Greg’s Blog

From one to many

We all know how God mightily used Simon Peter as an apostle. But do you know how Peter originally came to believe in Jesus? His brother Andrew told him about the Lord.

We never read in Scripture of Andrew preaching to multitudes of people. Andrew never wrote any books of the Bible. Nor did God work miracles through his hands.

But God used him to reach his brother, Peter, who did all the above and more.

We can’t all be Simon Peters. God is looking for people like Andrew too. The fact of the matter is, if we had more Andrews, we would have more Simon Peters.

This reminds me of a more contemporary version of this point.

DL Moody

From selling soles to saving souls

Edward Kimball was an ordinary man who taught Sunday school at his church.

He sensed God’s leading to share the gospel with a shoe salesman. After nervously pacing outside the store several times, he found this young man in the storage room. Kimball shared God’s love and the salesman received Christ.

The year was 1858 and the salesman’s name was Dwight L. Moody, who went on to become one of the greatest evangelists in human history. But the story doesn’t stop there.

Frederick B. Meyer

But wait, there’s more!

Several years later, when Moody was preaching, a pastor named Frederick B. Meyer was deeply stirred by Moody’s preaching. As a result, he started a nationwide preaching ministry.

A college student named J. Wilbur Chapman accepted Christ after listening to one of Meyer’s sermons. Chapman became a pastor and started holding evangelistic outreaches. One of the assistants he hired was Billy Sunday, a former baseball player. Sunday went on to become a powerful evangelist, reaching thousands and thousands of people with the gospel in the early 20th-century.

Billy Sunday

From Billy to Billy

One of Billy Sunday’s evangelistic crusades was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Afterward, a group of enthusiastic businessmen wanted to do more outreach in the area and asked another evangelist named Mordecai Ham to come and preach.

During Ham’s revival meetings, a young farm boy known to neighbors as Billy Frank made his way down the “Sawdust Trail” and gave his life to Christ. Today, we know Billy Frank by his given name, Billy Graham.

So look at this chain of events, starting with this unsung hero. Kimball reached Moody, who touched Meyer, who reached Chapman, who helped Sunday, who reached businessmen in Charlotte, causing them to invite Ham, who reached Graham!

Billy Graham

It starts with one!

It all began with the simple witness of Edward Kimball!

If we had more Andrews, we would have more Simon Peters. If we had more Edward Kimballs, we would have more D.L. Moodys. If we had more Mordecai Hams, we would have more Billy Grahams!

So do your part to reach someone today. Who knows, they could be the next great evangelist God uses to reach a generation!

Video from Praise the Lord on TBN

Here is some video from my appearance with Pastor Chuck Smith on Praise the Lord with Paul Crouch Jr.

This just in from Mount Rushmore

Just flew in from South Dakota! And boy, are my arms tired! (Dah-dah-bump!)

Had a great time in the beautiful state of South Dakota on Sunday night and Monday. I spoke at a huge gathering of believers called Hills Alive with some 20,000 people present. I could not tell exactly how many, but they were everywhere!

I had the opportunity to proclaim the gospel to them, and for that I am always thankful.

The next morning I formally accepted an invitation from the pastors and Christian leaders there in Rapid City to hold a Harvest Crusades there in May of 2009.

Riding Harleys in God’s country

After that, we took a Harley ride to end all rides as we made our way up the winding roads leading to the absolutely amazing Mount Rushmore! That was indeed a sight to behold!

South Dakota is filled with classic Americana everywhere you look. Great little western-type towns, interesting attractions, nice people, and Harleys everywhere!

I am looking forward to our time of ministry there next year.

Lost Boy at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa this Sunday

We have a big Lost Boy event coming this Sunday, July 27, at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. The Lost Boy film will be shown, followed by a message from me. If you are in the Orange County area (or anywhere in Southern California, for that matter), I hope that you will come!

It will start at 7:00 P.M., and will also be webcast online and broadcast live on KWVE (107.9 FM).

Lost Boy book signing at Barnes & Noble in Newport Beach

Don’t forget to mark your calendar for Sunday, August 3, when we will have a Lost Boy book signing at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Fact of the matter is, a great deal of my personal story took place in Orange County, including Newport. I will look forward to meeting some of you there!

Hanging with Chuck Smith and Raul Ries

We had a great time on the Praise the Lord program Thursday night on TBN. If you go to iTunes, you can actually download the show for free.

I was a guest, along with Raul Ries and Chuck Smith, and we were interviewed by Paul Crouch Jr., who I thought did a really good job. Chuck actually teared up when he was sharing about his Christian upbringing.

The whole two-hour show was a wonderful tribute to Chuck’s life and ministry, which was richly deserved. It is well worth watching.

Raul also shared his powerful story of coming to Christ and I was able to share my story as well. They also showed a few clips from the Lost Boy film. I will post a couple of clips from the show on Monday for you.

This Sunday at Harvest

Don’t forget, this Sunday I am back in my Acts series Upside-Down Living with a message titled “Unsung Heroes.”

Our special musical guest will be my friend, Marty Goetz. Marty is a Messianic Jew, who uses his incredible gifts of songwriting and singing to glorfiy God. I often think of what the Psalmist David might have sounded like when I listen to Marty.

Check out the live webcast by clicking here.

I am preaching in South Dakota on Sunday night

I will be there speaking at the Hills Alive Festival on Sunday at around 7:30 P.M., South Dakota time.

I will also be meeting with some pastors there the next day about a potential Harvest Crusades event in South Dakota. I am also going to take a Harley ride and we are going to see Mount Rushmore. That is a first for me, and I am really looking forward to it.

For more information on that, click here.

Etc., etc.

Here is my column this week from WorldNetDaily. And here is my long-form devotion.

Unsung Heroes

We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture. Never before have we known so much about people who, in many ways, matter so little.

It makes one wonder, where have the heroes gone? We have a lot of celebrities today, but very few real heroes.

One person put it this way: “The hero is known for achievements; the celebrity for well-knownness. The hero reveals the possibilities of human nature. The celebrity reveals the possibilities of the press and media. Celebrities are people who make news, but heroes are people who make history. Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities.”

We need more real heroes today, don’t you think?

Unsung heroes

A hero usually gets the credit for their act and that is why we call them a “hero.”

In contrast, an “unsung hero” is the person who perhaps never gets the credit. We may discover their deed of heroism much later than when they performed it. We may discover them long after they have died.

Unsung heroes are sometimes wives, and other times husbands. Sometimes they are children, but more often they are parents. They can be a teacher, a coach, an uncle, an aunt, or a grandparent.

They are people who worked behind the scenes to help someone else, but while that other person may have gotten the credit, these unsung heroes know they played a part.

Can you think of some unsung heroes in our culture today? Maybe we would recognize them, or they are only known to you. Share with us who they are.

“Unsung Heroes” this Sunday at Harvest

This Sunday morning, I want to talk about unsung heroes. I am going to focus on three men from the Book of Acts who filled that role.

You may be an “unsung hero” too, so I hope this will encourage you.

I’m going to South Dakota!

I am going to be speaking in Rapid City, South Dakota, this Sunday night, July 20.

I will be at a large Christian festival called Hills Alive. I will speak right before the band Switchfoot performs. So remember us in prayer there, if you would.

For more info on Hills Alive, click here.

Lost Boy news!

We will be showing Lost Boy: The Documentary at Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa on Sunday, July 27, at 7:00 P.M. I will also be giving a message following the screening.

So if you are in the Orange County area, mark the date and come join us!

The Jesus Movement

The Jesus Movement, what a great time that was!

This was a time of what I believe was a genuine spiritual revival that took place in the late ’60s through the early ’70s. Many of the mega-churches that are impacting our culture today were born during this time of the outpouring of the Spirit of God.

It was during this time, in 1970, that I came to faith in Jesus Christ. I have a whole section on the Jesus Movement in the film, Lost Boy: The Documentary, and have even thought of writing a whole book on it someday.

A key figure of the Jesus movement was Chuck Smith, the pastor of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. Chuck was willing to let young people with long hair (I was one of those kids!) into the church without a haircut. Now I wish I had any hair!

Chuck’s contribution to late 20th-century and early 21st-century Christianity has been significant. Our church, Harvest Christian Fellowship, was one of the very first Calvary Chapel outreaches in the early ’70s.

Chuck and I will be on TBN tonight!

I bring this all up because Pastor Chuck, along with my friends Raul Ries (Calvary Chapel of Golden Springs) and Mike Macintosh (pastor of Horizon Christian Fellowship) and I, will all be guests on TBN tonight. They are having a “Jesus People”-themed program on their Praise the Lord broadcast.

It all starts at 7:00 P.M., Pacific Time, and can be seen around the world. I hope it will be part of your world tonight too!

So check it out, if you can.

Ben Born Again

During those early days of the Jesus Movement, I came up with a cartoon character named “Ben Born Again”. (Get the play on words… “Been Born Again?” Hey, I never claimed to be Shakespeare!)

Some people said Ben was just a cartoon of myself. That may have been true. So, here is a drawing I did today of Ben to take us down memory lane from the old days, and then a new, updated version for 2008.

PS
When you see Ben in the future, he will not look like the ‘older’ version but the young one. That is one the great advantages of being a cartoon character. You only need 3 fingers (think Mickey Mouse) and you never, ever age (think Charlie Brown)!

No limbs, no limits . . . no worries!

On Sunday morning, I interviewed Nick Vujicic. What a wonderful young man he is.

God is using Nick in a powerful way to bring encouragement to people all around the world. He has been featured recently on the TV program 20/20. He will be on Oprah Winfrey’s show in the near future, as well.

Nick takes his disability and uses it as an ability to glorify God. Who can argue with a man who has faced the setbacks that Nick has? He is a living testimony of God’s grace.

Here is a video of the interview I did with him:

Long lines at Barnes & Noble for Lost Boy

I had a secret fear that not many would show up. Well, that was unfounded! Tons of people showed up and we had a great time.

It was fun to meet some of my “blogging buddies” there as well!

Speaking of book signings, I will be doing another one at Barnes and Noble, but this time at their Newport Beach store. That one will be on August 3. More on that later.

Lost Boy book signing at Barnes & Noble

This Sunday, I will be doing a book signing at a Barnes & Noble store for the first time ever.

This is kind of exciting for me to have my book in a large-scale outlet like this. But I have to admit, I also harbor this secret fear that no one will show up!

I can see myself sitting there waiting to sign a copy of Lost Boy and having people think I work there and I can tell them where the bathroom is in the store! Come to think of it, would you ask a guy who wrote a book called Lost Boy for directions?

So . . . I am hoping that a lot of you will show up for moral support! It’s all going to happen at 2:00 P.M. this Sunday, July 13. The Barnes & Noble is located at the Galleria at Tyler, 3485 Tyler Street, Riverside. For more information, you can call 951-358-0899.

The new 3g iPhone

I tried to get one yesterday, but the lines were too long!

Did any of you get one? Well, how is it?

One cool thing is a new Bible app you can put on the phone. Check it out!

Back to Upside-Down Living!

I am back in my series from the book of Acts that I am calling Upside-Down Living. My message this Sunday will be from Acts 9 on the very unexpected conversion of the notorious Saul of Tarsus.

Saul was one of the worst persecutors the Church had known up that point, hunting down followers of Jesus. One day, on the road to Damascus, the hunter became the hunted! And Saul met Jesus.

Come join us or check it out online by clicking here.

An amazing story from Nick Vujicic!

Nick Vujicic will be my special guest at all three Sunday morning services, when I will interview him. He will also speak Sunday night at Harvest for our Day 7 service.

You will be amazed and blessed by Nick’s unique and moving story of how he has been able to overcome the disability of having no limbs. For more info on Nick, check my previous post.

Some cool stuff to check out

Here is a link to my WorldNetDaily column that runs every Sunday.

Here is a link to my long-form devotion for this weekend. And don’t forget that you can subscribe to get my daily devotions via e-mail by clicking here.