Ryan Chandler: 00:07

Welcome to another episode of tell me more on the podcast today. Yours truly, Ryan Chandler is hosting. We also have Ashley Berryhill joining us and, of course, doctor Wiles. In this episode, we talk about engagement month and all the great things happening, and then doctor Wiles walks us through kind of a big picture of the church and who we're supposed to be, who we're called to be, and how that shapes discipleship because if you've been tuning in, discipleship's gonna be a big part of 2026. Alright.

Ryan Chandler: 00:44

Well, welcome to the Tell Me More podcast. As you can see, we have a really different crew up here today. Not real different. Doctor. Wiles is here, and, and he's typically always here.

Ryan Chandler: 00:53

But I am not Katie Reed Hodges, and this is not No. Luke Stair. I'm Ryan Chandler, a minister of young adults and young families, and this is

Ashley Berryhill: 01:00

Ashley Berryhill, global engagement minister. Awesome.

Ryan Chandler: 01:04

Yep. So we're excited to be hosting today, this month, First Baptist Church of Arlington, I'm not sure if y'all are all aware, I'm aware. These two are aware. It is our engagement month formerly known as mission month or missions month. Do you prefer the s or just mission on mission?

Ryan Chandler: 01:23

Man,

Ashley Berryhill: 01:25

we could go

Ryan Chandler: 01:25

into theology too much? Yeah. Mean Yeah. That'll be the rest of the podcast mission or missions.

Ashley Berryhill: 01:30

Just don't go there.

Ryan Chandler: 01:31

Okay. Gotcha.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 01:32

Base podcast. Small

Ryan Chandler: 01:33

caps. Yeah. That's right.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 01:34

It's hard to prefer? It is hard to know.

Ryan Chandler: 01:36

You gotta get right on the captions. The closed captions and somebody clicks on it in a little bit. No. It is is engagement month and it's that time of the year where we were all we're every month is engagement month. Every month we're supposed to be doing this.

Ashley Berryhill: 01:50

Yeah. We're a sent people.

Ryan Chandler: 01:52

Yes. So that that we live our lives every day sent. Yes. But this particular month is special and, so I'll just open the floor to both of y'all. Why is this month particularly special in the life of our church?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 02:04

Wow. Ashley, go.

Ashley Berryhill: 02:06

Okay. Well, it's it's a it's the time of year that we get to focus on being Ascent people and what that looks like throughout our congregation, not only individually, but also collectively, and we focus on the engagement offering, which used to be the world mission offering. And so now it's an engagement offering. And so what is, as we're giving together, what does this, you know, our collective witness look like all over the world and in our community? And so it's just a time we get to highlight and celebrate and really concentrate all of our efforts, towards that.

Ashley Berryhill: 02:39

So it's exciting. And, yeah, we get to do that.

Ryan Chandler: 02:43

You love it too.

Ashley Berryhill: 02:44

I do love it. I mean, it's a lot leading up to it, but it's it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful we, you know, we have all the beautiful tradition of the flags. I think we've talked about that before. So there's just a lot of history, legacy, and also newness, emerging initiatives that are coming up that the spirit is leading us in.

Ashley Berryhill: 03:04

And so I'm really excited about that. But we do have the engagement fair coming up this coming Sunday.

Ryan Chandler: 03:10

What happened this past Sunday?

Ashley Berryhill: 03:11

This past Sunday was our local partners. And so we had all of them come in so that people could understand where they can serve and, participate, but also who was receiving the engagement offering. Not all of our local partners are in the engagement offering, but some of them are. Mhmm. And so it was a way to really connect, with how we can be of service in our community because it matters to be in our community.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 03:34

Mhmm.

Ryan Chandler: 03:35

Who are all those local engagement partners? I can name a

Ashley Berryhill: 03:38

few. Okay. So Christian Women's Job Corps.

Ryan Chandler: 03:40

Yes. Really good. I went to the dinner for that. Yes. So good to hear about that organization.

Ashley Berryhill: 03:46

Mission Arlington, Texans on mission. Yeah. I'm going around the room and international friends.

Ryan Chandler: 03:53

Yes. Perspectives was out there.

Ashley Berryhill: 03:56

Perspectives was out there because that was more of a booth of, hey, let's get you in this class starting in January about how to participate in God's global mission and what does it look like for you to live on purpose, as a sent person. And so it's something we really wanna highlight for everybody who can come on Wednesday nights starting in January.

Ryan Chandler: 04:15

We're hosting that. Just so everybody's

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 04:17

aware. That's right.

Ryan Chandler: 04:18

Our church is hosting perspectives.

Ashley Berryhill: 04:19

From six to nine and on Wednesday nights, January 14 for fifteen weeks. It is a commitment, and there is a cost in it, but there are scholarships available as well. But then we also have Taste Project Oh, yeah. Taste Projects out there. Arab Women's Center, Metroplex, a women's clinic

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 04:39

Mhmm.

Ashley Berryhill: 04:39

And Dash Network.

Ryan Chandler: 04:40

Wow. That's a lot.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 04:42

Yeah.

Ryan Chandler: 04:42

It's exciting. Yeah. It is fun to see them out there. It's fun to see the flags, the whole church like gets a makeover during engagement month, which I really like. I like seeing the signs even the day when we all set out the flags together, like we had a flag party.

Ryan Chandler: 04:58

I really enjoyed that. I thought it was a lot of fun. Like it just the camaraderie, like this is who we are. Just even as staff was doing that. Like that's really fun for me.

Ryan Chandler: 05:05

I really liked this time of the year. Doctor Wiles, what about you? What makes this month so special in the life of our church?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 05:11

Well, you know, it's it's interesting. When I first came here, you know, I grew up as a Southern Baptist. And so, historically, we did this a little differently. You know, we had three offerings a year, mission offerings. You know, we had one at Easter, and it was for home missions named after Andy Armstrong.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 05:29

And then we had one in the fall. Every state convention had their own kind of, state focused mission offering.

