BTE4.16 Getting Students Engaged in Their Communities with Maggie Schade and Brittany Shoemake

Mailbag questions or topic suggestions? Text us!

How do we move students from sporadic volunteer projects to living lives of Kingdom Work? In this conversation, Christ’s Church of Oronogo’s Local Impact Minister Maggie Schade reveals the transformative approach that's reshaping how youth engage with community needs.

Maggie shares a compelling vision where service isn't just something students do, but fundamentally shapes who they're becoming. Drawing from years of experience connecting students with community partners, she unpacks the critical distinction between channeling energy versus creating it, and how letting students take ownership of ministry opportunities produces lasting fruit.

The discussion takes a powerful turn when examining prayer as the true engine of mission work. Through vivid examples from international partners, we discover how perspectives on prayer within youth ministry often need radical realignment. Rather than seeing prayer as supplementary, we are challenged to place it at the center of our community engagement strategy.

You'll gain practical wisdom on developing focused community partnerships, creating meaningful pathways for student service, and helping passionate teens identify their "next right step" after transformative experiences like CIY MOVE. We also tackle the sometimes-controversial topic of international missions, exploring ways to develop global frameworks for ministry that connect students to God's worldwide mission, whether overseas or in their own backyard.

Whether you're a seasoned youth minister or just beginning to explore community engagement with students, this episode provides both inspiration and actionable steps to help your ministry move beyond one-time events toward cultivating lifelong kingdom workers. Start your journey today by taking one small step that could transform your approach to student ministry and community impact.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Brad Warren.
This is Beyond the Event youthministry podcast, presented by
Christ in Youth, where we helpyou maintain momentum between
the mountaintops.
Today we are going to betalking to a really good friend
of mine, a MOVE speaker, you mayrecognize, but, more
importantly to me, she is onstaff at the church that I

(00:23):
attend.
She is our local impactminister, so she maintains a lot
of really cool relationshipswith all of our local mission
partners and, yeah, I want totalk with her about how we can
help students along in thisjourney of getting involved in
the work that God is doing intheir communities.

(00:45):
Her name is Maggie Shade.
You're going to love her.
It's going to be great.
But before we do that, we'regoing to talk to an absolute CIY
legend.
Director of Engage, brittanyShoemake.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Oh, Brad.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
You are.
You're a legend.
You've been doing this a longtime.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I feel like you have said that before, but it still
is not true.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
It is true.
How long have you been on staff?

Speaker 2 (01:11):
I just passed 18 years actually 18 years 18 years
.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
You don't look old enough to have worked anywhere
for 18 years.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Well, thanks Well thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
It has hit that realization now when I'm looking
at students that are going onengaged trips that I have been
working at CIY longer than theyhave been alive.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
They have been alive, yeah, brutal.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Absolutely brutal.
That hit me in the spring yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
But no, I did start when I was 12.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
I mean not that far off.
You started when you were incollege right.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I worked here for a long time, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
It's amazing.
I don't think he'll mind mesharing this.
I was having a conversationwith Jason French about Move and
he was just like you know, man,I just don't want to like
overstay my welcome on stage.
You know what I mean.
He was talking about like I feellike maybe I need to like get
off stage, like I'm not going tobe able to connect to these

(02:11):
kids, and he's, you know, 55years old or something.
I'm like Jason, you're not evenclose, you're not.
You're not even close to beingthere yet, and you know what?
We're all still young.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
We're all still young at heart, so, michael turned 30
this week.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
It's true.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Happy birthday.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Doesn't feel a day over 24 or 25.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:38):
I was actually I was.
I was talking about this atlunch today.
I was 24 when the pandemicstarted, and the last like big,
like life milestone that Iexperienced was like I graduated
and got a job in 2019 yeah andever since then it's just been
like this is now you know theplace that I've been, and so
it's like I haven't had like athing.

(02:59):
That is like I was this oldwhen this happened, so I feel
like I'm that old.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
You know what I mean yeah, yeah, like the mile
markers, yeah, that, yeah, solike I still feel like I'm in my
mid-20s yeah in a way, it'sweird.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I always thought that turning 30 was for people older
than me well, it's for you, andnow it's for people younger
than me yeah, so literally woofso when you see a 24 year old do
you?

Speaker 2 (03:26):
feel like, yeah, I'm in, that's it school right?

Speaker 3 (03:31):
yeah, so the 24 year old should also not be in school
24 is a great year.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
We're not I turned 35 this year and the fives, I
think, are harder than the zeros, like I feel, way worse than
when I turned 30 because thenyou're already on your way to
that next ah, no, no, all rightenough about.

(04:01):
You're closer to what than 30now, yeah, I know, okay, all of
that to say Brittany's a legend.
I mean I'm closer than you areso.
Oh, geez, okay, Well, anyway,we got to move on from that.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
You know what's going to keep me young?
Recover, Brad.
Recover.
You know what's going to keepme young?
You're young.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
I am so excited that I get to go to Spain with Engage
this year.
I'm really pumped about that,me too.
I did not get to do an Engagetrip last summer.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
So it would have been your first year at CIY not
doing an Engage trip.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Because my grandfather was in poor health
and it was a whole thing and Ididn't want to be out of the
country and that was all just ahuge bummer.
But I'm back.
Going to Spain back in the gamewith my besties from
Christchurch in Jacksonville andI'm just so pumped.
Engage is such a thing that Ilook forward to.
So here's my question for you,brittany yep, are you a?

(04:58):
I think every single person atChrist in Youth considers it
like a huge privilege to do thework that we do Under that
umbrella.
There are people who like bracefor summer.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Okay, yeah, and there are people who like a leap into
summer.
Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah, which are you?

Speaker 2 (05:19):
Well, it's funny you say that now, because summer for
Engage has already felt like ithas started like summer
quotations summer because we dospring break trips and so we say
it was almost like a minisummer that we had during the
month of march.
But uh, I leap into it, I getexcited I, I leap in yeah, it's

(05:41):
pike or your bracer or a leaper.
The part of our job that we getmost excited about.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
I'm definitely a bracer, you're a bracer.
Oh 100%.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
But you love being on the road.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
It is true I do love traveling quite a bit, but yeah,
yeah Well anyway, yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
There are the parts of it that are.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
It's when I think too much about it.
Maybe I become a person, butit's like knowing that we also
are not in the live productiondepartment.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
it's true, it's true, but and I've said this before
to so many people when I we takesafety and all of that like as
a number one priority ineverything we do, especially
when taking teenagers across theocean and doing international
trips, and just knowing all thequestion marks there, when I
think too much about it, itbecomes very overwhelming.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Oh, and let's not do that.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
But I say that not to think that we don't care about
it.
Obviously we do care about it.
But there is the weight that Ifeel all summer long, knowing
that there are teenagers underour care in different countries.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
In other countries.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
That take hours to get to if something happens.
But I trust the processes.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
I trust what we have in place.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
I trust that God is going to take care of things
that we can't handle, that wecan't control.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Yeah, you know, and that's stressy.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
You know what I'm changing my answer I'm a bracer.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
I just became a bracer on this podcast.
See, when you think about ittoo much, that's the thing.
But it's like no, you leap intoit.
You took me there.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, no, I'm so excited, yeah, excited yeah,
engage is the first thing I'mdoing because this trip happens
a little bit early it is we'releaving on may something I don't
even remember 28th, yeah and uh, that's how I'm starting my
summer, so I'm super pumped yeahum, if you want to come to
spain with me, let me know mightbe too late for this year, but
in the future, next year in thefuture.
Yeah, britney will be there acouple days.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, I was just talking just talking to our
partners yesterday, uh, on azoom call and talking and
getting some final things inorder and it.
So I was leading this trip,this team.
Last year it was our first, ourfirst time going to spain with
an engaged team and so justgoing through all the plans made
me so excited for you and youknow you always feel this too

(08:02):
the sad parts of I just want tobe a part of everything with
this team and just knowing inadvance what they're going to be
experiencing, because I got toexperience that last year.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
I'm excited and there's also that part of fomo,
I think the thing I want to talkabout, about engage, is I'm
glad you brought up the Devoyesterday.
We do a staff Devo everyWednesday morning.
It's Thursday today.
Yesterday, wednesday morning,we had a member of Team

