What does Tribe teach about distraction?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on distraction starts with an honest look at timing. Brian Hunter walked through Exodus 17 and the Amalekite attack on Israel, and the observation he kept returning to was this: the attack did not come when things were hard. It came right after water poured from the rock, when bellies were full and children were playing. That pattern, Brian said, is exactly how distraction tends to work in a person's life. It arrives at the moment a season of provision or peace is underway, not in the obvious dark valley.
What makes this teaching uncommon is Brian's insistence that distraction does not always look like trouble. Opposition is easy to name, an unexpected bill, a problem at work, something pressing directly against you. But opportunity can pull a person just as far off course. Brian told the story of putting his and Lissa's yes on the table to go to Mongolia in 2012, and within days receiving both a promotion and an outside job offer. Neither was bad in itself. But both would have moved them away from what they had already agreed to. He framed this against John 16:33, where Jesus says plainly that trouble will come, and Brian says, "Life comes with Amalekite raids. Jesus himself has said it." The point is not to live in constant dread, but not to be caught completely flat-footed either.
The Tribe teaching also connects distraction to obedience in a direct way. Brian says, "Your obedience in one area unlocks victory in another area." The implication is that distraction is not merely an inconvenience. It is the mechanism by which obedience gets deferred, and deferred obedience costs more than people realize. Lissa Hunter and others in the congregation have added that even in worship, removing distraction is a discipline, something you do before the feeling arrives, not after. Writing things down during a service was offered as one practical way to hold onto what the Lord puts on your heart before the ordinary business of the afternoon crowds it out.
Taught from John 16:33 · Philippians 4:6-8 · 1 John 4:4 · James 1:22-25
“Your obedience in one area unlocks victory in another area.”
From The Lord Is My Banner
The passage taught · 1 John 4:4
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- October 27, 2025 The Lord Is My Banner Brian Hunter walks through Exodus 17 to show why life comes with unexpected attacks, and what it looks like to stand firm when they hit.
- May 5, 2024 The Ways We Worship A Jackson Hole congregation talks honestly about what worship really means, covering singing, sitting under Scripture, and giving as three connected acts of devotion.