From Dormant Faith to Bold Living with Kari Hunnicutt

Meet Kerry Honeycutt

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Hello everyone, thank you again for joining me on another episode of the Dorsey Rush show. Today's guest is Kerry Honeycutt. She is the creator of the devoted explorer and author of Dormant Faith. Kerry is on a mission to help people awaken their dormant faith while embracing fitness, travel, and powerful living. As a board member of Go on the Mission, she's deeply involved in equipping and power impoverished children and synagogue for Christian education. From personal sponsorship to global impact, Carrie's story briefly shows how faith becomes alive when it put into action. Carrie, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Thank you for having me, Dorsey. I'm excited to be here and for this conversation.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Absolutely. Well I'd like to start out with an icebreaker question. And today's icebreaker question is tell us a little bit about yourself and how the devoted explorer came to life. And what does that mean to you personally? Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

That's a good icebreaker question. I think um, you know, devoted explorer came about just from a lot of the passions and things in my life that get me excited. I I think it started probably with the travel aspect because I love to travel. And when I would go with my family or independently on different trips and share about it, a lot of people would reach out to me and want more information about the trip that I went on, or, you know, they were working on their itineraries for different places and wanted some insights and wanted to talk through it. And so I kind of used that feedback and just how much I was talking to people about um things in my life that I decided to just put it up on a website so that I could share with people and direct them there so they could kind of see some of the things I was involved in, and then off of that see if they had any more questions. And then so it wasn't just travel though, a lot of it was my faith and then also fitness in doing some triathlon races, some Iron Man races, some different adventure races. And so just sharing some of that information too is really how that it all came about initially. Yeah. And just my way of kind of organizing it all and and putting it out there so that I could share it with people who had questions and wanted more information.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

When did you start your your um exercise and your your racing and everything that you did? You said that you did an Iron Man race. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yeah, so this has been kind of a crazy adventure in my life. I grew up always pretty active. I grew up playing different sports, gymnastics first and softball, kind of tried my hand at a variety of things. But then in junior high and high school, I was very big into dance and drill

Falling Into Triathlon Life

SPEAKER_01 3:52

team, very involved in that all throughout high school. And then in college, that was still a part of my life. I just felt like my schooling was pretty rigorous, and my dance classes in college was a way that I could kind of relax and release some of the stress that I was carrying. And so I danced and I ended up minoring in dance in college. And then just as I continued progressing in life, I just still liked to be active. So whether it was being outdoors, I did a lot of uh biking and hiking and things like that. And my family, my dad and my brother in particular, have always been very into surfing and also biking. Like even growing up, my parents did the STP bike ride, the Seattle to Portland bike ride. I remember watching kind of that journey and the excitement there. And then my brother is the one who started doing some of these Iron Man races. And I had never even thought about doing a triathlon, but I saw him kind of do, he wanted to do at least 10 to 12 different Iron Man races and kind of get to this legendary status by doing so many of them. And just watching his journey was very inspiring to me. But I was like, that is great for you, like a job, but that is not in my realm at all. But somehow in that, like I ended up uh kind of training with some girlfriends, and we did a smaller triathlon, kind of like an Olympic distance, where it was still the three disciplines, but shorter. And then after I did that, my brother was like, Well, now that you did that and that you enjoyed it so much. There he we lived in Washington at the time, Washington state, and he had found an Iron Man race that had a half Iron Man, a 70.3 distance and a full distance the same day. And it was in Whistler, Canada. And this was in 2018. So he thought that it would be really fun, that he wanted to do the full Iron Man race and thought it would be a great course for me to join and be on the course with him and to start off doing the half distance and see what I thought. And through that discussion, my dad ended up signing up to do it and my best friend, and then also my brother's wife. So it ended up like, you know, just being this fun family thing that we all decided to train for, and then we went and traveled to Whistler and did it together. And what I didn't realize when my brother was, you know, pubbing this idea to us was that it was one of the most difficult races at the time as far as elevation and climbing. And so he didn't quite disclose that. But we learned when the training that we needed to train some hills and be ready for this course and also the heat in the summer there. So just the different elements of it. But, you know, it was very a very challenging thing for me and something that I again didn't think that I would ever do, but I did end up really enjoying the process and the journey. And then the race, you know, just really the that was kind of like the finality of like celebrating that that journey and doing it with my brother and my dad and my sister-in-law or my brother's wife, and then my best friend. That was really special too. And then so that kind of triggered a a few other races in the future. So when we like literally right after that race, my family and I made a huge, very difficult move for me across the country for my husband's job. And so one of the things that I used like to help in a new community where I knew nobody was I had just finished this half Iron Man race. And I was like, okay, are there other people in this new place that we moved to that are involved in triathlons, ended up finding a triathlon team where I got a coach this time and also just had a great group of people to get to know and meet and train for different races. So then since moving here, I've done two, you know, three other races, two that were half Iron Man races and then one full.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Are you planning on doing any more in in the future?

