#105: Pat Linnell: Grace Bomb
Pastor, author, and non-profit leader Pat Linnell wants to get us a little more intentional about kindness. In what he calls Grace Bombs. In our conversation, Pat asserts that each of us is called to get intentional with our kindness and use it as a tool to make disciples.
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EP. 105 Pat Linnell
Tony: Hey everybody. Welcome back to the Reclamation Podcast, where our goal is to help you reclaim good practices for faith and life. This podcast is brought to you by the spirit and truth podcast network. For more information about their ministry, check out their website, spirit and truth.life. Well, guys, today is episode one Oh five of the podcast, and I get to sit down with pastors speaker and nonprofit executive director, Pat Linelle.
Now, Pat has started this brand new movement across the country. All about grace bombs. That's right. Grace bombs. They're intentional acts of love. That involve a small taste of grace. And what I love about a grace bomb is that you kind of drop a grace bomb and it's designed to disrupt the world around it.
It, it really does a tremendous thing and cultivate a kind of a special awareness to the Holy spirit in life. And I think that that's something that we all need desperately. So we have a great conversation. We talk about the Grace Bond movement, the origin story. We talk about breaking the ice with the neighbors.
He shares a ton of stories and he's a phenomenal speaker. You're going to love this episode. If you do love the episode. Please do me a favor, hit the subscribe button wherever you listen to
podcasts, leave us a rating or review, especially on iTunes. It really does help get the word out. And then finally, the best compliment you can give us, share this episode with a friend, let somebody know about grace bombs or somebody who you think could really get into the grace bomb movement.
So super excited for you guys. Super excited for this conversation. I know you're going to love it. I you're going to love Pat and his ministry. Thank you guys so much. And without any further ado, here's my conversation with pastor Pat. Lynnelle. Hey everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm excited to be here today with Pat from Maryland, founder, speaker, author, pastor of grace bomb ministries, Pat, how are you my friend?
Pat: I'm doing great. Waking up to a sunny day here in Maryland. Kids are on virtual school in the other room. So hopefully we don't have any break-ins in the next 40 minutes or so, but I'm feeling good.
Tony: I think kids breaking into podcasts interviews is one of my favorite realities of 2020. And and, and now 2021, cause it doesn't have your kids been virtual the whole time or how's that been going for you guys?
Pat: They've been virtual for a long time. And then just in the past two months, they've been going back two days a week. Okay. And yeah, it is fun. You know, if you're watching something online and the kid interrupts it, it's fun for the viewer, but for the person whose kid it is, you're like, Oh no, that's my worst nightmare.
Tony: You have four kids, right? What are their ages?
Pat: We have two boys and two girls and ages from 13 to seven. So they are first grade. Fourth grade fifth grade and seventh grade.
Tony: I'm curious. What's, COVID taught you about your kids that you didn't know prior.
Pat: Hmm, that's a good question about that. Well, all my kids have really distinct personalities.
And what did COVID teach me that I, that the oldest one and the youngest one need some guidance and direction in getting some work done. And the middle two seem to be cruising and on cruise control. So I don't know if that's something new they taught that COVID taught, but You know, it just focuses your parenting when you have to be around him so much.
I think.
Tony: I think that's a good word because I I've noticed that I've got three kids, the oldest being 15 and the youngest being nine. And it's remarkable to me how different they are in the learning process. And, and so, because I don't often get to see my kids air quotes at work. Yeah. You know, like seeing them at work in this way has reminded me of how different they all are.
Pat: Yeah. Yeah. And that a lot of, a lot of quality family time, but we are rejoicing that school is back in session was two days a week.
Tony: Now, the other thing I learned about you is that you're a pretty fanatic hockey fan. Is that right?
Pat: Well, I'm a hockey player and that tends to, to be kind of like a cult in some circles, because it's, you know, it's kind of a small community.
So if you play hockey, you're kind of all about hockey. So yeah, I grew up here in the Maryland area and the ice rink that I grew up playing in was the practice facility of the Washington caps. And so I'd be leaving. Practice and I'd see the caps walk in. So that was always cool. So you kind of went on an adventure with the home team and the ups and downs and grew to have a Holy hatred of all things, Pittsburgh, you know,
Tony: Hey, listen in Ohio. That resonates deeply. Yeah. I hate the Steelers. I hate the pirates. I mean, I hate the penguins. I just, yeah, nothing good can come out of Pittsburgh as far as I'm concerned.
Pat: Yeah. I mean, bless their heart. They do have some good teams, but wow. Those have been some rivalries over the years, so yeah, there's sort of a running joke around my house that.
Everybody ends up in men's league. So I played, you know, I've played over the years with some professionals, you know, Peter bondra guys, they're like all stars from the caps, but the reality is you hit a certain age and it doesn't matter how many millions you've made or what, what Heights you've reached in your career.
