September 12, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode of The Covenant Eyes Podcast, host Rob Stoddard sits down with Jerry McCorkle, founder of Spread Truth, to explore what it means to equip Christians to share the gospel with confidence.
From the streets of New York City to ministry efforts in Kenya, Jerry shares how Spread Truth provides practical resources, training, and real-life experiences that prepare believers for everyday evangelism. You’ll learn about the powerful impact of The Story booklet and film, how storytelling builds meaningful connections, and why sharing your faith is a vital part of discipleship.
Whether you’re a pastor, a church leader, or a believer wanting to grow in outreach, this episode will inspire you to take the next step in spreading the hope of Jesus.
👉 Learn more about Spread Truth: https://spreadtruth.com
_______________________________________
Learn More About Covenant Eyes:
https://cvnteyes.co/4gb6xme
_______________________________________
⏱ Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction with Karen & Rob
1:07 – Jerry McCorkle’s journey and the birth of Spread Truth
3:09 – Training believers for evangelism in New York City
4:20 – The Story: A simple way to share the gospel
7:30 – How Spread Truth partners with local churches
11:20 – Encouragement for those who feel unqualified
13:20 – Overcoming sin struggles while sharing the gospel
15:40 – Kenya ministry and outreach initiatives
18:50 – How to get involved with trips and resources
21:01 – Closing thoughts and encouragement
Try Covenant Eyes for FREE today!
Use Promo Code: FreePodcast
© 2024 Covenant Eyes, All Rights Reserved
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Welcome back to TheCovenant Eyes Podcast.
It's Karen and I've got Robwith me. Hi, Rob.
Hi, Karen.
How are you doing today?
I'm doing pretty good.
I think today's topicis going to be a fun one.
It's something you actually aresuper pro at kind of outreach
and evangelism.
As a former missionary, I,I know you're going
to probably fit right intothis conversation,
(00:27):
but it's something that I thinkfor me, it's
something that makes mea little uncomfortable,
but I know I have to do itmore and more.
It's we're called to do itas Christians, right?
Oh, we really are.
And it is.
It is tough for most Christians.
But I think once we do it,the more we do it.
Holy spirit helps us there.
But, but it's suchan important thing.
And, in our topic today,our guest today is really going
(00:50):
to help us dive into that issuea little bit.
So our guest todayis Jerry McCorkle.
If I said that correctly.
And Jerry is, has a ministrycalled Spread Truth, which,
we need to do more about.
So, Jerry, welcome firstto The Covenant Eyes Podcast.
Well, listen, it'sgreat to be here.
Thank you so much forallowing me to come on today.
(01:12):
Okay.
Well, tell us,tell us a little bit more about,
Spread Truth and,in your background,
how you got to this point?
Actually, it began,when I was a college
and career pastorin normal, Illinois,
next to IllinoisState University, I decided
that one summer I would takesome students to New York City.
I would train them to shareand defend their faith
(01:33):
and give them a weekjust on the streets in New York.
Well, the Illinoisstate students loved it,
and we began doingthat each year
as a ministry of our,it's a mission
trip of our collegeand career department.
Well, soon people in the, olderpart of the congregation
wanted to go also.
So this tripbegan with 25 people,
got up to 150 people,200 people.
(01:56):
And we decided, listen,why don't we develop a 501 C3
and and have itas a separate entity
from the local churchso other churches
could feel the freedomto come on the trip.
And we did that in 2001.
And then in 2006,I stepped aside
as a college and careerpastor after 13 years
(02:18):
to actually direct it full time.
And by then we're having 2or 300 people each summer,
go to New York City.
We renamed the organizationfrom New York City Ministries
to Spread Truth and now SpreadTruth exists to provide,
Christians with what we canhopefully are really innovative
(02:39):
gospel sharingresources, first of all
and all different typesof whether it be print or film.
And then we want to make surewe have gospel ready training
in a number of different ways.
And then we also want to provideopportunities.
And so we stillgo to New York City
at 30 years now,still going to New York,
(02:59):
equipping peopleto share their faith.
And we also havea ministry in Kenya that,
people have the opportunityto go there and do the very
same thing.
Wow, that is amazing.
Oh my gosh.
And just to knowthat it's been 30 years
of doing this ministry,I'm so excited.
So talk to usa little bit about the,
you know, actuallygetting people ready to go out
(03:22):
on the streets, right.
Because it feels alittle intimidating.
I know you guys provide a tonof training and resources.
So walk us throughwhat it looks like
to get people equippedfor this, this task
that we are calledto do as Christians.
Yes.
Now, I would saythe primary people we're trying
to reach on our New York tripis not New Yorkers.
Now we will reach New Yorkers,but the people we're
(03:43):
really trying to reachare the people
who go on the trip.
