This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.
This is the Truth Network. An extraordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into kingdom pursuits. Now live from the Truth Booth, your host, Robbie Dilmore. Oh, I love doing this show, and I get to see how God takes people's passions and just does amazing, amazing things, and I think you're going to get a chance to hear more of that as always. Today on Kingdom Pursuits, we've got some amazing folks lined up for you. First off, we have Sherri Sholes, and she's with Safe Families. And so, you know, if you go to their website, I love what it says. It says, what if we could reduce the kids in foster care by 70? Did you hear that? 70%.
What if you could do that? And so Safe Families is a lot to do, you know, with the children that are in foster care and that kind of thing. Welcome, Sherri. For me?
Yes. How are you today? I'm doing all right. It is a beautiful Saturday. After a rainy week, it makes you appreciate it that much more. At least where I am, it's pretty beautiful here today. I've already been outside enjoying the beautiful weather. Yeah, we've had plenty of rain if you're in North Carolina. If you're in Ohio today, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing you had some of the rain that we had. But anyway, Sherri, for our listeners, describe what your Safe Families, but you are Durham-Raleigh kind of area?
Yeah, absolutely. We've expanded. We started in Raleigh back in 2016 as a chapter of a national organization. Listeners in Ohio might have heard of Safe Families as well as we have chapters there also. But yeah, we started in Raleigh and we have grown as our volunteer base has grown and our hope is over the next 10 years to be able to cover the counties that most often identify with the Triangle in North Carolina, which is four counties.
It's the Wake County, Durham County, kind of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, including a little bit to the southeast as well. So excited about the territory that God has given us and kind of called us to reach, and we hope to make an impact and continue growing into those spaces. And the impact that you make is?
What is it you guys do? Yeah, okay. So Safe Families, like I said, it started about 20 years ago in Chicago, and it started as a movement of people who were looking at the foster system and looking at families who are hurting and saying, what if we ask a different question? Yes, we want to be believers in the foster system. We want to be serving and caring for the kids who are already here. But could we make an impact if we served families a little bit earlier? If we went upstream, so to speak, and we identified why are kids getting into the foster care system to begin with? What is pulling these families apart?
What are the pieces that are influencing that? And could we step in as God's people in those spaces as well? And by doing so, keep kids from ever having to get into that system to begin with. And so over these last 20 years, we have grown from one group of people in Chicago into lots of groups of people around the country. We're in over 30 states.
We're in 12 countries around the world now. And each individual place in every city or state is trying to do just that. And essentially what we do is we're wrapping or surrounding families who are in crisis, specifically those who are isolated. So they've hit that point where there is no one else that they feel like they can call, no other resources to tap into. And they're in that place of crisis.
And a lot of times that is the place where when you're in crisis and you have no one to call, as hard as you want to fight for your family or you want to keep your kids safe, decisions have to be made that a lot of times end up putting people on the trajectory to where calls are going to be made about neglect. And so we are saying, OK, if we can surround a family in those types of spaces with people, you know, with people to call, with people who are going to care, with people who are going to show up. And we can know that those people are safe. We can have vetted them. We can, you know, have equipped them to step in to support this family. And in doing so, what's really cool is that in the last, in 23 and 2024, we finally got our, with the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse, we have our evidence-based status that what we do is working.
We are, when we are using our model in the cities where we exist, we are reducing the number of kids entering foster care. And that's just like a really meaningful thing to be a part of. I agree. And you can see we've got a lot to talk about there today as far as what, yeah, but also today we have Beverly Moser and Sal Oliveri. And they're with update on, we've done them, had them on the show a few times, epic love story and their effort to really create, this is such an amazing goal, a song for every single verse in the Bible.
And they've made progress. Your hope is to have one for every book in the Bible by when, Beverly? The first 66 by the end of 2025. Right. So by 2025, 66 songs.
And so we have Sal Oliveri with us. And so you guys have gotten a little more progress here. You've got a new song you just released, right? That's right.
Hey, Robbie, thanks for having me. Yeah, we're about to release our fourth song. We have three more kind of slated to begin as well.
