Truth from the Top: Media Leaders Share Their M.A.D. Tips

Jesse:
There's an old saying that goes, show me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are. Well, if that's true at all, things are looking pretty bright for Doug and Brad. Today's episode features quotes from some friends of the Hutchcrafts that were recorded at a recent conference.

They were all given this question, what's one thing that Christians can do to make more of a difference? Doug and Brad interact with some incredible answers during the episode. They also paint a vivid picture of Brad roaming the halls of a convention center, lugging a 9 foot by 9 foot box.

True story, definitely. All that and more in today's podcast. Ready?

Let's go mad.

Brad:
Welcome everyone to go mad with Doug and Brad. It is great to be back with everyone. It really is. Hello. We got to take a trip recently that we're gonna tell you about in a minute, but what you're gonna hear today is we're gonna talk a little bit about the distractions that ambassadors face, but more importantly we're gonna hear from some amazing friends about the way that ambassadors can continue to make a difference in today's world.

Doug:
These are the top leaders in Christian media. We were at a conference. that uh where everyone all those folks kind of come together every year if you uh if you are aware of Christian radio being broadcast internationally all over the place.

Moody radio, great books, leaders in uh the leader of Evangelism Explosion All these amazing leaders, they gather up and they were willing to take a little time with us, very little. Some of these clips are about 30 seconds long. And we asked them, what is a way that in this crazy culture, in this dark, darker and darker world that we can make more of a difference than ever.

Their answers are gonna surprise you. You're gonna find yourself nodding along, I think, hopefully not nodding off. Not in the wrong and if you're like me, amening a lot, and then Brad and I will riff a little bit on it.

Brad:
Yeah, and I have to tell you that the cool thing here is that some of these names people recognize depending who you are and where you listen to radio and everything Some of you may be introduced to them for the first time, but what I can tell you is you're going to hear from Miriam Neff, who is a leader in women's ministry, ministry to widows, and helping people manage finances. You've got Ed Cannon, who is the president of the Far East Broadcasting Company making a difference worldwide. Greg Harris, who maybe you know his name from through the Bible Radio Network, or maybe you know the founder of that. The Jay Vernon McGee name who is with the Lord now, but Greg is carrying on his legacy.

Doug:
Judy Cron, executive producer of Bold Steps with with uh Mark Job, the president of Moody Radio. Lots of lots of leaders you're gonna hear from. And then Brad and I will share a little bit what we think about what they have to say there.

Brad:
Now Doug, I do have to say one thing about the audio here because people are gonna be like, what did you guys know there was noise in the background? Yes, see here's the thing. Last year, Doug laughed greatly at me as we were at this conference. We're still laughing. And we Doug, tell him, what what did I look like last year?

Doug:
Look, uh Brad is a um is an evolving, shall we say, um audio producer and video producer and We were trying to get some interviews last year. Brad apparently hadn't heard of like just using an iPhone or a or a small he's He was carrying around like this nine foot by nine foot box by his side that was strap. That was stra he for the week after he was walking tilted to the left Because of how huge this thing was. So he would walk up to random people and be like, Can I talk to you?

Brad:
We have a podcast. Yep, pretty much. And and so this year I was like, okay, so I bought just an a mic that attaches to an iPhone and said, Jesse, here's the audio, fix it.

So it was it actually it came out pretty well. But the great thing is is that I think one of the things I love, you'll hear some of the energy of this conference, but most importantly you're gonna hear Great content. So if you hear some noises in the background, that's a good thing.

This was we we got to have an awesome time there. So we're about to hear our first clip.

Doug:
Make sure you stay tuned in because if you care about being an ambassador, a make-a-difference person in a growing crazier and crazier world than this episode. is for you. Hey, let's hear from Miriam Neff.

Uh like Brad mentioned, uh, she has written eight books, some best selling books. She is the founder and president of Widow Connection. And her one-minute feature, get this, New Beginnings is heard on over 1200.

outlets. She'll also serve as a guest host for Moody's Midday Connection. So everyone knows that.

Take a listen what Miriam Neff said. When we asked her what's one way that Christ's ambassadors can make a great difference today.

