This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Hey, this is Greg Steer and welcome to an on-the-road edition of Gospelize with Greg Steer and my podcast and privileged here to have Dr. Ralph Arnold, otherwise known to me as Yankee, the man who reached much of my family for Christ, I’m here in Tampa at a youth convention, the National Youth Workers Convention, YS. But Yankee, welcome to my podcast. Thank you so much, I’m glad to be here. This was a new for me, I haven’t done this before.

Yeah, but we just did your radio program, so you’re an old pro at it. Tell me a little bit, I mean, God used you to reach my entire family with the gospel of Christ. And when you came out, when did you come out to Colorado? I came out in 1968, but God had already prepared me for rough guys like the Matthias’s. You see, my daddy was a bootlegger and spent most of life in the chain gang and running from the law.

He married my mom when she was 14. She was a rebel in Georgia. And of course, my daddy was a rebel born in Georgia. two girls, well, they were rebels born in Georgia, but my daddy always wanted a boy. And he was on the run at the time, and so he went to Pennsylvania, and I was born. And when I was born, I had long, straight black hair all over my body. I had sideburns. I had carried one down my back.

And anyway, he looked at me and he says, that’s the ugliest kid he’d ever seen in his life. Now my dad had never seen Greg’s deer. And he was going to put me in a burlap sack, and throw me in a rear and drowned me, and my mama wouldn’t let him. The doctor came to the house and he looked at me and looked at my dad and said, my, my, my, looks just like his daddy, don’t he? And my daddy, cussie, he called me to blankety blank, yank.

And that’s how I got my name. Hey, you’re not joking. That’s all I’m telling you is the truth. This is the gospel truth. I got my nickname before I ever got my real name. Cause my, my name, the after doctor, I see I was six of us kids. All of us were born home. None of us were born in the hospital. So the doctor didn’t always make it on time. And so, um, about six months later, they moved to Georgia.

And I’ve been, you know, a Yankee raised in the south. So I’ve been shot at from both sides all my life. And it wasn’t until I had got old enough that I wanted to know how to have eternal life. But I never knew anybody that was going to heaven. And nobody ever told me how to go to heaven. Maybe they didn’t know about wanting me to go to heaven. I don’t know. But I saw this girl and I decided I’m going to marry her.

And I was 17 years old. She was 16. And I told my mom, I said, I’m going to marry her. I didn’t even know her name. And I said, I’m going after her, but I find out she had a boyfriend. So I went and met with him, took care of that. Then I went after her. And whenever I went and asked her parents, I said, can I marry her? And they said, no. I said, why? Because you don’t have a job.

Don’t have any money. Don’t have a place to live. And her mother says, and you’re a bum. And everything they said was the truth. I was one hopeless case. So I did the next next thing. We ran away to Anderson’s self. Thailand got married. Their daddy came looking for me with a gun. He was gonna part my soul in eternity. But instead he had mercy upon me. At one night he explained to me the gospel, I trusted Christ as my savior.

Now I had finished the 10th grade. I didn’t wanna go in the 11th grade. My dad was still there, and I’m just joking. But after I trusted Christ as my savior, and I know he had eternal life, I wanted to serve the Lord. And I used to go down to the Bible bookstore. And I would sit in there at lunchtime, and I would eat my sandwich in the corner and I’d read missionary stories. And the guy that run the store later started the Athens Christian schools, but his name was Buell Cummins, and he’d let me read the books on missionaries, and then I couldn’t pay for them.

And they’d tell me when I had to get ready to go back to work. And I was sat there in the corner and I’d read these things and I sat there and I cried. And I couldn’t believe I said, man, I wish I could be used by God. I wish there was something I could do. I didn’t know God wanted to use me. I just thought I got to use God for something. And it wasn’t until I got a little bit further down the line that…

Things began to make a little sense to me. And I was out there in Sreaport, Louisiana, laying on the ground and while I was snowing between the fence and the house. And I was so miserable. You see, I had a good wife, I had two good kids. I had a good job. There was nothing wrong with that, something missing on the inside. And I laid there that night. And I told the Lord, I says, you either use me or I don’t have any desire to live.

