Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Love Justice Podcast where we hear from different voices who are joining us in the fight against modern day slavery. Here's your host, Hannah Munn.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome to the Love Justice Podcast where we share the ideas behind Love Justice's impactful work through conversations about fighting the world's greatest injustices.
I'm your host, Hannah Munn. Today we are diving into a powerful theme from Loving Justice, a small group Guides to Finding the World's Greatest Injustices, a study written by our founder and CEO John Molyneux, who is joining us for today's conversation.
This newly released study was designed to equip churches and Christians to make a significant impact on the lives of the poorest. John is deeply passionate about helping people make a meaningful impact. And part of that means digging into the scriptures, especially Luke 4, Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 58.
In this episode, we are going to explore one of the central ideas he draws from those passages that God unleashes. Breakthrough blessing for the church when we reach the neediest with effective love and action.
Let's dive in. Hey, John, welcome back to the Love justice podcast. How are you?
[00:01:18] Speaker A: I'm good, I'm good.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: You have been on a lot this season, which has been really fun and really good. And one of the things that we're going to talk about today is that Love justice has recently released your new small group guide called Loving justice, which addresses the world's grace and justice is why did you create this?
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Well, you know, I.
It was about a year and a half ago, I spoke at a church and I just, I saw how there was like just sharing about human trafficking in our work. And I just saw that there was so much energy and passion in the room. And I remember sitting down after I spoke and the worship leader was, he was singing the song I Speak Jesus and he was emotional and there was like this holy collective trembling that I just sensed. And just afterwards I had people coming up to me just like in tears saying, what do you need? You know, but we've been there before. You know, I've seen people do get passionate when they face up to and I, but sometimes it doesn't necessarily the passion that arises, it's hard to translate that into real impact. And so afterwards I went to lunch with the pastors and we just talked about how do we turn that passion into something that really has impact. And I remember one of the pastors kind of said like, oh, you need something that's like, oh, you're really passionate. Here's what we have.
And so I'VE been on this journey myself about how to live a life of impact.
And in the early years of love justice, I was living alone in the developing world and I had a lot of time to reflect on everything in myself that was actively stopping me or threatening to stop me from having an impact, from just realizing I need to focus on the least of these. That Jesus says, whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me. And so the world's greatest injustices, learning about them, studying them, facing up to them, and letting it break my heart.
And then, you know, there's this in the parable of the sower, Jesus tells us about the one kind of seed where the gospel takes root but fails to bear fruit. And that's the seed that was sown among the thorns. And what he says about that is the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things comes in and chokes out the word, making it unfruitful. So you really need to talk about those things. Worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things. And so, and then I also found that as you start to do something, there's a pride, I think for us as humans, every time we do anything good, we're in danger of ruining it by our own pride. And everything that Jesus said to the Pharisees is not necessarily meant for the Pharisees, who would never read it, but for us, for the church. And so every step of our moral progress is ultimately threatened by pride. And so there's this idea that George MacDonald says, I cling to my blame. It's the seal of my sonship. And so that's so important for the Christian, you know, like as, as we get better in anything, we need to bow our head, beat our chest and say, lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Because we're not, we're not heroes, we're not anybody's savior. And so, and then I have found, and I've seen this in myself and many other people, when you face up the suffering, you end up coming up against this problem of pain, this need to wrestle with the sovereignty of God.
And I have found that a lot of people, there's two different ways people can go. They can become self righteous about it, really believing it depends on them, and then burn out or on the other side, blaming God. But to really believe in God's loving sovereignty, that has been really important for me.
And then next 20 years in, living in Nepal has kind of taught me how easy and how Common it is for us trying to do good to actually do harm.
And, you know, Rick Warren has this quote where he actually says almost all. He visited 124 countries, almost all, you know, government and NGO poverty programs harm the poor rather than helping them. And so really facing up to that and the need to avoid that, and then all that leads to this simple idea which is like the center of the message, which is impact, that given a choice between doing less good or more good, we should always choose more. And therefore, you need to. We want to use whatever we've been given to make the greatest impact possible. So I wanted to share all these lessons that I. For me, I perceive them to be behind the impact that God has blessed me to be a part of in my life. You know, it's not a hero story. It's. It's a story of a bumbling around and me bumbling around and messing things up, but learning and God's patience and grace and really the things that he taught me through the Scriptures.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: So. So, yeah, I appreciate that, John. And, you know, we have spent a lot of time this season talking about the least of these and talking about meaningful impact.
