- [Gordon] A singerwho can no longer sing.

- This is borderline stage four cancer.

We're gonna remove most of your tongue.

- [Gordon] And a preacherwho can no longer preach.

- I just started crying.

And I'm like I can't do this.

- [Gordon] Is ready to end it all.

- I remember typing in Google

easy ways to die.

Easy ways to die 'causeI'm tired of the pain.

- [Gordon] Hear how asong released his miracle.

- All of a sudden in that moment

I just felt like apresence enter the room.

- On today's 700 Club Interactive.

Well welcome to the show.

If anyone has an excuse to stop singing

it's pastor Jason David.

In 2017, after a yearlong battle with cancer,

the young pastor had lost

most of his tongue.

- But that didn't stophim from singing a song

in front of his church.

And that video went viral,

reaching over four million people.

Here is Jason David,

and his wife Alyson,

for the first time sharing

about the night cancer almost killed him,

and the amazing comeback

that led to the viral hit These Walls.

- It was this reallyexciting moment in my life.

We were getting this new job,

this new church family, new city.

But while this is happening,

as I get the new job,

my tongue is like swelling.

There was this thing on my tongue.

It was affecting my speech.

It was affecting me being able to eat.

They do a biopsy,

and that's when I find out,

two weeks into this new job,

this new season of life,

you have cancer.

And my first responsewas that's not my story.

I have friends,

and that's their story,

I have family membersand that was their story.

This is not how my story goes.

My body like shuts down.

All of a sudden my hip,

it feels like my hip is broken.

It's in so much pain.

The next morning, I'mtrying to take a shower,

and as I get out of the shower,

my body just collapsed to the ground

and I'm shaking on the ground,

and I just start screaming.

And my wife runs over to see what's wrong,

and my body's just convulsing.

I don't know how to explain it.

- [Woman] Doctors discoveredthat the stage three

cancer in Jason's tongue

was secreting a chemical

that was poisoning himfrom the inside out.

His 13 day hospital stay

included a trip to the operating room.

- So they drill a hole in my hip.

Now I'm in a wheelchair,

with cancer in my mouth.

So then they do the first surgery.

And they open me up from ear to ear,

and they begin to remove half

of my lymph nodes.

And they remove 20% of my tongue,

believing that they'llget all the cancer out.

It's over.

Now I'm gonna come, I'mgoing to that promised land.

I'm gonna be the pastorGod called me to be.

All of a sudden, at the end of June,

my tongue, that samething is on my tongue.

And there was a doctor who looks at it,

and he says I don't know what to tell you,

but the cancer came back.

It came back more aggressive,

it's spreading quicker,

it's already spread to your neck.

It didn't spread this fast last time.

This is borderline stage four cancer.

We have to operate.

We're gonna remove most of your tongue.

To reconstruct your tongue,

we're going to take a chunk of your arm,

we're gonna form a tongue in your mouth.

Oh, and your leg, we'regonna have to take the skin

from your leg,

we're gonna put that on your arm.

Now I'm a piano player,

so he's like you're not gonna

be able to use your arm for a while.

I'm a singer and a speaker,

and he says you're notgonna talk the same.

He kept talking,

and I literally stopped listening,

and I just start crying.

And I felt so unprofessional.

I didn't feel like an adult,like a man in that moment

'cause I'm just sittingin the chair weeping

as the doctor's just telling me

what's going to happen.

And I'm like I can't do this.

- He looked just like he had gotten out

of warfare.

He was just all bandagedup and everything.

He looked like he had taken

a pretty hard hit.

- I'm feeling like I need to throw up,

but I can't throw up

because my tongue is so swollen.

I'm lying in the bathroom,

I'm lying on the groundcovered in my own waste,

and I'm throwing up,

I've got mucous pouring out of my neck,

blood coming out of my mouth,

and I am screaming in pain.

All I know is simple math,

the pain is too much,

the only way to end the pain is to die.

I remember typing it in Google,

easy ways to die.

Easy ways to die

'cause I'm tired of the pain.

So if I'm gonna kill myself,

I don't want it to hurt.

- He was just in a persistent pain.

Usually he can say hi,

or usually he can smile.

But he couldn't do any of those things.

