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136. Freedom In The Church - Missions with Lee Howell · 4-Freedom Podcast

0:04
Welcome to the For Freedom podcast.
0:10
I found my freedom of you. I found a joy I can't lose.
0:19
And thank God it's true. You wrapped your arms around me
0:23
and heaven broke through From the moment she found me.
0:28
I found my freedom in you. This podcast exists to bring the
0:35
freedom of the gospel for everyday Christians with
0:38
everyday issues. Now here are your hosts, James
0:42
Seyfried. And Brett Marvin.
0:47
Welcome back to the Four Freedom Podcast.
0:50
We are here to give hope and help and expose legalism from
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the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement.
0:57
And in these next, this last week and this week, we get to
1:01
talk about Para Church Ministries and we've got a
1:03
friend of ours coming on in just a little bit to talk through
1:09
what that is for him as far as missions and excited about him
1:13
coming on and us having that conversation.
1:16
But before we get started, Brett, me and my wife last week
1:20
celebrated 13 years of marriage. Wonderful time.
1:25
I've just been able to reflect on that.
1:27
Have a sitter come and be a part of that and watch the kids while
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we got to go out and have a wonderful time just celebrating
1:35
each other, be a part of each other.
1:37
We went shopping. I bought 2 massive 3 foot by 6
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foot Super Mario posters and Avenger posters for my garage
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and we got some. I went and watched a movie.
1:50
Have you seen the new IF movie? I have not.
1:54
Oh, dude. John Krasinski.
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He wrote it. He directed it.
1:58
It's unbelievable. It's so funny.
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It's so good. It's heart wrenching, like it's
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everything a John Krasinski would be and Steve Carell is in
2:05
it as well. So it's an office reunion.
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It's funny. It's, it's so good.
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And so you got to you got to go watch that if you can.
2:13
We had a great time watching it and just excited about 13 years.
2:19
I understand you and Emily just celebrated how many years?
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Well, actually you just had an anniversary and we've got an
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anniversary coming up. Our anniversary is this coming
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Monday, Memorial Day, and it will be 18 years that we've been
2:37
married. And we actually got married
2:39
Memorial Day weekend, where we would have a three day, a three
2:43
day, you know, holiday weekend, every anniversary, no matter,
2:48
you know, where we were, 'cause I was, you know, secular, had a
2:51
secular job at the time. But what's cool is when me and
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my wife got married, we were just so hungry because we didn't
2:59
hardly eat anything at the reception or anything.
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That day we stopped at the 1st place we come to on the
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Interstate and that was a McDonald's.
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And then it just became a tradition that we have
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McDonald's every anniversary. So it's a cheap anniversary
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date. And you know, the quality of
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McDonald's food has went down over the years, so it's not
3:19
always fun. But we try to eat McDonald's at
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least once. And even if it's just breakfast,
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I've got great breakfast. We try to have McDonald's eats
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once on our anniversary every year.
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This is kind of a tradition, but we're looking forward to
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celebrating 18 years this coming Monday.
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Love it. I I was sure you were going to
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say that McDonald's food has gotten better and better as the
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years went on. Gooder and gooder.
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Gooder and gooder the their their breakfast is pretty pretty
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awesome. I do love their their gravy
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biscuits are really good. It's consistent every time.
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Their sweet tea, of course, is going to be sweet everywhere you
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go. It's going to be like 14 lbs of
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sugar. I don't know.
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I don't know who invented the Mcgriddle, OK, But somebody that
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invented something like that has to be a, say, born again
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Christian. Absolutely.
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And so when I get to heaven, I'm going to give him a big, wet,
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sloppy kiss, you know, on the cheek.
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You know, Thank you for inventing the Megrilla.
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Where you're going to go with that?
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Yeah. Cheek is good, yeah.
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Yeah, I had to throw the cheek in there.
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I I heard where that was going. I was like, let me throw the
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cheek in here. I don't like where that's
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headed, so. You know, I used to eat the MC
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griddles. I don't anymore.
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For some reason. I just, I for me, it's just it's
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not appealing anymore. My kids love them.
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They get them and if we go out for breakfast, they love them
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and eat them up. It's just not for me so.
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Let me tell you something that's that's underrated.
