First Person with Wayne Shepherd

Dustin Garrett once found himself in a jail cell considering suicide when a grandmother's witness broke through and he cried out to Jesus. He tells his story to Wayne Shepherd.  (click for more...)         
Dustin grew up in the Chicago suburbs in a broken, substance-abusing family, with his only Christian influence being his grandmother. By age 15 he was a full-blown heroin addict, eventually dropping out of school, cycling through theft, drug charges, and jail. At around age 20, while in the suicide ward of a jail going through heroin withdrawals, he cried out to Jesus — a faith rooted in his grandmother's persistent witness. After years of struggling without discipleship or community, his father gave him an ultimatum at age 22, leading Dustin to a two-year gospel-centered recovery program at a rescue mission in Peoria, Illinois. It was there — through men who opened the Bible with him and required him to memorize Scripture — that his life truly transformed. Against all odds, he went on to attend Bible college in Kansas City, and today, at 42, he has been walking with the Lord for about 20 years. He works in Christian healthcare ministry, serves as a worship leader at his church, and is a husband and father of two.
                            NEXT WEEK:  Dave Zanotti of The Public Square
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Ben Olsen was a professional actor when God called him into a helps profession and now he serves as a leader of the Global Center for Coaching.  (click for more...) 
Website:  www.GlobalCenterforCoaching.org
Ben Olsen shares how he grew up in a faith-filled home centered on community and participation, placed his faith in Christ at age 10, but drifted away during his teens. He pursued acting professionally for about 16 years — including six years in New York doing primarily Shakespeare — before a defining moment where he felt God calling him to make a clear choice. After returning to his faith, he found his theater background being redeemed when a Christian school invited him to teach theater.
Over the following 25+ years, Ben worked in various "helps professions" — addictions recovery, wilderness therapy, and pastoral counseling — before enrolling at Western Seminary. There, a coaching class instantly clarified what he had been doing all along. He pivoted fully to coaching, eventually took over the seminary's coaching program, and has since spun it off as the independent Global Center for Coaching. The organization offers accredited online training for both those seeking a professional coaching credential and those who simply want to sharpen their relational skills. Ben emphasizes that, unlike counseling, coaching is forward-focused and treats the client as the expert of their own life, with the coach's role being to help people discover what God has already placed within them.

                                              NEXT WEEK:  Dustin Garrett
Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
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Far East Broadcasting Company
P.O. Box 6020 
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Dr. Bill Thrasher joins Wayne Shepherd in conversation remembering those who have given their lives in the service of their country and thanking God for the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. (click for more...)
Website:  www.VictoriousPraying.org
This week’s First Person is a Memorial Day weekend episode featuring host Wayne Shepherd in conversation with Dr. Bill Thrasher, a longtime professor at Moody Bible Institute. The discussion weaves together two themes: honoring military sacrifice on Memorial Day and reflecting on the sacrifice of Christ. Thrasher shares his personal faith journey — from a "cultural Christian" upbringing to his conversion at a 1965 Billy Graham crusade and deeper spiritual growth through a Campus Crusade-connected fraternity brother in college — and expresses gratitude for mentors who shaped him, including pastor Ben Haden, theologian Charles Ryrie, and radio preacher Stephen Olford. The theological heart of the conversation centers on Paul's charge to Timothy to "remember Jesus Christ," with Thrasher drawing on Oswald Chambers to caution against burying faith under busyness, and exploring the doctrines of propitiation and redemption as reasons for gratitude. The episode closes with Thrasher leading a prayer of thanksgiving for religious freedom, spiritual mentors, and the liberating work of Christ on the cross.
               NEXT WEEK:  Ben Olsen of the Global Center for Coaching
Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
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Far East Broadcasting Company
P.O. Box 6020 
Albert Lea, MN 56007

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Born in China and a computer engineer by training, Luke Cheng talks about his ministry with the Far East Broadcasting Company of using technology to reach people for Christ. (click for more...)
Website:  www.FEBC.org/China
Luke Cheng is the Executive Director of Chinese Ministries at the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC). Born in a small village in China as the youngest of six children, he grew up with no exposure to Christianity and dreamed of becoming a scientist. His faith journey began when he moved to Canada for graduate school and was invited to a Chinese student Bible study group — the first time he had ever met Christians.
After becoming a believer, Luke prayed fervently for his family's salvation. Over the years, his sister, mother, and father all came to faith — his father just days before passing away, and his mother during a three-month visit to the United States.
Luke met his wife Joy at that same Bible study group, where she was a seminary student leading the sessions. Both eventually studied at Dallas Theological Seminary, Joy for a Doctor of Ministry and Luke for a theology degree, after he spent nearly 10 years working as a software engineer at Microsoft and Amazon.
Although Luke described himself as an introvert who feared public speaking and doubted how God could use him in ministry, he had made a private commitment to full-time ministry early in his Christian life — promising God that if his parents were saved, he would serve however called. That calling took about a decade to fully materialize before he left his tech career for FEBC.
At FEBC, Luke sees technology as central to the mission. FEBC was founded in 1945 to reach Chinese people through radio, but has since shifted to internet, social media, and mobile platforms. He has embraced AI as a powerful new ministry tool — using it for content conversion, chatbot development, and app creation — and is now pursuing a second PhD at Cambridge University to explore the theological and ethical dimensions of AI in ministry.
                                           NEXT WEEK:  Dr. Bill Thrasher 
Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
FEBC National Processing Center 
Far East Broadcasting Company
P.O. Box 6020 
Albert Lea, MN 56007

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Jonathan Hallsted of Health Bridge Global talks with Wayne Shepherd about the ministry of healthcare as a bridge to the Gospel in closed countries and cultures. (click for more...)
Website:  www.healthbridgeglobal.org
Jonathan Hallsted is the founder and executive director of Health Bridge Global, a ministry that uses healthcare as a vehicle for sharing the gospel in closed nations, cultures, and communities. His path to this calling was anything but linear — he spent time in pastoral ministry, served seven years as a missionary in Eastern Europe, and built a 15-year career managing medical practices in California. During COVID, while walking a trail near his home, he felt a strong, undeniable sense that God was calling him to sell his house, leave his job, and commit full-time to a ministry he had been running part-time for a decade. After months of wrestling with fears about failure and finances, he finally said yes. Health Bridge Global now partners with indigenous Christian doctors in countries around the world to build financially self-sustaining, gospel-intentional healthcare clinics and projects — tailoring each one to the specific needs and context of the local community. Five years into his full-time commitment, the organization has completed or launched 13 projects in pursuit of a vision of 20 gospel-centered healthcare projects in 10 countries within 10 years. Jonathan describes the work as the hardest and best thing he has ever done.
           NEXT WEEK:  Luke Cheng, Ex. Dir, of Chinese Ministries at FEBC
Send your support for FIRST PERSON to the Far East Broadcasting Company:
FEBC National Processing Center 
Far East Broadcasting Company
P.O. Box 6020 
Albert Lea, MN 56007

Please mention FIRST PERSON when you give. Thank you!