The Meet Hope Podcast
The Meet Hope Podcast
126: Becoming Peacemakers and Building Bridges at Hope Kids
This week on the podcast we're catching up with HOPE Kids Director, Kasey Cornforth, as she shares about some exciting new things happening at HOPE Kids and what it means to raise kids to be peacemakers and bridge builders with a heart for Jesus.
NOTES:
Get HOPE kids emails! Sign up at meethope.org/email.
Contact Kasey at kasey@meethope.org
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Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast. My name is Ashley Black and I'm excited to be your host today. I'm here with Hope Kids director Casey Kornforth. Hey, Casey, Hi, how are you? I'm good. How are you doing Good? Excited, Are you looking forward to summer?
Speaker 3:I am.
Speaker 2:I remember from a podcast we did a long time ago that you love summer. I do. You talked about being a parent in the summer.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's my favorite time to just all the rules go out the window. Yeah, we sleep in. We eat what we want. We eat outside, I love it. We go to the beach.
Speaker 2:I love it. It's great. I'm very excited. I feel like we're just starting to kind of get into summer being like that for our family, because my kids are younger and so yeah, once they hit like three, four, then it changes for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so today we're going to talk a little bit. I asked you to do this podcast, or we'd been talking about doing this podcast, and I thought now would be a good time because we've just wrapped up a message series that Pastor Rick preached called Close Enough to Care Weeks. Talking about you know how much it matters that we move closer towards each other, even despite our differences, or even if people look different than us, or even if we're experiencing the world in a different way. That Jesus calls us to move towards one another and specifically towards anyone that is on the margins. And it made me think about you and a lot of stuff that you guys have been doing in Hope Kids, so I thought we could talk about that today. Starting with, you just did something really fun this past Sunday. What did you guys do at Hope Kids?
Speaker 3:So we had a guest reader come. Her name was Starfire and she's a local entertainer. She goes to a lot of different community events. She reads to children. She's such a wonderful spirit and she's so bubbly and colorful and just has so much joy in her heart for spreading love and kindness to everyone, and she was such a great fit for us to bring in to talk to the kids about Juneteenth.
Speaker 3:And that was our goal. We wanted to do something fun this month to honor Juneteenth and, to you know, betty, who's on our racial justice team, said it's a celebration and we want to make it fun and we want to be educating and we want, you know, the kids to learn something and to take something special away about that day. But we want it to be a celebration and we had, in my time here, have not had a guest reader come in for the kids, so it was something brand new and it went so well, it was so much fun. The kids were surprised and excited. We also had kids and parents that had helped us back in January at our Martin Luther King Service Day event. We had made friends with a couple new families then and they came back and came to church on a Sunday and joined us for the reading.
Speaker 2:Because they knew the guest reader was going to be there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because they wanted to meet Starfire and be a part of, you know, the Juneteenth celebrations.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Well, I came to pick up my kid and it was very joyful in your kids' hallway and I love that she took the time to like celebrate each kid as they left she like took time to like say hi to them and she had like a treat for them which they love. But everyone just seemed so like joyful in your wing yesterday. And even my five-year-old you know, could come home and tell me what he learned about and why they celebrated so.
Speaker 3:I love when that happens. That's great. That was our goal. We wanted them to take something home, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I love that you guys were able to make that happen and and it kind of ties into something you've been doing with Hope Kids. Starting in January of this year, you started doing a cultural awareness newsletter. Is that right? Yeah, so tell me a little bit about why you decided to make that part of Hope Kids.
Speaker 3:It meant a lot to me to bring something new like this to the ministry and over the last year or so I had made a great connection with Lori and Betty from Hope's racial justice team and my initial meetings with them. It was about connecting, to redo some of the events that we do here at Hope and my thinking behind that was to make the events a little bit more meaningful, to have a greater purpose of community connections and getting Hope out into the community. And we met to talk about the MLK service days and then the friendship just kind of blossomed from there and Lori and I talked for over an hour with all these ideas that we had and things that we could do. And that's really where the newsletter was born and we wanted to cover more than just you know, racial justice. We wanted to go into other areas you know, family structure, neurodivergency, things like that and really highlight events and needs and celebrations in the community throughout the whole year of different groups.
Speaker 2:I love that and because you can see that and I know this is something we talked about you're sending out in an email, but you also can see that, you know, kind of trickling out in other ways, like this event you just did on Sunday for Juneteenth, or how even with Hope in Motion, like the inclusion classrooms that are meant to support students with maybe more neurodivergent needs, and so that's all been really exciting to see. As a parent, I am thrilled by it.
Speaker 3:So thanks for what you're doing. It's exciting and we've had a lot of great feedback from parents. You know that first month and then even just this last month, I'm hearing from new people of how much they're enjoying the newsletters, they're enjoying the communication. So it's been a really cool, fun thing and it letters. They're enjoying the communication.
Speaker 2:So it's been a really cool, fun thing and it's a blessing to get to do. I love that. And something I love about the you had kind of shared with me when we were talking about doing this podcast is the desire for our kids and families to have a bigger picture of this big, wide, diverse world that God has created. And, like whenever I had heard someone once talk about it, that if, even if you go all the way back to the creation story right, like God like made everything that God made, it is, it did not all look the same or act the same or was even created in the same way, yeah, and like I always think about that when I think about the value of being aware of the diversity of our world, that like it goes all the way back to the beginning of what God desires for us to be able to like see His entire kingdom in all of its— Like I think about it, like in putting on you, um, like when you go to the.
Speaker 2:So I wear contacts and glasses, do you wear either? Okay, so this might not be familiar to you, but when I go to the eye doctor, they have this machine and it has different lenses and you look through it and he goes like one or two yes, and it helps me see clearer.
Speaker 2:and so when I think about like, the more for me with my myself in my grown-up life, the more that I have sought to see a clearer picture and a more beautiful picture of God's kingdom and God's world, it's felt like kind of like that machine where it's like, oh, it becomes clearer.
Speaker 3:Oh, I can see more. Oh, I'm aware of more. Yeah, when you go from the blurry to the, colors are more vivid, you know, I'm aware of more. Yeah, when you go from the blurry to the, the colors are more vivid, you know.
Speaker 2:I know what you mean. It's a really loose metaphor, but maybe it works. No, it does work.
Speaker 3:It works. I feel like he wanted his kingdom to be colorful and to not be the same and, like you said, it does. It goes right back to creation and our community here is the same way. You know we're. We're made up of so many different styles of families and we all have different things that we bring to the table and to be able to, you know, welcome that in and to find ways to celebrate different groups we have here and then in the outside community. I think is is really cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, um, so tell us a little bit about what the the newsletter. If I were to receive it in my email, tell me a little bit about what it looks like.
Speaker 3:Sure, so we try to include elements for the kids and for the parents. So the ones that we have done so far there have been videos, usually educational, fun, upbeat videos that kids can watch with the parents. Everything that we try to provide is very curated to be safe for the children to watch alone, but also with the parents. Everything that we try to provide is very curated to be safe for the children to watch alone, but also with the parent. We always want it to be like a family thing that you're talking about at the dinner table, you're watching together on a Sunday night after church, and we will include music or a podcast recommendation, a book. The one month I did and I had a lot of people join me, which was super fun. I did it on the Holy Bible app. I just subscribed to one of the plans and I invited people to join me on it and I had a lot of people join and read along with me and it was yeah, Do you remember what plan that?
Speaker 3:was. I don't off the top of my head. I could look it up, yeah, look it up, yeah, and it really just required a few minutes out of the day Like we want. We don't want anything that we provide. You know we're very aware in the kid's wing of parents' time and their energy and anything that we're giving them. We want it to fit in naturally and make it feel like it's just adding something like a blessing, not a stressor.
Speaker 2:I love that because there is so much that feels like you have to fit so much in or make sure my kid knows this, that, and make sure they know all the things, and so I love that intentionality.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we always want to be mindful because we're spread very thin. You know the plan. I just found it. It's called we are all God's children and it's all about embracing differences, which is exactly. You know what we're talking about, and that one that we did it was a seven day devotional and I am looking to do more of them. That feels really accessible.
