WHOA That's Good Podcast - Find Your Voice

Episode Date: January 22, 2020

Join Sadie Robertson as she interviews Miles Fidell, Lead Pastor of Auburn Community Church in Auburn, AL. Miles Fidell currently serves in his thriving, multi-generational church reaching thousands of college students and families with the Gospel. Listen as they discuss college ministry, finding your own voice, and the hidden blessing of discomfort and uncertainty.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know that fresh produce is the best produce. That's why at Crogr, we invest in local farmers to bring you seasonal picks that taste fresh from the farm good, like sweet corn, refreshing watermelon, and juicy peaches. So whether you're a delivery lover, a picker-upper, or you shop in store, your local produce always tastes 100% fresh, or you get a 100% refund guaranteed. Croger, fresh for everyone. What up, whoa, that's good. This is not Sadie but it is Christian. Hey, Glea, Sadie, because we're one. But I'm so excited to introduce one of my favorite people in the world who has been my pastor here in college for the past three and a half years.

My, let's make that! Wow, the editing show. I just had to jump in there. Me and Christian are tag teaming kind of on this podcast. And I love it. I want to hear them introduce you. This is Miles. He is the pastor at ACC in Auburn.

And Christian and I have had the honor of getting to go to church here. And so we just wanted to come and interview. I'm honored to be here. Because you dropped some balls. You guys are killing it. The huffs in Auburn, it's amazing. It's awesome. Well, I'm honored to be here. You guys are killing it. The huffs in Auburn, it's amazing. It's awesome.

Well, I'm so excited. So I asked this question to Christian like this. I'm going to ask it the same way as he knew. I say, am I going to treat you any different, anybody else, but don't let that freak you out. I'm good. What is the best piece of advice that you've ever been given? So the best piece of advice that I've been given is kind of the advice that has had the most amount

of effect on me over the years. I was a college student thinking about the future, like every college student is, and I knew I wanted to be a preacher. I knew I'm calling on my life. So I was obsessed with studying how people are inspired through the word of God and always listening to sermons, always following preachers around. And I had a mentor in my

life who said, miles the best thing you can do during this season of your life is find your own voice. And what he meant by that was so often it's easy to get inspired by someone and then try to imitate them. But what he was saying was you need to figure out what makes you uniquely you and unleash that. Everybody's got a voice. Everybody has this individual capacity to inspire people. And so I think about the story of David against Goliath that he had an opportunity to try to fight Goliath as Saul, but he said, I don't want the armor. I want my slingshot because that's who I am. And so I started

learning who I am and how I tick and instead of cultivating somebody else's gifting and somebody else's calling kind of develop my own version of, this is what God wants to say through my life And I think when you learn how to cultivate and maximize your individuality That's one of the greatest gifts you can give to the world. Come on live original. I love it Honestly, that's the super encouraging. I feel like I have something as they're so similar because whenever I started to go into speaking I got super intimidated after I started watching videos of Christine Kane and Beth Moore and Priscilla Shire. And I was like, wait, I don't think I can do this.

And I remember my mom started noticing me, just getting a little hesitant to speak after I started to just try to learn from these people. She said, Sadie, here's the thing, you're not gonna be Christine Kane and you're not gonna be Beth Moore and you're not gonna be Priscilla Sharpe, you're you. That's a good thing.

And that's the voice that God wants you to use and like fast forward all the way to this year at Passion I asked Christine Kane for some advice because I was so nervous. It's just that God only annoys you and she said not another version of you. So good. And so everything you say,

I just echo that, echo that, for anybody else who is walking into something that they're like Maybe a little intimidated because all these other people are killing it But there's a reason you're you and so love that advice unleashed your gift at passion 2020 In a way that was so powerful and profound if you are listening to this right now and have not heard say you stalk at passion check it out Thank you, man. It was crazy. I was so glad that the church was there. That was awesome. That was fun to this right now and have not heard, say, you stalk at passion, check it out. So colorful. Man, it was crazy. And I was so glad that the church was there.

That was awesome. That was fun. So I just want to ask you a little bit about how this all started. So I kind of mentioned that you're a pastor here at Auburn near a university, I guess, out of university and very close. Very, very close to university. And that's a big deal. I think I love this church.

I love what this church does. I got to speak at Ignite, something that y'all put. I think I love this church. I love what this church does. I got to speak at Ignite something that y'all put on and it's just encouraging. It's encouraging to be an atmosphere where it feels like you really believe in the college Students and so what kind of makes your I know you have nobody's ever seen miles Pretty you got to go watching because he gets fired up what fires you up I know this isn't just a college church, but what fires you about specifically that college age? Yes. I would have never thought I was going to be pastoring a church in Auburn, Alabama, definitely not at the age that our church started. But one of the things that's so powerful about doing ministry to college students is that you get to interact with individuals

who are literally deciding the trajectory of their lives. Wow, that's true. And so students like your now husband, I get to watch, grow a passion for Jesus and get launched into the next season of their life with so much more clarity about what matters most and more than that, who matters most, Jesus himself. So when we got here, we used to get bummed out

when students would graduate and move on. And now it's actually something that we look forward to because we're like, we used to get bummed out when students would graduate and move on and now it's actually something that we look forward to because We get the chance to watch their lives get impacted and then go change the world all over the world It's an amazing way to do church and then when they leave there's a whole other class coming behind them It's gonna be impacted as well. It's so powerful and I think that's encouraging if you're a college student listening You're hearing somebody who believes in you somebody who is a pastor who walks with college students like my husband daily, like you've answered some phone calls that Christians have been like, hey, I got this question, all kinds of questions. And it's just been awesome that you believe in him, you believe in us, you believe in the university. And so people believe that like, hey, these

four years aren't just like you time and not just time to waste actually time to really think about what God's going to do in your future. And that's inspired me just from listening to you. And actually, I think even changed the way I look at my age group as well. So it's awesome. And if you think about the most important decisions that you make in a lifetime, such a high percentage of those decisions are made during that window of your life that it is more important than ever that you're not wasting it chasing what the world has to offer but that you're actually engaging with the kingdom of God.

And when you watch students setting their lives up with a foundation that they're gonna stand on for a long time, just like both of you have, there's nothing more rewarding than watching somebody choose not to waste their life on something less than the life Jesus died for them to live. Just like both of you have, there's nothing more rewarding than watching somebody choose not to waste their life on something less than the life Jesus died for them to live. Come on. It's amazing.

Somebody just rewind that 15-side goods. That is so good. All right. So you said you would have never imagined living at Auburn preaching. How did it start? In Auburn, Alabama, I still look at my driver's license and I cannot believe that God has done this. So I'm from the Metro Atlanta area and me and my wife Courtney never had any intention

of starting a church in Auburn or in any college town for that matter, but we got a vision from the Lord right after we got married that one day we would start a church. And I'll never forget being at dinner with some of our best friends and my wife, she would start a church. And I'll never forget being at dinner with some of our best friends. And my wife, she would never do this. Some people say things like this all the time.

My wife Courtney is amazing, but this is not an everyday thing. She says, God spoke to me. I think I know where we're gonna start a church. And it's Auburn, Alabama. Whoa. And we knew some families in the Auburn area, but when she described why,

she said, a community of college students could combine with a community of adults and families that want to support and pour into them. And if we do church in that area for just a little while, God is going to do something so special and so impactful. And literally what she described at that dinner was a God-size vision and dream that we have watched come true for five and a half years. Wow.

And that's literally crazy because I did not know that part of the story and I walk into this church. And if I described it to somebody, that is how I would describe it. Exactly. It's amazing. I think that is such a beautiful thing about this church. And I just want you to kind of speak to that that there are college students, but there's also adult and families. What do you think the beauty of that is?

That's what I was going to say, Sadie. Don't count college students out because college students are starving for the generation that's in front of them to pour into them. It is an absolute lie to think that young people just want the older generation to leave them alone. And that's why I think it's powerful. We actually don't even really have a college ministry here. Our church is a college ministry. So the adults get the opportunity to do life with college students.

And what happens is this natural flow of the college students passion impacting the adults, but the adults wisdom trickling down into the lives of the college students. And it is a powerful thing to witness. That's what we've noticed over the years is don't count the next generation out because they want to be poured into. They want to worship alongside couples that are in their 40s and 50s

and 60s and 70s, because they want to know, what do I need to know that I'm not seeing? Yeah. Oh my gosh, a man echo 100 percent as a 22 year old myself. I feel that way. I used to have this mentor just when I lived in Nashville that we got to meet a lot. I love meeting with her. I look forward to every time she texts me and say,

you want to go to coffee? Like it made my heart so happy. And one day she said, you know the power in this is when zeal meets wisdom because she was saying like, you're zeal is inspiring me and I was, and it was so true. And so what you're saying, that is the beautiful combination.

