Surrendering to God’s Calling: Diane Brask’s Path from Small-Town Beginnings to Worldwide Missions

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Welcome to the Hope Unlocked podcast.
I'm your host, kristen Kurtz,and I'm also the founder of New
Wings Coaching.
I help and empower wildheartedand adventurous women of faith
feeling caged and stuck, unlocktheir true purpose and potential
, break free from limitationsand thrive with confidence,
courage and hope.
If you're curious to learn moreabout coaching with me, head to
newwingscoachingnet and be sureto explore the show notes for

(00:38):
ways to connect with me further.
Get ready to dive in as weuncover empowering keys and
insights in this episode.
So tune in and let's unlockhope together.
Welcome to the Hope Unlockedpodcast.
I'm Kristen Kurtz, your host.
I pray this episode is like aholy IV of hope for your soul.
Please help me.
Welcome Diane Brass to the show.
I'm so excited to have her here.

(01:02):
I want to give a little bit ofthe backstory to even how we got
connected.
I was outside on my deck and Ijust felt this draw to go to the
wilderness.
Now, when I say the wilderness,there is a place that I've been
going to for probably the lastseven, eight years and I usually
like to go at least once ortwice a year and ended up going

(01:24):
back to Wilderness Fellowship.
It's a place in Wisconsin and Ijust kind of was able to
squeeze in to a certain date andI got to the office to check in
and Randy the founder was inthe office and ended up being on
a call with Diane and she saidsomething that just like tickled

(01:47):
me, like I loved what she said,and I won't say what she said
here, but I was like, oh, mygoodness, I love her.
So after they got off the phoneI was like who is that lady?
And and he said you know Diane.
And he told me a little bitabout her and how she was the
founder of Global Seed Planters.
Well, if you guys have beenlistening to the show for a

(02:08):
while, you might know a littlebit about the story behind Hope
Unlocked even coming to be.
And one of the reasons that Idid start this was because the
Lord showed me that this wasgoing to be a seed cast, not a
podcast.
So anytime I hear seed, myheart kind of takes a little

(02:28):
leap.
So that's why she's here today.
We've been able to get to knoweach other a little better and
we both would agree that we justfeel like we're kindred spirits
.
So, diane, would you be open tosharing more about yourself?

Speaker 2 (02:42):
Sure, so my name is Diane Brask and I grew up on a
dairy farm in northwestWisconsin, about an hour and a
half from the Twin Cities.
Everything about my life isrural and you might say it's
small.
So I grew up on this smalldairy farm.
We had about 100 head of cattle.
I actually went to a two-roomcountry schoolhouse, my grades

(03:06):
one through six, and I had onlysix people in my class.
You would think I'm really oldand little house on the prairie
or something.
But yeah, I had six in my class, grades one through six.
And then I graduated fromGrantsburg High School with a
class of 69.
Then I went to Bethel College,graduated with a degree in

(03:27):
social work, came back to thisarea and did rural youth
ministry in four small towns andthen from there kind of wild,
but for 20 years.
I did that from 1980 to 2000.
Did that from 1980 to 2000.

(03:51):
And in 2001, god did a majorshift in my life and led me from
a little rural America to ruralvillages in the ends of the
earth.
So that's kind of broad strokes, kristen, as to how I got to
where I am today.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah Well, I know that there was one point in your
life that you just allowed theLord to just take over, and you
had a piece of paper.
I would love for you to sharethat story if you'd be open to
it.
It really impacted me when youshared that with me the last
time we chatted.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
You know, kristen, that story the blank piece of
paper literally changed my lifeand I've shared that story many,
many times and it's neverfailed to change people's lives
in every setting I'm in.
There's something about theHoly Spirit on that experience
that's just life changing.

(04:38):
So, yeah, I can tell you aboutit.
I was a senior at BethelCollege in St Paul now Bethel
University, and I went to amissions Bethel College in St
Paul, now Bethel University andI went to a missions conference
called Urbana At that time and Istill think, ongoing still now.
It's something that's heldevery three years with the goal

(04:59):
that for once in your collegelife you'd be able to attend
this missions conference.
It's several days, it's fromright after Christmas till the
stroke of midnight on the newyear.
So I'm in Champaign, illinois,at the Urbana University campus
for this wow mega missionsconference with college age

(05:23):
students.
The last night is always like.
The home run speaker right Lastnight was Billy Graham.
I will never forget that nightor what he said.
I don't remember a single otherspeaker in the whole Urbana
conference.
But I won't forget Billy.
He didn't do his typical talk.

(05:45):
It wasn't your typicalevangelistic outreach filling a
crusade.
He was talking to Christiankids, christian young people,
college students.
And this is the challenge hegave.
He said I imagine that all ofyou have been challenged many
times in your life to set goalsfor your life, way back when you
were in elementary school even.

(06:06):
What do you want to do?
What do you want to be when youget to high school?
Or what goals do you want toset now, as you're young?
Write down some steps.
How are you going to get there?
Maybe when you're a kid, you'readmiring, you know the varsity
football players and you'rethinking, man, when I get to
high school, I want to playvarsity.
Or when I get to high school, Iwant to be the valedictorian.

(06:29):
Or you know, I want to go tothis college and I want to have,
maybe, this job when I grow up.
And so he said you know allyour life, different people
parents, teachers, coaches,pastors have challenged you, set
goals and steps to get thereand begin to work on achieving

(06:52):
your goals.
And he said you know, I knowall you guys are Christians, or
the vast majority of you are.
So you have probably prayedabout all of these goals.
No doubt you have asked theLord to guide you, to bless you,
to make these goals come true.
He said I'd like you to thinkof it a little differently.
So, just in your mind's eye,turn over this piece of paper

(07:16):
that you have that you'veimagined all your goals on.
Flip it over to a blank pieceof paper.
Oh, I forgot something, kristen.
He said on the front page, whenyou have all your goals down,
what you want is for God to signhis name on the bottom of that
piece of paper and make all yourgoals come true.

(07:37):
So now, flip the paper over.
Now you have a blank piece ofpaper.
Nothing's written on it nogoals, no steps, no objectives.
Write your name on the bottomof the piece of paper and date
it.
So mine would have beenDecember 31st 1974, diane M
Brask.

(07:58):
Now hold that blank piece ofpaper up to the Lord and say
here's my life, lord.
To the Lord and say here's mylife, lord.
It's not mine, it's yours.
You created me with your goalsand your purposes for my life.
The things you intended for mylife to achieve.
I don't know what they are, butyou do.
So.

(08:19):
Here's my life, lord,unscripted.
My name is signed at the bottomand dated.
Now you go ahead and writeanything you want on the pages
of my life, right, right,kristen.
Like if you would have asked methat night if Jesus was Lord of

(08:39):
my life, I would have said,absolutely, I've been a
Christian since I was seven.
But when Billy described itthat way, I just thought, man,
I've kind of had Jesus along forthe ride.
I kind of want to make surethat he's sitting in the

(09:02):
backseat of my car, but I don'tknow that I want him on the
steering wheel, you know.
And so I was very, very touchedby the Holy Spirit and very
convicted as well, and I said,wow, lord, I've never thought of
it like this.
This is the first time I'veseen that you just want me, that
surrender means my name's atthe bottom of the page and you

(09:24):
go ahead and write anything youwant, anytime you want, anywhere
you want, on the blank pages ofmy life.
So I said I'm on, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Let's do this.
I love it.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Let's do this, lord, and I just I talked out loud in
my seat I can almost take you tomy seat at Urbana and where I
was sitting, everybody elseemptied the stadium and I sat
there by myself as janitorscleaned out the stadium and I
just said, lord, I graduate infive months.

