Love Fort Wayne March Podcast featuring: Tim Hallman of YMCA

We sit down with YMCA association chaplain, Tim Hallman, to trace his journey from two decades in pastoral ministry to building a chaplaincy that thrives on presence, not programs. Tim opens the door on what the “C” in YMCA really means today—rooted in George Williams’s 1844 vision of caring friendship on a factory floor—and how that legacy shows up in Fort Wayne through everyday listening, prayerful support, and a welcome space for all. 

The conversation widens to a global lens as Tim shares friendships with YMCAs in Jerusalem, Jericho, Gaza, and Nazareth. When war broke out during a planned visit, his team became chaplains to stranded travelers—no quick fixes, just a steady presence, quiet prayer, and the safe space of the Y. Coming home sharpened his conviction that grief can deepen love, and that proximity changes lives. We close by inviting churches and neighbors into concrete next steps—from worshiping in branch spaces to volunteering as chaplains to joining the Good Friday breakfast—as Fort Wayne moves toward a top 10 healthy city vision that treats body, mind, and spirit as one.

This is an encouraging, intimate, and honest conversation that you don't want to miss!

Transcript

Season Six Kickoff & Guest Intro

SPEAKER_04 0:00

But there's people there from all over the world trapped because they had been touring all over uh Israel and Palestine were stuck there. And so our team from uh Fort Wayne, there's five of us, we ended up being chaplains to people from around the world. They were scared. Well, scared. And we realized we're not scared, scared. Like we're scared, but we know God's got us. And we are in a safe space at the Y, because the Y is always a safe space. And so I remember one of our leaders, she's like, I think God wants us here right now.

Tim’s Path From Pastor To YMCA Chaplain

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Well, welcome everybody to season six of the Love Fort Wayne podcast. I'm your co-host, Jeff King, with Love Fort Wayne, and I'm joined by, man, my longtime friend and longtime co-host, Mitch Cruz. Mitch, how are we doing? Good. How are you? Man, it's so good to be with you, and I'm doing good. Awesome. Yeah, it's been a good start to the new year, and we were kind of reflecting a little bit on how long have we been doing this and how many episodes have we done, and uh how many stories have we been able to hear and been blessed by. And we know that it's up over a hundred, and to be in season six and then being multiple years with you is a blessing. So I'm excited to kick it off with you. And we're excited because we've got a friend of ours here with us, Tim Hallman's here from uh the YMCAs of Greater Fort Wayne. So, Tim, thanks for joining us, brother.

SPEAKER_04 1:25

Yeah, you bet. Thanks for having me here.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, it means a lot. Like um uh folks that are from our region um know about the impact of the YMCAs here in our region. And some folks might be tuned in from other regions, and I know that the YMCA has had uh a life-changing impact on so many people regionally and nationwide. But speaking from our perspective, it's it's a point of positive pride. Like the you guys' heart for our city and our region is just evident in the work that you do and who you are as a leader and an individual and the folks on that team. Um, we know so many of them. It's just true you guys care about this place. So it's super excited to have a conversation with you and and have you encourage folks that are listening even to share a little bit about your story and the why story as well. So thanks again, brother. Yeah, you bet. Yeah, absolutely. So can we start there? When you start a little bit about yourself and your role at the why, but not just that, like uh your journey, your story that led you up into this point now.

