Latest / Main Thing Podcast / INSIDE COVENANT | Tina Boquet

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INSIDE COVENANT | Tina Boquet · Main Thing Podcast

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Main Thing Podcast with Pastor Steve, equipping you to respond and thrive in the world we live in today.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Keep the main thing the main thing has been a saying that Pastor Steve has told for decades.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: It means no matter what is happening around us, Jesus is what we need to have front and center in our lives.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: There couldn't be a more powerful reminder for us to recall in today's divisive and dark culture.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: From foundational truths and scripture to the hot topics of today's culture, allow this podcast to inspire and motivate you on your faith journey.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, well, welcome everybody to episode 41 of Main Thing Podcast.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're glad that y'all are tuning in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Just a reminder: if you haven't yet, you can subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I'm asking for that is because that helps us get this message out.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so our goal and vision is to lead others to Jesus and teach them how to lead others to Jesus.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what this is all about.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And who we have today is Miss Tina.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Miss Tina Bokeh.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: She is with us.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here, Tina.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you for having me.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to start off with the fun aspect.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit about your new hobby that you've uh been on a journey with.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm guessing that you're talking about camping.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: I absolutely love to go camping.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: I always have, even as a small child, my parents um we used to have a yellow boat that I named Sunshine.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: And we used to use that to go out to uh Last Island, uh, and I can't remember the name of the other island out in the Gulf of Mexico, and we would go camping in a tent on the island and go floundering and all of those kinds of things.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: So it has a lot of great memories for me.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then we enjoyed camping a few times with our children when they were little.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I didn't have a lot of opportunities to go camping after that.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_03: And the work that I do can be heavy sometimes.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so I really desired a way to get away and get out in nature.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I have always wanted a little bitty camper, didn't want a great big one or anything like that.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I started camping with my sister-in-law and some other ladies from uh around South Louisiana called the Louisiana Bells, and I was car camping at first, which means I was camping in my CRV.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: I had a little tent that connected to the back of it, and um, you know, that was my dressing area and my hangout area, and I was sleeping in the car itself, which was great, but you know, you get big dreams, yeah.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I wanted something just a little bit bigger so that the ceiling wouldn't be six inches above my face.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I started dreaming about, you know, using a van and you know, was kind of playing around with what that could look like, you know, whether it was a Pacifica or, you know, an Odyssey or, you know, one of those smaller, like a minivan kind of thing.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: And then I saw someone who had converted a um, that one was a Dodge Ram, big, you know, cargo van.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I was like, oh, wait, that that sounds like it would be great.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: And so I started researching and researching, and you know, it's a thing.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: I did not know that it was a thing right now to convert a van.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: I thought I was kind of coming up with it all by myself right at first.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I, you know, really got the urge and I started talking about it with my husband, and um, he was supportive.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: And um, so one day I, after two years of searching, I found a Ford Transit van that was used.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: It would be new to me, um, with decent mileage and looked like it was in really good shape.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: And it was less than an hour away from where my grandchildren live in Tennessee.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, surely that's a God thing, right?
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is Providence.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I went to get the van and um it kind of sat in the driveway for a couple of months while we were getting everything together, you know, figuring out exactly what it would require to uh convert it.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: And uh then I started working on it.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: Started working on it in September, and by the end of October, I think I think it was the end of October, maybe early November, I was taking my first trip in the van.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I haven't quit since.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um when I go camping, I don't watch TV.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: I don't one of the wonderful things about going camping is the majority of these campgrounds, our phones don't work all that well.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna ask that.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the ones I would want to be at.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, our phones do not work all that well, and you pretty much have to disconnect.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_03: Now I'm disconnecting in safety with you know, there's lots of other people around.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: And overall, people who are going to campgrounds for the weekend, they're not all that interested in um being dangerous.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I go camping with a lot of other ladies.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_03: I've been twice where it was just by myself, and that's like a spiritual retreat.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's it's a wonderful time um to sit around the campfire and just listen to the night owls, um, listen to the crickets, see the fireflies, and just spend time alone with the Lord with no other influences bombarding the brain.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: So that's kind of why I have fallen in love with camping.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: And it's something that I kind of do as it's a it's a self-care thing.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: And because of the way I've done it, there's not an extreme amount of uh expense involved.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm excitedly looking forward to my next birthday when I will be of the age where I get those camping nights for half price.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so to give everyone a picture, this is not just a normal, it was a normal van.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: But you've insulated the walls, you've put a bed, you've put storage, you put a fridge, you've put air conditioning.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the thing I is there a portable tank?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Did you put a sink in there too, or no?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: No, I did not.