First Person with Wayne Shepherd

Wayne Shepherd talks with 93-year-old Rob Elliott, founder of Elliott Construction in the Chicago area about his life’s purpose of representing God in business and supporting missionaries.  (click for more…)    

Website:  https://www.elliotconstruction.com

Rob shares his life story: being born in England to a Canadian father and English mother, growing up in a Christian home in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and giving his life to Christ as a boy, though it didn't feel "real" until a devastating 1951 car accident that killed a friend and left him in a coma — an event he credits with truly turning his heart toward God and keeping him out of military service in Korea. He recounts starting his concrete business in the early 1950s after a mentor set him up with clients, building it into one of the largest concrete contractors in the Chicago area (still family-run 70+ years later), and using his business as a platform for quiet, consistent Christian witness — praying before meals with coworkers, sharing his testimony at industry events, and mentoring golfing buddies over the years. He closes by reflecting on his large family (5 children, 34 grandchildren, and dozens of great-grandchildren), his enduring faith rooted in Romans 10:9, and his sense that God still has purpose for his life at 93.

                                            NEXT WEEK:  Dannah Gresh 

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Babbie Mason once wanted to sing for Motown. Now an award-winning singer-songwriter, author, conference speaker, and TV host, she joins Wayne Shepherd in conversation.  (click for more…)  

Website:  https://babbie.com

Babbie Mason recounts growing up in Jackson, Michigan, as the daughter of a pastor, where church was the center of family life and she began playing piano and leading music at her father's church by age nine. As a young adult she was drawn toward Motown-style secular music and sang in bars and clubs, but felt persistent conviction from the Holy Spirit; a pivotal moment came in a college snack bar, where a bowl of cooling soup and a Bible verse about being "lukewarm" led her to fully surrender her life and career to Christ. She went on to record albums with Word Records and Spring Hill Music over a career now spanning 40 years. Mason also shares a memorable story from her book Each One Reach One about spontaneously singing "Amazing Grace" in a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, which led to a chain of encounters where she prayed for strangers' needs — illustrating her larger message that kindness and sensitivity to others can open doors to sharing faith. She closes by discussing mentorship, her Inner Circle worship conferences for songwriters, and her desire to fully use her God-given gifts.

                                                   NEXT WEEK:  Rob Elliot

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Pastor Steve DeWitt, author of Loneliness: Don’t Hate It or Waste It, Redeem It, joins Wayne Shepherd in conversation on this topic.  (click for more…)

Websites:  www.moodypublishers.com/loneliness, www.bethelweb.org 

Steve DeWitt, longtime pastor of Bethel Church in Northwest Indiana, talks about his book Loneliness: Don't Hate It or Waste It, Redeem It. DeWitt shares that he was a well-known "never married" megachurch pastor for over two decades before marrying his wife Jennifer (they connected after she read an article he'd written on loneliness), and he draws on that long stretch of singleness to reflect on loneliness biblically rather than as a book about marriage curing it. He distinguishes aloneness (neutral), loneliness (bad), and solitude (good), and outlines three ways people "waste" their loneliness — isolating themselves, becoming obsessed with unmet expectations, and distracting themselves through things like binge-watching or doomscrolling. He then turns to how to "redeem" loneliness: recognizing it as fundamentally a vertical longing for restored relationship with God (echoing Augustine and Chesterton), and then letting that drive people toward sacrificial, others-focused love modeled on Jesus rather than self-focused pursuit of companionship. The conversation closes with reflections on how social media and constant connectivity paradoxically deepen isolation, and DeWitt encourages listeners to examine their social media habits as part of a healthier response to loneliness.

                                             NEXT WEEK:  Babbie Mason

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Zac Holt, is the founder and Senior Pastor of The Table Ministries whose mission is to saturate their city with the Gospel through community service. He describes this unique church with Wayne Shepherd. (click for more...)  

