with Tina Marie Griffith

Best-selling author, speaker, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland.

Best-selling author and apologist, Dylan Burroughs. Together bringing you truth. For a new generation, this is TNG Radio. The phrase, the Great Commission, Christ's Great Commission, is generally a reference to some scriptures like Matthew 28, 18 through 20 where Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.

Mark 16, 15, Jesus said, preach the gospel to every creature. Hi, Alex McFarland here with another edition of TNG Radio. And I am so excited, folks, because of the Great Commission.

I'm really excited also because of a luncheon that I just stepped out of moments ago. And we'll tell you a little bit about that, but with me now recording to talk about the Great Commission and to talk about some of the unique dynamics or unique characteristics of evangelism in the 21st century. For one is Dr. Kevin Menchie of the Concord Baptist Association in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This is just 30 minutes from the Nashville airport.

So when we talk about Murfreesboro, we're essentially talking about the greater Nashville area. And also with me is Tina Marie Griffin. Now you'll remember Tina Marie is one of the keynote speakers at Truth for a New Generation. She was just with us in North Carolina two months ago. She's amazing.

She's known throughout the world as the counterculture mom. We'll hear from Tina Marie in a moment. But first, I want to say to Dr. Kevin Menchie, for one, thank you for letting us sort of commandeer your building and have a luncheon here to bring in people to talk about Truth for a New Generation. But the other thing, more importantly, I want to talk about the Great Commission, because you, Dr. Menchie, are a director of missions. For those listening, as a Christian, as a minister, what is meant by missions, and how did God bring you into missions? Well, I pastored for 23 years, and actually I was a church planter in this area, started a church here, and kind of backed into missions. The more I preached and talked about it and meant, the more excited I became. And my job now is just to make sure that the churches of our association are doing the Great Commission, both locally and globally.

Is the Great Commission still in effect? I mean, it's the 21st century. Dozens of belief systems are out there competing for the hearts and minds of people. Does Jesus still really expect us to share the gospel with every creature?

I believe he does. In fact, there are more people to reach now than ever. What are some of the unique challenges that you see to the gospel and to ministry that maybe weren't present 15 years ago, 20 years ago? I would say, kind of alluding back to what you just said, there is lacking in many people's minds a sense of urgency, that everyone's okay as long as they try to be a good person, or if they have a religious dimension to their life, whatever that spiritual, religious, vague dimension may be, that's probably good enough.

If there is a God, he's a good, loving God, and he'll, in the end, pretty much take us as we are. Whether it's Truth for a New Generation or in previous generations, it was the Billy Graham Crusade, what happens when churches link arms, work together, put aside denominations, and we pray together, we bow our hearts and lives together, like we're trying to do with Truth for a New Generation here in Middle Tennessee. What do you see is the spiritual outcome of Christians really putting their hearts and lives together?

It's the scriptural principle of multiplication, where you have two or more working, there's just some synergy. So if you get, ideally in our association, 60 Baptist churches focused in the same direction of winning as many people as we can find that need to come to Christ, winning them to Christ in this area, and we're all working together, some dynamic things happen. So first off, it's a privilege to host this today. I'm glad to be able to do that. But it was great to see the enthusiasm in the room as you saw that people began to really catch the vision that you're articulating.

They really did. There was a lot of excitement. And then folks, we'll be keeping you posted about the current and future Truth for a New Generation events. This first segment, Time Flutes Away, I want to do two things.

First question is this. What's your website? Because maybe somebody listening, hey, maybe you're coming to Middle Tennessee or you're relocating and you're going to need a church.

How can people find you, Kevin? Sure, our website is www.concordbaptists.org. So that's like plural. Second question, if you had a Bible verse that was your heartbeat for America right now, if you could think of one scripture verse that would be your prayer for this country, what might that be?

The one that I've kind of been focusing on recently is Nahum 1.7. It says, The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him. I think it's one of those bumper sticker verses that got passed over. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him. I think that encapsules where we are. God's good, it's a troublesome time, but He knows those who trust Him.

