00:00:00:19 - 00:00:33:13 Rev. Trudy The goal isn't about getting kids into church. It's about showing up for young people in the community with no strings attached. Welcome to Perspectives, a podcast where the clergy women of the First United Methodist Church of San Diego share their musings on Scripture, theology, and what it has to do with us. Welcome to this episode of Perspectives. I'm Reverend Trudy Robinson, and I'm here with Mr. Kenton Reaves Hundley, the Director of the Dream School of the Arts. 00:00:33:13 - 00:01:04:17 Rev. Trudy Thank you, Kenton, for being here and talking with me. We are in this sermon series we're calling Imago Dei 2.0, and this week we are diving into a specific demographic in our church's ministry: the people involved in the Dream School of the Arts. I am so glad to have you here to share your experiences. 00:01:04:18 - 00:01:07:16 Kenton I'm glad to be here and we'll see how it goes. 00:01:07:20 - 00:01:34:15 Rev. Trudy There you go. Yeah, I'm sure you have a lot more to say than we probably have time to hear, but that's always the case on perspective. So, we're bouncing the idea of the work you're doing with the children and the people involved at Dream School against the prophet Joel and his words. It's from Joel chapter2, verse 28. And this is God speaking: 00:01:34:17 - 00:02:06:01 Rev. Trudy “Then afterward, I will pour my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” I like this passage, and I see this as being something that you do at Dream School. You invite people to dream. And that's actually the title of this week's worship. 00:02:06:03 - 00:02:12:00 Rev. Trudy And it's Imago Dei 2.0: Celebrating Neighborhood Dreamers, right? 00:02:12:05 - 00:02:18:04 Kenton I think we fit the bill, right? The neighborhood? Yeah, yeah. 00:02:18:06 - 00:02:43:19 Kenton This verse, this scripture verse, speaks to me in a couple of different ways. I was thinking about it through the lens of how God has prepared me for the work that I do at Dream School, and a lot of that work was unbeknownst to me at the time. I tell people a lot: I'm not a big fan of the rapper Drake, but he has a song where the hook is like, "God's plan, God's plan." 00:02:43:21 - 00:03:04:04 Kenton And I think about that because in the work that I do at Dream School—even this week—I texted my mentor to say thank you for the "how." He showed me how to do the work in community spaces in the past. And at one of the group homes that I taught at years ago, in the concrete, permanently scratched or etched into the concrete, 00:03:04:04 - 00:03:16:10 Kenton A quote from Frederick Douglass—I believe it's from Frederick Douglass—that says, "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." 00:03:16:13 - 00:03:20:12 Rev. Trudy I think that's a beautiful and so true saying. 00:03:20:14 - 00:03:42:14 Kenton And to me, that fits into the scripture because, like you said, we are creating a safe space for kids to dream. I'm sure it'll come up later, what that safety looks like to the different students that we have at Dream School. I think—and you and I have talked about this before—once folks come into Dream School and see what's happening, 00:03:42:15 - 00:04:01:00 Kenton better than seeing what's happening, feel what's happening in Dream School. I think it does go back to this, to where the kids feel, "Okay, I can grow here. I can be silly without getting in trouble." I shared with someone recently in a poem I wrote, the kids don't get in trouble, they get redirected at Dream School, and I think that says a lot. 00:04:01:01 - 00:04:07:16 Kenton Yeah. This verse—where's the part that says... 00:04:07:18 - 00:04:29:06 Kenton "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." For us, for you and I, going back to 2020, it definitely was a vision. Everything in 2020 was a vision, right? But I think it's somewhat comical. You and I know the story of, "Are you sitting down?" 00:04:29:06 - 00:04:32:02 Kenton “…. Yes. What's going on?” But the idea... 00:04:32:02 - 00:04:34:00 Rev. Trudy That was my first push toward it. 00:04:34:01 - 00:04:35:07 Kenton That's when we first got to know each other. 00:04:35:07 - 00:04:38:18 Rev. Trudy Right. Shall we do something really different here? Yeah. 00:04:38:20 - 00:04:39:00 Kenton And I— 00:04:39:00 - 00:04:40:09 Rev. Trudy Dream School was the result. 