Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #279 – Leading with Heart at Turlock Gospel Mission: Meet Thomas Hall
Thomas Hall’s unexpected path from applying for what he thought was a janitor position to leading as Director of Emergency Shelter and Outreach at Turlock Gospel Mission is a testament to the power of purpose-driven work. In California’s Central Valley, homelessness is fueled by mental health struggles and skyrocketing housing costs. Thomas and his team respond to urgent needs by offering more than beds. They provide food boxes, clothing, hygiene facilities, and storage, all while fostering a culture where “everyone lifts each other up.” His personal growth, from realizing his stern demeanor could intimidate guests to intentionally creating a warmer, safer environment, has transformed the shelter’s atmosphere for families, those fleeing domestic violence, and individuals facing addiction or mental illness.
Beyond emergency relief, Thomas celebrates stories of lasting change, like a former guest now thriving with stable housing and employment. While he acknowledges they often don’t see the final outcomes, he focuses on helping in the moment. To guard against burnout, Thomas leans on prayer, worship, basketball, church, and family time, encouraging his team to practice self-care as well. His message to the community is clear: whether through volunteering, donating, or showing kindness, everyone can help address homelessness. “When you see someone on the street, there’s a long story behind what led them there,” he says. “Some was in their control, some wasn’t. Say a prayer, offer help, and remember—we’re all called to serve the less fortunate.”
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Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day and this time to come together and to record this podcast. Lord, we just thank you for all of the servants across the globe that are, god, serving your kingdom, serving the least of these, and, lord, we're thankful to have one of those folks on our podcast today. Lord, pray your blessing over him and his ministry and, lord, just the listeners that will hear this today. God, that they would be encouraged. Father, we love you and we praise your name, amen.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody, Thank you for joining us with another episode of Our Community, Our Mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. I'm your host, Barry Feaker. We're here on August the 12th. It's a Tuesday of 2025. This is episode number 279. I'm here with Lamanda Cunningham, CEO, and we got a special guest today. We're going to go via internet to the West Coast.
Speaker 2:Yes so before we do that, before we do that here on the Tuesday, August the 12th, we have to then honor the hard work of the Research and development department, who has researched what is so special about this Tuesday in August, or actually this day in August, the 12th of every year? And so, LaManda, you have sibling right.
Speaker 3:I do.
Speaker 2:You have one or two or three or 10?.
Speaker 3:I have one biological brother and I have one stepbrother and two stepsisters.
Speaker 2:Where do you fall in that lineup as far as firstborn, secondborn, thirdborn, lastborn?
Speaker 3:When I look at all of us lumped together, I'm second from the oldest.
Speaker 2:Okay, let me do the math.
Speaker 3:You know I did that intentional so you wouldn't say I was the middle child.
Speaker 2:Well, Amanda, just in case you need to know, today is National Middle Child Day. National Middle Child Day Did you know that existed?
Speaker 3:I did not.
Speaker 2:But I'm Feel better.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure, although I still am claiming that I'm closer to the older side.
Speaker 2:That's what middle children always do.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:They're trying to vie for position. So in 1986, there was a gal named Elizabeth Walker and apparently she was a middle child. So she established National Middle Child Day because there is something called the middle child syndrome. If you're out there today listening to this and you wondered why you're struggling all these years, it's real, because oftentimes parents don't give as much attention to the middle kid. And I understand this myself. I'm a middle child, I'm a first born and a last born. So I'm like Josh down here. We're special, we're very special.
Speaker 2:Our parents said ain't doing that again. Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:So you all are the lonely onlys. So first, second and last.
Speaker 2:I heard that you stop at perfection. So Well, that's right. That's right. I'm sure there is. Let's make one, josh. So anyway, national Mental Child Day. And then why this goes hand in hand with August the 12th of every year, I don't know, but it's Milkman Day. Milkman Day, what's a Milkman Day? What's a Milkman?
Speaker 3:That was before my time, Barry.
Speaker 2:Mine too Okay.
Speaker 3:Is it really?
Speaker 2:Pretty close.
Speaker 1:Anyway.
Speaker 2:Just close, yeah, just close. Well, it used to be that you couldn't get your milk at the grocery store, so it got delivered to you on a wagon.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't have any recollection of that. And then a truck with tires.
Speaker 2:And then, yeah, it was like right off the farm. And today I'm not sure where milkmen are, other than the guy who goes to Dillon's and puts it on the shelf. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:Well, I will say that in some of the notes for this Milkman Day I didn't include this on here is that there is an increase in needing a milkman quote unquote, and that with COVID deliveries, increased home grocery deliveries increased. So the milkman kind of returned.
Speaker 2:So the milkman used to, I think, just deliver milk. Now the milkman delivers the Twinkies to go in the milk.
Speaker 3:Okay, all right, now I will tell you I did chase the swan truck. Do you all remember the swan's truck? Like the ice cream.
Speaker 2:I have a mental picture of you running down the road after the swan truck.
