Episode 117
Legacy of Encouragement: Bishop Julius C. Trimble's Mission Continues
Episode 117 To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble
Legacy of Encouragement: Bishop Julius C. Trimble's Mission Continues
Transition and Transformation: Bishop Julius C. Trimble on Encouragement and New Beginnings
In this heartfelt episode of the "To Be Encouraged" podcast, Rev. Dr. Brad Miller engages in a deep and insightful conversation with Bishop Julius C. Trimble. As Bishop Trimble prepares to transition from his role as the Bishop of the Indiana Area United Methodist Church, he reflects on his journey, his mission of encouragement, and his inspiring vision moving forward. This episode is filled with gratitude, wisdom, and a passionate call to spread love and encouragement in a world often filled with negativity.
**Top 3 Takeaways:**
1. **The Power of Encouragement and Gratitude:**
- Bishop Trimble emphasizes the importance of expressing gratitude to others, acknowledging that his journey has been nurtured and supported by numerous people throughout his 40 years in ministry. He reflects on his mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ, underscoring that genuine encouragement goes beyond making people feel good about themselves; it's about inspiring them to do good for others and rise to their highest potential.
- "I want to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential," says Bishop Trimble, highlighting that his mission is rooted in his Christian faith and a desire to cultivate a better world.
2. **Addressing the Steady Diet of Negativity:**
- Bishop Trimble shares his concern about the pervasive negativity in today's society, where people are often offered reasons to dislike and distrust others. He points out the lack of public discourse on critical issues like the well-being of children and the basic right to secure shelter. His vision is to counteract this negativity with a "steady diet of encouragement," which he believes can transform lives and communities by fostering a spirit of can-doism and unity.
- He passionately states, "We're offered a steady diet of bad news... but there's so little discussion about those who are marginalized, those who have lost a sense of belonging."
3. **Looking Ahead: A Vision for Wider Impact:**
- As Bishop Trimble transitions out of his episcopal role, he sets a bold new goal for himself: to encourage 2,000,000 people. He plans to leverage various platforms, including his new website, bishopjuliusctrimble.com, to continue his mission of encouragement through writing, blogging, speaking engagements, and leadership training. Bishop Trimble's unwavering belief in the power of encouragement to transform lives is central to his vision moving forward.
- He says, "What if I intentionally decide part of my motivation at this stage... Let's set a wildly important goal that only you can accomplish if God helps you."
Join us in this inspiring episode as Bishop Julius C. Trimble shares his insights, aspirations, and unwavering commitment to spreading love and encouragement in an often discouraged world.
**Connect with Us:**
- **Website:** [To Be Encouraged Podcast](http://tobeencouraged.com)
- **Bishop Julius C. Trimble’s Website:** [bishopjuliusctrimble.com](http://bishopjuliusctrimble.com)
- **Subscribe & Listen:** Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcript
Hello again, good people, and welcome to the to the to be
Speaker:encouraged podcast with Bishop Julius c
Speaker:Trimble. The podcast where we look to offer an encouraging word to
Speaker:an often discouraged world. I'm your cohost, reverend doctor
Speaker:Brad Miller. Well, bishop, we find ourselves in a
Speaker:place of absolute transition. We, you and I have
Speaker:done the To Be In Encourage podcast together with you as bishop
Speaker:of the Indiana Area United Methodist Church for a few years now.
Speaker:And now we're coming to the time when you're gonna be transitioning out of the
Speaker:office of bishop into some new endeavors. And so this
Speaker:is our last podcast together with you as the
Speaker:bishop of Indiana. So tell me a little bit what's going through your mind right
Speaker:now. What are some of the emotions that you're feeling? What what
Speaker:share a little bit. What what's going in your heart right now?