(09:59):
I was thinking I was going tobe a social worker, but if you
had something else in mind, youcan change it.
I just need to know, becauseI'm out of here in five months.
You know, and was I even close?
And you know, kristen, thatnight it might've been the first
time I felt like I heard theLord's voice.

(10:19):
He spoke so clearly and itwasn't out loud, but it was like
out loud in my head, if I cansay it that way.
I just knew God was speaking tome and these were not just
thoughts in my head.
And he said yeah, as a matterof fact, I did have something
else in mind.
And I literally like I kind ofjolted.
I looked up and said you'rekidding, like what?

(10:42):
And he said I wanted you to workwith youth, but not in social
work.
Because do you really believethat social work?
And all those psychologists, bf, skinner and Carl Rogers and
Freud and all those guys.
Do you think they're the answerto young people's problems?
And I said no, lord, I don't,you know that.
And he said I am, and I cantransform a young person's life

(11:08):
in a moment more than any ofthese people can do with.
You know years of counseling.
And so I said okay, that soundsfine.
So he said I want you to be ayouth pastor, a youth worker,
not a, you know, social worker.
And I said but, lord, a youthworker, not a social worker?
And I said but, lord, I don'thave any training in it.
I don't even know what a youthpastor is.

(11:29):
We don't have them up in myarea because all our churches
were too small for youth pastors.
He said you don't have to worryabout that, because I'll teach
you.
And then I said where are wegoing to do this?
And he said I want you to goback to your hometown, where you
graduated.
I want you to work with highschool students where you grew

(11:51):
up.
And you know what, kristen, Isat in my seat and bawled.
I just cried, not because I wasso thrilled.
I cried because I couldn'tbelieve that I had to go back to
the dead end place where I grewup, and so I tried to get God
to change his mind, and you knowwhat he said.

(12:12):
Hey, didn't you just sign theblank piece of paper?

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Oh, you're caught red handed there.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
I was caught right and I said, yeah, I did.
And he said then that's what Iwant you to do, so I did.
And he said, then that's what Iwant you to do, so I did.
I went back to the area I'mtalking to you from actually.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Love it.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
And I spent 20 years, from 1980 to 2000, working with
high school students and notwith a local church.
We were targeting unchurchedpublic high school, raw, real
lost kids, yeah, that weredrinking a lot of beer and

(12:54):
smoking a lot of pot andsleeping around a lot and we
were trying to introduce them tothis amazing Jesus, wow.
And so that's where I learnedkind of the nuts and bolts of
what ministry is, yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Well, what can I ask?
Um, just for those who might be, you know, reaching, that, you
know that generation currentlylike, what did that look like
for you?
To, you know, reach them?
And to, uh, like I can'timagine that it was an easy path
.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
It was definitely not an easy path.
I, I like I think it's CharlesDickens that says a line, a
famous line it was the best oftimes.
It was the worst of times.
It was the age of wisdom.
It was the age of foolishnessof times.

(13:48):
It was the age of wisdom.
It was the age of foolishness.
We literally did not know whatto do.
Keep in mind no training.
So this wasn't.
I wasn't a youth ministry majorat Bethel.
I didn't grow up with youthministry.
We didn't have a youth pastorin our church, so what it looked
like was being pretty muchscared, spitless.
It was a friend of mine and I,in fact, the very first person I

(14:12):
led to the Lord outside of highschool.
She was a classmate in my highschool, drinker, smoker, really
lost, really lost, and I startedpraying for her.
And when we were 19, I was atBethel and she was at UW Stout

(14:32):
Menominee.
And one night she said to meI've been watching you for a
long time and I want what you'vegot.
Please come and pick me upafter work and talk to me.
Please come and pick me upafter work and talk to me about
what it is to be a Christian.
And so we started together.
Isn't it interesting that Godwould bring a classmate and I

(14:54):
together and one that had beenI'd been, you know, a Christian
since I was a kid and Chris wasnot, and so she had an
understanding of lost that Ididn't, and she knew how lost
people live in the world.
We were really a good team, butwe were clueless what it looked

(15:17):
like.
Pretty much.
There were four towns in thearea Grantsburg, siren, webster
and Frederick.
We spent Mondays in Grantsburg,tuesdays in Frederick Wednesday
was kind of your designatedchurch night Thursdays in Siren
and Fridays in Webster.
We hung out whatever theschools were doing volleyball

(15:41):
game, basketball game, trackmeet.
We just spent a ton of timewith kids.
We went to their events.
You know Jesus the Bible saysthe word became flesh and dwelt
among us.
That's what Jesus did.
He hung out.
And so we hung out with highschool students.
We also went every day forlunch at each of the respective

(16:05):
schools.
We'd just go to the cafeteriaand have lunch and hang out.
We had an agreement with theschool principal and the school
board we would not proselytize,we would not hand out, you know,
tracts.
We would not be Bible thumpers.
We'd be friends.
You know, I love the series theChosen.
That just shows Jesus beingvery real, hanging out with his

(16:30):
disciples every day and goingfrom village to village and
interacting with real people.
That's kind of like what ouryouth ministry was.
It was a bit like a young lifewhere you just hang with the
lost and you do relationalevangelism, you look for
opportunities to tell youngpeople about Jesus.

(16:51):
We also did a lot of events.
Some of those again wererelational, like we do bike
trips up the North Shore fromDuluth to Canada.
We'd go on Boundary Waterscanoe trips, go on camping trips
.
But we also did a lot ofloading up buses or vans going

(17:11):
down to the cities for Christianconcerts.
But we got to a point where wewere believing God to bring the
best right to our little area.
So we had Nicky Cruz come whowas famous for being a convert
from New York City, leading agang, very famous evangelist.

(17:32):
He came and did four days ofevangelism in our little
communities.
We even had the local baradvertise the conference on
their marquee.
Bar advertised the conferenceon their marquee.
Yeah, it was pretty wild.
I mean it was because we hadalso done bar ministry.
The bars knew us.
We hung out with them, becauseif you're going to catch fish

(17:54):
you got to go where they are.
We got people praying a lot.
At one point we had everystudent in every high school
being prayed for every day.
We contacted Nashville,tennessee, and asked them when
they drove in between Chicagoand Minneapolis if they'd have

(18:16):
one night stop over in a littlerural town and they do it for
free, because we didn't havemoney but we had lost kids and
we couldn't fill, you know, thetarget center but we could fill
our high school gym and so a lotof young people that came to

(18:37):
the Lord came to the Lord overspecial events that we did too,
and I was here doing that from1980, when I graduated from
Bethel until 2000.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Incredible, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
It was a long haul.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
During that 20 years could you share?
Is there kind of a top of mindtestimony that you'd be open to
sharing with the listeners about, maybe, somebody that you were
able to reach that maybe seemedjust so unreachable but you kept
on pursuing?

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Well, I might talk to you about the first three.
The first story that pops intomy mind, not the roughest kids,
but I was going to Bethel and Itook a month off.
I wanted to work with anorganization up here and so I
worked with.

