Great America Media

This is the Truth Network. Kingdom Pursuits, where you hear from ordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together, we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into kingdom pursuits.

Now, live from the Truth Booth, your host, Robbie Dillmore. What a show we have lined up for you today! As we're headed into November and people are starting to turn their minds towards Christmas a little bit, we've got first up, we got Elena Hagermeyer, and she is with Operation Christian Christmas Child, a Smaritons purse. How fun, Elena! It's that time of year.

It is. I'm so excited. And so, for those of you who have not heard of Operation Christmas Child, could you give them the elevator speech? I guess. Oh, sure.

So Operation Christmas Child is under the umbrella of Samaritan's Purse, and we are an organization that basically packs shoe boxes. With necessary things for children around the world, like school supplies, hygiene items, things like that, as well as fun toys, and that's a tangible way of us to show them not only our love for them and hope and joy, but also a intangible way of showing God's love for them as well.

So. Yeah, absolutely beautiful, and we're excited. This time, is there a week or weekend that is kind of wrapping up, or when when can people do that? Yeah, so actually, the National Collection Week is November sixteenth through the twenty third.

Okay, and so that is the week that you would want to. Drop off your shoeboxes at a local drop-off location, which you could find all of that information at SamaritansFirst.org/occ, and you just put in your zip code, and you could find the closest drop-off location for you for that week. Right, and so again, if if you go to KingdomPursuits dot com, you're going to see I have a big link there, where you can you know link up to Operation Christmas Child on Smirnoff and Persis website, and see the collection dates and all those kind of collection places and all that kind of thing. And I know Elena's got some special stories for us. That we're going to hear as we go through the show, but also we got Mike Mahanahan with us, and Mike, you wrote the book "The Greatest Contest," and we're excited to hear about that.

Yes, hi, Robbie. Nice. It's good to be here with you today. Yeah, it's wonderful to be with you.

So, tell us a little bit about the greatest contest. Sure, it's a biblical truth that we often miss. And the point of the book is that God's a loving Father that uses trials and contests to make us better.

So, at the opening of the book, I call out Appendix A, where I have over 25 examples of God actually testing His people. And when we realize that these trials are designed by God, I think it can change our attitude because we actually see God working in our lives. You know, James says, "Count it all joy, brethren, when you suffer various trials." And I didn't understand that for many years, but but I do now. And I look back and I see character building and discipline and that all kinds of good things in our lives. I think that's what James had in mind.

Absolutely. When I think about Christmas, you know, clearly, you know, for Zacharias and his wife, they had the severe trial of not being able to have a child, and and then oh, the joy it brought in John the Baptist. You know, is worth worth talking about that this time of year.

So that's absolutely beautiful and. Speaking of Christmas, besides the great contest and besides Operation Christmas Child, we have Caitlin Habrick with us, and Caitlin, you have got this amazing right. It's called Great American Media launches an outreach to bring Christmas to small town American churches, and I was looking at that, and it's absolutely spectacular. What the message you guys are trying to get across? Robbie, thanks so much for having me on the show.

It is. Such a joy! What I get to do every day.

So, for those who don't know, Great American Media is a media company. We have two cable channels: Great American Family, Great American Faith and Living, a streaming service, Great American Pureflix, and a few other channels.

So, we strive to provide an alternative to mainstream media. We create content and programming that uplifts and celebrates and supports faith, family, and country.

So, we do a lot of original programming. Right now, we're in Christmas, 24/7. We have 18 new Christmas movies, but outside of that, you know, we really want to celebrate. Everyday people who are, you know, bringing our mission to life every day. We celebrate Christmas as it's meant to be, and your local churches are there for their communities every day, serving their congregations in a way that just means so much to us.

So we wanted to take a this season to celebrate them and give back to them. Right, and what you don't know, Caitlin, is that I'm, I'm the pastor of a small town church in Ramseur, North Carolina, and and the website, what it showed, and certainly all pastors out there pay attention. This was amazing. It said that already. Most families are searching for where they're going to go for Christmas Eve service, right?