SPEAKER_01 8:35

You know, I since I did my full a couple years ago, uh I had a pretty bad foot injury and actually had a quite a journey with some different things happening in my body through that process. And I had to go on to kind of an alternate, different training plan that didn't include too much running because the high impact was a lot on my body. And so I kind of took a break for a couple of years trying to give my body uh a little bit of a rest and continued being active in other ways and definitely still swimming and biking. And so I am still doing some aqua bike races. So that's when you just do the swim and the bike component and don't do the run. So that has kept me still involved in some of these races. And also, you can do relays where a different person can do each leg of the relay. So you can have a swimmer and then a biker and then a runner. And so I've tried out all of those different avenues too, and really enjoy those as well. So I'm just I'm definitely trying to do a better job in my mind, definitely wants to keep doing them. My body is kind of telling me different things. And I actually this fall received a diagnosis of lipedema, which with that, you're not supposed to do really high impact activity that it increases inflammation and things in your body. So I'm trying to find my balance of yes, what I can still do and push myself in physically, but also listen to my body and what my body is telling me is healthy.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

What is living a devoted life to Christ look like for you on a daily basis?

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Boy, this has also been a journey for me. And I just I love I love that word, and I think that's why it's part of my uh website and being a devoted explorer, just devoted in all aspects of life. And in my faith, you know, I think younger earlier in my faith, it was um it was definitely more me driven. So I, you know, kind of describe it as

Devotion As Daily Surrender

SPEAKER_01 10:47

the the pocket Jesus, you know, whenever I would need him, I would pull him out of my pocket or be like, okay, God, this is my plan. And will you please help make this happen, you know, and kind of invite him in in different phases. But it wasn't really me surrendering myself and my wants and my plans to him. And so now as I've progressed in my faith, I I make that distinction that living a devoted life to him is truly surrendering our everything to him, giving him our lives, inviting him into every decision that we're making, and making sure that we are as a family following what he is asking us to do, not trying to be driven by ourselves and what we desire to be doing.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

You've spoken about awaking, awakening dormant faith in past interviews. What advice would you give someone who feels that their faith has gone dormant?

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Yeah, this is this is such a passion and burning in my heart, just because I think it's so easy for us as believers, like even believers, you know, who've been walking with the Lord for a long time to have seasons where we feel like our faith has gone a little dormant. And, you know, I

How Dormant Faith Wakes Up

SPEAKER_01 12:16

think we can really be awake and alive, or we can grow comfortable and passive and asleep. And so to really help with that distinction and where you're walking that line, I just feel like first step and first and foremost is truly to make sure that our priority is our relationship with God and that we are every day, just like you know, we would with our family members or our best friend. We are talking with God. We are in the word, we are surrounding ourselves with other believers who can speak the truth to us when we're feeling like we're in a season of this dormancy to help continue to pull us through it and continue to remind us to look to God every day, that he's not the one that's being quiet, that we are a lot of times. That's us kind of pulling away and feeling this distance, that you know, having that reminder that he is consistent and he is steady and he is always there uh is is just essential, I think, to keep at the forefront of our mind always in this phase.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

When you use the the the term dormant and say dormant faith, are you saying that it's for the those believers that are not reading their Bibles or not, you know, hearing from God or not, you know, listening to worship music and and going to search? You know, what what what what does someone that has a dormant faith? I guess what I'm asking, what does someone like that look like?