Miriam:
So you've asked the question, what could we be doing to make a difference more in this world? And I can tell you the world is very dark. I love the Lord and it breaks my heart.

And I've learned a lesson and learn a skill. Sleeping in a hut I went out one night to the outhouse and I won't say more about what an outhouse is like. There's no electricity there, no running water.

I went out of my hut and the sky was the blackest I had ever seen. I'm from the Chicago area. There's kind of a hazy gray everywhere you look because it's not a black night I thought, Lord, I've never seen anything blacker than this.

And then the stars began to twinkle. I had never seen stars shining more brightly than they did that night. And then I go to scripture because I love the Lord and I'm a nerd and I'm digging in And it refers to us as stars, and so I nerd out on stars.

There are all these different chemicals in every star, and each one of them is unique. Psalm 139 for each star is unique I am a star. I am God's shining star.

I can hardly wrap my mind around the fact that God lets me be a shining star. The world is so dark, we need to shine more brightly than ever today. Grab the word, live the word, share the word, love the word.

If you can't say words, love people. You know, don't be annoying, don't be contradictory, don't be angry Just shine.

Brad:
Wow. I it's so good because what Miriam shares, that the world is so dark and we need to shine more brightly than ever before. And I love what she gets to at the end about share the word.

And love people. We live now Doug, I don't know, Jesse, not sure if you guys have heard, but we're in uh an election year. There's something coming up.

It's later this year, I've heard. Are you sure? Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

It is uh the I've heard things. Yeah, but I doubt people have strong feelings about it. No, they don't at all.

And that's the thing. We live in a very distracted world. I remember when we were uh on a plane with dad a few years ago.

And this is kind of what election year feels like to me, where he had on these headphones. He never wears headphones. Right.

And we're like, hey dad, check out this song. He was a few rows ahead of us. He was in the house.

You were right next to him. He's got this music on. He's listened to this song that we're playing for him.

And he looks out the window of the plane and there's these Everyone is asleep. It is pretty much. He turns and just says, really loudly Hey Brad, look at those mountains!

Mountains! It was like everyone turned and looked. I mean, everyone the flight attendants, uh and all of a sudden You realize that we have all this noise coming at us and we're just yelling at some point.

We just start yelling about things and lose perspective. You do, and Miriam here is getting to a great point of saying, look It is dark out there. Don't let this darkness and the different voices coming at you distract you from what the important thing is of sharing a word and loving people.

Doug:
Brad, that's what hit me too. The world is very dark. I'm guessing people who are listening along right now feel that way.

I still remember seeing stars. in the Arizona desert. Now we grew up in New Jersey near New York.

So the first time I looked up and I I the sky in Arizona and I saw these bright twinkly things. I'm like, what are those?

Brad:
Those are stars, Doug. Whoa! I saw a star in Jersey once.

It was the sun. That was it. I mean that was that's exactly so stars are so powerful.

Doug:
Miriam talked about Stars shining saying I'm a star. She doesn't mean a celebrity, but God calls us that. Stars are so powerful and bright You can see him from millions of light years away in Philippians 2.

Paul says, Do everything without complaining or arguing, get this. So you may become blameless and pure. And shine like stars as children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation.

He says you'll shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life. Brad, on our mom's grave market. Yep.

That was Daniel twelve three. Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars for ever and ever. We're picking up a theme here, though lots of great things to do as a believer, and we should do them, but nothing makes you shine brighter than being a regular ambassador for Christ as you hold out his hope.

Brad:
And you know, this is where when we then got to talk with Ed Cannon, who is the president uh as I mentioned before, the Far East Broadcasting Company, I that may not mean a lot if you're not familiar with it But the reality is that this is a ministry that is getting the word of God and getting the gospel through radio, through shortwave radio. to people who really wouldn't hear it any other way. Countries close hardest to reach countries.

Doug:
Yep. Countries close to the gospel. Ed is a one of a kind guy.

I didn't know this until we started talking with him at our dinner table, but He was like an oil magnate or something. He went from being being very big in the oil industry and God got a hold of his heart and now he's all about getting the gospel. to countries that are closed to the gospel.

