Easter with the Hendersons

The Henderson family recently gathered to celebrate Easter. Dorothy Henderson (our mom) went "home" three Easters ago so the gathering can be bitter sweet. As we reflect on the past and embrace the present, memories abound. But perhaps the listener will also find comfort in life and death as they talk about the Hope we celebrate at Easter. 

Please allow me to introduce our family:

• Dr. Gene Henderson (our Daddy) has been a pastor for 60 years and has lived a life of service which has inspired all of us. 
• First born sister Gina Palasini, is in sales. She has four kids and four grandkids. She likely did her best to fly under the radar during this recording.
• Second born Page Hughes, is a pastor's wife married to Les Hughes. She has four kids and I have lost count of how many grandkids 
• Only brother Chip Henderson, pastors Pinelake Church - Mississippi's largest church. He is married to Christy and they have three kids and two grandkids.
• Our youngest sibling Hope Davis, is a special ed teacher and is married to Bradley. They have one child.

With Easter week as the backdrop, we share memories of our mom, the way we gathered around her final season, and how talking honestly about death can actually strengthen a family’s love and clarity.

Family can mean the people who raised you, the friends who stayed, and the church community that carried you when you ran out of strength. We sit down together as siblings with our dad and talk about why “family is everything” becomes more than a sweet line when grief shows up at your door.

From there, the conversation moves into the heartbeat of Christian faith: the hope of heaven. We wrestle with what heaven might be like, but we get crystal clear on what biblical hope is not. Hope is not wishing. It’s assurance grounded in Jesus Christ, the resurrection, and the promise that death is not the finish line. We talk reunion, comfort for the hurting, and why trusting Christ is like putting your full weight on a chair.

We then widen the lens to the family of God and faith in action. We reflect on reconciliation, the witness of John Perkins, and what it looks like to treat people as equals with real dignity. We also name the needs close to home, including poverty and hunger, and ask what we can do right where we live: love without a “gotcha,” serve through a local church, and become hands and feet to people who feel forgotten.

If you’ve been craving a faith-based podcast that connects Easter hope to everyday life, press play, share this with someone you love, and subscribe and leave a review so more people can find it.

Easter Prayer:
Oh Lord, You loved this world so much that you gave your one and only Son, that we might be called your children too. Lord, help us to live in the gladness and grace of Easter Sunday every day. Let us have hearts of thankfulness for your sacrifice. Let us have eyes that look upon Your grace and rejoice in our salvation. Please help us to walk in that mighty grace and tell your good news to the world. All for Your glory do we pray, Lord, Amen.

Join us for new episodes on the 1st and 15th of each month as we continue sharing stories of transformation from across Mississippi. Each story reminds us that when we contribute our unique gifts, Mississippi rises together.

Hope Mississippi's Mission: The sobering reality remains: one in four Mississippi children lives in poverty, and one in five experiences food insecurity. These statistics aren't just numbers—they're our collective challenge. Through these conversations, we discover that Mississippi's transformation occurs through individual commitments to mentor, encourage, and be present for others. The small acts of hope accumulate into the broader "miracles" we celebrate.

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Don't collaborate.

What Family Means To Us

SPEAKER_04 0:36

Welcome to Hostes TV, where we celebrate the power of faith in action. I'm Dawn Bean, and this podcast is a space for conversation, collaboration, and calling. I am surrounded by my immediate family, my siblings. I have three sisters and a brother, and then our dad, Jean Henderson. When I thought about this podcast, I initially thought I would just talk to dad about the hope of heaven as we approach Easter. And then I was reminded of how special the days were leading up to the death of our mom and the hope that we have, because we did share with one another that heaven is our ultimate hope. And as you hear this podcast, I encourage you to share with family members so that they can have that same hope that we celebrate when we think of mom. Also, if you have never asked Christ into your heart, what a better time than here at Eastern. So I have my sister Hope, I have my sister Paige, my brother Chip, my sister Gina, and our dad Jean Henderson. So welcome everybody. The first question: what does family mean to you? And I'll go first. Family is everything I said recently, and it really is. You know, when the ox gets in the ditch, who do you call? You call your family and work every day with families that are struggling. And I'm just reminded what a blessing that we shared as a family that mom and dad brought us up in the church, that we all came to know Christ at an early age. And that was family for us. We prayed together, we went to church together, we had breakfast in the morning, and I can recall a blessing before we ever started our day. So for me, family is everything. Family is the memories that we've shared, but also the hope we share.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