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Yeah, that's a great question. And I think some people have described it as like a lukewarm faith. Some have described it as a satanic lullaby that this is exactly where Satan would want us. And a lot of it's it is a lot of those things that you described, but really at the core of it, I think it's that our relationship with Jesus is not active. Like, yes, we're maybe going to church every once in a while, or maybe we're going every Sunday, but we're not thinking about God or including him in between our Sunday to Sunday, you know, or maybe we're just so busy in life, we're distracted, we're carry a lot in our lives today. And if we shift our priorities and our focus like just a little bit off of Jesus, um, you know, I think that that can slowly work to pull us more and more away from him into this dormancy.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

And you'll have a book titled Dormant Faith as well, telling about that.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah. So this book definitely gets more into this concept and defines it for us too. Where really I link our dormant faith to also um, you know, again, first and foremost, our relationship walking closely with God and awake to his calling in whatever he wants each of us to be involved in every day, and link that a little bit to the Great Commission, because the Great Commission is one of the commands, what and one of the last commands he gave his disciples before he ascended into heaven. And so, to me, like I feel like that is a very important thing for us now, even as you know, believers and disciples of Christ, to really look at what commands of action he gave his disciples then. And the great commission is one that I think is absolutely still in our hands as disciples of Christ today, and that it is an act of obedience that we will follow if we are truly linked to him and desiring what he desires. And so in the book, I define the Great Commission as our mission here on earth under the authority of God, as our actions and our beliefs and our words that represent Christ to others. So it's talking the talk and walking the walk, and um, by walking closely with Jesus and allowing him to flow out of us. And as part of the research of this book, I surveyed several Christians in my circle who are, you know, who felt like they're walking closely with the Lord and would say they're Christians. And a lot of those people were very honest. And I I loved what this survey kind of revealed. And they, though they were familiar with the Great Commission, half of them admitted that they didn't feel like they were living it out effectively in today's world. And some of the biggest reasons for that weren't that they didn't believe in God or didn't feel like, you know, their faith was there, but it was more things like fear, you know, fear of, you know, how do they share? How will people respond to them? You know, and just feeling unprepared, like that's not my job. That's what, you know, the pastors and people in ministry and other people can take that on. Like, that's not for me. Feeling overwhelmed with life was another one, like just already have so much going on, and or being inconvenienced, didn't want to have these interruptions or things that might come up and be delayed and what they need to get to next, or just having spiritual fatigue, you know, is is another big one too that came up. And so my book shares a lot of the results of that and each of some of those reasons. Like I have chapters dedicated to some of those reasons, and just honestly confronts some of these lies and stumbling blocks that we get in our heads with and that get in our way for really having a deep relationship with Jesus and letting him flow out of us to be able to share that with other people today. And so it confronts those stumbling blocks. And probably the the couple first couple sections of the book is really working through some of that. And I share, you know, the people who filled out the survey, they shared like why they kind of got stuck or felt a certain way in one of those areas, but then also share like the exciting piece of how God helped them out of that and what God did in them to help strengthen that area in their faith. And then I'd say the second half of the book really shifts to hope and it dives into the power of the Holy Spirit, like not as just a concept, but as the Holy Spirit still today being present and active in our lives. And, you know, I I really highlight Acts 1.8 and how it says we receive the power through the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses near and far. And, you know, talk about how that wasn't just for the early church then that that same spirit, you know, that empowered believers then is the same spirit that's in us today. But how how do we live like that's true? How do we practice accessing the spirit within us? And so the book provides guidance in that too. And then the final section of the book, I walk readers through their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and ends of the earth, both literally and symbolically. So really encourage thinking and processing and who is God asking you to reach in your town and in your nation across cultural lines or even among people who feel difficult or uncomfortable to talk to. And then, you know, I use throughout the whole book the theme is the mustard seed of faith because I just wanted to highlight, like through all of this that we're we're working through in this book, that Jesus says we don't need this giant faith, but we need a surrendered faith, that faith as small as a mustard seed, that's like the tiniest seed, but placed in a very big God can move mountains. And so I just want to encourage people so much with that and truly living like they know that that is true and that our God is the one who does all of this work. So, yeah, each chapter kind of has a study guide at the end. So there's Bible verses to read, questions to ponder, a prayer and a worship song to help you process the content and really just for the purpose to draw you closer to our creator.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Now you went you're on the board of going a mission and you're gonna go. Tell us about that and what and what you did in that country.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Yeah, so this is this is a story that I just give so much awe and glory and honor to God because this is work that I would say was definitely um something that I surrendered, that I heard him calling me to go do. I didn't have much previous experience. I could definitely

