SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hi, friend, and welcome to the Dreamers Podcast, the show where we explore bold dreams, highlight inspiring stories, and the real journeys behind them. I'm your host, Lydia Ingenieri, and each episode I sit down with creators, founders, visionaries, and everyday people who dared to imagine more and did something about it. This isn't just about success. It's about the setbacks, the turning points, the late nights, and those moments when quitting felt easier than continuing. So whether you're building something new, standing at a crossroads, or simply searching for inspiration, you're in the right place. So take a breath, lean in, and let yourself dream a little bigger. This is the Dreamers Podcast. Well, welcome back, everybody, to the Dreamers Podcast. I'm so grateful that you have chosen to listen in today. And again, I'm so excited about this episode that is coming your way today. We are joined by the amazing pastor Ian Simpkins. And uh, you are just in for such a treat. I have been wanting to have a conversation with Ian for a long time. We've known each other for about a year and a half, two years now since we opened the Awaken House. And uh Ian is a pastor here in Spring Hill, Tennessee of the Bridge Church, an amazing, thriving uh community of believers that is having a tremendous impact on this community as well as the globe. Uh, but Ian is an incredible man of God, uh, pastor, he's a husband, he's a dad, and just has a ton of wisdom and insight into things. And I know that you're gonna be really blessed by his story, by his journey, and by this conversation today. So, Ian, thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

Thank you for having. Honestly, like I love what y'all are doing. Y'all are such a blessing to our community. I mean, I your coffee house is practically the second office for our bridge staff. So it is.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

You are so welcome. And and I was actually gonna bring that up at some point how grateful we are to the bridge and to your team and your staff. You guys have literally become like family. And since the moment we opened our doors, you guys have been here literally almost every day. There's somebody from the bridge that I meet and get to talk to and see.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

So I mean, tell us to stop at any point.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

No, never, never, never, never. We love it. And that that's kind of been, you know, that was one of our goals is that we would be able to connect with other organizations and ministries in this community. And you guys have just been such a support to us. So thank you as well. So yes, absolutely. Well, I would love to start at the beginning of your story, like we do with every guest. We just find it so fun to hear um the testimony and the story of kind of how you got to where you are today. So take us to the beginning of your story.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

How far back?

SPEAKER_00 2:59

It's uh We can go however far back you want, childhood.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

It was a cold winter night in 18. No, not that old. Um yeah, so I I am the oldest of seven kids, uh, six boys and a baby girl, by the way. So she's the only girl and the youngest.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Well, I didn't realize that.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

She's also the best version of all of us. Like I'm a I'm a big fan of Ellen Simkins. Uh I love that. So we yeah, we uh grew up outside Detroit, Michigan. Uh I went to public school up to fifth grade, and then uh my parents began homeschooling all of us, and there's that's a whole other journey that we can go down if you want. Yeah. Uh it's around that time that I I discovered uh music. My dad was a big Keith Moon fan, and so he had a drum set in the basement. And I remember one day I was in the backyard, I'd just gotten pulled out of school, I was feeling a certain way about that, and uh, a kid walked by, it was like out of a movie. He's like, Hey, are you the kid that drums? Which I didn't. I like I was like, I have a drum set. And he tossed me a cassette over the fence and he said, Learn track one, we're playing the talent show in two weeks, and it was Nirvana's Nevermind.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

So we started a punk band after that, so that kind of became my my community.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

But you were a punk rock drummer.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

I mean, that's I hesitate to say that at all in Nashville. I'm a Detroit drummer, not a Nashville drummer. The only rules we had in punk music were like faster and louder. Right, yes. Finesse is not necessarily my strong stuff. Yeah, gotcha. But that became a in a lot of ways, you know. I was uh we had a a a student ministry at our church, uh Fairland Alliance Church in Dearborn, Michigan, which was really formative to me. And then like music became uh a bit of uh a community. And the the sentiment of uh the punk community was something that I always kind of gravitated towards. It seemed like, oh, this is a place for misfits for people who feel like they don't have a place, and that would like become strangely, I think, prophetic in a lot of what drew me to ministry later. But that was that was a lot of where I I was kind of in the my angsty teenage years trying to figure out where do I belong.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you were a homeschool kid in the 90s, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Yeah, oh gee oh gee.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Tell just give us a couple, you know, little stories about what that was like.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Oh man, is my mom gonna watch this?

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Homeschool has changed so much, and I think those of us who survived that, you know, are pretty amazing people.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

And also shout out to my parents because there's so much wisdom in what they were doing that I didn't realize how wise it was. A couple of things. So my grandpa uh was a a bit of a like a mechanical genius, and my my parents would like regularly send us just to go spend the afternoon with him, just like just go learn from grandpa. I didn't realize that learning could be like that. So I I would come home from an afternoon with him, and I'd be like, oh man, I'd probably still have a bunch of schoolwork to do. And she's like, no, that was that was school for today. And I'll that like unlocked something for me. I also remember like in the high school years, starting to feel a little angsty about uh not learning precisely what my friends in public school were learning and feeling some anxiety toward that. And I was distinctly remember my mom saying, this is like such a wise moment. She said, It's it's actually less about what you know and more about do you know how to get the information that you need. Like she taught us what like lifelong learning was and how to think critically. And it's like why I think my siblings and I still get along so well. Like we there's a a wide diversity of theological and political and social convictions. Yeah. But there's like a hunger, there's a curiosity that I think my my parents like really instilled in us. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Which again, when you're 13, 14, 15, at least for me, like all I wanted to do was fit in and be normal. And realizing now, like, oh, they formed something in us. It was tricky because my parents were also pretty chill. So, like, if it if I was supposed to have a test on Friday and Friday came and I wasn't ready, my mom would be like, You can do it on Monday. Yeah. Well, then I go to college.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

