Optimistic Voices
Vital voices in the fields of global health, global child welfare reform and family separation, and those intent on conducting ethical missions in low resource communities and developing nations. Join our hosts as they engage in conversations with diverse guests from across the globe, sharing optimistic views, experiences, and suggestions for better and best practices as they discuss these difficult topics.
Optimistic Voices
Why Your Church Should Engage with NGOs; Longtime Pastors Provide Perspective on Uniting Communities with Love and Service
What if your church could transform lives across the globe while strengthening your local community? Discover how two Virginia pastors, Reverend Gina Anderson-Cloud and Reverend Jason Duley, have achieved this through enduring partnerships with NonProfits such as She Believes in Me, CornerStone, Backpack Buddies, and Helping Children Worldwide. Hosted by Emmanuel Nabieu, this episode of the Optimistic Voices Podcast takes you behind the scenes of church/nonprofit collaborations that make a tangible difference in the lives of vulnerable children and families.
Explore the remarkable stories of transformation in Sierra Leone and Northern Virginia, where initiatives like food assistance programs and refugee aid have left a lasting impact. Learn about the profound contributions of Floris in Fairfax County, VA and Galilee Church in Loudon County, VA, two churches in the Greater DC area and the diversity of their family-oriented missions and partnerships with NGOs - from educational support for local children, to building a hospital in Sierra Leone, providing opportunities for impoverished children to attend universities, and the value of small contributions, such as the heartwarming Backpack Buddies program. This episode paints a vivid picture of how united efforts can create ripples of change that span continents.
We also tackle the crucial elements that sustain these impactful partnerships: trust, transparency, and a shared mission. Hear personal anecdotes and heartfelt reflections on biblical teachings to love one's neighbor, fostering unity across cultural and geographical boundaries. Join us as we celebrate exemplary global outreach, radical collaboration, and the inspiring journey of connecting people to God’s love through dedicated service.
A new documentary on orphanage response - the right way!
Bring voices from the global south to a policy conference with the potential to change the world!
go to helpingchildrenworldwide.org to learn how you can be a part of the solution
Helpingchildrenworldwide.org
Welcome to Optimistic Voices, a podcast of helping children worldwide. We help children worldwide by strengthening and empowering families and communities. This podcast is for people interested in deep conversations with thought leaders in the fields of child welfare, global health and international missions.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to Optimistic Voices Podcast. My name is Emmanuel Nabiou, commonly known as Nabs. I'll be your host for this episode. The Joy of Church Partnership with Nonprofits will be discussing the viewpoint of two of our partner church pastors about how that partnership assists their church ministries to answer their biblical call to serve their community and neighbors. 23 years ago, this ministry started with relationships between two UMC church leaders from different cultures, both with the same goal to help create a better future for vulnerable children and families. A quote from one of those pastors that puts it very well we are two hearts beating as one, two hands with one heart reaching across the ocean for the love of God's children. I think the late Bishop John Yamasu was speaking of his dear friend, Bishop Tom Brolin, but also of the goal of this work we do in joyful collaboration with one another. So let's meet our guest. He has a very special guest today. They will bring greetings and briefly introduce themselves.
Speaker 3:Oh, we both look at each other. Yes, so hi, I'm Reverend Gina Anderson-Cloud. I am the lead pastor at Flores United Methodist Church and I've had the joy of following Bishop Berlin, who was here for 25 years and helped plant and seed this ministry. So I'm still in the newness of my first year, but so excited to be here as lead pastor.
Speaker 2:Thank you, welcome. Welcome to the episode Appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 4:I'm Jason Dooley, lead pastor at Galilee United Methodist Church, longtime partner. I'm grateful to be here with Gina and with you, nabs. I've known you all for a long time and so blessed. So I bring greetings from the people of Galilee United Methodist Church who have, over the years, really supported I'm going to say we've sponsored dozens probably it's closer to 100 children now over the years. It's really a long term partnership.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. It is indeed a long term partnership. Both churches have been with Helping Children Worldwide for over 20 years, right from its early beginnings. So, on behalf of Helping Children Worldwide, we really want to thank you both for your leadership and for continuing to encourage your congregation to be part of this ministry. Here's a joyful invitation to all the mission-minded churches out there. Whether you are a pastor, a mission and outreach leader or an active church member and you want your church to have incredible opportunities to experience great joy and excitement about its ministry, I joyfully invite you to consider joining a team of churches that partner with helping children worldwide to help create a healthier and happier future for vulnerable children, families and impoverished communities. Thank you, so let's go back to the guest here. Well, welcome, thank you. Today, our topic is church partnerships as a way to engage your congregation in serving the community and our neighbors locally and internationally. So let's begin with prayers, reverend Gina.
Speaker 3:Yes, let us pray. God, you are so incredibly good and today, as we come together to talk about your work in the world, specifically with children and the work of HTW, we just ask, lord, that you would guide our conversation and that you would help us keep in mind and in heart all your children, all of the amazing children near and far that are in need of your love, your grace, your nurture, your support. We thank you for your goodness, the goodness that we find in relationship with one another and the goodness of your church, and we come together now to honor your name. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray, amen.
Speaker 2:Let's start by getting to know you a little bit better, beyond your names, because we love to introduce our audience to the voices of optimism and to see the similarities of their own experiences and see themselves in the conversation. So, in partnership with your congregation, we serve vulnerable children in the global South by strengthening and empowering their families and their community as well. So, in addition to being pastors, you two are two large United Methodist churches in Virginia. You are both members of unique families and your community at large. So, outside of your pastoral responsibilities, tell us a little bit about you and your family. Like you know, what you like to do when you are not preaching or ministering to your congregation. For instance, like, what hobbies and interests do you perhaps share with people who are not?
