GLO Podcast
Welcome to the GLO Podcast
''Gods Little One'' is a non-profit organization. Our podcast is dedicated to sharing stories about our mission. And the work that we do in the mountains of Honduras. it is our intention to inspire, uplift, & encourage others to join and support our efforts. And to send out the call '' Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel'' (Mark 16:15.
GLO Podcast
Inspiring Mission stories with Pastor Joey Swinnea.
In this episode of the GLO Podcast Pastor Joey Swinnea shares transformative stories from his lifetime mission work, instilling a spirit of service rooted in faith and community. Joey reflects on his father's legacy, the miracles witnessed in Honduras, and the importance of empowering the next generation in missions work.
• Stories of early mission influences and toy drives in Mexico
• A life-changing trip to Siberia and lessons in prayer
• Braving hurricanes to deliver hope and encouragement in Belize
• The impact of the feeding program on children’s lives
• The importance of mentorship and passing down the legacy
• Hopes for the future and sustaining the mission with young leaders
Hi, welcome back to the God's Little One podcast. I'm your host, kent, and today we've got a special guest, pastor Joey Sweeney, with us from House of Prayer. Pastor Joey is the Senior Pastor of House of Prayer and International Outreach. He is also the Vice President of God's Little One Missions. He has been with the missions from the beginning and we are pumped to hear some of the stories he has to tell us. Thank you for being here, pastor.
Speaker 2:Hey, man, it's good to be here, brother Ken, Excited about the podcast and it took us a little while to get our dates right. But, man, I'm excited about what's going to happen today, excited about what you're doing right here. This is awesome.
Speaker 1:Right, so today we're going to start out by talking about my papa, daniel Sweeney. Your dad started doing stuff in Honduras. He did a lot of different missions works out and you went with him on those. So how did you get?
Speaker 2:into it. So my whole life, brother Kent, from just a child, has been missions minded. Dad was always missions minded and everybody that knew him knew that about him. And so my earliest days I remember us doing toy drives in Mexico, and my earliest days I remember riding, riding the big. They had a big old blue bus that we would ride and all of us would go across the border and we'd smuggle toys in.
Speaker 2:I mean, we'd have to literally hide toys in there to go across the borders and into Mexico and I was probably seven, eight years old.
Speaker 1:No way.
Speaker 2:When I was that young and yeah, and so it was awesome, man, awesome when I was that young and yeah, and so it was awesome, man, awesome, and got a lot of amazing memories, amazing stories of doing things there and and then you know. So all through my life we did missions, and probably the missions trip that some of the missions that stands out the most in my early life. I was 16 years old and daddy was working with Brother Clendon and we took a trip to Siberia. Oh really, yeah, we were there for like 14 days on the mission trip and so it was pretty awesome and I got a lot of powerful stories from that.
Speaker 2:Go ahead and tell a couple of them. Yeah, well, one of the most powerful. I've preached it a lot of times. People that's heard me preach has heard me preach about Daddy was. We went to this little church and it was that old Toronto movement for the charismatic mess had made it there and they were dancing and trying to create some emotional thing with no unction, no fire. And so, daddy, we went back to the hotel. It was a Sunday and we went back to the hotel and was going back to preach Sunday night and Daddy said Listen, son, we've got to hear from God. And so here I am, 16-year-old boy, you know, and he told me to go in the closet and don't come out until he come and got me. And then he went down in the courtyard and prayed and sought the Lord and it was a couple of hours later. He come back up and when he come up he told me I could come out of the.
Speaker 2:Lord, and it was a couple of hours later he'd come back up, and when he'd come up he told me I could come out of the closet and I can't say I prayed that whole two hours, but I made sure I stayed in there.
Speaker 2:But we went that night God had spoke to him and said tell those people, all I need is an empty vessel that I can pour the Holy Ghost through. And man, he began to preach that and, long story short, the Holy Ghost fell in that place so strong and it was 250 people plus in the building and every person in the house fell on their face and God filled so many with the Holy Ghost, including our interpreter, who didn't even know what the Holy Spirit was and she had been born again. But she had never heard a message, never heard anything about being baptized in the Holy Spirit, but she was filled with the Holy Ghost while they were preaching and interpreting. So it was pretty awesome.
Speaker 2:Right, so that's my whole life I've been involved in missions, you know.
Speaker 1:Right? Of all the stories, that's a powerful one. What's another? Like another, really big one? Because we got as much time as we need. I want to hear as many stories, because I know you got a lot, so tell us some more from different places, or whatever.
Speaker 2:One powerful story that I have was actually from later in life was from a trip we went to Honduras and I was in Honduras for a week and we had already been there for a week preaching and had plans to be there for like 14 days, but the second half of the trip the whole team was supposed to go across uh uh, the caribbean sea and go to belize, and we had never been to belize and but we were supposed to go.
Speaker 2:Well, on this particular trip, dad wasn't there right and so I was kind of spearheading the belize part of the trip. Well, when, during the process of that, a hurricane come down and was coming right along the coast of Honduras and Belize and so, um, it was affecting the waters and so, no, no one wanted to go, and so more than half the team backed out and I almost didn't go. I really did and, if I'm honest, I just was wrestling with it and I called Dad and Dad told me he said, son, I put you over, that, I put you there. I need you to make a decision and I need you to decide what to do. And so I told the group, I said I don't expect no one to go with me, but I do feel like I need to go, feel like this is, for some reason, I feel like I have to go.
