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Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County Takes Families -- Cara Speicher Part 1 · Welcome Home. Here, Us, Now.

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome home, Hear Us Now, a podcast of the Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, a space for all of us seeking what's real and sacred in a world that rushes past the soul.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Eric Engelman, a volunteer at UGMTC, and your co-host, President and CEO of UGMTC, Charles Wolford.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is Eric Engelman.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in the studio at UGM.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And next to me is on my right is Kara Spiker, and across the table is Dr.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Charles Wolford.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: Good morning, sir.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: My friend and my brother, how exciting it is to be with you.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: I've missed you.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_03: It seems like we've been on a little bit of a hiatus.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: I've had some traveling and so have you.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: So uh anytime that we are apart, I pine for these moments that we have to be a part of the Welcome Home podcast.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: So I can't wait to dig into our conversations today, just as we have in the past had some amazing conversations.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: We're going to be blessed.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think our listening audience will be blessed with our guest today.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm I'm I'm super excited.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I while you were gone, I did go to the Welcome Center and I did uh did uh interview some of the uh some of the diversion folks, the outreach folks that you have there.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And uh wow, it was it was really good.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we got that uh we got that in process in Jesus' name.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_03: Let me tell you something about the welcome center and what God is doing over there.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: We just see the hand of God on that space.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: But just by way of introduction, uh Kara Spiker, welcome, and we are fortunate to have you a part of our Welcome Home family.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we uh know that this is gonna be tailored for someone who's listening today and they needed to hear what God has been doing in your life.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_03: So welcome again to you, Kara.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Dr.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Charles.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_03: You have your own audience here, Kara, so uh we're grateful to have you.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Would you would you introduce yourself to our listening audience by uh introducing your name and your current role here at Union Gospel Mission?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: So my name is Kara Spiker, and I am currently a program manager over the families, um, which resides in our main Cox building um for Union Gospel Mission Terrant County.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes, sir.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: So, Kara, as the lead for our families, we have seen an influx of families coming into UGM.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: And what we've learned is most of our listening audience and people around Fort Worth do not know that we take families here at Union Gospel Mission.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: And that that's uh has been one of the amazing highlights of teaching and sharing.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: So tell us a little bit about what happens at Union Gospel Mission with our families that God is giving you an opportunity to to help share with.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we um we are serving um an increase in the family population um far more than I've ever seen before over the previous years.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so um one thing is we all understand that um the experience with homelessness does not discriminate.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so um it's very rewarding to um see our organization be able to accept those families, families sleeping in cars, families with children, that um need to go to school, um, families that um just lack life skills, coping skills, that suffer with mental health, substance abuse.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so um I look at our families program as a place of refuge, right?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm all about support systems, and so um I love the fact that we um we are different from other agencies and community programs because we are um intentional about being a one-size-fits-one.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we are Christ-centered, and our our vision and mission is to serve serve with the love of Christ.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So we welcome them, we embrace them, and then we begin to build a rapport, get to know them, to find out what their barriers are.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Many of them can't even identify what their barriers are.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: More importantly, they can't even identify the strengths that they have.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: So let's just unpack that.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's um thank you for sharing that.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: And one thing that we in our mind as a community and as the world as a whole, we have a depiction of what we think homelessness looks like.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: And it's typically a male figure that's outside with a sign being held up, will work for food or homeless.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: But what you've just said is that there are so many families who are sleeping in their cars, sleeping in encampments.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: Talk to us.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: Give do you have a an example of a family that's recently come to Union Gospel Mission and just without sharing names, but their experience of what what how did they arrive here and what was their backstory?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um we have quite a diverse population of families that we serve, but um, in particular, a family that's a size of six.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um very hard to house families, let alone a family of that that size.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, you know, the husband um is a veteran and had um a medical um discharge, medical discharge or a some medical um issues that that that caused him probably not to be able to maintain employment.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so, and then of course, um having children that that struggle with you know mental health diagnosis, behavior issues, um, just a wide range of you know, struggles that the family experiences.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: And um maybe some substance use in there, you know, um various various issues.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so a spiral of events that take place, you know, prevents a family from maintaining stabilization so they can't maintain their housing, they can't maintain employment, yeah.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then um having the family, the children aspect, you know, that's a lot of responsibility, and sometimes um it just spirals.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, they find themselves, they didn't expect to wake up one day experiencing homelessness or without employment, without a way to support their family.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: It just happens.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so, um Wow.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: So you just you just unpacked a scenario.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_03: So you have a husband who served our country, he's a veteran, and probably in some phases and spaces was very stable, and he with his wife lost his employment and ends up here at Union Gospel Mission.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: And then you have the unpacking of that narrative is that there may be some mental health challenges and opportunities there with some of the kids and what have you, and they they find themselves here at Union Gospel Mission.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: So, what's their journey?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: What happens next with this family of six?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: What would be their experience while they're with us at Union Gospel Mission?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, what we do is, you know, through the first 30 days, we're coming alongside of a family such as this to identify the um needs that will remove barriers.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this family has lost all their vital documents, they need those to enroll the kids in school, they need those to apply for housing, they need those.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's about identifying the the prioritized needs, right?