And I says, I got two kids in the house and I tell them what to do. they do it. I says, but why can’t you talk to me? Why can’t you be clear? Why can’t you be? I said, don’t you dare. When I get to heaven point your finger at me. So Yankee, why didn’t you do what you’re like? What I wanted to I said, because I don’t know what to do. And I said, it’s not my fault. That’s yours.

I taught pretty blunt to the Lord. And I’d go back in the house and I was just open to Bible. I couldn’t find anything I flipped back and forth and finally my eyes fell upon 119 some how it all shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to I word the word is a lamp unto my feet the entrance of thy word give a light and then I came to conclusion I cannot know the will of God unless another word of God So it’s the will of God to know the word of God nor to know the will of God I’ll end up going to Bible college and I’m so glad I went to Florida Bible college taught me how to Serve the Lord and this is what I’ve been looking for So I realized how old were you I was I was 18 when

I trust the Lord 22 when I went to Bible College, 26 when I graduated. And so I was in, or about a Colorado there. And I started off my youth ministry with two kids, both of them were junior high. And I felt like I just came from Florida Bible College. I know everything. I am so smart. I’m gonna open it up for questions. And I opened it up for questions. And I thought, you know, these kids say, well, they don’t know anything.

So one kid he asked me a question, he says, he says, it’s God big, I says God big. He says, you can do anything. I didn’t even do anything. He says, can you make a rock? I say, you can make a rock. He says, can you make a big rock? I’ll say, he can make a big rock. He says, can you make a rock so big he can’t lift it? Now, realize that kid didn’t set me up. I’m gonna come up my soul and slap his jaws.

But I didn’t. I just realized since then, never answer a question like that again. Cause now I know that God can’t do anything. He can’t sin. He can’t sin me to hell. And he can’t make a rock so big he can’t lift it cause it wouldn’t be no place to put it. So I’ve been waiting on this kid. I’ve never seen him since. But from those two kids, it grew and grew until the next thing we know, we was running, you know, an average name of four or five hundred kids in ranch.

And we had high days of over nine hundred, nine hundred and sixty something. And it was about that time that I kind of came in. You came in in the highlight of our youth ministry. And I, you know, I remember, I mean, you, you reached my, my family’s last name you mentioned earlier is Matthias, my last name is Styr, but my uncles and my mom’s made a name Matthias. When you went down to North Denver and reached my family for Christ, especially my uncle Jack, and you know, I tell these stories about my uncle Jack being a tough guy, I’m not exaggerating.

You’re not exaggerating, not when I owe them. After talking to Bob Daly and hearing some things about Jack, anybody in their right mind would not want to take a schedule, a definite meeting with him on his terms and his home. And yet that’s exactly what I had to do because he had two daughters, Jackie and came in, came in, there was about 10 or 11 years old and they come to ranch and they trust the Lord. They weren’t supposed to be there, but they came anyway.

And they would ask me every week, would you go talk to my parents and I kept putting them off because I, you know, I got enough thing to do with all the other kids and so forth. And they weren’t supposed to be there anyway. So I didn’t have to, I didn’t feel a law obligation to go to their parents, their parents didn’t count. But anyway, they just wouldn’t let go like pit bulls. So finally Bob knew about it. And he says, I’ll go with you.

And so anyway, we went. And when we got there, Bob decided he’d stay in the car and pray. And so I went up to the door. I would have stayed in the car and prayed too. I’m going to talk to my uncle, Jack. But I didn’t know what was going to happen. And the thing that meant me was that big dog they had. It was a police dog. Lobo. Lobo. And I mean, he was high as my. I’m six foot.

