Participants:
Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY200057A
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00:01 As you're well aware,
00:03 we're living in unprecedented times. 00:05 Join us now for today's special program. 00:12 I want to spend my life 00:18 Mending broken people 00:23 I want to spend my life 00:29 Removing pain 00:34 Lord, let my words 00:39 Heal a heart that hurts 00:44 I want to spend my life 00:50 Mending broken people 00:55 I want to spend my life 01:00 Mending broken people. 01:14 Hello and welcome to another Today program. 01:17 We're glad that you're with us. 01:18 We have a wonderful program for you today. 01:20 And we want to encourage you to stay with us. 01:23 As a matter of fact, this is one of those programs 01:25 you may want to tell other people about. 01:28 That's right. We want you to be blessed. 01:30 So we encourage you to be with us. 01:31 We're gonna pray in a moment. 01:33 But before that, we want to introduce to you 01:35 our special guests during this morning, 01:37 actually part of the family of 3ABN 01:40 and we have Brother Charles Byrd, 01:42 Pastor Charles Byrd, and his wife Karen, welcome. 01:45 Thank you. 01:46 What a privilege to be with you. 01:48 Thank you so much for coming. 01:49 We know that you're very busy, 01:52 not only in pastoral ministries, 01:53 but also in the ministry, 01:56 "Thunder In The Holy Land," 01:57 and other things that we're gonna hear 01:58 also an update about. 02:00 Give us a little, 02:02 what would you say a little glimpse 02:03 of where we're headed in this program? 02:06 Well, God has laid on people's hearts 02:09 and you interview so many of them here 02:11 to be active in ministry, 02:13 we are in the last days of earth's history, 02:15 time has come now to that moment in history 02:19 where we are called to be witnesses. 02:22 And to be a witness for the Lord 02:24 means that everyone is called. 02:26 In fact, if we just wait for the pastors, 02:28 evangelists. 02:30 No, everyone is a minister, we're all called. 02:32 And if we don't all get on this together, 02:34 we're gonna be a long time here yet. 02:36 So God's calling us to finish this up. 02:39 Amen and amen. 02:40 True, true indeed. 02:42 So we hope that you will see this 02:44 as a call from the Lord to be active in some way, 02:47 and helping to finish the work that God has given us to do. 02:51 The whole world needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. 02:55 Before we continue, 02:56 we'd like to go to the Lord in prayer, 02:57 and we want you to join us. 02:59 But before that, I like to remind you 03:01 that you can be a part of the 3ABN ministry 03:05 by praying for the request 03:07 that you hear or see on the programming. 03:10 People are counting on your prayers. 03:12 So we want you to join us, 03:14 be part of the family in praying for the request, 03:17 because actually, 03:20 we are blessed praising the Lord, 03:22 because we have prayer partners 03:24 in almost every country in the world, 03:25 and you could be one of them. 03:27 And you can go to our website, 03:29 and find out how to become a prayer partner 03:32 and you receive some prayer requests 03:34 sent to your email, 03:35 and not all of the prayer requests 03:37 that come in, 03:39 because you will be overwhelmed. 03:40 We'll send you some, 03:41 but we encourage you to be a prayer warrior. 03:44 So at this time, 03:45 we encourage you to pray with us. 03:47 Let us pray. 03:49 Our loving and wonderful Heavenly Father, 03:51 we come before You in Jesus' name. 03:55 And we present to You, Lord, 03:57 the requests that have come in to 3ABN. 04:00 You know, there are many, 04:02 and you know each and every person, 04:05 each and every concern. 04:07 And Heavenly Father, 04:09 one of the things that really slow 04:12 Your children down is to be worried, 04:15 worried about how these things will turn out. 04:20 So we pray that as we come before Your throne of grace, 04:23 You will give Your children a calmness and a serenity 04:26 knowing that You are in control. 04:29 And with You all things are possible. 04:32 We pray for those that are sick. 04:34 We pray for those that are concerned 04:36 about their financial situation. 04:39 We pray for those that have marriage problems. 04:42 And we pray also for those that are praying for others 04:47 to come to the knowledge 04:48 of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 04:51 And even for those mothers and fathers 04:53 that are praying for their children 04:55 to return to the Lord. 04:59 We pray for Your Holy Angels and your Holy Spirit 05:01 to do that work which human beings cannot do. 05:05 But we pray Heavenly Father 05:06 that if in any way we can cooperate with You 05:10 to reach those that need to hear about You. 05:16 And if in any way Your children can cooperate 05:18 with You in the healing process, 05:19 let us know what can be done. 05:22 And Heavenly Father, 05:23 we now pray for Your blessing upon this program. 05:27 We ask that it will reach people 05:30 and help people encourage and also inspire. 05:35 We ask You Heavenly Father for these things 05:37 in the holy and blessed name of Jesus. 05:40 Amen. 05:41 Amen. Amen. 05:43 Well, we would like to ask you 05:47 to join us in a scripture reading, 05:50 Romans 2:4, 05:53 I will go ahead and read that for you. 05:55 And actually, how about Sister Karen, 05:58 how about if you read that for us? 06:00 A nice woman's voice would be really good in here. 06:04 "Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness 06:09 and forbearance and long suffering, 06:12 not knowing that the goodness of God 06:15 leadeth thee to repentance?" 06:18 Hmm. 06:19 What a marvelous and powerful question. 06:25 Anything you would like to share about this? 06:27 Well, when I, early on, when I got married, 06:32 I came home one day, and I told my wife, 06:34 "I don't believe in God anymore." 