Archives: Episode

March 27. Art Hallett. Musician, songwriter, software engineer, worship leader, teacher, preacher—all these words describe Art. 

He currently serves as Director of Prison Ministries for Evangelism Explosion International (EEPM). He also founded Hallett Prison Ministries and speaks at churches across the country and internationally. 

On this date in 1984, Art became a member of the Sarasota Baptist Church—where he has faithfully served as a commissioned missionary. Here is his story. 

Sometimes we’re set up to sit down, to be set free, to answer the hard question. 

The music in the club made it hard to hear anything. Seventeen-year-old Art had to ask the two pretty girls to repeat their question. 

“Do you want to come home with us?” they yelled louder. 

He couldn’t believe it! It must be true what they say about girls swooning over any guy in a uniform. He had joined the Army just a month before, and this was happening? 

“Sure thing, I will!” Art grabbed a girl with each arm. 

They piled into a Volkswagen and drove to a house. 

Art was surprised When a young man opened, the front door, Art was surprised to see him. But the man seemed to be expecting them. He greeted Art and introduced himself as a youth pastor. 

Before long, Art realized this was some sort of religious setup. The girls brought unsuspecting Army recruits over to the house, and their youth pastor delivered a gospel presentation. 

Slick, thought Art. 

The youth pastor asked Art to sit down. He shrugged and sat. He felt comfortable enough in religious meetings. He could deal with this and hang out with the girls later. 

But the youth pastor seemed more interested in a conversation with Art than preaching a sermon. He brought up some hard questions, and it forced Art to think. 

“Why would God let you into heaven when you die?” the youth pastor asked. “Who is Jesus to you?” 

The man talked about how God loved Art, that God wanted a relationship with him, that God would change his life. 

Art was really listening to the man now. This was different from anything Art had heard before. 

Turning to the girls on the couch, Art asked, “Hey, I have a question now. How come you picked me?” 

There had been lots of guys at the club that night—better looking guys, others who would have been safer to get into a car with. 

Guys who would have treated the girls with a little more respect, Art thought, feeling ashamed. 

One of them answered, “We just asked God to show us who He wanted.” 

Art blinked away sudden tears. God had set up this whole thing? For him! 

Art went back to the base eager to share the good news of his faith with his buddies. But their reactions stung him. 

“Ha! You’re one of those holy rollers now!” 

“Religious freak!” 

Art didn’t know any Christians. He didn’t even own a Bible. 

Throughout the years that followed, Art made small compromises until he had pushed his relationship with God almost out of his life. 

“I had all the bells and whistles—a high-power job, money, cars … and a whole lot of conviction!” he said. “God just wouldn’t let me go. He kept sending people into my life to point me back to Him.” 

At work one day, when Art’s colleague Derek invited him to a church meeting, Art said, “Sure. Why not?” 

Art drove to the church, bringing along his beautiful girlfriend Jill. He was looking forward to some good gospel music. 

It was hot and muggy that evening, and the fans inside the church weren’t doing much. 

The music ended, and a man on the stage was speaking; but Art could only hear the questions God was asking his heart. 

“Do you remember My love for you? Will you follow Me?” 

Art had been AWOL long enough from the life God had for him. Smiling in defeat, Art said, “I’m yours, God.” 

Surrounded by mentors from Dereck’s church, Art’s faith in the God who loved him grew strong. Now, Art is active guiding others to Jesus—those new to faith and those who need to be brought back. 

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him” (2 Corinthians 5:18 NLT). 

Are you as close to God as you need to be? Sometimes we’re set up to sit down, to be set free, to answer the hard question. 

“Arthur Hallett.” EE Prison Ministries. Accessed September 3, 2020. https://eepm.eeprisonministry.com/what-is-eepm/28-arthur-hallett. 

Story based on an interview with Art Hallett on August 2, 2019. 

Story read by Nathan Walker 

March 25. Thomas Clarkson. Clarkson was headed for a promising church career. The son of a British clergyman and teacher, he entered Cambridge University to prepare for ministry. While there, he wrote an essay against slavery that changed not only his life, but the lives of countless others. 

Clarkson worked with William Wilberforce, the British abolitionist, to gather evidence against slavery. Their tireless work over the course of 20 years paid off. On this date in 1807, Parliament passed the Slave Trade Abolition Act. That act paved the way for the complete abolition of slavery in the British empire in 1833. This is today’s story. 

Recognizing a need is often God’s call for us to do something. 

Clarkson was twenty-four-years old when he won a writing contest on an essay that explored whether it was lawful to buy and sell human beings. 

After he accepted the award, on the road back to London, he couldn’t stop thinking about the greed and the arrogance and the lack of respect for humanity that drove people to kidnap and sell other people. 