Let's hear what Ed had to say.

Ed:
Obviously I think spending time in God's Word. But interestingly just reading God's Word isn't gonna help. You gotta put it into action What does Jesus say to do?

Go ye therefore and preach the gospel to every tribe and tongue and nation, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. So to read God's word is not good enough. Read it and put it into action.

That's building your house on the firm foundation of solid rock.

Doug:
I mean he said it all, reading God's word. Putting it into action. Every night with my two sons, we go through something that we call the Just the Dude's Power Verse.

And it isn't the Bible isn't just for dudes, but there's only dudes in that room. When we do that, so they yell, it's just the dudes, power verse time. And we just memorize scripture together.

One of their favorite ones is from James chapter 1. Be doers of the word. And not hearers only, otherwise you're deceiving yourself.

They love this part. For anyone who hears the word but doesn't carry it out, it's like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and then immediately forgets What he looks like when he goes away. Now, my son Sam will usually say, Dad, don't you wish you could do that after you look in the mirror?

Very nice, Sam. We're all familiar with that scripture, but how often Do we ask the Lord to tell us when that's happening? When reading the Bible has just become a thing we do rather than living it out?

Because according to Scripture, to put the Word of God into action is to be sharing the gospel and discipling others like Ed just told us.

Brad:
I love that putting it in action because it's you hear it, it's from youth group Till now it is read the word, read the word, read the word, and so many times we forget to put it into action. I remember right after we got to connect with Ed, Greg Harris was right there, and Greg is helping carry on the legacy of through the Bible radio ministry. Uh Jay Vernon McGee started that and Craig is carrying that on.

He used to be president too, actually, of the Far East Broadcasting Company. He did so we got to talk to kind of the former president, the current president of that and He has got an amazing heart, not just for this country, but for the world as a whole. I I love what he said.

Let's hear it from him first.

Greg:
The way that God's people can make a difference is you need to be doing anything you can to get the word of God out in this country, around the world. I know Ron Hutchcraft has been doing it forever. I love Ron. I respect him So much and we at Through the Bible have that same passion. Get God's word out to everyone on earth because it's the only hope for the world.

Brad:
Greg is focused on getting the word of God out in this country and around the world And I like what he says that do everything you can. Because yes, we can share the Word of God with people around us, but there are places we can never go. And ambassadors, sometimes they're going to places representing a different group.

There are ambassadors who can represent us by getting the word of God to other places. And I think sometimes we fall into this uh that focus on this country or North America and we get in so involved again in the issues that we forget about wait, there is a world. that still needs the word of God in their language, still needs to hear the word of God in a relevant way.

I'm grateful for a dad. who has a heart for this, that he wants to get the word of God out there. So we have invested as a ministry in with some ministry partners in getting Our dad's five-minute daily radio program into the top six most spoken languages in the world, and we're still going, still adding more.

Because we want people to have the hope that comes when you get to hear God's word presented in a way in your language in a way that connects with you.

Doug:
Yeah, the thing is, like we heard from Ed, to to know the Word of God is to spread the gospel. The problem is we're getting distracted. From what the gospel truly is.

Dad wrote a um an e-book called Bringing Back the Gospel. And you can go to Hutchcraft. com and look at it for yourself.

But here's what it says basically. There's things in our culture that are distractions to what the gospel really is. We hear the word gospel all the time.

Gospel music, prosperity, gospel, full gospel churches. But it's surprising how much confusion there is about what it really is. With the eternities depending on it, it's massively vital that we get it right.

Here's Doug. Trying to sound like a smart guy, okay? Well I always have to have one of these moments.

The Greek word for gospel or good news is Yuan Gelion. The Greek word once again is Yuan Gelion. If you've ever been present at the birth of a child or grandchild, And you're and you're yelling, he's here, she's here, that's Yuan Galeon.

That's great news. But we get mixed up with what the good news really is. Lots of authors have offered up various definitions of the gospel, but check this out.

We don't have to guess that Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians. his own clear and concise definition, the only one that counts in God's word. He said, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you.