Speaker 3:pastors, thank you. So, oh gosh, I wear a lot of hat snaps and I think probably my most important one is to be a mom, and so I'm a mother of three now young adult, wonderful people, and it's been a wonderful journey of raising these humans. My kids are adopted and it's a joy to to come into their lives. Like I wasn't a part of birthing them, but they were birthed in my heart and and now, as I've seen them, they're all my youngest just turned 19. I've seen them all take their role in place in the world. It's just a. It's a neat place to be as a as of young people that are making a difference and hope to make a difference in their own lives. So that's kind of my number one role even still is my family.
Speaker 3:I also am a pastor's wife, so I'm a lead pastor married to another lead pastor.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is, and so when I'm not pastoring or being mom or pastor as a wife, I love to do things that just connect me with creation. So I love to be outdoors, hiking or biking or or just walking. There's a lot of trails here in Northern Virginia, where I live, and I got a new dog in December and I'd love to take Kiva on a long walk through the woods. Like that would be one of my perfect days. It's just being outside. I love the beach, I love the mountains, but just nature. I like to kayak anything just outside. Wow, I feel like a travel travel, yeah, with all.
Speaker 2:With all your schedule. Do you have time? Not a lot of time.
Speaker 3:Not a lot of time right now, but yeah, I usually try to get in travel with family at least once a year, so doing something with the family, that's really beautiful, thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for telling us about your family and the things you like doing. Thank you.
Speaker 4:Reverend Jesse. Oh, very, you know. So similar Gina. So, like Gina, I'm just really blessed with a great family. So I am happily married to Jennifer, who works with me at the church right now, also dad to Caitlin and Hannah. We have two daughters who are now 20 somethings, and that's just amazing. Like you, we're trying to raise humans, right. So they're complex, these human creatures, right. So shout out to my girls, caitlin and Hannah, if they're listening, also love to be outdoors.
Speaker 4:So yeah, aside from those things, I have been involved in a running club in the Winchester area for a long time now almost 15 years and we do a lot of trails. So what we used to hike, we now do trail running, ultra trail marathons, so any kind of and we do a lot of trails. So what we used to hike, we now do trail running, ultra trail marathons, so any kind of mountain distance running, things like that. But you ticked off the list of the things that I enjoy outside as well. But the reason for that is I really feel God's presence in nature.
Speaker 4:So, as John Muir said, I love the scripture of nature and when I do the races, I like to raise awareness, or it's about raising friends. You know. I interact with people on the trail who are perhaps not in a church, but most of them happen to be Christian. I've got a friend from Guatemala, for example, and so we raise friends. We kind of have a sense of community and we raise money sometimes when we run for charity and it's been a few years, so I'm saying this out loud. You guys can hold me to it Next time I'm going to again raise money for helping children worldwide. We did that when I did the Virginia Beach Marathon with my running group back in 2018. So it's been a little while, but we hope to do that again this summer or fall. I'll let you know.
Speaker 2:Thank you, you'll hold me to it. Oh yeah, I have it noted down here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, guys. So let's go back to your calling right. What drew you to become a minister and what is it about your work today that you find really interesting? We'll start with you again.
Speaker 3:Well, Namsa, I did not start. Are you a first career pastor? You are Pretty much.
Speaker 4:I mean, I was only two, three years in a sales job, yeah, so I didn't start out being a pastor or thinking that I would be a pastor.
Speaker 3:So classically a lot of people do or, you know, they start and they take a turn in young adulthood and I was a little bit later. In young adulthood I started just kind of. You know, I've always had a deep Christian faith of wanting to make a world a better place and I was first really trained to do social work and so I started in social work and doing a lot of just trying to help people lead better lives in the community and that's a lot of what you do and whatever kind of social work you're doing and just growing in my faith. And my husband was in a similar kind of helping profession and God just spoke to both of us and said I got more for you to do. And that was a major turn because I didn't have I'd had like one female clergy role model and I just didn't have. I had like one female clergy role model and you know I just didn't see myself in that position of pastoring. So it took some discernment and basically what God said to me is there's more Like you're helping in this way, but I want you to help more people and I want you to lead my church and I'm like, oh my gosh, what does that mean? Because it wasn't something I'd seen myself doing or really seen a good model until I was later in young adulthood.
Speaker 3:So that came to me as a call through scriptures. God specifically spoke to my heart to feed his sheep. There's a scripture in John where Jesus meets Peter after the resurrection and he says where Jesus meets Peter after the resurrection and he says, peter, feed my sheep, tend my lambs. And God just kept saying that over and over Feed my sheep, tend my lambs. I was like, what do you mean by that? And then I thought, how does pastoring fit with that? Because, again, I hadn't seen myself in that role and, with God's grace, it became clearer and clearer that this is what God wanted me to do and part of the lamb, part of that call always has been to do things that help children.
Speaker 3:So that connects a lot to the mission of HCW, a lot of my early work, whether in ministry or I remember the first time I met you, jason. I think I was working in the Children's Initiative Committee in the annual conference. Jason, I think I was working in the Children's Initiative Committee in the annual conference, which was part of the Bishop's Initiative on Children in Poverty that helped launch HCW here through Tom's vision, as I connected with that early in seminary and as a young pastor, saying I want to be part of this, this tending the lambs of the world, and that's always been central to my calling as a pastor. World and that's always been central to my calling as a pastor. So not a direct journey of, you know, being a little girl and thinking, oh, I want to pastor and lead a church, but I want to make the world a better place and live my faith in doing that. And God brought me into a place of seeing myself and realizing this role and it's been a blessing Wow.
