Episode 159. Serving In Jesus Name with Wess Stafford

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Wess, we are so excited to have you on the show today. Thank you so much for joining. Thank you, Rebecca. It's so fun. Well, I say us because we have somebody else joining us. When I get to interview somebody that my husband and I are both just so excited to have a conversation with. I always invite him.

And so for everybody listening, Dustin is back. He joins us from time to time when we get to talk to friends that we both are fond of and enjoy having conversations with. And I am, so I can't tell you S how excited I am to get to know you after Dustin got to spend a lot of time with you on a trip out to Wyoming about gosh, six weeks ago or so, right back in August, back in August.

And so I'm, I'm so excited to get to know you. I've. I feel like I know you I've heard so many west stories, and so we. We're just excited to get to chat with you. And so I want to kind of start for our listeners who may not be familiar with compassion. I've already, at this point in the conversation when they're listening, given, uh, an intro of who you are, but for our people who may not be familiar with compassion, would you share a little bit about the organization, how you first connected with compassion and maybe why you're so passionate about helping to change the lives of children around the world.

Yeah. Well, that's a very good question. Uh, thinking about it. I think I have to answer it in reverse. Let me tell you why I care and then how that got me to compassion and then what compassion does. So I'm pretty sure, uh, when I was being knitted, my momma's room that, uh, with the angels were looking on giving a lot of advice to God I'm sure.

And when I was born, they must have sat back and said, well, you know, he's really cute, but he's not a rocket scientist. We're going to have to make it real clear what he's supposed to do with his life. And so I got, I got born into the Kennan Marge, Stafford family who were missionaries in west Africa, in the ivory coast.

And that's where I spent really my whole childhood. Uh, it was on the Sahara desert. A typical day was 120 degrees. We didn't have any electricity. We had no indoor plumbing. I was the running water bucket between my legs, from the well to the house, sloshing it all the way there. Um, my father was, uh, uh, there were missionary priest, my mom and dad, my dad was a linguist, but one of the African languages into writing that he translated scripture.

And, um, from the time I was about seven years old, uh, I was teaching Africans how to read, uh, their newly written land. And the only thing there was to read was what my father was translating day by day in this, uh, uh, hot tin shed. So I grew up the son of missionaries in the most remote place on earth.

Nobody wanted to go, uh, where we were stationed. Um, but, uh, It was a poverty stricken villages. You could imagine if we, if, if things were that poor for us, it was poor still from the village. Uh, but they were remarkable people and they shaped my heart and my values. They had a, they had a saying, it takes the whole village to raise a child.

And that, that wasn't just a plaque on the wall. That's how they lived. Every child in the village belonged to every grownup and my sister and I. We're the only white children for a hundred miles and a hundred miles was about, as far as you to get your truck to go in a day, there was no Pedro's, it was just run through the, uh, through the Savannah.

And, um, so I grew up just one of the village kids. They take took me in as a, as their boy, they taught me out of hunt. Uh, what I know about fishing, uh, Dustin, they taught me, they taught me how to work in the fields. Uh, by the time I was 15 years old, I was a fully trained peasant farmer, but more important than those skills, uh, which really didn't translate into the rest of my life.

Uh, what did translate, uh, what's my, my spirit and my art and my character. I tell people everything I needed to know to lead Compassion's worldwide ministry. I learned from the poor around the campfires of that little, that little village. So I was there. Uh, I was the wrong color. It didn't matter to them.

Uh, I never fell down as a little boy without some African woman's swooping in picking me up. I didn't get away with a lot of mischief because I stood out being white. I remembered my career. All the other guys could hide in the crowd, but not me. I remember one time the village was gathered around the campfire and the chief said, you know, uh, the goats are getting a little skinny this year and it's not because we're in a drought.

I've watched what's going on is because a little boys you're chasing them all around the village. And he says, I don't know who all of the boys are in the middle of that swirling red dust. But I do know this, that little white boy right there. He's one of them please. I need some camouflage to hide. And I literally prayed every night as a little boy, dear Lord.

When I wake up in the morning, let my skin be black, like all my friends, and it'd be one of the first things I've checked. And it was like still light, but maybe tomorrow, maybe it takes time. So that was the setting of very loving setting, where they were pouring themselves into a little boy from a totally different continent, but it was a bubble we were poor and this is what led me ultimately to compassion.

Uh, we were vulnerable to just everything, uh, that you could be vulnerable to. We were all farmers and, uh, so we needed rain and if rain didn't come, uh, you know, you just didn't just have a spoiled crop where you could pick up some insurance for it, people starved. So, um, we were, uh, we were vulnerable to the lack of rain.

Uh, we were vulnerable to, uh, to starvation. Um, by the time I was 15 years old, um, Half of all, my little buddies had died in that village. Wow. And I thought that that's how the world worked. I mean, I saw it in the animal kingdom when we were out hunting, you know, the little, the young and the old are vulnerable.

And so I thought that's how the world works. Children, children die. And they died of things that later I learned, uh, were caused by something called poverty. I didn't have no idea that we were poor. Uh, but it was poverty. That was, uh, that was killing my little buddies since we had no electricity, no refrigerator, no way to involve them.

Any child who died. Celebrated and buried that very same day. And so many of my childhood evenings were sent around the campfire with the rest of the village, celebrating the life of one of my little buddies who had died that day. And I would listen to their stories of who they were and what they wanted to become.

And, uh, it always struck me. Why does God take the best? Why does he leave Rascals like me to stay alive? And it broke me. Being one of the younger kids in the village, I would inevitably have to go to my little cot to sleep. And, um, I would lie there. I could hear the drums playing the celebration, each child's funeral and on all night long.

