Mason Dress (English): Faith, Football & Finding Joy Again

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode with a Methodist on Monday at our Holy Club. I'm your host Damian today, and with me is a member of my church here in Chini, Mason. Hallo Mason. Hi Damian. How are you doing today? I'm pretty good. Pretty good, even though you were forced to be here and do this podcast.

I wouldn't say forced, you asked me very politely. I can be polite, that's right. Tell us a little bit, who are you? How old are you? What do you do for work? Whatever you call that. Yeah, tell me what. I am a 16-year-old Methodist Christian that plays football for Cheney High School. I'm on the AV crew here.

And I'm also on church council. And I walk your dog once a week. That is true, yeah. Yeah, one of our youngest church council members, and we're going to talk about this in a bit. What is AV? I don't think that some Germans who know English well might not know what AV is. AV stands for Audiovisual Crew.

Oh, I didn't even know that. Okay. I knew it was like the tech crew, but audiovisual, that makes sense, yeah. Cool. So 16-year-old. Before we hear a little bit about your story, how did you end up at this church in the Methodist, I brought a little game. Germans are familiar with it. It's called entweder oder, or in English I just call it this or that.

So I give you two options. You have to make a decision what you prefer. Yes. And if you want to share a bit why, that's fine too. So the first most important question is, and there's only one right answer to that, is Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Harry Potter, because I've never seen Lord of the Rings. Wait, what? Never seen any of them.

How did you become a member here then? Without being forced to watch it before? I don't know. I didn't know that. What, you didn't even come to our movie nights? Was it last fall? It was during the football season. Oh, okay. Well, I'm going to let that slide. Harry Potter, okay. But what do you have seen so far in my sermons? Do you like a lot of rings? Yeah. Okay, good.

Next one. Monster Energy Drink or Red Bull? Both. Du musst eine Entscheidung machen. Das ist der Punkt der Spiel. Red Bull? Red Bull. Warum Red Bull? Ist es eher cheaper? Es also depends auf der Monster. Aber Red Bull, like the regular one? The classic Red Bull over the classic Monster. Okay, that makes sense.

Next one is Nike or Adidas? Nike. Why not the German brand? Nike just has coffee issues. Maybe, okay. Spider-Man or Batman? Spider-Man or Batman? Batman. Okay, at least one good answer. Batman. Yeah, we're gonna do for the people who are watching us listening to us I mean we're gonna do a new movie series this fall Spider-Man and Batman six weeks and I'm the one who decided this, also yeah besides me having already made a decision but I always give people the chance to think they made a decision as well I'm the one who suggested this that's true yeah but I'm a Batman is my favorite one okay, now this is for our young people here what do you prefer Snapchat or TikTok, Snapchat Why?

I can talk to my friends more And a lot of my friends have Snapchat But not TikTok Oh really? Why don't they have TikTok? Parents don't allow them Oh they don't allow it Do you know why? Safety Okay Do you post stuff on TikTok? I have a couple videos On TikTok What do you post there? Let me ask um. Do you also use TikTok for getting news or information? Sometimes.

One video is about my tattoo. One video is saying how far I would go for a girl. How far I would go for a girl? Yeah, basically. Like walking? No, like, it's a news article about a guy who got shot protecting his girlfriend. Oh. Um one video is about my godfather who passed away and one list a video of me that I posted, so would you say you use tiktok a little bit like to post stuff to, cope with something or work through something sometimes or share your thoughts sometimes, okay cool next thing is I have on here Old Testament or New Testament?

I think I have more things highlighted in the Old Testament currently. Okay, why is that? Because you started reading the Old Testament first? Yeah, because I was reading it from beginning to end. And I'm pretty sure I've read 35 books so far. Okay, do you know how many there are in total? 60-something. 66, yeah.

