Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anthony & Josefina Thomas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Anthony & Josefina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.

Kingdom Talk is an outreach ministry that focuses on spreading the love of God in and out of the four walls of the church. We want to reach God’s people wherever they are and regardless of what they look like. Kingdom Talk has events called Pop-Up of Love where we randomly go to small communities and local restaurants and offer free meals to everyone that walks through the doors. One instance that pops into our mind is when we hosted a Pop-Up of Love at Big Belly’s in the Sunnyside/ South Park area of Houston, Texas. We partnered with the owner to offer free meals to the first 500 people that walk through their doors. We also offered prayer and had random gifts throughout the day. On this day we were blessed to meet many families that felt like giving up and us being there gave them a sign that God still loves them and still has their back. One gentleman that day expressed to us that he was walking by contemplating ending his life. Life has thrown him so many curve balls that he no longer wanted to live. We prayed with him, embraced him, gave him a visa gift card and told him to relax enjoy a hot meal and hang out. After spending about an hour with us he came back trying to fight back his tears because “he was too hard to cry.” He told us he has never experienced a love like he was shown today. Our kids embraced him and he stated “everyone was friendly and just seemed so genuine.” This is why we do the things we do. Sunnyside/South Park, are areas in Houston Texas that are full of poverty, hardship, lack, and violence. Many times, the people in this community shy away from outreach ministries because they feel they are being judged and looked down upon. However, we have shown ourselves to be consistent and genuine. Anthony and myself both have family members that live or have lived in this area and we have experienced first hand the hurt and pain that they have endured. This is why Kingdom Talk is so important to us and why we do what we do. At this same event we had a lady stop by on her lunch break only to buy a bag of chips because that’s all she could afford and she felt guilty about even buying that. When we told her we were offering a free meal and drink the first words out of her mouth were “what’s the catch?” We explained we only wanted to share God’s love yet was still skeptical. She even asked the cashier what the catch was and they told her “Nothing, these people just want to feed you!” She came back embraced us with a big hug and started to cry saying her and her kids have not eaten in a few days. We told her to have her kids stop by and get some food and even told them each to take a plate home. After receiving a gift card, she went on to tell us that she was considering leaving her kids because she couldn’t provide for them. She said she had just prayed to God that morning to please show her a sign that he still cared and then she ran into us. This isn’t to brag on Kingdom Talk or ourselves; this is to brag on God. It is truly a blessing to be able to be used by God and through our obedience the world can see a beacon of hope, love, and purpose for people who feel like they were counted out.

Anthony & Josefina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We are both Army veteran with three deployments between us. We also have four kids all boys. Seeing so many challenges that life throws at us, we’ve witnessed so many people give up and throw in the towel because they felt like there was no way they could make it. Through all our trials and test that we have endured we began to have a heavier level of compassion for those that were dealing with similar problems we were dealing with. We understood the importance of having a sign of hope. We began to seek God on how we could be better as well as how we could share the methods, we took to overcome our obstacles. We never shied away from our real story and we’ve never shied away from the things that we have done and gone through that we were not proud of. We did not use our storms as an opportunity to wallow in our mess. To often people remain stuck in their current position and do not perceive that God has called us to a position of victory. We offer insight through mentorship, speaking engagements, counseling, community empowerment events, prayer calls and other acts of love.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

For us consistency and being genuine to who we are has allowed us to grow, build relationships, and trust within the communities we serve. Many times, we hear the term boots on ground but don’t really understand what that means. For Kingdom Talk that means we serve the community where they are no matter their situation or appearance. Our openness about our past and present has allowed us to work in areas that has turned away and rejected other organizations.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

The advice we have is always understand that it is bigger than us. If we do not continue to push out and complete our assignment we will continue to stop and hinder others because we have allowed our own emotions to hinder us. You have to push even if you don’t feel like it because what you are caring is meant to help yourself as well as others. Remember your team is there to help push your vision and is not your competition. Treat them with love and respect continue to honor them and most importantly don’t ask them to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kingdomtalk.org
• Instagram: kingdomtalkorg
• Facebook: kingdomtalkorg
• Youtube: kingdomtalk2140