This is Midweek Motion a creative outlet of Grace Avenue Church designed to help lead feed and guide you in things that honor God and build His purpose in you Here we'll deep dive into curated content interviews principles and conversations that nurture and fan the flames of the diverse gifts talents

dreams and aspirations that you hold near and dear C S Lewis once said the task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to create deserts Perhaps today's episode will flood your heart and mind like a fresh stream that flows with motivation inspiration and education This is Midweek Motion

All right here we go Chris Martinez welcome to the Midweek Motion podcast You've finally really arrived in life Made it on It took the last couple of attitudes to make it on but I'm excited Yes You've defied all of these attitudes at some point in church life so we've finally converted you to truth Not wrong Good to have you

For those who don't know Chris Chris Martinez has been part of Grace Avenue since 2010 Met his wife here as a child part of our leadership team and just such a great guy So you're a good man Thank you Appreciate you We're jumping into 12 attitudes that define Grace Avenue We're on number nine and ten I believe That's right We're talking today about these almost out of the last four these last two before the last two I'll do with Janelle

So you're rounding it out here That's it All right I'm excited to jump into these And before we jump into this I've seen the rest of the team kind of ask you a fun icebreaker question to get to know you a little bit and just kind of see what happens So mine of course is going to be food related and so I know you love to eat different restaurants and when you're out in different cities and traveling or here in San Antonio So if you were to build your own three course meal from any place you could pick from right where would you pull in in terms of appetizer

entree and dessert Like if you had to pick That's tough I know it's a tough one Like specific restaurants Yeah like a dish or a specific dish If you want to name the restaurant you can give them a shout out and we can tag them No no no no They'll have to give me some free stuff first before I do Let's just say let's just strip it back to three meals If I could do three meals every week for the rest of my life at least for the next five years

Thai Greek and Mexican I'd be a happy camper If they said this is all you're having for the next five years I'd be like God is good That's it Yeah Thai Greek and Mexican Thai Greek and Mexican Yeah Yeah Maybe all on the same plate

No I'm just kidding But definitely Big plate Big plate Definitely in the week Yeah It's awesome Well that was a fun question to get started with So if you're looking to buy a gift card for Pastor Daniel you know now what to buy him But Restaurant needs to have four stars minimum okay Cleanliness That's right Well let's jump into the attitude here I'm excited to break it down with you Diversity is divine Attitude number nine Diversity is divine That's right All right Let's do this That comes from this chapter in Revelation I'm sorry this verse in Revelation where it talks about standing before the throne of the Lamb like eternity these shouts

of salvation to our God salvation to the Lamb this holy declaration of who Jesus is right And it says that every race every nation tribe every tongue every language is being spoken They're standing there and they're declaring this in unison in unity So it's this picture of unity It's this picture of eternity

And it's a beautiful I think prophetic visual of who God is bringing into his kingdom what eternity actually is It's not just me and my bros and just me and my kids and me and my favorite people I love and know Jesus it's nations tribes tongues languages spoken all standing before God And actually in this vision he says you know I saw a huge crowd too huge to count And I think that speaks of diversity I know that word these days is often politicized sometimes weaponized and when you say diversity people often think oh you know HR is calling us into work and we're doing a diversity course and that

usually just has to do with race And it's usually when companies try to save face for something to happen That's not what I'm talking about Diversity is an aspect of the kingdom of God Jesus says you know he came for the world and we understand just from the perspective of the gospel that for God so loved the world not just God so loved my neighborhood or people who are like me or people who think like me So it's birthed from that biblical understanding but also from the just personal you know understanding of how important everybody's story is and where people are coming into the kingdom and understanding Jesus and you know the Holy Spirit doesn't just

fill white people or black people or Indian people and Japanese people and Swedish people and people from all over the world So yeah that's kind of where it's birthed and its foundation is That's beautiful I love that picture in Revelation and gives us a vision for what it should look like in today's world what the kingdom should look like in today's world And we want that in our church We want our church to look like heaven We want our church to not just be representative of middle class people or wealthy people or people who are not so aloft You know we hope for a great blend of anything and everything that God has created to come into the house and

know Jesus and grow together You know different education backgrounds different careers socioeconomic backgrounds whatever people are going through You hope it's more I hope it's more metropolitan than it is just one whatever It's a melting pot Yeah Right So how did this start with you and your walk with God and your life How did this become a value for you How did this become an attitude within your own heart Because as a senior pastor that overflows into the church but I know that you've had experience with this in your life So how did this value of diversity being divine become important to you When did that happen Well I think part of my weird upbringing was you know moving

a lot And when you say a lot it wasn't every year but every three to five years That's a lot of shifts by the time you're even by the time you're 21 you know at 21 I'd moved continents and I moved over by myself to you know the other side of the world and went to school But even before that moving cities and then we were always like I lived in one area but we went to church outside of town 35 miles away there's a long highway drive

you know listening to music understanding different parts of town you're like oh wow that's a broken down house Oh that's a really rich house Oh wow These people own land Oh all these houses are packed together So you're just constantly I guess it was you know when you're in the backseat of a suburban as a kid and you're listening to music and just watching the atmosphere and the life go by you're seeing all the differences

