Dario Suri: Following the Call to Be a Voice of Truth to Students Amid a World of Lies
In this episode of the Mission Control Podcast, we are joined by the passionate Dario Suri, a dedicated youth pastor and worship leader at Christ Community Church, and an area representative for FCA. Dario shares his personal journey of faith, his deep commitment to leading youth through worship and scripture, and his transformative experiences in ministry. Listen in as Dario opens up about his early struggles, his calling to mentorship and discipleship, and the meaningful impact of outreach programs on the local community.
Episode Highlights:
– Dario Suri’s multifaceted role at Christ Community Church and his outreach through FCA
– The art of leading 33 huddles and using scripture to share the gospel
– The inspiring story of a troubled student’s turnaround at an FCA camp
– Insights into Dario’s calling into ministry and his vision to spread truth
– The backstory of how Dario got involved with FCA and the church
– The spiritual journey from hitting rock bottom to leading worship and youth
– Dario’s interesting transition into becoming a youth pastor through divine timing
– Reflecting on the surprise growth of the youth group and community outreach success
– Influences of Dan Carter and Jason Shack on Dario’s path into ministry
Resources Mentioned:
– “Is God Calling Me?” by Jeff Iorg: https://www.amazon.com/God-Calling-Me-Answering-Question/dp/0805447229
– Christ Community Church https://christcommunitysb.com
– Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) https://www.brevardfca.org
Connect with Us:
– Visit our website at launchme.church
– Follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @FBCMel.
– Send us your thoughts and questions at info@fbcmel.org.
Support the Show:
Share this episode with your friends and family who might be interested in hearing encouraging stories of how God is using people from the Space Coast to impact the God’s Kingdom!
Episode Transcript:
Amanda Levy [00:00:23]:
Hello, my name is Amanda Levy and I’m the communications director here at First Baptist Melbourne and the host of this podcast today we have Dario Surrey joining us. Dario is the youth pastor and the worship leader at Christ Community Church, which was our first church plant as part of our whole lunch. Ten x ten churches in ten years goal. And he’s also an area rep for FCA. You see him repping it right now. He started working at First Baptist Melbourne in around 2016 with Shaq. Started as a student intern and kind of worked himself up from there at the same time he started with Dan and Shaq at FCA. Shaq really must have liked you.
Amanda Levy [00:01:02]:
Just pulled him into both. And so he’s kind of worked his way up there. I’m excited to talk to you more about all of that and how guides kind of guided you to the point that you are now and into ministry and stuff. Before we get there, though, I thought we might do a fun space related icebreaker question. Okay, so pretend that the first human colony is now on Mars and you are a part of it and you are responsible for bringing the community together. What kind of event or activity would you plan for that Mars colony? It’s the first one. It’s a big deal.
Dario Suri [00:01:41]:
Yeah, that’s tough. I feel like my gut reaction to this is like, we need to immediately start some type of church service. Like some Sunday morning worship service. Like, okay, we’ll get. Who plays instruments? Okay, let’s get a band together and then find somebody to teach. I’ll do the teaching if I have to. I think that’s what I go mean.
Amanda Levy [00:01:59]:
I think that’s good. That’s a good answer.
Dario Suri [00:02:01]:
Would be First Baptist Church of Mars.
Amanda Levy [00:02:03]:
I mean, that’s pretty special. And you really would be the first Baptist Church of Mars. Nice. Well, it was fun talking about outer space, but I’d love to talk a little more about your space and how God’s using you right now. So where does God currently have you on mission in your life?
Dario Suri [00:02:20]:
Yeah, I’m serving in Christ community church as the youth pastor. And so Sunday nights, I do youth group. I chose Sunday night because a lot of athletes couldn’t come Wednesday night. And I said, well, I would love to make a night for you that you could participate and come. And so I did Sunday night and it’s been really fruitful. I have anywhere between, let’s say, ten and 25 kids being a church plant, the hardest part I’ve seen is just getting kids in there consistently. So sometimes I’ll have like 20 kids pretty regularly and sometimes it’s like eight kids. And so a lot of them are coming from either the community in the neighborhood right behind the church, or through FCA huddles that I’ve connected with and got students to come.
Dario Suri [00:02:59]:
So that’s it for the church. And obviously I’m a worship leader at the church and we started a worship band. Right now we have three vocalists, someone on the keyboard and me on guitar and sing as well.
Amanda Levy [00:03:14]:
Nice. And what does area rep for FCA mean? What do you do as an area rep for FCA?
Dario Suri [00:03:20]:
I go to as many schools in Bavar county as that I can get to in a week. And usually I do the same schools every week until their season ends. So I go to Heritage high school and I do their baseball huddle. So I show up and say, hey, coach, I would love to do a Bible study with your team. I’ve been doing it for three years at heritage, so it’s not like a, hey, coach, he already knows I want to do it. He’s like, hey, Dario, come on in. But with new coaches, it’s like, hey, coach, I would love to do a Bible study with your team. I could bring pizza, whatever it know, but I want to share the love of Jesus Christ with them.
