“Then those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.” Acts 8:4 NKJV
Earl Radmacher wrote: “‘They were all scattered.’ This phrase speaks of scattering seeds on the ground so that something will grow. The members of the church in Jerusalem may not have understood what was happening to them, but Jesus would not let His church become limited racially, culturally, or geographically. These early believers became missionaries.”
As advertising-circulation director for Youth for Christ Magazine, God gave me the theme: “TAMI – Teens Are Most Important.”
Dave Breese, director of Chicagoland Youth for Christ, invited my wife Mary and me to “Harvest of Sacred Song,” featuring a teenage choir.
Dave and Thurlow Spurr said, “We think we have found your ‘TAMI’ model.” They introduced me to an attractive high school student. Explaining we were looking for someone to represent Youth for Christ Magazine as “TAMI”; if she agreed and her parents approved, no one would know her real name: she would be “TAMI.”
She agreed, and her parents approved her participation. Her Dad said, “We could not attend the first rally of Chicagoland Youth for Christ because that was the evening our daughter was born.”
The “TAMI” idea was launched publicly at the Youth for Christ International Mid-Winter Convention in Los Angeles in January 1961. Warren Wiersbe, Youth for Christ Magazine editor, recommended Youth for Christ directors invite me to their communities. Doors opened to “take the Gospel everywhere.”
Endeavoring to have a major event to impact Chicago, Dave and Carol Breese, Thurlow and Noran Spurr, and Mary and I stood on the stage of Arie Crown Theater at McCormick Place, looking out over 5,000 empty seats while the auditorium was still under construction.
Praying together for God to guide us, we brought outstanding Christian musicians to be featured in “Splendor of Sacred Song” concerts.
Thurlow organized “The Spurrlows,” a travel team of 20 to 30 singers and instrumentalists.
Presenting the Gospel in community after community, I paved the way for “Splendor of Sacred Song” to “take the gospel everywhere.”
Preceding what would become TTT Christian Youth Ministries, I “preached the Word” in Tri-state communities, preparing for “Splendor of Sacred Song” at the Evansville Coliseum February 14, 1963.
July 1963, I gave Jarrell McCracken a two-year commitment to work with Word in Waco, Texas.
We put together contests for Youth for Christ rallies to distribute albums. The 1965 contest, “Teen to Teen Around the World,” was won by Denver YFC. There to present the award, I had lunch the following day (Valentine’s Day) with Denver YFC director Jim Groen and Paul Cedar, directing the Denver Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusade.
My wife Mary called, telling me that our daughter was expected to be born right away, and I should fly back to Waco immediately. Changing planes twice, I arrived at our apartment in Waco in time to wait for Tami’s arrival. Rather than February 14, Tami waited until February 23 to be born. We introduced her as “The world’s newest world changer!”
Launching Word Books, Jarrell McCracken asked me to represent Word at the Christian Booksellers Convention in Philadelphia; the Youth for Christ Convention in Winona Lake; and Christian bookstores in Illinois, Wisconsin, and the St. Louis area.
Meanwhile, God provided a house and 2 1/3 acres at the corner of US 41 North and Boonville New Harmony Road, and miracle after miracle for me to direct Tri-state Youth for Christ. Prior to our first Saturday night gathering February 5, 1966, God opened doors to take the Gospel to Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky communities.
Saturday, February 7, 2026, TTT celebrated 60 years and counting – Telling The TRUTH – now over 3,100 consecutive Saturdays.
Telling The TRUTH radio is heard twice daily on 67 VCY America stations.
Doors are open to take the Gospel to county fairs and street festivals in up to 13 Tri-state communities during July and August.
The Spurrlows recorded an arrangement of “Stout-Hearted Men”: “Hearts can inspire other hearts with their fire, for the strong obey when a strong man shows them the way. Give me some men who are Christ-hearted men, who will fight for the Lord they adore. Start me with ten who are Christ-loving men, and I’ll soon give you ten thousand more. Shoulder to shoulder and bolder and bolder, we grow as we go to the fore. Then there’s nothing in this world can harm or mar God’s plan, when Christ-hearted men can stick together man to man.”
Jesus entrusted the message of His resurrection first to women, to go and tell His disciples. Men and women are now commissioned to take the Gospel “everywhere.”
Give me ten Christ-hearted men and women, and I’ll soon give you ten thousand more!
Where will you go with God’s Word?