UNREACHED
In Revelation 7, John shares his vision of heaven with members from every tribe, tongue, people and language standing in the throne room before the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups around the world.
For the last six years, my family and friends have been on a journey to find, vet and fund the task remaining.
Come journey with us to the ends of the earth as we share the supernatural stories of God at work through the men and women he has called to reach the UNREACHED.
UNREACHED
Season 3 WRAP-UP: Heartwarming Stories from Operation Christmas Child
Join us on an inspiring journey as Amber and Clint Hudson, wrap up season three of the Unreached podcast, where we share remarkable stories of divine interventions among unreached communities. This episode spotlights Operation Christmas Child, whose shoebox gifts have opened doors to the gospel in remote regions. Hear heartwarming accounts of a child in Mongolia who wanted to thank Jesus, and Agnes, a Tanzanian teenager encouraged to spread the gospel, illustrating the incredible ripple effects of selfless giving.
Prepare to be moved by tales of hope and healing that showcase God's providence in unexpected ways. From a young boy's miraculous recovery from kidney failure to a girl's joy upon receiving a gift box filled with her favorite hair accessories, these narratives highlight how being seen and acknowledged by God can transform lives.
Finally, immerse yourself in the poignant story of Sinkalitsa, a girl who found a new identity and hope through faith, leading to her finding a new name. This transformation underscores the power of faith and community in redefining one's worth. As we reflect on our duty to reach the unreached, we invite you to consider your role in this mission, whether as a sender, teller, or prayer. We here at the UNREACHED Podcast express our heartfelt gratitude for your support and encourage you to share this journey of love and transformation within your own communities.
Follow @unreachedpodcast on Instagram for more!
In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven, with members from every tribe, tongue, people and language standing in the throne room before the Lamb. Yet today there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups around the world. For the last six years, my family and friends have been on a journey to find, vet and fund the task remaining. Come journey with us to the ends of the earth as we share the supernatural stories of God at work for the men and women he has called to reach the unreached.
Speaker 2:Hey friends, welcome to another episode of the Unreached podcast. I am Clint Hudson, your host, and this is our final episode of season three. Wow, we've been at this for three full seasons. We have literally traveled around the globe. We've had guests that have told us incredible stories of God at work at the most unreached and unavailable places in the world Just absolutely incredible. And today I have Amber Hudson on the podcast with us. Amber does our social media and she also does our story curation. She makes sure that we stay connected with all of our former guests that we've had on the show and she also makes sure that anybody that's in the audience that's listening has an opportunity to reach out to her and get connected to anybody that they've heard on the podcast before. So, amber, thanks for being here.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:So the last episode, amber was on with us. She brought us a couple of stories from Operation Christmas Child. So Amber's brought us a few stories today. We're going to journey around the world, like we always promise you guys best we can, to journey around the world. Today we're going to tanzania, we're gonna go to kenya, we're gonna go to peru. I'm gonna take you back to malawi. I got another story from malawi. That's actually I've never told this story before on the pod and it's probably my favorite story that I've ever been a part of. But ambers brought us us a few stories today, so let's just a quick recap. Operation Christmas Child what's the big idea? How do they work? What's their purpose?
Speaker 3:The big idea is that they take something like a simple shoebox and they have partners, partner, local churches, partner people who fill the shoebox with simple gifts, things like notebooks and pencils and maybe a small toy Soccer ball, soccer ball, something like that a doll and they take these shoeboxes into the most remote places in the world, the unreached people who have never heard the name Jesus that is what this podcast is about unreached and so they take these shoeboxes and these shoeboxes serve as a key for them to be able to get into these communities. A lot of these communities are pretty closed off to the world, and so they have an opportunity to go in. The kids receive the gifts and then they're presented with the gospel and it's this beautiful picture right of the gospel that Jesus brought salvation, gave it as a gift, he gave his life for us. And so they hear the gospel and then they're walked through this discipleship program, not just the kids, but the parents. It changes the entire village. Then the village wants to go and share the gospel. It's incredible.
