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Eddy Hallock serves as the Executive Director at Stoller Foundation. Their goal is to support Christ-centered ministries that mobilize volunteers to serve others and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. In 48 years of career ministry, Eddy has pastored several churches and served as a missionary in Brazil for 15 years. He’s worked as a Minister of Missions and has been a liaison for many ethnic churches in the Houston area, and has led numerous overseas mission trips.
Show Notes
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WELCOME
You Can Mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others.
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SHOW NOTES
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to the You Can Mentor podcast. My name is Steven, and I have a very special guest today. His name is Eddie Halleck. Eddie, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:I'm doing good, Steven. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:Hey. I'm so great. I'm glad you're here. You know, I actually grew up in Houston in Magnolia, Texas. I was gonna let you know that.
Speaker 2:So if you guys are downtown, that's about a 100 miles away. I mean, just that's how big Houston is. So that place is crazy, crazy huge. I'm I'm excited to have Eddie on the podcast today. He serves as the executive director at the Stoler Foundation.
Speaker 2:Their goal is to support Christ centered ministries that mobilize volunteers to serve others and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's go. He has served in ministry for over 48 years. He's pastored several churches and has served as a missionary in Brazil for over 15 years. I can't speak Portuguese, but I'm assuming he probably knows his way around.
Speaker 2:Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I
Speaker 3:love you very, and it's great to be with you these days.
Speaker 2:Come on. Well and you can tell we're gonna have fun this episode. But one more thing about Eddie, he served as the minister of missions at a church in Houston. He's been a liaison for many ethnic churches in the Houston area and, just been a leader of many overseas mission trips. And so what we wanna talk about today is encouraging and equipping mentors to share the gospel in their mentoring relationships.
Speaker 2:And so we figured if we might as well get someone who has 50 years of experience in ministry to kinda speak into our mentors to to help us create a vision for why it's important to share the gospel in mentoring relationships. What are the differences in in sharing the gospel in, a mentor relationship with a kid from a hard place? Are there any specifics that he's learned in articulating the gospel to children? And so I hope you enjoy today's topic because I think it's gonna be really powerful. Eddie, I'd love for you just to share a little bit about the Stoler Foundation before you get going.
Speaker 2:What drew you to be a part of that foundation, and what is it like to work in in the work that you're doing after doing so much, church ministry?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So, so Jerry Stoller, actually grew up on a farm. This man that that, was the founder of this, foundation, the Stoller Foundation, and he grew up on a farm, and he was very interested in plants. And so, later in his life then, he began to study carefully, And with scientists that he actually hired, they discovered some micronutrients for plants that make them stronger, that makes them better, it produces more fruit, and and it actually, stops, you know, critters from eating up the, you know, the the plant and destroying the plant. It's just incredible what this stuff does.
Speaker 3:So it's all over the world. They're in 50 to 60 countries today. And so one day, he, because of his belief in Christ, he said, you know, I want everybody to know Christ, and I want people to to develop as the plants develop. And he so he said, I'm gonna start a foundation. Now because he was a businessman, you know, he, of course, wanted people to come to Christ, and so that's one of our pillars.
Speaker 3:He wants an organization to have volunteers because, you know, that's sort of the business aspect of it, that you can't really accomplish something for for God unless you have a lot of volunteers, and so he wants volunteers. And then, cause again, he wanted to do something different. You know, most foundations will give to something they can see with their eyes, but our foundation gives to what we cannot see because we help start, many times, we help start 501c3 non profit Christian organizations. And so, we help them for a few years, and then we get out of the way, and they continue because they are now sustainable. And then we start helping others.
Speaker 3:That's what he wanted to do, was to be in a constant state of helping organizations start, get going, and then do well. So that's who Stoler Foundation is, and, we just, of course, want to constantly emphasize these pillars, so that's what we do. You know, we really believe in mentorship. I'm so glad that, you are doing this. And, you know, the mentors that you have, if they'll realize they're like Moses to Joshuas, you know, they're like Elijahs to Elishas.
Speaker 3:And, these people are gonna have and these young people are gonna have some tremendous, future in in helping people, you know, in in years to come. So so what a just congratulations on this ministry.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Eddie. Well and I I love just hearing, from you just the the success of a businessman working in in the business world, then realizing just this passion and, just desire to see the gospel go forth. And I I just I think that that should stir something in each of us as we listen. Many of our mentors, I mean, they're in the business world. They're making money for the family.
Speaker 2:They're bringing home the bacon. Maybe some of them might not recognize their role within God's plan to share the gospel. Hearing that story draws out our hearts to say, ask the question, what is God calling me to in this mentoring relationship? Could it be to share the gospel? Could it be to see the world changed just through making a disciple?
Speaker 3:Why did God put you here on this earth? You know, what's the one fundamental reason that he placed you here? I love to ask this question. Hey, well, we're here to serve, or we're here to worship, or we're here to,
Speaker 2:you know,
Speaker 3:to do some good works, and that's wonderful. But, you know, there is a fundamental reason, and it's it's pretty simple. We see it right at the beginning, and that is that God wanted to have a relationship with every single person. You know, the first thing that God ever said, ever did after He created Adam? The very first thing was to talk to him.
Speaker 3:You know, the Bible is a book of relationships. In fact, that's in Genesis 1 and 2. He's talking to him in 3, And, you know, then he begins to just relate to people. You have not only Adam, but then, remember, Enoch, he walked with God, Noah, and then Abraham, and women like Ruth and Deborah, and then other men, Joseph and Moses. I mean, we could go on and on.
Speaker 3:In the New Testament, you had the disciples and Jesus himself and Paul and Mary and Elizabeth. And, you know, it's really all about relationships when you think about it. Life is that. For example, you know, here you you've mentored children. Will they have a relationship with their mother usually or with other siblings or parents?
Speaker 3:And then we relate to our spouses, and we relate to our friends. We relate to the school, church, play. You know what? Children understand relationships. All you have to say is say, you know, you have a relationship with your parents, don't your father or whoever that child lives with.
Speaker 3:You know, God's plan, as I understand it, was for us to have these relationships with him so that we have peace in our heart and we could have love and direction. You know, he offers so much, you know, prayers that are answered and and all of us know that something tragic happened and that was that sin came into this world. So sin separated us from that relationship that God wanted us to have. You know, his plan was for us to live eternally, but we blew it. So what was the solution?
Speaker 3:Jesus. So right? And, you know, he dies for our sins to and so if we repent, because all have sinned, and if we trust and believe in Jesus, then he saves us eternally. But you know what? He's the bridge to that back to that relationship with God, which was the whole plan of God anyway.
Speaker 2:That's really good, Eddie. And I I love the point that you made. I've never actually heard someone make this point that the first thing God does is speak to him when he makes Adam. Like and that's that's so simple. It's so true, but it's so valuable for us to understand that God wants us to hear him and he wants relationship.
Speaker 2:And talking to someone, speaking to someone is, an invitation to relationship. I I imagine that God's plan was for Adam to talk back, Adam to to reciprocate. And, I I just think that that's that's something that's really special about yeah. Just I mean, obviously, we have the bible. It's the word of God.
Speaker 2:So we talk about God's word all the time, but will we understand God's heart for relationship just through the words that he speaks?
Speaker 3:You know what? It was interesting because, Adam and Eve would walk in the garden with God. You know, I I think a lot of people think that, you know, God created Adam, and then immediately, he sinned and separated himself from God. Now and they used to walk in the cool of the day, and they used to talk with him and dialogue with him and relate with him. But one day, you know, the tragedy occurred, and, so when they decided to disobey.
Speaker 3:So this is the important thing, is is that we actually have a relationship, and that explains everything. You know, it makes the gospel so much easier to explain. You know, we're not a lot of people say, well, you know, I gotta get saved so I can go to heaven. You know what? That's icing on the cake.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. The I wanna be saved so I can relate to God eternally in in this incredible relationship. And so I'm glad. Yes. I wanna I'm going to heaven when I die, but, you know, that's just really extra.
Speaker 3:It's just wonderful, but that's not why I'm saved. I'm saved for an eternal relationship with
Speaker 2:Eddie, that makes me think about the, I guess, the the approach of sharing the gospel with children, at least in my experience, has has been centered around heaven. Heaven and hell is the the primary, I guess, simplification of the, I guess, the the purpose of sharing the gospel. And and so I wonder if you could unpack just just what you're saying is that heaven is icing on the cake. What you really want is relationship with God. Like, in in the now, like, right here, you want to live with relationship with God.
Speaker 2:And so could you could you share a little more about about that?
Speaker 3:Okay. You know, I think that one of the things that we as believers have done is to not understand the benefits of a relationship with God. You know, because of remember, you know, this thing of of the the getting the rich quick thing, you know, where if you if you if you're a Christian, you know, you're gonna get rich. You know that, what's that, that phrase that's used a lot? And so what has happened is we we sort of wanna we go to the other ditch.
Speaker 3:You see, when I believed into Christ as my savior, what happened? Well, the first thing that happened seems like for for many people, especially those who are older, peace comes into their heart. I I made a list one day of the benefits of being a believer. So, you know, not only do you have peace, you have a new joy. And I could give you illustrations of all of this, but it take a long time.
Speaker 3:God gives you direction for your life. You know, all of a sudden you can talk to God, and he listens to you. Wow. What? God listens to you.
Speaker 3:And then, you know, he answers your prayers. And then, you begin to for example, if you hurt somebody, he gives you the opportunity to ask for forgiveness and have a clear conscience, and all of a sudden, things are good again. And, you know, he helps you overcome bitterness. I mean, there are so many, many benefits as a result of relationship. That's why we need to be in the word every day.
