A Gospel Light Society Podcast
Daniel Whyte III is a full-time evangelist by calling. Through the Gospel Light Minute, his main aim is to present a short, clear, understandable presentation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ which saved him over 30 years ago. Throughout his ministry, he has emphasized a clear presentation of the Gospel because he believes that many pastors and churches mix up the Gospel with other things, and this causes confusion for nonbelievers.
She is a singer, songwriter, and actress. As an original member of Destiny’s Child, she won two Grammy Awards with the group and sold over 25 million records as a vocalist on the group’s first two albums. She went solo in 2006 and debuted “LeToya” which topped the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart in July 2006, and was certified platinum by the RIAA in December 2006. In 2009, she released her second solo album “Lady Love” to great success. As an actress, she starred in “Preacher’s Kid”, “Killers”, “From the Rough”, and “Drumline: A New Beat”. Her television roles include HBO’s “Treme” and VH1’s “Single Ladies.”
In an interview with Essence Magazine, she shared how her upbringing as the daughter of a minister and her faith in God guides her in life. When asked to describe her relationship with God, she said, “I am definitely a woman of faith. My prayer life and my connection with God are on the highest level. I definitely would not be standing here doing what I do were it not for that. It is my only way of survival. My father was a minister so I was raised in the church. I guess I’m a lucky girl because I’ve always been taught, since I was a little girl, this is who you count on. This is who you lean on. It is my foundation.”
When asked how her faith has helped her in her day to day life, she said, “Things just started happening even without asking. I just let him lead with every single thing. I don’t get in the way. A lot of times we get in His way; we get in our own way, and it ends up taking us in the wrong direction. This would be a boring world if we all made the same decisions and all were doing the same thing. The beauty of this whole thing is God has carved out a different story, a different path for all of us. It’s up to us to connect to Him and follow it.”
She went further to talk about the importance of prayer by saying, “I know how to fall on my knees, even when I’m having hard days. I know how to go in a corner and just talk to my Daddy (God). Me and my sister and my best friend get on the phone every morning and pray about different things. Even if we can’t talk, because both of them have kids and I’m on the road, we shoot each other texts. “What can I pray for you today?” It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that you have women of God praying for you. There’s nothing like that.”
Her name is LeToya Luckett. Continue reading “Singer and Actress LeToya Luckett On the Power of Prayer, Letting God Guide her, and Being a Woman of Faith (Gospel Light Minute #175)”
He is a major league baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. He and the Giants have won three World Series championships in 2010, 2012, and 2014. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2014 World Series. He is a two time MLB All-Star and won the Willie Mac Award in 2014. In 2010, he became the fourth-youngest pitcher to start and win a World Series game as well as the youngest to make a scoreless start of six innings or more. He holds several MLB records including the record for longest save in a World Series and the record for most World Series wins through age 25.
In an interview with CBN, he said of his faith, “If it weren’t for my faith, there is no way I would be where I am at today. My faith is a really big part of my career and my life. I married a Christian girl as my wife and it has been great. It has helped me along the way so much. I know I wouldn’t be where I am at now without my faith. The biggest thing I want people to know about me is that I am a believer, I’m a Christian, not just that I’m a baseball player or any of the other stuff I like to do. You’ll see me and I will always go out there and kneel down and pray before the game. I try to lead that lifestyle and make it so people can recognize that. Jesus Christ means everything to me. He is my Saviour and I live for Him. As a Christian, you have a sense of peace. I grew up in a church at home, got saved when I was 16, and ever since then I have been trying to live for Jesus Christ. That’s the main thing. I don’t want to live for myself; I want to live for Him.”
His name is Madison Bumgarner. Continue reading “Madison Bumgarner: ‘Jesus Christ Means Everything to Me. He is My Saviour and I Live for Him.’ (Gospel Light Minute #172)”
He is a professional major league baseball player. He plays right field for the Detroit Tigers. Before that, he played for the Minnesota Twins and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He is a five-time All-Star. He won nine consecutive Gold Glove Awards as an outfielder and has won two Silver Slugger Awards.
As a child, he grew up in a neighborhood of crime, poverty, drugs, and gangs. His father was addicted to crack cocaine most of his life and his brother joined a gang. However, he found safety and hope in church due to the influence of his mother and grandmother. This early instillation of faith propelled him to find strength and hope in Jesus Christ and through the Bible.