That dog was looking me out of eye and his teeth were snoblin’ at me. And I was scared to death. And it hadn’t been for that door. And Erling came up here and got the dog put him in the room, then they went well, and here’s Jack. And they were watching TV at the time. But Jack was hardly here. And he’s like I am. I got here and he’s in both ears. But he was hardly here, too. And he had the TV loud.

Well, the last thing I wanted to do was tell him to turn the TV down. So I went over toward the little table they had sitting there, and Erling came over. Well, Jack can’t hear. So I didn’t want to tell him to turn the TV down. But so he turned it down himself. And then, actually, I know I’m still talking softly and quietly. And he makes you know he’s come to walk in mine and he sets down and it was a piece of cake.

He heard the gospel and it just blew his mind and he trusted Christ to save and earn him. And I want to give you a quarter for him because I was just glad to get out of the house. And when I got out, they started to come out to everything and got so involved. And I decided to have a contest. But I didn’t know that he was going to bring out 250 people to church. And that month or whatever it was, you know, counted for him.

And I got a flag. Yeah, you’re giving away a free Bible. I gave away an old Bible, just a non-oh Bible on those cultural references Bible, just like mine. So they wanted to have a Bible just like mine. And that’s what I gave away. And I wrote it in there and it’s still in his Bible. And so, so he brought 250 people out to one month and they, some of them were pretty rough people. Oh, they were bouncers and.

muscle bound guys. I used to have a striping physique and the straps broke. I should tell Jack I said Jack you know I have my muscles here so I used to feel back to pull the water and pull the plug and thank the current. So my family one by one came to Christ through your influence and the youth ministry that you ran, Christian youth ranch, was very unique because you really believed in the potential of teenagers. Why were you so here you are a church planner, but really you were a youth leader disguised as a lead pastor.

Why did you believe so much in teenagers? I wasn’t raised in church. I would never ingrain with how you’re supposed to do things. And so I felt the freedom whatever it takes by all means. So I would have spook houses, scared people into death. Now some of the things that we did, I don’t think I’d do them again. That’s because I’m just smarted on the road. I remember so. And I and I feel ashamed that I did something. But you were like I’m gonna do whatever it takes.

We’ll do a haunted house, we’ll do I gave away a Pontiac Firebird. I remember that. And that car got more people out than anything. That’s when Danny Jackson I think wanted we had nine hundred teenagers that night. He almost got almost the whole school to come out. Yeah. Him and Anita I think was Anita Corn and they they worked against each other and so that manages rage ransco, a motorcycle one time, in a trip to Florida. So let me ask you why, why teenagers?

Why did you have such a focus on reaching teenagers and then training teenagers to reach teenagers? I believe that you work better with people that are your age and under. When you’re young, it’s hard to work with older people because you’re just a squirt, you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re not what drive you behind the ears. And so, and I feel more comfortable. I believe that God once it used you where you are and the way you fit at that time.

Now that I got older I don’t do good work anymore but I still try to get other people to do it and I can tell them what I did but now that I’m older I like sitting with a microphone and talking and then it’s going around the world and like we just finished talking okay there’s three to five million people in this area and then it goes into Colorado radio program and then you’ve got about five to ten to 15 million in the area that can listen.

If everybody listened to it, there may only be five people listening, but I mean, there’s a potential. So you never know. So you were always kind of looking for how do I make the biggest impact? So you’re a young guy, early twenties, mid twenties, out in Colorado, and you’re like, I’m gonna start with teenagers and mobilize. And so one of the things that you did is, again, you didn’t just do a great youth meeting, you trained and equipped us to reach our own friends.

