Pt 2: Brian Schulenburg + Somali Restaurant Owner

[00:00:03] Welcome back to the Ask About My Faith Podcast, where our hope is to inspire everyday faith

[00:00:08] conversations. I'm Abbey, and while I usually co-host alongside Jess, she couldn't be here

[00:00:14] for part two of our conversation with the incredible Brian Schulenburg, so you're stuck

[00:00:20] with me. Brian has faithfully served in the local church since 2001, and his passion for

[00:00:26] leading people to Jesus is undeniable. But beyond his ministry, he's also a licensed realtor,

[00:00:33] and today we'll explore how he integrates his faith into his work outside the walls of

[00:00:37] the church. Brian and his wife, Cindy, have been married for over 30 years, raising four

[00:00:42] adult children and enjoying life as grandparents to their growing family. In part one, Brian

[00:00:49] shared the remarkable story of how he began sharing his faith at just four years old. Today, we're

[00:00:54] going to dive into his journey as both a pastor and a realtor, where he consistently lives out

[00:00:59] his faith. From praying with families while touring homes to showing grace to a mortgage

[00:01:04] broker who made a mistake, Brian is a beacon of hope, always pointing others to God. One

[00:01:10] of my favorite stories is how Brian built a seven-year friendship with a Somali restaurant owner, inviting

[00:01:15] him to Thanksgiving meals and baseball games. You'll be amazed at the moment when this Muslim friend

[00:01:22] finally asked Brian to share his faith story. We've got so much to unpack today. Let's jump in.

[00:01:32] Welcome back, Brian. We are so glad to have you. In our last episode, we chatted about your

[00:01:40] childhood and even some young adulthood stories. And I'm really excited for people to hear about your

[00:01:48] life, I guess, as an adult, really, and how you're able to share your faith as a pastor and a

[00:01:54] real estate agent. So yeah, do you want to give just a quick update maybe on your career and what

[00:02:01] you're doing for work?

[00:02:02] Yeah. So I am the outreach pastor at Wooddale Church, and I lead something we call the Family

[00:02:07] Resource Initiative, which is our external outreach arm of the church to our community. And we try to

[00:02:13] meet everyday needs. So whether it's mental health needs or financial or other needs, we're trying to

[00:02:19] come alongside of people and just believe that in moments of crisis or transition or just, you know,

[00:02:26] whatever, in people's lives that there's an openness to the gospel and I want to be present

[00:02:30] there. But there's another part of my life that about 10 years ago started. I was a senior pastor

[00:02:36] at that time in Woodbury and just had college kids and kids who were going to be getting married and

[00:02:43] needed to make a little extra income and serving this wonderful smaller church. But they graciously

[00:02:49] allowed me to get a real estate license. And I just thought it was going to be so I could sell

[00:02:53] three or four houses a year and have a little bit of extra funds to fund kids. And I really didn't think

[00:02:58] about the ministry opportunities that would be there that I'd never have as a pastor. And I'm going to tell

[00:03:05] you, it has been the most wonderful, beautiful opportunity to share the gospel week in and week out.

[00:03:12] I get to share the gospel more in real estate than I do as a pastor in a really practical way.

[00:03:17] I remember when I took that job, sometimes as a pastor, you know, you can preach about evangelism,

[00:03:23] you can talk about it and people hear it and they go, yeah, but you're a pastor. You're paid to do that.

[00:03:26] That's what you do. You're a professional. You know what you're doing. And, or I would hear from a lot

[00:03:32] of the guys in my church, you just don't know what it's like in the real world. And, you know,

[00:03:35] while that's really great preaching, that's not what it's like in the real world. And the real

[00:03:43] estate life of my real estate part of my life, that is the real world. And yes, oh my goodness,

[00:03:47] those are stressful transactions. There's plenty of opportunities for conflict that arise. There's

[00:03:52] just all sorts of opportunities, but it's been so beautiful to see how the gospel works in the real

[00:03:58] world and it transforms lives. And so I love that I get to be a part of this and get to see God just

[00:04:06] kind of work in real time in people's lives away from church. Yeah. Do you have a favorite story

[00:04:12] of sharing the gospel within your real estate life? Yeah. I mean, there's so many that are,

[00:04:18] what I guess my favorite would be, I was representing a family who were both selling their home and buying

[00:04:25] a home. And so, you know, the night before you close in a house, you go to a final walkthrough

[00:04:30] and it's kind of a big deal. You want to make sure everything's working fine. And I remember going to

[00:04:34] the final walkthrough of the house they were buying and getting a call from the loan officer of the

[00:04:40] client who was buying their house. And he said, hey, we've run into a problem and we're not going to

[00:04:45] be able to close on time. Not even sure we're going to be able to close at all. And it was like,

[00:04:49] oh my goodness, if this doesn't close, their new house doesn't close, those people's house.

[00:04:53] So it's just this, anyway, pain reaction kind of stuff that would happen there.

[00:04:59] And instead of losing it, I just, for whatever reason, the Lord just kind of gave me a total

[00:05:03] peace. And I just said, hey, it sounds like we've got a challenge. And I'm hearing that you

[00:05:08] think we can't close, but I believe that in the morning as you work on this, that you and your team

[00:05:15] can find a solution and let's just plan to close late, but be there. And sure enough, he came up with

[00:05:19] the solution. We get to the closing table like six hours late. And I remember walking into the

[00:05:23] closing that day and he introduces himself to me. And I won't say his name because he may be

[00:05:28] listening, but he introduces himself and I introduced myself. And I just said, hey, I just want to say,

[00:05:35] I'm so proud of you. And he said, proud of me? He goes, yeah, I'm really proud of you. You had

[00:05:41] incredible complications, but you got it. We're here. And our clients have won. He said,

[00:05:45] you're not going to swear at me? I said, no, I'm not going to swear at you. And he goes,

[00:05:49] you're not? I said, well, of course not. I'm a pastor. That's my full-time job, but I'm also

[00:05:54] a real estate agent. And I said, have you ever heard that statement, do unto others as you'd

[00:05:59] have others do unto you? He said, yeah. I said, do you know who said it? He said, no. And I said,

[00:06:04] well, it's Jesus. And I'm out on my life and my business after him. And it says, this guy who was

[00:06:10] a Navy SEAL, he's got arms that could break me. He starts crying, like, oh, the tears are closing.

[00:06:18] And he says, do you think we could get together sometime and just talk? I said, sure. But I'm a

[00:06:23] pastor full-time. And so, Abby, you helped start a coffee shop at our church. I said, I'll meet you

[00:06:28] at this coffee shop. And so we drove down from White Bear Lake to Eden Prairie that next Monday,

[00:06:35] and we met for an hour. And what he told me was in the last month, he'd actually been to Eagle Brook

[00:06:41] Church in town. And he had prayed at the end of a service to receive Jesus as a Savior. But he said,

[00:06:47] I wasn't sure if it was even real until I met you. He says, I'm just a visitor at the church. And I

[00:06:53] prayed this prayer and I was kind of emotional. And then he told me, because I've got a son who's got

[00:06:57] special needs and it's been a really hard few years. And he just started to break down. And now,

[00:07:02] he's been discipled there and he's growing and he's walking. But I didn't lead him to the Lord.

[00:07:07] Somebody else did. But I had the chance to maybe speak some truth and to show the gospel.

[00:07:13] St. Francis of Assisi gets credited with saying something that he actually never said. And it's

[00:07:21] preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words kind of thing. The idea is let your actions

[00:07:27] show that you're a believer. And you can probably go to Hobby Lobby or a million other stores and buy

[00:07:34] that quote and hang it up. The problem is he actually never said it. There's no evidence

[00:07:39] anywhere near the time that he said that quote that's been attributed to him. But I think it was

[00:07:46] attributed because he lived his life in an incredible way and he gave himself his

[00:07:57] Jesus without words. Faith comes from hearing. And so, we do need to be faithful to use those words.

[00:08:04] And so, I think he saw faithfulness in me, but he also heard words that supported what he had heard

[00:08:13] at Eagle Brook that Sunday a month before. And God just needs to hear that. I was with another client

[00:08:19] a couple months ago and this guy's made a mess of his life. It was just really difficult.

[00:08:24] And he had an opportunity though that came up to buy a new home and he wanted to see this model home.

[00:08:33] And so, we were the last people of the day. And it's like, I booked it at 8.30 at night because

[00:08:38] his name was both of us. And we're supposed to be out of there by nine. And he just starts

[00:08:46] pouring out his heart and speaking about what his life looks like. And I could not just

[00:08:52] kind of mirror back some of what he was saying and then mirror it back in light of the gospel.

[00:08:58] And so much of what he was going through was because he was trying to figure life out without

[00:09:02] God. And there had been a time in his childhood where he had gone to church, but it had been 30

[00:09:10] years, 40 years maybe. And he's living with somebody. He's got a couple of kids with her.

[00:09:17] And, and, uh, but they just, uh, God was, is not at all a part of their life. And it was, uh, a mutual

[00:09:24] friend who introduced me to this guy. And he said, I want you to be his realtor if he'll work with you,

[00:09:30] because I know that you'll share Christ if you have the opportunity. Well, that night I had the

[00:09:33] opportunity and sitting in this model home is beautiful. And we, we ended up staying for an hour

[00:09:39] past our closing time because he just needed to talk about Jesus. And so I said, Hey, why don't

[00:09:46] you come to church with me this week? And so he did, he came alone that next week and we sat together.

[00:09:52] And then he came the next week with his two kids who had never been to church. And we were having a

[00:09:57] baptism Sunday that week. And there were like 20 people that were baptized. And the kids were like,

[00:10:03] what was that? You know, hamburger joint and these, these two precious, like eight-year-olds are like,

[00:10:11] what happened to church? Why were they sticking those people's heads underwater?

[00:10:15] It was just so cool. And they looked so joyful and people were like, so it just had the chance at

[00:10:19] that hamburger place to share the gospel with the entire family. And he has since professed Christ

[00:10:27] and it's just a beautiful thing. And the rest of his family is not there yet, but like almost every

[00:10:33] day I'm getting like texts from him, from different pastors or like he's sending me Instagram reels

[00:10:37] because he's just growing and by leaps and bounds. And so that, I just love that. If again,

[00:10:43] we listen to people, we listen to their story. Most often the gospel isn't you going, Hey,

[00:10:48] God loves you and has a plan for your life. You're listening to somebody's story and going,

[00:10:54] what part of my story intersects with their story? God's story intersects with all of our stories.

[00:10:59] Right. Yeah.

[00:11:00] You know, I talk about the fact that we all have chapters in our life, you know, like our,

[00:11:04] our, our journey of faith isn't a static thing. So if my faith surrounded when I was four on that

[00:11:09] swing, it would be a pretty sad thing, right? Like God's continued to work and form me. And when I

[00:11:16] became a believer at four, it didn't mean that I wasn't going to be suicidal in sixth grade.

[00:11:21] And, and I thought, you know, God, why? And yet he used that chapter of my life with thousands of

[00:11:27] kids throughout the years who are just, I don't know, adults, you know, who just, that's something

[00:11:31] that they, they deal with. And that's a hard part of my story. I wish nobody would have to go through

[00:11:35] that, but God can use every chapter of our life, like somebody else. So I, I always feel like when

[00:11:41] we're going to one of those real estate meetings or when I'm just going about my day-to-day life,

[00:11:48] I want to just pray, God, show me what part of their story intersects with my story. And I know

[00:11:54] your story intersects with all of our stories. And so help me to find that common ground to build a

[00:11:59] bridge to the gospel. And for some of those people, that's like going to happen that day.

[00:12:04] And for some of those people, that's going to be seven or eight or 10 years of friendship. And

[00:12:08] at some point it's going to be appropriate and I'll know it. I'll know it.

[00:12:12] That's so good. Yeah.

[00:12:13] Yeah. Well, I remember when you were helping us buy a house, it was so stressful and emotionally

[00:12:21] draining and you just feel rejected and all the things we bought in 2020. So it was wild.

[00:12:27] Yeah.

[00:12:28] And you were so encouraging and always pointed us back to God. And I think that is something really

[00:12:38] special that you get to do as a realtor, which not everybody would do it because you can always be

[00:12:44] encouraging, but getting to have the foundation of the Lord and point people back to Him when they're

[00:12:50] in the middle of the emotions of all those pieces.

[00:12:55] My goodness. Yeah. Because Abby, I mean, you've done that too. And here's what I know. This is like

[00:13:00] a universal truth as a real estate agent. If God loves the whole world, that includes people who

[00:13:07] don't know Him. And I've been able to say to every one of my clients, whether they're a follower of

[00:13:12] Jesus or not, like when they get rejected for a home, I'll just say, listen, I know this is hard

[00:13:18] and I'm a person of faith as well as being a real estate agent. And so I just want you to know,

[00:13:23] I am praying for you in this transaction. And 100% of my clients who have been rejected from a home

[00:13:29] and not being able to get the one they want, end up finding a better home in the end.