Speaker 3:You know, when I was 8 years old, my mother said to me, you know, you like to go out and play, and, of course, I did. She said, but from now on, you're gonna need to read about 4 chapters in the bible before you go out to pray to play. Well, you know, people say, oh, no. That's terrible. No.
Speaker 3:It wasn't. It was wonderful. I'm so glad because at that age, I had read almost the entire bible. You know, so I began to learn and and to to spend some time with God. And, you know, I've blown many things in my life, but you know what?
Speaker 3:Just getting into the word and and having this relationship. Now do I wanna go to heaven? Of course. You know, do I wanna stay away? Out of hell?
Speaker 3:Of course. And, you know, it's I don't care. Any way you wanna share the gospel is is is good. If you're sharing the gospel, I I'm all for it. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3:But I just think we miss out in understanding the whole reason, everything that God wanted. And I think that's why it's important that we understand that relationship with Him makes life so much better. And not only here, but then you see, it's that when I die, my life continues. That's why this relationship here is so important. I just continue living with God in that relationship in heaven.
Speaker 3:It's in heaven. Praise God. That's not gonna be a wonderful thing, but it is gonna be for eternity. You know? And so it's not just going to a place.
Speaker 3:It's going to a place to be with God and enjoying him forever. Does that I hope that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's really good. That's probably more compelling for a child to hear that this gospel applies to you today. It's not just about when you die. It's this affects your life.
Speaker 2:And for some reason, we feel like simplifying it into this heaven and hell future state helps children because it seems more simple, but, actually, it probably even complicates things even more and doesn't give, I guess, a a kid something that they can walk and step into right there, which is a relationship with God. And so, I mean, I wanna hear about even just your your time in Brazil. Do you have any stories where people just had an moment when you shared this with them? Could you share any testimonies of of sharing the gospel and people connecting with that thought of this is a relationship with God that I'm starting today and them just being fired up about that.
Speaker 3:You know, one of the great joys, I guess, after you've been in ministry for many years, that people write you back. You know? People you haven't seen in years, they'll write you back. It's, oh, you know, this happened, or I accepted Christ here and there. And, yeah, you know, the wonderful thing about Brazilians in particular is that they're very gregarious.
Speaker 3:They're very loving people. It's easy to talk to them. You can stop anywhere, talk to any of them. You can give them a tract, and they'll literally stop and read the thing. Oh, wow.
Speaker 3:So they're very open. Now you see, they're very religious people, but, unfortunately, it hasn't been understanding that Jesus is the solution for their life, but they're very interested in that. And so, you know, they've been taught, primarily to, to to major, you know, religions or faiths, but one of them is to actually depend on Mary, bless her heart, the mother of Jesus, more than on Jesus. And, so that's been a that's a tragedy. But once they hear that the sun is the answer, they will come to Christ.
Speaker 3:And the other one, you know, there's been a lot of, really, religion, the demonic religion was really brought in, and so there's a lot of, spiritism, we call it, you know, and people that will literally worship, spirits. And so, when they're freed from that, it's it's a it's a remarkable, remarkable situation. Now, you know, in a lot of our trips, one of the things we would do, we would actually build a a building, not very big. It it's 20 by 40, but it seats about a 150 people. While we were building that building in 1 week, we'd usually take a medical team, and they would see 100 of people, or we would give them free glasses because that's what people want more than anything else, because they're very expensive there.
Speaker 3:And, they had reading glasses, and we had work with children, work with kids, sports, and so forth. But as we people would come in after they received all of this, you know, we would share the gospel with them, and it was just incredible how many people just were ready and wanted the lord Jesus in their life. Well, we saw this over and over and over. One man in particular was invited to a meeting, which, you know, I had the privilege of of speaking. But he but he didn't wanna go to church, but his friend insisted, so he got drunk and went to church.
Speaker 3:And, so, you know, it was over, goes home. The next day, same thing. He gets drunk again on purpose right before he goes to church. On the 3rd day, he did not get drunk. And on that day, he listened to the gospel, believed, and he received Christ.
Speaker 3:His life was completely changed. There was an incident there on our island, and it's very complicated, but, some it was a military base, and there was an explosion. A lot of windows is so powerful of an explosion that the windows would break. And so later, the government came and said, okay. You know, did the windows break here on this apartment?
Speaker 3:And he took care of a particular apartment complex. And he said, well, we do have broken windows, but they were already broken before the explosion. And so these men said, well, don't you wanna just tell them that, you know, they were broken because of the explosion? And he said, you know what? I'm a Christian.
