Ministry is often portrayed as a calling, as it should be filled with purpose, impact, and divine fulfillment. Yet the reality for many pastors, missionaries, and church leaders is that gospel ministry comes with seasons of deep discouragement and often failure. Learning to recover from errors in judgment and feelings of failure and fruitlessness is absolutely crucial for someone's leadership, not just for our own personal well-being, but also for sustaining long term faithfulness in the work of the ministry.

Too often, leaders internalize their setbacks as a sign that God has rejected them, but failure does not mean the end of ministry. Failure can be the very place where growth and deeper faith in Christ begins. In today's episode, we talk with Pastor Mitch Dobson, Biblical Studies Instructor of the Living Faith Institute, to explore these difficult yet transformative moments, turning to the Scriptures to remind us of God’s promises during these critical times in life and ministry.

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In Revelation 11, we are given a depiction of the second half of the tribulation, the moment in the end times narrative where two men, two prophets, will be used to open the eyes of the Jewish people to the reality that Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

Revelation 11:3 says, “And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.”

These two witnesses will spend three and a half years performing miracles like the prophets and apostles of old – with command over the weather, power over plagues, the ability to breathe fire, and will even be raised from the dead!

These two unnamed men, called “olive trees” in Zechariah 4, stand tall as central figures in the story of Israel’s redemption and the second advent of Christ – but who are they? Can we know? Is it important to our understanding of the Bible?
 
To chat about the identity of the two witnesses, provost Brandon Briscoe has invited Sam Miles, president of the Living Faith Bible Institute and biblical studies instructor, onto the show.

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Since the inception of The Postscript, we have been meeting with Pastor Greg Axe, Church History instructor at the Living Faith Bible Institute, to discuss just that, the history of the church and God's work in the world through his people.

The last few times we met, we chatted about Europe during the Reformation and then the Counter-Reformation. We've discussed quite a cast of characters over the last few episodes: Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Bloody Mary, Queen Elizabeth, but today we want to discuss King James, King of England and Scotland at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century.

King James was undoubtedly a flawed man. His legacy as king is marked by peace, unity and general prosperity, as well as the sins of an unrighteous man. Even greater than these strengths and also his weaknesses, was God's determination to accomplish an incomprehensible work, a translation of the Bible that would ultimately change the whole world. 

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We have made a habit over the years of inviting church planters and missionaries onto The Postscript to share their testimony, along with the twists and turns of the work of church planting, which is not an easy endeavor. One such church planter is Vinnie Nigro and his wife, Megan, of First Baptist Church in New Philadelphia, Ohio. Brandon Briscoe, the provost of Living Faith Bible Institute, has invited missionary Vincent Nigro to discuss the many ways God has shaped his heart for the mission field, as well as how he discovered Kosovo, the predominantly Muslim nation which he intends to plant a church.

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“WWJD?” It's a virtuous aim for Christians to behave like Jesus Christ. Feeding and clothing the poor, caring for the orphan and widow are the command of Scripture, and a righteous pursuit of any disciple of Jesus Christ. But what about other social injustices like economic equality or racial equity? Is it the aim of the Christian to fight against child labor or unjust wars, or advocate for environmental protections or public education? If so, in what way and in what context? 

What are the boundaries of Christian responsibility? Is our primary goal as Christians to pursue the establishment of a Christian ethic in our world? Or is it to preach the gospel in order to see souls saved? Today, provost of Living Faith Bible Institute, Brandon Briscoe, has invited Pastor Allen Shelby of Harvest Baptist Church, dean of the living Faith Bible Institute, to chat about the Social Gospel, a movement that has influenced the church for over 150 years now. 

Pastor Shelby expounds key Bible passages in the gospels pertaining to the aim of the Christian, showing from Christ’s own words how the social gospel has led the church away from a scripturally faithful approach to ministry and world missions.

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There is no doubt about it, we are living in some strange times. In November of 2024, New Jersey citizens began reporting sightings of strange drone-like objects lingering over their neighborhoods, bodies of water and even over military bases. Since that time, the department of defense has received over 5,000 reports of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP). To make matters worse, government officials have been anything but transparent about what’s going on and have downplayed what appears to the American public like either a security threat or an alien invasion.