I'll go next. I'm Paige, and I'm actually the second in the birth order of our family. But for me, Don talking about the family. Mom always said she loved that we had lots of kids because we always had our friends with us. And in many times, our family were our friends. They were the ones we did life with, and no matter where we moved, because dad was a pastor and we moved frequently. Family went with you and friends went with you. And so you always knew you'd have somebody at least to hang out with or do things with. They were also a comfort in times when things seemed uncertain. And I think family still, even as adults now, it brings me great comfort when I'm going through hard times to know that I've got my family praying for me. But I will add too, mama always said she had chosen children. Those children did not replace us, but they were people that were very special to her. And I think every one of us has got people in our life. I know my kids live in the Middle East right now, and they have some chosen grandparents for their children who are Korean. Chosen people too can become family because of who you do life with.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

I hope I'm the last one, the baby of the family. But thinking about chosen children, I am a special needs teacher. That's my family. I have 12 other kids besides my only child. They're my family, besides my immediate family. So those parents contact me when there's something wrong with their child. They contact me if there's something wrong with their family. So I feel like I'm a part of their family, and those kids are my kids. Benjamin's in Shoquirk, that's her family too. Because we're with them all the time. So, you know, so it's friends, and you got your chosen family.

Friends And Chosen Family

SPEAKER_06 4:41

This is chip, and I'm the the brother in the family, but the family is a place to belong. You know, it's a place to feel loved, it's a place to love. For us, it's been a place of provision, it's been a place of direction at times and wisdom, you know, when you don't know what to do. And you could ask your parents. And I know we were we've been blessed for sure to have our parents be that for us. But yeah, it's a place of safety, it is a place of of care. So I I think family is just a it's a place to feel loved and feel like you belong.

SPEAKER_05 5:09

This is Gina. I'm the oldest, and I think you know, we've moved around many times through the years, and so we may have always had a different house, but I think family was always home. And you know, it is doing life together. It doesn't matter whether we're together the chat in the morning or we gather four times a year. It's just knowing that we're always here for each other. And whether it be like you guys have said, our immediate family or those who have through our lives become family and you know, we we do life and share that same love with them, but it's just knowing it's on base. Always that we can go there and and have each other.

Heritage And Church Family

SPEAKER_07 5:54

Well, I am Jean Henderson, and uh these are my children. Uh my wife Dorothy and I had five children, and I am so proud of every one of them, and am grateful to call them my family. We use the term immediate family, and uh through these years we have uh come to know each other and love each other just like we are, and I think that's part of family. You love the people that you love because of the relationship you have with them, and uh, we've had some ups and we've had some downs, but God has been faithful to all of us during all of this. But I want to take a little different spin on it, and that is I have an extended family. I have a mom and daddy, and I had a brother and two sisters, two of them are no longer with us, but the others are, but I'm also in a family called Henderson, and I've always been proud to be a Henderson and uh tried to live up to that name, and uh we uh go every year to a family reunion where I get with all the other Henderson's. The interesting thing is that I'm now the last Henderson by name. The others that are still living are females, so they don't have the Henderson last name like I do, and I'm the patriarch in the Henderson clan. That that means a whole lot to me. And the reality is that uh in family, as I said, you know each other and they it and they love you in spite of your your warts, and uh so we are very very grateful for that. And then the other side of it is that we have uh the church family. As you said, we moved around a good bit, and uh I count very dear to me the friends that we made through the churches where we served, and they many of them, in fact, I was asked today about Aunt Linda. Well, Aunt Linda is not a Henderson and not had anything to do with it, but she is Aunt Linda. Okay and so there are family people like that that have come to be precious to us because of the love that we shared, the experiences that we shared, and so family uh to me is wrapped up in that uh that connection. Time and space doesn't make any difference. Some of these relationships have been years and years and years, but still there's that closeness and there's that love and fellowship. And as someone said earlier, family is the ones you call when you need help, and you you know that they're gonna respond. That's a lot of what family means to me.

