SO THAT Missions Podcast | FBC Boerne
So that...God's ways may be known on Earth.
"So That" is an FBC Boerne podcast focused on what God is doing around the world with missions and through FBC Missions partners.
SO THAT Missions Podcast | FBC Boerne
Episode 66: Bill MacLeod - The Great Commitment: What Jesus Spent Most Time Teaching
What happens when God gives you a vision that takes 16 years to fulfill? Bill McLeod's journey from seminary student to mission mobilizer reveals the patient, often unexpected path of kingdom work.
Bill's story begins during the Jesus Revolution when he came to Christ just before college. Through divine connections—from working with Luis Palau's crusades to directing Promise Keepers events—God prepared him for a larger calling. When faced with a critical career decision, Bill fasted and prayed, receiving a vision that would take nearly two decades to fully materialize.
This conversation challenges our Amazon Prime expectations of immediate results. As Bill shares, building Mission Connection required eight years before launch and another eight before going full-time—contradicting our cultural impatience. "It's not the microwave approach," he explains, "but the crockpot approach" that God often uses to develop both us and our ministries.
The heart of Bill's teaching centers on what he calls "the three Cs" of discipleship: the Great Commandment (love God), the Great Commission (make disciples), and the Great Commitment (die to self). This final element—Jesus' challenging teaching that unless a seed falls to ground and dies, it remains alone—proves particularly transformative for listeners.
Perhaps the most penetrating question raised: "Who are you willing to die for?" Your mission field becomes the people for whom you're willing to spend your life, endure hardship, and potentially suffer. This counter-cultural perspective reframes mission not as achievement but as sacrifice—just as Jesus modeled.
Mission Connection events now operate in both Portland and Phoenix, remaining intentionally free and prayer-driven. Bill's humble approach ("Jesus is the CEO; I'm just sales") has created space for God to work in unexpected ways through collaborative, denomination-spanning partnerships.
Whether you're waiting on God's timing, seeking your place in mission, or wondering how to develop deep character for long-term impact, this conversation offers wisdom from a leader who has walked the patient path of kingdom work for decades.
Hey everybody, thank you so much for joining us on today's podcast. I have a great guest, one of our prospective speakers our last one from this session Bill McLeod. I hope that you're going to enjoy all the ways that God has used him in our conversation today, so we'll hope you enjoy. Welcome to FBC Missions. So that Podcast. This is an encouraging place to hear how God is working in and around us. We know that he blesses His people so that they can bless the world around them. Join us as we discuss how to join God in all that he is doing. Why is God working in our life, church and community? It's so that, through us, the world will know that he is near. Hey everybody, we're so glad that you're with us on the podcast today. It has been a lot of fun over the last few months walking through our perspectives Instructors. Today we have another one, bill McLeod. He is with us here in the studio, bill. How are you bud, hey?
Speaker 2:I'm doing great. So good to be back here. It's great to have you.
Speaker 1:This is your second time on our FPC Missions podcast, so we're so glad that you've joined us. It was a lot of fun listening to your presentation this morning, as always. I think I mentioned this last year, but I'll mention it again. You're probably one of the oldest friends I have in the missions world, all the way back in around—.
Speaker 2:What did you say?
Speaker 1:Oldest friends, Longest tenured friends may be a better way of saying it. It was all the way back around 2000,. I think when we first met all the way in the Northwest when I was in. Washington and you were working in Portland, and even then you had an inspirational impact on my life. And so here it's really fun, 25 years later, to still be working together in mobilization venues. Well, hey, we also have a new guest today, brittany Whitworth. Welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you, excited to be here.
Speaker 1:So glad to have you. Over the 65 episodes we've had so far, I have continually asked the Lord to give us a number of co-hosts, and Brittany's considering that. So a lot of pressure on you right now, brittany, but so glad you're jumping on here with us today. Hey, brittany is also a prospective student. Today we finished lesson 15. So just to put you on the spot a little bit, just give us. I mean, this is fresh. You finished the class two hours ago, so you know how have you found it? Has it had an impact on you?
Speaker 3:Oh, my life-changing for sure. And I haven't exactly finished, because I do have my project to go. Okay okay, but other than that everything is done, but it has been life-changing and I'm so grateful that you two did meet because, here as I'm thinking this through, I would not have had this life-changing experience had Chad not met you years ago, right.
