Episode 037 Interview with Russell Zacek from LIT Ministries

Welcome to the podcast! Today, Scott sits down with Russell Zacek from L.I.T. Ministries for a conversation that challenges parents to think differently about raising children who follow Jesus.

Many Christian parents want their children to know the gospel, but what happens when we move beyond simply teaching our kids about missions and actually invite them to participate in God's mission? Russell shares his passion for equipping preteens to confidently share their faith, engage their communities, and discover that God can use them right now—not someday in the future.

Together, Scott and Russell discuss the unique opportunities and challenges of involving preteen children in evangelism, and how mission experiences can shape a young person's faith for a lifetime. You'll hear stories of God at work through young people and gain encouragement for helping the next generation become bold ambassadors for Christ.

Whether you're a parent, grandparent, ministry leader, or simply care about raising disciples who make disciples, this conversation will inspire you to see the incredible potential God has placed in the lives of young people.

Here's Scott with Russell Zacek from L.I.T. Ministries.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hey everyone, welcome to Project 18. This is Scott. I'm gonna be your host today. I have a very special guest with us. I have my friend Russ with us. So, Russ, you want to say hi, introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Yes, I am Russ Zasick and I'm from LIT Ministries and excited to be here today.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Okay, so um we broadcast and record this out of Michigan, but you're not from Michigan.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

No, sir. No, I'm from uh Anger, North Carolina, which is just southeast of Raleigh.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

And um, I just drove up here this week to help out with a preteen mission trip.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Yeah, um, we want to talk about that a little bit. So right now in the church that we have um going on is like we have a whole bunch of teens or preteens that have been here all week that have been camping out. And uh what have you all been up to this week?

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Yeah, so we've um we've had a chance to pre-arrange a couple of communities that we got to go visit. And what we did is we sent out flyers to the kids in those communities that we're going to have a kid power camp every day this week. And so we split up into two teams and we sent the kids out to the two communities, and every day they did basically a mini V Vacation Bible school in those communities and told the kids about Jesus and and led several to believe in Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Wow, that that is really cool. And the kids are just having a riot with it, too. Um just to see the looks on their face and hear their testimonies at night. So a lot of what we're doing, most of everything that we're doing is based on what LIT is all about. Um, why don't you just take a moment and walk us through who you are and what that ministry is and how come you keep ending up in other people's churches and that that type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yes, sir. Um, so I was a kids pastor at my church in North Carolina for 15 years, and I was dissatisfied with the level of discipleship that our kids' ministry was producing. I wasn't, I wasn't okay to leave that alone. I wanted to see more. And so I started to try different ways of uh involving the kids more and pushing them out of their comfort zone to do more with their gifts and things. Um, and I got to a place where I needed some help, and that's when I found Leaders in Training, LIT. And it was the perfect recipe for helping me make disciples that will continue to make disciples for the rest of their lives. And so we started using that in 2018. Okay. And uh we've been using it ever since. We were getting ready to cycle up and do it again in August. And I have seen tremendous fruit. So in 2024, Dr. Clint May, who founded Leaders in Training, called me and said, I'd like you to join my team. And I was um praying about it and I felt like the Lord said, do it. So I jumped in with both feet, and now I work with Leaders in Training, spreading this idea that preteens can do the full gambit of discipleship, just like adults can, um, while they're young. They can bear much fruit in that season. Um, so I'm trying to share that with every church that will hear me and uh have me in to talk about it. Um, I would love to tell every church that your preteens can be some of the best volunteers, some of the best disciples that you've ever seen.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Yeah, I love everything about what you're saying because like when I grew up in church, it was a lot different. And it was pretty much the adults ran the church and everything. And maybe when you got through high school, you were allowed to do some other things or plug in to some other areas, but this whole philosophy of ministry that um the church belongs to the next generation, even now, um, because this has a lot of other huge benefits to it. Like I I know I could speak for our church because even our littlest kids can do something here, and we try to plug them in, whether it's like greeting, you know, high-fiving people that come to the door on Sunday, or if they're able to read yet, we get up on the stage and they read scriptures. Wow, nice, and or ushering, you know, all kinds of stuff like that. What does that do to a church's DNA when they they see the the youngest of the people that are in the church do that type of stuff?