That does not work there.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

I remember telling a professor, he's like, Hey, the test today, and I'm like, I don't think I'm ready. And he's just like, too bad. I was like, oh no.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Oh, this is the real world, apparently.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

So I had to learn some things pretty quickly, but like immensely grateful for my my parents' wherewithal.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Yeah, oh no, absolutely. And I what I love about homeschool is how it affords you as a family, you as parents, to really take that extended time to cultivate the the the gifts in your kids and to just allow them to to focus on that. And that's been a great outcome of our story too with our kids, is that our boys especially, you know, they've they have just they're already at such young ages, you know, launching into their careers and doing all sorts of crazy things. But absolutely so then around I think around 16, you started to kind of feel this pull towards ministry. You started preaching. Like, tell me about that. How did you how did you get into that?

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Less of a pull and more of a violent shove, I guess. Like I I was uh okay, so 16, probably the height of my like punk rock, angsty, whatever teenage. And I our our pastor one Sunday, he pulled me aside, he said, Hey, I want you to I want you to preach next month. And I was like, Oh no, thank you. And he said, I wasn't asking you. And I was like, What? I literally I was like, What would I what would I preach on? Yeah, and he said some version of the Lord will reveal that to you. And I was like, What does that mean? I like you know, again, I have no clue. So I I again he was uh he was a a big scary man. And I was like, uh all right, I'll I'll give it a shot. So I I prepared a sermon, and again, this would also become kind of weirdly prophetic in my story. I I preached on Moses and I called it something like Moses, the story of a reluctant leader. Oh, yeah. And I I just did not re I didn't realize like just how much of a theme that would become. So I prepared and prayed and prepared and prayed, and I uh it came time to deliver the sermon, and objectively it was terrible, like embarrassingly terrible, and I knew it and I felt it, and I so I walked off the stage pretty embarrassed. You know, my family and friends are here, and uh there there's only a handful of moments that have been this seismic for me, and this is one of them. There was a woman, uh a sweet old woman in our church, and she came up to me afterwards. I think she was the first person to talk to me, and she's well, she said two things. First, she she pointed at the stage and she went, That was bad.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

And I'm like, She said that legitimately.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

And I was like, Thank you, I'm aware.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

But then Thank you, Captain Obvious.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, does my face not show that? But then the second thing she said was she looked me dead in the eyes and she said, But I believe the Lord has given you a voice. Yeah. So you better learn how to actually use it.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

That's so good.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

And then just like walked away. Yeah, like it was like such a such a like a seismic shift for me. I I I I cannot overestimate or overexplain like how pivotal that was for me.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Yeah, that is so crazy. I love how like even in our worst moments or rawness, just the fact that you got up there and did it, even oh, I appreciate that. Even just out of sheer obedience to your big scary pastor, you know, like it's not an option, you are doing this. Um, how people can still see the potential in you, you know? And so did that so okay, so you say your sermon was awful. Did you like think I'm never doing that again? Or did something kind of go, okay, wait, maybe this is what I'm called to do? How did that happen?

SPEAKER_02 10:34

It's kind of a mix of all of it, and I this is not um, I'm not that proud of the next part of this story because it there really was for me internally an unmistakable, I guess, seed planted. Yeah. And I wish I could tell you, and it was at that moment that I surrendered my life to the call and I was obedient. I kind of ran from it for probably the next four years. And my plan was still I was gonna, you know, move to California and study music or psychology, learn to surf and and call it a day. But there was this kind of like nagging sense, and it's it was a truly odd. I was 16, 17, I was like learning to even discern God's voice in the first place. And my like incredible family, most of them are are engineers. I remember uh an uncle told me, uh, ministries that's not a real job. Like get a real degree, and then you can, you know, tinker in ministry in your free time. And that that kind of messed me up a little bit. I was like, I I'm feeling this call, yeah, I'm not sure what to do with this. And I remember my my dad sitting me down. This is another really seismic moment for me. He said, uh, listen, if you if you feel like the Lord is calling you to this, you need to run after this with everything you got. And I don't think I oh man, I'm gonna get emotional thinking about it. I don't think I realized how meaningful that would be to hear from my father. Yes. He's like, listen Absolutely your uncles, your relatives, they're they're they're uh they're well intended. But if you believe this is what what God is doing in you, like run. And it was like such a green light to go, okay, let's let's do this then.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Are you so grateful for parents who would just be so bold to to say things like that to you and to help guide you and to just pull that out of you? That's amazing. So from there you went to Bible school or seminary, or what did you do?

SPEAKER_02 12:21

I did, yeah. So there was a Bible college outside of Chicago, Illinois. And my this was kind of my deal with God. Uh listen, if I'm gonna do this ministry thing, yeah, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna go where the fun is. And student ministry seemed the most fun of the options. Naturally, naturally. All right, I'll be uh and and again in the dark ages, there wasn't a lot of student ministry programs. That was still kind of like a a new-ish concept.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

So uh dark ages. We're talking 2000.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

All right, we don't have to get into specific Oh Lord help us.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Let's not give dates. I feel old.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

I mean, it was a quarter century ago at this point.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

Not to For the love. I said not to mention.