And tragically, in my view—I mean, tragically—you'll find very, very few churches, actually, much anymore, that have Christmas Eve services, and even way fewer that actually have Christmas Day services. And so, if you think about it, if there's people out there that want that kind of thing, you can make your church. I just thought that was a really Wonderful wake up call to Robbie. If nobody else, I don't know. Like we need to put that on our website.

This is what we're doing, and we want you to come join us. As Christmas is this amazing time that we get to celebrate every year that that Jesus would come. I just love it. I love what you're doing. What Samaritans Pers is doing.

As I was thinking about that, Elena, this is a pretty good match, right? Oh, absolutely! This is a good time for us to all be talking about how God's love is just reaching everybody, even the children and the other side of the world, simply by packing a box. Oh, it's it is, and so even as you're talking to people, because you see the Christmas lights going up and the. Commercials are changing on TV, and it's on people's minds.

You know, it's just an open invitation to talk about this contest, right, Mike? I mean, yes, that's exactly right. You know, Isaiah forty-three, God speaks very clearly. He says. Bring my sons and daughters from afar, those whom I've created for my glory.

I mean, that's our life mission. And what you know, Elena and Caitlin are talking about are things that glorify God. And that's really one of the major themes in our book, is to basically say, you know, God's glory is the reason why you exist. And we need to get back to fundamentals. There's a lot of liberal theology, and you know.

Sort of entertainment has crept into the church, and what you guys are talking about is getting back to a Christmas Eve service. That's that's what we need. We need just basic, you know, God's truth in the church, and we need to push back on some of the liberal theological developments that I see happening all over the world. Yeah, it's just an opportunity because. You know, I just thought, you know, I can remember all those Christmas eves, and again, I I had a chance last year to to worship on Christmas Eve again, and I thought, you know, why have we been not doing this for so long?

It's kind of crazy, that that here it's his birthday, and here we got a we got a chance to take part in that, and so I'm so grateful that for what you guys are doing, and and I think about that with Operation Christmas Child. A lot of those kids, Elena, have never had a chance at something like that, right? Mm-hmm. Absolutely. I'm actually one of those kids that, you know, until I received a shoebox, I've never even heard the name of Jesus.

And because I received a shoebox, God used that shoebox to change my life, and I just get to share that with everyone and kind of encourage other people to pack these boxes because they are so much more than just a box filled with toys and school supplies, you know. Because for a lot of these kids, that is the only gift they have ever received. But more than that, that is an open door for them to hear the greatest gift, and that is Jesus. And so, what country did you grow up in?

So I'm actually unable to disclose the actual country, but I am only able to say a former Soviet Union is where I grew up. And so, yeah, I lived there for about eight years, and I mean twelve years. I apologize, and then got adopted to come to America. It's an amazing story. We're going to hear a lot more of that.

We're going to hear more on the greatest contest and a pretty big contest when it came around Christmas. I can assure you. And again, Operation Christmas Child. We got so much Christmas for you today. And of course, we're going to be playing Shenanigans when we come back.

And you might guess it's along those Christmas lines. And so we'll be right back with a whole lot more Kingdom Pursuits. Here's a renewing your mind minute with Dr. R.C. Sproul.

How much time do you spend studying the Scriptures? I think that's wonderful that we have daily Bible readings, but we've sort of given ourselves license to a kind of casual, superficial glance at the Scripture, where we read the passage, say a prayer, and think that we've just Dedicated ourselves to learning the things of God, where many times what it takes is the hard work of saying, "What does this text mean?" I may need help here. I may need to look at some commentaries. I may need to talk to my pastor, but I want to understand the Word of God. That's what's going to make the difference in your life, not how many times you can punch your time clock and say, "Well, I read my daily devotions today." For today's special offer, visit renewingyourmind dot org.

You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork dot com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion. And uses it to build the kingdom.

So blessed to have with us today, Caitlin Hambrick with the Great American Media launches an outrage to bring Christmases to small town America. Churches, especially, and then we have Mike Mahanahan with his book. He's the author of the Greatest Contest, and we have Elena Hagmeyer with Operation Christmas Child. All those, by the way, are at KingdomPursuits.com. If you go to KingdomPursuits.com, you can get Mike's book.

You can find out how your church could be connected to this outreach that Great American Media is doing, or you can find out all about how to connect with Operation Christmas Child and get that going. Packs from shoe boxes at Your church—it's all at KingdomPursuits dot com—and so, you know. Speaking of Christmas, yeah, it's time to play Shenanigans. And so, I imagine that Caitlin, Mike, and Elena—you guys have never played Shenanigans, have you? I don't think I've ever had any of y'all before.

No, we're not.

Okay, so it's pretty easy. Yeah, you are in for.

So. I have a series of riddles for you to try to answer, and then when we get done with those, we'll give one for the studio audio. I mean, for the listeners to call in and win.

So first, we have to have a little fun, a little shenanigans. And so, if you know these, by all means, jump in. They're Christmas, so I'm thinking you guys have an edge, right?

So, what do you get if you cross a snowman and a dog? A polar dog. A polar dog. That's not bad. Nick, are you warmed up today?

Any guesses, guys? Sled hound. There you. A what now? A sled hound.

I like that. A sled hound. Actually, what you get is frostbite. Oh yeah. All right.

And this one I really like. What do you give a snowman that has a fever? A snow bath. A nice bath. That would probably be smart.

What do you give a snowman with a fever? What do you think, Nick? This is right up your alley. I don't. I have no clue.

A chill pill. Try that on your third grader; they'll love it. And what did Frosty's girlfriend give him when she was mad at him? Which I would point out, it's the same thing that that happens to a cannibal that shows up late at the party. They get the same thing.

Or Frosty's girlfriend when she was mad at him. You know what they get? Chewed out. You got it. You'd hurt the winner.

Winner, chicken dinner. All right, they get the cold shoulder every time. Yeah. And of course, this is actually my favorite on this particular list. Why is every and I've never heard this.

I can't believe that there's one of these that I hadn't heard. But this one I had not heard until today. Why is everyone thirsty at the North Pole? Why is everyone thirsty at the North Pole? Probably tired of hot cocoa all the time.

It would make you thirsty if you had to drink all that, right? A lot of blocked ice. The blocked ice, yeah, yeah. The real issue is Noel. Oh well.

Ah, so you knew at those end of those shenanigans, you would have out there listeners a chance to call in and win yourselves with Robbie's riddle today, which happens to be those who are have listened for years would know this is actually my favorite joke of all the jokes. And I always give it out one time at the beginning of Christmas season. And here is your chance to call it and win, because this joke tickles me, and it always will.

So, here it is. This is for the listeners, not for you guys on the show.

So don't don't mess it up for them. They got to call in and win.

So you had Dancer, and you got Dasher and Prancer and Vixen and Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, right? You're familiar with those. And the most famous, of course, is Rudolph. And if you count all those, you're going to find that there are nine well-known reindeer. What is the reindeer that nobody ever talks about?

What is the tenth reindeer? If you know the answer to that, you call us. What was the tenth reindeer? Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four eight six six three four. Truth.

And if they can guess that, John, tell them what they'll win. If you know the answer to Robbie's riddle, give us a call for a chance to win a prize out of the Kingdom Pursuits vaults. The number is eight six six three four eight seven eight four eight six six three four. You could win anything from the Action Bible, Narcan, or even a Gospel back scratcher. We do have the legendary Kingdom Pursuits back scratchers back available for you, complete with beads, so you can share the gospel while shaking or scratching someone's back.

Or, you know, a number of different books, but it's not Dasher, it's not Dancer, it's not Prancer, it's not Vixen, it's not Comet, it's not Cumid, Donner, or Blitzen, and it's certainly not Rudolph. What was the tenth reindeer? Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four eight six six three four. Truth, I can hardly wait for those calls. But meanwhile, getting back to Operation Christmas Child and the Greatest Contest.

And this great American outreach to small town churches, and I love that, Caitlin. I just, I'm really grateful that somebody really thought through, you know, that website, and what I saw is brilliant. Thank you so much. I mean, the credit goes to the team at Great American Media. We're Everyone is so passionate about about serving the Lord and our audience, and we celebrate Christmas.

Already planning for next Christmas right now, so we're we're always celebrating the season. And as I said earlier, you know we present that and the spirit of the season on screen. We start in October, we go all the way through the end of December, and this year we we wanted to bring it to life in a different way. For you know the real people who are out there serving their communities, and personally, we've all been uplifted and supported by our churches, and we know how difficult it can be for for many small town churches. It's it's you know.

Running a business in many ways, and keeping doors open and the heat on, and you know whatever they may need, we want to hear their stories and uplift them and and give back if we can, and if not, at least shed light on the great things that they're doing. Yeah, and you know, being a pastor of a small church, I can assure you that that all of us, right? We want to just reach more people. You know, we want to we want to be growing as God would have us multiply, right? As His first commandment was to go be fruitful.

And so, you know, this is a great idea. Just Just a wonderful idea, and also to bring your own community together, right? That that that they can come for Christmas Eve service and sing and light candles and the things that we all have done in America for years.

So we have Faye is in Clemens, North Carolina. She knows about the tenth reindeer.

So Faye, I can't tell you how excited I am that you know this, and so who. Was the tenth reindeer, Olive? Olive, you're exactly right, and the reason the reason is, I remember it from my brother because he did all these story things, and it came from some story. It comes from the song. It's it comes from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, right?

And it says, "All right." Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names.

So it's Olive. It's Olive, the other reindeer. It will always tickle me. It will tickle me forever. Faith, thank you for calling in and sharing that Olive moment with me.

You're so welcome. God bless you. I'm gonna put you back on hold so they can get your number, and you can get the information so they can get your prize out to you. Thanks, Faye. And so, take care.

Thank you.

So, Mike, I'm I'm curious about your greatest contest. Right, the greatest contest of all time had to be Jesus, right? On the yeah, on the cross, yes. And in the opening chapter, we set the stage for that. We observe that God created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, placed it in the garden, caused it to grow, and made the rule not to eat.

And yet he has foreknowledge, and so he knows that they're going to eat it.

So you know, in a sense, God designed the fall of mankind, which is a staggering thought, which sets the stage for the need for Jesus Christ to come and save us. God had this whole thing planned before the first Adam was created. And and and we go through. We say, well, you know, why would God create the fall? You know, we know the Bible says that His ways are not our ways.

And I think I think you know when you trace through the chapter, I don't want to ruin for everybody, but what we see is that in the end, in the kingdom, where where will we be by God's design? And the answer is, we're going to be in His presence, filled with the Spirit, and knowing how much He has saved us from. And I think that's the reason for the fall. You know, Satan rebelled against God, had no esteem for God. A third of the angels fell.

Adam and Eve fell. They had no esteem for God. I think God knew from that moment that He wanted the Holy Spirit in His people for eternity. Yeah, that's beautiful, and you could imagine how fun it would be to start from that position of the greatest contest, and then see how God developed that, so that we could appreciate it, and get to appreciate it every year—not just at Christmas, but at Easter, which you know the two go together so beautifully. And so, speaking of that, Elena, I I have to.

You know your story fascinates me.

So you grew up somewhere in the former Soviet Union, um, and and so, how old were you when Christmas Child? I mean, Operation Christmas Child came knocking. Oh wow! I got to go to another break. I can't believe that.

Just when I got going on this.

So when we get back, we are going to hear Elena's more information. Out from the great American media, as well as the greatest contest, we got so much coming for you. But again, I want to remind you: if you go to KingdomPursuits dot com, you're going to see all these wonderful things and ways that you can connect. KingdomPursuits dot com. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork dot com.

Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the kingdom. And so fun we have today with us Caitlin, Habrick with Great American Media, and they're launching Christmas this year, as well as Mike Mahanahan with his Greatest Contest book that he is just released. His first book, very exciting. And Elena Hagemeyer with Operation Christmas Child, which is with Samaritans First. We just heard about.