06:37 And, of course, she's a PK, 06:41 which means a "preacher's kid." 06:42 She's also an MD. Okay. 06:44 A "minister's daughter." 06:47 And she was in a little bit of shock there. 06:50 But I was frustrated in my own personal journey, 06:53 because I wanted to follow God, 06:55 I wanted to do what was right. 06:57 I tried. 06:59 And for those who have tried to be good in their own power, 07:03 you know how impossible that is. 07:04 Oh, yes. 07:05 And, so I was done trying. 07:09 And the Lord told me, 07:10 "I want you to go back to Steps to Christ." 07:12 I said, "Lord, I've read that book. 07:13 It's boring." 07:15 And He said, "No, study it inductively." 07:18 So I picked up the book again, 07:20 the first chapter is "God's love for men, 07:21 " I know He loves me, He died for me, 07:23 but that's not helping. 07:24 Second chapter was a "sinners in the Christ." 07:26 I know I'm a sinner and that's my problem. 07:28 The third chapter was "repentance." 07:34 I was raised in the Adventist Church, 07:35 dyed in the wool, 07:36 never darken the door of a public school system. 07:38 I had no clue what repentance was. 07:41 None. 07:43 And I mean, none. 07:44 There was no nail on the wall in my mind, 07:46 there was no Velcro strip, there was no sticky tape, 07:50 there was nothing there. 07:52 So I took my Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, 07:54 I went through every text in the Bible on repentance. 07:57 And when I got done, 07:59 what I knew was is that repentance 08:00 is feeling about things the way God does, 08:03 and acting accordingly. 08:05 That's what repentance is. 08:07 And it's a gift that God gives you. 08:09 It comes from the outside to the inside 08:10 where He changes your want to. 08:13 It's a black preacher who wrote a book, 08:14 you got to have a want to. 08:17 And He gives you the will and the doing. 08:21 He does it all. 08:23 Well, once I realized that, and I could go to Him and say, 08:26 "Lord, I like this. 08:29 You told me not to like it. 08:30 You told me not to have any part of it. 08:32 But I like it. 08:33 Would you change my heart?" 08:35 Wow, praise God. 08:36 And then He started changing my heart. 08:38 Praise the Lord. I treated my wife better. 08:40 I treated other people better, not because I had to, 08:43 but because I wanted to. 08:46 And it made 08:47 a radical difference in my life. 08:50 And just this morning, 08:53 as I was reading this verse again. 08:55 And I always use this phrase, 08:57 "I was reading it again for the first time." 09:00 Because in God's Word, 09:02 when you are into the Word, it's always new. 09:04 Yes. 09:06 His mercies are new every morning. 09:08 And so they're new for us today. 09:10 And so as I was reading it this morning, 09:13 I was also reading Steps to Christ. 09:15 And I read in Steps to Christ, page 115. 09:18 "The children of God are called 09:20 to be representatives of Christ, 09:23 showing forth the goodness and mercy of the Lord." 09:27 Praise the Lord. 09:28 And it's His goodness that draws us to Him. 09:30 And so He overwhelms us with His goodness, 09:33 if we care to notice it. 09:35 And that's what draws us to Jesus. 09:37 And so if we want to be representatives, 09:39 it isn't just knowing Saturday is the Sabbath 09:41 or dead people are sleeping in the grave 09:43 or whatever unique truth that we found in God's Word. 09:48 It's also the goodness. 09:49 Wow. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. 09:52 You know, it's a very strong word 09:53 used there. 09:54 Do you despise the goodness of God? 09:57 You know, it's something interesting 10:00 to consider that somebody is giving you 10:03 something priceless, like repentance. 10:07 And you reject this marvelous gift. 10:11 Sister Karen, 10:12 do you have anything you'd like to share about this? 10:14 Well, I think that all of heaven 10:18 must just go, "What! 10:21 What! 10:22 How could you despise?" 10:24 You know, they see and they have seen it all. 10:28 And we see through a glass darkly. 10:31 And, but once you start looking at God's goodness, 10:35 it's just all over. 10:36 Amen. 10:38 I mean, we have everyday just so many things 10:40 we can be thankful for. 10:42 And just, I've been overwhelmed many times, 10:46 and just seeing how good God is 10:48 in spite of everything around us. 10:52 His goodness is so wonderful. 10:55 Well, I think our friends that are joining us 10:57 can tell that we can probably spend 10:59 the rest of the hour talking about this verse. 11:02 However, we can't do that right now 11:03 because we have some wonderful things 11:05 to share with you. 11:07 And we do have a music offering 11:09 that we'd like to bring before you. 11:11 And this song has a wonderful title, 11:15 it's called "Shepherd of My Heart" 11:17 by Kendol Bacchus. 16:58 Amen and praise the Lord. 16:59 Kendol Bacchus, we thank you so much for 17:01 coming to record 17:03 this beautiful instrumental piece 17:05 and we encourage you to visit Kendol Bacchus, 17:09 surely has a Facebook page, 17:12 and I'm sure he'll be glad to hear from you say 17:14 you heard him on 3ABN. 17:17 Well, we have with us Pastor Charles Byrd 17:21 and his wife Karen, 17:22 both of you work together in ministry 17:24 and that's a wonderful thing to see 17:26 a couple together in ministry. 17:27 And now 17:29 you are the board chairman of QLP. 17:35 QuestLine Production. 17:36 QuestLine Production. 17:38 And your wife is the president. 17:39 Tell us about QuestLine Production. 17:41 What is that? 17:43 Well, it's, we create video Bible study series. 17:48 We've done two series so far 17:50 and ramping up for our third series. 17:53 "In Search for The Truth" was our first 17:55 and then "Thunder In The Holy Land." 17:57 And now we're looking towards another one. 18:01 Well, our viewers and listeners 18:03 are familiar with "Thunder In The Holy Land." 18:07 I'm not sure when it started, can you give us dates. 18:10 I know it's been on the 3ABN for many years. 