Speaker:Well, over the last, several weeks and actually several months, I've
Speaker:been saying thank you to a lot of people. And I have this
Speaker:this nightmare, or maybe it's not so much a nightmare, but this dream
Speaker:that that I know there's somebody people that I forgot to say
Speaker:thank you to. So I say thank you to you, Brad, and to the
Speaker:people who listen to this podcast. I've been so
Speaker:blessed to be a servant leader in the United Methodist Church for over
Speaker:40 years as a pastor,
Speaker:excuse me, and as a district superintendent and as
Speaker:a bishop. But most of all, I've also been able to be
Speaker:nurtured both by late late persons and clergy. And
Speaker:and, you know, all all pastors were laypersons. Mhmm.
Speaker:True. And we were we didn't just even if
Speaker:we're p k's as in your case Uh-huh. You know, you're
Speaker:you were a layperson before you were a pastor. So Sure. I
Speaker:really, really wanna say a big thank you to all of the laity
Speaker:women and men who, who live out their faith every day
Speaker:and are engaged in their local congregations and their communities,
Speaker:making a difference by expressing the love of Jesus Christ in
Speaker:so many ways. So this is a time for me
Speaker:to to reflect and to be thankful, and I
Speaker:think I'm really mostly feel, Brad, with the spirit sense of gratitude
Speaker:that, I remember one of my friends some years ago, Brad,
Speaker:from Chicago said, man, you a preacher?
Speaker:And then when then I became a bishop. You a bishop? You a bishop.
Speaker:Yeah. I said I said, look what God can do. Yeah. God could
Speaker:do anything. Right? I said, god can do anything. So I said, yes.
Speaker:And it's been my privilege to to be a servant leader. And I
Speaker:intend to continue to be to to to serve in in ways that
Speaker:hopefully will have a positive impact on the lives of others.
Speaker:I I said it out loud in a public setting that I
Speaker:wanted to encourage 2,000,000 people as I as I
Speaker:pivoted with passion to what god had next for me.
Speaker:Sure. So now I'm actually stepping into that, and,
Speaker:hopefully, this can be a vehicle for that to continue to happen. Well,
Speaker:let's just let's just talk about where all that started for a moment. I,
Speaker:you know, I first became of course, you and I have known each other and
Speaker:been, friends in one form or another for 40 something years in seminary days.
Speaker:But I was struck when you first came to Indiana, 8
Speaker:years ago. One of the first things I read and heard about you when
Speaker:I started to research a little bit was your mission statement, which I think
Speaker:you've had for some time. Sometime even before you came to Indiana, I
Speaker:believe. And I'm just gonna share it, and I want you to
Speaker:expand on it a little bit because I think it takes us to where we
Speaker:wanna go in our conversation. Your mission is to encourage all people with
Speaker:the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest
Speaker:potential or be encouraged for short. How long have you
Speaker:had that mission statement? And then tell us about how that kinda
Speaker:drives or impacts everything you're about. Well,
Speaker:actually, the the genesis of it goes back to to our family.
Speaker:My wife and I, particularly my wife, leading us in a process in
Speaker:as a family to really think through our our our
Speaker:mission statements. What it was we wanted to accomplish as a family
Speaker:and as individually doing that. So we both
Speaker:created mission statements that have stuck with us, and
Speaker:it it helped me particularly when after I left the local
Speaker:church and became a district superintendent. I said, I'm I know I'm
Speaker:gonna be in this position for a period of time, and then that
Speaker:period will come to an end. How can I leave something or
Speaker:have some moniker or some some motto,
Speaker:moniker, and statement that identifies who I
Speaker:am and how I want to lead and serve? And so
Speaker:that's then when I came up with to to to encourage all
Speaker:people, there's some key parts of the mission statement. First of
Speaker:all, it's not a segregated or it's not a
Speaker:caucus of tribal statement. I I wanna
Speaker:encourage all people, and it's rooted in my own Christian
Speaker:faith and witness. I wanna encourage them with the love of Jesus
Speaker:Christ to rise to their highest potential.