And so we wouldadequately train them,
ahead of time, to be ableto have normal conversations,
not to do anything weird.
They're in New Yorkthat you would be obnoxious,
but to be able to connectin a different types
of scenarios and normalconversations,
but being equipped to sharewith our the way
(04:06):
we share the gospelkind of our ecosystem is what
we would call it.
We call the story.
And that's the meta narrative.
Outline of creation for rescueand restoration.
And the reasonit was back in 2006,
when my world was kind of rock,when I heard a sermon
by Tim Keller and he said, hey,listen, the way you share
(04:29):
the gospel is going tohave to change, he said,
because people have changed.
He said there usedto be in America,
a Christ haunted placewhere people knew
some of the basicsof Christianity,
and you could comealong with your normal,
evangelism outlinesand just kind of give some brief
propositional truthsand they could connect the dots,
(04:50):
he said.
They can't do that anymore.
And so you're going to haveto broaden it out.
And so when I heard thatmessage now, he said, it's
going to take our best scholarsand our best theologians
to do that.
Well, that's not me.
But we went back and decided,can we develop a little booklet
that covers that?
And by God's grace,now that little booklet
has been printedalmost 3 million
(05:11):
times, the storyfilm, six minute beautiful
animation is now in28 different languages,
which cover 4 billionpeople on the planet.
We have trainingand in the story,
and we also havethat same set up for children
in the story maker.
So when you go to New York City,you're equipped to be able
(05:31):
to share that, sharethe full story of Scripture,
and then we just provide youwith four different
kind of scenariosthat you'll be able
to do, like one that's kindof a fun one.
We have a story wall,two beautiful pallet
walls, a Union Square parkset up with high,
high rise tables.
When people come by,we just say, hey, listen,
(05:51):
would you mind just writingone story of your life?
And of course, the New Yorkers,especially some of
the artsy people,they love that.
And so they writetheir story out
and then we give thema little nail and they go over
and nail their ownstory to the wall.
Now, you'll find New Yorkersthen coming by,
reading those stories,taking pictures of those stories
(06:14):
because they'relooking for a story
that they can relate to.
And if someone says, well,what's the purpose of writing
these stories?
Well, one,hey, if we're ever going
to have community and connectionin this world, we only way
we're going to get to knoweach other is we know each other
stories.
But really, all these storieson these walls here, we believe
can only make sense,as if they're part of
(06:36):
a larger story.
And we're all in that.
We're characters in that.
Would you have injust a few minutes that I could
share a story that,has radically changed my life?
So that's just oneof the events that we do
to equip people to be ableto be able to share their faith.
I mean, that's wonderful.
(06:56):
You are equipping peoplefor a lifetime of of evangelism.
But at the same time,there's no doubt the Lord
will use that in these initialtrips and, probably have
some reallygreat stories from that.
Jerry, tell us a little bit of,we have a lot of pastors that,
that listen to our podcast.
(07:17):
I'd love to have you talka little bit more about,
how you connect with the church,with this ministry and what does
that look likefrom a church side
or pastor side?
Yeah.
Well, this past weekend,I, spoke and did training
at the FirstBaptist Church of Fort
Mill, South Carolina.
(07:38):
Pastor Jeff Bedwell,wonderful congregation.
What SpreadTruth wants to be able to do
is to come alongsidethe local church.
And we just have kindof just one lane
that we stay in.
If we get outside that lane,we don't do very well.
And so we pourall of our energy,
all of our timein this particular lane
(08:00):
of equipping through,resources, training
and experiences, people to sharethe gospel, the local church,
they have a lot of thingsthat they're doing, okay.
And they may already havetheir own programs
and that's fine.
But if we can come alongand say, hey, listen, we believe
that we can beof a great encouragement
and equipping your people. So,this past Sunday night,
(08:23):
we had 80 peoplethat were in training,
and we trained themin the basics of, how to be able
to share the storyand being had it, learning how
to connect with peopleand teaching them
some principles other than justkind of this, this conversation,
but teaching them some importantprinciples like,
hey, really listen,it really comes down
(08:45):
to intentionality.
You're never goingto share the gospel until you're
intentional about it.
Now, that doesn't meanthat you're rude or obnoxious,
but if you're goingto leave something
with a waitress, like a storyfilm card, you're probably not
going to do that unless you planbefore you go out to eat
to have them with you.
And one of the key principleswe really want to tell
(09:07):
people is be encouraged.
Jesus has alreadybeen there in their life
before you ever showed up.
That wayyou don't feel obligated
to do the gospel.
Dump on them like, oh,this is the only time
they're going tohear the gospel.
And I got to share everything.
No, no, no, don't do that.
Jesus has already been there.
He's already working in thatperson's life.
(09:28):
Maybe it's just aregular conversation and just,
you leave it at thatand you never get to the gospel
because it'sthe right thing to do is the
appropriate thing to do.
And so we really tryto teach people, hey, listen,
Jesus has already been there.
Hey, listen.
Be intentional.
Don't be obnoxious.
(09:48):
But listen, we want to equip youand to share this story.
The nice thingabout a story is the
the plot line.
It's wherever the personis in their life.
You can enter the gospel story.
So that's just a little bitof what we did.
Yeah.
If I could followup on that too. I so many in my
(10:09):
experience, I think we've foundso many people, shy away from
spreading truthbecause they feel
they have to do it perfectly.
They have to be fully prepared.
But as you know, we go outin the power of the Holy Spirit.
We don't have to be perfect.
It's not us that's drawingpeople to Christ, it's
(10:32):
Christ, it's the Holy Spirit.
And so we have to be willing,like you said, we have to be
intentionaland willing to do it.
Sure.
We have to know what we're goingto say and all of those
things, but can you talka little bit about that
or maybe some some experiencesyou've seen where people go
in their own strength, in their,you know, at their own level
(10:53):
and share in the Lorddoes the work.
Yeah.
And we want toshare with people that,
hey, listen, just comelike, let's just say,
for example,on this past summers
trip to New York City,we had this young girl,
this group from Alabama,and they I don't know
if they've everthey were ever at
Alabama in their life.
(11:14):
They never been on an airplane.
And so the girlcame up there and,
one of the girls and she hada panic attack the night before.
She's going out.
She just can't couldn't do this.
And so we reallywanted to encourage her.
Hey, listen, just take tinybaby steps.
So the next day, she goes outand she comes back,
and she said, I was able toask one question.
(11:35):
What was that?
Where's the best coffee shop?
And guess what we did?
We applauded her.
That is a huge step in.
If that's all that she was ableto accomplish that day.
Praise God we're teaching peopleto have normal,
regular conversationsbecause you'll never get into
(11:58):
deeper spiritual truthsif you don't have the ability
to communicate face to face.
And so a big part ofour training is teaching people,
how do you haveregular conversations
with people?
And we've lost that abilitywith social media and phones.
But the most intimate thingyou can do with a person
is have a face to face, eyeballto eyeball conversation
(12:20):
with them.
And so we teach peoplehow to do that.
And so we really wantto encourage people, if you feel
like you're inadequate,guess what?
You're in perfect companywith all of us
because we all are.
Because listen, I can go outthere and let's say
I have a little bit of learningin, say, apologetics.
And I feel like I can answersome of the deep questions.
(12:42):
And I have this 60 yearold saint beside me who couldn't
that answer oneapologetic question?
But guess what?
She is connecting, right?
And left with people and in herown personality
and her own style.
So God just uses everybodywherever they're at.
If we want to encourage peoplein that way.
(13:02):
I love that.
And, you know,a lot of our listeners
may feel disqualifiedto engage in outreach
and connection in this waybecause maybe they're struggling
with sin in their lifeor pornography specifically.
How do you talk to people?
Because we're allwe're all sinners.
We we all fallshort of the glory.
How do you talk topeople like that?
(13:23):
That may feel like,well, you know,
that sounds great.
Maybe when I'm, you know,you know,
stronger in my faith or,you know, I'm deeper into my
recovery journey.
What do you sayto people like that that may be
struggling with sin?
But do you want to do whatwe're called to do
as Christians?
Okay, well, let me gofrom two angles.
One, if I were talkingto a person in New York City
that was strugglingwith pornography,
(13:45):
I would exactly go to the fallthere and say hello
and be able to sharethat lesson.
We've all got sin problemsand whatever sin
problem that I have, maybe it'snot that I would enter
into my fall story and say,this is where I've been, or
this is where I'm at now.
For the person who says,hey, listen, I don't feel like
I'm qualified to go outand share the gospel,
(14:07):
that I would say who is.
And I would say that one of thegreatest things that could
strengthen them,even with the ability
to overcome even pornography,is the ability to be faithful
in sharing the good newsof Jesus Christ.
Because, you see, evangelism isnot something this apart
(14:27):
from discipleship.
Evangelism is discipleshipand when a person feels like
you know what, God,I was able to say
those words and I was ableto connect a little bit.
I believe the Spirit of Godtakes that encounter, encourages
that person's heart,even when the next time,
maybe they come upand they're facing
(14:48):
that temptation.
The Spirit of God has workedin their heart because they've
been obedient.
They've just been obedient.
And so until we justencourage people, no matter
where they are,no matter what struggle
that they have, and listen,people coming
on this New York tripand this is not
the only thing we do,but I'll just say this.
(15:08):
There's something powerfulthat happens when you share
the gospel.
So much so that we've had peoplewho thought they were Christians
would come on this trip.
