Abe Walton: Embracing the Mission Field in Everyday Professions and Community
In this episode of Mission Control, we’re joined by Dr. Abe Walton, professor at FIT, who shares his unique perspectives on the interplay between faith, education, and leadership. Listen as Abe delves into his experience going through the Aspire program, and how God’s story intersects with our life’s work. Discover how Abe blends biblical teachings with business acumen, his insights into fostering, and the value of continual learning and growth in faith. Whether it’s fostering children or teaching thousands of students, Abe Walton embodies the practice of embedding kingdom work in every facet of life. Tune in for an enlightening discussion that challenges the status quo and inspires active involvement in God’s work here on earth.
Episode Highlights:
– The journey from working in retail to software engineering to teaching at a university and Abe’s approach to integrating faith in academics
– Participation in the Aspire program and the fusion of business principles with biblical teachings
– Practical steps for getting involved in missions and fostering without feeling overwhelmed
– The impact of small group involvement and sustaining a kingdom-oriented outlook
– Abe’s extensive experience in fostering and the support available through organizations like Nana’s House and One More Child
– The significance of mentoring in both spiritual and academic contexts, and Abe’s passion for education as a life-long calling
Resources Mentioned:
– “Is God Calling Me?” by Jeff Iorg
– Aspire program at FBC Melbourne, aimed at enhancing one’s foundation in the word of God: https://www.fbcmel.info/aspire/
– Nana’s House and One More Child, organizations supporting foster care: http://nanaschildrenshome.com & https://onemorechild.org
Connect with Us:
– Visit our website at launchme.church
– Follow us on Facebook & Instagram at @FBCMel.
– Send us your thoughts and questions at info@fbcmel.org.
Support the Show:
– Share this episode with your friends and family who might be interested in deepening their faith and hearing encouraging stories of how God is on the move in the Space Coast
Episode Transcript:
Amanda Levy [00:00:00]:
You. God has given all of us a mission to make disciples here and everywhere for the glory of God minus ten and nine. We want our church to be a launch pad for sending people out on the mission God has for them. Regardless of who you are, we all have a role to play. We are all involved in God’s story. We pray that the story shared through mission control will encourage you to see how God is calling you to be used by him. Hello, my name is Amanda Levy, and I’m the communications director here at First Baptist Melbourne and the host of this podcast today. I have Abe, Dr.
Amanda Levy [00:00:43]:
Walton joining us. He is a professor at Fit, and he went through aspire. I also just learned that he is one of the sponsors with fit for inner varsity. We are kind of chatting. There’s a nice little on ramp from Rebecca Cannon, who was one of his students, to Taylor Cannon, who worked inner varsity. And now we have Abe, one of the guys at Fit. So I’m excited today to talk about a little bit of what God’s doing in your life and where you’re on mission.
Abe Walton [00:01:09]:
Thanks for having me.
Amanda Levy [00:01:11]:
Before we get into it, though, I thought we’d do a fun space themed icebreaker question, and since I did a little bit of research into what you do at fit, you do something with business. Okay. If you were to go to Mars and you take off any theological stance to this, but say you were going to help colonize Mars and you were one of the first batches, what would be a business that you would start on Mars?
Abe Walton [00:01:37]:
On Mars, yeah.
Amanda Levy [00:01:39]:
Because now you’re living on Mars, you got to do something.
Abe Walton [00:01:43]:
Yeah. So it goes back to basic economics of supply and demand. So water, clearly they’re looking for. And I would take some measure of making sure that I had some business aspect of the fundamentals of basic supply and demand. What are our fundamental needs? Air, water, everything’s a business. Right. So there’s business right now in even the water system. So probably there those two fundamentals, right.
Abe Walton [00:02:07]:
And then any other sustenance needs that makes sense. So be somewhere in the factors of production.
Amanda Levy [00:02:13]:
Factors of production in Mars. We’re going to learn a lot today on the podcast about business, I’m sure. So, leading into that, where does God currently have you on mission in your life?
Abe Walton [00:02:25]:
So as a professor? Never thought I’d be a professor growing up.
Amanda Levy [00:02:28]:
Really?
Abe Walton [00:02:29]:
Yeah, where Lord led me. I have a really winding career background. And so I think that being professor is the mission field. And it’s interesting being in a secular university, because you’re not supposed to proselytize and all that, but you can be available and you can make it known. So students seek you out and you have an opportunity to witness to them that way. So that’s where he has me. I mean, there’s a lot of other sort of subdomains that are tied to my role as a professor, whether it be company boards that I sit on or community organizations that we partner with, or maybe it’s tailoring special projects that we have. Students go out and volunteer with nonprofit, usually christian organizations to help further them.
