By Tom Claycomb III
Editor’s note: The following is Part 1 of the author’s trip to a broadcasters convention. Part 2 will appear in the July/August issue of Christian Living Magazine.
I just flew home from the National Religious Broadcasters Convention. The event was held February 17-20 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.
All of the big name Christian authors, movie producers and speakers were there. I interviewed all of the aforementioned, previewed movies, attended seminars, and gathered a lot of amazing information.
This year was hectic because the Safari Club International Convention was also being held the same week, also in Nashville. My first day at NRBC I had interviews from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Following are some of the highlights from the top interviews.
With all that is going on in Iran, let’s start there. (I’m typing this on February 23 so by the time you read it, who knows what state things will be in?) Between interviewing Dr. Hormoz Shariat and Lana Silk, I may mix things up and credit one for the other so forgive me if I do. Let’s get started.
Dr. Hormoz Shariat: He runs Iran Alive and satellites Bible studies into Iran to something like 1,500,000 people daily. Due to space restrictions, I’m going to just throw out snippets. After 45 years of harsh Islamic rule, the citizens have concluded that Islam is not the answer but the problem. Without Christ, there is no hope. Many are turning to drugs and suicide. Dr. Shariat has pictures of city sewers backed up because hundreds had thrown their Korans into the sewer.
Home groups are spreading. Dr. Shariat had a group of young people training outside of Iran to go back in and evangelize. The last night they were praising and dancing. He thought, “Uh-oh, I’ve misled them, they think being a Christian is a plush life.” So he went in and stopped them and explained the seriousness of their commitment. When he finished, a young man said, “Can I talk? We know and have counted the cost. Can we now go back to worshipping and praising God on our last night before we return?” Wow! No Laodicean Christians in that group!
Lana Silk: I love this girl’s heart. I wanted to know her perspective of what is really going on in Iran. Five years ago, 30% of Iranians were practicing Islamists. Today, only 10%.
Used to be, Iranians thought Islam was the way to go – it’s just the government that’s bad. Now they see that, “No, Islam and the government are one and the same evil.” People are starving. Instead of fixing the infrastructure, the government is spending all its money on funding terrorist groups. Iranian money is worthless so the bazaars have shut down. Their bazaars are where the people buy their goods.
Yes, people are protesting but not compared to, let’s say Minnesota/Portland protests. In Iran all they do is march and hold a sign. The government has shot 40,000 citizens. Again, they’re not rioting and burning and occupying buildings. A huge amount are being shot in the back as they run away.
Getting arrested in Iran is not just getting a slap on the wrist. People are taken in, tortured, and executed. Then Lana started telling me what they do to the women. She then stopped and said, “I’m not even going to discuss it. It’s bad.”
Lana then said, “Pray for us.” Guys, we’re commanded to do this in Hebrews 13:3. Let’s be hitting our knees. During this window of opportunity, we need to help get the Word into Iran.
Glenda Durano: Her daughter wanted to be a nurse since grade school. In college she had a headache; a buddy gave her some medicine, and for some reason her body reacted to it. Reactions included blindness. In the hospital for 40 days, a doctor fixed her blindness, but after six months it reverted back and she can only see 10% out of one eye. God told Glenda to quit praying for her daughter’s sight and pray that she can reach the most under-reached people in the Church: people with disabilities. Glenda and her daughter now go into churches and help tailor-make a plan to minister to people with disabilities. In the meantime, Glenda’s daughter is patiently waiting to regain her eyesight, because the first thing that she’ll see is Jesus!
Dirk Smith Eastern European Mission: The passion of the mission is to get Bibles into the hands of non-believers in their language. They smuggle Bibles into Russia and other countries. Last year they distributed 2,300,000 Bibles. They had Bibles in 75% of the school libraries in Ukraine and had elective Bible classes. Now Ukrainian refugees need Bibles as they flee Ukraine. Smith said, “Make no mistake. The Russia/Ukraine war is a spiritual war.”
Mike Henry: His passion is to help people have a faith experience with God and to learn to hear His voice. Mike has been a pastor and missionary. His project now is to write fiction adventure books. In them, he includes stories that occurred in his life. Mike, his wife, and I went to dinner and had a good interview. I like that he pushes people to have a one-on-one, close relationship with God. Check out his books, starting with The Two Rivers Trilogy.
Hannah Sailesbury: I met Hannah and her publicist, Dr. Tiara Cloud, while walking down a hall hunting for a meeting. She’s a gung-ho, delightful, spirited young lady. She’s an elementary school teacher and one day was walking around her school praying. She re-entered the school and spotted a second grader reading a King James Bible.
Immediately she discerned that kids want to read the Bible, so she asked her librarian buddy if she could put a kids’ Action Bible in the school library. Then her buddies and family put them in three public school libraries. Her efforts have now expanded to 700 schools in 27 states. All because she prayed, saw a need, reacted to that need, and was obedient to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.
Camey Joy: Born with a cleft lip is tough duty for a girl, much less in a Third World country like Nicaragua, in which the citizens look down on you, thinking you are being punished for your sins.
Camey wrote a book titled, “Beautifully Scarred.” She wants her scars to point people to Jesus’ scars. She told me that you have to be healed on the inside before you can be healed on the outside. Forty operations later, she is beautiful on the inside and outside.
I’ve noticed that people who have been through the fire and handled it well earn a platform that no one can deny, and they deserve to be heard.
Dr. Alex McFarland: He’s an apologetic and refutes socialism. Socialism, he said, has been tried 80 times and failed every time; it is godless and incompatible with America. Dr. McFarland also said every argument against Christianity is flawed. Check out his book, “Socialism: The Big Lie.”
Chad Roberts: People don’t have to be dynamic speakers, though Chad is. Their life, what they’re going through, and how they handle it speaks volumes and gives them a deserved platform. Such is Chad. I’m sure that you’ve heard him on the radio. While training pastors in Central America he had an accident, and after two failed operations he went blind. He has pressed in hard to see/learn God and learned how to suffer well.
Lori Wildenberg: Upon seeing the title of Lori’s book, “Grandparents Make Grand Partners,” I had to read it. Her goal is to help families have relationships that last a lifetime and into eternity. Connection/relationships are how we have influence. Start your relationships in humility, she said, explaining that asking forgiveness will prompt others to overlook your faults. Be respectful of the parents’ rules, as they may see a grandparent’s advice as criticism.
Today’s kids are growing up with confusion. According to Wildenberg, a key bulwark in shifting the values of our age are grandparents who provide stability and continuity. “The culture wars have moved into families,” she said. From media infiltration to peer pressure, parents feel overwhelmed and underprepared. She said grandparents reinforce moral and spiritual values, offer emotional stability, and foster the development of self-esteem and academic success.
Dr. Eric Wallace: His goal is to get the church and particularly the black church to put a biblical world view into practice. Pulpits have traded the message of repentance for a focus on racial grievance. I found him to be a scholarly man, and best described as a shepherd concerned for the soul of the church. I could write this whole article covering his insights. Check out his book, “The Heart of Apostasy.”
Dr. David Hataj: Until the last five years I’ve preached that kids ought to go to college, but I’ve changed that stance. Dave started out as a seasoned machinist and has written a book titled, “The Craftsman’s Code,” which extols the honor and benefits of learning a good trade and attending a vocational school instead of college. Ironically, they twisted his arm and he has since obtained a Ph.D.; but deep down, he’s a blue-collar tradesman. Someday I’ll expound more on this topic.
Michelle Bader Ebersole: Everyone that I interviewed is laser focused on the mission that God has pushed them into. I’ll use Michelle as an example. (I think most of us if given the choice would coast through life fat, dumb and happy. We’re not mean, just self-centered. Someone sitting 10 feet from us can be in a hot mess and we’re oblivious until God chooses to throw us into change things.) Suddenly after 17 years of marriage and raising three teenagers, Michelle’s husband died. Even in a faith-filled environment, widows are mostly isolated and struggling. Michelle knows the trials and tribulations firsthand. I love it when Christians seek God in their trials and turn them into glorifying Him. Michelle wrote a book titled, “Widow Goals: Steps to Finding Peace When You Lose Your Spouse,” to help widows, but she also teaches us sideliners how to be supportive.
Todd Hampson: I was dying to meet Todd. I’ve never understood Revelation, so finally I told myself, “I’m going to memorize it and work on understanding it.” I got into it a few chapters and still didn’t have a clue. Then my wife, Katy, found two of Todd’s books: “The Non-Prophet’s Guide to the Book of Revelation” and “The Non-Prophet’s Guide to the End Times.” Both books are super easy reads, written on about the tenth grade level and crystal clear.
Seth Gruber: Seth is a dynamic speaker, and his passion is for the church to reclaim her legacy. America has reduced the church to missions and a little evangelism. We have excused ourselves from politics. (Look where politics has ended up without a Christian influence.) That is foreign and strange to the early 1900’s church. The church has become progressive. It is no longer fighting evil. Seth founded the White Rose Resistance and is well known for the film and book, “1916 Project.”
David Rives: Where were all the Christian scientists when I was a kid? I couldn’t argue on that level with the atheist professors on evolution in college. I love how Christian scientists and archaeologists are coming out of the woodwork the last 30 years. They’re blowing the socks off the so-called atheist “scientists.” I cannot do David justice. I beg you to go to his website, Genesis Science Network, and check all of the resources he offers – books, magazines, weekdays 11-12 educational content to supplement homeschoolers – or visit the Wonders Center in Tennessee. I love it when Christian scientists get into the fight!
Dr. Neil Shenvi: Dr. Shenvi has written a book titled, “Post Woke: Asserting a Biblical Vision of Race, Gender, and Sexuality.” Even from the first page, he comes out swinging. He tackles such topics as critical theory and transgenderism and believes that no matter which direction you look, there’s confusion, anxiety, anger, and irrationality. Definitions have changed. Values have been upended. People can no longer answer basic questions like, “What is truth? What is a woman?” He encourages people to think clearly, biblically, and push back on bad ideas.
For more information about anything in this column, contact Tom at tomclaycomb3rd@gmail.com.