He had entered the writing competition to get attention, but his research changed his life. How could it be right to “own” fellow beings—each of us created by the same all-powerful God? ^⁠ 

Something had to be done. Now. 

He thought more and more about the horror of being ripped away from your parents, from the life you knew, crammed into the rat-infested hold of a ship for weeks at a time, and taken on a dangerous journey. 

Slaveholders could afford to let a lot of their cargo die; they had a terrific markup. The man or woman or girl or boy got dumped in an unfamiliar land and became another person’s property to use any way he wanted. 

He recoiled from the brutality of slavery and felt driven to see enslaved people everywhere set free. He wanted the evil business stopped. 

Clarkson got so agitated about the atrocities being done to human beings, he had to stop, dismount, and pace. Finally, grief overtook him. 

“I sat down disconsolate on the turf by the road-side,” he wrote, “and here it forcibly occurred to me that something should be done to put an end to such cruelties.” ^⁠ 

Someone needed to do something—he was sure about that. But he had heard little public discussion about the evils of slavery. Nobody talked about it. He mounted his horse and continued his journey, no closer to a solution than before. 

Weeks passed, and still Clarkson couldn’t shake the desire for somebody to step up and take on the cause. 

The thought of doing something himself had crossed his mind, but he was only twenty-four. What could he do? Yet the moral question swirled in his mind: how could a Christian nation allow such horrors to continue? 

The public had to be told, had to be educated. Perhaps his essay could do that small thing.^⁠ 

That November, 1785, Clarkson translated his essay from Latin to English. He added information he had learned since writing it, and he tried to write in a way that would impress the reader with the need to do something. 

From this moment forward, he dedicated his life to eradicating slavery in Great Britain. He wrote books and smaller works to educate people about what human beings were doing to human beings. And he got the plan of a slave-ship named Brookes and hired someone to draw an image of how the slaves were packed in. Depending on weather, the voyage could last six-to-thirteen weeks. Clarkson published the drawing and took copies of it with him when he spoke in public. 

For 61 years—from the day of his commitment to the day of his death—he spent his money, his time, and his health on behalf of enslaved people. He travelled a total of about 45,000 miles to spread the word and to build and encourage a network of anti-slavery societies—people ready to do something about the evil. Together they delivered 777 petitions to Parliament and demanded the end of the slave trade. 

In 1807, Parliament outlawed the slave trade^⁠. In 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act ended slavery altogether in Great Britain. ^⁠ 

“I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4 NASB). 

What issues grieve and consume you? Is God calling you to a first step to deal with that? Recognizing a need is often God’s call for us to do something. 

“Thomas Clarkson (1760–1846).” BBC History. Accessed September 3, 2020. http://www.bbc.co.uk/​history/​historic_figures/​clarkson_thomas.shtml. 

Brogan,Hugh. “Clarkson, Thomas (1760–1846).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Accessed January 15, 2019. https://doi.org/​10.1093/​ref: odnb/​5545. 

Thomas Taylor, A Biographical Sketch of Thomas Clarkson, M.A. London: Joseph Rickerby, 1839. Google books. Accessed January 14, 2019.  https://books.google.com/​books?id=9hdKAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. 

Story read by Daniel Carpenter 

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man? 

The drawing Clarkson had made of slaves crammed in the slave ship Brooke. 

March 24: Craig Garland. Craig runs a jail ministry and a local Bible study, both of which focus on helping people with addictions. Here’s today’s story. 

God can use a man’s “Yes, send me” to free the addicted. 

As Craig made his forty-five-minute commute, he couldn’t believe that at forty-two he had even considered doing the one thing he had said he would never do. 

After years of his father’s encouragement, Craig decided to volunteer to serve in his church in whatever capacity they could use him. And he had been adamant he would never do anything as drastic as attend Bible College. So when he enrolled for classes, he said to himself, “Never say never.” 

Although Craig was sure God had called him into ministry, he didn’t have a clue as to what God had called him to do—specifically. Craig hoped God would use Bible College to head him in the right direction. 

But three years later, Craig still sought direction. 

One morning as he turned a curve, he saw a school bus on the side of the road. The children on the bus frantically waved their arms out the windows. As he got closer, he could hear their hysterical cries for help. 

Craig pulled up behind the bus, jumped out, and ran to front of the bus. The driver stood motionless staring down over an embankment. Craig asked, “What’s wrong?” 

The bus driver stuttered, “She’s dead.” Craig looked over the embankment. A body was floating face down in a pool of water. 

