Where God Is Already at Work

[00:00:00] Kelly: We had asked one of our partners, what makes a good partnership? And he said, well, you just have to play a lot of badminton. And we thought, oh, well, it's not the academic answer we were expecting, but he's, I think he's speaking to that we need to have fun together. We need to spend time together and do things that aren't work together.

[00:00:19] Matt: This is the Relentless Pursuit podcast, where we hear stories from cross cultural workers on what it's really like to be a missionary, the good, the bad, and the ugly. In our vocations, sometimes we're expected to have a strategy and a plan. We have both an end goal and the way that we are supposed to reach that goal, but often that's not the way it works out.

[00:00:41] And I think we're accustomed to that in terms of our child rearing or our marriage or maybe going on vacation. The journey might be different than what we expect. But what about when it comes to church planting among the unreached? We're still supposed to have a plan. We're still supposed to have a strategy. And yet we have to hold that with a very open hand. Not sure how it's all going to turn out.

[00:01:06] Jess: And I think we really see how that kind of works, how people struggle through that, how people follow the Lord, despite having the tension of these two things that they're holding. I think we see that really well in Kelly's story today.

[00:01:20] And so we're going to dive right in to one of Kelly's stories about working in. Her ministry overseas in Southeast Asia and how sometimes she's got a plan. There's a big picture, but all the, but at the same time, the Lord is directing her to specific individuals and specific relationships. So enjoy.

[00:01:40] Kelly: Yeah. I think like many people, when we first landed, we really thought. Things were going to look a certain way. We had a plan in mind. We sold, you know, we really, I say sold a vision. That's kind of how it feels sometimes, you know, your vision casting, but you're not there yet. So you're not in the reality.

[00:01:57] So the best you can do is share your heart, what you think things will be like. In our case, we had even met this gentleman who ended up becoming our national partner. That's a whole other God story in Texas at a, at a conference. in the U. S. He was a national partner of ours. But, you know, we get, we got to the place that God had called us and it almost felt like anticlimactic in a sense of there was this huge buildup and then we land and then language school and you're completely a baby that can't even ask where the toilet is without.

[00:02:35] And so I think that first year was a real adjustment period. It was very difficult at one point, I say the four months hair falling out experience of I'm literally I'm at my breaking point, God, like, why am I here again? You know, tell me. I'm here. And, and God really brought renewal and revival to me personally in that season of need and really leaning into him.

[00:02:59] Fast forward another year and we're finally to the city where we had been wanting to get all along. We're getting started in ministry and our new partner says, why don't you take some time just to go out there and get to know some of these church planters that you are working with? want to work with, just get to meet their families, get to know them.

[00:03:20] So we spent about two years really kind of touring around the different beginning church planting sites. At the time we landed, there were only eight known believers, but they had eight different teams that had been sent out, small teams, maybe one family or You know, to singles who were out in these remote areas trying to start churches.

[00:03:46] And we went around and just got to know them and really built a friendship and got to see what the needs were out in the field. And it was a beautiful time of building relationship. And we realized while doing that, wow, they really do need our backgrounds. You know, I think I mentioned before that I, I have a background in public health and my husband's was in business and we weren't really sure.

[00:04:11] We thought we had this idea of what we were going to do to come in and do all this training. But we realized in going out and looking at the sites that there really was a need for something very specific, almost like a niche that we could bring. And we saw how. God had used our whole journey, everything we'd done previously in the previous place we were in Central Asia to prepare us to meet these really specific, unique needs out in these remote sites.

[00:04:42] We started coming up with business ideas and one of the things. That we were doing not business, but to open access were these mobile medical clinics and my background, not as a clinician, but on the public health side to plan and bring together a team. And we brought in partners from Global Health Outreach, which is the creative access branch of CMDA.

[00:05:06] And they would send small teams and we would go to these church planting sites and just hold free clinics. And so we were doing this over the years. I can tell you now today, every site we did, one of these has a church now, and that's the grace of God. Yeah. And the partnership with nationals who had these relationships and it was all part of their strategy.