Abe Walton [00:03:08]:
So just the ability to kind of infuse kingdom work within that setting.
Amanda Levy [00:03:14]:
I mean, you mentioned you didn’t think you’d be a professor. What did you think you would be when you started into the world of adulthood?
Abe Walton [00:03:21]:
Yeah. Okay. That’s a long answer. My dad was a fireman, so of course I went and became a fireman. I did it for five or six years, all while I was going to school for computer science, applied math, and then. So then I went and did computer software and engineering and things like that. My last name is Walton. So odly, through a course of events, it’s a much longer story.
Abe Walton [00:03:43]:
I ended up becoming an operations turnaround agent for Walmart. Had nothing to do with the Walton last name. What I did, I ran Walmart’s in the new Seattle market, and I sort of flipped stores from non productive, near shutdown, they were going to close them to productive and did that for a handful of years. And then a mentor friend of mine sort of, we stayed in touch after my undergraduate and sort of recruited me to go get my master’s and then PhD at Purdue, where I did. And then I became a professor at Purdue and then, as you know, eventually at USF and then here at Florida Tech. So that’s sort of the real fast walk through my background. And even while I was getting my phd, I was like, I don’t know about this whole professor thing. I was going to go and be a management consultant and work in industry and just Lord kept guiding that path towards, this is what you’re going to do.
Abe Walton [00:04:30]:
I’m like, okay, here we are.
Amanda Levy [00:04:31]:
Okay, so you went through Aspire program here. When did you start that and what was kind of your motivation for wanting to do that?
Abe Walton [00:04:40]:
So, good question. We started that a couple of years ago. I finished just maybe a term or two ago. And so it’s a two year program. So I guess maybe I started three years ago. My wife and I have moved. We were in Indiana. We’ve been other places.
Abe Walton [00:04:55]:
And at a lot of the big churches like this, they have some program like that. And personally had always sort of played around with the idea of going to seminary, that and maybe law school. I mean, there’s always these, like, if I had additional time to keep going.
Amanda Levy [00:05:09]:
Seminary, law school is just right there.
Abe Walton [00:05:11]:
With, I don’t know, but just the constant studying, the constant learning, both of those have been sort of interests of mine. And so at each of the previous churches, I’ve gone through either leadership classes or the church specific version of a seminary.
Amanda Levy [00:05:25]:
Okay.
Abe Walton [00:05:26]:
And so when Aspire came up as an opportunity, I was like, absolutely okay. My wife and I always been in lay leadership roles from usually everything from leading as youth leaders, which we do now here at First Baptist, as well as even something minor like running the church coffee shop or other variety of leadership roles. And so being in a lay leader position and going through programs like Aspire, I think, are super critical so that you can firm up your foundation and just continue to study the word of God.
Amanda Levy [00:05:55]:
What were some of the things you took away from the Aspire program?
Abe Walton [00:05:59]:
Great courses. I think they did a good job of selecting the four that they have. Obviously, I wish they’d have more. I just keep going, and I think a lot of people would. The leadership one is a favorite of mine because I also teach that at the university. I go around the country, and I have three or four or five day leadership boot camps to large organizations, national organizations. And so reframing it and tying it to biblical matters is always great for me. My perspective as a business professor, I’ve been asked a number of times, people will go, well, do you think that business is at ods with the Bible? And I go, no, actually, if you really study it, like Harvard Business Review or great leadership books that are secular, they’re really dealing from the Bible.
Abe Walton [00:06:40]:
I mean, almost all of the best business principles that are tried and true are all anchored in scripture. And so I sort of always chuckle when I’m sitting at a conference and someone’s presenting an idea, I’m like, if you only read the Bible, you’d know where you got that, right? They don’t know that. So to go through aspire and to see all the connections from the business world, economics, you name it, to how it’s just really anchored in how God designed us to be in relationship with him, I think it’s fantastic. So I’d encourage people to go through it.
Amanda Levy [00:07:06]:
Okay, so that was my next. Would you just encourage anyone to go through it, or is this like, everyone do it. There’s no wrong answer.
Abe Walton [00:07:16]:
Yeah, I think I’m thinking about the people that have been in there, and I’ve seen, if I recall, right, relatively newer christians go through it, and it seems to be a great foundation. I think that obviously there’s some minimum requirements to get in and levels of commitment and whatnot. So assuming you meet all those and are dedicated to it, I think that it’d be great for even that level, as well as I know that myself and others who have been through programs like it or the executive level or they’re much more older adults. And I think I’ve seen across the board fruit. And why is that? I mean, you’re studying God’s word. How can that not be fruitful in anyone’s life?
