Classic Welcome And Setup

Announcer 0:01

Welcome to a Leading Conversations Classic Podcast. We've searched through our early episodes to find some of the best just for you. If you've been with us from the beginning, you may have heard some of these. If you haven't, enjoy this classic episode. Welcome to the Leading Conversations Podcast, sponsored by the Excel Leadership Network. On each episode, JD Pering will have conversations with church planting pastors and leaders from around the country. You can learn more about how to connect with Excel at the end of this podcast. Let's join JD now and listen in on this leading conversation.

Meet Stefan And His Name

J.D. Pearring 0:45

Well, I am very happy today to have our guest on the Excel Leadership Podcast, the strong and wonderful Stefan Fusle from Maui, Hawaii. Stefan, thanks for being here today. Yeah, thank you, JD, for having me. Hey, I want to start out with a question I get asked about you a lot of times. What what's his name? What's his name now? I knew you as Stephen Fussel, and now your name keeps change, keeps changing. I like to call you Steve Areno because uh that could be a nickname. But tell us about your name. What is it?

Stephen Fussle 1:21

Uh well, it's it's Stefan Fusla. And um the reason I did that is because uh, well, here in Hawaii, uh people are big on pronouncing names, Hawaiian names correctly or personal names. It's a cultural thing. They really want to do it correct. That represents your culture. So uh I told them uh no, my last name uh was Fusle, right? And not Fossil. And uh they love that. They wanted to me to go by that. And so, you know, hey, I'm I have German roots, so I wanted to celebrate that, start just pronouncing it right. My parents uh changed it to make it more uh easy to say in the States when they immigrated over. Um, but uh yes, I've been, you know, since Hawaii, I've been using Fusla. And then, you know, I went through a big transition in my life seven years ago, and I was like, well, what the heck? I did the last name right. Why don't we do uh the first name right too in the German pronunciation? So it's uh Stefan or uh or Stefan in German. So but yeah, that's where the Steven moves this Stefan. But I I just don't get it. You know, the English English language, the the pH never is spelled with a V sound. So I don't know why people read a PH and then Stefan and say Stephen. I don't I don't get it, but it's just me.

J.D. Pearring 2:44

Well, uh can I still call you Steve Areno? You can call me whatever you want, just don't call me late for dinner or Excel event. Well, I want to get into what happened seven years ago, but let's begin with uh tell us how did you uh

Surfing Dreams Then Real Faith

J.D. Pearring 2:57

come to Christ? How'd you commit your life to Jesus?

Stephen Fussle 3:00

Well, I um was about ready to head out to University, Purdue University's Asian aviation program, and I was looking through a surfer magazine and saw on the back of it an ad that said serve God and surf, YWM Maui, Hawaii, Youth of the Mission, um, University of the Nations. And I was like, oh my gosh, are you kidding me? Why don't I just go surf for a year before I go to school? And I could totally you know manipulate my parents to get me involved in this thing, and they'll pay for it because you know, obviously they want me to find God, but you know, I'm gonna be having fun surfing and uh you know meeting Hawaiian babes out there, and so that was the plan. And so I went to uh Maui, Hawaii, got around a bunch of on fire for God young people, um, and God started tackling me little by little. Um, and then it wasn't until our DTS uh that we went to China where I was confronted about um my faith, and they were telling me I they didn't believe I was a Christian, and they were right. And the mirror, the miracle was that God shut my mouth long enough for me to hear the truth. And once I realized they were telling the truth, I was able to speak uh and you know, basically admitted I didn't trust God, and they they quoted me a bunch of truth from God's word about you know how God loves me and let's give me a future and hope and the desires of my heart. And so I believed them and cursed out the devil and surrendered my life to Christ right there in China. Uh, came back and got baptized in Pai Ia Bay here in Maui. And uh that's that's uh that was the beginning of my faith journey. And right there, people were saying, Oh, Stephan, you're called to ministry. And I was like, no, run away, you know. So I went back to my hometown, tried my old way of life, and it just it was not satisfying. You know, now I tasted God and I couldn't go back. And uh, number of things happened that led to me, you know, accepting that call and uh uh obeying God in that.