Speaker 1:I mean, is that fair to say? It goes a lot deeper than that, but yeah, very much. So. Bill started a ministry in Portland. I don't know if it was called this, but I remember it being called Northwest Connection.
Speaker 2:Well, it was Missions Fest.
Speaker 1:It was Missions Fest Portland.
Speaker 2:Missions Fest Northwest. I messed the name up completely. We had a challenge when we went to Seattle Missions Fest. It was Missions.
Speaker 1:Fest Portland Missions. Fest Northwest Northwest I messed the name up completely.
Speaker 2:We had a challenge when we went to Seattle, because they really they said, well, we're Northwest.
Speaker 1:We're even farther north and west than you are, right.
Speaker 2:But we had the name first, so they chose Missions Fest Seattle, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So Missions Fest Northwest, which was in Portland, started before Missions Fest Seattle and as we were working to kind of build a core team for Missions Fest Seattle, we were looking at the other organizations around us doing similar things. So I think it was Missions Fest Vancouver and then Missions Fest Northwest there, and Bill was one of the guys, the guy that started it down in Portland. So we obviously wanted to talk to him. So we had a number of meetings where we would drive down or bill would come up and we were talking about how do we get this formed? Do we get the right number of churches involved? What's our first um, you know, sessions going to look like?
Speaker 1:And it was at that first missions fest Seattle. That, you know, took us almost three years to get it all organized, but when we finally had it, it was at that event where I saw perspectives for the first time and, uh, and it's been such a major part of my life ever since I think it took it in 2006, was when I took the class Um, but, uh, but yeah, what a, what a wild ride it's been. And so, yeah, in it, indirectly, bill had a huge influence. Uh, on, on, on that whole area of my life and missions fest was a part of it still going really cool thing.
Speaker 1:Missions fest, seattle still continues today. And uh uh, and it still continues to be a mobilizing force there in that seattle area well, and chad, I really do have to say that.
Speaker 3:Doctor, I'm going to call you dr bill, I hope that's okay because my dad's name is bill are you a doctor?
Speaker 1:no, okay, okay, okay. We introduced him a couple times today inadvertently, but we'll stay, mr mcleod, or we'll go, but we'll go, bill, all day long. Mr Bill, bill's like shaking his head, no, like what in the world's going on here.
Speaker 3:Well, bill, I'm so grateful, though, that truly that y'all met, because even my path to land in this course was crazy. And so here I am the last week, and my mind was already blown with understanding the Great Commission in a new level and God's call to Abraham, and then what you tied in today with that third C that I have no doubt Chad will probably talk about that third C command. I'm like, okay, it was just the perfect bow to wrap up this beautiful package of 15 weeks. So, thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this is going to be a lot of fun. We just want to hear how God's using you, bill. I know that's a big thing and there's a lot of different pieces to it, but let's start with just introducing yourself. For those people that didn't listen to last year's podcast, tell us a little bit about yourself, your family and your work.
Speaker 2:Okay, bill McLeod. I was born in Massachusetts, not doctor. Yes, please.
Speaker 3:Sorry, I heard that I'm not a doctor. I play one on TV, but I'm not.
Speaker 2:No, born in Massachusetts, came to Christ the week before I started college. Second in college and we started Bible study on campus, the thing exploded. It was back during the Jesus Revolution. I've seen that movie.
Speaker 3:I have.
Speaker 2:We were living it and after two years the Lord moved me to Bible college. During Bible college I went on a short-term mission to Scotland. Felt like God was calling me to Scotland and I went to Western Seminary in Portland Oregon. So moved from Philadelphia all the way to Portland Oregon to go to Western Seminary to prepare to go to Scotland as a pastor. I didn't know that a guy named Luis Palau, who was the Latin American Billy Graham, just moved to Portland to start the Luis Palau Evangelical Association in 1977, the year that I moved there to start seminary. Two years later we met. He was doing all these Latin American crusades. He was now doing English speaking. I got invited to join the plow team and was working in Aberdeen, scotland. Anyhow, all these things, you know you do one thing and it opens the door for the next thing. And so I ended up meeting my wife in the London crusade. Joni was a missionary from Montana living and working about seven, eight years in London when we met and we got married in London, then came back, eventually left the Palau team, got involved with Promise Keepers.
