Interview with Lana Newton

Today I'm joined by my good friend, Lana Newton. Lana and Stephen were part of a church, a plant that I did in Celina, Texas.

And then not too long ago, I was on Facebook and I saw a post come up about the Green Monstera, a mini Fenway Park, that you guys built at your house. So I've reached out and I've asked Lana to join us today to get part of that story. And more than anything to help our listeners just to hear of someone that just followed their heart and fulfilled the vision that God had put on their heart. 

Home Run Ranch on the Today Show

https://youtu.be/_b14SHA7unk

Lana Newton on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/lana.claytonnewton

Transcript

Well, Lana, thank you so much for joining me today. My name is Craig Walker. I am the host of the Trudy a Masterpiece podcast. Today I'm joined by my good friend, Lana Newton. Lana and Stephen were part of a church, a plant that I did in Salina, Texas.

And then not too long ago, I was on Facebook and I saw a post come up about the green monster that many Fenway Park that you guys built at your house. So I've reached out and I've asked Lana to join us today to get part of that story. And more than anything to help our listeners just to hear of someone that just followed their heart and fulfilled the vision that God had put on their heart. So, Lana, again, thanks for joining me today. Oh, good to be here.

Lana, tell us a little bit about you and Stephen. How long you've been married? You have a son. Tell us a little bit about you. Well, we've been married for 23 years.  We do have a son who is about to turn 18, which is crazy because I think when we first met, he was three or four. So it's been a long time. But we met at a movie theater I was managing. His parents introduced me and his dad's introduction was Stephen, this is Lana. She would make a great daughter-in-law. And we never dated. We were best friends.  We decided one night in December to get married and we got married six months later.  I was not a believer until I met Stephen. He invited me to his dad's church. I got saved at 22. And so Stephen's kind of walked with me through my developing my faith. And then we adopted Eli as a newborn and have had the best time. He is the best kid and had the best time raising him to an adult on this. He'll be an adult in I think like five weeks, four weeks.

Yeah, that's where we are in our personal journey. So well, tell me a little bit about I heard you say you didn't really date.  Some more. You were best friends and someone there. You say, hey, let's get married, too. Let's add that to it. Tell me a little bit about that. It's a crazy story and sounds like it should be a movie.

So I met Stephen when I was at a pretty bottom point in my life. I was searching for something. I had been visiting churches by myself one by one. I was really lost, struggling with who I was and met him. And he was like, I said, I've just been going to random churches. And he said, come to my dad's church. And so I did. And I got saved there. But from that point on, I think he just kind of took me under his wing a little bit and I did not grow up in church and was struggling with how to move past some struggles I was going through and how to even read my Bible. Like I had no idea how to do any of that because I hadn't been taught that. And so Stephen taught me that and bought me before you could Google it, bought me a concordance and showed me how to use that so I could kind of find the stuff to help me get through some of the challenges I was dealing with. And we just developed a really strong friendship. And we were together all the time. We were I was going to his family functions. He was coming to mind. We were just really great friends who were walking. I mean, walking out, becoming a Christian. He was doing that with me. And anyway, he got a job and he was going to move two and a half hours away. And he went to look at houses there. And he called me on his way home and he said, can I stop by and show you the houses I looked at? And I was like, yeah. So he brought me the little flyers that you used to pick up and the little things out in front of the houses that aren't there anymore. Now you just scan a QR code. But then there were flyers and he brought them all and laid them out on my counter.  And I said, if we get this house, we would have a really great backyard.

And he said,  did you say we? And I said, well, I just it's going to be weird. You're going to be gone. And I don't know like what my life's going to look like with you not here. And he said, every house I went into, I thought,  would Lana like this? Would she would she come here with me? Would she live here with me? And I was like, oh, and he said, I said, what do we do now?

And because we have not dated, you know, like we are strictly friends. He went on dates. I went on dates like we were honestly best friends. And I said, well, what do we do now? And he said, well, I've thought a lot about it. I think we should get married.

