Truth Talk With Stu Epperson - Big City & Down Home

This is Robbie Dilmore from The Christian Car Guy and Kingdom Pursuit, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build a kingdom. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it and share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Tell us about your church real quick first. Yeah, well, I think, first of all, our church is doing what I think all good churches should do, which is reach the people around you with the gospel and then disciple those people and be a part of the process where you're partnering with God into people being transformed into the image of Christ.

Right. So we have churches right now, but they don't do the transformation part. They're giant kind of parties for a salvation moment. So not only are they not reaching outside of the building, they're not doing the transformation part inside the building. And so when we landed in New York City and we started a church in this neighborhood called the Two Bridges, which is primarily a projects neighborhood. Now, there are some non projects building, but there are a lot of projects buildings there. We landed there in part to minister to a broken community. There are a lot of broken and poor Chinese or a lot of broken, poor blacks.

There are a lot of broken and poor people in that neighborhood. And so we're you know, my family and my team are a group of people that are intentional about not just creating a place with great lights and great show and a great experience for you and I. That's comfortable, but saying, listen, the gospel must compel us to see transformation. My father said to me a long time ago about one of the major revivals in the last 50 years. He said he was talking to one of the individuals who was one of the drivers during that movement. And he said, has your city changed at all after everything had happened, after the hundreds of thousands of people has visited? And the pastor said, our city hasn't changed at all.

I can't detect a single change in the city. And what are we doing? If that's the case? What are we doing? If that's the testimony of our Christianity? So we're trying to do something that looks more like the early church and the Black Lives Matter movement has really impacted New York City. And and you know what the fact is, black lives do matter. God made black lives. Jesus died for black lives.

So that's an easy one. But going beyond the message you just gave in a passion message here, I'm at the Falkirk Center on the campus of Liberty University, bringing Christ and culture and impacting the culture with Christ. If we're not making an impact and we're not salt and light, what are we doing?

Is he really into us and moving through us? Right. And and you really you spoke head on against prejudice. You spoke head on against racism. And, you know, you talk, you compare prejudice to the coronavirus.

I thought that was a remarkable comparison. Talk a little bit about that and about the deeper solutions to what some of us kind of live in the shallow end with. Yeah, I mean, the main issue is that we have an we have an ideological system right now that is a substitute gospel. And the gospel does two things. It brings salvation, brings reconciliation. And this movement is saying salvation will come through economic prosperity, which is not our gospel. Our gospel says salvation comes through death and through death, resurrection.

Right. That's the cross. And then reconciliation doesn't come by equalization of people. Reconciliation comes through forgiveness. And that also comes to the cross. So this whole concept that's pervasive around many major urban centers in the United States, but certainly New York City and in our churches, it's breaking people because they're believing a diabolic narrative that says you will receive liberation economically. And then when you've shared all your grievances, well, First Corinthians 13 says love keeps no record of wrongs.

So what do you mean my giant record of grievances? That's the opposite of what love does. And so we're just we're not trying to we're not standing for anything new. We're standing for something old, which is the old rugged cross, which is reconciliation by faith in Jesus and then walking in a way that images or mirrors attempts to anyway. Right.

We don't get it right all the time. Attempts to mirror who he is. Now, Pastor David, people want to look you up.

What do they how do they find you in New York City? Our church is King's Church, and that's KCNYC.org. And there's all kinds of links to your website, your Twitter. My I don't really Twitter that much. My Instagram is Englehart underscore ESQ.

Englehart, a pastor with heart in his name. That's got to be good. I'm on Instagram, too. So we're going to connect. We'll do a little picture. But I love how you I mean, I just love it when a pastor goes head on, leans right into an issue in the culture.

Everyone's talking about it. You know, we've got Black Lives Matter, you know, on the streets and we want, you know, and but you lean into it with Christ and the gospel. And this is where Jesus, he went where we where the pain was. And that's what what's your challenge to churches, to pastors out there, you know, to exposit the word of God and let the word of God. Your message, you kept going into acts and Galatians and how have you been bewitched and the prejudice that even Peter, the apostle, was a racist.

And God had to heal him through that vision. And he said to God, never. Peter said to God, never.

I never do that. Right. And then he went to Neverland and it wasn't it wasn't Neverland with Peter Pan and Captain Hook.

It was Neverland with Peter, the apostle and Captain Cornelius in Acts Chapter 10. Right. Exactly. Well, I mean, listen, you're right on. And I think that's the beauty of the gospel is we have Peter. Peter is my favorite apostle. Why?

Because he messes up the most. Right. That's a beautiful thing that I like. We're not saying to people that have accidentally or let's say, you know, been seduced by by a system. We're saying we all get seduced by systems. But the antidote to that seduction is the is the plain word of God. My dad has said for years the plain truth is the main truth and the main truth is the plain truth. We don't need to go into some kind of academic system of ideas and then attach to that to the gospel. The gospel is sufficient for reconciliation in the heart of man and to give man a new life, to pursue a full garden life with God.

