November 18, 2024 • 34 mins
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Brett Barnhill's journey from Alabama to the mission field is nothing short of remarkable. Growing up with Texas roots, Brett discovered his passion for ministry during his time at Mississippi College, spurred on by a powerful sermon on the Great Commission. His path was further illuminated by a life-changing intercultural communication class that deepened his commitment to mission work. Today, he channels this fervor into the Reclaim Project, where his experiences and insights are transforming communities. We invite you to listen as Brett shares the journey that led him to Reclaim, highlighting the impact of educators and moments of God's grace that guided his way.
Special thanks to our sponsors:
Nissan, St. Dominic's Hospital, Atmos Energy, Regions Foundation, Mississippi College, Anderson United Methodist Church, Grace Temple Church, Mississippi State University, Real Christian Foundation, Brown Missionary Baptist Church, Christian Life Church, Ms. Doris Powell, Mr. Robert Ward, and Ms. Ann Winters
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is Living Reconciled, a podcast dedicated
to giving our communitiespractical evidence of the gospel
message by helping Christianslearn how to live in the
reconciliation that Jesus hasalready secured for us by living
with grace across racial lines.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hey, thanks so much for joining us on this episode
of Living Reconciled.
I am your host, ryan Crawford,and I am hanging out with some
really good friends of mine Manywinners, austin Boyle.
Our podcast is sponsored byincredible people folks like
Nissan, atmos Energy, stDominic's Hospital.
We have incredible individualslike Bob Lurie and Winters that
(00:53):
sponsored this podcast, and wecouldn't do it without them.
So we want to say thank you,and thank you to all the other
sponsors that we have not named,for making this podcast
possible, because it's becauseof what you do that we're able
to do everything that we do, andtoday I am so excited because
we have a gentleman here who isdoing incredible work in the
(01:13):
kingdom of god, my brother brettbarnett from the v clay project
.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Brother, how you doing, I'm good.
How are you doing, man, if weare doing wonderful?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Start by telling us a little bit about Riff.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, first of all, I'm notfrom Mississippi Born and raised
I like to call it the sisterstate next door in Alabama.
My parents I had an identitycrisis growing up anyways,
because my parents are Texastransplants to Alabama, and so I
grew up in Birmingham.
My dad was an avid Longhornsfan and you know anything about
(01:49):
Birmingham.
Alabama college football is thelore, I should put it that way.
And so, anyway, growing up mydad said you absolutely cannot
be an Alabama fan and youabsolutely cannot be an Auburn
fan.
You're a Longhorn.
And so I walk around the hallsof schools saying I was a Texas
Longhorn.
People looked at me like I wasa Texas Longhorn, walked up
through the hallways and so Igrew up there.
(02:10):
But the Lord called me intoministry at an early age.
As such, I started praying Lord, where do you want me to go?
And my youth pastor at churchat the time is from Pearl
Mississippi and he said you haveto go check out Mississippi
College.
So that kind of brought me fromAlabama to Mississippi College,
met my wife there, fell in lovewith her and began kind of a
(02:32):
journey in ministry after school.
Praise God, praise God, I got asophomore right now at
Mississippi College.
Yeah, that's Choctaw.
So shout out to the Choctaws.
We're excited, we're incrediblyexcited.
It's a great school Peace, love.
We're excited, we're incrediblyexcited.
It's a great school, he'sloving it.
So thank you for sharing alittle bit about, about Red.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Tell us a little bit about how we got from
Mississippi Conference to theReclaim project.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Absolutely so.
While I was in school there wasan opportunity.
Well, let me back up just alittle bit about what I was
pursuing, you know, while I wasat MC.
So when I was in high school,my pastor was preaching a sermon
called Multiplying Exponential,and it was a sermon on the
Great Commission and our callingas believers to make disciples
(03:15):
of all nations.
And I was touched by that andreally given a calling from the
Lord that I was supposed to goand be on mission.
I didn't know where that wasgoing to mission.
I didn't know where that wasgoing to be, I didn't know what
that was going to look like, butI just knew that it was time
for me to get ready.
And so when I arrived atMississippi College, I signed up
.
So I was out of the country.
I had actually gone on amission trip overseas the summer
(03:39):
between my senior year of highschool and college and I missed
class sign-up and I didn't knowthat was a big deal, nor did my
parents.
But I showed up at school and Ihad misorientation and
everything and I was on thefootball team.
A typical football player hadto sign up for classes.
So they came in and they saidwell, you know, son, you need to
(03:59):
sign up for some classes.
I said classes, we're going totalk about classes.
So, anyway, they put all theathletes in a room okay, so it
was a computer lab of sorts andthey sat us down and they said
you need to sign up for classes.
And there was one individual inthere facilitating all of us
athletes trying to sign up forclasses.
Well, I sat down by a soccerplayer who also hadn't signed up
(04:21):
for classes.
I introduced myself myself andwe kind of hit it off and
everything.
And I said well, what are yougoing to sign up for?
He said I don't know.
What are you going to sign upfor.
I said let's just do ittogether.
So we made the exact sameschedule.
I sat down to sign up forclasses and I signed up for a
class communications.
Well, it was calledintercultural communication,
(04:42):
something that I thought I mightneed to know if I'm going to go
to the mission fieldintercultural communication.
But it was titled Come 449.
And that means it's a 400 levelclass, you know, for upper
faculty.
And so I just said that soundslike a great class.
I signed up for it and so I getin.
It is Friday, excuse me, mondaymorning 8 am, my very first
(05:03):
college class, and I sit downand the professor introduced
himself.
He said my name is RobertFortberry, I'm a missionary with
the International Mission Boardand I'm on furlough and I'm
going to teach this class aboutintercultural communication.
Let's say a prayer.
And I was so struck.
I grew up in public schools inBirmingham and we didn't say
prayer at the beginning of theirclass, and so this was my first
experience at a religiousinstitution of higher learning
(05:26):
and I said, okay, this is gonnabe fun, we're gonna pray.
So we prayed and then he beganto dive into his light as a
missionary and I was sointrigued and he, because he was
an adjunct professor, he didnot know I wasn't supposed to be
in that class and so he neverkicked me out and I finished the
course and had a pretty goodgrade, if I recall.
So anyway, during that class hebegan to.
(05:50):
That's really where this visionfrom the Lord and clarity on
the calling of my life of to goand make the cycles in Africa.
So the way this happened Irolled out.
The very next year, my sophomoreyear at Mississippi College,
there was an opportunity forsome of us college students to
go to a country called Botswanait's just north of South Africa,
(06:13):
in Southern Africa and bementored by my professor.
So he was going back to themission field and he took four
of us college students fromMississippi College and we
walked alongside of them for sixmonths as he discipled us, as
he taught us what it looks liketo live on mission for God in a
foreign context and to build hiskingdom.
We were planting churches.
He would drop us off in avillage and tell us to start
(06:36):
praying and prayer, walking andgoing and sharing the gospel in
people's homes and praise theLord.
The fruit of those labors ledto the planting of multiple
churches amongst the Botswanapeople there in Botswana, which
was really awesome.
