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From Anchorage, Alaska to Lynchburg, Virginia

Truth Talk / Stu Epperson
The Cross Radio
February 9, 2022 2:00 pm

From Anchorage, Alaska to Lynchburg, Virginia

Truth Talk / Stu Epperson

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February 9, 2022 2:00 pm

Who is Dr. Jerry Prevo? Stu sits down with the President of Liberty University, who shares his remarkable story.  

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This is Chris shoes with the Christian perspective podcast with Chris shoes. We encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ your chosen Truth Network podcast is starting a just a few seconds.

So enjoy it. Sure, but most of all, thank you for listening to The Truth Podcast Network this is Truth Network what an honor it is for me right now to be on the campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg Virginia with Pres. Jerry Primo Dr. for Evo. God is doing a lot of things your liver you just blew my mind and I'm sure. Of it yet but what's coming up the good break ground on scene but God's just there's a there's a movement of God here and I just wanted what's it like to be the president of the University of open with that? Well, it's exciting and the most exciting things are the students here Liberty University. I have since they have a great love for the Lord. Luke want to serve the Lord life that have a lot of smiles on their face and it's just great to be around the students. We thank God for all the activities as well as the academics that we have here University well what what a statement and sit next to my left to get Lauren right now is my daughter Joy who is a freshman. Here, liver to Joy what he just said about the students that true what you think. I think it's true, Dr. Primo, you are just it's is really the Lord is interesting and fascinating and this is authorized to go God raises men up you you you know a decade ago you meant and it may never thought you be sit right here just how does a guy go out of the preacher man of God. Visionary from Alaska go from pastor and Anchorage Baptist Temple, which was in his amazing story how God's bless that ministry to be the present liver University talk talk about your journey here just what all the Lord's done there.

Well you know I never dreamed that I'd be here at liberty, especially as president of liberty I retired from the Anchorage Baptist Temple and I was a young looking for something else to do but never thought I would be here at liberty University and actually I was in a tree stand when they called me and asked me if I would consider coming to liberty University and my first reaction was no and that they call me the next day and I said no and one of the reasons was because I wasn't sure you know how how deep the problems may have been here and they call me the third day and I had been to church that morning.

You know when you go to church you get under conviction and I said okay God's you won't need to go and I begin to pray about it. They call me on a Monday and asked me. I said well I'll tell you what, I'll consider coming if I get a unanimous vote from the trustees of liberty University and unfortunately I didn't get that wow so here you are and God is doing some great things I want to get to that because of this, there's so much darkness in the culture and the need for godly Christian biblical education Christian worldview in the arts and the sciences know that from Chris review so important that's what you're doing here little bit about let's go back into Joy has a question about last were in S and second, let's go back to Lascaux so back to your testimony how you come to know the Lord, Dr. Primo, when is it that he he touched your heart and in you started following him and and then getting into the ministry everything.

Well I live next to the mountains, the Baptist Church down in Tennessee, East Tennessee and I could walk to church and I did despite of course in vacation Bible school and all of that and one day in front of my house there was a car that had about three people in it. One of them was a young girl about my age, and it went off the ditch and broke the windshield. She went through the windshield, cut her stomach open and I went over there and Chris rushed there to see what happened presents front of my house and the I watched her take her last breath. So I went to vacation Bible school because that next week and I said you know I need the Lord and so in vacation Bible school.

They had us all sitting age groups of one pew, and I was on one end and I told the boy next to me. I said listen I wanted to forget say will you go with will.

He didn't want to go sleepless. The next boy and told him what I wanted to do that went down the aisle and then got to the end of the opposite end of the pew and that was our lady instructor. She got it come around security will get saved today and I said I do and so we went for night except the Lord is my Savior. How does you what happened after that take us through that growing up in Christ and then ending up in Alaska of all places. From Tennessee to Alaska is now you come back south.

Being in Lynchburg. Yes, you know, my pastor and his wife took me to Mexico on a mission trip and I think that's where God planted that seed there but I was begin after graduating, I attended the University of Tennessee studying to be an engineer and I would commute 35 miles from my home and I would listen to my pastor come on the radio and he came home with this song will your life be filled with long wasted years and God use that because I felt he was calling me into the ministry and I thought you know if I don't surrender what God wants me to do my life will be wasted so at the end of that first year I felt called to the Lord to go into ministry.

