When my wife and I first graduated college, we struggled to forge deep friendships outside work hours. The suburbs felt vast beyond anything we’d experienced. We needed help. We needed a book like Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World by best-selling author Jennie Allen.

Jennie writes that next to Christ, “relationships are the greatest gifts we have on earth and simultaneously the most difficult part of being alive.” When those relationships revolve around God, we enjoy a fulfilled life. And from that abundance, we bless others. When those relationships don’t revolve around God, we’re apt to idolize them. The pressure sometimes even kills those friendships, as our friends inevitably fail us. And we fail them.

Jennie offers her own life as a cautionary tale but also shares wise advice. You can’t go wrong following this line she gives to new staff with IF:Gathering: “Find an imperfect church fast, and start serving in the nursery.” Jennie joined me on Gospelbound to discuss the difference between complaining and vulnerability, the importance of time, and the complication of ministry relationships.

For the first time on Gospelbound we recorded video of our conversation. I appreciate Jennie and her IF:Gathering staff for their help!