Speaker 4:Thank you, Reverend Jesse how do you get to be a minister? Yeah, it's only God. I mean. I can't understand it, but I'll try to explain it in two minutes or less. I mean, so I've always believed that changed people change the world. I think it's what we see in the Easter story, which we're celebrating right now. And so there were people in my life that just changed me. I mean, believe it or not, before ministry I was a front man in a local rock band in Virginia Beach and then one evening met this young woman who became my wife, who really changed my life. Let's just say, shout out to Jennifer again.
Speaker 4:So I'll keep the story short, don't worry, but led me back to church, you know, and in church together, you know, over time, jennifer and I, we were engaged to be married and I felt a call to ministry. I'm a preacher's kid, so it's not unfamiliar to me in that way. But church again, coming back, felt like home, felt like a place where God had a purpose for my life and we really changed our lives to get serious, from being kind of like newly graduated from college to what is it that we're supposed to do? Not what we want to do, but what are we here on earth to do so. That sense of purpose and so I felt like God changed my life, and then being in ministry is an opportunity to help other people experience that change as well. So I'm really grateful to be part of a ministry partnership like this, because you really see lives changed through helping children worldwide.
Speaker 2:Absolutely as a minister. What excites you to really be engaging your church as part of this ministry of Helping Children Worldwide?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so for me, with Galilee, I inherited a program that was already involved. Of course, I had been friends with Tom Berlin before coming to Galilee and knew about Helping Children Worldwide. Our ministry at Galilee always has young people and children as a component and, particularly locally, we help to feed insecure children, food insecure children, families like that, and to go to Sierra Leone. So I had that opportunity in 2017, and that just energized me on another level to constantly be involved in the lives of children, particularly in places where there is such need, and to keep that up front in front of the church. So the church already had that in its muscle memory, but keeping the main thing, the main thing this partnership really helps us to do that helping to influence and change the lives of children for the love of God.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and much like Jason, of course, I'm inheriting the ministry, coming in to the lead pastor slot following Bishop Berlin. What has been so amazing Nabs here, as I feel like I'm still learning. Flores and the connection to HCW is the transformational story of the people, of florists, in their engagement of helping plant and grow and develop and support over time HCW. So I spent a long weeks and weeks and really months here. When I first came of just hearing the story of Flores and this sifted to the surface so many times of you know I'd never done anything. I heard people say I never gave him sacrificially until we were building a hospital in Sierra Leone, and so I set some things aside in my life to contribute so that there would be basic hospital care on the ground for mothers and children in Sierra Leone. So those are, or I never got on a mission trip and I went and I was forever changed.
Speaker 3:And then somebody spins off and starts a nonprofit because of their experiences on the ground with this mission. So the transformation that is happening, you know, on the ground with the children, with families, it's real and it's lifesaving. But it's also lifesaving in another way here in our community in Northern Virginia, and I've just been so steeped in that story, and, of course, this is not the only place that Flores serves and benefits children. We're actually trying to do some coordinated work of so many what we've realized that so much of what God calls us to do as a church impacts children and families, and so we're trying to bring all those partners to the table. Dr Horvath, with HTW, is a part of that, helping lead us to think about wow, this is a common theme. It's like we do so much that helps to better the lives of families and children, and how can we even coordinate across all those ministries local here in Herndon, some of the more regional mission that we do, and then the global mission that we do. So that's exciting.
Speaker 2:Can you speak to a little bit of what Gallaudet does, not only HCW, but other ways they are serving the community, our neighbors locally and internationally.
Speaker 4:Yeah, happy to so again. I'm really happy to be here at the table with Pastor Gina, our congregations for those of you who are listening, we're only about eight miles apart but Gina works in a field that's really focused on Fairfax County. So our church is in Loudoun County and so Galilee has had this long ministry with nine partner schools in Loudoun County to provide food assistance. It's a Backpack Buddies program, food assistance it's a Backpack Buddies program. So that's been really important to us and has grown over the years. To now something like 509 children every week are being served and you know a church our size, that's a lift for us and that's something we feel really strongly about and feel really good about.
Speaker 4:Certainly, our partner schools we just had somebody come in worship the other day who works at one of the schools to give testimony about what a difference it makes and how she sees it as a staff person of the school and how generous people are in keeping that ministry going. Certainly, we have a preschool and afterschool program to serve families right there in our community and our own family ministry which are the children of our congregation and community, as well as the youth, and when we get a youth group together we probably have six or eight different high schools represented, so it's just really different. It's such a reach. I think of our church as more of a regional church, not merely a neighborhood church. So we're real cognizant of what are the needs in a number of communities around us, but really focused in Loudoun County. So I hope that helps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does, thank you, Thank you very much.