And I would listen. I understood the drums. That was how we communicated from village to village. By the way, I spoke four languages every day, uh, English, French Ciena food, the language my father put in writing. And JeWella the trade language and drums through a circle in my car, listening to the story of my little friends.

And I would just. I remember my eyes would fill up with tears might they would eventually spill into my ears. They would fill the tears. It was spilled onto my pillow. Eventually I would drift to sleep, but a few days there would be another one of my friends and this absolutely broke my heart when I was 15 years old.

And this is where the book too small to ignore. It begins my first day in America. And it's Manhattan of all places to go from a little desert village to Manhattan. You can only imagine the culture shock I went through when I came to America, my very first day, I walked into a grocery store and to my shock, I saw all of this and I thought.

Nobody needed to start. There's plenty of food. We just didn't have it. And next door was a pharmacy with all kinds of medicine and I, and it hit me. They didn't need to die of diseases either. And I thought all of this broken heartedness and a childhood, uh, didn't have to happen. So with a broken heart, this, this epiphany, I went and I sat out in front of that little grocery store in Manhattan.

And I just sobbed. I'm 15 years old, skinny as a rail. I'm sobbing, sobbing, sobbing because it's New York. Uh, nobody stopped and said, you know, are you okay? Little guy. And I ran out of tears and I began watching now these, these feet going buy me these fancy shoes and these watches and things. And I, and this rage built up and this young guy, and I was like, what is wrong with you?

People don't. And I went into a rage that lasted all of my high school years in America. All I wanted to do was get out of this country and get back to my village. Well, after I had lived through high school and was off to a moody Bible Institute for college, uh, I was working in inner city, Chicago, working with what were called African Americans of all things.

This is 1967. We called blacks, African Americans at the time. And I remember hearing the word thinking, wait a minute. I think I'm African American.

But I, but I loved them. And then they were, the juvenile delinquents were in trouble. I started tutoring programs, had to raise my own money to run this program for the juvenile court there. And as I went around from grocery store to grocery store and to Sears and other places and told the story of what I was trying to do in their own neighborhood, the money just poured in, they were just happy to be a part of this.

And it occurred to me, you know, what was you have been wrong all this time? It's not that they don't care. They don't know. And when they know they really, really care, this might be the most generous nation in the history of the world. And suddenly I had this understanding, you know what? I know the four.

Oh, these little children, I know their families, I know poverty out there, but now I know these people and I know their hearts. And what I know that most of them don't know is they need each other. And I knew that somehow my life was going to have to bridge these two worlds. My first thought was, oh, no, I have to work for the United nations.

Or I have to become a diplomat. I've seen more than my share of that. Traveling through our village. About that time, I stumbled into a little storefront in Chicago. It was about the size of a seven 11 store. And on above the door, it said compassion international. And I wondered, you know, that story just like, uh, uh, that office, just like I did the store with the grocery of the pharmacy.

And I said the same thing. What do you guys do? And they said, well, I can tell you this. Our enemy is poverty. And, um, we fight it with everything we have. And I thought, you know what? That has crossed my mind. The poverty. And I were two little kids fighting on the playground and the teacher jumped in between and said, Hey, start a stub at who started this.

I could honestly say he did. He broke my heart when I was small. And all I am doing with the rest of my life is fighting back. So they said, and it rang true with my heart. Our enemy is poverty. And I said, well, what do you do about it? And that's when the story of my life fell into place. They said, well, you may not understand this, but we are a bridge between little children and their families in little villages around the world and little local churches that serve them.

And we linked them together with people over here in the United States and Europe, people who, who can financially support them. But the truth is they actually need what these poor people have. They need over on this side. They may have money in their pocket, but they need joy and hope and peace. The kinds of things that the poor often carry.

And I thought, oh my goodness, they have just articulated my worldview. What I think really needs to happen in the world. And the minute I understood it, I was like, I am all in. It was a tiny little place. You guys, a size of a 7, 11 30 employees. Um, It wasn't great to, and there was no promise that it ever would be great, but I could see in it, the seeds of greatness, I could see that they have, they have understood something magical and strategic and important about the kingdom of God.

And so, uh, so I, I threw it in now fast forward, 45 years, I have now been a part of compassion for 45 years, and I have been able to help build what it does. I have been able to tell its story and encourage people to reach out and sponsor a child. And it's gone from, uh, 30 employees to 3,500 employees in 25 countries around the world.

And the budget has gone from $5 million back in at that time to. Billion. That's a B. Now it's the eighth largest non-profit organization in the country. Uh, and it is still doing the same thing. It is, it is ministering to children through little local churches by linking them up to caring people in the United States, uh, who will say, you know what?

I may not be able to do everything about what's wrong in the world, but I can do this. I can fuck my $38 a month. And I will give to this little child, or to you on behalf of this little child, uh, $38 a month, if you will allow that child to grow up in the safety, uh, the love, the hope of a Haven called their little local church.

Uh, so what happens is the children who are sponsored by somebody over here on the, let's say D. That little child will spend eight hours a week in their little local church. They are fed because that's probably the only meal they're going to get that day. These are the extreme, poor, about $2 a day is a typical, uh, income for these, for these kids.

They're the extreme poor. So we feed them. Uh, it's, it's a kind thing to do, but it also is a strategic thing because they can't work unless they're leave the hunger behind the, and the Haitians where I spent four of my years, I have a wonderful thing. They say an empty stomach has note years, and there's saying, so don't, don't try to teach me how to read, but I'm sitting here hungry and don't even try to teach me about Jesus' love for.