One of the reasons why we wereso intrigued to bring you into
this conversation, rhett, today,was because we were looking at
your work and we see thistension that oftentimes the body
(07:00):
price has.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
where it's like international emissions, we're
supposed to go right, right, andthen you ask the people say no
no, no, we're supposed to stay,and there's work to be done here
.
Absolutely Reclaim Progenica,saying why not vote Amen?
And you guys are in Africa,serving overseas and reaching
people groups that are not inthe States and gearing of all
(07:23):
places.
Marks, mississippi serving thepeople of Marks, mississippi,
and doing incredible work there.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
How did you get there and what does it look like for
the Reclaim Project to be onmission both in?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Africa and in Mars.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, well, I'll just tell you this it is an
incredible blessing, and it hasbeen so fruitful in my own walk
with the Lord and spiritualjourney to be able to serve in
that way, to be able to say topeople yeah, we're working in
Africa and we're working righthere at home in Mississippi, and
kind of how that happened.
When Reclaim was formed as anorganization, it was around the
(08:04):
heart of James 127, which saysreligion that God, our Father,
accepts as pure and flawless asthis, to look after orphans and
widows and to keep oneself andbe included by the world.
And so, in as much as we werelocked into existence by calling
from Scripture to care forvulnerable children and
vulnerable members of ourcommunities, we were doing that
(08:26):
in a foreign context becausethat's what we knew, and so we
were doing this.
But our board of directors, asit does, come up, sometimes some
people say, oh, that's coolthat you're called to that, but
I feel called to be here.
And so that touched our heartsas an organization and we began
to pray and seek the Lord.
What about the children here inMississippi?
(08:47):
What about the church here inMississippi?
What can we do to partner withthe church and with communities
to lift up the children in ourown neighborhoods, in our own
communities.
And so that began a journey ofprayer.
So what about large Mississippi?
Yeah, so as we were praying wereached out to a gentleman named
Lance Reed who was aChick-fil-A owner operator.
(09:07):
He was a friend of one of ourboard members working in Oxford.
He owns the Chick-fil-A's inOxford and so as someone he was
very active already in theQuibble County community and
they were doing some leadershiptraining that they had started
in the schools.
And so our board reached out toLance and said Lance, we want
to do something in Mississippi.
What do you think?
He said, well, you need to goto Quibble Hattuck, because God
(09:29):
is already doing somethingincredible there.
And so our organization got inthe car, we drove up to Osser,
let Lance in the car, drove allthe way across Batesville into
Quibble County and we pulled upto Marks Mississippi and from
the very beginning God began toorchestrate a beautiful
partnership between us and theschool district.
(09:51):
We sat down with some leadersthat day, including the mayor of
Marks Mississippi, the formersuperintendent, dr Evelyn Jocel,
who had been in that positionfor a couple of years and was
installed as the school was anF-rated school, as many schools
in the area are lower rated andunder-resourced.
And we began to ask thequestions what are the biggest
(10:12):
needs in this community?
And I love that our board I wasin Africa at the time full
disclosure, we were, you know,head down doing our work there.
But our board sat down andlistened to the community and
said what are the biggest needsin areas where you need help in
this community and how canReclaim Health?
And so, being the schoolsuperintendent, dr Josel piped
(10:33):
up.
She said well, I'll tell youright now exactly what we need.
We need teachers.
One of the biggest strugglesacross our whole state and in
our nation, especially inMississippi Delta, is how do
teachers?
And she said, I have a hugepercentage of teachers in my
classrooms that are notcertified and that are not
qualified to be teaching thesecourses and, as a result, our
(10:57):
students are not learning.
And so she said, we needcertified teachers.
And secondly, not just teachers, but we need housing for those
teachers, because when we do getteachers, they end up residing
outside of the community and andtheir turnover is pretty high.
A lot of times they'll stay forone year but then they're not
putting down roots in thegenerality and they're going to
(11:18):
be gone.
They can't investextracurricularly as well as
schools.
And so she said and the thirdthing we need is Lord, we need
Jesus in this community.
Yeah, so our ministry, she'sthe, the, the wife of a
missionary baptist pastor inlambert, mississippi, three
miles south of marks.
And so, uh, she, she just saidthat's what we need in this
community.
So we said, okay, the jesuspart.
(11:40):
All right, we're all, we're onboard with that.
You know, we, we're all aboutit.
But let's talk.
Let's start talking about whatthis looks like to help quibman
County find teachers and retainteachers and provide housing.
So before our board had left,they had identified, with some
of the other community leadersthat were there that day, a
building in downtown Lawrence,mississippi, which was the
(12:02):
cornerstone building there.
It used to be a drugstore and abuilding that's been vacant for
about as many of the downtownbuildings still are, and it was
an 8,000 square foot building,has 4,000 square feet above and
4,000 square feet below, and sothat week we had to plan to
renovate the upstate, topurchase and renovate the
(12:24):
building to provide apartmentsfor teachers in the Quibman
County community and then,downstairs, to have after-school
educational enrichment for theschool district, and so we named
the property the village, afterthe African proverb it takes a
village to raise a child.
We all are familiar with thatsaying and that is the heart of
our ministry is that we want tocome alongside the school
(12:46):
district, the community, theparents, the families there to
love these children well andprovide for their needs through
teachers and education.
So that kind of hacks our plan.
Talk to me about howreconciliation what?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
how does your work foster reconciliation in a place
like?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Marks Mississippi, and what lessons, what
challenges, what hurdles haveyou stumbled across in terms of
doing that work on the way tobridging the gap between black
and brown and white in thiscommunity in Marks Mississippi?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, well, I'll say you know, initially, when we
hacked the spread, I'm proud theway that our organization came
into the community and said hey,what are the needs?
We want to listen, you know,and find out what just can I
stop you there and just say howincredibly thankful I am that
your organization operate withkind of humility.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
That didn't assume that you knew.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, because, because, so many times and when
we're talking about missions,there's like hey, we have a
model, we have a plan.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
We're going to bring that model and bring that plan
into your community.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Regardless of whether or not you think you should not
stay set, we know what's bestfor you.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
We know what's best for you, and there's an
incredible amount of humilityand also wisdom in the ability
to go into a community and saywe may have resources, but that
doesn't necessarily mean we havemouth, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
And so let us bring resources, but also let us
curate knowledge to ensure weunderstand what's happening in
the community so we can help thecommunity.
So I'm incredibly grateful thatyou guys took that approach.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I think that is what I'm soproud of, even though I wasn't a
part of that meeting.
It was merely spirit led, andhas continued to be spirit led
in that humility of Christ, tostep in somewhere and ask what
the needs are.
And so you know, I think, what,what has helped us foster that
reconciliation in the communitywhich hasn't been easy and I'll
(14:42):
get to that but I think it's thewillingness to listen and then
tell the story and champion thatcommunity.
And so what has fosteredreconciliation?
You know, we came in, and if youknow anything about Mississippi
Delta, it doesn't matter whatcolor your skin is.
If you came in from outside ofMississippi Delta into
Mississippi Delta, you're notour people.
(15:03):
You know, and that has beensomething that has been
challenging in terms of peoplecoming into the community and
saying, hey, we're going to dothis program, we're going to do
this program, we're going tolaunch this new thing.
And I feel like, in a lot ofways, people just kind of sat
back and waited and looked andsaid, okay, I see that they're
here, but I think they're sayingyou're ready to be here, or is
this a project?