Speaker 3:I know you started listing some of the ministries out here Flores, right, so we do a lot of, like I said, a lot of things that touch families, that touch children, a lot around food insecurity. One of the things in addition to HCW is Flores has a long tradition of coming alongside other nonprofits and this was one we helped birth. But we support the Ministry of Cornerstones here locally which basically is targeting families and individuals in crisis, whether it's housing, crisis, work, financial. They're a coordinated agency that we support and it also helps us support community members if they come to us seeking help. If someone comes and says I'm recently homeless and I need help paying for a hotel stay, then we have a good partner in Cornerstones Ministry to come alongside us and help case manage that, going back to social work and to see how we can help lift that person out of a homelessness situation into housing, into work, into having the food they need and the supports for their family. So Flores works alongside daily with organizations like Cornerstones and we also, through a big effort at our Christmas time, which we work with HCW2, we benefit to help the nonprofit Grow or Sustain ministry through generous giving through our church. We have a big Christmas Eve offering that they and also a couple other organizations are a part of. So there's just a lot of tentacles that reach into the lives of families, from feeding, mentoring we have an ongoing and local elementary school mentoring program where we have members of our church that go every week and tutor and mentor children in elementary school. Our second site of Flores, restoration Church, has a very close relationship with a high school and we work on food insecurity and supportive families through there. We work with refugees, we work in teaching English as a second language to families. There's just a broad net of local ministry and then some of our regional or other international ministry also targets families, and particularly working to lift people out of poverty.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you. You're becoming the hands and feet of Christ all over the world. That's huge Thank you, thank you. Of course we are Children's charity working in the global south, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, and specifically in most often one of the poorest of the poorest countries in the world. We all know most people will never get to travel to Sierra Leone or to see the children, see the families, see the communities they serve, they work with. And why do they continue to support a ministry that is all the way across the ocean?
Speaker 4:So I'll start and just say again you know, changed people change the world the way across the ocean. So I'll start and just say again you know, changed people change the world and I think our people, northern Virginia people, a lot of our work as well as our own lives, we love to see positive change, we love to know we're making a difference and, you know, a little goes a long way in Africa and we see this as a trusted partner, the work that we're particularly supporting their child reintegration and Mercy Hospital in Sierra Leone. Lives are being changed. It's just really powerful.
Speaker 4:So those testimonies, those examples of people who have gone there in our congregation and come back, who talk about, you know, this was a life-changing experience for me. I know it was for myself as well, and so it's actually not difficult to sell that right. It's just seeing it sometimes amongst all the other things that we're doing. So we continue to lift it up and having those, you know, touch places during the year where we lift it up, but it's, you know, very close to the heart of what Galilee understands itself to be, which is, as you've said already, the hands and feet of Jesus being of service in the world, making a difference to change the lives of people.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you, yes, Reverend Gina. What do you think?
Speaker 3:Well, I would totally agree with Jason.
Speaker 3:I think people want to be a part of something larger than themselves.
Speaker 3:I think they want to make a difference and I think one of the things that's been impressive to me, nabs, as I've been integrated in and sort of oriented to the ministry, is that ACW is so good and you are good in telling the stories, the sheer data on life's change and the mortality rates of children, like I've said, through your presentations and gone, wow, you can just see a straight line impact on life and improved quality of life.
Speaker 3:I think that makes a difference to people and florists because they have been so invested over time. There's so much rich story, there's a ton of story and people tell that story. Or when we lift it up in a moment in worship or something, there's someone sitting alongside someone that can say, hey, I went on a mission trip there and it changed my life, or I've sponsored a family in this way and this is what I know. So, keeping that in front of the church and just continuing to reinforce the positive story and a lot of that is what you do in telling the story, bringing us back those data points, telling us how our giving and our connection and our mission work is making a difference.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you. So is that something about the work of helping Junior UWA in particular that seems appealing to your congregation?
Speaker 4:Well, I'll just say in short having a trusted partner. This is such a big deal. There are over 2 million charities in America right now, so it's like a 5 to 1 ratio to faith communities, right, it's just a huge number and people can do their own thing. But through church, particularly our United Methodist Connectional System, for me this is invaluable. It is so important for people to know that we have trusted partners. Important for people to know that we have trusted partners. A long relationship like this 20 plus years, galilee Church, helping children worldwide, being United Methodist all these things are sort of that connective, reifying tissue underneath everything that you just can't find that it takes a long time to grow an old friend, right.
Speaker 4:The old saying is right, I mean you don't want to start over somewhere else. We want to continue this, and so happy about that. I think that's important to our congregation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and I would agree and I do think you. I mean, I've seen other pastors and you know the inside story. I've seen other pastors impacted by that. It's just to say, like you know, we have a mission partner but we don't get that kind of data set or we don't hear those kind of stories. So what you do in terms of communicating the work on the ground is really important to what we do and the sharing of people feeling like because there's a lot of suspicion of where people's money goes today and even of the church, and to know that we work in trust and we are friends and there's been a long relationship that continues to be perpetuated, whoever's in the seat of pastor.
Speaker 3:We have that trust and that continues.
Speaker 2:That question builds upon this one. You just talked about muscle trust and all of those things. So at Helping Children World we talk about radical collaboration and radical honesty. In children's world we talk about radical collaboration and radical honesty. So do you think it is likely that your church would someday decide not to be a part of our work, and what would cause that, and can you describe any negative impacts to your congregation or ministry? You anticipate any fallout if your church decided to end the relationship and no longer be known as one of our longtime and loyal partners? Yeah, God forbid God forbid.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, I would say, you know, I like to, I'm forward looking, I'm always optimistic or hopeful. I would say hopeful, I like to have a hopeful voice. But there's a place for fear setting as well, as you know. Goal setting, goal setting.
Speaker 4:And one of the concerns that I might have looking forward in time and the difficulty of being church in an increasingly secular context and so on and so forth, is that many of our United Methodist congregations face decline or are looking at a situation where, you know, it's hard to say the sanctuary is half full anymore. I like to be positive about that, but coming back from COVID, it's not quite where it was before. So what happens often when people are in sort of a decline mentality or we've got to tighten the belt, and I hear this other clergy colleagues of mine say this Don't worry, I'm not going to name your names, but it's this thing of it's very natural. It's only natural to think this Well, charity begins at home, and we've kind of got to circle the wagons and we're cutting the budgets and we're doing all these different things, which means less emphasis on this global reach. So I love it in the name of helping children worldwide.