Ryan Chandler: 05:36

We have Maryville Davis. Right?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 05:37

I grew up in Alabama. We had Kathleen Mallory. Usually, someone who is a a woman who is very much associated with the mission efforts in that state. And then in December, we always collected the Lottie Moon Christmas offering for what we called foreign missions back in the day. And, so you had these three times of the year where our churches that were Southern Baptist in those days, had an opportunity to offer instruction to the church about these different mission efforts.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 06:06

But over time, that has all changed. And, when, before I came here, there was one of the churches that I pastored that actually started just doing this kind of year round, just saying, you know, here's the thing. Some people the way their income is, if they wanna actually give, it's hard for them to just give because normally, the Lottie Moon Christmas offering was the biggest one. And so people would say, well, it's December. Sometimes it's hard for me to save up for the biggest offering at the end of the year.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 06:35

Could we gotta do this all along during the year. And so when I came here, this church already done that. They'd already decided to no longer have those three particular times of the year. You still had those three offerings included in the world mission offering, but the world mission offering was all year long. So that was already established when I came.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 06:52

Mhmm. We've morphed it a little bit, modified it. We've changed the way we do things. When I first came for the first probably ten or twelve years, I was here at least. The very first Sunday of this particular emphasis, we had the parade of flags.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 07:07

And so we actually called out the name of every nation and different people in the church who were from those nations would kind of wear their native dress that day and bring their flag in. Oh, I like that. And, and we would just share just a brief word about that nation. And then the flag stayed in the sanctuary. They were kind of all around the walls, up on the platform.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 07:25

It's kinda how we used to do it. But over time, you know, we felt like, there there might be a better way to do this, which I really do like how we do it now, having the flags all over the entire campus. So everywhere you go, there's this reminder that we're a part of this global community. And I just love the opportunity to to spend some time concentrated to inform our congregation, hopefully, to inspire them, and help them understand what we're invested in. And this is just a great time to do that.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 07:53

And so, I love it. And, it's a it's a it's a very, as I shared last week, y'all may not have heard the podcast last week, but it's a very personal story for me and Cindy just because of our call to missions when we were younger. And so, you know, this season of the year for us is always meaningful. So

Ryan Chandler: 08:09

I love that. So we just did our local fair.

Ashley Berryhill: 08:11

We did.

Ryan Chandler: 08:12

And what's upcoming this Sunday?

Ashley Berryhill: 08:13

We have our engagement trip fair. So, you know, going on trips. We have opportunities for most every age, and so we would love for people just to stop by. If you can't go on a trip, you need to pray for these teams, and you can also help by supporting those teams. And so there's different ways everybody can engage with that.

Ryan Chandler: 08:32

So I love that, because when you think about it that way, whether they can go or not, we're part of the sending of these people. These these are our people. This is our church. We get to be part of that. What are some of those opportunities coming up on trips?

Ryan Chandler: 08:47

There's a lot of youth one. Y'all worked really hard on the youth stuff.

Ashley Berryhill: 08:51

We have worked really hard on just like a youth engagement pathway. And so the youth engagement pathway really starts with an all access trip from seventh through twelfth graders. Anybody can go. It's more close, to home, so it's gonna be Texas border. We're partnering with Texans on Mission there.

Ashley Berryhill: 09:07

And our Chi Alpha team is actually the ones, leading that team, which is great. Emily Klobhouse has done a fabulous job in Aaron Tom's. And so, then we have the next level, which is an equipping level. We want to equip our, high school students with how to engage, as a disciple in their world. What does that look like?

Ashley Berryhill: 09:30

And so we're gonna send them to Toronto, and they're gonna be, at a conference called Remix Toronto with other kids their age from diverse backgrounds, just learning how to, be a holistic disciple of Jesus and live that out, wherever they're at. And they're gonna have a lot of practice. They're gonna get formed. It's gonna be beautiful.

Ryan Chandler: 09:50

That's good. And Toronto needs prayers right now. Can we just say rest in the the Blue Jays. Oh, Blue Jays. Yeah.

Ryan Chandler: 09:57

I'm a

Ashley Berryhill: 09:58

I'm a I was thinking I was thinking hard.

Ryan Chandler: 09:59

You thought I was being serious? No. Blue Jays lost.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:02

I know. I'm not joining you in that, though, because I don't like the Blue Jays. They're ranger killers. You know? Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:07

Kinda kinda like your Astros, so I'm I'm I'm just happy.

Ryan Chandler: 10:10

Wait. Were you rooting for the Dodgers?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:12

I I can't stand the Dodgers, but the Blue Jays are in our in our league and they're Ranger killers, so I can't pull for the Blue Jays.

Ryan Chandler: 10:19

Oh, yeah. Okay. So So you just had a bad World Series?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:21

I pulled for both of them to lose, but it is what it is. You know?

Ryan Chandler: 10:23

So we're back. We're going to Toronto. Yep.

Ashley Berryhill: 10:25

Alright. And seniors.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:26

So I'm looking at all these trips right

Ryan Chandler: 10:28

here in

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:28

the Mission Magazine. Look at all this.

Ashley Berryhill: 10:30

That's right. That's right. If you got a magazine, you can see them all at the back one of the back pages.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:33

Unbelievable what all we're doing.

Ashley Berryhill: 10:35

Correct. Correct.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:36

So even You've been to Montreal. I have. Yeah. You went to Montreal?

Ashley Berryhill: 10:39

I did. Yes. He was in Montreal.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 10:41

I've been to Toronto. Yeah. But, yeah, it's it's amazing, this array, Ashley.

Ashley Berryhill: 10:46

And then we have encounter, week for, juniors and seniors. Check it out. Not encounter week camp, but encounter. And it's we're gonna take them to Egypt.

Ryan Chandler: 10:56

Holy cow.

Ashley Berryhill: 10:57

And it's really to help them see the world where other parts of the world, what are the needs, what does it mean for them to live as a people, what are their responsibilities as they get older, just trying to discern their calling in life through this. And so we're partnering with multiple Egyptian churches who are ready for, the world to come to them and to learn alongside them. So we're really excited about that. Coptic No. Churches?

