Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #272 – Lead Me Home: Reflections from the Citygate Conference
What happens when rescue mission staff from across North America gather under one roof? For the Topeka Rescue Mission team, their recent experience at the Citygate Network conference in Phoenix was more than professionally enriching—it was spiritually transformative. In this heartfelt episode, CEO La Manda Cunningham is joined by Miriam Krehbiel (Deputy Director of Supportive Services), Marcus Molinar (Deputy Director of Facilities & Security), and Scott Bryant (Assistant Director of Distribution Services) to reflect on the conference theme “Lead Me Home” and the overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit among a thousand like-minded mission workers.
From a life-changing perspective on the prodigal son to honest conversations about brokenness, identity, and purpose, the team shares how their understanding of “home” and their calling has been forever changed. “Brokenness does not discriminate,” La Manda notes, highlighting the universal need for grace. Whether you're involved in ministry, seeking deeper meaning in your faith journey, or simply curious about the heart behind rescue work, this episode offers a powerful look at what it means to run toward the hurting with open arms.
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Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, lord, for this day and your blessings. God, thank you for this time, for this podcast, and Lord, for all of our listeners. Lord, we just thank you for this conversation, lord for lessons that were learned and, lord, I just pray that this conversation will be a blessing to all who hear it. Lord, in your holy name, we pray, amen.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody, thank you for joining us for Our Community, our Mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. I'm your host, barry Feeker, here on Tuesday, june the 24th 2025. And this is episode number 272. I just want to prepare you all who are listening. We've got a very lively group in here today. We had a hard time even finding a way to start recording because they already started recording before we got going here, but I've got LaManda Cunningham, who's CEO of Topeka Rescue Mission, marion Crable, deputy Director of Supportive Services. Marcus Molinar, deputy Director of Facilities and Security. Scott Bryan, assistant Director Distribution Center. Hello everybody, hello, okay, are you ready to go? I think we are.
Speaker 2:So you guys, we're going to kind of prepare everybody for what's coming and just keep it rolling, because it's been pretty lively up to this point. But you all attended a CityGate Network meeting, which is the Association of Rescue Ministries in North America about 300 of them in Phoenix, arizona, in May, and so LaManda, talk just a little bit about CityGate. We've introduced CityGate before on the podcast. We've also interviewed some different leaders from around the country, got another one of those coming up, I think next week or pretty soon. So what is CityGate Network? How does it intersect with Topeka Rescue Mission. Then we're going to get a little more specific into what you guys got out of that meeting.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so CityGate Network is kind of this organization, this association that many rescue missions belong to, and they provide a plethora of supports and it can be anywhere from these annual conferences they do regional meetings. We have access 24-7 to discussion forums that if we have questions or we're praying through initiatives that we feel called to do all of this, we can literally send out these questions on this forum and whatever group you're in, it sends out to like, in my case, all the CEOs, so over 300 people I have at the disposal, at the disposal anytime that you have questions or needs. So it's just remarkable, just remarkable. But through that you also gain such an incredible network of colleagues, brothers and sisters in Christ and people that turn into your friends. And it's neat.
Speaker 4:Through vendors we get ideas of different things that we need to bring to TRM, things that we might can do more efficient, and then all of a sudden go from these kinds of networking things and then you blink and you realize two, three, four years pass and you are talking to people from another state regularly and it's just incredible. So it's just a plethora of supports and a variety of things and the annual conferences, and you'll hear about this in just a minute. It's life changing. But what I think is so cool about it is it doesn't give you just this, and nothing against church camps, but sometimes that happens and you feel really great and then you go back to the real world and you lose some of that Because CityGate is so intentional with their themes and the themes are derived by what they know we're all facing. This knowledge, this wisdom, these feelings continue on outside the annual conference, which is why you couldn't get us to shut up this morning about it 30 days later.
Speaker 2:There's a commonality here of shared experiences, but very different from here to Houston to, obviously, phoenix and different places. You go Topeka, kansas, kansas City. You get a chance to learn and also contribute. Lamanda this was just your fourth CityGate meeting. Okay, and Miriam, this wasn't your first time either. You've been how many times? This was my fourth, your fourth too? Okay, so, marcus and Scott, this was your first time going to.
Speaker 2:CityGate. What did you think when you walked into the big room and this was rescue ministries from all over the place and there was what? Maybe 1,000 or more people in there. Yeah, what was that first impression when you first walked into that room and had dinner? Maybe the gathering, worship time, the opening or whatever?
Speaker 5:My first impression was the tremendous power of the Holy Spirit moving in that room. So I go to a smaller church and I mean you can feel the Holy Spirit move right with like minded people together like that. You put a thousand or so people in there, you can. It's almost like the feeling of the Holy Spirit is talking to you. It's wild, it's really wild. I was vibrating at times.
Speaker 2:You know there's one thing about it you can go to church Not to take anything away from our churches Please don't hear me wrong here but you can go to church with 1,000 people in it and the 80-20 rule. About 20 people are really doing stuff in the church. About 80 people are there At this meeting. It's 100%. Everybody's doing stuff in ministry. They're working on the front lines of some of the most difficult situations in North America and they are all on mission. Scott, this was your first time. You are assistant director of the distribution services, the rescue mission. What did you think when you were invited to go to this?
Speaker 6:What was your first thought? I needed to pray about it. So I haven't really been anywhere out of the state of Kansas due to my past. So I definitely asked my wife, of course, prayed about it and it was a big yes for me, a lot of firsts for me. And when I got there it was kind of like LaManda had told me things like it's going to break chains and I'm like eh, you know, I'm kind of doubtful.
Speaker 4:I told him he was going to cry and he said no, I'm a tough guy.
Speaker 6:And getting there and getting around all these people that are like-minded like us was kind of overwhelming to see so much power of the Holy Spirit. Like Marcus was saying, it was just like it overtakes you. It literally takes your breath away.
Speaker 2:Sometimes we feel alone in this work because it is something not everybody does. Obviously there's the team, there's the volunteers, the staff, the board, there's a community, but still, unless you're in the work work like a staff member, volunteer you don't necessarily understand what everybody faces. You get in the same room. Other people are just on those front lines with with you, know incredible stories of both Victor victory and suffering that they encounter, but you're all around the same thing, and so there's techniques that you pick up, you share, you learn Um, I know that there's I don't know how many.
Speaker 2:There's hundreds of different workshops you can go to. It's something like that that you pick up. But there's also something that's very unique and different, and that is it's a gathering of people around the heart of Christ, and that's different than a lot of things are, and that's a theme that Mark could just start right out. What'd you get? You got the Holy Spirit walking in there, and some people that are listening to this may understand what that means, and maybe they don't, or maybe they have their own version of that. So there was a there's always a theme, um, at the city gate network, you know, learning, all these things being together, relational learning what government's doing. Having government representatives there, I mean you name it, it's not just, uh, some folks that work down there.
Speaker 2:This is a city gate network is a major influence in the nation and around the world Now um when I say influence, they're at the table um what's called the DC forum, miriam, that they have every year for Washington DC. And we're elected officials, so it's not just what we call separate church ministry, it's church ministry involved in the world, in the community. So before we started talking, I said what was the theme? And you said the theme was lead me home. And boy, that lit up this room. So let's light it up again. So what did the theme lead me home? What was it about and how did it speak to you all?
Speaker 4:You know, the theme was lead me home, and it was about the parable talking about the man who had the two sons, and the one son stays close to the father and is trying to do everything right, right, has the good job, has the things, all of this, and then the one son basically goes to pursue everything other than anything righteous. Who he knows is the prodigal son yes, and so it's all out of Luke son, yes, and so it's all out of Luke. And so when I heard what the theme was, I was really excited to see what all they did with this. I mean, this to me, and there's some things in the Bible that aren't. This was a common parable that I had heard, and so I was ready to go. Lord, what are you going to all reveal with this? And we'll get into that in a minute.
