November 24, 2025 • 27 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
Wow, wow, wow.
Woo-hoo! Not only can you sing,you can preach, girl.
Thank you, thank you.
Years ago, when we were bothvery young, we were in a
hospital in Russia, and I'llnever forget that when you were
singing, it brought such peaceto people.
And uh, well, thank you, thankyou.
(00:54):
Wow, North Gate, thank you.
You're busy involved in allthose ministries.
I hope all of you are involved.
That's that's the deal.
If you're a follower of Jesus,we should be involved.
And I don't think you have to bescolded, I think it just flows
out of us, and we want to make adifference.
Uh, the last two Sundays I'vebeen in Uganda.
Uh, we just dedicated a brandnew 700-seat chapel on our
(01:18):
26-acre campus there.
Yeah.
And Pastor Ken was the the uh uhfirst speaker ever there.
He preached a powerful sermon.
Oh, and uh I've really enjoyedthis worship today because I
didn't have to do a conga lineand I didn't have to dance like
I'm not really coordinatedenough to do, but they
(01:42):
celebrate.
For you that have traveled withus, you know what I mean.
It's exhausting and it's severalhours.
So if I go on an hour heretoday, don't worry.
It's uh a short one compared totheir.
But anyway, it was amazing,amazing to be with those
students and and see uh themworship in their new uh chapel
that we dedicated to them.
We have about uh right now 300kids living on our campus, and
(02:06):
so this has really been in myheart for a long time to build a
new chapel there and a placewhere they could come and pray,
because boy, when you talk aboutpraying, they pray over there.
It's embarrassing.
Once I hear them pray, I don'twant to ever pray out loud
again.
You know, they're just they theyknow God and and and they're
talking to him and he's talkingto them, and it's amazing.
(02:27):
But on Saturday, we had anadvancement, we call it.
When our uh uh senior fourfinished or graduated, they go
on to five and six at anotherplace, but off our campus, and
we were celebrating them.
When I came in to help set itall up on Saturday, I saw what I
would I expected to see studentsthroughout the chapel on their
(02:47):
knees praying.
And man, they're seeking God andthey're and sometimes they'll
pray throughout the night, andsometimes they'll fast and pray
for a couple days.
And so this is a place of refugefor them.
And I I it just meant the worldto me to see them using their
chapel for that, and then to bea part of their worship was so
(03:09):
inspiring, and and you know, itit just uh I I I love young
people, and even though I'm 74,I still am immature enough to
hang out with kids and I laughat what they laugh at, and I
still laugh at stupid stuff thatyeah, we laughed at some stupid
stuff last night.
Ken and Betty and and Lawrenceand and Michelle and I were out,
(03:32):
and man, those people are stupidtoo.
So anyway, we we we laughed alot of stuff, but anyway, when I
see kids fired up, teenagersfired up, I gotta tell you a
little story.
Uh, I'm gonna talk about how Godwants to use each one of us, and
we don't have to have thegreatest talent.
When he calls us, it's alwaysabove our own abilities, our own
(03:53):
strength, and our own uh youknow comfort zone.
The highlight for me was we, youknow, when we talk about uh
walking for water, which youguys congratulations, you had an
amazing walk, thank you.
Uh uh eight eight wells wereraised.
Um we just passed 1,300 deepwater wells in in Africa.
(04:17):
So that was that was awesome.
But not only do we do the deepwater wells, but when we get a
good well, we find a school thatneeds uh additional water, what
we do is we put in big watertanks.
We put in uh the highlight thistime was we've been involved in
a school that has special needkids with special needs.
(04:38):
It's a special place.
We've drilled them a wellbefore.
In fact, um who drilled it fromhere?
Peepers, peepers did.
Remind me of the names.
Joel and Mary.
Mary, are you here?
Is she?
Where?
Yeah, Mary, Mary, you're gonna,you're gonna remember when we
(05:00):
dedicated that well a few yearsago?
That was a moving experience,wasn't it?
It was they were so excitedbecause these kids who are in
wheelchairs and crutches, someare missing limbs, and they were
going anyway.
Thank you.
So this time we not only drewfrom that well, we put up three
(05:22):
50,000 liter tanks, which theoutflow of that we were able to
put in hot and cold solarshowers for these kids, flush
toilets, I mean, drinkingfountains all over the place.
I think there were six or so, isthat right?
And and it was absolutelyamazing.
So uh we celebrated with them,we dedicated all that.
(05:45):
Josh, you stand up too.
He's on my team now, by the way.
You know this kid?
He he was my neighbor kid uhgrowing up in Phoenix, and and
he went on a mission with mewhen he was 12.
What were his parents thinking?
Letting him go with me, and Iwas really immature back then,
but but he's been working withus, and now he's on our staff
(06:07):
and uh part-time at least, andhe's the liaison between we
built a beautiful uh uh medicalclinic with the latest of uh all
the equipment you can imagine,probably the best outfitted
clinic in in for miles and milesaround uh where we are, and he's
our liaison, and he's the guykind of running that for us.
(06:28):
And so he was there with me.
You slept yet?
Not quite.
Me, Ken, no, you slept fourhours last night.
That was a good night.
So if I fall asleep here, youyou wake me, all right.
But anyway, um, yeah, that wasso amazing to see the kids.
We celebrated, and then we gavethem ice cream, and that's a
(06:50):
real treat in Uganda, and we dothat most every trip now, you
know, a nice uh uh bowl of icecream like that, and and they're
celebrating and everything.
And I walked in, um myhighlight.
Uh I had a family, uh, a coupleI grew up with in Iowa, and he's
(07:11):
helped me out a bunch of times.
And we I asked his wife uh a fewmonths ago, would you sponsor
our our uh student chapel?
And we'll we'll name it afteryou and another lady that I have
in mind, and they said yes.
