Are You a Good Person?

On Saturday, October 15, 2005 Way of the Master officially announced their new radio program, Way of the Master Radio (WOTMR). The kickoff occurred at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Being a big fan of Way of the Master's TV program and Ray Comfort's books such as Hell's Best Kept Secret (book, pdf or online audio), The Evidence Bible, and How to Bring Your Children to Christ..& Keep Them There; I drove three hours to join them and other supporters for dinner and a fundraiser. It was worth the drive.

For those who aren't familiar with Ray Comfort and Way of the Master, consider this:

"Evangelical success is at an all-time low. Modern evangelism, from large campaigns to small gospel meetings, boasts only a 20 percent holding rate. How effective are our present-day evangelical methods when they create eighty backsliders for every one hundred "decisions for Jesus"? "Eternity Magazine" reported the results of an evangelistic crusade that involved 178 churches. Out of 4,106 decisions only 3 percent joined a local church. That series of meetings created 3,981 backsliders! In 1987, a Luis Palau crusade reported 6,000 decisions. Yet, despite intense follow-up and counsel, within the first three months, 947 already had backslidden.

To those who have a burden for the lost, like Luis Palau, Billy Graham, and many gifted evangelists around the world, these statistics are not just bad news - they are heart rending! While evangelicals run around in ever-decreasing circles, 140,000 souls die every day."

Todd Friel, host of the Christian radio talk show, Talk the Walk, kicked things off at 6 pm by welcoming the 200 people present and praying over dinner. My husband and I looked for a table close to the front and we were delighted to end up sitting with two other couples who we discovered live near us and who have been visiting our local church, First Evangelical Free Church of La Crosse, Wisconsin.

After dinner Todd started the program by explaining that his Talk the Walk radio program on KKMS in Minneapolis would soon be changing into Way of the Master Radio where Todd will play host to Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort two hours every weekday. WOTMR will be aired on Christian radio stations all over the world! Todd explained how 3 months ago God started opening doors to provide for the program's financing, management and marketing.

Next, Joel Anderson, WOTMR's new business manager, spoke and explained how SIRIUS satellite radio will start airing the program on January 1, 2006 on their new Christian talk radio station. Joel was formerly the Development Director for Hope International.

Jack Hibbard, President of Walter Bennett Communications, gave the background of his agency which will be promoting WOTMR to Christian radio stations. Walter Bennett Communications represents Billy Graham's Hour of Decision and Charles Stanley so they bring valued experience and contacts.

Kirk Cameron strode to the podium to the tune of his former sitcom, Growing Pains. He entertained us all with “7 Years of Mike Sever in 60 Seconds” where he acted out key lines from the show. Kirk also joked about his movie opening next weekend, Left Behind III: World at War. Joking with disco music playing in the background, Kirk told us the movie almost ended up being Left Behind III: The Disco Version, Staying Alive Barely.

Jokes over, Kirk explained that how a few years ago, while he was promoting Left Behind II at the Christian Bookseller's Convention he was given a tape of Ray Comfort's book, Hell's Best Kept Secret. Ray's message so impacted Kirk that he called Ray's company, Living Waters, to find out more. In response Kirk was sent and viewed a video of Ray open air preaching in New York city. Ray's evangelistic method rang true for Kirk who had been trained in other evangelistic methods. Kirk learned more by reading Ray's book God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life: The Myth of the Modern Message (now released under the title The Way of the Master. By then Kirk knew he had to meet Ray.

Kirk and Ray first met over lunch at Olive Garden in Bellflower, California. The audience and I at the Hyatt roared when Kirk said he was expecting to meet a “theological giant” but instead he ended up with a crazy man. Ray started handing out tracts to all the wait staff and people at other tables. However Kirk was surprised to see that these other people gave Ray's handouts and style a warm reception. The lunch lasted 3 hours.

Kirk wasn't sure what God wanted him to do next so he spent the next 2 months investigating Ray's methods. Finally, Kirk went back to Ray and told him “I want in!” Together, Kirk and Ray created the Way of the Master TV program (see online videos here), which was recently awarded Best Program by the Religious Broadcasters Association and won two People's Choice Awards. Kirk has been able to use his TV production skills and provide a well known face to the program. Way of the Master has been even been well received by the secular media. Twice Kirk has been on Joe Scarborough's MSNBC program (transcript here). Oprah Winfrey has asked Kirk to come talk about God and ABC Productions wants to do a religious program interviewing Kirk.

Next, Kirk described how during the filming of Left Behind III, most of cast and crew were not Christians and Kirk knew he needed to be obedient and share God's message with them. Even though he was terrified, Kirk witnessed to the cast and crew during lunch in the cafeteria. Kirk described how when he was done, no one said a word and Kirk just sat down and ate his lunch alone in silence. Despite that, he knew that he'd done the right thing. Kirk later found out that many of the Christians present were very encouraged and at least one person did receive Christ.

Next to speak was Ray Comfort and he was welcomed with a standing ovation. Ray explained how in 1982 he was an itinerant pastor and was watching a video about the famous preacher, Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon used the law to show people their need for God. It was then that Galatians 3:24 made sense to Ray. “the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Ray's humorous response was that he “Went home, found a sinner and experimented on him.” It worked!

Ray's next step was to thoroughly read and study the sermons of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, George Whitfield and John Wesley. Out of that study Ray wrote the book Evangelical Frustration which was later re-titled, Hell's Best Kept Secret.

It was about the time that Kirk Cameron approached him, that Ray started hearing from other preachers such as Dave Wilkerson and Bill Gothard, that they also wanted to see Ray's evangelism method spread to a wider audience. The direction became clear when TBN interviewed Kirk regarding Left Behind II and Kirk mentioned Ray Comfort's teachings. That day Ray's web site got 73,000 hits and crashed. Soon after, TBN invited Kirk back and Kirk preached for 2 hours on Hell's Best Kept Secret. The next day Ray's web site got over a million hits.

For his audience Saturday night, Ray motivated us with the question of what if the rich man who is described with Lazarus in Luke 16, had been talking directly to us from Hell instead of talking to God. When the rich man begged us to go to his family and testify to them of the horrors of hell, we surely would have.

Ray told some funny experiences about his worst witnessing experiences. For instance, when he first started door-to-door witnessing he was concerned that the Jehovah's Witnesses who had canvassed the neighborhood shortly before, had turned some people off to witnessing. Consequently, when Ray knocked on the first door he started off with “Don't worry. I'm not a Jehovah's Witness,” to which the woman replied, “Well, I am!”. Ray claimed his worst experience was when he tried to give a tract to a woman in a wheel chair who appeared to have Cerebral Palsy including shaking hands. Turns out after several tries of Ray giving her a tract and her dropping it, the person pushing the wheelchair responded, “Can't you see she doesn't want it!”

The evening wound up with Jamie Statema of the vocal trio, Go Fish, explaining how he first heard of Ray when he read Ray's book Revival's Golden Key. Jamie testified to the Way of the Master's evangelism methods and showed a clip of “The Ten Commandments Boogie” from his new kid's DVD. Next, a letter from Pastor Steve Kreins in Waco, Texas, was read by Todd Friel regarding the importance of Pastors using sound evangelistic methods. Then Tami Hoyt, a listener to Todd's Talk the Walk program gave her testimony of how Todd's radio program led her from being a “Goth girl” to true salvation through Jesus Christ.

Next, Todd told the story of the decisional regeneration movement (mp3) in the 1800's and how it produced many false converts who soon backslid. Some preachers of the time took to calling these backsliders “Cold Coal” because they had been so inoculated to the Gospel message. Todd played a radio clip from his show of a young man named Matt who had a similar story of repeatedly “asking Jesus into his heart” but Matt didn't know if he was truly saved.

Finally, the appeal to raise the remaining $170,000 needed to get and keep WOTMR on the radio was made. A breakdown of the cost of sponsoring different items included:

Fund the SIRIUS satellite radio opportunity $25,000

Fund an entire week of broadcasting $6,500

Fund a day of broadcasting $1,300

Fund 30 minutes of broadcasting $325

Besides one time gifts, contributors can also pledge a monthly donation by credit card. Checks can be make payable to Living Waters Publications. Way of the Master Radio is a ministry of Living Waters Publications, a 501(c)3 charity, so donations are tax deductible.

The Way of the Master Radio
P.O. Box 1172
Bellflower, CA 90706

I didn't find out when the first episode of Way of the Master Radio will happen (unless it's January 1, 2006 when they go on SIRIUS satellite radio) but you can trust that I'll post it here when I find out.

Are You a Good Person?

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Links to Best Christian Podcasts

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Over $72K Raised at Way of the Master Radio Fundraiser

Sunday, October 16, 2005

New Way of the Master Radio Program!

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