Speaker 3:I can't lie, and so I've gotta tell the truth. Well, you know, that sounds small, but I wanna tell you that is a remarkable, remarkable fact, especially in that wonderful country where people would easily take advantage as they would in any country. You know? So I think that these little things, but, boy, they're big in the life of a person. Made a difference.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I I mean, just in having a relationship with god, it's you're held accountable in a sense because you're like, okay. He sees me. He knows
Speaker 3:me.
Speaker 2:Right. He loves me, but I love him, and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go, backwards. I'm I'm gonna walk forward in this relationship. And so, I I mean, I do I do love that. I was gonna tell you a story from, my wife and I.
Speaker 2:We were in the Dominican Republic, and, she speaks Spanish. I do not. So it was very helpful to have her on the trip. And we were walking around this, community and sharing the gospel. And these 2 little boys came up, and they had, a baseball bat and a baseball, and they were just asking us, what are we doing here?
Speaker 2:And, we asked them, well, what are you doing here? And they were like, oh, I mean, we play baseball. And I was like, oh, okay. My wife says, well, we're disciples of Jesus, and, would you like to become a disciple of Jesus? And they were like, well, what is that?
Speaker 2:And she shared the gospel with them and, shared why we we had come there and how we were calling people into this come follow Jesus. As soon as she finishes sharing the gospel, they want to receive Jesus, and so they pray a prayer. And we rejoice and tell them, like, well, that's that's amazing. Like, praise God. We'll we'll we'll be praying for you because we weren't sure if we were ever gonna come back to this this community that we are in.
Speaker 2:And so we start walking away, going to the next next house. All of a sudden, we realized after we visited 3 houses, these kids are still following right behind us. We're like, well, what's going on? And we so we asked them, like, I thought we thought we were going to play baseball, and they were like, well, we're disciples of Jesus. Like, shouldn't we be with you guys?
Speaker 2:Like and it's it's so it's it's cute. It's powerful. It's beautiful, and I I think I think we we discount what children can receive from from a a an articulation of the gospel that that maybe we've only done with other adults or maybe we've never done it all. But I I wonder if if you could share just, I mean, the importance of sharing the gospel with children. Jesus is very clear that he he loves children.
Speaker 2:He calls the children to come to himself. There there's just something about the heart of children that god longs for, and so I wonder if you could speak into that.
Speaker 3:A lot of folks just because they're, I guess, not used to just having a very simple presentation, wonder what what they ought to do. You know, children, I think children can sense your spirit in unusual ways. They they know when you're sad, when you're happy, when you're depressed, when something's wrong, and they don't understand it. They just know it. But I think if, you know, the mentors and their sincerity, if they're sincere, children will listen to them.
Speaker 3:That's one of the first things I think they need to understand as they articulate the gospel. If if I'm mentoring a child, and, let's say that they're I'm I'm helping with their math. You can do this with anything, but let's just take math. And, you know, so I would say, so how's your math coming along? You know?
Speaker 3:How are your multiplication tables these days? Almost regardless of what they say, whether it's good or bad, you could ask them just out of the blue, say, hey. Let me ask you a question. Do you have a Bible? Again, does it matter whether they have it or not?
Speaker 3:But, you know, you could say, you know, the Bible has a lot of math in it. Did you know that? Like, for example, Jesus had one disciple that was real close to him, then he had 3 more that 3 that walked around. He called 9, and if we, you know, if we added 1 plus, really, it's it's 2, because that one was already in there, plus another, 9. How many are we gonna have?
Speaker 3:Well, 1 +2+9, is 12. Well, do you add 12? So, you know, you're you're addition. And then, you know, one day just sent out 70, and, but they went out 2 by 2. So how how many, so let's divide that.
Speaker 3:And how many teams went out that day? So very easily, you know, you could get into all kinds of of math in the Bible. Right? And then at that point, you know, one of the easy things to do is, you know, have you ever heard about Jesus? Listen, I was in in India one time, and this little boy, we were walking around, and his name was Bob Blue.
Speaker 3:Bob Blue wanted, to stay with me because he told me where I could get the best shots of, this particular place, the Taj Mahal, and, so I said okay. So one asked Bob Blue, I says, he was 12 years old. I said, have you ever heard about Jesus? And he looked at me and he said, no, I haven't. I says, why?
Speaker 3:Is he an American? And, you know, you'd be surprised if a child has never gone to church, never heard about Jesus, well but, you know, some of these kids, of course, have. You know that I would, I would ask them this question that I asked, you, Steve. You know, why is it that God has put us here on this earth? And, I think everybody wants to know, no matter whether they're a kid or not.
Speaker 3:I mean, if the child can understand that question, why did God put you here? And, they say, well, I don't know. You say, well, you know, because he wants to have us have a relationship with us. You know, like, for example, your mother, don't you have a relationship with your mother? Yes.
Speaker 3:Doesn't she love you? Yes. Do you love her? You know? Have you ever disobeyed her?
