Transcripts For KPIX Mosaic 20240714

Put it together. It was so dynamic. I will never forget that moment. It was so wonderful. And all the people that came. The music was glorious. The director and the soloist. Betty and mary in the choir along with kim and janelle who was a professional singer who sings with a group called sold out band. Then i had my cousin who has a quartet. He has a saxophone. Many remember dear lord by john culture in. All of those who were just wonderful along with my speakers that were there. My colleagues and friends, Anthony Jenkins and bobby jones. And there was jim hopkins and dale witherspoon. Also who came was gail burroughs, the wife of the late hugh burroughs. Our mentor, host and producer of mosaic for 30 plus years. I was so glad to see her. She had heard about it on mosaic when i was interviewed about ministry. So a shout out to all of you that made it such a wonderful event. I have not been able to thank all of you and the churches i was able to serve. Eastern hill in richmond. Glide in san francisco. There was st. Marks. I just needed to do that and i thank you for that. I felt in the last few months when i talk about ministry in my interview with elizabeth, i thought about, what is the nature of ministry . Even though im retired, i will always be active in prayer and concerned about ministry and what that means. And my guests this morning was also at my retirement pick jim hopkins who has been the pastor at lakeshore baptist for 31 years. I thought we would start right there. Thank you for being at the retirement. But what is it like to be a pastor that long in a church . Most of us at United Methodist dont have pastors for that long. What is that like for you . Congratulations on your retirement and on a superb ministry and whatever comes next. It was a real honor to be part of your service. What is it like to be in service for a long time . I say that i grew up there. My family was very young when i arrived there. What a marvelous journey to walk with folks through all the stages of life through the challenges of the congregation. We have had our arguments with our denomination. We have done some significant witness. People that were vibrant when i first arrived there. And with us no longer people that were kids or married or have kids of their own. Ministry is ultimately a celebration and an embrace of life and to be there for 30 plus years is to celebrate and embrace life. My Administrative Assistant had been here for 12 years. She blessed me and surprised me with all the different baptisms i had and weddings that i did and the different people that have joined and the Memorial Services. She presented that to me along the manorial memorial service. At our church, there is the sanctuary building and the office building. Sometimes before a memorial service, i will be sitting in my office looking across the sanctuary and saying, i dont think i can do this anymore. I dont think i can do one more. Then the moment comes and you start greeting the family and you start remembering the contributions the person made. The investment they made in your life. It becomes more often than not, a thanksgiving and a celebration and a homegoing. It is something that awaits all of us. It is not to be feared but it is to be honored. To walk with a family on that journey c a sacred journey. That is one of the things we do. And we will talk more about other things you do in the next segment. I wanted to start there. Quite a compliment to your ministry and your church. No place else to go. Welcome to mosaic. You are with jim hopkins. Talking about the nature of ministry in the next segment. And please join us. Welcome back to mosaic. You heard in the first segment from jim hopkins, some of the things he does and the Memorial Services stood out because he had just come back from one. His mentor of 32 years and where he was. We want to talk about what we do as ministers in terms of our involvement in the community, society and the world. Lets go there. What are some things you see that are so important to the ministry . It is very important i think for a minister to address the basics very well. The preaching and the bible study and the pastoral care. From that, you sort of earn the right to become involved in the community and to say a word to the broader community. So that is a priority. Take care of the basics. You have to take care of the basics. They are so important. Someone comes to the door of her church on a sunday morning and you never know what they have gone through that week or that day. It could be a loss. They could be facing a Major Medical appointment, surgery or job interview. Something really weighing on their minds. And it is important that somehow in your ministry that you convey to them that god is with you and good news of awaits. We have reverend dale witherspoon. He could not be with us this morning. You mentioned to me that he just finished vacation bible school. And you just finished yours. Tell us about that. We have a vacation bible camp that we call it. Four years of their 7th grade. Then when the kids clear a seventh or 8th grade, they can become counselors. I enjoy the interaction with the kids. For me, the leadership training for the teenagers they become counselors, teachers and leaders themselves is very important. The next generation. A minister always needs to think about the next generation. Who comes after us . Who was our legacy. Who will share and the good news that we share. Who will pick up on some of the perspectives. It is really important. I have two more segments with nick gardner that will come on with the ministry in the community. We do it some of that too tell us what ministers do and how much leeway you have in terms of churches giving you that, particularly your church. Four, five numbers down on my Job Description is an expectation that i will be a minister to the community. That takes many forms for me. I always say one of the things im the most committed to his involvement through faith in action east bay. Our work in the ceasefire program, violence prevention strategy that involves research, police and the community. And involves identifying young men who are vulnerable or most likely to participate in acts of violence and invest in their lives. And say there is another way that the community has filled you. Take a step to us and we will take a step to you. That is the last seven years the program has been going. Chose a significant decrease in homicides. When i was there there were so many that took place. There are still far too many. But the young men and their families really dont want to be caught up in the lifestyle. Sometimes they see no way out. And to articulate and offer an alternative, saves a lot of lives at a lot of levels. You talk about some of the basic ministries and what that is important to cover. Do they say at some point they dont want you to be out there . The folks at lakeshore generally say, we want you to be out there and their concern is not that we are letting balls drop by the church. They say, we dont want you to wear yourself out. We will need to have energy and be creative and take care of your family. And be involved in life and a lot of healthy ways. We dont want you to burn out. If you are better, that does not help anybody. We have just a minute left. Would you say anything else that you think is important to say about ministry . To be a minister is to remember that you represent