If I'm sitting here hungry. So we feed every day to 2.2 million children across the world. And then in that little local church ministry to buy people from little church, they are helped with their schoolwork because mom and dad probably can't even read. So there's tutors to help the children of the poor succeed in school.

They are helped with their physical, uh, wellbeing. We teach them how to brush their teeth. We'll get them open-heart surgery. If that's necessary, we will do anything we can to remove the blockages that keep that child from reaching their full God-given potential. What we say in a sentence is our bottom line is we are releasing children from poverty in Jesus name and it's that bridge that God laid on my heart long before I ever heard of compassion.

And now for 45 years, I've been a part of it. And there are now, like I said, about 2 million sponsors around the world who are changing the lives from. I didn't have a lot of choice, but this was so close to the center of the bulls-eye of my life that, uh, I recognize clear back in the room. Uh, God was preparing the path for me to this moment.

Absolutely. When, when I heard you start sharing some of that, when we were out in wild, Um, I, that was the first time that I had ever heard all the details articulated whenever you shared your heart. And I remember sitting there, uh, as you were talking about sitting around the campfire in your village, we were sitting around the campfire almost every night.

Right. And, um, and you would tell these stories and you would share your heart. And I just know what impact that made on me. And I'm looking right now at the faces of these guys. And, and I can see they're hearing this sometimes, you know, for, for many of them, it was very first time that we heard these things and just heard the depth of, of your love.

For exactly what compassion does. And that's releasing children from poverty in Jesus name. And you told a story one night about a, a marketing group that, that came and that did an overview, and then they had some suggestions about that mission statement. Would you share that with us? You know, I was, I was a part of compassion for 16 years before I became president in 93.

And one of the segments of, of those 16 years, I was responsible for Compassion's growth. I was the marketing director and I didn't have a whole lot of experience in marketing. So I thought, well, you know what? I'm going to bring in some really smart people, so experts and get their advice. So, you know, we don't go down the wrong road somehow.

So I brought in these consultants, I gave them all of our materials, our radio programs, our television programs, our brochures, our magazine ads, everything we had ever written or ever done to try to attract a sponsor. I put in their heads and I said, well, this is what we've done. Study it, and then come tell me, uh, what are we doing wrong and what we should change to do better?

You know what? We want to grow this. We want to touch as many children as possible. So they, they go away for about two weeks and, uh, they come back with their, their final plan. And I gathered together my marketing team, there were about 10 of us at that point. And they said, well, here's, here's what we've discovered.

You have the best name in the business, compassion international, who doesn't want to be a part of something called compassion international. You've got that advantage what a powerful name, but we're going through your materials. And we see that it's pretty much riddled with this. Jesus talk. Uh, not everybody who cares about being compassionate cares about Jesus.

So whenever you mix those two things, you are cutting your marketplace, probably. Mm. So our advice is really talking about the name, compassion, push that brand and down, sell the Jesus part because it's just getting in your way of growth. And I dismissed them after their report. And I looked around at my young team of marketers and I said, well guys, what did you hear?

And with tears in their eyes, they said, no, no, no, never. In fact, how do we keep that from ever getting into the DNA of compassion? And we began to think it through. And that's when we came up with a slogan, releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name that was like in your face.

Jesus Christ. And so we did, and our board, when I, when I shared that with them, they went back and they rewrote the, uh, the mission statement. The patient exists as an advocate for children in G releasing them from poverty in Jesus' name. Um, and, uh, it really transformed, uh, really the whole organization.

If you look at the growth curve of compassion over 70 years, you can look and find the day that we said, you know what? We are not leaving Jesus behind. This is all about Jesus. The growth spurt just took off like a hockey stick. Wow. I can name or I can name organizations, including all of our Ivy league organizations that started off as ministries.

Right. Uh, and there are, there has a hundreds hundreds of, but I can't think of one that started off secular in turn Christian. And so we decided we're going to, this is where this is where it stops. And so we put things in place to make sure that we kept it centered on, uh, on Christ. And one of the things we put in place, we did all kinds of stuff, but one of them was, I commissioned two children, a little Ethiopian boy and a little Ethiopian girl.

We were at our 50th anniversary, uh, at that point. And, um, I commissioned these two kids. We gave them sashes to wear that said ambassador to the future. And, uh, and the whole, the whole organization worldwide gathered around as we commissioned these two children to be ambassadors on our behalf to the future of the organization.

And I had written a letter to whoever was going to be president in the year 2052, which will be our Centennial. And I gave, I gave a copy of the letter in front of all of us. All of, uh, the compassion family, uh, to this little American girl, um, Allie, and to this little Ethiopia, opiod boy, I'm on, they were probably eight and nine years old, uh, at the time.

And I said to them, now, listen, kids, you've got to stay alive, stay alive because in 2052, I will be the 104 year old man drooling in the wheelchair in the back of the room. But you will be at the prime of your life. And I want you to find the celebration of compassion Centennial by then compassion will be eaten enormous.

It will not be hard to find, hang on to these letters, do not lose them because I want you to go to that celebration. You don't have to wear your sashes, but go to that celebration. Find whoever is present. And say to them, we represent compassion of 50 years ago and we have been sent by them to ask you one question.

And I said, kids, uh, you're going to have to watch very, very quickly to get your answer because you'll get it in a split second. And the question I want you to ask them is this, is it still all about Jesus? And I said, she may look at you like, well, what exactly do you mean by that? And if she says that they will have lost their way, but I suspect if we stay faithful, her eyes will well up with tears.

And she'll say, I know exactly what you mean by that. Yes, it's still all about Jesus. And I said, either way, you give them this letter from. In which I say, please, if you have wandered away from the kingdom, if you've wandered away from the faith, bring it back. There are those of us who would have died to keep this centered on Christ.