[00:13:33] And when they get the home that God has for them, they're like, oh, I'm so glad I didn't get that

[00:13:37] home. You know, that I was rejected from. And they're going to at least try to comfort them that

[00:13:42] way. And that builds a bridge. And there's been this, oh my goodness. Okay, Lord, you are so faithful,

[00:13:49] so good. And God is at work there. So yeah, that's a simple way, at least for me to share.

[00:13:57] But God's always pulled through. You know, I've yet to have a client. I mean,

[00:14:00] I really wish I had that one three times ago. And it's wild. Yeah.

[00:14:06] Yeah. That's a good piece of advice though, to say, you know, this is my profession. I'm a realtor,

[00:14:10] but I'm also a person of faith and I'm praying for you. And I know God has, you know, so yeah,

[00:14:16] I think that could be a really good nugget for anyone listening when you're thinking about your work

[00:14:21] and talking with clients or people in your community.

[00:14:26] Yeah. And to my faith-filled realtors out there, what I will say, you know,

[00:14:29] because it does get discouraging sometimes to get rejection after rejection in the market when

[00:14:33] things are low. But here's the other deal. Like if you've got a client and they keep getting

[00:14:38] rejected, like if they don't know God, God has an assignment for them and he's going to bring them

[00:14:42] to a neighborhood very likely where there are believers that they need to interact with.

[00:14:46] And for our believing clients like you and Tommy, you know, were for me, it was like, oh my goodness,

[00:14:51] like Tommy and Abby, like God's got an assignment for you and this neighborhood isn't it right now,

[00:14:56] but he has a neighborhood picked out. And I know you guys are just so missional in the neighborhood

[00:15:00] that you live in. And he had that picked out for you from the beginning of time. So it was like,

[00:15:04] no, I'm not going to let you get that offer accepted because I've got a house and an assignment

[00:15:07] for you somewhere else. Yeah. Yes. So good. I don't know if you want to share this story,

[00:15:13] but I remember you telling me a while ago that you were touring homes with an investor

[00:15:19] and we're seeing like multi-family or multi-unit houses and was interacting with some of the tenants

[00:15:27] there and got the chance to pray with them. Oh yeah. Can you share that story?

[00:15:33] We have an investor friend who has now moved away, but we were just, we were looking at homes and

[00:15:40] some of the homes that we were looking at and the areas, I mean, they were, they were kind of rough

[00:15:44] areas. And, um, and, uh, in this case, uh, I remember visiting a home and normally the people

[00:15:51] aren't there when you're looking at real estate, right? Cause when you're looking at investment

[00:15:54] homes and there's a, there's a renter there or whatever, there's, um, going to be, um, somebody in

[00:16:00] that home. And so, um, with this particular investor, he, he's one of these guys that has the

[00:16:05] spiritual gifts of evangelism, no question about it. Like, and he put the pastor to shame. Like he

[00:16:12] was just like so bold. Um, and I remember, you know, we, we, uh, walked into one of these places

[00:16:19] and the woman who was living there was just kind of weeping and, and sad and worried about, you know,

[00:16:26] who's going to be the new owner and all that kind of stuff. And, and he just so tenderly said,

[00:16:31] Hey, we're people of faith. How can we pray for you? You know, this is bigger real estate

[00:16:34] transaction for me. And, uh, and really actually, I think a three or four different investment

[00:16:40] properties. He literally prayed with people and then he just had a simple way of just saying, Hey,

[00:16:46] we believe like God loves you. God has a plan for your life. And if that's ever something you want

[00:16:51] to talk about, like, here's my card. And he would like give us card to people at the houses. Uh, so

[00:16:57] one of those houses we did end up buying with him and, um, and, uh, you know, just, just one of the

[00:17:03] different investment homes. He, there was, there was a woman on one side who was living there who

[00:17:08] hadn't really been making rent. Uh, and he lowered her rent. Uh, I don't need to make as much as the

[00:17:15] last guy was making on this. You need a place to live. I want to take care of you. And then the other

[00:17:19] couple on the other side, he was just like, uh, and I just, uh, I just want you to know that, uh,

[00:17:25] um, again, God loves you. I'm a, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that you're treated

[00:17:31] fairly. And yeah, but he ended up discipling that couple. So he wasn't just a landlord. He like

[00:17:36] discipled him. And yeah, I think that you guys have so many great shows. I was listening to your

[00:17:41] episode with Greg Stewart not long ago. And Greg is somebody I've known in my life. My son-in-law

[00:17:46] and Greg are good friends. And, um, yeah, Greg's intentionality as a landlord is just a really cool

[00:17:51] thing. And so if you haven't listened to that episode, make sure you listen. Thanks for plugging

[00:17:56] us. Yeah. Yeah. Anybody can do that in day to day. And again, how we treat people matters.

