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Joni Lamb
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
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Joni Lamb
Well, today's guest is an amazing singer whose powerful voice and unwavering faith have inspired millions around the world. But before we get to that and her incredible story, joining me around the table is April Simons. How are you?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I'm doing good. Another great story today. It was sad, but it ends up good.
Joni Lamb
And it's encouragement. It's going to give hope to the viewers today. Yeah. You know, Dorothy, there may be people watching today who have lost a loved one. They need to sit down, get a cup of coffee and watch this, don't they? Exactly. And you know what? There's always purpose in our pain. It's not always easy. It's hard. I imagine it was really, really hard. But with God, you can get through it. And this is a true testament of his greatness. Yes. Rachel Ann Brown.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Hi.
Joni Lamb
How are you?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I'm good.
Joni Lamb
Welcome to the table.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Thank you for having me. You know, grief is like a megaphone in your own head that only you can hear, and it shows up at all different. And so I'm excited to glean from our guest today after she went through such a difficult time and how people can have hope to get through to the other side.
Joni Lamb
That's good. Rebecca Lamb Weiss, how are you?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Happy to be right next to you.
Joni Lamb
Always happy to be here. Happy to be here. But this is a really hard topic. Heartbreaking story.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yeah, it's heartbreaking. But you know what? I think when you go through difficult things and you come out the other side, I think it's really important to share your testimony of how God brought you through so that when someone else goes through something of that magnitude, they know that, hey, if God brought them through, that he can bring me through. Because God is no respecter of persons.
Joni Lamb
Right. And that's why she's going to share her story, because she wants to encourage others that no matter what happens in life, this life is just a stepping stone to the life to come.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Exactly.
Joni Lamb
Eternity is a long time, and so things happen in time while we're on this earth. But we're going to talk about how do we navigate it, how do we get through it? Cindy Johnson, are you ready?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I'm ready. I have my Kleenex. And they better get their Kleenex.
Joni Lamb
That's right. But you know, I think God and just in general, people on earth, we.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Can identify more with people's pain than their perfection.
Joni Lamb
We like to show perfection. But the pain I can relate to.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
And this story is really incredible.
Joni Lamb
So good. Tammy Trent, welcome to the table.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
So happy to be with you girls, every single one of you. I'm sitting here like, oh my gosh, you've already blessed me already. The things you've said. It's just, I think that's the greatest gift is community. The danger is isolation. And it's easy to do that when you're hurting and when you're in pain.
Joni Lamb
That's right.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Thank you. I'm so happy to be with you.
Joni Lamb
Well, we're so glad to have you here. You know, when tragedy strikes, we have a choice to make. Will we embrace God's comfort or will we give in to despair many times get mad at God? Well, Tammy Trent is joined us today to share how God intervened when she found herself alone overseas grieving a loss that she never in a million years expected. Okay, so let's go back and kind of tell the story for people watching. How did you meet the love of your life?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I'll give you the short version, but it's a good one.
Joni Lamb
Yeah, it's a good one.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
It's a good one. Met this kid in my youth group when I was 15 years old and we lived on the same side of town together. So it meant that we got to go to the same fellowship group together. So I got to watch his life. 15, 16 year old kid that really was interested in the things of God. So as a, as a 15, 16 year old girl, that was very attractive. I was allowed to date and we started dating, dated for seven and a half years, the best years of my life. And he was such a covering for me. He was consistent, he was faithful. We talked about purity in our youth group. And it was something I struggled with because I come from a broken home. So I just wanted to be loved. I want to be loved. And he would, he would tell me every time as the stronger one. I believe God's got a plan for us, a purpose for us. And I believe part of that is me protecting you in this relationship. And I was like, what are you saying? As a teenager, But I wanted to Kiss him even more. Like, get over here. I mean, I was falling even more in love with him. So I went off to Bible college, came back.
Joni Lamb
Wait, you got to tell what happened while you were at Bible college?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Well, I broke up with him.
Joni Lamb
It was one of those, oh, nobody.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Can say, aw, yeah, I know. Why did you do this? But, you know, I was going to Bible college ministry and thinking, you know, as a singer at the time and having a dream of writing music and touring, and I thought, well, maybe that's the ministry God has for me.
Joni Lamb
And doors were opening for that.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
They were even at a young age, I was on a team talent competition.
Joni Lamb
Right.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Remember that? In the Assemblies of God. And so I thought, well, how is this going to work? Isn't it funny? I think when we're younger, we're trying to already make sense of stuff when we don't allow God to do what he wants to do. So I was already trying to fit my will and my purpose and my idea. I was already messing up God's plan. So I came back and I had no, no doubt that he was the one. I met guys at college. It was kind of fun, but I was like, but they are not Trent. They are not. This guy came back and I said, you're the one. And we started dating again.
Joni Lamb
He had waited on you.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
He waited. He waited.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
This was.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
He waited. He went to a Christian high school. I was at a secular one. I was asked to come and sing at their prom at the Christian college. Right. We were broken up during, during some of that time. And he asked two girls to go with him so that when I showed up singing there, that I would not see him with one girl and think he was dating someone. This guy was unbelievable. Like, every girl wanted to date him, but he went with two just to go as friends, so that if I saw that, I would know. But he waited, he waited and he just knew.
Joni Lamb
So you all got back together. How old were you at that point?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I was probably, gosh, college.
Joni Lamb
19.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
19. 19. And we got back together and got engaged a few years after that. And I will never.
Joni Lamb
How did he propose?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
You want to know the scoop, don't you, girls? You want to know the detail? I want the scoop. I want the scoop. Well, it's all in the book. That's the good news. All those little details that you're wondering about.
Joni Lamb
Learning to breathe again. The whole story's in there.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
It's all in the book. Okay, so Trent drives into McDonald's drive thru. This is hilarious. And he's Whispering to the girl at the drive through. And I'm thinking. And she's whispering back, and I'm getting mad, like they're flirting with each other. And I'm right here. They're whispering back and forth, and it's not even exactly. And I'm actually getting mad. And he gets a Happy Meal. And I'm like, a Happy Meal. We get in the car and he sits there. He says, open it. I said, no, I don't want to open it. I'm mad. He's like, babe, open it. And I'm like, I don't want to. I finally do. When I reach into the Happy Meal, it's my ring. Start crying like, what a jerk I am. So back then, though, we didn't have the camera and the good, like, set it all up and do it. So he took me to McDonald's in a happy Meal, and I loved it. I loved it. And it was.
