EP. 95: Moving To Mound Bayou with Phil and Kym Schank

What happens when God calls you to stay where you first intended to visit? In this episode, Phil and Kym Schank share their journey from Wisconsin to Mound Bayou, Mississippi—a historic town founded by formerly enslaved people—and how a short volunteer trip turned into a long-term calling to live, serve, and build relationships in the community.

Through honest reflections on leaving family, embracing a slower pace of life, and showing up as cultural outsiders, Phil and Kym reveal how presence, listening, and consistency are essential for real Christian reconciliation. Their story reminds us that sharing the gospel often begins with simply sharing life.

Special thanks to our sponsors: 

Nissan, St. Dominic's Hospital, Atmos Energy, Regions Foundation, Mississippi College, Anderson United Methodist Church, Grace Temple Church, Mississippi State University, Real Christian Foundation, Brown Missionary Baptist Church, Christian Life Church, Ms. Doris Powell, Mr. Robert Ward, and Ms. Ann Winters.

Transcript

Purpose Of Living Reconciled

SPEAKER_01 0:12

This is Living Reconciled, a podcast dedicated to giving our communities practical evidence of the gospel message by helping Christians learn how to live in the reconciliation that Jesus has already secured for us by living with grace across racial lines. Hey, thanks so much for joining us on this episode of Living Reconcile. This is episode 95. I'm your host, Brian Crawford, hanging out with really good friends, Nettie Winters, my co-host, sir. How are you doing today?

Sponsors And How To Give

SPEAKER_04 0:39

I'm wonderful, man. I am excited. And I'm I'm just I'm just static, man, that we have these wonderful guests today. And I'm really excited about I got questions way beyond what you can even imagine for these people.

Meet Phil And Kim Shank

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Yeah, so do I. So do I. And we're I'm incredibly excited to have a deep dive conversation with some good friends. But first we want to give a shout out to some really other uh some other good friends, uh sponsors like Nissan, St. Dominic's Hospital, uh, Atmos Energy and Regions, and Mississippi College, and New Horizons International Church, Crossgates Baptist Church, Parchard Presbyterian Church, Anderson United Methodists, uh, Mississippi State, Real Christian, Brown Missionary, so many friends that we got out there. We really, really appreciate you. And we can't forget our individuals like Miss Doris Powell, Robert Ward, and Winners. Thank you for everything that you do. It's because of what you do. We're able to do what we do. And what we do is take the message and work of reconciliation all over the state of Mississippi and beyond. We invite you to join this illustrious list of partners, churches, companies, foundations who are investing in the work of reconciliation in our state and beyond. And you can do so by visiting Mitch Mississippi.org. Click on the donate page, and YouTube will be joining that group of friends who are investing in the work of reconciliation. Um, we have some friends, Nettie, some good friends. Absolutely. From Mound Bayou, Mississippi, uh, by way of Wisconsin. And you'll hear more about that story in just a minute. Uh, Phil and Kim Shank, incredible friends to Mission Mississippi, but also incredibly personal friends to both Nettie and I. Phil and Kim, how are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Good morning. Doing well.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

Yep, doing well, glad to be here. Excellent, excellent. I can't wait to hear how you can get from Heartland and those places of Wisconsin to Mobile, Mississippi. And there's no mound there. I don't, you know, I want to understand all about all those things.

The First Trip To Mound Bayou

SPEAKER_01 2:40

So why don't we start there? Tell us tell us about the journey that I'm sure took a few days between Heartland, Wisconsin, and Mound Bayou, Mississippi. How did you guys end up in Mound Bayou?

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Um, well, we'll do a short version of this story. Um, my brother and I were going to St. Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota. Um, when he was graduating, he didn't know exactly what he wanted to do after college. And basically the only thing that I really knew that I was happening after I graduate was I was going to marry my husband. So my husband uh my brother decided to volunteer through the Christian Brothers program that is offered at the university, and they put him his vocation to Mao Bayou, Mississippi. And when I found that out, I basically looked at him and said, You weren't gonna last for more than six months, and God had had other plans and it changed his heart, and um he stayed an extra year down in Maumbayou, and so for that extra year, I decided being the nosy older sister, um, that I come and check out Maumbayou, and that's how it all started, is coming down during their um St. Gabriel's Mercy Center. At that time, it was a preschool, their big fundraiser. And I my brother brought me to their cafeteria and had me sit next to this woman named Una Sanders. I call her grandma. And uh she looked at me, introduced herself, and then told me to start get to work.

SPEAKER_04 4:35

That's what gr that's what grandmamas do, they put you to work right away.

