SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hey everybody, welcome to the Build the Church podcast. I'm Josh Robreed. I want to start today with a question. What would you give a year to? I Play Research found that 74% of churchgoers say the Bible has authority over every area of their lives. 74%, less than a third, 31% actually open it daily. Think about this for a second. The problem in our churches is not belief, it's practice. There's a canyon between what we say matters most and what we actually do every day. Every pastor listening knows that this is a gap they're trying to close with the members of their church. So what closes that gap? My friend Ben Murray has an answer, and it's the title of his new book, Give God a Year. Ben is the lead pastor of City Hope Church in Wichita Falls, Texas. He played it with art, which is how we met, and he's one of the best men I know. He helps us with coaching. I've been around him so many times, and this is the guy who practices what he preaches. His book is a 12-month challenge. Fully commit to God for a year. Your faith, your freedom, your church, your daily rhythms, your purpose, and watch what he does with it. I think this is gonna be a great resource and already has been a great resource to so many pastors, and I would love for you to check it out. That's why I've asked him to come on to this episode and talk to us a little bit about it. So let's jump into it with Ben Murray. All right, Ben, thank you for joining me today on the podcast. Of course, man. Glad to do it. It's an honor. So um we're gonna talk about your book, Give God a Year, where it came from, how you've implemented at your church, what your hope is for people who read it and for pastors who utilize it. But you have demonstrated this book in your own life before you ever wrote it. You didn't just give God a year, because when you came through the process, like you were a guy that I was talking to that I thought, man, he could have done this probably a few years ago. And you've had huge success with your church, meaning making an impact in the community, but also numerically people are showing up to hear you preach on Sunday, which is always encouraging. But maybe talk about that journey. How did you get to where you are today before you wrote the book?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Well, it's a journey of faithfulness and longevity. Uh, we were part of a church in Alabama, North Alabama, for 15 years. It's called Daystar Church. My pastor's Jerry Lawson, and he's still my pastor to this day. 23 years, he's been my pastor. So that's a really special thing. And man, there were so many times along the way being at Daystar where I did think, man, now's the time. I should go plant this church now, or you know, whatever. And Pastor Jerry had the wisdom to just say not yet. And I had the submission to agree to that and just say, you know what, you're you're right. It's not not not time yet. And I remember even sitting around a table with some pastors talking about, man, I think I got a book in me. And it was a while later before that ever came around. And so, yeah, just staying faithful where you are, and when the time is right, God's gonna open those doors.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

That's led to some great things with your church. She stayed faithful, and because of that, I feel like God's blessed your years exponentially, and that your church has grown faster and it's maybe 10 years down the road a lot earlier in your ministry, I think, because of that faithfulness. And that's what you're asking people to do with your book. But I have to ask you real quick, your son's names, they all start with G. Yes. You have Garrett, Gavin, Gideon, and Gibson. Was the G thing on purpose? Did we pray about that? I mean, what was that?

SPEAKER_00 3:28

No, man, it started with our oldest son, Garrett. So his name's Garrett Walter Murray. So he's hit the middle name was after my dad. My dad died when I was seven. He was 36 when he passed away, so it was a way to honor him. And we're a little bit maybe uh OCD, especially Annalise. She she likes things that is like that it's you know, like gonna be the same, right? So the next son comes along and it's Gavin, and of course the middle name has to be a W name. So that one was William, and named after her dad, and then Gideon Wesley, and then Gibson Wayne, and all of those have some sort of the middle name has a family connection of some sort. I guess the interesting thing on that is is uh the great thing about it was that we didn't we we got to keep the same diaper bag for a long time because it was the same initials, GWM. So monogram everything and just stick with it.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

You're the second person that I've talked to recently where they did the monogram thing and uh and the husband told me he's like, Yeah, I just convinced her you just go with this name and we didn't have to re-monogram everything. So uh smart call wasn't expecting to get such a good answer with the middle name in there. So very cool. Well, jumping into your book, your title is actually a dare that you give people to give God a year. So, where did that come from? Why wasn't it give God 40 days or give God the rest of your life or give God a month?

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Great question. And really, it originates from Pastor Chris Hodges, founding pastor of Church of the Highlands. He would give this challenge, he called it the one-year challenge, and he would encourage people new to Church of the Highlands to he would say it this way he would say, Give us a year of your life. And so, you know, I started saying that. I I thought, man, that that's a great challenge. Like, come on, just give us 365 days. And then somewhere along the way, I turned it into give God that time, right? It's not not just us, you're not giving it to us, you're really giving it to God. It was a challenge because, you know, here's the thing about Christianity it's not like buying a car. It's not, but something you test drive and check out. You're either all in or you're not. God's at the top of the list or he's not on your list. Those kinds of things, right? And so, hey, do this for 365 days. Go all in and watch what God will do. I mean, get in small groups, be water baptized, show up at the growth track, take a step and just keep taking a step. Be faithful in this, and I promise you, in 365 days, your life won't be the same. Won't be perfect, but it'll be better.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

What is giving people a deadline do for them as opposed to just saying give God the rest of your life?

