Being Missionaries to Our Neighbors: A Discipleship Journey
Most Christians are sick of the “hamster wheel” of ministry activities they’re expected to fit into their schedules. And it can be frustrating trying to get the folks in your church to engage in discipleship and outreach in their busy, daily lives.
This week on the Everyday Disciple Podcast, Caesar and his wife Tina share their story of how they moved from mega-church staff to neighborhood missionaries. They learned how discipleship and mission were designed by God to fit into the normal rhythms of everyday life.
And it changed everything!
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Caesar and Tina’s personal journey may inspire your own next steps of faith.
- The amazing benefits of living on mission as a lifestyle.
- Why your family needs you to shift from a Sunday-only experience of church.
- How to find help in making discipleship as a lifestyle part of your own story.
From this episode:
“We were looking for more….there’s gotta be more to this, right? There’s gotta be more than just being in the building on Sunday. And once we had experienced the “more”, I wanted that now, every day. I want my kids to grow up like that. I want that to be their experience of faith.”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
Download today’s BIG 3 right now. Read and think over them again later. You might even want to share them with others…
Thanks for Listening!
Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Join us on Facebook and take part in the discussion!
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Coaching with Caesar and Tina in discipleship and missional living.
Get Caesar’s Book TRANSFORMED today.
Discipleship Resources from Missio Publishing
Transcript
All of a sudden it was hard to just not want to pursue that kind of life and live that way.
Tina Kalinowski:That was so full of joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because it, it started getting harder and harder to go do those trips and be with people and be the church, and this was lifestyle and mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, everybody was pulling together and kind of all in and everything you had and it was just a joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was getting harder and harder to then kind of come back home, put on the giant show.
Caesar Kalinowski:Wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:What a contrast.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:To what we were experiencing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Being the church versus sort of coming home and putting on church.
Caesar Kalinowski:It felt like a little bit.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it was starting to feel a little treadmill.
Caesar Kalinowski:And at
Tina Kalinowski:that point we were both on staff at this church.
Tina Kalinowski:And I love that church.
Tina Kalinowski:I love the people.
Tina Kalinowski:You know, I don't wanna take this as saying what they were doing was wrong as much as.
Tina Kalinowski:We were looking for more.
Tina Kalinowski:Like it just felt that it wasn't gotta be more to this.
Tina Kalinowski:Right.
Tina Kalinowski:There's gotta be more than just being in the building.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:And we had experienced it and I'm like, and I want that now every day.
Tina Kalinowski:I want my kids to grow up like that.
Tina Kalinowski:I want that to be their experience of faith.
Announcer:Welcome to the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Announcer:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Announcer:This is the stuff your parents, pastors and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Announcer:And now here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right here, we are gonna have a blast again today.
Caesar Kalinowski:And of course, uh, you didn't know this, but Tina's on with me.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hey.
Tina Kalinowski:Hello everybody.
Tina Kalinowski:It's been a while.
Tina Kalinowski:I
Caesar Kalinowski:haven't had Tina on in a little while on the show, but uh, you're gonna find out why cuz we got a cool story to tell you coming up here in just a little bit.
Caesar Kalinowski:I bet you can relate.
Caesar Kalinowski:Anyway, Tina, I have to, I just have to.
Caesar Kalinowski:How much fun was going to that rugby game last night?
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh my
Tina Kalinowski:gosh.
Tina Kalinowski:That was so much fun being there with you and our son and son-in-law and grandson,
Tina Kalinowski:my oldest grandson.
Tina Kalinowski:I know we talk about how much fun
Caesar Kalinowski:we have as team K Oh.
Caesar Kalinowski:And with different friends and all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like a lot.
Caesar Kalinowski:But it just is, the life we get to live is a blast and it did not hurt that the Seattle Sea Wolves.
Caesar Kalinowski:, uh, beat the pants off of Rugby New York, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:The New York team are formerly known as Rugby New York.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now there's called something else.
Caesar Kalinowski:Anyway.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And they were the team that beat us in the championship last year, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Anyway, what a fun thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Little redemption.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Little redemption.
Caesar Kalinowski:I know Rugby's not everybody's jam, but it is.
Caesar Kalinowski:So much fun compared to watching the aggregate 12 minutes of NFL games, you know, where that's how long the ball's up and down.
Caesar Kalinowski:This is a game of moving and crunching each other, but no one gets hurt.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right?
Caesar Kalinowski:No.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, you know, there's little bumps, but not nearly the No.
Caesar Kalinowski:Not knocked out
Caesar Kalinowski:concussion stuff.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's
Tina Kalinowski:crazy.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:And watching our.
Tina Kalinowski:You know, little six year old grandson trying to understand the game and getting so excited about it.
Tina Kalinowski:That was just the, you know,
Caesar Kalinowski:it's like, and more excited about the giant hotdogs than the actual game.