Speaker 2:Even our interpreter, brother louise, wouldn't go with us, but we he knew that we had interpreters there and, um, well, ended up my cousin brother greg ashworth. He said if you're going, I'm going with you. And then our dear friend, brother steve mullins, uh, from, uh, tyler texas over there. He said I'll go with you.
Speaker 2:And so us three boarded what they called a ship which was wasn't nothing but a 32 foot boat with two outboard motors on the back of it and we got on that boat and we braved that storm and, uh, we went across that bay to bay lease from portico tez, honduras to, uh, dangriga bay lease and uh, we landed there and a little, uh, uh, preacher, native preacher met us. His name was pastor steve and um, he met us there and we went, he, we were staying in his house, and uh, he was, he was a black man, so he was spoke garifuna and spanish and english. Very intelligent, young man and um in his church. So when we got there, we went and met the—he was the district overseer of the Semas of God.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And Brother Mullins went and preached at his church Didn't know it, but it was a WM's meeting or a women's meeting that he went and preached but he ended up seeing five of those ladies get baptized in the Holy Ghost that night. Oh, wow. So it was very powerful. And I went and preached for Pastor Steve at his church and he had a little mission church in a basement and had one little light bulb over top of the pulpit but it was packed out in there, probably, I would say, 40 people in that little bitty basement church and, uh, we began to preach that night and preached and the spirit of the lord moved.
Speaker 2:Well, what I didn't know, when we were on the shore in portico test, deciding whether or not to go to belize, there was a lady who had heard that some american missionaries was coming to preach and the Lord spoke to her and said I'm going to heal you if you'll go to that meeting.
Speaker 2:And so she bought her bus ticket and drove down to the meeting and we had to make a decision If I come that close, just very, very close, to missing an opportunity. And she was bowed over like the woman in the Bible. She couldn't stand and had been that way for five years and she come to the front. That night and we prayed for her and when we laid hands on her, began to pray, it sounded like a .22 rifle going off. Brother Kenny, just pow. And her back popped and she stood up weeping and crying and God gloriously, miraculously, healed her that night. Wow. So it was very awesome, very phenomenal moment just to see the hand of God work Right and just to know that it pays to obey when you feel that nudge of the Lord and you hear that Macedonian call to go out and that missions call to go out and preach Right.
Speaker 1:It is rewarding to be obedient to that. It is Whenever, you whenever, so for several years. How long did y'all do? Uh missions were before honduras was ever thought of, so all, of all of my life.
Speaker 2:You know, seven, eight years old and I I don't know I was. We've been in working in honduras for uh dad was.
Speaker 1:It was before 2006 yeah, it was before 2006. Yeah, it was before 2006.
Speaker 2:It was early 2000s, and so probably 18, 19 years we've been there in Honduras, and so my first trip to Honduras, the first thing that, and I'm not going to get into any details- of that I'm going to just talk about my side of the first trip.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll get into details Before we get to talking about your first trip, because I want to hear about your first trip. How like. But whenever Bro Daniel first got into going to Honduras, what was like? What did he tell you? What did he say to you about going, or what it was like?
Speaker 2:You're talking about, to Honduras.
Speaker 1:Talking about going to Honduras, getting involved with Honduras. What did?
Speaker 2:he say to you first off. So the very first thing that Daddy desired and we're talking when we first started going into the mountains Right, Is that what you want?
Speaker 1:Right, like whenever he first got involved? We're going when we first started going into the mountains, right. Is that what you want? Right Like whenever he first got involved? We're going to talk more details about that on another podcast, but as far as what he said to you, yes, so our first instructions.
Speaker 2:First of all, the very first trip that we had taken was to Belfate and we had went down into the coast and we preached along the coast. They would bus people in and it'd be 1,300, 1,400 people there and I preached a couple of youth services and that was my first experience preaching in Honduras. So then Dad meets Brother Luis, and we're not going to go into those details, you're going to do that later. But Dad meets Brother Luis and we're not going to go into those details, you're going to do that later. But Dad meets Brother Luis and we get in the mountains and now we're working in the mountains. And so that first groundwork of working in the mountains, preaching in the mountains, dad's instructions to us. He said what we have walked into is a people who have never had the message of Pentecost brought to them.
Speaker 2:Right they had never had preaching on the baptism of the Holy Ghost. None of them, none of those pastors. We were the first men to go in there and pioneer the Pentecostal message in that Lempida Mountains, the Pentecostal message in that Lempida Mountains and Brother Kent, I can't explain to you the rewards that I've experienced and Dad give us. Back then I was an evangelist and so I would designate every Wednesday night of my when I would preach in the States, when I was evangelizing, I would ask the pastor and those pastors that would allow me there were a few who wouldn't allow it, but those who did allow I would designate my Wednesday night offering and separate it from what our family used and I would send that to dad and he'd put it up and I would buy plane tickets with that. And I went to Honduras at least 11 times a year, and some months I would go two times in a month, but at least 11 times a year. I was going to Honduras because we were doing the groundwork, we were preaching, we were ministering and teaching on the holy spirit series, in the pneumatology series, in the school of christ. And oh the rewards.
Speaker 2:I just can't. I can't put it into words those early years of preaching in the churches. We do a lot of pastors conferences and things and things like that now, but nothing took the place of those evangelistical services. Preaching at Pastor Domingo's and Pastor El Timio's and Pastor Francisco's, and I mean we just saw some powerful things, man, and watched that work, birth and begin to grow and begin to come into fruition and so it was powerful and begin to grow and begin to come into fruition, and so it was powerful.