Or, you know, is this somethingthat needs to be a project?
(15:26):
Exactly, exactly, absolutely,and.
And so, anyways, as we came in,what I loved about our team is
they immediately began to serve.
They listened to the needs ofthe community and they began to
serve.
And I think one thing that hasfostered that is not that we
stepped into a position ofleadership or trying to say, hey
(15:46):
, we are the ones making anykind of change and difference in
this community, but we came toserve the institutions in the
community, right, and thatearned a lot of trust and credit
from the community, and that wewere bringing in people to come
and serve as teachers.
So at our inception, the heartwas for the orphan right, the
fatherless, and, as thescriptures teach that, god is
(16:09):
the defender of the fatherless,he's the defender of the weak,
he's the champion of the fourand the downtrodden, and so what
we identified as a calling forour organization is for those
children to be reclaimed intothe family of God, to be brought
into God's family as a way ofredemptive quality.
As a matter of fact, we have allbeen adopted, we have all been
(16:30):
redeemed, we've all been broughtinto the family of God, and so
it is a biblical word ofreclamation, redemption and
restoration that we play to.
So we have identified these andwhen you look at this, there's
a of rv words that fit into kindof the, the rehabilitation and
(16:53):
renovation, uh, that we seegod's work in our lives and what
we want to see god doing in ourcommunities.
Right, if we want to sayreconciliation is an re word and
we have that in common withother organizations who were
Christ-minded and want to seethat happen, so that reclaiming
is that original identity inChrist and that we are in fact
(17:16):
one race of human beings,together with it Now.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
he talked about this thing of reconciliation and
looking out for reconciliation.
How did you overcome being anoutsider?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yep, well, not easy, that's where.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I started and still I would say the burden is out,
I'm sorry, yep.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Well, not easy.
That's where I started and youknow, still I would say the
burden is out.
I'm not even going to giveourselves as much credit.
You still announced it.
Well, you know you are, butit's the hidden delta.
That's true.
How old have you been?
How old have you been?
So we opened up our building in2017, which was seven years ago
(17:52):
.
But I'll say the very firstteacher that we recruited and
sent to Quitman County, his name, is Daniel Meyer.
Daniel came in with the humbleattitude to serve.
He came in.
There was a need for a ninthgrade biology teacher.
It was a state-tested course.
They didn't have anybody toteach this subject, and so when
Daniel came in with his degreeand his qualifications to teach
the subject, he not only did hisjob, but he excelled, and he
(18:17):
did it with excellence, andpeople took notice of them, and
so, through his leadership ofbeing a servant leader and the
teachers that followed himbehind, daniel taught for six
years before he eventually movedout of the classroom and into a
ministry role and has moved onfrom that as well, but he set
the tone for our teachers to bethere and to serve and to love.
(18:42):
So, from the very beginning,when people thought about replan
, they didn't even know the namereclaimed.
They knew the village.
So there was a lot of he kindof like you know what is this?
What is this new organization?
They bought the buildingdowntown.
You know what are they doingand so, but I think over time,
as people saw the commitment ofour teachers and our staff to
love the children, that was whenthey said, ok, these people are
(19:05):
good, they're here loving andthey're serving.
And, yeah, we accept, and Ithink I was.
There's a process and a stillprocess, as you asked, but I
think earning that trust doesnot come easy.
You know, our program fostersrelational living in the
(19:25):
community, which is somethingthat differs from some of the
other education programs outthere, and that's not a
non-hominy of them, because Ithink our state needs all the
partnerships we can take in thearea of education.
But what's unique about ourteacher fellowship is that these
teachers are called to be inthe community to live in
relationship with theirneighbors, and they live in
(19:47):
Quibman County and I thinkthat's something that has been
unique about our program is thatpeople said hey, you know,
they're not just driving in fromout of town, which was often
the case with different thingsthat would be started and taken
place in Quibman County.
That's not a lot to thosepeople coming into service, but
what was unique about ourministry is that people uprooted
their lives and said we want tobe here with you.
(20:08):
There was a time for years atour exception when Marsh,
mississippi, was designated afood desert.
There was no grocery store butyet they looked at an
organization whose people werewilling to come and live in the
community and commute toBaysville or commute to
Clarksdale to go buy theirgroceries, just like the
residents in the community, andI think it earned a lot of trust
.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I want you to go back to the time you're stepping off
the plate.
How did that process go?
Because we're hearing aboutMississippi end.
But I think just as compellingis the global, is the African
end as well.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that time was superformative and learned so much,
having the opportunity toopportunity, mentored by
missionaries who'd been doingthat for 20 years and I could I
could literally sit here andlist off a thousand lessons that
I learned.
But one of the biggest changesthat happened when I came back
(21:03):
from being able to wantspecifically to those six months
we're all very impressionableat that age.
But when I came back tomississippi college number one I
realized, uh, wow, you knowthis, I was the, I was the only
white person in the room for sixmonths in africa, right.
And when I got back, uh, out toamerica, I realized, okay, man,
(21:26):
I felt more comfortable alittle bit in Africa with my
friends and my brothers andsisters in Christ there, and I
had come to love the diversitythat I experienced there so much
that I craved that.
When I got back to MississippiCollege and so I started seeking
it out, I found that while Iwas there, god gave me just kind
(21:46):
of a window into what we callthe Revelation 7-9 vision you
know where John talks about inthe book of Revelation and there
before me was a great multitudethat no one can count, from all
nations, from every family andtribe worshiping around the
throne.
And I think when I had steppedout of my comfort zone and
stepped out of my normalday-to-day relationships, I
(22:10):
experienced that and what thatled to me creating was the
opportunity to have that at home, and so I began to pursue that,
not only on campus but aroundthe city of Jackson.
I was led to Mission, firstthere in West Jackson, lethic.
Then I jumped right in, I saidhey, I want to be a part of what
God's doing in our city andstarted volunteering there, got
(22:33):
involved with after schooltutoring, was a tutor.
Then I got involved with CityChurch in Jackson, with Luke and
them, and I got involved atthat church and I saw so many
young people, through theirapartment ministries all over
the city of Jackson, come tofaith, got to pray with them and
I was motivated by seeingmyself outside of the homogenous
(22:56):
church that I had grown up in.
God had given me a vision ofthat multi-ethnic church while I
had been in a foreign context,so much so that when I got back
to Mississippi I craved that inmy everyday walk.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
What kind of you mentioned challenges and you
said we were going to dig intothose a little bit.
You talk about the challengesof crossing those ethnic racial
barriers in Africa, crossingthose racial and ethnic barriers
here in the States in Lawrence,mississippi.
What are some of the mostprominent that Reclaim Project
face as it relates to barriersthat you have to cross?
(23:31):
What are some of the lessonsthat?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
God taught you through crossing those barriers.
You know, I think a lot oftimes we're afraid and this is
from personal experience we'reafraid of acceptance in another
group.
You know, and I can say thatfrom personal experience, to
cross a boundary that you mightbe afraid of crossing is a big
hurdle.
You know, and I can say thatfrom personal experience, to
cross a boundary that you mightbe afraid of crossing is a big
hurdle, you know, and but whatwe often find is that when we
(23:56):
are able and encouraged to stepacross that boundary, in that
barrier, all be them invisible,what we find is we there was no
reason for that fear, becausethe people that we encounter on
the other side of those barriersare just like us and there's
rich relationship and friendshipthere and we're able to foster
(24:17):
those relationships.
And so I think some of the someof the difficulties is is just
relationally trying to helpfacilitate those things.
You know we would.
When we first started in QuidnaCounty, a lot of people wouldn't
come into our building.
You know because, number one,the building had been a place
under segregation laws inMississippi where black people
(24:39):
were not invited into thatbuilding.
And now, once this building isreopened, we're trying to have
an area and a geographical spacewhere all people are welcome to
come in.
And so I know people from theolder generations in Quitman
County who just wouldn't come inthe building, you know, because
it was not a safe place.
Praise the Lord, I can testifytoday that we have meetings all
(25:03):
throughout the day in thevillage and it has become a
community meeting center.
It's been so neat to watch thattransformation and there's still
work to be done.
I mean, it's a continuedprogress, but what it takes is
time and being willing to stepout of our comfort zone to meet
people along the way.
And so what's been neat is justwatching trust be built between
(25:26):
our organization and our teamthere on the ground.
And what does that look like?
It looks like serving, and Ithink what's been neat is to see
all of the people who are inand out of those doors every day
now.
And I remember from thebeginning, and even a lady her
name is Pat Love, she's on ourstaff now Grew up in Footman
County and she tells story afterstory after story about this
particular bill county and shetells story after story after
(25:50):
story about this particularbuilt, you know, and just how,
and it brings moves her to tearsjust thinking about that.
What god is doing in thecommunity by restoring the
visible place where our ministryis what?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
yeah, I'm glad you made that point.
I want to re-emphasize thatagain.
So so often we're missmississippi, we are all over the
state and I ever recallnumerous experiences where we
would have these meetings and itwas not known in historical
situations, and all the whitepeople showed up and other black
(26:18):
people showed up, and then wewondered why.
And then again it expressed tous what they think.
I said wait, you all playingthis with me.
You're just like y'all set usup here.
How does this work?
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Well, I think, as you mentioned and as I was speaking
to earlier, it was a gradualpresence.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Continued presence.
So intentionality and patience,and patience, and patience.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
It is now Exactly, and patience, exactly it does
now Exactly, and I think youknow the commitment to something
that's bigger than numbers or aproject or anything that we're
trying to achieve for ourselves.
It's a commitment toreconciliation, to seeing what
is broken in our state restoredand redeemed and reclaimed back
(27:12):
to how it should have been inthe first place.
And and so I think that the waythat we came in to allow
teachers to come and serve thechildren, teachers to come and
serve the children and then when, specifically when we opened
our building downstairs, thevillage, it was a place for
(27:33):
children to come and to learnand to be empowered through
education, and I think that'ssomething that everybody can get
behind.
It's something that we all knowis a problem in our state and
something that needs to happen.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
You know, what you've described in some sense is the
idea that they're going to havea teacher airport where the
students from other states orother locations come into the
objects of not only as rush forthe education, of all
opportunities, and spend timethere and do something.
I know a little bit about that,but most of the time they come
here spend their two years andthey're gone, and so what you're
(28:12):
demonstrating here is along-term commitment that
requires a lot of love and careand commitment on our part.
You know, when Jesus says, gointo all the nations and teach
them, we forget about the teachthem.
We forget about the teach them,but also we forget the fact
that it takes us time AbsolutelyTo get what we the teach them.
We forget about the teach them,but also we forget the fact
that it takes us time AbsolutelyTo get what we can teach them.
(28:32):
You know, out of the past Iused to say I'm fully equipped
to say for the work of theministry, but the sacks got to
show up.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
And so sometimes the sacks doesn't show up because of
all the historical dilemma thatwe find ourselves in.
And so we always try to answerthis question about how we got
here, why we can't stay here andhow we're going to get out of
here.
So that's interesting to methat some of your reconciliation
as a nation will be claimingthe children, as you call it
(29:01):
right, or not reclaiming.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I'm compelled and we want to put a bowl in this
conversation, but what lessonshas Quickman County, barks,
mississippi, africa and thepeople therein, what lessons
have they taught you?
You know, again it goes back tothe humility piece, but we're
always thinking that there'ssomething we're going to teach
(29:25):
them right.
What lessons have they taughtyou in this experience?
Absolutely Well, I say I'llstart with Africa, that I bring
it home to Mississippi.
One of the things that I'velearned yeah, I grew up in a
tradition of church where we didthings differently than the way
(29:46):
that things were done in Africa, and experiencing the way that
the church operated there was soincredibly life-changing for me
.
So I could name a hundreddifferent things, but I think
one of the things that hasparticularly changed the lives
of my wife and myself and I saymy wife because she challenges
(30:10):
me each and every day in myfaith by the way she prays, and
if you ask my wife where shelearned to pray, okay, she might
bypass even her grandmother andall the relatives that have
come that have been believers inour family, and she would go
straight to one of the pastor'swives in Africa.
(30:31):
Her name is May Manea and, tothis day, my wife.
If we have a problem or we havean issue, whether it be family
or ministry related or a need,she will call her and say May
Manea, what do I do?
Do I do this lady the pastor'swife's name, and she'll say well
(30:51):
, have you prayed and fasted?
And uh, I mean because it'slike why do we keep asking the
same question?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
uh, pray and fast, and we're doing all this is on
national.
Yeah, we go.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
That's why we're exactly, and so, uh, but you
know that has changed us so much, so, um, that we have, for the
first time as a family, uh, uh,taking the lord's call and the
lord's commandment seriously.
He's always been there in hisword, but when we saw it, lived
out by the church in africa topray and to fast and I'm not
(31:25):
even talking about the adultsnow, this could happen without
going to Africa.
Right, that's true, that's true.
But where we experienced it,and we saw it modeled for us,
was something we just neverexperienced in our own church
tradition.
But it's not just the adults inthe church there, it's the
children that we're caring for,the children, the vulnerable
(31:47):
children that are at risk ofhunger there have been willing
to pray and to fast.
I'll get emotional about itwhen I talk about them trying to
pray for me.
You know, and it's just thishumbling thing, that we need
each other.
You know we need each other,and I think that's something
(32:08):
that I've learned in QuintinCounty as well.
Just seeing physical povertydoes not mean spiritual poverty.
There's a difference.
Where there's wealth, there canbe a lot of spiritual poverty,
and I have learned that inQuintin County, coming from a
background where I had what Ineeded but might have had a lack
of spiritual poverty, and Ihave learned that in Quinton
(32:28):
County, coming from a backgroundwhere I have what I needed but
might have had a lack ofspiritual richness, I have
learned that in Quinton County,with many of the pastors and
other individuals and churchmembers there that I've
encountered along the way whohave such a deep rooted faith
and trust in the Lord, andthat's what I've learned.
This has been a wonderfulepisode of Living Reconciled.
(32:58):
If you have not yet subscribedto our podcast, are you waiting
for it?
You can go to any podcast appand you can subscribe to Living
Reconciled by searching LivingReconciled Mission Mississippi.