And we buried a big, uh, we buried a big time capsule about the size of my kitchen table here, uh, with all. All of our DVDs and everything else that we had, I even put love this dust. And I even put a little generator and they're just encased by them. They don't usually electricity the same. And what we did, what we did is we said we are not wandering away from the centrality of Christ.

Now we are coming up on the halfway mark in about three years. We're going to be at the halfway mark to that 50th year to our Centennial. And I'm here to tell you, it is all still about Jesus Christ. Allie went on, uh, to Baylor. Uh, she graduated number one in her class at Baylor. She went on to work for Johnny Erickson, Tata and.

It still is. I keep in touch with she and Amman by the way, Winchell attorney in Texas, and is now a Christian journalist. I take these kids every once in a while overseas, I let him speak to our staff. I let them inspire along the way that it is all about Jesus. And we are only the only people we're looking for to, uh, to sponsor the children that were ministering to is those who are following Christ.

We don't need the money of other people, what we need as followers of Christ, who will pray for the children who will write letters that encourage them and help disciple them. Uh that's uh, those are the ones now, every once in a while, someone who is not following Christ, uh, misunderstands the message and comes in and becomes a sponsor.

And I could tell you stories that we had the time. Children who are sponsored, who lead their sponsors to Christ. Wow. Okay. I'll tell you one room. I love this one. So, so there was this one when I was president and, uh, got a, got a letter. All the angry letters found their way to me. We had a whole department that dealt with correspondence, but their really tough ones came to me.

So I get this letter and the guy says, my wife's sponsored one of your children without talking to me. And I thought, oh no, this is going to be ugly. He says, but the next sentence was, but I'll never be able to give this child as much as she gave me in her first letter. And I'm like, well, you know, we don't put stuff in the letters.

What, what is this? And he says, well, let me tell you my story. He says, I'm a Texas truck driver. And he says, yes, I'm exactly what you just pictured half that I've got, I've got tattoos on my arm. Um, my wife is a, is a war. Compassionate Christian, but I'm not. And she has been working on me to give my life to Christ and I have pushed her away.

She has gotten the pastor working on me and I've come up with all kinds of theological complex questions. I've got him intimidated and he stays away. Essentially. I have spent my life pushing Jesus out of it, but then comes this letter from this little girl in India. And she thinks for some reason, I'm the sponsor, not my mom, my, my wife and me.

So she's not writing to me. And she says in her letter, introducing herself. And now that I'm your little sponsor child monster, I pray for you every day. And oh, I hope you're part of God's family. And he said, my chin started to tremble. My knees got weak. I dropped down to my knees in my living room just minutes ago.

And I said, Lord, if it takes a little girl in the slums of mudras India to care for my soul, I give up, I give you my heart. Wow. It's a two way street, but it's a, it goes both directions. And that, that little girl led to a relationship with. That is believable. I love that so much. And I'm just so thankful, especially right now with everything that's going on in the world, it encourages my heart.

So, so much to hear everything that you put in place and those stories of your ambassadors, because that's it right? Like, I'm just so grateful for your leadership in that. And I, um, when Dustin got back from his trip to Wyoming, he quickly ordered one of your books for me, which I have loved reading. I am.

I'm about halfway done right now. You've written two books too small to ignore is one you've mentioned it. And just a minute, which is the one that I have been working through. And in just a minute, you emphasize the reality of how one moment in a child's life can have a lasting impact. And in some cases, in a lot of cases, as we know any eternal impact.

And so. I know you sell thousands, I'm sure on thousands of stories of all of the life-changing things God has done in compassion and your time there. But is there one that maybe you look back on as you think about the book or, um, or just one that you think, man, that was something really special that God, you know, um, yeah, the, the point of the story or the book is that the spirit of a child is soft and impression nimble a lot, like what she meant and that it doesn't take it doesn't take, but a minute, uh, and you can make an impression in that, what Sumit that maybe will last forever.

Graham Greene said, there's always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. And what I maintain is if God stands the child in front of you for even just a. It might be a divine appointment. You might be the one who says the right thing does the right thing, that launches that child's life.

And you may never know that you did that. You never know when you're making a memory like that. And what I encourage people to do in the book is to remember who do you owe? Who said something or did something upon which you built your life. And I encourage people now that you can Google anybody, uh, find those heroes and tell them what, uh, what they said or what they did and what you've done with it, and then be alert to the children around you, because now you can be the one to, to pass it on.

So in this book, uh, as you know, Rebecca, it's 68 stories of people who remember the. That their life got launched and some of them are, are, are, are very, very famous people. And some of them are just very relatable, uh, people. So when, uh, when I was thinking you, you want to hear one story out of that book, I'll tell you the one that I watch when I, when I tell it generally has a pretty powerful impact and it's kind of an aha, I get it moments.

So I was sharing that concept with a group of school teachers, one time, about 500 of them. And I got to this point, uh, when I explained that I've just explained to you, and I said, does that ring true with any view? And if you have a story like that, that you're willing to share. And, uh, there was a very timid little guy, a young man, probably in his early twenties, about three rows in, and he raised his hand counted Simmons.

And he said, I think I understand what you're talking about, Dr. Stafford. And, um, I have a moment like that. And I said, are you willing to share it with a whole bunch of teachers? And he says, well, maybe they are the ones who should hear it. He said, I want to tell. The moment as a six year old boy, when I decided I wanted to be a school teacher and I said, well, have, have the floor.

And he says, well, you have to understand what I was like as a little six year old, my self esteem was terrible. I felt like, uh, I felt like I didn't understand what was going on around me. I thought I was the dumbest child in the room. He said, I adored my teacher. Uh, but I tried not to make eye contact with her because I never knew the answers to her questions.

