Beyond the Event: A Youth Ministry Podcast
Bringing together influential voices from the CIY community to walk alongside you in your journey to maintain momentum between the mountaintop experiences of youth ministry.
Beyond the Event: A Youth Ministry Podcast
BTE4.02 RIOT Ministry Partner Follow-Up with Richie Shilliday and Brittany Shoemake
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Discover the life-changing impact of mission trips and prayer with CIY's Director of Engage, Brittany Shoemake, who shares her profound experiences in Spain and Northern Ireland. Brittany opens up about Missions as a Lifestyle and the pivotal role of prayer in connecting with communities. Tune in to hear her stories of collaboration, and the joy of introducing new groups to these meaningful mission trips, including her fondness for the scenic beauty and deep relationships formed in Northern Ireland.
Explore the genuine pursuit of faith among young believers and how CIY Engage trips encourage authenticity within the church. This episode is packed with personal anecdotes, including the chaos of early flights and strategies to beat the alarm, alongside reflections on positive trends within our faith communities. You'll be inspired by a follow-up conversation with our MOVE and MIX mission partner from this summer, RIOT (Revival In Our Town), as we hear from their director, Richie Shilliday.
Immerse yourself in the power of storytelling and leadership as Richie tells stories from the history of RIOT. We discuss how sharing personal stories can connect generations, enrich faith journeys, and create lasting community impact. From Dundrum's modest yet impactful ministry efforts to Richie's inspiring storytelling lessons, this episode celebrates the authenticity and growth experienced by those involved.
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Engage Missions and Trip Planning
Speaker 1Hi , I Superstar . If you want to go one of those places in 2025 , you can jump on CIYcom get registered for those events . Also , if you want to go on an engaged trip , that is a thing you can do . That registration has been open for a long time now , but we're going to talk about some ways that you could make that happen with my co-host today , brittany Shoemake . Brittany welcome .
Speaker 2Hey , brad , good to be here .
Speaker 1You know what's crazy that I was looking at earlier is that it's actually only been two . It's been a long time , but it has only been two episodes since you were last on the podcast .
Speaker 3That's funny to think about .
Speaker 1So you were like a very yeah , you were a very late guest for season three , a very early guest for season four . So glad you're here . Hey , how was your summer ?
Speaker 2It was fantastic .
Speaker 1Yeah , you did a lot of things , yeah .
Speaker 2And it's funny . I'm thinking back to that episode now and I was talking about the things that we were going to be doing in just a couple of months , and now it's been a couple months since those have happened yeah , so Spain , and we talked a little bit about Spain last time , so how was that trip ? Yeah , it was phenomenal yeah yeah , yeah , phenomenal . First time there with team expansion . Who was there in Granada and took a ? Took a group from Florida that was with us .
Speaker 1I love Florida . We know that , I know . But yeah , it was that was with us .
Speaker 2I love Florida , we know that .
Speaker 1I know .
Speaker 2But , yeah , it was a great first run there and I think the main thing that the students came back with from that trip is how much that missions is a lifestyle and one of our principles that we talk about . But just getting to rub shoulders for a week with the team that's there the missions team that's there just got to see their day in and day out of what that looks like and what ministry is and some really just practical ministry tools that those students came back with . So , yeah , it was awesome . Got to see God doing some work and things that we can continue praying for . So it's a it's a hard place .
Speaker 1I talked to some students who went on that trip cause they were with me at move and um they're . One of their biggest takeaways was like how much prayer plays ? Like such a central role in what team expansion is doing and is like kind of they're holding onto God's coattails and really just following wherever he leads them , and I thought that that was a really cool .
Speaker 1I mean if you're going to have anyone take away from a trip and you come back and you believe in the power of prayer and you have new , like prayer habits that you've seen work and that you've adopted in your own life . That's a huge win .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , for real . And I mean that was we were doing and learning new ways of prayer through prayer walking , through prayer experiences . It's , it's the tool that they are using right now and we often talk about prayer is the mission , for prayer is the engine for mission , and so just knowing that the , the prayer walking that we were doing and the things that they were teaching us through some of their methods , uh was really like helping to soften the soil for the work that they're doing .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah , that's so cool . It was so fun catching them like when it was all fresh in their minds right as they were coming back and hearing all these phrases about how much fun they were having , so also a mission that you have loved for a long time . When's the first time you went to riot ?
Speaker 2First time I went to riot was in January of 2015 . Okay , yeah .
Speaker 1Um so 10 years 10 years , which is crazy A decade now of you being able to partner with them , a mission that I've loved for less long time , but still a long time . Um was our mission partner this year , which I thought was so cool . Getting to introduce people to Richie , so so sweet , it was the best .
Speaker 2Yeah , I mean they've been obviously partners with CIY for over 10 years now . Yeah , and so to get to and we've had so many teams over 40 teams , I think , in the last 10 years and go over and get to partner with them , but then to get to share them with even so many more groups and churches and youth pastors , that's been a really sweet thing .
Speaker 1Yeah , it was so phenomenal , so cool , okay , so I want to know what . This is going to be a difficult question for you .
Speaker 2Okay .
Speaker 1But I want to know what your ? No , I'm not gonna ask that question . That's an unfair question .
Speaker 2But here's what I will it's gonna be something about favorite it will .
Speaker 1It's kind of , but like we're not gonna go there because I know you'll just be diplomatic and boring and not have a hot take boring .
