This episode of the Faith and Finance podcast is brought to you in part by Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. Millions of children throughout the world lack one simple item that could open the door to health, education, opportunity, and Jesus. It's shoes. This September, Faith By and Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls are partnering with you to provide hope to children in need throughout the world by providing new shoes and socks, critical care, and the love of Jesus in some of the most vulnerable places. Together, we hope to provide shoes to 1,000 children during the month of September.
Visit GiveShoestToday.org to learn how you can impact the life of a child. That's GiveShoesToday.org.
Now, on to the podcast. For many children, going barefoot isn't a choice. It's a daily struggle that puts their health, safety, and future at risk. But one pair of shoes can change that story. I am Rob West.
Today we'll hear how Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls is bringing hope and dignity to vulnerable children around the world. Sean Spurrier joins us to share how God is changing lives through something as ordinary and extraordinary as shoes. Then it's onto your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7,000. This is Faith in Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions.
Well, it's always a privilege to have Sean Spurrier with us. He serves as director of Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, an underwriter of this program. And Sean, I'm so thrilled you're here. As you well know, and I want to make sure our listeners know this month, the month of September, we have a goal to partner FaithFi and Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls to put 1,000 shoes on the feet of a child somewhere in the world in a vulnerable situation. And as we've talked about, it has far-reaching implications for their health, their safety, and their education, and their understanding of Jesus' love for them.
We're going to talk about all of that, but let me just say thanks for being here. Rob, so glad to be with you again. It's always a pleasure. By the way, folks, if you want to learn more or get involved, let me just go ahead and give out that website. It's give shoes to day.org.
Now, Sean, many people know Buckner International, but not everyone realizes the incredible global impact of Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls, which you and your team lead.
So why don't you start by just sharing a bit more about this work? Yeah, absolutely. You know, you're right. This is a really a project that the Lord has really grown. This is something that started out in 1999 as a local project here in Dallas, Texas, where we just wanted to serve some children who were living in orphanages that we were working in in Russia at the time.
And over the last 25 years, this is. This is something that's really grown. We work with churches and businesses and believers all throughout the country to serve children now to the tune of over 5 million children in 86 countries. And so the Lord has been really kind to us over the last 25 years to continue to grow this impact and really serve more children.
Now, Sean, we've alluded to the significance of a pair of shoes because they carry a much deeper meaning than just covering feet. Talk for a moment about why it is so critical for a child's safety and quality of life. Yeah, you know, there are 300 million children throughout the world who lack access to this very, very basic need. And tens of millions of those children today will not go to school because of that lack of access. And so, you know, we're really focusing on a handful of things here.
We're really wanting to promote health in regions where there are footborne illnesses that can often be catastrophic. We want to send children to school, and shoes are often a barrier to receiving that education that is vital to their rising above poverty. Shoes also provide a moment of hope. When you distribute a pair of shoes as a gift in the name of Jesus to a child, you get an opportunity to express the love of Christ to them in a very tangible way. It's an amazing moment of hope.
And these are also opportunities to introduce children and families to programming and ministries in their communities that are transformational. Yeah, no doubt about it. It's something we take for granted. We just finished the back to school season, and no doubt, many of you listening bought a pair of shoes for your kids, and you were thrilled to do it. But it's so much bigger than that.
You've pointed out, Sean, and I know you were just recently on one of these shoe distributions. It's not something they take for granted in other parts of the world. Isn't that right? Oh, not at all. You know, you and I, when we walk out of our houses every morning, I'm sure we've got choices on the pairs of shoes that we're going to wear that day.
But in many of the communities we work in, this is not a choice. This is something that might take months to save up the money to provide a pair of shoes for your kid. Or they just don't have access to it at all. And so, you know, it really restores a sense of dignity for parents to be able to provide something for their kids. We've met moms who had siblings and they had to choose which sibling would go to school on which day because they had one pair of shoes between the two.
So, you know, the opportunity to go to school and have confidence and receive that education is huge. There are also diseases and other issues that children encounter when they have Um when they experience a lack of access to shoes that that really um Have serious social stigma attached to them, and we're trying to address those as well.
Well, there's no doubt. All right, Faith and Finance family, this is your opportunity. We have a goal of providing shoes for 1,000 children around the world this month. The gift of $150 equips 10 children, while just $15 provides one child with a pair of shoes, socks, and the cost of getting it there. GiveShoestToday.org is the website.
Much more to come just around the corner. Stick around. FaithFi is grateful for support from One Ascent. OneAssent believes that your values inspire why you invest and how they can inspire how you invest. One Ascent's goal is to provide solutions designed for every need and invest in businesses that bless the people and places God has made.
