Love Fort Wayne Podcast
The Love Fort Wayne podcast amplifies the stories of everyday people who are loving and leading in Northeast Indiana to spark imagination, root inspiration, and ignite transformation.
Love Fort Wayne Podcast
Fort Wayne’s Transformative Journey: Unity, Faith, and Community Innovation
Discover the transformative journey of Fort Wayne, the Midwest's fastest-growing metro, with our distinguished guests, board chair Mike Packnett and vice chair Brenda Gerber Vincent. Together, we uncover the stories behind the anticipated $3 billion in building permits by 2024 and celebrate the city's accolade as the most affordable place to live. Through heartfelt conversations, we explore what sets Fort Wayne apart as a top destination for Gen Z homeownership and a beacon of community innovation and collaboration.
Join us as we highlight the extraordinary unity in Fort Wayne's community development, where marketplace leaders and pastors from diverse backgrounds come together to drive positive change. This episode shines a light on impactful leaders like Pastor Anthony Payton and the significant contributions of African American pastors who uplift the entire community. We draw comparisons to other cities and reflect on successful collaborations in Allen County, showcasing how unique strategies pave the way for substantial milestones and achievements.
The episode also delves into the profound impact of faith-driven leadership and mentorship in Fort Wayne. We explore how initiatives like the Global Leadership Summit and the Ignite Emerging Leader program connect seasoned and emerging leaders through faith-based principles. From the inspiring "death club" story at a local school to the vibrant prayer community at Electric Works, we celebrate the transformative power of mentorship, unity, and prayer. Tune in to be part of the Citywide Movement of Love Fort Wayne, where love, support, and prayer uplift our community.
Welcome to Season 4 of the Love Fort Wayne Podcast. The Love Fort Wayne Podcast amplifies the stories of everyday people who are loving and leading in Northeast Indiana to spark imagination, root inspiration and ignite transformation in our community and beyond. At Love Fort Wayne, we believe the pillars of a flourishing community are its leaders, pastors, schools, families and prayer. And in Season 4, we're excited to learn from and be encouraged by people who not only lead but love our city in these areas each day. Before we dive in, we want to say thank you to our partners at Remedy, live, dream On Studios, star Financial, brotherhood, mutual and Shepherd Family Auto Group for making the podcast possible. Welcome everybody back to the Love Fort Wayne podcast. We are in season five of the Love Fort Wayne podcast, which is hard to believe.
Speaker 2:It's hard to believe. Flying by Season five, I might have had hair at the first one.
Speaker 1:Man. Over those five years we've been able to hear a lot of great leadership stories, love stories from folks that make an impact here in Fort Wayne and the Northeast Indiana region, and it's been a joy to do it with you, thank you. You've let me co-pilot with you on three seasons, which has been great out of the five, and I know we're excited because at the start of every season we get the opportunity to speak to a few folks from our team, from the Love Fort Wayne team, our board chair and our board vice chair, and so we're excited to have Mike Packnett and Brenda Gerber Vincent with us here for episode one of season five. Thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great to be here. Yeah, so I would say two of the most awarded citizens of. Fort Wayne. That's right. Like we couldn't fit all the awards in the studio Trophies, trophies, trophies indeed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, mitch, what we like to do to start our year off with the podcast is do kind of a recap of not only what's been happening in our community but what's been happening in the lifeblood of Love Fort Wayne and give our listeners an update of, you know, the light that's been coming into our arena and the things that we've been able to do as an organization and as an outreach.
Speaker 1:And we'd love to then take a look forward, you know, into this new year and just share some things that we hope for. And I think for me, one of the cool things is I get a chance to hear it from Mike and we get a chance to hear it from you, brenda, and so we're just going to have that conversation. I hope that you would be excited, as excited as we are to hear from Mike and Brenda and also hear some highlights about some great things that are happening in Fort Wayne as well, because we're a part of this community and we want to celebrate the great things that are happening here as well, within Love Fort Wayne and outside of Love Fort Wayne. So let's start there. Let's start talking about the great things that are happening here in Fort Wayne and in Northeast Indiana and, brenda, I know you get a chance to get a front row seat of many great things that are happening in our community, so can you share some of those things? Absolutely.
Speaker 4:You know, it used to be that I could memorize all the statistics and all the accolades that our community is receiving and now there's so many that I actually brought a sheet to talk about but we're the fastest growing metro in the Midwest.
