The Sean McDowell Show - Why Charity Is Our Best Apologetics Today | Christy Graham

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

In this episode, Dr. Sean McDowell interviews Christy Graham from Samaritan's Purse to explore how practical charity, disaster relief, and caring for the suffering serve as powerful apologetics for the Christian faith. From earthquake relief in Venezuela to Ebola clinics in the DRC, discover how meeting tangible physical needs opens doors for the gospel message. Learn why sacrificial love for the poor remains one of the most compelling defenses of Christianity today. CHECK OUT: Logos Bible 60 Day Free Trial (https://logos.com/mcdowell) CHECK OUT: Consider Supporting the Ministry! (https://seanmcdowell.org/give) *Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf) *USE Discount Code [smdcertdisc] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM) *See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK) FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:  Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/ Website: https://seanmcdowell.org Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

As parents, we want our kids to boldly live out their faith. Encourage your kids to take part in Bring Your Bible to School Day on October 1st. This nationwide event by Focus on the Family gives students a simple way to start conversations about the gospel with their friends and classmates. It's also a chance to help your kids exercise their religious freedoms and stand unashamed for Christ. You can sign up today at bringyourbible.com. That's bring your Bible.com. Life Audio. What is the connection between apologetics and charity?

Is our care for the poor, needy, and suffering? One of our best apologetics today. Our guest today is Christy Graham, host of the On the Ground podcast with Samaritans' purse. Christy, this is a topic I've actually wanted to explore for a long time. So I'm hoping my audience will let me know what they think. And if they want more, we can come back and do a deeper dive. Now, I host a podcast called Think Bipically, have a YouTube channel, and the Sean McDowell podcast here.

This conversation is only available here, unique to this audience. I'm eager to dive in, but Christy, thanks for being with us. Thanks so much for having me. It's an honor to be here. Yeah, I just left to start with your story. Like, how did you and your family get called to serve with Samaritan's purse? So thank you for asking. My husband Edward is Franklin's son.

So he, you know, has grown up knowing and serving within the ministry. But then the Lord called him into the military. He went to the United States Military Academy and then was commissioned in the Army. And that's where we met. And so when we got married, I was an Army brat. So it was an easy yes for me. I loved the military and we loved serving and thought we would do that for 30 plus years. And we loved it in about 16 years in, we'd actually just adopted our son from China.

And I say that because I think the Lord used that adoption, that yes, to prepare our hearts. I don't know if we would have heard the voice of the Lord and he did to his voice to get out of the military because, again, we loved it so much. And so six months after we came home with our son, the Lord spoke to Edward and I both separately. you know, you're supposed to come, serve with Samarans' purse. And again, it was a hard, it was hard for us to both lay that down. I was studying Genesis at the time when God called Abraham, you know, to leave his land, his relatives, and to go to a land that God told him. And I felt like the Lord was saying, you're going to leave. It's for me as an army brat, army wife, I don't have a hometown, you know, a place, but the military was my place. And so we both

felt very, the Lord made a definite call. And it gave us a peace. but it didn't make it easy. You know, it made it easier that the Lord called us. But we left all that we knew, laid down our nets, and came to serve at Samarans First. And so my husband, you know, he started working immediately. I wasn't working at the time. And that's when I just started saying, God, what do you want me to do?

How do you want me to support him in the military? There were a lot of supportive roles as a volunteer and an army spouse. But primarily I was raising kids. You know, I wasn't working outside the home. But the Lord showed us both, you know, where he wanted us to serve at Samaritan's purse. And so I get to serve on this communications podcast team sharing what God is doing around the world, you know, as I support my husband, who he travels a lot more than I do.

But yeah, that's a long story to why we came, but it was just the Lord. I love that. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I love that that your husband being a Graham didn't feel the pressure or expectation to serve there and had other plans. and then God kind of interrupted it. In some ways, that's similar to what I do. I had little interest in becoming an apologist like my father. I'm sure you understand more than most.

Oh, gosh, yeah, and that's a separate story. But it's important for people to understand that this wasn't like branded at the beginning. This is your job and you're going into it. I was headed a different direction. I thought I was going to coach basketball or do something like that. And God call me to do this. But let's talk a little about your podcast because there's overlap with what we do here, but in some ways it's also very different.