Caesar Kalinowski:But I think his, his heart was in it, . Hey, so maybe this past week you've received an email or two from me talking about our new Everyday Disciple Makers Coaching experience.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're pretty stoked about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And if you've been reading about this and you want to know more, I wanna invite you to right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Take 30 seconds and set up a discovery call with me to be, uh, discussing this.
Caesar Kalinowski:I want to explain more about it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Get any questions you might have answered.
Caesar Kalinowski:Some of you I know have read the emails and you're like, oh, I wanna discuss that with my spouse.
Caesar Kalinowski:I really wanna do that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's do that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let's do it now.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just go to everyday Disciple dot com slash discovery.
Caesar Kalinowski:Everyday Disciple dot com slash discovery.
Caesar Kalinowski:That'll take you to my personal calendar.
Caesar Kalinowski:Grab a time here in the next few days or whatever, and I wanna talk to you about seeing if we can help you with all this discipleship as a lifestyle that we talk about on the show.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now, another reason that, uh, Tina's on the podcast with me today, as we've been working hard to get this new coaching experience ready for ya'll.
Caesar Kalinowski:We've been reminiscing a bit about how we got here.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh my gosh.
Caesar Kalinowski:crazy journey, right, honey?
Caesar Kalinowski:Very right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And how we started coaching other couples and singles too.
Caesar Kalinowski:We coached couples as couples.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you're married, but if you're single, we want you.
Caesar Kalinowski:We want to help you too.
Caesar Kalinowski:And how did we start?
Caesar Kalinowski:Doing this and helping others live a lifestyle of discipleship and mission in their neighborhoods and communities.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like what was our journey?
Caesar Kalinowski:So we thought it'd be kind of cool to share a bit of our story and how we both came from working on staff at a mega attractional church model in Chicago area.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then moving out here to Tacoma and the Seattle metro area where we still live and live in this way in helping other Disciple makers do the same thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's quite a journey, really, and one we could have never imagine.
Caesar Kalinowski:But what an incredible blessing to our family now, and by God's grace to many others here near us and around the world, it's really been crazy.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I couldn't do it without you honey.
Caesar Kalinowski:. So let's start back pretty early when you and I were much younger parents.
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh my goodness.
Caesar Kalinowski:How this really, this heart change and shift cuz we were busy at the megachurch running our programs kind of loving life was a great place.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:But things began to shift.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:Our children were very young.
Tina Kalinowski:and which made us a lot younger too.
Tina Kalinowski:Uh, and Caesar was doing a lot of international missions work, but mostly traveling like in war zones and Christian persecution and, uh, places where there were natural disasters, a lot of poverty, uh, a little.
Tina Kalinowski:Definitely a, some faith stretching, uh, trips there for both you
Caesar Kalinowski:and I.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Big time.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I didn't sign up for it thinking like, Hey, let's go lose our lives and all that.
Caesar Kalinowski:But that's just what God had led us with some other friends and ministry partners to do.
Caesar Kalinowski:And the crazy thing was, is that the Christians we met, like in war zones in South Sudan, in Burma, Nigeria, literally standing in the smoldering ashes of a church building that had been burned.
Caesar Kalinowski:By militants Muslim militants, and the Christians are there holding hands.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm not joking.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're with them.
Caesar Kalinowski:The smoke is still rising and they're just praising God and singing and they're like, this is a building.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's no problem.
Caesar Kalinowski:We'll build it again.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's, it's okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're the family and I, we were like, wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:And everywhere we went, Christians had such joy and they lived out their faith in this beautiful way that was really much more part of their lifestyle than just a program.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I'll tell you what really drew me to it, Tina, was there was an ease to it all, you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:There just was.
Caesar Kalinowski:They were beautiful.
Caesar Kalinowski:I was blown away and I loved it.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it reminded me so much of the book of acts.
Caesar Kalinowski:Remember back like when God used to have me read the book of Acts on every one of these trips,
Caesar Kalinowski:, Tina Kalinowski: right.
Caesar Kalinowski:He'd come home and tell me it was
Caesar Kalinowski:crazy.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and I kept thinking, oh man, the way the people lived in the church originally, um, after Jesus sent them out to love people and Disciple together.
Caesar Kalinowski:Feels exactly like what it's like being the church with these folks here in all these different areas.
Caesar Kalinowski:Trip after trip, it felt that way.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:And you would come home and share the stories with my kids and I and some of our friends as well, you know, cuz it was just so much like you couldn't keep that inside.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Not only the freaky stuff we were seeing, you know, like.
Caesar Kalinowski:Standing in a burning church building or people who have been massacred or whatever, but, but just the heart level shift that was happening.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:And I could relate to a certain extent, like through your experience, but then I had an opportunity to also go on a trip, not quite, That dangerous, but another trip where I really spent, uh, a few weeks being and experiencing a lot of that same thing.
Tina Kalinowski:As soon as I got there, I was like, this is what he's been talking about.
Tina Kalinowski:This is what I've been missing.
Tina Kalinowski:And getting to, to experience that on a heart level as well really, really changed our lives and focus, I think, a lot because all of a sudden I, it was hard to just not want to pursue that kind of life, and live that way.