[00:05:32] So. We are holding these training or, sorry, a mobile medical event in the island. And this one particular, like, story that just was a pinnacle moment for me, really, as a worker. Wondering, like, how is God going to use this clinic today? How is He going to use this event? You know, you can see how it fits into this strategy.

[00:05:56] God is such a he's such an amazing God. He's always doing so many things at once. And so even though this clinic was really part of a church planting strategy there were all these people in need walking through the door. And one of the the wives of one of the, the. People on the team had pulled me aside and said, Hey, if, if anyone comes in that you just feel like you want to help, just go to my purse.

[00:06:23] And okay. I was just got it. My preface is I'm from Kentucky. So we're, we're, our culture is a bit more like, Hey, we're just going to help each other. She's like, go to my purse and get my wallet. And you just get whatever you need and help that person. You don't even have to ask. And I looked across the room and I saw this woman and she had something in her jacket and just felt the tug of the Holy Spirit walked over.

[00:06:51] Can I see what's in there? And she opened it up and it was this baby and the baby was at first I thought it was a newborn baby but the baby was an obvious respiratory distress and it was a really busy clinic. There were like, you know, a hundred people just mulling around it was very noisy, but it was like my attention was just so quickened by the spirit.

[00:07:16] It was like everything else went quiet to me. And I look at this baby and just felt this sense of. We are going to help this baby and pull the doctor over and he says this, he does an examination really quickly says this is a four month old baby that weighs four pounds and this baby is in respiratory distress.

[00:07:40] and heart failure. And please don't get attached, Kelly. I know you, this guy's known me since I was a kid. He's like, I know you don't get attached. Like even in the U. S. If this baby came in, we would say that baby doesn't really have a chance. There's nothing we can do at this point. And It was almost like in that moment, my eyes shot across the room and I looked at my, this woman who had pulled me aside previously and she just shook her head like, yes, she knew exactly why I was looking at her.

[00:08:09] And we went and got, I think it was equivalent of maybe like 10 to take her across the city to this hospital. And Of course, I took a couple of friends with me, a couple of local friends, and we went over there, and we took this baby into the, the ER, and the local doctors were like flabbergasted, what are, what are these women doing with this baby, you know, we, we were talking to them, we had this conversation, and they said, we can't really do anything here, it's not like the kind of hospital, you know, that, You're probably thinking of it's, it's one that doesn't have a lot of equipment and this sort of thing.

[00:08:50] And I said, no, no, we have people praying in the name of Jesus for this baby. And I am confident that God is going to save this baby. And he, he sort of looked at me. I was like, okay, we'll work with you. We can work with this. And they took the baby in and this man, this Muslim man, and I, for the next three days, work together.

[00:09:13] When I say we work together, he's the doctor and I'm on the phone with Doctors that I knew who were giving instructions on medication dosages and things for this baby because this was out of the specialty range of this physician and he was so gracious to work with me. And on the third day, I showed up at the hospital and he came running out and he said, He had actually had tears running down his face and he said there's really only one explanation for what's happened today.

[00:09:46] And that's you had people praying in the name of jesus because this baby is Doing so much better today and it's a miracle. It's a miracle. He was practically shouting And we did, we saw this baby basically come back to life. And this is all while this clinic initiatives going on, you know, over and the other part of the city.

[00:10:07] And we have people that are hearing the gospel and people that are getting treated and counseled. But over in this hospital, we have this baby who's just. Come from death back to life. And it was Easter morning when this happened and it was, it was so amazing. It was such a testimony and to be able to share, you know, the gospel in that setting, to be able to explain, this is just.

[00:10:34] Who God is, this is what God does. He saves the least of these. And part of that story is that this baby was rejected from her, from her village. She was the woman in the clinic that had her in her, in her, Inside her coat wasn't even her mother. It was just a woman in the neighborhood. And I asked her, why did you take in this baby?

[00:10:58] She said, I believe in God and I couldn't leave this baby on the street. And this woman took her in and she didn't have enough food for her family. So we thought you've got to come up with some kind of living wage. And so we started with a greeting card project where we bought, we trained her how to make greeting cards with local fabric and then we bought them.

[00:11:22] But after a few weeks that was helpful, but then it was like, this is probably not going to be a sustainable business model. We can't sell enough of these. You know, to feed a whole family indefinitely. So, from that, we created another business that ended up becoming more sustainable business for her.

[00:11:41] So now we have three women that are full time employed in that business. And And all because of that, that experience. And so that's just one story of how God takes these moments and he blows them up into God sized gospel you know, revolution turnaround in the midst of these The big picture, the big vision strategy of why we think we're here.

[00:12:09] Jess: Right. Yeah. I mean, cause even I'm kind of picturing that first moment when you laid eyes on her and you're in this clinic, there's like, like you said, a hundred of people, hundreds of people, those people visiting from the U S there's, I don't know where this was in terms of like the timeline of when you had set up this clinic, but it's kind of cool to, to see.

[00:12:32] Think about, yeah, within like this kind of chaos and all the big stuff, all the kind of like more important quote unquote things that were happening, the Lord kind of directed you, I want you to see this woman, I want you to see this individual, right? So I feel like there's such like that, that tension, but that kind of like dichotomy of like the big picture and also the individual and that person's needs, that little baby's needs, right.

[00:12:56] That he really directed you to. So that's really cool. Kind of how you get to, how we get to see it. Both of those things happening at the same time.

[00:13:03] Kelly: Amen. Yes. And you're absolutely right. I think it comes down to both. It's the both and, you know, it, and it truly is this tension and, and we can get lost in the big picture and miss those moments in the same way we can miss the big picture.

[00:13:19] And it's, you do feel this constant tug of The, the right here, the needs, some, some people in where I live, like to say, we live in a sea of need, you know, and you really, you have to just walk in the spirit and the grace of God is enough for that day, you know, and God is the God of today. You know, and so, just seeing so many stories over the years of little moments like that where you see gospel breakthrough, touching an individual life, you know, really changing generations for a family.

[00:13:53] And making this, you know, fruitful tree out of this barren, you know, twig and, and really just seeing that happen, you know, in, through these encounters where, you know, the gospel's at work through and in us and despite of us all the time, you know, and then there's the days of the long trench of homeschool and all the other things we do, you know, so.

[00:14:18] Matt: Yeah.

[00:14:18] Kelly: Sure.

[00:14:20] Matt: I think it's interesting that you know, we, When you went, you weren't exactly sure how it was going to all come to fruition in terms of where God was calling you, and you knew what the goal was, is church planting movements, disciples being made, and the gospel being proclaimed, and you knew that you couldn't just go out there and just start doing it.

[00:14:43] There had to be partnership with local believers and churches, as well as a way in which you could meaningfully Help people there in the country we're serving. And, and so it just requires such necessity of being open to where the Holy Spirit's leading. Because you can't really come with a strong agenda.

[00:15:02] You know, you know God's called you, but you just don't know exactly what it's gonna look like when it's all said and done. So that's, I think your story just really highlights that. And then the need to be open. to wherever God might be leading you, both on a, like a big scale, as well as like you said, just the individual relational scale of someone across the room that the Holy Spirit's prompting you toward that you can't, you can't be so caught up in the big picture that you avoid the need that's right there in front of you.

[00:15:30] I think a lot of people kind of wonder what, what are the mechanics of of church planting movements? It's part of, It's part of Pioneers' mission, you know, is initiating church planting movements, and yet it's, it's, it takes it takes its form in many different ways depending on, on where you are. And in, in your situation, it, it involved meeting the need of, of public health and business, and then also partnering with with local, local believers, can you tell us a little bit about how you got connected with local believers there and churches and what that relationship looks like?

[00:16:08] Because I think a lot of people might expect that if they go to the field, they're going to be on their own, or they're going to be with other Westerners and missionaries. But there's this whole other element that That we need to be aware of, that God is already at work in many of the places we're going, and so our role might look different than what we expect.

[00:16:25] Kelly: Well, you couldn't have said it any better. I mean, it's so true that God is already at work, and we are just coming in to be part of the story. You know, we even found in, there was a pretty famous book that was written that mentions one of the islands that one of our church plants is on in that book, is set in a.