Amanda Levy [00:07:53]:
So were you born or not born? I was going to say, were you born in the church? Were you raised in the church? What was kind of your upbringing in the early days of your relationship with Christ?
Abe Walton [00:08:02]:
Yeah, we were. My wife and I were raised in a church family, christian families. So I think back, my grandparents really strong in the faith, and so my mom and her siblings. And so it was a whole network of christians and same with my wife’s family. So we were blessed to be sort of raised in the church. And in fact, my grandparents, after they retired in their, I don’t know, late fifty s and sixty s, they sold their house even before they retired. They had a motorhome, and they would travel the country building churches or working on churches or they used to call it mappers. It was like mobile missionaries assistance program.
Abe Walton [00:08:37]:
And so they’d go around the country in their motorhomes building churches. And so we had some experience and exposure to that as a young kid. And so they did that for like 20 years. And so you can see the kind of dedication to the church and its furtherance and helping those in need.
Amanda Levy [00:08:50]:
So this is the idea of being tied into lots of different areas in the church, because what I heard from you is you’re involved in student ministry here at first honors, Melmern, you went through the aspire program. You work in the community through fit and different things that come with that. And you also, we were talking about off camera, Foster. So you have a deep, deep sense and commitment to this.
Abe Walton [00:09:12]:
Yes.
Amanda Levy [00:09:13]:
So do you think that’s something that was just handed down to you, or was there ever a moment in your life where there was this definitive decision to make that and to go into that path?
Abe Walton [00:09:26]:
I wouldn’t call it a single path or a definitive moment. I think it’s a series of iterative, repeating reaffirmations to continue to follow God’s will. And he’s not going to lay out your whole life for you, but I think you continue to commit and be open to what he has for you and really focus on, like, this is a short however many years we have on the earth. It’s short. I mean, the Bible talks about it. So to think, what are we doing from an eternal perspective and how whatever we do on this earth will all fade away. And I’ve kind of shocked some of my colleagues, especially their secular colleagues, but even the christian ones. So at the university, the idea is you get grants and you publish.
Abe Walton [00:10:06]:
And the phrase is, publish your parish, and so you get all this work.
Amanda Levy [00:10:09]:
Okay?
Abe Walton [00:10:11]:
God’s been blessing me through that. I was the youngest ever tenured full professor at the institution at port attack at a really young age, I mean, like 20 years younger than the next earliest. And so people will kind of talk to me about what do you do and how you do it? And I sort of will sometimes go, you realize this all burns. I mean, this all goes away. So you need to have an eternal perspective. So, yes, I’m sitting here performing at my job, whatever the Lord has me to do, but, boy, if I’m not having an internal perspective on other things, then it doesn’t matter, right? It’s all straw or hay or all perishable output. So that sort of perspective has just been reinforced. And God’s brought some great mentors in my life over the years that I’ve either sought out or he’s divine opportunities to meet these folks.
Abe Walton [00:10:56]:
But to reemphasize, like, this goes quick. Right? So pay attention to eternal things. Make sure you’re investing in internal things, because the rest of it just fades away.
Amanda Levy [00:11:05]:
Yeah. So we were talking off camera before we started recording your wife and you foster what was kind of the heartbeat for why you decided to start doing that, and how has God been using that in your life?
Abe Walton [00:11:18]:
So we’ve been married 22 years, and for as long as I can remember, it’s mostly been my wife’s sort of calling her, calling to. She’s always said if she could adopt every one of those babies that dies from an abortion or is abandoned at birth, or you see these horrible stories of them just sort of being a failed abortion, and then they’re in a closet. It’s really heartbreaking. And so she’s just like, I would love to bring all those into an orphanage. And so this is maybe even a step towards what will eventually become, who knows, an orphanage. But we pray together, we talk together. And so a dozen years ago or so, we maybe longer in Indiana, went through a christian fostering agency, and we had some friends at church that we were talking to and just sharing hopes and dreams and life stories with and ambitions. Right.
Abe Walton [00:12:06]:
So that whole fellowship aspect. So one of the benefits of church fellowship. And they said, you know, we go through a christian foster agency. We didn’t know they existed. Like, oh, you can do that because, you know, the separation of church and state. And so we didn’t really want to have, and you see it now in fostering, like, they’re really forcing a whole lot of government.
Amanda Levy [00:12:23]:
Got you.
Abe Walton [00:12:24]:
You have to support agendas that are not christian.