SPEAKER_02 13:00

I did, you did, and I didn't listen. This is your house. I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

All right, continue.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Yeah, so I uh I I found that Judson University in Elgin, Illinois, was like a just a really deeply formative, and I my I really, really loved my education. In fact, a number of those professors are still like like mentors and friends in my life 25 years later, which is super rare, and I'm like so grateful for them. I don't think I'd be in ministry without uh a number of those people. But what was tricky was I loved the education side, but I was also kind of getting a peek behind the curtain of the church side. I d I didn't love it. And I and again, I'm like an idealistic 20-year-old, so I that's part of it. But uh I I experienced some things that really rattled me to the point where I I was home on Christmas break, my senior year, and I I sat my parents down and I said, Don't freak out, I'm gonna finish the degree. I d I don't think I can do this church thing. Like it had just so rattled me. It was like some of what the hesitation I had in the first place, and I think it was a week or two later a church I didn't apply to said, uh, hey, we'd like to offer you a job. And I was like, uh uh what I I was kind of looking to course correct, and so that's again, that's a whole other part of the story. But that was a very, very um formative season for me. And I and that that church hiring me, it's a much, it's a much longer story. I don't know how much time we have, but I they hired me. I I uh had an opportunity to spend a summer in India, and and that was also a massively formative season, but I ended up getting kicked out of the house I was supposed to stay in. So I was essentially like a wandering nomad for the better part of two months in northern India by myself, and then I came back to the suburbs of Chicago to my first like big boy job, having now just experienced a whole mess of things. And a year, 13 months after they hired me, the lead pastor was uh forcibly removed for uh just a laundry list of moral failures, and it wow and again, so whatever angst I had towards um what I had been had seen in some of my internships, I was like This doesn't help front row seat. Yeah, obviously, like it really rattled the community, rattled our church, they hired a um an interim guy, and that that didn't go great. And so that's about when we had discovered for the first time that we had as a church six months to bankruptcy. Nobody, nobody was really paying attention, and there was and that's part of the story. And it's around that time that the elders called me in and said, Hey, do you want to take a crack at it? And I was like, not really. Like that seems insane. Truly, and I you know, at this point I'm 25, I think, maybe. Yeah. And uh they said, Would you at least spend a week in praying fast about it? And I was like, shoot.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:54

And I on I don't want to like over spiritualize that. I I don't know that I've ever experienced a 180 in my heart. Yeah like I did that. I went into the beginning of that week, like, all right, I'll pray to appease them, but I'm not I'm not doing this. And by the end of those seven days, it was like You'd heard from God. Lord, am I supposed to do this? I don't and I again I have a bachelor's of youth ministry. I'm like kind of a I'm like I preach barefoot at this point. Like I, you know, I got hair down to my shoulder. I'm uh I'm like a I'm a I'm not your your prime lead pastor candidate. And and the Lord just did something like really remote not only in my heart, but you know, I ended up you know pastor in that community for 10 years, and it just was like a like such a beautiful season. And and there's still some of my my the closest brothers and sisters.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Yeah, wow, that is amazing. So would you say it's kind of in those years that this teaching gift that you so excel in and and is so powerful, um is that when you kind of just developed your love of teaching the word?

SPEAKER_02 16:57

That's very kind of you to say that. I I have lost count of how many people from that church I have texted to apologize for the years of sermons they had to endure for me.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

I literally was a kid trying to We've all been young in our in our We've all been young, but not everyone has to endure week after week, like I don't think he knows what he's doing.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Uh so again, I I think I am I am the recipient of a number of uh really incredible mentors, some of whom saw the train wreck way before I ever did and said, Hey, uh, we're getting coffee once a week because you need you need help. Like you need and like some of these some of these men are still in my life, like people who poured into me. This church is also where I met my amazing wife. Like there's just so much that happened here, but it is kind of where I I I guess you could say cut my teeth.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

And there is something about how do I say it? When when when you endure uh like pain and suffering as a community like that, there's a like a depth of intimacy that just cannot be matched. So, like, even though objectively my teaching was poor, but there was this general sense of like, hey man, we're we're for you. Like you're this is not like an audience to impress, this is like a family trying to heal and just trying to hear from God. And so I was like, all right, if that's the aim, it like was the best environment to learn because I knew that everyone in that room was for me, and they weren't arms crossed, like, all right, let's see what the kid has. It was like that's amazing. Oh, we're all kind of trying to like listen to God together. Yeah, and that taught me so much about preaching in a lot of ways. I haven't thought about this in a long time. It's informed much of my preaching philosophy today. Like, preaching for me is not Ian's gonna go off on a mountain and then come back and like here's what I've it's like no no, what's the Lord doing in our midst together? Like, we're we're a community together. I'm like way more interested in that kind of teaching and writing and preaching, and that's shaped a lot of it.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. So you were there at that church for 10 years-ish, so now you're like in your mid-30s or so, something like that. Okay, you meet your wife. Is this where you end up getting married and start having your kids?

SPEAKER_02 19:10

We no, we got married in the transition to the next church. Oh, okay. And that was and some of that, it was really uh that was very hard. That was a very hard community to leave. But I got some advice from some again from some mentors, and some of what they had said was um this community loves Katie and they will embrace her, but it will to some degree feel like she's being added to this community that you're already like so deeply entrenched in. There might be some value in you guys starting something new together. And I think there was a a lot of a lot of wisdom in that. Not to mention there's some other like truly like Holy Spirit encounters that it was like, Yeah, yeah, I think this is actually where the Lord's calling us. It wasn't just a well, time to move on. Yeah, um, so that was that was a hard season, but also super exciting because we're beginning our life together and we began a new church together. And so it's amazing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Yeah. So you've mentioned several times mentors, and clearly how valuable and important these mentors were to you. Yeah, even from the lady when you were 16 that says that was terrible. But I mean, she in a actually was kind of mentoring you. Yeah. Um, so this is a little off the cuff, but just pausing real quick on mentors, because that that is something I so believe in. And I too have been so shaped by the people that saw um saw the rawness in me, saw the potential, and even pinpointed the insecurities and the fears that I had. Um but still yet gave me that space to grow and gave me leadership opportunity and trusted me with things and um and how these people have shaped my life. What what would you say to the person uh listening or watching about mentoring and why it's important to always have somebody that's mentoring you?

