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- Telling the Truth
Telling the Truth
with Stuart, Jill and Pete Briscoe
Weekdays 10.00am
Compelling, challenging, comforting, passionate, genuine, real. These are just some of the words listeners use to describe Telling the Truth, the Bible teaching ministry of Stuart, Jill and Pete Briscoe.
Their radio and Internet broadcast offers a fresh, practical perspective on the Scriptures and applies God’s unchanging truths to today’s world and life’s hard questions. Begun in 1971 as a simple tape ministry, Telling the Truth has grown dramatically over the past three and a half decades to become an international broadcast outreach.
In addition to their daily broadcast here on Premier, the program can be heard via satellite across Europe and ten countries in southern Africa, as well as on local radio in Seoul, Korea and on dozens of radio outlets throughout the United States including Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, and Seattle.
The Briscoes’ half-hour daily program, along with numerous other free teaching resources, can also be accessed online at www.tellingthetruth.org
Bombs in Boston
I have never been exposed to a "terrorist" bombing attack. But, from my boyhood days in the UK during the Second World War, I have vivid recollections of being subjected to more "traditional" bombing - if you'll forgive the term. In those far off days the first indication of danger came from the air raid siren that pierced the night air with its chilling, wailing warning. This galvanized some to their posts of duty and others to take shelter.
As the war ground along year after year we became more accustomed to the dangers and a certain familiarity developed. In some people it became a kind of fatalism - "If the bomb has your name on it you can't out-run it". Others adopted a more practical approach calculated to decide how little they should allow the bombing to interfere with their lives.
'Terrorist' bombing is quite different. There is no air raid warning, there is much less opportunity to "get used to it" and to adjust accordingly (although I remember being in Belfast, Northern Ireland during "the troubles" when we had 50 bomb alerts in one day - and the Irish became somewhat accustomed to it!). The result, however, of the sudden unexpected terrorist attack is shock. You see it on people's faces - wide staring eyes, totally blank expressions, a certain numbness of body and mind.
In that moment something called instinct takes over. One Bostonian reporter who was close to the explosion said, "My first instinct was to run away." Galvanized by fear - a perfectly normal adrenalin-induced reaction - and an instinct for survival - a natural impulse - she got as far away from the fear-inducing situation as she could, as quickly as possible. Instinctive reactions built into our humanity by the God who made us. But in the same instant the instinct of others was exactly the opposite - they ran to the scene of the explosion! I think this is called "counterintuitive."
I doubt if any of us knows for certain what our reaction would be in such circumstances but I believe the issue needs exploring.
An instinct, according to one definition in Websters, is "a natural or acquired tendency". I have no difficulty understanding the "natural tendency" as described above but what can we say about the "acquired tendency?" They can be good or bad!
There is no doubt that many of the people who ran to the explosion rather than away from it were what we call "first responders.'" They, no doubt, had acquired certain tendencies through their training and presumably because of their sense of calling and commitment they knew why they were on the scene for "such a time as this".
But there were others who were not trained, called and committed in the same way to such action, and yet they too ran into danger. This suggests that locked away somewhere in the human spirit is a residue of courage, compassion and selflessness that in the normal course of events is all too often squeezed out by self gratification and self absorption. If survival and fear-induced reactions are God-given, self gratification and self absorption are not. They are perversions.
I'm no psychologist but I do have a smattering of theology and I believe that all humans were created in the divine image and show some aspects of the divine nature - see above - despite the fact that we are all fallen - that is we are much less than we were created to be.
The result is that we live with fallen "tendencies" that need to be counter-acted by spiritual "impulses" which can and must be acquired as our hearts and minds are trained to recognize a realistic view of our fallen-ness, and a desire for the transforming power of grace to bring about spiritual transformation. In other words, whether our instincts motivate us run closer or further away, we all need the Lord.
Stuart Briscoe
About the ministry team
Stuart and Jill were born in England, he in Cumbria in 1930, and Jill in Liverpool in 1935. They married in 1958 and have served in ministry together for over 50 years. Stuart has written more than 50 books, received three honorary doctorates, and preached in more than 100 countries.
Jill is the author of over 40 books, serves on the Board of Directors for World Relief and Christianity Today, and is Executive Editor of Just Between Us, a magazine for women with a heart for ministry.
She is a graduate of Cambridge University and received an honorary doctorate from Trinity International University in 2005. Both are highly requested speakers at conferences, retreats and conventions in all corners of the world.
Stuart served across the pond for 30 years as the senior pastor of Elmbrook Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which under his leadership grew into the largest church in the region with weekly attendance of 7,000, and planted eight other churches. In 2000, Stuart stepped down from that role, and the Briscoes began their new roles for the church as ministers-at-large.
They offer leadership training and support to missionaries, church leaders and pastors throughout the world. Stuart and Jill continue to call Milwaukee home and for the few months they spend there, enjoy time with their children and 13 grandchildren.
The newest voice on the broadcast is Pete Briscoe, senior pastor at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas, and the Briscoe’s youngest son. In 2004, Pete joined his parents on the programme, contributing his uniquely-gifted teaching to the broadcasts. Since 2007, in addition to teaching an equal third of the broadcasts, Pete has served as daily host of the programme.
Pete grew up under Stuart’s ministry at Elmbrook. He received his Masters of Divinity Degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois. During that time, he was impacted by a professor who told him that it was “a sin to bore people with the Bible.”
He has taken that to heart, and since 1992 has served as senior pastor at Bent Tree. Under Pete’s leadership, the church has grown ten-fold to 4,000 members and is deeply committed to missions outreach. He is married to Libby and has three children.
Contact details
- Website
- www.tellingthetruth.org