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Inside the Vineyard - Weekly Articles about life @ Vineyard Boise
Feb 20th, 2000
John McClure: A messenger for the masses
For John
McClure, the Gospel isn't just a truth to be believed - it's a message to be announced.
And he's actively engaged in the role of messenger on at least three fronts.
First, he's the pastor of the Newport Beach Vineyard in Southern California.
Second, he's the radio pastor of "The Word and
the Spirit" broadcast. Third, he's the author of a new book, "Countdown to
Apocalypse."
The radio ministry was birthed in August 1995.
At the time, a radio program was scrutinizing the Vineyard movement for its involvement in
prophetic activity, and John says God instructed him to start the broadcast to counter
those attacks.
The goal of the program is "just to be
ourselves - to go on the radio and teach the Word and the Spirit," John says.
The broadcast began in Southern California and
hit Treasure Valley airwaves in June 1996. The program also broadcasts from Denver.
Roughly 170,000 to 200,000 people tune in to the program every month, including about
15,000 listeners in the Treasure Valley.
"The Word and the Spirit" also is
available online at www.wordandspirit.org,
allowing people around the world to hear John's messages.
The Treasure Valley broadcast costs about
$1,000 a month. Right now, about 67% of that cost is raised locally, but John is hoping to
raise 100% of the necessary support from local pledges.
John's new book, "Countdown to
Apocalypse," evaluates the current age in relation to the end times.
"My basic proposition is that we are now
in the Great Tribulation of Revelation 8 and 9," John explains. He argues that the
environmental disasters in those chapters are symbolic representations of the world's
current environmental crises.
John hopes the book will serve as a wake-up
call to the church. The Great Tribulation is often seen as a warning, but John believes it
also is a time of revival.
"God's purpose for the Great
Tribulation," he says, "is to shake the earth and cause people to repent and be
saved."