They want to help investors do well by doing good to explore a new way of investing that aligns with your values. More information is available at onascent.com and by clicking Analyze My Investments. Millions of children throughout the world lack one simple item. shoes. This month, Faith Phi and Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls are partnering with you to provide hope to 1,000 children in need throughout the world by providing new shoes and socks, critical care, and the love of Jesus in some of the most vulnerable places.
Visit GiveShoesToday.org to learn how you can impact the lives of these children. That's GiveShoest Today.org. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. With me today, my good friend Sean Spurrier.
He's director of Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. And I am so thrilled that this month, the month of September, we are partnering with Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls. We've set a goal for 1,000 children around the world to be provided a new pair of shoes.
Now, these are vulnerable children. We'll talk about where in the world these kids are with Sean here in just a moment. But when they receive a new pair of shoes, it's the difference in terms of health, their access to education, restoring their dignity, and, and we'll get into this as well, sharing the love of Jesus alongside the sharing of those shoes.
Now, a gift of $150 equips 10 children to receive a brand new pair of shoes, socks, and the cost of getting them there. $15 provides one child with a new pair of shoes. Would you help us reach this goal? Of 1,000 shoes this month. We're not there yet.
We need you. It's give shoestoday.org. Again, that's give shoestoday.org.
Now, Sean, I'd love for you to share where Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls is active right now. And give us a snapshot of some of the countries where you and your team are serving. Absolutely.
So, we are working right here in the United States. We actually have programming in the state of Texas where we're based. Actually, even recently, we got to serve children who were affected by the flooding in the hill country by providing shoes for them as they went back to school. In addition to that, we work through Latin America and Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Honduras, Peru. And then we also have programming in Ethiopia and Kenya as well.
Beyond that, we work with like-minded partners that are trusted throughout the world and doing so have been able to distribute to 75, 80 other countries through those partners. Incredible. I want you to talk about some of the broader ripple effects you've witnessed in the communities you serve. And I know you've experienced this even just in the last few weeks as you were in Mexico on a shoe distribution. Absolutely.
You know, a pair of shoes, it's simple, but this leads to, it's kind of a gateway to so many other opportunities. And in these communities, we have family hope centers, and those family hope centers are coming alongside vulnerable families and vulnerable communities, providing resources and education and training, and all from a Christ-centered perspective, really just kind of trying to come alongside families and helping them to achieve sustainability and reach their God-given potential. And these programs, you know, when you focus on families in this way, you'll see that kind of ripple out into their neighborhoods and into their communities. And, you know, I was just having a conversation with some folks that I was in Mexico with, and you can physically see the difference in the community. And in one of the communities, Johokatlan, where we've worked for about 10 years now, when you go into that community, it is a visibly different community than it was when we started working there.
And so much of that is because of the hope that's experienced through those programs. I can only imagine.
Now, stories, Sean, help us put a name to it. And I'd love for you to perhaps share one or two of the stories of the powerful moments watching children receive shoes through Buckner. Yeah, you know, I tell this all the time, but you know, I've been doing this for about 12 years. And to this day, when I came into Buckner, I was a little bit of a germaphobe. I knew that the Lord had called me to do this, but you know, just sitting in front of a child, placing a pair of shoes on their feet was foreign to me.
It was a unique thing. But man, to this day, I can remember the first little girl that I gave a pair of shoes to in the Dominican Republic. You know, I can remember the sun coming through the window in the room. I can remember the look on her eyes and the hope that she was experiencing in a community where You know, there was just a lot of hardship. It's just something that doesn't.
Uh it sticks with you when you get to do this. But in addition to that, one of the things that I love seeing after having done this for close to 12 years now is that longer-term impact. I think of a little girl named Cynthia who lives in Bungoma, Kenya. And just a couple of years ago, I think she was 12, she received a new pair of shoes at a distribution in her community. And that pair, again, was a gateway to a relationship that's been transformational.
She was the youngest of six children. And within a three-year span of time, both of her parents had passed away. And you know, when in that culture, when when the father passes away, the the kids are not gonna receive an education. They're all just trying to, you know, make ends meet. Um so after her mom passed away, she was really in a in a bad spot.
She she moved in with her uncle, who Knew she needed shoes. She needed she needed an education. And so he brought her to Buckner to a distribution. And that opened up a relationship where she is now receiving an education. She's part of our school there.
And, you know, our family coaches in in her her program Described her when she came as someone who was experiencing hardship. She was turned in on herself and introverted. She struggled to trust people. But now they say that she's experiencing hope. Her personality is shining.