They're also right. You guys have so many different ministries. It's it's so amazing. But again.

So that now we got plenty of time, we can hear the story.

So there you were in the former Soviet Union. How old were you?

So I was in my second orphanage.

So by that time, I was between the age of ten and twelve. Just because we didn't celebrate birthdays, so you know, I didn't know specifically how old I was until I was adopted. But I was really you ten to twelve. Yeah, you you you didn't know how old you were. No, and the only way I am actually able to, you know, figure out that I was between the age of ten and twelve is after being adopted, having the birth certificate that they finally gave us.

As well as the grades that my sister and I were at, like the first orphanage we were there, first and second grade. Second orphanage was the third and fourth grade, and so that's kind of how I figured out how old I was at that time after getting the birth certificate. Really, what was that something that? Communism took out celebrating birthdays, or was that something Russians didn't do prior to that? I can't really speak on that just because I was a child and I didn't really know a lot.

It was just the way the life was happening around me. And so, in former Soviet Union, it was just you know my parents didn't celebrate our birthdays because they hardly even provided any food for us. They were alcoholics, and so the government actually had to come in and take us away and put us into our first orphanage. Because my parents got stealing some items and they were put into prison, so there was just not anyone eligible enough to take care of us, and so that's how we got into the first orphanage, and then after two years, we were moved to our second orphanage.

So, did you get to stay with your sister? I did, and I love the fact that you know, even though I did not know God at that time, He knew me. And he reached in where I was, and he kept me and my sister together through the whole transition. Because usually at the orphanages, if one siblings are being moved from one orphanage to the next, they do get separated for some reason. Right.

I just love the fact that God kept us together, and we were moved to the second orphanage together.

So again, God is just you know amazing in reaching in where we are. Right. And so, do you still have a relationship with your sister? I do. Yes, we actually live pretty close together.

She's about forty-five minutes away from me. But yeah, we talk on the phone all the time. She has a family of her own. She has a six-year-old niece. I mean, a daughter.

So she's my niece. But that makes sense. How precious! And so there you were. I, I, I, I digressed you all the way.

But yeah, you were ten to twelve years old, and here came Operation Christmas Child. Yes, so at the orphanage, you know, there is no joy in the sense that we don't have any toys to play with, and so we had to be very creative and create our own games and toys and things like that.

So a lot of times we played with sticks, flowers, and rocks and things like that. And so when there was just one year when I was just at my lowest point by this point in my life, I felt very unloved. I felt very unwanted. And that is when God provided me and my sister with the shoebox of gifts from a stranger that we've never even met. But for me and my sister, that was a miracle in itself because until that point, you know, we never received a gift before.

And so, for us to actually be seated on the floor and for people just to give out these shoeboxes—like my shoebox was wrapped in a colorful wrapping paper; it was bright. It was Shiny! It was the coolest thing I have ever seen. Until that point, that I was actually afraid to open my box because I was like, the outside of it is perfect, and I was afraid to open it and you know the inside of it wouldn't measure up to it. And the second thing was, I wanted my sister to have the best that she could have, and so my logic was at that time, if she doesn't like Hershey box, she could have mine.

But again, I did not know God and how personal He is, and so. I'm watching my sister. She opens her shoebox, and everything in her shoebox is artistically related of a girl of her age. And she loves coloring, and she likes painting, and you know all of those things.

So that shoebox was meant for her. And so when I had the chance to open my box, I opened it, and it was literally glowing pink from the inside out, which is amazing because I love color pink. And so it was just a shoebox of my favorite color, and I had a teddy bear, I had a Barbie, you know, and everything that I loved. But the fact that somebody took up their time and packed the box for me, that just made me feel love for the first time from a stranger. And then outside of that, excuse me, outside of that shoebox, there's a booklet that comes as the children receive these shoeboxes.

They get this booklet, and it's called the greatest gift. Booklet, and it's in their native language, and so I got it in my native language, and so I got to look at it. I got to read it, and it's stories about Jesus. You know how he came and died for our sins, and I read that, and I thought it was the biggest fairy tale I have ever read because I was an orphan. Nobody loved me.