Speaker 3:Yes, so my, yeah, my aunt who helped raise me I love her so much my aunt Jan, she always did swan's orders and I remember that was like the best chicken strips and ice cream and I always got a treat off of it. She would order it somehow and she had this really long driveway and when I saw it coming, not only would I run towards it, but then, when it would pass me and the man would wave, I would then chase it back to the house.
Speaker 2:You sound like you were a hungry child.
Speaker 3:I was I was. I really wanted the chicken strips.
Speaker 1:I remember. So my family didn't order that, but I had a neighbor kid that I hung out with a lot growing up. His name was Luke and his grandparents that he was. He would go to their house. They had the Schwann's like ice cream, and so their freezer was always stocked with the little ice cream cups and so I remember always getting those.
Speaker 2:Yep, so you remember those things? Oh yeah, because they're very impactful and probably best friend ever, right, mm-hmm? Yeah, sure enough, sure enough. Well, one more research and development important day. On August, the 12th every year, it's National Julian Fries Day.
Speaker 1:Julianne is that right, julianne, julian, is that right Julian, julian? Yeah, julian, I'm sure it's French, so we're saying it wrong. It's Julian.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, of course, right. So French fries, julian fries. Okay, so, amanda, did you know that it is the national? Why are we celebrating a national day that's French in the United States? Is it global? No, it's national. Anyway, it is that day when, yes, we would like to have a large order of fries. That's what Julianne read.
Speaker 1:Always.
Speaker 2:Bigger Always.
Speaker 1:No, I don't know. Okay, so anyway, actually it's just how they're made. I guess they're smaller, they're very like thin fries, so I see how you tied all these together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, tied all these together. We have National Middle Child Day, milkman Day and National Julianne Fries Day. So if you are depressed today because you're the middle child and you have a syndrome, you can cry in your milk and go get some Julianne Fries to make you feel better. You got it. So there we go. Ok, oh, so glad you all tuned into this. And now we're going to get down to some other good things and we're going to talk to one of the CityGate members and LaManda, tell everybody again what the CityGate Network is and why it's valuable and why we're going clear out to California today.
Speaker 3:Yes, so the CityGate Network is an association that consists of about 300 to 310 rescue missions all across the world, not just the United States, all across the world, not just United States and there is a plethora of information that we gain from this association networking opportunities, support, that is all throughout the year. We also have an annual conference every year that happens every summer, and tons of just different cohorts that we can belong to, depending on our position, depending on kind of the work that we do, and it's just an incredible group to belong to for a lot of our needs that we have, but also networking abilities, not just within our area and our own district, but all across the world as we learn.
Speaker 2:You know how old the CityGate network is, how long it's been around.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:It's over 100 years, is it? That's right, but I remember it's had like three or four names right.
Speaker 2:Well, when I came along, in the same year that they declared National Middle Child Day, 1986, it was called the International Union of Gospel Missions, the IGM, i-g-u-m. I-u-m anyway, so that was too long, so then they changed it to the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, and so then here back in about 2018, 2019, it became known as the City Gate Network, and there's a biblical reference to that in regards to in the Old Testament. A lot of decisions were made at the CityGate, and this is where the stranger was invited in. The wonder, the person who was hungry, looking for needs and so forth is that in those communities, the CityGate is where the elders were, and then a lot of decisions were made and a lot of help was found at the city gate. So it's a city gate network. A lot of people didn't know that, even sitting around this table right now, so that's why it was called that. So there was a particular award that was given out called the City Gate Network Award, and Topeka Rescue Mission was blessed to receive that in 2018. And so we were one of the first to be able to get that award, and so that was a great honor, and it's been a great honor to be a part of an organization here at Topeka Rescue Mission that's over 100 years old and so I believe it started in New York City. I believe that Jerry McCauley was a part of that whole thing and one of the founders of what we call the modern day Rescue Mission Movement A whole other story, but today we're going to focus on California, a place called Turlock, california.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you've all heard about Turlock, california. I have now, and there's a gospel mission there, and we have today the director of emergency shelter and outreach programs, thomas Hall, joining us from the Turlock Gospel Mission. Welcome to our community, our mission, thomas. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so tell us just a little bit about Turlock. You kind of let me know a little bit more where it was. I think when we think of California Los Angeles, san Diego, san Francisco you're a little farther inland from those areas.
Speaker 5:Francisco. You're a little farther inland from those areas. Yeah, so we're located in the Central Valley, a small town of about 80,000 people. This will probably be a better frame of reference. We are about an hour and a half north of Fresno and about an hour south of Sacramento.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, I think a lot of people in Kansas have heard about those places but maybe never have been there either. So anyway, yeah, so you're kind of in the agricultural part of the state, all those in there, and not terribly far from Bakersfield. Another staff member here at Topeka Rescue Mission, marion Crable, was the director of the United Way in Bakersfield at one time, and so we've learned a lot about Bakersfield area. So, thomas, talk about how long you've been with the Turlock Gospel Mission and then talk about this director of emergency shelter services and outreach. What does that mean?
