1 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:08,760 We like to story tell because stories are important. 2 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:12,000 They're super important. Jesus used that to teach, to 3 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,680 keep, to write on our minds. And those stories are important. 4 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,880 That's that's how we connect and how the connection I want them 5 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:22,520 to see is not David's table. I want them to see that the Lord 6 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:26,440 is doing these things in their life, that the people of David's 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:30,160 table are the same as them. In fact, if I can get them them 8 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:33,240 to understand that we are don't have it together, don't have 9 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,400 super capes on and aren't doing don't have any kind of 10 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,520 superpower, it's easier than to talk to them about trying church 11 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:45,400 again. Well, hey everyone, welcome back 12 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:48,480 to the Grace Church members podcast on your host Whitney 13 00:00:48,480 --> 00:00:51,160 Manus here with Scott. How are you, Scott? 14 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:52,240 Hey, Whitney. Good morning. 15 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:53,680 Good morning. Good to see you. 16 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:58,120 And our guest today is one of those names that I'd heard 17 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,880 around our church, it seems like dozens of times. 18 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,239 And then finally got to make the connection with her recently, 19 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:07,600 Katie Mitchell. Katie, thanks for being here 20 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:09,400 with us. Thanks for having me. 21 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,040 Absolutely, and I'll have you introduce yourself here in a 22 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:15,280 minute, but I'll try to set you up. 23 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,840 You are executive director of David's Table, and we will get 24 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,240 to talk a lot about that here in a minute as well. 25 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:24,600 But you're also a member at Grace at our Pelham campus. 26 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:28,440 How long have you been at Grace? Tom and I argue about that, but 27 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,720 I think it's about 12 years that we've been there and I want to 28 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,240 say maybe 11 years as members. OK, that's awesome. 29 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:39,320 So you're you're familiar. She is a listener of our 30 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:40,880 podcast, so we're grateful for that. 31 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,320 And now she finally gets to participate as well. 32 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:47,480 So, Katie, tell us a little bit about your family, about your 33 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,360 background, and just how you entered into this role in the 34 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:53,480 world that you're working in now. 35 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:56,840 OK, well, let me go back a few years. 36 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,560 A lot of people who know me know that I'm retired from the Navy. 37 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,080 I was a chief hospital corpsman in the Navy. 38 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,640 My dad was also in the Navy. And I actually came here from 39 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:13,040 Virginia many years ago with my three children, then three 40 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:17,760 children, and moved to my dad's hometown of Piedmont. 41 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,760 And Becca, who a lot of people at Grace know, if you've been at 42 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,720 the Pelham campus and seen her driving around in her power 43 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:28,800 wheelchair, hugging everybody, you've met Becca. 44 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,680 But came came to be closer to family and get connected. 45 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:37,400 And now my family looks very different. 46 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,160 I spent some time as a single mom after going through divorce, 47 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,000 which impacts families with disability disproportionately. 48 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,360 To most families, it's still pretty high period, but it 49 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,840 really hits families impacted by disability pretty hard. 50 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,880 And I spent a good amount of time where it was just Becca and 51 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:00,680 I, and I experienced a lot of things. 52 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,160 And one of the greatest things I experienced was just as Becca 53 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:06,520 was entering high school, I met Skeeter Powell. 54 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,040 Like a great thing in of itself, isn't it that? 55 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:16,360 And Becca met him too. And I will tell you, Skeeter is 56 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,280 one of the most welcoming people on the planet. 57 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:26,680 I don't know that you could find someone who has a more open and 58 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:32,200 welcoming heart. And so he really disarmed me 59 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,640 with his welcome and welcomed not only me, but Becca 60 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,160 completely, exactly how we were. And I was pretty rough around 61 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:46,000 the edges. He also was critical and getting 62 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,920 me involved in Young Life. And that's really how the whole 63 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,720 journey towards David's table started was in Young Life. 64 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,000 I ended up joining Young Life Capernaum, which is where I met 65 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:59,960 Tom, who I would later marry, and Skeeter would marry us and 66 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:01,800 we blended our families together. 67 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,160 And now all throughout Young Life, as a leader, working with 68 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,080 Skeeter, getting to know families, connecting with a lot 69 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,080 of other families in similar circumstances, we got to be a 70 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:16,000 pretty tight knit community. David's Table was in existence 71 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,800 then, but it was more of a come alongside Young Life so that 72 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:24,440 Skeeter could lend some additional resources to 73 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,280 strengthen the Capernaum community. 74 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,960 And Capernaum is just the part of Young Life that serves high 75 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:35,080 schoolers with disabilities. And so skaters started that. 76 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:39,480 David Sable, How long ago? It's been 15 years. 15 years. 15 77 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:44,840 years ago and it's it's just amazing to see what God has done 78 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:48,680 through his faithfulness. I'll tell you that's the key 79 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:52,120 when it comes to anything. We know that through the way God 80 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:58,200 shows up for us in all seasons. Skeeter really models that and 81 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:02,480 today that's still really what David's table is about is 82 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,720 faithfulness to show up in the lives of our families and our 83 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:10,960 friends consistently to be counted on so many things in the 84 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:16,920 world let you down and and so it his faithfulness to continue 85 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:22,000 showing up even today. And it's amazing at 82 or he's 86 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,240 going to be 82. I think this just in a couple 87 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,000 weeks. Yeah, really outing him on this 88 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,360 podcast. Oh, I'm so sorry. 89 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,240 He's going to be mad that I So if you don't know, I believe 90 00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,480 it's October 13th is Skeeter's birthday. 91 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:37,280 It's all wisdom now that that's what the age represents. 92 00:05:37,280 --> 00:05:39,800 It's just wisdom and. I don't know. 93 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:42,080 People will say that. You know what I say, it's 94 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:46,080 experience on how not to do it. It's what was stumbling. 