Senegal Sponsorship To School Impact

SPEAKER_01 21:59

say I was not qualified. I've walked this journey with God in being obedient to what he was calling me to do. I'm still involved. My family and I have been involved now for 11 years in this ministry and has been pretty incredible to see what God has accomplished through my involvement in this. So it started, like I said, over a decade ago, and I was just sitting in a church service and some representatives from this nonprofit organization called Go on the Mission. Was at our church and was speaking about child sponsorship and inviting the church members to get involved in sponsoring children at some of these schools to help with their education, and that these were private Christian schools in a Muslim prominent community, that sponsoring them could help them attend these schools, and that these schools were the top-notch schools for education, where these are the kids who were truly passing their exams and able to move on to the next grade, whereas some of the other children in the public schools were more impacted by the government shutdowns that happened in the area and they wouldn't get consistent schooling and they weren't progressing and passing their exams to be able to move on to the next grade level. And so I heard all of this and initially um just felt the prompting to sponsor a child. And so my husband and I decided that we would move forward, that this seemed like a good agency. You know, you hear all of these different opportunities out there to sponsor kids, but this one was one that was close. It was in our hometown, it was connected to our church. And then they had also mentioned that you can write letters, you can stay in communication with your sponsored child, and you could also go and visit them if you wanted to join on any trips. And so eventually, this first step, I would call it, of just sponsoring the child turned into going on a trip to go visit this sponsored child. And truly, I didn't know, like I didn't know what to expect, but was excited to meet our sponsored child and face to face and start that relationship on a deeper level and to let her know who was sending the letters and was just really excited to advance that relationship, but really just gave the trip to God, even getting there, being a mom of young children at the time was a difficult step, you know, to leave the family and to go and do this. And but sure enough, like when I get there, like God worked it all out. And I got there, and my trip was very much touring a lot of the schools in the area. And, you know, coming from my background of a speech pathologist in the school setting, um, like that was, I think, a perfect trip for me to be on and being able to see so many different schools in the area. So not just the Christian schools that these sponsor kids were attending, but I got to see some of the public schools and the schools that were in the villages, the remote villages, and like also heard stories of the kids whose parents would ship them off to go to a school to just focus on learning the Quran, and that they would be under the head of a Mabu leader who would be kind of in charge of them and teaching them about the Islamic religion. But then these were also the kids that we would see as we're traveling through the different towns on the streets, and they would be pretty battered and carrying buckets, and they are the ones who are are begging for money because they have a quota as part of their journey with this maribou that he sends them out during the day to beg for money and have to meet a certain quota in this and bring it back to him. And if they don't meet the quota, then they're beaten and they just live in terrible conditions. And that was very heartbreaking and gut-wrenching to see that. Um, so just God really opened my eyes to all of the different types of places that these kids and these students