She's a natural leader amongst her fellow students and her friends. She even recently became the class president in her little school there. And so, you know, I love looking at these longer-term stories too, where you can say, man, a pair of shoes provided by somebody in the United States who wanted to carry a burden has led to just the Lord really doing some incredible work in the lives of children who've experienced hardship that most of us couldn't imagine. That's amazing.
Now I mentioned, Sean, that you were just recently in Mexico on a shoe distribution. I'd love for you to give a sense of the scale of that operation because I think it'll help folks appreciate what you're doing here. Yeah, so we served several hundred children over the course of about five or six days of ministry. We had volunteers come in for it who came alongside local volunteers and local churches and our family hope centers there. We would have, you know, at least 100, 150 children a day who would come in, many with their families.
We had a STEM camp, sort of a vacation Bible school set up, but there were also STEM. We offered a STEM program, which is teaching them science and technology, engineering, mathematics, training opportunities in there. Wow. Spiritual development across each station, an opportunity to tell Bible stories and introduce them to the gospel, let them know that the Lord loves them and cares for them. And And then we would distribute shoes to them, and we would have that moment of washing their feet, getting in front of them, washing their feet, and just expressing that hope to them in that moment.
Those opportunities also led to opportunities to minister to their overall families, though. You know, one of the images that I have just most ingrained in my mind from that trip a couple of weeks ago was moms whose children had received shoes at the end of our distribution at our Family Hope Center coming in and us having the opportunity to distribute the scriptures to them, just giving them their own Bible. And I've got this image of so many of these moms experiencing this hope and just clutching their Bibles close to their chests when they were handed to them because there was so much joy and excitement that they had that. And so many of those moms made a commitment that day to raise their children. in the scriptures.
And so man, it's just it's just a really sweet thing to see how this simple gift can really, like you said, it's kind of a ripple effect to some really incredible things that the Lord will do. It sure is. And I am so thrilled that we're partnering with you.
Well, let's share with our listeners again this goal that we've set together between Faith Phi and Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls. Yeah, man, we would love to put shoes on the feet of a thousand children together. And so, you know, every $15 provides a pair of shoes. You can provide shoes for 10 children with a gift of $150. It is simple and truly, it is something that we know that the Lord can use.
There is no doubt about it.
Well, Sean, we're honored to be partnered with you, and I appreciate your time, my friend. Likewise, we're so grateful to know you and to be a part of doing this alongside you and your listeners. Folks, the website is GiveShoesToday.org. This month, just the month of September, we're working toward the goal of providing shoes for 1,000 children around the world. A gift of $150 equips 10 children.
$15 provides one child with a pair of shoes, socks, and the cost of getting them there. Help us reach this goal, perhaps even go right past it. GiveShoestToday.org. That's GiveShoest Today.org. Your calls are next, 800-525-7000.
We'll be right back. We chase money thinking it'll bring security. We seek success hoping it'll satisfy. But the book of Ecclesiastes exposes this truth. Lasting contentment isn't found in what we own, but in a personal relationship with wisdom himself.
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Well, I'm so glad to have you with us today on Faith and Finance. Together, we're going to equip ourselves to manage money God's way. How are we going to do that?
Well, we do that in community, we do that by looking to God's word. We do that when you call and have questions that we can explore together. That number 800-525-7000-this is a really high calling managing money for the King of Kings as we steward it wisely and we invest it strategically and we give it in areas that are aligned with God's heart. And speaking of giving, you just heard me mention this incredible ministry partnership we have going on just for this month of September. You know, we're just on the heels of going back to school.
And one of the keys when you go back to school, if your kids are like mine, they say, Can I get some new shoes? And we say, Sure. And we're then overwhelmed by how much shoes. Cost these days. It's amazing how much a pair of shoes cost.
But you get past that and you buy your kids a pair of shoes. But here's the thing. 37,000 children are waiting for a pair of shoes, something you and I take for granted. And that's why we've partnered this month with Buckner Shoes for Orphaned Souls, because our goal together is to fund 1,000 shoes on the feet of a child somewhere around the world. And here's the thing.
When they have access to shoes, it's far more than what we have going on here in the United States. Because when they have access to shoes in these parts of the world, it brings health because it's protecting them against disease and infection. It brings education because often they're not allowed to go to school without shoes. And this would be the only, in most cases, pair of shoes that they have. It brings hope by demonstrating God their worth and God's love.
And by the way, they share the love of Jesus with them as they're putting those shoes on their feet. And then opportunity because it connects them on the ground to holistic ministry because they always partner with a local church.
