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CCD at Work in Virginia
29 Plays1 hour ago
Meghan Jackson is joined by Charles Cheek, Eddie Howard, and Meghann Cotter to share about the CCD work that is being done in Hampton Roads, Charlottesville, and Fredericksburg. They also share about their Go & Sees they’re hosting in October and how they’re beholding God with and in their communities.
Don’t miss the CCDA Conference in Richmond, Virginia, this October. Get into town early and experience one of the full-day Go & Sees happening on October 7th!
Learn more about CCDA and how you can get involved at ccda.org. Connect with CCDA on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Follow CCDA on YouTube.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Today's Focus
00:00:09
Speaker
Hi, welcome to the CCDA podcast. My name is Megan Jackson, and I'm the conference coordinator for CCDA. I'll be your host for today's episode. Today, we'll be taking a look at three of this year's amazing go and see options happening on October 7 for the 2026 conference.
Meet the Guests: Charles, Eddie, and Megan
00:00:29
Speaker
And I have some very special guests joining me today, Charles Cheek, Eddie Howard, and Megan Cotter. Welcome. Thank you. Glad to be here. Thanks.
00:00:40
Speaker
Let's start by introducing ourselves and a little bit more about our story or your church or ministry, the work that you're doing in your location.
Charles Cheek's Marketplace Ministry Journey
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, we'll start with Charles.
00:00:51
Speaker
I'm in Hampton, Virginia, and I'm over the hill. I came out of retirement about three years ago. I was asked to come out of Planner Church, and I decided there were enough churches in this area.
00:01:03
Speaker
What we decided to do was do a marketplace ministry. And we ended up surveying the community neighborhoods and found out what the needs are. And then we bought those particular nonprofits or those service providers under one roof.
00:01:21
Speaker
And so what we have is a true marketplace ministry that's available 24-7, and we have 16 service providers under one roof. They were already existing nonprofits, and they became ministries. Instead of me planting a church and starting ministries, we just brought these ministries under one roof to service the population.
00:01:42
Speaker
Since that time we've grown, we're we're now... the Virginia Department Juvenile Justice recognized what we were doing, came to us and said, we would like you to replicate what you're doing statewide.
00:01:54
Speaker
And so now I travel the state, talking to churches and other groups to get them to come to kind of on a lower scale, to kind of mimic what we're doing so they'll be able to service juveniles that are coming out of, that are in the justice system and their families simultaneously.
00:02:11
Speaker
So that's the short story. When you come to Hampton, I give you a lot more. Thank you.
Eddie Howard on Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries
00:02:17
Speaker
Eddie? Yes, my name is Eddie Howard. I am the executive director Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries.
00:02:24
Speaker
Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries has been around since 1996. It started out as a CCD ministry by a lady named Amos Sharman, who was a big part of CCDA at that particular time.
00:02:40
Speaker
And it came out of a local church, Trinity Presbyterian Church. who surveyed a few communities within the Charlottesville area, and they prayed on it, and they decided that the Prospect Avenue neighborhood would be the community that they would ah partner with.
00:02:59
Speaker
And so with Amy and her team and one of the matriarchs, Lula Rogers, ah they this They had some prayer time. They walked the neighborhood. They talked to the residents of the neighborhood.
00:03:12
Speaker
And Abundant Life Ministry got started with Bible Club. And then from Bible Club, it went into a tutoring program. And then from there, enrichment programs, which is for young men from the fifth grade all the way through one year post-high school and young ladies from the fifth grade one year post-high school.
00:03:32
Speaker
Abundant Life been around. Yeah, 30 years. And i am the actually third official ED, but a young lady named Dakota Anderson, she started out with Abundant Life. Of course, Amy, she ran it and then was Riley L. Payne, Nathan Walton, and then myself.
00:03:52
Speaker
So I stand on the shoulders of some great leaders. I'm from the Prospect Avenue community. And in 21, they asked me, Would I come back to Charlottesville because I'm living in Chesapeake and run the ministry? And yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker
And so we're moving forward with a lot of different programs. Thank you. Megan?
Megan Cotter's Work on Homelessness in Fredericksburg
00:04:15
Speaker
I represent an organization in Fredericksburg, Virginia that started 20 years ago by the downtown churches in Fredericksburg as a response to an unhoused community that literally landed at the doorsteps of the downtown churches The churches had individually begun to respond to different needs with different ministries. And in 2005, they said, you know, we could do more together than we ever could do apart.
