Fireman To Fired Up Evangelist

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network.

It's about to start in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. And you're about to meet the minister in that ministry who set out to be a fireman, and he became a fire-breathing evangelist, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, warning people of hellfire, and bringing people to the fire of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. His name is Tyler Galdin. Tyler, God bless you, man.

Thanks for hanging out with us here at Panera in Greensboro, of all places. Hi Stu and Dave Compton. I have known Dave Compton for a long time. I have recently met Stu Epperson. Now actually, I take that back. I actually knew Stu Epperson before Stu Epperson knew me, because I knew Stu's mom, Ms. Epperson, taught me in Bible College at Piedmont.

So, the connections are loose, but they are long. Wow. Now, Dave Compton, the first time you and I talked about meeting with this guy here, you said these words, Tyler Galdin is the real deal.

Now, what did you mean by that? Is he really the real deal? He really is, because I've known Tyler a long time.

He came down to WPT when you were, what, eight years old, and was on the air for the very first time. Little did we know what Tyler would do, but we've seen him grow, we've seen him flourish, and this remarkable ministry that he has, Stu, I think it's called us all by surprise. It's really growing, and it's like throwing gas on a fire.

It's ignited everywhere. Praise the Lord. Oh, man, and they just delivered my yummy food.

Just look at that. Thank you so much, Terrence. I just prayed with Terrence earlier.

He was in a fatal car crash, and God kept him alive. That's Dave, that's Pastor Tyler. We're interviewing right now. Just pull up a chair so you can hear this, man, over here. Yeah, man. Yeah, awesome.

Go get your drink, too. We were able to bless him with a meal and encourage him and pray with him. He's gone through some tough stuff. So, Tyler Galdin, we're sitting here talking to you. Who is Tyler Galdin?

That's a loaded question. If I could sum it up, Tyler Galdin is an old country boy from the backwoods of McClainsville that nobody knew, nobody had heard of. I wanted to be a firefighter like my dad, and out of nowhere, God called me to preach. God lined me up with the right people.

I didn't know anybody. I didn't have anything, and then all of a sudden, God just launched. That's what I am. Wow, and so you've been preaching God's Word. Now you're doing evangelism's work, and this ministry of yours is called Unspeakable Joy.

What is that? I think I've heard that from the Scriptures before. You know, out of 1 Peter, we started a television program about eight years ago, and I was praying one day. Listen to Dr. Stanley talk about how he found it in touch and all that. I was praying one day, and I came across the verse in 1 Peter 1 where Peter said that you may rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

And it was like a light bulb just turned on in my head, and we called it Unspeakable Joy, and it just stuck. And so you've been in evangelism work now not too long because you were pastoring in church before that. Truth Network's been around for about 25 years.

Truth Talk, this program in some variation, has been around for about 24 or so years. And Dave Compton has been in radio for over 40 years, over four decades, with WPDT, a legendary southern gospel and preaching station based in Greensboro, North Carolina. So we're in North Carolina. We're in Panera Bread. It might get kind of loud, but Tyler, tell us about your passion. What is it? You get up and preach. What is it about the ministry? You're a husband.

You've got some precious kids. What is it you're passionate about? I am worried, which is what builds my passion. I am worried about the direction of the church.

I am worried about the coldness. I am bothered by the lackadaisical nature of so many Christians, and there is just something that comes alive in me when I get around God's people. I can't explain it. It is this fire that breathes that we are cascading down these last days slopes of apostasy. We are cascading down these last days slippery slopes of coldness, and I see that there's no direction. There is nobody that's standing up saying, Wait a second.

It doesn't have to be this way. God is still desiring to save people. God is still desiring to do something in these last days.

You know, Revelation 3. In the last days, in Laodicea, the church is lukewarm, but yet Jesus still knocks, and He still invites people to open the door, and I still see that. I still see that He's there if we will but open the door, and every night when I stand up to preach, I see Christ wanting to come in, and I don't know.

I can't explain any other way, but He's still there, and so we still try to open the door. That's all I can say. So, I'll turn on the Facebook. I'll see you on social media. You're all over social media. I mean, I think I saw you on TikTok, in fact, giving these little fiery little zingers, and you'll be in Indiana one night. You'll be somewhere in Virginia. You'll be somewhere in North Carolina. You'll be on the coast. You actually preached at Seeing the Sun, a huge Southern gospel event down our wonderful friends at Carry Truth Talk down at 100.9 FM the cross.

You know, I think I texted you to be sure you tuned in that. You can't take a vacation from God, Tyler, going down there to Myrtle Beach, right? You know, we weren't on vacation. We were just in relaxation.

No, no, no. It really has been unbelievable. This week we'll be in Lexington, then we'll go all the way down to Augusta, Georgia.

