How to Celebrate with Confetti, Calling, and Christ-Centered Friends w/ Kim Hudson & Christie P. Worden

We’re celebrating a huge milestone on the Collide Kids Podcast—episode 200! Host Christen Clark throws a sparkly, joy-filled party with two of her favorite friends and ministry leaders, Christie Penner Worden and Kim Hudson. This episode is all about friendship, following God’s call beyond the church walls, and discovering how faith and fun intersect in all parts of life.

Christie and Kim share about their beautiful Christ-centered friendship and what to look for in good friends. They also talk abou their unique jobs at CTA (Christ To All), helping equip churches and families to disciple kids during the week—not just on Sundays. They give personal stories of how God led them into unexpected ministry roles and how being a “pastor” can look very different than a church stage. They encourage both kids and grown-ups that God uses a wide variety of gifts, passions, and vocations to build his kingdom.

Stick around for Christen’s signature Family Discussion Questions to keep the conversation going at home, and details on 2 exciting giveaways for families and kids ministry leaders in celebration of 200 episodes! (find out how to enter on social media @collidekidspod).

Special thanks to our amazing editor, Jay Lee, from provisionpods.com!

Clip Finder:

Viral Topic: The Value of Non-Ministry Work for Jesus: "Well, then that discounts all the doctors and nurses and firefighters and plumbers and shop workers and butchers that also love Jesus and find ways to minister to others and be ministered to in their jobs."
— Christie Penner Worden [00:10:37 → 00:10:50]

Viral Topic: Pastoring Kids Beyond the Classroom: "How can we pastor you when I don't get to sit right in front of you? So it's been a different, season, but it's been an incredible season, and I love it."
— Kim Hudson [00:14:09 → 00:14:18]

Fashion Fails: "We did not look like reasonable people. We did not people you could wanna message or even ask what are you doing because the answer was going to be too weird."
— Christie Penner Worden [00:17:41 → 00:17:52]

Viral Hotel Lobby Drama: "I have never experienced a more dramatic lobby employee in my entire life with a Manila envelope, and he's got it."
— Christie Penner Worden [00:19:58 → 00:20:06]

The Power of Openness to New Connections: "What God showed me is sometimes he wants you to be in places where you don't know anybody so that he can bring new people into your lives and fill a hole that you didn't even know existed."
— Kim Hudson [00:23:34 → 00:23:44]

Viral Topic: The Importance of Trust in Friendships: "How do you pick friends? You pick friends who are gonna keep your trust, who are gonna keep you know, grown ups might say, keep your confidence."
— Kim Hudson [00:29:59 → 00:30:05]

Viral Topic: Sharing Joy in the Midst of Pain:  
"having someone who will sit with you and hand you Kleenex with one hand and hand you confetti in the other hand, I think it's really special to be able to trust someone enough to know that they're not making light of your situation when th

“That’s My King” is a vibrant praise song with an edge by Dove Award winning artist, Yancy.  Filled with celebration, praise, and amazing wonder. Yancy put her rockin’ fingerprint on this song originally made popular by Cece Winans. It’s time for every generation to unite their voices to take a stand and shift the atmosphere when they push play on “That’s My King”! LISTEN NOW!

Bark proactively works to monitor, detect, and alert you to potential issues on your kids' devices. Visit bark.us to learn more about how you can keep your kids safe online. Use the code COLLIDEKIDS to get 15% off Your Bark Technologies Plan !

Transcript

Christen Clark [00:00:30]:

Hey, y'all. Welcome to the Collide Kids podcast. I'm your host, Christen Clark. The Collide Kids podcast is a show for kids and families where we learn together how life and faith collide. I am so glad you're listening to this episode. This is not just any episode. This is episode number 200. That's right.

Christen Clark [00:00:48]:

200 incredible, faith filled, fun conversations that are designed just for kids and families like you. Okay. I didn't know this, but I just found out that the number 200 is considered a symbol of wisdom and turning points, like a milestone. And this definitely feels like a milestone, like all of that and more. So I just wanna take a moment to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who's laughed and asked big questions and explored God's purpose and the way he's created you, and to every parent and grandparent and grown up who has made this a part of your family's discipleship journey. I am so thankful, and you are the reason this podcast keeps going. And I'm just so glad we've made it this far together. So thank you for celebrating this two hundredth episode with me.

Christen Clark [00:01:37]:

And as a way to give back to you, I've got not one but two awesome giveaways happening. One is for families and one is for kids ministry leaders because I just love kids ministry leaders. I used to be one, and I'm so thankful for all the things that they do for our churches. So if you would like to win one of these amazing giveaways or nominate your church's kids ministry leader to win these amazing resources, just head over my social media on Facebook and Instagram, and you can learn all the details about the giveaway. And winners will be announced May 14. So go check that out, nominate your favorite kids ministry leader, and then you get in on the action so that your family can win some amazing prizes. Well, I'm excited to celebrate this episode, and I thought what a fun thing to do than to celebrate with two really great friends of mine that I met through the podcast. And not only that, but they are best friends.