Speaker 4:There is something optimistic, there's something hopeful, there's something very faith-based in saying we're going that far and of course I go back to my people when they might be fearful and say, well, let's not go that far. Well, yes, let's be Jesus' hands and feet here locally. But we need that world reach because it was the resurrected Christ at the beginning of Acts. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea and the ends of the earth. So there's expanding circles, always expanding, so I can understand some of the concerns that might be out there, but I won't settle for that.
Speaker 2:Reverend June.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I think I know we've had some conversation as our church finances have adjusted and yet Flores, people have been really generous, like in the Christmas Eve offering, and I think generosity breeds generosity and it breeds vitality within the church.
Speaker 3:So I think it's just keeping that even keel through the course of this pandemic recovery that the church is experiencing a change in the nature and even the trust of the church that I named is to know that our mission, our global reach for Christ, keeps us vital, and when we pull in on ourselves that's a danger. So I would echo the same. It's like the balance of that is like to know that this is actually the kind of work that has made florist, united, methodist church, a powerful church is to have this missional reach. And if we, my fear would be that we would pull into ourselves, and I don't. I don't think that's florist, but you know that's that's a possibility anywhere is that we are more inwardly looking than outwardly looking well, thank you appreciate your honesty uh, you answered that last question especially and then your enthusiasm and trust around our partnership.
Speaker 2:That's really that makes a lot of sense and we really appreciate that. So now, why is it important for people not just the people at your church to engage in this work? Other people you know listen to us and other pastors out there that are considering, huh, may I join this partnership or not? What will you say to them? Is there more than one benefit to that, and how will they see that benefit reflected in real time?
Speaker 4:I share with my clergy friends. So one of the roles and Nabs knows this because he's been a partner with me for a number of years. But one of the roles that I agreed to take on some years ago was to continue to recruit other pastors to consider becoming partner churches with us and I enjoy that work. So I kind of say two things. One, this partnership elevates our ministry overall at Galilee Church, and Gina has already said it so well. It's this sense that people want to be a part of something greater than themselves and seeing that we're a church that's making a difference, changing lives particularly the story of Mercy Hospital comes to mind, where you see, on our Mother's Day emphasis, every year we give some stats, we talk about the real on-the-ground work of saving women and children's lives there in Sierra Leone. It's really powerful. But I also tell them just about relationships. So it elevates everything. But also these are relationships that I can't get elsewhere, meaning this type of partner, trusted partner, and this type of work on the ground in Sierra Leone.
Speaker 4:I remember when I had that opportunity to visit, we went to a number of places. It was a leadership development visit, so it was kind of high level, going with my friend Tom Berlin now Bishop Berlin and his friend, bishop John Yombasou, was there. It was wonderful to be able to meet him. God rest his soul. I'm still kind of in shock that he's no longer with us here on earth, but we got to have dinner one evening there on Lumley Beach. It was just a beautiful place to be in Sierra Leone.
Speaker 4:But I remember, after talking with them, we were in the Child Reintegration Center or on campus there and a group of children were around and they had some evening program. I'm forgetting what the program was but I'll never forget Daniel. Daniel was eight years old and he stood up to do like the evening prayer and he spoke with such confidence and just the love that a child's voice you can understand just that sound of the love in his voice. And he prayed and I actually wrote down the prayer verbatim because it was so powerful. Lord, god bless all the children in our ministry here. Lord God bless the children on the street, for that's not where they should stay. And something about Daniel just inspired me to do whatever I could to keep this ministry partnership going, because he was one of those children and he was praying for the children and I think about the children and the potential of changed lives to keep reaching and helping others and I'm looking at one of them right here.
Speaker 4:So NABs was one of those children that people at Galilee helped to sponsor, and Dr Aruna Stevens you know, there's just a number. I could go down a list of kind of who's who and we feel like we've had partnership connection. Really the word is relationship. We feel like we're family with you. You know what I? Mean. So it's like this is what gets so exciting, and I think that that inspiration translates, it's transferable. You can share that with other churches and they also might want to be part of it.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 3:So what I said and I think this is broader maybe than your question N, but I would echo everything that Jason said.
Speaker 3:from my experience again being newer, but hearing the story here at Flores, I think there's an opportunity in that family relationship and in the power of those stories to actually for us as a church to reach people for Christ. You know, it's an opportunity. When someone connects with someone from Flores United Methodist Church or they come to visit Flores United Methodist Church and they might know that we're a partner to something so powerful, they might want to be a part of that and so being a part of giving or serving in some way might be an entryway into relationship with Christ. I think it's almost evangelistic. It is evangelistic to say you know, this church is doing an amazing thing, and I don't know this much about Jesus or this God, but they're saving lives on the ground through Mercy Hospital or this young man that's sitting here with us. Life has been completely changed through the love of church communities here in Virginia and elsewhere. I think that's powerful. I think it can help us build more than the mission build the kingdom of God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, amen, tell me, give me something Like how do you get people to be convinced and say, wow, I'm going to give this money to do this? This is important.
Speaker 3:Like, give me a pitch, yeah, yeah, I'm really interested in Gina's response. Well, I think the pitch it's, you know, in our faith nabs God. God is at work in people's hearts and in God has. I mean, contrary to what what we might think in the culture, god has wired people to be generous, so it's giving the right invitation to join God's work in the world. It's not like you must do this so that this great mission can exist. It's like you are going to be blessed to be a part of this great mission, like you are going to be changed to be a part of this.