Craig froze for just a minute. Then two ladies ran over. They were nurses on their way to the local hospital, and they asked Craig to help them get the body out of the water. Craig told the children to stay on the bus. 

He and the two ladies stumbled down the embankment, while the bus driver stayed with the children. 

Craig flipped the body over. It was a woman—a woman he had seen many times on his way to classes. The poor woman was a well-known prostitute, who sold herself to feed her addiction; he had seen her walking up and down Highway 119. Now her body was beaten and bruised and ravaged by the years of drug abuse. 

Craig stared into her sunken eyes, and it was as if they stared back at him asking why he had never cared before. Why had he never stopped and offered her help? Why had he waited until it was too late? 

Craig thought: this lady was somebody’s daughter, somebody’s granddaughter, and maybe somebody’s mother. Then he thought about his own daughter. If she were bound by addiction, he would want somebody to reach out to her, to tell her about a God who can be closer than her breath, the One who can change her whole life. If only somebody had taken the time to reach out, to show they cared, to share the gospel—if only he had. 

At that moment in Craig’s heart, he heard the call of Isaiah 6:8: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” (NIV). Craig said, Yes, send me to people bound in addiction. 

Ambulance sirens broke the silence. The driver and his assistant loaded the lady onto a stretcher and then into the back of the ambulance. With tears streaming down his face, Craig stood in disbelief as the ambulance drove away. He never saw the lady again, but he saw her face every time he looked into the eyes of a person bound by the chains of addiction. 

At the age of 42, God had put Craig on the road He wanted him to travel, but not by the means Craig expected. Craig couldn’t change the fate of the lady who had walked Highway 119, but he could be part of changing the course of countless others. 

That tragedy soon birthed a jail ministry that focused on how to break the chains of addiction for the inmates. As Craig continued to seek other opportunities, God opened the doors for him and his wife to teach the Bible to the women at an addiction-recovery center in their hometown. 

Have you ever sensed God’s call on your life? You can be somebody. God can use a man’s “Yes, send me” to free the addicted. 

Story based on an interview with Craig Garland, 2019. 

Story read by Joel Carpenter 

 March 22. Pete Noyes. Pete is a banana farmer in Hawaii. It’s not the life he had envisioned for himself back when he was a businessman in Seattle. This is his story. 

Even when you think God doesn’t see you, you can come to Him for help. 

On his banana farm in Hawaii, Pete was hacking away at ten acres of nine-foot-tall grass with a machete. Hot, tired, and discouraged, Pete hauled back and swung again. 

When the machete hit the stump of a dead banana tree, putrid liquid spurted from the stump and drenched him with something like a vile banana smoothie. A horde of insects swarmed him. 

Beyond miserable, Pete yelled at God, “Do you know who I am?” 

A voice in Pete’s mind said clearly, “Yes.” 

The sudden voice caught him off guard. Yes? 

Too tired to run from the past any more, Pete remembered back to the day God had abandoned him. 

Baby Justin had fussed. Colic made him restless. Debra patted his back as she carried him from their bedroom to the living room so that Pete could sleep. 

Pete woke to his normal routine: shower, shave, dress for work. He grabbed his keys and his coat and hurried toward the door. He walked past Justin lying peacefully on the sofa, and Pete didn’t want to wake Justin, so he didn’t stop to kiss him. 

Another Seattle day dawned. Pete drove the forty minutes to work, checked messages, shook hands with employees. He placed orders, made phone calls. All routine. Until Debra called. 

“I think Justin is dead.” That’s all she said. She hung up. 

Pete grabbed his coat and his keys. He ran to the parking lot. God, help me. 

Pete drove the same route home as always. Everything had changed, but nothing seemed different. Normal stop-and-go rush-hour traffic. God, move these people out of my way. 

Pete saw the sheriff’s sedans, the coroner’s station wagon, an ambulance, but no people. 

Pete parked and walked into chaos. 

Debra sat motionless, Justin cradled in her arms, his skin a cold bluish-gray. The coroner shook his head and mumbled something about the baby had stopped breathing. Paramedics packed equipment in bags. Why doesn’t someone help her? Can’t anyone revive him? 

Two deputies spoke to Debra. Another deputy approached Pete. 

“Mr. Noyes?” 

Pete nodded. 

“Did you notice anything unusual about your son this morning? Anything odd about your wife’s behavior?” 

The questions puzzled Pete. No, nothing out of the ordinary. Why? What happened? Wait. No. My wife is a suspect? 

Someone took Justin from Debra’s arms and carried him outside to the black station wagon. 

Pete’s legs wobbled. Then he ran to the door. That’s it? Stop! 

One by one, the responders climbed into their vehicles and crept down the street. No lights, no sirens, just silence. 