Tina Kalinowski:That was so full of
Caesar Kalinowski:joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Because it, it started getting harder and harder to go do those trips and be with people and be the church, and this was lifestyle and mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, everybody was pulling together and kind of all in and everything you had, and it was just a joy.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was getting harder and harder.
Caesar Kalinowski:to then kind of come back home, drive down the big old long driveway to the church building.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, orange cone guys in the orange vest park and everybody, and put on the giant show now.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was a blast and we were seeing people come to faith and all, but it was just, wow.
Caesar Kalinowski:What a contrast.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:To what we were experiencing with being the church versus sort of coming home and putting on church.
Caesar Kalinowski:It felt like a little bit.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it was starting to feel a little treadmill-y
Tina Kalinowski:It was feeling a little bit like doing church and at that point we were both on staff at this large church.
Tina Kalinowski:And I love that church.
Tina Kalinowski:I love the people.
Tina Kalinowski:It's not, you still do, it's not, uh, I, you know, I don't wanna take this as saying what they were doing was wrong as much as we were looking for more, like it just felt that it wasn't, there's more to this.
Tina Kalinowski:Right.
Tina Kalinowski:There's gotta be more than just being in the building.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:And we had experienced it and I'm like, and I want that now every day.
Tina Kalinowski:I want my kids to grow up like that.
Tina Kalinowski:I want.
Tina Kalinowski:To be their experience of faith.
Tina Kalinowski:You remember at one point I came home from, I think it was Sudan, and I said, you know, honey, I prayed, Lord, I wanna have what they have in you.
Tina Kalinowski:I want to have the joy they have in you.
Tina Kalinowski:I want to have that level of a relationship that they have with you, and then the spirit of God real tender said, will do.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:Like you get to, right.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:And it was almost audible.
Tina Kalinowski:It was just, wow.
Tina Kalinowski:And I, I'm choking up just even thinking about it a little bit.
Tina Kalinowski:I, and I remember thinking, we have to try to live this way.
Tina Kalinowski:We, we have to do we get to like it's in the book, right?
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:It's in the Bible.
Tina Kalinowski:Do we get to,
Tina Kalinowski:and I think that was really, A confirmation to me of what I had already been feeling too.
Tina Kalinowski:And, and so I think, you know, that was the beginning of our journey to figure out, well, what, what would that really look like?
Tina Kalinowski:What, what does the book of acts look like in everyday life?
Tina Kalinowski:In now, you know, where we live and what's it really supposed
Caesar Kalinowski:to be about.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I, I, I remember for a while thinking like, I can't wait to return to these villages and these places to be the church with them again.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we even prayed about it for a while, like maybe we're supposed to move mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:we did a little bit of checking out some areas Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And flying some places.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then we had the idea like, what if we lived this way?
Caesar Kalinowski:Same way like it felt on these mission trips every day, but back home in, in our neighborhood.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Like what if we just lived the same way with people instead of it kinda all being a program in a box.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:And kind of it's on and it's off and it's only this night of the week, and what if we just like them?
Caesar Kalinowski:It was just ease and it was a lifestyle and it's every, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Our kids were involved and it was fun and, and so, uh, you know, I was wondering, could discipleship and God's mission fit our normal life with our family and friends like it did in theirs?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so then we start talking about this idea.
Caesar Kalinowski:Pretty quickly ran into a wall though.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah, and it wasn't, I mean, it's good.
Tina Kalinowski:People who said really good people we're so stoked, , and, and some of them would come along on some of the trips that we were doing and, and kind of get it, and, and it was changing their hearts for sure.
Tina Kalinowski:But I think we were running into this.
Tina Kalinowski:This kind of dichotomy of like, when we're here, we're kind of doing church, we're both on staff, we're in the building all the time.
Tina Kalinowski:And then, but then when we're there, we just get to be the church and be out with people and, and, and like, and.
Tina Kalinowski:and the people that we were, that were in our group were run, you know, running into the same things they were expected to be at all these meetings or activities and, you know, on top of working their full-time job.
Tina Kalinowski:And yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:And it was like, it was really difficult for them to try to figure out, well, h how do I change everything about that?
Tina Kalinowski:And they hadn't all had that heart.
Tina Kalinowski:Change level that we had,
Caesar Kalinowski:you know, not Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:But they were some awesome, and our, some awesome friends and people.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I remember them thinking, yeah, we do want to try this.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, but then as soon as it got to like beyond our weekly small group meeting, and then all the millions of things that we had to do for our official ministry, right.
Caesar Kalinowski:Everybody was just a little too busy and, well, I don't know, I think the kids gotta sniffle.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, I we're just, I think we're just gonna stay home and, and so we could never really get a lifestyle
Caesar Kalinowski:disciple making and mission and hanging out with our neighbors and serving people and all that, we could never quite get it going.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And truthfully, I can remember thinking, I can't really blame them cuz it feels like most of our faith practice kind of needs to fit into Sunday with our kids.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we had to be there cuz we were staffed too.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and then all week, you know, gotta be at meetings, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, we were crazy busy, so we were kind of feeling the same pull, but I remember feeling horrible because what are we modeling to our kids.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:The rest of our life was, we had kind of that thing where our kids came along with everything we.
Tina Kalinowski:, you know, businesses that our kids worked at with us and came with us and like all of everything else they were involved with and all of a sudden there were all these things that they couldn't be Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:Mom
Caesar Kalinowski:and dad have to go to the church building to do work now.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we call it ministry and we, so we were, we were feeling like, okay, we're modeling to our kids that Christianity primarily lived out on Sundays.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, even if you're listening to this and you're like, well I don't work at a church.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't have that.
Caesar Kalinowski:But still, cuz even before we did.
Caesar Kalinowski:, it was like, uh, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, , because you're gonna hear, like, at this point in the story, we weren't on staff yet.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, we weren't there yet.
Caesar Kalinowski:We were Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I, I'm kind of, I know I'm mixing up the timeline a little bit, but Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Anyway, I, I just felt horrible and I felt like I was failing as a Christian father.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, I can't, we can't just pass on this program.
Caesar Kalinowski:, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:So then at that, somewhere in that, you know, timeline, God does call me to be a pastor.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and now it's like, oh, I'm stoked.
Caesar Kalinowski:And like I said, we love this place.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you were actually on staff before I was, which now meant we were sort of modeling this two busy lifestyle to the entire church family,
Caesar Kalinowski:Now I get our, my head's up on the screen, 15 feet tall and all that, but something amazing happened.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:As we prayed about this and we're trying to find a way to make discipleship and mission fit our busy schedules back here at home, more like what we'd experienced on these mission strips.
Caesar Kalinowski:I remember like along the way, God showed us that he had created the whole world.
Caesar Kalinowski:in a set of normal rhythms that we already lived in, and so did those folks in Sudan and so did the people in Burma and Nigeria and all the other check in Europe.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:and so did we here in, in the Illinois where we were at the time.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. And we're like, wow, wait a minute.
Caesar Kalinowski:In fact, God has made all of life perfectly suited for making disciples of Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's not a program, it just fits in.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's when we started using this language of like, oh, we just need to shift our mindset around Disciple making from additional something we have to add to our world to more intentionality and letting it flow out of our identity.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we then we started realizing, okay, we're not too busy for discipleship, not if it's fitting in over normal family rhythms.
Caesar Kalinowski:Then that's kind of when Team K was really born and that whole understanding, you've probably heard us talking about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so we started realizing, no, no, no, no.
Caesar Kalinowski:We can.
Caesar Kalinowski:Discipleship, a lifestyle as a family and it can't fit our existing rhythms.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it will really feel and look a whole lot more like what we'd been reading about in the book of Acts and had been experienced, like you said, Tina being the church.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:when we were overseas and doing these things.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I remember like suddenly I started getting really excited about this.
Caesar Kalinowski:, right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I started wanting to really talk a lot more about discipleship as lifestyle.
Caesar Kalinowski:And so you hear us talking about this on the, on the podcast every week, but this is sort of how , this whole thing
Tina Kalinowski:percolated.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:This is a conversation that we were having a, a lot together with our kids, with some really good friends of ours that some of 'em, you know, were part of the same church community that we were part of.
Tina Kalinowski:Um, and it just wouldn't go away.
Tina Kalinowski:, like it wouldn't leave our hearts or our heads
Caesar Kalinowski:and, and it was kind of during, in and through all that is when we got moved us out here Then,
Caesar Kalinowski:Hard to believe.
Caesar Kalinowski:Cause that was our home and we were both there for a long time, like a dozen years at that, that church.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And all of our friends were there and our kids' friends.
Caesar Kalinowski:And God moved us with our teenagers out here at Tacoma, Washington.
Caesar Kalinowski:And we started trying to say, we don't know too much, but we've got the book of Acts and we've seen some of this being the church on the ground thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're just gonna start living that way with our neighbors.
Caesar Kalinowski:Now we didn't know how we were gonna pay our bills cuz we didn't have, like, we had a little bit of savings that we pretty quickly burned through and Tina got a job working for an airline for a little while, for a little bit, you know?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, but people started taking care of us little by little, you know, but we just started saying, Hey, we're gonna, We're gonna live like missionaries on the ground.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're gonna do what a missionary would do, like our whole family.
Caesar Kalinowski:If we were sent to another country, what would you do?
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, what, you know, we'd start, we started learning the language, quote unquote, of this culture.
Caesar Kalinowski:Got a whole lot more tattoos, uh, started hanging out in cafes like crazy and pubs and all that stuff.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, well, we started learning how to make disciples.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then through our kitchen table and our, you know, our backyard.
Caesar Kalinowski:Deck and through fire pits, and I don't wanna freak anybody out, but like through smoking cigars and maybe having a beer with them and all these kinds of things, and being the church with people again.
Caesar Kalinowski:And now, like you mentioned, we had run businesses and so when we got out there, we had to try to start making some money.