Speaker 2:I was the director for the Promise Keepers conference in the Northwest. First time it went outside of Boulder, this big men's movement. We had the largest gathering of men ever in the Northwest. It was at the Portland Conference. And then an interesting thing happened. I was just there for a year. They wanted me to do what I'd done in Portland around the rest of the country. And my church said to me we would like you to be our missions pastor. And I was quite intrigued by that. I'd done a lot of festivals and crusade preparation for Luis Palau it's kind of like same thing, different city. And I thought, yeah, that would be what promise keepers would be. But I got a way to pray and fast for a day, to basically say pray and fast for a day, to basically say what job do you want me to have, want me to take? And the Lord gave me a vision. I'm not given to visions, but the Lord gave me a vision that I knew. I didn't understand it, but I knew, when I just was still and trying to think about it, I knew that he wanted me to say yes to my church and no to Promise Keepers. So I said thank you very much, bill McCartney, I'm going to do this. And I was intrigued by the idea of actually developing something. You know, being led by the Holy Spirit to develop something new. Not the same way every time. So I said yes to becoming a missions pastor.
Speaker 2:In the next few years was building relationships with other mission pastors in the area, with other pastors, but still there was this thing. What is this thing that God gave me this vision for? Well, eventually would become what I do full-time now Mission Connection, northwest Mission Connection, the ministry. But it took like eight years for me to just wait on the Lord, share with a few people the vision that the Lord had given me, and then they got excited and they said we will pray with you. So it was eight years from the time that I got the vision until we actually pulled the trigger and launched this basically citywide, region wide missions conference that has exhibitors from the agencies and, you know, lots of workshops led by mission leaders from the local church and and uh speakers, plenary speakers and um. So that's where we started, but I was still uh church missions pastor, uh, eventually went back and work with the plow team, but then eventually I went full time with that and that was another eight years.
Speaker 2:So you think about the way God moves. It's not quick. Sometimes it takes time for things to really kind of a crockpot type approach. Not the microwave, and so eight years to launch it and then another eight years before I went full time. We didn't have any foundation for a paid salary. We were doing really well but I went full time and the Lord provided, and everybody was telling me you need to do this, it'll, it'll take off. Well, I can give that advice to people like Chad.
Speaker 1:Sure Sure, but anyone can tell you that you?
Speaker 2:need to do this full time. It's going to be great.
Speaker 1:And you say well, how am I going to get paid? And they're like well, I don't know.
Speaker 2:But trust the Lord, it'll be fine. It's always the spiritual. People have no money. We know those guys. Yeah, Anyhow that was yeah.
Speaker 3:One thing I love that you said and I actually wanted to land there today after you said it is you prayed and fasted, or fasted and prayed, and I think that I mean that hits home personally for me, because I in fact did that yesterday for a decision, but it, but there's so much to that I I don't know well notice, it was fasted and prayed and worked for 16 years like, like the overnight success, the fasting
Speaker 1:and praying, guided, a decision that didn't seem, didn't see its full fulfillment for almost two decades. I mean, like in our world today, we want immediate gratification, like that's just the American norm, right? Everything from buy it on Amazon, you see it tomorrow, to fast food and our whole, the whole world that we live in, especially as Americans, is, is built on what I need, what I want. I can get it right now, and that's just not the way the Lord works, right? He takes time to build people, to build systems, to build the right teams so that the things that we can do can be successful. And even then you watch good ones crash and burn. Right, even with all the best preparations, it doesn't guarantee success. But, bill, like one of the things I love about you again, we've had a relationship off and on for 25 years Like you look the same as you did 25 years ago, like I don't think you've aged.
Speaker 2:You haven't aged a moment.
Speaker 1:I, on the other hand, have I was skinny then and I'm not anymore and I think I didn't have any gray hair and I've got almost as much gray hair as you do now. But this 20 to 45 has been rough on me. But I don't know how old you are now, but it's you look Rough on me too.
Speaker 4:yeah, you know it doesn't look like it.
Speaker 1:So it's been amazing to watch the way that God has continued almost expand your influence, right Like you already had influence. When I first met you, we were asking to advise us so that we could develop something similar to what God had done in your ministry. But beyond that now to see how it's grown from a cool thing in a church right, a way to get other churches involved in what your church was doing, but it just kind of kept growing. And now you've got Missions Connection. That is doing the same thing in Portland, but it's also now spread to the Southwest, so you've got stuff there in Phoenix. It's got a large following.
