Capitol Ambassodors

This is Andy Thomas from the Masculine Journey Podcast where we discover what it means to be a wholehearted man. 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. You can tell a politician is lying if they're moving their lips, but friends, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's hope. There's a ministry that goes right to the politicians, and whether they're far left or far right, they invite them to Bible study, to get in God's Word, because the heart is the issue.

That's why I'm so encouraged to be in Greenville, South Carolina. Now, I'm standing next to a politician, and I'm standing on the other side of me is a man of God who is discipling, mentoring a chaplain, encouraging these politicians. His name is Jeff. I've known him for a long time.

Jeff Lingerfeld. Tell us what God's doing at Capitol Ambassadors. Hey, thank you, Stu. We're kind of a delight and a privilege to be with you today. And so we've been here in the State Capitol 20 years with the gospel, and we're just trying to pray for our legislators, as Paul directed Timothy to do in 1 Timothy 2. And so that's one aspect of our ministry. The other, we teach a Bible study on Wednesday morning, go around and invite the House and the Senate to attend. And so when we get them together, we open God's words and see what that has to say as it directs to the issues they're dealing with or, you know, politicians are really just like you and I. They had the same family issues, same heart issues, and we just want to be there to strengthen comfort and encourage them in the calling that God has placed on them.

We know that from Daniel, that God is the one who raises up kings and puts them in office, and he removes them in due season. Yeah, we get angry and we get upset, but we don't realize when we see these folks struggle, they have issues, they've got family, they've got the same things we've got going on. And they're the ones sticking their neck out there, you know, all this legislative things, but you're reaching them right at the heart.

And tell us who this fella is. This guy here is, he is, he's a believer, and he's in politics. That's not an oxymoron, is it?

That's not, no. I've heard the adage before, say, what defines a politician? And the definition of that was the learned art of compromise. But that was not true of Daniel, and it's not true of Senator Burden, who's with us today. Senator has been a dear friend. He has really encouraged me in many ways that just kicked me out of my comfort zone. And he has a special place in our heart, and he's just one of the great guys. He's really one of the elected officials that God has put into office, and he's brought him to encourage me, and I hope that I encourage him as much as he's encouraged me. Yeah, Senator Danny Burden, you are, you're in it, you're doing it, you're making it happen, you're familiar with this man's ministry. Talk about, give some comment on what we just talked about. You're in the throes of it, and a lot of folks listening who are skeptical or thinking, yeah, you can never be on fire for the Lord and serve in the legislature or serve as a senator in a state situation. Talk about that.

Sure. Well, Stu, thank you for being here. Thank you for your support for Jeff. Jeff and Capitol Ambassadors are near and dear to my heart.

I love Jeff Lingerfeld. I love him in the Lord. I love him as a friend. I love him for what he represents. He is an ambassador in the truest sense of the word for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And yes, he has a tremendous impact not only among legislators, staff, lobbyists, people in the executive branch of government. Jeff has been a faithful servant. I didn't realize he had been here 20 years already.

I remember when he came. I'm one of the more senior members of the General Assembly. And I can tell you, we are better in South Carolina. We're richer in our ability to serve our constituents because of the ministry of Jeff and Capitol Ambassadors. Discipleship is the big thing for me. I might miss a lot of the formal activities but times of personal encouragement, prayer, edification that's built upon just a solid foundational sense of the teachings, the practical applications and implications of God's revealed will for us in a public space.

Jeff brings that to bear powerfully and instrumentally like no one I know that's engaged in ministry in Columbia right now. Well, tell us about your walk with the Lord and how you came to know the Lord and how this idea of being a Christian politician is not an oxymoron. Well, you hear how I was raised in a Christian family and I know no other. Well, praise God, I know no other. From the knee of my grandparents to the nurturing and inculcation from my parents to being raised in sound Christian circles. I have all the blessings and advantages that come from being raised a Christian, but that pales in comparison to being in Christ. I was eight years old when I realized, well, this is really nice to be around a bunch of good people, but I'm not a good person.

There's only one. Our good Lord and Savior became near and dear to me on a personal basis as a young child. And I've been thankful to be in position to be nurtured in the admonition knowledge of the Lord now for 59 years. And I believe in providentially appointed place and time for all of us. The relationship with capital ambassadors and with Jeff was signal for me.

I didn't expect to stay in Columbia for 24 years. I'm thankful that we have seen much in this era where the church and Christians are removing themselves from the public square. I see boldness, I see courage based on just longstanding relational development on the part of Jeff and others.

It's more stark, it's more transparent than it used to be because we're so overrun with just darkness. It's becoming, rather than cloudy, clear where the lines of demarcation are and also our obligations and our duties to represent light and salt in this dark and degenerative world. Yeah, it's a transformative experience to serve over multiple decades and see declension still around, but also see the work of the Holy Spirit and the effects of the light of the gospel and even the public places.

