Transcription
[Music] Hey River Valley. I want to say hello and thank you for joining us in our Conversations Like Groups. So glad the whole church is doing this, and each week we have a new guest. And I want to say welcome to all the guests new to our church that are a part of this as well. We're glad you're doing this; it wasn't just for our church, it was for you too, and we're glad you're part of it.
But today I have Portia Allen with us, and we want to say hello to Portia. She's been on Conversations with us before. Her family are on the staff with us at our Crosstown campus. You might have seen her husband leading worship or her chasing one of her three boys.
Good to have you, Portia.
Great to be here.
And she also has done a ton of our outreach ministry, and we're delighted to have her on with us. And then, of course, my roommate from Bible College, Dean. Oh, it's good to see you.
And it's good to see Portia, man. What a what an honor. We love you guys; you're some of our favorite people on the planet. We go way back to Bible College. He was there—he was there the day that I said, "I'm gonna marry Becca. I'm gonna marry her." And we were in my dorm room, and he goes, "You're gonna do it?" And he goes, "Stay right there." And I go, "What?" And I'm standing there, and he went and grabbed a bottle of cologne, Baby Boom, and then poured the whole bottle and stained the carpet at the dormitory and said, "This will mark the spot where Rob Carollin wanted to marry Becca."
Yeah. Well, when you came back from Christian Retreat—I believe is the name of that place that y'all met, which I remember—you know, and you told me about it, I think you showed me a picture. I was like, "OMG, you cannot let her get away. What do not mess this up." And I felt the same way. It's the same thing my dad told me about Dylan when he saw her picture: "What do we need to do today to not let her get away? Cuz she's at a moment of blindness." And so, you know, you guys are the best. Your wife sang at our wedding; Rob is your best man. So we just love having you. We love that we've been able to stay connected all these years and all the great things that that you guys are doing.
Yeah, busy. You've been busy with ARC, and you've been busy with Church of the Highlands because you're in charge of like outreach and missions there. And of course, with ARC, you're like executive director with all the new church plants. We're talking today about serving because one of the things I don't want to have happen to our church, into our community, is for us to get isolation, inward focus. And that's never been your life; you have always been outward focused, take care of the hurting. Where did that started, you?
Well, I was reached through outreach. And so I was not raised in church. I we didn't we were not church-going people. It's not because we were wicked or, you know, hateful people; we just we just didn't go to church. It wasn't in our frame of reference. And so a church did an outreach; a church had a creative idea; a church did a serve—what you do, what you guys are all about—they just did a creative way to reach out to people. It caught my eye; it caught my interest; it made me lean in because, you know, God is searching for everyone, and we're really just coming alongside of his search party and and just trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That's what happened to me. So, you know, you feel indebted to continue to do that for four amazing, precious people. That's so good.
And Porsha, I'm just curious, what made you have a heart of compassion? I mean, you're such a compassionate person, but when you came to River Valley, we were like, "You you just jumped right in. I want to do outreach and compassion ministry." Where'd that come from?
I really think it came from my childhood. I'm an army brat, and we moved around a lot of different places. And so we were always the new people, and I was the new kid. And I found that the people who reached out to me—in fact, to this day, the people that I first met when we came on staff at River Valley, they have a very special place in my heart. And so I've just always been raised with "Jump in as soon as possible and embrace others because I know what it is to be on the outside. I know what it is to be new. I know what it is to be unsure." Core. So I work and just I'm driven by "I want people to feel apart and to feel in." So good.
Both of you were reached feeling outside, and and and somebody saying, "Come on in." I feel like we were insiders and we're saying, "We want to go on out." So you know, you you go bid did not make you a servant; you were a servant before that. But can you give us a glimpse into—like, I know we've kind of over-coded this, but man, it's very real, and you guys have been highly involved—have you been serving?
Well, I mean, it's the heartbeat of God. And so you have to—as Mother Teresa said, because she—you can serve, you must serve. So it's really not something that is a as a choice for all of whether you're serving in a Zoom small group or whether—I know Rob, which I'll do with Kingdom Builders into generosity—I mean, literally River Valley, you're one of the most generous churches on the planet. You are serving in your giving constantly; we're a part of that. But, you know, I think it's just it's getting up in the morning and saying, "How can I help someone?" It's that simple. Everybody can make a difference. People are fragile; people are vulnerable; people are, you know, they're hurting, needy people all around us right now. It's real fear, real pain. So I don't think it's in the big—it's not in the serving to me. Serving has an event; serving has an outreach, but serving is a culture. A quarantine does not stop generosity; a pandemic does not stop love. So it's finding practical ways, whether it's sending a text, making a call, writing a card, reaching out to the to someone who you know is sick, you know, that is scared, in those in those ways that you can do that. It's partnering with, you know, with what you're doing and providing a pantry item; it's a dropping off; it's maintaining safety, sanitized moments. But there are ways to continue to do that even with these limitations. And and we're just finding ways to do that, whether it's the elderly, it's the single mom, it's those that are on they have part-time jobs, it's service industries, the medical professional, just ways to say, "Okay, today I'm going to help somebody."