They hear someonethey're partnering
with share the gospel,and they realize,
I don't have that.
I don't have it.
So there's something powerfulabout sharing the gospel
(15:29):
to help themovercome addictions.
And something that's powerfulthat might be even be able
to save their soulif they don't know Jesus.
Yeah, that's that's wonderful.
Jerry, can you tell usa little bit
about the Kenya trip?
Are they doing the similarkinds of things or is that a
little different to focus there?
I'm excited about itbecause we've been there.
(15:50):
Six years and we havefive full time Kenyan staff
there in Nairobi.
And the crazy part,we're leaving here in
just about a week, two weeks.
We partner with thegovernment of Kenya to reach out
to the youth.
75% of Kenyansare 35 years and under, and the
Kenyan government,which is kind of
nominal, Christian,is very concerned about
(16:14):
especially Somalia next doorwith al-Shabab coming in
and radicalizing the youth.
And so their arms are openedup to us,
help us reach the youth.
And so we have done scoresof outreaches with soccer camps,
basketball camps,volleyball camps, food outreach.
(16:34):
We partner with the Midwest FoodBank, bank to deliver
thousands of dollarsworth of food there.
And so God has blessed us.
So then when we need to go intoanother country
like Uganda or Zimbabwe,I mean Zambia,
the government of Kenyawill go with us, connect
with the governmentof that country so we can do
(16:54):
the same thing there.
So any listener that wants to goon the Kenya trip sometime,
we have an application online,but I would encourage,
someone to do that.
And there's one other areathat's kind of sensitive,
but something thatwe've really embarked upon.
There's a problem in Africa.
(17:15):
Well, really all over the world,affecting 150 to 200
million women, called FGM,female genital mutilation.
This thing that has started,especially in the culture
whereby they cut these girlsat an early age
as a sign of gettinginto real womanhood.
You're not reallymarrying material.
(17:36):
Horrific thing and Spread Truthhas come up with a ten week,
fully biblically basedFGM curriculum that has now
been certified by the Governmentof Kenya, can go into
any Kenyan school to do that.
And so, if any of your listenersare interested in.
And so when we go on that trip,in just two weeks,
(17:58):
we will be training 100 girlsin the FGM curriculum
and in a specialone day curriculum.
So there's a lot of thingsgoing on in Kenya.
And by the way,by the year 2050,
listen to this.
That by the year2050, 40% of all world
Christians will live insub-Saharan Africa.
(18:19):
Yeah.
And so that meansGod's doing something.
And we just want to bea small part of it.
That is incredible.
And bless you and your workand your organization's work
in that regards.
Like that is some great,great work
that you guys are doing.
So talk to our listenersa little bit about, you know,
you've mentioned thethe new York trip,
the Kenyan trip, all thesedifferent resources
(18:39):
and trainings that you provide.
How do they tapinto your ministry
and what are likesome of the first steps
that they would takeif they were interested
in, say, maybe going on the NewYork trip to get started?
Yeah.
In fact, we just in Decemberwas when we opened up
registration will probably have150 to 170 people
(18:59):
on the New York tripthis summer.
They can go on Spread Truth.comand click on trips
and if they're interested,hey, sign up
and then we can answerany question that they
have the same thingas far as the, Kenya trip
getting a little bit latenow since it's coming up.
But I thinkthat one of the things
if you go to Spread Truth.com,I think you'll be able to see
(19:21):
some of the resources.
Now, we're reallydiligent, hopefully,
that when we deliver a resource,we don't mind if it takes us
a little bit longerto get it done because I don't
mind people being offendedby the gospel.
I just don't want them offendedby the crazy way we did it.
(19:42):
And so you'll see then, thatthe print things, the films
with professional actors,everything that we try to do,
we try to do it in a waythat we hopefully,
can really connectwith the unbeliever,
because there'sa lot of competition out there
to gain their attention.
And so the filmsthat we do, the story
film, the story maker, the manon the middle cross,
(20:02):
all of these are sixminute short films
that we have speciallittle cards for with a QR code.
And when they turn it over,some of the best animation
you'll see and some of thebest filming.
And so, just that's just one ofthe resources that we had,
the story booklet, bracelets,all these type of things
that are made.
(20:22):
And we want to prepare younot only for if you go to
New York City,but what I'm doing
in my neighborhood right now,what do I do at Easter time?
What do I do at Christmas time?
What do I do at Halloween?
We providethose resources for you
and encourage people.
What are you going to do nowwhen Christmas time comes?
Let me just share with youand I will tell them
(20:43):
what my wife and I have doneto reach out
into our neighborhood,which is 40% Hindu,
and just give thempractical things because we
don't want the the New York Cityto be a project.
We want it to be a passion.
And if they come back home andand they don't
put it into practice, then we'venot accomplished
what we wanted to.
But if they do come backand they never come
(21:04):
back to New York,but they do it at home,
guess what?
We've accomplished it.
Absolutely.
Well, Jerry,thank you for coming on
and sharing Spread Truthwith with our listeners.
We'll put the in our show notes.
We'll put all the links to, to,your organization there.
But, that's all the timewe have for today.
Thank you so much for tuning inand listening to this.
(21:26):
Please do share.
Or. Like this.
Pass it on. It's, as we.
So we know we need tospread, Spread Truth.
So, Jerry, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Rob, thank you so muchfor the opportunity
I appreciate it.
Absolutely.
We hope you join us againand keep us posted
on all the progressthat you guys are doing.
Welcome back to TheCovenant Eyes Podcast.
It's Karen and I've got Robwith me. Hi, Rob.
Hi, Karen.
How are you doing today?
I'm doing pretty good.
I think today's topicis going to be a fun one.
It's something you actually aresuper pro at kind of outreach
and evangelism.
As a former missionary, I,I know you're going
to probably fit right intothis conversation,
(00:27):
but it's something that I thinkfor me, it's
something that makes mea little uncomfortable,
but I know I have to do itmore and more.
It's we're called to do itas Christians, right?
Oh, we really are.
And it is.
It is tough for most Christians.
But I think once we do it,the more we do it.
Holy spirit helps us there.
But, but it's suchan important thing.
And, in our topic today,our guest today is really going
(00:50):
to help us dive into that issuea little bit.
So our guest todayis Jerry McCorkle.
If I said that correctly.
And Jerry is, has a ministrycalled Spread Truth, which,
we need to do more about.
So, Jerry, welcome firstto The Covenant Eyes Podcast.
Well, listen, it'sgreat to be here.
Thank you so much forallowing me to come on today.
(01:12):
Okay.
Well, tell us,tell us a little bit more about,
Spread Truth and,in your background,
how you got to this point?
Actually, it began,when I was a college
and career pastorin normal, Illinois,
next to IllinoisState University, I decided
that one summer I would takesome students to New York City.
I would train them to shareand defend their faith
(01:33):
and give them a weekjust on the streets in New York.
Well, the Illinoisstate students loved it,
and we began doingthat each year
as a ministry of our,it's a mission
trip of our collegeand career department.
Well, soon people in the, olderpart of the congregation
wanted to go also.
So this tripbegan with 25 people,
got up to 150 people,200 people.
(01:56):
And we decided, listen,why don't we develop a 501 C3
and and have itas a separate entity
from the local churchso other churches
could feel the freedomto come on the trip.
And we did that in 2001.
And then in 2006,I stepped aside
as a college and careerpastor after 13 years
(02:18):
to actually direct it full time.
And by then we're having 2or 300 people each summer,
go to New York City.
We renamed the organizationfrom New York City Ministries
to Spread Truth and now SpreadTruth exists to provide,
Christians with what we canhopefully are really innovative
(02:39):
gospel sharingresources, first of all
and all different typesof whether it be print or film.
And then we want to make surewe have gospel ready training
in a number of different ways.
And then we also want to provideopportunities.
And so we stillgo to New York City
at 30 years now,still going to New York,
(02:59):
equipping peopleto share their faith.
And we also havea ministry in Kenya that,
people have the opportunityto go there and do the very
same thing.
Wow, that is amazing.
Oh my gosh.
And just to knowthat it's been 30 years
of doing this ministry,I'm so excited.
So talk to usa little bit about the,
you know, actuallygetting people ready to go out
(03:22):
on the streets, right.
Because it feels alittle intimidating.
I know you guys provide a tonof training and resources.
So walk us throughwhat it looks like
to get people equippedfor this, this task
that we are calledto do as Christians.
Yes.
Now, I would saythe primary people we're trying
to reach on our New York tripis not New Yorkers.
Now we will reach New Yorkers,but the people we're
(03:43):
really trying to reachare the people
who go on the trip.
And so we wouldadequately train them,
ahead of time, to be ableto have normal conversations,
not to do anything weird.
They're in New Yorkthat you would be obnoxious,
but to be able to connectin a different types
of scenarios and normalconversations,
but being equipped to sharewith our the way
(04:06):
we share the gospelkind of our ecosystem is what
we would call it.
We call the story.
And that's the meta narrative.
Outline of creation for rescueand restoration.
And the reasonit was back in 2006,
when my world was kind of rock,when I heard a sermon
by Tim Keller and he said, hey,listen, the way you share
(04:29):
the gospel is going tohave to change, he said,
because people have changed.
He said there usedto be in America,
a Christ haunted placewhere people knew
some of the basicsof Christianity,
and you could comealong with your normal,
evangelism outlinesand just kind of give some brief
propositional truthsand they could connect the dots,
(04:50):
he said.
