Big Stu's Retirement Plan!

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This is the Truth Network. Who shared the gospel with you? Who was it that introduced you to the Lord? I'm with my dad, Mr. Everson, Stu Everson, Sr.

Pops, a little lady moved here from Waco, Texas, I believe. Tell us when, tell us about that and how that changed your life, your family's life. Yes, in 1918, my mother and father got married right after he had sought out the lover and built our house, a big wooden house in the area of Virginia, where I was born.

1918, my mother, Lilla and Harry Everson were married. Soon after, Suzy Sleeper, a retired school teacher in Waco, Texas, was sent out by the Presbyterian Mission Board to the mountains of southwest Virginia. And she moved in a small building across the road for my mother and father.

Before very long, she was having cottage prayer meetings all up and down the dirt road known as Unity Church Road now. And people started coming, and naturally, her first target was my mother and father. And my mother, I believe, had been a believer up to then, but my father was not.

He was a somewhat heavy, a heavy drinker, as was his entire family. But he became a Christian, and later they formed Unity Presbyterian Church. And my father and his brother sought out the lumber and built the church, and they opened it formally in 1922. And that's where I grew up, Unity Presbyterian Church, all because Suzy Sleeper came from Waco as a missionary to the mountains of southwest Virginia.

Later on in the early 30s, about 34, someone mailed us an obituary that Suzy Sleeper had passed away, and it mentioned that after she retired from teaching school, she spent several years in the mountains of southwest Virginia. Thank God for Suzy Sleeper, who believed in the resurrection strongly enough to follow the admonition of the risen Savior, go into all the world and preach the gospel. And how did you come upon that name, the Unity Church? Now there's Unity Church Road there where you grew up.

You probably got the name later, but how come the name? Suzy Sleeper said they were figuring out a name for the church, and Suzy Sleeper said, the Bible says I want the brethren to dwell together in unity. So she said, why don't you name it Unity Presbyterian Church?

And that's what they did. And your brother? And that's where I became a Christian in 1946. Your older brother had a question about a spiritual issue or just a common issue that he approached her with. What was that and what did she say? He said, Mrs. Sleeper, is it a sin to smoke cigarettes?

And she said, not a sin, but just a dirty habit. So, Pop, you're up in years now. We're here at the ocean with a bunch of family. It's kind of exciting. It's kind of glamorous.

It's kind of loud. Here they come. Grandkids, great-grandkids, look at that little guy in his swimmy diaper. You are more intentional than I've ever seen anyone about sharing the gospel. Why is that and why is it important that people become like Suzy Sleeper who shared the gospel with your family even before you were born? Well, first of all, the resurrection. Do I really believe that Jesus was raised from the dead? Yes.

How has it impacted my life? This proves that he was the Messiah. He promised. He said, I will be killed, you'll be scattered, and then I will be raised from the dead.

And he was. And he's the Messiah. And he later said, go into all the world and preach the gospel. And Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And one of the things was love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself. So if you love Jesus, really love him, if I love Jesus, let me just personally apply it, if I really love Jesus, then I will obey his commandments and I will love my neighbor enough to tell them that Jesus died for their sins and he rose again the third day. The gospel.

Simply believe in him and receive this gift of eternal life. So the year 2022, you're 85 years old, I believe, is that right? 85 and a half, and not in particularly good health, but as I'm being treated at the hospital, I have the divine privilege, the happy, joyful privilege of sharing with people the good news of the gospel of Jesus. People ask me, someone asks me, hey, what's it like taking your dad over to treatment at the hospital?

And they're feeling really bad for me. I say, well, it's kind of like a four-hour revival service. He tells everyone in there, every medical person in there, anyone that's moving, he tells them about Jesus. There's something sobering about that, but it's real important. And there's something quite time-sensitive. There's an urgency to your heart there, Pop.

Oh, absolutely, because our heart. Satan goes around as a shining light, and what he has to present to us looks like the truth and looks like the right way many times. He is deceptive to the extreme, and then the gospel brings light to his lies and causes people the gospel, the power of the gospel. The Holy Spirit draws people.

He uses the weapon of the gospel to draw people to Jesus to be born again. Okay, I'm Stu Jr. with Stu Sr. Now, it's Easter 2022, Resurrection weekend, and it's interesting that we're all together. I don't know how you pulled this off. There's still a couple grandkids that couldn't be here, but for the most part, you've got your son here, me, the host here, and you've got your daughters, Kristi, Kathy, and Karen, their husbands, and a bunch of their kids. It's loud.

It's crazy. Pop, what does it take us into a family dinner that you would say to everyone as you pray and then you go around the table? What is it you say to all these kids? Bring our listening audience into it, and what you share with all these grandkids are running around. They're loud.

They're noisy. Well, first of all, we have 17 grandchildren and one grandchild. Nancy and I pray for every single one of them. We have four children and four spouses. We pray for every single one every day, and I've talked to every single one of them, and I have faith and confidence that every single one of them, first of all, knows Jesus and has a strong desire to serve Jesus and live for Him, as do their spouses, and I've got to tell you, that is the source of a great deal of joy in my life. If you miss out on that and your kids never get it, you have a real pain that you'll never get over. So praise God in our family, and I pray for other people's families, my friends, that their kids will know Jesus in a real way, a born-again experience, and then know the power of the gospel in their lives and dedicate themselves to serving Jesus as Lord and Savior.

People keep asking me, when are you going to retire? We're down here in Jacksonville where our family is involved with a bunch of Christian radio stations, and you actually went to the station the other day. We had some meetings for a few hours and you're still plugging away, moving around in there. What is it about your passion for radio? It started with your big brother, Ralph, my uncle Ralph, your older brother who brought that radio kit home from college there in the old country house across the street from Susie Sleeper. Why are you still excited about radio and calling me every day wanting to talk about Christian radio? Well, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Our calling was to put the finest communicators, the best communicators of the gospel on the radio all over the country and hopefully influence it all over the world. And we've been able to do, with the grace of God and the leadership and the power of God, we've been able to do that. And yes, I plan to retire.

It's definitely on my schedule. And you will know it when you hear someone say, may he rest in peace. All right, Mr. Everson, with an interesting retirement announcement here. You heard it first here on Truth Talk. I'm Stu Jr. We'll have this whole conversation by way of podcasts and some other great content at our Truth Network podcast channel. The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed.