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Transcript

Telling Stories · Bible Tract Echoes Podcast

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hey friend, welcome back to Bible Track Echoes.
• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Mike McCurray, your host.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for joining me right here today.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've got to tell you, God is so good to us here at Bible Tracks and Corporate of the fact that I can speak to so many of our partners like you.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Through the medium of radio through podcast and things like that, it really is a blessing.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a privilege to have this connection with you.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thank those of you that read our monthly prayer letters.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those of you that get and read our quarterly newsletters.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I want to thank you specifically.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those of you that tune in Monday through Friday to Bible track echoes.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: This week on the broadcast, I want to give you a little update on what God is doing through Bible tracks and corporate.
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: There are so many different aspects of the ministry to speak about, but all of them in my mind, they just give glory to God.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: They are different ways to talk about how good God is.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you'll forgive me, if you will,
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: To just give the glory to God for just a little while.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: And one of the ways I want to do that is I want to tell stories, not just statistics.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we get so lost in throwing around numbers, even big numbers, millions of tracks, thousands saved, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of minutes of gospel films watched, whatever may be.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: but statistics numbers don't tell the tale.
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Humanity, we as people, we are built innately to crave and desire stories, so in that vein, this came to mind recently.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was preaching at a mission conference in Western Pennsylvania.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was blessed to go out to eat with a young family and their three
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: are awesome.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Eli, Silas, and Isaac, and they were a lot of fun to hang out with during the week.
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Any time I sat down, these guys were insatiable.
• 2:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not for food or stacks, now they were growing boys, we did get to go out to eat, but these guys were not as starving for food as they were for stories.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: They didn't sit there, just kind of in withdrawals from video games and tablets because their mom or dad made them put those down and they went into their stories.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: very well-behaved boys, and they loved hearing what God had done.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: They hung on every word I said, and begged for one story after another.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I enjoyed every moment, as I watched, their eyes light up while I told them about my childhood and how people have trusted Christ through BTI.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, talking to those young men, I was reminded as I just alluded to earlier about the power of stories, you're telling Eli the eldest son that BTI is printed over 600 million tracks over the last eight decades didn't mean much.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: that 11-year-old boy couldn't really conceive of hundreds of millions of tracks, but telling how God has transformed drunkards into devoted husbands through the power of the gospel.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: that will leave a memory that time can't touch.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: See, at BTI, we tell stories, not just statistics.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I encourage you, friend, to consider using your story, using how God has blessed you.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe telling your testimony to someone, sharing how God has saved you.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm thankful for the fact that you and I have the opportunity to talk in this way and for me to share some stories and I'm thankful though for the many mentors that I'm blessed with.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm thankful for those that I can pick the phone up and have, you know, this radio thing, it's a wonderful tool, but by and large, it's very much a one-way method of communication.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I've said a multitude of times, I'm going to say it again today.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you'd like to reach out to me, I want to hear from you.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing would make me happier, truly, than having the opportunity to establish a real communication, a dialogue instead of just this model log that I'm where I'm speaking to you, and I'm going to give you ways to contact me in just a moment.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: But by and large, this blessing of radio, it very much is one way.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you, you can't yell into the speaker of your radio.
• 5:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can't scream at your headphones, loud enough from me, hear it.
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: But with that being said, I'm thankful for the dialogue that I have with those that are kind enough to invest in me.
• 5:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: And one of those men took a little while, took just a few moments, and jotted down some reasons why he believes in the ministry.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm privileged to direct, I'm going to share those things with you, but before I do that, I do want to tell you, if you do want to communicate with me, I want to hear from you.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can text me, there's multiple ways to get a hold of me, I'm going to give you two.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can text me and email me, text me at 309.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Three, one, six, seven, two, four, zero.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's three, zero, nine, three, one, six, seven, two, four, zero.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: You can also email me, Micah at Bible Tracks Inc.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: dot org.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's Micah, M. I. C. A. H. At Bible Tracks Inc.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dot org.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, as I was saying, one of my mentors, he's a man named Pastor Terry Angel.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's been the pastor of the Faith Baptist Church in Barbine, Illinois for decades now.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he recently wrote a little article about why he believes
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: BTI's commitment to the gospel.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: He said this, since the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to a sinner.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: This ministry's commitment to that message is of utmost importance.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: BTI unashamedly places the highest priority on propagating the gospel.
• 6:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: But he actually had five reasons.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: BTI's commitment to the original vision.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was very kind and saying this, he said the leadership is young, but humble enough to honor Paul Levine's vision, BTI's founder.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Next, he said, I believe in Bible tracks incorporated because of BTI's commitment to innovation.
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: While maintaining a determined focus on printing gospel tracks, there is a desire and willingness to use modern technology to vastly multiply the opportunity to get the gospel to as many people as possible.
• 7:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Number four, he believes in BTI because of our commitment to quality, while the Ziring to communicate the gospel to as many as possible and realizing that time is short, the team at BTI is unwilling to compromise the quality of their product.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I would agree with that.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: He next said, I believe in BTI because of BTI's commitment to occupying.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is no grass growing under their individual or collective feet.
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: They are not content with just activity, but labor for productivity.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's nice to hear other people say kind of things about you and about what we do here at Bible tracks.
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm so thankful for Pastor Terry Angel, he ended it with saying this.
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: For these reasons and others, I firmly believe in the ministry of Bible tracks in corporate.
• 8:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate a man that's willing to say those types of things, but also willing to mean them.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: And also, he's willing to invest in making them true by investing in us here at Bible Tracks and Corporate.
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can say that for each of the people that are on staff here at Bible Tracks and Corporate, we've all in some way been touched by Pastor Terry Angel,
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: In a marvelous way, he's a phenomenal preacher, he's a better man, and he just has a way of investing in people.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And his preaching has been such a blessing to me personally.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for the angel for being willing to say that.
• 9:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of some of those things that we do,
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk for just a moment about some of our international needs.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So many of our first projects with a new partner start similarly to one of about to share.
• 9:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: You see, oftentimes we have people.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: that initially contact us and will often happen especially for missionaries on the other side of the world.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's the initial contact is followed by a lengthy email chain.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: As we discuss, tracked qualities, the titles, the desire, shipping information, and numerous other details each project requires.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: It relies, we ship millions of gospel tracks worldwide every year.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: and it takes a lot of details, a lot of arduous work to make sure we do so correctly without wasting God's people's money.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And after a long correspondence, we actually exchange with this particular example I'm giving you, we exchange dozens of emails, missionary Noah Wilkerson, he recently received 60,000 tracks from Bible Tracks in Corporate.
• 10:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: But how does that ultimately happen?
• 10:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's through the grace of God, and the giving of His people, and I want to thank you for your investment in making these stories possible.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: He actually, the very first email he sent was something like this.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: But, Micah, hope you're doing well.
• 10:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: My name is Noah Wilkerson.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: My family and eyes serve as church planting missionaries in Southern Africa.
• 10:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are currently in the city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm interested in getting a bulk number of gospel tracks for our
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: What would that look like?
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: It can be difficult to get good quality here sometimes.
• 10:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: The South Africans love anything that is clear and well done.
• 10:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Any of the tracks that you guys make fall under that category.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for your time and all you do for the sake of the gospel.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: and he signed it striving to plant churches and preach the gospel, the Wilkerson's.
• 11:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm thankful for the fact that there are people all over the world, like the Wilkerson's, trying to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd encourage your friend to support what Bible Traxon is doing.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I don't mean just financially.
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: we need you prayers.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's 60,000 tracks that need to be put in the right people's hands.
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: God will leave the Wilker sins in the people there, lead the Wilker sins in the people they're working with to the right people.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: But they need the energy, they need the leading, they need God's grace that every seed that they put out might desire.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I realize seed gets put on a lot of different grounds sometimes.
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it's hard ground.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it's fertile ground ready to be planted in.
• 11:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: and we're praying for those tracks, they were also praying and beginning to invest in 100,000 more tracks going to New Zealand here in the near future.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you'd like to partner with us on that.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd encourage you, if you would, to consider partnering with Bible tracks incorporated prayerfully.
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'd encourage you to pray for the ministry.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Pray for us weekly or maybe even consider praying for us daily.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: We have the opportunity to see God do a marvelous work through His people.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we want you to be a part of that.
• 12:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: If the Lord aged to pray with and for us, please shoot me a text, text me at 3-0-9-3-1-6-7-2-4-0-I would love to hear from you.
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tomorrow on a broadcast, we're going to talk about something that I'm very glad we took the time for.
• 12:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk about a very special gospel track that I hope my prayer Actually is that you never need to use it.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll explain that in a little more tomorrow My prayer is always is that you have a great day for his glory We will play not talking to you very soon.
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: God bless
• 13:12
  [UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for tuning in to Bible Tract Echoes, the radio ministry of Bible Tracts Incorporated.
• 13:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Want to see our gospel tracks and other resources?
• 13:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Visit us online at BibleTracksInk.org that's BibleTracksInk.org or follow us on social media to learn how you can partner with this ministry.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks again for listening.
• 13:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: May the Lord richly bless you as you live for Him.