J.D. Pearring 5:05

So wow, that's an amazing story. What is DTS? You said something happened.

Stephen Fussle 5:09

Disciples, yeah, the type discipleship training school. It's actually where uh why we am uh where for your actual you know mission, you go to a country and you serve, you build the hospital, you build uh wells or homes or you serve the community, teach English, whatever you can do. But the goal is to win people to Christ, um evangelism, but it just gives you know young people a taste for missions uh in other countries.

J.D. Pearring 5:35

So and on that trip, on that trip, you came to Christ.

Stephen Fussle 5:39

That's cool. And on that crazy, yeah, instead of instead of me winning people to Christ, I came to Christ. Yeah, that's yeah. We did smuggle Bibles in, that

Southern California And Youth Ministry

Stephen Fussle 5:47

was pretty fun.

J.D. Pearring 5:47

So well, how did you get to Southern California?

Stephen Fussle 5:52

Well, that's after I'd run from my call and God sent a a giant whale to swallow me whole in the form of a crazy woman. Um, I decided I was gonna stop doing things my way and uh decided that God's call my life was for real and that I needed to take it seriously. I needed to go all in or nothing. And so I decided to go all in, and that's when I started looking uh to just uh uh forego the it admission to the aviation uh program at Purdue and started looking into Christian universities and found uh Vanguard University of Southern California and just was real excited about that, applied, got accepted, and met my wife first day of school, and the rest is history.

J.D. Pearring 6:42

Well, speaking of that history, you uh became a youth pastor for quite a while, right?

Stephen Fussle 6:47

Yep, right after um graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies, pastoral leadership, like a religion uh major, and I got a job at the Crossing Church with Tim Selleck. Um I was an intern because I was applying for you know the youth position that had opened up. And uh I thought I would just automatically get it because of you know my degree, right? Uh but Tim was like, Yeah, your degree counts for nothing. What experience do you have? And so I was instead offered an internship, a paid internship, and then that turned into a full-time junior high youth position, and that turned into a full-time junior high, high school, and young adults ministry position uh when I was pastoring there, uh close to over seven years of my time there at the crossing, and some just awesome like leadership uh development and cutting my teeth under Tim. You know, it was just incredible.

J.D. Pearring 7:45

I'm sure that it was working with Tim. What caused you to look into church planting?

Hearing The Call To Plant

Stephen Fussle 7:53

Well, I was in the middle of just serving, and we we took a youth ministry there that was a struggling 35. The previous youth pastor had left uh, you know, in a bad way, took a bunch of kids with him and leaders, and it was a wreck. Uh so when we had built it up to 200 plus students and 80 leaders and volunteers and two staff underneath me, uh you know, just there began to feel in uh you know and grow inside of me this kind of uh discontent where I wanted more, I wanted more. And so I just started seeking God. And this was during a missions trip in Africa with the crossing that I just kind of sensed, you know, 2008. Um, and then uh began to pray more about it. I went and fasted and prayed and went to a beach day, and I just heard God put the words in my heart, church planting. And I was like, what the heck, church planting? So I began to you know research it, read all the top books on it. Uh this started diving in full blast and told my wife about it, and she was like, Whoa, we need to pray about this. Um, then I was able to run into John Blue, he's an ex-NHL hockey goalie, professional hockey goalie, and he's also a church planter. And I met with him and shared my heart, and he's like, Have you shared this with Tim, Tim yet? And I was like, nope. He's like, Well, you you should. You don't want to hide this from him for too long. And and by the way, this is gonna happen a lot faster than you think, so get ready. And I was like, Whoa. So I told my senior pastor, and sure enough, yeah, it happened a lot quicker than I thought. Uh, in a good way, uh, we got uh we looked for organizations, church planning organizations to go through assessments. That was Tim's idea. So uh I went researched it, found a bunch of different organizations, and then landed with Excel. Um and so that is how we found the assessment center. Uh, we got uh we went through the assessment pretty rigorous with my wife, and this was back in the day when we did it in Placerville. Uh it was like a four-day deal, so uh a little bit longer than I think the newer ones, but it was just incredible, incredible time learning about ourselves, learning about you know church planting more, and just being around a bunch of people who I felt immediately uh a connection with because they you know, church planters, it takes a special breed. Um, and so um we got a green light from the assessment, and and then that was that was it. Yeah, we got the blessing from our senior pastor, Tim, at the at the crossing and sent it us off with his blessing, and we went uh and uh were looking for places to go and plant. And um, yeah.

Why Maui And How We Launched

J.D. Pearring 10:42

Why Maui?

Stephen Fussle 10:44

Well, we we fasted and prayed uh to seek God on where location. I was open to my hometown in Indiana. I was like, please, God, don't send me there because I didn't have you know a whole lot of love for my hometown. Um now I have much more respect for it, and then also I was considering Switzerland because I'm a Swiss citizen and American citizen. And then I was like, well, why not a place I love that I want to be, that I want to spend the rest of my life, you know. And so I came out here, walked the streets, fasted and prayed, and sought God, and and then you know, after uh, you know, I did police ride-alongs, I did door-to-door knocks, uh, like, you know, the Rick Warren, hey, do you go to church? If not, why? You know, that type of thing. Uh, I think I visited 400 homes in that. Um, but anyway, I just was seeking God. I heard him speak because I was like, God, if it's not Hawaii, please tell me because this place scares me. This is difficult ground. And uh, but he spoke, I got the confirmation, and so in 2009 we moved out to Hawaii. We worked, uh, we worked with the people, rubbed elbows, you know, got a job at like like Lowe's, and uh my wife got a job at the university here. And um, yeah, and then 2010, Easter, we did our previous services and we launched at Easter, uh, 2010.

J.D. Pearring 12:10

Yeah, I remember you guys working two, three jobs, just getting there, working hard. Um, you had a pretty good start, and then get to what happened seven years ago.

Burnout And A Dangerous Snap

Stephen Fussle 12:22

Well, yeah, I mean, church planning is as rigorous, and you know, you have to take care of you know your soul. And you have to, one of our values at our church is uh we stole this, I think, from Greg Rochelle or Anley Stanley, one of those guys, but it's it's called staying fit for the fight. And you're constantly being depleted as a pastor, constantly pouring into people and loving on people and walking with them through their darkest moments. And, you know, I've been going full-time at that point for over eight years without a sabbatical. And, you know, Wayne Cadera was talking about seasons and a life of a pastor where you sprint and where you run and where you walk. And so I I had slotted out a two-month period of time where I was going to sprint, and I didn't have a whole lot of time for quiet time, rest, Sabbath. The sabbatical was out of the picture. We were doing a capital campaign uh and a re uh remodeling of our facility, and uh, you know, 15-hour days, 16, 17, 18-hour days, just completely exhausted and depleted and burning out. And uh, you know, I have a um a weak spot, a blind spot, so to speak, and that is well, now it's not a blind spot anymore. Uh, but you know, there's your known strengths and your known weaknesses at the top of the quadrant, and then at the bottom is your known um uh uh known sorry, known top is like I believe known strengths and unknown strengths, and then the bottom is known weaknesses and unknown weaknesses. Um, and your blind spot is your unknown weakness. Mine was the bully growing up with abuse and different things going on in my life. I had a trigger for uh the bully, and there's all kinds of bullies out in Hawaii. There's a lot of pharmaceuticalslash um pesticide uh developers like Monsanto is out big out here, and one of the corporations out here that would um spray Roundup or glycipate uh all over the uh sugar cane to make it brown and dry, so they could burn it. It's like dipping a cigarette in Roundup. You see commercials all the time saying, hey, if you've exponeed exposed to Roundup, you have uh and you have cancer, uh, you have a chad and settled class action lawsuit, you know. So they would spray this stuff and I would have nosebleeds right next to us, and then they would burn it, and you know, our whole house would fill a smoke at three in the morning several times a week. And one night I just snapped and I grabbed the sledgehammer and went and attacked a bunch of infrastructure uh from HCNS and uh blew up a couple of big massive water pumps the size of VW buses. Um, and in that explosion, I burned 50% of my body. Um and uh yeah, I was hospitalized.

Burns, Confession, And Courtroom Mercy

Stephen Fussle 15:18

Uh, had to fight for my life, second and third degree burns, and um got out, lawyered up. I wanted to run from this, but I had awesome people around me, like JD and Tim Sellick and John Blue, and walked me through this this dark moment. And they convinced me that facing this and fighting this was the right way to do it instead of running away. And so that's what I did. I got a good Jewish lawyer, faced this. Uh, I was facing mandatory prison time up to 20 years uh with uh over half a million in damages. Um, and um miracle after miracle happened to where uh I didn't get charged with as nearly as many felonies as I should have, and that was maybe the detective had a heart for me. But then um when I went from before the judge, uh I think the Holy Spirit hijacked the uh prosecutor because she just you know basically said, Stefan's a good man, he turned himself in, doesn't have a criminal history, and uh, you know, he's got he's served the poor in our community, got all the support of these pastors around here with him. And if anybody deserves a chance, this guy does. And that judge was after me and he wanted to take me out, and it was like God's twisting his arm to give me mercy, and uh instead of walking into that uh jail cell with it with cuffs, I walked out the front door and I was just in shock, complete shock. Um, and with that, uh along with that, uh I would been in a year and a half restoration process with Excel, where we I was assigned an on-island pastor to walk me through this, uh Christian psychologist to walk me through that that blind spot of anger um and abuse, and then uh just you know a number of things, books, school, and also going through a reassessment with Excel. Uh, and then after that long, rigorous process, I was reinstated as the lead at the awakening again here in Hawaii.

J.D. Pearring 17:14

And let me just interrupt here a second, Stephanie, to say that um uh I got to I got to see you handle all of that stuff. And um from your just you know, when you recover, you know came out of your coma and stuff, and you called me and you confessed, and you said I gotta do the right thing, and you you just took every step we asked you to take. Um, and some of them were really difficult. I know your lawyer was just saying, hey, just get out of Dodge, they'll never know. Um, but you faced everything head on, and I just want to commend you for um you know paying the price, being honest, just laying it all out and say, okay, God, I trust you. There were days when we thought you were going to prison. And uh many days, so we were just waiting on that. But uh I uh God came through in a big way, but I also just want to make sure that uh you know uh you've been a great example to a lot of us about okay, how to face it when you mess up. So yeah, so you went through everything, you went through the discovery center again, you were reinstated. And how's it gone since then?

Rebuilding After Restoration

Stephen Fussle 18:30

Well, it uh I tell you what, again, if it hadn't been for Excel, we wouldn't be here multiple occasions, the church would have died. Uh, we went through multiple ups and downs, and you know, just God just started blessing us because of our faithfulness and our persistence. And uh, you know, I keep on quoting, I think it's Stanley Stanley, you know, young people vastly overestimate what they can do in a short period of time, uh, but also vastly, vastly underestimate what God can do in a long period of time, just being faithful. Uh, and so we've seen, you know, we've seen uh us moving from a dingy calf with you know gum all over the tables and scorpions and and all kinds of other, you know, just kids, you know, crayon drawings all over the walls to a you know multi-million dollar facility now where we have 360 degrees views almost of the outdoor of uh the ocean islands, and you know, it's a it's a nice selling point for you know tourists to come and uh but a lot of local people like that outdoor environment, you know, and so we're on the third floor of a of a really nice building uh with an open air view of the island. So um the attendance is you know is growing, people are getting saved, and um, you know, we got a number of really key leaders in development. Uh and so it's you know super exciting. And um, yeah, things are going really well. And and there was a there was a number of times there where where it wasn't, it was hard. Uh, but we just God just kept on telling us, you know, as long as you have dollars coming in, as long as you have people coming, then you stay open. And uh we did.

J.D. Pearring 20:13

So well, that's that's wonderful. You're the uh resilient guy. I know you're working on a book on being on fire for God with all the burns and stuff. Uh just uh just one last question.

Grit, Resilience, And Hard Places

J.D. Pearring 20:30

Um, give us your best uh well, maybe two questions. Talk about the importance of resilience and then anything you want to say to us as leaders that we we can end with. Just your source of encouragement.

Stephen Fussle 20:45

Yeah, I guess people will shy away from places or spaces where uh that they are uh grit um machines, grit machines. Like so Maui, for example, is kind of like a giant washing machine that uh you're gonna get thrown into and it is going to test you and your resilience. Um and in a way that there's a lot of places that that uh don't test as much. But you'd ask any church planner and they'll say, Well, mine's the worst washing machine of grit, right? Uh but uh out here at this island is it does us a favor and it tests us because uh it's hard out here. And if you hold on, it can be very rewarding. And if you don't, you'll just get chewed up and spit out. Um and so God's used this place to uh to develop in me a fight, a grit that just says I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna stop, I'm not gonna quit, uh, and until unless God tells me so. Um and I I just, you know, that that has to do with a willingness to embrace places and spaces that will test that grit. Um, you know, right uh what's his name? Uh And the not Andy Stanley, but um uh what's Francis Chan? Yeah, he said put yourself in a position that if you're not uh if you're not rescued by God, you are totally screwed. And then that's how you can tell, you know, you're living by faith. And that's that's what in a sense it is out here. Um, you know, and I guess just embracing the suck, embracing the washing machine and finding places where that's tested and developed and not just going to the easy route. The easy route is not always the the um it's not always the most uh beneficial or in the in the plan for God, uh God has for us. So I guess, you know, just embracing those, you know, relationships where you get uh you get some grit, you know, really uh embracing those, you know, people who are hard to reach, and that'll grow your grit, you know, picking the harder challenge out of the two options. Um you know, that's that's the key.

J.D. Pearring 23:00

So well, good. Thank you for that. Embrace the suck. That's the yeah. That's the mess. Hey, before we go here, yeah. I mean, I know seven years ago you got burned half your body. Um, you survived, you came through that. How's your health now?

Leukemia Diagnosis And A New Fight

Stephen Fussle 23:17

Well, uh, with God's help, I'm overcoming a leukemia diagnosis that I just received uh over two months ago. And, you know, when you know we found out this information, my wife and I had a good cry, but then we we buckled down. We we told ourselves, hey, we've been here before, we faced giants where life and death was on the line, and uh God has given us the tools to carry this, and so we saw this as a blessing wrapped in a lot of pain, and we said, We're gonna fight, we're gonna rely on God, we're gonna trust Him. And um, you know, the those battles for fighting fear in the middle of the night and anxiety. Uh, you know, I used those tools I learned from the fire for this new fire. And uh I gotta tell you, I haven't missed a night of rest since the diagnosis. Uh, and I just I just trust God. I know He I know He's in control. This is something that I don't have any control over. Um, and so um so yeah, we're we're facing it. I got three weeks so far of normal white blood cell counts. So uh we're on a pathway to the first step of remission uh in four levels, and uh we'll find out more information as we go. But I I have a form of leukemia that has uh uh if you catch it on time and you're responsive to the medication, you have a a good chance of living a full life, um, but you're still facing a deadly disease, and you know, you're you know, you're in God's hands. So um, so that's what's going on now. And you know, the book that I'm working on is um, you know, Affliction by Fire or something like that, or Fire by Affliction. Uh and it's basically how do we take life's trials and come out stronger and better. Um and uh so I'm I'm applying these these fires that I've had to go through in my life, a number numerous ones, some of them I haven't talked about, but how do we how do we lean into the pain? How do we lean into the suffering and come out stronger? And so um God's got this, He's in control.

J.D. Pearring 25:31

Well, thank you, Stephanie. Thanks for your example. Thanks for hanging in there, not quitting, for your resilience, uh, and for being on fire for Jesus. So thanks for being with us today. Yeah, thank you for having me.

Final Thanks And Next Steps

Announcer 25:45

Thanks for joining the Leading Conversations Podcast. We hope that you found it both helpful and encouraging. At Excel Leadership Network, our focus is on the church planter rather than the church. If you'd like to find out more about us, visit our webpage at Excelnetwork.org. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. See you next time with another leading conversation.