Catching Up

Well, the end of summer means lots of projects. August ended with the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency which continues to make headlines even after the political conventions. It seems that it still resonates with people as a better example of how to have political dialogue. If you have not heard it (or want to listen again) you can go to USAvoter.com to hear our broadcast. Our followup interview with Rick Warren the following Monday can be heard at www.aproundtable.org.

Also in August, we recorded a radio special for Far East Broadcasting Company with Gregg Harris (more about this later when it is released). What a great experience to meet and spend some time with Gregg, an excellent, young leader of a 60 year old organization that has a bright ministry future.

Okay, now it's September. After recording with the team at THE PUBLIC SQUARE last Tuesday, I headed to Nashville in order to attend the TOKENS SHOW-- a creative and unique live stage presentation at Lipscomb University. Jeff Taylor is the band leader and has been after me to come down for one of their shows. I loved taking it in and hearing Buddy Greene, Derek Webb (a young, old friend from Second Baptist in Houston) and Odessa Settles all sing that night. We're inviting Odessa to join us in our next session IN THE STUDIO with Michael Card.

Next week, I will be hosting and interviewing a pastor from Ethiopia who has experienced first-hand the hunger crisis as well as extreme persecution. David Hunt and Envoy Ministries is bringing this Ethiopian pastor and friend the States for us to have the chance to record some interviews.

The rest of September includes recording sessions for HEARTLIGHT RADIO and WALK IN THE WORD as well as a live broadcast movie premier in Los Angeles of FIREPROOF, which we are very excited about. On the last Friday of September, it's the annual MAKING A DIFFERENCE Banquet in Cleveland which goes hand in hand with THE PUBLIC SQUARE.

Then, a deep breath and October-- starting with the premier of BILLY: THE EARLY YEARS! I've posted a 4-part interview about the movie which ran on Moody Radio's PRIME TIME AMERICA this week-- it's on the front page of my website, www.wayneshepherd.net.

Thanks for your prayers.

Behind the Scenes at Saddleback

Our live broadcast of the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency took place Saturday night in Southern California. Dave Zanotti of THE PUBLIC SQUARE joined me as co-anchor and Joe Carlson produced the radio broadcast, assisted by Jim Sanders and Chad Bishop of Ambassador Advertising. Our Executive Producer was Joe Battaglia. We'd also like to thank Rick Warren and his tremendous staff at Saddleback Church-- they were great hosts! Also, thanks to Larry Ross and his expert staff for all their assistance, as well as our official photographer, Anna Zanotti.

Back home on Monday, Dave Z and I were to talk with Rick Warren on THE PUBLIC SQUARE. The good news is that Dave did, but I had to head back to the airport and missed the interview. You'll be able to hear in on THE PUBLIC SQUARE this next week.

EVERYTHING COMING UP RUSSIAN

The theme of this week is definitely Russian. First, we attended a picnic at the home of our friend Sergey Rakhuba of Russian Ministries and met many wonderful Russian friends, including Alexei Dadochkin of St. Petersburg Christian University. Did you know there was such a school? I didn't, but you can read more about it at www.spbcu.ru (like me you may have to click on the English button :) Alexei and others from Russia and surrounding countries are in Wheaton attending a six-week conference. He is bringing one of his colleagues, Sergei Brishtel, who works with Trans World Radio to my office for a visit tomorrow.

Then yesterday in Cleveland at our regular Monday recording session for THE PUBLIC SQUARE, we were joined in the studio for a lengthy interview with KGB Major General (retired, thankfully) Oleg Kalugin. What an amazing man. He was the head of Soviet counterintelligence in this country for many years and can tell spine-tingling stories of just how effective they were in infiltrating the U.S. society and government. He himself had a cover here as a Fulbright Scholar and Russian journalist. When he ran afoul of Putin's government, he moved to this country and eventually became a U.S. citizen. His book, "The First Directorate" will soon be released in a re-titled second edition. Our interviews will come up next week on THE PUBLIC SQUARE. General Kalugin is a self-described atheist, but we dialogued about religion and Christianity from several different angles.

Finally-- and this is also about Russia-- Sergey Rakhuba passed on to me today just how urgent the need for financial support is for the summer camp program in Russia and surrounding countries. Thousands of children attend these evangelistic camps, but the cost of living in Russia and the Ukraine has gone up 25-30% making it even more difficult to buy food, etc. $50 will send one child to one of these camps for a week. To help with this urgent need, go to their website.

Things have changed so dramatically in Russia in my life time. And it is still changing-- in both good and bad ways. Keep praying for this land and its dear people.

"EXPERIENCING GOD" AUDIOBOOK

It's has been a busy summer already with a couple of special projects, my regular assignments, plus some family vacation time.

One of the special projects that took much of last week was the "Experiencing God" audiobook for Oasis Audio. I've never counted how many Henry Blackaby books I've been privileged to narrate, but there have been several. Now, the granddaddy of them all--newly revised-- on nine CD's. I could almost hear Dr. Blackaby's distinctive voice and manner as I read the pages. Hopefully, this edition which Dr. Blackaby wrote with his son, Richard, and Claude King, will extend the challenge of living in a love relationship with the Lord Jesus and allowing Him to work both in and through a life to even more people as they listen to it in this form. Thanks to Dan Balow, Mark Dunn, and Leslie Rietveld at Oasis Audio for setting it all up and working with me.

Welcome to my new website!

Welcome to my new website! This has been in the works for several months, but radio recording and production always came first. I’m grateful to Christian Klein for his design work. If you ever need a “young entrepreneur with an old-fashioned work ethic”, CK is your man (www.MainStreetPC.com). We work together on THE PUBLIC SQUARE broadcast.

One of the highlights of my year is the annual National Religious Broadcasters Convention (www.nrb.org). It starts Saturday at Opryland in Nashville and I’ll be there through Wednesday morning, March 12. If you are there, please email or use my contact information to reach me and say hi.

The Buddy Greene HAPPY MAN RADIO SPECIAL that you can hear part of on the home page is available on CD or via ftp for radio stations. I’ll have a small supply of CD’s at the NRB, just ask and I’ll be glad to give you a copy. Or email me for more information.

One more thing: Check out something brand new called The By/For Project (www.byfor.org). I’ll let the website explain itself to you, but Michael Card is one of the people involved, so you know it’s good. Be sure to listen to the song, HERE IN BETWEEN for your Good Friday meditation.