It feels like a theme that we're talking about in almost every episode. And I think what would be helpful is just to kind of talk about the least of these and what Scripture says about the least of these, even in a little bit more detail than we've gone in in previous episodes.
Specifically in Isaiah 50:58, God says the kind of fasting he desires isn't just about rituals, but loosening the chains of injustice, feeding the hungry, clothing the poor. John, when you first encountered this passage, what did it stir in you about what true worship looks like for God's people?
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it lit a fire in my heart.
It was what I already felt so deeply. You know, Jesus says, whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me. And that's the only group that he says that about. And there's a sense in which the things that we do, we all have a special calling to our family and to our loved ones.
But we also. Jesus says, love your neighbor as yourself. A neighbor implies some sort of proximity. And so there is an element of we are called to those around us, for sure. But when we serve our neighbors and when we serve our loved ones, there's a sense in which we're partly serving ourselves.
But what we do for the least of these, we do for Jesus. We don't get anything back for that. So, yeah, I mean, God is Passionate. Passionate about injustice. And he yearns with the father's heart after everyone suffering under it. And I can just imagine that when I think of my sons. There's a desperation when people are under the world's greatest injustices.
And I just want to.
I just want to tap into God's love, you know, and I encourage everyone tap into that. It will break and remake you 100 times better. And again, I'm not necessarily exemplary in having done that, but I will say that everything good in me and about my life is because of the very little that I have done that.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Yeah, I think what I'm processing just hearing you respond to that question is we're actually going through a sermon series at our church here in South Africa about worship. And you can worship God a number of different ways. Like with your finances, you can worship with, like, your physical, like, out, like, singing.
And particularly in that verse, worshiping God and like, being a part of his response to injustice go together and that.
Yeah, I think, you know, we've all struggled with the temptation to feel really prideful about our work that we're doing for love, justice on behalf of the least of these. But repositioning it as that posture of, no, we're really worshiping God by being a part of this work is really sacred. And I think that we kind of have a culture where we. We all kind of really, truly believe that where, like, our work is an outpouring of worship to him, which I think is intentionally cultivated by you and just the things that you have learned and how you've interpreted those scriptures.
Yeah. So it's just been really cool to see.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: To see that Jesus tells the woman at the well that the kind of worshipers that the Father seeks are those who worship in spirit and truth. And I don't even know what that means exactly. And the other thing I would say is, like, even though I'm the one kind of pushing this, I'm feeling pushed about it by the scriptures and by God, and it's coming out of a reflection. Like, I'm not very. I don't. I'm not very worshipful. You know, I don't. I don't really know how to worship, you know, in a sense that, like, when I sing songs to God, is my heart in a state of real worshipfulness? Not really. I'm not. And. And I want to figure out how to do that well.
And yeah, I do. I do feel like, like our work and the fighting of injustice is meant to come out of worship and to be an act of worship. And so I wouldn't say we as an organization are particularly good at that. It's just something that we recognize we want to be good at. We want to figure out how to do that. So, yeah.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
This next question, I think you'll find really connected to specifically how you felt called to the move to South Africa from where our previous program HQ was and when Jesus. So with that, like, when Jesus began his public ministry, he read from Isaiah 61, but intentionally added a line from Isaiah 58, quote, to set the oppressed free, end quote. Why do you think he chose to highlight that? And what does it tell us about his mission and the mission of his church?
[00:11:15] Speaker A: Yeah, so this hit me like a ton of bricks when I kind of realized this. This is in Luke 4, and Jesus has just been tempted in the desert, and he goes into the synagogue and he reads from Isaiah 61, which is a chapter called the year of the Lord's Favor. It's actually the chapter that the name, our name, Love justice, comes from. For I, the Lord, love justice. And our spiritual director, Nikki, she had been speaking that into and over us as an organization.
And after some years, it were really hard. We were kind of coming. She was kind of saying, we're coming into a season of flourishing favor.