And I said, OK. And he goes, really? And I was like, yeah. And he said, well, how long does it take to plan a wedding? And I said, well, I could probably do it in six months. And so that night was December 15th and we counted on a calendar six months. June 15th was on a Saturday and we got married on June 15th. Oh, my gosh. That is an amazing story. How long did it take you to figure out that you were in love? When did that part happen?  You know, I don't know if I ever really thought of it like that. I think it just happened without either of us thinking about it. Like it was not.

That part of it wasn't even there. Like we were just connected in a different kind of way, like to where I think that we were both in love but didn't think about it. And then that night, it's kind of funny that, yes, that night, he gives me a hard time about it. But he left. And when he left, like we he left as my fiance, I guess. I mean, I didn't have a ring. We weren't planning on getting engaged. But he left us my fiance. And when he left, he said, I love you. And I just stood there because I was like.

And I didn't say anything. And he left and I didn't say anything. And then he called me and he said, I just said, I love you. And you didn't say anything back. And I was like,  I just I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. But I'm so thankful because like we went through so many challenges right at the beginning, like three weeks before our wedding, I had emergency surgery and had what they thought was a football sized mass in my abdomen that ended up being six grapefruit sized masses in my abdomen that I had no idea about. And so any time you hear tumor or mass, you automatically think cancer. It's never sitting in the doctor's office. And I said, it was three weeks till our wedding. The doctor said, you're on my operating table next week. And I said, well, I'm getting married in three weeks. And he was like, well, it doesn't matter. You've got to have this operation. We've got to figure out what's going on. And I told Stephen in the doctor's office that day. If you don't want to do this,  let's don't do it. Well, it's postponed the wedding. We don't know what's wrong with me. We don't know what could happen because of this. So if you don't want to let's just push our wedding out and you make sure that you want to, you know, do life with me in case there's something really, really, really wrong. And he was like, no, in three weeks, I was going to say in sickness and health, so I'm saying it today. We're going to do it. We got married on our original date. But I think because our relationship was so grounded in our faith, first of all, but then in our friendship, like we weathered through that. Like then I dealt with it ended up being in dermatriosis and I ended up going through five years of fertility treatments, trying to have a baby and never could. And so that's really difficult for a couple to go through any form of infertility. And I just think we were so grounded in our friendship and in our faith that none of those things caused a problem with our marriage. Like we it was it was hard, but we just did it, you know, and I'm just I'm thankful that that's how our relationship started. You know, like we weren't just it wasn't just a physical thing. It wasn't just a oh, you seem like a good fit for my life or you seem like you have the same kind of future that I want. You know, like none of that. We were just figuring life out together, you know. Yeah.

Well, I'm sitting here thinking, OK, now I've known you for a lot of years and this is the first time I've heard this story. I can't believe we didn't have this story and shared it as a testimony on a Sunday morning sometime. That's awesome. And you know, I would think why would the Lord do that to me like right before we were getting married? Why would he give me infertility issues because I wanted a huge family. I always have five or six kids and I kept questioning that. But now that I look back on it as an older person, I just think I've come in contact with so many people who are dealing with infertility or so many people who have some issues come up in the early parts of their marriage that are life altering. And I've been able to share my story. So if that's why I have it, then I have it. So, yeah, well, that's a heck of a story. And I got to tell you, I'm sitting here at the tier running down my left eye and it's an emotional story, but that is not my issue today. I have a scratch on my left eye and it just won't quit running. It is driving me crazy. It's going to take a day or two to to get well. So but mine's allergies because everything here is coated in a thin layer of tall one right now. So we're all hanging watery eyes over here, too. So yeah, I'm about an hour from you. So we're about that. We're having the same kind of issues over here, too. My son's allergic to all trees and grasses. So we live on 33 acres of all different kinds of trees and grasses. So it's really awesome, you know,  in choice there.

Yeah. Well, you guys, I do have one question about the relationship. You said it was about five years that you dealt with infertility.

And I'm asking this for for people that are listening, because almost everybody that first five years of marriage is the hardest anyway.

And then you add that in on top of it. Were you ever bitter? Did you ever experience bitterness? One hundred percent, one hundred percent. Actually, I count dealing with infertility from the time that they told me I needed to have the surgery, because once you figure out it's female related, like you start thinking I might not be able to have kids. That's like everybody's first. I have cancer. B, I might not be able to have kids. And that's kind of why I was given Steven out that day. Like you might not want to hit your wagon of mine because it could be, you know, not the dream scenario for you. And but in that in the doctor's office that day, and this also sounds made up, but I promise this is what happened. It was hot. We were getting married in June. So it was like the end of May. So it was already hot outside. And I, when he said, I think it's a football sized mass.