They can't do that anymore.
And so you're going to haveto broaden it out.
And so when I heard thatmessage now, he said, it's
going to take our best scholarsand our best theologians
to do that.
Well, that's not me.
But we went back and decided,can we develop a little booklet
that covers that?
And by God's grace,now that little booklet
has been printedalmost 3 million
(05:11):
times, the storyfilm, six minute beautiful
animation is now in28 different languages,
which cover 4 billionpeople on the planet.
We have trainingand in the story,
and we also havethat same set up for children
in the story maker.
So when you go to New York City,you're equipped to be able
(05:31):
to share that, sharethe full story of Scripture,
and then we just provide youwith four different
kind of scenariosthat you'll be able
to do, like one that's kindof a fun one.
We have a story wall,two beautiful pallet
walls, a Union Square parkset up with high,
high rise tables.
When people come by,we just say, hey, listen,
(05:51):
would you mind just writingone story of your life?
And of course, the New Yorkers,especially some of
the artsy people,they love that.
And so they writetheir story out
and then we give thema little nail and they go over
and nail their ownstory to the wall.
Now, you'll find New Yorkersthen coming by,
reading those stories,taking pictures of those stories
(06:14):
because they'relooking for a story
that they can relate to.
And if someone says, well,what's the purpose of writing
these stories?
Well, one,hey, if we're ever going
to have community and connectionin this world, we only way
we're going to get to knoweach other is we know each other
stories.
But really, all these storieson these walls here, we believe
can only make sense,as if they're part of
(06:36):
a larger story.
And we're all in that.
We're characters in that.
Would you have injust a few minutes that I could
share a story that,has radically changed my life?
So that's just oneof the events that we do
to equip people to be ableto be able to share their faith.
I mean, that's wonderful.
(06:56):
You are equipping peoplefor a lifetime of of evangelism.
But at the same time,there's no doubt the Lord
will use that in these initialtrips and, probably have
some reallygreat stories from that.
Jerry, tell us a little bit of,we have a lot of pastors that,
that listen to our podcast.
(07:17):
I'd love to have you talka little bit more about,
how you connect with the church,with this ministry and what does
that look likefrom a church side
or pastor side?
Yeah.
Well, this past weekend,I, spoke and did training
at the FirstBaptist Church of Fort
Mill, South Carolina.
(07:38):
Pastor Jeff Bedwell,wonderful congregation.
What SpreadTruth wants to be able to do
is to come alongsidethe local church.
And we just have kindof just one lane
that we stay in.
If we get outside that lane,we don't do very well.
And so we pourall of our energy,
all of our timein this particular lane
(08:00):
of equipping through,resources, training
and experiences, people to sharethe gospel, the local church,
they have a lot of thingsthat they're doing, okay.
And they may already havetheir own programs
and that's fine.
But if we can come alongand say, hey, listen, we believe
that we can beof a great encouragement
and equipping your people. So,this past Sunday night,
(08:23):
we had 80 peoplethat were in training,
and we trained themin the basics of, how to be able
to share the storyand being had it, learning how
to connect with peopleand teaching them
some principles other than justkind of this, this conversation,
but teaching them some importantprinciples like,
hey, really listen,it really comes down
(08:45):
to intentionality.
You're never goingto share the gospel until you're
intentional about it.
Now, that doesn't meanthat you're rude or obnoxious,
but if you're goingto leave something
with a waitress, like a storyfilm card, you're probably not
going to do that unless you planbefore you go out to eat
to have them with you.
And one of the key principleswe really want to tell
(09:07):
people is be encouraged.
Jesus has alreadybeen there in their life
before you ever showed up.
That wayyou don't feel obligated
to do the gospel.
Dump on them like, oh,this is the only time
they're going tohear the gospel.
And I got to share everything.
No, no, no, don't do that.
Jesus has already been there.
He's already working in thatperson's life.
(09:28):
Maybe it's just aregular conversation and just,
you leave it at thatand you never get to the gospel
because it'sthe right thing to do is the
appropriate thing to do.
And so we really tryto teach people, hey, listen,
Jesus has already been there.
Hey, listen.
Be intentional.
Don't be obnoxious.
(09:48):
But listen, we want to equip youand to share this story.
The nice thingabout a story is the
the plot line.
It's wherever the personis in their life.
You can enter the gospel story.
So that's just a little bitof what we did.
Yeah.
If I could followup on that too. I so many in my
(10:09):
experience, I think we've foundso many people, shy away from
spreading truthbecause they feel
they have to do it perfectly.
They have to be fully prepared.
But as you know, we go outin the power of the Holy Spirit.
We don't have to be perfect.
