Be the Bacon: What Missions Really Teaches Us About Faith, Sacrifice & Obedience

Episode Transcript
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Pastor Brent McQuay (00:00):
Foreign. Welcome back to another episode of
Between Sermons. We are continuing our conversation
from Sunday, and what an awesome conversation
it was because we're in the middle
of a missions focus, missions emphasis at

(00:23):
the church. And so we've had some
special guests come through, and we're. We
got to hang out with Bishop Hurley
Montes from the Philippines on Sunday. And
I just. I love the Montez family.
I love the Philippines. And so what
was great, though, is he just taught
us how to be Disciples, which at
Disciples Church, that's pretty important for us.
And so we're going to dive into

(00:44):
all those things today, what it means
to be a disciple, Philippines Missions. And
in order to do that, I need
some people to talk to that love
missions as much as me.

Pastor Harry Valentine (00:54):
Let's go.

We just determined five seconds ago that
Taisha is so, so passionate. I am
excited about missions.

Thank you. Thank you for that amazing
introduction. I am passionate and excited. We
are all passionate and excited about missions,
right? Thanks for joining us, Pastor Harry.
Are you excited and passionate?

Ti'heasha Beasley (01:13):
Yes. Why passionate? Because. Listen. Okay, we'll
start it. Listen. Missions has changed my
life. So we'll get into that, you
know, as we. That was. Unpack it
all. But it really has.

I love that. You should have jumped
it just to him.

I mean, I set it up.

You set it up. I caught the
ball and handed it to you. Six,
seven. I love you so much.

I love you both. But that's it
for today. Hope you had a wonderful
time.

It was there.

Pastor Harry did it. He did this.
I had to add the numbers. Okay.

Nobody knows why we're laughing so much.
We had a whole conversation. So Harry's
a youth pastor. I have teenagers, you
have a teenager. And this whole lingo
of junior high boys is just.

It's different.

It's just. It's a lot.

It's a lot. We're learning as we
go.

It's too much.

It was relevant to the conversation, but
I'm excited to talk about missions, and
I'm so glad to have someone here
who's just as passionate about missions as
you are, Pastor Brent.

So.

But, yeah, before we dive in the
heart of missions and why you're so
passionate, Pastor Brent, give us a little
information about our relationship with the Philippines
church and the pastor.

Yeah, yeah. So he gave us a
little bit of a background on Sunday
of what that relationship with Pastor Jerry
was like, basically. Long story short, there
was a conference that we were part
of in the Philippines. So I'm telling
my dad's side of the story since
we didn't get that on Sunday. So

(02:52):
my dad's there to. To speak at
this conference. It's his first time back
in the Philippines since leaving the Philippines.
He was a missionary there, and there's
a whole heartbreaking story of illness forcing
them out of the missions field. And
so we joke. I think we talked
about this last week a little bit
maybe about how Pastor Jerry is a
missionary stuck in a pastor's body. And

(03:15):
so, like, his heart is missions. And
so it was his first time back
in the Philippines and it was just
kind of an overwhelming moment.
And he's at this conference and there's
just this young group of, you know,
what he thought were high school or
college age kids that were just passionate
about God. Like the worship that they
were doing. Their expression of worship, I
should say. During the conference, he was

(03:36):
just like, you guys are impressed. I
need to meet your pastor. And they
said, well, our pastor isn't here today,
but he'll be here tomorrow. We'll introduce
you. And the two guys that he
was talking to was actually Joel Montez
and Jesser.
And the two of them are now
campus pastors. Well, actually Joel is Pastor

(03:56):
Hurley's son, who is their executive pastor.
And then Jesser and his wife are.
They actually just had a baby like
two days ago. So congratulations again. But
it was like it was their core
youth ministry at the time. And so
the church was about 200 people, and
this was their youth ministry.
And so PJ got to meet Bishop

(04:18):
Hurley and man just connected immediately and
had this kind of growing relationship off
and on for like a year, basically.
Just messaging and asking for support and
help and just advice and kind of
that mentoring relationship really started off very
quickly. And it's funny, I want to
say the timeline was like one year,
but I could. We'd have to bring

(04:39):
Pastor Jerry in to get the timeline
exact. But I think it was about
a year later, Pastor Jerry went back
to the Philippines to visit Bishop Hurley.
And as they're walking up the stairs
to the church that they had rented
the facility on the door, it was
our logo and it said CLC Deva
Christian Life Center. Devour. And that's when

(05:00):
Hurley was like, oh, yeah, by the
way, can. Can we just be you?
Like, it was. It was like such
a. Like, it was such a cool
moment, but also like totally out of
nowhere, like, it was. It was. They
had relationship, but Bishop just really, really
strongly after leaving his denomination, just felt
like he needed spiritual covering. And so,
like kind of without really asking, they

(05:21):
just became Christian life. Center. And so
from there to now, like they've just
exploded.
Actually, before we told the congregation about
our name change, I was in the
Philippines talking with Bishop Hurley and Joel
about the name change. And the two
of them got so excited. And I
think Joel was kind of ready in
the moment to be like, we're changing

(05:42):
too. And then Bishop was like, we
have 44 churches that we rent. We
have multiple vehicles with signage on them.
We have like, yeah, that's a lot
to try and change. And he's like,
what if we just became Christian Life
Centered Disciples Church? And it's funny because
in the Philippines they are known as
the Disciple church. Like they're the disciple

(06:03):
making church. So much so that other
churches have begun to ask them for
mentoring so that they could become disciple
making churches. And so, yeah, while, While
they've got 40 something campuses, there's another
like 30 church plants that are starting
through them. They call them outreaches. But
it's basically you take a small group
leader and you send them into an

(06:23):
area and he just starts doing outreach
and raising up. And once they develop
enough people, they turn it into a
campus. So they've got 40 something now.
There's like another 30 that are in
development. And then on top of that
they've got, they're part of multiple networks
of churches.
I think the biggest one, it's like
94,000 churches in the Philippines that, that

(06:43):
they kind of oversee and help guide.
And so it's just, honestly it's, it's
amazing what the, the Montez family is
doing in the Philippines. And the fact
that we get to be a small
part of it is just really neat.
So, so yeah, so every year we
do at least one trip out to
the Philippines for they, they do a,
they call it CLC Phil Con. It's
their like church conference. Like we would

(07:05):
do First Love.

Yeah.

But for them, they just, they bring
in all of their different campuses. And
it's funny because they, they have to
restrict the number of people that some
of the campus can bring. In fact,
the main Davao campus, I think this
year he said that they, they could
only bring like 200 or 300, even
though it's housed at their church because
they want to make space for all
the other churches coming together. And it's
just like, it's just a mass of

(07:26):
people. Like they bring their whole pastoral
team up on the stage and it's
larger than most churches in the U.S.
like, it's just nuts. It's really cool.

Why do you think there's Such a
hunger and so much growth in that
church over there.

Yeah. So I think that there's just
a real desire for genuine relationship with
God. So I think that there's a
little bit of. There's a wild history
in the Philippines of Spanish control and
occupation and then the US involvement. And
in the mix of all of that,
they were introduced to Catholicism, but it

(08:02):
was during Spanish occupation. And so it's
a really negative relationship between Catholicism and
the Filipino people. Even though a lot
are still following and practicing it, it's
still like this. Like it's. The conquerors
came and imposed this thing on us.
And so when the American troops came
over and started introducing evangelical Christianity to

(08:25):
them, it was like, oh, like this
is different. Like now instead of it
just being the priest that has a
relationship with God and then I'm just
trying to get it through the priest.
Now all of a sudden you're saying
that I can actually just have relationship
with God myself. And so there's just
a real passion, a real hunger for
that that's been growing for four years.
As far as their growth, I think

(08:45):
they would attribute it to. They have
a model of disciple making which is
called the G12, which is very prevalent
in Latin America and some Asian countries.
I think it started in Columbia, if
I'm not mistaken. I forget the exact.
Somebody will correct me. I think it's
Columbia.

Someone, someone.

Someone on the interwebs will be like
that pastor doesn't know what he's talking
about. That's why I preface with I.
I don't know. I think it's, I
think it's Columbia. But anyways, the G12
movement, it's, it's. Sometimes we joke that
it's like the multi level marketing of
Christianity in the country because it's, it's
basically you get 12 disciples and once
you incorporate them and, and do all

(09:25):
the things that Bishop talked about on
Sunday, then their job is to go
and get 12. But it becomes very
much like, you got your 12 yet
like, how's your 12 coming? Where's your
12? You got your 12, how's your
12 doing? 12 every 12. And so
everything is built around this. You get
12 disciples. Like Jesus had 12 disciples
and then your 12 disciples get 12.
And then you have a one four,
four. And then that's where my math

(09:45):
doesn't work anymore because then you're 1
4, 4. They all get 12. And
so somebody could probably do the math
on that a lot quicker than me.
It's like 2000, 4000 math. English was
my thing, I just wasn't good at
anything. But yeah, so it's one of
those. It much. What I love about
it is the priority of evangelism. Teaching

(10:08):
somebody the gospel and then walking through
a discipleship relationship with them is fantastic.
What I don't love about it, I
think sometimes is the control and the
time commitment. And so we see some
unhealthiness of like work life balance kind
of stuff and family balance and dynamics.
And so I think it's a wonderful

(10:28):
model that's working where it's working. I
don't think it translates to every country.
And so we're seeing amazing things happen
through it, especially with young people, high
school and college campuses. It's like, man,
this is exactly what college students need.
And so I love that aspect of
it, for sure.

Awesome. So I loved that yesterday we
got reminded again to be disciples of
Jesus Christ. But I think when I
was thinking over, like really what to
talk about in this conversation, it led
me to the connection between discipleship and
missions. And it just stood out to
me because you have the 12 disciples,

(11:10):
original disciples, and how God, you know,
spent. Jesus spent three years with them,
walked with them, and then he sent
them out. And is that a model
that you think we should adapt here?
Meaning should it be just like your
disciple go out, or should it be

(11:32):
walk with this person that's discipling you
for three years and then go out
and duplicate what they're doing? Like let's,
let's start there. What are your thoughts
on that?

Yeah, I would say the answer is
probably a little bit more complicated than
what you're looking for is like a
direct black and white kind of thing.
Because yes, everybody is supposed to go
and make disciples now. But is going
mean leaving your country behind and going
to another country? Well, no, because then
where does that leave the current country?

Right.

And so we actually, we see that
in the, the development of the first
century church. So like when Paul tells
Timothy to make disciples, he doesn't tell
him to leave the city he's in.
I think Timothy was in Ephesus. He
doesn't tell him to leave the city.
He tells him to take some men
that are around him that are faithful
and pass on what I've been teaching

(12:18):
you to those men. Like he's actually
entrusting a local church to Timothy while
still telling him to go and make
disciples. So the going is more of
the action verb, less than just purely
location. And then Jesus instructions to us
is, it's like this ever expanding circle
of influence. I Guess would be one

(12:39):
way to put it. So you're supposed
to start in your hometown, in your
city, and then you hit the region
around it, and then the region around
it. And then the last step is
to all the nations. And so I
think that there are people who immediately
their call is the nations, while there's
also people who. Their immediate call is
their. Their neighborhood, like their backyard.

Yeah.

And so we need everybody doing all
of it, and not just everybody doing
one part of it. If all the
Americans go to the nations, who's gonna.
Who's gonna witness to the Americans that
don't have Jesus yet?

That's true.

So, yeah, that's kind of my. My
take on it.

Where did it start for you? Did
it start, like, I know you said
you have a passion for then.

Yeah.

Going on missions. Did it start locally
for you? Like, how did that. How
did that for you?

Well, we start. We started a beautiful
church in Blue island. And of course,
God sent me there first. Right. That's
the first thing. I was in service.
And then he said, okay, it's time
for you to go. And so I
went from Tinley park to Blue island
nearby. And then Pastor Brent and so

(13:49):
came over as campus pastors. And so
as they were, you know, laying foundations,
sowing seeds in terms of where we
were going, where we were headed. Of
course, the missionary that's inside of Brent.
Right. Pastor Brent, he brought that. And
we were planning to go to Russia.

Okay.

Out of all trips.

Yeah.

I said, this is the one.

Russia I'm going.

Can we just appreciate that? That was
my brilliant idea. I became campus pastor
in Blue island, predominantly Hispanic population. I
said, let's take all of these Hispanics
and let's go to Russia.

But.

But we're not just going to go
to Russia. We're going to go to
Siberia. Yes. It was a brilliant idea.
Everybody looked at me like I was
a genius. No, they all looked like.

How many was on that team?

There was like nine or ten of
us. I think maybe a dozen. It
was a good sized team.

Yeah. So my first missionary journey.

Siberia.

Siberia.

Oh, my goodness.

Right. And amazing. I mean, even just
from, you know, our planning and team
building and everything that took place, the
training, when I got there, you was
immediately thrown into the mission. Right. You
didn't have time to think, get off

(15:10):
the plane. And it was like, okay,
we're sending you over to this town
to talk about children's ministry, to speak
on children's ministry. Let me tell you,
I'm just a few months into this
Children's ministry thing. So I'm like, first
of all, I'm not even qualified to
be going to tell nobody about me.

Speak to who?

Where? I think I sent soul with
you.

You did, but, I mean, that was
help, right? But it just goes to
show you that you may feel inadequate,
you may not feel that you're qualified,
but God sees you as qualified. And
it wasn't until I was in front
of the people, and you see the
love, the care, that you realize that

(15:52):
what God has placed on the inside
of you is there. Just have to
be obedient and going to use it.
And so just even in that moment,
you start to see that this. This
path, this purpose, this journey, it's a
subject to change. You just never know.
Right? And so you have to be
flexible. You're just responsible for your. Yes,

(16:13):
that's what you're responsible for. And the
guy does the rest. And so it
was from that moment on, I think
we were there for, like, 10 days.
We were there for a long time.
And here's the thing. Early mornings, late
nights, we did not leave that church.
We were building the body of Christ
from music. And it developed every day.
I mean, the.

Every day.

Every day.

