The Future of Core Christianity

Hello and welcome to another episode of Core Christianity. I'm Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the Bible program where we answer your questions about the Christian faith every day. And we're really excited for this special program that we're recording today, which is just an opportunity for us to talk about, celebrate, really, what the Lord has done in Core Christianity over the last two years, thinking about just how the Lord has blessed us, and also to look forward to the things that the Lord is going to be doing in the future through your support and partnership. And so we are excited to be together today, aren't we, Mark?

Yeah, thanks, Adriel. I am glad to be on the program with you, just to, you know, reflect over these last 24, 25 months at God's gracious provision. It's great to be with you. Yeah, and to say thanks to the—I mean, really, to say thank you to our supporters, but ultimately to the Lord. I mean, like you said, His gracious provision, His kindness to us over the last two years in seeing all that He's done in and through Core Christianity. And I thought it'd be just good to open us up with a word of Scripture. I think it just speaks to, Mark, and I know you'd agree, what we long to see Core Christianity do in the lives of our listeners. This is Paul in Philippians chapter 1. He says in verse 8, Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. I love how the Apostle Paul brings together a love for the Lord with a true knowledge and all discernment related to God's Word. That really is the heart of what we've sought to do here at Core Christianity, isn't it?

Yeah, and I love that word, yearn, because I think that really expresses all of us on the core team of what we long to see happen in the lives of people in that building up of believers in Christ. Well, because many of you don't know Mark, I just want to take a brief moment to introduce him. Mark is married to Lucy and is the father of four grown children. Actually, prior to running Core Christianity, he was an international executive living overseas with his family all over the world while running overseas operations for the oil company in those different countries. And then Mark went back to earn his Master's in Divinity, which is a theological degree, so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to the scriptures.

He's actually an ordained minister now as well. We have the privilege of working together here at Core Christianity Radio. So let me just say again, Mark, welcome to the show, and I'm looking forward to talking about what the Lord is doing.

Yeah, me too. I think it's going to be fun to talk about how God has blessed over these past two years on Core Christianity Radio. It's kind of fun to be with you and think that it's been two years, so praise God for that. It's pretty amazing to think about all the things that the Lord has done over the time that we've been working on this broadcast and just seeing God take it from that starting point to where it is now, but just wanting to go a little bit deeper, Mark, into your background. Can you tell us why you left the corporate world to come and work with Core Christianity?

Yeah. When I met Lucy, my proposal essentially to her was, hey, let's go overseas and preach the gospel. And she asked me, well, as any good woman who was being courted would, so how is it that we're going to sustain ourselves in doing this, you know, kind of this visionary thing?

And I said, well, I don't really know, but let's believe the Lord. And he led us back to business school. And then we got to spend 20 years overseas and see the powerful work of the gospel in people's lives. I mean, I preached and I taught whenever I could, and we saw the gospel work in the lives of people and in the lives of our own children.

We raised four of our kids overseas. I'm reminded of Romans 1 16 that says the gospel is the power of God. And we saw that in all those different countries that we lived in, you know, the power of God through the salvation in Jesus Christ. And, you know, Lucy and I, towards the end of our career, we just decided we wanted to invest all that we had learned overseas and, you know, in this preaching and teaching and then from seminary, you know, to get the gospel out to a wider audience. So we wanted to live the second half of our lives pointing people to Christ, you know, to this great Savior who forgives our sins and invites us into his family, that family of living God.

So that's kind of a little bit about me. But the thing I liked when I met you, Adriel, is that you had that same passion. And I love that you were doing this church planting in San Diego. So why was it that you and Isabel decided to invest your lives in the gospel?

Yeah, it's so funny, Mark, when you're telling your story about you and Lucy and how she was curious, you know, how are you going to support us? My wife, I think, asked that same question and I'm glad to see that you two are a man of faith because I didn't have a very good answer either. You know, I just kind of said, well, this is in the Lord's hands and God has been really kind to us. But it really has been a yearning to bring that word up again, yearning to see God work in people's lives. And just an absolute confidence in God's word, in knowing that God builds his church, edifies his people through the scriptures, and that he uses people like me and you, as weak as we are, continue to advance his kingdom in the world by the grace of his Holy Spirit. Yeah, I'm very blessed to be able to do this. Just our family is so grateful to, one, be able to do the church planting thing in San Diego.

I mean, I love San Diego, grew up in San Diego. But then also to be able to reach a broader audience. And I think that that has always been the goal is we want to reach as many people as we can with the truth of God's word. And so that's my passion. And as you said, Mark, I know that that's your passion as well. I think that's why we make such a great team.

Yeah. And it's been fun. And I really am looking forward to seeing how God uses this.

And we'll talk a little bit more about that maybe later. But what about this last year? Core Christianity, this has been a wild ride this last year. Lots of blessings, right?

Absolutely. And some of them just complete surprises, at least to me. I mean, back in February, we won. It was called the New Broadcast Ministry of the Year. It was an award from the Bot Radio Network over at the National Religious Broadcasters Association. Just, I mean, really blown away by God's goodness to us.

I mean, I don't think any of us were expecting that. So it was neat to see just how the Lord really blessed us. So that was huge. And then in September, we celebrated our second year of broadcasting.

So that was another really big milestone. I mean, just committed to answering people's questions about the faith. One of the things I know as a pastor is that people have questions. Our kids have questions. And if we're not digging into the scriptures and providing those biblical answers, they're going to find answers somewhere else.

That's our desire. We've answered more than 2,500 questions to date, which is almost hard to even believe. Well, I'll tell you, I love listening to those questions. When I listen to you guys, typically when I'm driving, I'm encouraged because I think to myself, gee, that's the way I need to answer that question, right?

And I think you're right. I mean, people still have so many questions. I still have questions. And I still am looking for answers and coming across, you know, passages in the scripture when I'm doing my quiet times and stuff. And I think, yeah, you know, I got to pursue that.

I need to know the answer to that question. And I think that's what you and Bill do so well is you're answering these questions that we need answers to that can encourage us and build us up in our faith. And I know some of these programs have been very popular.

You happen to know what the top three programs are? Yeah, it's actually really interesting to look at the numbers on that. Number one, believe it or not, is does God reveal himself in other religions? And I think that just speaks to something that so many people are asking today. Not just people in the church, but you think about how outside of the church, so many people, this is sort of this mantra, you know, always lead to God. And so people want to be able to respond to that with scripture, with something more than just, well, I disagree with that. And so I think that's one of the reasons why that happened to be our number one at least listened to episode for this last year. Number two was how should Christians respond to racism?

And you think of a lot of the tension that we've had in our country over the last year. I mean, really a relevant question. And we want to be able to dig into the scriptures to answer those kinds of questions.

So that was number two. And number three, do we enter the presence of God at death or at the resurrection? Believe it or not, we've gotten that question actually quite a few times. But I think a lot of people just have this assumption that, hey, the Christian life is about trusting in Jesus so that you can get to heaven when you die. We don't have this robust understanding of everything that Christ accomplished for us from his life to his death to his resurrection, so that we would have the hope of the resurrection as well. The bodies that we're in that are breaking down day by day decaying, knowing that one day God is going to restore those as well. And so number four was do all dogs go to heaven?

So I'm just joking. Well, yeah. Well, it's interesting on the number three, entering the presence of God at death. You know, you remember a few years ago, our youngest daughter coming home from university was killed in a car accident, which was, of course, a complete shock to us. And when we gathered as a family, that was the question that all of the kids wanted to know. Where is Julia right now?

They wanted to know. And what is our hope? Please, Dad, give us some basis for the hope. And the hope really was that she was in the presence of God, but we would be reunited with her and the Savior at the resurrection.

What a great hope that was. So it's just so cool that people are thinking about that, right, that they are actually contemplating what happens when they die. And Mark, I just want to say thank you for sharing just that information about your youngest daughter, because it does highlight, I think, how important it is for us to know the truth. I mean, the stuff we're talking about in God's word is insanely practical. And you think about the year that we've had, so many of us with COVID-19, the jobs, I mean, all of these things that people need.

They need, we need the truth of God's word, and we need to understand it rightly. That's why we're committed every day to answering these questions, so we're so thrilled. The Lord really has blessed us. I mean, we're amazed at how the program reaches people all over the world. In terms of our podcasts downloaded, our Core Christianity podcast has been downloaded over 2.5 million times, which is mind-boggling to me, but it's so encouraging. And that includes downloads in over 144 countries, and so we're just, the Lord really has blessed us, both on the radio and on the podcast. It's exciting for me to hear you talk about that because that was really Lucy and I's heartbeat and still is, you know, to really get this gospel of Jesus Christ out to the nations. And that gives me this opportunity to thank all of those who are listening who have supported the program. One of my jobs as the president is raising funds for Core Christianity radio and podcast.

And we just could not do this without you. So I want to thank all of those who have sent in gifts large and small that help us keep getting this program out. Just a little bit of explanation about how that works. You know, we don't have a big pool of funds. We don't have a foundation or a company that supports a radio program. It relies completely on the gifts of those who give to keep the program on the air. To the extent that people give, we're able to put it on the air. So every month we praise God for the supporters who have given, we know, sacrificially with gifts large and small. We thank the Lord for those gifts. And our prayer is that we can get enough gifts on a regular basis to keep getting this gospel out.