SPEAKER_02 20:59

I would add to that too. I think it's it's it's critical to always have someone who's pouring into you and that you're doing the same for someone else.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 21:07

And I think um, again, I mentioned there were a couple of seasons where I didn't seek out mentorship. They they told me like, yo, we're we're uh we're gonna get some FaceTime, and I I'm just so grateful for that. But what I what I learned though in those seasons was that even just the I was so scared of asking someone to mentor me that felt like so vulnerable, like I don't want to put you out. And what has blown my mind, and I'm like embarrassed to admit it, is how honored people are when you take the time to, even if they don't have the time right now, just even like getting over your own fear and saying, I mean, I love the way that you parent.

unknown 21:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

Or I I look at your marriage, I'm like, that's what I want my marriage to look like, or whatever your craft is. That was the other thing that I learned is you don't need a all encompassing unicorn mentor. Like it's it's okay to say you are killing it in this one area.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Yes, that's so good.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

Can I buy you coffee once a month? And so So for me, I have a a preaching mentor.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

I have like a parenting mentor. I have a financial mentor. Like someone that I think just understands like like kingdom economics in a way that is like so enthralling to me. So not being afraid to get specific. And then also, and something happened for me, and this I know is not unique to me. When I turned 40, that really was like a like a switch. Like I I want to obviously keep growing in in my craft and growing as a husband and a father, but I like cannot turn off this desire to like raise up and pour into the next generation. Like, man, who am I investing? Who am I pouring myself out for? Because I'm about the age that other people were doing it for me. And so that's that's been a really that's been an exciting kind of revelation.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah, absolutely. And and I think it's important when you're seeking mentoring, that number one, you just have to be bold to ask. Yeah, right. You just have to be bold to ask. And I too have found that most people are honored to be asked and will respond. And that it really is your responsibility as the mentee to seek out the mentor and to uh just to be proactive in that. So that is awesome. So you you for a short time also uh hosted a radio show. Oh no. What is this? What is this? You taught talk about that. What kind of show? For how long?

SPEAKER_02 23:21

It was okay, so a couple of years. This this story is wild because I was uh I was pastoring a church. Like I had I wasn't looking for a you know a gig and there was a uh a Christian radio station in town, and they uh they that's a much longer story, but they said, Hey, we have this half-hour block at you know 3 30 in the morning. Would you be interested in coming in and like pre-recording something and we'll play it at this at this slot? I was like, Oh, that's I like challenging myself. Like that's different than preaching. That's different than so. I was doing this, you know, pre-recorded thing, and there was another pastor that apparently was doing the same thing. And then one day they said, Hey, uh, our like main drive time guy is gone for a week. Would you guys take a couple of days uh live? I'm like, that's a two-hour drive time slot. It's way different than a pre-recorded 3:30 a.m. slot. It was so scary. Yeah. And so he and I did it together, and when we came back, they said, uh, okay, cats out of the bag. We were we did that to see who we we wanted to offer the role to, but we loved y'all's chemistry. Would you be willing to do this together? And the whole kind of premise was he and I were both pastors in the trenches, like working with regular, everyday, normal people with regular, everyday, normal problems. Yeah. And uh, and again, I was like, I already, I already have a job. And they just were so accommodating with with like creative freedom and timing and you know when we actually recorded stuff. And so for I think it was almost exactly two years, me and my buddy Brian just got to like process the world and what we're what we're facing as pastors and and uh as husbands and fathers. And yeah, he he's still he's still doing the show. Uh I guess that's what seven years later. And and it's killing it's called the common good, and it's just uh yeah, what a surprising like little season of my life. Yeah. And it was really um sobering because like there's a a different cadence to like a live radio thing.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Like having to come up with some hopefully something intelligible.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Uh did you ever like blank out live and be like I blinked out, I'd be so nervous.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Segment one, minute one. No, Brian. I think he'd be okay with me saying this. He said the name of the show wrong. He's like, Welcome to the common ground. Isn't that it? And then you can find the audio clip somewhere. He comes to me and I totally porky pigged it. I was like, happen to be gonna be anyway, it's gonna be good to me. So that was episode one.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

I'm gonna blast it, so I cannot keep a straight face. Never when something makes me just laugh too. Horrible.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

The fact that they gave us a second shot is miraculous.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Oh my goodness. That is so funny. Well, I was just curious about that because I read that in your bio and I was like, really? That's incredible. I have to ask about that. It was so fun. We had a lot of fun. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. So now here you are in you know, Spring Hill, Tennessee. You've you're married to your beautiful wife, you have three boys, and you're the lead pastor of The Bridge. How did you end up here? I've been meaning to ask you.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

You want all the details. I do.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

I, you know what? You're just I want all the juicy details today.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

I honestly think when you hear when I tell these stories in succession, I wouldn't blame anyone for not believing me because some of the details are so wild. So I was again, I'm out of church. Like I have a job. We loved it. My my wife is from Chicago, born and raised, like we're, you know, driving distance of all of her family. And I got an email uh truly out of the blue from someone named Stone. Yeah. And I was like, well, that's not a real name.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

