The Meet Hope Podcast
The Meet Hope Podcast
94: A Story of Invitation, Service, and Faith with Chris Black
What does it truly mean to be defined by faith and service? Join us on the Meet Hope podcast for an inspiring conversation with Chris Black as he shares his journey from a high school student invited to a church dodgeball tournament to becoming a part of Hope's community. Chris's story, marked by impactful moments like a roofing service project and deep community bonds, reveals the profound influence of mentorship and a supportive church family. Chris shares how our personal and professional lives can be molded by faith and the act of serving others. Listen in to discover how integrating service into your daily life can bring about meaningful change, regardless of where you are on your journey.
NOTES & RESOURCES:
- Contact Ashley - ashley@meethope.org
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Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Hope hey everyone, welcome to the Meet Hope podcast. My name is Ashley Black. I am your host today. I'm excited to welcome you Today. We have a special guest, especially to me. It is Chris Black. Hey, chris.
Speaker 3:Hey Ash, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm good. So, for those of you that don't know, chris is actually my husband. We have been married almost six years and I asked him to be on the podcast today because recently in church we had a Sunday called Back to School Sunday, where we had a video having people share who was their favorite teacher and why. And Chris, you were in that video and you talked about a teacher of yours who also happened to connect you to hope.
Speaker 2:And we recently did another episode where we talked with Cindy and Mark Schneider about how, like hospitality and serving others is kind of a natural language for them, and it made me think, hey, chris is this way also, and so I thought it would be a nice chance for you to one talk a little bit more about the story that you shared in that video and also talk a little bit about how serving others is the way that you live out your faith. So we're going to talk about all those things a little bit. So we usually have everybody introduce themselves, so before we do any more, why don't you introduce yourself to everyone? Tell us a little bit about what you do, all that.
Speaker 3:So my name is Chris Black, obviously married to Ashley. We have two young kids, kale and Otto. We live here in Voorhees. I've been going to Hope Church since about 2009. It might have been 2008. It might have been my first interaction, just trying to think about the dates there. I am a nurse by trade. Currently I am the clinical nurse education specialist for the behavior health division of Pennsylvania Hospital, but a lot of my nursing background and practice was in emergency medicine. But a lot of my nursing background and practice was in emergency medicine.
Speaker 2:So tell us you mentioned that your first exposure to Hope was in 2008, when you were in high school, which is what you talked about a little bit when you talked about having a teacher who invited you to Hope. Do you want to say more about that?
Speaker 3:Sure, yeah, for those that didn't see the video or might have seen the video and just needed some more context. So my connection to Hope, I think, is pretty interesting. So I did not grow up around in the Voorhees area. I grew up a little bit more south in a town called Winona, down in Gloucester County. I went to high school at Gateway Regional High School and that's kind of where my story of hope and I came together. So there was a teacher, brian Derricks, that I had for chemistry and then he also taught physics. So in my junior year and then my senior year I got to have him for two separate classes and sitting in his classroom. One day I just recall that he put out to the whole class hey, we are having a dodgeball tournament for my youth group up in my church and if anybody's interested let me know. Um, and you know you can come up with me, I'm putting a team together. So I said, hey, this sounds interesting, I'm definitely interested in going.
Speaker 3:And so we went to this dodgeball tournament up here at Hope Church through the youth group. It was Brian Derricks and I and I think one or two other students from Gateway went, and then just some of the other youth that he knew from his involvement in the youth group. And then the second interaction I had with Hope on the initial piece was sitting in a classroom. He put out there hey, we're doing a service project through my church and we're replacing my neighbor's roof and this was going to be over a Thanksgiving weekend and if anybody's interested let me know. And that kind of stuff interested me, but I never really did it Right. So I'm a 17, 18 year old kid that hears that we're going to be able to use power tools and do some work and be up on a roof Right.
Speaker 3:So, um, so I went up and I talked to him and I was like that sounds really interesting, can you send me the information? I went, you know, to his house slash, his neighbor's house and got really connected with the youth group there and made some connections with Dave Falcone, who was the youth pastor at the time, and his wife, jackie, was there leading some of the volunteer groups. Brian Derricks and his father-in-law were there doing work and all of a sudden I'm just up on a roof with a shovel and a pry bar taking shingles off and pulling nails out. And then I just remember, um, brian's father-in-law with a big nail gun being like here, give this a shot, and we're just, like you know, using an air compressor to put nails into shingles all throughout this roof. And I thought it was really cool because it just felt so empowering, um, to be not an adult yet but to be doing all these things and just feeling trusted and being able to do things that I hadn't really seen.
