The Other 6 Days

Southwest Church: On Mission | The Other 6 Days | Episode 38

• Southwest Church • Season 2 • Episode 38

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In this episode, we have invited a very special guest, Pastor Chris McElwee to join us. Chris is our new Discipleship Pastor here at Southwest and brings with him a wealth of knowledge, experience and know how in all areas of ministry, leadership and both local and global missions. We are excited to learn a little more about Chris, his passion and gifting, all while sharing what we believe to be one of the biggest biblical mandates of all Christian believers... to go and make disciples of all nations. 

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Speaker 1:

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Other Six Days podcast, where we chat about life outside of Sundays and what it means to live from our gatherings, and not just for them. I'm your host, cj McFadden, and I'm here, as always, with Pastor Ricky Jenkins, and today we've got another special guest for you all our very own Southwest Discipleship Pastor Chris McElway.

Speaker 2:

Hey, first time on the podcast. First time, I hope so.

Speaker 1:

We're so excited to have Chris here today.

Speaker 3:

Chris and his family recently moved here from Idaho just in time for a nice hot and humid summer right here in the Detroit Valley.

Speaker 1:

Chris has a substantial background education and training in pastoral ministry and leadership, as well as bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience in both local and global missions. We're blessed to have him at Southwest and excited to have him here on the podcast today. Chris, thanks for being here.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for inviting me, yeah it's great to hang out with you guys this afternoon. Really cool.

Speaker 1:

Looking forward to be fun. Yeah, I will. Well, I'm sure you know we always like to kick off the podcast on a lighter note, so we're going to start off today with a question what is the most unique dish or food that you've had on your travels?

Speaker 2:

Man, I, uh, I've been on a lot of trips, been a lot of countries, but the definitely the most memorable. I was in Kenya and we were in a rural village, like we were. We were in a place where, when, when we got off the out of the van, hundreds of kids were at a school and hundreds of kids came out and started rubbing my arms and I was like I looked at the missionaries who lived there. I'm like what's happening? They're like they've never touched a white person before.

Speaker 3:

Oh wow, yeah, it was really.

Speaker 2:

so we were out there and we were visiting the school and we have lunch in the teacher's lounge. But when I say teacher's lounge, it was something that I would have built with just nails. I mean, it was boards everywhere.

Speaker 2:

It was just kind of what you would see in rural Africa dirt floor, the floor was. It was tilted, it was hot, there were flies and they put food in front of me that the kids would have eaten and I could identify the rice white rice looked good, there was meat but I don't know of the origin, but it smelled good. And then there was like a heaping of like something mixed with cabbage and other things. I didn't know what it was and I don't love cooked cabbage. I love like crunchy cabbage, like a slaw, and I ate the meat and I ate the rice. And I took one bite of the cabbage and I was like oh, I can't.

Speaker 2:

And then the missionary was sitting right next to me and I said you know, I was quiet Because you know these people gave us a lot of food and I said do I have to eat this? And she goes yeah, you kind of have to eat this. And I'm like I don't know if I can. I don't know if I can.

Speaker 3:

I gave her the look of help me and she's like I'll help you, and so I took a little bite, she took a big bite, and that was the only time I couldn't, I couldn't do it.

Speaker 2:

Just I wasn't going to be able to do it.

Speaker 1:

But just the cabbage right.

Speaker 2:

Just the cabbage thing, mix it just. It just didn't work for me, yeah.

Speaker 1:

That's hilarious. What about you, Ricky?

Speaker 3:

What do you what? Anything that comes to mind? I know what I've seen.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So like when we, when I went to F or was I, mozambique, yeah, mozambique. And we finally got to villages, rural, rural Mozambique, and same thing Kids come out and blah, blah, blah. Well, there was a kid, he couldn't have been a day over three and this kid had a gourd so it looked like some kind of gourd where the planter comes, came from a tree and it was folded and he had a live green beetle that was in the gourd and it's just his sandwich, like he's about to tear it up. You know what I'm saying. I'm like, all right, okay, I'm not, I'm not in chicago, okay, but uh, we went to china a couple times and it's just delicious food.

Speaker 3:

And you know, even in mozambique the food was delicious and just loved it. And you know, you have duck, you have this, you have that. But one of our teams, they had donkey, so they just had. You know, yeah, they just, they just dug in and you know you honor the, the gift of the hospitality. You know what I mean. So just tore up some donkey, man, you're having donkey, oh man.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we were sitting. I wouldn't want to honor the gift of the hospitality, you know what I mean, so I just tore up some donkey man. Oh, you're having donkey, oh man, yeah, we were sitting.

Speaker 3:

I wouldn't want to be the butt of that joke.