Speaker 2:So I got a clip right at the beginning here from our friend David Thompson from Operation Christmas Child, where he talks about a specific kid's response to getting their box and who they wanted to thank. So check this out.
Speaker 5:One of my favorite stories of all time from Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child is this family. They moved out to be with the Barati people in Mongolia. They left the capital, ulaanbaatar. When they came into the village there was this long, dusty road. They had stones thrown at them and they didn't know how it was going to go. But with the gifts, the gifts changed so much, just like we heard from the Bara people. With this Barati people and one of those kids came back to the guy who was starting the church there right, came up to his gear these little tents that Mongolians travel and live in and he knocked on the gear and he said is Jesus in there? Because I'd like to thank him for my gift and just one simple kid, bringing it back to what you shared. Jesus cares about the one and he cares about one more box because there's one more Barati kid in Mongolia who's going to have the opportunity to say thank you to Jesus for that box.
Speaker 2:It was so beautiful and so practical. Because this Barati kid in Mongolia, they didn't have a concept of who Jesus was or the fact that he had sacrificed his life so that they could have eternal life.
Speaker 2:He just knew that Jesus was associated with him getting this gift and it's I feel like that's such a beautiful way to introduce somebody into a relationship with Jesus. Jesus has gotten this gift for you and the gift we for those of us that know Christ. We know that the gift is eternal life. The gift is is being absolved of our sin and our brokenness, but it starts with just an understanding that Jesus is a gift giver and I think that's just such a beautiful story and, inevitably, like David, goes on to talk about how that kid ended up walking through the Greatest Journey, which is their discipleship program, and he started to understand who Jesus actually was and the true gift that Jesus actually gave, which is so beautiful.
Speaker 2:But what an incredible open door from a story in Mongolia. That's amazing. We got another story of a 13-year-old girl Her name is Agnes and she's in Tanzania and she felt compelled to not only receive a gift but to communicate the gospel as she started to understand more about who Jesus is. So take a second listen to this awesome story from Tanzania.
Speaker 5:I was talking with our team in Tanzania and they were telling us a story that just kind of blew my mind of an outreach event that happened right at the end of a religious holiday with extreme fasting, and so this village was just amped up and they wanted to come in and celebrate the end and use it as a platform to be able to share the gospel and point people to Christ. At a time where they were just open and there was a church out in this village and this is in Tanzania and there were 180 kids sitting on the floor. There was an opportunity in Tanzania and there were 180 kids sitting on the floor. There was an opportunity where the room just fell silent and a girl named Agnes gave a full gospel presentation and it was beautifully done. Afterwards, our team talked with Agnes and asked her you know what's the call in her life? And she described with incredible clarity her desire to share Christ with her friends and even with adults. This is a 13-year-old girl in Tanzania that's taking the gospel and planting seeds at the end of a dusty road and after the end of all that, those same kids who had never heard the gospel are now going to have the opportunity to be part of the greatest journey Just incredible. And that's just a story that happens again and again.
Speaker 5:I was just in Ghana and saw that exact same thing happen, six hours from the capital 150 kilometers took seven hours to drive to. But when we got there we used those same posters that we're using Tanzania over in Ghana and the end result of that was just an engine roar, the laughter, the joy, the love that those kids felt. I mean, I literally felt like I was standing on a tarmac and there was a plane about to take off like a 757. It was just so loud and it lasted for like 10 minutes. Like 10 minutes. It's this powerful combination of all that prayer and service that Grace sees sharing being distilled down into this perfect little gift that is a representation of God's love. And then that end result is kids being blown away by that in a beautiful way and getting that kind of liftoff for the gospel in their life.
Speaker 3:That's pretty convicting that this 13-year-old girl. You know this chaos If you've been around kids 180 kids. That room was probably chaotic and as soon as it got quiet she said OK, this is my time, I'm going to share the gospel. That was her heart, that she was going to take that moment, take that opportunity because she wanted her friends to know the gospel.
