The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events, analyzed through the lens of scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show.
What should be the Christian's response in a time of pain and suffering, tragedy, natural disaster? Hi, Alex McFarland here. We have got a very special show today.
I'm going to talk just very briefly from God's Word about ministering to others. Then we're going to spend a fair amount of time with a colleague and friend, Brian Coburn, of the Cove. You don't want to miss what's going on at the Cove. And as I'm sure everyone is aware, in recent weeks there have been two just devastating tornadoes, Hurricane Milton down in Florida. And we have staff in Florida, and we were certainly praying for them. But in my home state of North Carolina, my heart was heavy as I was watching the news reports. Western North Carolina, just so beautiful.
The mountains, beautiful little towns like Chimney Rock, and of course historic Asheville with Biltmore House, and then Swannanoa and Black Mountain and Montreat. Well, 19 counties had 75 to 95 percent power outages. There were nearly 200 deaths. And we'll talk about that. But the question might be asked, why does God let such a thing happen? And the fact is, we are in a fallen world. Genesis 3 talks about sin came into the world. And that's part of the reason that it is so vital that Christ came. Because Jesus came, He paid our sin debt, He rose from the dead, He is coming back. And when you read the book of Revelation, when Christ returns, Jesus is coming back. And He says, Behold, I make all things new.
And He will. And the world is in the process of getting restored, made new. The empty tomb is proof of that promise. Christ did rise from the dead, and of course the most important need the human race had was forgiveness of sin. And that comes through putting your faith in Christ. But in the meantime, we are, as Chuck Swindoll says, on a journey across raw, pagan soil. There are tragedies in this world.
There are weather patterns and natural disasters, and of course much of the world is suffering from those. But do you know what the Bible says? The response is not to blame God or be angry with God. I mean, pain and suffering and tragedy is just illustrative of how much we need Jesus. And we need to lean in. And the times that we're hurting, that's the time that we all the more closely cleave to Jesus Christ.
Maybe somebody listening to the program even right now. You're going through a deep, dark valley. God loves you.
God wants to be a part of your journey and help you and redeem you. People often say, but there's so much evil in the world. I've interviewed 32 of the world's most famous atheists, and I wrote two books about it, Ten Answers for Skeptics, then a follow-up, Ten Answers for Atheists.
And the number one objection in interviewing atheists and skeptics, they say, oh, but there's evil, suffering, pain in the world. C.S. Lewis, the great Oxford professor, he lived 1898 to 1963.
C.S. Lewis famously wrote The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity, truly one of the predominant defenders of Christianity in the last hundreds of years, really. But somebody said to Lewis, there's so much suffering in the world. And he said, yes, but there's also so much overcoming of suffering. And while there are the bad things that we know about, Lewis said, and I think he's right, when we get to heaven, I think we'll probably learn of the 10,000 potential tragedies that God spared us from. And so in a fallen world, bad things happen. But with a risen Jesus, miracles happen.
In Matthew 25, Jesus talked about this in verse 35. He says, I was hungry, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me.
I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came unto me. And then the righteous will answer and say, Lord, when did we do this?
When did we feed you and visit you? And Jesus, of course, very famously says, inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. Matthew 25, 40. When we serve, when we dry the tears of the brokenhearted, and we try to come along and maybe just even be a friend to somebody that you don't enjoy hanging out with, but you know they're lonely, and you show the love of Jesus. Folks, whatever we do as unto the Lord for the people around us, it's as if we've done it to and for Jesus himself.
Think about that. I'm very honored to introduce a special colleague and friend that you'll meet in just a moment, but I want to sort of cue up this conversation that we're going to have with Brian Coburn of the COVE, the Billy Graham Training Center in western North Carolina. So much coverage is on politics, and understandably so. Let's not forget the terrible, terrible hurricanes that happened in recent weeks. Of course, Hurricane Milton was so severe down in Florida, but in my home state of North Carolina, Hurricane Helene just decimated western North Carolina, and our hearts truly go out to those people. So many counties were without electricity and entire, not only roads washed out, but communities, houses, businesses. It really was unlike any natural disaster my home state has ever seen. And really at the forefront of helping in the relief effort is the COVE, the Billy Graham Training Center.
And we're going to learn all the details. Those that listen to our program know how often I speak of the COVE. My wife and I have had the great privilege summer after summer going to speak at the COVE, and I will be there in the summer of 25 as we have been for 19 or 20 summers. And we've met people from literally around the world, all 50 states and many countries come to the COVE to learn the Bible. It's a unique conference center, truly the presence of the Lord.
You will feel if you ever have the privilege of attending an event at the COVE. But right now, what an honor to learn about what they're doing these days in the relief effort in western North Carolina. The program manager, a friend of a couple of years, he's been there, Brian Coburn, has made time. I'm on the road, he's on the road, but we've got a few moments to visit with Brian and learn about what's going on at the Billy Graham Training Center in western North Carolina. Brian, thanks for making time to be with us today. It's so awesome. Thanks so much, Alex. Good to be here. Well, and on behalf of so many people, we commend you for making the facility available and helping in this very tragic season there near Asheville and all those counties. And I want to talk about that. But first of all, for those that may not be familiar, tell us about the COVE.
What is the COVE? Excellent question. We have a wonderful facility in the mountains of western North Carolina that Billy and Ruth Graham set up as a training center. And our mission is to train people in God's word to win others for Christ. So that's our main mission. So we host a lot of seminars, events, programs. We also have guest groups that use the facility throughout the year. And we just provide a great place for them to get away, to rest, relax, retreat, and refresh and restore their lives in God's word, in the study of God's word, which you have done a great job at leading us through. Almost every July I've been there. You've been there with your groups leading a lot of teaching sessions through God's word. So it's been great. Stay tuned. We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. You know, Mark Twain said, the man that won't read is no better off than the man who can't read.
Hi, Alex McFarland. When it comes to voting, I think voting is like that. The person who won't vote is really in no different position than the person who can't vote.
And here in the United States of America, we can vote. And I urge you to do so. Now to help you in your decision making process about the persons with whom you should cast your vote, on my website, alexmcfarland.com slash vote. I urge you to go to that. We've created a first time voters guide, alexmcfarland.com slash vote. We talk about the issues, really what the constitutional position is and even the biblical position.
So please pray for the country. And I beg of you, don't passively opt out, but actively be informed, influence others, and to vote. Download our free voters guide, alexmcfarland.com slash vote. He's been called trusted, truthful and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Who are some of the speakers that are especially, you know, popular there at the Cove?
Well, I have to mention Will Graham, of course. He's our executive vice president of the BGA. And he speaks often at the Cove. Ann Graham Lotz is auntie.
She speaks there, of course. New speaker for us this year has been Gary Hamrick from up in Leesburg, Virginia. So he's joined us this year. But you might know names like Jim Cymbala from Brooklyn Tab.
We've also had others like Mel Blackaby, his brother Richard Blackaby. So a bunch of a bunch of familiar names that have come to speak to us at the Cove. You know, I'm really excited. In the summer of 25, I've got the privilege of coming and I'll be teaching the book of Job, the Old Testament book of Job. And there's so much in there about suffering.
You know, where is God in the midst of pain and suffering? But then I've got a second visit late next summer with a longtime friend of mine, J. Warner Wallace, literally one of the world's most respected Christian apologists. And Brian, I want to thank you for having the vision to do an apologetics seminar. Jim Wallace and I will be there.
And folks, if you're just tuning in, I want to have Brian give the website. But whether it's Will Graham or myself or Ann Graham or one of the other phenomenal speakers, but our very special apologetics training session next summer, myself and J. Warner Wallace. He's the famed former California homicide detective.
He solved cases that just could not be cracked. And you've probably seen him on Dateline with Keith Morrison many times. He and I have known each other 20 years, and he and I will be there. And we want to train you in apologetics, that you could share your faith confidently in any situation.
But we'll do this again. But Brian, give the website and how people can peruse the seminars. Pick one and register. Where should they go online?
Yeah, it's very simple. It's just go to www.thecove.org. So that's T-H-E-C-O-V-E.org. And go there.
You'll find a registration page. You will, however, see a banner across the top that due to Hurricane Helene and our ongoing operations have been suspended, kind of paused for the year here. And so they're not really dealing with too many reservations right now. But we have opened 20, 25 reservations already this year.
And then the hurricane hits. We put a pause on everything for a little bit just so we can get caught up with informing all the people that we had to suspend operations for the rest of this year. So we had to contact every one of our participants to let them know that, hey, don't come. We're not ready for you. So they're going to get through that list of all the guests that have already registered for this year to inform them that it's no longer a possibility for them to come this year.
But soon enough, they'll be opening up reservations for next year. Well I want to say thank you. You know, I am a North Carolina boy myself.
All of those western states, you know, Buncombe County and Weaverville, and I've preached in all of those localities. So thank you. And you and Will Graham and Samaritan's Purse and Franklin Graham. You know, Brian, I just want to say thank you for immediately diving in to help and making your facility, the Cove, available. Tell us who's there. How are the relief efforts going?
Yeah, that's great. We have definitely seen, I mean, even when we talked to our executive director Eric Wilkes, he mentioned how, you know, we thought it was a good idea to maybe cancel the rest of this year's programs and events that we had scheduled. Because it would be, it would be difficult, you have to understand, it would be difficult to invite people from all over the country that come to visit the Cove for an event where they're being housed and lodged in nice facilities, but right, literally right across the highway from the front gate of the Cove, it's the Swannanoa River. And the Swannanoa River reached maximum flood stage and overshot it by, I mean, dozens of feet above normal flood stage. And so we have whole communities along that river that have been wiped out. We've had several staff members who have lost homes in the process, who live in that community. And so it's an impact, it's an impact on our area, just like you see on the news.
You see the pictures of all the destruction, the mudslides, the flooding. So it's impacted us greatly. But we were all in full support of Eric and Will's decision to go ahead and cancel events for the rest of this year, just so we could provide a place for Samaritan's Purse, who's come in, that's our sister organization through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. So Samaritan's Purse has come in and set up their staging site for Buncombe County, which is the county we're in, in the Asheville area of North Carolina. So they're basing all their operations, all their volunteers are coming in each day daily to come help us with mucking out houses and cutting trees down, tarping roofs, all the work that needs to be done in so many locations around the county.
So that's our main group that's here. We also are providing lodging and meals for about 70 North Carolina Highway Patrol officers. So those troopers are there on site staying and they have their mobile command center set up in our parking lot. We're able to provide a place for them to call home because each week a new battalion moves in and covers the area and then they head home to be with their families and such.
So this is a great spot for them. And then the third group that's just as important is the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team. And those are our chaplains who meet crisis all over the nation through chaplain ministry to heal into the hurting that are out there. So they're also, there's about, I'm saying, I was looking at my numbers here, we have around 500 to 700 volunteers coming in each day.
And two Saturdays ago, we had over 1400 volunteers that showed up to help us first. Praise God. Hold that thought, Brian, we've got to pull away for a brief break. Folks, if you're just tuning in, Alex McFarland here, along with Brian Coburn of the Cove, we're going to learn more. You know, as tragic as those hurricanes have been and Helene just decimated the western part of North Carolina, it is very heartwarming to hear what the Billy Graham ministry, Franklin Graham, Samaritan's Purse and the Cove are doing. Stay tuned. We're going to hear more about this, some good news, even in the midst of tragedy from Brian Coburn. Stay tuned.
We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this.
Hi, Alex McFarland here. I want to make you aware of two really important speaking engagements in July of 2025. I'll be at the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center, July 18 through 20, teaching the book of Job, and then July 28 through August 1 with J. Warner Wallace, a week of apologetics with myself and Jim Wallace.
Go to the Cove.org, the Cove.org, and I hope to see you next summer. He's been called trusted, truthful and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show.
Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here, speaking with Brian Coburn. Brian, before the break, you were talking about across Interstate 40 from the Cove. There's the town of Black Mountain, an incredibly beautiful little town. Every time my wife and I come to the Cove, which is truly the highlight of our year, we love to go and just see Montreat, which is a beautiful community. Missionaries have lived there for decades. I kind of asked this with trepidation, but how is that beautiful little mountain town doing?
They were struck pretty hard, I would imagine. So many areas. I mean, the news really maybe doesn't give everything justice, because even though you see so much tragedy on social media, you know, people posting videos and such, I mean, to go into anywhere along the river, and the Swannanoa River passes near Black Mountain as well and Montreat area. But what happened, even my wife was telling me that they recorded the flooding coming down the mountainsides, and we're surrounded by mountains everywhere out here in western North Carolina. And they were saying the water was traveling downhill about 40 miles per hour. And we had so much rain. We had close to 10, 11 inches of rain before Hurricane Helene actually reached our region. And so we already had a ground saturated with water. And then on top of that, then Hurricane Helene, which had moved to a tropical storm by that time, hit. That added the wind and the rain as well.
