Friday, December 30, 2011

Interview - Virgil Amundson, AwakenUS

Virgil Amundson serves as the pastor of Shell Lake Full Gospel Church. He joined The Matt Friedeman Show to discuss the conclusion of the AwakenUS movement. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

What has AwakenUS done for your church?
We have really enjoyed the opportunity to call the people in the church in to a period of prayer and fasting. The movement has snowballed.

As we've continued to promote this every week, the thrust has begun to increase. Today, most of our people are on-board and committed.
Do you plan on keeping an emphasis on fasting?
Personally, I had gotten away from a consecrated time of fasting. We eat a lot in America, and we eat often. For me personally, fasting was a discipline I really needed to get back to.

Now that we've disciplined ourselves, and gotten into seeking the face of God, I think we're going to continue to build momentum.
What do you say to people who feel like their fasting didn't "work"?
Sometimes, fasting is a really dry time. Oftentimes it's not until we conclude our fast that we begin to see changes come.

People may find their fasting to be the driest times in their life. But when Jesus fasted, he was in the wilderness.
What stands between America and revival?
That question was asked to the pastor of the church in Cairo, Egypt that started all this. His answer was three things: Humility, Unity, and Intercession.

He said America had to humble themselves and fall on their knees before God. These are desperate times. We must all together seek the face of God.
Why is humility hard for us in America?
It's extremely difficult for us to bow down before God. Fasting is a breaking of our pride, it's a breaking of ourselves. There is a real humbling in the fasting itself. Humility comes with fasting.
Will this fast continue beyond today?
I think that initially, it was meant to conclude today. But there is a spirit of renewal that I sense even in our local church here. It's up to local pastors and leaders to hold this into place.

These are desperate times that aren't going to change tomorrow just because we fasted for the last forty days. We have to continue to call on the Lord to bring revival to America.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Ministry Spotlight - Willie Jordan

Willie Jordan is the President of Fred Jordan Missions, a ministry in inner Los Angeles. She joined The Matt Friedeman Show's Ministry Spotlight. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of her interview.

Who is Fred Jordan?
The man who founded the mission. I was honored to be his wife.

The Lord took Fred to heaven nearly 24 years ago, but he left me and my children a wonderful staff, and we have ministered to people on the streets of Los Angeles.

First, we give them the Bread of Life, and then we give them physical bread.
 Do you see lasting change in the people you minister to?
That's why we're here. The fact that we can see them and give them physical aid is good, but we are here to preach the gospel.

We don't see as many as we would like to see, but we're there to share the central message that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. So Fred Jordan Missions just shares Jesus.
What makes poor people poor?
Poor choices. That's the bottom line. People get into financial difficulties, many of them are alcoholics, and in the last 25 years, drugs. 
The biggest drug has been crack cocaine. Men and women will do anything to get that white rock. And once you get hooked on drugs, nothing is important. 
If you had a job, you lose it. If you had a wife and children, you walk away.

And then, in LA, we have so many immigrants who come in. They speak no English; they can't get jobs, or if they do, they're at the very bottom of the income level.

With some people, poverty causes crime. But on our streets, crime causes poverty. Jesus is the only way out.
How do you keep the transformation?
Well, they come to Jesus. We have follow-up and discipleship. I like to tell my guests that I would like to see them gone, away from the streets and temptations and addictions.

So when they come to Christ, we try to get them away from the streets, into churches.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Ministry Spotlight - Miriam Neff

Miriam Neff is the Founder and President of Widow Connection, a ministry that serves widows all over the world. She joined The Matt Friedeman Show to discuss her ministry. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of her interview.

What are you trying to do?
First of all, no one wants to start a widow ministry. 
I was married for 40 years to Bob Neff. He succumbed to Lou Gehrig's disease. 
When I was dealing with that, I couldn't find anything to help me.

I could clearly see from my faith walk that I was supposed to help widows. So now, 24/7 widows can go to my website and get help.

Then I began to look around and ask where the widows where who needed help. I had traveled to Africa with Bob, and seen the poverty there.

So what we do is we help the widows there, we teach them to sew, and they graduate with a certificate to be a tailor. They can hold their heads high again.
You have seven tips for helping widows. Tell us about that.
One of the important things is to stay connected. It seems so simple. But often a widow will kind of disappear from the picture. 
And I understand, because I am one, that you kind of want to fade away.

But as a friend of a widow, you have to realize that she's not going to pick up the phone and call you.
You have to take the initiative. That's a simple thing that anyone can do.
Is there a drop in finances when you are widowed?
Widows often end up in a much worse financial situation than they had when they were married. 
The income goes down with the loss of the husband. The need goes down some, but not as much as the income.
Is the local church doing enough to help?
In my situation when I became a widow, I could not find any ministry to widows in any church.
I had friends, but many of them did not understand what I was going through, which is normal.

I do think we're seeing an increase in churches waking up to what they need to be doing.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Dr. K.P. Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Dr. K.P. Yohannan, President and Founder of Gospel for Asia, joined The Matt Friedeman Show to talk about the spread of Christ in India and how you can help.

What is the most significant thing happening with Gospel for Asia?
In the Indian subcontinent, 1/3 of the country — nearly 300 million people — are known as the untouchables, or the Dalit.

What is happening right now is that significant numbers of the Dalit are accepting Christ.

There is a whole new world with Muslims opening their hearts to the Lord. Especially the children; some 60,000 children are being reached. I am very excited.
Why is this happening now?
It's like in the book of Exodus, they lived in such slavery for such a long time, and finally God heard their prayer.

These people lived in these conditions for some 3000 years, and finally there is hope for them.