Speaker 2:Seven days feels really accessible. That's what I really like about this newsletter that you have started is it is like small bites that, over time, build a foundation. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like it's not a lot that you have to do at one time. It's like it comes in and you can go through it and watch a video and you can learn a little bit more and you can talk with your kids about a little bit more, and it becomes like these small, maybe smaller, everyday conversations. That that is what becomes then. It becomes like more, like integrated into your everyday life, instead of it just being like one big thing. Yes, one time, and then it's done.
Speaker 3:Yes, and that's something we've when we we've. One of the conversations we've had around it is how can we invite Hope's community to get out into the larger community, and it's one of the great things that we want to share. You know these are local events that are happening and if you're able to make it, you know if we can go as a group. It's my goal one day to get a group together and go, but I know even for myself, like my time is very limited so I haven't fully been able to commit to that yet. But you know, if you are able to go just with yourself or your spouse and your children, you know there's ways that we can take the information that's shared. You know, if it's a podcast, give it a listen, or a book, you can read it as a family and, like you said, it only takes a few minutes. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I know that, then you've also shared. Not only have you started doing this newsletter that comes out a handful of times a year, but also you've made it your goal in Hope Kids to be a part of some more local community events as you're able, and I love that because I think about myself as a parent. It matters to me so much to model to my kid that I at least believe that the part of being the church is that we go out into the world, like it's not always about getting everybody to come to the church, but like the church, like the physical church, but instead to be the church as in being human beings who go out and live in the world and interact in their communities and show love in their communities and show up for their communities, and the only way we do that is by practicing it, and so I love that that's been part of something that you've wanted to be a part of.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it can be intimidating. I get intimidated going into large groups, especially post COVID, and I just get nervous sometimes going somewhere maybe that I haven't been before. But what I love about the energy around a lot of these events is that it's such an arms wide open event, which is exactly how Hope Church is Like. Remember the first time I came to Hope and walking in I was a little intimidated because it's a big building, but you immediately get such a welcomed like big hug feel in the energy and a lot of these events. That's how, exactly how they are. You know, people are just happy that you're there. They don't care what you're wearing or what you're doing or where you came from. They just want to see you and they want to celebrate.
Speaker 3:And it's really such a joyful thing.
Speaker 2:I love that. So what would you say to someone specifically around getting involved in our local community and going to community events, whether it's a Juneteenth celebration or something else that's going on? What would you say to someone who maybe is, like, like you mentioned, maybe a little bit more stressed about going to something for the first time that maybe they wouldn't have necessarily thought to go to in the past, or they're nervous about it, or what would you say?
Speaker 3:I would say definitely, don't stress. I would say say find, find the event that works for you and don't add too much pressure around it. You know, fine, like for me summer's a great time because I do unplug a little bit so I have a little bit. You know, come july 1st I'll have a lot of more, you know, free time, so it's easy for me to fit it into the natural flow of my family.
Speaker 3:Um, if you're able to make a connection, whether it's easy for me to fit it into the natural flow of my family, if you're able to make a connection, whether it's at a school or a church and maybe have someone you can go with, I think that helps and I've found that with Lori and Betty.
Speaker 3:You know like to have that connection, someone to talk to and get a better understanding of it, even if they can't go with you, but maybe get an understanding of the events before you go. So you know what you're walking into. Um, that could be helpful and and I I've gotten the furthest with just it's it doesn't hurt just to walk up and just say hi, you know, greet someone with a simple hello, how are you doing today? You know we all have common ground somewhere. Someone just has to make that first move. But the first move doesn't have to be big, it's literally just a hello. You know, and I think a lot of people these days don't take the time just to say, hey, how are you doing today? You know, and that can matter so much.
Speaker 2:You know, no matter what, who you are, where you come from, yeah and yeah, I was just thinking, as you were talking like humans. I was thinking about how, as humans, we are often creatures of habit and of comfort and so, even if we really really care about something, um, the physical act of going and being a part of it can like it's easier to make up reasons. Why not to? Because it is outside of, maybe, your comfort zone, yeah and like, but I, I don't know. I think it is important for us to just have a heart of curiosity and want to be a learner, and when you and I were planning this podcast or talking about what you wanted to share, you said something about having the heart and the mind of a kid.
