New Year, Same Love for the City

It’s a new year, but the same focus of loving our city.  Brenda Gerber Vincent, Chief Impact Officer of Greater Fort Wayne, and newly appointed Love Fort Wayne Board Chair, shares the vision for Love Fort Wayne in 2023.  Listen in on how you can be engaged in loving your city in 2023.

Transcript

Geoff King  0:02  
We're excited to launch season three of the love Fort Wayne podcast. The love Fort Wayne podcast connects to stories of leadership happening in northeast Indiana to imagine inspire and ignite transformation in leaders 20 to 25 minutes at a time. I'm Jeff King, CEO and Executive Director of love for way. I love Fort Wayne, we know that the pillars of a flourishing community are at schools, its leaders, churches, and families. Join us as we learn from leaders across the region on how to not just lead but love our city.

Mitch Kruse  0:41  
Hi, I'm Mitch Cruz, board member of love Fort Wayne, thank you so much for joining us for our podcast and with me today for the very first time is the one the only our CEO or Executive Director, our new CEO, our new Executive Director, Jeffrey LendKey.

Geoff King  1:01  
The whole government name that is me, Jeff, you're

Mitch Kruse  1:06  
amazing. And I just can't thank you enough. This is gonna be so much fun to do this with

Geoff King  1:11  
you. I'm excited for it. I'm excited about it. Excited for it for sure. And

Mitch Kruse  1:15  
our guest today is the one and only B. G v.

Brenda Gerber Vincent, one of the greatest gifts our community. Yeah. I mean, like, unbelievable. I have four daughters. You know, I'm a girl that yes, you are girl dead. And it seems like I tell every one of them. You have to meet with Brenda Gerber.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  1:38  
Thank you. That's such a gift. I appreciate you saying that to me.

Mitch Kruse  1:41  
In fact, I think I told Kelsey number two I said, I think this is you down the road. And so I really want you to see what it looks like.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  1:48  
She'll be better than me. Oh, she'll be better than me.

Mitch Kruse  1:51  
Thank you. That's gonna be hard to do as we're going to unpack you our chief impact Officer of Greater Fort Wayne Inc. Can you tell us what that is what your day looks like and what your organization is?

Brenda Gerber Vincent  2:03  
Sure Greater Fort Wayne Inc is the economic development arm for Fort Wayne and Allen County. Are we wake up every day to grow jobs, wages and the economy. And I always say the proof is is is in downtown and Allen County just driving around you can see all that we've accomplished. I mean, obviously we stand on the shoulders of so many great leaders that came came before, but we're really there's a tremendous amount of momentum, a lot of vibrancy, a lot of growth. We're the second fastest growing Metro and a five state area 60 metros make up that and we're the fastest growing you're one of the one we were first last year, we slipped to number two to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, so I'm not sure what that St. Clair done. I don't know there. But no, we're happy to be in that one or two spot as the fastest growing metro but its quality of place. People are coming here, people are coming here because of what an amazing community we offer. So I oversee five different like divisions of Greater Fort Wayne communications and marketing, advocacy. So working with our elected officials, Melissa Bebo runs that department. She's terrific. All of our events were known as great having great networking events are really trying to connect the business community, we have over 9000 businesses in our community, really trying to make sure that they're strengthened, really aren't, you know, retention and attraction is two things that we are constantly focused on. And is that retention piece that I'm most focused on in the work that I do. So once somebody moves to Fort Wayne, how do we keep them here? We have a wonderful program called onboard. It's the red carpet, the front door for Fort Wayne. So for new people come in. We're revamping the program for 2023. So this year, we're really excited to launch bustiers. So anybody that's new to our community, whether you're a member of guard your foot waning or not, you're welcome to join us on the bus tours. And we'll, we'll give you a VIP tour of every quadrant of the city. Sounds fun. Oh, that's cool. It really is. We've done them. We've done them in the past, and they've always been well received. And it's a it's a great way to immerse yourself in really the history of the community, but also what the future is going to look like.

