February 24, 2025 • 43 mins
In this episode of Local Leaders The Podcast, Jim Chapman engages in a deep conversation with Rick Gage, a former football coach turned evangelist, who has dedicated his life to spreading the Gospel since 1986. Joined by Richard Blue, the Director of Missions for the East Louisiana Baptist Association, we explore Rick’s transformative journey and the significant moment that ignited his faith. Rick shares inspiring stories of individuals who have transformed their lives through his evangelistic efforts, illustrating the powerful ripple effect of commitment to Christ.
We discuss the urgent need for unity among local churches in the face of challenges in unchurched communities, highlighted by the upcoming Go Tell America Crusade. Set for March 16th through 19th, this event aims to mobilize over 35 local churches, emphasizing youth engagement and outreach. Listeners are invited to actively participate in this mission, as we reflect on the potential impact of collective faith on our communities.
Go Tell Livingston Parish Dates March 16th-19th 2025
Timestamps
00:32 Meeting Rick Gage
11:06 Rick Gage’s Personal Transformation Through Faith
16:44 Richard Blue’s Journey to Ministry
19:01 The Importance of Crusades
28:53 GO TELL CRUSADE in Livingston Parish: Event Details
36:14 Special Guests for the Event 42:06 Scripture Reflections
You can learn more about Rick Gage and the GO TELL LIVINGSTON PARISH CRUSADE at Yellow Jacket Stadium by visiting:
https://www.gotell-lp.com
We discuss the urgent need for unity among local churches in the face of challenges in unchurched communities, highlighted by the upcoming Go Tell America Crusade. Set for March 16th through 19th, this event aims to mobilize over 35 local churches, emphasizing youth engagement and outreach. Listeners are invited to actively participate in this mission, as we reflect on the potential impact of collective faith on our communities.
Go Tell Livingston Parish Dates March 16th-19th 2025
Timestamps
00:32 Meeting Rick Gage
11:06 Rick Gage’s Personal Transformation Through Faith
16:44 Richard Blue’s Journey to Ministry
19:01 The Importance of Crusades
28:53 GO TELL CRUSADE in Livingston Parish: Event Details
36:14 Special Guests for the Event 42:06 Scripture Reflections
You can learn more about Rick Gage and the GO TELL LIVINGSTON PARISH CRUSADE at Yellow Jacket Stadium by visiting:
https://www.gotell-lp.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Hey one, Welcome back to another edition of Local Leaders
of the Podcast and I have a couple of guests
for you today. I'm going to give you a little
history on him just quickly. In nineteen eighty six, Rick
Gage walked away from a promising career in football and
surrendered his life to full time evangelistic ministry. Since then,
(00:51):
he has been conducting evangelistic events around the world has
seen tens of thousands make commitments to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nineteen ninety The Gotel Crusades was founded by Rick Gage
and is an evangelistic ministry that leads people to Christ.
He is the guy sitting across from me today and
we're going to introduce him as well as Richard Blue,
(01:13):
who is the director of Missions of the East Louisiana
Baptist Association. That is a mouthful, as well as the
co chair of the Go Tell America Crusade. Welcome to
both of you, to Local Leaders of Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Good to be here, Jim, thank you, buddy.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I'm excited. And look, I've done a little research on
you in particular, and your story is one that is
really appealing to me, especially being a football fan. Being
a football guy, because that's kind of how you started
out professionally at some point that led you into your
evangelistic ministry that you have now. But I want the
(01:55):
listeners to kind of learn a little bit about you
and tell me how you started out. I know your
dad was an evangelist as well.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I grew up in a Christian home. I grew up
under my dad was a nationally known evangelist back in
the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties into the nineties, so he
had about a fifty plus year career as an itinerant evangelist.
(02:26):
And I've often said, if anybody should have been a
champion for God, you would think it would be me
because I was brought up in a Christian home, godly mother,
nationally a known father who's a preacher of the Gospel,
raised up in Bible teaching churches, and been around to
my great men. I've got all my life, etc. And
(02:46):
my story in brief is, when I was eight years
of age, we attended a local church in Friendswood, Texas,
right outside Houston, and one son morning, I remember going
down that center aisle. The passion was down there at
the front. He leaned over and shared a few words
(03:06):
with me, and after the service that Sunday morning, people
came by and they shook my little hand and said,
we're so happy for you, Ricky, and we're going to
be praying for you. And I showed up that night
with an extra change of clothes and went through what's
called water baptism. And for nearly eighteen years of my
life after that, I professed to be a Christian. And
(03:28):
I've often said did okay for a while to learn
how to do bad. I became an athlete in elementary
I mean I started playing football in fourth grade, and
so about eighteen plus years of my life was surrounded
by the game of football. But in nineteen actually in
(03:49):
nineteen eighty four, I was coaching at Texas Tech University.
This is back during the old Southwest Conference days, and
my dad had told me that one of his dear
friends really been a longtime friend to our family, and
evangelist by name of James Robinson, was coming to preaching
(04:11):
a local church there in Lubbock, Texas, and my dad
encouraged me to go hear James preach, and to make
a long story short, I went that Sunday night to
that local church evangelistic rally Thats Robinson was preaching at.
This is January fifteen, nineteen eighty four. I'm twenty five
years of age. I'm coaching at Texas Tech University, so
(04:33):
I'm climbing that coaching professional ladder, thinking that someday I
may be the next Next Sabing or the next Tom
Landry for the older generation. Sure, but my heart, in
my life Jim was a million miles away from God
and my dad knew it. And so I went to
that service that Sunday night, and it was a packed
(04:54):
out auditorium, standing room only, and I was able to
squeeze in in that back far corner. But I heard
a man of God that night preach a powerful, penetrating
sermon on the subject of repentance. And God used that
message that night to reveal to my heart that I
was lost.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Rick.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You may be religious, you may be a preacher's kid,
but you're lost. And when that invitation, that altar call
was given that Sunday night, I made a bee line
to that altar and got on my hands in my knees,
weeping as a twenty five year old football coach and
just broken because of the sin that was in my
life and the lifestyle that I'd been living, and God
(05:36):
just broke me that night. And I was like a
thief who just got caught robin a bank. I just surrendered,
And the attitude of my heart was, God, here's my life.
I want you to take it, and I want you
to use me however you want to use me. And really,
the attitude that was in my heart that night was God,
if you want me to go to Africa to be
(05:57):
a missionary, I'll pack my bags to night and I'll go.
To make a long story short, God invaded my heart
that night, and I surrendered my life to Christ. I
experienced what the Bible teaches on the new birth. I
was born again that night John Chapter three. Went home
(06:18):
to my apartment there in Lubbock and picked up my
phone and called my mom and dad, and man did
they ever rejoice. Called my three brothers, who happened to
be today all three are ordained ministers of the Gospel.
So I've often said, my dad and my mom must
have done something right. So there's four boys in our family,
and all four of us today are ordained ministers of
(06:40):
the Gospel. When I called Mom and Dad, I called
my three brothers and Jim. That night, I had a
Bible sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I never touched it,
never read it, didn't have a desire to. But I
picked up my Bible that night, and for the first
time in my life, the Word of God became life
to my soul. I fell in love with the author
(07:02):
of the Bible, and of course we know his name
is Jesus. And the next morning I walked into the
football building there at Texas Tech and I started sharing
with all those coaches on that staff what God had
just done in my life. So I had a Damascus
Road type experience on January fifteenth, nineteen eighty four, and
two years later, I was coaching the running backs at
(07:25):
Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. And it was during that
two year period coaching at Liberty is when God began
to do a work in my heart about going into
full time ministry. Well, how can you know God's calling you?
And I remember my dad often would say, if you
can do anything else, do it. He wanted to make
sure that it was God calling you, and so I
(07:48):
sat down with some great men of God up there
at that time to get their Godly wisdom. You know,
how can you really know for sure you being called
to ministry? I sit down with doctor Folwell and Sumner
Wimp and Elmer Towns and Old Womanton, just great men
of God that were part of that great team up
there back in the seventies and eighties, and I'll never forget.
(08:08):
In January of eighty six, I was in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas,
where Mom and Dad lived at that time, and there
was an evangelist around the corner from Mamma Dad's house
by the name of Many Beasley, and I went to
Manley's house to ask him the same question, how can
you know for sure, Manley, that you're being called to preach?