You're going to end up playing men's league just with the rest of them are, you know, just out there for the fun of it, knocking it around. We all end up there. So.
Tony: That sounds like an incredible sermon. Have you ever preached that sermon before?
Pat: No. I've shown a lot of hockey clips during the gap, you know, during a sermon for visuals, but I haven't, I don't think I've shared that little nugget.
Tony: I, you know, I think that there's probably a deep lesson there. Maybe your next book we all end up in men's leagues. You know, it, that could preach.
Pat: Yeah, that's right. Like the, the ground is level at the foot of the men's league.
Tony: What do you think? So I don't think most Americans appreciate hockey now.
We've got the blue jackets here in Ohio. Okay. And the blue jackets like live experiences. One of my favorite sporting events to go to pre COVID, obviously, but they, they just do it really well. What. What do you think if you could be a hockey evangelists for just a moment, what do you think people need to know about hockey in order to appreciate it more,
Pat: That take all of your favorite sports combined and put them on a sheet of ice and it's hockey.
I mean, in so many ways, that's a great way to say that. I mean, Docker basketball, the flow, the transitions. Baseball, the hand-eye coordination, but you're doing it with this tiny little puck on a sheet of ice, balanced on skates. And there's so many technical and refined things that happened in the sport of hockey.
It does have this kind of. Covering of, Oh, these goons go out there and fight. And it's just a bunch of guys knocking their teeth out, but there's, there's a lot of strategy and immense amount of skill. And the speed is what is really mind boggling in this sport. That's why it's so fun to watch live. When you go there live, you realize how fast this game is moving and how this team, if they're working together can really create this fun experience.
So I think I would say that I would say. Hockey players are. And not just because I'm on, but from the experience, you do have to combine a lot of disciplines in various sports and they all sort of come crashing together where you're allowed to crash into one another and still try to play the sport.
Like, could you imagine, I guess it's kind of like lacrosse. Can you imagine soccer? If you could go as fast as you could and. And just deck someone in the middle of no, no.
Tony: I, as a matter of fact, every time I watch a line change in hockey where the guys come in and out, it gives me a little bit of anxiety about going over that little four-foot wall.
Like that feels like it'll happen. It'll happen so fast. They don't stop play to sub players out. And I really as a mostly basketball football, baseball guy, like I really struggle with like, man, it's just. It's just moving so fast.
Pat: Yeah. Yeah. And that's part of the fun of it. Really? Yeah. Okay, the hockey.
Tony: Good. And speaking about things that you enjoy you are now full time. Grace bomb ministries, and a lot of our listeners don't know anything about grace bomb yet. So why don't you do me a favor, paint, a picture of how we got to where we are today. What's the origin story of grace bombs. And then how did you get to a place where now you're doing it?
Full-time as a nonprofit.
Pat: Okay. So a little bit of the origin story. Well, I have been in, in the church world as a, as a pastor for over a decade. And primarily my, my most recent role was teaching pastors. So that basically means I just get to teach the Bible a lot to people and just point people to Jesus.
He is who he claimed to be. And his way of living really is. An awesome way of living. So it's hard to preach and teach the Bible without constantly running into this theme of grace. And you know that all through the pages of both old and new Testament, you see God's grace is unmerited, kindness, and favor, and goodness, just being showered upon humanity.
Even when humanity was clearly like throwing their fist back up at him, his grace breaks in. And when that hits people, it's pretty disruptive. And so I'm also a visual teacher. I tend over the years to have used a lot of props and, you know, videos, anything I could get my hands on to help drive home a point when helpful.
So it was probably wow. Maybe. Maybe 10 years ago, I started to draw these unexploded falling ordinances and putting them up on a screen with hearts in them to, to visualize how God's grace came kind of. Crashing down on people's lives. And I said, Hey, this is a grace bomb. And, and that vernacular kind of stuck and people just kind of gotten used to me saying that phrase.
And, and what happened was, it was my first sabbaticals around 2014, 2015. I thought, man, it'd be cool to write a book. About grace bomb. And just talk about how God's grace is lovingly disruptive and, and can completely wreck a life, but for the good, instead of, for the bad. Yeah. I love that, but you know, I'm more of a, you know, a preacher that an author and I tried writing some and.
Didn't get very far. I maybe wrote a chapter. I thought it was just terrible and put the whole thing on the shelf for two years. So in 2017, my boss and mentor Greg, the lead pastor of my church, he was going to take his sabbatical and he gave me keys to drive. Do whatever I want to do. Over the summer.
And he said, Pat, you should preach grace bomb and take your book project off the shelf and really reboot this thing. Like, let this breathe life back into it. And something really special happened there because God had just brought together the right people at the right place at the right time. And we started to ask the question, how do we help the congregation, every person, regardless of if they're.