SPEAKER_04 2:21

Yeah, you bet. Well, uh April will be 10 years. I've been at the YMCA. Uh prior to that, I was a pastor in Fort Wayne for 20 years. Uh, so I went to Huntington University in Huntington, Indiana. My parents went there, my dad was a United Brethren pastor, so I was gonna be a United Brethren pastor. So I grew up in a Christian home, and my dad's from Canada. So even though I was born in the United States, I grew up in Canada and Ontario, uh, small rural churches, my dad was there, and then we moved to Michigan to middle school. And it was while in high school, I went to a small Christian school that I knew I was probably gonna be a pastor, and I wasn't happy about it. Um but part of it was you know, my dad worked so hard, multiple jobs, multiple churches, and I just wasn't sure I wanted to be poor. And I didn't know that I wanted to have to work that hard. And I saw how you got treated sometimes, and as a kid, you care about your dad. And and so I wasn't sure, but I but also knew I think that's what God wants me to do. But uh and so just a long story of just surrendering and submitting and accepting it. And uh, but once I accepted that call, I was ready to go. And I was excited to go to Huntington to be a pastor, and then I was excited to be a United Brethren pastor and uh got to be part of a church plant early on, and then got to do internship at a larger church, which was amazing. Uh, Emmanuel Community Church. And while there, we had an opportunity to plant a church uh in downtown Fort Wayne. So Third Street United Brethren. Yep, been there about a hundred years, and it's time for something new. And so we did a restart named the Anchor Community Church. And then my wife and I were there for 18 years. Oh my god. While doing that, you don't look old enough. Uh well, we were very young, so we also didn't know what we were doing. I I I every Sunday is like, dear God, thank you for the grace that people came back because I don't know what I'm doing. And God was good. Uh I ended up doing a lot of community work, a lot of neighborhood work there in the 46808 zip code, and that became a real passion. And so it's just discerning. I think it's time for me to move on, and our associate will be an amazing senior pastor there. Uh, I was thinking, okay, God, is there a way that I could have ministry full time, just really pouring into Christian leaders doing God's work in the community? I was like, I don't know if that job exists, but that's what I feel called to. And so I called a couple people uh to say, hey, I'm looking for something new. So if you hear of anything, let me know. And I knew one person at the YMCA, uh, Greg Barnes, he was with the Youth Service Bureau. We'd done some neighborhood work together. And I said, Greg, I'm thinking about leaving my church, uh, but I don't know what I'm gonna do yet next. So if you hear of anything, let me know. I said, Tim, you will not believe this. But we just decided we wanted to hire a full-time chaplain for the YMCA. And I think you'd be perfect. I'm like, Well, that's amazing. What do you think this person would do? And he's like, I don't know. And I said, when would it start? Well, not till next year. It's like, okay. I was like, how much would it pay? Because I knew my wife would ask that. And he and he was like, I don't know that yet either. It's like, well, I'm totally in, you know. And so by the grace of God, you know, my wife and I just kind of transitioned out of the church and applied for that role, got hired, and I thought of that as a miracle. You know, I just was not guaranteed, but I felt like God just kind of um set me up for uh a big step of faith. And uh this work at the Y has been a big step of faith every day since.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Man, so cool. Did you design your role then at the Y when they didn't know what a chaplain would do?

Shaping A Chaplaincy For Fort Wayne

SPEAKER_04 5:29

Well, it's an interesting question. So there's uh YMCAs across the country that have a full-time chaplain role. So Indianapolis YMCA has one, Toledo has one, uh, Tennessee, other YMCAs across the country have them. So they crafted this role around some similarities to what other chaplains do and other YMCAs, usually around larger cities. And um, and then Marty Pastura, the CEO at the time, who really was really passionate about this role. Uh he worked really hard with the board and the leadership team to uh get buy-in on it, and everyone was excited for it and craft it for Fort Wayne, you know, for this why. And so when I got in though, um, you know, I brought 20 years experience, you know, to this role. And so, you know, the job requirements for someone with three to five years experience. And so it's like I I can do what you're asking, but you know, I also bring 20 years worth of community relationships. And I would love to bring that in. I was working on a doctorate at the time on contextual theology and missional leadership. And I said, so I know that's not a requirement of the job, but I'd be glad to bring that into the work we do and in training leaders and working with leaders and helping the C and the YMCA flourish. And so Marty was like, let's try it, you know, and so uh we co-created the existing job description that they created well, let's continue to see what God is doing through this. And uh, so he allowed a lot of freedom, you know, uh in that work. And it's evolved several times, you know, over the last 10 years, as you can imagine, as things have changed and organizations changed, you know, the role has changed too.

SPEAKER_01 6:58

How would you describe your day-to-day activities? And I think we should say, aren't you one of the largest YMCAs in the nation?