(19:27):
It was a youth organizationthat I ended up becoming the
next director of.
But we went to a school one dayfor lunch and I stood in the
doorway of the cafeteriaglancing over you know, this
small town cafeteria, and I sawthree high school girls doing

(19:48):
what high school girls normallydo flirting with the football
team.
You know was very clear thatthey were making a move on him,
and so I said to the guy I waswith who are those three girls
right there?
And he told me their names.
And I said well, who are thosethree girls right there?
And he told me their names.
And I said, well, I only havethis fall I think it was the
fall of my junior year of Bethel, quote unquote.

(20:11):
I said I can't reach a wholetown or a whole school, but I
want those three right there.
So he told me their names and Isaid I am going to pray for
those girls, that they willbecome Christians every day and
I'm going to go after them.
So I literally pursued them.
Hey, you guys want to come outto the farm and go horseback

(20:32):
riding?
Hey, let's go down to thecities to this concert, want to
go see a movie?
I was just looking for everyopportunity that I could to be
with all three of them, or eachof them you know, individually,
and so I'm not kidding Kristen.
Every single day, morning, noonand night, pretty much, I would

(20:53):
pray that those girls would getsaved, and you know what?
Every single one Over thecourse of a year.
It wasn't all just that fall,but they all gave their lives to
Jesus.
Now let me fast forward.
One of them, the first one toget saved daughters and is the

(21:33):
grandma of one, two, three, fourand another one on the way.
I see her when we can, everyThursday night.
I led her to the Lord in thefall of 78.
And it is now 2024.
And I have.
If all I did in my entire lifewas lead her to the Lord, my

(21:53):
life would be worth it, becausenot only is she saved, she
married a Christian, she'sraising five adult christian
daughters, um.
Four of them are married.
Just the youngest is not.
She's a senior at bethel um andnow they're raising christian

(22:18):
families.
You know what?
I'm just watching, thisunbelievable multiplication um
short on another one.
I see her every year.
She doesn't live as close to me, but every single Christmas she
sends me a check for 250dollars and says I will be

(22:39):
forever grateful for you leadingme to Jesus.
Oh, my goodness, and that is1978.
But I'm just saying, if I wasto say anything to a listening
audience would be this who doyou know that is lost and what

(23:01):
commitment have you made to prayfor them?
Because I firmly believe,kristen, that for almost
everyone in the world who savedsomebody was praying for them by
name, because part of ourpartnership with God is seeking

(23:22):
and saving the lost with God isseeking and saving the lost.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Thank you for sharing this testimony.
I mean the fact that you arestill connected, like every
Thursday, every year, like theimpact you made, that seed, like
what we have, that deepconnection with the seed, right
Right, sometimes, you knowpeople might be I was actually
at a women's group last nighttalking about evangelism and you

(23:52):
know some people have a fear of, you know, sharing the gospel
or sharing Jesus with others,for fear of rejection.
But you know, even one of yourexamples was your friend that
initially got into the, you know, mission field with you.
In essence, she was justwatching you.
You didn't have to go likebarreling down her door.

(24:13):
You know what I mean.
Like some people need that,like me, I needed somebody to
like barrel down my door almostat one point, almost at one
point.
But one of the two words that Ilike to share with people is
just be available, like go,search after the one.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Exactly and don't make it into.
You know, look again.
We talk about the chosen right.
Look again at Jesus.
You can't see him using a track.
You can't see him doing using aformula A, b, abcd, one, two,
three, four.
You know, four steps to peacewith God, or whatever.

(24:51):
I grew up with.
That it was.
Jesus was relational evangelism, one, and he was also a seed
planter all the time, and hisseeds were stories.
And the book of Mark it saysJesus always told stories.
In fact, he never did anythingwithout telling a story.
What led people to the kingdom,to the father, was Jesus'

(25:16):
masterful ways of tellingstories and embedding questions,
because he was always sendingyou a away to think, to think
about hey, did you see the wayhe looked at that guy today when
he asked him that question?
Or wasn't that story amazingabout the farmer who went out to
plant some seeds?

(25:36):
You know, that's really thestory of my life.
I'm a farmer who's plantingseeds all over the world and I
started right at home.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah, amen.
Well, I love for you like thatwas.
So, if we look at this, thepage right.
So you've got that first pagewhere you fully surrendered.
This next page was, you know,the 20 years.
I know that there was somethingthat happened to move into
another chapter, to usher youinto going global, which is

(26:06):
incredible.
Could you tell us a little bitwhat that looked like?
Even Like how did that shifthappen?

Speaker 2 (26:12):
It's another seed story really, but it was also,
you know, I think, all of us.
I have an advantage I'm notsure how old you are, kristen,
but I'm 67 now, so I have theserear view mirrors on the side of
my head where I can look backand see my whole life, you know.
And so now it's a lot easierthan looking ahead through the

(26:35):
windshield and just seeing wideopen spaces, right.
So when I look back on the 90s,my last 10 years, I can see
that God was stirring in myheart about the nations, but I
was so locked into where I wasand the youth ministry that I
was doing.
I kind of like feel like I putthe earmuffs on once in a while

(26:58):
and went la, la, la, la, la lala because I liked what I was
doing, because I liked what Iwas doing, but God was like

(27:22):
during that 10 years.
In the 90s I had an opportunityto speak to Dr Ralph Winter.
That was considered the world'sgreatest missiologist.
Oh and in there somewhere.
I took a perspectives missionscourse too, anyway.
So that stirring was allhappening in those 10 years,
like something's going on whereGod's making it clear like

(27:42):
there's a lot more out therehappening in those 10 years,
like something's going on whereGod's making it clear like
there's a lot more out therethan just your little rural
county Right.
But what sealed the deal wasstanding at the graveside of my
dad on December 4th 2000.
Cold, bitter, bitter day and areally sad day.

(28:08):
Because if you're a farmer'sdaughter I'm not saying all
farmer's daughters have thisrelationship, but I'm telling
you what.
I spent more time with my dadthan any daughter.
I know because I worked withhim, because we did chores

(28:28):
together at six o'clock in themorning, because, you know, in
the summertime I always had methree meals with my dad
breakfast, lunch and supper.
We called it breakfast, dinnerand supper but.
But we also had forenoon coffeeand afternoon goodies and
bedtime snacks.
I just was with my dad a lot.

(28:50):
We talked so much.
For me to stand at hisgraveside was like to cut off
half of my body.
So I'm pretty choked up and Ican't believe this day is really
here and just grievingreflective time as we're doing

(29:12):
the committal service and aboutto lower his casket into the
ground, and I felt a hand on myright shoulder and so I turned
to see which one of my familywas comforting me and nobody was
touching me.
And then the same kind of thingas Urbana.
And the same kind of thing asUrbana, and I hear this voice.

(29:35):
So, honey, this is the lastpage of the last chapter of a
really hard, long book.
But mark this day, diane,except a grain of wheat falls
into the ground and dies.
It remains only a single seed.

(29:55):
But when it dies and is buried,it grows up to produce many
seeds and a great harvest.
That's what I'm going to dothrough your life.
On the day your dad's beingburied, all that's been planted

(30:15):
in you, it's going to grow upand your life is going to
produce a mighty harvest as youbury the seed of your dad today.
Then he says I mean, there'stimes at that time where I
thought am I just imagining allof this stuff, because it sounds

(30:36):
so clear in my head I'm notmaking this up.
Then he says so get ready,diane, because you are going to
fly, fly, fly, fly.
I'm going to send you all overthe United States.
You're going to be speaking inplaces and in churches that
you've never heard of.
And I'm standing there, kristen, thinking, yeah, right, Just

(30:58):
how is this going to happen?
Nobody knows me, lord, I'm justa farm girl here in
Nowheresville, wisconsin.
I'm not ordained, I'm notlicensed, I've just had this
podunk little ministry.
And now you're telling me I'mgoing to be flying all over the
United States, I don't have anymoney.
You're telling me I'm going tobe flying all over the United
States, I don't have any money.
Yeah, like how is this going tohappen?