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Well, I think there's actionable steps. And this is the struggle for me because I'm an achiever, and so I'm I'm okay with a list. I'm okay with a checklist, but we know that that's not what discipleship is. Like serving God is not do's and don'ts, it's not rules and religion. But I think there are some actionable items for people straight out of scripture, like water baptism, like being part of a spiritual family, like staying connected to the body of Christ. And I think that just gives something for people that's tangible, that's like, okay, there's something I can do here. And not a long list of rules, but what's your next step? What's the next thing that you can do?

SPEAKER_01 6:31

You've obviously written this book for the people in the church, not the pastors, but it seems to me that this is a book that the pastors would need to buy to give people in their church. How how did you imagine this resource being used and who did you write it for?

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Well, we we wrote it for people who were coming to faith, new believers, and this is what the book looks like. What we do is at the end of every service, one of our campus pastors will get up and they'll talk about the next steps, and they'll say, Hey, if you just gave your life to Christ today, I want you to stop by our next steps table out in the lobby. We have a gift for you, and we have it in a nice little box, and we're gonna put a copy of this book into everybody's hands who stops by that table. Part of the reason why is because we just want to help them know what's next. And we tell them it's a free gift for them. We wrote it specifically for people who like, I'm I I don't really know God. I'm new to this thing. And I think we take that for granted a lot of times as Christians, like we've been doing this for a while and we get stuck in the rut. But somebody who's new to the faith, they don't know like what's next, where do I go? How do I do this? It's kind of like a roadmap.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

Well, I like that roadmap idea because really you're lifting the burden off of a pastor to have to think through systematically what all needs to be covered. They could purchase this book and really give people a challenge, but also know that they're training them up and discipling them by putting this in their hands and that you're hitting all the basics of the Christian faith. One of the things is that you talk about in the book is that you're you have these five areas. I wanted you to talk about what they are and why these areas are important for each person.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

The way I wrote the book was exactly that. It's a roadmap to try to just help people with what's next. Try to break it down 20 chapters, two chapters each on a topic, and just giving people some next steps. So from faith to family, finances, freedom, all of these different things. The thing is, is it's never supposed to be about works. And that's the thing that I think people struggle with sometimes is they they feel like when you put something in front of them that just all the all of a sudden becomes works. And it's not about works, it's about a relationship with Jesus. We're safe by grace through faith. And so we're gonna just take those steps together. We're gonna grow in our faith. We're gonna learn how to read some scripture, we're gonna learn how to dive deeper into a relationship with the Holy Spirit. We're gonna learn some basics about how to be generous, we're gonna learn how to develop a prayer life, how to discover our spiritual gifts. And it's not meant to be the deep end of the pool. This is meant to help somebody in the shallow end with taking their next steps.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

Yeah, people get a little confused these days about what works really is. Discipleship and applying the New Testament is not works. Works is, you know, sacrifices and doing good deeds to make up for your sins and to try to please God. But discipleship and obeying what the scripture tells us is not works. How do you help people understand that as a pastor?

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Well, I mean, it's it's what I think Ephesians says this, right? That we're saved for good works, not by our good works. There's nothing that I can do to earn it. As a believer in Christ Jesus, here's what Paul says in Colossians I am pure and I am holy. I am holy and blameless as I stand before God without a single fault. That blows my mind. So I have nothing to to earn, I have nothing to prove. And so um I don't I don't do good works to get saved, I do good works because I am saved, because I'm a disciple of Christ, and I go out and I'm I make a difference in the lives of other people.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Well, I like how you've taken that challenge that Highlands does, Pastor Chris does, give us a year, meaning the church. And you've just twisted it just a little bit, shifted it, maybe twist isn't the best word, but uh you know, you you rephrase it just slightly to give God a year, and that's really what we're asking people to do, and that's what Highlands is asking people to do. But really, you know, if you don't stick somewhere in a church, if you don't stick somewhere in a program, a discipleship program, a framework of some some type, no matter if you're trying to lose weight, get stronger in the gym, become educated in some way, but your spiritual life, you're just never going to flourish. And so I love that you've made that kind of shift in the title to help people do that. One of the areas that you talk about is is you know, you talk about faith, you talk about freedom, community, daily rhythms, and purpose. But one of them is you put engaging in a local church inside the challenge. A lot of people uh think they can give God a year on their own. It's always easy to criticize something, it's a lot harder to build it and make it better. And I'm maybe getting a little sidetracked here, but I remember someone told me that whatever you're annoyed by in a church is what you're called to solve. So instead of going and criticizing it, that might be where you're called to serve. Uh so talking about why you put that in the book and why it's important for people.

SPEAKER_00 11:13

Well, you know, we see right now in America, the average church attendance is what, like 1.6 times a month. And people just they don't value community and and you know, church is the ecclesia. It is the ones who've been called out. And Jesus said that he's gonna build his church on the rock. The rock was not Peter. He was I don't I don't believe he was talking about Peter. He said, Peter, you're the rock, and I'm telling you, I'm gonna build my church on the rock, right? So there's a difference in the two words that he was using there, and I think he was saying that Peter, you're you're a pebble, because that's what Peter's name means. You're a pebble. Uh but I'm gonna build my church on people like you who make up a greater, almost like a foundation slab. If you've ever seen a giant rock that has the sediment sedimentary rock in it, these little pebbles. I think that's what Jesus was saying. That's the foundational piece. It's not built on one person, but on hundreds, thousands, millions of believers around the world who are the ones who've been called out. And then Paul talks about being the body of Christ. And we can't be the body by ourselves, like one body part's not the body, it's just one part of the body. We need each other. The the eyes need the hands and need the toes, and we need a stomach, too. Somebody's got to be the stomach, right? So we're we're all needed. We're all needed, and we're all like we all serve a purpose. We we all have something to offer, and we all need to be developed along the way, and we sharpen each other as the body of Christ. I just think too many people are missing out on trying to do it alone.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Well, another part of the book, you talk about the daily rhythms. And as a pastor, I would love to have everyone in my church that has great spiritual daily rhythms. That's like kind of like the thing that we're always trying to help people with discipleship form. So, how does your book help people establish those daily rhythms and what does it say about that to help people get started that are, like you said, coming from zero?

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Well, you know, you you just start somewhere, and we've all heard something along the lines of the first 15 minutes of the day. Hey, five minutes in the word, five minutes in worship, five minutes in warfare or prayer, you know, talking to God. I think just encouraging people to take a step, so like reading the Bible. It's important that you read the Bible every day, but it's not as important how much of the Bible you read every day. I think it matters more that you're just reading it every day than what you read. Because what are you doing? You're building a habit, you're building a muscle for this, and you'll get better at it. You'll develop that. But I think too many people start off, they go, I don't know what to read, I don't know where to go. That's why the one year bible is so I think important for for many people, just as a reading plan or starting your day off in prayer, just simple, like having some sort of pattern that you can pray. And I even talk about some of my favorite patterns to pray, and and one of those is the tabernacle prayer or the prayer of Moses. I I love that. Uh and it's just introducing people. I think most most people that I run into, they've never heard of some of the things that we as pastors and leaders in the church that we kind of consider old hat, they're just like, Well, I've never heard of that. I didn't know how. So just giving them a little nugget of like, just do something, start somewhere small and be faithful in that.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

I love your book because like I said earlier, I love frameworks. And I I wish I had learned it earlier in life because when I was younger, I was just passionate and I went in every direction at once as fast as I could. And I still do that a lot. I think my wife would probably say, Yes, you still do that. But you know, I've learned to like trust frameworks a little bit more and to and to lean into them and um allow them to guide me. And as I develop my own rhythms in those frameworks, I can branch out and customize and own. I think this book, Give God a Year, helps a pastor do that. And that's what I meant earlier. Like, you know, I don't want to allude to the maybe pastors aren't thinking through discipleship. No. But when you when you're first planning a church or you you're you're trying to grow, you're so people focused that you can have something that builds a framework for people and then you can begin to develop what that to look like for your church. So I'd love to hear how has this book changed your church? How have you implemented in other ways or how has it changed how you do things?

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Yeah, well, the beginning of this year, for the first time ever, we did a small group campaign, which is where we just ask as many groups who are willing to do it to do the same curriculum. And so the first campaign we ever did was give God a year, and we just asked the whole church to go through it and and just just take the next steps. So that has been a galvanizing point for us, but it's also been a help for us in that we have something to give to first time people who are giving their lives for the first time, you know, they're trying to figure this out, they're waiting into the shallow end, like what do I do next? And so that has been a massive help for us to just be able to resource them, give them something to look at, to lean into. And we've heard so many testimonies from when I talk about the one year challenge or give God a year. And if I I mean, I'll hear people, you know, clap and that that was me, you know, they'll raise their hand, man, I did that, and their lives are never the same. They're looking back, they're like, man, I can't believe I'm I'm not the man I used to be, the woman I used to be, the student I used to be. It has given us language to also help people. I find that people on our team and our dream team are using that language to say, hey man, just give God a year. Like, come on, don't give up.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Keep going, keep going, stick with it. I like that. I think I think that's good advice for a lot of people. I can also imagine uh churches starting January 2027 with a series on Give God a Year. Like they could take this book and develop a four-week series in January. That could be a full promotional campaign. And I think that a lot of times we think of small groups as semesterly, but doing one year with a small group and going through this is really good. We just did uh The Way to Win with Jeff Little's book, My Small Group. We finished it earlier this uh uh in the springtime. And so we just re-upped it, you know, for three small group semesters. We just kept doing the same thing. And it's very rewarding to get through that process and know that you've systematically kind of walked through and become a better man, a better Christ follower. Do you have any materials? And maybe I again I hate to I keep putting you on the spot, but that's what podcasts do, I guess. Yeah, you know, to help people maybe form a series.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Have you thought about that? Absolutely. I have, you know, we have uh some small group curriculum that we can help resource churches with, and I'm happy to share any of my sermon notes, my message notes, get those into people's hands as well to be a blessing in that way. Okay, glad to do it.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Yeah, well, you you know, I can't have you on here and not talk to pastors a little bit, not just about your book, but I'm sure there's a pastor out there that's struggling in some way that has hit a roadblock and they don't know they have another year in them. Maybe you've gone through a season like that before. You've coached so many church planners with ARK, you've just been such a blessing to so many leaders. Let's flip this book around and put it to a leader's. What does it mean for like a pastor, a leader to give God a year?