Christen Clark [00:02:31]:

And so today, we're gonna celebrate, and we're gonna talk a lot about friendship. And so that's why I'm excited to welcome Christie Penner Worden and Kim Hudson. Christie is an author, international speaker, and the marketing director for King and Cross companies. As a visionary leader, Christie shares her wonder and what ifs with dreamers and doers alike. Christie's most recent celebration was launching her first published book, The Me I Was Made to Be. Christie loves sprinkle donuts, unicorns, and dresses that have pockets. Me too, girl. And we're also gonna welcome Kim Hudson.

Christen Clark [00:03:04]:

She has served in ministry for over three decades. She's a kids pastor, writer, speaker, and coach with a master's degree in early childhood education. Her passion to connect kingdom calling to the world around us allows her to dream big as a spiritual formation director for CTA Kids. And from under the brim of her pink sparkly cowgirl hat, Kim loves exploring her hometown of Nashville for great coffee, tacos, and all things Dolly Parton. You guys, I couldn't think of two better people to celebrate this milestone with, so here are my friends, Kim and Christie. Well, thank you so much, Kim and Christie for being on the collide kids podcast.

Christie Penner Worden [00:03:55]:

Thank you for having us.

Kim Hudson [00:03:56]:

Thrilled to get to be here.

Christen Clark [00:03:58]:

This is awesome. And this is my two hundredth episode. So I am so excited to share that with you guys and for you guys to be on here. I love when I get to have my friends on the show. So this is so fun that we get to celebrate together, and we all wore our sparkly celebration jackets. Sure did.

Christie Penner Worden [00:04:15]:

We're celebrating with you.

Christen Clark [00:04:17]:

Thank you. Well, would you guys just introduce yourselves? Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Christie Penner Worden [00:04:22]:

My name is Christie Penner Worden, and I get to serve as the director of marketing for, CTA, which is a big company out of Missouri that does lots and lots of amazing things to help serve people in the church. So I get to do the marketing part, which is basically the way I experienced my job is as the director of storytelling. So how do we tell the story about the things that we do and the way that we serve churches and community around us? So I feel like my real job, my everyday job is like being a storyteller. I'm also an author. I wrote a book, which is crazy to walk into a bookstore and see it on the shelf. I wrote the book, the me I was made to be, and I'm a speaker. I get to go lots of places, whether online or to different places in the world and talk about Jesus. Talk about how, Jesus shows up in and through his family and, God's great, big love for his kingdom.

Christen Clark [00:05:19]:

That's awesome. Kim, tell us about you.

Kim Hudson [00:05:21]:

I get to serve as the CTA kids spiritual formation director, which just simply means I get to dream really big about fun resources that children's ministry leaders, often known as CMLs, can then use to equip their families to support them between Sundays. Also, like Christie, I get to speak at different conferences and different podcast to share what Jesus has shared with me about how he sees kids and the grown ups who get to lead them.

Christen Clark [00:05:48]:

That's awesome. I love that. And I love that you guys are I almost said repeat offenders. You're, repeat guests. You are repeat offenders. Eventers. You're repeat guest. So we've had you on the show, and you guys were on the show a long time ago.

Christen Clark [00:06:03]:

So it's so fun to have you guys back. I just love that we get to do this again. Does it feel a little different now that it's I don't know how many episodes it was in between your episode and this one.

Christie Penner Worden [00:06:13]:

I feel like I've had more practice. I think yours was one of the first podcasts I've ever

Kim Hudson [00:06:18]:

done. Yeah. It feels way different. I live in a different state. I have a different job, and it was my very first podcast. So I've gotten some under my belt. So hopefully, it rock and rolls a little bit smoother. But I think the one steadfast thing and that would say the same is Christie and I are still really great friends.

Christie Penner Worden [00:06:33]:

That might be the only thing that hasn't changed.

Kim Hudson [00:06:36]:

I would say so far. You guys have radically changed. Different jobs, different states, different houses for both of us. Yeah.

Christen Clark [00:06:43]:

And I had you guys on separately last time. So the thing I remember from Christie's episode is she encouraged us all to eat a mango naked in the shower. That's what I remember from.

Christie Penner Worden [00:06:55]:

That's right.

Christen Clark [00:06:56]:

Yes. And your episode was called how to be a unicorn. And so I think that was, like, a very popular topic at the time, because it got a lot of plays. So lots of people wanted to learn how to be a unicorn from you. And then, Kim, you talked about how we can find ways to tell stories about God through different books and different things. And so I remember just all the different ways that we can, as parents, that we can encourage our kids to find God in the everyday life. And so I love that you guys are back, and and now we get to all do it together and hang out together. First of all, I need to acknowledge that this is the two hundredth episode.