And so they came, they broughttwo of their adult sons, and
then five of the grandkids, andthey were 16 years of age down
(07:33):
to 11.
The 11-year-old, I walk in andsee all the kids eating ice
cream in their class, and here'sthe 11-year-old.
It's what it's all about.
Here's the 11-year-old, Boaz,Bo, found a boy that had no
arms, and he was feeding him hisice cream.
(07:58):
Yeah.
You know, we can all dosomething.
We can all do.
I I I just cried.
I mean, I don't cry like Kendoes.
Ken cries at a basketball game,but you know, but I am
emotional, and I tell you, itwiped me out.
I if you that are connected withme on social media, you know
(08:19):
it's gone viral, it's gone overand over, but to me, that's what
it's all about.
That's what it's all about.
And I I said, Bo, what what madeyou do that?
He said, I just saw the kid inneed and I knew he couldn't feed
himself, so I just wanted tohelp him.
11 years old.
So anyway, that was myhighlight.
Well, some of you aren'tfamiliar with who we are, and I
(08:40):
want to just show you a few uhlittle uh uh PowerPoint here.
And and yeah, you can alreadysee I talk in my hands, you
know, that's how you get thingsacross.
So I live on a ranch inOklahoma.
So I I I uh in fact, this weekwhen I get home for the first
time in a long time, except fora couple days last week, I I'll
be on my horse, and you know, Ilove to do the roping and got a
(09:04):
lot of calves that need a littlehelp right now.
So uh anyway, when I do this,that means the next one, not
this.
That's just me being weird.
Uh is this where we're starting?
Safe water?
Oh, I was doing that okay.
Back up, back up.
Okay, I've only got 11 minutesand 48 seconds left.
(09:25):
I gotta roll here.
Uh, it's it's hope for kidsSunday, okay?
Let's yahoo.
There we are.
Our divisions.
That's yep, that's that's it.
Our divisions, uh, Water forKids International.
A lot of you are familiar withthat because you've done the
walk for waters over the yearshere.
Um, child sponsorship, a lot ofyou are familiar with that.
(09:45):
You can sponsor a child.
We have a bunch of uh profilesout front.
We desperately, kids are waitingto be put in school, and it's
just a life changer.
We provide education andnutrition.
We do a lot of projects likebuilding the infrastructure,
like uh medical clinics andchurches and and uh schools and
and uh housing for our our ouruh students and wait back up.
(10:09):
I I I yeah, thank you for beingso sharp on this.
Um, and mission teams, service,hands and feet.
A lot of you have gone with us,and I hope in this next year.
I know Ken, you're going in Julyand November and April.
Okay, good.
Uh so three times if you want totravel with them.
If you don't, Larry's going onJuly.
(10:30):
And if you'd rather travel withhim, I think it'd be a lot more
fun.
Uh so you'd go in July.
This is my last service.
I'm never going to be invitedback.
Anyway, let's let's get back onthe horse here.
Uh, our international team,these are the countries we're
involved in right now: Guatemala, Mexico, Namibia, (10:44):
undefined
Nepal, the Philippines.
I just was there last month.
It's amazing stuff going on overthere.
Romania and Uganda.
So our mission uh teams serve asthe hands and feet of Jesus,
delivering essential supplies,rebuilding communities, and
spreading the gospel, thehardest uh places to reach.
(11:07):
This is a little bit of what wedo in our villages.
We rehabilitate or build up avillage that's really poor.
Uh, we build chapels, we buildmedical clinics, we build
primary schools, vocational andsecondary schools, uh, schools
with housing, uh, septicsystems, solar power, farming
and irrigation, and playgroundsand sports courts.
(11:29):
That's a little bit of what wedo.
And now we're at this slide.
Uh, safe water.
Over 771 million people aroundthe world still do not have
access to safe water.
Nearly 1.7 billion people areliving without proper access to
hygiene or sanitation.
Even though we've drilled 1,300plus wells now in Uganda,
(11:53):
there's still 11 million peoplein Uganda that do not have
access.
So we're just getting started.
So if you want to be involved inthat in a personal way at
Christmas or something likethat, there are$10,500 for a
borehole.
It's there for 30 to 50 years.
We put stainless steel pipes in.
It's not going to rust.
It's amazing.
(12:13):
And that's outdated, as I toldyou.
We just hit 1,300 now.
Uh, we have over 7,000 childrenhave been sponsored through Hope
for Kids.
Sponsorship empowers helplesschildren to break the cycle of
poverty with quality education,health care, nutritious meals,
and emotional guidance throughthe love of Jesus.
So if you'd like to do that,it's$39 a month, a little over a
(12:34):
dollar a day.
They get a high qualityeducation, uniform, shoes.
Isn't she cute?
Oh my gosh.
Motivation and improved grades,social worker for emotional and
academic needs, medical care,uh, knowledge they're a part of
the Christ-centered extendedfamily, and hope despite trials.
So that's that's a life changer.
I know, Ken, you you saw your uhsponsored daughter, you and
(12:56):
Betty's.
Uh, how old was she when youstarted?
She was five years old, and nowshe's 23.
32?
23.
Oh, dyslexia, yeah.
Um 23 years old, and she is notonly a beautiful person, but
just filled with confidence.
(13:16):
And what is she doing now?
Hotel management.
Wow.
So it changes their lives.
So if you're sponsoring a child,uh, thank you for doing that.
And and you come and visit them,you can write to them.
One of the things I always do isI like I uh love to encourage
(13:37):
that you parents that you uhfind a child the same age as
your kids and let them write tothem.
And they they learn a lotbecause they see the sit the
conditions they live in and howfilled with joy they are.
Or if you have grandchildren, doit.
I have a number of people thatsponsor and let their
grandchildren write to them.