could attend for their education and the drastically different environments and what they were exposed to, and then what the outcomes were. And so, with that, too, when we visited one of these Christian schools in particular, it was fairly new. It was only a preschool through fourth grade, and we got to talk to the headmaster of the school, who was a huge visionary, and said, you know, I started this school with just me and two of my kids, and we would walk across the street and come, and community members were laughing at us, saying, This is not a school. And, you know, but I just continued, like I persevered and I felt like this is this is what God wants, that he was gonna honor this. And he had developed it, you know, in partnership with this nonprofit organization and then other organizations that are in Senegal too, that are involved. But they had developed it all the way up through fourth grade. And at that time there were 90 students. And he said, But we need help to grow this school to add a grade every year. And he gave us a tour of the school and he showed us like the upper level, and they had like just a blank slate of a foundation up there, and was like, we can put, you know, we already have the foundation, but we can put a couple more classrooms up here. And then he talked about like needing a preschool wing and an administration space that they could have for him and his assistant that wasn't taking up the classrooms. And so just kind of laid out this vision for the school and how he wanted to grow it each year, and then also had said this land next door was an empty lot, but a Muslim man owns it and he doesn't want to sell it to the school, like we've approached him and asked about it, but he's said no, and so just asked for our prayer and guidance in that, and asked, you know, said this is a very small, remote area too. It's hard to get teachers here and you know, that they would want to work here, that they would want to live here. So we need prayer for all of that. And so we sat there and we just prayed over him and we prayed for God's will and for his desire for this area and for this school and how it was reaching the community. When I left, like that that prayer for one was like one of those prayers that you can just feel the Holy Spirit's presence there. And so I left that, like very touched by that experience. And then I got home and just could not it, I could not get it out of my mind and just kept thinking like, how can we make this happen? How can we help? This nonprofit organization that I went with had done some projects in the past, but this one, you know, he had so many different layers to it, and it was estimated to be over a hundred thousand dollars for all of the phases of that he listed at that time. And so it just kind of seemed like pretty big and grand and overwhelming, you know, to to a lot of us. But I just really felt the Holy Spirit prompting. And even though I had never been involved in any kind of project management like that, you know, I um just talked to the organization and kind of just became the volunteer project manager to really share about this um project and and help help it progress. And it's just been amazing to see now I just went this November, this past November. And this was the first time I brought my husband and I could go together. So we've gone alternating like the last 10 years when we could go visit and check in. And this last November, we took three of our kids, and my husband and I, we all got to go together and had the celebration of the opening of the secondary school, which is now going to house all the way up through 10th grade. Well, and that secondary school sits on the land that we prayed over 11 years ago that the Muslim man owned that didn't want to sell to the school. And now that is where the secondary school sits. And so it was go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