00:04:40:10 - 00:04:42:22 Kenton Yeah. And I remember you said we'll just call it Dream School for now. 00:04:42:23 - 00:04:43:14 Rev. Trudy Yeah. 00:04:43:16 - 00:05:04:00 Kenton And I was like, okay. I don't even know if you knew me well enough at the time to understand or know that Dr. King is such a big part of who I am—his work and his legacy. So, to have it called Dream School, have that name stick, to call our little kids Dreamers, and then to have the kids come in there... We had a new boy start this week. 00:05:04:01 - 00:05:20:05 Kenton He's like, "Well, what do I do?" "What do you want to do?" "What do you mean?" "It's free art time. You can draw, you can paint, you can do this, that, or the other." We don't know this guy, and the second drawing he gave me was of Spain winning the World Cup. 00:05:20:07 - 00:05:27:19 Kenton Right. And so, of course, it touched my heart immediately. Soccer. "Mr. Kenton, here's a present for you." There you go. But the other thing he drew... 00:05:27:21 - 00:05:31:12 Rev. Trudy And he had a little bit of prophetic knowledge on that because they did. 00:05:31:13 - 00:05:32:17 Kenton It was a day after. It was the day after. 00:05:32:23 - 00:05:33:09 Rev. Trudy Okay. 00:05:33:10 - 00:05:35:05 Kenton So, he knew that, but I was... 00:05:35:06 - 00:05:37:01 Kenton I think the prophetic knowledge for this little guy … 00:05:37:16 - 00:05:38:23 Rev. Trudy I was trying to make the scripture come true! 00:05:39:00 - 00:05:40:04 Kenton Well, wait, wait, wait. 00:05:40:06 - 00:05:59:07 Kenton Okay, not particularly this one, but he drew a fish. I was like, "What is this?" He's like, "Well, I love to fish with my grandpa." To him it's just a fish, this very detailed fish. But Miss Cindy and I were like, "Oh, wow. This guy is talking about fish." And I thought: fisher of men, fisher of dreams, 00:05:59:07 - 00:06:00:14 Kenton fisher of hope. 00:06:00:16 - 00:06:03:21 Rev. Trudy The symbol that was used for early Christians was fish. 00:06:04:02 - 00:06:22:06 Kenton And that same day, with somebody else—staff or volunteer, I don't recall who—I said, "You know what we are? You shouldn't have to know my denomination or my faith background if you can see what I'm doing, if you can see what we're doing." 00:06:22:07 - 00:06:34:07 Kenton Right. And in that same vein, the grandma comes to pick the new kid up. "How'd it go?" And she meets Brian and Cindy, she meets everybody, and out of her mouth immediately: "God bless you all." 00:06:34:08 - 00:06:34:17 Rev. Trudy Yeah. 00:06:34:19 - 00:06:36:02 Kenton And that doesn't happen all the time. 00:06:36:03 - 00:06:36:07 Rev. Trudy Right. 00:06:36:08 - 00:06:55:08 Kenton But back to this: I think that we have all been tasked with sharing this vision and inviting these kids to dream. I tell the kids all the time, when you're old like Mr. K, you can dream what your after-school program or enrichment program looks like, if it's a safe space. 00:06:55:09 - 00:07:26:19 Kenton So, I think if we can build these kids up now, then they'll be less likely to be broken adults. Or if they are broken adults, because we all go through those things, they'll have some form of creativity, or know that their creative expression, their choice of healthy food, and/or the desire to exercise can ground us and bring us back into alignment, if you will, to understand God's plan—that God has something bigger than us in this moment of strife or struggle. 00:07:26:20 - 00:07:28:02 Kenton Yeah. And so, yeah. 00:07:28:11 - 00:07:48:10 Rev. Trudy And all of those things are within their control to a certain extent, right? It's not dependent on the job that they have or how they're doing in school. It's all about what they can succeed at, and it just gives them many more options for feeling that success, right? 00:07:48:12 - 00:07:48:18 Kenton Yeah. 00:07:48:19 - 00:08:04:10 Kenton I think that summarizes it, too. Again, you're not going to get in trouble. Of course, there are things you can't do at Dream School. But we have three rules: be safe, be respectful, be responsible. And we tell the kids anything that you think is not safe, respectful, or responsible, you probably shouldn't do it. 00:08:04:11 - 00:08:04:21 Rev. Trudy Yeah. 00:08:05:00 - 00:08:08:21 Kenton If you're not sure, ask an adult. Right. So, try to keep it simple. 