Speaker 2:I just as I was listening to that I was just thinking about like heroes of the faith, like I feel like agnes is a hero absolutely of mine. Like someone who, someone who knows that they have the good news of the gospel and they understand who jesus is, and they want to take the opportunity to be able to communicate that to their friends.
Speaker 3:And then the impact of the kids in Ghana hearing the gospel and just the roar and the joy that they had receiving the gospel. It's that visual of kids receiving the gift box right and they're opening their gift box and there's so much joy in the receiving those gifts and then they turn around and receive the greatest gift you could ever receive and have even more of a joyful reaction. I can only view these stories from the perspective of being an American. And things like soccer balls and dolls and paper and pencil they're so common. It's so common. I see them everywhere. I see them all the time. If one of my children wants one, I can go to Target and get one. I think in the same way, sometimes we can become numb to the beauty of the gospel. There's a Bible. You can find Bibles in every store here. It's so common.
Speaker 2:There's a church on every corner, like in our language.
Speaker 3:In our language. Yeah, there's podcasts, there's music. I mean, it's just we're saturated with the gospel and yet we can become so numb to it. They are presented with these things that they've never seen, never experienced. It's incredible and beautiful. It's like they can recognize how great it is. I and beautiful. It's like they can recognize how great it is. I want that you know. Psalm says restore to me the joy of your salvation. I want that.
Speaker 2:I think about. When I was in Malawi, one of the things that was impactful to me is that I did see these soccer fields almost everywhere and almost every village had a soccer field. Now, take out of your mind any type of structured soccer field thing. We're talking about a dirt field with maybe one goal with no net. Okay. But it was such a meeting place for people that in every village, soccer is an international sport. It's the biggest sport in the world, but especially in Africa. That's just something that's so impactful.
Speaker 2:But one of the things that was really interesting is most of the soccer fields. They didn't have a soccer ball. They had some kind of beat up like tape ball or something that they would play with. And so you know you mentioned just a second ago, like how we take some common things for granted. You know there's not a target in Malawi to go and get a soccer ball. If you have a soccer ball, I mean that's something that brings people together, brings an entire village together. It's not just a toy, it's an opportunity to bring people together. It's not just a toy, it's an opportunity to bring people together. So there's a story very similar to Malawi. Kenya is the same way. There's soccer fields and every village pretty much has a field where they designate for people to go and play soccer together. It's just incredible story that OCC brought to us last year where they talked about a soccer ball and the impact that it had in Kenya. So check this out.
Speaker 5:I have one from Kenya. There's a boy that he'd been devastated from having kidney failure and it was been very tough for him to walk, his body's swollen. I'm looking at a picture of him. It's just. His life was so challenging. He came to an outreach event. The gospel presentation was shared with him and when he got it he found something that he'd always wanted, which was a soccer ball, and he was extremely happy. At that outreach event, the gospel presentation team from the local church prayed for him and for his healing and he did, I know, hear about the Medina White, but we also love to hear about when Jesus heals practically.
Speaker 5:And this boy I have another picture of him where he now can walk again and he has that ball and he carries it with him everywhere he goes, even back to the local church he now attends. He went into the Greatest Journey classroom and he believed in Jesus for the first time and he's become an ambassador for Christ in his neighborhood and we're thanking God for both his complete healing and just the image. Think about that little boy who couldn't walk, carrying a soccer ball around, and when I was in Ghana, walk carrying a soccer ball around and I, when I was in Ghana. You know, just in October I saw all these kids that got these boxes later in the day out in the field with their soccer balls. They pumped them up. They were out there playing and you know we're in the middle of nowhere, rejoicing, you know, to see practical examples of love. These things are just going to be powerful door openers for the rest of their lives to want to be involved in their local church.
Speaker 2:You know, I think about this young man receiving this gift, this soccer ball, and Even though he couldn't walk at the time because of his kidney disease and his kidney failure, how he felt, so seen and known by God. Yet God had something so much more substantial and so much more needed for him. And God doesn't just give soccer balls from across the world. So much more substantial and so much more needed for him. God doesn't just give soccer balls from across the world. God provides healing and this incredible story of how this kid received the healing that he needed because of prayer and trust in Jesus. And I feel convicted sometimes that I want to give practical things, maybe that I will even discount the supernatural and not pray for or anticipate that God will move in a supernatural way and I'll just skip straight to praying for the practical things.
Speaker 2:Even when I think about some of our partners that we've had on the podcast, and you know, what do they need? They need resources, they need Bibles, which? They do which they do, and in the same way, this kid needed a soccer ball. But also, like we serve a God who just doesn't stop at giving good gifts, he also is a God who has healing in his hands and he can do so much more than just the practical things that we can think to ask for.
Speaker 3:I have a good friend that would always pray God, put your super on my natural and I love that.
Speaker 2:Oh, I like that. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 3:Put your super on my natural. That's how he works.
Speaker 2:So, speaking of feeling seen and known, we have this really beautiful story that our friend from OCC, gracie, told us about a young girl who was at a gift-giving event in Peru, and I'll let Gracie tell you herself. This is such a beautiful story. Check this out.
Speaker 6:I went to this outreach event in Peru and it was this village town that was you know way on the outskirts of Lima, and I mean such poverty, you know dirt floors. We were at a little school and it was just a concrete room. And this little girl, I can still picture her perfectly in my head. She had these cute little pigtails. She was about seven and she came and while they were doing you know the introduction and the games and everything, she came over to me and she pulled my ponytail out of my hair.
Speaker 6:She starts running her fingers through my hair, she starts taking out the little ponytail holder that she had in her hair and putting it in my hair and she was just playing with my hair. She, she couldn't stop playing with my hair and I was like, do you love playing with hair? And she did. She just, um, you know, she was like I love it and she was showing me her hair. Well, we did the distribution. She gets her box. I'm like working, you know, going around the room and everything. I come back and I'm like what did you get in her box? Her shoe box had everything to do with Hager.
Speaker 6:It was brushes and just so sweet. Yeah, I mean, she had little barrettes and little ribbons and she was over the moon and it was just you know, again the Lord saying I see you, I know the desires of your heart. I mean just those little tiny things that seem insignificant but it makes a child feel so seen. That's what's so incredible and it happens over and over again.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's one of millions of millions of stories you think about when they bring these boxes into the village. They're not bringing 10 boxes or 20 boxes, they're bringing thousands of boxes sometimes. And so out of these hundreds or thousands of boxes, this girl in her box is exactly exactly what she loves and it's just such a beautiful picture of God. Like she said, god saying I see you.
Speaker 2:Like I see you and I know you.
Speaker 3:I know you and I love you.
Speaker 2:So on the second to last day that I was in Malawi with Operation Christmas Child, I had the opportunity to go to an orphanage. This was an orphanage that was sponsored by the country of Malawi, and so they had a few more resources maybe, than some of the other more rural orphanages that we had seen throughout the course of our trip. So I got an opportunity when we went to the orphanage to play some music, and the kids thought that was like the coolest thing ever, and I don't think they really knew what I was singing or saying, but they clapped along and they shouted and they sang and it was beautiful and it was really cool. And the leader of the orphanage, the pastor because this is a Christ centered orphanage the pastor of the orphanage, uh, came over to me and asked if I would be willing to come and pray for some of the kids that were there. And, um, I mean just really cool, uh privilege to get an opportunity to go and pray for some of them, and so naturally I wanted to know some of their stories, and so I asked him specifically. There was this young girl who was there. She was probably maybe 13 or 14 or so. She was older than most of the other kids that were there in the orphanage, and I asked you know what her story was? He told me the story about how she was sick as a kid, even as a baby. She had a sickness that she had carried with her for her entire life. She had some deformities and some things that made it very difficult for her to walk or to even just be a part of the normal activities that some of the other kids got to be a part of, and that she and her sister had been given to the orphanage because her parents, specifically her mom, just didn't know how to take care of her, and because this orphanage had some, some resources and some medical resources, she just thought it'd be a better chance at a, at a life maybe, for her. But also, I think I remember him telling me that, um, her mom just didn't think that she was gonna make it, and so, um, here she is, though, you know, 13, 14 years old, and so I asked her. I was like what's her?