Dario Suri [00:03:49]:
And surprisingly, I get a lot of yeses from what you know, that is not normal. So I think I just have seen the Lord moving in our county in that way of just softening hearts before we even go to have these conversations. People are so open to sharing the gospel with their teams and that has to be the work of Christ for sure.
Amanda Levy [00:04:07]:
How many huddles are you leading right now?
Dario Suri [00:04:10]:
33.
Amanda Levy [00:04:12]:
So you go to 33 huddles a week?
Dario Suri [00:04:14]:
No.
Amanda Levy [00:04:14]:
Okay.
Dario Suri [00:04:15]:
Some of them are once a month and then some of them I have started and then I’ve empowered volunteers or coaches or students. So I have been to all 33. I am not at all of them. Every week I would die.
Amanda Levy [00:04:27]:
Yeah, that would be a lot. So for people who aren’t familiar with FCA and what huddles are, what happens at a huddle?
Dario Suri [00:04:33]:
So the first day of a huddle, I start with Matthew 16. And so again I get the coach is okay to come in. And so I bring pizza and they’re all excited. Like, pizza, this is great. I love this guy already. So I show up to a huddle and I ask the guys to sit down after they’re done eating. And I said, hey, I’m going to pray for us. And I pray for the group of guys that I’m with.
Dario Suri [00:04:54]:
And then I go right into the diva. So I start with a scripture or an analogy to tie in the scripture and basically just challenge them. In almost every devotion I have, I have either a opportunity to, hey, this is how we could grow in Christ through this verse, or this is why we need to start a relationship with Jesus Christ according to this verse. And that kind of hits both the unbeliever and the believer who needs to grow in their relationship with Christ. And then sometimes even a third one of, hey, this is something you need to be telling your friends to do to grow in their relationship with Christ as well, or start a relationship with Jesus. And so that’s typically what it looks like. It changes and varies depending on the age, you know, a co ed group or just guys. It changes here and there.
Dario Suri [00:05:34]:
But for the most part, that’s my goal, right? To share Jesus’love with them, share the gospel with them, and help them grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Amanda Levy [00:05:40]:
Awesome. So you’ve been doing the area rep, all the huddles for three years. What were you doing prior to that? With MCA.
Dario Suri [00:05:47]:
So with MCA, I was Dan’s intern. Yeah. Like I said, yeah, starting in 2016. And so honestly, I’ve been doing it since 2016. Dan was like, hey, you’re going to go to sell out high school. They have a football team. The coach knows you’re going to be there. Bring some gatorades and then do a devo with him.
Dario Suri [00:06:02]:
And I said, okay. I knew nobody.
Amanda Levy [00:06:05]:
It was like the first time, rather. Yeah. How old were you?
Dario Suri [00:06:08]:
I was 18.
Amanda Levy [00:06:09]:
Okay, so you were like fresh out of high school yourself.
Dario Suri [00:06:11]:
Right? Out of high school. Okay. Show up with your gator. Yeah. So I would show up and I was so nervous. It’s so funny now when I’m so comfortable in that area, but I was so nervous to just teach these guys, and I couldn’t even tell you what I was nervous about. Maybe just saying something incorrectly, not making sense, or maybe they wouldn’t connect with what I was saying, some of those fears, but I was so nervous. And now I just have seen the Lord just grow me in that capacity, grow the relationships.
Dario Suri [00:06:43]:
And so now it’s just, I have a blast. I love it. I love doing my job. It is so much fun to share the gospel and just connect with these young men and women.
Amanda Levy [00:06:51]:
How did you know, Jason, Shaq, how did you get pulled into all this?
Dario Suri [00:06:55]:
That’s a good question.
Amanda Levy [00:06:56]:
Both the church and FCA.
Dario Suri [00:06:57]:
Okay, so, yeah. And they work hand in hand. So, junior year of high, more than you asked here.
Amanda Levy [00:07:04]:
But, hey, go for it.
Dario Suri [00:07:05]:
Fell apart. I was just, like, a train wreck. I just fell into some sin in my life, and I hit rock bottom. I was like, God. I was like, I remember a pastor telling me when I hit rock bottom to look up and ask God to show up in my life. And so in that moment, I was like, I knew God was good. I knew he loved me, but I was just so invested in sin, but also knew he was present. But I still got to give up the sin.
Dario Suri [00:07:29]:
I said, God, I’m done. I’m done with the sin that was in my life that I needed to give up to you. And so I’m giving it up. And in that, I need you to show up and show me that you’re better and satisfy every desire that I have in you. And he did. And I knew in that moment, if I committed the Lord in that moment, I was going to commit to ministry. That didn’t just mean sharing the gospel and just like a regular career, but my career would be ministry. And so with that, my heart on fire for God, I stepped into FCA on campus, and I said, hey, I would love to be a leader on FCA.
