Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:00:00]:

Hello, good people. Welcome to the To Be Encouraged podcast with Bishop Julius C. Trimble. This is the podcast where we look to offer an encouraging word to an often discouraged world. My name is Reverend Dr. Brad Miller. It's always my pleasure and privilege to join Bishop Trimble as we tackle some of the difficult matters facing our world with a word of encouragement. And today, Bishop Trimble, what's on your heart is the crisis among children in the world and how we respond to that.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:00:33]:

So welcome to our conversation, and tell me what's on your mind regarding children.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:00:39]:

Thank you, Dr. Brad Miller, my friend. I want to raise an alarm, particularly for people of faith, particularly those of us who follow Jesus Christ. We call ourselves disciples, and we're seeking to live faithfully and to practice our faith. I want to remind, as I have to remind myself, The children need advocates. Right now, there's a global crisis with children going hungry in many parts of the world. Children are going hungry at an alarming rate, Brad. In fact, since July of 2025, here in the United States, with the change of presidential administration, over 1.5 million children have lost food assistance nationwide.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:01:26]:

In fact, in states that track food assistance by age, 46% of the children enrolled in many of these states no longer have access to government-supported food assistance. I guess it would be safe to say, Brad Miller, that elections do have consequences.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:01:47]:

Indeed they do. And I know we've seen these reports, some of them very heartbreaking, where people who had some expected assistance, SNAP and things of that nature, It went away and causing crisis in households. And boy, when you talk about hurting children, that's tough to swallow. And so tell me how much— you've given me some good statistics there. What do you think is the human toll this takes on families? And maybe how can the church or other entities respond to this given the government's removal of their support?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:02:23]:

Brad, as you would know, a few years ago when I was serving in Indiana as United Methodist bishop, I lifted up a— I cast a vision entitled Children Matter Most. And I asked all of the United Methodists in the state of Indiana, and I think it still continues to this day, to prioritize the well-being of children in our communities. What I failed to do was to really paint the picture of what's happening globally. And as you know, I've traveled extensively in Africa and into the Holy Land. And we know that because of what had happened in Gaza, what's happened in Ukraine, wherever there's war and conflict, the greatest amount of casualties and victims of that prolonged conflict are the wellbeing of children and women often. We would say the whole communities, but children suffer the most, and children don't have paid advocates.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:03:30]:

Oh yeah. Well, some tragic stories have come out of those conflicts, and children, just by the nature of who they are, are dependent totally on somebody, their parents or some sort of assistance from entities, churches and government agencies. And when literally your school has been bombed, for instance, you are in big trouble and people are lost and hurting. And I remember the Children Matter Most program, which you initiated and still continues this day in Indiana. And that seemed to raise— it did 2 things at least. It raised awareness of the need And then also help to really mobilize people to supply the need with resources. So it seems to me that's at least one response of the church. How do you think the church is doing with this, responding to kind of this gap where the government has dropped out of the scene for many cases? How should the church respond and how can the church respond in practical matter?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:04:38]:

I think many organizers say the best way to address issues is by proximity. by getting closer to the actual challenge and the actual problem that we're trying to solve. And I think one of the benefits that came out of The Children Matter Most was that people began to look around and say, wait a minute, I have a school that's right up the street from my church, my congregation. Oh, there's a daycare center that's in our church, or there are other nonprofit organizations that we can partner with.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:05:08]:

Mm-hmm.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:05:08]:

The closer we get to a challenge or a problem, the better we may be equipped to not only engage in prayer about that challenge, but also to find ways we can put our resources to work. Every 32 seconds, a child is born into poverty in the richest country in the world. Every 70 seconds, according to the Children's Defense Fund, Brad, a baby is born without health insurance. According to the United Nations International Children's Fund, Over 35 million children are actually malnourished now, or without sufficient clean drinking water or sufficient food for them to survive as many as 3 to 4 days. So this is no small matter. We can think of, there's specific countries that have been maybe harder hit than others, When you think about the Democratic Republic of the Congo or South Sudan or Haiti. And now we have this because of actions of the Supreme Court and the administration in the United States. We have removed the temporary protective status of over 330,000 Haitians who are currently in the United States.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:06:27]:

So what would it be for the United States to start deporting Haitians back to Haiti when over 40% of the country currently now are malnourished and have insufficient food supplies. So we're just sending people back to conditions, a country that had a terrible earthquake almost 16 years ago, and it has hurricanes and other kinds of things that have devastated So we really have to think about it. And I'm thinking, Brad, this is really not some sociological challenge. I'm not looking at it from the sociologist. I'm looking at it as a pastor and as a Christian.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:07:14]:

Sure.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:07:14]:

Jesus said, let the children come to me.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:07:18]:

Indeed.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:07:18]:

It's in the Gospels. It's in Matthew. It's in 3 of the Gospels. Jesus said, let the children come to me. And then there's a part after that in Matthew that says, do not hinder them. Because according to that short passage of scripture, the disciples were saying, wait a minute, we need to protect Jesus. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, keep those kids away. And I think this was more than just a children's moment.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:07:44]:

Yes.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:07:45]:

You know how we invite the children up to the— Oh, right, right, yeah. Yeah, up to the altar for 10 minutes. and send them on their way. Because Jesus said, no, there's something powerful he says after that, you know, because to such as these, meaning the little children, is the king, you know, belongs to the kingdom of God. So I think Jesus is tying the welfare of humanity and nations and faithfulness of the church to the way in which we welcome—

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:08:14]:

Welfare, man. Care for, protect, And if I remember my scriptures well, and you're much more of a biblical scholar than I am, Jesus also used some pretty harsh language about those who would not protect children, who would not support children. He says, you know, if you do this to the least of these, you do it to me. But he also said, if you do not support the children, you know, was it the millstone around the neck? I forget exactly, but it's bad news if you don't protect the children.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:08:42]:

Right, and he said nations would be judged by how we, whether we feed the hungry.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:08:47]:

Yeah.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:08:48]:

If we forget that Matthew passage in Matthew 25, it's not just, you know, the separating of the sheep and the goats, but it said, and nations shall be judged by this way.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:09:01]:

Yeah.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:09:02]:

And so years ago I read, this was a sociologist, a couple that wrote about that, that every society can best be measured, measured by the way it cares for children.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:09:16]:

Indeed.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:09:16]:

And indeed, I'm quite frankly, I'm really feeling a bit embarrassed as a United States citizen. I love this country, uh, the way in which somehow we have dismissed the way in which we, uh, previously wanted to lead the world in caring for the most vulnerable to now saying not only there's this chant about America first, but not all Americans first.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:09:44]:

Right.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:09:45]:

Americans that happen to be in your particular tribe or your particular party and happen to be adults, happen to be fully employed, and happen to have enough where they don't have to go to church food pantries. So this is an alarm that I think that we ought to be raising in the church. And the question is, who will speak for the children?

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:10:07]:

Well, also, if we raise an alarm, the question is, who's going to respond to the alarm? If people are sometimes hearing this alarm, but either ignoring it or pretending like it doesn't exist, it's kind of like the alarm in the neighborhood siren that goes off. They test it every week in my community at 11:00 AM. People kind of ignore that one. But if it goes off at midnight on a Saturday night when there's a thunderstorm out and tornado warnings, you pay more attention to it. And you may respond to the tornado warning or whatever it is. But you're listening to a clarion call about something so important, the nature of children. It's no false alarm. It's no false alarm.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:10:51]:

It's no false alarm. Absolutely. This is a crisis, and this is a crisis of our children. And what's the Bible also say? That even those who are evil protect and love their children, don't you think God would love you even that much more for what you do? So this is just basic humanity that we're talking about here, and it's being denied by governments, and we could do something about it. So how can we have a voice of encouragement in such a time as this, my friend? Do we see any signs of encouragement?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:11:29]:

Well, I think we need to accept our assignment, and our assignment is to take responsibility to feed children and declare preventable suffering as unacceptable. So we should not just accept what I call preventable suffering and just say, well, that's the way of the world. Some people have, some people don't have. That is not the way. That's not the the church of Acts, you know, Acts 1 and Acts 2, you know, where everyone's needs are being met. I think we need to pay attention. Elon Musk has, according— I was just reading this in the New York Times— has promised to spend $120 million on midterm elections. Listen to this, Brad.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:16]:

Total advertising for the midterm elections in the United States is projected to reach a record $11.6 billion.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:25]:

Wow.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:26]:

Between Democrats and Republicans.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:29]:

Indeed. Wow.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:30]:

Much of that money to be spent on television advertising.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:34]:

Sure.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:35]:

How many children could we feed? How many refugees could we provide medicine and safe sanctuary for with $11.6 billion that will be spent on advertising.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:52]:

Yeah.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:53]:

That's not Julius Trimble making up numbers.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:55]:

No, that's just completely—

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:12:57]:

Those are real dollars.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:12:58]:

It's just completely out of whack. If we leveraged even a portion of that, even 10% of that, it would make a huge difference. And not only in the United States, but around the world. I'm just convinced that if we shifted our priorities of where we actually invest our money, we could do a lot of things to enhance not only hunger, but poverty and also peace. Because I think—

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:13:26]:

Absolutely.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:13:27]:

Something to be said here that if you are in one of these countries where if you're a child and you've lost your parents to a bombing attack or to hunger, and if you're in Gaza Ukraine or Iran, other places where you've been traumatized as a child, those are some of those young people who grow up and sometimes become dangerous folks as adults.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:13:56]:

Well, Brad, budgets are moral documents. And I was guilty as a pastor as well. And The truth is the truth. But people would say, well, you know, look at the church budget. You say we want youth, we want to work with the children, but there's nothing in the budget for children's ministry. There's nothing in the budget for youth ministry. We want everybody to bring canned goods, but we don't want to use any of the few rooms that we have to store the canned goods or to give them out. Budgets are moral documents and announce how much we are committed to addressing whatever the challenge might be.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:14:37]:

In this case, humanitarian challenges. The Congress of the United States a year ago approved the White House— less than a year ago approved the White House budget that took away $142 million previously approved by Congress that would have supported the work of UNICEF. In fact, $1 trillion has been reallocated to focus on military buildup while we've taken benefits away from thousands. It's reported over 1.4 million people, fewer people now have access to SNAP, which is food assistance.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:15:18]:

Right.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:15:18]:

Food assistance. We supposedly Addressing fraud and waste, I don't think we had a million people that were fraudulently receiving.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:15:31]:

Yeah. Well, we also know that a lot of the— we feel pretty confident a lot of the money that we're talking about being spent here goes to people who already are doing pretty well. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer is the way it always works out. And I love what you said about the budget as a moral document. Sounds like a part of what you're saying is that not only the government, but even local churches and other social service agencies should kind of do an audit of how you're doing. Where is your money going? Where's your time going? Where is your emphasis? Where is your moral compass at? So would you advocate for a local church planning team or board or pastor to do something of that kind, a moral audit of their How they budget?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:16:18]:

I went to church today in Washington, D.C. at a United Methodist church. And, you know, when you're visiting, you don't know all of the traditions. And so when I took communion, I put— there was a big, big box up front. I put my offering in that box later, only to find out that the offering actually came later in the worship service after the communion. And so I turned to my friend who was next to me and he said, well, that, he said, you just gave to the hunger center. He said, that's what that offering is for.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:16:53]:

Yeah.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:16:54]:

I said, well, that's fine. I just made it out to the, I made a check. I still write checks, so I just made it out to the church.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:00]:

Right.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:17:00]:

So it's good to know that we ought to be feeding people. And I give kudos to churches that have a budget for that, that have a ministry for that. But we also should be asking, Brad, why are more and more people being put in harm's way because we aren't investing in peace? Why are more and more and more children becoming vulnerable and are without food assistance or access to clean drinking water? This is not something that the richest countries in the world cannot come together as we ostensibly do through, in part, through the United Nations, which we have reduced our commitment to drastically, to address some of these humanitarian crises.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:49]:

Yeah.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:17:50]:

I just believe that this is an hour for us to not only, like you say, not raise the alarm, but answer to the alarm.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:17:56]:

Yeah.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:17:57]:

And ask, okay, what is it that I can do? And I would say start locally, but also give globally. So I like to give locally to things, whether it's the local church that we attend when I'm in Indiana, but I also like to focus on what are the things globally, for example, through UMCOR. If you're a United Methodist, supporting UMCOR would be one of those ways in which you can do that.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:18:25]:

Well, I think those are all well and good. So it sounds like we need Just kind of unpack this, see what you think here, Bishop, that we need to understand a crisis is at hand and we need to respond to the crisis systematically and also pragmatically and practically. If there's hungry people in our neighborhoods, in our community, or people who need resources, we need to respond to that. But systematically, we've got governmental changes, we've got policies, we've got companies, big corporate entities that are kind of abusing the privileges here of our society, and we can do our part to speak against that as well. So we got a pragmatic part and a crisis management part, but we don't always need to— sometimes it's easy to respond when an actual crisis that impacts your community. If a tornado hits my town, people respond, don't they? I mean, I remember my last church, our pastor was originally from Honduras. A hurricane hit Honduras. And within a couple weeks, we had filled the entire church basement with goods for Honduras, and we filled up an entire shipping container from that one small church and shipped it off to Honduras within a few weeks, raised a couple thousand dollars to send it there, and people came through because they were motivated.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:19:49]:

So we need to get motivated on a crisis level, local church-wise, but we also need to be motivated in terms of doing our part for institutional changes.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:19:59]:

There's another part we haven't touched on, and I started that with elections have consequences.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:20:09]:

Yes, indeed.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:20:10]:

If I was running for office, and I'm not, but if I was running for office, I would say if I'm elected, I would do everything I can to raise the minimum wage in my state, Or if I was running for the minimum wage. We have people who work full-time, this is public data, full-time at Walmart, full-time for Amazon, full-time for non-union positions, and still with a full-time job cannot afford affordable housing in any of the 50 states—

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:20:49]:

Right.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:20:49]:

Of the United States.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:20:51]:

Oh, very true. I don't know how—

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:20:52]:

What does that mean? What that means is that they have to spend more than, in many cases, 50% of their income to pay for substandard housing.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:21:03]:

Yes.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:21:04]:

And then they have to go to the churches to get food assistance and other places and other—

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:21:10]:

Right.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:21:10]:

So we have people that work full-time—

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:21:14]:

Well, the minimum wage numbers and the and the other wage numbers just simply do not work for the majority of people. My own local church I'm a part of is really engaged with fair housing in our community, Johnson County, Indiana. And our church actually owns a home that we rent out for way less than half the government price. This is a full-size home. And so that's just one way, but that's just one family that's served. But the numbers, we've seen it clearly that minimum wage in our community, basically would be way over 75% of the income would go towards your rent on the average rental price of a 3-room apartment or something like that. So it's ridiculous.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:01]:

The numbers just don't work. We need to stop electing people because they echo slogans like Make America Great, as opposed to let's make America more humane.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:15]:

Yeah.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:15]:

Let's make America the champion for children around the world and in our communities.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:21]:

Indeed. And that would make it great, wouldn't it, if we actually were?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:27]:

Yeah, make it compassionate. Why do we have to be great? Let's be compassionate. Who gets to determine? That was a question brought to Jesus, who's the greatest?

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:41]:

Yeah, there you go.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:42]:

The greatest is the one who serves.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:44]:

Indeed.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:45]:

The greatest is the one— that's already been recognized.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:48]:

Yeah, indeed.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:48]:

The greatest is the one who serves. So I want to close this with a story.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:22:53]:

Please.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:22:54]:

About children. Years ago, before I was a bishop, I was in a church I was serving. I was invited by the conference to join a group of mission. There was a couple missionaries, but I was not a missionary. I was a local church pastor.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:23:14]:

Yeah.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:23:14]:

And we went to Sierra Leone and Liberia. And I got to worship at a church that had lots of children. I mean, this church was— the children were all outside the church. And so during the worship service, not unlike many of our churches, The children came up for a time of message, and then all the children, it must have been 30 children, 30 little kids, they came up and they kneeled at the altar because at the end of the children's message, one of the pastors prays over the children. And so they turned to me, you know, said, you know, Pastor Trimble, you know, you're visiting. There was a whole group of us visiting from Ohio. And they said, would you say the prayer over the children? I said, well, you know, I said to myself, I prayed before. So I prayed a prayer, Brad.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:24:08]:

I thought it was an appropriate prayer. I didn't wanna pray too long. We had a lot, the service was long and, you know, we were gonna be there. I asked God to bless the children and, you know, to watch over the children and that they might continue to thrive. And I said, in the name of Jesus, amen.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:24:26]:

Amen.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:24:27]:

And so I open my— I look up, open my eyes, and the children are still kneeled at the altar with their hands clasped, not moving. And I'm thinking, I just said amen. Is it that, you know, English, you know?

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:24:40]:

Right.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:24:40]:

They speak English there and they didn't move. And the pastor leaned over to me, Brad, and said, they're not gonna get up until you bless them, until you bless them. And so I had to go and touch each child over the head.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:24:54]:

Wow.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:24:54]:

You know, and I would say, blessed, you know, in the name of Jesus. You've been blessed. That was— saying amen was not the end of the blessing for the children. The blessing for the children at the altar meant that they actually had to be physically touched over the head before they went off.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:25:10]:

And I bet that was a blessing.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:25:13]:

If you remember Matthew 19:14, let the children come to me, do not stop them, for such as these, the children, the kingdom of heaven Belong.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:25:24]:

Yes.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:25:25]:

And the Bible says, and Jesus laid hands on them.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:25:29]:

Oh yes, yes.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:25:32]:

How powerful. And Jesus laid hands, because the Bible says they were coming to him that Jesus might pray for them and lay hands on them. And I realized that the blessing that we can be for children is to really get close enough to say, every child, is our child. Not just, you know, you and I are parents and grandparents.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:25:53]:

Indeed.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:25:53]:

And my wife and I, we just, we just go goo-goo-eyed over being grandparents.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:25:59]:

Yeah, I hear you, my friend.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:26:00]:

But every child should have an advocate. And, and I really confess before God and before our listeners, I feel like in my life I have not been the biggest advocate I could have been, and I would— I plan to be for children for as long as I live.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:26:16]:

Wow.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:26:17]:

So we ought to pay attention to what Jesus— Jesus didn't say, let the children come to me and let them be hungry.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:26:24]:

Indeed.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:26:24]:

He didn't say, let them come to me, let them be without healthcare. He didn't say, let the children come to me, don't worry about if they have any shelter, if their parents— if they're orphans. He said, let them come to me, and then he let them come to me in order that he might Bless them. And the Bible says, and Jesus laid hands on them to bless them.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:26:48]:

And I know that among those who received the blessing on that day, and many other times when you've been with children, because I've seen you, you were blessed also, were you not?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:26:57]:

I was totally blessed. And I never— many things, it's many things, stories I have forgotten over the years, and I'm sure you can attest to this.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:27:05]:

Yes.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:27:05]:

I said, but some things, I still remember and I can still visualize that experience of me praying a prayer, looking up and like, well, I finished the prayer. What's going on? Nobody's moving.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:27:17]:

That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, what a wonderful episode this has been, Bishop Trimble. And I just think it's so, so important that we just not forget the children. So often they are just relegated to another place by so many people, and it just cannot be so. It has to be a priority. Children matter most is what you've said before, and I'd like for you to kind of live that out now and close our time together. Would you lift up a prayer for the children of the world and those who care for them? Would you do that, my friend?

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:27:46]:

Yes, oh God, we just pray for those who see children and know that the children are worthy to be loved and to be cared for, to be respected and to be protected. Oh God, we ask that you bless us, empower us to see all children as children of God. Lord, we know that many places the children are are suffering. Many places that the children are on the move, not out of choice, but because of conflict or famine or distress, Lord. We just ask that you watch over the children, Lord, those who are seeking to find safe haven. We ask that you would watch over the places where— the places and communities that are seeking to care for children. We ask blessing upon all who are teachers and who are preparing, as we see now, students gearing up to go back to school. We ask that you bless teachers, and we ask, Lord, that you provide us with a compassionate government at every level, that we realize that it's not just the church's responsibility, but our responsibility to create communities where children can be fed and children can learn and have access to education and shelter.

Bishop Julius C. Trimble [00:28:58]:

And Lord, we pray for those children who are facing severe malnutrition in places like South Sudan and places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, places like Yemen and places that are near and far, places like Ukraine and Haiti, Lord. We just ask that you bless children whether they're in North America or South America, whether they're east or west, wherever they might find themselves or wherever we know that children are, Lord. Use us, Lord, to create a more compassionate world, a more proactive church as well, and that we all would do our part to bless the lives of children. In Jesus' name, amen.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:29:41]:

Amen. Well, thank you for the blessing of our conversation today, Bishop Julius C. Trimble. Really, we got into some preaching there, and I love that. I love that because we're just talking about something that really matters to you personally, to me personally, and to many of our listeners. So we just want to thank you for Thank you. Sharing your thoughts and your energy and your biblical insights today on this matter about children of the world. And we thank all of our listeners here on the To Be Encouraged podcast for listening to Bishop Julius C.

Reverend Dr. Brad Miller [00:30:11]:

Trimble as he shares with— to offer an encouraging word to an often discouraged world. My name is Reverend Dr. Brad Miller, your co-host, and we're glad that you were joining us. For back episodes of the To Be Encouraged podcast, And to find out more, you can get on our mailing list, and you can find out more at our website, tobeencouraged.com.