Speaker 1:So I want to ask you about you whenever you first got down there, and obviously you loved it.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But whenever you first started doing work in Honduras, how different was it from what y'all done before, Like how much, how so it was.
Speaker 2:Excuse was excuse me, you're good. It was drastically different in this, in this um aspect. Um, before we we would work like in mexico and places like that, we would work in areas and we would work with pastors, but here we created a bond and we became a part of these people and they became a part of us. And I can't explain that when before we worked with we had multiple different interpreters and things like that that would go with us and we would stay in one area and we'd preach for this person, that person, but there was there was not this consistent fellowship like we have in honduras and um, yeah, I was just going and that's what we grew up with right.
Speaker 2:We grew up in the states with that tight-knit fellowship and so I think we've been able to bring that about in Honduras with God's little one. And what is beautiful is when I think this is a sad reality that many Americans make a mistake on Brother Kent. That many Americans make a mistake on Brother Kent is they go into a mission work or they go into a foreign field and they go there as if they're the ones bringing something and they never connect and receive from the people and I think that's a tragedy.
Speaker 1:Because it goes two ways.
Speaker 2:It does, because what you have to realize is some of the most intelligent preachers I know is those pastors and those preachers in Honduras.
Speaker 1:Right, they're not illiterate at all. No, sir.
Speaker 2:They're students of the Word of God, they're knowledgeable. As a matter of fact, many times Dad would tell us guys, young guys. He said listen, y'all young, they want what we're bringing. Because we were doing a lot of teaching right and preaching out of the school of christ international, which is a powerful tool that god has graced us with through the late burke clinton and brother bhin, and so we are forever grateful for that tool and it works.
Speaker 2:And so we were doing a lot of preaching and teaching out of that, and so Dad would give us strict instructions. He said, listen, he said, before you go, I'm going to tell you what lines to preach on, and he would instruct us. Because what he was doing, what we didn't know, what we as young men found out and learned is those pastors were letting Brother Luis know what they needed in their congregations, what the people needed to hear, what they needed help instilling, what the pastors felt like they needed, and so we were giving them what they were seeking after, right, and I think that's what made the connection so strong, right, it wasn't just a bunch of guys going over there and just preaching what they wanted to preach, and uh, because you know, we say especially young evangelists right in the states.
Speaker 2:They learn a lot of cliches and they learn a lot of uh little extracurriculars that they put in their sermons. That does not even translate right on the, on the foreign field.
Speaker 1:They don't even that's not. They don't understand that.
Speaker 2:They don't understand that, and so it's not. It's not germane, right? It's not it.
Speaker 1:It's not productive, yeah, and so that's what bro louise told me when I went up there to preach this year. He told me that when we was driving he said that preachers, they'll say a lot of things that they don't really get like. It doesn't really they don't, it doesn't resonate with them. They just take, take the flat, they want the pure vanilla.
Speaker 2:They want just straight word of God. And it's okay to have your cliches, it's okay to have your little things that you say and stuff like that, and we all do that and we all develop those things in our time preaching. I'm losing a lot more of that the older I get.
Speaker 2:But brother Kent, learning from those people and giving those people what they were hungry for, gave us a platform to where we literally brought the message of Pentecost to the entire mountain, and we're still bringing the message of Pentecost in our new church plants and things like that. And so those early years were special. One of my best friends on earth, brother Joel Sne, sneed him and I got to make numerous trips right, and so I had some very memorable moments in those mountains I don't know if this was in honduras or what, but I've heard this story and I want to see if you recall this in any way.
Speaker 1:I heard a story with you I think it was bird joel hearing gunshots at night or something.
Speaker 2:Yes, so what we were doing? We were preaching in La Mosquitia, which is way down south.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It's down in the low country, it's not in the mountains.
Speaker 1:That's not where we do it as much no.
Speaker 2:And we don't now right. When dad died we were really going down in La Mosquitia a lot and we kind of lost that contact over the years. But that particular trip, brother Joel and I it's a funny story, they call us Pumbaa and Timon, timon and Pumbaa Because he's so tall and uh and I'm so chunky but we uh, on that particular trip we, we got to where we were going. I don't even remember the name of the town, but we got to where we was going there, there in the province, the, the um area of la mosquitia, and um we were, we laid down that night, red jewel and I was sleeping in the same bed. That's all we had. We had one little full-size.
Speaker 2:It was a full-size bed and we just put pillows between us and just laid flat on our back you know, and we laid down that night, and, man, they went to firing off AK-47s right outside Because La Mosquitia, that's where they uh move drugs a lot right, and so it has a lot of drug lords and stuff around that area because it's closer to the coast.
Speaker 2:And, uh, me and brother joel we jumped up, we run there knocked on bro louise's door, we panicking, you know, and bro louise said ah, amigo, go back to Said. That's just the welcoming committee.
Speaker 1:I love that story.
Speaker 2:I was scared of Americans. We went and laid back down and went to sleep. But I tell you, brother Ken, a powerful story from that trip. Right, we were set up to preach. Brother Joel was preaching in one area of the town.
Speaker 2:It was a pretty big town, and so Brother Joel was preaching in one area of the town. It was a pretty big town and so brother joel was preaching in one area of the town. I was preaching another area, and so we had two, two different interpreters, and, um, me and brother louise was preaching this. It was the main church in that area and that particular night we switched out. Brother joel would preach and I would preach right and um, but that night I was preaching at the main church and they had a huge podium, probably about three foot tall platform, that we were standing on preaching, and then the people were all out in the street and all over the square.
Speaker 2:Well, it started raining, just flooding rain, and I looked at Brother Luis we're in the middle of preaching and it fell afloat and it's just pouring down and we hold microphones, you know. And I looked at Brother Luis and said what do we do? He said just keep preaching, amigo. And so I just kept preaching and in the middle of our preaching, all of a sudden, this little black girl she was probably 15, maybe 16 years old she fell down on the floor and began to crawl like a snake man. I mean just crawling through the mud, just hissing and screaming and just crawling. I mean literally. It looked like she had joints every few inches.
Speaker 2:She was a slylytherin, and so I knew she was possessed. I knew she was demon possessed and so I asked Brother Luis. I said what do I do? He said, well, we need to cast the devil out of her. And so I just dove. I was so much younger and slimmer.
Speaker 2:then and I just dove off the platform and jumped down there and laid hands on her, began to rebuke the devil and we cast the devil out of her and she got free and liberated and she'd come off the floor and just her whole countenance changed Her eyes changed and she lifted her hands and began to weep and cry and God gloriously baptized her in the Holy Ghost, right there in that muddy street. Well, the rain kept coming down so hard, so they started gathering all the sound equipment and running the sound equipment back into the sanctuary.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm thinking. Well, they're going to close service. No, oh, no, no. Everybody gathers into the sanctuary and just keeps the altar service going.
Speaker 1:And I don't know Brother.
Speaker 2:Kent altar service probably went two hours that night or more, as God ministered into these people's lives and just really done a powerful work, and so it was pretty awesome, pretty awesome experience.
Speaker 1:That's one thing. One of the last. The last trip I went on last year, we did an all-night church service, and that's one thing about it. It don't matter how late it is or what. That's their fun.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the thing, brother. You said it right. Brother Kent, that's their life. Yeah, you know. Somebody asked me a question. They said why do you see and have more stories of miracles and things of that nature taking place on the mission field more often than you see in the States? And I told them, I said well, the only thing that I can tell you is he's all they have.
Speaker 1:That's all they've got.
Speaker 2:That's all they've got and we have so many, Sadly to our fault. We have so many other things that we turn to Right, but all they have is Jesus and the power of the Word of God and the power of the cross.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And man, when you preach Jesus and the power of the cross into somebody's life, everything that that cross, brother Kent, represents. It represents salvation, it represents deliverance, it represents healing, healing of um, healing uh, healing of the mind, healing of the emotions, is so many things that that uh cross represents right. And what christ done?
Speaker 2:he paid it all, he paid for everything and, uh, he's the, he's the reason, right, he's the reason for it all, and so I think that's why, um, things are so happen. So, yeah, drastically there, right, uh, because that's all they have and we got endless stories I know y'all have.
Speaker 1:I've only been on like five trips myself and but my whole life I've heard stories of stuff going on.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, I I tell you another powerful story. Um you know, since we're talking about these early trips, what people don't realize. Even when we were working in the mountains in those early years, brother Luis was living as much in La Ceiba as he was in the mountains.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he had two houses.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and he still has his home in La Ceiba.
Speaker 1:He just don't go there much anymore, but he doesn't go there as much.
Speaker 2:He lives more often in the mountains now because the work has grown so much. Right, but he lived as much in La Sabah and we had some very powerful through Brother Luis. Of course we had some very powerful connections with some awesome churches. Yeah, two different Pastor Francisco's but they pastored in two different sections of town. Right, one was downtown in the more city district and one was more in the suburbs and was as big of a church but the building was more flat.
Speaker 2:It was longer it was longer, the it was longer. The building in town was massive right um, they probably run about 500 in right in town. Um, the other church probably run about 275, 280 and um, but I was preaching at the at the suburb church there for that pastor francisco and um, we had ate lunch with them that day and met his granddaughter, and his granddaughter was pretty fluent in english and she was learning english so she wanted to practice her english. So, brother luis, come to me and he said tonight you're going to preach. And he said, in your altar service, instead of using me when you're praying for the people, I want you to use her and let her practice her, her uh, interpreting right, and I love working with a new interpreter, right, it's always a joy and uh, because to see them develop and to see them get a hold of what you're saying and translate it and the people they're talking to get a hold of what you're saying and translate it and the people they're talking to get a hold of it, it's a faith builder, an encouragement builder, a confidence builder for them, and so it's always fun. And so we preached that night and the power of God was really strong in the building and gave the invitation for the altars. And the Spirit of God is moving. The Lord Jesus is in the house and the spirit of god is moving. The lord jesus is in the house and he's working.
Speaker 2:And this young lady, she's glued to my side. She's probably 15 years old. She's glued to my side. We're praying for people.
Speaker 2:Everything I say she's repeating and, um, so we all of a sudden I see this young lady kind of. She really wasn't all the way up to the altar, but she had come from the back of the church and she was just kind of standing off to the side. She had a black leather jacket on, and I remember this so vividly, brother Kent. So the Holy Ghost immediately spoke to my heart and told me some things about this young lady, and I immediately knew some things that I needed to talk to her about. And so I got the young interpreter and I walked her over there and I said listen. I said I want you to talk to this young lady for me, and she said OK. And she said okay. And so I said the first thing I want you to tell her. I want you to tell her that the abuse she suffered is not her fault. And that girl looked at me, man. She said are you sure, pastor I?