Joni Lamb
It was supposed to be a happy meal.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
It was everything. It was the greatest meal of my life. And we went to his grandparents, showed him the ring. And that began that next chapter, that next adventure of my life. Everything I experienced with him now overflowed into my marriage. And it was good. It was solid. I was a woman that felt loved every single day. It was consistent. Yeah, it was faithful times when I didn't deserve it. It was what I felt truly. But he. He had such a love and a calling for me that was almost hard to explain. But I settled into it. And I think because I come from a broken home, I didn't really have that example in my life until this man walked into my life. And it was all the things I wasn't fully aware of. And so I took things for granted. We were married for 11 years.
Joni Lamb
And he actually got involved in your singing career, managing you, helping you.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
He did, yeah. I had signed my first record deal as Tammy Trent. I took his first name as my last name. I love that Inc. But on the platform, I was Tammy Trent. It's just. I'm so grateful because we've been in it together from the very beginning. So that name has meant everything to me.
Joni Lamb
And y' all were traveling and doing stuff. And at this 11 year mark. Y' all been married 11 years, you were what, on a trip to Ware?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yeah. So we had. Prior to this, I had signed a bigger deal at the time with Sparrow Records. And so we moved from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Nashville, built our first home together in nine years. Walked into that home, was beginning to pray. I remember that first Night. And I'm going to get to that. But I remember that first night being handed the keys. We had no furniture. Walked into this home, we sat there in the 19 foot ceiling, and Trent just started praying. God, I pray that when people walk into this home, they feel the peace of God always. What's crazy to me now is that God was already using Trent to set up my healing. Because I would need to be the very one to walk into that home two years later and know the peace of God in my life. So he's already using him. So we're traveling, the music's happening. Asked to go over to Jamaica on a mission trip in the season of all this, sort of wondering which girls. I think we've all been in the season before, coming in out of it. What? What is God up to? What am I doing? Where am I supposed to be? What's the will of God? Am I in it? Am I out? Am I forcing my way in? Is it God? How do I surrender to these things? And I was there. Is it another record? Is it not? I'm okay with it because it doesn't define my life. It was a piece of me, but my identity wasn't in a record deal. So I thought, 11 years. Am I supposed to start a family now? I think I'm ready. I think I'm ready. And I just wanted adventure with Trent for a good 10 years. We had it. So I thought, babe, I think I'm ready to start a family. Maybe come off the platform and let's. And he's like, I've been waiting for you. So that was that season of going to Jamaica, thinking God was about to do something, only I had no idea what it was going to be. And I stood on the edge of the water, right?
Joni Lamb
So tell what happened.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
We were going on a mission trip. We went to vacation on one side of the island before we begin the mission trip. So on this day off, traveling from one side to the other, Trent said, what do you want to do on our day off? I'm adventurous. I've got a list. What's on your list? I said, show me your list. It said, the Blue Lagoon. I knew he wanted to go to the Blue Lagoon. He'd been a certified diver since the age of 12. So I knew he wanted to dive. He wanted to free dive.
Joni Lamb
And what was special about this lagoon other than it was beautiful?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
It was gorgeous. They had a restaurant right on the edge of the water. Like, he researched it all. He knew, like, she's gonna love this. They had A restaurant. And that's how he talked. You're gonna love this. What was always like, cause I wanna go diving, but you're gonna love this. So we went there, had lunch on the edge of the water. Trent said, I'm gonna suit up. I'm gonna go for a free dive. 15 minutes. Just give me 15 minutes and then we'll go do something you wanna do.
Joni Lamb
And was there like a hole or something there?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
So in the middle of this gorgeous lagoon was a hole that went down about 240ft deep. And he wanted to explore in the hole. So he had his underwater scooter with him. He was in his full body suit, mask, fins, snorkel, everything. He sat on the edge of the water, and I remember saying, babe, hang on a second, let me get the camera. I want to take a picture of you. It's one of the greatest gifts God has ever given me through this loss is the fact that I have a picture of Trent right before. Right before. So he sat there again. I'll be back in 15 minutes. I'm going to free dive. And that's when you go in the water without oxygen, without tanks. He was brilliant at that. He could hold his breath up to about 2 minutes, 3 minutes underwater. So he slipped into the water and he began to head out to that hole. He lifted his head out of the water and he just kind of waved goodbye to me. That was kind of our weird little kind of. He did that, and I waved back, and he sunk beneath the surface and he was gone. I had no idea at that moment that that would be the last time I would ever see Trent again.
Joni Lamb
And so you're sitting there at the edge of the water waiting, and tell me about the time passing. Like after the first 10 minutes.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yes. So 10 minutes went by. 15. I saw some other swimmers in the area, and I was finishing lunch, and I was looking out into the lagoon and didn't see anything. And 15 turned into 30 and into 45. And I thought, now something's wrong. Because Trent's the kind of guy that if he was going to make a new plan, he'd come and tell me because he didn't want me to be afraid. Always thoughtful of that stuff. But this time it was different. It didn't happen. And so turned into an hour. And I thought, something is wrong. Something's not right. So I got up and I got close to the edge of the water. I started to look out, and I knew I'd have to see him every few minutes. And I saw nothing. And a boat came into that lagoon, went over the hole, went back over the hole where Trent was, and it docked. And I was like, I hope you hear the boat. And I remember just watching again and again and nothing. And I knew at that moment, like, this isn't good. This is. This is really bad. And I don't know how to change it.
Joni Lamb
I don't know how to change this.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
This is really bad. And I went to the back room of this restaurant by myself.
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Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
And I just began to call everybody I could, and there wasn't one person that was there.
Joni Lamb
Nobody was answering the phone.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Nobody was there.
Joni Lamb
You were there alone. You're in another country.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yeah, that's scary. Nobody was there. And I remember sitting in that space and thinking, God, help me. It was the only prayer that would come out of my mouth was just, help. Like, I didn't even know what to pray. Just help me, God. And then I started to sing, like, every song. It's like we practice for these moments our whole lives, right as believers going to church, we're worshiping God. We're just. I surrender all. We're singing the song. We're trying to remember the scripture. We practiced for these moments. And there I was in my moment, and I just lifted up my hands and I started saying a thing. I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice. Just every one of these songs that poured out on me was like a lifeline, timing to hope. And three hours went by. I'd called in a dive team, and I said, would you please come and search for Trent? And they started the search while I sat in that back room. And they came in after three hours and said, we can't find him. We cannot find him, Tammy. And I said, what do I do then? I don't know. Then I said, I'll sleep on the edge of the water till you start again in the morning, because I have nowhere to go. I don't know where I'm supposed to be. And they said, no, we'll want to take you up to a home of two doctors that want to watch out for you through the night. And I'll never forget the next morning, a doctor came into my room, and he said, tammy, come quickly. You need to look at the television. Come fast. And I walked into that room, staring at the television. The morning of September 11, 2001, as the second plane plowed into the Twin Towers, I thought for the first time in my life, remember, like, what is going on? I think every one of us will always remember where we were.
Joni Lamb
Will always remember, right? I was the same thing.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Were you?
Joni Lamb
My husband walked in and turned the TV on and said, you got to see this.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Crazy. I know. And it was just. I think we were all like, in a. And I certainly was. I'm in a foreign country. America's falling apart. My personal world is falling apart. Then I got the call that all flights were grounded. My family was sitting on a Runway In Dallas, in St. Louis and Chicago on planes ready to take off to come to rescue me. And all flights were there.
Joni Lamb
They were all grounded.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Everything was grounded. And did you stay, Continue to stay.
Joni Lamb
With the doctor, Doctor's house, or did you go.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
You know what? I stayed there for that night? Only I remember I was in a bed that had a. They had no air conditioning. Super hot in Jamaica. And it had a net around me to keep any bugs, ants, whatever. And I dreamt that night. I remember dreaming that night that Trent had come out from the jungle. And just like, I'm here. Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I'm here. It just. It was so real. I remember waking up.
Joni Lamb
I was going to ask you, did you have a dream about him?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I did that, Mom.
Joni Lamb
And he probably looked amazing, right?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yeah, he did. Of course, in that dream, and. But when I woke up, it wasn't reality, was that it wasn't changing, that this was reality and this is your life. And what are you going to do now? I went to a home right at the Blue Lagoon. They took me to this beautiful home where this mama wanted to take care of me and her son, Precious. Her son was in a. I remember, in a really bad place in his life. And I asked him, would you step in and would you take me to the morgue? Would you help me? And I remember afterwards she coming to me and saying, you have no idea what that did for him, that you allowed him to minister to you. And he had no idea. He's not serving God. He doesn't know. But he stepped into this position, and I just said, can you help me? It began to turn his life around. She called later and said, which I'm like, look at how God will use everything. Every moment. There's always an appointment, there's always an assignment. And I didn't know enough to step in it. I just was there and God used it. And so things began to turn and change. But they began to search for him.
Joni Lamb
It was about going to the morgue.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
The second call came in, where they recovered his body. And so how long did it take.
Joni Lamb
Him to recover it?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Less than a day.
Joni Lamb
Less than a day?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Less than a day.
Joni Lamb
And where did they find him?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
They found him in the Blue Lagoon. He was in that hole about 150ft, still hanging onto his underwater scooter. Something had struck him on the back of the head and knocked him out and he didn't survive. So they recovered him. I got the call. I remember falling to my knees just like God, what do I do now? What am I? What am I supposed to do? The reality of how will I. The questions, like, for me, how do I live? How do I breathe? What do I do with my life? Like, I was just so confused. I really was in like a haze, a thick haze and numb and shock. And it was probably two days later I had. I headed to the Morgan, had to identify his body. I'm grateful for the gift that God gave me. The image that will always be in my head. Trent looked like he was just sleeping, being underwater for more than 24 hours. They warned me, tammy, Trent will probably not look like Trent. They were graphic. I talk about in my book what they thought he might look like to try to prepare me. And I was thinking, oh God, oh God, protect me. Protect my heart. Protect my heart. And I remember walking in there and seeing him just lay there and he just. He was Trent. His hair was spiky, just like it was. And he just.
Joni Lamb
His hair was perfect.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yes, it was perfect. And he looked amazing. And I love how God does that for us. The moment he left and went to heaven, like that was my last image that I will always have.
