The Lord Give You Peace - Terry A. Smith

00:01 - Speaker 1 Over the course of the next couple of days. I'm toggling back from sewage to shalom. One minute for a little while I'm sitting and writing about all this wonderful you know all these wonderful things that are possible through being aligned with God's Word. And then I'm in the basement cleaning up sewage and I make the comment in the book. You know what I learned from that is what all of us know. 00:23 - Speaker 2 Sewage happens make the comment in the book. 00:25 - Speaker 1 You know what I learned from that is what all of us know sewage happens and the reality of most of our lives. You know, when we talk about shalom, we're talking about shalom in the context of the wilderness. Shalom is best understood by looking at Eden, because that's the way things are supposed to be. We need to think about Eden past and Eden future in our life to get an idea of Shalom for us. 00:48 - Speaker 3 Welcome to Faithly Stories, the podcast that brings you inspiring tales from conversations with church leaders as they navigate the peaks and valleys of their faith journeys through their ministry work and everyday life. Join us as we delve into their challenges, moments of encouragement and answered prayers. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. Learn more at faithlyco. Get ready to be uplifted and inspired as we unveil the heart of faith through stories from the front lines of ministry. On the Faithly Stories Podcast. 01:29 - Speaker 4 Pastor Terry, welcome to the Faithly Stories Podcast. It is such a privilege and an honor to have you here. You have been the lead pastor of the Life Christian Church for over 30 years. You are a speaker and an author and you were out with your latest book, which is all about peace and shalom, and Pastor Adam and I are really looking forward to talking to you about it. 01:53 - Speaker 1 Thank you. It's a real, real blessing to be with you guys. I appreciate it. I appreciate what you're doing with Stacey. 02:00 - Speaker 4 Thank you Well, we're excited to have you with us on the journey. If I may start, Pastor Terry, with actually a little bit of your story? I bet that, being a lead pastor of a church for over 30 years, people don't tend to ask you anymore how you got started, but I'd love to know how did the Lord call you into ministry? 02:22 - Speaker 1 I had a sense when I was a teenager that I was called to vocational ministry and, um, I had a sense. In fact, when people would ask me, what, what are you going to do? I would say as a teenager that god has called me to build a great church in a suburb of new york city, that God has called me to build a great church in a suburb of New York City and I had never even been to New York City and I can only imagine that that prompting actually came from God. And all these years later, we're in year 34 now. So all these years later, god, in His grace, has allowed me and my wife Sharon to build a great church here in a suburb of Manhattan, west Orange, new Jersey. 03:12 - Speaker 4 That's incredible. And not only have you built and grown and sustained this big, beautiful, thriving church in a suburb of New York, you're also one of the forces behind Movementorg, which had its roots in New York City. I'd love to hear a little bit about how the Lord led you to that place. 03:34 - Speaker 1 So Adam will know this story because Adam's been a big part of this story for many, many years. But when I was a young pastor, I began pastoring this church at age 29. Soon thereafter I met Dr Mac Peer, who was leading Concerts of Prayer Greater New York at that time and there was a tremendous unity movement around prayer. Just a few years prior, a handful of gatekeeper pastors had started praying together. Just a few years prior, a handful of gatekeeper pastors had started praying together and by the time I got involved that had grown to I don't know, maybe 75 of us getting together every year and praying together for the Pastors Prayer Summit at that time. 04:26 And Concerts of Prayer created such a unity movement in the New York City metropolitan area that a few years later there were hundreds of pastors getting together and praying every year and all kinds of amazing things happening in the city and a national organization started coming to MAC and I was then for many years on the Board of Conscious Preparatory in New York asking us to help them whether it was World Vision post 9-11 asking us to help them distribute millions of dollars of relief, or whether it was the Willow Creek Association at that time asking us to sponsor the Global Leadership Summit, or Rick Warren showing up asking us to do something to support something he was doing on Purpose Driven. So much of that started happening that a couple of us decided we needed to start a new organization, and so Mac and I were the only ones who actually left the Concerts for Prayer. Greater New York board started the New York City Leadership Center, kept the two of them connected, and then the New York City Leadership Center became what we now know as movementorg. 