This person doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Stone, yeah, that's an odd spam name. And uh then he said to follow up, and I was like, oh no, this is a like a person. And it truly was, and he, you know, he could tell the story better than I could. Uh he said, Hey, we're the bridge, this is who we are. Uh our lead guy left, and uh we stumbled upon a sermon clip of yours. Any chance you'd be interested. And so I wrote back truly, I said, so flattered, hard pass.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Like I is this always your response?

unknown 27:37

Hard pass.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

I'm just teasing. You're right, though. You're right.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Man, I feel convicted. Let me process this for a second. Lord, soften my heart. Uh but it was and Stone is and I love Stone is still just a dear friend. Yeah, he's awesome. He said, uh he's like, totally understand. Totally, that's fine. Um, a couple of us are gonna be in Chicago next week and would love to grab coffee and talk shop if you have free time. And I'm so naive. And I was like, yeah, I love coffee. That's great. Uh as long as it's awakened coffee. And uh thank you for the shout out. And I didn't realize after I agreed, is that's when they bought their plane tickets. They were not planning on being in Chicago, so they they flew up and uh we got coffee and they said, Can you can we just convince you to let us bring you and your wife down for a weekend?

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

And at that point we had just had baby number two, and again, I'm not proud of this part. But I was like, chance to get out of the house, go to Nashville for the week, that'd be fun. And it was one of those trips where you know we got to have uh a couple of meals and coffee with some of the the staff and elders. Kate and I were both, there were a couple times, you know, when you're like something's happening and you like look at your person across the table, you're like, we're gonna have to talk about this later. Like that, there is a there's something that we need to pay attention to. And I'm not saying it's a lightning bolt, I'm not saying, oh, we're for sure. Yeah. But it like stirred something, and I was like, oh, wait a minute. Uh-huh. We kind of came for the trip and friendship, sure. And the Lord just began to do something that at eventually, and again, I have to give props to my wife because I don't know anyone who like hears from God the way that she does. Like her attunement to the voice of God is like such a gift to everybody that knows her. And I remember her saying, This will probably be the hardest thing we ever do, but I don't think we can deny anymore that this is what God is doing. And I was like, like, what a gift to hear that from your spouse. Yeah. So that's that's the long story of how we how we end up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

And so when was this? What year was this?

SPEAKER_02 29:39

This would have been uh March of 21. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

All right. So five years. Yep. Five years. Wow. That is incredible. So you are now pastoring this amazing church. It appears like it's going very well. We uh are so blessed by your community here. And um obviously your your your teaching gift is a tremendous blessing. You're very kind. And uh and then you have this incredible social media following that is just like 200. I actually checked. Okay, I don't I don't know. So 261,000 followers on Instagram, and you're probably on other platforms as well. And you post these black boxes with the this minimalistic writing, but these things that just punch you like in the face, yet so lovingly. And I've been following you on social media for a long time, actually before I even met you. But here's yeah, but here's some of the things some of the things that you write. So, and it's so good, and it's so true, and it's incredible. So, one of the things that you wrote that has like millions of like shares and likes is you are an image bearer with work to do, not a workdoer with an image to maintain. Hello, so good, and then so he like writes this amazing stuff, and then in the comments, he just like unfolds it all like even more, and basically like just writes a sermon online for you to read. And then another one, which this one is so good, I don't have my reading glasses on, so I have to magnify this because I'm old now and need glasses on.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

I might be with you.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

If people hate us because of Jesus, we should expect that. But if people hate Jesus because of us, something is wrong. Of course, I decided to surprise you. Um, but you God has obviously given you this incredible platform that people are leaning into. So I know you didn't plan to be like a social media influencer. No, it seems like you didn't plan a lot of these things, and God's just like, but this is what you're gonna do, and this is what you're gonna do. And so so, but obviously there had to have been a moment. Um, and I don't know when you started your social media posting and stuff, but there had to have been a moment where you either felt of the Lord, like, okay, I need to put this on here, or just one day decided, hey, for fun, I'm just gonna post some of my stuff.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

So tell us, tell us about that. Tell us about when you decided to do that and then decided to keep doing it. And then what was it like when you're like, I have thousands of people following me? What's going on?

SPEAKER_02 32:22

It still feels like that. I can't believe it. Well, talk to us about that. What are y'all doing here still? That's insane.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Well, we're reading these amazing quotes that are punching us in the face. That's what we're doing.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

Honestly, there's a couple of things, and this is gonna be the most underwhelming part of the whole conversation, I guarantee. Because I the reason, first off, that it's a black square with white text is I'm not smart enough to create anything else. Like, I don't, that's just my Apple notes. I just screenshot Apple notes.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

I love it, and it's perfect.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

The amount of people who have asked me now, hey, do you mind if I like borrow your aesthetic? I'm like, you're gonna have to ask Steve Jobs, because I don't own it's not my aesthetic. I don't own black and white. I don't know how to use Canva. I'm not, I can't, I don't have any extra time to like design something. And it was, I remember when it was, it was uh it was 2020. And there was just a million things that seemed to be like weighing in on everybody and people like division seemed at an all-time high and anxiety. Yeah, all the things.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

All the things.