It shocked me. And he said, let me go. And he was trying to get it to where we could have another sonogram. So he walks out and I stand up and I walk over to the window in his office and we were like on the second or third floor. And I look out and I see a woman and it's along a busy street and she's pushing a baby  buggy. And she has a toddler in there. And then she has two behind her that are barefooted on the hot concrete. And she's walking along the busy road and she's, she hasn't turned her head back one time while I'm watching her. She's not looking at them. They could have easily walked out in the street.  And I looked at her for a minute and I'm thinking.

Either, either I'm really sick or I'm not going to be able to have kids. And I told Steven, I said, why her?

Why, why is she, why does she have three kids? She's not paying attention to them. Here I am thinking I might not be able to have kids here. We are right before our wedding. Maybe you don't want to marry me anymore. And then there's a woman who obviously is not parenting the way I think she should, like have shoes on her kids and be holding them busy street or whatever. And I said, when I get to heaven,  I'm asking God, like, why did she get that? And I got this. Like it doesn't, I mean, I was ticked off.  And so I told his dad, who was also my pastor,  that, that whole scenario. And he said,  are you, are you a believer? Are you a Christian? I said, well, yes. And he said, I won.

And I was like,  wow. But I mean, I really,  I mean, it was like, okay, well, you know, all the time, it's easy to say, not my plan, but his, like when things are okay or whenever it's somebody else, I mean, I'm easy to say that to somebody else. Like, oh, well, God has a plan for you. Like, but when it was me, I was not in the right frame of mind to deal with that. And so I struggled with that. I changed my focus on, I've got to figure out what his plan is for me. But then also, once we started adopting, Eli's adoption was easy. We've had three other foster kids that we tried to adopt and it was not easy.  And the last one was terrible. He was with us for five months, called his mom and dad.

Um, Eli called him his brother. It was somewhat normal, except for the fact that the adoption agency had not done all the paperwork they said they had done. And one day the lady pulled up and they found a biological grandfather. And it was not a good situation. He was very sick.

Um, he lived in a terrible situation, but he was blood related. And so he trumped us and they loaded up, you know, our kid and drove off as he was screaming mom, dad, help me.

And we stand there and let the lady take him because we have to. And, um, my son wouldn't go upstairs because that's where their rooms were. He slept with us. He wouldn't play with any of his toys upstairs because it was reminded him of the whole situation.

And that time I got so bitter that I stopped going to church.

Um, this is right before I met y'all right before I met Josh.  Uh, I stopped going to church. I wasn't praying. Um, when we would, we all, we, since Eli's been little, we prayed together at night. When we were praying together at night, I could have, I didn't care about that. I was so mad because I thought, I thought I heard you. I thought this is what you said do. And I did it. And now as payment for that,  this is what I get. I get a kid who's traumatized. I'm traumatized. I'm hurt in a way that I don't know if it's ever going to be okay. And I did it because you said to, and I was not in a good way at all.  And, uh, it took a long time. I mean, I, I would call my friends and I would say, I'm praying. He's not listening, but really in all actuality, I was not praying. And I was not listening for him to answer me, even if I accidentally prayed, but that was not my goal. I was just mad.

I was very, very angry, but because of that, this kind of leads into our story. And this was not your intended segue, but it does segue into it. We were part of a different church plant, not your church plant. And they asked us to host a group of kids that were coming to town to do some, vacation, Bible schools, and they, and you host 12 boys for a week.  And I have a problem with saying no. And so I said, yes. And then right before they were supposed to get there, this is when I was so mad. I didn't even want to be going to church. I had started going just because we were part of a plant. And if I didn't go a little kids area, they could get set up, you know, like that was my job. And so I was doing a job completely disconnected from while I was there.  I'm just setting up stuff and playing with kids. And so right before they were supposed to get to our house, I told Stephen, I said, think of something and call him and tell him we're out. I don't want those kids here. I don't want to have anything to do with it. I'm not even sending Eli to the VBS. Like, why would I? He's wounded. He's injured. He needs to stay home.

