A Conversation with Kenny Evans

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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.

In Ephesians 4, 11, and 12, the Word of God says this, that God raises up pastors, teachers, and evangelists for equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. Hi, everybody. Alex McFarland here. Welcome to another edition of Truth for a New Generation Radio. You know, on the road, traveling as I do, you meet a lot of people.

Some make more of an impression than others. And right now I'm so blessed. I'm with a friend that you want to meet. You do not want to miss the next few minutes, because we're visiting with musician and evangelist, Kenny Evans. Here at First Baptist Church in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, he recently gave a concert, gave a powerful sermon.

People are talking about it. And we were just sitting around visiting and talking about ministry and winning people to Christ, and how Jesus absolutely transforms lives when he is allowed in, because Kenny and I both know he transformed each of our lives. Brother Kenny, I want to say thanks for all you do for the Kingdom, and thanks for taking a few minutes to visit with us at Truth for a New Generation. It is a blessing to be here, and just to spend this time with you, brother.

It's a blessing, and I'm honored to be here. Well, you know, one of the things you and I have in common in addition to loving the Lord, we both love music, and you were telling me about you were on the fast track to become a country superstar. You sang and toured with a lot of the names everybody knows, but you yourself, that was your goal and your plan to be a country superstar, wasn't it?

Absolutely. Country music at one time in my life was my God. I was raised in a musical family. I've actually been performing professionally since I was eight years old. I was raised singing in a family gospel quartet, and then when I became a young man about 19 or 20 years old, I decided to go to Nashville and try to make my mark in the country music business. Yeah, it was a fast-paced life. I think a lot of people have a goal like that.

I meet a lot of young people that want to do that. The glitz, the glamour, the fame, is it a yellow brick road, or does it have a dark underbelly? Well, now, I know for me personally, I never reached that level of an Alan Jackson or a George Strait, but I did have the opportunity to get very familiar with the business. I worked with a lot of people in the business, did a lot of recording in Nashville, and as we were talking earlier, I spent over 200 days a year on tour, and I got to meet and work with a lot of the biggest names in country music. In the mid-to-late 90s, I was the opening act for Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Charlie Daniels. Now, this was at a fairly low level as far as who I was. Now, these guys had already had out hit records, and I was, as they said, chasing that neon rainbow, but I did a lot of studio work in Nashville, had producers, and as I mentioned to you, the guy that produced my records was the founding member and lead guitar player for the band, Sawyer Brown, and of course, my manager was a man that worked for country superstar Aaron Tippin, so I was climbing that ladder, and I know we'll get to this, but my career and my story kind of takes a tragic turn, but it's not all glitz and glamour.

You can imagine sleeping in a hotel every night, and again, my dad told me this. When I told my dad I was leaving our family group to pursue a career in country music, my dad set me down like any father would do to a son, and he warned me about all the things the world had to offer, and I come to find out, I mean, everything he said was true, because I did get pretty heavily involved with alcohol use, drug abuse. I was unfaithful to my wife, and it's just a very dark, it's a very dark, and I say this everywhere I go now as an evangelist, I'm on the road preaching all over the United States, it's a very dark world out there, and the country music business, as I say everywhere I go, now there's good people in Nashville, I don't want this to be taken the wrong way, but the country music business, I mean, it is a very dark, worldly, it's all driven by money, and when you're not making them money, they're done with you. That's true, and of course, rock and roll is the same way, and I wanted to be a musician when I was in college, and thankfully found the Lord Jesus, but you know, it's interesting, I was recently on the road in Texas, and whenever I go down to the Lubbock area, there are so many great people down there, devout Christians, Silverton, Texas, there's a man that was with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, you've probably heard of Western Swing, Bob Wills, right? Oh, absolutely, matter of fact, I tell you, absolutely, I know exactly who Bob Wills is, I did a concert in Greensboro, North Carolina, you mentioned Greensboro? My hometown, actually.

There you go, yeah. Well, I did a concert, I was the opening act, there was a real popular country star in the 90s by the name of Tracy Byrd, he had a huge hit called The Watermelon Crawl. Well, my booking agent booked me to open for him one night, and probably my favorite segment of his part of the show, because you know, as the opening act, I would go on for about an hour and a half, and then they would get my stuff off the stage, and then they would bring the headliners stuff on, but anyway, my favorite part of Tracy Byrd's show was he did about a 20-minute segment of Texas swing music, and it was awesome. Well, I've got a dear friend down there in Silverton, Texas, who played with Bob Wills, knew Bob Wills, and he said, you know, near the end of his life, and by the way, folks, Bob Wills was a huge composer, just one of the great American songs, San Antonio Rose, Faded Love, but near the end of his life, he said that Bob agonized as a young man, he felt called to be an evangelist, and he did know the Lord, but he lamented that he didn't give his whole life to the gospel, and winning people to Jesus. Now here's a guy that was a composer's composer all around the world as western swing, jazz country, Bob Wills is revered. He has everything the world says should be success, but at the end of his life, those closest to him knew, he wished that he had given his skills and his life to winning folks to Jesus, and so what we do for Jesus, that's all that really lasts, and what we do for the gospel, that's all that really matters, isn't it, Kenny?

Amen. Yeah, you know, my kids, my wife and I, we have three kids, well we actually have two grandkids now, but me and my wife and my kids, we talk often about who I was before I came to know Christ, and my kids, they know about my career, they go on YouTube and watch all the old videos and this and that, and I tell my kids this all the time, you know, I will likely never be as rich or as famous as I would have been had I stayed in the music business, but, you know, scripture says don't lay up treasures here on earth, lay them up in heaven, and I tell my kids all the time, you know, I may never have the things that the world calls success, but I live my life to take as many people to heaven with me as I can, and that's what I do. Stay tuned, more with Kenny Evans when Truth for New Generation returns. For the first time since the COVID shutdowns, it's the 2021 Truth for a New Generation National Apologetics Conference. World views, the battles you must win, featuring Dr. Alex McFarland, Dr. Frank Turek, Sandy Rios, and E.W. Jackson talking about raising children to come to Christ and stay with Christ in the midst of the woke movement, critical race theory, and Marxism in America.

October 15th through 17th in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, conference and concert by The Bird Songs. We keep on fighting and we don't give up. I know we're gonna make it alright. How long would you hate me if I told you the truth? I don't want to see you hurt anymore. TNG 2021, October 15th through 17th. Register at AlexMcFarland.com. Where in the Word Are You?

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Alex McFarland, what a great year this is being. I've been on the road traveling and speaking. Right now I'm at First Baptist Church of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, which is going to be the location of the Fall 2021 Truth for a New Generation Conference. This will be, as far as I can count, our 48th big national apologetics conference. You don't want to miss it. The theme is World Views, the Battles We Must Win.

Listen, if you're watching the news, you know we're in a battle for this nation. Now, October 15-17, right here in Myrtle Beach, First Baptist Church, Myrtle Beach, we're going to have Dr. Frank Turek, Sandy Rios, Bishop E.W. Jackson, Trace Embry of Shepherd's Hill Academy, more than a dozen speakers. We're going to be talking about how to share the Gospel here in the 21st century. Wokeness. What are the origins of the woke movement and how the woke movement not only threatens the souls of people, even our nation. We're going to be talking about homosexuality and transgenderism. How do we share the Gospel with those that are caught up in the transgender movement and mindset?

Parenting. There's a youth track. I'm working with Ground Zero Youth Ministries, a phenomenal youth ministry.

Music by the Bird Songs, an award-winning group out of Nashville. You're going to love it. Folks, go to my website, which is simply alexmcfarland.com.

You need to register. You need to be here. You will be equipped to share your faith confidently in any situation. Truth for New Generation, October 15-17.

Don't miss it. Well, back to my friend and this conversation with Kenny Evans. You mentioned laying up treasures in heaven. That's all that matters. You could have everything in the world, Kenny, but if you don't have Jesus and eternity, you're bankrupt. Am I right? Exactly right. I'll tell you, there was a time in my life where I thought that fame, fortune would bring me satisfaction.

When a person truly comes to faith in Christ, they understand. I've heard this a thousand times. You've heard it a thousand times. I've heard preacher after preacher after preacher say, �There is a God-sized void in every person's heart.� Money can't fill that. Fame can't fill that. Sex can't fill that.

The long list of drugs, the only thing that can fill that is knowing Jesus, having a personal relationship with the Lord. I learned that the hard way. I will say this, even after becoming a Christian, they call it the baby in Christ years. When I was first new in this walk with Christ, like any infant, we have to grow. We have to nurture ourselves. We have to get the Word of God in us.

It took me a few years to learn that. I was running from God in the midst of this career. As we talked in the first segment about my career in country music, man, I tell you, I lived that life. I was on the road.