Dario Suri [00:08:03]:
And they said, well, you can be the vice president. We don’t have a vice president. I was like, that sounds great. Yeah. They immediately just put me in a position, and so I became the vice president of FCA, and I started sharing and leading some of their huddles and Devos. And then my senior year, I’m sharing on accountability. It’s actually a really funny story because we had 20 minutes to share, and the guy next to me was supposed to go first, and I was supposed to go, and he used up all.
Amanda Levy [00:08:27]:
Of the time, so there was technically no time left.
Dario Suri [00:08:30]:
There was no time left for me. So I was like, all right, real quick, guys. I was like, look at me. I’m going to share what I was supposed to share. It was on accountability. And so in the five minutes that I had, I shared on accountability, and I just kind of saw Shaq in the back, like, listening, like, nodding, like, okay. And he come up to me half, and he’s like, hey, I would really love for you to come to our youth group and share what you shared on accountability with them. And I said, I would love that.
Dario Suri [00:08:51]:
That sounds great. I was super excited again what the Lord was doing my life. I didn’t know Shaq super well, but I saw him pretty often at.
Amanda Levy [00:08:56]:
Were you connected to first off, to smilburn at all at this?
Dario Suri [00:09:03]:
Funny. I was going to two other churches, so I was going to. I can’t remember.
Amanda Levy [00:09:07]:
It’s okay.
Dario Suri [00:09:08]:
A church up Northrop galley and a church on beachside, I think. And so I was attending those two churches, and I just wanted to be involved as much as I could be. But so, anyways, I go to First Baptist Melbourne and I teach in front of all these kids and share about accountability. And, man, I just felt, like, so much weight on my heart that I belonged here. And I was like, what is this? And I knew I do worship. And so I was like, man, I could play worship at a lot of churches. And I feel really called to be in the church, the youth band, I think. I didn’t know why.
Dario Suri [00:09:38]:
I just felt the Lord putting that pressure on my heart. So I go to Shaq. I said, shaq, I want to be a part of this church, and I want to play in your youth band. And he says, okay, we can have some conversations about that. It sounded like he was excited for me, but wanted to make sure that was the Lord’s will for me. And so, through a lot of prayer and time, I ended up joining the youth band for the first baptist youth group. And then the summer hits, and Shaq said, hey, I would love for you to be our summer intern. I was like, okay, sure.
Dario Suri [00:10:04]:
That sounds great. What does that mean? He goes, you come to camp with us, we pay for you to come to camp. Yeah. I was like, free camp. This sounds great. I’m like, on fire for Jesus. I love sharing the gospel. I was like, I’m so down.
Dario Suri [00:10:13]:
This is everything I want to do. And now I’m getting to. They paid for the camp to do that. I’m like, that sounds know. So I take the internship with Shaq and then know, dan gets a hold of me, too, and says, hey, while you’re know and not First Baptist youth group and doing things Wednesday night, you could be going to these different schools, know, sharing Devos and sharing the gospel with them. And I said, that sounds great. So I was an intern for Dan, intern for Shaq, and then the summer ends, and I’m like, what am I going to do with my life when the summer ends? Because I’m like, I’m on fire. Yeah.
Dario Suri [00:10:45]:
I’m like, but what’s coming? And at the end of the summer, Shaq comes up and he goes, we don’t do this. This is not normal. He goes, I would like to extend your internship for the rest of the year. And I was like, that sounds so good. And he’s like, not only that, we’re going to start paying you a little bit. And I was like, I get money. I’m so broke at this point. But I was like, I didn’t care.
Dario Suri [00:11:05]:
I loved what I was doing. And then Dan says the same thing. I want to extend your internship for the whole year. And I said, okay, that sounds amazing. And so I just continued. That became part time staff with First Baptist Melbourne and then part time staff with FCA.
Amanda Levy [00:11:19]:
Nice. So then at some point, Christ community enters the picture. At what point did God start stirring on your heart to be a part of church planning?
Dario Suri [00:11:28]:
So this is a really cool story for me. So I want to say I was part time with FCA at this point, still in full time youth ministry. And so I think I was in the assistant youth pastor role or associate youth pastor role. I can’t remember what the title was, but it didn’t matter to me. I was serving a youth ministry. And so during that time, I was probably going through one of the driest seasons I’ve had. And so I was talking to my wife, marcella, and I was like, man, I just feel so empty right now, and I don’t know what’s going on. She goes, well, what’s missing? What did you have when you were just on fire for lord and doing well? I was like, well, I had someone discipling me every week, so I meet with Shaq and Dan and other people, but there wasn’t anybody at that time just pouring into me, and we were just going into the word together.
Dario Suri [00:12:17]:
And so I started praying about know, and then I ended up telling Doug about it. Doug Maldon. And he’s like, you know, I know it’s not exactly what you were looking for, but there is a small group starting for young married adults. I was like, well, me and my wife aren’t married. And he’s like, it’s okay. There’s other people who aren’t married, but they’re approaching. Like, we weren’t engaged yet, but Doug knew I was about to propose. And all this, we show up knowing everybody’s married.