And so we tried to think of lies to tell our pastor.

Really good, good stuff there. But it's what we were doing. And I couldn't think of anything.  And those kids showed up and the night they showed up, my house got turned into complete chaos and there were boys everywhere with bags everywhere. One was sick.

They were asking a bunch of questions. I had to go get a bunch of food. And that night something happened. I laid in bed and I thought, I love, I love this. I love having them in my house. This is, this is what I love. So I decided to send Eli to the VBS.  I go that week Eli got saved.

That week I got like on fire for youth ministry, watching them minister, watching them just in general as people, as young adults.

And that's kind of where it started. Then my pastor after that week said, can you start a high school book study? We're doing it church-wide, but I need somebody to kind of make it relevant to high schoolers. And I was like, yeah, I can do that.

Started doing that, finished the book and then kept doing it. And then I did that for about a year, I guess. And then somebody asked me, Hey, do you know Josh Price, which was the pastor at your church plant? I said, I do not.  And he, and they said, you need to meet him. So we met, decided to take my group, which was tiny, like six kids,  and join it with his on Wednesday nights. And then that's when I kind of started just helping Josh do whatever he needed me to do. And then I really fell in love with youth ministry. And that's where, that's where I met you and Steven. That's when y'all first started coming in. And so really that's all I know about Lana and Steven is, is on fire for Jesus, making a difference in kids' lives.  And ever since I've known you, I've known you as sold out to Jesus and young people, helping them find and follow Jesus Christ to be all that God wants them to be, helping them overcome their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. And so really that's where I met you. That's where everything came in. Is that also where the healing started? Is how, how'd that happen? The healing started, I guess it started the night those boys moved in. And I was like, it's okay to,  I got, I think I went into a mode where it was like me, Steven and Eli versus the world, including versus God, like, cause if we listen to him, he hurts us. That's sounds so crazy coming out of my mouth, but that's what I thought.  And that night, I think it started the healing process for me, watching my son live that week with those boys. There was one in particular, his name's Ethan, like he's still involved in our life. We talk all the time. He comes and visits. We see him a lot.

Ethan and Eli really bonded that week to the point where they both still have a framed picture of each other in their room. Like they're like brothers. I remember Ethan and Eli, they became like brothers. Yes, they did. And watching Eli be willing to be that close with somebody after the hurt did me good, like, oh, he's not completely broken. Like that was hard and his heart was broken for a minute, but he's going to, you know, he'll be fine and he'll connect.  He'll form relationships again. It was just a really difficult moment. But then after that vacation, Bible school, we decided that summer to travel with that group and we packed up our stuff and borrowed my mom and dad's RV and followed them and helped staff church camps. And so for that whole summer,  basically,  me, Steven and Eli were at a youth camp and we were taking care of staffers and we were then we transitioned into taking care of the people who brought the campers, the adults, and then we transitioned into helping with the kids. And we spent the entire summer traveling Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, staffing church camps. And I always tell the kids that come to my Bible study, there's a difference in the way you feel at church camp, but then the way you feel when you leave a church camp. And so we did it all summer.  I was at church camp all summer and I never went to church camp as a kid. And I really,  I was like, this is awesome. So we did that that summer. We did it again the next summer. And so we traveled a lot and I was around adults strong in their faith, but I was around teenagers who were strong in their faith, some of them stronger in their faith at that moment than I was. And I just learned a lot. I soaked it all up. Anything anybody said to me, I listened and I waited and I learned and I heard their stories of heartbreak and thought, but now they're on the other side, I'm going to get there.

You know, so it was it was youth ministry. That's what. And I was I inserted myself in it. I became like one of the kids. Like I just like, all right, well, here we go. This is how we're going to do this. And so you met me on the other side of that. Yeah. Lanna before that was not.

It's different.

Amazing thing, how God takes us in our brokenness. And it's what I hear you saying, and this is what I hope everyone else hears you saying is there's a passion inside of you already.

And and that passion often intersects with a brokenness.