And it's called On the Ground with Samaritan's purse. Now, my podcast is primarily to equip and train Christians to defend the faith and to share it. But also I have a lot of skeptics and unbelievers who listen in who are just curious. Is your podcast to encourage Christians to equip them or to spread the word about the good of Christianity? So people might say, you know what, maybe I should reconsider that Christian faith. Christians are doing good or all of the above. All of the above. You know, like I said, when we came here, you know, I said, Lord, how do you want me to

serve her, support my husband and serve in this role? And the podcast came to be pretty quickly. Initially, it was an internal podcast to encourage our staff. You know, we serve in so many different countries and through different vehicles at Samaritan's purse. And so many, even people within our own staff, they don't know exactly what we do. So it was to help. But then it opened up to a broader podcast.

where we realize people that either pray and support the ministry or people that are skeptical or question what we do or, you know, there were just a lot of different people that needed or wanted to know more about what we did at Samarans First. So it is to encourage. It is to equip, but it's also to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, just like we do as we go into the ditches of life. We want to share it on the podcast as well. So every episode's different. You know, sometimes we're taking you to hear about a children's heart project. Sometimes we're taking you to Venezuela to hear about an earthquake. I mean, the story is always different, but the root is always the same. It's to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in hard, difficult places. So it's an

exciting podcast to be a part of. I'm eager to get into how you share the gospel and meet people's physical needs. We're going to come back to that. And especially, I mean, we're going to get into what Samaritan's Purse does in Africa to fight Ebola. But I'm not. I'm going to get into what Samaritan's Purse does in Africa to fight Ebola, but I know you have personally witnessed a lot of suffering and Samaritans in some ways. I get to talk about this academically from a distance and try to help people make sense of evil and suffering in the world. But you were recently in Venezuela after two massive earthquakes that were just devastating. And I guess two-part question, I'm curious what it's like on the ground and how you answer or address the problem when somebody says,

Christy, why would this loving God you believe in allow so much suffering in pain? Yeah, and it's so hard. Yeah, Venezuela was very hard. I mean, I have a hard time with it. I can't compartmentalize it very well. So it kind of overtakes me. And more and more I see of suffering, the more I see the need for the gospel, right? Like we live in a fallen, broken world.

And I know it's hard to explain to people. And I've watched people react in two different ways. Some are hardened. How can a good and loving God allow this suffering? But then you also see the people that because of the suffering, it draws them to the love of God, right? Because the gospel, for God so loved the world, he came and sent his only son. And so that's why we go.

We go to bring hope in a difficult situation. And again, I've seen people, I've seen pastors, I've seen people that we've helped respond like Job, you know, that says the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I've seen them praise the Lord in the midst of their suffering. I've seen Ukrainian pastors that say, thank you, Lord. People are coming into my church that never would have otherwise. They're seeking refuge from the war.

I've seen a Middle East pastor that says suffering is the vitamin of the church. He's watched churches be bombed. He's watched his pastors be killed, but it only strengthens the church because as Christians, we grieve differently. You know, we, Romans 5, I've watched it lived out. Suffering produces character and character hope. But as you know, there's people that struggle with it. It hardens their hearts for them to see a God that allows such suffering. And again, it's, I think C.S. Lewis says it.

We can't praise God for what he's given us, but then curse him for what, you know, the hardships. You know, because of sin and suffering, we live in a fallen, broken world. So that's why we want to go. But it is. It's hard. And I think the more I see, the more Romans 8 comes alive, you know, that talks about the groanings of this world, the labor pains that we have here. And then Matthew talks about the labor pains, the famines, the natural disasters, the wars, the earthquakes. You know, they are labor pains preparing us for God, for Jesus as he comes back, which again, I'm glad that you share the academic, but I think I've watched it in the heart, you know, where people come.

And I'll share an example from Venezuela. A woman came to the water points. We were cleaning water and we give, we have water sanitation hygiene points that give water through the local church. And she came for water because her husband was killed. She lost her home. She was desperate. She was broken. And she came for water.

But then she came back the next day. When I saw her come back, it looked like they were old family, you know, our staff. And she said, I came for water, but I come back for this hope that you give, this hope of the gospel. You know, I come for prayer. I come for encouragement. So it's like the women at the well, right? We come for physical water, but we realize our need for the living water. And that is the only thing that satisfies.