Speaker 2:

How much Polynesian sauce would you need to get?

Speaker 3:

that down Exactly, yeah, exactly. I heard you had some donkey with your.

Speaker 2:

Polynesian sauce.

Speaker 1:

Do you have any salt and some pepper? Yes, I haven't been on a lot of missions trips just down to mexico, but I did go to scotland, uh, for my honeymoon, and uh, we ordered. I ordered haggis for the first time, so I was very surprised, as I was eating it, to find out what it was made of yeah and so I had no idea. You know, like the kind of intestine sock that it came in and stuff it was oh man, that was, that was rough so that'll put some hair on your back.

Speaker 1:

But then Dan told me that they eat when they were over in Dominican Republic that they'd had guinea pigs.

Speaker 2:

Is that the hint? Yeah, that's a pretty popular dish down there. Yeah, probably. Yeah, I mean, you know, yeah, like a chicken or a quail kind of, I guess. Sure Tastes like chicken.

Speaker 1:

Probably good Isn't? Is any pig?

Speaker 3:

technically a rodent, I think so right Is it? I don't know, because it's a shoaling pig.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, it's like a prairie dog or something like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's like a. Yeah, it's got fat. Yeah, like a prairie dog. That sounds rodent. I never thought about that until now. That sounds rodent-ish.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah up, oh yeah, so cute I was in vietnam.

Speaker 2:

I was in vietnam last week and we got, we went to a place and everywhere we went there was bowls of food and I'm like that looks good as a pile of rice, you know, and big bowl of rice and I'm like I'll have some of that and they're like, uh, they're like it's, it's, uh, and they couldn't think of the english word. And I'm like, uh, it looks like hamburger to me. And they're like, uh, dove, it's dove. And. And I'm like, oh, dove I'll try that.

Speaker 2:

And then they're like oh no, no, not dove Pigeon, and I was like I literally had the fork in my right here.

Speaker 3:

And I'm like it's good, it wasn't. I didn't love it, didn't love it. The most lovely bird to the most hated bird oh, thank you. Tastes like chicken.

Speaker 2:

The pigeon's a flying rat.

Speaker 1:

It was gamey. It was a little gamey. Yeah, it was gamey. I love it.

Speaker 3:

You're like you're eating your pigeon. You're like I'm picking up some concrete.

Speaker 1:

I just I had that Donuts fries.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, the images in my head were like is there feathers in this? Is this a New York pigeon? Yeah, that, that's the dirt, like where it comes from. I'm picking up some cigarette, butt what about you.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, what did this pigeon eat Exactly? Yeah, that's almost like seagull.

Speaker 2:

That's pretty bad. Yeah, exactly, Pigeons are just rats with wings is what I call them. That's exactly right.

Speaker 3:

Oh man, that's good.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm glad we got that out of the way. Well, why don't you give us a little background about yourself, kind of share with our audience where you're from, how you came up all that stuff?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, I grew up here in Southern California in Torrance, Graduated high school, went to Chico State in Northern California, met Jesus while I was at Chico and graduated from there, lived in Fresno, worked at a summer camp in Fresno. But right before I did that I went to a conference called Urbana 1990, which is where I was called into ministry, started working at a camp, summer camp in Fresno, year round, really fun camp. Got connected to a local church got started working at the church.

Speaker 2:

They asked me to they hired me for some reason it was an EV free church in Fresno and and left there after a couple years to go to seminary at Talbot at Biola and then met my wife. She was starting her grad degree at USC. After we both graduated we got married and we moved to Wheaton, Illinois, First job out of seminary and we thought we'd be there for like five or six years. We actually thought we were going to go overseas.

Speaker 2:

We thought that was sort of the eventual but Like we thought that was sort of the eventual, but we ended up just having an amazing time at Wheaton Wheaton Bible Church, great church, great missions church and four kids, three born in Illinois, one adopted from Uganda. And then we had a short time in Idaho for three and a half years at a church plant and now we're here in the desert for the last four months and we are loving it, especially the cooler weather we're getting.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, especially today, especially today. It's really nice. Yeah, I know, high of 80 today. Last week high of 80,000.

Speaker 2:

That's right, that's right. It was a hot summer.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah, we got through it and now we just say, oh, it's only 100 today, it feels nice. Yeah, there you go, it's all perspective, it's nice. Yeah, I was actually going to ask you, urbana, urbana.

Speaker 2:

Urbana is a conference put on by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, which is a college campus ministry, and Urbana is Urbana, illinois, champaign. Urbana, where the University of Illinois is the Fighting Ill is Urbana, illinois, champaign. Urbana, where the University of Illinois is Illini, the fighting Illini down there, and it's the first. There's others today, like Passion, that Louis Giglio does.

Speaker 2:

But Urbano is the granddaddy of Michigan. It used to be. When I went, there was 20,000 college students and high school seniors worshipping together in their giant. I forget what they call their basketball arena, but this huge arena.

Speaker 2:

I didn't even know there were 20,000 Christians in the world. I mean, I'd only been a Christian like a year and a half. I didn't even know what a missionary was. I just went because I had never been to Illinois and my friends were going. My girlfriend at the time was going and she said why don't you go? I said OK, and it changed my life. Yeah, it caught fire. Yeah, it changed my life, caught fire. And it in the missions it's, it still goes on, it's every three years and it still happens. No longer in a champagne.

Speaker 1:

They kind of have moved it around, um, but it's still a great conference to go to if you're a graduating senior or or or in college. So, yeah, very cool, yeah, that's awesome, yeah, well, um, today obviously we're talking about missions, and so let's unpack some of what the Bible has to say about missions and what it means for us as Christ followers some of what the Bible has to say about missions and what it means for us as Christ followers.

Speaker 2:

Well, you know, for me, one of the first things I learned after becoming a Christian is Matthew 28, especially going to Urbana. Yeah, matthew 28. Yeah, go into all the world and make disciples. That's right, and that is the foundational call Matthew 28, 16. And it's Jesus just before he ascends and someone I know just taught about this not too long ago, ricky that this is the last thing that Jesus says is sort of the most important thing.

Speaker 3:

In fact, I just heard Ricky preach about this yesterday and I'm like that's it, that's exactly right. I was preparing for this. Yeah, that's right, that's right. He was, he was, he was already thinking about it.

Speaker 2:

But so you know, Jesus calling his disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations is our, it's our call and it's Acts 1.8,. You know where. You know the one the Holy Spirit comes, You're to be my witness in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. Those key verses I think kind of everyone sort of knows, but really the call is all throughout the Bible. That's right. Yeah, you know, starting from Abraham all the way through where.

Speaker 3:

Abraham's like go you know, get out, yeah, and that has always been the impulse of God to save his people.

Speaker 2:

It's always been.

Speaker 1:

The program is to go and make disciples, always, always, always, yeah, so good, yeah, yeah. Anything to add to that right here?

Speaker 3:

I think that's right. I think, um, I think, just with what the scripture that that Chris is laying down for us, I think our listener I would, I would want them to hear that, man, this is part of God's heart, a big part of God's heart, and a lot of times when we talk about missions and going elsewhere, we kind of forget to think about it introspectively, right, meaning that at one point, wherever you are, was a mission field, yeah, you know, and that the reason that you have the gospel today is because somebody left where they were to reach out to you and I.

Speaker 3:

Just sometimes we can otherize missions and make it something that other people do and other Christians do, but no, this is way more deep as interwoven into the character of God and who he is, and thereby then the character of those who say we love him, and so I mentioned this yesterday. The Latin scholars called it the Missio Dei, which is Latin for the sending of God, and what the scholars were trying to kind of capture was this sense that even in God's nature, god operates as a God on the move. Yeah, that he is not stationary, he does not stand still, he is not mobility, speaking at rest, he is dynamic. The reason that Ricky and Chris and CJ have on headphones and a microphone talking about Jesus is because God refused to stay.

Speaker 3:

Still. I'm here because God left, essentially wherever he is, and I'm not trying to go spatial here, but spirit he left and sent himself to us, and part of the essence of what it means to be a Christ follower and to be in love with him is to not just keep the joy to myself but to partner with him and have the burden to spread his joy around the world. And so I guess my encouragement, before we move forward, is to the listener that if that's not in you, it's an opportunity for you to question that and to do some talking with Jesus and to look at scripture in a different way, in a holistic way, because this is part of the very nature of Christ. It should thereby be part of my nature nature of Christ it should thereby be part of my nature.

Speaker 3:

I should have this burden for others, for those who don't have them, no matter where they are on the earth, because God loves them, and the return of the favor, as it were. So that's the thing I think on either of those groups, just theologically. This is not a I love what you said, Chris. Right, Like God says, go.

Speaker 2:

He's not asking us what we think about it, he's right.

Speaker 3:

Right.

Speaker 1:

He's not asking us to see if you can afford it. On the budget Like he's not.

Speaker 3:

He's not really there. And what we love about God bringing Chris to us was that we know we had a guy Southwest has a history and we've done stuff all over the world but then we had some chapters in Israel we just stopped. We just stopped doing missions. Before my time, before my time, history where we just stopped, we just stopped doing missions. It was before my time, before my time, and we've just been saying, okay, let's take care of Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. So that was us saying, let's just get the home base at least functional and God, bring us somebody who has the experience and the burden and the heart to show us a way forward.