Speaker 4:You know, that's out of five states. The Great Lakes region is Wisconsin, ohio, michigan, ohio and Indiana and Illinois and there's 60 metros within those five states and we are the fastest growing. More people are coming in to our community than any other of those communities, so it's something to celebrate and with that comes a lot of notoriety across the country. We're getting people from California and Texas, a lot of people from Illinois, but not just our neighboring states, but across the nation. People are coming to our community. There's something special. We know that there's something very special that's happening right here with NL and Cali.
Speaker 4:But just to name a few because I did bring them we're the number one most affordable place to live, according to US News and World Report and all of these are 2024 statistics. We're top 10 best run cities in America. We're top 10 best cities to retire in the United States. We're the number one city best city for a Gen Z to achieve ownership and we're in the top 20 best places to live in the United States and that's US again, us News and World Report. And I just learned this morning that we will top $3 billion in building permits in 2024. And just to put that in perspective 10 years ago we were at $700 million. So 10 years ago, $700 million, we were creeping up. There were many years that we were at $1 billion.
Speaker 3:And we really celebrated that. Oh my goodness, I mean, it was a major milestone to get to a billion.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, it was Mike milestone to get to a billion. Absolutely, it was Mike to get to a billion, and to think that we'll be celebrating $3 billion in building permits at the end of this year is something to celebrate, so super excited by that, but. I couldn't memorize all that right the list is getting so long. I didn't want to miss any of those, but those are all accolades we received just this year.
Speaker 2:Darrell Bock. Our tagline could be winter doesn't stop us.
Speaker 1:It's true, it's true, yeah, darrell.
Speaker 3:Bock, you know I'm looking at. Hopefully the viewers can. If you're watching this, you can see a crane in the background here. Oh yeah, darrell Bock, and isn't that I think that's the Barrett Stokely. Would that be right?
Speaker 4:You know what Is that? The Club Soda. Coming down. I'm trying to act. Coming down Main Street, yes.
Speaker 3:I think that this one to me, Brenda, is really noteworthy because it ended up being a $100 million project, which would have been headline news and it was for a day or so, but because we've had so many big projects, it wasn't that big a deal but it really was, because it was supposed to be a $70 million deal and it went to $100 because of inflation. And they figured out how to close the gap in the capital stack and stayed with the project and I think that really speaks a lot about outside investors. This is an indie group and they've invested on the riverfront and this is a second or more investment, I think second major one. But for them to be willing to close a $30 million gap and that it wasn't as big a deal it's a big deal, but it wasn't as big a deal because of everything else going on.
Speaker 4:I agree with you and Rex Barrett who's behind Barrett Stokely. He just loves our community. He and his sons who run the company to invest that type of money into this community says a lot.
Speaker 2:Isn't downtown just? I mean, the story of downtown is just stunning and I'm realizing. You know I'm from north, so we always would go southwest and that's where we'd eat. You know shop, and I'd say it was maybe a couple years ago. My first inclination was let's go downtown. Let's go downtown to eat. Let's walk around afterwards, let's go get my puffer belly ice cream. Let's walk around the bridges. I mean it's an incredible story.
Speaker 3:And I know the two of you have a ton to do with it. Yeah, and the guys that took the condo building, Anthony Wayne, remember how much they pioneered downtown condo living.
Speaker 2:I don't know how many years ago and now you see, all the downtown living is pretty incredible I have a friend who sold a big house and bought one of those and said he loves it. Well, absolutely loves that.
Speaker 4:Well, I have to give mike, I have to give you credit. You know it's. It's one thing to run with the torch, but you actually lit the torch and that was the catalytic project of the parkview field and we really refer to that project as the project that started it all, that.
Speaker 4:That project was instrumental in the growth of downtown and Mike was also the founder of Greater Fort Wayne Inc. It was his vision to bring the three different organizations together and we can point to that event, that catalytic event, that those three organizations came together 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:We're celebrating our 10-year this year.
Speaker 4:That's amazing, it's 10 years To us working together, and that's the specialness that Allen County has is that we have leaders who really roll up their sleeves, they're willing to do the hard work and they work together well.
Speaker 2:I'm not even worthy to be in this conversation, Well.
Speaker 4:I just have to.
Speaker 2:But I'm in even worthy to be in this conversation.
Speaker 3:Well, I just have to, but I'm in Mike's presence. I mean we really truly started with that project. So many fun people to work with during that time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, are you going to mention any specific projects at all?
Speaker 4:I haven't planned to, but I can.
Speaker 3:But let's just, can we spend two?
Speaker 1:minutes, absolutely.