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Oh, it sets the church on fire. It's like an electricity that happens, it's beautiful. Um it's actually startling at first because they're like not expecting a kid to be sitting back at the soundboard running, you know, a pro presenter or something, or a kid running a video camera, or or even kids on stage helping lead worship. That that happens at our church. So it takes a little while for them to get used to that idea. It's so radical. Oh, right. Um, but what what's really cool and what's been our story um since we began this was one generation to the next to the next, uh, you become a farm system for the next level. So our kids that get trained as leaders, they're not wanting to sit still when they go to youth group. They're they're like, How can I serve? Can I set up chairs? Can I pick up the trash? Whatever. Um, can I serve in in my gifts? And the youth pastor, it kind of forced them to say, Okay, well, let me figure this out and and it get you busy in that. And then into young adulthood, our young adults was all these disciples, they decided to help start. Well, we had a pastor leading the ministry, but they were jumping in with both feet to help start that ministry up, and then into adulthood, they just never stopped serving.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

I love that because um, as you know, being a pastor, that one of the biggest issues that we face sometimes in our ecclesiology is that when kids become independent and young adults, a lot of them just leave the church. They have feelings of like, well, this is my parents' church, or I really never made my faith my own, type of a thing. And what you're talking about actually creates within the DNA of even the the youngest of people that come to know Christ that hey, they're a vital part of the kingdom. Here's a place where you can use your gifts, where you can plug in. And we're actually finding that this inspires the adults as well. It challenges them. It's awesome. Yeah, I love it. So it sounds like you see similar things happening.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Yeah, we we looked at the Barna research that really it comes out every so often and and it's an alarming that the next generation is leaving the church two-thirds or 70% or some terrible number. And I put my finger on this idea that we have been telling these kids we don't need you as part of the team. And what team would you want to be on to be a bench warmer for six or seven or eight years? Nobody wants that. Right. You want to get be in the game. Yeah, you want to get out the first chance you had.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yeah, really.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

I mean, so and so through this ministry, we've given them a seat at the table where they can participate and use the gifts that God's given them to do what God's called them to do, and even be part of the Great Commission, like the kids are doing this week.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yeah, that's incredible because it like it's like duh, that makes the most sense, right? Biblically and scripturally. And one of the other things that we're finding actually, too, and you can speak into this if you if you want, but like it's not just that they're going out this week on a missions trip in our community helping out. That's amazing as it is, but we're finding because this isn't the first year that our church has done this, it's the first year we've done it out of our own building as a you know, the hub of operations. But like we've been to Oklahoma with y'all, and uh these kids come back on fire, and then we hear stories of how they just when they get back into their own schools, they're sharing the gospel on the playground, they are talking to their parents and friends and relatives about Christ. They've come in here and they're challenging us as well. And so it's like it's a seminal change that goes on in their hearts and their lives.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

It's a crucial experience for every believer to have a chance to actually share the gospel with words to a person.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Um, and I I feel like um my heart's desire is that every Christian child will be challenged to do something like this and go on a mission trip like this where they're actually preaching. Uh, so often our our next generation ministries will take kids on a mission trip where they do acts of kindness and service, or they'll support a missionary, and those are very good things, and we encourage and love all that. Um, but it's like it's still holding them back a little from the opportunity to actually preach the gospel. And I Acts 1.8, I believe that one eight might be referring to that. This is uh this is one of my linchpins of the idea behind leaders in training, is that the that verse says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and critical and you will be my witnesses. Yeah. And I think so often as believers, we receive the Holy Spirit, but then we never do the and. And so God's waiting on us to like, okay, finish the sentence. But so now by giving these preteens that opportunity to preach the gospel and witness and lead someone to Christ, now they've set the tone for the rest of their life. Like, oh, this is what I do. I share the gospel.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