Joni Lamb
Were you still by yourself at this point?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
You want to know what the beautiful part of this story is? That my father in law made it to me. He was one of the calls that I made Trent's family and he was in LA the night before. He somehow made it. He took a red eye flight on the 10th. He made it over to me on the 11th, the morning of. Without a passport in a foreign country. He didn't know where I was. I was hours away from the airport when he landed. All of Jamaica Kind of knew, which is crazy, what had happened. They had sent someone to get him. Not knowing what he looked like. He didn't know. He walked off of that plane. And they said, Mr. Linderink? He said, yes. They said, come with us. He got in a car, drove three hours to find me, and he was there to walk out. That 10 days of both of our lives, if we were stuck in Jamaica, all flights being grounded for 10 days. But I'm telling you, the healing began for me. If I could tell you this last little story, it's the best healing began two days later, we headed to Kingston, where Trent and I were originally planning on going to begin the mission trip. I walked into the very same hotel room where Trent and I were supposed to be there. Now I'm walking with my father in law. We got adjoining room so he could watch out for me through the night. The next day, he went back to the Blue Lagoon to explore. I couldn't go. I stayed behind, of course, but I found myself in the bathroom just weeping, just crying. God, do you see this girl? Where are you? Do you see me? I need you. I want my mom. I want my sister. That touch of a mom. I just need it. Are you there? Do you see me, God? Can you just show up for me? Just send me somebody that just would hold me. God, not asking for a hundred angels, ten, just one that would just hold me. And I remember something coming over my spirit, just move, Holy Spirit, move, Move. And I got out of that bathroom and I started to move through the room, and I could hear somebody in the adjoining room. And I made my way over there, that opening, and I looked and I saw this beautiful Jamaican woman standing there. And I said, ma', am, could you just come in and make my bed? Could you just come in and make my bed? And she looked at me and she said, I have been trying to get to you. I could hear you crying, and I've been trying to get to you. She said, could I just come in and hold you? Aw, man. I think I laughed and I cried. I was like, yes, yes, yes. And she walked in, she wrapped her arms around me, she began to pray for me. And I thought to myself, man, I had no idea angels wore Hilton housekeeping outfits. But there I was. And I think that's when the healing began for me. I stepped into it. I let her love me. I let her hold me. She didn't know what had happened in my life. She didn't know why I was crying. But the healing began for me. And it's been a long time. I've walked a road of healing. I've put the hard work in. I've wrestled. I've been angry, I've been disappointed. There's been unmet expectations. I didn't have the family that I thought I would have, that we were preparing for, you know, all the things. But what I've tried to do in this whole journey is I could spend my whole life looking at this, what didn't happen, what I didn't get, or I could look at this part of my life and say, God, thank you for what you did, Give me all the time that I had. But this man that taught me love and what it should look like. And now I know how to recognize the things that I need or that you might bring into my life. I don't have children, but I have my nieces and nephews. I get to pour my life into it. So I've tried to spend my life looking at what I do have rather than what I don't have. And that's when fulfillment comes for me. That's when joy has come for me. And then God putting me on a certain platform of healing where it's all coming back to life again. I choose joy. I choose hope, and I will fight my way through it to get to the other side, because I know that. I know that at the end of the day, God will always lead me to my final destination.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
So good.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
You were, you know, Trent was so foundational for you in your life and was such a helper to you. How did God transition from you having this massive support and love to not having that? It's a great question. You know, I came off the platform for a whole year because I mainly thought, I have nothing to give, and I'm a girl. Like, I can't pretend. I cannot fake it. I can't fake joy if it's there, you know, all the things, my heart's on my sleeve. If I'm mad, you're gonna know, right? And I'm okay. I'm okay with that. Like, the emotions, Jesus had emotions. So it's how I, you know, prioritize them and navigate them. But heart on my sleeve, girl, it's all there. But I knew enough. Come off the platform. Don't pretend you have something to give. If you don't heal, heal, heal. And I did that for a year. When I went, when women of faith called and I took that platform, I thought, how am I going to do this? What do I do? I called my mom. My parents are Pastors Mama, will you come out with me? Will you come alongside me in this season? I don't know what I need, but I know I need you. So will you come alongside me? She said, baby, I'll be there anytime you need me. So every women of faith, I flew my mom out, I flew my sister out, I flew my best friends out. I flew out people from my mom's ministry and women's ministry. So I surrounded myself and then God brought a girl into my life who is working with Trent who was doing website stuff for me and her name was Anita. And I said, you're working at Thomas Nelson Publishing. I said, how would you like to leave Thomas Nelson and come on the row with me? I'll just teach you all you need to know. I don't know how much I can pay you, but God will take care of us both. How about coming on the road? She said, I'm all in. And she has worked with me now for 23 almost years alongside me in full time ministry and she's here today. But a blessing from God that he already began to set that up too. Even her knowing Trent, she was working on website ministry stuff for me, already had a heart. And so there we were. God has put us and taken us around the world together. I didn't need a manager, I didn't need a booking agent. I needed to heal and I needed friends and genuine friends that would walk it out with me. She was one of those gifts from God and we began to do that together. We've seen the world, we've laughed more than we've cried. She could tell my story probably better than I could. She's heard it so many times. But I'm very grateful for the road. As bumpy as it's been. I can see the hand of God.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Yes.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yes I can. And I couldn't stand on the edge of the water that day and see God's will. And I couldn't see his plan. I thought it all shifted and changed and my plan changed of course. But I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, sitting with every one of you girls here today, I have no doubt and I'm so sincere about it that this has been God's plan for my life. And we either you have two choices. You can either step into his plan, you could resist it and fight it your whole life and be angry, or you could just surrender it all. Say, God help me surrender this to you.
Joni Lamb
So good. Did y' all love this story?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Wow.
Joni Lamb
So good. So good. So heartfelt. But we are out of time. I want you to remember that grief is real, but so is God's comfort. Just like Tammy is talking about, the Bible says that he is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. And you heard her say it. All you have to do is surrender everything to him. As I was sitting here, I really felt like the Holy Spirit said, there are women watching that have gone through a divorce, and you feel lost, almost like someone died. And it has been a loss in your grieving, and I don't know the circumstances, but I just want you to know that you're not alone. God loves you. And just like he was with Tammy, he will be with you no matter what kind of loss you face. I know so many of you could relate to the story today. And if you're watching, you need prayer. That's why that prayer line number's on the screen. We have amazing prayer partners that are standing by. And if you don't know Jesus, Tammy will tell you that's the most important decision that you can make today. Just to invite him into your heart and say, jesus, forgive me. Come into my heart. I'm gonna surrender all this stuff to you and be lord of my life. I'm ready to start a new life serving you. And I'm just telling you, everything will change because you won't be alone. You will have Jesus with you. That's the beautiful thing about praying that prayer. But the most important thing about that prayer is that it prepares you for eternity. You know, there's no way that Trent knew that he was going to be promoted to heaven that day. Thankfully, he knew the Lord. So we know where he is. We're going to see him again. We want to make sure we see you again. So if you haven't invited Jesus into your heart, do that right now. It's the most important decision you can make. Well, I want to thank Tammy for joining us today. Be sure you pick up a copy of her book Learning to Breathe Again. You tell the whole story.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
It's all in there.