And if you can trust God to believe that it's OK to have that passion,  it can it'll grow into something great because the passions, the passions, the desires, the purposes, the dreams are the things that God put within our heart. I think he put that there before he made you. Well, no, let me back up before he made the world. The scripture says that God loved us and chose us before he made the foundations of the world. God saw you before he ever spoke the heavens into being before he created the first little animals that crawl along the ground. And when he made you, I picture this is this is the only way I know how to describe it, is that he made you not physically, but in his imagination.

He made you perfectly as you would be in in the future. And then he as he made you, he deposited within you all those dreams,  passions, purposes,

desires that are just innate to you. And the moment you trust Christ, they were already there. But you begin to believe that it's possible. There's a possibility. And then you experience this brokenness. But that dream, that desire, that passion for children is still there. And you begin to see how God is putting it together in a way that only he could that makes you full and complete to be who you really are.

That's good. I agree.  Yeah. Well, that's what I'm getting to see now. So let's just transition just for a bit. How did that how did this work with you and Stephen? Because it's for me, it's always been Stephen supporting from the outside.

For you to have this children's or not children's but student ministry.  He's financially supporting. He's a location supporting like where you're at now in Bells, Texas. 33 acres. You turned it into home run ranch and you've got boys and girls there. And it's it's also it's through athletics. It's just through everything. How do you guys work that together? Because it's kind of like you have the same vision, but you have different purposes within that vision. Yeah. Well, and I think we do that with Stephen professionally too. And then with me with the the youth ministry stuff is we are so similar in so many ways, but we are.

Passionate about different aspects of that. So like in the in Stephen's professional part, like he meets with clients and does all of that. The stuff and then I would do like if we needed to have the clients ever for dinner, then I would handle that. Like I did all of the behind the scenes stuff to support him and that goal and that dream that he has. And it's the same way here.

We both love youth ministry. We both enjoy it.

But my gift is interaction with the kids, which is why I think most people see like that I'm doing. I'm doing it, but that's what I'm good at. And then he handles. He helps me handle all of the logistics and keeping the kids like when you have one hundred and forty students. It takes a lot to just like parking and lighting for new drivers to be able to see when they leave. You know, like we never imagined having to park a hundred cars here on Saturday.  Yeah. So he handles all of that. And so sometimes he's more in the background on those kind of things. But at the end of the day, when we come together, I mean, we both have a passion for it. It's just we take on different roles inside of it.

We just had the TV crew out here and I would rather be hanging out with the kids and not in front of the camera. And he's great at being a spokesperson. So it's funny that you say that because he usually says I'm the face of the place like he goes and talks to adults about what we do. I just want to hang out with kids, you know.

So I just think that I think the way that the Lord designed our marriage is that we have the same passions. We just have different gifts inside of the same.

I think that's the way God designed marriage in the beginning.

You read Genesis and how God made Adam and gives him all these commands, what he should do. And he looks and as Adam's fulfilling his role and God says, hey, wait, it's not good that he's alone. Now, I think God knew that long. Adam didn't know it yet. So he sends all the animals in and lets him name them as he sends them two by two. And Adam wakes up to wait. There's there's a man and a woman or a boy and a girl, a male and a female. And they're all together and they're having a great time. But they're just me.

And he wakes up to that. Then God's announced time to bring in his better half, bring in the other the other half. Really, it's probably a better way to say it than better half, because that was God's plan from the beginning, is that they would work together like a hand and a glove to fulfill the vision. There was no doubt that God had given Adam a role of leadership. He was the first one created. He's the first one given the mandates. But then he brings Eve into his life. And there really wasn't a question. Who's in charge? Who's who's the authority? Who's going to make the final decision? They didn't even ask that. It was what she good at. What am I good at? Well, she's better at this and I am so I'm going to let her do that. Well, he's better than this than I am. So I'm going to let her do that. They really work together like a hand and a glove. And that's just the way marriage was. Well, at the end of the day, like we do everything together. Just some of it is predominantly him with me helping and some of it is predominantly me with him helping. And I love that. Like I would not want to do this without his input. Matter of fact, when I said I think I'm going to start a Bible study for high schoolers in the living room, if he would have said no, it would have been a no. Like, but he was like, I think you should do it. And then you start, you know, it was not like I'm doing this and you're going to, you know, I mean, it was.

