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Andy Stanley - Be Rich 2026 A Conversation with Janine Maxwell · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: In the mountains of Southern Africa, tucked between South Africa
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  Speaker 1: and Mozambique, there is a small kingdom called Eswatini, a
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  Speaker 1: population of just over a million people in one of
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  Speaker 1: the most beautiful landscapes on Earth. It is also home
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  Speaker 1: to the highest rate of HIV anywhere in the world.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: For a generation, the virus took mothers and fathers faster
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  Speaker 1: than families could recover, and it left the children behind.
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  Speaker 1: More than half of the total population are orphans and
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  Speaker 1: vulnerable children under the age of 15. That is the
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  Speaker 1: reality Heart for Africa set out to change. For 20 years,
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  Speaker 1: this faith-based organization has fought alongside the community on four fronts.
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  Speaker 1: Feeding the hungry, caring for orphans, breaking the cycle of poverty,
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  Speaker 1: and educating the next generation. At the center of that
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  Speaker 1: work is Heart for Africa's Project Canaan. 2,500 acres of
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  Speaker 1: farmland bought and built for one purpose. To give abandoned
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  Speaker 1: and orphaned children a home. Not an orphanage.
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  Speaker 2: A home.
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  Speaker 3: And even better, a family.
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  Speaker 1: More than 460 children live there now. Each one placed
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  Speaker 1: through the courts. most arriving before their second birthday. They
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  Speaker 1: get to grow up in homes with aunties and uncles
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  Speaker 1: who stay for years. They are the ones who remember
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  Speaker 1: the birthdays, the milestones, and the ordinary days in between.
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  Speaker 1: The children go to school right where they live. They
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  Speaker 1: learn to read, to swim, and to discover what they love.
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  Speaker 1: And when a child turns 12, they are told their
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  Speaker 1: own story because everyone deserves to know where they came from.
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  Speaker 1: But the work reaches far past the children's home. That
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  Speaker 1: same farmland grows food and creates jobs for local families.
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  Speaker 1: Each month, trucks carry that food to 31 communities that
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  Speaker 1: might otherwise go hungry. What feeds the children also employs
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  Speaker 1: their neighbors and helps to lift whole families out of poverty.
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  Speaker 1: And since 2013, because of your generosity through Be Rich,
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  Speaker 1: we have stood with Heart for Africa 13 consecutive campaigns
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  Speaker 1: in nearly $ 1. 2 million. And every year, that generosity became
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  Speaker 1: something you could see and touch. Children's homes, buses, solar power,
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  Speaker 1: clean water. Not a check written and forgotten, but something
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  Speaker 1: built alongside the people who call this place home. From
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  Speaker 1: the very beginning, Heart for Africa has been built on
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  Speaker 1: one stubborn belief, that every single child matters to God.
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  Speaker 1: And 20 years later, 460 children are safe and fed
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  Speaker 1: and home. To them, hope lives here.
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  Speaker 4: So as you already have, would you please welcome the
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  Speaker 4: co-founder of Heart for Africa, Janine Maxwell.
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  Speaker 3: My dear friend. So I love the video. It kind
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  Speaker 3: of tells the overarching story.
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  Speaker 4: And currently 468 kids, ages one week to 15 years,
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  Speaker 4: all were abandoned as babies. So for the next few minutes,
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  Speaker 4: we're going to talk about some very difficult things. Use
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  Speaker 4: some uncomfortable words because this is the reality, Janine, that
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  Speaker 4: you navigate. And for some of us, it's jolting. For you,
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  Speaker 4: it's just Tuesday. And this is the world that God's
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  Speaker 4: called you in. So anyway, we just saw a glimpse
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  Speaker 4: of where things are now. 468 children, I think. Here's
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  Speaker 4: a picture. This is a couple years ago. This was at,
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  Speaker 4: I think, 400 kids. And there you are. Tell us
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  Speaker 4: about the little boy in your arms there.
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  Speaker 2: So we take a picture when we try to do
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  Speaker 2: a family photo every couple of years. You know, we
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  Speaker 2: have 100, 200, 300. So this is the 400. But
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  Speaker 2: 401 arrived that morning. So 401 snuck into the picture.
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  Speaker 2: And this little baby was found in a forest. The
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  Speaker 2: mother had just given birth and left the child in
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  Speaker 2: the forest.
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  Speaker 3: So this is current.
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  Speaker 4: But your journey, this is today, but your journey begins
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  Speaker 4: on a day that every single person in the room
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  Speaker 4: and everybody watching, it began on a day that.
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  Speaker 3: We all remember.
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  Speaker 4: It actually, your journey began on this day. You were
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  Speaker 4: actually in New York City. So take us back there.
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  Speaker 3: What happened? What you experienced?
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  Speaker 4: And how that began a transformation that leads us to
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  Speaker 4: where we are today.
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  Speaker 3: What were you doing in New York?
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  Speaker 2: Well, everybody in this room knows where you were, right?
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  Speaker 2: And I was at a marketing to kids conference in
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  Speaker 2: New York. And Ian was on an American Airlines flight
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  Speaker 2: to Chicago. And our young children were on the other
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  Speaker 2: side of the border in Canada because we're Canadian. And
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  Speaker 2: so the conference was very quickly, we were told to
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  Speaker 2: leave the room. And so we went downstairs to the bar,
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  Speaker 2: not to have cocktails that early in the morning, but
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  Speaker 2: there were TV screens so we were able to watch
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  Speaker 2: and see what was happening. And for those of you
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  Speaker 2: who saw it early that morning, that was when we
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  Speaker 2: were watching people jump from the buildings. And it was just,
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  Speaker 2: And we didn't really even know what we were seeing.
