#35: Why Trust Matters in Refugee Work
Episode 35 | 45 Minutes | June 24, 2025
What does it take to truly show up for refugees—especially when language, culture, and broken systems stand in the way?
In this episode of The Lasting Change Podcast, we explore how real change happens when we move beyond surface-level help and into long-term relationships. You’ll hear practical insight on bridging cultural gaps, collaborating across organizations, and showing up with humility in spaces where trust must be earned.
Whether you’re already involved in refugee ministry or wondering how to start, this conversation will challenge and equip you to build the kind of trust that truly transforms lives—yours included.
In this Episode, you will learn:
A clear definition of human trafficking—and what makes it so complex
Why Greece is a critical hotspot in the global trafficking network
The unique challenges of anti-trafficking work in brothel districts
How outreach teams safely engage with women in crisis
Why rescue isn’t always the goal—and what true success looks like
Practical ways you can respond locally or globally
What it means to find God among the oppressed
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Jon has spent nearly a decade working with refugee communities across the globe. After years serving in the Middle East, he and his family returned to the United States, where they launched a new refugee-focused initiative in a mid-sized Midwestern city. As a Catalyst with One Collective, Jon helps bridge gaps between local organizations, faith communities, and refugee families—fostering holistic support systems that honor dignity, build trust, and create lasting impact. He’s passionate about empowering local changemakers, cultivating inter-organizational partnerships, and seeing communities transformed through the love of Jesus.
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📍 Hey everybody. Welcome to the Lasting Change podcast. I'm Scott Olson, and as you may know, if you listen to this thing or if you're brand new, in every episode we try to explore strategies for creating sustainable and holistic change around the world.
And our hope is always that by listening that you'll gain some valuable insights that drive change in your community, your career, your family, and that it would be in a holistic and sustainable way today. I'm joined by my friend John, and, uh, we're gonna talk about refugees and how we can best serve them in our world today.
📍 John, thanks so much for joining me today on The Lasting Change Podcast. Glad to have you here. I.
it's a, it's a real honor to be joining you today. Thank you.
we know that you've been working in some interesting places around the world and so we're just gonna call you John, and we're gonna talk a little bit vague, but we're gonna get specific on the kind of work that you have been able to do with refugees.
a great way to start is, I would love for you to introduce yourself, tell us about you or your family, anything you'd like to tell us about. and in that, maybe share how you're connected to one collective.
my name's John and my wife and I joined one collective. been almost 10 years now. We weren't even called one collective in those days, through experiencing a. International team's location in Austria that was serving refugees.
I was just there visiting a friend and he said, Hey, my, my dad worked at this place in the nineties, do you wanna see it? I said, sure. And we thought, this is really great stuff. We love what's going on. and that brought us to the organization, but at the time we wanted to be a little further east.
so we ended up spending seven years in the Middle East working with refugees and migrants There. before finding ourselves back in the US where we've been for a year and a half, and, we've had the opportunity to start a new refugee focused community, in a midsize Midwestern city.
That's really awesome. And, has it been a big transition to come from overseas to back to the us?
Yeah, man, it's been, uh, I don't know if I'd recommend it. it's been big and hard and, uh, like anything, you know, it's, it kind of goes in these, these cycles. You think you're, ah, I'm doing well, I'm transitioned. And then next thing you know, something comes up in, you just want to cry and go back to where you'd been for, you know, upwards of a decade.
and then you feel better. And then it all starts over again about some other different topic.
So are you working with the same, types of refugees that you were working with when you were in, the Middle East?
mostly, yes. one thing that's really great about the ICT approach that we do at one collective is it allows us, not only allows us, it really forces us to define our community well. And so we, drew the lines of our community, Not actually physically, but around more or less the same sorts of people.
So this is people who are coming from the larger Middle East, central Asia into Southeast Asia. and so we've got lots and lots of people from those backgrounds, but we drew our lines, kind outside of other refugee groups who are already being really well served. we were just at a conference and I can't remember who said it, but someone said. The bottom 10% of society is where one collective wants to be working. I hadn't heard that quote yet, but I loved it. but when we were designing our community, we took pains and, and some time and thought to see how, tightly can we narrow it down to be most effective and most sensible.
And also how broad can we keep it to really see. the work that we, think that Jesus wants to do here happen.
So when you started, you were working on a fairly good sized team, doing this, and now since coming back to the US and to the Midwest and doing this kind of work, You're actually the boss. you're the, what we call the catalyst. you're the head person.
What's it been like thus far to transition into that, role of being the leader of this?