Speaker 4:But the first time we got in there and they started singing songs, worship songs about the characteristics of the Lord, and it puts things in perspective, because so often we're in this world, right, this seems like it's our home, and so we have seasons in our lives where we make great decisions. We have seasons in the lives where we're not, and we have seasons in our life where we might look successful, like the one son, doing everything right, but yet still be so empty. And so as soon as the worship starts I can tell like I'm going to be a blubbery mess, because the Lord has laid on my heart for years now that brokenness does not discriminate and that, yes, because of TRM we're tied to homelessness, addiction, mental illness, poverty, those kinds of things. But my heart breaks just the same for people like myself, barry, that might be in leadership positions or suits and ties or big into the church and they're so lost their home.
Speaker 4:Everything looks right, everything looks like quote unquote. They're doing right. They don't have quote unquote lived experience, like we say. Yet they could still be so far from the father. And this theme starts unfolding. And you know, when I attend these I try one look at it from the lens of what do I need to take back for TRM? But then I also learned the Lord was like oh, what did you take back for yourself?
Speaker 2:What you take back for yourself.
Speaker 4:And just through the general sessions and the worship and all of that, there was just this theme that our home is him. It's not a place.
Speaker 2:Describe that. What's that mean? Our home is him, not a place.
Speaker 4:Well, I don't want to answer that. I think sometimes we put the father in a box or we put parameters in place, of like in order to experience him, you have to go to church, or in order to be to experience him, you have to go to church, or in order to be closer to him, you have to have things, you have to have money, you have to have a nice house, and that makes you more elite or makes you more worthy. And when you strip everything that is worldly or things that we have put in place because of religion, you have this incredibly raw loves you, just because you're you Father, period. And that so often the Lord is not calling us to things or success, or prestige, or elite or whatever the case may be. He's literally just calling us to fellowship with him.
Speaker 4:And I have walked in Barry where I've had the great paying job, where I've had the house, where I've had I've got two degrees, all this stuff. That is not what brings me peace and what's incredible is I have recently walked through darkness and still been home because he doesn't leave, and prayer, worship this love between us and our Heavenly Father. It doesn't have to look pretty. This love between us and our heavenly father. It doesn't have to look pretty and it doesn't have to be confined in the walls of a homeless shelter or in a church or things like that. Anywhere we are sitting in that tent, sitting in that boardroom, walking, wandering, going through a divorce, losing our kids, relapsing. The father is still there, we still have a home in him and that is just beautiful, and I think all four of us are just like on fire for that to not only reach those that we're serving through the purpose of TRM, but we see a lot of brothers and sisters in this community that hurt too but seem like their home, and they're not.
Speaker 2:You know, when you're a child, you may live in a home, but you don't really think about your home. You think about the people in your home and how safe they are, or maybe unsafe they are, unfortunately. You know, when we talk about a home, we think of a physical structure, but if you're a child and God calls us to come to him as children and you get hurt, you're not thinking, wow, I've got a really cool home that I can be hurt in. You're looking for somebody to comfort you and when you talk about he is our home. What does a child need at that point? Needs to be picked up by their mom or dad and held and comforted.
Speaker 2:We've all been hurt as a kid and if you're listening here and you didn't have a good experience with your mom and dad, we get that, we really do. But if you did or somebody in your life has come along to comfort you, it doesn't matter about the physical things around you. It matters about the people who care for you. And so, by what you just said, lamanda, when I got this mental picture of a little boy or a girl gets picked up by their daddy when they're hurting, they don't care where they live, they're glad they have a house, but they don't process it. But they process how they feel when they're in the lap of their father. And so, miriam, your fourth time to go to this. You've heard the fellows talk about the Holy Spirit, and what was your experience? Sometimes we go to a thing over and over and over again Okay, this is what we experience and this is what we expect. How was it for you this time?