Speaker 2You wouldn't have a hot take . You wouldnoring you wouldn't have a hot take . You wouldn't give us a hot take . Only boring .
Speaker 1People are boring , what's your favorite country that Engage travels to ?
Speaker 2Oh yeah , so I get this question asked a lot .
Speaker 1You're already caging Already . You're already doing it .
Speaker 2I have favorites for different reasons .
Speaker 1They're all your favorites .
Speaker 2They're all my favorites in a lot of ways . Okay , but yeah , there's the different cultural reasons that they're favorites Places that I've been to over time so have a lot of good relationships , so that would be a favorite . There's just the beauty of places and the scenery and so there's those good .
Speaker 1Let's do that one . So what's the most beautiful place that engaged travels you ?
Speaker 2think it is Northern Ireland .
Speaker 1A hundred percent it is . Which is , yeah , engaged travels . You think it is northern ireland a hundred percent it is .
Speaker 2It is , which is yeah . Also , it fits into a couple of those categories because it's one of the places I've been to the most as well of our locations and so have really really deep relationships there .
Speaker 1So we have , in part because of our relationship with riot that we developed to move this year . Um , I was looking at it today . What do we have ? We have like eight or nine trips going to northern ire move this year . Um , I was looking at it today . What do we have ? We have like eight or nine trips going to northern ireland this year with engage yeah , right now , over nine and it's continuing to grow .
Speaker 2So , yeah , yeah , we have six during the summer , so 2025 . But then we've added some more um in the spring and in the fall just for some other more private , customized type trips , for groups too , and we're open to that year round yeah , so .
Speaker 1So like the move season is basically june 1st through july 31st , let's pretend . Uh , it's not those exact dates , but it's basically two months . The Engage season this year will run at least from mid-March .
Speaker 2January actually . Well , oh yeah , the January trip .
Speaker 1So from basically January 2nd or 3rd or whatever , through the second week of October which is insane .
Speaker 1That's what it's looking like , if you want to go on an Engage trip , dream literally any of those times or the other couple of months that we left out november and december on the table . I'm just gonna go ahead and say that on your behalf . Um , what , like I know it's a different process for a youth , like they can't just go on our website and register for an engaged trip . It's a . It's a different thing . So like what is it ?
Speaker 2yeah , you know yeah , yeah , usually I . It's starting with conversations . Uh , so we'll get an email , get something coming through our website . Uh , have hey , brad , you'll hand me a name of somebody that you talked to that is interested .
Speaker 2But yeah no , it starts with conversations of just learning hey , what's , um , what ? What are you looking to get out of this as a youth pastor ? And maybe some of them have been on other trips before . Some of them this is their very first time to tap into what an international trip looks like . And so , just gauging from those conversations , we help steer and direct and guide in the ways that are needed and necessary and help figure out what's going to be the best type of trip for the group , best location , whether that time of year cost . There's just a whole lot of different factors in there .
Speaker 3Yeah .
Speaker 2But we can help guide and steer that conversation and so , yeah , going from there .
Speaker 1Okay , so reach out to Britt . If I get a hold of us , somebody can point you in the right direction . Literally , you can reach out to any CY social media email . Whatever you want to do , we'll get you in the right place . One of my favorite things about mission trips , though , is before we do , the mailbag is just . They are the places where the most hilarious and insane stories happen , and this would not be a good podcast if we didn't tell just a couple of those stories so how many wait ?
Speaker 1how many trips did you go on this year ?
Speaker 2I went on three so you went to honduras went to honduras with producer lauren , that's right you went to went to spain , spain , and then I was in Northern Ireland , at Riot , during the spring .
Speaker 1Northern Ireland at Riot in the spring . That's right , that's so fun , yeah , so what insane things happened that wouldn't happen anywhere else in the world .
Speaker 2What insane things happened wouldn't happen anywhere else in the world .
Speaker 1Just give us a couple of good , lucrative- . Well , this was actually insane .
Speaker 2Okay , give us a couple of good , lucrative . Well , this was actually insane , okay , during the Honduras trip they were having abnormal amounts of rain than any time . So it's a rainy season , but usually there's some rain that will come in through the afternoon , but I think it literally rained the whole time . We were there . From getting picked up at the airport started raining on the way back to the mission house , we had people in the backs of trucks putting tarps over , trying to stay dry , trying to keep the luggage dry Amazing . And then literally got rain throughout the whole week until we were getting dropped back off at the airport on the way home .
Speaker 1That's tough .
Speaker 2But I'm saying that we got to experience a Honduras that most people never get to experience , so and I mean we're still able to do the things that we're planning on doing . There Changed a couple things in the schedule but fortunately there's a lot of inside things happening , so it worked out . It was fine . But hey got to experience a different part of our different season of hunders I love it .
Speaker 1That's amazing . So no , no , no , nobody broke any limbs , nobody did anything crazy nobody uh , there was , nobody had any .
Speaker 2We're not wishing for that to happen , brad . You know , I know we're not wishing for that to happen .
Speaker 1Brad , you know , I know we're not wishing for that to happen . I'm just saying sometimes students get out of the country and they they change for the better .
Speaker 2It's true , you know , yeah .
Speaker 1You know , I mean one time you were on this podcast and you told a story about somebody throwing up in a trash can at the Taj Mahal , yeah , so that's really the kind of thing that I'm looking for here . Am I not gonna get another one of those out of you year after year ? Okay , fair enough , but people do get .