Just kind of starting to follow Jesus, or if they've been in the church for a long time, how can we equip them? To grace bomb people in their life. Cause we started to see this very clear, you know, God grace bombs us with love and you turn a life and heck the sun is shining and the rain's falling on the good end evil every day.
His leading edge seems to be kindness. So how do we translate that to us being the light of the world, us being people in Christ who have these good works prepared for us to walk in. How do we tangibly and practically start doing this in a fun and surprising way. And so that's where the grace bomb cards and website were sort of branded and born.
So practically what we did was we taught from the Bible, how were grace built? People meant to grace bomb people. And that comes from Ephesians two 10. You know, the verse that says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has prepared in advance for us. That we should walk in them.
I like to summarize that as we're grace built people, he has rebuilt us. Given us new life, transferred us from darkness to life, by grace, through faith. It's his, it's his unmerited favor. We accept that by faith. But then as believers, we tend to leave out. The we've been created for good works, which he's there for us to walk in.
And I practice, I need help with that. Like I tend to rely on what the church is doing to love my neighborhood, as opposed to how I can walk these things out. So we gave people cards that w that served as like training wheels for the great commission. They were just this way to break the ice with your neighbor.
And we were allowing them to be spirit led. We didn't say what they had to do when they had to do it. We said, Hey, listen. Keep cards on you, stay loaded, be aware of your neighbors. You know, don't keep your head down in your phone when you're out on Monday in the Starbucks line or Tuesday at the soccer sideline, but be aware and then to be listening to the prompting of the spirit, like we are spirit indwelt believers and he can prompt us and nudge us and tug our heart.
To love a neighbor, surprisingly. And we basically said when that happens, be awesome. Drop, surprising grace, anything of your time, treasure, or talent, and to make sure we're pointing this thing back to Jesus and not just perpetuating random acts of kindness. Sure. Drop the grace bomb card on them. And that could either lead them to the website.
If you kind of need to lean on that. Right now, or it could lead to a conversation of what is grace and why, where is this coming from? Because what we really wanted with grace bomb was not just to do kind things for the sake of being kind, but we wanted people to exercise their faith in a way that was awesome and, and felt good, but then pointed people to the source of kindness.
Jesus. And even today's the grace Bob movement travels across the country. We stand out from any other generic kindness movement because we're like, Hey there, this is not random. This is really, we're just being obedient to the Lord who said, we should love our neighbor. That's where it's coming from.
And so that was the sort of the Genesis of grace bomb and people in our congregation went crazy with it. We saw hundreds of stories coming in through the website from people dropping grace bombs or receiving them. Oh, wow. And then as I kind of. Looked my gaze across the church landscape. I realize this is missing from most churches.
Sure. What most churches in the U S right now are doing, and these are good things, but they're oriented around community service projects. They're there. Leadership heavy. They're kind of intense to set up. They require a lot of volunteers and a subtle dependence is created on church leaders to create the opportunities to partner with the organizations, to find the needs.
And that's all good. But we were saying this is a decentralized and spirit led tool that can just begin to really help people, exercise faith, muscles that maybe they haven't exercised before on their own among their neighbors. And so with that, I guess, new burden. The year, the year after we launched it, I formed a nonprofit that now exists to give this tool away for churches as a discipleship tool for their congregation.
And in 2019, I, I took the step of faith with the prompting of my. Faith, adventurous wife to leave behind the amazing and awesome and cozy and secure job that I had worked to attain a large church and hopped into the unknown to see where Jesus wanted to take this thing.
Tony: Wow, dude, that's so incredible.
I love that. I love it. And man, I appreciate your faith. And obedience in that process. There's so many things that I want to talk about in regards to the grace bomb and the process, but I really want to dive in first on this idea. And one of the things that I've noticed as I've looked at your stuff is, is you're really big on the Holy spirit.
And I love to talk about the Holy spirit and the word that you use is sensitivity on the website to develop a sensitivity of the Holy spirit. So, yeah. So let's dive in to there, there first, what does sensitivity to the Holy spirit look like? And if I'm going to work on Tuesday at the air force base, close to my hometown, how do I begin to start to use that?
Pat: To do grace bombs in my community. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, let's jump in on that. So there's when you read the stories that come in. You know, from various parts of the country, there is, there's a common vocabulary, like words kind of keeping repeated things like I was out on Monday and, and God nudged me or tugged on my heart or prompted.
Me in some way. And so there's, there's kind of like this vocabulary. I think what people are trying to describe here is this common experience of the Holy spirit actually bringing or highlighting or illuminating an opportunity that corresponds with the word that he has inspired. And so what we try to do with grace bomb, as we unleash this in churches is actually help people, you know, become more familiar with how.
Holy spirit operates in general, and then we want them to grow in their sensitivity. And that means a couple of things. So let me start with the first part. The first part is how does he operate in general? Yeah, that's what we try to explain is, okay. So we know we, that there's one God. Creator of the heavens and earth and he's existed from eternity past is father, son, and Holy spirit.