Wow. Thank you so much for that incredible verse. Well, somebody who does trust Him and has walked for Jesus and with Jesus and God is using in a mighty way is Tina Marie Griffin. She's known as the counterculture mom, and we're going to have to do a quick little hello and come back after a brief break here. But Tina, it's good to see you, sister.

Hey, likewise, and I'm just honored to be a part of this amazing tour. When you spoke at Truth for a New Generation in North Carolina a couple of months ago, can't believe it, time just flies by, what was your reaction from the young people there? Because moms and dads are always asking, my kid is not going to come and sit for a two-day Bible lecture, but what was your impression of the young people that were there?

Well, I will tell you, parents, that there were a lot of parents that dropped their kids off and they actually were very interested, sat towards the front and even took notes, which gives me hope to keep doing what I'm doing and to work with amazing people like you because they want the truth, and this is a conference that will give them the answers to their questions, and it just fires me up to know that there is still hope for America. I'll ask you the question that I asked Dr. Kevin Minche, if you had a Bible verse that was your prayer for America at this time, Tina Marie Griffin, what would that be? Well, it's the one I've been living for for the last 15 years, Ephesians 5-11, have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. And what gets me fired up is that when we equip the young people to expose the darkness, people realize they are deceived and they want to know the truth. It makes people interested in knowing who God really is and question themselves, is there really a God? Whereas if you just say come to church or God exists but not show them how they're currently being deceived, to me they get more fired up if we show them the deception.

And so that verse is what I love because it makes everybody be little undercover FBI agents to dig up the lies, expose it, and then lead them towards the truth. We've got to take a break. You're listening to Truth For A New Generation Radio, Alex McFarland, the website for the conferences, and for so much of what we do, truthforanewgeneration.com.

We're back right after this. Our country is falling apart. Political unrest, social upheaval. The breakdown of the family. The rise of atheism. The rise of Islam. Our religious freedoms are under attack. There's gender fluidity.

Gender identity is making a mess of freedom of expression. So we need to put some skin in the game and love this nation. As Christians, we are to stand strong. There has to be some personal investment in the living out and the preservation of America. Stand Strong America will help you take the fear that you face and the bleakness that you face, but help you become a champion, a bold champion for Christ.

In Stand Strong America, Jason Jimenez and I lay out the facts about our nation, the current condition, and how you, yes, you, your family, your church, your community can be involved in keeping this great republic. Stand Strong America is a guide to bring courage and hope for you, the Christian, wherever Christian books are sold. For centuries, the Bible has inspired humanity and shaped the very world we live in. But how do we know this book is the Word of God and not merely the words of men? What we believe about the Bible is based on what we believe about its source. The God Who Speaks explores the evidence of the Bible's inspiration and authority through some of the world's most respected biblical scholars. We have essentially a dual authorship, so it's true to say that Paul wrote Romans. It's equally true to say that God wrote Romans.

He says, we saw this, and that sets the Bible apart from almost everything else in the ancient world and its religious pantheon of gods and goddesses. The God Who Speaks is a feature-length documentary from the American Family Association, available now at TheGodWhoSpeaks.org. Welcome back to TNG Radio.

Alex McFarland here. We're going to continue our conversation with actress and broadcaster and TNG speaker, Tina Marie Griffin. I do want to say that summertime is here, and we hope you're having some wonderful experiences with family. And, you know, in the busyness of everything, do carve out time to take a little bit of vacation and be with your family. But also, let me say this, please remember to support your church during summertime. I've pastored. I've been in 2,000 churches, and I know a lot of summertime months are kind of hard because everybody kind of disappears for a while.

Don't forget your church during this summer, and do, folks, do volunteer for things like Vacation Bible School or whatever summer missions or go be a chaperone at youth camp, because look, just because it's graduation from school doesn't mean graduation away from God, you know. And with that, I do want to ask you to continue to pray for and support all that we're doing. We have two radio shows, a television show, I'm on the Road. Do you know, we spend, our ministry spends probably $50,000 a year just on literature.