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The breakfast at Burger King is underrated.
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Now let me tell you why. I was a bread man for a year and
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I delivered to, you know, to Sonic, to Burger King whatnot.
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They make their biscuits at Burger King from scratch.
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I don't know if a lot of people know this, like like McDonald's
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and all, it's all frozen. But.
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Burger King every morning they make their biscuits.
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I don't know why they don't promote it, but they make their
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biscuits homemade from scratch every day, so the biscuits at
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Burger King are amazing. Wow, So Burger King,
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Chick-fil-A, because I work at Chick-fil-A and Biscuitville all
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make their biscuits from scratch every morning.
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And so that's why Chick-fil-A biscuits are so good as well.
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They're made from scratch, with love and sweat and chicken
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grease and and blood. It's just, it's all there.
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Like it's it's everything you. Need chicken grease?
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That's right. It's all there and it's in it.
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And so is a it's a great time. I do enjoy me a good breakfast.
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Most days I just drink a coffee. I don't eat breakfast unless I'm
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going to eat breakfast with someone.
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That's just a meal. I just drink my coffee and go
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based on my driving. Like, I just don't don't do it.
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And so that's one thing I probably should do more of.
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But Speaking of getting together, Brett, man, we're just
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a couple of weeks away from getting together in Indianapolis
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and hanging out at our. We got an Airbnb just a couple
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minutes away from the Convention Center.
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And so we're going to be hanging out there Saturday through
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Thursday and going to the convention, been looking on some
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convention stuff and reading up on some different things that
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are going to be voted on and just trying to get remind ready
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of what's going on, excited about that coming up and and
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hanging out with you and your family.
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You know, I'm asking me a great time just hanging out and
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talking and spending a couple days with with our families.
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And so, yeah, looking forward to that and seeing people that we
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don't normally always get to see and then what what else we got
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going on, Brett? Let's see, after that we've got
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For the sake of the Gospel Conference coming up November
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2nd and 3rd, First weekend in November for the sake of the
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Gospel Gospel Conference at Hope Church, Catoosa Pastor JC
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Groves. And we're going to have a great
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time there. We've also going to get an
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Airbnb there and hopefully you're part of our ex funny
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community and you'd like to come and be a part of this
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conference. I guarantee if you make the time
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to come, you're going to get a blessing.
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We get a blessing every year that we come to the conference
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and so come out to Chattanooga, Chattanooga area.
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It's actually Fort Oglethorpe, GA, but it's just over the line
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from Chattanooga. Chattanooga is kind of
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centrally, centrally located between those of us who were
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kind of on the West side and the east side of it and kind of meet
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in the middle of Chattanooga. It's not that far away.
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And so if you'd like to come to for the sake of the Gospel
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Conference, go ahead and make plans to do that.
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But what I'm excited about, and I'm getting more excited and
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more excited each week, it gets closer because I cannot wait to
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go back, is what James is about to tell us about.
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The holy lands of Israel. I'm sure there's going to be
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another blood moon before then, probably another eclipse
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somewhere, which means we're just getting closer to the day
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the Lord's going to come back. And Can you imagine Brett being
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there at the eastern gate at the Mount of Olives when Jesus comes
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back? Could be the first month, the
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first, the first week of March of 2025.
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Not saying it is. I'm just saying it could be.
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Everybody else is saying when it could be.
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It could you could be in the Holy Lands when that happens.
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Would you want to miss that? Would you want to put the risk
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of not being in the Holy Lands when Jesus comes back?
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I I I don't know. I don't know if I would.
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So I think you should sign up. I think you should go with us so
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that when Lord comes back and while we're there on that
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Wednesday standing on that Eastern by the eastern gate on
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the Mount of Olives, when Jesus comes back and takes his church
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away, you're going to be one of the first ones to go.
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You know, we're starting a petition through Change.org and
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we're going to be circling around.
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We're going to put the, we're going to put the link on our on
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our website and we're going to start a petition to see if
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they'll put a Bucky's over in Jerusalem.
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I think that's what's that's going to help the situation.
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It's going to hurry on the Lord's return as a wall of beef
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jerky and some Beaver Nuggets, so don't forget about that as
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well. Absolutely.
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Can't wait. It's going to be great.