Speaker 5:So I got started with the Turua Gospel Mission in May of 2021. I was hired as a shelter attendant. It was either a shelter attendant or a janitor. It was going to be one or the other.
Speaker 2:A lot of times in rescue missions. It's the same thing, so yeah.
Speaker 5:Depends on what happens, and the interview led to most likely me being the janitor and I said, oh God, I don't want to do this. And I said, well, I pray for this to get my foot in the door of an organization that's involved in ministry, helping communities. So I said, all right, this is what I got to do, I'll do it. And then they hired me as a lead shelter attendant. Just over the years, you know, progressing from overseeing the emergency shelter for the women, our executive director, christian Kirby, put a lot of trust in me, a lot of faith in me, as he coached me up and trained me to take emergency shelter and outreach and basically what that means is any emergency service anyone can come and receive at the shelter.
Speaker 5:So it's not just a bed for the night, it's emergency clothing, it's showers and hygiene using the bathroom, our warming center and our cooling center. Outside let's see storage. We offer storage for those in the community to help the city keep people's belongings off the streets. And then there's outreach Outreaching to our unhoused community to inform them of our services, to inform them where to find the mission, the best times to come when they're wanting to receive meals, and outreach to other organizations and agencies to build connections, partnerships, referral avenues and overall a better support system for our organization and then outreaching to donors as well. I'm starting to be more involved in the fundraising aspect of the organization and the behind the scenes business stuff.
Speaker 5:So our executive director is actually on sabbatical, so right now I'm the interim executive director and that has just been fun and enlightening and, um, challenging, but also, uh, very informative about the the other stuff that goes on behind the scenes. So it's been an incredible journey, awesome ride and it's fun. I love what I do, I love coming here, I love our people, I love saying hi to people when I get here in the morning, just being there and seeing a part of their journey, part of their story, being there when they give their life to Christ, being there when they get baptized, when they celebrate a year of sobriety, and they get excited when they get their sobriety chips. And you know, I asked them, I said come, show up, I want to see it. You know, it's been a blessing and I'm so grateful to God that he's placed me here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Speaker 2:Sounds like God really expanded your territory based upon what you thought might be a mop and a broom, to come in to have all those different things that they have entrusted you there at the gospel mission. To be able to do all those things and now covering for the executive director while that individual's out, that's a lot of responsibility and it sounds like. And of course, LaManda and I are able to see you via the Internet, on Zoom Other people can't, but you're smiling the whole time you're talking. So some people would say, man, that's a nightmare to have all that on your plate, but you really seem like you are embracing that.
Speaker 2:We're talking about rural California. It's an 80,000 population roughly there in Turlock. It's not small, but it's not huge. A lot of times folks think about homelessness being in those greater metropolitan areas. Sometimes people say you really even have homeless in Kansas. Yeah, we do. But talk about what the picture of homelessness looks like in the Agricultural Belt of California. A lot of people that come to the shelter and for services there. Are they from the Turlock area? Are they coming in from the coast because there's no resources there in those bigger, bigger cities, or what's the picture?
Speaker 5:So a majority of our guests that come to the shelter here are from Turlock or just from another town within the county. There's a lot of small towns that are nearby. You won't know them but Ceres, houston Keys, patterson very small towns nearby, houston Keys, patterson very small towns nearby, and some will flock here. Or 20 minutes north to Modesto, where there's the Modesto Gospel Mission, also a CityGate member looking for help, not knowing where they can find it, but just oftentimes grasping at straws because there's not really a ton of places for them to go to for help.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 5:I got a call yesterday of a mom with a 17-year-old special needs son which is just very difficult for someone in her situation to even find a place to go for shelter. And you know we were working with her to try to work something out for them to be able to stay here. That's one of the needs that we started to focus on a couple years ago with the increase in families just being flexible and adaptive, to not have to turn a family away when we know there's no other option for them.
Speaker 2:You know, Amanda, what Thomas is talking about there is that it's so important for people to understand what Topeka Rescue Mission does, Turlock Gospel Mission does in regards to how many beds for women, how many for men and children, and so forth, and so that's the easy part to say. But that's the whole thing of trying to meet a need that maybe you're not prepared to meet and have to be flexible and that's kind of common with CityGate Ministries is that the need to be flexible and to maybe do something you really weren't prepared to do. But what's the alternative? Someone on the street, maybe not surviving on the street. How do you, Lamanda, how do you navigate through that as the CEO of Topeka Rescue Mission when you have that man? We hadn't done that one before, or we haven't done that in a long time, or we're really not prepared for that. What?
