Latest / Our Community, Our Mission / Ep #323- Seven Biblical Pillars That Guide Compassionate Care

Transcript

Ep #323- Seven Biblical Pillars That Guide Compassionate Care · Our Community, Our Mission

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Father, thank you.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for today.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, uh, thank you that while we may not understand um everything that is gonna come our way, we do understand that you are with us through it all.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, thank you that we can freely just come to you, Lord, when um when we're scared, when we're worried, when we're happy, when we need wisdom, when there's uncertainty.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, and I just pray that every listener right now would know that there is true power in prayer and that it doesn't matter if you are on a street corner, in a tent, in a home, in a meeting, Lord, that we have access to you.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I just pray that today as we discuss um just our calling at the Topeka Rescue Mission and not just what we do or why we do it, but how we do it.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that uh we would just remind ourselves, um, but that also maybe listeners would be reminded that you are always with us and that um even just how we live our lives, it matters.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Our interactions matter.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: And Lord, I just pray that um people would be encouraged today as they listen to really the heart behind how we do things at the rescue mission.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, thank you for loving us.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for um every guest, every unsheltered neighbor, every staff member, every volunteer, every donor.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, I just pray that you will continue to sustain TRM um in ways that only you can.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: In your name we pray.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 1:54
  unknown: Amen.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everybody.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us for our community, our mission, a podcast, the Topeka Rescue Mission, on August the 18th, 2026.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is episode number 323.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host today, Barry Fieker.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: We've got a full house here today of uh some great people from Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna talk about something foundational about Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: We have Lamanda Cunningham, uh CEO of Topeka Rescue Mission, Marion Crable, whatever your new title is, Mike Schottle, who is uh director of spiritual wellness and discipleship, and Kim Turley today is joining us, who is the HR director at Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So good morning, everybody.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So before we jump into something that is going to kind of unpack uh some of the foundational things about Topeka Rescue Mission, there's a special event, we've talked about it before, coming up pretty soon.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Night of Praise.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Kim, you drew the short straw.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us about Night of Praise, of what that is, when it's going to be, where it's going to be, and why it's going to be.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, if you didn't tune in last week, make sure you check it out.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: They talked about the heart behind Night of Praise and where that all came from.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but October 11th, Fairlawn Church of the Nazarene, you better be there.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, 6 p.m., but doors open at 5 30.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but we'd love to have everyone there for the night of praise.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be the power of prayer is a theme this year.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: And um, but yeah, if you wanted more information, we have an event on Facebook.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: You can mark that you're going or you're interested, and you'll get reminders.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: So you can in case you forget to put on your calendar.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, you can mark your going, or you could also um be a sponsor if you want to be a sponsor for any businesses out there or individuals, churches too.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: But we have more information on our website.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't really know what that means, it's also it's gonna be a time to praise the Lord, but it's also be very informative about Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna hear testimonies about some different people who have been helped through Topeka Rescue Mission and an opportunity to be a partner with Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of things that can happen.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is the fourth annual uh night of praise.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, coming up.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: So and I just want to give a quick thank you to uh Pastor Jeff at uh Fairlawn Nazarene Church.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: We just appreciate them being a new host for us, and so we're having it uh there at their church.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: I want to thank uh Pastor Hishma with Fellowship Bible Church, who has allowed us to have the event at Fellowship Bible Church the last three years.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we appreciate all they're doing.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh wanna give a big thank you to Bill Horn uh with fam with Fellowship Bible Church.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: He has really been instrumental in organizing all of the music side and the the worship time um for these events, and he is continuing that support.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, want to thank Marcy and Brian with uh Fairlawn Nazarene because they are the worship leaders there.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: And uh they are kind of taking on this new responsibility, working a lot with Bill Horn.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so there's just a lot of behind the scenes efforts already happening, and um definitely not in my scope of knowledge in regards to all the music stuff and everything.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no solo.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: But we are trying to get Miriam to because Miriam stop.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_04: My goodness, LeVanda.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_04: It's let this one go.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_04: Let's try to get her to do a solo.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_04: It's not happening.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: We might get more people to come now if you do.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's so angelic.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: The Mennonites would be coming for sure.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_04: We've already we've always had the Mennonites.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you didn't even sing, well, maybe some good way to grow up Mennonites.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's it.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: But we are thankful.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're just thankful to see people rallying.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's just so incredible to see um the gifts and the talents that God gives everyone um and see it all come together.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so there'll be a variety of music um at night of praise.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: And our hope is really that um I don't know, that it is a time of glorifying the Lord, a time of raising dollars for TRM because the work we do is so important to our community.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I also hope that just everyone is touched in a way that is so specific to what they need.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we hope everybody joins us October 11th.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: October 11th, come early.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, could get packed up really good this time.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's a great facility there at uh Fairlone Church of Nazarene.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we want to jump into something that is more explanatory.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's not planetary, explanatory about Topeka Rescue Mission, and uh it's probably really important foundationally for internal operations, but also it's important that you know just a little bit more in-depth about Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if we ask the general public today, what is Topeka Rescue Mission?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's the place of North Topeka.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or what is Topeka Rescue Mission, it's a homeless shelter.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or what is Topeka Rescue Mission, they take care of homeless people and they feed them too.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's a lot of really basic things, but there's foundational reasons for that.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Of 70 plus years of a ministry started in 1953 in this community.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And uh foundational things are really important about the why and the how.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: The why and the how.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna unpack what's called the seven biblical pillars of TRM.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think that there's some key things.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's seven of them.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're biblically oriented, and they're pillars.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: When we think of pillars, Lamanda, uh, why do we call this the seven biblical pillars of TRM?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: So in a nutshell, we think that it's pillars because it holds up what we do, right?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and really you need all of them to maintain proper structure.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so can a couple of them together do the job?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: But is it as strong and foundationally set?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I want to give some background in regards to the pillar aspect because uh I get to work closely with our spiritual ninja over here, Mike Schottle.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um he comes up with a different name all the time for himself.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but, anyways, he and I work a lot together in regards to the newsletter, a lot together in regards to the connection group that he and our great Ted team do for all staff.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he and I work together on when we do prayer walks, um uh rest in reverence when we do for the staff.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: There's just now that I'm saying it, Shaudel, you're with me a lot.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lot.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: Bless your heart.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: Man, I'm glad I'm paid.
