Point of View March 12, 2025 – Hour 2 : POV Greece Trip, Israel, The Great Commission

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Second hour today we have in studio with us as well Dr. Paul Baraka, Executive Director of Fellowship International Mission, an individual you've known for some time because first of all he has been on the program, he's been a pastor of churches in Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey.

[00:00:34] We've talked about his books, Follow the Master, How Jesus Made Disciples and Follow the Master, a discipleship course for growing Christians. And of course he's also been an individual that has been with us on all of our Point of View trips and the latest one going to be at Greece. But Paul let's talk about why you're here because just down the road is Dallas Theological Seminary. They just had their 100th anniversary and I was at that event and they are holding a missions conference so that's why you're here.

[00:01:01] That's right, Dallas does a unique thing, the students run the missions conference, it's called the World Evangelization Conference and this year is the 75th WEC conference at Dallas Seminary. So they're all excited about that. They stop all their classes, all of the students have workshops and plenary sessions.

[00:01:21] We've been hearing in the sessions from a statistician and researcher from the IMB all about how we're counting people groups and which portions of the world are still unreached and where the gospel is most needed. It's been fascinating and the students are just eager to learn about missions.

[00:01:41] And so FIM is there with a number of other mission organizations helping students to discover ways that they can connect with missionaries and perhaps even serve as a missionary on the foreign field. I just mentioned too if you click on the button that says see more and then underneath you it takes you to FIM.org.

[00:01:59] And again that is going to be something that you might want to check out if you want to become a missionary, support a missionary or just if somebody would like to have you come and speak on that issue as well because you're wearing your FIM. Anybody watching right now can see your logo there as well. So that is the case. I do want to mention since I just mentioned in passing our trip to Greece and we have a number of individuals that are joining with us on a trip that first will be on bus.

[00:02:28] You fly over to Thessaloniki and you work your way down to Philippi all the way down to Athens and Corinth. Then we get on a boat that takes us to Patmos and Ephesus and a few other places. And I've heard from you that even though I think we're getting full, there's still room if indeed somebody was still interested. And I did not know that until I talked to you just the other day. That's right. I have been told by our travel coordinator that we have four spots left and that would be for the land portion.

[00:02:57] We have to wait and see if we can get additional spots on the cruise because after that first portion that you spoke of, departing from the U.S., from Dallas or wherever you might be, whatever airport works best for you, on May 17 and then over to Thessaloniki and then traveling down south, which is the exact route that the Apostle Paul would have followed in Acts chapter 16 going over to Berea and then Thessalonica.

[00:03:27] And then traveling south and coming to Athens in Acts chapter 17. So we'll be tracing that journey and some amazing biblical places, but also historical places. You know, in the U.S., when something is a couple of hundred years old, we build a monument. We think it's pretty special. You know, in Greece, things are, you know, 2,000 years old for sure.

[00:03:50] Sure. So we're pretty sure we can open up for the second portion as well, which is the Mediterranean – I'm sorry, the Aegean Sea Cruise. Right. And on that portion, Kirby, we're going to be visiting Santorini, Crete, Ephesus, Patmos – beautiful places, but also places of great biblical significance as we think about not only the Apostle Paul, but the Apostle John as well.

[00:04:18] One of the things I love about these trips that we've taken is that sometimes when you go to Israel, when you go to Caesarea or places like that or Capernaum, it sort of gives you an eye what it was like. But by the time you get to Jerusalem, you just have to sort of in your mind's eye think of what it's like. When you go to Greece, Philippi looks like Philippi. Corinth looks like Corinth. Ephesus looks like Ephesus.

[00:04:40] You can almost say we're literally walking where Paul was, and this is where these buildings were, and so I think it is really helpful. And the last time we did that, and that was years ago, we did it in reverse order, so I had to keep moving my axe the wrong way. This way now we go from the Macedonian call over to, of course, Philippi and Thessaloniki and all of those days all the way down to Athens and Corinth. I think you're going to really appreciate that if you're coming. If you're not, well, we'll do our best to try to educate you when we come back.