It's just an awesome thing.
(13:58):
You'll gain a lot out of it.
And then uh here, as I mentionedearlier, we're celebrating that
you had eight wells funded thisyear at your walk for water.
So thank you.
And these are is that Betty?
Are you in there, Betty?
And Polly?
Wow, is that you, Betty?
Oh, I think it is.
It's cute, whoever it is.
Um, but anyway, what acelebration when they get their
(14:19):
water.
It's it's it's a blast and itsaves their lives.
And as Megan mentioned, uh about52% of the kids in some of these
areas die before their fifthbirthday.
So it's a blessing, it's fun,and all the walking, but man,
you are saving lives, literally,and they're so grateful, and
(14:42):
they they really show it.
So thank you, Northgate, for allyou all you're doing around the
world.
I want to share just a few moreminutes.
I got six minutes and 22 secondsleft, and Lawrence comes down on
you if you if you go over.
So um, the scripture that Meganused is the same scripture that
I had chosen uh in uh Matthew28, just to remind you, and
(15:04):
right at the end, I want to justtouch on the thing at the last
sentence when it says go and uhuh to all nations, baptize them
in the name of the Father, theSon, and the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everythingI've commanded.
And I'm surely with you alwaysto the end of the age.
And I just want to focus on thatlast little verse because that's
a key.
You know, because a lot of timeswhen you hear about talking to
(15:26):
your neighbor or sharing withsomebody at school or something
like that, a lot of us areintimidated.
We we just don't have thecourage.
And like the song saying, Yougot a lion inside you, and
that's the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit can give youboldness.
I remember when I first came toChrist and went off from I grew
up in Iowa and I went out toCalifornia, to Los Angeles, went
to Bible college, and I quicklyrealized that I was not cut out
(15:49):
to be a pastor because it didn'tseem dangerous enough.
But now Ken and Larry are sayingit is dangerous.
You'll have to hear about thesestories.
I want to hear those.
But anyway, um, so I thought Iwould go on another path.
And so I right away, because Ihad been a biker, I still ride a
Harley and I I've always likedbikes.
I I uh went out to themotorcycle gangs and it was
(16:11):
pretty intimidating.
I was a skinny little kid, youknow, 19 years old, and I'm
trying to witness to these guys,and they're pretty rough.
And and you know what Idiscovered was that it I didn't
have to depend on my own power.
That I wanted to say things tothem, and I felt like God was
giving me the words to say.
I'd been learning a little bitof scripture.
I knew I hadn't memorized it,but the memory, it the scripture
(16:33):
just flowed out of me.
And the scripture says that Godwill give you the words in that
hour, and I began to experienceit.
And I was helping kids, I'd goby uh young people that were uh
strung out on drugs.
I'd buy them coffee and talkwith them and stuff.
And again, I just felt aboldness.
When I read a book called GodSmuggler, going back to what
Megan said, I I read aboutBrother Andrew, he'd drive up to
(16:57):
the eastern uh Europe, uhEastern German border or the
Soviet border, and he had aVolkswagen bug, he'd fill the
back seat all up with his Biblesand he'd say, Lord, when you saw
blind people, you made them see.
Now, when you see seeing borderguards, make them blind.
And he'd drive in there and andthey'd never see him.
(17:18):
Now that cool.
You know, I could do somethingillegal for God.
So that's what I chose.
I chose to do that.
Because, you know, yeah, Istill, well, anyway, I'll I
won't go there.
Uh but anyway, uh I I later, youknow, started smuggling Bibles,
and I saw the same thing happenwhere they never found our
Bibles.
(17:38):
Until 1981, we had boycotted the1980 Olympics.
If some of you are old enough toremember that, because the
Soviet Union had invadedAfghanistan.
And so we protested by not goingto the well, they were looking
for any Americans traveling inthe following months, and they
found myself and a friendsmuggling Bibles, and they
arrested us and they took usinto separate rooms, and we did
(18:01):
they did the strip search, andand again, I was thinking, God,
what what happened here?
And then I realized I couldwitness to these guys.
And I I'm sure my voice was atleast three octaves higher than
it is now.
I don't want you to think, oh,yeah, no, I'll, you know.
But uh I really sensed the HolySpirit on me.
And when I began to share withthem, I said, Your your
(18:23):
constitution carried these thefreedom of religion.
Why are you why is yourgovernment forbidding this?
Because they they called itanti-Soviet literature.
I said, they said it's just ajoke book, it's a myth, it's
it's fairy tales.
And I said, Really?
Well, if it's just fairy tales,why is your government afraid of
it?
And I I can't prove this, but II could really sense that these
(18:46):
guys are going, yeah.
So I have to believe even theystole my Bibles and that they
probably took a couple forthemselves.
I hope so.
But I've seen that kind of thinghappen as I've talked to
university campuses where peopleare so anti against it, and I
go, What are you afraid of?
What just read it, just try it.
(19:06):
But I said, I wrote in my one ofmy books, I said, when they had
arrested me and were questioningme, I I felt like I was in the
palm of my Heavenly Father'shands.
And I felt like I was about thatbig, and I was saying, You can't
do anything to me that he won'tallow.
(19:28):
What a place to be.
And I've been arrested, I'vebeen kicked out of countries,
I've been banned from countries.
I can tell you the Holy Spiritalways shows away and always
gives boldness.
And I want to encourage youbecause I think when you read
about or hear about all theseministries, you're connected
with you saying, Oh, I can nevergo to the prison, I can never do
(19:49):
this.
You can.
You know, he'll give you thestrength.
Step out of your out of yourcomfort zone.
So I always say God calls usabove our abilities, above our
strengths, and uh, and and aboveour faith.
And that's when you know he'scalled you to do something.