In an interview with Sports Spectrum, he said of the difficult time he faced growing up that, “The Holy Spirit always was with me and helped me make the right decisions. Sometimes, I’d do some stupid stuff, anyway, and I always paid the consequences. I wasn’t always right. But the more I went through, the closer I got to Him, and the stronger I got to survive in that city.”
He went on to say, “Without Jesus, I promise you, I couldn’t do anything. In everything I do, I ask Him to guide me. Some guys who really don’t have faith actually feel like they want to commit suicide. My faith allows me to go on, day to day, and not worry about what’s on and off the field.”
He currently serves as a mentor to young people and other young baseball players trying to make it to the major leagues. He said, “Anytime I receive something, I try to give it back. That is a blessing, to be a giver. Some people are just takers. I want to be a giver and not a receiver. It’s just about passing the torch. That’s what I want to do.”
His name is Torii Hunter. Continue reading “Torii Hunter: Faith in Christ ‘Allows Me to Go On, Day to Day, and Not Worry About Life’ (Gospel Light Minute #169)”
He is a former major league baseball relief pitcher. Nicknamed “Billy the Kid”, he pitched for the Houston Astros from 1995 to 2003, the Philadelphia Phillies from 2004 to 2005, the New York Mets from 2006 to 2009, the Boston Red Sox in 2009, and the Atlanta Braves in 2010. He is one of the few relief pitchers with a total of 400 saves in his career. In 2012, he was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Seven times he was selected to All-Star teams, and in 2003, he pitched a combined no-hitter.
Though he was born right-handed, after breaking his right arm twice in accidents as a child, he taught himself to throw baseballs using his left arm. Raised in his grandparent’s Christian home, he accepted Jesus Christ into his life at age 12. In an interview with CBN, he said, “I was saved when I was, I believe I was 12 years old. My grandparents had that kind of work ethic and religion and faith that kinda kept me on track.”
When he began playing with his left arm, he said, “God has given me a left arm that has given me a pedestal to be someone that can help [people] better themselves in the faith. Being a Christian I’ve been able to sit there and say [that] this is a learning experience. I said some things when I was out on the mound, I acted in a way when I was out on the mound that is not what God had wanted, but being able to be forgiven and to repent shows that that is what being a Christian is all about.”
“Baseball is just fantasy. It’s a short-lived life, and I have a long life with God. That’s most important, and if I take that for granted, everything that He has graced me with, He can take away. God wants you to be competitive for Him too, so being competitive is the easy part. It’s the balance of knowing who you are and what you want to be. Once I realized as an athlete what was important and what wasn’t, then, I think you’re able to sell out to God.”
He went on to say, “I live a very blessed and graced life with what He’s blessed me to have. So when I think of my career I think solely of what God has given me and blessed me with, and know that [while I’m retired now] I get to go home and live a second chapter that is blessed. My biggest goal and what I want people to see in me is that I love the Lord and He’s the answer. He’s the way, and He’s the rock. All you have to do is lean on Him and know you don’t have to worry. He’s gonna give you that peace.”
His name is Billy Wagner. Continue reading “Major League Baseball Pitcher, Billy Wagner: Sold-Out to God (Gospel Light Minute #166)”
He is a British adventurer, writer and television presenter. He is best known for his television series Man vs. Wild. He is a part of a number of television series in the United Kingdom and the United States on the theme of survival in the wild. In 1997, he became the youngest Briton to climb Ama Dablam in the Himalayas. And in 1998, he became one of the youngest people ever to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. In July 2009, he was appointed the youngest-ever Chief Scout at the age of 35.
In an interview with Relevant Magazine, he said of his faith: “I had a very natural faith as a kid. As a really young kid, I never questioned God. I just knew God existed and it felt like He was my friend. Faith has been and is the backbone of my life.”
“I remember having one moment when some really good friends turned their back on me in a really nasty way. And I remember praying a simple prayer up a tree one evening and saying, ‘God, if you’re like I knew you as a kid, would you be that friend again?’ And it was no more complicated than that. And actually the amazing thing is that all God asks is that we sort of open the door and He’ll do the rest. So often we kinda hide behind our yearning for love and acceptance with loads of complicated theological questions, and actually once that’s stripped away what we really are is just somebody who wants to have that relationship with your Father.”
