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Ministry to Ministers — Gene Poppino
24 Plays1 day ago
For five decades, Gene Poppino has been serving the Lord in ministry, including 20 years of ministry on Cadence's pastoral care team. Gene sat down to discuss what ministry to ministers looks like, caring for the souls of those who care for others.
Learn more about Cadence's ministry to the military: https://cadence.org/
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Transcript
Introduction & Overview
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to In Cadence, where we talk about what it looks like to share the gospel in our lives with the military community. Join us as we talk about what God is doing in the lives of our service members and how we can be a part it.
00:00:24
Speaker
Welcome to In Cadence, the podcast where we share stories of God's work in and through the Cadence International community.
Gene Popino's Ministry Journey
00:00:32
Speaker
Today, we have the privilege of sitting down with someone who has dedicated over 50 years of his life to ministry.
00:00:39
Speaker
Over 30 of those as youth pastor and almost 20 of those serving with Cadence International. In his role, he's walked alongside a lot of people from a lot of different walks of life and different stories, missionaries, staff, their families.
00:00:56
Speaker
He offers encouragement, guidance, spiritual care through both joyful seasons and challenging ones. And his journey offers us a unique perspective on what it means to be faithfully shepherding people over decades of ministry. So we're honored to hear a story today about the lessons he's learned, the transitions he's navigated, and the way he's seen God's faithfulness at work. So let's dive in. Gene, Gene Popino, welcome to the In Cadence podcast. Thank you.
00:01:24
Speaker
Good to have you here, Gene. Good to be here. We're in a little bit different location today, Brian. We're normally in the office or meeting people somewhere out and about. We're at the Hideaway, which is an amazing retreat center we find ourselves at every year, seeking the Lord and asking what God would do in the ministry of Cadence.
00:01:42
Speaker
And we're so we're here at the Hideaway. and enjoying the hospitality of this place and God's goodness with our team. But Gene, you've you've been at this a long time and it's been been a privilege to know you for many years and to watch you skillfully handle a large variety of ministry
Beginnings in Ministry
00:02:04
Speaker
situations. And that's come from ah a long history of ministry, over 50 years in full-time ministry. What first drew you into ministry?
00:02:16
Speaker
Well, the the thought of ah a calling or a professional ministry wasn't in my head at all. I was a 14-year-old freshman in high school. Christian had just rededicated my life to the Lord over a summer camp as a 14-year-old.
00:02:33
Speaker
And one of the really popular kids in school, a senior in high school, said, hey, I'll get a group together, Papa No, if you'll lead a Bible study.
00:02:44
Speaker
And so this... famous kid in our school, ah started a Bible study, and as a 14-year-old, I led it. And that's how I got started, and I never stopped.
00:02:58
Speaker
ah from From age of 14, I led a Bible study oh all but maybe two weeks a year until my very first sabbatical, sometime when I was in my middle 30s.
00:03:13
Speaker
How did you go from that into youth ministry?
Role in Pastoral Care
00:03:16
Speaker
So i I led a Bible study, you know, did a young life club in high school and then went to Multnomah School of the Bible and worked my way through school being paid as a church youth pastor.
00:03:29
Speaker
So went directly from high school to the church. and then i I was in the church until I joined Cadence. And then you've been with Cadence then for 19 years. 19 years. Tell a little bit about your role with Cadence. It's a unique one.
00:03:45
Speaker
oh We do pastoral care. So our job is to help missionaries as they live real life on the field. And we know that real life is hard.
00:03:56
Speaker
And sometimes anybody in professional Christian ministry, whether a pastor or a missionary, um they don't know who they can share with. You know, if I'm supposed to be the big leader, can I be honest about my own struggles?
00:04:12
Speaker
And it leads a lot of people to not talking about things they need to talk about. Things that they need to process and just a safe place to talk about struggles.
00:04:23
Speaker
So the Ministry of Pastoral Care in a mission organization is giving missionaries a safe place to go for counsel for encouragement, for prayer, sometimes for recovery.
00:04:37
Speaker
And so it's my privilege to be part of that process. our privilege to have you a part of it. Yes, we certainly feel the benefit of it. And it it is not so different from any other app aspect of ministry. you You're caring for people thats right and nurturing their walk towards Jesus. And so I'm sure that some of your time in youth ministry has shaped how you now think about this
Counseling Gifts & Ministry Shape
00:05:04
Speaker
role. What are some of the aspects of early years of ministry that shaped you?