Speaker 2Do get a little more brave when they're overseas of trying which is great things which is great . Um , we had some guys that found some mangoes on the ground , no , and they were like it's probably not a good idea to eat them . And turns out we find out later they sure did open them right up , right off the ground it had been raining and took some bites of some mango that probably didn't come out in the best ways . We'll just say that .
Speaker 2Yikes , Okay , well so if you wanted your poop story that's it got it okay , we can move on now , okay , that's great , I love it .
The Mailbag! What's Encouraging in the Church Right Now?
Speaker 1Um , in all seriousness , though , engage trips are like the best thing . Uh , engage , we say that we train students for a life of kingdom work , and , um , yeah , it's super cool . It's super cool what ? What happens when you get students in another , in another place that they're a little uncomfortable with ?
Speaker 3um , on that note , michael , hello , hello , brad hello brett , hi michael Michael , hello , hello Brad , hello Brett .
Speaker 1Hi Michael , it's time for the mailbag . It is time for the mailbag . Michael's got some questions for us to answer .
Speaker 3I do . I think this question from Nathan Anderson is a pretty interesting question , nathan .
Speaker 2Anderson oh man .
Speaker 1Trip leader for CY Engage .
Speaker 2Wow . Former trip participant with CY Engage . Wow , former trip participant was on a trip with CY Engage last summer , two summers ago now two summers ago yeah anyway , and I think for people who are world travelers this question .
Speaker 3I'm curious what they would say okay . Nathan wants to know how many times do you click snooze on your alarm . Oh , that's a good question it .
Speaker 2Okay , Nathan wants to know how many times do you click snooze on your alarm ?
Speaker 1Oh , that's a good question . It says a lot about a person , honestly . Yeah it is usually once you click it , you snooze once , so your alarm goes off twice .
Speaker 2Yeah , so I set my alarm intentionally nine minutes earlier than what I want to get up , because I know I'm going to hit the snooze once .
Speaker 3Amazing . So , even when you have to get up for like a 5 am flight .
Speaker 2Oh , I usually don't snooze at that point , okay , because I'm usually awake , it's go time . Yeah , yeah , those are the nights , when you have to get up , catch a flight , go somewhere . That I really don't sleep great those nights , yeah , so I'm awake already . So once that alarm goes off , I actually .
Speaker 3I have a follow up question to that . Yeah , Are you good at going to bed at a decent time the night before you travel ?
Speaker 2No .
Speaker 3Okay , I'm not .
Speaker 2I just I'm , I count on like yeah , I don't sleep
Speaker 1before I have to go somewhere . Yeah , it's a bad habit .
Speaker 2But I can sleep on airplanes .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 3Okay .
Speaker 2So I factor that into the sleep schedule as well .
Speaker 1It's a formula .
Speaker 2Whatever I mean , I would rather be sleeping in my bed , but knowing that I have flights the next day , I'll sleep on an airplane .
Speaker 1I'm a zero snooze guy .
Speaker 2Zero .
Speaker 1Set the alarm , I'll wake up .
Speaker 2Ready to go ?
Speaker 1Not ready to go , but I don't press snooze , so that's a weird thing about me . And just one alarm , one alarm . Well , when I like tomorrow morning I have to leave my house at four o'clock in the morning to catch a 6 am flight , gross , and I will set like a 325 , a 328 , a 330 , a 331 alarm , just like make extra sure . But here's the thing I never need them , I never actually . Yeah , I'm the same way , yeah I do .
Speaker 2I do that , but it's like I need a safety net here .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah also I am .
Speaker 2I am not a person that has ever slept through an alarm . Like I know . There's people who will set multiple or set different sounds . That's never been my issue , so I I will wake up to any . I'm a pretty light sleeper , yeah yeah , never , never slept through an alarm there you go maybe have done the like whole am pm .
Speaker 3Yeah , yeah , I've done that a few times I I one time , um , missed an alarm . I don't know if it was because I slept through it or if it's because I did that thing where , as soon as I turned it off , I immediately fell back asleep without meaning to . But one time missed my alarm the morning that I was supposed to leave for a superstar trip and woke up to my doorbell ringing because both of our vehicles decided to come to my house to pick me up .
Speaker 3And that is probably some of the fastest that I've ever like , gotten myself ready to walk out the door .
Speaker 1Well , yeah I would say so and I just , I just had a , I just had a heavy weight on my head and on my shoulders for the rest of the day yep , you never recover from that kind of . Thing no , like you feel , you feel that all day long , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 3Terrible way to start your day .
Speaker 2So sorry for that .
Speaker 3We have a question from Flint Spencer and Flint wants to know what is encouraging to you that you've seen in the church lately . Aw .
Speaker 1Aw , that's endearing Love .
Speaker 2encouragement questions .
Speaker 3I know and Britt , you see a lot of the church .
Speaker 2See a lot of the church around the world . So true , so true . I think I have been encouraged by this draw to authenticity in the church around the world of these authentic believers . Authentic faith and getting back to just this is real life . We're not putting on a show . God's not looking for a performance out of anybody . He's wanting our hearts and I've got to see that and been a part of those conversations . So that's been encouraging , this draw to authenticity .
Speaker 1Especially among young people . Yeah , absolutely are really leaning into that . It's like they don't want the manicured answers and the right yeah , see right , totally see right through it yep , I love that . Yeah , I am gonna answer this question because I usually end up answering them all , which is maybe my red flag , I don't know . But the one thing I've been encouraged by in the church is just our home church .