Speaker 3:You think of the. It's not just downtown, it's not just northwest and southwest. You look at what's going on in southeast Fort Wayne and, if I can say, the Google project for southeast Fort.
Speaker 4:Wayne.
Speaker 3:What's the investment for Google?
Speaker 4:Oh my goodness, that was on the tip of my tongue, I mean just.
Speaker 3:But if you haven't driven out there, it's just unbelievable how big.
Speaker 2:The $2 billion yeah, I just read it $2 billion.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I just read it $2 billion, yeah, and then so a smaller number, but a significant number is in Southeast. What Bridge of Grace, what Fort Wayne Community Schools? What City Church is investing over $40 million in one square mile has never happened, but for it to happen in 2024, it's just great. And if you haven't driven out in that area around Pettit and Gaywood and that area.
Speaker 4:It really is.
Speaker 3:It's a great investment for the community. It really is.
Speaker 4:It's a great investment for the community Now in the flourishing of neighborhoods so many neighborhoods now that we're seeing in parks being reimagined and expanded, yeah.
Speaker 1:That makes me really excited from this year's the parks. There's so many great things but you read the article of so many park projects are in the works. You've got several in queue and they're in the neighborhoods you know there's. You know the park that's ready to go right there in Mount Vernon Park, which you know borders Pettit-Rudisoul, and I think about the park that you know they're hoping for in the central neighborhood. Just, you know some of our older grassroots neighborhoods where people are moving back into them and then parks can be a cornerstone of a neighborhood where people gather, where people celebrate, where kids play. I love that. I'm glad that you brought that up as well. It's been a great thing about this year the infrastructure, the buildings and all the different quadrants of our city and even the fifth quadrant, which I know is wrong downtown. You know where so much is happening there.
Speaker 3:Momentum, Momentum. It's magical isn't it? No matter what we're talking about momentum. Can't beat it yeah.
Speaker 1:You know from you all's vantage point. I also wanted to ask you you know what have been some highlights in 2024 regarding people, if that makes sense. We've seen, you know, so many folks come together. There's so many great projects happening in our community where you see leaders working together, new businesses starting or churches collaborating. Can you maybe point to we talked a little bit about neighborhoods Can you point to a couple of things that you know you were excited about in 2024? Just seeing people, the people of Fort Wayne, work more together in this past year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we still mourn the loss of Mayor Henry and celebrate all that he did, and we can see it all around us throughout the community we celebrate the first African-American mayor and our first female African-American mayor, and so I think we're all excited to work with her and understand her vision for the community. Community, we continue to see different coalitions of people coming together. We'll talk more about Love, fort Wayne in a minute. But this whole idea of unity, I think when we all think about other communities, I just can't think of other communities that have the potential that we have, that we're building on a business unity but, there's also a growing spiritual unity in the community that I know we're all excited about to see.
Speaker 3:But I just, jeff, you've studied all the city movements across the country, but I think I would take where we are today and the ingredients and really the people that we get to work with, over any of the city movements that I know about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. You know, as you mentioned studying them and being connected to them, they'll look at us and say, well, you're so young, but you guys will report back the different things that are happening in your city and the potential. And, uh, you know, that's less about us, it's more about what God's doing in people's hearts and then people's very own willingness to be more connected. And I use the word fight to fight for this, for commonality and unity, even among differences that we might have. And so it is a point of positive pride to share, yeah, the work that we get to do. We get to do it in a community where people are longing for more of a togetherness. We don't necessarily have to, you know, shake them to get there. People are longing for it in business and in the church community, spiritual community.
Speaker 2:It's happening here in Fort Wayne, here in Fort Wayne for sure One of the things we learned from the other citywide movements in the nation and there are at least 85, right that we know of is that almost all of them were started by one pastor.
Speaker 3:And what was?
Speaker 2:so unique about Fort Wayne is that we were started by a group of marketplace leaders and pastors, and it's just absolutely amazing. The ripple effect of that concept and I think that's what begets some of the unity that we're- seeing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, mike, you know Eric Swanson will speak to that. He'll say that to other city movements as we learn from one another. It is, you know, there is a unique in Fort Wayne and maybe one or two others, and it was started by our board and by our team of marketplace leaders who have a heart for the community, have a heart for kingdom capital K and want to see the city transformed in the ways that we've talked about in our first segment, but also in kingdom way, seeing people come together.
Speaker 3:It is a unique.