This is what I think I'm supposed to do. Like, what do you think? You know, I see you guys.

I see you guys working together like that hand and a glove and you don't really ask the question, well, who's the hand and who's the glove? It really doesn't matter. You're just in it by minute.

Yeah. You just work it out together.

Yeah. Well, I want to say this and I think this is a good point that I think marriages this, by the way, this wasn't any part of my thinking going into this, this talk today. And so I think this is just great. Uh, I think this is when marriage works the best and I'm an identity coach. I help people discover who they really are. If, if we'll give up who were not, and that's who people, you know, we had this, sometimes we had this vision of who I want to be and cause we admire something in someone else and we aspire to be that so much, we never really look at ourselves. But when we look at ourselves and discover who we are, we discover something incredible.  And like, it's okay to be me. And in fact, I want to be me. And I just think that's what you guys have done. You've discovered who you are and how that's unique and wonderful in itself. And Steven knows who he is and how that's wonderful in itself. And, and God never made you, well, if you figure out who you are and he figures out who he is, then you're not going to work well together. No, I think God was in it all along putting you together. So you compliment each other.  And I just see you guys doing that. So congratulations on doing it very, very well. I think it works beautifully.

I want to turn the corner and talk about this, this thing I saw on channel five.

Actually, I saw it on Facebook and then I went and watched the video on channel five and I'll put the link inside of notes so anybody else can watch it too. Do you guys built this incredible baseball field at your house? Tell me about that. Well, when we started the Bible study, we, we decided to have it inside the house. Our very first one, we had 12 kids and I was thrilled with it. Our town's really tiny, 1300 people. So the biggest youth group at a church in town was about 10. And so my Bible study had 12 kids, mostly unchurched. And I was over the moon and that continued to grow. And I could go into all of the things that I did that I now look back and go, oh, that's why I did that. But like I didn't plan on doing it like that. I put in a thing like, hey, if you bring a first time guest, you're going to get points, you know, for toward these prizes or whatever. And so they started bringing guests. They bought in, they started bringing guests and they kept, we kept growing and growing and growing and growing. And then right before the covid shutdown in 2020, we were having 70, 75 kids in our living room every Sunday night. And which was awesome and very chaotic. And they were like, I tell people, they were like ants. They were everywhere and touching everything. And and so I would spend Monday, Tuesday cleaning, you know, one thing. And but then when covid happened, the school called me and they were like, hey, you don't need to be having these kids in your house. Like we're trying to, you know, we were following the protocol, shutting down stuff. And so we stopped having it. And Stephen was like, well, what does it look like moving forward? And no, we didn't know. But I did know that they kept saying, like, you can meet outside like you can social distance, but you can be around people outside.  And so we built this patio with a fire pit and we could seat about 60, 70 kids out there. But, you know,  it was sitting outside on a patio and building a fire and the smoke and then the kite of the country, the coyotes were howling. And so it was very distracting to have Bible study out there. So we started just kind of thinking through the process like, well, what does this look like? We can't do this forever. We can't have a Bible study on the patio forever. So what does it look like? And so we started thinking about it. When we lived in Salina, we had a tiny little backyard, but we had a little makeshift little ball field in our backyard. My son loves baseball. He's loved baseball since he could walk seriously carrying around a baseball bat since a toddler. And he loved playing with the ball in the backyard.  And he said, well, why don't we build the with a ball field?

And he was like, I really liked playing it. And I was like, yeah, that's cool. And we had a spot out front that it was somewhat flat.  So we thought we could build a with a ball field.  And then I said, well, I would like to have the with a ball field for some of us to do a Bible study, but I also need a building. I need a room. I need a space to meet that's inside. So if it's raining or if it's cold or if it's too hot, that I can still have my Bible study.

So we started kind of planning what it might look like to build the with a ball field and then what it might look like to for to build a building for Bible study. And it just kind of changed from building a little grass with a ball field with a little plastic basis into a mini Benway Park.  Is that Steven?  Yeah, that would be Steven.