Website:  https://www.thetableministries.com

The Table Ministries is located in Bristol, VA.  Zach shares his journey from starting drug use at age 13, through years of addiction, incarceration, and homelessness, to a dramatic conversion to Christianity that he experienced in a jail cell. He describes founding The Table Ministries as a non-traditional, raw and welcoming church born out of his seminary internship, one that meets people where they are — in homeless shelters, jails, and recovery centers — rather than expecting them to come to a traditional church setting. Much of the conversation focuses on his theology of recovery: the idea that it's not enough to get people "out of Egypt," but that God must also get "Egypt out of them," and that shame (not just guilt) is one of the biggest barriers people in recovery face. He describes the ministry's practices, including a weekly communion gathering at a Boys & Girls Club, "friendraising" instead of fundraising, and a discipleship model aimed at helping men move from being "takers" to "contributors" — becoming fathers, entrepreneurs, and church planters. He closes with a story about a formerly homeless man named Shane who was eventually reunited with his sons in Idaho, using it as an example of restoration beyond mere sobriety.

                                          Next Week:  Steve DeWitt

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Donnita Travis, the founder of a Chicago after school club called By the Hand, talks with Wayne Shepherd about mentoring students in the name of Christ.  (click for more...) 

Website:  https://bythehand.org

In 1997, Donita Travis—then president of a Chicago advertising agency she'd co-founded with her husband—felt called by God during a prayer retreat to help kids in Chicago live an "abundant life" (John 10:10). She spent the next three years volunteering with kids from the Cabrini-Green housing projects at Moody Church while still running her agency, before leaving the business in 2000, with her husband's blessing, to found By the Hand Club, a Christ-centered after-school program. Starting with just 16 kids in a single room in March 2001, the program has grown to serve 1,800 kids (7,000 total over the years) from kindergarten through college across six clubs in four under-resourced Chicago neighborhoods, partnering with Chicago Public Schools to reach children most at risk of dropping out and caring for them holistically in mind, body, and soul. The results have been striking: a 100% high school graduation rate, 76% of graduates continuing to higher education or the military, 60% on the honor roll, over 80% growing at least a year in reading level, and 87% professing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Running on a $17 million annual budget (which includes $1 million just for busing), the organization has finished fully funded for 23 straight years and holds a four-star Charity Navigator rating. Travis closes the interview with the story of Shacola, a student removed from her home with six siblings as a first grader and raised by her aunt, Miss Alma (now a By the Hand staff member)—Shacola is now a ninth grader reading at a 12th-grade level, on full scholarship at Culver Academy, with her younger sister following in her footsteps with a scholarship of her own.

                               NEXT WEEK:  Zac Holt, The Table Ministries

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Bill Hendricks, President of the Giftedness Center and Executive Director for Christian Leadership at the Hendricks Center at Dallas Seminary, talks about finding God’s purpose.  (click for more…) 

Websites:  www.thegiftednesscenter.com 

www.hendrickscenter.dts.edu

Wayne Shepherd talks with Bill Hendricks—Executive Director for Christian Leadership at the Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary and President of the Giftedness Center, and son of the late Howard Hendricks. Bill describes taking over his father's leadership center in 2014, and his decades-long work at the Giftedness Center helping people (over 2,000 to date) discover their God-given "giftedness"—the innate design that shapes their calling. He shares his own faith story, from a childhood conversion at age four and a half after hearing the Passion story on a record, to a pivotal career-assessment session at age 30 that clarified his own gifts. Much of the conversation explores why people struggle to see their own giftedness (since we can't step outside ourselves), how storytelling and lived experience—rather than psychometric tests—reveal a person's distinctive pattern of gifting, and how Bill sees giftedness as "incarnational truth": a reflection of God's own image expressed uniquely through each person. The episode closes with references to his father's earlier appearance on the show and info on Bill's books and ministry.

                                             NEXT WEEK:  Donnita Travis

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On this 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, noted historian David McCullough joins Wayne Shepherd for Part 2 of 1776:  George Washington.   (click for more…)

Website: www.simonandschuster.com/p/david-mccullough

Recorded in 2005, this is a continuation of last week’s FIRST PERSON as the late David McCullough talked about his book, 1776, and the experiences of George Washington in that momentous year. The conversation centers on George Washington's leadership during the darkest days of the war. McCullough describes how Washington forgave Joseph Reed's disloyalty and Nathaniel Greene's costly mistake at Fort Washington, choosing loyalty and grace over punishment — a decision that deepened both men's devotion to him. He portrays Washington as a leader shaped more by character than intellect: not a brilliant orator or strategist, but someone who inspired trust through steadiness, humility, and self-sacrifice (leaving behind wealth and comfort to lead a ragged army). McCullough also highlights lesser-known figures — Henry Knox's astonishing winter trek hauling cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, and ordinary soldiers like Joseph Hodgkins and Jabez Fitch whose diaries, often scrawled on scraps of paper, McCullough treats as the "gold" of his research. The interview closes with McCullough reflecting on why he writes — to understand human sacrifice and courage — and calling Washington "the greatest American of all time," while noting the book deliberately ends with the pivotal victories at Trenton and Princeton rather than covering the full war.