And we see that throughout the scriptures, it's described that the Holy spirit was actively involved in the creation of those scriptures. As he, you know, inspired the human authors and their faculties to essentially write what God wanted to be written down, this kind of inspiration of the scripture.
And then we see the after. You know, Jesus, his death, burial, and resurrection in acts. Now the Holy spirit comes permanently to indwell believers in this new season of the church. So you have this person of the Holy spirit in dwelling, you who was actually involved in the inspiration of the scriptures.
And then, you know, the Holy spirit in you kind of. Reacts to the word that you're now working diligently to take in. And so it's kind of on him to aluminate those things, particularly loom to aluminate the commands of Jesus to help us take him seriously. In the moment for the benefit, our neighbors, for our neighbors and for the growth of our own soul.
And so we kind of lay that out, you know, through sermon series and everything, but when you're out and about, and you. You're just among neighbors and you're slowing down enough to be aware. Not to be mystical or like, you know, Spiderman getting a spidey sense. But I feel like you just sort of get this burden where you kind of feel like this is a great moment, a great opportunity.
Something stood out about that person or that situation, or a need presented itself where I thought, wow, this is clearly a way that I can be the light of the world. I feel like when those things hit you. In that way, I would say nine times out of 10, it's probably the S the spirit starting to activate.
Obedience and prompting you to take that step of faith. But as Paul says, you know, these are good works that God's prepared in advanced, and we should walk in them like the Holy Spirit's not going to force you to do something awesome for your neighbor per se. Sure. But he certainly could stir your heart and growing in sensitivity to that could mean different things to different people.
But what we address actually in the beginning of introducing grace bomb is a little bit of it's a little bit personal and pastoral. Cause we, we explore some areas that we might be quenching the Holy spirit. And you know, my contention is if. If you're trying to like follow the Spirit's leading on the right hand, but you're sorta quenching him.
No you know, knowingly or unknowingly with the left. It's hard to do. And so how do we kind of remove some of the things and our heart and our soul that might be hindering our relationship with Jesus that might be, you know, sort of. Downplaying this what the Holy Spirit's trying to do in our life. We need to address that.
So we can hear clearly from him when it comes to now our opportunities to be lovers of our neighbors.
Tony: Okay. So let me ask you this. Well, give me an example of what quenching the Holy spirit. Cause I, I imagine that there's somebody listening right now. Who's quenching the Holy spirit that doesn't even doesn't even know it.
Right? Like I, I would assume. That that happens all the time that we peel are just, you know, I'm just doing my life. I'm not, I don't mean to quench the Holy spirit. I want the Holy spirit, but yet, you know, it's just such unknown. What are we doing? What are, what are things that you're seeing that people do to quench the Holy spirit?
Pat: Well, I think I could, I'll give you an example from my life. If I were to try to like define it, maybe I'll put a definition to it first. Like if. If you have understood the clear expressed will of God through the scriptures. And there's obviously something in your life that is, you know, not cool it with what he's clearly sad.
You're quite saying the spirit, the spirit, those scriptures, and wants you to be obedient so that you can have life and life to the full you're kind of like stuffing him down because you're choosing not to. Take that step of faith that God has to say on that particular matter will, will really be better for you.
And so in a lot of ways thin, right? It's kind of sin. It is, it is. Well, yeah, that's the biblical word for it is sin. So, so for instance there is a particular instance in my life. It was a few years back. The backstory is Kristin and I flipped a house and we really worried, we we're still married raise guy.
It's still alive, but Oh my goodness. If you get to see him, this thing probably should have been bulldozed, but we turned it around and. And, you know, there is, there's plenty of stories to, to fill pages and pages of this, this house, but we finally got this thing on the market and man did I want to offload it, but during the inspection and we had a great offer and you know, you have to go through inspection.
Right? Of course. Yeah. One of the basement walls was Boeing. And I was like, Oh, this is the worst thing ever, because this is a foundation issue. Nobody's going to want to mess with this. It's an older house. I don't know what the remedy is. So I had about 48 hours before the buyer's agent was going to send a legit foundation structural engineer.
To, to examine what's what the deal is. Okay. So I know the Bible, I know I'm supposed to be honest and, but I was also very afraid that this deal was going to fall through. And I felt like, ah, it's not that big of a deal. Like it's not that big of a Boeing wall. It's not that I truly believed in my heart.
It wasn't a safety issue. Right. But clearly God doesn't want me to lie. And so in a very bold and brash move of quenching the Holy spirit in the moment I went to home Depot and I erected a little wall to block or to at least draw attention away from this belling wall. There you go. So that was clear disobedience, bro.
And I went to bed at night thinking. Or, or praying like Lord dearly care that I, I put that up and, you know, lo and behold, I was not settled in my spirit because I kind of, he was saying, absolutely, it's not right. You know what you're doing? And in fear, you're being dishonest to the inspector. You're being dishonest to people might buy the house.