Listening Over Fixing: The Y’s Pastoral Model

SPEAKER_04 7:06

We are in the top 100 YMCAs. There's uh 2,700 YMCAs across the United States. Uh, and so we're in the top 100. And uh our CEO, Andrew Gritzmaker, has been there three years and doing an amazing job. So I think I think we're a top 10 why. Yeah, come on now. Yeah, I think we're a top 10 why. I mean, we're gonna become a top 10 city. That's part of his vision for for a way to become a top 10 healthy city. And so, you know, I think our why is gonna help us get there. Uh, so my title is association chaplain. And so uh the work is mostly pastoral, you know, a lot of pastoral presence. So uh we have a whole team of chaplains that we recruit to volunteer in our Y at all of our branches. That's and so it's a lot of me being a chaplain to our leaders, but then uh recruiting and training and supporting uh men and women to then be chaplains also in our branches. So it's chaplain, chaplaining chaplains who are chaplaining members and leading leaders and uh a leader of leaders and shepherd of shepherds. And so uh every day is a little bit different, you know. You got some standing meetings uh that are mostly um check-ins uh and strategy meetings, um, but I'm not in a lot of the I'm not in any of the business meetings or the big strategy meetings for the why. You know, it's it's really in the branches with the staff, uh with the members. And so today, you know, onboarded uh a chaplain into a new a Y, we just opened a new Haven. So now they have a branch chaplain and got him kind of initiated to the executive director there, cast division. That doesn't happen every day, but when it does happen, you know, it's pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

So somebody will come to the Y and share a problem with a chaplain or a challenge, and they're like, That's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

Yeah, no fixing or chaplains like it's no fixing. We're not here to solve anything for anyone, we're just here to listen. We really, really believe that listening, you know, godly listening, just by the spirit will really help people uh encounter God, and so few people are really listened to, or everyone's can't handle someone's what they're sharing. You know, or it's like, well, man, I feel bad for you. I should do something about that. And and our chaplain, we're just here to listen. We're just gonna listen and we'll pray for you if you want. You know, if you like us to pray for you, we're glad to pray for you, or we'll tell you we'll pray for you, and then after you leave, we'll pray for you. Uh some people come back week after week. You know, people at the YA are pretty traditional in there when they come, you know, they they come at the same time, so they get to see the chaplains each week. The chaplains pick a time and they just come at that time every week. Pick come for an hour or two, same rhythm. So people will see them again and again and again.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

For someone with Tim's experience who could address virtually any question he would be asked. That is a powerful, powerful statement about listening.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yep, yeah. Yeah, there's we're we're living in a culture where there's everybody speaking, there's a lot of noise, and there's you can get the info information all the time. Yes. I can get it. Nothing wrong with this audience. I can get it from an AI right away if I need to. I can get it from a person right away if I need to. So the power of actually listening and being steadfast in it and inviting people to share as they are, where they are in their life, man, that's that's powerful. It's a it's an anchor of being a chaplain, of being a ministry leader. I I know that the Y has obviously deep Christian roots. So probably a lot of people don't know that the C stands for that. That's right. Yeah, that's right. And it does. So, like, can you share a little bit about the roots of that and then even how maybe our method of raising up chaplains is digging deeper into those roots in our context? Yeah, yeah. I love that.