Grief Rituals After Mom Died

SPEAKER_04 8:20

We've been together today with our family, but I'm reminded of so many people. Paige, you mentioned even Danae in another country, but we've got family all over the world, literally. And I look forward to being able to share this podcast with our children and grandchildren and even generations to come so that they know about their family. And that you're right, Dad, we have a rich heritage of hardworking Henderson that we come from, and we're proud of that. And family is important, and we owe it to the next generation to invest and to help them to understand the importance of family. Our family has been kind of unique in that when mother died, we had a number of celebrations. Our first celebration was a packing party where it occurred to me that we do lots of things to get ready to get married and to do different things, but oftentimes thinking about our death, and in this particular case, I didn't think dad and mom had a will and picked out a plot and all those things. So it was an opportunity for us to encourage them to get their plans together. But we had a packing party, and one thing that we did is shared our faith. And our family even wrote down on a plaque called Blessed just how we know that Jesus is our Savior and that we have a hope in heaven. So my next question is talk about the hope that you have in heaven. It's Easter. This will be released Easter week, and we celebrate Easter because that's our hope. Our hope is not down here, but our ultimate hope, the hope for Mississippi, is in Christ, who is the ultimate provider of all that we need. When Mother was getting ready to pass, we had a pep rally celebrating her going home. And I'm reminded we actually had a home going service before she died where we sang songs and celebrated the hope we have in heaven. So as I think about Easter and the hope we have in heaven, I'm reminded of that celebration that we had with mom. But I also want my children and for the future generation of my family to know that my hope was in heaven and that I don't know what it's gonna be like. I like to think about streets of gold and adding on a room every time I try to do something good. But you know, I don't know. This is what I do know. There's gonna be reunion. I don't know if we'll know everybody, but I look forward to mother would say dancing in heaven at the feet of Christ, but that's my hope. And I encourage, even as our family talks about the hope we have in heaven around this table, that this week of Easter, you stop and tell those that you love about the hope that you have in heaven. Now I've got to warn you, we got two preachers sitting at the table, but this podcast is only 30 minutes long. So I'm just reminding you of that, okay? Talk about the hope you have in heaven.

SPEAKER_05 11:42

This is Gina. And as I think about the hope of heaven and what Easter means, I think of how temporary it was that Jesus was in the grave and that this is temporary.

SPEAKER_04 11:54

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 11:55

And the hope of heaven is that we're always gonna be with our family. We may temporarily not be with them, just like we're all live in different cities and are not always together, but we always have the assurance, as long as we're here, we know we're always gonna gather here at Daddy's house. But when the good Lord takes us all home, we have that assurance that this is temporary and one day we'll all sit together again.

SPEAKER_06 12:19

No, I'll wait. Y'all go get it.

Easter And The Hope Of Heaven

SPEAKER_03 12:22

Well, I will I'll just say that for me the hope of heaven. Mama laughingly said, um, one of the parties we did was the heavenly Lou Isle, and Mama laughingly said she just knew we'd have to go through Maui to get to heaven. I I don't know about Maui, but I do know that heaven is gonna be beautiful, and mainly because Jesus is there and we will be with him. I love what he said to the thief on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise. And what a comfort. And talk about assurance, man, when Jesus says to you, today you'll be with me. And the idea of paradise. Mama thought, again, Maui was the most beautiful place, but it will pale in comparison to the heavenly things that we'll get to see. But the thing is, he says to the thief you will be with me. Uh-huh. And I think that the fact that Jesus paid for my sins so that I could be with him.

unknown 13:16

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

That to me is the hope of heaven. And so it's not on how good I am, because the Lord knows that ain't true. It's not about how many things I can do for him because he doesn't need me to do that. He just needs me to trust him and to be obedient. And one day I hope we get to wear lots of crowns, Don, in heaven. And when we do, we get to put 'em at his feet. And for me that's the hope of heaven.

SPEAKER_07 13:48

Couple things. First of all, uh the hope of heaven is is one thing, but the hope that we have is a hope in Jesus.

SPEAKER_03 13:56

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 13:57

His resurrection is what gives us hope. And the other thing as I think about this is that hope is not wishing. It's not hoping something's going to happen. Biblical hope is assurance. It is knowing for a fact that Jesus died, that he died for our sin, he was raised on the third day, and he promised that everyone who put their faith in him could look forward to their own resurrection. And so that is the hope that I I have. And I've never questioned it, never doubted, not for a moment, since I became a follower of Christ. Have I ever doubted that at all in any way? And so that's that's one of the things that I I think about when I think about the hope that we have. The other thing is we're living in this life, and we need hope in this life.

SPEAKER_08 14:48

That's right.

SPEAKER_07 14:49

And the assurance that Jesus is with us, and He is. That's the promise that He made. I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. And you're talking about your mother, Dorothy. We would she she's uh told the story several times that she got a phone call from the some people representing the funeral and they were wanting to sell her a lot, a plot for burial. And she said to them, Well, I don't know that I want to buy one. Do you have one for rent? I'm not gonna be there very long. So the whole idea is, you know, one of these days Jesus is going to come again, and when he does, our hope and our assurance is we're gonna go and be with him.