This trip, like that trip to Russia
still goes down as one of my,
like, hands down, top three, top five,
I don't know. And I've done maybe
30, 40 trips at this point, led
different teams, been a part of other
teams, other people leading. And that Russia
trip is still, like, one of the
most special because it was one of
those where by the time we got

(16:56):
there, we realized that God had put
together the team for what the people
needed in a way that I've always
seen that happen on trips where it's
like, man, thank God that this person
was here, because it's true. But never
to the level of this trip. Like,
it was like, we show up and
they're like, man, we really just don't
know what to do with children's ministry.
I'm like, oh, well, my children's director
and my wife, who was the children's

(17:17):
pastor, they're here. They can help you
with that. And they're like, yeah, but
our music production, like, our worship team,
like, there's just so many questions they
have. I'm like, oh, Alan Franklin is
on this trip, too. He runs a
music school and is our worship leader.
He can help with that. They're like,
yeah, you know, one of our outreach
projects, you know, doing esl, like, helping
Russians learn. And it's like, oh, actually,
Jade has her background in ESL training.

(17:39):
Like, how about Jade just runs, like,
an ESL thing? And they're like, yeah,
but, you know, we really just need
some manual labor to just, you know,
build a bridge at this orphanage that
we have, because we can't get supplies
to it without the bridge. And one
of my guys, like, I've been taking
welding classes. I would love to help
out with that. And, like, we literally,
like, just everything that they asked us

(18:00):
to do was, like, random, unexpected. Like,
what we went there to do, we
barely did.

Yeah. Wow.

But we were like you said it
was. It was from early morning to
late night, extremely busy every single day.
And just the connection for the people,
even. Even now, like, guys like Vanya
are just, like. They're just always on
my prayers, always on my mind. The
relationship with Ilya and the whole Bans
Eve's family, like, what they're doing, and
now they're working in Israel. And so,

(18:28):
like, the relationship has continued, but it's
moved from one country to another. But,
yeah, man, that trip is always gonna
go down. That's trip. I've shared the
story before. I'll go ahead and share
it again because it's still one of
my favorite things.

Passionate.

It was. We were. We were heading
to the mall to eat, and we're
walking up. And this is after, like,
five or six days in Russia, in
Siberia, and we're walking up to the
mall. And I told the pastor's wife,
I was like, I gotta be honest,
like, coming here, like, we kind of
had an expectation of what Russians were
like, because. Because like every 80s and
90s action movie, the bad guy was

(19:03):
a Russian. Like it.

Yes.

Watch any of them. Like, there's never
anybody but a Russian as the bad
guy in the 80s and 90s. And
so all these action flicks, it's always
this hard, cold, mean, angry Russian. Like
the stereotypical joke of, like, Russians are
just cold people. And, like, I'm. I'm
saying that, like, almost apologetically, like, I'm
so sorry. They're like, we. Because that's
not been our experience. Like, the Russian
people have been amazing. And she's like.

(19:26):
She kind of laughed at first. She's
just like, oh, no, no, no. Russians
are very cold, very angry, very hard
people. She's like, but we're not Russians.
We're Christians. Wow. And, like, that statement,
like, being there and experiencing that, like,
that just. That just rocked my world
to the point where I was like,
man, I hope other people look at.
Look at us the same way. Like,
Man, Americans are so loud and obnoxious

(19:46):
and all this, all the stereotypical American
things. But man, I come here and
you people are different. It's like, well,
that's because we're believers. We're believers first.

Yeah, that's great.

That trip, I mean, we could, it
could be an hour. We could talk
about that trip for an hour, you
know, another point, a moment on that
trip, being in the church, helping building
a body. But then we went out
and did some canvassing, right. And so
we end up at a park. I've
never played Frisbee.

Yep, it was ultimate Frisbee.

Ultimate Frisbee. Yep. And this is when
I still had, you know, some, some
legs. I was younger. But that moment
with other people just kind of, you
know, having fun, playing a game. Language
barrier was there, but you saw the
joy, you saw the fun, you saw

(20:39):
the just the compassion and the love
that we had for just that moment,
you know, that was an opportunity to
give Christ right to people through a
game. Right. And so oftentimes when you
hear missionary journey, you hear about missions,
you're thinking, man, it's just going to
be us, like just speaking and teaching

(21:01):
and praying. And although that happens, that's
necessary, that's essential. But you do have
those moments on the plane, you have
those moments during prayer, do our devotional.
You have moments when we're out and
about that are really life changing. Like
the family dynamic that is established on
a missions trip with a team, it's

(21:22):
like no other. Like no other. You
cannot get that type of a relationship
moment with people 10 days early, late,
everything in between. I need you, you
need me. You're my eyes. I'm your
eyes. It's something that, it forms a
beautiful bond that even to this day,

(21:42):
I mean, we have such strong relationship
because of the mission field. And so
I really want to just help people
to see that we are called to
go. But God has a plan and
purpose to do something in us also
while we're there. And so, man, I'm
caring. Get registered. Put a QR code,
Put it somewhere. Get registered to go

(22:03):
on these go.

DC DOT one missions.

There it is.

That's it.

Do it. Yeah.

So you did Russia. What was next
after Russia?

Croatia.

Croatia with the worship team.

Yeah.

Which is great because you weren't a
worship anything, but they gave you a
different. They gave you a cajon, right?
Or they gave you like a box
drum or something.

Box drum, let's go.

They're like, Harry can keep it deep.

But he was like, just Pounding away.

Whatever worship song we trained. I was
singing, I was worshiping. And here's the
thing. It's a different level of stretching.
And God loves to stretch us. He
does, right? And so now we're like,
hey, we're going to be literally in
the streets of Croatia. Stop. Plot right
in the middle of the town, and

(22:47):
we're going to worship skits. And then
you're going to go and share the
gospel and pray for people. Hold on,
Wait. What? Right. This is what I
signed up for. And you go and
you do it. Right.

I'm still jealous of that trip because
y' all got to impress Dr. Strange.

We saw Dr. Strange.

You hear me? Like, the real Dr.
Sham Cumberbatch, really? Or however you pronounce
his name.

Because we're in a. We're in the
airport.

In the airport, practicing. Yeah, Is the
story I got. And he just walks
by.

It was like, I loved it. Love
what you guys are doing. And of
course, he had security and he got
up out of there, right?

Yeah.

But again, it's like those stretching moments,
like, in the airport during that time,
like, social nowadays, you see people always
just. They got a camera, and they're
just like, my audience is here. They
could care less who's around them. But
back then, we didn't have that much
right. And so the crowd that we
would engage with when we're in the
airport, and Jen's like, hey, okay, let's

(23:45):
go. Let's do it. And we just
get to singing and get to worshiping
and doing our skits, man, it was
such a. It was rich, right? It
was stretching, for sure. But to see
the people around smiling and enjoy. Because
you're worshiping about Jesus, like, you hear
Jesus in the songs, and so you
know that we're not just randomly here

(24:05):
doing anything. So to see just the
love and the. The joy and the
appreciation that the people was actually engaging
with us was actually cool. Before we
even touched down to Croatia, like, this
was before we touched down. So we
were getting to practice in, to kind
of be uncomfortable, finding comfort in the
uncomfortable moments. So that when we got
there, it was like, all right, let's

(24:25):
do it. But, yeah, man, special moments
like that you don't get. Right.

Russia to Croatia and Kenya and co.