Speaker 3:do you do? Well, I think it depends on the situation. What I've learned not to do is panic as my first reaction and the reason I kind of joke about that is the first, I don't know 10 to 20 curveballs finally quit saying it, because I would say, hey, we were just asked this, or this is a need, and I've asked a couple of people and no one has experienced this before. Or I would come to you and I would say, hey, I've got this situation, how would you handle this? And you have tons of experience. Yet there were still so many situations where you said I haven't experienced it. So you helped me switch my thinking from yes, there is wisdom, and using wise counsel and logic and previous experience. But you also helped me understand Lamanda there is just never going to be this level of comfort and predictability is just never going to be this level of comfort and predictability and everything fits in this structured system. You are constantly going to be thrown situations where you've never experienced it before, you're not sure what to do, and sometimes even things that require you to break a rule or to make exceptions for things, and so I think when I'm thrown, these things particularly tied to shelter right. We just have a rule we do what we need to do for kids period, but then that means that just seven or eight months ago, we had kids that weren't even in a room. They were in the overflow, staying in open areas. Well, it was because I didn't want them in the cold.
Speaker 3:So you know, I think the first thing that I do when we're constantly thrown situations that require flexibility and, yes, critical thinking but a lot of faith, is I try not to panic. And two, I try not to personalize it. Where, if it's not the best option, but it's the option that we can do in that moment, I try not to dwell on it and I try to know like it's the right decision for right now and to know that there's a better option coming. And then, third, I really try to make sure that I'm making decisions, when applicable, with the team, because I've also found that sometimes this work is is tiring, it can be draining.
Speaker 3:There's tons of stuff that come at you and if you're always the one that's making decisions and having to like think through things, that sometimes you end up not seeing some other possible solutions or ideas that your colleagues will see, and so I think it's really important to have a team effort in this work, because the flexibility there I'm not joking when I say this, barry, and you know this, and so you're probably just like, yep, kid, I know. Every day, not two to three times a week, not a couple of times a month, every single day, I do this job. There is something that comes at me that I'm like I do not know the answer to that, or that we're having to problem solve because it's not common and so just realizing that and doing it as a team is crucial with this work.
Speaker 2:Sounds familiar, Thomas, to what you're doing out there in California.
Speaker 5:Absolutely. I mean, lamanda, you mentioned kids sleeping in overflow open area. That's where we're at now. Unfortunately, our shelter is so full and we're limited to the amount of beds here in Sherlock. That that's where we are now and and we're needing to be flexible and, uh, that's one of the things I'm trying more and more of is including the team in decisions and even asking them outright what do you think we should do? Um, these people are going to be here during your shift. Is this feasible for?
Speaker 5:you what do you need to make this feasible? Um, and it builds confidence and, you know, it prevents them from having to call me on the weekend. You never get a call on the weekend.
Speaker 2:You never know I do. Okay. I was going to say maybe you could teach lamanda how not to get a call on the weekend which ain't going to happen yeah but, but, but, ideally, ideally, you should prevent them from calling me on the weekend.
Speaker 5:but you know I love those calls, love hearing from my team.
Speaker 2:So generally, if the phone rings on a weekend or the middle of the night, it's not always the hey, everything's going great. It's generally we've got a challenge. We need your direction on this. You know there's some different philosophies in regards to leadership in crisis, and one is centralized command and decentralized command. I've been doing a little study on that myself in regards to which models work better. But you can decentralize command if you can trust the people in the field, and that's what it sounds like. What you are doing there in Turlock is that you are equipping your team to be able to handle things. That's what Amanda's done here and it's essential because otherwise people that are in these kind of spaces that you have they don't last long because it's just too much.
Speaker 2:So talk about, tell us a little bit about what's going on in your area. You talked about Turlock being a bit of a catchment area for some other smaller communities around you within your county. Why are people homeless? And actually in Turlock you were saying before we started the podcast here that at one time it was the highest number of churches per capita in the United States, in Turlock, california. So we would say, ok, here is a group of people who have a biblical understanding of how to take care of the poor and so on and so forth. So I'm sure they do. What is creating homelessness in Turlock and what is the response towards the mission there and what are you guys doing as a community to address this? So, first of all, what are the reasons for homelessness in this agriculture area, more rural compared to the rest of the bigger parts of the state? That is creating a need for even a homeless shelter in Turlock.
Speaker 5:There's no one reason. I'd say the main reasons would have to be mental health, being unaddressed, being self-medicated, drug abuse, chemical dependency. And I mentioned Modesto, 20 minutes north of us, unfortunately, and it's my hometown, but unfortunately it's known, as you know, meth-desto. To many it's it's uh the accessible, the accessibility to those substances is, you know, anyone can find it, uh out on the street and often cases get it for free um so I say mental health, substance abuse, um the increasing costs of living.
Speaker 5:I mentioned that we've got, you know, increase in families. I had a stack of messages left for me when I got here yesterday morning of five families looking for shelter. Yes, and they're losing their homes.
Speaker 2:Because of what?