05:26 - Speaker 2 I think it's great context, Pastor Terry, because you would assume, if you're an outsider, that the greatest unity movements in churches or in a church ecosystem would be in the Bible Belt and somehow, with all due respect to all of those other cities, what's happening in New York and when happening in New York? And when we say New York, obviously we mean New Jersey, Southern Connecticut, Westchester, the five boroughs, Long Island. We see this metropolitan, this metroplex area and there is a unique move of God in unity, so much so that we were just at Pastor's Prayer Summit with over 300 pastors and leaders several weeks ago. And so, Pastor, help me understand that that doesn't make sense in a city or a region like the Northeast that is as secular as it is. 06:16 - Speaker 1 It's. You know, I think that the church historians, I have no doubt, are going to come back and write the story of what's happened in Manhattan and the surrounding environs over this last several decades. And, adam, you, your family, you guys have been a big part of all of this and it's one of the most transforming realities of my life. A group of pastors got together and started praying three decades ago and we've seen amazing things. Out of that came Tim Keller's partnership with Mac Peer around Redeemer Church planning. Out of that, the population of people attending church on a Sunday morning in Manhattan has grown by. I don't know, you probably know the statistics. I think it's grown from like one and a half percent to five percent, which represents several hundred thousand people. 07:15 When I first came to the New York City metropolitan area 33 plus years ago, there were very few what we would call great let's say it like this thriving churches. There were very few, very few. You'd hear the story of, maybe, brooklyn Tabernacle at that time. You'd hear the rising, emerging story, adam, of the church that you've helped lead for so long that your dad is pastoring Christ Tabernacle, now Saints Church. You'd hear a few stories like that, but there weren't many, and now there are a number of thriving, growing, large, community-impacting, city-impacting churches in this region. It's been an amazing thing to see and to be a part of. 08:03 - Speaker 4 Well being. At Pastors Prayer Summit for the first time this year, it's evident to me all of the seeds that have been sown, all of the fruit that all of that prayer and all of that unity and work has produced. And it was also clear to me that the Lord's not done yet. The Lord's not done with New York City, he's not done with the churches here, he's not done with the people here, he's not done with the people here. It was a really powerful summit and Pastor. 08:33 Terry I believe that that summit was the first time that you preached on your new book. It was so I will say that right off the bat. You got me with your book because you started with this incredible story about your one-year-old being sick and needing to be rushed to the ER. Can you tell the story and talk about why you teed up the book with that story? 08:49 - Speaker 1 Yeah. So my wife and I at that time very young people, early 20s were in Germany doing ministry. We had our one-year-old daughter, summer, with us. I think it was the first time that we'd ever traveled overseas. And so we're, a young couple, out of our element and our daughter fell deathly ill and her fever was dangerously high and even to the point of potentially fatally high, and we could do nothing to get the fever down. And so our host there I was actually there preaching a camp meeting, a youth camp meeting for our soldiers, armed forces kids in that part of the world Well, anyway, our host decides to rush us to the hospital and on the way he says, hey, I know this woman of faith, I'd like to stop, I'd like for her to pray for Summer before we go to the hospital. 09:49 Frankly, I didn't want to, I just wanted to get to the hospital. But you know, trying to be a man of faith, I said okay, let's do it, but let's do it quickly. We pull over in front of military housing and he goes up and brings with him about a four-foot 10-inch tall woman carrying a huge bottle of olive oil. And I'm thinking let's do this quickly. 10:18 She opens the back door, where my wife is holding our daughter with this raging fever, and she takes this bottle of oil, puts some on her finger, dabs it on the head of my daughter and she prayed this prayer, and I believe this is all she said. She said Father, in the name of Jesus, I command this body to align itself with the Word of God. Wow, and immediately the fever broke, broke and my daughter was completely and totally healed. Well, I begin the book with that story to then ask the question what would it look like if everything in our life aligned itself with the word of God? And that's how I get into the subject of the Peace the Lord Gives, which is the title of my book, or the Peace the Lord Gives being, in fact, what we call Shalom. 11:13 - Speaker 4 Wow, thank you for sharing that story. It's an incredible, moving story and it tees up your book so beautifully. In talking to the people at my church in downtown Manhattan, peace is something that they're all seeking, even those who may not believe yet like. Peace is what they're after, and I think that one of the beautiful things that you do in your book is you help us to see almost right away that our understanding of peace is actually somewhat limited, that the Lord has something even more for us, and that Lord is captured by Shalom. So can you talk a little bit about that, about that word, shalom, and what all it encompasses? 