No Sanity Required
No Sanity Required is a weekly podcast hosted by Brody Holloway and Snowbird Outfitters. Each week, we engage culture and personal stories with a Gospel-driven perspective. Our mission is to equip the Church to pierce the darkness with the light of Christ by sharing the vision, ideas, and passions God has used to carry us through 26 years of student ministry. Find more content at swoutfitters.com.
No Sanity Required
A Message to Our Staff | No One Drifts Toward Holiness
In this special behind-the-scenes episode, Brody shares a message to our summer staff emphasizing the importance of encouragement in ministry and they danger of drifting. Many start strong but drift from faith over time—why? Brody unpacks the role of proven leadership and the daily practice of confirming your calling as keys to lasting faith.
Drawing from 2 Peter 1:10, he explores how small, consistent steps guard against spiritual decline. Whether you're on staff or leading behind the scenes, this episode offers practical wisdom for staying faithful and finishing strong.
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The following content is from Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters, a gospel-driven high adventure camp in western North Carolina. Go to SWOutfitterscom to learn more about our camps and conferences. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 2:In all the years that we've been here doing this there's been a lot of people have come through and served and been on staff here and been on staff here and probably the person I talk to the most about this is Harry McSween because of the position he's held through the years. But a lot of people, sadly, have walked away from the faith after they served here. And when I say a lot of people, I don't mean like a majority of people, say a lot of people, I don't mean like a majority of people. But it's pretty staggering and statistically, in a room with this many people in it, statistically some of you are going to turn away, some of you are going to fade away, fall away. God forbid that some of you might turn away, forbid that some of you might turn away. And so week eight, going into week eight of summer, I always try to give some word of encouragement that will help you finish well, so that you can transition well, so that you can start well in the next season of life, and I think it's important. Transitional periods are very important and as we transition out of the summer you want to end with a lot of momentum and then when you start your next season of life. If you're, if you're coming back here and you're going to be in the Institute, we're going to help you own ramp really aggressively and we're going to hold uh, we going to hold, we're going to sort of hold the line for you and help get you up to speed. But for a lot of you, you're going to leave here and you're going to go home or you're going to go to school and it's going to be very critical. It's going to be imperative that you get plugged in somewhere where discipleship is Look for good and proven leadership. I would encourage you to do that.
Speaker 2:I almost I'm not going to teach on this this morning, but I was looking back through some of my notes and I came across something that I had just journaled and written a couple years ago leadership strategies for our team managers, community group leaders, fire team leaders, etc. And I had put down three principles. And I will just tell you I don't read leadership books. I just I don't enjoy them. Most of them are pretty cheesy. Either it's principles from combat and I've never been to combat, I don't know. I just, but I don't. I'm not critical of people reading them, I just don't read them. I think for me it works practically now, at this stage in my life, to draw. I'm 53. I'm not going to read what a 30 year old army or Navy SEAL guy has to say.
Speaker 2:I'd rather look to people like John MacArthur, who's dying today. Did y'all know that? Have y'all heard that? If some of you maybe have been impressed or imprinted by his ministry? But John MacArthur is one of the first guys I listened to on the radio when I first became a Christian and they've called his family and I saw that at his church yesterday. They're preparing the church for him to go to be with the Lord. But when it comes to leadership, you can find some 30 yearold dudes that are all fired up and excited because they've read all the books and they've been to the class and they've done the thing. And here's the thing look for people that have been faithful for a long, long time, a long time. There's a misconception and, I think, a misappropriation that a lot of young people struggle with, and that is, they don't appreciate what older people bring to the table. So when you transition into this next season of life, I encourage you to look for ministries and ministry leaders that are established and have proven themselves. You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:I jotted down these three things. I want to read them to you. There are levels and layers to being in leadership in general and being an effective leader in particular. So three different levels of leadership that I think about. One is a person who is simply assigned to lead. This is a position in an organization that is hired or that is inherited because you're the next person in line. A lot of times that's what you see happen, like in the military or in some corporate structures. It's like a person retires and if you've been there long enough, you're going to be the next person in line. This is the most basic form of leadership. It can also be the most underwhelming form of leadership. People may or may not respect you as a person and as a leader, but they must respect the position you hold.
