Eden: Jason, I’m excited to talk to you about your ministry with Joni and Friends. Thank you so much for being willing to be on the podcast with us. We just look forward to hearing about God’s work in your life and the work he’s doing through you. So thanks for joining us.
Jason Holden: Absolutely. It’s a pleasure being here, Eden.
Eden: Awesome. Well, what are a couple of things that bring you joy?
Jason Holden: I would say for me, the most joy I feel is watching the impact of the work we get to do. I say we “get to do,” because God really allows us to see opportunities for us to share the gospel. And a lot of those opportunities are people that are struggling, that are lost, that are truly without hope. And Joni and Friends—we get to go into the Lost Nations and truly make a difference. I think that’s what brings me joy—seeing the smile on someone’s face when they get a mobility device and they’re allowed to get out of their house. Or to see a mom that just gets a moment of relief at one of our retreats as they experience respite for the first time in years. That’s where my true joy comes from.
Eden: I love that. That reminds me of a conversation I was having with my friend this morning about how when we’re part of Jesus’s kingdom, we get to experience all the joy of joining him in his mission. And I think it’s not just that us getting to do things alongside the Lord brings us joy, but we realize that those things bring us joy, because, ultimately, they bring him joy. And he’s a God that loves the hurting and broken, and we get to share that heart with him. So thank you for sharing that.
Is there a part of God’s Word that is especially precious to you? I’m sure there are many, but is there one that stands out to you? And tell us a little about why that passage is so precious.
Jason Holden: In my roles—both now and in previous careers—I’ve always been very operational-focused. And with that comes planning and strategy and all the things to ensure success. And what really tugs at my heart is the verse Proverbs 19:21 that tells us that many are the plans of a person’s heart, but it’s the Lord’s purposes that truly prevail. I love that verse, because it tells me no matter who I am or how much I feel I am gifted by God, that it is ultimately his purposes and his plans that I am executing to really just serve him, laying everything at the feet of Jesus before we get into it. That’s why that verse just resonates with me so deeply.
Eden: Awesome! And you said that your work is operational, both in the past and presently. So could you just give us a little bit of your story—how you came to Joni and Friends, that ministry, what you do for them? Kind of a little bit of what life was like before that, and what you’re doing now.
Jason Holden: My previous career, I was in the military. I served over twenty years managing construction projects around the world, leading men and women to ultimately serve our country. And a lot of that work was very logistical in nature: coordination; working with contractors internationally; getting parts, materials, supplies, and people all over the world into challenging places, so that we might execute that mission.
But over time, as I was nearing the end of my career there, a friend of mine from church actually was sharing about the mission and vision of Joni and Friends, and I really resonated with it, especially as I had experienced a lot of disability from combat, not myself specifically, but my friends. So it really tugged on my heart. And I wanted to know more.
And over a period of time—I believe God works through all the details—but I landed at Joni and Friends, where currently today I serve as their COO. But originally, I was a director of their Wheels for the World program, which brings wheelchairs all over the world. It’s logistical in nature. It’s getting people, missionaries, and parts and materials and supplies to those places that are difficult. So I love how God prepares us all through our life. And sometimes we even ask ourselves, why am I going through this? Or what is the purpose of this? And then ten, fifteen years later you’re like, “oh, I see what you did there, God; I got this.”
Eden: That’s so awesome. And I think, like you said, it gives hope to people—that if you’re in a season where you are totally lost as to what God is up to, and you feel like it’s meaningless, or, maybe you’re not doing quite what you want to be doing, none of it’s wasted. It’s so neat how over those many years in the military, God totally equipped you with all that you would need to be doing the work that you’re doing today. So that’s awesome.
And tell us not just how you came to Joni and Friends, but how did you come to know Jesus?
Jason Holden: Well, I grew up in a Christian home. My mom was a faithful Christian and raised me in the ways of the Lord. I attended national youth conventions and did all that. I would say, “but that was my childhood faith.” And why I say it like that is because when I first joined the military, I was in my teens, and I really had a relationship [with God], and I truly understood the Bible, but I didn’t have it as a place in my life as driven by me. It was really something my home had set as a cultural value.
So when I joined the military—the military uses chaplains, and chaplains are typically non-denominational, because they have to serve many different religions for their unit. So, you don’t have the typical services, you don’t have the typical Christian groups—men’s groups or whatever those might be—that you have in your home life. So, I kind of strayed away a little bit, you know. I wasn’t diving in. I was really on me. I was working, trying to learn my trade, trying to learn my craft. And I kind of walked away a little bit from my faith—and not in a way of I was doing things that shouldn’t be done. It was just—I wasn’t growing in my faith.
And I had started serving in combat zones. After about my third combat tour, I remember I was in a really tough place, really trying to figure out, “God, what is all this, and what do you have for me through all this?” And it took a friend to say, “well, I know what you need. You need to get back into the church.” And I did. And that Sunday, I was sitting there, and it was that moment where you feel like the pastor is speaking directly to you. There’s hundreds of people in the audience, but you feel like you are the purpose of that message. And it was the watershed moment that really lit my life on fire for Jesus in my own terms and my own ideals. And that’s how I say I came to Jesus. But it’s really a lifelong path that really prepared me. It was just that moment, I think, is what inspired me to be a faithful believer.
Eden: Awesome. That’s so wonderful. And it’s such a good reminder that Jesus holds on to us. We express faith in him, maybe as kids, and yet his promise is that if he’s got us in his hand, he won’t let us go. And to see him pursuing you through your friend later on in life, what a wonderful grace and mercy that is from him. And then to lead you into the work that you’re doing.
So, you work with people that have disabilities. Was there a time that you felt like God really first gave you a heart of compassion for people struggling with disability?
Jason Holden: I think it’s kind of twofold. First, as I was coming back, and I watched as military members were coming back severely disabled from wounds of war and how it drastically changed their life and how they became left behind as they were in the hospital, or recovery, or sometimes separated from service due to their injuries. And it really helped me create a relationship with disability, because some of my friends were those people that suffered those wounds, and spending time with them in the hospital and really advocating and speaking into their life as most of them weren’t Christians and asking, “what now? This is all I had. This is who I am.” And that’s where I had the opportunity to say, “this isn’t who you are. This was a profession. God has great plans for you. God has plans to prosper you” (Jeremiah 29:11). And you know, I think that was the one side of it.
The other side is I have a heart for serving the elderly community as well. And I know it’s not specific to disability, but as we age, as people age, disability just becomes a part of your life—pain and suffering and just challenges that every person will go through at some point. And I think those two aspects of my life, and the way I’ve served in the past, really created my heart for disability and my heart for those that suffer. And how do I, in my role, serve those and really share about the gospel and give them the hope of Jesus?
Eden: Yeah, wonderful. As you’re talking about sharing, specifically the hope of Jesus with them and God’s Word—we expect that the people that come to our website and listen to our podcast, that largely they’re newer believers or maybe didn’t grow up in a Christian home. And so, [we’re] trying to help them apply the gospel and the good news of Jesus to every area of life. So, how would you explain how God’s Word informs your view on disabilities? How does God’s Word kind of inform the way you think through that as an issue and your worldview in that way?
Jason Holden: I mean, it’s the inspired word of God. It’s the truth, right? There’s so much depth to the Bible. And as a new believer, just getting in the Word and reading it and allowing God to move through that Word in your life is so inspirational to anything you do.
I mean, for me about disability, I could go to Luke 14 where it talks about inviting them in so that his house may be full of the crippled, the lame, the blind. I could look at different aspects of the Bible where you can see disability was not a limiting factor for many of the great stories of leaders that were used by God even though they had disability. So, I would just encourage that it starts with creating a relationship— by sitting down and opening it up and reading the Bible—and it’s going to change you whether you want it to or not. It’s going to change you, because that’s what God wants. God wants you to change. And it starts with changing of your heart.
Eden: Yeah, absolutely. And so Joni and Friends, as an organization, is a Christian organization. And there are probably a lot of other organizations in the world that do similar work—but not with the perspective of a Christian worldview. So as a Christian organization, how would you explain what you’re bringing to those that are disabled that differs from what a secular organization might be able to provide?