- She begins to do something

that she rarely ever does.

She begins to sing.

She begins to sing over me.

- I was fighting the worry.

I was fighting the anxiety.

I was fighting the fear that the doctors

weren't gonna be right again.

But I just kept on choosingto just worship God,

and knowing that everythingwas gonna be okay.

- And all of a sudden in that moment

I just felt like a presencejust enter the room.

And it was like,

it was like if peace was a person,

he entered that room in that moment,

and I just began to drift off to sleep

for the first time in three days.

I woke up the next day,

and I started telling myselfI'm not going to give up.

- [Woman] It was Easter Sunday.

Jason's pastor came tothe house beforehand

and asked if he was well enough to stand

before the church congregation.

- And I remember, as soonas I walked on the stage,

and Pastor Jeff hadn't warnedthem that I was coming,

I remember the wholeplace stood to their feet

and I felt what it felt like

to be part of a familywho will walk with you

through any journey in life,

a family that will love you

even when you've done nothing for them.

After many painful surgeries

the cancer came back,

I had to do more surgeries,

chemotherapy, radiation.

They told me you might not sing again,

you might not even speak again.

But I'm here today,

I'm standing, I'm walking, I'm jumping.

(congregation applause)

And now I get to sing and speakabout the goodness of God.

♪ You are greater ♪

♪ Than these walls I'm circling ♪

♪ You are stronger ♪

♪ Then this army that I see ♪

♪ You are bigger ♪

After two days, it's got 200,000 views.

I'm like oh that's so cool,

wow, people are being blessed by it.

A week later it hits a million views.

And (mumbles) feeling of like wait,

what's happening?

All of a sudden we had people from Korea

who fly to California to visit our church

to see what is happening here.

All of a sudden I got people in Sweden,

in Australia, in theUK who are messaging us

and saying hey, I have tongue cancer too.

Other people are saying I stooped painting

because of my illness,

I stopped dancing because of my disease,

I stopped singing because

the first time I heardmyself sing in the shower

I broke down crying

because of the tongue cancer.

But when I saw your story I decided

I want my own comeback story.

I don't like the false narrative

that every,

you have to look back at your life

and be like oh it's okay,

'cause it wasn't okay.

What happened to Jesus wasn't okay.

Him being nailed to a cross,

being tortured was not okay.

But it's about Jesus taking the things

in your life that are not okay,

they represent death and darkness

and despair and hopelessness,

and him saying watchthe ultimate comeback.

I can redeem it.

I can bring what was dead back to life.

And now I look back andsee what a comeback.

Like he did it and he gets all the glory.

And the only thing Ican do is never give up.

♪ This is my song ♪

♪ This is my dare ♪

♪ To worship you ♪

♪ Even as these walls are standing there ♪

- What an amazing story.

Amazing story of deliverance.

Here he is, the brink of despair.

To say I'm gonna type into Google

what are the easiest ways to die?

I don't wanna experience this pain.

I don't wanna go through this anymore.

I'm tired of being this.

And I need to get released.

And then a miracle happened.

And the miracle starts with a song.

Where his wife, she's so precious,

she doesn't know what to do.

And who does in this situation?

Who does know what to do?

But she says I'm going to start singing.

And in that you unlock this wonderful,

spiritual truth.

You find it in Zephaniah,

in the third chapter.

He sings songs of deliverance over us.

And when we join with that song,

we unite with him,

and then his presence invades us.

And can cancer survive the presence

of the Lord?

The answer is no.

And the key, it's always the key,

we approach him with songs

of salvation, songs of thanksgiving,

songs of deliverance

because he inhabits thepraises of his people.

Keep that in mind.

He inhabits your praise.

Is it okay to complain?

Yeah.

Can you pour out yourcompliant before him?

Jason did that.

This isn't the life I wanna lead.

This isn't my story.

But it became God's story.

And he didn't die, he lived.

And he declared the glory of the Lord

in the assembly of that church,

and that's a huge promise,

you'll find it in Psalm 118.

No matter what you'regoing through right now,

here's a verse for you.

This is the day the Lord has made,

I will rejoice and be glad in it.

Now can you do that right now?

And then in doing that,

Terry and I are going to agree with you.