11:53 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I'd love to so. First of all, the word shalom and its corresponding Greek word in the New Testament is used some 550 times in Scripture. This is a hugely important concept and shalom, of course, is a Hebrew word and typically we are limited in our ability to translate it and we translate it with our English word peace most of the time. But shalom is also translated in Scripture by words like wholeness, harmony, completeness, prosperity. It's closely associated with justice and righteousness. It's translated by the word well-being at times as well, and it takes kind of all those words to get at the idea of what shalom really is. 12:50 When we think about peace in English, we typically are talking about an absence of conflict or a state of tranquility absence of conflict or a state of tranquility and whereas shalom certainly includes that, that's just a part of what shalom actually is. What shalom is is everything in our lives being aligned with God's word to such a degree that everything in our life is working together the way God intended it. Scholars have done an amazing job offering all kinds of wonderful definitions of shalom, but the way I define shalom in my book the Lord, give you Peace is that it's the harmonious working together of everything in our lives in alignment with God's good intentions, leading to holistic well-being, productive flourishing and happy fulfillment. So it's this idea, shalom. Isn't just the absence of a negative thing, right, you know the absence of anxiety. Let's say yes, it's an abundance of the positive opposite of the negative thing. It's an abundance of joy. It's not just an absence of fear, it's an abundance of faith. 14:09 - Speaker 4 Yeah, you use so many beautiful words to try to capture this idea of shalom and the one word you did not use was perfection. Right, you didn't use perfection because it's not the absence of the bad stuff, and you really, I think in chapter three you really illustrate that point really clearly. You had me laughing in chapter three. So, chapter three, you talk about the sewage problem that you had in your home Shortly after, I think, you had decided to write this book about Shalom, and I think you're contemplating Shalom and you had this sewage problem. I actually burst out laughing reading that part. 14:53 - Speaker 2 So can you bring us back to that place, like that place where you're contemplating Shalom and then everything is going haywire? And that's because the most underrated part of Pastor Terry Smith is not only is he hysterical, but he's one of the best conversationalists you will ever have dinner with, I promise you. I've been the recipient of many a dinner with Pastor Terry and he is incredibly gifted at telling us stories. 15:10 - Speaker 1 So it's the week that I signed the deal to write this book and had started writing. So I'm thinking about Shalom, I'm thinking about flourishing and wholeness and harmony and all these wonderful ideas. And there's an explosion in our basement that comes from some pipes along the ceilings and what came from the pipes? We didn't know what it was, but it didn't look good or smell good. What it was, but it didn't look good or smell good. So I brought a friend over who's handy and he started dealing with a pipe protruding from the wall that's connected to these pipes and the long and short of it is. He's fumbling around with a cap and the cap, all of a sudden, under pressure from everything behind it, explodes out and out of this pipe comes gushing a substance of such odorous color that we knew then what it was. It was a sewage pipe and my friend gets covered from head to toe in this, immediately in this sewage, and because he's trying to stop it, it just gets worse and worse and it was a terribly smelly mess. 16:34 And so over the course of the next couple of days I'm toggling back from sewage to shalom. Of the next couple of days, I'm toggling back from sewage to shalom. One minute for a little while. I'm sitting and writing about all this wonderful you know, all these wonderful things that are possible through being aligned with God's word. And then I'm in the basement cleaning up sewage and I make the comment in the book. 16:56 You know what I learned from that is what all of us know sewage happens and so this is, you know, the reality of most of our lives. You know, when we talk about shalom, we're talking about shalom in the context of the wilderness. Shalom is best understood by looking at Eden, because that's the way things are supposed to be. That's the way things are supposed to be, and we need to think about Eden past and Eden future in our life to get an idea of shalom for us. But the fact is that shalom now has to be experienced in the context of the wilderness. We're in the already, but not yet. We're in a wonderful world and we're in a world that sometimes is terrible. We're in a world where there's amazing potential for good, but there's amazing potential for evil. There's shalom and there's sewage. 17:49 - Speaker 2 Pastor Terry, I've got a friend who's a hedge fund trader and he reminds me often that a lot of money can buy you a really great mattress, but it cannot buy you sleep. And there are lots of people out there that think, if I could just get more money, then I'm going to alleviate all this anxiety and fear. And I think what we've learned through our parishioners to the people that we're ministering to across New York City, in places like West Orange, in Lower Manhattan, on Long Island, we're finding that it doesn't matter how much money is stockpiled in your bank account. Anxiety is something separate from, and the alleviation of fear and anxiety is not in how much money is in your bank account, but comes from another place. When you speak to people who are saying, man, if I could just move up the rung another notch, if I could just add another zero to my income stream, then I'm going to have peace, what do you say to that person? 18:57 - Speaker 1 Well, that's a false hope, obviously. I mean, shalom is a state of being, and it's a state of being that occurs when we align our lives with the Word of God, and sometimes I make the case that part of the shalomic package is God always seems to be moving people from poverty to plenty, from poverty to plenty. This seems to be part of what happens, is part of shalom is God's providing for our needs on our way to our destiny and so on. But we are not going to find peace in money, and the thing that's interesting is it seems to me, at least in my congregation, that people are more and more aware of that, that the false illusion that money and things are going to bring us peace has been pierced more and more in recent years. And you know now, I think, that the problem is more about getting people to believe that they actually can taste the peace the Lord gives. 