Speaker 3Christ .
Speaker 1Church of Foronogo has been doing some really cool things lately . I was at a D group retreat all weekend with Flint Spencer . Watching that guy pastor junior high students is amazing , so he crushes it at that . And then we did like this incredible food drive recently and I'm hearing all these different ways that people are getting connected . They have things for , like , single moms and moms connection and they do a bunch with the foster care system and it's like , man , our church is out there , just be in the church yeah , and I love it , yeah , and I know churches all over the country are .
Speaker 1You know , that's just like the lens that I see that through , yep , but I don't know . Yeah , just like following my church on social media , and every time they post a story , I click on it and I'm like , oh yes , an awesome thing yeah it . It's so cool .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , and I think there's something to it with the growth that's been happening too of trying to figure out space issues and trying to ask people to maybe come to a different service to make space for somebody else , and it's amazing , it's encouraging , yeah , else , and it's amazing , it's encouraging .
Speaker 1Yeah , speaking of space issues , I read an article the other day about how the people in the international space station vote in us elections oh yeah yeah , it's pretty fascinating interesting .
Speaker 2I'm not . I'm not gonna give it away . I'm not gonna give it away . I'm not gonna give it away . Something I've ever thought about . Yeah , that's a different . I haven't thought about it either . Different space issue .
Speaker 1Well , yeah , she said space issue , and I was immediately like it is a space issue .
Speaker 1It's a completely different kind those are not the space issues that Christchurch is doing as a matter of fact but anyway , I'll let other people put two and two together on the actual type of space issues that we're dealing with . Yeah , anyway , that's good , that's good , that's good , paykel , thank you . As always , an excellent moderator for the mailbag portion of this segment . I'm excited , brittany , today to talk to Richie Shilliday . Yes , so a lot of people got to meet Richie at Move , like we already talked about , and Mix , that's right , and he is just one of one . Richie is in so many ways and , uh , I'm excited to get to chat with him . So you want to go chat with Richie ?
Speaker 2Yeah , let's do
Conversation with Richie Shilliday
Speaker 2it Richie Shilliday .
Speaker 1Welcome . How you doing .
Speaker 4Hi Brad , I'm doing really well Good Enjoying a little stroll through the Forrest around Ball Hinch Rugby Club , as we've just taken Ari to training . Thanks for being patient with me , guys .
Speaker 1Yeah , of course , I will say that nobody who has ever been on this podcast has ever had as beautiful of a backdrop on their video as you have right now . So you win the award for that . I don't know what the prize is , but uh , yeah , that's good . So , hey , you took a group . Yeah , you should come over here and see me . Um , hey , you took a group of students to move this year , right , Aiden actually took our group down to move .
Speaker 1Aiden took your group down to move , um , so I think it's cool that a lot of the youth pastors that patronize this podcast will have had a similar experience to what your group had over in Ireland . But a lot of people got to meet you this summer , richie . We had Riot as our mission partner . It was really cool Both Move and Mix to watch people kind of get to know what you do at Riot , of get to know , uh , what you do at riot and get to know you a little bit , and so we just kind of wanted to catch up , talk to you , uh , give , give the people a little behind the veil . Look at who richie shilliday really is . So , um , but not too far behind the veil , okay yeah , that's a good old scary .
Speaker 4It can be dangerous Anyway so , yeah , what was your ?
Speaker 1I want to know what your experience was like being the Move mission partner . How was that whole thing for you ?
Speaker 4So , yeah , when the idea was introduced I honestly was a little or whole lot . No , we're not a big fancy organisation . We're just this wee project , just a tiny little village in Northern Ireland that's planned to love our young people and trying to care for our community . Be the hands and feet to care for our community , be the hands and feet in a town that is one small wee , plant-based church and we're just trying to do a very simple thing of bringing Jesus in a very normal way into people's lives .
Speaker 4So to be asked to be a mission partner for a huge , big American , wonderful mission organization was like no , we don't , we can't do that . That doesn't make sense . There's got to be and it's not a false humility , I'll say , it's a very honest assessment there's got to be much more better , suitable , deserving people . So to be asked and to have been a mission partner of COI is an incredible blessing and gift . We're very , very honoured to have been able to be that partner and for COI to take so much care and love and to tell people about us . It's humbling but at the same time it's just wonderful to be able to share the goodness of God and what he's doing in our little project and the lives that he's transforming True hopefully .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 4Just loving people , yeah , so hopefully just love on people .
Speaker 1Yeah , so one of the stories that didn't get told this summer that I think is just a really , really incredible story that I want to kind of talk about a little bit is actually Aiden's story . So people got to meet Aiden , which was cool . He was in some of the videos and did a little bit of the kind of narration of a few of the stories and that kind of thing , but we didn't get to actually tell his like journey to riot and what his , his history kind of looked like and all of that kind of stuff . So I want to just kind of like dive into that a little bit , if we can .
Speaker 3I love that family so much .
Speaker 1Love Finbar and Minigan Aiden . Great crew of . Like , dive into that a little bit if we can . I love that family so much . Uh , love fit bar and minigan aiden . Uh , great crew . So , um , tell me what , first of all , who is aiden to you , like , what is his role at the organization ?