For a lot of us, we just giveleftovers and go, I could do
(20:10):
this, you know, and we give alittle bit.
That's not doing God's will.
That's not answering the call togo.
And go can mean downtown.
It can mean in this in thisbeautiful community, it could
mean to the school, it couldmean to your neighbor.
But I hope you're going becausehe's very clearly said he would,
and he said he would be therewith you.
One last thing.
(20:31):
Oh my, 40 seconds.
Um, can you change that for me?
And I I won't tell anybody.
All right.
Uh pray to the Lord of theharvest.
This is in Matthew 9:38.
Pray to the Lord of the harvestto send out labors.
I can't emphasize that enough.
You know, I start my day everyday by praying through a prayer
list I have and justsurrendering the day and saying,
(20:53):
God, you know, bring somebodyacross my path.
Thank you for Sunday, November23rd, 2025.
And I'm going, Really?
I'm still alive?
This is awesome.
What opportunity?
I believe he'll give you thatopportunity if you ask him to.
Have him open your eyes.
Like Megan said, he'll move yourheart by.
I always pray, move my heart bywhat moves your heart.
(21:16):
And there are times when I seesomeone and I just go, I need to
talk to that person.
I don't ordinarily do that, butI've got a sense.
I need to talk to the person.
And it turns out they neededsomebody to be there.
They needed somebody to listento them.
Somebody, we can all do that.
So that's the important thing,but you have to pray.
And I often say, I love the waythis works.
(21:38):
I was just in Africa and I heardthose students praying.
And some of you are responding,and you're helping us with
water, and you're sponsoringkids.
You become the answer to theirprayer.
I mean, I don't get thatmystery.
Why God knows they need it.
Why don't why don't you just doit?
(21:58):
But somehow, this whole mysteryis pray to the Lord of the
harvest to send out workers thatwill respond, that will do it.
And then there's someone overthere praying.
When we dedicate a new well, wealways ask the communities, the
villages, they're dancing andthey're they're they're giving
us goats and chickens and geese,and we even got a cow this time.
(22:18):
It was crazy.
And so uh they're filled withjoy.
And we say, How many of youprayed for water in your
village?
Almost everybody.
You've become the answer totheir prayer.
So prayer is so important inthis whole thing.
I remember when I was in Biblecollege, I I grew up in Iowa, a
(22:43):
little town of 380 people.
You know, I'm in California.
I thought that was the end ofthe world.
And in some ways it is, butanyway, uh I began to uh listen
to our professors.
One had been a missionary inTanzania, another was uh from
Pakistan, and another one wasfrom uh uh yeah, another one of
(23:04):
those countries.
And so um when I began to hearabout it, I thought, where's
that country?
I don't know where Pakistan isor where Nepal is or where, you
know, and so I bought a map, andyou kids, you you don't know
what this is.
It's kind of cool.
Back then, it was a paper thingand it was big like this, and it
had all the countries on it andstuff.
(23:24):
Now it's just like Google, ohyeah.
But then, and so we there were anumber of us that we would put
that map on the platform of thechapel, and then we'd look it
over and go, oh, there's wherePakistan is, and we'd start
praying for them.
Little did I know I'd be endedup going to most of those
countries, over a hundrednations and over these 53 years.
(23:46):
And I and I I just thank God forthat opportunity because there's
stories and people that weretransformed and people's lives
were saved because of uh uh justsharing the good news through
practical needs, uh throughpractical help, or uh through um
uh just witnessing.
Okay, oh wow, okay.
(24:06):
Can we do one more story?
All right, so nobody said yes,and nobody said no, so let's go
for it.
But anyway, um, yeah.
When I first started andcommunism fell in in late 80s
and early 90s, we knew that kidswere not allowed to go to church
up to that point in thosecommunist countries, and so all
(24:28):
of a sudden they could, andthere was just this hunger among
the young people.
So we started doing uh youthevents, big, big uh crusades and
stadiums and different things,and everybody'd show up.
It was really an amazing time.
And then we realized that doorwould close because then all the
garbage comes in too and takesthe the attention of the of the
youth.
And so we started doingleadership training and and
(24:52):
youth leader in leadership dealsin Romania and Bulgaria.
The last two years we did it, wehad over 3,000 young people.
Now a lot of those guys arepastors all over the place.
And so, really, at the root ofhope for kids in our vision is
that we want to not justwitness, not just beat the
needs, but we want to disciplepeople, like the scripture said.
(25:13):
So, recently, through Ken andBetty's inspiration of wanting
to start a Bible college on ourcampus in Uganda, uh, Ken just
uh uh tied into an organizationcalled TLI and and they're
teaching, and he's been inSierra Leone, Sierra Leone twice
recently, and now was with us,and we met with leaders there,
and we're hoping to start pastortraining in in this spring, in
(25:38):
in April, and they'll be a partof that.
And then also all of ourstudents on campus were gonna
have a facilitator come in andstart discipling them.
So, to me, I hope God gives me afew more years because I'm
telling you, this is the mostexciting time I've ever seen at
hope for kids.
And you guys are a big part ofit.
And I just encourage you, what'sGod calling you to do?
(26:01):
What can you do?
You you can do a simple thing,or you can do you know things
with one of these ministrieswe've listed today, or or or get
involved in in changing achild's life.
So I know God's speaking to us,isn't He?
He's challenging us.
So let's let's just pray.
God, we surrender these words toyou.
We've sensed your holy presencehere all day.
(26:24):
You're speaking to us, and Ipray that we won't shut your
voice out, but we'll say, Yes,Lord, that's what I can do.
I want to be faithful to you.
Fill us with your power andboldness so we are not afraid to
step out and share the goodnews.
We give you all the praise andglory in Jesus' name.
Amen.
(26:48):
Amen.
I hope you guys have beenencouraged today through I'm
just hearing from Tom.