(31:18):
Right, and he said that's notyour responsibility, that's mine
.
But then it's not just that,diane.
You've been, you have beenhaving stirrings in your heart
about the world and you, you,I'm going to send you, I'm going
to open up the doors and sendyou to little rural villages all
over the world that have neverheard my name and have never

(31:43):
seen a white person in thehistory of their villages.
And now I'm really like blownaway, like how is that going to
happen?
I don't even know an unreachedpeople group.
I don't, I haven't been toremote little world.
He just said, again, that's notyour responsibility.
It's kind of like back to theblank piece of paper, right,

(32:04):
kristen?
You just signed your name andit's all unwritten for you, but
I'll take care of writing it outRight.
One month later, and at thistime when I'm standing at my
dad's gravesite, I think I hadless than a hundred bucks to my
name.
I don't have a savings account,I don't have anything, and

(32:25):
within a month I have a ticketfor a trip around the world with
a friend of mine and we're outall over.
Kingdom Come and we start at.
India has the most unreachedpeople groups of any country in
the world and we're with thelowest caste, what's considered
the scum of the earth.
They're lower than rats.

(32:45):
I spend one month going fromlittle rural village to little
rural village.
Never heard of Jesus, neverseen a white person, and I get
to be the first one to tell themthere's a God named Jesus who
loves you.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Okay, can I back it up for a second?
Yeah, you can.
This friend that came along soyou have a hundred dollars in
your pocket.
You don't have savings.
All of a sudden you have aticket to to fly around the
world.
Tell us, tell us the how behindthat.
Like, who is this?

Speaker 2 (33:20):
friend.
Okay.
So my friend, the friend is wowthis story.
Yeah, you ask good questions.
The friend is Missy.
She's a physical therapistwho's just graduated from
Pennsylvania.
Her first job was in a towncalled Rice Lake, wisconsin.

(33:41):
I got to know her because shewas attending a church in
Spooner, wisconsin, calledCornerstone.
They were sending their youthgroup on a trip to Trinidad and
Missy hadn't worked with youth.
So they knew me and said hey,would you be willing to go with

(34:03):
Missy on this mission trip andhelp her out in Trinidad?
That's how we got to meet eachother, got to know each other.
On the flight home she's askingme more about well, what are you
doing?
Blah, blah, blah.
And I told her and she said doyou have any trips planned?
And I said not right now, butactually I would someday like to

(34:24):
take a trip around the world tokind of remote rural villages
in difficult nations.
And she said, really.
He said you know, I think I'dlike to do that one with you.
And so that's how that started.
And then, when God spoke to meat the funeral, then I got a
hold of her and I said you knowwhat?

(34:46):
I think we should go this nextyear early.
Why don't we do like 10 weeksand go like India, hong Kong,
china, philippines, see whereelse we might squeeze in?
To be perfectly honest with you,kristen, I don't remember
exactly where that money allcame from.

(35:06):
I know that there was somegifts of sympathy that just came
like, wow, you know, let's sendsome money to the family.
But I had enough and back thenit wasn't that much and I also
lived with the people I was with.
So I wasn't staying in hotels,you know, it was go and live in.

(35:27):
I lived in some mud huts inbush villages.
It was pretty simple living.
So it was basically the airfare.
And I want to say I'm guessingat this that our total airfare
might've been in the 7,000,7,500-ish range, something like
that.
All I know is there was enoughmoney provided to go for 10

(35:50):
weeks and not go in debt.
Incredible, I mean.
You know this is the thing I'veseen, kristen is I have lived,
I've been living like this since1980.
So 44 years.
I've solely lived by faith.
I've lived on donations, onlymy whole career, what people

(36:13):
donate.
I've never had a normal jobwith a normal salary, with
benefits or anything since theblank piece of paper I've just
said God, whatever you want towrite on that blank piece of
paper, I'll go.
Wherever you want me to go,I'll stay as long as you want me
to stay, I'll do anything youwant me to do, you just have to

(36:34):
pay for it.
And you need to pay for it inadvance, because you said, oh,
no man, anything except a debtof love.
So I have lived my whole lifetrusting that where God guides,
he'll provide, and if he doesn't, then I didn't hear right or
the timing's wrong.
I think.

(36:55):
In my whole life there's onlytwo times I haven't gone where I
thought God wanted me to go,and both times was South Africa
and both times it was I didn'thave any money come in.
So, and you know, I can sithere at 67 years old and say my

(37:15):
Redeemer is faithful and true.
I can write books on thefaithfulness of God in my life.
Little things, big things.
The world, I mean.
I've been to about 50 nationsnow somewhere between 40 and 50
nations.
About 50 nations, now somewherebetween 40 and 50 nations, many

(37:36):
of them several times.
I've been to China severaltimes.
I've been to the Philippinesseveral times.
I've been to Uganda severaltimes, and I'm talking like a
dozen.
Each God has faithfully coveredeverything.
But I saw the same thing in theyouth ministry.
I took kids to Mexico, youthgroup kids to Mexico, and some
of these kids they didn't comefrom Christian homes and they

(37:59):
hadn't gone to any churchesbecause they'd been recently
saved.
So they said we don't have anyway to raise money, we can't
talk to our church or our auntand uncle or whoever.
And I said don't worry about it, we're going to just pray.
I said you know, it's God's theone who said go into all the

(38:31):
world.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
So if he wants you to go, it's his job to pay for it.
So you just plan like you'regoing and we're just going to
pray and see what God does.
I never had to leave a kidbehind because of not enough
money Never once.
I can just imagine how manyhearts you are just infusing
With hope right now.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
I sure hope so, kristen, because I just want to
encourage Everyone that'slistening, like Carrie Underwood
sings Jesus, take the wheelRight, like whoever is listening
to this.
Surrender your life fully.
It doesn't mean like you justgive a part of your life to the

(39:03):
Lord, just enough, so you haveyour fire insurance policy to
keep you out of hell and intoheaven.
That's not the Christian life.
Just surrender 100% and justsay, lord, my life is yours, and
then just watch what he doesand listen for the still small

(39:27):
voice that will keep guidingyour next steps.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
You know I love.
You know, as you were listeningfor his, you know you might
have just been, you know,sitting in that auditorium even
questioning like is this youLord?
Is this, am I hearing thisright?
And I don't know about you, butespecially over my last seven
years, especially since I'vebeen more prone to let him take
the wheel, I still have areasthat I'm like we're still
working on this and I don't knowif it's like that for everybody

(40:02):
, but anyways.
So I'm still a work in progressmyself over here.
You know I'm really a bigproponent now to you know I love
what you're saying, how BillyGraham was really questioning.
You know a lot of kids thatmaybe are in school and they're
really pushing you to do thisthing.