Speaker 3:Well, that's why I just so confirm everything that they said about the Holy Spirit, because you do you kind of think, okay, this time isn't going to be as powerful, right? Because this is the fourth time and I'm probably not going to have the same rate. That's just such baloney, I mean, it's like and it started from the beginning, right? I want to back up just a little bit and say there is something also that happens on these trips that I value so much, and that's getting to know other staff members that I don't get to interact with all the time.
Speaker 2:Like on the team, on our team Like.
Speaker 3:Scott right Like. I know Marcus pretty well. We're in meetings together all the time, but I'm not with Scott all the time, and he and I had this opportunity to actually get to know each other on a different level, so I don't know that I could ever describe the power of that and what the Holy Spirit can do in that, too, and as we think of what home looks like and who the people are that we can look to, for that comfort that you were talking about, part of it is sitting around this table or with any of the people that have actually gone with us, because we get to interface in such a different way. I'll tell you, though, what's so interesting. I'm listening to Lamanda and what she got from the very first person I mean Barry. It literally started from the jump, and it's fascinating to me how, in this room of a thousand people, the Holy Spirit still speaks to us all individually, and what our takeaways are are all so different. So this one, the very first session, for me, was incredibly convicting because she made a remark. Her name was Megan Fate Marshman, and she was phenomenal, but she made a comment about saying that, and I wrote it so that it was pertaining to me.
Speaker 3:If I keep things to me, it really means that I don't trust him. It's not that I don't believe in him, because I know he can. I'm just not sure he will, because he expects me this is my head language, this is not the Lord. He expects me to be able to do these things. Well, no, he doesn't. He really doesn't. And so every time I'm holding on to things and not just giving it back to him because he's watching me. He's watching for me to turn back to him, and when I don't, it really is an indication that my trust is not at the level that it should be. Not because I don't believe, but because I don't know. Right, and there was so much, she said so much, and that's just what happens every single time.
Speaker 2:So what do you do with that? I mean, you get that there. How does it translate here?
Speaker 3:Well, it causes me to constantly ponder on this, or it causes us, in different ways, to ask each other different kind of questions on a regular basis. You know, marcus and I were in some sessions where it said X, y and Z, and I'm getting text messages for him every Sunday at this point Miriam, are you X, y and Z? So there is an accountability that can happen. But part of it is too, barry, that it weighs on me and it causes me to think it's like okay, miriam, you're holding on to this, you think you're in control of this, you know what that means, right? And so then I have to go back and seek the father again.
Speaker 3:Right, I have to go back home, because I'm out here somewhere doing something stupid, because I think I can do it and I need to turn back. So I think, barry, it's just this confirmation that when I'm here, I have to continue to go back to all this stuff that I wrote down, that was applying to me at that point, because the Lord needed me to learn something, because this is what I wrote down, right? So, okay, I have to. Either that or nobody should be investing for me to go.
Speaker 2:Right, no, that's very good. You know, to put it in a kind of a sports vernacular, the teams that win the most are the ones that spend most of the time practicing the fundamentals, not the special plays, not the Hail Marys and those kind of things, but the ones that go over and over and over and over to ground themselves so that they're ready to get on the field. And that's the same thing with what we do in this kind of work and we do in our relationship with God. We've got to go back to those fundamentals and we need to remind each other Marcus Scott, you've both been on the podcast before.
Speaker 2:You've shared some of your story that you came to the Topeka Rescue Mission without a place to be and you were a guest here at the Rescue Mission and you got on different programs at the mission and really excelled in those. And now today you guys both have leadership here at Topeka Rescue Mission. So, being this the first time that you walked into this room and you talked about the feel that you had, what does it mean to you to know that around the world, and especially in this case in North America, that around the world, and especially in this case in North America there's this kind of team pulling for you, or was pulling for you, learning from each other to equip each other, to help each other, so that Topeka Rescue Mission could be a better place for you. And what does that mean for the other folks walking through the door that are where you used to be? I don't know if that makes sense, but you know to walk in and go. Man, this is not just a small thing, it's a big thing.
