Conversations: Sadie Hess, Co-Founder of Boldstone

In this episode Denny and Danette welcome Sadie Hess to the podcast to share about her passion and heart for people of all abilities. Learn the vision behind the Boldstone model and hear how Sadie would like people to relate to those with disabilities. This episode is inspiring and informative! 

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Welcome to Bold Stone Ministries. Where our goal is to create a community of disabled adults that experience God's presence, God's word. and step into who God says that they are in their identity and value. Like David who picked up a round stone and took down a giant that threatened Israel's identity and place in history. We have taken up a bold stone in this community where we are taking down the giants of fear. and shame so that our communities empowered to step into boldness and confidence of who God says they are. It is an amazing journey and we welcome you joining with us. We have just a very special privilege today to have a guest with us. This is Sadie Hess and she is one of the most incredible people I know. She's impacted my life more than she will ever know., she's a brilliant leader. She's a great mom and wife. One of the things I admire the most is that the core values that we have, she lives. They're not words on a wall. They're not words in a book. They are her life and she demonstrates them with such grace and love and compassion like no other. So I'm excited that you get to hear from her today and, this is Sadie Hess. Thank you. That was beautiful. I feel so honored. All right, I'm happy to be here. Awesome. Sadie, just, let's talk, we just want to hear your story. Like, why are you here? I'm actually a CEO of a medium sized organization here in California. And I've been doing this most of my life. In fact way back I was on a missions trip and we were in this little Jeep and it was, we were going on this jungle path and there were so many switchbacks that you really, Couldn't see anything but just a little bit in front of you. I felt like the Lord was saying, okay, pay attention. So I was paying attention, even though, I'm just a passenger riding on a jungle road, but I get to the very top of the mountain and I look back and I saw something and it's just stuck with me my whole life. Like in the moment I could only see a little bit in front of me, but when I look back, it was all so well designed it was avoiding certain things. And you could see from the mountaintop, you could see. How clear the path was and how designed it was. And I think for me, that's been my journey and I really felt like God gave me that. So as I walked through my life, I would see that all these switchbacks in the moment don't make a lot of sense, but at the mountaintop they make they make perfect sense. And so for me, my journey has been I started at a young age. I actually was a caregiver for people with disabilities at a very young age. My very first client, part of my switchback, my first switchback was her name was Cindy. She was just a beautiful human. And one of the things that, that two years that I worked with her taught me was really What a gift she was to so many people. A gift to me, a gift to everyone that was around her. And the things that I noticed was, her disability was actually something that refined her in a lot of ways. Just a lot of things refine us, whether it be this was her experience. And she had spinal stenosis and cerebral palsy and was in a wheelchair. Her body was quite limited. In fact, almost every movement caused pain the way that her body was unfortunately designed to work at that point in her life. She's in heaven now. She's free now, but at the time she lived in this body that Everything she did caused her pain. And so she was very measured in her communication. She worked very hard to be present. I'd watch her kind of go through the motions of just even getting up and starting her day. And I thought, what a blessing we don't even recognize. How much she paid just to be present for the day. When I, I was 20s at the time, I'd roll out of bed, throw my hair in a ponytail and I was, and I'm ready to go out the door. And here she is. She had that much intentionality about just even being present for me and for others that day. So I just started on this journey to recognize I just, I think the Lord just started to show me a difference that maybe isn't clear to everyone of how individuals with disabilities are not someone to always be helped, but also someone to look to for inspiration, look to for wisdom, look to for their own journey that has cost them a lot. They've paid a lot for their personal journey. And so that led me to be a a social worker and that led me to and it was a very quick process when I was 23 the agency I was working for wanted to shut down. And just really a complete miracle. I decided to start my own company at 23 and I now have a daughter that's 21. And I go, wow, that really is odd that you decided that you think you can start a company at 23 with employees and people that you're, like people's lives that you're responsible for. But I did that at 23. And and then I just kept doing it. My husband joined me when we started having kids, actually having children led us into a deeper look at, and that's another switchback, especially my son, he was a surprise switchback and I went, okay, for me to keep going after what God's called me to, but also be the mom that I want to be, we're going to have to join forces. And so we joined forces been one of the best decisions I made. And I continue to do what I've done since I was 23, helping people with disabilities now throughout the state of California with probably helping between staff and clients about let's go with about 1, 600 people. Amazing. Yeah. Amazing. Quite a journey. Something for a 23 year old to start. Man. So in this journey, which is amazing, the switchbacks and all of that. What stands out to you as to your favorite part of the journey? Oh, too hard. That's a too hard a question. I'm gonna cheat as I traditionally do and say a couple different things. I think my favorite part of the journey has been watching, walking alongside people with disabilities, watching Extraordinarily capable people