And I believe that's true. So you said something, I was going to ask you this question. And what do you think the world misses? Whenever they just look at college students and they're so quick to say, you are this, you're like this. This is what you're going to be, all the different things. You already kind of mentioned the world might say, we just want to do away with the older generation.

First of all, not true. We crave to hear advice from the older generation. Do you think there's other things? I know there's other things, but what are some of those things that you've seen that you're like, you know what? I know this is like stereotypical, but that's just not it. I would say assumptions are always something that we hold on to until we can actually see it in real time, get proven wrong.

And the one that I see over and over and over again is that social media, I think, has caused a lot of young people to be seen a certain way that's not actually how they are on the inside. Young people are actually really humble and hungry for someone to speak into them and give them direction, even though they're projecting an image to the world that looks like, I've got it all figured out. I know what my future looks like. I know what brand I wanna put out.

I know this, I know this. That's really just fear talking. What they really want is somebody to speak through the facade and speak to the real them and go, no, no, no, no, you can show authenticity and you can be 100% yourself. And I'm going to help you navigate figuring out who that is, just like my mentor did for me when I was in college.

It's so great. So what's some advice? I don't know if this is necessarily something USBD, maybe even something I could ask Courtney, your wife, but maybe you'll have talked about it. As far as social media goes, you just said we're putting out something that doesn't necessarily represent what we're meaning to something that doesn't necessarily represent what we're meaning to say. What do you think the importance is I'm making sure what you're putting out actually aligns with who you are? I think knowing that about everybody else, you can never compare your real life to somebody else's highlight reel. We hear that all the time that's somebody's only showing you what they want to show you. But at the same time, when we make a norm

on social media of things that I've seen you do honestly before and things that my wife puts out there as well is going, hey, my life that I've decided to reveal to you, let me show you something that I wouldn't normally reveal so that you know I'm a person who wakes up on a Wednesday and has a really, really, really difficult time navigating life. Sometimes, I think social media is only ever going to reveal what's really on the inside of us. Social media is never the problem. The problem is always the way we treat it. And if we're honest and open and vulnerable and willing to let people into our imperfections, we've

actually created the platform on social media to fight the very thing that we thought was the problem. Yeah, that's so good. It's always funny when people talk to me about all their problems with social media. Always say, you run your page. Like you create your login, you made your profile, and you post what you post and you follow who you follow.

So we are the problem and that's great actually because we can fix that problem. It's so good. So I wanted to hit on something just to kind of go back to the podcast I just recently did with my husband, Christian, we talked about his freshman year and how he got here and he was kind of one foot in, one foot out, and you kind of hear this a lot.

You know, he grew up in church, got here, he went straight into this, trying to, I guess make friends, become known, all this things and realize, wait, I think this is not what I want. And end up walking in the random meeting Jesus. I know that story happens for so many people. I know so many people are still stuck in that first part of that story. Yes.

And so what some of the advice that you give to freshmen going into college and what they're about to walk into the chief message, I think of my life and our church is that Jesus wins. And I think that's the chief message, I think of my life and our church is that Jesus wins. And I think that's the chief message of the Bible. Is that the grand narrative of human history is Jesus has won the past. He will win the future. He's winning in the present. But the thing that a college student needs to see immediately is that Jesus is already

better than every other option they could choose with their life. And so what happened to Christian is what happens to so many others. They try the other options and they don't work. And then that brokenness and emptiness guides them into going, this world has nothing for me. Jesus fills the gap in every single need that I think I need to look for outside of him. And so I think the key is engaging a generation that sees that Jesus is better than any other option

they can give their life to. And when you know that Jesus wins and that he's everything, you're not gonna settle for something that's less than the life Jesus dies to us to live. So good, I love that. And it, I phrase that question to freshmen, but honestly, you might be a self-reliable

like the adjunior, you might be a senior,reliable, be a junior, you might be a senior You might be out of college and you're like, wait, I still haven't gotten that today's a day. Jesus wins He's better than any other option if you don't know what to do with that then find a local church get plugged in Miles is Representing a local church right now and that's the kind of thing that we hope that you're met with Something that has been really cool about this relationship that Christian, I have been able to have with you in Courtney. It's just y'all is excitement for our marriage. It's been awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So encouraging to marriage. And I've heard you preach some sermons about marriage

