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That's right. We appreciate every single one of you. Now let's get back to the show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. You can find us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.
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Leave us a good five-star review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you get your podcasting content from. Link is going to be in the description below. Dr. Shah, we made it, my friend. Man, we're here. We've been talking about this for how long? About a year. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Since the last one, when you guys came back here, I was so excited about being here. And here we are. Here we are, man. One plane ride later, a trade show booth set up, and we are ready to roll.
Direct to, no connections, no nothing, no straight from RDU straight to Dallas, and we're here. I didn't know we were both going to wear purple today. We're kind of in the purple family. We're in the purple zone today.
Purple is the color theme for NRB 2025. Amen. It's what great things the king has done for us. That's why we're sons of the king.
There you go. Our verse of the day today is coming to us from 1 Peter chapter two, verse 25. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. How many times, Dr. Shah, have I felt like the sheep going astray?
You know what I mean? It's like one of those things where it's like you try to make the right decisions in life. You try to do the right things, live the good Christian life. But then at the end of the day, we are all sheep who've gone astray all the times that we stray from Christ. And yet he takes us back.
That's right. And that's, that's, that's that whole parable about the shepherd leaving the 99 and going after the one, because he's not going to say, well, that's just the one sheep that got away and maybe the sheep deserved it. Maybe the sheep, you know, it's lame. We're probably dead by now. I'm not worrying, worrying about that sheep.
No, he, instead he leaves the 99, goes after the one, brings them back. And then there's great rejoicing over the fact that this one that had gone astray was lost, is now back. So beautiful. Well, yeah, it's a great, great message there for the Christian life. That's so encouraging. Speaking of encouraging, it's encouraging to be here at NRB 2025. There's such an excitement in the air as people are just kind of milling around and recording things and interviewing and setting up booths.
It's just, I remember this from last year and I'm excited to be back. Well, we were talking about it kind of before we started the show. We were like, you know, this is the one place where, you know, it's kind of weird when you're doing a show in public, right? You go to like a coffee house or something. You're like, well, we could just do a quick podcast or whatever, but it's weird because everyone else is doing their own thing. And then you're setting up cameras and checking yourself in the monitor and listening to your levels. But this is like the one place where everyone's doing that.
You're almost weird if you're not doing a show from the floor. That's right. I mean, and that's the thing. Being here, nothing seems odd because you are so connected.
I mean, you are trying to build God's kingdom and using broadcasting, you're using media to do that. So that's, that's exciting to be here. Oh yeah. A hundred percent.
A hundred percent. Now, Dr. Chah, we know you talked about it on the show, but you've been to NRB before. This isn't your first time at NRB.
Yes. The first time I went, I think it was 1993. We're the first and only time. And I mentioned this on the show before I was at a low point in my life and felt like, you know, life just had taken a downward turn and but, but didn't realize at the time that God was using that low point in my life to bring me back to him. And so that happened and I came back from my brother's place in Philadelphia and I was working in a school communication department, which was sort of in the basement of this building. And my professor came, Mr. O'Brien, and he said, Hey, you're going to the NRB? I said, no, you know, remember I didn't sign up to go. No, I'm not going. He said, well, you're going.
I said, I don't have the money to do that. He said, nope, everything paid for, somebody dropped off. That's a great feeling. And everything, all you gotta do is go. And I promise you, you're not going to regret it. And I was like, okay, I'll go. When are we leaving? Oh, we're leaving tomorrow.
I said, okay. Yeah. I mean, I, I mean, well, home was literally, cause it was in those a boys dormitory and the communications department was in the basement of that same dormitory. I'm a pretty big department.
And so I was like, I got to go upstairs and pack. Wow. Life changing. I got to meet people like Charles Stanley. Let's see, met Oliver North there. I met so many famous, Carmen, the singer. Yeah.
That was about the time he had this, his album, the standard, I believe it was released. And so it was a big deal coming back to America, you know? So that was my introduction to this world. So it looks like nothing has changed, but at the same time, it seems so much has changed.
