← Gull Lake Ministries
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- [00:08]
A
Your poor roommates. When you go back to school, there are things that have been programmed into you and they will be triggered when you hear certain words. And your roommate will go, where were you this summer? So, hey, my name is Phil and I'm the speaker at the adult sessions this week. How many of you are high tide? Okay, so like I got to see y' all on Sunday when you were in here with us. I want to just share some thoughts from the Word this morning. That's what they asked me to do. But I thought, you know what would be even cooler than that? This year, like I do camps and Bible conference centers and stuff like that. I lead a ministry called Walk through the Bible that has ministry going in about 140 countries around the world. We have nine regional offices and about 20 or 25,000 men and women worldwide who teach our stuff. And that group taught the things we developed to like a little over 7 million people last year. So it's kind of one of those multiplication type ministries. But one of the places I always test new stuff is conference centers like Gold Lake. I think Hodown told me he thinks this is my eighth time here. Kind of every other summer is the schedule we're on. What's cool though is this year we have both our kids here and our daughter in law here and their five kids. And I thought it would be pretty cool for. I mean, I'm 68, which you're like, God, what era of fossil is that? How big do we need deep to find that? I thought if my son came along, you'd get to hear a couple things. Perspective from him as a parent where you're dealing with their kids. But also he's a lot closer to your life stage than I am and so he's just going to share a little bit and then I'll share what God put on my heart today. So this is Phil, everybody. Say hi, Phil. And he's got Ava with him. Who is. Ava's the franchise. She's the oldest one, but take a few minutes and before you talk about your experience at Gold Lake, just kind of sketch out your life and where'd you meet and all that good stuff and what do you do and what are your major hobbies, addictions in life? It's real on the borderline with them.
- [02:41]
B
Yeah. So I'm 35 and grew up in Georgia and played baseball my whole life. Always knew I wanted to have a bunch of kids, big family. So Ava is one of our five and she's our oldest and she was amped to come. She didn't want to talk to y'. All. She wanted to stand up here while I talk to y', all, so. But, yeah, I love to hunt and fish. Big part of our church. My wife, Erica, and I, we live in St. Charles, Illinois, which is west of Chicago. Any Wheaton? I think we have one Wheaton. Let's go.
- [03:13]
A
Hey.
- [03:13]
B
Here we go. Okay. Yep. So I graduated Wheaton in 2013 and got involved with Chick Fil A. Yeah. So I met my wife, junior year of Wheaton, and I needed to save up for a ring because, you know, when you meet the right person, it sounds cheesy to say when you know, you know? I knew. And so I had to get a paid internship, and Chick fil a paid 15 bucks an hour at their corporate office. So I did an internship, saved up a ring. She didn't dump me. I didn't mess it up. We got married, and five kids later were coming to Gold Lake.
- [03:46]
A
Yeah.
- [03:46]
B
And so dad asked me to share. From a parent's perspective, you guys are pouring it out for us every single day from the minute we pull onto the lot. Like, I gotta be honest, the first year, three years ago, when we came, when we pulled up the drive, it was a little much. I mean, really, I was a little anxious, if I'm being honest. And now I was anticipating it. And, you know, Ava had a sign out the sunroof, and we were excited. But you guys bring it from. I mean, from Colonel Mustard and Split Pea unloading our car the first day. I mean, and how cool is that? That y' all are counselors for our kids? So, yeah, here's the deal. I'm gonna speak honestly here. It's not cheap to come to a camp like this. It's an investment for families. And why do we do it right? We're gonna go on a vacation with our kids. We could go to Disney. We could go anywhere we wanted to. But the combination of Jesus and vacation for us is a game changer. And let me tell you the coolest, like, why we keep coming back. It's not the speakers. Sorry, Pops. It's not the facilities. It's not the blob. It's not the food is really good, but it is you guys. And I mean that. Like, y' all are the marketing pitch that I use on my family and my wife's family of why we're trying to get them all to come to Gold Lake. It's because you guys connect and you're bought in and you're fully engaged. And you make it cool to be excited about Jesus. And that's like, if you think about my most important thing in my life, it is helping push my kids to Jesus. And you guys come alongside us and do that in a real way. And thank you. I mean, it's everything from unloading our bags when we first get here to my