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Hope you'll join us and man we've been, we have enjoyed this
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series of in the church. I've enjoyed the feedback and
10:02
the the different downloads. I mean we've had some great turn
10:05
out of downloads and we appreciate that we we don't do
10:08
this if it worked for you and we understand that we try to put
10:12
out good quality content every single week.
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And today we have an interview lined up with a missionary a
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friend of mine that we have met back in 2022 and we his name is
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Lee Howell and we're going to go ahead and jump right into this
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interview as well. Well, today we've got a a friend
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of mine coming on the podcast Mr. Lee Howell.
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He is the director of United Christian Missions.
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And me and Mr. Lee got together, met up in actually in 2022,
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Brett and we were going to go down to Nicaragua and there was
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some some different things going on in the country with political
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unrest. And so the church I was at, we
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had planned to go down and then we postponed that trip and then
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we canceled the trip sort of like our Israel trip has been
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going on. But now things have opened up
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and I reached out to Lee and said, hey, I want to go down and
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do a mission trip down there. And so me and Brett are actually
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partnering to go down to Nicaragua in September.
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And so since we're in this series of in the church and
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talking about missions and Parachurch Ministries, we
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thought it'd be a good idea to bring Lee on and talk about
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their ministry and how international missions and
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missions with the church can partner together and ultimately
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help the church or even sometimes could hurt the church.
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And so we're going to talk through those various things.
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And so, Lee, welcome to the show.
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Why don't you give us an intro of who you are and what what
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what's your mission is with your work right now?
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Amen. Well thank thank you very much
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for that intro. We so we are as as you mentioned
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a a pair of church ministry. We we come alongside the
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churches. We try to serve with the
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churches, help the the churches and you know encourage help
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engage folks. But for for me, I am 44 years
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old. My wife's name is January.
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My son's name is pilot. He's 18 years old.
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He's graduating from high school.
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I have a daughter named London. She's 16, driving, driving cars
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now, and her and my youngest son Coleman, which is 12 or
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homeschooled, you know, just just blessed with the with a
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wonderful, wonderful family. Amen.
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Well, you know, Lee, I want to let you know that it's an honor
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and privilege to have you on here today.
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I had a privilege a couple weeks ago to have a phone conversation
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with you, and one of the things that impressed me was your
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attitude towards missions, your philosophy.
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And in a minute, if you'd like to go more into that, you
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absolutely can. I was impressed with your stand
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on discipleship and how there's a lack of discipleship in a lot
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of mission programs out there today.
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You know about how we go out to these places and we may lead
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these people to Christ, but then they've got nowhere to go.
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As you know, we're called to make disciples.
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And so you can go into that in a little bit if you want to.
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But with that in mind, I want to ask you, what led you to mission
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work and what did you do before that?
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So, so prior prior to calling in in missions, yeah, I went I I
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went to school and I have a turf grass management degree and I
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spent seven years as a golf course Superintendent, built and
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grew in a nature's walk at Chicopee Inn in Cashiers, NC
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After after those seven years, I spent thirteen years in
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fertilizer and chemical sales traveling all over the
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Southeast. During that time, as a salesman
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at age 34, I I had had that conversion moment where God
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opened my eyes to, in essence, a a double life that that I was
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living. This, this life of trying to be
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a godly parent, raise godly kids, but also living in the
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world, trying to please the world with with the things that
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I was doing, trying to impress the world with with with the
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things I was doing. And so I I really had that
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moment in 2014 when you know, I I promised God that I wouldn't
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live those two lives anymore and that I would, I would do
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whatever he asked me to do if if he would, if he would help me in
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my understanding and make it clear what he wanted me to do.
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I promised I would do it. And so I I got to serve in a lot
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of different ways a lot of different capacities inside and
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outside the church for about 5 years.
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And and in 2019 was when God really impressed on my heart
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that that missions is is where I belong that I that I needed to
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be serving in missions. And so you know a lot of story
15:39
there a lot of different things that we we went through as a
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family trying to find our place in missions.
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Ultimately what what took place was you know we we had looked at
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at moving and and going different places and you know
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serving as full time missionaries and there's there's
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a lot of things that have to take place prior to that.
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And we were trying to navigate all those things and one of the
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things we decided to do was take a short term mission trip with
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David and Nancy Webb out at United Christian Missions.