Speaker 4so aiden , just this month the committee and I and I've been asking Aidan for I don't know a couple of years now to come on staff to really consider being more than just a volunteer and a supporter of Riot , as he has grown up with Riot and is honestly like the Riot prodigy , if you will , of my heart and how to reach people In Northern Ireland . There's this lovely divide not very lovely really , but Protestant and Catholic . So Aidan comes from a Catholic background and is very proud of that heritage and culture , and the Lord has used me within and a community around us to help distinguish a little difference in what it looks like to be a Protestant Catholic in modern Christianity . And it's not about this religion of attending and going to church but , more importantly , getting to know who Jesus is and trying to journey out daily . What it looks like to be a follower and have a walking , talking , normal , everyday relationship with Jesus got to go back to maybe when he was 11 or 12 after Sorry , hold on .
Speaker 1I'm going to interrupt you for a second . One thing that the people have to know about you , about Richie Shilliday , is that you're basically the mayor of Dundrum , the chancellor of County Down Well it doesn't make a difference . The whole county , the whole country of Northern Ireland , everybody knows Richie , so he's on a walk right now . He's going to be saying hi to people . That's okay , it's just going to happen .
Speaker 4So the beauty of doing what I do . I've gotten involved in sport and lots of ways to reach people . So this is the Ballin' Hanks Rugby Club , a really big , great organization that brought me into coaching . So I coach with the minis and my kids play here . So my heart for people and introduce who I am because of what Jesus has done , I straight away got involved in coaching and helping is done . I straight away got involved in coaching and helping . So Adi's group I helped with for a while and I now coach with Harrison in the primary five age group . So I know a lot of the coaches and the parents because their kids have now come to RAD because , well , some of them are out of the U of RAD but a lot . Once they met me , I tell them about RAD and so they come along , so it's really neat at me . I tell them about Riot and so they come along , so it's really neat it's a good bridge .
Speaker 4It's really neat back to Aidan right how old was he when you ? Met him , probably 11 or 12 , and he's like , like you guys have met punk kid 14 , 15 years ago .
Speaker 2I think yeah , yeah .
Speaker 4Yeah , so he's just a normal Irish kid trying to figure things out . He has been talking to going to church or mass maybe is a more appropriate term to part of the schooling and part of just the religion . You should attend these things . But Aidan is a thinker and Aidan is always questioning what's the big picture . And as he was doing that , of course he was influenced by some people and made some dodgy choices and kind of came to the wrap of making some bad things . I've got to figure this religion thing out . Tell me more . So Aidan was always super inquisitive about his journey From , honestly , 12 , 13 years old .
Speaker 4There was a good maturity about him . But there's a really neat incident that happened . I think he was 13 . And the kids are pretty rough still at this point . Right , it's a fresh project . We're introducing the street kids into some sort of discipline structure and trying to share what faith is to us and church religion . And so he's in the bathroom messing around and I don't know how , but he sits on the sink and he rips the sink off the wall . Now just imagine the water goes everywhere .
Speaker 1Oh no .
Speaker 4There's water pouring everywhere and he comes down in a panic I've broke the sink . I promise I'll just sit on it . I'm really sorry . I'm like what the heck ? Ok , I run up and sat on it . I'm really sorry . I'm like what the heck ? Okay , I run up and I see it and I'm like oh wow , got to go turn the water off because it's drowning the place . So I turn the water off . I'm like dude , what happened ? And he's like I just sat on it and it fell off the wall . I'm like all right , it's okay .
Speaker 4And honestly , now , as I it's like a little so-and-so's , vandalizing , but the Lord gave me patience in that moment and I was able to say to him don't worry about it . Absolutely fine , we'll get it fixed . So I turned it off . We were able to turn it off , stop the water . I got a couple of stop ends disconnected and so , with no problems , turn the water back on . And he was like years there . He's like richie , it just made no sense to me the grace that you showed me in that moment , like anywhere else in my life , that , um , I did something stupid or wrong . I got like in trouble and told off and people were cross and I giggled because I'm like well , that would have been me normally .
Speaker 2But thankfully in that moment still me normally .
Speaker 4Thankfully , in that moment the Lord was all over it and somehow in the spirit in me there was grace and it was like he said that struck to him . If that's what a Christian's like , then I want to know more about that . So that kind of connected . We had mission teams come over and share stories and as Aidan shares his story now , he always mentions that as the teams talked and shared stories that intrigued him about the goodness of God and how it started to impact his life . So the little testimonies that we work on with teams and sharing what God's doing in your life , that's really impactful to young people searching and looking for God . So what he caught , he goes deeper himself , deeper himself , deeper himself , and he's looking online for different things . He starts seeing some of these guys who are doing miracles and healing and different stuff , and he keeps coming back and asking questions and it causes me then to go read scripture and him and I sit and read through stuff and work together .
Speaker 4So this goes on for a few years until he comes back one night and he's like , let's see , I've kind of like got to this point where I've asked God , I can't go on anymore . I need Jesus in my life and I've kind of like Jesus , come in and I'm like you what he's like ? Yeah , I guess I asked Jesus into my life and that I know I need him as my personal savior . And I'm like , dude , you just like become a Christian . And he's like , oh crap , what does that mean ? I'm like , what do you mean ? What does that mean ? He's like am I a Protestant ?
Speaker 4I'm like no , yeah , that's a . So I had to , yeah , so I had to explain to him like no , this is , this is way bigger . Like there's no protestant catholic in scripture . Like this is a relationship with jesus that is supersedes the silliness in our wee country . Uh , what's going on ? So I'm like you can . You can tell people like you love jesus and this doesn't matter about the religion in our country , so that's all good .