Many of the reports, even from the experts, are suggesting that the size of these UAP’s is much larger than common drones, many reports suggest they are the size of cars. Their peculiar movements are also inexplicable and not like common aircrafts.

Social media and talking heads have had a field day with this of course, but on today’s show, want to look at the history of this technology and then look for instances within scripture where we find examples of “UAP’s” and then try and draw some hyposthesis about what we are seeing in our news cycle and in our skies.

Pastor Brandon Briscoe, the provost of Living Faith Bible Institute, has invited Brian Bustos on the show for today's conversation. Brian is an instructor at the Living Faith Bible Institute and also the Director of Experience Strategy at one of Fortune’s top 100 innovative companies, where he focuses heavily on emerging technologies like genAI.

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In the song “With God on Our Side,” Bob Dylan famously criticized the American predilection to confidently claim that our personal and political endeavors are touched by God, “Oh, my name, it ain't nothin', my age, it means less. The country I come from is called the Midwest. I's taught and brought up there, the laws to abide. And that the land that I live in has God on its side.”

Now Dylan is no theologian, but he does highlight an interesting dilemma, and he causes us to ask some serious questions. What do we make of claims in politics and culture, that God favors a particular side or position? What makes these claims credible and what makes them dangerous? How does a Christian truly discern if God has providentially aligned himself with a man, a movement, and institution or a cause?

Today on the Postscript we will be discussing this subject from the perspective of history. What can be learned from observing historic instances in which people, Christians in particular, have made the claim that God was on their side?

To have this discussion, we have invited Dr. Thomas Kidd, Research Professor of Church History at Midwestern and the John and Sharon Yeats Endowed Chair of Baptist Studies. He has written numerous books on church history and Baptist history. 

Read Dr. Kidd’s book God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution

Student Affairs & Bridge Program Director at Living Faith Bible Institute, Jeff Grasher, interviews LFBI student Luis Zalava from Tampa Florida. Luis witnessed the civil war of El Salvador as a young boy which was accompanied by difficulty. Luis had many spiritual questions left unanswered by false religion though, and he drifted further from an interest in church after visiting a wild Pentecostal service. Luis however, did not lose interest in Jesus and the Bible. He eventually placed his faith in Christ sometime later after learning the gospel in the Bible on his own. Luis moved the U.S. and lived with his brother who introduced him to Living Faith Tampa where he is currently engaged in ministry and discipleship.

Lastly, Luis gives a charge why every believer needs a Bible education, to grow spiritual, and to grow in courage to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost world.

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To be “filled with the Spirit” is a biblical phrase, often used but rarely understood. Some would use the phrase to describe either another Christian's character or a moment when someone seems to have divine inspiration. Most commonly, the term “filled with the Spirit” is used to describe sudden ecstatic behavior. What is clear is that the church struggles to understand what the Bible means when it says:

Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord [is]. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Today on the Postscript, we have Pastor Brian Clark, church planter, author, and Biblical studies instructor at LFBI, to discuss this topic with Brandon Briscoe, provost of LFBI. Brian will help us gain a biblical answer for what it means to be filled with the Spirit and how it affects our life and ministry.

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The trumpet is one of the most often used symbols in all of scripture. We see, particularly in the Old Testament, that the sound of a trump was used to gather an assembly, to call soldiers to war, and to draw people into worship. The Bible presents us with trumpets that call us into Christ’s arms, and trumpets that mark destruction during the tribulation.

How do the trumpets differ, and how do they help us better understand God’s grand design? Today, provost of Living Faith Bible Institute Brandon Briscoe has invited James Fyffe, faculty professor of Missiology at the Living Faith Bible Institute to do a BIble study on the topic of the "trumpets" of Scripture.

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In this super-sized episode of the Ps+ we join Myles Cheadle as he walks through different facets of the person of Jesus Christ. 

Today, as a continuation of the Unknown Missionary series on The Postscript, we discuss the intriguing testimony and life (1887-1913) of missionary William Whiting Borden. Borden was a rich young man with incredible intellect and aptitude who gave everything he had for the cause of Christ. Provost of Living Faith Bible Institute Brandon Briscoe has invited James Fyffe, former missionary and faculty professor of Missiology at the Living Faith Bible Institute to have this conversation. Visit https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore