Someone You Should Know: Justin Holland

In our Someone You Should Know series, we interview Faith members to help us get to know them, see how God is working in their lives, and make new connections within our community. In this episode we get to know Justin Holland.

• Automated Transcription

• Seth Weber 0:00
  Today on faith matters. Justin Holland joins us for another episode in our someone you should know series.
  
  Seth Weber 0:12
  I'm Seth Weber, and you're listening to faith matters, a podcast designed to help you think biblically in matters of the Christian faith and update you on matters of faith, Bible, church, it's
  
  Seth Weber 0:39
  good to have you here. Justin. Welcome to the podcast.
  
  Justin Holland 0:42
  Thank you. I am still here under duress. Well,
  
  Seth Weber 0:51
  tell us a little bit about where you grew up in your childhood.
  
  Justin Holland 0:54
  All right, so don't hold it against me, but technically, I was born in California, but I was not my choice. I had no say in the matter, right? I was only there for about six months before my parents moved us over to the west side. This is actually probably not any better, a little farm town called Marysville, which, that is where I grew up until 2019 when I moved here to Spokane. Okay,
  
  Seth Weber 1:20
  so tell us about any fun memories from your childhood. Yeah,
  
  Justin Holland 1:25
  so, actually, so I say little farm town. It is not a little farm town anymore. It's blown up into a classic like Seattle suburb, commuter town. But as a kid, there's lots of green spaces, lots of woods, and actually, my parents house backed up onto a big, long green space called quilce de Creek, which still exists today. It's protected, and it was probably only about 5060, yards across, but it was miles and miles long. And I just remember as a kid going down to the creek, as we called it, and with friends, with neighbors and just running up and down the creek. There was places where we had rope swings. There was places that were deep enough to actually swim in the summer, that like two days a year where it was warm enough to swim on the west side. And then there's even just these giant, huge house size sticker Bush bushes that we would cut into and actually create, like little hobbit holes and stuff. And I have lots of fond memories of that sounds like a blast, and it was so much fun.
  
  Seth Weber 2:29
  So you grow up over there, tell us about what you did after high school.
  
  Justin Holland 2:34
  I kind of graduated high school without a lot of direction. Actually, my senior year of high school, I believe that I was going to be a writer, and during my senior year of high school, I figured out I wasn't going to be a writer, I pursued, I kind of pursued that I had actually a really, really great teacher named Mrs. Mac who was my creative writing teacher. And she, she sounds terrible, because she helped me decide not to be a writer, but she really she loved my writing. She had a lot of encouraging things to say, but she also kind of pointed out like what it took to become a professional writer, and I just knew enough about myself and then with her, that that was not gonna be what I was gonna do. So after high school, I was doing labor jobs, carpentry, lots of drywall, and for a brief time I was building custom homes. I really loved that, but I knew it wasn't something I wanted to do long term. So I was 20 years old, didn't have a lot of ambition or direction, and so I decided to move to Alaska. And if that sounds random, it's not as random as it sounds, my grandparents, who are both with the Lord, now we're missionaries up there in the bush. So I actually grew up visiting periodically. So this was a great opportunity for me to kind of get away have some quiet time with God and and to serve. And so I went up there in the winter. I spent most of the winter chopping wood and hauling wood and working on all the diesel machines and stuff like that that keep the camp running during the summer. And then I spent the summer doing Kids Camp and retreats and stuff like that. And it was, it was beautiful. It was a beautiful time of just kind of solitude and quiet. I was in the word daily. I was praying daily. And I definitely came back from that with a lot more purpose and a lot of desire to to serve the Lord. So
  
  Seth Weber 4:28
  where did that purpose lead you after? So
  
  Justin Holland 4:30
  I came back with a five year plan, any good 21 year old, you know, who thinks they know everything and but by God's grace and Providence. I think I pretty much stuck to that five year plan. I got married to my now wife, and we bought a house. I started nursing school, and I started doing short term missions in eastern Africa. Wow.
  
  Seth Weber 4:54
  Okay, tell us about your family. Okay, yeah,
  
  Unknown Speaker 4:58
  so Brianne and Ian. Met over on the west side. We got married in 2008 and we have been married for 16 years. It has been amazing. It has been sanctifying. It we have grown in just love for each other and the Lord. Together, we have four children. Elijah is 10. Isaac is eight, Abigail is six, and Hannah is four, and it is a lot of wonderful chaos in our home. Brian, home schools them all. She is at home with the kids, and I am really glad that she's doing that, because I could not God has definitely gifted her in that area. And I love it. The Chaos can be a lot sometimes. Obviously, we don't get out very much, but it's, it's, it's great. I love it. I love being with the kids, especially as they get older and we get to share kind of more and more things together. I've been teaching the boys chess, nice. That's been a lot of fun, just seeing them kind of grow in that. And we play lots of games to the family, we go, we do lots of camping during the summer, and it's just a blast.
  
  Seth Weber 6:11
  Great. So how did you come to know Jesus as your savior in the first place?
  
  Justin Holland 6:15
  Yeah. So I have a pretty common story. Raised in a Christian home. My parents are actually church planters, and so there's actually a church that started in my living room. Growing up, I had lots of exposure to church and the Bible and Jesus, and so I, you know, I said the Lord's Prayer, the sinners prayer, you know, probably three or four times over a period of four or five years, just kind of, you know, one of those stuck, I guess I will say this, I I'm not sure exactly when I was saved, but I know from a pretty young age, I had a sense of what was right and what was wrong, and I definitely had a lot of conviction about my own sin, and I carried that with me to Alaska. I think it was in Alaska where I really came to terms with faith and obedience of the word especially. And then when I came back and Brian and I started dating, we found a Reformed Church with good, just biblical expository preaching. And that was our first exposure to that, and for both of us, that really, really matured us in a way that I think we were looking for nice.
  
  Seth Weber 7:29
  So tell us how you ended up here in Spokane and ended up here specifically at Faith Bible Church.
  
  Justin Holland 7:34
  Yeah. So my wife and I met on the west side, got married on the west side, bought a house on the west side and but we were visiting Spokane periodically. Her dad has lived over here for about 10 years, okay? And we always loved visiting. We love just the slower pace of life, the seasons. I actually like winter. I like you know all and you guys have four seasons here. I love the snow. I love the winter. I love the cold. If you want to know something weird about me, I wear flip flops all year round, so you'll see me trudging to and from church in the snow. I get lots of weird looks, but I'd just rather be comfortable than warm. So we always loved it over here. Never thought we would move just because of all our connections, and then just God really started unraveling some things that were keeping us, anchoring us on the west side the church that we had been part of for 12 years, we had helped with a church plant. There was some changes in the church that kind of were freeing us up from our connections there and just my job, which I had been at for over 10 years, also, again, kind of coming to a place of natural completion, where I was ready to move on. And just all these things that you know, we thought would never, you know, would always keep us there, started unraveling. And so we really started thinking about moving to Spokane in 2019 and with a lot of prayer and good just counsel, we made the move, and in God's providence, it was right before COVID, which is good and bad, we were able to buy a house before things got too crazy. But we also moved here, not really knowing a lot of people, and were kind of immediately isolated. But God again, was good and gracious in that time. I can definitely think of some aspects of that time that were hard, but I also look back and realize how much God brought Brian and I even closer. We grew a lot just in our marriage and our love for each other, and we got really good at dating at home, which is useful when you have four kids and no babysitters. So yeah, and then faith well, so we kind of built a short list of churches when we were thinking about moving over here, and faith was on our short list, just based on your mission statements and the Biblical preaching that was happening from the pulpit. It was. A little large for us. We'd always been part of small churches, church plants, stuff like that. So we ended up going to another church when we first moved here, and, you know, we spent some time there and just didn't feel like that was the place for us. And so we ended up coming to faith in 2021 and this is absolutely our church home. I think I'm so, so grateful that the Lord brought us here, and we're happy, happy to be here. Be members.
  
  Seth Weber 10:24
  Yeah, we're happy to have you here. So how have you been involved in ministry at Faith since you guys have arrived here?
  
  Justin Holland 10:30
  I've always been a behind the scenes guy. That's definitely my personality. I don't like crowds, and I have a hard time with eye contact, and I tend to kind of get distracted very easily in large groups of people. I'm definitely an introvert, and so I've always just tried to be diligent in serving in ways that are kind of more unseen. So when I first, when we first arrived and I wanted to serve, I approached you and I just said, here's all the different things I can do. What do you need? And you got me connected on the live stream and the camera, which has been great, that was a good place to get, kind of get started. The next thing I kind of jumped on board with was the men's breakfast. I can cook. I can cook for large groups of people, and I can stay in the kitchen where no one can see me and no one has to know my name. And anyway, so I've been cooking the men's breakfast now for a few years, and it's been very delicious. A very delicious few years. It's actually been great. I've got a team of guys that some of them come as early as five in the morning. We're often cooking bacon for that entire time. We got a black stone out, and there's usually two guys on bacon duty for about three hours. But yeah, those are the that's where I started. More recently, Brianne and I have been teaching, helping, teaching the marriage class last couple years. Again, that's a little less of a inconspicuous way to serve, but it was kind of put on my heart, and Brian was very encouraging in us joining that team with lots of kind of encouragement and wise counsel from others as well. And it's, it's been a huge blessing. It's been, it's been hard in a lot of ways. It's definitely outside my comfort zone, but I'm just really trying to be faithful with the gifts that God has given me, and he's blessed me with an amazing marriage and the ability to teach. And so I'll
  
  Seth Weber 12:33
  tell you why we haven't even taken the marriage class. And yet, somehow, I've
  
  Seth Weber 12:37
  come across some of the things that you've maybe it's just from texting with you, but I just look at you, and I'm just like,
  
  Seth Weber 12:46
  my marriage has been built up in some ways by some of the stuff that you guys have done in the marriage class. Thank you,
  
  Seth Weber 12:52
  this huge blessing.
  
  Justin Holland 12:52
  Thank you. So yeah, the marriage class has been more recent, and then even more recent than that, and again, further outside my comfort zone. You guys see a trend here. I've been leading a men's discipleship group at my house. Now we started back in June. We'll be meeting again here. Well, who knows when people are gonna listen to this? I don't know if dates matter, but we'll be, we'll be we meet at the last Tuesday of every month, and that has been, again, a huge blessing for me. It's been very encouraging to see guys worship together and study God's Word and and grow. I just, I just know that for me personally, I want more male discipleship in my life. I want other men who are want to talk about Jesus and want to grow as husbands and fathers and friends, and this is a place you can do it. The format's really simple. We worship together, we read the word together, and we pray together. I'll tell you what. I am not someone who loves singing or is good at singing. That being said, there is something very amazing and affecting and beautiful about, you know, a bunch of guys in the backyard singing acapella worship songs around a fire. It's, it's, it's great. I've loved that's been one of my favorite parts of the whole thing. Nice. We're currently setting trust in God by Jerry bridges, which has been very beneficial and kind of another kind of unique thing about this group is each month, a different guy teaches from the word and a different guide leads worship. So obviously, not everyone is going to do those things. It's really based on your gifting and your desire to grow in leadership. But for guys who are looking to maybe lead a group by them on their own in the future, or just want to grow in their ability to study the Word, teach, share from the word they're given an opportunity to do that here, and it's just been really great to see guys step up to the plate and kind of go outside their comfort zone, you know, and and share from the word nice. And that's been, that's been a really great aspect of the men's discipleship group that I've. I've been I've been really blessed by what has God been teaching you lately? Oh, man, well, if you're gathering a theme, and the way I'm talking is I'm uncomfortable being known, and here I am on a podcast. I am learning that I am not my own, that God has a plan for me, and that I need to try and understand what that plan is, and be obedient and faithful to what he has in store for me. There's definitely aspects of moving here and living here, and COVID and all those things that kind of I didn't see coming and that were really hard, but I see God's hand in it all. And now as I'm stepping out and being a little bit more seen and a little bit more vulnerable, and just putting the gifts that God has given me to his service. I'm I'm I'm just trusting and obeying Him, and that's what he's teaching me, is that I'm, I'm not my own, I'm his, and I'm trying to be faithful to that, which includes coming on this podcast, digging in my heels just a little bit.
  
  Seth Weber 16:07
  So how can faith, Bible, church, be praying for you? Yeah,
  
  Justin Holland 16:10
  so just continued wisdom in the ministries that God has called me into. I just always want to be cautious that I am discipling well, but that the biggest thing on my heart right now is just, I just want to be discipling my boys as well. So my boys are 10 and eight, and they're just at that age where there is a question around every corner, and Jesus is part of the conversation in my household, the word is part of our family devotions, but I think that they're at an age where I want to really intentionally be discipling them, studying the word with them, and I just want to be patient and wise in how I point them to Christ, both kind of on an every day to day basis, but also intentionally. I do. I know that we're planning on going through the New City catechism together as kind of a primer, and I don't know what will be after that, but I just, I just want to be intentional about just studying God's Word with my boys and pointing them to Christ.
  