00:08:08:22 - 00:08:40:05 Rev. Trudy So smart. You mentioned the vision that we put out there, I guess, as to what that could be. Surely, I just kind of said, "What do you think?" and he ran with it, and it's been amazing to see. But I have to say, part of this really was foreshadowing the rewilding that we have done at the church, that long visioning process that has brought to us some of the more successful elements of our ministry these days. 00:08:40:11 - 00:09:16:03 Rev. Trudy But for me, I was aware that it's hard for families to come to church on Sunday morning every single week, and it's hard to build relationships or sustain a typical Sunday school program with that kind of fluctuation. So, I was aware that we needed to be doing something different in our children's ministry somehow when this opportunity came to us in 2020. 00:09:16:03 - 00:09:39:15 Rev. Trudy And not just that, but I had always kind of thought—I worked with a pessimist in my previous church who used to say, "Well, the church is going to be dead in 15 years anyway," which, hopefully not. But I knew that change was happening, and that we didn't know exactly where the church was going. 00:09:39:16 - 00:10:05:03 Rev. Trudy And so, in that church and then in this instance, I knew that if we are doing what we're supposed to be doing in serving people beyond the walls of the church, the church can die and we will be okay. You know what I mean? All of that is to say, this is different than your former role here. 00:10:05:03 - 00:10:27:03 Rev. Trudy And you have had a great, long learning curve. This isn't Sunday School. What are the differences? How do you see what you're doing at Dream School as both maybe a new challenge, but also a continuity of what you might have been doing here? 00:10:27:05 - 00:10:51:06 Kenton It's definitely different than Sunday school. At a concrete level, it's a different type of preparation. When I was the Director of Discipleship for First Church, it was a lot of, for me, not having a theological background but growing up in the Episcopal Church, which is very similar in many facets to the Methodist Church. 00:10:51:06 - 00:11:16:22 Kenton But I think the preparation for Sunday morning—A Time With Children, lessons for Kids First, K-5 grade, Students First, 6-12 grade, and even some of the work I was doing with college-aged kids pre-pandemic—was, "Okay, what's the scripture lesson for Sunday morning? How do I interpret it, and how do I break it down for children?" 00:11:17:00 - 00:11:28:14 Kenton We had the books. We had the workbooks and all that stuff. But for me, it's always been: What is something tangible? So, if the kids get in the car with mom and dad after church and they ask, "What did you do in Sunday school today?" 00:11:28:15 - 00:11:29:10 Rev. Trudy Right. 00:11:29:16 - 00:11:48:17 Kenton My hope was always that they could talk about whatever the Scripture lesson was from a child's perspective, whether it's just showing what we colored today, the poetry we worked on, or some type of drama. And then the adults, parents, or grandparents could talk about whatever the sermon was and hopefully meet somewhere in the middle. 00:11:48:21 - 00:11:50:22 Rev. Trudy You doing that intergenerational connection. 00:11:50:23 - 00:11:59:17 Kenton No, that's what I like to do. My kids used to say, "Daddy's old lady friends at church," is what my youngest would say a lot. 00:11:59:19 - 00:12:04:23 Kenton But I think that shift is now it's a daily preparation, right? 00:12:05:02 - 00:12:05:12 Rev. Trudy Yeah. 00:12:05:13 - 00:12:27:14 Kenton It's Monday through Thursday, Monday through Friday with the kids. It's Monday through Thursday. But I think also, I don't lean on scripture, obviously, because we're not doing church work at Dream School. I'm able to take—it's almost, to an extent, a reverse. Now I take the Sunday morning message, whether I'm here in person or watching online, 00:12:27:14 - 00:12:49:21 Kenton and ask, "How does that guide me through the workweek?" I think the other way—again, I said a little bit about this before—is people watching the work that we do at Dream School. They don't have to know if I'm Christian, Muslim, or anything else to recognize that I'm doing God's work. And the kids recognize that. They might not name it, but it feels good. 00:12:49:22 - 00:12:56:11 Kenton Something about this place feels good. I'm eating good. I'm exercising. I'm painting. I'm getting messy. I'm not getting in trouble. I'm not being told what I have to do to win. 00:12:56:11 - 00:12:58:08 Rev. Trudy Yeah, yeah. 00:12:58:09 - 00:13:11:09 Kenton And then many folks in First Church will remember Phil Emerson. And one of the things that he shared with me years ago was some form of this: “You can tell if an event was successful, if there's laughter and lingering.” 