And I didn't want to disappoint her. I didn't want to break her heart. I never raised my hand because I never, I never knew the answers. That's who I was in those early days of school. But he says one day we were working our desks independently, uh, by ourselves alone. He says I was sitting there trying to figure out what was going on.

And suddenly I got this waft of perfume, anything. Oh, no, she standing right here behind me looking over my shoulder at my chickens. I don't know what's going on now. He says, I remember my heart pounding and my stomach churning thinking what's going to happen. Now when all of a sudden he says, I felt a slight brush on my shoulder, as it were hand reached over my shoulder, he said her fingernails, I will never forget that moment because I will never forget the color of her fingernails.

As you read each over. And she put a little gold star on the corner of my paper and she leaned down as she whispered my butt. You're a smart little guy. I bet you would be a great teacher someday. And he said, I knew it that minute. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to make chip children feel the way I felt right there in that moment.

And so I said, well, did you ever tell. And he says, well, no, it, it never occurred to me until just now to do that. I said, do you think she even knows? And now tears began to trickle down his young cheeks. And he said, well, she does now. And there was this hush across the room, as we are all are pondering theological.

You know, how does heaven work? You get to go back to the balcony and listen back into what's going on after you've left the earth. And we're all thinking these deep thoughts when he said, because she's sitting right over there and we all looked across the room and here was this beautiful silver haired lady, tears streaming down her cheeks.

As she, as she to remembered that moment, they got up, they walked to the center aisle, a long overdue hug and embrace. And I said, you know what? I've done everything I wanted to tell you right there, go make that. So that's one of 68 stories in there, uh, that are, um, that kind of, I get so much trouble Dustin with men who try to read just a minute on airplanes, because if you can read that without some sort of not saying that it should, it should have come with a pack of,

let me just make one more point on that. Um, that minute can build a life, but a minute can also destroy a life. In one minute, you can say you're stupid, you're ugly. You'll never amount to anything. Uh, and you, and that's wet. That'll seal in and a child when they go through the rest of their life. That's you said I'm ugly now when I look in the mirror.

Yeah. That's all I see is ugly. As you said, I'm stupid. Yeah. That's all I see. Or maybe I turn into a warrior. That's why I got two PhDs. I'm trying to review RA. So in this story or in this book, uh, intersperse, because those kind of hurting moments can occur without you being aware of it. So I interspersed hard moments in there and there is the story of a little 11 year old boy, a little boy, uh, who sang in the choir in his church, a little boy who was an alter boy in his church, who in a minute of being harassed and humiliated by his father.

Turned into the monster that we know as Adolf Hitler. It doesn't excuse what he did. Uh, it doesn't forgive him for that, but it helps explain how can someone go from an alter boy to, I am going to destroy anybody who threatens me or makes fun of me, uh, as the cement hardens, uh, that becomes a way of life.

Yeah, that's it. And it, and, and so quickly just it th the turn for good or bad, positive, or negative for upbuilding and edifying, or for tearing down and destroying that all hinges on sometimes just a singular moment. And, and you're right about the book. Um, whenever I, I, I got a copy of it and I sat set with Rebecca and I said, let me just read a couple of these to you.

And I started reading and then I was stopping. I was having to stop and, and wipe tears and compose myself. And, uh, I, I told you earlier, before we started the interview about copies for everybody on staff, everybody on our children's ministry staff, all our volunteers. And I heard our children's director, she walked into my office and she looked at me and she held up the book and she said, listen.

And I said, what? And she said, I am not going to be able to make it through the rest of the day. If you keep giving me books like this to read, she said, I'm having to just stop in and just get myself back together because, and even, even the stories of, of upbuilding and edifying and encouraging. You know how many times, how many times might have those moments of, and we, we just didn't take them for what they are.

Yep. One of the things in there I try to encourage people is take the time to reflect on your life, go back to your early childhood and think, um, who, who do I actually owe, uh, then be alert to the people around you. Be ready when, when you see a little boy, hold the, uh, grocery store door open for us. Step up and say, wow, what a young man.

You are, you are so strong. How I love watching, how you just did that. Kindness to your mother. You can speak, you can speak this. And the other thing I really encourages, so watch the caregivers be ready to encourage those teachers in those Sunday school teachers, those young moms, uh, in the journey. So, so at one time I was having my car washed in one of these car washes where the car coasts through the building, you know, and there was a, there was a mother and her little four year old boy sitting next to me and they were having the coolest little conversation.

And, you know, they were asking, he was asking questions. She was answering, they were teasing each other back and forth and it was so sweet to see it. And, um, their car came through first, so they got up to leave. And, uh, and I, I had to do with the book, says, I had to say, excuse me, no, Can I just say something to you.

I've been listening to your conversation with your son and it is the sweetest relationship I've ever seen. He is so lucky to have a mom, like you, you're doing a great job. And she said, well, thank you, sir. Now that I'm all old and everything, they're not threatened by me. And she goes to her car and she gets her little boy into the car seat.

She stands for a second. And then she turns around and she walks all the way back to me. And she stands there, says, can I give you a hug? She says, hard to be a good mother, but nobody has ever said anything like that. Wow, cute. And I'm like, we can old do that. Why are we doing that? Absolutely. Absolutely.

Well, our church. Uh, we host compassionate events. In fact, we have, uh, we have compassion Sunday coming up in just a couple of Sundays. Uh, we have a compassion speaker coming and absolutely, absolutely. And then, and then we, uh, Rebecca and I, uh, we host a compassion child. Uh, and so, uh, we have for, I don't know, a while now.