Speaker 1:It really, really, really is a unique. And so folks, well, you know, I think a story is helpful We've got another city, wichita, which, Brenda, you would know if they were like us or not. I'm not sure how much they're like us in their inner workings, but they're like us because they have started with the GLS. So they started their city movement by hosting the summit and they, um, outside of Fort Wayne, they have the second largest, you know, united States summit, um, right, around 900 to a thousand people.
Speaker 1:And they, they've, they're going through the same process that you all were, which is their board said there's gotta be something more than we could do. And so I keep hearing from them saying can we have your job descriptions and what are your pillars and where did you get it from? And, um, but there's marketplace leaders that were, hey, we want to bring the summit to this community, and now there's something more that we can do. And so, you know, lori, and I know them, and it's been great every couple of months to kind of, hey, we don't know it all, we're learning too, but we're so glad that we can share some with you. And so the unique of that you know, you see it happening in another city as well from that same type of starting point is actually pretty. You know, it's fun to see it's fun to see and to encourage.
Speaker 3:Jeff, I think the other thing we celebrate together is Umbutu and this group of African American pastors led by Pastor Anthony Payton. I love to be around Pastor Payton he has so much wisdom, he loves this city, he loves the community and to hear his dream of what Umbutu can do, especially for the black community. But also just how do we raise everybody up throughout the community. But I just celebrate them, we pray for them and just I love to be around Pastor Peyton and he's got a strong group of African-American pastors that he's leading with, so it's great to celebrate them.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. You got any thoughts, brenda?
Speaker 4:You know, we celebrated so many milestones in 2024. It's amazing that we're sitting in a new year, but as I look back, I think about the collaboration of events. I mean, I can't stress it enough, but people in Allen County and in this region, they work well together. It's the reason that we can get a lot of things done. I think we value, but I think it's what makes us so special is our people. I will tell you within a span of maybe two weeks, I heard Mike Nutter, who's just an exceptional leader in our community.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. We're so blessed to have him, aren't we?
Speaker 4:He stood on a stage in front of 500 plus people. He talked about his faith. He talked about how important his faith was. And then I was in another event. I had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing our mayor, mayor Tucker, and there was a question from the audience that said you know what's important to you, what keeps you going? It was with hesitation. She said my faith, my faith. And then I was at another event where one of our top leaders said the same thing. Somebody said what do you do when you have a hard decision? Immediately, the answer was I go to prayer. I mean, this is just in a span of just a few weeks and some of our top leaders in our community.
Speaker 1:And I hear it over and over again so are you unique.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I always think people say, well, how do you, why do you think that it's going this way? And I think your answers, your stories, are one of the key components. You got leaders who are rooted in faith, unashamed to share that, and then even in corporate spaces, marketplace spaces, they're leading from that and that just makes a world of difference. It does, and it's a positive example for folks that are listening that you can be deeply rooted in faith in the marketplace, in the business spaces, and lead from that and make a huge difference in our community.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think there's a unique movement of God transforming people's lives and there just seems to be a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit among younger people right now.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:And I think about. We won't be able to list them all, but there's the great number of students who are surrendering their lives to Christ, who are pursuing what God has for them, who want to figure out how faith and marketplace go together. I think about County Line. My great-great-grandfather co-founded it 128 years ago maybe, and we baptized 120 people in an hour or so, and that just seems to happen again and again and again.
Speaker 2:And it's just unbelievable. But that story is replicated all over and I'm really energized by the young people who are pursuing what God has for their lives.
Speaker 1:Darrell Bock. Yeah, it's true. It's true, Mike. You've seen it at your church. Mike Barrett, yeah City.
Speaker 3:Church is just. You better get there early on baptism day and baby dedication day, because there's a bunch of both of them. You won't get a seat because all the family's coming to celebrate, which is so good to see.
Speaker 1:See all those young people, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:My youngest grandchild was dedicated there, and then I was there with Mike for the grand opening and God did a work in me there.
Speaker 1:I mean Jordan Applegate lead in worship and I go down for the count you know, I'd we'd been through some difficult things and I realized what I needed at that moment was a worshipful experience, an encounter with the god of the universe, and that's what happened so good yeah, very good city full of of experiences like that, great things that have been happening in fort wayne, the greater fort way area, this past year, and you know we're going to spend a little bit of time talking about A some of the things that we were celebrating as a Love Fort Wayne team in 2024. And again, mitch and I would love to hear you all's heart and perspective of hope as we move into 2025 and some things that you know God has given for us to continue to steward in this coming year. So, mike, if you look back at 2024 and Love Fort Wayne, what are some things that you're celebrating and thankful for?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think for us as leaders and as board members, I think we have more clarity of what our call is and we're sensing that there's still more. The good news is he's adding to us the people that we need In 2025, we're going to more volunteers coming alongside, whether it's something we've done for is it 21 years or 22 years for?
