Does Doing the Little Things Really Matter: Serving Those Around You- A Conversation with Beth Runkle, Pt 2

The world is becoming increasingly proficient at telling stories that deny God. As such, we need Thinking Christian to become as natural as breathing. Welcome to the Thinking Christian podcast. I'm Dr. James Spencer. Through calm, thoughtful, theological discussions, Thinking Christian highlights the ways God is working in the world and questions the underlying social, cultural, and political assumptions that hinder Christians from becoming more like Christ. Now, on to today's episode of Thinking Christian. Okay, everyone, welcome back. This is, we're going to continue our conversation. I'm here with Beth Ronkel. And Beth, you've been talking about your ministry with Campus Crusade and, you know, just... I have that background and interest in Crusade. And one of the things that I remember really, really well was the encouragement that the Crusade staff gave me and all the other students to be a member of a local congregation. And so I didn't take that advice as a college student. I kind of used Campus Crusade as my church. And so I'm wondering, you know, as you think about the local congregation, both from the context of the military and your 12 moves, or was it 12 or 14? 14. 14 moves, your 14 moves, you know, you switch local churches an awful lot when you move 14 times. But then now, even as you are, you know, working with Crusade and working with people, how do you encourage them to get involved in a local church? How do you help them think through their participation in the local church environment? Yeah, well, definitely for the cadets, it's something we highly encourage. We speak about it, you know, on our large group meetings that they need to be part of a local church. Cadets are limited on having a vehicle until their junior year. So we have like a big ride share doc where everybody can put their name and get a ride. So there's probably about eight churches in the local area that we've got rides to. And we really encourage them to be active in their local church. And we don't push them to one church or not, you know, it's just, just be active in a church. To join our leadership, that's really a requirement. And then, you know, just other ministries. I mean, that's a part of the discipleship conversations that you have with people. You know, we are a parachurch ministry, but they do need to be a part of the local church. And, you know, the, the bigger churches where a larger number, like of our cadets go, you know, they, they'll have, you know, functions and we encourage them to go. And, you know, they know that we, we know the cadets. We have good relationships with them, you know, so it's just a partnership. They recognize the importance of them being there. But, you know, they need to be a part of the church because ultimately that is going to be their Christian community when they're out on active duty. You know, that is how they're going to get the fellowship of the body of Christ. And really they need to be a serving member of the body of Christ. So yes, we have them serving at crew and we are very much cadet involved. You know, they do a lot of the leadership functions, but we do encourage them to get involved in local church. And, you know, all the girls that I disciple, you know, that's the first thing. I mean, I'm like a violin, you know, squeaky violin, you know, that where you're going to get involved in your local church and you're going to get, you know, go to a study and be a part of a small group because community is essential. And I think I was always the saddest with all of our moves to leave our local church. You know, that was always where the most tears happened because that was my family for as little or as much time as I was going to be there. Yeah. How long, usually how long did you stay in one place? So were the moves fairly evenly spaced for you? So you had kind of a consistent time with a local congregation or was it just sort of random? So for most people, it is going to be more evenly spaced. It was not for us. Most people are going to be three or four years in a location. Okay. But my husband did a remote that we went to with him. He went to school twice. So it's basically like a year of school. So that's a year. You move there for a year. And then just the way different opportunities lined up for him. We only had one assignment that was more than two years. We did a lot of one years and two years. But again, you know, the, the, the Jesus lover embraces that. Prior to I didn't, you know, I mean, we got orders multiple times out of cycle, which is also not typical. And at first it's like, you know, oh, this is so unfair. Why are we having to move early? You know? And then later on, it's like, okay, well, God's got more work for us to do. So let's go. But it definitely, you know, it took some maturity and, you know, just the Lord working through me that I could embrace that. Yeah, I'm sure the perspective shift is pretty prominent now looking back on it. because I can imagine, you know, getting uprooted without a purpose, right. A purpose that you're really bought in on would be extremely difficult. But then after you have this more missional mindset, it's gotta be kind of exciting as much as it's bittersweet, right? You know, like you're leaving a church. So that's really interesting. So the outside of the cadets, what do you see as sort of the big needs for folks in the military from a Christian discipleship perspective? I guess that's what, you know, I work a lot with just, you know, non-military folks. And so, you know, the big needs are probably a little different, I'm assuming. The community is definitely different. Most people don't, I think I'm an exception moving nine times, right? Most people that I meet have been, you know, in the area I'm living in now for a long time. You know, they're second generation people. You know, they're back in the area from maybe one job, but they've been here for 10, 15 years or what have you. It's just a different feel and experience than I would imagine what you get in the military. And I think the interesting sort of wrinkle that I've found out where we're at currently, we actually live in a military town. So we're in O'Fallon, Illinois and Scott Air Force Base is in O'Fallon, Illinois. And so we, like my church has a military ministry, like it's a whole thing that they do. There's a different set of folks who really think about that and, and focus on it. And so it's pretty fantastic to have been exposed to it a little bit and, you know, now being able to talk to you. So I guess my question at the end of the day is, is there a big difference between the way you approach discipleship with military folks, given the unique needs and circumstances that they're going to face, you know, just by nature of the job? Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up, and many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Well, I would say yes and no. I always believe that every discipleship relationship needs to start with making sure they truly understand the gospel. So every discipleship relationship is going to cover that. You know, every discipleship relationship is going to cover the importance of the Holy Spirit and relying on the Holy Spirit. You know, you're going to talk about the importance of church membership. You're going to talk about purity. That's every discipleship relationship, right? Yeah. The importance of the Word, right? Is the Word reliable? How to have a quiet time. Those are basics you're going to cover with everybody. But the unique needs of the military communities that we would add or maybe filter in, I don't follow a very strict format. I have topics I want to cover, but I allow myself some flexibility, which is pretty amazing because I'm not a very structured person. But I just feel like when I'm working with people's souls, I just really need to listen to the Holy Spirit. So just some of the topics I would think about that I would cover, I think, getting ready for deployment or what are the concerns going to be pre, during, and post deployment. You need to talk about that because that's a huge reality. I think we, I really like to instill in everyone I disciple the concept of being on mission. You know, that saying, you're not, you're not married to someone in the military. You're not in the military by mistake. You know,

You're to be on mission for God. You are actually a missionary. You might not know that, but you are. I think too, from a marriage standpoint, it's just how do we navigate the difficult times of being apart, the constant chaos and change. And I think especially for deployments, the importance of accountability. Husband and wife both having an accountability partner for the time of deployment. And then just another thing is the importance of just providing some practical help. That's what's different, I think, than a normal person, right? So we're moving frequently. We don't live near family. We have a spouse deployed. We don't have a huge community to help us in our time of need. So like I really encourage all of my local churches to start a military ministry to just minister to them. That's one of the ways that we can show them the love of Christ. You know, just simple things like over the holidays, if your spouse is deployed, how are you going to put up your Christmas lights and your Christmas tree? How are you going to take them down? How are you going to go shopping without your kids to buy them the gifts? So those are just some practical things, right? Meals, helping them unpacking, watching their kids while they unpack. Or, you know, just watching their kids if mom or dad is deployed for that spouse that's back home. Because honestly, they need a break. They love their kids, but they need a break. And their spouse can't do that for them. So that's a way to not only minister to the spouse that's at home, but the one that's deployed. Because, you know, if a church is caring or if a person is caring for that spouse, they are going to be a lot more interested in figuring out what is that person talking about. So that's just a component, you know. And I get it, it probably sounds like a lot. But that's really a way that you can support the freedoms that you enjoy as an American is by supporting those families. Well, I think it's really great. I mean, the emphasis on just the little things. I mean, you know, again, my wife and I, we both work. And so we even feel those tension points where it's nice that we have, like, we live near my parents. And so my parents come and help out. We live near my wife's parents. They come and help out. Her sister lives around us. And so we've got a little bit more of a support system that's family-oriented that we can kind of lean back on and get those breaks that you just, you kind of need. Military families just don't have that. They just don't have those. And so I think it's a really important focus and a great way for Christians to do something that is practically helpful to alleviate stress and just anxiety and hopefully pave the way to share the gospel. So that's fantastic. And I would encourage your listeners, like, they have military people in their neighborhoods or anybody. I mean, this is a way that you can build a bridge to the gospel. It's just reaching out with some simple practical helps. I mean, it could be something as simple as dropping a card by and a, you know, $5 gift card to the local coffee shop because the spouse at home doesn't get remembered. The spouse on deployment gets sent care packages and stuff. But, you know, they typically don't get remembered. You would be surprised how something very small like that could speak very loudly to a spouse who feels alone. They just feel alone. Yeah. Well, very good. I, I mean, I appreciate the ministry that you do and I want to take one more break. And then when we come back, I'd like to close and talk about your forthcoming book. So let's just take a second and we'll hear from our sponsors and then we'll be right back. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. Let me ask you a serious question. If something triggered a major market drop in the coming months, would your retirement be ready or exposed? With inflation, market volatility, and ongoing global uncertainty, more families are taking a closer look at whether their retirement plan is truly built to hold up. And many are finding that adding a layer of protection makes a lot of sense. Sanctuary Metals is a Christian-owned company that helps families strengthen their retirement savings with physical gold and silver through a gold IRA. During uncertain times, many people look to precious metals as a way to add stability when other assets may be under pressure. If you'd like to explore whether a gold IRA is a good fit for your situation, Sanctuary Metals makes it easy to get started. Text GUIDE to 94878 to receive your free retirement defense guide or call 888-958-6579 to speak with one of their knowledgeable team members. Again, text GUIDE to 94878 or call 888-958-6579. All right, everybody, welcome back. I'm here with Beth Runkle. And Beth, I want to kind of transition our conversation. You've talked a lot about your ministry, which I think sounds fantastic. You've obviously been through this both practically and experientially. And like you've lived it. And now it's awesome that you've been able to you're able to share it with others. You've got a new book coming out and it's coming out in October. Correct. October 2024. And so tell us a little bit about the book, what you're doing there, and, you know, whet people's appetite for what's coming up in October. Sure. Well, I mentioned earlier in the show that I came to Christ in Genesis, and that was actually in a study on Sarah and Abraham. And I saw as I was digging into the scriptures for the first time, I saw in Sarah so many parallels to my own life. And I'll mention a couple of those. But what that did for me is it really enabled me to feel very seen by my heavenly father who I was getting to know, that he would ordain for me to be put in the scriptures with a character that I could very much identify with. I believe when God called Sarah and Abraham to go to our land that I will show you. That's what we in the military call a permanent change of station or PCS. We do those all the time. Only when we are moving, we at least have moving trucks and movers. Sarah had donkeys and camels. And, you know, she was resetting up her tent. I actually think that she probably made a lot more transitions than I did. If you look at the scriptures and all the different times they went Bethel, Egypt, here, here. So I saw that. I also saw that Sarah was married to a warrior who went off to combat. And then you might not recognize that. But I saw when Abraham went off with his 318 trained men to rescue his nephew Lot from the four kings. He was going into combat. And back then it was, I've done some study on what warfare was like back then. It was hand to hand, very brutal combat. And so Sarah was waiting at home in the tent while her husband was there. And they didn't have Skype back then. I also saw just all the transitions. And I saw that Sarah likely was creating community as she made those transitions. And I also saw a man that was trying to follow God and be a leader for God. Right. He was the first Israelite and but also, you know, his country because he was starting a brand new country. So there's lots of other parallels as well. But the book goes from Genesis 12 through 22, the life of Sarah and Abraham and just the parallels. And I believe the lessons that the word of God has for military wives and how it can encourage them just in their journey, really to embrace it. But just that there is practical guidance in the word of God for military wives. And that's just what it does. It's really just I really did not have the desire to write a book like from the beginning, from when I got saved. It was just as I continued to lead Bible studies at my home, I saw there's a lot of great Bible studies out there. I mean, I've done dozens of them, but there really wasn't much written that was specifically contextualized for the military spouse to address some of the unique challenges that she has. And so I had an opportunity and I'm very thankful. B&H Publishing Group decided to publish it. And they are Lifeway's trade division. And so it will be coming out in October. Very cool. And if you want to join the waiting list for that, you can go to my website. I have a little thing you can join the waiting list because I recognize it's not yet out there. And of course, it will be on Amazon and Lifeway and all the places you buy books. We'll make sure we put your website in the show notes, but it is Beth Runkle dot com. Right. And that's R-U-N-K-L-E. Yep.