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  Speaker 2: And then we were evacuated because we were staying and
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  Speaker 2: the hotel was above Grand Central Station. And so they
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  Speaker 2: evacuated us because they said there were bombs in Grand
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  Speaker 2: Central Station. So my team and I ran about 60
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  Speaker 2: blocks and then just sat on the side of the
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  Speaker 2: road watching people walk by covered in ash and dust.
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  Speaker 3: And it took a long time to get out of
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  Speaker 3: the city.
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  Speaker 2: Long time to get out of the city and then
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  Speaker 2: several days before we could get back home because the
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  Speaker 2: borders had also been closed. So it took us days
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  Speaker 2: to get home.
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  Speaker 3: And tell us why you were there. You actually, when
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  Speaker 3: you were in your 20s, you.
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  Speaker 4: Began a marketing company in Canada that became one of
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  Speaker 4: the most successful marketing companies in the country.
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  Speaker 3: And then you had business in the United States.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I was very, my goal in life was
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  Speaker 2: to be rich. I'm not going to lie. And that's,
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  Speaker 2: I think maybe they took that from me. I was
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  Speaker 2: happy with it.
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  Speaker 4: I didn't even think about that. You get all the
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  Speaker 4: credit for being rich because you wanted to be rich.
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  Speaker 4: I never put those two things together, Janine.
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  Speaker 3: I just did too.
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  Speaker 2: But I just wanted to have money. I wanted to
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  Speaker 2: have nice holidays. I wanted to stay in the Four
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  Speaker 2: Seasons Hotel. Ian's goal in life was to stay at
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  Speaker 2: every Four Seasons Hotel, and I wanted to support him
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  Speaker 2: at that achievement and have a nice car and a
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  Speaker 2: nice house. And I was a Christian. I was raised
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  Speaker 2: in a Christian home. We went to a great church
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  Speaker 2: and loved my family and loved Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: But the problem was the order and all that.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. In fact, in your book, you wrote that my
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  Speaker 4: priorities were the company, Onyx, your marketing company, the company.
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  Speaker 3: Family, and Jesus in that order.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: And then this came along and this, it rocked the
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  Speaker 4: V world and it specifically rocked your world.
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  Speaker 3: So what happened?
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  Speaker 4: You finally get home and suddenly what mattered so much.
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  Speaker 2: Was It just didn't matter because you wonder, you know,
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  Speaker 2: why did I? I mean, I wasn't down in the towers.
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  Speaker 2: I wasn't that far south. But why was my life saved?
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  Speaker 2: People go through that. And I really slid into a
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  Speaker 2: really dark depression of what is the meaning of life?
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  Speaker 2: I'm a believer. I'm a follower of Jesus. But what
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  Speaker 2: does that look like? What am I doing with my life?
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  Speaker 2: What are my goals? And what's my legacy? You know,
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  Speaker 2: if I had died that day, what have I left
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  Speaker 2: my children, Spencer and Chloe?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And so that really sent me on the search for
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  Speaker 2: the meaning of life. And that journey took me to Africa.
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  Speaker 2: So in 2003, I had friends that I'd met in
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  Speaker 2: university and they were going to Zambia and then on
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  Speaker 2: to Kenya. And I sort of talked my way into
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  Speaker 2: going with them, which I think they were quite terrified
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  Speaker 2: about that because they're like real missionary types. And I
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  Speaker 2: went and bought new clothes to go shopping, you know,
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  Speaker 2: some travel with, like safari clothes.
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  Speaker 3: Did you get a hat?
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  Speaker 2: Got a nice hat and a little jacket. And we
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  Speaker 2: get to Zambia. And we're looking for street kids. He
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  Speaker 2: was gonna be filming the need of street kids. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't know what street kids were and was too busy
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  Speaker 2: beforehand to do any research on it. But we were
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  Speaker 2: walking down the street at night and I see this
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  Speaker 2: pile of garbage. I'm thinking, I don't know about street
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  Speaker 2: kid problem, but they have a garbage collection problem. And
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  Speaker 2: the garbage was like this, the whole width of this
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  Speaker 2: stage and just piles and piles of cardboard and plastic.
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  Speaker 2: And I see out of the corner of my eye,
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  Speaker 2: I see something move. And all of a sudden I realized,
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  Speaker 2: I'm in Africa. I mean, that could be a snake.
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  Speaker 2: That could be anything. And so when I focus in
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  Speaker 2: on it, I see that it's a child. And actually
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  Speaker 2: that whole pile of garbage were children wrapped up in
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  Speaker 2: plastic and cardboard, and they were sleeping on the street.
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  Speaker 2: And we, so I said to my host, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I've got lots of great ideas. And so I have
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  Speaker 2: an idea. You know, I've been in the country for
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  Speaker 2: like 12 minutes. I said, why don't I go back
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  Speaker 2: home to Canada, use my wealth, my influence, and why
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  Speaker 2: don't we build a home for these kids?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, just raise some money, come back, fix it.
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  Speaker 2: Raise some money, come back, fix it. How hard can
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  Speaker 2: this be? So they were so gracious. And they said, well,
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  Speaker 2: that's really a brilliant idea, Janine. But there are 75,000
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  Speaker 2: children living on the street of Lusaka, Zambia tonight. And
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  Speaker 2: there are half a million living on the streets of Nairobi.
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  Speaker 3: Because you went to Kenya after this. Went to Kenya.
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  Speaker 2: Afterwards, and there I met a lot of young girls who,
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  Speaker 2: you know, their parents had died of AIDS, and they
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  Speaker 2: were having sex for food. They needed to feed their
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  Speaker 2: younger brothers and sisters, and they had no other way
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  Speaker 2: to generate income. So they would have sex with a stranger...