And we're going to agree that God

would stretch forth his hand

and do a miracle in your life.

We're going to thank himin advance of the miracle.

We're going to praisehim in advance of it.

And let's see what God will do.

Let's pray.

Lord we just lift those.

We lift everyone who has chronic pain

and chronic disease.

Going through the mostterrible circumstances.

We come into agreement with them,

and we declare over them

this is the day the Lord has made,

we will rejoice and be glad in it.

We rejoice in theresurrection that is to come.

We rejoice in the healing.

We rejoice in the deliverance.

We rejoice in the freedomthat you have given us.

And so with that freedom wechoose right now to praise.

We praise you for who you are,

for you are the healer.

You are the deliverer.

You are the one who has borne away

all our sin, all our transgression,

all of our pain, all of our infirmary.

You've taken it all.

And if you have taken it,

we don't have to take it anymore.

So we leave it here atthe foot of the cross,

we leave it.

And we rejoice over whatyou have already done,

the sacrifice you have already made.

For by your stripes I am healed.

And I'll receive it now in Jesus' name.

There's someone you've been diagnosed

with stage three lung cancer.

There's a lump and it's apain in your right lung,

God is healing you.

He is destroying that cancer now.

That pain is leaving you now.

There will be no more cancercells left in your body.

It's not reproducing more, it's leaving.

In Jesus' name, behealed and he made whole.

Terry.

- There's someone, your name is Steward

and you too have had avery drastic diagnosis,

and it has really thrown you.

You are so used to being ableto control your circumstances,

and you feel this kind

of anxious rush inside of you.

You don't know what to do.

In your weakness Steward he is strong.

Let it go, take three deep breaths.

Rest in the Lord.

Watch what he will do.

- There's someone saying please say

mouth cancer, tongue cancer.

You've got that.

You're blaming yourself

because it comes from chewing tobacco,

and God is just released you from it.

You don't have to blame yourself.

You don't have to haveguilt and shame anymore.

Just rejoice in what he'sgiving you right now.

Open your mouth and let the Lord fill it

with his goodness.

Begin to praise him for themiracle he's doing for you.

Right now he's taking awayall cancer in Jesus' name.

Everything on the left side,

in the lower jaw leaving you right now.

In the name of Jesus.

Everything on your tongueleaving you right now.

In Jesus' name.

Be healed and he made whole.

Lord, we just thank you.

We thank you for who you are.

Your very name is healer.

Your very name is salvation.

Your very name is restoration.

Your very name is comfort.

And we thank you for who you are

and for what you have done.

We receive it now in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And amen.

If you've been healed, let us know.

Send in your good report by calling us.

Call us, 1-800-700-7000.

If you need prayer we're here for you

24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And it's our honor to pray with you.

And we believe in prevailing prayer,

the prayer that gets an answer.

So if that's you, you wantprayer, call us, 1-800-700-7000.

Terry.

- Well we Anna thank our friends

at Bonita valley Community Church

in Bonita Valley, California,

for sharing Pastor JasonDavid's story with us.

And now coming up, the millennial pastor

who uses social media as his pulpit.

And he's reaching aroundfive million people a month.

- I wanna minister topeople right where they are,

through social media,through the internet,

through Google and these things.

And so it's just an opportunity

and a place to communicate.

- Matt Brown shares how he's trying

to change the online landscape,

so don't go away.

(upbeat music)

Today's political divide mirrors

another growing gap in America,

the dramatic rise

of younger people whoclaim no religion at all.

John Jessup introduces us

to one millennial evangelist

who says the key to healing the division

lies in two gospel ideas, truth plus love.

- Matt Brown may not bea common household name

like other more well knownChristian Evangelists,

yet his influence after17 years of ministry

is undeniable, sending him hop scotching

or broadcasting across the country,

reaching millions of people daily

with the message of the gospel.

- Hey, I'm Matt,

and I think that we'dall agree that this world

is full of bad news.

- [John] As a young influencer

with a large social following,

Matt Brown laughs at how heonce resisted technology.

- I was slow to get a cell phone.

I was slow to get a computer.

I was slow to get on social media.

- [John] Then he learnedhow those same technologies

could serve as a pulpit.

- I was an evangelist,

so I was waiting on pastors

to have me come in and preach.