And here's what Manley Beasley said. He said, Rick, if
(08:30):
God's calling you to the ministry, you will be miserable
doing anything else. And man was he ever right? Because
I was getting ready on the airplane out of DFW
to fly to New Orleans for the annual National Coaches
Convention that year was in New Orleans. And so, make
a long story short, I turned in my resignation there
(08:51):
at Liberty to the head coach the following Monday after
that coach's convention. Doctor Fallwood had already given me a
scholarship to go through their seminary, which I did. So
I've been on the sawdust trail since nineteen eighty six,
trying to do all that we can to help advance
the Kingdom of God. So I went around. I went
around the world to answer your question. But that's really
(09:12):
love it. That's really my story. I spent nearly eighteen
years of my life around the game of football. So
from fourth grade I played four years of college ball,
and then I coached five years of college ball. But
it was in nineteen eighty six when God when I
surrendered the call to preach the gospel.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
That's a beautiful thing. I love that, and you really
I think you know this, but you speak the truth
from the aspect of I believe that God puts you
places in life where you cannot be denied. You can
try to deny it, but you cannot be denied. And
a lot of people know my story how I ended
up with this podcast. But I was in a completely
(09:53):
different field in life and felt a push that I
cannot describe to do what I'm doing now, and I
would almost intentionally try to sabotage myself because on paper,
what I did with this podcast studio made absolutely no sense.
(10:14):
And every time I tried to push back, I got
pushed more forward because this is where I believe God
wanted me to be. And I remember the first day
opened the studio was praying the phone would ring. I
had left a six figure job that I was happy,
comfortable with and had been with twenty two years to
open up a podcast studio in Livingston Parish, Louisiana. That
(10:36):
phone's never quit ringing. It is a blessing that I
thank God for every day. So I know what you mean.
He will not allow you to deny where He wants
you in life. All you got to do is listen.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Well, I agree, and I believe, and you know this
to be true, that there's no greater peace in all
the world than knowing that you're in the center of
God's will.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
You branch out a little bit and you start, you
start preaching the gospel. You're out there and you're talking
to people and you're witnessing to them. What is a story?
Give me a story maybe of just an experience that
you had with that. If you have one that really
sticks out, I'd love to hear it a success story.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
If you will, I'll give you a couple. We were
having one of our outreaches a few years back, and
there was a teenage boy that gave his life to
Christ in this outreach event, and immediately God gave him
a burden to go back and reach his family. His
(11:39):
mom was lost, his dad was lost, He had a
sister who had not given her life to Christ. And
he just immediately after he gave his heart to Christ,
God put a burden on his heart to go back
and be a missionary to his own family. And God
used that teenage boy to go back to lead his
mother to Christ and his sister Christ. And that fall season,
(12:02):
I had the honor to preaching this young man's local
church in Charlotte, North Carolina. And in that Sunday morning service,
his dad was in the service. His dad still lost,
kind of a hard case, but the young man had
really been praying and had a deep burden for his
dad to get right with God. And the whole family
was in that Sunday morning service in that local church.
(12:24):
And when I preached the gospel that Sunday morning and
I gave the altar call, that dad left his seat
came down to the altar and got on his knees
to give his life to Christ. And the wife, the son,
and the daughter, all three were huddled over their dad
at the altar. And that whole family today is complete
(12:45):
in Christ because of a seventeen year old teenage boy
who got right with God at one of our outreach events.
And the local church of this young man's father and
family even to this day, that that young man's father
is one of the most dedicated, one of the most
active men in that local church, all because of that
(13:11):
teenage boy that got right with God in one of
our outreaches. The second story, we were in Guntersville, Alabama,
in a football stadium and one of the co chairs
of the campaign, like brother Richard is here was burden
for his sister in law. He wanted his sister in
law to get right with God and man he had
(13:33):
been praying and asking God to save his sister in law, etc.
And on the last night of the campaign, it was
our big youth emphasis night. We probably had five thousand
and six thousand in attendance, most of them were young
people that night, and he's sitting on the fifty yard line.
I'm up on the stage preaching, and he's on the
(13:53):
fifty yard line. And he pulled out his iPhone and
called his sister in law. She's at home in bed,
just TV. She answers the phone and he said, I
want you to hear this guy. So he holds the
phone out. Well, I'm up there on the stage preaching
for about maybe sixty seconds. And he came back and
he said, what do you think? And she said, I
(14:13):
want to hear some more. So he holds the phone
out for about another sixty seconds, brought the phone back
to his ear and said what do you think? Hello,
are you there? She got up out of bed, Jim,
put her clothes on, got in her car, drove to
the stadium. Wow, got out of her car and came
(14:35):
to the altar right in front of the stage high
school track, high school football stadium. She came before even
extended the invitation. She came and got on her knees
on that track to give her life to Christ the
power of prayer. Yes, and so those are just two
that you know that come to my mind. We were
(14:56):
in San Saba, Texas, and they have a youth prison
in San Sabbath, Texas, and our team had gone into
that youth prison early that week of the campaign and
witnessed a lot of those juvenile prisoners and led many
of those young men and you know, to Christ. And
a dad was coming into town and he saw the
(15:18):
football stadium lights on, so he pulled into the stadium
park a lot to find out. Wonder what's going on?
This is a March campaign, San Saba, Texas. He's thinking,
what's going on here at the stadium in March. So
he pulls in, Well, we're having a crusade service in
that football stadium. He comes inside the stadium, sits down,
heard me preach that night when I gave the invitation,
(15:38):
he came forward and gave his life to Christ. Well,
the next day he goes to visit his son at
the prison and he said, last night I came into
town and went to this crusade at the stadium and
I gave my life to Christ. And the son said, well,
that same group came over here earlier this week and
I gave my life to Christ. And that man left
that town, went back to his hometown in South Texas,
(16:00):
and two weeks later, on a Sunday morning, on his
way to church, he was killed in a car wreck. Oh,
and the chairman of the crusade did some research, and
he said that man was two weeks away from hell
because of a football stadium that had the lights on.
(16:21):
They God used that to draw that man to the
stadium and he came inside to see what was going on,
and he heard the Gospel that night, and he gave
his life to Christ. That man's in heaven today. We
got dozens, maybe hundreds of stories like that, But anyway,
those are just, you know, a couple that really come
to my mind when you asked me that question.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Phenomenal. I love it. And I want to turn to
you real quick, brother Richard, and I want to ask you,
so you are local to hear Walker is a Walker
Baptist Church that you.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I pastored Walker Baptist Church for twenty and a half
years and I've been the director of missions for almost
seven years now in this area working with local Baptist churches.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Great guy, you a great guy. I just met him,
y'all and I've been his unique personality that makes me
laugh for sure. And so tell us about your path
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Okay, My path is I was so raised in the
same way I tell everybody. I had a drug problem.
I was drugg to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night
till Wednesday night.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Very good.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
And here it is. When I was nine years old,
on a slow night in the Revival on a double
dog dare, I was pushed into the aisle to go
talk to the preacher. They did everything they were supposed
to do with me, dunk me, baptize me. But I
walked out of there just as lost as I walked
into the building that night, and got under conviction to
(17:55):
my sin by a vacation Bible school worker when I
was twelve years old, when she unjusted with the gospel,
and I hid behind church membership and said I am saved,
I'm a member of the church, and all of that.
For the next two years, I was under heavy conviction,
thinking if I go to bed tonight, I'm gonna wake
up and I dine in my sleep, I'm gonna wake
(18:15):
up in hell. When I was fourteen years old, listening
to a gospel radio broadcast, I prayed to receive Jesus
Christ as my Lord and savior. And I've slept like
an angel every night since my life has been changed.
I have peace of mind, peace of direction. And two
years later God called me into the ministry and I've
(18:39):
been a pastor and I couldn't do what he's doing.