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And of course, much like James's trip, the the trip was cancelled
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that year. And I I went to David and I
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talked to him just about my feelings of just I was
16:34
discouraged because I I kept saying you know here I am, I'll,
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I'm willing. I'll do whatever God wants me to
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do. But doors continue to close and
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and this short term mission trip was another one of those doors.
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And I I just kind of reached bottom and I was telling him I
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was like, you know I just, I want to serve God with my life.
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I want to make him happy and I want to be doing what he wants
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me to do. And so just a a few months prior
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to that, David and Nancy and the board at United Christian
17:10
Missions had began praying that God would bring somebody to
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David and Nancy that would be willing to take over the
17:18
ministry. And so obviously it wasn't a
17:22
quick decision. There was some vetting there and
17:25
you know a lot of getting to know one another better.
17:29
But ultimately, David and Nancy decided to train me as their
17:33
secession plan. And so I I began that training
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in in 2020 and two, two years later assume the role as the
17:45
president of United Christian Missions.
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When David and Nancy got, got to retire, they just kind of got to
17:54
an age. It's it's not, it wasn't the
17:56
desire not to serve in that capacity.
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It was it was the physical incapabilities.
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Nancy had had a knee replacement.
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David was dealing with the different heart issues and it
18:09
was it. It was time to to pass the
18:11
baton. I love it.
18:15
One of the things that one of our friends, JC Grove, says all
18:18
the time is the power of someone's story.
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And I think it's so powerful to hear someone's story and to see
18:24
God working through their life and God working through the
18:28
details that we don't even recognize and don't even know at
18:31
times. But we look back and we say,
18:33
man, that was God moving in those directions and God moving
18:36
my life in those areas. And so thank you for sharing
18:40
that. And so United Christian Missions
18:43
is the organization you're with. It's been around for, I believe
18:46
you said 17 years and they're in a couple of different locations.
18:52
In your words, what is United Christian Missions and what are
18:56
the countries that y'all are impacting where y'all at?
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What do y'all do? Sort of tell us about what you
19:01
what you are in right now. So I like to say United
19:06
Christian missions exist to evangelize and gauge equipment,
19:09
encourage, feel like that's that's the responsibilities of
19:16
everyone that says that they're a Christian.
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You know, people, people tell their story, their conversion,
19:23
how they were saved. If if you have that story, then
19:27
then you you should also know that you're obligated, you know,
19:32
to to evangelize to go out and share with others what you know
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the grace that you've been given.
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You know we we can't keep in a box what what we have If if we
19:45
can maybe you don't have the same thing I have.
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But but also we need to try to engage others.
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You know to get to get people engaged in doing God's work in
19:56
building God's Kingdom because that's that's what we're told
19:59
throughout scripture and then united Christian missions.
20:02
We we also are blessed to get to equip folks through like Bible
20:06
distributions pastor training. And some very intentional
20:10
discipleship that we get to do through the children in
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Nicaragua. And then also, you know,
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scripture tells us many times that it's our responsibility to
20:20
encourage the brothers to encourage one another.
20:23
You know, not not just seeking the loss but also seeking ways
20:28
that we can can lift up our our fellow believers.
20:34
United Christian Missions has been been blessed to get to be a
20:37
part of Bible distributions and pastor trainings throughout
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India, Romania, the Philippines, Cambodia, South Sudan, Togo,
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Kenya, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia and
20:51
of course Nicaragua and North Carolina.
20:54
And I I wrote those down prior to this because I I get excited
20:58
and I skip something and somebody else called me like hey
21:01
what about when you when you send Bibles out here.
21:03
But you know so United Christian missions Bibles for the nations
21:09
we've we've got to provide over. Well we've got to provide 14,172
21:15
Bibles since 2021. We've got to play a part in the
21:20
training of over 700 pastors. I like to say we can count
21:26
Bibles, we can count pastor trainings.
21:28
We can quantify a lot of things but one thing we do avoid is
21:35
quantifying salvations. We're we're we're not ever going
21:39
to be one of those ministries that uses numbers and salvations
21:46
to to raise funds. It's it's something I I feel
21:50
strongly against but the you know the things that we get to
21:55
do as a ministry it it seems impossible We we have me a part
22:03
time employee, the board and a volunteer as far as people in
22:08
the United States and it's just through through partnerships
22:14
through you know the name of the ministry is United Christian
22:18
Missions through through uniting efforts.