SPEAKER_02 4:40

She's like, She's like, here you go. So um, you know, those little tissue um flower tissue things that you have to pull, they look like palms. Um, we were getting ready for a coronation ceremony. So yeah, and then it was just, you know, sitting and talking and listening to um Eunice's story, and then the kids, you know, being a preschool, all these little guys, you know, and then seeing the change that happened to my brother. I decided to start coming down in spring because my brother shared that most of these kids didn't have, you know, Easter baskets or stuff like that. So I'm like, well, that's easy. And then at that time, I was a volunteer leader for Young Life, so why not get my kids involved? So we did a little candy drive, you know, to stuff the Easter baskets and got bubbles and all that stuff. So I brought all that stuff down and helped make Easter baskets, and then my brother was able to hide them around, and that tradition carried on for a while, and then I decided to just start volunteering every fall during their big fundraiser in the Harvest Festival, and then in spring, and then four years later, Phil finally decided to try to figure out what I was doing because back then for me to come down, it was a 14-hour drive, and that was by myself. Now, you know, you got 60 highway 61, and now it's you know four lanes instead of two, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

And you're driving through all the little all the little towns and stuff, so um, you know, now it's it's different. And then after that, we started bringing our own youth group from our church down and volunteered during spring break. And then after that, um, we were in charge of Phil's grandma's care. And once she passed, I'm like, you know what, we need a break. Let's just go down to Mount Bayou. I mean, back then, you know, the the internet, the cell phones weren't really the greatest down here, so you can kind of like chill out. And then on the way back, we just had a conversation in the car, and Phil looked at me and asked if I felt like God was calling us to move down here. And I said, Yeah, kinda, and I asked him and he said yeah, kinda, and then we had friends that you know we've known throughout the years down here in Mombayou, and we asked good friends up in Wisconsin to start praying and make sure that we were following, you know, if we were actually hearing God's voice or not, and it'll be 14 years in September that we moved in Maum Bayou and 13 years since we started the after-school program in September.

From Volunteering To Moving South

SPEAKER_01 7:30

So Kim, what what kept you guys, you know, feel feel you came along four years later, but I was struck by what you said to your brother when he first said, Hey, I'm heading down to Mount Bayou, and you said, You won't last six months down there, right? And yet, not only did he keep going back, but you got on the bandwagon and you started making a 14, 15-hour drive down here year after year, and then Phil got on the bandwagon and started making this track to the point where you guys said, okay, God is calling us here, period, to live here and to relocate, uh, in the words of the of the late John Perkins, who we are uh celebrating and commemorating his life uh on this past week. But what what do you think? Obviously, God, but how did God show himself in drawing your heart towards Mount Bayou? What were some of the things and some of the moments that that really the Lord used over the years uh to move on your brother to keep coming, to move on you to keep coming, to move on feel to say, yes, let's pack up, let's move, let's uh let's bring our whole whole life down here.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Um I would say part of it is being um brought up by my dad. Um we uh my dad worked for Milwaukee Public Schools. Now we lived outside of Milwaukee before they basically had the rule or the law, whatever you want to call it, that all anyone that was fire, police, or um education had to live in the city limits of Milwaukee. So my we already were out, so we were grandfathered in, right? But the thing of it was is like if we wanted to move into a bigger house, or if my dad wanted to take a promotion, then we would have to move into the city. So my dad sacrificed a lot that way. Um, there were times where my dad was actually in charge of two schools, instead of one. Um, on the days that my uh we didn't have school, there were days that I would drive in with my dad and volunteer and work with his kids. Um we would always like every year go for our clothing and make sure that coats, gloves. My dad, you know, whether it was school related or church related, we were always trying to help somebody else. And I think that's where it came from, to be honest. Always you know helping helping your neighbor. Um so I think that that is the big thing. Um, when I my senior year in college, actually, I got engaged to this gentleman right here next to me, and then two weeks later I I left for Mexico for my senior year in college. And back then that was no, you know, no cell phones, no internet. Um, you had telephone, you could send a fax, or it was handwritten, you know, handwritten ladders.

SPEAKER_05 11:23

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 11:24

And after the first month of$1,500.

SPEAKER_05 11:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

We couldn't do it, but um my so the first month you have to, you know, you learn Spanish, the history, you're traveling all over the place, but then the second month you're starting to figure out what internship you want to do and what organization. Um, I got connected with Kaconi, and it was an organization founded by a duchess, and it was basically think of like Head Start, but Head Start in a in one of those self-storage unit things that are metal. Um, so basically it was in the middle of the market, so the poor of the poor of Mexico. And so you're trying to convince the street vendors to have their kids come to get their education. You can if they get educated, there's more money coming to the family than having them sell, you know, the little candies or the the little plums. Um, so that's what I did. You know, I was working with kids and trying to teach them life skills early and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

So this is this has always been your heart.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