Amanda Levy [00:12:26]:
Got you.
Abe Walton [00:12:28]:
So finding out that there was a christian agency getting involved in that back in 2000 and 910, eleven that area was when it sort of became formalized where we said, are we going to do this thing? Let’s do it. And at that point we had young kids and just, it had been on her heart mainly.
Amanda Levy [00:12:43]:
How old was your youngest at this point?
Abe Walton [00:12:45]:
Now I’m just, I want to say, like one.
Amanda Levy [00:12:47]:
Wow, okay. So really young.
Abe Walton [00:12:49]:
Yeah.
Amanda Levy [00:12:49]:
Okay.
Abe Walton [00:12:51]:
So that was about when we got started.
Amanda Levy [00:12:53]:
Okay. How long were y’all doing it in Indiana before you moved to Florida?
Abe Walton [00:12:57]:
So interestingly, just a couple years. And then God picked us up and moved us to Florida. And then as we were talking off camera, there was not good reciprocity between Indiana and Florida, which was just as being in the system now here in Florida, and it’s unfortunately very broken and lots of bureaucratic red tape and so on. So we were at what Florida would consider like a level five, like therapeutic. You can take any kid, hypersensitive cases and so on. So we’d gone through hundreds of hours of training and so to come to Florida and be like, no, you’re not qualified.
Amanda Levy [00:13:29]:
None of it counts.
Abe Walton [00:13:30]:
It’s like, oh, man, I don’t think we had. We just, there was that moment of like, I don’t know if I have the wherewithal to really go do another couple hundred hours of training right now. So we did, we took a break a little bit and then we got back into it. So happy to be back into it.
Amanda Levy [00:13:42]:
Okay, so how long have you been doing it in Florida then? You’ve been in Melbourne for eleven years, I think.
Abe Walton [00:13:50]:
Twelve years, twelve years, 2012. We’ve only been doing it back here again maybe another year, maybe longer. I’m not somewhere around there, so it’s fairly fresh. We probably had a half dozen kids in that time. So, I mean, it just kind of blows by the time. Blows by?
Amanda Levy [00:14:06]:
Yeah. What advice would you have for someone who’s listening right now and kind of feels that stir in their heart towards maybe wanting to foster? Where would you recommend they start?
Abe Walton [00:14:17]:
So I’d say do it. And I would say there’s probably people in your network, in your friend group or a friend of a friend, one or two or three degrees of separation that do it. And any of us, at least all those that I know, would be super happy to talk about it. And there’s a great organization, one more child here in Melbourne that we go through. It’s tied to Nana’s house. So that’s our agency. And they’re a christian agency. Right.
Abe Walton [00:14:41]:
And their whole role is to help support the foster parent and train them and enable, mean not do another one. But I wouldn’t recommend just going through the standard system because of how great of what Nana’s house and one more childhood.
Amanda Levy [00:14:55]:
The resources.
Abe Walton [00:14:56]:
The resources are immense. Right? So they have this whole community. They’ve got their own network of supplies and they have people giving to it. So for those who can’t even maybe you’re not in a situation where you can foster or you don’t think you can or whatever, they have people who are house parents. They have people who. They call it a stop and shop where if we have need, because as I told you off camera, we just got another kid. Well, they’re always of a different age or size or whatever, so do you need a bed? Do you need new clothes? So they have this, like, whole. It’s an off, non public, off road, sort of thrift house that we can go in and be like, okay, I got to stock up for an eight year old boy.
Abe Walton [00:15:30]:
I don’t have anything. And so really quickly you can go and just get everything. So there’s people that participate in that. So there’s just so many needs in that community that I think people aren’t aware of how you can participate and still find joy and meet your calling, even if you can’t just foster that. Or even the guardian ad litem. So the guardian ad litem is a program of, they’re not a foster parent, but every kid that we have is assigned a guardian. Right? Guardian item. And they come in and they visit with the kid, and they’re the advocate for the kid in addition to the foster parents.
Abe Walton [00:16:03]:
Like, they’ll go to court and do other things like that. So that’s another great way to get involved if people are interested.
Amanda Levy [00:16:08]:
That’s awesome. And then you’re also involved in student ministry here. How long have you been volunteering with student ministry? And what all do you do?
Abe Walton [00:16:16]:
Probably just a year or so. I mean, I think we joined it last year.
Amanda Levy [00:16:19]:
So you were like, we’re jumping in. Let’s foster. Let’s start doing this. I’m halfway through aspire. Let’s go.
Abe Walton [00:16:25]:
Yeah. Your plate can only be so full, right? So I think there’s periods.
Amanda Levy [00:16:28]:
Okay.
Abe Walton [00:16:29]:
And we sort of knew that aspire and my wife was doing some other stuff, so that aspire was coming to a close, and it was like, okay, what’s next? Not a period of inactivity, but as you’re looking towards something closing out, and then your plate opens up. So we were anticipating, okay, what’s next? And so we kind of already knew. Brandon Harvath and I lead a small group, and so we shifted our small group night to be able to afford us to be able to jump into the Sunday and Wednesday student leading. I do juniors and seniors primarily.
Amanda Levy [00:16:57]:
So do you lead Sunday school and.
Abe Walton [00:16:59]:
Sunday school, and then Wednesday nights, do.
Amanda Levy [00:17:02]:
You and your wife lead together, or do you just do it?
Abe Walton [00:17:05]:
So obviously it’s gender split, but she’ll do usually a younger group. I think I tend to lean towards seniors because we’re both first generation college students and weren’t really even supported by both of our families, were like, don’t do it. We’re not going to support you. It was a very traumatic experience to even do it.
Amanda Levy [00:17:23]:
That’s wild. Well, no, what’s wild is that your first degree college student or first generation college student, and then you went all the way to your phd and now you’re teaching college. Does it feel like a full circle moment for you?
Abe Walton [00:17:37]:
It’s weird because the lessons that God’s afforded me to learn through that. I’m now like, boy, if I could talk to my 20 year old self or whatever, the wisdom that I could give them the advice on how to do it and get it paid for and all that stuff.
Amanda Levy [00:17:47]:
But your parents were both go down another path because your dad was a fireman.
Abe Walton [00:17:51]:
Another fireman. And they ran a small company of logging and landscaping and physical labor stuff. And he’s like, just, they work for the family business. And I’m like, no, it’s not where God’s calling me.
Amanda Levy [00:18:02]:
How does that speak into you leading in the student.
Abe Walton [00:18:09]:
Mean? Our primary goal is to point people to Jesus in whatever path you go. And I would say that whether or not, it’s college. I mean, I think there’s this wrong idea that you have to go to college. Nope, that’s not the case. So there’s plenty of people who are going to go be a laborer or be a plumber or be anything else that God’s ordained you to do, and that’s fantastic. But how do you do that and do it to its fullest and do it for the glory of God? Right. And whatever God’s put his blessing on your life to do, he’s already ordained that before the beginning of time. So go do that.
Abe Walton [00:18:34]:
And so to encourage people to pursue that, but also that, even through that, because I came from that, I know what it’s like to build houses and cut down trees and do plumbing and all the physical stuff, as well as all the more academic or intellectual or management consulting or corporate. So I have a consulting company where we do management consulting and leadership training and all that. And so I’m in all these different areas. And to be able to share that with the students and say, God’s got a plan for you, don’t be fearful of that. And to be able to sort of help them uncover what that is and be encouraged to go pursue it and find mentors that can help. Envision, how would I pay for college? And what about the interest test or whatever it may be? So it’s nice to be able to speak into their lives that way and just kind of be a resource for them. Go ahead and ask anything. Yeah.
Amanda Levy [00:19:19]:
You mentioned that your wife was the same. I get the sense that you all were very young when you all met. How long have you been in a relationship, essentially with her?
Abe Walton [00:19:27]:
So we’ve been married 22 years. We have been together 23 years. So, yeah, there was a one year dating, I guess, before marriage. Yeah. Young.
Amanda Levy [00:19:39]:
Where did you all meet?
Abe Walton [00:19:40]:
Youth group.
Amanda Levy [00:19:41]:
Okay, nice. Would you be considered high school sweethearts then, or was this. You knew each other in high school, but it wasn’t until later.
Abe Walton [00:19:49]:
Yeah, it was like that.
Amanda Levy [00:19:50]:
Okay.
Abe Walton [00:19:52]:
After high school, she had just graduated, and then that’s when. But we knew each other during high school and group and all that, so there was that connection.
Amanda Levy [00:19:59]:
Oh, very cool. Let’s see. What advice would you have for someone? You mentioned what God has ordained us for, and it might not be college, it could be other paths. What advice would you have for someone, particularly your students, were one step behind trying to discern what God wants them to do.
Abe Walton [00:20:24]:
So we can refer to the Bible for answers to that.
Amanda Levy [00:20:26]:
Right.
