Beeson Podcast, Episode #625 Pastor Bryant Wright Oct. 25, 2022 >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I’m your host, Doug Sweeney, here with my co-host, Kristen Padilla. And this is Go Global Missions Emphasis Week here at Beeson. One of our favorite weeks of the year. The Global Center of Beeson Divinity School seeks to build awareness of the global cause of Christ, send Beeson students as missionaries to every part of the world, and invite Christian leaders from all over the world to inform the work we do here in Birmingham. Our Go Global Missions Emphasis Week is a campus wide focus on the spread of the gospel around the world. Today’s guest on the podcast is here for Go Global, and Kristen will tell you about him in just a moment. First, let me invite you back to campus on November 1-3 for our annual Reformation Heritage Lectures. Dr. Ian McFarland of Emory University will deliver this year’s lectures. His theme is Not By Bread Alone: Justification And The Christian Hope. The lectures will take place every day at 11:00 AM. They are free. We would love for you to attend. And you can find out more on our website: www.beesondivinity.com/events. All right, Kristen, let’s dive into today’s conversation. Who do we have with us on the show? >>Kristen Padilla: We have the Reverend Dr. Bryant Wright. Dr. Wright is President of Send Relief, a compassion-based ministry that seeks to meet not only physical but also spiritual needs of people all around the world. In addition, he is the Founder and Chairman of Wright From The Heart Ministries, a media ministry that he began in 1992. And he’s also the retired founding pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in 2019, where had pastored for 38 years. And we were just talking, he has a son who is a pastor at a church here in Birmingham. So, we’re so glad to have you at Beeson and in Birmingham. Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. >>Dr. Wright: Glad to be with you both today. >>Kristen Padilla: Since this is your first time on the show, I would love it if you could introduce yourself a little bit more fully to our listeners. Give us a little bit of your story, where you’re from, and how you came to faith in Jesus Christ. >>Dr. Wright: Well, I do thank you for adding those titles to my name, The Reverend Doctor; I kind of feel like an Anglican Rector being interviewed here. But I’m simply a Baptist pastor that is retired and now [inaudible 00:02:55] but thank you for those titles. I grew up in a Baptist Church in Atlanta and had great Christian parents. But for some reason, even though I would have said I was a Christian it didn’t really sink in with me until I went to a Young Life ranch in Colorado, Frontier Ranch, and there on a night the gospel was presented to a group of teenagers the Lord really convicted me that I really had a faith that was about using God, calling on God before a big test or a big ball game I wanted to play good in or a big date where I wanted the girl to like me. But it was not about following Jesus. Because of God’s love for me and what he had done on the cross, that’s where I really came to understand what it meant to be a Christian and really have a personal relationship with Christ. And I really began to grow in my relationship with the Lord. I wound up leading as a volunteer a Young Life Club in college at the years of University of South Carolina. And that was a good experience. It was really my first experience in preaching. But I would have never called it preaching. I would give those talks about Jesus, is how I would tell friends. The label of preaching was a little much for me at that stage of life. And my dad is a wonderful Christian businessman. I wanted to follow his example. So, I went into business a few years after college. And yet the Lord was really tugging on my heart about vocational ministry. I didn’t know what it would be exactly. Whether it would be pastoring or being a Young Life Leader, AFCA Leader, or Student Pastor. I didn’t really know. But going to Southern Seminary, which was the most miserable experience of my life, about halfway through I really began to sense that God was calling me to pastor. And saying that about Southern ... I know Dr. [inaudible 00:04:38] cringes, I say it so much. I’m so thankful for what he’s done for that seminary and leading the seminary to a stronger evangelical biblical perspective. But in those days it was a very different place, and very hard if you had a bible believing Christian faith. But, thankfully, got through it. I went to a staff position of Second Baptist Houston to start a single’s ministry. And then two and a half years later led to Atlanta to plant this new church. Church planting was not really cool then. We even called it Johnson Ferry Baptist Mission. It wasn’t called a plant. That’s a new term today. But was able to stay 38 years and grow with the church. And then retired for three months. And was called into this role. Paul Chitwood the President of the IMB reached out to me about this. And then he and Kevin Ezell, the president of North American Mission Board, began to talk about having a unique joint ministry together in Compassion Ministries. And they asked me to be the first leader of it. So, I’m really enjoying this new role. And hoped ... I really didn’t want to retire. I knew I was supposed to hand off Johnson Ferry to a younger pastor. I was very clear in God’s leading on that. But I hoped to