00:04:44
Speaker
And so for 20 years, we have we started much as a basic needs organization, and we have evolved to care for all parts of human flourishing.
00:04:56
Speaker
That includes housing, basic needs, income development, spiritual care, health care, you know, to the point that we now are actually working on a supportive housing neighborhood where people will be able to live affordably, have purpose, and grow meaningful relationships. A big part of our understandings about homelessness is that people become homeless when they run out of relationships.
00:05:21
Speaker
And so a lot of what we do and how we lean into people's lives is about trying to help restore relationship, not just to themselves and one another, but also to God and to to community. And so when folks come to Fredericksburg, I'll be able to show them a lot of the ways that this journey has evolved over time, very much with our neighbors on the street as our teachers. Those conversations and that learning have led us to a bigger vision for you know, how the kingdom of God can be experienced in Fredericksburg and hopefully be inspiring to other communities as well.
00:05:57
Speaker
Thanks so much. I'm really excited that each of your locations, each of your ministries is doing really different work and that folks could choose an experience that would maybe match the work that they're doing in their context or work that they aspire to be doing in their context.
00:06:15
Speaker
So a little bit about me. I'm a former educator and I taught, yeah, middle school, high school for a long time. And what kids love the most are field trip days. And so I like to think about going seas like field trips.
Introducing 'Go and See' Trips
00:06:31
Speaker
And so if you've ever been to the CCDA conference before, we have these things called go and seize where people get off site, leave the convention center and go out into the local city area region and get to experience and go and see the good work that is happening.
00:06:47
Speaker
Usually those are little short, you know, three-hour chunks, but this year we're intentionally designing the conference a little differently so that folks can go out on whole day trips, a true field trip to a city that's a little bit farther outside of Richmond. So here we've got represented Hampton, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Williamsburg will also be a part of the Hampton trip. And so...
00:07:09
Speaker
We want to encourage folks to plan their trip early to come out to these day trips that will be on that Wednesday. So I'd love to hear from each of you. What could someone expect to do if they came out on your specific go and see?
Exploring Hampton's Community Efforts
00:07:25
Speaker
If you come to the Hanson one, you're you're you're going to have an experience that's going to take you from <unk> original landing of the slaves and in the United States at Fort Monroe and how we dealt with that and in terms of this region and and so that people started flourishing after that that point in time.
00:07:45
Speaker
ah So we're going to take you through a time warp, sort of, and and then bring you up into the present time. We're going to obviously come by our marketplace ministry at KUF, and then we're going to go into Newport News, where...
00:07:58
Speaker
we go One of our partner churches is working with the city of Newport News, and they planted themselves within this apartment complex, a spread out area right on the waterfront that every developer in the world is salivating over at once.
00:08:13
Speaker
But the church was able to talk to the city to save this community. mostly Section 8 in low-income property rehabilitated, and the church is actually planting itself in there working with the people.
00:08:26
Speaker
And so after that, we're going to go to Williamsburg and we're going to continue that journey that started here in Hampton, Virginia. And we're going to look at some things that they're doing there with 3E, restoration in terms of homelessness and how the city has partnered with them and they've purchased a hotel and several hotels, in fact.
00:08:45
Speaker
and look at their philosophy around restoration and trauma as it addressed homelessness and ah other unhoused issues. They've done some amazing things there. So, and then we'll take you back to Richmond after that, you know, but you may not want to go back. You might want to come back and start all over again.
00:09:03
Speaker
because it's going to be that exciting. and just Just come prepared to learn, and walk, understand. The final thing at Williamsburg, it capsules this whole thing how Williamsburg has a restoration process with folks who were former, ah whose parents or lineage was enslaved, and that they're providing free education to those families, those youth now. so We'll talk a little bit about that. So it's going to be a great day, a complete day.
00:09:35
Speaker
You can go to Charlottesville the day after and Fredericksburg the day after that. But, you know, you you probably want to come here. So ah like you have your game playing all together, Charles. And and since you're not going to have them come to Charlottesville, let me see if I can talk them out of Hampton, Newport, and Williamsburg.
Charlottesville's Rich Community Tapestry
00:09:55
Speaker
No, Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministry, again, is a CCD ministry. When it started, it was just the three R's, redistribution, relocation, and reconciliation.
00:10:07
Speaker
That was the model for Abundant Life. But Abundant Life, it it really do serve the neighborhood. in a holistic way. And the biggest part about it is, you know, being being church-based, you know, and allowing the neighborhood to experience God's glory through us coming along beside the neighborhood.