00:05:08
Speaker
How do you now work in this pastoral care role? Well, um I think there's a statement that a friend of mine shared. he he was getting his doctorate in counseling at Western Seminary in Portland.
00:05:22
Speaker
And he went into this counseling class and the professor said at the very beginning of this counseling class, some of you are counselors and some of you are not.
00:05:33
Speaker
And at the end of this course, that will not have changed. And it speaks to gifting, that there are people that are wired for counseling, listening, helping people, and then people whose gifts are great in other areas, but they're not particularly wired for counseling.
00:05:51
Speaker
And what I discovered very early on is even as a young teenager, um people would come to me and talk to me about what was going on in their lives. And i didn't call it counseling. I i was just sharing life and giving advice. And, and you know, I'm pretty embarrassed by some of the advice I did give when I was, you know, young.
00:06:12
Speaker
um or even lately, but you know, you know, we don't have it all together. We don't know things, but counseling has always been a ah big part of my life. And for a season, while I was a youth pastor in church, I was also an international trainer for Sun Life, for a Christian youth ministry organization.
Transition to Cadence
00:06:33
Speaker
And I would travel around the world and and do some youth ministry training. But what I found is that after my training was over, People would say, hey, can I talk to you?
00:06:44
Speaker
in And then we would sit down and talk about issues that were going on in their lives. And so I realized that the thing God wanted to do through me and in me was often be a listening ear, sounding board,
00:07:02
Speaker
and a person that someone could turn to and ask for a certain kind of help. And so it was very natural as I was ready to leave youth ministry to come to Cadence and to do something like this.
00:07:16
Speaker
And you were telling us a little bit of that the other day, that there was sort of a discovery between you and your wife as you start talking about, what has God actually put in my heart to do? that Tell us a little bit about that turning point from youth ministry to pastoral care.
00:07:32
Speaker
Sure. Well, I'd been in youth ministry for 33 years, and and the last 20 years was in the same church. That's a real privilege. You hardly anybody gets to stay in the same church for 20 years as a youth pastor.
00:07:46
Speaker
And I joked about, I'm the guy that's going install wheelchair ramps in the youth room for me. You know, I just pictured myself being in youth ministry into my 70s, maybe beyond.
00:08:00
Speaker
And one day the Lord made it. clear, just a voice from the Lord in the middle of a staff meeting. And the Lord said, you can go now. And it surprised me because I'm a Baptist and, you know, he normally has to write it down for us.
00:08:15
Speaker
And um ah ah began a search. Lord, where do you want me to go? What's what's next for me? And he didn't give an immediate answer, but through a note from a friend and a discussion with my wife,
00:08:32
Speaker
ah we identified that some of the things that Cadence offers um really fit what I like to do. And my wife was the one who said, you just need to go do pastoral care for Cadence.
00:08:47
Speaker
And it was like, what? You know, that the idea of being a missionary was not, a we've loved being supporters of missionaries all of our life, but my wife is a homebody and getting out of the country is not her favorite thing. So when she was the one who said, you just need to go do pastoral care for Cadence, we knew the hand of the Lord was somehow in this.
00:09:11
Speaker
So many Cadence have been impacted by you, me personally, even my marriage. ah And one of the things that's really great about the wisdom you bring is often you're teaching me from something you've learned yourself.
00:09:28
Speaker
um And so you're very self-aware and you put things into practice. I'm just a little curious, how have you been impacted personally through this role of caring for Cadence Missionaries over
Personal Growth & Self-awareness
00:09:42
Speaker
the year?
00:09:42
Speaker
What have you learned about yourself? What have you learned about life and ministry personally? Sure. i I think the answer for me would be a broad answer that wouldn't be cadence specific.
00:09:58
Speaker
When I'm doing ministry and I'm talking about Jesus, I'm talking to myself as much as anybody I talk to. You know, back in the days when I was talking to junior hires or or senior hires about a walk with God, to talk about that with any kind of integrity, you're thinking also about your walk with God.
00:10:21
Speaker
or how you're hearing the voice of the Lord and whether you're being honest about sins and confessing. And there's countless times when I've been talking about the Lord with someone and something comes out that I've never thought of before.
00:10:39
Speaker
and it's like, i write that down, you know, because I haven't heard this before. It just, it came out of my mouth, but I didn't know it. and And that's the work of the Holy Spirit.
00:10:51
Speaker
that we are in a partnership where God's given us gifts. We know that that there are things that the Lord has given every believer, but there are just some miraculous moments where the activity of the Holy Spirit in our life surprises us.
00:11:10
Speaker
And so as I talk to people, um I'm learning all the time. Sometimes I'm learning my mistakes. Sometimes I have to say, oh, I,
00:11:22
Speaker
Sorry, I jumped in too quick. I wasn't listening very thoroughly. Sometimes they come up with an insight as we talk and I go, that's a great insight.
00:11:32
Speaker
I've never thought of that. I'll write it down. And so there's a ah constant learning process. And I think that the best posture is curiosity. You know, that's one of the things I really value is people who who are curious.
00:11:50
Speaker
Huh, I wonder what God's doing here. I wonder what's going on. I wonder what the the story is underneath the top visible story. And I think that's one of the things the Lord has developed in me is that curiosity.
00:12:05
Speaker
I would also say um one of the gifts that you've given me over the years is an awareness of your own limitations and then helping me be okay to be a limited person. Yeah.
00:12:18
Speaker
And I think often in ministry, we want to be all things, all people, or we just want to extend ourselves beyond our capacity.
Learning from Challenges
00:12:27
Speaker
And for you to say simple things like, you know, when you're on a different continent, visiting different cadence missionary houses, you'll sometimes schedule a full 24, 48 hours in between visits, just so you can recover and go in fresh.
00:12:43
Speaker
Whereas I would have had the mindset of, oh no, i got to maximize my time and this and that. And So it's a gift that you're aware of your limitations. Did that come easily or is that a hard lesson for you to learn?
00:12:54
Speaker
but Well, three bouts of depression that were akin to nervous breakdowns, I'd say it was a hard lesson to learn. And I wasn't a quick learner because the first one, you know, was back in the early 1980s.
00:13:11
Speaker
And I just hit a wall and went into a slump of depression. And i think of my lifestyle back then, and I was exhausted, frantic, seeking to earn approval through pleasing everybody.
00:13:28
Speaker
And I was a youth minister in the church, and I was working hard. and And even though I didn't have a particularly large youth group, my insecurity, my desire to please, my passion to be seen as competent,
00:13:44
Speaker
um I worked myself into a deep depression. And 10 years later, i was in a bigger church with more responsibilities.
00:13:55
Speaker
But many of the things that I hadn't yet conquered came back. And I was, again, working too hard, overdriving my headlights, you know, i' just running on empty too much of the time.
00:14:10
Speaker
And it happened three times. So I think it's a slow answer for me. I am not a quick learner, Brian. Thank you, Gene. That's good encouragement for the many of us that are the same. yeah and and it's part of what informs my ministry now, because um here in Cadence, you know, people will sometimes be talking about how tired or how busy they are. And in a group setting, they'll be sharing. And then they'll look over and go, sorry, I'm not doing what Gene told me to
00:14:43
Speaker
You know, and we'll all laugh because, you know, I'm kind of known for saying those things. But the reason those things are important to me to help other people discover is because I did go through those yeah painful years of depression and despair and false gods, false importance.
00:15:04
Speaker
Well, you've, uh, you've established language and you've normalized, um, these things because these struggles are common for all of us. They're, they're common. You talk about them in your life and then we sit here and we nod our heads and go, yeah, meet me too. Yeah. and Me too. And, um,
00:15:25
Speaker
I think sometimes people can feel alone in the struggles that they're in when in fact there's a loving God who wants to meet them right where they're at and they're they are by no means the first or the last yeah even in the room yeah that we're in um What are some themes, some some common either lies of the enemy, challenges that you've seen missionaries, people of God faces, you've leaned into the hard and difficult moments and places in their lives. What are some themes that might just
00:15:59
Speaker
Help us identify with, oh, me too. I also wrestle with that. and And then maybe give us a little bit of God's goodness over those things. Sure.
Understanding the Gospel
00:16:11
Speaker
Well, when you think about all of humanity, and especially as you think about religion, every religion except Christianity has a way to work yourself to heaven or nirvana, you know,
00:16:27
Speaker
the the end of the story is is done through human effort. So I think there's something pretty hardwired into us about thinking we need to earn the favor of the God.
00:16:43
Speaker
All cultures, every place has a way to do it. And one of the things that makes Jesus so different is that we trust him and he does all the work.
00:16:55
Speaker
But that goes against the grain of our humanity. It's something we just, I can't believe you'll love me for free. and And so all of us have sort of a built-in nature that I've got to prove myself worthy.