And so Jesus goes into the synagogue and he reads from the scroll and he says, the spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news for the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of the sight for the blind. And then he brings in Isaiah 58, and he reads, to set the oppressed free. And then he says to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And so everything about my journey and our calling and purpose as an organization, everything I'd been thinking about the church, you know, this gave me words to say kind of what we were already trying to do, which was call the church to love justice. And it kind of landed us with this idea just that God will unleash breakthrough blessing, the kind of breakthrough blessing that comes from fasting. And Scripture is full of examples of fasting leading to breakthrough blessing. So God will unleash breakthrough blessing when we reach the neediest, the least of these with effective love in action. And that's all about impact. It's not just about doing something. It's not just about caring. It's about actually having the impact that we would want if it was our loved ones or ourselves who are in need.
And so that's kind of Become like the main thing I have to say on this earth. And I think the main thing that we as an organization want to help the church to see. And that's probably at the center of the loving justice curriculum.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think like, you know, thinking about all of the donors that make this work possible, I think that connection of God will unleash breakthrough blessing for the church when we reach the, when we effectively reach the neediest with love and action. Like I think that promise isn't just for our frontline staff. It's not just for lji staff. Like that's really for anyone who is coming behind love justice and making this work possible, which I think is so incredible and what an incredible promise and maybe talk about a little bit of the mystery of that promise. I know you have, you yourself have been like, I don't know what this might mean or this mean, but they sparkle, they sparkle with a hope that what we're doing means something in the kingdom of God. And we don't really fully understand what that is.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Well, I mean Isaiah 58, you know, it says, is not this the kind of fasting I chose it to loose the chains of injustice, set the captives free and break every yoke? You know, talks about to spend yourself on behalf of the hungry. And then there's these series of promises that follow. It says, then your light will break forth like the dawn. The Lord will be your rear guard. He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land. You will be like a well watered garden, a spring whose waters never fail.
And then he says you will be recalled, restorer of streets with dwellings. And so there's like, these promises are like what are they? What do they mean? Are those for this life or are they for, for eternity? And it, it does seem like they're actually talking about this life. It does seem like it's talking about this some. They, they sparkle with promises. What I want to say, so as you know Hannah, we've, we, we've, we're putting those, we're putting those posters up on the, the walls of our office and it's like we want to, we want to see the church and Christians live in those blessings. And so when our donors, I do want to say, like, I don't think it's primarily us as love justice staff who really get much credit for the work that we do in the impact. We're, we're like middlemen. We're paid to do this and we're blessed by it and, and, and to be a part of it but our donors are sacrifice. They're giving, they don't have to and they're giving freely. And so like they are the ones that, that over whom we want to see those promises realized. And I, I, I don't know, God is one that's going to, that's going to answer those problems. But, but we, I just want to proclaim those promises over our donors as, as the fruit of, you know, sacrifice for the sake of the least of these. That really makes a significant impact.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: Definitely. There was even a, like a little manifesto where you were out, you know, mapping out in a table like here's what is promised in scripture for those of us who give sacrificially.
And that was just, I mean that was so encouraging. I don't that manifesto is now but I know I've like used that in conversations with donors because you know, we the best and what we should be doing is saying thank you absolutely.
But sometimes like, you know, the really redirecting people to scripture past that thank you can be one of the best gifts to be able to remind them of the impact of their giving. That I think is really encouraging.
Maybe on a, on a personal note, John, how have you seen those kind of breakthroughs in your own own life or in the story of love justice?
Well, especially since you said you think they're possible on this side of heaven.
Yeah, I'm curious to hear your stories of those.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: So when I spoke at that church that I was talking about where this whole thing came out of the love and justice curriculum, I talked about our first trip to Nepal and I was there. I went to the ball with four other guys from college. And during our time we went on a trek to Everest Base Camp. Mostly what we were doing is we were working with street children. But at one point we went on a trek to Everest Base Camp. And we're walking through the Himalayas and through these beautiful mountains villages and we asked each other this question, which is what is the best possible life?
And it was kind of like describe the best possible life that you can imagine for yourself.
And all of us spent a day or a couple hours elaborate on what that might look like and different elements of it. And then it was years later that Mike, the chairperson of our board, was in Nepal. And we were reflecting on that time and first noting, I was noting how at that time my actual life at that time was better than the best life I could have imagined at that time.
And that was in the middle of years of trials and struggles. You know, there was real hardship During a lot of that time. And I asked Mike, how would you answer that question now? And he said something that really stuck with me that he said, like, I think living in community with other believers and doing work that impacts the lives of the least of these. Something like that. And to me that's like what we get to live. And that is like, that is the best. Everything else seems just, just boring. And my eyes are slated over with weariness even thinking about it. But to be able to, you know, live in a community like that and, and you know, make an impact in people's lives, yeah, that is just such a blessing. It's better than the best thing that I could have imagined the first time I encountered that question. And in my experience, it just keeps getting better. I mean, as the, the transition to South Africa, it's just been a lot.