Even back then people are forgetting what the gospel really is I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you which you received and on which you've taken your stand. Here it is. That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and he was raised to life on the third day, according to the Scriptures.

Right there, in about twenty five words, Paul articulates a Holy Spirit inspired, crystal clear definition of the gospel.

Brad:
That's the gospel, case closed. Good refresher for us. Man, great word, Doug.

And as I think of what Greg was sharing about getting the word of God out to the world. What John Owen shared with us comes to mind. Now, John is the general manager of Blue Ridge Broadcasting, which is a ministry of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.

The light FM, he has uh you'll notice right away he's got a great voice for radio. He's also like seven foot six. Of course everyone to me seems like they're seven feet tall.

And and John has a great word to say here that actually really hit me, even with something I was reading with the Word of God recently. Check this out.

John:
I I think we're kind of in a season, I know this is where the Lord has led us and our team, and that is um to go out on that limb, to do that crazy thing that God's asking you to do. Because so many of us think it's all on us to do all these things. And I think when you read through scripture and God says, hey, um, I want you to take a left turn here And and you sit and you try to over evaluate it and all that and and you said just take the left turn and go.

You're gonna see some crazy stuff. And um certainly in ministry we we see that, but in leadership you see it too and you've got a whole bunch of people that are around you watching what's going on, so you're taking them on this journey. as well.

So the the personal things that are going on with the team is they watch you take these big faith steps. You think about that first chapter in Joshua where Moses is dead and he's he's telling God's telling Joshua, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous. We s keep seeing that all the time.

But later in there, it it and this is my own words, but basically, Joshua, I've got your back. And I'm going to prove to you that I've got your back to the people around you. And what do they do?

They take the ark, step into a raging river. and it's dry land, they cross over, all this crazy stuff happens, right? So that's where I want to be.

I want to be in that place where God says, hey, I want you to go do this thing. And it may not make sense to anybody else, but I've asked you to lead and we're going to go to do this thing by faith, and you jump into it and you do these things, and then God completely provides. Like if you're going to see God doing some amazing things, get on the front line, get right in the enemy's face, and watch what Jesus does.

That's where the cool stuff happens. So it's a dangerous place because you will take hits. You'll have family that won't agree with you.

You'll have people around you that won't agree with you. Uh you'll have people go, We can't cross that raging river. You're crazy.

That's that you know, what's the next thing that uh God asked Joshua to do after all that You know, manna goes away, all this stuff. Next thing was, I want you to march around Jericho and blow a trumpet. I mean, come on.

So Every day is something new with God. And if you um if you just take that step by step, today I'm gonna trust him with this, the next day I'm gonna trust him with that. So I I think overall it's literally that faith walk.

You gotta step out there on those crazy things that God is asking you to do that don't overthink it. If you overthink it you won't do it. Um at least that's for me.

I didn't grow up as a Christian. So when I became one and I came to Christ and you start reading scripture and it's like hey drop your nets and follow me. So the disciples dropped their nets, left their livelihood, and followed Jesus.

I'm like, that's what I want to do. So uh highly encourage you to take that step.

Brad:
Man, I love John's challenge to go out on that limb and do the crazy thing that the Lord is asking you to do. What hit me was the the faith chapter, the by faith chapter in Hebrews 11. When you go through that, I started reading through that again recently.

And it just goes so many verses are by faith. It starts with by faith, by faith, and talks about all these heroes of the faith And the reality is I was like, okay, I gotta l look this up. So I underlined all the by faiths in there and through faith 24 times.

In 40 verses, it talks about by faith. Wow. That these people were doing great things.

And then he gets to the point of just saying there's David and Solomon and all these other folks, all these heroes of the faith, the prophets, and he just keeps listing kind of groups of people. That's us. That's the groups of people that when you talk about I I mean he didn't know us.

The writer didn't know us at the time, but he was talking about us because what we're hearing is by faith we can do these things that we can't do on our own. But God can do great things through ambassadors who are willing to say, I will be that person, I will go out on the limb, I will take that risk for him. and tell others about them.

So I would encourage you check out Hebrews 11 and be that by faith person because that's who John's talking about here.