(40:23):
But he's like no, I have a planfor you and it's actually
better than that plan.
And I think a lot of people,including myself, kind of got
wrapped up into that plan, kindof started going on the
trajectory of what the worldwould want you to do, and it's
hard to come out of thatsometimes.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
It really is.
I think it's been taught allwrong.
It's twisted.
There's a lot of books outthere for Christians, adults and
young people on you know, likedare to dream and planning how,
how you're going to serve God.
Notice, in the Bible no one hada plan of how they were going to

(41:06):
serve God.
He's always the initiator.
Look at Moses Right, it's notthat Moses.
Oh, I got a plan.
Look at Moses right, it's notthat Moses.
Oh, I got a plan.
I'm going to bring my peopleout of Egypt.
No, he encounters a burning bushand it's all.
God, I got a plan.
It's not Moses has a plan.
It's not Gideon has a plan.

(41:27):
You know, it's not.
Esther has a plan.
No, in every case I'm bringingup, it's God initiates contact
and relationship with somebodywho's pretty ordinary, by the
way, and then he tells them whathis plan is and then they get a
choice Are they going to followit or not.

(41:48):
But I can't think of any casein the Bible where someone comes
to God and says, hey, I'm readynow and look how wonderful I am
and I'm prepared and I'm giftedand I'm talented and I'm just
here to sign up.
You know, to do this for you.
We always have these ideas andGod is just saying I'm waiting

(42:12):
and looking for the humble one,the ordinary one, the simple one
that will be so quick to giveme all the glory because they'll
know it's not all about them.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Exactly Amen.
You know, moses is one of myfavorites.
I was actually just talkingabout him last night Because I
think a lot of people and Idon't know if you experienced
this when you were first headingout or if you've always felt
like you've had a really strongvoice that doesn't have any
hindrances on it but a lot ofwomen that I talk to, I find

(42:47):
that they, you know, maybe aremore challenged to speak or
speak up or kind of take a standwho knows, there's something
that kind of has tried to cutoff their voice Right.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
Right, right.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
I was talking about this last night, and even part
of my own story as well, with myown voice.
But with Moses, I love like he.
He may have had a speechimpediment, right, Like that's
what we understand.
God knew that and he chose himanyways.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Right.
I think it's a pattern of God,don't you think Kristen, like,
look who he chose for hisdisciples.
Did he go to the highlyeducated ones?
No, he went to the rednecks upin Galilee that talked funny,
and even in Acts it says theywere unschooled, ordinary men.
So he didn't pick big shots, hedidn't pick people that were

(43:41):
incredibly gifted, he choseordinary people.
A lot of these guys were smellyfishermen.
They didn't have some big job,you know, and I think that
whenever we think that we can'tserve God, because, because,
fill in the blank, that'sexactly who God is looking for.

(44:03):
You know, I think, for me, ifthere was any secret to all of
this, why I will want to hearand follow.
Now, it's because, when I was16 years old, I was having my
devotions one night and I cameacross the woman who snuck in
the back door of the Phariseesparty, simon's party, and went

(44:27):
and knelt down behind Jesus athis feet and broke open a jar of
perfume and wiped his feet withher hair and her tears and made
a big scene.
I mean, this was like a PDA offthe charts, right?
I'm 16 when I'm reading this.
We're not supposed to beslobbering over each other in

(44:48):
the halls of our public highschool.
We're supposed to have a grip,right.
No PDAs in the hall.
Now I'm reading this for mydevotions and going my gosh.
This woman is way over the top.
I mean, get a room, you know.
And yet Jesus ends up honoringher in the story and really

(45:08):
coming down on the religiousperson.
And the story jumped out at meand I said to the Lord I was
just alone in my bedroom and Isaid to the Lord I am the
Pharisee, I'm the religiousperson.
I've gone to church, lord, allmy life.

(45:29):
I know all the Bible stories.
Yet here is this woman who's ofill repute, who has a foul
reputation she probably is knownas sleeping around, you know
and I said here she is carryingon with Jesus and it's her that
Jesus acknowledges.

(45:50):
And I said I've never knownanybody, lord, that's ever done
a PDA for you.
I've never known anyone who iswilling to make a scene because
they love you so much.
And here's this woman.
She probably doesn't reallyeven know you, but she's heard

(46:11):
enough about you to know thatyou really love people and she's
just hoping that you'll loveher too.
And I said I want to find outwhat it looks like to be head
over heels in love with you, notjust have a head full of
knowledge and be full ofreligion.

(46:32):
I want to know what it lookslike to be in love with you, and
that's where this journey ofthe stories and stuff really
happened too, because once Ifell in love with Jesus and have
worked to maintain that now for51 years, I'm telling you what

(46:56):
Kristen.
I'll go anywhere, I'll go tothe ends of the earth for him,
because he loves me and I lovehim.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
Oh, my God, I want to touch on.
I feel like we need to go backto your first trip.
Is that okay?
Yep, what happened there?
What happened to you on thatfirst trip?
Because I'm imagining somethingfired up in you to ignite the

(47:27):
next chapter.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
Probably the next whole part of my life.
So I am in village aftervillage after village.
I probably go to 50, 60different villages that month.
I see suffering and poverty ona level I have never seen in any

(47:51):
form or comprehended in mywildest imaginations.
I don't see a bathroom for amonth.
I don't see electricity.
I hardly ate a thing.
I mean the food was next tonon-existent.
It was.

(48:16):
I suffered on a level I havenever suffered on any mission
trip since with my friend.
Thank god I wasn't alone, butit wasn't that kind of suffering
I saw that impacted me the most.
It was the spiritual sufferingbecause nobody heard of jesus.
Now it's a people group of 10million 10 million that almost

(48:39):
all live in rural villages,remote.
I'm not talking about you havea map to get to these or a GPS.
I'm talking that if you weren'tone of them and knew where that
village was, there was no wayyou were going to get there.
Most people never got beyondfive to 10 miles from where they

(49:02):
were born because there was nomode of transportation other
than your feet.
So you were born in a hell holeand you died in a hell hole and
you never heard of Jesus andyou went straight to hell Like
this, was shaking on a levelthat I can never describe.
I was shook to the.

(49:23):
My friend and I would lay inbed at night, in our mud hut or
wherever we are, and talk tillwe couldn't stay awake any
longer about what we witnessedthat day.
And I am just like you know.
You know, missy, I've been toldsince I was in high school that
Jesus could come back anytime.
That's not the Bible I'mreading.
I said Jesus made it very clear.

(49:45):
This gospel of the kingdom mustbe preached in all nations,
ethnos, ethnicities, and thenthe end will come.
Nations, ethnos, ethnicities,and then the end will come, and
this people group is not one ofthem.
And then you go to the lastbook in the Bible and it's clear
what the finish line will looklike.
And there will be people aroundthe throne from every nation,

(50:10):
tribe and tongue, every language, every dialect will be present
in heaven.
And we're not close to that yet.
Kristen, and I'm seeing it inIndia and I am just going.
Lord, I would cry with Jesussometimes.
I just say, lord, I'm so sadfor you.
You came over 2,000 years agoand you laid it all down, and

(50:35):
the last four words, you said,were ends of the earth.
And then you ascended.
And here we are, 2000 yearslater, and we haven't made it to
the ends of the earth yet,because I'm standing here.
So that was the real gamechanger, boy, india.
India was stark and harsh.
And you know, the other thing Isaw in India Kristen was just

(51:01):
how I don't know what the wordis how hopeless Hinduism is.
I asked, I visited a Hindutemple and I said to the Hindu
priest in the temple just howmany gods do you have anyway?
And he said 300 million 300million 300 million.