No, I was gonna say, and that man, the Muslim man, he just decided to sell it to the school.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Yep, yep. He had God changed his heart, and that school now in that community is very prestigious, has a wonderful reputation. Even at this opening ceremony that we were able to participate in in November, people from all over the community, including people who practice Islam and some of these marabou leaders and the leaders in the Muslim community, they all show up and they all get up there and speak and say, you know, how they can see that this is this school is so important for their kids and that they acknowledge that they are receiving the best education around and are really excited and super thankful for our involvement and for um being able to have it be what it is. And so uh I think it is really um a testament to what God is doing there, not just in the kids in the school, but also what it's speaking to the community members.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

Now, did he did the Muslim man not want to sell to the school because it it was a Christian school or a Christian main uh Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

That was that was the original back eleven years ago that that yeah, and then it was, you know, a very small school too, but that the focus was that it was a Christian school was not something he wanted to be any part of.

SPEAKER_00 33:12

Yeah. What one destination that unesthetically challenged or strengthened your faith the most with with your travels?

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Ooh, that's a good question. I mean, Senegal is definitely up there, but you just heard that story. So I guess another one I would say was a trip um trip to Peru that I did with my best friend, and we did the Salcante trek into the Inca Trail to end at Machu

Peru Trek Where God Carried Her

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Picchu. And so, like this was a journey, you know, that we would hike and then we would camp and then we'd get up and we'd hike again. And so it was about six or seven days of doing this. And so it was another one that was physically strenuous, but nothing insane, I would say, with my other training and things I've done. But what was different here too was the elevation changes. And like we got up to 10,000 feet, a little bit more in some of these places. And so even if you are physically fit, like having that lack of oxygen, like it can take its toll on you. You know, it was I also wanted to go and do this journey because I wanted to use that time walking to just have some quiet solitude with the Lord and have some time talking and to him and enjoying nature and his creation. Like that's another reason why I just love traveling so much and seeing like the diversity of our world and what he created all around us to enjoy. And so I always just feel really close to him when I'm out adventuring. But this one, because of the differences in the elevation, and then we do have on this trek, we had chefs that would cook for us in the tents, but we did unfortunately have one night, and it was our last night before we had to get up like at three in the morning to start walking in the dark to actually end at Machu Picchu. And this meal that we had, several of us that night ended up getting sick, so got some type of food poisoning or reaction to the food. And so a couple of us just felt terrible and were were up sick that night and then had to get up and start moving at like three in the morning. And I it was like one of those sicknesses where you just felt so weak and drained and can't move. Um, and I could barely make it, you know, a little ways before I needed to go to the bathroom. And of course, you're in the wilderness and there are no bathrooms. And there are people on this part of the trek. We had many parts that were more quiet and not so crowded, but this one that was the final stretch to head into Machu Picchu was quite crowded. And so I am like sweating, so weak, feel like we've come this far. Like I have to make I have to make it. I have to go see like the finality and just go sit in awe at Machu Picchu and and just thank God for this journey. And so I'm just praying, like literally almost crawling to try to make it this last leg of the journey, feeling this way. And I definitely felt like God was carrying me during that time. Like I just can't even describe that feeling. But he completely 100% is the reason that I made it to Machu Picchu. Now, when I'm when I made it, I got into the the gates and I had to just literally lay uh at Machu Picchu while the rest of the group, you know, walk around and get the tour. But, you know, I still soaked that time in, even laying there, feeling still so terrible. But I just cried and was so weak, but thanked God so much for like just laying there and looking at the beauty and thinking of the history and just what it took to build that. And but again, just still giving the glory and honor to God through it all, and it was a very emotional time for me.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Yeah. What are you have any other adventures or learning or travel, you know, that on your radar?

SPEAKER_01 37:57

I always have adventures on my radar. I am always dreaming and trying to map out the next thing. I have a world map um that I hang downstairs in my house, and we all put up like pins in it of different colors for like places we've gone and like our favorite destinations and our dream

Next Adventures And Final Encouragement

SPEAKER_01 38:22

or destinations or our next planned destination. So I'm currently in the works trying to figure out my my next thing, and again, trying to still learn this journey that I'm on to with my new diagnosis and my body and what it's going to be ready for. But kind of in my thoughts is to do Mount Everest base camp, to do a trek to base camp. So I would love, like now, I think, yeah, after doing Machu Picchu and I've been in the Swiss Alps now, and I'd love to do Kilimanjaro, and I'd love to do Everest Base Camp.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Awesome. I always want to ask my guest as I get ready to end here, what one word of encouragement that you would like to leave with my audience.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

We are in the Easter season and we're leading up to Easter this Sunday. Um, and so just thinking and reflecting this week on all of that, I just want the listeners to remember that our God is a big God. And when we seek him wholeheartedly and surrender our path to him, that he will truly lead you into places that leave you in awe. And it's a journey that we could never script ourselves, and it's truly the greatest adventure of our lives.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

Amen. Well, Kerry, thank you so much for coming on the show today. We greatly appreciate having you.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Thank you so much for having me and for your work and your encouragement to all of your listeners.

SPEAKER_00 39:59

Well, guys and girls, thank you so much for tuning in again. And please go and check out Kerry's book and her website. I'll have the information in the show notes. And please go and check out other pod uh um share this podcast with your friends and your neighbors and people that you know, and check out my website at www.syroshow.com. And until next time, God bless. Bye bye. Hey, that was great.