Christen Clark [00:07:33]:

So I've done 200 episodes, and I'm so excited. I hope I get to do 200 more, but this is so fun. And it's it's very significant, I think, because lots of podcasts don't make it very far past a few episodes. And so just to think of all the things that God has done for me through this show. And, also, I think the biggest thing is I've gained so many friends, so many new friends, so many people I would have never met. But because of this show, I've I'm friends with you guys. So I think it's so cool.

Kim Hudson [00:08:04]:

So if we were, like, sitting side by side, I would throw confetti all over you, maybe a little bit of glitter bomb too just to celebrate how you have brought so many people on your podcast. Like, I mean, I think you've had an astronaut and an Olympic gymnast. Right? Like, you have a such a diverse amount of people that need to become your friends, and you bring them all together. And so kids everywhere and their grown ups get to learn about things that they might not could ever have learned about.

Christen Clark [00:08:30]:

It is amazing, and I love that. I think the underlying theme of this show has always been that God is able to use so many different people and so with so many different passions and gifts and abilities and talents, and each one can serve God, whether they're an astronaut or a firefighter or they work in a ministry or they work at a church or they sing, like, all these different ways that God's able to use different people. He doesn't just use the pastors that stand on stage on Sunday mornings. He uses everyone in amazing ways, and so that's the cool thing that I get to see, as I get to meet people. Well, I wanna talk to you guys a little bit about your job because I think it's so interesting. You know, like we said, a lot of people think that the person that serves God is the people that work at the church, and they do, and I love those people. And I used to be one of those people, so I understand. But there's also different ways that people can serve God through ministries and organizations.

Christen Clark [00:09:26]:

So tell me a little bit about what you have found that God has created you specifically for that you're doing in your job right now.

Christie Penner Worden [00:09:35]:

I had the same questions. When I began entertaining the idea of a job outside the church, I, God called me to be a pastor when I was a little girl. And I was told at the time I couldn't be a pastor because I was a girl. And then when I entered my forties, God redeemed that dream that I had. And I was indeed called into ministry to be a pastor. And so the idea that God would call me to be a pastor, but that I wouldn't have a job in a church. It took me a while to get my head around that. And a friend of mine said to me, I think you're defining the word pastor too small.

Christie Penner Worden [00:10:12]:

And that was really helpful because I think we can, we can decide without God's blessing. What jobs serve him and what jobs don't And our job as a Jesus follower is to serve him in all that we do. And so like it completely discounts the work of people outside of ministry, even if the only way you can serve Jesus is by serving in a church. Well, then that discounts all the doctors and nurses and firefighters and plumbers and shop workers and butchers that also love Jesus and find ways to minister to others and be ministered to in their jobs. So I haven't even stepped that far outside the church. CTA literally stands for Christ to all. So the mission and ministry of the company that Kim and I work for is to ensure that we're resourcing churches to have what they need to do their ministries well, so that Christ can reach all people. And I had to ask myself, well, how does that make me a pastor? Pastor for me is a state of mind.

Christie Penner Worden [00:11:18]:

Pastor is an idea of leadership. That's prevalent throughout the Bible. There's lots of stories about. And lots of stories about Jesus being the good shepherd, but also David was a shepherd, the shepherds all throughout scripture. And I don't know about you, but like I've never actually met a real life shepherd, but the idea of how to lead as a shepherd is really humble and quiet and creates followership through the way that they take care of others. And so I learned that I could do that in any job that my job, I still get to do work with scripture and with other Jesus followers, but that how I do it is my ministry, not what my job is. So like my job, like I said, is primarily storytelling and getting the story of Jesus into people's hands in different ways. That's just amazing that I, I can do that for a job.

Christie Penner Worden [00:12:10]:

Like, but it doesn't have to be that I could be a second grade teacher and I'm still glorifying God in what I do, as long as I'm following the good shepherd or being a shepherd, the way God asked me to, no matter wherever I am. So I love that doing life with others is ministry, no matter where you find yourself.

Christen Clark [00:12:31]:

Absolutely.

Kim Hudson [00:12:32]:

Yeah. And for me too, like, as a kid, I can remember walking the halls of my church and just beginning to see kids the way Jesus saw them. And I couldn't understand at the time, like, why would God be revealing this to me as like an eight year old child, right? And then in my adulthood, when I thought I was gonna be retired sitting on the beach reading a book, Jesus said, no, we're gonna go this way. And suddenly, I found myself on staff at a church, going back to get educated so that I could fulfill the calling on my life as a pastor. So kind of like Christie, then when I found myself not working in a church, I'm like, but how does this all make sense? Like you call me to pastor children. And he very clearly spoke to me and said, there's more than one way to pastor a child. So at CTA Kids, what I get to do is work with authors and creatives to dream up resources that pastor kids between Sundays that children's ministry leaders can then send home with their grown ups so that they are equipped to disciple their kids between Sundays. So while it looks much different than maybe sitting in a classroom, and I loved, like, I love sitting in the little chair with the little kids all around me.

