Cross Fire Ministries- Randy Shepard

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Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. March Madness is still in the air even though it's after March. He's back from the Final Four sharing Jesus. He's all over the world and I don't even know when you're going to be here in this program. But it is always a treat to sit down with my good friend Randy Shepard.

Crossfire Ministries. Him and Jamie Johnson are setting the world on fire for Jesus. Randy, man, I tell you, you're sharing Christ with these big time names. You're running into people like Bill Walton and all these NBA greats and you're not just fanboying these people.

You're talking about Jesus Christ, the ultimate hero, right? Yes, Stu. It's always great to see you.

I appreciate the Truth Network. But yes, I went to go down with Al Wood about the last ten years. Al Wood's a UNC legend, still holds a record for 39 points in the Final Four, which opens up a lot of doors to minister.

But about the last ten years, we've done the Final Four. So it was in Houston this year, as you all know, in the listening audience there. And the Lord opened up two rescue missions, a church, a school. And then as you walk about where all the coaches come to mingle, it's kind of like a convention for NCAA coaches. You see different people you've seen on TV and around. And yes, Stu, like your calling, the Lord has called us to share the gospel.

So, you know, go up and just try to say hello, get a little common ground with a person. And hey, I've been led of the Lord just to go right to the point. Hey, do you have a relationship with Jesus?

Do you know Jesus is your Lord and Savior? I was going through a restaurant there and I had always wanted to be able to talk to Bill Walton, probably 20 years. So he's sitting down and actually he had just sat down. Some UConn fans had taken a picture with him. And he sat down, I guess a lady was with him, which I found out to be his wife.

But I stopped him and I had a good opening line. I said, Al Wood is back here with me. And I knew that he and Al had played together with the LA Clippers. So Bill Walton says, wow, Al Wood, where's Al Wood? I said, he's back here at the table with me. He and our good friends were doing ministry this weekend. And he said, I want to come back there and say hello to my good buddy Al. So Al and I finished eating and we went to him, but they got reacquainted. They were reminiscent and his wife had a cross on. And I spoke with her and said, do you know Jesus is your Lord and Savior? She said, I do. And Al and Bill were talking and got to speak with Bill briefly, take a picture.

But I did give him one of our crossfire gospel tracks and he said he would read it. So I don't know where Bill stands. We all know he's out there a little bit on when he does his announcing. But a great player, Al says if Bill hadn't got hurt, we would be talking about him. Like not as much as Jordan, but he was one of the great players. Al said as a seven footer, 7'2", he could do things with a basketball. Unbelievable passer and scorer.

They played together with the L.A. Clippers. So you can get the title. You can be all NBA legend, all hardwood, all NCAA. You can do it all. But if you don't have Jesus, you think of that verse, what does it profit a man? Christ said it himself.

If he gains the whole world, if he gets the title, makes the team, gets the scholarship, makes the roster, puts the points up, but loses his own soul. Randy, this is really your driving passion, the driving passion of crossfire and the crossfire camps as well, isn't it? To get them young and to teach them that hey, there's something bigger, there's something grander about a God that loves you and came, sent his own son to die for you, to change your life, to transform you.

Amen, Stu. I kind of patterned the ministry around a guy named Bill Bright who was at Campus Crusade for Christ and Bill's motto was five minutes with a person is a divine opportunity to share the gospel. And I believe that as well. And yes, we try to reach from the kids to the senior citizens and using basketball to do it. Our camps are coming up this summer.

The Truth Network is always there to help get the word out about our camps. Kids come from all throughout the southeast and we want to teach them basketball, Stu, but we want to take it further than that, as you mentioned, and share Jesus with them. If they know the Lord, great, we disciple them. If they don't know the Lord, we're encouraging them to give their lives to Christ and been blessed to do this 31 years. One of the trademarks of your story, Randy, is you'll share the gospel and then you'll step on the court and knock down 25 threes in a row. And you're teaching people fundamentals of the game as you're leading them to the fundamentals of the faith in Christ. So there's an excellence there. So when kids come to your camp, they're learning. You're drilling them. I mean, you go to this camp, you're going to get in shape physically.

You're going to know the game, the X's and O's. But there's something about introducing them to Christ. There's something that even gives you a lot of street cred when you're traveling, when you're speaking, that you have the excellence in basketball. God set that up. That's just a tool.

That's a means to the eternal issues that come up, right? Amen. When I was a little boy, I used to do all the pistol Pete Maravich drills. And those of you that know Pete's story out there, Pete came to know the Lord about four years before he died miraculously. And you couldn't talk to Pete Maravich for 30 seconds without he was asking you, what's Jesus doing in your life? So it kind of was a role model for me athletically before he came to the Lord.