Um, yeah, at least. And so, um, you just made my day, well, you're making mine, um, I'm talking to my bosses now. I said, well, and, uh, whenever we were, I keep referencing Wyoming. It was, it was whenever we had that week to spend together and a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful week, um, changed, changed, um, changed probably the trajectory of my, of my ministry, I would say, um, truly, but one of the things that as we were again around the campfire around the fire pit, You, um, you at the prompting of one of our con compassion reps, he just said, tell, tell the story about that special compassion, uh, special compassion sponsor and how, uh, how this child had a, had a compassion sponsor that, uh, probably all of us know, but, uh, we might not know that connection.

Well, that was just one of 2 million sponsors. So it's just anybody, certainly there they're all special. And every sponsor has a as a story of what stirred their heart to be a part of us. Uh, but this one was unusual. Uh, this is the story of how George H w Bush president Bush, uh, George Sr, uh, of all people became a sponsor.

So he was, uh, he was in Washington, DC at an Amy Grant. And Amy Grant speaks on behalf of compassion as a spokesperson for us. So, uh, she was talking about, uh, compassion and she said, if, uh, if you would like to sponsor a child, just, uh, just raise your hand and people will bring you a packet of a child, uh, that is waiting in line to it.

There'll be sponsored. And so, uh, there, since George Bush, he's got security people in the row, in front of him, security people in the row behind him, security people on both sides, but up goes his hand and the, I can see the security guys are like, whoa, what's this? And so sure enough, the usher comes down with a packet, sends it down the road.

They're like, does this thing have anthrax Senator? What is this? This could be a terrorist plot. And he got died. I was sitting behind him, always. I saw him look at the, at the picture, but then the head of his security caught me right afterwards, before we could disperse. And he said, now, listen, uh, he's got a big heart.

Uh, blood to, we gotta be, we gotta be careful here. This little guy, uh, is, was a little boy named William in the Philippines. He can never know that his sponsor is the most powerful man on earth. This little guy in the slums of Manila cannot know that his sponsor is the president of the United States, or he will be vulnerable.

They will kidnap him all kinds of security issues. So I'm not sure how this can even work. So we spent for a second and thought it through. And he said, now president Bush uses a. A different name when he's put into the hospital so that nobody can know that he's there. How about we use that name? And I said, well, how about if he writes letters?

I don't know if you will or not, but if you will write letters back and forth, how about they all come through my office? I will screen letters in both directions from this little, little boy and, uh, and the president of the United States. And I have a background in military intelligence, so I know thing or two about, uh, about security.

So we agreed. Let's, uh, let, let's go that route. So sure enough, the most powerful man in the world gets linked up to this little boy in the, in the Philippines. And, um, I get to witness, I got a front row seat to this back and forth of love between these two incredible levels of power in the world. And George Bush was a, was a sweet spirited guy.

I watched him, uh, you know, so if, if little Williams sent a picture of a rain. George Bush would respond right back and he'd say, wow, you have beautiful rainbows in the Philippines. We have rainbows here too. Let me draw one line. It looks like the one outside my window. And they, they began to exchange when, uh, when the little Williams said I love drawing.

President Bush went out and he bought this huge artistic kit with, uh, with the colored pencils and paper and all that. Next time I went to the Philippines. I hand carried it to this little boy all the time, never telling him what's going on. Um, the little boy says, you know, I love to sing. Next thing you know, uh, president bushes found an acoustic guitar for me to carry that to that little boy.

So this goes on for years and, um, and, and before long and George Bush had, uh, had a great sense of humor before long. He begins to fudge on the security part of this. At one time he sent a picture of the. Black dog. And he says, this is my dog Millie. She knows lots of famous people. I'm like, come on Mr.

President, that's getting a little close and years went by, uh, letters back and forth. And finally it's time for William to graduate from the program. And he's now a young man and, um, George bushes, son, uh, George W. Bush number 4 33 is now president. And so in one of his final letters, he says, uh, we're, we're going to have Christmas this year at my son's house with his family.

They live in the big white house.

Uh, so I had, I, I watched this back. William, um, eventually graduated from the program and it was at that time, uh, that we communicated to him. You know, the man who's been so kind to you all this time with all these sweet letters was the president of the United States. One of the most powerful people on earth.

Wow. W we still couldn't allow them to communicate without us being the bridge between because it was dangerous. But, uh, when George, uh, senior died, his body was lying in state at the state Capitol. And I watched the ceremony going on and there were all these amazing stories were being told about what amazing man he was.

And so I got on Facebook and I said, there's something I haven't been able to talk about for about 20 years. Uh, but I know a thing or two about that remarkable man, lying in state. Let me tell you the story of the. Uh, president Bush, well, you know, the Facebook, uh, it got out there and there were people who were moved by the warmth of it.

And then there were those horrible comments, critics soup, and they said, you know what? You people don't be suckers. This stuff doesn't work. Uh it's this little boy does not exist. Uh, these organizations, the monies does not get where it's supposed to go. Don't be stupid about this. When all of a sudden the new name popped up on the, in the comments.

And it was, it was a name that said, uh, to all of you skeptics. I am William now, 24 years old. Uh, he was my sponsor. Um, I make my living as a, as a graphic artist now, and I use that same guitar to lead worship in my church. And I sat back and I thought, I couldn't, I couldn't have said it any better. It was a re now, by the way, that has become such a part of a president Bush's legacy that in his presidential library they're going to include, or are in the process of including his compassion, uh, history, William, and some of the letters back and forth.

He was an avid note writer. You know, he, when he met with people, he followed up with a note and I knew for that, that he would be a great sponsor and sure enough, he was, wow. I love that story. So, so much Dustin told me that after he got back and I thought, man, I've got to have him share that on the show.