And so long answer, and I know we can pull apart many of those different parts, but it's hard from a human standpoint. If this earth is all that we have, it is hard to that question of why. Why? Why is this happening? It's hard to reconcile. But because we know as believers, this isn't all that it is. You know, we have a hope as an anchor, firm and secure. We're serving a king that will make all things new.

and that is the hope that we want to give people. I love that. That was not even remotely too long of an answer. I want you to keep talking, and we're going to circle back to some of these points. But what I don't want people to miss is for years my father did work in Russia. So I went in like 19, I don't know if it was 89 or 90 in junior high, when it was still communistic and went 13 times back since. And one of the things that my dad would do with his ministry,

at the time with Josh McDowell Ministry, is they'd bring more than a carpenter books, and they would give them away to make a case. They'd bring away the gospel, John, but they would also meet physical needs of people. They would do both. And meeting the physical needs gave a certain authority to be able to meet the spiritual needs.

And if it's just the gospel, then it's like, wait a minute, aren't you helping people who are hurting and suffering? But if you're also just meeting physical needs, then it can become the social gospel. gospel and not give the truth that sets people free. And I told you this before when we were chatting. My wife and I support Samaritan's purse regularly with the disaster in Nepal. We send in some money to help through Samaritan's purse. That balance is important. I also want to point out to my audience

that you said two things that in some ways we keep in tension. And you said it multiple times that it's hard and it's difficult. And there's nothing wrong. I think it's good for a Christian to say, I don't have a simple answer for you. It's painful. It affects me emotionally. In fact, sometimes I want to cry out the Lord, you know, Lord, come soon. Like Maranath is a prayer like Lord, come. That's a human cry.

But at the same time, Romans 828, God is working things together for the good. And I think we can keep those things in tension. And I think you're balancing that well. Now, I want to shift to kind of a biblical basis. for caring for the poor. So in some ways, this gets to the question that why is it that Christians, when everybody's running from the black plague, Christians are going in to care for people who are suffering. When other people are tossing their infants to be devoured by animals in ancient Rome, Christians are taking them and caring for them. What is it about the Christian belief system

that says what you're doing at Samaritan's purse matters and is important and is a reflection of the heart of God. Well, I think, you know, like I said, the gospel changes the way we react to suffering, you know, for God so loved the world that it gave his only son. And if we, and here at Samaritan's verse, if we believe that, I think we're called to live it out, right? Jesus gave us the model. He didn't come to be served, but to serve, to give his life a ransom for many.

And so I've had many of my, many of the doctors and nurses and wash team that go to Ebola, that go to somewhere, they were facing death. You know, they said, you know, the Lord gave me the gospel and I have to share it, you know, to who much is given, much is required. And I feel this calling from the Lord that to lay down their life for someone that needs to know the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what you said, I think it's, you know, works without, faith without works is dead, right? And I think James is very clear of that.

And I just want to read, you know, James 1, 27 says, pure and undefiled religion before God, the father is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world. And that's how we stay unstained from the world, right? Looking after the orphans and the widows. But then it goes on in chapter two, it says, love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well and not show favoritism, you know, to love people, mercy, triumphs over judgment. And that love your neighbor as yourself, that is what we're based off here at Samarine's

purse is the good Samaritan. You know, the Samaritan was walking along and two religious people had walked past this person in the ditch, right? And the Samaritan's the one that stops. And he stops because he had compassion. And I think that's where it all starts too, is loving our neighbor starts with compassion. We, we, that's what Jesus did. That's he loved with compassion. He laid down his life. And I think we do, we do do works. Like you said, we, I think sometimes you can't share the gospel if someone's starving. They can't hear you. They have a physical need that we have to meet that need sometimes first. And then we can earn the right to share the gospel. But again, it starts with compassion. If we're doing works for our own good and our own glory, it's in vain. It starts with

compassion. And again, the gospel is why we do everything here at Samarance First. It's not for good works. It's not for grants or for to be well known. And again, another thing I love at Samar's First, we always work with the local church. We want to go and help people, but the best way to help them is to know the true needs on the ground. And that's why we work with our Christian, you know, our local church partners on the ground that know the needs. They have more compassion because those are their people. You know, those are their neighbors. Those are their true neighbors.

And so we can come in and love our neighbors through our church partners. And so I don't know if I answered your question, but I think it's. Yeah, you did. I learn it every day. It's like a new fresh insight. You know, as you serve the Lord and as you serve others, I think we get to know our father even better. And so it's not that serving saves us, but I think it allows us to grow more intimately with our walk with the Lord because we understand. We don't have a high priest, you know, that doesn't understand. He walked this earth. He understands what we're facing. And so that is why it's an overflow, why we serve others.