Also, please feel free to sharewith your friends and family.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
On behalf of myself, brian Crawford Lady.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Winters, Austin Boyle , Brett Barhill, signing off
saying God bless.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
God bless.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Thanks for joining Living Reconciled.
If you would like moreinformation on how you can be a
part of the ongoing work ofhelping Christians learn how to
live in the reconciliation thatJesus has already secured,
please visit us online atmissionmississippiorg or call us
at 601-353-6477.
Thanks again for listening.
This is Living Reconciled, a podcast dedicated
to giving our communitiespractical evidence of the gospel
message by helping Christianslearn how to live in the
reconciliation that Jesus hasalready secured for us by living
with grace across racial lines.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hey, thanks so much for joining us on this episode
of Living Reconciled.
I am your host, ryan Crawford,and I am hanging out with some
really good friends of mine Manywinners, austin Boyle.
Our podcast is sponsored byincredible people folks like
Nissan, atmos Energy, stDominic's Hospital.
We have incredible individualslike Bob Lurie and Winters that
(00:53):
sponsored this podcast, and wecouldn't do it without them.
So we want to say thank you,and thank you to all the other
sponsors that we have not named,for making this podcast
possible, because it's becauseof what you do that we're able
to do everything that we do, andtoday I am so excited because
we have a gentleman here who isdoing incredible work in the
(01:13):
kingdom of god, my brother brettbarnett from the v clay project
.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Brother, how you doing, I'm good.
How are you doing, man, if weare doing wonderful?
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Start by telling us a little bit about Riff.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, first of all, I'm notfrom Mississippi Born and raised
I like to call it the sisterstate next door in Alabama.
My parents I had an identitycrisis growing up anyways,
because my parents are Texastransplants to Alabama, and so I
grew up in Birmingham.
My dad was an avid Longhornsfan and you know anything about
(01:49):
Birmingham.
Alabama college football is thelore, I should put it that way.
And so, anyway, growing up mydad said you absolutely cannot
be an Alabama fan and youabsolutely cannot be an Auburn
fan.
You're a Longhorn.
And so I walk around the hallsof schools saying I was a Texas
Longhorn.
People looked at me like I wasa Texas Longhorn, walked up
through the hallways and so Igrew up there.
(02:10):
But the Lord called me intoministry at an early age.
As such, I started praying Lord, where do you want me to go?
And my youth pastor at churchat the time is from Pearl
Mississippi and he said you haveto go check out Mississippi
College.
So that kind of brought me fromAlabama to Mississippi College,
met my wife there, fell in lovewith her and began kind of a
(02:32):
journey in ministry after school.
Praise God, praise God, I got asophomore right now at
Mississippi College.
Yeah, that's Choctaw.
So shout out to the Choctaws.
We're excited, we're incrediblyexcited.
It's a great school Peace, love.
We're excited, we're incrediblyexcited.
It's a great school, he'sloving it.
So thank you for sharing alittle bit about, about Red.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Tell us a little bit about how we got from
Mississippi Conference to theReclaim project.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Absolutely so.
While I was in school there wasan opportunity.
Well, let me back up just alittle bit about what I was
pursuing, you know, while I wasat MC.
So when I was in high school,my pastor was preaching a sermon
called Multiplying Exponential,and it was a sermon on the
Great Commission and our callingas believers to make disciples
(03:15):
of all nations.
And I was touched by that andreally given a calling from the
Lord that I was supposed to goand be on mission.
I didn't know where that wasgoing to mission.
I didn't know where that wasgoing to be, I didn't know what
that was going to look like, butI just knew that it was time
for me to get ready.
And so when I arrived atMississippi College, I signed up
.
So I was out of the country.
I had actually gone on amission trip overseas the summer
(03:39):
between my senior year of highschool and college and I missed
class sign-up and I didn't knowthat was a big deal, nor did my
parents.
But I showed up at school and Ihad misorientation and
everything and I was on thefootball team.
A typical football player hadto sign up for classes.
So they came in and they saidwell, you know, son, you need to
(03:59):
sign up for some classes.
I said classes, we're going totalk about classes.
So, anyway, they put all theathletes in a room okay, so it
was a computer lab of sorts andthey sat us down and they said
you need to sign up for classes.
And there was one individual inthere facilitating all of us
athletes trying to sign up forclasses.
Well, I sat down by a soccerplayer who also hadn't signed up
(04:21):
for classes.
I introduced myself myself andwe kind of hit it off and
everything.
And I said well, what are yougoing to sign up for?
He said I don't know.
What are you going to sign upfor.
I said let's just do ittogether.
So we made the exact sameschedule.
I sat down to sign up forclasses and I signed up for a
class communications.
Well, it was calledintercultural communication,
(04:42):
something that I thought I mightneed to know if I'm going to go
to the mission fieldintercultural communication.
But it was titled Come 449.
And that means it's a 400 levelclass, you know, for upper
faculty.
And so I just said that soundslike a great class.
I signed up for it and so I getin.
It is Friday, excuse me, mondaymorning 8 am, my very first
(05:03):
college class, and I sit downand the professor introduced
himself.
He said my name is RobertFortberry, I'm a missionary with
the International Mission Boardand I'm on furlough and I'm
going to teach this class aboutintercultural communication.
Let's say a prayer.
And I was so struck.
I grew up in public schools inBirmingham and we didn't say
prayer at the beginning of theirclass, and so this was my first
experience at a religiousinstitution of higher learning
(05:26):
and I said, okay, this is gonnabe fun, we're gonna pray.
So we prayed and then he beganto dive into his light as a
missionary and I was sointrigued and he, because he was
an adjunct professor, he didnot know I wasn't supposed to be
in that class and so he neverkicked me out and I finished the
course and had a pretty goodgrade, if I recall.
So anyway, during that class hebegan to.
(05:50):
That's really where this visionfrom the Lord and clarity on
the calling of my life of to goand make the cycles in Africa.
So the way this happened Irolled out.
The very next year, my sophomoreyear at Mississippi College,
there was an opportunity forsome of us college students to
go to a country called Botswanait's just north of South Africa,
(06:13):
in Southern Africa and bementored by my professor.
So he was going back to themission field and he took four
of us college students fromMississippi College and we
walked alongside of them for sixmonths as he discipled us, as
he taught us what it looks liketo live on mission for God in a
foreign context and to build hiskingdom.
We were planting churches.
He would drop us off in avillage and tell us to start
(06:36):
praying and prayer, walking andgoing and sharing the gospel in
people's homes and praise theLord.
The fruit of those labors ledto the planting of multiple
churches amongst the Botswanapeople there in Botswana, which
was really awesome.
One of the reasons why we wereso intrigued to bring you into
this conversation, rhett, today,was because we were looking at
your work and we see thistension that oftentimes the body
(07:00):
price has.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
where it's like international emissions, we're
supposed to go right, right, andthen you ask the people say no
no, no, we're supposed to stay,and there's work to be done here
.
Absolutely Reclaim Progenica,saying why not vote Amen?
And you guys are in Africa,serving overseas and reaching
people groups that are not inthe States and gearing of all
(07:23):
places.
Marks, mississippi serving thepeople of Marks, mississippi,
and doing incredible work there.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
How did you get there and what does it look like for
the Reclaim Project to be onmission both in?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Africa and in Mars.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, well, I'll just tell you this it is an
incredible blessing, and it hasbeen so fruitful in my own walk
with the Lord and spiritualjourney to be able to serve in
that way, to be able to say topeople yeah, we're working in
Africa and we're working righthere at home in Mississippi, and
kind of how that happened.
When Reclaim was formed as anorganization, it was around the
(08:04):
heart of James 127, which saysreligion that God, our Father,
accepts as pure and flawless asthis, to look after orphans and
widows and to keep oneself andbe included by the world.
And so, in as much as we werelocked into existence by calling
from Scripture to care forvulnerable children and
vulnerable members of ourcommunities, we were doing that
(08:26):
in a foreign context becausethat's what we knew, and so we
were doing this.
But our board of directors, asit does, come up, sometimes some
people say, oh, that's coolthat you're called to that, but
I feel called to be here.
And so that touched our heartsas an organization and we began
to pray and seek the Lord.
What about the children here inMississippi?
(08:47):
What about the church here inMississippi?
What can we do to partner withthe church and with communities
to lift up the children in ourown neighborhoods, in our own
communities.
And so that began a journey ofprayer.
So what about large Mississippi?
Yeah, so as we were praying wereached out to a gentleman named
Lance Reed who was aChick-fil-A owner operator.
(09:07):
He was a friend of one of ourboard members working in Oxford.
He owns the Chick-fil-A's inOxford and so as someone he was
very active already in theQuibble County community and
they were doing some leadershiptraining that they had started
in the schools.
And so our board reached out toLance and said Lance, we want
to do something in Mississippi.
What do you think?
He said, well, you need to goto Quibble Hattuck, because God
(09:29):
is already doing somethingincredible there.
And so our organization got inthe car, we drove up to Osser,
let Lance in the car, drove allthe way across Batesville into
Quibble County and we pulled upto Marks Mississippi and from
the very beginning God began toorchestrate a beautiful
partnership between us and theschool district.
(09:51):
We sat down with some leadersthat day, including the mayor of
Marks Mississippi, the formersuperintendent, dr Evelyn Jocel,
who had been in that positionfor a couple of years and was
installed as the school was anF-rated school, as many schools
in the area are lower rated andunder-resourced.
And we began to ask thequestions what are the biggest
(10:12):
needs in this community?
And I love that our board I wasin Africa at the time full
disclosure, we were, you know,head down doing our work there.
But our board sat down andlistened to the community and
said what are the biggest needsin areas where you need help in
this community and how canReclaim Health?
And so, being the schoolsuperintendent, dr Josel piped
(10:33):
up.
She said well, I'll tell youright now exactly what we need.
We need teachers.
One of the biggest strugglesacross our whole state and in
our nation, especially inMississippi Delta, is how do
teachers?
And she said, I have a hugepercentage of teachers in my
classrooms that are notcertified and that are not
qualified to be teaching thesecourses and, as a result, our
(10:57):
students are not learning.
And so she said, we needcertified teachers.
And secondly, not just teachers, but we need housing for those
teachers, because when we do getteachers, they end up residing
outside of the community and andtheir turnover is pretty high.
A lot of times they'll stay forone year but then they're not
putting down roots in thegenerality and they're going to
(11:18):
be gone.
They can't investextracurricularly as well as
schools.
And so she said and the thirdthing we need is Lord, we need
Jesus in this community.
Yeah, so our ministry, she'sthe, the, the wife of a
missionary baptist pastor inlambert, mississippi, three
miles south of marks.
And so, uh, she, she just saidthat's what we need in this
community.
So we said, okay, the jesuspart.
(11:40):
All right, we're all, we're onboard with that.
You know, we, we're all aboutit.
But let's talk.
Let's start talking about whatthis looks like to help quibman
County find teachers and retainteachers and provide housing.
So before our board had left,they had identified, with some
of the other community leadersthat were there that day, a
building in downtown Lawrence,mississippi, which was the
(12:02):
cornerstone building there.
It used to be a drugstore and abuilding that's been vacant for
about as many of the downtownbuildings still are, and it was
an 8,000 square foot building,has 4,000 square feet above and
4,000 square feet below, and sothat week we had to plan to
renovate the upstate, topurchase and renovate the
(12:24):
building to provide apartmentsfor teachers in the Quibman
County community and then,downstairs, to have after-school
educational enrichment for theschool district, and so we named
the property the village, afterthe African proverb it takes a
village to raise a child.
We all are familiar with thatsaying and that is the heart of
our ministry is that we want tocome alongside the school
(12:46):
district, the community, theparents, the families there to
love these children well andprovide for their needs through
teachers and education.
So that kind of hacks our plan.
Talk to me about howreconciliation what?
Speaker 1 (13:01):
how does your work foster reconciliation in a place
like?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Marks Mississippi, and what lessons, what
challenges, what hurdles haveyou stumbled across in terms of
doing that work on the way tobridging the gap between black
and brown and white in thiscommunity in Marks Mississippi?
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Yeah, well, I'll say you know, initially, when we
hacked the spread, I'm proud theway that our organization came
into the community and said hey,what are the needs?
We want to listen, you know,and find out what just can I
stop you there and just say howincredibly thankful I am that
your organization operate withkind of humility.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
That didn't assume that you knew.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, because, because, so many times and when
we're talking about missions,there's like hey, we have a
model, we have a plan.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
We're going to bring that model and bring that plan
into your community.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Regardless of whether or not you think you should not
stay set, we know what's bestfor you.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
We know what's best for you, and there's an
incredible amount of humilityand also wisdom in the ability
to go into a community and saywe may have resources, but that
doesn't necessarily mean we havemouth, yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
And so let us bring resources, but also let us
curate knowledge to ensure weunderstand what's happening in
the community so we can help thecommunity.
So I'm incredibly grateful thatyou guys took that approach.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I think that is what I'm soproud of, even though I wasn't a
part of that meeting.
It was merely spirit led, andhas continued to be spirit led
in that humility of Christ, tostep in somewhere and ask what
the needs are.
And so you know, I think, what,what has helped us foster that
reconciliation in the communitywhich hasn't been easy and I'll
(14:42):
get to that but I think it's thewillingness to listen and then
tell the story and champion thatcommunity.
And so what has fosteredreconciliation?
You know, we came in, and if youknow anything about Mississippi
Delta, it doesn't matter whatcolor your skin is.
If you came in from outside ofMississippi Delta into
Mississippi Delta, you're notour people.
(15:03):
You know, and that has beensomething that has been
challenging in terms of peoplecoming into the community and
saying, hey, we're going to dothis program, we're going to do
this program, we're going tolaunch this new thing.
And I feel like, in a lot ofways, people just kind of sat
back and waited and looked andsaid, okay, I see that they're
here, but I think they're sayingyou're ready to be here, or is
this a project?
Or, you know, is this somethingthat needs to be a project?
(15:26):
Exactly, exactly, absolutely,and.
And so, anyways, as we came in,what I loved about our team is
they immediately began to serve.
They listened to the needs ofthe community and they began to
serve.
And I think one thing that hasfostered that is not that we
stepped into a position ofleadership or trying to say, hey
(15:46):
, we are the ones making anykind of change and difference in
this community, but we came toserve the institutions in the
community, right, and thatearned a lot of trust and credit
from the community, and that wewere bringing in people to come
and serve as teachers.
So at our inception, the heartwas for the orphan right, the
fatherless, and, as thescriptures teach that, god is
(16:09):
the defender of the fatherless,he's the defender of the weak,
he's the champion of the fourand the downtrodden, and so what
we identified as a calling forour organization is for those
children to be reclaimed intothe family of God, to be brought
into God's family as a way ofredemptive quality.
As a matter of fact, we have allbeen adopted, we have all been
(16:30):
redeemed, we've all been broughtinto the family of God, and so
it is a biblical word ofreclamation, redemption and
restoration that we play to.
So we have identified these andwhen you look at this, there's
a of rv words that fit into kindof the, the rehabilitation and
(16:53):
renovation, uh, that we seegod's work in our lives and what
we want to see god doing in ourcommunities.
Right, if we want to sayreconciliation is an re word and
we have that in common withother organizations who were
Christ-minded and want to seethat happen, so that reclaiming
is that original identity inChrist and that we are in fact
(17:16):
one race of human beings,together with it Now.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
he talked about this thing of reconciliation and
looking out for reconciliation.
How did you overcome being anoutsider?
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yep, well, not easy, that's where.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I started and still I would say the burden is out,
I'm sorry, yep.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Well, not easy.
That's where I started and youknow, still I would say the
burden is out.
I'm not even going to giveourselves as much credit.
You still announced it.
Well, you know you are, butit's the hidden delta.
That's true.
How old have you been?
How old have you been?
So we opened up our building in2017, which was seven years ago
(17:52):
.
But I'll say the very firstteacher that we recruited and
sent to Quitman County, his name, is Daniel Meyer.
Daniel came in with the humbleattitude to serve.
He came in.
There was a need for a ninthgrade biology teacher.
It was a state-tested course.
They didn't have anybody toteach this subject, and so when
Daniel came in with his degreeand his qualifications to teach
the subject, he not only did hisjob, but he excelled, and he
(18:17):
did it with excellence, andpeople took notice of them, and
so, through his leadership ofbeing a servant leader and the
teachers that followed himbehind, daniel taught for six
years before he eventually movedout of the classroom and into a
ministry role and has moved onfrom that as well, but he set
the tone for our teachers to bethere and to serve and to love.
(18:42):
So, from the very beginning,when people thought about replan
, they didn't even know the namereclaimed.
They knew the village.
So there was a lot of he kindof like you know what is this?
What is this new organization?
They bought the buildingdowntown.
You know what are they doingand so, but I think over time,
as people saw the commitment ofour teachers and our staff to
love the children, that was whenthey said, ok, these people are
(19:05):
good, they're here loving andthey're serving.
And, yeah, we accept, and Ithink I was.
There's a process and a stillprocess, as you asked, but I
think earning that trust doesnot come easy.
You know, our program fostersrelational living in the
(19:25):
community, which is somethingthat differs from some of the
other education programs outthere, and that's not a
non-hominy of them, because Ithink our state needs all the
partnerships we can take in thearea of education.
But what's unique about ourteacher fellowship is that these
teachers are called to be inthe community to live in
relationship with theirneighbors, and they live in
(19:47):
Quibman County and I thinkthat's something that has been
unique about our program is thatpeople said hey, you know,
they're not just driving in fromout of town, which was often
the case with different thingsthat would be started and taken
place in Quibman County.
That's not a lot to thosepeople coming into service, but
what was unique about ourministry is that people uprooted
their lives and said we want tobe here with you.
(20:08):
There was a time for years atour exception when Marsh,
mississippi, was designated afood desert.
There was no grocery store butyet they looked at an
organization whose people werewilling to come and live in the
community and commute toBaysville or commute to
Clarksdale to go buy theirgroceries, just like the
residents in the community, andI think it earned a lot of trust
.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I want you to go back to the time you're stepping off
the plate.
How did that process go?
Because we're hearing aboutMississippi end.
But I think just as compellingis the global, is the African
end as well.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, that time was superformative and learned so much,
having the opportunity toopportunity, mentored by
missionaries who'd been doingthat for 20 years and I could I
could literally sit here andlist off a thousand lessons that
I learned.
But one of the biggest changesthat happened when I came back
(21:03):
from being able to wantspecifically to those six months
we're all very impressionableat that age.
But when I came back tomississippi college number one I
realized, uh, wow, you knowthis, I was the, I was the only
white person in the room for sixmonths in africa, right.
And when I got back, uh, out toamerica, I realized, okay, man,
(21:26):
I felt more comfortable alittle bit in Africa with my
friends and my brothers andsisters in Christ there, and I
had come to love the diversitythat I experienced there so much
that I craved that.
When I got back to MississippiCollege and so I started seeking
it out, I found that while Iwas there, god gave me just kind
(21:46):
of a window into what we callthe Revelation 7-9 vision you
know where John talks about inthe book of Revelation and there
before me was a great multitudethat no one can count, from all
nations, from every family andtribe worshiping around the
throne.
And I think when I had steppedout of my comfort zone and
stepped out of my normalday-to-day relationships, I
(22:10):
experienced that and what thatled to me creating was the
opportunity to have that at home, and so I began to pursue that,
not only on campus but aroundthe city of Jackson.
I was led to Mission, firstthere in West Jackson, lethic.
Then I jumped right in, I saidhey, I want to be a part of what
God's doing in our city andstarted volunteering there, got
(22:33):
involved with after schooltutoring, was a tutor.
Then I got involved with CityChurch in Jackson, with Luke and
them, and I got involved atthat church and I saw so many
young people, through theirapartment ministries all over
the city of Jackson, come tofaith, got to pray with them and
I was motivated by seeingmyself outside of the homogenous
(22:56):
church that I had grown up in.
God had given me a vision ofthat multi-ethnic church while I
had been in a foreign context,so much so that when I got back
to Mississippi I craved that inmy everyday walk.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
What kind of you mentioned challenges and you
said we were going to dig intothose a little bit.
You talk about the challengesof crossing those ethnic racial
barriers in Africa, crossingthose racial and ethnic barriers
here in the States in Lawrence,mississippi.
What are some of the mostprominent that Reclaim Project
face as it relates to barriersthat you have to cross?
(23:31):
What are some of the lessonsthat?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
God taught you through crossing those barriers.
You know, I think a lot oftimes we're afraid and this is
from personal experience we'reafraid of acceptance in another
group.
You know, and I can say thatfrom personal experience, to
cross a boundary that you mightbe afraid of crossing is a big
hurdle.
You know, and I can say thatfrom personal experience, to
cross a boundary that you mightbe afraid of crossing is a big
hurdle, you know, and but whatwe often find is that when we
(23:56):
are able and encouraged to stepacross that boundary, in that
barrier, all be them invisible,what we find is we there was no
reason for that fear, becausethe people that we encounter on
the other side of those barriersare just like us and there's
rich relationship and friendshipthere and we're able to foster
(24:17):
those relationships.
And so I think some of the someof the difficulties is is just
relationally trying to helpfacilitate those things.
You know we would.
When we first started in QuidnaCounty, a lot of people wouldn't
come into our building.