And it does take a little bit of time to do this, right? But we can certainly get into that later. But we'd sure love to pick up the pace.
That's really our hope. Well, you have picked up the pace somewhat because, you know, you guys did the Proverbs song, what, two or three weeks ago? Yeah, that's right. And now you've got one out of Galatians, right?
That's right. And so coming up at the break, you'll get to hear the Galatian song, and then we have the Proverbs song coming up at the second break. And so you guys can begin to hear these songs, but the idea behind it, right, Beverly, is that as we get these songs, people can get these Scriptures in their heart, right?
Exactly. And that's part of what we believe, and I think that Sherri does too, that when the Scriptures change lives, and they change families, and they change communities. And so we want to go to the marketplace where people are and deliver these Scriptures in ways that people consume, music and even, you know, written books. It's by listening, and that's what we're doing. And so, Sal, you guys are using some interesting technology, right, to make sure that these verses are in a format that where people ingest them, like the song Frozen, right?
Well, yeah. I mean, you know, if you really think about why songs endure from even like the 1960s, it's that there's an element of them that is just very memorable. And without boring your audience with music theory, there are real hard reasons why that is. Now, Scripture presents some challenges because it was written to be read or spoken and not necessarily sung, but with, you know, we've had some participation with some really great songwriters who I just kind of say you kind of have to crack the code of figuring out how to phrase the Scriptures and, you know, picking maybe just the right translation that sings a little better. And then putting it in a kind of a culturally relevant format of music because, you know, we just want to meet people where they are in their preferences and not necessarily our own, you know, it's we're always trying to serve the listener.
And so it's really a fun challenge, and I feel like the first four that we have, we've really checked all four of our boxes that are, I think, what sets ELS apart from other folks doing Scripture songs. Right. And so Sherry, from my standpoint, right, the two things that they mentioned is this is from the heart, and it's hitting people where they're at. And so you obviously have, right, your heart is that these families would never be split up because we know that God's orchestrated families very much on purpose. But, you know, I heard you say the same thing, interestingly, was that you want to reach these folks where they're at and give them resources to be able to call and get help as they themselves know they're in trouble, right?
Yes. So interestingly, we have all sorts of stuff that we get to share, including the song you're going to hear coming out of the break. And, of course, we're going to play some shenanigans when we come back.
How fun. I'm looking forward to the rest of the show. I hope you are. We'll be right back. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back. There you go, Beverly.
That's your latest. And it's Galatians. What's the verse? Galatians 3, 13, and 14. There you go.
Galatians 3, 13, and 14. And I'm sure that everybody got an idea that this through faith. That's the idea. I absolutely love that. Well, those who are listening regularly know there comes a point where you have to play shenanigans. And so, you know, we got safe families on there.
So speaking of safe. Now the fun begins. Now it's time to play shenanigans. All right. So feel free to jump in if you think you have an answer to these dad riddles at the beginning. Sherry or Saul or Beverly's played this before. So okay.
And my producer, Nick, is always he's refined. I've been teaching him over the years, you know, how to answer these. So my son asked me, is this pool safe for diving? I chuckled when I said blank. Wait. All right.
Go ahead. I chuckled when I said, is this pool safe for diving? I chuckled when I said. Oh, I don't know.
I've stumped the panel. Yeah. As I usually do. As I usually do. By the way, it deepens. Depends.
Yes. Another question that clearly is relevant to know this. How much lead is safe to eat? How much lead is safe to eat?
You got any idea, Saul? Well, I would say none. Here you go.
It depends on the velocity. Eat lead. Okay. It'll come to you. You know what I'm saying? All right. So my favorite on the list, and this is kind of for you, Saul. I expect you to be able to get this actually. And since actually my producer, Nick, he studies music theory and all that kind of thing.
It was big time and took it in college. So why are bass guitarists always safe? Base? Base guitarists. Why are they always safe? Because that's the operating word today is safe. Why are bass guitarists always safe?
Nick, what do you think? Because they stay low. That's good. That's not on my list, but it's very good. I like it.
