Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Dream Big Podcast. I'm so glad that you're on. Hope it's been a great week and the best part about hosting a podcast you get to have your friends on and Eugene Chow has been a friend of mine for a long time.

He's doing just such beautiful work in the world. And I just have this desire for you to hear from not only a person who loves God a lot, but loves people who are hungry that are dealing with some hard stuff and he's jumped in.

He's been with one day's wages. He is the founder of that and then is now president of Bread for the world. And so I'm really just delighted to introduce you to my friend Eugene Eugene. How you do, buddy?

Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be with you and that's been quite a few years since you and I connected and this is great for us to be able to talk again.

It has. I can just remember sitting around a table with you were in Florida. I think the last time I just talking about life and how complicated it can be between like faith and all the questions and sometimes there's a lot of angst about a bunch of issues and faith.

And one of the things that's been the drumbeat and among the many things I respect about you is that you just take this idea of loving your neighbor in a really practical way.

So take us on a little bit of the adventure of what's it been like to be you you had a church wasn't a quest church in Seattle.

Yeah, my wife and I planted a church many, many years ago and after 18 years we step aside. But during that time written a couple books. I've been speaking, trying to encourage pastors and ministry leaders and we continue to lead this organization called one day's wages where we try to inspire people to give up one day's other wages.

At least once a year. And then as you noted about three years ago, assumed the role of president at right for the world.

I'm so glad that you're doing that. I think the reason that they have you and I speaking at the same place is that I'm like just super fun and you're fun too, but you're also super deep.

We need a little depth depth to go with that. But so I know that's your voice in my life is not a solemn guy, but a serious guy when it comes to taking these things, I was hungry and you fed me and the idea that if you want to meet Jesus and you don't want to meet the hungry, you're not going to meet Jesus.

Like that's actually that wasn't by take on things. That was his take on things that if you don't find hurting lonely isolated people, then you won't find him because that's where he always is with hurting lonely isolated people.

Tell us about some of the things that are prompting you like in your life right now, what are the kind of larger messages of life and faith and integrating what you do is a day job as well.

Yeah, well, thanks for asking. I would like to go on the record to say that I am also fun. I do have some jokes.

Yeah, I want to go on the record and make it very clear to the internet that I am a fun person and trying to convince my kids that I'm a fun, a fun person.

But you know, I think in regards to your question about why issues of hunger and justice matter to me, there's a couple reasons why one is as followers of Jesus, we try to follow the way of Christ.

And we know that Christ cared about those who were hungry and vulnerable and on the margins just as you just noted.

And I think it's really important for us to just realize that following Jesus is not just about a set of rules, it's not about organized religion, it's about following the heart and character of Jesus Christ who gives us a glimpse of the kingdom of God who gives us a glimpse of the father's heart.

And so, you know, we can speak more about that, but that's the first reason is that I want to follow Jesus. I want to take this faith seriously because I believe that Jesus is the way the truth in the life.

The second reason why this matters to me is because it's very personal. My parents were both born in extreme hunger and poverty. My father was born in what is now called North Korea.

And the stories that he share are absolutely incredulous, whether it's pulling out grass from the ground to consume it because he had nothing else to eat.

And sadly, those are not just stories from 60 years ago. These are still things that are happening around the world today.

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