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you basically bring fresh water that you can wash and everything.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_03: I chose not to deal with that at all.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the more I camp with these other ladies who have actual campers, the more I realized um how many problems they run into with roofs that get leaky, or uh, oh, I forgot to take the stopper out of the whatever, and now my uh whole camper is flooded.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I've seen that that happen with them, or hear stories of, you know, they had their camper in storage and they go because they want to go take it on a trip, and they have two flat tires because it's been in storage so long that it's um dry rotted.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_03: My camper, my van is my everyday vehicle.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_03: I wanted something that I was driving on a regular basis that I could get in it.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, it's like it wasn't, oh God, how do I do this again?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: How do I back up?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, what do yeah?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to experience any of that.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_03: And if something breaks on it, I can go see my favorite mechanic and he can take care of it.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Practical and adventurous.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_03: You just kind of described me.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I've learned in our with our family is how difficult it is to disconnect because of the ease of access with phones and being in ministry.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, unfortunately, a lot of people expect since they call or since they email or since they text that you should be readily available at all points.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: And if I'm being honest, I feel the pressure of that.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: When I see something or notification, I'm like, and I can set it down, but then I'm thinking about it until I take care of it.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So to be somewhere where there's no service, that sounds like heaven.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: It it is.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, uh, what's the closest park that you can go to that you've found where your phone doesn't work and you can just kind of park and do your thing?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: It really varies.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: There's a couple of parks in like the Lafayette area, Lafayette, New Iberia, uh Chico.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I am geographically challenged.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_03: So uh if the GPS isn't telling me where to go, I'm not gonna figure out how to get there on my own.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I think I remember those being a couple where um one of them, like if you wanted to use your phone, we went to the front office and we asked, hey, I really need to make a phone call.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: There's kind of an emergency going on.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: And they literally said, Well, you walk up that way, and if you go past the levee and up on top of that bridge, if you have ATT, you might get a signal there.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's like Okay from one spot in the park.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not even in the park, it's outside of the park.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, there are a lot of the campgrounds that do have decent service.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and even those I have managed to, I still try to disconnect.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I use a specialized app on my phone that lets people know that I'm in an area where um I have limited access to messaging and um I'll get back to you.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, that's great.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So to to backtrack a little bit, um let's start from not the very beginning, but the beginning of your faith journey.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: So talk to us a little bit about your journey with Christ and then Kevin, your husband, coming on that journey with you, and then how that led to you being on staff here, and then school, and then now where you are in the counseling ministry.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: And let's say all that in five minutes.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think a a really special thing about my journey with the Lord is really kind of unexpected.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I was not raised in a Christian home.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um, my parents were both raised, either they went to church as children, but the churches that they participated in were not friendly for kids at all.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_03: They were miserable being there.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: And they, I think, probably got a view of God that God was angry, right, uh wrathful, and um just ready to, you know, strike them with lightning.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: And my dad literally saw the church as filled with hypocrites, which we are, right?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: But in his experience, the same people that he saw in church on Sunday morning um were the ones that were in the bar with his father on Sunday afternoon.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, because it used to be okay to bring your children to a bar.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: And my dad would literally sit in the bar with those very same people and hear the things that they talked about and see the things that they participated in.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: And so it completely turned him off.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, he just decided that churches were filled with hypocrites and he didn't want anything to do with that.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: And he in later years said, Sometimes I believe in God and sometimes I don't.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um, which I'm thankful that he was that honest about it.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um but because of their experiences, they decided that uh their child wasn't going to be brainwashed, wasn't going to be forced to go to church.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I really didn't have any opportunities to be in church or anything like that um until my teenage years, other than every once in a blue moon, I would be allowed to go to church with my grandparents who went to um a little Catholic church down the street from where they lived.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember loving the reverence and feeling like, yeah, God really is here.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: But my parents decided they they didn't want me to be brainwashed, they didn't want me to have to deal with all of that stuff until I was older.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: But they gave me a little transistor radio and I used to love to take that thing apart.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know exactly how old I was, probably somewhere between six and eight years old, something like that.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, um, transistor radios didn't catch a whole lot of stations, right?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: And it seemed like the majority of the stations that it caught, there were those pastors, those fire and brimstone, you know, um, or people just singing about Jesus and about what we needed in our lives and all that kind of thing.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, I think I prayed that sinner's prayer every time I heard it because I just knew I wanted that God that they were talking about.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: Didn't understand a whole lot.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, with all that was in me at that time, I gave my heart to the Lord.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um didn't have any chances for being discipled or anything like that.