The Christian Roots Of The YMCA

SPEAKER_04 10:37

I'm so glad you asked, Jeff, because uh the I didn't know anything about the why when I applied. Like, so I started researching because I I didn't know I just didn't know anything. And uh I started to realize, oh my gosh, they have such a vibrant, rich Christian history. I don't, how did I not know this? I mean, I thought I was a student of missionary work and church planting work and ecumenical work and global Christianity work. The why is totally embedded in all of that since 1844. It just was mind-blowing to me. So I felt like what an honor. Like I was proud of my small denomination. I was proud to be United Brethren, proud to be Protestant, you know, proud to be Christian. And I walked in the why, I was like, nobody knows the story. It is unbelievable. So I just felt like this great honor to just be a small part in it. But 1844, Young Men's Christian Association, uh, 12 young men were in industrial London, and the working conditions were horrible. And uh these men, um, you know, everyone grew up Anglican. It was just kind of you grew up Christian, uh, and as young men, they were far from the Lord and their lives were miserable working in uh these factories, and they had they would meet George Williams, the founder of the Y. There was these two Christians working in his factory, and they were happy. And George and the other, you know, 97 workers were not happy. So George was like, How can they be happy? Like, we're all unhappy, they're happy. What's wrong with them? So he worked up the courage to ask him, What's wrong with you guys? Like, how could you be happy working in this place? It is horrible. And they said, Uh, if you really want to know, come to church with us tonight. So they go to a little church there in London. And uh, so even though George was a Christian, he did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And this preacher there uh preached about Jesus Christ, and it just hit George the right time, right way. We don't even know the name of that preacher. Wow, but he just preached the gospel. George heard it, and now we had three happy people in that factory. But George was a leader, you know, he was a leader, and he started looking around and he's like, I gotta share what I have. And so as a business leader, he built a little strategy. He said, All right, God, I'm just gonna look around and you're gonna connect me to someone. And I'm gonna, I'm just I'm just gonna know who I'm supposed to get to know, and I'll just get to know them and I'll listen and I'll ask them about their life, and I'll just genuinely care. And I'm not gonna try to change anything about their life, I'm just gonna care. And I'm gonna be present to them, you know, find out they love a favorite food, I'll make sure we get it. I just how do I genuinely care for this coworker? And then they're gonna ask, why are you doing this? That's right. And George's like, and tell them about Jesus Christ. Now there were four happy people in this YMCA. Uh within the a year or so, everyone, every single man in that factory got saved. And then as you can imagine, the factory experience transformed. And all of a sudden, they're running a profit. And the factory owner, who is a Christian, he's like, What is going on at my Y or at my Y? My factory, it's it's so successful. He goes down and finds out about George, and next thing you know, the other factory is like, Hey, uh, what's wrong with your factory? It's so productive, and the people there, they're they're just something so good about them. Can you have George come to my factory? 1844. By 1855, it's a global phenomenon, and they're holding a global conference in France to organize. So it was a work of God. Yeah, it was a work of God. Like, I mean, George is brilliant and talented, and God was at working life, but it was clearly a work of God. But you started to realize the why is really about young Christian men associating for the sake of others who they see in desperate plights, and they realize we should do something for them, and it's called associating with them, being with them. They didn't start a social program, they didn't try to raise money to do something for them, to get them out of something, they just joined them in it and stayed with them.

SPEAKER_03 14:11

Yeah.

Ecumenical Unity In A For-All Space

SPEAKER_04 14:11

And so they would create safe spaces. You know, the Y was known for years than building dormitories because it was a way to have a safe space. Come and live here. We'll take care of you. When the Y came to Boston in 1851, that's when America got their first Y, uh, they started out on the harbor there. They would welcome immigrants, they would welcome people coming to the United States who had nowhere to go, nowhere to say, stay, and not a lot, no safe places to go. And the Y was a safe place. So the Y workers would just hang out on the harbors and they would just meet young men and say, hey, if you want, you can come stay at the Y, hot meal, safe place to sleep, we'll help you get a job, help you learn English, help you get started in America. You know, just that kind of proximity, meeting people where they're at, and that impulse has never changed. And so uh the YMC almost invented chaplaincy in wartime with the Civil War, World Wars. And I share all that, just the Y is so deeply embedded and almost so much that's significant about uh ministry and the way we engage in culture and politics and violence and economics. Um, anyways, the why has that kind of presence posture, and so in one sense, you could say what's so Christian about that is just being a good listener, it's being present, it's also being present with people nobody else wants to be present with, and it's also going to the places that nobody else really wants to go. Now, can people who aren't Christians or people of faith do that? Are there people who aren't Christians or of other faith do that? Yes. It's just uh it happens to be that it's usually Christians that go first and stay longest. And uh we want to see more people doing that anyways, but that's the heart of the see in the YMCA. And so sometimes it's hard to tell what's so Christian about that. I don't see you talking about Jesus all the time, or I don't see pictures of Jesus everywhere, or you know, the symbolism, and sometimes that really matters. But you know, the heart of the YMCA is that loving, caring, serving that um just keeps showing up day after day, being present to people. Because at the Y, you can do what you want. You can get a membership and then not show up. You can get a membership and only work out once a week. You get a membership and work out once a month. Like we welcome you, we love you, we're not gonna coerce you, we're not gonna guilt you. But the more you want to show up, the more we'll care and we'll meet you in that space. And so that's what I've just kind of learned over the last 10 years is just how many amazing people. Well, I think all the people that work at the Y are amazing, but you know, you just it's all people work, right? It's all just being present to people. And I think that um goes a long way. And and when churches do that, they see amazing things happen. When nonprofits do that with kids and youth and and adults, you just see amazing things happen. So, in one sense, that's not a secret at the Y. I mean, lots of amazing Christians do that, but when I think about the secret of the seeing the YMCA, it is that kind of loving, caring presence, no matter what.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