22:22
You know be it other ministries other churches.
22:25
It's not just the churches in in Nicaragua, but churches all over
22:31
the world, including the United States, trying to get us all to
22:35
work together to get over these barriers that we've allowed to
22:40
be placed. You know, one thing that drives
22:43
me nuts is competitiveness in ministry.
22:47
We, you know, that's Satan's way of dividing us and and
22:53
separating us to to be weaker units of of the body.
22:59
So you know, my my passion is is to get us all working together
23:04
with with that common goal of of sharing the gospel, you know,
23:10
encouraging believers and just learning how to serve.
23:14
Because a lot of people especially in the Western church
23:20
we've got good at making sure we show up every Sunday morning and
23:24
and we've we've we've got pretty routine you know we can even set
23:28
our bank apps to to send a routine check to to the church.
23:32
But, but when it comes to actually giving our time and and
23:38
getting engaged and being the hands and the feet of Christ, I
23:42
I think we struggle and and I think that's something that that
23:45
God's put us in place to help with.
23:49
You know, I'm not going to lie to you this evangelize, engage
23:52
equipment, courage. I'm going to rip that off from
23:55
you. I'm going to steal that.
23:56
I'm just let you know ahead of time because that's that's
23:59
that's some good stuff right there.
24:00
I like that a lot. You know, I've always said, I
24:03
think it takes a special person to be a missionary.
24:06
You know whether that missionary goes overseas and stays where
24:10
they travel back and forth. We support a lot of missionaries
24:14
that do that. I know that that travel, it
24:17
takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of effort, it takes a lot of
24:19
energy. I know it's a sacrifice.
24:22
I know sometimes you're with your family, sometimes you're
24:24
away from your family. But I also know that you're
24:27
you're overjoyed in knowing that you're doing the Lord's work and
24:31
you're fulfilling the Great Commission to go out and make
24:35
disciples, you know, and and making.
24:37
I think that making a difference in these churches around the
24:40
world is what we're called to do.
24:42
We're called to go out in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and
24:46
the uttermost parts of the earth.
24:48
And there's so many churches out there that forget about the
24:52
uttermost part of the earth part.
24:55
I remember the church that I was growing up to that I went to in
24:59
college. They were not a mission minded
25:01
church. I mean they only supported 1
25:04
missionary and that was because that missionary graduated from
25:08
that school. So with that in mind, I want to
25:11
ask you, you know, why should churches do international
25:16
missions in your opinion? Man, so you you said the O word.
25:22
So you you set me up. Well, so my, my my opinion has
25:27
changed over the years. And you know, you get a lot of
25:33
those questions you you meet with mission boards, you meet
25:37
with individuals and they said, well, couldn't, couldn't I just
25:40
send a check? Would wouldn't it be more
25:42
efficient to to just send a check or don't we have plenty of
25:47
needs here in the United States. Why?
25:50
Why are you going to Central America?
25:52
And why? Why are you doing these things
25:55
when you could be serving and working here for people I I
26:00
really like. First John, chapter 3 verses 16
26:03
and 17, where it says we know love by this, that he laid down
26:08
his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the
26:12
brethren. But whoever has the world's
26:15
goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart
26:19
against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
26:25
So yeah, we talked about my story earlier and I could, I
26:30
could go much, much longer. But it during during my training
26:35
with David and Nancy, as as I was preparing to take over the
26:39
ministry responsibilities, I was in Nicaragua and I saw just the
26:50
vastness it was it was so enormous the impact that God had
26:57
used the ministry to make in in the lives of the people there.
27:02
And for for me that's that's what that's that's why I have to
27:08
go to Nicaragua. Everybody's not called to go to
27:13
Nicaragua. I feel like we we can provide a
27:19
lot of people the opportunity to go and and serve there.
27:23
But you know we're we're all called to serve in different
27:27
ways. We all have different gifts.
27:29
And for me, going to Nicaragua and serving the people there,
27:35
serving the churches there is, is what God's put on my plate.