It's not us that's drawingpeople to Christ, it's
(10:32):
Christ, it's the Holy Spirit.
And so we have to be willing,like you said, we have to be
intentionaland willing to do it.
Sure.
We have to know what we're goingto say and all of those
things, but can you talka little bit about that
or maybe some some experiencesyou've seen where people go
in their own strength, in their,you know, at their own level
(10:53):
and share in the Lorddoes the work.
Yeah.
And we want toshare with people that,
hey, listen, just comelike, let's just say,
for example,on this past summers
trip to New York City,we had this young girl,
this group from Alabama,and they I don't know
if they've everthey were ever at
Alabama in their life.
(11:14):
They never been on an airplane.
And so the girlcame up there and,
one of the girls and she hada panic attack the night before.
She's going out.
She just can't couldn't do this.
And so we reallywanted to encourage her.
Hey, listen, just take tinybaby steps.
So the next day, she goes outand she comes back,
and she said, I was able toask one question.
(11:35):
What was that?
Where's the best coffee shop?
And guess what we did?
We applauded her.
That is a huge step in.
If that's all that she was ableto accomplish that day.
Praise God we're teaching peopleto have normal,
regular conversationsbecause you'll never get into
(11:58):
deeper spiritual truthsif you don't have the ability
to communicate face to face.
And so a big part ofour training is teaching people,
how do you haveregular conversations
with people?
And we've lost that abilitywith social media and phones.
But the most intimate thingyou can do with a person
is have a face to face, eyeballto eyeball conversation
(12:20):
with them.
And so we teach peoplehow to do that.
And so we really wantto encourage people, if you feel
like you're inadequate,guess what?
You're in perfect companywith all of us
because we all are.
Because listen, I can go outthere and let's say
I have a little bit of learningin, say, apologetics.
And I feel like I can answersome of the deep questions.
(12:42):
And I have this 60 yearold saint beside me who couldn't
that answer oneapologetic question?
But guess what?
She is connecting, right?
And left with people and in herown personality
and her own style.
So God just uses everybodywherever they're at.
If we want to encourage peoplein that way.
(13:02):
I love that.
And, you know,a lot of our listeners
may feel disqualifiedto engage in outreach
and connection in this waybecause maybe they're struggling
with sin in their lifeor pornography specifically.
How do you talk to people?
Because we're allwe're all sinners.
We we all fallshort of the glory.
How do you talk topeople like that?
(13:23):
That may feel like,well, you know,
that sounds great.
Maybe when I'm, you know,you know,
stronger in my faith or,you know, I'm deeper into my
recovery journey.
What do you sayto people like that that may be
struggling with sin?
But do you want to do whatwe're called to do
as Christians?
Okay, well, let me gofrom two angles.
One, if I were talkingto a person in New York City
that was strugglingwith pornography,
(13:45):
I would exactly go to the fallthere and say hello
and be able to sharethat lesson.
We've all got sin problemsand whatever sin
problem that I have, maybe it'snot that I would enter
into my fall story and say,this is where I've been, or
this is where I'm at now.
For the person who says,hey, listen, I don't feel like
I'm qualified to go outand share the gospel,
(14:07):
that I would say who is.
And I would say that one of thegreatest things that could
strengthen them,even with the ability
to overcome even pornography,is the ability to be faithful
in sharing the good newsof Jesus Christ.
Because, you see, evangelism isnot something this apart
(14:27):
from discipleship.
Evangelism is discipleshipand when a person feels like
you know what, God,I was able to say
those words and I was ableto connect a little bit.
I believe the Spirit of Godtakes that encounter, encourages
that person's heart,even when the next time,
maybe they come upand they're facing
(14:48):
that temptation.
The Spirit of God has workedin their heart because they've
been obedient.
They've just been obedient.
And so until we justencourage people, no matter
where they are,no matter what struggle
that they have, and listen,people coming
on this New York tripand this is not
the only thing we do,but I'll just say this.
(15:08):
There's something powerfulthat happens when you share
the gospel.
So much so that we've had peoplewho thought they were Christians
would come on this trip.
They hear someonethey're partnering
with share the gospel,and they realize,
I don't have that.
I don't have it.
So there's something powerfulabout sharing the gospel
(15:29):
to help themovercome addictions.
And something that's powerfulthat might be even be able
to save their soulif they don't know Jesus.
Yeah, that's that's wonderful.
Jerry, can you tell usa little bit
about the Kenya trip?
Are they doing the similarkinds of things or is that a
little different to focus there?
I'm excited about itbecause we've been there.
(15:50):
Six years and we havefive full time Kenyan staff
there in Nairobi.
And the crazy part,we're leaving here in
just about a week, two weeks.
We partner with thegovernment of Kenya to reach out
to the youth.
