Andy Christman, a for him, has spent 40 plus years in Christian music and chances are he knows your favorite artist personally.
Now he's bringing you their stories. I'm Andy Christman. In his new podcast, One Degree of Andy, he sits down with the voices behind the songs for real, honest, and faith-filled conversations you won't hear anywhere else. That's a great question. If you love Christian music, this is your backstage pass.
The One Degree of Andy podcast. Listen now to One Degree of Andy, wherever you get your podcasts. Life audio. Hi from the Salvation Army, and you're listening to Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life.
These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Welcome back to Words of Life. Much of this series about community engagement was inspired by the book 1000 Cups of Tea. This book provides a passionate description of how effective and fulfilling ministry can be when it's built on relationships made possible by cultural understanding and fluency in the language of the local people.
So we are so excited to now be joined by the author himself from the other side of the globe. Preston Fidler. We'll have links to his books and resources in the show notes, so be sure to check those out for more information. Mm-hmm. To our listeners, we would love for you to meet Preston Fidler.
Thank you so much for joining us. I'm really happy to join. Yeah, this is great to be a part of this podcast. Just to start, introduce yourself to our listeners. Who are you?
Kind of your salvation story, just a little bit of your background. Yeah, my name is Preston Fidler. I grew up hearing the gospel from my mom and dad. It was just amazing just to be able to, you know, have at an early age. A growing understanding of what God did for me, what Jesus did for me, my sin, and just the need for repentance and just.
Being able to experience that at a young age was just such a gift, a gift from the Lord, a gift from my mom and dad.
So the desire that I have to share the gospel, I think, comes from an early age as well. You know, there are times when I mean, we all drift and we all come back to the Lord. When I really have been strengthened in my relationship with God, it correlates with timing God's word and prayer.
So being able to just sort of. Follow that path and that journey has been really, really good for me.
So, we, my wife and I, have spent decades working in mostly cross-cultural contexts, both in the US, but also in Asia, most recently in Central Asia, where we're working. Alongside teams to really help with gospel proclamation, with discipling, with. discipling new believers and with planting churches. I mean, it's just been a joyful journey. I mean, not without difficulties, but honestly, it's been such It's been incredibly fulfilling to be involved in that.
And that's been kind of the foundation of what I write because it comes out of this. Deep desire to continue on that journey of being able to fluently share the gospel. And just Seeing God at work in people's lives. I mean, there's such joy in that. And then being able to really cast that vision.
So. that's really where a thousand cups of tea kind of was birthed. And just, you know, a years of doing this and lessons learned and, you know, just being able to help people see, wow, there's such joy in being able to do this for the glory of God. When or where did God start working on your heart to really have this passion to preach the gospel like outside of, you know, kind of where you grew up and really see the rest of the world and learn these other languages and other cultures? How did God start working in your heart to really have such a passion for that?
Well, I spent two years in Asia, just in Thailand, actually. Kind of just exploring: is this what God wants me to do with my life? And, um, It was challenging to learn the language. And I thought that I, you know, had the skills to be able to share the gospel. And I remember sitting in a taxi once, and I had a paper in front of me, and I was trying to share the gospel.
And it was just kind of scribbled down. And I got through my spiel. And uh and he was like What? And I said, did you understand what I just said? He said, just say it to me in your own words.
And so I. I did. It was the first time that I actually took what I had written down and just tried to say it in my own words. And he said to me, Okay, I understood that way better. And I thought, okay, this is the direction I need to go with this.
And so from that time on, I've been really exploring what does it mean to actually share the gospel, you know, as a conversation? Um And that, yeah, that really is the heartbeat of what I write and what I try to practice. Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. We're gonna take a quick ad break and we'll be right back. What does it really mean to love your neighbor, not as a project, but as a person?
Mm. This month, on the Salvation Armies podcast, Words of Life, we'll explore how true evangelism starts with genuine relationships shaped by grace, humility, and compassion. We'll hear from Salvation Army leaders and volunteers as they share how they're engaging with their communities and truly making an impact in the lives of their neighbors. And later this month will be joined by author and missionary Preston Fiddler. Uh And I think it comes back to We get to do this rather than we have to.
I think if we approach it from this perspective of, Feeling like we have to convert our neighbors. I think we're seeing it backwards. And we got to see it from this place of, man, I have been converted. I am redeemed. God has saved me.
And I get to tell this good news to my neighbors. Listen to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit wordsoflifepodcast.org.
So we're going to spend a good bit of time just kind of touching on specifically your book, A Thousand Cups of Tea. Where did that metaphor come from? What does A Thousand Cups of Tea mean?
So um I've Have been involved in helping people learn language.
So, my background is in applied linguistics. And when I have had people ask me the question, what is the path toward getting to really being fluent in the language? proficient in the language, being able to share the gospel. I realize that they're thinking, you know, lessons learned, or maybe time spent, or hours in a program of learning. And I realized it's really not about that.
It's really about the relationships we have with people and spending time with people. And in the cultures that I've worked in, these are tea cultures. And so it just. There was one point where I just said, man, it just takes a thousand cups of tea. You just got to be with people, you got to be all in and all there.
And that just kind of stuck. And I have conversations with people, you know, from North America and, Latin America and other places that are in coffee cultures. And so they'll actually kind of rework it and say, you know, I'm just having my thousand cups of coffee time with people, you know, and getting time with people. And of course, that, you know, that's great. You know, it's just whatever we can do to just get that time with people where we're really there, sitting with them, hearing their stories.
And that's kind of the metaphor. And I think also just that idea of, at least with. Maybe with coffee too, I don't know, but with tea there's steeping effect, you know? You've got to just let the conversation kind of percolate, I guess, to really see where the gospel emerges.