Ashley Berryhill: 11:24

Okay. Evangelical.

Ryan Chandler: 11:25

Evangelical. Okay. Mhmm. Very cool.

Ashley Berryhill: 11:27

Mhmm. Yeah. Look at

Ryan Chandler: 11:28

this list. Sierra Leone, Kerrville, Lebanon, the border, Japan, Montreal, Spain, Denver, and now Egypt. This is this is really good. This is good stuff.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 11:40

I love it. Yeah.

Ashley Berryhill: 11:43

But I will say one other thing. We are partnering Texans on Mission has currently a statewide initiative for a match grant of of up to a $150,000. They're concerned for the communities around Texas. You know, holidays are hard for families, but also with just, the government shutdown as well, how can they help? And so, we're partnering with them, and they have agreed that they will match up to $20,000

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 12:11

Wow.

Ashley Berryhill: 12:11

For our efforts with Mission Arlington to provide food and supplies to them. And so they're also going to provide 2,000 hygiene kits as well to mission Arlington. So we're grateful for that.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 12:23

Man, it's a great partnership. Speaking of Texas Baptist, Virginia Baptist Oh, yeah. You know, because we're a part of the Ascent network, and those are the two primary Baptist networks that helped that have helped launch Ascent, really. And, the Virginia Baptists are gathered this week for their annual meeting, and I just talked to Cindy. She's there, and she's preaching tomorrow at their

Ashley Berryhill: 12:44

So cold. Big headliner.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 12:46

Yeah. I'm excited for her. And, but it's snowing there. It's like 28 degrees, and, it's in a little town called Abingdon, Virginia. Say little.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 12:54

I've never been to Abingdon, Virginia. She flew into Bristol, Tennessee and drove up, to there. So it's kinda barely in Virginia. Okay. It's that close to Tennessee, but it is just really cold.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 13:05

And but she's excited. She's there. Her booth for the Restore Hope, team is a part of the Ascent, movement group. So there's all there are all these Ascent related entities that actually are at the Virginia Baptist meeting together. So she's having a really good time hanging out with all of those folks, and, and we're connected to them through the Ascent network.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 13:28

So Yeah. Pretty awesome.

Ashley Berryhill: 13:29

Is there any way for us that we can, like, see her, watch her

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 13:33

Yeah. I think they're I think they're doing it. They're streaming it all.

Ryan Chandler: 13:36

Okay. Cool.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 13:36

You know? I was going to go with her, but we just had several things that we needed to get done here that I needed to be here for, so I wasn't able to go. And, but we were just it was kind of a fingers crossed yesterday because of the shutdown Yeah. Getting flights everywhere. And, but she she made it all the way, particularly just getting through Atlanta.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 13:56

Atlanta is a major hub, you know, and, for the Southeast. And so I think yesterday, they've had, like, I forgot how many thousands of flights canceled out of the Atlanta Airport. But, but they she did okay, and she's doing really well. So I told her we'd be praying for her.

Ashley Berryhill: 14:11

So proud of She's a headliner, and you're a headliner.

Ryan Chandler: 14:15

Well the BGCT thing yesterday.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 14:16

This week, the BGCT meeting is in Abilene, and I'm preaching Sunday night. Yeah. They're trying they've adopted this whole commitment to the great commandment, the great commission. So, they've asked me to launch it all with a message on the great commandment about loving God. And they asked me, would you be willing to preach a sermon from Psalm one?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 14:35

And so, I had to really I had to really spend a lot of time thinking about that, praying about it, but somehow or another, I've mustered up enough resources.

Ryan Chandler: 14:42

You had enough content. Good. Alright.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 14:44

I'm gonna figure out something to say about Psalm one and, but I'm looking forward to that. And that's our primary partner, you know, in terms of our investment in state missions. And, you know, Ryan, you serve, in Texas Baptist Life, and, we have a number of staff members that are Yep. Connected. It's it's kind of our it's our home.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 15:02

Yep. You know, really, it's our missional home. It's our relational home. I love Texas Baptist. Of course, doctor Wade, our our pastor of Emeritus, used to be the executive director of Texas Baptist.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 15:11

So we're very much a part of of who Texas Baptists are.

Ryan Chandler: 15:15

So I love going to annual meeting. It's like a big family reunion. It is. You see lots of good people, just some of the best out there. It's it's fun to be at.

Ryan Chandler: 15:22

And, Michael Glenn's leading worship for it too.

Ashley Berryhill: 15:24

That's right.

Ryan Chandler: 15:25

So we've got doctor Wiles preaching Sunday night, then Monday morning. Yeah. Michael Glenn and three one seven collective are are leading worship. And there's a lot of, staff going. I told doctor Wiles, like, got an entourage.

Ryan Chandler: 15:38

Yeah. Dude, like, we're gonna be standing up and cheering and yelling and,

Ashley Berryhill: 15:41

hey, man. We're painting signs.

Ryan Chandler: 15:43

Yeah. That's right. Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 15:44

I think it'd be great. And I want you to

Ryan Chandler: 15:46

go off script. That's what I want him to do. I want him to get so pumped up. He just closes his notes and steps away from the pulpit. It's like, oh, here we go.

Ryan Chandler: 15:53

You'll get me fired up if you do that. I'll get straight up fired up.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 15:56

We'll see what happens. But Ryan will be Ryan Ryan is the chair of the

Ryan Chandler: 16:00

I'm the chair of the committee on nominations for boards of affiliated ministries. K. So rolling off

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 16:07

Yeah.

Ryan Chandler: 16:07

And Tanner Watson is rolling onto that committee this year. So Tanner. Yeah. And David Butts is on the memorials.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 16:16

Is that

Ryan Chandler: 16:16

what it is?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 16:17

I think so. Yeah.