Kim Hudson [00:13:40]:

My preschool ministry was my first ministry. The last church I got to serve at, I served all ages of kids. So I just kinda picture myself as I'm redeveloping those resources, maybe editing resources that authors have written for us or dreaming of what they look like. It's what would it look like to sit with a child and unpack this resource? So, yes, while it looks much different to work at a computer most of my day, I always have those little kids and even the preteens in my mind of how can we serve you best? How can we pastor you when I don't get to sit right in front of you? So it's been a different, season, but it's been an incredible season, and I love it. And just, you know, we just finished up Easter, and I got to see some of the resources that I was able to help dream up since I've only worked for this company for a little bit over a year. Actually, come to life and get in the hands of some of the kids, and hearing their feedback is exciting to know that what myself and all the people I get to work with, like Christie said, just some really incredibly godly people get to work with and get to do is pastoring, like she said, shepherding a whole bunch of kids.

Christen Clark [00:14:45]:

That's awesome. I love that. And I think I think it's so important that we do the thing that God's called us to do. But like you said, sometimes we have this view of what that is, and it's too small. And so God can take that that passion, that desire he's given us, and he can use it in another way. And, you know, who are we to stand in the way of what God wants to do in us? And so I love that you guys get to do that in your jobs. Well, I almost skip this part because we were celebrating 200, but I always ask my guests to tell me a joke or a funny story. And so I hear you have a very funny story about glasses, which we love to talk about glasses, the show as well.

Christen Clark [00:15:21]:

So tell me your story. I can't wait to hear it.

Christie Penner Worden [00:15:24]:

So the story is about these glasses that I'm actually wearing. So what maybe you should tell it, Kim, because you came along for the ride and I was so I'll just start by saying these are my favorite glasses, and I love them at a very, very, very large resort.

Kim Hudson [00:15:41]:

Well, we were at a a conference at the same conference. And like she said, it was a massive resort. And we got back to our room. And if you've ever been at a conference where you are speaking and seeing all your favorite people all at the same time, and you're also learning at the same time, you're exhausted by the end of the evening. So here we are sitting in our pajamas, and she realizes her glasses are gone. And at that time, they were brand new. Like she had just had them a little bit. And they were kind of pricey.

Kim Hudson [00:16:06]:

Like when you get to be our age, you have to have lots of things in your glasses. It's not just like a single lens. Right? And then so I I think she decided to call down and and they said, well, the good news is if we have them, we have them. But the bad news is if you don't come, I think by midnight was it and claim them, you're out of luck. Like, they'll go to Central lost and found. And so I said, well, let's go. And she's like, we're in our pajamas. I'm like, well, we're modest.

Kim Hudson [00:16:29]:

We can go. Like, let's go. So we took off. And we took this long hike. And we decided, we'll look everywhere along the way because they could have fallen out in the bushes or they could have fallen out, you know, in a classroom. We went to every classroom we had been in. We even ventured into the grand ballroom where we saw a really nice security guard and just gave him a little wave. And we looked under every chair we had sat in.

Kim Hudson [00:16:54]:

We looked the place up and down. We went to, like, where you could check-in for this particular conference, and the door wasn't locked. So we apologize if we were, breaking any rules, but we looked behind there and there was no glasses. So we finally ended up going upstairs. And this is where I'm gonna let let Christie take over this part because I got to stand by and watch this conversation and support her through this part of the conversation. We finally go upstairs to the actual front desk and let Christie take it from here.

Christie Penner Worden [00:17:25]:

So I think in fairness, when we say pajamas, like, as grown women, you might picture something very, you know, just like I was covered in chickens. I had chickens all over my pajamas. I fed chickens in my house. I live in the country. So we did not look like reasonable people. We did not people you could wanna message or even ask what are you doing because the answer was going to be too weird. So we just kept looking for a camera and saying 40 in the direction of whatever counter we were flying over and, like, trying to be friends with also the security. And after we did go over everything, that's actually when we called and said, okay.

Christie Penner Worden [00:18:06]:

We've looked everywhere. How how do we place the lost and found it? They said, well, if we have it at the best, you will have to come and get it before midnight. We were in a room on this particular property that was a seventeen minute walk away from the main building. So if you have seventeen minutes to the converse and looked through the whole conference center and walked all the way back to the room to make that phone call, which then then we had to walk another seventeen minutes all the way back to the main building to go to the lobby to meet, with this very happy gentleman. Now I say time, but I'm pretty sure the people they let work the night shift are like there's like a whole other breed of human that's one in line at that time of day and also working at that time of day. Yes. And I am beside myself with grief. We have masks on because it was during COVID.

Christie Penner Worden [00:19:00]:

And so we had masks on and I walk up and I stay I've lost my glasses. They're in a suitcase. They're fuchsia pink. They're this. I try to explain all of this. And, and he says, well, if I have them, how can you prove that they're yours? Like, she just described them putting in my pajamas with no reasonable answer to this question.

Christen Clark [00:19:23]:

Yeah.

Christie Penner Worden [00:19:23]:

So then Kim thinks very quickly, pulled out her phone, and starts pulling up pictures of me in these glasses, and I pull down my mask really quickly. I'm like, see these go together. The glasses on that face, same as the glass on this face. He goes to the back and he's gone for what I'm quite confident is more than twenty four hours. Like I'm pretty sure we stand there for an extraordinary length of time. Like, has he walked back to central services to see, and the glasses case is the size of a normal glasses case. So how is he even finding these in this place? And he comes out in the most dramatic way. I have never experienced a more dramatic lobby employee in my entire life with a Manila envelope, and he's got it.

Christie Penner Worden [00:20:06]:

He's holding it in front of his face like this, and his brow is furrowed. And he says, what is your first and last name? And I tell him what my first and last name, and he reaches into this envelope, like the magician and pulls out this teal box. And he goes, does this look like it belongs to you? I'm like, then I was so excited. And I put them on and I lost my noodle. I was so excited this man. I don't know if he thought we were like, he had, he had met his equals in that moment. Like that thing is in what happened.

Christen Clark [00:20:37]:

That's right.

Christie Penner Worden [00:20:38]:

But we laughed the whole way back another seventeen minute walk all the way back to the room that night. I have never used that particular pocket on that particular rolly bag ever again.

Christen Clark [00:20:50]:

There you go.

Kim Hudson [00:20:51]:

That's when

Christie Penner Worden [00:20:51]:

they fell out.

Christen Clark [00:20:52]:

That's amazing. I love that. And I love the security guard was like, you guys are weird like me. Let's go. I get just excited. Okay. So let's talk a little bit. I love that you guys are such good friends, and I think that that's something that has been a theme for you guys that not a lot of people have found such a good friend such a close friend like that.

Christen Clark [00:21:13]:

So I just would love to hear a little bit about what you have learned about friendship from each other.

Kim Hudson [00:21:20]:

What I learned about friendship is it's too vast to explain the one thing. So let me start with the beginning. Like, when we first met, we were in a course at a conference again, but we were in a course, about kids ministry. Right? So we had that commonality. And we were at opposite tables with our backs to each other. So I think Christie says it best when she said we kept bumping up against each other. And that, like, sparked both of our interests. Like, why do we keep bumping against each other? But then every little breakout part of our class, we ended up in the same little breakouts.

Kim Hudson [00:21:52]:

So we kinda got to know each other. And I just remember thinking this woman is wearing flip flops. It's January, and it's freezing cold. Like, I know we're in Florida, but it's cold. And I couldn't figure out, why does she get flip flops in January? Well, then I came to find out, like, she lives in Canada, which is really cold in January. So to her, she was having a heat wave. Yes. So there was just, like, little things I was noticing about her.

Kim Hudson [00:22:17]:

By the end of the week, like, I just felt like I had gotten to know somebody that I wanted to know more. But we didn't live in this. Like, we didn't even exchange phone numbers. Like people think that we were like instant best friends. We didn't even exchange phone numbers after that conference. But we kept finding ourselves in the same I would call them rooms. Right? Where we might be in the same webinar together or we might be in a training session together, in the same coaching group together. And then she reached out to me when I was she would have had no idea.

Kim Hudson [00:22:48]:

Again, we didn't exchange phone numbers. It wasn't like I was hosting on social media. But it was just a really hard season for me personally. And she just instant messaged me through Facebook Messenger and just told me she had this burden for me. And so I reached back out to her, and she was a safe person I could process with. She didn't know the situation, but she could give me a real perspective that I wouldn't have thought of on how to walk through that hard season, because she wasn't so close to the situation. Right? So what I learned, I think, from Christie in that beginning of our relationship was just to be open to finding new friends in the most unlikely places. I remember when I went to that conference, I kept asking myself, why am I going? I know nobody.

Kim Hudson [00:23:30]:

How am I going to get through this whole week with not knowing anyone. And what God showed me is sometimes he wants you to be in places where you don't know anybody so that he can bring new people into your lives and fill a hole that you didn't even know existed. So I think one thing I've learned from our friendship is to be open, not only open to new friendships, even I mean, I was old when we met, like, I was 50. And then as you continue to to grow in that friendship, to continue to be open to learn from each other. We come from completely different backgrounds in every way that you can imagine. Our commonality was we love Jesus, and we love kids, and we love serving the kids. But what God's taught me through our friendship is to be open and to learn.

Christen Clark [00:24:14]:

That's good. I love it. What about you, Christie?