I think that that has been one of the more difficult things has been going from being a large, a part of a large team where I wasn't a cog by any stretch of the imagination,
I.
doing things. And, the longer I was there, the more I started initiatives and led programs, or led this or that. but to kind of drop in to a place where there hadn't been tons of groundwork laid. has been really stretching for me.
and I, think there's areas where I can point out and say, I really got it there. even in the first few months I, I figured that out quickly and I think I was right on that. And there's been a lot of places and times where I'm like, man, I figuring that out and I didn't have it, figured it out. Not that I have it necessarily figured out now, but I sure didn't then.
that's been one of the, trickiest things to figure out. well as finding what does it mean to be really an inter-organizational team, in ways where kind of, we built a lot of what we did, in my previous context in the Middle East.
Whereas here, there's so many churches, nonprofits, this ministry, that governmental service, and that's, maybe we'll get to it, maybe we won't. But I think that's one of the, the really great aspects of what we do. I see myself almost, we say catalyst and that's what I should be. And a lot of the times I think of myself as a bridge, right?
Like this people
and these people over here, they, they're not talking to each other, but really their work could
play off of each other. So well, can I just bridge them? Can I just help 'em work together?
let's go here for a minute. So for those of you listening that are maybe new to this podcast or new to one collective, we use this word catalyst a lot and,
when I first came up with that many years ago, the concept in my mind was.
This idea of, like somebody who builds a house, a general contractor.
And so when we moved here to the Chicago land area, it was in 2008. It was too expensive to buy a home. It was much easier to build one and, a lot cheaper. So we got a general contractor. And the strength of that whole general contractor concept is that they may not know exactly how to do. The electricity or the,
📍 📍 plumbing. But
what they know is how to bring people together.
And so when John's talking about this, he sees himself as a bridge. That's another great way to say that general contractor concept who bridges people together, who brings people together.
And as he mentioned, he was working in a setting before where. we were in there very early and there were not a lot of partners to potentially work with.
And now in the Midwest, John finds himself in a situation where, gosh, there's so many people that could be working together, and the power is if we can work together, we actually can get a lot more done. we just came back. John, let's talk about this for a minute too. John and I just came back from a, conference we have every two years for all of our catalysts around the world.
And, we happened to be in keto Ecuador and, gathered together we call it our ICT. You heard John mentioned ICT, integrated Community Transformation. and it's an intensive where we bring people together and we just. Train and train and train and talk about this whole holistic approach that we take to ministry.
John, that was your first time to be there. What was that like for you?
that was really awesome. I loved it. gave me a lot of, there weren't very many things where I could pat myself in the back and think, man, you're, you're really figuring it out. But instead, there were a lot of things that, man, I need to chew on that more. I need to, How can I apply that in my context? It's, it's pretty different than this speaker's context. yeah, it was, it was really great and it was mostly, it was just inspiring to be with people who left there having maybe seen names and, you know, organizational emails or. You know, maybe sat in with them on some Zoom call once or twice, but I left there thinking, wow, I know that person.
And they're incredible and they love Jesus and they're really good at what they do. And felt like I joined a cohort of people that I have a lot to learn from. And I don't ever want to be a part of a group of people where I'm the most experienced or I'm the the most knowledgeable.
I always want to be a part of a group of people who I. are better than me, and I can learn from
Yeah.
I completely joined that. And that was, that was really exciting.
that's a sign of wisdom. Always wanting to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. That's, made my whole career out of that. so yeah, it's, that's great. And, and there are so many wonderful people there. And I watched you and I saw how you fit right in, and you're gonna be great at this.
And, it's interesting because, having been around this for quite a while. One of the things that you got to see at this intensive was, it's a group of people, just like you said, who have come together. And there are no, celebrity rock stars among us.
We're all just individuals who love Jesus and love each other and have figured out how to work together to build a movement of this holistic approach to doing Jesus stuff around the world. And I'm so glad that you get to be a part of it. And that you get to step into a leadership role. And, uh, I think from what I'm hearing, you're doing a great job.
so thank you, John. thanks for saying yes to that position and stepping in and, and being a part of this whole thing.
thanks. You're making me uncomfortable being recorded, saying all these nice things about me, but, uh, I really appreciate it and it means a lot. I really hope that in what we do here in our context will like, you know, we're here, for five years, 10 years, 15 or 20 years, however long or short it may be, you know, my hope is that. when we leave that the people who are staying the change makers, if you want to use, our language
and also just regular people who are living a part of the community will come to have, come to
Yeah.
better, have strengthened communities, strengthened relationships with each other.