Led that trip with Jen. We went
there, and I had a surreal moment
because I was. When I touched down,
I said, harry, you're in Africa. Like
that. That right there just. It was.
It changed everything, man, for me, because
I never would have thought that a
kid from the south side of Chicago,

(24:58):
right? All the terrible decisions that this
kid has made to be walking on
the soil in Africa. And that trip,
short story, maybe long. I ended up
getting sick. I got sick because, you
know, you have to prepare. You have
to take the different medication for. For

(25:23):
Kenya, or yellow fever, all the things.
So what I did was I took
malaria, maybe malaria. There it is. Malaria
pills. I took the pills before I
left, but the time difference. And so
I'm like, wait, did I. I couldn't
remember. Took another pill. And so I
ended up getting sick, right? And the
first day we were there, I couldn't
even engage. I was in the room

(25:43):
all day, and they loved on me,
you know, made sure that I was
good that evening. Each night, the kids
from the orphanage would get together, pray
and worship at the end of the
night, and they heard, found out that
I was in the room sick, and
they said, could we pray for him?

(26:05):
Is he okay enough to come in
for us to pray for him? So
at that time, I was feeling better.
They brought me in. I've never experienced
love like that before. Them babies praying
in their language.

Covering.

Me, hugging on me, worshiping and just
praying. Everybody from the littlest tiny baby
all the way up to a high
schooler, right?

You came to do the ministry and
you got ministry, which is the story
of just about everybody that goes on
a missions trip.

I got a picture that one of
the teams they took of me. I'm
weeping. I'm just. I'm done. I'm done.
Like, I. And two kids to this
day, just changed my life, Sarah. Every
day of that trip, we were together.
She found me early in the morning,
and I held her until we went

(27:05):
out to the field every single day.
She's a big girl now, but she
was just a little bitty old baby
that just kept close with me. And
these are the moments, man, again, like,
I would have never experienced those, you
know, had I not said yes to
go, you know? And let me tell
you, the next day, I was up
and out. Them prayers worked, got me

(27:26):
up right. Right away. And experience. Yeah,
Kenya, it was great. It's amazing.

Then you did Israel, was that after
Kenya.

So we did New York, so we
stayed local. We took first year, we
took 30 students. Now, that was crazy.
That was a lot. But. But, you
know, we're talking out of the country,
but this is local. Yeah, Same impact.
Same impact, right. For students to see.

It's awesome. Ministry that you worked with
in New York.

Yes. Metro Road child.

Yep.

Yeah. So that was another Experience for
students to actually kind of get their
feet wet as it relates to going
and being sent. And great organization. The
students and their experience that they had,
not only with each other, but going
out into the different boroughs of New
York, traveling throughout, all week long, up

(28:24):
early. And so they were able to
go into the low income environments. Right.
And just door knock, spreading the gospel,
inviting them out to the sidewalk ministry
that we were going to do at
the end of the week. But you
saw students take that step of faith.

(28:46):
Right. And so we actually pull back.
You know, we let them go. They
trained up and they go out and
for them to do that, to pray
for the families the kids be a
part of, the skits on the side,
on the streets. And it just, you
saw their growth each and every day.
And so it was great to see
that we could still do those things

(29:07):
locally. Oftentimes people hear missions and they're
like, I gotta go out of the
country. I don't know if I'm be
able to do that. Well, we have
so much to do here at home.
Right. If that's just a few hours
away in New York or a few
hours away in Moline, Illinois. Right. You
can do. You can have impact here.
You just, you should. Yes. Just say

(29:28):
yes and just go. So no, that
was great. And then from there we
went to Japan or Israel.

Israel, I think you did Israel and
then we did Japan.

Israel and then Japan. Yep.

Israel, Japan and then Panama.

Costa Rica.

You did Costa Rica? Yeah. I didn't
know you were on the.

I led that trip, man.

I don't feel like I should be
on the show at this point. I
don't have.

They called it the book. Yeah.

Yeah. And I wanted you to walk
through some of that because, like, literally
it just. It started with 1.

1.

Yes. And all of a sudden you
realize, like, there's so much that God
can do and wants to do in
the nations and I get to be
a part of it. And it's just,
it's an incredible journey. And I know
you'll do. You're doing Panama again this
year with the youth or next year
with the youth.

And.

Yeah, it's just, I think that more
people need to experience what you experienced.

I agree. And you get to, you
know, people talk about the financial piece
when I start to actually, like, if
God wants you there, he'll get you
there. Yeah, I really. What was this?
Russia. I think I had. Man, I
had over a thousand dollars left. Still
left. No, actually it was Croatia. No,

(30:40):
take that. It was Kenya. It Was
Kenya. So it was Kenya.

Too many trips, right?

It was Kenya. It was Kenya. So
I think I had like $2,000 left
on that trip. I get an email
from Jen that, oh, someone paid your
trip in full.

Wow, it's wild.

All we're doing is just praying, like,
God, could you do it now? I'm
doing my part too. I'm doing my
part. I'm using a resource that Pastor
Jerry spoke about. I'm engaging with my
community to, hey, this is what God
is sending me to do. This is
what I know I'm called to and
they're responding. It was just, you know,
it takes some time. Right. And to

(31:21):
get that anonymous. I didn't find out
who the person was years later.

Wow.

Years later. Because they came up to
me in church and just like, I
really. You encouraged me to see that
you're obedient to what God is doing.
And that year, you know that I
saw you going on that trip, I
just felt that God was telling me
to bless you, to send you, because
I'm just not in a place to

(31:47):
go, like physically go, but if I
can't go, I could sin. And that's
also being a part of that action
that if you're not in a position
to go, perhaps that God has put
something on your heart so that you
can help others go. Right. And I
think you two share in that witness
as well. To be a part of
someone's story because you're a part of

(32:08):
that story also. Because if was not
for that person, I'm not there. Yeah,
right. And so God uses them to
bless his purpose and his mission to
continue on.

One of the things I love about
your story is all this took place
as an adult. My story, it's almost
the exact same thing, except for it
started when I was 12 and it,
but it's, it all comes down to
that first experience. Like, yeah, you realize
that the world is bigger than you
thought. That God isn't just working in
my life, in my city, in my

(32:40):
country, but God's at work right now
all the way around the world. And
so I had that kind of eye
opening moment at 12 and just kept
kind of like, you just went when
I was 12, then at 13 and
then at 14, and then I think
twice at 15 and then 16 and
then 17. Like it was just every
year I was going somewhere. And so

(33:00):
at this point, people, somebody asked me
actually on the Philippines trip, they're like,
how many trips have you been on?
I'm like, I have no idea how
many Countries have you been to? I'm
like, I have no idea. Like, I
wish that there was a way I
could, like, figure that out, but my
memory is awful. And so, like, I
literally don't even know at this point.
But all I know is if somebody
asks, I'll go again. Yeah, that's. It's

(33:21):
my heart now.

Yeah.

But it started for me at 12.
Started for you in your 30s.

Yeah.

Like, it's just. Just whenever you're able
to go, it's gonna mess you up.

Yeah.

In a good way.

Y.

So, Tyisha, where are you going to
go?

All of them. I'm not going to
be here next year. I am very
encouraged, man. And I feel like just
having an opportunity to serve at the
information table yesterday for missions. Hearing some
of the questions and concerns that people

(33:55):
had about going on missions. I think
that this, this conversation is really going
to inspire and encourage. We had a
lot of young adults, young couples come
with kids, like, which trips are for
families? Which. So really quick. Which trips
are for families, like, good for families
that we're hosting this year.