Jason Holden: Yeah, a lot of our programs and services could be or are done by state enterprises, by governments, by other organizations that aren’t faith-based. But what I think they lack is they’re only serving in a moment of time. So they may be providing the same service, whether it’s physical therapy or a life-saving surgery or providing a wheelchair. But if it’s not creating a physical change in their heart, if it’s not helping them change spiritually, then it’s just a flash in their life.
And what we do differently is every program and service that we do as a ministry at Joni and Friends, it’s wrapped in the gospel. The only reason we do it in the first place is to reach people with the hope of Jesus. So we don’t go into it saying, “we’re going to serve and share the gospel.” We’re going into it saying, “how do we share the gospel to people that would never encounter us, encounter Christianity or Christians in general, never be invited to the church?” “How do we go out into the streets, in the alleys, and the back country lanes and roads?” “How do we do that?” And Joni and Friends disability ministry, the work that we do, is our way of going out and making disciples of all nations, fulfilling that great commission.
Eden: We love to hear that. And are there any specific passages of God’s Word (you mentioned Luke, and you mentioned some maybe leaders in the Bible that suffered from disabilities), but are there any specific passages of the Bible that personally motivate you as you work for Joni and Friends, that kind of inspires what you’re doing day to day, other than the fact that the Lord plans our steps from Proverbs?
Jason Holden: Yeah. You know, our biblical commission is Luke 14. So I would say that’s really what governs and guides our work, because it is very, very specific in how it addresses how we see people with disabilities. It calls us to invite them in, and there’s so many other verses that talk about those that are lost and those that are downtrodden and left behind, and that is our eternal focus is, we can easily go to those that we already know and that we love and that look like us and talk like us and act like us. But that’s not who God calls us to go and serve and to bring into his house. He wants us to go out to everyone. And I think that’s why Luke 14 is such a valuable verse, because it really highlights why we should focus on disability and those that would not typically be in our circle of friends or people that we would share the gospel with.
Eden: And I think that goes back to what you said at the beginning about your heart for the lost is really a reflection of God’s own heart, that he is not interested in those that have it all together and don’t need him, but he loves to rescue sinners and broken people. And even Jesus said to us that he didn’t come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). And it seems that all throughout the Bible, God has got a special place in his heart for weakness. Even those of us that don’t have a physical weakness that we’re aware of, are all weak spiritually. And it’s just the heart of God to come after weak and broken people and to restore us. So I love that that’s Joni and Friends‘ mission.
So, you said that your work brings you lots of joy and that, when you get to minister to people through your job, that lights your fire, so to speak. So, tell us about something that you’ve done recently that’s been a great joy to you, just so that we can hear a little bit about the kind of things that you’re doing.
Jason Holden: You know, joy is all about perspective. I remember I traveled to Cuba with our Wheels for the World team to distribute wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and crutches to those in need that would typically never have that either available or could never afford it. And as we were in Matanzas, is the name of the city we were in in Cuba, which they call the Athens of Cuba because of the architecture and the way it was built, I remember being there, and each morning we would circle up. The missionaries and the team would pray together. And because we were in Cuba with extreme oversight, we always had a government official. And his name was Julio Cesar, which made me laugh because we were in the Athens of Cuba, in Matanzas, and I had Julio Cesar as our government official overseeing us.
But he would stand there and watch us with his arms crossed and just keeping an eye on what we were doing and how we were doing it each day. But each day, he took a step closer and wanted to know more and wanted to hear what we were saying. And by day—I think it was day three—he asked if he could be in the circle with us as we prayed. And you just watched something as simple as a group of individuals coming together for God’s kingdom make an impact on this man’s life, who was just there to watch and observe us.
And he became a part of the group. He started praying with us. You could see his countenance change from sadness and sorrow to just joy, because he knew what we were doing had an eternal impact. And he could feel it.
And in that same outreach, I saw the same thing happen with a father. As we went in, we do these small groups, and we bring in individuals, and we serve them with a wheelchair. But what we have to do is we have to fit them. The physical therapists really measures them, figures out their life and where they’re going to use this and how they’re going to use the wheelchair.