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  Speaker 2: and the stranger would give them a loaf of bread,
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  Speaker 2: and they would go back and feed their siblings. And
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  Speaker 2: then they would get pregnant, like STDs, HIV, and when
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  Speaker 2: the baby would come, and these are 13-, 14-year-old girls.
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  Speaker 2: They know nothing about being pregnant. There's no one there
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  Speaker 2: to help them. And so they would put the babies
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  Speaker 2: in plastic bags and dump them in the river. So
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  Speaker 2: I didn't really... I wasn't sure that I wasn't being... punked,
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  Speaker 2: I think is the word we use now. So I
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  Speaker 2: asked them to take me and they took me down
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  Speaker 2: through the bush to the river. And it was like,
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  Speaker 2: just like a beaver dam of plastic bags where they
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  Speaker 2: dumped their babies. And it changed my life forever.
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  Speaker 3: And you went back and you went back and you
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  Speaker 3: went back. Tell us about that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I, I, I knew that I was called. I
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  Speaker 2: went back home I didn't speak for two weeks, which,
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  Speaker 2: you know, anyone who knows me, that was an impossibility.
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  Speaker 2: And Ian thought maybe you should give me.
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  Speaker 4: Did Ian feel like it was an answer to prayer?
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  Speaker 2: It might have been. But he's like, something's wrong. And Janine,
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  Speaker 2: you need to shower today. Yeah. Because I was really
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  Speaker 2: struggling because I, you know, I'd go into a boardroom
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  Speaker 2: and that, you know, I'd be told that we have
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  Speaker 2: this problem, you know, a sugar cereal, the sales are down.
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  Speaker 2: And we only have a million dollars to spend to
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  Speaker 2: get the sales back up. And I just couldn't fathom
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  Speaker 2: that because all I could see was the faces of
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  Speaker 2: all the children that were still living on the streets.
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  Speaker 2: And I knew that I knew that I knew that
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  Speaker 2: I had to do something.
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  Speaker 4: So you actually started hosting groups to travel to different
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  Speaker 4: parts of Africa to see this, to raise money, to
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  Speaker 4: do what you could.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I took a couple of friend groups, but then
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  Speaker 2: we really, I knew that God wanted me to close
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  Speaker 2: my business. And so that was a train wreck because
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  Speaker 2: Ian and I worked together and all of our eggs
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  Speaker 2: were in one basket. But when God tells you to
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  Speaker 2: do something and once you've totally surrendered, like you don't
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  Speaker 2: want to turn back, like you got to put all
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  Speaker 2: your chips in. And that's what we did. So we
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  Speaker 2: closed the business and waited. And then February 2006, we
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  Speaker 2: started an organization called Heart for Africa. But before that,
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  Speaker 2: there was one trip that I was volunteering with an organization,
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  Speaker 2: and I was in South Africa. I was a team
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  Speaker 2: of like 20 people, and they were from North Point.
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  Speaker 2: And I was leading them in South Africa on this
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  Speaker 2: 11-day service trip. And? Well, one of the guys, his
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: name is Doug Liptak, and he said, you know, if
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: you and your husband are starting this organization called Heart
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  Speaker 2: for Africa, you really should move to Alpharetta.
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  Speaker 3: And you'd heard about it?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what an Alpharetta is. Well, it's in Georgia.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm Canadian. And this is the South. Right, y'all?
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  Speaker 2: And no one understood what A was. And I said,
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  Speaker 2: why would I do that? And he said, well, you
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  Speaker 2: need to come and get plugged into North Point. North
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  Speaker 2: Point Community Church. Never heard of it. Well, it's Andy
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  Speaker 2: Stanley's church. Never heard of Andy Stanley. Well, you should
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  Speaker 2: just move. Oh, that's a great idea. Thank you.
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  Speaker 3: And.
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  Speaker 2: And then he and his wife invited us down here to,
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  Speaker 2: I think, manipulate us into hearing God's voice. And his
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: wife was asking, our kids were in the back seat.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: And they said, so do you think you're going to
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: move to Alpharetta? And our kids were like eight and 10.
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  Speaker 2: And my son Spencer said, well, I don't know. And
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  Speaker 2: she said, well, how will you know? He said, well,
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: we're praying about it. But how will you know? And
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  Speaker 2: Spencer said, well, I think there will be a sign.
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  Speaker 2: And he looked up and on Highway 9, there's Maxwell Street.
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  Speaker 2: Right across from where the old Kings Ridge was.
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  Speaker 3: Their last name, if you missed that early on.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: So he goes, it's a sign. I think we're moving
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  Speaker 2: to Alpharetta. And we did.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Which I didn't even know that story until this week.
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  Speaker 4: I never even thought to ask, how did you get here?
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  Speaker 4: We've been friends for, oh, 20 years. 20 years, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So you move here. You've left.
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  Speaker 4: You've shut down your business. You're traveling all over Africa.
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  Speaker 4: You're trying to figure out. And then you realize, we
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: can put this next slide up, that Africa is like
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  Speaker 4: a continent. Like this is a lot of, there's a
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: lot to do. So what happened after that? Because this
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: is so interesting.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we discovered Aswatini. We were taking trips there. Little
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: teeny tiny country, million people. And just really felt that
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: that's where the Lord, we were putting, Ian felt we
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: were putting band-aids on things. As we were taking 7,000
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  Speaker 2: people on 11-day service trips to Malawi and Kenya and.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: So don't go by that too fast.