Caesar Kalinowski:So same thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, we got, we had a few apartments with our friends, the Vanderstelts , and then we bought that restaurant, that Shakabra that we owned for years and years.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, it was like the cultural hub.
Tina Kalinowski:It's definitely a place to meet people and hang out and Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Still is, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Think about how hundreds and maybe probably thousands of people we met through, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Through those things, those interactions at the restaurant and staff and their families.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And all that.
Tina Kalinowski:Well, and you know, I know a lot of people have asked me like, well, why couldn't you just do that where you were living in Illinois?
Tina Kalinowski:And, and it that, you know, I'm not saying that we couldn't have, uh, but we probably would've had to.
Tina Kalinowski:Well, we had
Caesar Kalinowski:tried in, we had kind of
Tina Kalinowski:tried.
Tina Kalinowski:Weren't blaming it on the area.
Tina Kalinowski:No, but honestly we were, you know, we were both working jobs that took us out of community.
Tina Kalinowski:For most days, evenings, and weekends.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:When do you get to know your neighbors?
Tina Kalinowski:If you're always in a church building and, and, and you're supposed to be.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, was required.
Caesar Kalinowski:I remember when it dawned on me that, that I had, maybe you feel the same way?
Caesar Kalinowski:I had no non, non-believing friends.
Caesar Kalinowski:I had no non-Christian friends.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:In
Tina Kalinowski:relationships.
Tina Kalinowski:I probably wasn't quite that bad cuz I at least was like, I had, you know, girl Scouts.
Tina Kalinowski:I did girl Scouts and I was room mom.
Tina Kalinowski:That's true.
Tina Kalinowski:So I got to.
Tina Kalinowski:Some more people, but then, but then, you know, there wasn't an opportunity to say, Hey, come over for dinner.
Tina Kalinowski:Because like, we never had no a dinner time.
Tina Kalinowski:That
Caesar Kalinowski:was, we were getting home from, I was coming home from all the staff meetings.
Caesar Kalinowski:I shouldn't say never, but all this very rarely.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then it was kinda like, wave at the neighbor, you know, mowing his grass and maybe you'd see him on a 4th of July thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:It was like mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. It just, there was no rhythm to it.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yes.
Caesar Kalinowski:It wasn't lifestyle.
Caesar Kalinowski:. And, but when we got out here, praise God.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, through many fits and starts, we learned how to do this.
Caesar Kalinowski:We learned how to actually live as missionaries and, and our language and gospel fluency began to shift.
Caesar Kalinowski:So it wasn't freaky to people, Hey, what are you guys doing?
Caesar Kalinowski:And we learned how to talk about what we were doing.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it wasn't weird to people.
Caesar Kalinowski:They were very attracted to it.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, once in a while people would say, what are you?
Caesar Kalinowski:Oh, are you guys a cult?
Caesar Kalinowski:? They would say it kinda like that too.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like not too afraid, not too certain it was, but.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like you're having lots of parties and people hang out and a lot of people seem to need to live with you.
Caesar Kalinowski:They do.
Caesar Kalinowski:And you're
Tina Kalinowski:really nice to everybody having fun and you're nice to everybody and helping the neighborhood and all that kind of stuff.
Caesar Kalinowski:But yeah, I know when another neighbor went and took that to TAs said, no, no, no.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're not a cult.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're like really good people and we know them and we're part of that whole thing too.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Tina Kalinowski: Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:The amazing thing was though, you know, like we had all these ideas of like, well, we're going to, you know, come out here and, and we're.
Caesar Kalinowski:Try to live as missionaries in this area.
Caesar Kalinowski:And, and I was like, I wonder what's, what's gonna happen if it, if it, if we're wrong?
Caesar Kalinowski:But we weren't.
Caesar Kalinowski:I mean, God was faithful and it worked.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like being able to just get to know our neighbors and see people come and
Caesar Kalinowski:faith spend with them that way instead of.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know Jesus and her heart prayer about their afterlife.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right, right, right.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then so then a lot of people wanted to be equipped and we needed to, because that was all part of the original start of Soma communities.
Caesar Kalinowski:Many.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:peop.
Caesar Kalinowski:You've heard of us talking about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Many of you know that what that is, it's still out there today and praise God, growing and growing, but through lots of fits and starts and writing stuff down and testing and tweaking, and then getting invited to train it all over in other cities and countries.
Caesar Kalinowski:We finally created a full framework and lots of resources and training and a lot of people had speaking into this, I don't want to make it sound like we just made all this up, but we, we've now have like a whole framework in training that makes discipleship in everyday life much more simple and achievable.
Caesar Kalinowski:And guess what?
Caesar Kalinowski:Even for super busy people like us . Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Right, because once it became lifestyle, it wasn't like adding
Tina Kalinowski:anything.
Tina Kalinowski:That's, that's it.
Tina Kalinowski:It's not, it's not doing more stuff.
Tina Kalinowski:It's being who you're created to be.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:Big
Caesar Kalinowski:difference.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it still really works.
Caesar Kalinowski:It really everywhere.
Caesar Kalinowski:We've not been stumped yet.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's true.
Caesar Kalinowski:Praise God.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's cuz it really is like, so much like what was going on with Jesus and his disciples and in the early church and so, I mean, jump away ahead now.
Caesar Kalinowski:We've been trained people to live this way and do Disciple shipping community for close to 20 years.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. And helping other busy pastors and regular old people Christians make discipleship and mission work in their lives too.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. And so, yeah, by God's grace we've been able to help a lot of people and, uh, they're actually enjoying leading their families and friends now to become, Mature disciples of Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:Can you imagine that?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like really, they're, they didn't sign up and come to our weekend thing first . They were our friends and our neighbors, and now they're becoming mature disciples and, and we love doing this, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And that's how a lot of people are finding that to be true too.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like actually a lot of people all
Tina Kalinowski:over the world.
Tina Kalinowski:Right.
Tina Kalinowski:And I'd just like to add that it's not just our friends and our neighbors, but it's also our kids.
Tina Kalinowski:Like they grew up Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:Feeling like part of the community.
Tina Kalinowski:Being part of the community and, and now they're older with their own children, most of them.
Tina Kalinowski:And they are creating those communities where they, where they live.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:And all very much
Caesar Kalinowski:lifestyle for them.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Very.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yep.
Caesar Kalinowski:So, so people are enjoying that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Again, they're living with much greater spiritual freedom.
Caesar Kalinowski:You hear us say that a lot, but it's real, like, you don't feel like God's waiting to bust you or you're not doing something right, or there's a big list of shoulds that are attached to our Christianity.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's not no shoulding, no shoulding, it's not Christianity's not based on behavioral modification and sin management anywhere.
Caesar Kalinowski:For, for us and for the folks that were, you know, coaching and training and uh, and we're just seeing so many relationships.
Caesar Kalinowski:, things like that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:crazy.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's amazing.
Caesar Kalinowski:What so thankful and, oh, I mean, we could go so much deeper into the story, I guess , that's kind of how we got here and, and of course we're still learning forward and.
Caesar Kalinowski:and, uh, still
Tina Kalinowski:on the journey.
Tina Kalinowski:But here's the bottom line.
Tina Kalinowski:These people that we've helped have a clear path and the confidence to make disciples who make more disciples of Jesus, whether that be their children or their neighbor, or their friends, or their whole church.
Tina Kalinowski:Their whole church,
Caesar Kalinowski:yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's not this blurry, fuzzy thing.
Caesar Kalinowski:How do you really, how does someone make a disciple?
Caesar Kalinowski:It can happen.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, I know most of us weren't raised that way.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, so in here, get to the button here.
Caesar Kalinowski:You know, pretty excited.
Caesar Kalinowski:In just a few weeks, we're gonna begin working with a limited group of dedicated people, people who wanna make discipleship a lifestyle, and that maybe that's you.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope so.
Caesar Kalinowski:And hope that you'll join us in the everyday Disciple maker's coaching experience that's kicking off.
Caesar Kalinowski:Um, and with the, the everyday Disciple framework, you're gonna find that same clarity that so many people.
Caesar Kalinowski:On what discipleship really is and how to Disciple others to maturity.
Caesar Kalinowski:And yeah, we would love to show you exactly what to do, how to do it with confidence, keep you moving forward at a sustainable pace.
Caesar Kalinowski:We, we don't overload anybody because it's not a big list of tasks, it's just not.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah, it really isn't.
Caesar Kalinowski:I think
Tina Kalinowski:if there's something that, that I could call your superpower, it's the ability to take all these kind of theological, you know, biblical teachings and really give them practical, like feet and legs, you know, make it really easy to understand and simple to move forward and, and then you, oh.
Tina Kalinowski:And then you brought me along to kind of add that, you know, mom and you know, other balancing practical whatever, everyday life.
Tina Kalinowski:Well, so it's really holistic, you know,
Caesar Kalinowski:it's not just so much changed when we started doing this together.
Caesar Kalinowski:Tina coaching together.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Cuz it used to be, I was just coaching like guys who wanted to plant churches and they'd get all excited about the stories of this lifestyle, discipleship and living like missionaries in the neighborhood and all.
Caesar Kalinowski:And they go.
Tina Kalinowski:And tell their wives what they had to start doing and their wives were not super, I, I definitely talked to a few women who were not real thrilled about hearing all these things that they had to start doing.
Tina Kalinowski:They got shoulded a lot and that's when we realized that, you know, much like our experience where.
Tina Kalinowski:you know, you went to Africa and I hadn't experienced that till later.
Tina Kalinowski:It wasn't until after I had actually started to, you know, experience that same thing on a mission trip.
Tina Kalinowski:Our hearts were definitely in the same place.
Tina Kalinowski:And I feel like that's what we do when we coach together, is that we help get, uh, a couple on the same page and then the family.