Thanks for allowing us this great privilege of broadcasting this great news of Jesus Christ. And one of the things that we continue to do at CoreChristianity.com is to provide resources for our listeners. Adriel, could you maybe describe some of those resources that we're putting together for folks that listen to Core Radio?

Yeah, I'd love to. On our website, CoreChristianity.com, we've added to our growing library of resources. I'd encourage you, if you're a faithful listener to Core Christianity, check out those resources. We add new materials every day that help believers in their Christian life. Since the Gospel of John Bible study was so successful last year, we actually realized people were hungry for these kinds of materials.

And ultimately, we want to help churches get the gospel right and get the gospel out, as you've already said, Mark. So we have more Bible studies ready to go. The Book of Romans Bible study, we just actually released a new Bible study called How to Read the Bible, which is one of the things we're seeing a lot on this program, Mark, is there are a lot of questions about just how to understand the Bible. How can I, as a Christian who wants to read the Scriptures, grow in my understanding of what God's Word says?

And so that was big. And another one that we know is going to be really exciting for our listeners is the Book of Revelation, which is going to be available next year, and so look out for that Bible study. We also created a Christmas devotional, I mean, just really a wonderful resource for this time of the year, and a beginner's Bible reading plan for the upcoming year 2021, wanting people to dig into the Scriptures. And we also publish about five core articles per week over at corechristianity.com.

That's each day there's a new article about the Christian life, about the Bible. We've got about 1,200 articles available already, and those are all just wonderful resources that you can get a hold of. We love providing those resources, and we love to hear from you when you found a resource that's helpful to you, or maybe you found one of the podcasts or radio programs particularly helpful. Just to let you know that when you write to us, we read every note, we listen to every call, and we love to hear from you. It's a real buzz for us to know that this radio program is making a difference in people's lives. Adriel, just maybe you can share one comment from one of our listeners about how they were encouraged with Core Christianity.

Yeah, I'd love to. And this was actually a message that I received just a couple of weeks ago. Hey, Adriel, I just wanted to thank you for the ministry that you have done through the Core Christianity show. I've been listening regularly for a few months. Because of your show, I have noticed much more peace and rest in my life, and much less restlessness and anxiety. Instead of focusing so much on how well I am obeying God, you've helped me to focus more on the gospel and on the gracious God who planned, accomplished, is accomplishing, and will accomplish that redemption. So thank you again for helping me better understand the gospel and how to live in light of it.

And I just have to say, Mark, we get messages like this all the time, and it really is so encouraging, especially thinking back to what you had said earlier about really wanting to call people to partner with us. I mean, this is what it's all about. It's not just so that people can grow in their sort of head knowledge about who God is. No, we want lives to be transformed. And we've seen over and over again over the last two years, people's lives really being impacted by the Word, by the Word of God. And so that's what our partners help us with.

Yeah, amen. Super encouraging. Folks, we love hearing from you and how this radio and podcast helps you. So let us know.

Write to us with your questions. We're all in this together. Thanks for your support and prayers. But that's the last year. We have a couple other exciting announcements. Yeah, Mark, I mean, I'm just so excited about the direction we're heading here in the new year in 2021. It's really a direction we've been planning for for a while.

And now to be able to see it come together is just really so exciting. We're planning on going live at the beginning of the year. So in January, Core Christianity is going to transition from being prerecorded to a live broadcast meeting. People are going to call and it's going to be real time answering questions about the faith.

So let me just say with that, please keep me in your prayers and especially that the Lord would give me wisdom. But I am so excited to be able to interact with callers and be able to have a little bit more of a back and forth. I think it's a lot more personal and just to encourage people and to continue to encourage people with the Word of God. And so that's a huge thing, Mark. We're really excited about the live program. Yeah, as you say, you know, this has been a dream. We've been working on it for months. You know, I applaud you guys and all the hard work that you and the guys behind the microphone have been putting in and all the counsel that we've got. I'm really looking forward to, you know, January 18th and the kickoff of our live core radio program.

You know, there really isn't any other program like this that's live coast to coast. And so, folks, if you've been wanting to get on primetime radio, this is your opportunity with your difficult questions. We may even introduce something called Stump Pastor Adriel. But yeah, that's a new thing we're thinking. We just surprised you about it.