Speaker 1:

So it's a very exciting time to be at.

Speaker 3:

Southwest and the things we're dreaming about for the future.

Speaker 1:

So that's all I got. That's awesome. That's pretty good.

Speaker 2:

That was more than what you had.

Speaker 1:

As you were saying that, I was thinking almost anything outside of ourselves is missional and it doesn't matter if it's even just a little bit far away, or if it's really far away like it's missional.

Speaker 3:

And so that's the call. That's so good. You know, don't sit on your hands, you know.

Speaker 1:

Amen. So well I've seen this conversation amongst Christians that there's a conversation around effectiveness, progress or impact with regards to global missions and support, and it almost seems to end up sometimes as a local versus global conversation, and so we were just kind of speaking to that. But let's talk about that a little bit more, Like how do we kind of let's flesh that out, yeah?

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, I love what Rick was saying, because it's not local or global. It's local and global.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know not, not all of us are called to go. You know, when people think of missions, they a lot of times they have like this thing like a A hut on the Nile and there's mosquitoes and you're completely inconvenienced.

Speaker 3:

Yes, there's no Wi-Fi. Eating donkey.

Speaker 1:

Eating donkey and haggis and cabbage of unknown origin. Cabbage visions.

Speaker 2:

You don't know, and that's what our thought is right. Some of us are called to do that. I mean I know missionaries who have lived in the jungle for 50 years. I mean I don't know for 50 years. I mean it's in it. I don't know how they did it. You know, I not all of us are called. Some are called, but all of us are called somewhere. You know, I like to. Here's what, here's what I like to say.

Speaker 2:

When I, when I teach on this, I said look, I know of a place, I'll call it the CV, and the CV is a place that has wifi, they have Starbucks, they've got raising canes, they got they speak English. You don't have to learn another, you don't have to spend three years learning a language. The culture is similar to the culture that we. You could go there if you really wanted to go there, and then I, then I would sell them. As I say, you're already there because the CV is Coachella Valley. I love it. That's so good. That's the Coachella. I mean, many of us are called to live here for the rest of our lives and that's okay.

Speaker 2:

In fact, there are so many worse places to live right. This is a great place to live Right If this is where God has called us, but some of us are called called to go and all of us are called to support those who do go. Yeah, yeah, right. And so that's, that's how I kind of view that, local and global.

Speaker 1:

Right. So that's good, that's really good.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I love that, I love that distinction yeah. Um that we all have a calling and the only question is where? It's? Just where. You know that's right, that's that's. I love that you know when we have this first global sunday that we've been thinking about for a couple years. I've just been meditating on it, thinking through it, and it's just like, and I don't even know if we know how to facilitate at all.

Speaker 3:

We'll figure that out as a family, but like man, to present the opportunity to answer the call. Yeah to foreign missions. Yeah, right, like I don't. I don't know that we do that.

Speaker 3:

So I've been meditating on that and thinking and wrestling with what that means, but I would just say to like everything that Chris has said, it's like man. I think we've created this optionalism, you know, with respect to calling, and I think we use the word purpose, you know, I think purpose is good, but I think we've. When I read scripture, I don't see God doing a lot of hey, what would you like to do? Yeah, I see God doing a lot of Amos. Yes, I know you're farming, stop it, go, go, say this to this king. But it ended up being a place not only of mission for God, but adventure, yeah, fulfillment. A place not only of mission for God, but adventure, fulfillment, contentment and purpose for Amos, to use this metaphor.

Speaker 3:

And I think, when we say this, I think, chris, sometimes we look at the call of God as something that's hard, it's optional, it's something I don't want to do. I know this. I didn't want to come to Southwest. I didn't, I didn't, I said no. That seems like a bad idea. I even said no, and I didn't. I said no. That seems like a bad idea. I even said no, and the Holy Spirit wouldn't leave me alone.

Speaker 3:

This has been the best thing that's ever happened to me in ministry and here's my point I said no, and so I think, like when you hear that word, like Chris is saying, call yeah, on the other side of that is a contentment and fulfillment and a space with God and your relationship with him and the fruit of it for your family. In other words, there's blessings on the other side of obedience. That's right. You know what I mean, and sometimes I think we create a purpose and ask God to bless it. When God is saying, no, I'll call you and I'll bless what I call, that's right, and I think that's our opportunity to talk about this stuff too.

Speaker 1:

So so good. Oh, I appreciate that. We uh that you guys ended up answering the call and we got a missionary from Mississippi and a missionary from Idaho, you know.