Biblical Hope Means Assurance

SPEAKER_06 15:36

Similar, yeah, the idea of hope biblically is man, you put all your trust. That's that's it. It's it's a confident trust. The idea is we're all sitting in chairs, all of our weight is on the chair. And so the idea is you put all your weight, all your hope, all your trust is in Christ and what he has already accomplished for us, so that's what we're gonna be celebrating. And he is our living hopes, as as we have said. But one thing about heaven, I think about my wife having a miscarriage with twins years ago. And and so uh the way Christy and I have seen that is if we didn't get to raise the kids, that that Jesus got to raise those twins. And I look forward to the hope of seeing our twin babies that we never got to see, uh, friends that died way too soon. And so there is a reunion in heaven that 1 Thessalonians talks about, where we're gonna be together with the Lord, and we will know as we are known. And so we will all be family there in heaven, and I look forward to that. But I also look forward to heaven is gonna be perfection. That's paradise, the idea of perfection, that we live in a fallen world, and there's sin, there's sickness, there's disease, there's sorrow, there's sadness. But when Christ returns, or when we go home to heaven, Paul would say to live is Christ, but to die is gain. He actually said he got a glimpse of it, 2 Corinthians says, and he said, I can't even explain it. Words, words don't even do it justice. And so I think that's what kept him going. It says in Hebrews that Jesus, for the joy set before him and doing the cross and despised its shame. So heaven is going to be amazing, and it's gonna be perfection. It is gonna be the presence of God, but in that place, there's gonna be no sin, there's gonna be no sorrow or sadness. The light of God's presence lights up everything for us, no need for the sun or moon anymore. And so I I think nobody should miss it. Nobody should want to miss what God has for us in heaven. And so that is my hope. And I and I do have confidence in heaven, not because I know the Bible, but because I know Jesus was laid in a tomb and three days later predicted he would come out and he did. And he said, I'm coming back, and he's kept every other promise. And so I believe he'll keep this promise too.

Reunion And Perfection In Heaven

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Boy, I'm ready for Easter just thinking about it. And there is so much hope for us. If you are listening and you're hurting, Christ is the answer. He provides all that we need. And we pray that you'll be inspired to think about your future and to know that death is not the finish line. Death is only the beginning of wonderful things, and that's what we celebrate this Easter. We were talking earlier, Chip, about a funeral that you did for a civil rights leader who just made a huge difference in our country. I said our heavenly family, but really it's a family right here on earth. God is our father, and he is who we can ultimately turn to. Our daddy, for years I thought he could do no wrong. And you still are a perfect dad. But there were a couple of times where I realized that you did not know everything, and I just couldn't believe that you did not know everything. But you know what? Heavenly Father, he knows it all. And that is so reassuring. But we have his son, Jesus, but we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. And Paige, you were talking about some of the friends that I've had on here, this podcast, some of my dear friends, Dwight Owens, and numerous people that are not the same color as I am, but they're my brother and my sister in Christ. And so I think that is so important when we talk about family. We oftentimes just think of our little circle. But the reality is when we talk about Mississippi and one in four of our kids lived in poverty, one in five are food deprived. You know what? That is our brother and sister in Christ. And so when we think about all that God did for us and the celebration of Easter, I hope we can take just a minute to think about the family of God that we have and what we might could do to make a difference, to sacrifice God's not asking us to give our lives, but he is planning on us to be his hands and feet. So let's talk about that a minute.

SPEAKER_06 20:10

Don, you're alluding to Dr. John Perkins, who is an amazing civil rights legend who endured mistreatment and yet forgave. He felt that reconciliation was not based on us as humans. He he wrote a book called One Blood, and it's based on the blood of Christ, that the same blood of Christ that saves him saves me. And therefore he and I were brothers, and because we're family, he could forgive. And and that is, no matter who we are, where we are, what nationality, ethnicity, where you came from, what you have or don't have, if you have Christ, we're family. And that is so true. And and I think that you know sometimes we think, what could I do? You know, who am I? Nobody. But if you're listening, here's what you can do: you can smile at somebody, you can look at somebody in the eye and give them dignity to just acknowledge them as a human being. And certainly there are things that we can do to give charitable acts or just buying somebody a meal or whatever, but just the dignity of looking at other people and treating them as equals, that's family. And we need each other. We need each other as family. Over the world is the body of Christ, it is the bride of Christ. And so we need each other and we need all of us participating in the family.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

I feel like I'm the hands and feet every day. Well, if people don't like to deal with the population that I deal with, and so I feel that my me and my two assistants, we deal with it daily, but we have Christian music playing in the background because I feel these kids need it just as much as we do. I want them to be able to hear it just like we do. And sometimes you'll hear them humming along. And sometimes they'll raise their hand. I'm like, okay, you'll go to church, don't they? But then we are the hands and feet because they don't get that love that they get sometimes at home. We give it. I had two little boys fighting over my lap yesterday just because they wanted love, and I know one of them most likely doesn't get it. At home. He runs to my lap. I just love being the hands and feet just because I know these kids don't get that.