That's a gift. My gift is to get in there
after before he comes and after he leaves, to get
in there and help people to grow in Christ, to disciple,
to equip and help them to be able to turn
around and continue the task of going forward and reaching
people for the Lord.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, I love that very good. And I want to
ask both of you, you know, today's a challenging time
in some ways that you know, sometimes I wake up
and think there's a war on Christianity a little bit,
and and it's scary, but it is very important. Actually,
(19:21):
it's probably the key reason as to why it's so
important to have these crusades is the ability to reach
a enormous amount of people all at one time and
really preach the gospel to Him. I believe that when
when you know God is always around us, but when
(19:45):
you're a group and you're you're all focused on that,
you can feel Him in the room with you. We
have an event, a big event coming up that there's
going to be a lot of media surrounding this event.
Because Brother Rick Gage is going to be here, the
(20:07):
message is going to be delivered primarily by the local churches.
Am I writing saying.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
In this regard, we have about thirty five to forty
churches that are involved in this and they come from
the evangelical church community, and they cross denominational lines and
they're coming from non denominationals. Baptists are the primary ones
that are involved. Some Methodists are involved. It's the evangelical
(20:36):
community that believes that the Bible is the truth, It's
the Word of God, truth without any mixture of era.
And it's also also the ones that believe that Jesus
Christ is the only way to salvation. And so that's
what we're doing. All of the churches in this area.
We see we're living in a community to where according
(21:00):
to the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention,
that eighty percent of Livingston Parish needs to know Christ
as their Lord and Savior. That's a big number, right,
I'm a huge number. That means four out of five
people that you meet on the street do not believe
in God. And a large part of that group are
(21:22):
a people that have been surveyed. They're called the nuns
an s in other words, that we have no religious
idea affiliation of any kind, no thought of any kind
where in other words, you have your practical atheist in
the sense. And so so we have a feel that's
white under the harvest, and we have a biblical we
(21:45):
have a spiritual and we have a moral mandate to
do what we can to get in the way and
point people from the road of destruction and put them
on the road of life.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And we came in here about a year ago to
meet with Richard and many other spiritual leaders across this
Livingston Parish region and the vision that we presented about
twelve months ago, and the goal was to recruit and
cultivate as many Bible believing churches in this part of
the state to come together in unity for one purpose,
(22:22):
to reach every unsaved person with the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You just heard his stats. More than
eighty percent of this area is on church. But it's
not just in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, it's all over the nation.
We just did a campaign in Jackson, Mississippi, the metro
area of Jackson, Mississippi, two years ago, over eighty percent
(22:44):
of that area of the state of Mississippi was on church.
We had nearly thirty thousand in our total attendants. For
those four nights, we registered some two thousand spiritual decisions
for Christ. We spoke about ten to fifteen thousand students
and a lot of their public and private schools during
that campaign. But as he said a while ago, the
(23:06):
need and the urgency, the urgency to reach the unsaved
has never been greater across this nation today. And we
were talking earlier offline about Billy Graham, and I had
the honor to be with doctor Graham and his Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania Crusade back in nineteen ninety two in the old
Veterans Football Stadium and we met with this team that week.
(23:28):
And here's what his team members told us. They said,
if you're going to be involved in these large scale
evangelistic campaigns, there's two things you got to have, leadership
and preparation. Leadership and preparation that'll fit with football coaching,
won't it totally, It'll fit with any industry. So twelve
months ago, when we shared this vision of all the
(23:50):
churches coming together for the sole purpose of reaching the unsaved.
We've often said it's a lot easier to get an unsaved,
unchurched person to come to a football stadium than it
is to get them to come to our sanctuaries eleven
o'clock one Sunday morning, and that's who we're going after.
We told the saints of God that's been involved in
this campaign for almost a year, bring your lost friends
(24:15):
and family members to this event because the chances are
very high if we can just get them there, the
chances are very high that they will commit their life
to Christ. So that's the purpose of this campaign. We
basically have taken the Biligram model of how to put
together these large scale outreach events and we have just
(24:36):
adapted it, adapted it to really the smaller markets rule
America across the country. And one more stat before I
turn it over, the North American Mission Board has told
us out of the seventy two million gen zers as
that kid from about ten to twenty five years of age,
(24:57):
fifty seven million of that demogra they do not have
a personal relationship with Christ today. And we've also been
told by leaders nationwide spiritual leaders that ninety percent of our
public schools across America are lost. So what a mission field?
(25:19):
What a mission field? Our public schools are? What a
mission field? Our communities are? And so all we're trying
to do. Let's come together in unity. Let's roll up
our sleeves, let's pray, let's fast, Let's work in the
fields that are wide under harvest, and do all that
we can during these days of harvestingmen to reach a
multitude of souls for the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
You can't beat that. And I'll tell you know you
love the believers, but you want the non believers. That's
where you're after. You have a family.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I do my wife, Lynn. I guess it's okay to
save this here in Tiger Country. But I married a
Georgia Bulldog. I will forgive you in nineteen in eighty nine.
I met her. In eighty eight. I was living in
the Atlanta area. I was with an evangelistic ministry that
had moved its headquarters to Atlanta in eighty eight. And
(26:13):
I met Lynn in eighty eight and we got married
in eighty nine. We have two daughters, Sarah who serves
on our staff. She's thirty two, and Anna is twenty seven,
and she works for the North American Mission Board. And
I'm getting ready to be a granddaddy for the first
time in April. But Lord has blessed me with a
beautiful family, a godly wife, two godly daughters, and we're
(26:37):
just all about trying to do all that we can
to help advance the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, it is a blessing, indeed. And how about you family.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
I have a family. I've been married for one hundred
and two years. My wife's been married fifty one fifty
one years, excuse me, been married fifty one years. Four children.
My oldest ones are renegade. He lives in North Carolina
and has served as a deacon in his church. I
(27:09):
have a son that works at one of the plants
here locally, but he's the only one with a doctor,
a Doctor of Theology degree that works in his plant.
And I have two daughters. One is a licensed professional
counselor here in the Walker Dentim Springs area, and my
other daughter is a school teacher. And all of their
(27:31):
families are involved in churches in this area.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Very very good. And I bring up family because this
is a strong belief of mine that there's also somewhat
of a destruction of the family unit these days that
has caused some, you know, some of the issues that
you're seeing in your communities. I've been married twenty six years,
(27:55):
totally blessed, and there's only one woman in the world
that would put up with me for twenty six years,
and it's the one I'm married to. I don't deserver,
but I'll take her. And obviously both of you long
long time marriages, and there's something to that. I think
that this is again a personal belief that I have,
but I think that sometimes people give up too quick,
(28:18):
and I think that through God you can overcome a lot.
Nobody is perfect in this world. We strive to be,
but nobody is perfect except for God.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And I cannot tell you how much what you're doing
is needed here in Livingston, Paris, Louisiana and all over
the country. Let's talk about the event specifically. It is
March sixteenth through the nineteenth at Yellow Jacket Stadium, that's
right right there in Denham Springs. I know I have
(28:52):
a ton of lesseners here locally. Tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
What we're doing is that, first of all, the gauge
ministry comes in bringing everything we need from a platform
and stage excuse me, to the audio equipment that's used. Uh.
They come in, they organize everything. Uh. We're working with
the local government. We appreciate the mayor and the police chief,
(29:16):
Chief Walker.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Shout out Mayor Landry.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yes, and also the sheriff. Are all of our community
leaders are coming in to help us and work with us,
and we're very grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Uh. Jeff Taylor involved in that.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
I'm sure he's the chairman of our committee. He's the
chairman of our committee. And I appreciate brother Jeff and
what he does and what he brings and the leadership
he brings to the table. With that he does things
that none of us can do. I'm here so I
can carry I carry the water for him.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Okay, well, you do a great job of it.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
But but the stadium is going to be opened up.
We're going to have people from our local churches that
are going to help with parking. They're going to be ushers.
The first night, we're having a mass choir that's made
up of the people from our community that will be
providing a choir for the crusade. Beautiful and so we're
(30:14):
going to have a unified choir we're gonna have some
of the best voices in Livingston Parish there to sing.