are and how much we often don't give credit, but then once they realize their own potential, see dreams, see What's available to them and they go after it just how the world opens up and really how much we underestimate individuals with disabilities all the time. So that's been a fun part of the journey and something I just had multiple, just hundreds of experiences with. The second part though, that's just as important to me is I love in our organization creating a community. Like I'm very, intentional and I just, I've discovered kind of my own personal mission goal is to create a community where people feel that sense of family, that sense of belonging. And that is It's not just people with disabilities that need that it's individuals that are helping people with disabilities and individuals basically we all need it is what I'm trying to say and so I've really been felt like I've been tasked with creating an environment where people get to be their best versions and feel seen and known and and just what is possible when that group of people gets together and feels that. And I just adored it. And like I said, serving around 1, 500 people between my staff and my clients. And just watching so much incredible life. And extraordinary stories throughout the years. I tell everyone I'm a historian too now. I've been doing this for, 20 plus years. And I am a historian. I get to see people's journey. Not often times we just see a step, right? Like we just see a little turn. But I now have walked alongside of the people for a journey now of 5 years, 10 years, 20 years. And you see what really is possible in that length of time. I think that's another thing not always, we're not, we don't always feel privileged to do anymore. People move at such a fast pace. People move away. People change careers, change livelihoods, change churches change. That I feel like I have this really unique privilege where a lot of our clients come to our program and we are a lifetime program and so they can stay in our program. And so I get to see not just a little one switch back. I get to see like long pieces of the journey and see what's actually available to our community of people with disabilities, so that's my other favorite part. That's awesome. Personally, me being part of this journey as a staff and being with you for seven years it, everything you're saying, I totally the community feel, what you've created is just impacted my life and I'm, I'm a facilities manager. I don't get to work directly with clients, but. You've done a really good job of creating that environment. Thanks. Go ahead. And if you haven't heard it yet, you've probably already caught the passion of what we already caught. And being with Sadie, being around Sadie, hearing her testimonies, hearing her story, it has inspired what Danette and I are doing. And I just want to just honor you for the big heart that you have and in how you have impacted me personally. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. We can tell you're a little bit passionate. You carry passion, just a tiny bit. And how do you describe, how would you describe that passion? How does that move you forward? And you may have already answered this a bit, but I'd just like to go a little bit more into what's behind that. I wouldn't be fully present and transparent if I didn't acknowledge that I probably already got emotional twice. I kinda, I always say that as I've gotten older and as I've grown my passion which I believe is the Holy Spirit. Like my connection with the Holy Spirit is love, which is passion. And so I feel like as I get closer to the Holy Spirit, my passion grows. And as my passion grows, it comes out my eyes. So I'm very emotional. But I I think passion is Paired with my emotion is my determination And my resolve to really help people and so I think oftentimes Saying you're passionate or saying you have a lot of enthusiasm often translates into Being a bit flaky and I think what makes my passion a bit on the unique side and What I hope more people have as I think especially people of faith is passion But marrying that with commitment, with resolve, with determination, with understanding that, we serve a God of the universe that is timeless. And so we, we should stop looking for things to be solved in 15 minutes. That's making us a product of our own environment. That's now but God's working throughout time. He's working without that limitation. And when we start putting those limitations on him, we're actually just operating in our own stuff. And so for me, passion is truly a, is a, almost like a tension between My, my feelings my emotions, my passion, my love, my, my enthusiasm, all those things, but it's grounded in roots of understanding true change takes time, truly making a difference in people's 15 minute endeavor. It's a lifetime endeavor. And I endeavor to be a person. It's crazy passionate, but also crazy reliable. If I say I'm going to boo some more, I'm going to boo some more. And that is passion too. That's part of passion for me. And I think that's an unfortunately missed portion of passion. Oftentimes, like I said, I think a lot of times you, when you think of someone who's really excited about something, you also think of that enthusiasm wearing down over time. But since mine is really I see it both as my passion. It doesn't wane. I've been just like this since I was 23. Maybe a little smarter. Now hopefully I'd like to think so. But but really at the end of the day my consistency is part of my passion. I love that. We really live in this microwave society where we want to see the instant. But really, you plant a seed in the ground and you've got to wait a while for that thing to sprout up and then produce fruit. It's so good. In a different kind of context having done business cause what I also do is a business. I'm a bunch of people at once. I'm a social worker, I'm someone dedicated to people, but at the same time I have a business. And I have a business mind. And so every now and then I get called on for people to talk, hear about my business mind and they're like, what's it like to be a startup? And I'm like, first of all, I don't remember. It was a very long time ago, but also remember that a startup is a phase, but what you really want to be is you want to make, you want to produce change. You want to make a difference. And so stop focused on, The first 10 minutes and think about what's long term for that. What's, what are you really, what tracks are you really laying down as an organization? Because other people need to go on those tracks. Even if you quote unquote sell, if you're one of those that are going to turn it over in five years you still are hopefully, the plan is you're laying down tracks and someone else is going to need to go on those tracks. So I really want to say that's. That's something I see is really important as we, as a body look at passion, look at what we're trying to accomplish. We also need to look at how am I going to make sure this lasts at least the next few years and hopefully beyond. Yeah. A legacy. Yes. A legacy. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. In the realization that 19 percent of our population is actually dealing with disabilities That leaves a whole lot of people that aren't having to deal with it which is amazing because that means in any neighborhood, three to four houses in any neighborhood is going to have a person with a disability in it. What do you want people to know about our community? Oh, about our community. Really good question. I would say first and foremost people are people. I sit on different boards. I'm involved in my church. I'm involved in, different parts of the community. I'm not just I don't just sanction myself to people with disabilities. I have a regular life of being a mom and a church goer and all those things. First lesson, 100 percent is people are people. And as you get to know a person as a person a new world opens up to you. And I would say that if individuals that don't know people with disabilities would just stop at the coffee shop and say hi, or stop at their church and wave, or give a little side hug, or, if you would just do a few things To make sure that you're treating any individual as a person that is valuable worthwhile, a child of God. All of those things will will open up truth. The truth is that all people are people and that individuals with disabilities are people. struggle with, honestly, the same struggles. They struggle with loneliness. They struggle with feeling misunderstood. But to a grander extent. So all the things that any individual feels, individuals with disabilities often have the, that multiply, it's a multiplier for them. For instance, an individual that has a Cerebral palsy often may not be able to speak well, so obviously if all of us as humans struggle with feeling misunderstood, could you imagine how much more misunderstood you feel when the words don't come out of your mouth as you would want them to? Same base emotion, I feel misunderstood but it's a multiple, it's a multiplied effect. But you can still understand the emotion, and so if you can just relate to another human as a human. You can just go ahead and add on a multiplier to that, but you and still see that's just a person that deserves. A few extra minutes to be heard because it takes them a few extra minutes to speak. And then I would say along those same lines is that, yes, individuals, many individuals with disabilities may have some cognitive delay, so they may not understand really complex principles and concepts but we all know this from our own development we feel feelings, that just because maybe your brain, we all notice that children predominantly that's, why there's trauma more for children is that they experience their feelings, but they can't cognitively understand why they feel their feelings. Maybe they felt terrified and dad was angry and abusive. They felt terrified. They don't understand how to cognitively say, Oh, this is. Maladaptive behavior, blah, blah, blah, blah, they say, ah, that's scary. And I'm scared. And I now don't feel safe. That's all the feelings that I can't, they can't process it. When individuals with disabilities, especially cognitive delay have the exact same processing issue, but they feel all the feelings. So when you see them when you see someone with cognitive delay and. Again, you're like, I don't know how to relate to you because you can't understand complex concepts. Or, we, maybe you can't even write, I can't, you can't read a letter I write to you or a email I write to you. They're still feeling all the feelings. And so if you can figure out how to communicate in a simpler way you are gonna see that they have. They have the exact same experience as you do, they just have a harder time, communicating that. And then we can have a lot more, again, a lot more awareness of your beautiful, amazing human. One of the things also, if I, my little soapbox for a second, is that I do I've had many individuals with disabilities tell me that they wish that they, that their only experience wasn't. That when someone sees him, that's a Christian walks up and wants to pray for him because they send them a message over and over again, back to that feelings. You're sending me a message. I'm not enough. I'm not valuable as I am. I'm not see my emotions. See the passion that comes out. I'm not good enough the way that I'm walking to this church and I'm not good enough. I joke with people, I could lose 10 pounds if every time I walked into church and someone said, let me pray for you, you need to lose 10 pounds. I would start to only think that I am a person who needs to lose 10 pounds. I wouldn't think about all the other things I am. I'm also a person that. Has deep thoughts and loves of the Lord and and wants to work on my prayer time. Like I have all of these other things. I am too. But if the only thing you see me and say, I want to pray for you, you could lose 10 pounds. That's a very clear message. And I think we see a person in a wheelchair and it's because we see them in a wheelchair and we just assume that they'd like to get out of that wheelchair, which they probably would just like, I'd like to lose 10 pounds. That isn't the first way I want you to relate to me. I don't want you to just to relate to me as someone who needs to lose 10 pounds. I want you to relate to me as a daughter in Christ, as a sister in Christ as someone who has hopes and dreams. And that's how I want you to relate