  Seth Weber 17:28
  Very good. Are you ready for the speed round now? Sure. All right, let's do this thing. Okay?
  
  Justin Holland 17:41
  Cats are dogs, 100% cats. Do
  
  Seth Weber 17:43
  you have any pets?
  
  Justin Holland 17:45
  We do? We do have one cat and one hedgehog. Pineapple on pizza? Never. Favorite book besides the Bible, fantastic is by George McDonald, which I used to read every year. Now I probably read every couple years. I actually just reread it about a month ago. I love that book. It's just beautiful. It's other worldly. And then the other one that I really love, which is just a children's fairy tale called The Never Ending Story. Favorite band, as far as what I listen to the most, as far as music, is definitely bonavere. I just, I love everything he makes. And he makes some really weird stuff, but he just, he just he just makes beautiful music, and I've just always really enjoyed his work, favorite movie or TV show, my wife and I do enjoy some Great British Bake Off. And then for me, I would say, just kind of has a special place in my heart. And that's the original Star Wars trilogy. Best surprise gift you've ever gotten. Okay, so I have two, and they're both from my wife. And so one, when we were newly married, before we had kids, she surprised me with a day date where she said, let's get in the car and we're gonna go. And I didn't know where we were going, but we ended up in Portland, and we went on a text message walking tour, which, and this is like flip phones, I mean, but, but basically she paid like, 10 bucks to this, this website. I don't even remember what it was called, and we got text messages on our phone that basically led us on a scavenger hunt around the city. And it was wonderful. It's such a wonderful day. It was a great surprise. And it's just great walking around the city with her. And then the other one was more recent. Actually, this last year for Christmas, my wife always planned some special dates for us for Christmas, all done in home because, you know, four kids, no babysitting again, church, they
  
  Seth Weber 19:34
  could do some babysitters. No, we're very good at
  
  Justin Holland 19:37
  dating at home. And actually, if you take the marriage class, you will get the Holland family Guide to Dating at home, which is, or if you just email, or if you just email me or text me and ask for ask for it, but no. So she plans these dates every Christmas, and this last year she did DIY escape room. I mean, there was padlock. Thoughts on everything. There was all the like, there's all these like, there's these clues I'm pulling out and, you know, I'm looking at page numbers and certain books and putting all together. It was amazing. Now I will say it was so much fun. She planned it for about an hour, and it took me two. So I don't know if she overestimated my abilities or underestimated her cleverness. I'm gonna go with the latter. But it was, it was, it was wonderful and so fun, and I just loved it. Nice.
  
  Seth Weber 20:26
  Last question, okay, what would you do if you didn't have to sleep? What would you do the extra time?
  
  Justin Holland 20:32
  There's so many things I can do, as you know, I have a lot of hobbies, yes, and no time to do any of them. So I would just, I would probably just read books and books and books, and I would write. I love writing fiction, just for fun. I write poetry, I write short stories. I write a lot of things for my kids. I make games. I love making and creating games. And I just have ideas in my head all the time. So that's what I would do. I would just read. I would write. I'd play games. I'd be in my wood shop making just everything that I love making. There's tons of stuff around the house that I would love to get to. I actually really enjoy home projects, you know, assuming everyone else is asleep, I can't be too crazy. And then, and then, if I had my choice, you know, and my wife didn't have to sleep with me. We would just talk and play games. I would just be like, all night. Would be a date night, and would just be so amazing,
  
  Seth Weber 21:30
  how much time listen. This
  
  Justin Holland 21:31
  is, this is, this is pretend. And in my pretend world, my wife and I don't have to sleep, and we get to spend all the time we want together, and it's amazing. So you have to pretend my my rules, yes, that's right, I'm taking I'm taking you over the podcast.
  
  Seth Weber 21:47
  Very good. All right, faith, Bible, church. Justin Holland is someone you should know. Maybe thanks for joining
  
  Justin Holland 21:54
  us. No problem. You.

Justin Holland

Justin has been member of Faith Bible Church since 2021 and he currently leads a men's discipleship group. He and his wife, Bri, have four children.

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Seth Weber

Seth is the Communications Director at Faith Bible Church and loves anything to do with design, video, audio and tech. He and his wife Kaitlyn have four children.

View Resources by Seth Weber