Ryan Chandler: 16:18

The committee for memorials. So David's on that one. So, yeah, we're heavily invested in

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 16:22

We have church members that have served on various boards, for the BGCT. So it's it it is our home. And, and it was interesting. Sunday morning when we voted on the messengers, we're we're sending a whole lot of people to Abilene. Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 16:35

You know? And, so, yeah, I'm I'm grateful for it. So we'll see what happens. But meanwhile, we had church Sunday morning. We had a great what a great day in worship.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 16:47

The the to me, the music yesterday, just the whole just sense of the presence of God. And and and and what I loved about Sunday to me was just the complexion of all these different people that now make First Baptist who we really are. Mhmm. It's just it's just awesome. You know, last Sunday, a week ago, to have the, the way we celebrated communion together with pastor Raymond and Sergio.

Ryan Chandler: 17:12

I love that.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 17:12

Those two men, great pastors and just ministers. And then yesterday, to hear from the Pena's and how God is using them and this dash connection and asylum seekers, the work that you're very much a part of, Ashley. Think about Lorenzo who spent all these years in in ministry, works for the BGCT, and, now he and his wife serving together in somewhat of a unique way. It was very, I don't know. Was very inspiring to me to and then to see Lorenzo even get choked up when he's trying to talk about supporting his wife in something she feels called to.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 17:45

And, yeah, it was just, and, of course, our, you know, years ago, we had this church in in Korea. They were, they kind of view it as somewhat of an opportunity and a little bit of a risk because they have decided that they would like for some of their students to come to The US to receive their education at an at an institution in The United States Of America. And but they're, careful about their spiritual well-being, and so they they sent some leaders over and along with the students years ago trying to find a church that they felt like could be a home for them that wouldn't treat them as some type of a tokenism, if you will, and Mhmm. Kind of, just treat them differently. They wanted them to be in the warp and woof of a of a church and serve.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 18:34

They're required to learn how to serve. And Katie Hodges is the one who kinda welcomed them into the church and just basically told them, we'll just let you be here. You know? We're we're not going to necessarily make special arrangements for you. You know?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 18:47

You you you gotta find your way here, but we would love to host you and let you become a part of our family. And, and so they have just decided this this is the home. And so as y'all know, every year, some of them graduate Mhmm. Return home. All the all the young men go back home and serve in the military.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 19:04

They have to they have a year that they have to give and, when they graduate from high school. And, and then then, you know, they all go home. Most of them go home in the summer, and then in the fall, freshmen show up, and then the ones that are growing all the way through school. And they've just found a home. And, they're very committed, in their faith.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 19:24

And, and so one of the things that they all are supposed to do, they're supposed to be involved somehow in a music ministry in their church. And so every one of them has some type of musical training or commitment, which I find to be very interesting, but it's just the way their church wants to teach them how to worship God. And so they have just joined our worship ministry, obviously. And so Sunday morning to hear them and see the joy in their lives. And, I was watching where I was sitting Sunday morning in the first service, and a couple of the girls were singing about, you know, the the good shepherd, and they just had tears just just streaming down their faces.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 20:05

It was so genuine, so sweet. You know? And the fact that they're doing that in in our language Yes.

Ryan Chandler: 20:10

Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 20:11

Yes. That they've worked really hard to try to sing it in English because they believe it connects better with us. They can sing it off the hat in in Korean. You know what I mean? I mean they want us they want us to know this is how important this is, that this message is so important.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 20:27

They they're learning another language so they can communicate it even more further

Ashley Berryhill: 20:33

than that. Powerful.

Ryan Chandler: 20:33

Oh my goodness.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 20:34

It was. I just

Ashley Berryhill: 20:34

It hit us because it was in English. Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 20:36

I was just so humbled by it. You know? I sat I sat there and I felt so unworthy. I just thought if I were to go to Korea, could I would I you know what I mean? Or or pick somewhere.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 20:45

Wherever. Would I make it such a commitment that I thought, okay. I'm I'm gonna work really hard to do this in your language so that it it really you it shows you my commitment. You know? Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 20:56

And, of course, I knew I was gonna talk about Pentecost that morning and how God had just used all these languages. I mean, I the whole thing just was so powerful to me. And you can't you can work hard, try to plan things, but you can't really orchestrate those moments. They just it's just the spirit of God taking our best and somehow, taking it to a whole another level. And that that's really what happened Sunday.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 21:18

I was just yeah. I love it. Powerful.

Ryan Chandler: 21:20

Yeah. You preached on acts chapter two verses 42 through 47.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 21:23

I love that text.

Ryan Chandler: 21:25

Oh, it's such a powerful text to really set the context of what that early church was like. Like, these are the things happening in the life of this community and it has so I mean, it shaped hopefully, it's shaping, all churches' ecclesiology on who we're supposed to be and what we're supposed

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 21:39

to be. It should.

Ryan Chandler: 21:40

It should. This is what we're about. Right. And, but you didn't quite start there. You you you took a big big picture step to to kick off with.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 21:51

We know I've I've been saving that for a while because I've I've been trying to decide when did I want to do it. Just been praying about it. And, you know, I've it's interesting as you grow and mature in your studies. You know, I've never been much of a writer. I'm I'm not I just don't think I'm a very good writer.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 22:09

I think everybody has different gifts, and, I think I'm more of an oral communicator, but I'm not I'm not a I'm not really a scholar. I'm just more of a I'm a student as much as anything. And, but I love to communicate with people, and I like and and it's very incarnational to me. That's that's one of the reasons that I I've not, I've been unwilling to do kind of, us having other sites as a church, you know, like us having a site in South Arlington or a site in Mansfield. I I just for me personally, theologically, ecclesiologically, that just doesn't fit me.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 22:44

I'm just too incarnational for that. I want to be with the people that I'm supposed to be shepherding and, not just on a screen, if that makes sense. Even though I realize some people it's funny on Sunday morning when I'm preaching, some of them are just sitting right there and they're actually looking at the

Ryan Chandler: 22:58

screen and not looking

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 22:59

at me. But they know I'm there. Yeah. You know? And even the ministry that we have online, so much of it is is connect is connected.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 23:08

It's relational. You know? It's not just this random thing. You know? Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 23:13

That's a whole another conversation. But there's just something about, you know, thinking through this. So I've been I've been praying and thinking about how do I, communicate what I've been learning. Well, over time, you know, my theology has been shaped. My my, understanding of the church has been shaped by by numerous voices.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 23:33

Both of y'all, I think, were in the preaching class that I started a few weeks ago, and I kinda brought to y'all my all of my big books. You know, I have the I have the reading chair in my study, and I have all of my, kind of trusted mentors are there in the room with me, you know. And and so I think about, like, George Eldon Ladd, who who years ago was, was a professor in, at Fuller in California. And and, you know, when I was coming along, when I was much younger, I grew up in a a very conservative church, very, very, very did I say very? Very conservative church.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 24:15

We were we were characterized by, kind of the a landmark movement that took place kind of in the Deep South.