Wow, wow, wow.
Woo-hoo! Not only can you sing,you can preach, girl.
Thank you, thank you.
Years ago, when we were bothvery young, we were in a
hospital in Russia, and I'llnever forget that when you were
singing, it brought such peaceto people.
And uh, well, thank you, thankyou.
(00:54):
Wow, North Gate, thank you.
You're busy involved in allthose ministries.
I hope all of you are involved.
That's that's the deal.
If you're a follower of Jesus,we should be involved.
And I don't think you have to bescolded, I think it just flows
out of us, and we want to make adifference.
Uh, the last two Sundays I'vebeen in Uganda.
Uh, we just dedicated a brandnew 700-seat chapel on our
(01:18):
26-acre campus there.
Yeah.
And Pastor Ken was the the uh uhfirst speaker ever there.
He preached a powerful sermon.
Oh, and uh I've really enjoyedthis worship today because I
didn't have to do a conga lineand I didn't have to dance like
I'm not really coordinatedenough to do, but they
(01:42):
celebrate.
For you that have traveled withus, you know what I mean.
It's exhausting and it's severalhours.
So if I go on an hour heretoday, don't worry.
It's uh a short one compared totheir.
But anyway, it was amazing,amazing to be with those
students and and see uh themworship in their new uh chapel
that we dedicated to them.
We have about uh right now 300kids living on our campus, and
(02:06):
so this has really been in myheart for a long time to build a
new chapel there and a placewhere they could come and pray,
because boy, when you talk aboutpraying, they pray over there.
It's embarrassing.
Once I hear them pray, I don'twant to ever pray out loud
again.
You know, they're just they theyknow God and and and they're
talking to him and he's talkingto them, and it's amazing.
(02:27):
But on Saturday, we had anadvancement, we call it.
When our uh uh senior fourfinished or graduated, they go
on to five and six at anotherplace, but off our campus, and
we were celebrating them.
When I came in to help set itall up on Saturday, I saw what I
would I expected to see studentsthroughout the chapel on their
(02:47):
knees praying.
And man, they're seeking God andthey're and sometimes they'll
pray throughout the night, andsometimes they'll fast and pray
for a couple days.
And so this is a place of refugefor them.
And I I it just meant the worldto me to see them using their
chapel for that, and then to bea part of their worship was so
(03:09):
inspiring, and and you know, itit just uh I I I love young
people, and even though I'm 74,I still am immature enough to
hang out with kids and I laughat what they laugh at, and I
still laugh at stupid stuff thatyeah, we laughed at some stupid
stuff last night.
Ken and Betty and and Lawrenceand and Michelle and I were out,
(03:32):
and man, those people are stupidtoo.
So anyway, we we we laughed alot of stuff, but anyway, when I
see kids fired up, teenagersfired up, I gotta tell you a
little story.
Uh, I'm gonna talk about how Godwants to use each one of us, and
we don't have to have thegreatest talent.
When he calls us, it's alwaysabove our own abilities, our own
(03:53):
strength, and our own uh youknow comfort zone.
The highlight for me was we, youknow, when we talk about uh
walking for water, which youguys congratulations, you had an
amazing walk, thank you.
Uh uh eight eight wells wereraised.
Um we just passed 1,300 deepwater wells in in Africa.
(04:17):
So that was that was awesome.
But not only do we do the deepwater wells, but when we get a
good well, we find a school thatneeds uh additional water, what
we do is we put in big watertanks.
We put in uh the highlight thistime was we've been involved in
a school that has special needkids with special needs.
(04:38):
It's a special place.
We've drilled them a wellbefore.
In fact, um who drilled it fromhere?
Peepers, peepers did.
Remind me of the names.
Joel and Mary.
Mary, are you here?
Is she?
Where?
Yeah, Mary, Mary, you're gonna,you're gonna remember when we
(05:00):
dedicated that well a few yearsago?
That was a moving experience,wasn't it?
It was they were so excitedbecause these kids who are in
wheelchairs and crutches, someare missing limbs, and they were
going anyway.
Thank you.
So this time we not only drewfrom that well, we put up three
(05:22):
50,000 liter tanks, which theoutflow of that we were able to
put in hot and cold solarshowers for these kids, flush
toilets, I mean, drinkingfountains all over the place.
I think there were six or so, isthat right?
And and it was absolutelyamazing.
So uh we celebrated with them,we dedicated all that.
(05:45):
Josh, you stand up too.
He's on my team now, by the way.
You know this kid?
He he was my neighbor kid uhgrowing up in Phoenix, and and
he went on a mission with mewhen he was 12.
What were his parents thinking?
Letting him go with me, and Iwas really immature back then,
but but he's been working withus, and now he's on our staff
(06:07):
and uh part-time at least, andhe's the liaison between we
built a beautiful uh uh medicalclinic with the latest of uh all
the equipment you can imagine,probably the best outfitted
clinic in in for miles and milesaround uh where we are, and he's
our liaison, and he's the guykind of running that for us.
(06:28):
And so he was there with me.
You slept yet?
Not quite.
Me, Ken, no, you slept fourhours last night.
That was a good night.
So if I fall asleep here, youyou wake me, all right.
But anyway, um, yeah, that wasso amazing to see the kids.
We celebrated, and then we gavethem ice cream, and that's a
(06:50):
real treat in Uganda, and we dothat most every trip now, you
know, a nice uh uh bowl of icecream like that, and and they're
celebrating and everything.
And I walked in, um myhighlight.
Uh I had a family, uh, a coupleI grew up with in Iowa, and he's
(07:11):
helped me out a bunch of times.
And we I asked his wife uh a fewmonths ago, would you sponsor
our our uh student chapel?
And we'll we'll name it afteryou and another lady that I have
in mind, and they said yes.