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, in my teenage years, I had a um, I still have a very, very dear friend, and her family um was part of a Presbyterian church.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: And Miss Marilyn Ave invited me to church with her family.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: They made me part of their family um in every way.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: And I went to church with them and I enjoyed just doing life with them, uh having fun, and every now and then we had the opportunity for conversations to get more serious.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: And so that was kind of like the beginning of what discipleship kind of looked like.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: There wasn't anything formal, it was just kind of a mentor kind of situation.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I had an opportunity a few years ago to tell her thank you for that.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then Kevin and I um we got together when we were both in uh college at LSU and I was extremely homesick.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: And um he was just a fun person to be around.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: He got saved when he was at LSU Um and you know, it was flabbergasted by the simplicity of being able to know that his salvation was secure in Jesus.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: And he can share, you know, more about that with you.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_03: He probably already has.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um but God took a while to get the two of us together.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_03: We kind of saw each other through a couple of those really rotten relationships with others, and as you know, we eventually fast forward, we eventually got married and we started having children, and God's, you know, Kevin said, uh, you need to get those kids in church.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I started bringing them to church.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, our daughter Chelsea was in the after-school program.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this would have the this had been on the east side at Christ?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: This was on the east side at Christ Baptist Church, and they had uh daycare there, uh, and they had uh an after school program, and it was very close to the school where Chelsea attended um Honduras Elementary.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I didn't know that's where she went.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so she started going there and then vacation Bible school, and she really wanted to go to vacation Bible school, and then you know, after that, I want to go to church, I want to go to church.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: And then Kevin said, You need to get those kids in church.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_03: So I started bringing them to church.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I loved it.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_03: I loved getting to um be in Bible study with other people and um reading God's word and learning about prayer and um what prayer looked like, because I had no clue really before then.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um I remember a man in our church, uh, Mechlin Taylor.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if anybody out there knows him, but when this man prayed, oh my God, Jeff, it sounded like you picked up the King James Bible and you read the most powerful passages that there were, right?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I was watching him and listening to him and thinking, I I I can't do that.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: I I I can't sound like I guess I'm not supposed to pray.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_03: And Melanie Dake, you know who she is.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, she had she was a Sunday school teacher at the time.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember sharing that thought with her.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_03: And she said, No, you talk to God just like you're talking to me right now, just exactly like you're talking to me right now.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: You talk to him in who you are, in your personality.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_03: And that was very eye-opening.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: And um later on in life, I learned when it felt like I felt helpless and hopeless in some particular situations with individuals in my life.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: And God gave me the opportunity to learn to pray scripture over those people when I didn't know what to pray anymore.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: Because his scripture, his word is truth.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: And we're praying in agreement with his word and his desires for people.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, that that does uh that does bring fruit, right?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: Right, you know, I think uh God always answers prayers, he always, always, always answers my prayers.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes he says yes, and it happens right away, and sometimes he says no, and it doesn't happen at all.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: And other times it's wait, right, wait, yeah, wait, I got something, I got something that you might enjoy even a little bit more than what you really think you want right now.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so at what point from there that you began to sense a call to ministry?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it was literally through what we were experiencing with our youngest daughter.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, she has uh mental illness difficulties and we were desperately trying to find anything, excuse me, that would help, that would help our family uh endure, that would help our family.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_03: We didn't want to just survive, we wanted to thrive.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_03: And Christian resources, in all honesty, you know, we're talking 30 years ago.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably non-existent.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: There there wasn't anything.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: There, there weren't any support groups.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_03: There weren't, you know, there wasn't anything.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: There were well-meaning people who said that we just needed to beat it out of her.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_03: And you know that that that that's that doesn't work.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_03: That's like throwing gasoline onto a fire.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_03: And if someone's mental health is suffering, that's the worst possible thing that we can do.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so it's like God put people in our lives who were praying for us, who did come alongside us and pray for us and encourage us and things like that.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, we we had we eventually found some some better resources and that kind of thing, but God started instilling in me a desire to be for others what did not exist for us.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: And that's kind of you know where it started for me.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it was first with you know wanting to have a support group for parents with uh special needs.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember talking to Steve about that when we were at the old church.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_03: God, this is probably more than 20 years ago.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and he said, Yeah, that that sounds really great.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what do you want to do as far as a curriculum goes or anything like that?
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I didn't have a clue, you know, I just had a desire.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_03: So I kept praying about it.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, okay, God, what do you want me to do?