continue in ministry. So, I’m very thankful to have a ministry now that is also very mission based in being a global, compassion ministry. That may be a little more than you wanted to know. But that’s a quick run-through. I have a wonderful wife of 48 years. And three sons. You mentioned one who is a pastor here in Birmingham at Shades Mountain. And then two other sons. They’re all married. We have seven grandchildren. Oldest granddaughter just started Auburn this year. So, that tells you ... I have a few years on me. >>Doug Sweeney: Well, Pastor Wright, we want to get around to telling our listeners all about Send Relief in just a moment. But probably the people who know you and know your name and know your ministry know you as the Founding Pastor of the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. So, we want to begin by asking you a little bit about that. It’s very impressive to somebody like me that you not only founded the church, but you led it for 38 years. Of course it grew to be an amazingly fruitful congregation. Can you tell us the story of the founding of that church and the 38 years you spent there? >>Dr. Wright: Well, my wife, Anne, says that Bryant pastored ten different churches but they were all called Johnson Ferry. And what we mean by that is you have to continually grow, adjust, hand-off ... even a lot of ministry areas that you really love. I love student ministry. Obviously, Young Life background and coming to Christ through Young Life and yet as the church grows, you have to be willing to hand that off to other people and focus on what I really feel are two main areas. Especially as the church grows larger. And that is the preaching of the Word. And in that, preaching/teaching are almost interchangeable, although preaching always calls for a faith decision and that makes a distinctive there. But also leadership. And you kind of move from being a shepherd to a rancher. And I know that’s not a biblical analogy, but you are then leading other ministers. And what happens in a mega church ... we didn’t start out as a mega church, we were in a doctor’s office with a few families where we worshipped and I had a standalone office and would come in on Monday morning and wonder what I was supposed to do. I had nobody to work with or anything like that. But what happens in a larger church, you become specialists. And the good side of that is it allows ministers, staff people, to really specialize – just like people are going to come to Birmingham because they’re coming from all around Alabama, they’re coming for specialists here. And so it allows you to do that and use your giftedness in a wonderful way, a biblical way. But the downside for some people is you don’t have the opportunity, necessarily, to have a personal relationship with everybody in your congregation, nor do they have that personal relationship with you. So, along the way we just had a goal of having one minister for every 300 active members. It felt like that was about the number that beyond that it’s really hard for any minister to have a personal touch with folks. And yet from the pulpit you do have that relationship with the congregation. They know you better than you know a lot of them. But as long as you’re preaching the gospel, lifting up Jesus, God is blessing it ... we’ve got to leave it in his hands how large the church becomes. Because if we ever start saying “enough” we really become a religious country club, we’re no longer the Body of Christ. And God just chose to bless it and I’m thankful. I’m thankful. I know we didn’t deserve it, but I’m very thankful. >>Kristen Padilla: We’ve mentioned that you now work with Send Relief. So, for our listeners who have never heard of Send Relief ... I know I briefly mentioned its mission statement when I introduced you, but can you tell us more about this ministry and the services you all provide? >>Dr. Wright: Yes, very excited about this ministry. This is the first time that the International Mission Board and the North America Mission Board of our Southern Baptist Convention have ever had a joint ministry – first time ever. And that’s exotic. I was called to plant a single’s ministry right out of seminary, then called to plant a church, and now leading a brand new ministry. So, I guess that’s the calling God has for me in my life. But real quickly, I’ll tell you the story. My wife, Anne, and I were going to the beach. My successor was coming to view the call next Sunday. We were about to the beach house and she asked me, “What are you going to do?” And I said, “I don’t know.” She says, “Well, I know how much you like leadership, and I don’t want to be the whole focus of your leadership.” And we laughed about it. And yet understood the concern there. (laughs) And I said, “I don’t know what it’s going to be on, but I hope the Lord will allow me to do something missions.” And as I was carrying the suitcases into that beach rental, Paul Chitwood, the President of IMB called. They had what was called Baptist Global Response, which was their compassion arm, for international missions. And we began to talk about this. And he said, “I want the man that was retiring, that was leading it,” and he said, “I’d like to have a pastor to be out preaching in the churches and kind of be an ambassador carrying the banner for compassion ministries.” And we got to talking. Well, could this be a ministry that is joint with NAM and IMB? And he began to pray about it and within