18:11 I think it was fall of 2013 18:13 is when Thunder started being aired. 18:15 Well, that's a few years ago. 18:17 And so it has taken a change, 18:20 the first series was with Pastor Charles Byrd, 18:24 but then we saw other people in the videos, 18:27 the new version when you say "Thunder In The Holy Land," 18:30 why that title "Thunder In The Holy Land?" 18:33 That's a good question. 18:35 I wanted to create a new Bible study series 18:38 with a new theme to it. 18:40 Many Bible studies are out there 18:42 from many denominations. 18:45 They're all probably somewhat titled 18:47 My Church versus Your Church. 18:49 Now, none of them are really titled that way. 18:52 But we're more interested in our stripe, 18:55 you know, I'm a Baptist, I'm a Lutheran, 18:57 you know, I'm a Pentecostal, whatever. 18:59 And I said to myself, 19:00 you know, if we claim to be Christians, 19:03 "If we're all Christians, 19:05 then we ought to at least agree on what Jesus said. 19:08 And if we can't agree on what Jesus said, 19:10 if He said, "Love your enemies," 19:11 and we say, "Yes, we should love our enemies, 19:13 except for Muslims." 19:14 You go hate them. 19:16 Well, if that's your mentality, you're not really a Christian 19:19 because Jesus said, "Love your enemies." 19:20 That's right. And He said, "Love everybody." 19:23 So you can't start hating a certain class of people 19:27 because of the color of their skin 19:28 or because of what country they're from 19:30 or because of their background. 19:32 So I said, if we can't agree on the teachings of Jesus, 19:34 so I thought I'd like to make a series. 19:37 Every episode is something Jesus taught. 19:39 So "Thunder In The Holy Land," that's what it is. 19:42 That's the title "Thunder In The Holy Land, " 19:43 because every time Jesus opened his mouth, 19:45 it caused a storm of controversy. 19:48 Love your enemies. What? 19:50 You know? 19:51 I am the Son of God. 19:53 Stone Him, every time... 19:54 Our God is one God. Our God is one God. 19:56 What, you know, you can't be the Son of God. 19:59 So He caused trouble, because He taught the truth. 20:02 Yes. 20:03 And so "Thunder In The Holy Land." 20:05 Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. 20:07 Well, it's been on 3ABN for many years 20:09 and our viewers call, our listeners call 20:11 and we just praise the Lord, 20:13 because wonderful things have happened, 20:16 and tell us how this has impacted your life 20:19 as you've heard from people 20:20 that have listened or watched the series? 20:23 Well, it has made a bigger impact 20:26 than just watching us 20:28 and just watching us on 3ABN 20:30 because it was built from the ground up 20:32 to be a Bible study. 20:34 And the power of it 20:36 is really the impression questions 20:37 which are on our website, 20:39 you can just download them print them off 20:40 and use them when you get the Bible study. 20:42 That's really the miracle sauce of what we're doing 20:44 because people are engaging with the guests 20:48 that they're getting Bible studies to 20:50 and not only that, 20:52 but it's not just my Bible study. 20:55 Ministries often have, you know, the star of the show. 20:59 Well, we built Thunder from the ground up 21:01 so that local pastors could be inserted 21:03 and take my place. 21:05 So the people who are familiar to 3ABN 21:07 and they've watched Charles Byrd 21:08 doing "Thunder In The Holy Land." 21:10 There are now nearing 100 pastors, 21:15 layman, educators, 21:17 conference leadership, evangelists, 21:20 who have been inserted as the host 21:22 and now it's their series. 21:24 Lonnie Malashenko was inserted, 21:26 Chris Holland when he was speaker/director 21:27 for It Is Written Canada was inserted. 21:30 So many people have taken advantage of this 21:32 and then use this as Bible studies. 21:34 And it's so rewarding to hear stories of people 21:38 we've never met, 21:40 people who don't even know us, 21:41 who didn't even see us 21:42 they maybe saw some other pastor. 21:44 I'm thinking of Pastor Jason Logan. 21:46 Yeah, and the most recent one, we heard, Dick, 21:51 he was all his life. 21:53 He knew there was a higher power 21:55 but didn't give it much thought. 21:57 And had struggled with alcoholism 21:59 for quite a long time 22:01 and had taken advantage of that higher power, 22:03 not really knowing totally what that was. 22:07 But he finally gained the victory. 22:09 And then he had a really serious car accident. 22:14 And his Seventh-day Adventist landlord 22:19 was helping him kind of learn 22:22 how to heal his body. 22:24 And in the process 22:27 there was a Thunder study going on, 22:30 because Jason Logan had been inserted, 22:32 and his members were, 22:34 you know, having 22:35 "Thunder In The Holy Land" studies going on. 22:36 Small group studies. 22:38 And, so they got to talking about Scripture. 22:41 And she invited Dick 22:43 to one of those Thunder studies. 22:45 And he was just so captured by it. 22:50 And I didn't mention that he was 92. 22:52 Oh, 92! Wow! 22:54 Ninety two and he just says, "Wow, this is truth." 22:57 And he was just really impressed with it. 22:59 And the Holy Spirit impressed upon him. 23:01 He had to be baptized, 23:03 it was delayed for a while because of COVID. 23:05 And then he went to, Pastor Jason said, 23:08 "We can't wait any longer. 23:10 I must get baptized, I'm 92." 23:13 Something good happened. 23:15 The beauty of, 23:17 you know, having your church members 23:20 having these studies going on, ongoing, 23:23 so you can just plug them in. 23:25 That's wonderful. 23:26 Now, some pastors or lay people have heard you 23:31 as this aspect of being inserted in 23:34 because there's the part of the program 23:37 where you have your people on the site, 23:41 on the holy land doing their presentation. 23:44 They all stay constant. Okay. 23:46 But I as the host, 23:48 so I'm like the evening news anchor, 23:50 I start at middle and end it. 23:52 And I hand it off to the reporters live, 23:54 they stay constant. 