From Naval Officer to Bible Teacher

Looking for that perfect Christmas gift for the family? Why not a chicken? Stick a bow on top, put the chicken under the tree, and who knows, you may even have a couple eggs to fry up for breakfast Christmas morning.

Give the gift that keeps on clucking. A chicken. Okay, maybe it's not the perfect gift for your family, but it is the perfect gift for a poor family in Asia. A chicken can break the cycle of poverty for a poor family. Yes, a chicken.

A chicken's eggs provide food and nourishment for a family, and they can sell those eggs at the market for income. When you donate a chicken or any other animal through Gospel for Asia, 100% of what you give goes to the field. And the best gift of all, when Gospel for Asia gives a poor family an animal, it opens the door to the love of Jesus. So give the perfect gift for a family in Asia this Christmas. Give them a chicken.

Call 866-WINASIA or to see chickens and other animals to donate, go to CritterCampaign.org. Hey, this is Mike Zwick from If Not For God Podcast, our show. Stories of hopelessness turned into hope. Your chosen Truth Network podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. He's catching the word. But then he invited me to play basketball with him and you got that feathery baseline jump shot.

You still pop it up there? Actually, I have a 10-year-old grandson and I'm trying to pass on my old moves to him. But you know, basketball has changed. I mean, he does stuff at age 10 that I never thought about when I played.

And you have to have those skills to play in 2020 and going forward. So going back, how did John Willis find Christ? You know, your ministry is called Search. I know you were searching at one time. I believe a Navy guy, weren't you?

Tell us what happened to you. I was a naval officer in Vietnam and on my ship was a solid Christian. And he was praying for another Christian officer to be on the ship with him.

And he'd been there two weeks and there wasn't one. And when I arrived, he said, Lord, would you get a hold of that guy's life? And through my buddy, two months, we were over in Vietnam. He made a big difference and dent in my life. He didn't know how to get me there, but he sure got my antenna up, moved in half a block away. Linda and I, first year of our marriage, moved in a half a block away from Tim LaHaye's church in San Diego, California. I said to Linda, would you go to church with me? She said, sure. And I saw a steeple half a block away.

I did not even check the flavor on the door. It was a convenience deal. You can get up at 1030, be parked in the pew at 11. And Tim LaHaye was preaching the word. The place was filled with couples our age. And they had in their life what my buddy on the ship had in his life. And I realized Linda and I didn't have it on our life, in our lives. And so we heard the message of Christ. And on our about sixth Sunday there, at the end of a worship service, when an opportunity to trust Christ was given, I looked at Linda and said, I got to settle this.

And I walked forward, and Linda was on my elbow. So we both came to Christ the same day, and we never looked back. You know, when you're 25, darkness and light are easy to spot. And we were in kingdom darkness for 25 years. And I knew a transaction, Stu and Alex, occurred in my life that day, that had just changed everything. And frankly, what is for 55 years now in ministry, I just want the next guy, the next gal, the next couple to get in on this.

So really, with search, you're trying to meet people where you were and just say, hey, let's journey through this together. I'm not saying I got it all together, but, you know, let's connect. Let me tell you something. Two weeks ago, you sat out here with a guy who was in the political sphere.

He's probably in his 20s. You remember his name? Yes, sir. And you said to me, John, why don't you hook up with him? And we're having coffee next week. And I think you said that he needs the Lord, and that'll be great. So I just love moments like that.

You set the table, and I'll keep you informed on what happened. And tell us the name Search Ministries. I guess people can search online for that and find it, right? And if they want to get plugged in, if they're journeying. And I tell you what, if you come to Green Joe's Coffee Shop, you might see Alex McFarland, and you might see John Willett here having coffee with someone. And it's really just a conversation of how do we get connected to God, right? Isn't that it? It is.

And you know, the recipe is very simple. You raise your hand, like Alex said. I heard you guys talking. And you recognize your need. There's an empty spot in your life. You also know that you're not perfect. You've offended God. And you recognize that God in His goodness became a person, became the Savior, not a Savior, the Savior. And you reach out and invite Him into your life, and it's the most awesome decision you'll ever make.

Well, thank you, John Willett. It's kind of cool. We're in this coffee shop in Greensboro, and I was interviewing Alex McFarland, longtime friend, a Greensboro native, right? And you've known him a lot longer even than I have.

And then you walk in, and then he starts talking about you, and you guys have to hug, and next thing you know, we're talking to you about your story. But isn't it cool how God saves us? Not so that we necessarily stay there, but so that we can go and pursue others and reach out. You know, it's like we're called to go. You know, the letters G-O are the first two letters of the Gospel.

Go. And God's word, G-O. And so what's your challenge to people out there to maybe ask God for His eyes to see and to take advantage of maybe some Gospel opportunities instead of just kind of holding this all to ourselves?

It's too good not to share, huh? Yeah, I'm persuaded there's an enemy that would love to have us think that will botch the job, but that we really are ambassadors and that when we carefully, sensitively go, build relationships with non-believers and are sensitive but caring, we can talk about God in regular ways, making the message clear, and God's going to use us. I'm still floored that God uses Stu, Alex, and John, but when you see that He does, so I would encourage people to get next to unbelievers and tactfully deal the God card and trust that special things are going to happen like my buddy on the ship did for me 55 years ago. 55 years ago.

What a blessing. So here's the question as we wrap up this segment of Truth Talk with Stu Everson. Who are you pursuing to bring to Christ?

And then just stop a second. If you have some discomfort with that question, let's go back and ask this very, very important question. Who pursued you? So I get the opportunity to say thank you to this guy for pursuing me and we say, you know, mutual friend Alex who pursued us or we pursue or whatever, you know, in the whole narrative of God's timeline, but someone pursued you and you're, you're listening today to this program, praising God. So maybe after this is over, hang up and call them, you know, and say, hey, thank you, Mom, Dad, thank you, Grandma.

Let a basketball player to the Lord not too long ago. And I said, who's been praying for you? And he said, well, my grandma has. I said, well, do you have a Bible? He said, no, but my grandma has a bunch of them.

I said, well, do you have a phone? He said, yes, go get it right now. He had just prayed to receive Christ and he came in. He went and got his phone. We called Grandma on speakerphone to tell her the good news. I said, now, Tone, tell Grandma what you just did. And he told her and I said, tell her who's going to church with her Sunday and he's going to you're going to get back.

And he told her and she was so excited. But someone prayed. We were just there to kind of maybe clean up or, you know, or kind of bring, you know, you know, put a loop on what God had been doing through his grandma's prayers all those years. So who are you pursuing to reach with the gospel and then who pursued you? So thank them and bless them. And let's be about that, because he's coming back and we won't take as many people to heaven with us as we can. Right, John? Will it? We're going to take as many as we can. It's going to be a great day. Amen. God bless you.