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_03: And eventually around 2011 or so, um, I was I've always been, and Kevin is as well.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_03: We seem to be people that people come and just talk to.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: I can attest that.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: I have seen that ever since I've known y'all.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_03: That that people just come and and sit and talk, and the next thing you know, the next thing we know, they're sharing really hard things about their stories.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and God used that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: I realized that I was meeting with more and more and more women who either they themselves were struggling with anxiety or depression, or there was a family member.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um that our life is just hard.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_03: There's hurricanes and you know, all the things.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um so he used that to kind of call me into women's ministry.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember thinking, I want to get some training.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_03: So I was researching and the Lord led me to um Level College and uh New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, where they have, you know, all the certificate programs.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I saw a certificate in women's ministry, and I was like, wow, that sounds really great.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, that will give me some training.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: And the very first class I took, the very first one was lay counseling for women.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, wait a minute, people do that.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, we've already been doing some of that.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: And here's the how right to do it better.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that very your very first semester must have been when we had a class together.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: We had a couple of classes together, but we we I think we went around the same time.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, probably my first actual like was probably I don't know, 2012.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, something like that.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I, you know, I was starting from scratch, so I uh got lots of my undergrad classes taken care of at Fletcher.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: I love Fletcher.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it was a great place to be.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: And there was a time when I was at both Fletcher and uh level college at the very same time, commuting back and forth, and it seemed like step by step, the Lord just led me a little bit further.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, yeah, you're getting that certificate in women's ministry, but but what if you like do the bachelor's in Christian ministry?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, you can you can have you have to pick two minors, one of them can be women's ministry, and the other one look at look at psychology and counseling over here.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, okay.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_03: The every time I tried to look at the big picture of, you know, there's a lot of education and a lot of hours involved in becoming a licensed professional counselor.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_03: And every time I looked at all of that, it was overwhelming.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: And, you know, the enemy was like, uh-uh, you can't do that.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: Are you out of your mind?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I the Lord taught me along that pathway, along that journey, to stop looking at the big picture and to just do the next thing that he was telling me to do.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_03: And in that those cases, it looks like, you know, what's the next assignment?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_03: Do that next assignment.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, take this class, take that next class, get through that class.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_03: After you get through that class, then you'll worry about the next one.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: So ever so nudging you along.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: So and so obviously you are a licensed counselor.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're on staff here at church.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: What what is your main role?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do day to day, week to week here at Covenant Church?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I do a lot of individual counseling, um, you know, with individuals, uh, children, adolescents, uh, women, men, uh, couples.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_03: Couples are hard, but couples are worth it.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um I do a lot of individual counseling, but I also facilitate um getting groups started.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like we have a grief share group that meets on Monday nights.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: Grief Share is for people who are experiencing the loss of a loved one, a family member, um, or you know, anybody, a best friend.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and walking alongside one another through that journey of like, what's life, what can life be like without this person?
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: I went through grief share myself um after our daughter died, and it was it was powerful.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_03: The enemy very much wants us to believe that we are absolutely alone, that there's nobody else on the planet who struggles in the same way that we do, and um that's his tool, and groups like grief share and divorce care and um life recovery, those all negate his tool because you're not the only one, and there's a lot of power in that and in joining together and praying for one another and just doing life together, you know, because there's a time to process really, really hard things, but there's also a time for fun and connection, and the fun and the connection help us to survive the processing, the trauma, and the loss.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I have since I've been back for the last two years, um divorce care and grief share has been the two ministries that I have heard the most about and how impactful it's been for people.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're being honest, that's what the church is supposed to be.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Meeting people in the deepest, darkest valleys of their life.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and I think those ministries do that.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think that is awesome.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: That we're gonna be able to do that.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: Meeting people where they where they are, not where we want them to be.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: You know, um there's there's a lot said in the in churches in general, and especially in the past, you know, if you just read your Bible more, if you would just pray harder, you wouldn't be having these problems.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: And in all honesty, uh life still happens, whether you're reading your Bible or not, whether you're praying or not, life still happens.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_03: Hard things are still going to happen.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: The reading the Bible and the praying and worship and all of that is are the the tools that God uses, the tools that we use to connect with Him.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, connection with other people, I think, is extremely important.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: And to that point, Tina, I've seen in ministry the last 15 years that there, and this is not every case, there are some people who are doing these things and still need help walking through things.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: However, I've noticed the vast majority of people that have sought me, sought me out for counseling, they're not praying, they're not reading scripture, they're not fellowshipping.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the times, if they were doing those things, it would smooth out a lot of issues.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, that's not every case, but I've seen that in the majority of cases.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, what what do you speak to that?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: I do see that a lot in the counseling office.