Joni Lamb
And for more, you can visit her online@tammytrent.com and as always, make sure to follow us on all social media. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for full episodes and exclusive content. And let us know how Table Talk is touching your life. We love hearing from all of you. Of course, you can also listen to the Joni Table Talk podcast, available now on all the major platforms. But I want to thank you so much for watching. Thank you, ladies. So heartfelt today. It's a little somber because we are just feeling Tammy's story. And for many of you that are watching, we're feeling what you've gone through. We want you to know it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. We love you. We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye for today.
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Joni Lamb
Well, you know, if God's word promises salvation for our families, why have so many Christians given up hope? Well, today's guest is going to share how we can move from doubt to confident expectation, trusting God to redeem and restore our loved ones. And I'm going to believe with you for your loved ones to come into a personal relationship with the Lord. And we're going to believe with you. So stay right there. We're going to talk about that. But before we get to that, joining me around the table is April Simons. How are you?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I'm doing great. And I believe that scripture, his faithfulness is from generation to generation.
Joni Lamb
Yes.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I'm not going to give up on my family or my kids.
Joni Lamb
Kids.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Thousand generations.
Joni Lamb
And all of us can think of someone, either in our family or friend or neighbor, that we're believing for and we need to keep praying for. Right?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Don't give up.
Joni Lamb
Yeah.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Never.
Joni Lamb
Anna Kendall.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yes, ma'.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Am.
Joni Lamb
Household salvation.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
You know, I think it is the cry of every Christian's heart that my family and my household will be saved. This is such an important show today for sure.
Joni Lamb
Rachel Lamb Brown, our guest today has a great story of household salvation from his own family.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Yeah, I think it's so crazy what one transformed life can do, the impact that it can have on generations. And that's the story of our guest today. And it's so encouraging. If it can happen for him and his family, I believe for you guys that are still believing and watching today, it can happen for you and your family as well.
Joni Lamb
That's a good word. Dorothy Newton, how are you? I'm doing so good. You know, I'm so excited about our guests.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Why?
Joni Lamb
Because the joy of the Lord is all over him and He's. And it's like, it's contagious every time, you know, just being around him, I realize time is of essence. We need to share Christ with everybody. We do. And it's such an encouragement and inspiration. So I'm excited. All right. Cindy Johnson. Hey, we got people we're believing for. Yes, continually believing for. The thought came to me that as much as we love our family members.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
God love is so much greater than that.
Joni Lamb
And he wants that as well. And he will put each one of us in the right place at the right time. That's good. Well, Philip Cameron, welcome back to the table.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
I've done something right. I got invited back. I feel like I've accomplished something in my life.
Joni Lamb
You did.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
You did.
Joni Lamb
You know. After a life changing prophetic vision, Philip Cameron realized that household salvation wasn't just possible, it was his God given. And today he's here to share, of course, how you can pray for your family in faith and see God's promises fulfilled. We have to go back and hear a little bit of your story because the Cameron family was quite interesting as it relates to their relationship with God. Right, so tell us about it.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Our family were the town drunks.
Joni Lamb
Oh my goodness.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Basically, there you have it. All this is in Scotland. Scotland, yes. And are we fishing town. My grandfather, my great grandfather in a drunken state one time the police went to arrest him in the harbor that he was down the harbor and he threw them all into the harbor. He threw the cops into the harbor and then walked up to the police station and got into a cell just waiting for them to come out of the harbor. That's how bad it was. My grandfather would go on six week drunken binges and my granny with six kids to feed, she would go down to the harbor and beg for fish from the. And then take that fish and walk around miles and miles around the farms and get eggs and barter with the farmers just to keep our kids together. And so we were known in our town. I mean, we were the drunks. You just kept away from the Camerons. In fact, in our town, the older people, the really old folks today, most of them are gone now, but when I was a young boy, they rarely ever, they couldn't forgive God for forgiving us. They would say truth and then they found out my dad would preach. Oh my God. You know, and then he was in America. Oh my goodness.
Joni Lamb
God couldn't have done that for a candidate. No way. This could be wrong with God.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Yeah, exactly. But the great thing about God is he is no respecter of persons.
Joni Lamb
That's right.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
And when you come to him and you believe that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, then the realm and the possibility of household salvation unfolds before you. I'm a dad. I've got four kids and I've got 10 grandkids. And I can't talk to God on his strength or his wisdom or his knowledge, but he's a dad, and so am I. So on that commonality, I understand the massive thought, that great old hymn. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan oh, the grace that brought it down to man oh, the mighty gulf that God did span and for him to give his boy away to be butchered on a cross. God's value is not just to get me saved. It's for you and your household.
Joni Lamb
And that's what God did. He sent his only son to die on the cross for our sins so that we can have eternal life. That's what Philip is talking about. So people are saying, okay, well, what happened to the Cameron family? What was the turnaround?
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
My uncle Michael was saved. He was working on an American boat that had been torpedoed by the Nazis up in the north of Scotland. And they were cutting in pieces and take the metal back down to the munitions factory in Birmingham. And these young guys went to this little wee island called Stroma. Google it. Stroma Island. And these Calvinistic people were there, and these lowlanders came and drank and were wild guys. My uncle was one of them. And every weekend you take a bus, a rowing boat from the island to the bus station and then the bus station down to Wick, where the bar was. And one time he was sitting in this cafe waiting for the bus to come. And there's salt and pepper shakers on the table, and there's a weak piece of paper. And he picked it up and he began to read it. And it says, for God so loved the world. Never had been in church, never heard the gospel, never read a Bible, never seen a Bible, didn't know what a Bible was. And the Holy Ghost fell on him in this little tea room, and he began to weep. And the waitress came back with his tea, and she put the tea down and she said, son, are you saved? And he didn't know the doctrinal statement of it. You know, it's like, you know, the man in the middle told me to get here, and he says, aye, I'm saved. I'm saved. And he got on his next weekend pass, he took the bus all the way to our wee town called Peterhead in Scotland. And he stood in my walk, my grandma's kitchen and said, we don't have to live like we're living. Jesus can change us. And they thought he had lost his mind.
Joni Lamb
And then what happened?
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Seven years of abuse. Mocked, ridiculed. And two young preachers came to our town. My dad was now in the army in Italy and my mom had a sister in law called Chrissy. And Chrissy was quite a case. And my mother, being Anglican, thought she needs some of this religion that these two boys are preaching. There's two young boys having a series of meetings. Six weeks in someone's bedroom and they had no place to go. And my mom took Chrissy.