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  Speaker 4: You've hosted 7,000 people. So you were serious about this
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: continent over and over and over and then decided.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, 11-day service trips. Some of them we would go
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: to Kenya, Malawi, and South Africa. Our kids, Spencer checking
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: off names. He was the clipboard boy is what they
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: called him. And serving at orphanages. But we weren't moving
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: the dial. And We wanted to make a difference.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you wrote in your book, you just said this,
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: that Ian and I didn't like putting on band-aids. We
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: wanted to make a lasting, sustainable impact. So you moved
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: from a continent to this little bitty country that really
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: I'd never even heard of until we met y'all.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: And then Ian decided we need some property. So what happened?
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  Speaker 2: Well, God gave him a vision, which is that's not
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: usually language that Ian would use, but God gave him
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  Speaker 2: a vision for this big piece of land that It
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: was 2,500 acres and most of it's crown land because
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: it's a kingdom of Eswatini. So the king owns a
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: lot of the land, but there was title deed land
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  Speaker 2: that we could buy, but it was a million US dollars.
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  Speaker 2: And I thought it was a terrible idea because we
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  Speaker 2: know nothing about land development. And this is African bush.
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  Speaker 2: And Ian's saying, no, but I think, you know, I
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: think that this is what God wants us to do.
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  Speaker 2: And he'd found this piece of land. And I said,
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: what are we going to do with land? And he goes, well,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: we can have dairy. We can generate income to support
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: these other homes. And I said, you've never seen a cow.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: And he said, but we can grow vegetables. Sorry, honey,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: throwing you under the bus again. I said, you don't
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: eat vegetables. You might eat the cow, but you don't
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: want the vegetables. And then he throws me a bone.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: He says, well, we could have a home for abandoned babies.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm thinking, well, that would be great. Now, we
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: had a nanny ourselves, but we would have staff. And
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: so I just thought it was a really bad idea.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: And then we were at a meeting one day. We
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: were called in on North Point Parkway into an office.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: And a man was sitting there and he shared his
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: vision with us that God had given him about a
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: land that had dairy and vegetables and children living and
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: vocational training. And Ian goes, time out to this very
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: important wealthy man. And everybody sort of gasps. And he said,
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: so Ian shares the vision that God has given him.
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  Speaker 2: And the man said, well, how much is this land
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: that you found? And Ian said, well, it's a million dollars.
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  Speaker 2: And this was in 2008. And we were a million
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: dollars short of a million dollars to buy the land.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: And he goes, well, it's not really that much money.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: And about a week after the crash of 2008, he
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: wrote a personal check for a million dollars.
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah. To buy African bush.
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: So I don't know if I mentioned this. Sandra and
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: I have been there. We're going to do a picture
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: in just a minute, not right now. And it was
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: exactly what you said. There was no electricity. There's no water.
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: No roads, no buildings. It is in the middle of nowhere.
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: Right here in Eswatini. So tell us a little bit
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: about Eswatini. It wasn't always Eswatini.
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: Sure.
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: It used to be called Swaziland. You didn't even know
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: it was Swaziland.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so when you land there, we flew in from Johannesburg,
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: you land in the airport and it says, welcome to
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: the kingdom of, back then of Swaziland, now as Swatini,
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: because it's literally a kingdom.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have a king. King of Swati III is
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: our ruling monarch. He's the last absolute monarch on the continent.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: And so when he turned 50, for his 50th birthday,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: he changed the name of the country, as one does.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: And our language is Swati, so it means the land
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: of the Swazis. in the Siswati language. So now it's Eswatini.
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: And tell us more about the country.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so one of the stats that you saw in
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the video is more than half of the total population
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: are children under the age of 15 who are orphaned
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: or vulnerable. And vulnerable usually means that there is no parent. Obviously,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: if they're under 15 and it's 50% of the population.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: And that's a very big problem, a big deal. And
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: we'll talk more about that later. But these 10, 11-year-old
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: girls who I'd met years before in Kenya, I'm seeing
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: them right in front of me. And the same thing
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: is happening. They're having sex for a loaf of bread.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: So we have that, we have a 70% unemployment rate,
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: and that was actually before COVID. So that's seven zero,
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: not one seven. So employment is really, there's just no
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: jobs and we employ 400 people. So that's a part
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: of something else we'll talk about. Um, highest HIV rate
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: in the world. Uh, we have a problem with tuberculosis, uh,
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: healthcare systems are crumbling. Um, there's no, um, medicine in
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: the hospitals and it's just, it's just, it's a hopeless situation.
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: And because, um, You know, the short version is, and
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: correct me if I'm wrong, the men had to leave
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: the country to work. They get infected. They come back,
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: infect their wives.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: The adults die.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: And so you have hundreds, maybe thousands of child-headed households,
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: which are brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, and nephews living together.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: And there are virtually, there are no adults.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: And we'd heard of child-headed households for a while. And
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: when Sandra and I visited, you sent us out with
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: a bag of shoes and you said, And we were
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: dropped off in this beautiful countryside. And there are these,
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: I don't know, what do they make the houses?
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: They call them stick and mud houses. They're literally sticks
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: with rock dropped in, and then they use mud.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Something from ancient times.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: And spread out on these fields, you know, hundreds of
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: yards apart in some cases. And so we're walking from
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: house to house delivering shoes.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: And literally, we went right after school. And it's children. Children.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: It's 14 year olds and 16 year olds and eight
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: year olds and four year olds in a charcoal grill
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: and some awful kind of furnishings and no adults home
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: after home, after home, after home. So to hear it
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: and then to see it. And, um, again, you, you
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: can't unsee it. And this was the world that you
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: chose to to impact because you decided not a continent,
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: but I can make a difference here.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Well, I think God decided that for us.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: I think that's the case.
• 21:35
  Speaker 4: You write that the Heart for Africa's mission, oh, let's
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: show this picture. So Heart for Africa is the organization,
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: but this place that you planted, you decided, you came
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: up with an Old Testament biblical.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Name for it.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: We call it Project Canaan.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: Project Canaan.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: The land's flowing with milk and honey, hence the dairies,
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: and we do have bees. And a place of hope.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: So 2,500 acres, Project Canaan, a place of hope in
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: the bushland. The other thing you wrote is, well, let
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: me kind of put my spin on this and then
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: you correct. The thing, the reason, one of the reasons
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: that we're so thrilled to partner with you personally and
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: that our church has been partnering with you for years
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: is this is not an orphanage. There are orphanages all
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: over the world and orphanages are important. But you and
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: Ian and your board have a vision to transform this nation. You,
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: you write, Project Canaan is like an arc of safety
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: for children to come and live, grow, and thrive. They
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: will be the remnant. And in the video, we, you know,
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: we heard the voice say, this isn't an orphanage.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: This is home.
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: You are literally like their parents.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Mom and dad.
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: That's what they call you, mom and dad. And your goal,
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: the vision is, you're playing the long game. Take kids
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: in under You don't take anybody under two years. Everybody's
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: got to be under two. So you're literally raising these
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: children and your programming will take them all the way
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: through to early adulthood so that you can re-release them
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: to transform.
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: Their nation. That is the long game. That's not an
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: orphanage where kids age out.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: So talk a little bit about what you've provided along
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: the way to make that happen.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: Well, we've built 80 buildings since 2009. Yeah. We have our,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: we have our farm, we have our dairy, all the
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: things that were in Ian's vision, of course. And then
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: we have 468 children. So we've had to build homes
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: for them. We have a home for the tiny babies
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: and the two-year-old's And then they move up into their
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: older homes.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: And you've had to create facilities as these kids have
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: aged up because everybody comes in.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And we get about 40 children a year, every year.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: About 40 children are placed with us. And they're all
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: placed through social welfare and with a court order. So
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: we become their legal guardians. And a child will come
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: in and Ian will say, well, there's another 25 years.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Encouraging. It's the long game.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: It's the long game for sure.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: And where the, this is the.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Hard part, where these children found, because when we were there,
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: all right, you got a call and Sandra went with you.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: I stayed. So they call and what happens and where
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: do the kids come from?
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: So Sandra came with me and we sat in the
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: social welfare office and they, if you want to go
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: to the next picture, I want to show you this
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: sweet little baby. This is baby Grace. And They said,
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Grace needs a home. She's been abandoned. We don't think
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: she'll ever walk. We think she's blind. She'd been in
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: the hospital for several weeks and there was no one
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: who could care for her. And so there was a
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: family member who was there. We signed the papers. I
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: signed the legal guardianship papers and Sandra's holding this sweet child.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: And Sandra actually named her Grace because she said this
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: little baby is going to need a lot of grace
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: in her life. And we're getting up to leave. And
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: the social worker says, oh, no, no, there's another one.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: And I said, what do you mean another one? Oh,
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: there's another child that we want you to take today
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: that we knew nothing about. And again, it's just a tragic,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: tragic situation where the mother was not able to care
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: for the child. And his name is Andrew. And the
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: reason you got his name Andrew.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: Okay, let me interrupt you here.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: So this is why it's not good to get too
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: close to Ian and Janine.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: They will name children after you. And then you will
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: donate for the.
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: Rest of your life because how do you stop donating
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: to somebody who's named after you? So anyway, you decided
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: to name this little boy Andrew because.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: Because.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: He was in the back seat just talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, talking.
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: And Sandra said, I think he's going to be a
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: preacher man. And I said, well, then I think we
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: should name him Andy. And she said, I think we
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: should too. And every month we receive a check.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so....
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: And it is funny, but where these children are found
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: is almost unspeakable. And you've mentioned some of the circumstances
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: that they come from, but children having children and not knowing.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: What to do. We have a rape culture now. And
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: it's because we're two generations away from HIV, and yet
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: we still have the highest HIV rate. So I get calls...
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: All the time, an 11-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 13-year-old has
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: been raped by her cousin, uncle, neighbor. And there's no
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: way that the child can go home with them because
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: the child may not be safe, because that person may
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: want that child dead, because there is DNA testing. So
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: we have children who have been placed with us so
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: that the child lives. They find them in pit latrines
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: or outhouses down in the pit latrine. Sometimes if they
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: find the mother, they'll tie a rope around her and
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: send her back down in to pull that child out
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: and then arrest the mother, sadly. They find them on
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: the side of the road. They find them plastic bags
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: hanging in a tree. So back to my Kenya trip
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: where they put them in the river, this is the
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: same but different. And it's heartbreaking. Every single story that
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: I hear, like that little guy, the one in the
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: yellow at the beginning photo, like I said, he was
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: found in the forest. The mother gave birth, actually beat
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: him and left him for dead. And then someone found
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: him and took him to the hospital and we were called.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: And I'll never forget it. You know, it was the
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: 28th of December.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: You have 23 sets of twins. 24, we got another
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: set on Friday.
• 27:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, 24 sets of twins. One set of triplets. We'll
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: show their picture in just a minute. And it just continues. And,
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: you know, one perspective that I don't want you to
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: take away as you hear this story is, oh, it's hopeless,
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: it's hopeless, it's hopeless. In some sense, you can't control
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: where these children begin. But what you've committed to is
• 28:14
  Speaker 4: where they'll end up.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: And that is remarkable.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: And we love them back to life.
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: That's our expression.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Love them back to life.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: All right. So you actually have, this was way back.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: Now you have a more current picture. Look how handsome
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: Andrew turned out to be, don't you think?
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: So you remember, we were told that Grace would probably
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: never walk, never stand, that she was blind. Well, let's
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: go to the next one.
