First Person with Wayne Shepherd

Wayne Shepherd talks with 93-year-old Rob Elliott, founder of Elliott Construction in the Chicago area about his life’s purpose of representing God in business and supporting missionaries.  (click for more…)    
Website:  https://www.elliotconstruction.com
Rob shares his life story: being born in England to a Canadian father and English mother, growing up in a Christian home in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and giving his life to Christ as a boy, though it didn't feel "real" until a devastating 1951 car accident that killed a friend and left him in a coma — an event he credits with truly turning his heart toward God and keeping him out of military service in Korea. He recounts starting his concrete business in the early 1950s after a mentor set him up with clients, building it into one of the largest concrete contractors in the Chicago area (still family-run 70+ years later), and using his business as a platform for quiet, consistent Christian witness — praying before meals with coworkers, sharing his testimony at industry events, and mentoring golfing buddies over the years. He closes by reflecting on his large family (5 children, 34 grandchildren, and dozens of great-grandchildren), his enduring faith rooted in Romans 10:9, and his sense that God still has purpose for his life at 93.
                                            NEXT WEEK:  Dannah Gresh 
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Babbie Mason once wanted to sing for Motown. Now an award-winning singer-songwriter, author, conference speaker, and TV host, she joins Wayne Shepherd in conversation.  (click for more…)  
Website:  https://babbie.com
Babbie Mason recounts growing up in Jackson, Michigan, as the daughter of a pastor, where church was the center of family life and she began playing piano and leading music at her father's church by age nine. As a young adult she was drawn toward Motown-style secular music and sang in bars and clubs, but felt persistent conviction from the Holy Spirit; a pivotal moment came in a college snack bar, where a bowl of cooling soup and a Bible verse about being "lukewarm" led her to fully surrender her life and career to Christ. She went on to record albums with Word Records and Spring Hill Music over a career now spanning 40 years. Mason also shares a memorable story from her book Each One Reach One about spontaneously singing "Amazing Grace" in a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, which led to a chain of encounters where she prayed for strangers' needs — illustrating her larger message that kindness and sensitivity to others can open doors to sharing faith. She closes by discussing mentorship, her Inner Circle worship conferences for songwriters, and her desire to fully use her God-given gifts.
                                                   NEXT WEEK:  Rob Elliot
Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
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Pastor Steve DeWitt, author of Loneliness: Don’t Hate It or Waste It, Redeem It, joins Wayne Shepherd in conversation on this topic.  (click for more…)
Websites:  www.moodypublishers.com/loneliness, www.bethelweb.org 
Steve DeWitt, longtime pastor of Bethel Church in Northwest Indiana, talks about his book Loneliness: Don't Hate It or Waste It, Redeem It. DeWitt shares that he was a well-known "never married" megachurch pastor for over two decades before marrying his wife Jennifer (they connected after she read an article he'd written on loneliness), and he draws on that long stretch of singleness to reflect on loneliness biblically rather than as a book about marriage curing it. He distinguishes aloneness (neutral), loneliness (bad), and solitude (good), and outlines three ways people "waste" their loneliness — isolating themselves, becoming obsessed with unmet expectations, and distracting themselves through things like binge-watching or doomscrolling. He then turns to how to "redeem" loneliness: recognizing it as fundamentally a vertical longing for restored relationship with God (echoing Augustine and Chesterton), and then letting that drive people toward sacrificial, others-focused love modeled on Jesus rather than self-focused pursuit of companionship. The conversation closes with reflections on how social media and constant connectivity paradoxically deepen isolation, and DeWitt encourages listeners to examine their social media habits as part of a healthier response to loneliness.
                                             NEXT WEEK:  Babbie Mason
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Zac Holt, is the founder and Senior Pastor of The Table Ministries whose mission is to saturate their city with the Gospel through community service. He describes this unique church with Wayne Shepherd. (click for more...)  
Website:  https://www.thetableministries.com
The Table Ministries is located in Bristol, VA.  Zach shares his journey from starting drug use at age 13, through years of addiction, incarceration, and homelessness, to a dramatic conversion to Christianity that he experienced in a jail cell. He describes founding The Table Ministries as a non-traditional, raw and welcoming church born out of his seminary internship, one that meets people where they are — in homeless shelters, jails, and recovery centers — rather than expecting them to come to a traditional church setting. Much of the conversation focuses on his theology of recovery: the idea that it's not enough to get people "out of Egypt," but that God must also get "Egypt out of them," and that shame (not just guilt) is one of the biggest barriers people in recovery face. He describes the ministry's practices, including a weekly communion gathering at a Boys & Girls Club, "friendraising" instead of fundraising, and a discipleship model aimed at helping men move from being "takers" to "contributors" — becoming fathers, entrepreneurs, and church planters. He closes with a story about a formerly homeless man named Shane who was eventually reunited with his sons in Idaho, using it as an example of restoration beyond mere sobriety.
                                          Next Week:  Steve DeWitt

Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
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Donnita Travis, the founder of a Chicago after school club called By the Hand, talks with Wayne Shepherd about mentoring students in the name of Christ.  (click for more...) 
Website:  https://bythehand.org
In 1997, Donita Travis—then president of a Chicago advertising agency she'd co-founded with her husband—felt called by God during a prayer retreat to help kids in Chicago live an "abundant life" (John 10:10). She spent the next three years volunteering with kids from the Cabrini-Green housing projects at Moody Church while still running her agency, before leaving the business in 2000, with her husband's blessing, to found By the Hand Club, a Christ-centered after-school program. Starting with just 16 kids in a single room in March 2001, the program has grown to serve 1,800 kids (7,000 total over the years) from kindergarten through college across six clubs in four under-resourced Chicago neighborhoods, partnering with Chicago Public Schools to reach children most at risk of dropping out and caring for them holistically in mind, body, and soul. The results have been striking: a 100% high school graduation rate, 76% of graduates continuing to higher education or the military, 60% on the honor roll, over 80% growing at least a year in reading level, and 87% professing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Running on a $17 million annual budget (which includes $1 million just for busing), the organization has finished fully funded for 23 straight years and holds a four-star Charity Navigator rating. Travis closes the interview with the story of Shacola, a student removed from her home with six siblings as a first grader and raised by her aunt, Miss Alma (now a By the Hand staff member)—Shacola is now a ninth grader reading at a 12th-grade level, on full scholarship at Culver Academy, with her younger sister following in her footsteps with a scholarship of her own.
                               NEXT WEEK:  Zac Holt, The Table Ministries

Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
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Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!