I love that because it doesn't—like you say, we do—we're doing this Boxes of Hope now where we're gonna help, but I love that just everyday you can do something small, just making people know that they're being thought of and they're being prayed for. I think it's huge. And so we don't have to do something super huge every day, but as long as we do something. I love that you know you talk to a while back about like the towel—they grab a towel and get to work. It sounds like that's the way you're just living out—grab a towel. You talk to us about that, like how do you switch the mentality from me to them? Like how do we get that switch to take place at all of us?
Well, I think everybody wants to walk enjoy; everybody wants to have a good life. And people won't wake up, and they want to make a difference. Well, you can't—you're never gonna find that living in me-ville. It's not gonna happen. Me-ville is the most miserable neighborhood to live in. And so you got to move from me-ville to we-ville. And so you begin to say, "How can I put my blessing, my resource, my gift, my uniqueness into circulation so that I could I can help someone and be a blessing?" So you know, a towel—I always say that—in a towel, when it's in a paper towel roll, which I love paper towels—I love the ones that you could pull up on different sizes—and I'm a paper towel guy—and but I don't think they're finding their fulfillment in the role. I think a paper towel is sitting there saying, "Hey, man, get me in the spiel. I was born for a mess; I got a stomach for the suffering. Get me out this roll and get me into a situation." And I think that's, you know, I think that's the church at its best, whether it's a life group, it's serving on a team, it's giving of our tithes and offerings, it's noticing our neighbor, it's leaning in. I saw someone this week that just pay-forwarded a few people's bills; they they knew that they knew were in a vulnerable situation; they just paid it forward for them. You know, they're—if you want to help, there's a way to help.
Yeah. Yeah, I love it. I'll never look at paper towels the same way. I love that because Jesus talked about the greatest among you needs to be your servant, and he took the towel and he said, "I'm going getting your stinky feet mess and show you what serving's like." And I love that the towel needs to get into the mess.
So Portia, real quick, you've got three kids—we talked about that and joked about a little bit—you're at home; you're thinking, "How do I get into the serve flow? How do I do that?" Talk to the mom at home; she's doing homeschool; she's trying to figure out how to do her job, homeschool, but there's something entered that says, "I want to help." Time for that mom right now.
Absolutely. I like the little things because sometimes we may feel limited with our kids of thinking, "I can't do the big thing," and the little things can be showing that kindness to the neighbor; it can be writing the letter; it can be saying, "Hey, I'm going to the store; what can I get for you?" Because moms—we use that store time as sanctuary. Like I joked with some friends the other day, I'm like, "Are you going to the grocery store?" I was like, "Yes." And they went, "Are you bringing the kids?" And I went, "No, I didn't bring them." And see, the girls you started before were in this situation, but going to the grocery store is something that texts are making that phone call and saying, "Hey, I'm running to the store; what do you need?" And then, for example, one of my neighbors is making masks; she sews; I don't, but I can cut material, and I use my kids as messengers to go take the material over so they can be sewed into the mask. So a lot of it is just, "What do you need? What can I bring to you? What can we drop off?" And having those conversations with our kids, and they're like, "Oh, you're helping do this? Oh, you brought this to so-and-so?" Or, "Oh, I said hi to that person when I was out scootering." You know, little things—I'm big on talking to people and showing—Joey behind masks, you can smile, like people, because our eyes can smile. And I think we're so fearful, or we can be so fearful, that people forget that just because we're social distancing doesn't mean that you can't share kindness and love through a smile. Throughout—I hope you dream up—so you know, my brother is a chef, and he has obviously had all his, you know, things cancel, but he's been cooking for the elderly, and, you know, he's very careful, but he's like going down my mom and dad's street and just delivering these amazing meals. And I'm like, "I'm just so proud of them; like that's such a great thing to do." And we can all use the gifts that we have in just little ways.
So true. Do you know—talk about the joy of serving? Like let's talk about—people are nervous on the way yet—like I think you're nervous on the way in. Let's focus on the way out after you serve. What do you think the Holy Spirit is saying to people, and what does he say to you, and how do you feel God's love after you served?
Well, it's in anything anything you that you that you're supposed to do always has a leading fear. You know, say, "Oh, God, I'm gonna, you know, I'm a I'm gonna I'm gonna help someone; I'm gonna make a call; I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna partner; I'm gonna give." And it's a you know, you the enemy, and you know, the enemy of our soul never wants us to be a blessing, never ever ever. He wants us to live—I mean, what's the source of depression? What's the source of anxiety? What's the source of shame and guilt? Me, myself, and I. You live in your own pain; you live in your own trauma. So to be able to get outside of that is a hurdle; it takes a step; most of its internal. I always tell me—where the first person to get over is yourself, and you got to get over yourself. And then it's amazing when you, you know, and it doesn't mean that all of your problems will be solved, but I don't know how many times, Pastor Robb, I've been in the middle of stuff; I've put my shoulder up under someone else's load; maybe my stuff didn't change, but it totally changes my outlook because there is always always always always someone that is less fortunate than you are, and that is a big reminder. And I think when you have that reminder, then the idea of "It's more blessed to give than it is to receive" just all of a sudden gets injected into your soul, and you marinate in the fact that you are blessed—that I know I don't have everything that I want or need, but I have something. And you take your focus off of what you don't have, and you put on what you do have. And I was thinking about a mom this week that we were able—a single mom that we found out that she was sick; she has Covid, but her children are with her, of course, as a single mom, three kids under 10 years old. Okay, ran out of diapers, nothing, no money for a laundromat, can't go to a laundromat. And so we were able to partner with her, bring some diapers, take her stuff, go to a laundromat; someone was able to do that and in the way that they did it and then go to Walmart, buy all of her kids new pajamas, new undergarments, all these things—not a lot of money, not a lot of money, but just a little bit of time. And the person who who was a part of that, they sent me a text and said, "Here's what they said: I was born for this. I was born for this."