It's uh helping working. I mean, here's a funny story. Um, my first really good friend was one of my dad's students. Her name was Cynthia. She was actually um blind, and so I would write her, and then my dad obviously would translate it, or one of his staff members into braille, and then vice versa. She write, um year, I mean, until high school, I never knew this, but she was nice, she was actually abused by a family member. And I I mean, obviously at five years old, you have no idea. Um, but I mean, he would have like these dances and everything, or like uh, okay, so our family are ticket season holders for the Green Bay Packers. After the home games for my dad, he would always wait until it ended, and you would have those souvenir plastic cups. Well, my dad would always carry a garbage bag, big, ugly, black garbage bag. Oh wow, collecting them collect them, yes, but guess who the kids and give them to the kids, but guess who got to wash them that day? We had to have a bathtub with bleach and you know, like whatever dish soap mixed in the bathtub, wash them out, and then he would um partner with um there's a frozen custard place called Cops, or um the movie theaters and stuff. So even like for birthdays or whatever, he would fill those cups up with like gift certificates or cards for birthdays, or even like if a kid was like one of the typical naughty kids, but he had a really great week, make sure he got that.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

You know, my dad played for principal. My dad was out on the playground playing kickball with the kids. He was the first person there to greet, and always the last person for the last boss.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

So I it it's it's it's in your DNA almost.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

It is on our DNA, yeah. For the part, and that was the thing because my brothers never volunteered really unless it was something big, then as a family we would go. But I just normally would volunteer, and sometimes my sister would volunteer at my dad's schools and help out. And I used to, I mean, when I went to college, I originally thought I was gonna go in education.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

So I have yet to meet a person with a bigger heart than my wife, so um, and that's large in part what has rubbed off on me is the way that she would love on people, she would care for people, she would take care of people. Um we would drive past uh you know, the homeless person with the sign on the side of the road, and she'd be the person saying, Hey, we need to do something, and I'm like, they can just get a job, they can whatever. You know, we're we're moving on here, you know, we're down the road. And after a period of time, obviously, there's quite a change of heart that's taken place. Going back to your original question, um I think one of the things that drew us down were relationships that we had built over the course of years. Um it wasn't a hey, let's spin the globe around, put our finger on it, and wherever it stops, that's where we're gonna go. It was a I think God's intentional, you know, motivation, so to speak, behind everything, year after year, coming, being visible, working with kids, loving on kids, meeting people, hanging out with folks, going out to dinner, doing that type of stuff. Um, that started to started to draw uh us in a little bit.

North And South Culture Shock

SPEAKER_02 16:53

And why not? I mean why why not, you know, when you have the relationships that were made that have been made down here, and I mean the biggest thing for me, I'm a history buff. So I mean when you're talking to some of the people that sadly are not here anymore, but you gotta hear their stories and you know see the history and stuff. I mean, it was a thriving town back in the day, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:27

And I think one of the you're talking about uh Mount Bao, a thriving town or Heartland.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Yes, no, Mount Bayou.

SPEAKER_04 17:35

Okay, listen. I have I have a question. May I ask this question most of the host? Listen, absolutely. I want to know what I I I actually got two questions.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

You're if you're asking for permission to ask a question, I'm already nervous what the question is gonna be. But go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

You are if Brian's nervous, you guys should be really, really cautious on that. Listen, two questions. Number one question is what surprised you the most when you shared the news with the people at home and the news with the people in Mao Bao? What was what was your reaction to that? Number two, what is it that you would like to transplant from Mao Bao to West Consume, from West Consum to Mao Bao?

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Those are two questions. Those are two great questions.

SPEAKER_03 18:33

Uh well, reaction to move people in Wisconsin. I don't think people in Wisconsin actually knew where we were moving. So therefore, I don't think there was that much of a our cloth our our friends, close friends and family. Family was probably a little bit more in tune to what we were doing, um, why we were doing it, but looser friends around that. It was like, oh yeah, they're moving to Mississippi. We're like, yeah, we're moving actually to Mount Bayou, Mississippi, and they're like, Oh, that's great. And that was it. Yeah, yeah. It was, you know, it was kind of it was kind of like being at Jackson First Netty this weekend when Wayne said, you know, they're from Mao Bayou, and people are like, Oh, okay, that's great, you know.

SPEAKER_04 19:31

He's like, No, you should really look it up, you know. I I introduced him to one lady, Brian, and I say, Uh, where is Mao Bao? And she says, Out there somewhere. Out there somewhere, you know, who knows?