00:10:29
Speaker
Again, we have tutoring programs, which is K through... eighth grade. And then in the house, our house schoolers, they, they get a mentor. They get a mentor from the ninth grade, one year post high school. So we ask mentors for five year commitment.
00:10:46
Speaker
And surprisingly, we haven't struggled that bad getting mentors to do one-on-one with our young participants. Abundant Life really is, ah you know, in the neighborhood, we're known as that church up on the hill.
00:11:03
Speaker
And so when things happen within within the neighborhood, it's a meeting and space for the community. We serve a little over 400 families at any point in time throughout throughout the year.
00:11:14
Speaker
We have over 115 volunteers. But when you come to Charlottesville, you will tour Abundant Life Ministries. You'll see, you'll go through both our buildings. You'll get a little history about Abundant Life. Amy Sherman, who was the founder, she will be there and we will be having lunch at the center.
00:11:33
Speaker
Ask Amy to talk about the history of abundant life and get some history of the neighborhood. And then upon leaving abundant life ministries, you will go to to visit the Perkins fellows of that theological rising. Christy Yates, who is the director there, and then Karen Marshall is the founder of theological rising. They will greet them We will go to the slave labor me memorial that is at the University of Virginia and tour that and get history on the slave labor that built UVA.
00:12:06
Speaker
There's what is called Kindness Cafe. They have special need individuals to run the Kindness Cafe and serve the Kindness Cafe. And that's a great experience that live theology part of, you know, when the students come in and really trying to walk out their faith or even, you know, considering faith.
00:12:26
Speaker
Theological horizon really do serve that part well. Then there's the African American Heritage Museum. if yeah If we have time left, we will visit the African American Heritage Museum, which tells Charlottesville's story and and how the and the underserved were displaced from a place called Vinegar Hill.
00:12:46
Speaker
And so, you know, it's not just visiting the center and visiting a Prospect Avenue new neighborhood, but, you know, there's a story to be told in Charlottesville.
00:12:57
Speaker
One of the things that I think is really exciting and special about the conference this year being in Virginia is that all of the different sites and, you know, including Richmond itself, have this special history, not just of the neighborhood and of the community or the state, but of our country.
00:13:16
Speaker
Virginia has some very unique, not just Civil War history, but also Revolutionary War history.
Fredericksburg's Historical and Ministry Highlights
00:13:23
Speaker
Fredericksburg specifically, there was a very significant battle in in Fredericksburg, and and we're going to incorporate some of that, the history within and the tour that we will give through the unique historic city of Fredericksburg. You know, as an example, we some of the churches that are a part of Micah's founding actually existed before America was a country.
00:13:44
Speaker
And so so, you know, we'll we'll talk about that and the role that the church has played, you know, in in our community. But specifically to our ministry, we actually actually run a condensed version of the Torah that I'm going to give every week to try to help bring people in our own community into the story that is unhoused communities and help them understand why we and the churches have responded the way that they are. So we're very practiced at telling the story of the ministry that we offer. We'll start at our Neighbor Care Center, which is a hub of where a lot of the the basic needs and community partnerships start and tell a few stories about about what brought the organization into existence and how we have learned from people on the streets for 20 years. And we'll leave there. We'll go to a respite house that we operate for folks that come out of the hospital and have no place to stay while they are recovering or in need of dying with dignity. We'll visit a cold weather shelter that we that we operate and then go up to a renovated hotel that we operate as bridge housing for folks as we move them from the street to permanent housing. We'll go by newer ministry that we have. We actually are operating, it's an old plantation that we've turned into supportive housing that has unique history in that it was owned by George Washington's brother, Charles Washington, at one time. And we'll talk about how the supportive housing aspect on that property has actually been a bit of a redemptive
00:15:23
Speaker
aspect of going from plantation to now caring for, you know, many of the people that might have been excluded in in a different time. We'll have lunch. We'll feed you lunch and have and give an opportunity to talk with some of the clergy that have been a part of both MICA's founding and supporting and and being the church in in our community.
00:15:46
Speaker
And then we'll end our time up at the property where we're in the process of building a supportive housing project for our neighbors. So you will get to experience the 20-year journey that has been mica Ministries and why that is now leading us to Jeremiah Community, which is the name of the supportive housing community that we're building. then we'll incorporate some of the cool history that's involved in Fredericksburg as we go on our journey. So that's Fredericksburg, of course, is the the the best choice of your day, and we hope you will join us. We do have some salespeople in the house or maybe some fundraisers. I see you.
00:16:26
Speaker
Well, I know I've been so encouraged getting to know each of you over the course of this last year and the some of the folks in your communities as well. And what I've learned is that Virginia has such a rich landscape of CCD work and ministry in action. And as a former teacher, I can't think of a better way to learn than to go out and to be in place-based settings where we can learn about how history and ministry is all woven together in context.
Excitement for the Upcoming Virginia Conference
00:16:55
Speaker
So what are you excited about for this year's conference? It can be related to your go and see or anything else.
00:17:03
Speaker
I am really intrigued by the application of Christian community development in an unhoused context. That's not been a dominant narrative in a lot of Christian community development conferences and associations, so really excited about the opportunity to really bring people into that story in a robust way and begin to have some conversation about how the principles apply to a community that doesn't have a geography and and what it means to participate in their lives meaningfully in order to help all neighbors to be able to have a home and a place and essentially relocate into a way that they're they're a part of our community.
00:17:48
Speaker
I'm excited about the fact that CCDA is coming to Virginia on our 30th year anniversary. To see that unfold and having been to about 16 different CCDA conferences myself, and then to be able to have this conference right at our back door, a ministry that was formed.
00:18:09
Speaker
out of the CCD movement in its early days and still around for 30 years and then be able to bring community to it and and they can take a look at how abundant life came to exist, but they will be able to see I guess you could say our values in motion there at the conference, to be able to go into the workshops, be able to understand some of our works through the Planner Nerds, and then to be a part of the worships worship service, which for me, is I feel is the most important part of the whole conference. The worship service just draws you in and And when I look over the crowd, you really see the kingdom of God in motion at these conferences. And for me, that is probably the most powerful thing that comes out of them.
00:19:04
Speaker
And we talk more about the planners and the conferences when we come back and debrief. And so it's just a great opportunity. It's in Virginia. It's in a state that's rich with history, as Megan was saying, as Charles was saying. It's in a state where as You know, the United States began in Virginia, you know, in the Tidewater area.
00:19:28
Speaker
And I'm saying that because i still live in Chesapeake, not because of Charles Cheek. And so, you know, and then the history, you know, um ah as Megan was saying, the battles in Fredericks and the other battles that went on throughout Virginia in these different localities. I'm just excited about the fact that it it's in Virginia after 30 plus years of going from city to city, state to state, and we're able to be a part of this. So that's what I'm excited
00:19:59
Speaker
Well, I'm excited, Ed, that it's coming on your 30th anniversary. i you can go I didn't know that part. You didn't tell me that when I was there. I'm excited about that. I'm excited about the the idea that, as I say every year, and you know I look forward to this family reunion when everybody comes together and we enjoy self ourselves as a big family and and learn from each other and inspire each other. and i mean Because every year there's a different takeaway, a different...
00:20:29
Speaker
model that can be represented or something else that can be looked at. And I compared those workshops to food. You know, there's different dishes that you can taste and enjoy while you're at the conference. Of course you do, Charles Chee. Everything's about food, you know that. So that's the analogy. But you know even more so, I think um I love the conference theme this year.
00:20:52
Speaker
And maybe I'm jumping the ahead of you a little bit there, maybe. But yeah i I think A new thing can be applied a sub thing every year because every conference is a new thing and brings about new things and and birth new ideas. mean, even this go and see the first time going away from the city.
00:21:12
Speaker
I mean, it's it's a new thing. It's going to inspire some things within folks, within the conference, even going to other cities, you know, that will spring up. It allows people to see more and gain more ah in terms of the CCD principles, because we only do it within in the context of where you are.
00:21:30
Speaker
You never know about what's around you. And I think taking flight is good. It's a new thing. Amen. Well, that's perfect bridge to the next question.
Theme Exploration: 'Behold' from Isaiah 43:19
00:21:40
Speaker
So this year's theme for the conference is Behold from Isaiah 43, 19. Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?
00:21:52
Speaker
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. So my question is, how are you beholding God with and in your community in this season?
00:22:03
Speaker
Every day, every morning, waking up, there's a transformation that occurs from the time you laid your head on that pillow until that next morning, and then you travel that day.
00:22:18
Speaker
and and as you travel through that day, looking at what occurs and what the opportunities are and how we deal with those particular opportunities in the context of even the scriptures you're talking about, because God nothing stays the same in the kingdom.