and families and relationships. And so I just would love for you to share even a glimpse of just why you get so excited when you see young people or anybody just start a relationship together or get married. I think when we bring up the word marriage, some of us assume the opposite of the excitement and enjoyment and fulfillment that God had intended from the beginning when he himself designed it. So our world thinks of marriage and we think about divorce and we think about burdens, but marriage as you both are seeing just a couple of months in is actually amazing. And watching your life get united with another human being and celebrating that and building

and growing a family is the joy of my life over and above anything that could happen in ministry or my career. And so my reason why I get so excited about marriage is I believe this is what a lost world wants to see from us. That Christ and the church is shown by our union with our spouses. And so when people see your joy for one another and your lifelong commitment that survives tough circumstances and your passion and zeal to love the other person, they go, I want that. That's not about Sadie and Christian. That's about Jesus. That's so true. So that's why I get pumped up about it. That's so good. You nailed that. I wanted people to hear that because you're right. You said at the beginning that people think of marriage, they think of all these negative things. And maybe they've really

experienced that or seeing that. And so hopefully we can paint a picture of the way that Jesus loves the church. And I mean, that's awesome. That's so good. All right, Christian, I'm not going to put you on the spot. You know, this so you can, we can take this little. Please put him on the spot. But do you have anything that you want to ask is to finish the podcast?

Because you started it. What has been the most rewarding thing that you've seen happen in the church since you started it? So, our church started with about 30 people in a hardware store. Wow. And we are not a part of any network. Didn't have any other church planting us. So I think the most rewarding thing is that God stripped us of all comfort and showed us that walking on water far exceeds the comfort of a boat. I love the fact that God made it hard on us.

I love the fact that it felt like we weren't going gonna make it so many different times and that God grew this movement literally out of nothing, because then you can't give credit anywhere else. That's right. So honestly, the most rewarding thing is staying in the unknown, remaining in a place where discomfort and uncertainty are actually your friend, because they make room for Jesus to have to come through.

Wow, okay. Who need to do that? I'm raising my hand. No, because listen, I've heard so many people say, what do I do now? Like, it's uncomfortable. It's unknown. I don't know what to walk in.

Listen to me say, I love the unknown. I love the uncomfortable. It is. Get to say, I feel the same way because every time that happens, and any time people share with me a story that they're in the unknown, I can't help but smile. And I'm like, I'm so sorry I'm smiling, but like, I'm so excited for where you're at right now

because this means it has to be God. So I love that. You crushed it. I hope that so many of you just received so much truth from what Miles just said. And honestly, take some time to go back, right? Some stuff down, think on that, pray about it, get plugged into a local church.

If you're a college student, believe in what God's doing for you right now, you're not too young. Now it's the time, let's go. Thank you so much, Miles. Whoa, that's good. Thanks for having me, fam. Whoa, that was good. Ha ha ha.

Oh, you are. You're fine. Oh, you're fine. Oh, you're fine. Oh, you're fine. Oh, you're fine. All right, fam. I got my husband in the house. In the house? We think you're gonna say.

Yeah I was, I'm sorry for that long pause. I love how your brain works babe. Thank you. Alright, so in this special edition of Woodette's Good Podcast, being kind of a college edition because we just interviewed your college pastor. Come on, come on. I know he brought the heat. I figured that we would do some good and bad college advice.

What do you say? I love it, let's do it. Amazing. Okay, so let's see here. It's okay to not know what you want to be doing in your future. I would say that's good advice. I think many people come into college and don't really know career wise what they're wanting to do. And I think that they're trying to figure it out as they go. But I would say

coming in to college and knowing the one thing that you're going to continue to do after college is still pursue Jesus and know Jesus and love Jesus and just always be seeking him and wanting to know him more Yeah, you can kind of tell your story like you did not start. Oh, yeah, I did not know I did not start college Wanting to seek him know that I was about oh, it's about how you started in construction Yeah, I started having my mindset on Construction and gonna be a builder and then Yeah, maybe a month or so in a college the Lord just wrecked me and so you're not doing a construction Yeah, and you're actually gonna pursue me first

Yeah, so if you started out and you're like I don't even know where I'm going I don't know which direction I want to go. That's okay But I think that getting your heart aligned with who God is and what God wants to do through you, that's the most important thing. Yeah, and it's the most important for years for that. So true. All right, let's see, give yourself some time to learn about yourself and this new season before getting into a relationship. I would say good advice, you know, transitioning from high school and to college, you have so much free time.