23:55 But the local pastor, or the local evangelist, 23:58 or the local Bible worker can be inserted 24:00 and take my place. 24:02 So I'm not even seen in the video. 24:04 And the power of that to me is, 24:08 is that then it gives the local church members 24:10 something to share. 24:11 So I'm out sharing the Bible with somebody 24:14 and somebody and I get near the end of the study, 24:16 I say, "Would you like to meet the host of this series?" 24:18 And they go, "Oh, can I?" 24:19 I say, "Oh, yeah, personal friend of mine." 24:21 "Really?" "Yeah." 24:23 Next week, I bring my pastor. 24:25 They already know the pastor 24:26 because they've been watching him 24:27 teach the precious truths of Jesus. 24:29 And they already know me 24:31 because I've been loving on them for 26 weeks. 24:33 And I just encourage all of our pastors out there, 24:37 all of our church members out there, 24:39 take your church 24:41 and give it a cycle of evangelism, 24:42 make it a Thunder church, 24:44 to where you're constantly having 24:46 studies going just all year long, 24:48 and you're constantly reaping people 24:50 instead of waiting for that one event 24:52 every five or whatever years, two years, 24:55 whatever your church is doing. 24:56 Have a cycle of evangelism 24:58 where anyone who comes to your church 24:59 can be plugged in to a Thunder study. 25:02 It is powerful. It is winsome. 25:05 We had one couple who came to a Bible study 25:08 that Pastor Jeff Potts was holding. 25:10 Pastor Jeff Potts is an evangelist 25:12 in his own right, 25:14 was the ministerial director for Man/Sask Conference. 25:18 And he said, it is his own words to me. 25:22 He says, "I'm kind of embarrassed." 25:23 He says, "In over 30 years of ministry, 25:24 I've never held a Bible study in my own home 25:27 for my neighbors." 25:28 But he got inserted into the Thunder. 25:30 People started coming to his studies in his own home, 25:33 started seeing baptisms empower church members started. 25:36 Anyway, one couple came. 25:37 And the one guy said, you know, he said, 25:39 "These are safe to use." 25:41 Yes. 25:42 "Get me a set so I can share with my friends." 25:44 Marvelous. Praise the Lord. 25:47 Any number of other young people 25:48 have been impressed with it. 25:50 We had one Thunder group 25:52 that was happening that young people came to it 25:55 and they said, 25:56 "If those young people can do that, 25:58 we should do something." 26:00 And they started a campus ministry 26:02 in the college in their town, 26:04 inspired by the young people that were on Thunder. 26:06 Excellent! 26:08 One inspiring another. 26:10 That's right. That's great. 26:12 Now, the people are being inserted, 26:15 the pastors and lay people being inserted, 26:17 do they come to where you are? 26:19 They come to our studio. 26:21 We give them three days. 26:23 They only speak for four and a half hours, 26:24 we give them three days. 26:26 Because many of the people who come, 26:28 they're not media people. 26:30 And because they're not media people, 26:31 it takes three days. 26:32 But when we get done with us, 26:34 you think they were media people. 26:36 And they look good, they have a nice presentation. 26:40 And people enjoy their videos. 26:42 Excellent. Praise the Lord. 26:43 Well, we want to encourage you to consider 26:46 being one of the hosts for "Thunder In The Holy Land." 26:49 And we're gonna share information, 26:51 you know, in a moment, how you can do that. 26:53 But we know there's a lot more going on. 26:57 There are more projects you're working on. 27:00 What is the latest passion or the latest project 27:04 that you're working on to help further the gospel? 27:07 I remember when we finished 27:09 in search of the truth 13 episodes, 27:12 I was pastoring four churches, 27:14 we created 13 episodes, people said, 27:16 "What are you gonna produce next?" 27:17 I said, "Nothing." I mean, I love doing it. 27:21 But when you're pastoring, and then making videos, 27:24 it just really consumes your time. 27:26 And so I wasn't interested in doing anything else 27:28 until I met Pastor Chuck Holly, 27:32 appreciate that man, a godly man. 27:34 He basically created the framework 27:37 of what is "Thunder In The Holy Land." 27:39 He created his own Bible study series. 27:40 I'm using his method, hook, line and sinker. 27:44 I'm just so blessed 27:45 by what he thought through and did. 27:48 His method of impression questions. 27:49 His method of impression questions. 27:50 So that's what Thunder was based off 27:53 of using those impression questions, 27:55 using that whole method that he was doing 27:57 just a different set of videos. 28:00 So then people started asking me 28:02 the same question you did. 28:03 "So what are you gonna produce next?" 28:05 "No, I'm done. Really, trust me, I'm done. 28:07 Really, this time I'm done." 28:09 Until we've had now 13 languages and counting, 28:13 and we were just talking to Tony Nobili, 28:16 who is the vice president of the North American Division, 28:19 in charge of multilingual work, 28:22 and he just threw in a couple more names. 28:24 And now we're 13, 14, 15. 28:26 And under his portfolio, 28:29 he's got 13 languages 28:30 that he works with here in North America. 28:31 Yes. 28:33 So the languages keep coming and saying, 28:36 "We want something like Thunder, 28:38 but in our language." 28:40 And I kept telling the Lord, 28:43 "I don't think we can do that 28:44 once you raise that much money, 28:45 and then take them all on location 28:47 and, and shoot it and then edit all that. 28:51 That is so time consuming, so much money. 28:55 It can't be done. 28:56 It just can't be done." 28:58 So I kept saying no, no, no 29:00 until about the ninth language. 