son went to go get us dessert yesterday at the buffet and he came back two plates and another counselor was behind him with the other two plates. You guys anticipate the needs so, so well. And so I appreciate you take initiative. My daughter Addie, who is. Does anybody know Addie in here? Okay. She's four. She's a handful. We love her, but she's a handful. She went over to the buffet without us knowing and we're like, oh, no, where's Addy? Sure enough, counselor, boom, carrying her plate. And you guys do that so well. And I know some of that's part of the system, the ambush and hoedown and crochet, like there's a system behind this, I can tell. But a lot of it is you guys trusting your warm hearted impulses and leaning into your instincts. So, yeah, a little bit of encouragement. I would just say you're kind of at the halfway mark, right? It's week six. You might be a little tired. If you are, I honestly can't tell. I haven't. There's. There's been no moments where I was like, oh, that was kind of a, you know, a negative interaction. You guys are like on all the time. But I know that's tiring and draining. So I would just say you can either survive or thrive the next four weeks. And really the only way to thrive is to continue doing what you're doing, which is surrendering to the power of the Holy Spirit every single morning. When I go on runs and walks and stuff in the morning, there's counselors behind trees everywhere and sitting. And I know what you're doing and it's great. You're getting quiet time in with God before the day. So you can handle my kids then. That's awesome. And keep doing that because if you stop doing that, you will burn out. You will run out of energy. So continue surrendering to the power of the Holy Spirit. And here's the big secret. I'm 35, five kids, I run a business. You can learn a lot of cool stuff at college and rack up a lot of that doing that. But the most important thing is when you're throughout your entire life, at least for my 35 years is plugging in to God and surrendering to the power of the Holy Spirit. So you're learning a muscle here that's way more valuable than what you're learning at college. So keep doing it. And you're doing a great job, and you're making a huge impact on my kids. And we will be back next summer for sure, so keep it up. Ava, you got anything to say? Thank you.
- [07:40]
A
Thank you.
- [07:41]
B
All right. Thanks, y'. All.
- [07:46]
A
Man, I can't cook chicken, but he can talk. We could swap jobs there. Thanks for doing that. Seriously. You heard what he said? And that was our experience, too, with Walk through the Bible. Like, there's about. Probably. There's about eight or 10 conference centers of different times. Some are set up, like family camps, like, here. A lot of them are like, adults, not a third. The energy that there is here. And I kind of go to a lot of those every two or three years. And so if there's one thing I wish we'd done differently, instead of going to, like, all those rando places all the time, I wish we'd put down roots in one place. And it's so fun. Like, two years ago, I was speaking here, and Philip and Erica and the. I guess you had four kids then came up, and, you know, he's like, dad, do you. Do you. Like, would you be offended if we came to Gull Lake even when you're not the speaker? And I go, no, that would be okay. But in the summer, I am the speaker. You better show up. My week, that's different. But to see them just buy in and make this a priority in their schedule and in their budget is pretty cool. You've met families. I mean, I met a lady last time I was. She told this, like, terrible story about she was a pastor's wife. Her husband took off with another woman. I mean, they lost, like, everything. It looked like she might lose the home they were in. And she was telling about how the church just wrapped their arms around her and said, you'll get through this. You'll get through this. And even when another pastor came, they stayed in that church. And she says, do you remember me? And I go, no, no. And she goes, oh, I came to the adult thing in September. That they do. And so my daughter and I could check you out if you were going to be boring or not, and if we should bring our whole family. Evidently, I made the cut, and she was there. And she goes, my family would like a picture with you. And I said, so that's cool. So your Kids grew out up, went through all that without bitterness. And she goes, yeah, because other people filled in the gap for their dad. And she goes, camp was a big part of that, to be perfectly honest. And I go out there. She had 48 of her descendants here that week. And this is still a precious picture to me. And one of my favorite all time Goal Lake Ministries. You've got families like that that are multi generational. You've also got folks and nobody puts this on their window when they pull into the lot. You know that like this is one of those last ditch things they're trying to