So the solution is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We've got a pastor in New York City and your church looks a lot more like heaven than most churches. You've got to tell everyone about the cross-cultural, the power of ministering, where you're looking at a lot of different faces. It's not a, you know, it's not your typical white church, black church.

It's everyone, huh? Yeah, and I'm talking about my father a lot. I mean, really, he's modeled, he's a pastor and he's modeled that kind of church. So you become what you're modeled by. And it seems to me that in heaven there's every tribe and every time.

I think I remember reading that somewhere, right? All of these different tribes and people groups and nations that are blended together in this beautiful way. That doesn't say those nuances aren't beautiful and important and fun to celebrate, but that means that we become a tapestry in Christ. And so, you know, it's been a challenge to love people from all different backgrounds and have a lot of people seduce, not all, but a lot of people seduced by a message that is an alternative gospel. So we're just going to stand and keep doing what we're doing and loving people independent of their background or what they look like or any of that was kind of surface level issues and pursue Christ and the heart of people.

Pastor David Englehart, pastor, 2.5 billion people on planet Earth right now have never heard the gospel, the glorious name of Jesus Christ. What do you say to them? Well, what do you say to us about them? What do you even care? I say to your listeners, get out there.

You got a job to do, right? And people don't recognize that there's a circle of influence that any individual can engage in. You, me, my neighborhood, like we're in New York City. It's a big city, but we're in a very small neighborhood in that city. We're in a very small building in that city. And we have across the street a whole neighborhood that we can touch. So if we're faithful in the little, we'll be ruler of the much.

Too many people are trying to be ruler over much without having been faithful in the little. Name your church one more time in New York City. King's Church, New York. Pastor David Englehart, God bless you.

We'll get a shot here for the Instagram. Hey, I hope you'll hear the rest of this interview and all of our great segments, including my interview with Mike Huckabee on my podcast. Just check out the Truth Network podcast or the Truth podcast network and look for Truth Talk.

And I was able to pull aside one of our newest members of the Truth Network team. His name is Dave Compton, and he's been spinning records for how long, Dave? Southern gospel music. Since 1975, Steve.

A long time. And he's on an A.M. station in Greensboro, North Carolina. A.M. 950 WPET. Is that right?

That's exactly right. A station that I've been associated with for over 42 years. And I was away for a while, but the Lord put everything together. And I'm I'm just tickled to be with the Truth Network to continue my 43rd year, which started January the 11th of this year. That is so cool.

So we like to showcase a lot you to meet some of the people that I work with here in wherever you are. Everyone has, I think, a soft spot for this southern gospel music. But we love to talk to all kinds of broadcasters, whether it's music or talk or ministry or we've even talked to Christian politicians on this show.

Can you believe that? But Dave, tell everyone how you got saved real quick. I love this testimony. I was saved in the 1970 Grady Wilson crusade that came to our little town of Reedsville, North Carolina. And he was a part of the Billy Graham Association. I was able to communicate this to the Billy Graham staff or staff member of how I became a Christian. And that's where it started. And, you know, and then as time went on, our family got in church. I'm sure that this was a follow up of the crusade workers. And I remember my dad loading up all of the family in his Oldsmobile, took us all to church. And I looked on that little pew in Lawsonville Road Baptist Church, too. And all seven of us filled up one pew. And I looked at that and I thought, wow, that is so. So.

Yeah. And long story short, we are pastor died. We had a new pastor that came in, Pastor Harold Townsend, who was very instrumental in radio. He got me interested, started taking me to the radio station. And, you know, I kind of started out answering the phones. And and then he would put me on the air a little bit. And then one night he says, you want to run this control board?

I said, yes, I do. So he got me my first job at WWWMO in Reedsville. So you've been doing radio how long? It's been how many how many total since you were how old when you started? How many years you've been doing radio? Sixteen years of age and July 1975. So forty five years. And you're still going still going strong.

I still feel like I'm a kid. Dave Compton. And he's just he loves the Lord. And you can learn more about him.

Just Google WPET. If you're ever in the Greensboro, North Carolina area, listen to that a.m. 950. What's your quick message about the Lord to everyone listening tough political times? You know, we got all the stuff going on, people getting sick, you know, a lot of a lot of just darkness and sadness out there.

What's your challenge to keep looking up real quick in the last 15 seconds? Well, have faith, put your faith and trust in the Lord. And this is something that's helping me. You know, I used to be kind of fearful and I went through a terrible time, you know, being away from Pet and scared of the covid, but I'm trusting the Lord and he has put that inner peace. So I want everybody to just stay strong, stay faithful and stay focused, but stay safe as well. This is the Truth Network.