Speaker 1:

I'm looking at it from the other side. No, I love what you guys said, though, too, about like, if the appreciation and support for the missionaries that do, uh, whose hearts and affections are stirred to go, and so I think that's something, too, that we can lose sight of just in our local context, and the individuality that we have is that someone is called to go do something like that and we're called to support them.

Speaker 3:

yeah, and so we'll talk more about that a little bit here but one of them I did want to mention.

Speaker 1:

I thought it was it's. It's interesting. But right now we have a lot, you see it a lot because of social media so and digital. But are we really doing a lot of good where we're going, you know, know, with great intentions, but a lot of memes and jokes are around young missionaries just going on church funded mini vacations to exotic places and not doing much. So we do see that and so I think that kind of sours a little bit of the mission, you know, kind of vision, yeah no, that's true that it does happen and that still happens.

Speaker 2:

There's been a, there's been a huge shift over the last I don't know maybe 30 years in missions, especially when you think about North American missions. You know, for as North America grew and became wealthy, we were, we were sending people you know, most missionaries were coming from.

Speaker 2:

You know, western Europe and North America, yes, and you would go and you would, you know the thing, you would take your box with you because you were coming home in a box, right, you know you were going to die of something. You know, um, you, famously, you, you could be killed by the locals. You know, like, um, uh, I just left my name, but um, elliot, uh, jim Elliot.

Speaker 3:

Yes, and um, you know, was famously killed in the jungles of Ecuador. It's a great.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's been made into that tribe is now famously been evangelized. But you were going to die of something. Over the last 30 years, what's happened is that the center of evangelical Protestant Christianity has shifted from the north to the south. There are more Christians, far more Christians, living below the equator than above the equator.

Speaker 3:

That's right and it's like by hundreds of millions, that's right, right, that's right.

Speaker 2:

And it's like by hundreds of millions, that's right, right, that's right. And so for us to continue to send missionaries, as we have done today, just doesn't make as much sense. I was in Kenya earlier this summer with Pastor Kanji and a team from Southwest, and there's very little we can tell the church down there.

Speaker 1:

They're telling us that's right.

Speaker 2:

Here's how we do it. That's right. And they are reaching people, they're starting churches, tens of thousands of young people. They are so high on what Generation Z is doing in their country and it is honestly, it was super inspiring, so for us to send a missionary, I mean why?

Speaker 3:

Why would we do that? We should be saying can y'all send some of y'all's missionaries over here?

Speaker 2:

Well, North America is a destination for foreign missions to come here and that's happening so good. Now we have a role to help in certain areas like theological training. We are still very well resourced in North America, so we can do things like that, and there are parts of Africa that aren't like Kenya and Uganda.

Speaker 2:

I mean East Africa north of the Sahara, algeria, morocco. Those are still places that are still tough to reach right, but that change has shifted. Also, more and more churches are starting to understand the nature and the purpose of short-term missions trips. I'm not sure who's influenced it or where it started, but probably the biggest influence over the last I don't know, maybe it's 10 years now is a book called Helping Without Hurting, which is written by Corbett and Fickert which is one of the books I tell everyone that's a must-read.

Speaker 2:

Fickert, which is one of our one of the books I tell everyone that's a that's a must read. And and they actually have. They have a whole sub, a little book they called helping without hurting. In short term missions, which is the book I use to train people, and the idea behind it is like, as, coming from the North North America, we shouldn't be going on mission, on mission trips, thinking, well, we are going to change this village in the next seven days. It will never be the same after we leave, right?

Speaker 2:

Or we're going to invest all of this money, because it costs a lot of money to go on these trips. It's easily $2,000 a person. If you're going overseas Mexico obviously would be a lot more inexpensive than that but you're investing all of this money to build a house or do something like that, which isn't a bad thing by itself. But gosh, if you took $24,000, say you took 12 people and it was 2000 each what if you just took the money and just sent it down there, they could probably build three houses, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2:

So we're rethinking that and that's that's so. When we go on trips, we, we, we go as learners Like why are we here? Yes, we're here to learn, Like we don't know what you're doing or why you're help teach us. Yeah, If we can bring some human resources with us, that's awesome. Sure, If you do a medical trip and you're bringing nurses or dentists, that's amazing. Or if you're going to visit a school and you have teachers and bring some, those are the kinds of trips that are super meaningful people. But our posture should be as learners, not necessarily as doers.

Speaker 2:

And as long as you have, that it's going to impact not only the people who are visiting, but it's going to impact us and we're going to bring that back. We're going to say you know what these people need our help. Let's continue to send resources human and or financial resources to let them continue to do what they're doing.