Pete stood motionless in the doorway. He turned and stared at Debra who stared at nothing. What can I say? What do we do now? Are we supposed to follow them? 

Pete wanted to regain some sense of control. He started to tell his wife he was sorry, but the words stuck in his throat. Debra stretched out her hand, but she couldn’t reach Pete. 

God, why didn’t you do something? Why didn’t you warn me? 

Pete’s shoulders sagged. He had done nothing wrong, but he felt he hadn’t done something right. I should have known. But how could I, God? You didn’t say anything. 

Pete did what he had to do. He cooked dinner. He ate—a little. He washed dishes. He tried to sleep. 

Five days after Justin died, Pete went back to work. Four years later, he and Debra had gone different directions. 

Now, the past seemed surreal. The present hadn’t changed. 

Now, under the Hawaii sun twenty-five years later, Pete was calling out to God. “Do You know who I am?” 

Pete didn’t wait for an answer. He dropped the machete and sank to his knees. “Can this please be over?” he sobbed. He lifted his arms in surrender. And he felt God lift the weight of his guilt and anger. 

Pete stood and lifted his head. He stared at a man on the horizon, with one hand extended toward him. 

Is that You, God? 

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT). 

Maybe you’ve wondered if God knows, if He cares. Even when you think God doesn’t see you, you can come to Him for help. 

This story is based on an interview with Pete Noyes on November 13, 2019. 

Story read by Nathan Walker 

 March 19. Jay Bradley Thompson. Thompson was a musician and a composer, whose determination allowed him to write music and lyrics even as ALS was robbing him of his muscle control. Read his story here. 

You’re on a mission from God; make every moment count. 

With life-support machines doing their jobs, Thompson sat motionless in a wheelchair, and about twenty-five children mulled about the church sanctuary. His four daughters were there. The children were about to rehearse the second and final children’s musical Thompson had composed. It was a compilation of Old Testament stories. 

From the foot of the steps leading to the stage, the producer shouted, “Places, everyone! Does everyone have their lines?” 

Thompson chuckled. The older kids struggled to herd the little ones to their respective places. This was Thompson’s dream come true, though he had never imagined it would play out this way. 

But the hard part was over. The music had been composed, the lyrics had been written, the lines had been assigned. His only job now was to sit back—in his Superman pajama pants that matched his playful spirit—and watch his vision come to life. 

There had been a time when Thompson could sit down at a piano and play anything. But now he was at the end of his battle with ALS, a degenerative disease that eventually leaves people unable to speak, eat, move, or breathe. When he composed his first children’s musical two years before, he still had the use of the right side of his body, and he could still speak. 

“I want to show ALS patients that you can keep doing things,” he had said. “You don’t have to sit around your house and wait to die.” 

But for this second production, the process had been much harder, and he had needed more help. And no one was sure he would live long enough to finish it. 

With the glow of his computer screen on his face, Thompson lay in bed. With dogged determination, he scanned the onscreen keyboard in front of him. With the help of special software and a computer-mounted camera, his eyes selected the letter he wanted. His lips moved to grasp a special joystick to shift the cursor in his composition program. Using a clicker tucked into his hand by his wife TJ, Thompson selected a note and placed it on the staff. 

Sometimes a single sentence took ten minutes to write, but with the mission God had put on Thompson’s heart and his insistence upon making every moment count, each exhausting stare and click eventually produced thirty-three pages of material telling God’s story, from the viewpoint of an innocent child. 

On a sweltering early-August evening in 2009, Thompson sat in the audience—front row. A miniature version of Adam and Eve took the stage. From out of sight, the disembodied voice of God boomed: 

“What do you think of life, Adam?” God asked. 

“Well, it’s quite hard work and a little boring,” Adam answered. “And, well, a little lonely, too.” 

“Don’t worry,” God replied. “I’ve been working on a solution to all these problems. I’m going to create a woman. She’ll wash and cook for you whenever you want. In fact, she’ll do everything you can imagine.” 

“That sounds great, but how much will this woman cost me?” Adam inquired. 

God, with a price already in mind, replied, “I was thinking an arm and a leg.” 

Frowning, Adam rolls the dice. 

“That sounds a bit steep,” he says. “What can I get for a rib?” 

Laughter and applause filled the room. Thompson was delighted, knowing the Lord had used him to glorify God in these last days. 

A little more than a month later, Thompson finally heard the true God say to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

“I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being” (Psalm 146:2 ESV). 

Take a mental inventory of your day-to-day life. Have you been making good use of your time? You’re on a mission from God; make every moment count. 

Based on an interview with Jay Bradley Thompson, 2019. 

Story read by Nathan Walker