It's just have been a lot easier for our families to flourish. And, and so, yeah, I. I just feel like God means it. He. Those promises are real.
And I'm starting to suspect because I see how the scripture promises whoever leaves home or fields or family for the sake of the gospel won't fail to receive in this life more than what he left behind.
Home, fields and family, and with it persecutions.
And I found that that's exactly what's happened.
It says in this age and in the age to come, and I have just been blessed.
People sometimes talk about sacrifice and I don't really accept that. I don't feel it's true that I've sacrificed. I have been blessed by being able to be.
Be a part of this work. And it's really God that is leading it. And I'm just sort of a.
I don't know, I'm just somebody that's blessed to be able to be a part of it. So it makes me start to believe that all the promises about whoever will lose his life will save it all. About things that we sacrifice, that he means it.
And that's. Yeah, that's been kind of just an amazing observation. And not that I'm living out all those things. I still like everyone, I fear the promises, the sacrifices we're called to and the things that are promised.
But I'm. I really. Gosh, God has. God has honored his word and to the extent that I have seen.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: Yeah. And maybe just to fill in some of the gaps in your response, you, after that trip with the guys that you went to Nepal, you chose to stay. Those guys went back.
You were in Nepal by yourself. But over time and over a decade you met your wife in Nepal. You started this expat community in Nepal where you were doing just that. You were living on mission together serving the least of these. And you are a very untraditional CEO in that you are based in the field, but you have chosen to be based in the field. I think for that very reason of like this is the breakthrough blessing that I've experienced as a part of this work to live and live in community and do life with like minded believers who are all like this oneness of spirit and pouring themselves out for the least of these. And then that, that program headquarter transition that you know is very, I would say very spirit led, very driven by multiple series of events that have allowed that community of people who are still, um, you know, the expat community now blended with our South African staff. It's just a continuation of that of like it just keeps getting better and better. When you just when you thought it was really great 10 years ago, it's like even better now. And you have continued to, to fight for staying because that is one of those breakthrough blessings that you really are like, man, I, I want to keep, I want to keep living in this.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: Yeah, we have several families that were with us in Nepal and they're now in South Africa, you know, and our, our kids, you know, they've been friends on three continents and yeah, it's just a really, just a really sacred thing. It's, it's like you don't have that kind of community. I, I have, I mean I have great friends and I have great friends all over, but there is just something special and sacred about that. You know, I remember when the director of one NGO visited and came to one of our community nights and just seeing kind of like the laughter, the just the love, the connection, the sense of fun playfulness that, and she said something to me that she, that stuck with me. She said, I don't think you understand, this doesn't really exist.
And that's kind of been my experience that there is just, I don't want to say that doesn't exist. I'm sure it does but, but there is something that special about what we've been able to experience that specifically is because of being kind of on mission together, kind of away from home and out serving such an important and precious mission with such a great community. So yeah, reminds me of Mike's answer to the question. Living with like minded believers and doing work that impacts the life of the least of these.
[00:23:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. When I think about just like if I were to turn that question on myself of where have I kind of seen God's breakthrough blessing in our lives as we've moved from the US as well and have, you know, dedicated our lives to the mission of Love Justice? I think one thing that has always stuck out to me is I, it'll be 10 years being with Love justice for me in November, which I know is half of what you.
Like 10 years is, pales nothing in comparison to like the 25 that you've done. But for me, it feels like a big mile. And not once have I ever been in need provisionally, like, as a support race staff and just have wild, wild testimonies of maybe someone popping off and someone I had no idea was out there popping on and just never being at a lack while being in this work. And then I met my husband. I met my husband in Nepal.
I moved over with Love justice single, and now we have three kids and being able to be married to someone who understands this work and feels called for the very same reason. And I didn't have to explain this other life of being an expat in Nepal to someone who had never been there. Like, it just is, Like, I just. I echo what you're saying of, like, it's just a blessing. I am so blessed because of that. And those things came as a result of, like, saying yes to being a part of this invitation of this journey. Like, not that it was guaranteed, but it's just like, you're along for the ride and here are the things that pop up when you're along for the ride. And yeah, I echo the same thing of like, I've just been really blessed by being a part of it.
[00:24:59] Speaker A: Yeah, we were trying to tell. We were showing my mom, like, pictures from our life in South Africa, just trying to tell her about it and share with her about it and just looking at all different pictures of our kids doing crazy things and fun things and interesting things and sharing about. Yeah. Our community and their school. And.
And my mom was. My mom was like, you started out. And she was like, I think back to when. Because when I first moved to Nepal, I lived in this one room on the roof of this building and didn't even have. I took bucket showers on the roof. And she was kind of like, and my office was that one room where I also lived.
And she was just like, it's crazy. Kind of where you've come. And I just reflected back on again, I don't want to say that this is something I've done particularly well but to the extent that I've done it at all, I found God honors the promise where he says, seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well. So when I moved to Rappo, I didn't have money. I didn't really have a community, I didn't have great friends.
I was on my own and just living on almost nothing.
Yeah. And now I've just been blessed with all those other things that I didn't necessarily, you know, seek after.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:23] Speaker A: In some ways it's not.
[00:26:26] Speaker B: And it's not to say that all of us have not gone through really difficult things. Like, I. I think that's what's also. We're, you know, we're not getting into that aspect of it. But just to say for listeners who might be like, wow, that sounds really nice.
It's like we've all experience deep levels of grief, of loss, of trauma. Like, trauma in different ways. Like, it's been really difficult. But what's funny is that when we're recalling it and talking about it and thinking about it, we don't remember those things. Like, those aren't the things that are coming to my mind right now. As I think about the last 10 years. What I'm. What I am thinking about is that that blessing and that almost cultivates the spirit of, like, even more worship of, like, man. God, you are so good.
You are so good, and you are so faithful. And it just kind of like, you know, it just snowballs of like when you have that posture, then it's like you just want to keep going and you want to keep. I don't know. There's a synergy to it.
[00:27:26] Speaker A: But what I want to say about the hard times and there were hard things that we went through. Really, really hard things I would say, and things that were traumatic. And almost a decade. It was really. The word would be traumatic.
But I also want to say, even though. Even though as that was the case, one, it was. It's nothing compared to what the least of these suffer from.
[00:27:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: You know, like, it was just nothing compared to that. Two, it's just. It's nothing compared to the blessing. It's like nothing. You know, like, it's. It's. It's like.
I don't know. I mean, just having to give up just a go through a little bit in order to get something much bigger, that the much bigger thing makes it seem like nothing is. And so, yeah, at the time, those seem like big, scary, horrible things. But in Hindsight in the big picture, you're like, no, that was not, that was fine.
[00:28:18] Speaker B: But you know what, John? And to give a little teaser to the rest of the study, too, I think the reason, one of the reasons why you think that way is because you've actually practiced what Scripture says, which is practice forgiveness to admit your weaknesses, face up to your own blindnesses. And there's a freedom, I think, that comes when you do those things simultaneous of receiving those blessings, because, like, there could very much be a part of you that could hold on to the trauma or could hold onto the heart or be resentful or be bitter. And you, you're probably the only person in my life that was so aggressively pursuing forgiveness on a regular basis. Like some, almost like annoyingly so. But you've practiced it so much and talked about it so much that it's. I, you know, like you're instilling that in other people where there's a freedom that comes with that. We're actually going to have an episode where we're talking with a pastor about just the power of forgiveness and how I think that can also unleash impact and unleash ourselves for greater impact in the kingdom of God. And so I want to make that connection to maybe that observation. I don't know if that resonates with you, but to me, it feels like it's definitely in conjunction with that.
[00:29:41] Speaker A: Well, I would say, first of all, I wouldn't say I've done practical everything the scripture said, but I have had Jesus aggressively pursuing me through the scriptures about forgiveness in the same way that I'm maybe aggressively try to. But it's, it's. I mean, it's there and it is the center, you know, forgiving others continuously everything and, and, and admitting our weaknesses and facing up to them are kind of like the two central pillars of, of the gospel and of the scripture. So. And those things were just hammered into me by Christ through the scriptures, so that I did learn to do those things. And I will say if I didn't, if I didn't. And again, I'm not perfectly. But I, Yeah, if I didn't, if I would have burned out.
I've seen people burn out and did I not learn to forgive and to just.