• 8:57
  unknown: That's right.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but one of the things that I love about uh what Shottle and I get to do is so very little of it has to do with Shottle and I.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um when we truly just um commit to prayer about the needs of TRM, uh we've seen God, and I know that he doesn't always work like this, but maybe Shodel and I just need the obvious, he has shown up in really big ways.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Wild, wild ways.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, to the point there was one time where there was a newsletter and we were almost to the final stages, and I didn't like it.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't like it, and it just came out of nowhere.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so I walked out of my office one day and I said, Shottle, are you in your office?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: And he came out and he goes, Yep.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Is it about the newsletter?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, do you have a minute?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: He walks in and he goes, Let me guess.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: You hate it.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I go, Do you hate it?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, I asked you first.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Something doesn't seem right.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Yep, we're off base.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so we both sat down and the night before we both had this idea of what the newsletter was supposed to be.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: And basically we needed to scratch what was like days away from going.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, it's part of the deadline priming of it all together.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then had to go back to Josh and we're gonna.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: It might have even been the day.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it was and then we went back to Josh at that time and we're like, uh, hey, we need a new graphic, but we know this is it.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's like, what?
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, just trust his rubbing his eyes and he's like, yeah.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I could go on and on.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's probably five or six things where it's big, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Where Shottle and I are unified, not because of our own efforts, but because the Lord just graciously leads.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: The seven pillars um is one of those.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so to make kind of a long story short, but I think it's important for people to know, a couple of years ago, I was looking at um, we had, you know, of course, our mission and vision statement, and then um we had several um key principles that we had on there.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I was just looking through those, going, if I went and asked staff, would they be able to tell me all of these principles?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, would they be able to recite these virtues and those kinds of things?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, if the answer is no, then we we need to restructure that.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: However, I didn't want to lose the heart and the work that had gone into those.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: So then it was, okay, how do we take what we've had foundationally and how do we pivot it to teaching the staff and stuff that we have now?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm on what I'm thinking is like my own journey with the Lord, and I'm looking at this on the website, and I don't tell anybody, right?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then I very quickly go, man, I think we need to like these need to become pillars.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: Just like when we're talking about food as a pillar of TRM, shelter is a pillar of TRM, trauma education is a pillar.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: We need to be looking at why do we do all these things and how do we do them?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: So the next day, after I had had kind of some other epiphanies, I've been thinking about this for probably three or four weeks, maybe.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: Shuttle comes down to my office, my door is open, and he said, Hey, do you have a minute?
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yeah, and he goes, I'm gonna throw out a crazy idea, and if it is me overstepping, then I just need you to tell me.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Okay.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I come around my desk and he says, I've really been thinking, we need to put like, you know, our virtues and our mission statement and stuff into like pillars.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Really?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Yeah, but I don't, I don't know what that looks like.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And am I supposed to do that?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And I just start dying laughing.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: And he says, This has already come to you, hasn't it?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Yes.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so what are you thinking?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, I'm just thinking, like, how are we training our staff about the whys of what we do, the hows of what we do, and all of that?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: So then I tell him, Well, crazy that you bring this to me.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I explained to him, I too have been looking at this, and it's very important to me that this work that has been done and that was on our website that we knew about as leaders, we needed to take that and then put it in a way that made sense that we could teach it.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it could be in our staff newsletters, it could be in our connect group where we're looking at one each um session and all of that.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that immediately resonated with Schottle and he goes, I think I have the vision for it.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, Give me a couple of days.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it was within like forty-eight hours that he did.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember the first version I got.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was an email and it was five.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_02: I had five, and this was also paired up with the class that I was taking at City Vision with uh aligning strategy aligning theology with strategy and value.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I gave you five.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you went, No.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: I said, You're missing two.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: You're missing two, and I'm like, okay, well what what ones are they?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: And you just went, I don't know, you're gonna have to figure that out.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, what?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought Are you serious?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, I'm not telling you because I think I know, but if I'm wrong, I need to be checked.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: And there's no one else that's gonna be my check right now.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so I said, You go forth.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: And right there too, though, in the meeting, then I was like, wait a minute, we gotta do a tr there needs to be a trauma-based one.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: We have to do one trauma-based.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: And you were you went, Yep, there it is.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: And then after that it was uh I can't remember if it was the season, if it was freshly out, or if it had been out for a little bit, but like, you know, we were it was like a watch party for the entire staff, but for the chosen.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: And when Jesus is calling Peter out, and Peter just how well they depict Peter walking on water and just how it parallels with what Eden, his wife, is going through at the same time, and um just trusting in the Lord's redemption.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: That was just the final, it was like there it is.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Trust me.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because we are we are working with the staff, we're working with the guests, the community to and this is just really smacking me upside the head right now.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: We profess that the Lord is good, that the Lord is worthy of being trusted.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: But do we ourselves believe that when we are in the middle of the storm?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, that was the that was the seventh and final pillar.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: So that rolled out.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then we took those.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I want to give some history and then we can get because Kim is what then who made it what it is.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we took months.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um we presented this.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Mike Shottle came to a board meeting.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: We presented it to the board.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: I just wanted it to be a uh Bible study.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's I just wanted to be a devotion, like a uh five-week devotion series for staff.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: And Lamanda went, nope, nope, we're adopting this.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to be our seven pillars.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so he came in and met with me, and I said, Shottle, this is bigger than a devotion.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then he was like, Are we gonna put it in a newsletter?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, it's bigger than the newsletter.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is a foundational operational guide.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, very much so.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we went back and forth um with the board to show them, took their feedback, made some changes, um, did that with staff, and then that came into this.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then um we worked with that for a while.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: We have some neat graphics with it, and we started training staff on, hey, here are pillars.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what does it look like to really trust?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: What does it look like to do these things?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then Kim, because sometimes Kim is the other part of my brain, um takes what Shottle and I had created and what the Lord had just really shown us, and she's hearing kind of how we're training staff.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: And one day she comes in and she says, Hey, I think I found a way, because she knows I love acronyms and I love all this stuff.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: And she's like, I think I've found a way that we can truly take our pillars and it become a guide for our staff.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: We can use this in new hire training, we can use this in connect groups and all of that.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, What is it?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: And she had this PDF or this flyer, and she had taken the seven pillars that Shadow and I like kind of spent months on doing the process with staff, the process with the board, and she realized all seven pillars spelled out, spelled out servant.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: As the acronym.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: As the acronym.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then that was what bloomed into this is not just what we do, it's not why we do it, it's how we serve.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there's something really important about what you said.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want it to just go by.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times people will create an acronym they think is good and then try to fit everything to it, correct?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: You guys did it the opposite way.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: And the way that this all rolled out too, like it wasn't this all started 2024.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, 2020 and the beginning of 24.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: So then we rolled this out finally, eight months, eight months of a devotion series.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_02: Eight months every single week with the staff.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: We were done.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: Then come December, that's when Kim was like, hey, guess what?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I record scratch.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it just it this was not planned.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: So Kim, you're looking at what had come together with these two.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: They got a download from the Holy Spirit, um, independent of each other, kept coming back together, working on it, working on it, working on it.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: You get to look at this and then you recognize something in this that it does spell out the word servant, which is kind of biblical.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So what were you thinking when you discovered this?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I will say some of this was Chat GPT, I'll give you that.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I took all of our all of the seven pillars and wrote what TRM is and everything.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_03: None of these seven pillars changed.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like maybe like the first letters, like they had to move letters around, but none of the pillars changed.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like all the work that Mike had done and Lamanda had done, like this was all planned out way before I even put it into Chat GPT because those pillars, like the verses and everything, everything still lined up with what Mike and Lamanda had worked out.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I was just looking for something to bring to staff on how to explain these pillars better.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, the Lord aligned it all the whole entire time.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: So these were seven principles that we're gonna kind of unpack here in a minute.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: But your good buddy chat AI threw out some suggestions, and one is says, Hey, guess what?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: These line up with servant.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And but it didn't change anything that they'd given you.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's pretty cool.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a bad guy.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and actually, this was the first one it came out with.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_03: It didn't give me like paper towel like shuttle for stuff was pancake.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: I was in my office after I did that, and I was like, no way.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I our offices were right next door to each other at first, and so I'm like, Mike, I'm here.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so Josh is doing jumping jacks and like what's going on.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it was spell something out.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: What pancakes?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: So on this one pager, and I don't know, Miranda, if we can use this as the graphic, maybe, you know, when we post, we can try.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but we have it, and it's called Living Out Servant Leadership.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: At Topeka Rescue Mission Ministries, these seven biblical pillars guide how we serve.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: So the key there is how, how we serve, how we lead, how we speak, and how we walk with one another and the guests God brings to us.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: These pillars define who we are and how we love as servants of Christ and ministers of hope.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so those seven pillars, and we can unpack these, but the S stands for seek first to understand.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: E is empathy in every response, R is real truth, spoken in love, V is value every person, A is advocate for the broken, N is new life and healing in Christ, and T is trust and abide in Jesus to spell out sermon.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: So those are things again for people kind of following along that that that you both Received independent from each other.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Mike, it was given to you to fine-tune it, turn it over to Kim to kind of look at it, and then it came up with this.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I think there's a real difference for a new hire or one that's been around for a very, very long time is you got to go back and you say, Why are we doing this stuff?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what what's you know, uh because you get caught up in the weeds, right?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: To say the least, the fundraising, the roof got leak, um, not great stuff, people in crisis, those kind of things.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you say, Okay, why are we doing this?
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, because it's hard work.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: That one word, servant, says a lot, but what's happened here is that instead of just saying, hey, staff, hey, volunteers, we're here to serve.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay, let's keep, let's break it down.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go back there about the S.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Seek first to understand.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's the first one that came to you.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why was that important?
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, uh one of the things you have as a tagline to that.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Listen before speaking.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Listen before speaking.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're talking about the guests of the mission with each other, with our volunteers, with donors, with the community at large, is one of the very important things about a pillar of foundation of Topeka Rescue Mission is listen before you talk.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um then there's a scripture that goes along with that.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that scripture is what, Mike?
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: James chapter one, verse 19.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone should be slow, everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Why is that important?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you think why do you think it's the first one?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's a big one for me.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was in a training years ago, maybe 15 years ago now, and the question was asked, do you listen to understand, or do you listen so that you can respond?
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know why.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if that was a God thing.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if it was just the season of my career I was in, but that stood out to me.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not saying I always get it right, uh, but that is something that is just constantly playing in my head, whether it's a staff member that may be hurting or a staff member who's angry about something.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's something that we see if some if we're engaging in someone in their home and their home happens to be a tent.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but am I truly listening to what's being told so that I understand what they're feeling?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: I understand what maybe they're not able to say.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: Am I picking up on those things or am I merely hearing so that I can give a rebuttal so that I can respond?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that's typically how we are as humans.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um we listen so that we can find a way to then interject the next thing to prove our point.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, when we see people maybe struggling in life, whatever the reason being, they end up at a rescue mission, homeless, hungry.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's very tempting sometimes.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: You need to do this, you need to do that before you listen to why they're in the situation that they're in.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we this could go on for a long time, so I just really kind of want to run through these.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that was the first one.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Seek to understand the E, as was read, empathy in every response.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's number two.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about the value of that empathy.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think we kind of get that.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: It says, rejoice with those who rejoice.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Rejoice with those who rejoice, okay, and weep with those who weep.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a balance act.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Not just, hey, we want to be happy all the time.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: But we're also going to be understanding after we've understood and listened to a person's situation in their story about where they're at right now.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're in a happy time, maybe they're not in a happy time.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're a good time with uh plans, or maybe they have no plans at all.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're on the verge of saying, I'm checking out today, I'm done, we're getting out of here.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: If we don't understand first, then we will never get to number two.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or at least we'll stumble through it.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: But now you've understood, you've listened, took time with a person, uh, slow to speak, slow to anger, and now we're ready to then be flexible with that person in that.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um so there's a scripture that goes along with this.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Miriam, uh, the scripture comes out of Romans about the E, empathy in every response.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: Stour, it's from Romans 12, 15, and 16.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_04: Live in harmony with one another.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_04: Do not be wise in your own estimation.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we've listened.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're expir ex exercising empathy.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Give an example of that here at Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: That you it's like a billion of them.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say pull one out of the air.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I think it goes back a little bit to what Lamanda was just saying about the listening piece.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_04: You know, uh when I hear your own estimation, that to me means my own assumptions, my own way of thinking about things.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_04: And if we're listening, you can't do that.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_04: It's harder to do it if you're listening in the right way.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_04: You have this opportunity to set aside your own prejudice, your own um misperceptions, I think I would say, to be able to then address things more effectively with the folks we serve, or frankly with our staff.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_04: You know, sometimes we think we know what our staff thinks or what our staff is facing and we don't.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um so I think any time that we can do this, it it does bring about harmony in a different kind of way too, because it's not then becoming this us against them or us and them.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_04: It really is us together in every way.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: And harmony is an incredibly difficult thing too.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_04: But beautiful.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_04: You know, when you think about the when you think about music, music that is all one tone, it might be fun to listen to.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_04: But when you have beautiful harmonies, even when there is dissonance in those harmonies, you all of a sudden have this symphonic kind of sound um which bring which makes things richer and more beautiful.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_04: And and so to me, I I agree with you, Mike, that harmony piece is a critical word, especially when I think about it from like a musical perspective.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that that's a a good point.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of diversity of the people who come to Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: People actually work here.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there is a foundational biblical uh embracing of the calling of Christ in one's life, but not everybody's a piano, not everybody's a bass, not everybody's a drum.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you have an orchestra and you only have one instrument or maybe two, it's just not pretty.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's just not the same.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: But you bring all that together and focus on bringing out the best of all of that.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that was S for seek, first to understand.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: E, empathy and every response, R real truth spoken in love.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Real truth spoken in love.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Honesty that builds up, not tears down.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Kim, is there's a scripture on that one.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh speaking the truth in love, the body may grow and build itself up in love.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: Coming out of Ephesians.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_03: Ephesians 4, 15 through 16.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a biblical foundation for that.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so let's unpack that a minute.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um in a day when everything is relatively okay, you call you the captain of your own ship.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes uh when you take your ship the wrong way, it sinks or it gets a hole in the boat or whatever.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: And not everybody wants to hear about that.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do you help a person to maybe examine uh say they come through the front doors of the Beaker Rescue Mission, they're homeless, first time here.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you help them to know we're not going to judge you, but we're not going to pretend we don't see what we see?