So an additional amount. So all those trees that we have covering these mountains out here in Appalachia, those trees were just saturated ground, and they just toppled when the wind gusted 60 to 80 miles per hour. Did the water cross over Interstate 40? No, Interstate 40 is high enough up that it wouldn't have crossed Interstate 40. It was mostly in the low-lying areas, so kind of in what they call the River Arts District of Asheville.
We had, trying to think, so the French Broad River, I think it was 16 feet above flood stage, and its previous high was half of that. Right. Yeah, this is kind of one for the record books, for sure. And what I'm thinking about is you were talking about 70-some highway patrolmen coming there and volunteers. And folks, the Cove, I know I repeat myself, but if you've never been to the Cove, you've got to experience it. There is no finer conference center in America. And it's been my privilege to speak in hundreds of locations throughout the North American continent. What a blessing.
Brian, I really commend you. It is the finest facility, and best of all, the Spirit of the Lord is there. So what I wanted to say with all the volunteers and the helpers, certainly a lot of people come there and they are exposed to the gospel of Jesus. And I would imagine you've had visitors to the Cove during this relief effort probably say, there's something here that they sense the Lord's presence, don't they? Right.
Yeah. We get that even on the best of days. So many people enter through those gates like you've done so many times, and they just feel the sense of God's peace just rest upon them when they drive through those gates. And it really is. And it's a place covered by prayer. I was asked the other day by somebody who was asking, you know, has your mission changed at the Cove with all these volunteers coming in, Samaritan's Purse coming in? And I said, you know, really when we're trying to win people for the gospel sake with our training center, we can't think of a better thing than to support our sister agencies who are reaching out because every team that goes out with Samaritan's Purse, when they go to somebody's house to cut some trees down or make way up their road to get to their house or tarping a roof that got damaged during the storm or loading out buckets of mud from their first floors that got covered in the flood waters. When they're doing that, there's a chaplain assigned to each of those teams. And those chaplains spend time with each homeowner and just say, you know, we're here with you, we're praying with you, we want to lend our hands to help, but we're more concerned about your spiritual well-being and where you're going to spend eternity because this is just temporary.
So they have the opportunity to reach. And we've heard many stories of our volunteers coming back and just praising the Lord because they've seen homeowners come to know the Lord through this situation. Brian, I'm sure there are things you need. I mean, financial support.
Do you need chainsaws or how may people tangibly get involved and what would help you most? Yeah, a couple options would be, you'll see on the Cove's website, thecove.org, we do have a giving page there. And we have set up a fund there that will help us during this time.
Obviously, the Cove is not able to generate any revenue right now, because we've shut down all our program and events that we had planned through the rest of the year, even through Christmas time. When we do a lot of Christmas concerts and all that, we've decided to do away with those just so we can give all our attention to Samaritan's Purse and the Highway Patrol and the chaplains. So that's really been our focus. And so there is a giving site on thecove.org. Also, if you go to, of course, SamaritansPurse.org, wonderful organization. I've had the privilege of actually serving with them at past disasters.
Me too. It's a great, great organization. Yeah, you know, it's a great organization to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people. And they have many opportunities to give there on their site as well.
So, yeah, take advantage of those opportunities. We have churches around here. I don't know if you're not from North Carolina or from the south. You know that there is going to be a church like on every corner, literally. And I think that there's not a church that's in the area that does not have a distribution center set up. You've given away things like generators to people who need that. So many people still without power. It's been a couple of weeks now, and they have no power to run anything.
And cold weather is coming. Exactly. Yeah, it's serious. So I want to ask everybody listening, and no matter where you are, they are exactly a fine organization. And as Brian said, they're not generating revenue.
There are no seminars happening. Christmas at the Cove is so special. So here's what I want everybody to do. Plan next year. Listen, pastors, your church retreat, couples. If you're going to do something special, your vacation next year.