Speaker 3:Yes. Well, you know what that's called? That's sin. Or you could, you know, you could follow-up with that. You know, have you ever told a lie?
Speaker 3:Like, I've told a lie before. Have you ever told a lie? Well, yeah. Well, what does that make of us then? Well, I guess that makes us liars.
Speaker 3:Right? That's sin. Or have you ever stolen a pencil? You know, I know that I have before. That makes us thieves.
Speaker 3:You know, God is really really sad when we do these things, and, of course, you know the Bible says all of us have sinned, and that we're separated from God. But, you know, something that's so wonderful is that, just like your mother has done many, many things for you, Jesus Christ came in. You know what? He died on the cross. And why did he die?
Speaker 3:To pay for our sin. You know why he paid for our sin? That if you ask him to forgive you, you can come back to him, and you can have a relationship with God again. But you just need to invite Jesus to come into your heart. He'll come in.
Speaker 3:He'll he'll live there forever with you. He's gonna help you. He's gonna help you be a great man of God. And don't you wanna do that? So, you know, at that point, you do that.
Speaker 3:Now there's so many ways. And my son was about I have, we have 4 kids, 3 boys, and when one the oldest one was about 7, I think. I took one of these booklets, and I was looking here. You know, there are so many. But this one, in particular, is called the 4 fantastic facts campus crusade puts out for children.
Speaker 3:I I went through that booklet with him. And, when I came to the end of the booklet, I said, now, Jeremy, did you understand this? And he said, well, no. I said, okay. So we just put the book aside, and 6 months later, I got it again.
Speaker 3:I said, hey, Jeremy. Come here. So we went through it again. But there was one particular page. It's a little harder than the others.
Speaker 3:You know? Some of it's simple. That one's a little harder. And he said, no. I don't I don't understand.
Speaker 3:I said, okay. 6 months later, again, this time, when we got to that page, he said, let's go back to that page. And when it was all over, he said, I said, do you understand? He said, yes. So when he understood us, I said, so do you wanna receive Christ?
Speaker 3:He said yes. So we prayed to receive Christ right there. But, you know, because, again, the methods are many. And if you're just loving them and you're not afraid to bring it up, you don't have to force anything on these children. But like you said, Jesus loves them.
Speaker 3:He wants them to come to him. They have incredible faith that we, as adults, do not have many times. So I don't know if that answers your question, but that's the beginning of it, And I believe every mentor can do that.
Speaker 2:Amen. Yeah. I I love what you said about, children pick up on emotion, and they can sense when you're being genuine, you're being honest, you're being authentic. I wonder if that's the reason that mentors mentors who don't share the gospel or don't share it regularly, if that's a part of the, I guess, a symptom of the reason why is because it's difficult for us to translate our own experience of the gospel into a into a heart for a kid or a heart for others to the point that we would learn how to communicate and share. So, I mean, I think a lot of people will tell me, well, I need a tool.
Speaker 2:I need help. I don't know how to share. They they may have the emotional side. They they have a genuine feeling of god's loved me. He saved my life, and he's called me to make disciples.
Speaker 2:He's called me to share the gospel, but I just don't know how. I don't know. Something in me thinks that it's more than just tools. What what's the thing that is holding us back? I don't know if you have any thoughts.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, look, You know, I think that if a person really wants to be a disciple right? If I wanted to be a disciple, then what I would do is I would try to find somebody to mentor me in that particular area. You know, I've done I've taught evangelism many, many, many times, but you don't learn evangelism in the classroom. You've got to go do it.
Speaker 3:And I had a a businessman one time, and we spent time together. I I he'd he'd go visiting with me and watch, and one day, we were gonna meet with this couple, and I knew it was gonna be a good experience. So, I asked them a question. I said, you know, do you have any idea how you can have a personal relationship with God through Christ? And they said no.
Speaker 3:I said, well, I said, Wayne's gonna tell you right now. He had no idea he was gonna do that. But here's the thing. He was prepared, and I knew he was prepared. Now I share a very basic, I use in an ideal situation, I use actually, I draw on paper, you know, what I call the bridge illustration, and so that's in an ideal situation.
Speaker 3:And I think that it'd be so good for everybody to to do that, but I would say that most Christians who have been in the church for a while would not have great difficulty if they understood what God wants as a relationship. We blew it, and that's sin, And Jesus Christ came to restore the relationship that was lost with God. I mean, really. You know, now remember there's so many other things involved, but that's the very, very truth in in a nutshell, and it it can be done even if you don't know very much. You know?
Speaker 3:But if you can memorize a a handful of verses, you know, John 316 and couple in Romans and and and John 146 and then Revelation 320, you can really, just in a few verses, share that truth. And you know it's not hard. Kids will listen to you. They will. Just loving them and helping them.
