{"id":502,"date":"2025-09-11T19:42:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/?p=502"},"modified":"2025-09-11T19:42:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T19:42:49","slug":"the-quest-of-ordinary-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/2025\/09\/11\/the-quest-of-ordinary-people\/","title":{"rendered":"The Quest of Ordinary People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Epic stories like The Lord of the Rings<\/em> reveal life and the world we live in as a quest. We watch movies that tell of quests where someone is the hero, saving those in need or righting a wrong, and we long to be that person. However, when the movie is over, we often settle in to our mundane, work-a-day lives, feeling as if the idea of a quest is only for fairytales and legends. But that is not true!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, we are all on a quest, as it were, to live out our lives in this time and this place in history and play our part in God\u2019s unfolding will and kingdom in the world. The problem comes when we assume quests are for knights or super heroes but not for ordinary people. However, God means for us each to play a role in the epic quest of saving the world, no matter how big we think our role may or may not be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, we are each fellow travelers in this journey. None of us has arrived yet. Each of us\u2014like in the The Fellowship of the Ring\u2014<\/em>has different gifts and strengths and perspectives to add to those of the rest. Not one of us has all of what is required for the quest. This is why we each play a potentially vital role to the success of the quest; and to the success of the quest of the person next to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it can be easy to assume that quests only happen in bigger places with more \u201cimportant\u201d people. But the reality is, all of the heroes of the Bible were ordinary people. Ordinary, broken, messed up, incomplete\u2014but loved\u2014people! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reminds me of a time when I was talking with a pastor from a larger, multi-site church who was looking at the size of our church vs. the size of our town. He told me, \u201cYou need to move your church to a bigger area with more population.\u201d I understood what he was saying: Hey, if you want to have a larger impact, you should go where more people are.<\/em> However, it struck me that what he was also saying was that people in small, rural towns shouldn\u2019t expect to have quality ministry. The good stuff should be left to the suburbs and urban areas\u2026where things really<\/em> happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His statement would be correct if somehow the life and quest of those in larger areas mattered more than that of folks who live in smaller, less resourced communities (frankly, not unlike Bethlehem or Nazareth!). But God is unfolding his quest for the world in large cities and in small hamlets, in New York City, as well as, Bailey, Michigan. And no matter who you are or where you live, you get to be part of this quest, and you get to be part of helping someone else in their quest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we embark on a fall filled with opportunities to serve, grow, and connect, I want to encourage you to view your daily life on a higher plane. Envision yourself on a God-given quest to change the world around you and impact those whom God places you in contact with on a daily basis. What you do for the kingdom\u2014no matter how small\u2014matters! So, what part will you<\/em> play this fall in the quest? And, whom are you helping in their quest as a fellow traveler?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Epic stories like The Lord of the Rings reveal life and the world we live in as a quest. We watch movies that tell of quests where someone is the hero, saving those in need or righting a wrong, and we long to be that person. However, when the movie is over, we often settle in to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-daren-penwell"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":503,"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502\/revisions\/503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileychristianchurch.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}