00:13:11:11 - 00:13:13:01 Rev. Trudy I like that. 00:13:13:03 - 00:13:28:01 Kenton At the end of summer session week two, a new little girl said to her mom at pickup time, "I don't want to go." And her mom said, "You have to go." And she's like, "Mom, I don't want to go." "Well, you'll be back tomorrow." And she brought her cousin back on day two. Now the two of them are talking about coming back in the fall. 00:13:28:01 - 00:13:28:23 Rev. Trudy The fall. Oh, wonderful. 00:13:29:00 - 00:13:48:06 Kenton Again, it's the culture that we create where everyone is welcomed. We give leadership roles to the kids who've been there for a while: "Hey, Savannah, you've been here two summers now. I need you to give a tour to these adults who are coming to visit." They're learning leadership skills. We have a wonderful relationship with local high schools. 00:13:48:06 - 00:13:58:07 Kenton So high school kids are coming in and learning leadership skills, developing those skills, and getting out of their comfort zone. A lot of people think they want to work with kids and realize, "Oh, this is way more than I signed up for." 00:13:59:10 - 00:14:00:13 Kenton Because they talk back. 00:14:00:15 - 00:14:04:15 Kenton They make jokes that may be inappropriate or might hurt your feelings if you're not a little flexible with it. 00:14:05:18 - 00:14:23:04 Kenton But at the end of the day, the culture that we've created at Dream School—of love and acceptance, where everybody is included and it's not a competition—that's really hard. This summer we have more little boys than we've ever had, and so the energy in there is different. Sometimes you forget that little boys can roughhouse, right? 00:14:23:05 - 00:14:24:01 Rev. Trudy Yeah, yeah. 00:14:24:03 - 00:14:28:05 Kenton But it's simple again: "You're not in trouble. Hey, we don't make guns out of Legos here," right? 00:14:28:06 - 00:14:28:20 Rev. Trudy Right. Oh. 00:14:28:20 - 00:14:46:18 Kenton Well, okay. How can you do that nonviolently? Okay. And so, then that gun—our plowshares—are changed, right? Our weapons are changing. Even today: "Hey, you guys, pick up those toys. It's almost time for run club." "She was doing it." "Okay, but if we all work together, what happens?" 00:14:46:19 - 00:15:00:15 Kenton Instead of saying, "Hey, Jason, get over here and help," we say, "Jason, you helped me earlier build this, can you help me put these away for Mr. Kenton and Miss Cindy?" So, it's just changing how we show compassion and love in something as simple as picking up Legos, right? 00:15:00:16 - 00:15:25:05 Rev. Trudy You know, I love this, and I was curious when you said that it's kind of a reverse from your role in Sunday school. There, you're seeing the scripture and then you're trying to live in the scripture to convey what it is. But now you are internalizing the scripture so that it comes out not in teaching, but in behavior, culture-setting, and that kind of thing. 00:15:25:05 - 00:15:31:00 Rev. Trudy And I think that's really beautiful. That's what we preachers hope everybody does. 00:15:31:00 - 00:15:31:09 Kenton Right. 00:15:31:11 - 00:15:54:20 Rev. Trudy You know, internalize it and then go out and make the world different, right? And the idea that you are influencing these young people with values that our culture may not always support or be the first to teach—it just makes me so happy. 00:15:54:20 - 00:15:59:07 Rev. Trudy Make me happy. It really does. It just makes me very, very happy. 00:15:59:08 - 00:16:11:01 Kenton And I hope it makes everyone who experiences Dream School happy—the parents, the older parents who are crying and saying, "Oh, my kids are going to middle school now," and the new parents saying, "All this is free?" 00:16:11:03 - 00:16:12:01 Rev. Trudy Yeah, yeah. 00:16:12:02 - 00:16:14:17 Kenton And all I have to do is drop them off and pick them up? That's all we ask. 00:16:14:18 - 00:16:15:06 Kenton You know? 00:16:15:07 - 00:16:22:04 Kenton Yeah. And I'm sure we'll talk about this a little bit later. But then they realize it's not just an after-school program. 00:16:22:05 - 00:16:23:00 Rev. Trudy That's right. 