95 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,080 That's right. It's still effective, that's for 96 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,400 sure. Yeah, that's great, Katie. 97 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:56,440 And and your feeling has grown a little bit since then and you 98 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:58,920 are now. How did you end up as executive 99 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,360 director of David's Table? Take us the rest of the way. 100 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:06,720 Well, during COVID, which everybody remembers COVID, we 101 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,840 ended up connecting on Zoom. There was this fear that our 102 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:15,120 already isolated community would completely fall apart. 103 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:21,040 So we began Zooming every Monday night using the Bible Project 104 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:26,800 videos through the Gospels as a point of connection to replace 105 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,160 our Monday night meetings that we would have with Capernaum and 106 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,400 David's table. And it was highly effective. 107 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:37,320 We doubled in size. We ended up having a virtual 108 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:40,920 camp. David Merritt Anderson was our 109 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,440 speaker. We had breakout rooms for small 110 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:45,600 community groups. We had a whole weekend. 111 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,720 Grace was a big part of that. We did. 112 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:53,840 We did hygiene kits for prisoners that we worked with as 113 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:56,040 a mission serving opportunity with Grace. 114 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:01,080 Our campers did 200 of them and I'm going to brag without any 115 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:02,840 mistakes. We're perfect. 116 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:04,760 That's awesome. It was just amazing. 117 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:10,240 And out of that, we gathered together at Tomomise home in 118 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,360 Greer, about 15 or 20 of us and said, God, what, what do you 119 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:21,440 want us to do? David's table was there, but it 120 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:24,880 wasn't really any had didn't really have any structure or 121 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:30,000 substance. So a beautiful donor said if you 122 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,160 can match this money and figure out how to sustain that pass 123 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:39,400 Skeeter and create a more structure to come alongside 124 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,440 these families, I'll give you $20,000. 125 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,240 The matching the money was really, really easy. 126 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:49,040 Believe it or not, that was not the hard part. 127 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:54,880 The hard part was getting consensus on who are we, what do 128 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:58,800 we see? God's plan for us in the world 129 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:03,360 and serving these families and loving them, and that really 130 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:07,360 took a long time to decide more of what we were not than what we 131 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,640 are. So were you coalescing a mission 132 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,280 statement at that point? That was the hardest thing we 133 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,200 did was come up with a mission statement. 134 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:16,880 And I love our mission statement. 135 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,720 What is it? It is to demonstrate the love of 136 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,240 Jesus. I'll give you the rest of it, 137 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,040 but demonstrating the love of Jesus. 138 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:31,560 And we do that by creating community, connecting to 139 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:36,280 resources, and making disciples. So those are three of the ways 140 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,919 we do that. But under everything we 141 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:42,760 demonstrate the love of Jesus, and that can be hard. 142 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:49,120 Yeah, absolutely. So before we go any further, 143 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:51,680 first of all say that David's Table is one of our local 144 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:55,000 partners with Grace, which is why we're talking about it here 145 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,920 on our podcast. And I would love for you to also 146 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:00,240 tell us just where did the name David's Table come from? 147 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:05,120 Because I I love that. Mesaba, chef, see if you could 148 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,600 say that several times. But second Samuel 9. 149 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:14,160 So King Saul and his son Jonathan, they're dead and gone. 150 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:21,280 David is has taken the throne and he is secure in power and he 151 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:25,640 asks if there are any living relatives left in the family. 152 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:30,200 Now, normally under that context, the expectation would 153 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,280 be execution because that would be typical for the culture of 154 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:35,840 that time. But if we go back, we remember 155 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:39,120 her, that David and Jonathan had a very, very special 156 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,240 relationship and they had made promises to each other and they 157 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,800 loved each other dearly. It is a a beautiful brotherly 158 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,120 love that existed in their relationship. 159 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:57,120 So the Seba chef is found and brought before King David and he 160 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:02,280 is mortified that him with disability, he had been dropped, 161 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:06,560 his nurse was running away fleeing the attackers and he was 162 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:08,360 dropped and he was crippled in both feet. 163 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:13,760 So the stigma not only of being one of the surviving members of 164 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:18,040 the deposed ruling family, but also having a disability, his 165 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,600 shame would have been significant. 166 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:27,840 And David not only restores his life and and is such a picture, 167 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:31,280 such a picture of what Jesus does for us, but restores and 168 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:36,200 redeems his life. He invites him to do to have all 169 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:39,800 his meals at his table at the King's table. 170 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,080 So David's table is the same. That's the the picture that 171 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,800 we're offering our families. We're saying let go of your 172 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,560 shame. We see you, we love you. 173 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:53,920 We see you with your brokenness outward and inward. 174 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:57,280 And you are welcome. You're very, very welcome. 175 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,880 Yeah, which is just so beautiful and like you said, such a 176 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:05,520 picture of the gospel, but along with your mission statement 177 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:09,280 really does show us the heart of what David's table is after. 178 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:14,480 Another thing I'd love to clarify, I think in our context 179 00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:18,640 we have Mosaic and we talked about those with special needs 180 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,840 and disabilities, and I think David's table sometimes gets 181 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:24,960 lumped in, but those are separate entities. 182 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:29,920 Tell us a little bit about how David's table works with Mosaic 183 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:34,600 and is partnered with Grace, but then how it is also not Mosaic 184 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:39,520 and it's different? I love Mosaic, my daughter's 185 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,600 which I hadn't even mentioned Dakota, but Dakota is a new 186 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:45,880 addition to our family in the last three years and God blessed 187 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:52,120 2 old people with a his mind and ours and it's a beautiful thing. 188 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:55,040 But Dakota and Becca are a part of Mosaic. 189 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:58,320 They are part of Group Life Mosaic at Pelham and they are 190 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:00,680 members at Pelham. They also attend the Mosaic 191 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:03,560 Inspire and they work at Inspire Coffee House. 192 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,640 So we are a Mosaic family. We are also a David Staple 193 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:12,920 family and my girls go to E 210 and many of the other David's 194 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:16,440 table activities as well that are outside or between the 195 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:18,880 Sundays. We're big about being between 196 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:24,080 the Sundays on Sundays because there's a lot of life outside of 197 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:27,000 Sundays. And I know Grace is big about 198 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:28,720 being between the Sundays as well. 199 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,120 That's right. So the way we come alongside 200 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,680 Mosaic, a biggest way and that would it, it would look like on 201 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:39,320 a Sunday, is transportation. We help to get many Mosaic 202 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:43,160 adults to worship. We help to provide that support 203 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:48,560 and transporting Front Porch residents to Pelham for worship. 204 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,240 We help with volunteers or anything, pretty much anything 205 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,320 Joe Clary asked me that he needs, I'm willing to do him 206 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:01,200 Merit Yvette, Dana Humphrey, all of them are, believe it or not, 207 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:07,840 David's table volunteers as well as mosaic staff and and and 208 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:11,360 people. So there's a lot of, I call it 209 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:14,880 cross pollinating, but but there's a lot of mixture, which 210 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:17,440 is beautiful and it's great. That's helpful. 211 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:25,080 But David's table is 1. Grace Church is 1 church that we 212 00:13:25,080 --> 00:13:28,240 partner with. We have about 12 to 16 churches, 213 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:32,280 which I can't list them all. Our goal is is actually to 214 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:36,320 partner with churches to get families in their church. 215 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:40,960 Grace has a great onboarding with Mosaic, but many churches 216 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,040 do not have a disability ministry. 217 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:45,440 And I'll be honest with you, you don't have to have a disability 218 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,760 ministry to be welcoming to families with disabilities. 219 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:53,600 So we love to bridge that gap and help our families find a 220 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:55,800 church home. Katie, if I could interrupt, is 221 00:13:55,800 --> 00:14:01,400 that is that one of the reasons why COVID and Zoom was so 222 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:06,320 effective is because it created a new paradigm for some families 223 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:09,560 that knew other families to start spreading the word that 224 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:11,680 may not be connected to a local church? 225 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:17,960 Yes, very much so. The parents were as eager to be 226 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:22,040 on the call as their adults. If you would have said here, 227 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:25,920 let's go on a technology none of us know how to use and have 228 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:29,080 intimate fellowship and discipleship over 18 months. 229 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:33,080 It was crazy. It was all of us were rushing to 230 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,600 be together. If everyone can remember how 231 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:42,880 that was, then God. God showed us for the first time 232 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:47,440 possibility and we've never really looked back. 233 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:54,120 We haven't been afraid to try whatever aligns with connecting 234 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,400 folks, even if it seems ridiculous like Camp David. 235 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:01,480 Think about it. We went in 2021 during COVID. 236 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:06,880 Yeah, tell us about Camp David. So Camp David Merrick gets 100% 237 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:10,520 credit. We had a virtual camp in 2020 238 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:16,280 where we wanted to give our adults an opportunity to connect 239 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,200 in some way that would be super fun, have a chance to have a 240 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:24,840 larger visibility and connection outside of Zoom. 241 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:30,600 So we used Rocky Creek Church. We had a parade which we all 242 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,560 dressed up in superhero costumes. 243 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,200 My mom got her wish and got it. Has pictures of me in a Wonder 244 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,760 Woman costume and A and A and a mask. 245 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:44,160 And like Amy Romasca who a lot of you all will know too, she's 246 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:48,200 been apart from way back. We all dressed up and they came 247 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:50,720 through in their cars, didn't get out of their cars and picked 248 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,320 up their camp kit. Went back and stayed with us for 249 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:59,480 a Friday night. We had a karaoke and fun on Zoom 250 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:04,200 Friday night and then we had teaching all day Saturday that 251 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,200 Merritt taught in two blocks, had small groups and we did a 252 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,920 serving project which we turned in on Sunday at Grace Church and 253 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:14,120 gave them a T-shirt and a bag lunch. 254 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:16,800 And we just thought that was the greatest though. 255 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:22,600 And then Merritt said, hey, next year let's do it in person and 256 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:26,920 invite the whole family. That statement changed the 257 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:31,360 course of David's table completely changed the course 258 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:34,800 because we had only like Young Life just really thought about 259 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:37,360 the adult and many ministries that you'll find across the 260 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:43,120 country focus solely on the adult and he broaden our 261 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:46,840 perspective and I am so, so glad that he did. 262 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:51,320 So in 2021, not having any clue what we're doing using Skeeter's 263 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:56,920 relational collateral, we got Carolina point to let us come on 264 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,800 the weekend after Labor Day in the middle of COVID. 265 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:06,160 I find difficulty telling this story without crying, but I'm 266 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:11,760 going to do my best. So a couple days leading up to 267 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:15,160 Camp David with all the planning that we had, never really having 268 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:19,040 any idea what we were going to do, we lost over a third of our 269 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:23,960 volunteers to COVID. The ones we didn't lose to COVID 270 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,000 before we got there, we lost more. 271 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,760 When we arrived, we found out most of our volunteers weren't 272 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:33,280 going to be able to come. So Friday night, I'm standing up 273 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:39,280 with a microphone looking at a dining room about half full of 274 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:43,280 parents and adults who took a chance on us and came up in the 275 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,560 middle of COVID. And I'm going to have to tell 276 00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:47,560 them that that we have to go home because we don't have 277 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:52,600 enough people to serve unless they're willing to serve. 278 00:17:54,000 --> 00:18:00,040 And so I asked the parents, would you be willing? 