Speaker 2:said yes, you tell her. The abuse that she has suffered is not her fault. And so she translated that to the young lady and the girl. Immediately tears began to roll down her face and I said now I want you to tell her that she's tried many times to take her own life and the reason that she hasn't died is because Jesus loves her and he wants to save her and he's kept her from dying Again. The young lady is shocked that I'm saying all this, and so I convinced her to go ahead and tell the girl what I said.
Speaker 2:And when that young lady told that girl those words, she's weeping profusely and she takes her jacket off. And when she takes her jacket off, from her wrist bone to her elbow, to the crook of her arm, she had scars on both arms, wow, where she had repeatedly cut herself, trying to take her own life, cut herself trying to take her own life. And uh, and I and god told her that night that he, he loved her and he never.
Speaker 1:He, he's the one stopped her from dying and that he wanted to to heal her mind, heal her heart and save her.
Speaker 2:And I watched god fall on that young lady. She fell out on the floor weeping, and he just done a miraculous work and healed her mind, healed her spirit and saved her soul that night, cleansed her and washed her clean and made her a new creature, that young lady still serving god today and so it was just a some powerful stories that um early years even now.
Speaker 1:Even now we've got so many.
Speaker 2:Those early years produced a lot of good stories, man.
Speaker 1:So have you been on one of the Kids Crusades in Honduras?
Speaker 2:I have not had the opportunity to go on a Kids Crusade.
Speaker 1:I know you've seen pictures and stuff and videos. What have you thought of seeing all that? Well, I think it's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Here's one thing. That's why we have the entire feeding program Right. You know people think, oh, they're just out there trying to raise money to feed a kid.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But the reality is feeding. The physical opens the door to the spiritual.
Speaker 1:Me and Uncle Danny were just talking about that.
Speaker 2:And when you reach out to someone's children and affect their children in a positive way, it affects them ultimately, and so I think the Kids Crusade is another way of showing them hey, we love your children, and when they see that it affects them.
Speaker 1:Right, we've really been doing a lot of stuff for kids recently, because to get to the parents, one way is to get through the kids Absolutely. We've been doing the feeding program for years, which was one of the first things we did.
Speaker 1:That's right, we do the toy drives, we do the stuff with the seat team, we do uh, we do the stuff with the seat team, we do the kids crusades with the seat team. But recently we've also started doing our own. They've started doing sunday school stuff. So we've really been leaning on that, uh, whenever, because I know the brother luis and bar danny got together over the the program, if I'm right. So, what did you think? Getting to see the feeding program, because I know you've seen it.
Speaker 2:Yes, so the feeding program is touching.
Speaker 1:Right, I've never personally got to see it.
Speaker 2:So, brother Luis, number one is very strict Right. He does not allow any like the minerals, and the healthy part is not the most tasteful Right, and so he caught them. Washing that off, yeah, and so he closed the whole feeding program down. Oh wow, and made them miss the feeding program for three months.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And then he reopened it. Because it's important Because he said you're going to do it our way, the right way, right, or you're not going to participate, we're not going to waste what God has Right. And that may sound harsh to some and hard, but Brother Luis knows the people, yeah, and he knows what, he knows his, he knows his um um country right, he knows their culture and so he knows what it takes to get their attention.
Speaker 2:and, uh, but it's a. It's a powerful thing, um, because once you've been a few times um to a feeding station and had him point out to you the look of malnutrition, you can spot it when you see the broken hair. The white of the eyes is more of a milky look. There's no brightness in the eyes. You can see swelling on their stomach, things of that nature, a gauntness like a sunkenness in their eye sockets, and you can see all those things. And then you see that. And then you come back a year later and you get to go to that same feeding station and you're seeing pictures, or you're taking pictures of the same children and they don't look the same. Right, because health has come back. Yeah, they're getting the vitamins, they need the minerals, they right.
Speaker 2:I tell you another very powerful um sister program that is connected to god's little one and that's um four corners global I was thinking about that just now yes, and brother joel and them, they with the water filters, right, yeah, and that comes with these little tablets and things that they take to get the worms killed in their bodies and stuff.
Speaker 1:Because the rate of how long you get to live up there is very low because of the water they drink.
Speaker 2:It's very low because of the water and then lack of good, nutritious food and so the combination of those two together, the places in our, in our uh programs that has the combination of both.
Speaker 1:we've seen such a growth in their physical I went up and the spiritual right you know I went up to honduras and we are, uh, we are going to be eventually doing a podcast I don't know if, by the time this is recorded, we might've already done it uh, with Joel Sneed, the founder of that, uh, and I'm going to tell him about this. This was pretty cool. I went to a village, uh, on that trip, that that trip we went on, you seen it, they had that one in there.
Speaker 2:So they've got them. They're using them, yes, and they're using them. It's awesome, it's really powerful, and to see how powerful that water filter is it's awesome. It's awesome Of all of your trips what is your favorite trip you've been on Like my most memorable, most memorable. Besides just first getting into it and stuff One of my most memorable. I don't know if I can say it's my favorite. It's hard for me to pick a favorite.
Speaker 1:You've got so many favorites. I have so many. Let me word it a different way. What is one of your more memorable, besides what you said? One of?
Speaker 2:my most memorable mission trips Brother Chris Hebert, which is Uncle Mark Sweeney's son-in-law.
Speaker 1:Oh really. Yeah, Uncle Mark Sweeney's son-in-law, oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so Brother Chris Hebert and I went on a backpack trip, oh man, and we slept in a tent and slept on sleeping bags, and it was what wintertime the mountains have we were there in the wintertime that little bit and it was like 40 degrees. It was raining every day. The tent leaked.