And so they came, they broughttwo of their adult sons, and
then five of the grandkids, andthey were 16 years of age down
(07:33):
to 11.
The 11-year-old, I walk in andsee all the kids eating ice
cream in their class, and here'sthe 11-year-old.
It's what it's all about.
Here's the 11-year-old, Boaz,Bo, found a boy that had no
arms, and he was feeding him hisice cream.
(07:58):
Yeah.
You know, we can all dosomething.
We can all do.
I I I just cried.
I mean, I don't cry like Kendoes.
Ken cries at a basketball game,but you know, but I am
emotional, and I tell you, itwiped me out.
I if you that are connected withme on social media, you know
(08:19):
it's gone viral, it's gone overand over, but to me, that's what
it's all about.
That's what it's all about.
And I I said, Bo, what what madeyou do that?
He said, I just saw the kid inneed and I knew he couldn't feed
himself, so I just wanted tohelp him.
11 years old.
So anyway, that was myhighlight.
Well, some of you aren'tfamiliar with who we are, and I
(08:40):
want to just show you a few uhlittle uh uh PowerPoint here.
And and yeah, you can alreadysee I talk in my hands, you
know, that's how you get thingsacross.
So I live on a ranch inOklahoma.
So I I I uh in fact, this weekwhen I get home for the first
time in a long time, except fora couple days last week, I I'll
be on my horse, and you know, Ilove to do the roping and got a
(09:04):
lot of calves that need a littlehelp right now.
So uh anyway, when I do this,that means the next one, not
this.
That's just me being weird.
Uh is this where we're starting?
Safe water?
Oh, I was doing that okay.
Back up, back up.
Okay, I've only got 11 minutesand 48 seconds left.
(09:25):
I gotta roll here.
Uh, it's it's hope for kidsSunday, okay?
Let's yahoo.
There we are.
Our divisions.
That's yep, that's that's it.
Our divisions, uh, Water forKids International.
A lot of you are familiar withthat because you've done the
walk for waters over the yearshere.
Um, child sponsorship, a lot ofyou are familiar with that.
(09:45):
You can sponsor a child.
We have a bunch of uh profilesout front.
We desperately, kids are waitingto be put in school, and it's
just a life changer.
We provide education andnutrition.
We do a lot of projects likebuilding the infrastructure,
like uh medical clinics andchurches and and uh schools and
and uh housing for our our ouruh students and wait back up.
(10:09):
I I I yeah, thank you for beingso sharp on this.
Um, and mission teams, service,hands and feet.
A lot of you have gone with us,and I hope in this next year.
I know Ken, you're going in Julyand November and April.
Okay, good.
Uh so three times if you want totravel with them.
If you don't, Larry's going onJuly.
(10:30):
And if you'd rather travel withhim, I think it'd be a lot more
fun.
Uh so you'd go in July.
This is my last service.
I'm never going to be invitedback.
Anyway, let's let's get back onthe horse here.
Uh, our international team,these are the countries we're
involved in right now: Guatemala, Mexico, Namibia, (10:44):
undefined
Nepal, the Philippines.
I just was there last month.
It's amazing stuff going on overthere.
Romania and Uganda.
So our mission uh teams serve asthe hands and feet of Jesus,
delivering essential supplies,rebuilding communities, and
spreading the gospel, thehardest uh places to reach.
(11:07):
This is a little bit of what wedo in our villages.
We rehabilitate or build up avillage that's really poor.
Uh, we build chapels, we buildmedical clinics, we build
primary schools, vocational andsecondary schools, uh, schools
with housing, uh, septicsystems, solar power, farming
and irrigation, and playgroundsand sports courts.
(11:29):
That's a little bit of what wedo.
And now we're at this slide.
Uh, safe water.
Over 771 million people aroundthe world still do not have
access to safe water.
Nearly 1.7 billion people areliving without proper access to
hygiene or sanitation.
Even though we've drilled 1,300plus wells now in Uganda,
(11:53):
there's still 11 million peoplein Uganda that do not have
access.
So we're just getting started.
So if you want to be involved inthat in a personal way at
Christmas or something likethat, there are$10,500 for a
borehole.
It's there for 30 to 50 years.
We put stainless steel pipes in.
It's not going to rust.
It's amazing.
(12:13):
And that's outdated, as I toldyou.
We just hit 1,300 now.
Uh, we have over 7,000 childrenhave been sponsored through Hope
for Kids.
Sponsorship empowers helplesschildren to break the cycle of
poverty with quality education,health care, nutritious meals,
and emotional guidance throughthe love of Jesus.
So if you'd like to do that,it's$39 a month, a little over a
(12:34):
dollar a day.
They get a high qualityeducation, uniform, shoes.
Isn't she cute?
Oh my gosh.
Motivation and improved grades,social worker for emotional and
academic needs, medical care,uh, knowledge they're a part of
the Christ-centered extendedfamily, and hope despite trials.
So that's that's a life changer.
I know, Ken, you you saw your uhsponsored daughter, you and
(12:56):
Betty's.
Uh, how old was she when youstarted?
She was five years old, and nowshe's 23.
32?
23.
Oh, dyslexia, yeah.
Um 23 years old, and she is notonly a beautiful person, but
just filled with confidence.
(13:16):
And what is she doing now?
Hotel management.
Wow.
So it changes their lives.
So if you're sponsoring a child,uh, thank you for doing that.
And and you come and visit them,you can write to them.
One of the things I always do isI like I uh love to encourage
(13:37):
that you parents that you uhfind a child the same age as
your kids and let them write tothem.
And they they learn a lotbecause they see the sit the
conditions they live in and howfilled with joy they are.
Or if you have grandchildren, doit.
I have a number of people thatsponsor and let their
grandchildren write to them.