So obviously. So the one that's going
to be the best for families is
probably going to be Paraguay, which is
the one we're doing with another organization.
It's actually the video that was played
after the announcements on Sunday because it
was. It was from a mother's perspective
or 3. Mom's perspective with their kids.
And so that's part of like their
heart and their emphasis is like, bring.
Bring your kids on a trip. Yeah,

(34:36):
I took Jaden on his first trip.
We went to Japan actually with Harry
and we've got plans to bring Bennett.
He got. He got his international experience
without it being missions related. It was
soccer related. And so we're like, well,
we just broke the. The budget on
that one. So yeah, so we're trying
to figure out when to take him

(34:56):
and then Kelsey will get an experience.
Actually, technically, Kelsey went on the first
mission trip when she was like three.
She tagged along for a trip to
Mexico and just little, little tiny Kelsey
running around while everybody else is doing
the work. But yeah, no, I think
so for families, Paraguay is a great
trip. I think Japan can be a

(35:18):
good trip with teenagers. So, like, if,
if Your kid is 13 or older.
We've. We've. I think we've taken. Just
about every time we've. We've done Japan,
we've taken some teenagers. So my son
went. There was a girl that was
also the same age, 13 that went.
Zion went. And then we couldn't get
him to come back home. I think

(35:38):
he's now part Japanese.

But.

He'S black and east. So messed up.

He'll tell you himself he would.

But. Yeah. So Japan could be a
really good one for teenagers especially. And
then, of course, Panama is our youth
trip.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I think those three would
probably be the ones that I would.
I would probably target if somebody's asking,
like it. So what about a kid
that's under 13? I think the. Regulate
the requirements for Paraguay. I think they
do 8 to 8 and older. So
if they're under 8, not necessarily able
to go on that trip. And I
would say for the most part, 8

(36:20):
would be a little bit too young
for just about any trip because at
some point, you're not really helping anything.
You're actually just becoming a burden on
the parents, a distraction for the parents
and for the rest of the team.
And so I do think that you
should probably hold off until you're a
teenager. When I went on my first
one at 12, that was probably a
good age for me to go. And

(36:41):
I went with a bunch of other
youth and a couple of adult chaperones.
But, yeah. So as a family, though,
yeah, I'd probably target those three.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah. What are some. And both of
you just.

Let's.

Let's chime in on this one. What
are some myths that people have about
missions that we want to, like, debunk
today on this show? So one of
them is, I don't have enough money.
I don't have enough money to go.
I can't afford to live in America.
So how. How do I go on
a mission trip?

And here's the thing. That's true. But
we. We serve a God who is
the source of all resource. And so
our command, or the Great Commission to
go isn't. Doesn't hinge on what you
have, your. Your resources. We have to

(37:35):
know that it's his plan, his purpose,
which he's already planned. And so that's
what you have to trust. Don't trust
what's in your bank account because it's
not gonna add up. It's barely adding
up for the monthly bills. Right. But
when you really look past, get past
that part. Right. If you feel like

(37:57):
I have to, I have to. I
have to. You may need to take
some time to just really refocus God's
plan and purpose. Right. Because it's what
he has established for you, not what
you have established for yourself. And so
once you totally just say this, you
give that responsibility to the Lord. He

(38:18):
loves that. Right. It shows the dependent.
The dependence that we have on him.
Right. And so when we give that
dependence over to him, he makes it
happen. Do we play a part? Absolutely.
We have to tell people our story.
Right? We have to tell people what's
in our hearts. You know, why does
this resonate with them? Why should I
buy into this? Right? Why should I

(38:39):
get involved in sending you to the
nations or even locally? They have to
see that passion and see that you
are just as excited about what God
is doing in you that you want
them to also partner in and what
he's doing for you. So, yeah, that
would be my.

And then the resource that we give
everybody that PJ kind of mentioned. So
it's called Manage Missions. It's where you
apply for the missions trip and everything.
But also you set up a profile
and it basically it functions like a
GoFundMe page. So it's got details of
your trip you're able to share on
social media, text it to somebody, email

(39:16):
it, somebody put it on your own
webpage, whatever you need to do. It's
just a link that you can utilize.
And then from there people can make
donations to your trip. And then you
can also use it to add your
own funds to the trip as well
until you hit the target, the goal.
So with that, I think that there
are people who have literally not spent

(39:37):
a penny of their own money and
gone on a trip. I don't always
recommend that. I think you need to
have some skin in the game. And
then also, if you've gone on three
trips that your family and friends have
paid for, at some point, they're probably
going to look at you like, am
I just paying for your vacation.

Plan.

That we need to take some ownership.
There's probably some people that are like,
man, I don't have the money to
go on a missions trip. And yet
if you just didn't go to Starbucks
for the year, you could go to
two missions trips because your Starbucks habit
is ridiculous. And so, like, there is
a degree of sacrifice, like if you're
going to go on a trip, like,
what can you sacrifice in order to
do that?

Got to be the bacon.

Yeah, come on now.

Got to be the bacon.

You're not the eggs, you're the bacon.
If you don't get that reference, maybe
we'll explain it a little bit later.
Or you just need to watch the
sermon because, man, I love that. Gotta
be bacon. But yeah, so I've, I've
also had people that have said, man,
so my family Loves to do big
Christmas gifts and big birthday gifts. And
I've already told my family this year,

(40:40):
just put money into this account for.
For my mission trip, because next year
I'm going on this trip. And so
I think for people that if you
start early, like. Like, if you have
even an inkling that I want to
go on a trip, man, sign up
today so that you've got time to
be able to raise those funds to
utilize the resources. My dad always says,
man, anybody that you've paid money to,

(41:02):
ask them for support, like, it's like
you got somebody that does your insurance,
give them a phone call. Hey, I've
been. You've been my insurance provider for
the last 10 years. I'm going on
a trip. Would you like to make
a donation? Absolutely. Right. My dentist, you
know, I come to you every twice
a year and get my cleaning done.
And, you know, what if. What if
you supported my mission? And you'd be
surprised how many businesses and organizations like

(41:25):
it is charitable giving at that point.
That's why it routes through management, so
they get tax deductible for it and
everything. So, like, you can raise funds
that way. You can do the whole,
hey, I'm foregoing Christmas this year. I've
got a lot of people that are
like, hey, we set aside money for
a family vacation every year, but next
year, the family vacation, we're not going

(41:46):
on a vacation. Instead, we're gonna go
on a missions trip, which I think
is a great idea. Just don't treat
it like it's a vacation. Right. Because
missions is not vacation. Missions is not
vacation. Maybe that's the myth we need
to dispel and that now, I will
say, that doesn't mean you can't choose
a country because you've always wanted to
visit it.

Sure.

Like having people go on the Japan
trip simply because it's Japan. And you're
like, I've always wanted to go to
Japan. Cool. That's awesome. When you're there,
we're going to be working. Yes, you're
going to be in Japan, but you're
going to be working. You're going to
see some of the sites we always
try. Every trip we take, we try
and have some kind of fun activity
or fun day or sightseeing, something. It's

(42:29):
like you will get to experience the
culture and the city as a tourist
for at least a day. But for
the. For the rest of it, man,
we're here to work, Come to work.

Makes sense.

Yeah, but I don't think the money
thing should become a barrier. I think
if you have enough time, you know,
it's. It's like the thousand dollars for
Elam thing. PJ mentioned it, and I
realized, oh, it's 10 weeks. Until then,
I could probably save $100 a week.

