Bob Varney (00:01.175)
you

Bob Varney (00:06.008)
This is the intersection faith work and life podcast hosted by Bob Varney and Hugh Brandt. The intersection is committed to helping people see that discipleship means we live by faith in God in all arenas of our lives all the time. If you want to hear more discipleship stories of people living by faith in every sphere of their lives, please invite others to listen to the intersection podcast. Welcome and thanks for listening today to learn how Scott.

Scott has helped give leadership to the Colorado Clapham Circle. Scott Fast serves as Innovate Educates Director of Colorado projects, focusing on the development of the skills to jobs model and the implementation of the model in multiple locations across multiple industries. Areas of focus include the creation of career pathways in Colorado and understanding and providing access to the supports needed

for low income earners to transition to a career leading to the middle class. Scott also volunteers extensively with Colorado nonprofit organizations, further collaboration between business, education, government, and nonprofit organizations with a focus on strengthening the tie between the competency needs of business and the abilities of students and educators to develop those competencies. Prior to his role with Innovate Educate,

Scott developed and led IT projects with the most recent 16 years at Accenture. Scott was responsible for leading the implementation, operation and maintenance of large computer applications for many of Accenture's federal government clients. At the end of his career, he served as the executive director of the Accenture Foundation, developing and implementing the strategy for the foundation support of Accenture skills.

to succeed initiatives in overseeing the foundations grant program. Today, Hugh Brandt have the privilege of interviewing Scott. Scott, good to see you. Thanks for joining us today. And, um, as we get going, we want to open in prayer and Scott, if you'd open us in prayer, then we'll get going. Happy to you and the pleasure to be here. So dear Lord, we ask for your presence and wisdom to descend upon us.

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guiding our discussions today. We also pray for your blessing on the listeners, helping them to hear anything you want them to hear, understand any actions you want them to take. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Scott. So Scott, I had that introduction of you, but please add to it. Tell us who you are. Will us more about yourself. realize that was a bit long, so I'll try to keep it short. I'll add a few things. So some of them.

a minister and minister's wife. So grew up in, in faith. But for, as a young adult, I was really called to get into the business world, which is how I ended up in the IT career. You, you talked about, was great to work for a couple of wonderful companies. I learned a lot about leadership, about serving customers. But I also learned a lot about how careers working for a good company can really change the individual's lives.

that are having those jobs and just really became very passionate about helping people get into the IT company. And then that ended up me working with the Accenture foundation through that window. really wanted to serve people locally in Colorado, where we live. Really felt that it was called to work with people from lower incomes because of that change that a good job and a career can make. So really helping them build and see the wonderful skills that they've created and help.

them recognize that and then help them tie that into a career that really can help them succeed and their kids succeed. see it at where it crosses generations as well when, when the adults are successful. Today, I've mainly worked with about 30 organizations do that that are in that space. It are really caring for the individual. Most of them are faith led or led by a faith based leader and

They are beginning to work together. We'll talk more about the Clapham circle and how that came together, but they're all working on what we'll call throughout this discussion, the journey from poverty to self-sufficiency. So that's the first part of that, which is a multi-step, multi-struck organization set of services that help a family on the journey from poverty to self-sufficiency. So stand with me. Scott, just tell me a little bit about your faith journey. Well, one of the

Bob Varney (04:56.824)
Probably the biggest moment that has led to where I am today is as I was leaving my, my IT job at et cetera, and moving to the foundation, I was talking with one of the people I knew very well and it was beginning to more freely express my faith. And it was, he didn't really know I was a person of faith. So I thought I'd been living it out in this relatively secular world, but found out that I had not been living it out very front and center. So that really bothered me.

first of all, and also at that point I was having a little more time to lean into prayer. It was really important to be able to spend that time in prayer. And that's really a lot of where my growth has been over the last several years, um, diving into prayer, listening to prayer, having the time for prayer. Another thing that's been really, really key is it's working with friends where you can openly say that. So, you know, I was, was blessed to be able to begin.

to structure jobs where I could openly talk about my face and I could pray about, and I could have these discussions. Found friends even in secular places that were in similar situations. We started working together, praying together, and adding those types of things, seeking God's direction for work. Even now, we're at the point where we stop in the middle of meetings.