I love that so much. I went, I went to a state dinner at the white house a few years later and I was in the reception line and got to meet with his son, uh, George W. Bush. And in the five minutes that I had private Willie with he and Laura, I told her, I said, let me, let me tell you a story about your father that you probably don't know.

And I was able to hear that. Wow. I love that. You said when you, when I was done, he says, yup. That sounds like pop. Aw, that's awesome. That's awesome. Les. I love that. Well, we have talked so much today about your story and God's leading in how he led you to compassion and, you know, among our listeners, there are so many who are discerning, God's leading and calling for their lives and where, and how to serve him.

And I just want to know how has God led and directed you in your personal ministry? We've talked about that some, but taking that a step further, what advice or wisdom would you want to give to those who are listening, who may be, or are seeking answers to God's call on their lives? Well, first of all, I would say you're doing the, you're doing the right thing.

There's a number of things you can do. And there's a whole bunch of stuff that God can do a direct your path. I mean, you can see the path that I got directly into this, this amazing life I got to live through. No merit of my own. God orchestrated that from me when I was a tiny little boy. And what I was able to do is simply follow him along.

So my advice, if you're looking for God's direction in your life, number one, stay close to God. Keep your relationship with God really alive. I mean, daily, multiple times a day, talk to him, spend time in the morning, spend time in the word. So he also can kind of speak to you. So stay close to God. Number two, I would say is love the people around you, everybody around you.

They may not be George W. Bush, but they are all special people that God brought you in a minute into your path. So love the people around you. You never know when a relationship is going to open a door or put a piece of the puzzle in place in a, in your life. The other thing I would say is, wow, live. Uh, do, do not do not wait for the great day when you finally have the epiphany and off you go doing your thing.

Uh, in the meantime, live at least a hundred percent. I mean, I'm thinking more like 110 more than anybody around you. You need to laugh more than anyone does cry more than anyone else does be fully alive. Knowing that at any point, your direction may show you itself to you. Uh, you know, I think of it as, uh, you know, w we can waiting for God to lead us.

You can be like a little boat, you know, a little sailboat, uh, tied up to the, to the Wharf. And you can sit in that boat and say, oh Lord, please tell me where to go. Please show me the direction forward, how fast to go home. Truth be known until you untidy that boat from the Wharf, that rudder, which is not what can turn your life.

It can't work at all. You've got to be moving forward for that rudder to come in place. And so by faith, you need to say, you know, I'm going out into the deep Lord. I don't know where we're going, but I want the sail full. I'm going to leave the worst behind. And I want you to steer my life forward. Um, truth, be known with a sailboat.

Uh, you, you can be going in the wrong direction and the rudder can still turn you around. So the point I'm trying to make is live, live fully by faith. Let go of the securities. Don't just pray for your future direction. Throw yourself into the world around you. And, uh, and it will, it will find you. I can absolutely guarantee it.

There's one verse that I have used since I was a five-year-old boy and he love this Dustin, the first sermon I ever preached at age five, based on Proverbs three, five, and six that says trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't lean on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him. And he will direct your path.

This was written by the smartest guy who ever lived the richest guy who ever lived. It stands alone with no lead in and no follow-up thought it's a nugget of wisdom of how to figure out God's direction in your life sitting right there. Now I remember looking at. My first sermon was. So let's look at the people in the Bible who did trust in the Lord with all their heart.

How'd that go, who leaned on their own understanding? How did that go? Who acknowledged him in all their ways? How did that go? And so it was a little five-year-old evidence that this works, but later I realized, you know what? This is almost in the form of a contract. It could have been written if, if, if, then, and is full of that.

You know, if my people who are called by men, they will, if they will seek my face eats, they will leave their wicked ways. Then will I hear from him? So what I've done with that verse in my life, and I have it finally on my coffee bug, when I was leading compassion all those years, the first three parts of that air in your hands, the first three phrases are, if you will trust in the Lord with all your.

W you got ponder what that means, but if you will not lean on your, some of us get too much education and we lean on our own understanding and you got to say, Lord, I, it doesn't have to make sense. I don't have to be famous. I don't have to be great. Uh, I just want to understand my path in all your ways, acknowledge him as what we were just talking about.

I mean, you talk to the Lord all day long. Wow, Lord. What a sunrise that was way to go. I'm happy to be your child today. And if you live like that, then he has the entree into your life to direct your path. So whenever I made a huge decision for compassion and I may need enormous decisions, like what did we do about the genocide in Rwanda before I made the decision on behalf of the ministry, I stopped.

And I said, am I even in a place to make this. And let me backtrack. Am I trusting in the Lord or my old churned up and worried here? Am I leaning on my own understanding because I've had success in the past and I've got all this education stuff, uh, is that my, is that what's in the way? Uh, am I close enough to God that I acknowledge his presence in my life, in all areas?

And if I'm not don't you dare make this decision where you are. And so it's a check on the quality and the, and the discipline of your own life, but it's a faith step saying, Lord, I trust you. I trust you to direct my path and I know it's going to be an adventure. So I'm, untiring from a war. If we're going to sail, we might sell fast, read by sales low.

We may go in circles, but I want you directing my path. This is what I think helps people find their way forward is certainly did me. And that's what boats are made for. And that's what we're made for, right, exactly. Right. It makes so much up. That's so good. Well, whereas here, here's what I know. I know that anybody who is listening to this is saying, I want to hear more.

I want to know more. I, I, I know that, um, it's, you, you are your love for Christ and your passion for his mission is infectious. And so, um, as we're, we're kind of wrapping up, let everybody know how can they, how can they hear more? Uh, how can they get those, those books? Where can they find those? And then how can they be a part of what compassionate international is doing?