Abe Walton [00:20:27]:
Where with the council of many our plans succeed and a threefold cord is not easily broken and all these sorts of premises. And so what does that look like in real life? I think that looks like going out and finding people that are willing to have the conversation and the cup of coffee or whatever with you about those people in the field. But also, I would caution people from just seeking out confirmatory voices. The Bible speaks about that, too. Don’t just seek out people who are going to tell you what your itching ears want to hear and find people that might give you a contrarian point of view that you then take through a lens of. Those might be some, they might be negative on it, but really, can you glean any sense of advice from things to look out for?
Amanda Levy [00:21:11]:
Or can they point out any blind.
Abe Walton [00:21:12]:
Spots that you might have or weaknesses or certificates or they might consider barriers. But then if you felt called that way, it’s just one more thing to be aware of that you need to pray about and have God overcome or whatever. So finding mentors in your life that will invest in you are super critical. It’s kind of wild. When I think back over my nearly 20 years, teaching now makes me sound old. So I’ve been in the professor for basically 20 years.
Amanda Levy [00:21:40]:
Okay.
Abe Walton [00:21:40]:
And I think I stopped counting at like 20,000 students. That’s a lot of students.
Amanda Levy [00:21:46]:
That is a lot of students.
Abe Walton [00:21:47]:
And how many of those, especially being a first generation college student, how many of those have I been able to dramatically alter their life course? Primarily the best ones are the ones that you hear about that are saved and impacted. That’s fantastic. But also in career path thing, or in just life choices, or in marital choices, or just the whole slew of things that they might be considering is to be able to either point them down a direction or open a door, make a connection for them, help find them a job, make a phone call for them. And for me, that’s a big intrinsic reward of what I do. It’s a big blessing to be able to do that. So there are people out there, you’re going to find a lot of people who don’t care, right. And whether or not they’re in the church, I think there’s going to be plenty of people who just aren’t interested in doing that for youth. But there are those, like, look at those of us that are leaders in the youth group.
Abe Walton [00:22:37]:
All of us are there. And the kids can call the same time and say, I have a question. What about this? What about that? And if we don’t have the answer we find someone that does. So I just say get involved and find people and then plug into the community of interest. Whatever that community of interest is, everything has a community around it. So get plugged into that community.
Amanda Levy [00:22:54]:
Kind of changing subjects a little bit. What excites you about the opportunities here? At first, I’ve just melbourne to get involved and to really plug in.
Abe Walton [00:23:05]:
So there’s the proverbial Pareto principle of the 80 20. I think that every church, I don’t know if it to be true here, but most churches around the country, like 80% of the work is done by 20% of the volunteers. Right. And I don’t mean that in any diminutive way or dismissive or inferior way here at First Baptist. But with that being said, if that premise holds even remotely true in our community, then there’s so many places to plug in. I know that we need more and more and more life groups, right? So whether it’s a different night, whether it’s a different topic, whether it’s a different leader, whether it’s a different thread, different age group, demographic is to just do community at a smaller level. I know that there’s always, at larger churches, I think the statistics are pretty staggering. If people that come to the church aren’t plugged into something else other than a Sunday, if they’re not plugged in within nine to twelve months, then they relocate, they go somewhere else.
Abe Walton [00:23:56]:
Yeah, they’re gone. Right. So the ability to plug those people into, again, life groups, Sunday school type places, youth groups, always looking to grow. I mean, we’re bursting at the seams. I think Ryan said we’re somewhere around 250 to 300 students. I mean, that’s enormous, right? That’s bigger than most american churches aren’t that big. So we certainly need more youth leaders. And I think at every level they would say, I’m sure, Pastor Jason, we’d be like, I need some in preschool.
Abe Walton [00:24:19]:
So there’s whatever your passion is. And I think that therein might lie some consternation with people as they go. Or maybe apprehension would be the right word, is they go, well, if I get plugged in, I’m going to commit that forever. No, you’re committing for a season. Like, just do a season, just try it out. And you’ll get to meet people and you’ll get plugged in and maybe find maybe God’s refining his call in your life in a certain way.
Amanda Levy [00:24:40]:
Yeah. I think to speak of what you’re saying too, of the plate and something’s empty, and then you add things to it. It can feel scary because you feel like you’re adding something to your plate forever. But I think there is wisdom in recognizing that nothing is forever.
Abe Walton [00:24:55]:
Nothing’s forever. And my wife and I have been really intentional about that. A wise pastor a long time ago was talking about how people will tap you on the shoulder, maybe even to call you into a certain ministry. So in terms of affirming your calling, hopefully someone’s reached into your life and has either affirmed it externally or that you’ve spoken with. This shouldn’t just be you thinking, I really want to do this thing. Where is God’s affirmation? Whether it’s from a spouse, whether it’s from a leading pastor, whether it’s from your youth leader or whatever. But one thing that my wife and I do regularly, at least a couple of times a year, but primarily because we’re both educators, do it in the summer, is we lay all of our cards on the table, what I call the chopping block, and we just pray over. It’s like, if the Lord wants to lead us, everything is up for being chopped out.