I think. If you're listening, you can correct me. And so do you have a favorite book in the Old Testament or story? Uh... Und people can see his thinking I can see, it's Joshua 1 oh okay when they kill all the babies and women or no that's the rough part well you can think about that it's, Joshua 1 oh 1.9 be courageous that's a good one seid mutig in German Wow, okay, cool, great story An AV question What do you prefer?

Camera, being in the camera, or being in the sound? Being on the camera Is it easier? Sometimes. Sometimes being on sound Is easier It depends on Who is Talking And who is singing Because of their fluctuation, Like, when you're singing, you fluctuate a lot more than some of the other singers. Because it brings some dynamics in there. Because you're German.

Okay. And Madeline fluctuates a lot more, too. Yeah. She can be very loud and bass. But our camera is very fidgety. So that is one of our harder tasks up there. Well, if you want to see Mason at work, you just can go to our YouTube channel, right? Okay, two more questions. American football or baseball, what do you prefer? American football.

And when it comes to watching, same way? Yes. Okay. What is better about football than baseball? Football, I get to hit people. You can hit people, okay. I mean, you can technically hit someone with a bat at baseball. And not get yelled at, my bad. Yeah. You don't get yelled at for hitting people in football.

That makes sense, yeah. Because it's part of the game, right? Okay, last question. Because you have a travel license and you're allowed to drive with an adult, right? With my apartment, yeah. Yeah, so who do you drive rather with? With your mom or with Pastor Damien? Pastor Damien, who doesn't stress me out.

Just want to let you guys hear that. I'm not stressing people out while they're driving. Well, you don't stress me out. Oh, okay. And Lisa. Well, thank you for those quick questions. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about how did you. Und du bist hier und bist ein Methodist? Du bist in der Kirche mit deinem Mom?

Wie war es hier? Growing up, ich und mein Mom war trying. Es war mir, mein Mom und mein Bruder. Wir waren church hunting, basically. Church hunting? Ja. Ich denke, es wird dann, dass Leute hier in der Kirche sind. Das funktioniert. You and I were like, oh, we had a rifle down there, and then we looked, and then we were like, this church is going to blow up.

Church hunting, though. Jumped from churches. All in Cheney, or? Cheney, Spokane, Airway. I'm pretty sure we went to a couple of effort when we lived out there. But we could never find one that works for us. But when we moved back over here in 2022, we stopped looking. And then when we moved into Lacey Apartments, we needed some help.

And she reached out to you, Pastor Damien. And that's when we found you guys. So one visit my mom made me come here and I've been coming since I remember your mom was here one time I think alone and I wasn't there because someone else was preaching and she said she didn't like that part, she didn't know anybody yeah cool so just offering some you guys became part of the church family here right so when you you were also not baptized right before.

Yeah, I... So, how did that decision came to? Um, I decided to get baptized because, I wanted to officially become a Christian and wanted to be, certified in my religion. Okay. And have a firm foundation. Not just Vielen Dank. Um, light on my feet in the religion. So I talked to my mom about it. And she thought it was a wonderful idea.

And she wanted to get baptized with me. Yeah, which we did then in a pool. In August last year. Yeah. So I think that, that might be a weird question, but I think some of the people ask that. Especially a lot of Methodists in Germany, they are baptized as a baby. And so they don't really remember, of course. So, would you say there was something changed after baptism, like feeling-wise or experience-wise, or was it just important and symbolic, more or less?

I've definitely changed feeling-wise. I've been calmer and not as... I don't know. So I've definitely changed since being baptized. Okay. And how would you describe, do you remember anything from membership class? Like would you describe, what do you think you like about Methodism or Methodist? I like that they're all-inclusive.

All-inclusive doesn't mean we get free lunch and free drinks all day long. It means... Germans sometimes think, the cageman is all inclusive, right? It means that everybody is welcome and we don't discriminate against anybody. Which I do have to explain to people at school. That we don't do that. Yeah. Yeah, because they don't trust churches sometimes, right? Yeah.

Yeah, it's awesome. That's the main thing I like about our church. Yeah. And that I'm the youngest person on our church council. Ja, genau. Which is not always easy for you, probably, and also for a church to have a younger voice and make sure that you are heard. Because oftentimes, no matter which culture we are, and I assume, at least in Germany and here, people tend to, or older people tend to know what is right and what's going on. And they're like, yeah, yeah, nice idea.

Let's move on. Usually in societies, the younger people don't get seen and don't get heard. And I like that in our church and as a younger person I get heard and I get seen, Awesome, so how would you describe how you live your faith is there something you do regularly or when I get up in the morning right after my shower I pray Why not in the shower?

I think I pray before in the shower I think to save some time because I get up at 5.30 and then don't leave Ich bleibe bis 6 Uhr. Oh, wow. Und ich habe eine 15- Minute Shower, so es gibt mir ein paar Zeit. Okay. Ich bin ein paar Zeit. Okay. So, pray in the morning. Yeah, pray in the morning. And then I have a daily Bible verse that I do after my workout.

Was it like an app that gives you a daily verse? It's an app that I have on my phone. What's it called? It's called Bible. Oh, the Bible app. Okay, I have that too. Yeah, they have a daily verse. That's right. Yeah. Okay. So, you look at it and read it. Yeah. Ja, um, that I do in between my zero-hour weights class and my first period.

Nice. And then throughout the day, I pray and I talk to my friends that I have, um, a Bible group with. Mm-hmm. Where's that Bible group at? At school? Uh, yeah. Oh. It's a club. It's a student-led club that we do Bible studies. And who's leading it? Students. Like you're high schoolers? High schoolers. I'm one of the oldest ones. Okay. That leads it.

We have a group chat. We talk in it. So that's one of the fun things that we do. We see each other out of school. Most of us are athletes, so we'll pray before games. Oh, wow. Okay. What do you pray for? That you win? um that we won't get hurt okay yeah um we'll watch over that he'll watch over all players on the field the coaches also the enemies yeah everybody that's on the field the coaches the trainers, um everybody in the stands, so so I mean that's maybe that's a pray that I do yeah yeah I like that um this is maybe uh, tricky question. So when you say you pray before the game and let's say someone gets hurt very badly still.

I pray for them when they get hurt. But what does that change anything in the way you see prayer when you feel like okay we prayed for this and then still someone gets hurt. That doesn't change anything for me. I just. Because Because, like in the Bible says, God gives his toughest battles on his soldiers.

My life has been really hard. I've gone through many difficult things. Had two surgeries. Just one body part in one school year. It was a difficult experience. I've broken my hip. Terrible. And seeing a player get injured. It's horrible. It's horrible, especially after praying. So, I pray for them again, just to recover as quickly as possible, and then for the Lord to watch over them, and for Him to keep watching over them as they recover.

Und du also go to Youth Group, right? Ja, I go to the Chini Faith Center Youth Group called Amp on Thursdays. How many kids are there? Because that's probably, our German listeners will be like, what the heck? Two, three hundred kids. Yeah. So two, three hundred kids, I mean, that's... It's a lot. Yeah. That church.

I think they only have like three hundred people on Sunday morning or four hundred. Yeah. They have two services, though, and we have one. Yeah, that's enough, one. I don't think we have enough people for two. Yeah, no, not at the moment, we're getting there. I mean, if they all came in, we would. Yeah, that's true.

I mean, all on our list were there, it would be crazy. So, and, you know, you're on your faith journey now, and is there things that you think is hard in believing or having faith? Um, not in believing, but sometimes having faith. Um, when it gets really hard, yes. Um, but when my friends come in, it really helps. Yeah.

Or when you come in, it helps. So when you experience God through others, what are there for you? Or when I'm by myself and I can feel somebody with me. Mm-hmm. Und wie living your faith? Du hast es manchmal etwas zu sagen, dass es es schwer zu sprechen, über faith? Ja, manchmal ist es schwer zu sprechen, wenn es zu anderen Menschen ist.