Nobody wanted me, and that was my mindset. And because I had no other hope to hold on to, nothing to look forward to. I was hoping and praying, and I was like, God, if you are real, all I want is a family, you know, and a family that would want me and my sister together. And in 2004, he provided that family, and so my sister and I got adopted to a family in Missouri, and so that is where I live since 2004. And I'm very, very blessed because God used the pink shoebox to change my life.

Wow! And so you're still connected to that family. I am, yeah. Because of being adopted, I am the oldest of the four now, and so I have two younger brothers as well. That my parents had biological kids.

Really? When they decided, yeah, and they decided, so they had two little boys. You know, Joe and Jaziah. They were like three and seven at that time when we were adopted. And they were like, "Oh, let's adopt two teenage teenage daughters from former Soviet Union," and so that was an interesting clique that got put together.

And love my brothers, love my sister, love my family, and very proud of my brothers. You know, they're serving in the Navy and Florida, so. Mm-hmm. So yeah. What a story.

Oh my goodness! Like, Caitlin, as you listen to that, it's you guys should make a movie. I open my mind, Elaina. That is such an incredibly beautiful story, and thank you for sharing. I'm so inspired by that.

Appreciate that. And that's what you guys do: is is is take story, right? Of you know God's story, because all all stories, right? Steal their power from the gospel, or they don't steal it. They use God's power to, right, help us to see how God came comes after all of us.

Right, there isn't anybody that doesn't have that story. They just may not know it at this point, but they will see it someday. Absolutely, and media, as as we know, is so influential on what people see and feel, what they bring into their homes, and how it impacts culture.

So, sharing more of these stories, like what we're doing at Great American Media, you know, seeing people struggle with. Second chances, or loss, or you know, finding their way back to Jesus, and and what you're doing on this show, Robbie, is is just shedding light on these stories. And I think it's, you know, as a community, we're craving this because we need to be uplifted. We need to hear God's work in in real time. That's so cool.

It really is. As as you are, Mike, you know, because I'm sure somewhere in your book is your story, right? Yes. Yes, I have actually a chapter on what salvation really means, and I actually include my testimony there. You know, I was I was born and raised in well, I'm going to say this.

I'm pretty much a dead Catholic church in northern New Jersey. Not all Catholic churches are like that, but this one was. And and and and God sent a spirit-filled Roman Catholic priest. Into one of the darkest spiritual environments, and preached the gospel to my friend Phil and I, and and we we were unblinded that day, and and have served God ever since. And you know the if you look at the the salvation experience of the Apostle Paul, you know he's blinded on the road to Damascus.

He goes into the city, and you know yeah, I hate to jump in again, Mike, but that music means we're going to be at a break. We don't want to miss the rest of this Paul story because we're going to be right back with a whole lot more Kingdom Pursuits again. Go to KingdomPursuits dot com, find out about Operation Christmas Child and the Great American Media, as well as Mike's book. The greatest contest. We'll be right back.

You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where again we have so much fun. It's been just a delightful show today, with Caitlin Hambrick with the Great American Media and their outreach at Christmas time, which is spectacular. If anybody loves Christmas movies, my wife will tell you. Oh, Robbie loves a good Christmas movie, especially if Jesus is involved, and is amazing.

So we got Caitlin, and we have Mike Mahanahan with the greatest contest, his book, his first book, which again, if you go get this book, what it means. To an author to get feedback, like rate it, buy it, you know, do all those things, and and let him know what you think. Those those things mean so much. And then we have Elena Hagemeyer with Operation Christmas Child, Samaritan's Purse. What a story!

Oh my goodness, what a delight it's been. And I hate that the show has to come to an end because I've enjoyed it so much. But this this segment only has but a few minutes, and so I wanted to give everybody a chance to maybe say something. They were hoping they would say today on the show, but I didn't get a chance to.

So I'm going to start out with you, Caitlin. What would you like to share? You didn't get a chance to today.