Speaker 5:Because of loss of job, because of, sometimes, domestic violence. They're fleeing, but often cases they can't afford to keep their place. We also get a lot of calls that we don't unfortunately, we're not able to help out with this, but a lot of calls about social assistance and utility assistance and people are just struggling. One of the things that we've pushed to the forefront in the last year is that our assistance with food. We give out food boxes on a weekly basis. Anyone can come here, register with us and start receiving food boxes weekly. We have a food giveaway every month and we're just working as hard as we can to help individuals to, you know, eliminate one cost so that way you know, oftentimes it's a, it's a choice am I going to pay rent or am I going to buy food?
Speaker 5:If they're going to buy food, then oftentimes you know, not too much down the road they're going to need to come here. So we try to provide them with the food, even if they need to come for meals every day, hot meals every day, just to help them. You know that could free up even a couple hundred dollars for them a month.
Speaker 2:Sounds like you are experiencing there in Turlock what's very common around the country in many different aspects. It's economy, people falling out of the ability to stay where they are due to loss of job or property tax increases, and their rent goes up, their housing goes up. I've learned in Fresno, meeting some folks out there years ago, that there was a high level of street drugs that were going on in the Fresno area, and so it sounds like that this is one of the bigger issues the mental health, the complexities of addiction and so forth, and so meeting those emergency needs where they are. But yet you have a family who's coming in who maybe hasn't experienced any of that. How do you then help the person who's coming in who is struggling with severe mental health breakdown, substance abuse issues, and you got this family who just maybe today found out that they have to leave their home and there's nowhere else to go.
Speaker 5:How do you, how do you bring those populations together safely and help people to navigate through that so it's not like, oh, one trauma to another trauma well, we take uh, we take the safety of our guests very seriously, and even in my few years here, I've worked very hard to establish a culture here that it's everyone lifting each other up Anyone that's coming for, let's say, even just for a shelter bed for the night or just for a meal outside. You know they, they know when they're here they're going to be respectful, but they also understand that everyone here is here to get help, just like they are, and so when I first got hired, there was lots of fights outside, fights inside, theft, and we've worked really hard to make this a place that you know when a mom comes here fleeing domestic violence with her children, she's going to be comfortable staying here.
Speaker 2:How do you do that? Thomas? People coming from where they've been maybe they've been living on the streets for an extended period of time there's a culture there, or there's a culture in the domestic abuse arena, human trafficking arena. The person who maybe has never really experienced any of that, it's just an economic issue. How do you bring those diverse populations together that have some diversity, to say the least, in culture and understanding, and bring them into a place to help them to assimilate into a culture where each other is lifting each other up? What have you done to try to get from where they've been to creating that kind of culture? This really sounds like it's helped significantly.
Speaker 5:Well, number one we communicate the message of the gospel, the love of Christ. We're here to love others, serve others, help others. And oftentimes, when we, you know we have people coming into our program, they stay in the same building but in a dorm area, a separate dorm area, but they all eat together during mealtime. And oftentimes, those people that join our program, we've done the work beforehand in building the relationship, the outreach to get them so reaching them where they are in their homelessness and then inviting them into the culture, okay, makes sense absolutely.
Speaker 5:And then with the, the families that come in with the children, um, it's, it's a, it's very difficult, it's very difficult and oftentimes it takes multiple interactions to build trust, even with the staff.
Speaker 5:Oftentimes I have to recognize right away OK, I need to get a female staff member to talk to this mother Because, you know, for various reasons, you know, I don't know their story, but, like in many occasions, oh, this woman, it seems like she's a little not so comfortable talking to me or opening up to me. Let me go find a female so that we can help her out, we can hear her out, we can find out what it is she needs. And you know, I've been told that I don't know where this comes from, but I've been told that I I'm a little bit intimidating and I don't see that when I'm looking at this guy, it's surprising to me. But, uh, I guess I have a, oftentimes a, a, a plain serious looking face. Even so, I had to, um, look in the mirror and say hey, dude, what are you doing? Smile more. You know, and you mentioned earlier smiling.
Speaker 5:That's something I had to work on too, just to make the area more welcoming, and we even have our participants in our program participate in making the environment welcoming to those that come in for any service.
Speaker 2:Amanda, I know you're very connected with CityGate Network and the Emerging Leaders Program which Thomas is a part of. You've been helping to lead that. While you're leading in the CityGate arena and you've been here about as long as Thomas has been, there is his ministry in the four-year range. What do you hear here? When you hear somebody that's talking about what they're doing there, how's that helpful to Topeka?
Speaker 3:Man. I think it's helpful on a lot of levels. One, it's just incredible to see the true humbleness of other leaders in their sharing of information, whether it's about their ministry, their sharing of information, whether it's about their ministry, their own personal journey, what they're trying to improve on. It is a reminder that we need to continue to be vulnerable, transparent, ask for help when we are facing something that is hard or there's uncertainty. It's also exciting to me Thomas is one of the first people with Emerging Leaders that I got to meet a couple of years ago and so just to continue that friendship and see his growth, I remember some of the first things that he shared in the open group as I was standing this is embarrassing, but I was too short to see everybody there's like 60 people in the room, I know and so I stood on a couch and I think that was the first time that everybody was like well, she says she's an executive director, but that previous principal and teacher is coming out in her Right. But just to, thomas was really eager to meet people and he came out of his comfort zone in that first time in the large group and opened up with some of the things he was struggling with as this aspiring leader, and so I love being able to stay connected to him, not only with ministry changes and all of that, but him himself, because I'm just like this big sister who loves him and is really proud of him. But because he's been such an honest leader and transparent and open, I've been able to see that change.
Speaker 3:Because then other people walk alongside him, give him ideas. Then he shares ideas of stuff he's doing, and so to me that is important to me as a person, just as someone that's leading going. What I'm helping co lead with emerging leaders is important. Relationships are important. But the other side of it is when I have these conversations with Thomas on the monthly calls, the annual conference, wherever it is that I'm engaging with him, I'm able to take back stuff to what we're doing in Topeka. Like it's just incredible that he's sitting here going. He had to look in the mirror because of feedback he got and had to say man, what are you doing? I need to make sure that I'm doing that same thing. And so to me the experience with CityGate, but also just the friendships, the colleagues, all of that it's so neat because it's iron, sharpening iron with leaders. But then there is also so many neat ideas we get when we hear from other people in other areas that we take back to TRM.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thomas, I'm impressed with your transparency on that as well, of saying I had to look in the mirror. I'm impressed with your transparency on that as well, of saying I had to look in the mirror. And I think that's what all of us do when we're looking at our relationships with others, especially people who may be vulnerable and hurting. How are they perceiving us? And I think that that's a huge part of the culture, whether it's just the leader of the organization, whether it's a department head, like you are, and covering for the leader, while they're gone all the way down to the person who's got the mop in the broom to do that.
Speaker 2:Unlike Lamanda, my frame is a little bit bigger and I used to train mental health professionals, especially nurses, on safety issues and mental health work and had a nurse came up to me after I'd been doing a few training sessions and said they're not hearing a word you're saying. And I said why? I mean, I know my stuff and uh and uh, they're all scared of you. And I said scared of me why? Because you're talking about safety issues and you're talking about violence and how to stay alive and those kinds of things, but you are towering over them while they're sitting down, so could you just sit down and talk to them next time? It was that simple and I learned to try to be the guy that sits down rather than towering over somebody, and so learning what how others perceive us is an essential, whether you're doing outreach in the streets or whether you are working in the shelters, and I think that's a very valuable insight for CityGate members to analyze.
Speaker 2:You've been there, you've analyzed it yourself, you've shared it here, but also people who are listening today, maybe in our own families or into our neighbors or volunteers who come into these places. How do people perceive us and how can we help them feel more comfortable? So, thomas, how well is Turlock Gospel Mission supported by the community? Is it a struggle? There's a lot of economic issues for nonprofits today and ministries. Are you guys in pretty good shape? Is that a continual battle? You mentioned that you're out on the outreach to donor component of this. Talk a little bit about the culture there in Turlock in regards to supporting the work of a gospel mission.
Speaker 5:Well, we receive a tremendous amount of support Again the amount of churches here in Turlock. Many of them have been supporting us for years and years, a lot of them since the beginning. This organization began in 2007, and it was a traveling shelter.
Speaker 2:Traveling shelter.
Speaker 5:Yeah, one week a church would host beds and provide dinner. Another week it would be another church host the beds, provide the dinner, and then it went on like that until they were able to obtain their own building, and since then it's just grown into um, to what it is now we. So we receive a lot of support from the churches, um, from businesses, local businesses, restaurants, um, uh, thrift stores, you name it like other agencies. A lot of support from the county Office of Education. We now have a daycare provided here on site for those in our program, and that's provided by the Office of Education and we don't pay anything for it.
Speaker 2:So you're networking then with others to help you do the work you're doing there, not just support. So 2007 is when it started doing outreach. Was there not a shelter for the homeless there in Turlock at the time?
Speaker 5:I believe there was, but it was just a men's shelter. So, there's another shelter two blocks down the street. They only shelter men.
Speaker 2:How do you intersect with them? Are they gospel mission?
Speaker 5:Are they not? Are they non-faith mission or shelter? How do you intersect with them? So they're not a gospel mission. I don't know if they're a faith-based organization I haven't seen or maybe they just don't advertise it, um, but they uh bring their men in in the evening.
Speaker 5:they check out in the morning and so oftentimes we're seeing them for lunch, we're seeing them for dinner, um, over the years I've gotten to know a lot of these guys and, um the they, a lot of them, will work hard, flying jobs, that men's shelter will work around their schedule. There was a gentleman who just recently found a place to live and he came here for years for meals, and something I want to share is that a few months back I played basketball a lot on the weekends, and a few months back I basketball a lot, uh, on the weekends. And a few months back I went to a nearby town. I was playing at this church. There's this guy there. He comes up to me, thomas, and I'm like, hey, what's up, man? And he's all. You don't remember me, he goes.