Speaker 1:It's not uncommon to bump into people who are doing other missions conferences and they're very aware of missions connection. It's a part of the network of of conferences that you can go to and and it's just really amazing to see how God has continued to do that. And you know, to watch you as a person kind of grow in your capacity as well, like it's not a given. We've watched lots of men and women who have great big ideas and crash and burn before they get realized and maybe never recover from that. Crashing and burning right Like the big idea is, I think, the easy part, and burning right Like the big idea is, I think, the easy part. But living the life to bring that idea into, into, uh, into reality is a it's going to be a lifetime process. Um, that reminds me when I was like 20, getting out of college, I was going to a four square church in Puyallup, washington.
Speaker 3:You know where Puyallup was. You guys have probably never heard of that, that word, ever. I've heard of it, but I don't know where it is. Spell it. No, I'm kidding, it's okay, pass.
Speaker 1:And my pastor there said if you have a big vision from the Lord, you have to work backwards to see you know what's step one and on. So I wrote this like lifetime vision document back when I was like 19 or 20 and uh, and then it has these big things and it was really quick to under. I was really quick to understand, probably two or three years after I wrote it, that it far exceeded my character, right, yeah, like if, if, if what I saw in that vision or my desire had been accomplished right away, it would have been so much of arrogance and pride and I would have been so. It would have platformed me to think that I had brought this to pass. You know, and here I'm 25 years later and God has done a lot of good things, but it's never looked like what that vision, what I thought it was going to look like, right, Because you change, we change in the process.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we change our life, change your priorities change. You become a husband, you become a parent, you become a church employee. I mean there's so many different layers a missionary for a season, and in all those things you have different roles and it actually makes that vision look a little different at each level and it's a good thing, I think it's a God thing. To be honest, I think that's part of how so like perspectives gives you this almost brain dump of how God has moved throughout history for his purpose, singular right, one purpose to bring about the knowledge of the nations and their worship of him, right? That's the point. But, man, you know, the way Abraham saw that looked a lot different than the way moses saw that and david saw that. You just kind of walk through scripture and you get these big pictures. Everyone sees this slightly differently, but the picture hasn't changed. It's the same lord using all these men and women in scripture, all the men and women throughout history in very different ways, all of the flawed people that they are to drive towards his global purpose.
Speaker 1:And so now the same thing as we're finishing Perspectives Week 15, I know I've done this enough to know that in the next few months all of those students will wrestle with now what?
Speaker 4:What's God want me?
Speaker 1:to do and how's it going to look and what's it going to feel like, and we don't give them answers. We just kind of want them to sit and listen to the Lord on that. And so you've been doing this mobilization work as a career, bill, how have you watched people maybe go from entry level wanting to learn more about God? They go through perspectives. How have you seen it impact their lives?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean everybody's different. How did it impact your life? We'll start there. Well, it's funny, you mentioned you went through it in 2006, so I was just kind of doing the math. Yeah, I went through it 1996, so exactly 10 years before you, and I'd been through bible college and seminary and I was a brand new missions pastor and one of our missionaries was home, or, and he just said, yeah, you have to take perspectives. And I'm like, yeah, I've heard the name, but you know, whatever I have, you know. I told him I have a lot of things I got to do. He said, no, a lot of things you have to do that.
Speaker 1:You know you're added to the list.
Speaker 4:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I'll take that under advisement right. So when I took it in the spring of 1996, no pardon me, 1995, 11 years before you.
Speaker 2:I just said why didn't someone teach me this, why didn't I get shown this when I was doing Bible college and seminary? And it really rocked my world. And it really rocked my world, it changed my whole outlook and it really gave me a structure to build a whole mission, pastor ministry under. You know like I could put structure to hey, this is who we are today, but where do we want to be in the next five years? And I maybe didn't necessarily think along those lines, but once I'd had this 15 weeks of training, it was like that's how I looked at my ministry. We need to look at the great disparity between the amount of money that sure people that were setting to reach parts of the world.
Speaker 2:What about the unreached? Yeah so so that really is. Uh, its impact was just the beginning for me, and um, and then, of course, you form a fellowship, a deep fellowship, with anybody that's been involved with Perspectives class. It's wonderful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's got its own little tribe, and when you find someone that's Perspectives, it's like, oh, how did it impact you?