SPEAKER_00 18:01

I'm just coming off a sabbatical break. I know sometimes pastors just think to themselves, that I can't do that. There's no way I don't have anybody to lean on or to trust even to lead my my people with. But uh, we're eight years in. We planted in 2019, but yeah, eight years in when you consider the launch season, and I think the sabbatical is one of the greatest things that I've done. And part of that is because too often we're as pastors, we're running at a pace that we just can't keep up with and it wears us down. It drains us. If my nature is a bit driven as an achiever, I want to go after things. And, you know, I think one of the greatest things we could do is just remind ourselves this is the long game. And one thing God reminded me of is that this can go on without me, and it will go on without me one day. And so, hey, rest. Everything doesn't have to happen right now. That's been something I am processing and learning through as I'm coming back from sabbatical, just trying to lighten my load a little bit that I don't have to do it all right now, I don't have to be it all. It's gonna be okay if it doesn't happen in my time frame. And I remind myself when I look at my pastor back in Alabama, Pastor Jerry Lawson, who's been there 25 years, 26 years, and he's still going. Look at Pastor Chris, who was at Highlands all those years, Pastor Jeff Little at Milestone, and it's longevity. It's the long game. So let's play the long game. The the other thing I would say is is get relationships. One thing, Josh, that ARK has provided for me is a group of guys. They provided the relationship. Some of my best friends in ministry were texting on a regular basis. They came from ARC. They were they're ARK pastors, and two of them I didn't know until I planted a church. And so just doing life together. Uh I have those guys come speak for me, and I go speak for them every year. And uh having somebody that I can call on a good day or a bad day, and man, it makes a difference.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Well, I appreciate you and it on such an important note for leaders to not just ask people to give God a year, but to continue to give God every year that they have as well. So thank you for being on the episode today.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Any any other closing thought about the book or anything else? Well, I'm so grateful for you having me and Josh. Thank you so much. I love what this book has meant to me and so many people in our church. And if anybody watching wants to order in bulk, what I would say is don't do that from Amazon. Contact us directly here at City Hope Church. My email is Ben at CityHopeFamily.com, and we can get you a way better deal and get those books into your hands so that you can you can get them into the people in your church.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

So well, it's been so fun watching you live your life with integrity and ministry and then having just such a significant impact in your city and in our network. So love you, appreciate you, and uh talk to you soon. Thanks, Josh. Okay, that was an amazing conversation with Ben. Hopefully you got to hear his heart, get to know him a little bit, and understand how his book, Give God a Year, can help you with your church, to make more disciples and help people get traction, not only as disciples of Christ, but in your church. So there'll be links in the show notes to how you can order the book in bulk. And the reason why Ben is offering that link is so that he can do more work to get you the book cheaper to benefit the body of Christ. So love its heart to do that. And also there'll be a link to gather some of those resources so that you can put together a give God a year small group or sermon series. I'll also put a link in the show notes to his book on Amazon if you just want to check out one copy. I would love if you'd follow us on Instagram at buildthe.church. Not only will you get reminders for the podcast, but it's a way to get the podcast extend into the week with clips, resources, and fun little things for you to interact with. So we'd love for you to follow us there. This episode is sponsored by your team.church, the assessment app that connects every volunteer to a team where they actually thrive. With your team, you get a custom URL with the church's training, AI-powered team matching, and personality insights that will help your volunteers take the next step and join a team. It's a great resource and tool to use in your growth track that is fun for the people taking the test and easy for you to manage as the pastor. You can schedule a demo, see examples, or start your free trial at your team.church. Well, thank you for joining us for this episode. Can't wait for you to be with us next time. Until then, keep believing and building strong.