279 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:05,960 And every parent in the room stood up and dads went in the 280 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:07,920 kitchen to serve. And mom stayed with their 281 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:10,280 daughters. And moms went in the kitchen to 282 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:12,680 serve and dad stayed with their sons. 283 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:16,280 And we had camp and the camp crew joined us. 284 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:20,480 And I, if I tell you all that people just came out of the 285 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:24,560 woodwork to come and serve and love our families that week, we 286 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:27,120 had 181 people who ended up being there. 287 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:34,400 And it has forever ever changed how I look at my own 288 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:38,200 relationship with the Lord and and just his faithfulness as 289 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:41,320 such a depth and breath for me that I can't I can't explain 290 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:43,520 outside of what happened that weekend. 291 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:48,000 Yeah, we really could spend. I mean, you have so many stories 292 00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:51,400 like that and we could spend such a long time on them, but 293 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,600 it's so powerful. And what as you're talking, what 294 00:18:54,600 --> 00:19:00,640 I hear you describing is really this idea of God making the 295 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:04,400 upside down Kingdom the the reverse economy, because we 296 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:06,680 think of COVID and we think of impossibility. 297 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,760 We think of that was not fun. We do not want to do that again. 298 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:13,800 But you were talking about how God used that to do great 299 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:18,600 things, good things, brought so much life and fruit from 300 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,680 something that seemed very hopeless and unfortunate. 301 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,200 And but that's just the business that he's in, isn't it? 302 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,960 You know, he's, he's always taking those things that don't 303 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:33,080 seem like they will bear fruit. And he is bringing gardens out 304 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,320 of ashes. And you know, to use all of the 305 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:37,880 analogies. Or out of a stump, right? 306 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:39,960 That's right. I mean, you could just see it's 307 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,920 the redemption story over and over again. 308 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,480 It's the prodigal son. It's so many. 309 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,600 So you could use, there's so many metaphors, but it is a 310 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:53,800 story ultimately of redemption. And now, so 2025, we just did 311 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,120 Camp David again. Give us a little update. 312 00:19:56,120 --> 00:20:01,720 How did that go this year? Well, we have now a clarity of 313 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:06,080 purpose and knowing as God has LED us as we've grown up and 314 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:08,520 learned all the ways to do it wrong. 315 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:11,760 And we I will say that we will never. 316 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:18,440 Our goal is not performance. We feel that our messiness is a 317 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:21,720 picture of being authentic and real and it makes us 318 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:24,560 approachable. So we never ever want it to be 319 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,560 perfect. But we did have 412 people at at 320 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,720 camp and over 100 more people stayed the whole weekend this 321 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,720 year versus last year. We have beautiful volunteers 322 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:37,480 that keep showing up year after year. 323 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:43,160 But the clarity that we have now is the purpose of campus is is 324 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:46,400 very intentional and focused on our parents. 325 00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:51,160 We go to camp to provide on site respite. 326 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,560 Yeah, where we're breaking the whole family out of their 327 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,400 comfort zone, putting them in a different environment and 328 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:02,920 connecting them to one another so that they can get real and 329 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:08,320 vulnerable, hear from each other, share their wounds, bind 330 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:10,240 each other up, encourage each other. 331 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,720 And we pray the Holy Spirit comes in such mighty power on 332 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:16,880 camp and just there's this huge bubble of protection. 333 00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:18,840 But that they will hear from him. 334 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,560 That is our deepest hope. A lot of times it's just the 335 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:25,200 beauty of connecting with others who'd get you that start the 336 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:29,640 conversation, but give us that that leverage to then continue 337 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:31,720 pursuing these people for the gospel. 338 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,080 Right. And if if you all heard our last 339 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:38,160 episode with Davis Craig, he was talking about how we do student 340 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,160 retreats. But that idea of getting outside 341 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,440 of our norm, you know, maybe we put our phones away a little bit 342 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,240 more than we normally would, but we're in space with other 343 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,240 people. And we asked the Holy Spirit to 344 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,440 come with us. And then it's amazing what 345 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,360 happens, you know, when you really create that space, 346 00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:00,000 especially life is busy. And especially for families of 347 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,320 those with disabilities, like it can be chaotic. 348 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,920 And so just here's a little Oasis where you get to be with 349 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,080 your family, you get cared for. You don't have to worry about 350 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:13,200 dinner, you know, and so you can really just fellowship with one 351 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:14,320 another. It's beautiful. 352 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:20,040 So take us into what these parents are, are feeling and why 353 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,400 a weekend like this is so special because a lot of folks 354 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:27,120 when we, if we see an individual, whether it be a 355 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:29,640 child or an adult with disability, that's, that tends 356 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,400 to be all that we see. Yes. 357 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:33,960 So we don't see the family. So tell us, tell us, take us 358 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:38,440 into the window of the family and why this movement from the 359 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,080 individual to the family has been so catalytic and so 360 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,800 defining for David's table. Those are good questions. 361 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:50,040 So the, the, the main thing to understand is that it is 362 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:55,920 caregiving, whether it is in the context of a family with a, with 363 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,760 a disabled adult or child, or if you're caring for an aging 364 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,400 parent or if you're caring for a spouse with chronic illness. 