So I was like, okay. I said, Lord, if this is a big deal, the next morning I'm driving. On the highway and I'm praying out loud. I think I said, Jesus, this is a really big deal. Just let me know. And no kidding. As soon as I said that prayer a white Honda civic drove by with no conspiracy conspicuous markings at all, except a bumper sticker that said six 66.
And I was like, okay, all right. That's a sign, which I received, but I did not act upon still quenching the spirit and long story short. The Lord actually gave me two other very clear, bold answers to prayer, but it took another 24 hours too, before I did the right thing and took that wall down maybe an hour before the inspector came.
So he could, you know, just legitimately examine it. So that was, you know like Two day period, where I was absolutely quenching the spirit and was I able to be loving my neighbor? Was I able to be sharing, you know, the light of the world? Absolutely not. I was so caught up in my fear and in my, in my life and in my drama, like the, my neighbor was the last thing from my mind.
And in fact, I was discrediting a neighbor that I've never even met in the people that were going to buy the house. If I were passing on to them, some lemon, all the while I had this, you know, knowing of the scripture and this burden on my heart that I should be doing the right thing, but I'm not. And it's those kinds of walls, you know, metaphorically that we put up between us and Jesus, ultimately, because we're not really trusting him to take care of the problem on the other side of the wall.
But when we do that, We need a demo day. Like we need to take those walls down or to use church speak. We need to confess and repent of some things we know are not cool with Jesus and in doing so walk rightly with him, experience the joy. Of that obedience. And then I feel like when we're in that place, we're so much better able to be aware of a neighbor's need and to surprise them in love and to point them to Jesus.
And so I think what I'm, I, that's kind of the, just at least one example from my life in what it can look like to quench the Holy.
Tony: No, I appreciate that. Real quick. Did, did the foundation guy say you had to redo the wall? Yep.
Pat: Dang it, but it turned out not to be as crazy as I thought, because what they do is, and for any construction folks out there, it's a cinder block wall.
Okay. And they don't have to like dig out the house or anything. They put holes, they with a sledgehammer in the cinder block, in a vertical pattern, they put rebar inside of the holes, into the hollow space and then they back fill it with concrete. And that was it. That was it. Okay. I was like, if I knew that was the way that the Lord was going to solve the issue, I maybe wouldn't have been disobedient, but we don't always know how the Lord is going to work things out.
And so the step of faith for us is just to trust what he's saying. And experienced the joy. That's going to follow that obedience and leave the outcome into his hands. Yeah.
Tony: I liked the way you said that earlier, right? Activate obedience. And I liked the idea of activation because it, it's kind of like, Hey, I'm going to start here, but that's, that's, I'm only going to continue to grow in it.
So what are some of the practical things that we can do to activate our obedience so that we can, you know, all of this is leading to. Actually dropping grace bombs, but how do we activate that level of obedience?
Pat: Well, I just feel like people need to start very small because, you know, I can get up and I can wax eloquently on a Sunday morning about the great commission, make disciples from here to the nations and people are like, Good sermon, pastor, you know, that's great, but I feel like we just need to start so small and steps of obedience because for a lot of church folks, The core muscles of our faith may not have really ever been exercised yet.
And so I would say activate obedience by starting small and start with the little things and maybe for somebody that's, you know what, I don't really pray a lot. I'm going to start there or I don't really read the Bible on my own. I'm going to start there. And then when I start doing that, when I see Jesus saying some certain things, like just dip my toe.
Okay
for a congregation because you know, the great commission sort of this big lofty thing. But before we get to Matthew 28, you sort of get to Matthew 22. Okay. Love God love people. And I'm going to I'm under the impression that if I can just start loving people, I'm putting myself on the road to get to Matthew 28 at some point.
And. You know, I had mentioned how, like these cards sort of act as training wheels just to help people break the ice because the fact of the matter is bringing Jesus up in public and taking a step of obedience in that direction to activate your faith among people and sort of put yourself out there.
That is so scary. Yeah. Like it's a lot harder to do. I mean, when you run in church circles with your church friends, yeah. You can talk shop all day, but with your neighbor across the street, who does not care a lick about your faith? Like how do you break the ice there? So I say start small, and that's why I love introducing grace bottom to churches because we give them creative ideas and ways to do fun and exciting things that help them step out and start to activate.
Obedience to Jesus.
Tony: Let's get practical here. Like somebody is like, man, I love what you're saying. I'm ready to do some of that in my life. What are some of like what are some of the practical, nitty gritty, fun things that people can do to, to break the ice with the neighbors? Because I love that neighborhood centric idea of
Pat: grace Bombs.