Yeah. I can imagine the technological revolution that's happened since the nineties, but then also just the atmosphere of it. The, the, the like, and this right now, like this is set up day, like this is kind of light, you know what I mean? Like there's people around, like there's like vehicles driving by as we're doing the show and it's, there's like people talking and setting up, but this is still very much like set up day.
Like the carpet's not even down on the floor yet. But I remember like last year we were able to come, you guys, you and David and Nicholas were in Egypt filming and then Nicole was with you guys as well. And it was really cool because there was a lot of people who stopped by who were really interested in the show.
And a lot of them were like Christians from the East, Christians from like Pakistan, Asia and stuff. And we're wanting to be like, uh, they were wanting to take this show and like your books and translate them for Christians in the East. And so we came back and said, okay, we're going to make that sort of part of our strategy for 2025. So I'm excited to see how, cause like right now it's still set up day, but tomorrow when the convention actually begins, I'm excited to see how people actually latch onto that. Yeah.
What are some things that you just walking around today? And as we're sitting here in the booth, what are some things that you notice that feel the same and what are some things that feel very different to when you read an interview last time? So bottom line, this is really just a Christian broadcasters trade show, right? Okay. That's what this is.
Christian broadcasters trade show, right? Right. So that aspect does not change.
I mean, you see people coming in, they have the trade banners, they have their tables, their chairs, uh, you know, their business cards, their pamphlets. So that part is kind of funny, but I mean, it's exactly the same. Nothing has changed in like what, 32 years, you know, but at the same time, a lot has changed because a lot of those people are not here.
They're gone to heaven 30 years ago. You notice a lot has, has developed and changed through the years, but then there are certain things that, uh, are like technology has changed. Journalism has changed, uh, cameras, lights and all this. Yeah. It's all new.
This is all advanced, advanced technology. Yeah. What about, um, this, this is not your first time to Texas, right? This is my first time ever being in Texas. No, I've been to Texas several times, but, uh, but also, uh, in a sense, I'm used to seeing this when I come to Texas because I usually come to the ETS, which is evangelical theological society.
And they also have their boots set up, but it's usually colleges and seminaries and publishing houses. So, so it seems like I'm back at ETS again, but it's not ETS. Yeah. But it's very different.
It's not academic books other than maybe mine over here. Uh, but yeah, but it's the same feel, but it's different. It's like this.
It's a trade show, but for academia. Right. Right. Right. That's ETS.
Those were a big hook for people last year as they were walking by. Cause we're talking about a radio show that you have books about textual criticism on the table. And we do that intentionally because people need to understand that the whole heart behind Clearview today is that we engage both heart and mind. That's right. It's not just, you know, fluff pieces.
It's not just kind of feel good. Here's your Christian devotion for the day. We talk about how to apply the Bible to your lives strategies, but also we talk about things like textual criticism. We talk about deep issues of theology research that you're doing. Um, and that's important for people, the average Christian listener to be exposed to that. These are all things that you're interested in, Dr. Shaw. These are all things that not even you're interested in, you're passionate about. God has given you these things. And I think one of the things that people tend to miss is they think when you have an organization or show like this, the organization or the show is the end unto itself rather than the person who God has laid all that stuff on their heart.
You know what I mean? And so I think when people come to the show, they're trying to find out like, what is the show? But really the show is like, this is a man who God has laid on his heart to touch people through academics, through broadcasting, through drama at our church, through music for their albums. And so I think it's really interesting where when people come up, we have your face on these banners because we want people to see this is a person that God is using to touch the world. And I think a lot of people miss that, but like you walk around and you see all these banners and yes, most of them are stock, but then you start to see recognizable faces. Like I saw James Earl Jones over there, rest in peace, but there's lots of recognizable faces in the ministry. Like I don't want to say Christian celebrities, but you understand what I mean? God is elevating certain people. And I think that's what makes NRB really special is that they're not coming to connect with a show. They're coming to connect with a person and a heart and a ministry that God has placed on that person.