Joni Lamb
So these two young preachers came to your town. And the man opened for six weeks his home up and moved the bed and all the furniture out and put chairs in. And people started coming.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
96, six folk got saved. 67 were Camerons. Oh my goodness. My mom was one and my auntie Chrissy, who Leslie's grandma was the other. And so my mom wrote my dad, I've given my life to Jesus. And he thought she was having an affair with a guy called Jesus and told her in no uncertain terms what he was going to do when he got out of the army. And she told him of Jesus and God's son. And he came back home and he gave her hell.
Joni Lamb
And he said, this is crazy. He didn't want to have anything to do with it.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Banned her from going to church. If she read her Bible, he would tear it in half and throw it outside. If he caught her praying, he would kick her and say, get off your knees and stop that nonsense.
Joni Lamb
And so what happened?
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Seven years passed. So it was seven years from Uncle Michael before the first cameras got saved. And then my mom got saved and there were seven more years.
Joni Lamb
This is like Jacob waiting for Rachel.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
And one day they had a big fight. He'd gone home for lunch and he was the one that was doing the fighting. And he said, I'm done with you. I'm done with this God thing. I'm sick of it. He's ruined my life. We're done. And he left him and back to work. And while he was working, my mom gave him up, Said, I can't take any more abuse. I can't take any more.
Joni Lamb
She basically told the Lord, I can't do this anymore.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
And I know there's someone watching today that's been fighting the battle and the battle is not yours. It's the Lord's. You have the ability to roll your cares upon him because he cares for you. And the moment you do that, you're not the person responsible.
Joni Lamb
He is.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
You are a partner with him for household salvation. So my dad was working a 13 saw and started shaking. And he's trying to put the saw, the wood, into the end of the saw.
Joni Lamb
This is in the factory.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
It's dangerous.
Joni Lamb
I mean, with that saw.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
And my uncle walked past Uncle John and says, simon, what's wrong with you? And he's standing, he's weeping. I done, I can. I done. I can. I don't know. I don't know. And he took him off the saw and took him up to the office, sent for my granny, his mom, and she came in. What's wrong with you, Simon? I thought, I can.
Joni Lamb
What? I don't think I can.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
I don't know. Then I can.
Joni Lamb
I don't know.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Then I can. I don't know. It's Scottish. I don't know. And they put him in a car and drove him back to my mom. And they came in crying. And he played so much tricks on her, playing the game with her. And she. When at first she. And all of a sudden he started saying, I'm not worthy, Wendy. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy, Wendy.
Joni Lamb
And she felt the anointing coming and.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
She went, what words is this coming out of his mouth? I'm not worthy. And my mother, she says, I know what's wrong with you, Simon Cameron. The Holy Ghost got a hold of you. And instead of slapping her, he looked at her as if to say, what do I do? And she says, if you call upon the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. And he began to cry, shouting, because she thought, calling Jesus, Jesus, attack me. Jesus, attack me. Jesus, attack me. And Jesus took him and she prayed with him. And they were living in a wooden shack, another great part of the story. A 12 by 6 wooden hut. And there was a single wire with a light with a turn buckle on it. And it was so dark and didn't that was on all the time. And when he opened his eyes, he thought that the lights had been turned on double power. Oh, wow.
Joni Lamb
Wow.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
He went outside of this little shack and he was convinced that the birds were singing in the trees, that Simon Cameron had been reconciled to God. Wow.
Joni Lamb
Everything was brighter, he said. The blues were brighter, everything was lighter.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Everything was changed instantly.
Joni Lamb
And he was dramatically changed. Because when I met your dad years later, when you would be in America. He was an on fire. I mean, sold out.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Absolutely.
Joni Lamb
And y' all traveled and ministered all over America, sang the Holy Ghost, preaching.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Language so many times. Oh, absolutely.
Joni Lamb
Tell quickly the story of how he got you involved in going to Moldova, in Romania and just rescuing kids and girls and I mean, just. It would have never happened, never happened without Simon.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
I'm sitting in my house in Montgomery, Alabama, just up the street from where you and Marcus are living. And my phone rang and I picked up the phone. Six o' clock at night, midnight in Scotland. I says, hello? He says, there are babies dying. I says, what are you talking about? He says, philip, I'm watching the BBC and there are babies. There are thousands of orphans dying. And he's had cancer surgery and the wounds burst on his back, a melanoma, and we don't know whether it's spread or not.
Joni Lamb
He had red hair, right?
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Oh, yeah. He says, and my dad had a motto, why have a dog and bark yourself? Woof. When he got the job, when he got the calling, I got the job. So he said to me, what do you plan to do? I says, I'm not doing nothing. I says, where's Romania? Isn't that where Nadia come? And it comes from? He says, I. He says, we've got to help. I says, dad, you are sick and I am busy. Leave it alone.
Joni Lamb
Yeah, because you're full time in ministry.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
We're building a Bible school in Scotland. I'm on TV all the time. The book, Household Salvation Soul. 300,000 copies. The last thing I wanted to do was to go to Romania and where it's freezing cold. Next night, he says, there are babies dying. I said, you told me that yesterday, dad, leave me alone. Next night, there are babies dying.
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Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Thursday night he calls me, well, if you're not gonna go, I'm gonna go myself. And if I die on the way, it is your fault. Truth. I says, oh, behave yourself, man.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Stop it.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
I says, I'll come. So I cancelled services, flew home to Scotland. The local press, I'm cancer Stricken pastor to go to Romania. Well, our whole town started giving us tons of food and tons and tons of clothes.
Joni Lamb
Of clothes and warm coats.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Truckloads of stuff. Yes. Because of the wintertime. Yeah, it was brutal cold.
Joni Lamb
And you still had to drive how far?
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
2,500 miles, all the way across Europe. Oh my gosh, unbelievable circumstances, I can't tell you. Seven of us in this little van and we got to this place, I.
