Certain voices and certain people define a generation. Elvis Pressley defined a generation because of the impact that he had in the world of music. Ronald Reagan defined the 1980’s through his political power and the changes that we saw on the world’s stage during his Presidency. We also have spiritual voices that guide us along the path, speaking up in times of trouble and guiding believers as we seek to make a difference in the world around us. One of the spiritual voices of our generation is Dr. David Jeremiah, pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church and the voice of Turning Point Ministries.

Dr. Jeremiah has been a force for the Lord in the San Diego area for twenty-five years and has also been influential on the airwaves of the radio and on television as well. His influence has been far reaching, yet he gives the credit to the Lord, the One who gave him life and a second chance. I recently caught up with Dr. Jeremiah to hear from someone who is leading the charge on the frontlines of the Christian world today and to get his advice for Christians in a world full of darkness.

His Life

Dr. David Jeremiah was born in 1941 in Toledo, Ohio. He has founded one church and took over for Tim LaHaye in San Diego at what is now the Shadow Mountain Community Church.

Q â€" Can you tell me your testimony?

“I came to know the Lord in my teenage years. I grew up in a pastor’s home. Obviously, I had been exposed to the gospel all my life and I had some pre-conversion experiences, but when I was a teenager, I really understood the gospel and accepted the Lord and was baptized. I had, like most young men, my times of walking at a distance from the Lord but most of the time after that, I began focusing on what the Lord wanted me to do. I went to Cedarville College and at that time, was thinking of a career in radio and television, but when I was a senior, God called me to preach. So, I headed off to Dallas Seminary and was there for four years studying to be a pastor. When I got out of seminary, I was called to the Haddon Heights Baptist Church in Haddon Heights, New Jersey as the youth pastor and CE director. I went there and was there for two years. In 1969, God called us to Fort Wayne, Indiana to start a church. We started the Blackhawk Baptist Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and stayed there for twelve years. During the time that we were there, we built a Christian school, built a couple of buildings, and started a radio and television outreach. We were on the television in five cities toward the end of the 70’s and into the early 80’s. The church grew to about 1,500. Then, in 1981, the Lord called us to San Diego to follow the ministry of Tim LaHaye at what was then called the Scott Memorial Baptist Church and we have been here for over 25 years, The church’s name now is Shadow Mountain Community Church and we’re a congregation in El Cajon, California of about 6,000 people.�

Q â€" When was a time in your life that you felt closest to God, like God was right there with you?

“There is no question in my mind about that time. It was when I was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer in 1994. That was a very, very challenging time. It was a lonely journey. I had lots of people praying for me and a wonderful wife who supported me but anyone who’s been through that knows that you go through that somewhat by yourself. I had never felt the presence of the Lord in my life like I did during those days, almost like He had moved into my room and He was with me. I’m over that now and have been eight or nine years free of cancer but as I go back and read the journals I had written during that time, I realized that there had never been a point in my life when I felt the Lord’s presence like I did in those days.�

His Ministry

Few ministries have reached the size and the amount of influence as Shadow Mountain and Turning Point has achieved. Dr. Jeremiah has also authored many books that have increased his influence and advanced the message of the Lord into lives all over the world.

Q â€" What is the toughest part of pastoring a church as large as Shadow Mountain?

“For me, personally, one of the hard things is that I wish that I could know everybody. I go out to restaurants in San Diego and people come up and tell me that they go to our church and I don’t know their name. I wish that I did. It’s just not possible to know the names of 6,000 people and be able to recognize them all. So I think one of the things that I feel personally is that I love all these people and wish that I could know them all better than I do. On the other hand, that’s more than offset by the fact that we have small groups and these people are known by their friends and peers. So the challenge I have at Shadow Mountain is trying to keep ahead of these folks and constantly show them a way where we should go because they want to be involved in what’s happening in the world today.�

Q â€" What’s the best part about pastoring a large church?

“Just having the sense of influence that we have. Large churches can do things that other churches can’t. I mentioned to you earlier that we went down last Saturday, we had almost 600 of our people who went to an inner city school, and in one day we did a complete extreme makeover of that school. We turned it inside out and when the kids came in there on Monday, it was like a brand new school. We did it in one day and there’s no way that we could do that if we didn’t have the strength and the size and the influence that we have.�

Q â€" As you’ve seen the Lord use you in so many big ways in your life, how has that effected your faith in the Lord?

“You know, everyday that I come to my office and I read the emails and the letters and the feedback that I get, I am just more and more excited and I’m absolutely certain that we are on the right track; that we have the right message. It’s the message people need; it’s the only transformational message in the world. It is the only message that when a person hears it, understands it, and believes it, can change from the inside out immediately. So the more God does for me, the more I hunger to do more for Him. It’s just a wonderful thing to realize that we have the technology, we have the methodology today to preach the Word of God and to get the message out to the four corners of the world. There’s never been a more exciting time, in my estimation, to be a minister of God’s Word.�

I asked Dr. Jeremiah if he would have any new books that would come out in 2007 and he talked about two that will be coming out in the fall of this year. He spoke with excitement about each project, two that should definitely be read by those who long to grow in their Christian walk.

His Advice

This was the primary part of our interview, simply because I wanted to hear Dr. Jeremiah’s insights. As I picked his brain about various topics, he gave the in-depth answers that he has been known for over the years. His answers were thought-provoking and confident.

Q â€" We are reaching out to many lost men with this magazine. If a lost person was reading this, how could you assure them that the God of the Bible is the only true God?