So there's that piece too that kind of works, I guess, within the metaphor. Oh. Woo! I think of myself and even just people in my community with the same language as my neighbors. That sometimes is a challenge to communicate the gospel and.
To neighbor how God would want us to. And so, as I was reading your book, you talk about the story of Moses and him feeling not equipped. As I think of outreach, we think maybe like a preacher, that's something a preacher does or something like that. But for the normal person, could you just unpack where that comes from? Should we be doing this?
And where does our strength and ability to have that courage to step out and do that come from. You know, that was really an aha moment for me because I was looking at this whole thing from a cross-cultural and learning another language perspective. for a long time just kind of having it in that category. But more recently, like what you're saying, is I've realized: man, this is for all of us. I mean, people who just live right across the street, you don't have to get on a plane and go to another culture, another language, learn another language.
the people who are all around us, their lives, their situations, What they're dealing with, the issues they face, the hard stories of their lives. If we don't listen, if we don't really have that kind of compassion to really be there with them and listen and respond with. You know, with compassion and also with love and with great hope in the gospel. I mean, these are the conversations that God calls us into, and all of us can do this with a little equipping and a little encouragement. And that's really what That's what I want to see happen.
I mean, that's that's what I I want to practice and I really want to encourage other people to do that. I'm not doing it. with my neighbor across the street. I don't it doesn't make any sense to get on a plane and go you know, to another country and do it. And honestly, when I, you know, when I coach and just work with people who are trying to learn language and maybe they're lagging in motivation.
I just come back to, hey, just let's just come back to the joy of the gospel in our lives. Because really, you know, there's a lot of guilt out there. There's like people going. I don't feel equipped to share the gospel with my neighbor. I don't know them.
I don't know how to get to know them. I mean, how do I go up and even ask their names? They just can't.
Well, you know, like I mean, just ask the Lord, pray for them, and God will give you opportunities and you will experience joy. But let's start here. Let's start with like. Just remember the gospel in your life. Make sure, and as you read God's Word, that it's not just words on a page, but it's God speaking to you from His Word.
And He reminds us of the gospel in our lives, He reminds us of how much He has done for us. And when we can just remember that, and even more, if we can remember that with our family or with people in our church, to be able to say, hey, can we just kind of get some time together and remind each other of the gospel? Have this conversation, that right there is like so motivating. For us to then say, hey, let's just go and share this same story that I'm, you know, that we're sharing with each other. with our lost neighbors who You know, just listen to their stories and share what we just shared here with them because this is good news they need to hear.
You know, a local partner told me once. I just, man, I just want to tell people how much Jesus has done for me. And it's like that from that deep motivation and that Joy and that desire. It's like, wow, that's what I want. That's how I want to live my life.
And God delights in that, and He gives us those opportunities. And so Chris, yeah, that's I mean, that's. That's what I Want to live, that's how I want to live and how I want to write and how I want to share. uh you know with others what they can be living you know what they can be experiencing Yeah. We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation.
We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back. What does it really mean to love your neighbor, not as a project, but as a person? This month, on the Salvation Armies podcast, Words of Life, we'll explore how true evangelism starts with genuine relationships shaped by grace, humility, and compassion. We'll hear from Salvation Army leaders and volunteers as they share how they're engaging with their communities and truly making an impact in the lives of their neighbors. And later this month will be joined by author and missionary Preston Fidler.
Uh And I think it comes back to We get to do this rather than we have to. I think if we approach it from this perspective of, Feeling like we have to convert our neighbors. I think we're seeing it backwards. And we got to see it from this place of, man, I have been converted. I am redeemed.
God has saved me. And I get to tell this good news to my neighbors. Listen to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit wordsoflifepodcast.org.
I want to throw a quote your way that we discussed yesterday in our recording. This actually isn't from your book, this is from The Art of Neighboring. We don't love our neighbors to convert them. We love our neighbors because we are converted. What do you think about that quote?
How does that speak to you? Man, I Yeah that's that's a really amazing quote. Loving our neighbors to Jesus. You know, I just think that Jesus demonstrated that in John 13 when he washed his disciples' feet and said, go and do likewise. It's like when we can be with people, You know, just be with them and hear their hard stories.
Hard stories. I mean, hear what's going on in their lives. It's like if we don't identify with that, with how much Jesus has done for us when He saved us. Yeah. I mean, that's the joy of the Lord.
You know, w when we live from that place of delight and just. Thanking God for that He saved us and we, you know, He converted us. I mean, He is. He has given us eternal life. He's changed our lives.
We are born again. And that deep You know, sense of thankfulness. That's what propels us to be able to share that good. It's good news. You know, we get to share that with our neighbors.
And I think it comes back to. We get to do this rather than we have to. Yeah, I think if we approach it from this perspective of, Feeling like we have to convert our neighbors, it's just, I think we're seeing it backwards. We've got to see it from this place of, man, I have been converted. I am redeemed.
God has saved me. And I get to tell this good news to my neighbors. The first we need to hear and just hear their stories. If it's just us feeling like we've got a task to do. Or something to say, you know, like I want to give you these four propositional truths of the gospel.
Just listen, stop, don't say anything, listen to me. You know, it can really come across as noise because we're not listening to them and hearing their stories and seeing how where they are, what is the gospel for them today? What's that? That good news that they need to hear right now that then will open the door to more opportunities to share. The gospel that they can really hear and understand.
And that's, I think, loving our neighbors to Jesus.
So, yeah, I totally love that quote. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit SalvationArmyusa.org to offer your support. You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit SalvationArmysoundcast.org.
Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life. We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show.
Visit lifeaudio.com where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time. Hey there, it's Nicole Eunice from the How to Study the Bible podcast, and I'd love to invite you to join us as we weekly discover a passage of God's Word together.
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