It's mind-boggling how many ministries came out of the YMCA. I mean, it's it's like mind-blowing, it's just incredible. Um, I think in accordance with that, you have a passion for unity uh in the church. Can you describe how the YMCA is uniquely positioned for that?

SPEAKER_04 17:14

Yeah. So I'll say when I came into the Y, my kind of as I thought about as a missionary, it would be like, well, what's God already doing here?

unknown 17:24

You know.

SPEAKER_04 17:25

And uh so I was like, all right, well, I'll just kind of ask questions. My goal is just I figure I'll be looking for all the Christians that work at the Y or are working out at the Y, and we'll see what comes from that. And I just met so many Christians from so many different walks of life. And I started to realize the Y is the largest ecumenical organization in the country. Because you have every kind of Christian there. I mean, we have 80,000 members at the Y. Every kind of Christian is a member at the Y. And they have a good time there. Play pickleball, you know, they work out, they swim, the kids are in child watch, and you think, wow. I mean, just as I saw it, like, wow, you know, look at our staff. You know, we have every faith background and non-faith background at the Y, but also have every Christian background at the Y. You think, man, it's ecumenical work. And, you know, it's hard sometimes to talk about your faith, and you don't have to talk about your faith at the workplace or at the Y. Uh, and we don't want people trying to convert people while they're also trying to convert them into membership. You know, I mean, there's a time and a space for everything. We just think about all this loving, caring serving going on with all these different Christians. It's just amazing. So that was kind of an early posture of I don't have to make the why ecumenical. But then it's also like, what are the different kinds of churches that are already present? You know, look at all the pastors that work out at the why. Look at all the church members that work out the why. And then they start giving testimony, like, this changed my life. This is so important to me. And then for them to find out, oh, the C is alive and well, and look at all these Christians here. I just didn't realize that. And so all of a sudden, all these churches now have this new kind of sense of the why is a real partner. And we already have so many of our members and our kids already a part of it. And so it's just a very unique take on what it looks like for the why to be a church partner with every kind of church. We have Protestant churches, Catholic churches, Orthodox churches, uh, Anglican churches, charismatic churches, all the churches, right? Uh part of the YMCA, Christians from every background. And so when I think of my role, the original title was Christian Emphasis Director, which was a bit vague, and I'd always have to explain it by saying kind of like a chaplain. So they just changed my name to a chaplain. But it was also like emphasizing the see in the YMCA. Well, which C am I emphasizing? Like my United Brethren evangelical background. Well, I mean, that's good, but it's pretty small. You know, Protestant Christianity. Well, well, I mean, we started Protestant, and there was a time when Catholics weren't welcome at the Y, and the Catholics warned the Catholics to stay away from the why because it was Protestant, right? I mean, there, those divides were really big up to the 60s, and even then it was took some time. And the Y pioneered Protestant work with Orthodox, especially Russian Orthodox, uh, between World War I and World War II. So within global why, there is this effort to reconcile. So for Protestants and Catholics and Orthodox to work together at the Y, work out together at the Y, it didn't happen by accident. It happened on purpose. Because the Y leaders that were Christians saw that this space needs to be open for all. And of course, that Christian ecumenical space of being for all churches also means for all religions and all people. We just want you close because we believe proximity changes lives. And so you think about Kiman, how we think about why we're ecumenical, the unity is so we can be around more people who aren't like us, who we find out are like us, and we can share this life together.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

And that unity is not uniformity. That's right. That's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

No uniformity at the why. Yeah. You hang out in the locker room long enough. There's no uniformity at the why.