(42:59):
Yeah. Maybe I don't eat out. Maybe
I don't get Starbucks. Maybe I don't
do whatever. I could find a way
to add in my budget a hundred
dollars just for this, for the next
10 weeks. Yep. And same thing with
missions. Like, if you're going on a
trip in 10 months from now. Okay.
How much do you need to set
aside monthly in order to do that?

(43:20):
That's why budgets are important.

Budgets are good. That's good. Another myth
that came to mind, because I struggled
with this a little bit. I thought
missions was like, my life is always
in danger when I went overseas. Is
it safe to go on mission trips?

Yes, 100%. So we are very careful
with where we go and who we
work with. Does that mean there's never
going to be any danger? I mean,
no, but if you live in Chicago,
you're in danger to the same level.
Like, like, actually, like, okay, Japan. You're
safer in Japan than you are in

(44:00):
Chicago. 100%. Like, crime rates in Japan.
Like, literally, like, you could leave $100
bill on the floor and somebody be
like, oh, sir, you dropped this hundred
dollars. Like, it's just super uber safe.
It's scary how, like, just safe.

It is.

So, yeah, but. But, yeah, so we're.
You're not in danger in. In that
sense. Like, we. We're very careful. We've
canceled trips because things in the country
changed. Like, we don't go to Russia
anymore. We went to Russia a few
times, and we don't do that anymore.
For. For those reasons. Israel, we had
a. We were supposed to put on
a youth camp in Israel, and actually

(44:36):
the location that we were going to
host the youth camp in actually became
a refugee center after the bombings. And
so it was like, well, we can't
use this place. Should we try and
find another place? And it was like,
let's just not like, okay, the facility
we wanted to use, we can't use
because there's bombs. Maybe we just don't

(44:57):
go right now because there's bombs. So,
yeah, so we're very cautious with the
places that we go. We. We do
a lot of work in 1040 Window
nations, which can be a part of
the world that is dangerous. However, the
countries in the 1040 window that we
choose are extremely safe and we're very

(45:17):
cautious of those things. Your safety is
important to us, not just you.

Absolutely. And you can see it through
the partnerships. So our partnerships aren't one
day, two day old now. We have
some new partners that we've. We're bringing
on and whatnot. But for the most
part, we have relationship in our.

And even our two new partners, they're
both have been doing this for decades.
So it's new to us, but not
new to groups and teams and people.

Absolutely. I think I've heard it. So
the moment that if something was to
happen, that would be the last time
we do missions. Right. In a sense
of like, we have to be responsible.
Right. In terms of that. And I've
never experienced any moment that I felt
like, oh, shit, this is a concern.
Like, this isn't an issue. Right. My

(46:07):
wife sits in that same place and
she's been on board lately because of
that. But she's definitely grown this desire
to go on the mission field.

I don't know if I should say
this or not, but it's me. And
so I say that I have been
unsafe on missions many times in my
life. Never with Christian Life center or
Disciples Church there it is so just
saying that to say we care about
safety and so we don't go to
places that are unsafe.

Okay, okay. What's some more myths? Those
are my two myths. Any that you've
heard of that you want to debunk
today?

You know, you hear about the food.

Yeah.

Like, that's a big one. Yeah, right.
That's one that. That comes up quite
often, especially when we do our training
before we go on any mission strip,
we do, you know, culture training. Then
we talk about, you know, in that
culture training, you talk about the food
of that culture. And yeah, everybody's palate
and kind of how they eat, dietary,
you know, issues.

It's important.

And so there is a part, right,
that you have to sacrifice. You're the
bacon, right? But if you're. If it's
gonna cause you to be ill or
sick, the entire. There's no real benefit
in that. And so we just say
that, hey, communicate, right? Be very open
about your needs so that we could

(47:32):
try to meet those needs. But when
we're in country, understand, like, these people
are providing the best. Right. That they
can for you. And so you want
to be respectable, you want to show
honor in that. And so we try
to do our best to communicate up
front the needs of the team. But
if any event that they can't accommodate

(47:53):
that we have Those conversations so that
we could be prepared in country. Right?

That's good. That's a good one.

Yeah. And honestly, you'll realize quickly, food
is really good. You're actually gonna probably
eat better on missions than you eat
back home, because the preservatives and all
this, the. The stuff that Americans add
to the food like other countries don't.
And so, like, it's actually you. You
pay extra in the US to get
what you get dirt cheap in other

(48:22):
countries because you're. You're paying extra for,
like, the organic. It's all organic. Like,
you're paying extra for, like, pesticide free.
Like, they're like, pesticide. What are you
talking about? Pesticide? Yeah. So, like, you're
actually going to eat very, very well
on trips, man. Especially the places that
we go. I can't think of a
single country that we're going to where

(48:43):
the food is bad. Like, Filipino food
is amazing. Japanese food is just ridiculous.
Like, it's.

Yeah. Croatia food was Croatia. Amazing. I
mean, so fresh.

Yeah.

Kenya fruit. Oh, yeah.

Eat a mango in Kenya and you're
never gonna be able to go back
home.

Like, what is this?

Oh, wow.

I had a little baby banana. I'm
like, is this the size the banana
should be?

Right.

It was so good. But I came
back home and reality set in.

Yeah. You'll be more disappointed with back
home. Yeah.

Yeah.

Go on missions tomorrow.

Gonna eat good. Yeah.

And we. We try and take care
of our people on trips. I will
say I did. I did have somebody
that refused a meal because they're like,
well, I'm a vegetarian. And I was
like, really? Because you never said anything
about being on your profile like, you
did. You literally didn't. Never said any.
Didn't we have pepperoni pizza for, like,
our planning meeting? And so I literally.
I was like, how long have you

(49:43):
been a vegetarian? They're like, oh, I
started last week. And I was like,
no, you didn't. You're gonna start the
week after we get back.

Oh, my goodness.

If it's really important for you. Like,
yeah, but, like, come on, man. Don't.
Don't pull the. Well, I'm a vegetarian
now because I just saw that food
and I was like, oh, I don't
want to eat that.

Right.

Come on now.

Well, you guys know life restrictions. So
as long as we're clear.

If it's on the app, it's on
the app, you know? Yeah.

Tell us.

Had that conversation, right?

Tell us what it is. Don't become
a vegetarian on the airplane.

I'm fasting for 10 days.

Yeah, yeah, we had that one, too.
It's like, oh, no, I'm fasting today.
And I was like, yeah, no, that's
not. That's not what we need today,
because the lesson. And I know this
seems really harsh, but, man, Russia, you
weren't with my team on that day
because we had split into two different
groups, but there was a guy on
our team that. They gave us borscht,

(50:33):
which is beet soup. It's like a
Russian thing, and it's. It's actually pretty
good. Like, they add all kinds. It's
beet soup, but they add, like, cream
and all this other stuff and, like,
it. It's pretty tasty. It's not bad.
But he just had this mental thing
of, like. It's like this weird pinkish
red soup thing. And he's just. He
was just in his head, and he's

(50:53):
just like, I can't do it. And
every local that was in the room
is watching all of us eating, except
for this one guy not touching his
food. And they're like, what's wrong? What
can we do better? How can we
fix this? Like, they. They panicked because
he wasn't eating. And the. The sad
thing is, man, I got a feeling

(51:15):
that cook ended up in a ditch
somewhere because we never saw her again.
This woman disappeared, and I felt so
horrible. I felt so bad because, like,
we came back and, like, the. The
people were so apologetic. They're like, I'm
so sorry that the food wasn't to
your standards. And I'm like, it was
amazing. It was delicious. And Vanya, like,
he's like, but no, there was no

(51:36):
this, and there was no this. And
I was like, vanya, calm down, Vanya.
I love the soup. Give me more
of that soup. Like, can I just
connect.