It's just an awesome thing.
(13:58):
You'll gain a lot out of it.
And then uh here, as I mentionedearlier, we're celebrating that
you had eight wells funded thisyear at your walk for water.
So thank you.
And these are is that Betty?
Are you in there, Betty?
And Polly?
Wow, is that you, Betty?
Oh, I think it is.
It's cute, whoever it is.
Um, but anyway, what acelebration when they get their
(14:19):
water.
It's it's it's a blast and itsaves their lives.
And as Megan mentioned, uh about52% of the kids in some of these
areas die before their fifthbirthday.
So it's a blessing, it's fun,and all the walking, but man,
you are saving lives, literally,and they're so grateful, and
(14:42):
they they really show it.
So thank you, Northgate, for allyou all you're doing around the
world.
I want to share just a few moreminutes.
I got six minutes and 22 secondsleft, and Lawrence comes down on
you if you if you go over.
So um, the scripture that Meganused is the same scripture that
I had chosen uh in uh Matthew28, just to remind you, and
(15:04):
right at the end, I want to justtouch on the thing at the last
sentence when it says go and uhuh to all nations, baptize them
in the name of the Father, theSon, and the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everythingI've commanded.
And I'm surely with you alwaysto the end of the age.
And I just want to focus on thatlast little verse because that's
a key.
You know, because a lot of timeswhen you hear about talking to
(15:26):
your neighbor or sharing withsomebody at school or something
like that, a lot of us areintimidated.
We we just don't have thecourage.
And like the song saying, Yougot a lion inside you, and
that's the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit can give youboldness.
I remember when I first came toChrist and went off from I grew
up in Iowa and I went out toCalifornia, to Los Angeles, went
to Bible college, and I quicklyrealized that I was not cut out
(15:49):
to be a pastor because it didn'tseem dangerous enough.
But now Ken and Larry are sayingit is dangerous.
You'll have to hear about thesestories.
I want to hear those.
But anyway, um, so I thought Iwould go on another path.
And so I right away, because Ihad been a biker, I still ride a
Harley and I I've always likedbikes.
I I uh went out to themotorcycle gangs and it was
(16:11):
pretty intimidating.
I was a skinny little kid, youknow, 19 years old, and I'm
trying to witness to these guys,and they're pretty rough.
And and you know what Idiscovered was that it I didn't
have to depend on my own power.
That I wanted to say things tothem, and I felt like God was
giving me the words to say.
I'd been learning a little bitof scripture.
I knew I hadn't memorized it,but the memory, it the scripture
(16:33):
just flowed out of me.
And the scripture says that Godwill give you the words in that
hour, and I began to experienceit.
And I was helping kids, I'd goby uh young people that were uh
strung out on drugs.
I'd buy them coffee and talkwith them and stuff.
And again, I just felt aboldness.
When I read a book called GodSmuggler, going back to what
Megan said, I I read aboutBrother Andrew, he'd drive up to
(16:57):
the eastern uh Europe, uhEastern German border or the
Soviet border, and he had aVolkswagen bug, he'd fill the
back seat all up with his Biblesand he'd say, Lord, when you saw
blind people, you made them see.
Now, when you see seeing borderguards, make them blind.
And he'd drive in there and andthey'd never see him.
(17:18):
Now that cool.
You know, I could do somethingillegal for God.
So that's what I chose.
I chose to do that.
Because, you know, yeah, Istill, well, anyway, I'll I
won't go there.
Uh but anyway, uh I I later, youknow, started smuggling Bibles,
and I saw the same thing happenwhere they never found our
Bibles.
(17:38):
Until 1981, we had boycotted the1980 Olympics.
If some of you are old enough toremember that, because the
Soviet Union had invadedAfghanistan.
And so we protested by not goingto the well, they were looking
for any Americans traveling inthe following months, and they
found myself and a friendsmuggling Bibles, and they
arrested us and they took usinto separate rooms, and we did
(18:01):
they did the strip search, andand again, I was thinking, God,
what what happened here?
And then I realized I couldwitness to these guys.
And I I'm sure my voice was atleast three octaves higher than
it is now.
I don't want you to think, oh,yeah, no, I'll, you know.
But uh I really sensed the HolySpirit on me.
And when I began to share withthem, I said, Your your
(18:23):
constitution carried these thefreedom of religion.
Why are you why is yourgovernment forbidding this?
Because they they called itanti-Soviet literature.
I said, they said it's just ajoke book, it's a myth, it's
it's fairy tales.
And I said, Really?
Well, if it's just fairy tales,why is your government afraid of
it?
And I I can't prove this, but II could really sense that these
(18:46):
guys are going, yeah.
So I have to believe even theystole my Bibles and that they
probably took a couple forthemselves.
I hope so.
But I've seen that kind of thinghappen as I've talked to
university campuses where peopleare so anti against it, and I
go, What are you afraid of?
What just read it, just try it.
(19:06):
But I said, I wrote in my one ofmy books, I said, when they had
arrested me and were questioningme, I I felt like I was in the
palm of my Heavenly Father'shands.
And I felt like I was about thatbig, and I was saying, You can't
do anything to me that he won'tallow.
(19:28):
What a place to be.
And I've been arrested, I'vebeen kicked out of countries,
I've been banned from countries.
I can tell you the Holy Spiritalways shows away and always
gives boldness.
And I want to encourage youbecause I think when you read
about or hear about all theseministries, you're connected
with you saying, Oh, I can nevergo to the prison, I can never do
(19:49):
this.
You can.
You know, he'll give you thestrength.
Step out of your out of yourcomfort zone.
So I always say God calls usabove our abilities, above our
strengths, and uh, and and aboveour faith.
And that's when you know he'scalled you to do something.
For a lot of us, we just giveleftovers and go, I could do
(20:10):
this, you know, and we give alittle bit.