365 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:09,960 There is it, there's the never ending and there's, it can be 366 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:16,000 very difficult to see in your daily circumstances anything 367 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,160 beyond the work or the next thing that needs to happen that 368 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:26,920 it's hard to, to connect to joy. It's hard to connect to any, any 369 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:29,000 thought that you don't see an end to it. 370 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,200 It, it and you love the person. It's not that you don't love the 371 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,040 person, but there is, there is a lot to that. 372 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,360 And and Becca requires total care. 373 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:41,320 She's completely dependent. She's very independent in a lot 374 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:46,120 of ways, but but requires a lot. And it's physically demanding on 375 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:50,760 people who are aging. I have a mom who's in her 80s 376 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:56,400 who has twin boys in their 50s. Camp for her is fun for them, 377 00:23:56,400 --> 00:24:02,320 but also fun for her. It's a chance to truly have fun 378 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,520 and be a part to to really cast those burdens down to go to the 379 00:24:06,520 --> 00:24:10,840 well to get that refreshment. It is an opportunity to be 380 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,720 connected to joy and then hopefully connected to. 381 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,440 I don't want our families to be connected to 200 other people. 382 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:23,160 I want in my prayer that we pray as a team over and I pray 383 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,360 specifically over is that the Holy Spirit will connect a 384 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:30,120 couple of these women to each other so that they can continue 385 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:34,000 fellowshipping well beyond camp to breathe life into each other. 386 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:38,960 So that when you had a day like for me, when Becca said mom 387 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,680 probably 150 times in 10 minutes, I have another mom 388 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:47,880 whose daughter does the same thing and we'll just talk and 389 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,560 she totally gets it. So, so campus is kind of what 390 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:56,320 Whitney said, why it's so important is it is greenhousing, 391 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,640 it's, it's bringing everybody together in an environment and 392 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,680 fighting the Holy Spirit and to work in and amongst everyone 393 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,600 who's there to develop and create relationships and 394 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,360 connections. We, we're just throwing 395 00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:10,800 fertilizer and water on it. We're we're not. 396 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:15,040 He is ultimately making that happen, but they have to be 397 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:16,800 there for it to happen. So. 398 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:21,160 Well, and because the like you said, the life, the caregiving, 399 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,680 it's, it's so all consuming that there's not a lot of margin or 400 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:26,760 space to go find these relationships. 401 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,840 So then some of the more difficult parts of the 402 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,880 caregiving get magnified, some of the loneliness and 403 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:35,480 frustration and and the joy seems to be further and further 404 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,320 away. So you're bringing like minded 405 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:41,520 folks together, but you're also doing it with this 406 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,720 encouragement, gospel focus, ultimately pointing to this, 407 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,840 this greatest hope. So it's not just, it's not just 408 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:49,720 commiserating. Right, exactly. 409 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:54,880 It is not despair in any way. It's so joy was our theme this 410 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,240 year. I would hazard a guess that 411 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,120 there'd be very few people who, if we just plopped them in the 412 00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:03,280 middle on a Saturday at Camp David, who wouldn't get that. 413 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:07,200 It's all about the joy. And it's sometimes difficult to 414 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,400 reconcile joy with the circumstances of the individuals 415 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,720 that you'll see having a blast. All of them. 416 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:17,520 The parents walk in like way down. 417 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,440 You can't see me. So I'm trying to model what you 418 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:21,720 can't see. Sure, but they walk in bent over 419 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:26,920 and they leave just so much light and and do we want to 420 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,320 connect them to Christ? Yes, we do. 421 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:34,840 But have you ever heard people say sometimes that people are 422 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,280 are inviting you into Christ, but they look like they've been 423 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,560 run over and they're not very compelling, right? 424 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:41,480 That's. Right. 425 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,680 It's like, come with me, life is great, but you're not, you're 426 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:46,520 not really believing them, right? 427 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,560 And so we're saying, yes, your circumstances are hard. 428 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,160 We are not in any way not recognizing that. 429 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,120 So we can relate. But we're saying you can have 430 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:00,280 joy now. It's not just in heaven. 431 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:04,560 It is now too. He invites us to joy now. 432 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:06,720 Well, it goes back to your mission statement of 433 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,640 demonstrating. Yeah, not not just telling, yes, 434 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:14,320 and and trying to convince you with my sad face of some kind of 435 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,040 intellectual truth, but I'm demonstrating and living in that 436 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:23,800 joy that can only come through community, God's hope, the Holy 437 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,360 Spirit, all of that. But but that for someone who is 438 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:31,360 outside, maybe outside the faith or outside of really living in 439 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,720 that fruit, like they're not going to understand all those 440 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:34,920 steps. They just need to see it. 441 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,200 Right, right. It's a visible representation of 442 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:40,240 what we that's why it's important. 443 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,640 And and we didn't know that when it started. 444 00:27:45,840 --> 00:27:50,400 We took a step of obedience. That that is our mantra is that 445 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,200 we have no idea what we're doing. 446 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,400 We're trying to take the next step of obedience. 447 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:59,000 We're we're trying to stay missionally aligned and focused. 448 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:02,640 That is my ultimate role as executive director. 449 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,160 I had no idea being a mom of a very autistic daughter and a 450 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:10,280 Navy chief would make you good at doing that kind of focus. 451 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:13,840 Because I say no to stuff a lot that all seem like good things. 452 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,560 Like do we care that our folks get Social Security benefits, 453 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,040 have housing? All of those things are 454 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,280 important. So connecting to resources is 455 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,360 making sure we have relationships with those 456 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:26,360 agencies. But we don't do it. 457 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:31,200 You know, we we put you, we try to develop relationships that 458 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,880 have fruit that will help you in that situation, provide that 459 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:40,320 practical, tangible what you need in the moment, but but 460 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,840 remind you that's that's not where your hope is. 461 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,920 Whether all the problems with housing, it's, you know, solved. 462 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:49,280 I love front porch housing. That's a beautiful picture of 463 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,080 that. Housing is important. 