And so every night, every night at seven o'clock, we're
going to take off and trust God to see what's
going to happen. Wednesday night is youth Night. That'll start
a little bit earlier. There'll be a pizza blast. There's
(30:37):
going to be more as teenage manna. But there's more
pizza going to be eating on that night than any
other place in the rest of the world. Right here
in Yellowjacket Stadium.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
And the Gospel is going to be proclaimed to our teenagers,
and we're praying for a harvest of souls because if
we don't reach the next generation, we're four generals away
from where our country left being a Christian nation. If
we have any hope for the future, it's going to
be because we've reached our young people, and so we're
(31:10):
working hard to reach young people for Christ during this.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I agree with that on the percentages tell us that
it's in the high mid high seventies that those who
made a profession of faith in Christ, Yeah, did so
before eighteen years of age.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
So what that tells us is if we're going to
reach the youth of America. We better reach them before
they graduate from high school, or chances are very high
they may never get reached. Correct, So we place a
strong emphasis in all these campaigns to reach the younger
generation because of that stat And if you have ever
(31:50):
done any research or studies on great moves of God,
revivals like the Jesus Movement back in the sixties, maybe
into the early seventies, and other great moves of God,
you will learn that almost all these great moves of
God that we've studied began with young people. I think
(32:13):
it was about two years ago over in Wilmore, Kentucky. Yes,
at Asbury College. There was a move of God that
took place on that college campus that swept across the
nation and even overseas. And I have often said that
revival didn't break out because of a bunch of gray hairs.
It broke out because of a bunch of teenagers. So
(32:34):
we're praying that God would use this campaign to invade
the hearts of these young people. One of the extensions
that we've been doing for since the eighties in all
of our campaigns is we developed a non religious school
assembly program where we go into public schools in private
(32:54):
schools and share a message of hope. Really it's a
message about making wise choices in the game of life.
And we want to remind the students across America that
the greatest days of your life, they're not behind you.
The greatest days of your life are in front of you.
So we challenge these students, don't do anything that could
(33:15):
run or destroy your mind, your body, or your future.
You remember Bobby Bowden, Bobby once said that the youth
of America, they may not be one hundred percent of
our population, but they are one hunderdercent of our future.
So we do everything that we can through these campaigns,
(33:35):
whether it be in the school assemblies. We'll have a
pre Crusade youth rally next Wednesday night, febru the nineteenth.
We had a pre crusade youth rally in that Jackson,
Mississippi crusade two years ago. We had over a thousand
young people that showed up a month before the crusade
kicked off. And so next Wednesday night, February nineteen, we'll
have a pre crusade student rally for all the young
(33:57):
people in this area to to attend and then they'll
have about three to four weeks in front of them
to be missionaries on their campuses to use this upcoming
campaign March sixteen through nineteen to bring their classmates and
their teammates to this event to hear the gospel every night.
(34:18):
I told you while ago that we've got Agent de
Pray will be with us on Monday night. He played
college football at Firman University and he was the team
football chaplain for coach Lou Holts. You remember Lou Holts
coach Steve Spurrier when they were both at University of
South Carolina Gagcocks. And he'll be with us on Monday night.
(34:40):
And then Ken Freeman, we were talking about him while ago,
one of the most gifted communicators of the Gospel I've
ever been exposed to, one of the greatest school assembly
speakers I've ever been exposed to, and has incredible, incredible story.
Was a victim of nine broken homes. But God used
(35:03):
a football player by the name of Jeff many many
years ago to invite Ken to a Youth Knight evangelistic event,
and for the first time, Ken walked into a local church,
heard the gospel for the first time, and gave his
life to Christ that night in a Freddie Gage revival
in Corpus Christi, Texas. That's been some fifty plus years ago.
(35:24):
Ken Freeman has been preaching the gospel for more than
fifty years and has seen hundreds of thousands come to
Christ through his ministry, all because a football player by
the name of Jeff invited him to the event.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Wow, I'll give you goose bumps. And look, he's relatable.
He's relatable. You don't have to have God in your
heart and accept Christ as your savior. You don't have
to come from necessarily a family full of preachers.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
You can come from nine burking homes and still end
up in that spot.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
And one more special guest that will be with us
that week of the campaign is Al Robertson. You've heard
of Duck dynasty up there in northern Louisiana. Yeh, Al
will be with us on that Monday night to share
his story and his wife Lisa, So we're excited about
them coming. Of course, he mentioned. Charles Billingsley will be
(36:25):
with us on Sunday night with that Mass choir on
Sunday night, and then the worship team for the whole
four nights will be a group called Russia Fools and
they're extremely, extremely gifted. So it's gonna be a pyorpack week.
We just need to fill up that stadium every night.
People who need to hear the gospel.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
That's right, that's right. So ask you, let me ask
you this. Local churches, how can they get involved? How
is there a way Godsite to go to.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Go tail l dashp dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Okay, and I'll put that in a description dot com. Yes,
I'll put in the description.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
They can sign on there right now. We need we
need about three hundred and forty decision counselors. So this
is for Christians that know the Lord, that can share
their faith. And you don't even have to be able
to share your faith, just be a Christian. We believe
the Holy Spirit of God will give you the words
you need to say. So we need about three hundred
and forty people. There's a couple of trainings coming up.
(37:28):
They'll see that on the website also, and so we
need some help. We're not hey, I'm not embarrassed. Help,
that's okay. We need some help to make this thing work.
After there's going to be outreach events being done by
local churches. Look for a door hanger on your doorknob
and the Dentim Springs Walker Living Stun French settlement areas,
(37:52):
so look for that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
We partner with a organization now to Charlotte, North Carolina
called Saturate USA dot org, and they will ship into
any community where we're doing one of our campaigns free
of charge, even pay for the shipping all the door
bags that you put on a door when you out
(38:15):
canvassing neighborhoods. They'll also ship in the Jesus film on
DVD and some gospel tracks. They'll ship all that material
into our campaigns free of charge for us to invite
people to come to the nightly crusade services and then
(38:37):
we can put our marketing pieces inside those bags. In fact,
they shipped in forty thousand bags just a couple of
weeks ago. In this coming Saturday, think it First Baptist Church,
Denim Springs. Leo Miller, the pastor First Baptist Denham Springs
is the outreach chairman and they're having a bag party
(38:57):
to assemble all that material on those bags because over
the next three to four weeks we're going to be
canvassing neighborhoods all over this region.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Churches from across our area. If we'll be doing it,
and like I say, forty forty thousand, so look for
something on your.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Door, amen, And if you're interested in learning more about it,
which hopefully you are. I'm going to link the website
in the description of this video. So if you're driving
or listening to this or whatever, you don't need to
write it down, you can just go home, click on
that link. It'll bring you, give you all the information
you need. And if you're able to come and help
(39:37):
and help, you know, spread the water God, Amen, please
do so. I appreciate both of you coming on the show.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Let me share one more thing. I feel impressed to
do this. We started a youth camp ministry in nineteen
eighty nine. It was birth out of an all night
prayer meeting in eighty eight. Yes, first Baptist Denim Springs
has been sending their high school or their junior high
students to our Gotel camp in Alabama from about the
last three or four summers. That was the initial connection
(40:06):
to this community. And we called Leo ol Miller because
their kids, their students had been coming to our camp
for the last three summers, three or four summers, and
I called Lee about a year ago and asked if
he would begin to pray about us coming in to
meet with some leaders to cast this vision. That's how
(40:27):
that ball began to roll.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
And since nineteen eighty nine, we have seen over one
hundred and ten thousand students and their leaders from local
churches across the nation that have been to our summer
youth camps that we started in eighty nine. Over forty
thousand kids have committed their lives to Christ, to this
ministry that we started in eighty nine, and over three
(40:52):
thousand kids have answered the call to full time Christian service.
My take on that number. If just half that number
pans out, think of the impact that would be made
for Christ. But we've made a commitment to this community.
The churches that are involved in this campaign. He said,
well to go. There's thirty five forty participating churches. Yes,
(41:12):
participating churches. Those churches if their students want to come
to our go Tel camp this summer, and we're happening.
We're doing one up here in Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi.
It's only three hours away from here. But if any
of the students from these churches involved in this campaign,
they can come for just a ninety nine dollars camp fee.
(41:34):
The normal fees four hundred dollars, but we're letting all
these churches and their students come. If they haven't made
plans yet, they can come to go Tel Camp at
Mississippi College for just ninety nine dollars. I wanted your
listening audience to be able to be aware of that.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
That's a beautiful thing. Yeah, and we'll put that also
in the description with information on that. Thank you so
much again, Brother Reck for coming on. Brother Richard, thank
you keep rocket. I appreciate y'all very much. And uh,
before we get out of here, just one more final fault.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
I want.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
I want to know brother Rick your you know what
Bible verse.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
Do you do?