And so I was like Idon't need to wait here,

I can just write, I can just minster.

- [John] While he frequentlyspeaks at conferences

and churches, and even TV shows,

Brown reaches around fivemillion people a month

through his onlineministry Think Eternity,

helping others each year to accept Jesus

as their savior.

- It's been said thatcomplaining about God

being silent when your Bible is closed

is like complaining aboutnot getting text messages

when your phone is turned off.

I wanna minister to peopleright where they are,

through social media,through the internet,

through Google and these things.

And so it's just an opportunity

and a place to communicate.

- [John] But Matt also noticedsomething that disturbed him,

people behaving poorly on social media,

including Christians,

especially when conversationsturned political.

- I'm not telling people that they should

engage politics or otherthings any certain way.

There's different throughs about that,

but we gotta be carefulabout how we disagree,

who we call intolerant.

- [John] It's a topic he discusses

in a new book, Truth Plus Love.

Growing up in a Christian home,

he measured spiritual maturity

by how often he prayed

or studies the Bible.

Now he says it's about something deeper,

the fruit of the spirit.

- You can be passionateabout the word of God

and miss all the scripturesabout being compassionate

and being kind.

There's so many.

Be gentle, bear with each other.

Keep the unity.

This is why I'm sopassionate about this message

and wanted to write True Plus Love.

- [John] Matt says asChristian ambassadors,

believers need to modelboth in a balanced way.

He believes failing to do so

may be one factor turningothers away from religion.

Today, about one in four Americans

claim no religions affiliation.

And that number ishigher among millennials.

Young adults are morethan three times as likely

to identify as religiouslyunaffiliated as seniors.

- Lying is not the path of salvation.

- [John] Many feel turned off

by a view of Christianityseemingly defined

by politics or hot button issues.

- This world is full of bad news.

I mean we get it every day on our phones,

we get it on our socials.

- [John] Matt's on a mission

to redeem the social media landscape,

urging Christians tobe good online stewards

and model Christ-like truth

and love rather than sound off with anger

or try to win arguments.

- When we stop for a second,

we go is this loving?

Is this joyful?

Is this kind?

Is it gentle?

Am I exhibiting self control?

If you think about someone who has a lot

of love and a lot of joy,

and a lot of peace,

I mean who does not wantto be around that person?

I've never met an encourager

who doesn't have a lot of friends.

So I think God calls us to this.

And so as we do that,

it will make us moreeffective for his kingdom.

More effective in our lives in general.

- [John] His wife, Michelle,

sees that as the key to Matt's ministry.

- He's encouraging,

and there's not many people

that are authentically encouraging,

and that would be my two words for him,

that he's authentic and encouraging.

What you see is the real deal.

- [John] His effort toreclaim social media

collects him with other partners,

big and small,

and in some cases totally unexpected,

like last year when Facebook

of all places invited Matt

to host a summit of Christiansocial media influencers.

- And that was a really interesting

gathering of church leaders.

There were about 80 of us.

We actually got to worship

and pray in one of the meeting rooms there

at one point with some

of the employees.

- [John] For Matt, this redemption goal

means pouring into youngevangelical leaders,

helping many to grow their influence

and sign book deals.

- I've learned to just enjoythe generosity through that,

to open doors for young leaders,

to try to be a blessing to them,

to not try to seek to get something

or build or ministry through them,

but to build them.

- Whether using his influencethrough social media,

his podcast or as an author,

Matt Brown says he remains committed

to helping people thinkfrom an eternal perspective,

extending the truth, love, joy

and grace of Jesus Christ

to a hungry and hurting world.

John Jessup, CBN News,

reporting in Orange County, California.

- Truth, love, joy and grace,

the world has never needed it more.

Great job, Matt.

Well still ahead,

it's something your pastor may not know,

but it could save your church.

Find out more after this.

(upbeat music)

- You probably never think

of the church you attend as a business

and your pastor probably doesn't either,

and that could lead to big problems

for your church.

Take a look.

- [Woman] Most pastors saythey entered the ministry

to help people

and to preach the word of God.

But the reality is up to 90%

of a pastor's time is spent

on things that have nothing to do

with those noble goals.