As Adriel said, you know, seriously, would you please pray for us? There is a lot of moving pieces in a live radio program, but we are thrilled to be able to do this. Now, while we're doing the live radio program, we're still also going to do a podcast, which is going to go out around the world. So we're hoping that that interaction that you've talked about, Adriel, between you and the caller, will just really make for an encouraging, exciting program.

It really is. I mean, it's something that we've been praying for and now looking forward to and just excited to see how the Lord is going to continue to use the program with this new format. I know it's going to be really exciting, but there's another very exciting development that is taking place here at Core Christianity. And that is that we're taking Core Christianity to the Middle East and North Africa, believe it or not. Because of the gifts of our listeners, we plan to translate our Core Christianity into Arabic and reach our Arabic-speaking neighbors with the good news of Jesus Christ.

I mean, over 400 million people speak Arabic, and just like us, they need to hear the good news of the gospel. And so we're looking forward to launching this new outreach in 2021. Thank you again to our listeners who pray for and support us and allow us to get the good news out, both in this country and around the world. And I know, Mark, that that's, again, a part of the vision that you've always had.

And I think it's, I mean, really, it's ultimately the Great Commission, right? Jesus talked about going into all the world and making disciples. And that's what we want to participate in here at Core Christianity is the mission of Jesus in doing just that. Adriel, it's really fun to hear you talking about the Middle East and North Africa and this great opportunity the Lord has given us through the gifts of our friends who are helping us get Core Christianity out there. As it turns out, when I met Lucy and asked her to marry me, we ended up, shortly after that, moving to Cairo.

That was that was our first international assignment. I went over there to study Arabic in Cairo and Egypt, and it was a wonderful time to be among people who know about Jesus from the Quran they call Isa, but they don't have a accurate understanding, actually, of who Jesus is. As I made friendships over there in Cairo, I would go out at night. The way it worked is I would go out about 10 at night and I'd get back in in the morning because the guys would go out and we would go out and we would literally all night long talk about the gospel and how it was contradicting the Quran.

Of course, they were all trying to convert me. Now, for Lucy and I to see that Core Radio is actually going to go back into that place where we were so many years ago. It's just thrilling, not just that we're going into those various places, but also here in the United States and in countries around the world, there are large Arabic speaking populations that we hope to reach with this Arabic Core Christianity. Friends, we're just so grateful for all that the Lord has done over the last couple of years, and we really are.

I mean, even after this year, it's been a really hard year for many people. We are so excited about God's continued steadfast love to his people and the fact that the gospel is still going out. I mean, Jesus said it, he made it very clear, I'm going to build my church and the gates of hell are not going to prevail against her. So we have the sure promise of Jesus Christ that he's going to build his church through the word of God. So what a blessing it is to be able to partner together with you and to continue to share that message both here in the United States and throughout the world. Thank you again for your support.

And Hayes, we've been talking about this. If the Lord has placed it on your heart to support us in the work that we're doing, really wanting to get the gospel out to as many people as possible, would you give us a gift? You could give us a call at 1-833-843-2673, that's 1-833-THE-CORE, or just go to corechristianity.com slash donate in order to give through our website. As we've already said, we can't do this without you. And what a privilege it is to partner together side by side for the faith of the gospel. Folks, we know 2020 has been a tough year here in our country. And we know it's not just here, but it's around the world. People need to hear the gospel.

You know, I think this current crisis with COVID reveals how something like a virus, something we can't even see with our own eyes, can reveal just how weak we are. And that should drive us to Christ. I know it does, it drives me to Christ and on my knees as I pray for my family and pray that the Lord would spare them from this. Thank you, friends, for standing with us to get the gospel out. Please continue to pray for us during 2021 as we proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We can't do it without you. And as we close, Adriel, could I ask you to close us out with prayer?

Yeah, absolutely. Heavenly Father, we love You and we thank You for Your faithfulness to us, Lord. Your faithfulness ultimately to Your Son, Jesus, and the building of His kingdom. And God that You use us to preach that message of the gospel so that people might turn to You through Your Son, Jesus. We pray, Lord, that as we continue to seek to be faithful to Your word, that You would bless us, that You would bless our efforts, Lord, with the live launch here in January. God, that You would be with us, that You would give us wisdom, that ultimately, Lord, You would really be, through Your word, transforming the lives of the people who hear this program. And then also, Lord, we think of just the wonderful news about getting core Christianity out to the Middle East and North Africa. We pray, God, for a great harvest there as well. Oh, Lord, we give You thanks for letting us partner together in this mission. We look to You, Lord, to continue to build the church, and we know with confidence that You will do just that. Thank You, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. Oh, amen. And brothers and sisters out there, thank you for your support. Thanks for listening. Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas. The truth of God's word together.