[00:05:10] So those are some topics that I thought we just might mention in passing. If you do want to know more, I guess the best thing to do is either contact you or just send an email to us at Point of View because I'm just about full, but I found out we had a space or two. So if you can join us, that would be the case. We also have posted, I think, Paul, a piece that you wrote a while back on how will you participate in the Great Commission.

[00:05:34] Just one of many of your articles, but it's just a reminder that as we're going to be talking about today, we have a real responsibility, whether you're a missionary or not, to go and preach the good news. Absolutely. And that Great Commission is for all of us. As a director of a missionary agency, that's where we give ourselves to. And you know, there's something interesting connecting Dallas Seminary with this.

[00:05:57] As I was on the seminary campus in various buildings I have, for example, the Bailey Chapel and the Walvert Center, there are names all over Dallas Seminary and most seminaries as well. Some of them are the professors and the leaders, you know, Lewis, Barry Chafer and others. But a number of them are generous donors who had a burden to train young men to prepare for ministry.

[00:06:25] And that's a beautiful reflection of the tapestry of the local church and of the universal church. You know, some are called to go as missionaries. And FIM is helping to send them and take care of them and help them fulfill their ministry.

[00:06:41] But for every missionary on the field, there are usually, our numbers at FIM is usually about 10 to 15 churches and usually about 50 to 100 individual donors for every one of those missionaries. And without those donations and support partners and prayer partners, that just, missions would not happen. And our point of view listeners understand that well.

[00:07:06] And I know that we take very seriously this idea of helping out however the Lord has called us, whether as a goer or as a sender. We all have our part in doing that. You think about that in the New Testament. Of course, we talk about the Bereans. You know, examine the scriptures daily to see what was true. You have in 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul talking about to give, you know, and to be a cheerful giver and actually commends those who did give.

[00:07:33] So I hope that you will consider, as we oftentimes bring in front of you these different ministries, that you would not only support the local radio station that, of course, we talked today about WPEO, but also point of view, but also these other ministries, because that's a work that you can be involved in as well. We come back from the break, though.

[00:07:53] Let's, if we can, you might even want to look up Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7, because what we are calling for is the church to have mature disciples. And certainly one person that has written about this is Dr. Paul Baraka in his books on things about how Jesus made disciples and a discipleship course. But what about overseas? You've heard us talk about the need for us to have trained pastors overseas.

[00:08:21] And in the past, we've used a model where we bring them over here. And, of course, I've met many of them at Dallas Theological Seminary. But I think it makes more sense, and we're going to be talking about this after the break, to send our people over there and train them as indigenous leaders. And we'll talk about the strengths and weaknesses of all of that with Dr. Paul Baraka. If you'd like to know more about him or about Fellowship International Mission, you can go to the website, pointofview.net. We'll be right back.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Health care officials warn that vaccine hesitancy is one of the top health challenges of this decade. It appears that both sides of the vaccine debate seem to be painting with too broad a brush. Most parents routinely have their physician give their child an MMR vaccine. At the same time, those same parents may express concerns about giving their child the COVID-19 vaccine.

[00:09:23] Unfortunately, they are often labeled anti-vax and blamed for the latest measles outbreak in the U.S. It is true that the percentage of children receiving two doses of MMR vaccine dropped a bit. But there are other factors, such as the measles spreading from unvaccinated travelers or even undocumented immigrants. Parents who vaccinate their children but express concerns about the COVID vaccine should not be called anti-vax.

[00:09:48] Likewise, parents shouldn't refuse all vaccines simply because of the legitimate concerns about the COVID vaccine. By now, you may be wondering why I say there are legitimate concerns with the COVID vaccine. Well, a recent Yale study has confirmed what many suspected and has been referred to as post-vaccination syndrome. The COVID vaccine in a small number of people may have led to a constellation of side effects. These include fatigue, exercise intolerance, brain fog and dizziness.

[00:10:17] Some people show distinct biological changes in immune cells, reawakening of a dormant Epstein-Barr virus and the persistence of a coronavirus protein in their blood. While this is just a small study, it highlights the potential health concerns and calls into question the efficacy of the COVID vaccine. That is why many parents are concerned about the vaccine and why some states have banned vaccine mandates. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my Point of View.