And then. Yeah, I think we would have been unaffective as an organization had I not learned the importance of like, admitting my weaknesses. And for us as an organization, facing up to our weaknesses, those things have been so central, so key to our success in areas.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: And you're not just Saying that, like, I think, you know, being in a community where we've watched you do that, like, we can definitely testify to what you're saying of, like, we've seen you model that really humbly and model it with a almost like, incessant, like, need to just keep doing it.
Like, you're never satisfied with your. You're always wanting to continue forgiving. You always want to continue figuring out your. Your weaknesses.
But, yeah, okay, I'm going to pivot us because we went a little bit off track there in a good way, I think. But you have written in the Loving justice study that what we do or do not do for the poorest separates the sheeps from the goats and therefore essential to all Christians. Why do you believe this is so central to the gospel? Obviously you're quoting scripture.
And how should it be shape the way that we live out our faith today?
[00:31:47] Speaker A: Well, I mean, Jesus literally says to the sheep, I was. I was hungry, and you fed me thirsty, and you gave me a drink, a stranger and you invited me in needed clothes, and you clothed me, and I was in prison, and you visit me. And they say, they ask, when? And he says, because whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me. And to the goats, he says those. He says, those terrible words depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
And when they say, he says, because you did not do those things for me. Whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me. And so in this teaching, it's pretty clear doing or not doing those things for the least of these is what separates the saved from lost. And so we know from several other passages in the whole testimony of Scripture is that faith is what separates the saved from the lost. And so. So really, this has to be. The deeds are a crucial component of the works that kills faith in the sense that faith without works is dead. And so it just seems to me it's clearly meant to be a central component of the Christian faith and of the Christian life.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
You all have also shared before that Love justice experienced a turning point when you and your team committed to prayer and fasting through something called Project 58.
Can you tell us a little bit more about that story and how it confirmed this connection between sacrificial love in action prayer and God's breakthrough?
[00:33:16] Speaker A: Yeah, well, so we first started trying to fight human trafficking through transit monitoring in 2006. And we were working in one place, Janakpur, Nepal. And we intercepted in about three years, 61 potential victims of human trafficking.
But throughout that time, we were really. And that's like two to three a month. But throughout that time, we were trying to expand, and it just wasn't.
We just weren't succeeding in it.
Things were just getting in the way, like obstacles and unexpected things weren't working out. And it was hard.
And there was a call in May of 2009 between me and some of our stateside staff and board members, and they were kind of saying, look, there's so much support for this, this transit monitoring work. Can't we expand? And I was like, we're trying. We're doing everything we can. And we kind of just ended with like, let's just dedicate ourselves to prayer and fasting about this. And it was. It was. I don't know, it was around that time that I would have discovered Isaiah 58.
And so we'd named it after that scripture in Isaiah 58 that tells us to lose the chains of injustice, set the captives free. It was called Project 58. And yeah, I mean, the God unleashed amazing blessing in response to that. So we started our team in Nepal and our team in the US Started praying and fasting on Wednesdays for the work. And like, one. Within one month we went from intercepting two to three in a month to 50, then over a hundred. And that has been.
That has been. Yeah, that has sort of continued to this day. So throughout the whole organization, the whole history of the organization, we're continually sort of trying to rededicate ourselves to prayer and fasting. And, you know, we, we. And there have been several other specific times where we've been like, no, we really. Let's really do this. And. And then a huge breakthrough happened. We've seen that just again and again. And so it's something that I'm not saying, like, you can almost never sufficiently learn that and. Or sufficiently really be praying and fasting, but I'll just say we've just been continually amazed, repeatedly amazed at God's faithfulness to bring breakthrough in respons to fasting and prayer.
[00:35:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Another one that I remember was we were in the middle of what has come to, like, in retrospect, be our explosive expansion season where we were going from three countries to 20, and it was like 20 countries by 2020.
And we were sitting in the conference room at our old offices, and there were like five pilots and. And we just weren't getting a lot of impact from them. And it was just like, man, is this going to Work. I don't know if this is going to happen. We feel like we, like, we know that there's trafficking. For whatever reason, we just weren't getting impact. And one of our team members was like, we need to rededicate ourselves to prayer and fasting. Like, we really were battling against. Not flesh and blood, we're battling against, like, principalities. And so that, like, reignited a little bit of, like a resurgence of that. And then I remember you messaged me like six months later and you said, hey, remember that moment when we like, really right there, we prayed? And then that launched into a rededication for that. Can you pull me the data for those pilots in those countries? And just the overall impact that we've seen since then. And it was like steady growth, like nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Steady growth. And it's that kind of pattern that we've seen over and over again.
