His Hands His Feet |Adoption | Missions | Live Life on Mission: Recent Episodes
Kenneth A Camp
His Hands His Feet with Kenneth A Camp is a weekly podcast exploring how to live life as His Hands and His Feet. Kenneth interviews people who are embracing their mission in life. These include adoptive and foster parents, missionaries, business owners and non-profit leaders. Other episodes expound on blogs written by Kenneth at his website, KennethACamp.com. And as a real treat about once a month, Kenneth and his wife, Danielle, will record an episode that takes a look into their family’s life as they pursue living a life on mission. You will glean nuggets about how to discover and live your life on mission even if you are not an adoptive parent, missionary or mentor.
Often we hold onto our agenda and comforts thinking that they are better than what God's plan is for us.
Allen shares how God challenged this belief in his life not once but many times. This led Allen to make dramatic changes, and he can't imagine not getting to experience the path God laid out for him.
You will be challenged to consider the question, "If God asks, will you say yes?" regardless of the question.
Dave felt God's challenge to at least look into the idea of international adoption. He easily could have responded by thinking he was too busy, it wasn't what he and his wife had planned, he had already had his hands full with three young children, etc.
I began the Dad to Dad series (thank you Amy Holman!) because most men don't consider adoption. And if we do end up bringing a child into our family, we don't always embrace it as an opportunity to change the destiny of child from a hard place.
I hope as you listen to this episode of the Dad to Dad series of His Hands His Feet podcast that you will, as an adoptive Dad, fully accept the opportunity and responsibility to invest in that child's life.
Youthful offenders, as Chris Haskins refers to these young people, need someone to be the hands and feet of Christ to them in a moment of brokenness. However, many times no one is there to fill that void except someone who uses them in the name of community which only deepens and continues the cycle of abuse and criminal activity. Listen to Chris and Eddie as they share not only what and why Nineveh Ministries exists, but why it should matter to you.
It is hard for anyone to stay in the moment; even harder for a foster parent as they strive to care for a child that is not there own making it easy to think about what the future holds. However, that child needs for their foster parent to be present with them. Listen as I read Chapter 12 - Staying in the Moment of the revised version of my first book Adopting the Father's Heart.
Every adoption story has its ups and downs, and Brett and Melissa Millican's story is no different. In this Dad to Dad episode, I ask Brett to tell the story of how he went to Ethiopia uninvited almost two years ago to bring home his daughter. Then we spend the second half of the episode talking about what it has been like for Brett to be an adoptive dad. Whether you are in the process of international adoption or you are and adoptive dad, you will want to listen in to our conversation.
After I read through her book, I knew that many of you would want to hear from Paula, so I invited her to do a podcast interview with me. Just like in her book, Paula shares deeply from her heart in a vulnerable and authentic way about how struggles of life will take you to a place you don't belong only to find that God meets you there..
Many needs around the world go unmet simply because people think that someone else more qualified will respond to that need. I appreciate how Jeff Jenkins and his friends saw a need and didn't walk away thinking someone else would meet it. Even though Jeff and his friends knew nothing about drilling wells, they began to find a way to meet the need for water in Kajeyo, Rwanda.
I asked Jeff to share with us more about how they are responding to this need. He and his friends formed what they are calling the Amazi Project. Amazi means water in the local language.
I take a few minutes to celebrate the 50th episode of His Hands His Feet podcast by reviewing the top 5 episodes, the type of episodes included in the first 50, and how listeners can give me feedback and support His Hands His Feet podcast.
Often things happen in our lives that at the time don't seem that important. Later, sometimes many years later, we can look back and see God's hand in it. He knows the plans He has for you, and He is at work at making them come to fruition even when we do things to hinder His plan.
As we listen to Geoff and Martina share their story that brought to them to this starting point as missionaries to the Czech Republic, we will hear over and over how God orchestrated this moment.
Kevin and Michelle share experiences from their 10 plus years serving in Thailand. Two sayings that I love are: God equips the called, and Prayer is the work. They also share about raising two children in a foreign country...and much more.
After 20 plus years of marriage without children, adjusting to having an eight-month-old stretched me and challenged my resolve as a foster parent. I kept telling myself that I could do anything for a few weeks. But as you will hear, those weeks turned into months.
Jason and I talk about his two new books, Reframing Foster Care and Everyone Can Do Something. We discuss the audience of each book, his favorite stories, what his future writing plans are, among many other interesting topics.
Jason is the national director for church initiatives for Christian Alliance for Orphans. He travels the country speaking and training. He is also the author of several other books.
In this episode, I dive into what my worldview is and how it impacts my mission and purpose in life. I share how you can discover your mission and live it out.
This episode sheds light on why I choose to write and podcast about topics such as foster care and adoption, international missions, non profit ministry, and so on.
In chapter 7 I tell about the possibility of adopting a 12 year old boy after being told that it was a long shot to ever be considered. Then a week later we get a call from CPS about fostering an eight-month-old boy.
John shares about his experience as an adoptive dad adopting their, at the time, teenage son through foster care.
Listen to what challenged John along with what brought him, and still does today, great joy.
After our placing agency and CPS certified us as foster parents, it seemed that we either turned down several placements, or we didn't get a call. I share why we turned down the placements and how the delay impacted me.
We often lack self awareness as foster and adoptive parents usually because our kids needs easily outweigh our own. However, a healthy self awareness is one of the best parenting tools. In this episode I discuss this along with three common areas that we often have little self awareness about. Listen and join the conversation.
An interview with Nella Davidse, founder of Tamar Center Thailand, first recorded in 2015. Nella shares some of her personal story, a story of transformation and healing of a young woman, and about the mission of Tamar Center.
Find out more about the work Tamar is doing to help bar girls find hope, healing, and a new way of life.
Brenda Camp, my Mom, sits down with me to talk about her volunteer involvement with Helping Hands Ministry in Belton, TX. She shares about the work the ministry does in her community, what she does with the ministry, and her motivation to serve when she can do many other things in her retirement years.
We send missionaries all over the world many into locations that involve danger or at least extreme isolation. Even missionaries in places they can serve openly face challenges that we might not understand. The truth is those of us who "send" missionaries don't always do a good job of it.
In today's episode, I expound on 13 Common Challenges Missionaries Face and how you can connect better with them.
n this episode I touch on a few reminders for foster and adoptive parents that help our kids heal. All of these work in the context of family emphasizing that we all need a family help us to heal and be the best we can be.
In today's episode, I interview my friend, Brian Smith who is the board chairman for Davar Partners International. Davar is a non profit ministry that makes audio recordings of the Bible for people groups around the world.
Brian and I discuss the meaning of Davar, why this work is important, and how Davar works.
Close to 80% of the people in the world are oral preference learners. This means that even if they have a written language, they prefer to learn by listening. In today's episode, Brian Smith, Chairman of the Board of Davar Partners International shares how this organization is working to record God's Word languages of people groups that have no form of the Bible in their heart language.
In this Dad to Dad episode I interview Marshall Lyles who is a licensed therapist, but I ask him to speak strictly as an adoptive dad.
When a preschool told a local foster family that their foster daughter could not attend, this family decided to create a solution not only for themselves but other families. From that experience the idea for Petra Preschool evolved.
I interview Phil and Christal Murray, founders of Petra, and Mindy Lee, director of Petra as they share their passion, vision, and method of meeting the needs of foster and underserved preschool families.
In this episode I talk with Joe Sierra about how we can live on mission within the natural rhythm of life. Joe shares about mentoring students, his love for fishing and country western dancing, and the joy he gets from serving and encouraging.
As a youth pastor, Joe recognized that young adults weren't all that interested in what the church offered. Joe drastically altered his approach and from that the Catalyst Collective launched. Joe and I talk about his background, his passion, and what it looks like for a person to find their Identity, Purpose, and Belonging.
After a family adopts a child, much of their support and training fades away leaving them to fend on their own. Amy Curtis and Jennifer McCallum share their expertise on how best to help adoptive families, especially ones in crisis.
I am revising my first book published in 2013. As I revise the book, I decided to record an audio version as well.
Today's episode is chapter 1—Are We Ready for This?
And chapter 2—The Journey.
Colby May is the founder and president of Lit International, a company that works with local churches to leverage energy savings, energy management, and sustainable principles in order to capture savings that these local churches can then redirect into world missions.
In this podcast episode, Colby goes into depth behind why he began this company including his passion for helping raise up indigenous pastors and missionaries around the world that can and will reach their own people. As Colby says, "If you want to change the hands, you have to change the heart."
Jen Reichert is the founder of Stand Up 8, a nonprofit designed to provide in home services to help adoptive families succeed post adoption. Becky Wickes, the family coach for Stand Up 8, joins us on the podcast.
Jen and Becky both have experience and training in child welfare and training foster and adoptive families. From these experiences they saw a need for post adoption families to get tangible, in home support.
This is the next episode of the Dad to Dad series. I interview Danny Cook who is a pastor in Central Texas. He and his wife have fostered 20 kids over about seven years, adopting one. Danny authentically and vulnerably shares his struggles and joys as a foster/adoptive Dad.
In this episode I interview my brother Carey Camp about a transformational Bible study group he began about five years ago that has gown to three different groups.
n this episode, I introduce a new podcast series called Dad to Dad. Every few weeks I will record an episode specifically for foster and adoptive dads. In this one I talk about why it is important that we fully engage our kids as a foster or adoptive dad.
In this episode I share my thoughts about this book, The Key to the Missionary Problem. I first read the book while on a mission trip on an island in the South China Sea. It is just as impactful today as it was when I first read it.
In this episode I interview Mike McComb who, along with his wife Terri, has served in Guatemala for 27 years.
Listen as he tells the story of how they were called to this Central American country, the work they have done over the years, how he is seeing God work, among other fascinating stories that give us a real glimpse into a missionary's life.
In this episode, I interview Matt and Julie Kouri who share some of their adoption journey which includes adopting two sons from Russia and a daughter from Ethiopia.
In the conversation we discuss expectations and motivations, the multi-layer challenges of adoption and a cross-cultural family, what compels them to pour into other families and much more.
In this episode, I interview Dave Runyon, co-author of The Art of Neighboring. We talk about what the art of neighboring means, why it should matter to us, benefits to neighboring, barriers, and how to do it well.
Some nuggets include "live in a way that is interruptible" and "how to lean into awkward moments".
In this episode I interview Joel who along with his wife, Leah, and family serve in a South Asian country. Joel shares how they made the decision to take their young family into this foreign context, what a typical day looks like for his family, what He sees God doing, challenges they face, and how we can support them.
In this episode I expound on a blog post—3 Takeaways from the Future and A Hope Conference. I focus on the first takeaway...God sees brokenness and leans into it. I share two insights and two conclusions.
In this episode Danielle and I discuss our son's struggle with separation anxiety. We talk about what is happening, how we decided to handle it, and why we made that decision.
In this episode I interview Ashley Redburn, Stateside Operations Director with Sole Hope. Sole Hope's purpose is "to effectively put in place preventive methods to combat diseases that enter through the feet and to create a positive physical and psychological difference in the lives of individuals in impoverished communities."
In today's podcast episode I interview John Palmieri with World Orphans. I met John a few months ago through a mutual friend. What I learned about World Orphans impressed me.
If you are like me, you probably think that World Orphans is another organization that helps families adopt internationally. However, World Orphans, as you will hear in the interview, focuses on strengthening families and communities across the world.
In this bonus episode I share the stories of two families who emailed me. In response to both I give my feedback to some questions and concerns. They gave me permission to share their stories with you.
In this episode I talk about the importance of having a mission or purpose that transcends your own home and family, an update on the release of the print version of my new book, and a few other items.
this episode I interview Chandler Bolt, founder of Self Publishing School. We talk about why he began the school, a couple of common hurdles that prevent people from writing a book, and what someone can expect from the Self Publishing School.
In this episode I interview C who works with Launch Global, an organization that helps people discover God's will, develops them as disciple makers, and deploys them for maximum impact. Cexplains how their approach works and why he thinks this approach is needed.
In this episode I interview Jason Johnson who is the author of All in Orphan Care and The Beauty and Brokenness of Foster Care. Jason also blogs at JasonJohnsonBlog.com. We talk about his journey with foster care and adoption as well as his work supporting families and equipping churches.
In this episode Danielle and I discuss the challenge our son had in attaching to us. We touch on the emotional impact that had on us as well as practical ways we intentionally worked with him to help him heal his attachment wounds.
In this episode I interview Matt Peacock, executive director of Partners in Hope Lake Travis. We hear about how this ministry began, its mission focus, stories of families and volunteers.
In this episode I interview Fred and Dianne Doell. Fred and Dianne have served as missionaries and church planters in Thailand for over 20 years. They will inspire and compel you to consider how God wants to use you. The only question is are you available?
In this episode I interview Suzette Lamb, a licensed professional counselor supervisor, about the parenting model called Circle of Security.
In this episode I interview Marti Smith who is an expert on Sensory Processing. She helps us with some practical tips and insight to help our children who struggle with sensory input.
n this episode I interview Robyn Gobbel, founder of Central Texas Attachment and Trauma Center in Austin, Texas. We discuss the importance of self care for parents.
Danielle joins me in this episode as we talk about how we work at helping our son handle transitions. Transitions can present interesting challenges for children with a trauma background.
In this episode I interview Marshall Lyles who is an expert in the field of attachment styles. Marshall helps us understand how our attachment style impacts the way we paren
n this episode I share what is in my new ebook, Foster and Adoptive Parenting. I talk about what you will find in the book and how it will benefit you as a parent of a child with a trauma background.
In this episode I talk about National Adoption Month and Adoption Day. I also expound on foster care facts and dispel common myths.
In this episode I begin a series of interviews with missionaries that serve in foreign countries. Today's interview is with a couple who have been serving in Japan for about eight months now.
In this episode I expound on the blog post, 7 Things Your Foster or Adopted Child Needs to Hear From You.
We are losing our ability to talk to one another in ways that build each other up. Our kids that come to us from a hard place especially need to hear words of affirmation from us.