Showing results by narrator "David B. Smith" in All Categories

Our beloved uncle, Morris Venden, regularly claimed in camp meeting sermons: “For sure I believe in ‘Once Saved, Almost Always Saved!’” The parable of the Prodigal Son promises assurance even to the confused and disaffected child. King David was not a lost soul even while committing the twin crimes of adultery and murder. What, then, would a rebel have to do in order to actually depart from God’s eternal kingdom anchored by Amazing Grace?

Bucky Stone’s dream mission trip has turned into a nightmare. He’s 9000 miles from home, hopelessly lost on the streets of Bangkok. Panic screams at his senses, making it difficult to think. He’s got no money. This adventure happened before T-Mobile cellphone plans that work in Asia, so he can’t call his pals for help. He can’t speak a word of Thai. And he’s running out of time and options. Somewhere in this huge steaming city with its traffic jams and go-go bars is a group of Christian friends he’d give anything to see again.

Volume Six is a tight thriller, with our young Christian hero fighting sinister underworld sports betting mob guys. Can he expose the rigging of a varsity championship basketball game without getting himself killed?

“Shultz, stop! You’re gonna kill us!” Jonathan hesitated, punched the accelerator, and hurtled through the red light. Immediately an eerie wail from a patrol car filled the air, sending a thrill of fear through Bucky. Was this his lab partner’s idea of fun? Taking his foot off the gas, Jonathan eased the van to the side of the road. Suddenly there was a squeal of tires, and the vehicle shot forward. “What are you doing?” Bucky demanded. “I’m drivin’, baby.” “You’re crazy, Shultz! It’s only a traffic ticket. Pull over!” Just ahead railroad warning lights began to ding. “There we go!

Crack! The malicious pitch leaves Bucky in excruciating pain. It’s only the first day of practice, and already his baseball season’s over. But a broken arm is just the beginning of his troubles.

9/11 tragedies and Auschwitz can’t be overruled without the “butterfly effect” causing even greater havoc. When high school senior Jordan Wickam gets a mysterious bootleg iPod that flips back his calendar exactly seven days, he piles up a greedy fortune betting on horse-racing exactas. Then on the night of the senior prom, he’s abruptly forced to decide: Do I play God?

Every Christmas, millions gather in cathedrals and concert halls for a spectacular tradition: the sing-along to the Messiah. It’s a celebration of one of music’s finest miracles, where a composer drafted the world’s perennially favorite oratorio in just 24 days. Choruses and solos range from stirring to dizzyingly complex, and together, the songs express the full significance of what Christ came to this scarred world to achieve on our behalf.

Can the people of God still hope for an imminent Second Coming of Jesus? Dan and David Smith are cheerful, hope-filled Adventist men with Venden DNA coursing through their souls! Together they posit a larger question: Who cares? When life is decently abundant down here, when a golden retirement looms and vaccines have chased the germs away, do we still urgently want Jesus Christ to come and take us to a faraway destination known mostly for harps and 24/7 prayer meetings?

Most of us who are Christians have an unstated pride in our resumé: it’s actually not bad! We’ve worshiped the Lord for decades and done a lot of good in the world. Okay, sure, we’re thankful for Calvary. But it’s not difficult to imagine hearty applause as we approach the front door of heaven. “You did good! Come right in!”Jesus went to a party where the church’s head elder felt exactly like that. And our Savior told him a quiet story about two men who needed forgiveness.

Trident Nottingham III had an idea that would change the world forever: a shipbrain designed to make interstellar flight less restrictive and reduce the amount of time one spent attempting to meet regulations. What he didn't expect was that the shipbrain would develop a mind of its own.

Here in "Of Fleeces and Faith," I have a great time exploring from the fascinating Old Testament story of Gideon and his tiny little band of 300 warriors. He asked for a sign; in fact, he asked for three of them! God said yes, but is that the best way for a follower of heaven to proceed? Always wanting more proof, more proof, more more more?