Speaker 2:The second type of leadership is leadership that is earned and or granted leadership. This occurs when the respective peers and those in or under your command or department look to you with respect and trust that you have earned from them. When leadership is earned this way, people will work for you even when they don't have an obligation to. This type and level of leadership is driven by relationship, shared experiences, time spent together. Oftentimes, people who have caring personalities or dynamic and charismatic personalities will win folks over this way. Level two leaders aren't necessarily naturally gifted leaders.
Speaker 2:But then the third one, and this is the one I want to point you to as you head off to school or whatever's next for you as you leave here. The third one is what I've written down as proven leadership. This requires that you lead well over a long period of time. Most natural leaders get here more quickly, but typically you need to be around long enough to be proven. A proven leader is proven because they've been around for a long time. This means they've weathered some storms. It means they've had some people turn on them. It means they've had some people talk bad about them, but they're still here. It means they maybe survived a church split or a ministry fragmentation or some bad press, but they're still here and they're still faithfully serving as well Some longer seasons of hardship, financial recessions, major turnover in key positions. Maybe they've had to fire people who were in positions of influence that then soured others against them. Maybe they've survived COVID or an IRS audit or staff conflict. Look for proven leadership. So I just I wanted to share that with you because I think one of the things that's important as you leave here and go to what's next, it's easy to go follow charismatic people Y'all with me, especially in your age demographic Someone that's really charismatic and really pulls and draws a following. But I'm telling you something if somebody's been faithful for a long period of time and they've survived some stuff, they're closer to being proven as a leader and those ministries are closer to being established as a ministry.
Speaker 2:There's a guy his name's Mike Mahaffey and he's sort of semi-retired now. He works for a ministry called Crew. Are y'all familiar with Crew? It used to be called Campus Crusade. Mike Mahaffey is from, I think, santa Clara or Santa Barbara. He's from California and in the late 80s he was working with Campus Crusade and ended up assigned to NC State. Do we have any NC State people? You go to crew, you go to crew, you are Okay. Have you met Mike, because he's kind of retired. Do you know Mike? You know Todd. So Todd, you know the guys that were here during staff training. Todd Smith leads that group of guys and, uh, so Todd is is my age and he's been at campus crusade at NC state for about 30 years. Mike Mahaffey has been there about 40 years.
Speaker 2:Mike's now sort of retired and he's moved into working. He's been at. He's been there long enough that he's now ministering to professors. He has that kind of credibility and I like to use him as an example, because when you meet Mike, he's not charismatic, he's not dynamic, he's not impressive in terms of his personality or his ability to motivate people, but he's been there being faithful for so long that he's one of the only people I know anywhere in all of academia in America who literally has a ministry to college professors at a secular university in a major institution. Pretty cool. Why does he have that? Because he's just been faithful. He's just been faithful. He didn't ride waves, he just stayed faithful, stayed consistent. And so look for ministries where people are proven because they've been there for the long haul. They may not be the most dynamic, but they're proven. I bring that up because I want to talk to you just for the second half of this time, for the next 10 minutes, about how do you stay faithful when you leave, how do you stay the course, not just for the next semester, but for the next 10 years or for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2:There's a in second Peter, chapter one, verse 10,. It says this therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. That sounds like something we're studying, doesn't it? Read it again. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. Woo, that's a controversial word. What do election mean? It means God is sovereign and he saves whoever he pleases. And don't you ever be ashamed of that? Would you ever shrink back from that? The word is the word and it means what it means, and we don't need to make excuses and we don't need to be shy about it. He says make your calling and election, take it diligent and confirm it, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fail. In other words, if you live your life recognizing that Jesus is the author and the perfecter of your faith, he's the one that's doing the work, and you simply confirm it every day, confirm it, confirm it, confirm it. How do we confirm our election? How do we confirm our calling? We get up every day and we just confirm it.
Speaker 2:A lot of times, I think it's easy to look for something supernatural, almost, or like super, super gadgety. Listen, if you wake up tomorrow morning and your feet hit the floor and you say these words Jesus, you are Lord. I will follow you today. I'll do the best I can. I'll repent where it's needed. I'll be faithful as I can. I'll keep my hand to the plow and just be faithful and consistent. Make your election and calling sure. Confirm it every day. So Peter gives us a good word there, and this is at the end of Peter's life. It's a really good word. Confirm, be the more diligent to confirm your calling. So he says be diligent. What does that mean? Just be consistent, do it every day, every single day.