Speaker 3:This is not something that's going to hurt. You're going to grow through this. This expands your heart. This helps you live into who you're wired and created to be. So it's tapping into what's deep within them, which is God's image just wanting to be generous and then to see the benefit of that, to hear the story. I think transformational stories are so important. So when we show the pictures and the statistics are important too but when we show the pictures of mothers and children and they hear stories from teams coming back to see the on the ground impact, then that just adds to all that. That taps into their heart. You know things that just hit the heart more so than the brain, although the brain stuff's important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:That's good, that's good. I'm going to build on that and just say, of course, you know, generosity flows from the grace of God. You know Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive, and so I think people who are growing in their faith grow in generosity. And so all those things that Gina named and the things we've talked about trusting relationships and so on, and so all those things that Gina named and the things we've talked about trusting relationships and so on, I would kind of pivot on that a little bit to say one thing that really helps in helping children worldwide or other types haven't done enough of, or where I think we have more work to do at Galilee, is to get people back into a mission trip.
Speaker 4:It's been difficult for us coming out of COVID, to be honest with you, to go very many places. So I hope that we'll see that again in 2024. And that's what I'm looking forward to. I think then, once you have more people who have been more recently, who have the stories fresh, who share that with other people who are newer in our congregation, that really helps generosity to flow. But again, like Gina said, it's not really the pitch or how we package it. I certainly know that results matter and stories matter. It's the relationship, and so if people can kind of form their own direct relationship so they're not just hearing it from me but experiencing it themselves, that's the key.
Speaker 2:That's the key, thank you. So I would share that. I think keeping a partnership healthy is more of a mutual responsibility. So what does healthy partnership mean to you as a lead pastor? We'll start with you.
Speaker 3:I think transparency. Transparency, so it goes back to trust. But you know, I'm blessed because I'm joining the board of HCW.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'm a new board member so I do have the inside scoop, but even if I wasn't, it's sort of understanding the organization, understanding what your focus are, what your dreams are, what you need to make that dream and vision come true and and you know, being very clear and upfront with that I think.
Speaker 3:I think this goes back to something Jason named earlier. If you don't have that trot, you know there's so many like suspicions that can creep in. So, just to be very transparent, to feel like we're on the same page, to be walking together, to know where obviously there's many pieces to HCW, where the florist piece makes the most difference, where we can help advance the mission, how we can be a part of that and clearly understand that and I can articulate that as a leader and not have any question about that. So I can look at my congregation and say this is where we fit in and this is where we're making a difference, and not to have a guess that we're just sending money or people into space out there and we don't know that. There's a clear sense of that transparency.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'll echo that. So transparency, trust and those are things that are born of relationship or are maintained better by personal touches or personal relationship. Nabs, you certainly bring that. We've had you. We've had numbers of other guest speakers at Galilee who you know not just represent. I think you personify the ministry right. So that's as deep a trust as we can have because we know you personally and knowing that there are wonderful people on the board. I've known a lot of the board members for HCW over the years and just so grateful for an organization that has such a high accountability. That certainly helps. But again, partnership relationship absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, so let's go to. Of course, this is very biblical. In Mark 12, 32, 31, jesus talks about the greatest commandments loving the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Then the second is that he said love your neighbor as yourself. So think about loving your neighbors and community, both locally and internationally, across racial boundaries, geographical boundaries and cultural boundaries. Speaking from a strictly spiritual leader's perspective, how does a mission partnership like this provide an opportunity for your church to live out Jesus' commandment loving your neighbors?
Speaker 4:Yeah yeah, so I remember being over in Sierra Leone talking about stories. Just help me out here for a minute. Nabs and I were talking about how hot it can be. So March can be very hot and they're having some like extra hard heat waves that are coming through parts of Africa West Africa right now. But I remember being there. It was not terribly hot at the beginning of March when I was there, but they had this saying help me out with the word if I'm not mistaken here.
Speaker 2:Is it fefenengo, fefenengo yeah, yeah, it's sweet breeze.
Speaker 4:Sweet breeze.
Speaker 4:I mean you just feel that in the midst of the heat, right, and so that made me think about sweet, sweet spirit, sort of the holy breath of God, the wind and the spirit of God in loving our neighbors.
Speaker 4:And so my experience of people in West Africa everybody seemed so beautiful and joyful and loving. There were a lot of Methodists there, right. We were able to go to the Methodist Annual Conference in McKinney, as well as to Bow and to Freetown, and so I just think about where that sweet breeze or that sweet, sweet spirit of Christ is. You find that you can build those relationships, you're loving your neighbors wherever you go. And I was able to be in three different cities in Sierra Leone and have kind of the same experience of loving your neighbor. And so that translates, of course, to my local church that we have various communities, various neighborhoods and as being the body of Christ right here locally, we're kind of sharing that breeze, that sort of fresh wind of the Spirit in the different ministries that we have. And I think again, these relationships build on one another or they inspire one another and that's just, it's like the breeze, it just kind of flows right on through.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that. That's a beautiful little preach to work that into sermon.
Speaker 4:You know I have, you know I have Bring it back again. There we go. You always need a fresh breeze, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I think you know we live in an increasingly global context, right? And yet, particularly in our context here in the US, we're in a really divided context. We feel that every day.
Speaker 3:You know the divisions they're racial, they're political, they're economic. There's so many. Those divisions are broken down in relationship, relationship, um, and so you know, talking about crossing racial or cultural or or, um, or geographic boundaries, we need to be in relationship with the people of god and that can warm hearts and change minds and expand our horizons. So I think it's so important, like that. You know, everybody in so many contexts now in america, are drawing into themselves, into their groups and just circling their whatever, their wagons or whatever, um, I think this kind of work is needed, more so than ever, uh, given where we are now, that that doesn't translate to the world. But our american context is so divided and we're so suspicious and we tend to pull like to like.
Speaker 3:And I think where we can cross those boundaries, we're living the way of christ and so for the church, this kind of work, this kind of relational family work that you've named, jason is, is so critically important to the present moment is it? That you, you are no longer a stranger, but you become become family to me. That's important and then I can take and speak about that in other circles and maybe that will change somebody else's heart.
Speaker 2:Wow. So loving your neighbor is not just somebody next door or like 20 miles away, but like thousands of miles away from you. You guys go across the ocean to do that. I always talk about my story there, which it's just like I never knew all these people who came to my aid. These people never knew me. They didn't send the rebels to kill my dad In the Civil War.
Speaker 2:At the age of eight, when I had to wander around the bush, I ended up on the street and people picked me up. Generosity. They started to hear flurries. They raised a seed offering to send that over and then later churches like Galilee came on board but early beginning the other churches on board just to support kids like me, like Aruna Stevens, like Abulai Sumer, like all those people who are now today engineers and doctors and public health experts and social workers, now serving those kids and be able to build their. God works in mysterious ways and people are there who share the light. They have their own light. They want it to shine in front of others and thank you. Thank you for your leadership over the years and thank you for encouraging your church congregation to continue to be part of this ministry. I'm blessed, I'm glad, to be here.
Speaker 3:Blessed to be alongside you.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 4:Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, here, blessed to be alongside you, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. So we know many churches give generously one time, but your church, you know you two, your church, is an example of committed partnerships. Right, as committed partner church leaders, what would you say again? What would you say if you had to sum up, let's say key words that you can say to another organization or another church or another pastor really thinking about does it worth it to be in a long-term relationship, partnership, with this ministry?
Speaker 4:So changed people, changed lives, they changed the world and I see that happening through Helping Children Worldwide through these mission partners. Right, I see it happening in our church. So, being in a long-term partnership, being in such a trusted partnership that kind of has proven results but also has people, people that we know, like you and others, I think that really matters. So, again, I would just say relationship, trust and changing lives. We're offering Christ to children and we're doing that worldwide. That's just awesome stuff, Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 3:And I would agree completely. I think you know, hearing the story of Flores at NAMS in relationship to ATW, I think there's a tremendous legacy that we're a part of too, you, a church that might say you know we're going to change our focus every couple years, or or something like that florist is able to look back and and also look forward with you. But but to look back and just to see a sweep of change in an area you know, when I looked at um, the hospital data that you gave at one presentation and just could see the change in time.
Speaker 3:Florists can say they were a part of that. They were a part of that change, of that life-saving curve, and that's powerful. It is powerful to make a one-time impact I'm not arguing against that but to be a part of a legacy of changing lives and families and in a whole area I mean that's incredible. It is the stuff of chills, and it is the stuff that we're called to do.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you reminded me of. So we were there, former Ambassador Alan Larson, along with Bishop Yonvasu, of course, Tom Berlin, and we went to visit the—we got to see the vice president of the country there in.
Speaker 4:Freetown. We also went to the minister of health Can't remember these names right now, but the point was to hear people in leadership on the national level talk about how our model for community health is a model that they want to follow and see that replicated around the country to help elevate the lives of others and see that replicated around the country to help elevate the lives of others. So when I think about this ministry and just like Gina was saying, I can say my church was part of that positive change. But what I'm trying to say to other clergy so if you're listening, this is very clear being a partner with such a powerful ministry elevates everything else I'm doing. So everything else that our church is involved in a local food bank like Loudon Hunger Relief, and I mentioned the partner schools that we have. I think people are just energized because we know we have reach here and we have reach beyond and it's really making a difference because that's the thing People want to know that it's working.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. I have two more questions for you all. Both are personal questions. First, we all know Optimistic Voices is meant to be a radically honest and courageous conversation about the optimistic choices people are making to change the world every day. So briefly, how would you describe your personal mission? What would you like to pass on to future generations?
Speaker 4:That's a deep question, right? So over the years just I'll make this short I kind of have honed this through prayer and other sort of study, types of devotional activities, that I have this personal mission statement. I believe that God's called me to shepherd people in faith, hope and love, and it's kind of broad that way. But for me certainly, currently I work as a pastor, but just who I am as a person, I found that I was doing that prior to ministry. I'll be doing that outside of ministry or after ministry, if there is such a thing as after ministry. But it's about people, right, and Jesus came as a shepherd, the good shepherd, and it's all about helping people along this journey faith, hope and love.
Speaker 4:And again, it kind of brings to my mind if I could do one more quick story about going to see Mercy Hospital. So the surgical wing that's there now that's just so great was under construction when I was there in 2017. I remember meeting Augusta, who is a matron of Mercy Hospital, and being present where they had patients, you know, and no windows in the windows they're just open, and I thought about just what kind of work this is. And one of the young children we met was Abu, if I'm saying his name right, he had been injured in a motorcycle accident recently he had burned, he had burned almost all over his body.
Speaker 4:It was amazing that he lived. But talking with him and then talking with Augusta about his case, we prayed for him in our church for months after my visit. But children need someone to shepherd them and they need medical care, this sort of loving care that they wouldn't get. And I was shocked I still feel this, what I felt when I stood there and I met Abu that you know he didn't have anybody, you know his family didn't want to come see him and people worry in that culture about getting medical care or having to pay money. And that we would give medical care free and that we would give it in a loving environment and that we would give it with the accompanying. You know, people who have faith, who work at these hospitals, who care for this child body, mind and spirit. And so I just think about how much need there is and how important it is to do that. So this whole ministry just kind of fits with my own sense of personal mission from God.
Speaker 2:Wow, thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you, that's beautiful.
Speaker 4:It is.
Speaker 3:And thank you for sharing that story.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to go. Yeah, always, you've got another story to back you up.
Speaker 4:I'm trying to get you really excited.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm so excited about going so personal mission. I think, going back to what I said earlier, we're all created in God's image and I think, at a real fundamental level, it's having people realize that their connection to God, if what I do as a shepherd, as a pastor, and attending sheep and attending lambs can connect people to God's heart in some way I said my children, my children. I didn't birth them, but they were birthed in my heart If people can know the embrace of a holy God through something that I do and some way that I lead, then I think I'm living into my mission and my purpose, not just as a pastor but as a human being. So I see myself as sort of a bridge, you know as bridging people in connection to this amazing God who loves them so much.
Speaker 3:And however I can do that, however I can spread myself out or lead other people to do that, to bridge that gap between God and human beings, to know how they're called and how they have purpose in life, then I'm all about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you very much, Reverend Gina and Pastor Jason. Here. They are lead pastors for two of the long-time partner churches, but of course, we have other partner churches out there and we are doing this work together. This is collaboration. So we wanted to take a moment at this point to express our heartfelt gratitude and give a special shout-out to all our incredible partner churches and supportive congregations out there.
Speaker 2:Non-profit organizations, indeed, like ours, can vary in many ways, but one thing we all share is the understanding that the impact we make is greatly amplified when we have churches like yours coming alongside us and partnering with us on our mission. So, through radical collaboration, we are able to maximize the benefits of different perspectives, the gifts and talent and ultimately making a greater difference in the lives of the people we serve. So we want to extend a very big thank you to each and every one of you out there. Your unwavering support, dedication and partnership have continued to be instrumental in our success. Together, we are transforming lives and communities. We couldn't do this without you. Thank you very much. So last question for our guests here today so what keeps you all optimistic or hopeful about the work you are doing as a congregation and this partnership with HCW? What keeps you optimistic? You?
Speaker 4:Thank you. Thank you. I got a lot of excitement about NABs. Nabs has a lot of energy. If anybody can't pick up on that so honestly I would say dynamic leaders. So in these relationships that we have through this trusted partnership, I think your leadership and others people here at Flores particularly, and others that I've known on the board HCW really important to have dynamic leaders.
Speaker 4:I also feel that the diversity means a lot. So I'll just make this quick point about Galilee. We happen to be a church that's mostly people who have my complexion or Caucasian people. You know we're a white church. We have a growing diversity. We have a number of families from Sierra Leone in our congregation, not because of this partnership but again because this partnership elevates everything else. The bus stop next to my church has 22 nations represented and I'm happy to say that our Sierra Leone friends, some of them Methodists from back home, and just relate to our church because of that and know that we have this partnership and that really matters. So that keeps me positive. The last point I'll say is in these relationships I feel the connection of and the strength embodied in the United Methodist tradition. So Methodists just have this rich and long history of helping people to build community and to solve problems right there on the ground, and you all right there in Sierra Leone, you don't need me.
Speaker 4:Well we need each other right, because you guys you can do it, but together we can do so much more. So I'm interested in continuing to be there and to send people there so that we can work together to solve these problems. And I think that that is for me so hopeful because, no matter what happens and like Gino pointed to this, I mean it feels kind of rough in our own country sometimes but we need each other. I need my friends in Sierra Leone and help me to make this community better here as well through these diverse relationships.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you, reverend Gina.
Speaker 3:I think through that trust and truly Jason spoke relationship a lot and as have I, I think you know not to go too deep, but I think a lot of damage has been done over the years and we know this in christian mission of a colonialist like we got the way and we're coming to fix this country, you're coming to fix your family in this country and what I've loved about the story of of hcw is that there is a mutual partnership and there's been a learning that has gone on as the two cultures have connected and we've seen the value in one another, and so some of our most recent conversations that I've had with Dr Horvath is how can we take wonderful skills and talents of people here at Flores and connect them with wonderful skills and talents and people in Sierra Leone you mentioned social workers.
Speaker 3:Was it social workers or IT professionals or whatever? And how can we work alongside one another and learn from one another, not what we're taking to Sierra Leone, but how this relationship is benefiting each of us?
Speaker 3:and enriching the church as that happens. So the true relation, not something of where the church has the answer. So we're going to fix the world, but in many ways we are just better people, better servants, because we come alongside one another. There's no one over one another. We are together as family, in relationship, and that's what we need to do here in our context. We can learn how we can do this in the world, in our workplaces, in our families, when we think about that mutuality and need of one another and trust and family that can be formed in mission and through mission.
Speaker 2:Yeah, That'll preach, yes, yes. So thank you for joining us for this episode of Optimistic Voices. It's a big messy world out there and there's no shortage of need, but we here at Optimistic Voices believe that with radical courage and radical collaboration, together we can change the world. Thank you very much. We've come to the end of this episode and now, before we go, let's have a closing prayer.
Speaker 4:Reverend Jason let us pray, gracious God, you are the God of all people. I feel so humble. I feel so blessed. I hope that our listeners will also feel blessed to be part of the work being your hands and feet in ministry around the world. We do pray for children in Sierra Leone and in other countries. We pray for an end to violence. There's dozens of countries experiencing war or violence and children pay the highest cost. So we pray for peace in this world. God, I pray for all of our listeners. I pray for all of our ministries. We lift up the work of these partner churches, grateful for the work and how you bless the lives of children through Gina's ministry here and the work of the people of Floris, and the same with the work of the people of Galilee United Methodist Church and many others. Thank you so much for our friend Nabs and everyone who is working for your call us here and around the world. We pray your will be done in Jesus' name Amen.