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: You can't do anything without those things.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: So we want to ensure that we're working along with them to provide that um opportunity to obtain those documents, as well as provide them, you know, with support from a Christ-centered approach, you know, understanding that it's not their experience, that they're that that represent who they are, their identity, but rather that they are humans, they are people, you know, and that they matter.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: I I just want to I want that to marinate just for a while.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: I want our listening audience just to lean in a little bit just to what you just shared as an experience with the family and think through that.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: If you press pause, just imagine that you and your family wake up tomorrow and everything is gone.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: You have no vital documents that would affirm neither could it confirm that you are who you are.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have your birth certificate, social security card, you have maybe no identifying documents that shows you have a driver's license or a state ID.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: What do you do next?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: Where do you go?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: And so I just want that for all of us to just res let that resonate with us.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's like you have to start over.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: And what I just heard from you with this family who's confronted with all of those elements of their journey ends up at Union Gospel Mission and you and your team and the staff, what I heard, you're able to walk with them and begin to build a bridge for them that they can cross into a space where they can have new beginnings.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's absolutely amazing.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely amazing.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And even more so, you know, you can just you feel that devastation that they are experiencing.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you have the responsibility of having your children enrolled in school.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: You have the responsibility of having, right?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: You you gotta start over with them.
• 10:05
  unknown: Wow.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you have no plan of the future.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: You're you know, you're in a shelter and so you feel like there's no hope, but there is hope.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's what that's that's our job.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: That's our role.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: How do you build hope in those moments, Kara?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_03: As you see the expressions in the face, along with the tears and the anguish of a mom and dad trying to chart a path forward.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_03: How do you build hope with that type of a burden that it feels like a yoke that's around their neck?
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: How do you build hope in those places?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, for me, my approach is to meet them when they first come in, acknowledge that they're there, you know, have a sense of um joy when I meet them, regardless of what they're experiencing, and just be intentional about building a little bit of rapport, acknowledging them as I see them around the campus, and you know, making time if they need time to to just process or if I need to take them to the side to talk with them, to pray with them, you know, just to get them through that crisis, to decrease that crisis so that they can actually begin to think a little bit more with clarity and you know, and just try to be a seed planter.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I like to plant seeds of hope.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: Sure, sure.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And share my faith.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: And that goes a long way, sharing your faith with your credentials.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: Very powerful combination, Charles.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: Very powerful.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: What a blessing.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: You seem like you have something you want to jump in.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's you know, this is like double dutch.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're both skipping and we want to jump in.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: Eric is chomping at the bit.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: Go ahead.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: Jump.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I can I can skip rope by myself too, but I I like the double dutch.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, my I I have a friend who says who has a phrase called the downward the downward death spiral of addiction.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And uh when it affects a family like that, and when somebody's uh trying in their minds to make right what was wrong, there needs to be some sane time apart from each other in the process of healing.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I it sounds like that's one of the things that you do.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um so anyway, I I like to see Jesus.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I practiced driving out, I had some situations and I realized uh I can practice seeing Jesus in future situations that may or may not occur, you know, and the worry is seeing a situation and Jesus isn't there.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And uh anyway, um he's he helps uh he helps calm us.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, Kara, I've watched you be a vessel.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: You use these terms, you're a vessel for service, and the evidence of you being a vessel for service is seeing how you um walk with our neighbors that come through the doors and how you go above and beyond.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_03: You go that extra mile to make sure that many of our neighbors, my first encounter with you was with one of our residents, he was graduating and getting his own place, and you shared with me the journey that you all were on and how difficult it was to get him to the place just to be able to transition from Union Gospel Mission and the tenacity that you have to go deeper, uh to stretch your stretch yourself beyond maybe what's normal.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_03: Let's talk through that.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: Where did that come from?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: That desire to be a vessel and an instrument of God's divine providence, to go way beyond.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: You go that extra mile.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: So thank you for that.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: I want to acknowledge that and affirm what we've seen and the gift that you are to us here in this community, but also the gift that you are to so many of our neighbors.