Um, and that's the cool thing is that's not dependent on me. I, I think that's a really good. Understanding of how God's mission works in the world is that it's, it's God's mission and he invites us to partner with him. And, and that's just really cool and really special. And um, you know, sometimes it's discouraging, but often I, I wake up, think man, especially when you have a good day.
Like, I can't believe this is my job, you know, I get to
Yeah.
to do
Yep, I totally understand that. Yeah. that's a good sign right there, John. Let's talk about, your community. So you identified this, place here in the Midwest that you saw where there was a need, you investigated, you did some research and study.
You worked with some other people, and you moved your family here and what kind of particular needs were you seeing that were the most, obvious? Because there is this feeling like, and I know it's complex right now, but there's this feeling like there are so many resources available, to people who are working in the US with, people like refugees and migrants and things, but that's, more complex now than it, than it was.
What kind of needs did you see and what were you hoping to do when you got here?
what drew us to this particular community was there was a, an organization whom we work really closely alongside with them now, and they were basically saying, Hey, we've, we've got all these programs going and we're able to well and fruitfully and successfully amongst this refugee group, this refugee group, and this refugee group.
But these, these other ones like. For some reason, we can't break in to their community. you guys have some experience, uh, largely just Middle Eastern, refugee groups. Can you step in and, you know, maybe liaise or, something. And so we, we said at first, we thought about taking a job with them and we said, no, no, no.
This, it actually makes more sense for us to stay with our organization. where we've got some latitude and leeway and can kind of come in partnership. 'cause that's actually what you're asking us to do is the catalyst role.
Yeah.
it that way. so yeah, we, pitched it to our leadership and we pitched it to them and they said, Hey, we, we would love that.
That'd be great. and so that noticing that there were refugee groups who were being. Not equally served. And some of
Hmm.
complex, right? It's not because there's necessarily systemic oppression saying we're only going to serve, you know, people from these backgrounds. Right? there's more cultural and religious things.
So for example, in this particular case, this was a, Christian ministry who was finding great success in their programming amongst. Hindu background refugees amongst some Buddhist BA background refugees, evangelical or Catholic background refugees, but then the Muslim refugees. Didn't wanna be a part of their programs at all. and so we have lots of layer of culture and expectation and religion, at play there. and that's one of the, the very few things when you're working with people, or you can point and say, Hey, there's, there's, you know, some tangible results.
And that's something we ask, you know, how would we take metrics like Jesus? you know, what would he care about? What would he be measuring? cause we have to know if we're doing the job and if we're doing it well. So we do have to take some metrics, you know, now they're, have a program.
we didn't do almost anything other than introduce some people to each other. But, they have a program that's, attended by folks from the target group that they wanted to be able to reach.
Good.
down walls of, of mistrust and misunderstanding. And if we can play any small part of that, then I'm feeling pretty happy.
So John, as you were describing that, it seemed like you were saying that, for example, there's, the Buddhist, there's the Hindus and all these groups were winding up together in some type of community, maybe with children's outreach or children minister your, is that what you were talking about?
And so, you know, this one particular, ministry that's really awesome. I actually send my oldest daughter there to some of their programs. Yeah, their programs attended by many different nationalities. Actually, a lot of the data that we have on the neighborhood came from their surveying work before we got here.
yeah. And so they'd have programs attended by Buddhist kids, Hindu kids, non-religious kids, nominal Christian kids. the whole gamut, except for mostly kids, I. And so they were trying to figure out why
and how
can we fix that.
So they were trying to reach out to the Muslim kids, but. it wasn't happening. and so that's part of where they brought you in to figure out how you could build that.
Yeah.
Okay.
And still don't have a strong answer. you know, in some of that, I think about it. If I put myself in, I. a Muslim shoes, I think would I, would I send my kids to, the mosques or the Islamic Center's, summer program? I probably wouldn't choose to do that. And so in some ways, you know, through their programming, they're probably not going 'cause they're, they're an openly evangelical group. so they're, they're probably not going to have the success that they want to have. is a little bit to me, a bummer because they do have such awesome programs. They have a great afterschool
program. They're really helping kids. super good stuff. you know, but at the same time, I don't know.
And maybe, maybe we'll see years things will be different. maybe they'll be able to build trust and bring people in. Maybe they'll pivot.
Mm-hmm.
I don't know. and I, I don't pretend to know.
So they sound like an important partner to you. Are they only doing children type ministry at this point?