My wife and I been going together as sweethearts since our sophomore year. So we graduated we been out of the high school for a year and I was looking around for Bible college to go to and the one that I finally chose was the Baptist Bible College in Springfield Missouri where Dr. Falwell went to Bible college and I really didn't know that if the time and so I felt good to go there but I didn't want to go there and leave. Carol is my wife.

So we decided to get married real quick, you're probably not gonna believe this, but we both came from poor families and so we went on a Wednesday night we had prayer meeting. She got a little dress and I can only put all the suit and is the end of the prayer meeting service that my pastor said we got a couple here that is going off the Bible college.

They want to get married tonight so we want full various and the he stood there and he said I want to come by and congratulate this couple month and have an offering place here and the I was you give an offering their leaving tomorrow going to Bible college and so that was a unique experience now and Anchorage Baptist Temple. You know, our 25th anniversary. They gave us a big reception to make up that will we need more weddings to come out of prayer meetings.

Dr. Weaver, I think there's a some powerful nuggets that back in their so so then you go to Bible college and then what what a guy do next in your life and kinda how out of the call to ministry materialize from there will course, we went to Bible college there and the pastor said that night. I want you folks to give an offering because he's there to be eating a lot of cheese and crackers subliminally off the Bible college, my wife got a job as a waitress at a steakhouse and they did not serve alcohol at all because she refused to do that so we didn't eat cheese and crackers. We ate study because that's where she worked. I got a job down there about a block away at the Safeway grocery store. I had worked in a grocery store prior to earning my way. Actually, through college but we graduated we went through summer school graduated there going to complete the program. 2 1/2 years.

I was coming down the graduate and I had no place to go serve the Lord had not been interviewed by anybody.

I was beginning to think that I was going to have to pay somebody to hire me at church and a church like you get some experience with God. I went to Fellowship meeting God opened the door and a pastor said I want to hire you to come to the beacon Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. So God opened the door we addresses week two weeks after we graduated we were at that church and we thank God that he answered our prayer and we didn't have to pay some to give let us going to some experience here fairly newly married you get a call to a church in Nashville. So, that brings back to Tennessee where he grew up and then somehow you went a long way to Alaska now on her back, but something that much for that social quick and it will take a break from of the beacon Baptist Church was called to signal Mountain, which is next to Chattanooga to the church will signal Mountain and the story was there that we had this set up an amount he had in W wrote you know you go up switchback and I have a missionary come and hold the mission conference and it was that his name was Jack Baskett and he said to me he said Jerry he said you know you need to stay right here. The rest of your life. There may be somebody that will come up the W Rd. go by the first Baptist Church and about the tedious names of these churches there were about 15 churches on the mountain maybe 5000 people and he said Jerry you need to be here because a lost person may wonder about all those churches in the peer and you need to be here preaching the gospel and not worry about the millions of people that don't have the gospel… Have a gospel preaching church so he he stirred in my heart that may be a mission field and the so I felt like maybe God was leading me to England. While I spoke English. I had a thought hard time learning English. Let's list learning foreign language that people don't believe this but this is actually true. I said to my wife, Carol S a Carol I believe God is calling us to England, she looked at me and said I promise to write you once a week I said well I can go there without her going so I just settle down began a radio program. I just got a dig in and stay there. And one day I got this call from missionary Don White and he said Jerry you and I don't know each other but I know you through. My daughter is going to Tennessee temple and attend your church and he said I thought little of the Lord to call you and ask you, have you ever considered going to the mission field. Have you ever's considered going to Alaska.

He said I think mission work that is ready for a full-time pastor and so I told Carol about it and she said we know.

I think God may be in it, not the thing that amazed me was she hates cool weather but you know I think God that she said I don't England. That's not for me because God did lead us to Alaska and God bless and a great way to hear about that we can access the voice of Dr. Jerry Brito I with him right now he's the president of Liberty University guys do some great things here parents you want to stay tuned. Next we'll talk about how the University is Christ centered and standing against the evils of the culture raising up champions for Christ how you met Dr. follow that's can be a great little story and then what God did in Alaska. When he took move you in your Tennessee bride white 345 house allows other more coming up right here, don't touch that out truth talk Stu Epperson hang on what we call a young Tennessee preacher's wife all the way to Alaska and then to be the president. Decades later of largest Christian university in the world.

Liberty University holding to the word of God is Dr. Jerry Freeman ought her to sit down with him and visit. I got my daughter Joy. Here is one of her host of truth for the youth and joy.