Speaker 3:As you're helping them with math, you're helping them with English, all these other subjects, you know, you can bring this thing ease so and so easy. You know? One of the things I talk a lot about is sprinkling God. You know? It's funny.
Speaker 3:This morning, I had to buy some grout for they're they're putting tile in my house. So I'm at the store. Right? And as I'm paying for this, there was a hole in that package. But, anyway, it was in a in a sort of a box, and this man, for some reason, he said, yeah.
Speaker 3:Put it in that whole Lee box. And I said, as long as you have Jesus, then it's all holy. You know? Look. If a man comes up to you when you're putting gas in the car, he says, what a beautiful day, and you say, isn't God amazing, the kinds of days he makes?
Speaker 3:Now you will go home, you'll forget about that conversation, but that man will go home and he'll say, hey. Somebody talk to me about God today. You see, that's sprinkling God out there, and it's so easy to do. You know? And I'm not sure you do all these kinds of things, Steven, but, you know, even we have a granddaughter.
Speaker 3:She's 2 year I mean, she's less than 2, but we say, let's pray. Well, she knows what's out of her hands, you know, and holds on as we pray. And, of course, she wants a quick prayer, but we we pray quick for her. But, you know, it's just they they they love it. They love it.
Speaker 3:It's not
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's really good. 22 things stood out to me, what you shared, Eddie. I I was thinking about the the thought, well, I'm just not good at it. And so that that holds people back, and what what you said was that, well, the only way to get good at it is to go do it.
Speaker 2:It's like, I don't I don't know if anyone that's like, well, I'm not good at baseball. Well, well, have you played baseball before? No. It's like, okay. Well, there's your problem.
Speaker 2:And, I mean, it's the same it's the same with every spiritual discipline. I mean, to learn how to pray, you gotta pray. To learn how to fast, you gotta fast. To share the gospel, you have to share the gospel. And I think I think, another thing you said was just I I like how you said sprinkling God of of looking for opportunities to talk about God.
Speaker 2:Yes. I think most of us probably think about opportunities to talk about ourselves. I mean, we're we're all that guy who, in conversation, we're just looking for a way to to be more known, to be more seen. And I think even for mentors, something that's pretty common is that you're trying to build relationship, and so something that mentors do a lot is share all of their awesome stories of, well, when I was in high school, I was on varsity, and and we share all those stories to kind of gain, like, I guess, notoriety or, like, hoping our mentees are gonna think we're awesome.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But
Speaker 2:it it'd be great if we could shift that to encourage our mentees to always think that god is awesome. Yeah. I think I think that's a that's a huge temptation, but it's also an opportunity for us to to recognize all those moments. We're trying to build trust with our our mentees. Could we be building their trust with God?
Speaker 3:Mhmm. You know, it reminded me of, as you're talking to them, and if you're telling them a bible story, talk about the little boy that bought you know, brought his 5 pieces of bread or 5 breads and 2 fish to Jesus. I mean, you talk about a hero. I mean, that child, you know, fed thousands of people, and, and all he did was was give to Jesus what he had. You know?
Speaker 3:See, the Bible has so many heroes, and I think, you know, one of the the to contextualize the gospel, you know, in in our day and time, I think there are many ways, in many countries. There was a book written by Don Richardson on Peace Child in Papua New Guinea, and and, you know, the most incredible thing you could do whenever they wanted to have peace between 2 tribes was to literally give a baby. I would give it. If it was my baby, I would give it to the chief of the other tribe. I'd give it to him, and he would raise my baby.
Speaker 3:Well, that was called the peace child, where Jesus Christ became the peace child. God gave him to us. Well, that's one way that you can bring the gospel in. But, see, today in America, you know, it's all about heroes. Right?
Speaker 3:So we have all gonna
Speaker 2:say, you'd have CPS on your on your on your case if you gave gave your child away.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, man. But There's a common he's not here. But, but, you know, our hero here, it's all about heroes and all these sports heroes, but, you know, just think about the heroes in the bible, and and there are just so many. You know? You got David that, by the way, David was not a little boy.
Speaker 3:We people need to read 1st Samuel 16 real careful in 17 to see what how big he was and who he was. But, anyway, he defeated, you know, Goliath, and then you have Joseph and Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Haggai. There's so many girls. If we just talk about these guys and these kids will say, wow. Yo.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. I mean, these are powerful people, and I I wanna be like that. You know what I'm saying? And then you bring in the gospel. Oh, man.
Speaker 3:There's so many ways to do it.
Speaker 2:If our kids if the kids we're mentoring understand the stories of the Bible, they'll start to recognize what we're telling them is relationship with God is everything. And so in every one of those stories, we're getting a picture of what relationship with God looks like, and it's it's so much more than heaven and hell. It's like like you said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It's not bowing down to anything but the one true god, and he will be there. But even if even if something bad happens, it's still worth it because we're worshiping like the one true god.