I was recently in Washington, D.C. to speak for the Watchmen on the Wall Conference with Tony Perkins, Josh McDowell, Alveda King, so many others, what an honor it was. And we were distributing our books on apologetics, on evangelism, biblical worldview, to young people, high schoolers, and I was in Pittsburgh, PA, and we took books up there. And so we really need your help, and all of your financial contributions are tax deductible, whether it's air time for radio or whether it's putting good literature in the hands of lost people, whether it's buying plane tickets. We probably spend $60,000 a year on airplane tickets. Folks, we need your help, and it will be gratefully received, faithfully used.

It is tax deductible. And our promise to you is that every donation is used for evangelism in the United States to try to call our nation back to Jesus Christ. So please go online at truthforanewgeneration.com, or you can write to us at PO Box 485, Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313, and your gift will be much appreciated. Well, right now somebody that I truly appreciate is Tina Marie Griffin, and she's back with us. And I know we're both busy, and you have graciously driven over to one of these organizational luncheons for TNG. Again, Tina, thanks for being with us.

Hey, thank you. And I think it's awesome that you just mentioned the importance of giving back to the church during the summer, because people do disappear. They do the camps.

They drop the kids off at the camp, and all of a sudden they take their two-week trip to Italy, and they forget that their church is back home trying to make ends meet. I also want to encourage parents, take your kids out camping and experience outside. My husband just gave me a text and sent me a text and said, hey, let's go take the kids swimming at the Y this afternoon. These are the conversations you're going to have with your kids that will last a lifetime and are life-changing for your kids, are these moments in time.

And the more we can get them off tech devices and into the nature that God created, the better. Oh, my goodness. The busyness, the tyranny of the urgent, it's more on us than ever, and kids spend so much time on screen time, and I know you talk about that. I was just counseling with a family. The father is an upwardly mobile executive. He said to me, and he wasn't concerned, he just remarked, he said, I probably don't see my kids more than three hours a week.

I said, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Three hours a week? Now, Christian man, Christian family, how can you possibly impart Jesus to your children if it's just two minutes here, five minutes there, two, three, four hours a week?

You can't, and I think that's key for people tuning in right now. Do we really need what we think we need? Do we really have to have the latest, greatest? And if the pressure of having to have the latest, greatest causes us to both be working parents 24-7, kids would rather have parents in the home spending time with them than the latest, greatest toys and vacations and extravagant clothing. Ask any kid when I've been around the country the last 15 years speaking to kids, and they will tell you, we would rather have parents that actually know where I am and what I'm doing and who I'm dating and spend time with me and take me to the mall and have conversations than people that give me $100 and say, have fun, go to the mall.

We don't care where you're at or what you're doing. I've had so many conversations with kids. So I think it's important that we really evaluate our lives and not have any regrets, and for the parents tuning in that have kids that are already teens, wish they would have done something different, you're still alive today, they're still alive today, and you can start today by making different choices and spending more time with your kids.

It's never too late. You know, that is really profound, because folks, listen, if there are things in your past that you would just as soon forget, and maybe some things as a parent that you wish you did differently, and look, that's all of us. Joel 2 verse 25 says, God restores the years the locust has eaten. Tina, isn't it good that the Lord is powerful enough to give us a do-over? Maybe we can't turn back the clock, but God can take you where you are right now as you are and rewind the tape, wipe the slate clean, and isn't it good that we serve a God who, yes, restores the years that might have otherwise been squandered?

I think that's fantastic, and thank you for reminding me once again that he does that. I think sometimes we forget, or a lot of people today think that our identity lies with what we've done in the past, or the wrong doings, or the wrong choices, and that's not who we are. We're made in the image of Christ, not what our choices, good or bad, have happened in the past.