00:22:35
Speaker
Everything changes, evolves. I used to do a workshop and i would tell people, as you drive down the street and you see a leaf that's on the right-hand side, when you come back, that leaf is no longer in that place. It's moving.
00:22:48
Speaker
And so we, as an environment, continually move and evolve to do kingdom work. I mean, just listening to Eddie and Megan here, I mean, there's a continual evolution and a continuous ways of doing things. And we're not all doing, we're serving similar populations, but we're all doing it differently.
00:23:11
Speaker
ah because we recognize that there are different needs. Although there's a baseline there, we're we're adding something to it. And that's where the new thing comes in with me. Yeah, the theme Behold really do resonate with me, not just in Isaiah 43, but when I think about that and how You know, it's an attention getter. Like, let me get your attention here and let me show you something you've never seen before. and And that's something just flush out at you. You know, the river's flowing, the grass turning green, the land is beginning to produce.
00:23:46
Speaker
And to be honest, when the theme came up, it connected to my life because, You know, when it's saying any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation. And and i and not I didn't believe it.
00:23:59
Speaker
ah You know, it was like, I hear you. You know, but but it's hard for me to believe that you can transform my life the same way. You know, Isaiah is talking about transforming the land. and i And it made me think about it when it was coming up with the theme how I came from that very land. I came from that very soil, you know, and then watch my community that behold and and and watch them, you know, fighting for that same newness ah of survival, that newness of God glory. So it just took on a lot of different dimensions for me. And yeah, it's it's just so powerful for me, my personal testimony and the testimony of the community that we're in and and watching that transformation take place.
00:24:48
Speaker
The time that I've spent caring for an unhoused community has given me a little bit of a different appreciation for the meaning of wilderness.
00:25:00
Speaker
You know, I think we talk about wilderness from a social, emotional, spiritual displacement a lot of times when we study scripture. But when you work with an unhoused community that is also physically displaced, it puts things in a whole different context.
00:25:18
Speaker
And I happen to think that there is a unity in the idea of of the wilderness and how wilderness, we all experience wilderness differently.
00:25:29
Speaker
Some of us literally, some of us in in in other ways. And so the thing that I find when I'm trying to help people understand homelessness is that the the thing to behold is how Very much literal homelessness is a different version of wilderness and how all of us can understand each other better and really understand how we can seek home together when we understand that we all are displaced. And there's a historical, there's a theological, there's a there's all different ways no matter how we look at it, we're all displaced.
00:26:09
Speaker
people on the move trying to find our way home. That's the new thing to behold, is that we're really a lot more in common than we ever were apart. And the new thing that we're we're seeking is is how we get there together.
00:26:27
Speaker
Amen. Thank you all so much. There's so many action verbs I'm hearing come out of what you're saying. Beholding, it's a physical action, right? You're talking about hearing your neighbors worshiping God at the plenary sessions. You're talking about movement and evolution, touching soil. Beholding is to see, to hear, to listen, to be very present in the moment. It's a sensory experience.
00:26:50
Speaker
And so I have to say, I have to ask at least, you know, taste and see
Virginia's Culinary Recommendations
00:26:55
Speaker
that the Lord is good. When folks come to Virginia, what should they eat? I got to know.
00:27:01
Speaker
it It depends on where you are hip Virginia. I mean, if you're coming to the East, it's seafood. I mean, I think we have the best crabs, although eat crabs. But anyway, people tell me they're the best. yeah That's not an oxymoron. I never heard one.
00:27:19
Speaker
ah ha yeah They say they're good. They say. Yeah, they say, you know, i mean, and I go along, you know, a lot of times I believe what people say. But I think seafood and i mean, of course, I mean, i mean, we since everything, all the food for America started here. So just about anything you eat going to be good. But take me to eat with you. We have a lot of places that are on the National Register for Historic Places, one of which is Carl's Ice Cream. You can only get three flavors, but it's the experience that matters, which I think CCDA folks can appreciate.
00:27:54
Speaker
It's an old historic ice cream place. You wait in line. It's soft serve, but you scoop it out of the out of the container as opposed to coming out of a thing. Virginia Bar I think also has a little bit of of weights. And, you know, you think we're we're arguing about which parts of Virginia you should visit. i know there's lots of debates about what states you should visit for a barbecue. So you should definitely check that out as well.
00:28:18
Speaker
I agree with Charles. It all started in Virginia, right? It's just the delicacies that's there. And then Charlottesville being a growing wine country. Well, the surrounding counties along with Charlottesville.