Yeah. And really this works best. In your circles, like in your everyday walk of life, don't go far to try to find neighbor to love, because the reality is they're all around you. Like these are, you know, they're divine appointments just laid out in your life. If we sort of have the eyes to see them. And so I'll give you a few examples.
In fact, I can even share a story that encapsulates a few examples. I love it. But so I don't, but, so I don't forget if you're listening. The grace bomb, social media, either Facebook or Instagram and you can find those through the website. All we really try to do with our social media is share the stories from what is happening.
Cause I feel like the best way to spur one another onto love and good works.
Right.
Tony: And we'll link to those in the show notes, for sure. For sure.
Pat: She's nine now. But so this is, this is a little dated, but I like it because it shows some variety here. She wanted to go out on a daddy daughter date one night and I was like, Oh cool. That'd be fun. And so we went to McDonald's and on the way into McDonald's she sort of instigates, she says, dad, we should grace bomb somebody.
I'm like, okay. So I look cool. So I want to fan that little flame of neighbor loving. I had three grace bomb cards in my backpack. I put them in my pocket and so very practically the first grace bomb we, we dropped was for two elderly women who were coming into McDonald's. And so what that looked like practically was they were actually in their car.
And we saw them starting to go towards the drive-through. So we, we had already eaten, but then we got back in the drive-thru so that we can be in front of them and we got to the cashier and we said, Hey, can we pay for the two ladies behind us? And they're like, yeah. So you kind of have to involve the cashier and.
We said. And so when those ladies get to the checkout, instead of giving them their bill and asked for their money, just hand them a grace bomb card. And can you tell them they've been grace bombed and so a lot of people need to start here and you may have heard that cause some like radio stations will do things like this drive through difference kind of thing.
Yeah. This is the anonymous kind of grace bomb that a lot of people just need to dip their toe in the water and start to imagine what that person must have felt and how and how, you know, it just felt good to do something in that manner. So that's sort of like the anonymous category of, of grace bombing, but then.
Scarlet was going to get dropped off at Awana. It's like a midweek Bible camp for kids. And she said, dad, I really want a grace bomb. My, my Awana teacher personally, I was like, okay, Scarlet. So you're going to have to deliver this. You're gonna have to be face-to-face. And so we brainstormed and we went to Starbucks and got a gift card and a cake pop and she got it all ready and, and had the little grace bomb card.
And she was on her own sent in to. You know, surprise her teacher with this fun thing. And this is where grace bombing gets a little bit more relational. So the commonality here with the grace bomb is it's surprising. It's not expected. It's, it's not because it's your birthday or a holiday or a graduation, or there's an acute need.
You really are trying to be as. Oh,
That night with one last grace bomb card in my pocket, and God did something really cool through it. Scarlet had started, so we dropped the kids off at Awana. Scarlet does her grace bombing adventure and Kristin and I go out for a quick date, quick date night. Yeah, the wings place. And the server comes up to us and says, Oh, the last people who sat outside just walked out.
On the check like that he's ghosted her and laughed. And I looked at Kristen and Kristen looked at me and I was feeling very clearly this tug on my heart. And she was two. It was like, both of us realized this was a, this is going to be a great moment to blast this lady with a little love of Jesus. So when we left, we paid our check, but then we, we left.
An additional amount that would be commensurate to paying another bill. Cause that would have been on her to, to make that checkup. And then we wrote her a note of encouragement and we'd left the grace bomb card and, and we left and it felt great to do that. And as far as we knew, that was the end of the story.
Hmm. But I go back into the wings place maybe a month later. And. I'm in line. And I see the owner of the restaurant, Chad, it's a place called Chad's barbecue in Maryland and he signals I'm in lining these signals to me. He's like, Hey, I know you, I know you. Thanks for what you did for our server. That was so cool.
And so I guess word got out and she had shared. And then his wife, Christie comes up and Christie says the same thing, but then she says, you know, I'm a part of a business network. And I'm always thinking about ways to get people, to think about their neighbors in different ways. And I love this concept of grace.
Would you mind if I share with my business network, like, can I tell them about grace bomb? Can I tell him to get cards? And can I explore this? And then I didn't know if she was a. Believer or follower of Jesus or not. But here I am having a conversation about grace in the middle of it to go line and a restaurant.
And it was super cool, right. It was a super cool. And as far as I knew, that was the end of the story. Fast forward a couple months, I receive a letter in the mail. Or a text message from a friend who got a letter in the mail where Christie, what she did was she gave her whole staff like a $100 bills and sent them to just surprise their neighbors in love.
And they all shared their collective story. And they said, this kind of got us rethinking how we see our neighbors. So they had the shared cool experience, but then Christie put that in a letter and sent it out to her broader network and encouraged. All of those people to try grace bomb and check out grace and look at the website and see where the motivation comes from.
So here, this woman who I've never really met before is perpetuating this conversation about the source of kindness through this tool. And as far as I knew, that was going to be end of the story. Like if the story ended there, I would have high five team. Jesus. Yay. Yeah, absolutely. But it's Palm Sunday. A couple of years back and I'm preaching.