(08:36):
Expansion from Spain zoom in,remind me her name.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Deanna, deanna yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
And lead our Devo and she talked really, really
powerfully about prayer and itis not surprising but is also,
in some ways, like mind blowing,how um much of like a unified
chorus that is amongst ourmission partners, about like how

(09:02):
important and powerful prayeris in the work that they do.
Yeah, retell the story, causeyou probably know a little bit
better than I do.
Um, she told about like doingsome of their prayer walks in in
some of the like villagesaround where they are in Spain.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, Granada.
Yeah, so they're.
So they're in Granada, andGranada itself is is a large,
not the island.
Granada is yeah, so they're inGranada, and Granada itself is a
large Not the island.
Granada is a city in SouthernSpain, and so Granada is a large
city in itself, but there areseveral smaller suburbs, is what
we would call them.
They call them villages thatare around of those, right now,

(09:48):
of those villages, do not have asingle witness for Christ that
they have been able to encounteror know of.
I mean, the most clear thing ofthat is there are no churches
in those villages and towns, noevangelical churches, and so
nobody that is able to be awitness and claim Christ, and so
they spend time going throughthose towns, praying on the
streets and using that time, yesTo to ask for the Lord, to to

(10:15):
do his work there, but foropportunities to run into people
as they're walking and to startconversations.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
She literally said that their prayer as they're
walking through the cities issend someone to us.
We are ready and to startconversations, a pastor at a
church in his village, and I gotso convicted by that because,

(10:51):
well, here was my thoughtprocess, here's where it kind of
went.
It immediately was like, well,yeah, of course they rely so
heavily on prayer, like theministry that they do is so much
different than the ministrythat we do here.
And then I was like no, it'snot.
No, it's not.
You know what I mean.
Why are we not like walkingaround all of our high schools?

(11:12):
That'd be creepy.
Don't do that but you know whyare well like?
Why are we not like?
We are ministering to the nextgeneration of students.
We should take prayer asseriously as, like all of these
heroes of ours who do kingdomwork?

Speaker 2 (11:28):
yeah, overseas.
Yeah, it's that old mindset ofprayer being the last resort for
something.
Um, but it's not that it is.
This is the strongest tool thatwe have in this fight against
the enemy, and knowing that itsounds like, yeah, we're going

(11:49):
to walk through these streetsand pray, but they have the
strongest weapon.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Prayer is kingdom work.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Prayer is kingdom work Brad.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Quote Brittany.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Schumacher Prayer is kingdom work Brad.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Warren, yeah, so, youth pastor, I know you pray
for your students, but, like,are you praying for your
students?
You know what I mean like areyou really interceding on behalf
of your students, on behalf ofthe high school and junior high
students in your communities?
Like, I think, for a lot of usI'm gonna say say us, I'm going

(12:24):
to include myself in this.
The answer is no, and that bumsme out.
So I was very, very convictedby what Deanna?
Deanna, deanna.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Deanna had to say yesterday yeah, anyway man, that
makes me even more excited foryou, I know well you know, but
it's so true.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Like Tara in Cambodia relies so heavily on prayer in
such a beautiful way, Richie inNorthern Ireland relies so
heavily on prayer in such abeautiful way.
Our friends at El Circulo downin Santo Domingo, like prayer is
such a huge part of what thoseIJM field offices do and it's
like if someone came and visitedour church from another country

(13:18):
would we talk about prayer theway that they do when.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
it's like our ministry is prayer and whatever
else God gives us is a gift.
Exactly, yeah, yeah, prayerAnother, as you say, say prayers
, kingdom work.
Prayer is the engine formission, like it is not going
anywhere without prayer it'sgood stuff.

(13:42):
I, I was, I was it's maybe themost meaningful Devo that I've
heard at CLI in my seven plusyears here.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
So thanks for asking.
Yeah, I'm so excited.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
I was being so genuine when I was doing that
introduction, saying when I,when I knew that we're so, the
Devo was on prayer and how thatconnects with God's kingdom and
his mission, and so she was thefirst one that came to mind for
me of knowing her heart, knowingher connection and knowing like

(14:19):
the reliance of prayer in herlife and I've I've been learning
a lot from her in in that.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
Same yeah, in the one hour that I've known her.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, and, and I love they just have the, this easy
acronym, as they're walkingthrough the streets and they
call it they call it yeah, thefive H's, yeah, Praying for open
highways, open heavens, openhands, open hearts and open
homes.
And just asking, interceding onbehalf of the people in those

(14:52):
villages, in those homes, inthose communities, pleading for
the Lord, for the spirit.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
And he is honoring it .

Speaker 2 (15:00):
He is honoring it.
Yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, episode over.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
The intro.
Brad honoring it, he ishonoring it.
Yep, yep, okay.
Episode over the intro.
Oh, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 1 (15:11):
We got a lot to talk about, but honestly, that's such
a good intro that's such a goodlike preface to our
conversation with maggie thatwe've already had that we were
going to pretend we hadn'talready had.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
I'm glad you said that, because I like I don't
know how to pretend that wehadn't already had.
I'm glad you said that, becauseI don't know how to pretend
that we haven't already had thisconversation and just where
that's headed, as we talk aboutgetting students involved in
their communities as well.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
It's really really cool.
Okay, on a lighter note,michael, let's do the mailbag.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
Wow, speaking of prayer Okay.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Wait, speaking of mailbag.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Hang on Brittany Before you start.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
I get to flip the script on this.
Before you start Brittany Ihave a question that I have to
ask you.
Okay, this is not a seriousquestion, so you only get to
half flip the script.
Is this from your mailbag?
No, you'll get to.
You'll get to take over.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
Okay, don't worry, don't worry, don't worry, but I
was through my dwindling list ofquestions.
Good thing we're at the end ofthe season.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
So are these all the ones that you left behind?

Speaker 3 (16:11):
They're just the ones that I.
They're just the ones that.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
You are getting the absolute scraps.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
So good, we won't say who they're from.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
No, that's not how it works.
They're good questions.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
This is from Casey Lanier.
She's asking a handful ofquestions.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
She would never ask a bad question.
We know this.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
She's asking a question that we will
recontextualize to your broaderscope of travel.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
She's asking best road trip snacks.
I want to know, what are thesnacks that you're like?
This is what I'm getting when Igo to fill in the blank.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Oh when I go.
Okay, well, I can.
Just I can tell you what I.
So I was just in northernireland, came back, uh,
beginning of april I came backso was leading some teams over
there and came back with half ofa suitcase full.
So I had packed, I had packedthings to take over to the riot

(17:09):
crew, like some swag and stufflike that, and new in my mind,
hey, I'm going to be taking allof this swag.
Sure, I'll take it in mysuitcase, because that means I'm
going to have all of this emptyspace coming home.
And so I had half of a suitcasefull of all kinds of different
chocolate from Northern Ireland.

Speaker 4 (17:30):
Both.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Galaxy brand dairy milk, and then the chocolate in
the United Kingdom is sosuperior to what we have here?

Speaker 2 (17:40):
I am not even like a sweets person.
I would so much rather havesalty stuff.
But the chocolate there is outof this world.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
I am not even like a sweets person.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
I would so much rather have salty stuff, but the
chocolate there is out of thisworld.
So I brought home and they haveso many different kinds and so
many yeah, just so manydifferent variations.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
But like I would never just like pick up a
Hershey's milk chocolate bar andeat it no, literally ever.
But I will eat a plain milkchocolate galaxy bar every day
for breakfast, for the rest ofmy life it's so good yes, so
they also have.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
It's called a squashy , it's raspberry and like a
cream milk squishy thing thatyou eat it is.
It is so good I could eat a bagof those in one sitting.
So squashies, chocolate.
And I did bring back myfavorite crisp.
So crisps are chips uh, in ourside of the ocean english

(18:38):
language.
So I brought back some crispsthat the flavor is called prawn
cocktail.
It sounds terrible, but theyare.
It's my favorite flavor.
They have so many differentflavors of chips over there too.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
I like the what do they call it?
Like the sour cream and onionkind of like.
It's like cheese and there's somany different kinds.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
There's so many different it's, it's, I don't.
There's so many different kinds, I don't know there's so many
different.
I did not mention it but theydid not yeah call it out so
all-time favorite I did give somuch of it away, though I will
say that I brought.