And then he came to the Lord and that's when I came back to the Lord at UNC Asheville my junior year. But yeah, we want to give them the best basketball they could get. They went to North Carolina camp, Duke camp, whatever camp.

But more importantly, give them God's word, which you and I know is going to last for an eternity. You know, 25,000 kids have come through camp in 32 years. One guy's gone on to play in the NBA, Rashad McCants, who played in North Carolina. Most of those kids aren't going to play college basketball in the NBA. So we want to give them something that's going to help them in the business world. They can become a doctor, become a nurse, they become a lawyer. Hey, they may work at Walmart, wherever God puts us, we want to be a light to the world, an assault to the earth and use that platform to share the gospel.

Randy, one on one people out there listening coaches that are listening other folks that play ball, or maybe they're just really good at lacrosse, or maybe they're really gifted at whatever God's put in their life, talented, maybe they're good at crafting things with their hands. How do we get to Jesus? How can we stop wasting people's time and get to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with people? Well, obviously, the main thing that we want to share with folks about the gospel is that we're all sinners.

I've lied, you've lied, I've cheated, you've cheated. That's a problem with God because God's standard, as we know, is perfection. And none of us can be perfect, so we just celebrated Easter. Jesus was our perfection.

He went to the cross, was buried, didn't stay in the grave like all the other religious leaders out there, but came out of the grave, defeated sin and hell for you and I, and want to encourage him and understand that truth, and then put your faith in him like childlike faith, and then you grow in Christ and you disciple like you do on the Truth Network with all these great speakers that you have on the Truth Network discipling people. People are listening to the word day, they're growing in their walk with the Lord. So salvation is the first thing, and then we want them to grow where they turn into disciples and they share their faith.

Well, I tell you, I know a lot of parents that say, I want my kid to grow up to be like Randy Shepard, like Jamie Johnson. And one thing Luke 6.40 says, a disciple will be like his teacher. And so when I'm around you, it's interesting, I'm even more looking for opportunities to share Jesus after I'm hanging out with you.

It's contagious. The camp is a great start, a great way. I want folks to meet you online. I want to give the website real quick, but I want you to give us the 411 on the camp. How can parents get their kids to that camp? How can they get their kids around you, around what you're doing with Crossfire, getting more connected to your ministry? There's people listening that need to write a check right now to Crossfire Ministries.

All it's going to do is pay for you to go to the Philippines and share Jesus with a bunch of folks that ain't never heard about Christ, right? So how can people get connected to the website and how can, what does the camp look like for parents seriously thinking about, you know, you have a lot of the southeastern states, maybe folks aren't going to drive all the way from Utah, deliver their kid up for a week in Asheville. That would be fun.

They could tool around the town for a week and whatnot. But what's the best way to get people connected to Crossfire? Our website is crossfireministry.com and a typical camp day in the half a day camp, we'll do the Pistol Pete and Mary of Istrels first. We'll have a share time.

We share God's word and testimony if it's a six year old down on their level. If it's a 14 year old on their level, then our full day and overnight camp, we have a beautiful Mars Hill University north of Asheville. Guys dorm, girls dorm, all you can eat food, three different gyms, a middle school gym, a high school gym and an elementary school gym.

We have 20, 25 coaches like John Perry, Baller Nation and other coaches that come. That day would be Pistol Pete drills in the morning, lunch, afternoon service, three on three, five on five, dinner, Christian movies at night, and then do the whole thing over for three or four days. End it with a big parent program on Thursday where the parents come. The kids demonstrate all the Pistol Pete and Mary of Istrels they learned that week. They're like, wow, how'd you get 110 kids in the gym to do that?

And I joke and say, number one, prayer, number two, a whistle, and number three, push ups. That's all at crossfireministry.com and you can donate there too. You can sign up for camp.

But I would say kind of get that plan going because these things fill up fast. But what a great opportunity. So many people, including myself, Christian camp changed my life, brother. I love basketball, but I love Jesus and I love using the game of basketball to share Jesus. And it's amazing the opportunities God's given us through this ball to share the Lord. And, you know, people hear you, they say, oh, man, 30 decisions for Christ, 500 decisions for Christ. This guy, I know Randy Shepherd will tell everyone listening out there just to maybe share the Lord with one person. Just look somewhere in the eye today and say, God loves you.

How hard is that to do? Smile at someone. Give them a gospel track. Right, Randy? It's just reaching one more for Christ. And everyone listening to me can do that. Appreciate Truth Network. Appreciate the opportunity to talk to your awesome listening audience and thank you for your prayers and support of Crossfire. If we can do anything for you, we can preach at your church, your student rally, your school. It's the website again as crossfireministry.com. Or if you'd like to call us, it's 828-255-9111. I love Stu, love Baller Nation. It's good to be in Winston-Salem.