SPEAKER_02 33:17

And I was intentionally like very quiet on social media. Uh there was just a s a season, even on the like on the radio show, there was like a hey, we we need to like steward like these moments with a lot of uh curiosity and humility and not assume the like boy, what the world needs right now is Ian's hot take. I'm like I I just I don't know. I felt like a very as someone who speaks for a living, I was like, I think I need to be quieter right now. And I had been I'd just been stewing on some things. I I made one silly post, and the the feedback was so it didn't, it's not like it went viral or anything like that. The thing that I kept noticing though wasn't like oh, so well said or so poetic. It was like that was helpful. Thank you. And that like unlocked something for me. I was like, there's so many brilliant, poetic, like memorable writers and poets and whatever. I just want to be helpful. And if it's just adding to the noise, then I don't I don't I don't want to do it. So that kind of response was like, oh, maybe maybe some of this can be helpful. I this is pre-even like carousels on Instagram. So there's only so much space. I'm like, oh, I wonder if I can distill down like biblical truths when you only have you know that much space. And I I think part of what has been helpful for me for the last now almost six years, I guess. Wow, is all of that is rooted in a locale. Like I'm not anything that you see there is something that either I'm like preparing for a sermon or like reflecting on a sermon, or it's for a staff training, or it's a thing, even in a hallway conversation. It's not, oh man, I'm trying to pastor the internet.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

It's a, oh man, I just had this conversation with Randy the other day and he touched on something. I wonder if I can like mull that over a little bit. So it's all rooted in like what what do I feel like the Lord is doing in my family or at the bridge or middle Tennessee? And then if it's helpful, yeah, that that's gravy. And like I've I I've I cannot tell you how many encouraging messages I've gotten over the years. Yeah. But I've also like I've been called a heretic more in the last two years than I have my entire life. So it there's there's a there's a shadow side to it as well.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

Oh yes. Oh yes. Well, thank you for your faithfulness to steward that platform. That's my pleasure and to um and I I just want to add too, I think the reason it does carry weight. I just feel it's anointed, is because we know it's come those of us who know you and know your church and and just know the kind of person that you are, it it is clear that this is what you're living out. Uh oh, thank you or you are speaking about. Um, so thank you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 35:57

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Now, The Bridge. I want to talk about the bridge. This is a great church, and of course, you know, I'm not here to platform any one thing or one ministry, but I am speaking to the lead pastor of the bridge. And so I want to give you opportunity just to talk about this church and and why this community is special and what about it is um meaningful to you. I know for me, um, you know, I've become very close to your pastoral team to you have a huge creative influence. You guys are releasing incredible worship music. You guys just released an album that is phenomenal. I was at the live recording. Um, I was in the room when these songs were being declared and captured, and it was so stunning. Um so what's it like to pastor the bridge and what makes this place so special to you?

SPEAKER_02 36:51

It's surreal. Honestly, any anything anyone ever tells me that they love about the bridge was that way before we got here. Like I tr I truly so much of what drew us to the bridge, I I I truly do not feel like I can take an ounce of credit because it's so much of what drew Katie and I hear in the first place was the people and the culture, and also just what we sensed God doing. I I just could not possibly express to you how proud I am of this team. Yeah. There's not a week that goes by that I'm not hearing of some story of some volunteer faithfully loving someone or praying for someone or serving someone. You mentioned bridge worship, like for as incredible as all of those songs are, yeah, like the people at the helm are like true pastors and servants. And what isn't making the record is them staying all the way to the very end to vacuum a hallway. Like there's just such a a true humility, and I'm like, this is really top of mind for me right now because we had a night of worship last night that just felt like I don't know, it felt like the Lord's leading us to a just a new territory right now. And it's I don't think you can fabricate that. I don't think you can I I don't think you can still it's just uh to step back and we'll experience like this is just the Lord's kindness. Yeah. So obviously we work really hard on you know, we have we have uh values and leadership behaviors and we have there's systems in place and there's things that we call out and all that kind of stuff, but I I it's I can't express what it is like to work with this team, and I'm just so proud of them, and it is so surreal, even hearing you say it, like I get to pastor this church. Like it's just an it's just an incredible the staff, the volunteers, the community, it's been it's been the the ride of a lifetime.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

Yeah, I love that. Well, it's making an impact. There is so much fruit coming from it, so y'all are killing it over there. So great job. Thank you. Let's talk a little bit about family life and what family and ministry. Um I don't even know if like looks like is even the right way to say it, but because it looks different for everybody. Yeah. Um but clearly, you and your wife and your boys, you you have a uh a rhythm, I'm sure, and um a way of doing things that hopefully is is working for you. Um I know that Scott and I have been asked so many times, you know, how do you how do you balance just the demand of ministry, the demand of family, you know? And I know for us, our answer is always, well, our family is our ministry. And that's that's always gonna be first. Um their needs always come first. Our family's needs will always be above the needs of the church. Um we believe that's the right order of things. But obviously, you know, there there is a commitment that we've made in the ministry to um to shepherd the people of God, to be available to the people of God, and to walk with the people of God. So, how does that look for you guys?

SPEAKER_02 39:59

That's a great question. I I I will first say this is an area where my wife is infinitely better than I am. I am predisposed to workaholism, to burning the candle at both ends, to I'll sleep when I'm dead, all that, all that kind of stuff. My wife's commitment to and sensitivity toward quality time, uh, margin. Uh you mentioned rhythms. I think that's a beautiful word for it as a drummer. I just I think it is I actually really do think it's a little semantics. I think it's more about rhythms and less about balance. Sometimes the balance, the spinning plate thing. Absolutely. So there will be seasons where hey, we're gonna be we're gonna be going hard for a couple of weeks for this thing, but that also means there's gotta be an inhale and an exhale.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

Um, but there are a few things that are like our family, you know, my my wife again has such uh a beautiful maturity around um what is and isn't ours for right now.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

That doesn't so good mean always.