Speaker 1:Everything that could go wrong went wrong. The backpacks were wet.
Speaker 2:We didn't have nowhere to bathe. They had a hose pipe that had ice cold water coming out of it. They had a hose pipe that had ice cold water coming out of it. That me and Brother Chris. I turned my back to him and held the hose pipe for him and he bathed. And then he turned his back to me and held the hose pipe for me and bathed. That's funny, but we were there for three days in that particular place place and it was. It was 21 people at that church and the same 21 people for three days and we ministered to them and preached to them and the power of God fell and ministered to those people and God did a great work in them. And we went back a year later and they went from 21 to 250 people in a mass, built a nice church oh my word and grew that thing from 21 to 250 people in a year.
Speaker 2:Powerful powerful, powerful, powerful. But it was one of my favorite, most memorable trips. Just teaching the school of Christ for eight hours a day for three days, preaching to those precious 21 people, it was awesome. It was awesome, it was awesome. I wouldn't trade that trip for nothing and probably one of my most memorable trips and, brother Chris Hebert, probably one of the easiest non-complaining guys. All the difficulty and struggle that we had in that trip and sleeping cold and all that not one complaint.
Speaker 2:And we uh, we ministered the gospel and preached the gospel and had a blast doing it.
Speaker 1:So uh kind of getting on a little different. Uh, when, when, uh, when did papa die? Uh?
Speaker 2:March, the 5th 2012.
Speaker 1:In 2012,. Daniel Sweeney, my Pawpaw, your dad died and he was over. God's little one.
Speaker 2:He's the founder.
Speaker 1:Yes, he was the founder, he was over it all Once he died. What was the process after that? What did y'all do once he died?
Speaker 2:that what? What did y'all do once he died? So it was a he. He left instructions of how he wanted things to run with the mission work and, to the best of our ability, we followed that plan and, of course, brother danny and I were president and vice president and um, and then we had some other board members. Um, the board members have changed throughout the years. Uh, people have uh, pulled out, dropped off, backed out different things of that nature and um, but it stayed consistent and stayed strong and um, our one goal was to fulfill the vision that he left. Yeah and um, and he and he left a great vision. He did. And when we started and I don't want to give too much away because I know you're going to have that podcast with mom, yeah, and even your dad- yeah, we're going to.
Speaker 2:Your dad needs to be on a podcast.
Speaker 1:Yes, my dad was a very big part in building the. Glow Center yes, yes and we're going to do one with him, and I'm talking about maybe getting Jonathan to do that with him Absolutely, absolutely. In case one of them don't have enough to say somebody else can have something.
Speaker 2:Them two right there would be fun to do a podcast with.
Speaker 1:That would be an interesting podcast.
Speaker 2:I'd like to be in on that one too.
Speaker 1:Hey, I might actually do that.
Speaker 2:But that beginning just to give a little bit of information, when Dad started with Brother Luis, Brother Luis had three feeding stations. He was feeding 300 kids four days a week and now we're feeding over 2,500 kids now four days a week, and so we did our best to make that vision come true. And if you could see the old rough draft and I don't want to give too much detail away if you could see the old rough draft of what he drawed and wanted the building to look like, and what it looks like now, when Dad died, all we had was the property purchased and we had went no further than that, and it's grown, it's grown, and so it was a tough process.
Speaker 2:There was nothing easy about fulfilling the mission work. Number one I was a very big part of him, having a representative in Honduras pretty often. Well, my whole dynamic changed and I was no longer an evangelist, I was a pioneer pastor. Yeah, you just started pastoring.
Speaker 1:That's a whole different podcast to talk about being a pioneer pastor, but I was pioneer pastoring and you would like just start like he died next, the same year. I'd say we started, y'all started the church right. One month later, yeah, yeah, one month later, I started the church, hit the ground running hit the ground running and, um, actually it was.
Speaker 2:It was three weeks after he passed away. Oh wow that we had our first service, and so it was four weeks.
Speaker 1:It was a month, so it was a month.
Speaker 2:And so it was certainly a task.
Speaker 1:And then that took you away from the men.
Speaker 2:Well, I was still pretty active in the mission field but it did hinder me. But we still had a lot of folks able to go that were going and being a part and keeping things rolling and ultimately we did it. And let me say this, let me say this my dad, brother Daniel, was a tireless, fearless soldier of Christ, and what that one man was doing in Honduras, what that one man was accomplishing, is taking a whole team it's taking everybody it has man.
Speaker 2:Right. It's taking a whole team to try to fulfill the vision, the call and the dream that is God's little one missions, and I would say that Of course I would say that that was birthed in dad Right. But one thing dad was good at he was good at casting the vision Right, casting the seed of the vision Right, and that seed of that vision landed in the hearts of all of us young men who went over there, brother Danny, of course, being the biggest thrust behind that.
Speaker 2:He has been an excellent president, excellent leader. I don't think we could ask for better. And then what's awesome to me, brother Kent, is to see now this next generation, you, and hopefully soon, Brother Isaac is going to get to go, but to see you young men, brother kent and uh, and and all the other young people that uh have a vision and work. Brother dre, yeah, um, uh, there's just so many uh, brother tucker and sister josie. They have a host in their church that works in the missions field, but to see that continuing in that birth in y'all's heart is powerful that's why I appreciate so much what you're doing this podcast.