00:16:23:01 - 00:16:26:16 Kenton It's a community of support for not just the child, but for their family as well. 00:16:26:17 - 00:16:28:01 Rev. Trudy Yeah. 00:16:28:03 - 00:17:04:11 Rev. Trudy Yeah, absolutely. So, coming back to the scripture. Joel, like all the prophets, was speaking in times of devastation. And for Joel, from what I've read, what was happening in his community was a plague of locusts and a drought that was challenging and leaving devastation, right? And Joel, like all the prophets, offers the answer: return to God. 00:17:04:11 - 00:17:14:17 Rev. Trudy Now, that's not our theology. We don't think bad things happen because you deserved it or did something wrong and God is not pleased. 00:17:14:19 - 00:17:39:15 Rev. Trudy But the turning to God, and to God-like principles, is the important thing that we take away from that. It just makes me wonder … I'm aware that some of the Dreamers have some really difficult circumstances, and Dream School is helping. Can you share a little bit about that? 00:17:39:17 - 00:17:51:19 Kenton I can try. I think it's safe to say that in this world we live in today, we have, as a collective, our own droughts and plagues. 00:17:51:21 - 00:17:52:22 Rev. Trudy Absolutely. 00:17:53:02 - 00:18:11:07 Kenton I think a lot of adults overlook the fact that children are picking up everything we do. I remember years and years ago, in maybe my second classroom ever, a girl asked me, "Why are your shoelaces always tied on the inside of your shoe?" And I'm like, "What?" I looked back and said, "Oh, it's because I get ready in the morning with my little girl on my lap." 00:18:11:08 - 00:18:33:08 Kenton When she was a baby, I was tying my shoe that way, and it just sort of stuck. Kids observe everything about you, right? And with that, children are going to look for someone who makes them feel comfortable. So, I think the diversity of our staff—you mentioned intergenerational … we call them our golden volunteers, our senior citizens who come in—is important. 00:18:33:09 - 00:18:54:14 Kenton We have college interns. We have high school interns and volunteers. We had middle schoolers last summer—kids from here at First Church. But I think for a child to be able to look up and say, "When I'm in high school, I want to do what she does.” Or: "When I'm in college, I want to come back and volunteer at a place like this," matters. 00:18:54:15 - 00:19:23:07 Kenton And we have a high school volunteer, a recent graduate from the school who will be attending UCSD in the fall, who said she's going to study education sciences because of her experience with me and Miss Cindy last summer. But to bring it back to the children that you mentioned, we have a kid—and I don't want to be too specific—but his family was going through a heavyweight divorce, and both parents came and spoke to us ahead of the child. 00:19:23:09 - 00:19:35:10 Kenton They texted me on a Sunday evening: "Hey, we let so-and-so know what's going on. This is the trajectory for Mom and Dad." I know I went through that. My kids went through that. 00:19:35:11 - 00:19:36:00 Rev. Trudy Yeah. 00:19:36:01 - 00:19:52:20 Kenton So, I would take time to talk to Dad: "Hey, dude, this is what I went through. I'm not telling you how to live your life, but she's going to have questions. She's going to be mad at you. She's not going to understand. But as long as you can get here on time—2:45, Monday through Thursday—we've got her." 00:19:52:23 - 00:20:09:22 Kenton "You go relax. You go figure out what you have to figure out." With that same family—and, you know, as divorce goes, you see things start changing over time—this parent is not dropping off the kid as much anymore. The parents don't speak to each other when they're both on site together. 00:20:09:22 - 00:20:24:20 Kenton And I saw that in my past as a soccer coach: one parent is way over here and one parent is way over there, and I'm in the middle like, "Yeah, you're good? No, good. Can we celebrate together?" But with this particular family, at our end-of-the-year party this past May, both of them thanked me separately. 00:20:24:21 - 00:20:48:21 Kenton And they thanked me together because their kid has gone through even more changes in terms of identity and self-expression. But the one constant since 2024 has been Dream School. And the same kid would tell Dad, "Hey, can we move swim practice to Friday this week? Because I want to be here on Thursday." And Dad would tell me, "Hey, this kid's coming home and saying, 'Let's adjust the schedule so they can be at Dream School during the week.'" 00:20:48:23 - 00:21:11:12 Kenton Another example of that is Miss Cindy, who is a graduate from the Preuss School, which is a 6-through-12 school on the UCSD campus for first-generation students. It's been important for her to try to guide some of our first-generation students in that same direction. And one family in particular has separate homes. 