464 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,920 A lot of things are important, but they're not the most 465 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:57,280 important. And and looking at our 466 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:01,720 circumstances and judging God's goodness for us is definitely 467 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,720 not the way to go. No. 468 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,640 And in any given moment, that's a shifting thing anyway. 469 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:08,320 Yeah. And I love how you talked about 470 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:12,000 just expanding this view of caregiving and helping even our 471 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:16,160 audience say, Oh yeah, if I've cared for someone with a chronic 472 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,000 illness or if I'm in that night, maybe I'm the one with a chronic 473 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,560 illness. Elderly parents, so many of us 474 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,120 connect with that like that. That's a that's a theme that 475 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,840 isn't is easily seen across what we're talking about this. 476 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:29,200 Morning. Yes, very much so. 477 00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,480 And especially that idea, I think what David's table with 478 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:36,120 Mosaic, what our community and families of those with special 479 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,640 needs do so well is holding the joy and the sorrow intention 480 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:42,000 because the rest of us are like, we have to choose. 481 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,880 We have to pick one. We can only do one at one time. 482 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:50,760 We're very like monolithic in that way, but it's really 483 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,240 exactly what you were talking about and it's the picture that 484 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:57,680 Scripture offers us that there is real joy to be had now 485 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,520 because of what Christ has done for us. 486 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:04,360 All of that is very real, and the pain and the sorrow is still 487 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,800 also real. And both of those things can be 488 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:11,720 true at the same time. And another thing that you have 489 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:16,480 told me that I loved is just that idea of possibility versus 490 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,760 impossibility. Will you talk a little bit more 491 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:20,840 about that and just what that means to you? 492 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:27,640 Well, there is a lot of in the world that I live in and and our 493 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:32,680 families live in about, you know, what can happen and what 494 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:36,560 can't happen, right? And so I love that God is a God 495 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:43,800 of impossibility. And so we, we try to connect 496 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:49,080 folks to see beyond what they're dealing with now to where they 497 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:54,040 would like to be and, and, and challenge them to, for example, 498 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,280 get connected. Now that might seem like a super 499 00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:57,960 thing, easy thing for most people. 500 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,120 You're thinking, well, there's opportunities and I get 501 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:04,640 connected. It can be scary when your hope 502 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:09,200 is in your circumstances to try to get connected. 503 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:12,880 It seems you'll say there's no way these people are going to 504 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,640 accept me. There's no way they're going to 505 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:19,640 be able to provide for me and my child who has these 50 million 506 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,480 things they're afraid of. There's no way we're going to be 507 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,880 able to get into church. There's no way we're going to 508 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,320 have a better life or be smiling and laughing and and that he 509 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,040 will have friends and then I could have people that can 510 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,840 relate to me. There's no way that that that 511 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:40,640 whole language of that it can't happen is all born out of all 512 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,120 the trauma and experiences they've had in the past. 513 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:44,680 And you do have to get through that. 514 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:46,760 You can't to say, well, just believe. 515 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,840 It doesn't matter. But what what you do have to do 516 00:31:49,840 --> 00:31:52,520 is you have to keep inviting and you have to keep. 517 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,840 You can't give up. You have to be persistent. 518 00:31:55,840 --> 00:32:00,440 You have to continue to push and say it is possible and and build 519 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:04,040 on when you are able to make those connections. 520 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:07,840 Really celebrate that. Hey, you guys came. 521 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,800 It's great that you came. Let me introduce you to a few 522 00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:15,360 people, follow up, reconnect, get them to come to something, 523 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:16,720 then enjoy. Call it out. 524 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:20,080 I love to call it out on people. When I see people who told me 525 00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:23,320 they couldn't do something or that their child would never do 526 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,560 or whatever, I love walking up and saying, hey, they're doing 527 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,480 it now, you know? Is to help them remember and 528 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,560 celebrate and not just move on to the next impossibility. 529 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,400 Yeah, right. And, and we need and we point 530 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:40,160 constantly about how God has provided we like to story tell 531 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:43,400 because stories are important. They're super important. 532 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,480 Jesus used that to teach, to keep, to write on our minds. 533 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:49,600 And those stories are important. That's that's how we connect and 534 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:53,040 how the connection I want them to see is I want them to see 535 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:57,000 that the Lord is doing these things in their life, that the 536 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,800 people of David's table are the same as them. 537 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,400 In fact, if I can get them to understand that we are don't 538 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:06,800 have it together, don't have super capes on and aren't doing, 539 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:10,000 don't have any kind of superpower, it's easier than to 540 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,320 talk to them about trying church again. 541 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:17,200 Because a lot of our families, church is just a place they just 542 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:22,720 do not feel they can be at. That's a big impossibility and. 543 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,920 I know that's a little bit of part of your story and like you 544 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,320 were saying that that is it's based on real experiences and 545 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,040 good people, simple people trying their best to have just 546 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:37,080 failed to take care of this community. 547 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:41,640 You know, And I think what's interesting is you're really 548 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:44,480 talking about long term relationships, Like we're not 549 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:51,160 solving anything really. We cannot fix disability, but 550 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:55,000 you're holding out relationship and that this really happens on 551 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,280 a weekly basis. So we've talked about camp dated 552 00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,120 real quickly. Will you mention just some of 553 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:02,120 the other things that happen on a weekly basis that data's table 554 00:34:02,120 --> 00:34:04,120 is doing? So I said faithfulness was. 555 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:05,560 Important. That's who Skeeter is. 556 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:09,080 That's who David's table is. Our adults come out of high 557 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:12,000 school with very little opportunity to connect after 558 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,560 that. Most of them don't go on to 559 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,679 jobs. Most of them don't drive. 