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Amen. That passage in James is so important because James is not saying we're saved by works. And I absolutely love every time I hear your father-in-law speak, I'm like, how soon until he gets to the gospel, even if the question is, about the economy. He's like, well, Jesus came to save you. Like, this will save the economy. Like, it just, it challenges me to be even more gospel-focused. But the reason that's so important is because we naturally have a tendency to want to justify ourselves. It's just human nature. And so if we're caring for the poor in a way where there are means of justification,

if we don't realize it, we're going to end up using the poor in some fashion, rather than loving them, which goes against the command that you said, which is to love our neighbors. So I think the connection you're drawing in terms of when we first understand that God has saved us and his grace in our own lives, then we can love out of that grace. And these works, so to speak, I think what James is pointing out is not that faith with work saves us. Paul makes that clear in Romans 3 and 4 that we're not saved by works. But other people don't know our hearts. People can't say hearts only God does. So our faith, our works make that faith demonstrated to the world.

And before we come to the Ebola question, which intrigues me on so many levels, I just want to make sure my audience doesn't miss this. I had on maybe two or three months ago, Bart Ehrman, who's one of the leading atheist skeptics for the past three decades, and he's written a book called Love Thy Stranger. And it talks about building hospitals, showing compassion to the poor, caring for the elderly, before the time of Christ, you would do that within your in-group. But it's only with the Christian message that now we do that for our out-group.

So the idea that we should care about compassion for Africa, for Nepal, for what happened in Venezuela, that's a distinctly Christian idea from the ethic of Jesus. And we can't miss that. Now, I saw some of your recent podcast, and there are so many topics you come into, and people can go watch those or listen to those. But the one that kind of intrigued me was Ebola, in part because I think maybe, I don't know, 20, 25 years ago, there was that book. I don't know how much was true in fiction, something about like the danger zone of Ebola, almost breaking out in the U.S. And I've just kind of studied and learned about just this really awful, horrific disease. people going through so much suffering.

I can only imagine the prayer and faith it takes to deploy a team to Ebola when there's probably a lot of people saying, look, there's people suffering here in America. It costs less, less dangerous. Why are you spending your time over there? So tell me, why would Samaritan's purse just enter into such a risky behavior? And what's the goal of it? Well, I mean, there's there's so many. And you know, you can talk to our, our doctors and medical staff that say, if we don't go there and stop it at bay, it will come here, right? And that's same with our military. They don't, you know, they don't go far away and leave their family to be unprotected. They go so that the harm doesn't come here. Right. So, so someone has to go. Someone has to stop this. And I think Ebola, the more I've seen it up close and I've actually interviewed a doctor who got it. So it's, you know, he shares a story about how dehumanizing it is. I mean, it truly is. I mean, it truly is. a deadly, vicious, awful disease. So yes, why someone would want to go serve a patient that has that

knowing your, so I'm going to cover a couple different points, but the one I've realized it's like the gospel, right? The gospel is so simple. We all need it. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And so we all need the gospel. Ebola is like that. It's like, it's a deadly disease where they are going to die. They need, and there is a way to stop it. And it's so preventable. You know, it spreads like the flu, you know, through, you know, coughing and breathing. And again, in cultures where they can learn disease prevention. And so it's not easy, but we can go in and that's what we did in the beginning. We're trying to train and teach people how to prevent the spread of this.

It is, you can stop the spread of it. But it's also treatable. But that's just the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ can stop this disease of sin. So that's why our doctors go, because they want. to share the hope of the gospel with people that are dying. They would die if we didn't go. And again, there's so many things I want to say to this when you ask, but I think our staff, they go because they know they have a cure. They have a hope. One, the gospel, that people are

going to die without knowing, but then they also can help treat it physically. So that's why they go. But I got to go to one of our training. We train all throughout the year, but for our disaster assistance response team that goes, we do training before they go. And I got to put on the PPE, the protection, you know, gear that they put on. And just putting it on made me realize the depth of what they're going into, right? And even putting it on here in the United States without a threat, I walked through a mock try, you know, a mock situation of what they would face for training. It's hot. It is so hot with that, you know, you put on so many different layers and protection and you're checking yourself. And so they can only stay in a certain amount of time.