I was just doing my thing. Then I got saved. God saved me from my life of alcohol abuse, drug abuse.

He restored my marriage after adultery. Knowing Jesus, living for Jesus, loving the Word of God is truly the only source of hope and peace in this messed up world we're living in. You know, in this world of celebrity and fame, people can get online and with a TikTok video, suddenly they can be known by 40 million people. Do you think they're really searching, though, to fill that God-sized empty space in their heart? Well, that could be a deep question with a deep answer. I'll tell you why.

I know this. There are some very successful people out there truly madly in love with Jesus. There are people that set goals. There are people that have dreams and aspirations, and they're able to reach those. In the midst of that, they can still be madly in love with Jesus. They're very generous. I've got personal friends I know that have done very well in business, and they're just generous.

So I guess the best way to answer that is I would say this. I would say there's probably a remnant of people out there that have chased that dream, found success, and still love Jesus. But I guess there's a big side to me that would have to say, you know, most people out there, most people that are chasing that thing, whatever that thing may be, a career in movies, music, internet fame, I would have to say I personally might believe that, yes, a lot of those people are trying to fill that God void with those things. And where is home for you? Where do you come from? We live in East Tennessee. My family and I, we live right outside of Knoxville. Actually, not only do I travel as an evangelist, preaching, but I'm also a full-time entertainer in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I'm the male vocalist in the American Oldies show, where I've been for about twenty-two seasons now. So in a non-COVID year, COVID messed up so much, but in a non-COVID year, you know, I probably do seventy-five to eighty shows a year in Pigeon Forge, and then I'm on the road a hundred and twenty-five days preaching, you know, doing revivals. Well, this past Sunday at First Baptist Myrtle Beach, Sunday morning I brought the Morning Message, and then that night I did a concert here at the church. And you can tailor the program to meet the needs of any group, can't you?

Oh, absolutely, yeah. And that is, you know, what a blessing that God put me there in Pigeon Forge. You know, at our show, you know, we do everything from the Oldies hits of Elvis, Frankie Valli. We do a strong patriotic and gospel segment.

And I'll tell you another great thing in, you know, in Pigeon Forge. For twenty-two years now, the theater where I perform, they've allowed me to share my testimony. And I've had the opportunity to personally lead people to Christ. People show up from other states, and as I begin to share my testimony, the Holy Spirit, you know, Jesus said in John 6.44, no man comes to me unless the Spirit draws him, you know.

So, you know, God uses that, and He used my testimony. I've led people to Christ at our theater. To answer your question, yeah, I mean, I do everything from, you know, Oldies concerts, a lot of church.

You know, in that February timeframe, they're looking for a banquet for husbands and wives. I'll go in and do an entire concert of nothing but the love songs of the fifties and sixties and seventies. And then, you know, we do some country music, of course. But it's all truly God-honoring.

You know, it's all about... and I'm a firm believer Christians, even in church, can have a good time. Amen. Amen. And, you know, we're going to come back to that.

We've got a brief break. Folks, we're talking with my friend and my fellow evangelist, Kenny Evans. And so don't go away, because we're going to talk about the gospel and how we've got to keep that message of salvation forefront first and foremost in the church and in our lives. Don't go away.

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You know, in Matthew 6.33, the Word of God says, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added to you. Hi, Alex McFarland here. Welcome back. I'm just having a great time fellowshiping with Kenny Evans. Before the break, you were talking about how Christians can have fun. And, you know, traveling and 99.9% of everything I do is speaking. Once in a blue moon, I'll be somewhere and maybe the praise band doesn't have a guitarist and I'll sit in or something like that.

It's funny, I was sharing the gospel with this Jewish man who heard me speak, and he mentioned something about the Beatles, and I said, What's your favorite Beatle tune? I guarantee y'all know it. And I did. I forget what he wanted to hear or something. I don't know what it was.

I want to hold your hand or something. Anyway, he said, That's amazing. I didn't know that you all were allowed to, like, listen to music. And I said, Hey, Jesus took away my sins, not my musical taste.

And don't you think we need to, and of course, I'm all for godliness and standards, but we as Christians can embrace the arts and have fun too, can't we? Amen. I tell you, I shared this story Sunday night. I was presented the opportunity to preach in Florida. Probably 12, 14 years ago, I met a pastor in Pigeon Forge. He heard my testimony and he asked me to come down for a revival. Now, remember, he heard me sing in the rock and roll show, and I shared my testimony. So I get down to this church, and this is a Sunday morning, and we're about to begin revival. And literally maybe 10 minutes before service on Sunday morning, he comes to me and says, Would you sing a song today? And I said, Sure, what would you like to hear?