20:06 - Speaker 4 That's beautiful. There is this moment again in chapter 3 where I was moved to tears After you tell the story of the sewage and the shalom. A little bit later on in that chapter you write this incredibly moving sentence. You ask the reader can I prophesy for you? And I've never, ever, ever, read that in a book before and I was so moved by it, it was so personal and it made me realize that actually the entire book is prophetic and that the word you just gave is prophetic, that there is this peace that is promised to us. Was that your heart? Was I right to read that into? 20:47 - Speaker 1 it Absolutely. And let me just say that when you say that that made you want to cry, that makes me want to cry, and I'm not much of a crier because, yes, that's what I'm going after, and I'm not much of a crier because, yes, that's what I'm going after Absolutely. I'm going after speaking to someone like you and saying let me prophesy to you this here are the good things God wants for you, even in the middle of a difficult world. Here are the good things that God wants for you, and so I'm, I, I, and so I'm extremely pleased that you received it that way. 21:24 And listen, just to be frank and you, by the way, I've been on a number of podcasts and interviews, alicia you're asking the best questions anyone has asked me, so I'm grateful for the questions that you're asking me and you're getting at the heart of this, and so I don't want to be hyperbolic, but as I'm writing, I feel the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and I particularly felt that this is my fourth published book and this is the second book I've. It's called the Lord Bless you, a 28-day journey to experience God's extravagant blessings. This, of course, is the Lord, give you Peace, and I particularly just felt the Holy Spirit just kind of riding through me, of writing through me, and for someone like you, you know, and the book just came out last week, so so, uh, you know I'm I'm just now starting to get feedback and for someone like you to receive it that way is is everything that I hoped for. 22:34 - Speaker 4 Thank you. Thank you, pastor Terry. Now I imagine that some of the pastors and ministry leaders who will be listening to this conversation they'll be wondering how they can use this with their churches and their people. I wonder if you have any advice about how they might take their people through it thank you for asking me that question, because I don't even think you're aware of this. 23:00 - Speaker 1 But our church, the Life Christian Church in West Orange, new Jersey, we have put together a full sermon kit around the Lord Give you Peace and during the Lenten season there are a number of churches that are going to be preaching this in their churches and leading their congregations through the book as a devotional reading. So in case I forget to say it, this can be found at terryasmithcom and if someone has trouble finding it, just reach out to me at the Life Christian Church and we'll help them find it. But we've written sermons around it. So the idea is that a pastor preaches a sermon on one of the sections of the book. The first sermon is on the introduction and then the book is organized in four sections, or four weeks, and seven chapters, or seven days a week. The pastor preaches the sermon on Sunday and then the congregants read it, do the daily readings each week in a way that supports what the pastor preached. They, hopefully they. 24:06 You know we've written small group discussion guides. We have a, we've written an original song, we've got creative packages, we've produced videos, we have promotional and branding materials. We have everything that someone could possibly think of. That might be an exaggeration, but everything we could possibly think of to serve a church, and all of that's free of charge. It's all free of charge. Of course, obviously I hope and the publisher hopes even more that people will purchase books and either sell them or give them to their congregants. And the other thing is, my publisher is very invested in this and they make the book available for churches that are doing this at severe discounts. If a church organization orders more than 100, for instance, they offered it 50% off. So the idea is to get the message in the book in as many people's hands as possible so that this message can impact people the way you're describing it impacting you, alicia. 25:13 - Speaker 4 Pastor Terry is all in on Shalom. 25:15 - Speaker 1 A hundred percent, I sure am. 25:17 - Speaker 2 Terry is all in on Shalom, a hundred percent, I sure am. You know, pastor Terry. I mean you don't have to get much past the endorsements for not only this book but your books to realize that God has anointed you in a very unique way to minister to incredibly influential people. And your call although as a local pastor in West Orange and I've had the privilege of preaching in your pulpit and being part and seeing that, which has been amazing, from a former bowling alley to temporary space on the top of that hill to now, what is the Life Christian Church, and it's just absolutely amazing You're influencing even broader. You're influencing even broader and I would say that one of the groups most likely to almost give themselves an excuse for not having the sh Sabbath, you know we minister on Sunday. 