Speaker 1:

Oh, man, I love that when you were saying that, I was thinking like proximity changes your perspective. And so really, as us going there as learners, I see some of these young hearts that are stirred, even going for, maybe with the wrong motive. They show up for the wrong motive and they end up wanting to stay for the right one. That's right, and so it's beautiful to watch them and they go there thinking I'm going to help them out so that was mine.

Speaker 1:

When I went down to the Mexico loft house build for the first time, I was like we're going to go out and build these little homes for these people and they're going to be blessed. That's right. And when we got there the local director told us you know that obviously the family was blessed by us.

Speaker 3:

This that's right and I was like I almost was like chills, I was like, yeah, it's so true, I was like man.

Speaker 1:

There's a burden and a need, and the things that are happening down there just stirred my heart and affections for things going on outside of my local context. That's so good and I was like man, a little trip, that's what it is yeah, that's right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's what it is, that's what it should be. When I went to mozambique uh, so 04, and you know you're kind of blessing children every day, kind of vacation, bible school stuff we're right by the Zambezi River here in the hippos at night. That's awesome. Now you learn that a hippo is a death beast.

Speaker 1:

So thank God we survived.

Speaker 3:

But anyways, sunday morning I preach in front of the great tree, hundreds of people there, and it was just this wonderful experience. But then the brothers and sisters dance for an hour and the praise and worship service was dancing. It wasn't singing, they were singing, but it was about an African-American from the south. Right, my soul, my soul has been affirmed that the way I show up to connect with Jesus is not other. Yeah, right.

Speaker 3:

It is part of the heart and beauty of of the Holy one, right, and that's what makes heaven so sweet, cause we're all bring those threads of his beauty into heaven, and I love that. And so for an hour I'm sitting there watching them. Just I'm weeping the whole time, watching these sweet mothers dance with their babies and um and and to, to hear, to be awoken by their prayers, right like that's how you woke up. There's no alarm clocks because these people who live in huts are calling on the name of God, and that's how you wake up in Africa and China. And I remember getting back to finish this up.

Speaker 3:

I remember getting back that weekend and the weekend before I'm a campus pastor, so I would think, okay, this team ready, is this, you know? You know, have we got the church out of the box, out, and are all those chairs set up? Oh my gosh, is the live stream going to work? And that Sunday I was like I don't give a crap if there's a wall, a hole in the floor, I'm going to preach this gospel because we don't need any of that. And that happened. They taught me that, they discipled me, so I love that story that's so good and that's what we bring home.

Speaker 2:

Right, it's like under the tree we got windows and roofs and we're worried about all this stuff, and the gospel was preached under a tree, in the middle of who knows where. That's right and powerful and it does. You bring that perspective and it worked. Yeah, and it worked, it worked.

Speaker 3:

And so you bring that perspective back. That changes us and goes yeah, you know what is important.

Speaker 2:

Let's not forget what's important.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, wow, absolutely, wow. So what would you guys say are some of the various things our listeners can do practically to participate in missions.

Speaker 2:

so good well, go on a trip right, go on a trip is is key, um we we're gonna do two trips next year we're gonna announce those trips at our global sunday coming up next month. We're really excited about um, but man, I still remember. I still remember every trip I've been on. They are all life changing trips. I went on a trip to Kenya earlier this summer with 12 people from um Southwest who none of which I even knew.

Speaker 3:

I met them when we got to the airport you know kind of on the van, on the van.

Speaker 2:

And uh to see the life change in them you know it was thrilling and amazing. And going on a trip. Just it changes your perspective. It knits your heart with people and you go Jesus is doing what here?

Speaker 1:

with this.

Speaker 2:

It's amazing what is happening around the world and you know, Ryan and I are director of outreach. We're in Vietnam last week and I didn't know much about Vietnam other than Asia is highly unreached. Two percent of Vietnam knows Jesus, so two out of every hundred people Mercy. I was so inspired by what people are doing in Vietnam, which is a creative access country. You cannot be overtly evangelical there. You have to do it in the confines of a registered church and all that and they're doing amazing things there and I had no idea. I was impressed with their maturity.

Speaker 3:

I was impressed with their entrepreneurial spirit of like we're going to get this done.

Speaker 2:

This is going to be great and it's amazing, you know. So going on a trip is is is key, wow, yeah, I highly recommend it.

Speaker 1:

And just you sharing. That is encouraging and exciting to someone like me who.

Speaker 3:

I didn't even go on the trip, but your excitement as bleeding.

Speaker 1:

It bleeds over.

Speaker 2:

And I'm like man that is something that I would love to experience for myself. You know, it's just that's how it works Right. So you know, that's how it works right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, going on a trip. Yeah, all I'm going to do is double down on that. Like you can preach it, you can teach it, you can listen about what God's doing around the world, until you put your feet on someone else's sand.

