts? It's always good to have you on the podcast.
Speaker 1 00:18:14 I just want to encourage everyone who's listening to this and who will listen to it to just honor those who ran, who've ran the race before you surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, learn to assist each other in their struggle against sin, not judge them and truly live a life worth imitating. And if we shoot at that and we make that our mark, I, I feel the generation that's raising, being raised up underneath us and our own children, they won't determine our outcome of being perfect, but they'll go, You know what? My dad tried. My dad was sincere, my dad was passionate, My dad knew he could, he'll fail at this a hundred times in a row. But you know what? Live a life worth imitating. Amen. That's what I feel.
Speaker 0 00:19:02 All right man. Well, I love you. I love heavy in town and, uh, you know, guys, Grace hops, just the culture that we're building out to encourage you, you know, to, to walk strong after God, to honor God, build community, and, and we all want to kind of engage this thing called biblical masculinity. And the five values they have, we have, which is honor, affection, liberty, war, and valor. All right guys. Until next time, live upright.