And just say, we're not sure where this is going. So let's just, let's just drop everything and stop and pray for God's direction. So that really is been a probably a 12 year journey now for me. So it wasn't something that came quickly, but it's just kind of stepped up over time. appreciate you sharing that. have personally experienced being with you when all of a sudden we stop and we pray, which is so refreshing, so encouraging.

I think you've answered my question. was going to say, what has helped you to live out your faith at work? And I, I think that initial story where someone didn't realize you were a Christian, a person of faith, and then your journey since then, but do you want to add anything else to that? What has helped you to live out your faith at work? the thing I'll, I'll, I'll glean into a little more deeply than is that situation where in a secular environment, just from the beginning, when you first meet people,

Bob Varney (07:18.286)
begin just being able to say, you know, I'm, I'm driven by faith. I I'm a person of faith by faith is. You know, and to try to have love flow out, God's love, but throw through me out to that person. But having it's taken me a while to have enough guts to say that in virtually every situation I'm in. But when that sets the foundation, allows me to have much more open discussions.

Yeah, it's been a journey to get there, but I feel more comfortable. I'm able to do that these days. Well, that's encouraging. I like what you said. It sets the foundation. then of course, people around you are listening and watching and seeing how you live and behave and speak. And, they'll recognize that it fits with you as a person of faith. Scott, I, I only realized just earlier this morning that,

It was six years ago when you joined the Denver leadership circle. can't believe it's been that long. my goodness. My first question is what led you to participate in the Denver leadership circle?

direct answer is a friend of mine, Gary Fuller and Hugh worked together along with several other people who have become very close friends to start the leadership circles. So it was obviously something that I knew was going to be of high quality. I was also searching from, from what God really was wanting me to do. And I was beginning to talk about that more openly with people. So I was starting to get nudges to say, you know, I, I'm not sure I have all the foundation of what is in the Bible.

has been practiced in the past, what others have done to lead this out. So I praying to the Lord about it is, one thing in talking to friends, but what other foundation I've already been out there. And that's what leadership circle is one of the things that really does is help us have those stories has that understanding, explore the foundations. And then at the same time, me just continuing to talk about what I was looking to do led me, I believe God led me to the people like you and Gary.

Bob Varney (09:20.674)
that then was the additional nudges saying, Hey, there's lots of other people out there like me. And this is a place where you can get to know them and you can study and work together. So that's what, it to the leadership circle. Scott, appreciate that. And I have to say you're someone who knows a lot of people. And I'm earlier, you said that you're working with 30 different organizations, which is incredible and so encouraging. Scott, what I'm in the leadership circle.

Everybody is given a challenge to create what we call a city renewal project, something that they care deeply about that they want to work on. And out of that, to some degree, you helped start what we call the Colorado Clapham circle. What prompted you to do that? So love, love the renewal project aspect of this. So there is, it is interesting when you're going through the leadership circle, there was a group of people that

had kind of already been called to do certain things and we're starting to focus on others that were seeking direction as to what they wanted to do with their projects. So was an interesting mix to be able to work. One of the neat things that we found was that there were several, and it wasn't just in our leadership circle. There were some people before and afterwards that were kind of working in the same space doing similar type of work. so throughout the leadership circle, we started bouncing ideas off of each other.

we kept in contact afterwards. Two of them actually at one point met with Q and I and really Jarvis and John were who they met with. And Truman was there as well. Another member of the leadership circle. And we were like, well, let's, let's actively start to pull these things together. Let's figure this out. And that's where we ended up with the journey from poverty to self-sufficiency boundaries. you know, we can't tackle everything. Let's.