And we'll make sure we put that in the show notes. So my background is in Old Testament studies, and so I like the emphasis on Genesis. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, even as you were talking, you know, I'm thinking through, you know, where does really Sarah become a more visible part of the process of working out the covenant? You know, most of the narrative is very Abraham heavy. But, you know, when he's told in Genesis 17 that, you know, Ishmael is not going to be his chosen heir, and now, you know, Sarah is going to have a child, that's where she really, you know, sort of, that's one of the areas where she really comes into focus. And so it is sort of fascinating to think through that from the perspective of, you know, here's this woman who's sort of connected to the life that her husband is pursuing and all of the different ways that she gets sort of moved around and pushed around and jostled about and what she's doing and thinking. It's a fascinating place to look, I think, for trying to contextualize for military wives. So it sounds really great. Sounds like a fantastic book. Thank you. I mean, I'm sure you'd suggest it for non-military wives as well. Anyone that's doing a lot of transitions. Yeah. It does talk a lot about transitions. There's obviously some content about supporting a warrior, you know, but certainly, yeah, especially if you love the Old Testament. I mean, I love the Old Testament, and I really dig into the scripture. I'm very passionate about cultural contextualization. So I think I could add some concepts to people, especially if they haven't done a lot of cultural contextualization study, because I did a lot of that. I do a lot of research, and the content of the book is very heavy on biblical content and very short on my own story. But at the beginning of each segment is a little bit of my own story, how I just relate this lesson that we have from the scriptures to the military life. Very cool. Yeah. And I mean, I think at the end of the day, you know, again, I've never served in the military, but I think a lot of my life experience lends itself to how do you how do you function as a married couple through transition? You know, how do you manage the dual pursuit? You know, my wife has a career. I have a career. How do we manage that? There's all these tensions that are probably very analogous, even though you have these vast differences, obviously, from military life to civilian life. And so, yeah, I'm excited to read the book. Like I said, I love the Old Testament. And so anything that focuses on Genesis, usually I take a look at. And so October 2024, we'll have the link to the your website in the show notes. And I'd just encourage everybody to go and sign up to let them know when the book is actually released. Right. That's what that's what the preorder will be. Yeah. Preorders will be before then. Yeah. And I just got on the website. You know, now they can join the waiting list. And I would encourage to like if people know military, please connect with me because, I mean, I'm in full time ministry. This is what I do. I want to just connect and encourage people. And we do have crew military in about 60 locations in the United States. So we have other people that could minister to you or, you know, seems like most people have a niece or a nephew or a grandchild or something that's in the military. And we're just very passionate about supporting and encouraging them and ultimately pointing them to a sovereign Lord. Right. He is the thing that we cling to in the midst of our chaos and uncertainty. And one of the things I realized soon after getting saved was that God outranked even the generals, you know, and that it looked like the military was in control of our life, but ultimately God was just using it to move and to get us where he wanted us to be. That's a great spot, I think, to stop. Encourage you to check out BethRunkle.com and get on the preorder list for Beth's book. Beth, thanks so much for being here today. This was fantastic to talk with you about military ministry, which I think is something that most folks outside the military aren't really thinking much about, but a really important aspect of, you know, the kingdom that are out there serving our country and really do need this sort of ministry as, I think, a consistent base to base, even as you're moving, just being able to connect back in with a crew ministry would provide some level of continuity as folks are transitioning from base to base. And so really appreciate everything you're doing and just excited to see what God does with your book and the rest of your ministry. So thanks for being here. Okay, thanks so much. Yep. All right, everybody, we will catch you on the next episode of Thinking Christian. Thanks so much. Take care. 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