[00:18:02] Yes. Yeah. Well, right. And being a landlord, I imagine it can be really easy to get greedy and,

[00:18:09] uh, you know, make shortcuts when you're, um, when you're the one in charge and, um, yeah,

[00:18:16] to be generous with your words and even financially, I mean, that is planting seeds for, uh, for the

[00:18:24] in so many ways. Yeah, for sure. For sure. You know, right now I'm part, one of the ministries I

[00:18:31] lead here, we're working with a housing assistance program right now. We have 180 unhoused students in

[00:18:37] the Eden Prairie School District. And I know that doesn't mean much to every listener here, but Eden

[00:18:41] Prairie is a pretty affluent suburb of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and it's not a suburb where you would think

[00:18:46] that happens. And so we're trying to partner with the school district to say, Hey, how,

[00:18:50] how can we as a church and as just people in our community partner together to help families that

[00:18:57] are kind of on the brink? And sometimes it's just, they just need a champion family in their life,

[00:19:02] somebody to walk with them to kind of help us with the budgeting, but, but even a break for about six

[00:19:06] months, you know, of, uh, we're going to come alongside of you and help you in this six month period

[00:19:11] to give you a little bit of relief so that you can, can find some footing. And it's fascinating

[00:19:17] because so many, we're, we're a year into this program now and, and many of those families,

[00:19:22] uh, it's been, uh, coming up on a year of walking with and seeing God just be so faithful, but it's,

[00:19:29] it's not the pastors who are leading this program. It's just day to day people who are willing to say,

[00:19:33] Hey, we're, we're going to come alongside of you with compassion and love and dignity and God works.

[00:19:39] Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I know you have another story with a Somali friend, but I wanted to see if there

[00:19:46] are any other real estate moments that you wanted to share with our listeners.

[00:19:51] Yeah. You know, I just, uh, I look for opportunities to just try to weave the gospel

[00:19:57] in, in different ways. So every one city open houses for me are kind of fun.

[00:20:01] Oh, sure.

[00:20:01] In an open house, I'll have families that'll come in and, and there are times when open houses are so

[00:20:06] crazy and there's 20 pairs of shoes and you're just kind of, but in those moments where it's slow

[00:20:12] and there's a family that comes in and they have questions, uh, I don't know, there have just been

[00:20:16] opportunities to, uh, ask simple questions or, or they'll ask me, make questions. Um, it's again,

[00:20:24] it's, it's just kind of trying to find out part of their story. So maybe it's a family with kids and

[00:20:29] I start talking about my grandkids and I just showed you a video of my little granddaughter talking

[00:20:35] about the Bible, you know, it'd be as simple as pulling this cute, super cute video out on my phone

[00:20:40] that just has a soft self, right? Like about Jesus on there from the mouth of a child or,

[00:20:46] you know, there's just, I don't know, it's just looking for those everyday opportunities. So

[00:20:49] yeah, an open house, uh, last year I was selling a pastor's house actually. And, um, and it was great

[00:20:56] because the people were coming in and I was able to tell them, yeah, they were like, well, why are

[00:21:00] they moving? And normally you don't do that as a real estate agent. We already had multiple

[00:21:03] offers on the home. I wasn't worried about it. And I just say this, they're a pastor and

[00:21:07] he's accepted this call and, oh, that's really interesting. And what kind of church? And yeah,

[00:21:11] I used to go to church. I haven't been going to church in years and then had the opportunity

[00:21:15] to make an invitation. It was right around Easter time. This pastor was leaving after the

[00:21:19] Easter services. And, um, and again, these people, uh, yeah, had an invitation, uh, had

[00:21:25] opportunities, but I don't know. It's, it's, yeah, there's just so many stories with clients,

[00:21:30] with other, with other real estate agents, um, offering to pray with people. Um, prayer

[00:21:36] is such a beautiful gift that we have. And even people who aren't followers of Jesus,

[00:21:43] statistics say that like 80% of people pray in the world today, uh, even atheists pray.

