Hi! Sherry and I hope everything is going well for you.
I had a conversation with one of our daughters a month ago about the role of a father with adult children (always a scary conversation :-). Anyway, this conversation convinced me to set a new theme for the next 12 months, which is—conversations.
I'm bringing this up because I think the same theme could work well for you. Let me explain. I want to put more energy into my conversations and have a deep curiosity about the lives of others. You can't fake curious, but I genuinely believe I am curious about the lives of others.
At the end of 2025 I want to look back on a journal filled with outlines of interesting and deeply meaningful conversations I have had with strangers, friends, and family members. I am already reaping the benefits of intentional focus on starting conversations and being fully present with others in these moments. I want to share one of these moments with you in this newsletter.
The Flood
Thank you for praying for us and the people of our city as we dig out of the toxic mud left behind after the great once-in-a-century flood. Over 25,000 homes have been damaged and that's a lot of families affected.
We decided to make a photo journalism project and send MediaLight students deep into the affected areas to see if people would let them enter their devastated homes. The experiment was whether people would feel it was an intrusion or if they would be willing to open up and talk about their struggles.
The response was overwhelming—more than anything we would have hoped for! People were delighted to tell their story and threw open the doors of their houses, inviting us in and scrambling to find snacks and a drink to offer us.
They were so grateful that we visited them and focused a conversation on the trouble they had been through. They told us about their ordeal and then they asked for our contact details because we had a bond and they wanted to continue our relationship.
One of them said to her neighbors, “We've been in trouble for weeks, and not one of our people has come, but now the Christians have come to visit us.”
You Visited Me
In a famous parable of Jesus, he tells the story of being in prison. “I was in prison and you visited me.” It's interesting. He doesn't say, "You tried to get me out of jail.”
It seems that a well-done visit, all by itself was powerful ministry. Just visit people and open them up with attention. Listen to their story and bear it with them.
The Video
While I was in that community with the students, I saw an older lady stacking bricks outside her house. I greeted her in Thai and she answered me in simple English. I asked her if she had suffered any trouble from the flood (her whole neighborhood was under 5 feet of muddy slog).
She turned with great energy, whipped open her front gate, and invited me in. I started my camera recording, showed it to her, and she nodded happily.
This visit was the highlight of my day and we wanted to share it with you to ask you to pray for her and her neighbors to become open to Christian witness through the loving attention of our Medialight students who hugged them, prayed for them, and recorded their heroic battles.
We’d love to hear of conversations the Lord gives you this week as you focus on your own interactions as His Changemaker wherever you go.
Love,
Chuck and Sherry
Share this post