And as we’re fitting his son, he had an accident, so we cleaned it up, and we took care of it. And this mom’s sitting there with us, but the dad’s standing off in the corner. Again, his countenance is just—he doesn’t want to be there. His arms are crossed. He doesn’t understand what’s going on.
But as he’s watching us serve his son with a disability, his whole demeanor just changed. And at the end, I remember the translator talking to him and communicating back to the to the physical therapist. He was asking “Why? Why? Why are these Americans serving like this? Why? When my people don’t serve us like this, why are you serving us?” And it was such a great opportunity to say, “there’s not an American god and a Cuban god. It is one God. And we are called to serve each other in this life.” And you just watched him—he just changed, and he started crying. And you could see that this was a changing moment in his life to know that all his preconceived ideals about America, about Christianity, it was all broken in that moment. And he knew “there is a God, there is one God to rule us all,” and it was such an amazing moment. And that’s what brings me joy.
Eden: Wow, that’s so awesome. I was thinking today, my roommate just reminded me of the truth that we are all parts of Christ’s body and just the truth that we are the physical representation of Jesus in the world. And so, in a way, when Christians go out on mission and they do the things Jesus called us to do, they say what Jesus has called us to say, we are, in a way, bringing Jesus to people. And it seems like both those people you just mentioned encountered Jesus in a powerful way through you guys’ ministry. And that’s so beautiful.
So, I would love to hear if someone’s watching and they think, “I’d really like to get involved in that kind of work,” where would you point them if they wanted to start serving those with disabilities?
Jason Holden: Our website, joniandfriends.org, under the tab, “What we Do” [“Our Work”], there’s so many opportunities to come alongside of us, and, I would say, any Christian organization, go volunteer and serve. If international and traveling is not your thing, we have a lot of opportunities domestically, here in the United States. We host family retreats, and we host almost fifty of them all around the United States. So there’s plenty of opportunity to go and serve at a family retreat. There’s no skills needed. It’s just, “how do you bring your Christian spirit and love and just serve these families who never get a break?” And this is sometimes the one week a year that they get a break.
And you think about it, with a child with a disability where you’re changing feeding tubes, changing diapers—that never ends. And you do that throughout your entirety of your life. You don’t get the breaks. You don’t get to just go on vacation as easy as a typical family can. Your kid does not get invited to birthday parties, and you don’t get to just drop them off at a friend’s house. You can’t call up a babysitter and just have them come over for a couple hours. These are not options for families affected by disability, so these week-long family retreats are an opportunity, not only for them to hear and experience Jesus but also to get that break that they need and for their child with a disability to be loved and to be served and just shown that people do love them, and they want them to be a part of the body of Christ.
Eden: Awesome. Well, we’ll be sure to add that link in the description so that people can find that really easily. And just to close, we like to give people recommendations for their bookshelf. So, alongside the Bible, there are a lot of resources that believers have learned from throughout the years. And so what are a couple of books that have transformed your walk with God outside of the Bible?
Jason Holden: Outside the Bible? Oh, there’s been so many. John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart changed me when I was a young man. As a leader, John Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership really inspired how I lead and how I see people as an opportunity, not an interruption. As I grow in my faith and being able to share more about my faith, I think anything by R.C. Sproul has really helped me. I recently read a book, I think it was called Defending Your Faith by R.C. Sproul, that really helped me just understand, “how do I share well about who God is and about the inspired Word of God?”
Eden: Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for being willing to chat with us. And it’s my prayer that as people watch or listen to this, that they’re going to be led to go explore Joni and Friends and learn a little bit more about your ministry, and also just grow in their heart to love those that Christ loves. And so thank you so much for your time and for spending it with us today.
Jason Holden: No, thank you for the opportunity, and I pray that the people listening and that will find this it will just serve them in their season of life.
Eden: Thank you so much for listening to our podcast today. If you enjoyed our conversation, I would encourage you to like or subscribe to our podcast so that you can hear the next conversation. And if something that you heard today spoke to your heart or got you thinking, I would encourage you to not let the day go by without talking to God about what’s on your mind. We believe that he loves you and that he’s pursuing you today out of that love.