Mitch Kruse  4:04  
That's awesome. And you develop emerging leaders or young leaders.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  4:08  
We do we have leadership Fort Wayne, another program that's underneath my umbrella. We just celebrated 40 years of the program, we have between 50 and 53 leaders every year that go through this wonderful program.

Mitch Kruse  4:19  
You know, Jeff spent a lot

Brenda Gerber Vincent  4:22  
longer than I know, but no, really proud of that program. And it's amazing, because for 40 years we've had, we've had so many leaders, the mayor is a is a graduate of Milkis leadership where when so many though, it would be too hard to name but so many of our community leaders are proud alumni. And this year, we're our selection of our classes. Next is two weeks from now. So we'll be selecting a whole new round of leaders for 2023.

Mitch Kruse  4:51  
That's really Yeah, Jeff, I don't know if you heard it, but she said Greater Fort Wayne, I think is about economic development. And I'm thinking Jeff and I would like To be economically. Take it. However, whatever that looks like. Well, you are also well, yes. Go ahead.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  5:12  
Oh, I was just gonna say we're also the Chamber of Commerce. So it's kind of one it's, it's, it's the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development rolled into one. And that makes up Greater Fort Wayne, Nick. So I just thought I didn't want to leave that part out. Yeah.

Mitch Kruse  5:24  
That's awesome. You are also our newest chairperson for love Fort Wayne. And we're going to unpack all the vision that you have, and you're passionate about that. And I've known you for a long time, and I'm really eager for you to take us to new places and new heights, it's gonna be just absolutely awesome. But your background is powerful. And I'd like you to you grew up with a dad who is extremely successful, correct? How did that shape where you think you wanted to go? Like when you're ready to go to college and what you wanted to pursue as a career,

Brenda Gerber Vincent  6:08  
you know, my father, it and he's, he's truly my hero. And it's really interesting, because it's not, I don't look to his success as necessarily, kind of shaping who I am. He's dead. He's dead, but it's more his generosity. I mean, he is he is the most generous person I've ever met in my life. And you know, it's he's a quiet giant, you don't see his name in lights. He's not up on any walls. But the amount of individuals he has helped, is is beyond what I can comprehend when I would.

Mitch Kruse  6:38  
He's an orthopedic surgeon who has also designed what,

Brenda Gerber Vincent  6:43  
yeah, patents for yes, for biomed. Yeah. And so you know, when when he would round, he would take me I was little, I was maybe five or six years old, seven years old, and it was Saturday mornings, and I would wake up, and I would round with my dad. And so I would go, but here's what was so impressive. And here's what made such an impression on me is he knew everybody's name, we would go to the cafeteria. And he would say, Hey, Bill, how's your uncle doing? And the person cleaning the hallway, he'd say, Hey, Mike, how's your mom? Tell me how your mom is. And we would walk into, you know, a patient's room. And he would know the nurses know, he maybe he didn't know their names, but he had nicknames for everybody, my good. But to watch him, it didn't matter. And it still doesn't matter. And this is the thing I've learned the most from my father is status just simply doesn't matter to him. If you're an individual, and you're here, you're important. And that's how I was raised.

Mitch Kruse  7:34  
You never lock eyes with someone, it doesn't matter to God. Right? Image bears.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  7:38  
So true. Yeah. So I'll tell you one story, he met a gentleman at Home Depot. And it was over a course of a matter of years. And he kind of when he would go into Home Depot, he would talk to the same same young kid. And he kept saying to him, so tell me what's next? What are you going to do when you graduate high school? And he said, Well, I want to be a manager of this Home Depot. And he said, You know, I don't have a father and mom can't afford college. And my father sent him to Purdue for four years. Oh, my goodness, but that's who this man is. That's who I was raised with. I mean, what a blessing to be raised by two incredible human beings. My mom was equally as powerful. I'm sure an example in my life, as my dad

Mitch Kruse  8:18  
was joked about us being economically developed. And she you it's funny that you grew up experiencing what you're doing now. Absolutely. So when it came time to go to college, what do you think you wanted to do?

