- [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.

- And I just start crying andI'm like, "I can't do this".

- [Gordon] Is ready to end it all.

- I remember typing it inGoogle, "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 inthat moment I just felt

like a presence just 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 year-longbattle with cancer,

the young pastor hadlost 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, Allison,

for the first time sharing about the night

cancer almost killed himand 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's this thing on my tongue,it was affecting my speech,

it was affecting me being able to eat.

They do a biopsy andthat'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 shuts down.

All of a sudden it feelslike 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 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.

- [Reporter] Doctors discoverthat 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

an they open me up from ear to ear

and they begin to removehalf of my lymph nodes,

and they remove 20% of my tongue

believing that they wouldget all the cancer out.

It's over, now I'm gonna come,

I'm going 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.

I remember the doctor,he looks at and he says,

"I don't know what to tellyou, 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 fourcancer, 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're gonna have to

"take the skin from your leg,

"we're gonna put that on your arm."

I'm like, what?

Now, I'm a piano player, so it's like

you're gonna be able touse your arm for a while.

I'm a singer and a speaker, and he says,

"You're not gonna talk the same."

He kept talking, and Iliterally 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 sitting

in the chair weeping as the doctor

is just telling me what's gonna happen,

and I'm like, I can't do this.

(slow somber music)

- He looked just like hehad gotten out of warfare,

like he just was allbandaged up and everything,

and he looked like he hadtaken a pretty hard hit.

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

but I can't throw up becausemy tongue is so swollen.

I'm laying in the bathroom,

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

and I'm throwing up, I've gotmucus 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 inGoogle, "Easy ways to die."

Easy ways to die 'causeI'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 somethingthat 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 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 andI started telling myself,

I'm not going to give up.

- [Reporter] 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 liketo be a part of a family

who will walk with youthrough 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 some more surgeries,chemotherapy, radiation,

and they told me, "Youmight not sing again,

"you might not even speak again."

But I'm here today, I'm standing,I'm walking, I'm jumping.

(congregation applauding)(congregation cheering)

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

♪ You are greater thanthese walls I'm circling ♪

♪ You are stronger thanthis 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 we're kind of just thinking like,

wait, what's happening?

All of a sudden, wehave people from Korea,

who fly to California to visit our church

to see what is happening here.

Also, I got people in Sweden,in Australia, in the UK,

who are messaging us and saying,

"Hey, I have tongue cancer too."

Other people say, "I stoppedpainting because of my illness,

"I stopped dancing because of my disease,

"I stopped singing because the first time

"I heard myself sing in the shower

"I broke down crying becauseof 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

you have to look back atyour life and be like,

"Oh it's okay," 'cause it wasn't okay.

What happened to Jesus was not okay.

Him being nailed to a cross,being tortured, was not okay,

but it's about Jesus takingthe things in your life

that are not okay, they represent death,

and darkness, anddespair, and hopelessness,

and Him saying, watch forthe ultimate comeback.

I can redeem it, I can bringwhat was dead back to life.

And now I look back andI see, what a comeback.

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 thesewalls are standing there ♪

(congregation applauding)(congregation cheering)

- 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 thisand I need to get released.

Then a miracle happened, andthe 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 thiswonderful spiritual truth.

You find it in Zephaniah,in the third chapter.

He sings songs of deliverance over us,

and when we join with thatsong, we unite with Him,

and then His presence invades us.

And can cancer survivethe presence of the Lord?

The answer's 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, Heinhabits your praise.

Is it okay to complain?

Yeah, can you pour outyour complaint before him?

Jason did that.

This isn't the life I wannalead, 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 handand do a miracle in your life.

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

We're going to praise Him in advance of it

and let's see what God will do.

Let's pray.

Lord, we just lift those,

we lift everyone who haschronic pain, 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, werejoice 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 hasborne away all our sin,

all our transgression, all of our pain,

all of our infirmity, You've taken it all.

And if You have taken it, wedon't have to take it anymore.

So we leave it here, at thefoot 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 receive it now in Jesus' name.

There's someone, you've been diagnosed

with stage three lungcancer, there's a lump,

and it's a pain 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 reproducinganymore, it's leaving.

In Jesus' name be healedand be made whole.

Terry.- There's someone,

your name is Stewart,

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 justanxious rush inside of you,

you don't know what to do.

In your weakness, Stewart, 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 has 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 theLord fill it with His goodness,

begin to praise Him for the miracle

He's doing for you right now.

He's taking away allcancer in Jesus' name.

Everything on the leftside and the lower jaw

leaving you right nowin the name of Jesus.

Everything on your tongueleaving you right now.

In Jesus' name be healed,and be 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 Youare 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 wanna thank our friends atBonita 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 opportunityand a place to communicate.

- Matt Brown shares how he's trying

to change the onlinelandscape, so don't go away.

(upbeat music)

Today's political divide mirrors

another growing gap in America,

the dramatic rise of younger people

who claim no religion at all.

