The Unrest in Latin America & COVID-19 | Interview w/David Witt & Russell Stendal (Episode #6)

this is atrisk Radio welcome to atrisk radio where we talk about leadership in the persecuted Church internationally I'm your host Mark Stafford and today I'm here with Russell stendal Russell stendal is a missionary in Latin America and he's the director of s so International in Latin America now Russell there is a great deal of political and economic chaos happening specifically in Colombia and Venezuela we've been hearing this on the news what I want you to talk about is how exactly does this upheaval in the government uh impact the church specifically well it can go both ways you know the upheaval can be um a bad thing and normally we would think of it as a bad thing if uh you know basic infrastructure starts to collapse and and uh you know the economics goes sound and even you know food becomes scarce and this um is happening number of countries today but uh if we look at it from a different angle it's when people are desperate when the world as they know it has collapsed that's when they're very prone to turn to the Lord and so uh there's a huge revival going on in Venezuela right now and part of the reason is even to survive physically and naturally um the the the people are turning tur to the Lord as as the only um real help that they can uh focus on and um and God is responding and there's a huge Revival so there's huge opportunities for the gospel because of the unrest right now yes and more so than if it wasn't there and of course you know these things tend to cycle and um you know eventually the some semblance of order and prosperity will be restored and then it remains to be seen who remains faithful to the Lord when that happens because then that's a whole another cycle and in Columbia we've been through a number of these Cycles particularly in the rural areas oscillating from one extreme to the other well if you haven't already done so um we would encourage you to go to atrisk radio.com and sign up for our monthly newsletter now every month we put out a newsletter that has stories from all over the persecuted church or as we like to call the church at risk one of those stories that came out showed a a picture of uh you and your team handing out Bibles at the Venezuelan border and uh tell us a little bit about how your distribution of Bibles is impacting the Revival in the area well it has a huge impact especially like if you uh consider that some of these churches didn't have Bibles not even one Bible for the whole church and uh when they get even one Bible then they start writing Bible verses on the Blackboard and everybody starts copying them down and um it it has a a tremendous effect sometimes an individual can be key like um some of our materials have been distributed on occasion to individuals that turned out to be very important like um a person was in uh uh a Diplomat in a in a certain country and um became a Christian and then how that impact yeah when he be when he became a Christian he got a Bible how did that change him well he went back and ran for governor in his home state and won and then when when he was governor then that create more opportunities for him to share the gospel then he found that there's a whole chain of community radio stations in a state that had fallen into disrepair because no one had followed up and no maintenance had been done so um he um found uh the right person and had that person um start putting these stations back on the air uh with our Christian programming so now because one person received a Bible you have thousands who are being reached with Christian broadcasting Christian broadcasting and that that all starts to feed into Revival again yeah the the the state legislature is opened up you know to the Bible and all how's that how do that impact the politicians that normally would been fighting among themselves they all stopped and they all each received a Bible and um and they all started praying and and and and uh they gave us a couple hours to preach and uh when I showed somebody the the picture they said what church is that I said no that's the state legislature yeah so Revival is is reaching out to the very highest levels of government and we also see that Revival is getting out to the people that when they receive a $20 Bible yeah that's hugely valuable to them yes um you know it's something that they can never aspire to obtain um even you know if they saved up all their wages for a long time how much money do people typically make in a place like Venezuela the the average wage is under $5 us $5 a month a month us so to think about what it would take to buy a $20 our Bible yeah no just not within the realm of possibility not even in the realm of possibility and so when they're handed a beautiful leatherbound Jubilee Bible and I've seen these pictures just the look on their face it's like you just handed them a brand new car yeah if they um you know know that we're going to come and distribute Bibles to their church or to their workplace they will normally put on the very best clothes to come and receive their Bible they're excited very excited and then they read that Bible cover to cover and they'll have a big celebration too once they got the Bible and you've been a part of some of these celebrations oh yeah well it's exciting to hear what the Lord is doing in places where there is tremendous unrest but how even these dire political circumstances are making a Way Paving a way for the gospel and uh making it possible for Revival to happen so when we get back we'll we'll be connecting with David wit and talk about how you can get involved in getting Bibles into places like Venezuela and Colombia and Beyond can you imagine trying to disciple a church with only one Bible this is Mark Stafford from at risk radio and our contacts in Venezuela are telling us incredible stories about people coming to know Jesus all the while pastors are missing Bibles for their people after receiving a Bible from our ministry one man said with tears in his eyes no one has ever given me such a beautiful gift at risk radio in our partnership with s so International is working to bring 2 million Bibles into Venezuela for more information about how you can help go to atrisk radio.com welcome back to atrisk radio I'm online with David Wht David wit is the CEO of s so International David right now there's unrest in Latin America plus we see additionally this outbreak of co9 so what opportunities do you see for the gospel during these very troubled times yeah markk it's always great to be together and talk about what God's doing and it was just such an encouraging report and enlightening with Russell talking about the social unrest um and how people with the economic I guess Devastation the best way to describe it in Venezuela how they're turning to the Lord it has turned into a Revival and how we discovered such a lack of Bible access under served uh unreached in that way and we can't get enough Bibles in there and I loved it how Russell talked about those who are when they hear Bible uh Bible distributions going on they dress up in their P suits and they get the Bibles and they have a celebration and what a great picture that is is the Revival in the spirit and the soul for the important things and the priorities of life I think of Ezra you know Mark uh you know how Ezra read the word of God and it was mixed with crying and rejoicing there was such a Revival and how the word of God could bring a profound Revival among people and and so now we're we're in the season of Co here we are online and it's only Devastation more to the social Fabric in Venezuela I mean they were dependent upon uh oil Mark and you know right where where is that oil line now I think the last I saw was just about $40 a barrel I it got down to below $20 a barrel uh well they were operating their their whole country off $100 a barrel and and so there's just no margin there's nothing left and this has only made the people more desperate and increasing the desire for the word of God and so that's what works about what we're praying for we're inviting people to get part now we've literally have have had people at ask us I'm just going to be blunt about it David they' said they've said to us okay so these people they're out of money they don't have any food some of them don't have clean water why are you giving them Bibles why aren't you giving them food instead of Bibles it's a good question and maybe one that we need to address yeah that's a great question and it needs to ultimately be both and it's certainly we have given humanitarian and you know physical support as we can but if we have to choose between the two Mark I tell people all the time we're going to choose the word of God and I say and this is the reason why because the word of God will not return void it is eternal you know it's the difference I say would you rather give me uh would you rather have me give you a loaf of bread today or introduce you to the bread maker right and that's right Jesus is the life he's the bread maker and we know that God provides supernaturally and when people begin to think different think clear uh and and and have hope they could begin to build a you know system in a life that is giving of Life of giving wisdom of provision how to get daily provision it's the difference again between the fish and the fishing pole and we don't know how long this window is going to be open uh but we know that if we give the word of God leave it there that's going to impact Generations on and so that's why emphasis is there that we can bring a transformation to that society that they could truly be you know make the spiritual groundwork a place where God can pour out his Blessing and bring a change to that whole situation well it tells a little bit David about um what you're doing with Bibles for Venezuela there's a huge vision for what is uh what we're trying to do there what's the need for people getting the word of God and what are we doing to meet those needs right now yeah well thanks Mark and point to that and I want to invite all the listening audience to number one join us in prayer because you know we we're Tred about that at times but I could tell so many stories of just how prayer works I mean one police officer has been praying for his Nation even talked about how he he was a Christian and is a Christian we gave him a Bible receiving it with tears of joy and he shared with us that God put upon his heart the great difficulty was he come to Venezuela then even more great difficulty followed by a general distribution of Bibles and Revival so we are really encouraged by hearing that and that's exactly what's happening and so that there's prayer you know making a pathway for that and then we invite people to to you know as God puts in their heart as they can to to give towards these Bibles it's $2 we asked for a new testament uh $7 for a whole Study Bible it's a leather covers really nice paper it's going to last for years and you know you think about if you give a a to a person of the United States I mean it's that feels good and that's great but they could go to Walmart they could get one um you know different stores they could order it online well you literally can't do that in Venezuela I mean there you can't go to any store and get a Bible they're just there there's a shortage they're not there and so when you come beside and partner with us to distribute a Bible U that's a that's immediate impact to dozens of people family members who are going to read it in their household and generations to come uh so it's the biggest bang for your buck and we invite people to go to atrisk Radio uh read more about it and consider uh you know joining us with that and we'd love to send you a jubilee English Bible too it's a leather covered and personalized and uh just to bless you back so that's an offer I certainly want to throw out there and David tell us a little bit about your bookstore online your bookstore has resources for any donation tell us a little bit about that yeah yeah you know we're un usual Ministry Mark we do absolutely everything by donation only we as freely receive freely give so we want to distribute and share all the things that God's given to us and we want to invite others to do the same and so all our books online are listed at donation only and so we don't have a price on those we just want be able to contribute towards those books all the uh money given for those books of course goes for the international work and hopefully those books will encourage people and the Jubilee Bible is one of them on there and there's many many other books uh that people could get especially during this season of covid-19 um this time to read so we invite you to get some books from us we would love to share them well to be kept up to date about what God's doing within the church at risk all over the world go to atrisk radio.com and sign up for the newsletter I'm Mark Stafford and this has been risk radio you've been listening to at risk radio for more go to atrisk radio.com atrisk radio is a production of international [Music]