[00:16:46] Prisoner of war camp in world war two. And the gentleman talking about the island is praying that the gospel would go out to this remote island that he couldn't get to because he was thrown in a prison camp and to think that 70 years before we even got here, there were workers trying to get to these places, praying for these places, you know, and so we come into a story that God is writing.

[00:17:12] You're absolutely right. And so. We, I often say for me and what my journey was, was making mistakes before that really taught the value of slowing down and getting unwound and really becoming a blank slate in a sense to be open to the Holy Spirit and to take time to survey the landscape and really get to know what God is already doing.

[00:17:42] And I've been, I've been. You know, having been in this place now for 15 years and that previous place for six often speaking with other workers that, you know, people never cease to be surprised when they get somewhere that there is actually already something happening or someone trying to work there.

[00:18:01] It's, it's very rare to. I think find a place where there really truly is no work That being said when there are believers, what a beautiful expression of gospel koinonia to to work together to come together and be the witness. It's the john 17 call May they be one as we are one it is our witness in the world And so we have a mandate from jesus himself.

[00:18:28] So we found in our case You know we finding there's this proximity principle I've heard mentioned before when you get involved in things that are in a, in a space, if you attend a local church or you try out local churches, you're bound to meet other believers who may themselves, or they may know someone who is missional, who it could be a local professional who has a heart for for, for God and wants to be part of things.

[00:18:57] So I think it's getting out there, trying local churches, going to little, in our case, it was attending a conference specific for that had a breakout session for this people group that we were interested in working with. And it was in that room that we met our partner who was also at that meeting.

[00:19:17] And he said, where are you going? We told him the name of the city. He said, I live in that city. Come look me up. And we did. And it was a match made in heaven. And it's not always like that, but in our case, it was putting our own agenda down and that's why I said, we thought we knew what we were coming to do, because what we were coming to do was our idea of what church planning movements could look like.

[00:19:41] And we took the time to listen to what. God had already put in the hearts of the local church and it was really a posture of i'm i'm here to serve and support what god is already doing through his church in this case there was Local believers who were wanting to reach this upg we thought let's get out of the way And let's let the church be the church here And so then we were looking for what why did god bring us here?

[00:20:11] And in our case we It was pretty immediate to see, well, we can use our backgrounds to help them open doors. And that's what we've been doing for the last 14 years, is small little business in a box, health in a box, access ministry. But the biggest thing has been Relationship, encouragement and prayer for them.

[00:20:33] Just getting a visit from us. We were just talking to one of them the other day. He came in to visit us on our Island. And he said, you haven't been out to see me in a year. We were talking and he said, you know, the biggest reason that you need to come is not to bring a medical team. It's because when you come, we're so encouraged.

[00:20:52] We have strengthened at the local way of saying it is we had strengthened our sales. for months after you left. And we thought, wow, maybe the best thing we can do is just visit. And, and that's truly been, you know, a lot of how we felt the Lord leading us is bringing prayer teams, bringing, we call them love trains.

[00:21:12] We're going to bring an encouragement team to come pray and encourage these local church planters. And, and in some way, maybe it's just. Getting out of the way a little bit and looking for what God is doing and how we can come alongside. And then, you know, there is this question of methodology and strategy.

[00:21:29] And I think that's where when you do have a relationship and you do have a friendship, and you've really shown that you are there for them and not just for your agenda, right? It, when, when they know, and you have that love and trust, then you can talk about Methods and strategy and then then it's a two way conversation.

[00:21:49] It's not I'm telling you how to do things, but it's let's pull a chair up and look at this together. And that's kind of that's definitely been a game changer for us.

[00:22:00] Jess: Yeah, I feel like that's so important that phrase that you used about filling your sales, the pastors that we used to work with in Japan, used to literally say the same thing to us and to our team, I would go to a meeting or like a, like a group thing with some of the local believers.

[00:22:16] And literally I would have no idea what was going on. Right. I didn't understand the language. And even then the pastor would say, no, you're an encouragement. You're, you're a wind to push us. And I really didn't get it, but I think you explain so well about how it's. That relationship building, and that's so different from a Western perspective, is it not?

