NRB Chronicles - Missions To Utah

So exciting! We are here live today at the NRB National Religious Broadcasters Convention. Right on the convention floor and I came across one of the more unique folks that's here at the NRB today. Of course, at World Mission Report we often hear from missionaries around the world, but have you ever met a missionary to Mormons?

Somebody who actually lives in Salt Lake City? Well, we're so blessed to have our own Truth Station Manager, Russ East, with us today on World Mission Report. Welcome, Rusty! It's a privilege to be with you. And you have a unique ministry of being able to witness to people that you once were a Mormon yourself.

Right. I was saved out of a fourth generation Mormon home. I was 14 years old. The Lord saved me. We went to go visit Santa Rosa Bible Church, heard the gospel presented, and the Lord touched my heart. I was saved and started going on mission trips to Utah with my high school group. The Lord opened the door for me to move to Utah and do some work on Christian radio. Hey guys!

It's been a blessing. When you mentioned about being a missionary in Utah, one of the things we do is when we bring these mission teams to Utah, we go to a place called Temple Square. There are 35 acres of Mormon propaganda there. There are people there from all around the world that serve as tour guides or missionaries for the Mormon Church.

They're on site in Utah. When you come to Utah on a mission trip, then you can talk with these people representing countries all around the world. They are there for a year and a half, two years, and they are trying to recruit people into Mormonism as they take the tours of this place called Temple Square. It's quite an impressive place.

It's a little intimidating for any first-time visitor, but we count it a real joy to be there. If we have some listeners, Russ, that have some good friends that are in the LDS faith, what would you suggest? How would you counsel them to reach their friends for Christ? First of all, it's important to ask that Mormon friend of theirs to share with you a little bit about how they became Mormon. How did they become LDS? Just get a feel for how serious they are in the Mormon Church.

What happened to them? Were they born into it? Were they converted later in life? What is it that they find so important that's drawn them into the Mormon Church? Really, what you want to do is show them how Jesus alone can meet that need that they have found in the Mormon Church. If you can go in that order, if you can ask them to share their story, ask them what's most important to them, and then now I think you've earned the right to say, Hey, thanks for sharing that with me. Do you mind if I share my testimony with you real quick? If you go about it in that kind of manner with a prayerful spirit, with a humble spirit, grace and truth, gentleness, kindness, you can't go wrong. And you're planting a seed. Now you're going to share your story.

It's very simple. You just share what your life was like before Christ, you share what happened at salvation for you, and then maybe be vulnerable and share something, how God's gotten you through something in your walk as a Christian. And then there's always room for maybe one or two areas of conflict, of contradiction, of inconsistencies within Mormonism itself that we can help you understand so that you can gently share that with a Mormon, and then that gives them a chance to maybe examine really what it is they believe. Maybe a lot of Mormons don't even really know why they believe what they believe, and you can help them wade through the holes in Mormonism, and there's lots. But it's important to focus, first of all, on the gospel, I think, and then balancing that out with something that might create a little bit of doubt for them because they're told that they can't trust the Bible.

They're told that they are the one true church. So, you see, there are things, you know, that the Bible isn't enough. So, talking to a Mormon, tough.

It can be tough. You're replacing what they have with something better. Usually if you go in confrontational with somebody, I know this from people at the Church of Scientology, as an ex-Scientologist, if you go in there and tell them that, oh, that's crazy, or this, you know, how could you think something like that, that's no way. What you do is you share, like you say, here's what my relationship's like with Jesus, here's what I'm getting from my faith, and you're replacing what they have with something so much better.

And if it's not balanced, they'll just go into oblivion as an agnostic, or they will just want to check out if anything has any hint of God whatsoever, and then they'll just sit in that state. And sadly, that's where a lot of Mormons go. And so now we have to reach them in that state. And so it's a challenge, it's a challenge, but it's a fight worth fighting for, and we're out in Utah, my family's been out there for about 20 years, and it's just great to be at NRB. And you've got some wonderful resources. If we have a listener who wants to find out more about how to reach Mormons, how would you direct them to your ministry? Sure. Well, if you want to just Google Utah Partnerships for Christ, our website will come up there, and you can find my cell phone numbers on there, email address.

I'd be privileged and honored if you'd call me, email me. We have that happen. A real quick story, if I could, can I share something with you? I got a phone call from a lady whose daughter had met a young man in college, and this young lady grew up in a Christian home, but she met this young Mormon man at a public college. And before you know it, there's a little romance going, and she's on the docket to get baptized, believe it or not.

And you can imagine the mom and dad are just appalled, they're shocked, they can't believe it. So they heard about our ministry through a friend from a radio broadcast in Utah, and then heard about our ministry, and so the Lord opened the door for me to meet at McDonald's with this young lady. We spent some time, and then through a course of events, God working in the life of this young college girl, freshman, she ended up not becoming Mormon, but it came close.

The enemy just wanted her so bad, just wanted the claws, and I had to even call one of the LDS leaders to tell them to back off, because she had said to the missionaries, I'm not interested, but they kept pursuing her, pursuing her. Praise God, there are amazing things happening every time you turn around, and maybe God wants to use you to reach a Mormon who knocks on the door. You hear that door knocking, there's two guys out there with the suits and ties, and you don't know what to say, but I'd love to come out to your church and do a workshop. We'll make it fun, and we'll do some role playing, and I'll pretend that I'm LDS, and we'll do a little practice, and we'll talk about some things, and share some great true stories of people that have come out of Mormonism. They'll encourage you, and you won't want to just batter down the hatches and pretend like you're not home. You'll want to reach those guys, because if you don't, they're going to go to your neighbor, and who knows, they might be in a bad situation.

You don't want to see your neighbors falling into all the sad web of Mormonism, you just don't. Utah Partnerships for Christ, Rust East, our station manager on KUTR, AM 820 in Salt Lake City. Thank you, Rusty. Thank you, Robbie. Awesome. This is awesome. Thank you.