Ryan Chandler: 24:23

Interesting. Okay.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 24:24

As a as a reaction against the churches of Christ.

Ryan Chandler: 24:27

Trail of blood, going back to John

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 24:29

the Baptist. Yes. That's what I grew up

Ryan Chandler: 24:31

in. Wow. Okay.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 24:32

I've never met

Ryan Chandler: 24:35

anybody that's come from the land markets.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 24:37

That's where I

Ryan Chandler: 24:38

came from. Okay.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 24:39

Yes. My home church. When I left to go to seminary, we had an organization in our church. We had the WMU Mhmm. But we also had the brotherhood, they were called.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 24:49

And growing up in Alabama, you wanna be careful with that because they didn't wear white robes. I want you to understand they were they were the men who oversaw RAs, you know, the royal ambassador program. And, so they were the kind of the men who helped shepherd the boys in the church into spiritual maturity. So we would have brotherhood meetings and and occasionally, the teenage boys would be invited to come and see all the men in our church. Most every man in the church was in it for the most part.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 25:16

And our fellowship hall was in the basement, so they would have these meetings in the basement. So when I was getting ready to go to seminary, they had a brotherhood meeting where they called me in, and they, they had instructions for me. And one of those was they gave me my copy of the Trail of Blood, by JN Darby, which for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a history of Christianity.

Ashley Berryhill: 25:36

I've of this.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 25:36

It's a history of Christianity that traces the story of Christianity through the martyrs of the church. Okay. And, and, basically, the the view is that we as Baptists, we can be traced all the way back to Jesus, Jerusalem, and John the Baptist.

Ryan Chandler: 25:52

We are the oldest denomination. Yes. We are the essentially, it is legit what it means. We are the original OG denomination of Christianity. It's actually Baptist.

Ryan Chandler: 26:02

Baptist.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 26:03

And and not just that. We're the only we're the

Ryan Chandler: 26:06

only We're the only one.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 26:07

True church. And so, not only that

Ryan Chandler: 26:10

That's why said I've never met one of these guys.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 26:12

We had a we had a legendary pastor, doctor Tully, with Southern Seminary, and he was dead before I was born. But he, during the forties and fifties at our church, he was this legendary preacher teacher, doctor Tully was. A brilliant man. And, and that was our church in its heyday, church I grew up in in its heyday. When I was going to church as a kid, we we probably ran about 300, but they were they were larger back in the fifties and, forties, fifties, whatever.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 26:42

And doctor Tully was in his heyday. Well, he wrote these pamphlets on, like, believers baptism. The Baptists are the only true church, religious liberty. So we had these little pamphlets, and I have them all in my office upstairs. You can you can look at them.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 26:57

So when I got ready to go, the brotherhood called me in, and my church, we had two we had we had a handful of foundational families in the church. They weren't necessarily there when the church was founded, but they were kinda core to the team and the leaders. And my dad, and his brother were two of those men, my uncle Leonard and my dad. It's kinda interesting. My daddy and his brother made my mom and her sister.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 27:18

So you you can do that where we're from. You know? Keeps all the money in the family. But anyway, so but we had two men named Graves, Ed Graves and and his brother. And so those Champion Graves was his name.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 27:35

I loved that name, Champion. But, anyway, so mister one of the mister Graves' or one of the mister Wiles' was usually the head of the brotherhood.

Ryan Chandler: 27:42

Okay.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 27:43

And those two men. And what's fascinating is those four men families, there's probably, I don't know, 10 or 12 of us descendants. They're all out in ministry, so it's kind of another story. But regardless, they called me in. Uncle Leonard was in charge in those days.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 27:57

So when I they brought me in front of the brotherhood to pray over me and all that, and then they gave me my materials. Wow. So they gave me doctor Tully's pamphlets, and they gave me JN Darby's pamphlet, the Trailer of Blood. And they said, now you go to seminary and you get your certificate, go whatever it is you gotta get, but don't let them teach you anything. These men, I'll never forget uncle Interpol.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 28:19

All those men, I'll be my Sunday school teachers, my RA leader. You know, they were the men that shaped me. And he said, these men have taught you everything you need to know about the bible. And doctor Tully you know, doctor Tully's theology is what has shaped you. It's what shaped this church.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 28:32

And here it is in writing. And you take this with you, and you you let everything else be viewed through the lenses of what you know to be true. And I was like, okay. So I was I was a dispensationalist to the core. You know, the idea that God had created this world, and the world is marching now through these dispensations of time.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 28:52

And, we're in the church age, which is the great parenthesis because God's really engaged with Israel, not the church. But Israel rejected Jesus, so he's gonna have to deal with the church a while. But eventually, he's gonna rapture the church out and kinda get back to the real business of what this thing's all about. And that's the shaping of Israel and the restoration of the land and the rebuilding of the temple and the tribulation and all that. And so, anyway

Ryan Chandler: 29:15

So we're good. Yeah. Oh, wow.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 29:16

I had no and that was my only frame of reference. I had never been to you know, I'd been to a couple I was in college. I went to hear, you know, some navigators and, but my dad, man, it was always, so what they believe about the second coming? You know, that was he would start asking these landmark questions, you know, what do they believe about this? What do believe about the church?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 29:38

The only way my dad departed was one of our the tenets of landmarkism is closed communion. So you can only take the Lord's Supper if you're a member of that particular church. My daddy never believed that. But, you know, there were no women that were allowed to do anything. As a matter of fact, if a woman was on the platform, she could sing.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 29:57

But if she was gonna address the congregation, she had to stand at the side of the pulpit. There was always a microphone on the side of the pulpit. She couldn't actually stand behind the pulpit. And, we didn't believe in alien immersion. You had to be baptized by a Baptist.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 30:09

We were the only true church. So I get to seminary, you know, Southwestern Seminary, I mean, I'm I'm ready. And, all of a sudden, I start meeting these incredible scholars and theologians, none of whom are dispensationalists. Uh-huh. Not a single one.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 30:24

Mhmm. And Southwest is the largest seminary in the world then. Yeah. That's a single one.

Ryan Chandler: 30:28

I'm so interested in that because I know we gotta get to the sermon eventually, but, like, was there some kind of deconstruction that happened while you were in seminary that was a healthy kind of deconstruction?

Ashley Berryhill: 30:40

That's a great question.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 30:41

Yeah. At first, it was a little shocking, because one of my professors, once he found out, he knew a lot of us came from that tradition.

Ryan Chandler: 30:49

Okay.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 30:49

And so he would basically begin his conversations with us, chatting us, you know, saying things like, now, some of you believe this and let me just show you why that is just not the right way to view the scripture. Well, you know, first time I heard that, I thought, I wanna tell you right now. I don't know you, but I know I know doctor Tully. You know? Not not really.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 31:09

Didn't know him, but I knew him through my dad. And and and I and you are no doctor Tully. You know what mean? But where the challenge came was with some of my professors just challenged me to read the bible and kind of release the system Yeah. And just let the Bible begin to shape my thinking.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 31:26

Well, that's really when it started to change for me. And so, over time, I have invited more of those scholars in to allow me to rethink what I really believe about all this, and that's exactly what's happened to me. And so, I'm no longer dispensationalist. I still have respect for that view. I understand where it came from, and as I can see why it it it arose.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 31:50

It it's it's a very western kind of almost an Americanized version of of this Scottish perspective on on, Scottish realism. But regardless, I rejected that. I still read a couple of those scholars just because I wanna hear what they have to say about various things, but my my view's been changed. So consequently, a sermon like I preached Sunday morning

Ashley Berryhill: 32:13

Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 32:14

Is the result of all of that. Wow. With my understanding of the the merging together of heaven and earth and the the, the creation by God where he brought both heaven and earth together even though we've somewhat separated them. There is obviously a separation. I know that.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 32:33

But the degree that we've separated it, we we're almost platonists, you know, to where there's this other world that's so disconnected from us. Mhmm. And it's kind of a furial, it's, you know, spiritual. We don't quite know what it is, and people must just be floating around somewhere in the play Roma, you know, and that's just not the picture the scripture really paints. Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 32:52

And so I've kinda been holding on to this for a while. I've been like I said, George Odin Ladd is one of the folks that truly influenced me. N t Wright, obviously, I think you all know that. But even even Luther and Calvin and some of the ways that they looked at theology that I would say this. Another thing that's happened to me over time is you learn that these theologians are shaped by the era in which they live because the era in which you live is asking different questions.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 33:16

Yes. Mhmm. And so if you as much as I appreciate the Protestant Reformation, and I'm I'm grateful for it, I'm a Protestant, At the reformation, the questions were very different than they are today.

Ryan Chandler: 33:27

Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 33:27

And so even the protestant reformers, we've gotta let them live and breathe in the era they lived in. Mhmm. That doesn't mean I have to interpret all scripture through the lens as they did. Yeah. You know, because their understanding of justification and salvation was so rooted in anti Catholicism Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 33:43

You know, they they tend to interpret the book of Romans completely in light of that when it just might be the book of Romans has a broader picture than that, if you will, kind of a broader context.

Ryan Chandler: 33:52

But Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 33:52

Again, that's another conversation. But my point is, so I felt like Sunday, what I wanted to do was just bring all that to the church as best I could in a consolidated way. I don't know that I pulled it off because there's just so much that I wanna say because I don't you don't have enough time so that we understand the church actually exists in a context. You know? It didn't just happen.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 34:15

It didn't just materialize out of nowhere as if, oh my goodness. What? The church? Is that really where we are now? Well, no.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 34:22

As Jesus said, I'm gonna build my church. Mhmm. And, and when the spirit of God is given at Pentecost of all times, which which, you know, you think about sometimes by that by the first century, the Jews were even celebrating the giving of the law at Pentecost. So there's all this imagery, the Exodus imagery at the Passover with Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, and now the imagery of the giving of the law. Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 34:44

And these people from all over the world, they're in Jerusalem at the same time, and the spirit of God is given in that moment almost as if this to say to us, this is the new covenant now, and it's a reversal of the curse, and Jesus has a global claim, And so everybody's gonna hear this in their own language

Ryan Chandler: 35:01

Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 35:01

To to to show the universal scope of this gospel. And then now we've got the mandate to kind of go repeat that all over the world, and it fits to me in the in the the story of creation and then the children the chaos that comes from the fall and the whole story of the children of Israel, which I had to almost skip over yesterday because I didn't have time, which I'd I hate to do that because this is story. It's not just, it's not just a theology, it's a story, you know, and and it's woven in history. And then ultimately, the incarnation, you know, taking its place appropriately, and then the ascension, and then Pentecost, and now the mission of the church which will lead to the eschaton. Jesus said this gospel will be preached to all the nations, then the end will come.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 35:42

So I just want to put all that on the table Sunday morning and have to come back and unpack it somehow over this next year, which is what I intend to do in 2026. Yeah. Great. But I just wanted to get it in front of everybody because I just feel like it's important. Not only that, because I think one of the challenges we have as Protestants, you know, when you look at the church, I'm kinda doing all the talking about that, Josh.