Abe Walton [00:25:35]:
And I think that we sort of learned that from a long time ago where we had always been plugged into certain ministries, and then we had moved and joined another church because of job relocation. And we sort of just assumed, maybe even not like Pastor Scott just did this sermon on, I mean, honestly might not have prayed about it enough, and we just sort of jumped in. And within a number of months, we were like, this isn’t where we’re supposed to be. So we had just made the presumption that because we’d done it before in that ministry, that we should. So God’s vacillated our ministry to various outlets over the years, and I think so being open to that. But that should help reduce people’s fears from. I’m committing to this for a long time. No, it’s for a season.
Abe Walton [00:26:17]:
And also, don’t be pressured to be in one because it’s what you’ve been before. Because I think that if you’re filling a ministry, because, boy, someone has to fill that ministry, you might actually be taking a spot where someone’s called God’s called someone else into that spot because they see it filled with someone who’s not their current calling, they might be just not joining it.
Amanda Levy [00:26:37]:
Right.
Abe Walton [00:26:38]:
We’ve seen that a number of times. People bear a burden of a ministry that they’re not supposed to be in for that season, and it prevents others from the joy of executing their gift that way. So I think just be flexible about it.
Amanda Levy [00:26:52]:
When you moved here, how quickly were you in a group?
Abe Walton [00:26:56]:
A small group.
Amanda Levy [00:26:57]:
Yeah. And what role has that played in getting connected?
Abe Walton [00:27:02]:
Because I think we tend to get plugged right in. So when we first moved here, right. A dozen years ago, our kids were younger and our natural first groups were like the Awana groups. So as our kids have aged, they’re near college, then we’ve been able to be more free as we didn’t necessarily follow the kids age group along. Yeah, but even in that case, if you have young kids, your kids are probably in something, and so you have people in a similar life pool of.
Amanda Levy [00:27:30]:
Other people who have kids who are in something.
Abe Walton [00:27:31]:
Right. So then make a small group out of that. Yeah.
Amanda Levy [00:27:34]:
That’s awesome. Well, finally. Actually, no, let’s take a step back. What are you looking forward? So you said the summer, everything’s on the chopping block.
Abe Walton [00:27:43]:
Yeah, we do.
Amanda Levy [00:27:44]:
What are some things you look forward to in future seasons of ministry? Not necessarily like, saying that you’re committing to that’s happening, but is there anything that kind of God has before you?
Abe Walton [00:27:57]:
Some years we’ll go into it knowing, like, we’re probably going to be going in this direction or knowing that something’s coming to an end, even if it’s like sports or ministry or school or our career or just like, I’ve bought and sold companies or whatever, and those have all been seasonal phases. So I try not to get too far ahead. Yeah, too far ahead of that just to go, here I am. And sometimes you might think that the Lord’s freeing you to move in another direction. And if you get that sense, sometimes you’re like, all right, lord. I’m just patiently waiting, like, what is coming next? There’s times of preparation between seasons, too, where maybe you need to firm up certain things or get rid of certain things in your life or whatever. So right now we’re just enjoying where we’re at. I’m really embracing the fostering thing.
Abe Walton [00:28:39]:
My wife and I help at the group called ways.
Amanda Levy [00:28:43]:
Can you explain what ways is? Again, I think that was an off camera discussion.
Abe Walton [00:28:46]:
Yeah. So it’s a local up in the O’Galley area. Way stands for wraparound youth services. Even in the foster community, you find that there’s just these enormously heartbreaking situations of kids that fall out of the foster care system and literally end up on the street for really no cause of their own. It was a bad home situation. Drugs, alcohol, you name it, whatever. And maybe they got placed in a bad setting or it’s just for whatever reason, psychologically or otherwise, it just didn’t work out. And many of them end up on the street.
Abe Walton [00:29:16]:
And we’ve heard of stories of, like, ten year olds, nine year olds ending on the street, and they find them when they’re 14 or 15, and they’re like, where have you been these last numbers of years? Living on my own. It’s wild. So helping places like that get plugged in, and even if it’s not in a church group setting. So my wife mentors there, and she will tutor there, so she goes up weekly, and this is a place where kids will get plugged back in. They’re kind of coming back on the grid, going, I need housing, I need to get my ged or whatever. It’s a community sort of effort. Great ladies that lead it. So wherever your heart is, if you have a special, even if it’s an hour or two a week, get plugged in there.