Speaker 1 (42:13):
You lean on a lot?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
I quote Proverbs eleven thirty, and when I sign people's Bibles,
I put Proverbs eleven thirty. And the scripture says he
who wins souls is wise.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Oh, I love that. What about you?
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Brother Galatians two twenty, I have been crucified together with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live not I, but Christ lives in me. And
the life that I now live. I live by the
faith of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
I love that one too. Mine's an easy one for
most people. It is I can do all things through
God he me.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Amen, Amen, And I believe that on honey men.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Because I sure can't do it by myself.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Thank you so much again for coming on and it
has been a pleasure. One more time, go to that link.
Get involved. So important for this community, and we're going
to change some lives in March. Thank you so much.
And until next time, I'm Jim Chapman with local leaders
(43:18):
of podcasts, reminding you love your community, support local business,
and keep leading. Thank you very much.
Hey one, Welcome back to another edition of Local Leaders
of the Podcast and I have a couple of guests
for you today. I'm going to give you a little
history on him just quickly. In nineteen eighty six, Rick
Gage walked away from a promising career in football and
surrendered his life to full time evangelistic ministry. Since then,
(00:51):
he has been conducting evangelistic events around the world has
seen tens of thousands make commitments to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nineteen ninety The Gotel Crusades was founded by Rick Gage
and is an evangelistic ministry that leads people to Christ.
He is the guy sitting across from me today and
we're going to introduce him as well as Richard Blue,
(01:13):
who is the director of Missions of the East Louisiana
Baptist Association. That is a mouthful, as well as the
co chair of the Go Tell America Crusade. Welcome to
both of you, to Local Leaders of Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Good to be here, Jim, thank you, buddy.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
I'm excited. And look, I've done a little research on
you in particular, and your story is one that is
really appealing to me, especially being a football fan. Being
a football guy, because that's kind of how you started
out professionally at some point that led you into your
evangelistic ministry that you have now. But I want the
(01:55):
listeners to kind of learn a little bit about you
and tell me how you started out. I know your
dad was an evangelist as well.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I grew up in a Christian home. I grew up
under my dad was a nationally known evangelist back in
the fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties into the nineties, so he
had about a fifty plus year career as an itinerant evangelist.
(02:26):
And I've often said, if anybody should have been a
champion for God, you would think it would be me
because I was brought up in a Christian home, godly mother,
nationally a known father who's a preacher of the Gospel,
raised up in Bible teaching churches, and been around to
my great men. I've got all my life, etc. And
(02:46):
my story in brief is, when I was eight years
of age, we attended a local church in Friendswood, Texas,
right outside Houston, and one son morning, I remember going
down that center aisle. The passion was down there at
the front. He leaned over and shared a few words
(03:06):
with me, and after the service that Sunday morning, people
came by and they shook my little hand and said,
we're so happy for you, Ricky, and we're going to
be praying for you. And I showed up that night
with an extra change of clothes and went through what's
called water baptism. And for nearly eighteen years of my
life after that, I professed to be a Christian. And
(03:28):
I've often said did okay for a while to learn
how to do bad. I became an athlete in elementary
I mean I started playing football in fourth grade, and
so about eighteen plus years of my life was surrounded
by the game of football. But in nineteen actually in
(03:49):
nineteen eighty four, I was coaching at Texas Tech University.
This is back during the old Southwest Conference days, and
my dad had told me that one of his dear
friends really been a longtime friend to our family, and
evangelist by name of James Robinson, was coming to preaching
(04:11):
a local church there in Lubbock, Texas, and my dad
encouraged me to go hear James preach, and to make
a long story short, I went that Sunday night to
that local church evangelistic rally Thats Robinson was preaching at.
This is January fifteen, nineteen eighty four. I'm twenty five
years of age. I'm coaching at Texas Tech University, so
(04:33):
I'm climbing that coaching professional ladder, thinking that someday I
may be the next Next Sabing or the next Tom
Landry for the older generation. Sure, but my heart, in
my life Jim was a million miles away from God
and my dad knew it. And so I went to
that service that Sunday night, and it was a packed
(04:54):
out auditorium, standing room only, and I was able to
squeeze in in that back far corner. But I heard
a man of God that night preach a powerful, penetrating
sermon on the subject of repentance. And God used that
message that night to reveal to my heart that I
was lost.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Rick.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
You may be religious, you may be a preacher's kid,
but you're lost. And when that invitation, that altar call
was given that Sunday night, I made a bee line
to that altar and got on my hands in my knees,
weeping as a twenty five year old football coach and
just broken because of the sin that was in my
life and the lifestyle that I'd been living, and God
(05:36):
just broke me that night. And I was like a
thief who just got caught robin a bank. I just surrendered,
And the attitude of my heart was, God, here's my life.
I want you to take it, and I want you
to use me however you want to use me. And really,
the attitude that was in my heart that night was God,
if you want me to go to Africa to be
(05:57):
a missionary, I'll pack my bags to night and I'll go.
To make a long story short, God invaded my heart
that night, and I surrendered my life to Christ. I
experienced what the Bible teaches on the new birth. I
was born again that night John Chapter three. Went home
(06:18):
to my apartment there in Lubbock and picked up my
phone and called my mom and dad, and man did
they ever rejoice. Called my three brothers, who happened to
be today all three are ordained ministers of the Gospel.
So I've often said, my dad and my mom must
have done something right. So there's four boys in our family,
and all four of us today are ordained ministers of
(06:40):
the Gospel. When I called Mom and Dad, I called
my three brothers and Jim. That night, I had a
Bible sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I never touched it,
never read it, didn't have a desire to. But I
picked up my Bible that night, and for the first
time in my life, the Word of God became life
to my soul. I fell in love with the author
(07:02):
of the Bible, and of course we know his name
is Jesus. And the next morning I walked into the
football building there at Texas Tech and I started sharing
with all those coaches on that staff what God had
just done in my life. So I had a Damascus
Road type experience on January fifteenth, nineteen eighty four, and
two years later, I was coaching the running backs at
(07:25):
Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. And it was during that
two year period coaching at Liberty is when God began
to do a work in my heart about going into
full time ministry. Well, how can you know God's calling you?
And I remember my dad often would say, if you
can do anything else, do it. He wanted to make
sure that it was God calling you, and so I
(07:48):
sat down with some great men of God up there
at that time to get their Godly wisdom. You know,
how can you really know for sure you being called
to ministry? I sit down with doctor Folwell and Sumner
Wimp and Elmer Towns and Old Womanton, just great men
of God that were part of that great team up
there back in the seventies and eighties, and I'll never forget.
(08:08):
In January of eighty six, I was in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas,
where Mom and Dad lived at that time, and there
was an evangelist around the corner from Mamma Dad's house
by the name of Many Beasley, and I went to
Manley's house to ask him the same question, how can
you know for sure, Manley, that you're being called to preach?
And here's what Manley Beasley said. He said, Rick, if
(08:30):
God's calling you to the ministry, you will be miserable
doing anything else. And man was he ever right? Because
I was getting ready on the airplane out of DFW
to fly to New Orleans for the annual National Coaches
Convention that year was in New Orleans. And so, make
a long story short, I turned in my resignation there
(08:51):
at Liberty to the head coach the following Monday after
that coach's convention. Doctor Fallwood had already given me a
scholarship to go through their seminary, which I did. So
I've been on the sawdust trail since nineteen eighty six,
trying to do all that we can to help advance
the Kingdom of God. So I went around. I went
around the world to answer your question. But that's really
(09:12):
love it. That's really my story. I spent nearly eighteen
years of my life around the game of football. So
from fourth grade I played four years of college ball,
and then I coached five years of college ball. But
it was in nineteen eighty six when God when I
surrendered the call to preach the gospel.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
That's a beautiful thing. I love that, and you really
I think you know this, but you speak the truth
from the aspect of I believe that God puts you
places in life where you cannot be denied. You can
try to deny it, but you cannot be denied. And
a lot of people know my story how I ended
up with this podcast. But I was in a completely
(09:53):
different field in life and felt a push that I
cannot describe to do what I'm doing now, and I
would almost intentionally try to sabotage myself because on paper,
what I did with this podcast studio made absolutely no sense.