Speaker 3:GLS 21 years for the Global Leadership Summit, where we had 1,500 people. It's such a great two days to look out over this sea of people and know that there is just so much life change going on and a lot of it we don't know. We know enough to know how good it's been for people, but we don't know everything there. But we've been very dedicated to bringing that to the community for 21 years. And then Mitch, the work that you're doing with the young leaders. You want to talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we've graduated over 100.
Speaker 3:Ignite.
Speaker 2:Emerging Leader participants, and I would call it how to be spirit-led, but what they're learning is how to lead themselves. You've got to first lead yourself before you can lead others, and I'm telling you parkview, making it part of their leadership institute. We have seen some of the most fantastic leaders in our community come through there. We use dr joshua moore's humbler leadership book as one of the texts, and what we're discovering is this is one of the things that sherry Miller and I hoped would happen out of it, but organically we're discovering that the cohorts are continuing to meet and so it's relationship based and it's just absolutely incredible. I'm really eager to see what God does next with it, actually, but it's been awesome. And then out of that, we do a love. Our leaders, pillar and Jeff, had the really great idea that we would tap a lot of the Ignite graduates for that. The energy that has brought to connecting veteran leaders and emerging leaders in our community is incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I look at the room of that team, your team Mitch, that impact team for Love, our Leaders, and you see Stan, who is a seasoned leader, who has led for 40 years in business, and he's sitting next to an emerging leader, you know, like Dr Katie who is an emerging leader in our region as physical therapist and they're together in one team and he's gleaning from her, gleaning from her as she emerges into her leadership, and you can see it in his face.
Speaker 1:But when he talks, they all stop. They stop and they listen to him, which is just a unique thing that's happening through that, which is great.
Speaker 3:I think if Chuck Shurek was here today he would say he's been one of those veteran leaders and he would say he gets more out of those conversations than the emerging leader does. But one of the real benefits of signing up for ignite you get to talk to people like chuck.
Speaker 2:That's pretty good I gotta since you brought that up, I gotta share a story. I'm getting on a plane and, um, I knew the young lady who had met with or was going to meet with Chuck had met with Chuck. It was so interesting. I get this text from Chuck Mitch. I just met with such and such. Oh my goodness, it has been one of the coolest meetings I've had this year. You know that kind of a thing. I get a text from her. Oh my goodness, you know, and that is what that's repeated again and again and that is just awesome.
Speaker 3:That's really neat. That's really neat. You know we don't have enough time to really get into all the pillars the way we'd like to today, jeff, but if I could go to schools for just a minute and then maybe we should talk about certainly prayer and whatever else Brenda wants to add as well. But schools is just such important work to this point now in the second semester and then definitely in 25, where we'll really be able to call for volunteers to help us with reading.
Speaker 3:In many of the elementary schools in Southeast the numbers are not good on third grade reading levels. Being at third-grade reading levels, less than half the children are there. I think most everybody knows that if you don't read at third-grade level, your pathway to success is not good at all. So having volunteers to do that and we heard there's a we probably shouldn't say who, but we have a very important company in town who's going to help us with doing some beta testing for that but there are so many children, so many precious kids who we need to work with from pre-K, k, first grade, second grade, so that by third grade they're reading at third grade level. You've done a lot of great work at Adams Elementary. There's so much we could do with businesses and church, volunteers, retirees, to come and be at the elbow with these children to help them get to wherever they are, wherever they're reading, to get them to third grade level is.
Speaker 3:I don't know, For me there's not much more important work that we could do this is our future.
Speaker 1:Darrell Bock, that's right.
Speaker 3:That's right, darrell Bock, and it can be a whole different future if we do what I know we should be doing over the next few years.
Speaker 1:That's right, it's beautiful, I think, about having a second great son and the advantage that I already see him having because he can read. But I understand that's not the circumstance for everyone, and so it becomes personal to you when you look at your own seven and eight year old in the face and you realize that he has friends that struggle and perhaps their circumstances different than his, and so thus their outcomes of a buddy that he's friends with now, um, could be completely different. You know, six to seven years from now. That's, that's real, you know that that's real.