“Jesus never said, ‘I’ve come so you can feel smart and proper and smiley and religious.’ [Faith] is about finding life and joy and peace. I am not at church a lot because I’m away a lot, so I kind of cling to the simple things, like, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ and ‘I’m holding you by your right hand.’ The simple things are what I try to keep my faith like. Jesus is unchanging and we are forgiven.”
“Sometimes it’s hard for us to believe, really believe, that God cares and wants good things for us and doesn’t just want us to go off and give everything up and become missionaries in Burundi. And some people are just scared, and they go, ‘Oh, God just wants me to be religious,’ but actually He just loves us. He just wants us to be with Him, and that’s been a journey to discover that. That’s one of the big questions I asked: ‘If you do exist, are you cozy? Are you what my heart really aches for?’”
“Christianity is not about religion. It’s about faith, about being held, about being forgiven. It’s about finding joy and finding home. We all want that, but nobody wants religion. Why do people turn away from faith? They’re not, they’re turning away from religion most of the time. I’ve yet to meet anyone who doesn’t want to be forgiven or held or find peace or joy in their life. We try loads of other stuff—we think booze or foxy women or whatever will fill it—but it doesn’t fill the hole [like Jesus].”
His name is Bear Grylls. Continue reading “Bear Grylls: Faith in Christ ‘is the Backbone of My Life’ (Gospel Light Minute #161)”
She is an actress who has appeared in numerous movies and plays. She is well-known for her role as Angela Williams in the Tyler Perry films “Why Did I Get Married?” and “Why Did I Get Married Too?” She also stars as Angela on the OWN comedy-drama television series Tyler Perry’s “For Better or Worse”. She launched an organic perfume line titled “US” with her husband in 2011. And she coaches many aspiring actors through her acting workshop. She has appeared on America’s Next Top Model as an acting coach, helping the models with different scenes. Her TV credits include: “The Parkers”, “Girlfriends”, “All of Us” and “The Game”. Her other film credits include “Miles from Home”, “Couples Retreat”, “Something Like a Business”, and “Jumping the Broom”.
In an interview with EURweb.com, she discussed her conversion from atheism to Christianity. She said, “When I was 25 I had an encounter with God because my father had gotten sick. I had a time where I really challenged God, like, if you’re really God you’ll show me such-and-such’. I was going through this whole thing where I questioned whether God was real or not. I really needed God to be real because I was feeling so depressed and so unhappy, I felt like if there isn’t a God [then] I have no reason to live. It was just a bad time in my life and God really showed up and met me where I was.”
In an interview with Da Gospel Truth, she said of her faith, “There was definitely a time where I did not believe in the Lord. I needed to understand the love of God. You hear so many people always telling you what you should or shouldn’t do, telling you you’re a sinner, telling you how bad you are, all those things about yourself. I was lacking the understanding of the love of God. I didn’t know there was a God that loved me. I think that it’s the love of God that brings man into repentance. Once you embrace that love and have that fellowship with God, all those things that you shouldn’t be doing will go away. He said no flesh is going to glory in His presence. Once we spend time in the presence of God and fellowship with him, all that stuff that we thought was so great, that we idolized, that we made so big in our lives become so small and insignificant in the presence of God. I strongly encourage people to fellowship with God and show them in the Word how much He loves them.”
When asked how she stays motivated in her work, she replied, “I know God has a purpose for my life. I know that every opportunity I have in my life, whether good or bad, is another journey that I’m going to have with God. To be honest, I am so grateful about where I am in my life right now. Based on where I’ve come from, every day is a blessing. I’m human and there are definitely times when I get down, but I try not to focus on that. I try to stay in the Word and stay in fellowship with God. I get excited when I’m doing something for somebody like teaching my classes, working on a script and just staying creative, focused and prayerful! That’s it.”
Her name is Tasha Smith. Continue reading “Tasha Smith: From Atheism to ‘Challenging God’ to Finally Understanding God’s Love (Gospel Light Minute #146)”
The Gospel Light Minute 