We already worked with enough organizations and enough employers that are, that are thinking about this, that we think that we can get something started with that. That's what started the thought from our perspective. But the work that was going on was that many of the organizations, I mentioned the 30 organizations, were all starting, they had all seen over time that they would impact a family here.

Bob Varney (11:41.486)
And then they'd kind of lose sight of them and that family would pop up back over here and need support from another organization. And then that, family would pop up over here, but often they had encountered some barriers in between a couple of the organizations that unfortunately caused them to have difficulties that maybe they needed to start some portion of the journey over again. And we started to realize that it was really an interconnected journey.

that if you're going to walk beside a family across what often takes five to 10 to 15 years on the move from poverty to self-sufficiency, that you're in a need to have an interconnection that has a variety of time and a variety of activities that are there to support different families at different parts of the journey. So it made sense for us to have a more holistic perspective and begin to bring people together.

Scott, what would you say, I mean, you already have been answering this, but were there some key perspectives or principles or truths from the Denver leadership circle that kind of stuck with you as you helped launch the call to Clapham circle? Well, the name says the first one, which is we were just completely inspired by what the original Clapham circle did to not only, but to the abolishment of the claim.

trade, but then also other positive things that are happening in England in the early 1800s. So just inspiration and just to realize that people could do it. The other thing is that you're placed. God has placed you in a specific situation in a separate specific location because that's where he wants you to do your work. And, and Clapham circles.

brought that out as well, right? So we all have our locations, our shifts, our current work that when we think about how all that can interconnect and begin to share stories and information and dreams and hopes, and then begin to work together, all that can come together to a broader good and all that can come together that another thing is, you know, us living out our authentic lives.

Bob Varney (13:59.404)
that God wants us to every day at work. So even if you're in a secular place, then you know, how is it God wants you to show love to others through your work? Is it your coworkers? Is it your clients? Is it your customers? Whoever it is. But how is it that, but we spin as a group need renewal through that process. you know, love flows out, but love flowing in from God. helps to have love flowing in with large numbers of other people to share with on the journey.

Tackling poverty is a big, huge, complicated activity. More than anything we can cover. We have to follow God's leadership. We have to have God open doors for us that otherwise wouldn't be open. We have to work together and get renewed across many, many years. And some of us actually will retire when the journey is still going. So, it's a multi-generational type of work as well. Scott, I appreciate you saying that there at the end, you know, I'm kind of knowing.

As, people go to the leadership circle to say, welcome to the rest of your life. Now that you understand what God is calling you to, there's a good chance you'll be involved in this for a long time. Just as you just described. Could you succinctly, I want the listeners to make sure they understand. Scott, what is the goal? What's the purpose of the call to clap circle? So I'll try to do it very succinctly. There are really multiple.

areas where families struggle on the journey. So they have to have foundations. So they have to have housing. They have to have the right skills to be successful in a job. They have to have a good situation if they're a parent for their children. So whether it's childcare or school or whatever it is. And those serve as a foundation and people in poverty often don't have that firm foundation. So there are several organizations that work with.

to help them establish that firm foundation. And then when you start to think about how can they be successful at work, that transition there, they're often haven't had the opportunity to develop skills that would allow them to be successful at work. Having a car that can allow them to show up every day on time without breaking down, having enough food where they feel good.

Bob Varney (16:18.638)
while they're working, they can be successful working, but also going to that work environment. this is where employers are going to buy, going to that work environment where they are cared for and nurtured while they then love the customers on the back end of that, they put their heart into the products that they're creating. So that that's kind of sets the breadth of the works that we do. And then in each situation coming out of poverty,

You have to be successful at a first job. So where you get in the workplace, you have to understand what skills and experiences are going to lead you to into a career. And then in United States, you have to have some additional training usually that's often costs money. So how is it that I can get that training? How is it that that ties into my, you know, my current employer, employer and ex-employer?