And so, today forward, we can make different choices, better choices. And I also want to encourage parents, if something drastic has happened to you in your past and you don't want to talk to your kid about it, reevaluate that way of thinking, because your kids want the real you, and if you are transparent and you tell them about some bad decisions of your past, it will help spare their lives from possibly doing the same thing. Case in point, if I can be quick, I was sharing the abstinence stance. She was like, I didn't wait, so how can I expect my child to wait? And I encouraged her, do you wish you would have waited? Yes, but how can I expect my kid to do something I didn't? And I just want to encourage parents out there today, like I did with this mom, share with your kids about the choices you wish you would have made differently, because then they will come to you first and not jump on Snapchat or go to the latest website by Planned Parenthood or any other place that's pumping out lies, but come to parents first because they know you share the truth, and you could actually save your child from going down the wrong path by sharing what you wish you would have done different in the past. So be transparent, be real, have those in-depth conversations, and don't be afraid of what they might think. They honestly will love you more for it. We're going to come back and talk further with Tina Marie Griffin about this after this brief break.

Don't go away. The next segment you do not want to miss. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

Did Jesus ever sin? The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation. The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, the book, study guide and video series, you'll find it at AFASTORE.net. First Peter 3.15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have. We're instructed to be prepared to defend our faith. This is Alex McFarland for the Life Answers Teams, students we train at North Greenville University, a leading Christian college in South Carolina. The Life Answers Teams are made up of students who will inspire and equip your congregation. These apologetics teams we train speak in churches to youth groups and train Christians of all ages to address key issues of our times from a biblical perspective. Like is there a God?

Is the Bible true? What about gender and moral issues? Call me at 864-977-2008 and we will arrange for the Life Answers Team to come to your church and give a presentation that will benefit your people for years to come, 864-977-2008 and always be ready. Alex McFarland here, TNG Radio, thank you so much for listening.

Time fleets away so I want to get as much in as we can. We're going to continue our conversation with Tina Marie Griffin. Hey before we go too much further, Tina give us your website. Yes it's CounterCultureMom.com and also if parents want to navigate safely through the pop culture chaos, I have a great four page parent guide that they can get by texting the word media guide, no spaces to the number 44222 and they will get in their inbox within seconds. It's a great guide to help do a pop culture purge and only put godly entertainment in their home.