Speaker 2:Consistency in the Christian life is critical. Be diligent to confirm your calling and election. So you're diligent to confirm or declare or re-up your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities you'll never fail. Then he says practice them, in other words, live that out. The Bible will use the phrase like live in a manner of life worthy of the calling, or walk in a manner worthy of the calling. Live or walk in a way that honors the Lord.
Speaker 2:And then, 2 Peter 1.19, just a few verses later, he says we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. So it's this idea of confirming and confirmation and making your calling something that you confirm daily, that Jesus is Lord and that he's called you to follow Him, that he's called you to walk with Him, that he's been clear to you and I through His Word. He doesn't make it confusing and so if we do that, I think it protects us from three things. If you're every day confirming your election, confirming your calling, other than I'm going to give you three things, but other than it mitigates doubt. So let's make that a fourth thing. It wasn't in my notes. It mitigates doubt because you're going to wrestle with doubt. You're going to doubt a fourth thing. It wasn't in my notes. It mitigates doubt because you're going to wrestle with doubt. You're going to doubt yourself, you're going to doubt your leaders. That's why I said look for proven leadership. You're going to doubt people, like in the church. You're going to doubt. It's going to happen. So if I confirm my calling every day and I confirm my election or my salvation, I confirm that Jesus is Lord. It's going to mitigate doubt. It's going to reduce the amount of doubt, but then it's going to do three other things that I think are critical, and this goes back to what I started with what we've seen happen with people. It'll keep me from falling away.
Speaker 2:I won't fall away On a day where you're confirming Christ and you wake up and you don't take that day off and you confirm that Jesus is Lord and you look to Jesus as the author of your faith and you put your hand to the plow and you focus on who he is and what he's done. That day you won't fall away, y'all. I'm just telling you. I'm telling you, 100% guaranteed if your eyes are on Jesus, your hand is on the plow, your confession is that he's Lord. You're confirming it. Confirming it, confirming it. That's not the day you're going to fall away. You ain't going to do it. That's not the day you're going to fall away. It's also going to keep you from turning away. That's a little different. One person falls away. Another person just kind of gets tired of it and turns away. It's turn away. I've tried the Christianity thing. I've tried the ministry thing. I've tried, you know, I've worked at SLO for the summer. It's good, but now I'm going to turn away and try something else, and then the third thing it'll keep you from is indifference.
Speaker 2:Indifference it's where you just quit caring. Apathy so what we're talking about is apostasy and apathy. Apostasy the person that turns away from the faith that they once professed and they just turn away from that and they now reject it. That's bad. That person is is most likely bound for destruction. Or apathy, which probably affects more people. You just quit caring. You quit caring about your own sin. You quit caring about the hurting people around you. You quit caring about the lost and dying neighbor or the person across the street or the person you work with.
Speaker 2:Don't stop caring. Y'all Listen to me, look at me. Don't stop caring about people who don't know Jesus. Look at me. Don't stop caring about people who don't know Jesus. Don't stop caring about people who are hurting. Don't stop caring that God has put you in their life for a reason. If you do that, you will not fall away. Turn away, walk away and you definitely won't grow indifferent. You definitely won't grow indifferent If we'll be serious about ministry to others, if I'll care more about people than I care about myself and I'll pour my life into them for the sake of the gospel, it'll keep me from falling away. Now, if I do that, what it's going to do is it's going to keep me from drifting. Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 1, says therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it.
Speaker 2:Writer of Hebrews. He does this a lot, where he'll say we need to learn from something we just talked about. He takes exposition and leads that to exhortation. So he takes the exposition of Hebrews 1 and it becomes exhortation in chapter 2. He's saying that, based on the rich theology that we unpacked in Hebrews, chapter 1, there's an appropriate reaction. The author of the text is introducing us to one of the warning passages of the book of Hebrews. Based on what he's told us about who Jesus is in chapter 1, he enters into a warning Based on the truth outlined in chapter 1.
Speaker 2:Jesus is, in Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 2, the final prophet through whom God has spoken. Number two also in verse 2 and in verse 10, he's the creator through whom God has spoken. Also in verse 2, he's the heir of all things. In Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 3, he's the exact representation of God's glory. Verse 3 and verse 10, he's the upholder of all things, verse 3,. He's the priest who provided purification for all things. How did he do this?