They actually put your time stamp on so that you don't overstay because so often they, they don't want to leave because they're in the middle of a patient. And so the thought of putting that on while facing and risking your life is just made it more real to me of what our doctors and water sanitation hygiene staff do. But I want to share a patient story. This just happened the other day. It might take a minute, but I'm going to read it because I don't want to miss any part of this and try to summarize it. So we have two clinics. For people who don't know, we have two clinics set up in the DRC and one of the hardest hit regions. And again, And we're trying to prevent it from spreading, but we're also treating patients.

And so our doctors and we've now, a lot of their local staff have taken this over, which is awesome because then there's not a language barrier. They're able to share the gospel directly. So those clinics are still running. We are saving lives. We are seeing people come to no faith. But let me, let me share this one testimony. This is why we go.

It's like Jesus going after the one, right? We leave the 99 to go after the one. This is a patient story and testimony. It says, as soon as I was admitted. admitted to the Ebola treatment center, I realized this wasn't just an Ebola treatment center. It felt like a church. Several pastors were praying for me at the time. People I didn't know were worried about me and showing me a love that I had never experienced at home. And they told me that it was because Jesus Christ loves me and they were taking such good care of me in every way. They did this

without really knowing who I am or what I've done in life. Yet, in my eyes, given my past, I didn't deserve such kindness. One day, there was a service at the clinic, she says ETC, but it was at the clinic. A man of God was translating into Swahili what the preacher was saying in English. And at the end of the sermon, he continued to speaking to us, asking if there was anyone who wanted to give their life to Jesus Christ. So that evening at the service held at the clinic in response to the call issued by a man of God, I immediately realized that this was an opportunity God was offering me while I was still here on earth. to be forgiven and saved. And this is how I came to believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Patients are coming to Christ. And again, it is the most dehumanizing disease. When you have Ebola, you know, you can't be around people, you know, because it spreads so quickly and so that you're often isolated. But again, in our wards and in our clinics, that is why they put on the PEP. They want to touch their patients. They want to be with them physically. They want to look them in the eyes. And it just reminds me of Elroy, the God who sees, you know, he sees them where they are. And that's why we share the gospel. They're in these clinics for a long time as they're treated. And so it gives us long-term, you know, times to share the gospel. And I think this person had heard the gospel many times, but it was this one time that it penetrated their heart. And so people are coming to know Jesus.

Unfortunately, sometimes people, you know, the patients do succumb to the disease. And that is so horrible. and tragic, and it's hard on our staff to watch death, but they're also watching life. You know, some of these patients are coming to faith in Christ, and so they are not dying. We know where they're going. So that is why they go is for testimonies like this. And, but it is. It's brave. They're running into the fire when most people are running out.

And I see the gospel come alive when I talk with our staff and when I see what they're doing on the ground. It is incredible. It's such a story of hope and redemption. The part that really hit me was that this individual said, I had to come to this Ebola clinic to experience this kind of love. I'm that, oh, my goodness, that just hit my heart so hard that, like, it is an example of how God can use our brokenness and sin for ultimate good. And, of course, if somebody has a theology that says, you believe in Jesus, you'll make this life better here and you won't suffer, then they're not going to be able to make sense of this. If eternal life is real in the way the Bible describes it, then God can use the most horrific

things like the Ebola virus to introduce somebody to living water and to living life. So I love that. I was going to ask you about why the disease is so dehumanizing, but I think you answer that. I think the sense is just that it feels like it's kind of a modern day leprosy, so to speak, where people would be at a distance. A leper would have to cover themselves and shout unclean. and the last thing anybody would do was touch him. And of course, Jesus touches the leper.

And like that's the last thing he had been starved of. And that's what showed him the love and the care of Jesus. And it sounds like the doctors are doing that as well. So I love it, Christy. Let me shift and ask you this question. It's interesting. I got a note, a friend who's a missionary, former delete class, interestingly enough, from Nepal.

in India, the lowest caste system there, and he says this caste system still exists there, sent me a note, and it was interesting to me the connection. And I want to know what you think about this, why charitable giving is so important for even being able to share the gospel and defendant. He said, recently a Hindu parliament member raised a question about a Christian cartoon broadcast and a national television. She highlighted this as if Christians were committing a national crime in trying to encourage conversion in Nepal. However, Christians in Nepal and around the world are helping Nepali flash flood victims and doing their best to support them in whatever way they can. Many international Christian organizations came to support Nepal, and he specifically mentioned Samaritan's purse, bringing a Boeing 767 cargo airplane with over 40 tons of emergency release supplies to Kathmandu in Nepal following the catastrophic flood. He said, I believe they'll remember what Christian communities did Nepal during that hard time. So for me, for somebody who's supporting a missionary there who wants the freedom to be able to do this,