(19:22):
I bring back stuff for otherpeople.
Oh, I'm not eating a half asuitcase of chocolate my
all-time favorite.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
This isn't even a snack, it's a drink.
But my all-time favorite likesnacky type thing in another
country is in cambodia gettingthe like kamai iced coffee with
sweet condensed milk.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yes, yes.
Every time I've ever been toCambodia, I've had 50 of them
and I remember bringing back thelittle cans of their sweet milk
and trying to make it here.
It's not the same, you can'treplicate things like that.
But you can't go to Phu Phuforever and get it and it's like
they do a really good job yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
That's good to know so go to your local Vietnamese
restaurant, get a Vietnameseiced coffee You'll love me for
it With sweet milk, with sweetmilk.
Iced coffee with sweet milk oh,so good.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Well, I guess, if Brad's sharing, I'll share
really quickly too.
Gosh, when I was in high schoolI went to Cuba with my dad.
You guys know my dad, tim Tim,Not speaking just to you guys,
but also to the listener.
But we went to Cuba and whilewe were there, of course, like

(20:30):
we can't just drink Just anywater, like it has to be like
bottled water or you knowwhatever you're going to say rum
.
And there were, and there weretwo.
There were two food relatedtakeaways that I remember from
this trip.
Of course there were, there wasmore than that from the trip,
but but food related things, um,this was the first time that I
ever enjoyed rice, ever in myentire life was when I went to

(20:53):
Cuba.
I was like, do we just not knowhow to make rice in America?
And I think the answer isgenerally yes.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
Um yes, um yes, we do not.
Yes, we do not Um, but alsothey made us guava juice every
day and I have been chasing thathigh ever since then.
It is the most delicious oftimes that I've done engaged
trips to the.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
DR.
We stay in Santo Domingo, butlike the time I went, I think
it's kind of different locationsdepending on when you go or
whatever.
But we were traveling back andforth to Katui, which is up in
the mountains, and every day wewould go up there and do

(21:41):
something, and it was kind ofdifferent every day.
We would go up there and dosomething and it was kind of
different every day.
And we would come back and Iwould make our buds stop at like
a roadside produce stand andbuy like four pineapples.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Because they're pineapples.
It's like a different thingthan the pineapples that you can
get here.
They're real, so great, oh mygosh.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
They're real.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
So great, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
It's so good.
Okay, Brittany, I'm sorry forinterrupting you.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Oh, that's okay.
That was a good question.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
I need a pineapple right now from the DR.
If you're in the DR, you cansend me a pineapple.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
I need some squashies right now.
I'll get those in two hourswhen I go home.
Okay, brad, I got to ask in theFacebook community, so
questions to ask you.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
I'm so excited.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
And got a few back.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
This is not why I started this podcast.
I think it is.
This is not why we're here.
I think it is we all know right.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
It's not why I'm here .
Everybody knows, everybodyknows.
There are some great questionshere, but I need to know this
one from our good friend mishmichelle cruz never short on
questions.

Speaker 4 (22:53):
She says or she asks what's your go-to?

Speaker 1 (22:56):
I need to sound smart word yeah, um please tell us so
here's the funny thing aboutwords is sometimes I try to say
them and I don't say them likelike you've said it in your head
and does it come out, or yousay no, I say not the right way.
So like every time.
I say every time because I tendto speak quickly, um, but every

(23:21):
time I say the word intricate,it like comes out as intricate.
I think I've talked about thisbefore.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
We have talked about this.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
So I generally try to stay away from anything above
like fourth grade reading level.
However, here's the question.
Do you?

Speaker 2 (23:38):
think that makes you sound smarter.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
No, but I do love the word ubiquitous, oh yeah, so
sometimes if I'm like justfeeling a little froggy, I'll
throw ubiquitous into a sentence.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
OK, what can you think of the last time you used
it?

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Um, I can't, but I do .
I mean, I do occasionally, youknow it's a good.
It's a good word and you canlike you can use it all the time
.
Like those little maplehelicopters are ubiquitous.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
I didn't say helicopters Right.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
See, I can't talk for a guy who stands on stages with
some frequency and has apodcast.
I literally can't speak.

Speaker 3 (24:29):
Thanks, mish, we all have those moments, Brad.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
That was good.
That was good Also, just thisone, because we're talking about
podcast and your words and yourvoice, which I'm glad you have
it back after your surgery.
Thank you, me too.
Thank you, jesus.
Has anyone ever recognized youby your voice, which I'm glad
you have it back after afteryour surgery?
Yeah, thank you me too.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Good, thank you, jesus has anyone ever recognized
you by your voice alone?
Um, I know, uh, well, maybe Ifeel like at adult leader
meetings I've been asked likeare you the guy that does the
podcast before?
Yeah, um, but I don't know ifit's because, like, I introduced
myself as brad and I'm wearinga name tag that says brad warren

(25:10):
and they've heard me say thatbefore or if it's like he kind
of sounds you know.
So, um, michael does a lot ofmagic to my voice.
So I don't know, I don't knowthat.
I would say that, but he makesme sound better than I do.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
I don't know that I would say that, but but he
doesn't have to do anything tohis voice.
That's not true.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
We all know that I can show you guys what I do.
You have a great radio voice.
I don't want to see what you do.
That's great, are we done?

Speaker 2 (25:40):
I mean there's more questions we don't need to do
more.
I'll save them for the nexttime.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
Great, I love that.
Okay, on that note, I wouldlove for us to go and talk to
your friend and mine, maggieShade, if you're ready for that
yes, all right, let's do it.
Maggie, thanks so much forbeing here.

(26:09):
I want to start in the placewhere this starts, I guess,
which is I want to know.
I've never asked you this.
This is so fun that I get toknow you a little bit.

Speaker 4 (26:18):
I'm excited.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
What was the first time that you remember caring
about social justice issues?

Speaker 4 (26:29):
Honestly, I think it started really young.
I remember as a kid which isfunny because I see this now in
my daughter, who's six, andsometimes I think like did I
really feel that as a kid?
And now I look at her and I'mlike, oh yeah, for sure that's
real, because I see herwrestling with a lot of this.
I just have always really lovedjustice.
I've hated injustice wheneverit was seeing a kid struggling

(26:55):
with something or a kid frompoverty, or even in elementary
school.
I just remember that notsitting well with me and
thinking I have to do something,like there's some kind of
action that I can do.
I actually very vividlyremember in first grade, the
first time that I saw any typeof racism like I vividly

(27:19):
remember that moment and justbeing like cut to the core and
thinking this is not okay aslike a you know, seven-year-old
or something.
So I think it started reallyyoung.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
Um was it?
Was it always, uh, connected tofaith, or do you think that
that like came later?

Speaker 4 (27:39):
I think in a way, yes , but in a way, no, I think in a
way yes, but in a way no.
I think that the Lord obviouslywas using that.
I mean, that was straight fromthe Holy Spirit, but it so I saw
faith on that side of things.
I was very involved in mychurch, saw what it meant to
have a relationship with Jesus,but then with my mom, who I did

(28:11):
not go to church with I saw alot of mercy and compassion and
things like that.
So I kind of felt like I hadthese two different things going
on.
And then when I went to collegeI was like, oh my gosh, actually
these go hand in hand.
I vividly remember taking aclass my freshman year about the

(28:32):
prophets and learning the waythat God used the prophets to
speak out against injustice,that he calls his people now to
walk in the prophetic traditionof speaking out about things
that are wrong, about fightingfor justice, about trying to
bring things into rightness, tomake things new, the fact that
he is always doing that.

(28:53):
And so when I was in college Ireally started to see the fusion
of that faith and justice andthat it really they're
inseparable.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
So you say, like you're seeing this in your
daughter now, yeah, and you'rewalking her through that.
Was there anybody in your life?
Maybe not when you were thatyoung but even through junior
high or high school that waswalking with you calling that
out in you.
Yeah, someone for you to followafter in that.