Speaker 2:At the cross. The cross provides us with the only way to be saved. Therefore, it's the only message of salvation to a dying world. The cross shows that we need a Savior because it reveals our sin. The cross provides us the answer to all of God's promises. We surrender to the power of the cross and we proclaim the victory of the cross. Because of the cross, jesus is seated at the right hand in victory, right hand of the Father.
Speaker 2:And then last Hebrews, chapter 1 1, verses 1 through 4, and verses 8 and 9,. He's the King of kings who has sat down at the place of honor. Think about Friday night when we talk about Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. So, based on those things, those seven things, how do I confirm my calling? How do I confirm my election? Declare these seven things about Jesus.
Speaker 2:Don't drift from that. Everyone who drifts away. Where they loosen their grip is on the person and work of Jesus. That's where they loosen their grip. It could be that they stop clinging to the word of God as inerrant and infallible and authoritative, but they loosen their grip on Jesus and suddenly Jesus is a life coach or a self-helper, a great example of how to live our lives, or something other than these seven things the final prophet, the creator, the heir of all things, the representation of God's glory, god's glory revealed to us, the upholder of all things, the final priest, our great high priest and the king of kings. If you confess and proclaim those things about Jesus every single day, you're going to be just fine. And here's what he says in Hebrews, chapter two, verse one pay close attention to what we've heard.
Speaker 2:It's easy to read and learn about the Bible in an informative way. It's easy to have emotional appeal during corporate worship. It's critical that we grow in our knowledge of the scripture, but that we also submit to what we learn and strive to understand. The word of God will shape who you are and how you see God. But as we enter into the warning, we're being challenged to consider and examine deeply the person and work of Jesus. We're to fix our eyes on Jesus. We're to be reminded of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. We're to look to the cross. We're to look to the tomb. We're to be reminded of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. We're to look to the cross, we're to look to the tomb, we're to look to the throne, we're to look ahead to the kingdom. The work of Jesus is finished and complete and providing salvation, and we have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus so that we don't drift away. It's an important principle and it's this. It's an important principle and it's this no one ever drifts towards jesus, no one ever drifts toward holiness. That's from macarthur. So let's consider five things we'll be done. These are very quick, these will go very quick the causes, patterns and effects of drifting.
Speaker 2:Let me give you the causes, patterns and effects of drifting. Number one is just simply what we see there in Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 1. It's the first warning passage in Hebrews, and that is just the word drift. What does it mean to drift? We drift when we stop paying attention to God's Word. That's why he says therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we've heard, god's word, and specifically what it teaches about the person and work of Jesus. We drift and we stop paying attention to the word of God. We become careless. There's a constant applied pressure and if we're left, if we leave it unaddressed, we will simply drift.
Speaker 2:Number two that'll lead to doubt, doubt. Hebrews, chapter 3, verse 12. It says take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. We doubt when we begin to compromise and avoid the word of God. Hebrews, chapter 3 and verse 12. So we start to drift by not holding to and paying attention to the word of God. And if we don't pay attention to the word of God, that will lead us to do one of two things avoid the scripture altogether or compromise the scripture and try to make it mean something it doesn't mean. When that happens, we're beginning to not only drift but we're beginning to doubt. And I don't mean doubting my salvation or wrestling with anxiousness, I mean doubting the sovereignty of God, doubting the deity of Christ, doubting the person and work of Jesus, doubting the security of the believer.
Speaker 2:And when we begin to compromise and avoid the word of God, it leads to the third thing, which is we grow dull. We grow dull. Hebrews, chapter five, verse 11, it says this about this we have much to say and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing the title of that section in Hebrews five is a warning against apostasy. Apostasy simply means quitting the faith, recanting my belief and my confession and turning away. And he says that starts with a dullness where we become dull of hearing, we become calloused and we abandon the word of God. So we stop paying attention, we drift, we begin to compromise and avoid the word of God, we doubt, then we grow calloused and then we abandon the Word of God. And that leads to the fourth thing we drop out. We drop out, we bow out, we quit, we cut off fellowship, we cut off relationship with people who we know will hold us accountable to the Word of God. The effect of this is very broad and all-encompassing. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25, says don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is. Don't drop out of fellowship and community, because when that happens it leads to the fifth and final thing, which is we become defiant, become angry at the Word, angry at those who represent it.