26:18 I can't, you know I got too many people, cities like ours in the New York metro area, too many people, not enough money. You know there's no way. You know. You know, remember the disciples didn't even eat. So you know, I've heard that my whole ministry career. Pastor Terry, how do you, when you speak to leaders about leading out of a place of peace, leaders who are pastoring out of a place of shalom, how would you tweak the message for them and encourage and challenge that group? Because Faithly is a platform for ministry leaders and pastors and from all over that are coming together on it. Speak directly to that audience. 27:04 - Speaker 1 Yeah, so first of all, I think your observation is absolutely correct, adam, and obviously the two of us did not listen to the whole thing about the disciples not eating two of us did not listen to the whole thing about the disciples not eating. I prefer the feast at Cana. 27:24 - Speaker 2 analogy the lamb's feast in Revelation. It's the reason why the church in Rome was the one the Italians, he said. The kingdom of God is not food and drink. So yes, I get it. That's very good. 27:37 - Speaker 1 But here's the deal. So I had the privilege of preaching at the pastor's prayer Summit a few weeks ago, as you mentioned, alicia, and so I introduced this concept of shalom. But the thing that I felt most strongly was a specific word for that group of pastors and leaders was I had a point called. As simple as it is, take this personally, because we're always thinking about the peace that we hope to bring someplace else or to someone else, but I think that we need to be paying attention and cultivating our own shalom much, much more. And one way I got at this in that particular talk was that great passage in Jeremiah 29, where Jeremiah says to the people in Babylon he says pray for the shalom of the city, the peace of the city, because he says a few a little bit later if it shaloms, you will shalom. Or if it most translations say if it prospers, you will prosper. That word's coming from shalom. 28:42 Other translations say if it thrives, you'll thrive, if you have well-being, if it has well-being, you will have well-being. And I would simply say this, as most of us are getting up every day to try to bring shalom to our cities, to bring shalom to our cities, we need to understand that God says to us as you bring shalom to your city, I'm bringing shalom to you. It's not just a mission that we're on, it's an experience God wants to give us, and so we should expect a mutual shaloming. The thing we've been called to is prospering and we're prospering. The thing that we've been called to is thriving and we're thriving, and we need to not feel bad to go on a quest for our own personal shalom. 29:39 - Speaker 4 Wow. 29:40 - Speaker 2 It's not a mission, it's about experiencing it. That was excellent. 29:46 - Speaker 4 I also really loved a mutual shaloming. Do you think that translates back into Hebrew? 29:51 - Speaker 2 I don't know. 29:54 - Speaker 1 I use the word pretty loosely at times. 29:58 - Speaker 4 Pastor Terry, you're all in on Shalom. Maybe I'll leave it with this question. You didn't say this, but I sensed that this could perhaps be the second in a series of big topics, big prophetic topics that might be rumbling around within you. I'm just I'm wondering if you can share with us and share with our audience if there are other things that you know you're pondering right now. 30:28 - Speaker 1 Well, I probably shouldn't answer that directly because my publisher never wants me to give away the name of a book, but but it's, it's actually pretty obvious away the name of a book, but it's actually pretty obvious and I haven't signed a deal for this yet, but it is being discussed. To do the Lord be gracious to you and I just did a series last fall here at the Life Christian Church on grace and I'm not in a hurry to write this next book. You know, doing a book is challenging on a number of levels, but I very much have a grace message in my heart and would like to have the opportunity at some point to write the third part of this trilogy based on the priestly prayer, and I'd like for it to be. You know, the Lord bless you, the Lord give you peace and the Lord be gracious to you. 31:25 - Speaker 4 Amen, Amen. Well, we can't wait for the opportunity to talk to you if and when that book comes out. Pastor Terry. 31:35 - Speaker 1 I appreciate it a lot. 31:39 - Speaker 4 Well, thank you so much for your time. It really has been just such a joy to get to talk to you and to get to ask you questions about your book, and I can't wait to finish the book. As I said before we started recording, I didn't want to rush through this one. I really wanted to take it slow. So I look forward to the rest of my journey into Shalom. 31:57 - Speaker 1 Means a lot to me. Thank you, I appreciate what you guys are doing. Adam, you're my friend for many, many years. Many, years. You've been a major leader in the New York City metropolitan area. I love you, love your family, alicia, it's great to get to know you. I'm excited about Faithfully and what you guys are doing, what he's put in your heart, and look forward to participating in that in future times. Thank you. 32:24 - Speaker 2 Thank you, pastor Terry, appreciate you. 32:27 - Speaker 3 Thank you for tuning in to the Faithly Stories podcast. We pray this episode gave you the encouragement you needed to continue on your journey. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. The Faithly digital platform offers innovative and practical tools and resources to enhance connection, foster collaboration and promote growth within the church and ministry space. Remember to subscribe, rate and review our podcast to help reach more listeners like you. Stay tuned for more uplifting tales from the frontlines of ministry on the Faithly Podcast. Stay bold, stay faithful and never underestimate the power of your own story.