[00:10:46] For a free copy of Kirby's booklet, A Biblical View on Socialism, go to viewpoints.info slash socialism. That's viewpoints.info slash socialism. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. In studio with us today, Dr. Paul Baraka, as we talk about missions, and in particular, what within the body of Christ we desperately need,

[00:11:12] and that is the elders and pastors who are going to be theologically trained. Up until now, oftentimes we said, let's bring them over to this country, and I think there is a better model with that. But first of all, one of the things, Paul, that you suggested is that we look at Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7. Absolutely. One of the many references about the gospel going forth, and that passage says this,

[00:11:37] Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught. And if we're going to see spiritually mature, reproducing disciples of Jesus around the world, we certainly have to go and bring the gospel. And that's, you know, we think about that as missions, and we think about the missionary sharing the gospel, and, you know, going different places where the gospel's not been heard.

[00:12:06] But then those who believe, we have to help them to be built up in their faith. And that's the role of the local church and of pastors. And so, therefore, an important part of the missiological picture is theological training for the leaders and the pastors. And, again, let's help people understand the need. And it's best illustrated by whenever I've had somebody here from, say, E3 Partners

[00:12:32] or EastWest Ministry or a variety of others that have any kind of short-term missions, oftentimes I say, look, what you already have sitting in the pew in your church is probably as much, if not more, than most of the people that are given the role of pastor in their local small church. So it illustrates, again, number one, you shouldn't be hesitant about going and sharing the gospel wherever God may take you.

[00:13:01] And short-term missions has been a wonderful opportunity, in large part because of the airplanes. I know in the old days that wasn't really possible when you'd have to get on a tramp steamer for many months to try to make your way to Africa, Asia, whatever it might be. But now that's a possibility. But it brings us back to the key issue. We need mature Christian leaders, and we need to train them. And the model that we've used in the past still works, but there's a better way to do it, isn't there? Yes.

[00:13:30] In the past, the model has, when I say in the past, you know, 20, 30, 40 years, bring the key leaders from the developing church in the mission field, you know, Nigeria, South America, Brazil, wherever, bring them here to the U.S., the sharp ones, so that they can be trained at some of our seminaries, like Southern and Dallas Theological Seminary, great places where they're going to receive training.

[00:13:54] The problem with that, and I just have a 2022 research article from Anthony Casey, And here's the statistics. Roughly half of those students stay in the U.S. after graduation. And what we have, Kirby, is we have kind of a brain drain. With the best of intentions, we end up pulling the sharpest theologians away from the countries that they really should be serving.

[00:14:22] And so what we are seeing is a shift in the missiological and the theological training, where we're seeing an explosion, a preponderance of seminaries and Bible colleges on the mission field, being led by individuals from that country, and sometimes augmented by U.S. professors as well. I get to do that. You've done that many times before as well.

[00:14:47] And it's a really beautiful picture, and it can be really, really helpful to the church, because we want those indigenous leaders to be the ones training the pastors. Well, again, let's just talk about that for a minute, because you and I, at different times, have actually taught at Word of Life in the Philippines, Word of Life in Hungary. Of course, you've taught in some other places at Word of Life as well. And so what you're, in many cases, doing is, in that case, more of it's sort of a Bible college,

[00:15:15] but still, these are going to be future leaders. And I can point to a leader that's in Romania that was one of my students in Hungary, and you and I can both point to individuals we've known over the years that have gone on to actually provide leadership at Word of Life. And there's just a real need to keep the individuals there. They know the language. I don't know Tagalog and the Philippines. I guarantee you neither of us know Hungarian.

[00:15:42] Hungarian may be one of the hardest languages in the world, but they do, and they're already there. They know the culture. Now they have the training. They can make a difference, right? Absolutely, they can. And, you know, some of the things that are happening, one example that I can think of is the church in Nigeria. The church in Nigeria is called ECWA, Evangelical Church Winning All. They are the churches that were established by Sudan Interior Missions and then became autonomous and kind of took control of that themselves.

[00:16:12] They have six seminaries throughout Nigeria. And some of our missionaries are training in some of those seminaries. By the way, we need to pray for them. There's great persecution. And one of my missionaries knows personally a number of his students that have been killed and martyred by the Fulani attacks that are going on in Nigeria. But these servants and these believers at great personal cost, and get a load of this, a semester for a student there is $50. Yes.