Und es ist schwer zu gehen und gehen und gehen für jemanden. So ich habe einen Tattoo, Januar 14. Ich habe einen Kuss auf meinem Fohrarm, so dass Leute kommen und fragen über es, so dass ich nicht mehr auf sie gehen, because I'm a pretty shy person. Yeah, people won't notice, but yeah. I mean, when I don't have my hoodie on.

You can hide behind the hoodie. Yeah, when I have my hoodie on, I can hide behind it, but when I don't, it's noticeable. It's like, it's decently big. Yeah, I would say it's like 15 centimeters. Like three and a half inches. I have no clue what that is. Ich denke, es ist 15 cm, das ist wie es aussieht. Ich weiß nicht, wie es aussieht.

Es ist wie ein Graffiti's Cross hat. Ja. Ja, so Sharing Faith, okay. So, wenn Leute fragen, wie es das Cross hat, was sie sagen? Ich erzähle sie über wie ich mein Pastor gefunden habe. Wie ich mein Pastor gefunden habe. Ja, wie ich mich. Und dann I explained to them why I got the cross and how, Everything's been in my um journey with faith. Yeah.

And what's the reaction? I mean, I accepted, I expect that there's different reactions to that. Sometimes they're happy for me. Yeah. Sometimes they're like a little disappointed. Yeah. Because it's not like it's not the story they expected. So they're a little disappointed. Okay. What do you think they would expect? I don't know. Like more like it's just like the symbol of it or something?

It kind of depends on the person. And then I usually ask if I can pray with them. Okay. At the end. I think that's bold. But a lot of people need to be prayed with. Und usually they'll say yes, A lot of Christian people will say yes. Yeah, that's true. And if they're asking about a cross, they're usually Christian.

Okay, that makes it a bit easier, right? But I feel like even I, as a pastor, and that's probably my culture as well, I hardly offer a prayer because I always feel like it's weird. That's something where I'm not bold or courageous. My generation is used to offering to pray for people because we're more open.

About it because we're younger than you. Oh, but does that have to do with it? We're more open about our feelings so we're more open about having to pray for people. Interesting. Because people share their emotions more. Yeah. And when you see someone upset, angry, crying, we go offer to pray for them.

Yeah, wow. We feel better. Wow. So we're just more open about praying for people. Yeah. I feel like it fits all with our series right now, Loving Boldly. Like just, you know, the Germans will do the same series, a little bit different, but the same wording. No, not the same wording as I mentioned last Sunday.

Do you have any plans here in high school right now? What happens after high school? Currently, I'm wanting to go to college to play football. Und Das ist eine interessante sentence. Ich will go to college to play football und dann might study a bit right? Well I'm wanting to go to college to play football and if football doesn't work then my backup plan is to be a pastor. Okay.

Oh you want to be professional in football or just college football? Um. I want to play professional football. And if that doesn't work, I'm looking to be a pastor. Or you can do both. Or you can do both. Football first, and when your bones are broken, then you can... Then I can be our first disabled pastor.

I think there is, there are already some, but yeah. I meant our first disabled. Oh, here. Okay. Cool. Is there a reason why you think you want to become a pastor or why there's an option? I mean, you have a great example, yeah, of course. I mean, but... I don't know. I mean... There's not really that many people that want to become a pastor and coming from my generation. And we need more.

And seeing how it could become, it would look good. It looks like something you can see yourself in. And I could help a lot of people as a pastor. Do you definitely can? You also have to be careful, you don't overwork yourself. I mean, I already do. Yeah. I found my question back I want to ask, because the last couple episodes we had, people were asking my colleague Moritz, who is working currently on an online church, besides his regular church, so to connect with people who are more in online spaces.

And one question always pops up is, what can we do to reach out to the younger generation? Und meine Frage ist für dich, von deinem Erfahrung, was kann der Church lernen oder wie kann wir reach out to younger people? Connect them. Ich weiß, mir und meine Freunde, was es zu uns, als ein Pastor oder ein Youth Representative coming und, trying nicht nur zu sein oder ein Youth Representative und tatsächlich trying to be a friend too. Mm-hmm.