Tina Kalinowski:And that's how we help you to find that work and ministry family life balance, all while making discipleship part of your normal.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it's, that's integral.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can't, that won't happen if you're not on the same page.
Caesar Kalinowski:No, my spouse isn't into that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Whatever.
Caesar Kalinowski:So if you feel like your current Disciple making process or lack thereof isn't producing transformation and freedom and maturity in your own life or in your people that you're leading, our proven discipleship framework can help change that for you.
Caesar Kalinowski:It really can.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I'd love a chance to talk to you about it and show that to you cuz we, we've helped thousands of people.
Caesar Kalinowski:every imaginable context now and age and stage of life.
Caesar Kalinowski:And like we said, they, they're finding greater spiritual freedom as they're released from a discipleship model that's primarily based on teaching people some stuff about the Bible and behavioral modification and don't sin, try to sin less and all that, right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Oh man.
Caesar Kalinowski:So I love to show you that, help you see how the Gospel speaks into broken relationships and how it can flow naturally out of a, a much deeper understanding of the Gospel and.
Caesar Kalinowski:All of life.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's not just about our afterlife.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:So we're gonna, uh, invite you to do that with us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Let just give you a picture of what the coaching looks like.
Caesar Kalinowski:We start off by having a one-on-one meeting with you on Zoom.
Caesar Kalinowski:Just you as a couple to get to know your story, your family rhythms, and your goals for Disciple making, cuz everybody's life's different and in your schedules are different.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then we craft a personal Disciple making roadmap just you.
Caesar Kalinowski:, yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:and, and maybe even another one for your church.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you're leading a church, maybe we help you implement that too.
Caesar Kalinowski:So you kind of have a family roadmap and then a church roadmap, so
Tina Kalinowski:that way you don't ever have to wonder what's next or what you should be doing.
Tina Kalinowski:It's all spelled out for you in a step by step.
Tina Kalinowski:And it comes with the training and equipping to help you master each step or new resources along the way in really simple.
Tina Kalinowski:Ways
Caesar Kalinowski:we're gonna start off by helping you expose hidden obstacles to to effective Disciple making that may have hindered you in the past.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:Sometimes there's just these roadblocks that we can help shine a light on, boop, and it starts to change everything.
Caesar Kalinowski:Can you imagine having community life as a family on mission that's full and rich and you're living your faith out day to day and all those limitations have been removed?
Caesar Kalinowski:. Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:And then when it's time, we'll help you pass on everything you've learned and experience to others and start multiplying new leaders and new communities of Disciple makers.
Caesar Kalinowski:And maybe that's way down the road in your mind.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or maybe you're leading a church and you're like, yeah, we got a lot of groups now, but don't have that framework.
Caesar Kalinowski:I need to start multiplying leaders.
Caesar Kalinowski:Who can start leading communities right now?
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, great.
Caesar Kalinowski:Love to help you.
Caesar Kalinowski:We've done that over and over and over.
Caesar Kalinowski:So again, along with your spouse, if you're married, , if you're not, would love to work with you either way.
Caesar Kalinowski:Uh, together with a community of other serious Disciple makers, we're gonna meet two times per month online.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or we'll even give you some other opportunities for engagement and encouragement and all that, and you'll get coached and you get all your questions answered.
Caesar Kalinowski:We'll check in, in on your roadmap with you, point you to all the different training and resources that are available.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's like so much.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're gonna ensure that you continue making progress.
Caesar Kalinowski:Your progress, not ours, but continue making progress with confidence.
Caesar Kalinowski:You're never gonna feel lost in.
Tina Kalinowski:So when we were working on this new Everyday Disciple Makers Coaching, we designed it to give you the tools and the framework and encouragement to lead your family and your church or your community, your neighbors, into natural everyday discipleship rhythms as you make more disciples of Jesus.
Tina Kalinowski:Just like
Caesar Kalinowski:we've been talking about on the podcast over and over, and I, I know so many of you want that.
Caesar Kalinowski:And for whatever reason, it's like, it's, it's always gonna be a better time.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, or it's, I'm not quite there yet.
Caesar Kalinowski:And I wanna say like, what's the cost of inaction?
Caesar Kalinowski:Like what, what, how confident are you in another year?
Caesar Kalinowski:This'll just change or that you'll all of a sudden pull together accidentally, magically a framework of discipleship that reproduces itself automatically.
Caesar Kalinowski:Cuz it's sort of built into it.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's baked in.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:like what, what will happen in another year?
Caesar Kalinowski:Or when your kids are a little older.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or the people in your church are starting to age out and their kids have not, they've quit coming.
Caesar Kalinowski:They're not even a part of things anymore.
Caesar Kalinowski:Like, you see what I mean?
Caesar Kalinowski:There's, there's cost to getting started cuz you give yourself some time to this and invest some resources in it.
Caesar Kalinowski:But there's a bigger cost, I think to waiting though.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:I can't imagine having not.