Now, this was the first Baptist church of this particular town, and this was what I would call an old school Baptist preacher. And I was expecting something like How Great Thou Art or Beulah Land or whatever. He said, Would you sing a song this morning? And I said, Sure, what would you like to hear? And he said, Only you by the platters. And I said, Say that again?

He said, Only you by the platters. And I said, You realize this is Sunday morning? He said, It's okay.

It's okay. We're going to have a good time. The family of God, we have the joy of the Lord.

And this is what he told me. He said, There's nothing ungodly about that. And I thought, You know, you're exactly right. Now, I'm a firm believer that when we come to the house of God to worship on Sunday mornings, we are to come and be a blessing to God. So many people, they want to come to church and say, Bless me if you can.

I want to bless the Lord for who He is. But anyway, so I started singing Only You that morning. And there was a young lady in the church. She was sitting off to my left as I was singing. She started weeping.

And I didn't know really what was going on in her life. But I got to the second verse of the song. Now, keep in mind, a lot of people will take a secular song, especially in the church. They may take a secular country song or pop song, and they may change the lyrics and try to make it a song of faith or a Christian song. But this is the way the song came out in Motown. So the second verse says, Only you can make this change in me, for it's true you are my destiny.

And when I sang those lyrics, she just jumped her feet with both hands in the air worshiping God. And I immediately thought of what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, If any man be in Christ, he becomes a new creature, the old things pass away and behold all things are become new, because it is true. Only you, God, can make this change in me, for it's true you are my destiny. So yeah, I'm a firm believer, just because we become a follower of Christ, we don't have to be a stick in the mud. We can have a good time. Dr. Darrell Bock Amen. Amen.

And you know what? I think about this, that with the arts, we need to do things with excellence. The things we bring to God, and this will attract people, a little bit of church history folks, during the Middle Ages. Look, it was the church that led out in academics, literacy, and yes, the art theater plays.

The first plays, really, in the Western world were called morality plays, but they were Bible stories. And so I think one thing we can do, especially to reach young people, is to offer the arts, and even I've encouraged churches to have a strings program and teach music and music theory, because really, all the great poetry, literature, music, it really points to the one who is beauty himself, Jesus our Savior, doesn't it? And we need to be very cautious, and we need to be very classy, and we need to be very wise with what we bring into the church, but it's okay. It's okay to have fun. It's okay to do music with excellence. It's okay to do music that's upbeat, where you can clap your hands, even laugh and smile. You know, I believe Jesus was a cool, happy guy. You know what I'm saying? Dr. Darrell Bock I was just going to say, I think our Lord was happy, joyful. Tell us, I want to change gears. You're an evangelist.

What is that? What does an evangelist do? What does an evangelist do? I know this evangelist loves to preach to the church, preach to the lost, and see life's changed. And that could be a Christian being revived. That could be a lost soul coming to faith in Christ.

Dr. Darrell Bock Sometimes I use the term revivalist. One last thing before we're just about out of time. Folks, we've been talking with Kenny Evans. If you had one prayer for America, if the Lord said, Kenny, what is your request? Brother, what would be your prayer for the United States of America? Kenny Evans I guess my prayer for America would be this. My prayer for America would be that the church wake up. My prayer would be that the church finally stand up and speak up boldly when it comes to abortion. Stand up and speak up boldly when it comes to human sexuality. Stand up and speak up boldly when it comes to the relationship between America and Israel. I'm a firm believer that the nation of Israel, they're still the apple of God's eye. And God said in Genesis, �To those that bless you, I will bless them. To those who curse you, I will curse them.� My prayer would be church wake up. Wake up, stand up, and speak up. Because the hope of America is in the local church. We are the hope of America. Dr. Darrell Bock Where can people find you online?

And let me strongly encourage you as you're planning events for the future. Bring this man to your city. He sings, he preaches. God uses him to bring people to faith in Christ and to build up the body. Where can people find you, Kenny?

The website is www.kennyevans.org. Chuck Colson said, �The church is the conscience of the culture.� Our job, as Vince Havner said, �We are to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.� And that means telling the truth, even if it's not convenient or popular. So do that. Ephesians 4 says that God gave pastors, teachers, and evangelists, like Kenny Evans and myself, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. So let's go out and do the ministry. Let's tell the world about Jesus. Thank you. Thank you.