It's normal. Yeah. Yeah. You know, they don't have the same um fear factor that a lot of adults have. Right. Yeah. And it you guys also you do a really intensive training with them before they even go out. I know for the last several weeks, um, our kids have been training every Sunday night uh for several hours a night, too. Um how do you train them to share their faith and to tell their story?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

So we have a nine-week pre-mission trip um devotion that we have the kids do. And with leaders in training, that's another aspect of what we try to do with preteens, is we hold them accountable to do the discipleship work. So there's a daily devotion, we expect them to do it, we check their work when they come in and we tell them if you want to go on this trip, this is the this is the cost, it requires this. Um, and if you think about youth sports, they have no issue demanding money, time, full commitment.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Um, so my heart was like, hey, if if if parents can do that for a youth sport, they can surely do that for discipleship. And I'm surprised that the kids they don't balk balk at it at all. They're fine. Yeah, we can do this. Yeah, I'll do it. I'll do the devotion. And some of them won't, and that's okay. Sure. Not everybody can can go all the way. But what we do is we train them to write their personal testimony and to say it. We train them to share the gospel with the ABCs, admit, believe, and choose. They memorize all the scriptures that go with that through that nine weeks so that they're ready to share those verses with uh somebody that's considering Jesus. And um, we actually role play leading someone to Christ over and over again so that they have a comfort level with that. We work on the worship songs and the motions that go with them to kind of get the kids excited and warmed up with that. Um, so they've gone through all the steps of what they're going to do when they get there before they get there.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah. I I think what I love about kids, you know, kids, no matter where you go in the world, kids are kids or kids, you know, they just have a a vibrancy of life for the most part. Yeah. And uh as adults, I don't know about you, but like I could talk myself out of anything or into anything really. Yeah. But like for them, it's just what you're doing is creating it as like, hey, this is a natural part of your faith. This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. This is what it looks like when you're loyal to him. You you show him and you speak him to people as well. Um when you're out doing these these week-long trips and these missions, and what are some of the challenges that you face?

SPEAKER_01 11:42

So there's a number of challenges. Um, one is finding places to do the ministry. Okay. Um, I know we have a trip going on right now in Norman, and they struggled to find locations that would let them in. A lot of times, community managers or uh people in leadership of you know, places where we can go are hesitant to let a Christian church group come in and do evangelism and things like that. Um, so we do try to sweeten the deal by offering lunch and yeah, uh offering games and basically a fun activity time for the kids. Um, but we have to pray about it and we have to go out and say, God, will you open the doors? And so that has been one of the difficulties. And then, of course, you're dealing with children. So you have all kinds of variations of maturity and um, you know, there's anxieties and all kinds of things. So that's that can be a challenge at times. Um, they they rise higher than you'd think, and sometimes they they aren't quite ready when they think they are, so and that's normal too. Yeah, and then one of the funny challenges is actually getting the adults to let them do the ministry.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Yeah, isn't that odd?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yeah, so a lot of times adults are so used to running everything, especially they're kind of scared for the kids, honestly. Like they're like, I don't know, this feels a little funny to let this kid kind of flounder up there. Yeah, and so they want to step in and save the child. And what what the pressure of being on stage in that way teaches a child is I have to rely on God, just like we do. Yeah, and so they get there and the anxieties and fears are there. So many will testify. I was so nervous, I cried, I prayed, I said, Lord help me, and then I was able to talk. And so we all need that too. Absolutely, we need that experience of letting the Holy Spirit give us the courage and the strength to do what he's called us to do.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Yeah, we even found some um parental barricades to it, like you know, oh, I'm not sure I want my kid to do this, or I'm not sure I want them to travel from Michigan to Oklahoma or someplace like that. And so we've actually had to have some parent talks about letting their kids go and just trusting that they're in good hands and that they are in the Lord's hands also. But yeah, yeah, we found that to be true also.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