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Somewhere out there, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Yeah, and so the I think the reactions they became a little bit what's interesting is the reactions have changed over the years. If there is an incident that takes place, um, a George Floyd, uh, you know, a bigger incident that becomes national news that is in front of people, we will inevitably, I will inevitably at least get a text two five. Hey, are you guys okay? I'm like, what do you mean? Are we okay? Well, I I saw the news and I'm like, well, and and then I know I kind of know where they're going, but I'm like, then I'll tease it along and I'll be like, oh wow, well, what happened in Mount Bay that I was unaware of? And they're like, no, no, the the guy with the police officer. I'm like, the guy, what guy? And I'll keep going that way to make them. I I love it. I love it the way you tease it out, right? Yeah. And so the reactions have changed, but the reactions are almost circumstantial and not in a good way. Um, you know, the transplant thing, uh I would just say it this way. The South is more personable and more outgoing than the north is. You can walk down the street in the north, and if somebody's coming towards you immediately their head drops down because they don't want to look at you, and a lot of people just don't engage that way. Here, it's like everybody's looking for you to look at them so they can say hi or whatever. One of the first instances of going to um a hardware store, I needed like a hammer and some nails or whatever down here. I go to the hardware store. I'm like, hey, hey, what do you need, man? I said, just a hammer, some nails. Oh, what are you building? I said, Well, I gotta fix these steps on the back of the porch, they're kind of loose. It literally led into a 20-minute dissertation about how he fixed his deck and so on and so forth. And I'm I'm standing there going, I have zero time for this. Like this is, you know, but over time, it's kind of worn on me. So it's like if we go to the grocery store, we know it's gonna be a half an hour, 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

If we go to Yeah, you you build you build it, you build in the tie.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Right, yeah. And it's just if if we could get a bit of that north, that would probably be good. Um, on the flip side of that, the time conscious person that I am, we seem to be a little bit more time conscious now. In the north than we are in the south. You know, the word minute uh takes on a whole different meaning down here than it does up there. You know, a minute's literal.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

Yeah, you would not do good in Africa. They tell time by the sun and the moon, not by watch.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

I actually had a conversation with a with an African missionary just the other day, and that was um um who's who's been in Africa now for some years, but he said that was the big, the big shift for him in terms of what was different there versus here. And he said, you know, time. And he's a Vicksburg native, but he said that it's it's at a whole nother level of uh more, you know, slowness, pace, a pace of life. It's not lived in a rush, at least that particular area of Africa. Now, of course, there could be some other areas of Africa that may be different, but that particular area of Africa, he said, man, you think the South is slow. He said, Man, it it it slows down big time and and relationships matter is the other thing that he said. Relationships matter. Kim, Kim, what about you, man? I'm interested to hear your your take on Nettie's questions uh uh around the reactions that you you got. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Um well I will say for me, I think the hard one of the hardest things for me is that being able to hop in a car and be able to get somewhere in 10 minutes, 15 minutes, to like a Costco or you know, shopping.

SPEAKER_05 24:20

A mall, a mall.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

A mall, a mall, yes.

SPEAKER_05 24:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

Um you know, is is wait is at first was hard. Um because I'm not a fan of Walmart. I'll just be honest. I can't stand that place. That organization can't stand. I we'll just stay off of that.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Um to the Walmart.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Huh?

SPEAKER_04 24:47

That's what a neighborhood gathers at the Walmart. What is what is wrong with you?

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Oh, they call they don't even call it the Walmart, they call it the mall.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

It's not it's not Walmart, it's the mall. That's a lot of people tell you, you don't like the mall? No, I do not like them all. That is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

That is fantastic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

I would I would say, you know, some of the hardest things since we're working with kids and I, you know, understand about education background and stuff like that. One thing I would bring would bring the to be able to have the education and the support that the kids need that the kids get from the north down here in the south. Um it's very frustrating. Especially with kids with um IEPs and stuff like that, or um Bible for um and then uh vice versa, I would say the just community, how people come together naturally um is a beautiful thing down here and how you know like big family reunions, you know, b I mean there's always like everything's bigger and grander, you know, or they all go out, you know, in their t-shirt, like I was seeing some of our kids' family photos from spring break, and they have these spring break t-shirts, you know, and I you don't see that out there. Yeah, you know what I mean. Um you know, leaving leaving not working was hard, I'd say, for me. Um, even if I still do it for a time. Also because my best friend and I worked together for over 20 years. So that was that was something different and hard to leave, you know, the one we see at least five days a week, I'm now leaving. That was hard. Family. Um, like you know, that that was a big thing.

unknown 27:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

The water the lake, the water, you know, everyone's like, oh, but you have the Mississippi River. I'm like, do you not understand how filthy that river is?

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah, it's it's not it's not the same as some of the some of the lakes that we see, and and it's it is his own, it's his own animal. It moves, it moves, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

It's going south from it. I mean, it starts in Canada and comes all the way down.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Yeah, absolutely. You know, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

You know, that that that is the one thing, and I will say this one thing that apps it now is hard is when I hear anyone up north say bless your heart, I'm ready to punch you in the face.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

And why is that?