Speaker:So I've said this on a couple of occasions, but
Speaker:but the statement is not so much to help people
Speaker:feel good about themselves as it is to encourage people
Speaker:and inspire people to wanna do good for others as well.
Speaker:So it's important for us, Brad, to feel healthy enough about our
Speaker:own witness, our own journey. We're forgiven sinners.
Speaker:We're imperfect. As I like to say, we're all hypocrites on different
Speaker:subjects. So we all need forgiveness. We all should be praying prayers
Speaker:of confession. But God has chosen us
Speaker:to to not only to support our churches with
Speaker:our time, our talents, our money, but it also says with our gifts and our
Speaker:service and our witness. So this is my way of witnessing,
Speaker:and my way of witnessing is to encourage people to rise to their highest
Speaker:potential, not to be what it is I want you to be or
Speaker:or or what others have said. But what is it that you'd like to really
Speaker:rise to? And I wanna be an instrument of encouragement
Speaker:for that to happen. So a little bit more than a motivator or rah rah
Speaker:cheerleading thing. It's about transformation, isn't it? It's about helping people
Speaker:and then therefore to transform the world. Right? So In fact, I
Speaker:encourage people to to contemplate coming up with their
Speaker:own mission statements or purpose statements and
Speaker:vision statements or whatever you wanna call it. And I'm not saying that's
Speaker:a necessary guideline or a plumb line or something to
Speaker:to to to monitor what it is that you wanna do every day
Speaker:or all the way along along the way. What I like about our
Speaker:mission statement in the United Methodist Church, I have it memorized
Speaker:to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the
Speaker:world. So in essence, we
Speaker:Are you there? Mister Burtz, and encourage them, and they can do things
Speaker:that I don't necessarily have the natural gifts to
Speaker:do. Well, let's take this mission statement that you
Speaker:have as part of your legacy and who you are as
Speaker:a as a pastor and as a bishop.
Speaker:And, you know, we know you're going on some different things in your life, which
Speaker:include the the general secretary of the Board of Church and Society, but
Speaker:you also have kind of a now a personal mission
Speaker:to apply your mission statement, and that is to apply it to
Speaker:people's lives. Tell us a bit about your vision of who you wanna reach
Speaker:now, and what's this gonna be? Tell us about your vision. Well, we live in
Speaker:a world where there are 1,000,000,000 of people. And
Speaker:so I I say that, you know, all of us have an have a circle
Speaker:that we can impact. Some people have used that whole nurse notion of
Speaker:circle, the people that you influence your family into the wider circle
Speaker:and then the wider circle. And so I said, how wide can my circle
Speaker:be? When I think about 42 years of ministry, Brad,
Speaker:I've had a chance to encourage people on multiple occasions
Speaker:on the continent of Africa. One time goes way back
Speaker:to 1991, speaking to 500 high school
Speaker:students at Hartzell's High School in in Zimbabwe
Speaker:with with with with our former classmate who at the time was the
Speaker:district superintendent. And I you sometimes you can forget the
Speaker:impact. I I started ministry at a at I came out
Speaker:of a relatively small membership church, then I was assigned to
Speaker:a small membership church. But every person that you talk to and
Speaker:that you preach have a chance to preach to or or do a funeral
Speaker:for or baptism, all of those are encounters in which you've
Speaker:had an impact in some way, some of which you forgot. In
Speaker:fact, one of the young persons who was at my
Speaker:first full time appointment sent a note of affirmation
Speaker:and thank you at my retirement, which is in the which is in the
Speaker:souvenir retirement book, who I had forgotten all about. And he
Speaker:said, I've followed you through social media over the
Speaker:years of your career. Now I was in my twenties when I
Speaker:was serving Emmanuel United Methodist Church in North
Speaker:Chicago. This was a young person. He was actually in
Speaker:middle school, when I became the pastor there, and
Speaker:he'd now he just retired from his job after 31 years. Wow.