Why did you believe in teenagers reaching teenagers as opposed to just teenagers bringing their friends out to church? Well, I feel, and I used to tell teenagers, and teenagers reach teenagers. You’re trying to create an atmosphere that makes it possible for them. And the way we ran ranch is- Which is the name of the youth ministry. Yeah, it’s the name of our teenage Bible study. It’s a teenage Bible study. But we would have fire icebreakers, you know, faster songs, and then we’d have slower songs like a devotional frame of mind to help calm them down some and I became a master telling jokes because when I have four or five hundred kids there and I’m just one person centipar and these kids came not from church homes and I Christian kids these are wild kids and a lot of them broken homes and all that

they weren’t ready. And why you said there was like five active gangs in youth ranch? Yeah we would they would take and come and we had 30 girls in one time and squirting off against a bunch of other ones. And I mean, they’re ready to fight. Yeah. We even had one kid, I mean, he took the pipe out of his sink at home and brought the pipe so he’d be ready to go. And my brother, he drove a bus and some kids were still on the bus and Cheryl, his wife, walked by the bus and they had to let down the window and they resized and they’re gonna spit on her and they, well, they spit.

My brother, little man, you don’t just do that to his wife. He gets on the bus and he heads back in and he’s ready to kill this kid. And I mean, this is what we had to put up with. We had to stop a little man. You can do this. Yeah. And I remember that Arvad is a pretty white middle class town. But there was a lot. We had blacks come, we had Spanish come. We reached anybody. Well, because you guys reached into North Denver to reach my family, West Denver, San Chezes, Martinez.

And a lot of them became significant leaders in this youth ministry. And it’s because you believed, I think, down deep inside, not only just the power of the gospel, potential of teams, but… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Almost the poorer, you know, teens were the more open and receptive they seemed. It seemed like a lot of the kids that came for the poor like me and a lot of the others were really hungry to do something.

What do you think? Well, they listened to my testimony and where I came from. Well, that gave you. It gives everybody hope. Yeah. I can use anybody. If y’all can use Yankee, he can use anybody. And I tried to stay clear and simple where people can understand what I’m saying. And I will take and tell a joke and they’d laugh and while they got to, a mile’s open lap and I would give my fees into eight nine and tell another children that first John 513 and so I did that and you could hold their attention and then every Sunday night for about 20 minutes on a Sunday night I would take out a key kids like a christian e-sens council like these are the leaders on a Sunday night that would do the job on our third year and now what tell them I says now this coming

Thursday night we’re going to have three people give testimonies and I would pick this one this one and this one I said remember now here’sValid how you do it you tell them what you thought, what you found out, what you did. I always436 tell them my, my name and I trust you to fight some of the savior. No, I have eternal life. And if you don’t know where you’re going, listen to Yankee. And so I each one knew what to say.

So then now, when ranked tonight, we can have 200-300 kids there. And I will say, who wants to give a test money? But all 50 or 60 of those kids that came home Sunday night, but all out of my raise your hand. But I knew only three of them were going to get their test money. But that causes Everybody that thank you everybody here wants to say this. Yeah, and so you created an insight Signing an environment where they weren’t ashamed because the kids that did give a testimony because last thing you want to do is Who’d like to give a testimony and everybody said there?

Nobody wants to but if you plan it ahead of time and because we would have so many kids come and we’d know Well, not we’re gonna have a pizza part of this night. We’re gonna have you know burritos this night Hamburgers or whatever you’re gonna do. I had to have all these these relatives of yours, stand around the room. They were like bodyguards. Really like they were. Bounces. I mean you had Jack and Tom and Fyas Swordsman and some of these of these other, and I mean these guys, because if they weren’t there, we couldn’t run.

We’d have had riots, we’d have police out there. But we never had really too bad of a problem because your relatives helped guard this thing. And they drove the buses too. I remember. They were driving buses. You, I remember coming in, I didn’t have a dad, all of a sudden I feel like I had 50 dads because they had these older teenagers and 20-some things and you pouring into me. But you gave students, I remember you gave me an opportunity to actually even give the gospel in church to this morning in your church office.

I just, I don’t remember saying those exact words but you played for me. You were 11 or 12 years old And I let you speak to our whole congregation. It was toward the end of the service, and I wanted them to know what we’re trying to bring up. And it created desires in people, you know, if he can do it, then I can do it. And it was something you expected to be done. And it gave people confidence. You can do this.