Instead, they spend their time

caught up in the businessof running a church.

Stephen Lentz, a pastorwho's also a lawyer,

says the average pastor

is ill-equipped to handle the pressures

and responsibilities of running a church,

and that's why many of them fail.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Lentz offers a practical guide for pastors

in his book The Business of Church

The Concise Business Handbook For Pastors.

- Well Stephen Lentz joins us now,

and let's get right to it.

Pastors, and I would saymany in the congregation,

don't know how to reallyrun the church as an entity.

I'll avoid the word business,

but just how do you run it as an entity.

- Right.

- Why is that?

- Well, first of all let me just mention

this is a handbook.

My publisher, he said Steve,

this book needs to be bigger.

I said you don't understand my audience<

this is written for pastors.

- That's one of thethings I love about it.

- This is your home forpastors and for church leaders.

- It's thin.

- Yeah.

- Easy to get through.

- Yeah.

We're hoping to work with you

and Regent and some other colleges

to create a text book

called The Business of Church

to be carried in the seminaries

and the different schools.

But the reason this is important

is because even a small church

has all the moving parts

of any other corporation.

And so it has budgeting,

it has accountability,

it has reporting,

it has compliance issues.

It has employment issues.

It is a business.

And so the research that we've shown

from pastors who have burned out,

invariably they say they get involved

to be called pastors because

they want to preach the Bible

and they want to help people.

But 90% of their actual work,

their core responsibility is business,

and they're not trained.

So the idea of this particular handbook

was to give them at least touch points,

to say these are areasthat really matter to you.

And if you don't understand them,

find somebody to help you.

But you have to address certain issues,

like hiring the board.

Who's on your board of directors?

It's not your golfing buddies.

It's not your recreational buddies.

These are fiduciarieswith responsibilities

and liabilities.

And so you have to addressthe legal components

of what's going on.

- Well one of the thingsyou put into the book

that I find very interesting

is that churches really need

to put on the whole armor of God.

Why is that so,

that's a very spiritual term,

but you're saying we need the whole armor

of God on the church

and take advantage of thearmor that's available.

Why is that so important today?

- It's a great question.

You know we live in Tidewater, Virginia,

the largest military presence,

at least on the Eastern seaboard,

if not in the entire United States.

It's not tough for us to be able

to see a picture of a solider decked out

in all of the equipment,

realizing that everypiece of that equipment

was designed not onlyto help them survive,

but also win the battle.

But the church is famous for selecting

pieces and leaving the rest on the shelf.

So in our world here in Tidewater

it would be absurd for one

of our special ops guys to say

well I don't wanna wearthe night vision goggles

because the color green makes me nauseous,

or I don't wanna wear the Kevlar vest.

- He wouldn't get through,

I'm sorry, he'd be cut first day.

- I don't wanna wear the Kevlar vest

because it's restrictive.

Obviously they're gonna put everything on.

So there's a chapter in the book

that says it's not unspiritual

to know your legal rights.

We're using Paul, in the book of Acts,

when he was about ready to be beaten.

And he turned over his shoulder

and he said to his jailer

you know I am a Roma citizen.

And that basically led to theentire moment being shutdown.

It extended his ministry becausehe knew his legal rights.

And I believe in America today, Gordon,

we're living in a period of extension.

God wants the church to take ground.

We have the first Amendment.

We have the ability to take ground,

but we have to do it ina wise, intentional way,

which includes knowing our legal rights.

It's never been more important

for the churches to address this.

- Yeah and know the forums where you can

really express your legal rights.

I think many churchesdon't want to appeal.

I'll use another example.

Paul appealed to Caesar.

- I was gonna mention that, yep.

- He was getting ready to win the trial,

but he says no, God has anappointment for me in Rome,

and so he appealed to Cesar.

And with that some reallygreat things happened.

- Chose his forum.

- Choose wisely, get that whole armor on.

- That's correct.

- And if you're a church pastor

or leader you need this book,

it's called Business of Church,

it's available on Amazon.

And Steve, thanks for being with us.

- Thanks brother, it's good to see you.

- Here's a word from Ephesians.

Put on all of God's armorso that you will be able

to stand firm against the strategies,

all the strategies of the devil.

God bless, we'll see you again.