In a sense, that's a hundred percent true. It's that person that the heart of that person, the academic desire, that's who I am, but it's also the giftedness of that person. What are they driven to do? Has God called them to be a Bible teacher? Has God called them to be a biblical scholar? Has God called them to be an evangelist, an apologist, a missionary?
So it is that person. And you know, my heart, my heart is our tagline, which is engaging the mind and the heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mind is scholarship.
Heart is evangelism, reaching people for the gospel of Christ. But it's much more than just a man. If you ask any of the successful people here who are, who have been doing this for a long time on a much greater scale than we are, and we're headed that way, I believe, they will tell you it's not a person. It's also a team. And it's without this team right here, without John and Ryan and David and Nick's not here, Ellie, Adam, and in fact, our whole Clearview Today staff, without them, this show would not be possible. So yes, it is a person, but no, it's not just a person. True.
True. Hey, Clearview Today family. Thank you so much for tuning into the show. We're having a great time so far. Listen, if this show has been a source of encouragement and insight for you, we want to take a second and just ask you to consider supporting us financially.
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All right, let's get back to the show. And you know, God has also blessed us with a wonderful network. And we were kind of talking about it at lunch. We just went out to lunch right before we did this and we were talking about just the ways that God opened our eyes.
Definitely ways that I could not have foreseen. And maybe we'll tell that story one day. I don't know if we've ever told it on the podcast. I don't think we have.
But maybe we'll tell it one day. But God definitely used an unconventional means to make the show come about through Stu Epperson and everybody here at The Truth Network that syndicates the show. You know, one of the most exciting things to me as we're sitting here talking and as I'm looking around and seeing people set up from all different corners of the world and different ministries that impact lives, there's a common desire that knits us all together and that's that people would come to know Christ and that God's word would be proclaimed. And here it's through the means of broadcasting and through journalism and through podcasting and radio. But to see other people, I feel like sometimes we can get our own boxes so much, we can get our own little corners of ministry.
We forget that there's other people that are on this journey with us and other people who have the same heart that we do and other people who are striving for the same thing. And NRB is a great chance for bringing those people together to encourage one another. That's right. Yeah. Yeah.
You don't have to be here, but you will lose a lot by not being here. Yeah. I think that's a good point.
Yeah. Same thing with ETS. I don't have to go to ETS to be an academic scholar. All I got to do is go get a PhD and I am one.
But not going to ETS, I miss out on a lot. A lot of opportunities, a lot of time to connect with people, a lot of peer reviews. This is in a sense a peer review, but in the field of Christian broadcasting world. I think that's a lesson you taught me early on is that I came up in an era where YouTube, I think YouTube started in like 2005 and people started getting really famous just posting videos to the internet. And so I think it tricked people into thinking you can just do this. Yeah. You don't have to be anywhere. You don't have to go anywhere. Just do what you got.
Do what you can with what you have in your world, in your basement. And because it worked for a select few people, I think people got tricked into thinking that's the template. And so I remember talking to you about like, we were making tons and tons and tons of YouTube videos and I was like, none of them are catching on.
None of these are catching fire. We're following the template. We're doing things. And I remember you said, you know, there's a conversation happening. There are, there is a group of people and I'm not talking about like a shadow of the Illuminati thing, but there is a community of people who are making this happen. And if you're not in that conversation, then it's not going to happen.
So how do you get yourself into this conversation? And that's why, you know, by God's grace and through the extreme hard work of you guys that we are here today, I mean hard work. And I want to tell our listening audience, our viewing audience, whether it's on radio or YouTube or podcasting our team here works so hard. I mean, I've seen this just in the past day of traveling, but even months and prep preparation for this, this this entire trip that this has been going on and has been quite amazing.
Thank you. Do you have any goals, any goals for this NRB, like any, any particular people you want to talk to any people, there's lots of ministries. There's a lot of, you know, what, what I saw a lot of is a lot of Christians United for Israel. I definitely want to get them on the show.