It like what you're saying, that's just. I get goosebumps every time I think about it.
And so maybe that would be helpful. Like John, obviously, you know, we have those moments where we feel really prompted, but also I think seeing those three or four testimonies early on has led us to make that a very regular practice where we are regularly coming before the Lord and presenting our needs. Talk a little bit about what that looks like, particularly in the Love justice culture.
[00:37:22] Speaker A: We should do an episode on this sometime because there is a lot to tell there. And I don't even have all the facts in front of me, but like, I think a couple of our fields, I believe Uganda and Kennedy has both specifically started praying for certain numbers of intercepts. And they saw, you know, so, yeah, in our culture, I mean, we send out a weekly. I send out a weekly prayer update and we're asking it with prayer requests and then also announcing the breakthroughs to answer prayer. And it's just an absolute.
If you go through that prayer record and line up, okay, we start praying for this and then we ask, we got that breakthrough reported on this day. It's just the whole history of the organization is a history of answered prayers. Again, I think this could and should be an episode in and of itself. And then now we have our weekly corporate prayer.
We still are encouraging everybody to fast once a week. And that's part of the.
So. But it's not something that, like, we're so exemplary in this. We're. We still have spotty attendance. You know, we still. I know not everybody fasts on and I don't myself fast most of the time to Be honest. And. But it's just something that, like, we have just.
God has shown himself faithful. We have not, but God has shown himself faithful. Whenever we've been even partially, even in response to our minor efforts, God's faithfulness has been just amazing.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: Yeah. And that. That can be an invitation for our listeners because we actually have a link that they can go to lovejustice NGO pray, where they can sign up to pray with us.
We can. We curate those prayer requests and make sure that we invite all of our followers and supporters to pray with us. Because it's like the church. That's one of the ways that the church can show up, is by praying with us as well. So head over there if anyone's feeling particularly like, man, I want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of those testimonies. I want to be a part of how God is moving and unleashing breakthrough through that prayer. You've seen the headlines, you've heard the stories.
Children are being trafficked every single day. And everything in you says this has to stop.
But rescuing kids after exploitation is never enough. If it were your child, would you sleep soundly knowing that they might be found after being taken, or would you want to know that they were never taken at all? At Love justice, we've spent the past 20 years building a proven model to stop trafficking before it happens. Training local monitors, intercepting at key border points, and reuniting kids with their families.
We can do this for $112 per person intercepted, but there are more borders, more children, more lives at risk than we can reach right now. That's where you come in. Join Project Beautiful, our monthly giving community, and stop trafficking before it starts. Visit project beautiful.org and even just thinking now, John, about our season, I feel like the last year we've just been praying and for breakthrough in the sense of financial breakthrough, knowing that, man, there's more people that we can intercept, there are more borders to monitor, there are more countries to be in. But we haven't been able to do it because we just haven't been able to have that breakthrough, I think in Providence and funding. And we've spent the whole last year, like, really praying for that and really seeking God in that. And I think there's definitely a spirit of faith where I hope, you know, three, four, five months from now we can look back and say, like, yeah, God really met us in that prayer and really, like, provided. So I think we're in the middle of one right now. I'm just Gonna, I'm just gonna declare it like I think we're in the middle of one right now and hopefully it'll just add to another testimony that we'll be able to share.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: I'm about to send this out in the monthly report, but the process of going through our strategic gatherings and leadership team gatherings and board meeting, you just have to reflect on the year. And we increase our impact on our anti trafficking by 38% this year while spending 6% less. And we grew our donations by 19% with 8% lower expenses. And that's, that's despite in both areas, there's still being a lot to. A lot that could be, could be better.
So I mean, yeah, in some ways it almost like didn't feel like always that it would, that this was like the year of the Lord's favor per se. Per se. But in hindsight like it is, it was, you know, and yeah, it's becoming.