Speaker 1:

Right, there's certain things that just don't connect for you.

Speaker 3:

And we're in a moment of great blessing where there's not a person listening who can't go on a trip I just wanna bring what Chris said to bear and most of us are called right here locally, but that doesn't mean that that calling does not transcend and translate to other areas, maybe occasionally, and so I think every believer in America should think about I need to do some kind of trip and experience we're gonna call them experiences here. Before I am done that, I'll do that and I just want to double down on what he said and I'll say this right, like there's something that happens when you go over and I've been on a lot of trips and I remember the first Usually they're 10 days- right, because you need to make the money worthwhile.

Speaker 3:

That's right, the first usually they're 10 days, right, because you need you know, you got to make the money worthwhile and all that stuff. Three, four days I've just been on so many where people because we're fleshy and we're human oh my gosh, this is what their toilets look like, and oh my gosh, the air conditioning is so different. And oh my gosh, the food. And oh my gosh. And then, after about five days, after the Holy Spirit's just flabbergasted you and then you're used to the culture, something happens because you realize, oh, life works here just fine, it's just different. That is so true, and so I just think there's something too about America's so blessed, but it's been also so cursed by the blessing.

Speaker 1:

Yes, is that okay to say that's right?

Speaker 3:

And sometimes we need to get some of that beaten off of us. Yeah, and there's nothing like seeing the beauty and wonder of a different culture in real time who are calling on God. That helps, you see. Oh, I would have been fine if I would have grew up in Beijing. Oh yeah, I would have been fine if I would have grown up here.

Speaker 3:

I would have been fine, because God is everywhere and beauty is everywhere and I think that's something like in other words, it's not all just churchy, yeah, but it's all gospel, yeah, you know what I mean it off a little bit of that blessing.

Speaker 1:

You need to every now and again to remember that it is a blessing and to remember that that blessing is so that we can share it with others. You know cause, otherwise it's easy to internalize that.

Speaker 3:

Right. And so I'm like I'm a part of this and I'm comfortable getting outside of our comfort zone and all those kinds of things you know it's, it's.

Speaker 1:

we need to make uncomfortable more common, so that's a good yeah.

Speaker 2:

So go on a trip. There's a great book called Operation World, which is it's basically a country a day. Flip the page and learn about this country how many people live there, a little bit of the history, how many people know the gospel Just statistics, and then asks you to pray for that country. Oh, that's beautiful. So, like Vietnam, I didn't know much about Vietnam, so they have a website too. You can buy the book. They have a website now. They've had a website for a long time, but I just recently went to it, where everything's on their site so you can just click and go to different countries. But like, for instance, vietnam, I was asking some of our staff you know how many people live in Vietnam? And they're like I don't know. 12 million, a hundred million people live in Vietnam. A hundred million people, a lot of people, a lot of people. I had no idea there's a lot of people.

Speaker 2:

There's 8 million people in Hanoi, where we were, and it's not you know people don't realize how big this place. But that's 100 million people, 2% of which know jesus, that's what I was thinking, you know.

Speaker 3:

So it's 998 million, something that don't know, jesus. So, wow, that didn't. What's that praying?

Speaker 2:

yeah right right, that's right and so praying, just pray for these countries, right? We know, when we pray for people, our hearts get drawn to those people right so that works across the street and across the world yeah, so that's my wife.

Speaker 3:

april's a big missions gal. She she used to do missions in Honduras and we've been to Honduras eight, nine times. She's been there probably 15, 16 times, but many a night we'll pull out Operation World Book and it's spiritual formation for our kids.

Speaker 1:

Of course they're rolling their eyes like Dad. Y'all are such nerds.

Speaker 3:

But you learn about the King of Fasa, whatever, and this many people and pray for this and pray for that and pray for the government to do this. It's just such a spiritual formation tool for us and it's interesting. What happens is the more. I think it's Psalm to Psalm one eight, Psalm two eight. It's in the Bible, somewhere where you know what God calls us to pray for the nations because they're on God's heart, something like that. But like I've learned that in my little experience and exposure missions, that when I start praying, like Honduras is part of my heart, yeah, it's part of my prayer.

Speaker 2:

You've been there yeah.

Speaker 3:

Because I've been there Exactly. So something gets in you, and especially in the rhetoric in our country and politics, like you know, China, Russia that brings up feelings for us politically, but when you've been there you think, well, those are my brothers over there yeah that's right, and that's Pastor so-and-so over there and there's Pastor such-and-such down in. San Pedro Sula and it changes how you think about the world.