[00:21:49] And I wonder who they pray to, you know, but you can ask, like, there's a high percentage

[00:21:52] of atheists that pray to someone and which cracks me up. Right. But at the same time, it speaks

[00:21:57] to the hole in all of our hearts that, uh, you know, it's kind of a God-shaped hole. And

[00:22:01] so, um, most people aren't offended and they're actually blessed by, Hey, can I pray for you?

[00:22:07] And so, uh, for most of my clients, there will be at least some point where we'll stop together.

[00:22:12] We'll pray in the house. I have a client right now who she's a believer for the last couple of

[00:22:17] years. Her husband isn't. Okay. And, uh, she's been praying that her husband would come to faith.

[00:22:21] And, um, she boldly actually at our last showing, um, just said, could we, could we stop and pray in

[00:22:30] this house? Yeah. She grabbed her husband's hand and he grabbed my hand. He's not there yet. He's so

[00:22:39] close. He's so close. They've seen such a change in his wife and, um, and we're just, yeah. So it's,

[00:22:45] it's, it's just, it's day-to-day life and, um, it's, it's not a magic thing. It's the Holy Spirit

[00:22:53] just being obedient to him, joining him. Yeah. And there's a freedom I think that comes when

[00:22:59] we say, God, I just want to be obedient to you. But I think sometimes the Lord does tell us now's

[00:23:04] not the time and, you know, like he's sovereign and, and there's very few times that I'm going to

[00:23:10] not try to share something, um, you know, not, not like ram people with the gospel all the time,

[00:23:16] but, but to talk about who Jesus is, cause he's a part of my life. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it's that

[00:23:24] sensitivity of, of knowing when it is appropriate and when this is just another, another part of

[00:23:30] that journey and that person. Yeah. Uh, your friend who is a Muslim, Somali Muslim, uh, you also got

[00:23:38] to surround him with, with believers at a baseball game, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've got a friend

[00:23:43] who, uh, I've known for years and had to know him at his restaurant and he would, um, take students

[00:23:50] to his restaurant every year. And yeah, I found out a lot about his story over the years, um, with my

[00:23:56] Somali friend. I mean, it just, it would not have been culturally correct and nothing would have

[00:24:01] happened had I wanted to share the gospel week one with him. Sure. Right. Yeah.

[00:24:05] You know, his story. And so I found out lots about his story. His, um, he grew up in Somalia,

[00:24:11] going to school on a limousine. His uncle was one of the presidents of Somalia. And then there was a

[00:24:15] coup and he ended up in a refugee camp and then he lived in Sweden and then he moved to the United

[00:24:19] States and he was in Washington, DC when I lived in Washington, DC. And then he moved to the Twin Cities

[00:24:25] and, um, we just had so many parts of our story that intersected. I had a Swedish background. He

[00:24:35] but here's what, here's what happened. I, our family decided, you know, our Somali friends don't

[00:24:42] have Thanksgiving that they celebrate here in America. Maybe they're curious about this. We'd

[00:24:46] started inviting him to Thanksgiving dinner at our house. And for years he and his brother would come

[00:24:50] for Thanksgiving and he'd bring a Somali feast and we'd have cooking and stuffing and his food was

[00:24:57] always better. Um, but he was already in Harrison and, uh, but we'd have these great conversations.

[00:25:02] He got to meet my dad. He played checkers with my dad cause they love checkers. And he, you know,

[00:25:08] went Black Friday shopping with our family at the Mall of America. It was so fun. And, you know,

[00:25:14] we just did a lot of stuff together. And, um, about seven years in our friendship, I get a call from a

[00:25:19] friend who had tickets to the twins game that he couldn't use. And he said, I've got four tickets,

[00:25:23] Pastor Brian, you want me? I said, sure, I'll take them. It was an afternoon game. I didn't have

[00:25:27] many friends that could go. And so I ended up like calling a friend of mine who was a pastor in the

[00:25:32] day off. And he said, yeah, I'll come with you. And I had a former student who was a missionary and

[00:25:36] he says, I'll come. And I had called my friend Jamal and he said he could come. I didn't realize

[00:25:41] I was surrounding Jamal with a missionary pastor and another pastor. But over the course of our time,