Samaritan's person in some ways is enabling the government to see the good of what we are doing and then maybe be open to the gospel. I'm really curious. I guess my question is kind of, A, what you think about that. And B, do you see this in other places where people have a hard time saying, yeah, we can't lay you in a show the gospel because you're just doing so much good and caring for the people. Yeah, and we are in Nepal. We were there in 2015 when an earthquake hit, and we had a country office for a little while. And so I think we have great Christian church partners there that allowed us and helped

us to get in so quickly. But yeah, I think that's what Bob Pierce, who founded Samarance First, you know, he, one of his tenants and reasons for founding, he said, I want to say yes to things that are so big that it's called the Godroom principle. It leaves room for God. God to move because there are certain countries that we can bureaucratically or whatever, we couldn't get into, right? Because we go in Jesus' name. It's on our airplanes. It's on our, it's everything. We don't hide what we do. We go to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. But because, you know, one of our projects, they say the platform of our work is the, or the quality of our work is a platform of our witness, you know, because we have people that do such quality work, we are able to come in

and bring, yeah, shelter and tarps and hospitals and water sanitation. We can desalinate water to provide. So the quality of our work allows us the access to come in. But again, we're not quiet about what we do. And when the countries that we go into, they see the church loving their neighbor. They say people that, you know, and we've even gone in some countries and say, I thought Christians hated us. You know, they don't.

You know, again, it's just, there are time and time again where I've watched people be baffled, kind of like the Good Samaritan. I thought Samaritans hated dues. No, I have compassion. The Lord has changed me, and so you are my neighbor. And we have gotten to go into cultures and barriers that we shouldn't be allowed to go into. But God gives us the favor. And I think we, I just read First Kings 18, you know, where Elijah, you know, goes before, you know, bail,

and they're going to the altar. And I just love the way that Bail wasn't able to bring the fire, right? They chanted and prayed and cried out. But when Elijah prayed for God to send fire, not only did he water it down, what, multiple times. I mean, in the middle of a drought, they used water, one of the most precious things to water down this altar. It was so wet. It should not have lit on fire. but we serve a God who can light an altar filled with water.

And that is what we see time and time again, where God steps in, he grants us favor, gives us permission, sometimes we'll even be saying yes to something without the permission of a plane to land. Oh, my goodness. We're praying the whole time. I mean, this has happened before where we are praying and we say, we're going in. Or in Venezuela, our staff opened to hospital without the staff that was needed to fill in the next shift. They started their shift without the staff that we didn't have the permission yet to

send this plane. They started the shift because they knew God will provide. These people are dying. We need to serve them. And so they opened the hospital, saved a diabetic that would have died without the medicine. And the staff made it in. We got the permission. So we see time and time again what man meant for evil God will use for his purpose. And we can't thwart his plans, right? His ways are higher. And so we see it in so many different countries. And we give God the glory. And we always, you know, want to say we're in because of God, not because of anything we've done. And so I don't know if I answered your question.

But yes, we are in countries that we shouldn't be. But it again, people's view of Christians change after this. And it's an honor and a joy to see hearts changed. Obviously, the focus of my ministry is a little bit different. but I really try to treat people with dignity, love, and respect in part. So people feel like, wow, Christians don't hate me. They actually love me. And of course, if someone thinks Christians hate them and they have stereotypes about us,

why would they be open to the saving gospel? Because I don't want to be a part of that club. But if you're bringing water to somebody who's thirsty, food to somebody who's hungry, medical care to somebody who's suffering, with a smile and an appropriate touch, and really because you love these people, if that doesn't soften hearts, I don't know what would. And so I love this. I've had so many friends say when there's like, this is an example, the flood years ago in New Orleans,

a pastor that was there. He's like, I talked to people and they're like looking around going there's so many churches coming in here. Like they came right in when there was this flood. That testifies to who Christ is. Tell me this. There's certain barriers and challenges for me doing what I do. But what are the biggest barriers that Samaritan's purse runs up against when just trying to minister to people around the world? Are there certain common challenges that you just consistently have to face?