a couple of weeks had reached out to Kevin Ezell, the President of the North American Mission Board and within three months they had a joint agreement and asked me to be the first leader of it. So, very thankful. And we’re really basically a ministry that serves churches as churches seek to carry out Christ’s great commission through ministries of compassion. That’s really what our focus is. And because it’s all about the great commission, then we’re going to be all about the gospel because I keep reminding our staff, it’s easy to get wrapped up in humanitarian ministries and causes and neglect the gospel. You see very tangible things you’re doing to help hurting people. But if we help hurting people on the journey to Hell we’ve missed the greatest need. So, let’s don’t ever forget the gospel there. And that’s what makes it unique compared to a lot of humanitarian type ministries there. We have five focuses: strengthen the communities, which is really dealing with poverty issues, hunger relief, secondly, ministry to refugees, huge thing right now with Ukraine, thirdly, is caring for children and families, a lot of folks on foster care and helping churches grow in that area, fourth, is battling human trafficking, hideous sin that’s in our world today, and then fifth, is disaster relief. We’re sitting in a day as disaster relief teams from our state conventions within the Southern Baptist Convention have feeding stations around southwest Florida for the victims of Hurricane Ian. And we’re feeding about 170,000 meals a day down there right now; working with our disaster relief teams and doing that. So, that’s pretty exciting to help people when they’ve lost everything. But they offer the gospel as the opportunity arises, because usually people ask, “Why are you here? Who are you?” It gives you a perfect open door to share the love of Christ with them then. >>Doug Sweeney: That’s wonderful. And it sounds like Send Relief has a very egated, wide ranging set of ministries to people. >>Dr. Wright: It does. >>Doug Sweeney: It’s a big job. Some of our listeners know a lot about it. Some of our listeners don’t. So, I wonder if maybe we could dive in deeper just a little bit and sort of unpack some of the things that week in and week out your folks are doing. Can you tell us a little bit about ministry to refugees and maybe in this question along with refugees, ministry to the victims of human trafficking? We hear a lot about these sorts of things in the news. People, Christians, who are not involved in this kind of ministry probably wonder a little bit about what it’s like. Should they get involved? How can we be praying for this? So, what about refugees and victims of human trafficking? >>Dr. Wright: Okay, well, refugees have lost everything. And they are so displaced that they are open to help. And they are open to the gospel in a great way. Anne and I were first exposed to this by ministering to Syrian refugees during the Syrian civil war in those UN tents on the border of Lebanon and Jordan. And couldn’t believe how open the Muslims were to the gospel. They’re sick of the violence they’ve seen within Islam. And they are looking for something that can meet their needs. So, our church, Johnson Ferry, became heavily involved in refugee ministry. They are mainly with Syrian Refugees. But the refugee problem is huge in the world. Anywhere from 90-100 million displaced people, and by that a displaced person is considered a category, somebody like in the Ukraine that goes to another section of Ukraine to avoid danger. But a refugee leaves the nation and is totally displaced from their nation. So, they’re all displaced, but it’s kind of two different categories. 20-40 million refugees today. We don’t really know exactly how many, because they get lost. There really are no records a lot of times of that. But the displaced people is a larger group. And the way you minister to refugees is just to meet basic needs and build relationships. And so we are supporting the churches of eastern Europe and the Ukraine with all kinds of food, supplies, hygiene supplies, fuel supplies, it’s huge in transporting people, been a tremendous expense we’ve invested there. And they’re at a time where, say, the Ukraine refugees are mainly women and children. The husbands are staying to fight. So, the needs are huge. But the gratitude is great. When in a time of great loss in their life and displacement somebody is there to love them and to find out it’s the love of Jesus that motivates us is really a wonderful opportunity in fulfilling the great commission. It is, Doug, a very labor intensive ministry with battling human trafficking. Because these young girls that get rescued out of that, we’re small at Send Relief, we have a center in Las Vegas, we have two centers in Louisiana, one in Shreveport and on in New Orleans. Then in Bangkok Thailand and southern India, internationally. But it requires so much counseling, so much protection from the pimps that have kind of enslaved these young girls. And the emotional baggage they bring to it and also the lack of ... it’s amazing how many of these young girls want to go back to their pimp. I mean, it’s just ... it’s kind of like how do people that are hostages become almost allegiant to the hostage takers. It doesn’t even make any sense, but it’s just a weird psychology that starts to take place there. So, that’s small for us now. And it could always be small. Just because it requires so many people. For every one young girl there’s really two or three adults that are needed to ... that’s a lot of folks. And so it’s a challenging ministry. But much needed. >>Kristen Padilla: As someone who grew up Southern Baptist, my dad’s a Baptist pastor, I can attest to the heart of Baptists for reaching people with the gospel and reaching people in their communities. I didn’t mention this when I introduced you, but I know that you served as the president for a couple of years at the Southern Baptist Convention. So, I wonder for our listeners who are not Southern Baptist, if you can share about how this type of work is so important to Southern Baptists? The great commission, taking feet, if you will, into the communities and what it’s like to mobilize Southern Baptists to join you in this work, specifically through Send Relief? >>Dr. Wright: Yeah. Well, Southern Baptists have incredible strengths and also some very obvious weaknesses. Sometimes sadly we’re no more for our weaknesses, but if there’s one thing that has unified Southern Baptist Christians through the years it is global missions. That’s been a unifier. From the very beginning. It’s kind of a paradox. In our very beginning we were founded for the propagation of the gospel in Augusta, Georgia. But also in defense of slavery. I mean, think about those two things. It doesn’t even compute, but that just shows you kind of a dichotomy that’s there. So, sin in the camp, but still a gospel motivation. And yet I feel like the propagation of the gospel to every people group is our unifier. And that’s a very positive thing. And when you are sharing the gospel there’s an old saying, “A hungry man has no ears.” And when a person is about to starve to death, they’re not going to be interested in hearing about the gospel. They’re interested in how can they survive by getting some food? So, when you start engaging in the mission calling, you realize there are deep human needs that Jesus calls us to be. It’s how we treat Jesus. How we treat people in need is how we treat Jesus. That’s what he says in Matthew 25 in the parable of the judgment. So, it just is kind of a natural, if you will, coming out of our priority on global missions that we’ve always had. And to this day it is the unifier amidst all the controversial issues that are going on politically and different things like that within Southern Baptists. It’s still a unifier. I hope it will keep being that way. >>Doug Sweeney: Maybe one more aspect of Send Relief and then we can change subjects, Kristen. And your last comment was a good segue to this. You do a lot of work, I think, in meeting the needs of hungry people around the world, providing food for people who are in desperate need. Some of us who pay attention to what’s going on in the world have been learning in the last few days a big need in the horn of Africa, the Somalians are going through horrible times these days. And your organization is stepping in, in a lot of different parts of the world to feed people. Tell us just a little bit about it and how can we be praying in support of what you’re doing? >>Dr. Wright: Well, for one thing, people can be giving to the Global Hunger Fund in Send Relief. They can give to Send Relief and designate it for Global Hunger. They can designate it for Hunger Relief in a specific part of the world. 100% of those funds goes to that, because see all of us are paid by the International Mission Board of the North American Mission Board. All the operating costs is covered by the International Mission Board Operating, or North American Mission Board. So, 100% of gifts for Send Relief go to ministry, which is beautiful. There are not many humanitarian ministries that can make that claim. I think also the hunger issues are exacerbated because of the Ukrainian War, because the wheat harvest of Ukraine is huge. And Russia and Ukraine are both huge there. So, you’ve got a huge issue there on top of COVID. Where just the shortage of supplies and materials around the world, it is places like Somalia and Sudan that often suffer the most. Yemen is a very difficult area now. Just very difficult. So, all these other issues going on has really complicated that. So, we want to be a part of the solution in feeding those that need food. >>Kristen Padilla: It’s been a joy to have you here for our Go Global Missions Emphasis Week. You preached in chapel yesterday a sermon called The Most Important Work On Earth. And you gave a lecture this afternoon called Ministry To Those Who Have Lost Everything. Can you tell our listeners what you hoped or tried to communicate through your sermon and lecture? And of course if they want to listen to both they can find them on our YouTube Channel after this podcast episode. So, I wonder if you can give them a teaser as to what you shared? >>Dr. Wright: Do you know what the most important work on the face of the earth is? To our listeners here, do you know? And what would Jesus say that it is? You can read about it in Matthew 28:16-20 and I’d love for them to hear what was said about that. Because it really is the most important work on the face of the earth. Jesus is very clear in his teaching about his second coming. He’s not coming back until every people group has had a chance to respond to the gospel. I know there are a lot of experts here at Beeson and other places on eschatology and have it all figured out as to events that have to happen or don’t happen with Jesus coming. But he says in Matthew 24:14, “Until the gospel goes to every people group, the end will come.” So, I think it’s very clear. It’s got to happen. And the church has a responsibility there. But secondly, the people who have lost everything are refugees. And that’s something as we’ve talked about here that is just a tremendous need, but a tremendous opportunity for the gospel and for the church in these days. >>Doug Sweeney: Pastor Wright, I love stories, I love anecdotes, I love testimony time at church. And I bet a lot of our listeners do, too. And I think it helps when we talked about big global needs like this to put some faces on some of the challenges for people who are listening to us right now. And in your work, certainly you’re thinking about confidentiality a lot. There’s some stories you just can’t share with other people. But might there be one or two stories that would make this personal for listeners and maybe the Lord might use to prompt them to get involved? >>Dr. Wright: Yeah. There’s so many. I wish I had time to just share story after story that I’m hearing in my office that are so exciting. And some we can’t tell, because there are parts of the world we can’t even talk about the work we’re doing there, because ... and our modern telecommunication, there are groups like Taliban and different people like that, that just ... we don’t want to endanger the work that is going on there in those kind of regions. In South Asia, one of our IMB missionaries sent for a grant for Send Relief, just $5,000 for hunger relief. As they were trying to minister to a Muslim village that had been very resistant. And they had been teaching national Christians that they were discipling how to see their vocation as their ministry platform for the gospel. And this lady had a sewing shop, mostly Muslims from villages around coming there. She began to share her faith, led a Muslim woman to Christ. She led her husband to Christ. Soon, there were three Muslim couples that had come to Christ. And the village elders in the small village were upset. Then COVID came. And these people in this poor rural area were afraid there were literally going to starve to death. And so they sent for this $5,000 grant to Send Relief. We let them purchase ... always food there in that area because it helps those areas, rather than trying the long process of shipping things over there. And they had the national Christians deliver food bags that would feed a family for up to a month. And he showed me, this IMB missionary showed me this little iphone video of all those Muslim families giving a standing ovation to those national Christians as they were leaving the day after they had fed all those families. And what’s even more exciting is even more of those Muslim families have now come to Christ and there’s a small church there in that village. And what’s even more exciting is the missiologists in Richmond with IMB keep track of unreached people groups with no known Christians – none. About 3100 people groups with evidently no known Christian. And so this IMB missionary contacted Richmond about this Muslim people group and they were on that list of an unreached, unengaged people group, but they’re no longer on the list. So, that’s a very exciting story on a multitude of fronts. And so many things like that we’re hearing in a wonderful way. >>Kristen Padilla: Well, we always like to conclude our shows by hearing what the Lord has been doing in the lives of our guests or teaching our guests. So, I wonder if there’s anything that you wouldn’t mind sharing with us as a word of encouragement as to ways in which you’ve seen the Lord at work in your life recently? >>Dr. Wright: Here’s where God has guided and coached me I would say. The first year was COVID, so we were so limited in trips and things that we could do. Although there were still a lot of ministry projects that were going on, kind of behind the scenes. But with the problems of our world today, that first year and a half was simply ... we’re just a drop in the bucket, just a drop in the bucket. But the Lord has reoriented my thinking to realize, yes, in a sense that’s true. The needs are so great, you’re just a drop in the bucket. But for every life that’s touched by that drop and that life is changed and that life is transformed, it means something to that life. So, the Lord has had to reorient my thinking of just being so overwhelmed that are we really having an impact on the issues of poverty and hunger and all these kinds of things? Well, it’s small, when you look at the overwhelming needs, but for every life it sure makes a difference. So, that’s what the Lord has been teaching me. >>Doug Sweeney: Amen. That is a great word. Dear listeners, please pray and support Send Relief. They are doing marvelous work. You have been listening to Pastor Bryant Wright. I was about to say The Reverend Doctor, that’s what’s in my notes ... but Pastor Bryant Wright, he is the President of Send Relief. He is the Founding Pastor of the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church outside of Atlanta. He’s been here this week on our campus preaching and teaching to students. We are deeply grateful to him for his presence with us. Thank you, listeners, for tuning in. As always, we want to tell you we love you and we are praying for you. We ask you to pray for us. And we say goodbye for now. >>Kristen Padilla: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.