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Yeah, I mean my church I was super involved in
my youth group had great D groupleaders, great youth pastors.
That I think saw those thingsin me, that gave me
opportunities in those ways, youknow, things like small group
experiences or mission trips orthings like that just doors that

(29:45):
were opened to be able to walkfurther into that.
And I think that's a huge partof it, that that passion and
those things that I felt did notsit dormant within me but that
I was given opportunities anddoors were opened for me to
really experience that and seethe way that God was doing that
already in the world in a biggerway than I could imagine.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
So when I think back about my own journey in this
which I'm not going to likeflesh out all the details
because it's boring there are somany things that I look back on
and the weak part of me is likeashamed of those things.

(30:29):
And I think you know, um,really, there's a lot of like
redemption that God has done injust how I looked at people and
my role in their lives as aChristian, as somebody who you
know cares about these things.
So I'm curious, cause you arekind of like talking about, okay
, going back to high school, Ican remember all these things

(30:50):
kind of starting to come intofocus.
Um, what do you know now thatyou like wish you could tell 16
year old Maggie about engagingin these, this type of ministry
and this type of work?

Speaker 4 (31:07):
I think obviously it's been a journey.
So I for the last 15 years,have been in a very justice
focused ministry, um, and sothere's things I, you know,
learned in high school, things Ilearned in college, things that
I've learned in the last 15years in my role at our church
that that the Lord has reallyspoken into that and grown me in
those last 15 years in my roleat our church, that the Lord has
really spoken into that andgrown me in those ways.

(31:28):
But I think the biggest thingthat has really been the biggest
struggle in my time in justicework is I think the Lord has
just shown me like I am makingall things new that he has the
final say that one day therewill be absolute justice, that

(31:49):
one day everything will be okay,everything will be made right.
Because I was actually justmeeting with a college student
right before this and we weretalking about this that one of
the hardest things about justicework engaging your community,
seeing injustice face to face isthat it's never over, like it's

(32:12):
just constant.
All you have to do is read theinternet, turn on the news, see
that there are constantly issuesof injustice, just absolutely
horrific things happening in ourcommunity and around the world,
and I wish I would have fullyunderstood then that I'm not

(32:36):
going to fix it Like me on myown, me with my team, me with
our whole church, us as theglobal church.
We're not going to fully endinjustice.
Does that mean we stop fightingfor justice?
Absolutely not.
But it does mean that werecognize that one day we will

(32:58):
see no more, that he will wipeevery tear from every eye.
He will make all things new, hewill make justice flow, that
all of that, he, he will bringredemption to all of those
things and that I can rest inthat.
I wish I had known that a lotearlier.

Speaker 1 (33:16):
You're putting a lot, of a lot of meat on the bones
of, I think, michael's favoriteengage mission principle.
If I remember correctly whatwas yours.
God is already working, Ithought so Preach that.
Yeah, preach that it's a lot ofthings that we talk about
around here.

Speaker 4 (33:36):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Which is really cool.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
And I think when we live into that focus, it takes
the pressure off of us.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
Oh 100%.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
You could carry so much weight, could not sleep at
night carrying on your shouldersthe weight of injustice in the
world, oh, yeah, and it neverends well.

Speaker 4 (34:00):
It never will.
I've been there so many times inmy life and I think what I so.
I took a class last semesterabout biblical theology of
mission and one of the keythings that we talked about was
that God did not create amission for his church.
God created a church for hismission.

(34:22):
So he has this mission ofrestoring his people back to
himself.
That everything fell apart inthe garden and he, his entire
mission, is to bring his peopleback to himself.
That everything fell apart inthe garden and he, his entire
mission, is to bring his peopleback to himself, and that he's
not giving all of us our ownindividual mission.
He's saying you all have a rolein my one mission that I have

(34:45):
been accomplishing from thebeginning of time, that I will
accomplish into eternity, andthat is so huge, I think, to
think like I'm not carrying thistorch, I'm not like, come on,
guys, join me in what I'm doing.
I'm simply saying God is doingthis work and we get to be a
part of it.
He has invited us into hismission, and what a gift that we

(35:09):
get to just come alongside himand join him in the work that
he's already doing.
That is like that creates sucha beautiful framework.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
I think for our ministry That'll preach, I want
to take, before we get too farinto the conversation, I want to
take everything that you justsaid and put it in a funnel,
okay, which is I'll tell you whythe funnel's there, okay, At
CIY, we have been doing a lot ofresearch for a long period of

(35:41):
time about vocational ministry,and it's one pattern that has
arisen many, many times is thatstudents followed through on
their commitment to go intovocational ministry when they
had meaningful opportunities toserve.

(36:01):
Um, now, that might not alwayslook like getting out in your
community and doing whatever.
It might look like, you know,being super involved in
something that happens withinthe walls of your church, but I
think that this is, you know,another piece of that as well.
Um, so I would like for you tokind of continue wearing your
local impact minister hat andalso put on your youth ministry

(36:26):
hat.
Um, a hat on a hat and then, uh, so that we can talk about,
like, why this wholeconversation is important,
especially for junior, high andhigh school students, and what
are ways that we can get themnot just involved but like,
meaningfully involved.
You know what I mean.

(36:46):
Like, can I come up withsomething for you to do that.
We can call local impact Sure.
But, where are, like, themeaningful service opportunities
for students?
So I don't really know where Iwant to start with that.
I'll say this yeah, You'resmarter than me, I'll take it,
just run, she knows what to do.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Hand me that baton, brad Hand me that baton I'm
ready, it's all your sister.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
You know I'm ready.
So I think a couple of thingson that that I think that are
really important to do.
The first is that we don't wantto call students to do
individual acts of kingdom work.
We want to call students tolives of kingdom work.
We don't want to create a bunchof high school graduates that
go out into the world andthey're like man I'm really good
at service projects, I'm reallygood at two-week mission trips.

(37:37):
Are those things great?
Yes, are they key in ourfoundation of that?
Absolutely, but that's not theend goal.
We want students who grow intoadulthood, who live lives of
kingdom work, who are lookingfor opportunities within their
home, in their neighborhood, intheir schools, in their places
of business, in their churches,and saying how can I live out

(38:02):
this life of kingdom work, howcan I join in the mission that
God is already doing in all ofthese arenas, that I already
exist, that I'm already livingmy life, and so I think that's
really important to remember,which is kind of a hard balance,
because we create individualopportunities, but when we do
that with the mindset of how canwe apply this in our everyday

(38:24):
life, that is really key.
I think that that is a reallybig deal and I think it's
important for students to have alot of ownership and agency in
that.
I think that some of the mostimpactful things for me were
when my leaders would not justsay like, okay, here's this

(38:46):
project, this is what we'regoing to do, this is the time to
show up, this is what you needto wear this.
These are all the details.
Just show up and do it.
Those are great, obviously,entry level, for sure, we need
those.
But then, as I got older, intohigh school, when my leaders
would be like oh, you see anissue, what do you want to do
about it?
How can I come alongside youand support you?
I love doing this with ourstudents and our church when

(39:08):
they're like, hey, I don't likethat.
There are so many kids in fostercare.
I have an issue with that.
I have an issue that you know.
One time we took our highschoolers to children's division
our, you know, dfs and they'rewalking through the cubicles and
they see a cot like a toddlersize cot on the floor and they
were like what is?
What is this?
Why is there a toddler size coton the floor?

(39:28):
And I was like, hey, becausewhen kids come into care.
You know sometimes they don'thave anywhere to go and a
caseworker is trying to call youknow foster families and trying
to find a place for them, forstudents to see that and then to
begin to wrestle with likewhat's my role in that, how can
I do something about that?
That is so key because thattranslates into adulthood of

(39:51):
taking initiative, of beingreally aware of those things and
figuring out what they can doabout it.
So I think those are two reallykey pieces when I look at what
that looks like in studentministry.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Yeah, and the role of youth pastor becomes like
sounding board and guardrails.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
Guardrails Champion?
That's the good question.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yes, absolutely so like you asked that first
question like what are you goingto do about it?
How can I help?
But that's the beginning of aconversation where then youth
pastor is a person who has, youknow, more depth of experience
and knowledge and, hopefully,access to some resources that
students might not have.
You become like the person whocontinues to say, yeah, you're

(40:39):
doing it, go that way, you're onthe right path.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
And it's so good.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
I mean, I've seen so many times in our church where
students will come back frommove or mix and they'll, you
know, really have a heart forsomething.
And and our youth pastors willsay, all right, I want you to
meet with Maggie, I want you tomeet with this local nonprofit,
I want you to meet with thesepeople and they facilitate that
and set that up so, like ourhigh school pastors, our junior
high pastors don't have to bethe ones that have all the

(41:03):
answers, that they don't have tobe the ones to figure out how
to do all those things, but theycan say, hey, I know somebody
that knows a little bit moreabout this.
Let's go to coffee with themand let's talk about what this
means, let's dig a little bitdeeper, and so then that role in
student ministry can help justfacilitate those conversations
where those things go deeper.
And it's so cool.

(41:23):
We have two girls right now whogrew up in our church, who went
to college, who are now enteringinto the role of essentially
community impact minister at twodifferent churches.
And I just look back at themfrom, you know, fifth, sixth
grade on, at the ways that I sawGod working in them, just
developing this heart forjustice and for community impact

(41:45):
.
And now we see that come tofruition there.
I mean, this is now theirfull-time job.
They're now adults doing this,taking these local churches into
their community and seeing how,all along the way, their dGroup
leaders, their youth pastors,were saying like, hey, I love
this, I see this in you, I callthis out in you.
Let's continue to push youforward in that.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
So I'm going to put something on the table between
the two of you and then I wantto listen in to your
conversation, cause you're bothlike super duper experts about
this, and so I'm just going todrop the bomb and walk away a
little bit.
But, um, you mentioned studentscoming back from move and um,
this was this.
This is my story.
Okay, I watched bot uh at atmove as a uh, as a rising senior

(42:33):
.
Is it over there?

Speaker 2 (42:33):
It is.
Look at that, it is on theshelf.
It's on the shelf.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
As a rising senior in high school and I came back and
I was like I have to end humantrafficking right now.
So I feel like there isdefinitely a disconnect between
the mentality of a studentcoming back from move and maybe
saying like I want to do, do, do, do, do right, and where you're

(42:59):
saying they should actually endup, which is who am I becoming
and how does that like tie intothese things?
So I'm, I'm, I'm curious whatboth of your advice would be on
getting students or helpingstudents find their way from A
to B.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
I mean, I think that is the word of we're more
interested in who they arebecoming than what they are
doing, of not getting so caughtup in the doing and the checking
, checking the lists, of got todo the right things, that it
becomes more of the holisticapproach there, and so getting

(43:38):
them to become a learner first,I think I think is key.
I don't know you take it fromthere, oh I totally agree with
that.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
I think.
I think exposure is a reallybig part of that, of being able
for them to see.
You know, because I totally getthat Students will come back
and they'll have these greatideas and it's like I love that.
I would so much rather channelenergy than try and create

(44:06):
energy.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
Oh my gosh, A hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (44:22):
And so it's like we need to take full advantage of
that and we need to get studentsexposed to people and places
and organizations that arealready doing that, so that it
doesn't just become this oh, Idid this one time thing, I
checked the box.
It's good to go, but for themto see people who are saying
like this is my life, this is, Ilive a life of justice, I live
a life of mercy, and to see whatthat looks like practically, I
think that's huge.
And so for them again to stepinto like this is what God's

(44:42):
already doing.
God is already doing this work.
Don't reinvent the wheel.
Don't go over here and createsomething completely brand new.
That's unsustainable.
Join in with what God isalready doing, and there's just
so many incredible opportunitiesout there for students to do

(45:03):
that.
And when they can see thelongevity of that, when they can
see people doing that reallywell, with a lot of structure
and stability, I think that's abig part of the game changer.
Because for you, you watched byit and you didn't want to just
like go out on your own andfight human trafficking, I'm
assuming, like you saw, Rafa, Iabsolutely did.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
But then you learned I was like somebody.
Give me a machine gun.
I'm going to Southeast Asiaright now.
We're going to end this problem.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
But think about the steps that that led you to.

Speaker 4 (45:33):
Yeah, Because I had a good youth pastor who was like
hold on and you saw Rafa andyou're like, oh, yeah, okay, yep
, I can get on board with this.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Yeah, it is what is the next step right in front of
you.
Yes, it is not what is on theother side of the mountain.
Yeah, not what is on the otherside of the mountain.
Yeah, and you're never.
It's a mountain that is goingto keep having absolutely peak
after peak.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
Absolutely, and I think for students to see that
there's the both and there'slike, because for me, as a high
school student, I was like man,this is like the goal, what I
want to do with my life.
This is like when I graduatecollege, when I'm, you know, a
real life adult.
This is what I want to do withmy life.
This is like when I graduatecollege, when I'm, you know, a
real life adult.
This is what I want to do withmy life.
But also, it's not just thatlike there are things I can do

(46:17):
right now, but we can't make iteither.
Or we can't say, okay, justhold tight until you graduate
college and then you can do thisthing.
Or, you know, till you becomean adult or graduate high school
, whatever.
And we can't say like, just doa lot of stuff right now and
it'll be good enough.
It's like, no, do some stuffright now, learn, prepare, walk
alongside people, and then thiscan be.

(46:38):
You know what your life lookslike.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Yeah, yeah.
What is the next step?
Yeah, that's right in front ofyou.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
All right.
So I want to get in the weeds alittle bit.
One of my favorite things thatEric Epperson has ever taught me
is that people connect more tospecificity than they do to
generality, and so I want totalk about Joplin, missouri.
I want to talk about you.
I want to talk about thesestudents that are brought to you
after move, who have this fireburning inside of them and you

(47:05):
have to figure out a way to toharness this energy and point
them in the right direction.
To harness this energy and andpoint them in the right
direction, what are some ofthose places here in Joplin that
you've seen students getplugged into um in in in ways
that kind of create the outcomesthat that we've been talking
about a little bit?

Speaker 4 (47:24):
yeah, I.
I mean it's almost unfair.
You know, joplin is like the.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
it is almost, it is almost unfair, but also it's our
life.
We love it.
This is it, this is our context.

Speaker 4 (47:36):
This is what we know.
So we have some incrediblelocal nonprofits and I think a
big deal about this with ourstudents is that we want to plug
our students into places we'realready connected to.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
Yeah, there's you know as a church.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:50):
So you know there's other ones that maybe we don't
know a ton about or something,and we're not going to tell our
students to don't do that.
But when they're asking likewhat should I do, where should I
go, we're going to go with theones that we have a really deep
connection with because we trustthem, because we have vetted
them, because we work with them,and so our big thing at Christ
Church is we are constantly,whether it is early childhood,

(48:13):
elementary school, middle school, junior high, high school we're
plugging them into our partners, and so we do that from a young
age I mean, I know this isabout student ministry, but I'll
go all the way back toelementary school we make our
impact partners a really bigdeal and we call it Kids Club K
through fourth grade.
So much so that, like, my kidsare constantly talking I have a

(48:34):
kindergartner and a third graderthey're constantly talking
about what the Lord is doing inJapan, what the Lord is doing in
Cambodia.
I remember, actually, when mydaughter Poppy met Tara from
Cambodia and afterwards she waslike, well, why doesn't Tara
work in Japan?
Because they need churchplanters.
And I was like like, well, whydoesn't Tara work in Japan?
Because they need churchplanters, and I was like, okay,

(48:54):
well, fair, but also she isCambodian and she's doing a
great work in Cambodia.
But we do that.
That's just like a part of ourDNA as a church.
Our elementary school kids aregoing to be very familiar with
what the Lord is doing in ourcommunity and around the world.
That is not something new whenthey become an adult or get to

(49:16):
high school.
They are very familiar with ourpartners from a very young age,
and so I think that's reallyimportant to set the stage for
that.
Are they going overseas as akindergartner?
No, are they doing all thosethings?
No, but they're aware of it,and so I think that's a really
big piece.
Is that awareness?
And then also, we have justsuch great partners.