And whenever I had ranch, I would always play if I wanted to. I’d play 20 songs in the key of E. And the reason is because they would be lined up watching how I played in court. So they would know how to do it. Now, if I was all over the place like this, like Bob Bailey does, well, you would never learn how to play. So basically, in the same way, you kind of discipled them to play the guitar.

You discipled them to evangelize. You discipled them to lose. So you had no clue. I never used the word disciple. I don’t think, I don’t remember. It’s just a cot. Yeah, you tried it. It’s not just a cot. You may not use the word, but that’s exactly what you did. Everything we did was discipleship. It was a copy, we would copy you. was from Ray Stan. Ray was so simple, so clear. We thought, I mean, he’s not that guy.

Because it wasn’t that you were so caught up with it. It was the what they’re doing is to this. And I tell you, give the gospel people trust the Lord. It didn’t matter. It did matter. Yeah. Just right off the bat. They didn’t have to wait to be a pastor in a church. They could go to these girls. Who in the world would have ever thought they would have come, drive 45 minutes on a Sunday night to get to church when there’s so many other things that people are doing.

And yet they worked in the bus ministry all day on Saturday and get up early the next morning and ride the bus, get home about two o’clock or three o’clock in the afternoon, get about a two hour rest and be back that Sunday night. See, I remember… Who made them do this? Yeah, nobody made them. Nobody wanted to do it. But it wasn’t a vision that you had planted in our minds and our souls. And I got it used to really say, you can reach this world for Christ.

We can shake the city of Nevada. I remember going on those bus routes. I had one on his 15 going door to door. My daughter remembers picking you up. Yeah. Getting chased by dogs, getting yelled at, but sharing Christ. And I did it because I believe God could use me to make a difference. And I believe that because you believe that. And so there’s a lot of youth leaders listening to this podcast. What would you say to them when it comes to not underestimating teenagers to reach teenagers with a gospel?

I do believe that Jesus was a youth leader and that those, probably 11 of them, were teenagers. But when I used to sit in Florida Bible College and I was 24 or 25 years old, I used to think how in the world can I ever get into all these churches and all these youth groups. And I used to sit and I cry because I had a vision to do it. But I knew that’s impossible. There’s no way that I can do any of that.

And so I worked as a lone. I was a lone ranger in Colorado. I didn’t work with anybody. I did my own thing. But I had a burden for all the others and not think about all these kids. It goes to these places and they don’t have the guts. And it’s not that I wanted them to not hear at least how to go to happen. I’m talking about the consequences of a false message. What that false message is going to do, these people are going to be blinded, but there need to be a way to get some light into there so they can hear and understand and know the truth.

And little did I know that God had a bigger plan and that there was a vision God had and he wanted done. I want to be part of what his plan is, his vision. And God wants to reach the world. And if you can reach the teenagers before they become adults, you stand a greater chance on influence in the world. Because if you influence this world, it’s not going to be because you influence adults, you influence the teenagers that were stabilized.

And so now these teenagers, through one little individual like a great steer who winds up going out to how many of these youth directors and all these churchesria all across America, I see the vision that I had not being fulfilled by me, but there’s somebody else. So I feel feel that whenever you go, I’m going with you. You are. I’m going to go with all of them. But I didn’t know how in the world can it be done. Got it a bigger plan and a different plan.

We all have the same job. That’s the stand the post got has given us. And Yankee, I know we’re wrapping this up, but I just want to tell you personally, and like I tell you, almost every time we talk, is that I would not be doing dare to share if it wasn’t for the investment that you made in my life. and so in my family. And so thank you for being faithful to stand your post well, and thank you for the investment you made in me personally and my family, and youth leaders across the nation and now across the world are benefiting from that.

So thank you so much, and thanks for being part of my podcast. Thank you so much, I don’t honor you, Ben. I’m Dr. Gashiva. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr.yahoo Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, Go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and……. at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bible Eye, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.