They do stay low. Yeah. What do you think? And Saul got anything? No, I'm stumped. You're going to like this because you're both, you know, into this kind of thing.
They stay out of treble. That's a good one. Finally, I'd find one that you liked. OK, so you know, at the end of those shenanigans, we would actually have a Bible riddle for you. But this one's more of just a general riddle about the Bible in general.
And so how fun is this? Where is the safest place in the world according to the Bible? Where is the safest place in the world according to the Bible? With a little hint, if you're willing. If you're willing. 866-348-7884.
Where is the safest place in the world according to the Bible, if you're willing? 866-348-7884. And if they can answer that riddle, Nick, tell them what they'll win.
Absolutely, yes. Julie winning one pair of tickets to Wake Forest versus Louisiana Raging Cajuns. That is next Saturday, September 28th at 3.30.
If you know the answer to Robbie's riddle, give us a call at 866-348-7884. Go Deeks. Wake Forest tickets or I happen to have some digital tickets to the rodeo tomorrow. So I'm going to be doing Cowboy Church there at about 11.30 at the Greensboro Coliseum.
And I would love to meet you if you want to come out. We will get you some tickets. 8s, again, for whoever calls in and answers. 8s, they have their choice of demon tickets, just saying, or seeing Robbie.
I'm kidding. Go Deeks. 866-348-7884. 866-34-TRUTH. So, Sherri, I understand, and what I absolutely love are some of the stories. Like, clearly what you guys are involved in is helping these families keep from dissolving into the foster care system. So can you kind of put flesh on that for us and tell us where you've seen that actually happen with a family?
Obviously, no names, but you know, kind of what happened. Yeah, I think, I mean, the families we serve come to us in all types of crises. Homelessness is a high percentage of the families we're working with, and who are looking for our support while they're trying to get back on their feet and find some stable housing. But one that's a story that happened recently earlier this summer with us, just an example of where we were able to step in right at that point of foster care deflection, which was really special and also special because the reality of if we hadn't been able to help the tragic nature of it. So essentially this mom who has been, you know, she's a single mom, as most of our moms are, and she had a one-year-old and a two-year-old, and she was in a lot of pain, needed to go to the emergency room, trying to figure out what was going on, and before she called or had the police officer call us, what she was told was you need emergency surgery, this cancer that you have that you haven't been, you know, hasn't been able to be treated, you've had a rupture, we need to do something like right now. And the police were called in because she didn't have anyone to come to the emergency room to pick up her kids so she could go to have surgery. And she had heard about us through some of the other organizations that she works with on a regular basis, and she was like, call Safe Families, and the police officer called us and he's like, hey, here's the situation.
And we can't always, we're a volunteer network, so we never can promise that we can support really any circle, but certainly ones that have a really short timeline because it takes a decent amount of logistics to organize volunteer support. But God has been so kind and faithful that in the few circumstances like this one, that when we've had a mom who's like got a short window of two or three hours, you know, max kind of deal, that God has just always provided, our volunteers have always stepped up into that space. And so essentially what happened, if you zoom out, we were able to, our staff was able to meet her in the emergency room, sign our paperwork, do the things that we need to do to make sure we're in, you know, infidelity with our standards, mom gets to meet us and, you know, she's in a pretty desperate situation, but so that she can know who we are and what's going on. And we arrange a volunteer who is able to host in the same way that I could call my parents to watch my kids, you know, if I'm in a situation or have some friends, you know, who could come and like hang with my kids while I take care of something that came up out of the blue that I didn't expect. She just didn't have those people, so we brought people to her who were willing, background checked, safe people who kept those kids overnight so she had space then to have the medical work done that she needed to have done. And then her and her kids, after working with her doctor, they were able to be reunified the next day.
And in that exact moment, with just that little bit of effort, we kept a family together that could have been separated into a system that data says, on average, takes anywhere from 12 to 18 months for kids and parents to be reunited if everything goes according to plan once the system, once CPS has been called. And they are not the enemy, they're trying to help, but it's just such a big system and there's so many things that go into it that to be able to help before that door is opened is a game changer for families. So that's just a small but cool way that we get there. I'm sure that everybody listening is going, oh my goodness, I haven't heard of this, wasn't aware of the resources, but clearly, as you listen to that story, you can see why they need volunteers, why they need your involvement.