You have more in the back. Can
I take that to go get the
soup now?

Can you give me the recipe? Send
her back to Chicago with me. I'm
gonna open a restaurant with her as
my.

With her name on it.

Yeah, you know, like. Like, I was,
like, I was trying so, so hard.
Literally, this woman disappeared. I think they
made her disappear. Like. Like, that was
our Russia team. That was our Russia
trip. So we did find out later
that some of the. So they. They
have a. Like, an outreach to drug
addicts and stuff. And we realized there
was a lot of former, like, gang

(52:13):
members and drug dealers in the church,
and they actually have a business meeting
every month, and there's, like, Mafia people
in the business meeting. Like. Like, A
prophet came through. I guess the week
before we were there. I think I
might have shared the story before. A
prophet was there, like, the week before.
And he's like, I don't know who
it is in this room, but there's
somebody here that you have plans to
kill your boss.

Oh, my goodness.

I just want you to know that.
That God says, don't. And all of
a sudden, the guy was like, thank
you, Jesus. This dude was straight up
about to murder someone. And the prophet.
Safe prophet was like, yeah, don't do
that.

This is life of a believing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's in the
church. Like, this isn't. Like, this was
an outreach. This is a member of
the church.

I'm thinking of Kelly. Like, I'm gonna
murk this.

I'm about to murk this guy. So.
Yeah. So I don't know what happened
to that cook, that woman, but it
did create a great opportunity to talk
with the team and say, hey, this
is why it's important to actually enjoy
and eat the food that is served
to you. Like, we're gonna. We're gonna
do our part to make sure that
it's safe and it's healthy and that
nobody's giving you anything bad. But even
if it's not something you like, we

(53:18):
eat it with a smile, and we're
happy to, because they are sacrificing in
order to do this. Like, it's different
if we're all going to a restaurant,
which that'll happen on trips. You'll go
to a restaurant. If you don't like
the food, that's no big deal. But
if you're in somebody's home or they're
bringing. They're cooking for you at the
church, it's like, man, this is. This
is an opportunity to be loving and

(53:39):
kind and gracious and to say, wow,
I can't believe you did this for
me.

Yes.

Like, it. In all reality, am I
ever going to a restaurant to order
borscht? No. No, I'm not. Because beet
soup is not high on my priority
list. Sure. However, that beet soup was
amazing because that woman, she made it
with. She did. And her heart. And
it was just. Yeah. So it's. It's
lessons to learn.

Yeah.

Even with that, they laid it out,
man. I tell you how many course,
it was like, this isn't. This isn't
the main course.

We finished eating at our group and
then came to your group, and they
get us more food spritz.

Oh, my goodness.

And it's like, oh, we had a
running. And you will look around the
table. Cause we did have a team,
you know, powwow. But we start to
say, take one for the team. Right.
So if you can't finish your plate,
who on the team at the table?

I think Harry ate, like, four plates
one day, man.

Come on, let's do it. Because we
have to.

Right, Another one.

That's just what it is. You have
to make it work. Some people, like,
I got you. Don't worry. Soul took
a few days. Soul, man, I got
you.

Because that's that missions mentality.

It's, you know, it's more than just,
you know, coming to share the word,
share the gospel in your actions. That's
what you're doing, that very thing. Right.
Your actions are actually showing that. And
the.

The joy that you see on whoever
provided the food or prepared the food.
The joy that you see in their
face when you're smiling and enjoying the
food. When you compliment them, like, man,
they light up. It's like, man, this
is the greatest day ever. Like, I
got to cook for these Americans, and
they loved my food.

It's amazing.

It's a cool moment. That's also when
I learned that Russians have a different
definition of salad than the rest of
the world.

Yeah.

Because when you say salad, you think
vegetables.

Yes. Lettuce, specifically.

Yeah. Not Russians.

What? Salad?

It's like sliced up, ham and cheese.

Cheese.

It's like chicken stuff.

Big.

Yeah.

And it's big. Yeah.

But there was not a single vegetable
in the thing. No, it was meat,
cheese, and cream.

But it's like, we ate three times
before we had the main meal. So
it's like. You're like, it don't stop.
What you gonna do? You're gonna eat.

Yep.

That first.

That first meal, it was like, man,
this was so good. And then they
brought out more food.

I was like, oh, what'd you call
that?

Oh, we're doing this again.

My goodness.

But it's good. You'll eat really well
on trips.

Sure.

You absolutely will, man.

I love that this was the stories,
the encouragement. I think everyone that watched
this episode is going to be like,
sign me up for sure, man.

Unless I scared them off with.

No, I think. Yeah, with the Russian.
Russian mafia.

The Lord did it. We don't go
to Russia right now. No.

But I think, like, overall, man, it
was just a good conversation just to
hear your stories. And, man, I'm encouraged.
I'm inspired to go on some trips.
I'm Sam signed me and David up
in Neo. Let's Go. But I feel
like the message yesterday, let's kind of
end with that. That eggs and bacon
analogy that was utilized, because if. If

(56:50):
you didn't watch the sermon, if you
weren't able to attend in person, go
and look at that latest sermon. It's
really good. But let's kind of end
there because I feel like when he
gave that analogy, I was, like, shook
it. Is that a way to say
it? Because I. We do have that
egg mentality I'm going to give from

(57:12):
the abundance of what I have.

So let's explain it real quick because.

I'm about to go deep.

So it's an old, like, preacher story
that's been around for a while, but
it's this idea of there's a farm.
There's a pig and a chicken on
this farm. And they are talking to
each other and they say, you know
what? It's the farmer's birthday tomorrow. We
should do something special for the farmer.
And so the pig says, well, you
know, I agree, we should. He takes

(57:39):
such good care of us, feeds us.
Well, like what? What do you have
in mind? What should we do to
appreciate the farmer? So the chicken says,
well, I was thinking that we would
make him breakfast, you know, because he
cares for us and so we can
make him breakfast. And the pig's like,
that's a great idea. What do you
want to make him? And the chicken
says, well, I think that we can
make him bacon and eggs. You know,
it's a good, hearty breakfast. Bacon and

(58:00):
eggs. And the pigs kind of staring
at him for a second. And the
chicken says, you know, I can donate
the eggs and you can donate the
bacon. The pig goes, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, wait a minute. For you, that's
just a gift. For me, that's a
total sacrifice. And that's the idea of
following Christ, is sometimes we try and

(58:21):
just give eggs.

That's it.

But we're not the chicken, we're the
pig. And so the Bible actually tells
us to crucify ourselves, to pick up
our cross daily, to sacrifice. It's those
who want to save their life that
lose it. But those who lose their
life for his sake are the ones
that find it. And so there's this.
This concept in Christianity that we're the

(58:42):
pig, not the chicken. And sometimes we
just try and say, oh, well, for
missions, I'm just gonna give my eggs.
And God's blessed me with a whole
lot of eggs. And that's good. That's
great. Like it. That needs to be
a part of It. But at what
point do you recognize that you're actually
supposed to make a sacrifice? No.

Are you chicken?

I've been chicken. I want to be
a pig in this next season of
my life.