                                              NEXT WEEK:  Bill Hendricks

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America at 250: Part One of a 2005 conversation as Wayne Shepherd talks with historian David McCullough about the events surrounding George Washington in 1776.  (click for more...)  

Website:  www.simonandschuster.com/p/david-mccullough

As we approach July 4th and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, in this 2005 interview noted historian David McCullough discusses his book 1776, focusing on George Washington and the desperate, pivotal year of the Revolutionary War. He emphasizes how close the Patriots came to losing — particularly during the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn — and how a providential fog allowed Washington's army to escape across the East River at night, an event he calls the most representative moment of the war's "thinnest of lines." McCullough explores how 18th-century Americans interpreted such events as the hand of God working for or against them, citing letters from Abigail Adams and contemporary newspapers. He also describes the ragged, undisciplined nature of the Continental Army, Washington's ability to recognize talent in inexperienced officers like Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox, and the eventual betrayal by his trusted aide Joseph Reed (to be covered in part two). The episode closes by noting McCullough's death in 2022 and previewing next week's continuation of the conversation.

                           NEXT WEEK:  Part two with David McCullough

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Dr. Mark Jobe talks with Wayne Shepherd about his tenure as President of Moody Bible Institute and his decision to follow God's call back to the church.  (click for more...) 

Website:  www.moodybible.org/news/2026/presidential-transition/

Also:  www.moodyradio.org/bold-steps

Dr. Jobe reflects on his seven years leading Moody, a role he didn't seek (it came as an unexpected call, and his wife encouraged him to pray about it) and accepted out of obedience rather than personal ambition. He describes balancing the full-time presidency with continuing to pastor New Life Community Church, a multi-site congregation with 25 locations and 44 services across Chicago plus 10 international sites, alongside a nonprofit serving at-risk youth. He calls the dual role a "beautiful marriage" that kept him connected to the city while leading the institute.

He's now stepping down to return full-time to pastoring, church planting, and evangelism, calling it a deepening of his calling rather than a demotion. Much of the conversation covers his urban, multiethnic ministry in Chicago, the rise of "cultural Christians" and lapsed Catholics seeking faith again, strong recent growth in conversions and baptisms (over 1,100 people in 24 months), and his direct approach encouraging unmarried couples living together to marry. He closes by citing Proverbs 3:5-6, underlined in his father's Bible, as the scripture that has most guided his life and decisions.

The interview ends noting Jobe will leave his Moody office at the end of the month, with listeners encouraged to pray for his successor as the institute's 11th president.

       NEXT WEEK:  David McCullough on George Washington and 1776

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Dr. David Zanotti, CEO and Chairman of The American Policy Roundtable and host of The Public Square, joins Wayne Shepherd in conversation about America's 250th.   (click for more...)  

The conversation centers on a recently published book, An Oration, which Zanotti co-authored with political philosopher Dr. W.B. Allen. The book revisits an 1837 Fourth of July speech by John Quincy Adams — delivered at age 70, for 90 minutes without a microphone — in which Adams argued that American civil government was founded on biblical principles rooted in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Zanotti describes Adams as the most credible eyewitness to the founding era, having personally known the Founding Fathers, served in every branch of government, and later spent 17 years in Congress advocating for the abolition of slavery.

The interview also touches on how the book addresses modern debates around Christian nationalism, theocracy, and separation of church and state — using Adams' own words as the authoritative response. As a practical application, Zanotti encourages listeners to read the Declaration of Independence and engage in civic life as an expression of Christian faith. He concludes by announcing a groundbreaking ceremony for "Declaration Hall" — an education and media center to be built on the campus of the American Mission Center in Ohio — scheduled for July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

                                                  NEXT WEEK:  Mark Jobe 

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