Speaker 2:And you hear very similar stories over and over again and it was with you last year here, uh-huh, hanging out, you know, with the great chad. Okay, he really kind of dr chad, I think no, no, no, and that's right yeah, yeah and um he, but he was the one that really said you know, you really ought to come to the 50th anniversary celebration of Perspectives.
Speaker 1:I thought you'd been with it for 50 years. Yeah, that's right. No, wait, wait, wait. That would have been 86 or 76.
Speaker 4:Right, right, right.
Speaker 2:And so. But you know, really it was your encouragement. I thought, oh man, you're going to be there. Oh yeah, oh man, I get to hang out with the great Chad, I'm going. So that was almost life-changing because I got to meet different people.
Speaker 1:It really was an incredible event to celebrate how Perspectives has had such an impact over its 50-year history and the different countries.
Speaker 2:What were there? Like 46 countries. Yeah, it's unbelievable. See, if you weren't there you wouldn't even know that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really is incredible. Well, thank you for sharing kind of your perspective story. You get to do Lesson 15 a lot and I know that you've taught other lessons as well, but you do a great job on Lesson 15. And just so our listeners know that, that Lesson 15 is focused on the world Christian disciple. Like what does it mean?
Speaker 1:to have a global focus to the way that you live out your faith day to day and the way, maybe, you train other disciples as you go. And so we're walking through some of the tools that, as you finish perspective, you're thinking about the next steps. When you're thinking about what are you going to do next, there's some really simple guides you give people. So, just in a real quick nutshell, what would you say to someone who realizes that God's given them a purpose and that that purpose is beyond themselves? Right, my goal here is not just to be a really strong, faithful church member who's got my act together, but beyond that, there's a purpose Like this podcast.
Speaker 1:It's the so that why does God make his face shine on us? Why is he gracious to us? It's so that his name will be known among the nations right His salvation on all the peoples. So if God's done all this in us, how are we going to engage the world around us? And you give a few simple tools as you walk through. So give us a little nutshell of what that looks like.
Speaker 2:Well, you were talking about some of the things that you know hit you. You know, I'd like to do the three buckets, which is number one, the great commandment, and then the great commission, and then the great commitment. And, of course, the great commandment is love the Lord, thy God, with all your heart.
Speaker 1:Great commission is, you know, sending out, go make disciples.
Speaker 2:Great commitment is what Jesus spent the most time on and that was, you know, unless the seed falls in the ground and dies, you know, you can't have a plant without the seed giving up its life, and that's what Jesus is calling us to. So we basically, in this lesson 15, we talk about practices and um disciples you know, and what does it mean to have disciplines, what does it mean to have practices?
Speaker 2:So it was kind of fun talking about you know that and and asking the class you know what does that mean to you? And then at the end we say, oh, this is great, now you've done all this stuff. But now where do you fit? And that's, um, that's like sharing the gospel and, uh, people kind of go along when it's in the third person, but it's all of a sudden when you change to the second person, what are you going to do with the gospel? Oh, gee, I've got an appointment, got to go, and and so you know.
Speaker 2:But that's what we all need to wrestle with, because you can hear all kinds of rhetoric out there, but in the end of the day, who Jesus Christ is is only important to you. Who is jesus christ to you? What is this great commandment, commission commitment to you? And when we wrestle with and we take personal responsibility for this body of information that we've just been hearing about, looking at perspectives is looking at the world christian movement through what the bible, history, culture and strategic strategy is where it gets personal, isn't it? And you know where do I fit? So I mean, that's kind of what we talk about and it's kind of fun to talk about. The finale was not what is it going to take, but who is it going to take? Yeah.
Speaker 3:I actually think, bill, it would be awesome. I don't know if you're a writer, but I'm like those three C's. I would love that to be in the next edition, because that final C, that really hit me this morning. You know the commandment I've always heard and known.
Speaker 2:Commitment, you mean Well, but but but yes. The great command.
Speaker 3:But the commandment I've always known right.
Speaker 2:And the commission.
Speaker 3:I've known but not fully understood until this class. But then when you tied the bow on this whole thing with that commandment, the commitment.
Speaker 1:Excuse me the commitment.
Speaker 3:Thank you, that commitment to follow and to die to myself.
Speaker 1:I mean it does. It gets real personal, real fast. Yeah, amen. Well, there's a couple of things.
Speaker 1:Jeff Vanderstatt you probably know, jeff, he's a pastor at Soma Church outside of Seattle, in Tacoma, and I saw him at a conference here in Austin and he said that the call of Jesus is a call to come and die. The question is, who are you willing to die for right? Right, like your mission field, is the person, the people that you're willing to spend your life to engage for the gospel. You know, and so you know, and for Soma Church there in Tacoma, they have a lot of work among the homeless, among the poor and impoverished of the area. You might think we had Jimmy Dorrell here a few weeks ago that talked about that in Waco and the area and how they moved into one of the worst zip codes in the United States so that they could make a difference in a community and in the 40 years they lived there they've made a huge difference. And so that kind of idea like who are you willing to put your life on hold for and put your life aside for right, this idea of the seed, has to fall to the ground and die before it can give life to the next generation of is such a major part of of any john piper might say, like any, any plan to take the gospel, it doesn't include a plan that that, if it doesn't include suffering, it probably isn't the full plan, like it's just just kind of a full. Like we, we, we put together our processes and plans and we, as Americans especially, avoid suffering at all costs, right, like in every level. Um, but there's not a story in scripture where God doesn't use that suffering to draw people into dependence on him.
Speaker 1:And uh, and so you know, you mentioned the 16 years of waiting, from the time that you felt like this is kind of what I think God's put on my heart, and then even starting at another eight years, until you're in a position. There was some suffering, there was some bloodshed to try to get this thing working. There's some sweat and some tears and like maybe this isn't going to work and I'm going to be okay with that. You're going to work through all of that. And that 16 years it wasn't fully formed in day one. It wasn't fully formed in year five, 10, 15. You're still waiting in some respect, and so I hope that, if you're listening today, what I hope you're hearing us say is that God has a purpose for you and that purpose is being brought about in your life in some way.
Speaker 2:And the way for you to really it's to draw near to him right.
Speaker 1:It's to obey him, it's to love him, it's to draw near to him, to abide in me and I abide in you and you will bear much fruit right. This abiding might take some years. Right now I think it's really popular the Amazon Prime series on David, the House of David, House of David, Yep Super cool. I watched all of them in like three days because I love the story.
Speaker 2:It's a compelling story.
Speaker 1:David has been one of my lifelong fascinations. I've preached through his life a few times. I used Chuck Swindoll's book for a while when I was a youth pastor. So I'm just fascinated with David's story and it's one of the most heroic and courageous stories and that's the part that remembers. But it's also one of the sickest, brokenest, you know messiest stories in all of scripture.
Speaker 1:For the scriptures to say this is a man after God's own heart and be talking about David, like you know Saul's sin, right Saul, the kingdom has been taken from him and it's so clear. He disobeyed God and he did it very clearly. David did way worse. So then why in the world can you say this is a man after God's own heart when David's sin is so much more egregious than Saul's sin? And the only thing I can see is the humility and the repentance Saul never repents. In his whole defense to Samuel he's defending himself. And this is what I was doing. I was afraid of them, all these things. David does horrible things, but when he's confronted by Nathan, immediately he repents, yeah, and actually in an incredibly sincere format for some time. And there's a book, that kind of contrast, that, uh, kind of contrast those two. The tale of three Kings by a Jean Edwards.
Speaker 2:Fantastic book.
Speaker 1:If you want to pick it up, it's one of the best leadership books ever. Anyway, um, when I think about that, I again you think about the character development of someone like David. You know, a shepherd with the sheep has. No, there is no career path right, much less a path that will eventually lead you to be a king Like. There's no way, because of David's manipulations, he can work himself into that job position, right, and then, as a king, he makes terrible mistakes and then you just kind of watch the way that all works out. You think God was developing him at every step of the way, and I think how short-sighted sometimes we are when we consider our plans and God's plans and how quickly he should bring it about.