27:40
And so first for some of those you know I I've noticed that
27:44
say, well why why aren't you just doing the work here?
27:49
I like, I like to say well maybe you're called to do the work
27:52
here tell tell me about the ministry that that you that
27:56
you're doing and A and a lot of times you get crickets and and
28:02
and as far as the the send the check question I get a lot.
28:07
Yeah we we'd love we'd love for you just to send a check we'll
28:11
we'll make sure that your money's put to good use.
28:15
But there's also inherently a danger with thinking that you
28:20
can just send a check into a world where there there's very
28:25
little available funds. And so we like to serve as a
28:29
safeguard there and to help make sure that things are done
28:33
appropriately and that we don't, we don't just throw dollars at
28:38
it. That's great.
28:41
One of the things that I've appreciated in the last eight
28:45
years of, sorry, been a Southern Baptist is the ability that we
28:50
get to work together and not separate.
28:52
I think that one of the pitfalls and downfalls of many ministries
28:57
and organizations, like you said yourself, is the the competition
29:02
game. How many can I get?
29:03
How much can I raise, What can I do so that I can brag on social
29:07
media or whatever it may be to to show that I've got all these
29:11
different things going on. But but as as Southern Baptist
29:14
and as what we have greatly loved and appreciated and I know
29:18
myself, I don't want to speak for Brett but is the the value
29:22
of of cooperation and saying hey we we can come together and we
29:28
can work together in this issue or this organization or this
29:33
mission minded mindset and do a whole lot more together than we
29:38
can separate. And so you know for for us it's
29:42
it's for me and in our churches what are we doing locally, what
29:45
are we doing nationally and what are we doing globally.
29:48
Sort of my my three thoughts there and so doing local
29:51
projects, doing national projects but also partnering
29:54
overseas and and allowing the church to be in the uttermost.
29:58
We can't be there 24/7 like we can in our community, but we can
30:02
definitely help those that are in those areas.
30:05
And so by by thinking through that, how are or how can
30:10
churches and even individuals, how can they partner with United
30:15
Christian missions? Specifically since we've got you
30:17
on here in spreading the gospel and I know you've mentioned a
30:21
couple of things that you guys do, but what are some ways that
30:24
churches and individuals can partner with you guys?
30:28
Well, so we're we're we're very big on prayer because everything
30:34
we do is possible because of God.
30:39
If if if you take on any type of endeavor, you're you're going to
30:46
have to be submissive, you're going to have to be glorifying
30:50
God in what you're doing. So, you know, just raising up
30:53
those prayers, praying for, for the ministry, praying for the
30:59
the people in Nicaragua that we're blessed to get to serve,
31:02
praying for our other partners all around the world we get to
31:06
work with with such amazing people.
31:11
Yet we a lot of times we can't talk about where they are, what
31:14
they're doing. We can't share pictures because
31:19
of, you know, face recognition and social media and things like
31:22
that. But you know, our most powerful
31:26
weapon in the spiritual warfare that we're in is prayer.
31:31
So definitely, you know, be praying for, be praying for
31:34
missionaries. I'm sure your churches are
31:37
probably telling people weekly or monthly, hey, be be praying
31:41
for these missionaries. We'd we'd love to be on that
31:45
list you know, of of ministries that you're praying for also you
31:51
can you can participate. Like I say getting people
31:56
engaged has it has such a power to it that we we can't
32:03
understand. But you can't always determine
32:09
who's going to, who's going to grab hold of it and run with it
32:12
and and who's not. But you know, just trying to get
32:16
people engaged in serving because there's there's
32:20
something about the simplicity or the the privilege to go
32:25
somewhere where you know that the people are there because of,
32:30
you know, their circumstances or what's so crippling, it's not
32:34
necessarily their decisions that they've made.
32:37
And a lot of times I'll kind of get on that soapbox when when we
32:41
talk about helping say the homeless in America or something
32:46
of that nature because so many times we see decisions, patterns
32:50
and lives that people will not abandoned basically seeing that
32:55
they will not avoid. But when you get somewhere in a
32:59
third world country, you come to the realization that that the
33:05
people, they they lack the basic needs because of where it
33:13
basically where they live. The, you know, there's a higher
33:17
authority that's oppressing them or you know, mistreating them.