Speaker 2:I asked the, the, the pastor, what's her name? And he told me that her name that she was given is sick synco litsa. He told me that the name that she was given was Sinkalitsa, which meant she is sick. So every day for her entire life she has been called this sickness, this negative thing that she's had over her, and she had been praying for healing, and they'd been praying for healing for years for her. So he asked me if I would pray for healing for Sinkalitsa. But he also asked me to do another thing. He said that she today, when she had heard the proclamation of the gospel at this OCC event, that she had decided to put her trust completely in Jesus. And he said that not only did we want to pray for her healing, but he said that she needs a new name because her name meant sickness and that she was sick. And so he said I want, you know you got anything. Can you come up with a good name to me?
Speaker 2:I'm like, I'm like, oh my god, I'm hearing her story right now in in real time. And he asked me you got it, you got a good name for her. She needs a new name, just like Saul to Paul and um, the first name that popped into my head was Amber, because that's my wife's name, and so I started thinking about how she had been called sick. Her name was, she is sick, and now she has this relationship with Jesus, so let's give her something that's that's worthy of this new life in Christ that she has. And so Amber means precious jewel. It's a jewel, and that's what. That's what she is to Jesus, that's how that's what she is to Jesus, that's how that's what she is to Christ. And so I said let's give her the name Amber. I'll never forget this. He's, he's translating all of this to her as he's talking to me, and her eyes just light up when she hears this.
Speaker 2:And she takes her name tag and she crosses out the name of sink elitza and she writes amber she asked me how to spell it and she writes amber on her name tag and, um, it was such an incredible story that I felt like I got the opportunity to communicate to her her true value and the way that God looks at her.
Speaker 2:Not just the way that her mom looked at her when she was born, that she was a burden, that she was sick, not the way that society maybe looks at her as an orphan or an outcast, but the way that God looks at her as a, as a precious jewel. And so she has this new name and, um, I've, I've had the privilege of being able to to follow up a few times over the years and and get updates about what she's doing as she's. She's grown and you know, now she works within the orphanage and helps all of the other kids. This was several years ago that I got to go and so now she's gone through her teen years. She's still alive. God's continued to use her in the place where she's been planted, but she's so proud to have this new name and this new name that marks the moment that she met Jesus and that Jesus said you're worth more to me, so I'm super grateful for opportunities that Operation Christmas Child. That's just such an anecdotal story. That's my story, but there are literally millions.
Speaker 3:Millions.
Speaker 2:Of stories like this around the world. I think David Thompson said at one point that the goal was to reach 5 million kids this year. That's not in addition to the ones from last year. That's 5 million new kids this year. And so you think about the little stories that we've heard today about soccer balls and hair braids and hair brushes and a Barati kid walking up and knocking on a tent door to say, hey, is Jesus in there? I want to tell him thanks. There's just 5 million stories like this every single year and it's just incredible to see the work that God's doing. So I could try my best to tell you how impactful this is, but I feel like the words are more articulate and more meaningful when you hear them from our friends David Thompson and Joel Hayslip.
Speaker 5:This is your opportunity to rise up and be part of one of the most amazing gospel partnerships that the Lord has ever created in the history of the world. It really is, and that is not to give us. Joel and I are just, you know, two guys that write emails and go to meetings. I mean, it's all about the local church, you know, and that's where people get discipled, that's where transformation happens. That's long-term.