And then moving different places and going to a church in one part of town living somewhere else in a completely different part of the city you know you got five miles out and then going to 30 miles away from there going to school throughout the week So just kind of growing up like that always having especially in church life

you know black white Hispanic people as part of my life uh learning different what people found funny what people didn't find funny what people were passionate about what made people mad Right You know those were educational you know stepping stones to just growth as a well I think a well rounded individual to can try and meet people where they're at or at least the very least learn to listen to people and where they might be coming from That helped me a lot So it started with just natural um shifting and transitions all over the place Just your upbringing just kind of brought it to you You didn't have to look for it You were you it was brought to you to your face and your life Yeah And I didn't have much of a choice but to learn how to adapt different schools too and things like that

So uh it was I appreciate it now I really do I'm really glad that I grew up like that Right It makes a big difference How have you seen that overflowed into Grace Avenue the last 10 years 12 years as a church Um this is something that you look around on Sunday and you can just see it People of different ages Yeah People married 50 years People married two years one year people with kids people without kids different races Right Well I think you can you can notice it by just look at the crowd look at the age differences Look at this guy's wearing cowboy boots He's got Air Force Ones you know uh he's got flip flops on you know there's just a different vibe amongst the community I love that you know and people feel comfortable being themselves within the the diverse

atmosphere that's been created Um I don't think you can get anything better than that You know you can't um that's not something I think you can buy That's something that you you know or or force That's good It's something that just happens because people naturally feel comfortable like can I be myself here And I want that Right I really do That's good Cause you see a lot of um disorganizations throughout the world that tried to build that intentionally They said they hire strategic to be diverse or they'll bring in different people What I love about Grace Avenue is it's happened organically It's happened naturally It is and that could be a whole nother podcast which I don't think that that's a healthy viewpoint for the church to be this could get interesting right now But you know I don't hire someone

because they're a specific race gender or whatever just because I want somebody to look on our website and say oh okay okay I could go there I'm sure our social media may have intentionality behind it looking you know the whole community But you should in God's church like we're hiring for someone's gift and the need of the church right If I take someone who does something and they're a certain color or a certain background or whatever but that's not really a deep need in the church the deep need over here is with a limited budget with limited time what are we doing here We're not pandering to people We're not trying to please people We're trying to culturally contextualize the message of the gospel within this

particular neighborhood community city this present time and you know grow people see them discipled So who's the best person for the community What do the sheep need Not what does the world think about what we should be doing not does any other Christian think What do these sheep need They gotta be taken care of Who's the best person for the job Who's the most qualified Not according to what anybody thinks is important but according to the Holy Spirit according to the word of God according to the needs of the actual church community So that is a big thing I think it's really important that that is seen You know if you look in the scriptures what did Paul say you know find some people who are full of the wisdom and the Holy Spirit He didn't

say well hang on is it a woman Is it a man Are they black white Hispanic They weren't black white or Hispanic It was an American right So like this is part of the challenge of when we're constantly hearing things about a word like diversity and we're trying to implement that into Bible times how that applies today how that flows out of us naturally There's nothing worse than something flowing out of something that sounds so unnatural like it's like a corporate demand right You don't want that so No I think you're absolutely right on that So how do we

within this attitude or within this understanding that diversity is divine how do we see current events within the world things happening around the world whether it's here in America or across the seas in a different part of the country a different part of the world how do we see those things and not be consumed How do we understand the lens of diversity is divine watch the news that we're given and it's in our world But I guess how does that affect our worldview How does that affect everything that we integrate with Well it should affect our worldview from the get go I think that Jesus came for all of the world not just for all of my city or all of my town or all of my country or all of my friends or all of who I think should be in heaven It's he came for who he came for And he chose and chooses who

he chooses He saves who he saves And so his word says that it's his heart his desire that all would be saved So we have to look at the mentality of the gospel Its roots are a worldview And so I believe we have to know well

the condition of the world the state of the world Current events in the sense of not that I'm necessarily glued to mass media and news networks but certainly aware of what's going on with people how the tides are turning what are the conversations economically what are the conversations politically

specifically towards people that are affecting people at the most basic levels like we should know that as the church Because if we don't then our reach is limited It's like when someone starts speaking a language a foreign language and you have no clue what they're saying