Speaker 1:It's awesome we did this podcast so we could get stories like what's been told today, and I'll tell you we've had some powerful stories be told today. So you went steadily for a while, but it was about a little over a year. You wasn't able to go from different kind of things and you went back. We actually went back on a trip with you this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Preaching trip, Getting to see the growth that had happened while you wasn't there. Like what was you thinking whenever you got up there and seeing what had changed? Because I know a lot changed.
Speaker 2:So here's the dynamic that changed with me with that time I was gone. And what happened with that was our church at House of Prayer went through. We had lost a few people and it just went through a season there that I couldn't be gone as much. But God granted us mercy and saw those things healed. And the blessings of God, of course, is always on our life, especially here at House of Prayer, but I just felt like I just didn't need to be gone too much at that time. But what happened in that time frame? It's amazing Because it may have been close to two years, but it was at least a year, a little more.
Speaker 1:It was over a year for sure, I know it was a while, I remember.
Speaker 2:But what happened in that time frame? The growth that took place was the church planting. Uh-huh, that yeah. And to see, I mean we're already finished with our third church plant.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we're already looking for our next plant.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:That's powerful.
Speaker 1:Right. Because the three locations that we planted churches in and those are churches that we sent money to build. Yeah, we built them, they're our churches.
Speaker 2:God's little one owns the property.
Speaker 1:And we paid for them to be built.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we paid for it to be built. Yeah, we paid for it to be built. We put pastors in there and Pastor Antonacion, who is a great pioneer of Honduras, he's the one that's finding these locations and we're going in. What you've got to realize, Brother Kent, is these are places that some of them have never even had a Catholic church.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah.
Speaker 2:So they've never had any kind of church. And so, uh, so we we got senoi uh, senoi uh, guanapal and greenwell, yeah, and they, they've never had any kind of church at all. And uh, and it's 500 people living up there in the top of that mountain in greenwell, right, and and so that's powerful, oh, it's powerful.
Speaker 1:That's powerful. We got to go up there and go see Greenwell.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did on our trip this year. That was a fun trip wasn't it?
Speaker 1:That was very fun. Yeah With Jared. Yes.
Speaker 2:Brother Jared Clark and Brother Richard, your dad.
Speaker 1:We're talking about actually having some people from that trip be on the podcast too. We're talking about actually having some people from that trip be on the podcast too. That'd be awesome, I think so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it'd be good. I thought it'd be good to have. Jared Hear from someone that had never been, brother Jared, that'd be exciting.
Speaker 1:I think so. That'd be a good deal. I think so. We had a good time, though, didn't we? Oh, we had a blast, it was so fun. And y so proud um, I mean, you know, uh, first time really preaching with an interpreter and stuff.
Speaker 2:I mean I know that was my first time preaching, but but it was. It was good man. Yeah, really good stuff, and uh, it's awesome what'd you?
Speaker 1:had you ever seen a church that was in the process of being built before that, or was that your first time seeing that?
Speaker 2:no, I've I've been around it a few times. What'd you think? Getting to see that, though it's impressive, because here's what's awesome, brother kent, is, it doesn't take much, right? You know, when you, when we think of building a church here, uh, you know you're looking at a million dollars. Yeah, over there, man, just a few thousand dollars you can have a sanctuary right, yeah and what's beautiful is greenwell. They had no electricity.
Speaker 2:They had nothing yeah, they have nothing, and so we had the connections to get them electricity. And so, for us getting them electricity, they donated us a piece of property and the property's small. Yeah, you know, when you think of a piece of property here in the state, you're thinking of four lots, or you're thinking of two acres, or you're thinking of five acres there I mean it's about the size for a trailer home. Yeah, I mean it's just big enough to put the sanctuary in the bathrooms. Yeah, but that's all you need.
Speaker 2:That's all you need, and uh, and they're getting it done quick, amazing it's amazing, man, uh, to see that little bitty piece of property produce a sanctuary to where there's 500 souls that need the gospel, and God's planted a pastor there and we're seeing people saved and born again in that community. That one lady got healed when we went on our trip. If you remember she was very sick.
Speaker 1:We went in and prayed for her and god healed her. I want to. We're going to get in detail on that, on that one with you and, uh, wesley mills, because that lady was from that one village yes, so we're going to get.
Speaker 2:I want to get in that powerful that was powerful if you don't know we're talking about.
Speaker 1:Uh, there's, we got another podcast coming up, because this is not the last time I do this with you yeah I promise you we'll do this two times. Guarantee probably, yeah, but we got a trip. That happened you. And if you don't know who wesley mills is, where's wesley mills is? From texas greenville, texas greenville, texas.
Speaker 1:He's a pastor in greenville, texas and he went on a trip with bird joey here and it was a powerful trip. We're going to get in details about it, but that lady was from the village. They went on and and once you hear the story it'll make a lot more sense. So I'm just telling you stay subscribed because we got some powerful, or stay watching. We got some powerful stuff coming. We have some great content. You have some great content, great content.
Speaker 2:You know what's cool is? I've had this on my heart because you've been talking to me about it and we went and preached for Brother richard edwards.
Speaker 2:uh, at beam of light there right in uh, uh elmore city, oklahoma, right, and one night after church we went to their house and ate and they had another visiting preacher there and he was eating with us and we got off on talk, on a tangent of talking about missions and um, and we were swapping stories and, man, I went to telling stories and story after story after story began to pop up and my out of my end of my mind and my wife said, man, baby, you got to remember some of those stories for the podcast, but um, it's just so.
Speaker 2:It's so many years oh yeah and so much that has not went down on paper. Yeah, that has not been said.
Speaker 1:Max has been told either for a story or a sermon. It needs to be said, yeah.