And then you start a new career and then you need to be nurtured. And it's really only when you're in that good career that you're at the point where you can afford to think about saving for retirement and saving for your kids' education and buying a house. that's towards the end of the journey is that building wealth and equity. Scott, when you think that you and the others have been working together on this for probably five years or so or more.

What would, what are some things that have been encouraging to you with the progress you've made? What has encouraged you? What, what gives you hope? What motivates you? the word working with families starting to see right now we work with roughly the organizations that roughly a thousand people. And we're starting to measure more now that we've been working on this, we're able to measure more what's really happening with families that maybe we lost touch with for a little bit.

seeing where things are working. by just intentionally stepping through and saying, we're going to interconnect this, where, where are the pieces that we need more information? Where are the places that we're missing some solutions that we can ask for funding to expand the solutions that we have for us to kind of understand that big picture our roles within it. And then how we can work together has been really an important piece of

Bob Varney (18:36.866)
journey is just to begin to put all those pieces together. The other thing that we'll get into this with prayer a little bit is just by getting together and talking through that and being involved with the other organ. We're not the only organizations that are helping the leaders within these organizations really connect and be become stronger leaders. And, know, so there's, there's other pieces that are going on in the community. We've seen this.

Amazing network of a hundred plus organizations. So not just 30, but how is it that there are so many people and there's at least a thousand people we work with on a yearly basis that are just helping families that care about them that love the Lord. But we don't often find each other until we're intentional about finding each other. So it's been pretty overwhelming to just understand who's working in this as well as then by beginning to meet together.

and pray together and talk about our dreams together, then God seems to continue to open up doors. We're amazed at the number of times someone's been pre-positioned, right? God knew this was going to be needed. We had no idea until yesterday or maybe even until tomorrow that we needed that person and then we bump into that person. Right. So it is amazing how God is in the midst of this understands at all our, you know, our whole goal is just to find his

goals and steps for us, give him our dreams, but then recognize that he, he's the one that understands the big picture and can best guide our goals and steps. And for us to lean into that has been an amazing growth and journey. Yeah, Scott, you're making me thinking in a few minutes, we will talk about prayer because it is such a priority now. But, as you said, you come into contact with people who care about the same thing.

And of these 30 organizations and then a hundred, I'm sure they represent different sectors of society and to find yourselves working along with people that maybe in the past, you never would have imagined. Can you respond? Absolutely. And that's something that the leadership circle has continued with YWRA and their support. And you can talk a little bit about that if you want to be here. The really understanding the spheres in society and the influence, how broad it does need to be. We've been amazed at.

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The government employees. in the United States, government employees really can't talk much about their face, right? And so they can talk a little bit, but not much. But when they're in individual meetings and individual discussions, then significant number of them do have that. And how is it that we can, they, they, they're in their role because they care about people and they, really want to help people.

government puts a structure around what they can do and how they can do it. But that doesn't mean they as individuals don't have the same heart as someone working at a nonprofit. Employers have been interesting to work with. So that's another sphere, right? So we really need the employers to have great jobs. And, but we're seeing that when they implement these and we've, we've had multiple employers who have done this, when they implement the ability to love their neighbors and love their customers.

that their business takes off as well. Right. So it is an amazingly powerful thing for business. You don't do it to get more money, but somehow result many times in a more profitable business, a more effective business, a growing business. So for us to figure out that it's not just the educators and nonprofits, the organizations that you know are working in this space every day.

but the, there's so many other people in related spheres that are working together. then I have been remiss and not mentioning many, many times that the families that we serve are really, the heart of this, they own the journey and they're the ones encountering all these barriers. They're the ones with the hope. So many of them are faith based and for us empower them to talk about their faith and to live out their faith.

That is something that continues to inspire us every day, but putting them at the center of the journey and allowing them to own the journey and just removing barriers with them is an amazing thing to see. It's also amazing thing to see how many barriers come up. see that roughly three to five barriers a year would stop someone's journey, come up, and we have to be there to either remove them or we as a group now are trying to remove them before they encounter.