Doug:
That's so good, Brad. I mean uh a riskless life, a safe life, is gonna really kill the effectiveness of an ambassador for Christ. We're not in a time where risk averse Christians are gonna be making much of a difference.

This is Peter looking at Jesus and saying, as long as I'm keeping my eye on him, I know that I can walk on water. What does that mean for you as a believer? We're here everything about you all you hear is about how to be safe, how to stay safe.

Remember Lion Witch in the Wardrobe? For some reason in that story a little girl is talking to a beaver. I'm not sure how it came to that, I don't remember, but that beaver's got something pretty important to say.

She's asking about Oslan, the Christ figure. And he says, Oslan is a lion, the lion, the great lion. Ooh, said Susan, I thought he was a man.

Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion. Safe?

said mister Beaver. Who said anything about safe? Cause he isn't safe.

But he is good. A safe Savior never would have endured the cross for us. A safe ambassador will never live the kind of life that reaches a world desperate for Jesus.

Brad:
Man, this is all gold, all these things that we're hearing from these leaders. We've got three more. We're gonna pack them in here for you.

I Judy, as we mentioned, Judy Crohn is Uh the assistant manager of programming at Moody Radio and she's the executive producer of Bold Steps with Mark Job. When we're talking about these taking these risks and we're talking about getting the word out there, there's a very important weapon that we've got. That Judy talks about.

Judy:
One thing I think God's people should be doing more of to make an impact in this world is to be praying I was really challenged by a book called Stepping Heavenward by a woman whose journals were compiled and put into book form. Uh she lived through the uh uh mid-1800s and to see the issues that she was dealing with then that are so applicable now and how she wrestled through lost And it was so powerful and impactful for me. And one of the things, a threat in her life, was prayer.

And I I thought to myself, I'm not praying enough. I need to be praying, what does it mean to pray without ceasing? So as when I'm walking, when I'm when I'm with someone when they ask for prayer that I I pray right then and there.

And so I've just been on a mission to pray, and that's what I'm really challenging others. Uh we need to be doing that uh collectively, individually, and that's how we're gonna make a difference in this world.

Doug:
I love that question she asks. What does it mean to pray without ceasing? That's a good question because that's kind of a A crazy scripture if you think about it.

What does it mean to pray without ceasing? It means being in a constant state of prayer or always communicating with God, asking him what he wants us to do. Sharing our heart with him.

When I first heard this as a teenager, Pray Without Ceasing, I thought of people like walking through a mall with their eyes closed, running into like bushes and walls and everything. Um, I got a little better understanding of it eventually. Uh God will work powerfully through his followers that stay in regular communication with him.

So I gotta tell you this quick story. We're at the gas station on the way home recently from Chicago. A young man who's a semi-truck driver It's probably like twenty-five years old.

Approached me looking very defeated and tired at this gas station. He asked if we had jumper cables His entire huge truck rig was dead because he forgot to put his lights off when he went in for a shower. So he tells me he's been looking for someone to help for a long time and finally finds someone's jumper cables to borrow.

He gets 'em. We agreed to meet him in the parking lot and try to jump it. It wouldn't start at all.

We kept trying for a few minutes and nothing. We were probably there trying it twenty times Finally he says, you know what, we've done all we can, but but thank you so much for trying. I asked if I could pray with him And he agreed.

So I prayed, Lord, please start this truck and get my friend here on the road. I said amen And he tried one more time, and I kid you not. He shouts, it started, it started, he starts jumping around like he's Rocky after a big fight.

So I told him his name was Jeremy. I told him, Jeremy, he hears you and he loves you. Our whole family was so tickled on the way home.

Uh this is what happens when we stay in touch with God and and we have a lifestyle of praying. You never know what's gonna happen when you get in touch with God regularly through the day.

Brad:
Man, all this is is just so incredible. We have friends who we've learned things from. One of them is David McIver.

He's the executive director of Praise Live. But he is also the author of Looking for the One. This is a book all about seeing people as Jesus sees them and looking for opportunities to share the gospel with him, not just once in a while, but I mean this is his lifestyle.

And I got to talk with him before we hear from him, I loved it because I just asked him, and it was kind of early in the day. I'm like, so have you found your one yet for today? Because I'm challenged by this book as far as every day.