29:02 And then one day I was reading my Bible, 29:04 and I'm sitting there reading, 29:06 and the text that pops off the page, 29:09 for the first time again, says, 29:12 "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" 29:14 Oh, yes. 29:16 And I just stopped right there. 29:17 And I said, "Lord, I know it's too hard. 29:21 I know it's too much money. 29:23 It's too much time. It's too hard. 29:25 I know it can't be done. 29:27 But now I'm reading in your book 29:29 and You said, "Is anything too hard for me?" 29:31 Like, "Hello, I'm God here." 29:34 And so I stopped and I began to pray and I said, 29:37 "Lord, forgive me for not seeing things 29:39 through Your eyes." 29:41 Yes. 29:42 "So if you believe that we can shoot 29:44 a Bible study series 29:46 that can then be reshot again and again and again 29:49 in multiple languages. 29:51 You're gonna have to show me how to do it. 29:54 Because I don't have a clue of how to pull that off. 29:57 You opened the door. 29:59 You opened the door for the Lord to show you? 30:01 Yes. And that's good. 30:02 We should do that. 30:04 We should say, "Lord, how is this gonna be? 30:05 Show me." 30:07 So how, what happened? 30:08 So the first thing he did is he started speaking, 30:10 as soon as I prayed that he started talking, 30:11 and he said, 30:13 "Don't take the Muhammad to the mountain, 30:16 bring the mountain to Muhammad." 30:18 Now I was a student missionary in Jordan. 30:20 So I have a little bit of the Muhammad 30:23 in story in my mind, 30:25 and, and immediately I interpreted that, 30:28 do it greenscreen, 30:30 don't take everyone on location, 30:32 bring the location to them. 30:34 And I said, "Okay, Lord, I got that." 30:37 But still, you've got to hire all these camera operators. 30:40 And you've got to, 30:42 you've got to pay all these people. 30:43 And I said, "Now if the cameras just knew where to go 30:46 all by themselves, 30:48 all by themselves, 30:49 they would just move and zoom in and zoom out, 30:51 rise up, go down and move left and move right, 30:53 if they just moved all by themselves." 30:56 Never heard of such a thing. 30:57 But if they could, you'd save all that money, 31:00 you could do it cheap enough, 31:01 because you got to get the cost down. 31:03 Because if you're going to repeat it 31:04 over and over and over, you 31:06 got to get the cost down 31:07 to where these languages can afford to do it. 31:11 And, so Karen and I jumped on a plane, 31:14 we flew to Las Vegas 31:15 to the National Association of Broadcasters. 31:18 And I walked up to a booth and I said, 31:20 "Well, I'm looking for some equipment." 31:22 "But tell us what you're trying to do?" 31:23 So I told him, 31:25 "I'm trying to create a Bible study series, 31:26 where I can do it factory style, 31:28 where the cameras automatically just know where to go, 31:31 and the teleprompter runs 31:33 and points them to the nice camera move 31:36 and all that all by itself." 31:39 And he just smiled, he said, "Sounds ambitious." 31:45 So I went to another booth and I went to another booth. 31:48 And finally I landed at a booth. 31:50 And all the equipment 31:51 that the Lord had put in my mind 31:54 has been created. 31:55 All ready existed. It already exists. 31:58 It's expensive, but it already exists. 32:01 And then if you think, 32:03 well, it's not that expensive if you use it all day, 32:07 all month, all year 32:08 for language after language after language after language, 32:11 empowering those languages to have a Bible study 32:14 in their own language with their own people 32:16 speaking their own dialect, 32:19 then it's not that expensive. 32:21 So now we're in a full bore going ahead, mode, 32:27 we're writing the scripts, 32:29 they have to be written differently, 32:31 then for just an American audience, 32:34 because it's going to be an international audience. 32:36 And so we're writing them that way. 32:38 They're more story form. 32:40 They're truth formed versus colloquial, local form. 32:46 Well, Karen, you're involved in this as well. 32:50 What is the title of this series? 32:52 And where does it go 32:54 as compared to "Thunder In The Holy Land?" 32:56 We talked and talked about the title, 32:59 and prayed and prayed about it. 33:01 And one came to him and it just seemed too simple. 33:07 But when it all was said and done, 33:09 it just seemed like that was the right one. 33:11 Just the simple title of "I Met God." 33:14 "I Met God," okay. 33:17 The overarching title. 33:19 And then it would be done 33:22 in four 13 episode series, 33:27 which would turn out to be 52 episodes, 33:30 which is one for every week of the year. 33:32 Yes. 33:34 So, it's, I met the God of science, 33:38 I met the God of health, I met the God of prophecy, 33:41 and I met the God of relationship. 33:43 And they can be, people can plug in, 33:46 you know, whichever they think their audience 33:49 would be most interested in starting out with. 33:52 You know, I have an audience interested in health 33:54 so let's start with the health one. 33:56 So it doesn't have to be, you know, lockstep in order. 34:00 I don't even know if there is a God. 34:02 Maybe there isn't really a God. 34:04 How ought we know there even is a God? 34:06 Will you start with I met the God of science. 34:09 Now after being at 3ABN for a while I, 34:13 you kind of get a feel for what people are thinking 34:15 as far as when they hear things. 34:17 Now when you say this, I met the God of science. 34:19 I met the God of this and I met the God of that, 34:22 people are wondering, 34:23 well, how many gods are you talking about? 34:25 Are we still talking about the one God 34:27 or are you saying there are different gods? 34:29 I met God. 34:31 Okay. 34:33 Good answer. 34:35 I'm really excited 34:36 for the folks up at sermon view. 34:38 In fact, we have a graphic of this. 34:39 They have actually done our artwork for our new series, 34:42 "I met the God of science." 34:44 "I met the God of health." 34:47 "I met the God of relationship." 34:50 "I mean, of prophecy, " 34:52 and "I met the God of science." 