458: BEMA Kokomo — The Body of Christ

Summary

Episode 458: BEMA Kokomo — The Body of Christ

Release Date: July 10, 2025
Host: Marty Solomon
Co-Host: Brent Billings
Guests: Members of the BEMA Kokomo discussion group from Indiana

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Introduction

In Episode 458 of The BEMA Podcast, Marty Solomon and co-host Brent Billings welcome the BEMA Kokomo discussion group from Indiana. Launched in 2021, this group is one of the earliest BEMA discussion communities, delving deep into the Bible’s historical context and reconstructing common readings through a historical lens.

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Group Formation and Background

Marty introduces the Kokomo group, highlighting its organic beginnings. Steve, the original facilitator, shares how the group formed during a period of personal searching and deconstruction of faith. The group grew through personal connections, with members like Joel and Brent Faulkner bringing diverse backgrounds from different churches into the fold.

Notable Quote:
Steve reflects, “I was searching and deconstruction is one way you could put it... I stumbled onto your podcast, and I was hooked from the gate.”
(03:32)

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Practical Aspects of the Group

Erin provides insights into the group's logistics, emphasizing Steve’s role in organizing and maintaining consistency. The group met regularly, adapting to members' lives, including accommodating new parents by adjusting meeting times. They navigated through five seasons, fostering deep connections and enduring friendships.

Notable Quote:
Erin notes, “Steve was always prepared... he counted it down to the minutes so we weren't listening to too many minutes each week.”
(07:01)

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Deepening Conversations and Growth

Steve elaborates on the group’s dynamics, highlighting the balance between structured discussions and organic conversations. The environment fostered vulnerability and openness, allowing members to explore their faith without the pressures of leadership roles.

Notable Quote:
Steve shares, “Nothing was off limits... we could fully unpack everything we had learned.”
(09:29)

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Expansion and Outreach

Joel discusses expanding BEMA beyond the Kokomo group, sharing success stories like the resurgence of a young woman’s relationship with the Bible. The group’s impact extended to the broader community, inspiring sessions that attract larger numbers and deeper engagement.

Notable Quote:
Joel expresses, “She found herself not hiding from the Bible, but running to the text for the very first time in a really long time.”
(12:30)

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Individual Journeys and Contributions

Each member shares their personal connection to BEMA and how it intertwines with their professional lives:

• Steve: Finds his faith bulletproof yet continuously curious, emphasizing the importance of holding beliefs loosely to remain open to growth.

  Quote: “I have more questions now than I have answers... holding things more loosely.”
  (14:54)

• Dean: A worship leader and musician, Dean discusses his song "Show Me Christmas," inspired by the group's discussions on grief and loss during the holidays.

  Quote: “The chorus presents this quick story of a person asking for Jesus to show them Christmas.”
  (27:25)

• Brent Faulkner: A pastor and author, Brent shares his book "Trust Fall," which explores the fall of man and God's faithfulness. He emphasizes the transformative power of the group on his leadership and teaching.

  Quote: “The book is called Trust Fall... it walks through Genesis 3 and portrays God’s faithfulness.”
  (30:41)

• Andrea: An OB GYN, Andrea connects her professional work with BEMA, highlighting the importance of curiosity and communal support in her approach to patient care.

  Quote: “BEMA has shined through in that for me... creating a space of trust.”
  (35:09)

• Terry: A chaplain who overcame a life-threatening surgery, Terry reflects on the group's support and the profound connections formed through shared vulnerability.

  Quote: “Everything's going well now, but it was a real dangerous situation.”
  (39:27)

• Whitney: A nurse and community servant, Whitney discusses her ministry work and how BEMA has expanded her understanding of different cultures and communal fellowship.

  Quote: “BEMA opened up learning different cultures and interacting with curiosity.”
  (42:50)

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The Body of Christ in Action

Marty synthesizes the discussions, emphasizing that the Kokomo group exemplifies the Body of Christ—diverse individuals united by shared faith and mutual support. The group's ability to foster resurrection moments highlights the transformative power of authentic fellowship and collective scripture engagement.

Notable Quote:
Marty states, “This is what the body of Christ looks like... resilient and transformational.”
(40:13)

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Closing Reflections and Encouragement

Joel and other members share heartfelt reflections on the group's journey, acknowledging both the beauty and sadness of transitioning phases. They emphasize the lasting impact of their shared experiences and the enduring nature of their faith community.

Notable Quote:
Joel remarks, “Making a safe place for people to ask the big scary questions... changes everything.”
(46:12)

Marty concludes by encouraging other BEMA groups to embrace authentic fellowship, highlighting the Kokomo group's example as a testament to what can be achieved when diverse individuals come together with empathy and curiosity.

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Final Thoughts

Episode 458 serves as a powerful testament to the transformative potential of BEMA discussion groups. The Kokomo group's journey underscores the importance of vulnerability, structured support, and genuine community in deepening one's faith and understanding of the Bible. Listeners are left inspired by the profound connections and personal growth experienced by the members, illustrating the essence of being the Body of Christ in action.

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For More Information:
Visit bamontodiscipleship.com for show notes and to connect with the BEMA Kokomo group.

Transcript

[Andrea]

Foreign.

[Brent Billings]

This is the Bama podcast with Marty Solomon. I'm his co host, Brent Billings. Today we are joined by the Bama Kokomo discussion group from Indiana, which launched in 2021. And this is going to be a little bit of a crazy episode. Marty, what are we doing here?

[Marty Solomon]

This is groundbreaking. This is as close to the Tohu va vohu episode when we had the whole Baymont team together and we thought, that's a crazy idea. We didn't get enough. We're going to do it again. We have with us today one of the first. Discuss that. Not the first, but one of the first, earliest discussion groups I got a chance to meet when this started becoming a thing. Like these discussion groups popping up all over. And there was one right around the corner in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. Kokomo, Indiana. And we've referenced them in a bunch of different ways. We've had Erin, she's a member of this group. She's been on the podcast before. What episode was that? Where Aaron interviewed me for my book.

[Brent Billings]

Brent317 episode.

[Marty Solomon]

317. You already met Aaron. And we've made reference to lots of things. If you follow social media, you know that this last Christmas, I was at the Blue Christmas. We'll talk about on this episode some that was kind of connected to and is in the same town and same place in Indiana as this group. So we wanted to do an interview. Like, we never talk on the. We always tell people on the podcast to, like, find a discussion group, join a discussion group, start a Bayma discussion group. And we've never really talked to a Bama discussion group. So I thought, let's do that. And then as soon as we started talking about it, we were like, well, how do we talk to the group without talking to the group? Like, the whole group? And so we have the. We have the whole group. And they've been going for a long time. They started in 2021, and they have made it through the entire body of work. We're going to talk about that. But first we need to introduce everybody. And we're going to do this, like, short and sweet, but we need everybody just so that people can start to hear your voice. Say, hi. We're going to hear Everybody. We got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. We got eight people on the. In the group. Seven.

[Brent Billings]

It's eight.

[Marty Solomon]

It's eight. Okay, good. I needed Brent to back me up there.

[Brent Billings]

New creation. New creation.

[Marty Solomon]

I love it. Okay, let's get it started. Steve, you're sitting at the Mic, say hi, and I'll let the rest of the group take it from there.

[Steve]

Hi, I'm Steve.

[Whitney]

Hey, I'm Whitney.

[Erin]

You did?

[Andrea]

Hi, my name's Andrea.

[Dean]

Hey, I'm Dean.

[Joel]

Hey, I'm Joel.

[Terry]

Hello, I'm Terry.

[Brent Faulkner]

Hey, I'm Brent.

[Marty Solomon]

The other Brent, we're going to refer to Brent as. We cited BA Brent BA Faulkner is what they call him there. Brent Faulkner. So BA or Mr. Faulkner. Mr. Billings. Behemoth. Brent, I don't even know what we're going to do, but it's going to be fun. We got one more. Go ahead, Aaron. They've heard you before.

[Erin]

Hi, I'm Erin.

[Marty Solomon]

All right, everybody, we're going to dive into this now. What I want us to do is I want us to hear from all these members different aspects of who these members are and what they have brought to this experience. At some point during the interview, I would imagine, as a listener, you may be thinking to yourself, what are we doing and why are we doing this? And I promise you, if you hang with us, there's something. There's a point I want to make at the end of this, and we'll see if I can pull that off and make that point. Well, but the first few questions I want to ask the group, I just want to kind of get some background of how this group started. What is your story? What are some of the things you're doing today? You've been doing this for probably four years, over four years now. So I just want to get some of the backstory. So I'm going to start with Steve. Steve was kind of the first original facilitator that pulled this group, group together and got it started. Steve, can you tell us just the story of your group, like, what you remember about its earliest beginnings and what that was like? Give us a little bit of the backstory.

[Steve]

Yeah, absolutely. I was in a period of searching. I had grown up in the church and had several different experiences in the church. They were widely varying, really covered the spectrum pretty much. And so I was searching and deconstruction is one way you could put it. I was. I didn't really know at the time that that's what it was called, but I was asking some big questions and really trying to wrestle with some newfound doubts that I had based on some. Just honestly, some. A couple of social media posts that I had seen, they just really sparked a very inquisitive season for me that I had never. I was. I was basically asking questions that I had never given myself permission to Ask before, I was very new to podcasts. And so when I started searching and I found a podcast or two and I tried them out, and then it was pretty quickly that I stumbled onto your podcast, and I was hooked from the gate. So I devoured the content rapidly. And in that process, I had a good friend of mine who was giving piano lessons to my son, and I had let him know about it, and I had no idea that he was actually listening to it. And he had been for quite some time when it came up again, and he had actually intended to kind of, I guess, surprise me on some level that he had gotten through so much of it so that we could discuss it together. And it was along the way there that he had actually shared it with someone. And that gentleman is Terry. And he had shared it with someone. I guess I haven't shared names here. So I had shared it with Dean, who's in the group here, and he had passed it along to Terry, and it kind of Daisy chained through about half of us. And that's how we got the girls. That's how the group really started. I had just met Joel, who is now my pastor, and Brent is one of the pastors from the church that I used to go to. And so that's been really fun and cool.

[Terry]

Cool.

[Steve]

And has gone significantly better than I would have ever thought it would go for two pastors from fairly different churches. But that gives, I guess, a little bit of the background on how we came together.

[Marty Solomon]

There is so much in there that I just absolutely love, and if I dive into all of it, we're going to be here for two and a half hours. But I do love that. I love the way your group organically got started and found each other. There's no way to manufacture that for all those groups out there that are like, how do you do this? How do you get this thing started? There's no way to necessarily pull that off. But you mentioned other things, like Joel and Brent, two different pastors from two different churches. Like, first of all, pastors in Bama groups, like, that doesn't happen. Second of all, two different pastors, like, who obviously runs this, like, whose group is it? Like, how does that. So we'll get into that before this is over with. And I have loved watching how that is a reality in your group. But before I get there, I want to just hear some of the practicals. So, Aaron, I'm going to ask you, tell us just some of the practicals of how your group functions. And this is the stuff that you probably take for granted, like, do you meet weekly? How long do you meet? What is your format for discussion? Just tell us about, like, some of just the real basic, not the profound, but the real practical details of how your group does what it does.

[Erin]

Well, do you want the down and dirty?

[Marty Solomon]

Of course. We want nothing but the real real here on the Behemoth podcast.

[Erin]

Well, the real real is, is we're not really meeting right now.

[Brent Billings]

Yes.

[Erin]

Just to come right out of the gate.

[Marty Solomon]

We'll get back, everybody.

[Erin]

We'll get back to that.

[Marty Solomon]

But how did.

[Brent Billings]

How did you get through five sessions? Because that. That's an achievement that should be celebrated.

[Erin]

It is. And honestly, I did buy the shirt. We were just very blessed with a group of leaders. We've got Steve, who we like to call the glue. He literally typed up every episode, wrote notes, and he was always prepared. He always planned out. He had the Google Doc set up. He had not a secret Google Doc, by the way, but a real Google Doc that we all had access to on our goog calendars. And we always knew what episodes we were studying. He actually counted it down to the minutes so we weren't listening to too many minutes each week. So it was kind of evened out. So some weeks we might have listened to two or three episodes one week. It might. If you guys were getting down and dirty, we might be just listening to one. And sometimes we'd break that up over two weeks if it was just too deep. So it really was ebb and flow. And he kept up with that so eloquently. And he was always present. The plan was an hour, then it turned into two hours. And there was some almost all nighters. I think we would leave at 1 or 2 in the morning, and we just couldn't stop digging and asking questions and conversating. And it was so practically and logistically, it was Steve making sure that happened. But it was also everybody just being so committed to showing up, not even knowing each other very well. It was Brent and Joel as the pastors, kind of taking a step back and asking questions and choosing to be vulnerable. And when they let their guard down, everybody else kind of took a breath and let their guard down. So when you have that kind of magic, you know, we just all became fast friends. Were all different, different walks of life. And we wanted to show up. And there were new babies being born. We had a couple of babies and we accommodated. We met later in the evening so that kids could go to bed and so that we can make it happen for everyone. So we met pretty consistently. If someone couldn't meet, then we kept meeting anyway because they would catch up. And that was really consistent for almost that full five seasons. We kind of got slower towards that last season, but when we were in the thick of it, we were in the thick of it. So logistically, that's what that looked like.

[Marty Solomon]

And so did Steve, did he have like a prompt or the format for your discussion? Was it like one question? You guys were off for two to three hours pulling an all nighter. Was there like multiple questions? Did you have a. A way that you would go about those, or was it just a natural, organic way of doing things?

[Erin]

He tried a lot of different things in the beginning, I would say, and then I'll let you answer that, Steve, to kind of explain that a little bit deeper.

[Steve]

So we all gelled really quickly and what that kind of showed us. I can't remember which of them it might have been, Joel or Bren or both, but I had a couple conversations pretty early on about how long our meetings were going, because it felt like it would be difficult to really stay focused and stay on the content at times, because we were all connecting and getting to know one another. And so what we wound up doing fairly quickly was establishing the best we could. We tried to hold ourselves to it, and it was really difficult almost every week to try to buckle down when we first got together and get through the content within about the first hour or so. And then we kind of had what we called overtime, which was essentially just like what the meetings had always been like, which was just kind of the free for all. We never interrupted or spoke over one another. We were very respectful and took turns talking. It was beautiful. I'm being super sarcastic right now because if you can hear the room, there's lots of smiles and laughs. The level of grace that everyone showed each other right out of the gate, it was a really neat, I guess, just gelling that took place from the perspective, like Aaron said, where people were able to come in and take their pastor hats off and leave them at the door and be vulnerable. And Terry's a chaplain and same kind of thing. Nobody came in trying to bring their knowledge. Everyone came in seeking and looking and hunting and wanting to connect and wrestle and. And so I think it was the collective heart of everyone involved. That's what made this such a special journey for us.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, that's beautiful. Okay, so, Joel, the group made it all the way through five sessions, and then you felt like eventually, not long after that, what you wanted to do, if I understand it correctly, is you wanted to take Bama and start like you wanted to take that journey and offer it to other people. So you've taken Bama and started offering it to and more of like, you're the pastor of the church in Bridgeway. Bridgeway, Kokomo. You kind of host kind of a larger multi group Bama setting at the church. Is that right? Can you tell me more about what that is and what you're doing there?

[Joel]

Yeah. So after our group had completed the five seasons and we were still meeting and I just continually just felt burdened because to share what this meant to me because it was just something, this journey with these guys and the journey through the content just shaped me and my. My work and my life and my worldview so much. I just continually felt so burdened to let other people know about it. And you know, the things that we discuss and learn throughout the five sessions, you know, it comes into my preaching and teaching and my writing and all these different things where people are like, what is that about? I'm like, have you heard about baymaw? And there was enough of that to where after we were done, I was like, I've got to like open this up and get. Spread it out and not settle in just what I've learned and let other people learn these tools and these processes. So we opened up last fall, sort of just a small session where we were trying to get through all of session one, all the way through Torah. I was expecting like 20 people to sign up from our church because we're a church plant, just like five years old. And we had like 60 people sign up to do it. And I'm like, immediately I'm like, okay, there's going to be like 10 people by the end of like the Noah episode.

[Marty Solomon]

Is what I kept thinking true? Yeah. Yeah, right? Yeah.

[Joel]

It was just like that's what I was thinking. People have no idea what they sign up for. And also we were giving people homework. Like these were like just a bunch of discussion groups. It wasn't like there was going to be teaching or listening to the episode in the room, but we held around 50 people all the way through session one to where we had eight different groups around tables discussing just sort of some questions and some prompts and leading through the episode, reading some of the main scripture of the night, walking through a little bit of an outline of the episode, and then just giving people questions. And then we'd have an all group discussion where people could share some of the insights from different Tables around the room. And just so many beautiful stories came from that. And just to share like one, there was a woman, a young woman who's like 25 years old, who shared halfway through the journey that even though she's been in church her whole life, she had decided that the Bible wasn't a safe thing for her on her journey because there was just too many questions that were shot down, too many traumas that were attached to it. And so she decided to try to follow Jesus without the Bible because the Bible was a traumatic book for her. And she said after this experience, she found herself not hiding from the Bible, but running to the text for the very first time in a really long time. And so being able to open that up. And as we finish session one, we have three groups that are continuing through the slog as of right now, continuing through the slog of session two. And my goal is that our church, we're just going to run session one every single year and invite more people into the story and into the process because it was such a hit in our community.

[Marty Solomon]

That's awesome. Very encouraging for me, selfishly. I love hearing. I love hearing all that. All right, I want to kind of jump around the rest of the group. That's some of the backstory of where this group came from, how it started. I want to kind of bounce around to some of the different group members and just hear from each of them. And there's a method to my madness here. There's a reason I want to do this, but I want us to hear some of the context and who they are and how Bema connects to who they are. So I do want to come back to Steve for just a moment here. Steve, you introduced yourself by saying you found Bema because you were going through a time of deconstruction, unpacking, asking big questions. So, of course, what happened is that Steve found Bema. All of his questions were answered. He now has this, like, super alive and vibrant, amazing, just cozy faith with Jesus. Right. Steve, I want you to tell us all about where you're at today and how you're doing.

[Steve]

You nailed it. Yeah, you're exactly right. I got all of my questions answered. And this faith thing's about as bulletproof as you could expect at this point. So. No, it's. It's. Yeah, it's funny you say that. And I could plug your book, too, about asking better questions of the Bible and that kind of thing, because I think at the end of the day, one of the most magical things for me, through this process was. Nothing was off limits. And so it was. I gave myself freedom to fully unpack everything I had learned from the different church context that I had been a part of that were quite contradicting in ways. And I was able to really take that out in a way like I never had before and expose that to these people and expose that to what we were learning about the text that it was all supposed to be based on to begin with. And that combination was super enlightening. But I've said this a hundred times or more that I have more questions now than I've. I have more questions than answers, for sure. To the point where I almost struggle to really listen to people when, you know, if they're trying to teach or preach or anything like that. If the harder they want to squeeze onto something or the more they've got it figured out, the less interested I generally am to really lean in and glean from that. I have found a significant amount of freedom in holding things more loosely. What I have seen in multiple different settings is the way that people treat others when that's how they approach it. I just can't imagine anything more Christlike than that, if that makes sense.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. And I appreciate you being willing to share that, Steve, because I think you represent something that's really important for me. I mean, I'm personally very passionate about, like Baymon, needing to be a place where, like, people that have a bunch of unanswered questions and it only gets worse. And yet somehow, in the midst of all this, this is still a place where I find value and asking those questions, finding a community to wrestle that with. There's a part of me, this feels weird to say. There's a part of me that loves hearing these stories of people that are in Bama groups that feel like they even get further away from the Bible, further away from. And Bama is a space where that processing can happen in a safe way. And there's lots of people all over and in the church, from the church reference and perspective, we don't usually talk about those things or lift those things up or encourage that kind of space. I was just in North Carolina this last weekend, and one of the verses I have just come to love is the verse right before the Great Commission where everybody gets together on the mountain and it says, some believed and some doubted. And to them Jesus said. And you're like, to them which them. All of them. To those who believe and to those who doubted, Jesus said, go therefore, and make disciples. Because apparently this invitation of this thing that Jesus is up to is an invitation to all those people who believe and they believe like they believe. And all those people that are like, I what? Like I don't. And the invitation is, hey, if you're interested, if you're interested, come disciple, be a part. I was really glad that Steve was willing to share some of that and what the group accomplishes for him. So thanks, Steve for doing that.

[Steve]

Yeah, Marty, right along the lines with what you were just saying. Early on, for me, I remember hearing from the evolving faith community. They were had a podcast where they were playing episodes as the talks from their most recent conference. And Rachel held Evans started off by saying on the days that I believe this story and that has been a phrase that has really stuck with me. And it was one of those phrases early on that helped kind of unlock a lot of this journey for me and really connected with our group and resonated with everyone.

[Marty Solomon]

Oh man. Rachel Hild Evans was such a gift to us and we are all sad that that gift isn't with us anymore. But golly, she was a great gift and voice and resource for so many of us going through things like that. Okay, so I want to ask Dean about something that he's done. But to do that I need to give some context to what I want to ask him about. And so you guys have this practice Blue Christmas, those that kind of follow where I've been and what I do. You know that I went to Indiana for Blue Christmas this last Christmas season. But it's something that you guys have been doing for some years and this idea kind of shows up in other places. But Aaron, for you guys, that was kind of connected to your Bay mod journey, if I understand it, and what kind of gave you guys the umph. To want to design that and practice that. But can you talk somewhat about what Blue Christmas is and where that came from?

[Erin]

Blue Christmas was actually something I experienced in my little country town growing up umc. And we had a Blue Christmas service for our shut ins and for people that were just not having a super holly jolly service. It was really for the community. There's multiple churches. I came from this little tiny church town or little. It's a church town, but it's a tiny little town called Rougeville. But they had like more churches and a liquor store. It's a funny little farm town. And we would all host that service and it was just really special and it was something I remembered that we did and when we were studying Lamentations. Lamentations was so profound. For a chunk of our group. And we kept revisiting it. It really fell hard on Steve, myself. I know Terri. A lot of us really just felt the weight of the power and the gift of lament that we don't do so well in our current modern day culture. We set aside time to grieve for a funeral and now we go back to work and we resume our life and there's just this blanket of heavy. And the Bible really has taught us how to grieve and to sit shiva with each other. And that was just impactful. So I was like, I would really love to do a community lamentation service. A lament at the holidays. Our community downtown, specifically the church where Brent is a pastor at, has a downtown campus separate from the big church. And they have a celebrate recovery community. And we just thought, what a better place to host that. For the first time we brought in a pastor, actually the pastor that baptized me from the United Methodist Church. He is a pastor in Evansville, Indiana now. He came and spoke and talked about incarnation and really embodied what we were trying to do. He brought the spirit of that. And we had people that walked to the service, we had people that came on purpose and it was just, it was really wonderful. Brent Faulkner B A F He built a Bama platform to put in the.

[Brent Billings]

Middle of our church, as all good Brents do.

[Erin]

Yes, he built that and he brought it and he stood on it and he mic'd up and he got nervous. I'll never forget that moment. And he. Then he asked the congregation to close their eyes. You know, here's our teaching pastor up there and he's like, can everybody close their eyes? It was the most quiet, beautiful moment. I won't ever forget it. So then we wanted to just carry that forward. We invited other churches. We have had beautiful music which Dean can talk about, his song that he wrote that just. I think it wrecks me every time I hear it. And we also do something other really that's also special is we play a video of photographs of people not just that have passed away, but that maybe people miss that they just aren't with that they're separated from at the holidays. And we don't get rid of those photos every year. We just add to them because people are cherished and loved and missed every year. So that really has just been a ministry that was born out of our group. Most of our group participate every year to the best of their ability in one way, shape or, or form. And it's been really beautiful. So Joel has Really kind of spearheaded that for me for the last couple of years. And I have been really appreciative of that. So we've hosted that four times.

[Marty Solomon]

It was a beautiful thing to be a part of now that I can speak firsthand and a really, really sacred space, but. All right, so Dean, Aaron referenced this song of yours. Tell us a little bit about this song that you wrote. Tell us about what you were thinking as you wrote it. I've heard it. It is. I mean, it wrecks Aaron every time. It was like, I remember hearing it and kind of putting the phone down after hearing it, being like, what was that? Like, you weren't there that night, but I was like, what in the world? That was so good. So tell us just some about this song in particular, where it comes from. Dean's a. You're a worship leader, is that correct? Dean, you're a musician. It's part of your passion and your gift set. Tell us a little bit about that.

[Dean]

If I remember correctly. So this would have been for Two Blue Christmases ago. It's kind of one of those things where I don't think, you know, when I initially had the inspiration to write the song, I wasn't necessarily trying to get it to be for the Blue Christmas event, but I remembered after the fact, as it was coming out and as more of the lyrics were coming, I was like, man, this really falls right in line with what this event is promoting coming up. And I felt strongly enough about it to send over to Joel. And, you know, he quickly got back to me. You know, I think it was later that night where we were all meeting for our regular Tuesday Baymar group meeting. And he was like, I gotta show this to the whole rest of the group. And everybody listened to it. But Joel, you know, he basically was the first one to say, I really think this one should. This song should be a part of the Blue Christmas event. I think the content of it really speaks to somebody with the perspective of feeling the weight and the heaviness of loss around the holiday time, which is exactly what I wrote the song about. I wrote it with a person in mind, you know, not about anyone in particular, but just kind of the embodiment of a mentality of somebody who really doesn't feel much at Christmas, who doesn't feel all the mushy, gushy stuff that is usually expected. But, you know, it could be feeling absolutely nothing or maybe feeling negative thoughts about the holiday time, basically. I mean, the lyrics of the song kind of. The chorus presents this quick story of A person, as if they were crying out to God or crying out to somebody, anybody, asking for them to show them Christmas because they're not seeing it. And so will you show me Jesus? Will you show me what freedom actually looks like? Because I don't see it. And all this mushy, gushy stuff, you know, about Santa Claus and this and that is not really doing it for me. And to take it one step further, even, you know, going into a pre programmed Advent season of your typical evangelical church with all the positive Christmas stuff going on, you know, that might not be doing it for me either. You know, maybe I'm just really going through a really, really tough time right now. And that's kind of where. That's the place from where that song came.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, even just you talking about the chorus without even reading the lyrics is almost enough, but it's not enough. So here's the deal. As we record this, Dean has told us the song is not officially released yet. So we are now, all of us collectively as a group. And now the cloud of witnesses that is the audience, is now. Because now everybody that hears this episode, Dean is going to say, I have to hear this song. So when it is finally released, we will have a link to this song in the show notes he has offered. In the meantime, what I am calling an Interim peace offering, which is another song that he's written also inspired by the Behemoth Journey. We will plug that in the show notes. So what is this other song's title? Not the one you wrote for Blue Christmas, but what is the one that is postable right now as we record it? What's the name of that one?

[Dean]

Sure, it's called We Are One. It's basically an anthem for the church that I attend. We're called One Church, so it's kind of like a theme song for our church. But anyway, the main tagline of the entire song is we are one entrusting the story of your love, which was a direct steal from Behma. So thank you, Marty, I appreciate that.

[Marty Solomon]

That's a pretty good line and I'm going to accept that as an interim peace offering. And the title of the Blue Christmas song that you have, Dean, what's the title of that?

[Dean]

It's called Show Me Christmas.

[Marty Solomon]

All right, Show Me Christmas. So we'll have both of those in the show notes for anybody that's interested. I love that. Thanks for sharing that. Dean, I know, is a creative and a fellow musician. The passion that lies behind creating that kind of stuff, and that's Beautiful. So I really look forward to sharing that with the world if and when you're willing. All right, I'm going to swing over to Brent. Not our Brent, the other Brent Baf. The right Reverend Faulkner.

[Brent Billings]

He's our Brent too. We're all in this together.

[Marty Solomon]

The other Bama building. Brent. All great Brents build behemoth. That sounds like a tongue twister waiting to happen. Brent, here's my question. Question. So you're a pastor. What has it been like to try and be a pastor but also just be in this space? Like specifically, how do you manage? Like you and Joel, both pastors, both in the same group. And every time I've been with you, you're just like, you're just brothers in a group of fellow brothers and sisters. Like, pastors don't do this, guys. Their egos are too big. They can't do this. And somehow you guys have proven that you can do this. I want to ask you, Brent, what has it been like to be see you in this space. What has that experience been like in this group for you?

[Brent Faulkner]

Well, when I think it was Aaron and Whitney that were the ones that first invited me to be a part of the group and when they invited me, I kind of gave them a non committal answer. You know, when you're a pastor, you're asked to be at lots of places. And I was kind of like, okay, I might pop in once or twice and I'd listen to some of the episodes. It was good content. I didn't anticipate being a part much of the group, but I got to tell you, it was the first couple of weeks and just the transparency and openness and I felt like this was a place that I could, I could be myself. You know, I just, I think as leaders, it's easy to find yourself in places where you are always leading or you are always trying to. To be this person that other people expect you to be. And what I found so life giving and beautiful about this group was I didn't feel any of those pressures of those expectations, even though some of the people in the group were a part of my church. But it's just something, I don't know, just the openness and vulnerability allowed me to come as me and as I wrestled through the text with everybody and I was able to bring my questions and I didn't feel like I had to have all of the answers and I was able to come with questions and I was able to be challenged and you know, people pushing back on things. And then as A group. We journeyed through some difficult things together and that whole time just felt accepted and open that I could be who I am. And it really has been one of the more life giving spaces for me in the last two years. Man, I just, I'm so appreciative of that. And then what it did in. In my heart, then as. As God used that space to, to pour into me and transform me personally, then that overflows into my leadership. So then I'm a better leader, I'm a better teacher, a better preacher because of giving that space just for me to come as, as a person. So I'm so thankful for, for the group and the space that that's been. Been available.

[Marty Solomon]

Goodness. Okay, but before you get rid of the mic, you wrote a book I just read recently and I think I reviewed it on Goodreads and stuff, but it's like Trust Fall. Tell us about this book you wrote because it was pretty good.

[Brent Faulkner]

Yeah, well, thank you. I appreciate the review. Yeah, it really came from a place as a pastor, having lots of conversations with people that as they read the Bible, they come with the question, is God really good? You know, they kind of approach scripture with this lens of fear or condemnation. And so I was having those conversations at the same time we were journeying through some of the Bama stuff and I just, I don't know, I felt led to put some of those thoughts together and built off a lot of the ideas of session one. And so I just decided to start at the moment where, you know, everything went bad, the moment of the bad news. Talking about the fall of man and how in a lot of circles that just kind of gets boiled down and simplified to just like, well, you know, Adam and Eve sinned and God kicked them out of the garden. End of the story. That's why we're in the mess we're in. But part of the journey of Bemah just kind of helped open up to see the goodness of God in that. And so I built on those ideas and just walked through Genesis 3 and walked through that story and try to point out all the ways that God is faithful and you can trust him. So the book is called Trust Fall how the Fall of Man Reveals a God Worth Trusting. And it's been really cool to see how God has put that together and used it to have an impact in people's lives. And I'm just really thankful for that experience.

[Marty Solomon]

Absolutely. We're going to put that in the show notes too. I enjoyed it very much. All right. I'm Gonna swing over to Andrea. Oh, boy, this is a fun question. I've written this one down. I'm gonna read it. Andrea, tell us about the work that you do. Somebody told me, and I quote, that woman is advocating for the unborn, for women, for the newborn. Things that you and I couldn't touch with a ten foot pole. You were described as somebody who had, quote, gentle, quiet, quiet leadership. I was told that you were a true researcher, that you all, throughout the life of this group would take things that we were referencing. You would go and study and wrestle with it and then come back and regurgitate it to the group so that everyone could understand it. I have probably heard and talked and got to know you, Andrea, the least of anybody. What do you have to say for yourself? That is my prompt.

[Andrea]

That's a big prompt. Marty, let me.

[Marty Solomon]

You're welcome. I'll teach you to be quiet. No kidding.

[Andrea]

Oh, okay. So let me start with my job. So I am an OB GYN. Specifically, 90% of my job is taking care of pregnant moms through their delivery and taking care of high risk pregnancies, very complicated pregnancies. So, you know, taking care of women and unborn children and newborn children is something that I've just been always deeply passionate about. You know, there's nothing that's more of an honor than to be part of that story. For someone to bring a newborn baby into this world, it humbles me every single time. It is an absolute joy and a privilege. But it's not always easy right now, especially in the days that we live in, care for women and newborns have been a little bit more complex and makes them more even vulnerable for women. So to live in that space with them and to look eye to eye with them and help them through hard decisions and complications and just sitting with them, you know, that's a lot of what I do. And Bama has shined through in that for me for sure, because it's not always black and white, it's not simple, and there's a lot of different ways to show love and support. And in a nutshell, that's what I do for my work. From the researcher and quiet leadership standpoint. Yeah, I would say I'm very much a kind of an absorber and a quiet leader. You know, most of what I do for what I with work and everywhere else is just a lot of listening. So I find the leadership of just really listening to people and patients, colleagues, you know, listening to data and having that kind of thoughtful engagement with people creates a Space for others to be heard and I think be able to sit and hear other people creates a space of trust and helps me be a leader. And then the research side, it's just my personality. I, you know, I'm very analytical. I love to take notes. I love to go deeper. And something that I love to be able to do when we had our groups is to find something that was. Sometimes it was just a word or some historical context that could open up conversations in a different way. So it was just how I'm wired. It's my contribution. My favorite thing to do would be to find something in the podcast that we were talking about that I could find something else about it to share with the group.

[Marty Solomon]

I do love that there is so much what feels like, yeah, leadership is a great word. Not even having experiences, listening, like wisdom and humility and some of the things you're sharing. I love that you connected that to your own. Like the work that you do, you said was a humbling healing experience. And that is beautiful. Very good. I just. It's wonderful to hear the rest of the group speak so highly of who you are. I hope that you are blessed by me being able to relay that to you. But it's really speaks well of. Of how you take up space in the world. It's beautiful.

[Andrea]

Oh, thank you.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. All right, Terry. Terry almost died. That's my intro to Terry. Terry was going to come with me to Israel. I'm really glad he didn't, because if he, yeah, if he would have been with us, Brent, Terry would be no more. And so everybody's glad that Terry wasn't able to come with us. We're all sad but glad. We're sad but glad. Terry, you found a place within the group. Your personality has, like, grown deep roots into the middleist group. You even have a pet phrase with the group that I can't replete, I can't repeat, or it would make us put an explicit tag on the episode. Terry, if you don't mind, what is a last? Well, first of all, tell us why you didn't come to Israel with us and what has the last year or two been like, and does any of that relate to your Bama journey and the people that are in this room with you?

[Terry]

Well, Marty, everything relates to B, to me, and I'm the oldest in age in this group and the youngest in maturity, so that works out well. It's a good combination. But, yeah, I've had 40 years of ministry in and out of different ministries and leadership levels, and all different sorts of things with just church and the evangelical world. I heard about Bama first from Dean, and I trust Dean so much that we'd done so many things together in ministry over the years. So I began listening to it and then it began unpacking a lot of things that I had built up in my past about church hurt and these kind of things. And the group, which I call our havara, which we all do call our havara, has always been a landing spot for all of us as far as when we was going through different things in our lives. Being a workplace chaplain in a factory, an automobile factory, is quite, quite daunting task as far as sharing ministry and sharing the gospel with people because they were from all different walks of life. So Baymouth gives me a different angle for everybody to approach from. But many people have been turned onto from that, just that alone. So everything to me is built around that. But I'd been to Israel a handful of times and so Turkey, Marty. It was actually Turkey that I was going to go to and I was very excited. Chanel and I, my wife was going to. We did all the stuff. I had all the scriptures memorized, I had all my backpack rock and roll. We were ready to go. And I was trying to get in a little bit better shape so I wouldn't be the guy that holds everybody up. And I put on some poundage. So I was losing weight and I found out that I'd had some kind of problem going on with my breathing and I couldn't figure it out. Long story short is I ended up having open heart surgery and canceled out my Bama trip to Turkey. That being said though, it really brought out what this group is all about because every one of these guys in the room visited me individually, took care of helping me. The whole came over one night, we had ice cream together. So it was like it was an opportunity to show what we had learned through all the giving back that BAMAW has done. And want to share a quote that I recently found from Wendell Berry. I don't know if you know who Wendell Berry is, but this is kind of a mantra. Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you. And Wendell Berry teaches a lot about life. And that's where Bama lands with me is. Is life is a gift. And the gift that we've been given is to share with each and every person all that God has given us. So from where I was in my pre Bama days to now, I'm with this group. Even though, like Aaron says we're not meeting like we were meeting, but we pounded it for two or three years every night, every, Every week. And right now it's a little break, but we could come together tonight and. Haven't seen each other for weeks, maybe months, and we're right back at the same spot we were. And that's. That's what makes this group so special. So.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, well, shoot, Terry, you ended up nail that with Wendell Berry quotes. You connected it all the way around to life as a gift. I. That you. You really. That was. That was beautiful. I love hearing all that. So thanks for sharing that. I'm. I'm very sad but very glad that you were able to find that. I believe what you. What you had is what they often call the widowmaker. It's that dangerous of a situation of what you can run into without even knowing it. So. We're glad you're here, Terry.

[Terry]

Yeah, it was real dangerous situation. But it's almost. Almost a year now since surgery, so everything. Everything's going. Going well, but, yeah, beautiful.

[Marty Solomon]

Well, we're glad you're here. I got one left. I've saved the best for last.

[Terry]

It's our girl.

[Marty Solomon]

I'm sure she. I'm going to build this up so much because she just loves this exercise so much. Whitney. Whitney is here. Whitney, you minister to. You also minister to babies. You minister to families in need. I'm not sure if you do that kind of inside your vocational work or outside in places that you serve. I just know that's a collision that you have in your life of ministry and service. You're living out the hands and feet of Jesus in some unique ways. Can you share some about who you are, what you do, how you serve? Maybe how Bama either came alongside to come underneath that and fill it with color or just tell us some about that.

[Whitney]

So I am not the OB gyn, but I do deliver bay babies as a nurse in the hospital. But also I do get to serve the community that we live in by a ministry through our church where the Department of Children's service can put in needs and then we can fill those needs. And that was one of the things that really drew me to my church. Being able to be a part of that and kind of colliding my world from my vocation to helping my community. I love to find things and give them to people. Like it's one of my passions. I'm a thrift, so being able to, like, connect things that families in our community need to be able to keep their Families together has been an amazing way for me to relate Baymall to my life. I think one of the things that Baymall's really taught me and has opened me up is just the word curiosity. You know, we live in the Midwest. I don't know if you consider this the Bible Belt, but whew, it's very evangelical here, and that's all I've really known my whole life. And Baymaw opened up of learning different cultures and learning different ways people live and being able to just interact with that, with curiosity and not scared to really find out who they are and who they are in the image of God. And just allowing me to be more open and I love just to meet people where they are and do it communally as well is another thing that Bamal taught. Like, it's not just about me, you know, it's a community and where we can do it all communally. And that's really the way that it was taught to us through the Bible. So that's one of the things that has really helped open my eyes up to this big old world that we live in and not just right here. I can't wait to go to Israel with you one day, Marty.

[Marty Solomon]

Absolutely.

[Whitney]

And I hope I don't have a widowmaker and I get to do that. I just. I love the curiosity of getting to know people.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, it's beautiful. Well, we'll pray that that all happens for everybody at Baymont. Kokomo would be fantastic, but. All right, I'm going to try to pull this together here and give some. Like, why did we do all this? Why did I want you to meet all these people? A, because they're amazing. I've gotten a chance to meet them multiple times. And just my whole family doesn't know. I travel to a lot of places. My family knows because Kokomo, like, my kids know. They want to go to Kokomo. I don't think I'll be able to go to Kokomo and not take my family. So, A, I wanted you to meet all these people, but. But B, I wanted to say this, and. And I don't want to make this about Bama groups. We'll come back to that in a moment. This isn't about Bayma discussion groups. What we're seeing in this episode and this conversation. This is what the body of Christ looks like. It's what it can look like when it's done. Well, we've seen all kinds of. Of people. We've seen pastors and financial advisors and Musicians and nurses and professors. We have people that are still like, trying to piece together, like agnostic in their faith versus people that are flying high versus people that have had ups and downs. Like you have a huge diversity of stories, perspectives, people, groups that have come together and found some. Something bema happened to be the thing. They could gather around. This can happen around a lot of things, namely the resurrected Christ. We can gather around a lot of things. There are a lot of different people and we get to gather around our sacred storytelling. We obviously get to gather around the text. That's the whole idea of B. We get to gather around our shared common human experience. We get to build something resilient. What I love about this group is this group has been together long enough that this is where resurrection has happened occasionally for folks, whether it's just a little bit of hope to be that Rotem bush from session one, remember those days? Or whether it's Terry going through what he just explained or whatever it might be, there's resurrection that can happen in those, in those spaces. That's why Joel wanted to share it with others, because there's something so beautiful and valuable there. There was a quote that got sent to me and I'm going to, I'm going to read it because I loved it. I want to. I may make this into a poster on my office wall. Somebody from this group said, we've been educated. We've become people of the text. But this has become something much bigger than Bama Bible studies. And that, that, that statement, if that's happening every now and then out there, I'll get up and go to bed and sleep well every day. So that's just beautiful. So that's kind of my concluding thought. I don't know if anybody wants to share before we get out of here. I don't know if it's Joel or Aaron or somebody wants to, wants to share some. It's not like everything in this group just continues. You guys have alluded to the fact that, you know, it's been hard to find a continual rhythm. You're not necessarily even meeting right now strongly. So I don't know if there's any like, additional things, encouragement, honesty. I know some of you on the call are very committed to being real and being honest. But I don't know if there's anything else you would share on our way out of here that could be encouraging to other groups, like listening. But I'll. I'll let somebody say something to get. This is our, this is our last comment. You can leave with our listeners. Somebody tell us something beautiful that we can take with us.

[Joel]

This is Joel again. Actually it's really beautiful and a little sad. Just like to be in the same room together tonight because like our group, you know, went through six full sessions, you know, together and we don't get to gather like this the same because we're not meeting at the same rhythm that we do did for those five years. But it's just so cool, like looking in each other's eyes and hearing these stories and rehearing these stories and just considering the journey that God took us on. It is just a beautiful, sad God thing. And I think that just speaks to the value that whatever you're gathering around and Bama was it for us. Just making a safe place for people to ask the big scary questions and meeting each other with empathy and curiosity. And being met with empathy and curiosity. Speaking as one of the past pastors in the group, like Brent said earlier, to have a space where we didn't have to be pastor so and so, but we could just be people that are on this journey trying to figure out the big questions and meet this divine being in the process. It just changes everything. Yeah. It's hard to put into words all that this journey has meant to us beyond the content, but the vehicle that the content was for life changing relationships and for the spirit of God to do something new in all of us individually that we can celebrate collectively.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah. One of the things that none of the listeners can see right now is the zoom screen where you can see people emotionally reacting to that or using the Kleenex and passing those boxes around because it is. And it's something that I wanted you guys to share because I know that all groups out there go through that. They all experience that. And this is a part of what God does. Like there are seasons. And that doesn't mean that this season is over for you guys either. It's not my point of what I'm trying to say, but there is this time where God says, I okay, I need you to get up and go over here. I need you to enter a new chapter. And these chapters that were so meaningful for us and got us through something. So set us up for the next thing that God's doing that we don't even know what it is that's coming. And I'm sure so many of you are living that out as individuals. You're living that out by trying to pass this off and give it away to other people. You're living that out in so many ways. And I love that somebody. I can't remember if it was two, Terry, somebody said that you guys could show up, not see each other for five months, show up in a room and immediately have that community, that camaraderie, that friendship, that fellowship. And that's beautiful, too. That's the power of. And again, it's not about Bama groups. It's about what it looks like when fellowship happens. I'm not even using the word church. Like Koinonia, like good, good, authentic fellowship. Fellowship can happen in so many ways. It just happens that Bayma can be one of the things that can facilitate that. So really appreciate you guys sharing your story with us on this episode. All of you being able to introduce yourself and just briefly talk a little bit about stuff. I think it could be really meaningful for so many groups out there that, that use this and just need some encouragement and see what it. What's possible. It's not something that can be manufactured, but when the spirit shows up this way as you guys have experienced it, it's something that really cool and really beautiful. So I appreciate you sharing that gift. Brent, you should probably do some of your, like, this is the Baymont podcast magic and get us on out of here.

[Brent Billings]

I can do that. We do have actually have a fair bit of show notes for this episode.

[Marty Solomon]

Yeah, we do.

[Brent Billings]

People have been talking. I've been taking notes, been quietly tapping away at the keyboard. So we'll have some show notes. You can find [e-mail] or in your podcast app if you want to get in touch with us and maybe, maybe you want to get in touch with the people in Kokomo because you're like, oh, my gosh, what Andrea said, like that spoke to my soul. I need to talk to her. We can try to facilitate those questions. Apparently she doesn't like to talk that much, so we'll see. But no promises, but use the contact page. We'll try to facilitate some of that stuff because these connections, like how we relate with each other other is so beautiful. And some of you have been listening for a long time and you, you know what you like about Bayma, but you've not heard yourself before in Bama and now you have through this group. The emotions and the connections are beautiful. So that's there on the website. Thank you all for joining us on this. We hope that it was an enjoyable experience, if not a little bit confusing at the beginning, but in the end it came around and we're just honored to be a part of what God is doing in this way. So thank you all for joining us on the Baymont podcast this week. We'll talk to you again soon.