Dario Suri [00:12:38]:
There was no single duped a little bit. Yeah.
Amanda Levy [00:12:42]:
I was like, how did Marcella react to that?
Dario Suri [00:12:44]:
We looked at each other and we’re like, man, we probably look so weird. Like we think we’re married and we’re know, we definitely didn’t feel that. Like, we totally respect marriage. And I felt like everyone looked at me like, why are you said, how.
Amanda Levy [00:12:59]:
Far away were you from proposing to Marcel?
Dario Suri [00:13:01]:
At this point, probably two months away.
Amanda Levy [00:13:03]:
Okay, so you were close.
Dario Suri [00:13:04]:
Yeah.
Amanda Levy [00:13:04]:
Not that she knew that, but you were close.
Dario Suri [00:13:06]:
Yeah, she did not know, but I knew, I knew we were close. She probably felt worse than. So, yeah. People were looking at us and it felt really awkward, but I was like, the things that they were sharing were really good in the group. I was like, this is still good for us and we are approaching marriage. We’ll just take this for our marriage in the future. The person leading that was Cody Chester.
Amanda Levy [00:13:26]:
Okay.
Dario Suri [00:13:26]:
And so that’s kind of how I first met him and got connected to him. And so through a couple of Bible studies with him, I was like, marcel, I really feel like I should just start a Bible study. Just me and Cody, one on one. I was like, I think I’ll just ask him that. He’d probably be open to it. Yeah. And so I go up to know after Sunday and I’m like, hey, I just really feel the Lord, like leading me to ask you to do a Bible study with me and have you to supple me. And he goes, I was praying you’d ask me.
Dario Suri [00:13:52]:
I was like, oh, that’s so cool. And so we start doing Bible studies Monday nights together and he’s just pouring into me and loving on me. And we grow in our friendship and we just grew a lot together in our. Then, you know, a couple months go by and Pastor Scott’s, you know, we’re in our staff prayer time talking, know the new church plant pastor, and he’s like, cody Chester. I’m like, this guy didn’t tell me.
Amanda Levy [00:14:16]:
He was the church. I didn’t know.
Dario Suri [00:14:18]:
I did not know. And he’s like, well, I didn’t know who I could know. And I’m like, well, I would have loved to know that. It’s like, you do Bible study, meeting, you about to leave know.
Amanda Levy [00:14:25]:
Yeah.
Dario Suri [00:14:26]:
He’s like, I’m not going anywhere. We can still do Bible study together. And I was, you know, but I remember when Pastor Scott said that, I thought, should I go with him? Because we had a good relationship.
Amanda Levy [00:14:36]:
Yeah, you formed the bond.
Dario Suri [00:14:38]:
Right. And I’ve had the desire to be a youth pastor in my heart for a long time. And again, I’m in only assistant position at this time. I was like, man, I really feel, like, led to be a youth pastor, and I didn’t know what God’s timing was. Other opportunities had come, but the door kept closing on it, and I didn’t feel like it was right, but this felt like it was the Lord’s peace coming into my heart. And so I remember going into a Bible study with Cody on Monday night, and I go, cody. I go, I know you’re leaving for the church plant. And I was like, do you guys have a youth pastor? Because I would really love to be the youth pastor.
Dario Suri [00:15:08]:
And he literally goes, I was hoping you’d ask me that. I’ve been praying you’d ask me. So, like, the same. Like, for me, it was the Lord’s affirmation of like, wow, he was praying. I’ve been praying about our relationship, and then he was praying. I was praying about the youth pastorship. So I just thought that was so neat, and it was just so clear that that was the Lord’s will.
Amanda Levy [00:15:25]:
Yeah, that’s been something very encouraging to me as I’ve seen how God has worked through things. And hearing all these stories through this podcast of sometimes you feel like God’s pointing you in a direction and you’re like, no one else knows about this. And so it’s really affirming when you talk to other people and they’re like, oh, no, I felt that, too. Or I saw that, too. So it’s cool hearing your story, too, of how you’ve been praying for it. Maybe a little nervous to say something, and cody’s like, no, I’ve been waiting for you to ask me.
Dario Suri [00:15:51]:
Oh, yeah. It was like, oh, felt so relieved.
Amanda Levy [00:15:54]:
That’s awesome. As you look back, where do you see obvious places of God’s direction and all that?
Dario Suri [00:16:04]:
I think again, like, in Cody’s affirmation and wanting me to step into that role and him praying that for sure. But what followed that, too? I talked to Cody about that, and he followed with, hey, you should go reach out to some people who know you well and ask them if you should do. I was. I was doing a great job in the youth ministry at first baptist Melbourne. I was in love with all the students, all the leaders, and of course, I think Pastor Ryan east was the youth pastor at the time when I was considering this, and we were really great friends. And so it wasn’t going to be easy to leave by any means. But I did feel the call for it. And so I talked to Pastor Ryan, I talked to Pastor Shaq I talked know, Dan Carter and some other people and they all just affirmed me, you’re ready.