Speaker 2:And and just unpacking those things for kids, you're giving them a thousand examples of what relationship with god looks like, and you're drawing their hearts out. I just I think that's amazing.
Speaker 3:They love story. Because, I mean, let's face it. You know? They love stories. I mean, if you're talking to a little girl, I was thinking, you remember, that, Naaman's wife know, they had this little girl who was a slave, but she was a maid in their home, and she's the one that sent Naaman, who had leprosy, back to Israel to be healed by the prophet.
Speaker 3:I mean, a little girl. Think about the impact. This guy was a general, and it was one little girl that changed his life. I thought, wow. You know?
Speaker 3:So there are all kinds of opportunities there to to show that. You know, and then lead always being able you know, if they look. There are days you don't wanna talk about. I mean, there are days that you're not gonna share. That's all that I mean, you know, it's not sin.
Speaker 3:But, you know, then God will give you an opportunity. And when he gives it to you, then you just sorta love the kids into Christ.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well and I think I think it's a good challenge to just, I mean, just what you said, sprinkling God, what are some opportunities that maybe you've passed up in the past, and how can you plan and intend to bring the gospel in to the mentor relationship. And so I I'm imagining in my head a mentor who he's been with his mentee for a year now, and they haven't broached this conversation. And that could be for a myriad of reasons, whether it's I'm trying to build trust before we have that conversation, or I'm looking for my window. I I just I think it'd be great for every mentor to hear from us.
Speaker 2:You can take a step. It doesn't have to be we're not looking for this glory moment. We're looking for a just a slow drip of of gospel truth and the word of God.
Speaker 3:No, Steven. If I if I had been with a child for a year mentoring them, I think that one of the things it'd be so easy to do would be to say something like this. You know, Johnny, boy, we've been together for 1 year. You know something I I've done I have done something that's very important, and that is to ask you about God in your life. And so let could we just talk about God for a little bit today?
Speaker 3:And, you know, so so, you know, like, now I'm I'm saying, look. I blew it up to this point. You know, I should've done this, but I didn't do it. So could we just do this? And little Johnny I mean, look.
Speaker 3:If you've spent a year with him, he likes you. And very easy, again, to get into that. And I think you are absolutely right when you say we're waiting for that perfect moment. Let me tell you. Perfect moment, most of the time is now.
Speaker 3:You know? One day, I was a pastor in Lake Dallas, Texas, and, this little boy came forward to receive Christ. In those in in in that little section of time, I was big into the family. You gotta talk to the parents. And and, you know, for some reason, I said to this kid, listen.
Speaker 3:I wanna talk to your parents, and then we're gonna work this out and whatever. You know, what happened was that I didn't go see his parents for I I have no idea why. I didn't see him, and soon thereafter, I moved after 11 years, I moved to Nebraska. And then this little boy would come into my mind, and I would think to myself, did he or did he not receive Christ? Did I keep him from receiving Christ?
Speaker 3:And I want you to know that for probably 25 years or more, once in a while, he would come to my mind, and I would just beg God. I would cry, literally cry tears. And I would say, god, you know, somehow do something. Okay. So a lot you know, a long time passed.
Speaker 3:So years later, I come back to United States. A young man that we knew when he was a kid, he had a car wreck and he died. So we so they asked me to do the funeral. So we go to the funeral. Guess who is one of the pallbearers?
Speaker 3:Mhmm. That little boy who is now a man. And so I said, so I go up to him, and we get talking, and I ask him, you know, what's going on? Well, you know what? He had accepted Christ.
Speaker 3:He was married. He had 3 children. They were all loving God. And I'll tell you when I left that place, and I just wept like crazy. But, you know, that I could not let that happen.
Speaker 3:You know? You never know, and you've got to give these children a chance. If they come and they want Jesus, my friend, let them accept Christ. The you let the other things happen. Let the fit the parents figure it out.
Speaker 3:But you know that one moment when they can come to Christ, you gotta do it.
Speaker 2:Wow. Man, Eddie, I I I think that that's so sobering, and it's so yeah. I mean, I think that's the perfect challenge for our mentors to hear. And I I think there's hope in that as well that god's the one that's he has his hand on the gospel. It's it's not in our power to save people to that our sharing is anything of itself.
Speaker 2:He his power is on the sharing of the gospel. And I think when we acknowledge that and when we see areas where we've held back and not entered into sharing that, I think there is a healthy conviction that leads us even further into sharing the gospel and praying for his gospel to go forth even when we fail and, we don't do what we feel like he's called us to. And and so I I love that, and and I'm sure every mentor that's that's listening to this has felt a failure in this area. And if they haven't, I don't know. I mean, I've never met a guy who was an evangelist that didn't have missed opportunities and the things that he didn't do that propelled him further into a relationship with God, and and I I think that's just a that's such a powerful testimony.
Speaker 3:You know, the last thing I would say and and, I mean, I would say this. If a child then receives Christ and you pray with them and and they pray and they invite Christ to come into their life, then it'd be really valuable, and I'm sure y'all do this, but it'd be very valuable then to go to the parent that the child lives with or the grandparent or whoever, and say, look. Let me explain to you. You know, in all of this, we've been studying all these subjects, math and English and blah blah blah, but, you know, I also shared with him, you know, the Bible, and and we just talked about our relationship with God. And and he wanted to have a relationship with Jesus, and so we prayed, and he accepted Christ.
Speaker 3:So you let the parent know so that this, you know, so that this is not a, what are what are they doing to my kid? You know, you actually tell the parent and, you know, hey. The parent has to take it up to god if they're upset. You know? But you that's not I don't worry about that anymore because the kid wanted to do it now.
Speaker 3:And then as the mentor, it would be so important for them later, as they continue mentoring this kid, maybe every 3 months or so or 4 months, to to just say, hey, do you remember that day when you prayed to receive Christ? And, remind them of that. And why do you remind them? Because when a child accepts Christ, they see Jesus coming into their heart, into the physical heart, and and many so what happens is a lot of teenagers, see see, they do it one time, nobody ever talks to them about it again, they become a teenager, and they have doubts about their salvation. It really did happen, And so the way to solve that problem is that at least now if if it was a child that's going to church and parents, I would say every 6 months, but the the mentor could do it every 3 or 4 months.
Speaker 3:Just say, remember what you did. And as they remember, then at from between 12 13, a kid goes from believing that Jesus comes into his physical heart to coming into his life, and then they understand the abstract part of it. And so then they don't have to worry. Now they may still have doubts, but, you know, they can quickly, you know, understand that Jesus really came into their heart. I just encourage mentors to do that.
Speaker 3:Tell the parent, and then once in a while, remind the child of that day when they accept the Christ. And write it down the day the day. Be sure they've got that down.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's really good, Eddie. And and so it's it's not just about sharing it. It's about sharing the life with God that that you now have and remembering the day we made the decision through that transition from this being kind of a a concept that may be childlike in in the mind of a child, but actually is profoundly significant in the eyes of God to the point that they recognize, wow. God is with me, and he purchased my life.
Speaker 2:And, I mean, I I love sharing the gospel within a mentor relationship because then the evangelist is committed to seeing the fruit grow, seeing seeing the seed, planted and watered. And, I mean, I I don't think there's a better opportunity than within a mentor relationship to see to see that happen. And so I I love it, man. Pastor Eddie, you're bringing bringing some fire. I I love just everything you've shared on the call.
Speaker 2:To quickly go back over it, I mean, you you shared about how simple relationship is with God, just that he wants to speak to us. That's the first thing he did with man, and that's that's our what did you say? You said at the beginning of our call, you, you mentioned when we talked this morning, you said everyone wants to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but I want them to be the lips of Jesus. I just thought that was amazing.
Speaker 3:You know, it's it's amazing how many, Christian organizations, they'll say, you know, we're a Christian organization. We're the hands and feet of Jesus, And praise God. You know, he needs hands and he needs feet out there to really but, you know, by the way, you know, it's interesting because, in Romans, it says, how beautiful are the feet of those who do what? Who speak. You know?
Speaker 3:So it is we need to have beautiful feet, man. We get it by using our lips, you know, at to really tell people because, oh, you know, it it it it's just amazing. You know, when you before the COVID, you'd be in a girl in a we go out to a restaurant, and, you know, many times I will say to the to the person the the girl or or fellow that's helping us, said, hey. In just a minute, we're gonna pray. Is there anything we can pray for you?
Speaker 3:Something that simple. You know what would happen? One day, this girl just started crying. That's all I said to her, and she just started weeping. The next day, this one girl, she said, oh, I know.
Speaker 3:I gotta get back in church. I gotta get back in church. You know what? You never know. You just ask them if you could pray for them, and and they'll just tell you all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 3:You know? Once in a while, somebody doesn't want you to pray for them, which is fine. But, you know, it's just it's just fun. Listen. It's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 3:Once you get going on it, it's scary at first, but the minute you start talking about Christ, power comes upon you. My friend, the holy spirit comes, and all of a sudden, believe it or not, I know he's in control, but you actually are in control of that conversation. And and, just don't be afraid, because Satan wants you to stop, and he wants you to find the perfect time where the perfect time is now. So anyway but that's that's what it's about.
Speaker 2:Wow. Is it? There's so many truths that that you shared today, Eddie. I really appreciate you making time for the call and, really hope to, share fruit with you from this conversation from our mentor. So thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, god bless you, and we're just so thrilled that, we are that you're our partner and that, we want to see it be great and be successful in every way.