Um, like you're a friend and a pastor. Um, Alan, one of the youth representatives at AMP, he's a friend too. Mm-hmm. And so is JJ. Um, um, So relationship is important beyond just like, I want to sell you my faith. Not just pastor, youth representative. Literatist, friend too. It helps when trying to teach youth in faith.

Because it connects with their younger multiple brain. Ja, das ist ein guter Punkt. Aber das ist eine Frage, das führt zu der Step, wie kann, dass, let's sagen, ein older Church generation sogar in Kontakt mit der jungen Generationen? Let's say you have a Church where there are no young people at the moment.

I can't be a nice friend, but if I don't meet guys like you, how do I... Do you think a pastor should be now on TikTok und du Dances? Um, what is the way to... That's one option. Um, but like we're trying to do, um, our youth group is an option because my friends are interested. And, Yeah, so we're planning to create a new youth group here in Cheney, yeah.

That is inclusive. They said as soon as, um, whatever day we're interested and we're looking for, um, looking at the room um, to tell them mhm, Weil sie sind sehr busy mit Sport. Aber das ist die Ende. Unless sie get playoffs. Ja. So was du was saying, ich meine, da ist dieses kind of difficulty, ich glaube, ist, yes, da muss man eine Willing-Nessung zu reach out to younger people und create opportunities like a youth group oder so.

Aber in der gleichen Zeit, wir müssen auch mit der und mit, ich glaube, mit unseren Neibern, helfen Menschen, will be present to even get in contact with potential youth so we could invite them over. Because I mean, if you and your mom wouldn't have started coming. That would be for that church. I mean, we have a couple middle schoolers now, but I feel like that's a missing part in a way, right?

Because we have a couple middle schoolers, me and a couple college students. Yeah. When it's you and elderly people. Yeah. That's getting better. Yeah, it's getting better. Oder younger people to advance. Ja, in this day. And I'm trying to help with that by trying to get more people my age to come, but they all have churches. They all have churches, yeah.

Maybe it's something we should sit down when we study this group is think about how to reach out to those who don't go to a church and don't go to youth group. And the problem is when people don't go to church, they're not looking for a church. Yeah. Also, think about it. Let's say, because I was a teenager, and my mom didn't go to church.

And I started going to a church because friends go, and it took me with them. But it's hard if you're a young person, even if you're curious, to go just into a totally strange church, not knowing what to expect, and just be here. Cool. I think we already hit the 30 minutes nearly here at least. Yeah.

Ist es etwas, wir haben ungefähr 1,000 listeners per week, nicht so bad. Ist es etwas, was du dir das wichtig, oder wenn du dich über deine eigenen Kirche erzählst? Ich denke, es ist wichtig, dass die Kirche mit den Menschen, die Kinder, die Kinder, die Kinder, die Kinder. Und... Not just seclude yourself to your seat and just look and pay attention, but connect with people.

So actively search for some community while you're not just a tent, church, and go home. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. Because that feels like people feel like more they belong if you connect. Because since I've been doing that, since coming more and more, it's made my life so much better. Why is that? What way? It's gotten me out of my slump of depression, and it's made me so much happier.

Because the people here have so much joy in life, and it's given me so much more joy. Yeah, well... Thanks for sharing that. Amazing. I think people agree. Remember, Mason is 16 years old and beings are able to reflect on those things. Awesome. Yeah, thank you. I think we had a great time. A great Methodist is now part of our holy club, as we call it.

And if you liked this episode, feel free to share it on Instagram and on your socials. Maybe on TikTok if that's even possible I don't think so, I can do it on my own then hope you'll tune in next week when Moritz and I are doing our recap of our last three episodes so until then stay Methodist or think Methodist or just be a nice good person and talk to you later, you can say bye if you like goodbye Musik.

Mason Dress (English): Faith, Football & Finding Joy Again

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