Speaker 5:If anyone has ever thought, oh, it's just a simple shoebox, well, god uses the simple things of the world to shame those who think that they're wise right, and he's done that in this instance, 200 million times. And you know what that, I think, is part of the beauty of it is just like it shouldn't work, but it does, and it does because of the prayers and it does because of God's people rising up in a church in Kiev that's been bombed and keeps going with the greatest journey. I mean, we've watched these testimonial videos of I think her name was Maria and you know she just church bombed kids or, you know, just had to flee homes and they're still going through the greatest journey. I mean, come on, don't you want to be part of that? Don't you want to see that growing, at least get to full capacity. I mean, it's right there. You guys are so right. The fulfillment of the Great Commission has to be all of our calling as Christians, and what the Lord has raised up through his own local church is right there.
Speaker 7:As we go out and share the vision of the Great Commission, Jesus' vision of expanding his kingdom to all nations right throughout all the earth, what we're discovering is that God has already whispered to so many. They've already got the passion, They've got the heart, They've got the desire. They just don't have the means. They don't know how to get in. They don't know how to do it. They know they've got the calling, like this pastor was talking about with the Bada. He had been trying for three years to get into that community by sending us 2,500 shoeboxes. This feels like such a simple thing. The gates, the doors just flung open and here he is, a huge smile on his face, sharing the gospel. Well, today he's already got a pastor installed. They're talking about planting some churches long-term. It's unbelievable. God is already whispering for all 7,000 of those remaining under-peopled groups. God has already raised up. He's already calling the missionaries locally. What they need is our prayer and they need some simple tools, some simple resources, some simple encouragement and, by God's grace, we're able to do that.
Speaker 5:Hebrews 6, 19,. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus went as the forerunner. That's it. It's all about. Jesus tore the curtain, he sent everyone out and that's what we get to do. We get to do that in our generation, our time, with the resources that we have. And you know the race is. It's time Like he handed that baton on to the local church, and it's time for us to run, not shrink back and go to the last 7,000.
Speaker 5:They shouldn't be unreached. What if it was your family? What if you woke up and you didn't have access to the gospel? That should make you mad. Like what if you had no way to have eternal life because you didn't know the name of jesus? Like what if that was your family? When we just got started, a guy named paul eshelman asked me like think about that every day. What if it was your family in an unreached people group? That should break your heart. Just like Bob Pierce, the founder of Samaritan, first said, the things that break the heart of God break our hearts too.
Speaker 2:You know you guys have heard me say this so many times over the course of this podcast. But how could you not want to give your life to something like this? I do think about my family. I think about if my family didn't have the opportunity to hear the transforming story of the gospel.
Speaker 3:If there wasn't a church on every corner or a Bible, you know everywhere that we could go.
Speaker 2:And so I think about two things as I start to process through that One is a conviction that man, I really take it for granted us through. That one is a conviction that man, I really take it for granted, I really take it for granted, and I think too. It's like man, I really struggle with inaction because there's so much that I could easily do to make an impact, to reach the unreached.
Speaker 3:And we talk about that a lot on this podcast just that we're not all able to go to these remote villages in Africa. We're not all able to go, but we can be senders, we can be tellers, we can be senders, we can be prayers. We all have a part to play in this.
Speaker 2:So we're gonna end this episode in the season a little bit differently. Instead of Amber or I or a guest praying for you, I want to give you some time to just pray and reflect on the things that you've heard and just ask God, simply, what am I supposed to do with this? So, guys, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this podcast, to be willing to be impacted with these stories. Thank you for those of you guys who have supported the ministries and the organizations that we've partnered with here at Unreached. Thank you for your prayers that have supported the missionaries that are in the field doing the work. Thank you so much. And so now I want to give you some time to just process through what God is calling you to do to reach the unreached.
Speaker 4:Thank you, oh, come and share the no-transcript.
Speaker 1:would you please rate and review the podcast wherever you listen. Also, share with your family, your friends, your church, your life group, small group, dgroup, wherever you do life, and if you want to connect with us, find us on Instagram at unreachedpodcast, or email us at unreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