And I heard someone say that free time is the devil's playground, which is such good advice and it's so true. But it also just depends on what you do with that free time. And I would say, just really when you get to college, you have so much alone time and you have so much time with yourself. And I think that it's so important to work on your relationship with the Lord and just really find out who you are when you're by yourself and just spend that time with him before you get into a relationship. Yeah, I mean, free times only the devil's playground. If you invite the devil to your free time,

like free time can be the most special time with God and like learning about yourself. I think it's awesome. And yeah, I think that advice can go back and forth for anyone. Like some people, it's great advice. Go into college without a relationship, get to know yourself, what God's gonna do in your life because you know people for who they are, for friends. But if you're already in a relationship and you're going in the college, there are ways that you can maintain that

and pursue the law, pursue each other and get school done. It kind of goes for just wherever you're at in life. All right, here's some other advice. And by the way, all of these pieces of advice are coming from you guys whoever sent in to the Boat That's Good Podcast. So thank you're at in life. All right, here's some other advice. And by the way, all of these pieces of advice are coming from you guys whoever sent in to the Boat It's Good Podcast. So thank you for sending in

Boat It's Good Podcast on our Instagram page. All right, advice, skip class. No, that is the worst advice. Someone actually told me one time that if you skip class, if you look at it, every class is worth X amount of dollars. So if you're paying tuition, every class you worth X amount of dollars. So if you're paying tuition, you know, every class you miss is actually worth like over $100 or something crazy like that.

Oh my God. That's crazy. If you think about it, if you skip class, you're just wasting X amount of money. So true. Let's go through more. All right. Study 24 seven. Oh, um, yeah.

What do you guys say about that, Vick? Yeah, because I don't study 24-7. I would say not the best advice, because I think that if you study 24-7, then I think that you're making school an idol. I would say that studying 24-7 can definitely burn you out and maybe give insight that your priorities aren't in the right place. That's good. But I do think studying is super important, and I know that the Lord wants us to be diligent

when we're at and definitely to work hard, but I do think that you can overwork yourself. Yeah. All right, find a community that loves and supports you in your relationship with Christ. That is great advice. I would say like that would be your best piece of advice. I'd like heard you say that to people. Yeah, you know, the Bible talks so much about living in community and I think when you get to college, it can be difficult, you know, the Bible talks so much about living in community. And I think when you get a college, it can be difficult You know to find a community and definitely find the right people that you want to be good friends with But I do think that when you find that community that only strengthens your relationship with God and strengthens your relationship with your friends in the area And I think that living in community is what God wants us to do. I think that's what he intended on us to do. Yeah, so good

All right last piece Everyone has to go to college. I would say it not good advice. Thank you. You did not go to college and there are plenty of successful people that did not go to college and there are also plenty of people that don't really need to go to college. I think college is definitely important for the niche of people that are pursuing a very particular thing. But I also think that a lot of people go to college just for their relationships and just to grow in people's skills and just to meet new people. But I would say that if you don't really know what you want to do

and you don't really think you need college for it, I don't think college is a necessity. Obviously, I don't think everybody has to go to college. I didn't go to college or I haven't this far in my life, but this point, I don't think you get a good. I'm just trying to be proud of you. Okay. But I will say, although I myself did not go to college, I do think college is

great. Like you're saying, there is a particular skill set that you want. College is amazing for that. Also, people's skills, it's fun. It's a time in your life where you get to grow in relationship. And yeah, I think it's awesome, but I also don't think everybody has to go to college if you are going a different direction,

if they're going a different direction, I think that that is awesome. Thank you should follow that. Obviously, I saw God blowing my mind with just a yes to faith in that area. So totally depends. And hey, people are going to call it like 50. Like you can go to college anytime.

So maybe it's not for you now. Maybe we're taking a gap here. But whatever, if you go to college, if you don't go to college, as Albert Einstein says, wisdom is not the product of schooling, but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it. One of my favorite quotes. Thanks Albert. Thanks Albert. Now that is good advice. That is good advice. Thank you so much for listening to the WoW That's Good

Podcast. I have so much been doing this. I hope you'll have fun listening. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram at legitsadyrob and follow the podcast at woe that's good podcast. I don't know where to live original.com to see when I'm in a city near you or visit live original blog on our online store which carries my exclusive words by city rob line. Also be sure to subscribe to my podcast and leave comments so we can hear what you're loving. I want to give a special shout out to my audio engineer Marcus DePelate, the whole team at United Talent Agency and my live original team. You guys are awesome and hey, so we're all of you too. Thanks so much for listening. you