Speaker 2:So what was it so then? Uh, since that, after that moment, you stuck around hope for ever since. Um and some people know that that's how you and I met is through serving in youth ministry. Um, so what was it about hope, youth ministry, youth Ministry. And then after, when you became an adult, what was it that made you keep coming back and you can't say that you married me because you were coming before you married me?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it took a lot to get to marrying you, and that's a whole other story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what was it that made you keep coming back?
Speaker 3:story, yeah, so what was it that made you keep coming back?
Speaker 3:So I think just needing to take a step back is that, if you think, if I think about my life and how I grew up and how I was raised through my parents in Winona, um, there's always been a line of service instilled into me.
Speaker 3:And so my dad, like I said, he worked at the nuclear power plant as a firefighter, um, but more locally, he was a volunteer firefighter for our town, and when I was very young he was the fire chief. And so all my years growing up, I've got pictures of me as a baby, growing up as a toddler, kid, teenager, that I was at the firehouse and we were doing something, volunteering for some fundraiser, showing up to help wash a truck, being involved in different activities there, um. But then on my mother's side, you know, she also was very volunteer and service oriented, um. So she worked at um, the library, where obviously she was getting paid, but then she would do some extra pieces to that. And then she was also involved in the women's club, um, which is an organization that was very service-oriented, and so she would always be involved in that. So I would see the two of them always doing something and helping out with the town service in your town and serving others was.
Speaker 2:I mean, that was one of the first things I learned about your family when we started dating was, um, everybody in town knows your family because of how much your family cares about caring for their neighbors and the people around them. So you were raised in a culture of serving others and then you came to hope and also found a culture of serving others, and so that felt like it lined up with who you were.
Speaker 3:Yeah, at that point I was already involved in different service pieces. You know, when I turned 16, I was able to join the fire department in our town, which basically was a countdown since I was six or seven, because it was just not just assumed but just waiting to be able to join. But you weren't able to join until you're 16 to become a junior. And then you discover when you join as a junior firefighter you can't really do much. You get to be around more but you're not jumping and running into fires and every once in a while you got to ride on the fire truck, things like that. Um and that's how part of my my career now was started is that at 16, you couldn't go to fire school but you could become an EMT and then just be um supervised by uh, an 18 plus uh EMT. So the fire department started that service piece.
Speaker 3:I was already doing service but then Brian Derricks put out some pieces that I got connected with kids my age that were also interested in doing service, things like being up on a roof and seeing a youth group doing like mission trips, and that was kind of. The next big leap that I did is that we did a dodgeball tournament. We did a service project and then everybody started talking about that next summer after Thanksgiving that they go on a mission trip. So it was just always service oriented. But I was doing it with, like other people, my age Fire department is mostly adults and then like maybe a few juniors.
Speaker 3:But, seeing that other people had a heart for doing service at that time was something that I didn't really see in high school or you know, with those people was something that I didn't really see in high school or the, you know, with those people.
Speaker 2:So, coming, so hope for you became this kind of um like perfect meeting place of you're finding out that you can use your gifts alongside people your age which you weren't seeing maybe as much in other places of your life. Um, and you also had been invited by somebody to do that.
Speaker 3:So I think some of my connection to the church as well.
Speaker 3:This other piece that in the fire department there was a family that was affected by one of the wives having cancer and they used to volunteer with the EMT piece and all the ambulance, which was really my connection in the first two years that I could really actively do and I spent a lot of my first few years transporting this guy's wife to and from the hospital, whether for some emergent need or to go get some tests done or procedure done, and really saw her through um, through her whole course of cancer and then eventually passed away.
Speaker 3:And she passed away kind of around the same time that Brian Derricks was putting out these invites and finding these connections. And I think during that time is when I also was having some not crisis of faith because I don't know what faith I had at that point. You know I grew up in a Lutheran church. My mom would take us, my dad would come on holidays, sports became a big thing and so Sundays started getting cut out from going to church and we would go Christmas and Easter. But through my high school years there wasn't, I wasn't doing church weekly or involved in the church.
Speaker 2:So so Brian's invite happened at a time where you were really looking for not just like the physical service piece, but also the like, maybe looking for some encouragement or hope or like what does this all mean, kind of feelings.
Speaker 3:Does that make sense? Yeah, no, definitely that. Um, you know, I I have a very strong friend group at home, but I was looking for something else and looking for answers or trying to understand, um, you know why this person passed away and I was doing questions to God, why, you know, why did this person get cancer and why did they pass away? And why would you do that to this family? That's so kind and they volunteer and they support Um, and so you know I think Brian just asked at this right time that then I found this connection of people that had a faith, that had a trust, um, in God, that made me feel comfortable and started answering questions for myself.
Speaker 2:So then, what difference has that made in your life in the past 10 years since then?
Speaker 3:Hope Church. That experience with Betsy passing away and kind of my growing up in some sort of service, but finding where to channel that service to supporting other people has really I mean, that's my trajectory right. That's why I went into nursing is finding a way to help and support people in their time of crisis. That's why I ended up being a part of youth group but then when I graduated high school, coming back and then maintaining being a youth leader for multiple years for an example for students, being a voice or an ear for students to be able to talk to, to talk about their experiences, to show them that you know sometimes there's a stigma about faith and Christianity, and showing that even as a young adult, you can still have a faith and being able to relate it with the student.
Speaker 2:You and I both have had a passion for is helping young people know that faith can be a part of their life and they can ask questions and it cannot make sense, but they can figure it out alongside other people and sometimes you figure it out through serving others or just through, you know, working it out alongside others or having fun with others and seeing where God shows up. You have a tattoo that is Matthew 20, 28. Do you want to talk about why that matters to you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I do have a tattoo. It's the only tattoo that I have, but it really just serves as a trajectory for my life. So it's for not even the Son of God came to be served, but to serve others as a ransom for the life of many. And so, obviously, service oriented, just even showing and talking about that. You know, jesus didn't come to just be to sit on a throne and be worshiped and not do anything, that he was in the streets, having an impact, touching people's lives, people that were sick or hurt or struggling, that he was right down there with them doing those things.
Speaker 3:And thinking about what I thought about Christianity maybe when I was very young it looked like people would show up on Sundays and say, do a church service and then go about their day, but it didn't feel like it was connecting to people that were struggling or helping or supporting. And so I think in youth group and our 20-something group and mission trips with youth and adults, is that we've been able to be an example of service and supporting others when they might be struggling or they might have a need, and showing that Christianity isn't some separate, higher than now thing, that you can be right there in the mix of it, and also that it can be it can be messy. Yeah, you know I don't always make the right decision and.
Speaker 3:I've made poor decisions in my life and I think that's why I liked being in the youth group and having 20 something group there, where for a while we were 20 somethings but we were share, like all the you know, not bad decisions, but you know maybe different decisions that we made, um when we were 20 somethings to see that it's okay and you're going to get through that or that, um that there isn't one clear piece.
Speaker 2:There isn't one clear path which can be really overwhelming when you step into adulthood, and also that God meets us where we are, wherever are, and so I think it's different now, from when we were growing up, you know there was a model school, high school, college, work right away, get married, have kids, that.
Speaker 2:but you know, I think now that model's been broken or shattered the field is so much wider in terms of everybody does something different and in some ways that's really great, and in some ways I know from my conversations with people that age it can feel really overwhelming because you're not doing what your friend is doing and um, and so we like to encourage young adults however we can in that and if you're not, you think you're not on the right path, if you're not doing what that set out thing was, and I think it's different now.
Speaker 3:Which I love is that people take so many different paths to get to where they are and no one is correct and I think the two of us have been able to share. You were in a different career and then just completely shifted to work in the church, and for me, when I graduated, I couldn't work in my career field for a year because I couldn't pass a certification test. But also that didn't define me because I think where I am now, I'm fairly successful and I think I'm a pretty good nurse. So some of those things that were markers set up by our world doesn't define you, yeah.
Speaker 2:So being defined by your faith and your service to others is different than being defined by the checkpoints that the world tells us we have to have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, by the like checkpoints that the world tells us we have to have. Yeah, even even when I wasn't working as a nurse, I could be still be serving others and supporting the community in different ways. Exactly.