(51:27):
And I said to him wow, that's alot of gods.
Do you know them all?
And he goes yes, ma'am, everysingle one.
And I said, no, that'simpossible, sir.
We have about 300 and I think25 million in our country at
that time and I said that wouldbe like me knowing every single
person in the United States.
And I said you know what?

(51:47):
I just have one God.
His name is Jesus.
He's amazing.
He's my friend.
We talk, we share dreams.
I know him and he knows me.
I wouldn't trade my one Jesusfor all 300 million of your gods

(52:10):
.
Then we, you know, we talkedfor about I don't know 15, 20
minutes and I asked him if hecould tell me the name of the
God.
That is nice.
Do you guys have a nice God?
Because I've never seen so manymiserable people.
I've never seen so manymiserable people.
I said, you know, everywhere Igo, I see miserable, miserable

(52:33):
Hindus and I think what theyreally want to know is who's the
God that's kind?
Who's the God that's?

Speaker 1 (52:43):
nice because they can't find him.
And what did he say?
He was speechless, literallyspeechless, speechless.
He had nothing to say.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
He confronted the very life that he's always lived
and hasn't known anythingbeyond that and I was in his
temple so I'm looking at scoresof idols and I pointed it's like
alcoves on the outside wall,it's kind of like your bay
window right.
And so I say to him see thatlady that's and I was nice, I

(53:13):
wasn't being only likeconfrontational in my tone or
anything, but I see that ladythat's praying over there to
that idol.
I said the idol is intricatelycarved, I mean all the the parts
are there but it has eyescarved in its marble head but

(53:34):
those eyes can't see her.
It has ears I can see that, butthose ears are not listening.
And it has a mouth, but it'snot speaking.
And I said you know my Jesus,he's alive.
He's not a painting or acarving or an idol.
He has eyes that see and earsthat hear and a mouth that

(53:56):
speaks and he knows me and heknows you.
Yeah, it was a.
Really.
I bet the guy never, everforgot our conversation.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
I can only imagine.
And again, you planted a seedright.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
Exactly exactly.
But that whole trip Kristenplanted so many seeds that I
never got away from.
And so I just said to the Lordon that trip you know he just
set up the whole thing.
That's what God does to meoften he sets up an experience
because I'm an experientiallearner.
He sends me someplace in theworld that he has every day

(54:32):
planned out.
Then he has it all set up toget after my heart, because he
knows if he gets my heart I'lldo anything Right.
And so that trip got me likeLord for the rest of my life.
I just want you to send me oneway or another to rural villages
that need to know you, and he'sdone just that.

(54:54):
I was born in a rural villagearea.
I served for 20 years ruraltowns in Northwest Wisconsin and
then he sent me all over theworld 40, 50 different countries
.
Again rural villages off thebeaten path where nobody else
wants to go.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Seriously, it's so wild, isn't it?
He's so wild.
God is so just amazing and wild.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
He's wild, he's wild.
It's like that quote, I can'tremember it, um, right now it's
one of those as a aslon, um sois.
Is he nice?
Um, no, no, not necessarilynice, but he's good.
He's good and he's wild, he'swild.
That's one of the I'm.

(55:45):
I'm wired for adventure.
It's one of the things I likemost about God and me, because
he knows I like wild and so he'sbeen really good at dishing it
out this is definitely one ofour common stitchings of being
wild, like I always say.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
I'm like wild and free and I'm, like he calls me,
a woman of wonder.
I'm just always wondering aboutyou know what's out there, and
I haven't traveled the worldlike you have, but maybe someday
that will change.
I mean, I have in some ways.
I guess this seed cast is goingaround the world and I've met
people from around the world.
But again, we all havedifferent paths, right?

(56:25):
We have different ways.
He's calling us to reach thenations.
You know paths, right, we havedifferent ways.
He's calling us to reach thenations and it could be
sometimes for me I think, well,my conversation I have with
somebody at the grocery storecould be a conversation that
then they have with somebody inchina who knows, like you.
Just exactly.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
it's all a path of obedience.
We never know, and wild canmean different things.
I mean for me, okay, it's awild thing that we met.
It's a wild thing we're on thispodcast together and I'm not in
another country.
I'm sitting by a wood stovewith the fire warming me in a
very comfortable home, but thisis a wild conversation and it

(57:02):
never would have happenedwithout a wild God deciding hey,
I'm going to connect these two.

Speaker 1 (57:07):
Yeah, and for him to send me to.
When I see wilderness, I seewild first, I see this into the
wild and into the wilderness andbecause of that, drawing out,
we connected and it's so fun, Ilove it.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
You know, the wilderness is theme verse.
I love this.
It's from Hosea.
I will take you into thewilderness and speak tenderly to
you there.
I will restore your vineyardsand make your valley kind of
like a valley of pain, into adoor of hope.
Like this is our God.

(57:46):
He wants to take us into thewilderness, into wild places.
But in those wild places, whenwe're away from all of our
screens and all of our schedules, we hear that still small voice
that restores broken places andsets before us a door of hope

(58:09):
restores broken places and setsbefore us a door of hope.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
Yes, that's absolutely so great, especially
when it comes to even thispodcast, hope Unlocked it is For
me.
I have to be drawn away to asecluded place on my own, and
what better place than to go towilderness?
I've told I don't even know howmany people I've told about it.
I mean probably hundreds.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
It's a good advertisement.
So anyone listening if you needa place where you yearn to get
alone, shut down your schedule,get off all of the technology
and just go someplace where youcan hear God, go to the
wildernesship near Frederick,wisconsin.
They have 11 gorgeous prayercabins tucked away in the woods

(58:56):
where you can go, spend a fewdays and just unplug.
So many people have had apersonal encounter with God
that's healed and changed andshifted their lives because they
got quiet and they got in aquiet place where they could

(59:19):
hear his still small voice.
So I think both Kristen and Iwould say go to the Wilderness
Fellowship, look it up,wildernessfellowshiporg and come
up near me.
I'm a neighbor to theWilderness Fellowship.
Look it up,wildernessfellowshiporg and come
up near me.
I'm a neighbor to theWilderness Fellowship, so maybe
we can go out for coffee thentoo.
But yeah, anyway it's somethingelse.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Well, let's talk a little bit about global seed
partners planters, not partners.
Global seed planters.
So obviously you know you'reushered into, you know going
outside of your rural area tothe nations, right?
So how did global seed plantersget established?
Like, what did that processlook like?

(01:00:00):
Because I know people that arelistening, that maybe want to
start a ministry and they'rejust like I don't even know what
to do, right?

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Can we take a pause on that question, and I'll
answer it after going to thebathroom.

Speaker 1 (01:00:12):
Oh, for sure, I'm going to pause the stream here.
Okay, all right, we are back.
We just took a littlecommercial break and Dan would
love for you to share a littlebit more about how global seed
planters got started and andwhat it's looked like for you to
share a little bit more abouthow Global Seed Planters got
started and what it's lookedlike for you.
Sure, you've been on mission.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Okay.
So I told you that story aboutmy dad dying.
So that was December 4, 2000,when we buried him.
And so in 2001, in January waswhen I had my first trip to
really tough places in the world, and the first place was India,
rural villages in India.