Dario Suri [00:16:48]:
And I was like, I’m ready. I’m like, are you sure?
Amanda Levy [00:16:52]:
Remind me, when did Christ community launch?
Dario Suri [00:16:55]:
Oh, man, it’s good. So I think this Easter will be two years.
Amanda Levy [00:16:59]:
Okay. 2022.
Dario Suri [00:17:02]:
Yes.
Amanda Levy [00:17:03]:
So you’d been from 2016? 2022. Like six years. Okay. So you had a few years under your belt of the assistant and all the being poured into.
Dario Suri [00:17:13]:
Right.
Amanda Levy [00:17:13]:
But that’s still scary than taking that step out.
Dario Suri [00:17:15]:
Yeah. I honestly wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be when I finally stepped into the role. I just knew I had a lot of people backing me up. I knew if I had some weird scenario with a relationship with a student or I was struggling to teach certain lessons, I could go to Ryan, I could go to Pastor Shaq, and they would know, come and help me if they had to. So what really just calmed on my fear was just knowing I had this amazing community surrounding me.
Amanda Levy [00:17:40]:
Yeah, you’re two years in. What are some of the things that have surprised you in this new season of ministry?
Dario Suri [00:17:49]:
Man, that’s a great question. Surprised me. I honestly was just surprised on where the youth kids came from. I didn’t think that they were just going to come from the apartments right behind our church. I thought they were just going to be mostly just church members kids, which we only have, I think, about four kids that are of the youth group age that come, that are in our church, because we just don’t have that many kids that attend our church or parents that attend our church with kids like that. So what ended up happening is we went and did an outreach event with basically just like in the area in front of our church. We had like barbecue and all this stuff. And so we handed out flyers to the neighboring community and a bunch of kids just kind of flood in and they were like, free food? Like, sure.
Dario Suri [00:18:41]:
So they came in and I told them about the youth group. It was like, hey, we play basketball, we do volleyball. We might have food sometimes. If you’d love to come, we will share a Bible study at the end. Would you like to come? And Elim is like, sure, I’ll come. And so the following week, I think I had only four kids at the youth group. Three more came. And then as those three come, I start doing the Bible study at heritage baseball and a couple of other huddles, and some of those kids start coming.
Dario Suri [00:19:05]:
And by the end of a couple of months, I think I had around 24 kids.
Amanda Levy [00:19:10]:
Wow.
Dario Suri [00:19:10]:
Attending the youth group. And so, like I said, it ebbs and flows, but for the most part, again, a very fruitful ministry that I’ve seen in the youth group. So again, I was surprised about where the kids came from. Again, I just thought it was know First Baptist Melbourne. All the youth kids mostly attend Sunday morning service for our church. The majority of our youth kids, their parents do not go to church anywhere, let alone our church. And so they walk to our youth group and I asked them, I said, hey, why don’t you come Sunday morning? They said, my mom doesn’t want us to. And so it’s just so know, usually parents are dragging kids to church and.
Amanda Levy [00:19:42]:
They’Re trying to drag their parents to what happens. How do you kind of structure the student ministry? You mentioned basketball, volleyball. I guess it’s important to say y’all meet at the FCA facility.
Dario Suri [00:19:55]:
What would you call where you call the FCA building?
Amanda Levy [00:19:58]:
Okay. Volleyball court.
Dario Suri [00:20:00]:
Yeah, there are two volleyball courts in it and then long ways. We have a basketball court, so we can use it either way we’d like.
Amanda Levy [00:20:06]:
And I understand that you have like a curtain that goes down and you have kids on one side and then Sunday morning worship on the other side.
Dario Suri [00:20:12]:
Yes.
Amanda Levy [00:20:13]:
So then on Sunday nights, you all have the entire place.
Dario Suri [00:20:16]:
Correct.
Amanda Levy [00:20:16]:
So what does a Sunday night youth group look like?
Dario Suri [00:20:19]:
So I get there at 530, youth group starts at six, but I get there, 530. The students know that. So show up at 530. So they just get there like, dario’s here, we’re going inside. And so they come inside with me. I set up the basketball hoops because they roll. And so I set them up. I set up the volleyball net by 06:00.
Dario Suri [00:20:35]:
Most of the kids are there. And so we play basketball probably to 645. And then I start the lesson. Lesson is about 30 minutes after the lesson, we pray it out, and then they can continue to play games. But I always offer an opportunity to come to me and say, hey, if you would like to start a relationship with Jesus Christ today, I would love to talk to you. Or if anything I said, encourage you in growing your relationship with Jesus. Please come talk to me. I want to encourage you in that.
Dario Suri [00:20:57]:
And so that’s typically what it looks like.
Amanda Levy [00:20:58]:
Okay, cool. I’m trying to figure out how to word this. Are you doing any seminary or anything? Or has all this just been. What is your thoughts about some of that hard subject? I know I might cut it out.