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is her now.
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: That was Gracie last week. Hi, good morning. How are
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: you today?
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: I'm good.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Good. Are you having a good day at school?
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: Good. Have a good afternoon.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: Thank you. Bye.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: Bye.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: She's on the worship team. Yeah.
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: Before we go to the next story and picture, talk
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: a little bit about So again, and this is because
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: we have journeyed with you for so long and Be
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: Rich has as well.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: You know, it was all about infants. Then it was
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: all about toddlers.
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: And then as you're just trying to stay one step
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: ahead of that first generation that came in because this.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: Is a long game.
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: Then eventually they're middle schoolers and now they're high schoolers.
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: And you have teenagers, right? And it goes beyond that.
• 29:32
  Speaker 4: So talk a little bit about the high school and
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: then the bridge program as you prepare them.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: To age out eventually.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: Because in foster care, and most people know this, even
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: in our country, in the West, at 18, a child
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: can sign themselves.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Out of foster care.
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: Then they're really on their own. And there's no place
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: for these kids to go. So you're addressing that as well.
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, we're raising money right now to build a high school.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: Our kids will start in January. Okay. And so we're
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: working on the classrooms right now. And then the bridge
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: program is when they're finished high school. There'll be a
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: lot of our kids who won't go through, but they
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: won't make it all the way through high school. So
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: we'll have different paths for them. So they do get
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: a high school diploma, but on the farm right now
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: or on the project, we have lots of vocational training
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: as well. We have our own mechanic center. We have woodworking,
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: we have welding, we have electrician. So a lot of
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: them will able to be gainfully employed. We want them
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: to be, um, respectful and mean, have meaningful, um, um,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: relationship with their country and help rebuild that country and
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: be lead, not just leaders like as in the Andy
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: Stanley leader, but the best welder that you can have
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: and that they're, they're honest. Yeah.
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: Um, there are so many stories. Let's, let's tell this, this,
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: this next story is very recent. Then I'll achieve.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what, one of the things that
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: we struggled with this year is, um, lack of funding. And, um,
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: We'll talk about Be Rich and how much it's meant
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: to us. But at the beginning of the year, we
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: had to make the heartbreaking decision to stop accepting children.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: And you normally take 40 a year.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: We get about 40 a year. And in January, we
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: just don't have enough child sponsorship. We just don't have,
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: you know, we had 110 kids who didn't have any sponsor.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: So we decided to say no to babies. And it
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: was soul crushing because we would get phone calls saying,
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: you know, there's these children of this baby, this baby,
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: this baby. And we had to say no. And I
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: finally said to my staff, please stop telling me when
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: you get a call from a social worker because it's
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: making me sick to my stomach. In addition to that,
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: when we're talking to social workers, we've worked very hard
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: over the last few months to try to find some
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: family member that can be with this child or that
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: can come and see the child because we don't get
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: visitors very often. Maybe 10 of the 460 kids have
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: someone come to visit them. So they've worked very hard
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: on this. And that brings us to this story. So
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: one of our older boys who's been struggling with his identity,
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: we knew that if we could find his mom or
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: an aunt or a grandmother, this would help him. So
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: we found the mother. I sit down with him. I
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: tell him, we found your mother. This is really exciting.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: He hasn't seen her in 14 years. She has a
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: tragic past. She's going to come and visit you next Saturday.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: So we're Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we're trying to reach her.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: And we find out that she died the day before.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: And she died with this child on her back. She
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: was 32 years old. This is her eighth born child.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: And so this young man wasn't able to meet his mom,
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: got to go to her funeral. But then social workers
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: asking us to bring in this child. I'm like, we're
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: not bringing in children. And we prayed about it. We
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: got together and it was very clear that the Lord
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: will provide. We believe that. And we welcomed little, we
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: call her Roseanne.
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 32:52
  Speaker 3: So now he has a sister.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Now he has a sister there. Yeah.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: And there are a lot of kids at Project Canaan
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: who have.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: Biological. In addition to the 24 sets of siblings and
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: the triplets, we have 25 children who have a biological sibling.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: So about 20% of our children have a family member there,
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: which is pretty cool.
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: So then I mentioned that you have one set of triplets.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: Can you tell that story real quick? Yeah. So.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: These triplets, again, we weren't accepting children, but we were
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: just reopening. We get a message on Facebook from a 21-year-old.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: She says, I'm a Swazi woman. I just finished high school.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: I went to South Africa to visit my father, and
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: I found out I was pregnant. She was about 32
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: weeks pregnant. She had high blood pressure. She went to
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: the clinic, and they, I mean, she was in pretty
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: bad condition, so they hospitalized her. She had placenta privia,
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: so she started bleeding that night. She didn't know she
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: was having triplets. So they rushed her in. They did
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: a cesarean section at 32 weeks. And so she wakes
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: up and finds out she has three babies. She has
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: no money. She has no job. Her father's unemployed. And
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: so she sends a message to us on Facebook to say,
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: I've heard about you. I've heard that you can save children.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: I've heard that you can help. Can you please help me?
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: And she was in another country. There was a lot
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: of complication around that. But when we finally got these
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: triplets home, their grandmother called us and said, thank you
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: for saving these children because my daughter was about to
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: kill them. Yeah.
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: And now we have another picture of these three children.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: Two months later, they're loved back to life.
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: You love them back to life. We love them back
• 34:41
  Speaker 3: to life.