Speaker 4He tells his mum and dad and his mum is like , oh , no , like does that mean he's a Protestant ? Do I have to go and meet up with Finbar and Mary and be like no , that means nothing , mary , he is still your Catholic boy , just that he loves and knows Jesus , and so that's got to be sort of when he's 14 or 15 , I think . So it's taken a few years to get to that journey with him , but the Lord got a grip on his heart , this beautiful heart that wanted to know . And , as most of you maybe have heard , he goes on um to meet a lovely american girl who came on the ci team . That's right , that's not , that's not me to be .
Speaker 2Come here , right , yeah , something about something about our program being called engage . I don't know what what that has to do with it , but no , that was so . C so Corey was on our very first student trip in 2015 , the January trip . She was on that one .
Speaker 4I was honestly really tough on those guys because Corey didn't come back in the summer there's kind of a no dating rule and they were really good with that and I even wouldn't let them talk for a month . I go well , I say that I didn't let them . I asked them to be respectful and to leave it for a month and if there was anything going on , let the Lord work in it . I think that was actually the second time she'd come back , but the Lord used that relationship in a beautiful way to draw them both close to him and them and their relationship together . So they got married . They spent a couple of years on mission and , as he has turned back to Northern Ireland , I got him working part time with Riot just in the last month . He's now full time signed up , so I'm going to retire and then talk to you ever after .
Speaker 2You better not . He's never coming out of the woods anybody who knows me yeah , no , that's not happening .
Speaker 1Richie will never retire you'll die with a shovel in your hand , won't you ?
Speaker 4the Lord is definitely changing my heart to help to hand over a lot more youth work to him as I support him in the next few years and the Lord is opening doors in community in different ways . But I think that the village will need our community needs and even direction of how Riot will look to serve and love our community
Power of Sharing Personal Stories
Speaker 4more .
Speaker 1Yeah , yeah . So I want to lean in on the stories thing that you talked about . Um , cause , every , every student who comes on a CIO engaged trip to Riot at some point , uh , trip to riot at some point uh stands up and has three minutes to share their story , uh , with a group of young people that that come to riot and britney , I know that you've watched this happen , yeah , so many times .
Speaker 1Dozens and dozens , hundreds of times maybe , and um , it really there's something about the american experience that like makes that hard for students , and I don't know what that is but it's like difficult for them , and then they come over and but yeah , there's the part of it that richie is so good and gifted about .
Speaker 2it's not just hey , have have every student prepare their story and then they're going to share it . Like we take time and , richie , like you've you , you guide this process so well and the pastor heart in you of how a student can tell the story to a kid at riot , so in a completely different cultural context , but share a piece of their story that connects to the gospel .
Speaker 2It's not the student's story all about themselves , but , richie , how you guide that to point to the main character , which is God , and knowing him . For you , what like you set that up , put the ball on the tee and let God do with it what he wants . And so how you guide , that is really good .
Speaker 4And , honestly , you know , like everything as you do ministry , this is like , come on close to 30 years maybe , of me doing youth work and 25 or something of doing youth ministry , um , and as we've walked through that , um , there was a . There was a season when I felt like the ministry that I was doing was using mission teams coming in and not doing ministry . Very well , honestly , of a mission team would come in to serve and love and I almost stood back and applauded and said great job , well done , thanks . And the feedback I got after a season or two was like it was really good , we love the teams , but there just wasn't connection and our young people or the outreach that you did , they fell away within weeks and so like , okay , how do we change this from being a short-term trip that makes an impact but doesn't have that lasting impact that we want and people deserve to have time to figure out who this Jesus is . And that's where Riot honestly and God sort of developed that vision of Riot that we would build the project to pour into community and the mission teams would supplement and benefit from it .
Speaker 4The key for me is helping people understand who they are in Christ . Our story is one of the most powerful things that we can share and get across to someone . So to understand that and what Jesus has done in your life , or an example or a symptom not a symptom a moment where you can hold on to something tangible that I know God's real and he's moved in my life because of this , of how you articulate and how you share that with someone , is so really vitally important . Now there was a team I think two or three , maybe more I'm getting old people , I'm sorry , this could be four or five , four or five years ago and the team was made up of a couple of different groups who wanted to go and this is CIY . They wanted to go to Honduras , they wanted to go to Haiti , and those trips fell through and they all had to come to riot .
Speaker 4And as we talked through stories and the heart of listening , the heart of caring about the person in front of you , and how to share a little bit of Jesus and trust that maybe a few words or trust that a minute of what God had done in your life was impactful , these guys were explaining to me that was so scary and worrying to them , right , and I'm like that's , that's really hard and I almost had forgotten , in a way , being older that it becomes easier to talk , but as a young person , you know the thought of teaching a sermon or standing up in front . It's still quite scary , right . And what I wanted to tell these people was this is a gift from God . This is an opportunity where you just get to plant a seed in somebody's life and trust God that he is already working and that he will continue to work . But we need to be faithful in telling the goodness of God in our lives . So they were like , okay , that's a different thought than what we had of having to just get up and share this timeline from when I was young and what it goes through . And I'm like , yeah , that honestly , there's a point of that in our growth of faith .
Speaker 4But when you're trying to share to people who don't quite know what Jesus is or where faith is or what religion looks like , to make it real and personal and something that they can make sense of , is really beneficial .