Brenda Gerber Vincent  8:29  
Oh, anything but you right? So there's like six generations of IU grads, and I was gonna I was gonna go anywhere, but IU and kind of hurt my dad's feelings that I wouldn't even go down and visit. And finally, you know, my mom said, You know what, let's just do this. Let's just go down. Let's go down to Bloomington. And let's look at it. Let's see if there's, you know, an opportunity that you might, you know, enjoy it while I get down there. And I did this thing called the Red Carpet tours. And I came back to the hotel that night and I'm like, this is where I'm going and wow. And it was really this powerful moment. You could imagine that call to dad, like Dad, I'm gonna go to IU but and then you know, both of my children went to IU so yeah, we have a long IU history so that was education

Mitch Kruse  9:12  
was your major and you're one of the best communicators I've ever met in my life and another one sitting beside me what you major and

Brenda Gerber Vincent  9:20  
you know what I majored in communication and political science you hear that makes you want to vote for money but now the major doesn't even exist very technical resources on us Yeah, yeah, there's they're all technical they're all analyst is in everything right. So I would have been in communication analyst or some fancy term.

Mitch Kruse  9:41  
So is it when you graduated that you ended up having this amazing public corporation CEO invest in your life or

Brenda Gerber Vincent  9:50  
was I went right from from IU I went to Washington DC I worked on Capitol Hill. I was with that. I was then with junior Congressman Dan Coates and Senator Luker and at that time very, and I just to be mentored by that caliber of a global leader not just a national leader but global leaders I, I learned at their feet. I mean, I, I watched them I learned from them. And then Randy Tobias, who's who I ultimately met. Wow. And then he took me to AT and T. So to be that young, and to have those kinds of influential leaders as the people that were forming my kind of global feel or look at the world. I mean, it was it was impactful.

Mitch Kruse  10:32  
What do you think about that leadership development?

Geoff King  10:35  
I mean, that's matchless? Um, yeah. Yeah. to be around people. That a, what I'm getting is With a heart that was like your dad's, which is, I'm gonna lean in to this person, because they're a person, right? And I'm gonna, I just don't want to stick them in my pocket. I want to him myself to them, Oh, my goodness, take them with you. And take them, take me with them. And vice versa is important. And it's just, it's what we need more in our community in our world, because the impact that it has on people and their journey, their trajectory, so on and so forth. It's smash lists and smash lists.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  11:09  
Yeah, we did have a big impact on me. And y'all want to go back to my father, because I think, you know, obviously, he, he made a nice living. And it was, but that wasn't the, it really wasn't the focus. When we were growing up. I remember we had one of his partners lived down the street from us, and they lived in a big house and had a tennis court. And I remember saying to my dad, well, what does he do? That's not how we were raised. No, I mean, we, you know, I can remember, I wasn't allowed to wear anything designer till I was like, 16. I wasn't, you know, it wasn't that wasn't the focus of our lives. And we had a nice life and I don't want to, I don't want to take away from that. It was in perspective, but being a good person was way more important way more important to my parents that we were, we were kind to

Mitch Kruse  11:51  
consumers 20 to one good names more important than riches. What brought you back home, back home again.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  12:00  
You know what, I have come back three times. I've actually lived in seven different metros. So I've lived all over the United States. So I feel like even though I'm a fourth generation, Fort Wayne native, I have perspective. I've lived in New York. I've lived in the kidneys, Tampa, I've lived in Florida. I've lived in Ohio, and Atlanta, I've lived all over the country. And so I have a feeling of what it is. I've lived in big cities. I've lived in small cities. I've lived in Indianapolis twice. I've always come back to Fort Wayne. And anytime I'm in any other city. I think to myself, those aren't my people. Those aren't my buildings. Those aren't my streets like I have a real love of Fort Wayne. I love this city like so many other people do. But these are my people. These are my buildings. Yeah.