[00:22:34] Kelly: It is. Absolutely. It is. And, and I would say that is an area we can grow. I've, I've definitely noticed the longer I have been on this side of the world the Eastern hemisphere side coming back home, how I miss that, you know, because I, I find that I have even changed a bit in that way. But it is, it is definitely the relationship first.

[00:22:58] We had asked one of our partners, what makes a good partnership? And he said, well, you just have to play a lot of badminton. And we thought, Oh, well, that's not the academic answer we were expecting, but he's, I think he's speaking to that. We need to have fun together. We need to spend time together and do things that aren't work together. And not, it's not what's on paper. You know, it's that relationship.

[00:23:22] Jess: Right. Right. Cause we're so used to seeing like, okay, how many churches have you planted? Or how many businesses have you started? Or how many like believers have you baptized? Right. But, and that's such like a task oriented, sort of goal oriented attitude that I think is not bad in and of itself.

[00:23:38] Right. But it's, it's definitely very different there. Right. And so I, I just kind of wonder as you guys have. Obviously been doing ministry in Southeast Asia for a long time. I mean, how do you gauge, like, are we doing what we're supposed to be doing? Like, we don't have any, like, numbers, right? Concrete things to show us whether the Lord is really blessing our ministry, whether this is what we're really doing.

[00:23:59] So how can, where do you kind of get the confidence that this is the right place? that you're working on and that you're continuing to do, be successful, quote unquote, in your ministry?

[00:24:11] Kelly: Well, that's an excellent question and it's such a complex one, right? So there's so many levels to this. I think on the most basic level, am I being faithful to God? You know, am I obeying what God is asking me? do that, I have to be listening. And to do that, I have to be spending a lot of time with him. And I think that is number one is really spending time with the Lord and making a priority for a lot of time with the Lord and in prayer in individually. And then if you're married in your marriage and family, and if you're single in your team and in your community and with your local church, So we do have to be accountable, right, to the broader vision of the organization we're with, or the team we're with, in our case, Pioneers' vision.

[00:25:03] We have our vision, initiating church planting movements among UPGs in partnership with the local church. I like to call to my friends, this is our three clauses. Are we doing all three? And then we have our eight core values, right? But I often like to call it an umbrella. So, you know, you don't have to, it's not like we all have to fall in line right in the middle.

[00:25:26] Right. But there's a, there's a lot of room and part of what drew us specifically to pioneers is we're entrepreneurs, we're creatives, innovators. So we loved that value of flexibility and innovation. There's so many ways to do this, but we do need to be. somehow connecting in, right, to that, to that vision.

[00:25:48] So I think how you know what you're doing is, you know, having that solid relationship with the Lord, that you're, you're walking in shalom, you're in fruitfulness, you see fruit in your relationships, in your heart, in your own spiritual walk. You you are staying accountable to the vision of the church, team and the vision of the organization. And then, you know, having peace and the relationships with your partners and with one another, those are all indicators to me that we're doing all right. I would say the other thing is if it's hard if you're facing opposition. If there's if you feel like you're in a trench and you're fighting a battle, you're probably on the right track, you know?

[00:26:30] And, and it, it is so true. We do live in that tension of like, you, you almost, you're on the precipice of asking, am I crazy? Am I, am I doing something wrong here because of how hard it is? At the same time, you see the fruit coming, you see the fruit, you know, internally and externally, and you also just have this calm assurance, you know, and that, that really can only come in walking with the Lord. And so that's where I would say that's gotta be number one.

[00:27:03] Matt: You, you hinted a little bit of the difficult times and, and kind of knowing when you are facing challenges that you're probably in the right spot and where, where you're, where God has you. And what you've told us so far sounds awesome, but I'm sure that there's another side to it that's moments of extreme disappointment and frustration and where you reach a point where you're, you just want to pack up and leave.

[00:27:26] Can you think of any times in which. you've been brought to that place and, and feel free to, you know, to give us the dirtiest part of the story. But I'm just interested to hear like, what your experience has been with those areas of disappointment and grief and loss and a sense of failure and then how you how you made it through so that you're still there.