Well, thank you, Robbie. First, I thank you again for having me, and I love how God is bringing us all together. And it's been such a pleasure to hear Mike's story in his book and and Elena and her journey and the great work she's doing at Great American Media. That's What we're about, and we're here to bring light into the world and in the entertainment space.

So we started this five years ago, and we create original movies and series that do just that: uplift our faith, our country, our family in a way that mainstream media is not doing.

So we want to just let your audience know that we're here to support them and provide them with entertainment that's high quality. Actors they love and values that are aligned with theirs.

So PureFlix.com is our streaming service, and then Great American Family is our cable channel. We're here for our viewers, as you said earlier about. Feedback. We welcome feedback. Review our movies.

Tell us what you think. We really value the one-on-one relationship with our audience.

So feel free to reach out to me directly. It's been such a pleasure to be here and and talk Christmas with all of you. Oh yeah, and somebody who is. A pure flicks lover, and because you've got what you guys have done is is really spectacular, and it's so nice to be able to go to a streaming service and go. I'm not going to get any trash here.

Am I getting anything that isn't going to be good for my family, etcetera? I couldn't agree with you more, Kaitlyn. And so, Mike, your turn. Sure. I I think the key point of the book is that we need to highly esteem God.

This is why the Satan and the angels fell. It's why Adam and Eve fell, and I think you know I said before about Isaiah 43. You know that we're we're created for God's glory, and and I think this is really our our top mission. And I just I just feel that my book covers these contests, but out of every contest, we we see theology, sound biblical theology. And it it just runs right through the book, and I think that's what's needed today is a return to the fundamentals in the church, a return to waking up every morning and just starting the day with worship, starting to get the day highly esteeming God, and I just feel that that's something that's really important.

That's what the whole purpose of the book was. I absolutely love that, Mike, because it's it's exactly the opposite of pride, right? Yeah, absolutely. Exactly, and so the beauty of esteeming God like is so much more important in the scheme of things in the story, right? Because he he he is the hero of the story.

So absolutely beautiful, Mike. I love that explanation. Again, the book is the great greatest contest, the greatest contest. You can find it at Amazon easily, but also you can just go to KingdomPursuits dot com and click on it right there and order it. And like you said, let him know what you think.

And so, last up, we got Elena Hegemeyer with Operation Christmas Child. Elena, what would you like our audience to make sure you got got communicated?

Well, I first of all want to thank you for allowing me to come on the show, but also just encourage people to pack a shoebox just because we are getting to a National Collection Week in November 16th through the 23rd. But it's still not too late to you know grab a box and pack a box for these kids because it doesn't stop with them receiving a shoebox of gifts because in 2009. Upper Christmas Child came up with a new thing called the Greatest Journey. That's a 12-week lesson program, like a discipleship program. And because we started doing that, a lot of kids have enrolled in doing these 12-lesson discipleship program.

And because of that, more than 27 million boys and girls have made decisions for Christ. And that's because somebody decided to pack a box. And show them the love from the people that pack the box, but also you know to have the opportunity about hearing about Jesus and His love for us.

So, you know, it's so neat about your story, is it tells you and you know my family's done this for years. I actually even been to Boone to see it, you know, get long loaded and all that, which happens for those of us in North Carolina, we can go do that, but. The individualization of those boxes is—you talked about what your sister got, what you got, and then how God, you know, somehow or another, selected the right exact box for the right person, and and the fact that as you're asking the Holy Spirit to lead your family and your children through packing that box, like, oh my gosh, and be praying for the person that's going to get that box—it's such an amazing ministry, Operation Christmas Child. I mean, you just heard 27 million. Decisions for what?

And we'll be in heaven someday. And they'll tell how they are not. How they opened up your box and what they found. Right. So again, Operation Christmas Child, amazing stuff.

What amazing guests! I appreciate you all so much. Thank y'all for being on with me today. It made my day. Got this.

All right, now stay tuned.

So much truth coming at you on the Truth Network. Up next, encouraging prayer with James Banks.

So much truth coming at you on the Truth Network.