Mitch Kruse  12:44  
Can we talk about one of your stints in Indianapolis with and what that was all about salute weekend. You were Chief of Staff for Karen pence when Mike was governor. Right? Correct. And what was that like for

Brenda Gerber Vincent  12:55  
you? It was amazing. It was an incredible lifetime opportunity. It started with a call to B Mike Pence as he was then Congressman Mike Pence. And he called he was going to run for governor. He was looking for a Deputy Finance Director and I he asked me and I he asked me on a Friday and I moved to Indianapolis on Monday. So I apartment down there. It was just one like it was a lifetime. Right? It was just it was this amazing, magical time in my life. And we regardless of whether you believe or don't believe in, in some of the pence policies, you could never question the integrity of this great leader. He is a man He leads by faith. Yes, he leads with integrity. Both he and Karen. I mean, they are faith filled individuals who rely on God and I will tell one story, they were deciding whether they were going to run for Congress, and he had had a failed attempt. Some people don't know that. But he'd had a failed attempt. And they were deciding whether they were going to run again. And they went for a hike. And they were sitting along the ridge of one of the mountains and they were watching up. They were watching a bird fly. And the bird was just soaring. He was just using the wind currents just to soar. And Mike said Do we have to do make a decision whether we're going to run or not? And Karen replied, I will if there's no flapping if we completely rely on the provision and protection of God and so there was always the saying of no flapping so and that was one of their mottos was just total reliance on DOD and it was an everything they did. And you know, sometimes I've worked for different elected officials throughout my lifetime. You turn the camera on and they become one person you turn the camera off and they're another Mike and Karen pence or exactly who they are all the time, whether it's behind the camera or in front of the camera, backstage front stage platform, they are all they are who they are all the time.

Mitch Kruse  14:54  
That's a beautiful thing because authenticity is supposed to be the number one value in our culture because we all do construct and we want to see is Brenda the same in her car, you know that she is when she's in front of people she's same in her house, as you say when there's conflict, you know, is she the same and the more we deconstruct and the more she is the same, the more powerful that becomes true authenticity. Oh, they are the real deal. Before we jump into love Fort Wayne Yes. And all your vision for our future, including Jeff

Brenda Gerber Vincent  15:25  
is gonna hold on to Jeff shirt to

Mitch Kruse  15:29  
talk about care tabs and, and that story.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  15:32  
Yeah, when. And characters you know, near and dear to my heart. My brother Chad. He was the youngest of three of us. He was eight years younger than me. So you can imagine as an eight, eight year old little girl, he was my baby, right? So when you're eight, and you're a little girl your mom has? Yeah. So I would dress him. And you know, we would we would play house, we were very close. We were very, very close. And growing up. He went to IU. He was on the track team. He did pole vaulting, he was there on a pole vaulting scholarship. And I love that. And he was diagnosed with a mental illness, schizophrenia at the end of his senior year, so he thought he started the Gulf War. And we had no idea what mental illness was, or schizophrenia. This was a long time ago, this was over, you know, almost 40 years ago. So at that time, in Fort Wayne, there were no resources and no services for people who had severe mental illnesses, really, we had the resources of those who were given like homeless, you know, those type of things, but nothing really segmented for mental health. And mom and dad being who they were decided that they would travel the country, and they would learn best practices. And they had three or four other families that did this with them through Nami. And they came, they brought back a model called the Carriage House model. It's a, it's a model out of New York City called fountain house, they brought this model back, it's a non medical model. It's built on purpose and hope. And it does, it does that we serve over 1600 members of our community, we have 1212 people on staff, it's a beautiful facility on Lake Ave, my brother went there, I think something he did pass away in 2000, he actually died on January 1 of 2000. And if you remember back, if you are alive and listening on, on that date, you know, we had, we were buying visqueen and we y2k And all of our computers were gonna go down and, and you know, that was the day that the Lord took my brother. And I remember thinking that it was a day of renewal, it was the first day of of the 2000s. And, you know, I was lucky enough and privileged enough to get to do his eulogy. And I said, God is going to take me on a Wednesday afternoon, and people are gonna go, Oh, she was nice. And you know, life will go on. My brother died in his status or his, you know, his his life probably didn't have much meaning to anyone except for maybe our family. He was very, very sick with schizophrenia. And, but the Carriage House grew out of, you know, his illness and other people. I mean, it wasn't just my brother, it was it was other people that blew life into this into this amazing facility. But I think you know, his impact in our community is far greater than any impact I'll ever hope to have. But while he was alive, didn't have much value. So it's really been a lesson for me. We just never know.

Mitch Kruse  18:20  
Yeah. I imagine you've seen similar stories where the loss of a loved one in packs,

Geoff King  18:29  
it's the seeds we lay, you know, I think about the seeds we lay in. I think it's the the thought that comes to mind that sometimes you lay a seed, and you never know what happens to it sometimes what's what how it's going to bloom, how it's going to blossom and how many people it's going to feed in the future. And his life has fed so much hope and inspiration and growth and awareness in our community. And I love that about our story because all of our stories have meanings to the Lord. He wrote him for a reason. It's part of his meta narrative story. And this is a lasting legacy of why God gave him life and why he brought him back home. Right? The things that we get to experience now.

Mitch Kruse  19:14  
John 1224 Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, you know, there's not new life. I'll speak in a new life. It's a new year. Yeah, the two of you are leading us in love Fort Wayne. What do you want to happen?

Brenda Gerber Vincent  19:28  
Oh, my goodness. We're gonna follow in your footsteps. Mitch, you in the board who have been doing this for 20 years.

Mitch Kruse  19:35  
Are you serious? Is that true? Yeah. 20 years.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  19:37  
It'll be our 20 year anniversary.

Mitch Kruse  19:38  
Oh my goodness. It seems like yesterday. I was still

Brenda Gerber Vincent  19:46  
Jeff and I are gonna very gently pick up what you all have done for 20 years in growing. What used to be GLS GLS between the summit's and now love Fort Wayne, and it's in it's been a journey right? I started in 2013. It's how long I've been involved with the organization. That was the first GLS. I went to I went to there was the big one. I think we did you called me up on stage. I remember. And you asked me what my favorite scripture was Malikai three, three, he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And we talked about that we kind of we kind of pulled apart that scripture. But that was my first kind of entree into what this was about. Hmm.

Mitch Kruse  20:27  
Man, that was, that seems, again, that seems like yesterday, just absolutely seems like yesterday, you've been a huge part of it. We have kind of a new structure that we started with where we're not GLS and beyond any more global leadership summit beyond where love Fort Wayne, what we're about is to imagine, inspire and ignite transformation through God's love. And we do that through loving our leaders, loving our pastors, loving our families, loving our schools. Can you talk about both of you actually, what that will look like in 2023?

Brenda Gerber Vincent  21:06  
Yeah, that's a great question, Jeff. And I'm sure that our answer would be the same. We're going to figure it out. And again, you know, just listening to the wisdom of the people who have been around the table like you met, you've been, you've been with this program, you've been with this organization for much, much longer than the two of us have. So I think it's learning what's working, what can we do to refine it? And what can we do to help move it forward? The thing that I'm most passionate about is when we say love four away, and I want to love all four away. Yeah, you know, that's, that's a goal of mine. And, you know, we have a ways to go because we have some awareness, we want to make sure that you know, Jeff is Jeff is out there speaking about what we do, making sure that we that we're in areas that maybe that we haven't been in touching people that we haven't touched before. We're just starting. I mean, even though we say we're 20 years old, I believe that we're just getting started. Oh, there's so much so much we can do to love our community.

Mitch Kruse  22:04  
Absolutely. Jeff, you grew up in southeast Fort Wayne, what do you see that we can do more? To develop the Emerging Leaders of southeast Fort Wayne?

Geoff King  22:15  
Oh, man. Yeah, I always think about love goes low. Hmm. So love goes, love goes low to the places where people are. And I think a part of reaching the emerging generation, specifically in that quadrant of our city is getting to the places where those leaders are, I have the opportunity to be surrounded with leaders that are from that part of the community, they might not live there still. But they're from a part of that community, who are who are loving, they have love stories. They're loving Fort Wayne in these beautiful ways. And some of it's just getting to the table like the Lord did, and just sharing the table with folks that are from that part of the community that live in that part of the community. They're doing God's loving work there, and just listen to them first. And so some of it's just invitation to come to the table. Hey, we don't know it. So our hands have to be open. And I know, as Brenda said, following the lead of some of you all who have been a part of the organization for so long, and saying, Have you engaged in some of these conversations, it's not reinventing the wheel. It's just taking it into places that maybe it hasn't gone before. And I think that that's that that is a really important thing for us to do. That has been the blessing of my life coming from there. I didn't have as many struggles as some of the people from southeast Fort Wayne did have because my parents were more strict but they were educated and they they stayed on us they gave us opportunities. But it just took a couple of opportunities for people to see me and see the gifts that God had given me in the divisions that he had given me and opportunities that I have now opened up five people saying I'm just gonna come to the table, listen to you and love you. Love you low, not low you for love you from a high place but love you from a low place and serve you by just listening to you and your story.

Mitch Kruse  24:07  
Man, is that beautiful for me. That is powerful. The listening first, I think is everything. Because how can you know your audience if you don't first listen, you know, when Jesus was coming off the Sermon on the Mount, they think are probably 20,000 people there and they're bumping around each other. Somebody comes up to him they have a need. I mean, he listens. You know, he stops and he listens. And I think that's such a picture for all of us to consider what Jeff just said there. Brenda, do you see school connect what we're going to try to do there? Yes, we're going to start in in southeast Fort Wayne in two schools of Ascot and Alberta. Ametrine we want to connect a business in a church at least right with every school. How do you see that impacting the next generation?

Brenda Gerber Vincent  25:12  
Oh, my goodness, just through support. I mean, I can't imagine being a teacher in 2023. I mean, I look at what pressures they're under. And I just saw just came out of study about how we've, we've really declined because of COVID. Right, the school test scores and math and English. I mean, I don't think there's ever been a time at least not in my history, that has been so incredibly difficult to be an administrator or teacher. And those are the heroes. Yes. I mean, those are the people. You know, if I could be like, you know, it's just, it's just I think we have things, we just have things backwards. Those are our heroes. Those are the teachers. And I think, for us to provide support, and encouragement and cheerleading and say, Look, you're not alone. We are here to help. We are here to you know, to have your back. I mean, I can't imagine that it's not going to impact not only them their teaching, but then, you know, all the children that they teach.

Mitch Kruse  26:07  
I agree. I'm so excited, Jeff, for that to be scaled up. And we go to other schools. Yeah, about you.

Geoff King  26:13  
Yeah, me too. I mean, as we just spoke about, it's, it's about the whole of Fort Wayne. So to start with, to and then to pray about and to have vision about what might, what might it look like to duplicate that and double that and triple that, and look at the other quadrants in the city, because as we've spoken about, there's some needs that we don't know about, right? And we're gonna listen, and we're gonna listen at the foundation over at the schools with the teachers, I love that there are heroes, and a lot of educators that are close friends of mines, it is it's hard work, especially in 2023, my mind

