Interview with Bill Campbell

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together.

It's reasoned relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio. And now the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. The great reformer, Martin Luther, was once talking with somebody and they said, you're such a leader, you're the great leader of the Reformation. And Luther said, no, the greatest reformer would be he who sets the church a praying.

And that's true. Prayer is such a powerful thing, and the body of Christ needs to be much about prayer. Let me paraphrase Luther a bit, if I may, here for our own times.

And let me say what a great Reformation it would be if we could call the church back to Scripture, reading the Word of God. Hi, Alex McFarland here. You're listening to Truth for a New Generation and we're so glad that you're listening.

And I am thrilled, folks. I'm here talking with a kindred spirit. I've got a brother with me named William Campbell, Bill Campbell, and he leads a ministry called Scripture Awakening. And this brother lives to get people in the Word of God.

And we share that passion as well. If you listen to the program or if you follow our ministry, my preaching and our teaching, you know that we believe in the Word of God. I think about Psalm 119 verse 93, which says, I will never forget thy words, for through them I found life.

So suffice it to say, Scripture is huge and it would not only change lives, it would change our nation and world if people everywhere would get into the Word of God. But Bill, thank you for making time to be with us on Truth for a New Generation. And we want to meet you and learn a little bit about your background. I do want to learn about your passion for the Word of God. But welcome to T&G and just tell us a bit about yourself. Thank you, Alex.

It's a great joy to be with you. I grew up in a home that was focused on the Word. My parents found a community Bible study. And I saw there firsthand through the years how much impact can occur if someone is really getting deep in the Word and understanding the main themes, applying it to your life. And I know America is inundated with Bibles, with churches, with seminaries and Bible colleges. But we find the trend is that the average person doesn't know the Word, they're not living it. And so we're trying to turn it around.

Think about this. If you've never read the Word of God cover to cover and I give God the glory, that is something Angie and I did early in our marriage. In our first year of marriage we decided we were going to try, as a couple, to read the Bible all the way through from Genesis to Revelation. And we did that. But for a lot of people that's daunting.

I mean that sounds kind of maybe an impossible thing. You're doing something phenomenal and people are reading the Bible not in a year but in three months. So tell us about that, Bill. How did you get this vision and what is God doing through it? Actually a man named Ted Cooper about 20 years ago in Houston, Texas, as an agnostic, said I need to read this book at least once. How can I speak against it when my children are learning about this stuff in church? I need to know what it's about.

And any of you listening can say, why not me as well? I mean, this is the book that helped shape Western civilization. A lot of the idioms we have today are from the Bible. It used to be the primary text as a primer to learn English in this country. And nowadays, or as it used to be the Ivy League schools are sending Christian missionaries, the Ivy Leagues are sending us in another direction as is the whole of society.

We've lost this footing, this grounding. And so Ted Cooper, again, he said I should read it at least once. This thing's a classic.

I think I'll give it a try. As an accountant he decided 12 pages a day that'll get me through in three months, I can do it in secret. He found a really easy to read Bible with no commentary, no footnotes.

He said I'll do this, I'll bring it to work, read it at lunch breaks. And as he started reading his wife, and also an agnostic, said you're crazy, what are you doing? But he got into the major prophets and he was converted. As he's reading he gets to the book of Ezekiel, as he best remembers, but he was in the major prophets and he found salvation. And so he kept reading all the way to the end. He was so excited, he brought it to his church, and he said, Pastor, I'd like to introduce this to the church to see how many would read it with me in 90 days. Pastor said, don't even try, it won't work.

And he did get permission eventually, and about 100 people joined him on the journey, 90% got through, and that's about the rate today after all these years. It's gone into 25 nations, it's part of our product line, but people to the rate of 90%, if they do it not alone, but also meet with a group once a week, they get cover to cover, and they remember when they end the reading in Revelation where they started in Genesis. And with the reading program we have a study program and tools for helping people to live the Word, so that's Scripture awakening, read, study, live.

But Ted, he is an example of what anyone can be. You may be listening and you have not just not read the Bible, you don't really believe it's inspired by God, maybe you don't believe there is a God. I challenge you, read the book, it will change your life. I haven't done the math, but wait a minute, Bill, you're saying if I read 12 pages a day, I could read the entire Word of God in 90 days. Yes, yes. And of course we have a Bible formatted, we have the NIV as a primary version, but it's helpful to have a reading Bible, a Bible formatted to help you not be distracted by all the various topics you might want to get into if your goal is to just read the whole thing. I think it's a good idea for everyone to do it. You know, a main principle in, let's say the Reformation, in terms of biblical interpretation is the Bible interprets itself.