Speaker 4So , honestly , as you walk with this and God kind of led and guided , all of these pieces started to fall away . Enough how we need to own our own story . And , honestly , the teams often and this is Sarah why in other church groups often they haven't had opportunity to share their faith or seen the need for that . And so I hope this crazy Irish guy , that need and that love of Father's heart that Jesus died for us all . He wants everyone to know he loves us so much that actually we have a responsibility of being gifted of knowing Christ , to share that in a way that is relatable to the people around us . So I hope and want that experience of that team that were so worried and they didn't want to come to riot because they thought they would have to stand up and share right , and I was like that's a terrible reason not to come right yeah , yeah , you know and it's not so .
Speaker 4I hope we've taken the fear out of that that . Actually , this is a good experience to journey . Well , what do I believe and what is it that God's done in my life , and how do I actually begin to think , the process , and then you get to share a couple of minutes of God's goodness . So , brittany's right , we've tried to do that in a way that is supportive , encouraging and everybody is able to do it , and there's hundreds , probably , of stories where people have struggled and then they've got through it , and from healing and prayer that we've been able to do with teams until reaching and like touching hearts of kids that hear their stories . It's just incredible . And when God , how God , uses it , I just I don't understand , I comprehend , I just I'm like , yes , thank you .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 4Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1It's uh . Every time I this verse always pops into my head when I think of you , um , from Revelation , talking about how people who were oppressed by the evil one overcame by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony .
Speaker 1And uh , I always think that's such a fascinating little verse . It's like that those two things are mentioned hand in hand . They're like you have jesus blood and you have your story and that's what you've got . You know , um , and I think you kind of lean into that in a really really , uh , special way my favorite thing about it is kind of funny is um the three minutes piece , because you know that people , if you're like , tell your story .
Speaker 1It's like well , I was born on september 29th 1990 , and then they want to recount every day since , and it's like no , you , when you're talking to somebody , you've got like 90 seconds to catch their attention and you always talk about like leaving them wanting more . And even the way that you talk about like the strategy of of telling your story and how you do that and how you craft it , I think is really cool .
Speaker 4Well , everybody's super bad , right . Everyone you meet people there's there's like a hundred different aspects to people and at different topics you can talk to . So you have to be like I don't just have one approach but I'm going to try and share with everybody . Like god has worked with me in a million ways and if I think about the ways god has helped and corrected and show grace and been kind to me , I've never run out of things to say because I've made every mistake and God has been so kind and let go of you know things that I've done and said and spoken to people . Spoken to people and assisted him to realize he can use all of that to build up his family . And people need to know , even though I made a mistake , God's still going to use me , he still loves me , he still wants me . Yeah so , yeah . So I love that people have gotten to get . He still wants me .
Speaker 1Yeah , so , yeah , so I love that people have gotten to get kind of an insight into all of that and I want to make sure I want to be respectful of your time and I want to make sure that we hit on one other thing for a little bit before we let you go , and that is our initiative at Move this summer had to do with this little property that I love um up on the Hill in in Dundrum there and , uh , hopefully giving you know the Lord is going to give you an opportunity to to purchase that property so that you can continue to do more things with it . Right now , what all is out there .
Speaker 2There's the youth center , there's the house , there's the football pitch there's swing set , play park and a garden , community garden .
Speaker 4Yeah , the food bank and library , yes .
Speaker 1So , if you were able to purchase that property , which I'm believing that you're going , you were able to purchase that property , which I'm believing that you're going to be able to do that , what's your dream for it ? What's next ?
Speaker 4So if I'm listening and hearing the Lord right on the committee or the RADS committee , who I'm so fortunate to have a group of people who pray and consider my craziness as I ask God for big things , I think there's already been people put in place for a cafe and a way to serve and love our community as a meeting house and a place that community , a meeting house and a place that what is the , a place of peace , honestly , is what I think . So I said cafe , but it's a meeting place where coffee and whatever treats and stuff are going to serve . But there's already people that God has introduced me to in the last six months that I'm like yeah , I can see that person , there's a need for them , but it would help them to be involved in this and give them a role in their job , uh , within that . So prayer wise uh , I've been you people , you know me , I'm not very patient .
Speaker 4I have been more patient than me about this and anything in my life of not phoning , not writing and asking questions about when can riot move and what to do . I've really been waiting on the Lord for the next step . So now that incredible donation and support from you guys step . So now that incredible donation and support from you guys , we can kind of go and ask after we're going to meet with the committee and say how do we go to a Methodist church and say what can we do to help this process ?
Speaker 1Which the Methodist church for the people listening , the Methodist church is . Who currently owns the property that you're leasing it from ?
Speaker 4Yeah , so how do we take these next steps and what's the requirements ? The heart has always been to honor and respect the church and the heritage . A place was built in the 1880s and they have cared and ministered up until COVID , when the church closed . So we want to be respectful of that , and I love the heart of the Methodist . It was about caring for people in the community , and so they have always kind of said whenever they make a decision , we will be the first people to come to . So we just need we don't need it too much . My patience is getting to that point where I would like them to come and meet with me and say , hey , we'd like to think about you guys taking this over . We're going to sell it to you , and am I being foolish in expecting God just to do all of that without me pursuing it or trying to figure out ? Do I need to pursue it ? And that's part of the Chase journey . Yeah , you know .
Speaker 4That's good so I've been listening to the committee on it .
Speaker 1I'm really um trying to be sensitive and and careful very unlike me , honestly well , I , uh , yeah , I I think it's cool that this conversation kind of went to this place , because a lot of people feel , after move , very invested in the ministry of riot emotionally . I think they really connected with the wants to continue to partner with you in prayer . It sounds like that's a pretty big uh thing that we could be praying for is is some , some discernment among your um director or your board and um , yeah , yeah , just for those conversations with the Methodist church , which we will be doing for sure .