But well, and if you think, you know, if a parent has never done anything like this, yeah, it's it's a little unsettling for them. It's like I would be scared to do it myself. Why would I want my 10-year-old to go do this? Yeah. So they have to learn to trust God too and release their kid for that.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Do um the teams when they go out then into a community, like I know for example, our church is in two spots. It's in an apartment complex that we have permission to go into and work with the kids there. And we are also at a nearby campground where we have permission to work with the families and the kids. Do they ever, when they go into public places and to the community, do they ever face um, oh, I don't know, resistance from just the the normal people that are there as well? And if so, what's that look like?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Yeah, um we always go out and we pray before we get there that God would protect. Yeah, and um, we always bring adults to watch and just be vigilant because there are, you know, we can't control who walks in and out of a an apartment community, and oftentimes there are people that are troubled in different ways. Um, but we have had resistance from authorities before, but but usually when we say, Hey, we've spoken with the manager and we have a letter from them saying we can be here, um, then then they'll leave us alone. Yeah, we haven't ever been shut down by that, but I have gone to a community that didn't give us permission, and we actually had a family just say, Hey, we we can set up in my yard and we'll do it there.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

So it was nice, you know. Yeah, sometimes you gotta be just wildly creative in missions and ministry, you know, like oh yeah, whatever door you'll open, God will go through.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

And honestly, we'll we could probably do a podcast on this alone, but when you're doing um ministry, biblical ministry, there's always resistance. Yes. And um sometimes I know we deliberately and intentionally pray against um darkness, we pray against you know any type of things that would hinder and become a barrier to the ministry. But the other reality is like when you're you're doing something good, something doesn't want you to do good, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:55

That's true. But another aspect of this that I found, so so I've been on some overseas mission trips with adults where I've had more resistance spiritually and from people that seemed like they just wanted to shut down a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Um, something about having kids involved is disarming, even to authorities. So they're like, okay, the kids are doing this. That we get a little more of an open door when they see that it's kids leading the ministry and doing all the preaching and everything.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

That makes sense, yeah. Yeah, and what I like about it is that it's like um, you know, we're all equal. You know, and if the Lord speaks to us, then we uh all have the ability, whether we're young or old or gifted or not, we we have the ability to do something. I think that's part of the beauty of what God offers us as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:44

And um so I know that one of the things that y'all do when you come back every day is you take a moment and the kids go up front and they give their testimonies about what happened, some of the celebrations. So even though there may be barriers and um things to overcome, tell us a little bit about some of the celebrations that you're hearing, some of the things that you're seeing God do uh through your ministry.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah, some of the the um testimonies that are really fun to hear are the kids, like I said, that that have the anxiety and they testify about how God helped them in that moment to overcome. There have been a couple this week that have spoken about that specifically, and then they notice the other difficulties and obstacles that we could be facing. Weather has been one this week. It's been a rainy week, and they have prayed and consistently every time they prayed, the weather has held off until the camps were done, and so they're they're testifying the Lord answered our prayers. Yeah, and I think sometimes um it's important for us to realize that we prayed about that, you know, and and it happened. God, praise God that he answered our prayers. Like we don't know what's all happening in in the cosmos, but right, sure, yeah. But it worked out, and God cleared the path for that.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

How beautiful that they recognize that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

You know, we're we might just like you know, as adults, kind of like yeah, and so this week I think we've had about five kids that they got to lead to Jesus in the two places, and and that's awesome. I mean, people's names written in the Lamb's book of life, and they came back and got discipled by the kids, which is cool. But the kids just celebrating, oh, the kids were so engaged today. They they did the dances with us and they were having so much fun. They came back, they remembered our names. So um, sometimes, like as adults, we kind of only look at the really big miracles, but the kids are celebrating every little miracle along the way that they're seeing God move.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