SPEAKER_04 27:49

Wait a minute, wait a minute. I want you to repeat that now. This isn't Mount Bao when they said bless your heart and punch you in the face.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

No, it's anytime she hears it in Wisconsin.

Slow Places Build Real Community

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Anytime I hear bless your heart, especially up north, I just want to punch them in the face because of you know, down here, it means a whole different thing. We're up north. I mean, it means a whole different thing. They're not be they're not being, you know, they're being sarcastic to you, they're not being kind, they're not being, you know, loving. They're you know, they're being snakes when they say, oh, bless your heart.

SPEAKER_04 28:27

Ah I'm not sure that everybody in the South means I was about to say yeah, I think it has different connotations depending on context. So yeah, I didn't know and and just tell you, you know, what they really think about you.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah. It's not good. You know, what's interesting to me about what you guys have shared is that um you you talked about pace of life, you talked about technology or or or advancements in terms of, hey, one place has a lot of shopping centers, the other place doesn't necessarily have you know shopping centers within a 10-minute, 15-minute stretch. Um and at the same time, you talked about community and the place with less innovation, or not innovation, but less, you know, um modernization in terms of malls and commerce flowing out flowing through there and big highways and byways and all that kind of stuff. Um that place has less of that, but has more community or more sense of community, a stronger sense of community, a stronger sense of uh connection in terms of stopping and pausing and interacting with one another. And and I find I find that to be, I won't say it's a rule, but I find that to be an interesting phenomenon that that tends to be, that tends to always show up. Where if you find a place that's slower, you find a place that might not have as many amenities and shopping centers and restaurants to to to uh frequent, then at the same time, that's gonna be a place that also has a little bit more community than usual. And and I and and I I wonder, um Nettie, I'm I'm I would love your thoughts on it, feel it, Kim. I would love your thoughts on it because I see that to almost, like I said, is I won't say it's a rule uh of life, but I certainly see it to be um more more um more the case than not the case. Nettie, what do you think about it?

SPEAKER_04 30:27

You know, Brian, um I know that when we lead the metropolitan area of Jackson, even coming to Vicksburg, life, you know, somewhere there's an imaginary line that I cross between uh Edwards and Low Violence that, you know, it's it's like, okay, you know, uh, this is the whole different ballgame. And I stop at the dollar store in Edwards to get a uh a plastic container to put fish or something in. I tell that's not an in and out deal, man. I mean it's not. You know, the people at the cash register is is talking about mama and how many surgeries she's had, and you know, what dad is gonna do now. And it's like, well, y'all just get out of here. Let me get to the cash register. It's like, but their community, they're living life together, man. They're they're they're having these connections. I don't know how much more spiritual they are, but they're having these connections.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Right.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

And and and I don't know, sometimes I think, well, maybe they don't have all the gadgets and and and the modern technology and all the places to go. So they make good. Uh I remember growing up in in Tonica, just north of where you all are, Kim. And man, we'd have a ball during the day with a stick and a broom or or or an old bicycle wheel or even a tire, man. I'm telling you, we get a tire, man. That's that's rolling out to literally. Putting rocks inside of them, and man who can roll it the forest, and who can let it roll down the hill and catch it before they get to the bottom of the hill. Man, that was great. You know, we would take a rabbit, catch it, put it in a cage, let it rest, and then just turn it aloose and then run it until it just falls out and put it back in the cage, let it rest. I know kills are gonna think, oh, he should be reported to the environmentalists, right? But you know, that was that was great opportunities. And uh, you know, that's interesting. I was walking this morning, I was thinking about growing up. We used to play what we call town ball. See, Kim would call it city ball, but you know, we call it town ball, and and you know, and the illustration I had in my mind, I was gathering this thing for the sermon that like if you miss first base, you'd get tagged out. If you get second, third, and home plate, it doesn't matter. You know, you miss first base. And so that's how it is in the kingdom of God. You miss him being first, but yeah, uh, I don't know, does it have something to do with technology and and all the different things to do? You know, I find many people say to me, I don't want to live in Jackson or in Mississippi, and I want to get out because they ain't nothing to do. And I'm thinking, wow, what about those people in Edwards and Movina and Malobao, Mississippi? You know, what are they doing? What do they have to do? And I think it's the creativity of connecting as family and being creative about our environment and not looking at what we don't have, but celebrating that which we have and making the best of it.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, jump in, Kim.

SPEAKER_02 33:29

No, I was just gonna say, you know, you were asking about things that we wish that we had down here. I mean the the malls or the certain stores, but I mean, like growing up on a small lake with 600 people, I mean, you're talking about playing with a ball or a tire, Netty. For me, it was just just so long we had the water, we could jump off the pier until the end of the night. Or we would play baseball, you know. One of the things that before I moved down here, believe it or not, I was on a men's baseball team. I was their pitcher, believe it or not. You know, I moved down here and they don't have anything for even women's fast pitch softball, adult leagues or whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_04 34:17

So that, you know, you want a man baseball team or me and softball team?