And he went on to tell me about Well, yes, there's this young young lady who works here and he knew her name and he's like, and I'm gonna make sure I see her later to share more with her. And That is his heart. And you can't be around him and talk with him without hearing some of that passion.

And it's catching. And I love it. So let's hear.

How David answered the question, what is one way that Christ's ambassadors can be making and should be making more of a difference for Jesus?

David:
Hi, this is David from Praise Live. The way to make a difference is to ask Jesus to open your eyes to see people through his eyes. Once you see them, You have a glimpse of their heart.

You'll know what to ask, you know what to do, and and the Spirit of the Living God will rest upon you You'll be anointed to bring good news, to bind up wounds, to share the gospel, because you see that they're harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. And that's the unique anointing on Ron Hutchcraft, on the Hutchcraft team. Opening our eyes to see the lost.

Doug:
Did you get that? The way to make a difference is to ask Jesus to open your eyes to see people through his eyes. He like you said, Brad, he's written a powerful book about this.

Dave is serious about this. So last year I met Dave. I shared a couple sentences about struggles.

My teenage son was having he asked if he could pray for him. He didn't. Wow, the specifics he was praying for my son were as if Jesus himself had whispered into Dave's ear what exactly the issues were in the scripture to pray through for my son to walk forward in spiritual victory. One of the top three memorable prayers of my life.

It's a great example of what a believer can be. A believer who is anointed by God from staying in communication with him and asking to be given the heart of the savior.

Brad:
Ask him, he'll answer you. So we're going to hear from Tony Castro to wrap things up. Now Tony is the COO and Vice President of North America for Evangelism Explosion.

You may think they're all about evangelism, but they're also about evangelism and discipleship, because you can't get the gospel to more people if you're not discipling people as well. But when you hear from David's heart before Tony, what we just heard about Asking Jesus to open your eyes to see others the way he sees them and to see these opportunities, Tony gives us some great advice, some great input as to So what do I do when there's that open door? How do I share Jesus with them?

Check this out. It may sound a little familiar from things you've heard from us before here.

Tony:
Hi, my name is Tony Castro. I'm with Evangelism Explosion International And uh if I were to answer the question, what is one thing a Christian can be doing to make a difference? Uh I would say simply share the difference that Jesus has made in your life.

Uh we are all commissioned to go and make disciples of all nations, but sometimes we overcomplicate that. And really, uh like the woman at the well who had an encounter with Jesus, she was forever changed, and all she did was go tell them, Come meet a man. That told me everything I ever did.

It says many believe because of the woman's testimony. It starts with just sharing the difference that Jesus has made in our life

Brad:
Share the difference that Jesus has made in your life. And I love what Tony says, that sometimes we overcomplicate telling others about Jesus. Start with your story.

You hear that from us all the time here as far as share your story. Soon we're going to be talking about your hope story. Oh, they're hope story.

com. Exactly. Check that out.

Your hope story. com. We're going to be talking more in detail about that.

in I one of our upcoming episodes here. But you can find out more about how to share your story. But that's what Tony's heart is here.

And where I love that our guests that weren't in studio with us, but our guests that were here with us today took us was through what it looks like to be an ambassador in today's world because when you are Christ ambassadors, if you look at an ambassador that goes overseas, They aren't just to represent one aspect of the message. They are supposed to carry the whole message. And that's what these folks are talking about.

This gold that they shared with us is talking about Yes, prayer. Yes, getting the word of God out there, being in the word of God, putting it into practice. They are talking about seeing others as Jesus sees them and then sharing your story.

They're wanting us to be I we didn't Prompt them with anything. We just gave them one question and they each were sharing different aspects of what it means to really be an ambassador. And so our hope here today is that you got a little better glimpse of in this crazy chaotic divisive, distracted world, how you can be an ambassador for Christ and make a difference in a practical way.

Doug:
Get serious about your time with the Lord. Stay in regular communication with him and be bold and fearless in a world saying play it safe. Thank you for joining us today and all of our special guests.

Brad:
Until next time, we want you to go mad.