34:53 And so this artwork 34:55 actually at the center of it 34:57 is that picture from the Sistine Chapel 34:59 where God is reaching out and touching man. 35:02 And that kind of centers it. 35:04 But then you have these different topics 35:05 along the way. 35:07 Great, great. 35:08 And illustration helps capture the interest as well. 35:12 Now we also have other pictures, 35:14 would you like to talk about those at this time? 35:16 No, we'll pick them up as we go. 35:18 We'll pick them up as we go? Okay. 35:19 Very good. 35:20 So this I met God series is already in process. 35:26 What do you need to keep going? 35:30 Well, we're gonna need a number of things. 35:33 Obviously, we're going to need prayer, 35:34 but people don't recognize 35:38 if they start praying 35:39 for something their heart is in it. 35:41 And so that's really key. 35:42 But before we talk about that, 35:46 I think it's important to help our audience 35:49 to recognize 35:51 how this is going to be a unique series. 35:53 Okay. 35:55 Because instead of it just being a talking head, 35:59 it's going to look very much like Thunder, 36:02 it's going to have a host in the studio. 36:05 And then they're going to hand it off 36:06 to reporters, 36:08 literally around the world. 36:11 So when we're talking about the God of science, 36:13 for example, one of the illustrations 36:15 we're going to use that there has to be a God. 36:18 Yes. 36:19 Is DNA. 36:21 Well, DNA it's, 36:23 you know, many sets of encyclopedias 36:27 of all the information that's encoded in your DNA. 36:30 In other words, it's a language. 36:33 How do you create a language randomly? 36:37 So even if you took 27 letters of the alphabet, 36:40 and you just put them in a scrabble box 36:42 and shook them up and dumped them out, 36:44 you wouldn't get any meaningful sentence? 36:46 No, you probably wouldn't even get 36:48 a meaningful word, 36:49 but you wouldn't get a meaningful sentence. 36:51 And so DNA 36:53 is sentence after sentence after sentence 36:55 book after book set after set. 36:59 And so we're actually shooting that portion of it, 37:02 in front of the Institute in France, 37:07 where a camera, human camera 37:10 took the first picture of a DNA strand. 37:14 I can't imagine what kind of a lens 37:16 has to be on a camera 37:18 that can actually take a picture of a DNA strand. 37:22 So it's gonna literally be all over the world, 37:25 every episode, 37:27 whether you're talking about science, 37:28 or whether you're talking about health, 37:31 you know, whatever you're talking about, 37:32 we're gonna have anchor points 37:34 literally all around the world. 37:35 So this series will have a true international fragrance. 37:40 So that when the Chinese are doing this series, 37:43 one of the portions will be there 37:45 in front of the terracotta soldiers 37:46 in China. 37:47 But then they'll also be in Baghdad, 37:49 and they'll also be on the steps 37:51 you know, of Tibet, you know, or whatever. 37:53 So these Chinese people will be all over the world. 37:57 And when the Malawan people do it, 37:59 that literally will be all over the world. 38:01 And when the Mong people do it, 38:03 they'll literally be all over the world 38:05 doing these different. 38:06 Excellent. 38:08 Now this sounds like a series that people will say, 38:09 "I have to watch this. 38:11 I have to watch this." 38:12 We've had some people. 38:14 Is it ready? Is it ready? 38:16 Oh, we're still fundraising. 38:19 It's coming. 38:21 Now I understand 38:23 that the Grants Pass Seventh-day Adventist Church 38:26 has been inspired. 38:29 How they got inspired them to embrace this project? 38:33 Well, we have one of our members. 38:36 This was like during COVID, wasn't it? 38:38 Yeah. It was during COVID. 38:40 He was just saying, he kept saying to my husband, 38:44 "We really, our church really should have 38:47 a world mission project." 38:50 We should. 38:51 You know, there's so many promises 38:53 that we have, 38:54 from the Spirit of Prophecy 38:55 about how it blesses a church 38:58 when they get personally involved 38:59 with a world mission project. 39:02 So they, my husband said... 39:05 So Bob comes to me and he says, 39:07 "We really ought to do this." 39:08 Now I'm a pastor. 39:10 And when somebody comes to me and says, 39:12 "This is what we ought to do," 39:13 that means the Lord put the burden on them. 39:15 Yes. Yeah. 39:17 And I, my name is Byrd. 39:18 And so I always put wind under their wings. 39:20 And I said, "Well, make up our proposal. 39:23 Let's take it to the board, I'll support you." 39:26 And so he did nothing for about a month 39:27 and he comes to me and he says, 39:29 "Pastor, we really ought to do something on missions." 39:31 I said, "Make up the plan. 39:33 I'll support you." 39:35 "Gather team." 39:36 "Gather team, put a plan together. 39:38 So he came to me a third time. 39:40 And finally he did it. 39:42 He was really shy. 39:43 He didn't want to be up front. 39:45 He didn't want to push the church to do something. 39:47 He wanted me to push the church to do something 39:48 but that God called him to do it. 39:50 And I agreed with him, I think that you should do it. 39:54 So they pick. 39:55 And this is what's amazing. 39:57 Right during COVID, 39:59 that's when churches are shutting down. 40:01 People can't come. 40:02 How do you pay your tithes and offerings 40:04 when you can't come to church? 40:05 And the first month 40:09 when that happened in our church, 40:12 we sent the conference like, 40:15 only 40% of what they usually get 40:17 from our church in tithes. 40:19 Only 40%, they call up, 40:20 "Hey, what's going on down there?" 40:22 "Well, you shut our church down?" 40:23 How about that, you know, 40:25 so to start a mission project 40:26 where you're raising money for other stuff, 40:30 that's kind of like not a smart move, right? 40:33 Wrong. 40:34 That's... 40:35 When is the time 40:37 to stop moving forward in faith? 