SPEAKER_04 22:05

We're so proud of you, Hope. You do a lot of great things, and we're incredibly proud of you.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Sure.

The Family Of God In Action

SPEAKER_03 22:10

Well, I will come from a different perspective in that we've traveled a lot abroad doing mission work, and I have a kid that's is abroad. And one of the things that has been so cool because she works with the people group, first of all, that have never heard about Jesus. And the people that she works with, they are are not very trusting people. And so when they're giving food and doing things, there's always a question, why? Why would you do this? Why would you give food? What do you want out of this? They're waiting to see what the gotcha is. And she says, there is no gotcha. This is just for you. So there's a lady that works with her that is from this unreached people group. And so she's been helping them find some of the most needy families. And so they one lady in particular asked about why these Christians would do this. What do they really want? And she said, it's because their God has done so much for them that they feel like what they're supposed to do is care for others and love them like their God loves them. And the lady said, What? And she said, I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's what they do. And I wonder how many people could say that about us here. You know, traveling abroad. We see in third world countries when you just love on kids that have no parents, and they say, Why are you doing that? What are you doing? And it's because you just you've been given so much. How can you not love those around you? And so you don't have to go to a third world country. You don't have to go to Unreach People Group. It's the people around you, and that God's made you a minister to them right here. Show the love of Jesus even when there's nothing in return. And give them the best you've got because God gave that very best for you.

Loving Others Across Differences

SPEAKER_07 24:21

Well, we're having a debate here as to who's going next, and my daughter Gina is pointing to me. I'm not sure exactly why, but a couple of things that I thought about. Don, you talked about me being perfect. And obviously I'm not. I must intersect by grace, as we all are. But I heard about uh the other morning I was in a group and guy was talking about a fellow who said that uh there's only one perfect person. And somebody asked him, Well, who is that? And he said, My wife's first husband. And so, you know, uh obviously we know the only perfect one is Jesus Christ, and we pro praise the Lord for that. But coming back to the thought here of the family of God, because that's I think the emphasis that we're talking about here, I remember years and years and years ago traveling from Columbus up to Memphis, and as I was traveling, this preacher came on the radio, and from about somewhere around around Oxford all the way to Memphis, he preached on our father. And he concluded that if he's our father, then that means we're all brothers and sisters, and that is so true. And I think about the challenge that we have because of our past history in so many ways, prejudices that continue to cloud us, hinder us, and limit us from receiving each other in the Lord. The fact of the matter is, John Perkins was a friend of mine, and I was able to go to Seattle, Washington one time with him, and it was amazing to me how he was received everywhere else, but not in Mississippi, and very few people I think understood that. But my whole point is that we were brothers in Christ and we respected each other for that, and I think that is so needed today. You know, division of uh our country is so divided, and unfortunately, it's divided oftentimes racially, but it sometimes is divided spiritually too, because there are people who do not understand that the kingdom of God is the family of God, and we're to be about the Father's kingdom work, and that means that what wherever we go, whatever we do, we're to tell other people how they can become a part of the kingdom of God, and that is by receiving Jesus Christ, who is the king, and as we make him king in our life, then we are included into that heavenly family, that kingdom family, and uh that's what God intends for all of us to be doing anyway. And so we need to keep our eyes on that. I think it's so important for us to realize that we are a part of each other and we need to work at loving one another. In fact, uh Easter's coming up Monday Thursday. A lot of people don't even know what Monday Thursday is, but and they think that Monday Thursday is foot washing. Well, actually, the word Monday comes from the uh Latin word for mandate, and Jesus gave a mandate, and it wasn't washing feet. He said you're to love one another, and so we are to love one another. And when we love one another, that demonstrates that we are ourselves children of God, but it also enables us to help others come to be uh followers of Christ and to become members of the family as well.

Closing Blessing And Share Request

SPEAKER_04 27:57

Wow, what a fun time with our family. I hope this has been a blessing to you. You are loved, you are our family. You are not alone if you feel like you're alone. There is hope for all of us, and we encourage you to get involved locally in a church if you are not involved because there's strength in numbers and there's hope in that and be a part of spreading hope across Mississippi, but also all across the world. We're one family, and we have a much richer life as we share life with others. Have a great day, join us again. If today's conversation encourages you, share it with a friend, a coach group or someone looking for a way to start. Until next time, remember help races bring Ramat together.