Dario Suri [00:21:14]:
I’m just curious. No, that’s okay. I think it’s a good question. No, it’s not bad. It’s going to out myself. I’ve been the pursuit of my bachelor’s degree for way too long because I have worked with FCA and then with first Baptist, Melbourne and other jobs.
Amanda Levy [00:21:32]:
You have a lot of hands on experience.
Dario Suri [00:21:35]:
I was doing landscaping and then like a lighting job also, too, when I was doing my internship. So I was taking like two, maybe three classes at a time. So it just took me a lot longer. But I was pursuing the career I wanted to do anyways. I’m in the career that I want to be in at this point and so I have one more class left for my business degree. So that’s why it took so long for me, just because I was doing so much at a time. But following this, I’ve talked a lot with a lot of friends and specifically Aaron Seale about the pursuit of seminary, what that looks like. So I’ve been wrestling with it and thinking about it.
Dario Suri [00:22:07]:
I know it would be extremely demanding and I know the amount on my plate at this point. And so I’m hoping I can find balance. And then I’m having a baby in June, so there’s all this stuff in play. And so do I want to go? Semi? Yes, I want to go. Is it realistic at this point? I don’t know yet. I want to look at my schedule and see how I can work it in. Maybe it’s one class at a time. I’m growing and learning.
Dario Suri [00:22:31]:
It’s fruitful. And then what I wanted to take in seminary, I think, is biblical counseling. I think I wanted to get a master’s in that specifically because I surprisingly have done a lot of counseling within FCA.
Amanda Levy [00:22:45]:
I believe it.
Dario Suri [00:22:46]:
And so I have had coaches come to me and say, hey, I have this struggle with a family member, a daughter, a son or my wife and offered a lot of biblical advice, but I would have loved to have some counseling experience under my belt and some education to just give them, I guess, the most fruitful advice.
Amanda Levy [00:23:07]:
It makes sense. So you were a junior in high school. You had this reckoning moment. You’re entangled in some sin, going away from that feel, a call to ministry at that point. Is this where you kind of pictured yourself? Did you think at that point it’s going to be student ministry or it’s going to be this? Or is it just kind of a blind yes on the table?
Dario Suri [00:23:33]:
I don’t know for a fact. I didn’t know that. Junior year, senior year, I knew Dan and Shaq were going to have a massive influence on where I ended up. And they have for sure. I still work for both of them. So I just think that was interesting. So, again, I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I knew that the path to being in ministry, especially ministry full time, was going to be opened by the doors of Dan Carter and Jason Shaq.
Amanda Levy [00:23:59]:
That makes. So when you were in high school, you got connected with FCA as a student. Were you a student athlete at that? So then was it, like, a friend that invited you? How did you get into all of that?
Dario Suri [00:24:11]:
I knew FCA, so I went to FCA one time freshman year, and I was like, oh, this is like, I knew God was good, and I was like, this is cool. And I just didn’t make time for it. It was really early on Tuesday mornings, and so I was like, I don’t really want to go, and I need to work on some grades in my classes and stuff. So I went and got help from teachers instead. And so, yeah, junior year, I had that moment with the Lord, and I remembered FCA because someone had invited me freshman year. And I go, there is ministry happening on my campus, and the Lord’s word is being taught on my campus. I should be there. And so that’s why I started going.
Dario Suri [00:24:50]:
So I remembered a friend who invited me freshman year, and it reminded me my junior year.
Amanda Levy [00:24:54]:
Wow. I mean, I think that speaks to the power of even when you initially invite someone and you feel like it’s a rejection, it’s like you have no idea what God’s going to do with that little seed that’s planted.
Dario Suri [00:25:05]:
Absolutely.
Amanda Levy [00:25:06]:
So I think that’s cool that that person did invite you.
Dario Suri [00:25:08]:
And now I work for FCA.
Amanda Levy [00:25:09]:
And now you work for FCa. And it’s wild. Yeah, that is wild. How would you help someone who’s trying to discern they feel a similar feeling called toward ministry and they don’t know where to go with that. What advice would you have for them?
Dario Suri [00:25:26]:
It would depend on the relationship that I have with them. I think, one, if I knew they were ready, I would affirm that in them say, I’ve seen a lot of fruit in you. Someone in my mind, actually, right now that I’ve been discipling, and I, and I told him specifically, hey, you are on fire for the lord. You are a leader. People look at you. And so I affirm that in him, like, hey, you have a lot of abilities to lead people in a ministry capacity. And so what I would tell really anybody is that, hey, you need to ask the people who are discipling you, what they see in you, if they think you’re ready for this or if you’re called to this. But more than anything, if the Lord isn’tugging on your heart, you need to pray about, hey, lord, I feel like I should just sing, but I haven’t felt your presence in this, or I haven’t felt peace from you.
Dario Suri [00:26:12]:
And then to discern that with some other believers, people you trust.