do. Are we going to stick? Are we going to do it? And you may not feel like you have direct ministry into those couples, but you do. You give them time to process, time to talk. I mean even this morning is free time for adults. And I'm like, who ever gets that when they have five kids? Trust me, we've been to their house many times. There is no such thing. Kids wake up at six and they hit the ground running. And just what you provide. It's so much more than childcare. So the adults can concentrate on their sessions. With me it's so much more than that. It's absolutely modeling the love of Jesus Christ. I want to share just a couple quick thoughts with you. No big Bible lesson this morning. You get enough of those around here. But Genesis 37:50, we'll just read those 14 chapters. No, that's the story of a guy named Joseph. And I just taught on Joseph last week down at the Billy Graham Cove in North Carolina. Definitely a very different vibe. They all referred to me as the kid there. It was pretty old group but extremely motivating group to teach. Genesis 37:5 says now Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. Why did his brothers hate him? Because his parents did a dumb thing. They played favorites. Real favorite. My brother and sister always called me golden boy because I was the third and final one. I was. My parents just called me an oops baby because they weren't looking to have a third child. 10 and 7 years younger than their other ones. I thought that was said great things about their belief in the sovereignty of God. That I was an oops baby. I'm still in counseling for that one, but that's okay. And Joseph's dad gave him this wild looking coat. Usually it's translated, you know, the multicolored coat. We don't know exactly what it was. It's super ornate. You sure didn't wear it to go work in the fields. And he shows up out in the fields, they're all out harvesting grain and here he shows up and he was a tattletale. It said he brought his father a bad report about them. I mean there's just. It was a messed up family in a lot of ways. And he shares this dream and basically says, I dream that there were 12 stacks of wheat and your 11 stacks of wheat bowed down to mine. Isn't it awesome what God's going to do? And you know, God's revealing to him he's going to be a leader, he's going to be a person of great influence. But I don't think he's ready for that yet. And he shares his dream and you know, and then he shares another. I had another dream, another night when there were 12 stars and the sun and the moon. That's probably mom and dad. And the sun and the moon and the 11 stars bowed down to my star. And isn't it awesome what God's going to do? And his brothers. You don't use this expression anymore. One time at a basketball game, I used to be a pretty good basketball player. I could actually dunk. This is a few years and a few pounds ago, if you don't believe. I can still dunk. Bring me some milk and Oreos and I will show you. But we don't. One time in a game I went like dribbled through my legs and around my back and the coach goes, sit down. And he goes, you're a ball player, not a hot dog. That was how we said it back then. I don't know how you say it now. Your expressions confuse me. It's like we used to be up for that. And you're like, I'm down for that. It's like, are you up or down? I need Google Translate for Gen Z. But anyway, they thought he was a hot dog, a show off. And they really did not relish the fact. See these series of puns here to awake your brains this morning. They really did not relish the fact that in terms of dad's love, they could never catch up. So finally one chilly day, they mustered up enough courage, they were going to take him out and had not another sandwich by the name of Reuben intervened. I was teaching this. Anybody know who Tony Evans is? He's one of my favorite preachers. I was teaching Old Testament at his church and I had this lady had this wild outfit on, so I called her Josephine. And we had her, we sent her to Egypt. But I had it was one of the mics that you have, you know, on your chest and you button in your shirt to do it the classy way. And I turned to her and I go, had not another sandwich by the name of Reuben entering. She grabs the microphone off of my shirt and pulls it. And it was like, inside my shirt. And so I'm following her and she goes, my buns would have been toast. And, like, the whole place just goes, what? And then they just bust up laughing. She goes, that's where you were going, isn't it? I go, no, but you took us there, ma'. Am. So we're there now. I will never forget that. God's got big plans for Joseph, but now you trace his life, and we won't do it. But his brothers, instead of killing him, they sell him to Midianites who are heading down to Egypt. They take him down there. He's auctioned off as a slave. He ends up in a guy named Potiphar's house, who's a pretty big deal in society. He gets great influence there. It says, potiphar didn't worry about anything except what he was going to eat for lunch. That's like having the ultimate EVP in our company at Walk through the Bible. So I'm free to come do stuff like this. I mean, Michael takes care of all the stuff that I'm not near as good at. It's great to have somebody like that. Well, then Potiphar's wife goes after Joseph, and Joseph ends up running away after telling her no a bunch of times. And she falsely accuses him of sexual assault. He's put in prison. He interprets dreams for a couple guys there. One of them says, if I ever get out, I'm going to remember you to Pharaoh. And he gets out, forgets all about that. Then Pharaoh has a dream. Nobody can interpret it. This guy goes, I remember a dude in prison years ago. He was a Hebrew. He could interpret dreams. In fact, he predicted that I would be released someday and come back into your service. They go get him. He explains Pharaoh's dreams. The seven years of plentiful harvest. Seven years of famine. What should we do? You better stockpile all the grain you can during the first seven years. They do it. Joseph's in charge, Secretary of Agriculture, or really, like vice. Pharaoh of Egypt. He's the number two guy. Famine hits all of the Middle East. Joseph's brothers go down to buy grain. They find out he's there eventually he tells them who he is. They don't even recognize him. Because he's fully Egyptian. Egyptian wife, Egyptian name, Egyptian haircut, everything. And you look at his life, it is one detour after another. I mean, God reveals this vision to him, which is a lot of times you get a glimpse of that during your college years or that age, whether you're in college or not, that's where you kind of go. I could see myself doing this in the future. And that's good. That's a great thing. Keep dreaming. But what you don't see at the time of life you're in now is how many detours you're actually gonna go through. Because there's gonna be. There's gonna be a bunch of them. I mean, I. There was a girl I was sure I was gonna marry. My parents were praying I would not. They didn't think she was good enough for me. I thought she was great for me. And we broke up. And it was one of those dumpings where she didn't just, like, rip my heart out and throw it out the crowd car window. She, like, backed over it three times. And I kept going back for more. And then I met this girl named Ellen our junior year at Wheaton. And we are. We're not dating. We're friends. So we do the post game show of our dates with each other on the phone. And finally, the rd, we were both resident assistants. The RD in the freshman dorm. She had a girls floor, I had a guy's floor, called me in. She goes, phil, some guys are just stupid. And I go, is it somebody on my floor? Do I need to confront him? In love. You know, I'd had my RA training, and I was ready to go. And she goes, it's you. And I go, oh. I go, what'd I do? And she goes, it's what you're not doing. She goes, you're in love. And I go, with who? And she goes, with Ellen. Ellen Balmer. I go, no, no, no, no, no. She's like the best friend I've ever had. And she goes, like, there's worse things than spending the next 50 years with your best friend. And she goes, are you attracted to her? And I go, yeah, but I've messed up enough relationships by I'm getting physical too fast. I was like, I wouldn't even hold this girl's hand. And she goes, trust me. And I eventually told my folks, there's this girl I want to bring home for the weekend. And they go, oh, we finally get to meet Ellen. And I go, how do you know about Ellen? And my dad goes, are you even serious? That's, like, all you talk about when you call him. I go, no. Did my roommate. We had phones hanging on the walls back then. Look in a museum. They were weird. They had tails. And I go, did my roommate talk to my dad? How does he know this? And my mom, literally. This is weird. We got there the first night. My mom goes, philip, come with me. And she takes me into their bathroom and shuts the door. And I'm like, this is weirding me out. And she pulls out the top drawer, and there's this little black velvet box. And she opens it up, and there's this skating rink of a diamond ring. And she goes, you need to put this on Ellen's hand. I go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I go, we're not anywhere near that. And if I eventually do that, I want to work. I want to earn the money for her ring myself, by the way, that's gorgeous. Where did you get that? And she's like, this is what she said. First night they met her, they go, if you let this one get away, then I've raised a fool. Wow. Wow. Ellen one night says to me I had told her all my woes with my former girlfriend. And she goes, someday you're going to have to trust another woman again. And I'm like, bubble thought, are you applying for that job? I'll check some references, but this sounds encouraging. We went to grad school, went to our first church. Time to have a baby. A baby didn't come. Five years of infertility. Ellen had three different surgeries. Emily was born. Three years later, another surgery. Philip was born. Our life, if you trace it, has been a whole series of detours. I haven't been thrown in prison, falsely accused of sexual assault, or truly accused either one, But I haven't had those types of things. But went to work eventually for Walk through the Bible, the founder left. Everybody said, you're going to be the next president. And one of the board members goes, I got a pastor. He's on 600 radio stations. I don't think he'd do it, but if he would, he'd be awesome. And I knew the guy. I go, if you could get him, that'd be great. For our ministry. Emily was starting high school. Philip was starting middle school. One time for me to be Mr. Road Warrior, they chose the other guy. And I was like, that's so good. Not really. I can't believe I didn't get it. And it was five hard years. Hard years. We went through 17 VPs and five EVPs in those five years. It was churning, it was chaos. And then the board goes, it's your turn. And it was a mess. It was upside down financially. I thought, it's gonna take three years to turn this around. It took eight years to turn it around. It was one detour after another. I could tell you 20 stories from our life and ministry when something happened that complicated things that didn't make sense. Who was singing. Coming in about. I thought nothing could go wrong. I was wrong. Who was singing that right there? They're Paul pointing at you. You didn't even know you were singing it. You were. When you came through the door, I thought it was you. And I'm like. I'm like, the guy's singing Joseph's song and he doesn't even know it. Stuff is going to go wrong, right? There's going to be setbacks. Question why all the detours? And if you remember nothing else this morning, remember what he said, because it's even more important than what I said. But beyond that, this is what I want you to remember. Why all the delays? Why all the frustrations? Why all the gosh? Why was I pre med for the first two years? That comes in handy, leading walk through the Bible. Well, it actually does. Because what do I do? I diagnose problems and figure out solutions to them. And that's a discipline. That's great. It's great to learn that. Why all the delays? Here's the answer. Because God cares more about the development of the dreamer than the fulfillment of the dream. Say that with me. God cares more about the development of the dreamer than the fulfillment of the dream. Say it again. God cares more. If you can take that away, that's going to help you. Why was this necessary? Genesis 50. All the way to the end of the story, there's been this reunion. Dad's come down from Egypt. Then dad dies and the brothers go, oh, now that Dad's gone, he's going to nail us. And they say they come to him. And I don't even know if this is true or not. They go, before he died, dad told us to go to you and say, please forgive your brothers. Blah, blah, blah. There's no record of him saying that in Scripture. Maybe he did. Maybe they made it up. You don't know if these brothers of his. And Joseph, it says, weeps when he hears this, they're bowing down to him, just like God had prophesied years earlier. He's 17 when that prophecy occurred. He's 30 when he goes into Pharaoh's service. 13 wasted years. Only they weren't wasted. Why? The easy part was getting the brothers to bow down to him. The hard part was making sure his head was screwed on straight enough that he could handle that. And he's broken hearted. He goes, am I in the position of God? And they're like, yeah, basically. Because God does life and death, and you have the power of life and death. And rather than revenge, he chooses forgiveness. And he doesn't just save the brother who was also from the same mom as him. He doesn't just save the brother who intervened on his behalf. He saves all of them, and he takes great care of them. And you go, man, that guy's got incredible character. He had character to say no to Potiphar's wife. He had character to not get bitter in prison, all those things. And now he's got enough character that he says to his brothers, I really do forgive you. I really do forgive you. Why all the detours? Here's what I want you to do. Stand up, get a partner, Put your hands on their shoulders, Look them in the eye, and I'm going to. Some of you are, like, looking at me. It freaks me out. When I do a wedding. And, like, the couple turns to me during the vows, I'm like, you're not talking to me. This is not your vows. Don't worry about that. I want you to repeat after me and speak truth into each other's hearts. You remind me of Joseph. You're really a lot like him. When your life doesn't make sense, when there's detours or disappointments or delays, please remember God cares more about the development of the dreamer than the fulfillment of the dream. All right, thanks, everybody. Thank you.