Speaker 1:And so that is some of the most important work that we can do in our community is I tell people with my time at schools, brenda, I say I could say yes to a lot of different things, you can say no to a lot of different things, especially meetings and gatherings and some of those things I have to say yes to. But I I've decided, and you don't have to decide this, but I've decided, and you don't have to decide this, but I've decided to take an hour out of my week, 45 minutes, to be out of school, where I could probably use that hour to, you know, to do something else, and I'll have to make up the time, but to recognize when we have the capacity to maybe take an hour to be with the young person, to read with them or to mentor them. It just it's planting the seed. As you spoke to Mike, that can it has lasting change for forever.
Speaker 1:And so you know that's been my ploy to folks is it's not just because you know I'm at Love Fort Wayne and I'm asking you to join. I'm saying this is, this is for our children. If you, if you do want to join, come on. If you do want to join, come on. We've got some cafe spaces for you to join and spend 45 minutes to an hour with the child once a week to read with them or connect with them. It's so important.
Speaker 3:Have you told the story, the fourth grade club story? No, no, you think that is that appropriate to share.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's appropriate. You know, at Adams, you know, principal Alley, who we've highlighted love Fort Wayne At Adams. You know, principal Alley, who we've highlighted love Fort Wayne. She shared. You know, when Mike and I and Kelly Packnett met with them, you know we were just amazed by her and you know, we started the cafe, decided we needed to start a cafe there, school Connect Cafe. And it wasn't until some months later that we were in the process with her. In the process with her, she shared with me and some other folks from that cafe, that community and family engagement team, that the boys, the fourth grade boys at that school, had a death club. You know my eyes got big and I said, well, what does that mean? And she goes. Well, you know they'll say, well, your brother's dead and my uncle's in jail or your dad's not there, so they might as well be dead.
Speaker 1:And so it's just hard. And so to them it's either the reality of death or my circumstances. They're not around, so they might as well be. So when you see it, when you hear it, when you experience it, they grab the one thing in common and made a club and all they're doing is they're vocally, they're processing out loud, they're processing this trauma out loud, which really just spurred on the cafe to say there's something, we have to do about it. We, we want to be able to read with these boys we actually do but first we've got to get some positive male figures in their lives, because they were just yearning and it did not matter culture or ethnicity, we just needed men in that moment that would just be with them.
Speaker 1:And so I know there's a fraternity that's got involved and they rotate fraternity brothers that are. I mean, these guys are movers and shakers in our community and they pause and they come in on a Friday and some other men from different organizations One of my really good friends, a Fort Wayne police officer and works at the academy and he spends time. But it was out of that. You know what Mike prompted this, this death club. That men said I can take an hour, I can be there to play some football to to eat lunch with you and and help with some tutoring or reading if you need it, which is, but those are some of our realities and the importance of the work.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been asked recently how do you get in the schools? I said, well, they, we, you know we're we're very sensitive to what the principal wants. So we start with the principal. What are your top three things? And they are very. They want help, they need help, but we just love them. We love on the principal, love on the teachers. One of the things we did this year was bought an ice machine. The principal said at LaVon Scott, we need an ice machine, top of my list.
Speaker 3:So we bought an ice machine for them and we got more thank you notes. One teacher wrote I didn't even know I needed an ice machine, but I love it.
Speaker 4:I can't be without an ice machine. That's great, but it's fun, isn't it?
Speaker 3:It's fun, it's fun, yeah. So we have plenty of spots for people to volunteer, whether it's schools, or loving on pastors, loving on leaders prayer Can we squeeze prayer?
Speaker 1:in before we end.
Speaker 3:And Brenda's got some too, but I don't think any of us saw this coming where Catholics and Protestants coming together. I can't imagine it's ever happened like this in the history of Fort Wayne. It couldn't have.
Speaker 2:I think we would have known.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, back here. This is when it was really all together. I don't think it's ever been that way, but for for Bishop Rhodes to say green light, this is let's go. And for him to say, yes, he's coming to our prayer meeting on February 5th.
Speaker 3:Yeah, February 5th, february 5th at Merrill Center. If you're coming, you better get there early. I would think it's going to be pretty well attended. Yes, but this work of the Common Table great name first of all, but Pastor Chris Norman we love him so much and God's given him the prayer vision for the city and for him to work so closely with many of our Catholic brothers and sisters is nothing. I saw coming and it's just fun to see where this is going to go and part of this John 17 unity that we've all been praying for, but to be able to see it, you know, what I love the most is the intercessors, who've been praying for 40 plus years for this and they get to see it now.