And I look back into the back of the church and I see Christie for the first time ever. And she comes forward after the gathering. And she says, I just want you to know that I found a new church home. She was referring to that to the church. And that I've very recently ended a 20 year silence with God.
And he's been doing things in my life. And when all that grace bomb stuff. Hit my shore. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. And I came to later find out that 20 years prior, she was starting to move towards a church community, but one of the, the young adults was tragically killed in a act of gun violence and it devastated the community.
And it's it kind of sewed these. Dark doubts about God's existence and Christie's mind. And then a few years later, she was married and expecting to have a long, joyful marriage, but then was hit with an unforeseen divorce. And she said that was it. Like I turned from God. I turned from Jesus. I didn't have a conversation.
About any of that for 20 years until about the time that, you know, a little girl ran up to her dad and said, dad, we should grace bomb somebody. And it's like, sometimes you're just being obedient in the moment because the Lord puts something on your heart. But unbeknownst to you, you might be diving deeper into the plans of God for somebody's life.
And we don't always get to see the effects or the outcomes of our step of obedience and something as simple as. Covering somebody else's bill for a server for instance, but, you know, God likes to take things and multiply them for his glory. And, and could you imagine it just people in their everyday walks of life, taking him seriously and all of the amazing outcomes, not only for our.
Communities, but for our hearts, because when I got to see Christy joining a church and being baptized and inviting Scarlet up to the baptismal pool and saying, thank you for doing what you did like that. Has impacted me. Right. And, and Scarlet and Scarlet and scar that day that, that Christie was baptized.
She actually called Scarlet forward and handed her a gift bag. And in the gift bag was a framed poem of the starfish story. Yeah. There's a little kid on the beach throwing out, you know, There's thousands of starfish and can seemingly not make a difference. And the grumpy old guys, like, what are you doing?
You know, you're not going to make a difference in the kid, picks up one and throws it in, made a difference for that one, you know? Yeah. And Christie whispered to Scarlet, Scarlet. I was like a starfish. And you were like that little kid and that is that's Jesus man. That's like the fruit of obedience impacting lives and all the sudden.
You find yourself on the great commission because it's like the starting gate is I have to be aware and mindful. And opening doors with my neighbors. And to be secure in your identity in Christ enough, to give of yourself, to give of your time, to give of your treasure or talent, and to make those investments in your neighbors, that really does require a selflessness, but that ultimately comes from this supernatural fuel supply that we have as followers of Christ.
Like we have so much to give cause in so many ways, we don't have to keep up with the Joneses because we've arrived in so many ways already.
Tony: Oh, what I love about this idea, this movement is that it covers both things that we talk about in the disciple-making kind of continuum. It's, it's relational and it's intentional.
Like it's not that. And you talk a lot about it a lot on your website. It's not just a random act of kindness. It's very intentional. And so the card is kind of that last little piece. On the disruption. Am I, am I understanding that right? That, that the card is like, Hey, it's not just that I did something nice.
Cause you know, that's great, but here's why I did something nice.
Pat: Yeah. Yeah. The card is, it's a, it's just a little handy tool that. For someone who gets grace bombed, if they're interested or intrigued, they can really, all they can do is like, what is this? And then they just go to grace bomb.org and they see that this wasn't a random act of kindness.
It was an intentional act of love, motivated by Jesus. But our intention isn't to just let the grace bombing nation out there rely on the website. Yeah, because the card. It is a conversation starter in and of itself. Sometimes you, you just have to drop in grace bomb and run, and you're not ready to have a conversation, but when you bring up the topic of grace and you become more comfortable in your grace bombing adventures, it allows an open door to, to explain what this is.
And so. You know one of the ways I like to describe this is as you become more comfortable outside of your comfort zone, you sort of become the new front door for your church. You become the gospel track. Like the grace bomb card is not a gospel track that you hand someone. So they can go to the website and hear the gospel.
Although it kind of serves a function in that regard, the point of grace bomb is to help build up your. Core spiritual muscles so that you become the gospel track. So that that relationship is, is strengthened. And you're able to carry more truth across those relational bridges with your neighbors as you grow.
And so that's sort of where we direct and guide and want this thing to end up.
Tony: So, let me ask you this. How has you been living with grace bombs for over a decade now? Right? Like you've been doing this. How has this idea, movement process changed the way you see God?
Pat: Hm. Well, the way I see God, you know, that's an awesome question.
Thank you. I see him as so very. Open and gracious and welcoming to everyone, but that doesn't negate the fact that they also need truth. And so it's helped me to really understand that, you know, Jesus, we see this perfect example that he came full of grace and full of truth. Sometimes I think it's easier to go to one extreme or the other, like we can be all grace and everybody's good.