Amanda Levy [00:26:17]:
So let’s talk about the discipling relationship a little bit. I think sometimes we throw out these words of discipleship, and they sound like big, fancy words. What did that practically look like in your life, let’s say, with Cody? What did that practically look like as you’re meeting with Cody?
Dario Suri [00:26:33]:
I think it’s more than a Bible study. I would come to, you know, whatever was heavy on my heart, and I knew I could. I knew if it know something ugly, know, maybe some ugliness in my own heart, know I shared with Cody. It would be held in confidence. He wouldn’t share with anybody else. It was held between me and him. And he would give me biblical advice with that. There would be follow up, too.
Dario Suri [00:26:53]:
He’d text me, and this is true for Dan and Shaq as well. If there was something that I shared one day later, two days later. Hey, how’s it going? Everything all right about the thing we talked about? And so I definitely think it’s know you become family. I feel like that’s the best way to describe it, and that’s how I disciple. If I don’t feel like family with somebody, it’s going to be really hard to connect and share. So I want to make sure that person feels like they have a brotherhood or sisterhood or a weird uncle, whatever. You need to be right to create the relationship. And so that’s what discipleship looks like to me.
Dario Suri [00:27:28]:
And really what Cody did for me was just become my family, and you.
Amanda Levy [00:27:32]:
Were the one who made the first ask, so what did that look like? What advice would you have for someone who’s feeling like, man, I really wish I had someone pouring into my life, or I really wish I could pour into someone else. What did you ask?
Dario Suri [00:27:47]:
And this has happened twice. I prayed so much for just someone to disciple me, and it always starts there. It starts with prayer, and the lord answers these prayers in such beautiful ways. And so the first time was, I think it was a freshman in college, and I prayed for somebody closer to my age, just like almost in the next stage of life, to just come disciple me and not even maybe a week or two later, I go to youth group at first Baptist Melbourne, and Danny Fernandez is speaking. And I was like, I didn’t know him. We weren’t close or anything like that. I just met him that night, and he didn’t really even meet me. He was just talking.
Dario Suri [00:28:25]:
So I go up to myself, I say, danny, I really feel like you’re supposed to disciple me. And he goes, I was praying somebody would come forward and ask me to because he hadn’t really discipled anybody at that point, but he wanted to let the Lord call me that. So his prayer, my prayer, met in the middle, right. The Lord answered both of our prayers, and then the same thing happens with Cody. And so my advice would be, just start to pray about it, and then just don’t be scared when the Lord puts that presence on your heart to, hey, go ask. This is the person I’m giving you the piece about. Go ask them. Most people are really excited.
Dario Suri [00:28:54]:
If you asked me to disciple you, I’d be over the moon.
Amanda Levy [00:28:57]:
Yeah, that’s awesome. You personally are discipling someone right now, too?
Dario Suri [00:29:03]:
Yes.
Amanda Levy [00:29:04]:
Have you been doing both at the same time in terms of when you talk to other people and advice you might have for someone? Is it a two way street at all times?
Dario Suri [00:29:15]:
So you’re saying, am I being discipled and discipling?
Amanda Levy [00:29:17]:
Seminar?
Dario Suri [00:29:18]:
Yes, for sure. There’s a college student that I’m currently discipling, and then I have people discipling me currently as well.
Amanda Levy [00:29:26]:
For sure. That’s awesome. What advice would you have for someone who is trying to live out the call to make disciples here and everywhere for the glory of God?
Dario Suri [00:29:38]:
Say it one more time.
Amanda Levy [00:29:39]:
I want to make sure I know. And I said that one weird, too. What advice or encouragement would you have for someone feeling the call to make disciples here and everywhere for the glory of God?
Dario Suri [00:29:47]:
Advice would I give them? Man, I always had to start with, like, pray and read your word. I feel like we get so much clarity from God’s word and so much clarity from prayer. We always should start there on our knees before Lord. And then with that, find some people to disciple you. I think that if you don’t have anybody to disciple, you have no one to affirm you or encourage you or teach you how to lead other people and disciple other people. And so we need to be discipled to know how to disciple from there. If you are being discipled, ask that person if you’re ready to start discipling others. And then if so, look around.
Dario Suri [00:30:24]:
There’s so many people who are so lost and so broken and just want to be loved on. And this would probably be my biggest piece of advice. And I love this story. I was doing an FCA camp, probably 2017, and I was a huddle leader for this FCA camp. And so what that means is you get like, ten kids and you go do a bunch of sports with them. At the end of the day, you do a Bible study with them, pray with them, hear their hearts and all that kind of stuff. And I got a student who people knew is just trouble, and I was like, man, why did they give it to me? And they told me intentionally, we gave you this student because we know that he gets angry about things and doesn’t respond well all the time. And so in my heart, I’m like, okay, if I’m going to tell this student anything about what he should do or how he should sit still, anything, he has to know I love him.