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for being an instrument in God's using you in such a mighty way.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: Where did that come from?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Charles, um I myself have had quite a journey throughout my life, quite a testimony.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've had to um go through a lot of hard seasons and I've overcome a lot of hard life experiences, devastation, despair, loss, failures.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um many years in my life.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: I was walking in deception because I had no investments throughout my entire first part of life.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so um I had tried numerous times over the years to try to crawl out of those places where um I lacked coping skills, I lacked direction, and I lacked so many things, but God had a hold of me.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sit just sitting here today, my family would testify to you that I'm a miracle.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: God called me out of my family.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: Many of my family members are still struggling, but God touched me and called me out of some very deep dark places.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so um how he did that is he brought me through when I was ready and realized that you know I couldn't do things on my own.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: Several um experiences with prison, addiction, wow, um, failed marriages, losing my children to CPS.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just you know, a lot of failures, you know.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: And but I came to the end of myself January 19th, 2014.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And so at that point, um a major transformation started to occur.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so um when I came to that place, um, the last I got out of prison December 12, 2014.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point, I um reached out to my community and got involved.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: I live in Parker County, so got involved with um the Parker County Center of Hope.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and um God sent me a just an army of saints that began investing in my life, right?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was through that consistent investment.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Every corner I turned, mind you, I was coming out of years of trauma, crisis, disappointment, and just dysfunction and failure.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I just can't express that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's barely summing up the actual experience I had.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: But it was through God and His saints that just kept ministering to me at every place I turned.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: I started getting involved with the programs at this community agency.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I became a volunteer.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: And um just, you know, through the course of a few years, I had experienced a healing that just transformed the entire rest of my life, as well as, you know, the trajectory of the direction that I was headed.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I um was able through that support to learn that my identity was not on what my choices and my experiences were and everything that I had failed at.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so it just drew me out of that place.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: I could never get out of myself.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so at that point, my my journey with Christ really took on a whole new meaning.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And everything I could not do, Christ did for me.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he just um, you know, my relationship with the Lord has not only impacted my life, but God is a restorer.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: I know I know by my own life I'm walking now, how he has changed the the generations of of dysfunction throughout my household.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: My my children have all been restored to me.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my God.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Praise Jesus.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir, and I'm raising my helping raise my grandson, and so it's been a journey, but I understand the power of redemption and transformation.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's my world.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's my well, find that button, and we need an applause for that.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oh man, praise Jesus.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: But there is a Holy Ghost shout up in heaven for your testimony.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: I I just want to pause in a minute, just say, uh, Father, we thank you for Kara Spiker and the journey that you've led her on, but you led her in the Union Gospel Mission.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: And God, we thank you that you healed her, restored her, and redeemed her.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: In the name of Jesus, I pray.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: You don't look like what you've been through.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: There's a there's a catchphrase in the community.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: It says, You don't look like what you've been through.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_03: And that is an expression that clearly epitomizes uh the journey that God has had you on.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: And uh one, we applaud you and we thank you.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I just want to spend a more little bit more time there, if we could.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_03: I know that um we probably will have an opportunity to extend some of our conversations here, but how do you speak to uh one of our listeners who, if we were to go back and talk through you know the places and spaces that God has walked you through?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um we unpack some stories of addiction and um you share that God has brought you through that.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_03: And but I you you you also mentioned the uh the these the journey of of your your kiddos not being with you as well and CPS being involved.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh can we just talk a little bit about how what what that experience because you see that maybe day in and day out of our neighbors, so many families, or an unaccompanied woman we call them here at Union Gossip.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: As Dr.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wilford mentioned, we are extending this conversation with Kara Spiker into the next episode.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: In that episode, Kara answers Dr.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Wilford's question and mentions a scripture she often quotes and shares with people facing struggles similar to hers.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's in the next episode of Welcome Home.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Here now,