Episode 13: “I Heard God's AUDIBLE Voice” - Finding & Fulfilling Your God-Given Purpose with Chris Beth, Founder of The Bucket Ministry
Ever wonder what it's like to LITERALLY hear God's voice?
But even when we don't... how can we still faithfully discern and take steps forward in the calling he has for us?
Today we sit down with Chris Beth as he shares his inspiring personal story of how God led him from a 35-year-career in business to founding The Bucket Ministry, a non-profit organization that shares God’s love and truth with under-resourced communities around the world through the gift of clean, safe, drinking water.
Without any background in ministry, Chris found himself unexpectedly in the Amazon rainforest. Through this humbling experience, God spoke to him in an extraordinary, audible way - one that would forever change his life.
In this episode, we unpack Chris' process of discovering and stepping into his God-given assignment, navigating through doubts and ambiguities, and the impact it's all had on him and his family.
Most of all, we pray that this conversation helps you take steps forward in pursuing your God-given assignment - to help and serve those he cares for - with purpose, boldness, and FAITH.
TOPICS:
0:00 - Intro
1:10 - Chris’ background and how an accident led him to Jesus at 40 years old
2:11 - What led Chris from a 35-year business career to founding The Bucket Ministry (without any background in ministry)
7:56 - The life-changing moment Chris heard God speak to him audibly
13:30 - How the water filters deliver both water and the gospel to communities in need
16:31 - What was it like to hear God’s audible voice?
17:55 - Discerning more specifics on what to do AFTER sensing God’s call
19:42 - Dealing with doubts and ambiguity
20:32 - Testimony of how God divinely provided for the ministry through Chris’ corporate job
26:26 - The enormous impact all this has had on Chris’ family
28:37 - How to get involved
32:00 - The power of getting outside your comfort zone
36:05 - Final encouragement for you from Exodus 3
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Chris Beth was a business consultant of 35 years, accompanying his daughter on a mission trip to the Brazilian Amazon in 2012, when a woman handed him a dirty cup of water taken straight from the river.
In that moment, he heard - for the first time in his life - the Lord audibly speak to him, “Help them.” He returned home with a conviction to follow God's calling.
This led him to found The Bucket Ministry (TBM), a non-profit organization working to share God’s love through the gift of clean, safe, drinking water. His story was recently shared on CBN's "The 700 Club."
While Christopher's experience led him to full-time ministry, he is a big proponent of the fact everyone is called to follow the Lord in the unique expressions God calls them to.
Learn more about The Bucket Ministry at thebucketministry.org.
RELATED RESOURCES
BOOKS
When God Speaks: How to Recognize God's Voice and Respond in Obedience by Henry & Richard Blackaby
Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God by Mark Batterson
God's Many Voices: Learning to Listen. Expectant to Hear. by Liz Ditty
Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas Willard
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
FAITH-BASED NON-PROFITS THAT SERVE UNDER-RESOURCED COMMUNITIES
Look up your local church’s outreach efforts and/or opportunities to give to and serve communities in need (locally or globally).
Echo Compassion - our local church’s outreach team
The Bucket Ministry - filters for clean water ($50 = 20 years for a family)
Tearfund - tackle poverty through sustainable development, responding to disasters, and challenging injustice
Foster The City - providing loving homes for children in foster care
Defy Ventures - entrepreneurial programs that equip and empower formerly incarcerated individuals
Compassion International - a child-development ministry dedicated to releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name through sponsorships and donations for individualized and holistic care
CityTeam - meals, shelter, programs, and hope for those experiencing homelessness, hunger, poverty, and addiction (especially women and children)
Transcript
If you are watching on YouTube: yes, that is a band-aid on my face. I just thought I would address the, not the elephant in the room, but the band-aid on my face, because it's just there, and there's no way to avoid it. So might as well just point it out…
Today, we have a very special guest. His name is Chris Beth, and we have mutual ministry connections, and it was just so cool to be able to hear your story and a glimpse of that, and we wanted to share that with our listeners, because we know that people will be so encouraged and inspired to hear how God really, literally spoke to you, to start the ministry that you did when you never expected to.
Alex and I were talking about how this is such an inspiring story that will really encourage other people to lean into how do we discern and be open to however God wants us to focus on our unique God-given assignments in our own lives.
So welcome to the podcast, Chris! Thanks for being here.
Grace and Alex, thank you so much. I'm so excited to unpack some stories with you guys.
It sounds like you've been through a lot. Could you share a little bit about what were the significant moments that let you to this point?
Yeah, boy that's a, that's a great question. Thank you, Alex.
I think I had a pretty ordinary life compared to everyone else I saw. I grew up outside the Chicago area. I have a mother that loved me very much, my dad passed early on. And looking back on it now, I think that God was doing some things even at that point to try to get my attention.
Fast forward a little bit of time, I got in a fairly tragic car accident with my daughter, where she ended up breaking her back. I found myself in an emergency room. And at the age of 40 was in a situation where I needed a friend that would never leave me. And I invited Jesus in to my life, into my heart, and be the Lord of my life at that point in an emergency room, and nothing has been the same since.
So as you said, I was a business consultant and did that for about 35 years. Honestly, I thought I would maybe go another 10 years and retire, perhaps I would fish a lot. I never really assumed I would be fishing for men at this point, because it was just wasn't my thing.
I never had a relationship with the church for most of my life, led my life, under my own control - or I thought I was in control. Really never aspired to go on mission trips, be part of the mission organization, be part of the church, and none of that.
So all this is very, very new for me.
This all started about 11 years ago in 2012, when my daughter Savannah, the same daughter that was in the car crash, she came home from high school, and she said she wanted to go on this mission trip to the Brazilian Amazon.
And I remember this moment vividly, because my wife and I both heard this, and our reactions were like: “...What?! You want to go where?!”
And Savannah had been a believer for much longer, and she had been on many mission trips, but mainly to South Texas. (A little closer.) So, yeah, and so she, she wants to go to the Brazilian Amazon, and so my wife and I quickly decided that somebody's going to have to go with her.
And at that point, I drew that straw. But the thing I need you to understand about that time was I was only going to be a dad. I had been saved about five or six years prior to that, but my only goal was bringing my child back from this foreign land and that's- that was it.
And I had no expectations. I really had no love or compassion for the Brazilian people at that point. And I was so new to my faith, I didn't even fully understand it yet fully.
And so we get on a plane in Dallas, and we find a Manaus, Brazil. And we're ushered off the airplane, through the airport, onto a bus, and all of a sudden, we are at the edge of the Amazon River.
It's like nothing I ever expected before. It was probably the most uncomfortable environment in my life, both physically and spiritually. Physically, it was super hot, and about a billion percent humidity. And then I'm with all these people on this trip that are more mature in their faith. They had gone on multiple mission trips. They’re talking about being the hands and feet of Jesus. In here, I am the new guy. I was so uncomfortable.
I just remembered this, this first night on the boat. Savannah and I are hanging our hammocks in this open-air river boat, and it's going into the Amazon basin.
And literally, we went 18 hours through the darkest, most remote places in the Amazon jungle to get to where we're going to be working.
But that first night, Savannah and I are hanging our hammocks, and she comes over to me and she goes, “Dad, I think we made a mistake.”
So at that point, we go 18 hours into the Amazon. We start working in a series of villages, and on the boat, we had a variety of ministries: Men's ministry, Women's ministry, Vacation Bible Schools, soccer camp, doctor, dentist.
And then, we had this team that they called the Faith Team. And I was assigned to the Faith Team, which I thought was pretty ironic, given the fact I don't even fully understand my own faith yet.