You know because, number one,the building had been a place
under segregation laws inMississippi where black people
(24:39):
were not invited into thatbuilding.
And now, once this building isreopened, we're trying to have
an area and a geographical spacewhere all people are welcome to
come in.
And so I know people from theolder generations in Quitman
County who just wouldn't come inthe building, you know, because
it was not a safe place.
Praise the Lord, I can testifytoday that we have meetings all
(25:03):
throughout the day in thevillage and it has become a
community meeting center.
It's been so neat to watch thattransformation and there's still
work to be done.
I mean, it's a continuedprogress, but what it takes is
time and being willing to stepout of our comfort zone to meet
people along the way.
And so what's been neat is justwatching trust be built between
(25:26):
our organization and our teamthere on the ground.
And what does that look like?
It looks like serving, and Ithink what's been neat is to see
all of the people who are inand out of those doors every day
now.
And I remember from thebeginning, and even a lady her
name is Pat Love, she's on ourstaff now Grew up in Footman
County and she tells story afterstory after story about this
particular bill county and shetells story after story after
(25:50):
story about this particularbuilt, you know, and just how,
and it brings moves her to tearsjust thinking about that.
What god is doing in thecommunity by restoring the
visible place where our ministryis what?
Speaker 3 (25:57):
yeah, I'm glad you made that point.
I want to re-emphasize thatagain.
So so often we're missmississippi, we are all over the
state and I ever recallnumerous experiences where we
would have these meetings and itwas not known in historical
situations, and all the whitepeople showed up and other black
(26:18):
people showed up, and then wewondered why.
And then again it expressed tous what they think.
I said wait, you all playingthis with me.
You're just like y'all set usup here.
How does this work?
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Well, I think, as you mentioned and as I was speaking
to earlier, it was a gradualpresence.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Continued presence.
So intentionality and patience,and patience, and patience.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
It is now Exactly, and patience, exactly it does
now Exactly, and I think youknow the commitment to something
that's bigger than numbers or aproject or anything that we're
trying to achieve for ourselves.
It's a commitment toreconciliation, to seeing what
is broken in our state restoredand redeemed and reclaimed back
(27:12):
to how it should have been inthe first place.
And and so I think that the waythat we came in to allow
teachers to come and serve thechildren, teachers to come and
serve the children and then when, specifically when we opened
our building downstairs, thevillage, it was a place for
(27:33):
children to come and to learnand to be empowered through
education, and I think that'ssomething that everybody can get
behind.
It's something that we all knowis a problem in our state and
something that needs to happen.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
You know, what you've described in some sense is the
idea that they're going to havea teacher airport where the
students from other states orother locations come into the
objects of not only as rush forthe education, of all
opportunities, and spend timethere and do something.
I know a little bit about that,but most of the time they come
here spend their two years andthey're gone, and so what you're
(28:12):
demonstrating here is along-term commitment that
requires a lot of love and careand commitment on our part.
You know, when Jesus says, gointo all the nations and teach
them, we forget about the teachthem.
We forget about the teach them,but also we forget the fact
that it takes us time AbsolutelyTo get what we the teach them.
We forget about the teach them,but also we forget the fact
that it takes us time AbsolutelyTo get what we can teach them.
(28:32):
You know, out of the past Iused to say I'm fully equipped
to say for the work of theministry, but the sacks got to
show up.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
And so sometimes the sacks doesn't show up because of
all the historical dilemma thatwe find ourselves in.
And so we always try to answerthis question about how we got
here, why we can't stay here andhow we're going to get out of
here.
So that's interesting to methat some of your reconciliation
as a nation will be claimingthe children, as you call it
(29:01):
right, or not reclaiming.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I'm compelled and we want to put a bowl in this
conversation, but what lessonshas Quickman County, barks,
mississippi, africa and thepeople therein, what lessons
have they taught you?
You know, again it goes back tothe humility piece, but we're
always thinking that there'ssomething we're going to teach
(29:25):
them right.
What lessons have they taughtyou in this experience?
Absolutely Well, I say I'llstart with Africa, that I bring
it home to Mississippi.
One of the things that I'velearned yeah, I grew up in a
tradition of church where we didthings differently than the way
(29:46):
that things were done in Africa, and experiencing the way that
the church operated there was soincredibly life-changing for me
.
So I could name a hundreddifferent things, but I think
one of the things that hasparticularly changed the lives
of my wife and myself and I saymy wife because she challenges
(30:10):
me each and every day in myfaith by the way she prays, and
if you ask my wife where shelearned to pray, okay, she might
bypass even her grandmother andall the relatives that have
come that have been believers inour family, and she would go
straight to one of the pastor'swives in Africa.
(30:31):
Her name is May Manea and, tothis day, my wife.
If we have a problem or we havean issue, whether it be family
or ministry related or a need,she will call her and say May
Manea, what do I do?
Do I do this lady the pastor'swife's name, and she'll say well
(30:51):
, have you prayed and fasted?
And uh, I mean because it'slike why do we keep asking the
same question?
Speaker 3 (30:58):
uh, pray and fast, and we're doing all this is on
national.
Yeah, we go.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
That's why we're exactly, and so, uh, but you
know that has changed us so much, so, um, that we have, for the
first time as a family, uh, uh,taking the lord's call and the
lord's commandment seriously.
He's always been there in hisword, but when we saw it, lived
out by the church in africa topray and to fast and I'm not
(31:25):
even talking about the adultsnow, this could happen without
going to Africa.
Right, that's true, that's true.
But where we experienced it,and we saw it modeled for us,
was something we just neverexperienced in our own church
tradition.
But it's not just the adults inthe church there, it's the
children that we're caring for,the children, the vulnerable
(31:47):
children that are at risk ofhunger there have been willing
to pray and to fast.
I'll get emotional about itwhen I talk about them trying to
pray for me.
You know, and it's just thishumbling thing, that we need
each other.
You know we need each other,and I think that's something
(32:08):
that I've learned in QuintinCounty as well.
Just seeing physical povertydoes not mean spiritual poverty.
There's a difference.
Where there's wealth, there canbe a lot of spiritual poverty,
and I have learned that inQuintin County, coming from a
background where I had what Ineeded but might have had a lack
of spiritual poverty, and Ihave learned that in Quinton
(32:28):
County, coming from a backgroundwhere I have what I needed but
might have had a lack ofspiritual richness, I have
learned that in Quinton County,with many of the pastors and
other individuals and churchmembers there that I've
encountered along the way whohave such a deep rooted faith
and trust in the Lord, andthat's what I've learned.
This has been a wonderfulepisode of Living Reconciled.
(32:58):
If you have not yet subscribedto our podcast, are you waiting
for it?
You can go to any podcast appand you can subscribe to Living
Reconciled by searching LivingReconciled Mission Mississippi.
Also, please feel free to sharewith your friends and family.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
On behalf of myself, brian Crawford Lady.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Winters, Austin Boyle , Brett Barhill, signing off
saying God bless.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
God bless.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Thanks for joining Living Reconciled.
If you would like moreinformation on how you can be a
part of the ongoing work ofhelping Christians learn how to
live in the reconciliation thatJesus has already secured,
please visit us online atmissionmississippiorg or call us
at 601-353-6477.
Thanks again for listening.
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