That's so cool. Yeah, you know, I I find myself humbled by the reactions of these kids, you know, it's like, oh man, I should be more like that. Yeah, you know, I should recognize those things, the the fingerprints of God throughout the day and everything like that. And so it's not only just benefiting them and the people that they go to, but also us as adults who get to share in that as well.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Yeah, let me tell you one miracle story that was really cool. This is from two years ago in in my hometown. Okay. Um, we went out to a site and we thought we'd see about 20 kids there. So we had the food coming for about 20 people and we had about 60 people show up. Oh man. So we're like, oh boy, so we're scrambling, we're calling the church. Can you make any more? And uh they're like, Well, we can, but it won't get there in time. And so we had the kids gather in a circle and pray over the food, and they prayed and we fed every one of those people. No kidding. Yeah, and it was loaves and fruit. We were all like, What just happened? Did we just see a miracle? And they every one of them that night came to the mic and like, you couldn't believe it how the the Lord multiplied the food, and just like I'm getting goosebumps thinking about that day.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Dude, I I wonder how many times God awaits to do things like that, but we never let him. Yeah, yeah. Isn't that interesting? That's so cool. Man, you know, I think you know, last night too, we were talking to the kids and we're like, you know, we might be able to do an international trip next year, and they were just amped over that. Oh, yeah. Um, you know, you've done foreign mission work, and one of the reasons that I know of personally that for a lot of people that become full-time vocational ministry people is because they've gone on a short-term mission strip. Yes. And so this is a reality that's also in play with a lot of these kids. Like, their hearts are changing. I read uh a letter, I'll try to do this without tearing up, but like that one of our little girls wrote about how she just wants to be sold out for Jesus, and she wrote it in such a way here's what I look like when I'm 20, here's what I look like when I'm 40, here's what I look like when I'm 60. And I'm looking back on all the things that I sacrificed and that God um just showed me throughout my life.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

And you know, as a parent too, what would that be like if your child or your little girl handed that to you when she was 10 or 12 years old? I mean, that's the Lord moving in the hearts of these kids. Yes, and um wow, that's just so amazing.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

And the gold of it is if you if you we were to wait and let them get to be 16, 17, 18, we might miss this window where God could impress this vision on their heart. And then I know in my life I had a detour for 10, 12 years before I came back to serving the Lord um just because of my foolishness. Um, and though, you know, so I love catching these kids at this age when they can really hear the voice of God clearly and and start to set themselves on the course.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Well, I I just want to like forewarn churches they're gonna get involved in this, though, because like for us personally, um, we had so many kids go through the LIT program that as they begin to age up and go through um junior high and high school, at that age, it's like where's our mission strategy? Now. So they had an expectancy of like, okay, now we need to go and continue doing this. So we had to actually build mission strips for our teenagers also. We've always had adult ones, so it's just a beautiful flow to see that that they they come and they age up and they have an expectancy of still serving the Lord and going on these missions and doing things.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Yeah, back to Acts 1.8, the end of that verse. Um, this is what the Lord showed me. Um you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And I um I was looking for ways to get our kids somewhere else to get them, you know, and our church had a rule, you couldn't go overseas until you're 14. I'm like, oh, we're not 14 yet. And the Lord's like, I said Jerusalem and then in all Judea. So Jerusalem was the home city where they started. And he said, I want you to start these kids in their home city, which is why when I spoke to Kelly last year, I said, Aren't there any unsaved kids in in Michigan we can go reach? And she's like, Let me go talk to talk to my church about it. And so you you had us up. But that's it's a lot easier for kids to be local than to send them far away. But it it's a springboard, it is. They start with Jerusalem and then they're ready by the time they're 13, 14 for Judea and Samaria into the ends of the earth.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

And we we want to be here to do that for them also.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