560 00:34:15,679 --> 00:34:18,000 They don't launch. They're still at him, so they 561 00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,480 have very empty calendars and limited opportunities to 562 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:24,000 connect. So we have 48 weeks a year. 563 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:28,360 We have 9 to 11 hours of free programming every week. 564 00:34:28,639 --> 00:34:32,639 Monday nights is our discipleship ministry, E 210 for 565 00:34:32,639 --> 00:34:35,159 Ephesians 210. We are God's masterpiece, 566 00:34:35,679 --> 00:34:38,880 created in you, in Christ Jesus, to do the good work city planned 567 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:42,440 for us long ago and so that our adults see themselves as 568 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:46,840 uniquely created and powerful to and created for good works for, 569 00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,719 on purpose, for a purpose. We have now 4 campuses. 570 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,800 We still have a virtual campus that we kept through COVID and 571 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:59,280 had 22 on last night. Rocky Creek is our Greenville 572 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,160 campus. I'm pretty sure they had over 65 573 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,240 last night. Piedmont, which is our newest 574 00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:09,320 campus, we had Anderson. We started at Grace Powdersville 575 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:16,240 in January of 20-3 and then moved in September of last year 576 00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:21,480 after camp to Kaleo Church in Piedmont where a family wanted 577 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:23,920 to anchor us and and breathe into us more. 578 00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:28,520 We came there with about 18 to 20 a week at Powdersville and 579 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:31,880 when we moved 6 miles South and this family jumped in all the 580 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,840 way, we had 52 people last night in the room. 581 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:41,480 And so we're we, that's our big night and a lot of our adults 582 00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:44,920 are connected to that. And we have parents groups that 583 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,800 are meeting in conjunction with that thriving moms group that 584 00:35:48,800 --> 00:35:52,360 meets at Rocky Creek, a parent group at Kaleo that's very well 585 00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:55,960 connected on Tuesdays. We probably not today with the 586 00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:58,440 rain, but I don't know, they might be out there. 587 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:01,880 We have adaptive tennis at McPherson Park. 588 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,920 We have a tennis instructor that we has been a part of the 589 00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:07,600 ministry for a long time, followed up by lunch at the 590 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:09,440 mall. So that's about a 2 hour block. 591 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:12,880 On Monday nights are two hours and then on Thursdays at 592 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:17,800 Fairview Baptist they host our art in ukulele 2 hour session 593 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:20,960 and we have an art project that we do. 594 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:26,200 And yes, we have a ukulele band called Fret not Eucharist. 595 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,760 And so fret not for don't worry about anything. 596 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:33,640 Be anxious, you know, but and said pray but also fret because 597 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:37,320 fretting is you have to be able to hold and a lot of our friends 598 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:39,920 can only strum. And yes, anyone can play 599 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,680 ukulele. So do you play? 600 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:49,040 I do not, not regularly anyway, but it's a joyful noise. 601 00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:51,960 And they're on, they're on Facebook on Thursdays live so 602 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:55,040 other folks can join in. We have a, a beautiful orphan 603 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,080 ministry in Peru that's connected to us, that connected 604 00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:01,920 to us on Facebook and they special needs orphans and per. 605 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:05,600 But it is just amazing how God does that. 606 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,040 That's right. And then we do, we try at least 607 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:11,320 once a month something like Mosaic Supper Club, very similar 608 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:14,680 to Mosaic Supper Club. We have host churches that will 609 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,240 host respite events for us. So once a month we have a 2 hour 610 00:37:18,240 --> 00:37:20,480 respite night, which will be from 6 to 8. 611 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,120 It's a drop off event. We feed and have some kind of 612 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:24,960 activity. Bingo, karaoke. 613 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,400 Greenville First is one of our churches. 614 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,040 Elevation is one of our churches. 615 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:34,760 As I said, Fairview Baptist has done a lot rare place of God. 616 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:37,640 That church is doing a first time event. 617 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:42,720 City View Church, First Presbyterian, You know, we try 618 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:45,240 to have one every month so that parents could have a date night 619 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:49,000 trying to feed those marriages so they don't fall apart or the 620 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:51,680 all the single moms can get together and have a mom's night 621 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:53,800 out but but they can count on it. 622 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:56,840 So again, that faithfulness, the pattern of just continuously 623 00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:00,440 looking to see that we have something some way to keep them 624 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:02,480 connected, something to look forward to. 625 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:04,280 Yeah. And what a picture do? 626 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:08,200 Exactly what you said, Sunday to Sunday, in between Sundays, that 627 00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:11,000 is where church is happening. You know, it's not just limited 628 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,720 to the one day, but David's table is busy. 629 00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:16,520 Everyone, if you don't take anything else away, they are 630 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:20,560 getting it done out here. Well, Katie, as we're kind of 631 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,720 wrapping up here a little bit, I mean, I really love, I mean, you 632 00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:25,920 just have a beautiful heart for this community. 633 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,840 Your story is so connected. I mean, I just have to recognize 634 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:33,480 the ways that the Lord has shaped your life to what you 635 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:36,800 were saying, your family, but then also your experience in the 636 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:40,320 Navy and how all of that builds into what you're doing right 637 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:43,400 now, just how he has orchestrated all of that. 638 00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:47,640 And I'd really just love to give you an opportunity to share with 639 00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:50,600 your church. Just what would you like for us 640 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:52,920 to know? How can we be praying for 641 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:56,560 David's table? How can we continue to partner 642 00:38:56,560 --> 00:38:59,240 and support with y'all? Well, first of all I want to. 643 00:38:59,240 --> 00:39:02,120 Say thank you because a good many of you do. 644 00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:05,520 You do support us, you volunteer, you show up. 645 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,800 There's several of you that are attending those E2 tens on 646 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:13,480 Monday night and helping to disciple and lead people to a 647 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,680 deeper relationship with Jesus. So thank you for that. 648 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:20,000 Many of you come to Camp David year after year and give the 649 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:23,240 weekend away to love our families and I thank you for 650 00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:26,960 that. But as we grow, I told you we 651 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,080 have very full rooms. So we're I'm going to Belton. 