Dario Suri [00:31:17]:
And so what I did, and this is like, again, I don’t know if this is going to work for anybody else. It worked for me at the time. I was talking to somebody else and I just put my hand on his head for him to show him that I cared about him, but not directly. And eventually I put my hand on his shoulder and just trying to break some barriers there. And by the end of the day, the student was jumping on me and talking with me and having so much fun, and he would only listen to me at that point. So they were like, oh, man, he’s doing such and such. Where’s Dario? We need Dari to come help because he’s the only person he listens. So if you’re going to disciple somebody, they have to know that you love them.
Amanda Levy [00:31:57]:
I think that’s huge. I think everything we should be doing does start from love rather than just from. I mean, obedience is important, but sometimes I think you can go about it that way and then you lose the love in it. And so, yeah, I think that’s awesome to hear stories like that.
Dario Suri [00:32:14]:
Yeah. And what kind of sat in my heart was that if I just tell this student what he should do, I might be right, but he’s just going to think I don’t like him or maybe even hate him because he’s disobedient. And that’s what I kind of saw in his heart initially. And as soon as he felt the love, he felt like he’s telling me this because he loves me and he knows it’s best for me.
Amanda Levy [00:32:32]:
Yeah, that’s awesome. So you went to a young, married Sunday school class. You weren’t married. That’s awesome. I think it’s cool.
Dario Suri [00:32:38]:
I don’t recommend it.
Amanda Levy [00:32:40]:
I mean, it works, though. I think sometimes we’re too narrow in our boxes, too. So I think sometimes it’s cool when you have someone who’s like, I may not fit into this box, but God’s calling me here, right? And so I’m going to answer that, so don’t be scared by that. And then just your pathway to FCA, all through your five minute devotion when you only didn’t have a lot of time. I think it’s awesome to see how God’s just kind of brought you along this path and how God has used different people to do it. So thanks for coming and sharing with us.
Dario Suri [00:33:12]:
Thanks for having me.
Amanda Levy [00:33:13]:
It’s been great. Was there anything you wanted to share that you felt like you didn’t get a chance to?
Dario Suri [00:33:19]:
There’s only one thing, and I maybe missed it. I should have maybe shared it.
Amanda Levy [00:33:23]:
No, it’s fine.
Dario Suri [00:33:24]:
One of the things you asked me was just like, why was I called into ministry? What was calling me to? Um. And when I was a lot younger in middle school, there was a person in my life who could have been a great influence for me to grow my relationship with Christ and push me towards Jesus, to grow as a leader and share the gospel with others around me. And that person did the opposite and really was destructive in my life and claimed to be a believer, claimed to be a good leader. And let’s be quite honest, that person’s in jail for the rest of their life. Got you. And so for me, I was like, okay, I could either run away from God right now because I’m hurt, or I could lean into him because he’s my only hope. And so I leaned into the Lord with everything that I could. In that moment.
Dario Suri [00:34:11]:
Again, I was struggling with other sin in my life, but I still knew God was good, and so I kept him in my heart, and I was like, lord, I know you’re good. I know you’re good, but life’s hard. And so that moment, my junior year of high school, I remembered what had happened to me when I was younger. And I thought, I want to do ministry because I want to be the voice of truth in a world of lies, because I don’t want what happened to me when I was younger to happen to anybody else. And quite the opposite. I want kids to know the truth, know they’re loved, and I want them to be pointed to Jesus Christ.
Amanda Levy [00:34:41]:
Wow. I think that’s awesome. Yeah, that’s a lot. I think it’s really important to have good people in ministry who are doing good things, and especially with the next generation, I think, there are so many people who want to speak into molding that next generation. I think it’s important to have the gospel as part of that. So I’m really glad that you’re obedient to that and that you listen to that. And I’m very thankful that God has put people in your life to redeem some of those opportunities of leadership when it comes to spiritual leadership. And I think it’s cool to see how God can redeem and make things good out of really messy situations.
Dario Suri [00:35:24]:
Absolutely.
Amanda Levy [00:35:25]:
So thanks for sharing that with us. I think that’s… uh- It’s always encouraging to hear that God’s doing good things in other people’s lives, and so it gives you hope that God can do good things in your life. So thanks, Dario.
Dario Suri [00:35:37]:
Yeah. Thank you for having me. This is so fun.
Amanda Levy [00:35:39]:
Yeah, of course.
Amanda Levy [00:35:45]:
In my conversation with Dario he referenced being a victim of abuse as a part of his testimony. If you or someone you know has experienced abuse, know that you are not alone. Help and support are available. Please reach out to the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873. Your safety and well-being matter.
Next time in Mission Control Aleyah Terry will be joining us. Aleyah graduated from high school last spring and decided to take a gap year before college. She actually just got back to Melbourne following an extended time on mission overseas with YWAM (Youth With a Mission). I can’t wait for you to hear our conversation and hear Aleyah’s heart and passion for following God’s leading and direction in her life.
Until then, I hope you have a great week on mission with King Jesus.