I mean, we support Israel big time. But anybody that you're looking forward to meeting, particularly, I mean, I've seen just, just walking around, I've seen the signs. Like I saw D. James Kennedy's ministry over there. So I was like, Oh man, I definitely want to swing by. I know he's in heaven.
He's been, he's been in heaven for a long time now or with the Lord. I should say more specifically if you're going to get into eschatology, but anyways but I want to, I want to stop by that booth and I saw them set up and I was like, wow, this is awesome. Several, several different groups I want to speak to. Yeah. Same, same. We were talking about, we saw Alex McFarland at lunch. He's a great apologist.
What a great job he has been doing for years. So I was like, I'm going to, I'm going to speak to him for a second. And then I went to go to his table. I was just going to shake his hand.
He wasn't there. And so I was like, Oh, I, I guess I missed it. So I went back to the table and they were like, Ryan was like, he just stepped out to take a phone call. I was like, Oh, I'm not going to bother him on his phone call. So I just went to the restroom. He was in there.
I was like, Oh no, I don't know if I want to do this in the restroom. And he was like, Oh, Hey. And I was like, Hey, we've met before. He was like, yeah, Dr. Shah. I was like, Dr. Shah, he was on your show. He was like, yeah. He was like, Hey, it's sorry. I wish I had something to give you.
I was like, no, no, I'm good. So he was like, I want to connect with Dr. Shah later. So it just, it just, just chance encounters like that. Last year we met a who's the guy from wizards of Waverly place that you really liked, David Henry. Just from Disney channel, Kevin Sorbo as well. I met a bunch of people just, just, you never know who you're fine walking around the thing is like sometimes, sometimes I'm the guy who's like, I'm going to go talk to this guy. Cause like David Henry, I had no clue who he was. So Ryan was like, Oh my gosh, I think that's the guy from Disney channel. So I was like, Oh, I'm not scared. I'll go talk to him. So I went and talked to him, brought him back to the table. But then we saw Kevin Sorbo and I was like, Oh, I don't know. And Ellie was like, no, forget that. He's coming home with a, he's going home with a clear read today.
And he did. Absolutely. Lots and lots of cool things. It brings up an important conversation. We were talking about this earlier, but the importance of just showing up the importance of being there and being in the conversation.
Uh, Dr. Shah, do you want to talk about that a little bit? Why we're here other than just to, you know, Hey, listen to the clear read today show. Why is it important to just show up? Well, let me just say something for those who may be, may not be going into the Christian ministry or broadcasting ministry, none of that. Okay.
So I'm speaking to all of all people who want to be successful in their line of work. As John mentioned a few moments ago, there is a conversation taking place and you need to be there in that conversation. You need to figure out what does that conversation look like? Who are those people? Where are those people?
Who are the experts in the field? Do they get together? Okay. There is a guild and sometimes it may be hard to kind of enter or, you know, get inside that guild, but find out, make friends. Okay. Uh, don't just go there to get also go in to give.
Right. So here we are. Uh, look, I want to learn, I want to get, I want to, I want to be what you're doing. I want to learn, can you help me? But here's how I can contribute. I can help you set up your booth. Maybe I can help do whatever, uh, I would love to, you know, some, so don't just come with your hands open, also come with something in your hands to give, make connections like that.
And what you'll find is that when you get into that conversation, it's not immediately that all of a sudden you're the success, you know, you're the star. No, it may take years, but this is how you do it. This is how you do it. Yeah. So, and that's what we're doing here. You know, we have a content, we have, uh, truth, we have, um, you know, education, we have ministry experience.
We have a lot of giftedness, whether it's in, um, theology or in the student ministry or music, uh, all these things, we have that, but now how can we take this beyond the four walls of our church into the larger community? That's what we're trying to do. Exactly.
Right. And I'm really glad that you're able to come this year and that you're actually here in person because last year was very much that year for us where it's like, I'm here to soak this in. I'm here to talk to people, learn how this is done. Um, you know, hand out our cards, give people our cards.