John Jessup introduces usto 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 after 17years of ministry is undeniable.

Sending him hopscotching orbroadcasting across the country

reaching millions of people daily

with message of the Gospel.

- Hey, I'm Matt, and Ithink that we'd all 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 cellphone,

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, soI 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 minister.

- [John] While he frequently speaks

at conferences andchurches, and even TV shows,

Brown reaches around fivemillion people a month

through his onlineministry, "think eternity",

helping hundreds each year toaccept Jesus as their savior.

- It's been said that complaining

about God being silentwhen your Bible is closed

is like complaining aboutnot getting text messages

when you're 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 opportunityand 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 thatthey should engage politics

or other things any certain way,

there's different thoughts about that,

but we gotta be carefulabout how we disagree,

who we call intolerant.

- [John] It's a topic hediscusses in a new book,

"Truth Plus Love."

Growing up in a Christian home

he measured spiritual maturity

by how often he prayedor studied 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, 'cause there's so many.

Be gentle, bear with eachother, keep the unity.

This is why I'm so passionate

about this message I wantedto write "Truth Plus Love.

- [John] Matt says asChristian ambassadors

believers need to modelboth in a balanced way.

He believes failing todo so may be one factor

turning others away from religion.

Today about one in four Americans

claim no religious 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 turnedoff by a view of Christianity

seemingly defined by politicsor 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 social.

- [John] Matt's on a mission to redeem

the social media landscape

urging Christians to begood online stewards,

and model a Christ-like truth and love,

rather than sound off withanger or try to win arguments.

- If we stop for a secondand we go, is this loving,

is this joyful, is thiskind, is it gentle?

Am I exhibiting self-control?

If you think about someonewho 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 tothis and so as we do that,

it will make us moreaffective 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 andthere'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

connects him with otherpartners, big and small,

and in some cases, totally unexpected.

Like last year whenFacebook, of all places,

invited Matt to host a summit

of Christian social media influencers.

- And that was just areally interesting gathering

of church leaders, therewas about 80 of us.

We actually got to worship and pray

in one of the meetingrooms there at one point

with some of the employees.

- [John] For Matt, this redemption goal

means pouring into youngEvangelical leaders,

helping many to grow theirinfluence and sign book deals.

- I've learned just the joyof generosity through that,

to open doors for young leaders,

to try to be a blessing to 'em,

and not try to seek to get something,

or build our ministry throughthem, 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 somethingyour pastor may not know

but it could save you 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 bigproblems for your church.

Take a look.

- [Reporter] Most pastorssay they entered the ministry

to help people and topreach the Word of God.

But the reality is up to90% 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 business of running a church.

Steven Lentz, a pastorwho's also a lawyer,

says the average pastor is ill-equipped

to handle the pressuresand 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 BusinessHandbook for Pastors."

- Well Steven 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 mejust mention, this is a handbook

and my publisher, he said,

"Steve this books needs to be bigger."

I said, "You don't understand my audience.

"This is written for pastors."- That's one of the things

I love about it, it's thin.- This is for pastors--

- I'll hold it up and show you,

it's thin.- And for church leaders.

- It's easy to get through.

- We're hoping to work with you,

and Regent, and some other colleges

to actually create a textbook called,

"The Business of Church," tobe carried in the seminaries

and in the different schools.

But the reason this isimportant is because

even a small church hasall the moving parts

of any other corporation.

And so it has budgeting,it has accountability,

it has reporting, ithas compliance issues,

it has employmentissues, it is a business,

and so the research that we've shown

from pastors who haveburned out, invariably,

they say they get involvedto be called pastors

'cause 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, touchpoints,

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'son your board of directors?

It's not your golfing buddies,

it's not your recreational buddies,

these are fiduciarieswith responsibilities,

and liabilities, andso you have to address

the legal components of what's going on.

- One of the things you put into the book

that I find very interesting

is that the churches really need to put on

the whole armor of God.

Why is that so important?

That's a very spiritual term,

but you're saying we needthe whole armor of God

on the church, and takeadvantage of the armor

that's available, why isthat so important today?

- That'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 tobe able to see a picture

of a soldier decked outin all of the equipment

realizing that every piece ofthat equipment was designed,

not only to help him survive,but also win the battle.

But the church is famousfor selecting pieces

and leaving the rest on the shelf.

So in our world, here in Tidewater,

it'd be absurd for one ofour Special Ops guys to say,

"Well I don't wanna wearthe night-vision goggles

"because the color greenmakes me nauseous."

Or, "I don't wanna wear the Kevlar vest."

- You 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.

And so there's a chapterin the book that says

it's not unspiritual toknow 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 Roman citizen,"

and that basically led to theentire moment being shut down,

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 reallyexpress 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.

- He was getting ready to win the trial,

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

and so he appealed to Caesar,

and with that some reallygreat things happened.

- He chose his forum.

- Yeah, you 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, "The 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 againstall the strategies",

all the strategies, "Of the devil."

God bless you, we'll see you again.

(upbeat music)