Global Y Connections In The Holy Land

SPEAKER_00 20:43

That's so good. That's good. Yeah, this is a beautiful picture. First of all, the testimony of even the how the Lord moved and worked with the installation of the why, how it came to be is just simply the way of Jesus, right? I'm going to be present with other people, um, proximate with other people, uh, at the table with other folks, to listen, to receive. I've got a I've got a good news to share, but I'm gonna be first present with you at the will first, that's right where you are. So this is a beautiful story. I mean, Tim, a part of your story, and you talked a little bit about the global reach of the YMCA, but you've got connection to the wise globally, all over the world, and in particular a story um that most of us will never understand what it was like to be in the Middle East in the in the midst of unrest. And God moved in some really uh godly ways while you were overseas when some some unrest was happening in the Middle East. Can you share a little bit about that story and even just what you learned, how the Lord is utilizing the why and even uniting his people in the midst of unrest outside of the context that many of us know?

War Breaks Out: Serving As Chaplains Abroad

SPEAKER_04 21:49

The why is really about love for people in their darkest spaces. Mm-hmm. That's the story, George. I mean, he was in the dark space. And I realize why's around the world were Usually started by either the British or American Ys where they were like, people would invite them, please come to our country. You know, the Y started in Palestine in the 1880s. We want the YMCA in Palestine. And they started a Y in Jerusalem. And in the 1930s, they built a beautiful YMCA. It's a sermon in stone. The man who designed the Empire State Building designed this YMCA. It's a marvel. Just a marvel. It's a marvel. It's right across from the King David Hotel. But in 1948, uh with the war, all of the Palestinian Christians and Muslims who worked at the Y were driven out of Jerusalem. And they were driven into the desert, into the wilderness. And so the uh Jericho YMCA was born amongst refugees who were never going to go back home. And those refugees are still there. They're still there since 1948. The YMCA has been doing this work with refugees and people that have not been able to go to their homes for a long time. And when I got hired at the Y and realized, what there's a Y in Jerusalem? That's amazing. Just amazing. What? Jesus hometown has a Y. That's amazing. And they realized then there's a Y in Jericho, and there's a Y in Gaza. Well, there was. There's a Y in Nazareth. There's a Y in East Jerusalem. I was like, I want to go there. And so through the YMCA, I had to go visit them and to make friends with the CEOs and the leaders of those YMCAs, just amazing, courageous men and women, Christian men and women, and Muslim men and men and women that co-lead in that space to create create peace and to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. And so I really wanted our Fort Wayne Y uh to have uh connections there. When I met Peter Nasser, who leads the East Jerusalem YMCA, it was his grandfather that was driven out of Jerusalem in the war and started this Y in the desert. So his grandson Peter is now leading that Y. And when I first heard that story, I was like, what could I do? What can I do in Fort Wayne? I mean, I love Fort Wayne. I was like, what can I do? I, you know, I'm not from a big, big city, not from a big giant Y. And he said, Tim, can we be friends? I just changed my life. You know, I was 2020. And so when I had a chance in 2023 to take some Fort Wayne friends back, uh, I was looking forward to is a friendship tour. And the Y is the power of Y is friendship. And uh when we landed and realized another war had started, oh, we were like, wow. Yeah. You know, what are we gonna do? We trusted God and He ended up using us to minister to people. We were gonna go to the East Jerusalem Y, uh, but we never made it there because of the war. So we stayed at the Jerusalem International Y, which, you know, with lots of friendships there. But we were going to be there in Palestine and to visit the YMC in Bethlehem and Jericho. And so we end up, they never got to see Peter on that trip because of the war. But we stayed in Jerusalem International Y. They took care of us beautifully, beautiful space. But there was people there from all over the world trapped because they had been touring all over uh Israel and Palestine, we're stuck there. And so our team from uh Fort Wayne, there's five of us, we ended up being chaplains to people from around the world. They were scared. People scared, and we realized we're not scared, scared. Like we're scared, but we know God's got us, and we are in a safe space at the Y, because the Y is always a safe space. And so I remember one of our leaders, she's like, I think God wants us here right now. Wow, wow, wow, okay. So we got up from our tables that night, went to bed in the morning. We were ready to listen. Well, we just would sit around, we just listen to people, share, and just God did some amazing, amazing testimonies to us. And so it changed my life. So when I came back, I came back thankful to be home to my family and safe. I know my wife and kids, and many people were praying for our safety to return. Our our members, I was glad to get my team back safe. That really mattered to me to get them back to their homes and loved ones. Uh, and I came back just grateful for how God used us in some really beautiful ways, but also I the the grief was so much.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Yeah.

