Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Thursday morning, Pastor Jeff Here, I want to read to you from Joshua, chapter one, verse one. Now, it came about after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of nun Moses, servant, saying, moses, my servant is dead. Now, therefore, arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel, every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses from the wilderness. And this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the great sea, toward the setting of the sun, will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. So therefore, I'm adding that part. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Well, it's a great privilege today to have in the studio President Tim Wildmon, the president of American Family association and American Family Radio. Tim was at First Baptist Texarkana last night and, talking to the folks. We had a huge crowd, to come out and see Tim, and he talked about, being salt and light and the difference that American Family Radio and American Family association makes in our, our nation. And it is a significant difference, and we give the Lord all the praise for that. But I want to talk today about what it's like to be Joshua, what it's like to follow, somebody that is so well known and has made such an impact. Now, Don Wildmon. We love and respect Don Wildmon. I don't think, Tim, we would say Don Wildmon was Moses, but he was Moses. Like, in many ways. he was breaking new ground that hadn't been broken before. And an unlikely hero given his background, given his, as you talked about yesterday, his accent and all that he, had going for him in the little town of Tupelo, Mississippi, made a huge impact that is continuing under your presidency. So first of all, welcome to the program.

Tim Wildmon: Hey Jeff. Good to be with you. we've driven over here to where we drove over here to be with you and your church family last night and some of the folks in the community who listened to afr. and I don't know if they came out for me or the chicken spaghetti.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I don't know. They came out for you.

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: You had a lot of people that I've never seen before and that traveled a good distance to hear you last night. And so we, we normally have. I teased you about the crowd being down, but the crowd was up. We had about 350, the week before when I was preaching, I think we had 2:30, so it went up a lot.

Tim Wildmon: And I got a lapel to the city.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, a lapel pin from Mayor Bob Bruggeman, our mayor.

Tim Wildmon: I want to thank him for that.

 : Yes.

Tim Wildmon: You know, sometimes you get a key to the city. I was pleased to get a lapel. City of Texarkana.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Anytime we have a special speaker and he always pins them.

Tim Wildmon: My wife Allison, she said that I was visiting with the mayor and I mentioned, hm him. I said you have a great sign out there, on the interstate.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Texarkana is twice as nice.

Tim Wildmon: Twice as nice on the big water tower out there. As you pass through the city. You can't miss it.

Tim Wildmon: Can't miss it.

Tim Wildmon: I just made a brief comment. I said you might want to repaint it, refresh it, you know, and I was just trying to be helpful.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Tim Wildmon: You know, Mayor Bob and Alison, my wife, when we left, said you, the mayor gave you a lapel. it was nice to you and you, you offended him. You don't think I did?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: No, you didn't.

Tim Wildmon: I just suggesting maybe refresh the painting on the. Okay, well, I'm going to tell her.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Mayor Bob's like a Timex watch.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. Anyway, so would you tell him that I meant nothing by that?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: No, I thought it was. You know, I've said this. I said you can learn a lot from people that haven't been here before. Because if you live by the train station, eventually you don't hear the train.

Tim Wildmon: That'll preach right there, bro.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: It's a good Saying, and so when the people move in, you want to talk to them, what do you notice? Tim, we've had people, say, hey, you need to hire some folks periodically to come to your church that have never been there before to be like first time shoppers. Tell us what you see, what you like, what you don't like, just to get a feel for what is it? What does it look like through the eyes of a new person?

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. So anyway, Mayor Bob, thank you, brother, for that. I'm going to keep them going to take that back to my office, but it is good to be with you, Jeff, here in your studios, here in Texarkana. I know I'm going to answer a lot of your questions for me, but I want to ask you real quickly. You've been with US American Family Radio how many years now, with this show. This show. And then, the Real truth for life.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. So from US Heart Ministries, I think we started in 2015. I did some checking. Jay told me, my producer, he said, 2015 is the first, date he saw with the half hour Bible teaching show.

 : Yes.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: At 6:00pm Central. And, Jim Stanley was, our contact that, you know, you guys do a lot of vetting, which is great. You don't just let anybody on. And so, we built a relationship with Jim. Larry Nobles was my executive director at that time. And then, you, you offered me this time slot to do, Real Truth for today in 2022. Right. At the time, Dan was.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, Dan Celia had been on with us for a long time, for two hours a day. Many of our listeners remember Dan. And sadly, Dan passed during COVID And we had a, you know, we had a slot open and you were, we were delighted that you decided to take it because we wanted something, we wanted something different. not that Dan show. As long as Dan would have been alive broadcasting, we kept him on for a couple of hours. But, we thought, hey, let's do an hour of Finances, which is Rob following your show. And then let's do an hour of a pastor who's, just encouraging people and going through the word of God and get people started right on their, early morning that day with the Lord, so to speak.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I remember when you asked me, I said, well, what do you want me to talk about? He's like, whatever you want. It's your show. And so I was like, okay. People, have asked me. I had somebody ask me just the other day, said, how do you do this every day. You know, as pastors know, there's, you know, we do work more than on Sunday. And so, this has been a great experience for me, personally, just to help me grow, because there are times where, you know, it's like, good night. What am I going to talk about today? Or a guest falls through, Or. I think, okay, today we're just going to do call ins and we're going to talk about a topic. I had that. This is a few years ago I had that idea, and then I get to the. To the studio, and they said, oh, by the way, our call screener is not in today, so we can't take calls.

Tim Wildmon: And I'm like, you're by yourself?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.

Tim Wildmon: you're like. You're doing the Rush Limbaugh thing?

Tim Wildmon: Yes.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I was like, crud. Now, you know, it's five till.

Tim Wildmon: That's an ugly word for a pastor.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, it is. But it was five till the time. And so it's like, okay, Lord, give me something to talk about.

Tim Wildmon: And what'd you do?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I came up with something. You know, the longer, you know, I couldn't have done this, Tim. Just to be honest, I couldn't have done this. When I was in my early 40s, yeah, I didn't have enough in the well to draw from. But, you know, the longer. The longer you preach, there's more resources that you can draw from that, stick in your mind. So that helps a lot.

Tim Wildmon: Anyway, it's good to be with you. Drove over. We, we went from Tupelo to Memphis, Memphis to Little Rock. Ate dinner, and then, drove down. Drove down to be with you here on, I. What are we on? I. What?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I 30.

Tim Wildmon: I 30.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Between little Rock and Dallas?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Texarkana is kind of in the middle of a lot of places, right. We're almost smack dab in the middle.

Tim Wildmon: How long you been here now?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Dallas and Little Rock. I came in, February 2003.

Tim Wildmon: 2003. Native of Houston?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: well, yeah, born in California.

Tim Wildmon: Born in California and then moved to

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Houston when I was in seventh grade. my wife is a native Houstonian, and we met at Champion Forrest Baptist Church in 19. 84. First time I saw Debbie, I'll never forget it. I was just like, wow, who is that? I said, what Samson said, she looks good to me. So the Lord worked that out, and we've been married for 40 years. You guys have been married longer than that?

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, 42. Since 1984. You got married 86, didn't you?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: 86.

Tim Wildmon: 1984.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Now my kids are a little older than your kids.

Tim Wildmon: okay. How's that work? Gotta figure that out.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: We started, we had Jill 15 months after we got you guys started

Tim Wildmon: right off the bat.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Didn't wait, you guys waited a little bit.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, we had three.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: How many did you have?

Tim Wildmon: Three.

Tim Wildmon: We had three.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Three girls.

Tim Wildmon: Three girls.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, so. Okay, so, Tim, following.

Tim Wildmon: People are getting bored with this.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Following a legend, we would say. No doubt. Don Wildmon is a legend. Don Wildmon was a preacher. I mean, you're the first to say, hey, God didn't call me to preach. but God called your dad and then God called him to preach to more people than just a congregation as he started American Family Radio. And you shared that last night. But, Okay, you were at afa or it wasn't called AFA at that time.

Tim Wildmon: Well, people, who are listening to us right now, what we're talking about, if you don't, if you're new, we're talking about my dad, Don Wildmon, who founded the radio network that you're listening to.

Caroline: Right.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. My name is Tim. I'm talking about new folks and I'm his son, his oldest son. He has three.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: The best looking one.

Tim Wildmon: Well, I get that a lot that I don't. If I say yes, it sounds like I'm arrogant, you know, so I don't want to, but I'm not saying anyway. That's sounds like you're right. That's up for people to decide for themselves. But. Yeah, so dad, my dad, Don Wildmuth, founded the ministry in 1977. It was called the National Federation for Decency originally. Now American Family Radio came along and they the. In 91. Okay, so. But the, the National Federation for Decency became the American Family Association. American Family association birthed the American Family Radio network, which put 180 radio stations up all over the country, one of which is right here. Texarkana. So that all happened in the 90s from 91 to, whatever that. The American Family Radio Network just, we just exploded on the scene across America. At one time we were the largest, fastest growing radio network, period, Secular Christian, whatever. all during the 90s we were growing that fast. So my dad was. Yeah, my dad was a Methodist. that was his background, but he was a Bible believing Methodist. Right, okay. in the tradition of the circuit writers. But I say the people who, you know, Jon Wesley, Charles Wesley and Francis Asbury and all those guys who spread The Gospel Across America on horseback back in the 1800s. So, but m. Yeah, my dad, God gave him, basically a, mission. Called him out of the pulpit in the late 70s, mid-70s, 76, 77. And said, God, God said, don, I got something for you to do. Don being the name of my dad. I got something for you to do. And. And so dad left the pulpit ministry and, started an organization. It was basically in response to the decline of moral values in our country that he had seen and many people in his generation had seen. We need to take a break. You tell me. We need to take a break. Okay. So, usually we hear the music. We'll hear the music, yes. So dad said, you have done this before? I've done this, yeah. A little bit of experience at it. Yeah. So dad said, yes, Lord, as, Joshua said, right? Yes. Send me. Use me.

 : Yeah. Isaiah.

Tim Wildmon: Isaiah. Excuse me. Well, a lot of Bible characters say, yes, Lord, I'll do it. And then some said, no.

Tim Wildmon: Right?

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Moses didn't want to go.

Tim Wildmon: Moses didn't know. Send Eryn.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Here I am, Lord.

 : Send somebody else.

Tim Wildmon: Send Eryn. He'll take care of it. He'll be a good one. I'll just mind the store. So anyway, So dad said yes, and to the Lord's call, upon his life. And it changed everything. Changed everything. And people may remember some names. I know some old timers listening to me remember some names that God called up at the very same time, for a similar reason. Phyllis Schlafly, Beverly and Tim LaHay. James Dobson, who recently passed.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right. You know, he's from Shreveport.

Tim Wildmon: Is he really? James Dobson? Okay. I didn't realize that. From Shreveport and then. But he spent much of his, childhood in Kansas, right?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I think he did, but I think I met him a couple of times. And I remember the first time I was at nrb, and I told him how much he appreciated focus, on the family. And he asked me where I was from, and he goes, you know, I grew up, some of my childhood in Shreveport.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, I didn't know that.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Some other D. James Kennedy.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Adrian Rogers, Larry Burkett, Marlon Maddox, Jerry Falwell. remember these names?

Tim Wildmon: Yes.

Tim Wildmon: Well, that was what became the religious rite. That's what the liberal media called them, the pejorative, the religious right. But that became a very influential and powerful force for good in America. And my dad was a part of that. Don Wildmon was a part of that. But anyway, yeah, we'll take a break right here.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: The Culture Warrior. That's the name of the movie about, Don Wildmon. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas, and the founder of From His Heart Ministries. From His Heart is heard every weeknight at 6pm Central Time right here.

Tim Wildmon: Slightly better than average, Pastor.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Slightly better than average. We're with President Tim Wildmon. We'll be right back.

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 : This is Real Truth for today. Podcasts of the program are available on the podcast page. Now back to Pastor Jeff Schrieve.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program, Pastor Jeff, here with, Tim Wildmon, the president of American Family Association, American Family Radio. We're talking about, what it's like to follow a legend, you know, Tim, we have this in churches all the time where, if a pastor has been there for a long time, been very successful, who wants to follow him. It's very, very difficult. It's kind of like, you know, if you put it in football terms, I know you like.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Who wanted to follow Nick Saban?

Tim Wildmon: I know. Sign me up for that. now, now when you get paid millions of dollars, it, you know, it helps. I could take a little heat for 10 million a year, you know what I'm saying? But I understand what you're saying.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, I mean, it seems like there's nowhere to go but down.

Tim Wildmon: Right, Right. well, that's true. And the coach at Alabama is finding that out right now.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I mean, there's one Nick Saban. Now, Moses is, is one of the biggest names in the Old Testament. I think, I don't know where you stand on your eschatology, Tim, but I think Moses is going to be one of the two witnesses in Revelation chapter 11 who comes back and performs the miracles that he performed during his ministry as the leader of the children of Israel.

Tim Wildmon: I'm not going to debate you on that one. If you want to go with Moses on that one, I'm with you, brother.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: But you talk about shoes to fill.

Tim Wildmon: Oh yeah, those are huge. Oh yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, my dad was ah, quote legend. And he wouldn't say that about himself, but I mean, yeah, he talked about, yeah, he was, he was a well known leader in the Christian community for in the 70s, 80s, 90s. So. Yeah. So. And he built an amazing ministry with obviously being the under shepherd to God. Being the shepherd of the ministry. He would say that, but. But he had an uncanny ability to, to have an idea and then be able to execute it. You know, a lot of people can have ideas, but they can't execute it. People can execute, they can do the work. They're worker base, but they don't have any vision, they don't have any ideas. Nothing wrong with either one of those roles.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Tim Wildmon: But it's rare that you have a person that could do both of those. And I think that was God's anointing on my dad to be able to build something that is sustained even today. Next year we say we, we celebrate our 50th anniversary as a ministry. So that tells you some 50 years as a parachurch organization.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's a lot.

Tim Wildmon: There are very few organizations that last that long. And to be, be reaching out across America and impacting lives through the American Family Radio Network and our other ministries that we have going on there.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: And to do so, you know, as you said earlier, my dad was, you know, just a common person. Okay. I mean he was highly intelligent.

Tim Wildmon: Yes.

Tim Wildmon: But he was a common person and related to common people.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Tim Wildmon: And had a very distinctive, accent. You and I were talking about that because he met my dad would go on national television and. Or he would do debates or he would do interviews and the people interviewing him would think, hey, we're gonna, we're about to make this man.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: he. Listen to him. He's a country bumpkin.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right. We're gonna, we're gonna, we got Jethro Bodine.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Yeah. So we're gonna, we're gonna just crucify this guy. And they would quickly learn, wait a minute, this guy is in his first rodeo. No, he can. He may have a funny accent, but he can. Yeah, he can argue back and he can win debates, and he can, talk about things that,

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he was, you know, Bert. Harper and I talked about this during, Founders Day. he was a little bit like Jerry, Falwell. you know, Falwell was really good when he was getting hammered with questions and things like that. It was hard to catch him. he could always turn it around. He didn't do it in a mean way. but your dad was like that. And so people.

Tim Wildmon: You know, one time my dad did a debate with Phil Donahue.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Now, for those who don't know, maybe if you're under. I don't know if you're under 50.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: He was the Oprah of his day.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. If you're under 50 or 55, maybe that name doesn't mean anything to you, but he was. Phil Donahue had the number one daytime television show in America.

Caroline: Yes.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. All through the 70s and 80s, probably. I mean, he was.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: He was it.

Tim Wildmon: But. Yeah. Bill Donahue. I think he's still alive.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: He married that girl.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Marlo Thomas.

Tim Wildmon: Yes.

Tim Wildmon: But anyway, my dad did a, one on one with him, at a. Somewhere. they were out in, I think Utah or Nevada somewhere. Anyway, it was a Coliseum full of Phil Donahue fans.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. He was kind of a rabid dog.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. And it's just my dad in the middle of the Coliseum in a chair with a glass of water, and dad had to ask for the glass of water. But dad had been critical of some of the content that, ah, Phil Donahue was promoting, you know, at the time. And Donahue said, why don't you come on? So he came on the show. So my dad was on national television like, millions.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: How old is he at this time?

Tim Wildmon: My dad would have been in his middle, probably late 40s. Okay. Something like that. been in the 80s. It was in the early 80s, so I don't know. Yeah, something like that. He'd been. Anyway, I just, you know, and I'm. I'm at the, community college where I was going to school there and watching my dad on national television. And, my friends are going, hey, that. That's your dad's home with Phil Donahue.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: How nervous would he have been to do that?

Tim Wildmon: Well, I think he's human, you know, he would have been, He would have been nervous.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he knew that.

Tim Wildmon: He went.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: He knew what he was going to.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, they were going to Try and rip him.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I'm just saying that, my. You mentioned, M M. But that's part of what God called you for was, you know what the Bible teaches that if you go where God tells you to go, maybe it was Moses, then he will give you the words to say.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Tim Wildmon: So, that's what. Anyway, that was, My dad, was, did a lot of those kind of things back in the time.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. So how would you feel if, if there were a similar show today and they wanted Tim Wildmon to come?

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Me. One on one.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.

Tim Wildmon: With.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: With, Joe Scarborough or Piers Morgan.

Tim Wildmon: I don't know. I might be down in my back. I may not be able to do that. I don't know. That would have to come before me. And I have to know what I

Pastor Jeff Schreve: was being asked to do, when I wrote the book runaway emotions in 2013, we got an invitation from Joe Scarborough to come on Morning Joe.

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And, it was like on a Wednesday, and you had to be there on Friday.

Tim Wildmon: And NewSong York, you have to go to NewSong York. NewSong York.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. And so it's just like, how am I going to do this? You know, I'm in Texarkana. It's not like I'm in Dallas.

Tim Wildmon: Right.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: So I'd passed on it, but, Larry Nobles, who was my executive director at that time for From His Heart, he said, okay, now, if you do something like that, they're not going to talk to you about the book. They're going to talk to you about homosexuality or.

Tim Wildmon: Right, right. Kind of draw you into a controversy that's separate from the book.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right. And try and make you look like an idiot. And so, I was naive in 2013. I was like, I don't think Morning Joe would do that.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: So I was kind of.

Tim Wildmon: Did you go to NewSong York?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: No, I didn't do it.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, you didn't do it.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I couldn't pull it off that quickly.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. Who was telling you that they were trying to trick you?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Larry Nobles, who's, the voice of our radio program.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, Larry.

 : Okay.

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.

Tim Wildmon: Trying to trick you. So you decided not to go.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: No. You know, and Tim, that really brings up a point. So you follow your dad, and your gifts and talents are way different from his.

Tim Wildmon: Are they?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Oh, I mean, he's, you know, his ability to, be in the lion's den, so to speak, and be by himself and all that, that's probably not your place. You'd like to shine?

Tim Wildmon: No. Well, you know, being the founder. He was the founder, Right. He saw everything built from the ground up. So he saw when the first employee was hired.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Tim Wildmon: I mean, my dad used to work out of his. Out of our home.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. I'm in an office in a bedroom. Okay. With a phone, a desk. And then he put the, What do you call the mimeograph machine in the. In the. Like in the car park? Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Is that what you're cranking?

Tim Wildmon: You're cranking it. You're printing your newsletters.

 : Right.

Tim Wildmon: Physically with a printer.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And he's. Well, the other thing that would have been a huge challenge for him because he didn't have any name recognition. Starting out.

Tim Wildmon: Right.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Raising money.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Oh, yeah, you got to raise money and you got to. In order to do that, he had to travel a lot. I remember traveling with him in a car. We just could get a. Get in the car. And he'd go speak at churches, like almost anywhere back all through the late 70s, early 80s. And I remember we drove one time to, from South Haven, which is near Memphis, to Atlanta, like in a car, just he and I. And he drove all the way over there and he had a couple of churches to go speak at. He would take almost any invitation, his own car. Okay. And we traveled over there. And, it was the first time I was a Methodist. He was a Methodist. First time I'd ever been in a Pentecostal church.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, wow.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. That'll open your eyes. You're a little Methodist boy doing, doing responsive, readings and, singing the hymns. And then you get in there and. And dad was asked to come preach at this Pentecostal church. And, you know, they got the tambourines going on.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: The drums and everything like that. And it's like, whoa, what are we? But the point of it was, I wrote an article on this. Point of it was that these, Pentecostal believers were identifying with the message dad was preaching, right. And saying that is, we were getting away from what made America great, and that is our Judeo Christian foundation and the moral values that, really all of America accepted. Christian, or non Christian. The moral value system that, up until probably the 60s and certainly in the 70s, the moral value system that supported our country, that everybody agreed on, became under siege by the secular, humanists and the leftists and those God hate, I call them God haters. And they, just began to be relentless in their attacks on Jesus and on God and the Bible and moral Values. And so that's the reason that God raised up somebody like my dad and others that I mentioned earlier, to give Christians a voice in response, to that.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: So, anyway, Well, I would imagine your dad, because of the way he came across, not, poking everybody in the eye, but he was, he was speaking the truth without watering it down.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: You would have had people on the left that would really hate him.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, Satan hates God. Right, right. And so, the messenger of the Lord is going to be under attack, too. you see that all through the Bible. All through the Bible.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I mean, now do you get that personally, like he did?

Tim Wildmon: not as much. At least I don't feel it as quite as much. because I have a very supportive team around me. I tell people I could not have done what my dad did. Some people are called to plant. What does the Bible say? Plant, water and harvest.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. I couldn't have planted. Okay. I can water some and harvest because I've got a great team around me. and, so. But now, early on, you know, raising money was a big deal, as you mentioned, because you got to have money to print newsletters, to travel, to, to grow. so all those things were. I remember a couple of times dad got one, time he got a check in the mail. this is before he had an office or anything. He got a check in the mail. Somebody read about him in the newspaper and sent him a check for the exact amount, like $2,000. And then late 70s. That's a pretty good check. Yeah. for like two, $3,000. Anyways, just enough for what he needed to pay the printer. And then, another time he got another year later, he got a call at home. This is back when his number was just in the phone book. You know what I'm saying? You know what a phone book is? You're 63, 64 people. Do you realize people under what they've

Pastor Jeff Schreve: never seen a phone book?

Tim Wildmon: They don't even know what we're talking about. Phone book. What is that?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Remember Steve Martin? He was all excited when the new phone books were here.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, the phone book. Yeah, phone book.

Tim Wildmon: So.

Tim Wildmon: But somebody called him at home, and, he was out mowing the grass and said, my mom answered, said, can I speak to Reverend Wildmon? M. Yes. So mom went and got him. Dad, quit mowing the grass. Get on the phone. Said, you know, why aren't you at this fellow? Said, why aren't you at this Meeting that, you know, dad said, well, I didn't have the money to come to a meeting of religious leaders with political leaders. And dad said, oh, I didn't have the money. So, you know. So he said, well, I'm going to send you a check. And he sent him a check. And I think it was the founder of, You remember Fred's, the, the, like, dollar generals back in the day. I don't know if they were. I think they're regional. But, But anyway, so it was the right amount. The exact amount that he needed at the time.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: So what I'm saying is you meant that God confirmed, to him that he was going to take care of him and provided. And provided for him.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: What would you say, Tim, when the baton got passed, now you're president, what would you say are your greatest strengths? Your dad had certain strengths.

Tim Wildmon: Besides my looks?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Besides your looks. So your dad's strengths are different from your strengths. What would you say your greatest strengths are?

Tim Wildmon: Well,

Tim Wildmon: how do you say that without sounding like you're.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, I'm Preaching Sunday numbers 12, where Moses wrote. Now, Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth, okay?

Tim Wildmon: So I say this with all humility.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: With all humility.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I have some pretty good ideas. Yeah, I'm kind of an idea guy. On how to operate and what's best for the ministry and how to.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I think, obviously, you're very, very funny. Your dad. Your dad was funny, but not in the way that you are.

Tim Wildmon: More private way.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. And you're, I think you're a good judge of talent.

Tim Wildmon: That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I agree with you.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. You, I think you see.

Tim Wildmon: You see, that right there sounds like I'm,

Pastor Jeff Schreve: No, no, not really. I think you see, for the ministry of American Family Radio, American Family Association. What do we need? What will help us grow?

Tim Wildmon: I also have a good team around me, like you do here at the church, you know. Ah, that helps.

Tim Wildmon: That helps a lot because you get different. You can observe and have different feedback, so forth.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, but you're picking the team members.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, that's true. That's true. So, anyway, now.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay, let me ask you this. And that's about me as a leader.

Tim Wildmon: You want more about me.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: How. How do you deal with. And we just have a minute before break. But how do you deal when somebody's not cutting the mustard?

Tim Wildmon: M. You tell them they better cut the mustard or they're gonna be cut from the team. See what I did there. It was a mixed metaphor. See what I did there?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I see it. I see it. Yes.

Tim Wildmon: hopefully we don't have that much. Not very often. The way you avoid having to fire people is don't hire bad people.

Tim Wildmon: Right.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. You know this. As an executive here at the ministry,

Pastor Jeff Schreve: the phrase is so true. Be slow to hire.

Tim Wildmon: That's right.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And quick to fire.

Tim Wildmon: That's right.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Because if somebody's not working, one bad apple can spoil a whole bunch, as the saying goes. We're talking to President, Tim Wildmon, talking about following a legend and how he followed his dad and has done such a great job of American Family Association, American Family Radio. When we come back, we'll open the phone lines. 888-589-8840. That's 888. 588. 98840. If you have a question or comment for Tim, we would love to hear from you. So give us a call and let's talk.

 : If you'd like to contact Pastor Jeff, email pastor jeffromhishheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff here talking to Tim Wildmon, the president of American Family Association, American Family Radio. Tim was, our guest last night at our midweek service at First Baptist Texarkana. Had a big crowd. It was standing room only, Tim. They came from everywhere. I remember when you gave the invitation, you said, your buses will wait for you.

Tim Wildmon: I got that from somebody else.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. But, no, it was a great time. And, I like the way you gave a little history of, how God has blessed the ministry, and used it to get people going grassroots to get involved, as you said last night. Hey, if we're not getting involved in what's going on politically in our country,

Tim Wildmon: how are we going to lose our country?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. And how are we being salt and light?

Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Oh, that's what, Matthew chapter five, right there. I use those verses, right, where Jesus talks about, standing for righteousness and also and will be persecuted for it. Right. And he also talks about. Related to that being salt and light, as you mentioned, for Christians. So if Jesus is going to tell us we're salt and light, we must be salt and light, then that's. We're gonna have to get. We're gonna have to. That means you gotta engage. You gotta engage. You can't hide away, right? No. You can't try to just be, you know, like a monk hiding in a monastery right now. You got to be out there impacting the world, in our own day to day lives and then sometimes on a, on a broader scale, you know, like my dad did.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, I remember Adrian Rogers said, you know, you don't put salt in one barrel and fish in the other. The salt has to be in there to make a difference, otherwise it's not doing anything. well, we're going to the phone lines, 888-589-8840. If you have a question or comment for Tim, we'd, love to hear from you. And we have Andrew on the line from Louisiana. Andrew, welcome to Real Truth for today.

Caroline: Good morning, brothers. How y' all doing this morning?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Doing well.

Tim Wildmon: Good morning.

Caroline: Brother Tim, good to talk to you. And brother Jeff, good to talk, to you as well. I've been listening to AFR since, oh, back in 97, 98 or 99, somewhere around in there. And I'm gonna be honest with you, I didn't start really giving in to listening real hard until about six, seven years ago. Since then, y' all have been what keeps me motivated through the day and helps me with, just keeping my mind on focus with the Lord. And I want to tell you, brother Tim, your father was something else. I, I did get a chance to hear him a couple of times on the radio, but not very many times. So, I just want to include that, we just finished up last night with our 20 year celebration in Ragley, Louisiana of open doors founding and what a celebration it was. We had Bill Britt the great, I'm telling you, a great evangelist. And we had Sonny Simpson preaching and the Reverend Jerry Chattick, my ex master.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, I know Jerry. Yeah, he's at Moon.

Caroline: Yes, sir. I watched you last year. I watched it on YouTube when you was over there preaching for their revival.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. Yeah, I had a great time.

Caroline: It was great. Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good. Well, congratulations on 20 years, Andrew. And, and thanks for your, kind and encouraging comments about American Family Radio. And we thank God for all that he's done at afr.

Tim Wildmon: Amen. You can still hear my dad. We, have his commentaries daily Monday through Friday at 10:30. So, today's issues. It's in the middle of the first hour of Today's Issues. It's called My Turn.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, My Turn.

Tim Wildmon: And people love those commentaries. And dad recorded those, I don't know, a few years ago and I'm so glad we did because m his, his personality and his, he's J. Vernon McGee. Yeah, he just, he Just his, you know, his legacy lives on through those, commentaries. a lot of people don't realize. My dad, before he started American Family Association, American Family Radio, he wrote, inspirational books and this is late 60s, early 70s and he sold a half a million of those.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Wow, that's a lot.

Tim Wildmon: Basically on co signment, man. Do you know what that means?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Consignment?

Tim Wildmon: That means books in our garage

Tim Wildmon: with

Tim Wildmon: books in our little parsonage garage that he would, send out to, bookstores all over America and they would send him checks as they sold them. Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Oh, wow.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, he wrote the books and then he published them in Nashville. Self published them.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: I remember driving up to Nashville in a truck to get the books to bring them back to our house.

Tim Wildmon: Yes.

Tim Wildmon: Half a million of those he sold over probably a 10 year period. That's a lot that he wrote and

Pastor Jeff Schreve: published and well, as you know from writing books, I've written books. It's selling. If you can sell 5,000 books, that's pretty good. If you sell 500,000.

Tim Wildmon: Now, this was over a 10 year period, but they were gift books and most of them and they were the short and inspirational stories like the ones he does on my turn, I called him. that's kind of like the Paul Harvey, of the Christian community. He would tell these stories with these,

Pastor Jeff Schreve: the rest of the story, the rest

Tim Wildmon: of the story with these little hooks at the end. you go, well, that's pretty cool. I didn't know that.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: That's good, that's good. Well, thank you, Andrew. I appreciate you brother. Thanks for calling in. We have Jerry on the line from Texas. Jerry, welcome to Real Truth for today.

Tim Wildmon: Well, thank you brother Jeff. It's always a pleasure talking to you and appreciate what y' all doing. But I just want to let brother Tim know that I'm going to give a Caleb comment on the radio and I'll send any bad ones to his email.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, positive and encouraging. Only positive and encouraging emails. That's what we like, Caleb. That's what I call them. Caleb emails. That's what you. So Robert knows right there.

 : Jerry.

Tim Wildmon: Jerry knows what I'm talking about.

Tim Wildmon: Yes, sir. I do appreciate it. you haven't, the radio station, all the people that you do choose, as Jeff says and vet for your certain programs have been a blessing to me and my family. It has helped me to disciple them as we go forth in the culture that we do.

Tim Wildmon: Amen.

Tim Wildmon: And I appreciate all of it from the morning shows to, you know, Alex McFarland at 3 o' clock for the Bible stuff.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: All the commentary. I do enjoy a little learning College

Tim Wildmon: Friday, learning University tomorrow. I got to get back home for that. Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: but I just want to let y' all know I appreciate it, Brother Jeff. Y' all just keep doing what you're doing. And, the Lord bless y'.

Caroline: All.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Thank you so much, Jerry. God bless you.

 : Thank you, Jerry.

Tim Wildmon: Brother Jerry, I had somebody come up to me last night after our service here at Texarkana and say very. He. He was, about had tears in his eyes. He was saying how, yeah, he went through real trouble time in his life years ago. And he said, I just some reason God brought me across American Family Radio. And I began to listen and began to be encouraged in my faith.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: And in my faith walk. And I just as he was saying, brother, who was it?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Jerry.

Tim Wildmon: Jerry was saying, you know, we do take seriously, you know, very seriously, what God has entrusted us with. American Family Radios lineup.

Tim Wildmon: Right.

Tim Wildmon: Okay. From. From early morning to late evening.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.

Tim Wildmon: We want people that are hosting our shows, like you, Brother Jeff, who are going to exalt the word of God, stand for truth. Your name of your show says real truth for today. and be a blessing to people, so. And encourage them in their faith walk. So that's what you know. Yes. We are telling people what's going on in our country and in our world because if we don't, we're being derelict, because we can't be salt and light if we're ostriches with our heads in the sand. Right, right. But at the same time, on a personal level, we want, people like. What your Bible teaching does each day on American Family Radio is encourage people with the truth of God's word, because we need that desperately today. There's so much. Even in our churches, there's so much attack on truth. Relativism is very popular today. Moral relativism, spiritual relativism. So, we have to encourage people because it's not easy being, a devout Christian in the world today.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right. Well, I had mentioned yesterday there's a clip from Jon MacArthur that is circulated for a good while now where he basically says, hey, gang, in this life we lose. He said, we don't win until the Lord comes back. He said Jesus was crucified. All the disciples, minus Judas and minus Jon were killed for their faith. We have martyrs all throughout the, history of the church. He said, you stand up for truth and the world Is not going to applaud you for that. Going to want to break your neck and shut you up. And so, that's what Jesus said

Tim Wildmon: too, in Matthew, chapter five. We were talking about that earlier. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of, heaven.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: So all the prophets had trouble. They took Isaiah, put him in a hollow log and cut him in half.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I don't want that. I didn't need that visual, Jeff, this morning. Thank you for that.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I would choose that one, but, that happens. And, so we have to be willing, you know, as Jesus said, Revelation 2. Ten, be faithful until death, and I'll give you the crown of life.

Tim Wildmon: Amen.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And so as when I was on your program a couple weeks ago, I had mentioned about Adrian Rogers and says, a man is not ready to live until he's ready to die. And so when we know where we're going, we know what God's called us to do. I mean, your dad would have willingly given up his life for the truth. Yeah, he's not going to back off that. so that, that goes on to his children and his, grandchildren. And so we praise the Lord for that. Well, we have, Let's see here. We have Ron on the line from Michigan. Ron, welcome to Real Truth for today.

Tim Wildmon: Well, thank you, Pastor Jeff, and good morning to brother Tim as well.

Tim Wildmon: Good morning, brother. It's Ron.

Tim Wildmon: Just to pick up where you both left off. Yeah, in. In today's culture, I certainly agree. And it was Jesus that said, in this world, you're going to have trouble. He guaranteed it. But he said, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world.

Tim Wildmon: Amen.

Tim Wildmon: And then he also said, I believe it was in Jon that remember, guys, he hate her. They hated me before. They hate you, they're going to hate you. But, they hated me first. So, but I wanted to share that I very much appreciate afr. I'm so grateful for it. I am a big fan and listen frequently. Not every day, unfortunately, but to today's issues and in fact can stream it. So, but I wanted to give a shout out if I could, and forgive me, I'm standing outside. If you hear the traffic in the background. Okay, a shout out that to brother Ray Pritchard, who is coming close to the end. I think he said to his whirlwind tour. he's on today's issues, but we have been fortunate to have had him in Muskegon, Michigan. I think today is his last day. he's been at the Maranatha Bible Conference grounds. And, so I've had a chance to listen to him. Yep. And, have very much appreciated his sharing the word. He's been in, or he was, anyway, on Sunday, I think it was, or maybe Monday, I'm not sure. Philippians 2, that every needy is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess. So that here, again, just saying the culture is around us is right. Is desperately in need of the truth. But, whether it be Vladimir Putin or Gigi Peng or Kim Jong Un or whoever it might be, there's going to come a time when the victory is going to be ours. Every knee is going to bow and every tongue confess. so then, real quickly, appreciative of Brother Ray out there, but then with Tim here again, I get a chance to stream or watch today's issues often. And you, Jeff, earlier in the program had talked about his qualities. What are his qualities? And I remember Tim saying about his good looks. Is that what you're talking about? you can't see me smiling over here. I'm going to say, of Tim's many qualities, modesty is probably his best.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Tim was. Tim doesn't want to tell you this, but, he was second runner up most handsome, when he was in ninth grade. But he was homeschooled.

Tim Wildmon: Oh, that hurts. Right, Ron? So you listening to Muskegon? Yeah. And, of course, I've been to your area several times. and grand, Rapids and then Fremont. That area.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Beautiful, part of the country.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: And so tell Ray we said, how you gonna see Ray anymore? Ray Pritchard?

Tim Wildmon: I don't know if we'll see it.

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Tim Wildmon: Tonight is his last night, Tim, if I'm not mistaken. So.

Tim Wildmon: Not on earth.

Tim Wildmon: But my wife Krish and I have,

Tim Wildmon: Okay.

Tim Wildmon: we have certainly enjoyed his Sunday and, Monday.

Tim Wildmon: No. Right. Ray Pritchard is a dear brother. He's, he's on with us on today's issues, most Tuesdays and Thursdays. And he is a very gifted Bible teacher and has Keep Believing Ministries. And, we love hearing Marlene, his wife. And, yeah, he travels the country. You said he's at the, Maranatha Bible Camp. Is that where he is?

Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah, I think it's Marinette. Maranatha Bible Conference.

Tim Wildmon: Conference. Anyway. All right. What is it, Ron?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: All right, Brother Ron. Thank you, man. Appreciate you calling. You take care. Tell Ray we say hello if you seem tonight.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: All right, Ron? Well, well, you hear the music? I'm sorry. Tim in North Carolina ran out of time. Linda in Texas, we ran out of time.

Tim Wildmon: I'm sure they were going to be complimentary.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Tim in, North Carolina was asking about your golf game.

Tim Wildmon: My golf game?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Low 80s.

Tim Wildmon: Well, on my home course. Yeah. And I play. I, play, you know, the upties. I play fair. You know, if I don't find my ball, I don't kick it out in the fairway when somebody's not looking.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay.

Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. That's a real score, then.

Tim Wildmon: yeah, I don't like to play out of the sand.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: No, that's.

Tim Wildmon: That's a. A sermon.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.

Tim Wildmon: Don't play out of the sand.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: I like the sand.

Tim Wildmon: You like the sand?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. I've gotten. Gotten better at it.

Tim Wildmon: For those who golf, they know what we're talking about, right?

Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, that's right. Well, Tim, thanks for being my guest.

Tim Wildmon: Absolutely.

Pastor Jeff Schreve: And thanks for listening to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Sri. We'll be with you again tomorrow. God bless.