And you don't really need to know who God is and you don't need to be forgiven by the blood of Christ or whatever. Way over there, but then on the other hand, it can be like, Hey, you guys have everything wrong. You're jerks and idiots and you need to repent right now and get over it because my Bible's coming to wipe across the face.
But somehow like Jesus struck this awesome balance of grace and truth. Yeah. And what I love is to be able to break the ice with grace, you know, it's the kindness of the Lord that leads people to repentance and to allow that grace to wash over people to then. Take the next step of where does it come from and who is he?
And what does this mean for me? And ultimately start to lead them, not to a religion, but to a relationship with the creator. It, because ultimately that's our purpose in this life is to be in a right relationship with our creator, but that's actually impossible to do without grace, because the only way that we can be in a right relationship with our creator is.
To be in a right standing, forgiven redeemed. And that only comes by way of his gift to us revealed in Christ. And so the only way to God is through God and we want to communicate that, but we want to do so in a balance. And so I just kind of Marvel at how God is, is altogether graceful and altogether truth.
And, you know, I want to, I want to pattern my life after that.
Tony: That's incredible, man. And I love your heart for it. I love the language you've got around it. I think it's exactly what our communities need in this next season. So I know my listeners are gonna want to learn more about you. They're gonna wanna know or more about grace bomb ministry.
And I know the website, grace bomb.org, where else can and we're going to link to this socials on here, but what about you and any other future writings or how do they keep up with you and what God's doing in your life as you continue to live with the Grace Bomb movement?
Pat: Yeah. So the impetus to write a book back in 2015 that got shelved came back to life because of the stories from the movement.
And that's where it really became clear that this would be a great resource for people were stories from the movement across the country stories from my life and. God's story all sort of gets woven together in this practical tool of grace bomb. And so by his grace, we actually partnered up with David C.
Cook about 18 months ago. And there is a book coming out or is available or perhaps when you're listening to this will be available. It drops on May 1st. So the book grace bomb, the surprising impact of loving your neighbors. You can definitely get to know me in both my. Some of my successes, but mainly my, my fails in living this life and also just be equipped and inspired to get, get your own grace bomb adventures, rolling, and grow closer to Jesus.
And so that that's one way the book's coming out and that's really the primary way. I, yeah. I'm actually, as far as you know, putting myself out into the world, I'm kind of a little bit shy in that regard, but I love putting grace bomb into the world. And so really you can get connected to me through grace bomb.org.
You can check out the book, it's all linked there. I'm kind of, I'm trying to stay in the shadows as much as.
Tony: That's awesome. That's awesome. And people can pick up a grace bomb cards@gracebomb.org, right? I mean, you, you ship those all over the place. Don't ya?
Pat: We send grace bomb cards all around the country and. While we serve individuals. The nonprofit that exists really exists to serve churches and we provide churches with sermons sermon notes, study guides, devotionals video graphic media a mobile app, everything that they would need to launch grace bomb to dive deeper into the discipleship aspects of grace bomb.
And then also to understand how grace and your neighbor one day will lead to being able to disciple. Your neighbor a few years down the line. And so we really tried to deliver this package to churches. Well, it's a gift for churches through the nonprofit. And that's, that is the main way we spur on the movement is through, through partnering up with local congregations who want a decentralized and spirit led tool.
That's not the status quo community service project, and we love launching this thing and we're launching all around the country and we'd be happy to come your church next as well. Love it. Love it.
Tony: Love it. Okay. Last question. I always love to ask people. It's an advice question. All right. And it's about going back to give yourself one piece of advice and I get to take you to a very specific time.
And so on the day that you first wrote your very first grace bomb sermon, if you could go back and give that younger version of Pat one piece of advice a year ago, look them in the eyes. And you know, this is probably a little less gray hair or ago, you know, like what's the one piece of advice you're going to give yourself.
Pat: That when you have heard clearly, regardless of how scary the step of faith is going to be, but when you've heard, clearly you need to take a step of faith. Do not delay step into the fear, step into the unknown, because that is where Jesus is. So if you want to experience the, like the joy. Man, you just got to step out and don't delay and just do it.
That's I'd probably say something along those lines. You know, he calls us to scary places and scary things, but that's where we grow. And sometimes the scary thing is like right across the street from you.
Tony: Oh, it's so good. Hey, thank you so much. This was so much fun today. I love your message. I love your movement. Thank you for being so generous with your time and your hearts and your story. It I know it's gonna make a difference in so many communities.
Pat: Yeah. Thanks, Tony. I appreciate you carving out the time for me today.
Tony: I told you guys, what a great conversation. I love his storytelling ability. I love I love how he talks about how important it is. To be to activate obedience. It's a term I've not used very often, but activating obedience is something I want more and more in my life. And I bet you do too. So, Hey, if you enjoyed today's conversation, don't forget to hit that subscribe button.
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