Speaker 3:They're seeing it now, they're seeing the manifestation of this in 2024 and hopefully in 2025. You know that we'll even continue to see more, and it just feels to me like that the Holy Spirit's going to do a mighty work. That's what the intercessors have been. You know, we're standing on 40 years of prayer, and I believe that, too, there's going to be an accelerating work of the Holy Spirit. I think the precursor to that, though, is unity. I think that the power in unity is so great, and we know that God wants his kids to be together anyway, but I'm so, so expecting that, and when you hang around intercessors, you can't help but be affected by their expectation.
Speaker 3:They just know it's coming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, that's good yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, we could do an entire podcast just on schools or just on pastors talking about loving our families. I'm going to continue with prayer. One of the things that our city is unique for is our prayer room. Our 24-7 prayer works, and I know my husband and I we were just out there. We went out to eat at Chapman's and we took another couple and when we got done I said okay.
Speaker 4:I have to show you the greatest place in Fort Wayne. And we walked just across that road and we went into prayer works. They're like what is this? And I said this is a is a 24 7 prayer room and they were blown away. I think, more than anything, I love introducing people.
Speaker 1:Yes, to that prayer room. Do you guys feel the same way?
Speaker 4:absolutely because when you're in that space, it is just, it's it. I can't explain, there's probably not enough, it is probably not a word, but, um, there's just a sense of peace for me, and I will often. And we just heard a story of another leader in our community who was going to make a very big decision and before he did, he went down to the prayer room to pray and I think, man, that's the community I want to live in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no kidding, right, absolutely.
Speaker 4:And then we look forward in 2025 to our prayer gathering. I mean to see hundreds of leaders, all kinds of leaders, our pastors, and I mean to see hundreds of leaders, all kinds of leaders, our pastors, and I mean it's just a huge cross-section of our community and different ages and it's just a beautiful collection of I don't know just the best of our community who get together and pray, and there's nothing I love more than prayer and music.
Speaker 2:Me too, if I'm going to get up that early in the morning.
Speaker 4:But you know it's hard to get up right and get there at seven o'clock. But, man, when you do, you just thank yourself. This was the best decision I made.
Speaker 2:First step was the hardest Right Right when the alarm goes off.
Speaker 4:But I'm telling you it is when you leave you think that's the best decision. I made all month so good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the prayer room is the most important 1,700 square feet in the city, wow. And for Pastor Chris Norman to have this vision of to do it at Electric Works and to call it prayer, I just think that is just so neat to have that, and we'd be remiss not to think. The men and women who take the night watch that pray from midnight to dawn Every night. The city is covered in prayer and they pray for the peace and prosperity of every one of us in the community and I'm so thankful for them and God's called them to do that. And one thing that we always could use help with is covering different shifts. So if the Lord's touching your heart about prayer works, first of all, if you haven't been there, go down there, but somebody can help you with and on the website too, jeff, right, we can get people to help with covering shifts and you will be blessed to just be there, but also you're going to help somebody when you go, but also you're going to help somebody when you go.
Speaker 2:And if you have a prayer request. I mean, I have a personal experience Middle of the night they pray. If you're going through anything and you need prayer, put in that prayer request on the website. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:It's in Neespot. Neespot run by two great ladies that are part of our team. And then, as you mentioned, you know a multitude of volunteers and and I wouldn't even call them volunteers they're not even that anymore. They're just team members. They're, they're prayer warriors, who, who you know who? Who see it through every single day. Those two ladies again I'd be remiss Michelle Adams and Gina Yale, who are part of the Love Fort Wayne team. They're in that room when nobody else can make it. They're thinking about it constantly. They're praying for us.
Speaker 1:They're praying for you, our listeners. They pray for this community and then they shepherd and steward the relationships of the people that are in the prayer room 168 hours a week. 168 hours a week, and they're just sometimes, if you think about it, michelle will report to me 167, like only one hour uncovered. This, I mean, the reality, is that a city is coming together to pray together, you know, in the mornings to pray together in the prayer space, but also to house a room of prayer by covering the hours and and and welcoming people and praying for people. So she can say, yeah, there's some weeks where there's 132, but that's okay, god will provide or I'll be there, but there's those sweet more. Those are sweet weeks when she's just like 166, 167. And we just celebrate that because people are coming together to pray and ensure that others are prayed for, which is really unique. So you know, brenda, you talked about 2025 and more prayer in 2025. Are there other things, from a Love Fort Wayne perspective, that you're excited about as you think about our mission and our pillars?