(10:14):
And every time I tried to push back, I got
pushed more forward because this is where I believe God
wanted me to be. And I remember the first day
opened the studio was praying the phone would ring. I
had left a six figure job that I was happy,
comfortable with and had been with twenty two years to
open up a podcast studio in Livingston Parish, Louisiana. That
(10:36):
phone's never quit ringing. It is a blessing that I
thank God for every day. So I know what you mean.
He will not allow you to deny where He wants
you in life. All you got to do is listen.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Well, I agree, and I believe, and you know this
to be true, that there's no greater peace in all
the world than knowing that you're in the center of
God's will.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
You branch out a little bit and you start, you
start preaching the gospel. You're out there and you're talking
to people and you're witnessing to them. What is a story?
Give me a story maybe of just an experience that
you had with that. If you have one that really
sticks out, I'd love to hear it a success story.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
If you will, I'll give you a couple. We were
having one of our outreaches a few years back, and
there was a teenage boy that gave his life to
Christ in this outreach event, and immediately God gave him
a burden to go back and reach his family. His
(11:39):
mom was lost, his dad was lost, He had a
sister who had not given her life to Christ. And
he just immediately after he gave his heart to Christ,
God put a burden on his heart to go back
and be a missionary to his own family. And God
used that teenage boy to go back to lead his
mother to Christ and his sister Christ. And that fall season,
(12:02):
I had the honor to preaching this young man's local
church in Charlotte, North Carolina. And in that Sunday morning service,
his dad was in the service. His dad still lost,
kind of a hard case, but the young man had
really been praying and had a deep burden for his
dad to get right with God. And the whole family
was in that Sunday morning service in that local church.
(12:24):
And when I preached the gospel that Sunday morning and
I gave the altar call, that dad left his seat
came down to the altar and got on his knees
to give his life to Christ. And the wife, the son,
and the daughter, all three were huddled over their dad
at the altar. And that whole family today is complete
(12:45):
in Christ because of a seventeen year old teenage boy
who got right with God at one of our outreach events.
And the local church of this young man's father and
family even to this day, that that young man's father
is one of the most dedicated, one of the most
active men in that local church, all because of that
(13:11):
teenage boy that got right with God in one of
our outreaches. The second story, we were in Guntersville, Alabama,
in a football stadium and one of the co chairs
of the campaign, like brother Richard is here was burden
for his sister in law. He wanted his sister in
law to get right with God and man he had
(13:33):
been praying and asking God to save his sister in law, etc.
And on the last night of the campaign, it was
our big youth emphasis night. We probably had five thousand
and six thousand in attendance, most of them were young
people that night, and he's sitting on the fifty yard line.
I'm up on the stage preaching, and he's on the
(13:53):
fifty yard line. And he pulled out his iPhone and
called his sister in law. She's at home in bed,
just TV. She answers the phone and he said, I
want you to hear this guy. So he holds the
phone out. Well, I'm up there on the stage preaching
for about maybe sixty seconds. And he came back and
he said, what do you think? And she said, I
(14:13):
want to hear some more. So he holds the phone
out for about another sixty seconds, brought the phone back
to his ear and said what do you think? Hello,
are you there? She got up out of bed, Jim,
put her clothes on, got in her car, drove to
the stadium. Wow, got out of her car and came
(14:35):
to the altar right in front of the stage high
school track, high school football stadium. She came before even
extended the invitation. She came and got on her knees
on that track to give her life to Christ the
power of prayer. Yes, and so those are just two
that you know that come to my mind. We were
(14:56):
in San Saba, Texas, and they have a youth prison
in San Sabbath, Texas, and our team had gone into
that youth prison early that week of the campaign and
witnessed a lot of those juvenile prisoners and led many
of those young men and you know, to Christ. And
a dad was coming into town and he saw the
(15:18):
football stadium lights on, so he pulled into the stadium
park a lot to find out. Wonder what's going on?
This is a March campaign, San Saba, Texas. He's thinking,
what's going on here at the stadium in March. So
he pulls in, Well, we're having a crusade service in
that football stadium. He comes inside the stadium, sits down,
heard me preach that night when I gave the invitation,
(15:38):
he came forward and gave his life to Christ. Well,
the next day he goes to visit his son at
the prison and he said, last night I came into
town and went to this crusade at the stadium and
I gave my life to Christ. And the son said, well,
that same group came over here earlier this week and
I gave my life to Christ. And that man left
that town, went back to his hometown in South Texas,
(16:00):
and two weeks later, on a Sunday morning, on his
way to church, he was killed in a car wreck. Oh,
and the chairman of the crusade did some research, and
he said that man was two weeks away from hell
because of a football stadium that had the lights on.
(16:21):
They God used that to draw that man to the
stadium and he came inside to see what was going on,
and he heard the Gospel that night, and he gave
his life to Christ. That man's in heaven today. We
got dozens, maybe hundreds of stories like that, But anyway,
those are just, you know, a couple that really come
to my mind when you asked me that question.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Phenomenal. I love it. And I want to turn to
you real quick, brother Richard, and I want to ask you,
so you are local to hear Walker is a Walker
Baptist Church that you.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I pastored Walker Baptist Church for twenty and a half
years and I've been the director of missions for almost
seven years now in this area working with local Baptist churches.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Great guy, you a great guy. I just met him,
y'all and I've been his unique personality that makes me
laugh for sure. And so tell us about your path
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Okay, My path is I was so raised in the
same way I tell everybody. I had a drug problem.
I was drugg to church every Sunday morning, Sunday night
till Wednesday night.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Very good.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
And here it is. When I was nine years old,
on a slow night in the Revival on a double
dog dare, I was pushed into the aisle to go
talk to the preacher. They did everything they were supposed
to do with me, dunk me, baptize me. But I
walked out of there just as lost as I walked
into the building that night, and got under conviction to
(17:55):
my sin by a vacation Bible school worker when I
was twelve years old, when she unjusted with the gospel,
and I hid behind church membership and said I am saved,
I'm a member of the church, and all of that.
For the next two years, I was under heavy conviction,
thinking if I go to bed tonight, I'm gonna wake
up and I dine in my sleep, I'm gonna wake
(18:15):
up in hell. When I was fourteen years old, listening
to a gospel radio broadcast, I prayed to receive Jesus
Christ as my Lord and savior. And I've slept like
an angel every night since my life has been changed.
I have peace of mind, peace of direction. And two
years later God called me into the ministry and I've
(18:39):
been a pastor and I couldn't do what he's doing.
That's a gift. My gift is to get in there
after before he comes and after he leaves, to get
in there and help people to grow in Christ, to disciple,
to equip and help them to be able to turn
around and continue the task of going forward and reaching
people for the Lord.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, I love that very good. And I want to
ask both of you, you know, today's a challenging time
in some ways that you know, sometimes I wake up
and think there's a war on Christianity a little bit,
and and it's scary, but it is very important. Actually,
(19:21):
it's probably the key reason as to why it's so
important to have these crusades is the ability to reach
a enormous amount of people all at one time and
really preach the gospel to Him. I believe that when
when you know God is always around us, but when
(19:45):
you're a group and you're you're all focused on that,
you can feel Him in the room with you. We
have an event, a big event coming up that there's
going to be a lot of media surrounding this event.
Because Brother Rick Gage is going to be here, the
(20:07):
message is going to be delivered primarily by the local churches.
Am I writing saying.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
In this regard, we have about thirty five to forty
churches that are involved in this and they come from
the evangelical church community, and they cross denominational lines and
they're coming from non denominationals. Baptists are the primary ones
that are involved. Some Methodists are involved. It's the evangelical
(20:36):
community that believes that the Bible is the truth, It's
the Word of God, truth without any mixture of era.
And it's also also the ones that believe that Jesus
Christ is the only way to salvation. And so that's
what we're doing. All of the churches in this area.