Speaker:He said, I've been following you, and you had a positive impact on
Speaker:me. This is true for lots, if not the vast majority of
Speaker:pastors, but also mail carriers or school my mother was a
Speaker:school. So many of us have impact. And
Speaker:what if we intentionally I said, what if I intentionally decide part
Speaker:of my motivation at this stage, my I'm in the Q4 of life, so
Speaker:to speak. What do I wanna do that keeps me
Speaker:motivated? And I said, let's set a wily important goal
Speaker:that only you can accomplish if god helps you. Sure. That's where the
Speaker:2,000,000 came up. I said, if I say 2,000, that might
Speaker:happen after you speak after I spoke at annual conference.
Speaker:Sure. I had another time to speak at that and that was a 1,000 people
Speaker:right there. So I thought I'd set a goal that was lofty
Speaker:enough that would suit me dizzy. So you wanna
Speaker:impact and influence with a word of encouragement
Speaker:and help people rise with a potential 2,000,000 people.
Speaker:Wow. That's a lofty Can you help me with that? That's a loft. That's a
Speaker:that's a lofty goal, my friend. But let's let's break it down just
Speaker:a little bit here about why you would wanna do that. I'm gonna ask
Speaker:you 3 quick questions here because I think this has to do with where we
Speaker:go next. When you think about this goal of encouraging
Speaker:people, what breaks your heart about that? What what breaks your heart about
Speaker:Well, what really breaks my heart, Brad, is that people have been offered
Speaker:a steady diet of negativity and reasons to
Speaker:hate the other. And I put that, quote, unquote, the other, whoever the
Speaker:other may be. So little conversation I hear in the public
Speaker:discourse about the state of children across the world.
Speaker:I think how every time I see a picture of my granddaughter posted and
Speaker:my daughter posted or other grandchildren, children that are are
Speaker:adopted children, I think, oh, how fortunate they are to be
Speaker:living the lives that they're living. Then I think about all of the
Speaker:millions of children that don't have that experience. They don't have
Speaker:extended family. They don't have 3 meals or 2 meals a day.
Speaker:Sometimes, in Gaza and other places, not just Gaza,
Speaker:there's not even one meal a day. Sure. But there's so little
Speaker:discussion about our role in addressing that.
Speaker:We're offered a steady diet
Speaker:of bad news, of people we
Speaker:should dislike, of why this
Speaker:particular political position is is is
Speaker:more advantageous than the other. And there's so little discussion
Speaker:about those who are marginalized, those who have
Speaker:lost a sense of belonging. I was just entering
Speaker:the elevator at the hospital today and
Speaker:speaking to people, and it seems as though even that
Speaker:for some is is kind of an unusual experience.
Speaker:Something has happened with the advent of smartphones and and
Speaker:the advent of communications and across
Speaker:the Internet and and and and take the advancement of technology.
Speaker:Somehow, we've lost the notion. We've lost the natural
Speaker:ability really to connect with people on a regular basis. Sure. So
Speaker:I really feel That breaks your heart to see that happen. A part. And a
Speaker:part it sounds like a part of it even ticks you off a little bit
Speaker:that things are really hurtful to people, that people are being hurt by this.
Speaker:Right? Well, it ticks me off. It ticks me off that that
Speaker:even the the basic right of having
Speaker:secure shelter is is not a we don't we we haven't a
Speaker:break embrace that as a basic human right. It's kinda every person is
Speaker:on their own, every man for themselves, every woman for hers
Speaker:herself. And somehow that doesn't feel right with me. That's
Speaker:very smart. So you got to Brooke this these aspects
Speaker:here. What do you think you offer, to kinda speak to that
Speaker:problem? What are some of the things that that you're gonna offer moving
Speaker:forward in your next 4th quarters, you say, to help speak to
Speaker:those problems? I'm gonna offer a steady diet of encouragement
Speaker:Right. A steady diet diet of affirmation
Speaker:and what I call can doism. Can doism. Oh, I love it. I love it.