Speaker 5:I used to come to the mission for meals every day while I was staying at weekend and I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't recognize that he cut his hair, he's clean shaven, he's nice, clean clothes, he was doing good, he's working, he's got a place and you know, he's playing pickup basketball, you know, on the free time, and it was just amazing to see that. You know, we, we see a lot of people come and go for meals and it's hard to put a face and connect with all of them. But just knowing that this organization, you know, played some small role in helping them gave them at least one resource that they needed to help them on their journey. And that's part that's our mission, you know, to provide restorative services through Christ's love and you know we oftentimes we don't see the end result but we don't need to see the end result.
Speaker 5:We just need to do what we can to help others there in the moment.
Speaker 2:Pretty cool and you do get to see something that happened later and somebody comes up to you and says hey, remember me.
Speaker 5:And they're doing well. That's why I smile. It feels me with joy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, for sure. Well, amanda, you have made it a point with the podcast here to occasionally reach out to different CityGate members around the country, which I think is a great thing that we've been able to do. Do you have any questions or anything else you'd like to say about Thomas or Turlock, california?
Speaker 3:Thomas, can you talk to us a little bit about just challenges that you feel like you and your staff just sometimes have to navigate, and I think you know there's some big ones. That we're always talking about is just, you know the needs are growing and you mentioned the mental illness, the addiction, those kinds of things, but what are some things that maybe you haven't mentioned that are really challenging for the work that you and your team do?
Speaker 5:um, for me, uh, when I first met lamanda, it was self-care. The work we do is very draining, uh, emotionally, spiritually, um, it self-care is very important, and I've been trying to instill that on our team, because where years back I was getting burnt out, I'm seeing it in our team and they're starting to get burnt out, and then that leads to miscommunication, that leads to you know stuff falling through the cracks and then all the way down the line and it leads to us not supporting a guest as best that we could. And so that's one of the challenges is just leading a team, leading a team, but also helping the team with what it is. They're struggling, because if we can't take care of ourselves, we're not gonna be able to help others and it's gonna show in our demeanor, our attitude, our face, and so that's one challenge. Another challenge is, uh, I mean as much support as we get from the community. Um, there's equal parts that don't support, and so I'm sure you guys experienced that too, and oftentimes I'm having to tell our team members to stay from going on social media reading comments about this or that. That's another struggle.
Speaker 5:And when it comes to our guests, a few years ago I think it was one of the first staff meetings I attended I had made a comment about you know, they come here and they know what we do, but they don't know who we are. And that really stuck to our executive director, christian Kirby, and from then on, he made it a focus of like, what is our guest services look like, what does that interaction look like, what does that experience look like? And so, being able to change that from just you know, I need help showing up here, changing it into an experience, an experience where they feel welcome, they feel loved, they feel helped, they feel heard, and allowing our team and equipping them to be able to do that. And it's great to see the growth in our team members as well. And you mentioned Amanda. Like you know, we're a big sister.
Speaker 5:I feel like a big brother yes, out of our, a lot of our team members, even those that are older than me. Yes, it's weird. You know there's um uh, a couple people on our team now. They graduated from our program. You know, they call me father because, they. They say that you know, I was the first real, you know stern male figure to kind of correct them. And then I say that correction first I had to do for myself and the one who led me in that correction was our father you know, he had to.
Speaker 5:He had to give me a kick in the butt, you know to get on, and so there are challenges, a lot of challenges we deal with, but it's it's so rewarding the work that we do For as hard as our work is. When we do see the payoff, it's just phenomenal, it's amazing.
Speaker 2:Sounds like again being transparent about burnout, worn out, but getting to see the people that you help is one of the reasons you stay in the game. The people that you help is one of the reasons you stay in the game, and, um, so that caring for others as a leader, uh, within the, uh, the Sherlock gospel mission, is extremely important, because if you don't care well for those who are on the front lines, then you have no front lines except yourself, and so, and so how do you take care of yourself? Um, you look for the Lord, obviously, in all of this. How do you then stay refreshed and how can you be culturally sound so that you can then create the culture that you have created?
Speaker 5:Well, how do I take care of myself? I stay in the Word. I listen to worship music constantly. Mm-hmm worship music constantly.
Speaker 5:It's never not on when I'm in the car. I play it at home. I go to church. I serve on the usher team at my church and I serve on the young adult ministry at my church and it's just fun. It's serving, but it's fun and I enjoy it and I enjoy the group of people I get to hang out with. I play basketball, so physically that keeps me strong. But also, since eight years old, it's been an outlet for me to release frustration, you know, and clear my head. And so I play basketball.