This is Dr. Shah show. We, uh, we actually did make a great few connections. That's how we met Alex McFarland and his team and Sean Con and all the people that we've had on the podcast and the radio show. But I like now that you're here because now it's a matter of, okay, I am here still to learn, but we also have something to give something that we're proud of.
Yes. One of the things we were talking about, uh, we were kind of joking around at lunch is that the, from the moment we landed in Texas, we saw Texas branding. We need a show on that. We're going to do a show on that, but there's just like Texas branding everywhere. It made me realize like these people are very proud of what they are. They want a state pride star state star state.
They are going to remind you at every moment you are in Texas. And I wonder why we can, this can be its whole own show, but why don't Christians have that? We have the gospel, we have the good news, the key to salvation. And we're like, Hey, it's, you know, if, if, if God leads you take it.
I like that we're here and saying not only is this show a fun and engaging, this is something you need in your life and to have the pride and the confidence that God has given you to tell people. Amen. Yeah, absolutely. It's important for us as believers to, you know, if we, if we truly believe that God changes our lives and we truly believe that God's word is transformative, it's important for us to live like that. It's important for us to share that message with other people.
So many times I feel like Christians confuse humility with quietness. Yes. Yes. Yes. And we just sort of like kind of shirk in the corner, like we're just going to be humble, meek and mild, very gentle, just kind of quiet over here. I've done that before.
I think I, I I've done that where it's like, I have something that I truly believe is good, whether it's an album or a show or Dr. One of Dr. Shove's books, I believe it's good, but if I act proud of it, people will think I'm arrogant. So I better not, but then the message goes unheard. Yeah.
And, and I don't want that ever. Um, but I'm really excited for NRB. We're going to have a ton of, ton of, ton of great conversations with people here, people on the floor, Dr. Shaw, just having, uh, people who knows, who knows what God is going to work through it. That's right.
That's right. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, write in and let us know two five two five eight two five zero two eight. Or you can visit us online at clear view today show.com. Big thanks to all of our sponsors for making today's episode possible. Don't forget, you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes. If you want to re-listen or share it with a friend and you can always support us financially at clear view today show.com Johnny, you want to plug as we close?
This is typically where I'd say Dallas we're coming at you, but Dallas right here, we are here, baby. Um, yeah, definitely want to plug Dr. Sean, Nicole's book, 30 days of praying through America. We're actually going to be giving that away. Do you want to talk about some of our giveaways? Absolutely. So, um, you know, one of the things that we do as people come to the table is, uh, we have them fill out their information and they are, they're entered to win a giveaway for, uh, we've got all of Dr. Sean's books, uh, changing the go post of new text and textual criticism.
Can we recover the original text of the new Testament? Uh, the three devotionals, uh, 30 days, uh, through a crisis, 30 days to a new beginning and 30 days of praying for America. We've got two brand new clear read today show mugs and two copies of the brand new album heaven here and now that we will be giving away to people who sign up to connect with the clear view today show.
That's right. Also our single great and awesome. It should be out in the next couple of days. I just got the final mix.
We were in lunch and I got the final mix. So now it's just a matter of getting the artwork, getting the copyright, all that stuff, but that will be out. I know we've been teasing that for quite a while. We also have these really great cards. I'm going to show you guys this. We have these really, really great cards. If you're watching, you never really get a chance to be able to do this, but these are our cards. This is all where our, all the places our show is. But if you look on the back, you can pause the video right here. You can pause at a fiddle focus.
Um, you can pause that video, follow that QR code. This is the gospel presentation. We never really talk about this on the show. I think we probably should. Um, we can, we can, we can leave this, but these are what we hand out to people. We've got these at the church. We can ship them to you for you and your church if you ever want some of these. But this, this is just the gospel presentation. And so if there's someone in your life that you know that needs Christ, you can, uh, you can send them this QR code. You can send them the screenshot or you can just follow the link yourself and send them the link. But it's Dr. Shaw just explaining the gospel and then explaining what the Clearview Today show is all about.
That's right. Lots of great Dallas, NRB 2025 content coming your way. Stay tuned the rest of this week. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.