33:23
And just the the blessing that you get when you go, when you go
33:29
somewhere and you tell those, you tell the people that that
33:34
are hurting, they, you know, maybe they lack hope.
33:38
I say lack hope, but meant a lot of the people that we see in
33:42
some of the most desperate situations.
33:45
They have more hope than we have and they they have a hope and
33:48
eternity that I think a lot of us fail to ever grasp.
33:54
Just this great hope that they have.
33:56
But when when we get to show up in in the village with the with
34:02
the mud huts and the the tin roofs and just simply say, you
34:09
know, we're we're here, we're here to serve you in Jesus name.
34:14
We're here to glorify God. For those that are believers,
34:20
that's a huge encouragement. If those that are not believers,
34:24
it plants a seed and they begin to think well who who is this
34:29
Jesus and who who is who is this God that sent these people to
34:33
help me when they they didn't have to.
34:37
And so you know, so you can you you can pray for us, you can
34:43
participate, you can go with us. I I like what we do because you
34:47
don't have to be a theologian. You you don't have to.
34:52
You don't you don't have to be a preacher.
34:55
Anybody in your church that's willing to go, We we do have
34:59
some qualifications. We won't get into all that here,
35:02
but we we prefer for it to be Christians.
35:07
I I don't want to be traveling with with atheists or any
35:11
anything that is a lifestyle that's contrary to scripture but
35:17
it's just simply being a Christian is that's that's the
35:21
prerequisites to go with us And then of course you know
35:25
everybody's not allowed the the luxury of getting to travel and
35:31
so you can definitely support us and and just allow us to do more
35:35
work because we you know the the potential is is always there to
35:42
be able to do more and and a lot of times we we run into those
35:47
financial barriers man we wish we wish we could do that we wish
35:50
we could participate here we wish we could could bless more
35:54
folks there so so definitely you can you can contribute
35:59
financially to what we do as well you can jump on our website
36:03
and click click on the give button and choose choose your
36:09
designation if I think everybody kind of knows knows that drill.
36:14
That's great. One of the things that I do
36:17
appreciate about Unite Christian missions and I was at the other.
36:22
One of the other fantastic mission trips I went on was to
36:25
India Got injustice, Ben well who is now with the Lord.
36:30
He passed away a couple years ago but he had planted about
36:34
1000 churches in India and all of those churches were local
36:39
raised up pastors in from India and from their region and and
36:45
that's I I believe if I'm speaking correctly, United
36:47
Christian Mission is the same way.
36:48
They're all local pastors, all people that have been raised up
36:52
through the ministry or through their area of their village and
36:55
been trained up. And so I I appreciate that.
36:58
I think that's so great. Sometimes an American stepping
37:02
into a foreign country, there's a disconnect there, where
37:06
someone who is like them about them from that same area,
37:11
understands them, understands their language, can reach a
37:14
whole lot more than someone who's an outsider coming in.
37:18
You know, I think that for every church out there that doesn't do
37:22
international missions that their their churches, there are
37:26
many more churches that do have a heart for international
37:29
missions. And you know, I just like James
37:32
said that as Southern Baptist church we give to the Southern
37:35
Baptist Cooperative. It's it's a good thing.
37:38
It's one of the fastest ways to get missionaries on the field.
37:42
But it's so impersonal because you know, being raised
37:45
Independent Baptist, we had, we had personal relationships with
37:48
our missionaries. And that's why I think it's
37:50
important, especially for a Southern Baptist church to not
37:54
only give to the cooperative program but also to have their
37:58
own missionaries they support that they can know, that they
38:01
can pray for, that they can have a relationship with.
38:04
And that's why I think it is important for churches to
38:08
partner with organizations like United Christian Missions.
38:12
And I just have a personal relationship there.
38:15
Just like you're trying to have a personal relationship with
38:18
these churches you're trying to reach to.
38:20
You know, we, we are called as a people, as a church, to go out
38:25
into the highways and byways to bring them in.
38:28
We're called to bring the gospel message to the world.
38:31
We're called to go out and make disciples of the nations.
38:34
You have a special calling on your life that I praise the Lord
38:37
for. I'm excited to go with you.
38:41
In September, me and James are going to to Nicaragua with you.