(49:39):
We have a homeless organizationcalled Watered Gardens that has
a really great model ofrestoring dignity.
This is a great one.
Our high school students once amonth serve there the second
Sunday of the month.
They cook breakfast foreveryone there.
They are in charge of theSunday morning worship service,
so they will lead worship, theywill preach.

(50:02):
That is a regular monthly thingthat we're always inviting
students to, so that's a greatopportunity for students to get
on board to.
So that's a great opportunityfor students to get on board.
I love that a ton of ourstudents will graduate and be
very familiar with the homelesscommunity.
Like that is not something thatthey are afraid of, because

(50:22):
they're there once a month.
They're serving there.
That's a really big deal.
Not just serving, they'reserving and then sitting
alongside them.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Yeah, yes, they're worshiping alongside them.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
They're eating breakfast.
It's just a really beautifulthat's a really beautiful
partnership.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
For the sake of the illustration too, I took a group
of high school students um, notfrom cco, from a different
church, uh to water gardens onetime, you know, and we did the

(50:57):
whole thing and cooked breakfastand I had to like force them to
go sit at tables it's like I'mnot, we're not leaving until you
have a conversation withsomebody.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
You know what I?

Speaker 1 (51:05):
mean, but it's like there's a huge contrast between
that you know like hey, we'regoing to go do this one time.
And it feels very like we'rechecking this off of a list and
there is not that sense offamiliarity, like contrasted
with.
Ok, every third Sunday orwhatever it is, I don't even

(51:27):
know.
You say third sunday, secondsecond okay, second sunday um,
we have the opportunity to getto know people and and be
involved in in a really, uh,impactful and profound way.

Speaker 4 (51:41):
That's cool which I love because, like I love that
our students can say like youare not just somebody who is
homeless, you're not justsomebody who's living in poverty
, like you're a fellow imagebearer.
I see this dignity and worth inyou and I am not higher than
you, I'm not less than you.
Like I'm just a fellow imagebearer and I'm going to sit and

(52:03):
eat breakfast with you and I'mgoing to worship alongside you
and I think just having thatregular exposure and
relationship is so huge.
And another big one that wehave is our partnership with the
foster care system.
I think that our students arereally well connected to the
foster care system and reallyhave an understanding from a lot

(52:27):
of different ways.
We have students serving ourfoster families, doing things
for them, doing yard work forthem, babysitting for them.
We have students a couple timesa year.
We have a foster parent nightout.
We always have high schoolstudents serving at that so
they're again connecting withthese kids, being able to be in

(52:50):
their group again making sure.
What I love about that is wehost those on our campus and
these students are creating anatmosphere in a local church to
where these kids can know.
I feel safe in the local church.
I feel loved in the localchurch and whether they ever
come back to our church.
That's the impression they haveof the local church, which I

(53:13):
think is really huge.
And so they're serving in avariety of ways with our
organizations.
They're seeing what foster carelooks like.
They're understanding this isnot just some random people over
here, these are like my friends, these are people I go to
school with.
It's creating a deeper level ofcompassion, I think when it's

(53:36):
not just some outside people orit's not just these other groups
of people, this is people thatI do life with, that does after
school programs and things likethat.
We actually did a cool thingwith them this past year that
we're gonna do again, where wedid a family serve day with them

(53:57):
, and that was really coolbecause we had all ages I mean
toddlers up through adultsserving together, and that I
think has been really impactfultoo for students to not just
serve in a student ministrysetting but A to serve in an
intergenerational setting wherethey're serving alongside adults

(54:18):
but also alongside theirparents and their brothers and
sisters.
I mean I think even that helpsbridge that gap from student
ministry to adulthood of okay, Idon't just know how to serve
around my friends that are also16, but I know how to serve
alongside kids, I know how toserve alongside adults, I know

(54:39):
how to serve alongside myparents and things like that.
So that I think is a really bigone.
We've kind of started to stepinto, too, is those
intergenerational moments,because the church is
intergenerational and being ableto bridge that gap, um will
help students in the long run, Ithink, and it takes the
conversation too.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
From this is a conversation that we're having
on wednesday nights at youthgroup or small groups on sundays
, to then the conversations arehappening inside the home too.
Absolutely, parents, absolutelyit's huge and it's been.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
It's fun to see, especially with, like our
students that go to watergardens.
It's cool to see their parentslearning from them like oh I
actually you know these peopleseem very different from me, but
my 15 year old daughter does itonce a month, so it can't be
that scary if she can do it andit's really cool to see students

(55:33):
leading that the way a lot oftimes for their family and what
that means, and that's alwaysreally encouraging.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
As you were talking there's.
I mean, everybody knows thatstudent ministry doesn't exist
in a vacuum, like it's.
It's part of something biggerin your, in your church, family,
and so it requires these, likewhat you're, what you're saying
requires these strongpartnerships, uh, between the
church as a whole and thesepartners in their community, and

(56:03):
this is something that I care alot about.
Um, the last ministry that Iwas in, I oversaw our like
missions team, volunteermissions team or whatever, and
when I walked into it, you knowour church was I don't know a
third of the size of CCO, likenot not huge, and when I walked
into that, we had like 30 or 40different mission partners that

(56:28):
we were like financiallysupporting some of them like
five hundred dollars, a thousanddollars a year.
You know what I mean and thatcomes from a really good place,
you know, obviously.
But, um, cco from and andcorrect me if I'm wrong but I
feel like a point of emphasisfor CCO has been like we are

(56:52):
going to have our people and weare going to support them in
absolutely the most impactfulway that we possibly can.
So, um, is there a?
I'm not sure, I'm not.
I'm trying to think of like, uh, correct way to talk about this

(57:14):
, but how many local partners dowe have?
Let's start there.

Speaker 4 (57:19):
Local four.

Speaker 1 (57:21):
Four?
Yeah, okay, so that's not a lot.
Right, are the full-time localmissions minister at, or local
impact minister at, cco.
So talk about the fruit of youbeing able to focus on.

(57:42):
Hey, these four ministries arethings that I oversee and that I
really get the chance to investin, and why, like, maintaining
kind of that tighter focus is apriority for you.

Speaker 4 (57:56):
Yeah, that's been a really big deal for us.
A few years ago we kind ofshifted some of our model and
began to have we call itcovenants with our partners.
Brittany knows this.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
You're a part of this .

Speaker 4 (58:11):
And really developing , not just like, hey, we're
going to send you a check once amonth and that's going to be
the end of it, or here's thethings we require of you.
You're going to send us anupdate, you're going to send us
your financials, that's going tobe the end of the story.
We really want to say to ourpartners hey, here's what we
would like to have from you, butalso here's what we would like
to have from you.
But also here's what we promiseyou.
Here's what you can alwaysexpect from us as a church that

(58:35):
supports you.
We're going to be fully engagedwith you.
We want to be there.
We want to help in whateverways you need.
If there's something you need,we want to be your first call.
We want you to reach out to us,whether that is finances or
volunteers or whatever that is.
We want to be very, very deeplyconnected with those partners,

(59:00):
and I think it's kind of a mix.
It varies from partner topartner, or you know things that
we do, but there's so many waysthat we can connect as a local
church that we want to be reallycreative with that.
We don't want to just say, allright, here's what we have to
offer.
We're going to do one serviceproject a month.
We're going to do whatever Ilove when we can sit down with a

(59:22):
partner, like neighborhood lifehouse.
When we did this family serveday, we sat down with addy,
who's the director of that, andsaid, hey, what?
Which?
by which, by the way, grew up inChristchurch served as a
student a ton when she was inhigh school, knew the Lord was
calling her to that kind of awork and now is doing that in

(59:43):
the community.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
And brings kids from Neighborhood Lifehouse to CIY
events.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Yes, which is like this incredible, incredible.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
She the one who's job .