75% of Kenyansare 35 years and under, and the
Kenyan government,which is kind of
nominal, Christian,is very concerned about
(16:14):
especially Somalia next doorwith al-Shabab coming in
and radicalizing the youth.
And so their arms are openedup to us,
help us reach the youth.
And so we have done scoresof outreaches with soccer camps,
basketball camps,volleyball camps, food outreach.
(16:34):
We partner with the Midwest FoodBank, bank to deliver
thousands of dollarsworth of food there.
And so God has blessed us.
So then when we need to go intoanother country
like Uganda or Zimbabwe,I mean Zambia,
the government of Kenyawill go with us, connect
with the governmentof that country so we can do
(16:54):
the same thing there.
So any listener that wants to goon the Kenya trip sometime,
we have an application online,but I would encourage,
someone to do that.
And there's one other areathat's kind of sensitive,
but something thatwe've really embarked upon.
There's a problem in Africa.
(17:15):
Well, really all over the world,affecting 150 to 200
million women, called FGM,female genital mutilation.
This thing that has started,especially in the culture
whereby they cut these girlsat an early age
as a sign of gettinginto real womanhood.
You're not reallymarrying material.
(17:36):
Horrific thing and Spread Truthhas come up with a ten week,
fully biblically basedFGM curriculum that has now
been certified by the Governmentof Kenya, can go into
any Kenyan school to do that.
And so, if any of your listenersare interested in.
And so when we go on that trip,in just two weeks,
(17:58):
we will be training 100 girlsin the FGM curriculum
and in a specialone day curriculum.
So there's a lot of thingsgoing on in Kenya.
And by the way,by the year 2050,
listen to this.
That by the year2050, 40% of all world
Christians will live insub-Saharan Africa.
(18:19):
Yeah.
And so that meansGod's doing something.
And we just want to bea small part of it.
That is incredible.
And bless you and your workand your organization's work
in that regards.
Like that is some great,great work
that you guys are doing.
So talk to our listenersa little bit about, you know,
you've mentioned thethe new York trip,
the Kenyan trip, all thesedifferent resources
(18:39):
and trainings that you provide.
How do they tapinto your ministry
and what are likesome of the first steps
that they would takeif they were interested
in, say, maybe going on the NewYork trip to get started?
Yeah.
In fact, we just in Decemberwas when we opened up
registration will probably have150 to 170 people
(18:59):
on the New York tripthis summer.
They can go on Spread Truth.comand click on trips
and if they're interested,hey, sign up
and then we can answerany question that they
have the same thingas far as the, Kenya trip
getting a little bit latenow since it's coming up.
But I thinkthat one of the things
if you go to Spread Truth.com,I think you'll be able to see
(19:21):
some of the resources.
Now, we're reallydiligent, hopefully,
that when we deliver a resource,we don't mind if it takes us
a little bit longerto get it done because I don't
mind people being offendedby the gospel.
I just don't want them offendedby the crazy way we did it.
(19:42):
And so you'll see then, thatthe print things, the films
with professional actors,everything that we try to do,
we try to do it in a waythat we hopefully,
can really connectwith the unbeliever,
because there'sa lot of competition out there
to gain their attention.
And so the filmsthat we do, the story
film, the story maker, the manon the middle cross,
(20:02):
all of these are sixminute short films
that we have speciallittle cards for with a QR code.
And when they turn it over,some of the best animation
you'll see and some of thebest filming.
And so, just that's just one ofthe resources that we had,
the story booklet, bracelets,all these type of things
that are made.
(20:22):
And we want to prepare younot only for if you go to
New York City,but what I'm doing
in my neighborhood right now,what do I do at Easter time?
What do I do at Christmas time?
What do I do at Halloween?
We providethose resources for you
and encourage people.
What are you going to do nowwhen Christmas time comes?
Let me just share with youand I will tell them
(20:43):
what my wife and I have doneto reach out
into our neighborhood,which is 40% Hindu,
and just give thempractical things because we
don't want the the New York Cityto be a project.
We want it to be a passion.
And if they come back home andand they don't
put it into practice, then we'venot accomplished
what we wanted to.
But if they do come backand they never come
(21:04):
back to New York,but they do it at home,
guess what?
We've accomplished it.
Absolutely.
Well, Jerry,thank you for coming on
and sharing Spread Truthwith with our listeners.
We'll put the in our show notes.
We'll put all the links to, to,your organization there.
But, that's all the timewe have for today.
Thank you so much for tuning inand listening to this.
(21:26):
Please do share.
Or. Like this.
Pass it on. It's, as we.
So we know we need tospread, Spread Truth.
So, Jerry, thank you so much.
Thank you.
Rob, thank you so muchfor the opportunity
I appreciate it.
Absolutely.
We hope you join us againand keep us posted
on all the progressthat you guys are doing.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.