So I always tell people that there are there are two dreams come true out here. And one was mine to have this building, which I'm in right now. I can see one hundred and fifty kids in here and has a pool table and a couch and ping pong and two bathrooms and a concession stand,

which is basically a kitchen with the windows to the outside. But we call it the concession stand. And that's my dream come true. And then the other dream come true or Steven and Eli, like Eli got his little football field in a way that is crazy. And then Steven built a mini Fenway, which is a dream of his. I mean, it's really cool. Like, I mean, down to the little details, Steven's very detail oriented. I'm more big picture thinker, like.  And so the color of the walls is the same color at Fenway. And like the green monster has seating on top. And we have a scoreboard that you can take the magnets and put the score on just like they kind of do the the score at Fenway. And so I don't really know when the it's switched to what it is.

But I do know that we all got like a dream come true moment.

And then where we built the building, we built on top of our old basketball court. So we built a new basketball court. And so we have created a space where kids can come in and be outside and play and have a great time. But then also come in and we still get down to the main thing and here. And so it is it's awesome. I tell people all the time, like, sometimes you think.

Or I do. I shouldn't project that on everybody.  I think I heard the Lord say this, but I'm not 100 percent sure.

And I'm pretty sure that he said do whatever, you know. And so I was pretty sure he told me to start the high school Bible study in the living room again, which I had done in Solana before. But I was like, I think I think that's what I'm supposed to do. But I couldn't like walk in here or walk out there and think I know 100 percent that I was supposed to do it. And I know he told me I was supposed to do it because there's no way that Stephen and Lamb would have ever came up with what they've been to. It's I walk out there sometimes and I still think or somebody will say, hey, can I fly a drone over your house? I'll give you the picture and then they'll send us the picture. And I'm like,  that is that's in our great guard. Like, it's still kind of blows that we're crazy enough to do that. But we we did that. So I think that's impressive. You know, is there anything that you would say to someone that they've just got this desire in their heart, but a little bit of fear is holding them back? And that's often what happens. Yeah. Well, I think I tell the kids this all the time, right?  If you try something and it's not easy for you at first or if you try something and you fail a couple of times, I just taught a lesson on failure. And in how many times Tom said, I said, I'm filled and then in the lapel, you know, but he kept going. I was like, if you if you're nervous about making a decision or you're not 100 percent sure that you're doing what God told you to do or you fail or you're not good at it, that doesn't mean that it's not for you. It just means that there has to be a little bit more work done on the inside to get you ready to be successful at whatever it is that you're supposed to do. And so, like, was I nervous to start the Bible study in my living room? Yes, because my kid was nine years old and I was starting a hospital Bible study and my kid wasn't even of the same age as these kids. So I think in my head, I thought, well, what are people going to think like, why would why would a random person who just moved to the town start a Bible study and for living room for hospitalers? But I just knew that that's what I was supposed to do. So I worried about what other people would think. I worry. I still, if I'm honest, some Sundays think I mean, I didn't go to seminary and I tell people all the time, this is not your church. You need to you need to go to church.  You need to sit at the feet of somebody who knows way more about the Bible than I do and who can be that for you.

if you're nervous or scared or worried that it doesn't mean it's not right.  Because I there were a lot of concerns and the fact that this is what it is now just goes to show that I can work through some of that stuff that God's going to do what he needs to do in my life to prepare me. But I stand up there in the front sometimes and think, I don't know. I don't know how I got here. Like I look out at one hundred and forty kids and I think feel the pressure to make sure I'm telling truth. I feel the pressure to make sure that I'm sharing something relevant to them. I feel the pressure to make sure that I'm partnering with their parents and not undermining the way they were raised or what their parents would say. I feel the pressure to make sure that I am approachable and enough to make them want to come back to hear more truth if it's their first time. You know, relevant enough to make them not scared if this is the first time they've heard about Jesus. I don't want to make it scary until I question myself all the time. You know, like and when I do that, I have to stop and think he wouldn't have brought me this far. He wouldn't have brought all these kids here. He wouldn't have done what he's done so far for me to to stop now or for him not to keep equipping me like I will be OK. Like this will be OK. And I still have to push through it. But I think a lot of times if it's not easy or if we do have some doubt, it's like, oh, this must not be right.  But I don't think that's the case at all. Definitely not the case at all. If you're not willing to develop our skills, we'll we'll forever be dwarfed in what we can accomplish in life. I have a saying that I repeated this. I repeat this over and over and over.