[00:27:49] Kelly: Sure. Yes. There have been a lot of hard times. There have been hard times. There have been hard seasons. There have been specific times along the journey where, you know, we have wrestled through the questions, you know, what are we doing? Is this what God has for us? Is he calling us back to this place?

[00:28:08] I will say getting through those times, really staying faithful. In that process to really, as, as we spoke about earlier, staying open to God and really spending time with him. Those have all become seasons of renewal for me. So even though they start out really messy and really hard and asking those questions that almost, they're like, The missionary faux pas questions.

[00:28:33] Nobody wants to say this, you know, thought we all have, can I go home now? What wouldn't retirement be great? Nobody would bat an eye right now at this thing I've gone through and And, and yet there is this deep tug in your inner man to keep going and don't give up. And it's really hard to explain other than it's got to be the Holy Spirit at work.

[00:29:03] And it's that grace of Christ in that deepest need. And if we are vulnerable and we are honest with God and ourself and our partner team, we can, we can find that in that vulnerability, that opening up that confession, that confession, that sort of orientation of I'm going to let others come in, whether it's God himself or my team or my family, and we're gonna, We're gonna do this.

[00:29:32] We're gonna face this together. That's where we find the strength of koinonia. I think where you see it's it can be hard is when you know, the temptation with to withdraw isolate in those times. But when You go through hard times for me specifics. I can say the hardest thing I faced over 14 years has been having to homeschool.

[00:29:55] My kids, they could all laugh with me about that. I'm not wired for it. It's been, it's been, I would say it's almost been like, yeah, it's, it's been really hard, but specific events we've had, I, you know, we had an armed robbery in our home that took, you know, we were evacuated. And went through a serious period of counseling and really asking that question was almost like in that situation was so serious that it was like getting called back to the field after that.

[00:30:26] And then, you know, there've been times where we've had. Said goodbyes that have been really hard and disappointments and then just the loss and the grief we have of leaving family behind parents, you know, siblings. So I think those losses over the years, there is a stillness. I will say this I'm on year 20.

[00:30:51] I find that the grief is still there, but there is a, a stillness and a solid space of peace and that with Christ. And, and two, I would say there's an intimacy that comes through these different seasons and these different moments of hardship. You know, we, it's a, it truly is a battle. I, you know, one of the counselors we saw after a robbery said, you know, we send people the front lines all the time and then we're surprised when they need to retreat and get help.

[00:31:24] You know, like we have medical tent on the literal front lines. You know, we need to like allow ourselves to retreat and get what we need. But being in that space is where we can get replenished and renewed. And so my story does have a lot of those kinds of messy, hard things. I've just also found this strengthening in Jesus and a grace of Christ to really Do that resurrection power renewal in my life and almost, I would say, strengthen my calling and what would seem like points where you're at the point of no return, you know?

[00:32:06] Jess: Yeah. I mean, even just like what you said about how like 20 years in you've been on the field for 20 years and there's still grief and there's still loss and mourning and that's still a very real part of what you are going through. Maybe not on, you know, a daily, you know, every moment sort of basis, but it's definitely very real.

[00:32:27] Right. It doesn't just like go away after a little while. Right. I feel like that's so real. And so it's like one of those things I feel maybe some of our listeners are like, I don't know if I completely, totally get it. But then if they re listen to this, like a few years after they go to the field, they'll be like, Oh, that's what Kelly was talking about. I get it now. Right. Yeah.

[00:32:46] Kelly: Yeah, I, I do. I think it's interesting because in the first term, it's a lot of like, I remember I, I did actually literally have my hair falling out to the point where I had a friend at my house going, are you okay? Is something wrong with you? There's like hair. Because that is a kind of stress that you can't even conceive until you go through it.

[00:33:07] You know, but, but then there's this like long road of obedience kind of yeah. You know, like to your point the grief of, you know, I still miss my mom, you know, and, but the beauty of that is our relationship, you know, because we share this, you know, we have, I would say we have a really close relationship and we, I, I really think that has drawn us closer and, you know, it's not what I think we, we probably both think.

[00:33:36] Thought our life would look like as mother daughter, but the beauty and, and grace in that, in, in how the Lord brings this renewal. And then when we are together and we like to joke, we probably see each other more than we would, if I lived across the U S and like, you know, Washington state or something, you know, because we do get to see each other, you know, a lot in my mind compared to what it could be.

[00:34:01] But it still feels like, I guess in some sense, you do grieve the loss of what you thought your life was going to be like before you were called to missions. And I think that is a real loss, you know, that we, that we oftentimes don't think about. And and then I've heard it said that sometimes we have this like escape hatch in our mind where we're like, it's a fantasy, right?

[00:34:26] Wouldn't it be so much easier if I lived? Over back in my passport country and my kids went to normal school and we had the whole life, you know And you it kind of becomes this it can become this temptation to think of it like as a escape hatch but the reality is, you know, it could just be different kinds of hard and so Yeah, I think I think it is it is a long journey in in that way

[00:34:52] Matt: Well, one thing we like to do toward the end of our conversation, Kelly, is just ask if there's anything that you've been reading or listening to or watching a podcast, a book a video or something that has been inspiring or challenging you. And it doesn't have to be related to, It can be something fun or or informative, anything that's been going through your mind lately.

[00:35:15] Kelly: Okay, well, this is really hard because I'm a big K drama fan, but I'm going to pass K drama to tell you about, I don't know, I know, I'm going to tell you about this amazing book called, That I just read lead with prayer, which you guys may have read because it was kind of recommended out in our, our organization, it really was.

[00:35:35] And it's very timely for me, but reinvigorating my prayer practice and my, just my days are different now. And it's just been a beautiful reawakening for me. I really loved that. And the funny thing about it is if you know me, you would get a good laugh out of it. My what's on my nightstand right now is the Valley of Vision, which is like the Puritan prayer book.

[00:35:58] And that, you know, it's a beautiful though, there is so much just truth in that, you know, and so, I'm just, I'm taking some time to go back and even further back than that and look at some of the ancients prayers and finding that very It's just a beautiful, very poetic type of prayer. So yeah, a bit of a prayer exploration going on right now. It's been a lot of fun.

[00:36:20] Jess: Awesome.

[00:36:21] Kelly: Wait, but I have to ask, what's your, what's your recent K drama recommendation? Oh my goodness. You asked me that. Well, let's see. I mean, we all love Crash Landing Into You, right? I'm like, that's probably a classic. I'm just gonna say that one. I, I don't know.

[00:36:39] Jess: Sounds good.

[00:36:40] Kelly: Yeah. Whatever's free online, but me and my daughters love that one together and dream of one day making it to the Korea's Try On The Johnson costumes.

[00:36:53] Jess: I hope you all enjoyed, as much as I did, hearing about how Kelly has just wrestled with the Lord in terms of what her calling is, in terms of how He's using her and their family and their ministries. It was just really cool to be able to hear about the relationships they've built. But I know some of you are probably wondering, wait, wait, wait. She mentioned something about like an armed robbery. That's kind of a big deal. She just sort of glossed over it. Right. So if you're interested in hearing that story and it's a good one, right, please definitely check out the bonus story linked in the show notes below.

[00:37:24] Matt: And also check out in our show notes, we have some links to some resources on church planting on the pioneers website, and also some videos that maybe help you get a better sense of what it looks like. What the role is of the Western worker in situations like that. And then also a link to the highly recommended book from Kelly, Lead with Prayer by Peter Greer. We would recommend that as well.

[00:37:50] Jess: Thanks for following us on this episode of the Relentless Pursuit podcast. Our goal is to make missions accessible to show that it's not just reserved for elite super Christians. If you want to be involved, just go to pioneers. org slash start and answer a few questions. We have a team who would love to help you discern your calling and what your next steps might be.

[00:38:09] Matt: At Pioneers, we love to partner with local churches and send teams to people groups with little or no access to the gospel. Keep up with what God is doing by following us on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube, all at PioneersUSA, one word, or visit pioneers. org. Thanks for listening.

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