"Outcast on the Court" is the third action-packed story in the Bucky Stone adventure series. After a cheating scandal threatens to blow up his friendship with fellow athlete Dan Litton, Bucky is able to reconcile with Hampton High's superstar basketball forward. And Coach Litton reluctantly agrees to allow the two players back onto the JV squad. But all the other Panthers don't think much of the Jesus freak addition to the roster. Despite his interest in God, Dan has a lingering problem with booze. The team's best shooting guard has a drug habit no one else suspects.

This volume represents one of my favorite career challenges: creating this radio adventure for the Voice of Prophecy ministry. Our broadcast team always envisioned the national audience reached by our scripts: thoughtful Christians and seekers longing for a better life empowered by the gospel. Paul’s epistle to the Philippians is among the richest of scriptural gifts to the world! Believers everywhere have been encouraged by his exhortation: “I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me.

Bucky Stone Adventures is 10 exciting stories all packed with home runs and buzzer-beater three-point hoops, along with flirty text messages, a kidnapping scare, bank robberies, and even a mission trip to downtown Bangkok where our hero promptly gets himself lost in the big, bad city. There’s plenty of humor and teasing, but in the end a young man’s faith has to give him a path forward when there’s a cheating scandal in history class or impossible-to-forgive grudge on the basketball court.

A cancer diagnosis robs the two Gray gentlemen – Big Ethan and Little Ethan – of a bride and beloved grandma. Unable to cope with Seattle’s jagged memories, Pastor Ethan gratefully embraces an invitation to move to Thailand and lead Bangkok Christian School's affiliate worship center, United Christian Church. Soon enough the story has a thumping soundtrack as Noah Charoenkul drafts the aging rocker to be his keyboardist for praise music at school and church.

This is a love story with a heartbreaking backdrop: a dangerous cult group that threatens the Body of Christ and the many courageous Christian churches throughout Bangkok. Truth be told, I have never experienced any sort of cult upheaval in Thailand. But years ago I had a role in a Mark Finley evangelistic adventure in Moscow, and a violent extremist group was regularly attacking our ministers. They were angry, they were violent, they were absolutely convinced that they and only they were right, that only they had God’s blessing, that only they were going to make it to heaven.

Hey, it’s not that hard for a cop to solve crimes if he can time-travel back a week and apprehend crooks before they even walk into the bank. Detective Aaron Mathews, the iPod’s new unsuspecting victim, sniffs around to track down its former owners, and begins to realize God is demanding a whole lot more of him than just lucky junkets to Atlantic City. His hard-boiled agnosticism begins to thaw as he witnesses the Columbine killings up close, and is sorely tempted to undo America’s first mass shooting.

It’s only thirty seconds of quiet inspiration, but no song in the world has transformed lives like “Amazing Grace.” The haunting message of just four simple lines sweeps away theologies and arguments and presents us with heaven’s one singular rescue mission: God’s grace that flows from Calvary. In these cheerful but poignant chapters, Dan and David Smith go line by line through John Newton’s classic gospel message. If grace could rescue him from his sordid, cynical hell of being captain of a slave ship, can it liberate men and women here in the 21st century? Yes, it can!

I have many dear friends whose youthful experience in the church was fraught with anxiety over “I’ll never be good enough” and the warning that nineteen out of twenty kids are doomed to stay forever out of heaven. Okay, you too? On the cusp of college graduation and my new gig as a teacher in an Adventist school, two rescuing lifeboats floated my way. I began reading stuff by C. S. Lewis and also a pastor named Morris Venden – ironically my mom’s cousin!

Katrina Saxby wasn’t even planning to trade her on-track academic life at Pacific Union College for a year in northern Thailand. But the call of God was clear and so she said yes. Now she’s got to teach English, start up a high school choir, launch the newsletter, be a substitute preacher when a bus breaks down, dispense dating advice to teenage girls, and fret about the growing reality that one of the Thai teachers might be falling in love with her.