SPEAKER_02 40:59

But like, hey, for this season, yeah, with the age of my boys, yeah. Now, ministry also affords a fair amount of flexibility, which I'm really grateful for. I get to go to recitals that a like a lot of dads don't get to go to. Like I'm very grateful for that.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:11

But they're like little things, like I was just sharing with our church a couple weeks ago where I was doing this thing, and maybe you can relate where you know I'm I'm taking one more phone call on the drive home. And uh if it was a stressful phone call, I'm like wrapping up the phone call as I'm walking into the house, and I'm like bringing all of the stress or anxiety to the last thing, and I'm like, that's not I'm not giving my best to my family. So I created, and this is a little silly, uh, I created like a little driveway liturgy for myself. And there's this prayer that I pray, and then I power my phone off until my kids are asleep. And that's not that big of a sacrifice, but I I was noticing that even if it's in my pocket, yeah, I'm like still kind of reaching for it or like checking it. Yeah. And I remember one day, this was really convicting. I was home and uh my oldest was saying something to me, and I was kind of giving him the uh uh while and he climbed up on the counter and like grabbed my face. Oh, yeah. He said, Papa, you're not looking at me. And that and I know there's gonna come an age where he's not gonna do that anymore. And so I was like, All right, something has to change. So again, it's it feels minuscule, but like a prayer to like prepare my heart for like to your point. This is my most important ministry. Like, this is priority number one.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Uh and then just little things like powering it off has have been so helpful. Uh so good.

SPEAKER_00 42:28

It's it's that's not silly at all. That's so powerful.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

And it's a thing that everyone can do. It is. You don't need a cool app for it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

You just have to make up your mind that that's what you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

And that is that's a very good point. But the muscle memory, it's like any habit. You just do it long enough, and you're like, oh, this is just what I do when I get home. And like for me, you know, we so uh we take Friday and Saturday off at the bridge. Uh a lot of pastors will take Monday, you know. But for uh for us, uh that means I get I get to pick my boys up from school on Friday, and so we do, we just call it Fun Day Friday. I love it. And so I take all three of them. So good uh from pickup till bedtime. It gives mama some breathing room, just some good on you, peace and quiet. And the and the rule is we'll do whatever you want until bedtime, just no screens. So you want to go to this park, you want to go, you know, if you want to there's a playground, there's a whatever, and uh it's like it's become such a sweet, like they look forward to it now. And I'm sure there's gonna come a time. I'm sure they'll roll their eyes and like here comes Dan with Fun Day Friday. But like for right now, it's been like a really sweet like rhythm. Because I, you know, I I want them to have these uh these rhythms that they can count on as like, oh, this is I know for sure I'm getting connection time with dad in these times, you know.

SPEAKER_00 43:42

You know, actually, just as a testimony from someone who has kids that are a little older than yours, I have a nineteen year old, a seventeen year old, and twins that are fourteen. Nice. But we too take Friday and Saturday. No kidding. Yeah, that Friday afternoon through all evening, through all day Saturday. That's so fun. Um and Though they are older now, let me tell you, they have not gotten to that point where it's like, Oh, this is lame. Oh, why do I have to do this? This is so d dumb. This doesn't you know, they now actually, as young adults, have begun to recognize that they need that Sabbath as well. And family dinner, I mean, we've been very intentional with family dinners. And I and I know that people have to work. Some of you are working two or three jobs, so absolutely no condemnation if you're not able to do that every night. But just because of our schedule, we've been able to. So we prioritize family dinner every night. We talk about highs, we talk about lows, we just make it very intentional. But our kids now being older are like, it's Friday, it's Sabbath, it's rest, it's it's this. You know, sometimes it gets interrupted. We we do travel and have other things, but we just make up for it in other ways. But as a testimony, if you can somehow begin to try to implement that early, it will be a principle that you teach your children. I love that. That even when they're teenagers and young adults, they're gonna be like, no, this is family chill night. And you know, and now we're to the point where I'll get a text from my son, hey, can I invite these two friends over to join us? Like, yes, of course you can.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

And what a gift.

SPEAKER_00 45:17

I think we're the house where everybody knows there's gonna be food.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 45:21

There's gonna be food.

SPEAKER_01 45:22

That's a good start.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

And there's gonna be a deck of cards or a fun game that we can play. Or if you just want to sit and watch the basketball game, you can sit and watch the basketball game. It's just kind of become our rhythm as a family. Love it. And everyone's invited. You know, if you don't have a place to go, you can just come over.

SPEAKER_02 45:36

That's so good.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

So, but I I love what you said about seasons, and especially when your kids are younger, you know, seasons change so fast when the kids are small. And so I think if you can be fluid and just be flexible, one of my mentors told me being flexible is much too rigid. You have to be fluid. And that has helped me through through, like, especially when your kids are young, you're like, we just got settled into this rhythm, right? And now my kid doesn't take a nap anymore. Right, right. Like, ah, you know, and it's like it's boards of friends or all of it, yeah. And then just change and do what works for you now. So, but thank you for that. I I honestly think what you shared about just being present. There, there is so much power in your presence, and and your presence is really the best gift that you can give to your family. That's right. As we kind of start to bring this conversation to a close, I just have a couple questions I'd like to ask you. Wait on me. What is something that is challenging you right now in your in your leadership?

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Golly. I feel like leadership is always at least a little challenging. Yeah. You know, there is a a a weightiness to it. I I heard a definition of leadership the other day. Said leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can stomach. And I was like, boy, I can I can feel that.

SPEAKER_00 46:54

Wait, say that say that one more time.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

Leadership is disappointing people at a rate they can stomach.

unknown 46:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 47:00

Which again is a little bit of a somber take. I actually don't know that I wholesale agree with it.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

Uh because leadership is also like a great like the people I get a front row seat for like what God is doing. People tell me disproportionately, they brag to me about other staff members. Like that is uh just an unspeakable joy.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:17

But there is also, I was just sharing with somebody the other day, particularly in ministry, sometimes what's challenging is the vast array of what leadership looks like. I had a day a few months ago where within a half hour, I was I was asked to go to the hospital uh to to take a young mom off of life support and to try and bring any kind of like pastoral presence. And she had uh she had three boys. And so like I'm looking at I have three boys, and they're like just looking for any kind of anger, any kind of you know, and I had to go. Sorry, I didn't mean to cry on your podcast.