“First of all, you have to understand that our faith in Jesus Christ is based on revelation and that revelation is in the Scripture. The Bible actually says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and that no man comes to the Father except through Him; that there’s one God and one mediator between God and man and that’s the man Christ Jesus. So the Word of God declares it. The other side of it is common sense demands it because the God of the universe, who makes all the rules, has set down how we are to come to heaven. I remember hearing someone say that, of all the billions of people who are now alive on the face of the earth, they all came into physical life the same way. They were born the same way. There aren’t a hundred different ways to become a human; there’s just one way and in the same way, there aren’t a hundred different ways to become a spiritual being. There’s only one way. If the God who created humanity could confine the entrance into humanity to one way, why should we expect it to be any different in the spiritual realm? If we are going to be born into the kingdom of God, there’s just one way and that’s through faith in Jesus Christ.�

Q â€" There are so many people who question, when they feel the Holy Spirit is leading them, whether or not it is really the Holy Spirit or if it is just themselves or an outside influence. How do you know when the Holy Spirit is leading you to do something?
“I don’t know that I can answer that definitively for everyone, but here’s what I do know. The Holy Spirit never leads you against the written revealed Word of God. I’ve had people come up to me who were in violation of their marriage covenant and they say, “Yeah, but the Holy Spirit led me.� I look at them right smack in the face and say, “The Holy Spirit did not lead you because the Holy Spirit doesn’t lead you to do what God has forbidden you to do in His Word.� A lot of the craziness that goes on today that gets blamed on the Holy Spirit could easily be cared for if people would read the Bible and see what the Spirit of God really wants to do.�

Q â€" What is your biggest concern for churches worldwide today?

“I don’t know that I have any perspective on the worldwide church but I’ll tell you what I believe about the churches in America. We’ve kind of forgotten who we are and what our role in the community is. God has called us not only to be light but also to be salt. God gave us a Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel but He also gave us a Great Commandment and that commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, with all of our souls, and with all of our minds and to love our neighbors as ourselves. I’ve told our people recently that I feel we’ve done a fairly well with the Great Commission and we’re discovering again that God has called us to obey the Great Commandment as well.�

Q â€" What excites you the most about churches in America today?

“I believe that we are on the threshold of some of the greatest days of the church in spite of all of the arguments that we hear about the dangers of the emerging church and the different terminology that’s placed on the church. I believe that people are finally coming to grips with the fact that really there is only one organization that has any hope of making substantive change in our culture and that’s the church of Jesus Christ. I tell our people that I’m so excited to be a part of the church because there are only two eternal things; one is the Word of God and the other are the souls of people. In the church, that’s what we major on, the Word of God and the souls of people.�

Q â€" As a follow up to that question, what do we need to do in preparation for those days? We have a younger generation today that is hungering for more.
“When young people see that we are serious about the mandate, whether it is our witnessing or what we did recently in San Diego when we did an extreme makeover on a school downtown, the kids get into it and realize that Christianity is not just a doctrine but a lifestyle of service to the Lord. They (kids) are not going to get it sitting in a pew; they’re going to get it when you give them hands-on opportunities to serve God. There’s never been a time where there are more places for that to happen.�

Q â€" What is the key to keeping the spiritual fire brewing in someone’s life? So often, we are fired up about a message we hear on Sunday only to have that fire stamped out by Tuesday.

“I think there are two things involved in that; what you take in and what you avoid taking in. I don’t think it’s possible to stay committed and warm in your walk with the Lord if you fill your mind and heart with the things of the world continually. Obviously, one of the great enemies there is the television because it pumps into your system constantly the things that are antithetical to the Word of God and the principles of the Lord. So you have to be careful what you allow into your mind and spirit and then you have to develop some disciplines. You have to develop some spiritual disciplines which is a word most people don’t like to hear these days because they think the Christian life should be something that you float along on and it doesn’t take any effort. But the Bible says in Timothy that we are to exercise ourselves unto godliness. That means we’re to have a discipline that we use to stay close to the Lord. Christianity’s not a walk in the park. Somebody said, “The entrance fees are nothing but the daily dues are everything.�

Q â€" What do you think is the biggest problem facing Christian men today?

“Without any question, internet pornography.�

Q â€" How can we tackle that problem?

“First off, before you can tackle it, you have to acknowledge it. I gave a whole message on it a couple of years ago and talked about it very pointedly. I shared with our men how, if they are starting to get trapped in this, there are organizations that have come alongside the church to help men have an accountability. They sign up for this organization and it monitors their internet use and makes sure that they stay clean. So there are ways to do it. The main thing is acknowledgement. So many men get caught in this thing, little by little, and it’s so easy to happen because it’s so available, even when you’re not looking for it. There are all kinds of things that they do to trick you into their web site because they know how seductive it is. Men get caught in it and they begin to sense that it’s taking hold in their lives and they need to go and get help. They need to talk to someone, get someone who can help them be accountable. There are ways to do it but if you wait until you just get totally addicted to it, it’s a very difficult thing to break.�

Dr. Jeremiah also stressed the importance of tackling the internet pornography problem as a church because without the church taking a stance, “we’re going to end up losing a generation of men who are seduced into a lifestyle of immorality.�

As he spoke to me, I could hear the resolve in his voice and the hope that I had heard through the radio over a great many years of my life as I listened to Turning Point. He was one of the most intelligent people I have ever spoken with and someone who you could tell felt a conviction about the things that he spoke about. He has become one of the spiritual voices of our generation and as the Lord continues to give Dr. David Jeremiah a message for us to hear, we need to be sure that we are listening.

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