Speaker 1:Maybe switching back to the missions topic, it also doesn't strike me as fair that India was where William Carey went 300 years ago and it remains the largest population of unreached people group on the planet, you know. So probably the recipient of the most gifted, probably longest term influence, right, the very first missionary that we consider Modern Missions goes there. There's been missionaries ever since and it remains one of the least reached portions of the planet. Like that's 300 years of history that we can track and see what's. It remains one of the least reached portions of the planet. That's 300 years of history that we can track and see what's, and God's been doing something there since the beginning of time. So you just think, how is God moving the development of a character of a person, how about a character of an organization, what about a character of a nation? And on, there's so much there. We want to be there in a hurry, we want it tomorrow, and yet god is, is very willing, uh, to kind of walk this with us.
Speaker 1:So this actually was not on our um, my target for us to talk about today. It does seem that that's the theme of our podcast, um, and here we're already at 28 minutes out of our 30. So, bill, it is incredible again to watch how God has used you and to be a participant from a while ago, to see your impact on people who heard you a year ago and, of course, even Brittany got to hear you for the first time this morning and I really appreciate the character that God has given you and really the mission that he's put you on for these years. As we're kind of coming to an end of the podcast, what are some things coming up for you. What's exciting for you, mr Bill McLeod.
Speaker 2:Well, we've got our Mission Connection Southwest. It is in its fifth year coming up in Phoenix in the first weekend in November. It's always the first weekend in November. And then we've got Mission Connection Northwest coming into our 25th year in Portland, always the third weekend in January. As I said this morning, wonderful time to come to Portland if you like rain and if you don't like rain. It to come to Portland if you like rain and if you don't like rain. It just rains and it's cold rain.
Speaker 1:And so we really. It's a filtering device to get the people that are really serious.
Speaker 3:You only get the committed ones you only get the committed ones, Well, but I loved what you shared, some of the bullet points for how it came about. Like even that it's free, I mean. I think that's amazing because you even said you had a heart for families coming together. I was like that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, this is a. This is like the unconference. It's not in fact. I've had past come because we wrestled with it as a board. You know, you always have those business board members that say we're skin in the game.
Speaker 4:You know.
Speaker 2:And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know all that stuff, skin of the game. Yeah, okay, you're a business guy, great. But I had a pastor come up to me right after we were debating this stuff and, just totally out of the blue, he had no idea. He says, bill, I hope you never charge for this event. And I said, really, now, that's intriguing that you would just out of the blue come up. And he was there with his wife and family. He said because then people's expectations change as soon as they put money in. They will expect you and then they will begin to dictate. And he said what you've got here is completely organic. You know, you honor the local church, I mean, he had this whole list of things and it's like it all came back to the things that we're committed to.
Speaker 2:You know prayer, like we don't have a meeting without, and they say, oh, isn't that nice, very, you know, very thoughtful, that they pray. No, you don't understand. You know me, you know that I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm just saying we, you guys, we need jesus to help us and so all the things we pray about are real needs. It's not things that you know we've already solved. But you know it'd be a nice idea to pray. No, we pray because my team knows we're desperate for the Lord and we're desperate for the Lord to be the main person. He's the CEO. I'm just best I can ever be is just sales. You know, really it's Jesus, is the is the.
Speaker 2:CEO and so we've operated that way and praise the Lord. In Phoenix, they caught the same vision and I just kept saying you guys, you have to start praying. And they prayed for like two and a half years before they launched and you know it's going to look different, but it's the same DNA and I love that.
Speaker 3:I love the way you lead. You have this, I would say, unexpected character within you and it's that desperation for the Lord that you allow the unexpected. Like even when you shared this morning, when you said it's going to be free, they're like no skin in the game and you're like let's just go the unexpected path and let's see what happens. Let's wait 16 years and see what develops. Like that's super cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's the Lord how it's played out.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, it's not accidental. Sometimes we might confuse unexpected with accident, but it's not accident Like it's something that the Lord's been using.
Speaker 3:But he allows it right. Yeah, no, of course you allow it. I kind of welcome it. You know it's not cookie cutter.
Speaker 2:It's, like you know, working with the team.
Speaker 2:We have a director there and you know, I'm so open to their ideas that I don't want to say, well, this is how we did it. Sometimes they push me to say you know, well, how do you do it in Portland? And I almost don't like to say, well, in Portland, you know we. And so, um, and they, they, they. When they really feel like they might be messing up, they say, uh, how do you think we're really doing? And I just always tell them I'm waiting for you guys to have a major fail, because only when you fail, will you learn.
Speaker 2:But so far it's never happened.