Yeah. Yeah, you were. And you were born for joy, and you were born for peace, and and you will not find it much in you; you find it so often outside of yourself.
Yes, that is so good. Now we are obviously in a crisis now, but we're gonna serve forever. And I believe we have served a scheduled up ahead, and that's really come out of your heart with Serve Lucian. But there's a nationwide survey, regardless of how the recovery goes. Can you speak to that real quick because I know as we wrap up here, let's lift people—like we're in a crisis now, but this is a lifestyle, and there's a peak day coming forward where we can all jump in, even if we can't find anything now.
Yeah, and you know, we we were talking yesterday at our lead team meeting at Highlands, like you guys are good planning, you know, how you interact with people, what is the future look like? And somebody said, "What is what is what are we doing about Serve?" They—Serve Day, July the 11th. It's a date that I know here for us it works; it's a Saturday; it's in the summer; for us, it works; for there's about a thousand churches that do it on that date, but then but people do it during the week, people doing it, people do it—do it at different times. But literally, I think Serve Day is every day now, to be honest with you. And so we we've said, "Hey, the the Serve Day, the National Survey is gonna look a lot like today; it's gonna look a lot like tomorrow," because, you know, it's just a time where we're thinking of others. But it is kind of cool, Robin, and River Valley has been such a big part of that. You use Corta—the generosity of your church, the givers of your church have helped us to expand it. I know even this year you've helped us to expand it, so we're able to push out a lot of resources to churches, small churches, because here's the one thing that we're realizing is the community needs to know that you're there to love them, not just have services. And we tell every church planter in—you're part of this; you're on the lead team of ARC; you help direct church planting; you've helped us plant 904 churches, pass—what, we have another 38 scheduled for the fall—that right now we're still moving forward; we don't know if they're gonna push, but later. But here's what we're doing: We're telling all of them, "Before your first service, serve. That's you do it; you you make cities better. We love our cities." And so that is gonna be a great day, July the 11th, but I think because of the recovery things will look different. And literally, I have never seen—and I'm sure, of course, I can say this—there is so many creative ideas coming out right now from the body of Christ—is I've seen the best because everything's level—small churches, big churches—meet, they know—big churches right now, people with a message—that's all there is.
Yeah. Wow, that is such a good—where that hit me like a ton of bricks. Before we can reopen, we gotta serve well, and then we'll worship well. And so if people are wondering, "When is River Valley gonna reopen?" When River Valley is serving strong, they will worship strong. Okay? Because people want to focus on—"This will be good for me to worship." Let's say, "This is good for Jesus, for the kingdom, for the least of these. Let's be the Good Samaritan first before we're the amazing worshiper second." So as we have Boxes of Hope coming up, and we have opportunities to give, and we have opportunities to serve our neighbor and to do even a small serve, which is a big serve—let's serve first and then focus on worship. And that just hits me because I've kind of been like, "We gotta get back to worship," and we do, but we gotta worship strong, serve strong, then we're subscribed. The River Valley's open right now; you're only you're open 24/7 helping people.
Yes, that's right. So serve strong, and then we'll worship strong. And thank you for this, Dean, that just challenges me. Priya, blessing over serving and the heart of the servants who come into all of us. Can you do that?
Yeah, sir. Cam, Pastor, Lord, thank you for this church and everybody a part of these these groups. And thank you for Portia Hardin and Lord, and I thank God for Pastor Robb and Pastor Beckett. Lord, they—the faithfulness, the integrity, stewarding the influence for for broken, hurting people—it's always been at the heart of River Valley. Well, thank you for their worship; thank you for the team. The Lord, ultimately, we pray you touch people today. Help us, Father, help every person that's hurting, up every person it's going through things today, Father. Maybe they've they've had the worst season of their life, but I thank you that there's hope in Jesus. So, Lord, help us to wake up in the morning in the peace of God—the God you're in control—and then help us to be able to give out hope, just to give out hope. And so, Father, we can do that in small ways, Lord. I pray that you would increase the the noticer in every person watching. Help us to be better noticeers; help us to notice the little thing, the small thing; help us to hear what others are not hearing; help us to see what others are not seeing; and then help us to respond with a serve for the glory of Jesus, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
Thank You, Portia. Thank You, Dean. Let's serve strong.