to me. And if, back to your original question, what could we tell people to act like in this community is act like they're you that they have hopes and they have dreams and they have things they want to go after and that wheelchair does not Define them just like my 10 pound extra doesn't define me And if I if that is how people start relating to me Then I am gonna see myself that way and I'm gonna think that I am Less than and so yes, pray in your heart, but don't walk up to someone with a disability and assume the best thing you can do for them is pray for them and take their disability away. Just this 10 pounds is me. That's them. And you're sending them a message that is very hurtful. And and so I, I encourage you to get to know them first. And then if they say, I'd love for you to pray for this wheelchair, pray for the wheelchair. If they said rather you pray for my relationship with my boyfriend, I'd rather you pray for, my sibling that I'm worried about prefer those things because that's what I'm gonna come for prayer for. I'm not gonna regularly, maybe every now and then I come for my 10 pounds, but I'd rather we talk about my relationships and who I am and I'm going to ask for prayer for those things and that's what we should go into anyone in our community and asking if you want to ask for prayer, ask for who what they really want prayer for. Don't assume It's something you can see as a weakness or a deficiency in them, because we don't do that for each other. No one comes up to me at church and no one comes up to you and says, you got glasses on. Can I pray for you? Yeah. Occasionally when it's been a word that's been spoken, but for the most part, no one says when you walk in the door, can I pray for your glasses? But that happens all the time for people with disabilities. Yeah. Yeah. That's really good. I don't even know how to follow that one. So Sadie, as you are really the founder of Bold Stone, you and Eric have carried this vision and this dream in your heart and we are honored to be able to help walk it out. We're at the very beginning where our toes are just in the water and I'm just curious, how do you feel that Bold Stone ministry will complement what you're already doing? Great question. So I said earlier, part of my passion, my heart, is creating a sense of community, a sense of belonging, a family. And I think the best family is family of God. That's the best family. I think family, God created the concept of family, so family in and of itself is good. But what is God? You know, beautiful and perfect and the will of God is family where he's at the center of our family. And this is just for me a place where all expressions of family get to be present. All expressions of going after being seen, being known, going after your dreams, going after your destiny, going after what God has for you, everything I said earlier, it's just now gets to be really laid down for the Lord and he gets to inhabit it and it gets to be beyond our wildest dreams, you know? So I, I think how it complements is it, like I said, it just takes all those pieces and then it just really drops him into. The known center. He's at the center of everything I do, but it's not always known by everybody else. This, he gets to show up and he gets to really like, he gets to bring his full glory. And in bringing his full glory, I think everything that I, that we do now just gets to take this multiplier forward. Because he's going to be glorified in it and in being glorified in it. This Precious, amazing, incredible group of people is are gonna get to shine. They're gonna get to be seen and known not just by our community, which of course I think is. It's like family. I love that my kids are in my family. And I think in my family we get to share some really sweet moments, but it's also really cool to watch them go out and, sing and do their thing and volleyball. And that's what I want for this community. I want us to be able to be a family and I want to have our sweet moments of intimacy. And I want us to feel Like we, we really get to share who we are and all those emotions I talked about earlier. We get to talk about it and we get to say, here's who I really am. I'm not just this wheelchair or I'm not just my cognitive delay. I am a, I'm a child of God and I have these desires and these emotions and I have all these things that I want to share. So I want to be that too as a group of people. I want to be a family. But then I also want to see members of this family, go and kill it, they just show up and maybe speak before Congress and, or they get to go on the mission field or they get to go pray for someone who's sick and watch the Lord heal them. Like I, I want to see them. Manifest those things too. So I want the community. I want the family. I want to have the intimate moments, but I also want to see them rock it. Yeah, that's awesome. We do too. Thank you, Sadie. This was amazing. Again, you just inspired me, inspired us. I know one of the things that Sadie was talking about is just how we relate to our, to, to our community with disabilities. And I know pre Our involvement with y'all is and confession, is I really didn't notice our community with disabilities. You just kind of go on with life. You go, you, but I was in a local hobby store picking out some art supplies. And there was a young lady next to me with Down syndrome. And instead of ignoring her, she was already ignoring me is I opened up the conversation. Just say, how's your day going? And I just began to ask her about what she's doing and acknowledging what a precious gift that she is. And what I saw was this closed up little young lady suddenly blossomed just. from somebody showing interest in who she is and what she's doing. So I just want to leave this as with a challenge for you who are watching this is be aware of this amazing community and give of yourself to them and you will discover how much of them they want to give away to you. Yeah, that's good. Thank you for joining us at Bold Stone Ministries, and we want to welcome any support that you can, whether that be financial we were looking for volunteers prayer support is especially valued. You can locate us at boldstone. org and look at ways that you can contribute. God bless you.