That's not doing God's will.
That's not answering the call togo.
And go can mean downtown.
It can mean in this in thisbeautiful community, it could
mean to the school, it couldmean to your neighbor.
But I hope you're going becausehe's very clearly said he would,
and he said he would be therewith you.
One last thing.
(20:31):
Oh my, 40 seconds.
Um, can you change that for me?
And I I won't tell anybody.
All right.
Uh pray to the Lord of theharvest.
This is in Matthew 9:38.
Pray to the Lord of the harvestto send out labors.
I can't emphasize that enough.
You know, I start my day everyday by praying through a prayer
list I have and justsurrendering the day and saying,
(20:53):
God, you know, bring somebodyacross my path.
Thank you for Sunday, November23rd, 2025.
And I'm going, Really?
I'm still alive?
This is awesome.
What opportunity?
I believe he'll give you thatopportunity if you ask him to.
Have him open your eyes.
Like Megan said, he'll move yourheart by.
I always pray, move my heart bywhat moves your heart.
(21:16):
And there are times when I seesomeone and I just go, I need to
talk to that person.
I don't ordinarily do that, butI've got a sense.
I need to talk to the person.
And it turns out they neededsomebody to be there.
They needed somebody to listento them.
Somebody, we can all do that.
So that's the important thing,but you have to pray.
And I often say, I love the waythis works.
(21:38):
I was just in Africa and I heardthose students praying.
And some of you are responding,and you're helping us with
water, and you're sponsoringkids.
You become the answer to theirprayer.
I mean, I don't get thatmystery.
Why God knows they need it.
Why don't why don't you just doit?
(21:58):
But somehow, this whole mysteryis pray to the Lord of the
harvest to send out workers thatwill respond, that will do it.
And then there's someone overthere praying.
When we dedicate a new well, wealways ask the communities, the
villages, they're dancing andthey're they're they're giving
us goats and chickens and geese,and we even got a cow this time.
(22:18):
It was crazy.
And so uh they're filled withjoy.
And we say, How many of youprayed for water in your
village?
Almost everybody.
You've become the answer totheir prayer.
So prayer is so important inthis whole thing.
I remember when I was in Biblecollege, I I grew up in Iowa, a
(22:43):
little town of 380 people.
You know, I'm in California.
I thought that was the end ofthe world.
And in some ways it is, butanyway, uh I began to uh listen
to our professors.
One had been a missionary inTanzania, another was uh from
Pakistan, and another one wasfrom uh uh yeah, another one of
(23:04):
those countries.
And so um when I began to hearabout it, I thought, where's
that country?
I don't know where Pakistan isor where Nepal is or where, you
know, and so I bought a map, andyou kids, you you don't know
what this is.
It's kind of cool.
Back then, it was a paper thingand it was big like this, and it
had all the countries on it andstuff.
(23:24):
Now it's just like Google, ohyeah.
But then, and so we there were anumber of us that we would put
that map on the platform of thechapel, and then we'd look it
over and go, oh, there's wherePakistan is, and we'd start
praying for them.
Little did I know I'd be endedup going to most of those
countries, over a hundrednations and over these 53 years.
(23:46):
And I and I I just thank God forthat opportunity because there's
stories and people that weretransformed and people's lives
were saved because of uh uh justsharing the good news through
practical needs, uh throughpractical help, or uh through um
uh just witnessing.
Okay, oh wow, okay.
(24:06):
Can we do one more story?
All right, so nobody said yes,and nobody said no, so let's go
for it.
But anyway, um, yeah.
When I first started andcommunism fell in in late 80s
and early 90s, we knew that kidswere not allowed to go to church
up to that point in thosecommunist countries, and so all
(24:28):
of a sudden they could, andthere was just this hunger among
the young people.
So we started doing uh youthevents, big, big uh crusades and
stadiums and different things,and everybody'd show up.
It was really an amazing time.
And then we realized that doorwould close because then all the
garbage comes in too and takesthe the attention of the of the
youth.
And so we started doingleadership training and and
(24:52):
youth leader in leadership dealsin Romania and Bulgaria.
The last two years we did it, wehad over 3,000 young people.
Now a lot of those guys arepastors all over the place.
And so, really, at the root ofhope for kids in our vision is
that we want to not justwitness, not just beat the
needs, but we want to disciplepeople, like the scripture said.
(25:13):
So, recently, through Ken andBetty's inspiration of wanting
to start a Bible college on ourcampus in Uganda, uh, Ken just
uh uh tied into an organizationcalled TLI and and they're
teaching, and he's been inSierra Leone, Sierra Leone twice
recently, and now was with us,and we met with leaders there,
and we're hoping to start pastortraining in in this spring, in
(25:38):
in April, and they'll be a partof that.
And then also all of ourstudents on campus were gonna
have a facilitator come in andstart discipling them.
So, to me, I hope God gives me afew more years because I'm
telling you, this is the mostexciting time I've ever seen at
hope for kids.
And you guys are a big part ofit.
And I just encourage you, what'sGod calling you to do?
(26:01):
What can you do?
You you can do a simple thing,or you can do you know things
with one of these ministrieswe've listed today, or or or get
involved in in changing achild's life.
So I know God's speaking to us,isn't He?
He's challenging us.
So let's let's just pray.
God, we surrender these words toyou.
We've sensed your holy presencehere all day.
(26:24):
You're speaking to us, and Ipray that we won't shut your
voice out, but we'll say, Yes,Lord, that's what I can do.
I want to be faithful to you.
Fill us with your power andboldness so we are not afraid to
step out and share the goodnews.
We give you all the praise andglory in Jesus' name.
Amen.
(26:48):
Amen.
I hope you guys have beenencouraged today through I'm
just hearing from Tom.
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