40:39 Hmm, that's a good question. 40:41 There's never a time. There's never a time. 40:44 You know, the walls of Jericho are steep, 40:45 move forward, you know, 40:47 the Jordan Rivers in flood stage, 40:49 move forward, the Red Seas in the way, 40:51 move forward. 40:52 God doesn't want us to stop. 40:54 In fact, that's a statement that has guided me. 40:58 God cannot guide a stationary object. 41:02 If you stop moving, He can't guide you. 41:04 So we started doing this. 41:06 We raised money for God pods, for Papua New Guinea. 41:10 That was one of the projects. 41:11 We raised money to build a school in India. 41:14 Marvelous. 41:15 And the church says we want to support 41:16 the I met God project, 41:18 knowing that it's going to cost 41:20 hundreds of thousands of dollars 41:21 for the equipment and getting this all together. 41:24 We probably can't do all that, but we can support it. 41:27 We can support with our prayers. 41:28 We can support it financially as we can. 41:31 And with volunteers. 41:32 With volunteers we can do something. 41:36 So we're right in the middle of COVID. 41:37 And we've been at this for what, nine months now. 41:41 Eight, nine months. 41:43 They wanted to raise $6,000 for God pods. 41:45 They raised over 10. 41:46 Praise the Lord. 41:48 They wanted to raise $10,000 for India, 41:50 they raised over 12. 41:52 Praise God. 41:53 And then they didn't even pick a figure for I met God. 41:56 And they've raised close to 20,000. 41:58 Praise the Lord. Yes. 42:00 And in October, 42:03 this is the time when you're falling 42:04 behind in church budget, see, 42:06 I mean, you're kind of at the end of the year, 42:07 and you're kind of falling behind, 42:09 you hope you make it up in December. 42:10 We're $3,000 ahead. 42:12 Of our yearly budget. 42:14 Yes. So the... 42:15 It was so awesome to see what happens when... 42:19 The Lord is moving. Yeah. 42:21 When you have a heart for the people of the world 42:27 that haven't heard about Jesus yet. 42:28 Yeah. 42:30 And the Spirit of Prophecy says, 42:31 "If you have an item mission, 42:32 the funds at home will take care of themselves." 42:34 Yeah. Praise the Lord. 42:36 So I would encourage, 42:37 you said, "What could our listeners do?" 42:38 I would encourage perhaps 100 churches out there, 42:42 or 200 or 1000 churches out there, 42:44 say, "Let's make the I met God project 42:47 one of our mission projects for the world. 42:50 Because not only will it supply 42:52 Bible study material for the languages 42:54 who are asking for it, 42:56 can we have a Bible study like Thunder? 42:57 We want to share Jesus with our community. 43:00 We want to share the three angels' message 43:01 with our community. 43:03 But we need a tool 43:04 in our own language like you have, 43:06 we want a quality one. 43:07 The people that look like us, and people that dress like us, 43:10 and graphics that are relevant to our culture. 43:15 Absolutely. 43:16 Can we, can you help us with that? 43:17 And so, yes, we can. 43:20 And if churches said, 43:21 "Let's make that a mission project, 43:22 a foreign mission project 43:24 and support the I met God project." 43:26 If we had 200 or 300 churches saying, 43:28 "We're going to do that, 43:29 we're going to make this a mission project. 43:31 It's COVID, I know, 43:32 but we're going to have a mission project." 43:34 They would see I think the same results 43:36 we've seen in our church. 43:37 Praise the Lord. This is a massive project. 43:42 But with God, all things are possible. 43:45 And so we want to encourage you that are listening 43:48 and you may be listening 43:49 because God has called you 43:51 to be a part of this Thunder project, 43:53 I met God project and this is a great plan. 43:57 Is there a place they can go on the internet 44:00 to find out more information? 44:03 Where the project is 44:05 we're going to be sharing information 44:07 contact information, 44:08 because people want to know, "How's it going? 44:10 Are you done yet?" Yes. 44:12 QLP.tv. QLP.tv? 44:16 QLP stands for QuestLine Productions. 44:18 Or you can say "Quick, let's pray." 44:22 QLP.tv and also Charles, Facebook? 44:25 And we have 44:27 a QuestLine Productions Facebook page, 44:28 which we're active. 44:29 In fact, if you go to Facebook page, 44:32 go to QuestLine Productions. 44:34 You'll see me today standing in front of 3ABN 44:37 saying we're going in to record this program 44:42 and so we try to keep people current 44:44 of what we're doing how we're moving forward. 44:46 Praise the Lord. 44:47 This is marvelous 44:48 and I'm glad to hear that your plan 44:51 is also to do other languages. 44:54 Yeah. 44:55 Because people need the Lord in every single language. 45:00 It says, Well, we you know, 45:02 we think of the scripture that says 45:04 in Revelation Chapter 14, 45:06 "To every tribe, 45:08 people and tongue and nation." 45:11 So it, it's something marvelous that you're doing. 45:14 And I encourage people to pray. 45:18 What, how do you see prayer as part of this project? 45:23 Well, I was before you asked a question I was, 45:25 I was thinking, 45:27 if you've been in a foreign country, 45:29 surrounded with a language that you're not familiar with, 45:33 even if you kind of can get 45:34 to where you can kind of make it. 45:37 Just imagine trying to get to know God 45:42 through that foreign language. 45:45 You know, it was just how beautiful it would be 45:48 if these people could hear with their own people 45:52 sharing the gospel in their own accent, 45:55 you know, not even a foreign accent. 45:58 It's just to me, it's just overwhelming 46:00 when I think the difference 46:02 I know that some people I've talked with, 46:04 if they know English, 46:07 but it's not their mother tongue. 46:09 And so when they read the Bible, 46:11 they like to go back to their mother tongue. 46:14 And then it really they really understand it. 46:17 Let me give you the perspective 46:19 from the Spanish and the Russian. 