(01:00:57):
So I come back from that triphaving spent 10 weeks in rough
places of Asia and I just reallyfelt like this was Jesus, I
mean the Holy Spirit spoke at mydad's graveside and I needed to
be obedient to that call.

(01:01:17):
So I went actually to anorganization in the Twin Cities
out in Minnetonka area calledInternational Ministerial
Fellowship IMS.
It's not the InternationalMonetary Fund, keep in mind,
it's International MinisterialFellowship.
So I went and talked with themabout my life, my 20 years in

(01:01:42):
youth ministry, what I sensedGod was calling me to do now.
God was calling me to do nowand if they would be willing to
be my covering, my 501c3, theone, the place where people
would send their money if theywanted to donate or partner with
me, they became my.
They were better thanMcDonald's, they were my happy

(01:02:04):
meal deal, let me just say weremy happy meal deal, let me just
say.
They went to the mailbox andgot my donations, they receded
my donors, they wrote mynewsletter.
They basically said you have togo through, you know, a
licensing process where you'reinterviewed and your references
are checked and you're calling.

(01:02:25):
You have to fill out a lot ofpaper, you have to fill out some
questions related to yourtheology and your theological
positions and support themscripturally, write your
testimony, have severalreferences, and then they became
the place that covered me.
I don't know where I'd bewithout them.

(01:02:46):
They were awesome.
So from 2001 to 2014, they werelike the Christian organized.
This is what they do they serveservants.
So they were my officialministry covering In 2014,.

(01:03:07):
They said to me Diane, you'vegotten too big for us.
Like, your ministry takes a lotof work from our staff team
because of what you're doing.
We think it's time for you toincorporate and start your own
legally recognized Christianmission organization.

(01:03:29):
They call them 501c3s.
So I believe it was April of2014,.
I became incorporated.
And then is when you have tohave a name.
So my whole.
From 2000 till now, I've beendoing the same thing, but I
didn't have my own name.
But in 2014, when Iincorporated, I became Global

(01:03:55):
Seed Planters and so I've justcontinued the focus that I had
then.
But now I've had to carry allthe weight of being official,
hiring your own staff team, youknow, putting on your big girl
pants, raising all of your ownfunds, you know all that stuff.

(01:04:16):
So I've had to be.
I had to do adulting in 2014.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
So you started to be an adult when you're 57?

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean start when I sayadulting.
That's when I became inked, butkeep in mind, I've been doing
full-time ministry since Igraduated from Bethel.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
It's so incredible, and obviously I'm kidding around
with you, but you know, one ofthe things, I and I don't know
if you would agree with this butthe fact that you, you know,
basically became your own, youknow, obviously in partnership
with the Lord, at 57.
To me it's a reminder to others, like it's never too late

(01:04:59):
either, right, right, and I'mimagining that you probably
didn't go get trained on how todo it, how to get it all you
know figured out.
You had some help, right.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Right, I had a lot of help and so there's nothing you
know.
You don't have to figure it outall yourself, because the body
of Christ is a pretty big familyand there, for women especially
, I mean ministry still islargely a man's world.
I've gone through a lot of hellbeing a woman in a man's world

(01:05:34):
that's a whole other podcast butit has not been an easy journey
being a woman in what ispredominantly a man's world.
But I'm following the greatestman ever, and so one time I
asked Jesus about all the hell Iwas going through and he said
listen, diane, I'm a gentleman,and gentlemen always open doors

(01:05:58):
for ladies.
Isn't that the best line?
I mean, whenever things get alittle tough, if there's a door
in front of me that slams shut,I never try to open it, because
Jesus already told me whateverdoor I'm supposed to go through,
he'll open it for me, becausethat's what gentlemen do.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
That visual, that when you said that I was like,
oh my gosh, I think in pictures.
So when you said that the storyjust like opened up my eyes to
something for myself.
So thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
Right so, but I think then it's a matter of to
pursuing.
You know, when we know thatGod's called us into something,
I knew that I needed to getunder a 501 C, three or B one.
Um, I learned a lot being underIMF.
Um, if anybody, there's again areferral.
If you need one, there's justnobody like them.
I shouldn't say nobody.

(01:06:49):
There are a few, but they'refew and far between.
This ministry believes in womenin ministry as well as men in
ministry.
They have been tremendous dooropeners for me.
They can teach you a lot, helpyou get incorporated, you know
whatever become a part of them.
I was going to be down in thecities for a luncheon with them

(01:07:13):
today and then see you, but thatchanged.
But anyway, I love them.

Speaker 1 (01:07:18):
Well, I'll add their information in the show notes so
that that would be a resourcethat somebody could look into if
they have something on the road.
So thank you for that.
Well, I wanted to kind of wrapup and, you know, like you said,
maybe I'll have you back onagain.
We can share some more storiesabout your journey and all
that's to come, and I would lovefor you to share just even in

(01:07:40):
these last 10 years.
You know global seed planters.
What would you want to share?
What would you want to share?

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
We have become more and more laser focused.
A month ago, how I described uschanged.
I was studying a map of aradical Muslim country, and as I
was studying this map andpraying about where do we go
next, Lord?

(01:08:07):
What should we focus on, hedrew me to some regions of the
map.
One region of this map was anarea called the Last Frontier.
Another thing I noticed in themap was there was a river that

(01:08:35):
was running down through themiddle of the country and, with
real small print, the river wasnamed Swat Swat, Swat, S-W-A-T.
And God spoke to me in a waythat I had never heard him
describe us before.
I've always been global seedplanters, right.
But he said Diane, global seedplanners is not just a mission
organization.
You are my SWAT team.

(01:08:56):
You use specific weapons andtactics and you're on a critical
mission to go to specificlocations for a specific purpose
to bring me to the ends of theearth.
You're a SWAT team focused onthe last frontiers.

(01:09:16):
And I sat there and went wow,Lord, that's exactly who we are.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
It is.
There's your mission statement.

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
And he said that has never been clearer, diane, it's
your mission.
Statement ended to say yeah,the Lord has called us to the
hard places, the hostile places,the places of great persecution
.
I say thumb.
We're called to thumb.
It's an acronym for P is fortribal, h is for Hindu, u is for

(01:10:01):
unreligious think communist, mis for Muslim and B is for
Buddhist.
So we're going into thesehostile, restricted, persecuted
nations and we're havingstrategic ways to bring the good

(01:10:22):
news of Jesus to these ruralplaces in these hostile nations.
And so here's one, and I endwith this we targeted a radical
Muslim nation this last twoyears.
It's been a slow process.
We believe in indigenousmissionaries, not the great
white hope.
So we identified a couple inthis country that were locals

(01:10:45):
from the country and we sentthem to a hostile Muslim area of
their own nation.
We started a small businesswith them.
We supported them monthly, webought a motorcycle for them so
they could move freely aroundthis restricted rural village
area where everyone was radicalMuslims, where there was not a

(01:11:09):
single believer ever known, nochurches, no missionaries, no
pastors off the grid.
We started trying to build arelationship with this small
tribal people group that wereembedded in many little villages
, we began to try to buildrelationships with a person of

(01:11:31):
peace we were hoping for.
Would somebody say, hey, you'reforeign to our village, come on
in and have a cup of tea, wherewe could just see a little
crack in the door, you know.
Then we began to build thatfriendship with our couple and
gradually the ice began to thaw,you might say, in their hearts

(01:11:53):
and there began to bediscussions about Islam versus
Christianity or Jesus and Allah.
We began to see some curiositybeing aroused among them, being
aroused among them.
So we sewed in some audio solarplayers with stories of God and

(01:12:13):
stories from the Bible in thispeople group.
And then last Christmas wedecided you know, jesus is not
just tell he's show and tell.
He's like kindergarten Showthen tell.
And so I said to a strategicpartner I have hey, we need to
bring food relief into the mostvulnerable among them.
But let's not choose, let's goto the village chief and the

(01:12:37):
elders and let them pick who arethe most needy among them.
So they selected about 50widows, elderly, handicapped,
blind, just the most vulnerablepeople in their people group.
So we brought in about 2,500pounds of food, about 50 pounds

(01:12:59):
per household.
And you know what happened,kristen Whoosh.
The doors of their hearts wereimmediately unlocked and flew
open.
Why?
Because they said we've beenMuslims all our life and we have
prayed faithfully to Allah, wenever miss going to the mosque.