Ryan Chandler: 36:08

No. This is good here. Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 36:09

But one of the challenges is Roman Catholics have a high ecclesiology. I mean, the church is the bride of Christ. Mhmm. And and the and the pastor of the church is the vicar of Christ. He he he is Christ's presence on Earth.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 36:24

Our new pope, I've been watching some videos of Leo in some of the places he's been going. Like yesterday, one of my favorite churches in Rome is, Saint John Lateran, San Giovanni in Latarano. You know, it's this Pretty good. It's this old it's the oldest official church in Rome because when Constantine comes into Rome, the the the the the guards of the Caesar at that time, they they were, Maxentius, they were at the Lateran Hill. The Lateran, family had given them these barracks.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 36:57

And so Constantine, he, you know, he kills Maxentius out on the Milvian Bridge, cuts his head off, and he's he's afraid people are gonna are not gonna know that he won. And so he parades into Rome with Maxentius' head on hit with him on his horse to show everybody this guy's dead. I'm in charge. And, you know, all the views back in those days, was a Caesar of God. Was you know, so so what do you do?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 37:19

Well, then he finds out that the that the bodyguards all live on the Ladder Hill. He goes up there and just kills them all, you know, to just say Yeah. This era is over. And then he gives that hill to the church Wow. The ladder and hill.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 37:32

And he says, alright. We're gonna put the first church here, official. And there were churches already in Rome. We know that. But, I mean, the first official, recognized church.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 37:42

And it was originally called the the church of Christ because it was kinda the mother church, if you will, of of of Christendom. And, and so but over time, you get to the eighth, ninth, tenth centuries, and there's this there's this, desire to name things in honor of all the saints. So you've got Peter and Paul already in Rome because you got churches named for them. So I felt like that you need to have one for John and and John the Baptist. So Saint John on the Lateran Hill, if you will, is named for Saint John and John the Baptist.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 38:12

I love that church. It's beautiful. Well, yesterday, on November 9 is when it was consecrated originally, Pope Sylvester, the pastor of the of the church at Rome, and he had this vision of Christ on November 9. It's kind of a famous story. So Leo was there yesterday to commemorate the consecration of that church, and that's actually Leo's church.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 38:33

People misunderstand that they think Saint Peter is the church of the pope. It's not Saint John because it's the oldest. So Saint John is actually the pope's church. There's a chair at the very front of the church that he has to sit in to actually officially become pope. But what I thought was interesting yesterday was when he came in and he was being greeted just the way they all greeted him.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 38:51

Yeah. You know? Just, I mean, they're kissing his ring. Mhmm. They're they're bowing in front of him, paying him this great honor.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 38:57

Well, because they believe the church is the bride of Christ on Earth right now, and he's the vicar of Christ. Mhmm. So it's it's almost as if Jesus was there, if if that makes sense. Mhmm. Their view of the church is the church is in charge.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 39:13

The church is the authority in your life. The church dispenses the grace of God. You know, the the sacraments are given to the church. And so that's how you you don't just go get Jesus on your own. Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 39:24

You know, Cyprian said you can't have God for your father and not have the church as your mother and be a Christian. That's impossible. Well, that's a incredibly high view of the church. Well, Protestants rebelled against that, and the mistake that we've made sometimes go way the other way as if the church didn't matter.

Ryan Chandler: 39:43

Yes.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 39:44

Mhmm. You know? Okay. So somehow, I wanna help us reclaim the beauty of the church. Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 39:50

You know? And that's was a part of my attempt yesterday. It's the global community. Mhmm. It really is God's instrument in this era, and it's leading us toward the end of time.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 40:02

Mhmm. You know? This is the bride of Christ.

Ryan Chandler: 40:04

And you have to do that, I think, with a congregation today, especially Protestant congregation in The United States today because if you just preach Acts two forty two through 47 and just said, let's work through some of the discipleship things that are in this passage, it could very quickly just turn into philanthropy.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 40:21

Right. Exactly.

Ryan Chandler: 40:22

Like we just do good things.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 40:23

Mhmm.

Ryan Chandler: 40:24

And we do good things because we know this guy named Jesus, and he did some pretty good things, and we're inspired by that guy Jesus.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 40:31

Mhmm.

Ryan Chandler: 40:31

And so we're gonna learn some good morals and ethics from him and try to do those in our daily life.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 40:37

That's right.

Ryan Chandler: 40:37

That I venture to say that's how a lot of protestant people

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 40:41

That's right.

Ryan Chandler: 40:42

View what they're doing. And so I understand what I think I understand what you're doing. You're trying to set up this narrative Mhmm. This massive global universal narrative that we're swept up in. Not just swept up in.

Ryan Chandler: 40:53

The the the dispensational thing makes it sound like we're a blip on the map. Exactly. Like, we're we're in almost this accident Right. That that we have to get.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 41:01

Get us out the way eventually.

Ryan Chandler: 41:02

Get us out of way.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 41:03

Get back to the real story.

Ryan Chandler: 41:04

Yeah. This is very this is different. We are the story.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 41:07

We the real We're what God is doing in

Ryan Chandler: 41:08

the world and that is hard for Protestants to understand. Mhmm. Really, really hard.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 41:14

And so to me, I wanted to capture that because when I think about 2026, we're going to be focused on transformation on the Jesus way

Ryan Chandler: 41:25

Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 41:25

Intentional discipleship. Well, why does that matter? If all we're doing is, like you just said, we're just kind of philanthropists. You don't really have to be changed on the inside that much. No.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 41:36

You just need to have some behaviors and you're good. But that's not what we are. You know? That's almost a byproduct. Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 41:43

You know? If we're really going to be this global community, this this body of Christ, well, then we've gotta be disciples. Mhmm. We gotta be transformed. We've gotta be changed.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 41:54

Mhmm. And we've gotta see that we're a part of something incredibly magnificent Mhmm. That is actually leading to the the pinnacle, the actual return of our Lord. And so yeah. So so it was kinda fine, went over the bow Sunday.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 42:09

So if you're paying attention, you know, hopefully, we'll see. I had numerous comments about it because, you know, particularly the ascension, you know, that's one of those things, a little mystery to us. Does that really mean why did Jesus and where did he go? You know? Because now you and I, our cosmology is we know that if you just keep going up, you know, from Jerusalem, where do you end up?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 42:29

You know what I mean? Jesus just passes Jupiter and

Ryan Chandler: 42:32

just keeps floating up in LA. Yeah. Where where do

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 42:34

you mean, if it's just if if your cosmology is just binary, you know, it's kinda, you know, here and there, well, where's there? And so Jesus kind of goes into a whole another dimension that's actually much closer than we realize. Yeah. Mhmm. You know, he ascended into heaven.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 42:54

Okay? He did. But but heaven actually was connected to us through him, and then he sends his spirit. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 43:02

And so the church was not launched at the resurrection. The victory was won at the resurrection. The church is launched when Jesus sends his spirit. It's still focused on the person of Jesus. And because they're gonna proclaim Jesus and the holy spirit glorifies Jesus, points us to Jesus.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 43:20

That's what the Bible says in John. And so it's the Jesus movement. That's what this is. And he's our king, and he is crowned, and he ascended into glory with his body. Yeah.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 43:31

With his glorified I mean, with his resurrected body. Yes. And so now, this connection between heaven and earth is is so official and so real that the resurrected Jesus is now ruling it all from heaven Mhmm. Mhmm. Which is awesome.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 43:47

You know?

Ryan Chandler: 43:48

So Yeah. The church is launched there. We did that's an interesting point because people wonder that a lot sometimes. Yeah. Is church founded here?

Ryan Chandler: 43:55

Where is church founded here? Exactly. So some people get scared if you say, what happens at Pentecost? Then church founded on Peter and

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 44:02

That's right.

Ryan Chandler: 44:02

That that it's just silly because in our discovery bible study that we did, Wednesday night, we're trying to get small groups up in our church, everybody. December 7, have an interest meeting at 09:45AM.

Ashley Berryhill: 44:13

December 7.

Ryan Chandler: 44:14

December 7, Fellowship Hall 09:45.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 44:16

Thought it was October. I thought it

Ryan Chandler: 44:18

was October. Yeah. My bad. I said it so wrong. I said it so wrong.

Ryan Chandler: 44:21

And, December 7. Anyway, I have a group of leaders who've been doing discovery bible study, and we're just doing the sermon not the sermon you preached, but the text you preached. Mhmm. And we just follow that. And we did acts, one one through, 10 right there.

Ryan Chandler: 44:37

And we looked at that. And the the way you do discovery bible study is, just kind of observation and then exploration and then application. Just real simple. What do you observe? Okay.

Ryan Chandler: 44:48

What do you think that means? What do you think that means for our life and who we're supposed to be? It's so easy. Can do it with anybody. I love it.

Ryan Chandler: 44:53

But that was one of the things we observed. Why does Jesus tell them to wait? It's because they're the same old disciples. They still don't get it.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 45:00

That's right.

Ryan Chandler: 45:01

No. He says, don't don't don't go do anything until my until the spirit comes on you because you still don't know who I am and what this is. And then he disappears and they're all just standing there like, well, what now? And the angel has to say, get on. Go do what he told you to.

Ryan Chandler: 45:18

And it's when the spirit comes that suddenly they are transformed and they start being the church. Yeah.

Ashley Berryhill: 45:26

Yeah. The spirit of transformation. Yeah. And that's key.

Ryan Chandler: 45:29

That's important for missions.

Ashley Berryhill: 45:30

Right? Yes. Yes. It is.

Ryan Chandler: 45:32

Okay. Anyway

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 45:33

Wow. That was awesome.

Ryan Chandler: 45:34

This is good. I'm excited about our future. I'm excited about where we're headed. 2026 is gonna be such a good year, especially as we talk about just, you know, more of those discipleship things. And, engagement month has been great.

Ryan Chandler: 45:47

Excited to see all these plans. If you don't have your magazine, go get it. If you haven't walked around and and seen all the stuff in the church, go do it. Go down to the children's area. Look at what they're doing down there.

Ryan Chandler: 45:57

Bring your quarters. And, there's a cool game or some

Ashley Berryhill: 46:00

Vending machine.

Ryan Chandler: 46:00

Vending machine you can do. It's

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 46:01

so good.

Ryan Chandler: 46:02

So lots of good things are happening in the life of our church. We want you to get plugged in. Ashley, thank you for being here talking with us about everything going on. Doctor Waz, of course, thank you for your faithfulness Awesome. And the way you approach the pulpit every single Sunday.

Ryan Chandler: 46:15

Cindy's preaching pretty soon.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 46:16

Right? Yeah. Yeah. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Ashley Berryhill: 46:18

Well, in through in two weeks.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 46:19

So here. Preaching here in two

Ryan Chandler: 46:21

weeks. Sorry.

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 46:22

Yeah. That's right. And this should be here November 23. Right? No.

Ashley Berryhill: 46:25

Think that's Twenty third.

Ryan Chandler: 46:26

She's preaching here. But before we close, what does it look like for you and Cindy to talk about her preaching? I know how you do it for me. You know what I mean? I know what you do for I know what this looks like.

Ryan Chandler: 46:41

What does look it like between you and Cindy to prep on Sunday?

Dr. Dennis Wiles: 46:44

Gonna get to return the favor. She's been talking about my preaching for twenty years. So we're about to find out.

Ashley Berryhill: 46:50

That's gonna be a great day in the church.

Ryan Chandler: 46:52

Way to go.

Ashley Berryhill: 46:53

He is. Yeah.

Ryan Chandler: 46:53

It's gonna be good. Alright. Well, thank you all so much for tuning in to tell me more. Thanks

Katy Hodges: 47:04

for listening to the tell me more podcast today. You can subscribe to this podcast on your app of choice, or you can visit us at fbca.org to find out more information about the podcast and our church. Thanks for listening. Have a good day.