And again, if you go to Save Families or if you go to Kingdom Pursuits, I put the link at my website today so that you can see and you can click right on the one that's in the Durham-Raleigh area or you can look for the one in your area. What an amazing and amazing thing. And I love what God's doing. And so we've got Jenny is in Raleigh and she's got an answer to my riddle. So, Jenny, you're on Kingdom Pursuits. Oh, thank you so much.
It is a pleasure to be on your show. And my answer is as follows. The safest place in the world is wherever we are in service to our Lord Jesus Christ. No, you're exactly right. You couldn't be more right, right? And what I thought about, and it's along the same lines, only yours might be better than mine, is if we were in the exact dead center of God's will, right? And so I thought, you know, how cool is it if we are really, really walking with Jesus and he's giving us things like, obviously, that woman we just heard about that knew to call, told the police to call, right?
She clearly was getting a sign from God to do that. But the other thing I thought, Jenny, that I really like this thought, I never thought about God's will as being a will. Amen. Like, oh, yeah, we inherit everything if we're in God's will.
If you get written into his will. Amen. Amen. Absolutely.
No, I totally agree. And I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit with me each and every day. This is my 62nd year of life. Oh, wonderful. Hey, we've got to go to a break, Jenny. But you stay on and we're going to get your information and we're going to get your key.
You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Many are the plans of a man's heart. Many are the plans.
Many are the plans of a man's heart. But it is the Lord's purpose that prevails, that prevails. But it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. But it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. It is an epic love story.
And boy, isn't it, I hope you love God's word as much as I do or more. That would even be better. And here's an opportunity with Epic Love Story that they are putting to song every verse in the Bible eventually.
But at first, by 2025, they want to have 66 of them. And so, you just heard the one from Proverbs. So, Sal, I understand I've been calling you Sal, and I really feel horrible about it, Sal. But his name is Sal Oliveri, right? So, Sal, that Proverbs song is equally as amazing, but you can hear that beat.
And give us a little bit of the technology that you felt like went into making that so relatable. Are you still with us, Sal? Yeah, so sorry, I was on mute. Yes, so that song, you know, I felt like we really had a need to do something kind of young pop, I would call it, right? So, I identified that singer. He's actually a pretty popular Christian artist named Joseph O'Brien.
He's on Toby Mac's label. And I've known his family for years. And so, I had written that song because I just felt like we needed something like that. So, really, it was just me looking at the, actually, you want to hear a funny story? I was sitting in church one day, and our pastor was preaching.
And that particular proverb has always been one of my favorite Bible verses. And the melody just started playing in my head, and I heard the whole song in my head. So, I just jotted it down on my phone, some notes I would remember. And then, when I got back, you know, on Monday into my studio, I basically figured out, like, how I wanted to do the music. I reached out to Joseph to see if he'd like to sing it, and he was really into it. He was on tour at the time, so we worked remotely with his vocals. But really, that entire track, we call it, which means all the instruments in the pop world, I did all of that, basically. It was really done me with a bunch of synthesizers and drum machines and my computer. Now, there are other songs that we have that are completely live, meaning human beings are playing everything, real drums, real bass.
But for each genre, what I'm really trying to do is identify, like, what's the group of people that love this kind of music? And then you really, you know, I craft it to work for the genre. That's amazing, and I couldn't help but think that it was the Lord's purpose that prevailed. In other words, his purpose was playing through because, you know, being a pastor, I realized that he prayed a lot before he decided what to preach on that day.