00:17:12
Speaker
I've got to prove myself that that I'm worthy of God's love. And what happens is That gets twisted and distorted, especially for the but those of us called into ministry.
00:17:27
Speaker
Because as we're called into ministry, we don't really separate the work and the work for God. You know, so both of them are, I'm working for God. Everything I do is for God.
00:17:38
Speaker
in And we don't know that there's a subtle part of our body, our mind, and our soul that's trying to earn favor. We just don't recognize it.
00:17:49
Speaker
You know, we think we're being good Americans by working hard. You know, so there's some cultural things. We think we're just being an ethical person because we're obeying the Bible. And we're doing the things the Bible tells us to do.
00:18:02
Speaker
And so there's lots of room for a slightly wrong message to come in. And to get that message squared away with scripture and and to be accurate goes against so many of our human characteristics.
00:18:19
Speaker
And that's why hearing about the gospel is not just enough. We need to hear it and hear it and hear it. And then we need to be self-aware that what's a lie and what's not.
00:18:33
Speaker
You know, what am I telling myself about my work? What am I telling myself about my worth? Most of us tell wrong things about our worth.
00:18:44
Speaker
You know, the imposter syndrome. You know, I'm sitting in a room full of these leaders here Cadence, but I'm the one who doesn't know what he's doing. You know, two or three people have said that to me this week.
00:18:57
Speaker
They feel like, go why am I in this room with all these great people? And I'm looking at them going, well, you're one of the great people. Great. you know but But there's that struggle. There's that struggle in all of us. So those are some of the things that I think affect us.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah. And how do you just personally, how do you keep recalibrated to to truth? to i'm just I'm curious about kind of your rhythms and your patterns. you know i think about Jesus in John 15. He said, if you abide in me and I and you'll bear much fruit.
00:19:35
Speaker
In Galatians 5, the fruit of Spirit is staying in a step with us. So for you, what does it look like to to abide, to stay in step, to have spiritual disciplines, spiritual rhythms, whatever you want to call them? Sure.
Evolving Spiritual Practices
00:19:48
Speaker
Well, would be quick to point out that they change over the years. How have they changed for you? so There's a picture that God gave me in one of my depressed depressed periods.
00:20:01
Speaker
So it was my middle depression. i was had been depressed for about 18 months. And um I was very, very spiritually dry. But I had learned the acronym adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication as a pattern for prayer.
00:20:21
Speaker
and And here I am in my mid-40s. Learned it when I was probably 13, 14, 15 years old. And I had been praying all of my prayers through that acronym for what what's that 20 years, 25 years.
00:20:38
Speaker
And what depression brought me is a more reflective period of time. I was so empty. I couldn't read my Bible and really get much out of it.
00:20:48
Speaker
And sometimes I just sat there with the Lord going help. I just, nothing was happening. Sometimes I would play music and music was often comforting. You know, i think of King David and how music calmed Saul.
00:21:03
Speaker
And i I think I had a little of that going on. um but But one day as I was sitting there just going, OK, Lord, what are you doing? He gave me this picture. And, you know, i joke about being a Baptist and, you know, that kind of thing. But, you know, I'm not ah a dreams and visions guy. ah That's not the way the Lord typically speaks to me. They got this little picture of a of a kid on a bicycle with the training wheels.
00:21:30
Speaker
And training wheels are great when you're little because you don't have the balance yet. But training wheels limit your ability to go fast or to turn corners sharply. And training wheels actually take a lot of the exhilaration of riding a bike away. And and there was this picture that I was still riding a bike with training wheels.
00:21:54
Speaker
in prayer. And it was the invitation for the Lord to say, take the training wheels off and just sit with me and talk.
00:22:05
Speaker
And I quit praying, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and I just started to sit and talk with God. And that led me to experimenting with some spiritual practices that um in my growing up spiritual tradition where they belong to somebody else, you know, and spiritual formation practices of silence and solitude, leccho diva lots of things like that, that were just strange to me.
00:22:38
Speaker
I began to try them and the Lord gave me a second picture. And that was a buffet, like a restaurant buffet. and that I had been eating out of the hamburger and French fry,
00:22:51
Speaker
and pizza end of the buffet all of my life. And there were all of these other avenues of grace, experiences of the richness of what God wanted to provide. And I just had been eating off of one end of it.
00:23:06
Speaker
And I like pizza and I like hamburger and french fries, maybe too much. And so I found the prime rib and the mashed potatoes. And so I began to hear God through much more open ways than than my previous pattern had gone.