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them because they're just, terrible barriers that exists and we need to help them remove them. Scott on that idea. My next question for you was, what obstacles is the call to club and circle facing? And you've already been describing some of that, but describe it some more, not just the obstacles that these poor families encounter, but also obstacles that you have encountered as call to club and circle is working together to help these people.

I'll mention one more blessing and then I'll get into the obstacles. We're working with a group tangentially of Alaska that talked about how the Alaskan natives tribes just have this strong faith. And they were like, we're not poor. We may be poor financially, but we are poor. We are not poor when it comes to relational relation and spiritually, spirituality and things like that. So, so for us to help.

people see was that's one of the obstacles, Some people recognize it, but some people don't. have such great skills. They have such great faiths. have such often very strong family bonds. Sometimes they don't have family bonds, right? And that's a big obstacle. We're working with foster youth in the United States is something that continually lets you know how strong a barrier there is for anybody that grew up in the foster youth system because they haven't built those bonds.

with family, they're actually our friends that are working in that space are helping them, helping them find their family unit. Find their chosen family is the words that they use. More broadly, besides just the, you know, individual foundations, we can go on the obstacles for the each of the individual families that we're doing, that we're working with, but more broadly, a lot of it is capacity, right? So it's a big issue.

Everyone is just fully sprinting in their day-to-day jobs. And then for them to okay, if we can figure out how to do two or three things more together, we'll be more effective. But how do I set aside the time to do that? And how do I have the money to do that? So capacity is probably our biggest issue at this point. when we get two or three hours a week from, from a leader of a nonprofit or a, an employer,

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That's a blessing to us, but we need to have the capacity to pick that up and walk beside those people and do a lot of the day-to-day work. Right. So that's what we're doing today. You know, one of the things that also we're trying to figure out is so many people are wanting to take action when they get involved in their day-to-day activities. Where is it we seem as a group to be hitting barriers over and over again?

versus where are we starting to make progress? Leaning into monitoring that and leaning into part of that is through prayer. Part of that is through understanding and listening and recognizing God sometimes puts up barriers or puts up not yet. It's not time yet types of signals. And yet we, just brazenly sometimes just, just try to blow through those barriers. And we're like, well, that's kind of silly, right? Looking back.

so for us to understand where it is, that's the right time, the right approach, the right speed. What is God's timing? Not our timing. And when is it that he wants us to move? Right. So one of the things we pray about is, you know, when is it that we need better solutions to help us to figure that out? And when is it that we need faiths and action to, to begin to implement those solutions?

We don't need to keep refining them. need to be implementing and moving. And for us to find the balance between those two is certainly an obstacle. And then bluntly, most organizations, most nonprofit organizations are struggling for money. So for us to come together as a group and figure out where is it that if I, if I tell you I'm not doing as good as I should over here, am I going to lose a funder?

And maybe that thunder will spend their money someplace else. So there's bit of a scarcity mentality that's naturally built into nonprofit organizations. Right. Government organizations have different types of barriers that they get. So how's it that we figure out how to remove all those obstacles together? Scott, in many ways, what you're doing right there is you're describing how to live by faith and has helping to give leadership of the call to clap and circle.

Bob Varney (28:11.192)
Let's move on to prayer for a few minutes. I know some time ago, you really began to focus on prayer in the context of this call to clap and circle work. Why? What led you to begin to focus that and then describe to us how prayer has the prayer rhythms that the call to clap and circle has. So it's been a 15 year journey. Right. So, I mean, I was always in prayer, but

I really didn't feel like I should be praying about my IT work because God really want my company to make more money. didn't, it didn't seem like I had a work that should be prayed about. And what I've learned since then is that I should have been right. So the people I interact with, the love that I could show, I should have been praying about these types of things all the time. However,

So I didn't know that at that point, but once I did get a job, was beginning to pray about them just slowly and surely. I would hear, I would see this. I would recognize this, something would pop into my mind that wasn't part of my mind. Right. So that, that it was, it was put there and sometimes it was, yeah, don't do that. Or sometimes it was, you really need to do this. so that just was kind of a slow growth. But once we got together as a group.