And God said, I want you to preach on this passage, and that's just not a coincidence, right? And then he played that song in your head. I had a chance to interview King & Country here a few weeks ago when they came out with the movie Unsung Hero. And I asked them about the creative process, you know, what's it like to do that? And I loved, you know, the way they described that process similar to you, that essentially it chose them, they didn't choose it, they didn't choose it. It was like the music chose them, they got that, and then they were able to just take the theme of it and create from that idea that was given to them. And similarly, like, you got that while you were listening to the sermon that the pastor provided, and then, you know, you took and wrote that from that. It's just, it's amazing to me. And I just think, you know, God's so consistent because, you know, when I do a sermon or I do a radio show, I almost always start with the music, seriously. Because if I can get the music in my head, if I can get the music in my head, then everything flows. And even on my Christian Car Guys show today, once I had the music in place, then the show came together.
But it can't. I don't know what that is, but there's something in your heart that it's just that it works like that. And so I think that's so amazing, Sal. And I also think, Sherri, that for you guys, right? Interestingly, those families kind of choose you, but somehow or another, you get the number out there.
I love that she knew that she could call you. Same. Absolutely. I think that is that's a huge part of the work that as a director is, you know, part of part of the role is we want to make sure that when we when God does bring us families to serve that we are equipped as a staff team ready to mobilize care for those people. We have to have the volunteers ready to go who are approved and trained and vetted and, you know, they have to be ready. But also we have to make sure people know about us. We have to make sure that our our name is out there so that in those types of moments, you know, my my dream is that as we grow over the next 10 years, you know, that that the school, the elementary schools and the counselors and the hospitals and, you know, the those types of places in addition to the places where we go really naturally like churches and there are nonprofit organizations and our homeless shelters and, you know, recovery centers, those types of places.
The more people that can know who we are and what we do, the more we can work together with them to really care for people holistically and with the love of Jesus. Now, it's absolutely beautiful. And again, it's called Safe Families. And there's there's a tag to that that I did not write down.
I should have. What is it, Sherry? Well, we're just say families for children. We don't necessarily have a tag other than that. We're trying to surround families, isolated families in crisis with communities with caring, compassionate communities, communities that are radically hospitable and disruptively generous and intentionally compassionate. Values that embody who we are as an organization and embody our volunteers and the churches that we partner with so that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus in really tangible ways for families who need that. Right. And I love that safe families for children, because, again, the idea that she talked about is that, you know, the foster care, what if it was reduced by 70 percent?
And the idea being that she related, which is amazing. Did you say the best case scenario of if a child enters the foster care system before they are reunited with their family is what did you say? Twelve to 18 months. Yeah, depends on every state. And in North Carolina, we actually every single county has its own foster system. So there's different statistics for each county. But, yeah, the reunification rate for like Wake County, which is Raleigh County, is 30 percent, which is below the national average by about 15 percent.
And then Durham County, the sister county beside us, has a 22 percent reunification rate, which is compared to the national average, less than half of what the national average is, which is still under 50 percent. So, I mean, we're talking about really points of need, very high points of need. And interestingly, you know, my wife and I went through foster care training because at one point in time we were going to look at beginning to do that process.
And they couldn't make it more clear when you go through that training. The purpose of you being a foster parent is to reunite this child with their with their real family. Because, again, you know, your real dad, your real mom, you know, if we can get them going straight, then oh, my goodness, or get them healthy like the poor lady with cancer, whatever that looks like. Right.
Yeah, that wasn't even I think there's this there's this stereotype, you know, there's this narrative out there that is based in some truth, but not entirely true that all of the parents and kids in the system are there because their parent is bad. Right. A lot of pieces of life that can pile up and we got we got to go to a break. I'm so sorry, Sherry, but we will be back with one more segment of Kingdom Pursuits and another another one of those songs from Epic Love Story coming your way.
Stay tuned. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. That is Galatians three, 13 and 14. It is part of the Epic Love Story, and we played a little bit longer sound bite in the second segment.
But again, you can go to Kingdom Pursuits and look up Epic Love Story, or you can just look up Epic Love Story and you can hear all those songs as they are on their way to having 66 songs by the beginning of 2025. That that we would have, you know, his word does not come back void. Right. And so if we are getting those things in our heart based on, you know, our listening and, you know, a melody will get in your head and then you can't get it out. Well, what a great thing if, you know, you know, through faith, through faith, through faith is cursing through your mind, you know, throughout the day.