Well, if you don't know the whole, you're going to have a hard time therefore understanding the parts. You're listening to Truth For New Generation Radio, Alex McFarland here with Bill Campbell of Scripture Awakening, and they also published the Journey Christian magazine, which I have the privilege of writing an article for every month, and many of you have probably seen that, and we've given away copies at some of our conferences. Stay tuned.

TNG Radio will be back with more Bill Campbell right after this. From I Am A Watchman Ministries, here's today's I Am A Watchman Minute. Aren't you glad God can do anything at any time for anyone? I wonder why God cares about we stubborn and rebellious people. I wonder why God would want to use or help any of us at all, but He does, and in that I rejoice. We serve a God who loves to do the amazing for and through the unlikely. God helped Jacob after he swindled his brother and dishonored his father. God rescued Jonah when he was in the deep. God gave victory to King Hezekiah and his people when they were surrounded by a large and powerful army. God helped David when he faced Goliath on the battlefield. Scripture notes that God is an ever-present help in times of trouble, and I believe He particularly loves to bless those who boldly step out in faith to serve Him. Be bold, be faithful, be a watchman.

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That's Liberty dot edu backslash explore to learn more. As we take a break, let me tell you about three tens, three books that will answer questions that come your way from others or even yourself about the Christian faith. Book number one, 10 answers for skeptics. Today's skeptics are looking for authenticity, integrity and straightforward faith. And in this book, you'll learn how to answer intimidating questions, identify the root issue behind those questions, and dismantle the spiritual bombshells dropped by nonbelievers.

Those usually end up just being a puff of smoke. Number two, 10 answers for atheists, where Alex looks at the philosophical assumptions at the root of atheism and agnosticism exposing logical, historical and conceptual fallacies. Alex shares clear explanations of beliefs and biblical answers to those questions that often leave you stumped, but no more. And number three, the 10 most common objections to Christianity and how to answer them. You know, many Christians hear these objections and have a crisis of faith, but Alex and Dylan have been around. They've visited many places and talked with many people through the years and can offer straight answers that will give you confidence and understanding about your beliefs.

So the three tens once again, 10 answers for skeptics, 10 answers for atheists and the 10 most common objections to Christianity and how to answer them. Find them wherever Christian books are sold or at AlexMcFarland.com. For apologetics resources, books by Alex McFarland and to find out where Alex is speaking, visit AlexMcFarland.com. Welcome back to Truth for a New Generation.

Alex McFarland here. We're talking about reading the Bible and my dear friend, Bill Campbell, who's a fellow brother and a pastor and a publisher and just a dear Christian friend. You know, Bill, one thing that I've done in evangelism and it's been our privilege to work with many, many skeptics and atheists and seen many of them come to Christ, but I often challenge people to read the Gospel of John.

Twenty-one chapters, you can read it in three weeks if you read a chapter a day. And I've said to many an atheist, I've said, just say to God, God, if you're real, show me. And I've had an atheist or two say, well, I don't even believe that.

I said, well, just do it. Just say, God, if you're real, show me and read the Gospel of John. Now, that prayer, I based that prayer on Psalm 119 verse 18, which says, Open my eyes, Lord, that I may behold wonderful things from Thy law. I honestly believe, and I want you to speak to this, Bill, the Bible is the only book in the world that the author comes alongside to tutor you through it. The Holy Spirit of God gave the words of Scripture. And if you're coming seeking God, the Holy Spirit will impress on you the reality of not only these truths, God's Word, but the author himself, God, and of course the theme of the book, Jesus the Savior. I think that one of the best evangelism methods is simply getting people into the Word of God. Would you agree?

Yes. You know, and also I'd like to go along with what you're saying about the Lord coming along and helping us to understand as we read. That's the promise in the Gospel of John, that the Holy Spirit will teach us. And as a young man, I remember the day I gave my life to Christ, I was about seven years old, I went into my room and opened the Bible, and it's like someone turned the light on for the first time. Because now the Holy Spirit lived inside of me, and the whole book came to life. And again, I just want to say, if someone's listening and it doesn't seem to mean much to you, pray for the Lord to come into your life and for the Holy Spirit to teach you. You know, St. Augustine, he's seen as one of the brightest minds in Christendom, and we know the story, how he's converted. He heard this voice, take and read, take and read.

He opened the book and read. You know, in my own life, Bill, I had prayed and asked Christ into my life, but I felt so burdened for my sin, and I had taken the Lord's name in vain, and I had sinned, and I just felt like, how could God love me? And I was reading the Bible one day, and I came to Isaiah chapter one, and I had heard of Isaiah, and I thought, well I might read this. Well verse 18 of chapter one really spoke to my heart. It says, Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. And I thought about, God invites us to come and think this through. Let's reason together. And though our sins are grave, the grace of God is infinite. The mercy of God, the righteousness of God, He is a holy God.

And to everyone listening, I want to say this. God is righteous and holy. He doesn't sweep any sin under the rug.

However, He's a merciful God. And because of that, He sent His Son, perfect, holy, righteous. Jesus went to the cross.

And here's what Jesus did on the cross. The appropriate measure of God's wrath that you and I deserved was put onto Jesus. And we could pay for our sins, but that would mean separation from God eternally. But you can accept that Jesus paid for your sin.

The punishment was deflected onto Jesus. And forgiveness, restoration, complete salvation, that's your free gift if you'll accept it. And it was the Word of God that set me free, Bill, because I realized that, yes, my sins were serious, but they were paid for by Jesus.

He had forgiven me, and I could forgive myself, and I truly could be set free from this burden of guilt, because my burden of guilt was born by Jesus. And Alex, I'd like to say, you know, the Word of God not only sets us free initially from the slavery to sin and to our selfish nature, we receive salvation, but every day it transforms us. So, for example, if someone says, well, I'm not going to worship the Bible, that's not God, you know, we're not talking about that. However, without the Bible, we can start worshipping the wrong God. It's so easy for me to get led astray into my own emotions, my own depression, into spiritual inclinations that are not right. So the Bible is meant to lead us to God, and that's the key.

It's not God. We don't worship the Bible. But if you really want to know God and grow deeper, the Bible is critical to the process, along with prayer. Well, and, you know, the Bible touches the lives of individuals. Bill, what does the Bible do for the body of Christ, corporate? What is the role of the Bible in the life of the Church? I do want to say that I just praise God for so many good churches around the country that preach the Word, where the Bible is central in teaching and understanding. We are blessed in this country, truly blessed, and we should bring those resources out and around the world. But for the many churches that are not, it's really good to remember that when God moves greatly and in power, as we look through history, if Scripture is central, then what God is doing tends to stay on track and be sustained.

When it's not central, we get off track and get in trouble. And so I just want to say, commending everyone who's living in the Word, the pastor who's preaching it, the teacher who's teaching it, every one of us has a responsibility to keep our focus. You know, I love how Jesus said in Matthew 16, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And, you know, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he rebuked the devil and said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Without the Scripture in the life of the Christian, we become anemic and malnourished, don't we?

Yes, I'll just say for myself, I know that's very true. It's interesting, Alex, I've been pastor 18 years and made a switch. And with that switch, no longer did I have the discipline of having to teach others and preach on a constant basis, digging in the Word, getting it through myself and pouring it out. I had to learn what the average person has to do every day. I had to learn to stop and take time aside and get into the book. And for a little while, I wasn't doing that, and I kind of dried up spiritually. And again, I'm appealing to everyone listening, if you're not spending time every day in this book, I'm not, please don't make it like a rote thing or something you're required to do. But if you're coming to be nourished spiritually every day, it will change your life.

And that's what I'm looking for in my life, constant transformation. Stay tuned. More with Bill Campbell and how you can get in the Word of God daily on this edition of Truth For New Generation.

We're back after this. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

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That's afastore.net. You know Romans 1 16, it says, For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. That's what your kids need before they go to college. And that's the theme for the 2019 TNG Christian Apologetics Youth Camp, July 29th through August 2nd at Camp Cale, North Carolina. Speakers include, of course, Alex McFarland, along with Daniel Ritchie, Andy Lorentzen and Miki Addison. Exciting worship every night and rock solid teaching every day.

And yes, it's a summer camp with all the summer camp activities your kids would expect. The TNG Christian Apologetics Youth Camp, July 29th through August 2nd at Camp Cale. To learn more and to register, call 800-YES-GOD-1, 800-YES-GOD and the number one, or email info at truthforanewgeneration.com. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex McFarland is a voice you can trust to speak the timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. You're listening to Truth for a New Generation Radio.

Welcome back to TNG Radio. Alex McFarland here. And I do want to remind you, please pray for us and go to our website. You can either one my own name, which is alexmcfarland.com or truthforanewgeneration.com.

On my own website, you can see my schedule where I'm speaking around the country. Plus, on the Truth for a New Generation site, we've got an archive of questions. Listeners email us questions, and we're always adding to it facts and stats and Bible truths to help you in your walk and witness. But we've got our Apologetics Youth Camp coming up in the summertime, July 29th through August 2nd, 2019. The theme is Unashamed.

Unashamed of the Gospel, Romans 1.16. Then this fall, listen very carefully, in October 11-12, we're going to be in Richmond, Virginia, the great Mount Vernon Baptist Church. Then in November 15-16, we're going to be in Cincinnati, Ohio, right there near the Creation Museum and the Ark. We're going to be at Landmark Baptist Church with our dear friend Matt Holman. So Truth for a New Generation is on the road this fall. You're going to see and hear people like Todd Storrance and Josh McDowell, Ryan Baumberger, one of the great pro-life speakers, Abe Hamilton. So much going on, so pray, promote, plan to attend, go to truthforanewgeneration.com, and link arms with us as we are calling our nation back to Jesus. Well, somebody who's given his life to do that, not only as a minister, missionary, publisher, but as a pastor, is my dear friend Bill Campbell of Scripture Awakening. And Bill, we're talking about reading the Bible in 12 pages a day. Read the Bible in 90 days.