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: I think Jesus modeled it perfectly with Zacchaeus.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: You have a guy who was a tax collector, he was the most deplorable rubbish in society.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: And what did he do to get Zacchaeus to come down from the tree?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: Did he say, Hey, you dirty scalawag, get out of that tree and let me beat you over the head?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Zacchaeus, come down from that tree, I'm coming to your house.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: So he was loving, and we don't know the conversations that were brought forth, but he was first and foremost open to Zacchaeus saying, Hey, come down, I'm coming to your house.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: Because also in that culture back then, going over to somebody's house, being under the roof of somebody, that was an incredibly vulnerable thing to do.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: Because it was in a way like you were saying, Hey, you know what?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_02: I accept you as a human being, but there's something that needs to change.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: So let me be let me show that love to you, speak that truth into you, and therefore that's where the Lord's kindness leads us to repentance.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus had to encounter him, he had to go on his turf.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: He had to be vulnerable, coming under his roof.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: And there was some conversation that went on that we do know about.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: The criticism for Jesus doing that.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: You don't mess with a tax collector.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: They're evil, they're bad.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: So don't talk to them.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: But Jesus had a different plan.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: So so Jesus spoke the real truth, and then we know that he did that a lot, and he's still doing it today.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh sometimes it it is uncomfortable, but it also um is done in a way, it can be done in a way of hurtful, or it can be done in a way of building up, as the scripture says.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's S-E-R-V, stands for value in every person.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that that's one that boy, talk about uh the debate on the value in every person, you know.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Lamanda, anybody wants to chime in on this?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you just want to scream sometimes when you see some of the things that are said about people who experience homelessness in social media?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it seems like the ones who comment on that don't value a person.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do you say about what it says here is protect dignity, worth, and the image of God and others?
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do you look at a person that maybe doesn't smell right, doesn't act right, doesn't um really have a plan, they come through the doors of the rescue mission.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: How do you see the value in that person?
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, on one hand, I feel like this, I'm gonna sound like um, I don't know, talking out of both sides of my mouth.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: On one hand, I think this should be such an easy thing to do, especially for Christians, right?
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: We know Imago Day, we are all made in God's image.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Why in the world would we demean someone made in God's image?
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why would we make fun of someone made in God's image?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Why would we curse someone made in God's image?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: Why would we wish bad things on someone made in God's image?
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: Why would we think someone's a nuisance if they're made in God's image?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: So when you phrase it like that, you automatically are like, well, of course I wouldn't do that.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I see everybody as a Mago Day.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: Then you replace it.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: That person's walking on a sidewalk in front of your house and they're talking to themselves and cussing.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do you still see them in God's image?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: They are passed out by a bus stop and they're covered in urination and flies.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_01: Do you still treat them with dignity and see them in God's image?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I could go on and on about this one.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's when then you hear some of the responses, well, yeah, but.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, but they should.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: Really, as Christians, we should be bold enough to say, regardless, a person is made in God's image.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: A behavior that a person has does not change the image that they are buried in.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't excuse the behavior.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't excuse the consequences of some decisions or their whatever situation they're in, but it sets a foundation of how I'm going to approach that person versus judging them and like they're not in God's image.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, this is an extreme case, Barry, and and there could be all these what-ifs and examples we give, but I go to one of the worst ones that I know.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh about a year and a half ago, um, we had a staff member brutally assaulted and left for death.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: So when I when I go this vulnerable, I'm saying it because I'm using myself as an example that do I know we see or should see everybody made in God's image, a hundred percent.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: In that situation, I was on a journey and tried to do the best I could publicly, the best I could privately, and my responses to media, the one-off conversations I was having, um, with our staff members' family, all of these things, right?
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: And it came down to what was done to my staff member will never be made right, the side of heaven.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the behavior that the individual had was so wrong and repulsive in so many ways.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yet that individual that did that act was still someone made in God's image.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I did the best I could to not portray that person as a monster to this community, yet still try to stand for justice and to try to stand for what had been done wrong and try to serve my staff member well day and night, being there by his side and all of those things.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think sometimes there is this perception in the community, and it's not just ours, it is all over, um, that maybe the rescue mission accepts too much, or maybe the rescue mission is too soft on criminal behavior, or whatever the case may be.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and that's just not accurate.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: What we have to do though, is I have to know that even that individual that did that to my staff member, that they were made in God's image, and that while I believed in the justice system, I went to every court hearing there was, set through all the retelling.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: But while I also did that, I also continued to pray for that man's salvation.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: And his eternity is real.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so did I support what he did?
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do I stand against it?
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: Was it one of the most challenging things I've had?
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in a professional world, honestly, since I was 18.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm almost 40.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: Toughest thing besides losing a student as a principal that I've gone through.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: However, that person's actions, whether it's my sin, your sin, something big, something small, something that shows a mugshot, something that's kept in hiding all the time, that doesn't change someone's value and their image in Christ.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so I started this by saying this should be a very easy one for us to say, right?
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yet it's easy when someone seems like they're worth the value.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: When someone is doing behaviors, whether it's criminal, whether it's um lack of hygiene, whether it's mental illness, whatever.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's when sometimes we as Christians try to put these parameters.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: And the bottom line is there is not parameters on someone's image being made in Christ.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: And so this one is a beautiful one.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: It's a tough one, it should be an easy one.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so, like I say, this one for me is a beautiful mess.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: So these are pillars and they're guides, but they're not easy necessarily.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Stopping to listen to people, that's the first one, have an empathy for everybody's story, um, and then being willing to go ahead and speak the truth, and then getting down to value in the story you just recounted there.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, those aren't just, hey, just because you work at Topeka Rescue Mission, that hey, this is comes easy.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: These are things that there is pressure, there is a conflict within.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: And Mike is uh a chaplain here at Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: How do you guide staff members when they um see a person's behavior or they um um feel uncomfortable about this?
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and and you know, I don't want to empathize with this person, you know.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: This person did some things that I don't agree with, uh, this person won't listen to truth.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying the love thing.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: I want to hit them over the head, you know, not literally, but uh, you know, really want to get in their lunch.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh how do you guide them in that?
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is this a setup for the next one?
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, of course.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that brings us to A, advocate for the broken, but the emphasis on this is to stand up for those who are vulnerable, stand up for those who are broken, stand up for those who are lost.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_02: Is there anybody who has ever not been lost?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: We're all lost.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_02: And the voice, um Yeah, the voice that I have in the back of my head is a very dear friend of mine.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, if everybody had a dollar for every single time I've said this, we'd all be going to Roots Chris and having a steak dinner.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um my mentor from college, uh, my undergrad, uh, talk to him almost every Monday, says people have a very valid reason for why they act the way that they are.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: We have to ask ourselves what must have happened to them in the past.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: What broke them?
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then we have to pray for that brokenness.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: So when it's hard to love that person that's in front of us that has the really really terrible hygiene or really just borderline rage, terrifying rage.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_02: What do we have to do?
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: It just puts it into perspective of even the check that I have to tell myself sometimes.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's that that voice of John saying, people have a very valid reason for why they are acting the way that they are, Michael.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: What happened to them in the past?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can't uh even begin to know that until you seek first to understand which is number one.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: And it just all goes on.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: It begins to flow from there.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so valuing every person, it's not easy for us as human beings to do that.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: But we have to say who sees them in a different light.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: And that's who God is.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: He sees them different light, and we need to say, okay, God, what do you see?
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's a scripture around that.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just one scripture, it's throughout the entire Bible in regards to how God values the worth and dignity of others.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um it's demonstrated in uh the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: We won't unpack that right now, but that's an incredible story.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: So John chapter four in the Bible, uh, if you want to take a look at that, that's uh the foundation of this one.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_04: So you know, though, Barry, I think too that we always have to remember, because we are very quick to defend the folks that we serve.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: And what can happen with me sometimes then is I am not um uh offering that same kind of um respect and um understanding that the person that I think is being an absolute jerk about the people that we serve, that they too are made in the image of people.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now you've convicted me.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I just think I just think it's important, you know, that it's easy because of what we do and what we believe and why we believe that we're called to this work, it's easy for us to go up and defend the folks we serve and say, you have no idea what people have gone through.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_04: You have no idea what their experience has been.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_04: We also don't know on the other side of things what people have experienced and what is motivating them to not be kind, not be loving in the way that we think they should.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_04: So I think, you know, we always think about this in relationship to the people that we serve that have struggles that are really, really obvious.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_04: I think Lamanda has told us over and over there are people sitting beside us in church every morning that are going through the Same kind of struggles.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_04: We just don't get to see it.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_04: So I think it's important for us to apply these things not just to the folks that we serve or our own team, but also the people that sort of make us want to throat punch them.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_02: It goes back to what Paul wrote.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_04: In the most mendonite of ways.
• 44:19
  unknown: Right.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_02: It goes back to what Paul wrote in Romans 12.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: Do not be wise in your own estimation.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_02: When you assume about somebody, that's what happens.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_02: Harmonization takes a lot of hard work.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_02: And what the the illustration that I used when we were going through that pillar was the sinking of the Titanic.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_02: All of the survivors, most of the survivors, said that there was one thing that they remember from the sinking of that ship.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was dark.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_02: It was a dark and cold night.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_02: But the one thing that people from all around that entire shipwreck recalled was that there was a string quartet playing all throughout the sinking of it.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: And the very final song that played was Nearer My God to thee.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: Harmonization till the very end.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: So even in the middle of the chaos, when we're being wise in our own estimation, I gotta get out of here because I'm gonna die.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_02: And they depict it really well in the movie.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: Haven't actually watched the whole movie.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: Take me out and shoot me, don't.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: But when the when the gentlemen say it has been a pleasure, and while it is sinking, they're not gonna get on the lifeboat.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: They're not being wise in their own estimation.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like, guys, we're gonna die tonight.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_02: But let's calm these people down while we're doing it.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: Let's live in harmony.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna get tough.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: All glory to God.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's all that pressure.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_00: What are we gonna do in the pressure?
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: That was an example of people who were under pressure.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: They could have jumped ship too, try to get on a lifeboat.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: But they decided to stay the course with the assignment that they had.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh A, and you all don't see what we're seeing in front of us right now, but maybe this will be posted on uh Facebook so you'll see.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: The next one, and we've been talking about this, is the A standing for advocate for the broken, uh stand up for the vulnerable and the voiceless, and defend the rights of the poor and needy out of Proverbs 31, 8 through 9.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: But to your point, Miriam, everybody's broken.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Even the people who are judging the people that we're trying to defend here and what we do here, there's brokenness in their lives too.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it goes back up to maybe we need to seek to understand their story first before we want to throat punch them in the Mennonite way.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: Two more letters in New Life and Healing in Christ.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: New life and healing in Christ.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: Who wants to take that one?
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: I can.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um New Life and Healing in Christ.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that's really founded on the belief that Jesus restores, heals, and makes lives new.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we there were a lot that we could use, but we chose Psalms 34, 18, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um sometimes when someone is really in the midst of struggle, whatever it is, let's say it's addiction, and it doesn't have to be drug addiction.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: It could be addiction to gambling, pornography, whatever the case may be.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: If we've got someone in mental illness and we've got a lot of the talking to themselves or um things that just doesn't make sense, you can fill in the blake.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes when we're seeing that, we don't see it as brokenhearted.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_01: We think brokenhearted is someone who's identifying everything that's wrong and they're crushed.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: Well, sometimes our insight of brokenness and brokenhearted should be different on someone.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so our knee-jerk reaction, I think, as humans is whatever that struggle is that someone's going through, be hands-off, right?
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: Or, well, I don't know.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how to help them.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure what to do, or I can't fix it.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: I've heard sometimes, well, not my place, just all these different things.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_01: But the the point of it is the Lord does what?
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: He is close to the brokenhearted.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so that closeness, in in my interpretation, is that's just the Lord so ready to say, this can be made different.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: I can help you overcome this.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be defined by this.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: I can transform you where you use that to then become this.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and to me, that is so beautiful.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that I love about the rescue mission is not everyone has this.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_01: Some do, but not everyone has this transformation story of I was in a tent and then I became here, and now I'm this incredible leader.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: Some people have that story, and that's beautiful, and you see that.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: However, all of us at the rescue mission has the story of how we know we're not the same now than we were, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: And we all know it's because of Christ's work in our lives.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so to me, that is a beautiful thing that's not only showing how we do things because we've been made new, it's also why we're so determined to get the gospel out.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not to thump people on the head or their throats, like Miriam said, with the Bible.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it is this just so you know, I'm different now than I was a year ago.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: And we want you to be able to experience that.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that is something so incredible when we're vulnerable enough to know, man, whether people know my business or not, I know what God has cleaned up, and you want that for others.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we can religiously teach it or we can relationally walk with them to that point and to the point again to listen, to understand, to have empathy for the person, to speak truth, but in love, valuing every person, advocate for them in their situation, wherever it is.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then they're going to, I think all of us who have come to Christ are going to say there was somebody that walked with us, or somebody's that walked with us.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: Might have been in your own home, might have been your parents, might have been your grandparents, or none of that.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was just somebody else.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, most people come to Christ and understand the value of his healing and restoring power because somebody walked with them through the journey.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that is what uh that is what God just called the church to do.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh speaker rescue mission being part of that.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, we're down to T, the last one in the word servant.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it says, trust and abide in Jesus.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you can think about doing all these things, you can try to do them in your own flesh, you can try to do them because it's a good thing to do, but this is probably the foundational pillar of the pillars, right?
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: Trust and abide in Jesus.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: Stay connected to Christ, our source of life strength and fruit.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: Our source of life strength and fruit.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: Mike, um, as uh spiritual wellness um talk about what we do for God versus what God has already done for us.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_00: And and and and I'll maybe give a little more definition of that.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: There are things that as a Christ follower, we see these things, we see, okay, it's a servant thing, okay.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: We gotta do this for God, we gotta do this for the rescue mission, we gotta do this for other people.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: But we can't.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: We can't.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: But the new identity in Christ enables us to do what?
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_02: We're in the trenches, um, and our adversary is he plays dirty.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um hockey terms, he's a goon.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_02: He just gets out on the ice to enforce to pin us up against the wall to take us out.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the verses, because this this is two of them put together, the the abide in Jesus side is like the end of everything.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost like the roof that you put on all the pillars that was above all else abide in Jesus.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_02: But trusting in the Lord's redemption, the adversary will just jump down our throat.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_02: For me, it's uh, you know, you're you're you worry too much.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_02: And scripture says is, you know, don't be anxious because then you're doubting God, and doubting God, you know, that's a sin, and you're a sinner, and how can you as a leader, quote unquote, lead a lead a group of people to be faithful to his calling when you yourself aren't even faithful?
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_02: Who do you think you are?
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: And then that thought gets in my head.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, well, I don't have what it takes to be the director of spiritual wellness and discipleship.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that's a lie.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: Because the truth is, and one of the scriptures is that Colossians chapter 1, verse 22 says, The Lord has reconciled you by his death on the cross through his body, his blood to present you holy, faultless, and blameless.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_02: So none of us can do that.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_02: We're not doing any of that.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not doing diddly squatting.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's already for you.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_02: He is he has called us, and then it's just really cool how it just comes full circle because then when when all these gears were turning, and I'm like, no, I can't be, I can't be in this position.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_02: Miriam goes, Have you watched The Chosen Yet?
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, No, I haven't watched The Chosen yet, Miriam.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_02: She goes, There's a character in there, and honestly, I think you need to watch it because it was little James.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_02: Little James has a visible disability, and Jesus is healing all of these people with physical disabilities.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: And James goes, Why aren't you healing them?
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_02: And you're giving me the power to heal people, but I'm not healed.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_02: And there are people that, and praise God, that you know, their anxiety is healed.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_02: They're they don't have to be diagnosed with it, they don't have to be medicated.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_02: Medication's great.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_02: I'm medicated.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_02: But why is my obsessive-compulsive disorder not removed from me?
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_02: Am I not trusting in the Lord enough?
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's not it.
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's even in the trust that I can rely on him, even if I am not healed of it.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna rely on him and I'm gonna continue to do the work.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_02: That even in the middle of the storms that I face, of the uncertainty and the fear that I face.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_02: At the end of all of it, it all goes back to what I know and I believe that the Lord has been faithful through it all to carry me through.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_02: Does this side of heaven, does life does is life terrible?
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_02: Bad things happen.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_02: But that's the promise that comes in revelation.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_02: That the Lord says, Behold, I have come and I am making all things new.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: Right now, yeah.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_02: Things are tough.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_02: But it's just like how a parent would teach their child to ride a bike.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_02: To the child, it is terrifying.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna fall, they're gonna get scuffed up.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_02: But as the parent, because we've been through it, we know just keep pushing through.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: Just trust me.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: Just trust me.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_02: This is just gonna be a little scrape on your knee.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_02: And now the child is grown up and riding and going fast, and then now teaching their child to ride that bike.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_02: That I think is just a glimpse of what is to come because there will be no tears, there will be no pain.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_02: But right now to us, yeah, it is absolutely terrifying that we're trying to get our balance on a bicycle and we just keep falling.
• 57:01
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm going to trust.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm going to trust the Lord as much as it stinks.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_04: You know, Barry, the answer is maybe to your question is kind of easy.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_04: And again, I know I'm a fanatic when it comes to watching The Chosen over and over.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_04: But Matthew says one time to a centurion when he's asked, So, what are you doing today?
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_04: And Matthew looks at him and says, There's only one thing I have to do today.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_04: And the centurion says, Well, what is that?
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_04: And Matthew looks at him and says, Follow him.
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_04: That's it.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_04: All I am.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is a foundational, the T, uh, trust and abide in Jesus.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a one and done, it's an all the time.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: And about the pillars of Topeka Rescue Mission, the seven biblicals that spell out the word servant, the T really means that it's not just something you go to church and do, not just something that you did when you were 10.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that you um can put on hold.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be foundational for people to do the work that they're doing here.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not that we forget, but that it is the life.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_00: He is the source, he is the strength.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of uh Galatians 2.20.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've been crucified with Christ.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_00: I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_00: The body I live in.
• 58:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now I live by faith.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's not my show.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's his show.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_00: And to abide in him and then be called to be spiritual wellness and whatever Miriam's called now, and the CEO and Kim over here, and Miranda down here is quiet working the board, and so many people, the volunteers here, is that there is an opportunity to abide in Christ and to listen to people to understand them, to have empathy in every response that we have, to speak truth and love and to value every person, advocate for them, and to introduce them to the new and healing life in Christ.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_00: Today we've unpacked in a very brief amount of time, something's very complex, but it's very important to Topeka Rescue Mission.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we just think it's very important for you as a listener.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you stayed with us the whole time, thank you for doing that.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe if you come back and joined us on this, it is something that is not just Topeka Rescue mission.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's something that you can apply in your own life.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, these different uh aspects of pillars for your Christian walk, your servant walk in life.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's something that you've been seeking.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really struggling with one of these or all of these.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 59:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's all a struggle, it's all pressure.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: But when we trust him and we go to the word of God, that's why it is biblical pillars.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not uh philosophy pillars, it's biblical pillars.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_00: And by faith we trust that.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_00: And watch what he does with that.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_00: Watch what he does with that, and see if there could be an amazing opportunity for you in life to really embrace and abide in Christ yourself.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for listening to us about the foundational principles of TRM, uh, biblical principles.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's seven of them.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be on the Facebook page, maybe the website too, so that you can see these.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of work went into this.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: It sounded like it was downloaded from the Holy Spirit.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: I thought for a minute you're going to say, Mike, that you got these on stone tablets.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: I will say you plagiarized if you did that.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it's I broke I broke the stone tablet.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_00: You broke okay and came back to this.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is so important for the function of this ministry.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's been 70 plus years.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being a part of our community, our mission.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more information about Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to T R M online.org.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's T R M online.org.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being a part of this ministry.