We see we're living in a community to where according
(21:00):
to the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention,
that eighty percent of Livingston Parish needs to know Christ
as their Lord and Savior. That's a big number, right,
I'm a huge number. That means four out of five
people that you meet on the street do not believe
in God. And a large part of that group are
(21:22):
a people that have been surveyed. They're called the nuns
an s in other words, that we have no religious
idea affiliation of any kind, no thought of any kind
where in other words, you have your practical atheist in
the sense. And so so we have a feel that's
white under the harvest, and we have a biblical we
(21:45):
have a spiritual and we have a moral mandate to
do what we can to get in the way and
point people from the road of destruction and put them
on the road of life.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And we came in here about a year ago to
meet with Richard and many other spiritual leaders across this
Livingston Parish region and the vision that we presented about
twelve months ago, and the goal was to recruit and
cultivate as many Bible believing churches in this part of
the state to come together in unity for one purpose,
(22:22):
to reach every unsaved person with the Gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You just heard his stats. More than
eighty percent of this area is on church. But it's
not just in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, it's all over the nation.
We just did a campaign in Jackson, Mississippi, the metro
area of Jackson, Mississippi, two years ago, over eighty percent
(22:44):
of that area of the state of Mississippi was on church.
We had nearly thirty thousand in our total attendants. For
those four nights, we registered some two thousand spiritual decisions
for Christ. We spoke about ten to fifteen thousand students
and a lot of their public and private schools during
that campaign. But as he said a while ago, the
(23:06):
need and the urgency, the urgency to reach the unsaved
has never been greater across this nation today. And we
were talking earlier offline about Billy Graham, and I had
the honor to be with doctor Graham and his Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania Crusade back in nineteen ninety two in the old
Veterans Football Stadium and we met with this team that week.
(23:28):
And here's what his team members told us. They said,
if you're going to be involved in these large scale
evangelistic campaigns, there's two things you got to have, leadership
and preparation. Leadership and preparation that'll fit with football coaching,
won't it totally, It'll fit with any industry. So twelve
months ago, when we shared this vision of all the
(23:50):
churches coming together for the sole purpose of reaching the unsaved.
We've often said it's a lot easier to get an unsaved,
unchurched person to come to a football stadium than it
is to get them to come to our sanctuaries eleven
o'clock one Sunday morning, and that's who we're going after.
We told the saints of God that's been involved in
this campaign for almost a year, bring your lost friends
(24:15):
and family members to this event because the chances are
very high if we can just get them there, the
chances are very high that they will commit their life
to Christ. So that's the purpose of this campaign. We
basically have taken the Biligram model of how to put
together these large scale outreach events and we have just
(24:36):
adapted it, adapted it to really the smaller markets rule
America across the country. And one more stat before I
turn it over, the North American Mission Board has told
us out of the seventy two million gen zers as
that kid from about ten to twenty five years of age,
(24:57):
fifty seven million of that demogra they do not have
a personal relationship with Christ today. And we've also been
told by leaders nationwide spiritual leaders that ninety percent of our
public schools across America are lost. So what a mission field?
(25:19):
What a mission field? Our public schools are? What a
mission field? Our communities are? And so all we're trying
to do. Let's come together in unity. Let's roll up
our sleeves, let's pray, let's fast, Let's work in the
fields that are wide under harvest, and do all that
we can during these days of harvestingmen to reach a
multitude of souls for the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
You can't beat that. And I'll tell you know you
love the believers, but you want the non believers. That's
where you're after. You have a family.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
I do my wife, Lynn. I guess it's okay to
save this here in Tiger Country. But I married a
Georgia Bulldog. I will forgive you in nineteen in eighty nine.
I met her. In eighty eight. I was living in
the Atlanta area. I was with an evangelistic ministry that
had moved its headquarters to Atlanta in eighty eight. And
(26:13):
I met Lynn in eighty eight and we got married
in eighty nine. We have two daughters, Sarah who serves
on our staff. She's thirty two, and Anna is twenty seven,
and she works for the North American Mission Board. And
I'm getting ready to be a granddaddy for the first
time in April. But Lord has blessed me with a
beautiful family, a godly wife, two godly daughters, and we're
(26:37):
just all about trying to do all that we can
to help advance the Kingdom of God.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, it is a blessing, indeed. And how about you family.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
I have a family. I've been married for one hundred
and two years. My wife's been married fifty one fifty
one years, excuse me, been married fifty one years. Four children.
My oldest ones are renegade. He lives in North Carolina
and has served as a deacon in his church. I
(27:09):
have a son that works at one of the plants
here locally, but he's the only one with a doctor,
a Doctor of Theology degree that works in his plant.
And I have two daughters. One is a licensed professional
counselor here in the Walker Dentim Springs area, and my
other daughter is a school teacher. And all of their
(27:31):
families are involved in churches in this area.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Very very good. And I bring up family because this
is a strong belief of mine that there's also somewhat
of a destruction of the family unit these days that
has caused some, you know, some of the issues that
you're seeing in your communities. I've been married twenty six years,
(27:55):
totally blessed, and there's only one woman in the world
that would put up with me for twenty six years,
and it's the one I'm married to. I don't deserver,
but I'll take her. And obviously both of you long
long time marriages, and there's something to that. I think
that this is again a personal belief that I have,
but I think that sometimes people give up too quick,
(28:18):
and I think that through God you can overcome a lot.
Nobody is perfect in this world. We strive to be,
but nobody is perfect except for God.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
And I cannot tell you how much what you're doing
is needed here in Livingston, Paris, Louisiana and all over
the country. Let's talk about the event specifically. It is
March sixteenth through the nineteenth at Yellow Jacket Stadium, that's
right right there in Denham Springs. I know I have
(28:52):
a ton of lesseners here locally. Tell us about it.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
What we're doing is that, first of all, the gauge
ministry comes in bringing everything we need from a platform
and stage excuse me, to the audio equipment that's used. Uh.
They come in, they organize everything. Uh. We're working with
the local government. We appreciate the mayor and the police chief,
(29:16):
Chief Walker.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Shout out Mayor Landry.
Speaker 3 (29:19):
Yes, and also the sheriff. Are all of our community
leaders are coming in to help us and work with us,
and we're very grateful for that.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Uh. Jeff Taylor involved in that.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
I'm sure he's the chairman of our committee. He's the
chairman of our committee. And I appreciate brother Jeff and
what he does and what he brings and the leadership
he brings to the table. With that he does things
that none of us can do. I'm here so I
can carry I carry the water for him.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Okay, well, you do a great job of it.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
But but the stadium is going to be opened up.
We're going to have people from our local churches that
are going to help with parking. They're going to be ushers.
The first night, we're having a mass choir that's made
up of the people from our community that will be
providing a choir for the crusade. Beautiful and so we're
(30:14):
going to have a unified choir we're gonna have some
of the best voices in Livingston Parish there to sing.
And so every night, every night at seven o'clock, we're
going to take off and trust God to see what's
going to happen. Wednesday night is youth Night. That'll start
a little bit earlier. There'll be a pizza blast. There's
(30:37):
going to be more as teenage manna. But there's more
pizza going to be eating on that night than any
other place in the rest of the world. Right here
in Yellowjacket Stadium.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
And the Gospel is going to be proclaimed to our teenagers,
and we're praying for a harvest of souls because if
we don't reach the next generation, we're four generals away
from where our country left being a Christian nation. If
we have any hope for the future, it's going to
be because we've reached our young people, and so we're
(31:10):
working hard to reach young people for Christ during this.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
I agree with that on the percentages tell us that
it's in the high mid high seventies that those who
made a profession of faith in Christ, Yeah, did so
before eighteen years of age.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
So what that tells us is if we're going to
reach the youth of America. We better reach them before
they graduate from high school, or chances are very high
they may never get reached. Correct, So we place a
strong emphasis in all these campaigns to reach the younger
generation because of that stat And if you have ever
(31:50):
done any research or studies on great moves of God,
revivals like the Jesus Movement back in the sixties, maybe
into the early seventies, and other great moves of God,
you will learn that almost all these great moves of
God that we've studied began with young people. I think
(32:13):
it was about two years ago over in Wilmore, Kentucky. Yes,
at Asbury College. There was a move of God that
took place on that college campus that swept across the
nation and even overseas. And I have often said that
revival didn't break out because of a bunch of gray hairs.