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_03: I see people who come in and they have kind of gotten to the end of their rope and they're hearing the messages, yeah, you need to pray more and you need to read your Bible more.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe they don't know where to start.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, or maybe they've gotten to the point, you know, that I've been in my own life once or twice before where you feel hopeless and you feel helpless.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it feels like, you know, my prayers are hitting the ceiling.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like I don't know what to do.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: And in in those times, I think it's important for there to be another individual who will come alongside somebody and be that encourager, be that, come on, we can do this, we can do this together.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, in cases of depression, you might have a person that they are so depressed, so kind of at the end of their rope, feeling hopeless, that they don't get out of bed in the morning.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like, okay, well, step number one, you're not gonna get completely out of bed.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna sit on the side of the bed today.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna sit on the side of the bed.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: And tomorrow you're gonna stand up and you're gonna walk to the kitchen.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it's taking small steps.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of what I do, I think, is helping people come up with action plans that help them to get from helpless, hopeless.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not praying, I'm not reading my Bible.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: I know I'm supposed to do those things, but I'm not doing it, but I don't know how, I don't know where to start to the point where they can not only survive but thrive.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: And they are engaging in scripture, they're getting in Bible studies with other people or just doing life with other people.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: The again, the enemy wants people to believe that they are alone.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_03: Isolation.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_03: That you know, that there's nobody who can help you, there's nobody that's experienced this before.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: You're useless, you're hopeless, you're worthless.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I am a strong believer in we as Christians can speak life into other people when they're having those moments, you know, it's like, well, I will believe alongside you until you can believe.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh Hebrews 10, you know, don't neglect coming together.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, James confessing your sins to another brother.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's all these scriptures about us needing that that other person.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and comfort others with the comfort that you've received from the Lord.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that's kind of what that that's what he's used to call me to doing um what I do.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, like we need those tools.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_03: They are just tools, they're like lifelines, right, right of prayer and worship and uh reading God's word.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_03: But sometimes we need somebody to kind of help us get started.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I think too, if we as a church in general, uh, I'm talking about American church here, not just our church, if if we don't shift in realizing what the Gen Z is going through mentally, it's gonna be hard for us to reach them because, you know, I'm I'm thinking of my dad's generation, you know, just strap up your boots and get it done.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's and and I get that, you know.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: I've I had to come to a realization in my own life where um whenever I got sober, there was a a point when I said, okay, I'm able to pull up my boots and strap them now, I can go.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I needed a lot of people along the way to get me.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: To help you get there.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I think it's it's important because especially the younger generation, they crave community.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they crave to be part of a group of people that has a unified mission and it's something bigger than themselves.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just to your point, I think, I think it's important to realize where people are mentally so that you can get their heart in line with the Lord.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because that's the ultimate goal.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Tina, is there let me let me make sure I went over everything because I don't want to miss any important questions here.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um that's pretty much it.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I do have a question for you.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, in reference to counseling and ministry, what is your greatest passion for God's people to know and to grasp?
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: To know beyond all shadow of a doubt that salvation is real, it's secure, that with our pitiful little peep, I read that in an article once and it really stuck with me.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: That with our pitiful little peep, at one point in our lives, we gave our heart to Jesus and said, Okay, I want you to be my savior, I want you to be my Lord, I want you to teach me how to follow you.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: And I want them to know that there are gonna be days that we get it wrong.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Come on.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: There's gonna be days, and that doesn't mean that you're an absolute failure.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't mean that you can't get it going again.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, if you look in the Old Testament, time after time after time, the Israelites turned their backs on the Lord and they each man did what was right in his own sight, and God, you know, maneuvered some things, some circumstances to where he got their attention and they turned back to the Lord and they followed after him.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, You will be my people and I will be your God.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I think that that's not really any different for us as modern day believers that we're gonna get it wrong.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: And that doesn't mean that you're hopeless and that you never are gonna get it right.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_03: It just means new mercies every morning.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like you get to start over again and you don't even have to wait until tomorrow for the morning.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_03: There's a new moment right now, there's a new breath that you are breathing.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: And with that breath, you can say, Okay, Lord, I messed it up and I don't want to go back there and do that again.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_03: So show me.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_03: Show me how to follow you.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you for being here, Tina.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: And on that note, I'd like to pray to close us out if you're absolutely Heavenly Father.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: We love you and thank you.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you for Tina and her family, Lord.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_00: I thank you for all that she has been through and all you've taken her through.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, we just pray for a special blessing upon her, upon the people that she ministers to, Lord, that they would see your glorious salvation and know that it's secure and know that there's peace and hope in you.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray for everyone listening here and watching that they too would know that your salvation is secure, Lord, that your joy and your peace can be real in their life.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, that uh that we need one another.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, that we cannot be isolated.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: We cannot do this walk alone.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so, uh, Father, if there's anyone struggling, I just pray that they would reach out and seek you and seek another person that loves them, Lord, to help them.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: All right, guys, we'll see you on the next one.