Speaker 4 (59:52):
Incredible.
She actually.
I saw her a couple of weeks agoat Ozark.
She took her first neighborhoodlifehouse student on a Tuesday
tour to check out Ozark as aprospective student.
So so many things.
So we sat down with Addie andsaid, hey, we would love to get
families able to serve together.
What would that be helpful toyou?

(01:00:12):
If it's not helpful to you, ifyou don't want it, then that's
the end of the story.
We're not going to forcesomething on you.
I mean, you guys know this asmissions, people like we're not
going to, you know, go on amission trip and paint the fence
for the 28th time.
We want to be able to behelpful.
And she was like, absolutely,I've actually been thinking of
this idea.
We have a lot of differentcountries represented in our
neighborhood, a lot of familiesmoving in, you know, immigrants,

(01:00:34):
refugees.
I would really love to do likean international potluck.
And we were like, say less?

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
This is everything we've ever wanted.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
And so basically being able to say to her like
what do you want this to looklike?
What do you need from us, whatwould be helpful?
And of course she was like, yes, I want this, I want this, and
also like this would be cool foryour students and your families
and your adults to see, and sobeing able to just give them the
freedom to do that.
Or even with you know,fostering Hope, one of our

(01:01:06):
partners that works in thefoster care world, to say what
would be helpful?
Do you need volunteers?
Do you need donations?
We they really wanted to createa way for our people to donate
kids clothes, and so we set up astation in our kids club lobby
where people can donate to thefoster care community that's
just set up all the time, and soreally creating that

(01:01:27):
relationship with them wherethey feel like they can text me
at any hour of the day and say,hey, this is what we need or
this is, you know, we needprayer for this, we need support
, we need whatever.
Those relationships are justinvaluable and they're
reciprocal that covenant that Italked about is a really big

(01:01:49):
deal.

Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
Yeah, and it is seen as a way of CCO is, yes,
contributing in financial ways,supporting ministry, but on the
flip side of that, we are betteras a church because of these
partners.
Not in a way to put thespotlight on CCO by any means.

(01:02:12):
But the church is betterbecause of the life that these
ministries bring to itAbsolutely.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
And even going back to me talking about my kids, the
fact that my kids in elementaryschool are seeing the
incredible work God is doing.
This isn't just hypothetical.
We're not just saying God worksaround the world, we believe it
happens somewhere.
We're saying Jay and Caitlinand Tanner and Delaney and Sam

(01:02:41):
and Rachel, they are in Japan.
They are planting churches.
Here's video of what it lookslike.
We're celebrating the baptismsof our partners all over the
world in all of our adultworship gatherings.
All of these ways that we cansay we're not just preaching to
our people, and especially ourstudents, that God is a global
God and saying like, just youknow, imagine whatever you think

(01:03:04):
it looks like.
We're saying here's exactlywhat it looks like with people
we know and love and trust.
And here's all of the ways thatwe can engage with them we talk
about.
Our big model is know, grow, go.
We know about our partners.
We want to know what they'redoing, who they are.
Here's ways that we can grow inprayer and generosity for them.
And here's ways that we can go,whether that's we're taking a

(01:03:24):
trip to Mexico or Cambodia orJapan or Papua New Guinea, or to
downtown Joplin or to CarlJunction, whatever any of those
places, but that they can growin all of those areas.
Carl.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
Junction, whatever any of those places, but that
they can grow in all of thoseareas.
Yeah, I like to just kind oflike circle back around to the
student ministry portion of thisconversation, though I want to
reemphasize something that Ithink is at the heart of what
you're saying and you canobviously correct me if I'm
wrong.
It wouldn't be the first time.
And you can obviously correctme if I'm wrong.
It wouldn't be the first time.

(01:03:57):
So, these four partnershipsthat you have specifically,
though, I feel like get involvedwith something that what's a
way I can serve in my communitythat it would take a minute to

(01:04:17):
like think about.
Okay, our mission partners,we've got these people over here
doing this.
I think, and you know, and andit just is a requires a lot more
thought and and and a lot moretime to to figure out what, uh,

(01:04:39):
what some of those things are.
You're in a position where astudent comes to you and it's
like, yeah, great, you can dothis, you can do this, you can
go be a part of this.
And any student who has spentany amount of time at
Christchurch if you say the namelike watered gardens to them,
or if you say the name fosteringhope to them.
Or if you say the nameneighborhood life house to them,

(01:05:01):
then they're.
What's the fourth?

Speaker 4 (01:05:04):
life, choices life.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Oh, life choices, Beautiful.
Um, if you say any of thosethings to them, they're going to
say, oh yeah, you know, I've,I've heard about that, I've
heard people talk about that.
It's not going to be like anunfamiliar thing.
But for the youth pastor it's alittle bit difficult because
for a lot of them this is anarea where they have maybe

(01:05:25):
influence but not authority, ormaybe not influence or authority
.
If they are very inspired bythis conversation, they're going
to have to go to their missionspastor, their senior pastor,
and say, hey, I want to developa really strong connection with
one of our partners or two ofour partners so that our
students can get involved.

(01:05:58):
And that's a big thing.
Christchurch even that likethrowaway comment almost about
Addie, like growing up in thechurch, having her vision
clarified in the youth group atChristchurch and then staying in
Joplin and doing what she knowsthat God has laid on her life
to do.
Like that whole journeyhappened because of you know,
this little church on unusablefarmland on the middle of

(01:06:21):
Oronogo, missouri, that decidedthat they were going to walk
alongside her in this, and Ithink that that's just a really
awesome thing and I think thatfor every youth pastor, that's
like the goal right For sure.
Like that's what you want fromyour students.

Speaker 4 (01:06:35):
I think what's been helpful too is that like I don't
have to be, as you know, thelocal missions person, I don't
have to be in all thoserelationships anymore.
Like Tyler, our high schoolpastor, is deeply connected with
Water Gardens now, like he'sdoing that on his own.
Emily and Flint, our juniorhigh pastors they're planning

(01:06:57):
serve days for with thesepartners that I don't have to be
in the middle of because theyhave stepped up and created that
relationship themselves, whichI think is is just really a huge
thing, because that's a bigdeal to them and I'm just really
thankful that they do that forsure.

Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a really cool thing.
So you have to leave.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:07:17):
But we have a few minutes though, and I'm planning
on capitalizing on these fewminutes.

Speaker 4 (01:07:21):
We're great.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Because I want to talk about something that we
haven't had a chance to talkabout yet, which is the role
that international mission tripsplay in this.
Which international missiontrips?
Pat Brady on the podcast talkedabout it several times trips
I've had Brittany on the podcastto talk about it several times.

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
We know that it's a sticky subject for Azogian
reasons.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
It's expensive.
It can be damaging if doneinappropriately.
We have to be conscious of theway that we feel like this is
impacting, both positively andnegatively, the students that
are going on the trip, themission partners that are in the
field, all these things you gotto.
You got to work with parentswho may or may not trust you

(01:08:08):
taking their kid to a countrythat has a Latin name because it
sounds unfamiliar to them.
Or you know, there's allthere's.
There's, there's a zillionthings that has a Latin name
because it sounds unfamiliar tothem, or you know there's all
there's.
There's a zillion things, but Iwant to know what role you think
international missions plays inthis whole like kind of
conversation and I don't knowwhat you're going to say.

(01:08:31):
So I'm going to stop there andthen I might have some follow-up
questions.
I will say Brittany will havesome follow up questions.
Ok, I will say, brittany willhave some.

Speaker 4 (01:08:39):
I know, for me personally, I international
missions played a really bigrole when I was in high school
of understanding the kingdom.
You know, I don't.
I don't know, looking back,were those always done?
Did we, you know, do all thethings in the ways we would do
them?
Now I don't know.
I wasn't in charge, I wasn'tthinking through all those

(01:09:00):
logistics, so I don't know.
But I don't think the answer isto throw the baby out with the
bathwater when it comes tointernational missions, of doing
that well.
I think there are absolutelyways we can do that well.
I think that goes back to thatpartner conversation.
We had that.