It broke out because of a bunch of teenagers. So
(32:34):
we're praying that God would use this campaign to invade
the hearts of these young people. One of the extensions
that we've been doing for since the eighties in all
of our campaigns is we developed a non religious school
assembly program where we go into public schools in private
(32:54):
schools and share a message of hope. Really it's a
message about making wise choices in the game of life.
And we want to remind the students across America that
the greatest days of your life, they're not behind you.
The greatest days of your life are in front of you.
So we challenge these students, don't do anything that could
(33:15):
run or destroy your mind, your body, or your future.
You remember Bobby Bowden, Bobby once said that the youth
of America, they may not be one hundred percent of
our population, but they are one hunderdercent of our future.
So we do everything that we can through these campaigns,
(33:35):
whether it be in the school assemblies. We'll have a
pre Crusade youth rally next Wednesday night, febru the nineteenth.
We had a pre crusade youth rally in that Jackson,
Mississippi crusade two years ago. We had over a thousand
young people that showed up a month before the crusade
kicked off. And so next Wednesday night, February nineteen, we'll
have a pre crusade student rally for all the young
(33:57):
people in this area to to attend and then they'll
have about three to four weeks in front of them
to be missionaries on their campuses to use this upcoming
campaign March sixteen through nineteen to bring their classmates and
their teammates to this event to hear the gospel every night.
(34:18):
I told you while ago that we've got Agent de
Pray will be with us on Monday night. He played
college football at Firman University and he was the team
football chaplain for coach Lou Holts. You remember Lou Holts
coach Steve Spurrier when they were both at University of
South Carolina Gagcocks. And he'll be with us on Monday night.
(34:40):
And then Ken Freeman, we were talking about him while ago,
one of the most gifted communicators of the Gospel I've
ever been exposed to, one of the greatest school assembly
speakers I've ever been exposed to, and has incredible, incredible story.
Was a victim of nine broken homes. But God used
(35:03):
a football player by the name of Jeff many many
years ago to invite Ken to a Youth Knight evangelistic event,
and for the first time, Ken walked into a local church,
heard the gospel for the first time, and gave his
life to Christ that night in a Freddie Gage revival
in Corpus Christi, Texas. That's been some fifty plus years ago.
(35:24):
Ken Freeman has been preaching the gospel for more than
fifty years and has seen hundreds of thousands come to
Christ through his ministry, all because a football player by
the name of Jeff invited him to the event.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Wow, I'll give you goose bumps. And look, he's relatable.
He's relatable. You don't have to have God in your
heart and accept Christ as your savior. You don't have
to come from necessarily a family full of preachers.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
You can come from nine burking homes and still end
up in that spot.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
And one more special guest that will be with us
that week of the campaign is Al Robertson. You've heard
of Duck dynasty up there in northern Louisiana. Yeh, Al
will be with us on that Monday night to share
his story and his wife Lisa, So we're excited about
them coming. Of course, he mentioned. Charles Billingsley will be
(36:25):
with us on Sunday night with that Mass choir on
Sunday night, and then the worship team for the whole
four nights will be a group called Russia Fools and
they're extremely, extremely gifted. So it's gonna be a pyorpack week.
We just need to fill up that stadium every night.
People who need to hear the gospel.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
That's right, that's right. So ask you, let me ask
you this. Local churches, how can they get involved? How
is there a way Godsite to go to.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Go tail l dashp dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Okay, and I'll put that in a description dot com. Yes,
I'll put in the description.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
They can sign on there right now. We need we
need about three hundred and forty decision counselors. So this
is for Christians that know the Lord, that can share
their faith. And you don't even have to be able
to share your faith, just be a Christian. We believe
the Holy Spirit of God will give you the words
you need to say. So we need about three hundred
and forty people. There's a couple of trainings coming up.
(37:28):
They'll see that on the website also, and so we
need some help. We're not hey, I'm not embarrassed. Help,
that's okay. We need some help to make this thing work.
After there's going to be outreach events being done by
local churches. Look for a door hanger on your doorknob
and the Dentim Springs Walker Living Stun French settlement areas,
(37:52):
so look for that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
We partner with a organization now to Charlotte, North Carolina
called Saturate USA dot org, and they will ship into
any community where we're doing one of our campaigns free
of charge, even pay for the shipping all the door
bags that you put on a door when you out
(38:15):
canvassing neighborhoods. They'll also ship in the Jesus film on
DVD and some gospel tracks. They'll ship all that material
into our campaigns free of charge for us to invite
people to come to the nightly crusade services and then
(38:37):
we can put our marketing pieces inside those bags. In fact,
they shipped in forty thousand bags just a couple of
weeks ago. In this coming Saturday, think it First Baptist Church,
Denim Springs. Leo Miller, the pastor First Baptist Denham Springs
is the outreach chairman and they're having a bag party
(38:57):
to assemble all that material on those bags because over
the next three to four weeks we're going to be
canvassing neighborhoods all over this region.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
Churches from across our area. If we'll be doing it,
and like I say, forty forty thousand, so look for
something on your.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Door, amen, And if you're interested in learning more about it,
which hopefully you are. I'm going to link the website
in the description of this video. So if you're driving
or listening to this or whatever, you don't need to
write it down, you can just go home, click on
that link. It'll bring you, give you all the information
you need. And if you're able to come and help
(39:37):
and help, you know, spread the water God, Amen, please
do so. I appreciate both of you coming on the show.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Let me share one more thing. I feel impressed to
do this. We started a youth camp ministry in nineteen
eighty nine. It was birth out of an all night
prayer meeting in eighty eight. Yes, first Baptist Denim Springs
has been sending their high school or their junior high
students to our Gotel camp in Alabama from about the
last three or four summers. That was the initial connection
(40:06):
to this community. And we called Leo ol Miller because
their kids, their students had been coming to our camp
for the last three summers, three or four summers, and
I called Lee about a year ago and asked if
he would begin to pray about us coming in to
meet with some leaders to cast this vision. That's how
(40:27):
that ball began to roll.
Speaker 1 (40:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
And since nineteen eighty nine, we have seen over one
hundred and ten thousand students and their leaders from local
churches across the nation that have been to our summer
youth camps that we started in eighty nine. Over forty
thousand kids have committed their lives to Christ, to this
ministry that we started in eighty nine, and over three
(40:52):
thousand kids have answered the call to full time Christian service.
My take on that number. If just half that number
pans out, think of the impact that would be made
for Christ. But we've made a commitment to this community.
The churches that are involved in this campaign. He said,
well to go. There's thirty five forty participating churches. Yes,
(41:12):
participating churches. Those churches if their students want to come
to our go Tel camp this summer, and we're happening.
We're doing one up here in Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi.
It's only three hours away from here. But if any
of the students from these churches involved in this campaign,
they can come for just a ninety nine dollars camp fee.
(41:34):
The normal fees four hundred dollars, but we're letting all
these churches and their students come. If they haven't made
plans yet, they can come to go Tel Camp at
Mississippi College for just ninety nine dollars. I wanted your
listening audience to be able to be aware of that.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
That's a beautiful thing. Yeah, and we'll put that also
in the description with information on that. Thank you so
much again, Brother Reck for coming on. Brother Richard, thank
you keep rocket. I appreciate y'all very much. And uh,
before we get out of here, just one more final fault.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
I want.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
I want to know brother Rick your you know what
Bible verse.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
Do you do?
Speaker 1 (42:13):
You lean on a lot?
Speaker 2 (42:14):
I quote Proverbs eleven thirty, and when I sign people's Bibles,
I put Proverbs eleven thirty. And the scripture says he
who wins souls is wise.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
Oh, I love that. What about you?
Speaker 3 (42:26):
Brother Galatians two twenty, I have been crucified together with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live not I, but Christ lives in me. And
the life that I now live. I live by the
faith of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Speaker 1 (42:43):
I love that one too. Mine's an easy one for
most people. It is I can do all things through
God he me.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
Amen, Amen, And I believe that on honey men.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Because I sure can't do it by myself.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Thank you so much again for coming on and it
has been a pleasure. One more time, go to that link.
Get involved. So important for this community, and we're going
to change some lives in March. Thank you so much.
And until next time, I'm Jim Chapman with local leaders
(43:18):
of podcasts, reminding you love your community, support local business,
and keep leading. Thank you very much.
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