Now they realize that the only way out of slavery is to change their faith. Jesus offers hope and a new beginning. It is nothing short of a miracle for these people right now.
Tell us about Gospel for Asia's "Critter Campaign".
This is one of our high points of the year during the Christmas season. We identify people living in horrible poverty, with absolutely no hope.

We give them buffalo or cows or a sewing machine. When we give these things to them, it gives them incredible hope. They are able to find hope in Christ after we minister to them like this.
What does something like that do for a family?
I was just hearing a story from one of the remote areas of Nepal the other day.

It was this man and his wife and five children, and just looking at them you could tell they are broken. The whole family was so shocked that someone would bring them these things; they cried and cried and cried.

They said, "Don't leave us; tell us more about the Jesus who brought you here." They were so surprised when they learned that Jesus was not a politician; he was God. It was a beautiful thing.
What about clean water?
There are literally thousands of villages where people die from sickness just because they didn't have clean water.

When you dig these wells, it's not just one family that is helped; through one family, many families around them get clean water.
To help save a family in India, visit Gospel for Asia's website and click on the "Christmas Catalog".

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Ministry Spotlight - Don Shenk

Don Shenk, joining the Ministry Spotlight, serves as director of The Tide, a radio ministry that broadcasts in India, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Nepal, and Romania. He came on The Matt Friedeman Show to talk about The Tide's outreach in other nations. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

What is The Tide about?
Basically, we're trying to share Jesus Christ and bring people into a relationship with him.

Our mission statement is "Creatively sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ worldwide through media and partnerships."
What is the power of radio overseas?
Here we have so many different mediums of media, but in other places people rely very strongly on the radio.

There's an element of authenticity to what they hear on air. That can be dangerous, if there is false teaching, but it gives us authority in their eyes when we preach the gospel.

The Tide doesn't own any broadcasting services, so we purchase air time from other broadcasters. We use indigenous speakers, not a translated program from over here in America.

We broadcast in the heart languages of the countries. It becomes culturally relevant to the people who hear it.
What is a heart language?
When we talk about a heart language, it is the language that they were born to speak, that they grew up speaking. 
The importance of that in radio is that they can identify with Christ as a God who knows them, rather than a foreign God

We are doing in Zimbabwe, the Tide has a daily program. So we have some programs there that target youth, others that are specifically for men.
We deal with issues that they are facing every day. In Zimbabwe, that is family.

There are many single-parent families, because a spouse often has to go into another country to earn a living. The Tide is focusing on how to help these families that are broken.

One of the things as a ministry, The Tide doesn't want to be guilty of sending out a ministry on the air and then just leaving the listeners hanging. 
We provide literature; we have Bible correspondence programs that they can enroll in.

When we have an area where we have received responses from many listeners, we will hold a Seekers Conference about what it means to accept Christ.
What is the area you are most excited about?
That's a hard one to answer. I would have to say right now I'm most excited about Bhutan.

We had a ministry there, and we had to withdraw. But another door opened, and by March we will be going back in and broadcasting.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Brain Trust - David Murrow

David Murrow, speaker and bestselling author, joined the Brain Trust to discuss the problem of men leaving the church, as expressed in his book Why Men Hate Going To Church. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

What is the disconnect with men and the church?
It's not that men don't like God or Christ, what they don't like is churchgoing. Getting up out of bed, singing the songs, hearing the sermon; it doesn't click with them.

Part of the reputation of the church among men is that it's a place for "women, weirdos, and wimps."

I think that comes out of the last hundred years, with the emphasis on Christians not smoking, drinking, playing cards; there's just been this extreme seriousness.
Does it depend largely on the pastor?
You're absolutely right. I say that 80% of the battle is the pastor.  
Women see their church as their fellow churchgoers. If they're in harmony with their fellow churchgoers, they're in harmony with their church.

But men tend to see the church through the lens of the pastor; if they don't like the pastor, they won't like the church.
Should churches focus on using men's gifts and talents?
That is so true. And I think one of the reasons that Southern Baptist churches are so prevalent in the South is that they have extensive relief networks.

It's a wonderful witness, and a great way to utilize men's talents.

When Jesus went out and started the Church, he created a core of 12 committed men.
Should we be following Jesus' example in teaching through activity?
That's definitely true. The Lord's discipleship method was not classroom teaching. I don't want to speak out against Bible studies, because those have been helpful in the lives of a lot of men.

But a highly verbal discipleship method tends to elevate the teacher. And while there's nothing wrong with that, it limits the men who decide they can't really help in the church since they can't speak and they didn't go to seminary.
Why do you say that prayer meetings aren't geared towards men?
There's a lot of things about the way we do group prayer today that makes it tough on men. Because the way we pray in groups is we make speeches to God.

It's generally easier for women, since women are more verbal than men. I have about ten or twelve pages in the book about how we can make prayer more real and inviting to men.
Do we have a misconception of Jesus that contributes to this problem?
We do. We tend to focus on the Lamb of God rather than the Lion of Judah.

We look at the incident of overturning the tables in the temple as an anomaly. We view the rest of his life as meek and gentle, always surrounded by children.

There are pictures of Jesus as a fighter in Scripture, and we need to focus on them.
You talk about fears that men have about church. Talk to us about "losing control."
In a lot of churches, there's a tendency to say, "Let's just give the Holy Spirit as much time as he needs."

There's no expectation for how long the sermon will go. The guy has no expectation, no idea of how long this will take. Men want to be in control.
Do men worry about having their wives fall too far in love with the church?
A lot of women do fall very hard for Jesus. I married a preacher's daughter, and she thought it was normal to spend six nights a week at the church.

She was in love with Jesus and in love with the church, to the point where she neglected the family.