Speaker 5:I play with my nephew, who's three years old and crazy right now, but I love him, love him to death and he's uh, uh, oftentimes, you know, I'll, I'll get home from work and it'll be a, it'll be an exhausting day, and then I go to him and then he runs up and he's trying to show me each one. I just pick them up and we'll just playing and then, you know, that just cancels out everything. But also I, I, I pray, I pray. You know, prayer is very powerful and I pray for this organization. I pray to god, to you know, for his will to be done. Pray for him to give me strength. I pray for the people here. Um, you know, one of the greatest prayers ever is the jokes. Just god help you know. Quick, simple, to the point, but prayer is one of the best resources for taking care of myself and, um you. We regularly get uh emails from city gate of the. Uh, what is it called? Daily bread refresh or something? Like that.
Speaker 5:I sent those out to the team. I send other things out to the team and I encourage them to do the same. You know? Uh, get back to the old hobby. You know, on your time off or um, hey, you are accruing PTO. Don't be a dum-dum like me and max out because you're not taking care of yourself. I don't say that, but you know, in my head I was a dum-dum. So I encourage others, you know to. You know, take some time off every once in a while. Yes, Get recharged.
Speaker 5:Go do something every once in a while. Yes, get recharged.
Speaker 2:Go do something Sounds like you have. Definitely are right in the middle of the front lines of service, helping others and also knowing the importance of taking care of yourself so you can show up every day. So, thomas, anything else you'd like to share with the folks here in Topeka and wherever they're listening to this podcast?
Speaker 5:What I'd like to share is that you know, the work we do is difficult, but it's what we're called to do, it's our mission and we couldn't do it without the community and, you know, I want to thank our community. I'm going to have them listening to this and I want to thank them. I want them to hear that they're appreciated and even thankful to the community that helps support you guys, you know, so that you're able to do things like this podcast, able to serve those in your area. I just encourage those that anyone listening to get involved, get involved, serve, volunteer, volunteer any area you can. Um, it's very important. It's very important, it's very helpful to organizations like to our gospel mission, like to pico rescue mission.
Speaker 5:And then, you know, maybe set, maybe think from a different perspective. When you see someone on the street, you know there's a long story behind what led them there and there's some bad stuff that you know was in their control, but there's also some stuff that wasn't in their control. Um, and say a prayer for them. You know, we're called to help others. We're called to help others, we're called to help the less fortunate, and I would encourage others to be the same.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for that. I mean you obviously have your hands full there and also encouraging the people in Topeka, Kansas, to be able to join in what we're doing here. Amanda, anything else you'd like to say while we have Thomas?
Speaker 3:No, thomas, it's just a joy to know you and to call you friend, and I'm also thankful because you know, at this level it's just different.
Speaker 3:It's different leading an organization, and so sometimes you don't have as many people that you can just call on or trust, and even with personal things and you have been that you've been an encourager. I also know that you have picked up on struggles that I've been trying to process professionally and personally, and I know that sometimes, even when you haven't reached out that, you've thought about me, you've prayed for me, and so I just I think the world of you. It's been exciting to see the change that I've even seen in you, and I'm so excited to just have a front row seat at what all the Lord's doing in you, and I know for a fact that the kingdom is different because of your work, and that's incredible to be able to just be a small part of seeing that. So thank you for saying yes and not giving up when you've had a lot of opportunities to do so, and I'm always in your corner as much as I can.
Speaker 2:Thomas, thank you, yes, go ahead.
Speaker 5:Lamanda, that means a lot, and I just have to say that I'm thankful for you as well. You know your leadership alongside Jordan, with Emerging Leaders something for us to stay connected throughout the year is invaluable. It's so important and it helps us to see that we're not alone in that. You know we're all in the same work, the bigness of this. We don't forget, from conference to conference, that this is nationwide, worldwide, whatever happens in our lives whatever happens in your lives.
Speaker 5:you're still here, you're still a leader and you push through. And one of I said I have to do that too. I have to do that too, and so I'm so appreciative of you. I'm I'm glad God is, is is placed you and given you a purpose and and put you in a place that you're able to do his work, and because I can't think of anyone else that would be greater in your role with your team. You're an amazing leader and I'm so thankful for that.
Speaker 2:Thanks. Well, thank you for that, and thank you for joining us today on our podcast here in Topeka, and thank you for what you're doing there in Turlock and to all the people who are listening to this here on the 12th of August of 2025, we're going to be listening later to this Thank you for what you're doing to help support the Turlock Gospel Mission. I think what we've heard here today is just one more reminder. It's not this place or that place, but it's all the place that people are in need in our country and around the world, and we have unique opportunities in different parts of the world and in the United States, whether California or Kansas, to be able to come together and to realize that we're all in the same boat. And, fortunately, we have a good captain His name is Jesus to be able to sail the ship, and we have faithful people like you guys, as well as many others and people who are listening to these podcasts, whether you're in California or whether you're in Kansas, or, as we oftentimes say, the Research and Development Department Are we at the International Space Station yet? And they have not confirmed yes or no Still working on that.
Speaker 2:So, still working on that. Still working on that. So thank you again, thomas, for joining us today. Thank you all for listening to our community, our mission. If you'd like more information about the Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to trmonlineorg. That's trmonlineorg. Thanks for listening, thank you.