And there's so many things around western North Carolina. Of course, the Cove is amazing, and there's Biltmore House. But I will be there if you were interested in what we're going to be doing. I'll be there July 18-20 teaching the book of Job. Every time I go, I teach a book of the Bible. And next summer I'll be going through the book of Job.
It's a very rich book. Then my time with J. Warner Wallace, the apologetics event begins July 28. But churches, individuals, I'm going to ask you to pray for what they're doing.
Brian and his staff and Will Graham, give. Maybe God is leading you to donate and financially support this great work. And of course, the Billy Graham ministry. There's no entity in the world that has been as much involved in evangelism as they are.
They win people to Christ, and they're doing it now. And then next year, again, plan your visit to the Cove. You will not be disappointed, I assure you. And plus, I didn't mention this, but Brian, no exaggeration, the best food you'll ever eat.
Is it a five-diamond chef, five-star chef? Everybody. That's one of the things when we have guests that come to our seminars, people always say, Oh, it was great. We got into the Word. It was fellowshipping with believers from everywhere. But oh my word, the food, there's nowhere else like it. Speak if you would, all kidding aside, the food, it is so good. Yeah, and it's all calorie-free, you know. Oh yeah, of course. One of the big highlights, the food is excellent.
Excellent. We have all our meals are buffet style, so you can go back and help yourself the second, thirds, fourth, whatever it takes, you know, to enjoy your time there. But one of the things that you'll also experience is our famous fro-yo.
So they have frozen yogurt machines out in the lobby area. And people always talk about that. So I know that as soon as Alex is done with his evening sessions, he always invites people, come join me for some fro-yo in the lobby afterwards.
So that's always a highlight. Well, and you know what's very special to me, and Brian, I suppose I've had this happen in the 20 years or 19, I suppose, that Angie and I have been coming. I would say on at least eight or nine occasions, a man would come up to me and he would say, Alex, pray with me. I was going to quit the ministry. I'm a pastor or this staff member. I had planned my exit strategy, but God has moved on my heart. I want to recommit my life to the Lord. I want to recommit to my calling.
I've had people tell me that their marriage, the last gasp, and they were going to divorce and they came to the Cove and God cemented their relationship back together. It's got to be very gratifying for you to be a part of something that truly changes people's lives and even eternity. That's right. Amen to that. It's an amazing place to work.
I don't even consider it work. I consider it ministry. I'm just using the abilities that God's given me. And what a privilege to be able to use that at the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove. Each day that I go in there and each day, literally since I've been there, I make it a point to when I drive through those gates, just like any guest would. But when I drive through the gates to show up at my work location, I thank God that he put, because I do see the ministry that happens. And we have pastor renewal retreats that go on each year. Next year we're planning on seven pastor renewal retreats. So if you're a local pastor or somewhere in the area and you want to come, you can get away for a free event that's donor funded and you can bring your spouse along with you and enjoy Bible teaching and encouraging time for pastors to just exactly what Alex said. You know, so many are struggling in ministry and just ready to call it quits and hang it up. And it's like these are times of renewal, just like the title of the retreat says it's a pastor renewal retreat to get them back focused on, okay, God has called me into this ministry and allowing his word to just influence their hearts. And as they meet with other pastors while they're there and talk with them, it's a great opportunity for them to kind of reignite that fire that maybe is getting a little low and maybe it has gone out.
So yeah. Well, Brian Coburn of the Cove, please convey our love and appreciation to your staff. And we are praying for you. And again, folks, we're almost out of time here, but come see us at the Cove next summer. Pray for what they're doing.
And again, their website is thecove.org, the Billy Graham Training Center just outside of Asheville, North Carolina. In the meantime, folks, remember 1 Corinthians 15, 58, which says, your labor in the Lord is not in vain. Your walk, your witness, your service, your giving, your prayers, they really do count for eternity. So we look forward to being with you next time.
In the meantime, stand strong for Jesus. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarland show. Are you planning to vote in 2024?
Hi, Alex McFarland here. You know, a lot of people are unsure if they should bother to vote. We've created what we call a first time voters guide. It's at alexmcfarland.com slash vote. There's some articles on why people of all ages and especially Christians should care enough to vote and what issues are significant and worthy of your attention. Download our free voters guide, alexmcfarland.com slash vote.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-10-28 14:37:09 / 2024-10-28 14:49:16 / 12