And we really started to say, how is everyone else praying? Let's start praying together in meetings. That, that was certainly a big area of growth for us. Learning to stop in the middle of meetings, as I mentioned earlier, and just ask for direction, but then to continue prayer afterwards. And then about two years ago, during one of my prayers, a very direct message came to me that, you know, I'll first preface it by saying that we are, we were struggling a bit.

to have people truly understand what everyone does today. We have some people that are working in housing and other people that working with employers and they often don't understand what each other are on day-to-day basis. And we tried a few different ways to do that. And one day it just became clear that I was supposed to be sharing prayer requests across organizations. So I wrote down, sat down and wrote out a prayer request, asked the members to keep sending me prayer requests. I actively go out and try to find them.

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then each night we just send, you know, a prayer request or two out. That's just saying, Hey, this meeting tomorrow, or Hey, this is a struggle. This organization is having, or Hey, this is a joy that has come to this organization. So we share in the, in the upcoming items, the outcomes, the struggles we learned to share together. And the more that, you know, I have a tendency not to, to be very

In the United States would be called Pollyanna, right? So, I am someone that always believes that the good things are just around the corner and live life that way. But it is, we also need to share our struggles as well. It is in those struggles and being open about them. And sometimes they're personal and sometimes they're organizational and sometimes it shows weakness. But God wants us to do that with our brothers and sisters. And he wants us to.

To give that up to him. So working with people to actually be able to, this is something I'm struggling with and need help with has been an amazing journey for me. And I think for some of the members as well. So we do that now daily and I'd encourage everyone to start to share, whether it's in meetings or in writing or a prayer app, there are several good prayer apps out there where you can share information, whatever works for you, your team and your rhythm to start to share or at least have one prayer buddy.

Right. With and about work. amazing things happen whenever you, whenever you start to pray about this. Scott, appreciate your description there. And I, I'm one of those that I wake up in the morning, soon I'll go to my phone or my laptop and there's this prayer request that Scott has sent to all of us the night before, along with a written out prayer for that prayer request. And it's

It's delightful to in a sense be guided, but also to know that there's so many other people praying for the same thing. And, I just, I guess I just want to say thank you that you have acted on that, which God said to you to then bring all of us together to pray about these important things. and, it's so encouraging. I look forward to seeing that email from Scott fast saying, got to pray about this. A prayer request that you have been alerted to.

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Scott is removing along. What gives you hope? working together again, the fact that God has continued to put things in place that we didn't even know we needed. And we recognize that there is just probably the biggest source of joy that in just the relationships that we've been building with the families and with the people that we work with. Because when we do these studies and someone's feeling down.

we were able to fall back on, you know, we're doing what God wants us to do. Right. So we're, we're, we're not in control of so many of the outcomes or only partially in control, but fact that we are serving the Lord and we are actively seeking his will for us. And we are trying our best to do that will as for me, it just fills me with

joy, not just for me, but every time that we're interacting with people. At this point, it's, it's almost like hope and joy is just kind of flowing, right? So you, you, you encounter at least a third of the news we get is bad, right? So something happened, something was difficult. And I'm not just talking about the big broad news I'm talking about with our families, right? Something happened with a family and it's probably because those, I mentioned three to five barriers a year.

Probably one of those barriers and encounter. So lots of bad news comes in, but at the end of the day, so God's love kind of washes that away and renews you and fills you with hope for your next day and for the next interaction with the individual. So that's it. It's been such a joy to have that in my life that I can't express it well enough. Amen. Scott, just the last couple of questions before we finish for the day.

What dreams do you have for this? dream? Yeah, it's been interesting coming out of the business world and talking about some big broad change methodologies. have to have goals, right? So set goals, goals, set goals, talk about your goals. You know, our stated goals is that we'll, we'll provide the support for any family we interact with that they need to complete their journey that will help them remove their barriers. We'll have the whole thing integrated, you know, continuing to integrate the journey.

