SOLID START
Focusing on life from God's perspective.
SOLID START
Why We Go!
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Greg and Brian are joined by Cisco Gonzales, Director of Integration, to talk about the annual Merrell Bros. mission trip to Jamaica coming in January 2027. In Luke 10, Jesus reminds His followers, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few,” and then gives a simple but powerful command: Go!
Join the conversation as Greg, Brian, and Cisco share personal testimonies, experiences, and perspectives on serving others in Jamaica—and consider the opportunity and challenge for each of us to answer the call and Go!
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Solid Start, a podcast designed to get your week off to a solid start by focusing on life from God's perspective. I'm Greg Reed, life coach at Merrill Bros, located in the tropical paradise of Kokomo, Indiana, joined by my ever amazing and popular co-host Brian Herzog. Brian, good morning. Morning. What's up? Uh this is a busy week for me. Is it? Yeah. Okay. You had a you had a good weekend?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was a great weekend. Okay. Um packing things up for my son. He's moving out this week to start school and he's getting married also. No way. Yeah. How great. Yeah, so exciting. Sounds exciting. A lot, a lot to plan for. So what else you got going on this week, man? Come on. Yeah, to work for a living or something? Yeah, and we have soccer games this week. So we've got a lot going on. Okay. Yeah. But it's great. I love, love every minute of it.
SPEAKER_01Great. Well, hey, Brian, I think I'll have you uh we have a guest today again, and so I'm excited about that. So I'll let you uh have the privilege of doing the introduction.
SPEAKER_00This morning we are joined by Cisco Gonzalez, Director of Integration. How long have you been with this now? Uh just over ten months now. Ten months, yeah. That's awesome. Well, this morning we spoke about Jamaica, and uh really excited for you to uh tell everyone about that this morning. I have been. Yes. Um and it's uh it's a great experience. So I I'd love to just jump right in.
SPEAKER_01I did want to uh uh interject uh as as Sisko was talking this morning. I was thinking about the passage in Luke 10 where Jesus sends out 72. I don't know how many we have signed up at this point, uh, but uh Jesus sent out like it was like an advanced mission, and he was going to be going to these places, so he sent his advanced team out uh two by two. So here's how it starts in Luke 10. It says, after this, after what had happened the previous chapter, uh the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. And I just thought about the fact that, you know, before the Lord returns, we get to have this team going to Jamaica to, in a sense, live out what it looks like to be Jesus. And so, Brian, I'll have you pick up um the rest of the story there, and then Sisko will uh we'll have him jump in here in a little bit as well. So go ahead and tell us what happens.
SPEAKER_00And Jesus told them, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field. Go. I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals, and do not greet anyone on the road.
SPEAKER_01Sisko, will you will allow your team to take a bag and some sandals? We do want you to have some shoes on your trip. That's kind of important. Say hi to people. And it's okay to say hi to people. Again, this was uh very specific instructions for this journey, but just the fact that Jesus was sending these people out, that's the exciting part that I think relates to what we're doing. So why don't you uh uh Cisco pick up there in verse five of Luke 10 and we'll see how the uh what other instructions Jesus has for them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so when you enter a house, first say peace to this house. If someone who promoted promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them. If not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. When you enter a town and are welcome, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them the kingdom of God has come near to you.
SPEAKER_01That's uh that's just those are Jesus' instructions uh to them. And uh, you know, there's this idea that it begins with prayer, and we're to take time to listen, we eat with them, we serve them, and then we get to share the great new the best news possible. So there's this idea of blessing people all throughout this passage. So uh tell us a little bit about uh what you experienced last year. It was your first time in Jamaica, first time on a mission trip, or had you been on one before? Both.
SPEAKER_02It was my first time in Jamaica and first time on a mission trip. So what uh what did you bring back? What what changed? Gosh, I brought back so many things. Um again, and I I think it's said over and over, but it it is true is you you think you're going to bless them and you come back, your your cups running over. Um the obviously creating a new a new space for someone. Um it it just it blows your mind, the joy you see you bring to them. But all the other stuff that happens is something that um you can't really measure or even um share with somebody the the the joy that it brings, you know, the evening devotionals and um just sitting around and talking to people over a cup of coffee or um well last year we watched uh the Hoosiers beat Miami. Uh it was like one in the morning and Dustin had a big screen. Um and and we watched the football game and and watched the Hoosiers win the national championship. Just experience after experience. Um there's so many things that come to mind when I when I think back on that week and how great it was.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Brian, what uh highlights were you there? I think several times. Okay, but not last year. Did not go last year.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So what uh what do you still remember? Well, let me let me kind of set the stage a little bit here. Like a lot of people think of Jamaica and they think resorts. They think I'm gonna stop there on on a cruise ship. That's right. Um, like my son getting married this week, you know, thinking about honeymoons. We'll go to Jamaica and spend it in Jamaica. And I think that's what a lot of people think of is nice resorts, beautiful white sandy beaches, all of those things. But that's not the reality of Jamaica. That's the front that these larger companies put on for you. Like they they haul in that sand, just to be honest, uh, for those beaches. And the reality is we go to be served when we go to these resorts or we get off that ship, we expect to be served. But we just want to go and and not demand anything. We want to go and serve, serve the people of Jamaica because they are a lot of them are suffering. And we looked at at the conditions that a lot of these folks live in. Um they have nothing. Um dirt floors that literally, you said this morning, get washed away. Their house literally gets washed away if they have a heavy rain. Tarps for roofs that are, you know, if if there's if there's a hole they get poured on and it rains a lot there. Um just terrible, terrible conditions. There are so many wonderful folks there that when they smile and they greet you and they hug you, and it uh it just brings this sense of uh joy and just a sense of just like we are all a part of God's family, and the these are my brothers and my sisters here in Jamaica, and they're you know, they're they're dealing with a lot more every single day than I am. They're just trying to survive. Um changes your perspective on life. And I and that's what I love most about going on these trips and going to Jamaica. It changes your perspective. When you come home, you're like, I can turn on a faucet. I can flush a toilet.
SPEAKER_01Don't have to go outside and get a bucket of water that may not even be clean.
SPEAKER_00I can have food delivered to my house. You mean they don't have door dash there? Like these things that we we're just like, oh yes, like we we this is just commonplace here. Like we need sometimes we just need to wake up and I think I think Jamaica's a great wake-up call for us.
SPEAKER_01And don't you think that's why Ted and Gene Merrill uh a number of years ago said, hey, we need to we need to partner with this uh with the people of Jamaica so that every year we can take a team there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So Cisco, say a word about the logistics. Who's this for who can go? Uh if somebody's listened to this podcast and they say, Man, could I could I go on something like that? How does that happen?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so uh so far what I've noticed is everybody can go. Um certainly uh all Merrill Brothers employees, um the cost is zero other than if you don't have a passport. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um there's that I think I said And they have to use their own vacation days. Correct. Right? So but the cost of the trip itself is all I mean, where else do you get that? I mean, my my kids went on several mission trips, and we had to we had to finance those. Yeah. Yeah. So that's an that's an amazing gift.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell Totally covered. Um yeah, to your point, there is uh you can take the week off um unpaid or you can use vacation days, whichever one you choose. Um but other than that, the the cost is covered.
SPEAKER_01Um and that includes flights and transportation and food all week and so if you bring a fan if you had a family member, a daughter, a mate, um whatever, father-in-law, uh how how was that covered?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so they they cover half of the cost um for for that. And um it is actually really reasonable. Um last year was was very reasonable. I took your point, I took my father-in-law um this year and plan on taking my daughter, my dad, and my father-in-law, and maybe even my brother. So I think the the Gonzalez family is gonna have its own wing in the house. Um but that's but yeah, it's so exciting. Um it just it and there's no cap, right? The they they want people to go and serve and experience this. So um, you know, it we we hope to fill the house this year.
SPEAKER_00Okay, great. Some of the things that that we do when we go, uh we build houses. And if you're like, you know what, I'm not very good at building houses. We also paint, we have like painting crew. Okay, we also in the past have visited schools and uh uh orphanages or or or whatever, um, even nursing homes.
SPEAKER_01Nursing home lunch. If somebody didn't, if they say I'm I don't think I can build just physically, I can't do it. I need to do something else, there are opportunities, right? There are opportunities. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Okay, yeah, like you said, there's lots of lunches, and I mean there there's so many things. Uh you know, it was amazing watching the little kids last year. I think that was one of my favorite parts was um there were some really young ones and you know, all the way up into uh mid-teens. Um, and they they got right in right in there and got involved, and they were you know nailing things and cutting things and and picking up trash and whatever they could do to help. But and the kids just watching them that whole week was truly amazing. They participated in devotionals and um they just they had fun, and uh I know this is amazing, even though there was soul service there and Wi-Fi. I I don't think I saw any of them pick up their phone the whole week. Um it was they were just that's pretty remarkable. Yeah, I mean it's what I remember, you know, back in the 1800s when I was a little kid, right? Or in the 1900s, I guess that sounds old too. But yeah, it was it was the there is something for everybody to do. That's great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So if you're listening to this today, you can uh you can say yes. And so, Brian, how would they get a hold of us if they do they need to call? Do they need to go on our website? How could they let us know back in Kokomo at headquarters that they're interested in going? If somebody's out on the road or they're in another part of the country.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would say Cisco, do you just want them to email you? Yeah, email Cisco. If you're a part of this company, just I would say email Cisco. And what's your what's your email address?
SPEAKER_02It is Cisco C-I-S-C-O.com.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And if they need to call headquarters and just say, hey, I forgot all of that, they could do that. Absolutely. Sure, we could get a hold of uh get a hold of you through that. Yep. So if you're listening to this and you think, well, I'm not I can't go to Jamaica, um, there's that's not going to work for me, um, what do I do with this podcast? And my my challenge to you is to open your circle, look for someone that's on the outside and find one practical way to you that you could include them this week. Maybe it's a meal, maybe it's a conversation, uh, some way that you could bring them into your circle. Um if you're going to Jamaica, you can invite someone to go with you. Um, but otherwise, uh maybe you just say, hey, who's who's standing just outside your circle that you could invite in this week?
SPEAKER_00That's right, because the mission field is right outside of your door.
SPEAKER_01And I think that sometimes we we just uh highlight only the people who go, but what about all of us, the majority who stay, we still have responsibility to include other people in and to do whatever we can to make a difference where we live, learn, work, and play. So, Cisco, why don't you uh we'll have you pray for planning for the Jamaica trip? It's January 18 to 23 of 2027. And we need to have word in if people want to go, we need to have them contact us by October 1st, correct? Absolutely. Okay, so they need so they've got a little bit of time to talk to their family, to talk to other people. If they want to invite someone to go with them, maybe they say, hey, I don't want to go by myself. Uh I won't know anybody. Well then invite somebody to go with you. But uh they need to get in touch with us by October 1st for next January 18 to 23. So we'll have you pray for all the planning that's happening. Uh Brian, why don't you uh maybe pray for uh the Arizona weekend that's uh coming up where people have an opportunity to just kind of step back and uh unplug and say, God, I I just need to hear from you. And so those are always uh meaningful weekends. And then I uh I want to pray. We had some we had nine interns uh this summer and they're headed back to school, and uh they just did a great job, and it was really enjoyable to be with them. So I just wanted to pray God's blessing on them.
SPEAKER_02Father God, we just we thank you. Um it's it's not normal um for for people to have this opportunity at work um and and so blessed by the the Merrill family that has done this year after year and takes this group to Jamaica. Um it just it's just an amazing blessing. Um and and we're just we just lift up the the team that um continues to put this together. It's a heavy lift. Um Gene makes it look easy, but there's a lot of things going on in the background and we just we just thank you for for the work that they continue to put in year after year and and and they they take care of all this themselves. Um so we just we thank you for the opportunity, but we also um you know we if you put it on someone's heart to to go and you know they're they're if they're nervous about it or whatever, we we pray that they reach out and have a conversation, ask the questions, um, you know, to to to make sure that people are are you know if they if they want to do this, that they they reach out and that they sign up. Um and then again, even if you're not going to Jamaica, um you know there's so many opportunities to go out and serve the community and serve others, and um that opportunity comes every day in everyday life. So uh we just pray that you put it on the hearts of the people that want to go and those who who can't, that they still get the opportunity to serve others. So in your name we pray.
SPEAKER_01Amen. God thank you.
SPEAKER_00Father, we're just so thankful that you put it on Ted and Gene's heart to start a ministry called The Way. Thank you for the weekend that's coming up in Arizona and the hundred people or plus hundred plus people that will be there. Thank you. And God, we just know that those who are gonna go through that weekend uh you have you have already started uh something in their heart. Uh for them just to be able to say, Yes, I will attend this weekend is a huge step, and God, and I we're excited to see what you're gonna do in the lives of those folks who attend. I pray for the staff that will be taking care of them and we're serving them. God, I pray that uh all travel and all the things, all the little things, the food, all the little uh nitpicky things, God, that you're going to take care of all of that so the weekend can just run smoothly and it will just be an amazing experience for everyone involved. Again, we're so thankful that you have put this ministry on the hearts of Ted and Gene. Um thank you for their uh servanthood and just carrying it out. We love you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01Eternal God, we're grateful for the nine uh college students that were a part of Merrill Brothers for this summer, and we just pray that it was a life-changing experience for them, that they got real-world opportunities to uh see what happens in a really great company. And so as they go back to school, we pray that they will have a heart to let other people know uh their experiences and how, in fact, God makes such a difference uh when he's a part of a company. And so we just give you thanks for their lives, for their families, and pray that this coming semester will be their best one ever. And uh, we're just so grateful that we get to be a part of a remarkable company and thanks for our leadership team and for how they lead us, and we pray you'll continue to give them your incredible wisdom in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, this week remember your practice assignments to open your circle. So notice someone who could use an invitation and invite them in. Brian, if someone had a prayer request in a way that they said, Hey, I just need somebody to walk alongside of me, maybe outside of a mission trip, outside of even a work setting, how could they do that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we actually have a lot of people who are uh getting in touch with us. Just go to Merrillbros.com, click on the prayer tab at the top of the page, and we will uh get back to you, or we'll just pray with you. If you want us to reach out, we will definitely pray for you.
SPEAKER_01Great. Well, hey, thanks uh everyone. We appreciate you joining us for solid start. Take care of yourself, take care of your team, and go make this a great day.