You know and you're not like one word you understand you're like oh okay can you slow down a second And you try to catch up But you're not informed and you're not educated in it You just get lost That's how it is a lot of times with Christians without being intentional and knowing what's going on people get lost And they don't know how to apply the gospel and the good news into the situation what someone's walking through So you know I got baptized in 21 when I was 21 in 70 different countries represented in this Bible college that I was a part of And so there was no escaping diversity I mean you literally had people from London

Papua New Guinea you know Indonesia I could go on and on you know just everywhere South Africa I mean you name it there were people from everywhere And you know here I am as a young man learning from people listening to what they're going through listening to this person's got war going on in their country This person's comes from impoverished conditions This person comes from a very metropolitan area in London or just learning that just being aware of that I think it's so important you know and also you know you've got the internet now where you know we're speaking more about the world than we are just about our own little communities or towns or cities

So it's just our number has been dialed as church We need to know what's going on in the world We really do have a broad understanding It plays a big part into how we reach the world and how we share the gospel and how we communicate the love and the good news of Jesus to people and being able to relate to them right The way that you communicate the gospel you know if you have it memorized and you can say it word by word every time exactly the same you might have a pretty good batting average

but there's gonna be people that don't understand the word you say There's gonna be words that you say that go over their head There's gonna be things that don't relate But if you have the understanding of diversity is divine and you're able to connect with them on a different level it reaches them right That's the point You know and I've always tried to do that in my communication I think that you know for better or worse I've always tried to come whoever I am now is what you see in the pulpit It's what you see at home It's what you see sitting across from you And that approach you know it's not always common with people There's you know there's a different

it's almost like a different persona when they get on the stage I think And I just I never understood that because I worked around people who spoke a very clear particular basic form of communication We all do like the way we do at work you know Do you need to go to the bathroom I need to go to the bathroom Do you want to get some lunch Do you know what I mean So then to shift into a persona

that almost just like it's almost like an ascent into this place and here are the people down here I just never understood that you know So I tried very much to just be very intentional about reaching people where they're at wherever they're at And try to use all my experiences and understanding to try and meet people in that place

That's good Well I know that this was built in you over years and decades this understanding and this exposure to different cultures and diversity in different countries But I'm curious if you could share a few stories on just some tables that you've been invited to that kind of opened your eyes a little bit to a different understanding of this attitude diversity being divine Or people you've invited into your table conversations phone calls not necessarily eating all the time but people you've been around that have helped widen your perspective and deepen your well deepen your heart your compassion for this thing that Jesus calls us to Well there are diverse gifts outlined in the New Testament

And I've always intentionally tried to structure not only speakers in the pulpit but also leaders in particular areas of ministry that carry a very specific gift So you know churches built on apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers We see in Ephesians four I've always tried to keep those voices within yearly within the community not just this person is just a great teacher and that's all we're getting right And this person's very prophetic So we're just gonna keep that And this person's very evangelistic And we're just gonna keep that like broaden it The Bible says that he gave

these gifts to the church for the building up of the church So if I'm only bringing in one type of voice I'm only getting one type of gift I'm only reaching one type of person and only articulating one particular viewpoint And so the same with the other gifts you know people who have you know all these various gifts that are very clear faith you know generosity all these different things hospitality you know these are important for the building up of the body and if you want I think in a healthy church you know that's broad in its reach and its understanding

the emphasis can't just be put on one particular gift starting with the pulpit It can't just be one particular style of preaching At least that's how I want Grace Avenue to be I can't speak for anybody else as I know this is a very clear conviction when we started Grace Avenue very clear from Ephesians for what we were called to do so we've tried to lift that out I know not everybody may have that conviction or feels equipped to do that but however we're declaring the gospel from our pulpits from our stages from our platforms my hope is that we'd have that book that end the book of Revelation that verse that scripture talks about hey there's gonna be a lot of people here Right I don't want to just reach one

type if God has equipped me and called me to reach more Right So That's been good I've loved it and recently over the last year or so we've seen the Holy Spirit just move in a new way here at Grace Avenue in our services throughout the year so far and I think it's been beautiful to see different gifts at work at different moments and different people being free different things being unlocked

And that's amazing and that only happens when the diversity is there when different speakers are coming in different pastors coming in or we're creating the opportunity for different moments to take place different opportunities for people to step into their gifting and see that Yeah Or even some of our own team who have different strengths and different gifts and you know we love that We want to be intentional about that and you know not just leave it to chance Yeah So yeah that's been our passion So I think we're out of time on this one Yeah I think we're good That went fast That went fast All right I guess we're done

Well thanks everybody I hope this gave you some insight and understanding as to the heart of why we do what we do Mr Chris Martinez thanks so much for being with us Thank you for having me Love you man That's it for today Until next time remember that the God we serve is greater than any of our failures He's more invested in us than any human on the planet

You're a gift to this earth to this generation maybe even the next So don't shortchange yourself Keep growing and live your life to honor Jesus and His purpose in you Join us soon for another episode of Midweek Motion