652 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:32,560 I planted in Anderson two years ago. 653 00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:38,600 Now I'm going further South to Belton to do to a very small 654 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:42,240 church to Cola church to start another E 210 would appreciate 655 00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:46,640 your prayers for us as we try to steward the resources we have 656 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,760 against the needs that were being that are in front of us 657 00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,600 that that is probably the hardest part. 658 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:57,480 There are so many places where tomorrow we could multiply, but 659 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,840 we really don't have the resources to do that in a way 660 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:04,160 that would honor COD. So just pray for us that we 661 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:08,000 would have discernment about where to go when in obedience 662 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:12,280 when he opens doors to us and and pray for that. 663 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:16,720 Also, if you have ever thought that you would enjoy on a Monday 664 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:21,440 night coming. To help us it is I promise you 665 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:26,160 that you will walk away having received so much more than you 666 00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:30,960 might think and it will truly become your joy to enter into a 667 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:35,960 deep relationship with our our friends and to get to see and 668 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:37,960 know some of our families, our needs. 669 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:40,760 Our greatest need is Monday night to grow Monday night, 670 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:43,440 which is what God is growing our Monday night discipleship in 671 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:47,960 several locations. We need more, more people who 672 00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:51,480 have good theology. And I am a member of our church, 673 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,880 so I know the equipping and the teaching that we get. 674 00:40:55,200 --> 00:41:00,400 We need folks who are very solid and unshakable in their faith 675 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:02,800 and are willing to share. We need folks who are 676 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,600 vulnerable. We're willing to be vulnerable 677 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:10,720 and share their lives as a way to encourage, and I'm not sexist 678 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:15,240 in any way, but we need men. The biggest missing component in 679 00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:19,360 our room is the men. We need more men to show up for 680 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,920 these families. And if you could just say a 681 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:25,480 word. About correcting maybe some of 682 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,720 the wrong attitudes, like if someone says they might not say 683 00:41:29,720 --> 00:41:32,280 it but if you can sense it that they feel sorry. 684 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:36,320 Or the families talk a little bit about pity and compassion. 685 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:40,960 I'd be glad to. If you want to make a mom of a 686 00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:44,800 disabled adult or child angry, offer her pity. 687 00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:50,120 She doesn't need her want your pity to see her, to see her 688 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:56,080 child, to see her adult or any parent really, to see them as 689 00:41:56,080 --> 00:42:01,920 created exactly as God planned. Much like John 9, like you know, 690 00:42:02,120 --> 00:42:06,760 the blind man, as Jesus so eloquently said, you know it's 691 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,400 not a curse, it wasn't a punishment, but to to see and 692 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:15,920 receive just as you would anyone else, to to, to just love them 693 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:18,880 as they are. Don't try to fix them, don't try 694 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:20,120 to change them. Pity. 695 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:25,720 Pity is a negative emotion, and it can create shame. 696 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:29,600 And shame is something we have to fight against all the time. 697 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:33,480 Shame is the greatest enemy, I would say of anyone who's going 698 00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:37,160 through any kind of suffering is that it's so easy for the 699 00:42:37,160 --> 00:42:40,240 accuser to help us believe that it's our fault. 700 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:44,600 And so when you pity me, you are saying that you're agreeing with 701 00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:47,040 that, and that is not helpful, right? 702 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:49,000 And what do you? Need instead. 703 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:53,520 Compassion, Compassion. Compassion is a willingness to 704 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:59,720 sit beside, to listen, to offer what help you have. 705 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:06,880 Don't offer what you don't have. It's OK and and often we're not 706 00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,640 seeking anything other than the same thing you would for anyone 707 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,200 else that you met. Just conversation, friendship 708 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:14,360 and and to be to be treated the same. 709 00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:17,760 Which is exactly how Jesus. Interacted with everyone that he 710 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:19,440 met. He did not offer pity. 711 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:22,240 He offered compassion. And he saw sheep without a 712 00:43:22,240 --> 00:43:25,720 shepherd in his heart. Bled out for people who just 713 00:43:25,720 --> 00:43:27,800 need to be loved and seen right and known. 714 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:31,360 It's just beautiful. Katie, we're, we're so grateful 715 00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:33,440 that you took the time to be with us today. 716 00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:40,720 It's just a good word on love, on possibility, on joy, which 717 00:43:40,720 --> 00:43:44,800 are things that we are ready as believers to go practice in our 718 00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:49,560 daily lives with everyone. But it is amazing how God is 719 00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:53,840 teaching us to do that through this community who is just aware 720 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,640 of their weakness in a way that the rest of us should be but 721 00:43:56,640 --> 00:44:00,640 aren't. But it challenges us to go love 722 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:04,560 the way that Christ did, and they certainly are just adding 723 00:44:04,560 --> 00:44:09,520 so much value to our church and make us love Christ more because 724 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:11,360 of the way that we see him embodied in them. 725 00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:16,120 Would you? Just pray for these families and 726 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:18,720 just pray for our church family and anybody else that may be 727 00:44:18,720 --> 00:44:24,560 listening that they would just feel that joy that gets up and 728 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:28,400 drives you every day, even in the midst of the challenges. 729 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,960 But if you could do that for us, I would love. 730 00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:32,960 I would love that. Thank you. 731 00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:38,960 Father, you're a good, good father, a good, good father to 732 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:42,680 us all. I pray first and foremost that 733 00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:46,120 we never, ever forget that. We never forget that you're 734 00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,880 faithful. You're so, so faithful. 735 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:55,600 Faithful to show us your love by sending us your son. 736 00:44:57,240 --> 00:45:03,480 Let that be what drives us to you, to celebrate the victories 737 00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:07,840 of the day, to see Your goodness and the little things, and to be 738 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,880 anticipating You to be looking for You. 739 00:45:11,480 --> 00:45:15,520 Let us not have our eyes down to the ground, God, let us look up 740 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:19,720 and rejoice. There is so much goodness if we 741 00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:25,000 only open our eyes to see it and not aware of Your very presence 742 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:29,320 with us. Always, always I pray today, 743 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:33,520 first and foremost, that everyone who hears this looks 744 00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:38,320 for you, looks for you in their day, because I know you will be 745 00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:43,840 found and if they find you, they will find the joy, the peace, 746 00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:48,880 all that you offer us just by anticipating and looking for it 747 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:52,120 in Jesus name, Amen.