Joni Lamb
Can just see feeling a moment.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
And my dad had a hole in his back and he's sitting and he wouldn't lie down, he would sit all the time and obviously in agony. And every time I wanted to complain, I looked at him and thought, don't say nothing, just go. So we finally got to Timisoara and we found this orphanage and the church we dropped this stuff off at gave it all away to their own people. And I had nothing to give to the orphans. Oh no. I had one box of powdered milk and that was it. So we get to the place and we walk in this door and we open these rattly metal doors. Freezing cold, Gosh. Walked in and the smell of ammonia in human waste hit me like a punch in the gut. And I almost threw up on the floor and I dropped the box and I ran outside, went back to the van. I'm leaning against the hood and he came out and he says, come on, get in. I says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not going anywhere. Leave me alone, I'm not going. He says, get in. He says, these folk live like this, you're insulting them. I says, dad, you asked for an orphanage, there it is, off you go. And I'll be here waiting for you when you get that. I says, if I stay here, I'm innocent. If I go in there, I am guilty. Well, he grabbed me by the sleeve of my jacket and he says, well, you're going to have to be guilty. And he hauled me into hell. Screaming kids all rocking like this in their cribs, no diapers, no heat, 200 kids. And changed my life. I became guilty.
Joni Lamb
And you went up the stairs, went.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Up the stairs to salon number five on the left hand side. And there was like 30 kids, the window and then there was a row, and then two rows of cribs and a space and then two rows of cribs in a space. And I walked in and my dad went in the door and stopped. So I went behind him, so I was further in the room than him, looking through these dirty windows that were all rattling because they had me put in place properly. And I looked at this Melia. Kids screaming and rocking and filthy. That's terrible to say. But they would mess in their cribs, no one cared. And they'd flip from their crib to the next crib and then the next crib to this crib and that crib. So they were all covered in waste. It was their hair face. And I'm standing and in the middle of this hell, this wee face is looking. He's got his hands on his crib and he's looking up towards me and he's sucking his cheeks in looking. And the Holy Ghost said, that's your son, as clear as any voice. So I, I said, dad, look at that boy. He says, oh, he's a bonnet boy. I says, no. I says, God wants me to adopt him. And you've got to understand. I had two kids, Philip and Melody. And I was done. I preached about having any more than two kids, you know, be careful what you preach about, folks. Be careful.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
That's right.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
So I went down, I squeezed my way down through the cribs and picked this wee thing up, naked from the waist down, covered. And he started talking like this. And he's talking with his hair because it's all pus. No one had ever talked to him. His hands, he couldn't move his hands. His hands were like flippers. Couldn't climb up. He could barely have climbed up these stairs at 3 years of age wearing 18 month old clothes. And I says, look, I said, I don't know who you are and I don't know how you got here, but I promise you I will never stop until I get you and make you my own. And I took him out and played with him. I gave him an apple and my sister, well, my sister gave me an apple. And he ate this thing just like this, like it was on a leaf. And he ate the whole thing down to the seeds and it popped out of his hand onto the. And he tried to get away from me to get the seeds, he was so hungry. And I was back in three weeks, standing there crying, saying.
Joni Lamb
Because then you're going to have to help the rest of the children because the roof had a leak, water running down the walls. They needed new mattresses, they needed diapers.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
They needed all the paint, all the cribs, they. Teeth on lead paint. They had no toilets. The coffee cans, they used these big coffee cans that had been opened by a can opener so all their bottoms had this jagged cut around it, festered. And so Every time I went back, I came away with an assignment, and I cried to Joni and said, you got to help me. Please pray for me. And I kept going back. I've been there 210 times.
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
Oh, my word.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
210 times.
Joni Lamb
But how did it change? You eventually got Andrew, who now is grown, by the way, and works in ministry with his dad. He's married, beautiful little baby, and one more, one on the way. But the other lives of the kids were changed when you got involved.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Oh, well, everything changed. I mean, the whole thing.
Joni Lamb
It all started with Simon, who no one believed could ever be redeemed or saved. And God did incredible work in his life, changed the whole course of his family. And he knew, like, prophetically, y' all were supposed to go and that you were going to be a part. And it forever changed your life.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Forever. I was known in America for singing these praise songs. And then I preached in household salvation, sold 300,000 copies of one book, which is a good seller for our Christian book. And I was set. I was 35, living in Montgomery with a pool in my backyard, Mercedes in the drive. And I preached in churches and. And I flew to do telethons. I mean, you guys lived with this experience. And he came in and interrupted my world. And thank God he did.
Joni Lamb
And what happened, because we only have a few minutes, but just share with our audience some of the doors that have opened and what you're doing right now beyond just that orphanage and the difference you made.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
But one day he called me. He says, don't stay in Romania. I want you to go to Moldova. I said, where in the name of heavens is Moldova? He said, I'm looking on the map. It's just one more country over. I says, dad, I says, one more country over. He says, it's not. I says, I can put the whole globe in a tennis ball.
Joni Lamb
Rachel, are you loving salmon? Peter?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
I love it.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
I rented a car in Budapest, drove to Romania with a team with a truck giving out stuff in Romania, and headed across Romania, catty corners towards Moldova. And it was across the Carpathian Mountains in a blizzard and got to this place, town, a town. It was called the Dying Rooms of Moldova was the name of this village. That's what the British press had named it. And I went to this orphanage, walked in, and it was worse than Romania. Oh, no. And the director said, have you ever seen a baby freeze to death? And my stomach turned, and I said, no, sir, I have not. He said, well, this year so far, 16th of December. He says, this year so far 16 of our children have frozen to death, their skin stuck to the metal bars of the crib. And I started all over again. Rebuilt orphanages, put in windows and orphanages.
Joni Lamb
And then one day, blankets, mattresses, cribs.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
You guys have helped us so many times with warm clothes. And so what happened was that we fixed this orphanage up. And one day the government came and asked me to go and see the largest orphanage, a town called Strachane. And I got there and the windows, there's 391 windows. And they were so rotten you could put your finger through them. And there was snow inside their bedrooms. And I fixed all the windows, replaced them all, and went back to pay the last part of the payment. Me and Chrissy were standing there. There's 18 girls on a park bench. And I says, who are they? They're leaving. Where are they going to go? And the director went. And that was when I discovered that a girl at 16 was trafficked and.
Joni Lamb
Couldn'T stay in the orphanage.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Couldn't stay in the orphanage.
Joni Lamb
They had him out there.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Use them 50 times a day, 30 to 50 times a day. Every girl can make $300,000 a year for their traffickers. And I just. I've got kids, you know, Melody and Lorne, Ann and I just. It just the injustice of it all.
Joni Lamb
Then you had to make a home.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
So here we go.
Joni Lamb
Making for the girls that are 16 and up, right?
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
So we've now built a village called Vatra Village, the most amazing place. It was built for rich people and they poisoned the lake with chlorine to kill algae. And no one wanted to live in a house next to the algae to the poison lake. So we bought it from them, fixed it all up. And isn't that amazing?
Joni Lamb
All because Simon said, Philip.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Yep.
Joni Lamb
I love that. I love that obedience.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Well, if you knew Simon Cameron obedience, there was not much wiggle room in obedience. It was that choice. You will do this or you'll die.
Joni Lamb
You're coming with me. What a great man of God that your dad was, and what a great man heritage. And you look at how your family was transformed. Just take a moment, if you would, Philip, and lead someone that maybe doesn't know the Lord in the Sinner's Prayer. We'll repeat after you.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
I know this. There are some watching me right now that if you were to die today, your heart's not right with the Lord. You'd be lost. Do you know how terrible being lost is when you could be found? I come from a fishing town and we Lose fishing boats all the time in the storms. You're watching just now because God has a plan for your life. He wants to use you for his glory, and he wants to bring you into his family. I mean, talking about my own family, a bunch of alcoholics, and then being a father to orphan kids and the family makes a difference. And God loved you so much that he gave his only begotten son to die on a cross just for you. If you were the only person in the world today, he would have died for you alone. And all you got to do is believe that he died on the cross for you, that his death was payment for your sin. And if you accept that and you ask Jesus into your heart, I'm telling you now, you'll never be the same again. Just say this simple prayer with me. Dear Lord Jesus, come into my heart. I give you my heart and my life. Forgive me of my sin.
Joni Lamb
Forgive me of my sins.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
I want. I will serve you from today on.
Joni Lamb
I will serve you from today on.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved. And that's what just happened.
Joni Lamb
Amen. Amen. Such a simple yet profound moment for some of you right now. I'm so proud of you for praying that prayer and opening your heart, allowing the Lord to come in and forgive you. And, you know, I want to send you the gospel of John if you prayed that prayer. That's just a great place to start in the Bible. So call that number on the screen. Let us know if you prayed that prayer with Philip. We are out of time, but I want you to remember that God's word is unshakable. His promise of household salvation still stands for us and our families. If you're watching today and you're believing for a family member or someone you know, a co worker, a neighbor that doesn't know the Lord, and you're praying for them, I want you to go to the phone and just give us their first name, and we're going to pray over.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Point of contact.
Joni Lamb
Yeah, it is a point of contact. Our prayer partners are standing by. They're ready to pray with you. And we just count it an honor and a privilege to do so. I do want to thank Philip for joining us today. Be sure to pick up a copy of his book. It is called Full House. It's time for household salvation. For more, you can visit him online@philipdcameron.com and I just want to encourage you. You've heard him talk about the different things that he's doing in Moldova. In Romania in building a new house.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Yes. A brand new house for little girls between the age of 4 and 16.
Joni Lamb
Yeah, yeah. So if the Lord speaks to you to be a part of that, then I pray that you will just be obedient to do what the Lord is asking you to do. As always, make sure to follow us on social media, subscribe to our YouTube channel for full episodes and exclusive content and let us know how Table Talk is touching your life. We love hearing from you. Of course you can also listen to the Joni Table Talk podcast, available now on all the major platforms. But if people want to get a gift to you, what is the best way to do that?
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Really simple. Theorphanshands.org the theorphanshands.org and I know they've.
Joni Lamb
Got that up on the screen, so leave that up there for just a minute. But if you would like to be a blessing to Philip and help him continue to build these homes, to rescue these girls. And you told a story earlier about a girl that was 14 that couldn't come into your home because you had the 16 and up 16 limit.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
Yeah.
Joni Lamb
And so now you're building a home where you can take the younger ones.
Philip Cameron / Dorothy Newton
50 little kids between the age of 4 and 16 and then they can come to Vatra village.
Joni Lamb
Okay. From 4 to 16 and on. So hey, I just felt to share that with you. Be obedient. There's some of you got has really blessed you and I pray that you will be a blessing to Philip and what he's doing. I want to thank you for watching. Thank you ladies. Did you love this story? Household salvate Rachel Simon. Peter, you're a kind of father, right?
Tammy Trent / Rachel Lamb Brown / April Simons / Cindy Johnson
My kind of guy.
Joni Lamb
I saw her smiling the whole time. L. Hey, we love you. We'll see you next time. Those of you that prayed that prayer, call us and let us encourage you today. We love you. Bye bye for today.
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Joni Lamb
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Podcast: Real America’s Voice (RAV)
Host: Joni Lamb, with April Simons, Rachel Lamb Brown, Cindy Johnson, Tammy Trent, Dorothy Newton, and Philip Cameron
Date: January 4, 2026
This emotional episode of Joni Table Talk centers on powerful testimonies of grief, resilience, hope, and transformation. The show features two moving main segments:
Through honest discussion and heartfelt stories, the episode encourages listeners facing loss or praying for their families, reinforcing themes of God’s comfort, the value of community, and unshakable faith.
Whether you’re navigating a personal loss or holding out hope for a loved one, this episode shines with vulnerability, faith, and practical encouragement. The panel’s transparent conversations—interwoven with Tammy’s and Philip’s extraordinary testimonies—offer real hope rooted in Christian community and prayer. The show’s heartfelt tone, authentic storytelling, and actionable invitations make it a must-listen for anyone who needs to know they are not alone, and that faith can lead to lasting transformation even from the greatest pain.