Mitch Kruse  26:47  
is spinning, because I'm thinking about our Ignite fortwayne movement, where we're connecting emerging leaders with veteran leaders, and how that ties in to school connect with the emerging leaders do a project where they talk to a business about how would you like to partner with a school, but I can see those emerging leaders are gonna come out of school connect, and they're going to be in Ignite, and then they're going to be a veteran leader. It's amazing generational pieces. Yeah. It's going to be amazing. Hey, you've been on here before. And you've addressed the last question that we always ask. And that is, what would you tell your 20 year old self? How about you tell us like some people believe in New Year's resolutions? Some people believe in goals, some people will say, hey, no, I'm gonna kind of shift it. And I'm just gonna have like this theme in my life, how do you approach the new year, that's,

Brenda Gerber Vincent  27:38  
you know, what, and I put a lot of thought into it, I do. Can't wait, oh, I put a lot of thought into it. And I write it all down. And I strategically plan out and I pick a word every year. So every, this is when we didn't even know that we didn't. So I pick it a pick a word, and I focus on that word, and you know, I'll come down to maybe three, and then I'll pick my word like, like, you know, in January, so for me, and then I have like a plan for how I how I want that year to look, I'm very goal oriented. So for me to have, like these certain kinds of measurements throughout my year that, that, that I know that I'm moving. It's not so much my life work, but the way that I impact other people's lives, that's really super important to me, whether it's, I think we have a responsibility of encouraging young leaders, I take that very seriously. You know, my, I would love for my legacy to be that there's that, you know, I'm working for the people that I used to manage, right? I always tease my staff, I know, I'm really nice to you guys, because I'm going to work for you someday. So, you know, I do take it very seriously. I do write it down. I do have goals, but I don't have like that I have to like accomplish certain things like, like, every year, like I should eat better. Every year, I should sleep more. Those are like those are fundamental to like the trainer over here. It's more like, you know, there's just, I want my perspective to be challenged more. I want to be you know, I want people to challenge me on a level where it changes my perspective in some areas that have just been so ingrained that I don't even know it. Yeah, you know, I want to be open to learning new things. I want to be open to meeting new people. I want to have people over to my home that we haven't had over. I mean, there's just certain things like that, but I my husband and I sit down together. And it's like how do we map out this year? So it's, it's it's impactful, and not so much to us, but that we make a lasting impact on different areas, whether it be charity flight, like philanthropy, how much do we give, so things like that. Those are things that we map out the beginning of the year. So you would

Mitch Kruse  29:39  
encourage a 20 Something might be listening today to do that theme for the year

Brenda Gerber Vincent  29:46  
to just be intentional in their thinking instead of it just being another day having it be an opportunity for growth.

Mitch Kruse  29:53  
And if you want, you could put a Bible verse with it. That's kind of what my family does. We we go around the table Trouble. Usually I think it's Christmas. And everyone will say their word for the year, their theme for the year. And then we'll come up with what the Bible verses that applies to that and we meditate on it. Think about it as the year goes. And it's interesting how that comes up later in the year. It may be somebody's going through something, you say, hey, remember that theme. Remember that verse? It's good.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  30:23  
I do that in my Bible. I date, like the as I go through it every year, because it's a different scripture. And I date those. And it's interesting to go through to see what I picked eight years ago or six years ago, five years, like,

Mitch Kruse  30:34  
Oh, that is awesome. It's great. Well, Brenda, thank you so much for joining us. Again. You're one of the greatest gifts to fine thank you. And Jeff, you're amazing and I just can't wait to follow in your footsteps this year. It's gonna be fantastic.

Brenda Gerber Vincent  30:52  
Bring on 2023! 

Mitch Kruse  30:53  
We're gonna love our leaders love

our pastors love our families and love our school. Thank you so much for joining us this month we drop a new episode the first Monday of every month. Love Fort Wayne has some amazing episodes coming up. You don't want to miss a single one. So subscribe today, wherever you are listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, share and leave a review. We want to share your thoughts and comments with listeners on future episodes. Thanks again for joining us today. Join us next time as we hear from leaders that don't just lead but love our city.