(01:09:20):
When we have a very deep andpersonal relationship with our
international partners to thepoint where we can say, hey,
we'd like to bring a group, isthat okay with you?
They know they can say,actually, that would not be good
, we would not like that, thatwould not be helpful to us, and
they trust that we will saythank you so much for your

(01:09:43):
honesty.
What would be helpful?
Is there something that wecould do as opposed to that?
That would be helpful?
But I think that partnerconversation is a really, really
, really big part of that.
I think you know anything.

(01:10:05):
Any way that students can seethat God is so much bigger than
what they see right in front ofthem?
That is huge.
And one thing I mean this isn'treally, this doesn't really
speak to your question, so Iapologize for that.
Actually, I don't apologize.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
You know I will be honest with you, Brad, you have
the mic.

Speaker 1 (01:10:23):
It's always a privilege when I have like my
real friends on our podcast.
You can just be like.
You said this, but I'm going tosay this instead and it's like
great Run with it.

Speaker 4 (01:10:33):
I love it.
I think you know, a big part ofit is.
I think the internationalmissions plays a huge role in
that and I think that is areally key thing that, looking
at our students that are livinglives of kingdom work now that
it played need to understandthat we have opportunities for

(01:10:55):
international impact in our owncommunity.
I mean, that's where we seeinternational students.
That's where we see immigrantfamilies, refugee families that
are living in our community.
We really got engaged withinternational students as a
church when we learned thestatistics that 75% of
international students wouldcome to America and never enter
an American home and I was like,oh, absolutely not, that is not

(01:11:20):
okay.
We have people coming fromaround the world to our backyard
and we are not taking advantageof it.
So that, I think, has been huge.
And so I think, really, lookingat any way, yes, we want
students to go international.
Yes, we absolutely do.
That's going to take a familythat's willing to do that.
It's going to take parents thatare okay with saying that

(01:11:40):
that's going to take funds, allof that.
We have students that canabsolutely do that and we need
to create opportunities for themto do that.
I don't think we can say, well,if you can't go on a mission
trip, then you can't haveinternational experience.
I think we need to createinternational opportunities for

(01:12:00):
them within our own community,because they are there, because
we are a country that has peoplefrom all over the world living
in it, and we can take fulladvantage of that to show love,
to show hospitality, to showbeing a good neighbor to them.
So I think, generally speaking,anything we can do to create a
global framework for the kingdom, for our students, is
absolutely so valuable Makingthem aware of our international

(01:12:24):
partners around the world,showing them what's happening
with those partners, taking themoverseas, taking them to places
in our own community wherepeople from other countries are
living and working, and engagingwith them as our neighbors.
I think that is a bigconversation that is always
going to be an absolutely yesfor me.
I think it looks different forevery student based on where

(01:12:46):
they're at and what their familysituation is and what they can
do, but I think we need tohighly prioritize international
exposure to students in kingdomwork in some way, absolutely
yeah, I think it's letting themrub shoulders with kingdom
workers.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
Yeah, absolutely, whether that is crosstown, in
your backyard or across an ocean.
Yeah, like if they are rubbingshoulders with people who are
doing kingdom work in theircontext, it's contagious.

Speaker 4 (01:13:15):
Absolutely.
And when I look at our partners, I mean I just I love all of
our partners.
Okay, I love them all.
I really love the partners thatgrew up at Christ Church.
People like Addie, people likeTanner, delaney, like Rachel
Martin, these people that it'slike I knew you in student
ministry.
I knew you as kids and the waythat God used Christ Church and

(01:13:35):
created cast a global vision ofthe kingdom for you as
elementary kids and middleschool and high school kids and
what he's doing with that now Ilove.
I love that I can say to ourkids in Kids Club hey, look at
Tanner and Delaney.
They sat in this room, theywere Kids Club kids and now they
they sat in this room, theywere kids club kids and now

(01:13:56):
they're planting churches inJapan.
That is not a far off idea.
That is not a crazy thing.
That is unattainable.
I said this at a kids club livelast summer that there are kids
sitting in kids club live.
That will be one day be ourimpact partners at Christ Church
and I cannot wait to see whothat is.

(01:14:17):
I cannot wait to see the waythat God uses them and it's just
for them to have that exposureand see that all the way through
elementary, through high school.
I mean, that is just.
It's unbelievably valuable Ifwe're not casting that vision
and dream for them.
There's this quote that I lovethat says if you want to build a

(01:14:37):
boat, don't drum up workers andsupplies.
Teach them to long for theendless immensity of the sea.
And we cast this vision of thisglobal kingdom and we say there
are people that are working allover the world to spread the
gospel, to plant churches.
Isn't that a beautiful,incredible thing?
And our kids and our studentssee that and they're like

(01:14:59):
absolutely, I want that.
I'm going to do what it takesto get there.

Speaker 1 (01:15:03):
Well, I cannot think of possibly a better way to end
this conversation.
So I'm just going to let thatkind of be it, maggie, thank you
so much for being here.

Speaker 2 (01:15:14):
Yeah it was a blast.
You're the best.

Speaker 1 (01:15:19):
Okay, brittany, off mic.
Two seconds ago, we weretalking about how lucky we are
to have.
I mean and Maggie mentionedthis too.
It's like we live in Joplin,Missouri.
This isn't a fair conversationand as we were talking to Maggie
, I think you and I both kind ofhad this realization that, like

(01:15:41):
this, this conversation doesn'tfeel fair that we have a.
Maggie and no one else gets aMaggie.
So I wonder what, like howwould you encourage a youth
pastor who might not have this,just like wealth of resources
available to them like we happento have at Christ Church.

Speaker 2 (01:15:59):
Yeah, I think it's start small, start with
something.

Speaker 1 (01:16:04):
Take a step.

Speaker 2 (01:16:05):
Take a step.
It's what we talked about inthat conversation of you can
take one step right in front ofyou and me.
Maggie is listing off all ofthese different ministries and
all of these different partnersand you're like is listing off
all of these differentministries and all of these
different partners and you'relike, where do I even begin?
And I think it's just take onestep and have a conversation and

(01:16:25):
I think, when you see, when youstart asking questions, when
you start digging into it,you're going to start seeing
more than you knew was actuallythere.
And so I think it's take a step, ask some questions and you're
going to see.

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
To be like even more prescriptive.
If you want a good first step,call one of your mission
partners that's local, go tolunch and find out as much as
you can about them.
You know, if nothing else,start to develop those really,

(01:17:01):
really strong bonds that I meanyou've heard from Maggie the
fruit of years and years,decades of hard work and
intentionality that have goneinto the missions program at
Christ Church.
So you know it's a process.

Speaker 2 (01:17:19):
Yeah, and reshaping, and like being okay to go in as
somebody who is not an expertand to not feel like you have to
know everything, like that isokay.
Like have conversation.
We, we know how to buildrelationships and that's what
this is.
It can sometimes lookintimidating when you're talking
about justice, work orinjustices and, like I was

(01:17:41):
talking about, the weight ofthat can feel really, really,
really heavy.
But underneath all of that,what sustains it is relationship
, and so build a relationshipwith somebody.

Speaker 1 (01:17:54):
I love it.
Best of luck to you.

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
It's going to be a good journey.

Speaker 1 (01:17:57):
All right, brittany, it's good you want to close us
out by reading our blessingthere.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
I would love to Brad.
Here we go.
May God show you grace andbless you.
May he make his face shine onyou.
May you experience the love ofChrist, through whom God gives
you fullness of life.
May you be strengthened by hispower, and may Christ himself
make his home in your heart,that you would be full of his
love and grace and that thoseyou serve would see Jesus in you

(01:18:22):
.

Speaker 1 (01:18:24):
Today's episode was produced by Michael Hester,
lauren Bryan and myself.
Huge thanks to both Brittanyand Maggie for being here and
sharing some of their expertisewith us.
We will be back in a couple ofweeks with our final episode of
the season.
Lane Moss is going to chat withus about how the heck we are
supposed to try to maintain anysense of work-life balance

(01:18:48):
during our crazy, crazy summers,so that'll be a great
conversation.
Hope you'll tune in in a coupleof weeks.
In the meantime, you can feelfree to reach out to us on the
CIO community Facebook group orby email at podcast at CIOcom.
We'll see you next time, thankyou.