Speaker 3:Yes, and.
Speaker 2:I had said to you. I say that, so my child, if anyone has encountered them, if they're part of the Hope community, he like if there is a kid within 20 feet of my son, he is like, hi guys, let's go play, like he went. They're already a thing. And you and I were kind of having this conversation around. You know, and Jesus even like calls us to. You know, have like a heart of a child. And so why do you think that that makes a difference in something like this?
Speaker 3:I think it makes a huge difference because adults we do we get wrapped up in our own minds about, you know, is is what I say going to be perceived a certain way, or or, or my acting appropriate or my saying the right thing. And kids don't think like that. They're not wired to think like that. They, you know we joked when we talked about it.
Speaker 3:They jump into a cold pool and they don't care that it's cold and they will freeze, and they will shiver and turn blue and they will, you know, they'll just jump right in and and they I love that mentality and that spirit, you know, and I think adults need to do that a little bit more. I think we need to put our guards down and, like you said, you have that heart and that spirit of a child and think less about, because I think when it's natural and it's coming from your heart and it's coming from a good place, it's never going to be offensive, it's never going to be inappropriate, and I think people will pick up on that. I think most adults are smart enough to know when something's being forced or fake or just maybe has malice behind it. Um, but they're like, I'm curious about so many things and I'm really.
Speaker 3:It's been a slow process, but I am learning. Just to say, I don't know what that is. Can you explain it to me, you know? Or or tell me why this is significant? Because I wasn't taught that before and I'm learning and I am such a person I love to learn, I love to read and soak up information, and no one gets offended, and I've trialed it now and I have never met someone so far, knock on wood, who's been offended by me just being honest, and that's really what it is. You have to just have the spirit of a kid and be honest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I love that. You have to just have the spirit of a kid and be honest. Yeah, no, I love that no-transcript. Um and I I know we had talked about um, the one other thing we had talked about when I asked you about why you wanted to start doing more of these kinds of things, whether it's the newsletter or events or local events as part of Hope Kids um, you had said that you know it's a desire to prepare our kids to be peacemakers and to be bridge builders, and so did you want to say a little bit more about that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the timing is right. You know, the world that we grew up in you and I being closer in age than what our kids are growing up in is very different, and we we have we have seen so many different sides of the world and our kids are only seeing one way, which is such a blessing, because they're growing up with so much more love around, more specialized group.
Speaker 2:To them it's normal, I think, whereas you know it's normal to have to be different or to have a difference, like differences are normal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Like I think of kids on this autism, autistic spectrum, and you know our kids are going to school with them, whereas I don't recall going to school with kids who had that many special needs or who needed, you know, special attention from a teacher. It just wasn't a thing that I was exposed to. Um, my kids I have a child on the spectrum and I also have, you know, my kids are around them and they're so nurturing and they're so welcoming, and so I think, like you said, they're already the bridge builders and the or the, you know the connectors, and they already have such peace in their hearts around issues that maybe us older folks don't Um, so I just think that being able to tie it in here at church and with the faith community, and it's just that extra layer of love that we're kind of surrounding everyone with and you know our kids are going to grow up and they're really their world is going to look beautiful. I know it is.
Speaker 2:I love that, I love that, that your hope for that. I mean, I have the same hope for my kids too, and I think and I feel like I'm sure every parent has those kinds of hopes. But that made me think about, I'm wondering so for you, your kids are what ages?
Speaker 3:So my kids are 11, 9, and 7. Okay.
Speaker 2:So do you feel like this also started to bubble up for you more as a parent because of the age they're at right now?
Speaker 3:Yes, definitely. They're asking more questions, my oldest especially. They hear a lot of things at school. They see it on YouTube, which I have quickly learned to scan. I will say I was a little naive about the YouTube a few years ago, but I've learned because, kids are exposed to so much, so quickly. That's what I was thinking when you were talking about that.
Speaker 2:One of the reasons I'm grateful that you're investing time in doing like a newsletter, like this, is that there is so much out there and it can be hard to sift through yes, very hard, and just having places that you know you can land that are about messages of love and inclusion and kindness for your kids yeah it, it makes a difference.
Speaker 3:Yes, I think because Joe and I have such open communication at home with our kids and we've raised them to be you know, to be questioners. Yeah, they ask questions and we've always given them a choice and a place to, I guess, speak home, and so they have no problem coming home from school and laying some stuff out there and I'm like oh Lord, I'm not ready for this.
Speaker 2:We're talking about this right now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're going there, you know, and we're having these conversations and I know I rely so much on the community here at Hope of you know, going to different friends in all areas here of okay, I was hit with this. What do I say, you know, and how do I respond to this? And that's what I want. The, you know, the goal of the newsletter, too, is to be that maybe for a parent like you know, if your child has a question about someone on the spectrum or a racial question or what is you know what's going on here in the world, or you know, you could almost rely on this a little bit and be like, oh, you know what, I saw something on a podcast or a book, or, you know, let's investigate this together Just gives you a place to start, yeah, yeah, to be a resource.
Speaker 2:No, I love that. Yeah, I love that for so many reasons. So if I was listening and I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss out on what's happening in Hope Kids, or I want to get this newsletter when it comes in my inbox. How do I make sure that I'm connected?
Speaker 3:So I would say, sign up for the emails which you can do at meethopeorg slash email if you already don't receive them. Definitely check out our social media. Meet hope kids. It's at meet hope kids on both Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker 2:It's the same on both Yep.
Speaker 3:And then the best way is, honestly, just come see us in person. We would love to see you on a Sunday. You know we're right back in the kids wing and room 100. You can always pop your head in and say hello to a teacher, to myself or Tracy hundred. You can always pop your head in and say hello to a teacher, to myself or Tracy Pastor Heather, and you know we would love to you know, talk to you more. You know in person about different things that we're doing and we're always open for ideas. So if there's a need that you see or an event that you see and I have had a few reach outs, you know- via email which has been lovely, Like I love what you're doing.
Speaker 3:You know, here's this that I saw, so that's it's super helpful because we're not always. Sometimes we have to put a little more work into see like, okay, what can we find, and it's fun, but I'm always, you know, in need of suggestions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like you said, like we don't always know what what we don't know or what's not in front of us, and so having that's the beauty of a community, and and having a community of people from all different backgrounds and walks of life is that they're all going to bring something different and raise awareness about it. That you may not have learned about yet.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we would love to celebrate you, and you know what you have to offer.
Speaker 2:I love that and also. This is an aside, but this also might be a convenient time for you to mention what Hope Kids looks like in the summer, if anyone's listening. Yes, so tell us. If I were to come on a Sunday morning. What should I know about Hope Kids?
Speaker 3:So the biggest thing to know is we do have a schedule change. So starting June 22nd we drop just to one service for the kids.
Speaker 1:So the main church has 9 am Two services.
Speaker 3:yes, Two services 9 am 10.30. Hope Kids will only meet at the 10.30 service, okay. So if you show up at the 9, we do have busy bags which will have fun stuff themed throughout the whole summer Great Different stuff in there for your kids. You can pick up a busy bag in the lobby or the worship space. Yeah, but we'll meet at the 10.30. Okay, and we have volunteers that come. We're always looking if you want to try to come. You know work with the kids and summer's a great time for that because we're a little bit lighter. We don't have as many, you know, kids in the wings, so it's a little bit calmer and it's a great time to just shadow, check out the wings, see what we do and, you know, hang out.
Speaker 2:I love that. Well, thank you so much, casey, for thank you for sharing today for your heart for every kid that's in Hope Kids and making sure that every kid that walks through those doors feels seen and heard and noticed and loved in some way, no matter what they look like or what their needs are. So just thank you for making that such a core of Hope Kids and we'll be following along to see what you guys are doing next.
Speaker 3:Yeah, stay tuned, there's lots of fun stuff coming.
Speaker 2:So if you're listening thank you so much for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss a new episode. We have new episodes every Monday and you can find it. You can also find Hope on social media so you can get notified about new podcasts there. But until next time, we are so grateful to have you listening and we will see you next time.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part of the Hope community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at meethopechurch.