Transcript

ANNOUNCER: This is Grace in Focus, a radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. We exist to promote what we call a focused Free Grace gospel. We do that right here five days a week on the weekdays. We have a magazine and a seminary, but we also are involved in different places in the world. Mexico, Africa, Italy, and others. And today we’re going to hear about the Grace Evangelical Society’s mission work. We’re glad you’ve joined us and you can find out more in our website, faithalone.org. 

Well, let’s get right to our conversation today with Ken Yates and Kathryn Wright. 

KEN: This is Ken Yates and I’m excited about this one. For those who don’t know, Kathryn is my daughter and she just returned from a GES-sponsored trip to Uganda. And this was a first for us. We’ve gone together to Zambia and Kenya, but what we’re so excited about this is, the Ritchies have been going there for, I don’t know how long. 

KATHRYN: This is the girls’ fourth year and Brian’s first year and then my second year.

KEN: Yeah, so the Ritchies got a couple daughters. And anyway, this year was different, though, because this was the first time that there was an emphasis on, what will we say, teaching and having Free Grace classes for pastors over there and—

KATHRYN: Conferences. 

KEN: Right. And so we had Bible conferences and the girls did a VBS, Vacation Bible School, for a hundred children. And just our experience—and I think the Ritchies would agree with this—in Africa, the assurance of eternal life is very rare to find. When Kathryn and I taught in Zambia for a number of years, that was right off the bat. The students that we had, we’d usually have about 25 students each at this Bible college we taught at, and none of them believed in eternal security, even though they were sons of pastors or pastors themselves or youth pastors. And that was your experience in Uganda as well, right? 

KATHRYN: Yes. So last year when we went, we were involved with a special needs orphanage and they asked me to come and teach the staff. And this year, we basically expanded our work from outside of the orphanage and started working with many of the local pastors. So we did three separate conferences in two different areas. One with a church and then we we went to a town named Jenja, which is where we did it with the pastors and we had a small group of pastors and then a larger conference and then a third conference at a third church later back at the Capitol. And so we were moving around a good bit, but we taught every day. It was busy the whole time. It was so fun. We got to just be with our people. You know, we weren’t working with people outside of the Free Grace community. It was all with folks that I knew personally and we got to decide where we were going to go and what we were going to do, which was really fun. And it was just a blessing. We got to give out over a thousand Living Waters, which was really cool.

KEN: Which is from John Niemela’s ministry, Living Waters, the gospel of John. 

KATHRYN: Yeah. So everybody, all these churches and these pastors got a copy of the gospel of John and then—

KEN: And the notes that go along with that.

KATHRYN: Yes, the notes. And then the Ritchies, their church sponsored them and trying to give Bibles out. And so they were able to get, I think it was over a thousand Bibles as well. I mean, it was just insane how many Bibles we were able to give out. KEN: And you all were able to, because most of people over there read English, right?

KATHRYN: Yeah. So that is, you know, it was colonized by the British. So, you know, you’ve got Lake Victoria and a lot of Prince Charles stuff and all that kind of stuff. So, yes, they do speak English, but then they have their tribal languages, with, you know, their mother tongues as well. And so most of the people, they are bilingual. So they, they do predominantly speak English, although we did have to have translators because sometimes their English isn’t quite as clear or sometimes our accents can be hard for them to understand. And so we did have translators, but—

BOB: And you were able to bring English literature from GES, Free Grace materials. 

KATHRYN: That’s the other thing. Yes. So we were able to give out several of Bob’s study guide on the gospel of John because our conferences were heavily emphasizing John due to the eternal security issues, as you mentioned earlier. So we were really focusing in on the evangelistic passages in John, like the woman at the well, John 3, John 11 with Martha, you know, all of those “never” statements in John. So we gave out many, many copies of Bob’s book on John. And we have one of these really great little booklets on like, what is Free Grace theology, and so we were able to give out those. 

KEN: That’s more like a tract, right? 

KATHRYN: I don’t like, you know, maybe this is my, my ignorance, but I think of tracts as being more like an evangelistic thing. And it’s not, it’s more of a theological book, a little mini-book to explain the differences, right, between Free Grace theology and maybe Calvinism and Arminianism. And so we gave all the pastors that one, which was great, we were able to give them each a copy of our magazine. I made a bookmark that had all the “never” statements on it to hand out and everybody got one of those. 

KEN: Real quickly tell our listeners what the “never” statements are.

ANNOUNCER: The Grace Evangelical Society Seminary, GESSeminary is getting ready for the 2025 fall semester. All classes are online. And we are now ready to receive your application. GESSeminary.org is where you apply. And if you want to begin study this fall, we must receive your application by July 29th. That’s GESSeminary.org. Classroom size is limited, so let us hear from you soon. Apply now, GESSeminary.org.

KEN: Quickly tell our listeners what the “never” statements are. 

KATHRYN: Yeah. So we, as I mentioned, as you said earlier, the issue that we face in Africa is a very strong Arminian view. So the idea of losing your salvation is just pretty much widespread. Eternal security just isn’t taught. We knew that going in. And so our emphasis in these conferences was the gospel of John and really emphasizing the message of eternal life, which cannot be lost. 

And so one of the sessions that I did was going over the “never” statements in John. So for example, John 4, when the Lord is speaking to the woman at the well, and He’s offering her the gift of eternal life. And He says that you’ll never thirst again, right? If you drink of this water, the water of the well, you’ll thirst again. But if you drink of the water that I shall give you, you’ll never thirst. And so you have that permanent promise, right, of eternal life. One and done, as I like to say, but then also in chapter 6, when He talks about I’m the bread of life, he who comes to Me will never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. So there’s two more times that you have this concept of never. Chapter 8, that those who keep His word, which is synonymous with believing, that they will never see death or taste death. And then in chapter 10, that His sheep will never perish.

KEN: So if you’re one of his sheep, you’ll never perish. 

KATHRYN: That’s right. So He gives them everlasting life and then again in 11 when he’s speaking to Martha, those who believe will never die. So never, never, never, never, it’s over and over and over again. So really going into that. 

KEN: And you gave to them a bookmark with these passages. 

KATHRYN: That’s right. 

KEN: As a general rule, how did—because you talk to what hundreds of people, I mean, in your conferences, which is so exciting. First of all, how long were you all over there? 

KATHRYN: Just shy of two weeks. Yeah. 

KEN: Okay, spoke at three different places. 

KATHRYN: Actually, we spoke more than that. We also spoke to a group of university students, which was say maybe a hundred. And then we also got to visit a local bakery and spoke to the entire staff there, which at least was a hundred people if not more. And that was kind of funny because I got to do “you’ll never hunger” at the bakery. You know, “I am the bread of life”. And we gave them all Living Waters again. So that one was kind of fun to do John 6 with the bakery and “I am the bread of life”. Yeah. So we were all over the place. But yeah, the conferences, there was three of those. 

KEN: And how did the people as a general rule take this message of eternal security, that the believer knows that he has eternal life. 

KATHRYN: At first, it was a struggle. It’s as we’ve said, it’s, it’s not the norm. It’s not the thing that’s taught there. It’s not what the pastors proclaim there. It’s very much judgment. If you obey and you continue, then at the end of your life, you’ll receive eternal life. That’s the predominant teaching. And so, the idea that if you believe in Jesus, you receive eternal life as a present possession, right? That he who believes has everlasting life. That really resonated with them because again, so often what they’re hearing in their churches is that eternal life is something that you might get at the end of life. You hope to get in the future. 

KEN: If you’re good enough. 

KATHRYN: If you’re good enough. And so just like a little bit of a hurdle, but I would say overwhelmingly, they’re willing to look at what the passages say. And so just being able to point them to the words of the Lord, John 4, John 11, that went a long way. And so you know, there were a few people that didn’t come back the second day, you know, that’s pretty common. But I’d say that was maybe a fourth of the people, but most of them came back. And I do know that many, many did come around to it, and were—my friend Umar is one of the guys that we’re in contact with there. He helped us with the logistics. He always talks about how he wants his people to find the peaceful Christ.

BOB: Instead of the judgment, 

KATHRYN: Instead of the yeah, the you know, the judge that’s just here to whack everybody over the head and send them to hell. He says, I want people to know the peaceful Christ. And I do, he said there were many people who were set free from from that fear and from our teachings. And so it was just a joy, you know, I tell people there’s no there’s no better high than getting to share eternal life with somebody and them get it. 

BOB: And Brian, this was the first time that he had taught, right? 

KATHRYN: Yeah, Brian Ritchie is, it was, we finally convinced him to go with us. And so I think he’s, I think he’s addicted like the rest of us now. I think he’s going to come back next year, Lord willing. And so we’re excited to—

KEN: And we’re telling this, and we’re going to do another session as well on this about maybe lessons learned, for a couple of reasons. Number one for the people who support GES, where this gives you an idea of what we do. You know, we maybe this is something you’re not aware of. And how exciting is this? 

And or if maybe you’re someone who has thought about this, like saying, well, you know, I work or I have a family. I can’t do this. But maybe this is something that would be of interest to you to go on a trip like this. For example, Brian here, this is the first time he went and from what I can tell he’s really pumped up about it. And they’ve asked us to come back. So these trips come up occasionally. 

And so just be listening, be looking at the Partners in Grace or Grace in Focus magazine or the newsletter. And if you’re interested in doing something like this and going with us, let us know. I’m—next year, it looks like Brian and the Ritchie’s and I might go back with him this time. 

KATHRYN: I think I convinced him, you guys, to come with me again. 

KEN: So we hope that this is exciting for you when you’re, if you’re a partner with GES or supporter or just praying for us. So understand that the message of grace is going out and we really appreciate all of our partners and supporters and in whatever way you do that. So thank you very much. And we’ll do another one on this. 

In the meantime, remember, keep grace in focus. 

ANNOUNCER: Be sure to check out our daily blogs at faithalone.org. They’re short and full of great teaching just like what you’ve heard today. Find them at faithalone.org/resources/blog. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you’ve got a question, comment or some feedback. If you do, please don’t hesitate to send us a message. Here’s our email address. It’s radio@faithalone.org. That’s radio@faithalone.org. And when you do, very important, please let us know your radio station call letters and the city of your location. 

On our next episode, we’ll continue with more about Grace Evangelical Society’s mission work. Please join us and in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.