Yeah, they, they largely do, children's
Okay.
yeah, that's one thing that I've really loved and where I think, you know, one collective and our, our particular ethos and our approach with integrative community transformation is really well suited for refugee work. Is that, you know, we've got them primarily doing children's work.
We've got, English language, class, nonprofit doing awesome stuff. You know, we've got some refugee resettlement agencies, a refugee support agency, and they, but they all fit into their lane, and so can we
foster greater partnership? for example, there was wife. who's also working with one collective, was talking with people at refugee resettlement agency.
We have two in our community, and were looking for English language help for some new coming refugees. they don't know this particular community very well because they service the whole county and they just can't know it all very well. so my wife said, well, do you know about these free English classes that are really well attended and really high quality and, and they had no idea.
and so I think of that as our job is just to, to know all of these things to be able to pass 'em on, right? They were maybe going to reinvent the wheel, pouring
Yeah.
man hours to start doing some English or getting volunteers doing it. And maybe they should, 'cause maybe, you know, they're gonna be across town or, you know, I, I can't speak for that, but at least in this particular neighborhood, a good portion of that job is already done by people who are doing it very well.
Right,
so can we just connect them?
and that's why I like your word, the being a bridge or being a general contractor. the idea of, I don't think people always quite understand that in ministry. Everybody loves to talk about partnership, very few people know how to do it well. And there's all kinds of complex reasons why that is.
But for us, we're so serious about, being that, bridge that brings people together. That we put it in our mission statement, we bring people together. It's literally in there. so John, the role that you play and the experiences that you've had are just gonna be so helpful as that, as that community continues to grow.
And I imagine, just great things are gonna happen because you're there. what's been a real struggle for you we talked about your transition, but. Like what are some of the needs that are bugging you, that are, are, going unmet at this point,
Yeah.
if any?
Yeah, I al that's a easy answer. I know
I.
And that's language. and that's always one of the difficulties with refugee work. I. it was a little bit less of a problem in my previous context, simply because, well, actually I don't, I don't know why, but my guess is people were more forced to learn the local language to a greater degree.
And then I, I went ahead and I learned, an additional language, here. the way that the refugee resettlement system works is it prioritizes housing and work. And so they get you
Hmm.
get you housed and your social security card and your Medicaid, and then they, they try to find you jobs. and in America, because we don't, you know, functionally we have an official language, it's English. But legally we don't have an official language. And so no real pressure to say, well, we need to be building that as a part of our resettlement program. it's not at all. you know, it's maybe they'll send you over to a, a volunteer free ESL course. but it's not a requirement you know, on anyone's end.
It's not a requirement for the agencies or services to provide English. It's not a requirement for the refugees to learn English. then, which, you know, I'm fine if someone doesn't speak English, but it's hard for me who, you know, I'm gonna try to bounce between Arabic and Rohingya and Dari and PTO and, and that's just a handful of them.
and then we have more obscure ones too. And some of the, the refugee groups have been here for a while. So the Nepalis, for example, I've been in this community for upwards of 20 years. And unless you're speaking with
someone who's older in the community, they have all learned English. and so you can in English, but for maybe the Afghans who mostly came in 2021 and came, a lot of them came in 2021. they haven't learned English as well, and. many of them came all at once that they kind of established a community where they don't need English. and so that's been my biggest problem is knowing how to,
how to work alongside that. So I'm looking for, for
Yeah,
makers, right? So people their ethnic groups who care about their community, who want to see work happen, who I can also communicate with, cause. I speak, you know, I'd say three and a half languages, which is more than average in America, and most of them are, are useless in my new context. so I haven't figured out what to do.
I wish I could use some of 'em sometimes.
so folks, we talk about this word, this term, change maker a lot. John just used it. And for us, a change maker is somebody who's in that community, who, who's a part of the community. John and his wife are like outsiders that came into that, an existing community.
But these people are a change maker. Somebody's in the community and they care. So much about what's going on there. they have hope, they have expectations and things that they want to see happen, but oftentimes they're under-resourced or undertrained and don't exactly have the tools to get things done.
but they have something that we don't have in this particular case, like language. and a passion for their neighbors, their, their friends, the others throughout the community. So, one thing you could pray for is that the Lord will raise up, change makers, people who would be, sometimes we might call them, people of peace.
You know, somebody who in a community, could come alongside of John or John comes alongside them and they work together to reach into the community. or if you happen to speak any of the languages that John just mentioned. Call us on the hotline. I'm sure we have a language hotline somewhere on our website, so just call us.
Uh, but that would be a, a great gift and uh, you could be able to, to help. So John, in, in the US right now, as we all know, being a refugee in America, it, it's complex it seems to be ever changing.
I'm sure you've run into that. what are your thoughts? How do you deal with the changes that are taking place right now?
Yeah. my answer may not be true by the time the podcast airs, you know, 'cause things do change quickly. but it's been pretty stable over the last so when the new administration. came up, they decided that they were going to suspend refugee resettlement until they did further review on it. they did that. They suspended it, and then they, also part of that suspended the financial aid. don't know if that's quite the, quite the right word, but they suspended funding for that. And so that ended up being blocked in court. And so then the funding was supposed to come back and, some agencies were able to access that.
Some had some difficulty accessing it. but for the most part, aside from some South African numbers of South Africans, as far as I know, there's basically no resettlement happening. As of right now, in early mid-June. that may, yeah, that may not be true. you know, but the thing about America that makes it so complex is you might come in as a, as a refugee, or you might come in as what's called an SIV, a special immigrant Visa, which is primarily for Iraqis and Afghans. Or until recently when they canceled it, you might come in as an a, a parolee, uh, you might come in as this or that, or you know, this other Visa platform. and so yeah, the refugee resettlement one has been stopped. I don't believe the SIV processing has been stopped though. but what was really difficult in January and February was we had people who had had just come, you know, maybe in December and. they weren't even moved into a house yet. or were like, is their first couple weeks moved into a house and all of a sudden their agencies really worried 'cause they don't have any money for them. yeah, that was, pretty scary. to know, oh, we, we brought in people who don't have. brought them in saying, we'll be your social safety net, right? We'll, we'll take care of you here. And then all of a sudden the net's gone. And, um. Yeah. at the moment I was wondering how will the church step up? Right? And the Christian refugee resettlement agencies leaned into churches and said, Hey, fill the gap that has been left by federal funding being cut. and I don't know, because I, I am, you know, I don't work for a refugee resettlement agency. I don't know if churches stepped in well or not. But there's a, a Christian resettlement agency here in our community since refugee resettlement is not really happening right now, has shifted. so they are still funded, even though they're, they're not receiving their, their traditional funding sources, they still have enough funding that they've just shifted and saying, we're gonna care for the ones who've who are already here. that's been really inspiring to see
Hmm.
they're, we're partnering with them on this one family from, Burma or from Myanmar, Rohingya family, which is a large group. You maybe heard about them on the news primarily in 20 17, 20 18. There are not very many communities, that have Rohingya in the us So it feels like a real honor to have.
I have no idea how many we have. I've not been able to get solid information that is up to date, and a lot of them came pretty recently. but we have, they're a very visible. Larger group. and they just have a lot of needs. And so we've been partnering with them on, on just our first Rohingya family.
And, and that's just been a real, honor, to work with them and, and see how they've shifted.
that's really interesting and I appreciate you sharing all of those details because, you know, we're, as a nation, we're walking through this together and figuring out, you know, how to love our neighbors in the midst of complex times. You know, that's, Jesus made it pretty clear, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the end result is love God, love your neighbor.
and I think sometimes it's hard to remember who is our neighbor, which was the question that the guy asked Jesus and who is my neighbor? And when you follow that, that parable through to the end, you realize that Jesus never answered the question. And what we walk away with is, is a belief that Jesus is saying, everybody is your neighbor.
So figuring out how to love, love our neighbor in a complex, situation like we find ourselves in now is important.
so thanks. Thanks for sharing, what's happening in, in
your world.
I hope it's helpful and
true. I, it's so complex that I thought, I work in this and I don't even understand, what's going on.
I work in it too, and when I'm asked, I often don't know exactly what to say. it, and it is, we're recording this today and tomorrow. There may be some, some new change that comes along that we're not even aware of at this point. So I. and I love what you said, that there are some churches that are stepping into the gap and, that feels to me like how it should be, that followers of Jesus step into those areas and somehow figure out how to make a way, to be a neighbor in, in times like this.
Yeah, that's a lot of what we, do with, you know, at least at the beginning stages of integrative community transformation. We look at the assets, you know, and, you brought that up, right? You know, I don't have language. Lots of people do have language and they have other assets. that was just the one that, that you've mentioned. but then we also look at needs, right? And so right now for newly arrived refugees and immigrants. they have lots of things, lots of things to, to contribute our society. But in those first couple months, one of the things they don't have is financial resources.
or advocates, right? They, we experience this a lot here, and I'm not sure I. This is kind of a, maybe a, a mid-range goal really step up advocacy with these, like slumlord landlords just have these terrible properties and they don't maintain 'em and they don't fix anything and they don't treat the,
Yeah.
the tenants well. but all it takes is just one American who works in real estate and understands the system and is maybe a little pushy to advocate on their
Hmm.
right? Like that's, that's an asset that. We might have that they need and there's assets that they have. one fun example was, uh, I've got some guys who are spending like $800 a month on Uber rides because the job they found, and they found it very early on their own.
