Matthew:Hi, Veritas. My name is Matthew Morken, and I am a Gospel Shepherd here on the Community and Care Team, and I'm excited to introduce you today to Carey Trantham. And some of you may have seen him around and we just wanted to share a little bit of his story. So Carey, tell me, like, how long have you been at Veritas Church?

Carey: About six years or so.

Matthew: Did you move into the area or did you just come over and visit and hang out?

Carey: We got to Veritas through our kids. Blake and Lisa, my son and daughter in law, were at Ames in The Salt Company and were married in that church by Jeff Dodge. And whenever they would come down from Minneapolis area to visit us, they didn't want to go to our church with us. They wanted to go to Iowa City to Veritas all the time. And then when there was a church planted here in Cedar Rapids, we decided to investigate it. And by the time we got here, it was a meeting in the hotel. And so ever since then, we've been coming.

Matthew: So that happened through The Salt Network you guys were drawn in. Very cool. Some of you I mentioned earlier have seen Carey walking around. You walk around on Sunday mornings, you walk around on Wednesday nights, you walk around on Thursday nights. Can you share with us, what are you up to?

Carey: I walk around the Sunday school rooms on Sunday mornings, mainly just to pray for the kids and also the teachers and volunteers. Yeah. And then on Thursday nights, I am there at Salt and meet with the staff beforehand and go over the names they have and people they want to pray for and we pray. And then I pray. I usually sit up in the balcony and pray while Salt is going on.

Matthew: Oh, that's awesome. So tell me a little bit about how long have you been doing that? When was that laid on your heart? What kind of drives you to do this ministry for us at Veritas?

Carey: I had a mom who was a prayer warrior, and I remember calling her and saying, Mom, I've got a person that such and such, would you really pray for them? And she'd say, well, I don't know. I'll see if I think I have a slot on Wednesday. I was like, oh, okay.

Matthew: So she had like a full week of prayer ahead?

Carey: Oh yes, she had scheduled. So anyway, I started praying for people. I had a spiral, small spiral notebook in my back pocket. And as it began to be and I prayed for more people, I divided it into groups and the one page would be family. One page would be whatever. So then I found through a friend that there was a prayer app that I can use. So I have this app that I use and I have different folders.

Matthew: What is that app that you use?

Carey: Well, it's not a prayer app. It's called toodle do. And it's a way of managing the things you have to do. So there are lists, there are tasks, there are outlines, so forth. So I have everybody as a task and for example, my connection group, that is an envelope. And then in that envelope are the names of the people in my connection group. Same way with the street I live on is an envelope and then everybody on that street is in there and family, extended family, Veritas Church, Veritas staff. Those are all different envelopes. Salt. Yeah.

Matthew: Wow. So yeah, when you're walking through the hallways, like, especially on a Sunday morning with all the kids like, talk me through. You know what you're thinking, how you're praying, you know?

Carey: Well, it's not always the same. The Holy Spirit will just give me a nudge but maybe it has something to do with going by a room and there's two or three really crying their heads out. So I'm thinking, Lord, help them to feel safe here. Help them to associate this place with the place that they would want to be so that later on, when they're old enough to get something out of what is being taught, they will continue to associate that with something good. And then the older ones, basically, I know from their ages what they should be able to do, and I've been shown the curriculum here. So, yeah, that's kind of the way I pray.

Matthew: So you elaborated a little bit on how you pray with Salt Company. So what's it like to sit up on the balcony and just what does it look like to pray as Jordan's teaching and as the students are gathered?

Carey: Yeah, I get into the message that they're giving and sometimes I think man, I need to be praying because they're so good. The Lord is really gifted us with speakers, but yeah, I do that. And then sometimes I just get up and peek over the top and I pick out certain people. All I can see is their backs, but and then I pray for those people.

Matthew: Oh, well, that's amazing. And this was driven like, you saw your mom's organization with prayer, but like, when did the power of prayer, I guess, grab you to do such a thing?

Carey: Well, I can't tell you exactly, but I do know that I began to think, you know, I realize that Carol and I and our kids are being prayed for every day by their grandmother, and when she's gone, we are not going to have that. So that upped to my prayer quotient, I guess I should say. So, yeah, I think that had a lot to do with it.

Matthew: So I might catch you off guard here. But can I ask like, what have you seen God do? What have you heard about God doing as as you've been praying? And I realize I just caught you off guard there. But yeah, what is a testimony of God at work through our hallways?

Carey: Well, I can't claim any, you know, I hate to say that. But the people have come to me and said this, these people that you're praying for, they've become a Christian. And that's really neat because I keep a chart. And when they cross the line, I move them from this column to that column. And so I keep track of one set. But yeah, people do tell me that as if I had anything to do with it, you know?

Matthew: Well, that's beautiful. I just think it's phenomenal for me, like as a person on staff here to just see you walking around as I'm in my office, maybe connecting with some folks or whatever. You know, I see you walk by and I know I greatly appreciate your prayers. I’ve felt your prayers and just really greatly appreciate your ministry to Veritas Church. We're grateful for you. So Veritas, like it makes me think about how can we be a praying people and see God work through that as a church? And so perhaps it was a challenge to you. Perhaps there's a little bit of a picture of how to maybe organize such a structure? Or perhaps there are some ideas for you to to go about or how to go about praying for the ministry that's happening here. But what's God laid on your heart? So Carey, thank you so much for sharing a little bit about who you are and about what you're doing here at Veritas. We greatly appreciate you.