Speaker 1:You're doing it great, so please you know just do something.
Speaker 2:Do the crazy, because I'm waiting for that failure.
Speaker 3:But it never happens. Well, it's just like when you originally fasted and prayed and you got the unexpected answer, probably at the time. That's cool.
Speaker 1:Well, Bill, it is always a pleasure to have you with us.
Speaker 2:Wonderful to be with Dr Chad.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, anyone listening. You know I'm not a doctor, but you may not know that I am pursuing a doctorate.
Speaker 2:So I got a long ways to go.
Speaker 1:But one day maybe I'll be Dr Chad Not yet Eight years, yeah, 16 years 16 years, but we're so thankful for your ministry, bill, and anyone that wants to learn more about Missions Connection, it's got its website. You can just Google it. There's a lot of information there, lots and lots of really cool arms of the ministry that are working in different segments and spheres of missions. Some of it focused on mobilizing local church, some of it on how to form a missions committee or team or organization, how to partner effectively overseas. There's so much wealth of information that they've compiled and developed for the church, for the local church, for obviously originally there in Portland and then again now in Phoenix, but so much of it is valuable to churches everywhere. I keep telling him that you know, if they were going to do Missions Connection here in San Antonio, it would probably naturally be called Southwest, but since that's name taken, I don't know what we'll do.
Speaker 2:You're used to that.
Speaker 1:We'll just call it South Tex and go from there, and of course South Texas is another four hours south of San Antonio if you hang out.
Speaker 1:But there are needs for those kind of events that pull the body of Christ towards one another for the sake of partnership for the kingdom and mission seems to be the only area that people are willing to have. Those cross-denominational conversations Every one of us know it's too big for any of us to do alone, and so if the globe and the ends of the earth continues to be the task remaining, then we need to work together to see that task accomplished. You're one of those front runners. We're so thankful for you, bill. Anything you want to say before we close?
Speaker 2:Well, mission connection is spelled with an X and it's global. So if you just went on and you put C-T-I-O-N, you'll probably end up. We've got probably the URL for that too.
Speaker 1:But yeah, missionconnection, all one word dot global and you'll come right to us and yeah, but otherwise, thank you so much for being able to be here. For sure, brittany, anything else you would say, thanks for hanging out with us today.
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm incredibly grateful that you came and wrapped up this class for us. It, it, it has been life-changing for me and you adding, you adding that final piece today just was terrific. So thank you for the exclamation marks.
Speaker 2:Wow. Well, we want you to be a coordinator for Perspectives next year, just get through that train.
Speaker 4:Well, I didn't expect to land here today. Turn that train, start turning the screws. Someone's going to give me that kind of accolades. I'm just going to help, I'm just going to do a solid for. Chad and go. Hey, we'll see how committed oh gosh, I think you said something about people like that today in class he said something about that.
Speaker 3:I'm pretty sure it's on your paper over there.
Speaker 1:I also want to just acknowledge Savannah Austin hanging out with us today.
Speaker 1:She's going to help us in the production side, so happy to have you with us. Savannah, thank you for all that you're considering. And to finish up, really to you listeners, like as you think about how God's calling you, anna, thank you for all that you're considering. And to finish up, really to you listeners, as you think about how God's calling you, as you listen to a podcast like this and you consider all the work that has gone into both the Lord calling you and drawing you to himself and giving you the attention span to listen to four of us just rant and rave about crazy things for 35 minutes. I just want you to know it's for a purpose. The purpose is that you would know how much God pursues you and loves you and cares for you, but also know that there's a purpose beyond you and the purpose beyond you is that you would be again a mission, an ambassador on mission for his kingdom wherever he sends you.
Speaker 1:So why does God bless you? Why does he make his face shine on you? It's so that you will bring the glory of God to the nations. So be a blessing. Use that blessing in the life that you've given you. Draw near to those who are close to you and far from God and help them see the glory of God at work within you so they can glorify him. Guys, have a wonderful day. Thank you for tuning in. We'll talk to you soon. God bless, we are so thankful that you joined our podcast today. We would love to hear any feedback you may have for us.
Speaker 4:Remember. Psalm 67 says May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine on us so that we always may be known on earth and your salvation among all nations. Don't forget why the Lord blesses us it's so that we can be a blessing to those around us. Until next time, god bless.