38:45
We're getting. I'm getting a team together now.
38:47
I can't wait for the Lord has what the Lord has prepared for.
38:50
So last question today. Do you think Nicaragua is ready
38:57
for three gingers like us? Man I didn't.
39:03
I don't know you know the there's there's a lot of people
39:05
don't understand the the Ginger Nation.
39:09
But it's it's it's real there's something there and I and I
39:13
won't get into a theological debate on if or if not Dave King
39:19
David was a Ginger. But there, there is solid
39:22
suspicion there. But I I'm super excited about
39:27
our trip. I love the way you guys have
39:31
grasped so quickly. It it seems like I talked to so
39:34
many people about our vision and and it kind of slips through
39:39
their fingers. But you know that that personal
39:43
relationship I feel like we've we've missed you know many of
39:49
our many people that claim to be believers, they they they don't
39:53
have that personal personal relationship with Christ.
39:57
And you know we're we're supposed to have that
39:59
relationship you know restored with God through Christ.
40:04
But then we're all supposed to have that relationship with one
40:08
another to where it's it's person to person.
40:11
It's it's not so impersonal that that we just send a check or or
40:15
something of that nature. We get to know one another.
40:18
We we we learn about our each other's hardships.
40:25
It's it's a two way St. when we go on a trip because you're
40:28
you're going to bring you're going to bring more back than we
40:32
could possibly take down and and I see that every time we go you
40:38
know just I had a a leader in Honduras tell me one time he
40:41
said brother he said don't don't don't worry about it so much.
40:46
He said, you're the worm on the hook and and if we think about
40:51
where scripture tells us to be humble, to be meek, you know,
40:57
when when we go down, we're, we're the worm on the hook.
41:00
Hopefully we we're the bait. You know, as Americans, people
41:05
are going to look and say, ah, look, they, you know, there's
41:08
there's some American, they may be looking at us being like,
41:10
man, I've never seen redheaded folks before, but you know, the
41:16
people are, it's going to grab some people's attention.
41:19
They're going to pay attention. They're going to be watching
41:21
what we do and and it's going to improve the the churches that we
41:27
visit. They're going to have a a larger
41:30
platform for a a short period of time that you know in hopes that
41:35
that they can reach more. You know that the the, the glory
41:38
of God may abound. You know I have it on.
41:43
I love what you said, but I have it on great authority that King
41:47
David was a ginger for the fact of it.
41:49
The Bible does say that he had a heart after God.
41:52
He had it was a heart after God's own heart, which means he
41:55
had a ginger's heart. You know, Ginger's have a
41:57
special heart and a special relationship with God in that
42:00
area. And so I appreciate you saying
42:02
that. I appreciate all that you guys
42:04
are doing and you taking taking these reins at United Christian
42:09
Missions and stepping in for David.
42:11
I've never got to meet David, but we had several people from a
42:14
former church that went down there and got to be a part of
42:18
the missionary journey with him. And I've only ever heard great
42:22
things. And so we're excited about
42:24
partnering here in just a couple of months and going down with
42:27
our team. And I hope you guys are ready.
42:31
And if you have any questions, Lee, if they if anyone has any
42:34
questions or wants to reach out to you, how can they reach you?
42:38
Is there an e-mail or is there a website or?
42:40
And then we'll link all this in the show notes as well.
42:44
Yeah, absolutely. Any anybody's welcome to to call
42:48
me on my cell 704-472-2734. You can check us out on our
42:55
website at United christianmissions.org.
43:00
So that's Christian Missions with ans.org.
43:05
And then you you can e-mail me at L Howell at
43:10
unitedchristianmissions.org. Perfect.
43:14
We'll put all that in the show notes and I look forward to
43:17
that. Thank you again for coming on
43:18
today and taking a little small portion of your time out of your
43:21
day and until next time to God. Not the pastor.
43:27
Be the glory found. My new name.
43:31
Found that good grace. Found that healing.
43:35
And the tears fell down my face. When I found my beginning.
43:39
That has no ending. Found that second chance.
43:41
Found my best friend. Found my forgiveness.
43:43
Found my happiness. I've been singing ever since.
43:44
I found my feet on me all. Thanks for listening to the For
44:02
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