[00:25:47] he, um, he ended up asking me about the gospel and, uh, you know, he, he didn't, I got to share

[00:25:56] at that game in a, in a really beautiful and transparent way. He knows the gospel,

[00:26:01] but he, um, has he responded to the gospel? Has he become a believer? No, but God has then now

[00:26:07] since surrounded him by, I know at least 30 believers who pray for him all the time and

[00:26:13] love him. I don't know what God's going to do there, but that's, that's God's job. My job's to

[00:26:19] be faithful. My job is to love. And, and, uh, I am convinced, you know, for those who are Twin

[00:26:25] Cities listeners, God's brought the world to our doorsteps. And if you live in the United States,

[00:26:30] God's brought the world to our door. So we used to have to travel all around the world to go

[00:26:33] be, you know, missionaries, if that's what you want to do, but do that as much today.

[00:26:38] And there's a neighborhood in the Twin Cities, it's the most ethically diverse neighborhood in the

[00:26:41] United States, uh, sometimes, and it shares that distinction with one in a neighborhood in

[00:26:46] New York and another neighborhood in San Francisco. Okay. And so sometimes, you know,

[00:26:50] we've got 148 distinct nationalities within a two mile radius. Wow. It's amazing. And I am pretty

[00:26:57] convinced that someday I'm going to stand before God and he's going to say, Hey, Brian, I brought the

[00:27:01] world to you. What'd you do with it? Wow. You know, I don't want to be the one who was afraid.

[00:27:07] I was afraid because they were different than me. I was afraid because they, they're, they're Muslim.

[00:27:11] Well, yeah. Uh, you know, and they're people and they're people that got brought to us.

[00:27:17] The gospel is readily accessible. What are we doing with it? And so I just, I think my biggest

[00:27:22] encouragement to believers is don't live in fear. You know, like God's, God has, uh, promised us

[00:27:28] that his spirit is with us. If you want to experience the presence of God, join him in his mission.

[00:27:33] Yeah. And you're going to meet so many amazing people along the way.

[00:27:36] So good.

[00:27:37] You'll love them. You're going to develop so many new friends along the way.

[00:27:41] Um, you know, Jesus told us his disciples, uh, I have called you friends and we're called

[00:27:46] to be like Christ. And, uh, so we ought to be collecting friends all over the place.

[00:27:53] And I want my friends to know my Jesus. I do. I want them to know him because he, uh, he's

[00:28:01] everything. He's everything really is. And without him, I'm pretty hopeless. So.

[00:28:06] Well, it's, it's such a great story of, of playing the long game, but with such pure intentions,

[00:28:12] it is just, uh, befriending him and, you know, Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving and dinners

[00:28:19] and coffees. And, and then he asks you about your faith. It's like, wow, you've really like

[00:28:25] softened his heart in the way where he trusts you. And, um, he wants to know what's different

[00:28:31] about you. It's, it's really a strategic way, um, about evangelizing to someone of another

[00:28:37] faith. Yeah.

[00:28:38] It's to be consistent and.

[00:28:39] Yeah. And you know, what's so beautiful about Thanksgiving. I mean, when you invite, you

[00:28:43] know, my immigrant friends to Thanksgiving, we didn't become different at Thanksgiving.

[00:28:46] We did what we always did. We thanked the Lord for his blessings over the year. We prayed,

[00:28:50] you know, and, you know, so, you know, he saw a Christian family praying and, and being

[00:28:56] grateful and he got to share what he was grateful for. I mean, there's, there's things that we

[00:29:00] can model without, um, necessarily preaching, but we were preaching there, you know, like

[00:29:06] he was hearing things along the way that were different about us. Um, and you know, he heard

[00:29:12] some of the challenges in my family's lives. Again, you can't live this life facing really

[00:29:18] hard things. Everybody is that, you know, God, just following Jesus doesn't mean your life

[00:29:22] gets to be easy, but it means that he's with you in the hard times. And so, so that, that

[00:29:29] to me, I mean, God's opened more doors over my sister's illness or my mom's, you know, um,

[00:29:35] swelling of her brain and, um, ever being the same and, you know, just things like that,

[00:29:39] you know, there's, there's just, all of those are opportunities though where God.

[00:29:44] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:45] You have given us so much advice already. I know there's a lot of little nuggets, but,

[00:29:51] uh, we love to just wrap up our podcast with a piece of advice or encouragement for our listeners.