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and having worked for our families is probably our immediate goal. And I mentioned about a thousand people today. We had to state a goal, you know, it'd be to get to, you know, eventually 5,000 people and eventually 10,000 people were working on. mentioned that it's a multi-year journey, so it takes a long time. But if you can start to think about moving 10,000 people in, in Colorado, which has about 6 million people, 10,000 people at a time moving out of poverty, you start to really start to move the needle on poverty. that's, that's our, you know,

when we have to state goals. But the biggest dreams we have is that we really are able to just say, God, what do want us to do today? God, what is your will? How do you want us to live it out today? And then everything else will take care of itself because he's already, he does so much more than what we are able to do. And he's got so much greater understanding that that the more we can just say, well, today is yours, Lord.

goals will take care of themselves and the dreams will be answered. Obviously there's lots of dreams for families, housing to get more and more people through the housing, to saving for retirement, to not having debt. You know, a lot of those are the blocking and tackling. anybody's ever wants to talk through that, please reach out to me. and so, should I, is it okay if I give them my email address? scottscott.bast, F is in Frank.

ast.co at gmail.com. CO stands for Colorado. Love to talk about it. Love to figure out how we interconnect. So we have multiple cities doing this with different organizations because we know we learn from each other, but we have a framework that we use, but others have frameworks as well. use ours is based on an organization called empath out of Boston. So everyone learns together and rises together. So that that's, that would be.

Some of the dreams and hopes that we have coming up is that we continue to just be part of this national network that is just following God's will within our own communities. Scott, I've heard you over the few years that you have referred, that you just earlier referred to Alaska, and then you refer just now to Boston. I know I've heard you refer to other cities and I, how encouraging that you're aware of what's going on and wanting to learn from them and partner with them. That's really encouraging.

Bob Varney (37:49.324)
Scott, as we're coming to the end, what else you want to tell our listeners? What's something you think you want them to remember that they understand during this podcast we've had today? Thinking back through leadership circle approach, right? So, and whether hopefully there's a leadership circle in your, your city, if not, there's a virtual one, but a lot of it is set the foundation, begin to pray.

Make sure you're praying, make sure you're seeking God's will. Make sure you're seeking it with brothers and sisters that are trying to do the same thing. And then figure out how you're going to take action, right? Where is God telling you that it is something that you can do. And even if it's just one or two things, three to five hours a week, get out there and find something that you love. actually did about 10 of those different activities.

over 15 years before I found what my calling really was, right? It took me a long time to fall into the, poverty, the work of alleviating poverty. And that's great, right? You're learning skills. If you're working, learn skills from your supervisor. Everything that you have will come to bear later in life. When you are, whenever God wants to use you for something, it's amazing how many of these things are like that thing I've learned.

15 years ago and that piece was an experience that someone else learned 10 years ago, but mentioned to me last week. So just, just take joy in what you're doing right now, recognizing you're, you're serving the Lord, figure out one or two actions to take one or two brothers and sisters to do it with, and then get connected with the group and pray, pray. Right. So that's the engine for everything of understanding God's will is to pray about it and watch what he's doing.

in your life and others. Scott, thank you for this time, knowing you personally and hearing you speak. It's I can verify that what you're saying you're actually doing. It's so encouraging. Thank you for making time today to join us. And thank you to all our listeners for joining us on this 11th, the intersection faith work and life podcast with Scott fast. We asked you to go to our website at

Bob Varney (40:05.442)
www.CitiesProjectGlobal.com or the LinkedIn or the Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts and subscribe to our podcasts. And if you have found our podcasts helpful, please let us know through a review. Scott, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for sharing your life, what you care about and with your real focus on prayer.

Thanks. Happy to be there. And Hugh's right there every step of the way. same to you, Hugh, and look forward to our future journeys together. So peace, everyone.