Next week we'll be in upstate Virginia. You know, so social media has been a big part. I don't know.

It's just kindly all exploded at one time, and God has given us. You know, TikTok was an accident, actually. This guy, I met him in Mount Airy up at Zane Fishel's church up in Mount Airy at Temple Baptist. I went to school with Zane, by the way, so yeah, don't hold it against him.

No, I don't. So I met him up at Zane Fishel's church, and he said, Hey, have you ever thought about getting on TikTok? I said, No, I haven't. He said, If you'll give me $100 a week, I promise you I can get you an audience on TikTok.

I said, Prove it. And all of a sudden, we went from zero people on TikTok to 150, and it's just been unbelievable. Facebook, God has blessed.

You know, it's just been unreal. Praise the Lord. So a lot of pastors out there listening, they're like, Man, our church could sure use a little shot in the arm, a little encouragement.

And that's really what you're trying to do. And, you know, bringing the message of grace, bringing the message of unspeakable joy. What is it that, you know, as an evangelist, what is it that a pastor can expect someone to listen out there? Obviously, you can't take every call, and you pray over, you know, you fast and pray regularly over where God will lead you. But what is it that you want to do when you step into a pulpit of church, whether it's in Canada, or whether it's in Mexico, or whether it's in California, or whether it's in Lexington, North Carolina?

You know, there's really two goals. Number one, it is to preach the gospel. I do believe with all of my heart that there are so many people in our churches that have had a religious experience, but they don't know Christ. I think there are a lot of people that are just unsaved in our churches.

Number two, we go in to encourage the pastor. I'm finding so many preachers, pastors, deacons, associate pastors, there's just this discouragement. And they don't know why. They can't figure out why. They feel alone. Their wives feel alone. Their marriages just feel this unbelievable burden. There is depression that are filling our ranks. So we try to be a friend to pastors. We try to encourage their families. And then we preach the gospel, and we are seeing the Holy Spirit save people. And I don't have a formula.

I don't have a methodology in the sense of step one, step two. We preach the gospel. We try to be a friend to people, and we're seeing God move.

Dave Compton, you know, you connected Tyler and me. Of course, we were connected through my mom teaching him at Piedmont Bible College, now Carolina University, years ago. But he steps up at the pulpit. And it's just neat to see his humble demeanor. And I'm not going to put this question on him and ask you, what can people expect if they're in the pew and this guy's up there behind the pulpit?

What do you think? Well, I think they will immediately be, well, let me just put it this way. It will be a shower of unspeakable joy.

My wife and I, we get up every Sunday morning and we look at Tyler. We see what's going on. The throngs of people that we see, they're praising the Lord. They're getting spirit, their spirit fed, their whole spiritual being. It's rejuvenated. They get up.

You know how somebody is in cardiac arrest and then you put those, you put those whatever you call it. It rejuvenates them, gets their heart pumping. Well, that's what happens spiritually with Tyler. I think it's amazing. And I praise the Lord for it.

And we're actually meeting here at his Panera in Greensboro right off Wendover Avenue to talk about maybe sharing some of this on the radio, you know, with our audience at large. So who would have thought now, has this occurred to you, Tyler? I know this is, you know, I don't think many original thoughts, but it occurred to you that your earthly daddy was a fireman. You aim to be a fireman, but your heavenly daddy does have you putting out fires, but just in a different way. You are a fireman in a way, aren't you? You know, that is one way to look at it. I don't know if I'm putting fires out or if I'm starting fires. I'm just trying to be a blessing and be faithful.

And whatever doors God opens, that's the doors he opens. Okay, someone's out there driving, who knows how they found this crazy show. They're like, oh no, what am I doing listening to this? We've got some 200 affiliates brave enough to carry Truth Talk. We love our friends at AFR, Wilkins Radio, some Salem stations, Truth Network carrying this program.

In Greensboro 97.7 right here, a new listener sitting next to me named Terrence is going to be listening to that station. Tyler, what do you say to people out there that they've fallen away? They think, man, there's no way I can come home. There's no way I can come to Christ.

He's not going to accept me back. They're struggled. Their marriage is in a ditch.

They don't even know where to turn. Give us a call real quick as we get out of here. I would tell you that the moment that Jesus leaves the throne is the moment you have no hope. But our Lord is still on the throne. He still loves you. He still cares for you. There is still grace and mercy. The Father is still on the porch calling the prodigal home, come back. Come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden. He says, I still will give you rest.

Remember this, God still loves you and it's going to be okay. And what's the website folks can find out more about your ministry, Unspeakable Joy? We'd love to have you visit UnspeakableJoy.com, TylerGaldin.com, on Facebook, on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. Anywhere you go, we'd love to just be a blessing to you.