00:28:32
Speaker
So just the little cheeses and different things like that. We're close to a place called Crozet, who is, who housed Crozet Pizza. World-known, ship pizzas everywhere.
00:28:44
Speaker
but But I ah do believe it's just... You know, like Macon, say, just the local foods that's around the city, the different private owned restaurant and places like that. It's really hard to say. i would say soul food, but that's an argument that can reach far south as, you know, Alabama. Yeah.
00:29:10
Speaker
But yeah, it's just a lot of different presines. You know, I tend to think Charlottesville is a burger city because it's like anywhere you can go, you know, you can get a burger.
00:29:21
Speaker
But they have a buffet that Charles keep hollering about. And if you have time in Charlottesville, that's the place to go, the Wood Grill Buffet. You see every visitor that ever come to Charlottesville go to the Wood Grill Buffet.
00:29:37
Speaker
Okay, I'm going to write that down. Absolutely. What I'm hearing you say is the best way to is to eat together. Yes. Okay. We're going to end with the question we ask at the end of every episode, which is how do you see the CCDA philosophy at work in your community?
Applying CCDA Philosophy in Communities
00:29:57
Speaker
i would say the empowerment part of it, empowering the community to do it themselves. You know, John Perkins had a saying, and I might botch it up, but a anyway, go into the community, walk beside them, learn from them.
00:30:16
Speaker
And it was another one, but at the end of the day, they can say they did it for themselves. And I think that's That's the part right there. When at the end of the day, you can look and you can see empowerment through church-based ministry. You can see reconciliation through church-based ministry. You can see redistribution through through church-based ministry and leadership development. i'm ah I'm a part of that leadership development piece. I came through Abundant Life as an adult and volunteering and coming on staff and becoming a
00:30:52
Speaker
program coordinator and working with USDA and then 17 years later get a call to come and and lead the ministry, which it still behooves me why that why I got that call. But, it you know, it it was it was all in God time. And so, you know, the CCD model, you know, that holistic approach, everything include God.
00:31:17
Speaker
Everything includes his shalom. And so that's that's what excites me. And, you know, a ministry that have not taken on like a business model, it just blows my mind because I've seen ministry through through through through the time kind of take on models that pushes away from what it originally did. And so that's what I see with Abundant Life ministry. It has stayed true to its original values.
00:31:47
Speaker
The one thing that John Perkins always emphasized was love. And i think that's that the emphasis of what we're seeing here and and what has manifested in terms of community and engagement and allowing people to have a seat in a comfortable place and redefining church, the local church, not the church, in terms of that whole concept of love and love allows us to collaborate. Love allows us to work with folks we normally would not work with or even come alongside with.
00:32:25
Speaker
And so that's what we I've seen here over time, and I just keep emphasizing that, you know, just just love on each other, just love on God, love on the process. And in return, things will manifest that we if we sat down on paper to try to put it together, we couldn't do it. oh we can We can do outlines of envisioning, but unless we love ourselves and we can't love others and we can't,
00:32:54
Speaker
keep loving even in the hard times and and in the good times. as I tell people that, you know, just love one another and we'll make it happen. Believe me. And everything we need is within the community, but we never see it because we don't love each other.
00:33:10
Speaker
And if we don't love each other, we don't talk to each other. So I see a greater movement of people starting to love each other, irregardless of the outside forces that are occurring nationally and locally.
00:33:23
Speaker
Thanks so
Invitation to the CCDA Conference
00:33:24
Speaker
much. So I would like everybody to feel that this is their formal invitation to come to this October's conference. And specifically your personal invitation to come out on October 7, Wednesday, the first day of the conference to experience these amazing go and sees, plan your trip early, get your flight in on Tuesday so you can come out first thing in the morning on Wednesday Thursday.
00:33:52
Speaker
Take a bus out to these different locations. Get to know Megan and Eddie and Charles and their communities and their staff. And go to CCDA.org today to register for the conference. Check out the go and see options. You could literally register today.
00:34:07
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you so much, Charles, Eddie, and Megan for joining us today on the podcast. It was really awesome to talk with all of you. Thank you. Just keep in mind, Charlottesville. yeah yeah yeah And so folks listening, if you want to learn more about CCDA and get involved, check out the show notes of this episode. Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:34:34
Speaker
This episode is produced by Sarah Callen in association with Christina Fore. We will be back soon with another episode featuring CCD practitioners who are committed to seeing people and communities experience God's shalom.
00:34:48
Speaker
We'll see then.