00:21:11:13 - 00:21:33:07 Kenton Mom is remarried with a new husband and his baby from another relationship, and Dad is with his mom and his sister. Dad's a war vet. Over the course of this past year, Cindy has been trying to help get his daughter into the Preuss School and apply. Dad was very hesitant, like, "I went to this local middle school, and I went to Hoover High School. Why does she have to do anything different?" 00:21:33:12 - 00:22:04:16 Kenton And for Cindy to just kind of sit back and say, "This is what this school offers." Mom is gung-ho, like, "Oh, I'm going to put my kid in this school, and she's going to have all the opportunities like you guys did." Dad was very reluctant. Then, little by little—this started in September of last year—in May, as we were cleaning up after our end-of-the-year party, I overheard him talking to Cindy. I was over here cleaning up the trash and listening. 00:22:04:16 - 00:22:16:13 Kenton And I said, "Hey, this is a good time for me to step in." He said, "Hey, Kenton, I'm sorry I told you I was going to do the 5K in January. I didn't, but I've got bad hips, I've got a bad back, I had surgery, this, that, and the other. I don't go to the VA because I don't want them to give me drugs." 00:22:16:13 - 00:22:41:15 Kenton "And I don't want to be like these other guys that become addicts." And I was like, "You know what? I know a guy." That sounds cliché, right? But one of my gifts is being a community builder and being able to say, "Okay, I know somebody here who does this and this," and to connect him—or try to do my part to connect him—with one of our Stephen Ministers, who's also a vet and has worked with guys transitioning back into society. 00:22:41:16 - 00:22:58:01 Kenton So that was in May. Then just last week, Dad came in and said, "Hey, I got your text. Thanks for trying to connect me with so-and-so, but I'm just not ready." And I was like, "Dude, that's okay. I'm just offering you. I told you, it's more than an after-school program. It's a community center." He's like, "Dude, can I talk to you for a second?" 00:22:58:01 - 00:23:10:04 Kenton I'm like, "Yeah." And he's like, "When I was in Afghanistan, I saw this, I saw that, I saw the third. I had a gun," and all these things that he would never say in front of his kid. And I was like, "But look, you're here. That's what's important." 00:23:10:05 - 00:23:12:01 Rev. Trudy And he said them to you. Yeah. 00:23:12:02 - 00:23:30:23 Kenton And you're trusting your kid with us. I said, "So when you're ready to reach out to my buddy, reach out to him. He'll be there." He's like, "Dang, man." And I was like, "I'm old. I know people. I know people who were in Iraq. I know people who were in Afghanistan. So, you're not the first vet that I've heard talk about the difficulties in transitioning back home." 00:23:31:04 - 00:23:44:23 Kenton I was like, "So whatever I can do to help you and your family out, bro, I got you." And he just looked at me kind of in disbelief. "Can I give you a hug, Kenton?" I was like, "Yeah." And his daughter is going to sixth grade, and she's like, "That's weird," right? But she has no idea what our conversations are about. 00:23:45:02 - 00:24:06:18 Kenton He does. Now you do. But again, that goes to show what the space is and how my work is different. Prior to working at First Church, I taught undocumented minors, and I didn't have relationships with parents. My work here at the church was different too, in terms of—like I say—most families are on their best behavior on Sunday morning, right? 00:24:06:19 - 00:24:07:17 Rev. Trudy Yeah, yeah. 00:24:07:20 - 00:24:24:05 Kenton But during the school week, things get messy. I have texted parents like, "Hey, it's 6:30. Where are you?" "I forgot my kid. I'll be there in ten minutes." "Take your time. We're here. Don't race down Adams Avenue. Don't race on the freeway. We're here." But then understanding the nuances within those families matters. 00:24:24:05 - 00:24:43:11 Kenton And how Dream School can support your child after school or in the summertime, and then how we can support the family—whether that's looking for the best public-school option; helping a vet; helping someone who wants to get into their fitness journey; or introducing them to Coach John, myself, or others. There are all these different angles that we can offer. 00:24:43:12 - 00:25:08:15 Kenton I have a woman who's going to be teaching nutrition classes to adults starting in September out of Dream School. All these things, again, I think are God's plan. I had no idea 22 years ago that I would be doing this work. But I also think back to when I was in a classroom teaching, and one of my buddies, my teaching partner Chris, would be like, "Man, if we had our own school, we wouldn't have to worry about any of these people." 00:25:08:17 - 00:25:09:17 Kenton And now I do. 00:25:09:18 - 00:25:10:12 Rev. Trudy And now, you do. 00:25:10:12 - 00:25:24:22 Kenton And I get to have that freedom of creation, creativity and curriculum design. I get to invite, you know, the neuroscience department from USD over to dream school and have tangible brains for our kids to touch or for our kids to say, “Hey, that lady's a scientist!” 00:25:25:00 - 00:25:25:12 Rev. Trudy Yes. 00:25:25:13 - 00:25:45:23 Kenton “What do I have to do to be a scientist?” “Talk to that lady. See what it's about,” right? And so, those are some of the differences between working as a youth minister versus working out in the community, but still working with children, pouring my love and my team's love into these kids to where they're like, "Oh, I don't know what to do with all this love." 00:25:46:00 - 00:26:25:02 Rev. Trudy And allowing for whatever they're going through to be part of the conversation—it's a ministry, really. It's a ministry. And it is, without ever talking about scripture, without ever making them listen to a sermon. It's powerful in that way. And bringing it back to Joel: people can't dream if they're not safe, if their needs aren't met, if they aren't able to feel comfort in these times of devastation. 00:26:25:04 - 00:26:35:03 Rev. Trudy And so, you're creating this safety, and this community center really is creating Dreamers. 00:26:35:06 - 00:26:36:18 Kenton And not just little kid dreamers. 00:26:36:18 - 00:26:37:19 Rev. Trudy That's right. 00:26:37:21 - 00:26:41:13 Kenton We have plans for a chess club. 00:26:41:15 - 00:26:42:14 Rev. Trudy Oh, wow. 00:26:42:16 - 00:26:56:20 Kenton But that comes from the loss of a friend who was doing a similar type of work up in the Bay Area, and they had a chess club for kids up there. To honor him for his birthday in August, we're looking to do a chess club for kids. I love it. Again, it's just something different. 00:26:57:00 - 00:26:58:04 Kenton It's a safe space. 00:26:58:05 - 00:27:01:23 Rev. Trudy Yeah. Are you talking to the kids about your friend that had passed away? 00:27:02:00 - 00:27:02:22 Kenton Some of them met him. 00:27:03:00 - 00:27:03:11 Rev. Trudy Okay. 00:27:03:12 - 00:27:21:13 Kenton And so, that's something else different from my previous work, and from not having a relationship with parents at the group home. Working in a group home, the kid might get a phone call and be crying all night: "My tío passed away in the fields in Guatemala," or whatever. How do you help a kid mourn in a group home when they have to be here? 00:27:21:14 - 00:27:42:04 Kenton There are all these things on time versus when my friend Scribe passed away, and the family that was at the 5K that heard him speak at our art exhibit, our art auction, at the MLK Gospel Choir event here. I could say to the mom, "Hey, is it okay if I talk to your kid about death?" "Kenton, I trust you. Go ahead." 00:27:42:05 - 00:27:42:17 Kenton Go ahead. 00:27:42:18 - 00:27:43:09 Rev. Trudy Yeah. 00:27:43:11 - 00:28:01:12 Kenton And so, being able to talk to this child about it—and then, wow, I'm going to laugh because we all have to, to keep from crying, right? But another little kid says, "Wait, your friend died?" Kids are rough around the edges, right? And the other kid is like, "You don't have to say it like that, dude." But it's meeting them where they're at. 00:28:01:13 - 00:28:02:04 Rev. Trudy Yeah, yeah. 00:28:02:05 - 00:28:18:20 Kenton And if this kid is not coming from a background where it's okay to talk about death and doesn't know how, it is awkward. "What do you mean, that man I just met in January died?" But being left out of those conversations—"How did he die?"—that's heavy, right? But here's his legacy. 00:28:18:21 - 00:28:22:13 Kenton Here's what we're going to do: our run club, we're going to run just like he was running, you know. 00:28:22:14 - 00:28:46:18 Rev. Trudy And I'm sure that it's not just a theoretical conversation because they met him. But I think they're also probably watching you deal with it in a way that's appropriate for children to watch, and in a way that helps them remember, so that when something devastating like that happens to them, they will know how to be safe in the midst of it. 00:28:46:18 - 00:29:03:01 Kenton And through that, me sharing my painting—which is therapeutic for me. Poetry and painting are therapeutic for me. So, I invited those kids who met him: "Hey, will you help me do this part of this painting? What do you think I should put here?" "Oh, he would love that." "Hey, Mr. K, did you finish yet?" 00:29:03:03 - 00:29:11:07 Kenton And so now it's a collective celebration rather than an individual mourning. 00:29:11:08 - 00:29:11:19 Rev. Trudy Yeah. 00:29:11:20 - 00:29:27:04 Kenton And so, to be able to invite his peers to the memorial service here in San Diego and say, "Hey, come over, hang out at school. We're going to do a run in his honor." I was surprised by how many people showed up for that. And I hear my friend's voice: "Kenton, just open up the space. You don't have to do anything. Just open up the space." 00:29:27:05 - 00:29:42:13 Kenton Sometimes it's as simple as that. And I think that takes us back to April 2020, when you hit me up with this idea: "Are you sitting down? I was thinking, if we could turn that thrift store into..." Okay, let's just open up a space. 00:29:42:14 - 00:30:03:09 Kenton And in those reflections, Reverend Trudy, I also consider literally blood, sweat, and tears. My father passed away before Dream School opened. So for me, some of the demolition before we hired the contractors was therapeutic. There are certain parts of the building that look completely different, but I remember sitting in a chair just bawling. 00:30:03:10 - 00:30:31:06 Kenton And thinking, "All right, Dad. What's next?" I can hear my dad's voice. Or when I walk into different parts of Dream School, I can see where my kids' suggestions would be. My 14-year-old was, gosh, tiny then, and she suggested beanbags. We have these cool little floor-level seats that are beanbags that a seven-year-old envisioned. 00:30:31:07 - 00:30:31:20 Rev. Trudy Would love. 00:30:32:01 - 00:30:54:01 Kenton And now I have to tell these kids, "Stop bouncing on those stairs, please." But to a little kid—eight or nine years old—that's fun. That's a comfortable place to read. And so as long as we can just open it up and invite the children and their families to see and experience Dream School, it goes back to our scripture: folks, everybody of all ages, dreaming dreams. 00:30:54:03 - 00:31:13:07 Rev. Trudy I love it. Kenton, thank you so much for talking with us. I know we have a lot more that we could say, but you've given us an awful lot to think about. I am just in awe of what's happening there and very, very proud to have called you that one day. And that's about all I have done. 00:31:13:08 - 00:31:21:04 Rev. Trudy So thank you. I'm proud of you for what you have been growing, and I pray that it's around for a long, long time. 00:31:21:06 - 00:31:22:07 Kenton That is the prayer. 00:31:22:08 - 00:31:44:13 Rev. Trudy Thanks for listening, everyone. We have some questions for you that are related to this topic, and we invite you to find somebody to have conversations with. You can join the group on campus at First Church; it's known as Convergence. You can find our website and learn more about that if you'd like to join us. 00:31:44:15 - 00:32:20:12 Rev. Trudy Or just find somebody to share the podcast with and answer these questions on your own. These are the ones you can think about. The first one is: How might you see the dreams of children as revealing the movement of the Spirit? The second: How might a return to God—Joel's answer, and all the prophets' answer—be helpful when devastating events occur? 00:32:20:14 - 00:32:36:10 Rev. Trudy And: How might we all best honor and protect children and their dreams? Thanks for listening. We'll catch you next time. Bye. 00:32:36:11 - 00:32:38:01 Kenton Yeah. 00:32:38:03 - 00:32:51:15 Rev. Trudy This is a production of First United Methodist Church of San Diego. To learn more about our events and ministries and to access additional learning resources, visit fumcsd.org