Jesus, that's a, that's a very good question. Let me answer. The first one is first. The part about, uh, growing up in Africa and being the only white kid for a hundred miles. Uh, it is not all a sad story. I mean, it's got some funny, funny stuff in there of what it was like. It's an easy, it's an easy read, uh, in it.

I tell, I tell the story about that little guy. Um, that's called too small to ignore that's that's this guy. Um, the other book, which we've talked about a bit more here, uh, just a minute, uh, again, as, you know, destiny, I wish I could just give a copy to everybody. It's it's the 68 stories and I sort of serve as the cement between the bricks of these stories, kind of the host of the, of the flow of the book.

Uh, every story for you, men is only about two or three pages. So it's like a perfect bathroom read, you know? Um, and you can get that. So I think easiest way to get ahold of these books is right off Amazon. Awesome. That's the easiest way to get them. And, um, uh, you can, you can get them at your Christian bookstore, uh, and you can get them at Barnes and noble, but they'll have, may have to order them for you.

We have a bunch of them in stock, but you can, you can find them, uh, by getting a on that way. If what we've said about being a president of the United States, hustling a child, or be like you, Rebecca and Dustin, um, you can, uh, you can check it out, uh, either online or, uh, by calling 800 numbers. That's more comfortable to you.

We have, uh, we have children who are ready, waiting. We're already helping them waiting for a sponsor to step up and say, I'll, I'll pick up the tab. This is kind of like the good Samaritan, you know, he found a guy hurting and he did a really smart thing. He took that guy to it. And you said, I'll make you a deal.

You take care of this guy for me. Uh, but I'll pick up the tab and that's essentially what officer says. And you can choose the country that you might someday visit, or that you have missionary friends in, who could visit your child or something. So you can go through we're in 25 countries. So on the, on the internet@compassion.com, uh, you can go to the section, sponsor a child, and you can look over the pictures of the ones that we're actually looking for.

You can choose one that's the same birthday as a, your child perhaps, or the same age as your child. All you gotta do is click on it and compassion will help you get started in that child's, uh, Or if the internet is just not working all that well, uh, go to 1 803, 3 6 7 6 7 6 1 803 3 6 7 6 7 6. That'll ring, right in Compassion's office.

Somebody who knows all about this, uh, we'll answer your questions of how to get started. Is it right for you? What are the other options you could be doing? And those are the two ways really to get into it, to talk to compassion. People would do that, you know, a powerful that is, and, and, and, and let me just encourage anybody listening, uh, at the end of the podcast, go online.

Get the books, visit compassion, visit them online, sponsor a child that do you, I don't know if they have not done that. I, I don't know if they can really comprehend just how meaningful that is. Not only for them, but in the lives of the children that they they'll reach. Yeah. Yeah. It's more powerful than we can describe.

I don't believe you can get closer to the heart of God or to the center of the priorities of his kingdom than doing something like this, reaching out the least of these, the poorest of the poor. Uh, and you can do it that one of the beauties, you can do it right out of your own house. A lot of people, by the way, uh, most of our sponsors are like young families.

And when we ask them, why did you, why did you sponsor? They say, you know, we care about the little guy in Kenya, but we're trying to raise compassion. Godly children, world perspective in our own home. And we know they don't learn what we talk about. Uh, they learned that by the pictures on our refrigerator of their little sponsored child over there on the other side of the world, they do that by the letters, the little pictures they draw at our kitchen table, or the little jar of coins, where they put a little bit of their allowance on there.

It finds its way into our bedtime prayers. There was a time when we sponsored as a family, 30 kids, my wife used to say, I don't know where you think you work, but we don't have that. But my two little daughters, Jenny and Katie every night could pray for all of them. By name Emmanuel, Renee Diego, Laura Albert, Mercedes Yolanda, Anissa Sisyphus, jolly we on and on and on.

I got them right up here on my, on my wall. This was probably screw up your podcast, but I got the pictures of, uh, let me try it. Can you see that? Can you, can you read the top? It says, bless these children. Yes, I see it now. Yep. They're just for those who have been great. A lot of them are already pastors and doctors and nurses and groan, but yeah, so we, we, uh, we practice what we preach and for those who are listening, it's a, it's a, it's a board, uh, in case you're, you're not seeing the video.

It's a board that has all the photographs of the children. That was his family sponsored. I love that. You know, as you're talking to us, it makes me, it makes me think of something. I, well, Dustin and I heard David Platt say last year at secret church, when he was talking about the great commission, he made a statement.

That's really stuck with me. He said, you know, as a follower of Christ, we are either a goer or a cinder. And when I think about the word compassion does. You get to be a part of equipping of sending, of being a part of the local church in a different country. And it's so awesome. When I, you know, I look at our fridge and we have a picture of our child on our fridge, much like you have that board behind us.

And I know Dustin has a picture of our child on his desk, in his office, and that's just a prayer prompt for us. Every time I walk by our fridge, I see her and I pray for her. And so I just think that's such a special way of being a part of what God's doing in the church around the world. And so I'm just so beyond grateful for your legacy at compassion and what God continues to do there.

And so we are just so grateful for you. We're grateful for your time, for your words and how they're impacting our life. And I know lives of children around the world. So as thank you so much for being with us today, it's my joy, Dustin. You're my brother. I love you. You know, that. What an honor to spend this time with you may God bless you for what you're doing and thank you for letting him use you.

So, so lovingly and so powerfully in his kingdom. Whereas we love you so much, my friend. Thank you. Thank you for this time. My joy.