Welcome back to The Covenant Eyes Podcast. It's Karen and I've got Rob with me. Hi, Rob. Hi, Karen. How are you doing today? I'm doing pretty good. I think today's topic is going to be a fun one. It's something you actually are super pro at kind of outreach and evangelism. As a former missionary, I, I know you're going to probably fit right into this conversation, but it's something that I think for me, it's something that makes me a little uncomfortable, but I know I have to do it more and more. It's we're called to do it as Christians, right? Oh, we really are. And it is. It is tough for most Christians. But I think once we do it, the more we do it. Holy spirit helps us there. But, but it's such an important thing. And, in our topic today, our guest today is really going to help us dive into that issue a little bit. So our guest today is Jerry McCorkle. If I said that correctly. And Jerry is, has a ministry called Spread Truth, which, we need to do more about. So, Jerry, welcome first to The Covenant Eyes Podcast. Well, listen, it's great to be here. Thank you so much for allowing me to come on today. Okay. Well, tell us, tell us a little bit more about, Spread Truth and, in your background, how you got to this point? Actually, it began, when I was a college and career pastor in normal, Illinois, next to Illinois State University, I decided that one summer I would take some students to New York City. I would train them to share and defend their faith and give them a week just on the streets in New York. Well, the Illinois state students loved it, and we began doing that each year as a ministry of our, it's a mission trip of our college and career department. Well, soon people in the, older part of the congregation wanted to go also. So this trip began with 25 people, got up to 150 people, 200 people. And we decided, listen, why don't we develop a 501 C3 and and have it as a separate entity from the local church so other churches could feel the freedom to come on the trip. And we did that in 2001. And then in 2006, I stepped aside as a college and career pastor after 13 years to actually direct it full time. And by then we're having 2 or 300 people each summer, go to New York City. We renamed the organization from New York City Ministries to Spread Truth and now Spread Truth exists to provide, Christians with what we can hopefully are really innovative gospel sharing resources, first of all and all different types of whether it be print or film. And then we want to make sure we have gospel ready training in a number of different ways. And then we also want to provide opportunities. And so we still go to New York City at 30 years now, still going to New York, equipping people to share their faith. And we also have a ministry in Kenya that, people have the opportunity to go there and do the very same thing. Wow, that is amazing. Oh my gosh. And just to know that it's been 30 years of doing this ministry, I'm so excited. So talk to us a little bit about the, you know, actually getting people ready to go out on the streets, right. Because it feels a little intimidating. I know you guys provide a ton of training and resources. So walk us through what it looks like to get people equipped for this, this task that we are called to do as Christians. Yes. Now, I would say the primary people we're trying to reach on our New York trip is not New Yorkers. Now we will reach New Yorkers, but the people we're really trying to reach are the people who go on the trip. And so we would adequately train them, ahead of time, to be able to have normal conversations, not to do anything weird. They're in New York that you would be obnoxious, but to be able to connect in a different types of scenarios and normal conversations, but being equipped to share with our the way we share the gospel kind of our ecosystem is what we would call it. We call the story. And that's the meta narrative. Outline of creation for rescue and restoration. And the reason it was back in 2006, when my world was kind of rock, when I heard a sermon by Tim Keller and he said, hey, listen, the way you share the gospel is going to have to change, he said, because people have changed. He said there used to be in America, a Christ haunted place where people knew some of the basics of Christianity, and you could come along with your normal, evangelism outlines and just kind of give some brief propositional truths and they could connect the dots, he said. They can't do that anymore. And so you're going to have to broaden it out. And so when I heard that message now, he said, it's going to take our best scholars and our best theologians to do that. Well, that's not me. But we went back and decided, can we develop a little booklet that covers that? And by God's grace, now that little booklet has been printed almost 3 million times, the story film, six minute beautiful animation is now in 28 different languages, which cover 4 billion people on the planet. We have training and in the story, and we also have that same set up for children in the story maker. So when you go to New York City, you're equipped to be able to share that, share the full story of Scripture, and then we just provide you with four different kind of scenarios that you'll be able to do, like one that's kind of a fun one. We have a story wall, two beautiful pallet walls, a Union Square park set up with high, high rise tables. When people come by, we just say, hey, listen, would you mind just writing one story of your life? And of course, the New Yorkers, especially some of the artsy people, they love that. And so they write their story out and then we give them a little nail and they go over and nail their own story to the wall. Now, you'll find New Yorkers then coming by, reading those stories, taking pictures of those stories because they're looking for a story that they can relate to. And if someone says, well, what's the purpose of writing these stories? Well, one, hey, if we're ever going to have community and connection in this world, we only way we're going to get to know each other is we know each other stories. But really, all these stories on these walls here, we believe can only make sense, as if they're part of a larger story. And we're all in that. We're characters in that. Would you have in just a few minutes that I could share a story that, has radically changed my life? So that's just one of the events that we do to equip people to be able to be able to share their faith. I mean, that's wonderful. You are equipping people for a lifetime of of evangelism. But at the same time, there's no doubt the Lord will use that in these initial trips and, probably have some really great stories from that. Jerry, tell us a little bit of, we have a lot of pastors that, that listen to our podcast. I'd love to have you talk a little bit more about, how you connect with the church, with this ministry and what does that look like from a church side or pastor side? Yeah. Well, this past weekend, I, spoke and did training at the First Baptist Church of Fort Mill, South Carolina. Pastor Jeff Bedwell, wonderful congregation. What Spread Truth wants to be able to do is to come alongside the local church. And we just have kind of just one lane that we stay in. If we get outside that lane, we don't do very well. And so we pour all of our energy, all of our time in this particular lane of equipping through, resources, training and experiences, people to share the gospel, the local church, they have a lot of things that they're doing, okay. And they may already have their own programs and that's fine. But if we can come along and say, hey, listen, we believe that we can be of a great encouragement and equipping your people. So, this past Sunday night, we had 80 people that were in training, and we trained them in the basics of, how to be able to share the story and being had it, learning how to connect with people and teaching them some principles other than just kind of this, this conversation, but teaching them some important principles like, hey, really listen, it really comes down to intentionality. You're never going to share the gospel until you're intentional about it. Now, that doesn't mean that you're rude or obnoxious, but if you're going to leave something with a waitress, like a story film card, you're probably not going to do that unless you plan before you go out to eat to have them with you. And one of the key principles we really want to tell people is be encouraged. Jesus has already been there in their life before you ever showed up. That way you don't feel obligated to do the gospel. Dump on them like, oh, this is the only time they're going to hear the gospel. And I got to share everything. No, no, no, don't do that. Jesus has already been there. He's already working in that person's life. Maybe it's just a regular conversation and just, you leave it at that and you never get to the gospel because it's the right thing to do is the appropriate thing to do. And so we really try to teach people, hey, listen, Jesus has already been there. Hey, listen. Be intentional. Don't be obnoxious. But listen, we want to equip you and to share this story. The nice thing about a story is the the plot line. It's wherever the person is in their life. You can enter the gospel story. So that's just a little bit of what we did. Yeah. If I could follow up on that too. I so many in my experience, I think we've found so many people, shy away from spreading truth because they feel they have to do it perfectly. They have to be fully prepared. But as you know, we go out in the power of the Holy Spirit. We don't have to be perfect. It's not us that's drawing people to Christ, it's Christ, it's the Holy Spirit. And so we have to be willing, like you said, we have to be intentional and willing to do it. Sure. We have to know what we're going to say and all of those things, but can you talk a little bit about that or maybe some some experiences you've seen where people go in their own strength, in their, you know, at their own level and share in the Lord does the work. Yeah. And we want to share with people that, hey, listen, just come like, let's just say, for example, on this past summers trip to New York City, we had this young girl, this group from Alabama, and they I don't know if they've ever they were ever at Alabama in their life. They never been on an airplane. And so the girl came up there and, one of the girls and she had a panic attack the night before. She's going out. She just can't couldn't do this. And so we really wanted to encourage her. Hey, listen, just take tiny baby steps. So the next day, she goes out and she comes back, and she said, I was able to ask one question. What was that? Where's the best coffee shop? And guess what we did? We applauded her. That is a huge step in. If that's all that she was able to accomplish that day. Praise God we're teaching people to have normal, regular conversations because you'll never get into deeper spiritual truths if you don't have the ability to communicate face to face. And so a big part of our training is teaching people, how do you have regular conversations with people? And we've lost that ability with social media and phones. But the most intimate thing you can do with a person is have a face to face, eyeball to eyeball conversation with them. And so we teach people how to do that. And so we really want to encourage people, if you feel like you're inadequate, guess what? You're in perfect company with all of us because we all are. Because listen, I can go out there and let's say I have a little bit of learning in, say, apologetics. And I feel like I can answer some of the deep questions. And I have this 60 year old saint beside me who couldn't that answer one apologetic question? But guess what? She is connecting, right? And left with people and in her own personality and her own style. So God just uses everybody wherever they're at. If we want to encourage people in that way. I love that. And, you know, a lot of our listeners may feel disqualified to engage in outreach and connection in this way because maybe they're struggling with sin in their life or pornography specifically. How do you talk to people? Because we're all we're all sinners. We we all fall short of the glory. How do you talk to people like that? That may feel like, well, you know, that sounds great. Maybe when I'm, you know, you know, stronger in my faith or, you know, I'm deeper into my recovery journey. What do you say to people like that that may be struggling with sin? But do you want to do what we're called to do as Christians? Okay, well, let me go from two angles. One, if I were talking to a person in New York City that was struggling with pornography, I would exactly go to the fall there and say hello and be able to share that lesson. We've all got sin problems and whatever sin problem that I have, maybe it's not that I would enter into my fall story and say, this is where I've been, or this is where I'm at now. For the person who says, hey, listen, I don't feel like I'm qualified to go out and share the gospel, that I would say who is. And I would say that one of the greatest things that could strengthen them, even with the ability to overcome even pornography, is the ability to be faithful in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Because, you see, evangelism is not something this apart from discipleship. Evangelism is discipleship and when a person feels like you know what, God, I was able to say those words and I was able to connect a little bit. I believe the Spirit of God takes that encounter, encourages that person's heart, even when the next time, maybe they come up and they're facing that temptation. The Spirit of God has worked in their heart because they've been obedient. They've just been obedient. And so until we just encourage people, no matter where they are, no matter what struggle that they have, and listen, people coming on this New York trip and this is not the only thing we do, but I'll just say this. There's something powerful that happens when you share the gospel. So much so that we've had people who thought they were Christians would come on this trip. They hear someone they're partnering with share the gospel, and they realize, I don't have that. I don't have it. So there's something powerful about sharing the gospel to help them overcome addictions. And something that's powerful that might be even be able to save their soul if they don't know Jesus. Yeah, that's that's wonderful. Jerry, can you tell us a little bit about the Kenya trip? Are they doing the similar kinds of things or is that a little different to focus there? I'm excited about it because we've been there. Six years and we have five full time Kenyan staff there in Nairobi. And the crazy part, we're leaving here in just about a week, two weeks. We partner with the government of Kenya to reach out to the youth. 75% of Kenyans are 35 years and under, and the Kenyan government, which is kind of nominal, Christian, is very concerned about especially Somalia next door with al-Shabab coming in and radicalizing the youth. And so their arms are opened up to us, help us reach the youth. And so we have done scores of outreaches with soccer camps, basketball camps, volleyball camps, food outreach. We partner with the Midwest Food Bank, bank to deliver thousands of dollars worth of food there. And so God has blessed us. So then when we need to go into another country like Uganda or Zimbabwe, I mean Zambia, the government of Kenya will go with us, connect with the government of that country so we can do the same thing there. So any listener that wants to go on the Kenya trip sometime, we have an application online, but I would encourage, someone to do that. And there's one other area that's kind of sensitive, but something that we've really embarked upon. There's a problem in Africa. Well, really all over the world, affecting 150 to 200 million women, called FGM, female genital mutilation. This thing that has started, especially in the culture whereby they cut these girls at an early age as a sign of getting into real womanhood. You're not really marrying material. Horrific thing and Spread Truth has come up with a ten week, fully biblically based FGM curriculum that has now been certified by the Government of Kenya, can go into any Kenyan school to do that. And so, if any of your listeners are interested in. And so when we go on that trip, in just two weeks, we will be training 100 girls in the FGM curriculum and in a special one day curriculum. So there's a lot of things going on in Kenya. And by the way, by the year 2050, listen to this. That by the year 2050, 40% of all world Christians will live in sub-Saharan Africa. Yeah. And so that means God's doing something. And we just want to be a small part of it. That is incredible. And bless you and your work and your organization's work in that regards. Like that is some great, great work that you guys are doing. So talk to our listeners a little bit about, you know, you've mentioned the the new York trip, the Kenyan trip, all these different resources and trainings that you provide. How do they tap into your ministry and what are like some of the first steps that they would take if they were interested in, say, maybe going on the New York trip to get started? Yeah. In fact, we just in December was when we opened up registration will probably have 150 to 170 people on the New York trip this summer. They can go on Spread Truth.com and click on trips and if they're interested, hey, sign up and then we can answer any question that they have the same thing as far as the, Kenya trip getting a little bit late now since it's coming up. But I think that one of the things if you go to Spread Truth.com, I think you'll be able to see some of the resources. Now, we're really diligent, hopefully, that when we deliver a resource, we don't mind if it takes us a little bit longer to get it done because I don't mind people being offended by the gospel. I just don't want them offended by the crazy way we did it. And so you'll see then, that the print things, the films with professional actors, everything that we try to do, we try to do it in a way that we hopefully, can really connect with the unbeliever, because there's a lot of competition out there to gain their attention. And so the films that we do, the story film, the story maker, the man on the middle cross, all of these are six minute short films that we have special little cards for with a QR code. And when they turn it over, some of the best animation you'll see and some of the best filming. And so, just that's just one of the resources that we had, the story booklet, bracelets, all these type of things that are made. And we want to prepare you not only for if you go to New York City, but what I'm doing in my neighborhood right now, what do I do at Easter time? What do I do at Christmas time? What do I do at Halloween? We provide those resources for you and encourage people. What are you going to do now when Christmas time comes? Let me just share with you and I will tell them what my wife and I have done to reach out into our neighborhood, which is 40% Hindu, and just give them practical things because we don't want the the New York City to be a project. We want it to be a passion. And if they come back home and and they don't put it into practice, then we've not accomplished what we wanted to. But if they do come back and they never come back to New York, but they do it at home, guess what? We've accomplished it. Absolutely. Well, Jerry, thank you for coming on and sharing Spread Truth with with our listeners. We'll put the in our show notes. We'll put all the links to, to, your organization there. But, that's all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening to this. Please do share. Or. Like this. Pass it on. It's, as we. So we know we need to spread, Spread Truth. So, Jerry, thank you so much. Thank you. Rob, thank you so much for the opportunity I appreciate it. Absolutely. We hope you join us again and keep us posted on all the progress that you guys are doing.