Speaker 4:I just want to make sure that everybody who's listening that there's some place for you to fit in, to belong this is a city-wide movement that means everyone and it really does mean everyone, and I just want to make sure that if anybody's listening out there that just wants to be a part of it, we want you to be a part of Love Fort Wayne. There is room for all of us to be part of this movement and we need everyone, so that would be. My hope is that if people are looking to get involved, that they'll consider getting involved in Love Fort Wayne.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's good. Yeah, Mike, how about you Anything?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know we talk about flourishing as a board. You know what are we really about here. You know we want to see people flourish, we want to see neighborhoods flourish, and if the neighborhoods flourish, the city flourishes. But it doesn't happen, as Brenda said, without a lot of people, and so we really would encourage you. You know, go online. You know Jeff's. You know if you need questions answered, jeff's available, lori's available, but we'd love to have you come and be part of one of. We have five pillars. There's something for everybody. There's something that I know you can help us with, but just and come to prayer. That's how we started this. But come to a prayer meeting, mostly first Wednesday of the month, but you can go online and make sure that there's a couple of months.
Speaker 3:It's not the first Wednesday in 2025. But come join us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, well said, well said. You know. I'll mention our websites lovefortwaynecom and slash contact. It's the best way. Put in the subject line that you're interested in learning more and Lori or myself will get back with you. And I just want to reiterate with both what Brenda and Mike shared is there's a spot for everyone. It is a citywide movement. We see the generations, we see the ethnicities, we see the cultures.
Speaker 1:If you have a heart for leaders and you want to see leaders loved in the way that Jesus loves leaders, if you have a heart for schools and you want to see schools flourish and pastors, if you have a heart for pastors who are in the front lines, they're leading in a unique way. If you have a passion to pray, it's beautiful, you know. Let us know. If you have a heart for families, if you're working in a family agency I love the love through love, our families impact team. We often celebrate these. Men and women run their own nonprofit agencies focused on families in some type of capacity. Yet they leave that coat at the door and they come and they put on a love for Wayne coat and they say we're together in this. We got to love our families well and we'll get with you and share ways that you can connect with us and come to a prayer gathering.
Speaker 1:If nothing else that will get you, you come to a prayer gathering you'll be in and you'll be looking for ways to be connected. So you got any final words, mitch.
Speaker 2:Well, I just am excited about what the Love Our Leaders pillar is going to do this year. Hopefully we get that app launched to connect veteran leaders with emerging leaders and have an immediate access. Like it'll be a little bit of 411, a little bit of 911 where we can connect you with somebody. And then the hands-on practice labs. I think those are just going to be incredible as we roll those out this year, yeah absolutely A lot on the horizon.
Speaker 1:I'll end with this. I learned this when I joined the Love Fort Wayne team, which was you all used to pray for light when God put the citywide movement on your hearts. And now we joke and say all right, lord Enough light Enough, light, enough hearts. And now we joke and say all right, lord, enough light, but it's good to know that we're we're in a city where the light is being shined and there's something that we can do about it.
Speaker 3:We're invited to do about it. So grateful to be a part of this team, brenda. You mean so much to me. Thank you for your encouragement and your leadership on our team, within our board and.
Speaker 1:Mike, I'm just. I'm grateful for you and our budding relationship and friendship and your encouragement to me as a leader, and, mitch, always you know what it is. Thank you, guys. As board members of Love Fort Wayne, I'm grateful for you and thank you for seeing this mission through and saying yes to the call several years ago. And here we are in 2025 and we're ready for more.
Speaker 1:And so to our listeners, we hope this first podcast of season five. It encouraged you. You are living in an area where something big is happening and you get the opportunity to be a part of it, and so I encourage you to engage in our community in the many different ways that it's growing and thriving, but also again to reach out to us about how you can be a part of the Citywide Movement of Love Fort Wayne, where our heart is to see this community flourish by loving leaders, pastors, schools and families, with prayer as the foundation. So I hope you enjoy the podcast. We'll be back next month and continue on in season five of the Love Fort Wayne podcast. We'll talk to you then.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for joining us this month. We drop a new episode the first Monday of every month. Love Fort Wayne has some amazing episodes coming up. You don't want to miss a single one, so subscribe today, wherever you are listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, share and leave a review. We want to share your thoughts and comments with listeners on future episodes. Thanks again for joining us today. Join us next time, as we hear from leaders that don't just lead but love our city.