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: There's so much more um Janine again it's so personal
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: for us because we've known you and Ian for so
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: long and it's personal for us because somebody told you
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: to leave Canada and move to Alpharetta Georgia and you
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: did we did uh Spencer your son and our son
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: Garrett grew up going to school together and Chloe and
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: Allie and Chloe and Allie yeah as we wrap up
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: any anything else you want to add.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: I just want to say a huge thank you to
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: north point ministries to be rich i mean you've funded
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: our school our kids go on the school bus that
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: you bought to all of their field trips we have
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: solar power because of you we have clean water because
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: of you there's so much that's been done we've had
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: yes thank you We've had six Global X trips come
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: and help in our spiritual life department and help minister
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: to our staff. And some of our dearest friends we've met,
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: they're sitting here today, and some of our dearest, dearest
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: friends we've met through North Point. So I just want
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: to say a huge thank you to you.
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: If you'd like to know more, you can visit their website.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: It's simple. It's heartforafrica.org. That's heartforafrica.org.
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: If you want to, those of you, when you participate
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: in Be Rich, you're participating with Heart for Africa. If
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: you want to participate directly, that does not hurt our feelings.
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: We love this organization like all of our intersex partners.
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: And I have to say one more thing.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: I didn't tell you I was going to say this.
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: Next weekend, Janine will be back in church. And every
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: year for Be Rich, she brings children. How many are
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: you bringing next week?
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: Next week, I think there will be, there's eight flying,
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: like eight of our Swazi children are coming to the U.S.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: and four of our staff.
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so eight kids. And when they come, they sit
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: on the second row.
• 36:26
  Speaker 4: And we have a rule about children sitting close to
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: the front at the broadcast location. And our wonderful guest
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: services will come and say, Andy, there are a bunch
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: of children. And I'll say, are they Janine's? And they'll
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: say yes. And I'll say, they're fine. They are the
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: most well-behaved kids. They're more well-behaved than some adults during
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: the worship service.
• 36:44
  Speaker 3: I just have to say that. Janine, thank you so much.
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: Love you. So if you're new, real quick, don't go anywhere.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: But if you're new, this is how this works.
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: Every year, we get all of our Atlanta area churches
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: and some of our other churches in the country to
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: come together to do corporately together what we're doing individually
• 37:09
  Speaker 4: throughout the year. Because all of you are generous people
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: and all of you donate to something you believe in.
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: This is our opportunity to do something together. And basically
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: what we're going to do is we give and we
• 37:19
  Speaker 4: serve and we love in Jesus' name. name. So Be
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: Rich is our opportunity to remind our communities of what
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: Janine just reminded us of today, that everybody, every child,
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: every adult, everybody matters to God, whether God matters to
• 37:34
  Speaker 4: them or not. And the reason we call this Be Rich,
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: if you're new, because it's kind of a strange title,
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: we call it Be Rich based on something the apostle
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: Paul wrote to his protege, Timothy. Timothy was a young
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: man that was eventually going to step into the apostle
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: Paul's shoes to create churches during the first century. And
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: so Paul instructed him personally and then wrote some letters.
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: And two of the letters he wrote to Timothy in
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: the first century are in the New Testament. And he
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: said to Timothy, he said, There are several things you
• 38:06
  Speaker 4: need to tell the Jesus followers in those churches.
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: And one of them is this. Here's what he wrote.
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: He says, command them, not encourage them, you know, not
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: just try to motivate and inspire.
• 38:16
  Speaker 3: Command them. This is amazing.
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: Command those who are rich in this present world. Command
• 38:21
  Speaker 4: those who are rich in this present world to do good.
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: And here's where we got the title. and to be rich.
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: Don't just get rich, but be rich. Learn how to
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: be rich. Well, to be rich in good deeds and
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: to be rich in terms of their generosity and their
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: willingness to share.
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: And here's the thing.
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: Most of us are rich in this present world compared
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: to so many people, not just in other parts of
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: the world, but even compared to some people who live
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: in our communities and live close to us.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: So this is to us, and this is an admonition
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: to us.
• 38:54
  Speaker 4: To leverage what we have and to leverage our extra
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: for the sake of other people in Jesus' name, because
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: that's what he did for us. So we should lead
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: the way. So here's how, here's how it works. Here's
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: our strategy. Years ago, we decided as a network of churches,
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: we are not going to replicate social services and replicate
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: what the great.
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: Nonprofits in our communities are already doing.
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: We're going to find the best nonprofits, faith-based and non-faith-based nonprofits,
• 39:20
  Speaker 4: and we're going to go to them and we're going
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: to put wind in their sails in terms of finances
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: and volunteers. So we don't replicate and we don't compete.
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: We partner with these amazing nonprofits. About 80% of the
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: money stays in the United States and our local communities,
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: about 20% to go to fund things that are happening
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: in different parts of the world, as you heard about today.
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: In the Atlanta area, the nonprofits that we work with
• 39:44
  Speaker 4: year in and year out, and these are nonprofits that
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: we have a relationship with, We call these our intersect partners,
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: and there's about 30-something intersect partners we work with all
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: year long. These are organizations that address a variety of
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: needs in our local communities.
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: Addiction... Recovery, food insecurity.
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: Foster care, housing and homelessness, health and medical care, human trafficking,
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: job training, relief and disaster response, to name most of
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: the large categories.
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: And here's how it works.
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: For the past several months, our Intersect staff has gone
• 40:19
  Speaker 4: to these partners, these organizations that we work with year
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: in and year out, And we basically ask them two questions.
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: We've said, what would make, as you think about your budget,
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: as you think about your goals, your vision, your dream
• 40:30
  Speaker 4: for your organization, what would make a big.
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: Difference for you? Just give us your wishlist.