Speaker 2:I've seen this happen a lot and it's interesting to me because I think there's things that I simply don't believe in and I'm not mad about it, you know, I don't. I don't believe in fairy tales, I'm not upset. There was a black Panther movie playing at my house this weekend and I come in there and I watched 10 or 15 minutes of it. I wasn't mad at the villain, why? Because it's make-believe. I'm not mad at make-believe I'm not angry at.
Speaker 2:But you know what makes me angry? The deception of Islam, the deception of the Mormon church, where people say, oh, we're Mormons and it's a Christian organization, it's a Christian denomination, it's not. It's not a Christian denomination. We talked about this in Element on Thursday in our Thursday morning Element session, where they don't believe what we believe, because they reject the deity and past eternality of Jesus. You cannot reject that and hold to Jesus' claims of who. He is right, you understand that, and so I get angry about that. I'm angry that the devil is using the mouthpieces of false teachers and organizations and mass movements to lead people astray. But I'm not mad at things I don't believe in that are make-believe.
Speaker 2:So why is it that people that drift and then doubt and then grow dull and then become eventually they drop out and become very defined. Why do they hate us so bad? Because they know that what we represent is truth, because they've stood with us in the light. And when you leave the light and go back into the darkness. The light is simply offensive. So they hate you, they hate me. They'll talk about us. Don't go down that path.
Speaker 2:Be warned against drifting, because the chain of events that drifting starts will lead you dangerously close to apostasy, where you are now defiant towards the very gospel you once proclaimed. You spend 10 weeks proclaiming this gospel. Can you imagine a time in your life where you would be standing in the darkness, hating the light, talking about those that represent it? There's a reason he warns us against this Lest we go down that path, lest we drift. That's why, in chapter 2, verse 1, he says pay careful attention lest you drift, because drifting always leads to something more severe, and so we got to pay attention. So how do we address it? How do we respond? Well, it's simple Don't start drifting, don't start drifting.
Speaker 2:Pay closer attention to Jesus and go back to second Peter, chapter one, verse 10. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities, you will never fail. How do we not do it? Hebrews two,1, we pay attention to what To? Hebrews, chapter 1, the person and work of Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Speaker 2:In 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 10, confirm your calling, confirm your declaration, confirm your election right. Do those things and you will not fall away, drift away, walk away, turn away. You will not grow apostate and you will not grow apathetic and when you struggle with doubt you'll constantly be turning back. Listen, there's days where you're going to struggle, but just live in the light. Confess that Jesus is Lord, make your calling and election sure, confirm it, proclaim it. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
Speaker 2:And you're 20 years old right now. You're 16 years old right now. You're 24 years old right now. You can still be faithful. When you're 53 years old, when you're 73 years old If God lets you live to be 85, you can still be faithful. That's a thing. You can be one day, that proven leader that others look to and are inspired by, because you've held your hand to the plow and you've gripped it firm to the end.
Speaker 2:Amen, all right. It's a warning for us and I hope you'll take it to heart. That's my prayer for you, lord. I pray that on this day, as we look at another opportunity for ministry, a day where students will arrive here, by your good grace and your sovereign calling, they're going to come here and we're going to have the opportunity to teach them about Jesus, to open your word, to share things with them that are potentially going to change their lives. God, I believe that there are going to be young men and young women who profess faith in Jesus this week, who go from death to life, from darkness, step right into the light and say, yeah, I want to be in the light now, I want to live here. I don't want to live in the darkness anymore, and you're going to give them ears to hear and eyes to see and you're going to give them a voice of confession. 've got to pray that we would do our part this week. We'd be faithful. You've got to pray over this staff, this team, every man and woman in this room that you'd preserve and protect the faith that you've entrusted to them. That they would make their calling and election sure, that they would confirm it and proclaim it and declare it until you return or call us home. I thank you for their faithfulness. They've been so faithful here this summer. Might they be faithful for the years and decades to come. I pray and I pray that this week, the fruit of ministry that we get to experience would be to you the reward of your suffering and we will rejoice in that and give thanks to have gotten to take part in it that you would have considered us worthy. We're grateful. Pray these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening. We hope this has encouraged you in your walk with Christ. Be sure to give us a rating and review and for more Snowbird content, check out our other podcast. No Sanity Required.