unknown 25:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:00

The grief was so much. How much longer were you there than you thought you would be? Well, our goal was to be there 10 days. Uh-huh. And we ended up we're only there five days. Okay. That oh, so that'd be shorter. Yeah, because they were trying to get us out ASAP. Okay. So uh we landed on a Saturday, and then it took working with the U.S. government, the embassy, uh the Foreign Service to arrange for travel because everyone's trying to get out of there. Nobody knows what's going to happen. We had, I mean, missiles were getting shot. Uh, you can hear the jets overhead. I mean, it just nobody knew it was gonna happen. They said it's a war, and you just know in war, you just know you never know. So there's a sense of, I think we're safe, but you don't know. Yeah, you know, and that that was a very difficult uh place to live in um in that time. And um, and then I realized uh my friends there at the Y and in the neighborhood, they live with us all the time. Like we went, we live, we had two air raid sirens, and they were like, they have an app on their phone. Oh, air raid siren, we got to go to our basement. I'm like, what? Wow, what unbelievable it'd be like you know, Angola's getting bombed, and we have an app. Oh, it's just Angola, you know, or it's just Fremont, or it's it's just Huntertown. So what's and that was just their way of life. I just like, I just we we don't understand. Wow, and so came back both just more lived grief for what they go through every day and a sense of solidarity, you know, through the YMCA and as brothers and sisters in Christ, and feeling more helpless, like what can you do to stop all that until you realize wow, the power of friendship and the power of knowing that someone believes you and sees you and you have Jesus Christ in common at work, and you realize people tend to meet Jesus the most in the darkest spaces. And so God took us to a space to join other Christians and being the light, they stayed and we came home, and so we pray for them every day.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

You said friendship is the power of the YMCA, and I think that's a beautiful quote. And you talk about uh how you want to invite churches into that friendship. Can you describe what that's like, how you invite them, and what your goal is for that?

Grief, Solidarity, And Everyday Risk

SPEAKER_04 28:05

Yeah. So one of the ways we invite them is by worshiping in our facility, right? So uh we have five YMCAs that uh have their church in our Y, as uh some of them are there long term, some of them are there for kind of a God-designed amount of time. Uh, some um are big, some are small. And so we want a Y to be, or we want to why to have a church be part of our Y. Uh, it's one of the ways that we serve the communities, have a church in the Y, right? People feel it's a safe space to come and worship. And so the friendship and collaboration that happens there between that pastor and the staff and the team, you know, uh it's just really beautiful. And it it takes effort, it takes work, like every uh good friendship when trying to do something big like that. And then we have, again, churches that they send uh staff to volunteer in our why as chaplains. And so that's another way that we partner with churches and even just having churches believe in the why, like just to see how we're part of the kingdom of God together and uh to hear our story and and to think about. Um, I mean, I had one pastor, uh, his wife told me how the after-school care or child watch saved their marriage. I was like, Well, tell me more about how childwatch saved your marriage. She said, We were doing some hard ministry. And so uh I would take my three young boys to the Y, and they'd be in Child Watch for two hours, and I can go swim, run, and sit by myself for two hours. I knew my kids were loved. I needed that. I can come home ready to go again. Save my marriage. I'm like, oh my goodness. I just never thought about how we can serve churches in that way uh when they want to come and uh be part of what we're doing and just that they're we're blessing them. Uh we also do a Good Friday breakfast where we invite uh churches in the community to celebrate Good Friday with the YMCA. You know, you can't think of a Good Friday as a way to celebrate, but uh ends up being uh just a great celebration in the community and uh to have churches and pastors join us for this. I know they have their own events, they're often organizing, but again, just knowing we're just trying to reach you know more people on Good Friday with the resurrection message, you know, is is just so powerful. So National Day of Prayer is another way that we and many others do uh events. We partner with local pastors who are connected to the Y, or they have active members there and organize uh prayer gatherings at all of our YMCAs. Uh just kind of very grassroots ways that uh we partner with a lot of different churches. So good.

Inviting Churches Into Friendship

SPEAKER_00 30:21

We want to do you have a note on we're gonna wind down here in a second, but is there a way that you can direct folks to the Good Friday breakfast? And we'll definitely we want to put it in the show notes as well. It's such a special event. I know Peter Greer is coming. I mean, it's yeah, and you talk about that just a little bit, invite folks to to join us next month next month, excuse me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

Yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, Peter Greer, um, just the work he does with Hope International is amazing, but his book, Rooting for Rivals, really resonated with our CEO, Andrew Gritzmaker, and thinking about the rule of collaboration, especially. He's casting this vision of how do we help Fort Wind become a top 10 healthy city? Right now we're in the low 70s. And you think about, well, in order to be a top 10 healthy city, that means how do we care for those that are the most unhealthy? And usually this for very complicated reasons. And so we're gonna have to work together as a city to help the people that face the largest hurdles to health. We got to be there with them and meet them there. So that means we've got to root for each other. And so you know the message resonates with many people. And so we want that to kind of be uh the key message he brings, but also to layer in his newest book, uh, which is how leaders lose their way, which is just a constant challenge when you think about just how much is going on. So I think that layered message is gonna be really inspiring. So fw.fwymca.org slash gfb. Yeah, really simple. You just go to our website and uh and and uh find that. And tickets will go on sale and you can uh get them. It's very affordable, and uh, we just welcome the community to come and just kind of sharing our joy, but also sharing the challenge. Uh, we're in this together.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

Yeah, awesome. We'll definitely put that in the show notes too. And so Mitch and I love to to wind down our times with people in our community by asking really this the same question. It's one of our staple questions, and it's really as you reflect on your journey um and you look at your life and how God has blessed you and the ups and the downs, the good and the ugly, what would you tell your younger self now as you sit in the chair today? It's gonna get harder.

SPEAKER_03 32:18

Wow. Yeah, it's good. It's gonna get harder and it'll be okay. And the harder it is, the more okay it is. That one got me.

Good Friday Breakfast & Citywide Health Vision

SPEAKER_01 32:29

That's powerful. Yeah, um Tim, you mentioned something about yourself uh that you're talking to right now, way back. Yeah, that uh you were called, but you felt inadequate. I shared that one time with someone who was farther in the faith journey than I was when I thought God was wanting me to do something a little bit different with my life and his response I'll never forget. He said that's exactly where God wants you and how he'll use you the most. And when I think about you talking uh to yourself when you were younger right now and sharing that, it's really cool to see how that was so true in your life. I I can't thank you enough for the impact that you've had on our community and really throughout the world. Yeah. Well, thank you, Mitch. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Amen. Well, folks, we enjoyed it. I know you enjoyed it, Mitch. I enjoyed it, Tim. It was a joy to sit with you uh today. And our prayer is that, as we always say, um, that you would just simply take something, that you would find something that resonated with your heart, Makiros moment for you. Rewind it if you need to, and write down that thing that you felt in your heart, that you heard in your spirit, and just ask God, you know, how can I implement this into my everyday? And so we're we're grateful that you would spend 30 or so minutes with us. And thank you again, Tim, for joining us. Uh, friends, we will talk to you or perhaps see you if you're watching us next time on the Love Fort Wayne podcast.