(01:13:21):
We have been good, good Muslimsand we've never seen Allah do
anything for us Muslims andwe've never seen Allah do
anything for us.
Then these people come talkingabout a different God named Esau
, and he loves us and he's heardour prayers and he's been kind

(01:13:42):
and he's brought us food.
By May, we had the first twobelievers in the history of the
world among this people group.
But that's not all.
When it got to seven, I waslike crying for joy Because, wow

(01:14:02):
, lord, when I get to heaventhere's going to be people
around the throne from thistribe.
Then fast forward to this.
Last month, while I was doingthe running around raising funds
for the ministry, there was aguy from London who's Pakistani
and he went over there to dosome boots on the ground you

(01:14:24):
know field report to see howthings really truly are going
and to have eyes on it, and hecomes back with a report last
week.
Uh, we thought there was just asmall handful of believers.
That's not true.
Since may, this people group hasseen 1090 give their life to

(01:14:50):
jesus 1090 radical muslims in aradical muslim nation surrender
their lives to jesus, largelybecause of the food relief,
because they encountered a Godwho is nice and good and kind

(01:15:12):
and they're kind of like thewoman at Jesus' feet.
All they wanted to do wasfollow him, diane.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
I'm having a lot of fun, kristen.
I'm telling you, oh my goodness, and it's just starting.

Speaker 2 (01:15:27):
I mean, it's just the beginning there, right and
right, I'm right, I mean, I'malready god, I'm talking to the
lord.
I don't want to make my ownplans, but I'm going.
Wow, lord, this is fun, and ifthere's any other place up there
we're supposed to be going, youjust let us know yeah, yeah,
but I'm, and I'm sure he will.
You know what we figured out too.

(01:15:47):
This is the wild card.
This cost us $10,000.
Wow, this is all we spent toreach this completely lost
people group and bring them thegreatest story ever told $10,000
for 1,090 believers already.

(01:16:10):
Like that, roi is off thecharts.
Yeah Well, it costs.
It costs between eight and10,000 to support a Western
missionary a month.
We're hiring indigenousmissionaries in their own
countries.
This couple costs, processed,300.
We are fully supporting themfor 300 a month.

(01:16:34):
Oh, my goodness, it's just.
God is so smart.

Speaker 1 (01:16:40):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
It doesn't.
We look at Jesus' life.
It doesn't take millions toreach life.
Jesus just showed us the mostsimple way.
He wasn't born in a time withairplanes and cars and
everything.
He was born in a time where youhad two feet.
And look at this here.
He said.
Jesus changed the world and allhe did was walk in the smallest

(01:17:04):
country in the world amen, oh,oh, thank you for that testimony
.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
I truly believe, um.
I want to kind of segue intohow people can support you and
global seed partners, because Ido believe that um, you're a an
amazing SWAT team.
That um is is doing amazingthings in partnership with the
Lord.
You know, one of the thingsthat prompted me to do this seed

(01:17:34):
cast was that every time I dothis, it's for the one.
Now, there might be more thanone person listening to this
today, but I want you to justimagine that one, usually a
woman, listening.
What would you like to say toher and would you be open to
praying over her today?

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
Sure.
So if you're the one woman outthere, don't for a moment think
well, this is Diane's story, butit never could be part of mine,
for whatever reasons.
You know the statement thatused to be it takes a village to
raise a kid.
Well, it takes a village ofwomen to reach the world, and we

(01:18:17):
all do our part.
We're not all called to do thesame thing.
Maybe, there's a woman out therelistening, you're in a nursing
home, you might even be onhospice, I don't know.
But you know what you canchange the world through prayer,
like if you just pray for me,pray for Diane Brask and Global
Seed Planners.
Do you know the power of yourprayer as you partner with God?

(01:18:40):
Maybe you could be an advocateor an ambassador for us and you
could say man, I heard thisamazing podcast, I need to share
this with somebody you know andyou send a link to them and say
you got to check this out.
So the way you change the worldis you're an ambassador, you

(01:19:01):
could be a businesswoman, youcould be a highly successful
woman.
As I shared a little bit at theend, it takes money also to
reach the world.
We're praying this year for $1million to come in by year end.
I really want to see globalseed planners be a million a
year, minimum missionorganization focused.

(01:19:24):
You know when SWAT teams go out, they never lack for supplies
Never.
A SWAT team has all the money,the resources, the equipment.
The intelligenceSP SWAT teamcan't go there because we don't
have any money.
Man, if you have millions thatyou don't know what to do with,

(01:19:57):
I just might make a suggestionthat you contact me.
I'll be able to help you, andso yeah, globalseedplantersorg
you can give right onlineglobalseedplantersorg you can
give right onlineglobalseedplantersorg you can

(01:20:21):
give to greatest need.
You can also contact our officenumber.
I don't have that in front ofme right now, but Kristen has it
.
She can give you some of thatinformation at the end too.
But I sure hope this isn't justme talking to dead air.
Uh, I hope that there are thoseof you out there listening that
have been deeply moved, andyou've heard more than my voice.
You've heard the voice of thelord and you have responded with

(01:20:42):
here.
I am lord, use me too, and so,um, I'm hoping to hear from you.

Speaker 1 (01:20:50):
Thank you, Diane.
I will add all of theinformation to get a hold of
Diane and Global Seed Partnerswebsite in the show.

Speaker 2 (01:20:58):
Planters global seed planters.

Speaker 1 (01:21:00):
Why do I?

Speaker 2 (01:21:00):
keep saying partners.
You know everybody wants to dothat.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:21:05):
Huh, anyways, it's Global Seed Planters, thank you,
so I will add that informationto don't know.
Huh, anyways, it's global seedplanters, thank you.
So I will add that informationto the show notes.
And I hope you guys have allbeen just deeply blessed by
Diane's testimony, what she'sdoing.
I know I was the first time Italked to her.
We definitely are kindredspirits and I'm so thankful for
your brave voice that is settingothers free in more ways than

(01:21:28):
one.
So I'm going to close out thepodcast today with the anchoring
verse over hope, unlocked.
It's may the God of hope fillyou with all joy and peace and
believing so that, by the powerof the Holy spirit, you may
abound in hope, and that'sRomans 15, 13.
So thank you again, diane.
I would love to have you backon and we'll talk soon.

(01:21:48):
I'll be back with anotherepisode next week.

Speaker 2 (01:21:51):
Thank you so much, Kristen.
It was really a privilege to bewith you.

Speaker 1 (01:21:54):
Yes, thank you, diane .
Bye-bye you.

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