Speaker:There are many things that we we've convinced ourselves we cannot do, and I often
Speaker:have said this for years. You've heard me say it. Most of our limitations are
Speaker:self imposed. We have convinced ourselves by playing
Speaker:the tapes over and over again that we don't have
Speaker:enough, we're not gifted enough, or we don't
Speaker:know enough, or we're not connected enough, or we
Speaker:don't have resources enough to really do great things
Speaker:that would advance what many have lifted up
Speaker:as beloved community. With with your spirit of can doism,
Speaker:it sounds like even though you're leaving the episcopacy, that
Speaker:God's not done with you yet in this mission of encouragement, and you got more
Speaker:to do. Is that right? Well, absolutely. And I Brad, I hope you and
Speaker:others can help me stay connected. And I hope people that wanna stay
Speaker:connected and be a part of this positive
Speaker:energy because it's both ways. It it's both ways. When
Speaker:hearing from people, I just got a note of thank you from
Speaker:Sarah who lives in Virginia, and I feel so
Speaker:blessed. She just lifted our thanking us for
Speaker:something we have done years ago. And we we my
Speaker:wife and I were saying, well, they we were blessed just as much as they
Speaker:were blessed by meeting these these new friends. So Sure.
Speaker:I think a lot a lot can be done intergenerationally
Speaker:too, Brad, if we create those portals for people
Speaker:to receive a steady diet of affirmation. That's
Speaker:that steady diet means that some people ask me, you know, they've asked you, well,
Speaker:what's gonna happen to your podcast and what's gonna happen to everything else once you
Speaker:leave the episcopacy? And so we're looking to very real
Speaker:opportunity for this podcast and your writing, your
Speaker:blogging, your books, your can doism parts of
Speaker:your life are gonna carry on. And you wanna carry that on to one form
Speaker:or another, do do you not? Absolutely. I wanna stay in
Speaker:touch with people, and I wanna hear from people. If if I hear from people
Speaker:say, hey. This has been worthwhile. It's been it's been a blessing to
Speaker:me. I've passed it on to others. I know there's a lot of options, a
Speaker:lot of choices people have, but but I believe
Speaker:encouraging people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest
Speaker:potential is something that should be part of our regular diet. In
Speaker:fact in fact, I have a piece I'm working on called the encouragement
Speaker:diet. Encouragement diet. Everybody's trying a diet that didn't
Speaker:work or but I love it. Encourage diet. I love
Speaker:I love I love that. Well, in that spirit, I think it's appropriate for us
Speaker:to kinda share with the folks that that in one form or another, the To
Speaker:Be Encouraged podcast is gonna carry on. And so
Speaker:people are gonna be able to still find the To Be Encouraged podcast at to
Speaker:be encouraged.com. But beyond that, Bishop,
Speaker:you're creating a a website that's gonna be a place for you to
Speaker:share these can doisms. It's atbishopjuliactremble.com,
Speaker:and that is the place where people can go and get on your list right
Speaker:now. They'll get a little gift of of a checklist of
Speaker:the ten reasons that you're a United Methodist and can
Speaker:apply to their life. But that's gonna be a place for you to blog
Speaker:and to have your podcast live there and your sermons
Speaker:and things about your speaking and live
Speaker:stream, coaching, opportunities. These things that you're gonna be doing to help other
Speaker:people. So tell us a little bit about how you feel this can be
Speaker:a a a, place for people to
Speaker:remain connected to you and what you're all about. Well, I think
Speaker:they're first persons who who want to be
Speaker:connected to a source of not
Speaker:just information, but also inspiration that can
Speaker:connect to their goal of transformation. I believe
Speaker:with my wealth of experience of over 42 years of ministry
Speaker:and including some of my background as an in a community
Speaker:organizer and what I call a community encourager and an
Speaker:individual encourager and counselor that I could be of I could be
Speaker:of assistance to lots of people. I I have a certain number
Speaker:of days that I'm available for public speaking, and I will
Speaker:hopefully continue to do that. But I also want to make sure
Speaker:that people are able to access just through their computers
Speaker:an opportunity to receive affirmation and some teaching
Speaker:modules, Brad, that would help them to advance in their own
Speaker:ministry. I think the ministry of encouragement is a ministry that we all
Speaker:could embrace as a part of who we are, whether
Speaker:we are Christians or not. But it's particularly if you're a
Speaker:Christian. I think the ministry of encouragement should be one of the tools
Speaker:that is in your toolbox. Well, let me just reemphasize that again. I don't wanna
Speaker:give you the last word here on your last podcast as Bishop
Speaker:that people can go to bishopjuliactrembl.com,
Speaker:and there you're gonna be able to get on to the bishop's list, the email
Speaker:list about be connected with everything he's about moving
Speaker:forward now to reach this vision
Speaker:of inspiring and encouraging 2,000,000
Speaker:people. So that basically, people are buying in to be a part of your
Speaker:community, your team, because you can't do this alone, can you? I can't
Speaker:do it alone. Haven't been able to do it alone for years. Yeah.