Abe Walton [00:29:52]:
So that’s kind of what we’re just leaning into right now, and we’ll see what happens.
Amanda Levy [00:29:57]:
Yeah, that’s awesome.
Abe Walton [00:29:57]:
Always open to new things.
Amanda Levy [00:29:58]:
Yeah, that’s awesome. All right, now, finally, what advice would you have for someone who’s feeling the call to make disciples here and everywhere for the glory of God?
Abe Walton [00:30:08]:
I think they should. And there’s going to be a cost to it, right? I mean, if you’re not on the battlefield and you’re not in the war, then Satan might not even combat with you, right? So if you’re just living the smooth coaster and everything’s going well, I kind of wonder there might be a reason for that. Satan doesn’t need to combat with you. You’re not even in the battle. Be willing to do that. The life is short. Eternity is forever. And there’s just, we walk around our community, and the statistics pastor Scott and others give, somewhere around four to 500,000 people don’t know Jesus, don’t have a saving relationship with him, and you’re going to answer for that one day every moment.
Abe Walton [00:30:58]:
And I think even for those of us that are somewhat plugged in, we still have plenty of downtime. When I go, maybe I should be doing more for the kingdom. Maybe I should be going on mission more. Maybe we should go on a mission trip to Ecuador or other places, Middle east or wherever. Maybe we should be sending people. So if you’re not going, are you sending, what are you doing right now at any snapshot in time that is kingdom oriented? And I try to, in our family, talk about that, raise our kids, that kind of mindset, to go, look, whatever you go do, whether it’s nursing or school or whatever you’re doing, do it through a perspective of, there’s got to be a kingdom flavor to that. And if not, is it a distraction? You look around our world secularly and Satan’s blinded most of America with money and fame and influencing and other fill in the blank espn on Sundays, it doesn’t matter. Whatever.
Abe Walton [00:31:48]:
The sports camps are your thing. We’re all blinded with these non eternal, just vaporous things that suck up time. And then there’s years go by and you go, what have you done for the kingdom? What have you done for your lord? Nothing. Well, what did Paul do? You know, Paul was a bond servant. Well, for what purpose? For Christ’s namesake, right? So might sound a little like overbearing, but it’s like your life is short.
Amanda Levy [00:32:15]:
Yeah.
Abe Walton [00:32:16]:
And so get on it. Get about the king’s business.
Amanda Levy [00:32:18]:
I think to that, too. It’s easy to buy into this lie that if I can’t be the foster parent, then I can’t be involved in fostering.
Abe Walton [00:32:25]:
Right.
Amanda Levy [00:32:26]:
Just an example. There are so many opportunities to be involved in different areas, such as fostering or missions and all these things. And sometimes we think if we can’t do it all, then we’re not going to do any of it. And that’s a lie. So I think finding small areas to plug into.
Abe Walton [00:32:41]:
Right. Or if you don’t feel like getting started, actively go and pray about a season of preparation. Go into, aspire and pray about it and be around people. Be in a small group who are actively praying, lord, what do you have for me? We have some friends. Like, for instance, in the fostering world, you can’t just call a babysitter. You have to have the kid with you all the time. So they have these people that have to go through background checks and chaining just to be able to, what we call a respite provider. Right? So this respite care is a qualified position and there’s very, very few of those.
Abe Walton [00:33:11]:
So we first got started, actually, a long time ago, was that’s kind of how our friend got us into it back in Indiana. They go, look, why don’t you just dip your toe in the water and go be a respite provider? And that’s what we ended up doing. And then it just one thing led to another. It turned out fantastic because they had no one to care for them if they wanted even to go on a date night or take a vacation, whatever. Right? Just go. If they weren’t. Well, if they just needed five minute break, they couldn’t just. You can’t just call a babysitter.
Abe Walton [00:33:37]:
So there’s so many small areas that you can just dip your toe in and test the waters and then see where God’s leading.
Amanda Levy [00:33:42]:
Yeah. That’s awesome. Well, thanks for joining me today. I enjoyed our conversation.
Abe Walton [00:33:46]:
It’s good.
Amanda Levy [00:33:47]:
And I’m looking forward to seeing how it’s used.
Abe Walton [00:33:49]:
Thank you.
Amanda Levy [00:33:50]:
Thanks for listening to this episode of Mission Control. If you’re interested in learning more about launch Ten X and the different ways to get involved in what God is doing here at First Baptist Melbourne, a great place to start would be visiting our website, launchme church. You sa.