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: And what would help you make a big difference with
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: the people that you're serving? And then we take all
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: of their wishlist and dream list and we vet about
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: several million dollars worth of projects. But we don't make
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: any promises to these organizations. We just say, give us
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: your dream list and your wishlist. Because with Be Rich,
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: there's not a financial goal. With Be Rich, there's a
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: participation goal. We're asking 100% of you, those of you
• 41:02
  Speaker 4: who are in church with us today, those of you
• 41:04
  Speaker 4: who are watching online, those of you who are faith-based,
• 41:09
  Speaker 4: those of you who have no faith, those.
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: Of you who are anti-faith, we don't care.
• 41:13
  Speaker 4: We're asking everyone to participate and then we are going
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: to give 100% of the money away to these amazing
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: organizations doing amazing things in our communities and in the world.
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: And here's the great news.
• 41:27
  Speaker 4: Because of those of you who give to our churches
• 41:30
  Speaker 4: on a regular basis, we are able to support this
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: entire endeavor. And consequently, we're able to give 100% of
• 41:36
  Speaker 4: the money a way that comes to Be Rich. There's
• 41:40
  Speaker 4: no shipping, no handling, and no administration fees.
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: And the best news of all.
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: Is Be Rich is both inflation and tariff proof. So
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: once again, we're asking you to do what we have
• 41:52
  Speaker 4: asked you to do for almost eight, for almost 20 years.
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: We're still asking everyone to give a one-time gift of,
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: let's say it together, $ 39.
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: 95. That's right. A single gift of $ 39.
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: 95.
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: And if everybody at all of our Atlanta area churches
• 42:10
  Speaker 4: and those of you who watch online or watching online today,
• 42:12
  Speaker 4: if you'll participate at that level, $ 39.
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: 95, we will collect about $ 2. 1 million today.
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: And that will fund about, I think specifically 38 really large.
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: Projects.
• 42:26
  Speaker 4: But we went ahead and vetted another $ 2. 1 million worth
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: of projects just in case your generosity gets out of hand.
• 42:35
  Speaker 4: And one of the things that I brag about our
• 42:37
  Speaker 4: church is all the time is how generous you are
• 42:40
  Speaker 4: because year after year, as we've launched Be Rich, you
• 42:43
  Speaker 4: have always exceeded that 2.1, which means most of us
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: give more than $ 39.
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: 95.
• 42:49
  Speaker 3: But I would be.
• 42:52
  Speaker 4: Thrilled if we got 100% participation at that level because
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: you believe in these organizations we support and you believe
• 43:00
  Speaker 4: in what we're doing as a local church. Your generosity
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: is going to fund a variety of things. In fact,
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: one of the things these organizations love about Be Rich
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: is we are willing to fund the thing the average
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: donors aren't willing to fund. Because when people give money
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: to an organization, they want to think that 100% of
• 43:15
  Speaker 4: what they give goes to the people those organizations are serving.
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: But those of you who run organizations know it costs
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: money to run an organization regardless of what the organization
• 43:25
  Speaker 4: is selling or who the organization is supporting. So our
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: generosity through Be Rich funds a variety of things. Operating costs,
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: program expenses, staffing costs. One of the things that our
• 43:38
  Speaker 4: intersect partners will say is if we could just hire
• 43:41
  Speaker 4: an HR person If we could just hire somebody who's
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: more technical and we're able to say, we're gonna fund
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: that position for you to help you go further, faster.
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: Capital expenses, technology solutions, and transportation. These are game changers for.
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: These organizations that we love and work with all year long.
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: And for our partners, they are life changers for the
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: people that these organizations serve. As a Christian, here's the
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: reason this is important for us.
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: Jesus was so clear. There are parables that Jesus taught
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: that we're.
• 44:12
  Speaker 4: Still scratching our head trying to figure out exactly what
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: he meant. But there is one thing that he was
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: so clear about, that devotion to God, our devotion to
• 44:22
  Speaker 4: God is not best demonstrated through our interior life or
• 44:25
  Speaker 4: our prayer life or even our church attendance. That devotion
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: to God is best demonstrated and authenticated.
• 44:32
  Speaker 3: That is, it's able to be seen authentically.
• 44:34
  Speaker 4: Devotion to God is best demonstrated and authenticated by doing
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: for others because that's what God through Jesus did for us.
• 44:43
  Speaker 3: So here's the thing. Come on.
• 44:44
  Speaker 4: Once again, let's show our communities that our faith is
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: more than just sermons and songs. That is God demonstrated
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: his love for us. Let's demonstrate our love for our communities.
• 44:54
  Speaker 4: And we've made it easier than ever. As you're going
• 44:57
  Speaker 4: to see in just a minute, you can do it
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: right where you're sitting before you get up, before you
• 45:01
  Speaker 4: leave an auditorium, or before you leave your couch, or
• 45:03
  Speaker 4: wherever you're watching from today or listening from today.
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: We've made it easier than ever.
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: Once you leave our auditorium, if you choose to do that,
• 45:09
  Speaker 4: there are going to be balloons out.
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: In the hall.
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: If you have cash or check, want to write a check,
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: go to the green balloons. If you have a credit
• 45:16
  Speaker 4: card or a debit card, just go to the red balloons.
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: Feel free to add as many zeros as you want
• 45:21
  Speaker 4: to to your $ 39. 95 We don't care. But the best
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: and the easiest way to do it is before you
• 45:26
  Speaker 4: leave to just go to this QR code, and we're
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: going to put this on the side screens at all
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: of our campuses to make it easy. From your phone,
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: as you sit there before you leave the room, you
• 45:36
  Speaker 4: can donate there as well. Or if you'd rather go
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: to our Be Rich website, it's simply berich.org forward slash give.
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: So we have an extraordinary opportunity. I can't wait to
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: see what we're going to be able to do together. Janine, Ian,
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: thank you for inspiring us. And on your mark, get set,
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: let's be rich.
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: And we'll see you next weekend.