SPEAKER_02 34:23

I was okay, it was men's church league, but let me tell you, it was very competitive and I had to earn my keep.

SPEAKER_04 34:33

Now I'm just thinking whether softball or baseball. Softball. Well, I was gonna say, I'd like to see you pitching baseball. So them kids.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Fast pitch softball.

SPEAKER_02 34:42

I can do I can do both. Trust me. I I have to throw if I have to throw overhand, I can do both. Because I that's how it started. Because there was back in the day, there was no fast pitch softball. So I played on, you know, the baseball team like every other girl that wanted to play baseball when you're little because it wasn't there then, back then. You know, girls didn't have a separate fast pitch league or slow pitch leg. It was baseball or nothing. And so I played baseball. I get Phil.

SPEAKER_01 35:14

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was gonna ask, I was gonna ask Phil something. Um, or are what what what Kim is talking about, what Nettie's talking about, what I what I um threw into the conversation, do you see that as a rule of life, or is that something I'm something that you've experienced? I know, I know you've lived fast pace fast paced, I know you've lived, you know, the s the slower pace of Mount Bayou. Do you see those differences in connection and and the tie-in to pace and all of that?

SPEAKER_03 35:47

Yeah, I think so. I think there's just more more intentionality, maybe, on relationships. Um you know, down in the south, if you ask somebody how they're doing, you gotta be prepared for whatever's gonna come out of their mouth.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Right.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

You know, in the north, it's a it's more of a let's pass by kind of a question.

unknown 36:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

And people people aren't even gonna, you know, you you're inevitably you're not listening to the answer.

SPEAKER_05 36:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

So I I had a gentleman yesterday I'm trying to think of where I was, but um he uh was at the it was at the hotel in the morning. Um he was an energy worker, and so I was walking towards him to go past him, and he looked at me and I said, How you doing? And I stopped to listen to his response. You know, I just didn't keep keep walking. He goes, I'm doing pretty good today, and he goes, How you doing? I said, I'm good, I'm good, I'm doing all right so far, you know. You know, have a great day and and then walk by. So it's yeah, you learn kind of how to pause a little bit um rather than just blowing by.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

So it's the difference uh feel oftentimes when when we're in the field doing training and coaching with uh churches and organizations and such, we we say it's the difference between a courteous question and a curious question. Um so how are you doing? It can be a courteous question and a curious question, it just depends on the posture of the heart. When oftentimes it's just a courteous question, which is I'm asking you, but I really don't want to know. I'm just trying to, you know, keep small talk going. But when it's a curious question, it means it comes with a pause. It comes with a it we're leaning in rather than leaning away. And we're actually genuinely interested in how you are doing. And so um, in order to force connection, you got to have more curious questions. You you can't just leave them at courteous questions. And and and you know, the another thing, when I think about the life that you guys are living like in in Mount Bayou, um Dallas Willard was uh was uh an incredible Christian thinker in his day. And when he was asked to give one word to describe Jesus, he said, uh relaxed, relaxed, unhur unhurried, um willing and always open to interruption and disruptions in the course of his day, um and always always leaning in leaning into opportunities to connect to people along the along the journey. There was a Japanese theologian who wrote a book called Three Mile an Hour God, and it describes basically the pace of Jesus, that he was that he that he was moving at three miles an hour because he walked everywhere. And and very rarely did they, you know, you would think that that if we're gonna tell the story about a king that he would come everywhere he would be, would be on chariots and he would be hurried, moving from one place to the next. But but this Japanese theologian said, no, no, no, not Jesus. Jesus was walking everywhere and having conversations, stopping, checking out fig trees and telling stories about fig trees and and and and and telling stories about caves and seeds being cast and people stopping him, interrupting him. He was always moving at a pace that love requires, uh, which is a pace that cannot be hurried, you know. And so I think there's something to be said about the connection between the slowness of a Mount Bayou, but also just this natural forging of relationships that happens in Mount Bayou as well.

Reconciliation As A Tiny Minority

SPEAKER_03 39:55

There was a you said some neighbors came up, and neighbor Lee came up a while ago. The yesterday at Kroger, when I was leaving, there was a a lady who yelled out as I'm walking out the door. She goes, Hey neighbor. And I went, I I stopped and I went, she certainly cannot be talking to me. Because that did not sound anything like one of my neighbors. So I stopped and I kind of peeked back in the door, and this older white lady's walking at me, and she goes, Oh my gosh, you're you're not my neighbor. And I said, Yeah, and you're certainly not my neighbor.