[00:16:41] And they can't come up with it. Yes. Because there's such economic depravity and, you know, just hardship because of the persecution. And so we have believers here that are raising funds and helping those friends in Nigeria. But, you know, the church has the overseas, the church has the enthusiasm, they have the willingness. They just need some support and sometimes some logistic help as well. You know, some of them don't even have access to a Bible.

[00:17:09] Or if they do, one that we'd like to give to them, we're having more and more of these Bibles. Gene Getz first started it. Now you can see Tony Evans and a variety of others have it where they then have a QR code because they may not have a lot, but they almost always have a phone. Yes. And if they can then get the QR code, it takes them then to a YouTube video for the training. So this high-tech way in which we are now educating individuals,

[00:17:38] they can, with their Bible and with their phone, get really what is pretty close to a seminary education. And it's just amazing what the technology has provided us. There's some other technologies. One is Megavoice, which is a little handheld device. Kind of looks like a small, old-fashioned cell phone, you know, not a smartphone. But that can be preloaded in any number of languages. Some of them are solar, so that if you're in a place that there is no, you know, power,

[00:18:06] they are getting these into even North Korea. One of our missionaries is involved in that endeavor. However, they're getting them into places where you would think that they might not be able to go. But getting the Word of God, getting – and it's not just Scripture on there. Sometimes it's the Jesus film, and sometimes it's biblical training, hermeneutics, and Bible study, and how to preach, and different doctrine, and things of this nature. So it is a global effort. In the missiological world, there are researchers.

[00:18:36] There are authors. There are those who go as missionaries. And it's a beautiful, complex picture of the church working together to continue to accomplish this task of the Great Commission. One of the things you talked about is being outside of North Korea but getting it in. A while back, we raised some funds for the Iranian Bible College. And people say, well, is that in Iran? No. What they do is they sneak some of those individuals across the border, and they're educated there.

[00:19:06] So even when we talk about taking them from their circumstance, we don't have to bring them to the United States. Sometimes we just bring them into the next free country where we can have some of the training that takes place. And when you're talking about trying to reach North Korea, not an easy place for anybody with a missionary past to get into, obviously. So that is the case. So I do want to take some time also to talk about some of the negative aspects. But you're starting to see more and more of these Bible institutes growing up.

[00:19:33] So, again, if that institute exists in that country, you can take some of your key speakers, put them on an airplane, and they can teach in that Bible Institute campaign. Yes, indeed. And, in fact, I was just talking to some students today at Dallas that said, hey, I want to get out and teach. How can I do that? And one of the young men I was talking to said, well, contact your missionaries from your church. They probably have some sessions and Bible schools and other things that they're doing.

[00:20:00] And, you know, we see a lot of pastors, and you and I have, you know, much contact with these pastors. A lot of pastors really have this idea of stewardship. We've been given so much. And for me, for 30 years in ministry, almost every year I would go overseas. The church took it on as a responsibility to share their pastor. And they would send me to, whether it was Word of Life or Nigeria or some other place, to share the word.

[00:20:26] And the folks there are so appreciative, so receptive. Yes, they are. And it really means the world to them. Let's take a break. And let me open up the phones. You maybe have some thoughts about missions. You may have some thoughts about your own short-term mission trip or what your pastor does or what your missions conference does. When we come back, I do want to talk about some of the negatives because we illustrated one of those, and that is the brain drain. But there are some other issues we haven't addressed.

[00:20:53] And if you find yourself saying, well, my goodness, I would really like to get Bruce or some of the other individuals that we've had a chance to hear. We talked about Bruce Shaw. If you would like to have him come and speak maybe to a chamber of Congress. If you'd like to have Paul come and speak to your mission conference. Those are individuals we're highlighting today on Point of View. If you'd like to read one of the articles by Bruce Shaw, that's up there. The article by Paul Baraka is up there.

[00:21:20] So just a lot of great material that you will find helpful. And, again, we've got a couple of the booklets available on the website. We'll be back right after this. In 19th century London, two towering historical figures did battle, not with guns and bombs, but words and ideas. London was home to Karl Marx, the father of communism, and legendary Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon.

[00:21:48] London was in many ways the center of the world economically, militarily, and intellectually. Marx sought to destroy religion, the family, and everything the Bible supports. Spurgeon stood against him, warning of socialism's dangers. Spurgeon understood Christianity is not just religious truth. It is truth for all of life. Where do you find men with that kind of wisdom to stand against darkness today?

[00:22:16] Get the light you need on today's most pressing issues delivered to your inbox when you sign up for the Viewpoints commentary at pointofview.net. Every weekday in less than two minutes, you'll learn how to be a person of light to stand against darkness in our time. It's free, so visit pointofview.net slash sign up right now. Pointofview.net slash sign up.

[00:22:47] Point of View will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again, we're talking with Dr. Paul Baraka.

[00:23:16] And we're getting into everything from the Great Commission to the training of pastors and much more. But if you'd like to join us, love to get your comments. That number, 1-800-351-1212. 1-800-351-1212. As we were going out to the break, I just noticed that some of you might want the booklets we mentioned last hour, A Biblical View on Socialism, A Biblical View on Capitalism and Socialism. Karen jumped right in and actually posted those.

[00:23:44] So there is an opportunity right now for you to download those two. So that is so easy. Some of you might say, well, I was meaning to call or write or send an email asking for them. Well, they are actually there. So the interview that we did with Bruce Shaw and the articles and the booklets we made available to you, which we make available to those of you that support this ministry on a regular basis, if you give as little as a dollar a day, $30 a month or more,

[00:24:12] you then are part of the Truth Team. And, of course, we have our Anchor to Truth banner up there, which we will be talking about later this month. And also we'll be getting into some of the action items. But, Paul, let me come back to you because as we talk about the education overseas, you have the Bible Institutes, but I left out the obvious one, and that is seminaries. You're at Dallas Seminary right now, and they have extensions in many places around the world. That's right.

[00:24:38] So some seminaries like Dallas and some of the Southern Baptist seminaries have opened up overseas locations. And the idea at a seminary level is not just training the pastors, but at the seminary level you're looking at training those who will be the trainers of the pastors. Right. And we need those as well. We need real academic individuals in those countries to do the academic work,

[00:25:06] to learn the Greek and the Hebrew and the archaeology and the apologetics and all of those aspects that are so very important. And don't forget, in these cultures we're dealing with some unique apologetic challenges as well, whether it be Hinduism or Islam or animism or any other number of world religions. And these leaders are confronting this. These pastors are confronting this on an everyday basis. And so they need resources in their language.

[00:25:35] They need trainers in their language who are going to be able to help those pastors. And it's so much more effective when those who are doing the training of the local pastors there know the culture, know the language, know the nuances. And so that's why we've seen Dallas and some of these other seminaries start extension locations in those other countries. Well, you mentioned that. I just hold up our latest booklet we just sent out. It's on Hinduism for a couple of reasons.

[00:26:03] First of all, it's amazing how many Hindus we have in the government right now. And I've mentioned that. But, again, it is very significant. If you consider Christianity the largest religion, Islam the second largest, and, of course, we have a booklet on that. Hinduism is the third largest religion. And those are things to be aware of. And if you're going to be a missionary, whether it's full-time with, for example, FIM or even just going on a short-term mission trip, learning about some of that is very helpful.

[00:26:32] And that's why we have provided some of those booklets. Okay, we've talked about one negative, the brain drain. There's another big negative, which I never really thought about until I read some of your outline. Yes, you know, it would be great if there were funds. I don't always think it's the best strategy. But let's say there is a key leader and you need to bring them here to the U.S. to be at a key seminary location. Well, there's not really those places don't have tons of scholarships available.

[00:27:01] Some of them do, and, you know, I've got some connections with Liberty University and, of course, DTS and some other places. There's some funds, but generally they have to raise a good bit of money. But you know who is giving free academic ride? And it is Princeton, Union Theological Seminary, Harvard. And they're getting these international leaders, and I have some personal knowledge from Nigeria.

[00:27:26] They're getting these Nigerian pastors, Nigerian seminarians to come and they say, Oh, wow, I've got a scholarship to Princeton. Wonderful. No, not wonderful, because they take these guys and they fill them with all of this Marxist and really atheistic view of the Bible, a naturalistic view of the Bible. And then they go back to these countries and they destroy the seminaries and the Bible training there.

[00:27:55] So we have to be very careful warning our friends from Africa, from South America, from Asia. Don't accept those free invitations. They don't know what Princeton stands for today. They don't know what Union stands for today. So we have to really guard against that because there's a lot of corruption that comes in through these liberal seminaries. Well, again, that's the problem.

[00:28:21] They return back with a liberal viewpoint, and as you said, it's not just damaging to the church. It's damaging sometimes to the entire culture, and it sets the church back. So if we're really kind of looking to the future of making a difference, that is the case. When you wrote this piece on how will you participate in the Great Commission, it brings us back to, okay, maybe you can go and teach in a Bible school or at least go involved in short-term missions.

[00:28:49] But there are some other ways, even in our own communities, that we can fulfill the Great Commission, right? I learned just yesterday that there is a huge Hindu population in Frisco, Texas. Who'd have thunk? I mean, you know, and just about everywhere. We have missionaries from FIM in Tampa, Florida. Tampa is the largest Muslim population in the U.S. It used to be Dearborn. Now it's Tampa.

[00:29:16] There's a mosque of 10,000 that's to accommodate 10,000 people in Tampa. So, you know, we don't have to necessarily go around the world. Sometimes we just have to go around the block and get to meet some of these folks. And, you know, there is a challenge to that. I mean, you know, I love the fact that on point of view we've got a lot of political commentary,

[00:29:38] and we talk about what's happening in politics, we have to, you know, kind of separate our political ideas from our spiritual concerns. You know, I'm quite concerned about Islam and what's happening globally, but I need to be concerned for my Muslim neighbor on a human level. Right. And remember that that's someone who's got a very, very different worldview and, you know, does something strange and celebrates holidays strange and certainly is apart from the gospel.

[00:30:08] We don't need political arguments in that kind of situation. Well said. We need love. We need compassion. We need to get to know our neighbors. We need to build bridges. We need to have their coach, their kids on the soccer team and all of those things, because it is that kind of compassion, Christian compassion that breaks down those barriers. And I think those of us who are conservative Christians, we have to constantly remind ourselves

[00:30:35] to separate our worldview and, you know, our political views and all of that, and to get a gospel focus on our neighbors. We've got one of our missionaries, a young man named Ben, and one of the things I appreciate about him so much is that he just is so concerned. Every time he sees somebody, he's thinking, how can I share the gospel with that person? This kid's 25 years old. Brings conviction to my old heart because I need to be more like that, and I think we all do.

[00:31:02] Well, you brought up a good point because when I've spoken here in Dallas, I have some slides that pop up on the number, and I always shock people, the number of Hindu temples that are in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The number of Buddhist temples. Of course, you can also do the number of mosques and the estimated population. So you remember Rudyard Kipling said, east is east and west is west. No longer. The east has come over here. You can actually be a missionary by walking across the street. That's right.

[00:31:32] And in my neighborhood, I have a lot of individuals from India. Some are Hindu. Some are just maybe kind of culturally Hindu. I have Muslims in my neighborhood, and it's very obvious right now since we're in Ramadan. Ramadan. We will see on the door there all sorts of things, Ramadan Kareem or a variety of others that are actually practicing, others that I'm pretty sure are Muslim but don't seem to be practicing or at least keeping a low profile.

[00:31:59] And so, again, you should not be surprised that you are in a sense of a universe of worldviews, a universe of world religions next door, which is why we have these booklets on things like, what have been the most effective strategies to witness to your Muslim friends? What are some of the issues you might want to raise if you're talking to a Hindu? And a lot of that came up because I was, again, I mentioned earlier WPEO.

[00:32:26] The last time I was at WPEO, one of the questions from the audience was, I just had somebody come in, and I'm pretty sure he's Hindu, and how would I witness to him? And I thought, well, probably a good idea to do a booklet on that. And then when we started looking at the second lady, she is Usha Vance. She's Hindu. Tulsi Gabbard, she is Hindu. You have others that have come from kind of a Hindu background, Vivek Ramashwamy, and I can make the list pretty long there of those individuals.

[00:32:55] And so these are individuals that you can witness to. So if you want to fulfill the Great Commission, just walk across the street. Just get to know your neighbors. And as Paul said, you know, as political as we are around here, they need to know the gospel, and we don't need to get into all sorts of political fights because those are going to be a distraction from really the important issues. Come back. We'll take a phone call or two if you would like to join us, and then we'll just wind down some of the issues we've been talking about today.

[00:33:22] Dr. Paul Baraka, Executive Director of the Fellowship International Mission. If you click on his picture and scroll down, you will see that it will take you to fim.org, and that is a way in which you can then find out about becoming a missionary, maybe even supporting a missionary. If you'd like to join us, 1-800-351-1212. We'll be right back.

[00:33:55] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again. We'll talk with one of you in just a minute as we'll take some phone calls, 1-800-351-1212. Dr. Paul Baraka in studio. But I thought I might just mention that Fellowship International Mission is in Allentown, Pennsylvania. And so if you ever want to visit them, but if you'd like to contact them, we have that information. And I know you're coming up to an anniversary, and you're going to do some refurbishing of your facility there as well, aren't you? That's right.

[00:34:25] It's the 75th anniversary this year for Fellowship International Mission. So you and Suzanne are invited to the 75th anniversary banquet in November. We'll talk about that. Hopefully you can come. But it's a great time for us as an organization to celebrate. You know, that 75 to 100 years, that's when so many Bible colleges. That's right. And non-denominational churches, seminaries, Dallas Seminary, 100 years. Because that's when liberalism was coming into the church.

[00:34:54] You think about like G. Gresham Machen writing about the fundamentals of the faith, because the mainline denominations were all departing from the faith. And so FIM, we're part of that heritage as well. And so, in fact, our first missionaries were in Morocco. I did. And that's how FIM got started. Now we have missionaries in 31 countries. And also we have our largest number of missionaries ever in the 75 years, which is pretty exciting for our mission organization.

[00:35:23] Again, if you want to look it up, it's called the fundamentalist modernist controversy. Yes. And that's when a lot of these great institutions were birthed, because there was a turning away from the faith. And, of course, we've already mentioned some that have turned away and stayed away. And that was Harvard, Union, Princeton, and the rest. Let's take some phone calls, though. We'll go to Texas. First of all, Gary, thank you for joining us today here on Point of View. Yes, I have a question about a method to reach everyone by saturation.

[00:35:52] Mail an apologetic brochure that would reach 128.7 million households in the United States and to be financed by local churches in their own zip code. It would cost a maximum of 40 cents a household. And the Lord would like for everyone to know whether they accept him or not about him. And it would place that in their hands all over the United States.

[00:36:20] And it could be done if it's done with archaeological creation, science, and all the evidence plus the gospel message. And it would be a way that we could reach this nation for the Lord. What do you think about that? I think it's an idea that we really need to get maybe like a Lee Strobel or somebody kind of taking the lead on that, because I think that has some great possibility.

[00:36:49] Of course, Sean McDowell was on last week and some others. But some people that have some kind of national platform or even, of course, recently we've talked about our – as a matter of fact, this week we talked about the people at Coral Ridge. They do Evangelism Explosion. I think if we can get somebody that has sort of a national network and some kind of national visibility, that might have some real possibilities. So, Gary, I think you're on to something. Well, I pray so.

[00:37:18] I know it's the Lord's heart, whether people accept him or not, just to have the opportunity. And I think it's affordable if we divide the cost among churches and zip codes. And that's the only media that can reach everyone. You can't do it on radio or TV or Internet sites because it's so scattered. But that's the only complete way to reach every household.

[00:37:47] But we'll pray about it. I guess that's the answer. Well, Gary, I appreciate you bringing that up. And, you know, there are ways to reach individuals. Of course, face-to-face, door-to-door is very good. But we recognize the value of media. But there is nothing better than getting something in their hands and then following up, you know? What Gary said is kind of interesting. It kind of follows the Billy Graham model of getting local churches involved in the Crusades back in the 50s and 60s and 70s.

[00:38:14] And so if you can get local churches involved in distributing literature to their zip codes, wow, what a great idea. I'd like to learn more about that and maybe we can find out. Maybe Franklin Graham would be someone in that regard. Just today, as a matter of fact, over in my car, I have the leftovers of the Decision magazine where I wrote some things about the periscope material that we do at Probe and all of that. And I'm thinking there's something to that. I will be at an event soon. It's an event related to Avantel. And we've got Lee Strobel there.

[00:38:44] Maybe we can bring that up if I have the chance to talk to him. So great idea. And it's certainly the case. But it brings us back to the key issue, whether we are going to go overseas or whether we're just going to walk across the street. It seems to me that one of the greatest needs we have right now is to fulfill the Great Commission. And we are told in Matthew 24 that every nation will hear. Some people actually seem to argue that, well, the rapture can't come.

[00:39:14] Jesus can't come until every unidentified or even identified and unreached people group is touched. But I think when it talks about nations, we have done a pretty good job already. But the church needs to do a lot more in terms of fulfilling the Great Commission. Yes. And in missions, we talk about unreached people group.

[00:39:31] There are still over 6,000 ethnic groups, which is a group combined by either language or living in a particular location, particular cultural distinctives, over 6,000 groups with no gospel witness. And so that's a great task for us as believers.

[00:39:47] And even just listening to this today for us to be focused in prayer, asking the Lord to help us to reach our Jerusalem, but also for this work that's going around, going global, taking the gospel in whatever means we can, whether it's electronic. But it really involves putting on our shoes, tying up our laces, and getting involved in loving people and sharing the good news of the gospel. Glad you mentioned Jerusalem because if we go back to Acts 1.8, he talks about Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.

[00:40:16] And we sort of have this idea that missionaries are the ones that put on the pith helmet, and they go overseas, and they live there, and they learn the language. And as important as those people are, the people here are. But for just a minute, talk, if you might, Paul, about what it might be to be a missionary.

[00:40:34] Because one of the things I love about Fellowship International Mission is if somebody says, you know, I've had a heart for this unreached people group, and I have connections to that, maybe through my church, or maybe I grew up there and I know that language. Sometimes trying to fit in with the other mission groups is hard, but you actually have been very flexible over the years in actually bringing missionaries onto the field, haven't you? Yes, we have, because FIM focuses on helping the missionary fulfill their call.

[00:41:04] You know, Kirby, most missionaries, there's two very popular ones. One is MKs. They often become missionaries themselves. But the other is most missionaries took a short-term trip, maybe with their church, maybe with their Bible college or something like that. And we can even accommodate folks that might want to be able to do something like that on a short-term trip. And hooking them up, perhaps, with one of our missionaries. We have a number of college kids going out this summer.

[00:41:32] I just spoke to someone this morning, approved her to go to Greece. And she's going to be working with some of our missionaries there in Greece. And just challenging to think about missions just to get that exposure and let the Lord direct in your heart. Let me again send you to fim.org. There's a button there that says become a missionary. And maybe you're thinking about that. And even as we've talked about this today, you've said, well, maybe that's something God is calling me to do. Or you say, no, but I think I could support a missionary.

[00:42:01] You click on that button, it says support a missionary. And then there's a way in which you can maybe get behind an individual that is giving, that you can give to, that's already engaged in some aspect of ministry that God may be calling you to. So I'm so grateful that you were at the Missions Conference at Dallas Theological Seminary. And I guess we're going to have to have you back to talk about that 75th anniversary there of FIM. But thank you for being with us.

[00:42:27] And I look forward to seeing you and Kim probably, I guess, the next time I see you is in Greece. That's right, in Thessaloniki. That's amazing. Well, that's all we have for today. And let me just mention tomorrow is our Millennial Roundtable. And then, of course, Friday, without a doubt, of course, is our weekend edition. So if you would like to know a little bit more, you can go to the website pointofview.net. As I mentioned before, we have those booklets, which are at the very end. So if you had said, oh, I'd like to get those, just click on those, download them, and you have what you need.

[00:42:57] That's all we have for today. Megan, thank you for engineering the program. Steve, thank you for producing the program. Looking forward to our program tomorrow and our Millennial Roundtable. We'll see you back there right here on Point of View. If you appreciate the trustworthy news and biblical worldview that you hear on Point of View, would you consider joining our team, the Truth Team?

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