someone much larger than yourself. God, the church. A baptist tradition. One of the greatest honors i have is for someone to introduce me and say, this is jim. He ia ofound gift. To be a pastor is to care for someone in the name of something else. Something greater. Always remember that you are representing something mucfobei we appreciate your sharing. Thank you again for being with jim hopkins. Lakeshore baptist church. Go ahead and see him again. Welcome back to mosaic. Gratitude is the wine of the soul so lets go get drunk. We said that in the 12th century. I experienced that in the gratitude i experienced in my celebration. We are also grateful that we have a person with us who is involved in anany facets of it. The founder of a move called, i and has done so much work. His name is nick gardner. Great to have you. Thank you for having me. Tell us about your work. Sure. I wear multiple hats. Of the many hats that i wear, a lot are involved in one particular category category. That is the incarcerated community. So you are looking at homeless, veterans and the elderly. And the families of the incarcerated as well. I work with all of those different entities within the line of what i do. Im executive director of an organization at san quentin prison called no more tears. I cofounded that. Organization for7 ye i 501c3 thor with indlsthat have restored practices and principles. They also are involved with workforce development. I have a clothing Business Associated with that. I most of a consultant for other nonprofits. One particular is East Palo Alto called retrying the village. More than anything, i am affiliated with taylor United Methodists church. And since my affiliation with the church, we have extended our ministry to a lot of different outreach needs. We just completed a six week day camp at the facility earlier this year. We also during the open teachers strike were the ones that hosted the strike and had it at the hub. So all the press conferences that occurred during that period happened there. We provided food and a daycare for the teachers while they were on the picket lines with the kids. And we also extended that to do an annual food giveaway and hotmail for Homeless People as well as clothing. My great friend is doing great work and you are doing great work with him. I would say you are boots on the ground. What inspired you to go in this direction . I had the opportunity to years ago. I have been in this business for 30 years. When i got into the business, someone gave me an opportunity to turn my life around. I felt that if someone gave me that opportunity, there was nobody at that time going inside jails and prisons and offering different hope for people inside. I felt that was the place for me to go to offer that same opportunity that was so gracefully given to me. And i was able to give it for other people. I understand you did some work with van jones . Yes. Tell us about that. There was an instance of an inmate i had worked with inside san quentin prison which had been involved in an occurrence where he shot an officer in bakersfield. All this time, he, every time he would go to a parole hearing, people would say, we dont want this guy released. He tried to kill me. Whatever the case would be. Pracce s a process within the called restorative dialogue circle. What we did is provided that forum for the victim and the offender to sit down and talk about what it is that was the problem and bring together accountability and create some healing as a result of it. And of the eight episodes of redemption projects that were broadcast, this was the most pivotal one. At the end of the broadcast, the wife of the victim who said she never wanted to have anything to do with the person, she came in and hugged them at the end. I did hear about that. I saw one of them because don lacy, one of our previous guests, was in that project and talked about a person that killed his daughter 20 years ago. There was not a dry eye in that building that day. So pivotal. So warming. Im glad you are involved on such a level. So many dynamics involved in that. We will talk more about that. Thank you for being here. Absolutely. We have been talking to mick gardner who is involved in the community and so many facets. Please join us in the last segment. Welcome back to mosaic. Nick gardner has been talking about his involvement in helping people that come out of prison for things they have done and they get the second chance. Tell us more about that project. A lot of times in the past, society has placed a stigma on incarcerated people. When people came home, there was not any type of hope or opportunity for those folks when they came home. My mission in life and my ministry and life has been to allow people, when they come home, the same right as anyone else that is existing in the community and to allow the community to be a support network for those individuals so that they are not just out there trying to navigate their our society which is chaotic enough, so you are talking about someone separated from that for so many years and all the sudden asking them to come out and be equitable to everything going on. And asking them to vote. It is happening as long as you are not on a felony conviction or on parole. You retain that write i understand that. So that is important. That is huge. What we do in the county jail situation because the person has not been sentenced at that particular point is people from the voting entity will come in and they will help erything. Counl because nobody has been sentenced. Is there something that needs to be said . . I want the community to see that this is an opportunity. I want the community to be engaged in working with this population. This is not a population that has been cast aside. This is a population and has some sense of desire to be a part of. We should not push ourselves away from them. We should be a part of them. Im amazed at your background and being involved for some 30 years. Your background and social work has led you in this direction. What has inspired you the most doing this work . What inspired me the most is i felt that, again, nobody was there are not a bunch of organizations going inside and working with the incarcerated community. I just felt that my niche in life was to be able to offer some sense of hope and direction to people before they came home. And when they came home, to be there on the other side waiting for them so the Friendly Faces they saw on the inside, is the same friendly supportive face they see on the outside. Amen. Thank you for all the work you are doing. Jesus said, i was hungry and you fed me. I was in prison and you visited me. Thank you for doing that work. Continue to pray for mick gardner and the work he is doing. I want to thank jim hopkins of lakeshore baptist for being with us. For being in ministry and doing such great work to lift people up. And inspiring this audience to do the same. Thank you for being with us. I am rhonda switzer. Now on kpix5 news, a busy weekend for oakland police. We get a front row seat as officers crackdown on illegal sideshows. Fire crews battling six fires in Santa Clara Santa Clara county. The high fire danger ahead. Could facebook and instagram be splitting up . Top lawmakers trying to get Mark Zuckerberg to let some platforms go. It is 6 00 a. M. On september 22nd. I am a melissa caen. Lets get a look at the forecast. Something to you just alluded to, fire weather comes back tuesda