Tina Kalinowski:Not live this way with our kids and to, to see how they are now and how they live and wonder, like what would they be like if we hadn't involved them in this whole faith journey, this whole discipleship making journey along the way,
Caesar Kalinowski:and you don't have to sell your house and move to another city to do this.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're gonna help you do it right where you're at.
Caesar Kalinowski:We already sort of took that hit and learned how to do this, and we just wanna share that with you, so.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, if you're serious about making disciples of.
Caesar Kalinowski:, you know, in a way that naturally fits your life and rhythms with family and friends, sort of the way Jesus did discipleship, then I really think this coaching experience is gonna be a blessing to you.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. So, if you wanna get started, let's start by setting up a discovery call together this week to see if this is a good fit for you.
Caesar Kalinowski:Can answer any questions, help you get started.
Caesar Kalinowski:We're gonna be starting it just in a few weeks, to set up that discovery call, just go to everyday Disciple dot com slash discovery everyday.
Caesar Kalinowski:Disciple dot com slash discovery.
Caesar Kalinowski:Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:I would love to talk to you and if nothing else, maybe you just enjoyed the heck outta the story, but I'd say don't wait.
Caesar Kalinowski:Don't wait.
Caesar Kalinowski:If you wanna live this way, let's talk about it at least, and let's, we'd love to help you get started.
Tina Kalinowski:Yeah.
Tina Kalinowski:Wow.
Tina Kalinowski:Caesar, I do not know how we're gonna give people.
Tina Kalinowski:The normal big three takeaway for this
Caesar Kalinowski:episode.
Caesar Kalinowski:. I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:I, how about this?
Caesar Kalinowski:I was thinking about that.
Caesar Kalinowski:I was like, oh, I don't, I have like the big 10 takeaways.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe it's cause it's our story.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Let's flip the script.
Caesar Kalinowski:For the first time ever on the podcast, we want to know your big three takeaways from what you heard today.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yes.
Caesar Kalinowski:Or maybe one big takeaway.
Caesar Kalinowski:I don't know.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe it's a confirmation of something God's been stirring in your heart for a while, connected to leading your family or church deeper into the Gospel and discipleship as a lifestyle.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe that's your aha or one of your big three.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Tina Kalinowski: Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Or maybe it's a new conviction that you wanna live this way too, like with others in your community, with your kids being more and more like the family of God as you walk with
Caesar Kalinowski:Jesus.
Caesar Kalinowski:And maybe it's like, I used to feel you're feeling like you've had years of ministry and this long career, but with very little mature discipleship fruit to show.
Caesar Kalinowski:and now's the time to get the help and encouragement You need to start changing that for your church, but also for your own family and neighbors.
Caesar Kalinowski:Maybe that's your aha.
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:. Okay.
Caesar Kalinowski:So let us know your big takeaways.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'd love to know them, your big three or your big one.
Caesar Kalinowski:You can either email me at Caesar everyday Disciple dot com, or you can hop into the Facebook group for the Everyday Disciple Podcast, and leave me your takeaways there.
Caesar Kalinowski:It'd be a huge blessing.
Caesar Kalinowski:I would love to know your big three or, or your big one, but either way.
Caesar Kalinowski:We'd really love to set up a discovery call together with you to see if this is a good.
Caesar Kalinowski:If we can help you answer any questions, maybe get you started mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, just go to everyday Disciple dot com slash discovery.
Caesar Kalinowski:That's my personal calendar link.
Caesar Kalinowski:Hope that's not scary.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm handing that out, , and, uh, you can set up a time that that's convenient for you.
Caesar Kalinowski:All right?
Caesar Kalinowski:Mm-hmm.
Caesar Kalinowski:, Tina, thank you so much for, for helping me tell this story today, our
Tina Kalinowski:story.
Tina Kalinowski:It's always fun to share our story and I feel like God has blessed us so much and I just want other people to be able to experience that same joy and blessing of living this
Caesar Kalinowski:life.
Caesar Kalinowski:Me too.
Caesar Kalinowski:And it is.
Caesar Kalinowski:It's such a blessing.
Caesar Kalinowski:I feel like the luckiest boy in the world that not only do we get to live this way together, but we get to help others with that.
Caesar Kalinowski:Yeah.
Caesar Kalinowski:So fun.
Caesar Kalinowski:Well, that's about it for today.
Caesar Kalinowski:Time's Up.
Caesar Kalinowski:I hope you'll join us again on the podcast next week.
Caesar Kalinowski:I have scheduled, we'll see if it happens.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm just, Being honest with you, but I've scheduled a very special friend and author, someone who's been on the podcast a couple other times, very popular.
Caesar Kalinowski:And uh, he's got a little story about his own family on mission that I hope will tell you about.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm not telling you his name in case it doesn't happen.
Caesar Kalinowski:It doesn't happen next week.
Caesar Kalinowski:It'll happen the following week.
Caesar Kalinowski:I'm pretty darn certain.
Caesar Kalinowski:Alright, hope you'll join us.
Caesar Kalinowski:Talk to you soon.
Announcer:Thanks for joining us today.