Speaker 2:It needs to be said. People need to know that this is not just a little mission work uh, giving food to children.
Speaker 1:I told that. I told uncle Danny, this is a big deal, it's a big deal, it's a mission. Yeah, this is a big deal.
Speaker 2:It's a big deal, it's a mission that is seeing people's lives change forever. That's making a mark that matters in eternity, and that's what we're here, for that is the Great Commission. It's to bring the gospel and to see that gospel affect the lost. I know that success is not our responsibility.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But, Brother Kent, we must plant and we must water.
Speaker 1:We know God gives the increase Right, but we've got to make an effort.
Speaker 2:If we're not there to plant and water, what can God increase Right? He can't increase what's not planted, and he can't increase what's not watered Right, and so we have to fulfill our responsibility.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And we oftentimes get just a moment, just a moment in time to view the increase that God has done to view the increase that God has done.
Speaker 2:You know my dad didn't get to see everything that God has done through his sacrifice. You know my dad supported the feeding program for the first few months to a year out of his own pocket Wow. And he bought all of his own plane tickets. He never let the missions pay for a plane ticket and he was a unique gentleman and he didn't get to see much of the increase. He did see some but he didn't get to see much of the increase. But I guarantee you he's one of those witnesses in heaven and I believe he's excited about what God's doing. Amen.
Speaker 1:What impact has missions work made on your life?
Speaker 2:Brother Kent, honestly I say this often I think anybody that ever does ministry at some point in their ministry needs to go do missions. They need to go on some kind of mission trip. Because missions God was missions-minded, jesus, he was missions-minded Jesus, he was missions-minded. And if you look at all the apostles, every one of them were missions-minded. Because without missions, without a burning desire to see the world, one for Christ, we miss the reality of what God is willing to do in our life and the reality of our own call.
Speaker 2:And so I do think that missions has made probably the greatest impact on my— I mean, it impacts why I preach, why I serve, why I preach, why I serve. If a man's not careful, he'll approach service as if he needs paid for it. Right, and that's not why we serve, right? Yeah, and so missions has made an impact in that it's kept me focused Right. Impact in that it's kept me focused Right. It's kept me attentive to the heartbeat and the mind of God. Amen.
Speaker 1:And my final question I want to ask you is what do you hope to see in the future?
Speaker 2:So my desire for the future is number one to make many more missions trips myself.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Same, but my desire for the future is to see the next generation catch fire, and I believe we're seeing sparks in you young men's lives, because if we can see the next generation catch fire and here's what the great prayer is is, brother louise needs, yes, that next generation in honduras because he's our connection. Brother louise is our field director. Yeah, he's um, he's our, he's our native missionary he does a lot oh he's.
Speaker 2:he's the brains behind the whole shebang, and so we give him double honor. What a great man of God he is. Brother Danny just had him there and he said he'd done some outstanding preaching while he was there.
Speaker 1:Brother, he's a man of prayer.
Speaker 2:But we need that next generation to get ablaze and get on fire in both countries so that the connection is not lost Right and the work continues Right. That's my desire for the future.
Speaker 1:And with that, I think we're just about out of time. I'd like to thank Brother Joey for being able to be here and, as I said, we will be doing this several times on the podcast. Probably, actually very soon, we'll be doing another one. Amen, thank you for being here, thank you for giving us your time and you have a good one.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us. God bless you.
Speaker 1:Brother Joey mentioned a message where Brother Daniel was talking about being a willing vessel. And you know, god has called us all to do something, but we often feel like we're not adequate enough or we don't have the ability to do it or we just get afraid to do it. But you know, all God wants is a willing vessel. All he wants is someone who's willing to trust him and do it, no matter if they have the ability or not, because our ability to do ministry comes from God. He's the power. We're just the vessel that he can use.
Speaker 1:You know, I like to say a preacher is just a messenger. I call it a message. We call it a message because it is a message sent down from God. If we don't have God to help us, then we can't do it. So all God wants is a willing vessel who's willing to seek him, willing to read his word and who's willing to have faith in him, trust him and do it, even when they feel like they don't have the ability. So, no matter what God is calling you to do, whether he's telling you to go on the mission field, to be a preacher, to witness to somebody at work, whatever he's calling you to do, be that willing vessel and obey him even when you don't think you can. He's got the ability if we will just be that willing vessel, seek him and trust him.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the second episode of the God's Little One podcast. I want to say I know the audio on this one was a little rough. The reason for that is because when I was pre-recording podcasts for this podcast, this was the second one I had recorded, so I was still getting new to the equipment that I have. But I'm figuring out and I promise you they're going to get better.
Speaker 1:So just please bear with us. In our next podcast we're going to be talking to Betty Sweeney, the wife of Daniel Sweeney, the founder of God's Little One. I'm not going to say a lot about it. All I'm going to say is it's a really good podcast and I hope you all enjoy it. Well, anyways, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the God's Little One podcast. If you have any questions or anything you'd like to ask or you'd like to call us or text us, our number is 318-491-1772. If you'd like to send us any kind of mail or if you'd like to send us a donation or anything, our PO Box is PO Box 904 Oakdale, louisiana, 71463. Any kind of donation you can give would greatly be appreciated. And if you want to see some videos of God's Little One, go follow us on YouTube. That is God's Little One, honduras Missions. We would really appreciate your subscription. But anyway, that's all we got for today. We hope you enjoyed this episode of the God's Little One podcast. Thanks for listening. God bless you and you have a great day.