You count your blessings where you see them and where you think we need more grace, you pray, you pray hard, you pray fervently, and you do it alongside an encouraging brother or sister. And that's what capital ambassadors has represented to us, a source of strength and encouragement through good times and rougher times. Well, and this is a rebuke even to me, this Christian Radio talk show host who's supposed to have it all together, I'm rebuked to pray for this senator and his family and the attacks on you and that God will use you to share. You may lead someone to Christ on the hill, you may lead a lobbyist to Christ, you may have a conversation with someone and say, hey, here's what's really important.

And the ministry of capital ambassadors is reminding all of us. That's why I love what you're doing, brother Jeff, because you may be in a room with someone on the far left, someone on the far right, someone in the middle, someone who you don't know who they are or what they are, but they're coming to Bible study. You're not going to say, get out of here. You're saying, hey, come on in here.

We're not going to talk about this bill or this legislation thing or lobbying for this issue. We're going to open the Bible to the Gospel of Mark and just jump right in. Is that kind of how it works? And how can our listeners know more about your ministry and pray for you? Okay.

Yeah. This past legislative session, we kind of looked at the three institutions that God has ordained. He's ordained the family. He's ordained government. He's ordained the church. And so we know how the church wins. We read the back of the book.

We know how it ends. But yet the family is vital in that they bring up rear godly children for the church and those to put in leadership and government affairs. In Daniel chapter 6, it said of Daniel that in regards to government affairs, they could find no evidence of corruption in Daniel.

Just think if that was true of all of our politicians, which it's not. But you might ask, well, how did Daniel get to that place? We know Daniel was taken captive probably as a young teenager. But in chapter 1 of Daniel, it says that Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. So it comes with a purpose if you're going to be a Christian official in our state in any legislature or any realm of government.

You've got a purpose in your heart that you wouldn't defile yourself because it's so easy. I see it time and time again with people that I love. I see what they say.

But I see how they walk. And it just raises questions. And so that weighs heavy on my heart. But as I said earlier, Paul in 1 Timothy 2 said we need to pray for our elected officials, especially for those who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all godliness and dignity. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And that's where all this is going. You can win someone over to your political view. Oh, man, you need to become a conservative.

You can show them plausible arguments, but unless their heart is changed, hell will be full of conservatives and liberals that don't know Jesus. At the end of the day, that's what it's about, isn't it, Senator? Stu, I've said many times over many years that we can do really good things in the political realm. But what enables and accomplishes that is more transformative by what takes place in the pulpits and the pews of America.

We're pretty much a reflection of our culture. That's what representative government is. Yes, sometimes we are a backstop against some declension, some area, but especially in the realm of morality and how we interact with each other. But the spiritual heartbeat of America, the Lord blessing and coming through with a breath of revival would make more of a difference within the halls and capitals of America, the state houses than any other influence. But still, it's good for our men and women who serve in office to understand the basis, the scriptural basis for what we do. We're not untethered out here just seeking a balance. If you are operating and developing statutory law on a moral basis, you've got to be tethered, grounded in the ultimate revelation of God's will for us. It's there from Genesis to Revelation. Thankfully, we have Jeff Lingerfeld in Columbia opening the pages of scripture to us and helping us further understand and solidify the basis for why and what we do. Wow. Well, I'm Stu Everson.

I am in Greenville, South Carolina. And by the way, hello to all our listeners, including the guy that held the door for us when we came in with a bunch of muscadine juice. We needed some help. His name's Joe. I said, great Bible name, you know, Joe and the Christmas narrative. And, you know, Joe, a coat of many colors. He said, Well, I'm Joseph Matthew.

I got two Bible names. So he's listening now to the new ninety six point nine Truth Divine on ninety six point nine brand new Truth Network affiliate here in the upstate of South Carolina. You can love that station driving around that Senator Danny Verdon, who is serves in the Senate of South Carolina. He loves Jesus and he loves souls more than politics. But he's there to make a difference. And right.

Helping him in all the politicians, really a real ministry, kind of almost like a chaplaincy is capital ambassadors. And the guys that they were desperate for a speaker at this lunch here in the upstate today. And so they called me.

They're like, you know, we got to really you know, we can't get any worse. You know, so we got to get Stu Epperson here to speak. And I'm honored to speak in here in just a little bit about how to be an ambassador of gratitude.

And so this show will air shortly here after all across the Truth Network nationwide. Hello to all of our friends, AFR, all the brave folks that carry this program and challenging everyone to get on their knees and pray for their politicians. They need Jesus. Imagine if a politician who is corrupt, who's out there doing evil things and lying and just doing horrible stuff. Imagine they come to Jesus Christ. I mean, I believe one very well-known religious guy was murdering Christians before he came to Christ in Acts chapter 9 on that Damascus road. So, Jeff Lingerfeld, Capital Ambassadors.