Speaker 5:It's a big encouragement for folks Like they're, the examples that we have followed to get where we're at. There are, I know Jesus is the light of the world, but Jesus through them is the light for us. I guess that's how that works Reflection of the light. Yes, yes, Reflection of the light. Very encouraging, very accountable, and they truly have hearts for doing this kind of work which, yeah, their leadership is just. I would say it's just great to be a follower of this kind of.
Speaker 2:I know this is going on even outside of here. Yes, Scott.
Speaker 6:Just it breaks chains in so many ways. I'm seeing so many like-minded people doing the same thing we're doing. Also seeing people that were like us, that were homeless.
Speaker 2:It's not all double master degree Amanda's out there doing this kind of work. There's people of all kinds of walks of life, yes, and so you met people who have been where you have been.
Speaker 6:Oh, definitely yeah, there's a lot of learning to be had. It's kind of overwhelming at times because there's so much to take in in such a short amount of time, sure? It just just so many blessings and broke chains of me that I didn't know need broke. So amanda, of course, told me this too, and I didn't listen.
Speaker 2:You don't have to get really personal with that, but what do you mean by broke chains in you?
Speaker 6:um, I, I had hardened my heart pretty bad in my addiction and it actually brought my smile back. I sent my wife a picture and she's like you're smiling and usually I kind of have a smirk on my face, but she's like you have a full smile and so now it has brought my smile back to me, which sounds kind of silly, but if you know my past, that's a huge thing for it to be able to warm my heart back up, which is one of the hardest things to do.
Speaker 2:So, scott, you came through a lot of things. You ended up here at the rescue mission, you got on the program. You learned a lot of tools. You elevate because of the great work that you do in distribution services. I can remember way back when, when, you know, you were very beginning on this. Now you are the assistant director of this ministry's distribution services, so that some people say, well, that'll be enough, that'll bring a smile on your face. What was different about that experience?
Speaker 6:that your wife said Whoa it just brings so much joy to your heart Seeing all these people that are doing the same thing and just such a mass, and it's it's not even everybody in the country that is there. There's so many more people that we don't even see. Thousands stayed home, thousands stayed home, thousands could go, that's right. And just seeing us, just right when you walk in, it's just. The Holy Spirit is so strong in there, it's overwhelming, it's so much to take in and I think it brings us all closer to the Father, instantly, almost, where you're just like your faith is just like awakened, instantly, just because there's so much power in all these people with all the stuff they do with the rescue missions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you get those things and, miriam, I think you maybe mentioned it some things you get and you leave there, but some things stay with you. So this particular aspect, obviously, whether it's facilities or back office stuff or executive director stuff or distribution, that there were people around with some different workshops on that or something that was even bigger, and that is just the whole culture of rescue ministry and Christ being the center of that. So you go, you get it, you come back and, marcus, things break down still, oh yeah.
Speaker 4:That was happening while we were gone, While you were gone of course, the day we were leaving.
Speaker 5:Yes, the day you were leaving.
Speaker 2:So nothing stops in regards to problems that the world faces. So how do you retain this, how do you keep it going? You can't replicate being in a room with a thousand people, but how do you glean from that and stay?
Speaker 5:You strive to abide in. It. To take back from the conference is um. So when, example, when jesus was um healing the lepers I believe was either healing the lepers or performing miracles he took the time to rest even though he was worried they can wait, because I know what I can do he took the time to step aside to rest and pray to the father and and all that. So, because he needs to be filled as well, to fill into other people. I think that's a good. That's one of the main staples I'm going to take and strive to abide in is staying. Now, it might not be an idle rest, it'll be a mobile rest or whatever, because we need to get things done, but as a leader, I need to be filled, you know, during that rest period to fill into my guys, my guys, okay. So I can get a little cranky at times.
Speaker 5:Oh, no that pretty much means I'm on E. My guys will tell you about that. He broke a chain, but it's a trickle-down thing and it's the reflection thing. So if I'm not rested or filled, my guys aren't rested and filled. So I think that's a big thing. I'm going to try to stay in and practice.
Speaker 4:And I think you know, to piggyback off of this, and they'll probably both just stare at me which means they're mad that I say this as a little bit of my CEO hat, but probably more so, just as their sister in Christ is. I saw Marcus and Scott be able to be in a room full of servants and leaders and leaders, and that they now realize they're the leaders, and both of them are struggling to walk in that, which is why I'm kicking them into it. Right, they've both lovingly kicking them into it, and so when you're talking about, you know how, how does this carry over, right? This feeling, this learning, sometimes what Scott's describing as chains breaking, or Marcus talking about this Holy Spirit movement. Part of what I'm doing is trying to connect, which is why they were selected for this. There's a lot of intentional planning that goes into what we do with CityGate. When we come back, whoever attends presents to the board, because I view it as an investment. It's not a trip, but that was fun, right, scott?
Speaker 2:We haven't done it yet. It's coming. Got speech ready.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So there's a lot of thought and prayer that goes into who's going, why are we going? We do team builders while we're there. They all love that one. I'm sure they'll talk about that and all of this stuff.
Speaker 4:But part of my role, then, to come back, is to continually remind them that when you were in there yes, your lived experience is a part of your story, but that is not the chapter that you're in and that I believe in them, and that they have to continue to walk in the redemption and not be held to what they both view as failures that you can't be at home with the father and still uncomfortable because of the past. Otherwise the cross is null and void. So I think they have different learnings that happened, from practical things to really deep rooted stuff. But one of the things, too, that's my role is to ensure what the Lord laid on my heart of why these three were even chosen to go, is the season that the Lord is trying to reveal to them and open that up, and so multiple opportunities will continue to come for these gentlemen to continue to walk in being very strong leaders, and doing that because they are very strong servants.
Speaker 2:Well, there's an intentionality that, LaManda, you get there and you don't have to be the leader, you're a peer. Everybody's at the same level. When you go into these meetings, somebody else is leading. You get to be led, which I think is a great value, and then you come back and you're a stronger leader, just about that rest. You were talking about Marcus.
Speaker 2:Well, I think for the listener that is familiar with our community, our mission you know this is a big part of Topeka Rescue Mission is the faith, faith in Christ.
Speaker 2:If this is maybe you're not that familiar this is a really big central driving force behind the why of Topeka Rescue Mission and some people aren't comfortable with that and some people don't get it and some people are very comfortable with that, but it is what it is for over 70 years now and then to have these opportunities and people to invest in Topeka Rescue Mission to not only help meet practical needs every single day, but to keep the team moving forward and helping meet those practical needs every single day. There are a lot of organizations, social services in our country and around the world that are doing great work, but oftentimes they get burned out very, very quickly and don't know what to do. And then who suffers? The people they're trying to serve. The thing about this it gives us an opportunity to see every person that walks through the doors of the rescue mission, or wherever they are getting a food basket, to know that they are valued by God the same as the person that's handing it out.
Speaker 3:Mary. You know it was interesting. Scott and Marcus and I were all in one session together, not one of the general sessions, but one of the breakout sessions, and it needs to remember, because we do see so many people that our hearts are filled with wanting to help them. But his comment was if the king of the universe didn't heal everyone, why do we think we have to? If the king of the universe didn't heal everyone he encountered, why do we think we have to? And I would encourage all of us to think on that one right. So what does our work really look like? It's not necessarily about how we're going to fix people or heal people or doing that. What is our actual role? Is our actual role and I'm not sure that I fully have the answer as I think through that, but we hold it is exhausting for each and every one of us when all we see is need in front of us and think that the expectation of the Father is that we will fix it all.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm that we will fix it all. That may not be the case. And so now, how do we take time to rest, not mobile rest, not rest while we're doing, but truly rest in the Father, because that's the only way that we'll be able to continue to work on His behalf and go where he leads us and understand that it's not about what we can do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Henry Blackaby. The late Henry Blackaby wrote a book called Experiencing God and in that it was really centered around that Jesus was doing what the Father was doing and so he was in connection with the Father, um, to the degree being the son of God, being the God man, but in flesh on the earth. A little confusing sometimes, wrap your brain around that one, but that's what we understand. And if Jesus was healing somebody, he was causing a blind to see, he was feeding the 5,000, whatever. That's what the father was doing at that time. So like, hey, son, go feed them, I'm feeding them through you. And then Blackaby says at the same time in John 15 and 16, where Jesus says if you love me and keep my commandments, I will be in you and you will be in me. That's a pretty close relationship in each other. And he basically was saying that the works that I do, you will do.
Speaker 2:And so when Jesus wasn't fixing every problem at that moment means that maybe that's not our assignment at the moment. It doesn't mean forever or somebody else's assignment, but it indicates that's not what the Father's assignment is for us. And so, yeah, we can't fix the world. It gets very frustrating. I've tried for a while. I'm still trying, but beating my head against the wall Can't do it. But that doesn't mean it's not going to be done, because God loves the whole world at the same time. Sometimes we have to turn that over to the Father.
Speaker 3:Or maybe healing doesn't look like what we think it looks like. Isn't that true, isn't?
Speaker 2:that so true Maybe?
Speaker 3:healing doesn't look like our vision of healing.
Speaker 2:So before we end today, I want to roll back around to the theme Lead Me Home, that scripture that we briefly talked about, where there was a father and he was a father of means and he had two boys and an older one and a younger one. And the younger one he ran away to take the inheritance in advance and he went out and he squandered the inheritance and found himself really in bad shape, really in bad shape, and so he's either going to die in the streets broke, or he's going to humble himself and come back to the Father. And so how many of us have really squandered different things in our life? To where we look back and, scott, you look back and you needed the chains broken of looking back and they were broken to where you can move forward now to know that, just like in this story that Jesus told, is that the father was not going to reject his son if he came to him. He was actually waiting for him. He was waiting for him, and when he saw him a long way off, he not only said oh, I'm over here, you can come find me here, he ran to his son, really ran to his son, and his son immediately just humbled himself and says I'm not even worthy to be called your kid anymore. And he says nah, you're my kid, matter of fact. We're going to celebrate that you're back home. You're back home and kind of jumping into that home that you talked about Lamanda, into the father, and um, and so, um, uh, the father brought him home and restored him to what he was originally, uh, supposed to be, and that was a son of the father and all of you who are listening that same opportunity to be a son or a daughter of the creator of the universe because he loves you so much. And that's the main theme, that's the main story.
Speaker 2:There's another person in that story and that was the older son who didn't leave. He stayed where it was safe, he didn't go out on his own, he didn't squander money, but he was very jealous of his younger brother and while he had everything at his disposal, he really didn't know the father, like the father was trying to show him through his broken son. And so all of us are that way and you know, we have an opportunity to judge those who are broken and fail to realize our own brokenness. We have the opportunity to help or turn our way the other way from those and say I'm not them. The reality is, we're all them. We all are them, Whether you've ever made a bunch of mistakes or you haven't, whether you've got a past that would be something you're ashamed of or you haven't.
Speaker 2:We all need the Father, because the Father wants all of us, and we're at different levels, and so, when you see the Topeka Rescue Mission, others reaching out to the broken, and sometimes those broken have made unwise decisions Not always, though, things happen in life, and healing isn't the same every way, but the Father is drawing everybody to himself, because that's where the comfort is, that's where the joy is, that's where the purpose is, that's where eternity is. Folks, anything else you want to share I mean we could go on about CityGate and anything else you want to share today, listeners.
Speaker 6:Just real quick, I think. Sometimes we think because of the flesh it's easier to run from God and that we should run to God Because he always will take us back, just like the prodigal son. We have to remember that he loves us more than anything we could ever imagine.
Speaker 2:Pretty cool, isn't it, scott? Yes, yeah, that's a game changer. So okay, and one more thing yeah, that's a game changer.
Speaker 5:So okay, and one more thing when you're praying, be honest, because he knows and he wants to hear what you're going through.