46:24 When 3ABN was privileged with the opportunity 46:29 to go into Russia, 46:30 we were bringing people 46:33 to translate our programming into Russian. 46:37 And they came and spent some time here, 46:40 and these were the things we were putting on the air. 46:43 Eventually, when our studio was done, 46:45 initially Novgorod, Russia, 46:48 they began to produce programs in Russian. 46:53 So the difference 46:54 between the response of people responding, 46:57 we have a book for you, we have a Bible for you. 47:00 That you can, it was like, 47:02 okay, we received these many calls and letters, 47:08 but when it was in their own language, 47:11 I mean, they could see the person 47:12 speaking not a translation, 47:14 it went higher and higher. 47:16 And it was like, amazing, amazing. 47:20 The same thing I could tell you about the Net series, 47:23 there was Net 95, Spanish translations, 47:25 Net 96 Spanish translation, 47:27 and the people were watching Mark Finley preaching 47:29 and then there was a Spanish translation. 47:31 But I can tell you, 47:33 there were many baptisms at Net 95, Net 96, Net 98 etc. 47:39 But when we had a Spanish speaker 47:44 do a Net series, 47:47 there was a more churches that joined and more baptism. 47:51 So the concept of people 47:53 hearing the gospel in their own language 47:56 by a native speaker, 47:58 and seeing the person, 48:00 I can tell you from experience, it works. 48:03 Not that the other does not work, 48:04 it does work, 48:06 but it impacts people better, more. 48:08 Absolutely. 48:10 And that's the burden 48:11 I think the Lord laid on my heart 48:12 when these languages kept coming to me. 48:14 Can imagine us 48:16 doing these 52 episodes in Russian? 48:18 Now the Russians gonna have it spoken in their own language. 48:21 Yes. 48:22 The Spanish can have it, spoken in their own language, 48:25 Indian dialects in their lines, the 10/40 Window, 48:29 all these languages, 48:31 having their own Bible study in their own language 48:33 with their own people. 48:35 Yes. 48:36 You asked, what can, you know what about prayer? 48:38 How will prayer fit in here? 48:40 And what you can really be praying for 48:45 is that God who owns a cattle on a thousand hills, 48:50 who we know he can provide for this. 48:53 And for the funding 48:56 that it'll take to do the initial setup 49:00 and then set it up as a factory, so to speak, 49:04 to be able to through these languages. 49:06 So we just need, 49:08 we need resources of financial resources, 49:11 we need human resources, people resources, just... 49:17 You know, there are some people 49:19 that like to hear a number. 49:22 How much do you need, 49:24 and some people don't have that type of interest. 49:29 You know, we tell people, 49:31 "Let the Lord impress you how much you want to give, 49:33 because the need is there." 49:35 Now do you have a, let say, 49:38 let us say phase one or phase two, 49:41 number that you could say, 49:42 well, we need this much 49:44 to complete this particular phase? 49:45 You have something. Sure. 49:47 A crowdsourcing number. A crowdsourcing number, yeah. 49:50 So the equipment, 49:51 the highly technical equipment 49:53 which will allow us to factorize this process 49:56 so that we can do it quickly 49:58 and efficiently is about $950,000. 50:02 That's the equipment. There's other expenses. 50:04 We've gotten some of it 50:05 with the donations that have come. 50:06 Yeah. 50:08 Let me give you some numbers this way. 50:09 I've got a picture of a little boy. 50:11 And then I'd like to put up on the screen right now 50:13 it's a little boy in Africa, 50:15 that little boy in Africa is hungry, is very hungry. 50:18 So if I asked you for a loaf of bread 50:21 to feed this child, would you deny me? 50:25 So that's... It's very hard to deny that. 50:26 It's very hard. 50:28 So I'm going to ask the question this way, 50:29 if I asked you for three loaves 50:31 of Killer Dave's bread. 50:33 And for those of you who are American audiences 50:36 who've gone to American grocery stores, 50:38 there's a brand called Killer Dave's bread. 50:40 It's a guy who was in prison. 50:42 And maybe he was a killer, 50:44 but he got working in the bakery, 50:45 and he started making this really good bread. 50:47 Lots of sticks and twigs in it. 50:49 Lots of sticks and twigs in as my friends say, 50:51 "It's a healthy bread, right?" 50:53 So that bread is like $5 a loaf. 50:56 Wow. 50:57 If just 200,000 listeners says, 50:59 I'll send you three loaves of bread, 51:01 I'll send you 15 bucks, 51:02 they can do it at our website, qlp.tv the donations page, 51:06 they could do it on Facebook, either way. 51:09 If 200,000 just sent $15 51:12 that's not going to be a stretch for anybody. 51:14 Or if 100,000 said, 51:16 "I'll give you six loaves of bread." 51:18 So if people just said I'm going to pray and say, 51:23 "Lord, if I'm going to give 50 or 300." 51:26 If 10,000 people gave $300, 51:28 we could pay for all the equipment, 51:30 and get the first five languages 51:32 out the door. 51:33 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. 51:34 So think of it as not a big sacrifice 51:37 that you have to do. 51:38 Well, you've heard some good information 51:42 and we're going to share with you contact information 51:45 so that you can get more information 51:47 and we want you to visit and write down 51:51 and pray for this project. 51:53 After this we are going to have our 3ABN news break 51:56 and we'll be back in a moment. 51:58 For more information about QuestLine Productions, 52:01 you may go to their website at QLP.tv. 52:05 That's QLP.tv. 52:08 Their email address is info@QLP.tv. 52:11 Their phone numbers are (844) 777-5788 52:17 or (541) 415-6879. 52:23 Their mailing address is 367 Volkmer Way, 52:27 Williams, Oregon 97544. 52:31 That's 367 Volkmer Way, 52:34 Williams, Oregon 97544. |
Revised 2021-01-15