Yeah, amen. Yeah, amen.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

What a what a good problem for a church to have. Like, okay, how do I get all these kids on mission, whether here or internationally, for sure. Amen. Okay. So I know that both you and I share a common desire to see this happen in more churches. Yes. Um, to create awareness of what's going on. If we have listeners that are like, Oh, I really like what I'm hearing, um, I'm willing to propose that to our church, how they get a hold of you, how they take a next step or first step in that direction.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Thank you. Um, our website is www.leadersintraining.com. Okay. And has that's the stopping point for all of our information, all of our training videos are on there, um, all of our subscriptions and content. We're actually working on publishing all of our devotion books on Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Um, so I don't know if you guys had the National Day of Printing here over the past years when we'd print our devotions. Somebody had to be in the office running many, many copies. Um, so now they're available on Amazon, which is much more convenient, and the books are really cool looking. Um, so I think the kids are gonna like to be carrying them around, have them. All right. Um, so anyway, the website is is a great place. Um, you can find me at Russ at leadersandtraining.com. That's my email. And okay, I would love, like I said, I want every church to hear about it. Love to set up a time to talk with anybody.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Yeah, yeah. Um, and um, even if they're not ready, uh, we do want them in prayer over some of these ministries that are going on uh this year and coming up on the drawing board for next year and everything. Um is there anything else that we could do to help this ministry flourish? Um, how are you guys supported financially? Are there things that we could do in that direction also?

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Yeah, so both Dr. Clint and I are full-time missionaries supported by generosity of partners and donors. So um we we need more monthly partners and things like that to continue to keep doing what we're doing. Um, we have a couple of projects that we're working on. One is the printing project. So we we're raising some support to finish that because we have uh editors and graphic designers that are working with us on that. Um, so that's a project we want to complete by the end of the year for the LIT books. Okay. Um, so that's a that's a great opportunity. And then Dr. Clint has us all over the world. There's missions going on in Africa that we're raising support for to get this information because internationally we don't charge a dime for anything. We sub we supply it for free. Okay. We have uh churches in India, churches in Africa, South America, Mexico, Honduras, um, all over the place. So um it's just gone wildfire internationally. It's really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

That's a blessing. Yeah, that sounds like the it's something good for the kingdom then.

SPEAKER_01 26:07

Yeah, I love it. Yeah, and and you know, we just want to partner with whoever feels led to to do that.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

We trust the Lord for that. Cool. Well, hey, dude, I appreciate you being here. It's been such an encouragement throughout the week, but like just to feel your energy and your excitement for what God's doing in the hearts of these kids is um a godsend, and I really appreciate it. Amen. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Yeah, and thank you for your church's hospitality. You've been amazing.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

No, I I think we're gonna do this next year, but I don't know where. Maybe we'll do it here. Maybe we should go somewhere else, too. Yeah, okay. Let's let the Lord lead. Sounds like a good plan.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

Any other thoughts that you'd like to leave us with?

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Um I just want to inspire everyone to look at your preteens as the greatest um harvest field, the greatest place to plant seed that will grow. You know, it's it's like the hundred X soil. Um you know, it it's just they once they grab a hold of that gospel of Jesus in the kingdom, their hearts are set on fire. And so, you know, whether you work with us or however you do it, you know, like we we are all about the kingdom. It's not really about building any kind of platform. We just want to see those kids have a chance to become disciples while they're at that age.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Yeah, that's that's beautiful. I just piggybacked off that a little bit. I think a lot of times nowadays we hear like doom and gloom about how the culture is imploding, how you know things are just getting worse and worse and worse. And you know, pastorally, what we like to do is uh remind people that like, yeah, maybe that's true. However, Jesus calls out a new generation for his name every every year, yeah. And we're seeing that beauty in these kids, yes, and what they're doing, and how encouraging is that, you know. Yeah. Um, if if we get old and forget that, they can remind us.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Well, spending this week with them is one of the most hopeful things you can do, like the joy of the Lord and the joy that's all around these kids, and watching them fearlessly go out and preach the gospel and come back with a big smile on their face. I mean, it it renews your hope in the future. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Absolutely. All right, Russ. Well, again, thanks for joining us today. Um, and as always, if you have questions about the podcast or other things that we're covering, feel free to leave uh reach out to us. There's a link in the description of the podcast. We'd love to talk to you and interact with you as well. And we appreciate y'all being here. Take good care and God bless.