00:23:27
Speaker
those get lived out in certain ways, certain rhythms at all for you, or is it really fluid and quite different day in and day out? are there ways you try to to stay connected or rooted?
00:23:39
Speaker
they're They're pretty fluid. So often I'm asking the Lord what I need for the day, yeah but I do need a certain regular discipline. So for example, this year i'm reading through the new Testament and works out real great. It's like one chapter a day.
00:23:53
Speaker
And so there's a ah steadiness there. And then since I was 16 years old, I've journaled and I have all those journals. So I have 60 volumes of journals and, uh,
00:24:06
Speaker
And journaling is a great way for me to ponder, to think, to be able to come back to thoughts. So those are some of the things that that have been part of the reflective part of my spiritual journey.
Advice for New Ministers
00:24:20
Speaker
to Such a richness there in the journey.
00:24:23
Speaker
Like the journey is... the where you've really seen the Lord show up it it's not, okay, now but I've arrived at some place that now the Lord will extend his grace to me. that it is It has been this as you go. And to be in that process for 50 years, there's a lot of people in cadence.
00:24:46
Speaker
People are can maybe considering cadence as a place that they'd like to do ministry. There's a lot of people out there considering ministry as a career. In this moment and listening to this podcast, what would you say to them? What encouragement would you offer to someone who's starting out in ministry today? What what would you want to speak over them?
00:25:07
Speaker
What I've discovered, lots of people have discovered, I'm sure it's not original to me, is that it's more about being the right person with Jesus than doing the right things.
00:25:19
Speaker
That our faith Our understanding of Jesus, our relationship with Jesus, and even our release to trust that Jesus is going to do it, whether i do it or not.
00:25:32
Speaker
The Lord wants to minister through us, but he wants us to be a reflection of Jesus. So it starts with being overdoing. hmm. You common thing we say, it's a really hard thing to live.
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Our identity, that who I am in the Lord is not found in the performance. That's right. That I give. Yeah, absolutely. And as as people begin that journey, whether they're in ministry or not, I think that that is that is wisdom for all of us. That is true for all of us, that we tend to live in our doing and that God has made us to be and to be, and that we are loved.
00:26:13
Speaker
ah For those who know Gene, um we we've heard him say things, we've heard you say things over the years, and some get repeated a lot, both either by you or by us, because we're quoting you, and they get just to be called Gene-isms.
00:26:28
Speaker
ah And I was sitting here quietly writing down another one. Howard, you said that being the right person with Jesus versus doing the right things for Jesus.
00:26:39
Speaker
That's helpful. And you put things in helpful language that we remember and we hang on to and they impact our lives. So thank you for that blessing to so many of us. Well, and you've you've been deeply invested in the lives of so many missionaries and ministries over these last 20 years.
Reflections & Future Excitement
00:26:57
Speaker
And when you think about the next 20 of Cadence, what gets you excited about the ministry that's happening out there among military people? Oh, that's such a hard question.
00:27:15
Speaker
What makes it hard?
00:27:18
Speaker
I'm 71 and I really am in a state of transition. Okay. So I don't know what I'm excited about at this moment. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a legit question. And maybe there are a lot of people that that are in an in-between world I was talking to one of our guys and he's fond of using the word liminal.
00:27:40
Speaker
but But it's that in-between space where sometimes we've we've lost clarity about something, not about who Jesus is or faith.
00:27:54
Speaker
You know, I'm not not in a faith crisis, but at at the age I am in wondering what changes for me now?
00:28:06
Speaker
Uh, I'm not going to travel as much as a number of, there's just a number of changes when, when I look into the years ahead. and so how that affects Cadence and our dream about the military.
00:28:20
Speaker
um I'm excited about Dave being the new president. I'm excited about many, many things within Cadence. Um, it's just like, well, how much of that's mine?
00:28:33
Speaker
know, it's changing. And Gene, you just typified one of the things that we love about you is that you're genuine. When we asked you that question, you could have easily just given some ah some great answers that are true on one level, but they're not the areas that you're focused on right now.
00:28:51
Speaker
And the fact that you're always genuine, ah you're real, there's no pretense, is why we wanted to have you on the podcast. We wanted to be able to share that a little broad more broadly than it normally gets to happen with Gene.
00:29:05
Speaker
So thanks for joining us today. Thank you. Thanks. Good to be with you. Thanks, Gene.