Since 1998 Dr. Charles “Chuck” Swindoll has served as the founder and senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, He also has a daily Bible-teaching radio ministry, Insight for Living, a leading program in Christian broadcasting, which many have listened to since 1977. The program is distributed worldwide to radio stations and via the Internet. Besides the traditional radio broadcasting…Web streaming, podcasting, and even satellite radio are also employed to spread the message of the Gospel.
A retail version of Chuck's messages are available as compact discs and in MP3 format. This teaching ministry can be heard in seven of the world's top ten languages. Insight for Living also has active Web sites in Spanish, Arabic, Polish and Portuguese, and some of the publication materials are produced in these languages as well.
Chuck, as he is often called, had planned to become a mechanical engineer. While on the island of Okinawa in the 1950s, during his tour of duty in the United States Marine Corps, Chuck recognized that the Lord was calling him to devote his life to the gospel ministry. He has shared the following story from the pulpit, as well as on Insight for Living.
Chuck’s bunk mate in Okinawa was named Eddie. When Eddie found out Chuck was a Christian, he told ”Swindle” right off that he had no wish to be evangelized and Chuck should back off. As he reclined in the top bunk, Chuck would read the Bible and review the verses he was committing to memory. He also tried to think of some way he could interest Eddie in learning about the Lord Jesus.
One day he handed Eddie some of his verse cards and asked Eddie to help him go over the words. This was repeated many times with dozens of verses. Most were about the Gospel and salvation; for example, John 3:16. Chuck would start saying the verse and intentionally hesitate at key words, which then prompted Eddie to give him the word to continue. This went on and on, over and over again.
It was about thirty years later that Chuck received a phone call. On the other end, someone said, “Hey, Swindle!” He knew immediately it had to be Eddie. Eddie said to him, “Hey, you know that trick you played on me in Okinawa? Well, it worked! I’m loving Jesus now!”
This speaks of the power of God and the sure and eventual completion of the plans He has. As is stated in Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
Dr. Swindoll has served as pastor of churches in Texas, Massachusetts and California before returning to Texas in 1994 to become the President of Dallas Theological Seminary. He and a group of fellow believers established the non-denominational Stonebriar Community Church in 1998. My wife, Donna, and I had the good fortune to be members of that church for several years before our move to Iowa in 2015. We were also members of the fellowship group Marathon, and still enjoy contact and lasting friendships there. Fortunately, we are able to participate with groups there either through ZOOM, or watching the weekly church services broadcast on YouTube. Additional information on Chuck’s ministries can be found on the web at … https://www.stonebriar.org/ and https://insight.org/
- Kenneth Robb Kersey
********
And then He told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Mark 16:15 NLT
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 NLT
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:16 NLT
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 ESV
*******************************************
If you liked this story and would like a copy of either of my books,
they are available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format:
If you have a story or testimony that you think might bless others,
I invite you to send it by email to me (Kenneth Kersey) at godsotherways@me.com.
*******************************************