[00:42:04] Speaker B: We couldn't tell. We didn't know. We didn't know like in the moment or it didn't feel that way. But it is, I think in that that's like you bring up something really important, John, that I think, you know, we've had different seasons of this at Love justice too is part of the breakthrough is the discipline to look back and to reflect and to remember and to recall. And it's almost like in that process of looking back that you actually catch the blessing. Because if you're always looking forward and you're always expecting like immediacy. I don't, I don't know if that's ever even been our posture either. It's kind of like we almost in some ways like stumble across the blessing of like, oh my gosh, that happened. Like we, we didn't know or like. And it hasn't been until we've had those like gatherings or those rhythms where we stop and pause to actually uncover it in a lot of ways.
[00:42:55] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it is. And you know, like just the idea of a blessing in disguise is, is a, it's like a cliche that you take that like I. But that's how a lot of, you know, hard things have again and again revealed themselves to be blessings. You know, like things that at the time were like, it's the end of the world, this is so terrible. And. And then later it actually was the very thing we needed. And so, yeah, it is. And the Israel, they really practiced the sort of communal remembering and it's something we've tried to try to institutionalize. You know, we've Done those.
What do they call those?
[00:43:34] Speaker B: Like Ebenezers?
[00:43:36] Speaker A: No, the history, the, the oral history. What do we call that where it's a conversational history.
[00:43:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know.
Just like justice history. Yeah.
[00:43:46] Speaker A: But I, I mean, when, when we did it at our staff retreats and it was like each section, the people who are there go up and they kind of just conversationally chat about it. Just kind of like remembering that. Because there is something about kind of like remembering this, the story that God has, and telling the story of God's faithfulness.
We should do that as a podcast episode.
[00:44:06] Speaker B: I know. I was just gonna say we're probably actually due for that because the last time we did that was right before everyone transitioned to. And now that we've been here for going on three, four years, we're probably due for one. Yeah, okay. We're, we're geeking out a little bit into like love, love, justice things. John, last question, last question.
As a listener, you know, we've talked about what we mean by God unleashing breakthrough blessing. You've kind of broken it down. Scripture, you've, you've shared testimonies about it.
And so this last question is, if God really does unleash blessing when we reach the neediest with effective love and action, what do you believe he's calling today's church and people like our listeners to do?
[00:44:54] Speaker A: Reach the neediest with effective love and action. It's just, I think it's just to do that. And so I want to break down and make it very simple and practical for how I think our listeners could do that. One, find the neediest people in your community and help them find out what they need and help them. Two, face up to injustice and let it break your heart. Then pray. And particularly the least of these, the biggest injustices in the world. Because Jesus says whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me. So face up to it, find out who those people are and then pray for them. And then three, give to impactful organizations that fight the greatest injustices in the world. And so, I mean, this feels so self promoting that I want to name some other really impactful organizations that you guys could consider. And it doesn't have to be love, Justice.
So we had Jesse Rudy from Redeem International on the podcast the other day. They restore land to widows and orphans. And they are a really impactful organization. And there's a few organizations I was with recently. One is called Water. Four, they pipe water into people's homes.
Really awesome impact on the dollar. Another one called Water for Good. They give communal access to clean water and programs that significantly reduce childhood diarrhea. It's really great, great impact on the dollar. And another one is Plant With Purpose. They have great ways to economically empower the poorest.
And so, yeah, I would say that face up to find the need in your community and help them face up to the biggest injustice in the world. Let it break your heart and give to impactful organizations.
[00:46:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Which is ultimately the call in that Loving justice study where you're like, listen, it doesn't have to be Love justice, like just. But be diligent and be faithful with finding the impacts. And if you can find, you know, you're even like, if you can find another impactful organization, let us know. Like we, you know, like, we want to celebrate that, want to know about it. We want to learn from that. You know, like, you just have this spirit of impact matters and it's beyond the organization that you, that God has like, called you to build up, which I, yeah, I just really appreciate that.
[00:47:05] Speaker A: And if we, if you and I wouldn't rather see more impact made in the lives of the Lisa these through another organization than less impact through Love justice, then we betray our mission.
[00:47:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:47:18] Speaker A: You know, so we have to, we have to be that. We have to have that spirit that our mission demands it of us, you know?
[00:47:25] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I agree. John, thanks for taking the time to unpack this idea for us and yeah, it's just, I think it's really encouraging and I hope that our listeners are encouraged by this conversation today. And, and for anyone who's a, a donor of Love justice, just holding onto that promise of God unleashing breakthrough blessing. And for any of those who want to pray, we will pop the link to sign up for our prayer updates in the comments. John, thanks.
[00:47:54] Speaker A: Thanks, Anna.
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