Speaker 4Yeah , yeah , thank you . Yeah , that's key . Yeah , yeah , thank you , yeah , that's key , yeah , so that on a short term , I got to go and build a greenhouse . We have a three by eight meter greenhouse to build , so I got to get my digging tools out and get a little foundation built and get that all set up in place for the coming season when I can get some things planted and connect some .
Speaker 2Our hope and that is to connect some older generation with some young generation and share some advice and skills and , by spending time relationship with that , just open the door for Jesusesus to do what jesus does yeah , yeah , that's right , yeah , and I I can't go without saying this like you're talking about riot being a place of peace and a place for the community , like that already exists um that that is already true of that space and just the , the uniqueness of where you guys are located in dundrum and this , this community hub . But I , I mean , it excites me just knowing yeah the , the potential of god to do even more when there's some facilities that can actually accommodate more people and and what that can look like .
Speaker 2So it's just seeing how God's going to work that out for you and praying for that as well .
Speaker 4Yeah , just as you said about we're ready to peace , I'm ready to do things for the community . I've seen a kid in the distance in one of the rugby shirts says Riot Revival in our town because we sponsored some shirts for the group last year , and so I'm just like god , I , I'm just reminded of your , your goodness , yeah , as the kids run in here wearing a rad shirt yeah , yeah well , uh , we love you richie , we're excited , uh , for what god's going to continue to do through your ministry .
Speaker 1I uh , it is not cold here yet , but as soon as it gets cold , the first beanie that comes out is my Dundrum Cricket Club beanie . So , yeah , always encouraged to talk to you , brother .
Speaker 4Yeah , Thank you guys , Bless you . Thank you . Hopefully you can understand me everybody .
Speaker 2That remains to be seen .
Speaker 1We'll slow it down a little bit and see if maybe that helps you're talking about things that are pising into my heart , so I'm sorry .
Speaker 4I got excited in there .
Speaker 1I understood you , so I was encouraged thanks , richie . I don't know if I said this on mic or off , but he is like a one of one person , like there really is nobody like him , and I don't know if anybody has ever come on this podcast and been as just like transparent , vulnerable .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1As he is like this isn't me . This is how God is working in my life .
Speaker 2He's always so good about that stuff , yeah , he is and not afraid to talk about shortcomings or the things that he's working through in his own faith and his own walk as well . Just great guy I mean the authenticity that we talked about . Authenticity Is something that is so real and tangible and you feel that .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2And talking with him as well .
Speaker 1And I don't , like , I don't want this to be like commercially , I really don't but at the same time , it's like I want every high school student to go and interact with that man for a week . Truly , I like there's not . Yeah , it's just incredible what , what he's able to , like , stir up in people . And what we didn't talk about was like he goes through this whole process of teaching students how to tell their stories . That is a tool .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1Like that they can like there's no , there's no translation . That needs to be done . Right , no you bring that back with you and you can use that absolutely any room you walk into right here in the United States , and that's exactly what he he talks through as well , into right here in the United States , and that's exactly what he talks through as well .
Speaker 2And when we're talking about this isn't just for this one time moment or three minutes of sharing with the kids at Riot . This is the tool that God's given you for the rest of your life , yeah it's incredible .
Speaker 2Yeah , and it's something I've been saying this as well and I've said it to him other times . It's something I've been saying this as well and I've said it to him other times he keeps talking about . We're just this wee project in this wee village . But I mean , the impact of that ministry has gone so well beyond the borders of even the country of Northern Ireland you think of how many hundreds of people and we don't even know , like , how God has used people's stories and the ripple effects that have happened . But well beyond the walls of riot has God used that ministry . And I mean , I'm a firsthand .
Speaker 1Oh yeah , I have that firsthand experience to say that and have seen how kids in the US have been transformed by the ministry there and how God's using that so there is an aspect to it , though , when he calls it a we project , like it also is you know what I mean , like when you go and visit the property . It is like I mean every youth room of every youth pastor listening to this conversation is 10 times nicer than the youth center , right ? You know what I mean .
Speaker 1It's like an old building that they don't have enough space A bunch of hand-me-down couches and like a projector that they put words up on a screen with , and he's been able to use that to do all of that impact that you're talking about , which is just a gift from the Lord . It's so incredible , anyway . Well , that was a great conversation , really encouraging for me . Thanks for being here , britt . I'm going to have you close us out by reading that little blessing there .
Speaker 2Yeah , I would love to . May God show you grace and bless you . May he make his face shine on you . May you experience the love of Christ , through whom God gives you fullness of life . May you be strengthened by his power . May Christ himself make his home in your heart that you would be full of his love and grace and that those you serve would see Jesus in you . May Christ himself make his home in your heart that you would be full of his love and grace and that those you serve would see Jesus in
Podcast Production Team and Thank You
Speaker 2you .
Speaker 1Today's episode was produced by Michael Hester , lauren Bryant and myself . Thanks to Richie , thanks to Brittany it was incredible having both of you here and thank you for watching or listening . If you liked what you heard , be sure to subscribe . Wherever you listen to or watch your podcasts , we'll be back in a couple weeks . In the meantime , you can reach out to us on the CY community Facebook group or by email at podcast at CYcom . See you next time .