SPEAKER_00 47:58

I can cry on the podcast, that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:00

But to go from that to that evening, we had our our small group leader celebration, more group leaders than we've ever had, and like life change and celebration, and a live band and pizza. And I remember like going home that night thinking this is ministry. It yeah, the the highs are just so unbelievably high. And sometimes the valleys are like so crushing, so crushing. And the beauty of even the valleys, though, is that um by the grace of God, even those things drive us to even deeper dependence on Him. I believe suffering carves the depth of compassion in us that nothing else does. Like He uses even those things, and leadership, I think, in a lot of ways. My I have a leadership coach actually that gave me a just a brilliant definition of leadership that I point back to a lot. He said, Leaders, um, build trust, bear pain, and bring hope. And so I'm regularly asking myself, I mean, where do I need to build trust, bear pain, or bring hope in this conversation or this one-on-one, or this staff meeting? And there's always opportunity to do that. And I'm a I'm a simple man. So to have like an acronym or some kind of alliteration, like, okay, if I can do those three things today with our team in my family, then then I would uh I would feel pretty good about that.

SPEAKER_00 49:16

That's great advice. That's so good. Last question for you.

SPEAKER_02 49:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:20

What are you dreaming about?

SPEAKER_02 49:23

Oh man. I know you said we're wrapping up, so I'll try to not take your time.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

I don't want to preach this.

SPEAKER_02 49:32

Uh there's no, is there like an organ that'll play when like my time is up? We can actually wrap it up, let the fog roll in. Um so at our at our church, we talk a lot about tables. And our our vision of the bridge is bringing the gospel to every table. And what has been so captivating about that? That's so good. Everyone has one. Everyone, whether it's a big grand, you know, dining room table in a mansion or a card table in front of a TV or a conference table or a chicken spaces that literally all of us have in some capacity. And what makes me so excited is, you know, we've been talking about this at the bridge for a couple years now, is to see it take root in places that I could never have imagined. Like I met with a woman who works graveyard shift at a gas station, and she came to me on a Sunday crying how she had just led someone to the Lord at at 1 a.m. at her gas station counter. She goes, That's my table. Is that what you were talking about? I'm like, I'll be honest, I wasn't picturing a gas station counter, but that's it. Like that's what we're like, like seeing our people like equipped and sent out to live as sent people wherever God has them just gets me so excited. The idea, the Ephesians 4, my role is not to do all the ministry, it's to equip the saints for the work of ministry. And so to see our our church and people that that aren't a part of the bridge be captivated by how how Jesus used tables, how the early church was formed around tables. Like it there's something, and I think as the internet becomes more and more artificial, I think there's going to be an even deeper ache for authentic. You were talking about presence, yeah, about uh belonging, knowing and being known. And to see that like take root in some ways, probably even especially in the ways that like I know didn't come from my brain, is like such a gift because it means oh man, people are are are catching it. And it's not just oh, there's this initiative that we're doing to first season. Well, it's like, oh no, I'm I had I got a text from an elder that said, I I think tables are how the Lord's gonna use me for the next 20 years of my life. It's like such a cool thing, and that that just excites me endlessly.

SPEAKER_00 51:35

Yeah, that is amazing, and I love that. People are transformed at the table. That's right. Yeah, that's where holy hospitality just flourishes and it changes people's lives.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

That's right.

SPEAKER_00 51:46

Pastor Ian, how can people be in touch with you and follow you and know what you're up to?

SPEAKER_02 51:50

Oh man, just go to uh theawakenhouse.com and uh they know where to find me. Is that even the correct website, I mean?

SPEAKER_00 52:00

Almost it's actually theawakenhouse.com, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 52:03

You know, whatever. I I don't even it's Ian Simpkins is Instagram. There's uh a website, Ian Simpkins.com, I think he's still active. I don't know. I should probably check that out. They can email me if they want, Ian at bridge.tv.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

Love it, love it, amazing. Well, thank you. This was fun. Yeah, so much fun. This is good. You're very good at this, by the way. Oh, thank you. Well done. You're very good. Well, you made it easy. This was so great. And again, just want to honor you for your story and and and just the pieces that were woven in there and just how the Lord relentlessly pursued you. Because although you didn't necessarily at first see that strong call, the Lord did, and he just kept inviting you to that table as well all through your life. It's so powerful. Thank you so much for being here, Ian. I encourage you to follow Ian on social media to check out the bridge. Uh, if you're looking for a good church, that is a good one if you're here local and um just rejoicing at this conversation today. I hope you were blessed by it. I want to encourage you. If you don't subscribe and follow this podcast, would you just take a quick minute? Subscribe, follow, and share this. If you were listening today and hearing something that you thought, oh, this person would be so blessed by this, so encouraged. Would you just take a moment to share it on your platforms? And I can't wait to see you back on the Dreamers Podcast next time. Thanks for tuning in today. Dreams don't come with a roadmap, only courage, curiosity, and the willingness to keep going. If today's story resonated with you, let it remind you that your journey matters, even if it's still unfolding. Thank you for spending this time with me today on the Dreamers Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs a little inspiration today. Until next time, keep dreaming, keep moving, and trust that the story you're writing is worth telling. We'll see you on the next episode.