But they got a job very quickly after getting here and they, they're working hard. And, their job is across town and it's not on a bus line.
And so they're spending $800 a month on Uber. So they're highly
Wow.
license. And so I said, I, you know, I've got a junky old car that I don't mind if you mess up and, uh, I've got some free time. Let's, let's drive together.
Yeah.
a while, you know, I didn't mind doing it, but they were so uncomfortable just receiving that when Spring Planting came around, they said. love working in the garden. We're gonna be at your house tomorrow. And, uh, you know, they showed up and I couldn't even keep up with them. and so mostly some, yeah, some friends from
Love it.
tilled and, tilled and planted my garden for me this year
Wow. That's cool.
is, what do I have to give and what did they have to give?
And can we meet each other in the middle there?
So you said something when you were in this, on the topic of the slumlord situation. So if you are a pushy American real estate developer. Have we got a way you can help? So, I know exactly 📍 📍 what John's talking about because we see it all over the world.
We see it all throughout the US we see some of the poorest of the poor living in unbelievable situations. And if you're a follower of Jesus and, you do have, you know what I'm talking about. like those skills to push forward and, could step in here and, and help us think through some solutions in a place like where John is.
So,
Or even if you're wanting to grow in having rental properties of your own for that passive income, I think we
just really need more
Christ-like people who own rental properties in the city. Right. Not,
Yeah.
out in where they're gonna get higher, you know, maybe some higher rents, but in the city just, obviously I don't, I don't think you need to take it at a loss, but,
I think
Yeah,
break even, maybe make a profit and you can help a family who really, truly needs a place to stay at a reasonable rate with, you know, consistent running water and hot water and heating and
Love it.
you'd want for your kids.
John, we're gonna lay on the plane, but I, I'd love to ask you, what are one or two things that our listeners could, pray for you guys for right now?
Oh man, you know, I've prepared for this time and I didn't even think to prepare for people to, join us in prayer, but I think I would want on two sides, I'm really passionate about refugees and displaced people. and I would just like to see followers of Jesus doing more stuff. You know, would love it if one collective had even more catalyst and, and communities doing this. but even outside of one collective, I just wanna see more people doing stuff that's gonna impact the lives of refugees.
Right? We've got the nations here. so if you're looking at this from a discipleship church planting perspective, like what an opportunity, if you're looking at it for.
Yeah.
Wanting proximity to the poor and the marginalized. I can't think of a better opportunity, like whatever perspective I feel like serving refugees is gonna be your answer. 10% of refugees in America have meaningful relationships with Americans, which is just a shame. Only 10% have come here, make their whole life here. This is their future. they even meaningfully know an American. so I would just love prayer that the Lord would up more. Christ followers to serve refugees in the US and globally.
And then would love, prayer for I think more and more inroads. 'cause we're, we're like nine months in our community and so we've started doing things, but we also, I, I still feel. A great need to learn a lot more, to make more
Hmm.
more connections, and we will always be learning, but I just think about some of the groups in our, in our target scope we haven't even touched yet.
and
Hmm.
we just need more. Yeah. People of peace or, local change makers who can invite us in and help us see their community from their perspective. That I can't see as a, And, you know, in some ways I am an insider. I live in the community, but I'm an outsider,
Yeah.
American, I'm not a refugee. and so you need to see it from diverse refugee perspectives. I.
John, thank you for what you're doing. Thanks for moving into this place, this community and, putting your hearts down there and wanting to serve and care for people. And, uh, it means a lot to me and I know. To those who are listening, you're an example. And so I really, really appreciate that.
📍 And, thanks to you who are listening, to The Lasting Change podcast. I hope that this episode has inspired you. I hope that as you've heard John talk, that you'll see some of these needs that are right here, right at, Probably at the edge of your city. There's these needs exist and I ask that you would pray for John and others like him that are trying to, to reach and connect with these dear people.
anyways, hope you'll join us next week and, if you want to check out the show's notes and know more about the resources of available, go to one collective.org/podcast and we will see you next week guys. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye. 📍