Give us the website. Give folks the 411 on your ministry how they can support it. And they need to send you money. They need to send you prayers.

Because you're working with guys like this. I mean, encouraging and discipling. Yes, it's capitalambassadors.org. And you can go there. Just click on the donate tab and you can contribute to our ministry and help support our ongoing ministry as we minister to and serve our elected officials. A lot of our officials don't understand what serving them means. And so we just want to be more faithful servants of the Lord and also servants of our elected officials that God has put into office.

I love it. So, give us a final word here, brother Jeff. We're sitting there listening to horrible stuff that politicians are doing or watching things and just ready to put our fist through the TV. Give us a word on calling out to the great, our great Savior, our great Lord, our great Father. And give us a word about that, how to pray for these men and women that are serving those without Christ, those that have the Lord, like the senator here. But how can we pray for all these guys? How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus to them as well and intercede for them?

Right. As I mentioned before, I think twice before already, the prayer is already in Scripture. Is that we need to, as Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 2, is that we need to offer, he lists four different types of prayers. There's supplications, thanksgiving, there's intercession, and there is supplications. And so in those prayers, there's four types of prayer, but I think our people forget that they are unbelievers as legislators, there's believers as legislators. There are those who really need comfort and encouragement, and we need to be praying specifically. And 1 Timothy 2 is a prayer of specificity. It's not just, God bless our legislators, we hear that every Sunday in church, but Paul wants Timothy, he's passing the mantle to Timothy, to the church. This is how you need to pray for your elected officials.

That's pretty cool. Okay, yeah, and senators, as we get out here, give us your word on praying and the importance of that. Yes sir, prayer of thanksgiving, straight to the doxology, Psalm 100. Let us praise God from whom all these blessings are flowing and will continue to flow. Thank you for your radio ministry, appreciate you being here in Greenville. Appreciate Jeff and Capital Ambassadors, appreciate all your listening audience. In this spirit of thanksgiving, in this time of thanksgiving, I think it's signal mercy and blessing of the Lord that you're here.

We've been waiting on you a while. I tell you what, the timing is really interesting because there was no 96.9 FM even in the works. No one even thought of that, but this area is just hungry for the word and a lot of people listen to Christian radio. 44% or so people aren't even church to listen to Christian radio. So we want to spread this message and we want to tell people, let's get to the heart right now.

And that's what it's about. Tell us how we can pray for you. How can people pray for their senator right now as they're listening? Remember our families. Our families, we're not in military service. We're not gone months and months at a time, but we are disengaged. I'm a mom and pop retailer.

People that know better say, well, there's not much pop to it. It's all mom because you're off in Columbia. But really our families, our businesses, there's a lot of ancillary activity in our lives. So we just have to find the right blending and the right mashup, I guess, to be able to serve effectively.

But that's good. It puts us in contact with the real world and real life experiences of our constituents. But pray for those that support us that aren't necessarily there making the hard votes. It's like our appeal on missions. The missionary comes.

He's on the other side of the world. What do we say? Well, if you can't go, right, then give. If you can't give, then pray.

So, hey, everyone listening, you're in politics now by merit of listening. You're accountable to God to pray for this senator, pray for his family, pray for these other elected officials, pray for their family, pray they'll come to know Christ, pray they'll grow in Christ, pray they'll get in a solid biblical church. And if you can't go and be in politics like this guy is, then you can pray for him and pray for all these politicians. And, hey, you can give. You can give to capital ambassadors, ministries like that. Well, I can't go up there and I can't go witness these politicians and lead Bible studies. Well, give money to Brother Jeff here, capital ambassadors. They could use the support. And you'll be funding getting Bible study tools and you'll help him support to reach these folks in the capital of South Carolina with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of those could become the president. I have visibly stood and witnessed my mother telling multiple sitting presidents, multiple candidates, multiple Supreme Court justices and high-level politicians, senators, I am praying for you. And it's just so amazing. I'm in a long line of people that are getting the books to them and, you know, angling and, hey, check out, hey, make sure this piece of legislation. And my mom gets up and says, I want you to know I am praying for you.

And I've seen tears fill those politicians' eyes because she really is. And, of course, I'm only here because of a praying mama, amen? So a challenge to do that. Well, Jeff, just one more time, hit that website. Folks want to dial in. And I want to encourage everyone to take this podcast when it becomes a podcast and share it everywhere you go and share this radio station you're listening to with all your friends too so they can be encouraged to be a part of the battle, be a part of the solution. You want to be a part of the solution? Let's get on our knees. Forget about email.

Let's try some knee mail. What's the website one more time? www.capitalambassadors.org. Again, that's capital with an O-L, ambassadors.org. This is the Truth Network.