Speaker:Yes. We can change the world. So that's you're gonna find your the
Speaker:podcast, your sermons, the leadership training, all kinds of things will will
Speaker:be there. And so I just wanna thank you for being encouraging,
Speaker:the voice to pastors and leaders and teachers in the in
Speaker:the Indiana Conference of United Methodist Church as a starting place and
Speaker:certainly beyond in the in the global church. I know we've been
Speaker:friends and colleagues for many years, but I've seen you
Speaker:really inspire and engage during a time well, a lot of
Speaker:rough things happened the last 8 years, and you've been a steady
Speaker:steady Eddie through the whole process and an inspiration to many. I know
Speaker:you've had a few ups and downs of your own, but I thank you for
Speaker:being encouragement to me and to others. And so that's to
Speaker:me and that other part of that, they help people rise
Speaker:to their level of excellence. I I love that. And I'm looking forward
Speaker:to hearing more about this encouragement diet. I think that's gonna be
Speaker:cool. I think it's gonna gonna be cool, whatever that turns out to be. So
Speaker:I'm gonna thank you for being an encourager on the behalf of the people who
Speaker:listen to the To Be Encouraged podcast and the people of the Indiana Conference of
Speaker:the United Methodist Church. But I wanna give you the last word, my friend, here
Speaker:on the what are you encouraged about as you transition
Speaker:now from the episcopacy to what's next for you?
Speaker:What encourages you? Well, I'm encouraged by just the
Speaker:spirit of joy that I see in an in a number of places.
Speaker:You know? And I think it's a it's a spirit that we can cultivate.
Speaker:God loves us. Joy comes from the deep certainty of god's love and
Speaker:presence in our lives, and we can spread that love and and
Speaker:that presence to we we can be intentional about our
Speaker:work. Wherever we are wherever our work finds us, wherever we wherever
Speaker:we are wherever we are living out our expression of god's
Speaker:love, we can be intentional. God loves us. God loves you. I
Speaker:often say there's nothing you can do about it, but that's not really true. You
Speaker:can spread that love that you experience from God.
Speaker:So God bless you. Looking forward to staying connected.
Speaker:I'm still working on my book. Be encouraged, and, I hope
Speaker:folks can stay connected so when that when that project is completed, you'll
Speaker:be the 1st to receive it. God bless you. Well, thank you, Bishop. Thank you
Speaker:for sharing that. Let me share one more time your mission statement because I think
Speaker:it's an appropriate place for us to close this aspect of the To Be
Speaker:Encouraged podcast. Bishop Julius c Tribble's mission
Speaker:is to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to
Speaker:rise to their highest potential or be encouraged.
Speaker:Thank you for joining us here on the To Be Encouraged podcast
Speaker:with Bishop Julius c Trimble, the podcast where we look to offer an
Speaker:encouraging word to an often discouraged world.