Christie Penner Worden [00:24:16]:

I would say it is possible to love somebody with the heart of Jesus across miles. Meaning I reached out to her because I had a gut sense that the Lord had prompted me to just reach out to her and let her know that I was thinking about her. But the second time I ever met her in person was the following year. And we it had been a full year of just DMing. Like, we still didn't have personal contact information because it just didn't matter. We kept bumping into each other. And so we we kept messaging each other. And the next year, I had brought someone I was mentoring with me and I said, okay, if you see someone that looks like this, and I was only going by photos really at this point, because we hadn't spent that many hours looking at each other.

Christie Penner Worden [00:25:07]:

If you see someone I'm just going to, you just have to hold my stuff. I will, I will run to find her. And the setup for registration was pretty makeshift. Like they were just some folding tables with stacks of books and lanyards and stuff on them. And I saw someone I know looking across the other way to someone she knew. And I heard her sort of wave and say, hi, Kim. And I turned and looked across and saw that it was Kim. And I dropped all my stuff, pushed a bunch of people over, hopped a table and tackled her to the ground.

Christie Penner Worden [00:25:42]:

And we just laid on the floor sobbing and holding each other because it was a year's worth of hugs that we had stored up, that we hadn't been able to actually sit with each other. And the safety of being able to talk to someone who doesn't know the people, maybe if, if you, if someone hurts your feelings, you don't wanna talk to their best friend. Right? Like you don't wanna hurt them the way you've been hurt, but that safety to be able to sit and listen so well with each other and be a safe place. Psychology says that you can't experience love without experiencing safety. And the safety came almost immediately with the love that followed. And what we've learned as a result is that honesty, being honest to each other, really, even when we're making mistakes, even when we have to call each other out for stuff that isn't becoming of Jesus or isn't becoming of our own person, That is such a kindness that we can offer each other. And it's kindness because I trust her and she trusts me and she knows I will tell her the truth. And it doesn't matter what hard decision she has to make or what hard things she needs to say or what hard feelings she's having.

Christie Penner Worden [00:26:56]:

I will sit with her and I will not leave her. I will not quit. I have made that promise and commitment to her and she can trust that I mean it. And it goes the same both ways.

Christen Clark [00:27:06]:

Yeah. I love that you said that's a kindness to be honest with your friends because sometimes Mhmm. We think I don't wanna hurt their feelings. I don't wanna say something that, you know, might make them feel bad about themselves. And that's but that's not the point. When we're honest with our friends, we're letting them know, hey, what you're doing right now is not Mhmm. It's not you. It's not good.

Christen Clark [00:27:25]:

It's, you know, whatever. And we can say those things, and I think that's so important.

Christie Penner Worden [00:27:29]:

In scripture, it talks about us confessing our sins one to another.

Christen Clark [00:27:32]:

Yeah.

Christie Penner Worden [00:27:33]:

First of all, I don't think anybody likes doing that. But second of all, I don't know that we take that seriously enough. Like the catharsis, which is just a fancy way for getting feelings out and living through your feelings. That there is real beauty in knowing one that you can confess your sins to someone and that too, that that is a healthy choice. And so it's not even just that we can call each other out. It's that we can call ourselves out and the other person isn't going to judge us or, shake us just for what we've confessed, but that we can bring that to the Lord together. And I can say, Hey, I really screwed up and I need a friend. I really messed up or I said something I shouldn't have done or I did something I'm not proud of.

Christie Penner Worden [00:28:15]:

Can you just hear me out? I just, I need, I need prayer. And knowing who I can say that to, who won't think less of me, who actually might even think more highly of me or feel closer to me because I choose to confess my sins. That's the sort of intimacy that Kim and I have had where we can bring the hard things. We can text each other and say, say I did a hard thing today, or I don't think I did the right thing today and know that it's not just safe, but she is praying for me all the time. And I am praying for her all the time.

Christen Clark [00:28:50]:

Yeah. That's good. What are some other things about friendships that you like, what are what are some ways I'm thinking about kids and adults that are listening right now who are like, I need to find a good friend. I need a good friend in my life, someone that's gonna do that for me. What are some things we can look for in that person?

Kim Hudson [00:29:06]:

I think when you're looking for good friends, you need to look for people who listen. If you're a kid, especially, even if you're a grown up, look for people who you know I think it's what Christie said, who you can trust. Right? Like, when you share your heart, you know they're not gonna go tell all their other friends. Christie and I have mutual friends. Very close mutual friends. But we don't share with the mutual friends what we share with one another always. Right? Like, if Christie tells me something, she can be assured I'm not gonna repeat that even though we have one mutual friend who's a great mutual friend for both of us because that's not my story to tell. It doesn't matter if it's a hard thing or if it's a happy thing.