Before we go too much farther, what is your website? ScriptureAwakening.com. I like that. What is meant by that name, Scripture Awakening? How did you come up with that?

Well, it's kind of what I've been saying in this interview. It's that we desperately � if someone asked me what is the greatest need in America today, I'd say we need an awakening. But not just a revival or awakening based on human effort, or not one based on an emotional excitement, one based in the Word of God. In which, for example, the Great Awakening, you had the theologian Jonathan Edwards writing out his long sermons, and you had Wesley helping to organize, but bringing pithy understanding. And then Whitfield was preaching traveling from sea to sea, and the Word of God was going forth. And I'd like to think of all the awakenings in the Western world. That's the big bucket out of which everything has come.

And we need that again. A Scripture Awakening. As affluent and posh as America is � and we really are blessed. You know, it doesn't � you don't have to travel far to realize how blessed and opulent our life is here in America. Could it happen, though, because we're rich, well-increased in goods, and think we have need of nothing? Could our affluence and apathy be broken through by God again?

Yeah, absolutely. And you hate to think that God might have to break us down. You know, for example, if we had a real economic hardship, it might really get our attention.

Often awakenings historically have come with an economic collapse, like the New York Prayer Revival, 1857, or before Azusa Street, you had the earthquake in San Francisco. You know, often God gets our attention, and wouldn't it be great if we just would all look up right now and humble ourselves and get right with Him and pray and tell our neighbors about Jesus and live in holiness? So Alex, that's kind of God's part.

His part to making this happen is He knows what is best. I think our part is to get right with Him today and develop those patterns that will help us become more like Jesus to the watching world. I know we have a lot of ministers that listen, and the Lord used you mightily as a pastor.

How did you, as a pastor, keep your flock in the Scripture? Well, actually, along with the reading program, we have a program that I've been developing for like 20 years, a study program. And the idea being is I would teach the Word. We had handouts.

This is not an unusual idea. They could be used in small groups and synergistically used in people's devotional life, all tied to the sermon. So the sermon is being carried home into the hearts of the people all through the week. But now we've developed these resources to make it easier to do the obvious good thing for any church. If you go on our website and hit the Be Next tab, the Read, it goes Read, Study, Live. So if you hit Study or Be Next, you have a wealth of resources to help you if you're a pastor, if you're an educator, if you just have a small group you're teaching. These study guides can take you all through the Bible, whether exegetically, topically, whatever. I found that was key.

It was very helpful for me. What do you say to a mom and a dad that their kids' appearance is, I want my child to be a Bible reader. How can I get my children to thirst for the Word of God? What do you say?

It's always tough, isn't it, Alex? The first thing is we've got to live it. When they see that we are humble enough to admit our weaknesses and that we desperately need God, they're likely to follow our example. But if we're not living it, they're likely not to go that direction. They'll follow our bad example.

So talking about it, commanding them to do it, pushing them into a routine is not as good as doing it ourselves. If they see you in quiet, on your knees in prayer, if they see you early in the morning with a book open, because it's your life source, it's going to be marked in their character and in their hearts and minds. They'll never forget that, and they're going to know what you believe. That speaks louder than your words.

You're right on that. We've been talking with Bill Campbell, and I love the Word of God as I know you do. Early in my Christian life, God just gave me this insatiable desire to read the Bible. I was not an especially studious or well-read person, but I began to read the Bible and read the Bible, and it's gone on for thirty years. I think that the Bible is like my dearest closest friend. It's Jesus, obviously, but I think about Jerome in the third century, who said, knowledge of the Scriptures is knowledge of Christ. So I commend you for getting people everywhere into the Word of God.

You've been listening to Truth for New Generation Radio, and let me say this, folks. It's one thing to know about Jesus, but God's plan for you is that you know Jesus, that you have a relationship with Jesus, and we often say this. He's as close by as a prayer, and if you've never experienced the love of Jesus, salvation, that relationship, you can begin that today. If you will turn to Christ, He will receive you. And if you need help, there's a tab on our website, What Does God Say About My Relationship With Him? Turn to Christ, the Son of God, and as we said earlier, as a child of God, daily read the Word of God. That's 877-YES-GOD and the number 1, or give online at alexmcfarland.com. While you're there, listen to program archives, read Alex's blog, invite Alex to speak at your event, or contact Alex with a question or comment, alexmcfarland.com. Thanks for listening today, and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG Radio.