So that gift then connects them to ongoing ministry there on the ground. And so every pair of shoes you give opens the door for a child to have a better life and to hear about the love of Jesus. And so we'd like to invite you to help us reach our goal here at Faith and Finance of putting 1,000 pairs of shoes on a child's feet somewhere around the world. And every $15 is going to help us do that.
So if you would consider making a gift, your best gift right now, you can go to give shoestoday.org, real simple, give shoestoday.org, and your gift will bring hope to those. Most vulnerable all across the world. We're so thrilled to be partnered with Buckner, who's been doing this for decades and decades, and they're a trusted ministry and doing some incredible work. And we're thrilled to have this campaign going on during the month of September. Again, that website, give shoestoday.org.
We've got some lives open today, and perhaps one of those is just for that burning question you've had that you'd like to get in the mix. Again, 800-525-7,000, you can call right now. Let's go to Chicago. Hi, Nancy. Go ahead.
Hi, Rob. Thanks for taking my call.
So I am 40 years old and I have three 401k accounts from previous employers just kind of sitting there. And I've been talking to some financial advisors. A couple of them are saying that I can now combine them into one account. And my return would be like 8% to 10%. But another financial advisor, is telling me that he can invest in like a hedge fund.
And I would be getting between 15 to 17% return. Yeah, the question is always with what amount of risk?
So, you know, is there something that could, you know, and has generated 15 to 17 percent? Yes, but hedge funds are high risk. And so that promise should raise a red flag, especially if they're offering any kind of guarantee or expectation that that should automatically be earned. Anytime an advisor is making bold claims like that, I would get a second opinion, especially with your retirement money. I'd want to know what the fund is, what it invests in, what the risks are.
And I'd make sure that this advisor is a fiduciary who's legally required to ask in your best interest. But bottom line is, promised high returns beyond the norm, and I would say that's anything above just historical averages of 7% to 9%, should be a red flag, number one, and would typically mean that you have a high-risk situation. And I'm just not sure that's the kind of situation you want to be in with your lifetime of savings from retirement. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to get your input. Absolutely, Nancy. We appreciate your call.
Thanks for being on the program today. Let's head to Indiana and welcome Tom to the broadcast. Go ahead, sir. Yeah, I was just wondering if there's any way that I can get my end of life situation done with a lawyer. without having to spend three thousand to five thousand dollars like they're asking.
Because uh n Just turned sixty-four and uh I see it kind of slapping me in the face. It's coming up real fast and I don't want to leave my wife with uh nothing to lean on when sh when I'm gone and having to go through court to go through probate and all that good stuff, if you understand where I'm coming from. I sure do. When you talk about end of life documents, I mean, are you seeing the need for a trust or are you just talking about a basic will and power of attorney? I'm talking about what's going to keep her out of probation or out of probate.
I'm sorry. And the one other thing is that. Her credit rating was so bad that she was never on the house, and that needs to be Done also. And it seems like I can get the paperwork, but it seems like I can't find anybody to help me fill it out. I'm not a lawyer.
I was a mechanic before I retired. I don't do paperwork like that very well.
So I get it.
Well, I mean, there certainly are plenty of online services. I would say they're not all created equal.
So do your homework. That'd be better than nothing and it would save you some money. I mean, I think this is one of those things that's just worth You're spending some money on just because it really is important. And if you do want to make sure everything passes outside of probate, it does require a trust, and that is going to run you, you know, a couple of thousand dollars. And when you add in the other things you need, like the power of attorneys and the health care surrogates and living will, plus just a last will and testament to cover anything not inside the trust, you know, you are going to be up $3,000 plus, but I think it's worth it.
I mean, the only other way to avoid probate would be, you know, to make sure that you have a, if it's permitted there in Indiana, a TOD deed, a transfer on death deed on the house. You can add beneficiaries to accounts, but the only way to kind of do a catch-all would be to have that trust in place. I guess the other option is you do it online and hire an attorney just to look it over. And I don't know if they'd be willing to do that. Usually, they want to do their own stuff.
I just think this is one of those things that's probably worth the expense. But if you're looking to do it less expensive, I think the online option would be a better approach there than nothing for sure. Hopefully that helps, Tom. We appreciate you calling today, sir. God bless you.
Now folks, that's going to do it for us.
So thankful for uh The folks that make this possible every day, Sandy and Devin, and grateful for Jim Henry as well, and everybody here at Faith Phi. Hope you have a great rest of your day. And by the way, if you'd like to support Faith Phi and the Faith and Finance broadcast, you can do that online quickly and securely at faith5.com. Just click give. Lord bless you.
Bye-bye. Faith in Finance is provided by Faith Buy and listeners like you.