Speaker 2:So how would you encourage others? So you, this is almost like a second language to you serving others and taking care of others. I watch you do it all of the time. How would you encourage someone if they're listening and they're like this is not my first language, like I don't, I don't. Service is not my, my first thing that I think of to do, but I would like to be better at it. How would you encourage somebody to grow in that?
Speaker 3:I think you just need to find a group, and it doesn't need to be a set structured group. You know, we have a bunch of different small groups here at the church and that could be a spot that gets you connected, finding some sort of passion or a group of people that are interested in the same thing. So you know, for me sometimes it was just different people that were in the medical field and so we have the same passion. But what can we do with that? Can we do some sort of medical service piece? Or maybe it's just a group of friends that you relate to at church or outside of church. But I think the key is being in some sort of community together and then that community supporting each other, which then in turns ends up supporting the broader community. And I've always been in a team or a group. And if I look back, you gravitate towards teams and groups.
Speaker 3:Yeah, if I look back to childhood, my friends, we are a very close group and even now, when we're all in separate towns and places and states, every 4th of July everybody gravitates back together and you're always amazed by this, but we are a group and we pick up right where we left off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that is something I often tell people that I've learned from you is the value of, uh, of being in a community with others. Um, I am, by nature, a much more introverted person and I did not. I did not come out of childhood with a tight knit friend group or community town group, um, and for me, hope was one of the first places I also experienced that kind of community. So it's something that I find interesting that almost it feels like almost every episode that we do on the Meet Hope podcast. Recently we wind up at the end talking about community. So is there anything else you would want people to? You would want to say to people if they're feeling unsure about how to make their way into becoming part of a community?
Speaker 3:So I think being in a community, you get support and then, once you get that support, you're able to then push that out to other people and so, working together as a group or being in a community or being on a team, you're supported. So then you can then reflect those things upon the community. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because if you were doing service and you weren't taking care of yourself in a community or group or seeing like-minded people that wanted to do those same things, then you're going to get burnout where you're not going to see the fruits of that labor, it becomes all about like you doing it instead of for the sake of others.
Speaker 3:And that's why we talk about in youth group the idea of like me last is a way to promote you, supporting others and letting others do things before you. So we would fight to be the last person in line to eat on mission trips or take a break or things like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then yeah, so or take a break or things like that, yeah, and then, yeah, so, and I think just the groups themselves, yeah, they can just support each other and then that group then finds an interest to then help others. So, whether that's setting up chairs, rearranging chairs at different holidays and times, being part of the third Tuesday group, getting involved in the youth group or the tech ministry, helping out with the kids on Sunday mornings, it doesn't have to be specific or only Sunday or one thing. And I think you know I've jumped around and done different things and my key is just trying to find where to fill that need or where I feel like I'm being pulled, to, where my passion is at the time and it changes right, yeah, I mean it changes based on life.
Speaker 2:We have two small children now, and so our capacity to serve has shifted, and yet I still see you trying to serve and care for others where you can, and that, I think, is a really great thing to remember that if we try something or if we do something, it doesn't have to be forever, but we can still have an impact right where we are.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know it doesn't need to be church-based, but I feel like with our church community you end up getting pulled back into doing something in the church. So sometimes my group and my thing is my community right now is my neighborhood and we've got an aging neighborhood. So my active service is Tuesday mornings bringing trash cans in for three or four neighbors. But my active service is Tuesday mornings bringing trash cans in for three or four neighbors. But then that still brings me back to hey. I want to get involved in this third Tuesday thing and help set up and break down so other people can come and just relax and have a meal with their families and connect with people, because that feeds me as doing that service.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cool. Well, thanks for doing this with me today. I know it's a unique conversation to have your wife interview you for a podcast. If anybody ever wants to talk more about using your language of service, I'm sure Chris would love to talk with you. He's usually with me at Hope on Sundays. You can find us with chasing two small children around, or you can reach out to me and I can help get you connected. My email is ashleyatmeanhopeorg. And otherwise. We hope that you enjoyed today's episode. Please share it with a friend if you think that it will mean something to them, especially those friends that we have who, for them, service is their love language, and maybe you want to encourage them today. So until next time. Thanks so much, chris, for doing this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:And we will see you next time.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.