And, you know, very cool. You told a beautiful, beautiful story about the proverb song. What about the Galatian song, Sal? Yeah, well, with the Galatian song, this is our fourth song that will be coming out next month. And, you know, the way I'm trying to build the first 10, I'd say, is to really demonstrate to people what Epic Love Story is about.
And one of our key tenants is that we're diverse. You know, a lot of times if you go out and you look for scripture songs, they're typically all the same genre. And sometimes it's even like a single person making all scripture songs, which is wonderful that they're putting the word out there.
But artistically, it's one thing. And what Epic Love Story is, it's more about creating a mosaic of a lot of participation of different styles and genres and different people. So the Galatian song, I wanted to do a Latin pop song. And I found this young singer, Gabrielle Spillare, who is Colombian. And then a good friend of mine, Michael Rapal, who's kind of a world renowned guitarist, tours with all the big wigs in the pop world.
But he's a phenomenal flamenco guitarist. I just knew that I wanted to reach the Latin community, of course, English speaking Latin community, because we're doing these in English. And so, you know, again, I just sort of looked through all of the scriptures that our team has identified for the first 66. And then I'm trying to find a match between the scripture, the style and the feature artists. And it just sort of this this song, the scripture just spoke to me. And so, again, I won't be writing all of these songs, even though I've had success as a songwriter.
It's just trying to build the prototype so people can understand what the project is and what it's about and what really makes it special. I would say there's really nothing like Epic Love Story that's out there. And so it just seemed like, you know, Latin pop was the right thing. It's like a mix of Pitbull and Shakira.
Yeah. And again, we need you to know that like Epic Love Story, in order to get these songs out, it takes money. It takes, you know, just for the production costs and all that's involved in it. A lot of it's volunteer work, but oh my goodness, you know, if God puts it on your heart to contribute to Epic Love Story, according to Epic Love Story and contribute, it's an amazing, amazing project. And think of all the people someday we might meet in heaven as a result of like they listen to a song and it got in their heart and however that works. Again, it's Epic Love Story, pretty easy to remember that. And then also, if you're in the music world and you want to write a song or you got something musical that you want to do along those lines, it's all there at Epic Love Story.
You can volunteer. And, you know, that's part of why they're on the show with us today, clearly, is to make you aware of the project, to make you aware that you can be part of this Epic Love Story. But also the reason that we have Sherri Sholes on us with Safe Families is, you know, Sherri, what would be your hope the response of people would be for Safe Families that listen to the show today?
Yeah, I think it's exactly what you just said for Epic Love Story in two ways, right? The first one is we can't be relational support without the people to relate to our moms that are reaching out to us. So we've got to have volunteers. We work really hard to make sure that we have enough volunteers. And the hope is that every call we get that fits within what we can do, that we would have a group of people to put the need out to who could respond and say, yes, I will surround this family. So we're always looking for volunteers. And then also funding. I mean, every nonprofit faces this space. We do a lot of what we do as much as we can through our volunteers. But it takes a staff team to be able to mobilize that. It takes operational costs to be able to keep your systems in place and your database and everything you need to make sure you're caring really well for families.
And like we talked about earlier, that people in the community know about you and trust you. And those efforts require that type of funding. We kind of put it into a thought process to try and say, like, hey, it takes about $60 a day to do what we do to surround a family. And so, you know, every dollar matters. Every dollar has an impact on a family we're serving. And we're just grateful for anything God puts on anyone's heart to do in response. That is so wonderful. It really is. Again, it's Save Families for Children.
You can go there at Kingdom Pursuits or you can find Epic Love Story. And so, Beverly, we're going to give you the last word because you haven't said anything this whole segment. Say quick because we're about to go. Oh, right now?
Yeah. I want gratitude and I want to have everybody who wants to be a part of this product to come be a part. So go to epiclovestory.org.
There you go. And the rest of you, thank you so much, believe me, for listening. It means so much to us. Got so much truth coming at you. Encouraging prayer followed by masculine journey. The Nikita Koloff with It's Time to Man Up. So much truth coming at you on the Truth Network. Thanks, guys. This is the Truth Network.
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