Make sure one turn to Zen the last segment. Even if you download the podcast don't here in real time because a prayer meeting turned into a wedding and that's how this guy got married about that yesterday some so Dr. primo the jury to Alaska had to be very smooth and simple. Just a quick quick trip up there and there you are last or was that courage Alaska. Some notable things going on there. Well, it was a little different.

The missionary that had come in the first times that Jerry said I'd like to fly you to Alaska and that you speak. Nobody will know why you there, except one person and so I went there and I spoken he said I'll call you back after that and ocelot feel like the Lord's leading us there and so he said okay he said to them will be expecting you and not over so we loaded everything we had in a Dodge van.

We could not get everything in it, so I built a box on top of it. Of we put our washing machine and there were things that we could take because they had told me we think we can pay you $100 a week if the money comes in so so when we got to the you had back in the Alcan Highway was gravel and the we had to slow down because it rained it was ready and we were overloaded in about two days on that road, my wife, who had not been to Alaska said to me where in the world are you taking me and I said honey at the end of this road is a McDonald's and a JCPenney's self so she sailed around in the we made that journey without any real problems that breakdowns are anything and so that's how we got there when we got there we had to sleep in the bottom of a barracks building that was the church and one of the funny things that happen there. We were never around the hot water heat that circulates somewhere in the bottom of this old World War II barracks building that was the church and at nighttime, we begin to hear this cracking sound and it was going away from us, and it went all the way down the end of the building and then in turn, it was going across and then it started coming back at us. We did not know what that was my wife says go out there and see what that is.

I said I'm not going out soon, but it was hot water heat circulating in warming up the pipes so we lived there for a while and then we got to the place where a family provided a place for us to live out the land of Kodiak bears, polar bears, beautiful senior unbelievable just remarkable. My daughter Joy is one of the host truth, the joy I know you're itching – Dr. primo question about Alaska and Dr. breve on a more lighter note, we do have a question about bears before getting the other in the real stuff that is if you and I are out there and were chased by a bear or sweats. As I go at this post, RN, who hasn't worked well you zone out run a bear of a skill and hopefully going out there prepared with bear spray are maybe gone, so that you can the defend yourself which I've had to do only a couple of times this is the real deal. We don't have any college presidents have had to stave off bears and see the things you seem probably some people say was doing what your question. Sorry, I just had to get that inner joy was always as I don't have to outrun the bear that he had to step out run you scheduling a yes no. I've been to Alaska when I was in high school on a mission trip and I just wanted to ask what was it like living there and was it hard with the daylight savings.

I know during the winter there's very little hours of daylight and tell us about fighting off any bears. I saw a bear from a distance by house about it and their other cool animals as well, but yeah. So, as you mentioned in the wintertime we only have about 4 1/2 hours of potential daylight and the sun barely comes up over the mountains work in Anchorage and so it's close a lot of depression of people is it's it's buried. That's very difficult and depressing. So what I would do as a pastor I would tell my man I solicit.

If you want to stay in Alaska. You need to let your wife go back see family once a year. So I told my staff guys and I solicit I'm going to give you your wife a free trip every year wherever she wants to go and I said no guys I know so you're going take that money go on a hunting trip, but I saved your life's gonna come in and tell me that she really doesn't want to go and I said she needs to go out during the wintertime to get away from the darkness.

So this very difficult for Alaska. It creates a lot of problems. We try to have a lot of family activities during the winter because when I first went there. People didn't have families. As a military character and the lovely young people, and so holiday, like Thanksgiving or Christmas didn't have family to go have Christmas with endlessly when 3000 miles x 4 48 so we we became a family church which help make up for the darkness and all of God really working at it that God use you your vision your leadership to start an amazing Christian school extractor to grow a church you know Anchorage Baptist Tabernacle.

As you look back on those miniatures is still there to stay growing a Christian school in impacted states encompass not just the statement you got you sent people all over the world.

From there, oh yes, we got people to military bases there. Of course you got people scattered all over the world and God really blessed in that area. We had over 40,000 registered decisions and after 47 years of ministry there and it's it was amazing thing. My wife and I we just thank God for how he didn't use us all.

My favorite part of the invention is your radio guy and God used you in your ministry there with with some radio and some TV stations to make an impact that weight which is was way outside the walls.

The church yes Leah. We ended up with the four radio stations in the Christian broadcasting, Inc. television station, and we use that to spread the gospel we would put our program on 26 times a week because we had our own station where only ABC station three times a week, but I would play our program related night 1112 1 o'clock because I thought like people are having problems are probably not able to sleep probably tune in here the message hear the gospel get say that's the voice of Dr. Jerry primo, the president of Liberty University founded by Dr. Jerry Falwell to Jerry's that met earlier in life. Tell us how you met Jerry Falwell and how God used him to impact your life well. He was organizing more majority, and that in Alaska you could not buy a piece of property that was sown for church and so I said you know that means were going to have a planning commission if their anti-God they will approve property so I gotta get involved so I came to hear Lynchburg Virginia for the conference on more majority and Dr. Paul will inspired us to go back to our city to our town and get involved politically.

So we went back to Anchorage, Alaska and the we did just what he said but actually we took over the Republican Party of Alaska and we been involved in politics, but for the reason of protecting religious freedom and that we had set a groups of people coming from Oregon from California to take over Anchorage and you can imagine the politics that they wanted to bring. While Dr. breve though you talked about in our previous segment about how just God really brought you here just how he worked it out and you know you're in a tree stand get a call and I hope folks listens to save just beautiful how God works.

He works his ways are way above our ways right like that. Like the prophet said.

We talked briefly as wrap up about the importance of a Christian worldview, a Christian education Liberty University some other universities and land are still holding the truth, they haven't bowed their knee. Yet to the communism the socialism that the CRT there so many things out there that are non-Christian but trying to put the guise of Christian on their he talked about how poor that is left on appearance. Listening while young people listening is and remains may be thinking, wow, I want to go sit under a present like that no one is when I grew up only be like him who loves Jesus, but also has this academic strength here, you know, equipping people to talk about the reports that here at this school, especially in these dark times rent will liberty University as the shining light in the world of training champions for Christ giving them in teaching a Christian worldview of biblical worldview and unfortunately many of the colleges that used to be that way are turning away from, and liberty University is not doing that one of the reasons that I think I was invited here to come and help. Liberty University is if it had gotten off track to get it back on track. And since I knew Dr. Falwell since the 719 179 and the he didn't Alaska. Many times I knew him I knew his heart, and I think the trustees knew that, and so that's why they asked me to come but liberty University is the only right track were training champions for Christ, one of the interesting things I had was when I first came here I showed a video of Dr. Falwell saying what his vision was how that he would rather for this campus to be burned down rather than go liberal as I showed that and then I had a professor come up to me and said Jerry what your vision for liberty University and I said didn't you just watch the video, Dr. Jerry Falwell said yes I said this my vision. I'm not here put Jerry primo's Brando liberty University.

I'm here to keep Jerry Falwell Senior's brand of liberty University so he didn't ask me again, this is Dr. Jerry primo present liberty University. This is powerfully shared my thing, 100 things I should've asked about his interviews will have to have it on again to care come up and visit again and Dr. primo as wrap up.

Seems like it's later in Corinthians, Paul says in a God is open the door for the gospel. Many, or, much as the opposition whenever someone is proclaiming Christ in a in a culture calling the church back to revival and reformation calling the world to know Christ and in equipping students to go out there and change the world to be champs or Christ as much opposition how we pray for you, Dr. primo, how we pray for liberty University last year when listening to take a second and pray because the attacks are everywhere you you all are hated because Jesus is hated but you're doing something that's bringing souls to Christ so quickly. How can we pray for, well, you can pray for us that that regulations that are coming down the pike that are going to put the pressure on the Christian college life, liberty that those regulations will not try to force us to conform to them because we're unique.

We of course have people outside of the political room that doesn't like liberty University and doing everything they can to her. Liberty University and the limits its influence and calls literally students not want to come here by saying how your degrees not worth anything and so forth.

But it is we have a number of graduates working in Washington DC we have the people of Fox News that have their own program so pray for spirit liberty God's given us a great group of professors and most of all a great group of students that love the Lord and just pray for them that they'll be willing to go out of this place and really be a champion for Christ and change the world and enjoy a person my daughter Frederick. Larry isn't cool to have a present like him really loves Jesus and is is try to equip you guys change the world. Yes, it's a great example is awesome LSU.Revo. Thank you so much. This is true talk down to the podcast. Thank you all are awesome affiliates nationwide AFR Wilkins all the folks that are brave enough to carry this program and parents really seriously think about Psalm one and putting your kids at the feet of godly men and women. It will equip them to change the world for Jesus.

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