Yeah, I mean, but they're all man-made, right? Like, all the problems that we come across are man-made. And again, I'm thankful that we serve a God that is above all that. So he breaks down the barriers. A lot of times, there are times, especially Operation Christmas Child season is coming up, right? and we have to get cartons of boxes into over 100 countries. Each country is different. There are barriers.

And so we say all the time, pray that we get the permissions we need. Pray that. And again, like I said earlier, we see time and time again where God moves the mountains. He does excitingly abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. And we give him the honor and the glory. But yes, we hit barriers all the time. And I think, and I'm sure you see it, you know, people get surprised. But I come back to so much of what.

Jesus said, you know, in this world, you will have trouble. You will. But take heart, I have overcome the world. I have the victory. And then I think of Matthew 9, where it says, you, he says, they will hand you over to be persecuted and kill you. He's talking to his disciples. You will be hated by nations because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And some versions say, by your endurance, you will gain your life. And I see this in our staff, in our church partners. I mean, by their endurance, their lives are gained. Sometimes not here on earth. Sometimes persecutions and things happen and it's devastating, but we know where they're going. By their endurance, their lives are saved. And so we see it time and time again. It says,

the good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all the nation, and then the end will come. So in these end times, in these groanings of the world, again, we do see setbacks, persecutions. We see man trying to shut us down. But I love that we serve a God. And as I said, we see it time and time again where a God brings fire to an altar of water. You know, you cannot thwart his plans. And it's exciting to be a part of a ministry and an organization. And that's why here at Samarans Purse, we start every day in staff devotions.

We start in prayer. We read from God's word. And then we pray. We have prayer cards on the table. And so everybody takes one. They're staff members all over the world. And we pray for them by name because we know they can't do the work. that they have ahead of them without Jesus, without God, interceding, fighting their battles.

The battle is not ours. The battle, you know, Ephesian says that. There is an enemy. But we have one that is victorious, right? That's why we have to put on the armor of God. And so we start each day humbly knowing we can't do what we're asked to do today without the Lord. So I don't know that I answered you, but I think we do come into opposition. So I want to encourage people if you're seeing opposition, that doesn't mean you're doing something wrong.

It means that we do live in a fallen, broken world with an enemy on the prowl. And again, the people, I'm so thankful that you bring truth. And truth sometimes is hard to hear. We want to do it with grace and, you know, truth and grace at the same time because God is a God of grace. But he spoke the truth. He brought the truth to the earth and he was hated for it. So if you're hated and you're rejected, you know, you're standing for truth sometimes. times that comes with it. So we're not discouraged when there are opposition or there are barriers. We just

know that if God wants us somewhere, he's going to move mountains. And that's why a lot of, you know, what we do at Smyr's purse, we run off the widows might. You know, we want to run off donations from people that that we can do whatever we want. We don't want grant money. We don't want to be dictated by what we can do. We want to share the gospel. And so we don't want to ever take anything that's going to stop us from what we want to do, which is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so I love it. I love that our staff, they are so devoted to the Lord and humble. And as we see hardship and opposition, we know that, again, it's not our battle. It's the Lord's. Amen to that. I'm sure there's a range of challenges, sometimes legal challenges getting into a country, certainly spiritual challenges, above all.

I mean, some of these countries do not have strong, bold support for the proclamation of the gospel and churches on the ground. And so there's spiritual warfare that's taking place when the gospel comes in there. Financial needs. So my wife and I, like I said, this is something personally that we support consistently. And that's one of the big reasons I wanted to have you on. Friends, listening to this episode of the Sean McDowell podcast. I would love to know what you think. This is different than the typical interview.

that I do. I'd love to know if you think, you know what? Do some more interviews on like, what's a connection between apologetics and prayer? Is there a connection between apologetics and the spiritual disciplines? I'd love to know what you think about this episode and if there's other kind of connections that you want me to make. Since you're probably listening to this because you care about apologetics, you can send me a note at probably the best place would be questions at shonmcdow.org. Questions at shonmcdow.org. And my team will make sure that it gets to me You can't promise I will respond to all of them because of my own human limitations, but my team will look at all of them and really eager for your feedback. Make sure you hit subscribe to the Sean McDowell podcast and subscribe to On the Ground from Samaritan's Purse while you're at it.

Christy, thanks for coming on. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you so much for having. It was a joy. Appreciate what you do. Thank you. Hey, friends. If you enjoyed this show, please hit that follow button.

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