Speaker 3:He stole mine. No, it's so true yeah she had talked about.
Speaker 4:Prayer isn't meant to be good, it's meant to be honest, and sometimes we think we have to get things all together before we can go to God and we're all a mess. The only way we get better is by going to God and recognizing that. So, man, we could do a whole podcast on what I'm about to say, but I'm going to just do it real brief. Okay, josh, get ready for part two. Yep, but there was Bishop Claude Alexander and he was an incredible speaker, but he did this kind of monologue presentation of all of these scriptures, of the story, and he did it from the perception of that he was the prodigal son. But he starts off and I mean you can just tell, right, there's this dynamic about him, like God has definitely giving him the giftedness of speaking, but it's like you could tell that before he even spoke. But one of the first things he said is he's explaining kind of his character, right, and he's tying the scripture together. But then he says but I never understand why it was not called the prodigal sons and he sets this stage and I don't know why I had never thought of that, because I've I remember hearing stuff about both sons and the father and things like that. But it was just incredible that the emphasis as he went and did this monologue was he was also then explaining what was happening to the brother or what could have been happening, because there was truth in that and then there was some filling in right of all of these, what ifs that so apply to our lives today cannot get out of my mind is Bishop says let's really focus on for a minute what I was so shocked about when I was running back to my father, when I was coming back to my father, and he talks about how the father did not look away even though he was far away. The father was so focused on watching his son come back. And then he talks about how the father started running to him that his arms were wide open and then there were some other things that he filled in. But he basically then says my father did that Because my community hated me and my father did it to distract his smell, his look, you know behaviors, all this stuff. And then he says because there were no rescue missions around to help me get better before I got to my father. And I cannot get that out of my mind, that part of what the rescue mission tries to do is take the attention off of what so many in our community do not understand and then, in a very controversial time, we are trying to understand the attention that is being given to part of homelessness, but then also still bring the truth of these are not the things that should even matter.
Speaker 4:Here are the things that we should be concerned about. You have somebody that smells. You should be concerned why they don't have any access to anything else. You want to talk about the behaviors that seem quote unquote crazy and they're disruptive. We need to care about how that behavior started. We want to talk I mean, I could go on and on and on.
Speaker 4:And when he said that there was no rescue mission to help on his journey, and so he went through all this muck and did all of that, and then had this father that did some of his own behaviors, yes, out of love, yes, out of this unconditional, unwavering father figure right to embrace the child but that it was also done because he was this prodigal son, had to go through the community, had to to go by people that were looking at him, go by, and then his dad did it to distract from that and so often that's what we're trying to do is we're trying to distract from the pressures of the smell, the poverty, the mental illness, the behaviors, all of these things that no one OK, but we are trying to weed all of that out.
Speaker 4:That's coming at these people to say, regardless of any of this being said about you, you have a father that's locking eyes with you, that is arms wide open and is saying come back. And sometimes we have to be the bumpers with our community around these people until we can get them connected to the transformation that comes in Christ. And I don't think I will ever hear that story ever again the same after that. I'm not sure I will either.
Speaker 2:No, that's an angle I had not really thought about. How much are we given opportunity and called to be a reflection of those who run to the broken, in spite of what they've done where they've been, because their community may not like them, may not understand them, may in fact hate them, and we, as a reflection, need to be, get to be the opposite of that, to distract them from having to look at who doesn't like them and also show the rest of the community that there are people who love them because the father loves them. That's profound. We'll just pause. We'll pause on that one and end today to think about what is our reflection of Christ through the Father.
Speaker 2:He does what he sees the Father doing. He did what he saw the Father doing, and today we have an opportunity to be close with our Savior Jesus, who is close to the Father, and to be able to reflect his light in a way that doesn't necessarily make sense to the world, but certainly makes sense when you know the heart of God. Thank you for listening to our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. If you'd like more information about Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to trmonlineorg that's trmonlineorg and just know, the Father's waiting on you and he's going to run to you too. Just come to Him.