No more eggs, More bacon.

I. My bacon moment.

My stomach's grumbling right now. Bacon talk.
See, the borscht didn't make my stomach
growl.

Soon he said bacon is. That's it.
I guess my bacon moment was in
India.

Okay. We didn't even mention you went
to India.

Yeah.

There we go.

Can you imagine a 12 passenger van
with 16 people? Two of those passengers
are drivers. So you take away that
too. Six, 16 and a 12. It's
not comfortable. And we got into this

(01:00:01):
van. 100 plus degrees every day. It's
not. Oh, did you get the wind?
No, no wind. Sticky. But we have
a picture of all of us. So
we. Our luggage was. They took our
luggage in another van, another car. Excuse

(01:00:23):
me, a car. And so we had
like three people in the back where
your luggage would be. I mean, like
this. It's like, who's gonna sacrifice this
moment? Right. We had to play Tetris.
We get in there, but we have
a picture. And everyone. Not because we're
taking a picture for candid views or
whatever. Everyone's smiling.

Pastor Brent McQuay (01:00:45):
Right.

Ti'heasha Beasley (01:00:45):
Big smile, Sweaty hot. Elbow to elbow.
Shoulder to shoulder. Tight in this van.
Because we were just all ecstatic about
what God was about to do through
us. Like this. All we kept saying,
like, God is really about to do
something. And it was that sacrifice being

(01:01:08):
uncomfortable. So I'm standing on the stage
on the last day for 10 days
in the hot sun. Summer camp for
youth. And I'm looking out on these
man. 400, 500 orphans.

Yep.

And I had. This is why God
wanted me to be here for this
moment. And I realized none of these
kids know their parents, but every smile
of joy, they know their heavenly Father
as the one who loves them and
cares for them. That was the moment

(01:01:46):
for me.

It's beautiful.

It was sacrifice to see. This is.
This is it. I'm grateful to have
my parents, but the joy on their
faces and just the surrender of worship
they have experienced. The love of the
Father.

Pastor Harry Valentine (01:02:01):
Yeah.

That we don't understand oftentimes because we
have this. I say it casual Christianity,
like we. But in that moment, the
love that God has just poured on
them in the absence of their biological
parents. I said, no, Lord, I will
do this. I will be the bacon.

(01:02:23):
Anytime you say go, I'm going.

Yeah.

Because of these moments. Yep.

I love it. Yep. I think that
that's one of the cool things about
going on a trip is at some
point on every trip you're gonna have
a bacon moment. Because it is, it's
hard. You know, I don't want to
sugarcoat it. Like, it's work. It's longer
days and longer hours than you're probably
used to. You know, there's gonna be

(01:02:48):
something that's gonna push you out of
your comfort zone. You know, you might
be the person's like, you know, I
like being behind the scenes and in
the back and it's like, okay, go
lead the devotional with this group of
100 kids, you know, and so like
there's, there's going to be a bacon
moment, I think, on every trip. But
what I love about it is it
prepares you to be bacon when you're
back home.

That's true.

Like you, you experience a missions field
where it's almost like you don't really
have much of a choice but to
be bacon. Like, it's, it's, it's easier
on the missions field. It really is
sacrifice and to say because you're like,
well, I'm here. But then when you're
back home and things are comfortable and
things are easy and you get to
be in control of your schedule, not

(01:03:31):
somebody else, and you get to make
choices of what time you're gonna wake
up and what time you're gonna go
to bed. What I found is that
those missions moments better prepare me for
the sacrifice of just a random Tuesday
in Tinley Park.

I was gonna ask you to, to.
Instead of us lining the plane individually,
I was going to ask you to
just speak to your, the, your family,
your church family, those who are call
themselves members here at DC and encourage
them to, to take that step. But
you kind of did it. But I
don't know if you have something additional
you want to do as you close
us out.

Yeah, no, I, I do think that
anybody that calls themselves a disciple should
go. And yes, that, that, that has
varying meanings for everybody. But I think
that every, every American believer needs to
experience missions because we can get very
confused about faith and Christianity and following

(01:04:30):
Jesus because there's so much American culture
weaved into different things and it can
become very like, we become very egocentric
and very like self focused. And especially
for young people like that don't realize
that the world is bigger than what
they're experiencing. And so I think that
everybody needs to experience missions at least

(01:04:52):
once in their life. The bait and
switch on you is you experience it
once, and you become like Harry. And
now you've gone to 10 different trips
over the last 10 years. And so
you're gonna want to do more, but
start with one. At least get an
experience of, I'm in another country because
God saved me, and it's my responsibility

(01:05:13):
to pass that on to somebody else.
That if I go through my entire
life and all that happened for me
was I got to go to heaven,
but nobody else was affected by my
salvation. Like, you've wasted the gospel almost.

Wow.

Like, I know that sounds harsh and
that sounds strong, but, like, man, that's
my heart as a pastor is it's
got to be about more than just
me. It's got to be about more
than just you. Like, at some point,
there's a great big world that needs
to know about Jesus. And so you've
been privileged, especially if you're living in
this country. Like, by. By definition, you

(01:05:48):
are privileged. Like, we like to talk
about. Oh, the 1 percenters. Well, you
are a 1 percenter. If you live
in America. Like, it's like, if you
make. What was the stat? It was
like, if you make more than, like,
$26,000 a year, you're in, like, the
1% of the world's population of income.
Like, it's crazy. And so we. We

(01:06:08):
need to recognize that we've been blessed
so that we can be a blessing.
And so I know that for. For
some people, it's like, man, I can't
even imagine a world where I'd be
able to raise the money to go
on a trip. Okay, start now. Start
in 2025. Start setting aside money in
a. In a fund, Even if it's
$5 a week, $5 a month. Starting.
Start an account. Go on a trip

(01:06:30):
in 20, 30. Figure it out. Yeah,
but let's go. Everybody should go.

Everybody should go. Well, thank you, Pastor
Harry, for sharing your passion. We felt
it. Oh, we felt the passion. Thank
you for being on the show. And
thank you, Pastor. Yes, thank you, Pastor
Brent, for leading us in the.

That is following what. What my dad
set up. Yeah, he's the missionary.

You caught it.

Yep.

And so he passed that heart on
to me. And from 12 to 41.
Now, that's. Why'd you give me that,
man? Your old. Look like you ain't
the same age.

Right? We all the same age on
the show.

He called it, too.

Like, we ain't 123 combined.

Not combined.

Wouldn't that be our combined age? 123,
man. We old.

We all. It's a lot. Anyway, let's.

Aisha, what happened to you? When did
you get so old?

Well, no, that's not me. Keep that
over there. Keep that energy over there.
Six, seven. But we're gonna close. We're
gonna close. I think this was a
great show. I love that our church
have our heart for missions, and we
have a lot of new faces and

(01:07:50):
members a part of our family here
at D.C. and we're just excited for
you to take this continued journey with
us as we go out. Be one,
make one. We're taking this mindset from
here, being local and just allowing God
to call us to go where he
would have us go and in the

(01:08:12):
nations. But it does start here. And
so we just encourage you to keep
coming, showing up, getting involved with your
communities. Ask your friend, like, where are
we going next year on a missions
trip? Get involved with your communities. I
love that we have, like, a community
heart here. So we just. I hope
this episode encouraged you. Until next time.
We love you. Take care.

Sam.

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