SPEAKER_01 40:50

You're the you're the other white guy in town. You're the other white guy.

SPEAKER_03 41:00

This older white lady looked right at me and she goes, Oh, you're not my neighbor. And I went, Yeah, you're you're not my neighbor. You knew if you knew where.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

That is a great segue, Phil, because I was going to talk. And that that's a great segue to the obvious that we've been kind of dancing around this whole um this whole episode, which is Mount Bayou is 97-98% black.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

When it was 100% black and fear showed up.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

You know, it's it's Nettie Nettie, it's fun, it's funny you mentioned that because of course um there there's a uh there's an Oscar, uh Oscar awarding, or Oscar awarded movie uh that just recently uh recently came out uh called Centers, uh directed by Ryan Kugler. And in the story, Centers, they mention Mount Baye. And and they say, hey, you know, um there's a there's a town which it's uh been established and founded by free slaves, all black ran, and and and the and the guy that they're having this conversation and the and the cousin who he's talking to says, no way I don't believe that. There's such a town doesn't exist. He's like, no, no, no, it is. It's a town. It's it's it's called Mount Bayou. And he said, that's where you should go. He said, there's preachers and businessmen and women, and and he said, you should go live amongst the proper black folk. That's when you need to go to Mount Bayou. So so it's so it's interesting that that that story is that that this town is woven into the story of an Oscar uh-winning movie. And and and like you, and like Phil said, he and Kim are find themselves now in this town. Um, and the one white lady that's at the grocery store thinks that Phil's her neighbor because there's not many other white guys she probably sees on a regular basis. So tell us about reconciliation and doing the work of Jesus as it relates to bringing people together in a place where you are not just simply in the minority, but you are the the smallest of minorities in that town. Anything I make?

SPEAKER_02 43:24

I well, I'm trying to think Bud's mom's name. What's her name? Anyways, there's this I can't remember her name. I can't remember her name right now, but uh she speaking at the grocery store, we ran into each other and we haven't seen each other for a while, and she goes, Oh my gosh, I was just talking about you and your husband, and she works at the the the little museum in Mao Bayou. Um, there's actually a museum now in Mao Bayou, it's been around for it'll be four years, and so she works there, and there was this lady from California said, Why isn't there any white people that live in Mao Bayou? And she goes, Oh, there is, there's Kim and Phil.

SPEAKER_04 44:12

We get out of them. No, no, what you think. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:18

Oh, and then I I and she goes, she you know, she goes, so there's or I know, or was it she's like, Oh no, we no, she said, Oh, so there's no white people that live in this town. She goes, Oh no, there is, Kim and Phil. And she goes, Oh. And then she goes, Well, that's good. And I said, So and I she goes, and I She goes, she was one of the so basically was from one of the ships doing a tour and stuff. So one of the places, I guess, which I didn't realize that some of these, you know, from the river bolt is coming into our town.

SPEAKER_05 44:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 44:56

Which is good. But um, yeah, so it was kind of funny. She's like, Oh no, we there is Kim and Phil. They've been here for a while.

SPEAKER_03 45:04

Yeah, absolutely. Going back um several years, I was doing a Bible study with uh Dr. Larry Haywood, um, as well as some other guys in our town, and one of the gentlemen, um, I was the only white guy in our group, and I think one of the you know, when it comes to reconciliation, one of the things that um I'm comfortable with is being placed in um what others might think is a seemingly uncomfortable situation because I'm completely comfortable in it. So whereas others might be uncomfortable, I'm comfortable. I kind of told you all about that a little bit this morning in our in our men's group, but so there's there's that. But this group that we had, we were meeting with, it was interesting because one of the gentlemen in it was a he's a business owner, and um he was just having a problem with like slavery and me being a white guy and just like struggling with that, and us being in the same room together, and Larry's like Dr. Haywood looks at him and he goes, You a Christian? He goes, 100% I am. And he goes, Phil, I know you're a Christian. I said, Yeah, I and he said, and he looked at the guy and he said, Well then what that means is that you two are brothers. And you know, and he looked right at him and he said, You need to start acting like it. And from that point on, he started to back off things, and I I I get the history and all of that, um, and I don't know his complete story of what he went through personally and what happened to him and all of that, or what happened to his family. Um, I know a little bit, but in the way of reconciliation, I have I there's certain things that I can control, there's certain things that I can do, there's certain things um that I can be um slow down, be empathetic to, um, not just for the sake of empathy, but for the sake of really listening and really trying to understand, um, and come alongside and enter into somebody else's story, somebody else's narrative, versus just blowing by it, not listening, not really paying attention. Um and I think that's a large part of reconciliation. Reconciliation is you have to slow down enough to really understand. Um, and if you don't slow down enough to really understand, you miss it, you know? And so one thing I think that we've been confronted with uh specifically by moving to the south, but more importantly, moving to Mombayou is you know what was really happening in our what really did happen in our country, what still is happening in our country, um, and what part can we play in maybe overcoming that? Um not necessarily in our country, but in our spheres of connection, you know? Yeah. So there was a there was a gentleman years ago, um, he was our um he was our garbage man. We were at a we were at a basketball game, and uh and so we're watching the basketball game, and he kept turning around, he was making comments, and then one of the guys that we were with, he's like, Man, you need to get over it. Phil and Kim live here, there's white people in Mambayou, you know, there's probably there's probably more coming. And he turns around, no joke, turns around, grabs my hand, takes his arm, rubs his arm on my hand, and he goes, You ain't white anymore. Turns back around. When I went, I said, okay. I said whatever it takes, man. Whatever it takes. You know, we're all in either way, so if that yeah, if that's what it took for you, then so be it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Yeah, yeah. I always it is I'm sorry, go ahead, Kim.

SPEAKER_02 50:18

Well, um, I'm always a firmer believer that and maybe it's because of past um surviving abuse in the past. Um, but I I specifically believe actions speak louder than words. So if our actions, if people in our community or outside our community actually they can see our actions and our heart, our true hearts, then the words should follow. Should be, you know, that's I always think of um Thessalonians, the second chapter in eight, where it says that we, you know, we're not only here to share the good news of our Lord, but our lives too. So if we're able through our actions to be able to plant those seeds, then hopefully something beautiful will grow from it. Because I'm not gonna be able to change someone's heart. I might be able to give them pieces to the puzzle, you know, but I'm not the one that's gonna be able to change someone's heart. That's gonna be Jesus, and it's gonna be the blood of Jesus, and that's the only way that you know the racial repensation is gonna happen. Just like Dr. Perk Dr. Perkins.

SPEAKER_00 51:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 51:43

I mean, his heart and his love, oh my gosh, for as small as a man that he was, you know, he wasn't he wasn't like Mr. Six Foot, like his grandson.

SPEAKER_05 51:55

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

Big John. I mean, like he I mean when you say Big John, he was Big John, right? I mean, the man was what, six six, and you know, like you would want him in the corner if you got in a a fight with you know, you had to pick a team, you know, to have your back. You would want him on your phone.

SPEAKER_00 52:14

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 52:15

You wouldn't pick Dr. Perkins.

SPEAKER_00 52:17

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

You know what I mean? You're gonna want the strength, right? Um, but Dr. Perkins did everything by his heart.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

Yeah.

C2K Ministries And Final Invitations

SPEAKER_02 52:27

You know, yeah. I want to be like that. I want people to see our heart. Now, let me tell you, if there's a fight that's gonna come about, and I'm gonna have to, you know, stand up for someone that I love or whatever, the pit bull will come out of me and you will see it. You know, um, and I'll fight tooth and nail. But I I hope my my my actions of love and caring and stuff will overflow and people feel it and see it.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

I think, I think they do. I think they do, Kim. And um, and you guys have been an incredible blessing uh to to me personally, but you've been an incredible blessing to our organization, our ministry. And so we are we are incredibly grateful that the Lord has assigned you to uh to Mount Bayou and um and we know that the people of Mount Bayou are are blessed as well as blessing you um as you as you guys live there and and continue to force connections and build uh build uh Kingdom Work. Uh tell us tell tell people how they can keep up with Kim and Phil uh Shake. Where where do we go on on social media? Where do we go as it relates to web pages to look at your ministry, check you guys out?

SPEAKER_03 53:52

Yeah, um people can go to uh the easiest way to do it, go to our website lovecamedown.com. That's the easiest way to remember it. The ministry name is C2K, so letter C number two k ministries.org. You can go there, you can look us up. Um C2K Ministries is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, Twitter, all those places. So you can find us there. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:30

Excellent, excellent. Man, we appreciate you guys so much uh for spending a little time with us today and talking about um your life, your story, and the great city of Mount Bayou um with their massive mall, um, otherwise known as Walmart. Uh, for those of you all who are listening, uh, thank you guys for joining us. And feel free to subscribe to Living Reconciled Podcast. You can do that by just going to any podcast app and searching on Living Reconciled. Also, feel free to like this episode, but also share um this episode and any others with your family, with your friends, your um church members, uh, people that need to hear stories about reconciliation. Uh, we would very much appreciate it. On behalf of my friend Nettie Winters and my friends and guests, Kim and Phil Shank, this is Brian Crawford signing off. Say God bless. Thanks for joining Living Reconciled. If you would like more information on how you can be a part of the ongoing work of helping Christians learn how to live in the reconciliation that Jesus has already secured, please visit us online at missingmississippi.org or call us at 601-353-6477. Thanks again for listening.