Speaker 1:

Oh wow, it does. And I would say, on top of all that, prayerfully consider as you pray for other countries and opportunities there for, uh, that this would become a priority in your own life and that God might stir your heart as to how you would be involved in this and so and a priority in your life meaning whether you're going to go, whether you might stay or whether you support and so we talk about financially resourcing these people that that might be an opportunity, that when, when the opportunity arises that you might be able to support someone else who can go and do this. So you know, just keep that in front of you. That's right, and so this will preach. Yeah, that's right, it does Well. Well, we have some exciting things to look forward to here through Southwest church in the new near future. I don't know if you want to jump in too much, or we're kind of working on some of that stuff.

Speaker 2:

Well, we know we're supporting. The church has been supporting Southwest for a long time. It's in the Jinja area of Uganda, which a lot of people don't know where that is, but let me tell you, it's where the mouth of the Nile River is.

Speaker 3:

And I've been there.

Speaker 2:

I haven't been to this ministry, but it's amazing. It'll be an amazing time. There's a ministry there that is working with orphans, with families who may be single moms or just having a hard time. They're supporting families in the area. So we'll be spending a week down there and then we're hoping to have another trip back to Vietnam next year with a new partnership down there. Man, it'll be great. We'll have some awesome, awesome experiences and great food.

Speaker 3:

Great food.

Speaker 2:

We had great food down there, more food stories, more food stories.

Speaker 3:

You always have a food story, don't get it.

Speaker 2:

We've got a trip to Mexico next month.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

In fact, today they were getting ready, they're building a loft out in the parking lot. That's right. That's a three-day. If you've never been on a trip, it's three days. Yeah, it's like what three hours away. Great experience to go on that trip.

Speaker 1:

Well, that one's set up beautifully because we have a local opportunity here that you can do the build in our parking lot, where you have an opportunity to just get some hands-on with actually fabricating the homes. They're prefabbed and then they're built actually and assembled down there. That's right, so you can actually do that and be a part of it local, or you can go on the trip as well.

Speaker 2:

That's right, and so that's a great opportunity too, if you're local and you don't need to know how to build. Yeah exactly the guys have it dialed in where even somebody like me, who can't hit a nail straight, will be able to do this. Yeah, they got you covered, yeah.

Speaker 3:

I'm a witness that I have the same deficiencies but I was still useful.

Speaker 2:

That's right, yeah.

Speaker 3:

God can still use you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, god can still use me.

Speaker 1:

Well, as always, we want to make sure we provide people with helpful resources. What are some things that you'd like to point people to that they might find helpful or beneficial?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love the Operation World website which you mentioned earlier. If you want to read an easily accessible book, it's one of those books. There's probably four or five books in ministry that I've always said I read it and go where was this book?

Speaker 2:

all my life, but Helping Without Hurting. There's a video series. If you have access to right now media, it might be even on YouTube now. That's a great book to read. The Center for Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell has a great tons of resource and statistics and definitely check that out. And then, finally, there's a website, frontierventuresorg, which is now housing something called the Center for World Mission, which used to be up at Fuller here in Pasadena and just kind of, I mean it's if you haven't been exposed to missiology and global missions, it's. I mean, it's massive and there's so much. There's so many smart and passionate people working in this field and those, those are doors into those, into their areas, so I would definitely check those out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sounds so good. Yeah, well, guys, um, and we'll include all this in our show notes. Uh, you'll be able to. We have able to. We have links to some of these resources that were mentioned, so that'll all be there for you. And then, as always, we want you guys as questions, comments and feedback. So make sure you leave a comment on YouTube or, if you're listening, you can email us at the other six days at Southwest Church dot com, and that's the number six. Let us know if you guys are interested. You know, whatever, we'll get it to the right, in the hands of the right people. Uh, ricky and Chris, any last comments before we wrap this up?

Speaker 2:

You know, serve locally, go globally. Um, we're here to help you take those steps. Um, send out an email to Ryan, or outreach director, uh, or myself, and we'll help you take that next step of get connected and, um, if you do it, I, I, uh, I think it may change your life. So, so good.

Speaker 3:

Don't miss global Sunday. First ever at Southwest, whether you tune in online or you're here on campus, we're going to be celebrating the nations, our work around the world, but, more so, talking about who God is and to make sure that we leave global Sunday having God's work around the world on the front of our mind and not the back of our mind. So we're so excited around the world on the front of our mind and not the back of our mind. So we're so excited Bring a friend, it's going to be awesome, absolutely Well.

Speaker 1:

there you have it, guys. Thanks again for joining us on another episode of the other six days podcast. Be sure to hit that subscribe, follow, share and like and, as always, spread the word and take what you've heard and turn it into something you can do to further the gospel in the world around.