You do a lot of assemblies and you do a lot of speaking yourself. I thought about you this week, there was a story in the news, oddly enough a middle school teacher asked their class if there were one invention that you wish had never been invented what would it be? And I know that she probably thought you know guns and violent, you know dangerous things and of course some kids wrote about that. Very poignant, it went viral. This little boy wrote, the thing that I wish had never been invented was the cell phone because my mommy is always on her phone, she won't talk to me and he wrote and it was just heart rending. Folks, Google it, you'll find, he said she loves the cell phone better than me because she spends all of her time with the phone and not me and the little boy said he wished that his mom had never discovered a cell phone. Now how many children probably could share that sentiment Tina? That's profound. I believe a lot and I really try to do and my husband as well when he comes home from work he will plug his phone in the bedroom and leave it for the rest of the day which I think is awesome and I'm finding myself more and more setting it aside especially I have to because I homeschool my four kids I don't want to be on it while I'm schooling. It's necessary in some regards especially if you do in ministry get the word out there but there's so many kids that are hurting and it's so true I find every now and then my kids will give me a wake-up call hey mom I got a question and I might be on my phone so I'll put it down and then talk to my kid which I think is critical but I think it happens a lot and honestly I use social media to help get God's truth out there but I'm hardly on Facebook I post and get off because I do not have time to get sucked in everyone else's drama or news stories what does God call us to do is profess his truth and I use social media to pump that out there but I don't want to get sucked in I mean those are hours we can't get back that's true you know I often get asked to define discipleship and I call it life on life transference I mean because you know the old saying more is caught than taught I hear our words but they're really going to remember our time our relationships invested in in the lives of others yeah I think social media is going to go down in history as the biggest colossal waste of time that ever came down the pike but let's talk a little bit about the objectionable material on the internet we were with Josh McDowell in Washington last week and he gave a talk on pornography the pornography epidemic and when he gives his keynote at truth for new generation in September he'll probably talk about that again Josh said nine out of ten American males are addicted to pornography and so we've got to be transparent with our devices and let me just say there are a lot of ways you can put your web browser where mom dad husband wife you see what your kids are watching they can see what you're watching and listen folks we we don't have secrets from each other we're not supposed to anyway Tina speak a little bit because you're you are a Hollywood insider on what what this content whether it's porn whether it's violence and just ungodly things what is it doing to us it's stripping our foundation with Christ completely away we're focused we become addicted I know it takes three images of pornography before someone can become addicted the average age in America where a person becomes addicted is the age of eight if we have eight year olds looking at pornography and the sad thing Alex like you know it's not as though the kids are even searching for it they might be doing a homework assignment like I hear from a lot of kids hey I'm looking up information for a paper and all sudden pornography comes out we've got whitehouse.com which is a porn site or it was a porn site until I unless they finally stripped it down but look at the deception in that where if kids doing a paper on the government the president is at whitehouse.gov geo GOV GOV and then you have a snapchat one of the top apps for example that a lot of kids are currently on a lot of parents are not aware or they think it's safe and the last week we had Cosmo after dark a special porn channel on snapchat right this is unblockable parents cannot block this Cosmo after dark but here's what's crazy parents typically will not be alerted that this channel is out there for kids luckily within 72 hours a bunch of us moms online made a big stink flooded snapchat and within 72 hours Alex they stripped the Cosmo after dark pornography channel off snapchat praise the Lord it's just amen so just to go to show you pornography is very addicting and they're pushing it down children's throats why because I've been telling kids for years and assemblies if they can become addicted as a child the porn industry is laughing all the way to the bank they think they have this kid for life so it's so important we do shelter our kids I love the point you made to put the computer in a very neutral location in the center part of the house where it's not behind a door and if the kids cause a stink saying hey why can't we have you don't trust me use the line we it's not as though we don't trust you we don't trust anybody else and that way we keep our kids safe and we are the parent luckily before the best friend and so it's so important to have those parental guidelines so your kids know how to become a parent someday by watching what we do for them and I want to say to all the men listening you are the priest of the home thank God for godly moms praise God for Tina Marie and all of the counterculture mom followers you have I wish there were you know 10 million more but men you need to walk with Jesus you need to have quiet time and pray with your spouse every day there was a Harvard study a few years ago when a husband and wife have a some sort of devotional together the divorce rate is 1 out of a thousand and eleven I mean not the 55 60 percent of the regular culture friend if you'll get open windows or our daily bread or my utmost for his highest or streams in the desert or morning and evening devotions by Charles Spurgeon Josh McDowell wrote his very very fine book the Josh McDowell book of family devotions husbands and wives if you will take five ten minutes pray together every day watch it transform your personal walk and your marriage and ultimately the family we've got to pull away but here's what I want to say thank you Tina Marie and we'll certainly have you on again really soon for your support gift in any amount of our evangelistic ministries our broadcast our conferences we've got a book that God has used mightily in the lives of young people it's called stand core truth you must know for an unshakable faith for your gift in any amount we'll send you the book stand core truths for an unshakable faith because you want to impart in the lives of your family an unshakable faith in the Lord Jesus Christ truth for a new generation in association with Alex McFarland evangelistic ministries exists to equip Christians with a biblical world view through conferences and camps for information about upcoming events visit truth for a new generation.com or give us a call at 877 yes God one that's 877 yes God and the number one TNG radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland evangelistic ministries P.O. Box 485 Pleasant Garden North Carolina 27313 that's P.O. Box 485 Pleasant Garden North Carolina 27313 or give online at AlexMcFarland.com or truthforanewgeneration.com thanks for listening and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG radio.