[00:29:58] So I know you have already dropped a lot of truth bombs, but, uh, what else, what else do

[00:30:04] you have for us, Brian?

[00:30:05] All right. Here's the simplest and the best advice that I've ever been given when it comes

[00:30:09] to this. And I think this is kind of an adapted thing that Rick Warren, uh, had prayed at some

[00:30:14] point in his life. Um, but most days, not every day, cause nobody's perfect, but most days

[00:30:19] in the days that I'm living on mission, when I wake up in the morning, I pray a prayer that sounds like

[00:30:23] this, dear God, I know you're going to do some great things in the world today. And I want to be a part

[00:30:27] of that. So would you help me to see people with your eyes? Would you help me to respond with your

[00:30:33] heart? Would you help me to be your hands and feet? And if there's something in my life today,

[00:30:37] that's going to stop you from being able to use me, there's some sin I need to confess.

[00:30:41] There's pride. There's some, whatever that God, would you just show that to me? Because I don't

[00:30:46] want to get in the way of what you want to do. And it just changes the way I enter a day. Um,

[00:30:53] it changes a, I'll, I'll oftentimes pray that several times throughout the day. Uh, God,

[00:30:58] I'm going to meet with some clients tonight who don't know you help me to see them the way that

[00:31:02] you see them. Uh, help me when things get stressful, cause they do in every transaction

[00:31:07] to be able to confidently speak, um, with faith and truth that you love them and you have

[00:31:14] their best in mind. And, um, yeah, so that's, that's kind of, it just changes the way that I

[00:31:22] look at the world. And I guess the other thing that I would say is I, I let, I had to, I had the

[00:31:26] opportunity to preach at Teen Challenge a little while ago and, and Miracle City Church. And, um,

[00:31:31] the pastor of that church is, Hey, would you preach on Romans 8, 28 to 30, which is such a great

[00:31:36] passage? Yeah, home run. Except that the week I preached was like a Murphy's law week, like where

[00:31:41] everything that could go wrong did. And it's the passage that says all things work together for good

[00:31:46] to those who love God and according to his purposes. And then it goes on, you know, those he foreknew,

[00:31:52] he also predestined and then it ends up by talking about glorification. And so, because I was getting

[00:31:58] beat up that week, I was preaching to Tim Keller actually preach on this message. And it was a sermon

[00:32:02] he had preached like a, a year before he passed away. He was in the grips of cancer and he's

[00:32:08] preaching on this passage. He says that passage is problematic for so many people, because if all

[00:32:11] things work together for those who love God, that means God is working in the bad things in our life

[00:32:16] too. And here's the thing, I'm convinced that if, if the bad things in our life are for good,

[00:32:24] that when the challenges come into life and we're all going to have them, we've just got to trust that

[00:32:29] God's going to use that really hard thing in my life to advance his story somehow. And so I've got

[00:32:35] to approach that differently. When my sister got cancer, God has used that to bless thousands of

[00:32:40] people. And she still has an incurable cancer. She's in remission, but God is still using her

[00:32:46] story and he's working through her. And there's doctors and nurses and others who would have never

[00:32:51] heard about Jesus and the hope that she has that she not gone through that. I want that to go away.

[00:32:57] Yes. I wish it was never there, but it's there. So the bad things in our life are for our good.

[00:33:03] The good things that God has produced in us can never be taken away. So your salvation is never

[00:33:07] going to be taken away. He's already taken care of that. Like you're justified. You're redeemed.

[00:33:11] You're forgiven. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So all those times our enemy

[00:33:16] wants to whisper terrible things about us. Like God's got it. And the best is yet to come.

[00:33:22] Because if you're a follower of Jesus, like someday the Bible says we're going to be glorified and we're

[00:33:26] going to no longer have sin. Our faith is going to be sight and all those things. That's what keeps

[00:33:30] me going when I'm discouraged. And so evangelism is a discouraging work because the gates of hell

[00:33:36] want to try to prevail, but they're again, defensive, not offensive weapons. And so we get to take

[00:33:42] enemy ground every time we join him in his mission. So Lord, help me speak the way you see him.

[00:33:46] Help me to respond with your heart. Help me to be your hands and feet.

[00:33:48] If there's anything in me that's going to stop me, you from using me,

[00:33:53] then God just reveal it to me so I can confess it.