Perfect your craft for God's glory. Whatever it is you do, if if whatever your passion is, your desire,  just be as good at it as you possibly can. Give yourself to perfect your craft for God's glory. And if you do that one day, you will discover that God has already crafted the perfect opportunity for you to glorify him. So you've just been getting good at what you do, getting better and better and better. And what you discovered is God's already crafted the perfect opportunity for you to glorify him. And that's ministering to these kids, being Lana Newton, married to Stephen, Eli and all that God brought into your life. You are you're you're living it out. There's a couple of things that I think are worth pointing out that everyone should hear and talking about who we are in Christ.  Recognize first that that God has made you a tenet something.  You really are. There's something you can do better than anybody else because there's nobody else with your your soul. Your unique passions, dreams and desires with your unique physical makeup. You are a unique individual, the spirit of God living inside of you. And so you're a tenet something. Just discover what that is. Just keep working as you grow and mature in who you are in Christ to perfect that that that craft that God has given you. Yeah, I'm stealing that, by the way. OK.

I put it right down there so that maybe I can come back and use that. That's great. I love that. The second thing is and you said this so well is be willing not to be everything.

Be willing to show up with your weaknesses and your flaws. Like you said, I don't have a theological degree. I'm not a pastor. Kids need that. But you're filling the role that God made you to do. And so easy to look at ourselves and say, well, I can't do this, so I must not be good at that. And God is really saying, no, you are good at that. You're just not good at this. And so be willing to be you. And that means also be willing to be not everything to everybody. And that's OK.

That's a tremendous lesson. I want to thank you again so much for joining me and being a part of this today.

I hate to wrap it up. I know everybody would love to hear more of your story. But I have a promise to keep it around 45 minutes. Tell us how to stay in touch. And if somebody wanted to come out and see your ball field and hear about your ministry and even be a part of it, how would they do that? Yeah. Well, first of all, if they want to be a part of it, that would be awesome. Supervising 140 kids like I was pretty good. Supervising 12 supervising 140 would be awesome to have help. So I would love that. But we have a website. It's Home Run Rich dot org.  And on there is my cell phone so you can stay in touch on the website. You can send me a message. What's crazy is the Lord's been so awesome. It's expensive to run this and we're not affiliated with the church. Our home church does support us, but we are not like a part of a church. And so Stephen and I were paying for it all of ourselves for a long term. But I haven't advertised it, but the Lord's just faithful that people are renting the field for birthday parties, family reunions, baby showers. We even had a wedding.  And so they are renting that. And I'm using all that money to put back into the ministry. So we have been self sufficient for the last two years just from rentals, from not advertising. So people can rent it for private parties. But during the week, most of the time it's sitting out there empty. So I always tell people either shoot me a message or drive by if nobody's on the field, go for it. Like go out there, look around, play. There's a bin out there that has wiffle balls and bats and just play and put it back when you leave. And people are so great about doing that. We haven't had an issue with that yet. And then on social media, I use Facebook and Instagram the most. And so they can follow us on that. Just Homer and ranch. And every Sunday night we have a theme night.

So I mean, there's always something going on, but it will include a lesson. And we have a student worship team and so they'll do that. And it's just a great night. And I mean, I always tell people, come out and check it out because it will it will blow your mind what is happening out here. It's it's amazing. Adults leave here like this is literally the coolest thing. And I'm like, I know. And I don't feel like I'm responsible for that. Like I think the Lord creates an environment here that we have students leading students in worship and then students who are honestly here to hear the word. I mean, it is a crazy whole way to spend a Sunday night. So just follow us on there, shoot a message on there or my cell phones on the Web site.

Awesome. Well, I know this. I'm going to bring my grandkids out and we're going to play ball out there one day. It'll be a blast to Atlanta. Thanks again for joining me. Thank you all for listening, being a part of this Trudy Masterpiece podcast. I hope you loved it. You can find out more about my ministry at Craig Walker Coaching Dotcom. And you're always welcome to email me. And that's Craig at Craig Walker Coaching Dotcom. Again, I hope you subscribe to this podcast and we'll see you again next month.