Kim Hudson [00:29:42]:

Like, when Christie was getting interviewed by the company I work for and she was going through that process, of course, I knew. I wasn't going to share that with anybody because that was an exciting thing for her. It was her story to get to share. So even if it's a hard thing or a celebratory thing, I think it's really important. How do you pick friends? You pick friends who are gonna keep your trust, who are gonna keep you know, grown ups might say, keep your confidence. And I just want to kind of go back a little bit if it's okay when when Christie was saying like, we can confess our sins to one another and all Yes, yes, yes, all of those things. But what I also love is even in the good times, we can say things like we were helping each other recently and she's like, I just gotta be real with you. Balloons are not my thing.

Kim Hudson [00:30:23]:

I'm like, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that. Let me change the way we're doing this. Right? Like, or even to the point where Christie was saying, like, I think she didn't say it's for word for word, but like two are better than one. If you're in a situation and your friend has eyes to see and ears to hear, and you are blind to what's going on around you, because you're so deep into it. Right? And it might not always be a bad thing. It might be a good thing, but she can might point out to you or he, hey, did you think about this perspective? Like, like, maybe you're working too many hours. Right? And they see that and they can point it out to you where you're just like, I just gotta get this done.

Kim Hudson [00:31:00]:

Right? But they can look into your life and see where they know you have put boundaries up or where they know where you are making right choices. But suddenly, like you're sick a lot. Are you sure you're not working too many hours, right? Or things like that. So I think it's really important that kids understand and grown ups to that we're not always pointing out necessarily the bad things. Sometimes we're pointing out the good things. And then how do we communicate that to each other?

Christie Penner Worden [00:31:24]:

We have a policy, I would say, of pointing out the joy to each other and sharing joy, even when we can't find it for ourselves. Joy is part of our inheritance as Christ followers. Why isn't the same as happiness and be expectant of joy, even on our hardest days. That joy is is what Jesus is like. Joy, the book of Hebrews says it was his joy even unto the cross, like even to be crucified, Jesus found joy in being able to do that for all of God's children. And I just, none of us will suffer like Jesus did not, not in the same way, but to know that someone is going to point me back to joy and not in a trite way. Like pain is real. Hard things are real and having someone who will sit with you and hand you Kleenex with one hand and hand you confetti in the other hand, I think it's really special to be able to trust someone enough to know that they're not making light of your situation when they're trying to help you find joy.

Christie Penner Worden [00:32:24]:

And they're not just sitting in your misery with you when they're trying to wipe your tears, but someone who can be present in all of those feelings and then share your values for things like joy for like what gets you up in the morning. If, and we get up very differently in the morning. She is a morning person. I am not. And so when we share a hotel room together, it is a very, special experience that we have learned to navigate, But having common values doesn't necessarily mean we're a lot alike. It means we treasure the same things, and can celebrate those in each other.

Christen Clark [00:33:03]:

Yeah. And I think too, being able to celebrate your friend and see them succeed or see them, make the team or get the job or get something wonderful and be happy for them. Like, it's so important that we find people like that, and it's so important that we are people like that, that we can celebrate our friends even if that means that we don't get those things.

Christie Penner Worden [00:33:25]:

Yeah.

Christen Clark [00:33:26]:

That we're not comparing ourselves, but we're celebrating that person. Well, this has been so fun. We could talk for hours and hours, and I love that you guys are such good friends and that you have so much things that you get to do now together because you work for the same company. So that's so fun that you get to minister together and still get to collaborate. So that's really cool. Before I let you go, I always ask my guests to tell me a memory from when you were a kid. So what do you wanna share with us today?

Kim Hudson [00:33:52]:

As a child, my mom, I would just kindly say, required us to be outdoors most of the time. That was where she was happiest if if we were outdoors. So I quickly learned how to enjoy that time when I was outdoors. And weirdly enough, I was like the mud pie queen. I loved getting into the dirt and making mud pies. And I don't think I'm just okay. I'm just gonna like stir some water and some dirt and make mud and put it like, no, I was like a mud pie decorator. So I learned pretty quickly to go to my grandparents house and get on the outside of their chimney where the ashes would be dumped out and bring ashes home.

Kim Hudson [00:34:35]:

So then I could then mix that with my dirt and put it into, like, one of those little paper cups like you wrench your mouth out when you brush your teeth and twist it just right to where you could actually pipe, like, icing onto your mud pies. I learned how to make little cupcake mud pies, whatever I could get my hands on. That's just what I did.

Christen Clark [00:34:53]:

Oh, wow.

Kim Hudson [00:34:54]:

Yeah. But I lived in Colorado at the time. So in Colorado, it's very much brown dirt. But my mother's family was from Oklahoma. And so if you've ever visited Oklahoma, you will know there's plenty of red dirt there. So on our many vacations that we would take back and forth to Oklahoma, my goal was to get some mud pies and bake them in the sun so that they would be completely dry and I could sneak them home in my suitcase or in the back of my mom's car so that when I got to Colorado, then I could then break those apart and mix that red dirt with my brown dirt or the ashes to make a whole brand new color. The first time I tried that my mother was less than pleased, I would say, when she opened the trunk of the car and because of the bumpy roads, the mud pie broke loose and yeah. The whole trunk was covered.

Kim Hudson [00:35:46]:

So kids, if you're gonna pack a mud pie, put it in a ziplock bag.

Christen Clark [00:35:50]:

I love that so much. Good advice. Christie, what about you?

Christie Penner Worden [00:35:54]:

Well, when I heard that particular story, it reminded me of many pictures that my parents have of tiny me saddled up to, different planters in the house. I have loved chocolate almost as much as I love Kim, my whole life. And so anything that was brown when I was young qualified as chocolate.

Kim Hudson [00:36:17]:

Okay.

Christie Penner Worden [00:36:17]:

And I mean, I think we would have been friends, very good friends if if I had been around for her mud pie days because there are lots of pictures of me just scooping into the dirt of the planters in our house, eating dirt at the beach, eating dirt in the garden, and, and just enjoying all that chocolate because so you can imagine how delightful I find real chocolate. It tastes much better than dirt.

Kim Hudson [00:36:39]:

Than dirt.

Christen Clark [00:36:40]:

Yeah.

Christie Penner Worden [00:36:40]:

I she might've been the mud pie queen, but I was mud pie hungry.

Christen Clark [00:36:46]:

Wow. So she would have decorated it. You would have eaten it. So

Christie Penner Worden [00:36:49]:

%.

Kim Hudson [00:36:50]:

Yeah. I think we need t shirts that say mud pie queen, mud pie eater. Remember that was a fad when we were little. You would

Christie Penner Worden [00:36:58]:

have Yeah.

Kim Hudson [00:36:59]:

Those friend t shirts.

Christen Clark [00:37:00]:

And yours would be covered in mud. So it'd be great. Yeah. Well, ladies, thank you so much for celebrating here today and for being on the show. This was so great.

Christie Penner Worden [00:37:09]:

Happy two hundredth episode.

Kim Hudson [00:37:11]:

Yes. Congratulations. We are thrilled for you. Thanks for having us.

Christen Clark [00:37:23]:

Alright. They're so fun. I just love their friendship, and I love how they found each other, and they have built this amazing camaraderie and relationship through long distance. I love when Kim said, sometimes God wants you to be in places where you don't know anyone so that you can meet new people and experience new friendships just like they did. And I agree that it's so amazing to have a great friend and to find that friendship through your faith in Jesus, which like they said, it means you can trust that friend in a different way because you know they're gonna support you and encourage you to do the right thing, and they're gonna pray for you. That's so important. They also reminded us that to find a good friend, you need to look for people who listen, people you can trust, and people who value the things you value. I think that's great advice for kids and adults alike.

Christen Clark [00:38:12]:

If you'd like to learn more about CTA Kids and all the amazing resources they have available, head over to their website ctainc.com. Well, now it's time for one of my favorite parts of this show, our family discussion segment. So this is where I'm gonna ask you three fun and thoughtful questions to help you keep the conversation going. So if you're listening right now with your family, you can pause in between each question and talk about it, or maybe listen to all the questions and talk about your favorite one. Whatever works best for your family. So let's talk about it. Here's number one. What's something you've done 200 times? Or maybe there's something you're really proud of accomplishing, and how did it feel to reach that goal? Alright.

Christen Clark [00:39:00]:

Here's the next one. What do you think makes someone a good friend? What are the things you're looking for in a great friend? Talk about that. And the last one, how can you be a better friend to someone this week? Maybe as we were talking today, you thought of someone that you needed to reach out to or someone you needed to thank for being such a great friend. So I hope you will take some time to think about those great friends and how you can be a better friend to them this week. Well, I am so grateful for you listening today. Don't forget to head over to our social media on Facebook and Instagram @collidekidspod, and you can learn more about the giveaways that you and your family can earn some great stuff or so you can nominate your favorite kids ministry leader. I think that would be so fun. And don't forget to check out our YouTube channel.

Christen Clark [00:39:47]:

That's something new that we started this season. Just search for Collide Kids Podcast. That's pretty easy to remember. And you can watch the full length interview for today's episode. You know, a great way to always support this podcast is to leave a a rating and a review. When you do that, it really does help other people find out about the show. And if you wanna support the podcast with no extra cost, just shop on Amazon through our affiliate link. It's no cost to you whatsoever, but it helps us get a little bit closer to keeping this adventure going.

Christen Clark [00:40:16]:

And maybe we'll make it to 200 more episodes. I don't know. You can also share this episode with friends and family and let them know why you and your family love to listen to the Collide Kids Podcast. And anytime you think about it, I always appreciate your prayer support as well. Well, I hope you guys have an amazing week. Thank you so much again for celebrating with us. 200. What a milestone.

Christen Clark [00:40:36]:

In case no one has told you today, I would love to be the first to remind you that God loves you so much. Thanks for listening.